"The things I do for the team," Tony said as he slowly worked his way up from the wreckage. Iron Man had prevailed as the most logical choice to do the underwater recovery. This didn't stop the rest of the Avengers as well as Jane and Erik from closely monitoring the feed emanating from his suit's sensors as he'd made the foray under the cold Atlantic waters just off of the southern tip of Nova Scotia, the same area they'd experienced the strange magnetic anomaly weeks ago.

"Really, sir, I believe I've done most of the work here," JARVIS primly corrected. "I've channeled the data for satellites and the sonar buoys that allowed us to pinpoint the shipwreck site and the necklace's location. I also did the modifications that allowed your suit to continue to perform at optimal levels necessary for this underwater expedition."

Tony snorted, an explosive blast of sound from the speakers on the helicarrier that made most of the listeners laugh. "You wouldn't be able to do a thing if I hadn't programmed you in the first place, you know," Tony retorted.

Director Fury tabbed the speaker with one hand. "Quit your lollygagging around and get on with it," he advised impatiently.

"Aw, you ruin all my fun," Iron Man complained, but within a few minutes, a familiar whine heralded his arrival on top of the windy helicarrier deck. With a jaunty step, he soon entered the command centre where everyone waited.

His armour slipped away from face as he strode up to Director Fury and uncurled one hand to release its small burden into the waiting man's hand. "Mission accomplished," Tony barked, then laughed. "I always wanted to say that."

Director Fury let the necklace unfurl from his hands. Seeming silver flashed through with opalescent gleaming that intensified in a thick pendant which seemed to pulse in a green glow.

"Thor?"

In an instant, the Asgardian was there to accept the proffered necklace. He stared at it closely. "It's Brisingamen! I remember this," he offered by way of explanation. "My mother wore it constantly when we were children, my brother and I, but then, one day, it wasn't there. I knew my brother was fascinated with it. I even suspected he might have stolen it but I never said anything. I suppose I should have."

Steve clapped him on the shoulder. "It would have been better to have spoken up, but few kids are that sure about what's right and wrong. Your parents will understand."

Thor's expression gained in intensity. "I must make amends, in any case, for the ill this has done to Midgard as well as in Asgard" He closed his fist around the necklace and in two strides, was at Jane's side.

"Please understand, Jane Foster," he said quietly. "I must return to Asgard and I must see if my father will exact a price for my misdeeds. But know that I will return."

Jane bit her lip. "I understand, Thor. Go, with my blessing but," she ended fiercely, "come back as soon as you can." She reached up on her tiptoes to cup his cheeks and plant a kiss on his lips.

Thor leaned his forehead against hers after they finally broke off their kiss. Reluctantly, he lifted his head, nodded intently at his fellow Avengers, then strode out on the helicarrier deck, shouting into the sky for Heimdall to open a passage that flared brightly as it took him up into the sky. The rest of the group that had trailed behind him stared up into the engulfing clouds.

Jane stood, numbly, as Natasha put a comforting arm around her shoulder. "I'm sure he'll be back soon," the other woman said bracingly.

Jane nodded, not trusting her voice as she struggled with her fears and finally allowed Natasha and Erik to lead her back inside the carrier as it returned to New York.

As soon as SHIELD could make it happen, Jane was on the ground in New Mexico. The old auto-dealership she'd used as her research base was now a thriving coffee shop. The steady stream of locals and off-duty techs that patronized the coffee shop kept the staff hopping and the tables filled. Jane had taken to camping out at the shop when waiting at the landing site got too crazy-making. Thus, she was seated in one of the overstuffed chair, trying to read a scholarly report on quantum theory when her cell rang.

Fumbling for the phone, she managed to lift it to her ear. "We're picking up energy readings," Agent Coulson calmly reported. Jane was already out the door, her half-finished coffee left on the arm of the chair as she raced for her van.

Peering out into the twilight sky through her windshield, Jane spotted tell-tale swirls of green and blue coalescing overhead. "Oh god, oh god," she breathed as she steered the van cross-country over a track she optimistically considered a workable alternative to the unpaved road that ran less directly there.

Like a bucking bronco, the van lurched and swerved unexpectedly over ridges and washes but it held together. As the landing site, with its monitoring building beside became visible, Jane could see the wormhole forming directly above. She gunned the engine heedlessly, and the van careened wildly the last quarter of a mile before she screeched to a halt not ten feet from Agent Coulson.

As she threw the door open and half-fell out of the van, he turned to inspect her with his usual imperturbable expression. "Glad you could make it, Dr. Foster," he said with that maddening deadpan expression he never seemed to alter.

Jane nodded awkwardly, unwilling to drag her eyes away from the whirlwind as it touched down to earth exactly in the spot where Thor had first come to earth. Unconsciously, she sighed: for the first time in months, the Einstein-Rosen bridge was materializing according to parameters. Now if only it brought back-

There. With a flash of lightning and thunder, the funnel dissipated, revealing a familiar blond figure, grinning widely.

"Jane!" Thor shouted as he closed the distance between them. He lifted her in his arms and spun her around before pausing to kiss her heartily.

"Ahem," Colonel Fury interjected after a long minute. Shamefacedly, Jane broke away but Thor only let her feet touch the ground, holding the rest of her close against him.

"Colonel, Son of Coul! All is well with the Bifrost and with Asgard!" Thor's booming voice carried across the space between the landing site and the monitoring building where a small crowd of SHIELD employees were gathering.

"That's good to know," Colonel Fury said. "So you're back with the team?"

"Assuredly so," the god of thunder replied.

Jane regarded him quizzically. "He's not mad at you for stretching the terms of your stay here to find the solution? That was a bit beyond a month."

Thor gazed down at her with a satisfied grin. "Actually, I confessed my fault upon my return. My father accepted my reasons and said that my doing so was a sign of maturity."

"Really?" Jane couldn't help the tone of surprise that crept into her voice.

Thor looked off into the distance, as if conjuring a memory. "His exact words were, 'A good king is harder on himself than on those around him. I think you will make a good king when it is time.'"

"And hopefully not for some time," SHIELD's director proclaimed. "I'll pass the word onto the rest of the team that you're back. Be ready to depart for the tower in ten."

With that order, he headed back off to the station, presumably to prepare for the trip back to New York. Agent Coulson stepped forward to smile at the two of them. "It's good to have you back, Donald," he said in a deadpan tone.

"Agent Coulson," Thor acknowledged with only a slight dimming of his broad smile. He hugged Jane even closer. "If we are all to share the jet, might I beg a boon of some privacy to speak with Jane?"

"Certainly," the SHIELD agent replied with a touch of sympathy. "Why don't you head on over to the jet? I'll make sure that Colonel Fury takes his time getting ready for departure."

Thor and Jane shared a look of surprise as he left them. "I didn't know he had that much of a heart," Jane confessed.

"He has always been more kind than you were willing to credit, Jane," Thor said. Shifting his arm to her shoulders, he led her along the darkening path toward the Avengers' Quinjet, warming up for their return flight.

They climbed the steps and made for the passenger seats behind the pilot's area, pulling the door closed behind him. "There," he said with some satisfaction. Before he could say more, Jane pulled him in close for a kiss.

When she pulled back, it was with a smile of satisfaction. "You missed me," she stated with certainty.

"I missed you every moment of our separation. I hope that by returning Brisingamen to Asgard, we have ended some of the time distortion," Thor stated anxiously. "You did not wait on my return for very long?"

Jane shrugged with a semblance of carelessness. "Four days," she said. "They don't matter now that you're back."

Jane leaned into his embrace and, when he took a seat, fell comfortably into Thor's lap. He stroked her hair with one hand while, with the other, he twined their fingers together.

"After I spoke with my father," Thor began quietly, "I hastened to return Brisingamen to my mother. She was filled with joy but I was surprised to hear she bore no ill will toward my brother."

Jane curled her fingers tightly against his. "Do you?"

Thor dropped his head on top of hers. "I do not know. I have tried to put aside my anger with him for all the harm he did here on Midgard. When I learned that his carelessness had been the cause of all this disaster? I was filled with rage."

"But you're not, now," Jane observed.

"No," Thor agreed, a clear note of surprise in his voice.

"Maybe you'll be able to mend fences with Loki someday," Jane said. "It would be nice to meet someone of your family!"

Thor's head lifted abruptly. "That reminds me! My mother wanted to thank you for your part in returning Brisingamen and restoring the Bifrost."

Jane leaned back in his arms to meet his gaze. "That's sweet. Tell her she's welcome."

Thor chuckled. "You fail to understand me, Jane. She asks that you come to Asgard so that she may personally thank you for the service you have rendered."

With a jolt, Jane's heart seemed to stop and then restart. "Come to Asgard? What? How? When? Are you sure?"

Thor squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I thought you might fret at this request. Yes, she meant the invitation and it is with my father's assent. He also wants to thank you for your diligent efforts. But I begged the indulgence of some time for us to be together here on Midgard. Some 'alone time' as you say?"

Before Jane could offer her enthusiastic agreement, the jet's hatch opened and Colonel Fury stormed inside, followed by Agent Coulson.

"Strap yourselves in," the director snapped. "We're taking off now and changing course for the helicarrier. Apparently there's some sort of mutant walking weed that's taking over part of Milwaukee. You'll manage with the detour, Dr. Foster?"

Jane was in the next seat and still fastening her belt when the jet rose dizzyingly quickly into the evening sky. Thor reached out to reclaim her hand and she couldn't help but smile giddily at him. "As long as I get him after Milwaukee's safe, colonel, I'm good with that."

From the pilot's seat, SHIELD's director laughingly agreed to her terms as the jet went supersonic.

Coda

"Coward!" Sif's growled words only minutely preceded the slam of her hand into Loki's shoulder, pinning him to the wall of the corridor.

Loki's wide eyes met the warrior woman's steely gaze.

"Milady Sif," he acknowledged before shifting his frame minutely and somehow slipping like quicksilver out of her grasp.

Sif simply growled again, leaning in forcefully to pin him with the power of her regard more securely than she could by force of arms.

"You thief!" Sif intoned. "You maligner of a lady's reputation! You coward!"

Loki let one elegant hand lightly touch his collarbone. "Why am I so accused?"

Sif snorted, her expression at odds with her formal dress. "I have come from the banquet where Fandral is retelling the story of how you-" she jabbed a finger at Loki "-stole Frigga's necklace, seeking to somehow put the blame on me! All Asgard has heard tell of your childish plan and I will have satisfaction."

Loki laughed but at Sif's dark look, he hastened to explain. "Sif, my dear, you know I have only the highest regard for you. I took Mother's necklace, yes, that is true but-" he hastened to explain as she glowered in his direction "-I was only a child, then. And I sought not to frame you, on this Fandral is wrong. No, I sought to court you."

"To . . . court me?" Sif responded, shocked so deeply that her voice was almost inaudible.

Loki let his gaze dance away. "You may remember your anger at my cutting of your hair," he commented and, seeing her fiery expression return, raised one hand lightly to forestall her angry confirmation. "It was wrong, I admit now. I knew that then and sought to make amends."

Sif raised one eyebrow in eloquent disbelief.

"Truly," Loki responded, "and even something more. I was always your greatest admirer, Lady Sif. But I lacked the wisdom to know how to best express it and when I realized that gifting you with Brisingamen would only increase your ire, I panicked and tossed it into the Bifrost."

While she stood in wary consideration, Loki greatly dared to lift one of her hands to his lips.

"Forgive me?" he asked.

Sif jerked her fingers away but only after a long moment.

"Perhaps," she finally conceded. "But if you would court me, now, Loki Odinsson, be brave enough to do it in the open and with all honesty."

Loki bowed his head and then smiled suddenly. "It will be a challenge, milady."

Sif's smile was even more brilliant. "It most certainly will, milord." And with that enigmatic response, the goddess of war returned to the feast hall on the arm of the god of mischief as all Asgard watched.