The Confession to Darcy
When Jane finally emerged from the bathroom, her face was pale, but there was an unusual determination at the edge of her eyes, the same determination she used to challenge the scientific community. She found Darcy sitting at the table with Dr. Erik Selvig, both of them reviewing star charts and trying to make sense of the Bifrost data.
"Jane, I thought you'd gone to get some office supplies," Erik remarked, without looking up.
"I did," Jane said, her voice barely a whisper. She went to the sink, grabbed a glass, and filled it with water, drinking it in one gulp. "But I did something else too."
He turned to Darcy and placed the small plastic rod on top of the stack of expense forms.
Darcy stopped chewing on his pen, looking first at the rod and then at Jane. He held it with two fingers to examine it closely, his expression shifting from confusion to understanding, and finally to utter astonishment.
"No, no, no, no," Darcy murmured. "It's not possible. Does this mean... that the god of thunder... left something more than a dimensional wormhole and the aftermath of his departure on the hot night?"
Jane nodded slowly, her cheeks flushed and her eyes moist. "Two blue lines, Darcy, have struck me harder than any lightning bolt or discovery. It's... a baby. It's Thor's."
Dr. Selvig, finally noticing the change in atmosphere, looked up, saw the rod in Darcy's hand, and Jane's flushed, dismayed, and tearful face.
"What's that? A new measuring tool for the Einstein-Rosen gap?" Erik asked.
Darcy looked at him seriously, something he rarely did. "Erik, this is a pregnancy test. And Jane is pregnant, and the father... is Thor."
Erik remained silent, then, with the calm logic of a man who had just watched his protégé fall in love with an alien, he began to process.
"Okay," Erik said, rubbing his chin. "This... this complicates the 'length of stay on Earth' factor. I'm assuming the child would have roughly 50% human DNA and 50% Asgardian DNA. Well, we'll need to investigate the fetal growth rate in hybrid beings; it could be faster. Have you been eating enough iron? You'll need supplements, since Asgardian physiology is much denser."
Jane and Darcy exchanged glances.
"Is that your reaction?" Jane asked, incredulous. "Aren't you going to scream or question whether I'm crazy?"
Erik sighed. "Jane, I've spent the last month watching a man fly, wield a magic hammer, and then disappear in a giant rainbow. Honestly, you ending up pregnant after that experience is one of the least strange things that's happened in this trailer. The important question is: How do we tell Thor, and how do we deal with a demigod pregnancy?
Darcy, however, had her mind on more practical, and perhaps more dangerous, matters.
"Okay, pause," Darcy said, throwing up her hands. "Let's forget the supplements and the rainbows for a second. How strong is this baby going to be? And when will S.H.I.E.L.D. even realize there's an Asgardian baby in the air?"
Jane felt a chill run down her spine. "That's the part that terrifies me. If they find out, they won't leave me alone. They'll treat it like a specimen, Darcy. And frankly, I don't know how strong it'll be. I don't know anything about Asgardian pregnancies. For all I know, it could be born with its own hammer."
Erik leaned back, a look of sudden understanding on his face. "It's possible the pregnancy won't follow human patterns, Jane. It could be a 'miracle,' something the human body isn't designed to withstand without... help... from Thor. He needs to know." "But I have no way to tell him," Jane said, her voice breaking. "The Bifrost is gone, the wormhole's energy has faded, I can't open another portal, I'm trapped here, with a secret that could change the way the world sees extraterrestrial life… or at least, the life of my baby."
He looked at his two collaborators, the only family he had in that moment of cosmic crisis.
"We have to find a way to bring him back, faster than ever, but first, we have to keep this hidden from S.H.I.E.L.D. and... well, from everyone. This is an experiment we can't risk anyone else monitoring."
The next three weeks became a frantic, desperate work session in the trailer. Jane's only priority wasn't publication or fame, but opening a channel of communication, a simple signal that Earth needed the God of Thunder's presence.
Erik and Jane worked side by side, fueling the same power generator they'd used before, trying to replicate the unstable conditions that had drawn Thor.
"If we could replicate the Bifrost resonance, even a fraction of it," Jane murmured, her face illuminated by the flickering blue light of an oscilloscope, "we could create a beacon, a cosmic 'Hey, I need help!'"
Darcy, meanwhile, took on the vital task of "guardian of normalcy," diverting the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
"Agent Coulson called again," Darcy reported, as Jane made another attempt. "He says he's just 'recording weather anomalies in the area.' I told him the only anomaly is my lack of sleep.
Attempt One: Failed. It only caused a neighborhood blackout.
Attempt Two: Failed. They only managed to vaporize a toaster.
Attempt Ten: Failed. The generator overheated, and Jane slumped over her desk, exhausted and frustrated.
"It's not enough," Jane sighed, rubbing her eyes. "It's like trying to open the front door of a palace with a paperclip—the power isn't here. It's...with him."
Erik gently patted her shoulder. "We did our best, Jane. Replicating a feat of Asgardian engineering is something that will take years, not weeks."
Jane felt a wave of despair wash over her. Thor didn't know; he was light-years away, thinking she was chasing stars, not creating one.
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