getting to know you
Sif’s first modern visit to Midgard without Thor was initially met with much confusion from all who heard of it (so mostly SHIELD), but particularly from the woman who found her on her doorstep, where she’d thought to instead find the morning paper. In fact, she dropped her coffee.
"Oh my god! Wha— I wasn’t expecting any— Where’s—"
Sif interrupted her with a raised hand and a smile that on most Asgardian women would be called shy. “Thor sends his regards, but is detained elsewhere by duty.” Her expression gained some surety with those words, pride for her lord and the man this human had helped him awaken himself to.
Jane stumbled for a reply. “That can’t be why you’re here, is it?” Sif was hardly a mere messenger, someone she pictured Thor sending simply because he felt like saying ‘thinking of you.’ Her mug had broken, and coffee was trickling down the side of her building’s stoop into the much-neglected flower bed. At least it couldn’t make things worse for the dead weeds. Sif’s gaze followed Jane’s, and before a protest could be uttered the warrior was stooping at the scientist’s feet to pick up still-warm ceramic shards.
"No. I am here because I wish to know you, Jane Foster." Sif looked up at the other woman, face calm, but otherwise difficult to read. There was definitely curiosity there, and something else, but what could not be said for certain.
"Oh." Because what else did a person say to something like that, coming from not only such a woman as Sif, but also a… Thor’s childhood friend? Who had showed up out of the blue at six(!) in the morning?
"Come in?"
*
And thus began one of the more unusual three months of Jane’s life. Though that was starting to become quite the competition. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it was one of the most unusual three months of Jane’s almost-completely-unrelated-to-work-in-any-way, home life.
For one thing, she suddenly found herself in possession of a very erstwhile and politely stubborn couch surfer. One who seemed to have no intention of going anywhere. And who, after being caught using the ludicrously heavy, ancient Kirby for weight training, started doing basic housework while Jane was working. Among other things. Sif never seemed bored, somehow.
And then there was the Sunday when Jane awoke to an empty apartment, nearly all signs of her temporary roommate tidied away like she’d never been there. It was odd (perhaps a little sad?), but she was barely awake, so the morning routine took over.
Coffee, mug, out to get the paper.
And there was Sif, kneeling in that practically forgotten, sorry excuse for a flower bed. She’d acquired a hand trowel from somewhere, as well as some sturdy-looking but cheerful flowers.
"Are early morning miracles just an Asgardian thing?" Jane blurted, staring, unable to help recalling the discovery that Thor made great breakfasts.
Sif looked up at her dumbfounded expression and laughed. “This is hardly a miracle, Jane.”
The new garden flourished, miracle or no (and hadn’t Erik once said the Ancient Norse believed Sif goddess of the harvest?).
It quickly turned out that she’d traded self-defense lessons to an entire Girl Scout Troop for the plants. From the sound of the story, Sif would have taught the girls greenery or no and considered the flowers nearly free. The troop leaders, on the other hand, were pretty confident that they’d gotten the better end of the deal.
Shortly after that, somehow Jane found herself a special guest at a rare camping trip out of the city, funded by Stark Industries with a check signed by Pepper herself (causing Jane to wonder what sort of network her lady warrior friend might be building in her absences). There, she taught girls who had never truly seen stars about the secrets that lay amongst them, and Sif never left her side.
*
Thor visited approximately three times in those three months, for various spans of time, though there was the chance that he and Sif were conversing when Jane wasn’t home. That wasn’t suspicion brought on by jealousy; the trust Jane had in Thor, and her ever-growing knowledge of and affection for Sif told her that would be silly. They were open, loyal people who cared deeply and sincerely, and she was confident in that.
No, it was suspicion brought on by Thor looking back and forth between the two women when he thought Jane wasn’t looking, grinning his head off and making faces. They had to be Up To Something. A prank or surprise, or some sort of in-joke, possibly centuries old (and didn’t that make her head spin a bit). Yet nothing seemed to ever come of it, and most often Sif would catch his look and shrug, rolling her eyes and maybe, increasingly, giving the man a light shove. Likely it was something, but something that apparently Sif was keeping in check for the time being, so Jane put it out of her mind.
*
When she decided to introduce Sif to movie theaters, she found an eccentric little place that showed movies from the ’80s. The warrior had a hard time sitting still through the entire film in those old, squeaky seats with their shot springs, but somehow they made it through Ferris Bueller’s Day Off okay. Sif was full of questions by the time they left their seats, which Jane decided meant the trip had been a success, so they stopped at a bookstore to get a book on Chicago on the way home.
Books on the education system of America, types of fast food, and yoga also made it into the pile, but it just added variety to their night-time conversations and maybe a little more purpose to their weekends.
*
Once, Jane dared to wonder aloud when Sif planned to return home, to Asgard. If there were more important things for her to do than stay up late trading stories with scientists until one of them nodded off.
Sif simply shook her head, snagging another piece of pizza, and said, “I wish to now more of you still. If that is permissible.”
It didn’t take much thinking for Jane to agree that that was very permissible indeed.
*
One night somewhere into the second month, Darcy convinced Jane they needed to take Sif out drinking. It devolved surprisingly quickly into introducing Sif to the definition of “misandry,” and then into some weird feminist drinking game they made up on the spot, and then the memory got fuzzy and Sif definitely carried Jane home.
From a police station?
Neither Darcy nor Sif would fill in the details.
*
Introducing Sif to the internet was quickly followed by introducing her to the public library, and swearing to never introduce her to Wikipedia.
Discovering that Sif was working out in the nearest park, often before dawn, was its own adventure.
*
At the rough end of three months, Thor was four days into a week-long visit. It was morning, weekend, coffee, newspaper, Thor making breakfast, Sif watching from where she leaned nearby. Routine. Nice.
Very nice, actually, and while Jane wasn’t sure when it had become a routine, she couldn’t knock it, couldn’t actually imagine a morning without at least one of them knocking about, being much more cheerful about the AM than she was.
It took half her cup of coffee before she noticed the intent expression on Sif’s face as she held murmured conference with Thor, their words pitched too low to make out, the way the other woman’s eyes would occasionally flicker to Jane, to the door. The way Thor’s voice had taken on a reassuring tone, as if Sif needed soothed in some matter. The way he would occasionally take his eyes or a hand away from the stove, lock Sif’s gaze, clasp her elbow briefly, reassuringly.
Something Was Up, and when had thinking in capitals become a necessity of her life? With the Asgardians, likely, and it was with a pang that she realized the possibility that her time with Sif was coming to an end. She found she wasn’t ready for that at all, not yet. They hadn’t covered everything. There was still much more to know.
"What’s going on?" she asked, and both Asgardians looked at her, guilt flickering briefly across their faces. "Is everything okay?"
The two exchanged another glance, and that couldn’t be entirely positive. “All is well of the moment,” Sif told her, slowly, though Jane could tell she spoke the truth. “We have received word from Asgard, and I must return immediately to attend certain matters.”
"Oh." Because what else could a person say to that, to one such as Sif, to the duty that she carried, and to all that had been built in the previous months and was still building in unknown ways, that might now simply be gone?
"I had not intended to leave yet," Sif assured her, "but Thor will be able to stay. His business is still here."
Thor nodded, clasping Sif’s shoulder, and Jane realized that he too was not entirely happy with Sif’s departure. It was written across his face, he was concerned. She’d definitely need to be filled in on the situation, as soon as she could drag it out of him.
"Will you come back?" If Sif promised to return, she would do so. "I mean, we’ve still got a lot of ground to cover, right?"
Sif came over to her and smiled, kissed her cheek. “I would very much like to do so, yes.”
Jane thought she heard Thor rumble out something about making sure he’d stick around for that, then, but she was too busy pulling Sif into a hug.
"I’m holding you to that," and she was probably addressing them both.