Who: Darcy Lewis & Jane Foster What: Discussing life plans When: around the time Jane got the nanites Rating/Warnings: red for medical things
Jane had no idea what was in the potions Loki and Eir were making but they seemed to be doing … something. At the least, she was actively not dying and for terminal cancer, that was huge. Jane was sleeping no more than half a day now and eating nearly two meals a day. She still wasn’t spending much time in the lab but Thor had a large table brought into her quarters for her. It was a place for Jane to tinker and to work when she was well enough to be out of bed.
Jane was there now, wearing pajama pants and a T-shirt with the NASA logo. She pulled Severus away from where she stripping wiring and looked over at Darcy. The potion wasn’t a cure and there were still dark circles under her eyes and hollows along her cheekbones. “I think I can feel my brain draining out my ears. I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten stupider.”
***
“You’ll bounce back,” Darcy assured her. She had faith that the smart people around here would get Jane back to good health ASAP and wouldn’t let herself even consider any other outcome. With all the science and magic in the world, there was no good reason that Jane couldn’t be cured.
Jane was far too brilliant to be anything remotely resembling stupid and Darcy wasn’t going to let her believe that. “And you are not stupid so stop saying that.”
It seemed like she’d been brought into this universe at just the right time. She was grateful that Stark gave her a place to live and was helping with her expenses so she could devote her attention to Jane for the time being.
***
“Fine. I’m not stupid, I’m tired.” And she was. “I need a break.” Jane set her tools down and slumped back in her chair. She looked at Darcy, an easier place to put her attention. “How are you? You’ve been spending a lot of time with me, are you settling in okay?”
***
Darcy was used to dealing with a tired and grumpy Jane, it was pretty much her standard default setting when she got wrapped up in a work project, so it hardly phased her. “I’m fine,” she said. “You’re the most important thing right now.”
Everything else could wait until she knew that Jane was going to be okay. Besides, it gave her a chance to adjust to the fact that there were people who had relationships with her that she didn’t remember at all. She still wasn’t over learning that two previous versions of her dated Loki.
***
‘“Sometimes,” Jane said, trying hard to keep a bite from her voice, “it’s really hard being the one fussed over all the time. I really wish I could just lock myself in my lab for twenty-four straight hours without anyone having to come check and make sure I haven’t died.”
***
That actually made sense and Darcy immediately felt bad for being one of the people who was fussing. “You can’t be mad that we love you, Jane,” she said. “But if I’m fussing too much, tell me and I’ll back off.” It wouldn’t be easy, but she’d do it. Taking care of Jane had been her job for a long time and it was second nature at this point.
***
“I”m just,” Jane said, half exasperated, half tinged with sadness, “I’m just really tired of having cancer.” She felt ridiculous as soon as she said it. It wasn’t as if Darcy could do anything about it and people were doing things about it. Bruce and Tony, and also Loki Loki and Eir had all worked to save her life. The end was near now. And Jane was just so tired of being tired from it all.
***
“Okay, so what can we do to get your mind off of it?” Darcy asked. “Do you want to talk about the previous mes and their absolutely horrendous taste in romantic partners? Or what you think my chances are of scoring with an Avenger?”
She suspected that neither of those would be topics of interest for Jane, but maybe she could at least get her to focus on her best friend being completely ridiculous for a few minutes.
***
Jane’s lips pursed and she raised her eyebrows. The expression had more of a punch before chemo thinned her eyebrows but the point was clear. There was a pause and then, “I think I have a better chance at joining the Avengers.” Severus was at her feet and Jane reached down and scooped him up.
“You have to start taking it easy on Steve,” she said, scratching Severus around the ears.”He’s got Peggy - who could murder you. If you want to be friends, the best thing you can do is talk to him like a person and not like someone rang the dinner bell on fleet week.”
***
Darcy was pretty much expecting that response and though she rolled her eyes in an over-exaggerated way, she didn’t want to piss off the lethal partners of the Avengers. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be good,” she said. It was easier to make inappropriate jokes than to admit she was uncomfortable around all of these super powered, super impressive people. Darcy never liked to admit to feeling vulnerable.
“So you stole my cat, huh?” she teased, reaching out to scritch the kitty who seemed far more interested in Jane’s attention than hers. “Maybe I’ll get a dog.”
***
The trick with people with superpowers was to focus less on the powers and more on the people. Maybe it helped that Thor was technically mortal when they met him but if Jane spent time thinking about the ways he could squash her like a bug, she’d go crazy. “Dogs are fun. Try not to name it after problematic fictional characters this time.”
***
“Obviously if I got a dog, his name would be Sirius,” Darcy said. “Or maybe Padfoot.” Either way, Sirius Black was hardly a problematic character. At least not compared to Snape. “I need to figure out my job situation first though.” She wouldn’t expect Tony Stark to subsidize her getting a pet while she was living off of his generosity.
She glanced in Jane’s direction. “Do you need an assistant?”
***
“That depends. How do you feel about Norway? The Asgard contingent is moving there and Thor asked me to go with him. As soon I’m clear from the doctors, I’m going to be living there.” Jane looked over at her friend and paused a moment before continuing.
“Darcy, you make me crazy. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I’m glad you’re back and if you want to keep working with me, I will always have a place for you,But I think now is the time to focus on you. Figure out what you want to do with your life. If you decide you want to try something different, that’s okay.”
***
Going to Norway meant being around Loki and Darcy wasn’t sure she was prepared to deal with that. Nor did she really relish the idea of leaving New York. It was hard to imagine not being with Jane though.
“I don’t think I want to live in Norway,” she said. “You really wouldn’t mind me staying here? Tony offered me a job too.”
***
“I’ll miss you,” Jane said. “But if you want to take a job with Tony you should definitely do that. Plus you won’t have to fight with me about what Spotify station to play in the lab anymore,” Jane smiled.
“I’m proud of you. And I’ll be around until the doctors clear me. I can’t move until then.”
***
Darcy laughed. “It’s not my fault you have absolutely terrible taste in music, Jane,” she said. Not for lack of Darcy trying to fix that. “And it’s not like you can get rid of me that easily. I’ll come visit you in Norway.”
It probably wouldn’t be that hard to suck up to that Strange dude and sweet talk him into opening portals so she didn’t have to fly or whatever.
***
"I can send Thor to pick you up. Travel by Bifrost's a rush." Jane grinned thinking about it. "I'm gonna need you to bring pints of Captain Americone when you come. I don't trust Norway to have it. I need a supplier."
***
“Ooh, that sounds even better,” Darcy said. “And you know I’ll bring whatever you need. They have the internet there, right?”
At least they could still text and chat.
***
“It’s Norway, not the moon!” Jane laughed. “And if you need anything, I’m just a Bifrost away.”