Chapter 18
~~ONE MONTH LATER~~
I sat straight up in bed and instantly regretted my decision as I bolted out of bed and into the bathroom where I was once again found by Loki just like all those many months ago. "Sweetheart, you really need to stop trying to out drink Thor and the Warriors Three. You may win the battle but as you can see you lose the war the next morning." He chuckled as he helped me stand after I flushed the toilet.
I leaned my head against the cool skin of his chest and groaned but then my eyes shot open as a thought hit me. "Loki." I whispered quietly not daring to move. "Yes, darling?" He murmured placing soft kisses on my forehead whilst gently swaying back and forth and rubbing my back. "Loki...I didn't drink any mead last night, remember? Thor was making fun of me saying that I was getting on up in years." I whispered trying not to let my nerves get the best of me. I remember several times of him whispering how he wanted me to have his children and how he wanted to see me swollen with them in his bed chambers but I had chalked that down to just his version of dirty talk I never actually thought that he'd been serious the entire time. That was until he stopped swaying and I felt two cool fingers under my chin and suddenly I was looking into his blue green eyes that were full of excitement, hope and something else I couldn't quite read.
"We must get you to the Healers at one, my love." He whispered after a few tense, silent moments and I nodded and then screamed as he picked me up wrapping my arms and legs around him as he set off at a dead run towards the Healers. "Loki, I'm not wearing any clothes!" I shrieked as he rounded a corner. "Doesn't matter, you'll have to take them off for the Healers to examine you anyways and I dare someone to look at my queen in all her glory." He growled the last part of the sentence and slid a finger between us to tease my clit. I gasped and bit his neck and moaned, "Loki, this is what got us in this situation to begin with, my love!"
He laughed darkly as he took off his cape and laid me in on the bed as Healers came rushing from every direction towards us. "What's wrong, Prince Loki?" An older nurse asked as she began feeling my forehead. "She got sick this morning." He said softly and looked at the nurse. "Well, that's not uncommon when one tries to out drink the Warriors Three." She said chuckling and shaking her head. "No, Matron. I mean she got SICK this morning." He said putting special emphasis on the word sick. It took the nurse all of a split second before her eyes went wide and she gasped and shooed him out of the room as he spluttered indignantly and I laughed and said, "I'll be back out in a few minutes, my Prince, you'll live!" He huffed and stuck his bottom lip out in the cutest pout but nodded and walked out into the hallway as the nurses began messing with the charts that popped up around me on the bed. Everyone was completely silent as the Matron pulled up something and all of a sudden the sound of not one but two tiny heartbeats filled the room and my heart almost burst with joy as I looked up at her and whispered, "Twins?"
She nodded absolutely beaming and I screamed, "LOKI!" The door burst open and Loki followed by Sif came running into the room both looking half panicked and half like they were ready to start a war. That is until they stopped and it registered on them what they were listening to. "You're pregnant?!" Sif cried as she ran over to me and enveloped me in a hug and Loki whispered, "There's two. There's two heartbeats." Sif's head shot up and again the room went completely quiet the only sound in the room being the two tiny heartbeats. Before I could say much of anything though Loki turned and strode out of the room his face unreadable and my heart shattered.
"I knew it." I sobbed an hour later in mine and Loki's room now fully dressed but lying on the bed with my head in Sif's lap. "Sweet girl, that man is a fool and a coward if he says that he wants you but not the children he helped conceive." She growled as she ran her hand through my hair. I wrapped my arms around her waist and sobbed not caring anymore about what I looked or sounded like only wanting both my husband to be here and for my babies to be alright through all of this. I could hear loud voices in the hallway that sounded like they were coming towards the room, but I didn't care nor did I move from Sif's lap I simply pulled the covers up over me and continued to cry my heart constricting painfully in my chest.
Suddenly, the door burst open and several heavy objects were thrown on top of me knocking the wind out of me and burying me under the covers which caused me to panic and start flailing which knocked myself, Sif and whatever it was on top of me onto the floor. Making sure that I was ok and that nothing hurt I looked around to find none other that my husband looking down at me with a smile and tears streaming down his face. "Loki?" I asked weakly and was immediately tackle hugged by someone. "ALRIGHT ENOUGH DAMN!" I yelled as I untangled myself from whoever it was. "Yea, you're right, Reindeer Games. She is getting a bit bitchy." I heard a male voice say from behind me and turned around and saw none other than the Avengers all standing there smiling at me but it was the three rushing towards me that I screamed for. "MAMA! POPS! NAT!" I screamed as they all rushed over and enveloped me in a group hug that left me sobbing as we pulled apart. "I'm gonna be a grandpa!" Clint managed to say before half of us cracked up laughing or started sobbing.
"Oh sweetheart I'm so happy for you! Do you have any names picked out?" Laura said as she wiped her eyes for the hundredth time. "Let me get back to you on that I have a billionaire, playboy, philanthropist that I need to murder." I said as I pushed her out of the way and started marching towards Tony. "Hey, Tony." I growled with a viper's grin on my face. "Oh...hehe...uh...hi?" He stuttered as he began backing up slowly at first and then faster once I started getting closer to him. "Bitchy? BITCHY?!" I screamed as I took off running at him and he screamed at the top of his lungs and made for the door. Sam, Thor, Bucky and Steve were all laughing too hard to even stop me, Clint, Nat, Laura, and Wanda were all cheering me on and Bruce, Vision, Pietro, Peter, and Loki all bolted after me.
"I'M SORRY ANTHONY BUT WHEN'S THE LAST TIME THAT YOU GREW ANYTHING OTHER THAT YOUR EGO OR YOUR DICK?!" I shrieked as we rounded the corner towards the banquet hall. Tony had stopped short and I was just about to reach up to give him the Vulcan nerve pinch when I noticed that the entire banquet hall was full...of people laughing hysterically. "I believe....you may want to...try...apologizing...Lord Stark." Odin managed as he bent double laughing hysterically.
"Come." Frigga managed as she got up and took hold of my hand and led me back down the hallway to her chambers still giggling as we finally got there whilst I grumbled the entire way there. "So tell me what's happened, my dear." She said as she sat on the bed and motioned for me to do the same. "Just found out I'm pregnant with twins and Stark had the absolute audacity to- OOF!" I was cut off by Frigga squealing and hugging me. "YOU'RE PREGNANT WITH TWINS?!" She shrieked as she hugged me so tight that I thought my ribs would crack.
"Yes...My Queen...ribs!" I managed as I smacked her on the arm and she gasped and let me go with a quiet, "So sorry!" I took one look at her and burst out laughing as Wanda, Sif, Nat and my adopted mother, Laura, all ran through the door and jumped on the bed. "I'm so excited!" Wanda and Sif cried at the same time. Laura simply sat behind me and hugged me around the middle with her head on my shoulder as Nat and Frigga both asked, "What names have you picked out?"
I laughed and shook my head and said, "Well, for a boy I was thinking James Steven Clint and for a girl..." I broke off grinning and let them stew in silence for a few moment before Nat said, "Come ON! YOU'RE KILLING US HERE!" We all cracked up giggling and once we'd finally calmed down enough I said, "Well, for a girl I was thinking Laura Natalia Wanda." The girls immediately squealed and hugged me again and then Wanda said, "But what if there are two boys or two girls."
My eyes instantly went wide as I remembered I was having twins. "Ok so if it's two boys the other boy's name will be Arkyn Loki and the other girl's name will be Turid Frigga." I said quietly and the other women stopped and looked at me in awe. "Those are the most beautiful names I've ever heard!" Laura said as she gave up on trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. I smiled and held my arms up and did the grabby hands and they all piled on the bed and settle around me giggling asking me everything from who's going to be on diaper duty to whether I think I'll be able to tell the twins apart.
~~7 MONTHS LATER~~
It was a little after midnight when my eyes flew open and a gasp escaped my lips. "Loki." I croaked as a wave of pain ripped through my lower abdomen. I sat up and blindly grabbed at the sheets and just so happened to find his long, soft, black hair in the process and yanked on it hard bringing him up out of a dead sleep. "My queen, what's wrong?" He asked his voice low and serious.
"Babies...coming!" I managed to gasp before another contraction hit and I hit my back screaming. "My love, I have to get you to the Healers-" He began but I shook my head violently. "There's...no time!" I growled clawing my pajamas that were soaked in blood off and kicked them to the floor and looked up at him with tears in my eyes and whispered, "I'm sorry about the mess." He snorted and wrapped his arms around me and whispered back, "It's fine, my love. A bit of blood can be cleaned up." Another contraction hit and I bit into his neck to keep from screaming again as tears and sweat streamed down my face and when I could manage to breath again I looked up at him with a mouthful of blood and said, "Get...the others."
He knew what I meant and immediately disappeared from beside me to go to Heimdall so that he may go and get the Avengers and my adopted mother. I knew it had only been around ten minutes but it felt like an eternity of agony before I heard his footsteps echoing in the hallway outside. The contractions were coming faster and stronger and another ripped through me and I screamed just as I heard him say desperately to someone, "What do I do?!" The door opened and Avengers poured in and began scattering in every direction.
Natasha picked up my soaked pajamas and put them in the dirty clothes as Clint picked me up still wrapped in the sheet and carried me to the bathroom. Steve, Bucky, Sam, Tony and Thor all stayed in the room with Loki and tried their best to calm him. Bruce, Vision, Laura, Wanda, Sif and Freya all came into the bathroom with Clint and I just as Clint got up to get a cool wash cloth to place across my forehead and I heard Pietro explaining to Peter that I was having the twins just as Peter mumbled something and Odin exclaimed, "Oh saints preserve us!" and the rest of the guys cracked up laughing.
"Ok, here's what you need to do. Bruce, since your closest I need you to fill the tub with lukewarm water you know how to tell if it's safe. Clint, honey, breath I know that you're freaking out right now but I need you to breath or get the hell out because the more you panic the more she will and that's not what she needs right now. I love you, but please do one or the other, baby. Nat, Wanda, I need you two to boil water and find a pair of scissors in order to cut the umbilical cords. Sweetheart, breath. In...2...3...4...out...2...3...4. There ya go. Vision, just go wait outside if this goes south then I'll be needing you but until then let the pros handle this. Queen Frigga, if you wouldn't mind helping me monitor her contractions?" Laura said as soon as she stepped through the door taking on the mama bear role to the fullest.
Natasha was already sprinting out the door as fast as she could to go find a pair of scissors, Clint who was looking white as a ghost simply nodded and left the room and apparently joined Loki in pacing back and forth across his room as soon Vision shut the door behind them. "Baby, look at me." Laura said as another contraction tore through me and I screamed and grabbed a hold of the sides of the tub as hard as I could but managed to look up at her. "I didn't want to say this in front of your father or Vision but I'm going to have to cut one of the umbilical cords while the babies are still inside you because if I don't when you give birth to the first the cord will tighten around the other baby's neck and choke it before you can give birth. I need you to do everything in your power to NOT PUSH do you understand?" She asked her face quite pale but her eyes burning bright. Terror gripped at my heart and I nodded and bit down on my lip hard to keep from pushing. It was as though as soon as she spoke those words and I agreed to them that Fate decided to see just how long I could last with the pain dialed up to an 11 because the very next contraction was the first of the worst for the next ten minutes and I bit down harder on my lip drawing blood but refused to push as Natasha came running back through the door causing me to groan, "Nat...you're not...supposed to run...with scissors. You're setting...a really bad....example!"
Natasha simply chuckled and handed the scissors to Laura who looked up at me and said, "Sweetie, just remember, I'm your mother and I love you but I'm about to have to stick my hand in your personal bits." And with that she did in fact insert her hand into my personal bits. At that point though the pain was so bad that I didn't give a single solitary damn about where what was I just wanted to have two healthy babies and I didn't care what it took to have that happen. I felt her working the scissors for about five minutes and every few seconds I'd look over at Nat to see what her reaction was. Thankfully, however several moments later Laura looked up at me smiling and said, "Bring those babies home."
With a feral scream as what felt like several contractions piling up one on top of the other I gave birth to the first baby who made her entrance into the world screaming almost as loudly as I was. "It's a girl!" Laura, Nat, Wanda and Sif all cried as tears poured down my face. I watched as Laura handed the baby off to Bruce who was standing up by my head away from the gore but close enough that all he had to do was take a step forward to take the extremely pissed off baby girl in his arms as he clipped her umbilical cord off to stop the bleeding and went to clean her off in the warm water that Wanda had prepared on the other side of the room. Looking up at me Laura turned white as a ghost and said, "I don't mean to rush this but you need to push hard and push fast." Again terror overwhelmed me and the only thing I could do besides push to save my other child's life was scream, "LOKI!" Before I could process what was happening Loki burst through the door with Clint right behind him.
"Loki, I need you to stop the bleeding. Your other first child's umbilical cord was wrapped around the second child's throat and I had to cut both cords but now the second baby is bleeding too fast for me to stop and it's not even crowning yet." Laura said frantically as I sobbed with one arm slung over my eyes praying that my second child would be born alive. Loki took one look at the scene and eyes flashing bright green knelt beside me and placed his hand on my stomach and after several moments sighed in relief and sat back and said, "The baby should be fine now. I've sealed off the wound." Still sobbing in pain more than fear now I reached out for him and he instantly was in the tub behind me with no shirt on and a pair of pajama bottoms on as he wrapped his arms around me as the contractions started to get worse again. "Shhh, my love. You can do this." He crooned in my ear as he brushed my hair back from my sweat drenched face.
I shook my head no and bit down on his forearm to muffle yet another scream. "Yes, you can, darling. Look at me." He said and turned my head with one slender finger until I was gazing into his eyes. "You. Can. Do. This. You've been through so much worse. You've birthed us a beautiful baby daughter and I'm in complete awe of you. You are my warrior. You are the strongest female that I know of, stronger even than Sif. Now please, dove, let me meet our second child?" He whispered and before I knew what was even happening the pain returned tenfold and I screamed as the second baby was born. Gasping, I lay back against him but horror quickly set in as we all realized that this child wasn't breathing.
"Mama?!" I asked looking at Laura with tear filled eyes as she flipped the baby on it's stomach and began patting him on his back. Several very tense minutes went by and then I heard it seconds before everyone else did, a tiny cough and a gasp from the baby in her arms. Seconds later he coughed once...twice...and then screamed his arrival for the entire world to hear as I sobbed in Loki's arms. "Loki, I did it!" I said looking over my shoulder at him smiling from ear to ear. He returned my teary smile with one of his own as Bruce handed Loki our sweet daughter, Laura Natasha Wanda aka baby Nat, and we sat looking at her in awe.
"She's so small." Loki breathed and I giggled as the pain in my abdomen faded to a dull throb. After a few minutes, Wanda handed me our dapper baby boy Clint and I immediately started laughing hysterically. "What...?" Loki asked to the room in general looking quite confused. I shook my head and looked at Laura and said, "Look at his birthmark." There on the back of his tiny right fist was a dark birthmark that looked exactly like..."Oh saints fucking preserve us. His birthmark is an arrow!" Laura shrieked causing the rest of them to crack up laughing as well. As soon as I'd nursed the babies Nat and Laura took them into the other room to meet their aunts and uncles as I got cleaned up and dressed. I was just getting my pants slid back on when a pair of arms slid around my waist and I felt Loki's lips on my neck. "Loki, my Prince, what....nnnn.....what are you doing?" I moaned as he continued to nibble and kiss my neck. "I want more." He whispered in my ear and I cracked up laughing again as we opened the bathroom door and walked out to Steve holding baby Clint who was blinking up at him and Bucky holding baby Nat and looking like he'd murder whoever came close to her in cold blood.
"Congrats!" Steve, Bucky, Sam, Peter and Pietro all said as we walked into the room. "You've got two very beautiful children, my dear." Frigga said as she hugged us both. Odin and Thor didn't say anything but I was quite sure I saw tears in Odin's eye as he turned away and began talking to Loki. "You did good, kid." A voice behind me said and I turned to see Clint standing there holding his grandson. I hadn't noticed Steve pass the baby off but smiled and looked down at the dozing baby and said, "Thank you, Daddy." He let out a soft sob and handed me my son and said, "Aw, baby don't say that I've already cried enough today as is!"
I looked across the room to where Odin, king of Asgard, was sitting on the floor with his granddaughter in his arms singing quietly as Thor, Freya, Sif, Vision, Bruce and the rest were gathering around to look at her. "I want more too." I thought in my head and heard Loki chuckle and I knew that come what may everything was going to be alright.
THE END