Standing in the bathroom, I stared down the image of myself in the mirror. I stuck my tongue out once more, noticing the odd hue that was taking over the back of my throat.

"My tongue is turning blue...is that normal?" I found myself whispering out loud to no one.

A knock at the door disrupted my whispered musings. "Hey, short stuff. Other people need to use this bathroom, you know!"

Rolling my eyes at the nickname, I called back, "I'll be out in just a second!" For an added bite I added, "And you're not so tall yourself, Tony!"

I turned my attention back to the mirror, once more eyeing the color of my mouth with unease before sighing with dejection. I quickly washed my hands to make it seem like I was doing something other than staring at myself and hurriedly exited the bathroom.

"Woah there, is everything alright?" Glancing at Tony, I gave a quick nod and made my way towards the kitchen.

Walking into the Avengers' communal kitchen, I saw someone I didn't realize I needed to speak with until that very moment. "Hey Thor, do you have a second to talk?"

Thor looked up from the meal he had been partaking in, concern clearly etched onto his face. "Why, of course." A glimmer of something passed across his face and I could tell what he was going to say before he through it. "Does this have to do with-"

"No!" I interjected. "Well, yes, but also not really…" At his bewildered look, I felt I had to clarify. "It's about, well, it's about...biology?"

"Biology?" He looked even more perplexed. "If that's the case, shouldn't you go to Banner or even Stark, for that matter?"

I vehemently shook my head no. "Absolutely not! Not just for the reason that there's no way I want to get those two involved, but mostly because it has to do with….alien biology."

"I see." Thor looked a little more understanding but still had an air of skepticism, and I prayed he wouldn't ask any more questions. "Well, then. I'm all ears!"

Sighing in relief, I looked around to see if anyone else was nearby. "Would you mind if we spoke somewhere a little less out in the open? I'd rather speak with you about this in my room, if that's alright?"

His skepticism seemed to increase with a raise of his eyebrow, but he gave a reluctant nod anyway. "Okay. Lead the way."

I turned and headed for my room, trusting that he would follow. Once we reached my quarters, I entered and immediately took a seat at the foot of my bed, clutching a throw pillow to my chest. "Would you mind locking the door once you're in?"

Thor coughed quickly, and I looked up at him, letting out a giggle when I noticed he had carried his plate from the kitchen. He had been in the middle of chewing and seemed to have choked at my request. "Don't worry. I just don't want any unwanted visitors during the talk."

He nodded and did as I asked before settling down on the chaise I had in the corner of my room, balancing his plate on his knees. "So, tell me what's on your mind?"

I squeezed the pillow tight and noticed a smidgen too late that he had taken another bite before I blurted out, "What do you know about babies?"

This time the food practically flew out of his mouth through his coughing fit. Once he calmed himself and retrieved his bearings, he placed his plate on the ground next to him and said, "Okay, clearly this is not a conversation fit for eating."

I laughed out an apology, nodding in agreement. He suddenly looked at me very seriously, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "Are you sure you don't want to talk to someone else about this?" At my refusal, he continued. "Well, it starts when a mommy Asgardian and a daddy Asgardian-"

"No, not that! I know all too well how that works! Trust me!" I waved my hands at him, motioning for him to stop. "No, what I want to know is, are Asgardian pregnancies different from mortal pregnancies? Like any abnormal side effects or anything?"

He looked as if the weight of the responsibility he thought he had had lifted off his shoulders, causing him to weigh 3 tons lighter. Sighing, he sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, not that I know of, at least."

"I see. That's good, then." Licking my lips, I attempted to curse my sudden onset of dry mouth before asking, "What about Frost Giant pregnancies?"

Looking up, he scratched his chin in thought. "Hmm, I don't know much about that other than what I learned about Frost Giants as a child. For that, you might want to go to Lo..."

Something seemed to have clicked in his brain as his eyes shot straight towards mine. I can only assume he found the answer he was looking for in them as his own widened comically. "ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU'RE PRE-"

"Sssssshut up, shut up, shut up!" I bolted from my spot on the bed over to where he was, forcefully covering his face with the pillow. "I will remove this pillow if you promise to be quiet!"

He grabbed my hands and pulled down, bringing the pillow to rest between us. "Are you telling me that you're pregnant with Loki's baby," he whisper screamed.

I would have laughed at the incredulous expression on his face if not for the conversation we were having that caused it. "Yes."

"You're having a baby? WITH LO-"

I covered his face with the pillow once more. "Yes," I hissed out. "Now, be quiet!"

He pulled our joined hands down again, frowning as his eyes glared at me like daggers. "How long has this been going on? You and," he paused as felt me raise the pillow once more, "Loki?"

I took a deep breath and exhaled, feeling my shoulders drop with the relief of finally telling someone else. "A little over a year."

"A YEAR?!" He pulled the pillow from my hands and tossed it back over to the bed, "Enough with the pillow! I believe I'm justified in freaking out after learning that MY BROthew haz been hiwing a welationship for the pass yeaw!"

The laugh that had threatened to surface before came spilling out as I watched Thor try to speak angrily through the fish lips I had created by pushing his cheeks together with my hands. It wasn't long before he had joined me in my laughter as we reveled in the ridiculousness of the situation.

I brought my hands down to his shoulders for leverage as our laughter subsided. "Does he know?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Do you think we'd be having this conversation if he did?"

"Fair enough. So, why come to me first?"

"I...there's something happening with me, and I didn't want to freak him out more than he already will." Concern immediately overtook Thor's face, and I rushed to quell it. "It's nothing life-threatening, I don't think. Maybe it's better if I just show you."

I opened my mouth, and I could feel his hands grip my waist for better leverage as he leaned forward to get a closer look. "Is your mouth turning blue?"

I closed my mouth and nodded. "I thought it might have something to do with the fact that the baby is, you know, part Frost Giant, and I know Loki is a bit touchy on that subject and..."

"And you came to me to get an opinion before bombarding him with both news at once. I see." Thor nodded in understanding and the corner of his lip quirked up into a half smile. "You care greatly for my brother. He has chosen quite well."

I could feel the blush overtake my ears and I gave a small cough. "Yes, well, you know… I wouldn't be having his baby if I didn't love him."

"Well," he sighed, bringing my attention back to him, "Unfortunately, I do not have any further knowledge of Frost Giants other than their basic biology, so I can't do much to help you. However, I do believe you should speak with Loki as soon as you can. I'm sure he'd be delighted to know."

"Ah, that's okay. I figured it was a long shot, but thanks a lot for talking with me. You actually helped me wrap my head around this a little better." A glowing smile overtook my face as I thought about Loki's reaction to becoming a father. "Yeah, I will!"

I suddenly turned to Thor, dropping my tone to that of a more serious one. "Now, if anyone somehow finds out we had this conversation and asks what it was about, the answer is, 'We were talking about biology.' Got it?"

Thor let out a hearty laugh and nodded. "Got it!"

I tightened the grip I had on his shoulders and leaned in closer to his face. "I'm serious. If anyone asks what we spoke about, the only answer coming out of your mouth is-"

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

Thor and I froze at the new voice as we simultaneously turned to look at the source. We exchanged a glance as we discovered the identity of our intruder before Thor gave a shrug and sheepish smile as he said, "We were talking about biology?"