"It's a boy!" Frigga declared proudly as the healers cleaned off your new baby.
You squeezed Loki's hand and smiled happily at him. He tried to return a smile of his own, but it looked more like a grimace.
After all, Loki didn't take your pregnancy as well as you would have liked; actually, he didn't take your marriage the way you would have liked either. It wasn't that he wasn't good to you, he was incredibly loving and treated you with the utmost respect, but his self-loathing often overshadowed what should be your happiest times.
A week before your wedding, Frigga had put her foot down and made Odin tell Loki of his true parentage. The shocking news almost made Loki call the whole thing off. It took days of you telling Loki you couldn't care less that he was a frost giant; it didn't change who he was to you, and how much he meant to you. He finally relented, but there were times when he thought you were asleep and he would sneak out of bed and stand in front of the mirror in the bathroom, stark naked, and change into his frost giant form. You could see his reflection through the crack in the door, and the look of disgust and hatred in his face always broke your heart.
You were beyond excited when Eir told you that you were pregnant. Frigga and Odin were ecstatic to be grandparents, and Thor couldn't wait to be an uncle. Loki was absent for a few days after hearing your news, heading to the woods of Asgard to do some thinking. When he finally came home, he tried hard to be happy, but the reality of what the baby would be always nagged in the back of his mind.
"Let me see him," you reached your arms out to Frigga, who was swaddling the newborn in what used to be Loki's old baby blanket.
Your heart swelled beyond measure when she placed the tiny bundle in your arms. You couldn't believe he was finally here!
"I am so happy to finally meet you, little one," you cooed at the sleeping baby. You turned to look at Loki, and that was when your smile faltered.
He stared at the baby with a mixture of despair and disgust; much the same way he looked at himself when he thought no one was looking. You looked back to your baby and finally realized what he saw—the baby's skin was the same shade of blue as his father's when you peaked through the door, with identical raised markings on his soft skin. The baby opened his eyes sleepily for a moment; he had the red eyes of a frost giant.
You didn't care. "He's perfect," you whispered.
"Is it safe?" Thor poked his head in the room.
"Yes," you answered as Thor and Sif crept quietly into the room as to not wake your sleeping bundle.
"Can I hold him?" Thor asked excitedly with his arms outstretched.
"Where are your two?" you asked, smiling as Thor rocked your baby and told him about how excited his boys were to meet him.
"With Volstag. Hopefully, his clan will tire them out," Sif said, as she brushed the top of your baby's head with her fingers. "He's beautiful."
"He's perfect," you agreed fondly.
The three of you tried to ignore Loki standing in the far corner of the room as he stared at the floor, not saying a word.
After a while, the baby had made his way from Thor to Sif, and back to you.
"Loki? Can you take him for a while? I really want to try and take a quick bath." You stood with Sif's help and tried to give Loki his son.
"I…dont…" he started to say.
"I'll take him." Thor took the baby while shaking his head at his brother.
As soon as the bathroom door closed behind you, you heard angry hushed voices.
"Loki, what the hell?" Thor asked.
"Look at him, Thor!"
"I am! He's a healthy boy; you should be happy!"
"How can I be happy? Look what I did to him! He doesn't exactly fit, does he?"
"Oh Loki, you really don't think-" Sif started, but Loki interrupted her.
"She's going to hate me! How could I have gone through with it? How could I do this to her? I should have known better!" Loki was getting louder now; you could hear the baby starting to fuss. "Once they told me what I was, I shouldn't have…I should never have." You could hear his voice starting to break.
"Loki…she loves you. And she loves this baby! Can you not see that?" Thor asked.
"It's fine for you, but what about for the rest of Asgard? The rest of the universe? Frost giants are loathed, Thor! Now this is all out in the open…"
"He can learn to control his image, just like you had."
"And what if he can't?!"
"If he can't, he can't." You had had enough of his angst and stepped back into the room. "Everyone will love him Loki, just as much as we all do. You have to trust that."
Loki didn't seem to hear you but took you in his arms whispering how sorry he was.
"Loki, will you please just hold him? Please?" you pleaded, muffled into his chest.
At last he finally relented, and Thor placed the baby into his arms. It wasn't long at all before you could see Loki begin to melt.
"See?" you said, "It will all be alright, and until it's not, then we can worry."
Loki only nodded, unable to take his eyes off his son.