"I would like some raw salmon, pickles, strawberry cream cheese, and toast please. What do you want for breakfast darling?" Loki asked. Sigyn looked at her husband like he was nuts.

"I'm the one that's supposed to have weird food cravings. What the hell are you eating?"

"What?"

"What do you mean what? You know what. Raw salmon and strawberry cream cheese?"

"It's delicious."

"It's disgusting. I'll have a diluted ginger beer and crackers please." Sigyn told the servant. "And bring an empty basin with you as well."

"Darling our child is going to starve in the womb if you keep regurgitating everything."

"Like I have any choice in the matter? The healers have given me what they can, but there is only so much they can do for a pregnant lady. It is my lot to suffer in this way. You men don't know how hard this is." Sigyn said. Loki rolled his eyes. He yawned, despite sleeping well the night before.

"I should have ordered a coffee as well. I'm exhausted." Loki said.

"Me too. The healers warned me that I would be tired these first couple of months, but I had no idea. I keep nodding off in the middle of conversations. Yesterday Lady Svenson was droning on about her hideous new dress and I fell asleep while listening to her."

"You're pregnant. You're allowed."

"Tell her that. Apparently I was snoring loudly and the other ladies laughed at her. When I woke up she was glaring at me. And her dress was this ugly shade of orange with little emeralds dotted all over it. She looked like a sparkly pile of what my breakfast looks like when I spew it up in the basin. Loki? Loki are you listening?" Sigyn asked. Loki's head had lolled back. She shoved his leg with her foot and Loki made a choked snoring sound as he awoke.

"Hum? What?"

"Very funny." She said sarcastically. Loki only looked slightly chagrined, but a little confused as well.

"What can I say? That story about that dress is even more boring when retold second hand."

"Oh! You are completely worthless in the sympathy department. I see now I'll have to join forces with Sif if I am to get the concern and attention I deserve." Sigyn said. Their breakfast arrived and she made a face as Loki piled all the items he ordered onto the toast and ate it. Her ginger beer and crackers didn't stay down long.

Sigyn and Sif were both two months pregnant now. Due to the dueling pregnancies there were all sorts of betting pools regarding their impending births. Everything from who would go first, to who would have a boy or a girl was up for wagering. Sif and Sigyn became two peas in a pod as they each complained about the changes happening to their bodies. For once Thor and Loki could share eye contact at dinner without a sexual undertone as they rolled their eyes at their wives and replied "Yes Darling" to pretty much every comment they made.

"Thooor, Loki! You two could be a little less conspicuous with your eye rolls." Frigga admonished her sons one night after dinner.

"This pregnancy is killing me mother." Loki said.

"Oh please! You're not the one with back pain and swollen ankles."

"Actually mother, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. I have been having symptoms. Ever since Sigyn got pregnant I've been feeling…odd. I'm exhausted, I eat far too much, and my feet are the size of father's armada."

"Really?" Frigga asked.

"Yes. Just this morning I had an impossible time tugging my boots onto my feet." Loki said.

"Oh Loki, my sweet sweet boy! You're having sympathy pains."

"Sympathy pains?" Loki twisted his face into a look of utter disbelief.

"Yes. Who knew beneath that stiff callous exterior lay the heart of such a sweet caring man. You must really love her. Sympathy pains, while not unheard of, are very rare. Most men do not have the capacity to identify with our plight."

"Mother. You are clearly mistaken, and for the love of the Norns do not tell a soul about this!" Loki said as embarrassment consumed him.

"Of course son." Frigga said. But her face and her tone suggested that she had no intension of keeping this a secret.

"Mother! I mean it!"

"But my lady friends at court would just think it is so adorable." Frigga said.

"Absolutely not! Are you trying to destroy my warrior reputation?"

"Oh alright son. Fine. My lips are sealed." Frigga said.

"Thank you." Loki said. As the pregnancies progressed, Sigyn and Sif took to shopping for baby items, which became all the rage among the women of the realm. Getting an invitation to their knitting circle became a power game for the social climbers at court. So did becoming pregnant as every noble house wanted to have a child of similar age available to play with the royal children as they grew up and eventually became eligible to marry.

By the fourth month both Sif and Sigyn's morning sickness had subsided and both were put on bump watch. It was around this time that the skin on Loki's stomach began to itch, and he noticed that his trousers were getting tight.

"You're getting fat." Sigyn said in a light voice. Loki made a face, being the vain creature that he was. He couldn't deny it though. He'd taken to working out twice as often with the soldiers but nothing was working. He grabbed some of his wife's body oils and rubbed them into his belly and sighed in relief when the itching stopped. Determined to reverse his waistline, he went down to the sparring field where Thor was and challenged him to a fight.

"Your tunic is looking a little tight across the middle brother." Thor said with a shit eating grin.

"Sigyn has been eating a lot lately, and then she cries because she feels fat. So I eat too." Loki said. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. He didn't know why, but lately he was hungry all the time.

The men grabbed their wooden swords and took up their stances for the duel. The match began and inside of two moves, Loki's lost his grip on his sword and fumbled it as it dropped. Thor shot him a quizzical look but waited for Loki to pick it up and start again. The second time Thor rushed him and Loki went to one of his practiced moves to dodge him. However, his center of gravity was off and he couldn't get out of the was as quickly as he used to. Thor knocked him on his ass and Loki groaned in pain.

"Loki are you alright?" Thor asked. Loki clutched his belly and that was when he noticed how hard it was. It wasn't muscle, it was something else. Loki sat there for a moment piecing together all of his symptoms and came to a frightening conclusion.

"No brother. I think something is terribly wrong." Loki said. Thor reached down, feeling panicked. He helped Loki to his feet and looked at him.

"What is it?"

"I think I have a tumor in my belly."

"What?"

"Take me to the healers."