A/N: Phew! This took forever to rewrite! But it's the first in a trilogy so it needed to be done! This is completely self-indulgent but I hope you enjoy anyway.

July

According to Mist, the best way to tell if someone was pregnant was to have urine injected into a rabbit, or onto wheat and barley seeds. Thankfully enough, with Soren there was no question about it.

One minute he had been up and controlling the winds to clear out the courtyard from errant seeds, and the next he had collapsed onto the floor with no grace at all. When someone came to check on him, he threw up on them. Then he was in bed, sipping water and with his feet propped up. He had no idea how he'd gotten there, but presumably Mist had something to do with it, because she was sitting next to him.

"Well that didn't take long!" Mist said with a giggle. "Either you're very fertile, or you and my brother have been very busy the last two weeks!"

"Both," Soren admitted, somewhat smug about that last point.

Yes, to start their family Soren had used magic to make him able to carry a child. Although there had been some hesitation at first, of course, both Ike and Soren adapted to the temporary sex change fairly easily. Appearance-wise Soren hadn't changed overly much, having never been particularly masculine to begin with nor overly concerned with gender norms; and, while Ike was intimately aware of the differences under his robes, he was curious enough (and, flatteringly, enough in love with Soren) to just roll with it. The hardest part for everyone had been Soren's initial opting to be referred to with female pronouns for the duration, under the assumption it would be easier . It was not, and he'd given up quickly. Thankfully for Soren in particular, it was a small matter.

The hardest part for everyone had been Soren's initial opting to be referred to with female pronouns for the duration, under the assumption it would be easier. It was not, and he'd given up quickly. Thankfully for Soren in particular, it was a small matter.

"Well I've been very busy with reading notes from midwives," she said, smiling and petting Soren's hair, "and I do have to say it's not uncommon for pregnant people to feel nauseated or faint as the first signs. So, I'd say just rest for awhile."

"Are you going to be my midwife, then?" Soren asked, somewhat horrified and amused at the idea. He'd known the girl for a long time, although she obviously wasn't a girl anymore… but she was still Soren's sister-in-law. But better her than a stranger who lived away from the fort. Maybe.

Mist lit up. "Definitely! I'm super excited to help out however I can with my little niece or nephew! Just do me a favor and don't name it in any way after Ike, okay?"

"That was never going to happen, I promise."

The door burst open. "Are you okay?" Ike demanded, looking harried. "Is he okay?" he asked of his sister.

Mist grinned big, but Soren was the one to tell him, "Rabbits of Tellius rejoice, I'm pregnant and there's no need to torment them to find it out."

"Congratulations," Mist whispered, hugging her shocked-looking brother before she snuck out.

Ike flailed a little. "That's amazing, but, why did you faint?"

Gosh, he was cute. Soren could tell by the way Ike was twitching that what he really wanted to do was give him a full hug-and-squeeze, but he was holding himself back out of nerves. "It happens sometimes. I just need to be more careful, now that I know. You can come over here."

Ike tiptoed over, which was absurd given the size of the man, and he crawled into bed to curl up with him. He gave him a gentle hug and rested a hand on his abdomen, kissing his hair. "I'm happy. Are you happy?"

"I'm happy." And amused, you great giant dork, he thought with love and adoration.

"I'm happy too. What do you think about naming him Ike? Or if a girl, Ikette?" Ike was now beaming as he rested his head on Soren's sternum, his hand rubbing the non-existent baby bump.

"No," said Soren, even more amused now. "We don't need two Ikes, and we really don't need an Ikette. No one needs an Ikette."

"Technically my name is Isaac," Ike retorted. "His would just be Ike. So it wouldn't be the same."

Soren tugged on his hair gently. "No."

"Ikea for a girl?"

"Definitely not."

"Soren is a gender-neutral name, so either works…"

"No."

Ike pouted playfully. "I guess we could combine the two, like… Iren? Isen?"

"No way. Besides, it's not uncommon to lose pregnancies this early on," Soren reminded him. "So don't go making up names just yet."

His face instantly turned into a scowl. "Oh. But… what can I do?"

"Just let me rest… and make sure to do anything and everything I ask of you. Worship the ground I walk on. Treat me like the prince I am."

"Sure!"

"I was joking…"

Ike now had his look of determination, and Soren saw his fate for the next nine months. "I am going to spoil you rotten."

He shook his head, but the damage had been done. "I was kidding. I just need to take it easy."

"I'll go get food!" he declared, jumping up and running out of the room. He then ran back in, kissed him soundly, whispered, "I'm so happy!", then ran back out.

"I'm doomed," Soren said with a helpless little laugh. But he was beaming as he rubbed his own abdomen.

Faint spells, nausea… whatever came his way, he was going to kick this pregnancy's ass.

In a way, Soren was a lot more fun. Ike did feel bad for him, because going from male to pregnant female was a huge change and it took its toll pretty obviously. But that was the fun of it!

Which Soren was he going to get today?

It could be one who was glowing expectantly and singing to himself as he did his duties, completely unfazed by the nausea and tiredness. He loved that one (almost) the most.

Or, the one who became irrationally possessive and threatened to murder Ike and anyone he cheated on him with, in between growling at people he perceived as coming too close. That one was flattering but exasperating.

A close relative of that one was the angry, irritable, "Get off my ass and leave me alone, Ike!" Soren that Ike chose to ignore. He was not letting him be unsupervised, for one, and for two, his ass was still pretty lovely.

Then there was the weepy one who let his sickness and exhaustion get the better of him, curled up in bed and refusing to do anything independently. That was the worst one. It made Ike feel intense guilt.

Ike's personal favorite was the insatiably horny Soren that showed up at random times and was triggered by the most mundane things. Who knew changing bed sheets was sexy?

(And one time there had been a mix, which was scary.

Ike had found him staring in sorrow and wibbling at the top shelf of his office bookcase. He was standing on the chair, which had worked just fine when he was two inches taller. Ike walked over and stood on his toes to grab the ledger he was reaching for. Soren had then promptly tackled him and kissed him quite soundly, starting to take his pants off for sexy times. Mist had walked in to check on them, only for Soren to threaten to electrocute her into a pile of ashes.

Thankfully Mist had a decent sense of humor and left. Ike decided to never mention the incident again.)

And of course, there was Typical Soren, who was relieving to see if not so entertaining. Typical Soren was still exotic. Ike completely understood that Soren was still Soren and identified as male, but it was complicated to look at a female and use male pronouns… but it had been just as difficult to refer to Soren as she. Soren thankfully was very relaxed about it all. Ike was admittedly still getting used to lady parts, but it turned out that "if it's Soren, it's okay" was pretty much his sexuality. But everyone asked him that, which was really annoying.

While Ike would be too excited to be at the end of this holding their child in one arm and his husband Soren back to normal in the other, he was highly aware this was still Soren and still the person he fell in love with, and it was all okay, and take it one day at a time.

(And what if Soren decided to keep girly parts? Er… Well. Ike would live. He'd get used to it, eventually. He hoped Soren didn't decide to do that, though. Given the struggles already, he had a feeling Soren would be back to male as soon as physically possible. The sex was good, but it wasn't him.)

Otherwise, the rest of the company had definitely stepped up. All of them, which was shocking. Oscar seemed to take his various cravings as a challenge. Boyd, Mia and Gatrie all did more missions so Ike could focus on Soren. Mia in particular had stopped randomly attacking him for sparring practice (if he'd known that would happen, he would have suggested baby-making years ago). Rolf was stoked to not be the baby and was serving as a decent messenger and errand-runner. Rhys and Mist had taken over researching and preparing information about pre- and postnatal care. Shinon avoided everyone as per usual but occasionally little handcrafted toys would appear that they attributed to him. Titania was largely out in the community as she stepped up to cover what others weren't doing.

Soren spent a lot of his time, when he wasn't working on finances, reading the books that Mist had acquired about midwifery. It made Ike's job of making sure he ate and relaxed easier, although eyestrain was a common problem. With him distracted he could feed him by hand, prop his feet up and give him little massages. He still had a lot of fainting spells and nausea, and Ike would be more worried if everyone wasn't so confident this was normal.

But overall, Ike was thrilled. This was really happening. He was going to be a father with his beloved Soren.

And everything was going so well!