You ever get an intense desire to start working on a new fic but you gotta commit and finish the final story of the series you've been working on for two years straight? I hate when that happens. I've gotten awesome ideas for a fic for a totally different fandom but I KNOW I can't start it until I finish this one. Well, at least I'm on the final fic of this series xD I've been making great progress on Hydrangeas, if I do say so myself, and I don't intend to stop or slow down any time soon. I will finish this fic, and it'll be one of my greatest achievements. As somebody who never used to be able to complete fics, I'm so proud of myself for coming this far. Four stories in, and we're on our way to completing Amelia and Loki's story.

I will definitely cry when this fic is over lmfao. I'm not sure how many chapters this will have but right now I'm expecting it'll be somewhere around 25-ish.

Man, I love all of you.


Hydrangeas Say Our Family Will Flourish

Chapter 11: Preparation is Key

"Why do humans colour-code their infants?"

Amelia peered up from the soft pink baby onesie she was pinching between her fingers in a bid to test the texture of the fabric, finding Loki's disapproving expression as he examined the selection - or lack thereof - for newborn infant clothing.

"Why is everything either blue for boys or pink for girls?" His lips pulled back in subtle disgust, "Where's the green?"

The first stop of the day was the local mall's infant-care shop, which had a whole bunch of baby clothes, supplies and other necessities; Loki was donning a disguise that consisted of sunglasses and a black cap he'd pulled his hair into, hiding it from those who may have had a sharp eye for superheroes. On top of that, he was wearing clothes that could be considered normal wear, instead of his all-black ensemble suit that made him look like a vampire.

Amelia smiled, a hint of apology in her gaze on behalf of the human race, "Yeah, a lot of people are pretty strict about what colour children wear. It's another dumb gender thing." Across the room, deeper into the shop, Amelia could see what seemed to be a more broad range of clothing options, "We may find something better down there."

They waded further in, eventually coming face to face with a greater assortment of colours down one specific aisle.

"Oh, you have to be kidding me."

Amelia's eyebrows rose up as she looked back at what Loki had homed in on and was now holding at arm's length like it was a bag of trash. Her eyes found the onesie, taking in the familiar colour mix of red and gold, and she smirked.

"When I grow up, I wanna be Iron Man," she read the words on the front of it aloud, finding much amusement in the way her husband rolled his eyes behind his tinted sunglasses. "I think we should buy that one."

"Don't you dare," Loki pulled it away when Amelia tried to reach for it, and placed it back on the rack before urging her to move on down the aisle with a hand at the small of her back, "we will not give Stark the satisfaction of dressing one of our children in that."

"Aww, but it would make him so happy!"

"It would inflate his ego, which is already the size of a planet."

"Look who's talkin'."

Loki silently squinted at Amelia through his sunglasses, but the only indication of it that she could see was the furrow of his eyebrows; she gave him a wide, smug grin before returning her attention to the many baby clothes hanging before her.

The sight of them made her feel bubbly - they were so cute, and just the thought of imagining her own newborn children dressed in them brought with it a world of joy. They ended up picking out two sets of pastel green, two sets of a soft yellow and two sets of mid-tone purple; it was enough for the moment as Amelia imagined they would probably receive a lot of baby clothes as gifts, and if not - well… she could always come back for that Iron-Man onesie.

They explored around the shop and Amelia picked up items that she knew were necessities while Loki trailed along behind her, inspecting everything with a curious and critical eye.

"What's that?" he asked as Amelia dropped a pack of pacifiers into the basket Loki was carrying.

"Pacifiers," she answered plainly, before remembering Loki wouldn't know that they were, "they're comfort items. Babies suck on them."

"Oh."

Another few minutes of browsing passed and then Loki questioned once again, "What is this?" He pointed to the box on the shelf on which a particular contraption was pictured.

Amelia cleared her throat, "That's a breast pump, Loki."

"Breast pump?" Loki spoke as though he knew exactly what those two words meant individually, but when put together, made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Amelia rubbed off the awkwardness that was definitely showing on her face and took a moment to think of a way to explain what the product did without causing her face to turn even pinker than it already was.

"It… It pumps milk out of the breasts so that you can feed the babies when you're unable to nurse them… among other reasons."

Loki blinked, seemingly unphased by the explanation, "Oh. Do we need one?"

Amelia's mouth hung open for a moment, suspended in the middle of a thought, "Um. I don't know. Maybe? It might be… beneficial? I don't know. I've never been pregnant before!"

Loki's face creased into something between amusement and fondness, and he picked up the box, placing it into the basket, shrugging as he did so, "Best to be safe than sorry."

Amelia flushed and smiled, shaking her head free of the minor embarrassment, and nodded her head in agreement, "True."

The next stop after the clothing and product essentials was a shop that sold cribs, and high-quality cribs at that, because Loki wouldn't settle for anything less than perfect for his children. He had already expressed that if he had his wish, they would live permanently in New Asgard, and wouldn't have to worry about purchasing items from sellers they weren't sure they could trust, because Loki could just snap his fingers and have the items built by competent carpenters with the utmost care.

Amelia, however, was not content with living full time in the palace, living life as a princess on a constant basis. While she was grateful for everything the Asgardians had offered, she still saw herself as a regular non-royal person who liked to kick back and act silly every once in a while, which probably wouldn't be so welcomed in the palace.

They'd agreed to move between the two locations every few months after the children were born, because Amelia felt it was important for them to know the ins and outs of both lives - as a prince and princess, and as regular children.

On the way to purchase some cribs, Amelia found herself distracted as they walked past a shop popular for their lingerie and other… adult products. She slowed to a stop, staring into the entrance, her gaze travelling all the way to the back of the shop where she could very clearly see fluffy handcuffs and whips hanging on the wall. She gulped, quickly remembering the dream she had had not that long ago that left her breathless to recall, in which Loki had been rough and dominating.

It left her light-headed in a wonderful way.

"Amelia?"

Amelia's head snapped forward to where Loki was standing in front of her, clutching the bags of supplies they had purchased, his head tilted in confusion, with maybe a little curiosity thrown in there… and a dab of impatience.

"Uh, sorry." Amelia mumbled, "let's go." She wanted to get going before Loki realised what she had been staring at, but it was all too late because Loki quickly followed that line of sight and came face to face with the contents of the shop.

She saw, even with his sunglasses on, that his face twitched with knowing and smug amusement, before he pinned her with a pointed glance. Maybe he hadn't seen what she'd been looking at specifically, but she was sure he had a pretty good idea.

"Shut up." Amelia grumbled before he had time to say anything, and continued walking on to avoid the mortification.

Over the next few days, Stark made preparations to have the unused room opposite Amelia and Loki's bedroom ready for decorating. It was cleaned till spotless and any unused furniture was removed, leaving it completely free to mold into whatever they wanted it to be. Tony offered to have somebody assemble the cribs they had purchased, but Amelia declined the help - to Loki's dismay - and declared that they would be the ones to assemble it, claiming that it would be a fun, parental exercise.

It was not a fun exercise. Loki didn't know how to assemble furniture. The instruction manual was unnecessarily confusing.

"Why can't midgardians just say what they mean?" Loki groused as he scanned over the unclear instructions and debatable diagrams while Amelia lounged on the recliner with her feet up. "There are two possibilities here, either I'm doing this wrong and the instructions are shit, or I'm doing it right and the entire design is shit."

Amelia pouted. From the inflections of Loki's voice, she could tell he was getting genuinely worked up and angry; she had hoped they could build the cribs together and that it would be a wonderful thing to do, but she hadn't counted on the instructions for the pieces of furniture being… absolute garbage. She probably should've predicted something like that and just let Tony call some guys in to build the cribs for them.

If her muscles hadn't started getting sore from kneeling on the floor for so long, she probably could've been more help.

"Hey… please don't get angry," Amelia sighed, pushing herself up into a sitting position, "maybe if you take a little break and come back to it, it'll be more clear-"

"No, it won't be more clear because whoever wrote these instructions is useless!" Loki snapped loudly, causing Amelia to flinch, and he threw the paper booklet across the room, causing pages to tear out. Amelia gazed over at him wide-eyed, blinking a couple of times, and then frowned and threw a cushion at his head.

"If you're gonna shout, shout into the cushion."

Loki caught it with ease and squeezed it hard in his grip. He rolled his eyes, "Fine."

With that, he pressed it to his face and screamed multiple, muffled expletives into the fabric; he peppered a few death threats towards the makers of the cribs between various swear words, and by the time he peeled the cushion away, his breathing was slightly laboured.

"Better?" Amelia gently enquired.

"Not really," Loki sighed. He sulkily and pitifully crawled across the floor to pluck up the instruction manual and its missing pages before returning to the regrettable DIY project - which was hardly even a DIY project when all Loki had to do was put it together. Amelia reminded herself to never suggest going shopping at IKEA.

Amelia laid back again, preparing for more irritable snapping from her husband, and rested her hand on her moderately large stomach, rubbing back and forth as she breathed out a sigh, "Your daddy is going to some lengths to make sure you have lovely cribs to sleep in," she cooed down at her belly, unsure whether her unborn babies could actually hear her or not, but wanting to lighten the mood regardless.

Loki made a scoffing noise that was vaguely swathed in sarcasm, but his expression mostly radiated warmth at Amelia's playful remark. He closed his eyes briefly, and then dropped the manual - more gently this time - and slithered across the floor towards Amelia. He sat down by the recliner and leaned over, pressing a kiss to Amelia's stomach, something he would do on occasion that always filled Amelia with glee.

"You hear that?" Loki murmured against her belly, "I'm having to decode those instructions like they're some sort of cipher just so you have a place to sleep. You better be grateful."

Amelia snorted, and then froze. She grabbed Loki suddenly by the shoulder as if reaching for a lifeline, and concern befell his features when he caught the shocked expression on Amelia's face. "What? What is it?" Loki inquired.

"Did you feel that?" Amelia whispered.

"Feel what?"

"I… I think-" She felt the sensation again, a faint but clear flitter in her belly, which forced a gasp from her, "I think they're moving!"

Loki's mouth fell open in surprise. He moved his hand to Amelia's belly and then pressed his ear to it as an afterthought, waiting - silent and still - to sense any sort of movement.

A beat passed, and then another, and just as Amelia thought the fluttering had ended, she felt it again.

"There!" She practically screamed, a smile that couldn't be diminished grew wide on her face, and a slew of overjoyed sounds escaped her mouth, "Do you feel it? Do you!?"

Loki felt it. The ever so gentle quiver, it was barely there but he felt it. He quickly found that even after the vexing couple of hours he had had, there was nothing to stop the grin from spreading over his face. He chuckled and then he laughed, rubbing his cheek against his wife's baby bump. "I do," he murmured joyously, "I feel them."

"I think they heard you," Amelia giggled, running her fingers through Loki's hair, "say something else to them!"

"I- I…" Loki nuzzled Amelia's stomach with his nose, "I love you."

Amelia felt the warmth of the moment encompass her, it had been a while since she'd wanted to cry from happiness, but there she was, blinking back the tears in her eyes as she basked in the precious moment.

They stayed there like that for some time, waiting for more movement and growing excited every time they felt even the slightest twitch. It was amazing how their unborn children had managed to completely flip Loki's mood around from aggravation to elation. It was also probably a good thing, because when Loki eventually returned to working on the cribs and Amelia got a good look at the progress he had made so far, she noticed one glaring flaw that potentially was the reason behind Loki's prior perplexity.

"Ah, Loki?"

"Hmm?"

"You've screwed the base edges in upside down. That's why the instructions make no sense. There's nowhere to place the wooden slats."

Amelia bit her lip to hide the nervous smile that threatened to bubble up as Loki slowly looked over what he had done, glancing down to the manual and then back up at the misassembled crib. Instead of snapping in anger, like Amelia had expected, he simply laid down on the floor, face up with his eyes burning into the ceiling.

"Amelia, please fetch the cushion for me." His request was spoken in a shockingly calm tone.

Amelia made a move towards the puffy pillow he had thrown across the room earlier, "Do you need to scream into it again?"

"No," Loki responded bluntly, "I just want you to suffocate me with it."


The next chapter will probably be shorter. The next chapter involves strangers touching Amelia's belly without her consent and how that is totally NOT OKAY. ;)

I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on this chapter! Please leave your comments below! I read every single one and I love them!