Alex POV

I was pleasantly soaking in a bubble bath in Odin's enormous pink marble tub. I notice the birdbath-like dish where he kept Mimir's head for so long sitting forlornly to the side. Proof even Odin can't save everyone. That was the last thing I needed to see right now—even gods can die. What chance do demigods have when one as powerful as Loki is playing with my fate as if I were as disposable as a cheap plastic chess piece? And my children are the pawns he wants to capture in this game.

"Why are you doing this?", I hiss at my mother as Loki comes toward me, "Why do you hate me?"

"I don't hate you, Alex! But..."

"What?!"

"I hate him! HIM! Look at you! Your body is pink with handprints where he touches you, your lips swollen from his kisses, your belly round with his children, he's all over you. You belong to him. You're his now. He made a fool of me! He has to die!"

"All this is about Magnus?", I cry out, hoping he'll hear me. I never thought I was that kind of girl (or boy), but the possessive way he described Magnus's hold on me is very arousing. Don't have time for that though.

"Not all of it. I need those twins to take over Asgard. If there was a way I could save you, I would..."

"Funny you should mention that." It's Magnus, filling the doorway, and I can feel the rage emanating off him.

"You CAN help and you know it, now get away from Alex!", he booms.

"I can't do that", Loki says, coming toward me. I scream, but all he does is touch my forehead. I start to flash back to my childhood, and then suddenly my water breaks and gushes into the already full bath tub below. Somehow, my anatomy has changed.

"Magnus!", I scream.

Magnus POV

"Alex!" I rush over to her and scoop Alex up in my arms, carrying her dripping wet out of the bathroom, and lay her gently on Odin's bed.

"You can't give birth here, it's too dangerous!", I insist, "We have to get you back to Valhalla...Loki, help me!"

I watch helplessly as that green snake just shakes his head "no." "If it would help, I would. But nothing will help, and nothing will change her fate..."

The look Loki gives her- I swear I see a tear drip down his cheek. "I'll be back for my grandchildren when it's over..."

"Oh no, I need you, and you know exactly what for, you're not going anywhere!", I scream at him, but Loki blinks out in front of us.

"No!" I yell. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Panicking Alex will make all this worse. "Okay, okay, we have to get you back to Valhalla...can you walk?"

"No! Of course not!"

"I'll carry you..."

"Miles? Magnus...this is happening right now. I...I don't understand how it's going to happen..." Alex screams and screams. Pain. Terror. They're blending together, but the more she panics, the more she risks herself and the children.

"Please stay as calm as you can..."

"Just...look down there. Tell me that this is going to work...PLEASE!", she begs.

"First of all..." I take Alex's hands in mine. "You're the love of my life. It doesn't matter what I see or find, or what's between your legs, Alex. I adore what's between your ears. I adore what's in your heart. And I adore your body too. I love you every minute of my life... period."

I pull her into a hard kiss, then pull down her lime green leggings. "You...have the ability to give birth. Your body is... different", I confirm, swallowing hard, then tossing the leggings off the side. I don't know how or why or what's going on, but Alex can bring our children into the world.

She finally takes a deep breath. "Good, that was the worst part, my biggest fear", she confirms. "I thought that's how I was going to die, that I couldn't physically give birth."

"Alex, no! We have to get you to Valhalla!"

"I can't move right now", she says.

"Heimdall!",I scream out.

A guard comes in.

"Hurry! This is an emergency. I need to get Alex to Valhalla...get Heimdall!"

He rushes out.

"Just relax, breathe", I tell her.

"I'm scared." I kiss Alex with everything I am and everything I hope for us. Running to the bathroom, I get towels and hot water. I don't know why, but in the movies, they always get hot water. I can wipe the sweat off her brow, that's about it.

Heimdall rushes in, armor clinking, with two guards.

"Thank the gods! Help me! We have to move her!", I yell, but both he and Alex are looking at me like I have three heads.

"We can't move her, Magnus, it's begun", Heimdall laments.

"No! She can't..." I yank him out of the room, and I'm angry enough to strong-arm a god.

"If she dies in Valhalla, she doesn't really die!" I know tears are rolling down my cheeks. "She CAN'T give birth anywhere but there!"

"Magnus, we can't move her right now. She'll die if you try it..."

"But she'll die if I don't!"

"Magnus..."

"Go to Valhalla and get the doctor then!", I yell "I don't care what he's doing, you're a god, make him come. Get Sam. And anyone else you can: Mallory, Gunderson, we're going to need lots of help."

"Magnus...you have to believe all this is for a reason. The gods have a reason for everything they do", he says, trying to reassure me.

"And those reasons are cruel to humans a lot of the time. I lost my mother because of those reasons. I won't lose Alex", I insist.

"I'm sorry it's going down like this", he says, and runs off to Valhalla.

I hear Alex scream, and go back in the room to be with her.

It feels...like fate. Somehow this just HAPPENS to take place the one time we're not in Valhalla? You know that sad O'Henry story they make you read in school where the wife cuts off her beautiful hair and sells it to buy a gold chain for her husband's pocket watch for Christmas and it turns out he sold the watch to buy combs for her hair? Yeah, it feels like that. Like we were always meant to be caught unawares here. This is how Alex dies, and with her, the last of my humanity.

"You were always meant to be alone. You were meant to be miserable. You will lose every woman you love...it's your destiny", one of my demons whispers in my ear, and I try to punch it away.

"You're not going anywhere without me, Fierro, in this world or the next", I say, echoing her words to me.

Alex squeezes my hand.

Minutes feel like hours, but it is a full hour before Heimdall returns.

I turn my head to yell at him as he charges in the room, but the scream dies on my lips. He's got the doctor by one arm—and the rest of our crew.

"I have never been treated thusly in my life!", the doctor yells as Heimdall releases him and pushes him toward us.

"I'm sorry, doc, but no one needs you more than she does, and you know it", I answer.

"Alex Fierro is giving birth? Here? Now?"

"Yeah..."

"But I don't have any equipment here! I don't even have a pulse monitor! I only have my bag!", he yells.

"Do your best", Heimdall insists.

This is a disaster. I need plan B.

"Gunderson, where are you?", I call out.

"Here! Here!" He's also a trooper.

"Thank you", I answer, patting his good arm.

"You want me beat the snot out of the doc?", he asks. The doctor looks horrified.

"No. I need you to find Alex's father and bring him here now", I say.

Everybody just stares. "Magnus...I don't know where he is...I couldn't even locate him, much less go there, and bring him back, by the time the kids are born", he says.

"TRY!", I yell and rather than anger, I get looks of pity. They're practically in tears for us already. I can take anything but that.

"Please just try", I say, "Alex, where is your father?"

"I don't want him here!", she insists.

"We need him", I say.

"It's fall. He hasn't left for Polanco for the winter yet. Try Albuquerque", Alex tells him.

"Got it", he says, looks back at us, kisses Mallory, and runs out the door. Thank the gods I have the kind of friends I have.

"I need room to work!", the doctor shouts and everyone backs off, except me. I will not let go of Alex's hand.

He spreads her legs and makes a noise. "Whoa! Hmmm, okay, lots of um...changes. That's good. This is so odd, but..."

"I may be giving birth, but nothing is wrong with my right hook", Alex barks.

"Sorry, she's..."

"In pain!", Alex yells before screaming.

"What can I do?", Sam asks.

"It's too late do much", the doctor says. "Your twins are coming. And the location couldn't be worse. What the hell are you doing here so close to your due date?"

"I wouldn't have gone into labor this soon if it weren't for Loki", she says. "He touched my forehead. My own mother."

The doctor looks completely confused. "I have a medical degree and I can you your mother or Loki touching your head wouldn't make you go into labor."

"Oh shut up", we all yell at once.

"Sorry doc, it's complicated. Your pregnant patient is technically a dead male. You're not prepared to go on a little faith?" I ask.

The doctor just takes a deep, irritated breath.

"Speaking of which, you're nearly 10 centimeters already...you can push in 3, 2, 1..."