CHAPTER 25

Darcy and Jane's pregnancies were nearing their completion and as promised Thor and Loki went to Midgard and returned with the Avengers and their significant others. A few days after their arrival, Darcy went into labor. Jane who had been sitting with her sister in hers and Loki's chamber sent a maid to the throne room to inform the King that his wife had gone into labor and that he was needed.

Both Darcy and Jane were throwing tradition out the door when it came to the births of their children and had insisted that since it was their husband's fault that they were with child, or in Darcy's case children.

The maid walked into the Throne Room and up to the throne where her king sat in the middle of a delegation with the dwarves.

Kneeling before the throne and knowing that she was interrupting his meeting, she nervously said, "Your Majesty, forgive me for my interruption, but I was told to inform you that Queen Darissa has gone into labor and is requesting your presence."

Loki immediately stood and dismissed the room before practically running for their chamber. He arrived moments later to hear his mother and sister-in-law trying to calm his nearly hysterical wife. He entered the room with a smile on his face and said, "Darling, you do need to stop giving them such a hard time. They are only trying to help you."

"You….You got me into this mess in the first place!" she practically yelled at him.

He still wore his grin as he calmly nodded at his mother and sister-in-law letting them know he wanted to be alone with his queen for a moment. Both women left and soon they were alone.

"Loki, I am sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you, really I didn't," she said tears of pain in her eyes.

He sat on the bed close to her and held her as she cried as he had done so many times during the last several months of her pregnancy. He had been told not to take any of her insults literally and that she didn't mean anything by them, by both his mother and Jane as well as some of the other court ladies. But he didn't have to have them tell him that, for he already knew that she didn't mean any of them as he could detect the lie as soon as it left her lovely lips.

He soothingly whispered to her as he laid a hand to her ulging belly where his sons lay. He sent a calming wave to the two children within his wife's womb as well as another to soothe the ache he could feel coming from her.

A few minutes later he asked, "Better?"

She only nodded and smiled.

"Should I get your sister and my mother back in here or are you going to be fine for a while without them."

"They can wait for now. Eir has already been here to check up on me and she said it's going to be awhile before I am ready to actually give birth. Right now, I am in the waiting stage." He merely nodded and continued to hold her. He knew that Eir, the healer of Asgard, knew what she was doing.

Eir came to check on her every hour and about four hours in she told Darcy that it was almost time. Eir had wanted to remove the king from the birthing room but she had been informed that both the queen and her sister were going to have their husband's present during the birth as it was a tradition on Midgard and it was one of the few that they still clung to. She had no choice but to comply and told Loki that if he intended to stay then he was going to help his wife by sitting behind her while she pushed.

He gently changed his position and got in the bed behind her, holding her in a slight sitting position while Eir, Frigga and Jane prepared for the actual birth. Moment later Darcy let out an inhuman cry and Eir saw that she was already crowning.

"My Queen, you need to push, now," she demanded and Darcy complied as a wave of pain hit her.

Loki, was surprised he could feel her pain like it was his own after opening up the bond, he had learned to close off months earlier. He had gotten tired of feeling queasy all the time and knew that it was coming from her. He had never felt anything like it and was surprised that she was still breathing when the wave passed. Again he felt the pain rip through her and as instructed he held her up slightly as she gripped his hand in a death grip and screamed. Seconds later, though it seemed longer to him, they all heard the sound of a baby's first cry. Eir handed the child to Frigga who immediately went about cleaning the child off and wrapping him in a clean soft blanket while Darcy again heaved up and screamed as she began to push the second child from her womb.

Darcy struggled to stay awake long enough to give one final push, delivering her second born moments after the first, before she collapsed out of sheer exhaustion. The entire process had lasted for hours and she was so tired. She wanted to hold her sons but she was just too exhausted to even lift her arms.

Loki smiled as his second born was deliver but then felt his wife go limp in his arms. Alarmed, he cried out only to be told she was just sleeping; the birth had taken a lot out of her and she was just tired and would awaken soon. Nodding he got up from the bed so that Eir and Jane could clean her up and change her into a clean nightgown.

While the healer and her sister were taking care of his wife his mother was taking care of his sons. He walked over to her and she immediately placed both babies into his arms. At his touch they both started to turn into their Jotun form though only one of them went through the entire change.

His Jotun son they had decided to name Basmus which meant kingly, as he would be king of the Frost Giants. As their Elven son who would one day rule Asgard, they had decided to name him Eikki which meant eternal ruler. It was fitting really as he would rule the realm eternal.

"They are truly beautiful my son," Frigga told Loki softly as she caressed her grandson's cheeks.

Looking down at his sons, he had to agree with his mother. Just then they heard a soft voice from the bed calling out to Loki. "Let me see my sons."

Loki turned and walked over to the bed and carefully sat down beside his mate. He carefully handed their firstborn to her. Darcy took the child into her arms and marveled at her son's beauty. Though he took after her in lineage, he was his father's son through and through. The two rulers of Asgard didn't even notice when they were left alone with their newborn sons, too caught up in the fact that they had created the two children they now held out of their love for each other.

"Loki, they are beautiful."

"I am going to have to agree with you on that my love. They are indeed a work of art."

"When are you going to let the giants know that their heir has been born?" she asked after silence had fallen between them as they gazed at their newborns.

"Thor is going to Jotunheim to inform them as we speak, I am sure. He was waiting outside the room so as soon as Basmus was born I am sure he was gone and will return soon."

She nodded and curled up beside him her children between them. She didn't know what the future held but she did know that she held two kings within her arms. One of light and fire, the other of darkness and ice. Both would be powerful in their own right and both would be loved equally no matter what happened in the future. That was her vow to them as she fell asleep with her husband holding her.