It had all been going fine. Darcy had been keeping it together for an hour and a half. Deep breaths. Feeling the contractions. Riding with it. She'de had it all under control, doing everything her midwife, Helen, had said to do until she could get there. Helen had been out in Pennsylvania for a family event, because Darcy still wasn't supposed to be due for three weeks. Darcy had always just assumed that she'd be giving birth at the end of nine months, so it had come as a complete shock when she'd suddenly felt her water break as she'd been bending down to get her socks.

Loki had been at school, because it was noon. Her heart pounding, she'd called his cell- but he must have turned it off because he'd been teaching. She left a voicemail, trying to be as calm as possible. Even though her contractions were still pretty far apart it was pretty terrifying facing it alone.

Helen had said she'd try to get there as soon as possible, but it was a four hour drive in the best of conditions. Unsure what else to do, Darcy had tried laying in bed and reading. It had been too hard to concentrate though- in a few hours the baby that she had carried in her belly for months would be in her hands and she could see it. She wanted that so badly.

Her contractions had started getting much closer after an hour, close enough that she got scared that she would end up giving birth, alone, at their apartment- which completely freaked her out. She'd read about what to do, but reading was a far cry from actually doing it. She wanted someone to talk her through it, and someone she could trust who knew what they were doing. That was the whole point of having a midwife! She'd already tried calling Loki about five times at this point, and each time it fell to voicemail. Helen was still quite far away. She'd even called Jane, though she didn't know what Jane could do to help her. It didn't really matter though, because Jane wasn't answering either. Not sure what else to do, she called Thor, not really expecting anything at this point. But he picked up on the first ring.

"Darcy?" He asked. "Is everything okay?" Which made Darcy started laughing hysterically and crying at the same time. Why did Thor have to be the one who was there for her? She liked him, but he wasn't her friend, and he wasn't Loki. "Darcy?" He asked again, concerned. "Are you home? I'm coming over."

"Y-yeah," she tried to speak through the sobs, wincing. Sobbing and contractions were not a wonderful mix. "Th-Thor, the baby's c-coming and no one's h-here, and I'm gonna g-give birth alone and s-something's gonna h-happen-"

"Darcy, calm yourself," he said, not unkindly. She could hear a car door close through the phone. "Women have been doing this for thousands of years, and sometimes in situations far worse than your own. You can give birth alone, but you won't have to. I'm going to get Loki, and I will be there in half an hour. Do you think you have that long? How long is there between contractions?"

His calm, authoratative tone went far to helping Darcy get control of herself. He was right. Women had been doing this for a long time. The idea helped her relax a bit. She told him how long her contractions were, wondering why he would know anything about giving birth or contractions and such.

Feeling much, much calmer, she hung up. True to his word, Thor arrived half an hour later with an extremely shaken Loki behind him. Darcy sagged with relief to see his face, until another contraction hit and she gasped.

"Darcy? Honey. How are you doing?" Loki asked, taking her hand. "Can I help? Just tell me what to do," he said somewhat desperately.

"I don't know," Darcy said. She had no idea what Loki should do. "Just hold my hand. I just want to see your face." She concentrated on it, breathing in short, quick breaths now. "Fuuuuuck!" She hissed, squeezing Loki's hand until her own was white as a stronger contraction hit.

"I thought you had a midwife," Thor said. "Where is she? Why are you here alone?"

"She's- jeeeeesuss- on her way. Maybe like an hour and a haaaalf- son of a biiiitch."

Loki frowned. He'd always been wary of this idea of home-birth that Darcy had wanted, but he'd relented because she'd been adamant, and after all it was her who was going to be giving birth. But for her to give birth alone? None of them knew what they were doing.

"Darcy- what were you thinking?" He asked in consternation. "Why didn't you go to the hospital when you knew she was too far away? Honey, I'm taking you there right now."

"Don't yell at me!" Darcy said angrily between breaths. "I'm giving birth to your baby. Helen would have been here if it had been on time. But no- your baby had to come three weeks early, and aaaaah-" she broke off at a sharp wave of pain. Something felt wrong. She was sure of it. Something was wrong. "Get me to the hospital!" She cried, staring wildly at Loki. "Quick! Something's not right."

Loki picked her up awkwardly, Darcy hissing at how strange it felt. Not painful, but definitely not the way her body wanted to be at the moment. Thor had already gone down to the car and Loki brought her down. At this point, it would probably be quicker by taking their car than by calling an ambulance, and time was imperative.

When they got to the hospital a very stressful ten minutes later, Loki ran in to tell them the situation, and two orderlies rushed out with a wheelchair and helped Darcy onto it. She was pretty quiet by now, focusing on just breathing, in and out, and in and out.

Loki was able to come in the room with her, but Thor was told to wait outside. The doctor examined how far along she was, seeing the problem right away. The baby was trying to come out at an angle, rather than either head or feet first. They had to turn the baby.

They'd given Darcy something for the pain, and she was slightly delirious, but was gripping Loki's hand so hard that he thought it might bruise. He was fine with it. He wished he could take the pain entirely from her, and was glad at least to be able to suffer somewhat at least alongside her.

"I am never doing this again," Darcy said fiercely at one point, and Loki quickly agreed. No, he did not want her to have to go through this again.

An hour later their son came blinking and crying his way into the world. Darcy was exhausted and nearly passing into unconsciousness, but she got to hold her son for about twenty minutes before falling into a deep sleep. She knew she would always remember the first time she saw him, red-faced and perfect, his tiny fingers clutching for something to hold onto in this strange new world he found himself in, and her first thought had been- so that's why people do this.

Loki watched Darcy sleep, glad to see her finally able to rest. Giving birth certainly seemed like one hell of a workout, both physically and emotionally. It had tore at him to see her go through it, and he couldn't even imagine what it must have been like.

He held his son now, and Thor had been allowed into the room finally. His son was so small. It was hard to believe that he could have all the parts necessary to be alive, and yet there he was, sleeping in Loki's arms after crying himself out. It felt both strange and amazing to hold him.

"Do you guys have a name picked out?" Thor asked.

They'd been tossing a couple around, still unsure of what the sex was, because they had wanted to be surprised. But Loki was pretty sure he'd found the right one. "I'm thinking Nathan," he said. It meant 'gift'. He thought Darcy would appreciate that.

She had loved the name, and so their son became Nathan Thorrin Laufeyson. They had to stay at the hospital for a week, and Darcy chafed at the restrictions placed on her there. This was one of the reasons she'd wanted a home-birth. She didn't want a stranger telling her how long she could hold her son for. It was liberating when they finally were able to come home.

Her parents had come up to see the baby when she'd gotten out, and at their first look had proclaimed him precious. Maria had been a valuable asset in that first week of adjusting to taking care of the baby out of the hospital, and Darcy had been quite grateful for it.

It was so different, now that the baby was born. Everything she did felt new as if she was doing it for the first time- because in a way she was. She did nearly everything with the baby. She hated putting Nathan down, and so she'd gotten one of the hammock things that you tie around your shoulders and the baby can just sleep at your chest and leave your hands free. It made her shoulders ache, so she had to be careful using it, but it was worth it to be able to just look down and see her son, and to feel him against her, knowing he was safe and doing fine.

Learning how to put diapers on had been a challenge. She'd wondered why it hadn't occured to her to practice on a doll first or something becfore the baby was born, but it hadn't. Her mother had showed her, with much gloating when Loki, strangely enough, had been a natural at it. It was one of Darcy's favorite things these days, to see him with the baby. He adored Nathan.

Things had been a bit tense for the first few months, because Nathan would cry all the times you wanted him to be quiet, or be quiet when it was okay for him to cry. They didn't get much sleep. Loki suffered more than Darcy though, because Darcy took naps during the day when Nathan did, and Loki couldn't. It made tempers short, though Loki was trying very hard not to let it show. He didn't want her to have to do anything around the house now that she had Nathan to take care of.

"Because I know it's a lot of work," he'd said. Darcy thought that was ridiculous, though it was a sweet thing for him to think.

"Honey, I'm home all day. You haven't been getting enough sleep, and then you're at work for hours. I don't want to let you come home to a messy house that you feel like you need to clean up."

He'd eventually crumbled, but he hadn't been happy about it. He was such a good man. Darcy knew he just wanted to do everything to make life easier for her, but honestly she didn't mind the chores.

Nathan started getting used to sleeping at night when he was four months old, and things calmed down a lot after that. The shadows under Loki's eyes faded, and his energy came back, making Darcy heave a sigh of relief.

Jane was often over on days that she had off and when it got to be the fall they would go for a walk in the cool afternoons, cooing over how cute Nate looked with the little hats they got for him. Darcy marveled that it had been a little more than a year now, since she'd found out that she was pregnant. How much life had changed- and yet how much it had stayed the same. She was happy. Really, truly happy. And she felt fulfilled, something she hadn't even known that she'd been missing out on for most of her life. She had her baby, she had her man, she had a good friend...life was pretty fucking great.

A/N: So this story is wrapping up really soon, if you can tell =P

There's basically one more chapter I think, and then I'll be starting the sequel in a couple days.

Everyone who reads and reviews- I am passionately and platonicly in love with the idea of you. Consider yourself appreciated! =D