Logan threw a French fry in his mouth and chewed it thoroughly like it would have been his last meal, hoping that if he would chew it long enough he could have avoided this conversation with his kid. He hated to have this talk. From Emma's sob-filled vaguely lament he had made a certain assumption that her fancy-pants alien boyfriend wasn't coming back. Now, how was he supposed to comfort her as a dad when he wasn't actually sorry that Loki was out of her life for good? Fathers weren't supposed to like their wanna-be son-in-laws. At least not the ones like Loki.

Logan gulped some coffee and noticed that she had barely touched her food. "I though you love hot chocolate. You haven't even touched it yet."

Ever since they sat at their table, she just kept staring out through the window as if waiting for a glimpse of Loki, being totally absent minded.

Emma's head finally turned at Logan. "Sorry?"

"You're okay?"

"Sure," Emma snorted and leaned her elbows on the table, hiding half of her face in her palms over her grill burger that was getting cold. "There's one percent chance that the man I love returns on this planet on my lifetime. So, I'm fucking fine," she said miserably.

"Hey, no swearing while eating!" Logan warned. "You know it could be a lot of worse."

Emma picked up a French fry and gestured it at him as if emphasize her question, "Could it?"

"He's alive, isn't he? Wasn't that what the queen mother came here to tell you?"

"Yeah. And that I'll never see him again," she grumbled and ate the fry and headed for her favorite drink. She took a mouthful from the hot chocolate but spit it back into the cup with dislike. "Uh, I can't drink this!" she murmured and wiped her mouth on the back of her palm. "This tastes like puke."

Logan glanced at her under his dark brows while finishing his burger. "I thought you like it."

"Uh-uh! It's too sweet and hot. And I need something colder." Emma pinched her nose and went to get more desirable drink from the counter

Too sweet? Jesus! She used to eat anything sprinkled with sugar! What was wrong with her? Logan pondered and watched her with a sort of concern, taking note that she had lost weight even she ate like a lumberjack and stuffed herself with chocolate bars. Maybe it was because the hard training she did everyday, learning to fight. Or maybe not.

She returned shortly with a long glass of water filled with ice, crushing one cube in her mouth like candy. Pulling off her sweater, she sat opposite him again revealing that awful blue SpongeBob t-shirt he hated. He wasn't complaining that she bought all her stuff from the second-hand stores and saved a big penny. But goddamn, she was not a kid!

"I was thinking that maybe I should turn myself in to SHIELD before they find us," she begun in a pondering tone and Logan cast at her his famous 'what the fuck' look. "With luck they would go easy on me if I'll cooperate and..."

Logan lifted his hand up. "Hey, you're not thinking straight here. I know you're upset but give it a few days before making huge decisions like that."

She was sweating even she'd taken off her jacket and long sleeve shirt, and she ran the cool glass along her forehead and her neck. "I'm just so tired of looking over my shoulder. If they want to find me, they will. I'm sure of it."

"Yeah, and I bet Fury told you to come back anytime. Let's not do anything stupid now."

Emma heaved an annoyed sigh and drained all the water from her glass like a sponge and started chewing another ice cube. The sound of it crept Logan out.

"Stop that!"

Her jaws froze as she glanced at him innocently, her mouth full with crushed ice. "What?"

"That! Eating that damn ice. You've got food on your plate. Why are you being so weird?"

"I'm not being weird. It's damn hot in here, okay," she defended, feeling like having hot flashes and ice felt good. Then she noticed that most of the other customers hadn't even taken off their quilted jackets.

Logan knitted is brows while making the same observation. "Not really. What was that shit of you adapting to every environment you're in, huh? You don't like hot chocolate anymore? You're grumpy all the time. You go shoving nails through your hand when someone rubs you up the wrong way. You are being practically suicidal with your ideas of turning yourself in to SHIELD. Jesus! What is wrong with you? Don't tell me Loki knocked you up!"

"What?" Emma shot him a glare, stupefied. That was the most insane thought ever! She wasn't mad enough to conceive a child with an alien no matter how much she loved him! That would have been an end of her life. "God, no! Of course not. What kind of idiot do you think I am?"

Her raised voice got a few heads turning at their direction and she sunk in her seat as tiny as she could.

Logan looked relieved. "Good. That's…" He shrugged lamely. "All's good then."

"All is good!"

Still frowning at him, Emma dug in her burger trying to ignore his question. But soon it began to bother her because that possibility hadn't even occurred to her until now. She could tell something was wrong with her; her internal thermostat seemed to be broken and she was sweating more often than usual. She didn't crave chocolate as much as she'd used to. And yeah, she did get super emotional or very angry too easily now days. But she couldn't be pregnant. Her odds to that were zero. It would have been impossible to get pregnant with her odd cycle; just twice a year like some animals. And in fact her last period had just been on March, she reasoned to herself and that's when it hit her. A junk of burger she was chewing on refused to go down as she realized… she was two months late.

… …

Emma offered to do the week's grocery shopping while Logan refueled the wagon. She stormed into a grocery store and made the shopping quickly, hesitating only in front of the pharmacy shelves before grabbing one pregnancy test and shoving it under all her other groceries. She would have probably tried to steal it if she wouldn't already been so suspiciously awkward and troubled-looking with the whole thing.

Wasting no more time she hid the test in her jacket's pocket, left the rest of groceries in the wagon and hit the ladies room of the gas station.

This was something she'd never done before. A deep breath, a quick check of the manual and some pee on the stick.

And then she waited, chewing her thump's nail and shifting weight from one foot to another as if she'd been dancing in some lame 90's disco beat inside the ladies room's tiny cubicle

Two minutes, it said. 99 percent accurate, it said.

She couldn't wait for the whole two minutes when she checked the stick, and stopped breathing.

Two clear lines! So, was it positive or negative?

She frowned and checked the crumbled paper again, her hands sweating and trembling. According to that freaking stick, she was pregnant. Two strong red lines were practically screaming it at her and calling her a sucker. Her back slumped against the wall as she kept staring horrid at the red lines on the stick, her own heart beats hammering in her ears. It felt like her pulse was echoing inside the whole toilet room.

"Shit!" she whispered and it came out in a small, trembling voice, a bit of a panic filling her heart.

It was Loki's baby! His genes, her genes, mixed as one. Her lips begun trembling and she couldn't stop it. She covered her mouth with her palm and tears burst out when she finally blinked. It was impossible to tell was she laughing or crying, she wasn't sure about it either being plain hopeless with her discovery. Only one thing was sure, those weren't tears of joy that were watering her cheeks.

With uncertainty she touched her belly that was still concealing all the evidences of that small life that had been secretly growing inside of her. The mere thought of it felt unreal and scary as hell. A baby. And that thing was going to make her a mom.

"Oh god," she hissed suffering and faced her reflection in the mirror over the sink.

The girl in the mirror looked terrified like someone would have pointed a gun at her head. This wasn't going to be just any baby, she realized. This was going to be a half mutant and half Frost Giant. She knew nothing about raising babies and even less about alien babies.

Her knees felt weak and she kept leaning against the wall, checking the stick one more time, wishing the lines magically disappear. They didn't. At least her strange cravings for anything cold were starting to make sense. She had a tiny Jotun parasite living inside of her.

The worst part was that Loki didn't even know (and probably never was going to find out) that he had fathered a child. No, that wasn't the worse part. The absolute worst part was that if SHIELD would ever find her –her stomach was twisting into a knot and she was ready to throw up– they would cut her open and her baby too.

She concentrated on her breathing and closed her eyes. "Oh god… of fucking mischief..."

… …

Breaks squeaked abruptly as the old brown station wagon stopped on the side of the road and Logan turned at Emma.

"Come again?" he grunted, praying he had misheard her.

There was no easy way to break it to her father so there's no point of making it more difficult.

"I'm pregnant," Emma repeated, sounding calm which she was not. She was terrified about the whole thing. "Congratulations, Logan! You're going to be a granddad," she said and not solemnly, showing him the test stick she had peed on. "I took a test and it's positive."

He stared at her gaping but she looked straight ahead through the windshield, avoiding his gaze.

"But you said…"

"I know!" She heaved a frustrated sigh, drumming the stick against her knee. "You guessed right. And I was wrong. Look, it's not like I planned this. It just… happened."

Logan's thick eyebrows knitted and he pulled on the parking break. "It doesn't just happen!"

"Look who's talking!" Yeah, she knew it was a bad time for being a smartass!

"For chrissake, why didn't you use the protection?"

That was the first time on the whole drive Emma faced him, fuming. "I'm not a complete idiot, okay! We used condoms, every time. Maybe…" She spread her hands annoyed. "Maybe he has super-sperm that doesn't give a shit about barriers! Hell, I don't know. But the fact is that I'm on two months."

"You're sure it's his?"

She shot him a grim glare. "For your information, I haven't slept with anyone else… ever," she added the ever part awkwardly.

Logan rubbed his jaw, murmuring swear words in his palm. His eyes were growing wet and uneasy as he looked at her again. "So, what are you going to do now?"

Emma threw the stick on her feet on the floor and twisted the fabric of her jacket in her fingers nervously. "Well, I've got to stop dyeing my hair for now, go easy with my trainings and watch what I eat. No more burgers."

"That's not what I meant." Logan grimaced looking sorry. "Emma, you know, you can't keep it. You've got to get rid of it. The sooner the better."

The shocks just kept coming one after another like bombs on a battlefield when all she would have needed was some support and sympathy and maybe a hug.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this from you. You are my father! How can you say that?"

"Yeah, I'm your father and that's exactly why I'm telling you this. You can't have this baby. It would be hard enough with a mutant kid but this is…" Logan groaned, so not prepared for this kind of shit. "Shit! We are talking about a goddamn half alien here! You don't know what's inside of you. It could kill you. We'll go back to town and you'll ask those pills from the pharmacy and get it over with right now. Double, triple dose. It's going to be okay, I promise," he explained uneasily and released the parking brake, checking the traffic for a U-turn.

Taken aback by his words, Emma unbuckled herself from the seatbelts and was out from the car before Logan shifted the gears. "Abortion?" she boomed. "Is that what you'd have told to my mom to do when she was expecting me?"

"Hell yes! Think about it yourself! Can you honestly say that your life's been a picnic? Think about all the shit you've been through. You want your freaking E.T. kid suffer the same? "

"Oh, fuck you, Logan!" she shouted at him furiously and slammed the door shut as hard as she could.

Logan rolled the side window down and peered at her. "Hey! Stop messing around and get back in the car! We are doing this!"

She was already going to walk away but returned. "It's my body and my baby. You don't tell me what to do!" she yelled and kicked at the side door, leaving her boot mark on it.

"Don't kick the door, damn it!" Logan warned angrily.

Furiously Emma kicked it again and again like she meant it, leaving nasty dents on the side. "You care more about this piece of shit car than me, huh? Fuck it! I'm not your problem anymore!" she screamed and started power-walking ahead without looking back.

"Shit!" Logan grumbled, hitting the wheel and drove next to her, following her with his car. "Get in!"

Ignoring him, Emma kept walking and the car crawled by her side. She thrust her left hand's claws out and delivered nasty scratches on the side every time he opened his mouth.

Logan realized they were starting to draw attention but luckily there was only a little traffic on that road and a few cars drove past them, honking in annoyance.

Being a father had its moments but was sometimes pain in the ass. He had tried his best even he knew nothing about it. Emma was his kid after all and she needed someone to look after her.

Gritting his teeth, Logan pulled over and jogged after her. "Hey, come on, Ems!" he said more conciliatorily and grabbed from her arm to stop her.

She turned and pulled her arm free, her other arm drawn back for a strike with her icy claws pointing at him. "Don't touch me!" she hissed as if he'd been a threat, her fledgling maternal instincts kicking in. She had been dodging his fists and steely blades for two months in their combat trainings and she was ready to fight for this baby even against him if she'd had to. She didn't know why. Maybe it was written in her genes. Frankly, she had thought about the abortion at first but now when Logan had said it aloud, she couldn't go through with it. It was wrong. It was against her every value.

"Easy now. Calm down!" he said lifting his hands up in surrender. "Let's talk."

"There's nothing left to talk about," she grunted and pulled her claws back in. "You made your point. You made very clear you never wanted me to exist. I'll get my stuff and you'll never see me again. I managed 25 years without a father and I'll manage the next 25 taking care of my kid on my own no matter what it will become. I'm no longer your burden."

"Come on. I've never said that. You're not a burden to me."

Their debate seemed to draw more attention and a blue pickup truck coming from the opposite direction stopped on the other side of the road. An older man with a red winter cap and long bread rolled his window down and surveyed them cautiously. "Are you folks all right there?" the man shouted.

Logan waved his hand at the man, hating the interferer, hoping him to go away. "We're fine, bub! Carry on."

Not quite yet convinced with the answer, the old man checked again, "Young miss, is everything okay?"

For a tiniest bit of time Emma considered hopping in that pickup truck and leaving her dad, being so furious to him but then she dropped the rest of her fighting stance and motioned the man to go. "Everything's fine. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your concern."

"No problem," the man yelped and drove off, peering back from his rearview mirror just in case.

Bypasser's concern had cut the edge of their debate and Logan continued in calmer tone as she was turning to walk away, "Emma, I'm sorry but I don't want you to get hurt. And Loki is not coming back," he pointed out the facts and she remained where she stood her back at him "There's always gonna be another Coulson another Stryker dying to get their hands on that baby. I could happen now, or in five - twenty years. You'll be looking over your shoulder forever. The worry never goes away."

Like in slow motion she spun towards him. "What do you know about it, huh? You don't ever stop looking back. You dumped my mom after getting your way with her…"

"No, that's not the way it went. Is that what she told you?" Logan asked, looking suddenly offended. "Your mother Aileen was…" He rubbed the back of his neck and let his hand swing down to his hip, looking at her in the eye. "She was the finest woman I had ever been with and honestly I don't know what she saw in me. Yeah, we slept together only once but to me it was more than just sex. She was smart and funny and I really liked her. Guess she didn't feel the same and didn't bother to stick around for the breakfast. In the next morning when I woke up, she was gone."

Emma listened to him surprised. She had always imagined it to be the other way around. She lowered her gaze on the tarmac. "She's never been good with goodbyes," she admitted sadly. "You didn't show her your crazy claws, did you?"

Logan gave her a crocked smile. "I don't think you'd exist at all if I'd shown her my claws," he jested and Emma rolled her eyes. "Look, I fear that your life would be over if you decided to keep that thing. I'm worried about all the things that could happen to you." He closed his eyes for a moment and another car went by. "I've have already lost too much. I don't wanna loose you too. I'm not gonna let that happen."

"Still, it is my decision, Logan. And you should respect it." Her chest heaved several times before she continued in a shaky voice, "I'm absolutely terrified about this baby. You have no idea how damn scared I am, but I'm going to keep it."

He sucked in a breath and kept it, his both hands on his waist. "What if something goes wrong? Let's say you have this kid; how are you going to deliver it? You can't go to a doctor because it's an alien and we're on the run. What if it gets sick? What if you'll get sick?"

She hadn't even thought about it that far yet and she looked lost, spreading her hands and taking a few steps. "I don't know. If I can heal from a fatal gunshot wound then I guess I can deliver a baby. How hard can it be? But when that time comes I might need a little help, though," she suggested, her blue eyes cautiously asking his help.

Logan visualized it for a second and that was a second too much with all the blood, gore and a blue baby's head peeking from that part of her he didn't want to know even existing. "Oh, hell no!" he grunted under his breath, shaking that image off his head.

Emma swallowed and took a step back. "Fine. I'm on my own then. Bye, dad! It was good to know you," she gruffed and turned again.

"Okay!" Logan shouted in a mild distress and clenched his fists. "Okay," he relented with a nod, regretting it already. "We'll figure out something." He took her hand and offered a hug. "We'll take care of that thing together. But I swear to you if Loki dares to show his face around here again, I'm so going to kill him."

Emma gave him a pitying smile and a grateful hug. "Not if I get him first."

… …

"Oh, Hel no!" A low disbelieving groan passed Heimdall's lips as he gazed down on Midgard and just witnessed that roadside conversation.

Logandaughter should have paid heed to her father's words because the life she was harboring inside of her was going to become her doom.

He blinked his golden eyes, taking a moment to consider whether to share this newfound information with the royal family right now or not.

Standing on the edge of the Rainbow Bridge, he cast a pondering glance at the construction site of the rising Bifrost observatory. His old post that he had come there to visit and help with the building. It would still take months before he could resume his post as the gatekeeper of Asgard. So, there was no help into his dilemma from that direction.

The fact was that cross-breeding between different species (exception was considered between sister races like Asgardian and Vanir) was nearly impossible without proper magical adjustment, and thus forbidden by Allfather across the Nine Realms. Especially what comes to mortals, they were considered too weak and inadequate to carry an Asgardian offspring not to mention a Jotun hybrid that could undoubtedly kill a mortal woman.

By impregnating a mortal, Loki had crossed another line. Crossing lines was nothing new to the Trickster, but conceiving a child against Odin's orders and out of wedlock held heavy consequences to that poor fool of a prince who was striving to regain Allfather's favor.

Heimdall turned towards the golden citadel on the other side of the long bridge and let out an irritated grunt. "Does that son of a Jotun never learn?"