"Come in here, please!"
Alice ushered the paramedics through the door into the bridal store while Verity sat with Sylvie, supporting her. The young saleswoman was as pale as the wall and scurried around them the whole time, asking if she could bring more water or wet towels.
"She's over there."
Two medics dressed in red and white came through the door, a man and a woman, behind them a third one with a litter.
The woman crouched down in front of Sylvie and Verity and looked back and forth between them, "Good afternoon, can you tell me what happened?"
Verity took down the cloth they had placed on Sylvie's lap. Underneath, the white dress soaked in blood was revealed.
"I'm pregnant.."
Sylvie's voice was quiet and weak as she spoke, but her heart was beating like crazy.
The paramedic exchanged glances with her male colleagues and placed a hand on the goddess's arm, "We're taking you straight to the hospital. Can you stand up and walk a few meters?"
The enchantress nodded, but she herself was pale around the nose and her eyes were glassy. As she stood up with Verity's help, it became obvious that she clearly couldn't walk a few meters.
She swayed, landing right in her friend's arms.
"Maybe not.."
The three of them helped her to lie down on the stretcher.
"Now that's a service.." the goddess joked with a wry smile.
Sylvie saw Verity and Alice follow the stretcher, which was now being pushed into the ambulance.
"I'm sorry, only one of you two can accompany us."
Alice nodded to the dark-haired Hunter, "You go with her to the hospital, I'll calm the lady in the store down a bit and pay for the dress."
The witch kissed Sylvie goodbye on the cheek, gave the paramedics a stern look and raised her index finger, "Take good care of my friend. Believe me, I'll find you if you don't."
Then the door closed behind them and the car started moving.
"What week of pregnancy are you?" the paramedic asked in a warm voice as she placed the blood pressure cuff onto Sylvie's arm.
The goddess had to think for a moment, overwhelmed by the whole situation, "I think..it should be week 14 now.."
The woman nodded and pumped up the device while her colleague placed a needle into her arm vein.
"What about the baby's father? Should we inform him?" she continued to ask.
Sylvie looked back and forth between the paramedics and then to Verity, who was already dialing a number and holding her cell phone to her ear.
"Why..what's happening? What does all this mean?"
"We're taking you to the hospital to our gynecology department now, Miss Laufeydottir.." the woman began in a soothing voice, gently stroking Sylvie's arm, "we shouldn't jump to conclusions."
Muffled and as if in a tunnel, Sylvie heard her friend's voice, who was now talking to someone on the phone.
"Just come here, please.." her tone sounded more worried than usual, almost anxious, "no, we don't know anything yet. They're taking her to the hospital."
Sylvie's eyelids were heavy as lead and she felt dizzy.
"Why don't you close your eyes for a bit. You're in good hands with us, Miss Laufeydottir. We'll take care of everything and your friend has already informed the father."
While a panic-fuelled Loki appeared in Sylvie's inner eye, probably already driving an equally helpless Mobius mad, her eyelids fell shut as if on its own.
The last thing she heard was the paramedic's warm voice.
"That's a beautiful dress, by the way."
"We're now looking into what could have caused the bleeding, Miss Laufeydottir. It's a good thing you came straight here."
The doctor spread the cold gel on Sylvie's stomach and switched on the ultrasound machine.
"Well, I'd rather have the blood IN my body..besides, it really doesn't suit with the white dress."
The goddess tried to calm herself down somehow, but even her irony couldn't really help her here. She wished so much that Loki was with her right now. But according to Verity, something must have gone wrong and if you land yourself in the wrong hospital, even the most advanced TVA technology won't help you.
The sound she heard a second later lifted the most heavy weight off her heart.
"Do you hear the heartbeat, Miss Laufeydottir?"
She heard it and tears welled up in her eyes.
"I can't tell what caused the heavy bleeding yet, but your baby is fine."
And because Loki wasn't there and Sylvie was full of emotions (and hormones) that needed to get out somehow, the goddess wrapped her arms around the doctor's neck.
Somewhat taken by surprise and yet relieved, the other woman returned the embrace.
"I'm very glad I didn't have to give you any negative news.."
Then suddenly something seemed to catch the doctor's attention and she looked intently at the monitor.
"But there's something else.."
"Sylvie!!!"
The god rushed through the door and to her bedside.
"Hi," the visibly weakened blonde woman uttered as she tried to sit up in bed.
Loki pulled her into his arms, "What happened?"
"Well, I thought I'd add a bit of drama to the whole thing.." Sylvie began, breaking free from his embrace and grinning at him, "..did it work?"
"Sylvie.."
She commented on his reproving look with a kiss.
"I went to try on wedding dresses with Verity and Alice.." she added, "..and no, you can't see it. It looks like I'm the leading actress in a low-budget horror movie now anyway..and not the good kind."
A nurse had removed her dress before the examination and replaced it with a less appealing white shirt.
After the two demigods had recollected themselves in a moment of calm, Sylvie's gaze became more serious and sincere again. She took Loki's face between her hands, just as he liked to do with her.
"There's nothing wrong with the baby, Loki. He or she is alive and well.."
Luckily, the huge weight that fell off Loki's mind wasn't real, otherwise the whole world and both of them would probably have been buried under it.
"Thank God.."
As he pulled her close again, she could hear him sobbing with relief.
However, despite the good news, there was still the question of why it had come to this in the first place.
"But..but then where did the bleeding come from?"
"They don't know yet..they're still doing tests. But the most important thing is that the baby is fine."
As god and goddess released their embrace, Sylvie realized that Mobius must have snuck into the room at some point and was now leaning against a wall, unnoticed and not wanting to disturb them.
When she saw the discreet analyst, she smiled.
"If you don't want to work for the TVA anymore, I suggest a career as a ninja would suit you just fine, Mobius."
He nodded appreciatively, coming over to them and hugging the chaos goddess.
"The baby's fine," Sylvie repeated, and saying it the second time was no less relieving.
"Thanks to my ninja skills, I already know that," a smiling Mobius replied, "I'm so glad to hear that, Sylvie."
He looked at the two of them in turn, "Shall I get us all something to eat?" he asked, probably not entirely disinterestedly from the way he was holding his own stomach, "then you'll have a bit of time to yourselves..and I can take a breath after a certain man whose name shall not be mentioned here..nearly gave me a heart attack earlier in his panic."
His accusing gaze fell on the god and Sylvie felt confirmed in her previous thought scenario of a completely panicked Loki.
As Mobius left the room, she pulled her fiancé into bed beside her and laid her head on his chest.
"They say I should stay here for a few days to be safe.." she mumbled exhaustedly, her eyelids already becoming heavy again, "..but I'm fine..yeah really. When Mobius comes back, you two smuggle me out, deal?"
Loki pressed a kiss to the pale and tired goddess's forehead in response.
"Over my dead body."
Sylvie grinned and snuggled even tighter into Loki's arms.
"That can be arranged.."
Then her eyes fell shut.
The first thing she saw was a huge television in front of her eyes and for a moment she was completely disoriented.
This couldn't be the hospital.
But then she saw the blood pressure cuff on her arm and the extremely stylish shirt she was still wearing and was even more confused.
"Hey Sylvie"
She looked next to her and was startled.
But before she could even react, an exuberant thunder god had already pulled her into his arms, "Glad you're okay..that you and the baby are okay!"
He looked down at her stomach and smiled.
"Aunt Sylvie!!!"
The next moment Love was falling into her arms, no less tumultuously than Thor. If you didn't know better, you'd think the two were actually related by blood.
The girl laid her head on the goddess's stomach, "And you stay alive in there..I need support here..and someone to fight. You know..someone who isn't as dull as the adults."
Sylvie laughed and stroked Love's head, "What are you all doing here?"
"Um, first Friday of the month..does the baby make you so forgetful, Aunt Sylvie?"
As if on cue, the door opened and two men loaded down with food and snacks entered the room.
"Someone woke up," Loki grinned, walking over to the bed and planting a kiss on her forehead, "we figured since you can't come to movie night..we'll bring movie night to you."
Sylvie didn't like seeing herself like this..sick, weak, condemned to bed rest..and she liked it even less when everyone else saw her like this.
She pulled the god down to her and hissed in his ear, "You had one job, Laufeyson..you were supposed to smuggle me out, not bring the whole ensemble here..was that so hard to understand?"
He snatched himself from her grasp and whispered back apologetically, "Don't put the blame on me..it was Mobius' idea.."
As Sylvie's fiery gaze fell on the analyst, she whispered silently to him, "You're so dead, Mobius."
A moment later, a nurse entered the room who, at the sight of Sylvie's entourage, including the huge monitor and the overabundance of food, almost left the room backwards again.
"I wasn't aware that this is a movie theater," she remarked snippily with a raised eyebrow.
"It's movie night and Aunt Sylvie and the baby need company," Love remarked with a matter-of-factness that left even the nurse speechless.
"All right, fine by me," she replied reluctantly, "but just one night! And if we get another patient tonight, all of you have to leave immediately, together with your..equipment..do you understand?"
While everyone nodded in agreement, another familiar person appeared in Sylvie's field of vision.
"I was kindly invited to movie night by Love. I hope that's okay?"
Verity sat relaxed on the empty bed next to hers, sharing a bag of popcorn with Thor's daughter.
In response, Sylvie began to remove the blood pressure cuff from her arm and sit up in bed, "Since you're all here now..that means I can go.."
But her efforts were interrupted by Loki, who demonstratively sat down next to her and held three movies in front of her, "Which movie do you want, your Highness?"
Rolling her eyes, the enchantress snatched the boxes out of his hand.
It wasn't difficult to choose one.
"Strong women, dark rulers..love above the stars..we're watching Star Wars."
When Sylvie woke up and Loki wasn't lying next to her, she got up. The large window, which gave access to a small balcony, was wide open.
There she finally found the god, gazing thoughtfully at the stars.
"There you are"
Slowly and still unsteady on her feet, she walked towards him.
"So, have you seen any shooting stars? Or death stars? Or planets that will soon come crashing down on us if we don't reach an evacuation ark in time?"
There was another chair next to the small table, but Sylvie opted for the more comfortable alternative, Loki's lap. Although comfortable was probably in the eye of the beholder, considering how skinny the man was.
But it was definitely the lovelier alternative.
When she sat down, it elicited a warm smile from the god and his features relaxed for a moment.
"Enjoy this while you still can..soon I'll probably break all your bones sitting on your lap."
Even if her statement was completely exaggerated, there was a grain of truth in it, as in every sarcastic remark, and a certain amount of fear.
Sylvie noticed that she was getting softer.
Not just physically (even if that bothered her more than Loki), but also mentally, which made her even more insecure.
"Soft gets you killed.."
Loki grinned at her comment, putting his arm around Sylvie's waist and his hand on her stomach. With his other hand, he pointed upwards into the starry sky.
"See that constellation there? That's the belt of Orion, sky hunter and son of Poseidon.."
The blonde goddess followed his gaze and his hand.
"Ursa Maior, the great bear..of course the sky over Asgard is different, but some constellations can be seen from anywhere. They sometimes have different names or different meanings, depending on which world they come from."
Sylvie's gaze was now focused on him. She could have listened to him for hours as he talked about the night sky and the stars in a calm yet animated voice.
"My mother and I would sometimes lie in the meadow in a clearing far away from the palace for hours and look up there. Of course, it was important to her that we understand the world from the perspective of our people, Asgard's perspective..but she also wanted us to look beyond that, see other worlds..think outside the box."
As he spoke, she watched his facial expressions. Whenever he spoke about his mother, there was this special longing in his voice..longing, deep attachment and also regret.
"..and I hung on her lips. Her warm voice, her knowledge of the universe, her way of explaining things to me. She fascinated me..every time I thought I knew all there is to know about her, she would surprise me with something new.."
Now Loki turned his head and looked deep into the eyes of the blonde goddess on his lap.
"You remind me of her.." he stroked her blonde, now shoulder-length curls, "she was a fighter, a force to be reckoned with..when she entered a room, everything lit up. Her presence was breathtaking."
Sylvie felt a lump form in her throat and tried to swallow it down.
"She was the strongest woman I knew..until I met you."
Now Sylvie could no longer hold back the tears of emotion and leaned into his hand.
"I would have loved to introduce you to her. You would have gotten along so well.."
The goddess smiled, but her look revealed that she had objections, "The way you talk about her, the way she was..I'm not nearly as kind and..lovable."
But Loki shook his head, knowing that this was one of Sylvie's sore points, "You're the kindest and smartest person I know."
Now it was Sylvie's turn to shake her head, deflecting his words with a suspicious sound and irony, "You have to say that..after all, you're planning on sharing my bed further on..and you are the father of my child."
The god turned her around on his lap so that she was sitting in front of him and they were looking directly into each other's eyes, "You were the one who changed my perspective on myself and the world."
Sylvie looked to the side, looking for something to distract herself with, "More likely that was Mobius.."
But the god cupped her chin and gently turned her head back, "It was YOU."
He looked deeply and sincerely into her eyes, "Mobius opened the door, but you led me through it. Without you, I would still think it was my glorious purpose to ascend to a throne and rule over anyone. I thought with all the knowledge and wisdom I attributed to myself that I would understand the world. You showed me how wrong I was.."
He smiled at his future wife as if she was the greatest gift in the world..the most precious thing this universe had ever brought forth.
"My mother explained the world to me, but you taught me to understand it."
Sylvie let out a sigh, but her lips curled into a smile. She placed her hand on his, which rested uninterruptedly on her stomach, "This whole situation is making us pretty soft, Laufeyson. Is that a good thing?"
With a quick movement of his head and a green glow, the god made a pair of golden horns appear on his head. He looked at his fiancée with a raised eyebrow and a mockingly evil expression in his eyes.
"I really don't know what you're talking about.."
Looking at the imposing, golden horns, Sylvie raised an eyebrow as well, "The way you always have to exaggerate.." the ironic remark was followed by a brief closing of her eyes, with the result that her typical crown with the one broken horn also appeared on her head, "see..less dramatic, same effect."
Grinning, she grabbed one of his horns, "You know what they say about compensation, don't you?"
In response, he pulled her close firmly but gently enough, his arm tight around her waist, their faces only inches apart so she could feel his breath.
"Come again?" his voice was deep and seductive, while pressing his lower body against hers.
When he felt her bulging stomach through his movement, he suddenly loosened his grip and the horns disappeared altogether with the seductive gaze.
"What's.." Sylvie began, but he was already pulling her towards him again, but slightly different than before..more gentle, careful..
He pressed his forehead against hers, "I was so worried..", his voice was quiet and full of emotion, "I don't know what I would have done if I lost you..if I would lose the two of you."
Sylvie pulled her head back a little, took his hand and looked him straight in the eyes, "Then you'll probably have to worry a little more from now on..because it's not just the two of us.."
With a smile and glassy eyes, she revealed to him what the doctor had seen during the examination.
"We're having twins."