OF COURSE WRITER'S BLOCK CLEARS DURING DEAD WEEK.

It became clear very soon that her body could not withstand the difficulty of sustaining the entity within her. Weeks passed quickly after that realization. Almost taunting Asgard's inhabitants who were watching Darcy's life slip away with the passing days. As the baby grew, Darcy withered; being sapped of her strength by her own daughter.

The weaker she got, the more Loki reverted to his old self; the one who had laid destruction to all of New York. He spent his time flipping through books and looking for spells and healing charms; basically, anything that could possibly help her.

The more weight she lost, the angrier and more insane Jane became; hardly sleeping in order to provide more time for research. Jane and Loki opted for avoiding each other, save for when they were with Darcy.

The paler she got, the more frequently Thor threw himself into any and every protective mission possible. Whether it was on earth with the avengers or another realm with Sif. It didn't matter what or where as long as it was a problem he could beat with a hammer. Because the slowly approaching death of his sister-in-law was not one of those problems. Along with that came the ever-increasing probability that he was going to have to fight his brother once again. Almost losing her was proving to cause Loki to teeter on the edge of insanity. Thor greatly feared what would happen if she were to actually die.

Darcy herself spent the first few months being trained by Frigga. She read up on spells and charms and practiced daily with her mother in law. She practiced until the taser tricks she could do were more controllable and less subject to be affected by her emotions. While she did this, Loki hovered, and he raged. He cried, and he lived in denial. He yelled, he screamed and he fell speechless. He watched his daughter grow inside his dying wife. He hated his daughter for killing the love of his life, loved his daughter for she was his child, hated his wife for sacrificing herself, loved her for putting their offspring first. He fell victim to the downward spiral of confusion and he hated himself for he was the cause of this situation in the first place.

His selfishness and his fear prevented his demise. He wanted himself dead; believed he deserved it. Everything that mattered to him was at risk because of his past decisions and his carelessness and he was powerless to stop it. Regardless of what he read and researched, their fate carried on, coming towards them like a stampeding Bilgesnipe demolishing everything in its path.

The golden castle had dimmed. Sigyn's prophecy acted as a black hole, sucking the life and color from the soul of the kingdom. Music was replaced with the screams of the prisoner echoing off the walls and haunting Loki every hour, waking or sleeping. Banquets were postponed as every lengthy table was covered end to end in paperwork, pertinent books and piles of research. Jane and Loki agreed on nothing, save for the hatred they had for each other and the goal of finding any possible way to keep the Loki Dottir from killing her mother.

She was a goddess now. On that, there was plenty of literature. On an Aesir goddess carrying a Jotun child, there was far less. On an Aesir goddess carrying a Jotun child with the power of a Vanir, there was none.

The fourth meeting took place in the first week of the fifth month of Darcy's pregnancy.

Odin and Thor were seated at the table, awaiting the arrival of the others. They didn't speak, for there was nothing to say. There was always a slight atmosphere of fear when Odin and Thor hadn't seen Darcy in the recent past. They were never quite sure what sight they would be met with. In Thor's oversized hands he held his latest delivery from Midgard. Each trip he made, he returned with whatever he could think of to bring for his ailing sister in law. This time, from a realm (state as he recalled Barton correcting him) by the name of Georgia, he brought a large portion of the menu offered by some place claiming to fill an "A" with small chickens. Barton had assured him Darcy would be pleased. She finished the first two portions of a television series he'd brought for her in the third month and so he'd brought with him the third and fourth.

Jane arrived next; arms full of binders filled with paper and photocopies of books. She spread it out on the table and began to reorganize her findings without sparing the men in the room so much as a glance. She'd become wholly obsessed. Nothing else in the world mattered. Her hair had been in the same pony tail since she had last slept; which was almost three days ago now and it showed in her appearance.

Then came Loki. His hair was long, tangled and badly in need of being washed. Each request from Darcy that he do so fell on deaf and distracted ears. If his skin had been pale before, it was translucent now. Green eyes were bloodshot and dim, lips pale and thin, cheek and collar bones far more pronounced than they had been before. He hardly ate and hadn't slept. Every second of every day was dedicated to fixing what he had broke. Another round of screams echoed up from the dungeons and Loki's tired flinch did not go unnoticed. A wave of Odin's hand and the screaming cut off abruptly.

The God of Lies fell listlessly into his chair, eyelids fluttering tiredly before he sat forward and began skimming the titles of the documents Jane had brought. He'd read every one of them already.

It was another few minutes before Darcy came in, holding onto the arm of her mother in law. The older goddess smiled warmly at Jane and the men and watched as her husband and their sons stood quickly upon their arrival.

It was a small mercy that she didn't not look much worse for wear than she had the last time Thor had seen her. Loki however, picked up on every miniscule sign of her worsening condition and each one felt like a twisting, burning blade in his chest. The silver serpent's venom did not even come close to the agony that watching her suffer and die because of him did. He watched his mother lead his wife towards him and hand her off. His arm automatically wound around her back. The realization of how much of her weight he was supporting felt like the physical blow of Mjolnir. The men all stood until Frigga and Darcy sat and Loki positioned himself as close to her as he could. Her hands were resting on the skin separating her child from the outside world and Loki watched the way her hands followed the barely visible movements of their daughter.

The expectant expression she fixed Thor with was enough to make Loki crack a small smile.

"Point Break!" she called when the God of Thunder failed to take the hint. Thor's eyebrows jumped and his head flinched in her direction. When there seemed to be no immediate crisis as far as her expression gave away, his shoulders relaxed and he smirked just slightly, standing with his gifts in hand and making his way around the table to where his sister in law sat. He held out the red and white bag that read "Chick Fil A" on it and every person in the room reveled in her lit-up expression. The television disks that he set on the table in front of her went unnoticed as she tore the bag to shreds in seconds. "You're my favorite." Her words were garbled and spoken through a mouth full of food. Thor grinned and gently squeezed her shoulder in his oversized hand.

Loki looked at his brother with more gratitude than he had ever directed at the god in his life. Thor kept his wife's appetite alive with his gifts of Midgardian food. The temporarily pleasant expression on his face was shortly chased away by Jane's sharp words.

"Time wasted is minutes of her life we could be spent trying to save it." Frigga frowned in Jane's direction. Darcy's chewing slowed. Loki's hatred grew. Thor heaved a heavy sigh and returned to his seat.

"Lady Foster," Odin warned. Jane's angry eyes fixed on her future father in law.

"Yo Barbie Boy," Darcy called out, once she had swallowed. Thor's unamused expression almost made her giggle. "Thanks." He nodded. "Do carry on," she said in a mock British accent. "How might we doth argue over how to sloweth down me dying-eth today?" the dark sarcasm rolled off her in tidal waves and Loki directed his smirk into his lap and reached a hand out to lay it over her knee.

"Not dying," Jane snapped. Loki fought the eye roll. Darcy did not.

"What have you found, my son?" Frigga asked gently.

"Little." He responded. Darcy's free hand laid over his. The other more tightly gripped her sandwich. "Fertility charms, healing spells, Kalevala…" he clenched his empty hand into a fist on the table top. "I've yet to locate Eir. I've sent word to Oddrun. Considering requesting counsel with Froy as well." He said through gritted teeth.

"So nothing. You have nothing." Jane growled. Loki's hand twitched and he looked down at the edge of the table. The fury in his eyes sputtered and died, overtaken by resigned pain.

"Jane," Darcy cautioned. "That is enough."

"Don't talk down to me." Jane snapped. "You're a child. You've been a goddess for one minute and now you talk to me like you're my mother. You've hardly lived your life and now, what? You're giving it up? Committing suicide for the inhuman offspring of a murderer?"

"Jane!" Thor boomed furiously. Odin stood. Frigga angled her body in Jane's direction, eyes angry for the first time that Darcy could remember. Darcy stood slowly. Her knees shook a little bit and Loki was too far gone to help her up. He was frozen solid where he sat and she pretended like she couldn't see the tendrils of blue creeping up his arms.

"Jane," Darcy started quietly. The older of the two was standing across the table from Darcy, seething, heaving for air, a wild look in her eyes.

"No Darcy. Okay? No. I don't know what he did to you. I don't know if he blackmailed you or he's threatening you but-"

"Jane!" Darcy interrupted louder.

"You don't need to keep it. We can go home. Get it taken care of." Frigga was standing now too. Loki looked like the dead. Thor looked sick. Odin was ready to smite her where she stood.

"It?" Darcy shrieked, hands positioned protectively over her unborn daughter. All calm had dissipated now. "Did you just call my kid an 'it'?"

"Well it isn't human. You didn't even want kids. If this is because you changed your mind then make another one with a human who won't get you killed."

"Is that what you really- Ya know what?" Darcy scoffed and looked at Odin. "Send her home, Granddaddy-Dearest." Odin didn't move, squared his shoulders in defiance of being told what to do, yet again, by this small girl. "Now." Electricity crackled at her fingertips and she pulled her hands away from her body. Frigga nodded once in agreement, just a slight twitch of her head. With that, Odin looked at Thor who hardly even hesitated in standing up and leveling Jane with a hard look.

Jane just scoffed and spun on her heel, Thor following her from the conference room.

A hard breath of air left Darcy's lungs and she buckled, hands coming down hard on the table. In the same moment that her hands caught the table, Loki's hands caught her. She blinked and they were back in their chambers, Darcy laid out on the bed and Loki seated on the floor against the wall, head tipped back, black tendrils of hair curling against his cheek, cold sweat adhering it to his skin. The blue had crept its way up his neck now.

"Slytherin. Hey." She called. His eyes slid over to look at her, but his body remained still.

Jane's damage had been done. Darcy could see it in her husband's eyes.

"Don't do this, babe." She warned, pushing herself up into a sitting position.

"What is 'this', that you speak of?"

"Don't let her get to you. She's upset. Lost the plot. Just a lil' bit." She scoffed, eyes rolling in her head. "Coo coo for cocoa puffs."

"She's right." Loki's voice broke and she almost wished for the lack of emotion back.

"No." Darcy interjected before he could continue voicing his self deprecating thoughts. She inhaled deeply and slid off the far too tall bed. Her feet hit the ground and she could hear the gentle swishing sound of her ball gown around her ankles as she moved towards the God of Lies. She shivered a little, even in the long sleeved velvet. Loki's Jotun blood was leeching the warmth out of the air.

"You should 'take care of it'" He spat the words out and they dropped to the ground like bricks, weighed down with disgust. Darcy stared unwaveringly, never faltering even when he looked up at her with an almost desperate expression. "I obtained literature regarding Midgardian abortions," He told her. Eyes closed, face turned towards the ceiling, head leant back against the wall. "and spoke with the healers. They said it was possible with our technology. The agree with Jane. And I am inclined," he inhaled deeply. "to agree with them. They directed me to advise you to do so." Darcy's teeth sank into her bottom lip as she watched a tear roll down his face and his neck.

"No,"

His eyes opened and he wore a similar expression to that of a man being burned alive.

"I will not lose you." His voice sounded dangerous and it was clear in his tone that it was a promise. "I cannot. And if I do…"

"I know, I know. Rag-na-broke or whatever. Destruction, death, mass murder, boom." Darcy made an exploding motion with her hand and rolled her eyes.

She braced her hand against the wall as she fell to her knees beside him. His hand automatically reached up to cup her elbow and slow her descent but fell uselessly to his trouser clad thigh when he saw the blue coloring of his hand. "Jane is wrong. Batshit crazy actually. I don't know what's wrong with her." Darcy sounded exasperated and angry. "But Loki," she began again, relocating one of her hands to his cheek and pushing the hair out of his face, barely holding back a gasp at the biting cold emanating from his skin. It was so cold it hurt and she had to pull her hand away again. Loki followed it with his eyes and sighed at the blue tint to her fingers. The unspoken apology hung in the air.

"Look buddy," Darcy grumbled, falling backwards so that she was sitting down rather than kneeling beside him. "This kid is not just yours, I'm your wife but you don't own me or control me. I'm having our baby because I want to. You need to get that through your head. You're not making me. I am not stuck with you. This is a choice I am willingly making. And yeah, okay, maybe your psycho ex-bitch might be putting me and the kid in a little danger but so would walking down the street back home. So stop with that load of bull."

Loki's eyes flicked upwards to glance fleetingly at her face, only to shoot down to where their child was living for the time being.

"And Green and Gold," she waited until he looked at her. "You are not a murderer. Your dad was a dickwad. You were a kid. Everyone makes bad choices. Yours had some bigger consequences but it doesn't make you a murderer." Loki shook his head once in disagreement and watched in slightly shell-shocked confusion as Darcy heaved a frustrated sigh and reached for his hand.

"Darcy-" he protested, forcefully trying to pull his hand from hers as she guided it towards her midsection. The newfound strength that accompanied her goddess status prevented his strength from outdoing hers.

His blue hand touched her through the fabric of the tightly stretched dress and the reaction was instantaneous. Darcy gasped and the shivering started with no warning. A pale blue spider web spread under her skin, wrapping and winding around her arms and neck, he watched it paint across her ankles, feet and face. He realized with a stab of panic that she no longer felt blazing hot to him, which meant that she was now the same temperature as he was in his Jotun form. It was paralytic horror that kept him frozen in place while he felt and watched the undulating body of their child under his hand. He knew without a doubt that his daughter had taken on his form upon contact, like he had done Odin's.

The relaxation of every one of Darcy's muscles replacing the body wracking shivers shook Loki out of his borderline unconscious state, free hand shooting forward to catch the back of her head as she fell backwards to the floor.

The air was getting thicker as he looked at his wife, passed out on their chamber floor. He could barely breathe through the self-hatred and fear and he was a second away from ceasing all contact with her when a quiet mess of feelings invaded his mind.

It was confusion, fear, anxiety, terror, panic, bewilderment and questioning all at once and it wasn't his.

The feelings weren't his and they weren't Darcy's. Telepathy was not one of the abilities she'd been given. They were small and uncertain emotions, brand new and laden with immaturity.

They belonged to his daughter.

REVIEW PLEASE, AS ALWAYS. I STILL LOVE YOU ALL EVEN AFTER 6 YEARS OF SPORADIC WRITING.