"Keep pushing, Victor, you're doing great!"

After nine months of misery, being unable to digest food or liquids, Victor was fed up. It didn't matter that until a week ago he thought Brand was the universe's gift to pregnant omegas. Now, he'd revealed his true self as a nagging demon of birthing hell.

"Another push!"

"You're doing great," Eric said, frantically echoing Brand. Victor almost wished they'd taken Brand's advice and kicked Eric out to the waiting room. But Victor was getting a sick pleasure out of squeezing the crap out of Eric's hands, even though in the midst of a push he didn't realize he was doing it. It was only afterward when Eric wiggled his fingers in his grip that he could tell how much it was affecting the alpha. Served him right for putting Victor in this situation. Never mind that it had been at Victor's urging.

"Another push, babe," Eric urged.

"I am... fucking... pushing..." Victor growled, his words turning into a scream as he pushed with a ferocity fueled by hormones and frustration and sheer done-with-it-ness. 

"Dads, meet your new little girl."

A girl? They had a girl? Victor's body was still contracting, and he was crying, but nothing mattered other than the fact that his baby was born. He was glad he'd let Eric talk him into waiting to find out. "Can I see her?"

Brand laid the still purpley-red creature on Victor's chest. "We'll clamp the cord in just a minute."

Victor and Eric barely heard him, so focused on the beautiful creature squirming and snuffling on Victor's chest.

"I think she has your forehead," Victor told Eric. 

"My forehead?"

"The wrinkles." She had wrinkles like a bulldog, same as Eric when he was surprised. He'd lift his eyebrows and his whole forehead would wrinkle.

"Huh," Eric chuckled. "I guess she does."

Brand was back too soon. "Okay, dads. Let's clamp this cord and weigh this little lady and then in just a little while the whole family can snuggle in."

"Her name is Petra," Eric said, affirming the name they'd chosen months ago.

Victor watched as Eric clamped the cord and then went off to a corner with one of Brand's assistants while Brand helped Victor deliver the placenta. Victor was more than ready for some peace and quiet when they were finally rolled out of the delivery room into the room that had become "theirs" over the last few months. Victor was tired, but he could't fall asleep as he attempted to feed his little girl for the first time. The nurse stayed until she felt sure he had a handle on it, and then it was just their little family. 

Eric sat next to the bed and lay his head on Victor's thigh.

They'd had a blissfully peaceful time since the fall of Gecko Labs, just as Sean had promised. But Victor couldn't shake the feeling that something was still coming.

"What kind of world do you think she'll grow up in?" Victor softly asked his mate.

Eric took a moment to answer. "I want to say something similar to the world we grew up in, but that world is gone, isn't it?"

Victor didn't voice his agreement. It was a topic they'd danced around often enough. The world was a scarier place now than it had been even five years ago. If one large group of humans knew about them, it was only so much longer before more did.

"Still no word from Sean," Eric said, answering the question that Victor had been about to ask. Sean had left shortly after their rescue. He'd stated his plans to the Alpha, and from what Eric had told him, the Alpha and Sean's brother and sister had spent the better part of a week trying to get him to open up or at least agree to take guards with him. But one night, Sean and Bob had simply disappeared. No scent to trace.

"Everything will be okay," Victor said.

Eric looked up at him with all the devotion he possessed. "As long as we all are together." He changed the words they'd spoken to each other so often in reassurance. It wasn't just Vincent and Eric now, it was Vincent, Eric and Petra. Victor glanced between his mate and his child and felt truly content for the first time in too long. As long as he had these two, the rest of the world could burn to the ground around them; he would be fine.