“You promise that I won’t look like a baby, Papa?” Julian looked at his new backpack with an expression of uncertainty, as though he were suddenly rethinking having chosen the bag with the dinosaurs printed on it.

Before I could answer, Artie’s high-pitched voice came from the next aisle over. I glanced up to see Milo and Tom standing there with full carts and all of their kids in tow.

Shit. And here I’d thought that shopping with one kid at the mega mart was bad. Allie was helping to unload their cart and piling their own school stuff onto the conveyor belt. Artie was pointing at Julian’s backpack as he chirped loudly to Milo. “I want a dinosaur backpack, too, Daddy! I don’t want the stupid Olaf one anymore.”

Tom nipped that one in the bud by calmly answering before Milo could formulate a response. “No, you don’t. Trust me, child. You want to be one-of-a-kind, not twinsies with your best friend. So why don’t we let Julian enjoy his dinosaurs, while you enjoy Olaf. You’ll both be the trendsetters of the second grade. And by the way? Never call Olaf stupid—he’s the most chill snow-dude ever.”

Both boys seemed mollified by that, and Artie was smiling at Tom’s words while Julian was tugging at my arm. He looked up at me with those big, puppy dog eyes and began to whine. “Papa, can I go home with Artie? I haven’t seen him in three whole days.”

I bit back a laugh at the deer in the headlight look on Milo’s face—the last thing he needed was another worn-out from shopping kid on the verge of a melt-down. I knew full well that he was dealing with the same back to school crap that we were. This was our last week before school started, now that the damn schools had started matriculating in early August.

Which was bullshit, if you asked me. Kids deserved all summer off to goof around and have fun. Although, I’m sure some parents were frothing at the mouth right about now and counting down the seconds until they could wave goodbye as their little darlings ran onto the playground come Monday morning.

I answered Julian calmly, in a voice that showed that I was serious. I knew that he was about 30-seconds short of a tantrum after the long back to school shopping trip. School clothes and supplies were no joke, and shopping for them with the kid along wasn’t for the faint of heart. But after his recent growth spurt, we’d had to bring him so that he could try the shit on. Otherwise, I’d have done it myself and let Pierre rest.

“I’m sorry, Julian. Your daddy needs to get some rest and I’m quite certain that your Uncle Milo has his own plans. We’ll see about getting you boys together on Saturday, if you can have a good attitude today.”

Julian’s lip quavered, but he nodded without any further argument. Instead he looked up at me again with those big puppy dog eyes. “Is it okay if I just give him a hug goodbye? Artie is my best friend and I love him super-duper much.”

The cashier was already ringing us up, so I waved him off toward our friends and told him to hurry, while I dug out my wallet. $287.47 later, we slowly made our way out to the parking lot. Pierre hadn’t been all that talkative throughout the entire trip, and as I looked down at him I realized why. Judging by the look on his face, he was in excruciating pain.

When we got to the car, I popped the trunk with my key fob and left the cart standing in the rear while I helped Pierre around to the passenger side and gently told Julian to follow us.

“Ew! Daddy! Why did you pee your pants? It’s all over the ground, look!” I looked down to see what the hell Julian was talking about, and realized what was happening. Pierre clamped a hand around my arm, gripping down with a fierce look on his face as he all but bent over double.

“I thought that you guys would be long gone by now,” Milo called out from the next aisle over as he and Tom approached his car. Allie was shooing the little kids along while her dad’s attention was on us.

“We were about to get into the car, but then my daddy peed his pants all over the ground. You should come look, it’s gross!” Julian sounded almost proud of his dad’s accident.

Tom and Milo looked closer at Pierre’s pained posture, and both of them immediately intuited what was happening. Pierre’s water had broken, and he was in labor.

Milo and Tom appeared to have an entire conversation in one glance, before Tom came zipping over, weaving through the cars to come to my side.

“Pierre likes to make a scene—Tom approves,” Tom said with his trademark grin. Then he rubbed his hands together briskly as the familiar down to business look that I’d seen about a million times at work settled over his face.

“Kent needs to help Pierre into the car, while Tom and Julian unload the cart. Julian will get his play date with Artie after all, and we will bring him to visit once the new baby arrives. And if Milo is busy, then Julian can come spend the night with his big sister.”

Knowing better than to argue with Tom, not to mention the fact that his plan was solid gold, I nodded my agreement. I vaguely overheard Tom and Julian unloading the cart into our trunk while I helped Pierre get settled and buckled.

By the time I closed his door and was walking around the car, Tom was already pushing the empty cart with one hand, and holding onto Julian with the other as he briskly walked away. Reason #37 why I was grateful for our circle of friends.

* * *

The next several hours went by in a haze. Pierre alternated between threatening to slice off my cock with a dull bread knife, and telling me how much he loved me and couldn’t wait to meet our son.

I wisely kept my thoughts to myself, not daring to mention the fact that he was showcasing the common hormonal fluxes that came with pregnancy, and just kept the ice chips coming. Pierre had thrown a hissy fit when he’d been told that he couldn’t eat or drink during labor, absolutely refusing to understand why this was even a thing.

One poor nurse had run from the room after Pierre had thrown a box of Kleenex at her when she’d given him the unfortunate news that the anesthesiologist was at lunch and nobody was available to give him an epidural just yet. Pierre was highly strung on his best day, but Pierre in labor was a scary yet adorable force of nature.

By the time his epidural kicked in, he was already fully dilated and ready to deliver.

“Merde. You cannot possibly excuse the fact that this provincial hospital only has one anesthesiologist working. This is absolutely inexcusable that I’ve had to suffer so much pain,” he grumbled as Dr. Greene guided his feet into the stirrups and prepped him for delivery.

I was thanking my lucky stars that I didn’t speak French when Pierre spouted out a stream of venomous profanity in his native language, all the while glaring at me with the malevolent gaze. Thinking to cool him off, given his red face and the sweat pouring from his hairline, I grabbed the cup of ice chips.

I scooped a spoonful and gently fed it to him, while tenderly brushing his hair back from his sweaty brow. Another contraction hit right then and right before Pierre doubled over, he whipped his head to the side and spat the ice chips back at me, spraying them at my chest like a load of buckshot.

“All right, Pierre. This is it now, I need you to bear down as hard as you can give it one big push.” Dr. Greene spoke calmly, her eyes dancing with suppressed mirth at the ice incident.

Pierre reached out and grabbed at my chest, clutching the fabric of my shirt in his fists as he pulled me toward him while he bore down and pushed so hard that the veins in his neck and temples bulged. He let loose with another stream of French profanities—at least I was pretty sure that it was profanity, based on its delivery.

His hands relaxed at once as he looked up at me with wide-eyed wonder when the reedy sound of our son’s cries filled the room. Our heads whipped over to see Dr. Greene holding up our baby boy. I resisted the urge to point out that his pinched and red-faced scream closely resembled that of his omega father just a few moments prior.

As soon as Dr. Greene laid our son across Pierre’s chest, his face softened as he smiled happily at our newborn with tears of joy running down his face.

The nurse carried the baby across the room to clean him up after Dr. Greene had helped me cut his cord. Pierre’s shining eyes never left our son, he was completely oblivious to Dr. Greene dealing with the afterbirth and clean up.

Once he had our son back in his arms, Pierre patted the bed beside him. “Come sit with me, small town. We need to cuddle our baby together, so get in here—this is our time to bond.”

Having seen Liam deliver two children, I wasn’t at all fazed by Pierre’s complete one-eighty U-turn from Scary Pierre to Angelic Pierre.

Hell, if I’d had to go through what he’d just done, I’d have been letting out more than a few choice words of my own. My tightly wound omega may have been a little bit frightening during delivery, but I wouldn’t trade a single second of sharing this moment with him.

“Have you thought of a name? I know we’ve discussed dozens of them,” I said as I stroked my thumb over our son’s tiny clenched fist while Pierre fed him a bottle that the nurse had delivered.

“Yes, indeed. I know we haven’t discussed it, but I would like to name him Alexander Louis Hawkins.” Pierre looked up at me shyly, as he said my omega dad’s name.

“Really?” I breathed incredulously. “You want to name our son after my father?”

“Yes, because your dad was a good man and I want our son to grow up to be a good man too. Your dad raised two fine sons all by himself, and did a magnificent job of it, too. I would be honored to have our son bear his grandfather’s name.”

I nodded quietly, unable to speak over the lump in my throat. Thinking of my dad made me realize that my brother had no idea that his newest nephew had arrived. I glanced over at Pierre as I pulled out my phone, not sure if he was ready for me to break up our little bubble of bonding time.

I needn’t have worried, because Pierre merely nodded with a soft smile. “Go ahead and call your brother, and tell him to get everybody down here with him. Our tribe has a new member to welcome.”

As the phone was ringing in my ear, it dawned on me that our tribe was probably already here in a waiting room somewhere. Just as I’d thought, I heard the hospital loudspeaker echoing in the background as Chun answered the phone.

“Is he here? How’s Pierre, is he all right?” Christian asked by way of answering the phone. I chuckled at my brother’s brisk efficiency.

“Alexander Louis is here. He weighed in at a healthy 7 pounds, 13 ounces. Pierre is being given a room soon, I’ll text you the room number so that you guys can come visit. Can you make sure that someone gets Julian here? I don’t want him left out of this moment, or even thinking for one second that he’s being replaced.”

Christian sniffed in my ear. “When did I blink and miss you becoming such a fine man? You’re a good dad, Kent. Our dad would be so proud of you if he could see you now. I love that you named the baby after Dad, so thank you for that. And by the way, Julian is sitting right beside me. You really think that I’d have my nephew across town at a time like this? I picked him up as soon as Tom called me.”

I swallowed and nodded, as though my brother could hear me nod through the phone. Pierre smiled affectionately at me, as I sucked in a breath and tried to get my shit together after my brother’s sweet words.

“Okay, Chun,” I said roughly, my voice thick with emotion. “The nurses just came in, I think we’re being moved to a room now. I’ll text you the number in a few minutes.”

I tucked my phone into my pocket and followed as Pierre and Alexander were moved to our new private room.

* * *

“Careful with his head, baby,” Pierre advised as he guided Julian’s hands into place, nervously huddling over him from his position on the bed. “And remember, you never pick up your brother without Daddy or your Papa there to help you. He’s very fragile right now.”

Julian rolled his eyes. “Instead of a brother you should have gotten me a puppy. You don’t have to hold a puppy’s head, you’ve just got to pet them and make sure they pee outside.”

“He’s not wrong, you know. I mean, even though you have to housebreak puppies… That doesn’t take too long. We’re talking years before that little guy is out of diapers and walking and talking. At least with a puppy, we’d all have something to play with now. Although, there is something pretty special about the baby. And the brother of my brother must somehow be my brother too, right?”

Allie observed all this as she came closer to see the baby. Milo and Cecil, along with their husbands, were watching all the other kids right now. Except for Allie. She always wanted to tag along anytime someone came to the hospital so that she could say hello to all of her friends here among the nurses and doctors on staff.

She was also pretty involved with helping her dad with his volunteer work in the pediatric ward, not a surprise to anyone given her own history here. Allie looked questioningly at me and then Pierre.

“May I hold the baby?” she asked nervously.

Pierre nodded and pointed at the chair beside the bed. “But of course, go ahead and sit down, then his Papa will hand him to you.”

Tom came over to squat down beside Allie while she gazed adoringly at Alexander.

“What do you say, Miss Allie? Should your dad and I think about having another one of these?” Tom asked quite seriously, his elfin features all lit up as he drank in the sight of our son.

Allie shook her head and passed the baby to her dad. “Why don’t you get your baby fix from this little guy, I think we’re pretty full up at home, what with the twins.” I snickered as she said this quite reasonably.

“You know, life is pretty funny,” Tom said seriously, as he stood with Alexander and came to sit on the foot of Pierre’s bed. “All of us are so intertwined and connected that we really are one big family now, aren’t we? Goodness knows that I would never thank Junior Dev for his part in all this, but I like the way that fate stepped in after all of our pain to help heal our wounds and bind us together.”

“All right, you’ve hogged him long enough. Uncle Liam needs a turn,” Liam said as he came and plucked the baby out of Colin’s arms. “Besides, we’re already full up on the feels in here; if you don’t stop waxing poetic like that, you’ll have these two tough Hawkins men welling up in tears just like, well—a baby.”

We all laughed at Liam’s deadpan delivery, especially since he wasn’t wrong. My brother and I were both the first ones to admit that we were a couple of crybabies… Especially when it came to family.

Pierre spoke up quietly. “Tom’s right though. Fate has given us back so many blessings after the pain that Tom and I endured, along with all the other victims of that vile piece of excrement. Merde. I can’t believe that he got away with it for so long. I am not ashamed to say that I drank a whole bottle of champagne the night that Grazer called to tell me that he’d passed away. That was a big part of what made me brave enough to come back to this area.”

We all nodded silently, not wanting to talk about Junior Dev in front of Allie. Julian wasn’t old enough to understand, but at thirteen, Allie was a whole other story. An omega guard had been on duty last year and accidentally put Junior Dev into general population after a routine visit to the prison doctor for a check-up.

He’d been kept in a separate area with the other prisoners that would be in danger due to their crimes against omegas or children. Just like the rumors always said, prisoners in GEN-POP didn’t care to have someone who’d done the things he had living among them.

When the next guard came on shift and had found out what the omega had accidentally done, they’d immediately done a search for Junior Dev to put him back into the secure area of the prison.

However, Junior Dev was dead when they found him. The details weren’t ones best talked about in polite company, but nobody disagreed that he hadn’t gotten what he deserved before being shanked.

“Tom is bored with this dull conversation, can we turn back to something more pleasant now? Such as how Uncle Tom plans to kidnap little Alexander here on the regular?”

Tom stood and leaned up against Liam, resting his ginger head against Liam’s shoulder while they both smiled and made kissy faces at the baby while my brother tried to steal him away for a turn of his own.

A young hospital volunteer, or candy striper as they been known in the past, poked her head around the open door. “Umm, I have some flowers here for Pierre Hawkins.”

Pierre’s face lit up as he waved her into the room. She carefully set a full bouquet of roses beside his bed, before turning and darting back out of the room.

“Who are the flowers from, Pierre?” Tom asked with a wink in my direction. “I know they’re not from Kent, since he’s been here with you. And I don’t think any of us sent them or we’d have brought them personally just to get a chance to hold this little angel of yours. Is there a card?”

Pierre shook his head with a soft laugh at Tom’s trademark nosiness, but readily complied. I went over to help him, when he couldn’t quite reach the bouquet. I turned the vase around and sucked in a breath.

Sticking up straight from the center of the bouquet was what I knew in my gut would be our final golden arrow. The arrow was pointed down into the vase, thankfully. The feathered end of fine gold sparkled among the roses. Tucked in between the arrow and the roses behind it was a card. I plucked it out of the arrangement and silently passed it over to Pierre.

Pierre looked hesitantly back and forth between me and the vase, then slowly reached for the card. He held it with an almost trembling hand as he read it aloud.

Liam laid our now sleeping infant into Pierre’s arms, while I took the card and looked at it curiously. Tom and the kids said their goodbyes, Allie already engaging Julian in conversation as they left. I watched carefully to see if he would have a hard time with leaving, but he was skipping along between Allie and Tom without a care in the world.

Allie’s voice carried back to the room as she shared some big sister knowledge with Julian. “Want to know something interesting? Remember that hippie dude, Amor? His name means love in Latin. But a little-known fact is that it’s also another name for the god Cupid. Which is why Cupid is the symbol for Valentine’s Day…” Her voice trailed off as they moved further down the hall, until we couldn’t hear it anymore.

I sat down on the bed and leaned over to press a tender kiss against Alexander’s little brow before lifting my head to kiss his daddy too.

“Did we ever tell you guys about the golden arrows that we kept finding everywhere? The first one appeared after our one-night stand in Vegas, and the last one appeared at our wedding reception. Except for the one that was just delivered with the bouquet.”

Liam chuckled at Pierre’s words, reaching out to take Chun’s hand. “I don’t know that we’ve ever told you about our angelic emissary, Otis. But trust me, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if that dude Amor was some sort of supernatural creature or personage.”

Christian looked about as spooked as I felt. But then, after a moment’s thought, I added my own two cents to the conversation.

“I suppose it would have taken the hand of a god to get Pierre and I together. But did it seriously have to take someone like Amor? I was always pretty sure that dude was more than one brick shy of a full load.”

Pierre shrugged. “Merde. You’re not wrong... he was a sweetheart, but his elevator definitely didn’t seem to go to the top floor. But then life is strange, right?”

“Especially if you live in Hollydale,” Liam said with a smile as he came over to kiss us all goodbye. After they’d left, I squeezed into the little bed with Pierre, enjoying this quiet moment with my family. The only thing that kept this moment from being absolute perfection was the absence of Julian. We’d all be together soon enough, though.

Right now, I would content myself with holding my husband, inhaling that unique lavender and chocolate scent of his, and listening to my son breathe. I said a silent think you to Amor, wherever he was, as I laid there doing as he’d suggested in the card—enjoying my family.