The next day, John was insistent on taking me with him to work.

He made me text Riley and tell him I would be extremely busy for a while, so we couldn’t meet face to face as we finished the project. Riley didn’t seem to mind, though. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear he already knew what was going on.

As for going with him to work…he did wait until I woke up before bringing it up, and I was worried he might get in trouble, but he’d called in his absence for this morning.

“If you already called in your absence, why are you still going and why are you trying to make me go with you?”

I knew I was whining, but I didn’t want to go to where he worked. It just so happened to be an army base, where there would be a lot of humans with guns and other weapons. John might be completely at home there, but my heart was beating fast in anxiety just thinking about being there. I was seated on the couch, hugging a pillow to my chest and looking up at John imploringly.

John rolled his eyes. “I need to go in and ask for some leave of absence. And I need to give a good enough excuse for not coming in this morning.”

I bit down on my lip. “Why do you need to ask for leave? If it’s about the baby, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a while before I’m ready to pop, John. Until then, my body’s going to start growing, but that doesn’t mean I can't look after myself anymore. And would I even be allowed? It should be pretty strict over there, right? Don’t tell me you’re going to let them know we’re married!”

Shifters were one thing, but I knew quite a few humans still looked down on males who were in relationships with other males. Shifters wouldn’t think it was so big a deal, because for them, it would be an Alpha and Omega pairing, not just a male and male pairing. Wouldn’t it give John problems at work?

Only, he didn’t seem to think it was a problem at all, rolling his eyes even harder.

“I’m only taking a couple days off. I want us to go see someone so we have some idea of how far along you are, so I can plan work around it. I’ll probably take a month or so off of work around that time to look after you.”

“Is there someone we can see about this?” I asked, lifting my head curiously.

“Yeah. We aren’t that far from the pack, and there are a few pack members that work as doctors in the nearby hospital, mostly Omegas. I was thinking we could go see one of them for an assessment. It should be fairly accurate, so as long as nothing goes wrong…”

My heart leaped, partly at the idea of anything going wrong, and also partly at the idea of knowing when the baby was due. Also, having someone else confirm that I was really pregnant, because I wasn’t entirely positive myself. I had inferred from a few things that seemed odd over the last weeks, but for all I knew, I could have contracted some strange shifter disease that has never been heard of before.

“… Fine,” I agreed after a long moment of thought. “Just let me go change.”

I tossed the pillow aside, and headed for the stairs, only to be stopped with arms wrapped around my waist.

“Hold up, you’re already dressed and you look just fine.”

I looked down at my outfit unhappily. I was dressed in an old pair of jeans that were frayed around the knees, one of them had even torn. I also had one of my t-shirts with John’s sweater on top of it, and it looked so oversized, falling down to my thighs.

“Won’t I embarrass you if I go out like this?” I asked.

John’s arms tightened around me. “Of course not. And you having something of mine on will make me feel a bit better, actually, so you smell even more like me.”

“Ah.”

I figured it was another territorial Alpha thing, so I didn’t insist on going to change. I let John lead me to the car, opening the door for me and waiting for me to climb in before closing it behind me. I could have let him know I wasn’t that fragile just because I was pregnant, but I let him do what he wanted. I didn’t exactly hate it, after all.

My hands were clenched tightly in my lap the whole way, and John, sensing my distress, would put his hand on my knee when he wasn’t using it on the gear shift. I held my breath as we neared his base, only to be surprised when we passed through the gate with soldiers on both sides and no one stopping us. John saw my surprise and chuckled.

“You’re in my car so you’re considered my guest, no one would chase you out. And if you don’t want to go inside with me, you can stay in the car and listen to music, no one will bother you, okay?”

“Is that really all right?”

“There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it, trust me. If you were on your own, it would have been troublesome, but you’re not. I don’t know how long I’ll be, so…”

“Wait!” I called before he could leave the car. “What…exactly are you going to tell them?”

He grinned at me. “The truth. That I’m going to be having a baby.”

He unlocked the car and stepped out before I could stop him a second time. I was worried. As long as he didn’t mention that his spouse was a male, there shouldn’t be any problem, right? I watched him walk away until he disappeared, then reached for the radio and turned it on. I listened to one of his CDs as I looked around curiously.

I wasn’t sure how long I waited, but I’d forgotten to be afraid because I was so bored, and I perked up when I saw him.

“Are we good to go now?” I asked as he stepped inside the car.

“Yeah. Just in time, too. I called one of the Omega doctors I know in the pack and we have an appointment at the hospital. He should be able to answer our questions for us.”

Once again, I could feel my anxiety climbing. We took off toward the hospital, and my heart beat fast in my chest as I wondered what we would learn from this doctor.

Maybe… I wasn’t actually pregnant and I was really sick? It was the worst case scenario I could think of.

The drive to the hospital was shorter than the drive to the base. That was because there was a hospital pretty close to the base, that John explained to me was used by the troupes pretty often, which was probably how he knew whoever this Omega was when he was so far apart from the rest of his pack.

John led the way and he seemed to know where he was going. We went to the doctor’s office, and waited for one other patient, a human one, to be done before we got to see him.

About an hour later, we left. I was dazed, following a happily humming John. So, not only did it turn out that I was actually pregnant, but the doctor had even given me a sort of map of how the child would develop and how I had to take care of myself until I was ready to give birth. John, in particular, was going to play a big part in keeping me comfortable.

I didn’t know what he was really happy about. I was still in a bit of shock, because the doc told me in a couple months, I could go back and we could try an ultrasound to see the baby. I had spent the past three years looking after the pups in my former packs, and I had known that I would be having pups of my own someday. But…the doctor had told me a little about the birthing process…and I felt like I was going to be sick. John didn’t seem worried about a thing, but I was already imagining the pain. I’d never been around an Omega giving birth, but I’d heard the screams were incredible.

“Let’s go out to a bar,” John declared as soon as we entered the car.

I gaped at him. “Why is that the first thing that comes out of your mouth right now?”

He reached across the seat to ruffle my hair, and I settled down with a pout.

“We can worry about the rest of it later. And I want to get out and have a drink today because we’re going to be busy with other stuff tomorrow.”

“What other stuff?”

“We’re going to have a baby,” he said, looking at me like I was the one that had no idea. “We of course have to plan a lot of stuff. The room, for example. Did you decide which room you wanted to be the nursery?”

I froze. I’d actually forgotten about that. I had figured we’d need a nursery someday, I just…never thought it would be this soon.

“Don’t worry, the bar is around here, and a lot of the guys from the base frequent when they have time off, so it’ll be fine.”

I grimaced, not sure about that, since it would still be a bar full of humans, and the last time didn’t exactly end well.

“We’ll just go in for a few drinks…well, I’ll go in for drinks, and you can eat all the appetizers you want, then we can head home.”

I heard the word appetizers and my mood perked up. I hadn't realized it, but I was feeling a little hungry, and no nausea in sight, so I was definitely ready to eat.

The bar really wasn’t that far, less than fifteen minutes from the hospital. John packed the car and we went inside. I went to find us a table and he went to get us…to get his drinks and my appetizers. I sat down and looked around the space curiously, waiting for John to get back. It was still pretty early in the evening so the place wasn’t so crowded, but there were still quite a few people around.

Just as John was sitting down next to me, the door opened, and a couple more people walked in. They were still in uniform, and looked like they came from the base. I looked over at John, who was frowning.

“I don’t know them which means they haven’t gotten to me yet. Which probably means they’re new recruits.”

“Do you know all the recruits at the base?” I asked curiously.

“Pretty much, if they’ve been there long enough.”

He pushed the plate of appetizers at me as he opened his first beer, and I happily dug in. he’d pretty much gotten everything they had mixed up in the plate, and there were some blackberries. They burst on my fingers when I picked them up, and I licked the juice off my fingers.

“Hey, hey, hey. Who’s that pretty lady over there?”

I looked around, still licking juice off my fingers, and froze when I saw the two recruits were staring right at me.

The one that hadn't spoken smacked his friend on his chest. “Dude. I don’t think that’s a chick. That is definitely a guy.”

“What? No way. Hey, pretty lady! Why don’t you skip the old dude and come hang out with us? If you’re a guy, that’s fine, too.”

He grinned at me, and I wrinkled my nose in disgust. They really must not have known John, if they could call him old man to his face.

To my side, John went to stand up. Whether to say something on my behalf or to reprimand them for calling him old, I didn’t know, but I grabbed his arm to stop him. He froze for a moment, then sat down. I grabbed a napkin and wiped my fingers down, then rose to my feet.

“Hey, you two,” I said coldly. “Watch your mouth and have some respect, would you? Whatever you’re offering, I’m not interested.”

They looked at me in surprise, and the first guy was the first to come out of it. He huffed, a smile growing on his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it.

“I suggest you think twice about whatever is about to come out of your mouth right now. The wrong thing, and you’ll be leaving this place with regret very soon.”

Internally, I was surprised myself, though it didn’t show outwardly. I didn’t know where the strength to tell these men off came from, I didn’t know if it was my parental instincts strengthening me or of I was actually building inner strength, but it was a huge breakthrough for me to be able to tell these two men to fuck off.

When, after a moment, they quietly walked to another table, I felt the warmth of pride fill my chest. I sat down and turned to John, my lips trembling because I wanted to smile, but didn’t dare to. John didn’t seem to have a problem with it, grinning at me as he took one of my hands underneath the table.

“I’m proud of you,” he said simply.

I broke into a smile so wide, I felt my cheeks hurt.