Chapter Twenty One

Doc shivered and without saying a word, Joe pulled a throw rug from the back of the couch and wrapped it around his shoulders, before resting his arm on top of it which helped. In deference to Doc’s need for food and a long hot shower, the debriefing was being held in Doc’s apartment, after the bodies of Myron and Harold had been disposed of.  Joe’s house was still trashed, but Liam had fixed the front door enough to close the place up. A lot more relaxed now, Liam was sprawled out on a rug, licking the last of chicken wings from his fingers. Rocky was at the table gobbling down one of Mrs. Hooper’s stews while Mal was foraging through the fridge looking for another one.

“I’m not sorry for what I did.” Doc felt he should get that out of the way before anything else. “Myron was a menace and a murderer, and he was going to kill Joe. He deserved to die.”

“You won’t get any argument from me,” Rocky waved his fork in Doc’s direction. “I think a lot of people will sleep easier tonight knowing he’s gone. Harold too, I would think, although it wasn’t as though he was evil.”

“No, just a groveling wind bag with delusions of grandeur.” Doc was still on edge. Despite his open acceptance of the killing, Joe had barely said anything since they’d got home. Doc mentally scolded himself for being so tactless. “I’m sorry, babe, I know they were your family.”

“I’ll sleep easier tonight knowing they’re both dead,” Joe said calmly, “but that still begs the question, what to do about the younger Quincys?”

“Al and Wall will have to go before the council,” Mal said, popping a bowl into the microwave. “Although they didn’t bomb the sheriff’s office themselves, they were still responsible for hiring the men who did do it. I’m guessing we can’t go for restitution, given most of the Quincy assets were sold when they were banished. Is there anyone else you can think of who might start causing us problems, Joe?”

Doc watched his mate as Joe answered. The man’s jaw was rigid. “No, I don’t think so. Harold has two daughters who are both married and were long gone before anything happened here. There were other cousins – lots of others, but Myron was right in one respect. The Quincy name is now mud in Arrowtown and I doubt we’ll see any of them around here again.”

“Was Myron mated?” Liam asked as he pushed his box of chicken away. “Gods, these wings will make me fat. Thank goodness I have two mates who will help me work off some calories.”

“I never heard of Myron having a mate, and I doubt it,” Joe said slowly. “He never trusted anyone to get close enough to him to do that. Harold and Robert both had mates, but from what I know about my aunts, I would say their mate’s deaths will come as a relief. It’s not as though any of my family were true mated.”

“Does that mean we can put this Myron business behind us?” Liam asked hopefully. “Only in case you missed what I said, I do have two mates and a son that I haven’t seen all day….”

“Get on home with you, you, horny beggar,” Mal laughed. “I’m sure Doc and Joe don’t need your pheromones stinking up the place. Keep your phone on you but take tomorrow off. That goes for you too, Joe. Rocky and I have to be on deck tomorrow as the council are sending construction workers to start working on the new offices. Hopefully, the most we’ll have to contend with in terms of crime is Old Clifford letting his pigs out again or Mrs. Gentry complaining about something spooking her chickens.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Liam jumped up and after throwing his rubbish in the trash bin, was out the door. Doc heard his bike rumbling down the street as he sped for home.

“I’m guessing you two have a lot to talk about as well, Doc and Joe,” Mal said, tapping Rocky on the shoulder. “Joe, you’ve done a lot of shifts lately, and I know you’ve got a lot to do with your house. By law you’re entitled to a mandatory three days off to spend with your mate. Why don’t you take them? In fact, take a week. Ra’s approved the funding for an extra deputy hire, now you and Liam are both mated. It’s not fair that you get all the night shifts now.”

Joe nodded. “Whatever you say boss.” After grumbling about how he was still hungry, Mal dragged Rocky off to Cam’s and the house was silent.

Sliding his hand across Joe’s stomach, Doc rested his head on his mate’s broad shoulder. “We’re alone now, babe. Why don’t you tell me what’s upsetting you?”

/~/~/~/~/

Joe’s stomach cramped, his head hurt, and he felt as though his skin was ready to peel off his body. He knew Doc meant well and was only concerned for his welfare, but if he opened his mouth Joe was going to end up crying like a baby and Doc deserved better than that from him. He was going to be a father now, he needed to be a man.

“I’m not sure the house can be saved,” he said controlling his emotions through sheer force of will. “It…it….” Damn it, he was going to cry, he just knew it. “It might be better if we just got a bulldozer in and started from scratch.” There, he’d said it. Now if he could just get rid of the water in his eyes without it falling down his face….

“Babe.” Doc shocked him by swinging around and sitting on his lap, cupping his face in his hands. “That house was your home, the first safe place you ever knew. We’re not bulldozing it. I told you before, it can be fixed. We will fix it.”

The words were there, right on the tip of his tongue. It’s just a house. But Myron had known how to hurt him. Until Doc, that place had been his sanctuary and every plank in it carried his blood, sweat and tears. “We both work, full time,” Joe said hoarsely, trying to be pragmatic. He could not meet Doc’s eyes. “It would take a lot of work, more than we have time for. Most of the furniture is only fit to be burned and that’s without all the fecal matter spread over everything else. I just…I don’t….” Joe bit back anything else he had to say.

“Look at me, babe.” Joe slowly raised his eyes. What he saw in Doc’s made his heart flutter. He could see it – he could see the love Doc had for him, shining from his eyes. And then his eyes widened because damn it all, he thought he could hear the words inside his head. I love you, Joe Farriday. You’re not alone anymore and we will fix that lovely sanctuary of yours and make it ours. Do you hear me?

“You’re talking in my head.” Joe’s voice squeaked, and he quickly coughed before saying in a deeper voice. “That was you, wasn’t it? I’m not dreaming again?”

“I wasn’t sure it would work. But if you’re wondering if the words I love you Joe Farriday were true, then yep, you heard me correctly. Can you feel me in your head?”

Joe wanted to close his eyes, but he didn’t want to look silly. He could feel his buffalo rumbling gently under his skin, but there in his head, there was something else. Or more specifically someone else. He’d just never noticed it before because he’d never thought to feel for it. “No one in my family was ever true mated,” he whispered. “I didn’t know it was possible.” Thinking hard, he tried to tune into their connection. Once he knew it was there, it was easy.

I love you too, Nathan Farriday. I promise I will do all I can to be a good mate to you and the best possible father to our children.

Doc’s breath caught, and then all of a sudden Joe’s lips were being feasted on, and while he didn’t like the thought, Joe was so glad Doc had cleaned his teeth – twice. His brain was a little slow to catch up. He was still mourning his house, but Doc’s lips had a way of clearing his brain of anything and when he finally pulled away, Joe was struggling to breathe for all the right reasons.

“You need something to take your mind off things, tonight.” Doc’s eyes gleamed.

“I thought we were working on that.” Joe couldn’t straighten out his cock because Doc was sitting on his lap, but he was happy to move their loving to another room – he’d just be happy to get his pants undone so his cock had room to move.

“Oh, we will be doing that.” Doc winked. “I’m going to love the hell out of your ass and then you’re going to do the same to me. But first, I was wondering, do you think you’d like to learn to use my ultrasound machine?”

“Your…?” Joe’s brain had immediately headed for sexier pastures where he and Doc were both naked. But then realization hit him, and he looked down at Doc’s shirt covered stomach. “You mean we might be able to see the baby, babies, or whatever?”

“It’s the whatever side of things that is bothering me,” Doc said wryly, “but, the way I look at it, if we see what’s going on in me, then we can work out how much time we can devote to fixing our house. Good idea?”

Holding Doc’s hips to stop him getting up, Joe confessed quietly, “Myron really hurt me today, and it had nothing to do with that gun he was pointing at me. I’ve never been a hateful person but I’m not sorry he’s dead.”

“I understand, and that’s why we’re going to fix our house. You don’t let the bastards of this world take away those things that are important to you. I wasn’t sure why you were so quiet but after you offering to floss my dragon’s teeth, I didn’t think it had anything to do with the killing.”

“I wanted to be strong, but ever since we got back here all I wanted to do was break down and cry.” Joe shrugged as he bit his lip. “When it’s all said and done it’s just a house, I do know that. While Myron was holding the gun on me, all I could think about was your safety. You’re the most important part of my life.”

“But that house is a part of you too, babe, and I can see us making many lovely memories in that place which is why we’re going to fix it. You watch. We might be loners, but we know a lot of people. It won’t be as hard as you think it will be.” Leaning forward, Doc brushed a sweet kiss on Joe’s forehead. “As for shedding tears, you have every right to. Don’t hide that side of you from me. That’s what having a mate is all about – having someone to hold you when the world around you falls to pieces. Now come on, let’s head downstairs and I can teach you a new skill. And anytime, anytime at all you need me to hold you, just let me know.” Doc tapped his head. “No one else need know about it.”

Joe just had to kiss Doc after such sweet sentiments from the normally standoffish man. Not for long though. It really was painful when a semi-erection was caught in the creases in his pants. Understanding, for whatever reason, Doc wanted to have the ultrasound now, he followed Doc downstairs and watched as he set up the equipment.

“I’m really not sure if this is going to work,” Doc said as he peeled off his shirt and climbed onto the bed. He ran his finger over the leathery part of his torso. “Usually, when I am using the machine on someone else, I can run the head of the sensing wand over their skin until I find the right place. Then I can push a bit, so the images are clear.”

“Will it damage the equipment if I run this over your skin?” Joe looked at the wand warily. It just looked like a metal tube with a bulb on the top of it to him. “I could use a stethoscope and see if I can hear where the baby is before using the wand. Then I could just press in that spot.”

“Babies have a nasty habit of moving around, especially in the early stages,” Doc said. He waved at the stethoscope sitting on the cabinet by the bed. “Definitely have a go. If you do pick up a second heartbeat at least that means, we’ll be having babies and not eggs.”

Joe thought if Doc was carrying their young in eggs, then those eggs would have heartbeats too, but he wasn’t going to argue. Resting the ultrasound wand in the holder on the trolley, he picked up the stethoscope and fitted the ends in his ears. The other end tapped against his hand and he jumped. The sound was surprisingly loud.

Before listening to Doc’s stomach, Joe rested the end of the stethoscope on his mate’s chest. Doc’s heartbeat was slow but easy to hear. Doc laid still, his breathing even, and after a minute, getting used to the rhythm, Joe moved the end of the scope to Doc’s belly. He hesitated, having no idea of pregnancy anatomy. Deciding to work from the belly button outwards, Joe was immediately thwarted when he realized Doc didn’t have a belly button. Idiot. He hatched out of an egg. Just guess where one would be.

Doc chuckled but said nothing as Joe methodically moved the scope from one patch to another. The gut was a surprisingly noisy part of the body, Joe realized, with all sorts of gurgling and rumbling going on. Clearly, Doc’s digestive system worked, and Joe could hear the underlying thump of Doc’s heart. But it wasn’t long before Joe heard something else – lighter, quieter and more rapid than Doc’s heartbeat. Leaving the scope where it was, he unhooked one end from his ear. “I hear something,” he said, knowing he was grinning from ear to ear.

“One, or….?”

Now he knew what he was listening for, Joe moved more rapidly. He quickly found another one, on the opposite side of Doc’s torso. Straightening up, he suddenly noticed a lighter patch on the gray of Doc’s stomach. “Have you always had this?” Joe traced the circular patch with his fingernail.

Leaning up on his elbows, Doc scowled. “No, that’s new.” He stabbed the lighter area with his finger. “Doesn’t hurt though and it doesn’t look like it’s flaking or anything. It might be a pregnancy mark. Some species do have them. Did you hear more than one?”

“Two, I think,” Joe said. “They’re on opposite sides of your body. Is that normal?”

“You know as much as I do about this,” Doc said, lying back down again. “Let’s see if we can find anything with the machine.” He turned his head, so he could watch the screen.

Checking the sweet fast thumps with the stethoscope once more, Joe reached over and grabbed the wand, placing it where the scope had been. Glancing over at the screen, he saw nothing but static, but then he wasn’t sure how an ultrasound worked.

“Press down a bit harder,” Doc said. “Actually, use some lube on the end of it and then try again.”

Now is not the time to be thinking about probing things and lube, Joe thought as he did as he was told. The static wavered a bit on the screen, but that was the only change.

“Damn Komodo quirks,” Doc scowled. “Try here.” He pointed to the middle of the lighter patch of gray skin. Still nothing. Doc sighed. “Thanks for trying, babe, but I think we’re going to have to wing it with this pregnancy. Did you want another listen before I get up?”

Nodding quickly, Joe put the end of the stethoscope back in his ear. There’s one, he thought as he put the end of the scope on one side of Doc’s stomach, and there’s the other one. To make sure he wasn’t hearing just one, super loudly due to stomach acoustics – yep, he knew nothing about that either – he pressed the scope end in the middle of Doc’s stomach too. The sounds were a lot fainter there, but his keen ears could pick up two distinct rhythms, one slightly faster than the other.

“Two distinct heartbeats,” Joe grinned as he straightened up again. “Both of them are quieter and faster than yours, but one of them is running slightly quicker than the other.”

Sitting up, Doc swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Let me listen,” he said quietly, holding out his arm so Joe could come close. Hooking one of the ear buds out of Joe’s ear, Doc put it in his own ear and with a hand each holding the end of the scope, Doc and Joe shared a long loving look as they listened to the two new signs of life Doc was carrying.