Landon

After I pulled up to the emergency room entrance and got out of the car, I grabbed a wheelchair, then grabbed Mark. I knew there was no way he was going to be able to get out of that low car seat on his own, so I picked him up.

“What the hell are you doing?” he said through gritted teeth. “Will you put me down, Landon?”

I set Mark down in the wheelchair, then kicked the car door shut. “I told you, I’ve got this. All you need to do from this point onward is push. I’ll take care of everything else.”

I didn’t care if Mark was rolling his eyes at me. I didn’t care if I was acting like a typical alpha. I was about to have a baby and there was nothing he or anyone else could do to stop me from doing thing my way from here on out.

“We’re having a baby!” I yelled to no one in particular as I pushed Mark into the ER reception area. There were a number of people sitting and standing around and they all looked over at us and smiled. I couldn’t believe how calm everyone was, but I figured maybe they hadn’t heard me, so I yelled a little louder. “We need to get him into a room! The baby is coming now!”

“Landon!” Mark said as he grabbed one of my hands. “They heard you.”

“Then why aren’t they doing anything? We need to get you into a room!”

“There are people in line in front of us. We can’t just barge up to the beginning of the line.”

“Oh, yes we can,” I said as I wheeled Mark past some clearly less urgent cases. The nurse behind the counter took one look at Mark and smiled, waving the two of us to the front of the line. “It’s okay, dear. We’ll take care of everything. Now, what's your name?" she asked Mark as she typed something into her keyboard.

"We don't have time for that,” I said. No one seemed to be taking this seriously. “We need to get him into a delivery room right now! I'm a police officer and this is an emergency!”

Both the nurse and Mark looked at me, and then they both started laughing.

“It’s okay, Landon. The baby’s not coming out this very second,” Mark said, grabbing my hand again. “We have time.”

“Just take a deep breath, Mr. …” The nurse glanced back and forth between the two of us waiting for a name.

“He’s Harrison. I’m Lewis,” Mark said, and even though I knew it wasn’t that important—especially with all the advances we’d made as a society—I kind of wished our names were the same.

“That’s fine. We’ll have your partner in a room in no time at all, Mr. Harrison. Just let me get his information. Now, first name, Mr. Lewis?”

“Mark.”

"And how far apart have your contractions been, Mr. Lewis?”

"They’ve been coming really fast, haven't they?" I asked, realizing that I hadn't actually been keeping track of the contractions at all. I had a feeling I’d forgotten something.

“The last two were about ten minutes apart," Mark told her.

“Oh, I thought they were coming faster than that,” I said with a sheepish grin. I looked down at Mark and couldn’t believe how serene he looked. I honestly thought he was the one that would be freaking out today, and that I would be the one to keep him calm. Obviously, that wasn't what was happening.

“It looks like we’re ready,” the nurse said as she picked up the phone. “Let's go ahead and get you back there and on a monitor. I have a call out to your doctor, but since you’re in a week before your due date we might need to have our on-call doctor perform your delivery. Is this going to be your first, Mr. Lewis?"

“Yes, this is my first," Mark said with a big grin as he squeezed my hand.

I ran my hand over the top of his head, pushing his hair back, then kissed his forehead. “I can’t believe this is finally happening, babe. I love you so much.”

"Well congratulations to both of you," the nurse said to us, then turned to address a man in scrubs who’d come through the swinging doors. “Take this couple to the delivery wing, room 315. They’re expecting Mr. Lewis and Mr. Harrison.”

After Mark got settled in, some nurses came and went, taking his blood pressure and checking everything out, then finally we were alone in the room. I sat down in a chair next to Mark and held one of his hands in both of mine. "I'm so proud of you," I said. "You’re handling this amazingly well. Like, way better than I am."

"Don’t say that. You’ve done an awesome job taking care of everything, Landon. Really, I can't thank you enough. You helped me through one of the hardest periods in my life. I don't know what I would've done without you.”

I could feel tears filling my eyes, but I didn’t care. In that moment, all I could see was Mark. The rest of the world didn’t mean a thing to me.

“I’m sure I’d still be living in my trashed apartment, with takeout containers piled to the ceiling. I probably wouldn’t have even had the sense to hire someone to clean for me."

I saw Mark’s eyes starting to fill with tears too and I squeezed his hand. Then the tears in his eyes fell down his cheeks and I moved my hand up to wipe them away.

Mark put his hand around mine and held it there against his cheek and looked deep into my eyes. “And I want you to know how sorry I am."

"About what, sweetie?" I asked, brushing a tear away from my own face as it ran past my lips.

"I'm so sorry that I've been such an asshole about everything—the change and the pregnancy and keeping everything a secret. I never meant to hurt you, but I know that’s exactly what I did.”

"You don't have to say this, Mark. I know—”

"Yes, I do. I need you to know how much you mean to me, Landon, and how much this baby means to me. I want you to know that I've never been embarrassed of you. It kills me to think that you ever felt that way. I could never have asked for a better friend, and I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am that you’re my partner … and I don't mean at work,” Mark said with a laugh.

"I know exactly what you mean." I smiled and wiped more of my own tears away. He opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly his eyes went wide and he almost crushed my hand in his. “Oh God, here comes a big one," he said through gritted teeth. I held his hand and let him squeeze as hard as he had to. There was absolutely nothing I wouldn't do for him, no matter how much it hurt.

When he relaxed and started breathing again, I figured it was a good time to bring up something that had been on my mind. "So, guess who I talked to the other day?”

“Who?”

“Your brother.”

Mark was silent for a long time. His eyes darted around the room before he spoke again, but he didn’t look back at me. “Stephen? Where did you see him?”

“He came into the precinct. He was looking for you. He said he’d called you a few times but hadn’t heard back. He was worried about you, Mark.”

“Oh. I’ve been meaning to return his call. Did you tell him ... anything?”

“Okay, I’m not going to lie to you, Mark. I told him you were pregnant. But I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known you hadn’t told him yet. It didn’t even occur to me that he didn’t know.”

Mark was silent for a moment. “What did he say?”

“He was really excited, Mark. He was so happy for you. But I think he was also hurt that you hadn’t told him. I think he’d really like to be here for this.” I was worried that Mark would be angry with me, but when he looked back up and I saw the gentleness in his eyes, I knew I’d done the right thing.

"Yeah," Mark said. "I do want him here. I don't want him to miss something as big as this. He's all the family I have left."

“Great! I’ll go out and make a quick call.” I leaned in and gave Mark a long, deep kiss. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Okay, but make it really fast. Before the next contraction.” Mark was still much more calm than I’d expected him to be, but I could tell he needed me with him during this.

“You got it, babe.”

Stephan answered his phone immediately and told me he’d be there as fast as he could. When he walked through the door and saw his brother in the bed with his pregnant belly exposed to the world, his mouth fell open.

"Oh, my God … what … how … I thought something was up when you came to my office and asked about the status changes, but I had no idea you were pregnant. Why didn’t you tell me, Mark? How could you keep this from your own brother? This is amazing!"

"I'm so sorry, Stephen.” Mark was having trouble making eye contact with his brother but then looked up as Stephen pulled a chair up on the opposite side of the bed from where I sat, holding Mark’s hand. “I was just … I don't know. I was embarrassed and scared. I didn’t know what you would think of me.”

“How could I be anything but ecstatic?“ Stephen asked as he grabbed Mark's other hand. “And do you have any idea how thrilled our parents would be if they could see you?”

“Are you kidding? I’m sure they’d be mortified that one of their sons turned out to be an omega.”

“Mark, that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was always Mom’s dream to watch one of her children give birth.”

“Really? How do you know that?”

“I overheard them talking when I was home from college once. She said something about having another baby—that maybe this one would be an omega. She told Dad that she’d always hoped for one. I know she was happy with the two of us, but I can understand her wanting to be a part of the whole pregnancy and birth process with one of her children too. She was in the last generation of women to be able to give birth. I know she would have been thrilled to see you right now.”

“I had no idea. I guess I just assumed they would have wanted alphas. I think I’ve always assumed that what everyone wanted was a bunch of alphas.”

“Not even close,” I said, feeling incredibly blessed to be a part of this conversation. I was so glad that Mark was hearing about this now. I wanted him to know how much he had always been loved. “I’ll love our baby no matter what his status is.”

"If there were only alphas there would be no younger generations. We’d all die off. And the world would be a pretty boring place.”

Suddenly Mark gripped my hand hard. “Oh, God, here he goes again!”

Stephen and I watched as Mark gritted his teeth through another contraction. I was sure they’d be taking him in soon. The contractions were coming fast now.

“So you know it's a boy?" Stephen asked.

"Yeah, it's a boy,” Mark said with a weak smile. He closed his eyes and let his head drop back on the pillow, then let out a long sigh. “That was a big one.”

“We’ve decided on the name Trevor,” I said as one of the nurses came into the room. She lifted the sheets so she could see how far along Mark was, then smiled. “I think we’re ready to go into the delivery room,” she said after examining him. “Are the two of you joining us?”

I looked at Stephen and Mark, then back at the nurse. All the time that Mark was pregnant I had pretty much convinced myself that I was not going to be in the delivery room during the birth. I'd seen way too many videos with gooey babies covered in God-knows-what to even consider it a possibility. But the minute we got to the hospital, I didn’t want to leave Mark’s side.

“Yeah, I’m going in,” I said to the nurse.

“Me too,” Stephen said with a grin. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

Every time Mark had a contraction I wanted to get into that narrow bed with him and wrap my arms around him. But since that wasn’t even a remote possibility, I stayed right by his side, holding his hand and brushing the hair off his drenched forehead.

Stephen stayed right there too, reassuring Mark that everything was normal and keeping him grounded. Stephen had delivered more babies than he could count and I was sure Mark felt lucky to have him in the delivery room.

“Mark, this is Dr. Livingston. He’ll be delivering your baby since your regular doctor can’t be reached.”

Mark barely opened his eyes and glanced up. I was sure he didn’t really care who took care of the delivery, but when I looked over at Stephen, he was as white as a sheet.

“Dr. Jake Livingston?” Stephen asked.

“Yes, I’m Jake Livingston,” the doctor said from behind his surgical mask. “Oh, hello, Dr. Lewis. I didn’t know you’d be assisting with this birth.”

I couldn’t help but notice the tension that suddenly filled the air between the two doctors. They were both speaking cordially to one another, but I could tell there was something off.

“I’m not assisting,” Stephen said with a slightly gruff tone. “This is my brother. I’m here to support him.”

“Fine. Well, I think this delivery is going to be over with in record time. Mark is already crowning. Nurse can I get your assistance? And Mark, are you ready to push?”

Mark opened his eyes and looked up at the doctor and nodded. “I’m ready.”

“Okay, then … on the count of three, as hard as you can.”

I gripped Mark’s hand hard and kissed it, then glanced up at Stephen, but was confused when I saw his face. He almost looked like he was going to be sick.

“One … two … three … push!”

There was a bit of a commotion in the room with Mark pushing and the nurses scurrying around, but within what felt like seconds, I was being handed the most beautiful little baby boy I'd ever seen in my life.

He was so small and so sweet and he fit into the little nook in the corner of my arm perfectly. I kissed his soft head, then lowered him down into Mark's arms. I don't think there was a dry eye in the delivery room when that sweet little baby reached up and grabbed Mark's nose with its teeny little hand. Mark took that little hand in his own and brought it to his lips and he kissed all of Trevor’s fingers.

I glanced up at Stephen and he had his eyes on Mark and the baby, but I couldn’t help but notice an odd look on his face. He glanced nervously back at where the doctor had been only a moment ago. He seemed relieved to see that Dr. Livingston had silently left the room. I wondered what all that was about, but it wasn’t the time to ask. This moment was all about Mark and little baby Trevor.