Landon

I took a couple weeks of paid leave after Trevor was born so I could get everything set up for us at home. I'd spent so much time worrying about supporting Mark in his big change before the baby came, that I hadn't really focused on some of the things the two of us might need.

I mean, we turned the spare bedroom into a nursery. We had wallpaper put up that was covered with cute stuffed animals. We picked out a crib, and a bathing table, and all the other things we needed for our newborn. We bought baby clothes, blankets, bright toys, and squeaky animals. But there were still some things we needed that I knew would make life a little easier on both of us.

After we got home from the hospital, I got online ordering a few things that I was hoping Mark would be as excited about as I was. Things we could use for ourselves and for our new little guy.

"What came in the mail today?" Mark asked from where he sat on the living room couch. He had Trevor wrapped up snugly in a beautiful blue blanket that his aunt and uncle had sent after he mailed out the birth announcements. They told him that they both wished they could've been there for the birth and that they were so proud of Mark. They also said that they were thrilled with the magnet he sent out.

It was the sweetest picture. One that we took in the hospital of the three of us. You could see Trevor’s big blue eyes and Mark’s beautiful smile, and I just loved it. The magnets were Mark’s idea. So we chose the picture and I had it made into one-hundred magnets that we sent out a couple days after Trevor was born.

After mailing one to every single person on both of our contact lists, we still had more than half the box. But I was okay with plastering the small image of Mark and Trevor everywhere I went. Every metal surface I could find had at least one of the magnets attached to it, and my locker at work was completely covered.

Ever since we sent out the announcements, relatives I didn’t even know we had were sending their congratulations and a little something for Trevor. So on top of the boxes we were getting from stores, gifts were also coming in every day as well.

"This is a high-powered blender. It's the top of the line, the best one you can buy," I said as I pulled it out of the box. “We can use it to make baby food. According to the reviews, it’ll purée anything. Even avocado pits. It’s incredibly powerful."

“Sounds fabulous," Mark said, barely glancing up for a couple seconds before he turned his attention back to the little bundle in his arms. “But we won't be feeding Trevor baby food for months. And I highly doubt avocado pits are going to be on the menu."

We both laughed as I put the container in the dishwasher. “Yeah, I guess I’m getting a little ahead of myself. But it will come in handy. There's a million things you can make with these blenders. Smoothies, soup, sauces, hummus…”

“It sounds like something for you, ‘cause I’m not drinking any smoothies.”

“Oh, come on. You like the ones I bring back from the mall.”

“I’m pretty sure they put candy in those things, Landon. Nothing you’ve ever made at home comes even close to being as good as those bright pink and orange concoctions.”

“Well, with one of these blenders I can make them taste just like those ones do,” I said. “After I run this through the dishwasher I’ll run out and get some frozen fruit and yogurt. Oh and that reminds me.” I turned my attention to the second box and tore it open. “This must be … yeah, it’s the pressure cooker I ordered. It’s really awesome. It also functions as a slow cooker and a yogurt maker.”

"That sounds great.” Mark looked up at me again and smiled. "It sounds like you’re the one doing the nesting now."

"Yeah," I said, laughing. “I guess I am getting a little carried away."

"No, not at all. You’re amazing, Landon. This kid is so lucky to have a dad that’s as excited as you are to feed him blended-up food. Honestly, I feel like the luckiest man in the world."

I walked over to the couch, leaned over the back, and kissed Mark. When I opened my eyes again, Trevor was looking up at us and he smiled a goofy little smile.

“Uh oh," I said reaching down and touching my fingers to the tiny little hands that were curled around the top of the blanket. "I know what that smile means. I think it's time for someone to be changed."

"Isn't that amazing?" Mark said. “He smiles when he needs to be changed. He doesn’t scream or cry. It’s too much. I keep expecting the actual work of parenting to start, but it hasn’t yet. I’m in heaven.” Mark got up off the couch and the three of us went into the nursery together.

“Don’t worry, it’ll happen. Especially when he gets a little bigger and we have a few more running around.”

Mark looked at me with wide eyes for a moment, then smiled. “Yeah, I guess it could get a little hairy.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be here to help you with all of it. I’ll even start with this little monster,” I said as I held Trevor in the air and blew a raspberry on his stomach. He screamed out the cutest little laugh, and I did it a couple more times for good measure.

"I've got to say, I really wasn't expecting you to be so interested in this part of having a baby,” Mark said as I lowered Trevor to the changing table and unfastened his diaper.

"Why? Because I'm an alpha? You think I don't have any maternal feelings in me? That I’m just a protector?”

“I don’t know what it is. I guess I still have some of those weird hangups. I thought they were just about me becoming an omega, but I guess I really did fall for a lot of those stereotypes. Even when I knew it couldn’t possibly be true. I mean, I know we’re all completely different. That just because we’re a certain status … that doesn’t mean anything. But these weird ideas pop into the back of my mind every once in a while. It's frustrating. I'm sorry, Landon.”

“Well, to tell you the truth, I do understand. I'm a little surprised myself. I knew I wanted kids, and I knew I wanted you, but I really had no idea how much I’d love this … just being here with him … and with you.” I felt Mark’s arm move across my back and we both took turns letting Trevor grip our wiggling fingers. “That reminds me of something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.”

"What is it?" Mark asked. He continued to play finger grab with Trevor while I removed the diaper.

“I don’t know. It’s not that important. We can talk about it later.” I grabbed both of Trevor's feet and tickled his teeny-weeny little toes, then lifted his butt in the air.

“Now is fine. We’re not going anywhere," Mark said as he tickled Trevor while I slid the diaper underneath him. “The three of us make a good team,” he said when the tape was in place.

“We’ll have to enter ourselves into the diaper Olympics!” I picked Trevor up and held him in the air again. He seemed to love being up higher than us and giggled every time.

"Come on, what is it?" Mark asked.

"Well, I wanted to ask you if you were still interested in going back to work. I know we just had the baby and it probably won’t be for a little while, but … I don’t know … I was kind of hoping we could split it up."

"What do you mean? Split what up?“

"Like, each of us works part-time … you know … on the force. And then we each get to do part time with Trevor. I'd love to be able to spend time with him while he’s still so small. And I feel like when I come home after a whole day away, five days a week, I don’t know … it just doesn’t seem like enough. I want to be able to have real time with him. And if we have another one soon—“

“How soon?”

I looked at Mark and he was smiling, so I knew I wasn’t freaking him out. “Whenever you’re ready, babe. But we do want more. And when there are more there will be less of both of us to go around. So if we split it up now, I figure I could get my chance to be a full-time daddy, at least part of the time. And then the three of us can be together on the weekends. What do you think?“

Mark looked a little worried for a moment and I waited patiently for him to answer. “I think that’s a fabulous idea,” Mark said. "But I have no idea if the captain really wants me back. And do you think he’d want two part-time cops at the precinct? Is that even an option?”

"Well, things are changing. They’re hiring more omegas every day all over the city, and Hank has been doing really well. The captain agrees with me that he's becoming a really good cop."

"Well, he is learning from the best," Mark said, taking Trevor and walking back into the living room. He sat down in the same spot on the couch, but switched Trevor to his other arm. "I could sit here and watch this little guy all day," he said, then looked up at me again. "So, you think it could work? Do you think he’d let us both work part-time?"

"Well, I wanted to check with you first to see if you were okay with it,” I said as I slid onto the couch next to Mark. “I have an idea. I thought maybe we could each work part-time with Hank. That way we wouldn't mess anyone's schedule up. He'd have a full-time job and each of us would have a part-time shift with him.”

Mark tore his gaze away from Trevor and looked up at me. “That sounds like a great idea, but that means we’ll be working opposite shifts. We wouldn’t see each other all day.”

“Well, we don’t see each other all day as it is. It won’t be any different.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I’ll just have to get used to being away from this guy every day.”

“Just half a day, and only five days a week.”

“That’s true,” Mark said, looking back at Trevor. “I hope the captain goes for it. I do want you to be able to experience being home with him. It really is wonderful.“

I put my arm around Mark and pulled his head close to mine, then pressed my lips to his forehead. I honestly couldn’t think of anything that would make my life better, other than the moment when Mark and I were officially married. I felt silly that such an antiquated thing made me so excited, but I was coming to realize that I had an old-fashioned streak in me. And I still hadn’t even brought up the name thing with Mark.

“So I was thinking …”

“Yes?” Mark said, drawing out the word.

“What are we going to call Trevor?”

“I thought we’d already decided on that. Have I been calling him the wrong name all this time?”

“Come on,” I said ruffling Mark’s hair a bit. “I mean, his last name. We haven’t really talked about it.”

“Yeah, I guess I assumed it would be hyphenated, like on the birth certificate.”

“Well, we could do that,” I said.

“But?”

“But I was thinking it would be nice if we all had the same name.”

“You mean, like your name? Trevor Harrison?”

“I don’t feel like it would be fair of me to ask you to change your name. I was thinking maybe we could … I don’t know … make a new name.”

“Really?” Mark said, twisting around so that he was looking right at me. “Like what?”

“Like a combination of both our names. Harris maybe?”

Mark laughed for a minute. “That’s not bad. It sounds a little better than Lewison. You really want to do that? Change your name too?”

“Yeah, why not? I don’t know. When we were in the ER and you told the nurse our names, there was a part of me that wished we had the same name, you know?”

“Like in the olden days,” Mark laughed.

“Yeah,” I said with a laugh as well. “It’s kind of old-fashioned, but I really want to. What do you say?”

“I love the idea, Landon. I really do. I think it’s one of the most romantic things you’ve ever said to me. We’ll be the Harris clan,” Mark said, kissing me, then bending down to kiss Trevor Harris on his little head.