I gave Oliver an hour after his scheduled appointment before I tried calling him. An hour should be enough time, right? Unless the office had gotten backed up. I was surprised he hadn’t texted me yet. His phone rang three times and then went to voicemail. Was something wrong? Was he still in the doctor's office?

Chloe and Faith had stopped by on their way to the library and that had been only about thirty minutes ago, so in between appointments, I headed home. Maybe Oliver had finished up and was taking a nap.

"Anyone home?" I called as I came in the backdoor, feeling silly, calling out if no one was home. 

But a moment later, I heard Oliver's voice. "Here."

He was in the living room, his legs pulled up against his chest, his eyes reddened with tears. I went to him immediately, wrapping my arms around him. "What's wrong? You saw the doctor, right? Whatever it is, we'll handle it."

I was doing my best to not flash back to when Jen found out she had cancer, but the similarities were too similar. She'd gone in for a simple pregnancy checkup, planning on asking the doctor about her migraines. Three hours later, she was sitting me down and we were discussing options.

"Tell me, Oliver. You're scaring me."

He took a shuddering breath and more tears leaked out of his eyes. He stared ahead into nothing, his arms still wrapped tightly around his knees. I felt like I was hugging a rock. I just needed him to say something. Whatever it was, we could handle it, I just needed him to tell me what it was.

"I'm pregnant," he said, his voice barely a whisper.

I loosened my arms to pull back so I could look him in the eyes.

"What?"

Oliver buried his face in his arms, but said it louder, "I'm pregnant."

But that was—why was he crying? That was, that was amazing news! Oliver was going to be a dad. I was going to be a dad again! Chloe was going to be a big sister. And most importantly, Oliver wasn't dying. There were so many emotions tumbling over each other, I scarcely knew how to react. My arms were trembling with excitement and relief. I wanted to talk to Oliver, to daydream about our future together. But I only had a few minutes before a scheduled surgery. I squeezed Oliver's shoulders. "I have to go, but we'll talk when I get back, okay?" I leaned in to give him a kiss on the back of the head. "I'll try to wrap up early today," I promised.

Oliver nodded his head but didn't lift it.

We had to tell Chloe. First, we had to tell her about Oliver and I. And Oliver could move into my room, and we could turn his room into a nursery. There were other options in the house, but that was the closest to our room. Oliver was pregnant!

My heart was near to bursting. He must feel so overwhelmed after thinking he was barren for so many years. I'd seen how much he loved kids when he talked about them when I'd first interviewed him. And how good he was with Chloe! I wished I'd had time to talk through his feelings with him before I went back to work. I could tell he'd been overwhelmed. His entire world had just changed. I wondered what had led him to think he was barren. He said he'd been with his previous alpha for a while, the asshole. Maybe the jerk was the one shooting blanks. 

It didn't matter. Oliver and I were going to have a baby!

It was hard, but I was able to push the good news from my mind long enough to focus on the surgery. I didn't have anything scheduled after that, and I cleaned up hurriedly afterward. I couldn't wait to talk to Oliver. Though Chloe might be home already, so we might have to wait until after her bedtime, but we could tell her about us. That Oliver was part of our family now. And then Oliver and I could talk. And snuggle. I just wanted to snuggle the hell out of him right now. 

I was just closing down my computer to head home when Sally came rushing in. "Doc, we need you. We've got a litter of puppies that got singed a bit in a fire, maybe some smoke damage."

I felt a sense of shame for feeling like running away, running to Oliver, but my sense of duty took over quickly. "Show me what you've got."

My two favorite firefighters, by which I meant Chloe's favorite firefighters, Dash and Rafe, were already carrying two small pet carriers.

"Hey, guys, what do we have here?"

Dash lifted his carrier to the table and I opened it. "Three pups and a mama," he said. "External injuries, just a few singed ears and tails, but we can't tell how much smoke they might have inhaled. 

"I've got the mama here," Rafe added.

I took each puppy and examined it individually. Sally and two other techs took each pup to give them a gentle bath and apply ointment as I finished with them. "They seem to be breathing okay, but we'll start them off with some blood tests to make sure." I looked to Sally and she nodded. I knew she would handle that. "Now let's see mama."

Rafe lifted the second crate to the table and I opened up the gate. "Come on, mama. We're taking good care of your puppies. Why don't you come out too? That's a good girl."

The small dog wagged her tail shyly as she stepped out of the crate, but her eyes were alert and interested. Her tail was singed, but I wouldn't know the extent of the damage until I could remove the burned hair. Like the puppies, she didn't have any external signs of smoke inhalation, but we'd run the tests on her too. 

"Thanks for bringing them in, Dash, Rafe." I shook their hands as they prepared to leave, their faces still soot-striped and half in their gear.

"Couldn't exactly take them to the shelter, could we?" Dash said ruefully. Rafe nodded in agreement. They'd brought me many animals over the years, the big softies. 

"When are you going to take one home?" I teased. I'd been pushing them to adopt for years.

"You know I'm never home," Dash protested. "That just wouldn't be fair."

"Every firehouse needs a dog," I countered. Rafe just smiled. He was the quieter of the two, but Dash more than made up for it.

The dogs had momentarily distracted me from my need to be with Oliver.

"Sally, you got this? Call me if anything comes up?"

"You got it, Doc."

Finally, I was out the door, running across my yard, bursting into the kitchen, slowing down but bouncing into the living room with enthusiasm. Faith jumped at my entrance, but Chloe jumped up and gave me a hug, her little shoulders shaking, clearly upset about something. "Is Oliver in his room?" I asked. He was probably exhausted from all the emotions today.

Faith gave me an odd look. "He left," she said.

That was strange. Unless he went out to buy prenatal vitamins. Or if the doctor had given him any prescriptions. 

"He said don't worry about the last paycheck."

A sense of dread buried deep in my gut as I tried to process what Faith was saying. A million questions popped into my mind, but I knew she wouldn't know. I ran up the stairs and threw Oliver's bedroom door open, fearing what I would find.

Everything was gone, not that he'd had much. But now there was nothing. I sank to the floor, Chloe wailing in my arms, asking when Oliver was coming back. I wanted to join her, one word echoing in my mind. Why?