Kurt left the hospital once they got John settled into a room and got his fever down a bit. The poor guy had been sick for a while, and no one had helped him. No one had tried to help him. Some of the hospital staff had brought him food, sometimes, but for the most part they left him alone.

On some level Kurt got that. Some homeless people preferred to be left alone, and a lot of narratives of homeless men pushed that concept. He understood, too, that predators could watch how people interacted with homeless people and panhandlers, looking for people they identified as “weak.”

He couldn’t understand how a man who’d been awarded a Silver Star could be allowed to become homeless and sick when he’d made every effort to get help.

He caught a Lyft and grinned to himself. Dom and Elisa insisted Kurt couldn’t take care of himself, but here he was getting back to the hotel all by his lonesome. He did need an assistant. He needed help with travel arrangements and with paperwork and things like that. He didn’t need someone to do his thinking for him, for crying out loud.

He checked his phone. He’d called the studio before heading over. Rather, the studio had called him. The producer had heard about his first visit to Portsmouth Naval Hospital via social media. He wasn’t mad, despite all of Elisa’s dour threats. He was ecstatic. The visit cost them nothing but swag that had been sitting in storage forever and gave them fantastic publicity.

Kurt had bit the bullet then and told the producer about the baby. The producer paused then, and he wasn’t exactly thrilled. He did however tell Kurt they’d do whatever he needed to make this as smooth as possible, so he figured the producer wasn’t as mad as he could be. He told Kurt he’d see what he could do about moving production up and get back to him.

The email Kurt got in the car was an updated production schedule. Kurt would be leaving Virginia Beach for Arizona two weeks from now. It would take that long for the crew to get set up. Elisa had been CC’ed on the email, so he wasn’t going to have to worry about passing it on to her.

Part of Kurt rejoiced. He was ready to move on. He needed to have a project, something to do. The rest of him got a little queasy. He only had two weeks before he would separate from Dom and never see him again. It shouldn’t bother him because Dom had been such a jerk, but it did.

He hated the finality of it. He wished Dom could have found a way to unclog his brain. Sure, that 1950s nuclear family had a lot going for it, when things worked out for them. It didn’t work for everyone, and that was okay too. There was no way in hell Kurt was going to give up his career, doing something he loved and the only thing he was good at, to sit around the house all day. No way.

He didn’t see why Dom had to be so damn rigid. If they had more time, they could work something out. They could come to some sort of compromise. They could find a way to mesh their ideas of family. That was pie in the sky thinking, though. Dom wasn’t the kind of guy to mesh his vision with anyone, not least a slutty little omega he saw as stupid.

When Kurt got up to his floor at the Hilton, he found Elisa waiting for him. She had a printout, an actual printout, of the producer’s email in her hand and a snarl of rage on her face. “What the sweet hell is this, Kurt?” she snarled.

Kurt let himself into the suite, and Elisa followed him in. “It’s a dead tree, crying out from the grave for vengeance.”

“All of the plans for SEAL Magnet have been carefully laid out over months, and all of a sudden they’re being blown up and shifted per your discussion with Preston? You don’t have that kind of pull. You’re not that important. You’re just some spoiled brat with a pretty face.”

Kurt smirked at her. Kurt was many things, and most of them were probably bad, but he wasn’t spoiled. He knew that damn well. “Well, apparently my face is pretty enough that they don’t want to lose it for SEAL Magnet. I’m pregnant. They want to get the filming done before I swell up like a balloon.”

Elisa stepped forward and slapped him across the face. “Pregnant? I knew you were stupid but this is a new low, even for you. You’re going to end up broke and in the gutter.”

“Not as long as you don’t have access to my accounts I won’t.” Kurt rubbed at his jaw and stalked over to the desk phone. “Hello, this is Kurt McNeil in—suite ten fifteen. Can you have security escort my former assistant from the suite, please? Also, I’d like to press charges against her for assault. If you could ring someone about that I’d greatly appreciate it. Thank you.”

Elisa gaped at him, slack-jawed. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“I’m done being treated like your unwanted stepchild, Elisa. The studio can keep employing you or not, but you won’t be working on my projects or case load again.” Kurt kept his voice calm and even, as stereotypically British as he could. He wanted to scream and shout, to rant and rave, but he didn’t. He needed to prove how deadly serious he was here.

He needed to prove to his child that he was competent to care for it. That meant not letting himself get pushed around or treated like crap. Elisa might think she meant well, but Kurt wouldn’t bet on it.

“I’m going to tell the world what a whore you are,” she seethed. “I’m going to tell that SEAL you’ve been fucking exactly how bad you are. I’ll tell him there’s no way he’s the father. I’ll tell him you have every disease in the book.”

“Tell him anything you want. I don’t care. Although I’m not positive, but I think that would violate the terms of your contract with the studio.” Kurt gave her half a smile.

The door to the suite flew open, and hotel security rushed into the room. Dom followed along with them. Great. Just what I needed. “Sir, what seems to be the problem?” The lead security guard straightened up and addressed Kurt directly as Dom rushed over to Kurt.

Elisa stepped in between Kurt and the security guard, pulling her smooth and polished persona around her like a cloak. “I’m afraid there’s been a terrible misunderstanding. Thank you for your quick response, but Mr. McNeil doesn’t need—”

Kurt cut her off. He wasn’t the most competitive guy, but this was not a situation in which he could afford to lose. “Ms. Sommer assaulted me and is no longer in my employ. She is no longer authorized to be in my room, nor is she authorized to make arrangements regarding my lodging or my necessities while I am in residence. I do want to press charges, thank you.”

The security guard turned to Elisa. “You heard the man. Out.”

Elisa made an outraged sound and stomped her foot. “You’d better believe the studio will be hearing about this!”

“Oh, they will. Believe me.” Kurt met her eyes. He turned to Dom. “As for you, I’m quite certain I left instructions at the front desk that you weren’t to be allowed up.”

Dom gave a sheepish grin and shrugged as the security guards turned to look at him. “Apparently, Elisa left other instructions.”

Kurt rolled his eyes back into his head. “That is absolutely the end of it. Absolutely the end. The only person allowed in my room is me and house cleaning staff. No one else.”

The security guards nudged Elisa. “Come on. The police are on their way.”

Her eyes bulged. “You can’t be serious.”

“You can’t be in here.” He grabbed her shoulder and guided her out of the room.

Kurt was left alone with Dom. “You’re welcome to follow.”

Dom brushed his hand along Kurt’s cheek. “You’ve got a bruise.”

Kurt fought not to react to Dom’s touch. “That’s why I’m pressing charges. Look, why are you here?”

Dom smirked and sat down on the couch. “I know what you did for John.”

“Got him the help he needs? It’s hardly a big deal. He’s sick, I’m helping him to get well.” Kurt looked away.

“Mal said he’d been sick for a long time, for something to get that bad. What made you stop?”

Kurt bit the tip of his tongue. “Look, it’s not like I’m one of those types who just goes down Sunset Boulevard tossing money around. It wouldn’t help. Maybe in the short term, I suppose, but not in the long. Anyway, I told you that when I fired my father I was broke.”

“Right.” Dom nodded.

Kurt shuddered. He didn’t want to remember those days. “I didn’t have a home either. In the eyes of the outside world, I was some spoiled rich kid who’d frittered his money away. A few Hollywood types let me crash on couches and such, but they certainly weren’t letting me do that for free.”

“Oh.” Dom’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

“Hey, I’m lucky I had that. I did have to spend a few nights in shelters, at first, and let me tell you it is not fun to be a young omega in a general men’s shelter.” He sighed and rubbed at his arm. “So I do try to pay a little attention. I do give. I have specific financial goals, and I hide my giving because it doesn’t fit the ‘image.’ That stops, by the way. Now that the image is going away, I don’t have to worry about that part of it.”

Dom nodded slowly, not that Kurt thought he could understand it at all. “I see.” He licked his lips. “That was probably kind of rough for you.”

“It was kind of terrible.” Kurt shrugged. “It’s over now. I’m not letting my child go through that. And I’m going to work hard. It’s going to be my money. Mine. No one’s going to be able to take it away from me. I’m willing enough to share it, sure. But I’m not going to be in a situation again where anyone’s going to be able to yank the rug out from under me.”

Dom ran his tongue along his teeth. “I had no idea. None of that made it into the papers.”

“I’m sure it didn’t.” Kurt rolled his shoulders. “I certainly didn’t want it there, because the last thing a young omega wants is the world knowing he’s out on the streets and vulnerable. And the last thing my father would have wanted was the world knowing he wasn’t the injured party in that situation. He got away with everything he did. Everything.” Kurt shook his head to clear it. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”

“Because I asked.” Dom chuckled. “Am I the first person to do that?”

“Maybe.” Kurt sat in the armchair. Sharing with Dom wasn’t a good idea at this point. “We’re wrapping up here. They’re moving up production, like I told you. I’m heading out to Arizona in two weeks.”

Dom paled. “That’s awfully quick.”

“Well, you know. That’s how this business works, and we are on a tight schedule.” Kurt pulled into himself. “I don’t think it’s exactly going to be the film of the year, you know? But it’s what it is.”

“Will you come back to Virginia Beach after that?” Dom leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

“No. The baby will be born in England.” Kurt frowned. “You know this. We’ve talked about it.”

“Er, yeah. Well, we did, but we didn’t—I was hoping you’d change your mind.”

“It’s important to me. I want the baby born in my country.”

“It’s not my country, though.”

Kurt had nothing to say to that. “So. Are you all happy to see those trials proceeding as they are?”

Dom scratched his head. “I don’t know. To be honest, it’s a bit of a shock. I’ll be glad when the sentences come down and they stick, but to see how so many people got so far in government while being part of such an organization kind of makes me sick. And all this stuff about Smolak—I mean it blows my mind to see it, you know? It just absolutely blows my mind.”

Kurt winced. “Some of the men in your platoon joined up for money, or because they lacked direction. You joined because of patriotism.”

“Damn straight.” Dom closed his eyes. “And seeing how easily everything was bought is a little disheartening, not going to lie to you. But we’ll see how it goes, you know? Maybe we can come back from it. It’s America. No one’s ever done quite what we have before. We’ve got a lot to be proud of.”

Kurt supposed they did, although he’d never thought about it before. “I’ve been here since I was twelve,” he said slowly, “but I’ve never thought of it as home. I was pretty isolated from the rest of it, except for when I was in the shelter. For what it’s worth, though, I have to admire your devotion.”

Dom perked up a little. “You do?”

Kurt winced. He didn’t want to give Dom false hope or anything. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t share it. Being an outsider makes me look at all of it with a kind of critical eye, I suppose. I’ll always be pretty suspicious of governments and that sort of thing. But I admire your devotion to the idea of it all, you know? It’s…I don’t know what the right word is. It’s nice, though. It makes me happy, whatever it is.”

“I’m glad.” Dom looked down for a moment. “Well, I’ll take off. Maybe we can get together for dinner this week.”

Kurt nodded, even though it was a terrible idea. “Sure. That would be great.”

“Okay. I’ll pick you up here on Wednesday evening.”

Kurt watched him go. He shouldn’t let himself spend time with Dom. It was all too late. He was leaving soon, they couldn’t reconcile in such a short time. Still, he knew he would go, and he knew he would enjoy it. The break would hurt that much more when it happened, but he would do it anyway.

He was an idiot.

* * *

Dom picked Kurt up on Wednesday. Part of him wanted to take Kurt out to some fancy place in the nicest part of town, but he didn’t. He couldn’t afford it, and that wouldn’t appeal to Kurt anyway. He had access to all of that stuff on his own dime. Instead, he took Kurt to a more normal place with a welcoming, family-type atmosphere.

Kurt looked comfortable there. Kurt looked comfortable everywhere. “I spoke with John today,” Kurt told him as they took their seats.

“Did you?” Dom tried not to look directly at Kurt. “How’s he doing?”

“The doctors think he’ll be able to keep his foot. It turns out he has a background in office work.”

Dom frowned. “Does he really?” He looked down at his menu. “Why’s he unemployed then?”

“A bunch of things. Age, skills, that kind of thing. As it happens, though, I’m in the market for a new assistant.”

Dom had been in the act of taking a sip of water. Now he choked on it. “Wait, what?”

“I’m in the market for a new assistant. I fired Elisa, remember?” Kurt smiled blandly at him.

“Okay, sure. You fired Elisa. You feel bad for John, and maybe you feel a kinship with John, but Kurt, you’re going to have a child. Our child. Do you really think it’s safe to bring some guy on as your keeper when his only qualification is having been found hanging around outside the naval hospital?”

Kurt’s smile stiffened. “Now that you mention it, yes. But he also agreed to submit to a background check. And I’ve changed the job description for the actor’s assistant role to bring it more in line with the descriptions for assistants to alphas and betas.” He tilted his head in challenge. “John will be helping me with my schedule and my correspondence. He won’t have access to my accounts, at all. Nothing goes out without me looking at it and authorizing it. He will make travel arrangements, because while I’m perfectly capable of doing that for myself, it’s not as easy as you might think to do so when you’re on the road.”

Dom ducked his head. “You know,” he said after a moment. “I know I said you weren’t capable of doing this stuff for yourself, but I think it’s pretty obvious that I was wrong. You’re kind of amazing. When you first got here, Elisa ran roughshod over you. Now look at you. You’re definitely in a take-charge kind of headspace, and it’s a good look for you.”

Kurt blushed. “I won’t lie,” he said after a moment. “Before the baby, it seemed like a better idea to go along with her or whatever ‘assistant’ the studio assigned. They had information I didn’t, and they freed me up to focus on things I needed to concentrate on. Things like acting. But the baby does change things, and it changes things a lot. I can’t let the baby see me being controlled by other people.”

Dom pursed his lips. Was that a dig at him? It might be. Did he deserve it? Absolutely. “That makes sense. You want the baby to see you as a role model.”

“Absolutely. Or at least as someone to respect. I’d rather they didn’t model themselves after me, thank you very much. I don’t want them to take up acting, ever.” He smirked. “Doctor, bricklayer, whatever. Just not an actor.”

“I thought you liked your job.” Dom looked into Kurt’s eyes.

“Oh, I do. Absolutely. But I don’t want Algernon here to wind up in a position where he thinks he has to behave a certain way for a public image. I want them to be genuine, true to themself.” He looked up as the waitress approached.

Dom did a double take. “Algernon?”

“I have to call it something, don’t I? Can’t keep calling it ‘It,’ that’s copyright infringement.”

Dom had a chance to think now, about how to broach the subject he wanted to discuss with Kurt. The sudden arrival of a handful of teenaged fans at their table bought him even more time, and by the time Kurt finished chatting with his fans and signing autographs Dom had figured out what he wanted to say.

“So. I got a call from Elisa.”

Kurt looked supremely uninterested. “Let me guess, she told you that the baby isn’t yours.”

Dom put his fork down. “Are you psychic now?”

Kurt scoffed. “Yes, profoundly psychic. She told me she was going to tell you something like that.”

Dom went back to his meal. “She said you’d been awfully promiscuous.”

“You know that.”

“I mean here, in Virginia Beach. With the other SEALs.” Dom coughed.

Kurt rolled his magnificent eyes. “At what point do you think I’d have had an opportunity to be promiscuous with the other SEALs, Dom? Not that I care if you think I was or I wasn’t. It’s easier for me if you believe it, because then we don’t have to fight about visitation or any of that rot. So sure, go on and believe it if you want. Just be sure to testify about it in a court of law for me, would you?”

Dom smothered a laugh. Kurt might be many things, but foremost among them was “unbothered.” “I guess that’s one way to put it. Why would she try to trash you that way, though? I mean, she went through all the trouble to get us together.”

“She did.” Kurt paused, and then he put his fork down. “She did, and I think I know why she did. She didn’t come up with the whole ‘bad boy’ persona, but it worked to her advantage. I decided to fire her because there were a lot of discrepancies in the accounts.”

Dom had no idea how to reply to that. “I’m sorry. Discrepancies in the accounts?”

“She had access to my day to day accounts, because it was easier for travel and doing events. It just was, you know? I kept an eye on things, and after everything with my father I didn’t pay too close attention to the minutiae. Then something drew my attention, and I realized there were problems. Something didn’t match up, and neither did her explanation. So, I worked with someone in accounting at the studio, and it turns out there are quite a few discrepancies.”

Dom pursed his lips. “That sounds awful. And I’m positive it rang all kinds of alarm bells for you, but let’s get back to what that has to do with going to the trouble to get the two of us together again.”

Kurt’s mouth took on a bitter twist. “Right. I don’t know that I could prove it in court, but if I’m running around with blokes, I’m likely to be distracted, right? And she pushed us together more often even when we were clearly fighting and unsuited.”

Dom massaged his face. “So, now we’re unsuited?”

“We were always unsuited, Dom. I’m not suited for anyone, I suppose. That’s not the point. The point is that the more inquiries were made into her financial activity, the more she kept pushing us.”

Dom’s head spun. All of this had been set up by a woman to hide her own fraud. He didn’t want to believe it, but he wasn’t sure he could deny it either. “The note. Where you’d said to keep me away from your room, but she left a note rescinding the order. It never did come from you.”

Kurt looked at Dom in utter disbelief. “Why in the world would I do that?”

Dom pushed his chair back. “My god.”

“Dom.” Kurt tried to catch Dom’s eyes. “Dom, try to stay with me here.”

Dom barked out a harsh laugh. He knew people were staring, so he kept his voice down, but there was only so far he could go. “We’ve created a whole new life, and it was all because this woman wanted to hide fraud.”

Kurt sighed and bowed his head. He looked far older than his years in that moment. “Look. If I hadn’t been attracted to you in the first place, it wouldn’t have happened, okay? We wouldn’t have gone anywhere after that first time, and I caught the second. She played us. That’s on us. The condom failed. That’s on…someone, I suppose. I’m going to love this baby no matter what. I don’t care if I was manipulated into sleeping with you or if I was madly in love, I’m going to love this baby. It’s not the baby’s fault.”

“I feel dirty.” Dom pushed his food away. “I can’t explain it. I feel so used, and so dirty—”

“Take a shower.” Kurt’s cold voice brought Dom up short. “It’s a feeling you get used to, believe me. A nice hot shower or bubble bath will fix you right up.”

Dom swallowed. Of course Kurt must feel worse. Dom had been a pawn. Kurt had been duped, again. Kurt was the one who was pregnant. “Right. I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right.” Kurt looked away. “Look. It doesn’t change anything, okay? What happened happened. The only thing that matters is what we do going forward. They arrested Elisa, and she’s on her way back to California. She’s not going to be here to bother us anymore. The studio is looking into her actions. They haven’t fired her yet, but I’m sure they won’t let her handle anyone’s money again.”

Dom blinked. “Surely they’ll fire her.”

“She knows a lot of important people’s secrets.” Kurt smirked. “Maybe they’ll give her a job in PR, though.”

Dom got through the rest of the dinner on autopilot. He couldn’t wrap his head around everything he’d heard. The whole thing had been a lie—a fraud. His only consolation was that Kurt had been just as much a victim as Dom. No, Kurt had been more of a victim. Kurt had been the one whose money had been stolen, and Kurt was the one whose reputation had been built just to hide a fraud.

Kurt was, he realized, the one who felt he wasn’t compatible with anyone at this point.

Dom drove him back to the hotel, and then he went back to his own apartment. He didn’t know exactly what to do there, or what the right answer might be. All he knew was that he needed to clean up.

He scrubbed himself raw. He wasn’t trying to clean Kurt off of him, but Elisa. He should have seen the signs, but he hadn’t. Kurt had. Kurt had looked into Elisa, detected the fraud, and started an investigation, all without mentioning anything to Dom.

Dom hadn’t given him much of a reason to say anything. Of course, Kurt might not have said anything anyway. I’m not suited for anyone, I suppose. How many people had told him his reputation made him unsuitable for a long term relationship? How often had his promiscuity, which had mostly been a business decision he hadn’t necessarily made for himself, been thrown in his face? How often had Dom been the one doing the throwing?

Everything had turned into such a mess.

He went into work the next day. He wasn’t sure what could be done about any of this mess. He knew what his role was supposed to be, as an alpha. He was supposed to protect his partner, his omega. He had not only failed, he’d been part of victimizing Kurt. He hadn’t meant to be, and that offered him some consolation, but he had to try to make up for it now.

He had no idea how to go about protecting an omega who didn’t seem to understand he should be protected, and who might not welcome his protection. He could think of one person who would know, though. Chief knew everything.

Chief agreed to sit down with him after dismissal and talk. Dom poured out the whole story, and tried not to take it personally when Chief winced. When he finished, Chief let out a long whistle. “Well, you sure dug yourself a deep, dark hole with this one, huh?”

Dom nodded. There wasn’t any point in denying it. “I have no idea where to go from here. I screwed up, and I know I need to do better. He deserves better, and our kid deserves better. I just don’t know what to do.”

“Well, for starters, I’d say you need to stop trying to force your ideas of family on him. Is it me or has family been the source of his problem from the start?” Chief scratched at his beard. “Ask him what he wants, what he needs. And try to support him instead of judging him, maybe.”

“I keep telling myself I’m going to do that.” Dom rested his hand on his chin. “I keep thinking I’m over the whole sleeping around thing. I believe him when he says he didn’t do it when he was with me. I do. I just—well, when we fight, I find myself just getting all hot under the collar and throwing it in his face. I know why he did it, and who the hell am I to judge anyway? But then we fight and it’s all—bam!”

Chief shook his head. “When we fight, when we’re in the heat of the moment, stuff comes out of our mouths that we’d never say when we were calm and rational. I think you need to look at why you’re thinking that way to begin with, you know? Why is it that you keep coming back to that stuff? Because you’re certainly no untried virgin. Maybe you could give some thought to why it’s such an issue for you.”

Dom looked away. “I don’t know why,” he admitted. “I don’t. I just know that it is. But I can’t just let all of this stuff keep going on. I get now that he’s been doing all of this stuff, trying to keep his head above water. And he’s been doing it all without ever letting on to the outside world that it’s happening. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more happening that we just don’t know about, you know? Stuff he hasn’t mentioned yet. Someone has to be there for the guy.”

“And you think it’s you.” Chief smirked and lifted his eyebrows. “Even though you can’t stop yourself from insulting the guy, and you want him to give up his lucrative job and move to Virginia and raise babies.”

“Er. Well, I can be flexible about some of that.” Dom bowed his head. “Knowing what I know now, I don’t think it would be fair to ask that. Not after everything. But I do want to be the one who’s there for him. Someone has to be, and I can’t see where anyone’s stepped up before. He needs it. He deserves it. Look what he did for those people in the hospital. Look what he did for John, the Navy veteran. He wants to give him a job when he gets out of the hospital, did I mention that?”

“You mentioned you didn’t think it was a great idea.”

“I don’t. But I can still admire the fact that he wants to do it.” Dom chuckled, and then he sobered. “How do I be there for Kurt, sir? After all that, how do I be there for him?”

Chief sighed. “All right. Give me a little bit, and let me see if I can come up with a plan.”