Dom didn’t say anything as they loaded themselves back up into the car and headed back toward the hotel. Kurt could hardly blame him. What was there really to say? The guy had just been expecting to have a few weeks of fun with a hot guy from the movies. Now there was going to be a tie between them for the rest of their lives.

He put his hand on his belly. He couldn’t feel anything in there, of course. There wasn’t anything to feel. There was a small collection of cells that could possibly, someday, live. It was probably visible to the naked eye, if someone had really good eyesight.

Kurt tried to sort out how he felt about the baby. It wasn’t easy, and he guessed it didn’t matter how he felt about it. The baby was coming, regardless of Kurt’s feelings on the subject. His best bet would be to come up with plans to deal with it. He wasn’t a hand-wringing kind of guy anyway. He was practical. He did what he had to do, and then he got over it.

Dom escorted him up to his suite when they got back to the hotel. He locked the door behind them and then flopped down on the couch. “So,” he said. “I guess we should talk about this.” He still wouldn’t look directly at Kurt.

Kurt stiffened up. He didn’t need Dom’s approval, but it sure would be nice to have once in a while. Every time he thought they were making progress, they got set back. “We don’t have to. Not yet, anyway.” He made himself shrug. Support would be nice, but he didn’t need it. “Honestly, it’s probably better if we sort out what we’re thinking and what we actually need and then circle back. This is an emotional moment, and we’re probably better off if we don’t go at each other right away, you know?”

A little line appeared on Dom’s forehead. “I think it’s better if we hash things out sooner rather than later. It’s not like this is a decision about where to go for dinner. This is serious. This is someone’s life, a defenseless little person who’s going to depend on us for every little thing. It’s not something we can put off.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “We have seven and a half months to fight about nannies, schools, and nursery colors, thank you. I’m just saying this is a big shock, neither of us is at his best, maybe we should take a little time and figure out exactly what it means for us before we start getting all pissy at each other. But since you’ve decided to be all paternalistic about it, I suppose I haven’t much choice in the matter, have I?” He took a seat in the armchair, put his feet on the coffee table, and slouched down.

“Well, one of us has to be the adult here.” Dom twisted his body to face Kurt.

Kurt looked up at the ceiling. He wasn’t going to look directly at Dom. “And what, precisely, is that supposed to mean?”

“I mean you’ve never had to be the responsible one. Your entire life has been built on flitting from party to party, from partner to partner. You’ve never had to take responsibility for anything in your life. This is going to be a huge change for you.”

Kurt closed his eyes and counted to ten. “How many times do I have to tell you that most of that is staged and part of the job before it penetrates that Cro-Magnon skull of yours?”

“Excuse me?” Dom sat up straighter. “I’m just telling it like it is, don’t go getting mad at me.”

“Maybe I don’t go shooting people and blowing things up, but I work every day of every month of every year. Even my ‘down time’ is work. I have been doing this since I was twelve, you absolute plum. My income was supporting my family, so if my performance slipped even a little bit, then my family didn’t fucking eat. How’s that for responsibility? Mother, father, siblings. All of them. At twelve. What were you doing at twelve? Oh, let me guess. Did it involve porno mags, uncomfortable conversations, and Kleenex by the truckload?”

Dom’s face darkened, and Kurt let a little bit of glee into his heart before he pressed on. “Yeah, I thought so. Stop getting all your news from the tabloids, Dom. It’s unbecoming. And whatever happens between us, I’m not going to have you filling my child’s head with all of this vile spite about their other parent. They’ll get it from other sources, but they don’t need to be getting it from you.”

Dom sighed. He slid down the couch so he could be closer to Kurt’s chair, until Kurt’s glare stopped him. “Look. I’ve obviously offended you,” Dom said. “And I’m sorry. I am. But this whole baby thing is big, and it’s going to put a serious crimp in your lifestyle. You can’t be thinking about your career anymore. Your whole life has to be this child.”

“Do they have air conditioning in your cave?” Kurt had to resort to sarcasm to keep the rage inside him from spilling over. “Because I know what people say about Texans, and I’ve been telling myself it’s not true. You’re not doing your home state any favors here.”

Dom’s face went bright red. “Now you listen here.”

“No, you listen. You said you wanted to talk about this, and I do think you meant exactly what you said. You wanted to talk, and you wanted me to listen and obey. But Dom, I don’t belong to you. Even if I were your husband I wouldn’t be your property. You don’t get to go barging in here and deciding that my career is over and I have to give my life over to the child, like it’s some kind of…callback to The Scarlet Letter or something. Are you looking out for the child’s best interests or are you looking to punish me for whoring around?”

Dom jumped to his feet. “You’re jumping to conclusions! I didn’t say that!”

“You didn’t have to. You can’t sit here and say an omega can’t have a career, even a demanding career, and a child because there are plenty of omegas out there who do. There are omega parents in my line of work who do just fine juggling both. And you can’t tell me, like I suspect you’re about to, that it’s just because you’re a SEAL and you get deployed, because Mal’s married to a SEAL, Nick is married to a SEAL, and Dr. Ben is married to a SEAL.”

“That’s different. Their husbands aren’t me.” Dom folded his arms over his chest. “And they aren’t you.”

“No one said anything about getting married, for one thing.” Kurt raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re not here to get married. You’re here because you were looking for a good time.”

“Okay, but there’s a baby involved now. We have to get married.” Dom shook his head a little, in disbelief. “You have no idea how these things work. This is why you need someone to take you in hand and tell you.”

“The hell I do.” Kurt shot to his feet. “I’m not knitting myself for life to someone who can’t respect me, baby or no. To hell with that. That’s a direct path to suicide, frankly.”

Dom pulled back. “You’re saying you’d rather kill yourself than marry me?”

Kurt sighed. He didn’t want to have to play nursemaid to Dom’s feelings right now. He didn’t want to hurt him more than he absolutely had to, either. “I’m saying I’d wind up dead if I married someone who didn’t respect me. Especially someone who demanded I give up my career to sit home minding a child. And the fact that you’re offended by that, as opposed to sitting back and saying Golly gee maybe my expectations are unreasonable tells me we’re probably not suited in the long term.”

Dom gaped for a long moment. Then he recovered his scowl. “It’s too late for that. There’s a baby on the way, or did you already forget about that?”

“I could never forget about the baby. It’s growing under my heart, and it’s going to be tearing its way out of my body. I will figure out a way to handle it, on my own. I don’t need you for that.”

“Then I’ll take your ass to court.” Dom took a deep breath. “I’m not having my child raised by someone who makes a living whoring himself out, who won’t even be around to take care of it.”

Cold fury washed through Kurt. “I sincerely hope you can find some very good lawyers. Because I absolutely refuse to have my child exposed to a judgmental, jingoistic bigot who thinks omegas need to follow orders and not think too much. Do you really think I didn’t have a plan in place in case I fell pregnant? Really?” Kurt stood up and pointed to the door. “I’ll have my lawyer contact yours. Until then, get out.”

Dom paled. “Wait. You’re flying off the handle.” He held up his hands in a gesture he probably thought was placatory.

Kurt was far beyond being placated. “Oh no. Hell no. I told you we should wait to have this discussion until we’d processed, but no. You knew better. You came in here full of judgement and demands, you threatened to take me to court for Christ’s sake, you can go straight to Hell. Get out. Get out before I call security. Just get out.”

Dom stared at him for a moment. “You really mean it, don’t you?”

“Get the fuck out!” Kurt screamed loud enough for the whole floor to hear.

Dom fled.

Kurt locked the door behind him. Only when he was sure he was alone did he let himself feel the way his body trembled. Was it adrenaline? Grief? Something else?

He stripped off his clothes and threw them into the closet. Then he strode into the bathroom, drew himself a bath, and dropped into the deep tub almost defiantly. There wasn’t anyone to see him, to tell him not to or give him grief about places he should go and people he should be seen with, but his bath was still an act of defiance all the same.

He took a deep breath and tried to relax. The hot water washed over him, soothing some of the tightness in his muscles away.

He’d done the right thing. Mum had told him, from the moment he’d tested as an omega, about the importance of respect. If a man doesn’t respect you, don’t stay with him. It’s that simple, Kurt. Don’t let anyone trap you in a union with someone who thinks you’re trash.

He wasn’t foolish enough to think dealing with the baby would be easy. Production on SEAL Magnet would have to be moved up, and then there was Mike’s film to consider. Practically speaking, he wouldn’t be able to film for about nine months. The thought of going nine months without working made him want to scrub the skin off his body.

He could probably use the break, though.

He would give birth in England. Maybe he couldn’t afford the country estate he wanted for his mum, but he still wanted her around to advise him on things like care and feeding. He wanted the baby to be a citizen, too. He loved his country, and he wanted his child to have the advantage of being able to return there.

He missed Dom.

It was stupid. He didn’t know Dom well. They hadn’t been together long. It could be argued that they hadn’t really been together at all. Kurt still missed having Dom’s steady presence at his side. Dom hadn’t respected him, but he’d brought him out with the other guys and treated him like a boyfriend instead of a business partner. He’d given Kurt the illusion of being part of something, and Kurt had enjoyed that.

Kurt had known he was lonely, but he’d always pushed that aside. He could worry about being lonely later, when he’d gotten to where he wanted to be. He didn’t know a lot of people in stable unions anyway, so he hadn’t felt the loneliness as much as he might have otherwise.

Now, though, he’d been part of something and he was lonely again. It hurt more than just being alone had hurt. He couldn’t sit around and cry about it, though. He could sort through his feelings in the tub and acknowledge them, but then he had to get things done.

He grabbed his phone from the little towel stand at the side of the tub and made a list. Having a plan in place would help him feel better. He needed to contact his lawyer. He needed to fire his wretched agent. He needed to have a conversation with the studio about Elisa, and he needed to let them know about the baby so they could move up the production schedule. He needed to start interviewing nannies—that was something he could get his mum to set up back in London.

Once he had a plan, he was ready to go. Sitting in the tub felt suspiciously like moping to him, and he had to move. He rinsed off, got dry, and headed into his bedroom. A quick check of his accounts showed a few smaller discrepancies in his day-to-day accounts, to which Elisa had access, but his main accounts still looked good. He could definitely afford the baby and to pay the nanny as well.

Bob from Accounting would still be at the office. He called Bob and identified himself, sending information about the latest discrepancies as they spoke. Bob hummed. “I don’t like this,” Bob said. “I want to give Ms. Sommer the benefit of the doubt because she’s worked for us for a long time, but it definitely doesn’t look good.”

“I’m going to cut off her access to my day-to-day accounts, effective immediately.” Kurt didn’t bother to give Bob any other options. “It might take a little bit more time for me to get my expenses in when I’m on the road, but I’m not comfortable with someone else having access at this point.”

“Considering what came before, I don’t blame you.” Bob cleared his throat. “For a guy who hasn’t been in a proper school since sixth grade, you’re pretty damn smart. Hey, speaking of which. Have you been watching the news?”

“Not really.” Kurt blushed. Bob wouldn’t call him smart if he knew Kurt had gotten pregnant by a bigoted SEAL. “Why?”

“If you’ve got any money invested in Smolak Enterprises, any money at all, I’d get out. Luke Smolak’s name’s been coming up an awful lot in the Chaos Tree trials. Whether or not he was involved, the guy’s business is going to take a huge hit. He was a major donor to all of those congressmen.”

Kurt frowned. “Weren’t his guns found at some of those weapons caches after Orlando?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Bob sounded almost gleeful. “Go with renewables.”

“I’ll do that. I’ve been meaning to look into those anyway. Thanks for the tip, Bob.” Kurt hung up and called his bank, and then his broker. Getting Elisa taken off of his account only took a moment. Placing the sell and buy order took a moment longer, but he knew it would be dealt with.

Kurt didn’t care about American politics, but this Chaos Tree/ White Dawn thing had the potential to be an international issue soon enough. He was curious to see how things played out.

* * *

Dom stormed out of the hotel in outrage. How dare Kurt throw him out of the hotel room like that? Dom was ready to do right, to marry Kurt and support him even though he’d been with half of Hollywood for Christ’s sake. Instead of being appreciative, Kurt screamed at him to leave, kicked him out, and accused him of unreasonable expectations.

Okay. So maybe Dom had insisted on having the conversation right away, even though Kurt had asked to delay it. And maybe Dom had been judgmental. He’d mostly gotten over Kurt’s promiscuity. He knew there was a reason behind it, and it hadn’t affected him until he’d found out Kurt was pregnant.

He’d been a little nasty about that, come to think about it.

As he drove home, he tried to think of people who might be able to help him puzzle through this situation. He dialed Hopper’s number and asked to drop by. He and Hopper hadn’t been all that close, but Hopper said it was okay so he turned his car toward their house. Maybe Dr. Ben had spoken to him.

Maybe Hopper was just like that.

Hopper was holding his little girl when Dom got to the door. “Come on in,” he said with a tired grin. “Ben’s just putting dinner on the table. Don’t worry, there’s plenty for everyone.”

Dom shuffled into the house and followed him into the kitchen. “It ain’t formal,” Hopper explained, settling their daughter into her high chair. “Hope you’re okay with that.”

“Hopper, you’ve seen me naked in a decontamination shower. I can handle an informal meal.” Dom looked around at their house. It wasn’t what he would have expected from someone of Dr. Ben’s background, but then again, sometimes people surprised you. “Nice place you’ve got here.”

Hopper made a face. “You could fit six of my old apartment in here, no lie. But Ben likes it, and it’s easy to keep secure.” He sighed. “The neighbors keep wanting to do things, like book clubs and crap. One of them tried to drag Ben off for like a film club or something like that. Thank God for the baby. She makes a fantastic excuse sometimes.”

Ben strolled into the room and planted a kiss on Hopper’s cheek. “Oh, come on, I have to see my mom once in a while. Film club would be a great way to do it.” He glanced over at Dom. “But maybe that’s a sore subject?”

Dom scratched at his jaw. “That obvious?”

“I was a little suspicious back at the hospital, but I didn’t want to say anything. It wasn’t my place. So I’m guessing everything isn’t exactly coming up roses with the two of you.” Ben gave a polite little smile and walked over to the oven. Lasagna smells wafted over the room, and Dom’s stomach growled.

Dom sighed. “I might have phrased some things in ways that could have been phrased better. As in I might have threatened to sue him.”

Ben winced. “Van Heel, I know you’re smarter than that.”

Dom hung his head and told the story of the fight. Hopper and Ben were gaping at him by the time it was over, and Dom knew he’d really put his foot in it this time. “I don’t think it’s wrong to have concerns about a guy like him raising a kid,” he insisted. If he was going to be the bad guy, he might as well go all in. “I mean, walk into any supermarket. Each and every paper at the end of each and every checkout aisle will give you a detailed list of his conquests.”

“And half of those will be made up,” Ben snorted. “You have no idea what it’s like. Those same tabloids used to claim my mother was sleeping with six presidents—current, former, and even dead which was a neat trick—the ghost of Elvis, and an alien found at Area 51.” He plunked the lasagna down onto a trivet in the middle of the table and grabbed a salad from the counter. “Look, the studios pay for stories like that sometimes. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“He admits he’s been promiscuous, okay?” Dom squirmed in his seat. It sounded so petty and biased when he said it here, without Kurt right in front of him.

“That doesn’t have anything to do with his ability to care for a child.” Hopper shrugged. “I don’t really know the guy, but I don’t see why that would have anything to do with being able to take care of a kid or not.”

“He was absolutely fantastic with the kids at the hospital, even the littlest ones.” Ben sat down and fixed Dom with a hard look. “And the kids were great with him. Why would you want him to quit his job?”

Dom looked between his hosts. “You’re kidding, right? Didn’t you quit your job, Ben, to be with Hopper?”

Ben snickered. “Van Heel, I stopped working for Borderless because the job itself took me into dangerous areas where kids didn’t belong. I didn’t quit because omegas shouldn’t work. I still have a job. Sure, maybe it would be one thing if I’d found another job that required travel. But I was also ready to settle down. That was a very personal choice, between me and Dave. It’s not a choice Dave made for me, because him big strong alpha and me too-stupid-to-choose omega.”

Dom blushed. “I’m feeling a little attacked right now.”

“Good.” Ben smiled, showing teeth.

Hopper put a hand on Ben’s arm. “Now Ben, come on. We had a few moments when we tried to sabotage things, didn’t we?” He turned to face Dom. “Dude. You’ve got to take a long, hard look at what you’ve got, where you are, and where you want to be. If you can’t respect Kurt, stay away. He doesn’t need your money. You need to take the baby out of the equation for now.”

Dom gritted his teeth and tried not to bend his fork. “The baby is the whole reason we’re having this discussion at all, remember?”

“Oh, I remember, sunshine.” Hopper grinned at him and took a big mouthful of lasagna. “Know what else I remember? I remember that you weren’t a big fan going into this, that you kind of treated him like crap after you slept with him once, and that you’ve only been civil with him for a few weeks. That’s not something to base a relationship on. Do you even like him?”

“I almost punched an old dude for calling him a whore.” Dom scowled at Hopper.

“But you’ve called him the same thing, and you treat him like something to be ashamed of. How are you any different?” Ben sighed. “Look. Take it from me. Don’t ‘stay together for the kids.’ My parents tried that, in both cases more than once. It blew up spectacularly, for both of them, and no one wants or needs that. Back off. Figure out if you even want to be around him, and take it from there.”

Dom bit the inside of his cheek. “I don’t want to ‘back off and take it from there.’ I want to be around my kid. I don’t want my kid being dumped for weeks at a time, if not longer, while its carrier parent goes jetting off to wherever to film another goddamn movie. I know you’ve said you mostly communicate with your mom via your PR guy. If he’s got that for Kurt, and he’s got no relationship with me, then what’s he got?”

Ben pursed his lips and poured some wine for all of them. “Well, for one thing, there’s no guarantee that’s what’s going to happen. My mom deliberately had children with a view to advancing her career—having a baby at that time was something for the papers to report on. I don’t get the impression from Kurt that this was intentional. I’d have to talk to Kurt, but I kind of feel like it’s not my place. It’s really yours.”

“He chased me out of his hotel room. He threatened to call security.” Dom put his fork down. He couldn’t really eat around that pit in the middle of his stomach.

“Okay. Well, maybe I can try to facilitate, because I know both worlds. But this is something you’re going to have to find a way to do for yourself, Van Heel. I can’t always be around.”

Ben sighed and took out his phone. “Hi, Kurt? This is Ben. Yeah, yeah, he’s right here.” He glanced over at Dom, and Dom felt about three feet tall. “Maybe Dave and I could facilitate a discussion for the two of you. Well, no, he does have some concerns that I think should be discussed rather than assumed. Maybe tomorrow we can all grab brunch somewhere? Oh, don’t worry. It’ll be discrete. Great. I’ll see you then.”

He hung up his phone. “I’ll make us a reservation at Galactophagy, tomorrow morning at eleven in a private room.” He flattened out his lips at Dom. “This might be your last chance with Kurt. Try not to blow it.”

Dom bit his tongue, and then he picked up his fork again. He didn’t know how to express himself to his friends without sounding like the world’s biggest jerk, so he kept his mouth shut and ate his lasagna. The stuff was pretty good.

Hopper just rolled his eyes and gave a little grin. “Galactophagy. Really. Isn’t that place, like, all dairy?”

“They have a special menu just for you lactose-intolerant types who get dragged along by the rest of us.” Ben winked at him.

“Isn’t there…” Dom looked down at the lasagna.

“It’s all goat’s milk. I can have that.” Hopper beamed over at Ben. “Don’t interfere with the French and their cheese, Van Heel. Just don’t do it.”

Dom went home with a full stomach, a newfound appreciation for the power of goat’s milk, and a lot of thoughts running around inside his head. Talking to Ben had helped him to clarify some of them and had made him feel like an ass, but he needed more. He needed to talk to someone else, someone with the same values he had.

Once he got into his house, he dialed the most familiar number in the world. His mother picked up the phone, just as he knew she would.

“Dominic! It’s so good to hear from you! You know, I’ve seen your picture in the paper.”

Oh, God. “Er, yeah.”

“Is that Kurt McNeil as good looking in real life as he is on the screen? Because he is not hard on the eyes, let me tell you. Not that I’m looking, of course. I know I’m not his type. The way he carries on, I’m probably the only person in the whole world who isn’t his type, but you know.”

Dom chuckled. Mom was like a faucet. Once the tap was on, words just flowed. “Well, you’re definitely not his type. But maybe don’t believe everything you read in the papers, you know?”

“Oh, good. So, I’ll introduce you to Jennifer Rollston the next time you come home for a visit?”

“Mom. I’m gay. We’ve been over this.”

“Plenty of alphas are bisexual, Dominic, and Jennifer comes from a very good family. We’ve been going to church with her family for years. I think you’ll get along just swimmingly.”

Dom just huffed out a laugh. Mom was going to believe what she wanted to believe. He couldn’t do much to change her opinion. “Well, you know, I called to talk to you about something private. Something very, very secret, actually.”

“Oh! Well, I’ll be the most discreet mama in all of Texas.”

“Er. Well, I have been seeing Kurt. Off and on, here and there. These things just kind of happen.” He rubbed at the back of his neck. There was nothing more awkward than talking about his sex life with his mom.

“I hope you’ve been using protection, Dominic. He seems like a very nice boy—I saw what he did at the hospital, and down here in Texas at that prison, what a practical young man—but he does carry on, and you just never know theses days.” Mom’s tone shifted, just a little. She was worried.

“Er, yeah. We’d been gloving up, but um. He. We.”

“Did you get that boy pregnant, Dominic?”

“Yeah.” Dom whispered the word, eyes on the floor, but his mama heard him anyway.

“Oh, my. Well.” She went quiet for a few moments, and Dom didn’t know if she was happy or angry or what. “Are you going to do right by him, or am I going to have to see my grand baby plastered all over the entertainment websites?”

Dom took a deep breath. “I was all set to get married. But I’m not sure what he wants. I kind of put my foot in it with him, and now he’s—well, we’re getting together tomorrow, with some friends, to try to talk things out and de-escalate.”

“De-escalate?” Mom’s voice went up several octaves. “How do things go from getting married to de-escalation in what, a few weeks?”

“An hour, tops.” Dom wasn’t too proud to admit that. “It got ugly, and then I threatened to sue him, and—”

“Oh my God, Dominic, I can’t believe you. You give me that boy’s number, and I will talk him down. Don’t you worry. But Dominic, you have to watch your temper. He’s an omega, not a puppy. You can’t just shout at him and expect him to just fall in line, for crying out loud. He’s a grown ass man, and he’s made it a good long way in a very tough business.”

Dom smiled. Somehow he doubted Mama would be able to get Kurt back for him if he couldn’t do it himself, but he appreciated her sentiment. “Thanks, Mama. I’m going to try meeting up with him tomorrow first. Hopefully we can make it work. But do you think I should try to get back together with him?”

“I think the most important thing is that child. Nothing else matters. If you two can patch things up and build a life together, that’s good. That’s best. But what matters is that the baby knows that it’s loved by both of its parents. What you have to do is to make sure you can find a way to be part of the baby’s life. Don’t you let your ego and your pride get in the way of that. Do you hear me?”

Dom smiled. His mama never pulled punches with him. “Thanks, Mom. I knew you were the right one to call.”

“You’re a smart man, Dominic. I’m proud of you. Now go and think of how you’re going to dig your way out of this one, would you?”

Dom laughed. “I love you.”

“Love you too, son.”