As I was driving to Larry's—no, home, I reminded myself—my phone buzzed in my pocket with a notification. I waited until the next stoplight to pull it out, and found a question from Julian about our soccer schedule. I tossed my phone on the seat next to me. I’d answer once I wasn’t driving.

I still had to think consciously about the drive home. In the week since I had fully moved in with Larry and Ethan, the drive was becoming automatic, but if I turned my brain off and just drove on instinct, I still started heading toward my old apartment.

I parked behind the bar in the space Larry had reserved for me with a sign that read: Princess Parking Only, all others will be toad. Ethan's said: Employee of the Month and Larry's said Reserved Parking For THE BOSS, EL JEFE, BIG CHEESE, CHIEF, SAHIB, LEADER, and I'm assuming "the boss" in a couple of other languages with different alphabets. I grabbed my phone and tossed it into my work bag before dashing upstairs.

"How was your day?" Ethan asked when he saw me.

“Nothing exciting, which is good.” I dropped my bag in its customary spot next to the door and flopped on the couch next to Ethan. "Larry working?"

Ethan nodded, his attention on the laptop screen. "Said he'd be off after dinner, but he'd bring us up some food."

Number one benefit to living above a bar? No cooking required. Not that we—or should I say, Ethan and Larry—didn't cook. I was a prime time microwaver, but avoided the stove for much else beyond macaroni and cheese or ramen. The bar's menu was pretty much limited to a small assortment of appetizers, but if they didn't feel like cooking, they didn't have to. And this week, Larry had been working more than usual, with one of his bartenders out sick, and Ethan was suffering a sudden resurgence of his first-trimester tiredness for some reason.

"And Bella?"

"Playing princess in her room, as far as I can tell. We got home just a few minutes before you did."

"So, what are you up to?" I rested my chin on Ethan's shoulder to see what he was looking at.

"Thinking of nursery ideas. Thankfully, there are a ton of gender neutral options these days. But so many of them are so... gray."

"Like, literally gray?"

"Yeah. Look."

The room Ethan showed me was adorable... if you were designing for a thirty-year-old stuck in an infant's body.

"Wow. Don't babies need color?"

"I don't know if they need it," Ethan clicked to a different page, "but they definitely respond to color. I was thinking something more like this..." The room he showed me was green and yellow. "Or this..." The second option was orange, with hints of gray.

I had him flip back and forth between the two. "I like how bright that orange is, but I like that the green and yellow is more color. There's not a lot you can do with orange without everything being super loud."

"Yeah. I've been going back and forth between the two. I think the babies would respond really well to the orange, especially if we paired it with another bright color, but I don't know if I'd be able to handle that long term without getting sick of it. But the green and yellow... I don't know. For some reason, it's not really calling my name."

"Well... should we get some paint samples? We could try a few combinations. And I'll do some nursery research too, later tonight." My excitement was ramping up, just like it did every time we got talking about baby stuff. "Ooh, speaking of research, were there any classes you wanted to attend? We haven't really talked about whether you want to use pain medication or not, but if you don't, people seem really keen on Hypnobirthing or Alpha Led Childbirth. Even if you do want to use meds, people seem to think those are good for having a positive birthing experience. And if we go to a class, they'll help us put together a birthing plan. Though I suppose all of that is dependent on what kind of doula you pick. Or do you pick a doula based on what kind of birthing plan you have? I need to go look that up..."

I started to retrieve my laptop, but Ethan stopped me with a soft laugh. "Calm down, Ryan. We don't need to do any of that right now. Honestly, I'm not super interested in going to a class, though we can talk about it if you want to."

"Oh. Okay." My excitement deflated a bit, and Ethan patted my arm.

"I am interested in talking to that doula Josiah mentioned, though. I just haven't thought of it when I had a moment to breathe. Now would be a good time, though. Do you want to grab me his card off the fridge?"

I jumped to my feet and ran to get the card, snuggling back up to Ethan while he dialed Kai's number.

"Hello. Is this Kai?"

I couldn't hear the other side of the conversation, but I could hear the tone of Kai's voice, rising and falling softly. Ethan's phone buzzed with a notification while they talked, but he ignored it until he was finished. Ethan set a time for Kai to come over to the house when all of us would be around, and hung up.

"Well. He's just as weird as Josiah said, but we'll at least meet him and see."

"How weird?"

"He kept calling me a life bearer and talking about the importance of his role as a guardian. He sounds really sincere, though."

My mouth dropped open. I don't know how I hadn't made the connection earlier—the guy who was "blessing" the plants... guardian to the life bearer... "Oh shit, I remember this guy. He really weirded me out."

Ethan laughed. "And it's taken you this long? He seems kind of unforgettable."

"You'd think."

Ethan looked back at his phone and tapped the screen. "Well, hopefully—oh... fuck."

Fuck fell from his mouth with the weight of a nuclear bomb, sending all my instincts blaring warning signals. "Fuck? Fuck what?"

"Milton—my shitty ex—he was at my mom's house. He says he wants to see Bella."

"Fuck no." The words blasted from me without hesitation. I waited for Ethan to agree with me, but he looked up at me with dead eyes.

"It's worse than that... Mom says he wants custody of her."

I was already dialing Larry's number. Like hell any of us would let that happen.

* * *

We all took off work the next day while Bella was in school and met Milton at a coffee shop. Larry had suggested meeting at the bar, where we had backup, but none of us really wanted Milton knowing where to find us.

We arrived five minutes before the appointed time. Milton showed up ten minutes late, with a young, extremely pregnant omega on his arm who looked very uncomfortable.

"Ethan," Milton sneered, looking Larry and I up and down. "Are these your... enforcers?"

Instead of rising to the bait, Ethan simply said, "Yes. And this would be...?"

I was kind of surprised Ethan didn't turn around and deliver a sneer right back at Milton.

"This is my fiancé," Milton said, sliding his arm around the omega's shoulders and squeezing him tightly. "Devon."

Ethan nodded politely while Larry and I glowered. "Nice to meet you, Devon."

Devon nodded without saying anything. Damn, he was young. I suddenly felt like a dick for expecting Ethan to be throwing shade over him. It wasn't the kid's fault. Milton was a class-A douche nozzle. In fact, looking at the kid's undisguised discomfort, there was no way he was any less of a victim than Ethan had been. I wanted to whisk him away and force him to wise up to the ways of the world, but that wasn't my place.

"So. why are you here, Milton?" Ethan didn't waste any time. None of us wanted to be here longer than we had to. And the longer we were in Milton's presence, the higher the chance that Larry or I would lose it and come at him swinging.

Milton took a deep breath, his chest puffing out with self-importance. "With Devon due next month, it's really got me thinking about family. I've hated not seeing Bella this last year—"

"It's been almost two," Ethan interrupted.

"—these last years," Milton corrected without skipping a beat. "What Devon and I have... I really want this to last. And I don't want to start our life as a family without my daughter's presence in my life."

The booth was practically shaking with Larry's rage as his knee bounced uncontrollably. I wasn't that far behind him. How dare he insinuate that Ethan hadn't been important enough or good enough to consider actually being a family with? Never mind that I didn't believe a word of it was true.

"I don't believe you," Ethan said flatly, his arms crossed, cool as a cucumber. He was fucking impressive. I couldn't imagine holding so firm. I wasn't what you would call a fighter, but when you backed me into a corner or threatened someone I cared about, I'd destroy myself fighting back. But Ethan was acting as if Milton wasn't affecting him at all. "You knew exactly where we were. You could have found us at any point. Contacted us at any time. But you didn't. So why now?"

"Well, with the baby coming—"

Ethan did turn to Devon at that. "I'm sorry, Devon. Maybe what the two of you have is real. I hope it is. I was barely eighteen when he told me we were forever. I believed him then. I shouldn't have. And I highly doubt you should trust him either. Otherwise you'll find yourself in this position a decade from now, trying to protect your child." He turned back to Milton. "You're not going to see her. You know what is scary? When we moved here, she didn't ask about you. Not once. If she had, if she had cried just once about missing you, it might have been enough to make me turn around and beg you to take me back, for her sake. But even when we lived with you, she barely knew you. So, no. You have no moral or legal right to see my daughter, no matter that you donated your sperm to her creation."

Milton spread his free hand and an oily smile slid over his face. "We defaulted to a joint custody agreement. So yeah, I do have a legal right to see my daughter."

Ethan went supernaturally still. "I will leave the fucking country before I let you near her."

Milton tapped his hands on the table. "Threatening to kidnap my daughter... the courts won't look favorably on that if I decide to pursue sole custody."

"Sole custod—" Ethan sputtered, losing his cool for the first time. Larry exploded at the same moment though, lunging across the table, but Ethan pulled him back.

Larry stood half over the table, practically growling. "Bella is our daughter."

"I think the courts would look favorably on my case, even though they tend to favor omegas. I mean, look at our situations. I'm an alpha with a stable job—" Ethan snorted derisively "—in a solid relationship with another kid on the way. You're in some kind of polyamorous cult. Unmarried. Knocked up." He nodded at Ethan's now-exposed stomach. "Do you really think that's the kind of lifestyle our child should be growing up in?"

Larry started to speak, and the rage within me was rising up in a wordless wave, but Ethan cut both of us off as he stood, placed his hands on the table, and leaned over to look Milton directly in the eyes. "Over. My. Dead. Body. Take me to court. I’ll sue you for unpaid child support. We both know you’ll lose that battle." Ethan turned and looked at me pointedly and I scrambled out of his way, then followed him out the door. I cast one look back to see Larry saying something to Milton, and Devon looking smaller and younger than ever.

As soon as we were out of view of the coffee shop, I grabbed Ethan's arm and pulled him to a stop, grasping him in a desperate hug, only now noticing the tears that were streaming down his face.

"You did so good, babe," I whispered. "Don't worry, we're not going to let him near Bella. I don't know why he wants to see her or have custody, because he clearly has an ulterior motive, but it's not going to happen. Our little girl is going to be safe and happy and she will never have to suffer for lack of parental attention again."

I held him in my embrace until Larry caught up to us and we sandwiched Ethan between us, securing him in our arms and in our love, a shield Milton could never hope to break through.