After the incident at the arena had forced Eric to give up his championship title, I expected him to be a bit frustrated for a while.

I was right.

When I came home from work the following week, Eric was sitting in his pajamas, watching one of the old televised fights from the last time he'd fought Terrance. He had a bowl of popcorn in his hand and a bottle of water at his side.

"Reliving the glory days already?" I asked.

"Something like that," Eric answered. "I was more watching how rough and over-the-top Terrance got in his fighting style. Getting into the ring with him while I was pregnant would have been a huge mistake. How could I have considered doing that to the baby?"

"You weren't thinking clearly," I answered. "Your hormones and your stress was clouding your judgment. You can't blame yourself, Eric. It's not your fault."

Eric glared up at me for the comment, but it lacked heat, so I sat down beside him. "Miss me?" I asked. "Because I spent the whole day missing you."

"Mm." Eric slid up beside me to cuddle. "Is Lila still ready to kick my ass?"

"No, not at all," I answered, throwing an arm around his shoulders. "Now that she knows that you're expecting, she's willing to forgive you for everything. She's also willing to offer some labor tips, but I figure that can wait a bit."

Eric made a face. "I have the internet to give me horror stories," he said. "I don't think I need your vengeful boss to do the same."

I laughed and rested my free palm on his stomach. "I'll tell her that you're not quite ready," I promised.

"Sounds good. You know what I am in the mood to be ready for?" Eric asked.

"A massage?" I asked. At Eric's nod, I prompted, "back or feet?"

"Both," Eric suggested. "Both are definitely good."

What kind of father would I be, if I didn't give in to that particular whim? Only the best would do for my baby, after all – as well as the child he was carrying within him.

I also expected that the sex would change, and although I was right about that, it did not change the way that I thought it was going to change. I did plenty of reading, and I had Lila and Cassidy help me out on that front, about what was safe and what was not, to do during Eric's pregnancy.

There wasn't going to be any truly rough stuff until after the kid was born, but the vast majority of what Eric liked involved sensation play, and the pregnancy made him even more sensitive.

Instead of tying his hands above his head, I tied them loosely around his stomach. As his stomach grew in size, it made a convenient resting place for him, which made him less tired overall as a result of our sessions.

"Do you like that?" I asked, as I tested the tightness of the ropes holding his hands together.

He looked up at me, eyelids heavy with want. "You know I do," he said.

Indeed I did. The ropes were a different change than the silk ties we had initially gone with, but as our actual love-making slowed down and became more tender, Eric began to crave a greater amount of bondage.

I theorized that it had everything to do with the changes that were occurring to his body, and the way that they were making him feel out of sorts. Eric had come to me initially at Kinkee Sensation Studio because he wanted to give up control and "let go." Now that his body was taking away every ounce of control that he had, it only made sense that he wanted to learn how to let go on a larger scale.

"Please," Eric moaned, turning his head to face me. "Please, touch me. I need you to, please."

There were some alphas who would have scolded him for begging, but that was never going to be our relationship. I relished the sound of him pleading for me to make him feel good. We’d spent too long not communicating, and I could never deny him the right to speak to me, no matter what other alphas might have thought was the correct way to treat their sub.

Besides, there was no denying the simple fact that for Eric, letting go meant learning how to ask for what he wanted. Letting go required him to learn that what he wanted wasn’t shameful or hurtful in any way. He could only learn how to do that if he was allowed to have full and honest communication with me at all times.

"If that's what you want," I murmured into the crook of his neck.

“It is. Please,” he reiterated.

I never struck his stomach, and tickling it with the feathers was far too much, in my opinion. But while he was tied up, the extra sensitive skin of his stomach was perfect for eliciting the kind of experience that he craved. I started with a kiss, and I worked my way from his collar bone, down over the swell of his abdomen that could now not quite fit in one of my hands. From there, I continued down, enjoying the sound of his restless moans growing with each subsequent kiss.

I stopped, just as his treasure trail began, and trailed back up, tracing the same path that my lips had already taken down his stomach, this time in an upward direction.

At the top of his stomach, I gave the ropes binding his hands a firm pull, and his entire body arched up to meet mine.

These were all acts that were very easily repeatable, and I did so over and over again, until Eric was pleading with me for the right to come.

Gently, I untied his hands, and granted his wish.

By the third week, we were ready to go see a doctor for an ultrasound. I sat in the car with Eric, allowing him to psyche himself up for the appointment. The emotional swings that he'd had early on in the pregnancy had not decreased any.

"What if all that stress that I was under hurt the baby?" Eric said eventually.

I sat there, trying to find the right words to offer the comfort that I knew he needed. Just because I was in love with him didn't mean that I always knew what to say. I think that I would have to fight anyone who ever claimed that our communication issues were strictly his fault, because it was clear that many of them had been my doing.

So I tried to be more careful in the words that I used and the phrases that I threw out there, in order to keep from hurting Eric.

"You're not the first pregnant omega to be under a lot of stress," I said, as diplomatically as I could. "If that was something that was capable of causing long term damage, then the world would have a whole lot of other problems to handle."

Eric chewed on his bottom lip and still looked very worried. It was a good thing that we had left so early that we could sit out here and wait in the car for the mood swing to pass.

"I just have to pee all the time," Eric said. "And the internet tells me that most of my sickness is over the top for a first pregnancy. And I just feel more lousy than a person should, when they are fit and healthy for their pregnancy. What if all those sparring matches damaged our kid? What if I hurt him or her?"

"No matter what, we are having a baby, right?" I reminded him. At his nod, I continued. "Well, no matter what, we are going to love the kid, right? So even if something is wrong, it won't affect the plans we have to spend the rest of our lives together, loving this kid, right?"

It was apparently the right thing to say. Eric leaned over and squeezed my hand.

"Thank you," he murmured. "I love you and I can't wait to raise this kid with you."

"Then let's go see what we're having," I suggested.

The wait in the office was not particularly long, but it was grating on both of our nerves by the time that the doctor finally walked in. She was a little young for my taste, but it was possible that I was becoming a curmudgeon in my old age.

"Mr. Fallow and Mr. Hitch," she greeted. "I'm Dr. Kogane. I'm actually going to be doing your ultrasound today. Do you have any questions before we get started?"

I let Eric answer that one, because I didn't have any questions. I expected him to, because he was a bundle of nerves.

But to my surprise, he just shook his head. “I’d rather just get started,” he answered.

Dr. Kogane nodded her head and put on a pair of gloves. I could see that each movement the doctor made was causing Eric’s anxiety to increase, so I began to rub reassuring circles on the back of his neck.

I felt the tension began to visibly leave as I did so, and I smiled down at him. He caught my eye and returned the smile, mouthing a silent “Thank you.”

“Any time,” I mouthed back, equally silently.

At that point, the doctor began to spread the gel onto Eric’s stomach. I watched in morbid fascination as the stuff was applied. It looked like something out of a science fiction film, if I was being honest.

“I thought it was supposed to be cold,” Eric noted. “It’s not.”

“It used to be, years ago,” Dr. Kogane explained. “But we’ve moved past that to gel that isn’t quite as traumatizing on the expectant parent. Are you ready to meet your child, Mr. Fallow and Mr. Hitch?”

“We are,” Eric said firmly.

“Definitely,” I agreed.

As she placed the sensor unit onto his stomach, I none too subtly moved my hand to wrap around his. I didn’t think there was anything wrong, but just in case there was, I wanted him to have the option of me being as close as possible.

After a few minutes of running the unit around on his stomach, Dr. Kogane turned to us both and smiled. “Well, congratulations are definitely in order. There’s not just one baby in there. There’s two, and each of them have loud, healthy heartbeats.”

“Twins?” Eric asked in disbelief. “We’re having twins?”

“Yes,” Dr. Kogane agreed. “You indicated to the nurse that you were having a lot of excess sickness and dizziness. While some of that can be explained away through simple first pregnancy complications, the fact that you are having twins also explains a lot.”

Eric looked up at me and I was almost completely speechless. But then I felt him squeeze my hand and I came back down to Earth.

“Oh, Eric,” I said softly. “This is the best news anyone’s ever given me. I’m so happy.”

“Me too,” Eric whispered. “But now we are going to have to think up two names, instead of one.”

“Plan for a girl and a boy,” Dr. Kogane suggested helpfully. “Because you’re having one of each.”

Overcome with emotion, I leaned down and kissed Eric firmly. I may have gotten a little ultrasound gel on my favorite tweed jacket, but it well worth the sacrifice.

“They’re healthy,” Eric said jubilantly. “Right, Dr. Kogane? There’s nothing the matter with them, right?”

‘From what I can see on my monitor, the two of you have the healthiest babies you could ever ask for,” the doctor confirmed.

The smile on Eric’s face did not change as he got dressed, and it remained on his face the entire rest of the day and night.

Three months after the cancellation of the championship, I made my way to the grocery store to pick up some quality steak and asparagus for a very special dinner. It was as close as I could come to replicating the dinner that Eric had made for me, several months before because he hated just about all seafood at the present, so all scallops were rejected. Of course, the red wine that Eric had featured prominently in his meal was also out of the question.

Eric seemed to love the meal anyway. At least, I hoped he did, because he sat beside me on the sofa and ate two steaks and half a pound of asparagus.

"That was amazing," Eric said as he set his plate down onto the living room table. "You are an amazing cook, a fabulous lover, and a doting dad-to-be. I feel sorry for literally everyone who is not me right now."

"Mm. Does that mean you'll agree to marry me?" I asked.

It was the second time that I asked it. But this time, we were in a much better place in our lives.

Eric's initial answer was to fall into my arms. His second answer was to kiss me soundly. I sat there, enjoying the feeling of the extra weight on top of me, and waiting for a real answer.

“Well?” I prompted. “Is that a yes?”

“Of course it’s a yes,” Eric whispered as he went in for a second kiss. “I will marry you, Samuel Fallow.”

Satisfied with the answer, I went back to kissing my fiancé.