Robin surprised me with a visit almost as soon as I was off work on Friday. He often dropped by unannounced just to hang out, but this time, I felt there was something more to his visit. Barely contained excitement shone in his eyes, as if there was something he just couldn't wait to tell me.

He didn't come out with it right away, though. Instead he danced into my living room and asked me how the dog was doing.

"He’s fine." We hadn’t been able to locate his owner after all, so I was going to keep him.

"Have you come up with a name yet?"

"No, not really. I can't think of anything aside from ankle biter. You love to bite my ankle, don't you?" I addressed the puppy who came racing into the living room now to see what the commotion was about. As soon as his eyes fell on Robin, he started barking and wagging his tail. Yeah, pretty much the same inner reaction I had when I saw Robin. Especially now that the memory of having him in my bed was so fresh on my mind.

Robin picked the little fur bundle up and smooched him against his chest. "How about calling him Fluffy? He's kind of fluffy." The dog yipped in response, but I wasn't sure what exactly he wanted to say.

"I don't want ten dogs to turn around when I call his name in the park."

"Oh, you want something unusual, huh?" Robin's forehead creased as he pretended to think very hard about this difficult problem. "How about Darth Puppy, Lord of Destruction? Puppy Lord for short."

"He's not going to be a puppy forever," I argued, but Robin's silly suggestion still made me laugh—which I guessed was exactly what he intended.

"Aw, he'll always be a puppy to me. And you have to admit, he does like to destroy things."

"True." The puppy chewed on everything he could get his mouth on. "He ate my shoes yesterday. Like, literally ate them. They're in pieces. I have to lock everything away now."

Robin grinned at me. "That's just how it is with babies in the house."

"He's not a baby, he's a puppy." And thank God for that.

"Same thing, really."

"No, no diaper changes. When he has an accident, it goes straight on my floor or furniture. Speaking of, I was just about to walk him. Would you like to come along?"

"Yeah, sure." Robin set the dog down again. "We should go to the park." A soft smile found its way onto his face. "Remember how we used to hang out there?"

How could I not? We'd been to the park a lot. Where else could we have gone when we wanted to escape our families? "Good times," I said. At least some parts had been good. Like hanging out with Robin all the time. Being adults meant we had fewer hours in the day to see each other now, especially when Robin was dating and I had to keep myself busy with work to stop thinking about that fact. "Let's take my car," I said, pulling myself back into the present. "The park's too far away to walk there with the puppy."

"We really can't just keep calling him 'the puppy', you know?" Robin said while I grabbed the leash and the car keys. Then his face lit up. "I know a name!"

"You do?" I raised an eyebrow at him while the puppy ran circles around my legs, excited now that he'd seen the leash. He was a quick learner—at least when it came to the meaning of the leash and the opening of the fridge door.

"Cooper," he said. "You know, after that dog in the movie we used to watch. The Fox and the Hound?"

"Oh. That." I scratched the back of my neck. I'd made him watch that movie with me once because it was my favorite. I'd had no idea that he still remembered. "It's a good name."

"Yeah, it is." For a second or two, his face took on that faraway look it got when he was thinking. I couldn't tell where his mind drifted off to, though. Hadn't he come here to tell me something? At least, that was the feeling I'd gotten initially.

Whatever it was, he didn't come out with it until we were a good way into the park and the dog was stomping happily through the snow.

Robin wrapped his scarf more tightly around himself, both our breaths coming out in puffs. Part of me wanted to grab his hand like I used to when we were kids. But that wouldn't have been appropriate now, would it? I was still thinking about it when Robin finally told me his news.

"I took the test today," he said.

What test? My brain needed a moment to compute that statement. Robin spoke on when I gave him a puzzled look.

"The pregnancy test," he said, stressing the word pregnancy like he couldn't believe my mind hadn't immediately jumped to that subject. To be honest, I'd done my best not to think about the possibility that he might be pregnant over these past two weeks.

"Oh." It was all I could think to say. My stomach clenched. Was he...?

He smiled at me. "It was positive."

"Oh." My stomach clenched harder and my brain was still not coming up with anything interesting to say. Robin was pregnant. Pregnant. By me. I kind of wished I was home so I could run into my bedroom and scream into a pillow the way I'd done as a frustrated eight-year-old.

But no, we were at the park, and if I screamed now, everyone would hear. Robin would hear. He had enough on his plate without me losing my shit. So I kept quiet.

"You're not gonna say anything?"

I grimaced, and even Robin's smile began to falter—but that was something I couldn't allow. I didn't want Robin to feel bad. I wanted to protect his smile like it was the most precious thing in the world. For some reason, I felt even more protective of him now than I usually did.

Because he was carrying my child?

Could that be?

"I'm sorry," I made myself say while the chaos in my head raged on. "I just can't believe this is happening."

"Yeah, me neither." Robin bit his lower lip. "It's kind of insane, isn't it? We broke up because you didn't want to have a baby with me and now I'm having your baby, anyway."

I nodded. That summed it up nicely.

"I get that you're not ecstatic about this," Robin continued, "but this is like, a huge thing for me and I wanted to share it with you. You're my best friend."

"And you're mine." I stroked a hand back through my hair, suppressing a sigh. Somehow, I managed to force a smile on my face. "I know this is huge for you, and I know you're going to be a fantastic parent."

"Thank you. I'll try anyway." Doubt started to shine in his eyes. "It's not going to be easy."

"You'll be fine." I grabbed his hand, finally following my impulses. My friend needed support and I was going to give it. He didn't seem to mind either. His smile was coming back, in any case. My stomach unclenched seeing it. Somehow, things were going to be fine; I had to believe that. "Have you made an appointment with a doctor yet?"

"No, but I'll call next week. I was thinking maybe I should go somewhere out of town. I don't want anyone here to know yet."

"I don't think your doctor is allowed to tell anyone about your pregnancy," I said, squeezing his hand. I hated that he had to hide things like this, how much people loved to run their mouths about omegas.

"No, but people would see me in the waiting room, and they're certainly allowed to chat. Some of my students' parents could be there. It would be a disaster."

"I see." Of course. This was going to wreck his reputation. I bit my teeth together. What sort of alpha, what sort of friend was I if I let him do this by himself? "I can take responsibility, you know?"

He shook his head. "No. You didn’t want this child." As if knowing that I was about to protest, he held his free hand up as he spoke on, determination shining in his beautiful green eyes. "I’m not going to drag you into this. I made a promise and I intend to keep it."

"Let me at least drive you to your appointment," I insisted.

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Yeah, I am." It was the least I could do. My friend was right that I didn’t want to be a parent, but this was Robin. Besides, I was only offering to get him to a doctor's appointment. Any friend would do that, even if they weren't the baby's father, right?

Robin rewarded me with a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I said, feeling my skin tingle where Robin's lips had touched it. Part of me wanted to stop walking and give him a proper kiss. Having him so close was the sweetest torture, especially now that my alpha instincts were reacting to the knowledge of his pregnancy.

How was I going to survive the next nine months?