As a single bachelor, I had way too much money. And now I was glad I’d been good at saving, because I was ready to give this baby the best possible life from the very beginning.

I communicated with Danny about what he needed and went off on a shopping spree. I spent hours on the internet reading reviews and articles and blogs, learning all about caring for a baby and what the best products were.

One of the things I learned was that there were a lot of things you could buy for a baby. But not all of them were necessary.

I felt like I was being plied with all kinds of contraptions that I couldn’t immediately see the use of. And because I was a new dad who was anxious about doing a good job, a little voice in my head kept screaming that I should buy everything.

Man, they really took advantage of that little voice! So many of the products touted supposedly necessary safety features and other life improvements. My head spun as I walked the aisles and browsed websites.

But somehow, I made it through without spending that much money.

Well, I might have splurged a little.

There was one more place Danny wanted to go to, and I’d promised him I’d give him a ride. My car made it out all the way to the East End, where there was a huge mall he’d been wanting to go to. It was the only reason most people ever came out here.

I texted Danny to let him know I was here, and he quickly ran down the stairs, pulling the door open and sliding in on the leather seats. I pulled him close to me as the car started driving again, and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“Alright,” he said. “Not much has changed. I think I might actually be getting used to it because I don’t feel so crappy.”

“That’s good,” I said, unable to imagine what it was like to have another person growing inside your body. It was fascinating and magical and something only omegas and women were privy to.

Sitting in the car together, it almost felt like we were a couple. I mean, we were a couple, or dating, at least. We’d decided that the other day. But part of me was still worried that Danny was skittish, that he’d decide to end this whole thing.

Sure, he had seemed interested in pursuing a relationship, but I could tell a part of him was still guarded, waiting for me to prove myself somehow. Not necessarily with a grand gesture, but with the small actions that built trust every day, which was what mattered.

And I planned to be there for him every step of the way. I wasn’t going to let Danny down, not after what he’d been through.

But I wondered just how far his experiences had cut him. How damaged was he? I still didn’t know him very well, even though I knew parts of his mind no one had ever explored before. I understood so much about him, but there was still so much that was a mystery to me.

And I liked that. I liked knowing that we could spend a lifetime learning about each other. But I knew I would be utterly crushed if Danny decided this wasn’t what he wanted, if he finally came to the conclusion that he couldn’t trust me as much as he wanted to.

“Whatcha thinking about?” Danny asked, cutting into my thoughts.

I shook my head, as if to clear it. “Not much,” I said. “What else do we actually need to get from the mall?”

“So there’s actually a thrift store there that caters to omega parents,” said Danny. “I’ve been wanting to check it out for a while, since I was curious. I thought you might like to see it too.”

I had never even heard of such a store, and part of me was jealous that omegas had all these things that were just for them. There wasn’t anything for alphas. Granted, that was changing, as more single alpha dad support groups popped up, and it became less and less unusual to see alpha dads being the primary caretakers, but it was still a novelty to me.

The mall wasn’t far and the car easily glided into the parking lot, dropping us off at the entrance and zooming away to take care of itself. When I was a kid, I’d always dreamed of having a self-driving car because quite frankly, they were awesome.

Danny took me by the hand and led me through the mall, pointing out his favorite places as we made a beeline for the omega store.

It was much larger than I thought it would be, with all kinds of hand-me-downs on shelves. I saw strollers, baby clothing, high chairs, toys, and things I couldn’t identify.

“This is neat,” I said.

“It really is. Look, here in the back,” he said, tugging me forward.

We came to a shelf full of plush animals.

“I was thinking it’d be cute if we could pick something out together. Our baby’s first plushie, you know?” He looked up at me with hopeful, shining eyes.

I wondered why I’d ever doubted him. Danny really did seem like he was into this wholeheartedly.

I was touched, and my eyes prickled. “That’s a lovely idea,” I said, trying not to get choked up. It was rare for me to be this emotional.

Danny beamed at me. “Well, there’s lots of good options. These are all really well-made, beautiful toys.”

We perused the selection. There was a bear with a funny hat, a rabbit with some carrots, a parrot puppet, an elaborate and enormous dragon, and a giant teddy bear that seemed half Danny’s size.

Danny picked up something shimmering, and I saw it was a unicorn with an iridescent horn and mane.

“That’s not even a toy, it’s art,” I said, marveling at it.

“But you can see it’s been well-loved by someone before,” said Danny, noting the worn label. The toy itself looked like it was well-kept, though, with no loose threads or weird stains.

I stroked the soft, velveteen fur of the unicorn. “I really like this one,” I said.

“Me too,” agreed Danny. “There’s just something about it.”

“I feel like this is the one,” I said.

“Yep. I wonder what name it’ll get,” said Danny, laughing and heading to the register. “When I was a kid I had a plush dog called Doggie. Not very creative.”

“This one can be Corny, then,” I said.

Danny snickered. We paid for the toy and left.

“There’s an ice cream shop I really like around the corner,” said Danny. “You want to check it out?”

“Sure,” I said, smiling. “An ice cream date it is.”

I paid for us to get a large sundae to share, and we sat on a bench and people watched as we ate the ice cream, which was delicious. Danny kept rubbing his belly unconsciously, which I found adorable. Even when he wasn’t thinking about it, he was aware of our baby.

I put my arm around him, wanting to be as close as possible to him. His shoulders were warm and I pulled him closer, taking a deep breath in his hair, which smelled like fresh linen and omega.

“You make me feel so safe,” he said, sighing.

“Yeah? I’m glad to hear that,” I said.

“I mean, honestly, it’s a low bar for an alpha, considering my past experiences, but it feels really nice.”

“You never did tell me about your past experiences,” I said, hastily adding, “Not that you have to, or anything. I just mean, if you wanted to tell me at some point I would listen to you.”

“Nah, I get it,” he said, sighing again. “It’s all stuff I should probably tell you, anyway. It was a big part of my life and I’d like you to know all about me.”

As much as I hated that Danny had gone through all this, I loved that he trusted me enough to share it. I was glad that I had finally come along and been an alpha he could trust.

“So… I got started in the scene at a young age,” he said. “Like seventeen, honestly, because I’d sneak into bars. As you can imagine, it wasn’t the best start. There are tons of alpha doms who’d love to prey on a fresh-meat teen omega.”

“Jeez,” I said. “I know the type.”

“Yeah. So basically, I fell in with a lot of people like that. Alphas who didn’t treat me right, omegas who made it seem like it was okay to let alphas treat you that way. It wasn’t healthy, and even though I’d gone to college, I ended up dropping out. I even did some party drugs too, which didn’t help with the whole alphas taking advantage of me problem.”

My heart felt chilled to hear all this. I couldn’t believe my sweet, gentle Danny had gone through all this. I mean, I knew it had been bad, but doing drugs underage was another level entirely.

“It was bad,” he continued. “I ended up in this relationship with this one alpha, Craig, who was awful. He tried to use me for sex all the time, and he made me feel like crap for resisting. Which made me feel icky about sex, and kink, even, which sucked because it was a big part of my life and my identity.”

I nodded along encouragingly when he caught my eye, making sure my arm around his shoulders was firm and comforting. I loved that he was opening up to me, and I didn’t want to make him feel unnerved.

“So eventually I figured out I needed to leave him. But by that point, I’d almost hit rock bottom. I was drinking too much, which is why I only stick to beer now, because it was a way to escape my shitty life. And since I’d dropped out of college and was barely holding onto a mediocre part-time job, I didn’t have the resources to leave my living situation with him. Eventually, a couple friends from the scene staged something of an intervention.”

He paused for a moment, stirring his spoon around in the now-melted ice cream. I squeezed his shoulder.

“They decided to come rescue me from Craig’s house, so I packed some stuff in a go-bag. And they managed to get me out, but… Craig put up a fight when he came home early and found us in the process of leaving.”

Danny sighed, and I could have sworn I saw tears pooling in his eyes, but he blinked them away.

“Craig hit Lyssa hard, on the head. And she was fine, eventually, but… we didn’t know if she would be. I still feel like it’s my fault, even though I know it’s not.”

He was silent for a moment, and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to say anything.

“So yeah. And that’s not even the end of it, honestly. I tried other scenes, and met other doms who just didn’t treat me well. You know the type, I’m sure. Nothing as bad as that ever happened again, but I became fucking jaded.”

It hit me then how amazing it was that Danny trusted me at all, and it lit a flame in my heart that glowed as I thought about how special our connection was.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that,” I said, wishing I had something better to say.

Danny shrugged, finally looking up at me with a tentative smile on his face. “It’s alright. I have you now, and that’s all that matters.”

I nodded. “You’re right. But I’m glad you told me about your experiences. If I ever do anything that upsets you or triggers you, I hope you’ll let me know.”

“I will,” he promised, then slipped his phone out to check the time. “Hey, I have a doctor’s appointment. Want to come?”

“Of course,” I said. “We can take the car.”

We tossed what was left of the sundae and left the mall, zooming along the sunlit highway to the hospital. The unicorn sat in Danny’s lap like a pet, shimmering in the light. I knew our baby was going to love it.

Danny led the way to the hospital’s reception desk, my hand in his, and I was proud to appear here as his alpha, his partner. I wasn’t sure if I was making it up, but I thought he was starting to show just slightly. Or maybe it was just his shirt.

“Come on in, Daniel,” said a nurse, beaming at us.

We followed him into an examination room, where the nurse started checking Danny’s vitals and doing other routine things. I had no idea how omega health worked, really, because while much of our bodies were similar, there were obviously significant differences.

“Alright, you’re looking good,” said the nurse. “Go ahead and change, and the doctor will see you shortly.”

He left us in the silent room, and Danny turned to me, slipping his clothes off so he could put on the gown. “You excited?”

“Yeah, I’m excited,” I said. I never really liked hospitals, but there was a positive vibe about this particular place, probably because it was all about babies. There were tons of photos of adorable kids on the walls, as well as diagrams of the omega reproductive system. It was a lot different than my experience of going to the doctor only when I was sick.

After a brief knock on the door, the doctor entered. “Hi, Daniel!” she said, her hazel eyes shining and her thick, black hair bound into a braid.

“Dr. Coston,” he said, shaking her hand. “This is my alpha, Archer.”

“How wonderful to meet you!” said Dr. Coston, shaking my hand. Her positive demeanor was infectious, and I found myself excited to see what she had to say about the baby.

“It’s so nice to see a pair of new dads like you two,” she said. “I remember how my husband and I were when we had our first kid. All bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.” She smiled at us. “Now, how are those vitamins working for you?”

She and Danny launched into a conversation about the details of his pregnancy. I tried to pay attention, but there were a few things I couldn’t understand. And honestly, I was taken by how professional and confident Danny was. Not that I thought he wouldn’t be. I was just proud to see my omega starting to become a father.

“And do you have any questions for me, alpha dad?” asked Dr. Coston.

“Uh, I don’t think so,” I said. “I mean, this is all very new to me, so I have to process the information, you know?”

The doctor nodded. “Of course. And you’re welcome to call or email me or my office any time, if you want to know anything. Knowledge is power.”

“Definitely,” I agreed.

“So,” she said, turning back to Danny, “You’ll want to take the vitamins in this bottle after meals, so maybe your alpha can help you remember.”

Even though it was a small thing, I could feel my chest puffing up with pride at the thought that I was Danny’s alpha, and I was going to help take care of him.

We said goodbye to the doctor and Danny changed, and we left the hospital with a big bag of vitamins and pamphlets. Danny really seemed like he was ready to be a dad, and his confidence helped me feel more confident as well.

I’d always thought of alphas as the ones who took charge and were in control of situations, but this was clearly an area where omegas—and especially my Danny—shone.

“I like that she referred to us as a pair of dads,” I said as we waited for the car to return from the parking lot.

“Me too,” said Danny. “All these little things just make it seem more real, you know?”

“Exactly,” I said, glad that he’d understood. He was so smart.

“What are you doing tonight?” he asked. “Maybe we can stay in, watch a movie. Get up to some other things.” He waggled his eyebrows and grinned.

I laughed at his adorable expression. “Let’s see what happens,” I said. “I can think of some things that I can get up.”

The car purred to a stop in front of us and we got in, giggling like school children.

Was this what it was like to be in a relationship?

I clearly hadn’t known what I was missing.