The wait was only a few minutes long, but it felt like hours to Miguel. He sat on the edge of the toilet, locked in Dominic’s bathroom, staring at the timer on his phone.

“Miguel?” a gentle knock followed Dominic’s voice. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah just...just gimme a minute...” Miguel’s voice was hoarse and for a moment he almost didn’t recognize it. The pent up nervousness had left him feeling drained. Sebastian’s well-intentioned and helpful advice had given him so much more to think about than he had originally anticipated.

Other than his job with his father, he didn’t really have a career to give up. Sure, he wanted to someday have a restaurant of his own but that had always been more of a distant dream. Something that he’d almost been certain would never happen.

He already had hospital bills to pay off. A baby would mean more of those, plus all the other things a baby needed. Then there was the fact that he was still living with his parents. He couldn’t honestly ask them to house both him and a squealing infant.

Then there was Dominic. The big alpha was obviously trying his best to put a brave face on everything, but Miguel could see the nervousness in his eyes. They were both scared and uncertain about what any of this actually meant.

The timer on the phone beeped loudly. The test was finished. Miguel glanced towards the edge of the sink where he had left it, and his stomach flip flopped. He rose, unsteadily, to his feet and stepped towards the sink.

The test was positive.

A strange feeling bubbled through Miguel’s chest. It was something similar to relief tinged with confusion.

“Is everything okay?” Dominic asked through the door.

Miguel took a deep breath and pulled the bathroom door open. Dominic stood only mere inches away from him, their eyes locked.

“I’m pregnant.” Miguel blurted unceremoniously.

“Well...” Dominic exhaled forcefully. “What do you think we should do?”

“I guess...I mean...” Miguel slipped past Dominic and flopped onto the edge of the bed. “Are you even interested in being a dad?”

Dominic leaned against at the frame of the bathroom door. “I always thought that maybe someday I’d like to have kids. I didn’t think I’d get the opportunity so soon. What about you?”

“I guess I’m the same,” admitted Miguel. “Before now I’d always been really careful about birth control when I was in a relationship. Everyone I dated really wasn’t the sort of guy I wanted around as a dad. I hadn’t counted on impromptu sex on the beach.”

“I’m sorry,” Dominic shook his head. “I wasn’t thinking about anything other than you. The moment felt right, you looked gorgeous. I...I should’ve been more responsible.”

“Hey, bozo, there were two of us there. You aren’t the only one that made this baby. I could’ve said something, but I didn’t want you to stop. We both contributed to this mess. Now the only question is, what do we do about it?” Miguel looked Dominic right in the eye. A path forward began to emerge for him. What he needed to know was where Dominic stood.

“I’m going to be completely honest right now,” said Dominic, holding up his hands. “I really like you, Miguel. I’m hesitant to say more because this is all still so new to me. I just know that these past few weeks have been extremely enjoyable, and I’m looking forward to working with you more for this contest. I’ve even begun to dread what happens after we win because I won’t be able to see you every single day after that.”

“I think, at the very least, that means that I’m willing to try. I’m willing to be your boyfriend if you want me. I’m willing to try being a dad too, even if it means I’ve got to put my other plans on hold.”

Miguel took a deep breath. “Okay then that, at least, is settled. We keep the baby. We try to figure out our relationship and somewhere along the way we’re gonna be dads.” He hadn’t expected them to come to an agreement so quickly on something this life changing. Maybe that meant there was hope for their budding relationship.

“There are some other problems,” Miguel continued. “First, I don’t want you to give up on whatever plans you had because of this. If we’re going to do this, I don’t want either of us to have any regrets.”

“Opening a restaurant is a lot of work,” said Dominic as he moved to join Miguel on the bed. “It’s going to take a lot of time and effort and probably most of my focus. If we have a newborn that means you’re going to have to take care of it alone for who knows how long, and I don’t want to do that to you.”

“Okay then, a year,” suggested Miguel. “A year after the baby is born. He’ll be old enough then that we could leave him with my mom. I can go back to work with my dad and help support us while you get the restaurant off the ground.”

“I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you help me with the restaurant?”

Miguel frowned. “We agreed when we started this that I’d get the money for my bills and you’d use the rest for your restaurant. This is your dream.”

“A dream that you have too. I’m not an idiot, Miguel. Besides, that was before we knew we were going to be having a baby.” Dominic smiled softly. “If we’re going to be parents, why not start a family business?”

A smile crept up to the corners of Miguel’s lips. “A family, huh?”

“That’s what it’s called, right? When two people have kids and raise them together,” Dominic teased.

“I guess that kind of raises the next problem,” said Miguel. “I’m living with my parents, and even though they’d say it’s fine, there’s no way I’m bringing an infant home with me.”

“Do you want to move in together? We’ve practically been living together these past few weeks anyway. If you want to bring your stuff over that’s fine with me.” Dominic seemed completely unconcerned.

“No, that’s...I mean yeah I do, but...” Miguel sighed. “Your apartment is sitting right above main street. Babies need a lot of sleep. That’s not going to happen with music, shouting, and that stupid door chime from the shop down below.”

Dominic frowned and flopped back onto the bed. “So you want to find a new place together?”

“Yeah, I do. I just don’t really know what our options are. I’m not working right now, and I doubt your job at the bar is going to be enough.” Miguel shook his head. “Everything’s just gotten so infinitely more complicated.”

“You’re getting your casts off before too much longer, right?”

“I go in to get them looked at in a few days, so I’ll ask the doctor then. The original estimate was eight weeks though.”

“So, nearly half way through. You can probably go back to work after that. We’ve got plenty of time until this baby is born though. So there’s no need to rush things.” Dominic sounded pretty confident in his assessment of the situation.

“I know, I just...”

“Hey, look, everything’s going to be okay. I know we’re not the most functional couple in the world, but we’re in this together. Right? I’ve got your back.” Dominic yawned and stretched.

“We’ve had a pretty rough morning,” he continued. “So why don’t we call it a day, okay? We’ve been up all night. We’re just going to take this a day at a time, okay?” Dominic held out his arms towards Miguel. “Come here.”

Miguel smiled softly and allowed himself to pulled back onto the bed. He curled up against Dominic’s chest. A few minutes later he drifted off to sleep to the sound of the alpha’s heart beat.

* * *

The La Bonita clinic was small but well-apportioned. A cheerful nurse greeted Miguel as he entered the brightly lit, white-walled, waiting room. Several paintings by local artists graced the walls, adding a splash of color to the otherwise utilitarian nature of the room.

“The doctor will be with you shortly. He’s due back from his last appointment any minute now.” The nurse informed him, before gesturing for him to take a seat.

Busy schedules and a general distrust kept most of the islanders away from the clinic unless it was absolutely critical. Over time, the doctor had begun to schedule house calls just so he could check-up on his patients’ health and keep tabs on the state of the island. He also served as health adviser to the president and served as their first and last line of defense in the case of an outbreak.

He was a busy man who was never present at the clinic unless there was a patient with an appointment or an emergency that required his immediate attention. Because of this, he had gone to great lengths to train his nurses extremely well. They were well-versed in many procedures generally considered outside the purview of a nurse’s duties. In the years since the doctor had arrived on the island, the general health of the populace had increased dramatically.

He had also been the one to insist on a new mandate by the previous president. All businesses engaged in temporary housing of non-residents must be able to provide medical services to their residents. In short, hotels were required to keep at least one nurse on the premises at all times. The staff were all trained in first aid and a doctor would be kept on the payroll for emergencies.

These growths in the medical sector had caused many locals to push for the building of a medical school on the island. Currently, up to eighty percent of all medical staff were foreigners trained in other countries. The remainder were locals that had studied abroad. With such a small population, however, the president still couldn’t justify the cost of building such a specialized school.

All of that had little bearing on Miguel’s current situation. He sat alone in the waiting room listening to outdated music playing over the sound system.

He was only here to get his arms checked out. He still had yet to make an appointment about that other issue. He’d been putting it off for the last few days because, even though they’d started making plans for the future, part of him still felt more than a little scared about the prospect of parenthood.

The front door opened and the doctor made his grand entrance with a flourish of his white coat. “You must be my next appointment. Yes, that’s right. The boy with the broken arms. I remember when they brought you in. You were in quite a sorry state, weren’t you? Hopefully that means you’ll exercise more caution with your climbing gear in the future, won’t you?” The doctor’s heavily accented English poured forth in an unbroken tide that was more than a little overwhelming.

“Y-yes?” Miguel had no idea of the appropriate response in this instance.

“I would’ve had my nurse do the X-rays,” the doctor gestured for Miguel to follow him as he made his way through the door leading to the rest of the clinic, “but he’s still learning the ropes and everyone else is busy. It seems there’s a bit of a flu going around right now. Lots of coughing and fevers. Probably brought in by a tourist. One of the risks of being a small community that thrives on outside traffic. I asked the president to allow us to conduct medical screenings before allowing people entry, but he seemed to think that that was too much.”

Miguel trailed along behind the doctor as they wound their way through the clinic.

“Tell me, do you think it’s too much?” asked the doctor as he paused by one of the doors.

“I mean...”

“Of course you do,” the doctor sighed as he opened the door and gestured for Miguel to enter. “Everyone does. That’s just the way these things are. No one listens to the medical professional until it’s too late. That’s why you go to the doctor when you’re already sick, or after you’ve already broken your arms. No one around here goes to the doctor to prevent illness or injury.”

The doctor quickly completed the X-rays and left Miguel sitting in one of the examination rooms while he got them processed. Apparently, one of the benefits of a small community was less waiting time. The doctor returned with Miguel’s X-rays before he’d even finished counting the ceiling tiles.

“All righty then,” the doctor said as he hung the images over the light box on the wall and switched off the overhead light. “So here is the break in your right arm. It looks like the healing process is proceeding pretty rapidly. The break here was less severe. So I’m hopeful that we may be able to remove this cast as early as two weeks from now.”

“That’s great news,” said Miguel. Regaining the use of his dominant arm would go a long way towards improving his quality of life.

“Yes, well...your left arm took the brunt of the impact when you fell. You really did a number on this one. I don’t think you were conscious enough to remember, but the bone here was actually protruding through the skin.” The doctor gestured to the exact spot where the wound had been. “They did a good job of realigning everything, but with the amount of trauma this arm suffered I’m not surprised that it’s taking a bit longer to get everything back in order. We can check on it again next time you come in. My current estimate, though, is that this may take five or six more weeks before I’ll feel comfortable removing the cast.”

“If I can get my right arm back, I can live with that.” Miguel nodded as he spoke. Sure, it put a bit of a damper on his plans to get back to work right away, but he could figure something out. Dominic was right, there was still plenty of time to get their lives in order before this baby came kicking down the front door.

“Okay then, was there anything else troubling you currently?” asked the doctor as he switched the lights back on.

Miguel bit his lip. He might as well get this over with. “Actually, yeah. There is something.”