“Welcome home!” Julia sounded excited, “I wasn’t sure when you two would get here. I’m glad you texted me.” She greeted Frederico with a kiss as he stepped up onto the front porch.

“This is a surprise,” said Frederico with a mixture of happiness and confusion on his face. “What’s got you in such a good mood?”

“I had a great day at the shop this afternoon and took a wonderful nap when I got home. I don’t know really, but I feel fantastic.” She threw her arms around Frederico’s neck and kissed him again.

“Okay, come on, get a room you two,” chuckled Dominic as he fished out his cell phone.

“Why don’t we head inside, Julia?” suggested Frederico, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“Just a minute,” said Julia enthusiastically. “I want to look up at the stars with my boys. Just like we used to.”

“They’re not really out yet. We can head in and then come out a little later if you’d like,” suggested Frederico.

“Dominic!” Julia shouted his name in a high pitched tone. “Look, see wh-which constellation is that?” She thrust a slender hand towards the sky.

“Just a sec mom, gotta let Miguel know we’re home.”

“Wait, Dom, look!” Julia stepped towards him and wildly grabbed for his cellphone. The device was knocked out of Dominic’s hands and went spinning towards the ground. It crashed against the pavement, sending spiderwebbed cracks across the screen.

“Dammit...” Dominic knelt down to pick it up. “At least the message went through,” he sighed. “Is everything okay, Mom? Why’d you freak out like that?”

Julia’s complexion had gone pale and her expression turned to one of panic.

“Mom?”

“Julia, what’s going on?”

A familiar chime echoed through the silence that followed and a rectangular light highlighted Julia’s dress pocket.

“That’s Miguel’s...” Dominic’s voice trailed off as an inexplicable sense of dread turned his blood to ice.

In an instant, Julia spun on her heel and fled back towards the front door.

“Dad! Stop her!” Dominic shouted as she slipped inside and grabbed the front door.

“Julia!” Frederico wedged his foot in the door jamb as it slammed closed. “Dammit, Julia what the hell is going on?”

“Just give it a minute, just a minute, everything will be okay.” Her voice sounded strained as she struggled to hold the door shut.

Dominic ran to the door and threw his shoulder against it. Julia’s slight frame was sent sprawling to the floor.

“Miguel!” Dominic shouted as he burst through the front door and into the living room. Every nerve in his body felt raw. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as his blood pounded against his skull. Something was intensely wrong. “Miguel!”

There was a muffled thud in the kitchen. Dominic sprang towards it without hesitation.

“Miguel!” Dominic’s voice cracked as he caught sight of the little omega thrashing around on the kitchen floor.

There were two plates of food on the table, both half eaten. Miguel’s eyes were swollen shut, his skin was covered in a rash, and he was gasping for air.

Dominic barely had time to process everything before his father entered the kitchen behind him.

“His allergies, his epipen!” Dominic scrambled towards Miguel’s ankle where he knew the life saving injection would be hidden. Miguel’s jeans had been shoved up over his calf and the epipen holster was empty. “Where is it!?” Dominic shouted, “Miguel, where?”

The omega was unable to answer him. His throat was closing, he could barely draw in a breath.

Anger and determination both flashed through Dominic. “Mom! Where is it!? You were the only one here, where is it!?” He sprang from the floor and stormed out into the living room where she had huddled in the corner by the door.

“Just a minute, give it a minute. Everything will be okay.” Julia rocked back and forth as she repeated her earlier words.

“He’ll be dead in a minute, give it to me!” Dominic leaped towards her, grabbing her wrists and dragging her up from the floor.

“No!” she screamed in a blood curdling voice. “No! You’re mine! My boy, my son. They can’t take you away!” She struggled against him.

“Dad! Help!” Keeping Julia upright took all of his strength as she thrashed against him.

Frederico approached, “Julia, my love, please don’t fight. Please just give us the medicine.” He tried to help hold her still, but it was no use.

“There! In her pocket with the cell phone!” shouted Dominic as he caught sight of the familiar shape of the pen outlined against the fabric of her skirt.

Frederico quickly grabbed it and retreated into the kitchen as Dominic let his mother sink to the floor.

“Noooo, noooo, noooo!” She wailed in agony. “Don’t do it! Please, Frederico, if you love me. Please.”

Dominic turned his back on her and followed his father into the kitchen.

“I...I don’t know what to do!” Frederico was kneeling beside Miguel with the injector in his hands. Miguel was barely moving.

Without a word, Dominic ripped the injector from his father’s hands, removed the cap, and jammed it into Miguel’s thigh.

“Let me have your phone.” Dominic held out a hand. “I’ll call the clinic, go get the car.”

Frederico handed over his phone and rushed outside.

“Hang on,” he breathed to Miguel as he dialed the number. “You can’t leave. I need you.” His vision blurred as tears spilled down his face.

* * *

Dominic had always hated the clinic’s lobby. The pictures on the wall were distracting and conflicted with the feelings of anxiousness that constricted his lungs and made his head pound. Everything around him sounded distant and the only sound he could focus on was the annoying hum of the overhead lights.

He’d lost track of his father and they’d left his mother wailing on the floor of the living room.

Reality seemed to have been twisted in on itself. Part of him was convinced this was all just a dream. None of this could have possibly happened.

But it had. He’d held Miguel’s swollen, barely breathing body in his arms during the entire drive over. Thankfully the streets had been clear.

The doctor had been waiting for them when they arrived. He and a team of emergency staff took Miguel straight from the car into the clinic. They hadn’t let Dominic follow them past the lobby doors. He’d been so worked up that he’d nearly punched the nurse that got in his way.

Thankfully no one had gotten hurt.

He wasn’t sure how long ago that had been. He switched between pacing the floor to sitting in one of the chairs with his knee bouncing nervously. Part of him wanted to call someone, anyone. He was alone, sitting here right now. With no idea whether or not Miguel was going to live.

But his phone was still lying, smashed, on the walkway outside of his parents’ house. He’d given his dad’s phone back to him. He couldn’t remember anyone’s number to call them from the lobby phone. He was alone.

A telephone rang.

Dominic flinched violently at the sound as it pierced through the veil of silence that had settled over him.

The nurse behind the desk answered it. Her voice was measured and even but Dominic couldn’t seem to make out her words even though she was only a few feet away. What was going on?

She left her station and disappeared into the back of the clinic. A few minutes later she returned.

Dominic sat again, this time clutching the arms of the chair with white-knuckled intensity.

A moment later, he became aware of the nurse standing a few feet away from him. She was talking to him but it took him a moment to focus on her words.

“...could get some fresh air. There’s a twenty-four hour convenience store next door. Get yourself something to snack on maybe?” She laid a hand on his shoulder.

He flinched at the contact and blinked rapidly, trying to focus. She was trying to get him to leave?

“I just...I think I want to stay here. I need to be here.” Dominic barely felt human as he spoke. Part of him wasn’t sure he was even speaking intelligibly.

“I understand,” she said. “Is there anyone I can call for you?”

“I...maybe...I don’t know the number.” He felt dumb for admitting that to her, but the adrenaline rush had long since ceased to course through his veins. Everything felt as if it was happening in slow motion now and forming a coherent thought was proving difficult.

“Okay, well I can look it up for you. If they’ve been a patient here I should have contact information.” The nurse was being exceedingly patient with him and for that he was grateful.

“First, probably, Pablo and María Ramírez...”

“We’ve already contacted Miguel’s parents, they’re on their way. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Good. That’s...that’s good. Then...” Names and faces swirled through his head. “Guillermo Ortiz...”

“I know just who you’re talking about,” she offered him a hopeful smile. “I’ll make the call. In the meantime, we’re expecting another emergency patient any moment. It might be best if you waited elsewhere for the time being.”

Oh. So that was why she’d suggested he take a walk.

“I...yeah...okay...” Dominic wasn’t sure what to think, or do, or say but her suggestion sounded like a good one. He normally waited to eat until he and Miguel were together. He’d snack on the squid they were testing while Miguel scribbled down notes in his book.

He climbed unsteadily to his feet. “I just...I’ll be right back. If they need me I’m just right there.” He gestured in the direction of the convenience store.

“Yes, we’ll be sure to get you. Don’t worry.” The nurse smiled again.

Dominic turned towards the front doors.

Before he’d taken two steps, the sound of an emergency siren wailed through the streets outside before being cut off immediately.

“Dammit, took too long.” The nurse intercepted him and dragged him back towards her desk. “Just stay calm, you might want to look away,” she warned as she stood between him and the front doors.

The doors blew open and the emergency crew piled into the waiting room, dragging a gurney along with them. Through the chaos, several things burned themselves into Dominic’s mind.

The first is that there was blood everywhere. The emergency crew and the gurney were both covered in it.

The second is that his father was entering the room trailing slightly behind the crew. He too was covered in blood, but his face was covered in tears.

As the emergency crew forced the gurney through the lobby, the third thing blindsided him. The occupant of the gurney was his mother.