Page 27 of Ice Palace Prince

He gave me a pained smile, and I opened my arms.

“Come on,” I urged. “We can cuddle and try to sleep until we need to head to the hospital.”

He nodded and crawled into the bed beside me. After several minutes of cuddling we managed some fitful sleep, waking up to track each contraction.

It was shortly after dawn when the labor tracker suggested that it was time to head to the hospital, and by then Sean was more than ready to be done with it.

The day seemed to crawl by as family stopped in, then, all of a sudden, everything seemed to happen at once. The nurses declared Sean dilated enough, and they moved him to a delivery room. Once we were in there a doctor arrived within minutes.

For a moment I felt useless, unable to do anything other than watch my gorgeous mate deal with the pain. Then he reached out his hand, and I remembered that my job was to be beside him, to give him strength when he needed it.

“I love you,” I murmured, kissing his forehead between contractions. “Let’s meet our son, ok?”

“Just promise you’re never coming near me with your knot again,” he cried.

“Whatever you want.”

Then the doctor was telling him to bear down, and for a moment I thought Sean would break my hand with how hard he squeezed it.

He collapsed back against the bed at the same time that a cry pierced the air.

“Listen to those lungs!” the doctor declared as he handed off our son to a nurse. “You won’t even need a baby monitor.”

Sean gave me a weak smile at the joke, then looked down as the nurse placed our baby on his chest.

“Hey there Nick,” he cooed, rubbing our son’s back. “Welcome to the world.”

“Is that his name?” the nurse asked.

I looked up and nodded. “Nicholas Jefferson.”

She grinned. “It’s a good name.”

Sean and I shared a smile.

“We think so too,” I replied.

∞∞∞

~Black Friday~

“Do you miss it?” I asked as Sean and I looked on from the side of the Ice Palace as a young omega from one of the local high schools strode across the stage to the mic, crown perched awkwardly on his head as the new prince.

Sean bounced Nick, who seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep, and shook his head. “No, it was time to pass the torch and make new traditions.”

“You know I still get hard every time I see that sparkly blue suit,” I teased. “All I can think about is pulling those pants down and sucking your cock.”

“And that’s why it’s a playtime suit, and not for public viewing anymore,” he replied with a chuckle.

“Why are you over here hogging the baby?” Elaine asked, appearing out of nowhere.

I jumped, even as Sean sighed.

Nick immediately woke up and started reaching for Elaine, whom he seemed to believe was a third parent.

Sean shook his head and passed our son over. Once Elaine was around he needed his time with her.

“He was almost asleep you know,” Sean griped.

Elaine chuckled. “Don’t worry, he’ll be asleep by the time you get back.”

“Get back?” Sean asked. “Where are we going?”

Elaine leaned in and whispered something in Sean’s ear, which made him blush immediately.

“What was that about?” I asked as he turned to me and started dragging me away from the opening ceremony.

“The new night access code,” he replied.

I gaped, then grinned. I decided that I’d probably like the new traditions.