Page 28 of Temporary Omega
“Hospital,” he croaked out. “Losing baby,” Luca sobbed out, curling up in the fetal position.
After that, everything was a blur of tears and pain and bargaining until he came to what felt like hours later in the hospital.
Luca must have fallen asleep again because when he woke up, he was in the hospital, and Lincoln was asleep in a cot beside his bed. Luca couldn’t remember much of what had happened between waking up to a sharp stabbing pain and coming to the hospital.
Immediately, he started to panic. His baby, had he lost his baby? Luca began searching for the nurse call button, but before he had a chance to find it, a matronly woman, with graying hair in a bun, appeared at his door and quickly walked up to his bed and looked at the monitors attached.
“You have to calm down, Mr. Wentworth, your heart is racing. That can’t be good for the babe, that’s it,” she coached, her voice soothing. “Breathe, breath.” She repeated the words over and over until finally, Luca’s breathing and heart rate returned to normal.
When he looked to where Lincoln had been sleeping, he saw the man sitting up and alert in his cot, his eyes fixed on Luca.
“Excellent, Mr. Wentworth, good to finally see you awake. The doctor sedated you when you were brought in, you were in a panic. Not that I blame you,” the nurse said cheerily.
Luca squinted and tried reading the name tag on her pink scrub top. Ruth.
“Thank you?” Luca responded, unsure of how else to reply. His hands landed on his stomach. “My baby...” he began.
“Is fine,” the nurse smiled, finishing the sentence for him. “Looks like y’all’s little one needed some room and scared papa a little. Just as well daddy brought both of you in,” she nodded towards Lincoln, who’d moved to the edge of the cot, “since you, Papa, need to take it easy. You’re anemic and weigh less than you should at this stage of your pregnancy.”
Luca wasn’t sure what to address first, the fact that they thought Lincoln was the father of his child or the fact that everything he’d been doing to survive—skipping meals, working his ass off—had endangered his child.
A child he knew, now more than ever, he wanted.
“So we’re fine?” Luca asked the nurse, needing to hear the words.
“A little rest, low stress, and some good food and you’ll be right as rain. Oh and more fluids. You felt the uterus muscle stretch so acutely because you were slightly dehydrated. All that and we won’t have to see you here until the babe is ready to meet her papas.”
“Thank you very much, Ruth,” Luca whispered. His hand still cradling his belly protectively.
“Oh you’re very welcome love,” she beamed. She walked towards the exit of his room stopping briefly to make a note on his chart at the side of the door. Before she walked out, she paused, “If you need anything, give me a ring with your call button, but I’m sure your attentive alpha, who might I add hasn’t left your side, will be more than happy to help.”
She winked at Luca, then glanced at Linc, “You got yourself a good one there. Hovered like a concerned papa to be while you were getting treated.”
Ruth winked again before exiting the room leaving him and Lincoln, alone.
Luca wasn’t sure what to say in the wake of Ruth’s parting information. Lincoln had stayed with him? Not only that, Lincoln had clearly let everyone believe Luca was his omega and the child he carried belonged to the alpha.
“Thank you,” Luca whispered but loud enough so Lincoln heard him. “I must be the houseguest from hell dragging you out of bed at stupid o’clock.”
Lincoln said nothing, simply staring at Luca like he was under a microscope or something. “I didn’t mean to let everyone think it was your baby, I just...”
Luca paused, unsure how to finish the sentence. It was becoming a habit around Lincoln. Starting sentences and stopping like a nitwit. He just what?
Lincoln probably regretted walking out of that house the night of Riley’s wedding. Luca was sure that before meeting him the man's life was decidedly less complicated.
“I’ll make sure they know not to call you the father,” Luca promised, looking away from Lincoln, shame about his situation enveloping him.
“Why?” Lincoln asked breaking the silence. “It’s no one business and it’s not hurting anyone, so why give them information that doesn’t concern them?”
“I, you...” Luca wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“They already think you’re my fiancé so... goes to reason that you’re carrying my child.”
“You, Me... what?” Luca opened his mouth to form words but those were the only ones that came out.
“It was the only way they’d let me back here with you, even though I did get the side eye when I couldn’t fill out the intake form.”
That finally got a laugh from Luca, “I would think it was normal for a fiancé not to know their soon-to-be husband’s birthday and allergies.”