Page 18 of The Bear, the Eagle, and their Wombat Omega (Omegas of Animals: SD #14)

Steve

Four days away from my mates sounded horrible. I had a lot to do here. It wasn’t like I’d be bored, but not having them with me sounded like a torture.

They had barely left when I missed them. We’d been apart before while we worked. But that had been different because we would see each other soon enough. We weren’t waiting full nights and days between holding each other.

As expected, that first night was horrible. Sleep escaped me, as I tossed and turned all night. Multiple times, I considered calling them and begging them to come home. Only home wasn’t here. I was the problem in the equation.

I considered going to them too. If I didn’t have a couple of huge events coming up, I would have. But it was selfish to put my wants ahead of all of the people attending them. I needed to wait.

Then the second day came, and it was no easier.

I was heartbroken, sick to my stomach, or at least that’s what I thought it was.

Then I met with an elephant shifter client to go over contracts and had to run out of the room.

It was gross and embarrassing, and I felt horrible about it, but when I came back in, she was beaming.

“I remember those days, my poor mate. He had it bad. I don’t think he left home for the first trimester.”

“Oh, I’m not—” I’d started to correct her, when I figured out that she might be right. I could be pregnant. “I mean…huh. I hadn’t realized that yet.”

“Oh, then I’ll be the first to congratulate you?” She said it like a question, and I appreciated her sensitivity, but it was 100 percent congratulations-needed.

My hand went straight to my belly. “We’re gonna be dads.”

“It’s an exciting time, and, if your alpha is doing his job, you’ll be well taken care of.”

I held up my two fingers. “My two alphas and they will.”

“You are lucky…although I’m not sure I could share my mate with another. I’m one of those possessive alphas.”

She didn’t mean it as a dig, at least I didn’t think she did, and so I didn’t counter, telling her my alphas were just as protective. Fate decided I was good enough in some past existence to have two and I planned to treasure them.

I waited until she left, so I could race across the street to the drugstore to get a test. The public bathroom of the office building I rented a space in hadn’t been my first choice for taking it, but I couldn’t wait to find out.

I peed on the stick, put it on the back of the toilet, and took out my watch to set a timer.

I was staying put, not wanting to have anybody else coming into the bathroom and witnessing what should be a private moment.

Time stood still, and I couldn’t wait until the alarm went off. Snatching it from the back, sure enough, there were already two blue lines. I was pregnant.

I took a picture of it and threw it away. My mates were just going to have to trust me on it or I’d take another one. Carrying around a used pregnancy test just didn’t work for me.

And as long as the wait was for my mates to come home when it was four days and I wasn’t pregnant, it was exponentially longer when, on the second day, I found out I was pregnant. Holding onto such amazing news was painful. I wanted to tell every single person I saw. But first my mates.

I could’ve told them over the phone, but I didn’t want to. I wanted it to be special. I googled ways to tell a partner I was pregnant. Most of them felt more like pranks than sweetness. And there were a bunch that included the used pregnancy test. Then there was one that felt right.

I went to the store and bought a bunch of baby vegetables.

Who knew there were not only baby carrots but also baby artichokes, baby bok choy, baby beets, baby broccoli, baby cucumbers, and even baby squash?

I got them all, along with three little Cornish game hens.

Technically, the hens were full-size, but they were small, so I counted them.

I plan to make them a hint-filled dinner before revealing the good news.

There was one final course I needed: dessert. I was no longer playing subtle when it came to this. I went to my favorite bakery and got one of their stork cakes. They were designed for baby showers and could feed far too many people, but I needed one.

Was it ridiculous? Absolutely. And I was so excited to share it with them. Everything was cooked and ready to go, the table set nicely when they arrived.

It had been harder than I thought it would be not to tell them the second they walked into my apartment. But I wanted to reveal it to them in a way that they would always remember. They hadn’t been there when I found out, so this had to be just as special.

I served our special dinner on my small kitchen table. They enjoyed everything, not picking up on the hints and not even commenting on the number of vegetable sides.

But then came time for the cake.

The moment that cake hit my table, they looked at it, looked at me, looked back at it.

“Really?” Bruno said. “Really? We’re going to be dads?”

“Really. We’re going to be dads.” I showed them the picture of the pregnancy test I had printed out for them.

We didn’t eat that cake until morning. They swept me into their arms and took me to my bed, but not for sleep.

I loved them so much. And now, the three of us were going to have our own family.

“We probably should reevaluate cake for breakfast once our little one arrives,” Bruno said, serving himself a second piece.

“Yes… I don’t know.” Arkyn grinned. “Cakes have eggs and milk. Those are healthy.”

“They also have a lot of sugar,” I piped in as the voice of reason.

“So does pancake syrup,” Bruno countered.

“That is true,” Arkyn said. “Maybe if it’s strawberry flavored, it could count as a fruit too.”

Bruno grabbed the strawberries from the fridge and placed them on top. “See? Now we have a complete meal.”

I reached for my second piece as well. “Are we going to be pushovers like this with our little ones?” I asked then answered my own question. “We are, aren’t we?”

And they both nodded.

We were going to have spoiled little ones.

We were going to read to them every night.

We were going to take them on adventures.

We were going to love them unconditionally and let them know they were born out of love.

We were going to let them figure out where they belonged in this world instead of pushing the way my alpha had pushed me.

I wanted our little one to have the childhood I didn’t. And we were going to give them exactly that.