34. Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Four

Bennett

"I need Lily to hurry up," I whined, laying uncomfortably on the exam table with a too full bladder. "I swear if I don't get to pee soon, someone is going to have a mess to clean up."

Shay grabbed my hand in his, grinning broadly. "I'm sure it won't be much longer. How busy can they even be on Black Friday?"

"Babe, did I not just work a full day?" I squirmed on the table, trying to concentrate on anything that would take my mind off having to pee. "Hospitals and doctors don't get to take Black Friday off. It's not an actual holiday, you know?"

He kissed my knuckles, "How was your day, by the way. I feel kind of bad that I got to have the day off with Lucas and you had to work."

"Not too busy, considering." Blowing out a breath, I released a tired sigh. "I'm just glad to be off my feet. Can we just grab something for dinner and take it home? I'm too tired to cook."

I was really regretting turning down all the Thanksgiving invites we had, to instead have pizza at home, in our jammies. At the time, I had just wanted to be home, napping, but turkey leftovers sounded amazing right about now.

"How about we swing by Ash's and grab Lucas, and we go to the diner?"

Not wanting to whine, but really not feeling like going out, I gave him a wan smile. "Sure, as long as I can change into sweats before we go."

With only about a month and a half left of my pregnancy, I was always tired lately. And I was all about comfort these days. While work hadn't been that busy today, I had still spent a fair amount of time on my feet. Since I absolutely hated Black Friday shopping, I usually let most of my department take the day off, especially if they covered the Thanksgiving holiday.

"You can wear whatever you want," Shay promised, as Lily bustled into the room, apologizing for being fifteen minutes late.

"I'm so sorry, guys, we've had a couple of emergencies today." She explained, dimming the lights and then washing her hands. Drying them, she tossed the paper towel in the trash. "Let's see if we can find out what this little one is today?"

"Please cooperate," I told my very rounded tummy, "I can't deal with your Uncle Seth one more minute if we can't see what you are this time."

"I don't know why it matters so much to him," Shay grumbled, squeezing my hand. "As long as the baby is healthy, it doesn't matter. "

Lily busied herself with typing in things on the computer, readying the ultrasound machine. We had a scan right after Edward's attack, but the pup had been feeling shy that day and refused to give up the goods. Lily had been kind enough to agree to take another look.

"I don't know." Pulling my top up, Lily tugged my pants down and placed a towel under the elastic band, so the gel didn't get on them, "He's got some color scheme going on or something. Says he has to know. It's Seth, you know how he gets."

"I know he's a pain in my ass most days."

Lily snorted, squirting some warm gel on my belly. "Little pressure," she warned, starting to run the wand over my stomach, pressing down.

"You're still upset about the Lamaze class, aren't you? Let it go."

"I'm your mate, and the baby's alpha daddy," Shay's eyes were glued to the black and white screen, and the image that had popped onto it. "The fact that he thinks I wouldn't be your labor coach, or excuse me, even in the room, is a problem."

Giggling at his put upon, surly tone, my eyes were just as glued to the screen as his. Not that I really knew what I was looking at, but I could easily make out our baby's head, and limbs, as they swam around in the amniotic fluid. "You're both my coaches, I told you that. I need you both there for very different reasons."

"Just give in, Shay," Lily advised, "don't ever argue with a pregnant omega."

"Sound advice," I agreed with a cheeky grin, "thank you, Lily."

She took some measurements, pointing out certain things on the screen. "Everything looks good. You're still on track for a January eighteenth due date. Now," she smiled brightly at us, " someone seems to be in a flashing mood today. You still want to find out what you're having?"

"Yes!" We exclaimed in unison. We had decided at the first ultrasound that we wanted to know, and then the baby had gone shy on us. Lucas asked us every day if we knew if he was getting a little brother or sister. Besides, Seth absolutely had something up his sleeve. I didn't know if he was working on some kind of baby gift, but he wanted to know the baby's sex almost as badly as Lucas did.

Wiggling under the wand, I whined, "And I really, really need to pee!"

Lily laughed, "Okay, okay, how does another boy sound?"

Shay and I grinned at each other. My eyes watered with happiness and his were shining brightly. "That sounds perfect."

Pulling into Shay's driveway behind him, he hurried over to help me out of my car. One hand on my lower back, I glanced over at Asher and Gabe's house. There were cars filling their driveway and some even spilled into their side lot. I thought I recognized a few of them. One was definitely Wade's SUV .

"Are Asher and Gabe having a party?" I asked, a little hurt we hadn't been invited, but also too tired to be good company.

"Hmm?" Shay mumbled, his hand on the doorknob. "Oh, not sure."

Shaking my head at him, I swayed from one foot to the other. "I have to pee again. Are you going to go over and get Lucas while I change?"

"Yep." If he turned the doorknob any slower, I was going to lose it. Did the man not just hear me say I had to pee?

"What is wrong with you?" I demanded, hands on my hips. "You're acting super sus. And why are the drapes closed?"

"What? No reason. The sun was super bright, and we couldn't see the TV earlier."

"Shay Pierce," I hissed, "it's been cloudy and raining off and on all day. What is going on?"

He held out a hand to me, in a calming gesture, "Don't be mad. There was no stopping them, and they ganged up on me."

Narrowing my eyes at him, I didn't have time to ask what or who he was going on about, before he finally opened the door and pulled me inside.

"Surprise!"

Startling at the choruses of shouts, and confetti tossed my way, I stared open mouthed at the number of people that had managed to squeeze into Shay's living room and kitchen.

Blue and white balloons, streamers, and baby shower decorations were hanging from every surface. A table was already filled with gift bags and wrapped presents, and another folding table was brimming with all kinds of tasty finger foods, and beautifully decorated cupcakes and mini-cupcakes. Gasping, I covered my mouth, then waved my hands in front of my hot face, trying not to blubber like a baby. Damn hormones .

Seth rushed over, hugging me tight. "Happy baby shower, B!"

Swatting at him playfully, I sobbed, "I have to pee!"

That got a few laughs from people, and after I had taken care of business, I could properly greet our guests. Lucas was beaming, and he came over to whisper to my belly. Something he had taken to doing lately, and I absolutely was not to listen, because it was "a secret". When he was finished, he ran off to join a group of the Sinclair children, who Quinn was shooing away from the cupcakes.

"Don't be mad," Shay told me for the second time, helping me relax on the sofa. "Wade and Seth were relentless, and I thought it was safer to just give in and let them have their way."

"Always the best way to handle Wade," Finn grinned, popping a mini-cupcake in his mouth, amongst cries from the kids of, "No fair! How come Uncle Finn gets to eat them now?"

"It's lovely," I sighed, then moaned when Shay took one of my feet in his hands, popped my shoe off and began to massage my foot. "I think I'll keep you."

"I would hope so," he sassed, his thumbs digging into a tender spot.

"Wait," looking around, I pointed a finger at Seth and Wade, who were sorting out what looked like some kind of shower game. "How did you know to decorate blue for a boy? Not that he can't wear any color he wants, because he totally can. I'm tired," I mumbled, "you know what I mean."

"Well…" Wade hedged, and Seth scrunched his nose up at me, "we might have had some help."

Seth held his thumb an inch from his finger, "And some fibs might have been told."

Staring at them both, I blinked, then asked, "Huh? "

"You'd better just tell him," Shay warned, shaking his head and starting on my other foot. "I want it on the record, I was not involved in this, other than giving my approval."

"Explain, Seth Brown, right now."

"At least you didn't use my middle name," Seth held his hand over his heart dramatically.

"Oh, I'll pull out the big guns if I need to," I warned him smugly.

"Ouch," Wade gasped. "I love it. What's his middle name? Tell me, tell me!"

Seth pointed a finger at me, "Don't you dare! I'll tell you, no need to get mean. We might have asked Lily to pretend she couldn't tell what you were having on the first ultrasound. And then she told us, so we knew what the color scheme would be. And also because we wanted to tell people what you were having so they could shop accordingly."

Mouth open in shock, I stared at them both in disbelief, then turned to look at Shay accusingly. He threw his hands up, then when I growled, immediately went back to rubbing my feet. "I swear to you, I did not know we were having a boy until today. I told Lily she had my permission to tell them, but I didn't want to know before you did. She agreed to pretend she couldn't determine the sex, and also agreed to this ultrasound to tell us. Plus, we planned the shower knowing you were going to be working today, and Lily scheduled the second ultrasound time, so they could set up for the shower."

"So devious, all of you."

Most of our friends were here; all the Sinclairs and their kids, Asher and Gabe and the twins. Even Shay's boss, Lo, was here, talking in the corner to Becks and his mate Wyatt, and Wyatt's dad, Robert. Alex, Shay told me, was sorry he couldn't make it, but he had gone out of town for Thanksgiving.

"This is wonderful, you guys," I told them, getting weepy again, "thank you." Glancing around, I realized someone was missing. Seth saw me and shook his head. "I invited your dad, B, but he couldn't make it. I'm sorry."

Shrugging, I played it off, like it didn't matter but it still hurt. We didn't always get along, that was true, but I had hoped he would be a little more excited about my pregnancy. Instead, he had told me he was much too young to be a grandparent, and he hoped I wasn't expecting him to babysit or change any diapers, because he was done with that.

"Let me guess," I said quietly. "New boyfriend? I kind of suspected when he called weeks before Thanksgiving to tell me in advance he was busy."

Seth winced, "He did say something about spending the holiday with someone new and meeting their family."

"Oh, fuck that noise," Wade plopped himself on the other side of me, putting his arm around me. "Blood is so fucking overrated. Found family is where it's at. We don't let you down. We show up for all your shit."

Hours later, after games were played amongst tons of laughter, and everyone was filled up on nibbles and cupcakes, I sat opening presents, Lucas helping Shay and me. There was a knock on the door, and Asher rushed to get it. I'd noticed he'd been on his phone a lot the last hour, but didn't think much about it, since he was a pediatrician.

Asher opened the door to admit an older Hispanic couple that I had never seen before. The man and woman looked apprehensive, until they spotted Lucas, and huge smiles lit up their faces .

"Maria!" Lucas shouted, rushing over to hug the older woman. She pulled him to her, tears shining in her brown eyes.

"Mijo!" she whispered, looking down into his face. "Look how big you are now."

Shay rushed over and pulled the elderly, white haired man to him, holding on for a good while before releasing him to hug the woman.

Trying to push up from the sofa was next to impossible, so I waited for Shay to introduce us. Though I had a good idea who the couple was.

"I don't understand," Shay said, "how did you get here? How did you find us? I was afraid to email you after that night. I didn't want Edward to find out you helped us. Alex said when he inquired with the Clark's lawyers about you, they told him Edward had fired you and they had no forwarding information. I knew Alex was trying to find you, to testify, but he never told me he had found you."

"Alex found them," Asher told him, coming up behind Shay and shaking Albert's hand. "With help from Jamie and Becks." He glanced over his shoulder, finding Jamie Sinclair across the room. Jamie gave him a thumbs up and a wink, while Becks just nodded.

Maria hugged Shay tightly, wiping the tears from her face. "We've been travelling in our RV. After Master Edward–" she glanced down at Lucas, "before he let us go, he paid us off."

Albert interjected, "He wanted us to keep our mouths shut about what we knew. What we had seen and heard. Gave us a pretty hefty sum too. We took it and got out of there. Bought the RV and have been enjoying our golden years the last few months, seeing all the states. "

"There was no reason for us to stay without our boys," Maria told him with a sad smile.

Albert shrugged, "And, he forgot to have us sign an NDA, so…when Mr. Ortega finally called us to ask if we would be willing to testify on your behalf, we gladly agreed. Only we weren't needed after all."

Maria made the sign of the cross over her chest, muttering something I thought might have been the devil in Spanish.

"I had no idea Alex had been in contact with you," Shay told them. "He never told me." Probably because he planned to use them as surprise witnesses, knowing Alex. "We've missed you. I can't ever thank you enough for what you did for us."

Albert gave him a sad smile, "I wish we could have done more. But we're here now, thanks to Mister Asher and Mr. Wade."

"I don't understand." Shay finally helped me up from the sofa and brought me over to meet the Santos'. Maria hugged me warmly, asking permission before she patted my belly, which immediately moved her to the top of some of my favorite people. It was truly alarming how many strangers thought it was perfectly fine to pat someone's pregnant belly without asking. Truly alarming.

Asher cleared his throat. "I could tell how much Maria and Albert meant to you. So happy baby shower. They're my gift to you." He ran a hand through his blond hair, "That sounded less weird in my head."

Laughing at his brother, Shay said, "Thanks."

"It's a wonderful surprise," I told Asher warmly. "Truly."

"Are you staying?" Lucas pleaded, "Can you live with us like before?"

Maria touched his cheek, "Not like before, no. You have a new life now, and you don't need us like before. "

Lucas looked so sad my heart ached for him, but I didn't know how to make it better. That's when Wade interjected, "Here's the deal, B. You and your baby daddy need to live together. Permanently. This going back and forth between yards is convenient and all, but it ain't gonna cut it when that baby is screaming at two a.m. So, you're going to move in here, and I," he placed a hand over the glittery unicorn on his shirt, "have kindly offered the Santos' your house–my rental house–to them, if they want it. They'll be close, they can enjoy their retirement while still seeing ‘their boys'," he used finger quotes around those two words, "and everybody wins. I don't have to bother trying to find a new tenant."

Sniffing, I blinked my watery eyes, "You guys…I don't know what to say."

Shay nodded in agreement, wrapping his arms around me from behind and pulling me into him. "Move in with me, Bennett?"

"Please, Bennett?" Lucas gave me puppy dog eyes and a wide grin. Pulling him to me, I hugged him close.

Nodding yes, I swallowed the emotion clogging my throat, "My boys. How could I say no?"

"I love you," Shay whispered in my ear, "Thank you for saving me that night in the hospital. Thank you for believing in me and waiting for me."

Turning my head to give him an awkward, backwards kiss, I whispered, "You were worth the wait."