Chapter Eighteen

Sheldon

I waited until the next morning to take the pregnancy test. I remembered they were most accurate first thing in the morning from an online Omega Studies class I took forever ago.

“Wake up, Alpha!” I nudged Travis. “I need to pee.”

“Huh? I’m not on top of you,” he said, his words slurred with sleep. “Must be a pillow.”

“I need to pee and it’s the important pee,” I said, giving him a gentle shake.

“Huh?”

“I’m about to take the pregnancy test, Alpha,” I laughed.

“Oh! Fuck! Hang on!” he yawned, rubbing at his eyes. “How are you so awake in the morning without coffee? Weren’t you a creature of the night not so long ago?”

“I am a creature of habit,” I shrugged, “and like any good creature of habits, I can form new ones. Also, I’m excited, nervous, and have to pee. Besides, if I’m pregnant, I can’t have much coffee anyway. Don’t worry, though. I won’t be one of those guys who tries to make you give it up too. I don’t want to see you without your coffee.”

“Yeah, then I would be the big bad wolf,” he mumbled.

“I’m going to go pee. I think it takes about three minutes after that,” I said, climbing over Travis and grabbing the test box off the nightstand.

“I’m coming,” he sat up as I sauntered into the attached bathroom.

Two minutes later, he leaned against the bathroom wall, smiling, hair sticking up in every direction, and his eyes only half open. My heart pounded in my ears louder than the water running through the building’s pipes. Magi’s sound barrier didn’t do much for things like that, but hope and anxiety mingling in my chest sure out screeched it.

“I would’ve waited to do the test, but the box says it’s best to do it first thing in the morning,” I said, rocking on the balls of my feet.

“It’s alright,” Travis yawned. “I want to be here for this. I just forgot how early first thing in the morning was. Hey, I just thought of something. If you are pregnant, do you have a doctor you prefer?”

“Eh, back home you have doctors and midwives. Doctors can deliver babies, but that’s usually only in emergencies.”

“Do you have a midwife you prefer?” Travis yawned again.

“Not really. You do know if I’m pregnant, this will be my first baby, too, right?” I smirked at him over my shoulder.

“Yeah, but you’d be surprised how many first-time parents insist on trying to get on my dads’ list of patients. There isn’t room for everyone, and it’s caused a lot of scenes and weird online reviews of them being stuck up.”

“Is this your way of saying you want one of your parents to deliver our baby?” I asked.

Twelve seconds left on the time.

“Not really. It was the only example I could come up with of first-time parents having a preference even though they didn’t have a baby before.”

My phone chimed and the air caught in my lungs. It took every muscle in my body to glance down. My heart skipped one beat and then another as Travis crossed the room to hug me from behind. There on the test, the pixelated baby wrapped up in their green blanket stared up at us.

“We’re having a baby,” Travis whispered in my ear and kissed my cheek.

“We are,” I nodded, a little dumbfounded.

His warm hands slid down to the bottom of my belly as if he could somehow sense the baby growing inside me if he concentrated hard enough. Our reflection in the mirror captured the moment when our family of two was really three. I leaned back against Travis and wondered whether the baby would have his eyes or mine.