Sean Chapter 2- Present

Cassidy was lying in her hospital bed, chatting with her brother. I was sitting on the opposite side of her bed, listening and watching her. God, it seemed unreal that we were about to have our second child. My life had taken a different turn than I’d ever imagined. A turn for the better, without a doubt.

Growing up the way I had, I didn’t trust many people. Hell, until I met Gabe, Mark, and Griff, I hadn’t trusted more than a handful, and they all seemed to betray me somehow. With those lessons in mind, I entered the Navy unwilling to get close to anyone—or at least not genuinely close. Superficial relationships were fine.

Sure, I was somewhat friendly and hung out with my fellow sailors, but they never got to know the real me. I kept the real Sean well hidden. When I met those three in basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, aka BUD/S training, we’d initially got together to help get each other through the rigors of the training. Even with support, most candidates didn’t make it. The washout rate was roughly a third within the first three weeks. Overall, only twenty-five percent of those who tried made it. We were all driven for different reasons. As time passed, we discovered we had more things in common and became tighter. By the time BUD/S ended, I considered them brothers in the truest sense of the word. There was no one I would ever trust more. And over the past two decades, it still held.

The four of us came from different backgrounds. Gabe’s was very different from ours, although his difference was more due to what his family was into and the need to hide it from the world. Until recently, no one outside of us knew what his life was like before going into the military. It came out to a select few more when he met his wife, Gemma. He’d played the mafioso part too convincingly.

Griffin had the most traditional family out of all of us. Both of his parents were still alive and a part of his life. Jessie and Graden were terrific people. They welcomed the rest of us as sons. As for Mark, his family life was second to Griff’s in terms of being normal, whatever that meant. He lost his mom a few years before we met, but when we became friends, he still had his dad, Adam, and his little sister, Cassidy.

I smiled as I remembered the first time I met her. Mark had brought us home to meet them for the first time. We’d heard a lot about them and vice versa during training and since becoming a team. We’d lucked out and gotten assigned to work on the same SEAL team. It was wonderful to meet them.

I was the least fortunate one in our four-man group when it came to family. I’d grown up fast and lived on the streets a lot. At first, it was as a small child with my mom. She could never seem to get her life together for long. She’d get a job, and we might get into a crappy apartment, but at least we had four walls and a roof over our heads, which was great in our minds. It varied how long it lasted. Eventually, she’d get fired for one reason or another. Or she’d meet a man and think he was the one, and he’d take care of us for the rest of our lives, and she’d quit her job. The men would inevitably move on, and we’d be back to square one.

My mom had me when she was seventeen—an unwed teen mother without a high school diploma. My dad was some guy in high school she had sex with after a football game. He was from another school, so she had no idea who he was other than a first name. Mom hadn’t been an outright slut, but she did like guys and sex. I learned that as I got older. She took off when her parents refused to let her stay in their home if she had me. She refused to tell me their names. She said they weren’t our family, so there was no need to know. As scattered as she was, I still adored her. Mom died when I was fifteen. From that point onward, I found ways to survive on the streets while fooling the school and local authorities into thinking I had a parent and a home.

Our erratic lifestyle taught me how to take care of myself and how not to be a victim. I was determined to make something of myself one day, so I fought hard to graduate high school. I knew I needed that diploma to do well in this life. Since I was about ten, I’d dreamed of being in the military. As time went by, that dream morphed into becoming one of the biggest badasses possible in the military, a Navy SEAL. I watched everything and read every book I could find about them. I worked to get the grades so the military would take me. After going through boot camp and my military occupation specialty, MOS, training—which was perfect for starting with—I applied for BUD/S.

I became a Navy diver first. Being in the water was part of being a SEAL—Sea, Air, and Land. My diver training taught me how to do a multitude of things underwater—salvaging, repairing, and maintenance, along with submarine rescue and supporting Special Warfare and Explosive Ordnance Disposal. In addition, I was taught how to maintain and repair diving equipment.

I excelled at whatever they threw at me. When I entered BUD/S training, I thought I was more than ready. Boy, I was wrong. I don’t think I would’ve ever survived it if it wasn’t for my brothers. We’d been SEALs for about a year when we came home to meet Mark’s family. He’d told us about them, and we wanted to meet Adam. He’d been a SEAL in the Navy many years prior. The stories Mark shared intrigued us.

As for his little sister, I had no siblings. None of us did, so it would be new for us to have one, even if she wasn’t blood. After meeting them, Gabe, Griff, and I all swore we’d forever watch out for Cassidy no matter what. We promised we’d be there for his dad and her if anything happened to Mark. On the flip side, Mark, Gabe, and I agreed to do the same for Griffin’s parents.

Cassidy had been a tiny thing who came running down those stairs that day to greet her brother and us. She was cute, and I instantly felt the need to protect her. Keeping that promise to Mark wouldn’t be hard to do. She chattered and smiled the whole time we were there. Our seven days of leave had been full of fun with them and time out and about just us guys. Cassidy had cried when we left, although she made sure to hide so we wouldn’t see it. Mark explained she thought it made her too much of a girl to cry in front of anyone.

I got it. The way Adam and Mark treated her wasn’t like how most people treated their female child. Yeah, they did have some tendencies toward protecting her, but they were smart and taught her how to take care of herself. She was trained to fight and shoot and various other things that most people equated with skills you taught boys, not girls. Those lessons rolled over to us, and we did the same over the subsequent years.

We visited them and Griffin’s parents as often as possible. Cassidy would send us letters, and we’d do so in return. In between, we’d get care packages from her like we did Griffin’s parents. Sometimes, we’d all be on a call with her and Adam. As time passed, we grew closer as brothers-in-arms and with our extended family. Then things began to change. The first was when we came home and saw a guy come to the house to take her out on a date. She was sixteen, and the guy was seventeen.

Mark hadn’t been happy to find out she was dating. He argued with their dad and her. The rest of us took Mark’s side. She was pissed at all four of us, but we didn’t care. When the boy came to the door to get her, we stood there trying our hardest to make him run. He’d been nervous, but the fucker remained there and took her out for their date. Cassidy had glared daggers at all of us and threatened to kill us if we didn’t stop. Adam appeared amused more than anything, although he had already met the boy and had given him his “if you hurt or touch my daughter, I’ll kill you” speech.

We got in my car and went after them as soon as they left. We knew where they were going. Adam insisted on knowing who would be there, where it was, and how late she planned to be out anytime she went on a date. She was to call and inform him if she decided to change anything.

That night, it was dinner and then the movies. We sat outside the restaurant the entire time but could see through a window where they were seated. His every move was watched. Once they got to the movie theater, we hung back until the show was about to start, and then we snuck into the back. It was easy to locate her before the lights went down. She had beautiful strawberry-blond hair, which was eye-catching.

We watched him, not the movie. He had his arm resting along the back of her chair. I wanted to go down and tear off his arm and beat him with it. The others said to wait and see what else he might do. I told them we could kill him if he went to the bathroom, and no one would have to know. Mark agreed with me. Gabe and Griffin were a smidge calmer about it. Didn’t they know what that arm behind her back could lead to?

After they left the movie, we continued to follow them. The boy didn’t take her straight home. Instead, they went to a secluded spot. One that Mark told us was a favorite make-out spot for people. That’s when we revealed ourselves. We tore the driver’s door open just as his mouth touched hers. Suffice it to say, by the time we were done scaring the crap out of him, he never asked her out again. Of course, Cassidy had been furious with us, and when we got home, she went off on us. It took a long time to earn her forgiveness for our interference.

A loud hiss had me focusing back on my gorgeous wife. She was grimacing, and her hands were rubbing her stomach. A glance at the machine attached to her stomach told me she was having another contraction. I got to my feet, laid my hands on her rounded tummy, and massaged it. She sighed in relief.

“Breathe. Listen to my voice and breathe in and out. You’ve got this, Foxy,” I told her with a smile.

“I swear to God, Sean, this one is worse than Noah. He’s kicked the hell out of me for months, and now he wants to make it hurt even more. Where the hell is Dr. Maggio with my epidural? It’ll be too late to get it if they wait too long. And if I have to go through childbirth without anything for pain, someone will be castrated. Who do you think that’ll be?” She growled.

Mark wordlessly handed me a damp washcloth. I took it and placed it on her forehead as he said, “Let me go see where Maggio is. I’ll hurry his ass along.” He had on his best Undertaker glower. I knew we’d have the epidural placed in no time. He kissed her cheek, gave me a chin lift, and then marched out of the room.

Cassidy weakly chuckled. “He can’t stand not to be in control. I hope he doesn’t scare the shit out of all the staff who you guys haven’t terrified already. You keep it up, and it’ll just be us delivering this baby.”

“Hey, we can do it. Between all of us, we have enough medical knowledge to deliver a baby.”

“We do, but I’d prefer to leave it to the pros. You seemed to be lost in your thoughts over there. Are you alright?”

Leave it to her to worry about me when she was in pain and working so hard to bring our second son into the world safely. Smiling, I leaned over and gave her a kiss. She eagerly returned it. When our lips parted, she sighed.

“I was remembering my life before I met the guys and you. And what happened on that date you went on when you were sixteen, and we were home on leave.”

“Don’t you remind me! I was mortified, and that poor boy wouldn’t even look at me at school after that. He warned all the guys never to go on a date with me. He said I had deranged killers waiting to wipe out anyone who took me out or showed interest in me. Do you know how hard it was to get a date for my senior prom because of you assholes?” She was back to glaring a little.

I grinned. “I know. It gave us time to think up more ways to keep horny boys away from you.”

“Yeah, while I had to sit back and know all of you were out screwing whomever you wanted. It killed me.”

“Baby, I hate that I hurt you the way I did. If I could go back and change things, I would. I know I fought too long to keep you in the sister role when it wasn’t how either of us felt. When you were sixteen, I wasn’t ready to see you as being almost a woman. I kept picturing you as the eleven-year-old I first met.”

Her mouth opened to respond, but she was cut off by Mark, Dr. Maggio, and Zia, the nurse who’d been steadily taking care of her since we walked in the door.

“Alright, let’s get this epidural placed. Just remember, it may slow down your labor. If it happens, we’ll administer the Pit to counteract it. I know this is useless to ask, but I will anyway. Will you two wait outside until we’re done?” he asked. He gave us an amused look as he did. That changed to a grin when we shook our heads no.

“Alright, Zia, let’s get her into position. You know which I prefer. You two, stand back out of the way.”

We moved out of his way. He laid out a tray of items. I knew enough from Noah’s birth that he was maintaining a sterile field. You didn’t want to contaminate the needle going into the spinal area. He put on sterile gloves last. Zia had gotten Cass sitting up on the edge of the bed and had cleansed her back with alcohol and then Betadine. Cassidy was curled over, arching her back. I hated to see her being stuck or to hear her whimper, but she was a champ, and in no time, the epidural was in place, and she was lying down again. Her expression was serene. Maggio tested her sensation before nodding in satisfaction.

“It’s good. Zia, tell me the timing of her contractions over the next half hour. If they slow down, I’ll tell you how much Pitocin to give her. I know this bunch. They’re more than anxious to see this baby born.”

“Thanks, Doc,” I told him. He waved it off and left.

Zia kept up a flow of chatter as she assessed Cass and made sure she was comfortable. As she did, Mark kissed Cassidy.

“I’m going out and letting someone else come in,” he told her.

“Okay, see you later.”

“What’s it like to have three big brothers and a husband who try to intimidate everyone they see?” Zia asked after he left.

“Mark, the one who just left, is my blood brother. Griffin and Gabe, I inherited along with this one when Mark went to SEAL training.”

“You’re SEALs?” she asked in surprise.

“We were. We have our own business these days.”

“I can’t imagine how tough that training was. No wonder you’re all so intimidating. Although, you might want to cool it. One of these days, it may get you in trouble,” Zia said with a smirk.

Her remark led Cassidy to tell her tales about the four of us. I was trying to defend us when Griff and Hadley walked in. As soon as he saw Zia, he gave it to her straight.

“I know it’s supposed to be only two people at a time, but we can’t do that, and Doc knows it. I’m her brother, Griffin, and this is my wife, Hadley. You can try to throw us out, but it’s not happening.”

Zia rolled her eyes and glanced at Cassidy. “I see what you mean. Well, let me say this. You don’t scare me, but Dr. Maggio already informed me earlier that you wouldn’t follow the rules, and as long as you don’t get in the way or cause problems, I’m to ignore it. However, if you do either, I’ll have you thrown out. I’m a nurse. I know ways to hurt and kill you that you can’t even imagine. Being big bad SEALs doesn’t scare me.”

His momentary shock morphed into humor, and we all burst out laughing. She grinned, then turned back to Cassidy.

“Try to get some sleep. You’re getting closer to the transitional phase. Conserve your energy. Don’t talk her to death. She needs to rest up for what’s next. Call if you need me. I’ll be back in a bit.”

We all watched her leave. Glancing at Cass, I saw her eyes droop. She hadn’t gotten much sleep before her water broke. Gesturing to Hadley and Griff, we softened our voices. I was so damn ready to meet our son and introduce him to his family. We might not be a typical one, but we were full of love and protection. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to keep my happiness.