Chapter Twenty

I loved my job. Really, I did. But getting myself out of bed and in to work today had been a struggle. I hit my snooze button more times than should be legal and still, I was barely awake.

I wouldn't say I was sick, but I did not feel like myself. Heck, I couldn't even stand the coffee I made for myself, and I was beyond exhausted. In hindsight, I should've taken a rideshare to work. I wasn't going to be driving back home. I didn't even remember half my trip, and that's never a good sign.

Even now that I was working, I could easily fall asleep if I stood still too long. I didn't even need to be sitting. Standing would do. It was rough. If I stopped for more than a couple of seconds, I started to nod off. Thank goodness there wasn't a lot of downtime today.

I jumped straight into side work when I arrived. Thankfully, it required a lot of running back and forth to the kitchen, stocking glasses, removing spots from them, making sure the bar had all of their fruits cut properly, their buckets filled, and all that kind of thing. It kept me moving, and as long as I was moving, I didn't feel like I needed to find a bed.

It was going to be a long night.

When the doors finally opened, allowing guests in, it felt like I had been there for fifteen hours already. I went to my first table—they were all raccoons who wanted the same exact drink. I had to giggle that they ordered a Trash Panda. It wasn't one I had ever heard of. The bartender laughed when I turned in the order.

"You don't even have to tell me who it's for." They grabbed far too many bottles for anything I could stomach.

"That's the recipe?" It had my stomach lurching. How could all those alcohols taste good together?

"Yep, that's it."

"Learn something new every day."

I had to admit, they looked adorable all garnished up.

"Here you guys go." I placed one down in front of each of them.

They thanked me and took a sip.

"Perfection," one of the raccoons said and then looked up at me. "Please don't take this the wrong way," she said. "You don't look so good."

Her tone sounded like she was trying to come from a good place and not being mean. And it wasn't like I was feeling amazing. "I'm just tired." Understatement of the year.

"Okay, sorry. I didn't mean to offend."

"You didn't," I promised her. "I just need to sleep more."

"You look as tired as I felt during my entire last pregnancy," the man behind her said.

"That's a long time to be tired." I did not envy him for that. I possibly did for having a child. Now that I was mated and understood all it could be, I was wanting to start our family. We hadn't talked about it and if they decided one or both of them weren't on the same page, I'd drop it. But the longing? It was there.

I took orders at a couple of tables and was halfway to delivery when my stomach lurched. It wasn't a light queasiness, either. I was about to puke. I put the tray down and ignored the people at the table telling me it wasn't theirs. I knew it wasn't theirs. What mattered was getting to the toilet on time.

Running wasn't my gift, but I managed to race like an Olympic sprinter to the bathroom. And made it…barely, emptying the contents of my stomach as soon as I reached the toilet.

I cleaned up, catching sight of myself in the mirror. Yeah, I looked awful. Splashing some cold water on my face helped and I went back out to the tables and redelivered the drinks that I had messed up.

One of the raccoons called me over.

"What are you guys thinking for appetizers today?" I asked.

She pointed everything out, one by one, asking everybody if they thought it sounded good. They ended up deciding on a few different ones to share. As I was taking the order, the oldest of them put her hand on my arm, as if to focus my attention directly to her. "I was this tired with my babies too."

They had mentioned being pregnant before, but this time there was no mistake about it. She thought I was knocked up.

"I'm not expect—" And then it hit me. I probably was. "Oh, oh, oh, I gotta go," I said.

I put my order in and messaged my mates, asking them to pick up a test and get here now.

An omega taking a pregnancy test in a public restroom was so cliché, but the second my mates got here, I went straight there. Now that I knew there was a possibility I was pregnant, there was no way I was going to wait a second longer than I had to.

The instructions were easy; the waiting three minutes to read the test was not.

"I didn't realize you were feeling bad." Rome kissed my cheek.

I was the center of a mate sandwich, both of them hugging me close.

"It's new and then…" I told them the story about the raccoons and how they were the ones to give me the hint I needed.

My phone alarm went off.

"Together?" I asked.

"Together," they said in unison.

Walking up to the test, I was almost afraid to look. We might not have planned this pregnancy, but that didn't mean I didn't love this little baby already—assuming there was one. If the test was negative, I was going to be devastated. There was no denying that.

I looked down.

Two pink lines looked up at me.

I was having a baby.

We were going to be dads.