29. Birth

Rex tried not to panic,but he did anyway.

He’d known the babies would be born soon. There was a chart on the wall back home where Olson marked off each day, and they’d been creeping ever closer to the due date.

They’d been getting comfortable with caring for Varrick and Emmy’s son, too, except Hunter was a lot bigger now, less fragile, and... what if Rex accidentally hurt their newborns?

“Shh. It’s okay. We’ll be okay,” Olson murmured, running his fingers through Rex’s hair. “I’ll text our parents, and one of them will give us a ride home. It’ll be a while before the birth anyway. Several hours.”

Rex growled, linking his fingers with Olson’s. “Nervous.”

“I know.” Olson kissed him softly. “We’ll be fine.”

Rex wanted to trust him, but he also knew he’d only relax when they were both home safe, the babies tucked into their cribs.

“C’mon, help me stand up.”

Rex helped him to his feet, straightening their clothes and doing his best to tuck his knot into his pants. He wrapped his arm around Olson’s waist and brought him out of the office, to where Emmy and Aaren were sitting at the bar drawing more butt blessings. Niall was shooting them wary looks from his booth, his shriveled hands tucked into his pockets.

“Hey, guys.” Olson nodded at Derek, his bouncer. “Looks like my water just broke. Rex and I will be heading home shortly. I’ll still be reachable by phone, so call me if there’s an emergency.”

“Ooh! That’s so exciting! Make sure you wriggle your butt and smack your cheeks! It’ll help!” Emmy beamed.

Niall buried his face in his laptop, sighing exasperatedly.

“You can have my butt blessings, if you want,” Niall said to Olson when he sat back upright, a few squares of paper falling out of his pocket when he pulled his hand out. “They’ll help with the birth, right?”

“I doubt it,” Olson said dryly.

“Hey!” Emmy scowled. “Butt blessings help with everything.”

“Need any other help around here?” Derek asked, on a break from guarding the door. His omega had stopped by to flirt with him, an impish young man with clever brown eyes and a crooked smile, whom Derek had fondly called You asshole on several occasions. Both of them seemed very amused by the endearment.

“Everything should’ve been covered,” Olson said. “But just in case there’s something I missed, I’ll appreciate the help. Keep me updated.”

Derek nodded.

Aaren frowned, staring at Olson’s very round belly. “Are you worried?”

Olson rubbed Rex’s back. “Rex is. We’ll be fine.”

He kept saying he’d be fine, but there were videos that said giving birth was a risk. Olson hadn’t wanted to watch those videos. Rex did anyway, and now there was a little knot of worry in his stomach.

Olson made Rex sit with him at a booth. The other bartender, Maria, made Rex his favorite raspberry mocktail. Rex barely drank from it.

“Can’t lose you,” Rex muttered, wrapping his hand around Olson’s. “Scared.”

Olson leaned in and kissed the corner of his lips. “We’ve talked about this. The chances of it going fine are a lot higher.”

Rex scrunched up his face anyway. Olson nudged him playfully in the side.

“Tell you what. We’ll draw some pictures for the twins to color when they’re older. We’ll bring a sketchpad to the hospital and everything. Keep your mind off those dark thoughts.”

“Fine,” Rex grumbled.

A contraction rippled through Olson, and Rex hurried to rub his back soothingly, worried again.

“I’ll show you,” Olson murmured when the pain had ebbed. “We’re going to get our happy ending.”

Rex frowned. Olson brought Rex’s hand up, kissing the ring on his finger.

When Rex had receivedhis first paycheck, he’d wanted to give it to Olson immediately. Olson had introduced him to the concept of a wallet, of having his own money that he could spend or save, or do whatever he wanted with.

Then, he’d forbidden Rex from giving him any of it, because relationships shouldn’t revolve around money.

Rex had ended up dragging Olson to the grocery store, buying all the food he’d seen Olson enjoy, and promptly presented the bags of groceries to him.

“For my omega,” Rex had said.

He was doing the same thing now, pulling out blankets and cozy sweaters to pile them on the bed, as many as he could find.

“For you,” Rex said grumpily. “Want you to feel good.”

Olson’s grin was all warmth. He pulled Rex into a hug against his side, kissing him on the jaw. “We could make a nest. Make it comfy for when we get home from the hospital.”

Spurred on by this new mission, Rex busied himself fluffing up the pillows and rolling up the blankets to fashion a low wall along the edge of the mattress. “No baby roll.”

“They won’t learn how to roll that soon,” Olson said with a smile.

“In case,” Rex grumbled. He gathered snacks and set them on the nightstand; he brought over body wipes and a trashcan and some colorful blankets for the twins. He moved the cribs closer so Olson would be able to see the twins from the bed. He even got ready Olson’s favorite socks and body lotion, and the self-heating eye masks that Olson had been obsessing over.

“You’re amazing,” Olson said fondly.

“You,” Rex insisted.

“I guess we can both be amazing together.”

Then Olson went into another contraction, and Rex growled and growled.

It took forever to get Olson to the hospital. Rex went with him despite his dislike for the clean white walls and the scent of disinfectant. What anchored him was Olson’s warmth, and the urge to make sure Olson was safe.

In the hospital room, Olson changed into the flimsy hospital gown, wearing nothing underneath.

Rex had to trail his hands under the gown, making sure he rubbed his scent into every inch of Olson’s skin. So all the doctors and nurses would know who Olson belonged to. “Mine.”

Olson huffed and smiled. “Of course I’m yours.”

Rex dipped his fingers back into Olson, smearing his leftover come between Olson’s cheeks.

Olson flushed a pretty red just as the midwife bustled in; he shoved Rex’s hand off with a guilty look.

“You alphas,” the midwife grumbled.

“Mine,” Rex growled.

“And I’m here to make sure Olson is ready for the birth,” the midwife retorted.

She snapped on a pair of gloves and checked all of Olson, before putting her fingers inside him.

Rex growled. No one touched his omega there but him.

The midwife rolled her eyes. “Olson gave his consent. So shush.”

Rex looked at Olson, feeling a bit betrayed. Olson rubbed his hand soothingly. “It’s part of the procedure. We need to know how far along I am. She’s not doing this to claim me in any way.”

“You’re getting there,” the midwife said. “There’s still a while to go.”

“Fine,” Rex grumbled.

When the midwife left, he put his own fingers back into Olson, four of them at once, to make Olson forget the feeling of the midwife inside him. From the gasp Olson gave, it worked.

Rex fingered his omega through a few contractions, finally getting Olson over the edge. Then he clambered onto the bed, cuddling with Olson.

Between contractions, Olson paced next to the bed. Then the midwife returned to put her fingers back inside, and Rex had to put his fingers in again after she’d left.

“Did you see her face when she realized you were fingering me?” Olson hissed, his face red.

Rex narrowed his eyes. “Mine.”

Olson shook his head exasperatedly, but the corners of his mouth lifted in a smile.

Rex pushed his fingers back into Olson. He would’ve used his cock, but he couldn’t stay hard when the contractions made Olson tense up in pain.

“No pain,” Rex growled, hating that he’d caused his omega all this suffering.

“The epidural is on its way,” Olson said. “No pain after that.”

It still took too long to arrive; Rex flinched at the needle. But Olson handled the contractions a lot better after that.

“It’ll be over soon,” Olson murmured. “Then we’ll be in for a whole other kind of torment with the crying and sleepless nights.”

Luckily, their parents had volunteered to help. Rex’s dad had moved to Meadowfall last month; they now had five parents to help with childcare.

With markers and sturdy paper, they made some simple drawings for the twins to color when they were older. Then Olson’s contractions came faster, and he tried to push.

Rex did everything he could do to help. He rubbed Olson’s back; he kissed Olson’s forehead.

“Push,” the midwife said. “Push.”

“Push,” Rex repeated.

“No,” Olson snarled, and he was so beautiful. “Stop telling me what to do.”

Yeah, Rex loved him with every last bit of his heart. “Okay. Love you.”

Olson huffed and kept pushing. He was trembling with the effort, his hair matted with sweat, his chest heaving. Rex wished there was something he could do to help.

“You’re amazing,” he murmured into Olson’s hair. “So beautiful.”

Olson gritted his teeth, holding Rex’s hand so tightly that his bones ground together.

Finally, finally, something bloody slid out of Olson. Olson flopped back tiredly, breathing hard.

Rex hugged him and dropped kisses all over his face. “So proud,” Rex murmured, nuzzling him. “You’re best omega.”

Olson cracked a smile. “One more to go.”

Rex kissed him sweetly.

A wail pierced the air. Both of them looked over, and the midwife carefully set their child on Olson’s chest. “Such a beautiful boy,” she said.

The sight of Olson and their tiny baby brought a surge of feelings into Rex’s chest. Olson’s lower lip wobbled. “Isaac,” Olson murmured, cradling their son carefully. At the sound of his voice, Isaac stopped crying, turning his head as though in search of Olson. He had Olson’s nose. “I’m here. With your papa. We’re both so glad to have you with us.”

Rex held his breath, carefully setting his hand on Isaac’s back. He trailed his scent over their son, and Olson too. “Ours.”

Olson beamed. He cradled Isaac for longer, then handed him over to Rex to hold so he could continue to push. Rex’s heart tumbled. Isaac was so small and fragile in his arms.

Rex hated that he couldn’t hold Olson’s hand while he was carrying Isaac. Instead he leaned in, pressing his arm against Olson’s shoulder so they had some skin contact. So Olson knew Rex was still with him, supporting him.

Olson looked up into Rex’s eyes. He pushed exhaustedly, over and over until their second baby slid out of him, too. Both of them heaved a sigh of relief.

“Thank fuck,” Olson said.

“No bad words,” Rex whispered in his ear, grinning. “You’re perfect.”

Olson reached up. Rex placed Isaac back on Olson’s chest. Then the midwife came over with their second wailing child, laying her next to Isaac.

“A beautiful girl,” she said.

“Laura,” Olson choked, cradling both babies in his arms. Rex helped him hold them so they wouldn’t slide off him; Olson’s chest wasn’t nearly wide enough for two newborns.

“Welcome, Laura,” Rex rumbled. Laura’s wails quietened, too. “Ours.”

“She looks like you.” Olson’s lashes were wet with tears. Rex leaned in to kiss them off, and he kissed their babies, too.

“Isaac look like you,” Rex answered.

They smiled at each other, tired but happy. Something clicked into place in Rex’s chest, that he’d never thought he was missing before.

With the babies born, with Olson alive and proud next to him, Rex knew that they’d finally gotten the life they were meant to have. The life that they’d once hoped for, and fought hard for.

“I guess this is our happy ending,” Olson whispered against Rex’s lips.

“Beginning,” Rex whispered back. “Life together. Just beginning.”