Chapter Twenty-Five

Thia loved her "abandoned" fairy village, and we were sitting around after putting her to bed, talking about other ideas to delight her, when Fyn grabbed his belly and gasped. "I think—" A puddle formed under his feet. "No, I know the baby is on the way. I'd better get some towels and clean this up."

"Whoa." I grasped his arm and held him in place. "The daddy in labor is not going to be doing work. That's Delivery 101. Is this the first pain you've felt?"

"Well, I'm not sure. I've been having those false labor pains for a couple of weeks, and it did seem stronger earlier today."

Ripley was on his feet. "I'll call the midwife and find out what to do." He darted off, phone in hand, although we already knew what to do.

"Come on, mate." I stood and reached out to help him to his feet. "Let's go find your labor clothes." He'd picked out a comfortable outfit weeks ago just for the purpose. "And I'll change the sheets and get the bed ready."

Our wolf was determined to have a home birth, and the midwife had no issue with that since everything had been textbook in his pregnancy. But as I put on the special sheets and made the other arrangements as instructed, I was really starting to have doubts. If we wanted, we could just jump in the car and head right to the hospital.

"I know what you're thinking," Fyn said, patting me on the shoulder. "But it's home for me and for our baby."

"We all agreed it was your decision," I said, "but I wouldn't hate having all that equipment and specialists on hand in an emergency. Not that there will be one," I hurried to reassure him. "It's just my silly worry-worting."

"Is the midwife coming soon?" he asked, hopping up to sit on the side of the bed, eyes squeezing tightly closed. "Ouch."

"Mate, how often are you having these?" I was starting to get a feeling the baby would be here sooner rather than later.

"I'm not sure exactly. But pretty often."

"Oh my goodness. You're going to have this baby now, aren't you?"

He chewed on his lip. "I think so. I kind of want to push."

With no experience in how wolves gave birth and only having been present at one before, I was anything but an expert, but if he wanted to push, that meant… "Ripley!"

Our panther darted into the room, still holding his phone but looking about as scared as I felt. "The midwife is at another birth, but she'll be here as soon as she can. She says first births take a while, so we should be okay."

The moan from the bed clued him in to what I already had figured out. "Sorry, Ripley, but we're going to be delivering this babe ourselves."

"We are what? No. Remember we agreed that Fyn could have the baby at home with the midwife here to make sure it all went smoothly." He said it so reasonably, as if his words, his reminder could change the facts. "Right?"

"Wrong." I pushed him away from the bed and lowered my voice. "He is ready to push."

"No. That's not how it works. It takes a long time with first babies and he just had his first pain."

"No he didn't. He thought he was having Braxton Hicks, but looks like at least for today, they were the real thing."

"Can I panic a little?" His gaze darted to where our omega lay on the bed, his tummy so big, it made the rest of him look so vulnerable. "Wait, never mind. No panicking. But can I hope the midwife gets here sooner?"

"Hope away while you wash up. I'll go check on our omega."

I no sooner reached his side than the strongest pain yet doubled him up. "I have to push!"

"Umm, I guess if you have to you have to." I hesitated. "Any chance you don't have to?"

"No, not unless you want me to keep this baby inside me forever. They want out." He scooted down the bed, knees wide. "And if I am going to push, someone had better be there to catch."

Ripley came back in then, and I went to wash up and check on the midwife's timing. When I returned, they both looked at me. "The midwife is still at the other birth. She said she could try to find a fill-in but it might take a while. We don't have a while."

"So what did you tell her?" Ripley asked.

"To come when she can and make sure we did everything right."

I moved between Fyn's spread knees. "All right, baby, we're ready for you!"

Fyn only had to push a few times before a very slippery little boy was in my hands. I stood frozen for a moment before remembering the instructions we'd received and what to do in this case. We did our best, but were grateful when the midwife arrived to check our work. And once she did, we were able to climb into bed on either side of our omega and admire the baby wrapped in a warm blanket in his arms. We watched while he made his first attempts at chest feeding, and we had our turns cuddling him.

"Where is Thia?" Fyn asked. "She needs to come meet her brother."

"Still sleeping—"

But the clatter of little shoes outside our bedroom door belied me. "Where is my baby?" She rushed into the room and, once she spotted him on the bed, climbed up to join us. "Hi, Percy."

Apparently, he'd also told her his name.