23. Theo

"Let's go."

I looked up from the computer to see my mate standing there, hands on his belly, eyes serious.

"Go where?" I asked.

"It's time." He started to bend over, and I immediately saw what he meant.

"It's time? Time, like it's baby time?" There was no other "time" it could be, but still I had to be sure. We'd been waiting for this moment for so long, and it was finally here.

"Yeah," he said through gritted teeth.

I waited until he was righted again before asking, "How long have you been in labor?"

I'd barely started my workday, and he seemed fine when I came in here. But that didn't mean his labor hadn't already begun by then. By the way he was hunched over, I had a feeling he might have left some information out of our morning conversation over tea.

"My water broke around 2 am."

Yeah, I was right. He'd omitted a big detail.

"Did you think maybe I might want to know that before sitting down to work?" I wasn't angry about it, more amused, and the way he half shrugged with a smirk on his face, he could see that.

"Yes. But there was nothing you could do."

"If I knew what was happening I could've helped you instead of answering emails."

"I didn't need help, and you needed to answer emails. It's all good." He leaned against the door frame. "It was really just a waiting game. But now it's not waiting time, and I could use your help, so let's go."

I shut my laptop, ready to leave.

I wasn't sure where we were going. On all the television shows, the answer was simple—drive to the hospital. We had other options though, including Jack's. We'd been round and round about Carlton's birth plan, never making a firm decision. Not that it was my decision to make. Carlton was the one about to deliver a toddler. Fine, they weren't a toddler, but Jack was guessing ten pounds as of our last visit, so they were going to be big.

The human in me felt most comfortable if he could give birth in a hospital because that was what I was used to. Even so, I understood all the reasons why a bear wouldn't want to give birth in one. Still, my inclination was to get him in the car and speed over there.

Jack was another option and the one I suspected was the way Carlton was leaning. Jack had said we were welcome any time. He'd taken really good care of my mate during this entire pregnancy, and I trusted him completely. But Jack wasn't location specific. He'd said on numerous occasions that he would come to us if we needed to.

The one thing my mate and I had both been in agreement on was that we were not going to have the baby at home, not unless we were settled into our real place. Unless it was the place we planned to raise our children in, it just wasn't right for us.

All of that had me guessing that we were on our way to Jack's. That was until I walked out into the living room. Carlton's overnight baby bag was there. I'd expected that. Heck, I helped pack that. What I hadn't anticipated seeing there was the laundry basket filled with blankets, towels, and I wasn't sure all what.

"Do I even want to know?" I asked, pointing to it.

"We're going to our spot," he said, grabbing his baby pack, waving to the sleeping cats, and walking out the door.

"Okay, then we're having this baby in the woods." I didn't know who I was talking to, he was already out the door.

It amused me that Jack insisted that we would know exactly what we wanted when it was time to know, and suddenly my mate was Mr. Decision-maker. It made sense he would be. He climbed up the ladder at work by making the right decisions at the right time.

I told the cats to be good, grabbed the basket, and followed him out to our car.

"Do you think we should call Jack?" I asked, crossing my fingers and toes he would say yes.

I turned on the ignition and backed out of our parking spot. Regardless of what he said, I wanted to be on our way. One thing we'd never even considered was birthing the baby in the car, and I kind of wanted to keep it that way.

"I already called him," he said, much to my surprise and shock. "He said he'd meet us there." Well, at least there was that.

I took the ride slowly, not so much because I was being extra cautious, though I was, but mostly because I wanted to avoid any potholes or bumps that would jostle him. He was already in so much discomfort that I didn't want to make it worse by giving the shocks a workout.

We pulled into the spot we normally parked to find Jack already there. I led them to where my mate had chosen to give birth, carrying both the basket and Carlton's baby bag. I wanted to be by my mate's side, but Jack had that covered.

Jack had his bag with him, and when we reached the clearing, he took a towel out of the laundry basket and laid it out with his bag on it, unzipping it and rummaging inside. I took out the blankets and a picnic mat that Carlton packed for us and laid them all out. I also discovered there were a few pillows in there and placed them on the spread as well.

This was hardly going to be the kind of birth they wrote about in all the high-end magazines; the kind with sound machines and "only good vibes" and essential oils, and I didn't even know what. This was back to his shifter roots and smack dab in the middle of nature. It was perfect.

As I set up the makeshift birthing bed, Carlton quickly got out of his clothes, saying he wanted no part of them. I was worried because I thought it was a bit cold, but he promised me his bear was keeping him plenty warm, and I had no reason to doubt him. If he got cold, there were a couple of blankets left. My mate had very much overpacked.

After Jack examined him to make sure everything looked on track for a smooth delivery, he had us walk around in circles. Jack said the best way for Carlton to handle labor out here was to walk, and walk we did, round and round and round, stopping as the contractions became harder and harder and longer and longer.

After Carlton screamed that he felt like he was burning "down there," Jack asked him if he'd decided which position he wanted to have the baby.

Jack had shared a few with us during our appointments. My mate had said he would know when the time came. I was glad to see that was, in fact, the case.

"Hands and knees," he said.

We went over to the blanket and helped him get settled down just as the next contraction came in. Jack told him to push. I sat in front of him, looking him in the eye, telling him what a great job he was doing. He pushed and pushed until the contraction subsided.

"Excellent progress," Jack assured him. "Next time, next push, you should be meeting your baby."

And when the next one came, my mate cried out at first in pain and then victory. That was the contraction that brought our beautiful daughter into this world. I helped Carlton to get on his back on the blanket, pillows behind his head as Jack worked on cleaning our sweet baby girl up and making sure that everything was fine with her healthwise.

"She's perfect," he said as he laid her on my mate's chest. She immediately began rooting for her first meal, latching on like a champ when my mate helped her achieve her goal.

Jack laid a soft towel over her, and I snuggled beside them.

"She's absolutely beautiful." Not that I could clearly see her, not with the tears of joy forming in my eyes.

"I guess my mate is more than a kind, sexy, cat-er-ific omega. He makes wonderful babies."

"You had a part in this too." He rested his head on my shoulder.

"I think I remember being there." I kissed the top of his head.

"I can't believe we made her," he said, tears in his eyes. "We made an entire being."

I couldn't fully believe it either. Here she was, this beautiful, perfect little being. How could someone so amazing come from me? My mate, sure. But me? I was just a guy, and our little girl… she was everything.

"We did make an entire being." I watched as she eagerly ate. "We certainly did."