147. Two old friends
147
TWO OLD FRIENDS
Daire
“This is nice.”
I nodded in agreement at my former school friend and started the car. Neil and I were going out for lunch. Just us two. The pregnant omegas—though he was further along than me— spending time together without our mates, and in Neil’s case, no kids either.
Nate and Martin were with Charlie while Tony was out LARPing with friends. He'd be gone all day.
After my friend’s scare with his appendix, both his and my pregnancies were textbook normal.
Neil shifted uncomfortably in the car seat as the seat belt stretched over his huge belly. “I can pull over and grab a cushion from the back,” I offered.
He brushed off my suggestion with a wave of his hand. “It’s not far to the restaurant.”
I almost envied Neil and his big bump. Even though my due date was some time away, my belly was small. Some acquaintances didn’t even realize I was pregnant. One person thought I’d put on a little weight. No one should point out anyone’s weight gain or loss but it was especially hard to hear when I wanted the world to notice. I wanted friends to congratulate me, not eye my barely-there belly and ponder whether I had a baby nestled in there.
Neil, on the other hand, had a bump very early in his pregnancy and now he was close to his due date. Everyone could see he was carrying a baby.
My friend loved Thai food. Everyone in the manor family was aware of that. But during his last trimester, he’d gone off it. Said the chili gave him heartburn. So, we were going to an Italian restaurant. It had opened a few weeks ago and was run by a couple and their two adult children. Ivor had recommended it and we were hoping for a delicious meal. Shame neither of us could enjoy wine to go with it, but great food and good company was more than enough for an enjoyable outing.
I helped Neil out of the car in the carpark and he took my arm as we meandered to the restaurant entrance. He gripped my arm and winced which had my head whipping to the side and studying his face. “We can get the food to go, if you prefer.” My human friend had spent a lot of time on the couch lately. He and Anthony had worked from Neil and Martin’s apartment rather than 2A so eating pasta or whatever he wanted to order today would be easy from his sofa.
“No. I’m looking forward to this. You and I used to share a meal regularly before we were mated.”
True, we were either in 2B or in 1A, chatting about our current lives or people we’d known at school. But as Neil still lived upstairs from me in our new place, we saw one another all the time.
“And after we mated,” I reminded him. During those long difficult months when he and Martin were having problems, Neil and I often had a meal together.
We were welcomed into the restaurant, seated, and given ice water along with the menus. We both ordered soda water as we perused the dishes listed on the menu and the specials board.
Neil closed the menu. “Mmmm. The mushroom risotto looks yummy. Maybe I can order a second one to take home.”
“For Martin or Toby?”
Pink spots dotted my friend’s cheeks. “Oops. I kinda forgot about them. It was for me. They can have pizza. That looks yummy, too.”
We both giggled.
“Spaghetti carbonara for me.” The waiter tapped his tablet and removed the menus.
“Have you chosen a name yet?” I asked Neil. This late in a pregnancy, most parents-to-be had at least narrowed their choices but Martin and Neil were far from making a decision. Each time one of them came up with a name, the other refused to consider it saying they hated it. And if they both liked one, it was Toby who disliked it. Thankfully Charlie didn’t get a vote because his favorite word was “No.”
My friend shrugged and took a sip of his soda. “We have a couple of weeks.”
That sounded more like me than Neil. Not that it mattered. If their baby didn’t have a name for the first few days of their life, they wouldn’t know or care.
The food announced itself with a tantalizing aroma across the room and when both dishes were delivered, we tucked in.
“This is so good.” I twirled the spaghetti around my fork and ate a second mouthful while Neil tasted his risotto.
“Oh Gods.” He leaned forward .
“That good, huh?”
“No.”
“What?” Maybe we could order him something else if he didn’t like the risotto. “Try a bite of mine.”
This time Neil groaned, and his face registered pain. I got the attention of the waiter. Something was wrong with the food and Neil was going to be sick.
“The baby, Daire.” Neil’s little one loved kicking his ribs. Bad timing, little buddy . “I’m having contractions.”
Braxton Hicks. I’d read about those. “Can I get you anything?”
“A birthing suite.”
“What?” That was me.
“What?” That was the waiter.
Neil shoved his chair back. “I want to push.”
No ! My beast wasn’t prepared for Neil to give birth and neither was I.
Where was the pacing back and forth, the warm baths, the holding his mate’s hand during contractions? What about the ice chips and favorite music? “But your water hasn’t broken.”
The waiter pointed to the floor and when I glanced under the table, there was a puddle.
“Call Martin.”
I dropped the phone in my spaghetti and when I fished it out and got hold of Neil’s mate, he thought I was joking. But Neil yelling in the background convinced him it was real.
“I’m coming,” he yelled into the phone.
“So’s the baby,” Neil panted.
“We have to get you to the hospital.”
“I have to push,” Neil wailed.
“No time for the hospital.” One of the owners rushed over to the table. The omega. “He’s about to give birth.” Turned out the guy had helped deliver numerous babies. The owners’ apartment was upstairs but Neil wouldn’t make it, so I scooped him up and carried him. Then I sat him on a bed and undressed him.
After that, he was in control. He was on hands and knees and focused on his breathing.
“You need to support your friend,” the owner, whose name was Terrance, told me.
What? I was a pregnant omega who was planning on giving birth in the not too distant future. Nate was the one who was going to support me. What did I know about it? And besides, Martin would be here soon. I hoped.
Terrance nudged me and I kneeled beside the bed and said, “Look at me, Neil.” And when he did, we breathed through the contraction together. “You’ve got this.”
“I want Martin. ”
“He’s on his way.” I had to keep him focused on his breathing and bringing the baby into the world. Martin was responsible for reaching his mate’s side.
“I gotta push, Daire. The baby won’t wait for his alpha dad.”
It was an honor to be at my friend’s side while he birthed a baby. “Do you want me to film it for your mate?”
But as I spoke two things happened. Neil shouted and fisting the bedding, he grunted and pushed. And at the same time, Martin burst into the room yelling, “I’m here.”
I leaped up and the fox shifter took my place. Waiting outside the closed door with Terrance, we held hands as Neil cried out and Martin’s calming voice soothed him.
“I see the head,” Martin yelled and Terrance and I hugged.
“Gods, get this baby out of me.”
There was more murmuring from Martin and then a final shriek from Neil followed by a baby’s cry. Terrance and I jumped up and down and it was then I realized we should have called for an ambulance. “We need to get them to the hospital.”
Terrance shook his head and explained he’d done it already.
The door opened and Martin appeared with a baby wrapped in a towel. “Meet our daughter.”
I melted at the sight of the little girl.
“Her name’s Siyala.” The name meant little fox and Martin told us Neil insisted on a fox name. “Even if she’s not a shifter, she’s part of our fox family and her name reflects that.”
Tears flowed down my cheeks. That was the sweetest thing I’d ever heard. Being pregnant had made me very emotional and I’d cry at videos of puppies, babies, old people, and kids playing. Basically anything. I gave Siyala a kiss.
There was a commotion downstairs and Charlie was crying out for Neil. Toby climbed the stairs, his little brother in his arms, with Nate behind them. Martin squatted, allowing Charlie to see his new sister. “Baby,” he squealed and offered her the toy he was holding.
“You’re such a good big brother, Charlie,” Toby said as Martin led them in to see Neil.
I fell into Nate’s arms. “All I wanted was a carbonara and instead we got a baby.”
My phone blew up with messages from Ivor, Archer, and Anthony asking when they could visit Neil and the baby.
“I can’t wait until our little one is here,” I told Nate. “But I hope our baby will be born in a hospital.”