Chapter BLUE #2
I take the talisman I’d been holding and gently place it around the baby’s neck.
Of course I don’t intend to leave it there permanently because it could be dangerous, but I want the gesture itself to be symbolic, and I think Gabriel’s dad understands that because he starts sniffling and wiping tears from his eyes.
"I feel like this stone was meant for him. It can’t be any other way. The stone found its new owner."
A little later Gabriel’s father joins us too, looking openly joyful. This is his first grandchild as well, and considering he’s already close to eighty, the child’s arrival must mean a great deal to him.
We aren’t allowed to enjoy the peace and privacy for very long, though, because soon my parents arrive too.
For them this is already one of many grandchildren, so they aren’t nearly as emotional about it. Oh well.
Then my brothers and nephews show up as well, but Gabriel makes sure little Cyan isn’t exposed to too many germs and holds him possessively in his arms, only allowing everyone to look from a distance. Everyone has to wear masks.
And I? I feel excellent. Nothing tore, nothing hurts.
The only thing I want is to return to our home, the coastal estate we moved into recently.
I’m only just beginning to settle into it. It still feels enormous and spacious, but we already managed to prepare the nursery there… and because of that, it’s started to feel like a nest to me.
As I watch Gabriel with his and my parents leaning over little Cyan, who is swaddled in a round baby wrap, that word comes back to me.
A nest? My inner teen jumps at the word with enthusiasm. An unexpected pull surges inside me, along with a powerful urge to build my very first nest…
…around my son.
That evening, when we return home after getting cleared by the doctors, we bring little Cyan into our bed with us because neither of us can bear to part with him yet.
When Gabriel steps into the shower, I quietly pull out the pillows I bought some time ago in an impulse I never really understood. Maybe the teen bought them?
Soft pastel ones.
I never even told Gabriel about them.
I choose the ones closest in color to cyan and begin arranging them around my sleeping baby.
After a moment, a strange excitement spreads through my entire body, like a surging wave. It’s not enough, not nearly enough.
I walk over to the closet and pull out several scarves I used to wear as a younger man during springtime.
I use them to weave the pillows together into a tight, protective circle. I work with complete focus, feeling a strange inner euphoria, like the final missing piece of a puzzle is finally sliding into place.
But it still isn’t enough.
I keep going, pulling out more pillows, even digging the sapphire-colored ones Veyron once gave us out of the suitcases we still haven’t fully unpacked.
Then, caught up in the throes of passion, I start creating a second circle around the edge of the bed, one large enough for Gabriel and me to fit inside as well.
And along with that, something is simultaneously building inside me, more subtle, yet powerful.
At the edge of my awareness, I notice Gabriel briefly looking through the doorway before immediately backing away again. He doesn’t want to interrupt the process, and I appreciate that deeply, because I’m almost in a trance and simply cannot stop.
All of my omega nature finally rises fully to the surface like some beautiful multicolored fractal, saturating my soul while I build this nest. And I have to say it’s beautiful.
Strong, tall, safe…
I’m almost surprised by how much energy I still have. I gave birth this morning, yet somehow I’m still able to spend an entire hour weaving and reinforcing the nest, filling it up with my energy and pheromones.
I feel almost drunk with happiness and so unbelievably… free.
So it’s ready, a compact, safe circle around my child and around us, and the energy saturating it feels like it’s radiating through my entire life. I just know it is. There’s something extraordinary hidden inside the magic of omegas, the magic of nesting.
As I stand there admiring it, I suddenly notice Gabriel’s silhouette in the doorway again. This time he must’ve realized I finally finished.
I look at Gabriel and see that his eyes are red and his cheeks are wet with tears, and in that moment I understand even more clearly just how unbelievably much this meant to him.
The nest closed some emptiness inside him too, maybe even healed a pain he’d been carrying… for me.
And it did one more thing. It made me mature.
Yes, the teen in me is no teen anymore. He grew up today, becoming of age, the protective fortress no longer necessary.
"He doesn't need it anymore," Gabriel whispers. He knows, he sees it.
"He’s an adult now," I whisper.
And with that I am too, finally ready to say the two words I once considered cheesy, except they aren’t like that at all, because they’re the absolute truth filling every part of me.
"I love you, Gabriel."
In two quick strides he’s already beside me, pulling me into his arms and holding me tightly against his chest.
We stand like this and he sobs and I sob… we are both free, we are both healed.
And unbelievably happy.
"Oh, Blue," he whispers, voice breaking, "Are you perfect at absolutely everything? Your very first nest and it’s a masterpiece! On top of that you picked the perfect moment to say those words…"
"A bit cheesy?"
"Beautifully cheesy!"
I tilt my face up and he lowers his toward mine, kissing my forehead softly first, then my cheeks, and finally my lips in a gentle kiss.
"I’m healed," I whisper. "I don’t feel that wound inside me anymore. That sixteen-year-old boy inside me, the one from whom something was taken, the one who had his choices stolen away, he… became me."
Gabriel only pulls me tighter against his chest in response.
"I know, you and him are one now, integrated. Again."
I close my eyes, feeling so good, so safe surrounded by the sound of his heartbeat, but a moment later I hear a soft noise coming from our son.
"I think he’s hungry," I murmur quietly.
"I’d very much like to watch him eat," Gabriel says, gently brushing the tip of my nose with his finger.
Holding hands, we walk toward the bed, where little Cyan is impatiently kicking his legs.
◆◆◆
The next morning at ten o’clock, Gabriel’s dad arrives at our house carrying shopping bags stuffed to the brim with things for the baby.
First he has to pass through two separate security gates, then James lets him into the foyer and eventually into the enormous living room on the first floor of the estate.
The very first thing he does is head straight toward the nursery, almost hurrying while asking how I’m feeling.
During the entire visit he absolutely cannot get enough of the baby. He only sees Cyan. He keeps picking him up over and over, and honestly I don’t have the heart to separate him from the child.
At one point he asks, "Have you thought about how you’re going to balance work with raising him?"
Gabriel sighs. "We’ve been debating it. Realistically we’d need an entire army of bodyguards around here, so we’ll probably end up taking little Cyan with us pretty often… although that’s not exactly an ideal solution."
At that, his dad blushes heavily and suddenly says, "Maybe I could become his caretaker."
"Dad, you don’t realize what kind of danger could appear around here. You know there are all kinds of lunatics who don’t exactly like Blue…"
"I know. But I’m the right person to take care of him. He’ll be safe with me."
"Dad," Gabriel sighs again, "I really appreciate the offer, and honestly it would be ideal if it were you staying with him. Family caring for a child is always best. But we genuinely need someone who could handle a situation if some psychopaths showed up here… Sure, the estate has walls and security everywhere, but if a group like the one that kidnapped me and Blue ever came here, you wouldn’t be able to handle it… "
"I would," Gabriel’s dad says calmly.
Silence falls.
Gabriel bites his lip slightly, as if he suddenly feels embarrassed, or like he thinks his dad is about to make himself look ridiculous in front of me.
"Папа," he says under his breath, "ты не понимаешь, насколько это серьёзно…"[22]
"But I do understand. And I can handle danger."
"But how? If they tried to kidnap you or Cyan?"
Gabriel’s dad leans over the round bassinet where Cyan is lying and lifts him into his arms.
"Try to take him from me, Gabriel."
A heavy silence fills the room.
"Dad, seriously…"
"Try to take him from me, Gabriel," his dad repeats calmly.
I look at Gabriel’s face and suddenly his eyes widen.
"Oh shit."
Gabriel glances toward me. He probably activated his five-second talent.
"Blue, look at this!"
Gabriel walks up to his dad and reaches for his shoulder, but his hand passes straight through the omega as if he were made of air.
Wow. My mouth actually falls open.
"Dad… what is this? How are you doing that?"
"You know our family legend."
"Yeah, but…"
"I never talked about it, and I taught all of you to keep your abilities secret too instead of showing them off. That didn’t entirely work with you, because as a child you predicted things a few times and our relatives noticed…
" He smiles faintly. "But I never revealed mine to anyone except my brother. "
Gabriel stares at him with wide eyes.
"Not even to you, my children, because there was never a need, never a danger serious enough."
"How are you doing this? What… what even is this? I thought our family were shifters?"
"I am a shifter. You could say I’m a ghost shifter. I can turn intangible whenever I want, and whatever I’m touching turns intangible with me, my clothes, and right now Cyan too. Nothing can touch me, hurt me, or kidnap me. Nobody can shoot me or imprison me because I can walk through walls."
He smiles sadly.