Alive and Kicking Luca
“Oh, fuck,” Nix moans, and the bones in Luca’s hands creak ominously as he squeezes for the hundredth time in eight hours.
“She’s almost here, Nix.” Finn smiles up at them from his position on the floor between Nix’s knees.
Nix had decided he wanted to be on the floor (on his new yellow rug from Leo, isn’t it nice Luc?
Well, it’s not so much anymore if Luca’s wet butt is anything to go by).
He’s supporting Nix between his legs, against his chest, with both hands clutching his, as Finn perches in front of them on his knees, calm and focused.
Every time Nix tenses, Finn winces slightly, his expression tightening in quiet sympathy.
Luca feels a matching pang low in his chest, like his body can’t help but echo Nix’s discomfort.
The contractions are relentless now, hitting one after the other, and Nix’s pain feels like it’s flooding the room despite his tight grip on his scent, near-constant and impossible to ignore.
The air around them is shifting, though.
The strong scent of blood and baking bread is gradually giving way to something sweeter—flowers and fresh summer grass.
For a moment, Luca wonders if someone has cracked the window, but then he remembers watching Finn shut it earlier.
If Rowan-wolf was outside…Finn had been worried he might lose it if he heard Nix in pain.
Leaning in, Luca presses his lips softly to Nix’s ear and starts humming Jay’s song, the one he’d written for Nix.
The familiar melody seems to work almost immediately, easing Nix’s anxiety the way Jay’s presence usually would.
It’s a small comfort, as if Jay were right there instead of downstairs, probably pacing a hole into the floor.
“I want Jamie,” Nix moans, his voice cracking, as if he’d plucked the thought straight out of Luca’s head.
All Luca can think is, finally.
Not just because he is exhausted—he is, bone-deep—but because Nix has always said he’s stronger when they’re all together. Luca knows why Nix kept them out. He couldn’t handle their concern, their pain, not when his focus had to be entirely on his girls.
“And the others?” Luca asks, so he can text the right people and say the right thing. This is Nix’s choice, after all. He’s been honored to be here every step of the way, but Luca wouldn’t be lying if he said he’d feel better if they were here.
He and Nix had been at the store, knee-deep in plushies, while Artem stood off to the side, pretending not to watch and wonder how they were going to fit the six-foot-tall giraffe into his tiny car.
Then Nix had seized up, crying out suddenly.
Nix had waved it off, muttering something about it being one of those Braxton-Hicks contractions. But deep down, Luca had known it was a lie. Nix had been having those all week, and this—doubling over and whimpering—was not just one of those.
There was one piece of advice Ruthie had given him in the past month’s visits, and it was that this was Nix’s journey and his body, and they needed to let him decide how he was going to do it.
And just be there to hold him up and love him.
Of course, it made perfect sense—because what else had he been doing since Nix opened his eyes, looked at him, and called him his own?
The rest of the afternoon had gone similarly, with the occasional gasp of pain, until they were eating ice cream treats from Artem on the bench outside the Baby Gap when Nix had waddled over and thrown his out.
Two scoops of Heavenly Hash, right into the trash can.
Now, anyone who knows Nix Rhodes knows he will fight you (and win) for the last lick of ice cream. To see it go into the trash can means either there is an apocalypse incoming and he’s going to need both hands to kick someone’s butt, or he is in labor.
It wasn’t surprising that Luca had wanted it to be the former, because labor was daunting to put it mildly. They’d overcome some wild shit in the last ten months, but faced with the prospect of Nix in pain?
Luca had freaked out. Low-key, but still.
He’d squawked, gone wide-eyed, and shoved the rest of his vanilla bean cheesecake ice cream with rainbow sprinkles into his mouth in one panicked motion. “Now?” he’d croaked, voice muffled by the mouthful of ice cream.
“Now. But…” Nix’s eyes had gone distant, his jaw tightening with determination. “You can’t tell anyone.”
“Uh…no.” Every bit of advice Ruthie had given him flew out of his brain, buried under the weight of the secret Nix was asking him to keep. “No can do, baby-papa. You can’t hide this.”
“Not for the whole time. Just until I’m close. Please? They’ll be so worried, and Jamie will pace, Gideon will growl, Grayson will cry, and Rowan will faint, probably.”
He wasn’t wrong. Luca could already see the chaos unfolding in his head, and it wasn’t pretty. “What about Finn and Leo?” he’d asked, refusing to compromise on Nix’s safety. “I can’t—I won’t lie—if you’re not going to be safe.”
Nix sighed, waving at Artem, who had perched on a nearby bench with a book titled Being a Proactive Grandfather: How to Make A Difference. “Okay, Finn makes sense. But Leo…they’ll need him until I’m ready.”
It wasn’t the perfect compromise, but it was enough for Luca. Nix’s safety always came first, even if it meant keeping secrets for now.
“I hate fucking lying, baby. But you’re not wrong. This is your show and as long as Finn is there…okay.”
Nix throws himself into Luca’s arms and then groans in his ear. “Fuck. Ow. Whose idea was this anyway?”
“Um…100% yours, if you recall.”
“Don’t remind me,” he laughed and looped his arm through Luca’s. “But, you’ll stay with me? The whole time?”
He’s sure he’ll laugh later when this is over about how not once had Luca considered he wouldn’t be there with his “twin” for every single minute. It’s just the way they do things. Together, forever.
“Luca?” Finn says, and it must not be the first time.
Luca shakes himself out of his reverie. “Shit, sorry. You want everyone?”
“Fuck, yes. Everyone. Why aren’t they here already?”
Luca catches Finn’s eye.
Nix has adamantly refused to let anyone else in all day, and to hear his annoyance that they were late has him rolling his eyes.
Gideon has been pinging their bond so hard and so often that Luca will be glad to get his eyes on his soulmate for the first time in eight hours. “Sure, baby. They’re on their way.”
There are thundering footsteps outside the door, and then Gideon’s low tones before he opens the door and pops his head through. Rowan’s head appears at the bottom of the door, while Grayson just appears on his knees beside them on the floor.
“Angel.”
The rest of them spill into the room, and judging by how green Leo’s face looks, he must have caught a glimpse of the top of their daughter’s head between Nix’s upraised knees.
Rowan pops up on Nix’s other side, gently taking his hand from Luca’s before pressing a quick kiss to Luca’s cheek. “Thanks, Luca,” he says softly. Luca isn’t sure what he’s being thanked for—there’s nowhere else he’d rather be.
Stepping forward, Gideon hands Jay two blankets, carefully chosen from the storage shed in Florida.
One is pale gray with tiny yellow marigolds, the other cream with delicate pink roses.
They’d been Nix’s sister’s first, then Nix’s as a baby.
The pack had washed and scented them, preparing them for the next generation.
“You ready, Kitten?” Gideon asks.
Nix grins at all of them, craning his neck to look up at Luca, who leans down to plant a kiss on his upside-down nose. “Fuck yes. What took you so long?”
Grayson snorts, slipping Nix’s other hand from Luca’s. “Just waiting on you,” he says with a smirk. It’s true, in every sense—now, then, and always.
“Jamie?” Nix asks, his voice steady but soft.
Jay smiles warmly and rests a hand on Nix’s bare ankle. “Love you, baby boy.”
“Okay, then,” Nix says, exhaling deeply. “I’m ready. You ready, Leo?”
Leo blows his nose and wipes his face, his emotions spilling over.
He’s such a softy, and everyone knows it. “Yeah, Nix,” he says, voice thick, before settling beside Grayson, ready to see this through together.
Luca takes it all in, pride and awe mingling in his chest. They’re going to kick this in the butt. Each of them, in their own way, is willing to step up without hesitation, proving again that when it comes to their family, they’ll always find a way.
The next hour is filled with Nix’s pained but determined groans as their omega works tirelessly to bring their pack babies into the world.
Jay doesn’t move from his place near Nix’s knee, the backs of his knuckles twitching against Luca’s leg. The hand must be locked around Nix’s ankle.
On the other side, Rowan has slipped seamlessly into coach mode, murmuring calm encouragement into Nix’s ear, like they’re still at one of those breathing classes that only Leo took seriously.
Grayson is all quiet focus, one hand gripping Nix’s tightly, glowing faintly pink every so often.
It takes Luca a moment to realize what’s happening—Grayson is siphoning off some of Nix’s pain, just enough to give him a moment to breathe.
Nearby, Leo hovers, brushing sweat-damp hair from Grayson’s face and muttering something low and steady that Luca can’t quite catch.
Gideon hasn’t strayed far from Finn, his hand pressed firmly against his mate’s shoulder. His gaze flickers between the crowning baby and Luca, his calm expression only broken by the faintest smile. Even with sweat soaking his shirt, Gideon’s there, steady and calm, smelling like summer rain.
And Finn, brow furrowed and pale, the doctor quietly guiding his mate through one of the hardest things a body can do.
It’s 11:57 PM on June 30th when Marigold Lauren Foster makes her loud, dramatic entry into the world. Nix had told Luca he’d chosen her name the moment she was conceived, as if it had come to him as a divine gift.