Chapter Seventeen
Rogue
The doctor walks into the room with a bright smile on her face. I’m talking before she can even say hello.
“Doc, tell us the good news.”
“Rogue,” Bellamy reprimands, putting a calming hand on my arm. “Let her at least sit down before you start pestering her.”
Doctor Miller starts laughing. “You only need to be patient a few minutes longer, Rogue. I can’t tell you the gender of your baby from the doorway.”
“Fine,” I grumble.
“Hi, Rhodes,” she says, waving her fingers at my son.
He’s sitting on my knee, playing with some cotton pads I stole from one of her cabinets and ripping them apart for fun.
“Hi,” he answers shyly, burying his face in the handful of cotton in his hands.
We’re sitting in the new wing of the hospital that we donated after the doctors saved Sixtine’s life. To say they’ve since rolled out the red carpet for us would be the understatement of the century. For the birth of our second son, Riot — who we left at home with Rhys and Thayer — Bellamy was given a room they had built and reserved specifically for heads of states and royal families.
We’re now expecting our third child and I’ve been anxiously waiting to find out the baby’s gender. Bellamy wanted it to be a surprise given I’ve been very vocal about my wish that we have a girl this time. She was afraid I’d be disappointed if it turned out to be a boy.
Now six months into her pregnancy, I’ve finally worn her down and she’s agreed to find out the gender together.
“Tell me it’s a girl, Doc,” I beg, bouncing Rhodes on my knee when he starts to fuss.
“Rogue. Remember we said we wouldn’t be disappointed if it was another boy.”
“I never said such a thing,” I protest.
“Rogue,” she repeats through clenched teeth.
“This is a non-issue anyway because it’s going to be a girl. Right, doc?”
“Give me a few more minutes.”
Doctor Miller is settled at the monitor. She rolls up Bellamy’s shirt to just beneath her bra, revealing the pregnant belly I can’t get enough of. I reach out and rub it, groaning when my fingers make contact with her skin.
Topping the list of things that feel like they should be illegal, but aren’t, is having a rock hard cock in a hospital.
Bellamy usually only needs to blink in my direction for that to happen, but her pregnant belly is something else. There won’t be any going down for my cock until she can do something about it. I glance up at her.
“None of that now. That look is exactly what got us in this situation,” Bellamy says with a small smile.
“It’s your fault, sweetheart. If you weren’t so goddamn beautiful, maybe I could keep my hands to myself.”
Doctor Miller grins to herself and squirts gel onto Bellamy’s stomach.
“Rhodes, are you excited to be a big brother again?” she asks.
“The real question is are you excited to have a little sister?” I correct, leaning over to look at my son’s face. “What do you think?”
I’ve been working on this question with him for weeks, so he’s well trained when he looks into my eyes and answers, “Little sister!”
Fuck, being a dad is fun.
“Rogue!” Bellamy says, aghast. “I’m going to K—I—L—L you for that.”
I smirk. “How are you going to continue threatening me when he’s old enough to know how to spell?”
“By then I’ll have evolved from threats to committing the actual act itself if you continue corrupting our son this way.”
Doctor Miller chokes out a laugh.
“Don’t worry Doc, this is our version of foreplay.”
My cock twitches, agreeing with my statement.
She nods, looking dutifully at the monitor and avoiding eye contact as she moves the wand over Bellamy’s stomach.
“Are you ready to find out?”
I reach over and grab Bellamy’s hand, squeezing it in my own. My thumb rubs intimate circles over the skin on the back of her hand.
“We are,” she says.
“Rhodes?”
“I am!”
“Alright, it’s a… drumroll, please…” she says, drawing out the torture of not knowing. “ Boy !”
Hope pops in my chest like a balloon and dies a quick death. I make a disgusted sound, followed by a groan.
“Fuck off.”
“Rogue!”
“What? I’m happy,” I answer, not managing much excitement in my tone.
And I am happy to have another son. Being a father to my boys has been the best part of the last few years. But ever since that day when I first learned Bellamy was pregnant, I’ve wanted a daughter.
That little bunny I brought home taunts me from the mantle of our newest baby room. It’s desperate for a home and I’m desperate to give it one, but I’ll have to move it out of this one like I have the last two.
“Dads are usually so excited to have sons,” Doctor Miller points out. “This is new.”
“I already have two of those. I want a daughter.” I pause, then add with a pout, “Rhys has two.”
Bellamy groans. “Is that what this is about? You want what Rhys has?”
“I’m just saying it’s not fair. I just want one . Three sons is insane, what are we going to do with them?”
“Love them?”
“Well that’s a given, Bell, but me and my sperm are also going to have a long conversation about why the boys keep winning the race to the egg. It feels sexist and I don’t like it.”
“Oh, my god.”
“I’m being serious.”
“I’ve been with you for nine years, baby. I know you are.”
I look over at the baby moving around on the monitor and feel the familiar rush of warmth I experienced when looking at my first two boys. We’re going to have an unruly household with that much testosterone under one roof.
“And now I’m going to have to share and compete for your attention with yet another boy. My time with my wife has been cut by three fourths because of my sons? This sucks.”
“Daddy not happy,” Rhodes points out.
“No, Daddy is not happy. But Daddy is going to get happy otherwise he’ll find his time cut down to zero,” Bellamy says with a sweetly threatening smile.
“You wouldn’t,” I say, horrified.
“For my sons? I would.”
I drop my head in my hands. “See, it’s already starting.” I groan again and look over at the doctor. “Is it too early to schedule a c-section so we can get him out and get back to trying for a girl?”
“Doctor, ignore him.”
“Sweetheart, I—”
The words die on my lips when I see the look she gives me.
Very simply, Bellamy taught me how to love. The emotion was foreign and held very little value to me before she came into my life. My friends may love their wives, but I’m dependent on mine. Our souls are tied together in such a way that if the fates ever tried to cut the string and take her from me, I’d follow her head first into the afterlife.
So when I say that I’m controlled by the slightest passing emotion on her face, I mean it.
I stand and set Rhodes down on my chair, leaving him to wage war on a fresh batch of cotton balls, and go to my wife. I stroke her hair quietly for a moment, staring into the hazel eyes that first bewitched me nine years ago.
“Is the baby healthy, Doc?” I ask without turning towards her.
“Perfectly healthy. Ten fingers, ten toes. He’s going to be as adorable as the first two.”
“Good,” I whisper, speaking to Bellamy now. I bend forward and press a soft kiss to her lips. “That’s all that matters to me.”
“I don’t want you to be disappointed.”
“I’m not,” I promise. “I’m having another baby with you. That’s what makes me happy. I’ll love this little boy like I love the others.” I straighten, squeezing her hand. “But fuck, good luck to the world. Three Royal boys? They’re going to terrorize everybody.”
She laughs. “The teenage years will be painful,” she admits. “But we’ll get through it.” She reaches a hand out to our son. “Rhodes, baby. You’re going to have another brother.”
His face screws up in a grimace. “Yuck.”
Bellamy glowers at me.
I give her the charming grin I only pull out on the special occasions when I need her to forgive me for something stupid I’ve done. This is one of those such occasions.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’ll unteach him that.”
***