Chapter 20 #2
Mom knew what was happening before I did.
She always had a sixth sense about labor, from someone taking an overlong lunch break to someone's contractions masquerading as back pain.
When it was Gabe, her favorite person outside her own children, she zeroed in on his symptoms and ushered him to bed.
When Dr. Ostref showed up at the house fifteen minutes later, Mom feigned ignorance, but I knew the truth.
"You called him," I said as he walked ahead of us to the bedroom.
Gripping my elbow, she pulled me to a stop. "Your mate has been in labor for the last ten hours. His contractions were three minutes apart and getting stronger. It was time."
We found Gabe naked and leaning over the end of the bed. His chest and head rested on a pile of pillows so his back was as flat as a table. I stroked his side, and he flinched.
"Sorry, Sweetheart," I muttered.
"What, I'm not amusing today?" He lifted his head to glare at me.
"You are my joy and my heart, but not amusing, not today." I rested my hands on his hips. "I don't want you to be in pain."
"It's unavoidable, I'm afraid," the doctor said. "He's almost ready to push."
As much as I wanted to punch the doctor in his smug face, I knew he was right. I occupied my hands by running them over Gabe's hips, rubbing in circles, trying to relax his tense muscles.
When Gabe curled in on himself with the next contraction, Dr. Ostref smiled. "That's it, Gabe. Push."
I still wanted to break his perfect white teeth, but the strange sight of something foreign poking from Gabe's hole held my attention. I stared in awe and a mild bit of horror as our baby's head stretched Gabe's opening even wider.
"Good head of hair on them," Dr. Ostref said when the contraction ended. "The hard part is next."
Gabe flattened himself to the bed, sobbing. "That was already hard!"
"Just a few more pushes, and they'll be here!" The doctor overdid it with the false cheer. Either that, or he was a psychopath.
I sat on the bed so I could reach Gabe's hand, taking it in both of mine. He instantly squeezed my fingers and cried out from another contraction.
"Fuck!" he screamed, but he kept squeezing my hand and straining against the bed.
"There's one shoulder."
The doctor tugged me back, and Gabe whimpered when I let go of his hand. "They're almost here, which means it's almost Mika's turn."
"My … what?"
"You get to catch the baby, and I'll cut the umbilical cord." He frowned at my utter lack of recognition. "Didn't you read the materials I sent you?"
"Yes!" I'd read every single word, but I didn't remember any of them now. "I … catch the baby."
"Now."
Gabe convulsed with another contraction, and the doctor placed my hand under the baby's tiny head.
I readied my other hand for the inevitable, and one push later, I had a wriggling baby boy in my arms. The doctor wiped the last of the fluid from his mouth and nose, which scrunched up with anger before releasing his first cry.
"That's it," Dr. Ostref said as he helped Gabe crawl onto the bed. "One healthy baby boy."
Once he passed the afterbirth, Gabe collapsed against the pillows on his back, his sides heaving. Gently, I laid the baby against his bare skin. He opened his wide blue eyes and stared up at me. His coloring and hair were like mine, but his eyes matched Gabe's.
"Aww." Gabe scrambled up against the pillows, cradling the baby in his arms for a better look. "He looks just like you."
"Smells like a meerkat, too," Dr. Ostref said. "You had nothing to worry about."
I frowned at Gabe. "You were worried?"
"I didn't want to screw him up with my genes, is all. Not a shifter, remember?"
At least twenty times, I'd sworn fate didn't make mistakes, but he was too stubborn to listen. "You need to stop talking like that," I said. "You're his daddy, and you're perfect."
Tears glistened in the corners of Gabe's eyes when he gazed up at me. His relationship with his own dads had improved, and this would help him reclaim some of his own first memories with them for himself. "Daddy? And you're …"
"Papa."
"And I'm Doctor Still-here," Dr. Ostref said with an unapologetic grin. "May I take him for measurements? It's required for the birth certificate."
Gabe sniffled but nodded, and the doctor lifted the baby with sure hands. "Do you have a name for him yet?"
We'd talked about names, but none of them seemed to fit our blue-eyed curmudgeon with a full head of dark hair. I was at a complete loss.
"With that nose, he looks like an F-16," Gabe said.
"Hey!" That was my nose, though it did look funny on a baby.
"What about Jett?"
"We're telling the family it's because of his hair color," I groused.
"Jett Michael Mears," he said.
Now it was my turn to tear up. Mika was a derivative of Michael. "You gave him his first name, and I gave him his middle name."
He nodded. "He's part of both of us."
"All fingers and toes accounted for," Dr. Ostref said, returning with Jett, who was swaddled in a blanket. "Name?" He asked, pretending he didn't hear us bickering.
"Jett Michael Mears." Gabe took Jett from the doctor and leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead. "Welcome to our little family. Are you ready to meet your grandma?"
I was surprised Mom had lasted this long without busting down the bedroom door.
As though summoned, she and my sisters ran into the room.
Mom hugged the doctor while Rachel and Faria tackled me.
Then, it was a blur of hugs, cheek kisses, and fawning over Gabe and Jett.
Thankfully, Mom had told only our immediate family, including Jerry, who hung back with tears in his eyes until Mom dragged him over to sit opposite me beside Gabe, where he cooed and grinned down at the newest member of the family.
Eventually, we would have to introduce little Jett to the entire meerkat community, but for now, it was just us.