What A Croc

22. Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Jackson

Robert squirmed uncomfortably on the exam table, causing the white paper beneath his ass to crinkle loudly in the small room. Dr. Sinclair had been able to fit us in the next day, concerned about the positive tests and wanting confirmation. Or if it was a false positive, he wanted to see what was going on inside Robert’s body.

Robert had peed in a cup, then had blood drawn, then been asked about a million questions from the nurse. Now, we waited. It had only been about twenty minutes, but it felt like forever.

“Stop growling,” Robert admonished, and I hadn’t even realized I had been. “He fit us in, so he’s got other patients. If you need to get back to work, I’m fine here by myself.”

The fuck was this man even saying?

“I’m not leaving you alone,” I growled, then grimaced when I heard the low rumble in the back of my throat, and Robert raised a questioning brow at me. Entwining our fingers, I took a breath. “I’m not leaving you alone. I don’t need to be anywhere else. I’m on my lunch hour, and it’s not like anything major is going to happen at the office if I’m late getting back.”

Robert had tried going into work this morning, but his morning sickness had hit just as badly as the past few mornings, and he’d ended up letting Wyatt know that his “flu” was still hanging on and that he was getting an appointment with his doctor for the afternoon. We’d need to see if the doctor could prescribe him something for the nausea.

The door opened and a wolf shifter, who looked a ton like my boss, walked in. His face was stern, but he smiled warmly at Robert, holding out his hand to shake it. “Robert, good to see you.”

“Hi Finn,” Robert greeted him softly. “I’m sure this is all some kind of weird mix-up. My body is just going through the change and going a bit haywire.”

The man looked so much like Brendan it was causing me to stare. Because while I knew Brendan was the second of a set of identical quadruplets, I hadn’t met any of his brothers yet until today. And while their facial features were the same, there were vast differences. I would definitely be able to tell Finn Sinclair apart from my boss.

Finn planted himself on the rolling stool that all doctors seemed to have, then gave me a sardonic look. “Are you Robert’s alpha?”

“I am.” Leaning over, I stuck my hand out in introduction. “Jackson Sobek.”

“Ah,” his ice blue eyes lit up, “Brendan’s new CFO for the store and the mall. Nice to finally meet you. We–my brothers and me–have been trying to figure out a time to meet you properly that works for all of us, since we all own shares of the mall. But our schedules have been crazy lately with work and families. And honestly, we tend to let Brendan just handle all that stuff. The man loves retail.” He shuddered, like there was nothing worse he could imagine doing in the world.

“No worries,” I assured him, because really, Brendan and I were working well together, and while I knew he and his brothers owned the new mall in Sweet Alps, I didn’t like the idea of answering to four bosses. Especially ones that really didn’t understand the business.

“Well, Robert,” he turned his attention back to my mate, and the file folder in his hands, “I’ve looked over all your test results, and you are in fact, pregnant. Congratulations. ”

Resisting the little butt wiggle I wanted to do, instead I watched Robert’s shocked face. “I…what? How? I don’t understand. I thought you said I was starting the change.”

Finn rested the folder on the little desk behind him. “You are. However, it’s still possible for pregnancies to occur. I know you hadn’t had a heat in a while, but you told my nurse you did have a heat last month. I would say from looking at your lab work the pregnancy occurred during that heat.”

“But…” Words seemed to fail my mate, and I squeezed his hand. “I’m too old.”

Finn smiled, and the man’s face transformed from sternness to warmth in an instant. “While your age is a concern, we’ll make sure to monitor you closely. I have no reason to believe you won’t carry this pregnancy to term.”

“What are the concerns here,” I asked, “with Robert’s age. Is there a danger to him?” Because if there was a single chance that I could lose him because of this pregnancy, well, we’d need to talk about that. That was something I wasn’t willing to do. If Robert’s life was in danger, we would end the pregnancy. Period.

“How?” Robert wheezed, still stuck on the reality that he was indeed pregnant.

Finn’s smile softened even more, as his blue eyes glanced between Robert and me. “May I ask a personal question? ”

Robert flapped a hand at him, and I could feel his emotions zigzagging all over the place through our bond. Calming myself, I tried to push that towards him, seeing his shoulders come down from around his ears after a few seconds. “You’re my doctor. You get up close and personal with me all the time. Why should now be any different?”

Finn chuckled at Robert’s snark. “Are you two fated mates, by chance?”

Robert glanced at me, and I shrugged. “We are.”

“I thought that might be the case,” Finn turned and jotted down something in the folder. “My guess is, and this is just going off what I have learned the past few years about fated mates and my own personal knowledge with them, is that when fated mates first spend time together, most times the omega will experience a mini-heat or even a full blown heat. Yours appears to have been a full blown, normal heat.”

“Yes, it was,” Robert whispered, and I nodded my agreement.

“It definitely was.”

“These heats tend to make birth control pretty much ineffective. So even though your body had started the beginning of the omega change, the heat you had likely had you at full fertility.”

“We did use protection,” I told him, “except the first time.” Feeling my cheeks pink up at the memory of taking Robert against my car, I glanced at my mate. His cheeks were just as pink, and he gave me a soft, secret smile that heated my blood.

Finn grabbed some pamphlets off the wall holder and handed them to me. “These have all kinds of quick, useful information on pregnancy.”

Clutching them, I nodded. “I have a five year old. I’ve been through this before.”

When he stared at me, I added, “My mate passed away shortly after he was born.”

He nodded, “I’m sorry. I do remember Brendan telling us that when he hired you. Now, back to your earlier question about Robert’s age.”

“Yes,” I breathed, “are there dangers to him?”

“We do monitor our older patients a bit more,” he told us, “but there is absolutely no reason for there to be any concern. But because of your age,” he turned to Robert, “we do need to watch you a bit more closely for things like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and early labor. How old were you when you had your last pregnancy?”

“Twenty-three,” Robert told him quietly. “A lifetime ago.”

Finn laughed, “Yeah, that’s quite the age gap. And was that an easy pregnancy? Any complications?”

Robert shook his head, “It was easy. I didn’t even have any morning sickness really. Other than not producing milk. Wyatt had the same problem when he had Julianna, so I’ll definitely bottle feed.”

“Well, you may find yourself more tired this time around than last.”

“The morning sickness,” I chimed in, “he’s been super sick for a few days now. Is there something he can take for that?”

Finn grabbed a prescription pad, scrawling on it, before ripping it off and handing it to Robert. “That should help. If it doesn’t you let me know and we’ll try something else. Or if it lasts all day or is too severe, let me know. Do not be afraid to call the office with any concerns. If it’s after hours, one of us is always on call.”

“Thank you,” Robert said, “I think I’m just a bit in shock right now, and my brain hasn’t completely wrapped itself around the idea that I’m actually pregnant. Jackson insisted I was, but even with the positive tests, I was sure you were going to tell me it was just a big joke the universe was playing on me.”

Finn smiled, and again, I was amazed how his smile completely changed his face from grumpy looking grouch to warm and kind. The man should really make an effort to keep a smile plastered on his face at all times. “I understand it’s a shock. I will want to see you every three weeks the first months, then every two, then every week the last six weeks before your due date. I know that seems excessive, but our goal is for you to have a healthy pregnancy and baby. ”

“When am I due?” Robert asked the question I was about to. As shifters, we only carried for seven months, while humans carried for nine.

Finn consulted his file folder once more. “Based on the dates of your heat, and the levels in your blood, it looks like your due date is around November fifteenth. That could change once we do an ultrasound, but probably not by much.”

We talked a little more, and I was impressed with the time Finn took to answer all our questions. I knew we’d have plenty more at the next appointment. It helped that I had been through a pregnancy not that long ago with Levi. It had been over twenty years since Robert had given birth, and so much seemed to have changed since then. Plus, as Finn had pointed out, Robert was much older than the last time.

My job was to keep him healthy and happy, and I intended to do just that. We’d work anything else out along the way. But when I helped him settle into the passenger seat of my car after his appointment, I worried over the frown he’d been wearing since we’d left the doctor’s office. All through the elevator ride and getting to my car in the parking garage, I could feel Robert’s unease. Or tenseness?

Something had my mate upset. While I knew this pregnancy had come as a huge surprise for both of us, and it was rather early in our relationship, I wasn’t at all unhappy about this turn of events. I had tried to relay that to Robert but maybe I had failed somehow to reassure him. Or maybe he really just wasn’t ready for all of this. His divorce had been fresh when we had met, and everything had kind of been a whirlwind since that day.

Brushing a stray lock of his hair that had fallen over his forehead back, I asked him, “What’s got you upset? Is it the pregnancy? Do you not want this baby?”

That got an immediate reaction out of him. His eyes flashed honey gold of astonishment my way, his mouth opening in a strangled gasp. “What? Of course I want this baby? Why would you even ask me that?”

Scooting his legs over in the seat, I made just enough room to sit and face him, but barely. The car door was still open, and I tensed my thigh muscles to keep myself from falling on the pavement, but the position meant I wasn’t towering over him and I could touch him. “Because I can tell you are upset by something. What is it?”

He shook his head, his hands wringing together in his lap. He nibbled his bottom lip, and I had come to realize it was a nervous, anxious gesture he did. His poor lip was looking mangled about now, and I made a mental note to make sure to stop and get him some lip balm.

“What if I mess it up like I did last time?” His voice was so quiet, it took me using my croc hearing to decipher his words.

Frowning, I tried to make sense of his sentence. “Wyatt seems like a very together adult. ”

Robert gave a sort of derisive snort laugh that was anything but humorous. “Wyatt was raised by nannies.” He looked away, concentrating on something out the driver side window. “Jane only wanted one child, and we had more important things to deal with than raising that child. It wasn’t seemly.” He used air quotes around the last word, telling me his ex had used that word too. “Then when we discovered Wyatt’s I.Q. was what it was, she became hyper focused on him. Well, not him, but what he could accomplish and the accolades and awards it would bring.”

When he didn’t expand or elaborate, I finally said, “I’m gonna need more to understand all of that. Pretend you’ve just met me and I know nothing about your family.”

While not exactly the case, we hadn’t really ever delved deep into any of his family drama, just sorta skimmed the very surface. But whatever had happened had left an impact on Robert and his confidence in being a good father.

He finally looked at me, his eyes watery, and he blinked them several times. “Wyatt has an I.Q. of one hundred and eight-seven. He’s a certified genius. He also has an eidetic memory.”

I let out a low whistle. “That’s…impressive. Then why is he–?”

Robert smiled sardonically. “Running a daycare center in Sweet Alps, California?”

“Well, yeah.” There was nothing wrong with Sweet Alps. I actually was finding the combination of big city meets small town enjoyable. And it was a great place to raise kids. But it was a far cry from Los Angeles, or Connecticut, or New York city.

“Do you want his version or mine?” Robert asked.

“Both?”

“He needed a change from teaching, and working on government funded projects. He started some kind of kinky dating app and made a boatload of money. Wanted to use his early childhood education degree, one of many, many degrees, and needed a change when he found out he was pregnant.”

“And your version?” I prodded.

Robert grimaced. “He wanted to get as far away from his mother and me to raise his child in peace. In an environment completely different from the one he had been raised in. Because as he reminded his mother and me, we didn’t raise him. I didn’t raise him.” I didn’t miss the emphasis he put on the ‘I’ in that sentence. “What if I’m horrible at raising this baby, and I mess them up? What if they end up hating me like Wyatt did?” His voice rose in pitch with each word, nearing hysterics.

Whoa whoa whoa. Tucking his hands in between mine, I slowly rubbed his palms with my fingers. “Okay, well, Wyatt definitely doesn’t hate you, so I don’t think that’s something you need to worry about.”

“But he did!” Robert cried, and I could feel all his emotions rolling across our bond. “He did. I wasn’t a parent to him. Jane hired a nanny when he was two months old. And I didn’t produce any milk so I couldn’t even use chest feeding him as an excuse to keep him with me. I had two months with him, and then I was barely allowed to interact with him. Once his I.Q. was discovered, he was sent even further away from me to school. He started college at age twelve, Jackson! I can’t even imagine what that was like for him. We were virtual strangers until last year. He didn’t even tell us he had given birth to Julianna until days later. I just…what if it happens again with this baby.” He pulled his hands from mine to rest on his tummy protectively.

A part of me wanted to laugh, because I thought he was being ridiculous. But I knew better than to laugh at his very real feelings and fears. I was also back to wanting to physically hurt his ex. Despite being an apex predator shifter, I had never been what I would consider a fighter. But damn, I really wanted to take a chunk out of this bitch.

“Sweetheart, first of all, that isn’t going to happen.” Caressing his face, I cupped his jaw lightly with my hand. Happiness soared through me when he turned into the caress and nuzzled my palm. “For one, I’m here and I’m not ever going to take our child from you to be raised solely by a nanny. Honestly, if you want to stay home and be a stay-at-home dad, I’m happy with that. I’m happy if you want to keep working and take the baby to the daycare with you. I’m not Jane,” I put all the dislike I could for the woman in the way I said her name. Jane was officially on my top ten list of names I hated. “I don’t know everything that happened in your marriage, but I know that you’ve been hurt. I will try my hardest to never treat you with disrespect, or make you feel less than, and that includes your ability to parent. Besides, I’ve seen you at the daycare with the kids. Robert, you are amazing with them. Patient, and kind, and you just have this way of talking to each of them, like you instantly understand all their little personalities. That first day with Aiden at the daycare was the first day I felt like I had made the right decision to move here, and that we were going to be okay. Because I trusted you with my child.”

Putting my hand on his stomach, I leaned closer and placed a soft, fleeting kiss on his lips. “I trust you with our child. You are going to be an amazing father. You are an amazing father. I see you with Wyatt. I see the admiration he has for you. I don’t know what your relationship was like before you moved here, but I know what it is now, and it’s good. And I see what an amazing grandfather you are.”

His eyes grew big. “Oh my goddess, I’m a grandfather. And now I’m having a baby! This is so embarrassing! What is Wyatt even going to say when he finds out? What are people going to think when they see me?”

Shrugging, I offered, “Wyatt will probably say congratulations. And for other people, who cares? If they aren’t in our lives, and they don’t know us, their opinion doesn’t matter. ”

To be honest, I hadn’t even thought about what anyone would think about the situation, but it was clearly a worry for Robert.

“We’ll tell Wyatt together,” I declared, finally having to stand because my thigh muscles were screaming. “Whenever you’re ready, we’ll tell him together.”

Robert nibbled on his lip again, and this time I did gently pull the abused skin from his teeth, running my thumb lightly over his red skin.

“Maybe we should wait. Just a couple of weeks.” His hands flexed over his stomach. “Just in case something happens.”

I knew he worried about his age, and his ability to carry this baby, and I didn’t know how to ease his fears. “Whenever you’re ready.”