Chapter 25 #2
“No, but of course we’ll spend time with the baby in here together.” He didn’t think Micah was jealous; they’d redone his room in his color, and they’d gotten him some lovely things to replace the more random pieces that had been in it as a guest room.
No, he thought Micah was excited to have a place to put his sister that was not in his own room.
Lachlan rubbed, and Kieran might have dozed off. He wasn’t certain. His eyelids certainly got heavy. He yawned, making sure Micah wouldn’t slip off his very obscured lap.
He woke up to a tightening of his belly that had him sitting straight up, his eyes going wide.
“Love?” Lachlan reached out to catch Micah as he toppled toward the floor. “Are you all right?”
“That was wild! That was a pain. A real pain.”
“Ah. I had a feeling.” Lachlan smiled. “What would you like to do. Head downstairs? I can carry you, and you can rest and walk and snack…”
“Anything is fine.” He wasn’t going to fuss. He needed to breathe, to relax. Things would happen on their own time.
“Okay. Here we go. You hold Micah.” Micah was handed back to him, and then he felt weightless for the first time in a long while, Lachlan cradling him gently and carrying him as if he were a feather.
He smiled up. This was so much more relaxing, more peaceful than Micah’s birth, and he wasn’t scared. Lachlan had him, Helena was singing happily to him, eager to meet her brother. And Micah was singing along, patting him, smiling. So happy.
Not the silent, tiny child he’d been when they came here.
They made it down to the couch, which Alban had already prepared as a nest for him. So loving and kind. They snuggled in, and he dozed again until the next pain came.
Before long, he was paying attention to them, wondering if he needed to start counting and…
Light poured out of him as his water broke.
They had been prepared, and it was an easy matter of standing to walk around the room and stretch, while a set of sheets were pulled off. Then he was back in his nest, breathing easily, watching Micah play.
They watched a movie. They had a drink and a snack. Lachlan rubbed his back. And the midwife, Sally, came, her smile bright.
“How are we doing, sweet?”
“Good. Good, I’m just… being with this. Enjoying it, in a weird way.”
This was heaven, after all.
“That’s not weird at all.” She glanced at Micah. “I know the first time was not easy, so this time, we’ll make it pleasant. So let me know what you need. If you want me to fill the tub so you can float, just let me know.”
“Oh, that sounds nice. I think we might want to let Lars and Bryant know to come over to stay with Micah.”
“Kay!”
He chuckled. “Yes, baby. Kaden.”
“Of course.” Lachlan stepped away for a moment, Micah and Wiver playing some sort of wildly hilarious game of peekaboo that involved nose boops.
He laughed, the sound turning into a strangled cry as he felt his birth line begin to part.
Lachlan? The baby is coming.
I know, love. I—
No. Now.
“Alban?” Lachlan called, his voice calm. “Bryant and Lars are on the way. Can you watch Micah while I take Kieran up to our room?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks.” Lachlan rose to lift him up, and he tried hard not to yell. Sally followed them up the stairs, but Lachlan was racing.
“She’s impatient,” he bit out.
“She’s like her Papa. You can’t blame her. She wants out. She wants to meet us all and see the world.”
“Mmmph.” He doubled up as Lachlan laid him on the bed. “Yes. Like now. Right now.” His birth line split, light pouring from him.
“Oh, damn.”
“Catch her.”
“But—”
“Catch her, Lachlan!” Sally growled it, making his mate jump, and Lachlan did as ordered.
He squeezed his eyes closed, panting as he waited for Sally to help and ease the baby’s shoulders out.
“She’s a good size,” she commented. “Far larger than Micah when he arrived.”
“Platinum guardian genes,” Lachlan said, and Kieran shot him a glare. “Ahem. Sorry, love.”
“Easy push this time, honey. Whenever you’re ready.”
“She’s shining already, mate. She looks like me.”
“She does. She’s full of light.” Lachlan gave him a soft, happy look. “She’s amazing already.”
“She’ll be even more amazing when she’s born,” Sally snapped. “When you’re ready, Kieran.”
He chuckled, and he swore the light flared again as he pushed, her body separating from his.
“Oh.” Lachlan sounded awed, his whole self seeming to lean in to take her from the midwife. “Oh, Kieran. Look at her. She’s glowing.”
She was. She was silvery and shiny, and she looked just like her father. But she radiated light like him.
And that was the most perfect thing Kieran could think of. He loved them both so much.
“Let’s get you cleaned up so Micah can come up, hmm?” Sally gave him a glinting grin and a wink.
“Yes, please.” He felt…energized, awake, sore, of course, but happy. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
“She is.”
They all worked to get the baby, and him, cleaned up, and then he settled with her while Alban brought a bottle and Lars walked in with Micah, his belly huge and round.
“Uncle Lars, come meet your new niece.”
“Oh, she’s so pretty. Micah, look. Your new sister is here.”
“Sisser!” Micah started kicking and struggling to get to him, and Lars leaned down. As he did, Lars’s face contorted, and he gasped.
Then there was the sound of water hitting the floor.
Oh, dear.
Love, Lars’s water just broke.
Oh, my. Bryant!
From there on, it was chaos, and Kieran fed Helena while Wiver held Micah on the bed with him, and honestly, it wasn’t long before he dozed off, chaos or no chaos.
He’d had a baby, after all.
He was pooped.