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It took them decades to realize they were meant for each other. Everytime Nico thought about it, he wanted to slap his younger self, wanted to shake him and tell him this one right there! That’s your mate!
They sorted it out eventually. By then, they were already in their mid-thirties.
It didn’t really matter to them, all’s well that ends well after all.
But when Nico’s doctor, upon remarking his new mating mark, handed him a flier about risky pregnancies and fertility treatments, Nico started to feel doubts creep in.
“...have you ever thought about pups?” he asked Lewis that night.
Lewis stilled for a moment, his hand in Nico’s hair, slowly twisting a strand around his fingers. “...why are you asking?”
“Just because,” Nico said, trying to sound casual.
“Never really thought about it,” Lewis said after a moment, voice thoughtful, “...with you, yeah. I think I could imagine starting a family.”
“...and what if we can’t?” Nico asked quietly. “...I’m not 20 anymore.”
“Then we’ll just be one of those couples with dogs and money,” Lewis said, leaning his head against Nico’s.
-
During Nico’s next heat, the package of birth control patches stayed in the drawer, unopened.
Three weeks later, the test was negative anyway. Nico swallowed hard as he tossed it into the trash, trying to stay hopeful.
-
Heat after heat went by without result.
Nico tried to tell himself it wasn’t a big deal, that they could be happy without a pup.
But he caught himself spotting symptoms that weren’t there, googling implantation bleeding and signs of pregnancy at 10 days post heat and omega age cause infertility until Lewis gently took his phone away from him.
Then, Seb and Hanna announced they were having a third pup, and two days later Nico’s coworker told him about his surprise pregnancy, and that night was the first night Nico cried himself to sleep against Lewis’ chest from the nasty, bitter feeling of unfairness, because some people had whole litters of three, four, five pups, and his own stupid body couldn’t even manage one.
-
People loved to comment on their “childfree lifestyle”, and every single time, Nico had to bite his lip and hold back either tears or insults.
Lewis became good at deflecting, and, when it was necessary, setting boundaries. Nico was incredibly grateful for it, even if he wished there was no need for it.
-
“Stop flexing, it’ll hurt more,” Lewis told him, kneeling on the bathroom floor.
Nico tried to relax his butt and thigh muscles, but he felt so tense. “Just do it quickly!”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Lewis said. Slowly, he poked the syringe needle into the meaty part of Nico’s buttock. Nico hissed quietly. The medication stung under his skin as the cocktail of hormones entered his blood stream. “...there you go.”
Lewis pushed himself up from the floor, tossing the syringe into the sink and wrapping his arms around Nico. Nico leaned against him, closing his eyes.
“Thank you.”
“The least I can do.” Lewis slowly scented him, pressing a kiss to Nico’s cheek. “Seeing you in so much pain all the time is… it’s really hard. I’ll do anything I can to help.”
Nico whimpered quietly, and buried his face in Lewis’ shoulder.
-
The artificially induced heats were painful, time-consuming and frustrating. They felt like work instead of time for them to honor their mating bond, and nothing about them was sexy or romantic.
-
After Nico fainted at work from the medications, Lewis sat him down for a talk. “Are you sure you want to keep doing this? I want a kid, but I don’t want you to sacrifice your health for it.”
“It’s so hard to give up,” Nico whispered, running his fingertips over the tattoos on Lewis’ knuckles.
“I know, but… if I have to make a choice, Nico, I’d rather have you be healthy and whole.”
Nico swallowed down tears, unable to speak. He knew Lewis was right. He could tell how hard this was on his body and his mind.
“How about we finish this next round, we already bought the meds. And then we’ll see what happens?” Lewis suggested gently, turning his hand over, wrapping his fingers around Nico’s wrist gently.
After a moment of silence between them, Nico nodded. “...okay.”
-
Watching the dye run over the stick was giving Nico stomach aches.
It stayed a blinding white, not even a hint of a second line.
He threw it into the trash where it joined the three previous ones he’d taken.
-
They stopped, after that.
Got two dogs, and a new car, and eventually, a brand new house, with large windows and open staircases and white furniture and a gym, a walk-in closet, an indoor pool and not a single nursery.
Nico was so burned out on feeling sad that all he could feel, then, was relief.
-
Nico went to the doctor half a year later because he hadn’t had a heat in almost five months. Usually, they came like a clockwork, every three months, but maybe all the treatments had changed something.
Or he was getting too old to have heats at all.
The doctor took his blood and examined him.
Nico lay on the examination chair, staring at the ceiling, thinking about work, when she told him, “Congratulations, you’re 10 weeks pregnant.”
-
For two weeks, neither of them could believe it.
Every morning, Nico woke up, having to tell himself, over and over again, we’re having a baby . Every day, he cried looking at the ultrasound picture.
Lewis was reserved, almost cold. It felt awful, but Nico knew why. After having seen his mate suffer for so long, Lewis was deeply scared something would happen, and they’d end up without a pup again.
They went to the 12 week scan together, Lewis holding Nico’s hand as the doctor slowly dragged the sonography scanner over Nico’s belly.
“Heart beat is strong…,” she said slowly, “looks good. Do you want to know the primary sex of your baby?”
“Yes,” Nico said without thinking about it.
“It looks like you’re having a little girl.” She smiled at them.
When Nico turned his head to look at Lewis, there were thick, shiny tears in the Alpha’s eyes, and his smile back at Nico was shaky.
-
The pregnancy was so easy that it almost felt like a reward for all of their years of hardship.
As Nico’s belly grew, his skin softened and his hair got shinier and more luscious, Lewis couldn’t keep his hands off of him. They had sex almost every single night, right until the belly was so large that it got impossible.
-
Lewis was by his side during the entire duration of his labor, all 43 hours of it.
It was the most pain Nico had ever been in, but when he heard his baby’s first scream, all of it was gone and forgotten.
-
“Does the little lady have a name?” the omega nurse smiled at Nico, reaching out to straighten his blanket.
“Leah,” Nico replied, not taking his eyes off his beautiful, perfect baby, “Leah Hamilton.”