It wasn’t surprising that Luca had wanted it to be the former, because labor was daunting to put it mildly. They’d overcome some wild shit in the last ten months, but faced with the prospect of Nix in pain?
Luca had freaked out. Low-key, but still.
He’d squawked, gone wide-eyed, and shoved the rest of his vanilla bean cheesecake ice cream with rainbow sprinkles into his mouth in one panicked motion. “Now?” he’d croaked, voice muffled by the mouthful of ice cream.
“Now. But…” Nix’s eyes had gone distant, his jaw tightening with determination. “You can’t tell anyone.”
“Uh…no.” Every bit of advice Ruthie had given him flew out of his brain, buried under the weight of the secret Nix was asking him to keep. “No can do, baby-papa. You can’t hide this.”
“Not for the whole time. Just until I’m close. Please? They’ll be so worried, and Jamie will pace, Gideon will growl, Grayson will cry, and Rowan will faint, probably.”
He wasn’t wrong. Luca could already see the chaos unfolding in his head, and it wasn’t pretty. “What about Finn and Leo?” he’d asked, refusing to compromise on Nix’s safety. “I can’t—I won’tlie—if you’re not going to be safe.”
Nix sighed, waving at Artem, who had perched on a nearby bench with a book titledBeing a Proactive Grandfather: How to Make A Difference.“Okay, Finn makes sense. But Leo…they’ll need him until I’m ready.”
It wasn’t the perfect compromise, but it was enough for Luca. Nix’s safety always came first, even if it meant keeping secrets for now.
“I hate fucking lying, baby. But you’re not wrong. This is your show and as long as Finn is there…okay.”
Nix throws himself into Luca’s arms and then groans in his ear. “Fuck. Ow. Whose idea was this anyway?”
“Um…100% yours, if you recall.”
“Don’t remind me,” he laughed and looped his arm through Luca’s. “But, you’ll staywith me? The whole time?”
He’s sure he’ll laugh later when this is over about how not once had Luca considered he wouldn’t be there with his “twin” for every single minute. It’s just the way they do things. Together, forever.
“Luca?” Finn says, and it must not be the first time.
Luca shakes himself out of his reverie. “Shit, sorry. You want everyone?”
“Fuck, yes. Everyone. Why aren’t they here already?”
Luca catches Finn’s eye.
Nix has adamantly refused to let anyone else in all day, and to hear his annoyance that they were late has him rolling his eyes. Gideon has been pinging their bond so hard and so often that Luca will be glad to get his eyes on his soulmate for the first time in eight hours. “Sure, baby. They’re on their way.”
There are thundering footsteps outside the door, and then Gideon’s low tones before he opens the door and pops his head through. Rowan’s head appears at the bottom of the door, while Grayson justappearson his knees beside them on the floor.
“Angel.”
The rest of them spill into the room, and judging by how green Leo’s face looks, he must have caught a glimpse of the top of their daughter’s head between Nix’s upraised knees.
Rowan pops up on Nix’s other side, gently taking his hand from Luca’s before pressing a quick kiss to Luca’s cheek. “Thanks, Luca,” he says softly. Luca isn’t sure what he’s being thanked for—there’s nowhere else he’d rather be.
Stepping forward, Gideon hands Jay two blankets, carefully chosen from the storage shed in Florida. One is pale gray with tiny yellow marigolds, the other cream with delicate pink roses. They’d been Nix’s sister’s first, then Nix’s as a baby. The pack had washed and scented them, preparing them for the next generation.
“You ready, Kitten?” Gideon asks.
Nix grins at all of them, craning his neck to look up at Luca, who leans down to plant a kiss on his upside-down nose. “Fuck yes. What took you so long?”
Grayson snorts, slipping Nix’s other hand from Luca’s. “Just waiting on you,” he says with a smirk. It’s true, in every sense—now, then, and always.
“Jamie?” Nix asks, his voice steady but soft.
Jay smiles warmly and rests a hand on Nix’s bare ankle. “Love you, baby boy.”
“Okay, then,” Nix says, exhaling deeply. “I’m ready. You ready, Leo?”
