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I move up closer to Kian and River, and we lay there as we wait on her to return. Several minutes after she goes into the bathroom, we hear a loud splash and Ripley’s startled gasp. We all jump up and race into the bathroom to check on her. She’s standing by the sink and looks up at us with wide eyes and parted lips.
“What happened, Little Bird? Did you have an accident?” River asks her jokingly when he sees the puddle at her feet.
My own eyes widen, and my heart rate goes up. This is it. It’s time!
“Um... I think... I think my water just broke,” she says, a scared tremble in her voice.
River tenses beside me, and Kian immediately begins to freak out.
“But you still have three more weeks! We haven’t even packed the bags yet! Oh, Gods, is it my fault? The baby’s coming early because of me! I was too rough or something.” He rambles, everything coming out fast and jumbled.
Ripley looks at me and rolls her eyes, but there’s the slightest hint of a smile painted on her lips.
“Calm down, honey bun. You didn’t do anything wrong. It just seems like this baby has decided that today is the day. I’m not freaking out so I need you to not freak out because if you do, then I will too. Okay?” She tells him calmly after a few deep breaths.
Kian is gripping his hair and pacing but stops when she tells him to calm down. He swallows and nods at her, taking a few deep breaths himself to calm himself down, so he’s not overloading her with his panic.
“Why don’t you go get my bag and the baby’s bag together while we all get dressed, tater tot?”
Although she asks him nicely, I can tell her nerves are getting the better of her, and she’s not far off from freaking out herself. Kian nods his head frantically and races out of the bathroom to do as she asks. Once he’s gone, she looks at me and River. River is still standing there, rigid, with a dumbstruck expression on his face as he stares at the puddle of water and the rivulets that run down her legs. I quickly go to her side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, and kiss her head.
“Let’s go find you some clothes and call Nic and Syn, Sweetheart. River, come help our omega while I grab my phone.”
He doesn’t hear me, too entranced by the water on the floor and lost in his head. I clear my throat to get his attention, and when that doesn’t work, I let out a whistle that startles him when it echoes in the bathroom. He looks at me with eyes as wide as saucers, panic written all over his face.
“Come help your omega, baby,” I tell him again calmly, giving him a sharp look that says he needs to get it together.
Ripley winces, and her muscles tighten. Pain ricochets down the bond, and I rub her shoulder soothingly as she clenches her eyes closed and breathes. After a few seconds, her features relax, and she opens her eyes again. River finally snaps out of it and rushes to her side to lead her out to find themselves some clothes.
I head back into the nest and grab my phone from my pants pocket, dialing Nico as I quickly pull them back on sans underwear.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” He answers after several rings.
I take a deep breath and grab my shirt, holding the phone to my ear as I bound out of the nest and down the stairs. Today, everything changes again.
“Time to get home, Papa Bear. Ripley’s water broke,” I tell him excitedly.
Nico let’s out an excited whoop down the line, and I can hear him hollering that he’s got to go because it’s baby time. Hope he didn’t have a client in there that he was working on, but I also don’t care if he did.
“I’m on my way!”
The phone clicks as he hangs up. I shake my head and go to Syn’s name next, clicking the call button. I have to call her several times back-to-back before she finally answers.
“Knight? Is everything okay?” she asks worriedly.
“Yep. Just time to get home, Mama Syn. It’s baby time.”
She squeals loudly, and I can hear papers shuffling in the background. I walk into the nursery we’ve set up and see Kian frantically throwing items into the diaper bag Ripley picked out for the baby. I chuckle and walk over to Ripley’s room to check on her and River.
“I’m on my way!” Syn says breathlessly before hanging up abruptly.
Once we’re all dressed, we take the bags Kian packed downstairs to wait on the others to get here. Ripley put on a dress and has a towel pressed between her legs since her water keeps trickling out, and she groans in pain when what I assume is another contraction hits her. Nico makes it home first, running through the front door and nearly falling on his face to get to Ripley, where she sits on the couch.
“How are you feeling, Kitten?” He asks her softly as he kneels at her feet, stroking his hand down her cheek.
“I’m okay. A little nervous, a little in pain when a contraction hits,” she says.
Ripley has three more contractions before Syn finally walks through the door with hurried steps, throwing her bag to the side and immediately going to Ripley.
