Page 63 of Lovesick Titan

“Yep…should have been.” She nodded, then grimaced as she clutched harder at her belly.

Shit.

“Mom got the floor all wet,” Michael said, and Mal and Danny looked to each other with equal shades of panic.

“Malcolm…” Carla groaned.

“What do you need?” Mal flew to her side, allowing her to lean into him, which eased some of the discomfort from her face.

“Prep bag,” she wheezed out a few deep breaths, “just inside the door. But this is happeningnow. Knew she’d be an anxious one,” she chuckled lightly as she breathed a few more times and cringed. “I don’t think I can make it to the hospital.”

“St. Andrews is just off 5th. We can make it.” Danny appeared with the bag in tow from around the door and put a hand on Michael’s shoulder, though Mal assumed he’d simply missed Danny moving, not that he’d actually lightning jumped to achieve that.

Lightning jump.

“Danny.” Mal looked at him with all due seriousness. “Carla can’t go to St. Andrews. Dunkirk has men all over that neighborhood. It has to be Olympus City General.”

“But that’s…” Danny’s eyes widened. “Halfway across town!”

“I know.”

The color drained from Danny’s face as what Mal was really asking sank in. “Mal…”

“Has Rivers done any research on what one of yourtripsdoes to a person?”

Danny cringed like he was the one in pain. “Yes, including this exact scenario. She figured it was bound to happen eventually. She’s weirdly thorough like that.”

“And?”

“And everything should be fine! Worst case scenario would be someone being inducedintolabor—”

Carla groaned louder and her knees nearly buckled, but Mal managed to keep her upright.

“…which obviously isn’t an issue right now. Okay.” Moving around Michael, Danny crouched down and set the bag aside as he looked first into Michael’s face, then up at Carla, who seemed understandably confused. “Carla. Michael.” He flashed them his best—and entirely unfair—smile. “Can you two keep a secret?”

Chapter16

Danny sat with his bag tucked under his feet—Michael at his right, Mal on the boy’s other side, bookending him perfectly with their near identical height. Michael kept looking at them with childlike awe, but his wonder at sitting between Zeus and Prometheus on a bench in the hallway outside his mother’s hospital room in no way meant the kid had grown shy.

He had been talking nonstop ever since Danny lightning jumped them to the hospital. First Carla by herself, ensuring she got a wheelchair and a nurse to attend to her before he headed back to the apartment. Then Mal and Michael together.

Half of Danny felt like he should leave, like he didn’t belong in this part of Mal’s life, but the other half understood that the tension in Mal’s shoulders and ever-watchful eyes proved how much he cared for this family and would do anything to keep them safe. Danny couldn’t leave him to play vigilant guardian on his own.

When Michael was sick of asking Danny about his lightning powers, they steered the boy toward topics of his forthcoming little sister.

“It’ll be cool, I guess.” He kicked his legs out and let them swing beneath him.

“You guess?” Mal raised an eyebrow while Danny fought a smirk.

Michael shrugged, big blue eyes drifting to the floor. “Mom says I hafta beresponsiblenow, help take care of baby Mai and keep her safe. But what if I’m not good at it? What if I’m not good at being a big brother?”

Danny’s heart melted for the kid, but Mal didn’t falter for a moment.

“Nothin’ to it, Michael. Know why?” Mal pushed on when Michael shook his head. “Coz it’s always easy to do the things you want to do, right? And you are gonnawantmore than anything else to keep that baby girl safe. As much as she’ll drive you crazy and get into your things and demand your mother’s attention away from you, she’ll also be all yours.” A softness entered his voice as he talked from personal experience, and the light that touched his eyes made Danny glow with warmth right along with him. “Some days just seeing her is going to make you feel like you can take on the whole world.”

“Really?” Michael perked up. “Why?”

“Coz you’ll love her. You’ll love watching out for her, even when you have to share your toys. And you will have to share,” Mal said firmly after Michael made a disgruntled face. “And not get angry when she takes what’s yours. But she’ll give much more than she takes if you do right by her. You’ll be her whole world. Tell me, you have someone you look up to?”

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