Page 8 of A Baby for Christmas
Robin turned to the boy while Mr. Hayes saved the vet's number in my phone. "Are you liking your new school,Conner?"
The boy shrugged the same way I would have at his age if someone asked me how much I liked school. "It's all right," he said. "Having to take the bus is a littleannoying."
Robin nodded thoughtfully. "We really do need to see about getting better education for omegas within Oceanport, don't we? Honestly, I'm glad you chose to transfer. I think you made the rightchoice."
"We're very happy with that choice too," Conner's dad said. The both of them thanked us again and then they were on theirway.
Robin exhaled as he closed the door on them. "I hate meeting parents in my off time, even when their kids aren't my studentsanymore."
"Think he's going to keep his mouthshut?"
"I hope so. I've got enough coworkers judging me for the fact that I'm not marriedyet."
"They seem like a nice family,though."
"Yeah, and he gave you a number for a vet, didn't he? We can check that out in themorning."
"We will, but uh... there's something else we need to do in the morning aswell."
My friend shot me a curious look and sat on the couch next to the puppy. "What'sthat?"
How to say this? It was probably best to just give it to him straight, wasn't it? "The condom broke," I said as matter-of-factly as possible. "The shelter has morning after pills. I can get you one." Problem stated andsolved.
"Oh." That was all my friend said for a long time. With his hand, he lazily petted the puppy, and his eyes had a far-away look in them. I wondered what he was thinking. "You don't have to do that," he said after a full two minutes of silence—I knew because I counted theseconds.
"What do you mean?" I asked, although I felt like I already knew the answer, because I knew Robin. I waspainfullyaware of how much he wanted ababy.
"I don't need that pill." Robin licked his lips and locked eyes with me. "Aren't they supposed to make male omegas sick? It’s unlikely I’ll get pregnant anyway. What are the chances I’ll get a baby for Christmas?" Robin laughed bitterly as if to imply that nothing good ever happened to him onChristmas.
I shook my head at him. "You don't want to get sick? C'mon, that's not the reason you don't want to take that pill. You can be real withme."
"Can I?" Robin sighed. "I don't want you to get mad at me. I don't want to get into another fight like when we..." He trailed off, but I knew what he wanted to say. He didn't want us to fight like we had when we broke up. I didn't want that either. Ever since we were children, Robin was the most important person in my life. We'd gotten each other through difficult times growing up, providing one another with the emotional support we didn't get at home. I’d kept him safe from bullies and he’d patched me up when I'd had a run-in with my father's fists. I needed him around. If only so I could watch him from the sidelines to make sure he was doingokay.
"I'm not going to fight with you," I said. "But you have to know that I don't want..." I gestured with my hand, trying to find the rightwords.
"You don't want to be a parent. I get that." Robin looked away from me to focus on the puppy again, which told me just how nervous he was. But he wanted this potential baby more than he wanted to avoid a fight with me. "I just..." He paused. "Aside from you, all the alphas I date turn out to be assholes. What if this is my only chance to have a child with a decent person? I mean, if I could just go to a sperm bank... but those aren't available to omegas. At least not to unmated ones. I've looked intoit."
My mouth fell open. "You've thought about spermbanks?"
Robin met my gaze again. "Is that so shocking to you? I'm sure I could manage to raise a kid by myself if society let me, but nooo, omegas can't possibly be trusted to do anything on their own. This one place I called, they told me they couldn't help me because alphas wouldn't find me attractive anymore if I was raising some stranger's kid. They said I would regret it. Can you believeit?"
"I'm sorry. It sucks that nobody trusts omegas to make decisions about their own lives." In my line of work, I'd heard enough horror stories to confirm this for me. "Butifyou're pregnant from me, don't you think that concerns metoo?"
Robin licked his lips again. "It doesn't have to," he said quietly. "This baby will never know you're his father, if that's what you want. No one will know. He'll bemykid."
I could tell by the way his eyes bore into mine that he was serious about this. Whatever happened, he would never involve me in this. If this kid didn't know I was his father, if I wasn't going to be his parent, there was no way for me to turn into my father, was there? That thought alone let me breathe easier. But I had to make sure my friend knew what he was doing. "What about yourreputation?"
"Fuck myreputation."
I raised my eyebrows at him. He couldn't really mean that. He'd worked too hard to get where hewas.
"I mean it," he said as if he could read my thoughts. "If the school wants to get rid of me when they hear of my pregnancy, let them. But I don't think it'll come to that. The schoolboard isn'tthatold-fashioned. At least not the majority of it. I'll make up some story that'll pleasethem."
"You're really going to do this," I realized. "Ifyou'repregnant."
"Yeah,ifI am." But he laid his hand on his belly like he was already convinced of thisfact.
And there was nothing I coulddo.
