Page 174 of Omega's Flight
"Abel's Pap. We have Pop, Dad. All the usual ones."
"Patton's going to be Pa. Whenever Rose starts talking, anyway," Ori put in.
"I'm just going to pop these into the over to warm," Bram said. He was halfway out the door with the tiny receiving blankets in his arms. "What about Tadu? It's from our old language, right Holland?"
Holland looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. "It is. Aaron was called that by their pups."
Aaron. The first Alpha of Mercy Hills.
"I like the sound of that," Raleigh said, then hissed out a breath between his teeth. "Cas!" He flailed for Cas's hands, getting them just as the contraction really came on, stealing his breath and his ability to speak.
"Breathe, love," Cas whispered to him. "Short breaths, remember?" But instead of breathing, Raleigh just growled at him.
Holland laughed as he sat on the side of the bed. "Don't put your fingers near his mouth," he recommended. Cas sent him a dirty look but Raleigh quickly took all of his attention with the next contraction.
"They're coming faster, aren't they?" he asked of no one in particular.
Bram nodded. "We're almost ready for the big pushes." He patted gently underneath Raleigh's belly with a towel; it came away bright red in spots. "You're doing great," he told Raleigh.
Raleigh nodded then his expression went—strange. "Cas, that better not be your phone!" His voice went up on the last word and his hands squeezed down on Cas's. Cas gasped as his bones ground together and he knew he wasn't being a good alpha at the moment, because all he wanted was to get his hands back before Raleigh broke anything.
When the terrifying grip of his omega finally abated, Cas shook out his hands, hoping to restore the bloodflow in the few seconds he guessed he'd have before Raleigh's next contraction came on, and investigated the buzzing that was, indeed, his phone.
His mother. "How the hell did...? Oh, never mind." He tossed it across the bed to land by Holland's knee and reached for Raleigh's hands again. "Let's get this baby out. Holland, have at her, if you're feeling particularly vindictive. I have no fucks left for her."
"Her? Oh." Holland looked at the phone, buzzing again on the bed. "She can wait." His tone implied forever.
"Ready?" Bram said. "This should kick everything off, you're open nearly all the way across.
Raleigh nodded, already straining with the next contraction, his face bright red with effort. Bram came around the bed with a wet towel and quickly wiped him down, then retreated to the foot of the bed with Ori again.
The phone buzzed again. Cas glared at it.
"Do you want to answer it?" Holland asked.
"No." He wasn't going to get into it here.
Ori slipped the phone off the bed and took it out of the room with the subtle understanding that all the omegas in Mercy Hills seemed to have, then came back to perch on a stool by the end of the bed, safely out of the way.
Holland's face turned grim for a moment, then he shook his head. "She nagging again?" He put a hand on Raleigh's belly and held the towel to his omega line.
"Leave it," Cas said shortly. He'd deal with his mother later. He bent his head to whisper in Raleigh's ear. "How you doing?"
"We're getting there." Raleigh exhaled harshly and grunted, then let out a sigh of relief. "That's the birth waters. Looking forward to meeting him."
Cas smiled and kissed his temple. "Me too. Love you."
"Love you too."
"Here we go," Holland said, interrupting their conversation. Bram was handing him towels, Cas guessed to soak up the fluids, and then everything began to speed up. The contractions never really went away from this point on, and he couldn't keep his eyes away from the fascinating—and nauseating—motions Raleigh's stomach was making.
"We've got a head!" Bram crowed suddenly. Raleigh laughed in excitement and Cas hugged him, their sweat-slicked palms sliding over each other as Raleigh bent to the last couple of pushes he'd need.
Moments later, the baby was there, crying out his dismay into the bright lights of the room. Bram brought him up to Raleigh, laying him carefully on Raleigh's chest. "Congratulations on your little omega," he said with a broad grin.
"I'll go get the water," Ori said and disappeared after giving Lonnie back to Holland.
"I guess you got your wish," Raleigh said and squeezed Cas's hand. His other one was splayed over the baby's back, fingertips playing with the dark hair that covered the pup's head. "I think he got your hair."
