Page 45 of Roommates
Doctor Hassen was a friendly professional—and one that came highly recommended to me. In fact, this was the same doctor who'd deliveredmesome twenty years ago. I'll admit that was a weird thought, but I did feel that the baby and I would be safe with her.
“That's amazing!” Adam said, staring at the screen. “It's so big already!”
“Well, you're twenty-five weeks along,” the doctor said with a kind smile. She looked at me. “And you didn't even know you could get pregnant?”
“I had no idea,” I lied. The only lie I was going to keep telling from now on. I was a really late bloomer. That was the story and I was going to stick with it. The world had to know that I was omega, but it didn't need to know how long I'd been aware of that fact.
“Oh dear,” the doctor said. “This must have come as quite the shock to you.” I could tell she wasn't totally buying my story, but she wasn't going to do anything about it either. “If you have any questions regarding the progression of your pregnancy or the delivery...”
“I've studied up on it, for the most part.” These past few weeks, I'd had a lot of time to do that. Adam squeezed my hand. I knew that, for some reason, he liked that I was a nerd. I didn't know what he found so attractive about that, but I wasn't going to question it, no. I was just going to count myself lucky. “We would like to find out the sex of the baby, if you could tell us.”
“Nah,” Adam suddenly spoke up. “Let's make it a surprise.”
“A surprise?” I asked, turning to him. “Are you sure?”
“Sure I'm sure.” Adam grinned, eyes still fixed on the screen. “Look at them. They're perfect already, who cares what sex they are? I don't want it to matter.”
I wanted to say something, but my voice stuck in my throat. He was talking about the baby's sex, but I knew he meant more than that too. This was his way of telling me that it didn't matter to him whether our child was a boy or a girl or an omega or an alpha or a beta. This was his way of telling me that he thought someone's labels were inconsequential—even if that someone was his own child, or his partner.
“What about you choosing a kick-ass name, though?” I asked. It had seemed so important to him. I appreciated that he didn't want to make a big deal out of our baby's sex, but I didn't want to spoil his fun. Being parents was going to be hard enough. He should enjoy the moments he could.
“I already have a solution for that,” he said. “I'm just going to come up with a name that's not only kick-ass but also gender neutral.” He said it with so much conviction in his voice that I had to laugh.
Obviously, he was determined to do this, and I wasn't going to stop him.
“Okay,” I found myself saying, a smile finding its way on my face. I had the best boyfriend. Thebest.
“Let's make it a surprise!”
“Great!” Adam grinned.
“All right then,” the doctor said with a nod. “I won't tell you. But I will tell you that the baby is fine.
It's looking like you'll have a healthy boy or girl.” She gave us a smile. “Would you like a print-out of the ultrasound picture?”
“Yes, please!” Adam said before I could even respond. “I'm going to send a copy to my parents,” he told me under his breath. “My mom's either going to jump for joy or have a heart attack. Maybe both.”
“Which are you hoping for?” I asked.
“I don't know,” he confessed. “I'd like her to be happy for me, but I'm not going to cry if she's not, you know? This is the life I've chosen for myself and my parents will have to accept that eventually.”
“Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for being here with me today.”
“You don't have to thank me for that. I would choose you any day.”
“I know.” It was the only reason I could come out as omega with my head held high. Because I had his unwavering support. It was the only reason that, slowly but surely, I found myself starting to look forward to the birth of our little one. To look forward to our future.
I was sure it was going to be a good one.
All I had to worry about now was getting this baby here happy and healthy.
2 5
A D A M
“W hat do you think of Rebel for a name?” I asked Lucas over breakfast while pouring maple syrup over the pancakes I'd made for us.
“Rebel?” Lucas arched an eyebrow at me. Obviously, he was not in love with the idea. Too bad. It wasn't easy to find a name that was both cool and gender-neutral. Especially not while I was also job-hunting. We were only a month away from Lucas' due date now, and I still hadn't come up with the perfect name. Rebel seemed... appropriate.
