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The baby was slipping out of him, so slowly. It burned. It hurt. It was the most intense thing he’d ever felt in his life. He wasn’t sure how it was possible that something so big was making its way out of him.
He screamed as the baby’s head stretched him more.
“I’m here,” his alpha was saying. “I’m right here. You’ll be all right.”
“Ty...”
“Push,” Tiberius was saying. “You have to push, Reese. Baby’s almost here.”
“Trying...” He let his legs fall open wider. “Oooh... god. Ow!”
“Good job, Reese, he’s slipping out. Push!”
“I’m pushing...” He was groaning and moaning and shit, he never thought he’d make so much noise while giving birth, but he couldn’t help it. “Oh shit, Ty!”
“Right here, love. Keep pushing.”
Then the doctor was there, too, and a nurse, taking Tiberius’s place between Reese’s legs, and Tiberius came to stand beside him.
The doctor was talking but Reese couldn’t hear past the roaring in his ears. He grunted, bearing down, then gasped when the baby moved lower. He could feel the head between his legs, and the pressure inside him was unbearable. Another push, and he cried out, his legs trembling.
“The head is out, love,” Tiberius was saying by his ear. “Now don’t push, pant through it and let the doctor check the baby’s neck.”
“Why?”
“For the umbilical, to make sure it’s not wrapped around his neck...”
His voice faded away in static. Panting, Reese looked down but all he could see was his enormous belly. Another contraction was starting and he didn’t know how not to push. His whole body was bearing down of its own volition.
He tried. As the pain worsened, as the urge to push gripped him, he panted, and panted, dropping his hand from his belly, falling back against the bed.
“Good, Reese,” the doctor said, “all clear. Now push with the next contraction.”
It was starting already, and he moaned, the moan turning into a howl as the baby moved down and down.
“That’s it, good job, Reese, good job...”
“Ty... I can’t...” He realized he had both hands on his belly, rubbing, as if that could help. “I can’t...”
“Listen to me, love.” Tiberius leaned over him, looking serious. “You’re amazing. One more push and this baby is out and then you can rest for a bit, okay?”
Gazing into those intense, determined eyes, Reese found himself nodding. “Okay.”
“Okay. Now let me sit you up, make it easier.”
“Make it—?”
He gasped when Tiberius sat him up, sitting behind him to support him. “Here we go, love,” he whispered in Reese’s ear. “Do you feel him coming?”
“God, yes, I... aah!” He cried out as he pushed the baby out and into the doctor’s hands, then fell back against his alpha, panting. “Holy shit. Ow.”
“Good work, babe,” Tiberius was saying, stroking sweat-soaked hair out of his face. “You did it.”
“I did it,” Reese whispered. It hardly seemed possible, after all this time struggling with the discomfort and then the contractions and the pain that this was happening. “Where’s the baby? Is he okay?”
The doctor was doing something, the nurse helping him, but before Reese could panic, he lifted the baby for them to see.
“Oh wow.” Reese blinked away tears—he still hurt, damn it, below and inside—at the small, wrinkled creature, all wet and bloodied as if it had been through a battle.
Well, they had, he and Reese.
The baby opened his little mouth and let out a plaintive wail.
“I feel you, kiddo,” Reese muttered. “It’s been rough, huh?”
“I think he’s missing his brother,” Tiberius said.
“Oh fuck. Don’t remind me.” His belly was still swollen round, though not as tight as before, the second baby still nestled cozily inside. “I’m trying not to think about that.”
“Want to hold him?” the doctor asked, as the nurse cleaned the baby’s face.
Aw, he was so little, and suddenly alone in the whole wide world. Reese wanted to protect him, keep him warm, touch the little creature he’d carried inside him for months.
“Yes, please,” Reese breathed, opening his arms.
The doctor walked over to the side of the bed and placed the baby against Reese’s chest. “There you go.”
The baby was warm, its weight insubstantial. It wiggled, all tiny legs and arms, small mouth opening and closing, like a little pup.
“Look at him,” Reese whispered, cradling the small head in his hand. “So tiny.”
“He’s a good size,” the doctor said. Looks healthy. “Good job.”
The baby turned its head, searching for something. Reese shifted him, then gasped when the small mouth closed around his nipple. “Oh, crap.”
“What is it?”
“He’s trying to nurse.” He was nursing already, in fact, sucking on Reese’s nipple, making him hiss. “Oh. Feels weird.”
“Hi, little guy.” Tiberius reached around Reese to caress the baby’s head. “Recognize this voice? I’ve been talking to you for months.”
“Traumatizing our babies with horrible singing attempts, too,” Reese muttered, keeping his face straight with an effort.
The baby waved a tiny fist and sucked harder. Was there milk? Did he have milk? Reese hadn’t managed to think that far ahead.
“Look at him,” Tiberius breathed. “He’s beautiful.”
“And is using me as a milk dispenser.”
“Better than using you as his own private five-star hotel, isn’t it?”
Reese swallowed hard. “Yeah, but...”
“But what?”
“Now he’s on his own, vulnerable and he’s so little...” Damn it, Reese was done crying, wasn’t he?
“He’s not on his own,” Tiberius said. “He’s with us and we’ll take care of him. So don’t worry about that, love.”
“Easy for you to say, I...” Reese tensed as a contraction gripped his belly. “Shit.”
“What is it?”
“I think his brother... ow... is trying to make his way out.” Reese shifted on the bed, lifting one hand from where he held the baby at his chest to hold on to his belly. “Damn it, baby, give me a moment to rest, won’t you?”
The nurse laughed. “Babies do their own thing and never listen.”
“I guess you’re right.” Reese groaned, eyes closing, as the pressure down below increased. “Ooh...”
“Get ready,” the doctor told the nurse, returning to his place between Reese’s legs. “You waste no time, do you, Reese? You’ve barely been here ten minutes and are already giving birth to a second baby.”
“A new record,” the nurse chuckled.
Reese groaned, not amused. “Damn... big... babies.” His swollen belly was tightening more and more until he couldn’t breathe. “Fuck...”
His alpha’s solid chest behind Reese was the only thing keeping him upright. “Good job, Reese,” Tiberius was murmuring in his ear, “you’re doing great.”
He wailed as the pressure became pain, as he felt the baby spreading him open once more. He forced his trembling legs further apart. “Oh ow ow...”
“Push, Reese,” the doctor coaxed, “keep pushing, you’re almost there.”
He felt as if he’d been in labor for weeks, not hours. “I’m pushing.”
“Harder.”
The contraction morphed into this incredible urge to bear down, despite the pain, despite feeling he couldn’t do it, his body taking control.
He screamed as he bore down, the burning below telling him the baby was crowning. “God!”
“That’s it, Reese, that’s it...”
It went faster than with the first baby, at least. He panted, and when the pain worsened, he pushed again, crying out when the baby’s head slid out of him. One more hard push, and the doctor was pulling the baby out.
The sudden lack of pressure below was the most amazing thing.
Reese blinked at the hazy confines of the room, dazed.
“Here he is,” the doctor said, lifting the baby who was already crying. “Congratulations.”
“Where...?” Reese couldn’t catch his breath, black spots dancing in his vision. “Is he okay?”
“Looks just fine,” the doctor said, as he took him off to weigh him and clean him up. “Just give us a minute.”
The baby curled on Reese’s chest released his nipple, gazing up at him with round blue eyes. Reese gazed down at the baby, managing a wobbly smile. “Hey, you.”
“We should have thought of names, huh?” Tiberius whispered.
Reese snorted. It all felt surreal, and he was dizzy, but it was over, and he was so damn relieved he could’ve cried, only he was done with that, thank you very much.
When the doctor came back and placed the other baby into the crook of Reese’s other arm, it was a struggle to keep those tears from falling, though.
“God, look at them,” he whispered, choked up.
“Our babies,” Tiberius breathed, sounding as emotional as Reese felt. “Beautiful.”
Reese shifted the second baby until the little mouth closed over his other nipple. He gasped. He didn’t know why he felt the urge to do it—an omega instinct, he guessed, to feed his babies, and connect to them.
The nurse was gathering soiled towels and throwing away bloodied paper napkins and gloves.
“That’s blood,” Reese muttered, his brain still slow and overwhelmed. “Did I bleed? Wait, did I tear?”
“No, you’re fine. This is just birth fluids.” The nurse smiled at him, not stopping what he was doing. “I must say, this has to be the quickest birth of twins I’ve ever witnessed.”
“That’s because he spent a good part of labor writing exams,” Tiberius said in a mildly exasperated, fond voice.
“Omegas.” The doctor rolled his eyes a little, and Reese realized he was an alpha, too. “Can’t understand them, can’t do without them.”
“Damn right,” Tiberius said with a grin, his arms around Reese and the babies. “Damn right...”
Reese smiled, no more doubts clouding his mind, his heart. Tiberius loved him, and their babies, and he’d found his place in the world.