I grunt, not quite agreeing, but she's not wrong either.
“Anyway, I wanted to show you something.”
“Yeah?” Fuck, she's looking good. Our old lady. I thought King, Hero, and Wild Child were mad for shacking up with Emily together, but here we are, doing the same fucking thing. Only it's four of us instead of three.
“Come here.” She sits right down on the stairs and waves me over. “You're going to like this.” No idea what's going on, but her excited smile is enough for me. If it makes her happy, I'll do it.
I wipe my hands on my rag and toss it onto the seat of my bike. “All right.” Maybe she wants a little one-on-one attention? She does that sometimes. We can't run trains all the time.
“Come!” She rests her hand on her bulge and suddenly her expression lights up. “Quick.”
“Something wrong?” I rush to her side, but she just grabs my hand and pulls it closer, putting it right on her stomach.
“Feel,” she says with a grin.
“What am I—” Something pushes against my palm, right through her belly. “Fuck, is that—” My hand is bumped again. “It's kicking.”
I've always been a man of few words, but it's not often I'm literally fucking speechless. It’s not that I don’t have things to say, I just choose not to. But this time, I don't have a fucking clue. That's my goddamn baby, inside of Alessa, moving. I always told myself that I'd be a better parent than my Mom, and I think I'm doing okay by Isabella, even if I don't have Bear's experience and beard, or Snark's easy laughter, or Viking's booming voice. I try my fucking best.
But this? This is the first time I've had the chance to be there from the fucking start. To see the changes. To know what's coming and what my role is. And it fucking chokes me up. It feels dumb, but it fucking does. Eyes stinging, lump in my fucking throat, the whole goddamn thing.
And when I look at Alessa, she's looking right back at me, and she fucking knows.
“What did the other guys say?” I ask, trying to defuse the moment.
“Nothing. I haven't shown them yet.” I don't deserve the smile of understanding she gives me. “I thought you'd want to be the first one. You deserve this moment and so many more.”
Fuck.
I yank her shirt up to under her tits, just so I can see—feel—better. Can I actually see it? “Holy shit, there it is.”
Just off to the right, her belly stretches, just a little, just enough to show the path of a little foot under her skin. It's freaky and amazing at the same fucking time. That's my fucking baby in there. And she showed me first.
“Are you… are you crying?” She's not laughing at me. Just looking, and biting her lower lip like she's uncertain what to say.
“Fuck no.” I bend down to kiss her stomach, right where I saw the foot pass by. It has nothing to do with hiding my face a moment.
“Hawk. Come here.” She puts a dainty finger under my chin to make me look up at her, then opens her arms when she's got me. “Come.”
As soon as I'm close enough, she wraps her arms around my neck and pulls my face into her chest, cushioning it on her big tits. It's not a request for fucking, not this time. She's offering comfort, and I can't fucking help myself. I take it.
“I know I screwed up with Izzy, but that’s not going to happen again. Never. You're in from the start. We're in from the start.”
“Alessa, I forgave you a long time ago. Forgive yourself.”
She squeezes harder. “Yeah,” she whispers.
And we sit there for a long time, together, while I keep my hand on her belly feeling for more. It happens one more time, and then I'm guessing the baby falls asleep.
“We should show the others,” I say. “We're a fucking team.”
“Yeah. I just, you know, thought you'd appreciate it.”
“I do. Thanks.”
I lead her up the stairs, even get the fucking door for her. Four of us and one of her is always going to make things weird, but we're good at fixing things together. And I'm going to make sure it'll be good.
Alessa. Isabella. The new baby. Viking. Snark. Bear. Me.
We're going to be real fucking good.