Charlie's POV (surprise!)

*4 months later*

It really was all I could do not to fall off the ceiling laughing my ass off. Really.

Not that I'm like, hanging off the ceiling like Spider-Man. When Damian called a few hours ago panicking about Yuki being missing, I immediately left the wonderful gentlemen in Minnesota who were keeping me company during the night to come and help. After fighting those hunters--who don't hold a candle to some of the hunters I've had to fight over the last few centuries--several months ago, I finally thought I'd get a break from this group of friends. But alas, my destiny is to be consistently butt-fucked by the fates and not getting a single goddamn chance at relaxation.

Anyways, when I arrived, I expected the whirl of werewolves to be running all over the place, but when Vizin told me with a pale face that they extended the search to the surrounding territories, I remembered that it'd been four months since Yuki had gotten pregnant. And from my experience with cat shifters, I remembered that male pregnancies typically lasted around four to five months. Therefore, I could only logically conclude that Yuki's baby was trying to escape his bearer's sac-like womb. Viciously. And holy shit I cannot wait until I spot one of the twins to tell them how they're overreacting.

Speaking of, I believe I see the delightfully anguished face of Galen heading my way. So, I jump off one of the exposed beams of the ceiling and land with a crouch, feeling my lovely hair swish behind me. Superhero landing, of course. I cannot simply do something without my flare.

Just as he opened his mouth to say something with his hands ruining his already-ruined hair, I interrupt with my hip cocked to the side while cleaning under my fingernails with my thumb nail.

"Say, you haven't happened to have noticed certain materials going missing around you lately, would you? Blankets, clothes, ruined bedsheets... hmm?" I drawled.

He opened his mouth a few times before finally stuttering out an answer. "I-I mean... Yeah, but.. What? Charlie, what the fuck? We're trying to find Yu--"

I rolled my eyes the moment he answered. "Yes, yes, but really. Aren't you just answering your own questions here? Hasn't he been disappearing a lot these past few days? Been eating a shit ton of food? Been acting completely out of the ordinary?" His look of incomprehension truly makes me want to slap him. "He's giving birth, you dipshit. Obviously he's going to vanish. He's been building a nest to do so. Didn't Vizin tell you how cat shifters do it? I should rip his cock off, that little fucker." I huff out and cross my arms.

Galen still has that look of dumbass on his face, so I grab him by his ear and lead him to where I know his father is: his office.

I kick open the door and storm in with Galen whining as I pull him along. Vizin looks up, visibly startled. Time for a meltdown, ladies and gentlefolk.

"Why haven't you been educating this boy, Vizin? What the hell is this chaos?! This is a completely unnecessary mass of commotion!" I shout at him, throwing Galen into the chair in front of the desk, making it break as he lands, and stomping my foot.

Vizin cautiously holds up his hands in a "calming" gesture, before standing up and grabbing his cane. He hobbles around the desk, balancing as well as one can with one leg, a prosthetic, and a cane. He leans up against it.

"What seems to be the problem here, Charlie?" He asks with a fake, bright smile on his face.

"The problem", I make sure to instill as much sass as I can into the word, "is that half of the pack is scattered across Canada and the other half is running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Yuki. Is. Giving. Birth. I mean, how could you have not seen the signs?! He's been nesting! He's been preparing for the birth! I thought I taught you better. All this chaos is just going to stress him out more! Call back the pack! End this ridiculousness!" I shout at him, the longer my rant goes on, the lower Vizin leans his head to show his submission.

"Yes, sir," he mumbles as his face shutters unto the familiar expression of one communicating via pack mind-link.

He looks back up with a hesitant expression. "You never taught me about cat shifters. How was I supposed to know how they breed?" He asks with a sullen look to his face. I pause, thinking for a moment before I realize he's right. Not tat I'll ever admit it.

"I shouldn't be your primary source of information, you stupid boy. Haven't you heard of information bias? Now, where's Thing 2?"

Just as the words left my mouth, Damian comes stomping in with a livid twist to his features, but pauses at the sight of his father bowing his head to me and his brother on his knees, staring at the office desk with a pout. As the rational brother, he looks to me to explain rather than demanding an answer. Such a cute little wolfie. Truly his mother's son.

"Yuki's giving birth. Stop looking for him. If one of your pack members, or god forbid you, were to stumble upon his nest, they'd be gutted on the spot. He's been collecting clothes and things that smell like family the last few days and taking them to the nest he's been building. He's also been eating a lot to make sure his body is in optimal condition for the birth. Especially for the immense amount of blood he'll be losing once he's cut open." I explain, pausing as the last few words make all three men pale. "What'd I say?"

Vizin wipes a hand over his face and stares at me from around it. "Cut open? Were we supposed to have a Cesarean surgery set up for him?"

My face scrunches up. "What? No. He cuts himself open with his claws to extract the fetus." At that, Damian's legs collapse and his face turns green. Galen passes out. A sigh leaves my mouth. Weakness must run in the father's side of the family. Their mother never would've behaved like this.

"How the hell did you think male shifters give birth? Through their assholes?" The sheepish expression on Vizin's face tells me that's exactly what they thought, and what he probably told his sons. A groan leaves me. "No, no, no, that doesn't even make sense. I know the asshole can stretch up to 7 inches but that's just stretching it. Literally." The pun makes a wheeze leave me as I clutch my knees with my hands, wiping a fake tear from my eye. I stand back up to see the tail-end of three pairs of eyes rolling in exasperation. I pout. Nobody appreciates me in this house.

I stroll to the desk chair which sits behind the desk and sit like a king looking over his subjects. "Okay, kids, sit down and let's have a talk. When two boys, one being a male shifter and the other being whatever-the-fuck-ever, the male shifter gets a little lovin' to his booty during his heat. The subtle cramps before one's heat is the production of a sac-like womb provided by the body with a little help from Mother Magic. The spermies go into the asshole and up a chamber that is usually closed and joins with an egg and makes a baby. Or two. Or three. Anyways, four or five months come and go and, the male shifter builds a nest in a place that is very secure and very special to him," I catch the look that the twins exchange, "and he goes feral and lets instincts guide him to cut himself open and take the baby out, and do all that after-birth jazz."

I look at the three who are sitting on their knees and listening like students listening to the master. Which I am. Unless I want someone else to be.

I stand up and clap my hands, making the two boys startle. "So. How many days has it been since he first went missing? Two?" Damian shakes his head. "Three?" He nods. "Fantastic! He should be done by now. We can either wait for him, or we can try and find-"

"We know where he'll be," Galen and Damian say simultaneously. Ah, Weasleys.

"Then let's go. Just you boys and me, okay? You for the emotional and me because I'm curious as fuck." I skip ahead of them and down the stairs, laughing to myself as they stumble behind me. We make it outside and then I remember that I don't know where to go, so I stop to let them catch up, and then I start to follow them. I grab one of their hands each and merrily skip, swinging them by our sides. Ignoring the brush and sticks under my bare feet, we make our way through the forest until we reach a lovely creek. We follow the creek until we reach an area with a bunch of felled trees that seem to have melded and formed a bunch of hollowed-out sections.

The faint cry of a baby reaches my ears, and the lack of reaction from Damian and Galen as they search the area with their eyes tells me that they can't hear it. With a cackle, I run off toward the sound, dismissing their shouts behind me.

I jump into the hollow where the crying was coming from, which is now quiet, and smile at the sight.

Yuki lays on a bunch of soiled garments and blankets (ew, birth juice) with a baby wrapped in a bundle feeds from Yuki's chest. Yuki snaps his head up at the sound of me, his eyes glowing bright green in the faint light of the morning and his teeth bared in a snarl. Once he sees me, he slowly relaxes and smiles a tired smile at me. I grin right back.

"Whatsup, darling Yuki? Have a tough time?" I say while edging my way closer to see the baby. He leans the blanket back, letting me see the features of the cute lil bean.

"Mhm. It's a girl," he slurs out with a sleepy grin. I laugh gently in turn, seeing the lovely blue eyes that stares back at me. Her brown tufts of hair are somewhat matted with spit, obviously from Yuki's grooming.

A lot of people coo over babies because of how cute they supposedly are. I've never really gotten the appeal, as they all mostly look the same to me. Little pudges of dough, squalling and covered in blood, thin and alien-like. I can't ever see myself cooing over a baby, but more at the thought. The long, countless years of my life truly make me appreciate the little lives that are measured inside those babies. The potential that is untouched in those babies. The baby could die before adulthood. Or it could live and die in its 90s. Or it could be like me, turned into an immortal monster, cursed, and forced to lived for an eternity, never to age, never to be like the others of its species. Just, existing.

I can already see it. This lovely little baby, with her beautiful blues that may change into greens or browns with long or short brown hair, growing up happy, falling in love along the way, heartbroken, recovery, and repeat; I can see her living to the happy age that most werewolves reach before the magic fades and lets them pass on to the afterlife of their beliefs, probably the Greek afterlife whose ways are taught for the creations of the moon goddess. A long, happy life. a blessed life. So unlike my baby sister.

Unwittingly, my hand reaches out and strokes that chubby, pale cheek, smiling at the noise that leaves her mouth. A soft noise from Yuki breaks me from my thoughts. I look up and see his concerned expression.

A soft smile crosses my face. "I'm fine, darling. Just reminiscing." I ruffle his hair and he laughs, startled. Galen and Damian finally reach the hollow. I watch them scent each other and reunite from the absence that was no doubt an eternity to them. Damian and Galen take turns holding their new daughter, reassuring themselves of her and their mate's safety.

"Have you named her?" I hear Galen asks Yuki softly from my position outside the hollow.

A noise of confirmation. "Sindra. Her name is Sindra." Ah.

I hear a choked off noise and a separate inhale. "After our mother?" Damian asks, and then its siltent. I can't help but smile.

After a few minutes, the twins stand, one with the baby, the other with Yuki, and we all start making our way back to the pack house.

The sight that greets us is pretty much the entire pack standing around the front lawn, impatiently waiting for the arrival of the new heir of the pack. Discomforted by the crowd, I slink backwards and around in the line of the forest to make my way to the back of the crowd, where Vizin is leaning against the arm of one of the chairs by the entrance of the pack house.

"Not at the front of the line to meet your new grandbaby, old man?" I ask as I sit in the chair Vizin is leaning on. He huffs above me.

"No, I can wait my turn. And really? Old man? You were calling me 'boy' just an hour ago." He scoffs.

"Everyone's 'boy' to me. Very few aren't," I laugh out, his laugther joining mine.

We both watch the laughter and celebration a bit aways, where everybody converged on the emerging family walking out of the forest. Then I speak up.

"He named her Sindra, you know?" I tell him, looking up at his content face. At my words, his face breaks in a smile, and I pretend not to see his eyes tearing up.

"She would've been proud of them. So, so proud," he chokes out and covers his eyes with one of his hands. I politely look away, but put a firm hand on his shoulder to show him I'm here. We both go silent as he composes himself.

A sigh escapes Vizin. "You're leaving again, aren't you?" He asks, like he did as a kid when I'd vanish for a few years at a time. I look at the rising sun that's peeking over the line of trees.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I will."

"Where will you go?" His hand is now covering mine on his shoulder. I squeeze it.

"Not sure. Egypt, maybe."

"Ah. Home?"

"Home."

fin