gaius

Because we took the car, Gray and I managed to beat Foster. After parking it, Gray grabbed Layne before we headed inside.

The moment we stepped inside, I could hear Taylor yelling at some poor doctor or nurse.

"Gamma, please-" I hear one of the poor souls say.

"No! I'm not having this baby until Foster gets here!"

Gray shakes his head and we walk down the hall towards where the yelling his coming from. I see Taylor glaring at one of the doctors and fight the urge to laugh at the poor man's misfortune. When Taylor sees Gray and I, his glare lands on us.

"Where the fuck is Foster?!"

I glance over at Gray who gestures for me to answer. A scowl forms on my face. He would throw me under the bus.

"Well-" I start but thankfully don't have to finish.

Foster's scent grows stronger and I hear his footsteps as he races into the room.

"What the fuck took you so long?!" Taylor glares at his mate.

Foster offers him a sheepish smile. "Well-"

"You know what? I don't give a fuck! Get this baby out of me now!" He growls at the poor doctor.

The man didn't need to be told twice. Foster moves to Taylor's side as the doctors prepare to start. Gray, Layne, and I leave the room as they begin to numb Taylor and prepare for the c-section.

We take a seat just as Onyx and Quinn enter the hospital. Quinn sits beside Gray and takes Quinn and Onyx comes to sit with me. He rests his head on my shoulder as we wait.

...

Crying fills the hall.

We were waiting for around forty-five minutes to an hour before the doctor came out and smiled at us.

"Come meet your nephew," Foster links.

A smile forms on my face as I lightly shake Onyx. We stretch before Gray picks up Layne and Quinn stands. The five of us make our way down the hall and when we get there, Foster looks up at us. I can see the tears threatening to fall from his brown eyes.

He momentarily moves away from Taylor and moves towards the rest of us. Gray sets Layne down in a chair against the wall before he pulls Foster into a hug.

"Congratulations, Fos."

Foster smiles at him and they separate. I move towards him and do the same.

"How does it feel to be a father now?" I grin.

Foster laughs slightly. "It's...crazy, I can't believe I actually have a kid now. How do you do it, Gray?"

Gray looks over at Layne who's in awe at the sight of a new baby.

"You'll learn. You got this," he assures Foster.

Quinn moves to pull Foster into a hug and I move past them, towards Taylor who looks exhausted.

"Congrats, Taylor. How do you feel?"

Taylor smiles slightly and looks down at the baby. "A mixture between happy, tired, and downright terrified."

"You're going to be a great dad," I tell him.

His gaze remains on the baby. "I hope so."

"What name did you decide on?" I ask the both of them.

Foster returns to his mate's side and Taylor looks up at us. The two share a glance before they both smile.

"Ocean Hayes," Taylor says.

Foster glances down at his son and a tear finally falls. Wiping it away, he looks up and gestures for someone to come to him. When I turn around, I see that he was gesturing to Onyx who had been standing by the door beside Layne. Onyx moves to shake his head, but Foster rolls his eyes and stands up before making his way towards him. He grabs Onyx's arm and leads him to the bed.

I watch as Onyx freezes at the sight of the baby. At first, he seems almost scared to breathe or he'd hurt the baby, but a smile slowly makes its way onto his face and I hear him whispering quietly.

"Welcome to the world, Ocean."

...

Once the visitation hours are over, Onyx, Quinn, Layne, Gray, and I walk out the hospital together. Layne had fallen asleep and was being held by Gray. Taylor would stay in the hospital for at least another day, but when he was discharged, they planned to have a small get together for close family and friends who couldn't make it.

When we get outside, he stops to hand Layne over to Quinn and gestures for Onyx and I to stop also. Quinn takes Layne to the car and Gray turns to Onyx.

"Did something happen?" Onyx asks worriedly.

Gray shakes his head. "No, nothing's wrong," he sighs. "Look, Onyx, I know you can't remember the memories of before you shifted, but I owe you an apology. When you first arrived, I unfairly judged you. I made you out to be some kind of monster when, in reality, you're far from being one. Hell, you saved Layne at one point. So, I'm sorry for my prejudice towards you."

Onyx blinked before a smile broke out on his face and he waved Gray off. "It's fine, really."

Gray shook his head. "No it's not. Part of my job as the alpha is to make sure everyone is safe and that doesn't just mean from outside threats, but that they also feel safe to talk to me when something is wrong without being afraid. Over time, I've realized that's something I still need to work on."

"It's really okay, Gray. I'm not even one of the pack members, you shouldn't feel bad," Onyx said.

I opened my mouth to argue otherwise, but Gray beat me to it.

"That's actually another thing I wanted to mention. How would you feel about joining the pack officially? Becoming the second beta?"

Onyx's hazel eyes widened and he glanced over at me as if he was trying to figure out if Gray was being honest or not. I offered him a reassuring smile and he turned back to Gray with one of his own.

"Are you sure?" He asks Gray. Gray nods and his smile grows impossibly bigger. "I'd love to!"

Gray offers Onyx one of his rare smiles before his eyes cloud over. When they return to normal, he glances over at me.

"I'll tell you all the details for the ceremony later. We need to get Layne home now," he explains.

I nod in understanding and Onyx and I watch as Gray leaves.

"You rode with Gray, right?" Onyx questions. I nod and he sighs. "Looks like we're walking back home."

The walk is quiet and calming. As we make our way home, I can't help but think about the possibility of Onyx and I starting a family. It would definitely be later down the line, but I wouldn't mind if we had a baby with his hazel eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" Onyx asks just as the house comes into view.

"Us," I admit. "The future."

I unlock the door and Onyx hums slightly. "What about the future?"

I take a seat on the couch and Onyx follows suit.

"Kids," I say and watch as Onyx's eyes widen. "Not anytime soon...but, what's your thoughts on growing our family someday?"

Onyx is quiet for a minute and I start to think that maybe I shouldn't have asked the question.

"I don't want to have kids."

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly disappointed by that. Kids were something I wanted, but if he didn't then I wasn't going to force him. Seeing the disappointment on my face, his eyes widen and he shakes his head.

"I worded that badly," he sighs. "I want to have kids with you, but I don't actually want to get pregnant and give birth to kids."

"Oh," I say, feeling slightly like an idiot. "That's fine with me, but I do have to say that a baby with your hazel eyes and smile would've been cute," I tease.

Onyx raises a brow. "That can still happen, you know."

His tone is playful but I pause at that. The idea of getting pregnant had never crossed my mind before and I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

"Gaius?" Onyx called out and rested a hand on my shoulder. "You know I'm just joking, right? You don't have to do that if you don't want to."

"I know," I tell at him honestly.

Onyx smiles. "Good. Besides, we still have tome before we have to even think about having kids."

I nod in agreement before pulling him towards me and pressing my lips against his. Onyx kisses me back almost immediately. His hands find my black hair and I feel him gripping at it as I lightly bite his bottom lip. Onyx's mouth opens and I deepen the kiss and push him down on the couch and move so that I'm hovering over him.

We pull apart and those hazel eyes glance up at me as if they're trying to tempt me to go further. My hands begin to move underneath his shirt and I move to kiss him once again.

"Gaius!" Foster calls throughout the link causing me to jump slightly.

Onyx flinches at my reaction and I apologize to him and scowl.

"Yes?" I reply to Foster, not even bothering to hide my annoyance. In the back of my mind, I was cursing him to hell and back.

"The get together is this weekend, make sure you're there!"

"Alright," I link back, but the only thing on my mind is Onyx.

Once the link is closed, I look back down at Onyx whose face is now bright red. He lets out a little couch and with a silent sigh, I climb off of him.

"You're probably hungry...I'm going to make something for us to eat," Onyx says and quickly moves to the kitchen despite the fact that he couldn't cook to save his life.

Fuck you, Foster.

He just had a baby and still finds time in his schedule to manage to cock-block me.