by Sy Walker
She smirked then.
“What?” he asked, eyebrows raised in concern.
She shook her head. “You are convinced it’s a boy, aren’t you?”
Luke’s blush deepened. “A girl would be nice, too.”
Maggie laughed. “Whatever our cub is, he or she will be awesome. Because his or her father is awesome.” She reached up and rubbed his strong back, kissing his cheek.
She was not laughing long afterward when she went into labor. As usual, she was sitting on Luke’s comfortable couch, reading a book. Suddenly, she felt a wetness in her sweatpants and a sharp pain in her lower belly.
“Owww, fuck!” she shouted. “Luke! I think it’s happening!”
He was doing what he usually did – obsessing over every last detail of the room he had created. When Luke heard Maggie’s yell, he rushed out of the room and down the stairs. “You think so?” he asked her, panting and excited.
“Well, I did not just pee myself,” Maggie said. Then she thought about it. She had been awfully close to peeing herself lately, but no. This was more than pee. She gestured to her crotch.
“Okay,” Luke replied. “Well, the first thing we’re going to do is get you out of those pants. Probably the shirt, too.”
“Now is not the time to strip me, you pervert,” she said, then smiled faintly. It had come out like she was angry, but she was not. She was just suddenly in a lot of ungodly pain.
Luke was surprised at first by her irked tone, but then he smiled back at her. Carefully, he took her sweatpants off of her, along with her demolished panties. Maggie removed her shirt but left her black bra on because she wanted some dignity, god dammit.
She wondered if there was time for them to go to the hospital and deliver the baby there, but then she realized that a normal, human hospital would likely not know how to handle a werebear baby. Also, she knew that if she stood up, she was going to want to rip someone’s head off. So she stayed there, nestled into the couch where they had conceived this impatient little cub.
While she lay there, waiting for the contractions to come closer together – joy – she got her phone and texted Trish.
You’re probably going to want to come over soon. But not currently because I am in labor and I might kill you, lol
Maggie set the phone back down and closed her eyes as another wave of contractions struck her. “Come on, baby, be nice to me. I’ve done really well for you so far.”
Luke gathered up a bunch of towels, a bucket full of warm water and some pillows for Maggie to lie on while they waited. It seemed like he had been preparing for this all of his life. With the size of his house and the mantle just asking to be filled with photographs, perhaps he had been. Maggie should have seen it as a sign.
The contractions started coming faster and stronger five and a half hours later. She was not sure if the labor had been sped up like the pregnancy itself had been, but she was glad she would not have to wait around in agony forever.
After a relatively smooth labor, Maggie held her baby son in her arms. She was crying happy tears and smiling down at him. Luke was sitting with them on the couch, happily sniffling along with her. He petted her hair. “See? I knew it would be a boy,” he said.
“I guess Papa Bear knows best,” she replied.
Their son had lots of dark brown hair and the gray-blue eyes of his father. Maggie hoped his eyes would stay that way. It was one of her favorite features of Luke’s, along with all of the rest of him.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you,” she responded.
Leaning down over her, Luke kissed her and then kissed the top of their son’s head.
For the next two days, Maggie and the baby slept. She could not even think about having guests over or doing any activities beyond relaxing, eating and feeding her cub. Also, she was having a difficult time figuring out a name for him. She had taken to calling him Cubbie, but that was not a name that was meant to last.
“What are some of the names you like?” she asked Luke.
Maggie wondered if that was really something that they should have talked about earlier on in their relationship. She had always thought it was such a cliché to meet a man and make lists of future baby names. Who did that? And now, here she was, wishing that she had such a list. All of her creativity for things like that seemed to have been drained out of her.
She thought about asking Trish for ideas, but she really wanted the baby to have a name before people started coming over to meet him. It would not be good if people asked her what his name was and she came up with nothing. As a matter of fact, Trish had already asked her and she just did not respond. New moms were too busy to answer texts…
That was a good excuse, right?
Luke looked pensive. In typical Luke fashion, he took her question very seriously, almost as if he was being interviewed on 60 Minutes or something. Maggie watched his expressions change as he kept thinking of the different possibilities that entered his mind.
Finally, with a grin, he was ready to answer.
“I really like the name Sebastian,” he said. “Not because of the crab; because of Shakespeare.”
Maggie chuckled. “Well, obviously. You’re too old to have any attachment to a Disney movie from 1989.”
“Watch it!” he laughed.
Smiling, she thought about Sebastian. She liked the sound of it, though she did always think of a little, red crab. She was not sure if it was because he had mentioned it or because that name was just attached to the image since her childhood. “I like it,” she said at last. “What if we called him Bastian for short, because of another ‘80s movie that I love?”
Luke kept on beaming at her. He nodded. “Sure. I’m glad you chose that and not Atreyu.”
“Hmmm,” she said, pretending to think about changing her mind.
Once she had rested up and gotten used to being a mother, she invited Trish to come over and meet Bastian. She was able to fit back into her jeans, though she still wore Luke’s button-up shirts because she was shy about her tummy. Maggie had lost weight since delivering the baby, of course, but there was still some excess that she had not had a chance to work on losing yet.
Again, that was largely just an excuse, but she would work on it.
Before her friend’s arrival, Maggie went around the house, tidying things up that she had not been able to get around to post were-battle and pre-Bastian’s birth. Luke helped her, of course, and he mainly handled the fun part, which was entertaining the baby so that he did not cry and fuss the whole time. Luckily, Luke lived for being the Daddy Distraction. She smiled as she brought out some glasses, a bottle of wine and some snacks. His silly voices and her baby’s laughter was her favorite soundtrack.
The doorbell rang and Luke went to answer it, holding little Sebastian in his arms. Maggie came over and took over the door-opening duties since it was her friend to greet.
“Sorry,” he said, moving out of the way but staying close. “Force of habit.”
She appreciated that he was always there, looking out for her. There was a peep hole in the door, though, so she used that and made sure it was Trish on the porch and not Keith or some other villainous axe murderer. Even the cameras showed Trish. “It’s okay. After everything that’s happened, it’s better to be overly cautious versus not caring.”
Luke smiled and bounced Bastian in his arms. “Overly cautious!” he shouted triumphantly
Maggie opened the door and hugged Trish, so glad to see her again after the last time they hurriedly said goodbye to each other. “How’s it going, Magpie?” Trish asked as they embraced. “You look great.”
“I’m tired, but also really happy,” Maggie replied. She invited her friend inside and introduced her to Bastian. “This is Bastian Shaw. And this, finally, is Luke. Also Shaw.” She smiled a bit, feeling silly.
Trish smiled a friendly smile at the baby and took his little foot, giving it a wiggle. “Hello, Bastian. I’m Patricia.”
“It’s so good to meet you at long last,” Luke said.
“You were probably starting to wonder if I was imaginary, huh?” she said with a laugh.
Even though Trish was speaking to Luke, she obviously could not take her eyes off of Bastian. Finally, she looked from Luke to Maggie and gave a sideways smirk. “So is he going to start turning into a bear soon? That’s going to be exciting for his babysitter.”
Luke wrapped an arm around Maggie and they all laughed together. Bastian even smiled a little, though he had no idea what was so funny. They all knew that Trish was going to be that babysitter.
Once a part of the craziness, always a part of the craziness.
THE END
MC ROMANCE
OUTLAW HERO
“Come on, come on, pick up,” Melanie Carr said under her breath, surprised that the payphone actually worked. She couldn’t remember the last time she had found a payphone, let alone one that still functioned. Stevie, her two-year-old son, was asleep in the carseat at her feet. She had driven all night from Dublin, Ohio to arrive in Washington DC the following morning. Melanie normally planned things better, but this time she had to act fast.
Finally, there came the sound of someone answering her call for help. “Hello?” the muffled voice of her former best friend Casey asked.
“Casey?” Melanie replied. “This is Melanie Carr from Ohio State, your sophomore roommate. We talked on Facebook recently about me visiting?”
There was a slight sigh on the other end that Melanie suspected she was not intended to hear. “It got that bad?”
She clutched the hard, metal, barely bendable phone cord and a sob came out as she spoke. “Yes,” she said. “It got that bad. I’m at a gas station outside 270. What’s your address again?”
After packing her kid back into the car, she made her way to Casey’s house in the DC suburbs, somehow finding it through her tears and the fog of the early morning. She was relieved to see that she would not have to go through the awkward business of ringing the doorbell once there; Casey was already standing on the front porch, waiting for her.
Melanie put the car into park and got out, keeping the back door of her small, white SUV open so she could retrieve her son and her luggage once the reintroductions were over. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her green rain jacket and walked up to greet her waiting friend. “I never intended to spring this up on you, but…”
Casey looked at her college friend. Melanie looked remarkably the same even though they were now eight years older. She was still slender with long, curly golden brown hair, blue-green eyes and a cute dusting of freckles across her nose. But the purple bruise around her left eye… That was new.
“Hush,” Casey said as soon as she noticed that. She opened her arms for Melanie, who gladly fell into them. Casey was several inches shorter than her friend, with short blonde hair and glasses, and she had always been the more nurturing of the two. Even now, even though Melanie had a toddler, Casey was more mothering. Melanie needed a friend like Casey back in her life.
They unpacked the car together and took little sleepy Stevie up to one of the bedrooms so he could continue to sleep, oblivious to his mother’s problems. “Thank you,” Melanie said, pulling her long hair into a ponytail. She looked exhausted. “Jake hit me for the last time. He went to bed and I hit the road. I promise, it will only be for a few days. Once I can get a job, we’ll be out of your hair.”
Casey waved that off, smiling at her friend. “You can stay as long as you need. I’ve got this house all to myself, and it’s so good to see you again.” She gently rubbed Melanie on her upper arm. “Get some sleep and you can start thinking about jobs and stuff later. You’ve got my number, right?”
Melanie smiled back, appreciative. “I do. Thank you so much.”
She went up to her bedroom that she would be sharing with Stevie for the time being. He was still fast asleep, wrapped up in the blankets. She did her best to get in beside him without waking him, and was soon asleep, too.
When Melanie woke up, it was well into the middle of the afternoon. Stevie was playing quietly with some of his toys in the corner, but he was relieved when he saw that she was awake. “Mommy, where are we?”
She rushed to his side as he sat on the floor. She had been unable to pack all of his toys up so quickly in their spontaneous move, but she managed to bring his favorites along with them. “We’re at my nice friend Casey’s house,” she told him. “We’re going to be living here for a while until we get a new house.”
“Where are we?” he asked again, not understanding that they were far away from what they called home. “Where’s Daddy?”
Melanie bit her lip. “We’ve moved away from Daddy,” she told him, trying to give him the news as gently as possible. “We are going to live in Washington DC now. You will love it here. This is where all of the presidents live!” She widened her eyes and her mouth as she told him that, so he would feel excited rather than concerned about his no-good father.
Stevie gasped a little bit. “Even Taft??” The little boy had a strange fascination with President William Howard Taft ever since Melanie had shown him a picture of America’s heftiest president. Stevie liked him because ‘he looks like a walrus.’
“Even Taft,” Melanie said, nodding wisely. “If you are very good, I will take you to visit him at some point. Would you like that?”
Gasping even more, Stevie grinned. “Yes! I am very good!”
She laughed. “You have to prove it to me, though.” She looked at her watch. It was nearing five p.m. and Casey would be home from work soon. Casey worked for a TV news station in DC, and that had allowed her to be able to afford her nice house in the suburbs. Melanie was hoping that she might have the same luck if she got out there and applied herself. “My nice friend is almost home from work and Mommy needs you to stay with her for a while, okay?”
“Promise you won’t go see Taft without me?”
Melanie smiled at her son. “I promise.”
She kissed his head and unzipped one of her bags, pulling out her black laptop. Before she ventured forth to see what jobs she could go apply for, she needed to do some research.
When Casey came home, Melanie felt as ready as she would ever be. “Do you mind watching Stevie while I go apply for a few of these things?” she asked her friend. It was getting into the evening now, so many of the jobs that she found would have to be applied for online, but she had found some restaurants and retail positions that she could still go check out in person.
“Sure,” Casey said, smiling. “Here, you can borrow my Metro card.”
Melanie took the offered card and carefully placed it into her purse. “He’s really into grilled cheese and chicken nuggets right now,” she told her. “His bedtime is nine o’clock. I’ll hopefully be back by then.”
With that, she drove to the nearest Metro station and parked in the lot. She added money to the card and headed into DC. She’d visited the city once, on an elementary school field trip, but that had been when she was about eight, so she didn’t remember that much of it. It looked pretty as the evening slowly descended on it, however. She appreciated a city that was pretty at night. Growing up in Ohio, she was mostly used to seeing corn and farmland. She was ready for something different.
It turned out that the places she had written down as potential new jobs were all either not looking for someone new or not looking for someone like her. She ended up being told by one of them to try applying on their website, but that was the best news she received.
Feeling disappointed with herself, she decided to pop into one of the bars she saw and see if maybe they needed any help. The place was lively even though it was a weeknight. Melanie admired the space and the people who were hanging out there. Most of the people seemed to be partying with their friends after work. They appeared to be around her age, which gave her hope. Maybe this would be a good place to network…
She sat down at the bar, not intending to drink but hopin
g to get someone’s attention. She had her son to get home to, after all, so she wasn’t planning to be there too long. The bartender came over to her. “What’ll you have?” he asked her.
Looking up at him, Melanie’s jaw nearly fell to the floor. He was tall and the perfect amount of muscular, with short, jet black hair and piercing green eyes. He also had several tattoos on his arms and chest, including a large one of a tiger on his upper bicep. Melanie smirked a little to herself. She hadn’t ever been interested in men with tattoos, but this one intrigued her for some reason. He was wearing a white tank top and slightly holey jeans. He also wore dog tags, which dangled from his neck as he looked down at her.
She suddenly realized that a long time had passed and she’d merely stared at him rather than answering his question. “Uh… Diet Coke, please?” she asked, instantly feeling lame. This bartender looked like the sort of person who expected everyone to drink hard liquor. And she could not blame him. Bartenders made their money from people buying the heavy stuff, not fountain drinks.
Instead of snarling at her like the villain in a Popeye cartoon, he smiled. “Sure thing,” he said. Skillfully grabbing a glass from the counter and flipping it in his hand so the right end was up, he poured ice and soda into it and handed it over.
“Thank you,” Melanie said politely. She had not expected him to have such a cute smile. He even had a big dimple in his left cheek.
“No problem,” he replied. “You’re not from around here, are you?”
It was her turn to smile. “How could you tell? Do I look that lost?”
He leaned against the bar, chuckling. “I didn’t say that. I just noticed your accent, and noticed that you were looking around like you’d never been here before. This isn’t exactly a tourist spot.”
Melanie blushed. She didn’t realize that she had a noticeable accent. Maybe she was just used to it. Casey had one, too, though it was somewhat fainter since she had lived in the DC area for several years now. “I just moved here from Ohio,” she explained. “I was hoping to find a job, but so far… Well, I’m here.” She held up her Diet Coke as if she was making a toast and then took a long sip.