Chapter 44: Inseparable

Epilogue

Wyatt

Of course, we were concerned about Bella and the baby. Her body had been malnourished for such a long time, and she had barely begun to recover. Dr. Irena kept a close eye on everything, but we needn’t have worried. Bella bloomed like a flower, and she was perfectly, vibrantly healthy. She never got any of the typical pregnancy symptoms like nausea. She did get a food craving though. The woman started putting hot sauce and hot peppers on everything. EVERYTHING. Byron leaned over to me with wide eyes when she put chili powder on her watermelon and said, “I hope this isn’t going to be some indication of the temperament of the kid!”

“I heard that!” Bella snickered, and wiggled her eyebrows at us as she savored her hot and spicey fruit. “But I’ll have you know, this baby is going to be an angel. Look, I feel great! I’ve never felt better!”

She had a huge appetite for everything, and not just food. All I can say is that its good she had two of us, or I might not survive her pregnancy. The woman was insatiable! If I'm going to die though, that’s the way I want to go.

I wanted to ground her from training for the duration, but I didn’t succeed. I did ban her from participating in any hand to hand, but she was still out there almost every morning, jogging the run, doing light weights with her arms, or attacking the punching bag. She played hard, and then she would march back in the house, take a hot shower, and collapse for a nap. Naps were now a regular thing, and she wanted someone to sleep with her. So, Byron and I took turns being her napping buddy – it was the only way we could get any work done in the pack. And frankly, after the workouts she gave us at night, we welcomed the extra sleep.

Her body continued to fill out and improve, even as that little bump grew into a rather enormous beachball. Although she had regular ultrasounds to make sure that the baby was growing and developing normally, she didn’t want to know the sex, so it remained a mystery to everyone but the doctor. Not knowing killed me, but it also built the suspense and excitement as the day grew ever closer. I could only imagine a beautiful baby girl with our blue eyes, or a baby boy with a wild top of Bella’s unique hair. Whatever it was, I was already madly in love with it. I loved to lay at night and stroke her belly and tell my baby about our day. Byron had taken to singing to it, which was so adorable we all forgave the fact that he was always a little off-key.

Daphne dragged Bella out shopping as often as she could, and put some serious dents in our credit card accounts buying all sorts of baby-themed things. Who knew that babies could be so expensive? There was furniture, clothes, toys, little rubber bulbs for sucking up boogers, and a million pairs of tiny baby shoes. The shoes were cute, sure, but how many pairs of shoes does a baby who can’t even walk really need? Then there were blankets and cloth diapers, and funny little slings for carrying said baby... and tubes of cream for the kid's butt. But I could only smile indulgently as Bella showed us her latest purchases, and secretly admit that I had also spent a small fortune buying things for my baby, and my mate. Kids need more than clothes, right? They need baby monitors, and those music programs to make them extra smart and hand-carved, hand painted wolf-mobiles to hang over their cribs...

Bella didn’t even slow down until the last two weeks, and only then because her belly had become so big and awkward she could hardly move. She waddled around the house restlessly, or sat in the office bent over pack paperwork or her self-assigned homework. Sometimes she snuck in the kitchen and started baking amazing things. The pack was delighted with her pregnancy baking, as she threw down all kinds of unusual delights... pineapple upside down cakes, cheese cakes, banana bread, and chocolate lava cupcakes. If they didn’t love her before, she definitely won their hearts with all her hormonally induced baking.

We knew the day was approaching, and so Byron and I never left her alone. Yes, we were hovering like a couple of mother hens. I’m not sure how she ever put up with us. I know Daphne was irritated with us, and constantly chased us out of the room. “Oh my GOD, let the woman BREATH!” She would exclaim, “Get out now!”

And yet in the end, we almost slept through it. We were all snuggled together on the bed, wrapped around Bella as best we could with her big belly in the way. Bella was restless, and had spent a lot of time wriggling around, trying to find a comfortable spot, only to have to climb off the bed just as soon as she found a good position, grumbling about having to pee.

I had rolled over on my back and fallen into an exhausted sleep when I was awoken by something warm and wet under my thigh. I sat up sleepily and turned to a horrified looking Bella. “I think I wet the bed,” she whispered, “I can’t believe I just wet the bed.”

Byron was laying on his stomach with his face planted in the pillow. He raised his head up and wiped the drool off his face. “Who wet the bed?”

“I just—oh!” She caught her stomach and grimaced. You could actually see the muscles around her stomach clench, and at the same time, the puddle of wet in the bed got bigger.

“Bella!” I jumped off the bed, “Did your water break?”

“I don’t know!” she hissed. “I...” her face changed. “I need to go to the bathroom!”

We helped her up off the bed, and she shuffled into the bathroom as fast as a pregnant woman could go. I would have followed her in, but she slammed the door in my face.

“Bella? Bella what’s going on?” I asked anxiously, my hand resting on the door.

“Call Doctor Irena!” I heard her gasp on the other side of the door. “I think we’re having a baby.”

The toilet flushed, and the sink ran, and then after another minute the door opened. She had discarded her wet pajama bottoms. “Okay, lets... lets just stay calm,” I said, feeling anything but calm. “Lets get you dressed, and down to the medical wing--”

Just then she groaned, and squatted down, holding on to the door frame. “I-- I don’t think--- I’m going to make it to the infirmary Wyatt!”

I swore, and yanked on my hair, and sent a frantic message back through the mind link to Dr. Irena, who assured me that she was in route.

“Lets get her on the bed,” Byron suggested.

She didn’t seem to have the capacity to walk any more, so we brought her to the bed. We stuffed all kinds of pillows behind her so that she was mostly sitting up. Another contraction hit, and she groaned and gasped. “I hope... you weren’t overly... fond of these sheets!” She cried, as the contraction passed and she dropped back against the pillows.

"Who cares about the sheets! We need a bigger bed anyway! And we're having a baby!" Byron exclaimed.

“What can we do? How can we help you?”

She didn’t answer me, she just made a guttural noise as another contraction hit. “Oh God. Okay. Well, lets just see what’s going on, okay?” I eased her knees apart and took a peek. I have been up close and personal with Bella’s intimate parts on many occasions, but lets just say, I’d never seen them like this. I took a deep breath and looked at Byron. “She’s right. The baby is coming now. Get... supplies.”

“What supplies?” Byron yelped.

“I don’t know! Towels. Baby blankets. Sterilize some scissors!”

Byron swore and started to scramble around. I took a deep breath and smiled at my mate. “Are you ready Bella?”

“NO!” She gasped between contractions. “Not! Ready!”

I patted her thigh, “Well, ready or not, you are about to become a Mama.” I went back in the bathroom and washed my hands, just in case Dr. Irena delayed and I had to... I don’t know, catch? I was sweating like crazy, and my hands were shaking, but I knew that Bella needed me to be calm. I could see that she was scared, but she was also in too much pain, and too focused on what was going on in her body.

“I... need to push!” She cried. She had ahold of her own knees and was curled up like a C-shape, her muscles were shaking and quaking with the effort she was making to bare down.

“Oh! I see it!” I whispered, watching transfixed as the baby’s head began to crown. Byron rushed in and dumped a bunch of clean bath towels and baby receiving blankets on the bed, and then he went and knelt beside Bella, trying to support her as best he could.

“You are doing great baby,” he tried to reassure her, “You are so strong.” He wiped her sweaty hair off her forehead as she rested back and tried to catch her breath. She said something that sounded less than flattering, just before she cried out and doubled up again.

I watched in absolute wonderment as her body performed the miraculous feat of bringing a child into the world. I felt hot tears stream down my face, as with the next push, the little head appeared. I cradled the weight of my baby’s head, while my beautiful mate rested a moment, panting for breath. “Bella, you are doing beautifully. One more time, and you’ll get the shoulders out.”

“I’m... I’m so tired,” she gasped, “I can’t.”

“You can, baby. You can do anything.” I knew how much pain she was in. Literally, thanks to the mating bond, I felt her pain, at least a fraction of it. I felt the tight cramps around my pelvis, I felt the burning in parts I didn’t even have, and I felt her exhaustion, the heavy fatigue. It only made me feel more in awe of my woman, and everything she was capable of.

With a primal scream she curled up again, teeth clenched, eyes screwed shut, whole body shaking as she bore down through the contraction. And then with a gush of fluid and blood, my baby came slithering out into my hands.

“Oh, my god! Oh my god! Bella, you’ve done it. Byron!” I was crying, unashamedly. ”We have a son!”

I wrapped him in a towel, and marveled at his perfection. He was as bald as a cue ball, and all red and squished, but I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. He took one look at me an started to squall, his good strong lungs voicing his displeasure at his abrupt entry into the world. I lifted him carefully and placed him on Bella’s belly.

“A baby!” Byron whispered, tears running down his face as he stared awestruck at the squirming bundle. “I can’t believe we made a baby!”

Dr. Irena came bursting in at that moment. “I missed it! Oh for Pete’s sake! Well, looks like you didn’t need me after all!” She threw a bag on the bed and started bustling around. “He’s a big strong boy, alright. Good job Luna, he’s beautiful!” She put a funny little clamp on the umbilical cord and then held out a pair of scissors. “Who wants to cut cord?”

Of course I wanted to do it, but I felt like I’d already gotten a special favor by being the first one to hold our child, so I nodded to Byron and let the doctor pass the scissors over to him. His hands were shaking as he clipped off the cord that had tied the baby to its mother, its life source.

“Alright then, lets get him cleaned up while we wait for the placenta, shall we?”

I could see that Bella was reluctant to let go of the bundle. She gave the baby a trembling kiss before letting the doctor take the baby from her arms. I crawled on the bed beside her and hugged her in my arms. “You are so amazing baby. You have no idea.”

She smiled up at me, her eyes tired but satisfied. “We did it.”

“Of course we did.” Byron slid in behind her, and kissed the top of her head. “You were magnificent.”

She looked at each of us in turn, tears coursing down her cheeks. “What will we name him?”

I glanced at Byron over her head, just as the doctor returned with the baby, now diapered and wrapped in a clean blanket. I cleared my throat. “We were thinking... perhaps we could name him after our fathers.”

“Liam Louis Redhawk.” Byron supplied.

She smiled sweetly. “I like it... welcome to the world Liam.”

The baby wrinkled its little nose in response, and tried to root around the edge of the receiving blanket.

I couldn’t stop staring... at my son... and at the beautiful woman who had brought him safely into the world. It's hard to believe that in the beginning of it all I had ever doubted her. I couldn’t believe how small minded I had been to ever doubt her. She was the perfect mate, the perfect Luna, and now as she bared one breast and brought our son close to nurse, the perfect mother. I was so full of love, it felt like I was drowning in it. I knew from a glance at my brother, that he was equally overwhelmed with emotion.

God only knows what the future would bring, for our little family, and our pack, but as long as the three of us remained inseparable, I knew we could face anything.

Note:

Dear Readers, Thank you so much for reading Bella’s story. This is perhaps one of my favorite stories to write so far. I know, I say that every time! But seriously, I’m so in love with these characters, that it was hard to put the pen down. The sequel is being prepared and will be updated here. Stay tuned.