CHAPTER 304

CHAPTER 304
ALEXANDER

“Do you know how beautiful you are?” I whispered against her skin. “You’re breathtaking, wife.”

She glanced down at herself, taking in the dirt-streaked, rumpled clothes beneath the blanket. 

Her fingers lifted tentatively to her hair, catching on the tangled strands before brushing across her cheek. She winced when she touched the bruised skin.

A soft, broken laugh escaped her.
“My hair probably looks like a bird’s nest, I’m covered in dirt, and judging by the way my face feels, I’ve got a bruise the size of Texas.” 

Her mouth twisted into a tired little smile. “You’re either lying to make me feel better, or your standards have taken a serious nosedive since last night.”

“Neither.” I brushed a strand of hair carefully away from her face. 

“You could be covered head to toe in mud, blood, and God knows what else, and I’d still think you were the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. That isn’t changing. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not ever.”

Her smile lingered for another second before fading. Something darker settled behind her eyes.

“I knew you’d find me,” she whispered.
My chest tightened.

“Down there. In that cell.” Her fingers curled weakly into the front of my shirt. 

“I kept telling myself you were coming. Over and over. Even when I couldn’t feel my hands anymore. Even when I didn’t know how long I’d been there.” Her voice trembled. “I just kept thinking, Alexander will come.”

I closed my eyes for half a second. Because suddenly I could see it. Her alone in that freezing room. Waiting. Hoping. And me not being there.

Fuck.

“I was so scared,” she admitted. 
“Not of dying. I think I could’ve handled that.” Her eyes filled. 

“I was scared you wouldn’t get there in time. That I’d lose you before I got the chance to tell you—”

“Hey.” I cupped her face, catching the tears with my thumbs before they could reach the bruising beneath her eyes. 

“I found you. And I’m not going anywhere.”

That was all it took. Her arms slipped around me, pulling me close with whatever strength she had left. I held her carefully—mindful of the wires, the IV, every injury I couldn’t see—and let her cry into my chest.

The monitor beside us continued its steady rhythm. Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

I had never loved that fucking sound more.
Eventually she pulled back. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“For what?”

“For coming for me.”

I kissed her forehead. “Always.” My voice came out rougher than I intended. 

“For the rest of my life, Alina. I don’t care where you are. I don’t care who’s standing between us. I will always come for you.”

“You promise?”

I tightened my fingers around hers. “Always.”

Slowly her gaze drifted toward the monitor.
She studied the wires, the IV, the machines surrounding her.

“That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”

I blinked. “What?”

She gestured weakly toward the medical equipment. 

“All this.” Her voice was hoarse, but that familiar spark was already returning. “I’m fine. Tired, obviously. But fine.”

I stared at her. “You nearly died.”

“Nearly. But I didn’t.”

“You scared the fucking life out of me.”

Her mouth twitched. “Well, technically, you’re still alive.”

I stared at her in disbelief, and almost laughed.

“Wife. You scared ten years off my life.”

“Only ten?” Her lips twitched. “I feel like I put in enough effort for at least twenty.”

There she was. My impossible woman.
I shook my head, but the smile barely lasted. Because my hand had already moved beneath the blanket. I settled it carefully over her stomach.

The smile slowly faded from my face.
Her eyes followed mine to where my hand rested against her stomach, and something in my chest tightened. 

“There’s something you need to know.”

Her brow furrowed. “W-what?”
I looked into her eyes.

“We’re… we’re having a baby.”

For a second, she didn't react at all. Her lips parted. Her breath caught.
Then her eyes dropped slowly to my hand on her stomach.

“Oh my God…” Then her eyes dropped slowly to my hand on her  “So it’s true?”

“You knew?”

She stared at me, almost afraid to breathe. “Not for sure. I had a feeling,” she whispered. 

“Back there. In the basement.” Her eyes glistened. “I started putting things together. The sickness. Being tired all the time. My period being late…”

She gave a shaky laugh. “I kept telling myself it was stress. Everything had been so insane that I didn’t want to think about it until I knew for certain.”

Her gaze dropped to my hand on her stomach.

“Then I realized I might actually be pregnant.” Her voice broke. 

“Chained to a wall. In the dark. Freezing. Trying to figure out if I was carrying your child while a madman decided what he was going to do to me.”

Something inside my chest cracked. I threaded our fingers together.

Her eyes lifted. A tear slipped down her cheek. “We’re having a baby.”

“Yeah.” My throat tightened. “We’re having a baby, wife.”

I leaned forward until our foreheads touched. “I found out last night. While Rogers was trying to..…Fuck… I thought I’d lost you. Then he told me there was a baby, and suddenly I wasn’t terrified of losing one person.” My voice cracked. “I was terrified of losing two.”

Her hand came up to my cheek, her thumb brushing gently beneath my eye.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I should have listened to you back at the orphanage. I should have stayed down. None of this would have happened if I’d just done what you told me.”

I stared at her for a moment. Then, despite the exhaustion, the fear, and the fact that I was still trying to process the existence of an entire fucking human being currently hiding beneath my palm, the corner of my mouth lifted.

“True.”

Her eyes narrowed. “True?”

“You heard me.” I leaned closer, brushing my thumb over her cheek. “You never listen to me. It’s practically your most consistent personality trait.”

She gave me an offended look. “I listen.”

“When?”

She opened her mouth. Then closed it.
I nodded smugly. “Exactly.”

“Alexander…”

“I’m just saying, wife, perhaps nearly dying while ignoring my instructions will finally teach you a valuable life lesson.”

Her eyebrow lifted. “And what lesson is that?”

I kissed her forehead, unable to stop the smile spreading across my face. “Maybe listen to your husband once in a while.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t push your luck.”

“Too late. We’re having a baby. I’m allowed to be insufferable now.”

A weak laugh escaped her. And fuck, hearing it was worth every terrifying second of last night.

I caught her hand and kissed her palm.
She looked at me for a long moment before her gaze dropped to her stomach again.

“We’re really going to be parents.” A shaky laugh escaped her. “You’re going to be a father.”

I smiled despite the tears burning behind my eyes. “Apparently.”

She studied my face. “Are you crying?”

“No.”

“You are.”

“I’m exhausted.”

“You’re crying, Alexander.”

I wiped beneath one eye. “Fine. Maybe a little.”

Her smile trembled. “I’m pregnant.”

“You’re pregnant.”

“With your baby.”

I looked down at our joined hands. “Our baby.”

She stared at our hands for several seconds.

“Shit… it’s not fair. You should have gotten this news differently.”

Her voice came out small, threaded with a quiet disappointed.

“I would have planned the whole thing. In my head, at least. I would have waited until I was completely sure—taken the test twice, maybe three times, because one little piece of plastic telling me I was pregnant wouldn’t have been enough to convince me.” A faint, humourless smile tugged at her mouth. 

“Then I would’ve found somewhere quiet. Somewhere normal. Maybe over breakfast. I could’ve sat across from you with a cup of coffee and just… casually said, ‘Oh, by the way, we’re having a baby.’”

She paused. “Although knowing you, you probably would’ve choked on your coffee.”

A tiny laugh escaped me, but her smile faded almost immediately.

“I wanted to see your face when it hit you. That exact second when it clicked and you just…” She gestured weakly, searching for the words. 

“Looked completely stunned. Maybe cried a little. Maybe spent five minutes denying it because apparently you need a full military briefing before you accept anything good that happens to you.”

I squeezed her hand.

“I wanted that moment to be ours, Alexander. Something happy. Something ridiculous and embarrassing and perfect. Something I could tease you about for the rest of our lives.”

Her eyes glistened. “Instead, you found out from a doctor… while I was unconscious. Not with you finding out from a doctor because I couldn’t even tell you myself.”

My chest ached and I kissed her forehead. “But we know now. And we’re going to have all the moments we should’ve had. The first appointment. The first scan. Finding out whether you’re carrying a boy or a girl. Arguing over names. I'm thinking Alexander the Second. Has a nice ring to it.”

“Alexander…”

“If it’s a girl, Alexandra the First.”

“Absolutely not.”

"Wow. I tell you we're having a child, and five minutes later you're already trying to erase my contribution to the naming process."

"I'm trying to protect our child."

"From what?" 

"From being born with a name that comes with a sequel number."

"A sequel number?"

"Yes. Alexander the First. Alexandra the Second." She shook her head, clearly trying and failing to hide the small smile tugging at her mouth. 

"What's next, hm? You planning to name the second one Alexander the Third? Franchise the whole family?"

I stared at her, offended. "I hadn't even considered a third."

"Good."

"Although now that you've mentioned it—"

"Alexander!"

I lowered my voice conspiratorially and placed a careful hand over her stomach, leaning down close like I was sharing a state secret. 

"Baby. Psst. Your mother has already started bullying me, and you're not even born yet. Welcome to the family. It only gets worse from here."

"Alexander."

I looked back at her, all wide-eyed innocence. "Now what?"

"Stop recruiting our unborn child into your arguments."

"I'm not recruiting anyone. I'm establishing an alliance early. And for the record, this is prenatal bullying. Our child can hear you being cruel to their father, and one day there will be a reckoning."

"The baby cannot hear us."

"You don't know that."

"I'm fairly confident I do."

"Well, I'm not risking it." I leaned down toward her stomach again, voice dropping into something soft and hopeful. 

"Baby. If you can hear me in there — kick once for Daddy. Show your mother whose side you're on."

"The baby is literally the size of a pea, Alexander. There will be no reaction. There is no kicking apparatus. There's barely a spine."

I ignored her completely and waited, staring down at her stomach with the kind of focus I usually reserved for enemies.

Nothing happened, obviously. "Unbelievable. Already taking your mother's side." 

I pressed a soft kiss to her stomach anyway, lingering there. "Fine. I see how it's going to be in this house. Two against one. I don't stand a chance, do I."

Her hand found the back of my head, fingers threading gently through my hair, her smile soft now, unguarded. "Not even a little."

"Worth it," I murmured, kissing her stomach one more time before resting my cheek against it, just listening, just being close to both of them. "Completely, hopelessly worth it."

Then I glanced up at her "I should probably warn you about something.”

“What?”

“I have absolutely no idea what the fuck I’m doing.”

A quiet laugh escaped her.

“But I’ll learn. I’ll learn everything. I’ll protect you. Both of you.”

Her eyes filled again.I pressed another kiss against her temple.

“We’re going to be parents, wife.
And I swear to you, I’m going to spend every single day of the rest of my life making sure both of you know exactly how fucking loved you are.”