Chapter 37

**ELENA **

After returning home mid-afternoon, I worked from my home office. When I heard the front door open, I looked up to see the time... shit, I didn't see the time go by.

I hear footsteps on the stairs and recognize them as those of Theo. He enters my office a few seconds later and gives me his best smile.

"Hi, gorgeous. Did you have a good day?" He asks as he approaches me.

"Yes, but I didn't see the time go by."

"We figured as much, we didn't get a message from you. Are you coming down? Cal's will arrive soon with dinner."

I nod. "Go ahead, I'll be there in two minutes."

He bends down to kiss me on the lips and walks out of the office. When he's on the stairs, I open my desk drawer where I've put the three boxes, then close it, taking a deep breath.

As soon as I reach the bottom of the stairs, Caleb has arrived with the Chinese and the boys are throwing themselves at it. We eat and they chat about their day and the progress of preparations for Luna's presentation party. The animosity between Finn and Caleb seems to be far behind them as they finally have a friendly chat, which is great to see.

"And you, Elena, did you have a good day? You're very quiet." Cal asks, putting his hand on my thigh.

"Yes, it's been great, I've been dealing with e-mails and I had some video appointments."

"How about Thursday night for dinner with my dad?" He asks and my gaze turns slowly to Finn to see his reaction.

"Don't worry about it. It's fine." He tells me with a small smile.

" Thursday, then," I tell him before taking another bite of fried noodles.

The three of them look at me strangely and I quickly turn red.

"What aren't you telling us Elena Romano?" Theo asks me, frowning.

I swallow and get up from the table. "You grilled me. I've prepared a surprise for you. I'll be right there."

**THEO**

Elena climbs the stairs and we all follow her with our eyes. Then, when we can't see her anymore, we look at each other and she comes back down with three little white boxes in her hand. She gives us each one and I'm surprised by the weight, as it's nothing at all.

She wipes her hands against her pants and I hear her heartbeat quicken. She's nervous and that worries me a little. Is she worried that we won't be happy to receive her present? Whatever it is, I know I'll love it because it's from her.

"Open all three at the same time."

The three of us exchange glances and open the box. The box contains a pair of small white slippers and a...

"Are you pregnant?" Cal asks, taking the words out of my mouth.

It's a pregnancy test and there are two vertical bars. What do two bars mean? Is she pregnant or not?

I look at her wide-eyed and her eyes suddenly become moist as she plays nervously with her hands.

"I am pregnant. We're going to have a baby."

Time stops. She's pregnant, she's having a baby. We're having a baby. I'm gonna be a daddy. I run my hands through my hair.

I see out of the corner of my eye that Caleb is getting up and walking toward her.

"I'm the father, right? It can only be me."

"Well actually..." She begins.

"We had a little screw-up in my office once." Finn interrupts her.

Then Elena looks at me.

"And with me at home the day Finn and Caleb had their meeting with the building reps," I say, glaring at her.

"Each of you can be the father. If it matters to you we can make a..."

"It doesn't to me," I say, standing up. "I'd consider that child mine even if he had green eyes and black hair or brown eyes."

I take her against me and hug her.

"Fuck. We're gonna be dads." Finn adds as he stands up and joins in our hug.

Quickly, she finds herself cuddled between the three of us.

I feel complete, for a long time I wondered if I would ever feel this way. I'm going to be a father and my two best friends will be part of this adventure. I was completely honest with Elena when I said that whoever the biological father of this child is, I'll love him as my own.

"I had a meeting outside the pack so no one would know. Most of all, I wanted to make sure I was pregnant and that everything was okay," she said, pulling away from us.

"And everything's okay?" Finn asks and she nods.

She reaches into the back pocket of her jeans and pulls out a piece of paper. When she turns it over, I realize it's a photo from the ultrasound.

"Wow, is that our baby?" Finn approaches in complete awe. "Is it this little thing?"

She laughs and nods. "It's too early for us to see it but... oh goddess... I can't wait until you can hear its heartbeat."

"And you were able to work after that? Damn, you should have called us. We would have joined you in a heartbeat." Caleb told him as he observed the photo.

She sits down on the couch. "I'd rather keep this between us for now."

I sit down beside her and take her hand to bring it to my lips. "I agree with you." I shake my head. "My mother is going to be ecstatic when she finds out."

"And mine," Finn confirms.

I can see Caleb's clenched jaw out of the corner of my eye, even if his head is down, and can only imagine that he's thinking about his parents and how his father will take the news.

Elena's safety has always been our number one priority, but as she carries our child, her safety is even more important. Finn has been reluctant to the idea of this meeting and I hope the news that he will soon be a father won't change his mind.