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“I just really miss you Jake, I don’t know if I can do this much longer.”
“I know baby, I miss you so much.”
There was a long pause and Bob sniffled a little.
“Bobby?”
“It hurts Jake.”
“Like real bad?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m so sorry honey. I should have waited, this is all my fault.”
“No! No, I wanted it, being bonded is.. is the best, I just want you to come home.”
“Me too, and I will, just a few more days, kay?”
Bob nodded, Jake could hear him moving.
“How about you call my parents. Being with them is gonna make it feel better, and they love having company, especially when its you. Please go see them, even just for the day?”
“But I don’t want to bother them. Maybe I could just wait until you’re back and we could go together.”
“Baby, put on your listening ears please, they love having you. When I talk to them on the phone they ask me to bring you over, literally every time.” Jake chuckled.
Bob hummed and Jake frowned. He felt antsy that his mate might just sit tight and let it hurt instead of getting the help he needed.
When they said goodnight Bob went straight to bed.
Truth be told, he couldn’t stand being awake if he didn’t need to be these days. His scent glands ached and Jake’s bite mark wouldn’t heal and everything was sore and everything he smelled bothered him and he wasn’t hungry.
He’d never been bonded to anyone before, not even a pack, maybe this was just how things went?
Their honeymoon period had been cut short by Jake deploying after all.
Now his omega was being strung along by a full mating bond with no adjustment time and an absent alpha.
It sucked, to say the least, but it wasn’t Jake’s fault.
“Bob! Hi, come on in, its been so long.”
Bob smiled weakly as the older omega fussed over him, hugging him and taking his jacket.
“Mav, let him breathe.” Ice chuckled, entering the breezeway. “Hi Bob, how are you?”
“I’m okay Sir, how are you?”
Ice raised an eyebrow.
“Oh right, um, I’m okay Ice, how are you?”
“I’m good kid, thanks for asking.” The alpha laughed, drawing his son-in-law in for a hug.
Bob’s mind went blank as Ice’s fir tree scent filled the air, so he missed the concerned glance between Jake’s parents over the top of his head.
Mav knew something was up. A floppy, mopey, newly bonded omega raised all sorts of red flags in his brain. He gestured for Ice to take Bob to the couch.
“Can I get you some water Bobby? Coffee or tea?”
“I’m ok Capt— I’m ok Mav, thank you though.”
As Tom settled onto the couch with Bob next to him, he was careful not to break contact. Ice loved to watch and learn before he did, so he’d paid careful attention to Bob over the years and knew that touch was grounding for the young man.
His own wonderful lover had a different approach to helping Bob.
“Are you feeling okay kiddo? You look a little peaky.”
“I think I’m okay. Jake said it was the bond, but I just feel tired.”
“I bet. This will help with tiredness though, proximity to family is good for bonds.” Mav promised.
And how true it was, in all directions. He’d felt like something was missing all week, and now that Bob was here, that part of him was quiet.
And he remembered how hard his bond to Ice had been.
He had grown up in his parents pack and had a pack bond with Goose and Carole at the time he met Ice, but being the physical link between his tiny pack and Ice’s enormous family had taken a serious toll on him.
When they’d established themselves more, Goose encouraging Ice to takeover as pack alpha with Mav as pack omega, they’d added Wolfman. Hollywood and Slider too, but Mav had been more curious about what it looked like to take on an average sized pack bond as an omega. He was a little perplexed when Wolf was only a little sleepy for the rest of the day.
He himself had been nearly comatose for a week, unable to keep his eyes open and needing Ice to hold him more than he needed to breathe air.
Bob tried his best to chat with Ice and Mav, he really did, but he couldn’t keep his eyes open.
It smelled like fresh laundry and christmas trees, and it was warm, and Ice had a hand on his shoulder… and Bob felt so loved.
He may have fallen asleep, he wasn’t too sure, his days and nights had started blurring almost immediately after Jake left.
When he came back to consciousness he smelled like Jake. Lemons, laundry, evergreen trees, and rosemary blended together and he smiled. Someone had brought him Jake’s sweatshirt that lived at the house.
There were hands combing his hair and he was laying against someone’s chest.
“Mav honey, you can sleep too. We can go to the bed if you want?”
“I’m okay, I’ll stay here until he wakes up. I don’t want to scare him, we’ve never done that with him without Jake.”
“Okay, maybe we can go to bed.” Mav whispered to Ice around midnight when Bob hadn’t woken up.
His husband smiled at him from his arm chair over the top of his book. Mav grinned back.
He really didn’t want to scare Bob by bringing him to bed. He’d done it before, several times in the months before he and Jake had made it official, but it had to be different without his mate.
Ice and Mav’s bed was the pack bed. A very cozy king size with soft pillows and a blue comforter, and some quilts piled at the foot for when it got chilly. It smelled like the bonded pair mostly, but some of the pillows smelled like Jake and quite a few smelled like Goose.
Ice, Mav, Goose, Carole, Slider, Wolf and Hollywood lived in the house all the time, but over the years they had claimed rooms and beds for themselves when they realized their backs wouldn’t take the abuse of snuggling night after night much longer. But to keep Goose away from his best friend, you would probably have to set some sort of trap, so many afternoons saw the lanky alpha stealing Mav away to nap and chat. Sometimes it seemed like he missed when he was Pete’s pack alpha, and maybe Mav missed it too, back when life was small.
Now he and Ice had Bob between them in the pack bed. The young omega still hadn’t opened his eyes.
“He’s so sleepy.” Mav commented, removing Bob’s glasses.
“So were you when we bonded.” Ice replied, taking off his own glasses.
“Yeah but I had you.”
Ice kissed him fondly and tucked their son-in-law in.
“And he has us. Jakey will be back soon, we just have to keep an eye on him until then.”
Mav hummed, watching his mate fondly.
He wanted Bob to be okay, and he wanted his baby to be home so they could be happy togther, but maybe he could be selfish and watch Tom be like a dad again. Just for a little while.
“Rise and shine Petey!”
Mav groaned a little. He’d slept so well, he wasn’t sure where he was.
He moved and suddenly remembered Bob, who was curled up small, his slender hands still holding one of Mav’s. His rest was probably a result of having his young pack member so near and so sleepy.
“Oh! You have Bobby in there. Why did nobody tell me?” Goose asked, slightly dismayed.
“He came over last night around 11 when everyone was in bed and fell asleep so we brought him up. He’s still asleep.”
“Hmm, and so were you.” Goose teased, sitting at the edge of the bed to rub Mav’s fuzzy hair and make it worse.
The omega laughed and scooted up, offering a spot for Goose to sit closer. Nick took it, leaning against the headboard with Mav’s head by his hip. He stroked through that thick black hair for a long time, until Mav was almost asleep again.
“This is like petting a cat.”
“You’re a cat.” Mav muttered.
Goose just laughed and messed up his hair again.
“So hows Bobby, he hangin in there?”
“He seems alright. He said he’s been sleepy and I believe it, but if he doesn’t wake up soon I’m going to be a little worried.”
“I dunno Mav, I’m a little worried for him right now.”
“Well I know this is a lot but I was like this when I bonded Tommy.”
“Honey, Tom’s birth pack is so, so much bigger than ours. That bond was always going to be heavy. Even without Jake, Bob should be more alert than this.”
Mav frowned and petted the younger omega’s cheek. His face had good color and he was breathing evenly, his scent didn’t betray any uncomfortableness either.
“But, when Henry joined he was out for a day too.”
Goose raised an eyebrow.
Mav tilted his head in acknowledgment. They both remembered how clunky the transition had been, meaning Mav’s point didn’t hold water.
When Rick and Henry had bonded in, they had bonded while Goose was still pack alpha. Ice had carried his family bond from birth so the weight of it was nothing to him, but when he bonded to Mav the omega took on the weight of it for everyone all at once. What Wolf had felt when he joined them was the bleed of Ice’s and Goose’s bonds with his new pack omega. Life was easier after they’d established themselves as a completely new pack instead of a joint one, Goose was sad to feel his bond replaced but glad to take the burden off of Mav.
The alpha respected Ice very much for linking his bite with Goose’s on Mav’s neck instead of covering it up. Some alphas did that, but Ice and Goose had never felt threatened by each other, loving Mav had united them.
Their pack sometimes caught attention for that, the way Ice had carefully linked his mark with Goose’s on Mav and Carole, and with Hollywood’s on Wolf. He would do the same to Bob with Jake’s if that was what they wanted, it was undecided if they were starting their own pack or not.
Selfishly Mav hoped that they would stay.
“Well what should we do? I didn’t like being woken up when I was in his position, I just wanted you and Tom, but Jake’s not here yet.”
“We’ll let him sleep Mav, its okay, maybe when you’re ready we get some of the pack in here, see if he wakes up a little.”
“When I’m ready?” Mav asked, quirking an eyebrow.
“Okay, okay, when I’m ready.” Goose admitted, pulling the omega closer.
Keeping one hand in Bob’s Mav sat up and laid his head on Nick Bradshaw’s shoulder like he’d done his whole life. Goose took the free hand for himself and scented Mav’s hair.
“You’re so cute when you get what you want.” Mav laughed.
“Thats me.” The alpha murmured.
Throughout the day everyone took turns visiting Bobby. Mav and Ice stayed with him the whole time, two constant, grounding presences while he struggled to wake up.
Wolf and Hollywood fell asleep with him while Slider kept a running dialogue and twirled little sections of Bob’s hair around his finger. Carole and Goose brought him some orange juice and a pillow they’d found that smelled like Jake.
Bradley and Natasha drove down and visited Bob later in the evening. Mav suspected Goose had called, everyone being plenty aware that Bradley had a soft spot for his brother-in-law.
The autumnal scents of his close friends seemed the most helpful, Bob allowing Phoenix to hold him for a while. But he got a little dejected listening to them encourage him when they were already so happily mated, likely wondering why Bradley and Nat could be there but his own mate couldn’t.
That night, Mav slept well again, Bob and Ice with him, and the scents of their entire pack still lingering.
The days started to mix together for Bob.
He was never conscious for long, but enough to remember having some soup and the endless cycle of happy aviators who held him. They passed him between each other, taking turns hugging him and napping with him and taking him outside. At one point he thought he could remember Maverick and Wolfman laying out a blanket in the garden and spending the afternoon on either side of him.
But he couldn’t wake up.
It was so frustrating.
On the fifth day, Jake came home.
Ice, all knowing and all powerful, admitted quietly that Jake’s arrival was beyond him. Someone must have been looking out for him.
“I’m home!”
“Jakey?” Carole called, the kitchen where she was fiddling around with something closest to the front door.
“Hi!” He called back.
He left his bag and shoes at the door, running to the living room where he could scent his mate and his parents.
“Is he sleeping?”
“Well hello to you too.”
“Hi mama. Is he sleeping?”
“Yeah, hes been asleep since he got here.”
“Thats got you written all over it, you probably did it on purpose. Always letting him sleep when we’re in the nest.”
“He’s got your number honey.” Goose teased. Jake hadn’t even seen him laying on the floor.
Mav scowled before looking back to his son. The alpha was hovering a few feet away, his cocky greeting wearing away to concern.
“Is he okay?”
“He is now.” Ice smiled, coming from the side and hugging his son. The older blond pulled Jake closer to the couch, sitting them down at Maverick’s side.
“He’s been waiting for you.”
Those were the magic words apparently.
Jake pulled his mate into a hug, kissing his face and his hair and everywhere. He tucked his nose into the omega’s neck, breathing in the scent of rosemary with the rest of the pack around the edges.
“I missed you so much sweetheart, I’m so sorry I had to go, I didn’t want to. But I’m back now, so you can wake up now, and we can be a pack and stuff.” Jake whispered.
He felt Bob’s hand close around the collar of his shirt. The omega sighed something like Jake’s name before smushing his face into his mate’s neck.
The alpha laid his cheek on Bob’s head and closed his eyes.
His arms had been empty for too long, but not anymore.
“Now who’s letting him sleep?”
“Hey you got your turn already, if you want cuddles take it up with Dad.” Jake replied.
That startled a laugh out of Mav.
“Didn’t anyone ever teach you to respect your elders?” Bradley asked sarcastically, patting Jake’s shoulder.
“Can it Bradley, go help your Dad with his back.”
The alpha grumbled but responded to Nick’s raised arms.
“How’d you even get down there?” He asked before pulling the older Bradshaw to his feet.
Quiet whispering brought the attention back to Jake, who was cupping Bob’s face while the omega spoke softly to him.
“You want your glasses?” The blond asked.
Bob shook his head.
“I wanna wake up.” The smaller man said instead.
“You are awake.”
“Why can’t I open my eyes?”
“Are they dry? We could get you a warm washcloth.”
“Why’m I tired?”
“The bond.”
“But its been a few weeks already, shouldn’t it have settled?”
“The mating bond did.”
“Are there more than one?”
“Yeah honey, your pack bond is still settling.”
“What pack bond?”
“The one between you and my pack?”
Bob was quiet but Jake could tell he was about to say more.
“I’ve never had one.” He admitted.
“Wait what? Your family isn’t pack bonded?”
“No.”
“Oh Bobby thats whats wrong, this is pretty big for your first pack bond, your body probably has no clue what to do with it.” Jake laughed.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, its okay baby. If you want, you could take my Dad’s pack mark and that would help, having the physical bond settles it quicker.”
Bob nodded confidently. He liked the idea of being in a pack, a lot. He liked the marks on Maverick’s neck, they looked like love to Bob, not only did one person love him but a whole bunch of people did too. And when people asked him about the scars on his neck he could tell them about Jake and everyone who had watched over him and held him when he was too weak to open his eyes.
It sounded perfect.
“You sure? You don’t have to, I know its a big commitment.”
“I want to. I like it here.”
Jake smiled wide and gently kissed his mate. He stood with Bob in his arms and was quickly pulled into a hug by Ice.
It was way more obvious in Maverick and Goose, who probably had separation anxiety, but Ice would always want his pack to be close by. It warmed his heart that Bob was proud to be one of them.
Jake carried his omega to the pack bed, but stopped at the foot and turned back to his parents.
“Lets do it here, he’s twitchy.”
“Jake.” Bob whined.
“No shame Bobby, I just don’t want anything to happen to the mark I gave you.”
Jake held the omega close, a heavy hand pinning his head to Jake’s shoulder, neck exposed. Maverick stood behind them, helping hold Bob steady. Jake only had eyes for Bob so the only thing telling him it was over was the approaching and receding scent of his father.
Ice quickly and efficiently set his mark with his son’s, then pulled back. He and Mav released Bob but Jake held on. The omega hadn’t moved or even made any indication that the bite hurt, which Ice was glad for.
Mav brought a washcloth to clean the bite and a warmer one for Bob’s eyes.
He suspected that the omega would fall asleep, but if it were Mav, a look at Ice would be very welcome after a day like this one.
Bob had been very brave in a weird situation. Without his new mate for weeks on end, with no one to help him adjust to his first ever pack bond. And no matter what Ice said about the size of their pack, being born into a pack was helpful for taking on any kind of bond later in life.
The older omega laid the cloth over Bob’s eyes and wiped the blood away from his bite in quick succession. He took the bloody rag to laundry room and by the time he got back Jake was wiping happy tears away from Bob’s open eyes.
Ice came out of their closet in pajamas, Mav’s in his extended hand.
“Bed time already?”
“I think so.” Ice smiled.
Mav shrugged and took the pajamas.
“You two might shower now, everyone is going to want to come say goodnight when you’re done.” Mav warned.
Jake seemed to understand, starting to pull his floppy mate to the hall to find their own pajamas.
Mav winked at his alpha as the blond settled onto the bed.
“Are you going to join me? Or are you just gonna stand there?” Ice asked.
“Hmm, whats in it for me?”
Ice opened his arms wide and Mav had to fall into them, he’d never leave Tom wanting like that.
“I have to go say goodnight to Goose.” Mav said after a peck on the lips.
“I know. I’ll be here.”
“Too late!” Goose called, welcoming himself into the room.
Mav was ready for the hug, but not for Goose to fall back onto the bed and drag them both down.
“Jeez Ice, could you move your legs? You’re totally hogging the bed right now man.” Goose teased.
“Oh really?” Ice raised a brow.
Mav snorted as the two stared each other down. Ice sitting composedly against the head board, with Mav and Goose sprawled across his lap and most of the bed.
The three chatted until Jake and Bob came back, pink from the shower.
Nick’s eyes were drooping by then.
“Who’s the cat now? You’re like melting under my hand.”
“Ice make him stop.” Goose fake whined.
But Ice pulled Mav up the bed and into his arms where the omega’s hands could no longer reach Goose’s hair. Nick sat up, casting a disgruntled look in Ice’s direction.
“Fine then, I’m gonna go cuddle Carole and none of you are invited.”
“Don’t be silly, of course they’re invited.”
Goose whipped around to see his lover in the doorway.
“Real smooth Bradshaw.” Ice chuckled.
“Dammit Wolf, you didn’t tell us there’d be a bouncer.” Slider complained from the hallway, peering at Carole.
“I didn’t say anything! I said maybe we should leave em alone ‘cause its overwhelming n’all.” Wolf said, dangling over Slider’s shoulder.
“You’re overwhelming.” Slider shot back playfully, making his way into the room.
“And you’re fulla shit Ron, just tell em you wanted to say goodnight like a normal person.” Hollywood laughed, trailing behind his captured mate.
Bob and Jake were curled up in the bed already, the omega still struggling to stay awake.
The tall alpha stood beside them and rested a hand on his pack nephew’s head.
“How ya doin kiddo?”
“Pretty good.” Jake said with a small smile.
And what a lie it was.
Jake was doing awesome, he felt absolutely fabulous. His adoration for his mate was brighter than the sun.
Bobby, the love of his life and man of his dreams, was curled up on his chest, with his mating mark and pack mark proud on his tan neck, trying to stay awake but failing because he was so safe and loved.
Also because he hadn’t mentioned this being his first pack, but how special was that? Bobby loved him enough to join his pack on purpose.
So yeah, Jake was feeling pretty good, and something told him Bob was too. If the little smile and the way he didn’t shy away from the newcomers in the room were anything to go by.
One by one, Bob was shown the endless love and support this pack was know for, until it was just him, Jake, and Jake’s parents left in the big bed.
Jake arranged him toward the middle of the bed, smushing him between his alpha and Maverick, who held his hands like before. Ice spooned his omega on the outside of the bed, protecting them all from the door while his son shielded them from the window.
Bob felt very safe as he drifted off, wondering how he’d never been in a pack before. It felt more loving than birth family, this pack only had two kids after all, it just felt nice to be chosen. Jake had chosen him to bring into this pack, just like the older members had chosen to stick together for the rest of their lives. How special was that?
“I love you so much Bobby, I’m so lucky to be with you.”
“Lomve you toow.” Bob sighed, craning his neck to whisper in Jake’s ear instead of Maverick’s.
While his head was turned Jake gave him a kiss and then the whole place smelled like very happy, very loved omega.
Which he was, and would be forever, which was awesome, Bob thought. He’d have to mention that in the morning when he was finally awake and could explore what it meant to be in a pack and to be fully bonded to Jake.
The future was certainly promising.