Work Text:
The betting pool started insanely low.
For starters, it wasn't the type of bet you could place on the board, more like the type Princess would write on her notebook and not reveal to anyone except those interested in placing their own bets. They couldn't risk those involved finding out. So only the ones who knew about it, where the people hearing about it through the grapevine or someone else that noticed and wanted to place a bet on their own.
All the secrecy meant only a selected group of people would know about it at first, so not a lot of money was placed in the pool. So at first, the bet started with some meager five bucks.
Five dollars on Robby and Whitaker hooking up before the med student's end of rotation.
After Dr. Shen had catch the alpha discretely scent-marking the omega when he passed by the day of the Pitt-fest. Whitaker's first day for god's sake.
Perlah and Princess had looked at him weird when he first mentioned it to them. Robby, their Robby, getting all close with the new med student? Yeah, sure. Surely Shen was just joking. However, they shut up at the mention of a bet being put into play; never the ones to pass an opportunity to get a couple extra bucks, especially when it looked like easy money. So they matched his bet, going against him on "Them not hooking by the end of the student's rotation". And it stayed like that for some time.
But the days kept passing by, and more and more people started noticing, seeing things. Perlah cursed under her breath when he saw Robby squeezing Whitaker's shoulder after finishing a procedure together, she wondered if maybe it had been a bad idea to go against Shen before looking into it. Kim got told about the bet when she tried to gossip with Princess about how she caught them making eyes at each other over a patient's bed. Santos was surprised someone beat her to it when she tried to start a betting pool of her own after she heard Dennis sigh while looking at Robby's back.
With time, anyone with a pair of working eyes and a nose of their own was aware of what was happening between the intern and the attending. The looks, the touches, the scenting, the favoritism; Whitaker would come into the ER clean and smelling of suppressants and leave smelling more like Robby than himself.
The more people that got involved, the bigger the prize grew. Princess and Perlah were forced to remake their original bets for being far to nonspecific. Even Dana, who usually abstained from playing at work got involved. Time passed, people having to place new bets after their deadlines were met, or doubling their previous amount after receiving new information that thought would make them win.
It all pilled up, until it became the biggest pot the Pitt had ever seen.
It took over two years for it all to come to an end, when Whitaker and Robby had strolled into the Pitt together, right at the start of the omega's second year as a resident, wide smiles on their faces, hand in hand, smelling strongly of each other and with matching mating bites fresh on their necks. The entire department lost it.
All except of course Trinity Santos, who laughed as she collected her prize, shrugging when she stated that maybe they should have listened to one of the parts' literal roommate when she put her bet a year before. Already dating in secret, will reveal after they get mated.
She didn't look as happy when she had too split her winnings with Mohan on a technicality. The doctor had previously waved that money goodbye when she bet on them getting together during Robby's brief sabbatical and the alpha had come back with no new announcements to make. But considering that was in fact the time the pair had started their secret relationship, that made Samira as entitled to the pot as Trinity.
HR was not as trilled as the winners of the bet. Mostly for the secrecy the relationship had been put on, they didn't like not knowing what was going in the hospital, especially when it came to the relationship between the chief attending physician of the emergency department and one of the residents under his care.
There was not much to be done in the end, outside of a warning to never hide something as big as that in the future. After all, mated pairs were a valuable asset, especially in a line of work like theirs; they worked together better than most teams, understood each other wordlessly and took action to help each other faster than any other worker. The irony was not lost to them, how mated pairs were sought after and romantic relationships were met with scrutiny, but it was just how things worked.
Their biggest concern, to be completely honest, was discovering that the emergency department seemed to be the host for some pretty big betting pools. They were urged to stop any on going bets, and HR warned they would keep and eye on the pitt for any more suspicious activity. But if you were to ask anyone, they would tell you Mollie from HR had put around 80 dollars on the 'hucklerroby' bet (As Santos liked to call it) and was still sore she had lost it all.
In the middle of that disaster, Michael Robinavitch-Whitaker and Dennis Whitaker-Robinavitch enjoyed their honey moon phase without a care in the world.
Robby cracked his neck as he pushed through the doors of the ER, already feeling like it was going to be a long day. He buried his hands on his hoodie, the one his omega had been wearing the entirety of the day before for this purpose, to have his scent close and keep him sane and at least a little bit composed.
He spotted Abbot at the central hub, hunched over a computer and with Dana by his side, already working on something at her station. Robby walked over quickly, the faster he got the day started, the quicker he could get back to his den and his mate.
"Good morning" Robby leaned over the counter, angling his head to look up to the screen and make sure the night shift hadn't left him with with an uncontrollable mess.
"What so good about it?" Jack grunted with a tired voice. He looked up from the screen and raised an eyebrow as he scanned the empty space around Robby. " Something's missing today."
Robby knew. He was aware that, over the course of the last few months, him and Dennis had become a 2×1 deal. Wherever Robby went, Dennis would follow; wherever Dennis went, Robby was close behind. Dana would often (always) put them together in cases, knowing how competent they were when they were aiding each other, and how incompetent Robby could get when he didn't have his omega by his side. Robby started to feel the weight of that incompetence starting to seep into his body the longer he went without his partner's presence by his side.
"He needed some rest." He said as he grabbed the papers Dana was handing him. "I had to sneak out this morning to not wake him up."
"So now we are the ones suffering." Dana laughed. Robby gave her a sarcastic smile, he knew he could get… irritable when Dennis had a day off, even before they got together officially, the omega would have a magical calming effect on Robby and the alpha would feel like he was going to withdraws every time he was missing. So yeah, he wasn't the best time to be around on a day like those.
Jack whistled, "I bet he won't like that."
"Yeah, well…" Robby grumbled, knowing he'd have to deal with the omega's ire when he came back home.
It didn't matter, the important thing was that his omega was resting in the safety of their own home, he would deal with the consequences of that later. For now, Robby sighed and looked up from the papers, ready for Abbot to start debriefing him on the night's happenings when he saw his friend looking somewhere behind Robby's shoulder with a growing smirk.
"Oh, I bet you're not going to like this one." He shook his head.
Robby turned, already fearing what was coming but praying he was wrong. His prayers were unheard.
Dennis all but waddled into the ED in all of his pregnant glory, with furrowed brows and his lips tight. Right behind him, walked Dr. Santos, not looking particularly sorry but avoiding Robby's eyes, clearly knowing the trouble that she was getting on.
"Don't even think about it." Robby pushed himself off the counter, snatching Dennis by the back of his scrubs as he tried to walk past him like he hadn't seen him. Santos hurried to escape but he didn't give her any mind, for now. "What are you doing here?"
Dennis looked up at him like he just noticed he was standing there. He quirked an eyebrow up.
"Working?" — He fake pouted at him, extended his hand to squeeze his mate's bicep. "Is your memory okay? You've been forgetting a lot lately." Robby looked up to the ceiling, already seeing where this conversation was going by Dennis' tone. "You forgot your pregnant mate in bed this morning. And you keep forgetting to fix the front door as well."
Robby should have known, that fucking door would make so much noise when it closed that it could wake someone from a coma. He had consider it while sneaking out, but it was not like he could escape through the window. So he tried to close the door as slowly and quietly as he could, but Dennis wasn't the the department's bloodhound for nothing: his hearing was as good as his nose, it was impossible to hide anything from him.
"It must be contagious," Robby huffed, "considering someone here keeps forgetting they're 37 weeks pregnant and should be well into their maternity leave by now."
Dennis rolled his eyes, clearly not pleased to be having that conversation again. Robby saw a few doctors and nurses speed walking when they got closer to them, their coworkers also seemed tired to be hearing that conversation again.
"I'm having my maternity leave when I actually have my pup in my arms." Dennis grumbled. Robby rubbed his face, up into his hair and left his hands handing on his neck. "What is the point of having time off if can't actually spend it with my kid?"
"The point…" Robby sighed, grabbing on Dennis' shoulders to make him look at him in the eye. "Is for you to rest, and take care of yourself because you have a whole fucking baby inside of you."
"If you think about it, there's really no safer place for me to be in case of an emergency." The omega snorted, not really helping his case.
"Dennis."
"Robby."
"Go home."
"I already clocked in." Dennis shrugged.
"Now you seem to be forgetting that I'm still the chief of the ED, and still very much your boss."
Dennis clicked his mouth shut and stared at Robby for a beat. The alpha crossed his arms, daring his mate to answer— he could stay at the hospital all he wanted, but if Robby had anything to say about it, he won't get assigned to any cases and would have to sit his pretty ass down at the break room for the next 12 hours of his 'shift'. But he didn't have to, at that moment he could walk out and spend his obligatory free time in his nest. Instead, Dennis narrowed his eyes at him, not intimidated at all.
"I have a nest at Trinity's house." He remarked drily.
Robby's shoulders slumped down. "Really? Because I'm not letting you work nine months pregnant?"
"Yes, really." Dennis continued like he only heard the first part. "It's very nice one at that, I might stay there for the rest of my pregnancy."
Robby couldn't find the words at the display of blatant defiance, he worked his jaw and looked back to see his friends observing the scene with matching mocking smiles. Dana was trying really hard to conceal her laugher behind her hand, while Jack did absolutely nothing to hide how funny he found the situation.
"Too bad Trin is probably already off intubating a patient, but you can take me- only, oh you wouldn't want to leave Dr. Abbot waiting here to finish debriefing while you drive your omega across the city. So I guess I'll just get there walk-ing~"
Robby rubbed the bridge of his nose, his hands then fell on his hips as he tried to look around and think his way around this. He could call him an uber, but it would be difficult to actually convince him to get in, and just shoving him inside was not the best idea with how stubborn the omega was acting that morning, it wouldn't be the first time Dennis would bit him during his pregnancy.
He looked back at Jack, trying to figure out if his friend would stand waiting until he had Dennis back home. The dark circles under the doctor's eyes told him he probably had enough time to make it through debriefing before he collapsed from exhaustion. And now that he thought about it Robby didn't have the car to drive Dennis back, he had decided walk to work earlier, which meant he would take over an hour to walk to their house and back.
"Fuck, okay." Robby groans, crossing his arms again to try to look as stern as possible when looking back at his mate. "Here's how this is going to work. You'll stay on triage today,"
It was a double edge sword, Robby knew that— while the omega wouldn't be running around high priority patients, those where usually unconscious or heavily sedated. Meanwhile, non-urgent patients where well into their senses, but were also the ones that had been waiting in chairs for over eight hours. People scared and put to wait didn't exactly make calm and collected patients.
Dennis only nodded along, used to getting assigned triage since he begun his third trimester.
"You will stay clear of any alphas or anyone who smells remotely aggressive or annoyed." Dennis huffed at that. "I'm serious Dennis, unless you want me to drag you back home you will stay away from anyone that could cause harm."
Robby waited until Dennis gave him any signs that he understood and only continued when he nodded reluctantly.
"And if anything starts hurting or mildly annoying you, you are sitting at central with Dana and you are staying there until I have a moment free to get you home." A lie— they both know there's no such thing as a free moment in the ER. "If you want to work so bad you can fill patients charts. Are we clear?"
Even if he had been so ready to argue at Robby's every word a couple of minutes before, Dennis smiled brightly at getting his way. He stood on tiptoes to place a sweet kiss on his mate's lips and quickly walked around turned around to get to work.
"Thank you love!" He shouted over his shoulder.
"Come back in five for rounds!" Robby called back, receiving a nonchalant wave in response.
The alpha sighed, feeling the start of a headache way too early in the day. He turned to see both Dana and Jack looking like they found the situation way too amusing for Robby's liking.
"Jesus, what have you done to that kid?" Dana shook her head, "I remember when he first came in, all he wanted to do was take breaks and eat his stupid sandwiches. Now he wants to work when he's ready to pop."
"That must be Robby's workaholic DNA getting to his head." Jack joked. "Hopefully he'll go back to normal when he's given birth."
"Then I'd worry for the kid."
"Hilarious, really." Robby grumbled. "Can we get this over with already so you can get the hell out of my ER?"
Dennis was only four hours into his shift and he was getting tired. Aside from the obvious, the constant pressure on his bladder, his swollen feet only getting worse the longer he spent standing up and the extra weight he had to carry around the ER, a weight that was particularly active that day.
But no, the thing that was bothering, exhausting him, absolutely robbing him of any energy was that every eye in the ED were on him no matter where he turned. It was clear Robby had instructed the staff to keep a close eye on him and keep him from doing anything dangerous. And it was truly getting on his nerves.
He had Donnie on his heels basically all day when the man could possibly be doing something more productive, using his imposing figure to keep any irritated patients in good behavior. If it was not him it was Jesse, if Jesse was busy as well then it would be Mckay or Langdon. Even James had been sent over to watch over him, who, despite his alpha status, Dennis could probably snap like a twig.
And he understood, to a point— he would act the same way if any of his coworkers where in the same situation. But goddam, couldn't he do anything alone? He had to actually hiss at Mateo when he tried to follow him to the bathroom. He was pregnant not made of glass for goodness sake.
And on top of all of that, he now had Trinity moaning in his ear while he tried to concentrate on a patient's chart.
"Please, Huckleberry, I was wrong. Like top 10 mistakes of my life wrong. Please please please let me take you back home." She sprawled herself over the counter in front of him.
Dennis dropped his head, completely giving up on his task. "If I remember correctly, you were the one that brought me in here in the first place."
"That was before I had to look for my attending on the other side of the ER because he's too busy in triage looking over his pregnant mate to realize there's someone dying on Trauma." She huffed.
Dennis raised his eyebrows at that. As much as he had endured the attention of every staff member assigned to watch over him, he had not actually seen Robby much that day.
"Plus, you wouldn't stop blowing up my phone this morning and I thought it would be funny to mess with Dr. Robby a little bit." She started rambling a little bit, gesturing around with her hand. "And I thought he would do the mature thing and send you back home immediately, but instead you manipulative ass got him to let you stay."
Dennis cleared his throat, making Trinity look back at him and quickly realize he had been begging for something a second ago and now was insulting him in his face.
"Shit, no. Huck- Dennis, Denny. I'm sorry, really. You know how I can be sometimes. Just lest me take you home, you can come to mine if you still want to fuck with Robby, you can eat all my food if you want. Pleaseee Dennis, Robby keeps looks at me like he wants to gut me. You can't be enjoying being here this much either." Trinity closed her hands in a pleading gesture, begging with her eyes.
Dennis hummed. "I don't know about that. Having Dr. Trinity Santos admit that she was wrong and begging for forgiveness? Might as well be the best day of my life." He looked up, giving her a big toothy smile.
Trinity's face dropped. "You are the worst. I've been nothing but a loyal friend for three years, I gave you a home for two and this is how you pay me." She whined. "I hate you, call me when you're in labor, forget about me until then." With that she turned around, flipping Dennis off as she walked.
Finally, with some peace and quiet, Dennis could get back to work.
The wailing was getting to Dennis nerves— everyone's nerves to be completely honest. A child patient was never an easy thing to navigate, no matter how many years you'd spend working in the hospital. The scent of distress that hit him when he opened the curtain made things even worst.
A woman, omega by the smell of her, was sitting on the bed— holding a baby in her arms and rocking them softly to try to make them calm down. While the baby cried loudly trying their hardest to voice her discomfort, the mother sobbed silently, shushing them and holding them closer to her chest.
"Hi, my name is Dr. Whitaker." Dennis introduced himself himself quickly before coming in and closing the curtain behind him. "What can I do to help?"
The woman looked up at him, her eyes puffy and drowning in tears. Her lip wobbled before she spoke.
"She- uh. She had a fever? Last night." She gulped, trying to swallow the tears. "I phoned her pediatrician and he told me to give her some baby medicine but- but it didn't do a-nything. And she got worst and then she started crying and she wouldn't stop and I don't know what to do."
"Don't worry mama, I'm here to help. We'll figure out what's wrong and before you know it you'll be back home with a happy baby. Okay?" He waited until the mother nodded and wiped her tears a little bit to approach them. "Could I hold her up for a second?"
The woman nodded again before handing her baby over. The kid squirmed, clearly not happy to be taken from the arms of her mother. Dennis huffed as he put the little girl to his chest, careful to avoid putting any pressure on his stomach, and gently guided her head to his neck; emitting calming pheromones that slowly broke through the sour scent of distress.
After some rocking and some shushing, the baby in his arms slowly started to calm down— until her screaming was nothing more than some cute little sniffs and the top of Dennis scrubs was no longer dampening with tears.
A sob made Dennis snap his concentration and look back to the woman sitting on the bed, who now had a hand over her mouth as tears spilling free from her eyes.
"I'm sorry I just- I- I been trying to get her to stop crying for hours." The woman laughed self deprecatingly "And you just- in a second, I-" She shook her head, her hands trembling.
"No no no, you did everything right." Dennis moved towards her, holding the baby with one arm to rub a soothing hand over her arm. "This kind of thing happens all the time. The baby will scent their mom's worry and they will continue crying even if they are no hurt anymore. You are such a good mom, you were so worried about your baby she was worried about you in turn. You did everything right mama, you hear me?"
The mother nodded again, wiping her tears roughly and taking a deep breath. Dennis smiled down at her.
"How about I give you your baby back so you can scent her before I start the examination?" He put the kid on the woman's lap, who quickly encircled her in her arms and guided her little nose to the scent gland on her neck. "She will find her mother's scent much more calming than mine."
As he said, the baby relaxed further into the woman's arm and let out a few little chirps of contentment. The mother let out a huge relieved sigh at the noise.
After that, when everyone was finally calm and collected, and properly scented, Dennis could start examining the baby and asking the standard questions. While he looked over the kid, he found out that the mother's name was Brenda and the baby's was Rose, that she was one year and two months old, that she was a healthy baby with no history of illness and that her fever had started around 3 am.
Dennis easily found out that the cause of the fever and the crying was a nasty ear infection that could be treated with some analgesic drops. He held Rose in his arms, making her bounce slightly to make her laugh, as he gave Brenda the prescription and the instructions on how to administer the medicine.
He decides to take advantage on the fact that Robby told him to slow down for the day to stay for a bit and make amicable conversation, knowing that if he wasn't pregnant he'd chastise him for taking too much time on a patient that's he's already over with.
"How far along are you?" Brenda asked as he handed over Rose one last time.
"37 weeks." Dennis smiled, petting his stomach.
"Oh my, I thought you were having twins or something." Brenda's eyebrows shot up, eyes widening in horror. "They make you work so far along?"
"Oh no, I make my self work. I'd go crazy if I had to stay home for 12 hours with nothing to do." He laughed as he rubbed a spot on his lower back that wouldn't stop hurting. "No, everyone here is begging me to go back and rest, but between you and me…" He leaned closer like he was whispering a secret to her, "I have the chief of the department wrapped around my finger."
A snort coming from the door made Dennis jump in his place. He turned to see Robby leaning over the door frame, peeking over the curtain just enough that Dennis wouldn't notice him standing there. He had the goofiest smile taking over his face.
"Sorry for interrupting" The alpha chuckled as he came into the room.
"How long have you been standing there?" Dennis questioned.
"A while." Robby smiled innocently. "Why don't you present your patient, Dr. Whitaker?"
"Right, the patient is Rose Mendoza, came in for an ear infection; and this is her mother Brenda. Brenda this is our Senior Attending Dr. Robby." He looked back at his mate. "I was just about to discharge them."
Robby nodded at her. "Pleasure to meet you miss. I trust you're taking good care of our resident?"
Brenda looked between them, eyeing their biting marks and then glancing at Dennis' badge before she smiled, a knowing smirk. "Oh, Dr. Robby. You must be the chief of the department." She chuckled.
"The one and only." He grinned then gestured to Dennis. "Dr. Whitaker could I talk to you for a second?"
The omega affirmed with his head and faced Brenda and her child. "A nurse will come to discharge you in a minute. It was a pleasure to meet you and little Rosie."
"Thank you for your time doctor." She beamed, "You're going to be a great mom."
Dennis chest warmed up at the praise. His face lit up, his cheeks feeling hot.
"Thank you," He said genuinely, "I really means a lot to me."
He followed Robby outside of the room with that feeling of bliss still tingling below his skin. The alpha continued his path across the ER and into the break room, holding the door open for Dennis to come in, like the gentleman he was.
"Are we finally going to discuss how you keep sending your little pawns to spy over me?" Dennis leaned over the table, not completely sitting down but finding a place to support his extra weight. "Or are you going to beg me to go home again."
"I was actually going to make you take a damn break." Robby approached him with his arms crossed. "But I can beg if you want me to."
Dennis snorted, turning around to get to the water dispenser.
"And those pawns you were talking about, which I suspect is your way to refer to your lovely coworkers," Dennis felt his mate getting closer to him, placing a warm hand over his lower back and whispering in his ear. "are the ones that told me that you've been walking around with a clear backache for the last two hours."
Dennis sighed. "Like I said, spying."
The omega felt the hand on his back travel to the bottom of his stomach, then the other mirrored the motion and settled besides the other, only for Robby to push up carefully to relieve some weight off his body for a moment. Dennis melted at the feeling— he pressed himself on his mate's chest, letting out a groan of satisfaction.
"Fuuuck yes, I love it when you do that." Dennis mumbled, letting his head fall back on Robby's shoulder.
Robby chuckled, but did not let go of the conversation they were having. "You are breaking your promise."
"You really should check on your memory because I don't actually remember promising anything." Dennis hummed, not bothering to open his eyes.
"You're a menace." Robby sighed. He rubbed his cheek over his mate's, scenting him sweetly.
Dennis couldn't help but purr at the feeling of his alpha holding him like that, caring for him like that.
"You love me like that." He smiled.
"I do." Robby mumbled against the omega's cheek, as he placed little kisses all over it. "But can we please come to a compromise on this?"
Dennis opens his eyes with a groan, he looks into his mate's eyes and he feels his resolve slipping. Truth was, for all that he hated the idea of sitting down and doing the dull part of his job for the entirety of his shift or staying at home getting bored to death, he really was getting tired and achy; and as much as he liked messing with his mate, he too was wrapped around Robby's finger.
"I'm listening…"
"Half your shift." Robby rubbed Dennis' belly with his thumbs, still holding onto it. "You can go around treating patients until halfway through your shift, then you spend the other half sitting down, doing the boring stuff, but pain free and right where I can see you. So you won't anymore of my 'envoys' following you around anymore."
Half his shift. Dennis peeked at his watch: 11am, one hour to go. He could do that, his bloated feet would certainly thank him, and he wouldn't dare to utter the 'q' world out-loud, but it was one of those days his coworkers could manage without him.
"Fine…" He groaned, just to be difficult. "I guess if I'm at central I do get to see my favorite person more often."
"That right?" Robby smiled down at him, showing off those lines by his eyes that Dennis loved so much.
"Yeah, I just love Dana sooo much."
Robby used the fingers still resting below his stomach to tickle him, making Dennis giggle and squirm against him. The omega tried to escape from the grasp, but he was trapped, completely to his partner's mercy.
"Stop- Stop, Robby please!" Dennis tried to plead between laugher.
"Who's your favorite person again?" Robby challenged, not stopping his teasing.
"You! You are my favorite person. Stop this torture please!"
Finally, Dennis grabbed Robby's wrists, who relaxed them enough for the omega to push him off, then opened his arms a little bit wider for him to turn and look at him in the eye.
Dennis took a moment to compose himself, breathing heavily with a smile still on his face. "After the baby, obviously."
Robby pressed a kiss to the corner of the omega's mouth. "How could I compete."
Dennis hummed, leaning up to steal a peck out of his mate's lips.
"You know…" Robby muttered as he caressed Dennis' arms. "You look really cute holding a baby."
Dennis smiled wider and wrapped his arms around the alpha's neck. "Imagine how much better I'll look when it's our baby I'm holding."
They stood there, basking in each other's presence until an emergency called and they had to separate with one last kiss.
Dennis wanted to keep his promise with Robby, he really did, with the way his back kept hurting and his feet got heavier and heavier, for once he was practically fantasizing about sitting down. But he was having a really bad time trying to find a space to leave.
Apparently, the universe had heard him utter the 'q' word in his fucking mind or something because from one moment to another, he had no time to breath. Maybe it was people deciding to do all the dangerous stuff they hadn't done the rest of the morning. Chairs started to fill up why more and more people, to the point there were some waiting on the street.
He checked his watch noticing he had gone 30 minutes past what he had promised Robby. Any longer and he'd probably come looking for him. But as Mckay practically ran past him and the nurses hurried to check on and discharge patients, Dennis knew he couldn't leave them with that mess.
Robby was going to come drag him over central any minute now anyways. Just until then.
He had been distracted, running from one bed to the other, trying to focus on willing the incessant pain away. He should have noticed before, but when he opened the curtain of the room had just stepped on, he was hit with two foul scent at once.
The first Dennis recognized, was the stench of alcohol— way too early in the day for it, Dennis stomach churned; and right behind, the scent that made him stop on his tracks, was the smell of angry alpha.
The man sprawled over the bed, looking as pissed off as he smells, with a gash on his forehead and bruised knuckles, fits every description Robby told Dennis to stay away from. And he was about to do just that— turn around and find someone else treat this patient, when the man called after him.
"Hey hey, where do you think you're going? I've been waiting for hours here!" He hiccuped.
Dennis looked up, trying to think of what to do. Robby would me furious if he found out, but so would the patient if he just left him there for some other doctor to take, and Dennis really didn't want to cause a scene right then.
The took a big grounding breath, and turned to face the alpha with a forced smile on his face.
"Not going anywhere sir, it's been a long day that's all." He lied.
The man scoffed and looked him up and down, like a predator to it's pray— it made Dennis' stomach revolt again. He tried to ignore him the best he could, taking the chart one of the nurse had left there.
"So, Mr. Hardy, what bring you here today?" Dennis could guess, with the way he looked battered and bloody and the stink of his breath.
The man groaned. "Some asshole went rabid on me for looking at her boyfriend. 'S not my fault the omega's these days don't know nothing but slutting themselves down, practically asking for it."
Great— the more time spent on that room the more he realized what a terrible mistake he'd made. Hr could only pray that maybe Mateo would pass by and get him out of this.
"You for example," the alpha ogled him. "How would any respectable alpha let the omega come to work like that."
What and absolutely insane thing to say, Dennis thought as he looked down at himself. He was wearing his work clothes, one of Robby's hoodies and scrubs bigger than his normal size to fit his enlarged belly— it was certainly tight in some places but he would hardly call it slutty.
"I bet I could treat you better. Don't you ever want to ditch the bastard?" He gave him a sultry smile.
Right, just what my baby needs, a drunk dad.
Dennis tried to act calm, knowing how this type of patients could get.
"Sorry, we're already bonded. I'll let you know if something changes." He smiled. "For now why don't we check you out? Do you remember where this person hit you?"
"You can check me out all you want doc."Mr. Hardy laughed. Gross. "She hit ne in the face, mainly. I defended myself pretty good actually, I was about to win. Then I slipped and she started kicking me while I was down, the honor-less bastard."
Dennis looked over the wound on his forehead, flashed a light on his eyes (to which the man complained), his nose was mostly intact but there was some bruising around one of his eyes, he then noticed the man had a split lip and asked him to open his mouth for him.
"You have a missing tooth, Mr. Hardy. Any idea where it is?" Dennis questioned as he checked over the hole on the man's denture, pushing his upper lip with his gloved thumb.
The alpha, instead of answering like a normal person, decided to lick Dennis' finger. The omega startled, withdrawing his hand and glaring at the man, who only chuckled like he had done nothing wrong.
"Yeah, I spit it out in the sidewalk . I'll have to find that bitch, make her pay for my dental insurance."
Dennis was already on edge, every instinct in his body was telling him to hightail out of there. But he just needed to finish his examination, stitch him up a little bit, order a CT to rule out concussion and make it someone else's problem, he didn't care anymore. Once he was done, he was marching over Robby and rubbing himself all over him until there was no trace of these human on his body.
He cleared his throat. "You said she kicked you while you were down"
He looked at the man's shirt. It was ripped and dirtied, he had clearly been kicked all over his torso. Dennis pressed gently on the man's chest trying to feel for any cracked ribs. The man shouted.
"That hurt you bitch!" He spat, grabbing on Dennis' nape, scruffing him and bringing his face dangerously close to his. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Dennis, at being scruffed by someone other than his alpha, let out an involuntary sound of distress and immediately tried to swallow it down. But it was too late, he heard the effect it had when basically every sound around them stopped suddenly.
Then the curtain was being pushed all the way open. A terrifying growl echoed across the floor. Robby stood there, face dark looking like he was about to murder someone.
"What the fuck is going on here?!" He snarled.
Mr. Hardy froze, face going pale as he caught the scent of a furious, protective alpha. His trembling hand let go of Dennis' neck and the omega scrambled to get away from the man as fast as he could.
The alpha tried to talk, explain himself or maybe blame Dennis but Robby wasn't having it. He hauled Mr. Hardy by the neck of his shirt, making him stand despite the man's cries and promptly dragged him out of the room to throw him in Ahmad's direction, who made no movement to keep the man from falling pathetically.
"Be thankful you're in a hospital right now. But if ever catch your scent again you're not leaving in one piece."
He then turned back to the room, not caring to see security escorting him out and closed the curtain with more force than necessary to hide them from prying eyes, a lot of them by what Dennis had catch.
Robby was in front of his in two big steps and immediately started to look and fuss over him.
"Are you alright? Did he hurt you? What the hell did I tell you about alphas? What were you thinking?"
"I know, I'm sorry— I didn't exactly want to do that either." He stopped his mate's fussing, holding his face to make him look at him. "I'm fine, he didn't hurt me, he just grabbed me and I startled. We're fine."
Robby's shoulders drop with relief; he exhales deeply and shoved his face in his omega's neck, enveloping him in his arms. He then started scent him properly, using both the glands on his neck and his wrist to cover him head to toe in his scent. Dennis let him, needing this as much as him.
The moment they had for themselves was brief, not even two minutes later the curtain was opening while once again.
"Huckleberry!" Trinity came into the room like a storm, practically shoving Robby out of the way to get to Dennis. The older alpha glared at her but said nothing, knowing that his omega might need her comfort too. "What the hell happened? Are you alright? Who do I need to kill?"
Dennis chuckled. "I'm fine, Trin. A patient just went a little crazy on me, I'm not hurt at all."
Trinity practically fell in Dennis' arms when she exhaled from relief. She hugged him as tight as his belly would allow them.
"You scared the living shit out of me Huckleberry. I'm never indulging you again, I'm locking you inside your house I swear."
"I'm sorry for worrying you." Dennis rubbed her back.
Then, all of the sudden, Trinity separated herself from him with a jump.
"Ew, I thought you were over you scrubs curse. Did that creep piss on you?" He screeched.
Dennis looked down finding there a wet spot he hadn't seen before thanks to the darkness of his scrubs and that he hadn't noticed the cold sensation of because of the buzzing of his skin.
But that wasn't piss.
He looked up slowly, his wide eyes meeting Robby's.
"Oh shit."
Robby wheeled Dennis into the elevator that would take them to the maternity ward, quickly followed by Santos.
The omega had bitched that he could walk there at first, but Robby was not having any of it that day, he told him, in no uncertain terms, that if he didn't sit down he was going to carry him through the ER princess style. The effectively shut Dennis down.
Once they reached their intended floor, they rushed to the nurse's station and they were put in a room much more quicker than Robby would expect out of the hospital. Still, they were made to sit down and wait for about 20 minutes before their Dennis' name was called.
In that time, the omega had to place his hand over Robby's thigh multiple time due to his inability to stop bouncing his leg. The alpha couldn't understand how he could be so calm when he was the one in labor— Santos didn't look like she was having a great time either.
Once they were called, they followed the nurses down the hall but were stopped at the door of the nurse.
"I advise only one of you to come into the birthing room with the mother, if possible."
Santos face went through all the stages of grief at hearing she might not be able to stay by her friends size during the labor, but Dennis grabbed onto her forearm still looking at the nurse.
"Can't she stay with us? She's my pack."
Santos nodded enthusiastically.
"I won't be in the way. We're doctors, we know how annoying it can be to have someone around while you're working."
Robby raised a disapproving eyebrow at Santos, not sure if calling patient families 'annoying' was a good sign of her improving her bedside manner over the years, ut he let it slide.
The nurse sighed. "That's what I'm afraid of. Ever heard of 'doctors make the worst patients'?" He shook her head. "It doesn't matter, if mom wants you here you can stay. Just promise you'll stay in your place, no matter how much you think you know better than our doctor."
Both alphas nodded and were then lead into the room. A couple more nurses came to help Dennis into the bed and connect the monitors to the baby's heartbeat and check Dennis contractions. Once they ensured they were far enough apart, they were left mostly alone.
The minutes passed and Robby felt like he was loosing his mind a little bit. Dennis tried make him laugh a bunch of times, even breathing through his contractions, coming out mostly unsuccessful. On the other side of the bed, Santos was destroying her nails between he teeth.
At some point an anesthesiologist came into the room to administer Dennis' epidural. And a few moments later the ob-gyn appeared at the door with a big smile on her face. She introduced herself al Dr. Vásquez and promptly approached to check on the omega on the bed.
Robby's nerves skyrocketed when she told them it was time to push. He interlocked his fingers with his mate to give him something to hold onto.
Time bent a little in that room. Robby was not sure how much time Dennis spent pushing, he tried to focus completely into giving comfort to his omega and pumping calming pheromones into the air, even if the omega was cursing him in ways he didn't know where possible.
"Motherfucker!" He shouted, sweat dripping from his forehead. "I'm not letting put a single finger on me ever again."
Robby tried to find it funny, and in a way it was. But was also making him aware of how much pain his mate was in. He knew male omegas tended to have more painful deliveries than females but the medication should have dulled most of it. It was killing the alpha not to know if the cursing was coming from the standard pain of labor or if it was abnormal.
It made him want to risk being kicked out and check if the doctor was doing everything accordingly.
"I swear Michael, I'll do your vasectomy with my teeth." Dennis panted.
Robby did chuckle at that, kissing the back of the omega's hand.
"Whatever you want love, however you want it."
Dr. Vásquez popped her head out of the sheet covering Dennis' lower body. "Alright Dennis, it's almost over. I just need one more big push."
The omega whined, making Robby squeeze his hand tighter.
"Fuck, Robby I can't." He cried. "I'm tired I can't do it."
Dennis sniffed, fat tears falling from his eyes ss he squeezed then shut. It was a jarring sight for Robby to witness— he was usually the crybaby of the relationship. Dennis would almost never cry, he didn't cry when they watched sad movies, he didn't cry at most injuries, he didn't even cry when he lost his first patient, even if he looked like he really wanted to.
He was also the one to comfort Robby when he was crying his eyes out. He was the one that laughed at him and cracked jokes when he needed an extra tissue while watching movies, he was the one that hugged him when he found him on the roof (not past the railing, not anymore, too much to loose), and he had been the one to bring him back up that first day at pedes.
Now it was him that needed comfort.
Robby petted the omega's hair, pulling a few sweaty strands out of his eyes.
"Yes, you can. You can do this." He kissed his temple. "You can because you're the strongest omega I know, and you push yourself to help others even if you're the one in pain over and over again, so I know this is going to be a breeze for you okay?
'You are tired because you came in to help people even though I told you you needed rest." He said the last part with a mocking tone, making the omega hiccup a laugh. "But I seen you save lives while you where on the verge of exhaustion. I assure you, you are strong enough to bring this life right now."
Dennis nodded, then waited for the doctor's signal to start pushing again. He almost cracked Robby's hand with the strength he was gripping it with but he couldn't care less.
Not when the sound of crying filled the room, making everyone witnessing know how strong and healthy her lungs where.
"Congratulations Dr. Whitaker! You had a healthy girl." Dr. Vásquez announced.
"Oh my god, Huckleberry. You did it!" Santos cheered, shaking Dennis' shoulder slightly. "Look at her!"
"Would the father of the baby want to cut the chord?" A nurse asked.
And even thought Robby really wanted to, he couldn't move from his place. He felt rooted in his chair, his hands unmoving from the grip he had on his partner's hand as the nurses watched him expectantly.
He felt Dennis's other hand touch the back of his gently and looked down to see the omega gesturing for him to get closer, to which he obliged.
"Would you let Trinity do it this time? I think I owe a bunch of favors I could cash out with this." Dennis whispered in his ear.
Robby laughed, knowing this was his mate's way to tell him it was okay, that he could continue to hold his hand and stay by his side, it didn't make him a bad parent to care for his partner.
"This time?" He questioned with a smile.
"We'll see." He then turned to Santos, who clearly had been trying to listen to the conversation from ger spot. "Trin, would you mind doing the honors?"
Santos didn't need to me told twice. She jumped out of her seat ready to grab the scissors.
Once that was done, the nurses bundled the baby up, instructing the girl to be careful to not get her scent on her before she reached her mother and passed her over to the alpha.
"Uff, big girl." Santos sang when she had the baby in her arms.
"Are fat-shaming my daughter after she was just born?" Dennis quipped, raising and eyebrow.
"No, I'm DNA-shaming your big ass mate. She's definitely his, I'll give you that." She looked down at the pup as she walked back to her side of the bed, her eyes sparking as she cooed at her. "Look at you, all red and bumpy." She laughed, "little raspberry."
"Not two minutes of knowing her and you're already giving her stupid nicknames, what a Trinity Santos thing to do." Dennis opened his arms for her. "Give me my child back."
"It's not stupid!" Santos gasped, but complied with the omega's request.
Dennis rested the baby on his chest, putting his finger in her hand for her to grab.
"Hi Charlie." He whispered, "Welcome to the world puppy."
Charlie nuzzled into Dennis's chest, catching his scent and rubbing her little cheek all over it in instinct. She opened her eyes slightly showing off her sky blue irises, just like her mommy's.
Robby didn't even realize he was crying until Dennis put a hand on his cheek to wipe off the tears. He kissed his mate's shoulder, then his jaw, his cheek and finally his mouth, lingering there.
"I told you you could do it." He said once they separated, propping his head on the omega's shoulder to continue watching the pup .
Dennis chuckled, letting his head fall over Robby's and closing his eyes. Not quite sleeping, not with the baby still in his arms; but, finally since he woke up, resting.