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“Can I get you anything?”His smile was reserved for the young Marshal in these times. “Tea would be lovely, Cor. I just need to relax – he’s been kicking my back for a few hours now.”The corner of Cor’s mouth twitched up, his hand cupping the side of his King’s baby bump. “Little Prince, you shouldn’t be kicking your King in the back,” he spoke, as a family friend, as the Marshal. His eyes darted up to Regis’ face, and the small nod let him relax, his hands moving the heavy clothing aside to reveal bare skin where he pressed his lips against the thin, stretched skin and felt the tiny bumps of the unborn baby. “Don’t kick your Pater, little one,” he spoke as the father, the man who had put the little Prince into the King.The nursery door opened quietly, admitting Clarus who carried a tray with a tea set balanced in the middle. Only three people could enter the room. The King would take respite in the room, settling in the rocking chair to talk to his unborn son, the Shield would guard his King, and the Marshal, assigned to fetch and carry, but in truth enjoyed the freedom to speak to the baby and help his King with the aches and pains.“Developing clairvoyance now, Clarus?” The corners of the King’s mouth pulled up and the laugh lines at the corners of his eyes showed where they started to show even at such a youthful age.Clarus set the tray down on the small side table next to the rocking chair. “As if you would pass up the chance for tea, Reggie. Drink it down and let Cor take care of you.”Regis’ laugh was like rolling thunder from a distance. The skin of his large bump stretched and rolled with his son’s movements. “Calm, my son,” he laughed, his fingers tracing the slight outline of a tiny foot. “We certainly have not forgotten you’re here.”He carried his baby in the front, his bump large and impossible to miss, and he liked it that way. Especially as the baby proved to be a wriggler.“Have you thought of names, Reg?” Cor asked. Biologically he had fathered the child, but he had no rights to it, and so he cared from a mild distance, as a friend and not a parent. Regis raised the teacup to his lips, sipping carefully to test. “I have.” His other hand cradled against another tiny foot pressing outwards. “I have chosen Noctis. Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV, crown heir to the throne of Lucis.”His son would be great, and he was eager to watch his little one grow from a tiny newborn to a young man.“Noctis,” Cor tested. “Sounds perfect. Maybe he’ll let you get some rest tonight, now he’s named and knows we are giving him attention.”“The little Princeling is going to be spoiled,” Clarus quirked his eyebrow and smirked.“As if you haven’t spoiled Gladiolus since his birth,” Regis snorted. A hard kick to the top of his bump gave him a jump, his hand resting gently on the internally bruised spot. “He seems to be turning himself. Eager to join us, my little love?”“Don’t encourage him, Regis,” Cor looked up at his friend and King, “you’re not due for another three weeks.”The room filled with Clarus’ booming laughter. “A baby arrives when it wants to. A due date is just a rough guess; that kid could turn up tomorrow or a month from now.”“Tomorrow would be nice.” Regis was getting tired of being pregnant. The backaches. The constant need to piss, the fact he had not seen his feet, or his own penis for that matter, in months, and not to mention the itchiness from the dry skin ad stretch marks of his large and in charge bump. “In fact, tonight would be good. Can you make it tonight for me, Noctis? Thank you, little love.”“Regis!” Cor was exasperated, and Clarus’ laughter racked up a notch.“You are not the one who is carrying this baby, Cor. I am fed up of not seeing my dick!” Regis exhaled sharply. “I have been incredibly horny since hitting the second trimester and without being able to see it, using my dick has been particularly tough.”“Then ask for help, dumbass,” Cor offered a hand up, knowing Regis would find it hard to get out of the rocking chair alone. “I told you I’ll do whatever you need me to do, no matter what. This is our son you carry; I will do anything to make you comfortable.”Clarus’ laughter died down and he coughed. “You can’t acknowledge that connection outside of this room, Cor. You know that, right?”“Yes, I know that!” It was a sore spot for the Marshal. “It does not mean I can or should abandon my friend to the trials of carrying a baby without my assistance when I put it there.”“And what a weekend that was,” Regis said, sighing dreamily.“I don’t want to know,” Clarus pointed at his King. “Keep your mind here in the present, not at your son’s conception.”“But it was a really good weekend,” Regis whined.Cor rolled his eyes. “Come on, your Majesty, let’s get you to bed so you can rest.”Regis let Cor wrap an arm around him, guide him to the bedroom, to help him undress, and get into bed. Sleeping in pyjamas had been difficult to do for a few months so leaving himself in only his underwear; Regis relaxed into the cushions eagerly and sighed with relief. The sharp pain ripped through his bump, woke him from a deep sleep and forced a groan from him. Regis gripped his sheets and panted through the tight pain before he felt it release. Sitting up, he put his hands on his thighs to try to orientate himself, instead found the covers soaked. He leaned over and put the light on, pulling the covers back to find his bed sheets slick with pinkish fluids, the inside of his thighs similarly covered, and the pain made sense.Somehow, he had slept through the beginning of his labour and was now entering the later stage. He grabbed his phone from the bedside table and called Cor. They had this planned, down to the minute, so he only needed to tell Cor one phrase.“Car. Now.”He hung up and dialled for Clarus, informing him of the imminent birth with a loud groan and yelp of pain as a contraction ripped through him.“I’m on my way.” Clarus’ voice was a comfort in the moment even as he breathed through it. With the contraction over, he slowly slid across his bed to the edge and worked his way up to stand, his hands cupping his bump as he waddled over to get his largest tee-shirt, one he stole from Clarus, and tugged it on and down, going to his dresser to get clean underwear a moment later.With difficulty, he pulled off his soiled boxer-briefs and sat down to tug on the new ones, settling them on his hips as they curved under the weight of his son.“I did not think you’d take me this seriously, little Night-light. But, at least I’ll get to hold you in my arms soon,” Regis smiled softly, his heart thudding hard from all the love he felt for his little one.His bedroom door burst open and Cor ran in, panting and wearing only a tank top and sweatpants, hair wild as he had just gotten out of bed. He picked up Regis’ new dressing gown, a maternity one, and stalked over, helping Regis stand and wrapping it around the Omega King’s shoulders, helping him do it up around him. “How did you sleep through the start?”“I was exhausted,” Regis understated but Cor was used to that. “Is the car ready?”“I have it warming up; a Glaive is keeping an eye on it. Slippers, slippers. Regis, where the fuck did you put your slippers?” Cor was stressed, and obviously only going to get worse. “I’ll drive.”“I would hope so; I don’t think we’d get there if Clarus did.”Cor did not think it was time for joking, as he found the wayward slippers and dropped them at Regis’ feet, the older man slipping them on and then groaning, gripping Cor’s arm tight enough to leave a handprint behind.“Where is the baby bag?”“By the study door. I want to add a few drinks to it,” Regis waddled very slowly towards the door.“Astral’s sake, Reg, we can get you that stupid soda later, we have more important things to worry about right now,” Cor said through gritted teeth.Regis turned to the young Alpha, eyes narrowed. “I’ll decide what to worry about. I’m the one who is going to push this baby out of a whole too small for the baby’s head, if I want a six-damned soda in my baby bag, I’ll have a six-damned soda in my baby bag!”Nobody could ever tell Cor that the Omega King was not scary. When angered, Regis was a force of nature, terrifying and beautiful. “Okay. Okay, Reg, I’m sorry. We can pick up a soda on the way, how’s that?”Regis’ anger cooled immediately, and he nodded. Cor wrapped an arm around the King’s waist and let him hold the other hand, the bag suspended from it, supporting the labouring Omega as they walked the halls of the Citadel to get to the parking garage. The Regalia was parked up close to the door, warm and running and the Glaive standing watch took one look at the situation and immediately pulled the back passenger door, stepping aside for Cor to slide Regis into the back.Clarus’ footsteps thundered through the parking garage as he joined them from his own vehicle.“Get in here!” Regis called from the back seat, reaching out to tug at the Shield, who bent down and slid in to sit next to him.Cor closed the door and ran to the driver’s side door, climbing into the most important seat.“Get us there quickly,” Clarus ordered Cor, holding Regis’ hand through a contraction as Cor put his foot down.At night, the roads were much clearer, but that did not change the fact that the drive over to the Hospital best equipped to care for the King was a long one, and Cor was hitting every red light along the way.“I-I need to push,” Regis announced during one long contraction.“No! Not in the car! Hold it in!” Cor yelped, jolting the steering wheel as he automatically looked over his shoulder.“I can’t just hold him in, Cor, this baby is determined to arrive as quickly as possible!” Regis snapped. “Eyes on the road!”Regis groaned as hiss contraction ended, only for another one to start barely a minute later – he could feel a heavy lump pressing down inside him and his body was practically screaming at him to push. Holding onto Clarus’ hand on one side, he started to tug off his underwear with the other.“Reg, stop it, just wait, we can get you there,” Clarus pleaded.Their King would not listen, tugging his boxer-briefs down until he could use his legs to wriggle them off the rest of the way. He panted, shuffling his dressing gown aside.“Don’t you dare, Regis!” Cor snapped, looking over his shoulder as he heard Regis let out a pained grunt and sustained low scream of pain. It was a stupid idea to take his eyes off the road, and he paid for that as he slammed into the back of a stupidly parked car that had taken up the driving lane. “Fuck!”Regis’ legs had braced against the two front seats as he pushed, so unlike Cor and Clarus, he did not go flying forward into the dashboard and front seat respectively. He did not even register the crash as he took deep breaths and pushed again, feeling the baby moving down. Reaching down, he checked if the baby was crowning, a burning sensation in his lower parts preceding the feeling of wet hair. Definitely crowning.“Oh, fuck me,” Cor grunted. He had to turn slowly to get out of his seat, dropping the back of it down flat so he could crawl over it to get his legs out from under the steering wheel.“That’s what caused this in the first place,” Clarus huffed, shaking off the headache from hitting the seat in front so hard. Both men looked down to see that this was happening. Right here, right now. Clarus pulled the dressing gown the rest of the way off the King, he hung it up at the back window to avoid anyone being able to look in, blocked another window with his tee-shirt and the other back window with his body. “Cor! You’re going to have to help catch the baby!”Cor’s hands were shaking as he got himself into the uncomfortable position of sitting on the centre console and bracing Regis’ foot against his leg instead of the chair. His body blocked any view of the birthing King from the front, but they had to work quickly. “Uh, okay, so, uhm, push?”Regis screamed as he pushed, reaching out to grab Cor’s top and pulled himself toward the Marshal a bit. “I AM PUSHING!”The pain was unbearable, but Regis pushed through it, a cry of relief leaving his lips as the head finally seemed to pop out. He took deep, fast breaths as he tried to hold off pushing for a moment. “The cord, check for the cord.”Cor felt around the baby’s neck, feeling no cord, and nodded. “It’s okay. You can keep going.”“I’m so FUCKING grateful,” he started, then screamed as he pushed, “I have your permission,” he finished. It was a never-ending burning as his body parted around his tiny son’s shoulders until finally, little Noctis slid in a wet burst from his Pater’s body into Cor’s hands.Regis wasted no time at all in shakily taking his son from the awestruck Cor, and tugging his tee-shirt off one handed, cradled the baby against his skin, using the tee-shirt as a temporary blanket. They were still connected by the cord, but in that moment he did not care, as he rubbed the baby’s back quickly, putting his mouth to the tiny nose to suck out the fluids there and spitting them onto the spare seat in the back, doing the same with his little one’s mouth to clear the airways. It was a tense minute of silence as he kept rubbing.“Come on, my little Night Light. Cry for me. Show Pater you’re okay. Come on,” Regis pleaded, kissing the top of the damp head of hair. “Come on, Noctis. Please.”It started quietly, with a little accompanying wriggle, but it was there. A cry. And as the wriggles grew stronger, so did the sound until the car was filled with the heaving sobs of a new-born baby in his Pater’s arms.“I know, Night-light, I know, it’s been a tough night,” Regis cooed, eyes wet, tears trailing down his cheeks to meet the upturned corners of his mouth where he smiled the brightest smile anyone had ever seen the King give. “You’re here, Noctis, oh Astrals you’re finally here!”A knock at the front window had Cor turning, finding an Insomnia City Police Officer standing there. “Sir? Sir!”Cor leaned over and wound the window down a little. “Officer.” Noctis’ cries nearly drowned out his words.“Step out of the car, please, sir,” the Officer said, though he seemed patient.Cor reached into his pocket and pulled out his Citadel ID, holding it up to the window for the Officer to see. “Royal business. This car currently holds the King,” he snapped.The Officer’s eyes widened and he nodded, rubbing back to his car and returning with the emergency first aid kit and an emergency blanket. Passing them through the door, he pressed his radio talk button. “Officer Sigilis, the accident is Royal Business. Have an escort ready to bring another car from the Citadel for the King and take them to the Hospital. Over.”“Escort organised, Citadel notified of the need for another car. They will be en route in five minutes. Injuries?” Came a voice from the other side.Sigilis looked to Cor for the answer.“Bruised legs, possible concussion, nothing serious. But his Majesty was in active labour – the Prince is still connected, but we want them both checked as soon as possible,” Cor answered, wrapping the emergency blanket around Pater and Son, giving Clarus the kit to see to any injuries on himself.Sigilis relayed the information to dispatch and closed the car door, waiting outside to give the King some privacy. He was not about to lose his job and possibly his head just because he was stupid enough to get a view of his Kings battered bits.Regis had no other care in the world except that of this tiny human hugged against his chest, whining and wriggling, tiny fingernails scratching against his skin. The little mouth was turned down in a pout, and his eyes were finally open, a bright blue.“I hope you’re so eager to listen to me as you grow, my little one,” he spoke softly, hand stroking over the top of his son’s head. “There will be so much I can’t do for you and so much I won’t be able to save you from. But I will always be here and will always love you, no matter what.”Noctis grunted and whined, nuzzling at the best in front of him.“You won’t know who your other biological parent is, I’m so sorry, but know they will be looking after you and loving you in secret.”All the pain, all the months of backaches, headaches, and the bruised internal organs were worth every second as he gazed upon his son. He knew he would suffer the entire world over to have this tiny baby in his arms forever.He kissed Noctis’ forehead, lingering and taking in the scent, rocking his baby to keep him calm.“My beautiful little Night-light.”