Unexpected Surprises

11: Alpha Pregnancies

Everyone found out about Isaac's pregnancy far quicker than he wanted them to. Why? Well, it wasn't just because of the morning sickness (which lasted for another week before fading away, for the most part). And it wasn't just because his and Scott's daughter - wow, Isaac loved saying that - had a really big mouth.

They told Jade first, obviously, before telling anybody else. Which would've been great, except Jade sided with Isaac (she thought it would be a boy) and then drew a picture of her new family with a baby girl and boy, and hung it on the fridge.

When Malia asked her who the two babies were, she said excitedly, "Well, I figured after Isaac had my baby brother, he could have my baby sister, too!"

Then, of course, Malia tried to patiently explain to Jade that Isaac wasn't pregnant, because he was a boy.

Jade, convinced she was in the right, had a loud shouting match with Malia in the kitchen, ruining Malia's patience, and then dragged Malia upstairs (by which time the entire pack, who had all been over enjoying the luxury of Scott's living room, knew what they were arguing about) so Scott and Isaac could tell her, too.

Malia was on Scott's side, and thought it would be a girl.

And then, of course, it turned out that alpha pregnancies - another myth come true, and boy was Isaac really starting to hate being a guinea pig for all these ancient myths come to life - were sped-up versions of real life. So by his third month of being pregnant, he was the equivalent of a woman in the late months of her second trimester.

But right now, most everybody was worried about Lydia, who was just about ready to pop, in Stiles' nervous-rambling words. Some people had brought up the subject of her child being a banshee, but Lydia had waved away the notion. "In my family it skips a generation," she explained to everyone. "My grandmother was a banshee, my mother wasn't, and my child won't be."

Scott and Isaac had both taken up the habit - in fact, everyone in the pack had - of listening to the baby's heartbeat, to reassure themselves that the baby was, in fact, okay. And then, one morning when Isaac was home alone with Melissa while everyone else was at the hospital (Lydia had gone into labor) Isaac frowned.

"Melissa, I need you to take me to Deaton's."

"Wait, honey, why?"

"Well, he's been slowly poaching enough equipment so that when I'm ready, I can have the baby there, as nobody really thinks the world is ready for a male to have a baby just yet - don't worry, I mean buying, he hasn't been stealing anything - but my baby's heartbeat, it's too fast." Isaac listened again, frowning. "It's going double the speed of what it should be."

"And you're sure it's not just because it's an alpha's baby?" Melissa frowned worriedly.

"Yes, now hurry. Don't call Scott, he's supporting Lydia - it's probably nothing, I just want to make sure the baby's okay," Isaac said. 

"Are you sure? What if something is wrong with the baby? Scott will be furious - "

"It's probably nothing," Isaac interrupted her, and with a heavy sigh, Melissa nodded.

When they got to Deaton's, Deaton himself wasn't there. Luckily, however, Melissa locked the car, came in, surveyed the equipment, and nodded. "All right. I can work with this."

Isaac nodded, trusting Scott's mother, and so she took a look at Isaac's baby, putting the cool gel on his stomach, and then listened to the heartbeat.

"Isaac, honey, there's nothing wrong with your baby," she finally smiled up at Isaac. "You're going to have two babies, twins."

"Twins?" Isaac stared at her. "That was why - I was hearing two heartbeats," he smiled in relief, letting his head fall back against the silver table. He winced as it made contact, having forgotten that he wasn't in a dentist's somewhat-comfortable chair. "Ow."