Saving Me [MxM]

Chapter 30 + Author's Note

Nathan didn't really have to worry about holding River around Elle, because she seemed to enjoy doing it as much as she could. Which he guessed was good for River, because he liked to be held anyway.

River made happy gurgling sounds as he sat in Elle's arms, both Nathan and Elle at the kitchen table like they usually were when he visited. A couple more weeks passed, and River was about a month old.

“I still can't get over how adorable he is,” Elle said as she smiled down at the baby. Nathan hummed in agreement, leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest comfortably. “Everything's still going well with him?”

“Yeah, we're good. Varian knows what he's doing, I haven't tried to get anyone else's finger bitten off.” Nathan nodded. Elle rolled her eyes a little at the last one, and Nathan shrugged. “Varian won't let me anyway. He warns everybody.”

“Good thing, these are some serious looking teeth.”

“Oh yeah, he could probably literally bite a finger off. I wasn't exaggerating.”

Elle shook her head, looking up at Nathan. “That's good that you're doing so well with him, at least. Varian said you haven't had any problems.”

Nathan frowned at that. “Of course not. Why would I?”

“Some people don't like it when their kids come from other people.” Elle shrugged. “So it was nice to know you weren't treating him differently because of it.”

“Okay, yeah, I hated his mother, but that doesn't have anything to do with him. He's still our son. Besides, Varian would kill me if I was an asshole to him.”

“Varian. Me. Millie.” Elle added. Nathan snorted, shaking his head a little. “But anyway, I wanted to ask about how you guys got him. Varian mentioned something about lots of interest and some shit.”

“Shit, yeah,” Nathan nodded, glancing to River when he started making negative noises again and sighing. He stood up and moved to pick River up from Elle, humming. “Probably needs to be changed. But yeah, we had some problems.”

Nathan spoke as he took River into the living room, getting what he needed to change him. “Well, he was in the hospital for the first week, and one day during my break I went down to see him, and me and Varian were talking about how we didn't know why he was even still there. No one told us anything, you know? They didn't say he was sick or something, so he should be able to go home.”

River fussed as Nathan changed him, which wasn't unusual, and Nathan talked through it as Elle listened. “So, we contacted the head doctor for the V.C. ward of the hospital, who's a great doctor by the way, and because River is so...different, we had a lot of trouble. Corporate got involved, and then the Board got involved.”

Elle nodded to all that as Nathan finished with River and picked him up, throwing the old diaper away as he held his son. “Varian's father, Victor, just so happens to be Head of the Board, and he's sort of the reason why we got River home. He showed up, punched somebody, and here we are.”

Elle frowned at that. “I thought Varian's parents left?”

“They did, yeah, but Victor's the Head of the Board, so he's still around here. We see him on rare occasions, like the hospital.” Nathan said, sitting back in his seat. Elle nodded a little.

“That sounds intense. What's Victor think of River then?”

Nathan paused at that, glancing down at River and shrugging. “I have no idea. He's never actually met him.”

“What do you mean he's never met him? It's his grandchild.” Elle replied. Nathan sighed a little.

“I know, it's just...stuff with Victor is a little complicated. As it is, technically speaking, he's not supposed to see Varian. Then again,” he said, raising an eyebrow, “that's Varian. Not River.”