The ABO Serum

Plan Sets and Settlements

Pablo left Dr. Rodgers looking at plans by heaving himself up and declaring his intention to turn in early after a long day. Frank Rodgers watched his omega waddle away, his pelvic bones already loosening and his growing uterus making his center of gravity shift. His omega. His. He may not have the intense instincts of an alpha, but he was a man who knew what he wanted. He wanted this incredibly capable young man in his house, and in his life, and in his bed, forever.

What did Pablo want? He didn't flirt. He didn't take excessive care of the doctor like a hopeful lover might. They shared the chores equally. Frank examined the dream house plans closely, searching for any sign that Pablo saw himself in Dr. Rodgers' future, any tiny bit of hope to cling to that the young man had some interest in him, too. There was nothing. He left the plans on the table and went to bed.

In the morning, Frank shuffled the plans to one side of the table to make room for his breakfast and noticed there was another sheet behind the set three plans. In this set, Pablo opened and finished the upper-level attic spaces into 'Creative Space.' He made the decorative turret functional and replaced the pull-down attic ladder with a spiral staircase. He even added a small balcony with French doors that would open wide to allow fresh air in.

A sleepy Pablo stumbled into the dining room with his plate. Dr. Rodgers usually made sure there was a healthy high protein breakfast on the table in the mornings and Pablo took care of dinner. "What did you imagine in this space?" He asked his groggy roommate, holding up the set three attic remodel plans.

"Hmm? Oh, my office," he said, then realized what he'd admitted and turned away to hide his suddenly flushed face. He came fully awake and his heart beat furiously in his chest. He didn't mean to reveal that little tidbit, the fact that he'd imagined himself still living in Dr. Rodgers' dream home. It's just, he wanted security and stability, and everything about the doctor radiated both. And he was handsome, and considerate, and didn't ever say or do anything that made Pablo feel diminished as a man, even though he was suddenly pregnant, and an omega.

Every, 'so, what you're saying is...,' made Pablo want to hug him. But the doctor could do so much better. He could have anyone he wanted. Why would he want a poor student pregnant with someone else's child? So, Pablo hid his affection, pretended he never said anything about his office in the dream house, and went back to the kitchen to fetch the plate of eggs.

But Frank heard him. He heard the words that made his heart sing. He could tell Pablo immediately regretted saying them, but they were out now, and he couldn't take them back. My omega. My mate. My child. My dream house. Mine. Frank rolled all the plans up carefully and took them with him when he left for the office. He had plans of his own to make.

At water aerobics, the four pregnant omegas walked, hopped, swirled, stretched, and strengthened their awkward bodies while gossiping about their respective alphas and GenLife in general. This happened three days a week. Pablo usually talked about Dr. Rodgers' house renovations and his own new job (with much appreciation to Mr. Weisman) to keep from talking about anything more personal, but Mr. Weisman teased him relentlessly about falling in love with the beta doctor. He had absolutely no basis for his initial comments, but the young man's flushed expressions told him he'd hit the mark, so he kept wheedling until it was obvious to all.

"Leave him alone Richard. Can't you see he doesn't want to talk about it," Carey finally defended Pablo.

"But he's so cute when he's flustered," Mr. Weisman whined. Carey aimed a forceful splash at his head in retort.

"How did you do that?" Pablo asked.

"It's in the way you cup your hand," Carey answered. "Like this." And with that the conversation shifted to effective water fight techniques for a bit.

Unfortunately, it worked its way back around to Dr. Rodgers before the class ended. "Hey," Mr. Weisman continued, "he's not an alpha, but if he makes you happy you should go for it. He's a hot older doctor. You're a hot young engineer. You can have lots of hot sex and babies. I don't see a problem there. I mean, he's obviously drool-,"

"Enough!" Carey interrupted. "Let them work it out for themselves."

Dr. Martin kept walking laps in the pool just a little too fast to talk. But he did chime in breathlessly here to add, "better a much younger omega than a much younger alpha. I can't keep up with that boy's libido. How do you guys have energy left to gossip?"

Later that night, Pablo cleared the dinner table and meant to head to his room, but Dr. Rodgers stopped him. "Please sit for a minute. I talked to the bank and an attorney and I want to look at the plans with you one more time."

The bank he expected, but an attorney? Pablo sat.

"Set one is a basic plan for resale, but I promised you could live here with your baby until you finish college, so I won't be reselling soon. We can eliminate that set. Between set two and set three, I think you should choose." He rolled out sets two and three on the table and added a small stack of documents on legal size paper to each.

"Set two is a comfortable house for you to nest in until you're ready to move on. That's a contract to build it where you and your child are entitled to live here for free until you're done with college, master's or doctorate degree if you want to go that far, in exchange for overseeing the project as my contractor.

"Set three is my dream home, with one minor change." Dr. Rodgers pointed to the attic page where he'd crossed out 'Creative Space' and written in 'Pablo's Office.' Pablo started trembling uncontrollably. Dr. Rodgers watched him closely to make sure his omega was okay, but he had more to say.

"This is the contract for you to build set 3," he finished, sliding a packet of legal papers Pablo's direction. Pablo looked at it, then up at the doctor, then back down at the legal papers.

"T..this is a marriage license application," Pablo couldn't believe it.

"Yes," Dr. Rodgers confirmed. "There's no point in building it that way if you won't live in it with me, as my husband, so it's up to you. Set two or set three? I don't want to pressure you. I just want you to know how I feel." That was a lie. Frank wanted to apply pressure, so much pressure. But he wasn't an asshole, so he couldn't.

"I..ck..ah," Pablo choked on his words. Tears formed in his eyes and his throat felt completely blocked. The trembling intensified. Unable to communicate with words, he looked Dr. Rodgers in the eyes and held up three fingers. The smile on the doctor's face took the rest of Pablo's breath away.

They'd fallen in love without any open flirting and the careful avoidance of inappropriate touching on the doctor's part, so Frank couldn't rush the poor boy, but he wanted to hold him desperately. He approached with caution and pulled his beloved up out of his chair into his embrace. Encountering no resistance, he held tightly for a while until the trembling slowed, then freed a hand to stroke the younger man's face, drawing his eyes and kissing him deeply, so they could both communicate without words the intensity their feelings had grown to.

"Could we...?" Frank asked, tilting his head in the direction of the bedroom. Fortunately, his omega was as horny from repressing his feelings as the doctor was. He nodded. But at the bottom of the staircase, as Frank took him by the hand to lead him up, he shook his head and pulled the doctor to his own room instead. "Not that I'm complaining, but was there a reason?" Frank asked.

Finally able to control his voice again, Pablo answered, "I don't want to risk the bed falling through the floor."

Frank grinned. "Oh? You plan to increase the risk of that happening tonight?"

Pablo nodded.