Chapter Text
Moving on autopilot, Yibo trudged up the stairs, not taking any note of the odd squelching from his wet boots leaving behind muddy prints, or even the slimy pull of his water-logged jeans on his cold, wet skin. He clutched the precious body in his arms and beelined to the room where Zhuoxuan would usually treat them. It was an unofficial treatment room that had a medical bed complete with whatever supplies they’d need.
Though, in this case, they most certainly did not have any access to supplies and equipment a pregnant omega might need.
Pregnant omega.
His omega was pregnant, and if their last encounter was about six months ago, that would make Xiao Zhan five or so months pregnant. Was it really his?
Zhuoxuan fluttered her hands at him to hurry up, “We need to get him out of these wet clothes. Who knows how long he’s been in the water? Oh god, poor guy-”
The bed was laid with fresh, white towels and Yibo carefully set Xiao Zhan down, heart aching at the way his head lolled back dangerously. He slid his hand under Xiao Zhan’s neck, finger finding the comforting thud of his heartbeat even as Zhuoxuan began working on his boots.
“Yibo, do you know him?” Zhuoxuan paused and looked up at him from where she was unlacing his boots. There was a sense of trepidation in her eyes, and Yibo really feared any omega because of their sensitivity to emotions around them. Zhuoxuan could always call them out on their bullshit despite being the one they all babied.
Yibo licked his lips and opened his mouth to reply, what? Yes, they’re friends? Yes, this is the man that betrayed me and nearly had Yixuan killed? Yes, this is the omega I bedded for a week straight and now the baby might be mine? Yes this is the omega whose reputation I tarnished by not bonding him but impregnating him anyway?
Fuck.
“Yeah, Yibo knows him, A-Xuan. Is that important?” Yixuan’s voice rang out from the hallway, where he was standing near the door. Zhuoxuan looked at him, then back at Yibo, a clear question in her eyes. But then she nodded.
“If Yibo knows him, then he can help me with his clothes. If not, then it’s best for him to leave because this is a pregnant omega. I don’t want a strange alpha handling him and making things worse.”
Yixuan threw him a look, “Yibo? Can you do this?”
Yibo swallowed uncomfortably but nodded, “Of course.”
Zhuoxuan frowned at him, “Are you sure? Because we’ll need to take his clothes off.”
It was then that Yibo’s shoulders slumped and he huffed out, “Zhuoxuan, take it easy. That kid in his belly is probably mine.”
Zhuoxuan’s brown eyes widened in surprise at the revelation. “Oh, right. Okay then, you can be the one to undo his pants and take off his sweater!” She smiled gleefully at him and turned away to open her box of medicines. Yibo glared at her but then paused. Yixuan was still hovering concernedly, so Yibo walked over to the door. He fixed Yixuan with a glower, “Are you gonna stay here and watch me take off my omega’s clothes or?”
Yixuan snapped out of it as his jaw dropped, “Of course not, didi! I’ll give you your privacy.” With that, the flustered alpha flitted out of there, letting Yibo shut the door.
Zhuoxuan was laughing merrily as she prepared an IV line, “Alphas are so dumb.”
Yibo made a face at her as he returned to Xiao Zhan’s side, “What was he thinking, sticking around like that?”
Zhuoxuan rolled her eyes, “C’mon Yibo, it’s not like that. He literally has his own omega. The reason he was being such a pain about it was because he sensed your distress. In his alpha mind, you’re his little alpha brother. Was just looking out for you.” The girl stated it so calmly that it had Yibo flushing with embarrassment. Had he really shut out his own brother because he was being a possessive alpha?
Yibo groaned as Zhuoxuan whispered, “Now you get it. Come on, strip him.”
“Don’t push your luck.”
“Yeah, yeah, just take his pants off first, I’ll cover him with a blanket.”
The layer of towels underneath the omega took care of all the excess moisture dripping down from him, but Yibo still had to work his drenched pants off of him. With every move, he uncovered more of that unmarred, soft skin that had him drunk on scent all those months ago. But he would have to hold back now. Nothing about this situation was close to the blissful week he had with Xiao Zhan.
Yibo frowned as he glimpsed a constellation of bruises around the top of Xiao Zhan’s thighs before Zhuoxuan spread a blanket over them, covering them from view.
The sweater was a real difficult task; both Zhuoxuan and him had to drag it up over his head, taking care not to jostle his injured arm. When the ruined sweater finally came off, that was when Yibo could fixate on the reality of his complicated situation.
Xiao Zhan’s baby bump.
It was small and not as pronounced or rounded as he saw some of the omegas sporting, but it was visible and hard to miss. Yibo felt the strongest urge to put his palm up against it, to feel if it was hard or soft, to see if he could spot the faintest sign of life within. Would his baby respond to him? Would he reach out?
“Listen I know this is all confusing, but I kind of need you to do more.” Zhuoxuan spoke gently, breaking the silence. Yibo looked up at her in question.
She bit her lip and sighed, “I’m gonna need you to take off your shirt and get into bed with him.
Yibo’s eyebrows must have left his face with how far he raised them, “What the fuck, A-Xuan? That’s literally how we got into this mess in the first place.” He pointed at the small baby bump as Zhuoxuan cracked up with laughter.
“No, you idiot, I meant you need to warm him up. Come on hurry up. There’s no one else I can ask for body heat since everyone downstairs is an alpha or a beta man, and I can’t do it either. I need to treat his wound.”
With that, she set to cleaning the deep cut on Xiao Zhan’s arm. It looked quite painful but the omega didn’t even flinch. Yibo stood there, hesitating.
Zhuoxuan peeked up at him and then rolled her eyes, “Fine you want me to call Seungyoun? He’s the gentlest one, he can do it.”
“No!” Yibo denied vehemently. Just the thought of someone else seeing his omega like this, let alone putting their hands on his silky soft skin and embracing him. Nope, absolutely not.
Zhuoxuan sighed and closed her eyes as if she was in pain, “Then you do it, dammit.”
When he still didn’t move, she put down the tweezer and cotton ball drenched in solution and picked up a painful looking clamp. “I swear to God, if you don’t get into bed with your omega in the next second, saving his and possibly your baby’s life, then I’m going to shove this straight up your-”
“ Okay okay jeez, I’m getting in! No shoving anything anywhere.” Yibo gaped at her, quickly lifting the blanket and getting into the bed.
Zhuoxuan smiled sweetly at him and went back to cleaning the wound.
Edging his shirt up and off his body, he flung it across the room, ignoring Zhuoxuan’s squeals of “don’t show me your nipples!”
Yibo directed a flat stare at her ducked head and covered himself and Xiao Zhan with the blanket. Now was the awkward part. Knowing Zhuoxuan was in the room with them complicated things even as memories of the last time he did this came back to him.
He slid one arm delicately under Xiao Zhan’s body and kept the other one over his arm but looped it around him. He felt his fingers brush against the bump and froze.
Tentatively, he let himself go back and brush over it again. The bump had soft skin stretched over it and was hard to the touch, but there was a warmth to it that Xiao Zhan’s body otherwise lacked.
A small smile graced his face as he traced over the velvety skin, feeling the fine body hair that Xiao Zhan had on his belly. So cute, he thought to himself.
Xiao Zhan’s body felt like an ice block; Zhuoxuan had been right, he needed warming up. She quietly cleaned up the wound and bandaged it, even as Xiao Zhan didn’t stir. “You stay with him, I’ll let Yixuan-ge know what’s happening.”
Yibo nodded his thanks and listened as she went out of view and shut the door behind herself. It was then that he relaxed and slumped into the body next to him. Xiao Zhan’s scent engulfed him for the moment, and he felt too stunned to move, taking in a deep breath of the familiar floral, now laced with something milky.
“Xiao Zhan,” he began, his voice hoarse with emotion, “what happened, baobao? Wake up, talk to me.” The term of endearment slipped through his mouth, it was one Yibo used often when they were last together.
He sighed, closing his eyes. What the fuck was he supposed to do now? If this baby was really his, could he and Xiao Zhan be together again? With all that had gone down between them? Could they really be together and have enough trust in their relationship to nurture and raise a child?
These were all the questions he needed answers to, desperately. He longed for those dark brown eyes to twinkle at him again, roll in consternation or tear up with emotion. He wanted Xiao Zhan to open his warm brown eyes and tell Yibo what to do.
Go away. Stay with me. Something, anything.
It was after a long while, that Zhuoxuan tip-toed back into the room. She pulled out a thermometer quickly checking Xiao Zhan’s temperature.
Yibo watched her reaction carefully, “Well? He feels warmer now.”
Zhuoxuan smiled and nodded, “Yeah I’m not worried about his body temp anymore. But there’s still a problem, Yibo. He needs to wake up so I can assess the baby. I already had Yixuan-ge call Meng-jie for some assistance.”
Yibo licked his lips nervously and nodded. As much as the alpha inside him protested the move, he backed away from Xiao Zhan’s body heat and got up out of bed.
Zhuoxuan moved Xiao Zhan onto his back in the middle of the bed, checking his arm and covering him up completely with the quilt. Yibo watched quietly as she pulled out a small flashlight, lifting up Xiao Zhan’s lids gently.
She straightened up with a frown, “He’s responding fine, just unconscious. The shock of almost drowning must have been terrible, I guess.”
Yibo flinched at the thought; Xiao Zhan had been out there all night, all on his own. He’d nearly drowned in the lake’s icy water and Yibo had no clue. All of last night, he had no idea that his omega and his baby were likely fighting for their lives.
Zhuoxuan put her things away and noticed Yibo still standing near the door, “Hey, not to worry. He’ll wake soon. We just gotta call Meng-jie for a further exam.” Yibo nodded silently.
Even if the baby was not Yibo’s, they still needed to have the omega examined for any problems. Who knew what was happening inside Xiao Zhan or whether the baby was safe or not.
Chen Mengyao, Yixuan’s wife, was a Family Medicine physician. She would know exactly what to do and how to help him out.
Yibo closed the door behind him and walked the little way to his own room. He entered quietly and aimed directly for the shower. The lake water felt like it had embedded itself into his skin and hair and he just needed to feel warm again. Xiao Zhan was still unconscious and Zhuoxuan and the others were downstairs, likely curious about his next move.
In all honesty, Yibo had never felt as lost as he did now. All those months ago, when he’d walked away from Xiao Zhan hoping for a clean break between them, this was not something he’d anticipated to happen.
Which was pretty idiotic on his part. It didn’t take any skilled physician to know that if an alpha beds an omega as many times as Yibo did, it would likely result in a pregnancy. Pregnancy outside of heats were just as probable, even if there was no lifebond mark involved. It was why he’d always carried condoms with him. But he never thought he’d have any need of condoms on a mission, of all places.
Groaning, he scrubbed his hair vigorously. To say their situation was complicated was a fucking understatement. But he needed to go downstairs, anyway, and talk it out. Plan out their next move. It sent chills down his spine to think that perhaps Xiao Zhan had indeed been planted here again. He’d been sent on a mission to Yibo yet again, to throw them off Haitao’s scent or even to lure danger toward them. The baby didn’t even need to be his; there were plenty of other alphas Xiao Zhan could’ve slept with.
Just the mere thought of it had his fist clenching around the soap bar, and he watched as pieces of it fell away miserably and trailed down the drain.
“Fuck,” he murmured to himself in frustration. The omega had really gotten under his skin. With quick movements, Yibo dried himself and dressed again.
It was now nearing noon and he had to speak to Xuan-ge and Lulu.
Yibo made one last round to check on Xiao Zhan, who was still unconscious, before he went downstairs. In the kitchen, to his right, Zhuoxuan was arguing heatedly with Wenhan over a box of microwaveable popcorn.
“-this shit is nasty, Wenhan. And what do you mean by jalapeno flavour? That’s horrible!”
“Hey hey just because you have shit taste in snacks doesn’t mean-”
“Guys where are Xuan-ge and Lulu-jie?” Yibo interrupted them, in no mood for their silly theatrics.
Behind the quarreling duo, Seungyoun waved at him, “They’re outside, Yibo.” Yibo clapped him on the back in thanks and headed out. But before he could, Seungyoun reeled him back over with his hand.
“Hey, come talk to me after, alright? I’ve been worried.” He said to Yibo, in a gentle tone. Yibo sighed and graced him with a slight smile.
Yixuan and Xuan Lu stood across from each other, arms crossed in serious discussion.
Lulu shook her head slowly, “It doesn’t make any sense to plant a pregnant omega in our HQ. Especially when you consider that he almost drowned.”
Yixuan scrunched his nose, “This isn’t the first time he’s done it, Lulu. He seduced Yibo,” Yibo winced, “and now he’s here apparently pregnant with his child? It’s too coincidental.”
Yibo swallowed against the pain in his chest; Yixuan was right. Xiao Zhan’s appearance here, all of a sudden and without any warning, warranted some suspicion. The fact that he was pregnant was probably used by his uncle to wheedle as much information out of Yibo and his family as they could.
Yibo interrupted them, “Yixuan-ge is right, Lu-jie. It’s no coincidence he’s here. Anyway how did he get the information that this is where we bunk out? As far as I know, only those close to us have an idea.”
Lu-jie looked at Yibo then looked down, dejected. “I just don’t want to blame him outright when he wakes. He’s already in a delicate state, which reminds me, Yixuan. Did you call Mengyao?”
Yixuan nodded, taking his phone out to check, “Yeah, she said she’d be here by late noon. She should be getting here soon.”
Warmth suffused in Yibo’s chest; it had only been a while since Xiao Zhan showed up, and his family had already rescued and treated him, and were now looking into getting him more medical care. All of this on the assumption that he was Yibo’s omega and was carrying his child.
He blinked against the blinding sunlight of high noon; what a shame it would be when Xiao Zhan awoke, hatred and contempt for Yibo blazing in his eyes.
Swirls of dark red and blue danced at the corner of his vision; whenever he’d turn to grab at the tendrils of smoke, they’d dissipate and vanish into thin air. Water rushed around his ears, and his body felt suspended, defying gravity. He felt utterly at peace, though a little miffed about not being able to catch the smoke. It danced again within his reach, and yet again was yanked away and plummeted into nothingness.
He turned his head and saw an abyss. Where was he?
Suddenly, the current changed. The water around him flowed faster, urging him to move.
Go faster, they’re coming.
Xiao Zhan began fighting it, the current was too strong. It was grabbing his arms, pulling him down by his legs.
Let go of me.
It squealed at him, voicelessly. Laughing in the face of his fear. Contempt lined its sodden grin, as it reached out to scoop him back into his watery grave.
No.
Xiao Zhan fought harder, he wasn’t going to drown. In the next split second, a hand reached out to grab his arm and yanked him up and out. Surfacing over the water, he thanked his stars for the rescue but whoever pulled him out, stabbed him in the arm.
Xiao Zhan screamed in pain, as his arm bled out.
“Tell us where he is or we’re going to do worse.”
He struggled.
“Tell us where he is or we’re going to kill your baby. We’ll take a knife to your stomach and slash it open, letting your baby fall out-”
“No.”
Xiao Zhan leapt up, horror crawling through his veins in the aftermath. He felt bile travel up his throat and leaned to the side to throw up, his already-weakened body heaving dryly as he emptied his stomach. There was nothing that came out, except for grimy lake water.
He felt his arms beneath him and steadied himself, eyes blindingly searching for an exit. But everything was too blurry. He could hear words being yelled at him but he couldn’t decipher anything.
Everything was overpowered by his single need to get out of there. He was being harmed and his baby’s life was in trouble. He needed to get out.
He needed to get to his alpha.
Arms hauled him up weightlessly, up and off a hard surface. Xiao Zhan thought briefly, whether he should bite his assailant, but then a familiar scent wafted up to him.
The scent of wet earth, after a summer rain, permeated his senses through all the panic. It made him pause momentarily, eyes still clenched shut, and mind still muddled as to his whereabouts.
Strong arms, familiarly wrapped around his waist, and settled him back onto something hard. Xiao Zhan was surrounded by warmth, and a rumbling voice against his back, the sound spreading slowly like ink through his veins, bathing him with serenity.
He was home. He was with his alpha. Everything was going to be okay now.
Xiao Zhan barely noticed the pinprick of a needle in his arm, as all reality gave way to a dreamless tranquility.
Yibo looked down in horror at Xiao Zhan's limp body.
A shout and some yells had everyone downstairs thundering up the steps, with Zhuoxuan in the lead and Yibo hot on her tail. They'd thrown the door open to see a prone Xiao Zhan, laying on the wooden floor, next to a puddle of what looked like stale lake water. But in the next moment, he had pushed himself up, eyes searching the room frantically.
Yibo's heart skipped a beat, when those eyes fell on him, unseeing. They were glazed over with a sheen of tears, as he wept fearfully. Yibo stood there for a painfully long moment, listening to the way Xiao Zhan whimpered and cried, mumbling something indecipherable.
Zhuoxuan broke the silence, "Yibo, get him up off the floor! Yixuan-gege please tell Meng-jie to hurry up. If Xiao-gege needs sedatives, she's got to have them. Others, out of the room!"
With her barking the orders, everyone began moving. Yibo aimed for his omega, gently wrapping his arms around his lithe waist, and lifted him up as Zhuoxuan helped get his legs on the bed. Yixuan could be heard talking on the phone as Xuan Lu ordered everyone else to get out.
Yibo laid down on the bed first, placing Xiao Zhan on top of him, his back to Yibo's chest. The omega kept whimpering, as if he was in pain, and Yibo shushed him, making soothing noises that only an alpha could. Any other times, Yibo would not have been able to make the sort of noises he was now, but the scent of his omega in distress had his anatomy reacting. His alpha purred, letting a slow growl work through his chest, and against Xiao Zhan's back, as he relaxed minutely back into Yibo's chest.
Yibo let his pheromones engulf them, just them two in a scent bubble of their own.
There was still some minor whimpering on Xiao Zhan's part, an occasional sound that sent knives through Yibo's heart. He felt helpless in the face of his omega' distress. His alpha wanted to howl, rip out the curtains, beat his chest, do anything to make his omega stop crying. He turned Xiao Zhan's face inward, the omega's nose tucked in his neck, near his scent gland. Yibo hoped his own scent could help calm him down, and was stunned and elated to feel Xiao Zhan gently rubbing his nose back and forth. Looking for his scent and hunting it out. The two stayed that way as Yibo let Xiao Zhan take whatever comfort he needed.
In the next few minutes, Meng-jie was pushing through the door, Zhuoxuan nearly sobbing in relief at the sight of her. Xuan Lu patted the young omega and told her to take a break.
Meng-jie smiled gently at Yibo, edging forward with a prepared needle. Yibo looked at her in confusion until he realized she was taking his alpha's permission to approach the omega. Yibo felt a flush working up his neck and nodded. Xiao Zhan squeaked adorably in his arms and in the next minute, all the fight left his body.
Yibo sighed and settled his omega more comfortably in his arms, swiveling his head to look at Chen Mengyao, "Thank you, jie." Mengyao ruffled his hair affectionately, "No need for thanks, didi. It's a mild sedative because I can't give him anything stronger due to his pregnancy. When he wakes I'll need to ask him questions before we move forward with the assessment." Yibo nodded at her gratefully as she turned back to her bag to get everything else out.
For now, the trouble was over. But soon, Xiao Zhan would awaken again, and the cycle would repeat.