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“P’Babe, it’s alright,” Charlie’s comforting voice reaches his ears, his hand carding through his hair.
A tear drop splashes onto the steering wheel, sliding down and landing on his jeans. It seeps into the material, forming a small wet patch alongside the other fallen tears. His face hidden on the backs of his hands holding the wheel, attempting (and failing) at subduing the onslaught of emotions that came with dropping your kids off for their first day of preschool. Who knew it hit you like this??
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Earlier in the morning, a bit before the sun had risen, he had awoken to two small bodies nestled up between him and Charlie. His twin daughters, Corvette and Porsche, had snuck in, presumably in the middle of the night. The girls had a habit of doing that, ever since they switched from cribs to beds. Babe knew that they needed to stop feeding into the bad habit, but Charlie always found a way to twist something into a positive. He said their bed was like their nest, their family’s little safe haven from the world and Babe couldn’t argue with that, not when he felt so comfortable surrounded by the scents of his family. Even if Corvette’s hair is in his face and Porsche is starfished in the middle of the bed. Charlie seemed unphased, snoring away, his arm still tucked under Babe’s head. With a small smile, he wiggles himself away from the domestic scene, sneaking out to the bathroom.
Before long, nerves of the upcoming day sour his mood. Looking in the mirror, his eyes trail over the scars dappling across his chest and torso. Long since healed, but the memories still remain. Of the crash, of the fighting, of everything they had been through. His heart beats a staccato rhythm at a passing thought. When will it be their turns? Babe lets out a trembling breath, eyelids fluttering shut and leaning his weight forward against the bathroom counter. With his hands gripping the sink to stop the shaking, he tries to avoid thinking of the worst. Even with Tony gone and his compound sacked, his biggest buyers are still out there. Sick, twisted people are still looking for powerful alphas to exploit and breed. The thought makes him nauseous, the idea of losing his daughters to that demeted world. Charlie and him had vowed to never let the two of them suffer like they had. The two girls are still so small, faces bright with laughter and joy and wonder of the world around them, unknowing to the dark trafficking happening to other alphas. He had already lost Charlie once, he couldn’t lose the only other people that had made their way into his heart. It would break him.
Arms wrap their way around his waist, Charlie’s face tucking into the spot between Babe’s neck and shoulder. His nose digs into the scent gland there, the usual warm vanilla scent twinging with the burnt smoky scent of Babe’s anxiety.
“P’Babe,” Charlie’s whiny tone easing his eyes open. His eyes meet Charlie’s in the mirror, the man’s wide smile tugging at his heartstrings.
“What’s on your mind?” His arms wrap tighter around him, and Babe lets his hands slip from the edge of the counter, covering Charlie’s instead.
“Nerves, I guess. I know that the girls will be fine and preschool will be great for them, but…” His voice trails off, eyes no longer meeting Charlie’s. The weight in his chest tightens again, seizing his heart. What if someone takes them away? What if-
Charlie cuts the thought off. “Leaving them with someone other than our family?” Charlie guesses, and hits the nail on the head. Babe sighs.
“It’s just, what if someone finds them? Finds out Corvette’s power? People know about us, know our family. I can’t…” His voice breaks, the anxious tears that have been building finally rolling down his cheeks. He turns around in Charlie’s hold, burying his face into Charlie’s sea breeze scent. He shudders with the fears, the anxieties finally breaking free when in Charlie’s embrace.
Charlie tightens his hold and gently rocks them back and forth, humming something Babe doesn’t recognize. Held in by Charlie’s comforting scent and the near-suffocating grip he has, the intrusive thoughts fade to the back of his mind. The panic slowly ebbs away, Babe’s fingers unclenching from the back Charlie’s shirt. He pulls his face away from Charlie’s neck, looking his husband in his eyes once again. Charlie’s hand reaches up, cupping his cheek in featherlight touch, his thumb brushing away the tear tracks.
“I promise I will never let what happened to us ever happen to them. I protected you, didn’t I?” Charlie poses the question, a smile gracing his face while doing so.
“Well, you could’ve handled that better, yeah?” Babe smiles back, small and a bit restrained, but a smile nonetheless.
Before Charlie replies, a small hand is tugging at the hem of Babe’s shorts.
“Mama? Why are you sad?” Porsche has a frown on her face, her lip quivering at the thought of her Mama upset.
Babe scoops her up and holds her between the both of them on his hip, hand brushing her unruly curls from her face. He smiles at his precious daughter.
“Mama isn’t sad, just a bit nervous about school today.
Her face scrunches in confusion. “But Mama, Papa said it’s fun! He said we play, and draw, and make friends! Why that make you nerv-oos?” She struggles with the last word, but it makes his smile wider.
“Well, Mama and Papa aren’t going to be there with you and Corvette. Neither are your uncles. That’s what makes me nervous,” Babe says gently, trying to keep the anxiety from leeching it’s way back into his tone. He doesn’t know if he succeeds.
“We’re big now, I can beat up the mean people! Lhung Alan show me how to hurt them,” she replies, voice defiant. Babe’s eyebrows raise and he sneaks a glance at Charlie, with him also looking a bit surprised
“And what did he tell you to do, baby?” Babe questions.
Porsche makes a small fist with her hand and hits her Mama on his shoulder as hard as she can.
She then glances at her Papa, “Lhung Alan says to hit in the face, but I don’t wanna hit Mama in the face.”
Babe smiles at the girl in his arms and pulls her to his chest in a hug.
“Well, that’ll work,” Charlie says with a grin, his arm wrapping around the two of them.
Babe’s anxiety had eased with one his daughters in his arms and his husband relaxing him with his scent and touch. Although the thoughts still prickled in the edge of his mind, they weren’t the focus. His family was.
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Still, seeing the two girls in their little uniforms and matching backpacks run in the building made him cry in the car in the parking lot. They grow up too damn fast.