Chapter Text
Golden memories
A fond whisper from our past
Childhood passes on
Ding! The chime over the shop door sounds.
“Welcome, how may I help you?” The man behind the pharmacy counter calls, looking up. The sun shining through the glass door makes him squint for a second, and he quickly stands up to relieve his eyes. He tilts his head down to see a swath of curly brown hair bobbing by his desk. He smiles. “Do you need help with something, Savvy?”
The girl holds out a slip of paper shyly, brown eyes down at her well-worn tennis shoes. “Mama needs medicine,” is all she says.
The pharmacist takes the paper gently and reads over the prescription slowly. “I see. Your Mama is Lenore?”
Nod.
“Yes, I got a call from her earlier saying her heat came early.” The pharmacist stands up and goes into the storeroom, finding the right prescription. He knew Lenore Wallace quite well, since she had gotten her meds from him for years. Most omegas nowadays took suppressants, but this is the first time Lenore had seemingly forgotten to get a refill before her heat. He searches through his paperwork and finds Ms. Wallace's. Normally, he wouldn't do this for anyone, god forbid just giving a child medication without an adult, but he knew Lenore and Savant well enough. The pharmacist walks back to the front after printing the receipt and filling a pill bottle. “Here you are my dear. I hope your mother gets to feeling better soon.” He hands the brown paper bag down to her.
The little girl just nods and holds out a fist of money to pay, since she wasn't given any sort of insurance card. He takes it and gives her change.
“I’m sure you take good care of her. Tell her I said hello when she feels better.” He smiles and waves. Savant gives him a small smile and pushes against the door, dinging the bell again. He makes sure to keep an eye on her until he can't anymore. The phone rings and he picks it up.
-----
When she gets home, Savant takes off her shoes by the door and locks the bolt. “Mama! I got your medicine!” Her feet pitter-patter on the tile by the door and through the kitchen, then into the carpet. She opens her mother’s bedroom door, the room releasing a sweet scent of strawberry and honey. “Mama!” Savant climbs onto the bed and into her mother’s nest, curling by her side.
“Hello baby,” her mother murmurs sleepily, just waking up and kisses her daughter’s forehead. “You’re such a big girl. Thank you so much for doing that for me.”
Savant smiles toothily and hugs her mama. “Mr. Doctor said hello.”
“I’m sure he did. Can you get my water sitting on the table right there?” She points. The girl grabs the bottle and hands it to her mother. She watches as her mom takes a pill, then relaxes back into her nest.
“Mama?”
“Yes, Savvy?”
“Will I ever get sick like you when I’m older?”
Lenore looks at her in surprise. “Where did you get that from? Did someone ask you that?”
“A boy in my class said that I’ll be an omega when I grow up, and get sick all the time, and be weak.” The small girl sniffles into her mother’s arms. “But I told him that wasn’t true. If I’m an omega, I’ll be strong like my Mama, even if I get sick.”
“Aw, baby, don’t be upset.” She kisses her forehead again and tickles her side. “I’m sure that if you’re an omega, you’ll be the strongest, most fearsome one out there. But there’s no need to worry or think about that now. You're perfect the way you are.” Savant looks up, then hugs her mama tightly. “Now, let’s go to sleep for a bit. When we get up I’ll make you some supper. How does that sound?”
“Okay, Mama…” Her eyes slowly close and her breathing becomes even after a few minutes.
Lenore twirls her daughter’s curls thoughtfully and the smile droops a bit. “You won’t ever have to worry about being an omega, Savant.” She rubs her daughter’s back gently and kisses her neck, right in the spot where a scent gland would be, yet isn’t. Most people have one, and can develop any which way. Only a certain type has the chance of no gland. A beta.
-----
Miles and miles away-
“Dad! Look what I found!” Sal runs into the house from the garden holding an empty bird nest and tracking dirt from his bare feet everywhere. “It was on the ground, just lying there!”
From the living room, his mother yelps out, “Salient Darius Lee! Did you just run in without cleaning yourself off?!” The eight-year-old flushes red and scurries back outside to retreat. He sits on the back porch, listening to the cicadas buzz and wind ruffle the tree leaves. It’s about three in the afternoon on a summer’s day, so his time is entirely spent playing outside, eating, or watching tv. Sal fidgets with an abandoned bird nest, pulling a piece of yellow thread from the weave of sticks.
The creak of the screen door sounds from behind him. “What did you want to show me?” His father says, making him jump. “Oh, a nest?”
“Yeah!” Sal jumps up and holds it out. “It was on the ground,” he repeats. “It probably fell before the mom and dad bird were done with it. Poor birds. They worked so hard, then it fell.”
His dad chuckles softly, ruffling his hair. “You’re so considerate, Sal. And big. Almost big enough to get your second gender test. I can’t believe you’ve grown so quickly into a little man.”
“Hmph! I don't wanna wait to be big enough! I wanna know now!” The boy sets the nest on the porch railing and goes back inside with his father, only this time cleaning his feet and hands. The house is bathed in the afternoon sun through the living room window, and Sal’s mom is on the rug with his baby sister, playing blocks. He runs up and flops down, knocking over one tower. The six-month-old giggles and kicks her legs excitedly, grabbing and sucking on a block.
“Be careful, Salient. Don’t knock the blocks too close to her,” his mother chastises.
“Rae-Rae! Look! It’s bubba!” Sal holds out his hands and Raelyn grabs at him, bobbing back and forth and drooling onto the rug.
“Are you going to play with her?”
“Mhm,” he squishes her cheeks, making her squeal and grab onto his hair with the baby death grip.
"Ow ow ow ow!" He pulls away, making her tip. He catches her before she hurts herself. She rolls onto her back, kicking and wiggling innocently. "Rae, don't do that! It hurt!" Sal sits her back up and their mom laughs softly.
“You’re a good big brother,” his mom ruffles his black hair and slowly gets off the floor. “I’m going to finish the laundry.”
“Okay Mom,” he replies, and keeps stacking the blocks, much to his sister’s entertainment.
-----
That night he is woken by Rae's wails and rolls over groggily. He hears footsteps to his sister's room and her cries slowly calm down. Before he drifts off, he hears talking from the hallway. His neck itches painfully, waking him back up. "uurgh" he grunts, curling in on himself. The talking fades away and he scratches at his neck.
When he wakes in the morning, he can barely breathe and the left side of his neck is on fire. He whimpers and tries to call for his mom, tears running down his face as his voice fails. The pain is unbearable for an eight-year-old. After what feels like an eternity, his door opens and he faintly hears and yell from his dad. He makes a high whine and strong arms scoop him up.
"Sal? Salient! Can you hear me?" His dad asks as his mom runs in the room with Rae on her chest in a carrier. Sal nods slightly and huddles in his father's arms, trying to escape the pain. "Sal, what happened? Are you hurt? Can you breathe?"
His mom feels his clammy forehead and spies the swollen pink patch on his neck. "Tyrus, we need to take him to the ER immediately. Something's wrong with his scent glands." She sounds on the verge of breaking down and they rush him to the truck. His mom holds him the whole drive, feeding Rae a bottle to try and quell her fussiness. Sal clings to his mother's shirt like a lifeline, and she tries to release some calming pheromones, but he lets out a scream and jerks away. She holds him close and stops the release.
When they arrive they quickly bring him in. "Tyrus, take Raelin." His mom carries him while following a nurse to an examination room and holds him while they wait. The doctor comes in and asks a few questions, then takes him for scanning. A nurse then escorts her to the waiting room where her husband is. After a grueling ten minutes, the nurse takes them to a different room where the doctor is.
"You are Tyrus and Yvonne Lee, yes?"
"Yes."
"Please sit. Your son is stable for now, and-"
"Please, doctor, can we see him?"
He hesitates for a second. "Not right now, Mrs. Lee, but in a little while. Our scans show that your son is suffering from a premature gland."
Tyrus cuts in, "But that didn't happen to me, and I developed prematurely too. It wasn't anything like this, just regular developing, only earlier."
"While that may explain some of it, I'm afraid that's not the problem. You see, only one of your son's glands is developing, and rapidly at that." The man sighs and pauses. He pulls out a chart and hands it to them. "You see here? Your son has an alpha gland on the left side - the one developing - and a beta gland on the right."
"But that's impossible," Yvonne says, her hands shaking and face pale. "A person can't have two different ones."
"Very unlikely, but not impossible," the doctor continues, "and your son is unfortunately one of the rare cases."
Tyrus scowls and looks at the doctor. "And what does that mean? What should we do?"
"It wouldn't hurt him if they were the same type." The doctor sighs sympathetically. "There's so few people with this condition that not much is known. But I don't believe it would be very far off to say he may not survive if left in this condition."
Yvonne lets out a muffled scream, sobbing and gripping her husbands arm while he comforts his crying wife and baby. His face is pale and stomach heaving. "Please, you can save him, right? You can't just let him die!" Tyrus' voice slowly becomes more cracked and his pheromones are all over the place.
The doctor squeezes his hands together. "I believe emergency surgery is the best chance for his survival. It's up to you two. Would you like time alone?"
He nods and the doctor leaves. Yvonne sobs into him and tears fall silently from his eyes. "Love, I'm here."
"He was fine just yesterday evening," she chokes out, "and now..."
Ten minutes later, a nurse comes in and gives them each a cup of water. Tyrus looks at her. "Go get the doctor and tell him to proceed with the surgery."