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It all happened so fast that Pete could barely process what was happening. They’d walked into the auction prepared for anything to happen, but it turned out they hadn’t been prepared at all. They’d been too confident. Pete and Babe especially, thinking in the back of their minds that despite everything, Tony wanted them so badly that he wouldn’t dare kill the Enigmas and Specials he needed.
And then Tony had pulled out a gun and shot at Babe, and Way had pulled away from Pete’s side and taken the hits for him, and then Pete’s life was seemingly crashing down right before his eyes.
He cried out Way’s name, but couldn’t go to him as Babe and Tony exchanged fire. Babe scrambled to Way after driving Tony back, grabbing his former best friend’s hand. Only to have to go back to firing from behind one of the Foundation sculptures as Tony started to yell and shoot again.
It would have given him a better vantage point and let him protect the unarmed group of Alan, Jeff, and Charlie, but instead of taking the chance to go to them, Pete went to Way’s side instead. He knelt next to the younger Enigma and pressed down on his wound with his free hand to try to stop the bleeding. Way cried out weakly.
Babe’s gun ran out of ammo. Tony realized that and started to come around, firing more. Pete tried to take aim, but his gun had run out as well. He dropped the weapon and gathered Way up in his arms instead. Pete wanted to protect him, needed to protect him, but they were all helpless. Still, he couldn’t bear to see Way succumbing to his injuries.
“Way, please- stay awake for me, angel,” he begged. Pete blinked back tears. “Think about the baby. Please, Way. Hold on.”
Babe threw them a wide-eyed looked hearing that somehow there was a baby involved, but Pete didn’t notice. All he could focus on was his mate bleeding out in his arms, how pale Way’s face was turning, the haze over his thoughts and feelings.
“Please, stay with me. So we can be a family like I promised, Way.”
The gunfire stopped, and then Pete heard Kenta’s voice asking their adoptive father not to hurt anyone else. He glanced over in time to see Kenta’s knife plunge into Tony, and then the man who had haunted them all for so long dropped to the floor.
With the danger over, Babe and the others scrambled over to Way. Babe pulled Way out of Pete’s arms and into his own. Still, Pete kept hold of Way’s hand. As Babe pleaded with Way as well, Pete had a moment of clarity and pulled his phone from his pocket. He dialed the emergency number to call for an ambulance. The operator told him that help was already on the way. Apparently the reporters who had fled had already called and said what was happening.
But by the time the ambulance arrived, it was too late. Way had passed out in Babe’s arms, and Pete could feel him fading away. When the paramedics stepped in and ushered the pack back, Pete heard them say to each other shortly after that they’d completely lost a pulse, and they started CPR. Pete knew it was futile, though, watching as they loaded Way into the ambulance, the paramedics still trying their best.
“Pete- what about- what about the baby? Can they…?” Babe asked through his tears.
He shook his head as grief threatened to consume him. “He’s not even three months. There’s nothing they can do.”
-
Soon the Foundation was flooded with first responders and police and then social workers as the children were discovered and removed. Babe was also taken to the hospital because of his head injuries, and the pack was all split up as the police wanted their statements about what had happened.
With the chaos of the aftermath, it took a few days before Alan was contacted by the hospital and asked to come in to determine what was to be done with Way’s body. He called Pete and told him he’d pick him up and bring him in too. Though Pete was the sire of Way’s unborn baby, Alan was Way’s emergency contact and the only family the authorities had really recognized considering Way’s background. Pete was grateful to Alan for thinking of him and including him, though he was too exhausted to actually thank him. Since the auction, he’d barely slept, grieving or throwing himself into helping the authorities go through data and files from the Chen Family Foundation.
Pete didn’t know what to expect at the morgue. Alan was nervous, and that wasn’t helping Pete feel any better. He really wished he’d brought Banzai along as Alan started thinking about different morgue scenes he’d seen in movies and shows. Tired and upset, Pete hadn’t been able to control his ability well. In close quarters with Alan, he kept catching vague flashes of his thoughts. But he’d figured it wasn’t a good idea to bring a dog to a public hospital, so he’d left Banzai at home. Now he wanted nothing more than to hold onto the dog tight so he’d be able to close off from Alan.
Well, he wanted nothing more than to see Way again, but that wasn’t possible.
Alan had to circle around the hospital a few times, which he apologized profusely for, before they finally spotted the sign for the morgue’s visitor entrance. The two of them headed inside.
It was like a typical visitor’s lobby. There were grief pamphlets and mental health magazines on a table, as well as business cards for various funeral homes, and some tasteful flowers for decoration. Alan approached someone working at a computer and told her he’d been called in, and they were directed to the coroner’s office.
Once they were seated in front of the coroner’s desk, Pete realized they’d only truly been called in to do paperwork. First, Alan was shown a picture of Way’s face just as a confirmation for his identity and for final verification, though the police hadn’t really needed an ID done. Then Alan had a small pile of papers to sign to accept that he would be in charge of managing Way’s funeral. Way’s only legal relative had been Tony, and with the man dead, the office had decided to go with Alan as next of kin instead, as Way had listed him as his pack head as relation on his emergency contact.
After getting through the paperwork and being told they’d be willing to hold the body for a few more days until Alan arranged for its transfer to a funeral home, Alan was given a few of the business cards Pete had seen in the lobby.
“This one is a crematorium. They do very quick pick-up. We’ve worked with them many times.”
“I, uh, I think we’ll do a burial.” Alan pushed that card back. “Probably just do what we did for Charlie… I’ll ask Jeff.”
Pete took the cards. “I’ll take care of funeral arrangements.”
Alan gave him a look of pure relief. Pete could feel some of the stress melting away from the Alpha. “Thank you, Khun Pete.”
With the paperwork done and cards given, as well as Alan being handed a bag that contained Way’s things, minus his blood-stained clothing which had been disposed of, the coroner explained that only a visual had been done for Way’s postmortem. It was obvious that blood loss from the two gunshot wounds he’d sustained had killed him. The hospital had attempted surgery and resuscitation, to no avail. An x-ray had confirmed that Way was indeed pregnant when he died, still in his first trimester. The death certificate had then been issued and filed. Alan started to look rather teary-eyed as they wrapped up everything, and the coroner slid a box of tissues in front of him. With a shaky hand, Alan took one and dabbed at his eyes.
“That’s everything for now, Khun. When you decide on a funeral home and make arrangements, they’ll get in contact with us and take care of that, so you won’t need to worry.”
“Can we- can we see him? Is that allowed?”
“Of course. We have a viewing room. I’ll bring you back to the lobby so you can sit while you wait. We’ll bring Khun Way into the room and then one of my staff will fetch you.”
As they waited, Alan said to Pete, “If- if it’s too hard, you don’t have to…”
It would be hard, but… “I want to see him,” Pete replied.
It didn’t take very long before another staff member approached them and brought them into a room. Pete faltered a bit as he stepped in, seeing Way’s body laying on a table, covered by a sheet. Alan went straight to the bench in the room and sat down, putting his face in his hands, overwhelmed even though he’d been the one to ask to see his pack brother one final time. A staff member lingered close to him, a mildly worried look on their face when he sat down hard.
“Damn, I should have brought Jeff…” Pete heard Alan scold himself under his breath. A bitter pang struck in his chest. Alan wanted his mate there for comfort. He didn’t have anyone.
If Alan said anything else to himself, Pete definitely didn’t hear it, because as he stepped closer to the table, to Way, he felt almost overrun by his instincts and a fresh wave of grief. His inner Enigma howled at him to protect, to bring Way home, even as he knew he couldn’t do that, that he’d failed to do that. He’d already lost his mate and their pup. There was nothing to protect, nothing to satisfy that feral need deep inside of himself.
Pete’s hands shook as he reached for the sheet covering Way. He didn’t want to touch him, unable to bear the thought of feeling him and being unable to pick up anything from him with his abilities. To feel like he was touching nothing more than an empty shell. He was also scared to see what Way looked like after a few days spent lifeless. He’d already gone so pale even before the ambulance had taken him away. At the same time, Pete suddenly needed to see him, wanting to hold his hand again and look at Way again, at the mate he hadn’t been able to bond with and truly have.
One of his hands went to rest over Way’s covered belly. The younger Enigma hadn’t quite reached his third month yet, so he wasn’t showing at all. With his other, Pete took the edge of the sheet and gently pulled it down to Way’s shoulders.
His first thought was just that overwhelming sense of loss crashing into him yet again. Then, that Way was still so beautiful, even after how long he’d been dead. He wasn’t terribly pale like Pete had been expecting. The morgue had cleaned him up and put him in a hospital gown instead of his bloodied clothes, so he truly looked like he was just sleeping. All Pete could smell was disinfectant and a dull hint of Way’s natural scent, somehow not changed into something bitter or unpleasant like Pete would have expected from someone who had been dead for as long as Way.
Seeing his bare neck, Pete wanted to mark him. The urge was so intense that he caught himself leaning down to bite Way. He forced himself to stop, and just couldn’t understand why his instincts wanted so badly to claim Way when there would be no bond between them. Feeling as though he was losing control, Pete made himself stand up straight, though he couldn’t bring himself to step away. Instead, he braced himself and stroked Way’s cheek.
The touch was cold, of course. Pete’s ability was drowned out by his own emotions, so he didn’t have to feel the emptiness he’d been so afraid of.
Not that he would have actually felt that.
Way’s face twisted into a pained expression and he shifted under the sheet. He turned his head away from Pete’s hand and groaned. Pete yanked his hand back as if scaled, too shocked to do anything but stare down at what he’d thought was the dead body of his lover. Way started to twist, hands going up to clutch at his chest, and then he screamed.
Alan cursed loudly, jumping up from the bench. Pete made an undignified shout of his own, and then there was chaos as the staff also had their moments of shock before realizing that they had a living patient to attend to, and as more staff came rushing in to see what was going on. Later, Pete would think that the coroner was really quite professional to get over the fact that they’d apparently had a live body in the fridge for days so quickly so that she could start giving orders to a confused and surprised group of juniors, but at that point he was just in complete shock.
The coroner snapped at a staff member to call for help from the emergency room, because Way had had broken ribs from CPR and partially treated gunshot wounds upon entry and no doubt a very low body temperature and dehydration from being in cold storage as well, and needed immediate treatment. She also ordered another staff member to keep the family out of the way, and Pete was ushered backwards towards Alan, the two of them herded into sitting on the bench.
“Is this some kind of Enigma thing?!” Alan asked Pete, voice high.
“He’s an Enigma? His files said Alpha- he must have been dormant!” the coroner said as she pulled down Way’s hospital gown to check on his injuries as other staff held him down, and Pete had no idea what she was talking about.
“Ah- he’s been healing really quickly!”
Way calmed down from his initial screaming and found his voice. “What- what’s happening? Agh, it hurts- fuck, don’t touch me-“
“Sir, you’re in a hospital. You have broken ribs and two gunshot wounds. You need to stay still while we help you.”
“I didn’t die? I thought…”
“Way!” Alan yelled. “How are you alive?! We were planning your funeral!”
Way blinked a few times, grimacing, then took in his surroundings. “Is this a morgue…?”
“Yes!”
“Huh?!”
-
Soon, Way had been moved to a hospital room on the usual floors and gotten his injuries all tended to. Once the doctors were sure he wasn’t in any danger and he’d gotten his temperature brought back up and an IV put in to get him on fluids, as well as a multitude of injections to help him with fully coming out of dormancy, he was given an ultrasound to check whether or not the baby was still alive. Which, to everyone’s relief, it was. Somehow.
Alan awkwardly patted Pete’s back as he sobbed into his hands after a nurse told them the good news, so relieved that both Way and their baby were okay.
As Way underwent the last bit of treatment, a doctor explained to Pete and Alan that dormancy was an ability of Enigmas, a last ditch survival attempt that would effectively force their bodies into a kind of self-induced coma or hibernation until they’d healed enough from whatever life-threatening injury or illness had triggered it. Since Way’s condition was still so fragile, the doctor wasn’t sure why exactly Way had woken up so soon.
“Well, you were putting out a bunch of pheromones down there, K’Pete. Maybe that triggered it, since you’re another Enigma?” Alan suggested.
Once the doctors were finished and Way was left to get rest and just let the IV do its job, Pete and Alan were allowed to go into Way’s room to see him. Way looked miserable with an oxygen mask on his face and various IVs and monitors hooked up to him, arm in a sling as he laid in a semi-recline, propped up so he’d be more comfortable as his ribs healed, but Pete had never been happier to see him. He kissed Way’s forehead and took his hand in his own.
Before he could tell Way how glad he was to have him back, Way asked them, “Was I really in the morgue or was that some kind of pain and coma induced dream?”
“That was real,” Alan confirmed, pulling over two chairs so he and Pete could sit down next to Way’s bed. “I signed all the paperwork as your next-of-kin.”
Pete pulled out a few of the funeral home business cards. “I just got these from the coroner.”
Way pulled his hand away from Pete’s and took one of the cards to squint at it, holding it close to his face. Then he threw it away from himself, giving a strangled shriek, “A funeral home?!”
“You were pronounced dead, Way! Of course K’Pete was going to give you a nice burial soon.”
“Thank fuck you didn’t cremate me before I woke up…”
“I only just got the call to come claim your body today, Nong. Be thankful that I brought K’Pete along and his pheromones woke you up early, or else you’d be waking up in a coffin. Now… what the hell were you thinking, jumping in front of a gun like that?!” Alan scolded. “You’re pregnant! You both could have died! You both technically did die, to all of us at least!”
“P’Alan…”
“If you weren’t all hooked up to this stuff I would hug you. I’m so glad you’re alive, Way.” Alan reached over to squeeze Way’s leg, tears spilling over. “Don’t ever do that to us again, okay?”
-
Pete stayed overnight with Way, texting his housekeeper to stop in at his place to tend to Banzai. The younger Enigma spent most of the time sleeping after Alan took a picture with him and then left after visiting hours were up to go tell everyone in the pack what had happened. Pete was content to just watch Way for a while, seeing the rise and fall of his chest, the way he shifted and made little noises in his sleep. Pete thought it was cute how even though Way was asleep and still rather early on, he kept putting a hand over his belly, instinctively cradling their unborn baby.
Eventually, though, exhaustion caught up with Pete. The sleepless nights and overwhelming day had taken a lot out of him, and he fell asleep on the chair next to Way’s bed, leaning forward with his head next to Way’s legs. He managed to sleep through most of the night, only waking up in the early morning to the sound of the door clicking shut behind a nurse or doctor that had just left. At first, Pete woke up in a bit of a panic and feeling that heavy grief he’d grown used to, but then he heard the monitors beeping steadily and remembered what had happened the day before.
Way was alive, and Pete still had a chance to have a real little family of his own. As he calmed down and sat back in his chair, Pete noticed that Way’s IVs had all been refilled and he had fresh bandages peeking out of his hospital gown. Way also looked much better already. His complexion had improved, and the dark circles under his eyes had lightened up.
Smiling, Pete couldn’t help but lean forward to gently scent mark Way, careful not to jostle anything or wake him up.
Alan arrived later at a more reasonable time in the morning to be awake. He hadn’t brought anyone along, only bringing a small bag of things for Way and Pete to make their stay more comfortable. Pete appreciated the changes of clothes and some toiletries, as well as a phone charger and Way’s phone as well.
“He’s just been sleeping?”
Another nurse had come around that had been happy to answer all of Pete’s questions about Way’s condition, so Pete explained, “He’s on a lot of different painkillers and medications, and his body is weak, so he’s going to be sleeping a lot for the next few days. The doctors wake him up to treat him, but he falls asleep right after.”
“But everything’s okay?”
“He’s already doing much better. The doctors are impressed.”
“That’s great! Everyone’s itching to come see him. I thought Babe and Sonic might kill me when I told them they couldn’t come with me today.”
They just sat around for a while, the two of them watching over Way quietly or casually chatting about the pack or garage. Before Alan left, Pete asked if any of the team would be willing to look after his dog. Alan agreed, saying he had a dog at home and would go pick up Banzai so Pete could stay with Way without any worries.
And as soon as Way was on the mend and able to stay awake for longer periods of time, Alan could no longer restrain the pack from trying to visit. Pete was thankful that not everyone had come along with Alan, just Babe, North, and Sonic, though he spotted Charlie lingering in the hallway. Just the three extra seemed to be almost overwhelming.
Especially since Way was immediately scolded by them for trying to sacrifice himself, just like Alan had scolded him the first day he’d woken up. Sonic darted forward to scold him first, even though he was crying the most, and only managed a short scolding to never make him sad like that again before asking if he could feel his stomach.
“I’m not showing. You can't feel him moving yet.”
“It’s a boy?” Sonic asked excitedly, eyes practically filled with stars.
“They told us when they did an ultrasound the other day,” Pete said. “You’ll all have a nephew, if you’d like to be his uncles.”
“Well, your pup’s coolest and future favorite uncle brought a bunch of snacks,” North said, placing a bag on the small table in the room. “We got your favorites, P’Way!”
“I got your favorites. North just carried them,” Sonic insisted. “I’ll be the future favorite, not him. You have to make your baby like me the most, Phi!”
Babe pushed through for his turn. Pete tensed up seeing Babe’s expression, all anger and hurt. While Babe’s feelings were certainly understandable in light of all that had happened before the auction, Pete really hoped Babe wasn’t about to end their truce in a hospital. He glanced at Alan, but the pack Alpha didn’t look worried at all, so Pete didn’t intervene, even as his instincts demanded he get between them. Though, they’d already been demanding that for practically everyone, even Alan and the doctors. It was good for Way to see his pack, even if it made him bristle a bit seeing both Sonic and North touching Way’s belly.
“Why did you take those hits for me, Way?! If you weren’t an Enigma, you would have died! Your kid would have died!”
“After everything I did, I-”
“You’re pregnant! Why were you even there?” Babe flicked Way between the eyes. Way grumbled and grimaced, reacting a lot more than strictly necessary.
Pete got a look from some of the pack and a quick flare from Babe too for also allowing Way to show up at the auction while pregnant. He decided that was fair.
Babe’s anger quickly morphed into tears, and Pete realized there was nothing to worry about as Babe started crying even more than Sonic. “No one else is allowed to sacrifice their life for me! I’m sick of it!” he sobbed. “Just- just stay alive so I can be mad at you, okay?! You and Charlie have to promise to stop dying!”
“Uh, I…” Way stammered, too surprised.
Babe took it as a promise anyway. “Good! Get better and have your kid with Pete and be a good mama to it.”
“To him, P’Babe,” Sonic corrected. “You and Pete are gonna be the first real mama and papa in the pack, Phi!” Sonic said to Way, voice cheerful. Way just looked bewildered. They had not discussed what they wanted the baby to call them. It suited him well, though Pete didn’t really get what Sonic meant by real. He did like Papa for himself, he thought, smiling a bit.
“And Charlie-” Babe turned his head towards the door.
“I promise, Mama!” Charlie peeked in and said, giving a desperate thumbs up.
North snickered. Pete then understood Sonic. Having barely been around the pack, he had not known that was a thing the two Alphas called each other.
“Tony’s gone now, so we can all just live our lives, okay?”
“Yeah, as two Mamas,” North whispered to Sonic, who also snickered.
“Exactly,” Babe sniffled in earnest agreement, and Sonic elbowed North in the stomach and covered his own mouth before either of them could laugh.