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Robby whimpers and rubs at his chest with his hands. His brain feels foggy. His nose starts to pick up Jack’s scent from his side of the bed. A whine slips out of him. He has never in his adult life whined at the smell of another person but right now the overwhelming feeling of wanting his mate here was so strong he couldn’t stop himself. A longer and louder whine slips out of him, calling out to his mate. He hears the faint sound of Jack in their living room. The frantic sound of him putting on his leg, bumping it into the coffee table a few times before getting it on. A few seconds later he shows up in the doorway, worried look on his face.
“What’s wrong?”
Robby glances at him before whimpering out a weak, “I don’t know…”
Jack moves closer and feels his forehead for a moment then takes his fingers to his mate’s wrist to feel his pulse. “You’re feeling quite warm and your pulse is—“ Jack starts to say but Robby interrupts him.
“It hurts” he whines and gestures to his stomach. Jack nods, racking his finger through Robby’s hair. “Okay, maybe it’s appendicitis. Or a really bad stomach bug but I think we need to go to the hospital.”
Robby shakes his head.
“No it’s not that but…” he pauses, a tear runs down his face. “But yea’... I think I need to go to the hospital.” Jack looked shocked at his mate admitting he needed to go get help.
Jack rummages through their dresser for a shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Once he finds the items he puts them on the bed side table, moves to lift Robby into a sitting position.
Robby whines and presses his face into Jack’s middle. Jack helps him put on a shirt and sweatpants, it is a slow process and they take many breaks. But as soon as they’re done Jack lifts him upright, Robby leans on him. He really tries to take his own weight but found it too difficult. The painful cramps seizing his body.
When they finally make it into the living room before Jack leads him to the couch, sets him down and gruffly says
“I’m calling an ambulance, baby. It’s not supposed to be this hard for you to walk. Something is wrong.”
–
Jack holds Robby’s hand through the whole ride. Robby whimpers and whines when the ambulance hits bumps and cracks on the road. His mate pets his hair back and shushes him.
When they get there Shen is there greeting them. “Thought you were off tonight?” He says jokingly before his eyes meet the sight of Robby on a gurney, snapping into doctor mode. “What happened?”
Jack explains everything as they move into an empty room. They examine him and when Shen goes to do the ultrasound to check the appendix he looks at the screen in confusion. “I’ll be right back.” He smiles and walks out, Jack in tow. Robby whines at his mate leaving him.
“What’s wrong? Who are you getting?” Jack asks frantically.
“Jack, I know you’re not used to being on this end but I need you to just be there for Robby and I’ll be with you as soon —“ Shen explains.
“I know! I’m a doctor. Just… at least tell me which department you’re paging.” Jack pleads. Shen looks conflicted before muttering “OB.”
Jack’s face morphes into shock. “Thanks…” He mutters and nods and goes into Robby’s room again. Robby whimpers at him trying to get his mate’s attention. Jack sits down beside him, taking his hand in his and shushes him. “I’m sorry, I’m here.”
When Shen comes back he has another doctor with him. “This is Dr. Wilson, she’s from OB.” Robby makes a confused noise. Dr Wilson smiles and goes over to the ultrasound machine, “I’ll just have a little look.” She squeezes a bit of gel on Robby’s lower stomach, then moves the wand under the navel and to the sides. “Mmhhmm.” She hums.
Jack tenses and tries to stretch his neck so he could see the screen. Dr Wilson tilts the screen so they can see. She points to the screen, a bit to the left.
“This is what’s causing you pain.”
Robby squints his eyes, his breathing a bit uneven. Jack’s jaw hit the floor.
She moved the screen a bit closer so Robby could see better and pointed to it again, “Your brand new uterus.”
“My what?!” Robby shouted, “B-but I’m an alpha… that’s—that’s impossible!”
Dr Wilson smiles, putting her hand on his leg.
“It’s not impossible. It’s rare but not impossible. You have a gene that can make your body grow a uterus. It could be that the combination of having an alpha mate and higher stress levels would make you more susceptible for this to trigger.”
“So he’s an alpha with a uterus?” Jack asks
She shakes her head, “In some instances when this happens that is the case but sometimes when it happens some turn into an omega or in very rare cases a beta.” She explains.
Robby swallows nervously then nods.
“I’ve been sore…” he starts, biting his lip.
“Where have you been sore?”
“My nipples. And umm… I’ve been having a stabbing pain behind my taint.” He mutters, his face red from embarrassment, avoiding the eyes in the room, especially his mate’s.
“Okay, we’ll do a blood test to check your hormones and a dna test to check if your secondary gender has changed.”
They get moved to a room on the OB ward. Both of them have been quiet, the silence was loud. Robby looked over at Jack, he was sitting with his hands intertwined and elbows resting on his knees.
“If I’m not an alpha anymore…” Robby whispers, his voice cracking. Snapping Jack's attention to him.
“Will you still love me?” He sobs out.
Jack’s face fell, “Oh, sweetheart.” He scoots in beside Robby on the bed, taking his crying mate into his arms.
“Of course, I would even love you if you were a worm.” He kissed Robby on the crown of his head, running one of his hands through his hair and the other his beard.
Robby made a confused face, “huh?”
Jack huffs out a small laugh.
“Something Parker asked me. If I would love her if she were a worm? And I asked her what the hell she was talking about. And she said that—“
Robby started to laugh as he burrowed his face into his neck. “Never mind.” He mutters.
After a while Dr Wilson came back, chart in her hands and a nurse in tow.
“Hi again, I have the results.”
“What’s the verdict?” Robby asked.
Dr Wilson took a chair and slid it over towards the bed then sat down.
“When we looked over the blood test results they showed an elevated estrogen hormone level as well as an addition of an omega hormone. And when the dna test results came back it showed that you have — or more accurately — are changing into an omega.” She explained.
“Okay…” Robby sniffed and nodded, letting out a small whimper as he pressed his face into Jack’s neck again. His hands gripping in his mate’s shirt.
“I’m scared…” he whispers in Jack’s ear.
“I know you’re scared, I would be too.” Jack comforts him.
“It’s a lot to go through. My recommendation is that you stay here a few days to help you get stabilized before you get to go home. I’ll get a psychiatrist to come in and see you and talk to you.” Dr Wilson says with a warm smile then continues, “This is a lot, Michael. It’s okay to freak out a little.”
Robby nods into Jack’s neck. His breathing started to normalize with the help of his mate’s calming scent.
She rubbed his leg in comfort, “Michael, can I take a look down there to get a sense of how far along the process is?” She asked.
He peaked out from his hiding spot.
“…yea’”
Dr Wilson nodded to the nurse and they started to set up for an exam.
“Okay, I’ll start if that’s okay?”
Robby nodded and spread his legs a little to give her room.
She moved his gown up and started to prod.
It felt odd to have someone else that was not himself or Jack to feel around there. Suddenly he felt something strange.
The doctor’s finger had found a little strange new place behind his taint. Not quite formed but not quite non-existent, a small slit. Her fingers traced the new anatomy clinically. She held out her free hand towards the nurse.
The nurse put a speculum in Wilson’s hand. Robby gulped anxiously at the sight.
“Okay, I know this looks scary and you have probably done this to others yourself so you know it’s a little uncomfortable but… take a breath.” She said, having seen his anxiety.
He breathes in and out in an exaggerated way to get as much air in him as he could.
“Good, I’m gonna go in now.” She says before carefully inserting the speculum. The cold metal of it made him wince. He flung his hand around til he found Jack’s, clutching it tightly and burrowed his face once again in the safe space on his mate’s neck. His nose right by his scent gland. He tries to focus on his calming smell. Soon enough Wilson was done.
“Everything looks good so far, it’s pretty much almost a hundred percent done forming. I’m actually surprised that you didn’t notice until now. It’s not a pain free process exactly.”
“It’s hard to tell what’s what. I’m fifty years old. Everything aches.” Robby muttered.
Jack scoffed.
Robby lifted his head from Jack, his eyes wide and started to fill with tears. The alpha’s looked back at him a bit shocked.
Suddenly Robby pulled away and scooted back a bit from him. Wrapping his arms around himself.
Dr Wilson touched Jack’s shoulder and motioned for him to follow her out. He stood up slowly from the bed.
“Michael, I’m just gonna speak with Jack for a few minutes. He’ll be right back.” She says as they made their way to the door.
Once they were outside she turned to the alpha, “Dr. Abbot, your mate is extremely sensitive right now. You need to be extra cautious about your reactions.” She explained harshly, ruffling around in her chart looking for something.
Jack’s eyes widened as he swallowed guilt.
“Hormonally he’s exhausted, it’s like he’s experiencing five pregnancies at once. It will last for a few days.” She continues and then hands him a pamphlet. He looks down at it before taking it.
“Here’s information on how to support him through this. And I’ll also recommend that you speak with the psychiatrist.”
Jack nods, “I already have a therapist, I could talk to him.”
Dr Wilson smiles gently.
“Do that. But I really really recommend that you also speak with the psychiatrist. He’s specialized in this.”
Jack nods again, opening the pamphlet. She nudges his arm.
“I’ll go now, the nurses are here to help whenever you need. I’ll be back in the morning around eight.”
“Okay, thank you so much.” Jack says sincerely.
He skims the pamphlet then puts it in his back pocket. He goes back in.
Robby still laid on the bed, scooted into the side of it, still clutching his arms around himself.
Jack let out a chuff then a low rumble to try to soothe his distressed mate. Robby stirred and glanced up at him, letting out a low keen. Jack moved swiftly across the room and laid back down the bed.
“I’m sorry, baby.” He whispered, placing a few kisses on Robby’s head.
“I meant nothing by it, I love you so so much.” He whispers between kisses, rubbing his hands against Robby’s scent glands, claiming him.