Chapter Text
There were some things Tanner Abbot-Robinavitch hated sharing. He hated sharing his stuffed octopus, his hot chocolate, his favourite book, and his daddies for too long, but the thing he hated sharing most was his Frankie. Frankie, who smelled of home and all things safe, Frankie who would take care of him when his daddies went out, and would sometimes take him to school and pick him up on his days off if his daddy was working, so Tanner's papa could sleep. Who would cook waffles and bacon, and sometimes would order pizza when Tanner's daddies weren't around. He watched cartoons with him and told Tanner all the time he loved him most in the whole wide world and peppered Tanner with kisses as he tickled him after bathtime, and made his daddies smile.
Tanner didn't know his birth omega, but he had Frankie. Tanner knew he looked like his daddy, exactly like his daddy minus his eyes. Auntie Dana called Tanner and his daddy twins, and Tanner wasn't sure what a clone was, but Uncle Shen called him his daddy's clone. Papa didn't look amused, but also didn't say no. Even his papa would get his and his daddy's baby pictures mixed up if they were next to each other. Tanner had blue eyes and his daddy had brown eyes, though. Tanner sometimes would pretend that Frankie was his omega, that he carried Tanner in his belly, and his eyes were the same as Frankie's.
Frankie, who left, made his daddies smell sad and angry. Papa told him as he held Tanner that Frankie was sick and was going away for a while to get better, but he wanted Tanner to know he loved him best in the whole world always. They stopped talking about Frankie after that. Frankie missed his birthday and Christmas. He didn't call Daddy or Papa, but sent Tanner a gift with a card that Daddy read to him, saying he loved him. It made his Daddy sad and his Papa angry, and Tanner stopped asking about Frankie.
He missed his Frankie.
They were at his daddies' work when he smelled Frankie. He was waiting with his Auntie Dana while his daddy and his papa talked. He saw Frankie before anyone else, yelling loudly in excitement, making Frankie stop talking to look at him with large blue eyes. Tanner knew it was wrong to run away from Auntie Dana, but he missed his Frankie. His Frankie, who smelled different now, sweeter, softer, making Tanner feel warm from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, making him feel like the safest pup ever. He stopped running when he saw Frankie, standing in the middle of the Pitt, as he felt his Papa pick him up and his Daddy stop beside them.
"Dr Abbot, Dr Robinavtich." Frankie greeted. Frankie, who was wearing light purple scrubs, not black. Frankie, who had suddenly smelled scared. Frankie, who was going to have a baby.
His daddies smelled angry and sad for days, but now there was a new smell. Sharp and hot, that burned Tanner's nose and made his eyes water anytime someone talked about Frankie. It got worse anytime Frankie's baby was mentioned. Tanner decided he hated the baby. Frankie was supposed to be his momma and his daddies' omega, not some baby’s. They still didn't talk about Frankie, and Tanner grew mad at his daddy and papa. Frankie was back, Frankie was better. Why couldn't Frankie come and play anymore? Why did they stop loving Frankie?
Daddy looked sick when Tanner asked him, and Papa got quiet, and neither answered.
He was in his daddies’ bed with a bad dream when his daddy's phone rang, waking daddy up. Papa never called when it was dark unless it was an emergency. He watched as his daddy went pale, clutching the phone, talking low. The smell of fear and sadness, the kind of sadness that happens when you do something really bad and you feel really sorry for doing it, filled the bedroom.
There was something wrong with Frankie and the baby.
Tanner was in his pyjamas and slippers, clutching his stuffed octopus as his daddy ran into the hospital, carrying Tanner. His papa was already waiting for him. He had never seen his papa look like that, smell like that. His daddy once smelled like that when Tanner had run off, and his daddy couldn't find him, telling Tanner he was so scared something had happened to him, that he was terrified when he couldn't find him.
His papa was scared.
"Jack, what happened?"
"Premature labour, Robby. He started haemorrhaging. He's in surgery now."
"Fuck, Jack. The baby?"
"Little girl. Already admitted to NICU. Frank went into labour at 32 weeks."
Tanner felt his daddy nod. "The alpha?"
He watched as his papa shook his head slowly, making his daddy gasp. "No alpha, no claim, Robby."
He sat with his daddy and his papa in a cold room that smelled like nothing, drifting in and out of sleep, only waking up when someone in blue scrubs came in and told them Frankie would live. They let Tanner visit Frankie while he was in the hospital. Papa sat him on the bed next to Frankie with a quiet command to be gentle, and Frankie hugged him tight. Tanner cried, demanding to know why Frankie left him, why he didn't love him anymore, and why he wasn't good enough. Frankie had cried too, holding him tight, apologising over and over again, saying he never stopped loving Tanner, and he would always love him.
His daddies still smelled sad and hurt, but they didn't smell angry anymore. They brought Tanner to see Frankie's baby through the window. She was really tiny with a bunch of leads, looking nothing like his best friend's baby sister. His daddy lowely explained that Frankie's baby was still too little and couldn't do things that Tanner could do when he was born and needed help to do things like eat and breathe, and needed someone to look after her.
Tanner stared at her. "I'll take care of her, Daddy."
Robby chuckled, "Not quite what I meant, buddy, but I'm glad to hear it."
"Daddy?"
"Yeah, baby?"
"Do you and Papa hate Frankie's baby?"
Robby's attention snapped from where he was watching the impossibly small baby, Frank's baby, the baby he nearly died giving birth to, to his pup. "Tanner, why do you think we hate Frank's baby?"
"Because you and Papa hate Frankie."
Robby's mind whirled at the factual conviction of his son's words, at the belief his son held. "Is-is that what you think? That Papa and I hate Frankie?"
He watched with a growing pit in his stomach as his three-year-old gave a slow nod. "He makes you angry, and you told Papa you don't want to love him anymore. Is that why Frankie stopped loving me?"
"Absolutely not, Tanner James." Robby's voice dipped low and turned firm, letting just enough alpha command to force his son to truly listen. "Frankie never stopped loving you, nor will he stop loving you now that he has a new pup, and your papa and I never hated Frankie. We were mad and hurt about some choices he made; he put his body in danger and lied to us, but we never hated him. We do not hate him."
Tanner nodded. "But you don't love him?"
Robby could do nothing but pull Tanner back into his arms, where his pup was standing on the floor, and Robby was kneeling in front of him to meet his eyes. They had tried so hard not to, to let the omega who wormed their way into their lives and into their hearts since he showed up as a too energetic intern at the start of Covid. They had been angry for months, hating the omega for lying to them, for betraying their trust, for letting them think he was an atypical omega, that he would never have a proper heat, that he was the small exception to the law banning omegas from places like the emergency department as an emergency medicine doctor. For nearly killing himself with suppressants. He remembered Jack's phone call, the cold, all-consuming fear when they realised Frank might die on the table, that they could so easily lose him.
"No, Tanner." He swallowed around the knot in his throat. "Daddy and I will always love Frankie."
Tanner gave a sniffle against his Robby. "Will you love Frankie's baby too?"
"Yes." The answer was one of the easiest Robby had ever given; he knew he had no right to answer, especially considering how he and Jack had treated Frank, but he meant it with every fibre of his being.
"As much as you love me?"
"Would you like that?"
Tanner thought about it for a moment before giving a slow nod. "Then we will love her as much as we love you." Tanner let himself relax at the certainty in his daddy's voice. His papa found them a couple of minutes later, still smelling of fear and sadness and something Tanner would eventually learn was grief.
He leaned his shoulder on Robby, wrapping an arm around his waist. "Frankie's asleep. She's so tiny."
"I'm going to look after her," Tanner informed Jack with a quiet intensity he learned from Jack. "I'm going to be her big brother, that's my baby."
His papa smiled at him, soft and slightly sad but warm, and ruffled Tanner's brown hair with pride. "Sure, kiddo, your baby."
Frankie came to stay with them when the doctors said he could go home. Papa explained after breakfast that Frankie couldn’t play like he normally did, that he had surgery and needed to rest. Frankie spent what time he wasn’t at the hospital with the baby, in bed, and Tanner never left his side.
He thought Penny was way less cool a nickname than Lolo. His daddy and papa also brought him to see Lolo, who was hooked up to fewer wires now, and they said she could come home in another week. He helped his Papa write it in big letters on the calendar on the fridge, surrounded by Tanner’s artwork, and boastfully told anyone who would listen when he visited his daddies’ work after seeing Lolo, that his baby was coming home, and he was a big brother now.
“Your baby?” Shen asked him, Parker arching an eyebrow and sharing a look with Samira.
Tanner nodded. “My baby. I’m going to look after her, like my Frankie looks after me.”
“Oh, my god.” Trinity breathed out.
“What if I want him to be my Frankie?”
Shen asked, crossing his arms, and looking down at the pup sitting in the chair too large for him, at the central hub, during hand off, Jack brought him to see Lolo, and Robby would be taking him home.
Tanner crossed his arms, scowling Jack’s scowl with a near-perfect replica of Robby’s face when he was three years old. “No, he’s my Frankie.”
“But what if I want to marry Frankie?” Parker inquired, trying not to snicker when Tanner’s blue eyes went wide in horror at her question. He whirled around, desperately looking for his daddies, the two alphas talking quietly amongst themselves.
“Daddy, Papa!” Tanner called out, getting their attention immediately. “Parker and Shen are trying to marry Frankie!” He accused, pointing a finger at Shen.
“Oh wow,” Samira muttered low under her breath at the twin frowns that appeared on the older attending’s faces, the yucky smell coming back at Tanner’s declaration. He looked around to see if anyone noticed the smell.
He was confused by Doctor Trin’s wide eyes and the way Samira shook her head, and Shen and Parker just laughed.
“No,” Jack commanded.
“Buddy,” Robby looked at Tanner, “I promise we will never let Shen or Parker ever marry Frankie.”
Parker smirked and shrugged behind Tanner. “If not us, then someone else will. Heard Park was swimming around…”
The gross smell was sharper now, and Tanner rubbed his nose, and Jack and Robby’s glares deepened. “Over my dead body.” Jack gritted out.
“I mean, he is technically Penny’s alpha…or at least that’s what I heard from Garcia…” Trinity mused. The group froze.
Tanner had no warning as Samira suddenly covered his ears tightly, and his eyes burned and stung from the sharpness, as he watched his daddies curse Park out, watching their lips move, Samira pressing tight against his ears.