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Eddie never told his parents about the pregnancy, not having talked to them in months. Isabel ends up spilling the beans on accident a few days after Buck gives birth; prompting the Alpha/Beta couple to take a trip to LA, bombarding their son.
Within minutes of arriving at their house, before entering the house, they start complaining; the decor is tacky, the pathway covered in chalk wasn’t appropriate or ‘pristine,’ and other bullshit no one cared about.
They knock twice, waiting only a minute or two before Eddie opens the door with Penelope in hand. “Mom? Dad?”
“Now you open the door.” His mother remarks, trying to push her way into the house. Eddie steps in her way, blocking her entry despite her pushing.
“You need to go. Lindsay was only born last week and we don’t want company until next month at the earliest.” Eddie states firmly.
“Well that’s ridiculous!” Helena remarks, who doesn’t want company after a baby? Afterall, she had dozens of family members around her babies. They’re the people who actually took care of her and the children while she was recovering.
“Don’t you work today?” Ramon asked.
“No, I don’t go back for another month at least. Please leave.”
“Dadddddddddddddddddddddddd!!!!!! Who’s at the door?!!!!!!!!!!” Chris calls out.
“Chris!!!!!!!!!!!” Helena calls out.
“Grandma!!!!!!!!!!” Chris goes to the door jovially. “What are you doing here?”
“We came to visit the new baby.”
“Her name’s Penelope.” He educates them.
“Yes. Her.”
“You’re so big.” Ramon remarks, hoping if he can focus on Chris enough they can get in.
“Thanks. It’s all the vegetables.” He says proudly.
“Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwww.” Ramon nods approvingly.
“What are you doing here? We don’t have company until June 15th.” Chris asks.
“Well. We wanted to help earlier.” Helena explains, talking down to Chris, still trying to see into the house.
Chris grimaces, “Why?”
“Because babies are a lot of work.” She continues talking down to him.
“Yeah but-”
“Don’t you guys need help?” Helena asks pointedly.
“No. I mean, Grandpa Bobby drops off food in the cooler but no one else comes inside. That’s dad’s rule.” Chris points out the blue cooler off to the side on the porch.
“That’s a silly rule.” Her tone condescending as she continues.
“No it’s not.” Chris argues. “The baby is really small and too many germs are bad. And Buck doesn’t wanna be around people while he’s healing. Giving birth takes a lot of energy so I’ve been bringing him snacks and watching movies with him.”
“What about the rest of the house?”
“I am capable of doing the dishes and laundry mom.” Eddie chimes in, reminding them he’s still there with the sleeping infant.
“Can I take her back to Buck daddy? Pleaseeeeeeeeeee?”
“Ok mijo.” Eddie kneels down. “Remember what we practiced.”
“Hold baby with both hands, walk slowly, lean on wall, if I need to stop, sit down.”
“He can’t hold a baby.” Helena rudely interrupts.
“Perfect.” He transfers the baby to Chris, ignoring his mother.
“Let’s go find Mama.” Chris whispers as he walks away, ignoring his grandmother’s arm shooting out to stop him, Eddie intercepting her before she touches him.
Once Chris is sufficiently far enough away, Eddie murderously looks at his mother, still clutching her hand. “What the hell was that?”
“Edmundo!” She chastices the swear, recoiling her hand. “It’s too dangerous to let Christopher hold that baby.”
“He’s been doing fine the two months we’ve been practicing.”
“He could drop her!”
“Be reasonably son, he can’t do that.” Ramon degrades, trying to pitch himself as the reasonable one, only concerned for the baby, thinly veiling his ableism.
“Any kid could drop her. Christopher has practiced this for months, on his own mind you, to make sure he could carry her.” He takes a deep breath. “You need to leave. I will call you when we’re ready.”
“You can’t seriously be kicking us out.”
“Watch me.” He closes the door, audibly setting the dead bolt.
Eddie marches through the house once he’s sure his parents have left. He pauses outside of his bedroom door, willing himself to calm down so his stressed scent doesn’t irritate his mate or cause him to redo his nest.
~~~
Throughout the pregnancy, Buck has redone his nest over a dozen times, sometimes a dozen in a week due to varying factors.
Including but not limited to:
The nest was too scratchy
The nest was too soft
The nest smelled bad
The nest smelled bland
The nest smelled too much like him, to which Eddie and Chris cuddled with him to try and fix it, the next day it was redone with more scents from the pack, and then they cuddled again. This was the longest fix that lasted two weeks.
The nest smelt stale
The nest smelt too much like the baby and it made him cry
Eddie made the nest smell too much like smoke and/or negative emotions
Chris spilt some juice in the nest on accident. This caused Buck to cry and frantically redo the entire nest, not just replacing the clothes that were drenched in fruit punch.
Doesn’t think he needs a nest as his mother didn’t (only after a conversation with his mother, Eddie copiously reminds Buck that he deserves nice things, including good nests.
Needless to say, the Diaz boys did their best to make sure they didn’t ruin the nest. It takes Buck a lot of time to get the nest comfortable, especially once his belly popped and he could barely get down to pick up stuff from the floor. They’ve watched him redo the nest in tears because something was wrong and he was already in pain. They made a pact: keep Buck’s nest as nice and comfortable as possible.
Rules include:
No drinks (water ok) allowed in nest
If you’re having big feelings, take a breath before entering room so it doesn't accidentally taint the nest
Knock and wait to see if Buck wants company
Only Buck can eat in the nest (or if he makes you eat)
Bring Buck snacks and water whenever he wants so he doesn’t cry
Try his snacks, even the yucky sounding ones to make him happy so his nest can stay put (both Chris and Eddie will never forget hotdogs with a marshmallow bun and Cheetos. Never forget.)
~~~~~
He enters their bedroom after a small sound of affirmation, happy to see his mate and kids curled up in the nest safe and well.
Buck scrunches his nose as he takes in Eddie’s muted scent of disgust and anger. “You ok baby?”
Eddie shakes his head, “Not really. Better now that I can see you guys.”
“Grandma and Abuelo were at the door. And they were mean.” Chris explains.
“Oh.” Buck replies, grimacing at the thought. “Are you ok?” He directs to Eddie, readjusting his daughter on his nipple, having woken up hungry when she joined the nest.
“Not really.” He answers honestly.
“They were super mean.” Chris elaborates. “Dad kicked them out.”
“I did.” Eddie nods, corroborates. “They weren’t happy. My phone is blowing up in the kitchen. Where it will stay all night at this point.”
“Eds.” He sounds wounded.
“It’s ok mi vida. At least we’re safe.” He assures his lover, asking without words to join the nest. Buck scoots over, beckoning his mate over.
They all cuddle in the nest, only dislodging when Buck rotates the baby from one nipple to another, and again to burp her.