Chapter Text
12.28.1997
San Diego, California
“Shhh, it's okay, you're okay.” Mike cooed at the whimpering 8 month old in his arms.
“No, no, no, don't cry!” Mike pleaded as he bounced the baby boy to try and soothe him before he starts wailing.
Lucas was by his side in seconds and taking his son into his arms. But even the familiar cedar and amber scent of his scent couldn't prevent the incoming meltdown.
“Love! I think Nick’s hungry!” Lucas called out to his mate across the room as his son wailed.
“He definitely is.” Mike said, still recognizing the sound of a baby’s hunger cry even though his own child was now 7 years old.
“I’ve got it!” Max shouted back as she made her way over to her mate and took her son into her arms. The baby boy began to calm once he was securely in his mother’s arms, tears drying in his dark brown eyes as Max brought him back to her bedroom to nurse him.
Nicholas William Sinclair had been born on April 7 1997, and Mike had laughed his ass off when he and Will got the call that Lucas and Max’s baby shared a birthday with him the day after Mike’s 26th birthday.
Max had not been as amused as her fellow Omega.
Normally the party had their annual Christmas get-together on the East coast, since Mike, Will, and El all lived in Brooklyn, and Dustin was in New Jersey pursuing a PhD at Princeton, but the past two years they’ve all gathered in San Diego.
Last year, Lucas wasn't comfortable with Max flying that late in her pregnancy (despite his mate’s protests), and this year, none of them were going to ask the couple to travel with a baby. Mike and Will had struggled with taking Sadie on her first flight last year, and they didn't even want to know how much of a nightmare it would be to fly with a baby.
Sadie had done better this year; her now a year older, and Mike and Will more prepared for handling any antics she got up to.
Sadie had been ecstatic to finally meet her baby cousin. Lucas and Max had sent photos over the months to their friends, but this was the first time that they were actually getting to meet baby Nick.
He was even more adorable in person than he was in pictures. He had dark brown curly hair and the sweetest brown eyes to match.
Mike had been all over him the minute they had arrived at Lucas and Max’s apartment in San Diego. If Nick wasn't with his parents, the next best bet was that he was with Mike.
Dustin had complained about Mike hogging the baby, but Mike didn't mind him. It was clear that Lucas and Max trusted him and Will the most with their child, since they had one of their own, and Mike wasn't gonna hand the baby off to someone else until one of his parents forced him to.
Overall, Mike had been very ‘in his feels’ all night, which wasn't something that happened often. But he couldn't help himself! Watching and interacting with baby Nick reminded him of when Sadie was that age, and it made his heart ache with want.
He had been handling the grief around his loss of fertility better recently, but he knew that meeting his nephew for the first time would likely bring up some of his past trauma. He and Will had a long discussion with each other before leaving for San Diego, and came up with a signal for them to use if either of them ever needed to step out.
So far, Mike was keeping things relatively under control.
It wasn't too bad when it was him with the baby. What really made his heart ache was watching Will or Sadie with him, especially Sadie.
(If Mike thought hard enough about it, he’d admit that another reason he was hogging Nick was so that he didn't have to see his mate and child with him.)
While his daughter had stopped harping on about siblings since her 6th birthday, she was still completely enamored with her cousin. She kept running up to whoever had the baby and asking how she could help.
It was a clear display that if it were in the cards for them, that Sadie would've been an amazing big sister.
Mike and Will hadn't talked about alternate options to growing their family since Mike had tentatively opened that door over a year ago, but it was still something ruminating in the back of Mike's mind.
“Hey, how are you doing?”
Mike was startled from his thoughts when Will came up beside him and spoke quietly in his ear, vanilla and rosewood enveloping Mike's senses.
“Fine. Great. I’m great.” Mike said incredibly unconvincingly.
“Do you need a break? I promise that no one will be offended or think poorly of you if you need to step out.” Will had a nervous look in his eyes.
Mike frowned. “Do you need a break?” He turned the question back around on his mate.
Will gaped like a fish and tried to stutter out a response before eventually giving up and silently nodding.
“Where's Sadie?” Mike asked, not wanting to leave without knowing where his daughter is.
“She's with Dustin.” Will looked over his shoulder to check that Sadie was in fact still with her Uncle Dustin.
Mike looked around his mate and smiled. Dustin was prancing around the little girl foolishly, talking about god knows what. It looked a bit like a jester trying to entertain his princess, which kinda was what was happening in a way.
Dustin was still determined to win the spot of Sadie’s favorite Uncle. At her last birthday, only a month ago, he had asked her who her favorite was and was sorely disappointed when she enthusiastically answered, “Uncle Jon!”
“It's always freaking Jonathan!” Dustin had mumbled under his breath in despair.
Once Mike was satisfied that his daughter was alright, he grabbed Will’s hand and pulled him into the kitchen, away from the rest of the party and commotion in the living room.
“Come here.” Mike opened his arms to receive his mate.
Will dove right in, tucking his face into Mike's neck and pressing his nose against Mike's scent gland. His arms held tight around Mike's waist as he trembled.
Mike brought his hands up to rub Will’s back and cradle him in his arms.
“What was it?” Mike asked. He didn't have to ask why his mate was upset, they both already knew why.
“Sorry I-”
“No. No apologies. Just tell me what's wrong.” Mike interrupted him.
Will sighed and melted more into Mike's embrace. “I just…it was getting hard to watch you with Nick. It made me think of you with Sadie when she was that age. It felt like I was being taunted.”
Will’s face shot up with a panicked look in his eyes. “Not that I’m blaming you or anything!”
“It's okay Will, I get what you mean. It was difficult to watch you with him too. I’m sorry that I didn't check in on you sooner, I know I had Nick for a while.” Mike said.
“No, you didn't do anything wrong. We both knew that tonight might be hard.” Will squeezed Mike’s waist.
“Still, I didn't think about how you might've felt seeing him with me.” Mike frowned at his lack of awareness.
“Hey.” Will brought a hand up to cup Will’s face. “Did it sting a little to see you with him? Yea. But at the same time it was nice to watch, almost nostalgic in a way.”
“Yea. Except Nick isn't as excitable and wiggly as Sadie was at that age.” Mike couldn't help but smile when he thought of his daughter.
Will laughed and the tension and scent of sorrow in the room relaxed.
“PRESENTS!!”
The couple were interrupted by their daughter's voice bouncing off of the walls.
“Sadie, don't shout!” Will called out to his daughter as Mike tried not to laugh.
“Well, seems like we're needed.” Mike said with a playful smirk.
Will chuckled and blushed prettily. “Yea, seems so.”
“We’re gonna be okay.” Mike said sincerely after a beat, punctuating his statement with a forehead kiss.
“I know.” Will responded softly.
ㅡ
“Are you two incapable of not being disgustingly all over each other at all hours of the day?” Max asked Mike and Will who were tangled up together on the loveseat.
Will huffed out a laugh as Mike glared at her. He was certain that if their daughter wasn't present, his mate would’ve flipped the new mother off, but a death stare would have to suffice for now.
“You’d think after 20 years they would've grown out of it, but they just seem to get worse as time goes on.” Dustin added.
Mike rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Sadie? Do you think Mommy and Daddy look weird?” Mike asked their daughter who was sitting next to Max, cooing at baby Nick who was tucked away safely in a sling that Max was wearing.
Sadie looked up, and instead of giving an answer, she crossed the room and tucked herself in between her parents, chirping happily when they made room for her so that she was wrapped in their arms.
Mike puffed out his chest and smirked at Dustin in triumph.
Will laughed quietly and shook his head fondly. Mike could be so ridiculous at times.
“That doesn't mean anything! She's your daughter!” Dustin spluttered.
Mike and Sadie gave the Beta twin glares, the only difference between the two being that Sadie's eyes were hazel green instead of dark brown.
Dustin shivered comically, making El laugh from where she was sitting next to him.
“Okay! Presents?” Lucas said, refocusing the group.
Sadie bounced in excitement, or, she tried to. She couldn't really move much from where she was sandwiched in between her parents.
“Sadie, hon, you might want to sit on the ground so you can open your presents.” Will suggested to the 7 year old.
It wasn't that Will didn't love having his daughter sitting with him, he actually loved it. There was always a sense of calm that washed over him when he could wrap his entire family in his scent, but he knew how rowdy Sadie could get when she was excited, and there was not enough room for the three of them on the loveseat in that case.
Sadie pouted at him and looked up at her mother with pleading eyes.
“She's fine Will, let her stay.” Mike said as he ran his fingers through his daughter's curls. Sadie’s dark brown hair now reached past her shoulders, and she has adamantly said that she wants to grow it to be as long as her Aunt Jane’s hair.
El had stopped cutting her hair, except for the occasional trim to get rid of dead ends, after leaving the Nina project, and it now reached down to her bottom.
Sadie was obsessed with her Aunt’s hair, and constantly raved about how pretty and princess-like it was.
“Okay.” Will shrugged, even though he was certain that Sadie would still end up on the floor eventually.
The group followed their regular routine for Christmas, starting with the regular gifts.
Sadie had already gotten all of her gifts from her parents and El, but Dustin, Lucas, and Max still had more for her.
Sadie left the couch when she jumped up in excitement over a Sailor Moon doll that Dustin had gotten her. She had discovered the show when Will had let her watch TV for a bit when she was home sick from school, and she'd been hooked on it ever since.
With his daughter gone, Will closed the gap she left between him and Mike just as they were getting ready for the Secret Santa gifts and reveals.
The party had started the tradition their senior year of high school. It had been over a year since Vecna and the Mindflayer had been defeated and the Upside Down blown up, and they wanted to do something fun together to mark their first “normal” Christmas in years.
The only rule they had set in place was that couples couldn't have each other. So Mike couldn't have Will, or Lucas couldn't have Max and vice versa.
They picked names at Thanksgiving, and then everyone had to patiently wait to find out what they got, and who got it for them.
All six of them had different approaches to the tradition. Will, El, and Lucas were all pretty straight shooters. They got meaningful and intentional gifts. If you had one of them as your Secret Santa, you knew that you were gonna get a good and heartfelt gift.
Mike, Max, and Dustin however, were total wildcards. They all loved gag gifts, especially now that all of them made enough money to get normal gifts in addition to the Secret Santa gift.
Dustin was the most consistent in giving joke gifts, while Max it depended on who she got. If she got Dustin or Mike, they were absolutely getting something dumb. But if she got Will or El, she would get a genuine gift.
Mike was the most unpredictable, and the one who took it the most seriously. His mate was incredibly secretive when it came to Secret Santa, and even Will didn't know what his mate was up to.
There was no pattern with Mike’s gifts. He’ll go a few years giving normal gifts, and then the next he’ll throw in a gag gift. No one is safe from his prank gifts. Well, no one except El. None of their friends ever played silly jokes like that on El, claiming it was because she was just so sweet and innocent.
That always made Will roll his eyes. His sister was far from sweet and innocent. She could be devious in her own right, and Will thinks that there should be equal opportunity pranking across the whole party, including El.
This year, Will had gotten Lucas. He had bought his friend a new tumbler to keep coffee or any other drink his fellow Alpha pleased. Will remembers what it was like to be in the trenches with a new baby, (He had never consumed more caffeine in his life than during Sadie’s first year on Earth.) so he knew how helpful it was to have something to keep coffee or energy drinks in on demand.
Mike had funnily enough, gotten Max this year. He seemingly decided to play nice this year, and got her a nursing pillow, something he said he wished he had had when he was nursing Sadie.
Mike was the last to open his gift, and with only one person left, he slyly looked over to El and smirked. “I wonder who it's from.”
His gift this year was a thick card. Mike opened it and several different pamphlets fell out. Mike gave El a confused look, who was staring at him intently with a nervous look in her eyes.
Mike's face fell into quiet shock and disbelief when he picked the pamphlets up and actually read what they were.
“El…what is this?” Mike's voice wavered as he looked at the Beta woman with wide eyes.
“Read the card.” El said, chewing her lip as she watched Mike read it.
“Excuse me.” Mike said, his voice choked, and ran out of the living room, leaving the card and pamphlets behind.
Will gathered the items and followed Mike into the kitchen, giving an apologetic look to his sister on his way out.
He found his mate frantically pacing and tearing his hands through his hair as he tried to get his breathing under control.
Will set aside the cards and pamphlets and went to go steady his panicked mate.
“Hey, hey, hey, breathe with me.” Will grabbed Mike’s hands to hold him in place and led him through a couple of deep breaths. (Something Mike has had to do with him many times over the years.)
“What's wrong?” Will asked softly once Mike had stopped trembling, and the tension in their bond lessened.
Mike took a couple more deep breaths. “El offered to be a surrogate for us.”
“What?” Will had no idea how to react to that. On one hand, it was incredibly generous of his sister to offer to help them grow their family. But on the other hand, he and Mike hadn't really talked about if and how they wanted to grow their family.
“The pamphlets are for fertility clinics near Brooklyn and information about surrogacy and IVF.” Mike explained.
Will ran a hand down his face and crossed his arms in thought.
“What are your thoughts?” He asked.
Mike sighed. “I don't know, I haven't really processed it yet.”
“Do you want to talk to El?” Will asked.
Mike chewed on his lip in thought. Then he nodded.
“Okay, I’ll go get her.” Will said before turning on his heel to exit the kitchen.
Will poked his head out into the living room and made eye contact with his sister. El understood what he was asking without any words and headed over to the kitchen.
Dustin and Lucas were trying to lighten the mood in the room by entertaining Sadie while Max rocked Nick, who was completely passed out in his mother's arms.
“Hey.” El greeted quietly when she closed the kitchen door behind her.
“El-”
“I’m sorry for springing it on you. I didn't think it through.” El interrupted Mike.
“No, El it's-”
“But I just wanted to help. I…I saw the way you looked at Max whenever you saw her, and seeing you with Nick today just further proved it. I know you two want more kids.” El continued.
Mike and Will looked at each other, unsure of how to respond.
“Sorry, that came off as aggressive. I am trying to be more…gentle with my words. You called it being less ‘blunt’, right Will?” El said when the couple in front of her had sat in awkward silence for just a little too long.
“Yea, yep, that was…that was definitely very blunt El.” Will stuttered out.
El turned her attention over to Mike, and gave him the look that made it feel like she was staring into your soul.
“You still have your eggs, right?” El asked.
Mike coughed as he choked on his own spit in shock. “Um…yea, yea I do.” He said, his face flushed pink.
El nodded. “That's what I thought.” She walked over to the counter and grabbed the pamphlets. “There's this thing called IVF. A doctor could take your eggs and use them for a surrogate.” El explained, her brow furrowed cutely as she tried to remember all of the information.
“So the baby would still be yours, I would just carry them.” She smiled.
“El, I can't ask you to do that for me. Pregnancy is no joke, and it's a huge commitment. Your body goes through so much change and stress, and I don't want you to go through all of that just for my sake.” Mike said.
“I know, Mike. I know what I’m signing up for. And I know that you would never ask me, so I’m offering instead. Research says that Beta women are the best surrogates. Alpha women struggle to conceive in general, and Omegas reject children that aren't their own most of the time.”
El grabbed Mike's hands. “I want to do this for you. For both of you.” She smiled over at Will.
“I…” Mike looked over at Will, a question that Will didn't yet know how to answer in his eyes.
“We’ll think about it.” Will said, giving his sister a tight lipped smile.
El smiled in return before roping them both into a hug.
“It's just a suggestion, you guys don't have to take it.” She said.
“Thank you El, for thinking of us.” Will said, squeezing his sister tight and reveling in her calm white tea and lily scent.
El let go and smiled as she exited the kitchen to rejoin the party.
Mike let out a heavy sigh once she had left, and Will pulled him closer and rubbed comforting circles into his mate’s hip. (A habit he had picked up when Mike was pregnant and had yet to break, not that Mike seemed to mind.)
“You okay?” Will asked.
“Well, I didn't think I’d be talking about my reproductive organs with my ex-girlfriend and sister-in-law, but I guess it wasn't the most humiliating conversation I’ve ever had.” Mike joked.
“Mike, please be serious right now.” Will said. Although he loved Mike's silly and dorky side, he had a tendency to use it as a distraction from his deeper feelings.
“I don't know.” Mike said, dropping the joking tone. “It's kind of sudden.” He said.
“I get what you mean. I don't know how to feel either.” Will said.
“I…I know you briefly mentioned adoption or surrogacy last year, but I didn't want to bring it up before you were ready.” Will added, peering up at his mate.
“Will, you could've told me if you were thinking about it. We could've already had a conversation.” Mike said, gripping Will’s forearms tightly.
“I want to grow our family, but I don't want to pressure you into anything.” Will said honestly.
“I think…I think I do too.” Mike said hesitantly.
“You do?” Will said with simmering excitement.
Mike had never really voiced any strong opinions about seriously growing their family, and Will had kept quiet about his own desires so as to not put pressure on his mate.
“Watching Sadie tonight with Nick, it just showed how good of a big sister she would be. And I know how much you love being a Dad, and I think you both deserve this.” Mike explained.
Will moved his hands from Mike’s hips to his waist and pulled him flush against his body.
“And you deserve it too, Mike. You're a wonderful Mom. Sadie loves you so much, and I love parenting with you, even though it isn't easy.” Will said.
Mike glanced down at the pamphlets that El had left behind.
“I’m still not sure how I feel about El’s offer, but I will think about it.” The Omega smiled at his mate.
Will pulled Mike in for a hug and tucked his nose into Mike's scent gland and inhaled his sugary and citrusy scent.
“Thank you.” He mumbled against his neck.
“Now, I think we still have a couple more traditions to complete before the night is over.” Mike said, stepping back a little from Will.
“Yes, I think hot chocolate and Die Hard are calling our names.” Will joked.
Mike rolled his eyes “For the last time, Die Hard is not a Christmas movie! Also, do you really want to expose our 7 year old to that?”
“We can watch it after she's asleep.” Will shrugged, dragging out the joke for as long as possible.
“Come on, don't you want to ogle Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman with me?” Will teased.
Mike bumped his shoulder playfully and walked towards the kitchen door. “You're ridiculous.”
Will smiled after his mate, hope blooming in his chest.
Maybe their family would be growing after all.