Page 132 of Omega's Secret Guardian
Linus and Storm stared at her. Then they looked at each other, and back at her.
“What?” Linus spluttered. “You knew?”
She rolled her eyes. “Aside from your morning sickness? You told me not to cook anything with celery today, and you used to love it. You decimated that basket of tomatoes you brought. You’ve been reading a bunch of things on your phone, all of them with pastel-colored backgrounds. You keep rubbing your belly, hon. I would be a terrible mom not to noticeall these things.”
Linus cringed. “Now I’m just embarrassed.”
“You should be,” she said dryly. Then she grinned and pulled them both into a hug. “Congrats.”
“It took forever to show,” Storm said grumpily. He sneaked his hand between them to rub Linus’ baby bump. “We’ve nicknamed the kid Teeny Tiny.”
“Storm said we should name the baby Tina if it’s a girl, Tobey if it’s a boy, or maybe Tamsen so it’s gender-neutral.”
“That way, we can call the baby Triple T,” Storm said proudly.
Linus elbowed him. “That’s not something to be proud of!”
“You have to admit that Teeny Tiny Tobey has a certain ring to it,” Storm pointed out. “Like a superhero name!”
“Superheroes have tough lives. I’m not sure I want that for our child.”
“We’ve been watching too many superhero movies,” Storm whispered to Mom. “That aside, I can’t wait to feel Triple T kick.”
“Same here,” Linus said, his pulse speeding up at the thought of their little one. Storm grinned, his gaze growing so warm as he rubbed Linus’ belly.
Mom smiled and shook her head. “I remember being pregnant with you. Time really flies, doesn’t it?”
Before they could answer, the doorbell rang.
Mom hurried off to answer it.
Instead of following her, Storm turned to Linus, dropping to his knees so he could bury his face against Linus’ belly. “Hey baby,” he murmured, pulling up Linus’ shirt so he could say it skin-to-skin. His voice vibrated into Linus’ belly. “We’re totally imagining you as a superhero.”
“No, we’re not,” Linus said fondly.
“You won’t get a cape with your super outfit. Capes get caught in stuff,” Storm continued as though this wasn’t a conversation they kept having.
Linus brushed his fingers through Storm’s hair, his heart full.
“Oh,” someone said.
They turned to find their family crowded around the kitchen doorway, staring at them.
“Congrats,” Storm’s dad said. “This was a proposal, right? No, wait. There’s a baby involved.”
Linus’ entire faceburned.So much for breaking the news gently.
“I haven’t proposed yet,” Storm grumbled.
“Why haven’t you?” his mother chastised. “Storm! We raised you better than that!”
“We’re already bonded!”
Granted, Linus hadn’t put his own bonding marks on Storm’s scent glands, but Storm had told him to do it at his own pace. Linus was waiting for the right moment.
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Storm said grumpily, getting to his feet. “Anyhow, now you know our big news without us telling you. Surprise!”
His mom beamed. “Congrats!”
