The Unicorn's Dearest Omega

by Marilyn Black

  So what kind of warped logic was that?

  In telling me this, he wound up telling me more about himself. He genuinely didn't care about anyone but himself and his own wonky beliefs. He abused Tommy for many reasons, and there was absolutely no reason to believe he'd stop. He wasn't just angry at being “cheated on" (which he wasn't, let me tell you that right now)-- he was outright offended that Tommy existed at all.

  A man like that was going to cause even greater harm in the future. And now that he had been pushed to his brink, he had essentially reached his most extreme point. If I failed, he'd go forth in life believing that not only are Omegas worthless sluts but that if he didn't immediately waste them at the first sign of dissent... then they'd just be like Tommy.

  You know, an actually decent person with their own will to being.

  I stomped the floor and prepared to charge. If there's one thing-- one thing at all-- I could say about Jonathan, it's that he wasn't a coward in battle. It's so easy to think that these types are all the same, that they are all cowardly types who'll immediately back off if threatened. But Jonathan isn't like that at all, and neither are many others. They genuinely believe their own hype and will stand and fight. They may be cowardly in how easily they feel threatened by their own battered lovers, but Jonathan was a manly man and a terror-wolf the whole way through.

  He stepped forward to match me, bearing his fangs. He wasn't going to go down without a fight or run away with his tail between his legs. Such bravado was very commendable, if only it were in a better person.

  Tommy stepped back and clasped his hands over his heart. He didn't say anything.

  We charged. He pounced towards my neck, trying to take me down with one savage twist of the jaw.

  Ha.

  It was too easy. I dodged and we butted heads.

  And that was it.

  In his rage, Jonathan stupidly forgot that I am a unicorn. But he wouldn't have to worry about that anymore. I pulled back, my horn sliding out of his forehead, and let him fall to the ground and die.

  Tommy looked on his corpse with the greatest sense of satisfaction I'd ever seen on a person.

  I could read it in his eyes: at long last, that nightmare chapter of his life was over.

  I stumbled back and threw my bottom to the ground so that, when I shifted back into a human, I was sitting like a child. And then I ran my hands through my hair and chuckled until I laughed.

  It wasn't very sensitive of me to laugh with a dead man in the room, but literally. FUCK Jonathan. Actually, no. Don't fuck him. That's just what he wanted.

  Tommy threw himself on me, covering me with a thousand kisses.

  "You did it!" He shouted. "You killed him! You got rid of him! He's gone! He's gone!"

  I fell back, taking him down with me.

  And we lay there for several minutes before we heard banging downstairs.

  When I looked out the window, I saw that it was Scott, calling out to me to find out if I was still alive.

  "You okay?! Where are you?!"

  I shouted from above, "We're fine!" while holding Tommy tightly in my arms. "Jonny's out. We can go home."

  He looked up and said, "Oh good God... I thought I was gonna have to start writing your will for you."

  Tommy and I carried each other out of the house, and we collapsed on the steps of the mansion so that we could hear each other's laugh.

  Scott pulled up and said, "We gotta get some pictures, though! You know, something for blackmail in case the rest of the Grovers try coming after us for this."

  I nodded. "Sounds good. We'll take care of that. Whaddya say?"

  Scott then added, "And by the way, I just got off the phone with the police."

  I frowned. "Again?"

  "Yeah," and held up one of those small mini-brick-shaped cellular phones. "Cool, huh?" It wasn't, because I had owned a cellular phone for about a decade. Who was he even trying to fool? "It turns out that Mama really was that rowdy as usual, so they kept her back at the county lock-up."

  Tommy and I exchanged glances and laughed at him. That was our Mama after all. Hey, maybe another time I can tell you all about her.

  After collecting a lot of evidence, we went home and started sifting through it all, though Tommy needed a while to rest. That was perfectly fine by me-- I was even the one who told him to take a while. He didn't have to come into work, nor did he have to go to school the next day. Hell, he could take the whole week off if he wanted. I wanted to satisfy his every need, no matter what it was. I wanted to be a better man and shifter than Jonathan could've ever dreamed of being.

  And he said to me, "I'm fine with my life. I'm doing what I want to do. And I want to do it with you."

  I don't think my face could handle all the blushing.

  The best part about that next day, I think, was watching Tommy talk to Scott about his plans for the future without any apprehension. He always tried to be positive and not dwell on the potential future that existed once when we both knew that Jonathan was still out there and could affect us at any time. I bet that he figured we'd have to clash at some point, but he wasn't eager to see that day anytime soon.

  Only for it to arrive sooner than expect and for Jonathan to go down so much easier than he ought to. Not that either of us was complaining.

  That seemed like the story of the world lately, now that I think about it. But what do I know?

  Tommy was positively beaming, and though he was still out of the Iglesias Face potion, he still hummed an Iglesias song over and over again. Funny thing is, I don't think he even knew which song it was because when one customer asked about it, he looked like a cat after knocking over a cup. This was still before Iglesias broke through in the English-speaking world, so I wasn’t like people were going to know who he was.

  As we worked together, he'd talk and sing about our future baby. The bump hadn't started showing yet (and of course it wouldn't so soon after our consummation), but he did have his first little mood swing. Nothing particularly major, but it was a noticeable abruptness from one hour to the next.

  The worst part about the next day happened before all of this, actually-- when I had to reveal to him that Jason died the previous day. At first, he was upset over the idea I had killed him. I still wasn't entirely sure why he was so eager to engage in some revisionist history even despite what Jonathan had said. That's just me, though. Someone hurts Tommy over and over again like that, then I don't care if it was at gunpoint. At some point, you have to take control and stand by some goddamn principles. The time at which he decided to do that was way too late.

  But, as I assumed, Tommy was the one who called for an ambulance to take Jason away. In his own words, "Jonathan could only destroy." He said to me right before he left for his classes that, though he still could never truly forgive Jason, he still felt sorry for him because it proved how much of a corrupter Jonathan was.

  Though he still said, "I don't think Jason was corrupted or anything. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

  He was set in a black bag and shipped off to the morgue.

  Scott held Jasper tightly, and I told my brother, "Remember to always love your man."

  It's not like Jasper came to Scott without any scars or that they had a fairy-tale romance of a story, but it certainly was nowhere near as dark as how I met Tommy. Maybe that'll be a story for another day.

  Six months later....

  On April 9th, 1999, Tommy gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl. He could have given birth to her at five months, as Cat Omegas have the option of doing, but he had grown to love the sensation of having his child inside of him and put off the C-section. There was a three month grace period where this wouldn’t affect the child’s health, and if it gave him that much joy, why take it from him?

  In that preceding time, he had already picked out a beautiful name: Makayla. I had no objections, and neither did Scott or Jasper. We all thought it would be fitting, and when I went into that ICU to see my b
aby daughter for the first time, we were proven so damn right.

  Tommy held her tightly in his arms as she cried out her first to the world. We all looked at the very tiny tuft of hair she was born with and laughed because it made her look like Mo Howard.

  She was born on a sunny day, and Tommy's C-section went without a hitch. Though I will confess that I thought he became so fucking gorgeous with that baby bump, he confessed to me that he thought it made him look unsightly on top of being several extra pounds that made him feel a bit lopsided.

  "How?" I asked with a laugh, just a day after I had gotten a haircut to sweep back my hair. "It's not more than a few pounds on you."

  "You wouldn't understand," he replied.

  I shrugged because I guess I just wouldn't understand!

  Still, once he birthed her and I got to see Makayla's face for the first time, I couldn't help but look down upon my man and think, "Gosh. He is just the handsomest motherfucker who ever lived."

  We still lived in that shop. Steamy Cups was going strong, and everyone in this county and the next five over wanted to stop by just to get a taste of Tommy's famous pumpkin spice brews. This was back before pumpkin spice became a thing, back when it still felt like a hidden gem masquerading as just another item on coffee menus rather than a Fall ritual. The first thing Tommy drank after giving birth? An iced pumpkin spice latte.

  He had always had it hot before then, but when he tried it cold, he told me, "Oh gosh, I don't think I'm gonna drink anything else from now on." And he wore the froth like a cutesy mustache until it fizzled away.

  Did I mention that Tommy's hot?

  Tommy

  Ho hum. Hum dee dum. Life is good. And the times were fun.

  Makayla's presence in our shop lifted everyone's spirits. Maybe some people were put off by a baby with their coffee, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I never wanted to let go of Makayla. It felt like we had fought long and hard just to bring her into this world, and we really did. Like Hell if I was going to do anything but smother her with love and affection for the rest of my days.

  Scott and Neil picked up a lot of the slack since I wasn't working anywhere near as much at the time-- we all agreed it wouldn't be very easy to be a mother, a father, a full-time student, and a full-time worker at the same time.

  "Some are," Scott said. "I knew a woman who worked two jobs, and went to school, and raised her kids." He then closed his eyes when he said, "And she told me, 'I hate my life' so many times that it's disgusting that some people think it's something you should just tolerate. It's nothing to aspire to. That kind of life is a mistake. Something that happens when all else fails."

  Jasper also talked to me one day, and just wanna say that his voice was surprisingly smooth and golden for such a petite Omega: "Yeah, I know. People think that their own suffering makes it right for you to suffer with them." And he grinned at me. "You ought to make it easier on yourself, sweetheart. Don't kill yourself to live."

  And they were right. It was easy for me to agree when I had so much to juggle, but there are plenty of people in my situation who just have to put up with it with no other options. But if you do have options and hope in life, even if it's not obvious, then there's no reason to force yourself into a shitty situation. The whole point of working so hard is so that you don't have to sacrifice so many hours of your life.

  I had Neil, and even if he wasn't around (heavens forfend that day!), I'd still have his clan who welcomed me with open arms. I would still attend school, but Neil was more than okay with taking up the job side of things. And hey, once school let out for the summer semester, I could always come back downstairs to help out. And what was I going to school for anyway? To fly even higher. I ought to use everything at my disposal.

  Of course, I was just a teensy bit sore from childbirth too, so if there was any practical reason to stop working for a while, what better one than that?

  Michael was there, still pecking away at his yellow Game Boy, and whenever he had free moments, he would gawk at Makayla and rock her back and forth in her swinging cradle.

  Neil looked at the two and sighed. "Kids are the future, aren't they?"

  Jasper said, "Oh yeah. Remember when we were their age?"

  "Not really," Scott added as he rested his elbows on a table to lean in closer to Makayla. "Oh, you mean Michael? Yeah, those were fun days. I kinda miss the early '80s."

  "Those were fun times, weren't they?"

  I picked up Makayla from her cradle and pat her back after noticing her breathing just a bit funnily, and sure enough, she burped one that sounded suspiciously like a cat's meow.

  We all looked at her, and I grinned. "Oh my. I wonder if that means something."

  Jasper, when watching Michael interact with Makayla further (he had been finger-petting her cheek like she was a cat, further evidence of something I bet!), placed his hands on his cheeks and said, "Oh. My. Gosh. Scott, what if we had another baby?"

  Michael aboutfaced first like a gun had just been fired.

  Scott snickered and said, "You know, ever since Makayla, I've been thinking about it myself."

  "Don't I get a say in this?"

  Jasper placed his hand on Michael's head and tenderly said, "You do! You get a say in whether you want your new sibling to live in your room or the old room!"

  His whole body slumped. "It's not gonna be a girl is it?"

  Scott laughed and cringed at the same time. "What's wrong with having a girl?"

  "Girls are icky and have cooties!"

  "I thought you had a girlfriend," I said. "Isn't that why you read Harry Potter?"

  Scott said, "They 'broke up,'" with massive air quotes.

  "Awwwwww, that's adorable."

  Michael folded his arms and went, "Hmmph!"

  Makayla reached out and grabbed my ear. Each finger tried its hardest to wrap around my earlobe, but her hand as a whole was barely half the size of my ear so she held it awkwardly.

  However, babies are a lot stronger than you think, so when she started pulling, it actually felt like she was about to pull off my entire ear.

  I tried laughing to ease the pain, but wow. She was a tough one! Maybe an Amazonian warrior princess in training.

  Neil grabbed Makayla from me and looked upon his daughter (and saved my ear from amputation!). He scratched her little nose with the tip of his finger and made baby noises at her. Often, he'd kiss right in front of her and she'd laugh. At least, she tried to laugh, but she was so young that it was still a really primal mix of a laugh and random noises.

  I still believed she was laughing. Actually, I believed she was the smartest person in the room and was just humoring all of us. Hey, it makes sense when you think about it!

  The air in the shop was cool and had a soft nip to the skin that reminded me of early Fall. You'd think that I'd want to forget everything to do with Fall '98, but while there were so many bad things... Well, Makayla reached out for me and Neil rocked and danced with her in his arms. I didn't want to let that year be defined by why it was bad but rather reflect upon why it was great. It was a time of great change, and when you go to a new place, change is inevitable-- if you do it right, that change can be for the best.

  Speaking of change, the previous winter wasn't that bad, and springtime was fairly mild. All in all, it felt like a pleasant year and was about to get even more pleasant.

  Of course, not to make things so sour, the American psyche would get its first taste of disillusionment in a couple weeks, and it is a bit melancholic to think about those days more in the way of us being ignorant to tragedies to come, but let's face it-- that was the future. On that day, our story ended happily ever after.

  Well.... Actually, as Makayla babbled on Neil's skin, we wound up talking about the future. It was only natural as it was 1999. A new millennium was about to begin. How fitting that we brought in a beautiful life right on the cusp of it all. There was a thousand years of possibilities ahead of us. We were all blessed to be alive and cogniza
nt of the world on the eve of such a great change (aha, see what I mean? It's like poetry).

  The first thing I thought about was of how Makayla would grow up. That started when Scott said, "You know, when I turned 20, I never imagined I'd be here. And now that I'm 28, I'm shocked I'm still here." We all laughed at that, but that led to Jasper saying:

  "It's just so weird thinking about being an adult sometimes and growing up and seeing that your life is moving forward. It's almost 2000, you know? And we're not kids anymore. Those days are gone forever."

  I tried to lean back in my chair, but my midsection was still aching a bit too much. On the radio, Prince's "1999" started playing. For a moment, I thought Makayla was dancing to it, but maybe she was doing those typical cute baby bounces. Who knows! I want to believe she just liked Prince. I did too.

  Neil said, "Yeah. We had fun. And things were nice. But it's time to move on."

  This is what triggered me to mention her: "When Makayla turns 20," I said, "I wonder what she'll say about us. About why and how she was born. Will she even care?"

  "I never asked about what happened when I was born," Jasper said with a shrug. But then he put his finger on his chin. "But maybe that would be a good question to ask Mom and Dad. Maybe there's something they never told me."

  Neil and I exchanged smug glances, knowing that, if Makayla ever asked, oh boy would we have a story for her. And for a brief moment, I thought into the future. She'd be 20 in the far-off distant year of 2019. What would 2019 be like? Would anyone remember or even care about what happened to us in our time? I couldn't know, but I did silently hope that we'd raise her right. That when she was 20 years old, she'd look back on her life with great glee at what good parents she had and how spectacularly well she was raised, all so that she could look onwards to the next 20 years and beyond with great expectations.