He met Harris’ eyes, reading his team leader’s curiosity. Didn’t want Harris mentioning that Gwen was his daughter.
“Hey, Harris,” Brad said. “This is Gwen, and my omega, Ian. Okay if I take them out?”
Harris studied them all. “Sure. Take Ladder 1, but keep the radio on. We’ll need you to respond if anything comes up.”
“Will do. Thanks.” Brad ruffled Gwen’s hair. “It’s Gwen’s birthday today.”
“Yeah?” Harris cracked a smile, grabbing a red children’s helmet off a stack. “Happy birthday, Gwen! You gonna be a firefighter when you grow up?”
Brad glimpsed the slip in Ian’s smile. Knowing what Ian did, it wasn’t likely that Gwen’s heart had enough strength for the job. Maybe in the future, but Brad would rather not have her take the risk.
Was he getting protective of her now? Maybe.
Gwen rubbed her chest. “If my daddy says it’s okay,” she said. “I got heart problems.”
Harris glanced at Brad, something akin to pity in his eyes. Brad didn’t know how to respond.
“Here’s a helmet anyway,” Harris said, setting the flimsy plastic helmet on Gwen’s head. “Shows everyone you were at the station today.”
Gwen bounced, pulling the hat firmly down on her head.
“Maybe there’ll be something just as fun that you can work as when you grow up,” Ian said, rubbing Gwen’s back. He looked a little sad, somewhat resigned. “Want to take Brad up on the ride?”
“Mm-hm!” Gwen glanced at the trucks through the doorway. Brad nodded his thanks at Harris, turning his omega and daughter back out into the garage.
He led Gwen and Ian to the ladder truck. Gwen looked at the monster of a vehicle, her eyes almost falling out of her head. “We’re gonna ride in that?”
“Yup. Not too big for you, is it?” Brad asked, pulling the door open.
“It’s just right,” she said.
“You almost sound like a size queen,” Ian said, humor glinting in his eyes.
“What’s a size queen?” Gwen asked.
Brad coughed. “It’s when people like big things. Like your dad does.”
Ian flushed a deep red, elbowing Brad in the ribs.
“I like big trucks,” Gwen said, racing up to the ladder truck’s door. “So I’m a size queen!”
Ian groaned. “Brad!”
“Hey, you started it.” Brad pulled Ian close, kissing his temple.
“She’ll be shouting that to the whole station next!” Ian covered his face.
“Not the worst thing in the world.” Brad released Ian, crouching next to Gwen. He adjusted the helmet on her head, making sure she had the elastic beneath her jaw so the helmet wouldn’t fall off. Made sure she was comfortable. “So for today, you’re a firefighter! Welcome to the station.”
Gwen beamed. “Does that mean I can drive the truck?”
“I’ll let you sit in the driver’s seat,” Brad said. “How about that?”
When he turned, he found Ian with his phone out, taking a picture of them.
“You both look great,” Ian said with a half-smile.
“So do you,” Brad answered. Ian blushed, looking away. So Brad waved him over. “You need to get a pic taken of all of us.”
Harris had trailed out of the break room, watching them. “Need a hand with the photo?”
Ian lit up, and Brad grinned. Trust Harris to step in—but maybe Harris knew the importance of pictures, too.
They had a picture taken quickly; Brad and Ian crouched by Gwen, Gwen with her red helmet on, beaming.
“Thank you,” Ian said, taking his phone back.
“No problem.” Harris waved.
Brad helped Gwen into the driver’s seat. He waited for Ian to take a photo of her, before scaling up the side of the truck. “Scoot over to the middle,” he told Gwen. “I’ll be sitting here, and your dad’ll be on the other side.”
Gwen shuffled over to the middle. When Brad shut the driver’s door and hopped back onto the ground, he found Ian looking at him oddly.
“You’re her dad too, you know,” Ian murmured. “Are you ready to tell her?”
Brad gulped, his heart pattering. “I don’t know.”
“Think about it.” Ian squeezed Brad’s hand, smiling.
So Ian was willing to share Gwen with him permanently, then? There was no going back after Gwen found out Brad was her father. And the anticipation made Brad’s heart kick.
Brad led him to the other side of the truck, pulling open the passenger door. Cupped Ian’s ass while he climbed into the passenger seat.
“Brad!”
Brad gave Ian a squeeze. Ian had a firm, sweet ass, and Brad wanted him, all over again. Wanted to tumble into their bed with Ian and make him gasp. “Just making sure you don’t fall.”
“So you say,” Ian muttered, but he was smiling.
When they were all in the truck, Brad started the engine. Gwen kicked her feet excitedly.
“How’s this for a birthday present?” Brad asked. “Ready to drive around town?”
“Yeah!” Gwen tugged on her seatbelt, leaning forward so she could see out of the windshield. It was a little high for her, but Brad noticed her gaze roving over the buttons and dials, the seats behind, the station alphas far below them outside. “This is amazing,” she breathed.
“Isn’t it?” Brad pulled out of the station, taking them on a slow drive around town, half-listening to the station’s radio.
“This feels strange,” Ian said. “I feel out-of-place.”
He looked uneasy, being in the truck. Brad wondered if Ian was worrying about being good enough. Few omegas ever passed the physical fitness tests to become firefighters—most of the staff at the station were alphas, plus a handful of betas.
Or maybe it was the way the cab smelled like a mix of woodsy alpha scents. Ian’s seat looked far too big for him—Gwen’s, too.
“It’s a half-hour ride,” Brad said. “Shorter if you want.”
Ian nodded, breathing out. He held Gwen’s hand as they drove, glancing out the window, shifting restlessly. He seemed to relax some minutes later, though, to Brad’s relief.
They took the scenic route through town, past the department store and the Apex. Gwen bounced. “I remember Christmas dinner there!”
“Do you?” Brad grinned. “Did you finish all your turkey?”
“I did!”
“She scarfed it all down the next day,” Ian said wryly.
Brad laughed. “If you ever get siblings, you’re gonna have to share.”
Ian glanced up, surprised. Brad figured he hadn’t mentioned the baby to Gwen yet. It made sense—Ian was a couple months along. It wasn’t time for the ultrasound, or for anything to be set in stone yet.
Gwen made a face, so Brad nudged her lightly. “What if you get a brother or a sister?”
“I dunno,” Gwen said. “Will they have to share my bed?”
“They’ll get their own beds,” Brad said.
“What about my breakfast?”
“They get their own breakfasts, too.”
“Then I guess I don’t mind.”
Ian laughed. “Oh, Gwen.”
He reached over and hugged her, and Gwen hugged him back. Brad took them down Main Street, past the places they were familiar with. Then he turned them back toward the fire station.
Gwen sagged when the red roofs of the station came into view. She kicked her legs, straining against her seatbelt. “Aww, already? That was too short!”
“That’s all, kiddo,” Brad said. “I need to get back to work. Sorry.”
Gwen whined and tugged on her plastic helmet. “But I’m a firefighter. I want to drive the truck. I want to do all the things!”
“Maybe some other time,” Ian said, rubbing her shoulders. “Let’s get you back to the childcare center.”
“But Toby got to do things the whole day on his birthday!” Gwen pouted, kicking her feet. “Benjamin went zip-lining, and Anna went to the racetrac
k! Why can’t I have fun the whole day, too?”
Brad exchanged a look with Ian. They hadn’t planned to spend the whole day with her—Brad was in the middle of a twenty-four-hour shift, and he’d already taken a day off for her cardiologist appointment next week. Ian had run out of vacation days at work, after he’d taken too many sick days to take Gwen to the hospital.
Gwen made a face. “It’s because I’m sick, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not,” Ian hurried to say, his face falling.
“We have to work, you know,” Brad said. He backed the truck into the station, glancing at the side mirrors to get the rig aligned straight.
Gwen whined. “But Daddy!”
Brad knew Gwen was talking to Ian. But for a split second, it had felt as though Gwen was calling him Daddy.
Brad’s stomach flipped.
He hit the brakes, trying to process that. I want her to call me Daddy?
“You okay?” Ian asked, touching Brad’s arm lightly.
“Yeah,” Brad said. “Was just surprised.”
He backed the truck into the station, keenly aware of Ian’s gaze on him. Brad parked the rig, cut the engine, and clicked off his seatbelt. Hopped out of the truck, needing to distance himself from Gwen for a bit.
Would Gwen ever call him Daddy?
Why did he care so much, when he’d only known her for two months?
“Gwen!” Ian yelped.
Brad hadn’t realized how far he’d moved through the station, until he turned.
Across the garage, Gwen shimmied down the driver’s side of the truck, her fingers tiny on the handlebars, her toes straining for the next foothold. There was such a long way she could fall.
Brad’s stomach dropped; he lunged forward. “Gwen!”
But Gwen landed lightly on the concrete and tore out through the garage doors. “I can do things just like everyone else,” she yelled, her face crumpling. “I’m fine! I’m normal like all of you!”
Brad glanced at Ian, who was struggling with his seatbelt. Ian looked conflicted, like he was trying to decide what he should say to her. Or maybe he thought it was his fault that Gwen was born with a heart defect.
“Gwen, please stop!” Ian yelled. “You need to rest!”
Gwen ignored him, rounding the corner of the garage. Brad jogged after his daughter. “Gwen, get back here!”
“No!” she cried, ducking behind the station vans parked outside. “I’m just as good as you! I don’t have to go back to the childcare center! I don’t want to!”
It made Brad falter. “Look, I’ll come by tomorrow and take you out to dinner. How’s that sound?”
“But tomorrow isn’t my birthday!”
Brad rounded one side of the vehicles, to catch her when she emerged. Instead, Gwen ducked through the narrow space between a spill unit and a van, away from him. Brad jogged around the trucks toward her, and she hid herself in the cramped space between the vehicles again.
“C’mon, your dad’s worried about you,” Brad said.
“He’s always worried about me! I’m fine!” Her cheeks were flushed, though, and Brad glanced around, trying to figure out the best way to calm her down. Couldn’t let her get more agitated.
“Gwen,” Ian called from Brad’s other side, hurrying over. He looked embarrassed. “Let’s get back to the center, please. I have class in fifteen minutes. I need to be back at the college.”
“It’s always work, work, work!” Gwen yelled. “You hardly ever have time for me!”
Ian faltered, his shoulders sagging.
Then she ducked out from the other side of the trucks, back into the station. Brad ran after her. “Gwen! C’mon, listen to your dad.”
She tore up the stairs leading to the station’s office. Brad doubled up the stairs after her. Behind them, Ian pressed his hand to his belly, climbing the stairs carefully.
“I’ll tell Dale to let you join in during playtime,” Ian said.
Gwen was almost at the top of the stairs, panting hard. “He won’t let me! He sucks!”
Two steps away, Brad reached out for her. Gwen stumbled before he could catch her, lurching forward. She fell with a thump, her breath knocking out of her. Gwen wheezed.
“Hurts,” she said, curling into herself.
Brad’s heart stopped. Fuck. “Gwen, you okay?”
She shook her head. Brad scooped her into his arms, jogging down the stairs. Ian followed him to the landing, terror in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Ian asked. From the dread in his eyes, he already knew.
“Says her heart hurts,” Brad told him anyway. Ian’s mouth fell open, his despair building.
Brad had been reading up on Gwen’s heart defect. The repair of her heart left her with a leaky valve; given enough time, the pressure in her right ventricle could increase far too much. It was why Ian had babied her like he had.
Brad wasn’t an EMT. Seeing his daughter panting in his arms, he sorely wished he was. Couldn’t stand being helpless, watching someone he loved hurting. Didn’t want to think of the worst possible outcome.
He scanned the garage for a medic. Some of the other alphas were jogging over in concern. “Where’s Philippe?”
“Philippe!” Cole yelled. “Adele, some help here!”
Philippe burst out of a storage room in the garage, his brown hair a mess. “You called?”
Brad dashed up to him; Philippe was already jogging to the paramedic van, pulling out his supply bag.
“What happened?” Philippe asked, all business-like.
Gwen’s eyes were half-shut. She dug her fingers into her chest, breathing shallowly.
“My daughter,” Brad said. “Her heart hurts. She was running around too much—overexertion. She’s had a complete repair for tetralogy of Fallot.”
Ian came to stand beside them, his face pale. “Will she be okay?”
Philippe pulled out a stethoscope, listening to Gwen’s heartbeat. Then he checked her allergies and medications with Ian, turning to his paramedic kit. “Her pulse rates are high. I’ll give her a shot to stabilize her heart, but we need to get her to the hospital. I can’t do much here.”
Ian’s nails bit into Brad’s arm. Brad lay Gwen down on the floor, and Philippe pulled out a needle and vial. Gwen whimpered.
“It’ll be okay, hon,” Ian whispered, brushing Gwen’s hair away from her face. “You’ll see. You’ll feel better soon.”
Neither of them really knew if Gwen would be okay, though. Ian’s hands were shaking when he knelt beside Brad, holding their daughter.
Philippe slid the needle into her vein, and Gwen whined.
Brad’s pulse thundered in his ears. What if this wasn’t enough? What if there was no way to fix Gwen’s heart?
When the shot was done, Philippe pulled out an oxygen mask, pressing it onto Gwen’s face. “Brad, get her on the stretcher. We’ll take her to the hospital.”
Brad scooped Gwen into his arms, Ian looking anxious next to him.
Adele, the other EMT on duty, came hurrying over, and so did Harris. Philippe briefed Adele on the situation.
“What happened?” Harris asked Brad, his eyes shrewd.
“She ran around too much,” Brad said. “Her pulse is too high.”
“Get going,” Harris said, nodding at the paramedic van. “I’ll have Valen cover for you.”
“But—” Brad hesitated. He was supposed to be on duty. He wasn’t legally Gwen’s father.
“I’m team leader,” Harris said wryly. “You don’t question my orders.”
“Thanks.” Brad flushed. Maybe Harris was looking for an excuse to have his alpha bondmate at the station with him. Maybe it was okay if Brad took the shift off.
Brad hurried with Gwen to the back of the ambulance. He strapped Gwen to the stretcher—it looked far too big around her.
“No space for you here,” Philippe told him. “Ride up front with Adele.”
“Daddy?” Gwen panted weakly, her voice muffled by the mask.
On impulse, Brad pressed a kiss to Gwen’s forehead, too. Then he kissed Ian on the temple. Ian looked up at him, his eyes worried. Brad wanted to do so much more, wanted to ease Ian’s worries, but he was powerless to.
What kind of dad was he, if he couldn’t solve his daughter’s problems?
16
Brad
Brad squeezed Ian’s hand. Then he left his omega and daughter with Philippe, jogging to the front of the van. If anything happened to Gwen on the way… He didn’t want to think about it.
They were out of the station in seconds, the siren wailing above their heads. Brad counted the minutes to the hospital. It still took far too long, when all Brad could look at was the video feed from the back of the van, Philippe monitoring Gwen’s heartbeat, Ian peering worriedly at them both. Gwen had to be fine.
It made him sick, just thinking about everything that could go wrong.
“That your kid?” Adele asked, glancing at Brad.
“Yeah,” Brad said. “She just turned seven today.”
Adele winced, clucking her tongue. She’d been working at the station a long time, even before Brad joined. Brad had never seen her with her dark hair down—it was perpetually in that bun on her head. “That blows. I’m sorry.”
Brad shrugged. Tried not to listen to the siren. The cars on the street pulled over to make way, but even then, it didn’t feel like they were moving fast enough. He made himself relax, breathing in deep. The cab smelled like Adele’s willow scent, and Philippe’s jute.
An eternity later, they pulled up outside the emergency department, Adele hopping out of the cab, opening the van’s back doors.
They wheeled Gwen into the hospital, straight into a curtained-off area so they could transfer her onto one of the hospital’s gurneys. Ian was holding onto Gwen, murmuring to her, his face pale.
“You’ll be fine,” he said. “We’ll go out for a turkey dinner and ice cream when you’re discharged, okay?”
Gwen whimpered, her eyes red with tears. Brad’s heart squeezed.
Omega Teacher’s Secret Page 16
