Instant Family (Silver Oak Medical Center Book 4)

by Aiden Bates

  On Monday, he went in to work. It wasn't a workday he was necessarily looking forward to. He didn't mind delivering babies. He didn't mind taking care of people's reproductive health. He didn't mind helping people with STIs, because that could happen to anyone and it wasn't his place to judge.

  No, Allen was feeling resentful about Monday because he had to put up with both Gottlieb and Parris coming to his office to "interview" him. He tried to think about it like a magazine interview, like he was some kind of rock star. It didn't help, but it gave him a couple of good laughs during the day.

  He needed them. His stomach was tied up in knots for the duration.

  At least he wouldn't be alone. Brantley wasn't allowed to be there, of course, but the handsome lawyer Gupta was. And Brantley had taken a late lunch, gone home, and grabbed Alaina. Having Alaina there would give Allen something to focus on other than the federal crime he was committing.

  The interview was toward the end of the day. At least the ICE agents had that going for them. These particular agents might be terrible human beings trying to ruin lives, tear apart families, and send people back to certain death, but at least they could make their activities as unobtrusive as possible before they destroyed those lives. Allen could give them that much credit at least.

  Gupta arrived first and looked around Allen's office. "You haven't decorated for the occasion?" He wrinkled his nose at a laminated poster of the omega reproductive system on the wall. "That's going to be fairly off-putting to Gottlieb."

  "Good." Allen sighed and picked up his daughter. "I don't decorate much. It's not a big space, as I'm sure you've noticed." He gestured toward his laptop, where the screen saver was a montage of family photos. He'd already gotten rid of any pictures of ex-boyfriends. Pictures of Brantley, of Alaina, and of the three of them had been seeded through the slide show.

  "It will have to do. There isn't time to do more." Gupta sighed, just before their opponents walked in the door.

  Gottlieb took the lead. Parris stayed half a step behind him, careful to avoid her superior's shadow. Allen wasn't going to think too carefully about that. Both of these agents were weird and repulsive people. Allen was usually a pretty open-minded guy, but even he had his limits. He didn't care why they did the things they did. He just wanted them to go do them someplace else.

  Gottlieb, with his permanently curled lip, nodded his head a little as he surveyed the office. He didn't sit down, so Parris remained standing. "They must not think much of you, Frye." He stuck his thumbs into his belt. "I mean look at the size of your office. It's like a postage stamp."

  Frye shrugged as best he could without jiggling the baby. "It's not like I spend a lot of time in here. I spend most of my day in exam rooms or in delivery rooms." He watched Gottlieb's beady hazel eyes. "You know, crouched down at the business end of a patient, waiting to catch a new life."

  Gottlieb's pupils contracted, and that curl to his lip only increased. "So gross. I guess someone's got to do it, but still. That's just disgusting."

  "Oh, it can be." Allen didn't break eye contact. "I mean,k any time you're dealing with birth, it's messy. There's bodily fluids involved, and let's face it. There are smells, too, any time you get into something that's been inside the body that's just now coming out. And then, you know, sometimes labor and delivery can go on for a while. Things happen."

  Gottlieb stepped back. "That's disgusting." He scowled and sat down in the chair closest to the window. "We're not here to talk about birthing babies and bodily fluids. We're here to talk about your so-called relationship with Dr. Powell."

  Now Parris could sit down. She took the seat closest to the door, across from Gupta's borrowed chair. "Yeah, Frye. Why don't you talk about that?" She pulled a steno pad out of a pocket on her bulletproof vest and paused, pen at the ready.

  Allen blinked. Had she really come into a hospital, into the Obstetrics wing, in body armor? He reminded himself he didn't need to know why. "It's Dr. Frye," he reminded them. "I worked hard for that PhD. If we're going to go on the record, you might as well use it."

  Gottlieb rolled his eyes and broadened his perpetual sneer. "Fine. Dr. Frye, then. How exactly did you and Dr. Powell meet?"

  Allen shifted Alaina in his arms. "Two medical professionals meeting in a hospital setting probably seems shocking to you, but it does happen. I can assure you."

  "Don't get smart, Frye." Parris leaned forward. "Our tempers are already very short after that stunt the two of you pulled with the sheets."

  Gupta cleared his throat. "While I would never encourage a client to provide evidence to law enforcement without it being asked for, and certainly without a warrant, I fail to see the purpose of interviewing my client to disprove a relationship when they've provided real, physical evidence of their mutual affection."

  Gottlieb shuddered. "Don't think I'm not going to make them both pay for that one. Don't get too attached to that brat in your arms, Frye. You can't bring her to the big house with you."

  Allen's heart froze, but Gupta just crossed his arms over his chest and arched his eyebrow. "Did you just threaten my client's child, Agent?"

  Parris cleared her throat, a little more loudly than she probably needed to. "When did you and Dr. Powell meet?"

  "About four months ago. I don't remember the exact date." Allen shrugged. He tried to get a sense of Parris' position in all of this. He hadn't expected her to call her boss to order like that. Had there been problems with their higher ups, maybe?

  "How did you meet?" Gottlieb asked, through clenched teeth.

  "My friend, Dr. Carter Idoni, introduced us." He glanced at Parris again. "He's the Chief Medical Officer here at Silver Oak. You can get the spelling of his name from the website." He swiveled his eyes back to Gottlieb. "He's an obstetrician by trade. He specializes in omega care. He has something of a reputation for it, actually. Kind of a rock star in the field, you know?"

  Gottlieb squirmed.

  "And you've been living together for how long?" Parris didn't look at her boss.

  "I haven't paid much attention to the calendar. About a month, maybe? He moved in about a week after you started making noises about how we weren't in a real relationship because we hadn't moved in together after only knowing each other for three months." Allen snorted.

  Gottlieb pointed at him. "So you admit it! You admit your relationship is just for show!"

  Gupta leaned back. "No, Agent. What he told you was that they wouldn't have considered moving in at such an early date if they hadn't been all but forced into it on pain of deportation by you." He folded his hands together on top of his abdomen. "Tell me, Agent, would you demand a heterosexual couple move in together after only three months' acquaintance?"

  "The norms are different." Parris leaned forward in her chair. "Heterosexual couples are more family oriented—"

  "Careful, Agent." Gupta held up a hand. "You're treading some dangerous territory. He held up his digital recorder. "We both agreed to record this interview, remember?"

  Allen glanced at Gupta. Why in the world would the lawyer possibly stop Parris from incriminating herself?

  Parris sat back in her chair. "Tell me, Dr. Frye." She smirked at his title, which made Allen burn. "How has your cohabitation experience gone?"

  Allen rubbed at Alaina's back. "It's been an interesting month or so," he said after a moment. "It was hard, at first. It's too early for us to live together, and of course I was bringing Alaina home. He didn't think that was a great idea, given the situation with you people." He didn't think that was wrong to admit. "And I can kind of see his point. Alaina was born with addiction. She needs stability even more than other kids do. I was kind of in a bind. I'd already committed to adopting Alaina, and I wasn't going to break up with Brantley so you could send him back to Jamaica to be killed."

  "So you're with him just to keep him in the country." Gottlieb clapped his hands together. "Gotcha!"

  "No, you—no." Allen stopped himself from unloading just in time. "U
nder other circumstances, there's no way I'd have stayed with a guy who tried to tell me I couldn't adopt this baby. But we were already dating, and I love him enough to want to keep him in the country. So we agreed to try to make it work.

  "And we are." Allen looked down at the screen saver on his computer. "We are making it work. It was difficult at first, and I hated it. It was too soon, our relationship was too new, and it was awful. Now, even though it's all still kind of new, I don't think I'd want to go back to living without him."

  His words were the truth. He didn't think he'd ever have the courage to tell Brantley, but they were the truth. He liked having Brantley around. He loved having Brantley in his bed. Even though he tried his best to keep his hands to himself, he didn't mind waking up with his head on Brantley's chest.

  Gottlieb tried to hold Allen's eyes. "How much is he paying you to say that?"

  Allen's jaw dropped. "Excuse me? Did you just accuse me of accepting money to enter into a sexual relationship?"

  "That's how these things work. That's how these things always work." Parris put a restraining hand down onto her boss' arm. "You know it, Gupta, and we know it. The illegal comes along, doesn't want to go back to whatever dump he comes from. I can respect that. I mean I wouldn't either. So they lie, and they come up with some kind of a sob story, and they hire someone to play the adoring partner and whatever. The gay thing is a cute new twist, but it's nothing we haven't seen before."

  "If you want to try to prove prostitution charges against my client, I suggest you bring them up with the district attorney." Gupta stood up. "In the meantime, I think that's about enough for this interview. Neither my client nor I can possibly be expected to sit and listen to these insults for one moment longer."

  Gottlieb opened his mouth to object, but Parris hadn't moved her arm. Now her grip tightened, and he looked down. "Fine," he growled, "but don't think we won't be back."

  They left the room. Allen couldn't be positive, he wasn't exactly a judge of this sort of thing, but he thought they were leaving in a hurry.

  Once they were out of earshot, Allen turned to Gupta. "How do you think that went?"

  Gupta turned off his recorder. "I think it went marginally well, all things considered. I'm not sure antagonizing the homophobe is necessarily the best policy, but I suppose we'll see how that plays out." He slipped the device into his briefcase. "I'll be honest here, Allen. I'm a little concerned by Gottlieb's homophobia. I've never seen an ICE agent turn a case into a vendetta before."

  Allen's skin crawled with goosebumps. "What do you mean?"

  Gupta tilted his head to look at Allen. "Brantley's been keeping me updated on everything they're doing. The stalking, the harassment? It's definitely personal. I've been filing complaints higher up the chain of command." He patted his briefcase. "The comments he's made should help my case. Don't expect miracles, though. It will take time to see any progress."

  "Of course." Allen bowed his head. "Well, hopefully it will all be over soon."

  "I'll do my best. I am pretty good at my job." Gupta shook Allen's hand and saw himself out.

  Allen watched him go. Somehow, he didn't think it would all be that simple.

  ***

  Brantley had been waiting in his office for Allen's interview with Gupta to end. When Allen walked in, carrying Alaina instead of lugging her along in her carrier, he couldn't help himself. He wrapped his arms around them both and held them as tight as he dared. Allen rested his head on Brantley's shoulder, just like he did at home in their bed, and Alaina grabbed on to one of Brantley's dreads.

  They stayed together for a long moment, just like that. Then Gupta, who'd followed behind and carried Alaina's carrier, gave a delicate cough. "It's only us, in here," he said. "You don't need to pretend for me."

  Brantley held on for a moment longer, but he felt Allen stiffen. "Sorry," he said, without the first clue as to whom he might be speaking to. "I apologize. I was worried about that interview. Gottlieb is a terrifying man."

  Allen grimaced and nodded as he sat in one of the chairs. "He is," he said. Brantley moved to take Alaina from him, and Allen allowed it. "He's terrifying, and he's got this thing about men."

  "He does." Gupta took the other chair. Brantley supposed now was as good a time as any for a meeting. "I think they gave enough evidence to at least get them taken off the case. All I have to do is get enough of someone's attention to make that happen." He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I can do it, of course. It's just going to take time." He looked up at Brantley, and then at Allen. "Do you think you lovebirds can tolerate being around one another until then?"

  Allen chuckled and ducked his head. "I think we'll find a way."

  Brantley stared down at Alaina's tiny face as she burrowed into his chest. "I think we'll have to. What do you think, Alaina?"

  Alaina didn't have anything to say, she just grabbed onto the lapel of his lab coat.

  Brantley didn't notice Allen slumping. He was focused on his attorney walking out the door. When he turned around, though, he found Allen kind of hunched in on himself. "Are you okay?"

  Allen tossed him a wan smile. "I'm fine. I'm just a little bit tired. You know how it is. Getting ready for that interview took a lot out of me."

  "And taking care of a newborn takes a lot of energy too, even when she didn't come from your own body." He paused. Was it him, or did Allen seem a little down? "You know, it's not exactly a hardship, to live with you and Alaina. You understand that, right?"

  "I'm glad." Allen looked up at him, and for a moment Brantley's heart swelled so much he thought it might burst. "It's been good for us, too. I mean it was a little twitchy at first, but now it's not so bad." He dragged a toe along the carpet. "I kind of like it." He heaved himself to his feet. "Do you mind if we have a quiet night in? I'm beat. I wouldn't mind having an early night."

  "No problem. I'll drive home."

  Brantley did drive home. He noticed that Allen seemed subdued, and he tried to do what he could to take care of him. There wasn't much he could do, though, if Allen wouldn't talk. All he could do was show him affection, and be there when he was ready to share his burden.

  Allen seemed to regain a little bit of energy over the next couple of days. Whatever had been causing his slump must have just been a little bit of a hiccup. They headed to work and came home, just like they always did. It was a good life, and one Brantley didn't want to give up.

  On Thursday, he got a text from Allen letting him know he couldn't grab lunch with him. One of his patients was having his baby, and Allen needed to stay with him. Brantley would miss him, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. He headed down to the cafeteria alone.

  He'd just sat down with his tray when he found Carter Idoni standing over him, also carrying a tray. "Mind if I join you?" Idoni glanced at the seat across from Brantley.

  "Feel free." Brantley couldn't very well say no. For one thing, Idoni was Silver Oak's Chief Medical Officer, and married to the CEO. It might not be the best plan to chase him away for having the temerity to sit in Brantley's boyfriend's empty seat.

  For another, Idoni was Allen's best friend. He'd introduced them. He'd arranged this whole charade. Maybe he would have some insights about Allen, either what was on his mind or how to approach him about what was in his heart.

  Idoni took his seat. "Sorry you couldn't be with Allen today."

  Brantley shrugged. "It feels a little strange to have a meal without him at this point, but he does have a job to do. And his job has much less regular hours than mine. At least it wasn't one of those times when he gets called out at night, you know?"

  "We've tried not to do that, now that he's got Alaina at home."

  Brantley shook his head. "No, no. It would be okay if you did, I'm there to take care of her, but you've been good about that. I'm just saying, at least for today it's happening during normal working hours. I don't know much about babies, but I do know that doesn't happen very often."

  Idoni
waved his fork over his salad. "Got that right. So how are things going with you and Allen, anyway? I know it's kind of intense. I didn't get a chance to chat with you when I was there, because Luke was with me and the focus was on Alaina anyway, but I wanted to tell you this isn't exactly what I had in mind when I suggested…" He glanced around, unsure of who might be listening.

  Brantley got what he was trying to say. "Yeah. I know. The whole living together thing was…" He took a deep breath. It went against everything in him to talk about this, but Idoni deserved to know. If he reminded himself that Idoni cared about Allen, and knew Allen, he might be able to force himself through this. "It was a jolt. We were basically forced into it, and neither one of us wanted it. It wasn't good, at first. It was uncomfortable."

  "I can see that." Idoni stirred his salad around. "How are you doing now?"