by Aiden Bates
Carter's eyes bulged. He knew that Finn was loaded, but he hadn't quite grasped just how much. "Um. Okay? Are you that sick of city living already?" His heart felt weak, but he couldn't let it show. He didn't need Finn to know how much it hurt that he wanted to rush Carter out the door.
"Nope. I was going to look into renting it out, or something. Maybe talk to you about putting an addition." Finn looked around. "I suspect that these lovely kids might need a roof over their heads, though. The schools around here are top notch. What do you think about letting Paul and the little Gearys hang around here for as long as they need to? It's a great place for kids to run and play, and of course there's a lovely garden."
Carter shifted his weight. He just wanted to run. "I think that once the check clears it's your house and you can do what you want with it. I don't think that's an inappropriate use of the property, if it's something Paul would want."
Paul looked between Carter and Finn. He folded his lips together and gathered the kids to him. "I'm going to bring the kids upstairs for a nap. Carter? Don't be a dumbass." He threw an arm around Carter and gave him a quick squeeze before running up the stairs.
Carter frowned. Something didn't make sense, and that feeling had never sat quite right with him. "What's going on here?"
Finn turned around. "I am really offering to buy your house. Not because I want to give you the bum's rush out of Syracuse." He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out an envelope. "It's taken me and Bill this long to make the offer work. Dr. Richards is out as CMO, effective as of December 1st. That's a done deal. He's been too lackadaisical when it comes to, well, everything. He spends all of his time at the golf course.
"You really impressed Bill when he met you. He knows about us and he doesn't care. He likes you and he wants to keep you at Silver Oak." Finn took a deep breath. "As the Chief Medical Officer. You can be an official thorn in my side, and make damn sure that everything I try to do puts the patients first. The way you already have been, Carter."
Carter took the envelope from Finn with shaking hands. "But… I can't be a CMO. I don't golf. And I like taking care of patients." He looked up at Finn. "And you just bought my house."
"Well, there's that. You'd still be taking care of patients. I knew that there was no way that we'd get you out of that role. It's personal for you." Finn gave another of those soft smiles. "And I spoke with Dr. Sibley, and we'll get you a class to teach at the med school. I think that's a great idea. I just didn't know that's what you wanted."
Finn took Carter's hand, and everything else in the world fell away. "Speaking of things I didn't know you wanted, Carter, I've got a solution to the house problem too. If you hadn't gone and put your house on the market we could have argued about which one to live in, but well here we are. I want you to come and live with me. We can take care of that, you know, right away, and then we can make it official whenever you can get your family up here.
"I don't want to be separated from you, Carter. I want to be with you for the rest of our lives. These kids call you uncle? Then I want to be their uncle too. Thanksgiving in Tennessee? Awesome. Let's do this. I get that the hours are weird and that there will be plenty of things that we fight about, but Carter, I've never been so complete and so content as when I've been there in your arms. Please don't go to San Antonio. I will hire a snow removal service."
Carter couldn't help but laugh at that. "You were going to do that anyway."
"I was going to do that anyway. But now I'm going to do that for you, because I love you."
Carter's whole body shook. Could he afford to do this? Could he afford to say no? "Finn—wait, you said you spoke with Dr. Sibley?"
"He said he'd hold off on processing your acceptance. He gets it, Carter. He truly does." Finn met his eyes and held them, and Carter was lost.
He threw his arms around Finn and held on for dear life. "Yes, Finn."
The realtor cleared her throat. "So is the house being sold?"
"It is." Finn turned to her. "I always keep my promises."
Paperwork was signed, although Carter let it happen in a daze. The closing would happen in two weeks, since there were no banks to get involved. In the meantime, he would hire movers to deal with most of his stuff. For now, he packed up a suitcase and a duffel bag, kissed the kids goodbye, and drove up to the city behind Finn.
Finn helped him carry his things up into the master bedroom, not that he needed the help, and then he put the suitcase in a corner of the bedroom. "Do you remember the first time we made love?"
Carter looked away. "How could I forget?"
Finn guided Carter's face back up to his. "I was afraid of getting attached. I wanted to bring you into the bed. I wanted to keep you there, too, for the whole night." He reached into the nightstand and pulled out a white-gold band, set with diamonds and sapphires. "I'm not good at romance. I've got my reasons, and they're stupid. That doesn't change the fact that I love you. I'm always going to love you. When you look down at your hand, from now until forever, I want you to remember that I love you."
Carter gasped as Finn slipped the ring onto his finger. It was cold going on, but it warmed to his skin almost instantly. "I love you, Finn." Tears sprang to his eyes, but they were tears of joy this time. "This is it for us."
"Hell yeah, it is." Finn grinned at him and kissed him, demanding and sensual.
It didn't take long for them to get naked. They didn't have the patience today to put on a show. Carter climbed into the giant, four-poster bed and waited for his alpha to climb in after him. Once Finn had retrieved the condoms and lube he slid onto the sheet beside Carter, flesh warm against Carter's bare skin.
"We haven't done this since before you left for San Antonio." Finn mouthed along Carter's neck, sending goosebumps along his skin. "I've missed you so much! The way you taste, the way you smell, my God, Carter, I feel like you've been gone for thirty years."
Carter wanted to protest, but he felt mostly the same way. "We don't have to be apart anymore." It had been a risky decision, but sometimes life was all about risk. He couldn't calculate the risk right now, though. He'd never felt safer or more secure than he did right now, tucked into Finn's arms.
It didn't take long for either of them to get ready, even though Finn was careful when he stretched Carter out. They both wanted this, more than they could say. When Finn finally pressed inside, Carter almost shouted for joy. This was worth staying in Syracuse for. This was everything. This was warmth, and life, and love.
After they were done, they ducked into the giant master bathroom to clean up. "I never noticed that there was a fireplace in here." Carter made a face. "They didn't do things by halves back then, did they?"
"It was a gilded age." Finn chuckled and gestured to the two-person tub. "This is modern, though. I know how much you like to take baths."
"Mmm. And how much I like you." Carter rested his head on Finn's chest. "I think we're going to do just fine together, Finn."
Finn turned the water on. "I think we will."
***
They carpooled to work the next day. A few people were surprised. Most weren't. Finn had thought that they were being subtle. Maybe they had been. Maybe he wasn't as much of an Iceman as he thought he'd been.
Maybe he was okay with that.
He let Carter call Dr. Sibley and tell him about the change in plans, while he filled Bill in. Bill was delighted, just as Finn had expected. Carter's resignation was exchanged for a leave of absence for both of them, which would be a honeymoon they finished off with a Thanksgiving dinner at the Idoni family home in Dyersburg.
They decided not to do a big wedding. Neither of them needed that for themselves. They weren't religious and their jobs were too demanding to put the effort into planning something major. They would rather host a big celebration for their friends and family, maybe at Christmastime. They could do it at the country club or they could do it at the house.
For the wedding itself, they could be conte
nt with just Allen and Paul as witnesses, and the kids of course. They got married in the courthouse, and then they boarded a flight to Greece.
They spent two relaxing weeks on Santorini enjoying the history, the natural wonders, and the beaches. Finn had a natural wonder beside him; he could feel a lot of pride in the way that both women and men admired Carter's perfectly toned abs and wiry muscles as they lay in the warm sand. Carter knew that Finn liked to show off, of course, and left his shirt open on trips back and forth from the beach just for Finn.
When they landed at JFK on the return trip, they transferred planes for a flight to Memphis. When that landed, they rented a car and drove two hours north to the Hampton Inn in Dyersburg. They crashed out for the night. In the morning they grabbed their dirty laundry and headed over to a cute brick house near a golf course and brought Carter home.
Finn had never done the "meet the parents" thing. He supposed he had an advantage in that he'd already married Carter. They couldn't accuse him of having ulterior motives and they couldn't threaten him in any way. His palms still ran slick with sweat, though, and he had to wipe them on his pants before he headed inside.
He expected the parents to be standoffish. Instead, they welcomed him with wide open arms, literally. Finn found himself engulfed in a mammoth hug from Rhoda, Carter's mom, and he almost staggered when he got the same treatment from Winston, Carter's dad. A petite girl with red hair turned out to be Sarah, a foster child that the Idoni family was in the process of adopting. She wasn't quite up to the challenge of hugging strangers yet, but she shook hands and seemed happy enough to accept Carter as her brother and Finn as her brother-in-law.
Carter went to go wash their clothes, which had started to get a little funky after two weeks of travel, and Finn was left alone with the family. He thought it would be awkward. It wasn't. Rhoda was definitely the most garrulous of the pair, and regaled him with childhood stories about Carter and his firebrand temper, but even Winston was a joyful man who was happy to laugh along with his family.
By the time the pair went back to their hotel that night, Finn felt like he'd been part of the family for years.
The next day was Thanksgiving Day, and Carter and Finn headed out a little early to help get ready. Rhoda didn't want to let Carter into the kitchen, but Finn assured her that they'd taken a cooking class while they'd been on their honeymoon and he'd passed with flying colors.
"Well of course he did," Winston said, with a good-natured snort. "The boy never met a class he couldn't ace."
Aunts, uncles, and cousins filled the house as the day went on, and by the time they sat down to dinner Finn wondered if anyone would be able to squeeze him and Carter in. They managed, though, with much laughter and good-natured teasing. When the phone rang, and Winston's face grew grave, no one said a word. They just squeezed over and made another place. An aunt went into the kitchen to get another place setting, and Carter and Rhoda went upstairs to make up a room.
A bruised and tearful teenager showed up at the house half an hour later, accompanied by a cop. There was a hushed conversation at the door, and then the cop left and the boy was ushered into the dining room. "I know this is all a little overwhelming right now, sugar, but you're part of our family now and they told me you haven't eaten. Go on, there's plenty, and we haven't even touched dessert yet."
Finn looked away as Winston brought the boy's things up to whatever room had been prepared for him. He could only guess at what had happened, but the kid looked so bereft and overwhelmed that his heart just went right out to him. "Hi. I'm Finn. I'm new here too."
The boy relaxed a little and sat down. "I'm Martin."
"Welcome home, Martin." Carter gave Martin a little smile.
Later, after dessert and when all of the dishes had been cleared away, the relatives cleared out and Winston and Rhoda could focus on getting Martin settled in. They gave him a tour of the house and explained their expectations, all of which seemed reasonable, then they let Martin get settled in as he pleased. Carter gave him a little smile, and said, "It's normal if you want to hang out by yourself and just process stuff for a bit, Martin. No one's going to be offended."
Martin nodded. "Thanks. I appreciate you letting me stay here, it's just—" He cut himself off as tears streamed down his face, and Carter rushed to help him to his room.
Finn turned to his hosts once they were gone. "Is that normal for you guys?"
Rhoda shrugged. "The holidays are a difficult time for a lot of families. I don't think Martin will be going back to his, though. He's welcome to stay with us for as long as he needs to."
"Once Carter was making real money, he bought us this house." Winston's voice rumbled as he tried to keep it quiet. "We couldn't have afforded to be foster parents before. We love it, and we're happy to do it. The kids are good kids. Some of them have some issues, don't get me wrong, but they're good kids. And they deserve a loving home."
Finn nodded. "I knew that you guys had become foster parents, but I guess I hadn't wrapped my head around it."
Sarah spoke up from beside Rhoda. She hadn't moved from her foster-mother's side all day. "They're the best," she said simply.
It was easy to see how Carter turned out the way that he had, with parents like these.
They stayed until the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, to avoid holiday crowds. Before they left, Carter brought Finn to visit his brother's grave. It wasn't a long visit, and Carter didn't speak at all while they were there. He did hold Finn's hand when they left, though. Finn wasn't a believer in ghosts, but he could almost sense the big brother granting his approval.
Back in Syracuse, things moved along. Carter took up his new position as CMO at Silver Oak, although he kept his office down in Obstetrics. He kept up with patient care, although he mostly worked strictly on delivery now. He prepared to teach a class per semester on obstetric and reproductive care for omegas over at the medical school, and he had another book outlined as well. Finn had no idea where Carter found the energy.
Gerig was convicted of embezzlement. Finn hadn't expected anything different. The man had confessed in front of police officers, for crying out loud. He received a custodial sentence, although not a long one, and a substantial fine alongside the restitution order. The fine would pose a hardship for Gerig's family, and Finn did feel bad about that. He didn't care about how that affected Gerig personally, but he felt bad for Gerig's wife and children.
Tom continued to fight the divorce, and he got nastier as proceedings went on. He accused Paul of cheating. He demanded paternity tests for all of the children, to include the new one. He accused Carter of breach of contract for not having joined into their family. The courts threw that one out, thankfully, but Finn still had a hard time believing that someone could lash out this way and still think that they were going to come out on top.
"I see myself in Tom, I guess. Maybe that's why I have so little patience for his crap." Finn sat on the edge of the tub while Carter bathed one night and shook his head. The fire jumped and cackled merrily in its place.
"You and Tom are nothing alike." Carter waved a hand, the flames reflected in his eyes.
"We are. Our parents both raised us to see money as our object, and to expect deference to a certain extent. My parents want grandkids just as much as his did." He shuddered, remembering their plan to take out an ad for him.
"True. But your parents wanted you to earn your money. They never handed you anything. In some ways that didn't do you any favors, but you did better than Tom. Tom wound up expecting everything, you know? He thinks he's owed. He's owed a young omega broodmare. He's owed the omega he wanted in the first place. He's owed an omega who won't fight back." He shook his head. "It's crap, of course, but that's his mindset. You don't have that. You're better than that." His eyes shone. "You're better than everything."
Finn blushed, and he couldn't quite agree with that, but he could agree that he was better than Tom.
In the end, Tom's bizarre legal shenanigans lost
him everything. The court found in Paul's favor and allowed only supervised visitation for the children. It took a long time to get to that point, but Paul kept fighting. He and Carter soon got to be close, and once again Carter delivered Paul's fourth child.
Finn didn't think much about kids for him and Carter. After what had happened before, he didn't want to dwell on the idea. Carter was more important than someone who might exist at some point in the future, and he wasn't going to risk his husband's life on a maybe. When Carter came to him in April, full of fear and anticipation at the same time, to tell him that he was expecting once again, Finn couldn't quite be enthusiastic. The best he could manage was cautiously hopeful.
This time, everything went well. This time, there were no exposures to anything weird, no genetic malformations that were incompatible with life, no problems whatsoever. This time, Carter gave birth to a beautiful baby girl in January. Allen helped deliver her, and they named her Angela Idoni Riley.
