In the Footsteps of Our Shadows

Chapter 1: Roman

"Uncle times two." Galina's voice made him look up from his phone as she sat beside him on the pool chair. "Sorry. Didn't mean to peek."

Still brimming with happiness from his Shield brother's announcement, Roman grinned easily as he wrapped his arms around his wife. "Yes, you did. But that's all right. Renee and Jon know I would tell you right away."

Galina rested her head on his shoulder and glanced back at his phone. Renee had sent a picture of the ultrasound as well. "Wonder if they'll be having a girl too," she mused. "Wouldn't that be nice if all the first-born Shield kids were girls?" Then she laughed and patted her belly. She had already lost the baby weight from the twins over the summer, but it was still recent enough that she sometimes felt the extra bulk around her hips. "They'll be a little young to be the sisters Joelle keeps asking for, but...."

"But she'll have fun helping you pick out the baby presents." Roman closed the message from Renee and opened his latest one from Becky, full of pictures from her maternity photo shoot. The outtakes were his favourite, of course, especially considering some of the suits Seth was wearing. "Won't be long for Seth and Becks now."

"In December, right? I've been meaning to text Becky and ask how she's doing. I'll do that tomorrow." Galina reached over and flicked through some of the photos. "She looks so gorgeous. I'm so glad she felt confident enough to do that. I remember Seth mentioning she was insecure about her stomach before...."

Roman nodded, trying not to laugh too much at some of Seth's outfits. "Yeah. Motherhood seems to be changing that for her, though. That's good. It's...." He stopped short, going through the photos again. Even though he was not even six months older than Jon and about a year older than Seth, there were times when Roman felt so much older than they were. While they had been basking in the glow of their success in WWE and goofing off—sometimes with disastrous results—he always had to be mindful of his wife and young daughter. Now they would soon be in the same position, but at much different stages in their lives. "I'm happy for them."

Galina stroked his arm, lingering over the part of his tattoo that symbolized Joelle. "Babe, you can still be happy for them—and love Joelle—and wish things had been different for us." They had both been in their early twenties when their daughter was born and it had changed the trajectory of their lives.

"I know. But if it had...." Roman shook his head and leaned back, holding his wife close to his chest as he gazed up at the darkening sky. "If we hadn't had JoJo when we did, I might have never gone into wrestling, and then I wouldn't have met Seth and Jon...."

"Honey, you can't think like that." Galina sat up enough to kiss him softly, running her fingers through his hair. "Any single decision we've made in the past fifteen years could have changed anything. But now we're here, we're together, and we have this beautiful family. You have an amazing career, and friends who are like brothers...."

Roman felt a pang at that. No one could ever replace his older brother's place in his heart, but having Seth and Jon as his Shield brothers had helped him deal with the grief. There was such an age gap between him and Matthew that playing big brother to Jon and Seth was a nice change of pace. Now they had calmed down, settled down, and were having kids of their own. "I know, but—"

"They still need you, you know." Galina kissed his cheek and laughed. "They still love you. They always will. Falling in love and having kids won't change that. If anything, they'll need you more than ever now. They always looked to you as a guide for how to be a husband, a father. Now they'll be doing those things for real."

He paused to bask in the warmth of the moment: his wife curled up beside him, the bright Florida sun beaming down on them, good news from both of his Shield brothers. "So basically you're saying I should maybe change my number so I'm not getting too many calls at three in the morning?" he laughed, tightening his arm around his wife's waist.

Galina raised an eyebrow. "There are two babies in this house who get your three-in-the-morning attention first." Her voice was stern, but her gaze was soft as ever. For the longest time, she had been the only Shield wife, and she had fielded more than her fair share of questions—and complaints—from Jon and Seth about women. Now that Jon was married and Seth undoubtedly would be soon as well, Roman imagined the questions would veer towards wives and anniversaries.

The thought of his Shield brothers both having kids so close in age—and not that far off his second set of twins—made him smile. They all lived too far apart to play like neighbourhood friends, but maybe they would be able to arrange Shield weekends for all the kids to get together. "Guess the pandemic was good for something, at least," he chuckled, closing his messages and setting his phone down. "I know Renee and Jon were trying for a while. And Becks will be a great mom." His laughter deepened as he added, "Seth will need some diaper lessons, though. Pretty sure he's never changed any when he visited here...."

Galina was laughing too, wiping tears away from her eyes. "Jon too. See? Like I said, they'll need you more than ever now." Shutting her eyes, she rested her head on his shoulder. "And then you'll get your Papa Bear fix of holding tiny little babies for a while and I can have a break," she added, poking him playfully in the side. "Two sets of twins is enough."

"Agreed." The reality of having four teenage boys in the house was still years away, but Roman knew they were going to be a handful. His life might not have unfurled in the way he had envisioned, but now he wouldn't change it for anything, and he hoped his Shield brothers felt the same about their rapidly changing lives. Their worlds would be so different in a year; Roman knew them as friends, co-workers, brothers—and he couldn't wait to see the fathers they would become.