Daddy by Choice

Sick

Zed was pretty sure puking to death was a thing, and it seemed to be a thing that was happening to him. In the last week he could keep nothing down. He called in sick to work and school but he couldn't phone himself into the hospital. A patient had to get up and go there under his own power. What a ridiculous expectation. Too far gone to remember that ambulances existed, he remembered getting into the elevator...there was a sinking feeling...a ding, maybe? Awake now, he found he still didn't have the will to open his eyes. It was clearly too bright on the other side of his lids and the hushed bustle of nurses going about their routines and chilly room temperature told him where he was.

Someone must have found him and brought him here. He was eternally grateful. He was...he was... oh damn, he was going to vomit again. Where‽ Where‽ The panic in his mind didn't translate into his body. He managed to lift a hand and drop it again before the vomit started coming up. As the involuntary spasms of his body began, warm hands grabbed his torso and turned it to the side so he vomited in the blanket, though there wasn't much in him to come out. The sudden motion made him aware that a tube was connected to his left arm. An IV...that made sense.

"Damn, the medicine's not working yet," a soft masculine voice murmured. It seemed to belong to the hands that were still holding him to the side so he wouldn't choke on his vomit. "C'mon, hang in there. If you keep this up you'll lose the baby."

BABY! BABY! WHAT BABY? WTF!!? Zed's internal monologue was a string of curse words. After cursing his Omega body, the Alpha bastards who raped him and fathered this unfortunate offspring, and every other Alpha in existence on principle, he moved on to cursing extended family, hospitals, and society as a whole. He became aware that his body was shaking uncontrollably as he calmed down enough to feel the soft hand stroking his cheek and the soothing voice near his ear hushing him.

"You didn't know, did you?" The voice asked. "Of course you didn't know, reacting like that. I'm sorry you had to hear it that way. I figured you already knew with your morning sickness being so bad." The warm hands felt so good. "Don't try to talk. You're pretty weak. You can hear though, right? You're probably wondering who I am and what happened. Just relax and I'll tell you everything." The soothing voice and the gentle hands were working. Zed could feel the shaking slow and his heart rate calm down.

"I'm your neighbor on the third floor, Xi Chen. When the elevator stopped to get me you had just passed out. I saw your eyes close and you were still in the motion of slumping to the floor. I panicked for a second, but only a second. Then, my life guard training kicked back in and I checked your breathing and called an ambulance. It's been a few years since I worked the beaches but emergency first aid was drilled into my brain...thank goodness. You're severely dehydrated and malnourished. They've hooked up an IV for fluids and they're trying to find a medicine to help you keep some food down. It's tough with the baby. You can't have very many meds."

An unsettled movement from Zed interrupted Chen and he looked for the problem before realizing it intuitively. "No, don't exert yourself worrying about me. I already took the whole day off work so I'm not going anywhere even if you suddenly wake up and walk out of here all well. I don't have much time to go out doing charity work, but I listen to fate when she drops someone in my lap to take care of. Don't want to fuck up my karma. Besides, it could turn out you're super cute when you're eyes aren't all sunken in from dehydration and I'd definitely want to go out with you." The voice chuckled low. "I figure if baby's daddy stuck around you wouldn't be trying to take yourself to the hospital. Probably some Alpha dick, right? Unworthy bastard. I've gotta redeem the title here or I'm not worthy of it myself." He prattled on but his voice was soothing and Zed eventually passed into an easier sleep.

The little Omega's breathing evened out and his body relaxed. "Zed," Chen thought, slowly releasing his hold so the boy could lay on his back again. Zed Mason according to his student ID from M University. Thank god he had his wallet on him. No phone though, so Chen couldn't call next of kin, and the hospital didn't have anyone else on file to contact but the uni and the uni didn't have anyone. The nurse assumed Chen was the father and he didn't correct her. Something about the boy wouldn't let him leave. Protective instinct maybe? Zed was a pregnant Omega and Chen was a dominant Alpha. It wasn't his baby but this vulnerable guy didn't seem to have anyone else either. A college student with no family on file, he must have worked hard and overcome a lot of shit to get there, and now this. Was he raped? He reacted pretty badly to the news. Would he try to recover? Would he care about saving the baby? Was he really just sleeping now?

A nurse came in just as Chen's mind was working itself into a lather. He moved aside so she could get to the monitor. "Is he okay? He woke up earlier but didn't open his eyes. And he puked again," Chen asked.

"I see that," the nurse responded. She left for a second and came back with another blanket from the warmer to replace the soiled one. She pushed a button on the monitor next to Zed and the motor clicked on to inflate the blood pressure cuff already around his arm, then she ran a thermometer across his forehead. "He's sleeping normally now. But still dehydrated and his vitals are weak. If he doesn't wake up enough to eat the doctor might decide to use a feeding tube for a while. You should go eat too while he's sleeping. You'll be useless to him if you don't take care of yourself first."

"Hnn," was all he answered, there was no way he was leaving Zed's side. Instead he pulled out his phone and ordered something delivered from his favorite restaurant on their app. Something that might tempt the patient too if he woke up. What was up with him that he couldn't even step out to eat. He didn't even want to leave to use the bathroom. It was crazy.

He couldn't take his eyes off this Omega. And it grew stronger the longer he remained. Was it fate pulling him in? But "fated mates" was such a bad cliche, an excuse for following obsession instincts rather than using one's head and doing the work to cultivate real love. Or worse, an excuse for staying in a dysfunctional or abusive relationship. Did Zed think that other Alpha was his "fated mate"? Is that why he got pregnant? There was no bite on his neck. He wasn't irrevocably mated. What really happened? Was this feeling just curiosity on Chen's part? Was he becoming obsessed with Zed himself, or with the mystery?

The food came and Chen ate but Zed didn't wake up. The doctor came and asked for Chen's consent to put in a feeding tube. He gave it. It looked really uncomfortable but Zed still didn't wake up.

"Sometimes...," the doctor began but paused as if reluctant to say. He started again, "Most times morning sickness is just the pregnancy hormones. Those hormones can be extreme. But sometimes there's an emotional component. The mother is rejecting the baby. It seems unlikely with a supportive father by his side, but if it's possible the baby isn't yours, or there's something about your relationship that is making him worry...your reassurance could be more effective than the medicine. I must be frank with you, the baby is too small for us to get any meaningful data to check it's health and I'm concerned for it, and for the mother. If he was hiding his sickness from you long enough for it to get this bad...well, I can't know for sure about your relationship, just, try reassuring him if you can. And if you can't, at least don't go for a while. Don't upset him more."

A lump lodged itself in Chen's throat. Was Zed literally sick with worry? But he didn't know he was pregnant. Maybe his life was that hard without being pregnant that his body automatically rejected it. Chen nodded and the doctor finished giving the nurse instructions and left them alone. He looked at the patient hard. Tubes were sticking out of his nose and arm, wires hooked up to the pulse oximeter and blood pressure cuff. Dark raccoon circles around his eyes. His eyelashes seemed incredibly long resting on his pale cheeks. He didn't know what color those eyes were. They hadn't opened yet. Reaching out to stroke the soft skin of his face, Chen noticed Zed was shaking again, very slightly, but still. Getting the feeding tube must have been uncomfortable even if he seemed to have slept through it.

The patient needed reassurance. He needed to feel safe. He wasn't awake to be reassured with words so there was only one other way. Chen pulled off his shoes and slipped in under the blanket next to Zed. He wrapped his arms around the small Omega, tucking him into the warmth of his chest. "Don't worry," he whispered. "I'll take care of you." He couldn't help squeezing a bit, now that he held the boy in his embrace. "I'll take care of you both." The words wouldn't penetrate that sleeping brain, but hopefully the embrace would reach directly into his subconscious and communicate, "you're safe now."

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