fear was still there.
Irrational, remember?
But I felt better having smooth skin rather than a line of staples down my abdomen.
“Where’s LJ?” I drifted on a pleasant, drugged haze. “Where’s LJ?”
“You’ve been asking that for five minutes straight.” Lethe stepped into view. “Linus went to get him.”
“Oh good.”
I counted the swirling light fixtures overhead. Must have been a billion of the suckers.
Drugs were amazing.
“Where’s LJ?” I pinpointed Lethe. “Where’s LJ?”
“Goddess,” she muttered. “Linus.”
“We’re here,” he said from far away. “Let me get his binkie.”
“I’ll get his binkie.” Lethe turned to go. “You snap Grier out of it. Or back into it. Whatever.”
The wait for him to circle around to where I could see them dragged for approximately ten forevers.
Linus never failed to take my breath away, but the sight of our son in his arms swelled my heart behind my ribs until I worried they might crack.
“He’s gorgeous,” I breathed as Linus laid him across my chest. “Even more beautiful than the last time I saw him.”
A thin swirl of dark auburn hair clung to his tiny scalp, and he stared up at me with bright blue eyes.
“How are you, little man?” I kissed his forehead and breathed in his baby smell. “Did you miss me?”
“I’m going to purge the remaining drugs from your system,” Linus informed me. “All right?”
“The high had to end sometime.” I noted his amusement. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’ve been in and out of it for the better part of two days. You kept begging for more drugs, so Lethe started feeding you Pez and telling you they were Valium.”
“That little…” I caught up with what he was saying. “Two days? LJ was born like thirty minutes ago.”
“There were…complications.” Linus turned paler than Oscar on a good day. “You lost a lot of blood.”
“I don’t remember.” I traced LJ’s features with my fingertip. “He’s been motherless for two days?”
“You woke almost every hour on the hour and asked for him, so no. You may not remember, but he’s spent plenty of supervised quality time with you.”
“Supervised?” I cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not going to hurt my child.”
“We worried about you dropping him,” Linus confessed. “You fell asleep once and mumbled about protecting the football at all costs.”
“I wouldn’t have fumbled my son.” I hesitated. “That’s when you drop the ball, right?”
“I have no idea,” Linus confessed. “Football is not an area of study of mine.”
“Still.” I kissed LJ’s plump cheeks. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”
“He won’t remember.” Linus touched my arm. “Don’t punish yourself for what you can’t help.”
“I meant for you.” I tore my gaze from our baby. “I hate you had to go through all the firsts alone.”
“I wasn’t alone.” He sat on the edge of the hospital bed. “Our family was here to help.”
“Thank the goddess for that.” As my brain cleared, so did my memory. “How are Boaz and Granny?”
Husky laughter rocked Linus, and the lines creasing the corners of his eyes deepened. “Fine.”
“That’s all I get?”
“That’s all you get until tomorrow. Everyone is safe, and everything else will keep. Doctor’s orders.”
“All right, all right.” Grinning up at him, I lifted LJ in my arms a bit. “Look what we made.”
“I’m in awe.” He touched my cheek, his cool fingers tender. “You make beautiful babies.”
“I did have some help.” I winked at him. “He looks just like his daddy.”
From his earlier demonstration, he appeared to have inherited his father’s powers too.
As I thought it, LJ dematerialized outside his onesie. I still held him, but the fabric puddled on my stomach. To be on the safe side, I situated him back on my chest. “This is going to be an adventure.”
“We’re going to have to add new wards to the house to make sure he can’t escape.”
A laugh burst out of me, and I cuddled LJ even closer. “You kept your diaper on, smart boy.”
“For that, I am grateful.” Linus rubbed his forehead. “He dematerialized through the changing table earlier. I had to move it then wait until he materialized to pick him up again to get him in one piece.”
“We’re going to have to ward the basement.” I realized with dawning horror Woolly was not in any way babyproofed for this little guy. “We can’t risk him exploring down there once he starts toddling.”
“I’ll start the designs immediately.” He stood in a rush. “If you’re okay alone?”
“I feel normal, not like I would fumble my child, so I think we’re good here.”
With a kiss to each of