AMIDST THE CATS' CRADLE - 15
C H A P T E R F I F T E E N - - - - J O R D A N
For Jordan, the morning had been extremely busy. Jerome's call had awakened him up, informing him that everything was prepared for their next mission and that they would be taking out in a few days. That, of course, didn't exactly fit with Jordan's newly discovered reality, so for the next hour or so, Jordan spent his time incomprehensibly detailing to Jerome everything that had occurred or that Jordan believed to have occurred. But the call ended largely as anticipated.
"So you and Mitch got a lady knocked up, she had your babies, Ace kept it hidden from you, and now she's in grave danger?" ”
"That's about it, right," Jordan sighed, scruffing his hand through his hair as he walked back and forth in a room a few doors down down the same corridor.
"Sheesh, Jordan, couldn't you have gotten yourself into a more unique situation?" Jerome inquired, laughing.
"What the heck do you mean?"
"When it comes to choosing partners, it seems like you're taking a page from the Squad Six manual," Jerome joked. "Which, of course, is excellent, but I allow for a little departure here and there."
Jordan sneered, resting against a wall near the door, "Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence." "But it means neither Mitch nor I can go on the mission." Not right now, not with the way things are."
“Understandable. Tell you what, I'll reassign it. The boys and I don't mind spending time with the spouses and kids, and I believe it's better if we're close in case something occurs with The Arctics. Keep me updated regardless of what The Firm says. We have the secured lines that Tom put up; feel free to utilize them if necessary."
“Right. "Thank you, Lieutenant," Jordan responded with a sigh, a faint grin touching his face.
The call ended, and when he stalked back to the mission room, he found both Gwen and the babies gone, and lukewarm coffee and a bagel waiting for him. He would have preferred to go hungry than be without their company, but he figured that breakfast would have to do at a time of need.
It was a few hours before Gwen and the babies made their return. The kids were obviously tired, since both were passed out as Mitch carried them both into the room. Jordan looked up from his reading, brushing up on what he’d read about shifter baby physiology, smiling as he saw the quiet, angelic faces of the two boys.
“Tuckered them out?” Jordan asked as Mitch and Gwen set them carefully down on the bed.
“Seems so,” Mitch chuckled. “Though it wasn’t a simple thing to do. These kids have some get-up-and-go to them, I can tell you that.”
“Well they have to. They’re Allens after all,” Jordan said, noticing the burst of pride in his voice as he said so.
Look at him, scarcely a father for more than twelve hours and already getting on the “my kid is better than other kids” train. He chuckled mostly to himself, his eyes glancing over Gwen’s lovely form. She looked his way and their eyes met, her soulful blues and his ocean-blue, and he felt his heart thrumming a bit faster in his chest when he stood up and walked over to the bed, leaving the book behind.
“Hey, do you think you could keep an eye on them for a while?” Mitch asked, hushing his voice a bit. “I think it’s time for another food run. And have you talked to the guys in cleanup yet? I want to know if they found anything at the scene yesterday.”
Jordan shook his head dismissively, biting the inside of his mouth. He knew he’d forgotten something. He was so tied up with trying to make sense of what he was feeling about everything that he’d completely neglected the reasonable things to do. The fact that Mitch was the one who kept picking up the slack all the time was another thing that came straight out of the blue.
“Of course. Grab some pizza, will you? I feel like I need some carbs to keep my brain going after all of this,” he said, Mitch already grabbing his jacket and heading out, though he gave one lingering look at the kids and Gwen as he did so.
Yeah, it was hard being away from them. Jordan had gotten experience in that regard already when he’d been waiting for them to come back. Even knowing that they were safe and sound with Mitch, Jordan was a pacing, nervous mess in the meantime.
“So, it’s just you and me then,” he said softly as the door closed behind Mitch.
“Seems so,” Gwen answered with a chuckle, rolling her shoulders back.
He couldn’t stop himself from checking over her body, wondering if it would feel the same under his fingertips. Maybe. Probably. Only better, now that she’d had his and Mitch’s young.
“I think we need to talk,” he said, mustering his willpower for anything other than just staring at her and the babies.
He walked her over to a couple of chairs, facing one another, and sank into one of them after she’d taken her seat. His body was slightly weary from the last mission and he hadn’t gotten much sleep. But regardless of that, he felt completely energized around Gwen. And if Mitch thought he hadn’t heard how he’d been tossing and turning all night, he had another thing coming. But the spring in his brother’s step had told him that the lovely Miss Neeson seemed to have an uplifting quality on all Allen men, young and old.
“I agree,” Gwen said, a nervousness crossing her features. “But… where do we start?”
“Have they been treating you right?” Jordan asked. “You and the boys?”
“You mean The Firm? Yeah, I’d say so… I mean, I don’t like the fact that they keep poking and prodding at them. At first, they tried to do the examinations and their little tests without me in the room, but after I broke two noses on guys trying to keep me out, they stopped doing that. So I’m always there when they test the kids.”
“What do they do?” Jordan asked, feeling bile rise in his throat.
No one should have been touching his boys, regardless of the medical miracles they may well be.
“Weekly blood samples, body composition imagery, cognitive and physical tests mostly. They want me to keep an eye on their diet and report back, but I do that anyway to make sure they get all they need. They have really big appetites and they’re eating solids already, though I still give them baby food when I need to. The next session’s actually scheduled for tomorrow.”
“I’ll be there,” Jordan said firmly.
He wouldn’t have missed it. He wanted to know in detail what they were checking for, what kind of abnormalities they’d found other than the obvious, and what the plan was moving forward. His medical mind got to thinking immediately, considering all the possibilities that could be causing trouble for Duncan and Dawson’s health now and in the future. As a new father though, he had to push those down or he’d lose his mind pretty damn fast.
“Thank you. That’ll make me feel better. I know they’re not hurting them, but I’m no doctor. It’ll help to have you there,” she said with a small smile.
Jordan nodded thoughtfully. She looked weary, and it wasn’t just what had happened over the last day. No, it was a general tiredness that hung about her like a shroud, obvious to him and perhaps Mitch as well, but probably invisible to her or those that were around her all the time.
“But how are you holding up?”
“How am I holding up? I think I should be asking you guys that question! You’re the ones that had a completely unexpected piece of news dropped on your lap, along with a set of babies you didn’t know existed,” she said, her voice a bit sad.
“That’s not what I’m asking though, Gwen. I want to know how you are. You look tired.”
“A charmer, aren’t you,” she scoffed lightly, but the look in her eyes told him that she knew what he was talking about.
“Sometimes, but I’m mostly just honest. You look like you haven’t had a good night’s rest in a long time. Or is it something different?” Jordan asked, moving toward the edge of his seat as he took both of her hands in his, keeping them there even if her first reaction was to recoil from the touch.
He looked her straight in the eye, imploring her to answer. She bit her lip and it took all he had to keep from pulling her into his lap and kissing the air from her lungs. Even when she was a worn down and a tiny bit tired, she was absolutely mesmerizing. He didn’t really know what to do with himself and it wasn’t a feeling he could easily handle.
“I’m fine,” she said, her voice wavering a little. “It’s a lot to handle alone. And the guilt’s been eating me up.”
“Guilt about what? Not being able to tell me and Mitch? We understand.”
“No, not only that. Well, a lot of it is that, sure, and I am so grateful that you two are being so understanding, but there’s more. I feel like I failed my boys. I have to keep getting them poked and pinched by these people who look at them like test subjects and at me like an incubator… I wish I could have given them a better start, that’s all.”
“You don’t regret the… night?” he asked, now hearing the stutter in his own breath, but ignoring it.
Fuck it, if he couldn’t be a tiny bit vulnerable in front of the mother of his children, then when or with who could he be?
“Us? Never.”
He believed her immediately because of the wistful smile that covered her lips now, full of honesty and fond memories. That was how he felt about it too, and were he to ask Mitch, Jordan was sure he’d get a similar answer. That night had been nothing short of mind-blowing, and regretting it in any way would have been utter insanity. Gwen had been everything Jordan had dreamed of, and it was only his and Mitch’s failures that had let her slip out of their grasp.
“Good. Me neither. I still can’t believe I let you go with those guys. I should have jumped in the car.”
“That would have made for an awkward ride,” she laughed, making him smile too.
Jordan liked that about her. Even when he was busy beating himself up, she could get him out of that mindset in a second. It was wonderful, a quality he’d never found in anyone else. Even with Mitch, they didn’t see eye to eye or affect each other as easily as he did with her on some topics. If that wasn’t a sign, he didn’t know what was.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he said after a solemn pause, one that he’d used to ponder over how things could have been if he would have never let her out of his sight.
“Okay,” she answered breathily, making Jordan grin.
He leaned in and kissed her softly, exploring her lips, her tongue, and her taste as if they had forever. He wasn’t rushed and he didn’t rush her either, taking his time to remember her and rekindle the memories of their kisses from before, during that odd day and night in the skies and then in Pennsylvania. She tasted even better than he remembered.
But he wasn’t given a lot of time to enjoy it when Mitch came bursting into the room, carrying stacks of pizza with Shaun in tow, looking amused by everything.
“We didn’t catch you at a bad time, did we?” Mitch asked, keeping his voice low to not wake up the kids.
“No,” Jordan said, the strain in his voice saying the opposite. “Shaun, good to see you. What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I heard the news and figured you guys could use a babysitter for the evening. No arguments. Leave me one of the pizzas and I’ll make acquaintances with Duncan and Dawson on my own. I hear I’m a real kid wrangler, or so my mate says.”
Shaun crossed over to Gwen and they shared a quick handshake, before snatching a pizza from the pile Mitch was holding and plopping into the chair that Jordan had vacated.
“Wait. What are we supposed to do now?” Gwen asked, looking a bit taken aback by the sudden change in their evening plans.
“Go get reacquainted, obviously,” Shaun said before taking a big bite out of his pizza, tossing Gwen a wink for good measure.
Jordan stifled a groan at the absurdity of it all, but when he looked at Mitch and his wide, devilish grin, he knew that he had nothing to feel uncomfortable about. At least he and his brother were completely on the same page about what getting reacquainted meant. He wondered if Gwen understood it so easily too.
Guess he’d find out.
