~Warnings for themes of stillbirth and grief. As always please take care of yourselves and thank you for reading.~

Remus gnawed on his lower lip as he waited for the doctors to come out. At first they'd been denied knowledge of what was going on until Remus literally ripped off his shirt in the middle of the waiting room to show them the tattoo on his back. He told them to look it up and they'd know Remus's brand was on the wrong shoulder for the company which was the symbol of being a twin and told them that the man in there was his older twin Roman. They double checked with a few online articles and confirmed in fact that the symbol on the opposite shoulder meant he was a twin and since the two omegas looked alike and they didn't know who else to contact that were forced to assume, with a bit more questioning about their past, that he was in fact the patients brother. They had been informed his niece was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. They were assuming from the looks of it she had been a stillbirth but they needed Roman's consent to run postmortem to know for sure what happened. Roman was still in bad condition but they were fairly sure they had him stabilized and they were slowly bringing up his body temperature.

Janus wrapped an arm around Remus's shoulder trying to comfort him. He didn't even know what to say. They thought Roman was probably with some rich alpha in a harem full of other beautiful omegas being brought to fancy parties and being treated at least relatively well for an omega that didn't know a world outside of that.

"What happened to him?" Remus wondered out loud.

"I don't know. Maybe he ran away from his home?" Janus suggested.

Remus dug his nails into his arms.

"H-he's not one to run away, I don't think. He wasn't. Things must have been really bad for him if he did. What if he ran away to find me so we could meet again, just like he said? He could have been suffering in the streets because I wasn't there for him. Oh god, I'm such an awful brother. I swear if he dies I'm going to cut off my dick and suffocate myself with it for being such an asshole," Remus cried.

"Hey, hey, hey. No thinking like that, you're starting to sound like Virgil. You aren't an asshole and none of this is your fault. He'll wake up and he won't blame you for any of this. Come on take a few deep breaths and calm down," Janus instructed.

Janus's smell crashed over Remus in a comforting wave that made him gulp it in like it was his life force. Over the years of having mates Janus have picked up a few tricks on how to keep his omegas calm. Remus leaned against Janus as he took in shuttering breaths.

"It's going to be okay. Everything will be alright," Janus soothed running his hand in a circle on Remus's back.

Remus began to doze off against Janus's shoulder, lulled into a sedated state by Janus's scent. He was almost asleep by the time a nurse came around.

"Janus Dolion and company?" She asked, approaching them.

Remus jumped up out of his seat to run over to the nurse.

"Is my brother okay? Did something happen?" Remus asked worriedly.

"Mr., erm, do either of you have a last name?" The nurse asked.

Remus shook his head. No one from the breeding facilities had last names, they were given a temporary name by their omega parent and would later be renamed by their masters most of the time.

"Ah well Mr. Roman has awoken, he seems a little unresponsive to the doctor's questions but we've run the necessary tests and believe he can have visitors now if you'd like to see him," the nurse replied.

It felt like a massive weight had been removed from his shoulders, he genuinely laughed in relief.

"He's going to be okay?"

"As of the moment it would appear so. We'll be holding him overnight for observation and he's allowed to have one person stay with him if either of you are interested," the nurse explained.

"Hear that Jan? We can-"

Remus trailed off when he saw Janus looking at his buzzing phone and he realized their other mates were likely worried about what was going on as Remus and Janus hadn't messaged them since they said they were heading back hours ago. Remus smiled softly and placed a hand on Janus's phone.

"Go home to them. I'll stay here with Roman for the night. Virgil is probably getting really worried about you and you know how that disappointed dad-look Patton's perfected for whenever you forget to keep him updated. Logan's probably at his ends wits trying to keep those two under control," Remus chuckled.

"But you-" Janus started before Remus kissed him.

"-will be fine to spend the night with my brother. We've got a lot of catching up to do and he's probably going to need my support. Adding an alpha into the equation might just actually scare him if something bad did happen," Remus reasoned.

"Thank you, my Duke, I'll text you when I get home. Don't hesitate to message me with anything at any time. I'll be back during visitation hours tomorrow to pick you up," Janus said before sliding open his contacts to return the missed call. "Greetings Logan. Yes, it was totally my intention to worry everyone like this. No, we were just sidetracked on our way home. We are at the hospital right now. No, no, neither Remus or I are injured. It'd be better if I explain everything in person. I'm about to head out now, I'll see you in a bit. Yes, I love you too Starlight. Make sure the others know we are alright and apologize to them for me."

Janus looked back over at Remus as if asking him if he was sure he'd be alright. Remus smiled and gave him a shooing motion to tell him to get going to the others. Janus gave a small smile and walked away. Remus turned back to the nurse and nodded to her.

"To my brother?"

"Right this way sir," she replied, leading him through a swinging door and down the hallways to a small room.

She opened the door to reveal Roman sitting on the bed staring blankly at the wall beside him. He now wore a baggy hospital gown over his thin frame and his was connected to a series of machines and an IV. His expression was a bit dazed, likely because of the pain medications he was on. Remus gave her a small half smile as he stepped in, the nurse closing the door behind him.

"Hey Ro-Bro, how you feeling?" Remus asked with a small smile.

Roman's eyes snapped over to Remus and immediately welled up with tears.

"Remus?" He asked in disbelief, his voice weak and hoarse.

"Yeah, it's me, big bro," Remus said as he pulled a chair up beside the bed. "How are you holding up? You were in pretty bad shape when we found you."

Roman remained silent looking down at himself. His free hand that wasn't connected to everything moved over to touch his much flatter stomach.

"Where is my child?" Roman asked.

"Roman, they told you, didn't they?" Remus asked, his voice tightening a little as he rested a hand on Roman's leg.

Roman's gaze seemed dull, lifeless as he continued to look down the likely now unfamiliar sight of himself not having a baby bump. Remus knew just by looking at him that he already knew, he'd already been told or already figured it out. He didn't want to accept it or any reality around it. Remus scooted up onto the hospital cot and pulled Roman partially on top of him, moving carefully so he didn't pull anything out. He knew the doctors would probably yell at him later but Roman needed comfort and connection to someone right now.

"Remember how you'd always hold me like this back at the facility whenever my imagination got too wild? I'd crawl up into your bed at night and you'd hug me and sooth me back to sleep. I really missed that in the years I was alone," Remus said wistfully.

Roman's shoulders shuttered and Remus held him a little more firmly.

"Sorry I let you go alone," Roman muttered. "It's scary alone."

Remus nuzzled the top of Roman's head, the hospital had sponge bathed him after his arrival but the smell of the dirty alleys still clung to his hair.

"At least your daughter kept you company until I could find you," Remus murmured sadly.

"Can't I…" Roman started, silent tears tracking down his face. "Can't I hold her? Just a second longer. I want to see her. I'll do anything, just please let me hold her one more time."

Remus was at a loss, he didn't know what to do for his poor brother. Neither him nor any of his mates had been through something like this. He was used to being able to just joke about issues and comfort people like that. He couldn't just joke around about this situation right now. Roman had nearly died, his child had died. This wasn't something Remus was the type to be able to handle it well. He needed Logan or Patton or something, they were much better at this than him. His lips pulled back into a thin, awkward smile.

"If you ask the doctors, they might let you. I'm really sorry, Roman, really. I wish we'd found you before tonight. At least we didn't find you any later. I mean with it getting so cold you probably would have died from either that or the blood loss. Just quietly slipping away into a never ending slumber. All of your skin slowly becoming discolored as your blood stops flowing to the different regions and your organs stop working, lying there until some poor homeless person or drug dealer stumbles upon you and has no means of contacting the authority and when someone does get ahold of them they'd have to struggle to get you up because all of your blood had frozen you in place on the ground where you were lying and…"

This time Roman reached up to hold onto Remus's trembling hand. He could feel the gaspy, jagged gulps of air Remus was taking in as he scared himself with his own mind. Roman remembered from their childhood the way Remus could so vividly imagine all of his thoughts, especially the disturbing dark ones that he didn't actually want to think about.

"That head of yours never did calm down, did it?" Roman asked softly.

Remus hugged him tighter, tears dripping down onto Roman's shoulder.

"What if we didn't find you? I could have lost you forever without even knowing it. I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry," Remus apologized.

Roman squeezed Remus's hand.

"You didn't know," Roman replied, his voice still soft and distant.

Remus let out a whine and nuzzled his twin, his ears bowing backwards.

"Sorry, shouldn't be making this 'bout me," Remus murmured, returning the squeeze on his hands. "You doing okay? I know it's been a long time but you can still tell me anything."

Roman fell silent again, refusing to talk. Remus sighed, Roman really wasn't going to talk about any of it. It was a discussion that could happen later when Roman was ready hopefully. Remus let them fall into a fairly peaceful lull in their conversation just humming as he rocked Roman lovingly against his chest. He could hear the quiet, broken sound of Roman humming along with him on to the familiar tune to the songs they'd sung together as children. Remus could feel himself drifting off in the early hours of the morning. He wasn't sure if Roman was asleep or not but he had stopped humming a bit ago and seemed pretty relaxed in his arm. Remus didn't blame him. He was probably still wiped out from his near death experience and the amount of pain meds he was on was likely not making it easy for him to stay awake this early into the morning. He should probably go to sleep as well but he didn't want to go to sleep and risk waking up without Roman.

Remus jumped a little when his phone began to vibrate wildly in his pocket, luckily not disturbing up his exhausted brother. He picked it up and his eyes tried to focus on the bright screen to see the time and notifications against the crude doodle of a forest green octopus he had as a background. It was already nearly five in the morning, he should definitely be asleep but he wasn't sure he really saw a point in it at this late in the night. The notification on his phone told him he had several unread texts in his mate's group chat and more were still coming. He double clicked the notification to open it.

Stormy: Holy fucking hell god damn you brother's in the hospital and there is a fucking dead baby are you like fucking okay do you need anything

Tie-guy: *Your and I believe you are missing something known as punctuation.

LoveBug: Virgil language!

LoveBug: But seriously are you okay Remus? Is everything alright?

Stormy: Literally fuck both of you

Tie-Guy: I don't believe you are helping your case, however I do understand the concern towards Remus's well being. I do hope your brother is doing alright. His name is Roman correct? I do hope he is doing well with his grief. The traumatic experience paired with the typical emotions expressed after birth cannot be easy on him. I also hope you are still taking care of yourself. Today was likely a rather taxing shock to you as well.

Snake-Snack: As you can tell they have all been informed and are quite worried.

Stormy: We are freaking out? Bitch you're currently locked in your room panicking about leaving him alone at the hospital.

Snake-Snack: I am not "panicking", I'm simply trying to be alone to evaluate the situation and choose a course of action.

Tie-Guy: I don't believe that is quite the way I would describe it either, Janus.

LoveBug: Re-Re you haven't replied so I'm going to guess you are asleep or busy but I really hope you are okay.

Tie-Guy: Agreed

Stormy: ditto

Remus smirked to himself and let out a single amused breath. He really did love his mates and these types of moments just reminded him. He quickly began to message them back now that the conversation had seemed to stall for a moment.

Trashman: Dudes, I haven't replied because you text too fast. Like are you guys all hyped up on caffeine? It's like five in the morning and I can see about as well as someone with bleach in their eyes so I dunno how y'all are doin' it.

Trashman: Ro's pretty quiet. Knows who I am and all that but wants to hold his kid and won't tell me anything? Dunno. Pretty spacy from pain meds from the look of it. Sleeping now tho. You guys should be too. I'll be good. Silencing phone, ttyl, night! 3

Remus did as he said and turned off the sound on his phone, slipping it onto the chair he'd pulled up to the bedside. For now he'd close his eyes and sleep. He knew a nurse would yell at him for being with Roman in bed but he'd spend so long without Roman, he wasn't letting go of him again so soon.