A/N: I know, I know, zero breaks between the last update and this one. I don't want to lose momentum and I'm on a time crunch xD. Enjoy!


Chapter 9

"Seriously, durak?"

"C'mon, I'm too scared to look by myself!"

There's a huff on the other end of the line, and then a sneeze that is definitely not from Yuri. Followed by a sigh. "I'm sorry, piggy, but I can't come now. I would if I could, but Otabek is sick and clingy. You know how he gets..."

I do, indeed, know how he gets. Worse than their child when ill. Priorities. I let out a sigh myself and nod, though he cannot see me. "I know. It's okay," I say. "And take it easy, seems like the same bug Vasilisa had. Don't get sick, too."

"Tell me the results later?"

"Yeah."

The line goes dead, and I groan in renewed frustration. I'm not close enough to see the results on the bathroom sink, but I glare at the damned tests in equal parts annoyance and fear. It's now or never. Of course, I could wait until Viktor returned from his errands. But in the event the result was negative, I didn't want that to be what greeted him after such a long day. So, an agonizing few moments later, I inch closer to the tests. Close enough to see that the first one has two lines.

Emboldened, I all but launch myself to the sink's edge to grab the other two. Two lines again for the second test. And the third, which is a digital kind:

Positive.

It's well into the evening by the time Viktor returns home with several bags of new cloth and a few completed uniforms for the upcoming local figure skating championship in Saransk. Given that he's been up since before dawn, it's no wonder he looks exhausted when he finally drops the bags to the floor of the entranceway.

Dinner has already been cooked by the time he removes his coat and settles at the kitchen table. And I am just a ball of absolute excitement. Its evident by how quickly I prepare two bowls of ramen and set them down for us to enjoy.

Viktor's eyes lower to my right leg repetitively jumping up and down, a silver brow raising in amusement. "Yuuuuuuriiiiii...?"

"Huh?" I choke on my broth, much to his added amusement. I'm so bad at holding secrets. Surprises were never my strong suit.

He laughs and merely reaches over to take my hands in his larger ones. As always, it has the desired affect of calming my nerves some. "Out with it, love. I know you're dying to tell me something. Let's not torture yourself this way, hm?"

I can feel my cheeks flush. "You're teasing," I whine. But I don't have a rebuttal for him. Because he's right, of course. Fine then. I finally nod and gesture toward the guest bathroom where I left the tests untouched. "In there, I left a surprise for you-ah jeez, Viktor, not that kind of surprise! That was one time! I FLUSHED!"

His initial look of disgust is replaced by relief, and then amusement once more as he rises from the dinner table. "One couldn't be too sure! Fine, fine, I'll be right back."

He's gone for a lot longer than I thought he'd be. Really, it should have been a few seconds. And when those seconds turn to minutes, I decide to abandon my own noodles to check up on him. "Viktor? Did you fall in to the toilet or something-"

I find him frozen at the sink's edge, one hand to his mouth, the other holding the digital test. And he's...he's...

"...You're ...crying..?"

He looks over at me just before pulling me into a deep embrace. As much for him as it is for myself.

"You're happy?" I mumble against his chest.

He nods, silently, and just as silently kisses me with an urgency I know will only lead to one thing. Sometimes words were not enough to express one's emotion. And his were running over. I do not object, happily giving in to the perks of marital bliss. I wait until after he's fallen asleep to tiptoe out of our bedroom and tell Yurio the news.

"That's great!" he whispers into the video call. I can just barely make out Otabek's dark hair in the corner of the screen. Apparently equally as knocked out as Viktor post-coitus. "But, you'll need to check with your doctor soon. And being what happened last time...you may have to pause skating again."

Now that, I did not want. Being a figure skater was all I knew how to be. Just as badly as I wanted to bring home medals, I wanted to be a parent however. And it slowly dawned on me I would not be able to be one without giving up the other. At least temporarily, in any case. Yurio was living proof of that. He went back to competitive skating after his child was old enough to be left in the care of a babysitter. Though these days, he didn't skate as much as he once did.

Noting my serious expression, Yuri manages to slide out of Otabek's arms without waking the older man and slip out of their room to the living room. "What is it? Why does your face look like that?" he asks in a louder volume this time, now that he's no longer at risk of waking anyone.

In my own living room, I bring my knees to my chin and pull the blanket tighter around my half-nude form. "I feel...selfish."

"Because..?"

My lips turn down at the corners. "Because...I want to continue to skate. But...the last few times I tried that, it never ended well. I've finally, finally found my footing in competitive skating, Yurio. And while I'm not as good as you and Viktor, I'd like to say I've finally reached a standard of being considered a serious competitor. A respected competitor. And I'm scared that if I drop out now..."

The age old dilemma of an omega. Sacrificing one's career-potentially-for the sake of starting a family.

There was a small sigh from Yuri's end. "There is a certain level of pride that comes with parenthood. Yuuri, we may be omegas, but we have the gift of creating life. Creating a person. Nurturing and carrying a baby is no less an achievement to bringing home the gold. A baby is more than gold. A baby is priceless. And it's not something I understood until I felt Vasilisa move inside me for the first time. Until I held her for the first time.

Honestly, piggy, becoming her mother was my greatest, most selfless achievement."

Despite being younger than me, sometimes Yurio had moments of such profound wisdom as if he'd already experienced an entire lifetime. Though, to be fair, life had not treated him kindly. He'd grown up long before he should have, experienced traumas no one should. His remaining immaturity all but vanished once he took on Otabek's last name.

I nod into the screen, one hand holding the phone and other ghosting my belly. "I'm scared, Yurio."

"And there's nothing wrong with that."

"But what if I fail again?"

Yuri's expression softened some. "You didn't fail. Sometimes...sometimes these things just happen and there is nothing more we can do but our best. You can still be a parent, even if by untraditional means. You know this, yes?"

I did. Plenty of orphaned kids needed homes.

"And there's surrogates, too. Among other avenues."

I nod again. But I wanted do it the old fashioned way. Or at least attempt to, this last time. If it didn't work, only then would I finally accept what the universe was telling me and abandon the idea. But I'd fight like hell before that happened.