His Mafia Prince
Chapter 83: You Did It, Tyler!

Chapter 83: You Did It, Tyler!

(TYLER)

As soon as Dr Nicholas finishes speaking, he walks into the room. He goes ahead to wash his hands in the sink and then dries them up. He then slips the gloves into his infers then walks over to me. "Go ahead Tyler. Put your feet on the stirrups."

A nurse adjusts the overhead lights. Dr Nicholas pulls a stool at the foot of the bed.

Sasha looks pale. Never once have I seen him this stressed. His face is shiny with sweat and he looks exhausted. I’m sure he feels horrible having to just stand at a distance and watch me suffer. His alpha instincts are probably dying to protect me and fix my pain.

I put my feet on the stirrups. Once I’m set, Dr. Nicholas looks at me. "Alright, Tyler. Things look good. Now when I tell you to push, I need you to push, okay?"

"Okay."

"You’re doing great, Tyler." Sasha squeezes my hand. "You’re going to ace this."

"It’s almost done," I mumble between my heavy breaths. The epidural seems to be taking the edge off my pain, even though the anesthesiologist turned the pain medicine down a little while ago. Having a buffer between the raw contraction pains is just enough.

"Okay, Tyler. Now give me one hard push."

I bear down and hold my breath while pushing through the pain. The pressure between my legs is as uncomfortable as it gets. Even so, I encourage myself that I can handle it. Sasha looks very worried as he pats my hand.

"Great. Stop pushing now." Dr Nicholas says. He is now focused on the spot between my legs. "Okay, now I’m gonna ask you for a short push. When I tell you to stop, you stop. Okay?"

"Okay," I say even though it’s hard to resist pushing until the baby is out.

"Alright, now give me one short push."

I hold my breath and do as he says.

"Excellent. Now give me a long push." He says. His mask puffs as he speaks.

My mouth feels dry as sandpaper. "Okay." I rasp.

I grind my teeth and obey, pushing my exhausted self to my limits. When I’m done with the agonizing push, I hear the sharp cry of a baby. Sasha lets out a ragged breath and Nurse Enzo gives me a thumbs up. The contractions seize immediately and now all I can think of is the crying baby in the doctor’s arms. It wiggles and screeches. Its cries are muffled by something in its throat, probably mucus. The doctor suctions it out quickly.

"Congratulations, Tyler. It’s a boy."

"You did it, Ty," Sasha whispers. "You did it."

Time seems to stand still as I gaze at him for the first time. He is tinier than I thought. His skin is a mottled pinkish purple and covered in a white waxy substance. His eyes are squeezed shut. His tiny fists wave in the air. His fingers are tiny and delicate.

With trembling hands, I reach over and cradle him even closer. He nestles against my chest, seeking warmth and comfort. I can feel his rapid heartbeat and how his chest rises and falls with each breath.

"He’s perfect," Sasha whispers, stroking his cheek lightly with one finger.

I meet Sasha’s gaze and I notice that his eyes are bloodshot. He is overcome with emotions and is trying to keep himself in check. He strokes a sweaty strand of hair from my forehead and shakes his head. His chest swells with pride. His expression tells me that he is proud of me.

Sasha asks to cut the umbilical cord and Dr Nicholas has him do so. Then nurse takes the whimpering baby over to a different area then wipes him. While he does that, the doctor wraps the placenta cord on some forceps-like thingy then gently tugs it out.

One of the attending nurses hands Sasha a piece of cloth, and he uses it to wipe my face and then presses a kiss on my forehead. He smiles at me, and I smile too. My heart aches with his expression. Much as the baby isn’t his, I can tell that he is thinking of anything but that now. He still surprises me with how much willing he is to accept Angelo’s baby as his own.

I feel excited and relieved now that the baby is here. I was worried during the entire pregnancy that something could go awry. I was concerned about my drug use, that it would affect the baby once it was born. But the doctor assured me that the baby was doing just fine. Now that the baby is here, the doctor says that his health isn’t at all concerned.

Nurse Enzo brings the baby over and sets him on my chest. The flood of emotions going through me at the look of the baby right now is hard to express. Thank heavens the baby looks like me, not Angelo. He has just as much hair as I do. His eyes are dark. He has my nose and the shape of his eyes and face are like mine too. Tears burn my eyes as Sasha slips his arm over my shoulder.

The baby stares up at me. He’s not crying anymore. He’s cooing and wiggling. Hi, incessant crying has toned down a bit. "Why isn’t he crying?" I ask.

Nurse Enzo laughs. "he’s just as exhausted as you are. You’ve both been through a rough ordeal."

Sasha sighs. "I think we all are exhausted."

I smile and continue to study my baby’s little features. "He’s a cutie. Look at his little fingers and his perfect eyelashes. How can he be so perfect?"

"It’s a miracle," Sasha says.

"You realize you two share a birthday now?"

Sasha blinks at me. "I hadn’t thought of it yet."

"I guess we’ll just have to have one massive party for you both when the day comes."

"You know how bad I love being adored, am I really going to share my birthday with anyone?" I’m not sure whether he is kidding because he has his poker face on.

"You do know that this baby is going to get much attention, probably more than you. Are you sure you can handle that?"

"Well, I think we’ll just have to get rid of the baby if I can’t handle it. I mean...I was here first."

"No one’s getting rid of anyone."

He laughs. "No? Then I guess we’re just gonna have to share." He leans closer and studies the baby. "He’s so adorable."

"You wanna hold him?" I laugh.

He nods and reaches over for the baby. "Sure." He takes him from me carefully and begins to rock him in his arms as he stares down at him. "Hey little guy, I was petitioning for you the entire time."

I breathe out shakily. "He’s here, finally."

Sasha kisses the baby’s forehead, gazing at him softly and affectionately. "Mother is going to love you, little baby."

Four hours later, the hospital releases me. Sasha insists on me going to bed once I’m home. He brings the baby with him and lays beside him. We snuggle together as I nurse the baby while Sasha looks on. I’m very self-conscious, considering I haven’t learnt how to nurse the baby quite well.

"You’ll only grow to know love, little one." Sasha strokes the baby’s cheek.

"Is that even possible in your world?" I look up at him.

"I don’t see why not." He shrugs. "I always knew I was loved. Even though my father was a hard man and expected a lot from me, he loved me too."

"But he would have let Angelo take over had you refused to take an omega. If you hadn’t obeyed him, he would have passed you over for him."

"Of course," he grimaces. "But that had nothing to do with loving me. He had no choice in that because that’s simply how it had to be. He just passed along a message when the men demanded a show of faith."

"You know...I still wonder if he’d have approved of me to have this child. He insinuated that the child was likely to cause problems down the line."

"It won’t," he says. "The leader will be chosen from the bloodline. Unless our offspring ends up being a total fuck up, this baby will never have to face the stress of being the leader of the Triple Triads."

"You’re implying that it’s a burden yet you wanted it. Angelo died for the very reason because he wanted to be head of the syndicate so badly."

He wrinkles his brow. "Yes. But that’s partly because even as children, our father played us against each other. He found it amusing, but really, it was dangerous. He dangled the position like a piece of meat when he shouldn’t have put the ideas in Angelo’s head to begin with."

"Alright. I see."

"You and I both are going to take care of this baby. He will never feel like he isn’t a part of this family. He can never be promised the position of head of the triple triads." He smirks. "After all, I plan on living forever."

"I’ll do my best." I smile.

"You better," he murmurs, looking a bit touched. "My father was a decent man. Maybe he didn’t t handle things correctly with Angelo, but he brought him home because there were some lines that he couldn’t have crossed. He couldn’t make him pay for his father’s sins."

"That’s honourable of him."

"I know." He grimaces. "Mistakes were made with Angelo, but we need to make sure to not repeat the same mistakes with this child. Angelo was insecure and it made him unstable. But the past is in the past. Let’s just focus on moving on."

"What would you think if we named the baby after your father?"

He scowls. "Really? Martino?"

"Yes. Your father spared Angelo’s life. Because of him, this baby exists today."

"Sure. That’s true."

"Yeah. I want to. Unless you think it’s inappropriate. I don’t know of your etiquette with family names."

"I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t name this baby after my father." He rubs his jaw. "It would be a great gesture. The baby will also feel special. That is a good thing, right?"

"Yeah, we should do that."

Sasha studies me. "don’t you desire for the baby to be named after anyone in your family?"

I stiffen. "There’s no side of my family."

"Alright then," he nods. "I understand. You don’t pick your side of the family, right?"

"Right," I affirm. "I’ve always been on my own. On the sidelines of everything. I finally feel like I belong somewhere after the few months that I’ve spent with your family. It’s crazy, considering how we met, but it’s true."

"You are family, Tyler. You belong to us. To me."

I hold his gaze. "I used to hate you so much. I remember once telling you that you were the worst thing that’s ever happened to me."

"Yeah, I recall."

I touch his cheek. "I couldn’t have been more wrong."