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Chapter Text

Hajoon had gotten into the habit of spending his work from home days in the guest house. Partially because it prevented him from getting distracted by his dad and grandma's movements throughout the day--as well as his mom, Sunwoo, and Eunji during the times that they were at home instead of at work or school--and still allowed him to join them for lunch in the main house during his break. But the main reason, which still applied even now that his parents and grandma were in Baton Rouge until the end of December, was that meant he got to be there to greet Charlie as soon as she got home from work. As soon as he heard the doorknob turning, he quickly finished up the email he was typing and sent it before setting his work laptop to the side and standing up from the couch to greet Charlie. "Welcome home!" He exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Charlie's waist and pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "How was your day?"

"Long." Charlie groaned, kissing Hajoon one more time. "All the pups are excited about the holidays coming up, which means none of them are really paying attention, which makes it that much difficult to get through the lesson. Especially towards the end of the day." She sighed and kissed Hajoon again before removing herself from his arms to pad over to the kitchen. "What about you?"

"It was uneventful." Hajoon shrugged, watching her move around the kitchen for her usual post work snack, although she seemed to have a slightly more nervous energy than normal. Chocking it up to the long day she'd described, Hajoon pushed down his concern. "I have one more phone call to make, then I have to drive Sunwoo to the studio for his class, and then I'm meeting my friends at the McGee Center." When his physical therapist had finally deemed him fully recovered and able to return to sports, the first thing Hajoon had done was text some of his old high school teammates--including Aya and Maverick--to set up a regular meeting time to just get together and hang out and play basketball like the old days. "We're probably gonna get dinner afterwards, but maybe you and I can have a movie night, just some destressing time." It was then Hajoon noticed that Charlie was only half listening, not intentionally ignoring him, but as if her mind was on something else far away. " You okay?"

Charlie's gaze snapped to him. "Yes, fine." She said quickly. "Like I said, it's been a long day, and I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm probably gonna have an early dinner and go on to bed. But definitely movie night soon." She tilted her head up and puckered her lips for a kiss that Hajoon happily gave. "Have fun with your friends. I'm sure you're ecstatic to get back to playing."

"Oh, you have no idea." Hajoon pressed his lips to Charlie's for a few more seconds before she moved on to start her early dinner. He watched her for a moment before grabbing his phone and heading into her bedroom to make his work call in private.

Once the call was over, Hajoon gave Charlie one more kiss before going to his room in the main house to change into some clothes suitable for playing basketball. Then he drove Sunwoo to the dance studio for his Monday night classes before going on to the McGee Center where he was the last of his friends to arrive. "There he is!" Maverick exclaimed in greeting as Hajoon sat down on one of the benches and pulled his knee brace out of his bag. "I guess the one upside to your injury is that now the rest of us actually have a chance to keep up." Maverick teased as Hajoon slipped his knee brace on.

"Speak for yourself!" Aya laughed. "I've always been able to keep up. The question is if Hajoon can still keep up."

"I have a feeling you're gonna regret even doubting that." Hajoon said with a laugh as he joined them on the court, they and their other friends quickly dividing into teams to start the game.

***

With her family being in town for an extended period of time, Hana had found herself already spending most of her days with them rather than at the apartment alone due to feeling too restless. That day, it was Seokjin's birthday, so they were getting lunch at The Chimes, a restaurant that Jaehyun had fallen in love with when he'd first moved to Baton Rouge as it was just off LSU's campus and had introduced to the others quickly when they first visited him after the move--and he was definitely going to be jealous when he got home from his clinicals and found out they had gone without him, so Hana had already made sure to order an alligator po’boy to go for him. "Now, if you want to go into labor right now and give birth before the day is over, I would be totally okay with that." Seokjin said, and Hana couldn't tell if her mother-in-law was joking or not. "I wouldn't mind sharing a birthday with my grandpup at all."

"Because then you would have bragging rights." Hana's dad said through his mouthful of BBQ shrimp po’boy.

"Hey, I already have bragging rights because I'm the first to become a halmeoni in our friend group." Seokjin said.

"Again, we are becoming halmeonis at the exact same time." Hana's mom said, only to be ignored.

"Plus, Puppy is going to be absolutely perfect the way she is when she comes out since she will have some of my genes in her, and that's enough reason to brag already." Seokjin took a smug bite of his salmon.

Hana's mom rolled his eyes slightly before turning to her. "Speaking of Puppy, how was your appointment yesterday?"

"It went good." Hana said, picking at her mac n cheese. "Puppy's a little over eight pounds now, and hopefully she won't grow too much more. I'm not showing any signs of labor yet, but I do still have a week until my estimated due date." She gave a tiny shrug.

Seokjin hummed. "Jaehyun came four days after my due date. It's very common for first time moms to go past."

Puppy seemed to be taking after her father as Hana's due date came and went with no signs of the pup coming. Hana was starting to believe that she and Jaehyun really would be having a Christmas puppy when, six days after her estimated due date at 3:00 in the morning, Hana woke up to a sharp pain moving from the top of her uterus down to the bottom. That sensation repeated a few times before stopping, and by the time the last wave ended, Jaehyun had already sat up in concern, turning his bedside lamp on. "What's wrong?"

"I think I just had a contraction." Hana said, hand on her stomach. "But I'm not sure. It didn't really feel like how my mom described." Her mom's voice sounded in her mind, reminding her that everyone experienced contractions differently, but that didn't do much to reassure her.

10 minutes later, that same series of pain waves washed over her, at which point she accepted that she was in labor. Another 10 minutes, they happened again, and Hana couldn't stop the sense of dread she began to feel. "I think I need to go ahead and go to the hospital."

Jaehyun nodded, squeezing Hana's hand that he'd been holding since she'd first told him she was having contractions. "I'll go call your mom to come pick us up." He pressed a kiss to Hana's forehead before grabbing his phone from the nightstand where it was charging.

***

Jimin jumped awake as his phone started buzzing on the nightstand next to him. He wasted no time grabbing it from the charger and answering the call, feeling Yoongi stir next to him. "Hello?"

"Hi, Jangmonim." Jaehyun's voice came through the speaker. "Hana's in labor-"

"How far apart are her contractions?" Jimin asked, already sitting up and throwing the blanket off of himself.

There was a pause before Jaehyun answered. "A little under 10 minutes. She says she knows that's not close enough to go to the hospital, but she says she feels like she needs to go ahead and go."

Jimin nodded even though Jaehyun couldn't see him. "Okay, Yoongi and I are on the way. We'll be there in about 15 minutes."

"Is it time?" Yoongi asked as soon as Jimin ended the call.

"Yep, our grandpup is coming." Jimin patted Yoongi's butt before standing up. "Let's get going."

They only took enough time to wake up Namjoon, Seokjin, and Yoongi's mom to let them know what was going on before getting in their car and heading for Jaehyun and Hana's apartment. Yoongi had barely pulled into a parking space outside their building when the couple came out, Jaehyun carefully guiding Hana to their car. Jimin jumped out of the car to open the back door for them, helping Jaehyun get Hana outside. "How are you feeling, Mochi?"

"In pain." Hana said simply before grimacing as assumedly another contraction hit her.

"I know, Mochi." Jimin murmured in understanding, pressing a kiss to his daughter's forehead before stepping back to close the door while Jaehyun hurried to climb in on the other side with their hospital bag. "Jae, your parents are getting some stuff together for everyone who will be staying in the waiting room then they're gonna meet us at the hospital along with Halmeoni."

***

As Dr. Williams checked Hana over, the 25-year-old was sure she was about to be sent home and told to come back when her contractions were coming more frequently. So she was surprised when instead her doctor said, "You're currently three centimeters dilated but it seems you're actually having three contractions in really quick succession followed by a longer rest period. So we're gonna go ahead and get you settled into a birthing suite, and I suggest a low dose of Pitocin to help get those contractions regulated. Sound good?"

Hana nodded. "Sounds very good."

She was brought to her birthing suite along with Jaehyun and her mother, the latter of which was already texting the family updates as Hana changed into the provided hospital gown and settled into the bed. A nurse got an IV started and pushed the dose of Pitocin, which had it truly dawning on Hana that she was about to have a pup. She squeezed Jaehyun's hand and looked at him. "Are you ready?"

"Probably not." Jaehyun said honestly, making Hana giggle. "But we don't have much choice at this point." He leaned down to press a soft kiss to her lips.

After five hours of being in the hospital, Hana was beginning to grow frustrated with how slow progressing her labor seemed to be. "Can't they make it go faster?" She whined after another contraction washed over her.

"I mean, they could increase your Pitocin." Her mom said with a supportive tone. "But even still, you can't really control when Puppy comes out. That's all up to Puppy."

Hana let out a groan just before feeling a trickle of fluid escaping her. "I think my water just broke!" She said almost excitedly. "That means it'll be over soon, right?"

Her mom offered her a reassuring smile. "Do you want my honest answer or just something to make you feel better?"

The smile on Hana's face was instantly replaced with a pout as she looked between her legs to make sure it actually was her waters breaking and not something potentially more serious, as she still had that underlying feeling that something was wrong--which her mom assured her was a common thing to feel while in labor, hence why she was trying not to focus on that as much. The color of the liquid soaking the pad under her had her frowning. "Is it supposed to be green?" Her mother's eyebrows immediately furrowed, and he jumped up to take a look for himself before pressing the call nurse button beside Hana's bed.

A nurse quickly came to examine Hana and promptly paged Dr. Williams upon seeing Hana's waters, which definitely didn't help Hana's anxiety at all. "The green tint to your waters means that your pup has already passed their first poop, and that meconium got into your amniotic fluid. For the vast majority of pups, this means nothing. But there is a small chance that your pup may inhale that meconium, at which point they will need to spend some time in the NICU."

Hana felt Jaehyun's hand squeeze hers tightly. "When will we know that for sure?"

"Right now, your pup seems to be doing fine. There's no signs of fetal distress other than the meconium-stained amniotic fluid." Dr. Williams assured her. "We'll increase how often a nurse comes to check on you to keep a closer eye on how your pup is doing."

The increase in anxiety Hana was feeling due to the new information about the pup seemed to make her more sensitive to the pain of her contractions and less tolerant because two and a half hours later she was begging for an epidural. She must have been behind a long list of other laboring mothers requesting epidurals because it was another two and a half hours before the anesthesiologist on call made his way to her. Both Jaehyun and her mom helped her lay still on her side as he inserted the catheter into her spine and got the epidural going. Hana was completely ready for that relief to find her, and eventually it did.

But only on her right side. "I'm pretty sure this is worse than feeling it all over!" She exclaimed through yet another contraction, nearly squeezing Jaehyun's hand off.

Her mom gently ran his fingers through her hair. "Hopefully it'll all be over soon."

However, it was another seven and a half hours before Hana finally reached 10 centimeters. As Dr. Williams settled between her legs in preparation for her to start pushing, a sense of relief washed over Hana at the thought that it was about to all be over and she'd have her puppy in her arms, based on how her mom had only had to push for about 15 to 20 minutes with each pup he'd birthed vaginally. But 20 minutes went by and there had seemingly been no progress on getting her puppy out, which left Hana discouraged. Her mom assured her that some omegas had to push more than others, and Dr. Williams had even informed her that sometimes first-time moms could push for as long as three hours and encouraged her to keep going. But when that third hour passed and there was still no puppy, Hana's feeling that something was wrong returned tenfold.

She was proven right as Dr. Williams looked at her with a serious expression. "Alright, Puppy is stuck in your pelvis so we're gonna get you in for a c section and get her out of you, alright?"

Hana nodded desperately. "I'm just ready for all of this to be over."

As the birthing team prepared to wheel Hana to the operating room, where she would only be allowed one support person, her mom gathered his things. "I'll be in the waiting room with everyone else. You're doing so good, Mochi." He pressed a loving kiss to her forehead.

***

Although Yoongi had offered to drive his mom back to the house so she could get some proper rest--after all, it was now after midnight and they'd been at the hospital since shortly after 4:00 the previous morning--she had shown the stubbornness that ran in the family and refused, insisting that she had to stay there until she knew her great grandpup had been born and that both she and Hana were okay. So there she was, curled up asleep on one of the two seaters in the waiting room. Seokjin was also dozing off despite his best efforts to stay awake until their grandpup was born, his head resting on Namjoon's shoulder. Namjoon and Yoongi were still awake, though, both alphas scrolling on their phones to stave off the exhaustion washing over both of them.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Namjoon broke the silence. "That we're about to be grandparents."

Yoongi hummed in agreement. "But you know what's really weird? That you went from being the weird nerdy pack pup that Hoseok always talked about to us now sharing a grandpup." Namjoon snorted at that but didn't argue.

Jimin entered the waiting room and Seokjin shot to his feet as if he hadn't been seconds away from a deep sleep. "Is she here?" He asked excitedly.

The 52-year-old omega shook his head. "Puppy's stuck in Hana's pelvis. They took her to have a c section. Jae's gonna text when it's over."

"Is Hana okay?" Yoongi asked in concern, both from his daughter going into a major abdominal surgery that he himself had witnessed 18 and a half years prior and from the text Jimin had sent hours earlier about the meconium in her amniotic fluid.

"She's understandably anxious." Jimin said. "But she's also, in her own words, just ready for all of this to be over." He moved to sit in the chair next to Yoongi, sighing in exhaustion as he rested his head on the alpha's shoulder.

***

It was 1:00 in the morning on December 17 when Dr. Williams announced she was beginning the procedure. "I feel a pressure." Hana said softly, mostly to Jaehyun who was holding her hand tightly and watching the procedure past the sheet blocking Hana's view with great intrigue. "I'm assuming they're cutting into me."

Jaehyun nodded to confirm that they were. "It's actually really cool to watch." The alpha then said, and if it had been anyone else, Hana would have been concerned. But because it was her mate, and she knew how Jaehyun was, she just breathed out a laugh, squeezing his hand as a thank you for the distraction from the weird and almost unsettling feeling going on in her lower abdomen.

Hana wasn't sure how much time had passed, a silence in the operating room other than the sounds from Dr. Williams working. Then Jaehyun's eyes widened a bit, and it didn't even take the loud cry that filled the room a second later for Hana to know their daughter had been born. "How is she?"

"She's beautiful." Jaehyun whispered, his voice full of emotion.

Their daughter was brought into Hana's view for a brief second so she could lay eyes on her before she was rushed off to the NICU to be checked over, both from the meconium and from how long she'd been stuck in Hana's birth canal. The adrenaline from giving birth gave way soon after she was taken away, and the exhaustion from being awake for 22 hours washed over Hana, resulting in her falling asleep while she was still being stitched up.

***

When Hana woke up, a sense of panic immediately filled her chest. She tried to sit up only to feel pain rip through her stomach followed by her mom's hand gently easing her back down. "It's okay, Mochi." Her mom said softly. "Puppy's fine. She's in the NICU and Jaehyun's with her."

"She's okay?" Hana asked, trying to slow her heartrate down.

Her mom nodded with a reassuring smile. "Jaehyun said she's stable and everything. But he's not giving us any details because he wants you to be the first to know everything. Won't even tell us her name."

Hana let out a tiny laugh. "Sounds like him. When can I see her?"

"They were just waiting for you to wake up." Her mom said. "They wanted to let you sleep as much as you needed to before cleaning you up and taking you to her." He pressed the call nurse button for Hana.

A nurse was in the room within seconds and with her and her mom's help, Hana was given as quick a shower as possible and dressed in the clothes she had packed in her hospital bag, then the nurse wheeled her down to the NICU while her mom went back to the waiting room to rejoin the others. As soon as they were in the NICU room, Hana's eyes first laid on the open-air crib, reading the label that was on it. Julie Kim, 22 inches, 9 pounds, and tiny Ω to identify her as an omega. Then her gaze moved to the rocking chair in the room where Jaehyun was sitting with Julie curled up against his chest, a cannula in her nose. "So you were a big puppy, huh?" Hana giggled. They did some maneuvering, Jaehyun carefully standing up and cradling Julie close while the nurse helped Hana from her wheelchair into the rocking chair. Hana then quickly unbuttoned her shirt to expose more of her chest before welcoming Julie into her arms, everything feeling right as soon as she felt her pup's weight on her chest. "Hi, Julie." She whispered, running a finger over her nose before looking back up at Jaehyun. "So everything's okay?"

Jaehyun nodded, keeping his awe filled gaze on their pup. "She was struggling to breathe a bit after she was born so they're gonna keep her on oxygen for a few days, and they did find a tiny brain bleed, probably from when she was stuck, but the doctor said it's nothing to worry about and that it'll clear up on its own." He reached out to gently run his finger over Julie's hand, which she quickly opened and closed around his finger. "She's just gotta stay here for a little bit."

"I think that's manageable." Hana said, dipping her head down to kiss Julie's forehead.

***

Hajoon groaned as he turned off his alarm, scrolling through his notifications to see dozens of texts from the family group chat thanks to Hana finally sending a picture of Julie as well as details about her such as her being an omega and how long she would be staying in the NICU before coming home. Hajoon smiled at the first picture of his niece before climbing out of bed and getting ready for work. He then headed out to the guest house to enjoy breakfast with Charlie as always.

"Did you see this?" Hajoon asked, proudly showing off the picture of his niece to his girlfriend. Charlie hummed quietly as Hajoon continued to speak. "Her name's Julie and she's an omega. On my mom's side, going through maternal lineage, the firstborn has always been an omega for as far back as we can trace, so we all kind of knew-"

"I'm pregnant." Hajoon froze, slowly looking up from the picture of Julie to Charlie's nervous expression. "Apparently my suppressants aren't as effective at preventing pregnancy as my doctor led me to believe."

Hajoon swallowed thickly, his heart pounding in his chest. "A-are you sure?"

Charlie nodded, playing with her fingers. "I mean, I've taken a test every single day for the past two weeks hoping that they'll start coming out negative and it's all just been a false alarm, but that damned line keeps getting darker."

Two weeks. Charlie had known for two weeks and had just now told Hajoon. "So what-"

Hajoon was cut off by Charlie's alarm going off telling her to leave so she could make it to the middle school on time. "We should talk about this after work so we're not late." Charlie said, and although Hajoon knew he wouldn't be able to focus on anything until they had talked about, he nodded in agreement. Charlie leaned up to give him a quick kiss before grabbing her work bag and leaving.

As Hajoon had predicted, he spent the entire day of inspecting roofs and having meetings thinking about Charlie and the pup they'd created. If Charlie had waited so long to tell Hajoon, clearly he'd already done something wrong to make her not trust him. By the time the workday ended, and Hajoon was back at the guesthouse with Charlie, the two of them sharing a pizza, he felt like he was about to explode. "I need to know what exactly it is you need from me." Hajoon said.

Charlie furrowed her eyebrows. "What I need from you?"

Hajoon nodded. "Yeah, like, how you want me to react in this situation." The didn't seem to clear up Charlie's confusion at all so Hajoon took a deep breath. "I had a pregnancy scare with my high school girlfriend when we were 16. The condom we were using broke, she wasn't on birth control or suppressants, and when we tried to get plan b from the pharmacy, they wouldn't sell it to us because we were minors. I went to my parents for help, and that was the wrong thing to do because she said I wasn't respecting her wishes and broke up with me." He took Charlie's hand in his. "I love you and I can genuinely picture spending the rest of my life with you, and I don't want whatever choice I make right now to be the end of us, so please just tell me exactly what you need so I can do it."

Charlie's eyes softened and she took Hajoon's other hand in hers. "Hajoon, I'm being completely honest when I say the only way I would break up with you right now is if you tried to force me to do something I didn't want. And I know you and you would never do that. So take a deep breath and calm down." Hajoon took a deep breath, feeling his heartrate start to slow for the first time all day. "Also, your high school girlfriend must have been completely stupid but we're not gonna talk about her." A tiny laugh came out of Hajoon at that. "What I want from you is to be your honest self like you always are. One of the reasons I waited so long to tell you is because I wanted to process it myself and figure out how I felt first. And I've come to terms with the fact that I'm pregnant far earlier than I ever expected before being ready. I don't need you to do anything except be honest with me about your feelings."

Hajoon took a moment to process his feelings that had been suppressed by his anxiety over the thought of doing something wrong and losing Charlie. Then a soft smile spread across his face. "I'm happy that it's you I got pregnant unexpectedly. Because I know that we can do a good job of raising our pup in a healthy, loving home. And there's no one I would want to do that with besides you."

"Okay good." Charlie breathed out a sigh of relief. "Because the only thing keeping me from spiraling these past two weeks has been that little voice in my head reassuring me that you're not a deadbeat alpha who would abandon me."

"Never." Hajoon's smile grew as he leaned over to press his lips to Charlie's. When he pulled back, he gently tugged Charlie's shirt up to expose her still flat stomach, resting his hand over it. "Hi there. I guess you're Dumpling Jr."

"Why do they get to automatically be named after you?" Charlie asked.

Hajoon glanced at her, leaving his hand on her stomach. "Do you have a puphood nickname you want to pass on?"

Charlie scrunched her nose. "Dumpling Jr it is." Hajoon smiled again, leaning down to press a soft kiss to Charlie's stomach. "Can we wait to tell your family? I don't want to seem like I’m trying to steal Hana and Julie's thunder."

"I don't think anyone would think that." Hajoon assured her. "But yeah, I'd rather wait until we've gotten a checkup and make sure the pup is growing okay. Have you made an appointment yet?"

"I was waiting until I'd gotten the courage to tell you." Charlie said. "I'll call tomorrow and make one."

***

After six days of Julie gaining strength, establishing a good breastfeeding relationship, and bonding as a new family of three, Julie was finally discharged from the NICU just a couple of days before Christmas. They packed up their belongings, got Julie dressed in the grey and white floral onesie Hana had picked out purely for that day, and made their way out to the parking lot where Hana's dad was waiting with his car. "I bet you're ready to get out of that place, huh, Julie?" The 54-year-old alpha cooed to the newborn as he helped Hana and Jaehyun get her carseat locked into place. "Everyone's at the rental house ready to meet you, but I'll make sure they don’t stampede or rush you."

"You being overprotective, I never would've guessed." Hana giggled as she climbed into the backseat next to Julie, adjusting her blanket over her to make sure she stayed warm.

10 minutes later they were at the rental house, Hana's dad going in ahead of them with a bodyguard stance as if he were ready to tackle anyone that tried to get too close without Hana or Jaehyun's permission. "You're a dumbass." Seokjin said as he saw them coming in.

"Hey, only I can call my mate a dumbass." Hana's mom said, flicking Seokjin on the ear.

Hana rolled her eyes in amusement as the two middle aged omegas bickered while her dad helped her get settled on the couch, Jaehyun carefully unbuckling Julie from her carseat. Once Hana was relaxing on the couch with Julie sleeping happily in her arms, Eunji took advantage of the chaos of the moms arguing to go sit on the floor by her older sister. "Can I see her?"

"Julie, meet your Eunji imo." Hana said softly, gently adjusting Julie so she was facing Eunji even though she was asleep.

The next couple of days, Hana's mom's promise to give them as much space as they needed was proven true as they were only bothered when having food brought to them and the occasional offer to watch Julie so Hana and Jaehyun could nap or shower when one of their moms noticed that they were getting a bit overwhelmed or overtired. When Christmas came around, Hana and Jaehyun were the first ones up in the house as had become the norm thanks to Julie always being awake for the day by 7:00. After nursing her and changing her diaper, Hana and Jaehyun moved from the bedroom to the living room, Hana getting comfortable in one of the armchairs since Hajoon and Charlie were still sleeping on the pullout couch while Jaehyun went to the kitchen to make Hana her morning coffee.

The rest of the family gradually woke up and communed in the living room, and once everyone was up, they began to pass around presents to open. "We have a very special first Christmas present for you, Julie." Hana said softly to Julie, who'd already fallen back asleep shortly after they'd moved to the living room. She nodded to Jaehyun who disappeared into the bedroom for a moment, returning with a very well-worn elephant stuffy. "This is Peanut." Hana introduced them. "Peanut's been with me through a lot of stuff over the past 25 years. And now it's time to pass him on to you." Hana held Peanut close to Julie, smiling as the newborn seemed to instinctually snuggle closer to the stuffy.

Chapter Text

On the Mins and Kims last day in Baton Rouge, Hajoon, Charlie, Eunji, and Hyunbin left to go home as soon as they had to be gone from the rental house while the rest of the families went to Hana and Jaehyun's apartment to help them get settled in and get some chances to snuggle with the newest member of the family--with her parents' permission of course--before they would be six and a half hours away and unable to see her whenever they felt like. It was currently Hana's grandmother's turn, the elderly omega cooing happily to her great granddaughter. "You look a lot like your grandpa did when he was a newborn."

Hana smiled a bit at that, sure that her grandmother was just saying that because everyone else agreed Julie favored Jaehyun more. Then Julie began to fuss a bit, sending that protective wave through Hana that had her wanting to drop everything and make her pup feel better. "I think she's getting hungry." Hana said, moving to get up so she could take Julie back.

Jaehyun was faster, abandoning where he was organizing the changing station they'd agreed to have in the living room to make diaper changes easier so he could gently take Julie from her great grandmother's arms and transfer her to Hana's. "It's alright, Julie. Eomma's gonna get some milk in your tummy in just a second." Jaehyun murmured, pressing a kiss to the one-week old's forehead before gently laying her in Hana's waiting arms.

Sunwoo was sitting next to Hana on the couch and watched in a mixture of intrigue and slight terror as Hana lifted her sweater and helped Julie get latched on to her breast while Jaehyun gently slipped a nursing pillow under the newborn so Hana's arms wouldn't get tired seeing as Julie was a lazy eater and liked to stretch her feeds out to 30 minutes or even longer. "Does that hurt?" Sunwoo asked.

"Not really?" Hana shook her head. "I mean when we were still in the hospital it did because neither of us knew what we were doing. But we both have it figured out now, right, Julie?" She gently ran a finger over Julie's cheek as the newborn let out a tiny grunt.

"It looks like it feels weird." Sunwoo said, tilting his head a bit.

"Well, it doesn't exactly feel great." Hana giggled.

"And you're supposed to do that for a whole year?" Sunwoo asked in disbelief.

Their mom entered the room at that moment and clearly overheard. "Jellybean, you were two and a half years old before you finally stopped nursing." Sunwoo's eyes nearly popped out of his head at his words as he walked over to Hana. "Everything is in the nursery with some kind of organization, but I didn't want to do too much because I know how particular I was about how things were placed and figured you would like the final say. And your dad and Seokjin are finishing up some meals in the kitchen that all you have to do is pop them in the oven and they'll be ready." Hana nodded, giving her mom a grateful smile. "If you need anything else, just give us a call. Even though we live far away, we can still help to the best of our abilities over the phone."

"I know." Hana said, her smile growing a bit as her mom pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Soon enough, everyone was giving their goodbyes, particularly to Julie without disturbing her meal, and filing out the door, leaving the new family of three to themselves. "Well, here we are." Jaehyun murmured as he joined Hana on the couch, cuddling up to her and Julie. "First day completely alone."

Hana hummed, looking up from Julie to smile at her mate. "We've got this." She said quietly, tilting her head to meet Jaehyun's lips in a sweet kiss.

***

"And there's your puppy." Dr. Parker smiled as an image of Hajoon and Charlie's unborn pup appeared on the screen.

Hajoon grinned, squeezing Charlie's hand. "There's Dumpling Jr."

"Everything looks okay?" Charlie asked.

Dr. Parker hummed. "They look right on track for having been conceived in mid-November like you assume."

Charlie let out a tiny breath of relief. "I was worried that me not really having morning sickness might have been a sign of something wrong."

"Just a sign that you lucked out." Dr. Parker chuckled as she continued to study the ultrasound. "Like I said, they look perfectly healthy. Based on their estimated conception, you can expect them sometime in August. Possibly late July."

"Beginning of the school year." Charlie scrunched her nose a bit. "That'll be a rough transition."

Hajoon squeezed her hand again. "We'll figure it out though."

***

After everyone had finally left the house following their joint New Year's Eve party, late friend Christmas party, and a birthday party for Taehyung, Yoongi and Jimin were cleaning up the kitchen with Hajoon's help so they wouldn't have to deal with it when they woke up in the morning. "Is Charlie feeling okay?" Jimin asked. "I noticed she dipped out of the party early."

Hajoon nodded. "Yeah, she's just been really tired lately. Has been going to bed early." He then seemed to hesitate a bit before saying, "Speaking of Charlie-" He cut off as Eunji pushed past him while trudging into the kitchen, the 18-year-old going straight to Yoongi to receive her post heat Daddy snuggles as she called them. Shaking his head at her, Hajoon tried again. "Charlie and I have been talking a lot and we agree that it's a good time for me to move in with her."

Eunji perked up from where she had her face buried in Yoongi's chest. "Does that mean I finally get my own room?"

Jimin snorted a laugh and ignored her question for the time being. "That's exciting for you too! You need us to help you move you into the guest house?"

"That would be appreciated." Hajoon nodded. "But we probably won't be staying there for too long." He briefly paused before saying, "It's not really big enough for three of us so we're gonna be looking for an apartment or small house for ourselves."

Jimin nearly dropped the food containers he was carrying to the fridge while Yoongi looked up from the dishes he was washing in surprise. "Charlie's pregnant?" Yoongi asked.

Hajoon nodded, a soft smile appearing on his face. "Six weeks is what the doctor said. She wanted me to tell you alone because she's still trying to get used to our family and was afraid she'd get overwhelmed."

"Understandable." Jimin nodded, quickly putting the food away before rushing back over to pull Hajoon into a hug. "My dumpling's having his own dumpling!"

***

Hana carried Julie into the kitchen where Jaehyun was cracking eggs into a sauce at the stove. "Someone had a really big poop this morning so she should be very happy today." Hana said, bouncing Julie slightly in her arms.

"Good." Jaehyun nodded in approval. "Eomma said you've been holding that poop in for a few days."

Giggling, Hana held Julie out to Jaehyun for him to take. "I'll finish up breakfast if you want some bonding time with her, since I know you miss her during the week when you're at clinicals."

Jaehyun eagerly cradled Julie close to his chest as Hana moved to watch the eggs so they wouldn't overcook. "Eomma's right, I do miss you a lot during the week." Jaehyun said. "I wish I could be with you all the time." Hana smiled softly at the sight only to feel a surge of excitement as Julie's only lips curled up as she gazed up at her dad. "You have the cutest little smile too." Jaehyun cooed, making the five-week-old smile again as he leaned down to kiss her nose.

"She does." Hana said. "And I was right, she is an appa's girl."

Chapter Text

Hajoon had just climbed into his car following his final roof inspection of the day when Charlie called him. "You been enjoying your day off?" He asked as soon as he answered since the school district's February break had begun that day, giving Charlie a lazy day at home.

"Good, I've just been catching up on some shows and bonding with Dumpling Jr." Hajoon smiled at the thought of Charlie talking to their unborn pup as she went about her day. "I was calling about dinner. You know, there's a spirit night for the school at Hungry Howie's tonight. 10% goes to Ruth Doyle Middle School."

"You're craving Hungry Howie's, aren't you?" Hajoon guessed.

"I may have already put in a carryout order." Charlie said with a somewhat sheepish tone.

Hajoon chuckled quietly. "It'll take me about 20 minutes to get to the restaurant to pick up the pizzas, then another 20 to get back home. Think you can wait that long?"

Charlie scoffed out a laugh. "It's not a question of if I can wait but if Dumpling Jr can wait."

"Well tell them I'll be there with their food as fast as I can." Hajoon said.

Leaving Greenbrier, Hajoon passed the turn he would normally take to head home in order to go on into Conway, getting to Hungry Howie's in just under 20 minutes. Thankfully the order was already ready--two large pizzas and one of their dessert brookies--and then he was heading back the direction he'd come to go home. Charlie was waiting on the couch when he walked in the door and he promptly delivered their dinner to her, earning a kiss of appreciation in return, before padding into the bedroom to change out of his work clothes. When he came back out, Charlie was digging into a slice of pickle bacon ranch pizza. "You know, I thought pickles being a pregnancy craving was kind of a stereotype." He mused as he sat down next to her, grabbing the other pizza Charlie had ordered and finding that it was his favorite--the Howie 5-0.

"Well, there's some truth to most stereotypes." Charlie said through her mouthful. "The crazy thing though is that I hate pickles."

"Really?" Hajoon asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

Charlie nodded. "Used to gag at the smell of them and everything. But then the PTO provided Hungry Howie's for the teachers to welcome us back from the winter break and this pizza was just calling to me and I've been obsessed since." She took another large bite, moaning happily afterwards.

Hajoon let out a curious hum before changing the subject. "So I looked at a few rental openings in the area during my lunch break. Obviously an apartment would be cheaper than a house, but the downside is that because this is a college town, most apartments won't be up for grabs until the summer, and then it's a bloodbath trying to get one because of all the out-of-town college students claiming them. So we could wait until the summer, but that would mean moving when you're extremely pregnant."

"I wouldn't mind that if we can't find a house that we can afford to rent." Charlie said.

"I know but I wouldn't feel comfortable risking you or Dumpling Jr getting hurt while we're moving." Hajoon said with a slight frown.

Charlie smiled and reached out to playfully pinch Hajoon's cheek. "That's long ways out, so don’t all alpha about it. Let's just keep looking and maybe we'll luck out and find an apartment open before the summer or find a house within our budget." She shoved the rest of her pizza slice in her mouth.

***

After putting Julie down for the first time of the night, Hana returned to Jaehyun to resume sharing the valentine's chocolates he'd come home from clinicals with for her. They made it through half the box, Hana curled up on Jaehyun's lap, when the omega mused, "You know what would be a perfect end to this Valentine's Day?" Jaehyun hummed in question. "If we had sex."

Jaehyun choked a bit on his chocolate. "Are you sure you're ready?" He asked once he'd recovered.

Hana nodded. "Dr. Williams cleared me two weeks ago, I'm not in any pain, and I miss you." She placed a hand on Jaehyun's cheek, gently stroking it with her thumb.

"You'd tell me?" Jaehyun asked. "If you did start to feel pain?"

"Of course I would." Hana assured him, leaning in to press her lips to his.

Jaehyun sweetly kissed her back for a moment before breaking the kiss. "Can we not do it in our bed though? With Julie's bassinet right there, I know it's not like she'd actually be aware of what we're doing or anything, but still-" Hana cut him off with a giggle, bringing their lips back together.

They kissed for a long time, the passion slowly building between them until Jaehyun was gently laying Hana back on the couch. He climbed over her without breaking the kiss, Hana's legs spreading automatically to accommodate him as he settled on top of her. But just as he slipped his hand under her pajama shirt to rest on her bare skin, Julie's cries began to fill the apartment. They both glanced in the direction of their bedroom in concern. "She normally sleeps a lot longer than that." Hana murmured, wiggling out from under Jaehyun so she could go check on Julie.

When Julie was soothed back to sleep, Hana and Jaehyun wasted no time catching up to where they were before, Hana climbing into Jaehyun's lap and crashing their lips together. They managed to throw their clothes across the room, Jaehyun settling between Hana's thighs to start eating her out, only for Julie to start crying again. "You don't think she's getting sick?" Jaehyun asked in worry as Hana quickly pulled her pajama shirt back on as some form of cover.

"She doesn't feel warm and she's not crying like she's in pain." Hana said. "She's just been wanting to nurse more. Maybe she's going through a growth spurt."

Again, Hana got Julie back down to sleep before resuming her previous activities with her mate. That time, Jaehyun actually managed to push inside of Hana before Julie interrupted. At that point, they gave up, tugging their pajamas back on and flopping into their bed. "Definitely a growth spurt." Jaehyun murmured as Hana got Julie latched on to nurse yet again that night.

Hana hummed, relaxing against her pillows once Julie was suckling contently on her. "You know, now I’m wondering how the hell my parents managed to have four pups when we can't even have one night."

"Must be some kind of trick to it that we just haven't figured out yet." Jaehyun said, shifting to rest his chin on Hana's shoulder. "I'm sorry we didn't get to have your perfect ending to this Valentine's Day."

The 25-year-old shrugged, smiling softly down at their daughter as the eight-week-old slowly began to drift back off to sleep on her breast. "I think this is still a pretty perfect ending.

Chapter Text

Yoongi sat at one of the tables near the baggage claim area with Abby, holding her and Chan's youngest pup in his lap to try to help her manage them while they waited for the competition team to return from their convention in Washington DC. When the group finally appeared on the escalator, Chan at the front as the leader, the four oldest pups immediately took off running to greet him. "Appa!"

"Thanks for your help." Abby said gratefully as she nudged Emmy out of her lap and took the four-year old's hand before using her free arm to pick Lucy up from Yoongi's lap, heading off to welcome her mate home.

Jimin and Sunwoo were at the back of the group, the 19-year-old immediately running to hug Yoongi while Jimin lingered behind to make sure each dancer was reunited with their guardian so no one was lost or overlooked. "Hi, Jellybean." Yoongi hugged Sunwoo tightly. "How was the convention?"

"It was good." Sunwoo said. "But I'm glad we made it back in time to spend at least a little bit of your birthday with you." Yoongi smiled at that, squeezing Sunwoo tighter.

"That's pretty much all he talked about during the flight home." Jimin said as he finally joined them, Yoongi releasing their pup so he could embrace his mate instead. Jimin pressed their lips together for a few seconds. "He's been talking about buying you dinner for your birthday before we go home." Sunwoo nodded eagerly as if to confirm his mom's words.

Yoongi's smile grew a bit, a warmth spreading through his chest. "How about we go through McDonald's or something and you buy me that so we can take it home? I'm sure you're tired and ready to rest from traveling." Sunwoo nodded again. "And I would like to spend some time with my mate who has now spent two weekends in a row away from me." Yoongi pinched Jimin's waist playfully, referring to how they'd been in Tulsa the weekend before for their regionals competition. "I'm starting to think you don't like me very much."

"I mean, it's not like I packed up my entire life and moved to completely different country for you." Jimin said. "Then proceeded to birth four of your pups." Jimin pressed his lips to Yoongi's again before the alpha could try to come up with some bullshit to tease him. "Let's go home." Yoongi was quick to grab both Jimin and Sunwoo's suitcases, carrying them for the omegas as they made their way out to the car.

***

Hana smiled brightly as she picked Julie up from her crib following her mid-afternoon nap. "Did you sleep so well, Julie?" She cooed to the two-month-old, earning a bright smile from her. "You didn't make even a single peep for the whole hour and 15 minutes." Hana praised her as she carried her to the chair in the corner of the nursery. "I bet you're super hungry after all that sleeping." She settled the nursing pillow in her lap and positioned Julie on it before lifting her shirt up to nurse her.

As Julie began to suckle almost aggressively, proving how hungry she was, Hana gently patted her back soothingly until she calmed down a bit. "Guess what Eomma did while you were napping." Hana murmured. "I had a meeting with a small production company, and I finally sold a screenplay." Julie let out a tiny giggle around Hana's nipple. "That's right. For The Exchange Student. It got rejected a couple of times before, but someone finally liked it and now it's gonna get made into a movie. I can't wait until the movie's made and you're old enough for me to show it to you."

Julie pulled off of Hana's nipple to gurgle, causing a tiny amount of milk to spray on her face. She startled in surprise for a moment before laughing. "Aww, you have such the sweetest laugh!" Hana pouted at how cute her daughter was while shifting to pull her phone out of her pocket. "Let's laugh again so Daddy can see." Hana said as she started taking a video. "Help him get through the last little hump before he gets to be home for the weekend." As if she understood, Julie let out another laugh before opening her mouth wide, searching for Hana's breast again. Hana stopped the video so she could help Julie get latched back on.

***

"I'm so happy this appointment fell during spring break." Charlie mused as she and Hajoon waited for Dr. Parker to come in to start their mid pregnancy ultrasound. "Can you imagine finding out what we're having and then having to turn around and go right to work and have to suppress all that excitement?"

"You mean like I have to do?" Hajoon pointed out, as he still very much had work that day.

Charlie shot him a look. "Yeah but you're working from home today. Therefore no one's gonna know if you do a few happy dances with me or take a break to make plans for Dumpling Jr."

"True." Hajoon conceded, reaching out to rest his hand against Charlie's bump that had just grown big enough to be seen even through her clothes. "We're looking forward to seeing you today, Dumpling Jr."

Dr. Parker came into the room moments later and very quickly started the ultrasound, examining every inch of their pup and assuring each step of the way that they were healthy and developing just right. "Now to see if they want to be seen today or not." She moved the ultrasound wand a bit and Hajoon had to stifle a laugh at how it looked like their pup had his legs spread wide open to show off his penis. "Well, I think it's pretty obvious what he is." Dr. Parker chuckled.

"Definitely no doubt there." Charlie giggled.