Waking up to N.J pouncing on top of you first thing in the morning is never a pleasant feeling. He was a growing boy and it knocked the wind out of me to have his entire weight collapsed onto my chest suddenly. How charming.

"Xan, wake up."

I pulled the pillow over my head, trying to shove him off of me to ignore him. After leaving Nico's last night, I had had a pretty late night. We had watched a film and lounged in his living room at complete opposite ends of the sofa but it was nice all the same. He made me laugh.

"Alexandros Greg Gille, wake the hell up. Ava has had her baby."

That was enough to make me pounce out of bed, eyes wide and heart pounding. The baby was finally here! I was both dazed and alert in my surprise.

"Get dressed." Mila chucked a hoodie at me, "It's raining."

My eyes wandered to the window and I fought back the smile. It was raining. It was the kind of misty rain that left a coating on your skin so light that it was barely noticeable. The most refreshing kind of rain.

"Is she okay? Everything went okay? She's not due yet." 

"As happy and healthy as you can be after pushing out a watermelon sized infant."

N.J, Mila and I jogged down the stairs. It was still dark out and the dash of my car told me it was three in the morning. I'd had only a half hour sleep but it was definitely worth it to go and see Oscar and Ava's newborn.

"She looked ready to pop weeks ago so I'm not surprised she's early." N.J chattered away, "Her stomach was huge."

"Big baby." Mila laughed, "It'll come out six foot tall."

Pulling into the carpark of the pack hospital, we all rushed to reception. A bubbling feeling of excitement was clogging my throat and I already felt emotional. I had been witness to the struggle Oscar and Ava had gone through since I was a child. Not being allowed to be together and fighting their relationship; it was inspirational and now they had a child on this earth.

Signing in at reception, they led us through respectfully. They obviously knew who we were and who we were there to see; the future alpha and beta were two faces ingrained into each pack members minds, regardless of age.

Knocking gently at the door, in case the baby was sleeping, I pushed the door open and saw Ava in a hospital bed. She looked flushed, her cheeks a deep pink, and had her hair pressed against the sides of her head with sweat. Next to her, Oscar was holding a small bundle in his arms. All I could see was a swaddle of white cloth.

"Perfect timing." Oscar grinned, "Come meet Ross."

"Ross?" Mila cooed, "You settled on a name?"

"After Alexandros, of course." Oscar laughed, "It was the only name we could both agree on for him."

My lip quivered and I felt the urge to cry. I was touched. Reaching my arms out, Oscar handed me the child and I finally got to see his little face. It was scrunched up in his sleep and was a warm pink colour. His black hair was curled on his head, sitting in wavy ringlets. He was perfect.

"Baby Ross, I'm Uncle Xan." I whispered to him, brushing his soft cheeks with the back of my finger. 

His eyes fluttered open and he looked up at me with wide, innocent eyes. My lip quivered and the tears let loose, rolling silently down my cheeks as I held him. He was truly a symbol of Oscar and Ava's beautiful, loving relationship; of them overcoming the hurdles to be together.

"You look just like your daddy." N.J cooed, peering over my shoulder to get a better look.

"No way, he looks like Ava. Look at his hair, it's got Ava's curls." Mila argued, stroking his soft head.

"Room for one more?" 

Looking up in my confusion, my mouth dropped open. Oscar held another baby.

"Two?" N.J scrunched his nose up, "Where did the second one come from?"

"The same place." Ava's laugh was weak but amused, "Believe me, I felt it."

"So did I." Oscar shuddered, "We hadn't told anybody that we were having twins. Surprise!"

Mila took baby Ross and I took ahold of the new baby, who was staring up at me with wide eyes the same way their brother was. They took ahold of my finger and wrapped their tiny fingers around it, squeezing.

"Her name is Lex." 

The tears streamed harder and my vision blurred. Ava and Oscar had been like a second set of parents to me while I had been growing up and it felt as if they had named my siblings after me. It was all too much.

"No way, Ross and Lex?" N.J huffed, "That's not fair! I'm their uncle, too."

"Tough luck." Mila teased.

"You got any more babies you're hiding back there? Noah is a great name." N.J joked.

Xavier and Cameron returned from the vending machine with cups of hot tea and said their hellos, asking how I felt about the happy news. Cameron in particular could see how much this meant to me. Baby Lex and Ross.

"Which one is older?" Xavier asked.

"Lex is older by three minutes."

"Well done." I whispered to her, cracking a smile.

Despite never wanting to let go, I handed Lex over to the nurse as she arrived to check on her. It began to get quite busy as Ava's parents arrived and the rest of Cameron's gang of friends. Mila, N.J and I excused ourselves, assuring Ava that we would bring food when we visit later. she was dying for a meal that wasn't hospital food.

Climbing into the car, I sat for a moment and watched the rain with a smile on my face.

"You look like you're on cloud nine." Mila commented.

"I just can't believe how amazing they are." 

"Who are you and what have you done with our Xan?" 

"He's broody." N.J laughed at his own joke.

Rolling my eyes at their antics, I pulled off and began to drive in the opposite direction of the pack house. They must have noticed but didn't question my antics. It was early morning now, the sun was rising, and I was starving.

"Where were you last night?" 

The question sat heavily and I thought about how I would approach the topic with them. I had largely been avoiding the topic of Nico but I knew it wasn't fair to shut them out when we had spent our entire lives sharing everything.

"I was with Nico, actually."

Judging by their reactions, they were just as on-ice about it as I was. I could also tell they were inwardly excited by this, however. 

"I'm sorry for shutting you both out; I've been focusing on processing everything lately." I began to explain, "Everything happened very quickly and it was quite the shock. I went to speak to Nico to apologise and to gauge how I feel about him, or whatever. I'm just taking it slow. We have until May fourteenth, Nico's birthday, before the mate bond sets in."

"So you are broody." 

Rolling my eyes with a smile, I swatted N.J over the head as best as I could while still driving.

"I'll take one triple stack of pancakes with extra syrup and bacon, a chocolate milkshake, a green smoothie, two croque monsieur croissants and a black coffee." I ordered at the drive through on their behalf, since I knew what they'd get.

"Xan, you've read my mind." Mila beamed, "I love the croissants from here."

"Add eggy bread!" N.J urged, "You love eggy bread."

N.J was right; I love eggy bread. 

Perhaps I forget sometimes that the two of them know me just as well as I know them because it hadn't occurred to me that N.J could recite my order in the same way that I could his. It was a nice feeling to be reminded of this.

"To be loved is to be known." 

N.J pulled a face at my words and pretended to gag at the sentiment.

"I added to an order, Xan. I didn't propose." 

Collecting and paying at the next window, I set the food in Mila's lap and headed back in the direction of the pack house. N.J raced up to our floor, but I surprised him by yanking him back from going towards our rooms. Holding his bag of food, he stared at me with a puzzled look.

"Unless we're eating in Xavier's office, there's nowhere else to eat on this floor." 

"That's what you think." I waggled my eyebrows, placing a foot on the window ledge and hoisting myself out of it.

It was still early enough in the morning that nobody was coming or going from Xavier's office. Besides, he was likely still at the hospital with Ava. Hanging onto the ladder on the side of the pack building, I pulled myself up the old, iron bars and jumped onto the roof. Doing it one handed while holding my drink was a task in of itself, but I was rather skilled by now.

N.J and Mila were a lot less used to it, moving cautiously onto the roof. I sunk into my usual spot, out of view from anyone on the ground, and took the food from the two of them so they could focus on climbing. 

"We've lived here our entire lives and never been up here." Mila whistled, "We've been missing out; it's quite the view."

"It's the same view as the nursery." N.J beamed, "This is what we painted onto Ross and Lex's walls... I wonder if they have a second crib ready."

"Oscar would be on top of it." 

Dishing out their food for them, I sipped my coffee contentedly. 

"You're an ass for never bringing us up here before." N.J chastised me, "This is really cool."

N.J wolfed his food down, no pun intended, and began to try and steal mine. Threatening to kick him off the side of the roof made him keep his hands to himself. I explained to the both of them how we'd have to be careful when we got down, in case of pack elders, and what their expression had been last time they'd caught me.

"The view up here is unreal." N.J admired it, standing to his feet to get a better view.

"Careful." I frowned, taking ahold of his ankle just in case.

The last thing I wanted was for N.J to stupidly fall to his death while trying to look out from above the treetops. I'm sure that Grace would never forgive me for a start.

"I'm not going to fall." N.J shook my grip from his ankle, nearing closer to the edge.

An anxious feeling settled in my stomach and I tried to shake it, standing to my feet to get closer to N.J as he moved further away. Mila followed us, holding onto my arm for stability. 

The three of us stood at the edge of the roof, looking out in awe. The sky was a mixture of sunset colours: of pink and orange hues. It was truly beautiful behind the silhouette of the trees and I could tell that N.J would probably come back here with his camera.

"If you come back, N.J, don't come back alone. Make sure you bring me." I told him sternly, "It's dangerous to be up here alone."

"You come up here alone." 

He was right but I wasn't as clumsy as him.

"Can you see that? In the distance." 

N.J and I redirected our attention to what Mila was pointing to. In the distance, so far that we'd only be able to see from this height and vantage point, there was a plume of smoke emerging from the trees.

"Is that not on pack territory?" Mila frowned.

From this distance, I couldn't exactly tell. The perimeter wall couldn't be seen from above since it was designed to be hidden by the treetops. One way or another, it was certainly close to the wall.

"There shouldn't be smoke anywhere close to here." I shook my head, "This seems like something we should be telling Xavier about."

"I mean, are you not supposed to be head of security? Maybe we should check it out ourselves."

It was clear that N.J didn't understand just how suspicious this was. Ignoring him, I took out my phone and dialled for Xavier. Whether his phone was intentionally off as he was still in the hospital or if it had died, I wasn't sure, but i wasn't getting through to him.

Instead, I dialled the only other person I could think of.