Chapter Text
Pete hasn’t talked to Bradley in ten years.
Not since he learned Pete pulled his papers to the Naval Academy. He’d regretted doing it immediately, but Carole had begged him to do it. She’d begged him to protect her pup and how the hell could he deny his sister that? Not after he’d been responsible for her mate’s death.
Tom had been so angry about the situation, and so had Beau, and it’d taken them both a month to pry the reason out of their stubborn omega. The only reason they even manage is because of Jake, their relentless, snarky pup who walked into their room with tear-filled eyes and asked if it was his fault Bradley was gone. So, after cuddling their youngest between them until he fell asleep, he told his alphas why he did it and they understood, they were still angry, but it wasn’t at him any longer.
It didn’t stop Pete from pulling Bradley’s transfer application the next year. The third year, he’s told the application has been pulled but a few weeks later, Beau tells him Bradley got in. His old CO is the Vice Admiral heading up the school. Beau asked him not to let Bradley’s papers get yanked as a favor to him.
Pete had cried, both because his mate had lied to him but also because at least he didn’t have to keep breaking Bradley’s heart. Still, their son never called or came home. Those Bradshaw boys love with their whole hearts, but that also makes holding on to their anger all the more intense. It hurts even worse because when Jake calls, he never gets answers.
Jake, who despite his love of flying, follows his love of the water into a promising surfing career. A career that none of them ever saw coming. Their entire family surfs, even Pete despite his aversion to boats outside of the Navy’s carriers, goes out with him when he’s home. When the time came for college applications, he still went to school but his focus has been in his pro-surfing career.
None of them expected it but Jake is happy with where he is.
Their life has had such a deep hole in it without Bradley that it’s a shock when Pete’s phone flashes with his eldest’s name. The contact picture (one of the young alpha at seven covered in popcorn and caramel sauce from an impromptu food fight during a movie night) flashes across his screen. He stares at it for so long that it almost goes to voicemail before he scrambles to pick it up. “Bradley?”
The sound of a car’s engine going way too fast is loud, but what’s more concerning is the sniffling he hears. “Ma?”
He sucks in a sharp breath. The fear and devastation in that voice makes his heart beat painfully in his chest and his stomach churn. “Baby, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Jake, Ma, I-I was on leave an-and I ran into him at Del Mar. Th-there was a shark, i-it just cam-came up and took him.”
A chill runs up his spine and his tears blur his vision. He can’t get any air into his lungs no matter how much he tries. No, no, no, it can’t be. Not Jake, not his baby, not the baby he fought so hard to have and bring home to his family. “No…”
“I got him out, Ma, I went after it and got him out b-but ther-there was so much blood. Th-they wouldn’t let me in the ambulance. W-we’re right be-behind them.”
Jake’s alive. If he’s in an ambulance then he’s alive. “What hospital?”
Bradley raddles off the name, it’s the one Pete’s familiar with having taken Carole there for her cancer treatments. It’s also nearly an hour’s drive from North Island and a minimum of thirty from Miramar. It will only take him about fifteen to get there if he drives like a normal person, but he’s not a normal person. Immediately Pete starts looking for the keys. “Ma, I-I’m sorry. I-I’m so-sorry.”
“Don-don’t, Baby, I-I’m on my way. Ju-just stay there. C-call, Ice, yeah? Call him, I’ll call Cy an-and we’ll be there.” Where the fuck are his keys?
Sniffling, the young alpha gives an affirmative. “Pl-please, hurry, it was bad.”
His keys fell behind the little table they keep by the front door. He shoves the damn thing out of his way and grabs them off the dusty floor. “Ar-are you with someone?”
“Ye-yeah, som-some of my squad an-and Jake’s friends."
Shit, Coyote, Fanboy, and Payback were all out with Jake today and one of his regular surfing buddies. The three aviators all learned to surf when they became friends with Jake so they could spend more time with him when they were on leave. “Call Ice, I’ll be there soon.”
_____
May 1995 - Somewhere Along the Pacific Coast Highway
Pete blinks his tired eyes open and smiles sleepily at Beau. “Thank you,” he whispers, “for coming with me. I know it’s the last thing you’d want to do while on leave.”
Beau glances at him, a soft smile on his face as he reaches over to run a head along the omega’s distended belly. “This is the best thing I could ask for on my first day home.”
At just over seven months, Pete feels like he barely has any energy to do anything. He’d been placed on bedrest even before his first trimester ended, which sucked, but now he’s more than happy for it. He never realized just how much energy it took being pregnant. If it weren’t for Carole and his alphas he’s not sure he would have been able to handle the insanity of being cooped up.
Tom, who’d been transferred to Top Gun the year before, has been close by the entire time. Beau, on the other hand, has been deployed on the USS Enterprise for the last four months. He’s missed a good chunk of Pete’s pregnancy and that has hurt all three of them while they waited for his tour to end and he could come home.
Pete’s not ashamed to say he’d cried when their mate had finally returned to them. Beau’s in line for a promotion next, one that would keep him stationed right in Miramar at Top Gun for a while. It’s even closer than Tom is right now which will be perfect while Pete is on maternity leave.
“You wanted to spend your first day in a crowded medical office?” Pete asks. His OB is based in San Diego but had to come out to Santa Ana for a few days at sister practice. She’s the only doctor Pete has been comfortable seeing since he realized he was pregnant.
Beau laughs. “Not, not exactly, but I’ve missed every single one of your appointments, Pete. Of course I wouldn’t miss this one.”
Pete can’t help the fluttery feeling in his stomach. Beau had joined their mating after he and Tom had already been together. It’d been a very confusing situation for them to figure out, but Beau had been the one they wanted more than anything. The three of them just fit together so perfectly. “I’m glad you came,” he yawns again, “I miss having you here.”
“Well, that just means I’m going to have to annoy you until you get sick of me again.”
Pete’s laugh is cut off by a loud pop and squeal of tires behind them. A second later, something hard slams into the back of their car.
_____
Penny drives him.
She saw him rushing to his motorcycle in a frantic mess and had immediately snatched his keys out of his hands. Before he could argue, she’d dragged him to her Buick and shoved him in the front.
Her father had taught her to drive, but Pete had taught her how to drive and she uses both those skills now. Weaving between cars and opening up the engine where there’s less risk of them slamming into another vehicle. The hospital had soon come into view and she’d swung into the emergency entrance only seconds behind an ambulance being followed by a very familiar Bronco.
Bradley had all but fallen out of the passenger seat of the Bronco as the stretcher was being pulled out. Pete didn’t even get the chance to register his eldest because all he can focus on is Jake.
His baby, covered in blood and pale as a corpse, has a huge gaping crescent shaped bite in his torso and stomach. Another bite wraps around his calf and bleeds in a steady stream across the gurney.
“Jake,” his voice is almost unrecognizable to his own ears as he lunges toward the team rushing Jake inside. Someone grabs his arm and he snarls at them, the orderly practically falling over in shock at Pete’s reaction. No one tries to stop him again as he appears on Jake’s other side. Bradley’s hulking form right next to him. “Jake,” he cries, something wet dripping down his cheeks, “Baby, please.”
Jake’s eyes flutter and after an enormous amount of effort, the blond’s eyes open, vibrant green eyes once so full of life now dulled in pain. “Mo-mama?”
Pete rests a hand on his cheek, “I’m here, I’m here, Baby. Ju-just stay awake, okay? I need you to stay awake.”
Jake whines, the sound making Bradley growl at a nurse when she comes a little too close. “...tired.”
A female doctor comes over, an omega by her scent, and leans over him. “Hey Jake, I need you to listen to your mom, okay? We need you to stay awake for as long as possible. I’m Dr. Grey, I’m going to be helping you.”
Jake makes noise to indicate he heard her but doesn’t say anything more, the effort just too much for him to take. Dr. Grey looks at Pete and Bradley, “keep talking to him. We’re going to be running up to the OR and once we reach a certain point you will not be able to go further. Keep him calm.”
Surgery. Oh God, that means it’s really bad, isn’t it?
_____
Pete opens his eyes and wishes he didn’t. Everything hurts, there isn’t a spot on his body that doesn’t, and when he blinks a few times he realizes that he’s upside down.
Why is he upside down? Is there–
The car.
“B-Beau?” he whines. Twisting just enough that he can look at the alpha next to him. Beau’s there, his eyes closed and blood dripping from his temple. He reaches a hand over only to stop when he feels himself slipping from his seat. Immediately, he wraps one arm around his belly and holds on for dear life to keep from crashing to down. “Beau.” The desperation in his voice triggers a groan from the alpha but that’s it.
A cramp in his lower back catches his attention but he forces his focus on the situation at hand. There’s no time to focus on those false labor pains.
Beau keeps a hunting knife in the glove compartment. If he can just get it, he can cut his seatbelt free and lower himself down as gently as he can. With his belly, he’s far too big to fit through the window, but he’ll be at a better angle to kick the door open. “Beau, wake up, please.”
But he doesn’t.
“Hey! Is anyone alive in there!”
Pete sobs at the sudden appearance of someone. “Help! Please! W-we’re both alive.”
Two sets of feet appear on Pete’s side. “Protect your face,” the second person says, “we’re busting the window open.”
Pete does so and second later, the window fully shatters and two face appear in the open. “Oh thank, God,” the one on the right says. “I’m Freddy, this Steve, our buddy ran down the road to get a phone signal and call for help.”
“I-I’m Pete. Be-Beau is-is next to me, h-he’s not conscious.”
“Good, alive is good, Pete. Can you tell how badly you're hurt?” Steve asks.
Pete shakes his head. “I-I don’t know. Ev-everything hurts I—” he cuts off with a sharp yelp and both hands clutch his abdomen. The cramps had been steadily getting worse but he’d been ignoring it but that one hurt.
“Hey, come on, talk to us,” Freddy says. “What’s going on?”
He whimpers, slowly feeling down between his legs only to feel a dampness covering his jeans. When he pulls his fingers away, there’s a clear wetness there and not blood. “I-I think my water just broke.”
“Fuck.” Freddy shoves his friend up. “Steve, get the car and try and pry the trunk open. There’s a crowbar in there, we have to get him out.”
The sudden reality of the situation slams into him and Pete can’t stop the fear and tears burning through him. “I-It’s too soon,” he cries, “I-I’m on-only tw-twenty-nine weeks. My pup, I-I can’t—”
“Pete, hey, come on, take my hand.” Freddy doesn’t give him much choice as the beta all but shoves himself through the shattered window. “My mate had our pup at twenty-six weeks and she’s a perfectly healthy baby girl now. Your pup can survive this but they’re going to need their Mama to help them do it, so you gotta take a deep breath for me.”
He does, though he can’t stop crying as he clutches to Freddy’s hand like a lifeline. “Be-Beau, h-he won’t wake up.”
“Okay, we’ll get him out right after we take care of you. Do you have a name for your pup?”
“J-Jacob,” he takes deep breaths. “Jacob Duke.”
“JD for short! I love that, with a name like that he’s going to be something special. My daughter’s name is Callie and she’s got the sweetest little smile. I bet she’d love to meet you.”
_____
Jake’s still wearing his wetsuit, the dark material torn where the bites are. Pete heard Dr. Grey say to one of the doctors assisting her that it’s probably what kept Jake alive. The compression of the material works to keep pressure on his body and stop the flow of blood from being worse than it is. Pete doesn’t want to know what Jake would look like if it were worse. Would he even be alive?
“Pops is going to be so upset with me,” Pete says as they’re rushing through the ER towards the elevator trying and failing to keep from letting the idea of what could have happened linger in his mind, “I pissed Cain off again yesterday during that debrief. I bet that’s why he went into the base so early this morning.”
Jake’s blinking hazily up at him, not really focused on the words but the sound of his voice seeming to keep the younger omega’s attention. “Ma…Po-pop…da…”
“They’re coming, Baby, they’re on their way so you gotta hold on.” He can’t get Beau’s frantic voice out of his, the man shouting orders at whoever he’d been talking to before telling Pete he’d be at the hospital soon.
God, he can’t even imagine how Tom is feeling. He’d been the most reluctant to let Jake go pro, not because he thought it was a stupid career, but because of shit like this. Even if shark attacks are exceedingly rare in reality, Pete and Jake both have the uncanny ability to get themselves into trouble even when they’re not trying.
Jake makes another whimpering sound. “...tel…Brad…sor-ry.”
“What? JD, you don’t have anything to apologize for!” Bradley shouts, eyes wide in shock at the notion that there’s something his little brother would need to apologize for. “Jake, it was me, it was all me. You-you gotta stay strong, okay? I’ll tell you everything, ju-just stay awake.”
The elevator doors slide open and they’re running down the hall again. As they approach the doors that will take them to the operating room, Dr. Grey is stopping them. “This is as far as you can go.”
“What? No, please, let us stay with him ju-just until he’s put under!” Bradley begs.
“I’m sorry, but this is the furthest I can let you through. I’ve got Jake and I’m very good.” Then she’s rushing through the doors, the automatic lock keeping them out.
Pete stands there for a long moment before his knees give out on him.
_____
They pry the door off by the hinges and Freddy climbs back in to cushion Pete as he finally cuts himself loose from the seatbelt. It takes both strangers to get the omega safely out of the car.
By the time they get him laying out and on the solid dirt, Pete’s contractions are a mere fifteen minutes apart and he’s learned the three men are all first responders from the East Coast. Freddy is an EMT and Steve and the other one are fire fighters. “Pete, I need to check you, okay? I need to see how far along you are.”
This isn’t how it’s supposed to happen. He’s not supposed to have his pup on the side of the road with his mate unconscious and hanging upside down in his car. “Be-Beau?”
“He’s good, Petey!” Steve shouts from where he’s working to pry open the other door. “I just gotta get this door open and we’ll get him out.”
“Hey!” A new voice shouts, the man comes running from the direction of the road. “I got through to 911 and got the other car’s plates for them. They’re sending a rescue chopper from some place called North Island.”
Pete tries not to shove Freddy away as the man pulls his pants down. “I-I-t’s the Naval base,” he gasps. Another contraction hits him and he yelps as Freddy reaches between his legs to check his progress. The contraction lasts for about a minute before finally fading away and leaving him gasping for breathe.
“Pete, I’m going to feel around your belly to make sure JD is doing okay. I’m sorry, I know you don’t know me but we have to make sure your both doing okay.” He closes his eyes and lets Freddy do what he needs to. Fuck, he hates this people touching him that he doesn’t know. It took him forever to find an OB that didn’t set his teeth on edge and now he’s got to let a fucking stranger feeling up his bump, it sets every instinct on edge even if he knows they don’t have a choice. “Okay, I don’t feel anything externally, that’s good.”
“Why the hell would they send a Naval rescue?” Steve asks as he and the new guy continue trying to get the door off.”
Pete covers his face with his hands and leans back against the dirt. “W-We’re Navy,” he whimpers. Fuck, everything hurts so bad right now he can’t pinpoint the worse of it. “Beau i-is a cap-captain I-I’m a comm-commander.” He’s so tired all of a sudden. Everything just hurts and he want to close his eyes. “To-Tom’s an-an Admiral.”
“Who’s Tom?”
Pete’s eyes feel so heavy. “My…my alp-alpha. H-he’s coming…”
“Pete? Pete! Come on, man, you gotta stay awake for JD.” Warm hands grab his shoulders and he finds himself being propped up against a solid chest. “Come on, Pete, stay awake.”
But he can’t. He’s just….so…..tired…