With a bonus line from the comics for those who’ve read them! ;)
Somehow it’s fitting that it’s Nile, the newest blood out of all of them, who figures it out. She’s noticeably picking at her food a couple of days after they left Booker, and Andy finally gives in with a sigh. “What is it?” she asks, setting her fork down, exasperated.
“It just doesn’t seem right,” Nile muttered, and Nicky was all ready to dive in, to explain to her that while a century might seem like a long time, it was nothing compared to their nearly-endless lives and they all needed a bit of space to get over Booker’s betrayal before they could welcome him back. “I mean, an omega like him, all on his own,” Nile continued, oblivious. “Not that omegas can’t be off on their own and do whatever they want,” she clarified, clearly misinterpreting their looks of shock. “But he was hurting and so lonely and I think he was about to go into heat and it just didn’t feel right.”
“Booker’s not an omega,” Andy declared, but she didn’t sound completely confident of it. Nile raised an eyebrow, incredulous. “Are you kidding? I could tell that in the first ten minutes after we met. And you guys knew him for two hundred years and never—“
Nicky shrugged, looking a bit sheepish. “Joe and I are both betas, and anyways, by the time Sebastien came along there weren’t that many omegas left anyway. Are you sure? He’s never gone into heat around us, I’m confident of that.”
Nile rolled her eyes. “He’s just gotten good at hiding it. Trust me, my best friend from high school was an omega and embarrassed about it and we managed to hide it for four years.” She quirked an eyebrow at Andy. “I understand Joe and Nicky because they’re betas anyway. But how could you miss it? You’re, like—“ she gestured with her hands to try and encapsulate all of Andy, her quiet confidence, the alpha pheromones she exuded. “You’re like the textbook definition of an alpha. You didn’t think that he smelled differently than Joe and Nicky?”
Andy chewed her lip, a sinking feeling in her gut as she considered the possibility that Nile might be right. Back all those thousands of years ago when Andy had first roamed the plains, omegas had been more common, and she had grown up believing that they were something to be treasured, cherished. They were even more precious now that there were so few of them. Could she really have had one, right in front of her, and let him suffer alone, hiding his designation and struggling through his heats on his own? “He smelled a little different,” she answered slowly. “But he was born seven hundred years later, I just thought...” she clenched her hand into a fist, angry at herself if she had somehow missed this, angry at the world. “So much has changed in the world, Nile. I just thought that was why.”
Joe looked concerned, so much so that Nicky had wrapped an arm around his shoulders, fingers tracing circles on his husband’s arm. “Boss....I mean, I’m still very, very pissed at him, but...if Nile’s right and he’s going into heat, do you think maybe we should check on him, just to make sure he has a safe place to ride it out?”
“Of course I’m going to have to make sure he’s alright,” Andy grumbled. “I still don’t think he can be an omega, don’t think I could have missed that for this long, but on the off chance that Nile’s right, I can’t let him suffer anymore on his own, even if he is a liar and a cheat. Goddamn this,” she said emphatically and went off to pack her bag.
When Andy found him in a village in the Pyrenees, it was immediately clear that Booker is in heat. It was early days, still, but she could smell the syrupy sweetness of it from outside the small cottage he’s staying in, and for the thousandth time since Nile lifted the lid on this, Andy felt like she could kick herself for having been so blind. How many times had Booker slipped away from them, feigning an errand, only so that he could hole himself up in a place like this? How many times had he had to fight off intruders who smelled his sweetness and tried to take advantage of him?
When she managed to get the door open, the smell was like an assault, like nothing she had smelled in more than two thousand years. It was like honeysuckle and a warm fire and the first blossoms of spring, all tied into one. It was a scent of home, of belonging, and she wanted, oh how she wanted. It was impossible for an old-school alpha like her not to want him with a sudden fierceness, but she had enough self-control to remember that she was just here to make sure he was alright.
If she thought it was bad smelling him, seeing him was worse. Booker was curled into a pile of clothes on the narrow bed—she thought she recognised something of hers and something of Joe’s, old clothes she hadn’t seen in years and had completely forgotten about—with three fingers plunged deep inside himself, fucking himself desperately as his hips rabbited forward against the mattress.
“Oh, Book,” she said, weary and turned on and filled with a deep sadness that he hadn’t trusted them with this. He turned, shocked at the sound of her voice, and his eyes widened as they locked with hers. “Boss,” he said, worshipfully, and came, spilling all over the little nest of clothes he had made and groaning with relief, and fuck. Andy was in trouble.
He looked sheepish as he came down from his high and removed his fingers with a wet pop. “C’est la guerre, hein?” He muttered. “I...I never meant for you to see me like this.” She sighed, sitting down next to him on the mattress, fighting to tamp down the urge to reach out and comfort him, to pull him into her arms and show him how she would cherish him, if he would let her.
“Well, that much is clear. Why, Book?” She asked, and the hurt was clear in her voice, along with the strain of holding herself at arm’s length from him. Every long-buried instinct in her was screaming out that there was an omega in distress next to her, one in heat no less. “We loved you so much. I loved you so much. Why didn’t you trust us with this?”
He sighed, picking at a thread on one of the T-shirts he had wadded up on the bed, not wanting to meet her eyes. “I didn’t want you to see me any differently. I was afraid that maybe you wouldn’t let me fight alongside you anymore, or you would just give me the easy tasks, and I didn’t want that.”
She shook her head, and finally she gave in and ran her fingers tenderly through his hair, sending a full-body shiver through him. “Then you didn’t know us very well, sweetheart. This is just a part of you, it doesn’t change how good a fighter you are, how much we like to have you watching our backs. I may be old, but I don’t subscribe to outdated ideas about omegas. I don’t think I ever told you, but Lykon was an omega, too, and I fought alongside him for thousands of years.” She pressed a kiss to Booker’s forehead, and he nearly sobbed. “I’m sorry that we made you feel like you had to hide this. I’m sorry that I didn’t notice.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t want you to notice,” he explained, and for a moment he surrendered to her gentle caresses through his hair. She could feel the moment that his scent changed again, becoming sweeter, sharper, and when she looked down his cock was already filling against his thigh. “Again so soon?” She asked, a little surprised that it was this bad so early in his heat, and he sighed. “It’s—it’s worse than usual this time,” he admitted, and then, knowing that she would ask, “it’s because I hugged you goodbye the other day. I don’t usually let myself get that close to you right before my heat,” and she felt like her heart was breaking at how careful he had had to be, all on his own, to hide this from them.
Andy swallowed, deeply, the knowledge that she had affected him this way settling low in her gut. “Booker,” she said cautiously. “I’m not going to fuck you, because that’s a conversation we would have to have when you’re not already in heat, but...if you want, I can help you out a little bit? Or I can leave, whatever is easiest for you.”
“Please stay,” he gasped out, unable to deny himself this when it was right in front of him. “Please, boss, please help me...” he begged as he wrapped a hand around his weeping length, and she was helpless to resist. “Come here,” she beckoned, rearranging them so that he was nestled in her arms. “Do you have a toy you like, something you want me to use?” But he was shaking his head. “Your fingers, please, Andy, it’s all I want.”
She gave him what he wanted, sliding two fingers into him at once and groaning at how slick he was. “That’s it,” she soothed as he rocked back onto her fingers. “I’m here now, just let it out, darling.” She crooked her fingers just so, pressing lightly against his sweet spot, and he screamed as if he had been electrocuted, seizing up in her arms as he climaxed again. “I dreamt of this,” he murmured lazily. “Dreamt so many times of letting you take care of me, Boss,” and she sighed against his neck.
“I’m going to take care of you, Book, this times and as many times as you want.” She swallowed a lump in her throat, but she knew it had to be said. “This doesn’t fix everything, Sébastien. The others are worried about you, but they aren’t ready to see you again, and it may be a while before they are. But I don’t want you to suffer alone, alright? If you need us, for your heat or for anything, I want you to call, and we will figure something out. What you did broke our hearts,” and she could feel his shoulders trembling and knew that he was crying silently. “But we will find a way to piece them back together, and a way to welcome you home, because we are family and we love you.”
Fill: Andy/Booker, Booker is a secret omega
With a bonus line from the comics for those who’ve read them! ;)
Somehow it’s fitting that it’s Nile, the newest blood out of all of them, who figures it out. She’s noticeably picking at her food a couple of days after they left Booker, and Andy finally gives in with a sigh. “What is it?” she asks, setting her fork down, exasperated.
“It just doesn’t seem right,” Nile muttered, and Nicky was all ready to dive in, to explain to her that while a century might seem like a long time, it was nothing compared to their nearly-endless lives and they all needed a bit of space to get over Booker’s betrayal before they could welcome him back. “I mean, an omega like him, all on his own,” Nile continued, oblivious. “Not that omegas can’t be off on their own and do whatever they want,” she clarified, clearly misinterpreting their looks of shock. “But he was hurting and so lonely and I think he was about to go into heat and it just didn’t feel right.”
“Booker’s not an omega,” Andy declared, but she didn’t sound completely confident of it. Nile raised an eyebrow, incredulous. “Are you kidding? I could tell that in the first ten minutes after we met. And you guys knew him for two hundred years and never—“
Nicky shrugged, looking a bit sheepish. “Joe and I are both betas, and anyways, by the time Sebastien came along there weren’t that many omegas left anyway. Are you sure? He’s never gone into heat around us, I’m confident of that.”
Nile rolled her eyes. “He’s just gotten good at hiding it. Trust me, my best friend from high school was an omega and embarrassed about it and we managed to hide it for four years.” She quirked an eyebrow at Andy. “I understand Joe and Nicky because they’re betas anyway. But how could you miss it? You’re, like—“ she gestured with her hands to try and encapsulate all of Andy, her quiet confidence, the alpha pheromones she exuded. “You’re like the textbook definition of an alpha. You didn’t think that he smelled differently than Joe and Nicky?”
Andy chewed her lip, a sinking feeling in her gut as she considered the possibility that Nile might be right. Back all those thousands of years ago when Andy had first roamed the plains, omegas had been more common, and she had grown up believing that they were something to be treasured, cherished. They were even more precious now that there were so few of them. Could she really have had one, right in front of her, and let him suffer alone, hiding his designation and struggling through his heats on his own? “He smelled a little different,” she answered slowly. “But he was born seven hundred years later, I just thought...” she clenched her hand into a fist, angry at herself if she had somehow missed this, angry at the world. “So much has changed in the world, Nile. I just thought that was why.”
Joe looked concerned, so much so that Nicky had wrapped an arm around his shoulders, fingers tracing circles on his husband’s arm. “Boss....I mean, I’m still very, very pissed at him, but...if Nile’s right and he’s going into heat, do you think maybe we should check on him, just to make sure he has a safe place to ride it out?”
“Of course I’m going to have to make sure he’s alright,” Andy grumbled. “I still don’t think he can be an omega, don’t think I could have missed that for this long, but on the off chance that Nile’s right, I can’t let him suffer anymore on his own, even if he is a liar and a cheat. Goddamn this,” she said emphatically and went off to pack her bag.
When Andy found him in a village in the Pyrenees, it was immediately clear that Booker is in heat. It was early days, still, but she could smell the syrupy sweetness of it from outside the small cottage he’s staying in, and for the thousandth time since Nile lifted the lid on this, Andy felt like she could kick herself for having been so blind. How many times had Booker slipped away from them, feigning an errand, only so that he could hole himself up in a place like this? How many times had he had to fight off intruders who smelled his sweetness and tried to take advantage of him?
When she managed to get the door open, the smell was like an assault, like nothing she had smelled in more than two thousand years. It was like honeysuckle and a warm fire and the first blossoms of spring, all tied into one. It was a scent of home, of belonging, and she wanted, oh how she wanted. It was impossible for an old-school alpha like her not to want him with a sudden fierceness, but she had enough self-control to remember that she was just here to make sure he was alright.
If she thought it was bad smelling him, seeing him was worse. Booker was curled into a pile of clothes on the narrow bed—she thought she recognised something of hers and something of Joe’s, old clothes she hadn’t seen in years and had completely forgotten about—with three fingers plunged deep inside himself, fucking himself desperately as his hips rabbited forward against the mattress.
“Oh, Book,” she said, weary and turned on and filled with a deep sadness that he hadn’t trusted them with this. He turned, shocked at the sound of her voice, and his eyes widened as they locked with hers. “Boss,” he said, worshipfully, and came, spilling all over the little nest of clothes he had made and groaning with relief, and fuck. Andy was in trouble.
He looked sheepish as he came down from his high and removed his fingers with a wet pop. “C’est la guerre, hein?” He muttered. “I...I never meant for you to see me like this.” She sighed, sitting down next to him on the mattress, fighting to tamp down the urge to reach out and comfort him, to pull him into her arms and show him how she would cherish him, if he would let her.
“Well, that much is clear. Why, Book?” She asked, and the hurt was clear in her voice, along with the strain of holding herself at arm’s length from him. Every long-buried instinct in her was screaming out that there was an omega in distress next to her, one in heat no less. “We loved you so much. I loved you so much. Why didn’t you trust us with this?”
He sighed, picking at a thread on one of the T-shirts he had wadded up on the bed, not wanting to meet her eyes. “I didn’t want you to see me any differently. I was afraid that maybe you wouldn’t let me fight alongside you anymore, or you would just give me the easy tasks, and I didn’t want that.”
She shook her head, and finally she gave in and ran her fingers tenderly through his hair, sending a full-body shiver through him. “Then you didn’t know us very well, sweetheart. This is just a part of you, it doesn’t change how good a fighter you are, how much we like to have you watching our backs. I may be old, but I don’t subscribe to outdated ideas about omegas. I don’t think I ever told you, but Lykon was an omega, too, and I fought alongside him for thousands of years.” She pressed a kiss to Booker’s forehead, and he nearly sobbed. “I’m sorry that we made you feel like you had to hide this. I’m sorry that I didn’t notice.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t want you to notice,” he explained, and for a moment he surrendered to her gentle caresses through his hair. She could feel the moment that his scent changed again, becoming sweeter, sharper, and when she looked down his cock was already filling against his thigh. “Again so soon?” She asked, a little surprised that it was this bad so early in his heat, and he sighed. “It’s—it’s worse than usual this time,” he admitted, and then, knowing that she would ask, “it’s because I hugged you goodbye the other day. I don’t usually let myself get that close to you right before my heat,” and she felt like her heart was breaking at how careful he had had to be, all on his own, to hide this from them.
Andy swallowed, deeply, the knowledge that she had affected him this way settling low in her gut. “Booker,” she said cautiously. “I’m not going to fuck you, because that’s a conversation we would have to have when you’re not already in heat, but...if you want, I can help you out a little bit? Or I can leave, whatever is easiest for you.”
“Please stay,” he gasped out, unable to deny himself this when it was right in front of him. “Please, boss, please help me...” he begged as he wrapped a hand around his weeping length, and she was helpless to resist. “Come here,” she beckoned, rearranging them so that he was nestled in her arms. “Do you have a toy you like, something you want me to use?” But he was shaking his head. “Your fingers, please, Andy, it’s all I want.”
She gave him what he wanted, sliding two fingers into him at once and groaning at how slick he was. “That’s it,” she soothed as he rocked back onto her fingers. “I’m here now, just let it out, darling.” She crooked her fingers just so, pressing lightly against his sweet spot, and he screamed as if he had been electrocuted, seizing up in her arms as he climaxed again. “I dreamt of this,” he murmured lazily. “Dreamt so many times of letting you take care of me, Boss,” and she sighed against his neck.
“I’m going to take care of you, Book, this times and as many times as you want.” She swallowed a lump in her throat, but she knew it had to be said. “This doesn’t fix everything, Sébastien. The others are worried about you, but they aren’t ready to see you again, and it may be a while before they are. But I don’t want you to suffer alone, alright? If you need us, for your heat or for anything, I want you to call, and we will figure something out. What you did broke our hearts,” and she could feel his shoulders trembling and knew that he was crying silently. “But we will find a way to piece them back together, and a way to welcome you home, because we are family and we love you.”