"What? How could I be mad?" Sure, he hadn't exactly been secretive about his fears of having more children. Not after what happened to his little girl and he would be lying if he said he was perfectly fine with this.
He let out a soft sigh, carefully stroking over his skin more before letting out a sigh and pressing his face into the side of his neck. He inhaled his scent, still bumping his nose over his skin. "Its scary, but I'm not mad. Couldn't be happier honestly."
"I just... We never talked about this. A baby. And you're not exactly a spring chicken." It was easy to fall back into their old banter. It was also easy to press a kiss to Hopper's lips, sighing softly.
"And we're not... you never bonded me. I wasn't... I didn't... know." If this was permanent to him the way it was to Billy.
"I know we didn't. Only time you heard me talk about kids was...well." He looked down for a moment before pressing their lips together again, wrapping arms around him tighter and making a soft, but happy sounds.
"Wanted to. Was trying to wait for your 18th birthday. People aren't open minded here like they are in California...police chief in his 40s bonding with a minor...wouldn't have been looked highly on. I wanted to do right by you." He said softly, smiling. "Wanted to do it all legal. Not just take you and bite you and that be that."
He sighed, leaning his head back. "Was even gonna plan a proper bonding ceremony and everything. Just for you."
Was when they talked about how he'd lost Sara. And that wasn't exactly a confidence boost that Jim wanted to have another baby. Especially with some drop kick who's mum left him and who's dad didn't love him.
"I'm 18 now." Jim didn't need to tell Billy that this wasn't California. He knew. He was strange enough in this small town; a mouthy omega who was always getting into fights and getting into trouble with the law. "That all sounds great, but I don't want to wait anymore. We have a chance now, one I thought was gone. I don't need a ceremony, I just need you."
"I remember. Wish I could have been here for your birthday. For all of it. El said...you were here alone. I never wanted that for you. I wish you would have stayed with them so you would have at least had El." He said softly before kissing him deeply.
A moment later he stroked a hand through Billy's hair, staring into his eyes and smiling. "You asking for my mark right now? With everyone right outside that door getting El fixed up?" Not that he really wanted to wait, not now that the younger man was telling him how much he really wanted it.
"Not that I particularly want to say no but...I definitely can't guarantee that getting into that won't...get into more. Dunno if I'm in any shape for that." He chuckled, but he kept nuzzling at his skin.
"I couldn't leave. This is our home. I felt closer to you here." Billy leans into the kiss easily, sighing against his lips and wrapping his arms tighter around his neck.
He's about to say yes, to declare that he doesn't care what they hear when Hopper's words register properly in his mind. "El's hurt?" He vaguely remembers being told that but he'd been so lost in seeing Jim that not much else had stuck clearly in his mind. "Is she okay?"
Billy also really wanted Jim to mark him and he's feeling torn between checking on El and letting the alpha sink his teeth into him.
He hesitated and looked towards the door that led into the living room before nodding slowly. "She'll be fine, but...well. She exhausted herself protecting me and ended up...getting hurt herself. She had a couple of wounds, but nothing Joyce and the others can't handle. She was resting when we came in here."
He moved then, body sore and exhausted himself so he pulled Billy along with him until they were both laying down and he had the younger man tucked in against his side with his head on his chest. "I love you. I'm sorry I wasn't here."
Billy's torn between getting up to go and check on her and staying right here. The decision is made when Jim pulls him along to lay down beside him and Billy goes easily, pressing his nose against the side of Hopper's neck and just breathing him in.
"I love you." The dam breaks and Billy lets out a heart wrenching sob, all the emotions from the last few months catching up with him, finally.
He held him close when Billy started crying, slowly rubbing his back and soothing the best that he could. He kissed the top of his head, shifting a bit more so he could kick off his shoes and then work his shirt off. He winced, knowing he looked like a mess, bruised all to hell but he wanted to feel Billy's skin against his own.
The man pulled a blanket over the both of them, sighing happily once he had them both in the cocoon that was their blanket and he could inhale the omega's familiar scent. He'd missed this so, so much.
It's Jim's bed but it smells like Billy, the alpha's scent long since washed out of the sheets much to the omega's dismay. He'd sobbed for hours when he realised he couldn't smell him anymore. It's why most of Jim's clothes had remained untouched in the closet, Billy only pulling out one thing at a time and wearing it until the scent was all him and not them.
He lets the alpha manhandle him into place, holding tight until the sobbing finally dies down into soft sniffles. He traces gently over a bruise on his chest. "Who did this?"
He carefully covered Billy's hand with his own, squeezing his fingers gently and lifting his hand to press his lips against his fingertips. "Asshole Russians, thats who. They wanted me to help find you. Or tell them where you were and I wouldn't do it. So...I got beat on the regular." He shrugged, giving a small smile.
"Small price to pay making sure you were safe. Thats all that mattered to me. Nothing they could have done would have made me talk."
"Russians? What do the Russians have to do with anything?" What? Steve had mentioned Russians but no one had ever actually explained to him the relevance. Or maybe they had and it had followed the news of "Hopper's dead". He knew people had tried telling him stuff, but as soon as he'd heard those words nothing else in the world had mattered until his doctor assured him that their baby was going to be okay.
"Apparently the Russians are the ones that started all this? With the Upside Down and that...that thing that had its hold on you." He said softly, stroking his fingers through Billy's hair and looking down at him. "They've been trying to open the damn doorway to that place for years. They found out some scientists here in Hawkins had done just that...so they came. They opened the door again."
He sighed, fingers still curling into Billy's hair slowly. "They knew you were possessed and they figured out we were connected. They figured out...what we were to one another. What we are. I'm not sure what they would have done to you, but I wasn't about to find out. They wanted El too. I had to keep you both safe."
"Fuckin' Russians." Because of them, that thing had gotten a hold of him, embedded itself into his brain and turned him into a murderer. He'd lead countless innocent people to their deaths. He'd tried to kill El. The girl who he had, at some point, started thinking of as something like a daughter. "What if... What if I'd succeeded? What if I'd killed El?"
The tears come again and Billy doesn't even want to blame the hormones. It was one of the hardest things to come to terms with; second only to having to accept that his alpha was dead.
"Billy, don't think about it, okay? You beat it. You beat it and took care
of her. You got rid of that thing...you fought it." He whispered to him.
His arms wrapped tighter around Billy, stroking up and down his back before
brushing through his hair. He was just trying to do anything he could to
sooth his omega. "Glad to be home with you and Jane, baby."
Billy presses his nose into the side of Jim's neck and sobs into the soft skin. His pulse is strong beneath the omega's touch and it's soothing, a strong reminder that this is real and that Hopper is here and alive. But the ache is still too real, the loss still fresh even if it's not true.
He held Billy close, slipping his hands up under his shirt and slowly
stroked over his skin. "I'm home now and I'm not going anywhere. I'm here,
with you. With Jane. I'm not going anywhere I swear." He whispered into his
hair, kissing the top of his head.
"I love you. I love you so much. I'm going to take care of you. Of you and
Jane...our family..."
Blunt nails skim across Jim's ribs where Billy tries his best to hold on tight to the alpha, desperate to keep him close after so many months without him.
"I love you too." He finds Jim's hand and presses it low on his belly, curved around the small bump that's forming in the base of his abdomen. "I didn't want to do this without you."
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He let out a soft sigh, carefully stroking over his skin more before letting out a sigh and pressing his face into the side of his neck. He inhaled his scent, still bumping his nose over his skin. "Its scary, but I'm not mad. Couldn't be happier honestly."
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"And we're not... you never bonded me. I wasn't... I didn't... know." If this was permanent to him the way it was to Billy.
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"Wanted to. Was trying to wait for your 18th birthday. People aren't open minded here like they are in California...police chief in his 40s bonding with a minor...wouldn't have been looked highly on. I wanted to do right by you." He said softly, smiling. "Wanted to do it all legal. Not just take you and bite you and that be that."
He sighed, leaning his head back. "Was even gonna plan a proper bonding ceremony and everything. Just for you."
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"I'm 18 now." Jim didn't need to tell Billy that this wasn't California. He knew. He was strange enough in this small town; a mouthy omega who was always getting into fights and getting into trouble with the law. "That all sounds great, but I don't want to wait anymore. We have a chance now, one I thought was gone. I don't need a ceremony, I just need you."
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A moment later he stroked a hand through Billy's hair, staring into his eyes and smiling. "You asking for my mark right now? With everyone right outside that door getting El fixed up?" Not that he really wanted to wait, not now that the younger man was telling him how much he really wanted it.
"Not that I particularly want to say no but...I definitely can't guarantee that getting into that won't...get into more. Dunno if I'm in any shape for that." He chuckled, but he kept nuzzling at his skin.
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He's about to say yes, to declare that he doesn't care what they hear when Hopper's words register properly in his mind. "El's hurt?" He vaguely remembers being told that but he'd been so lost in seeing Jim that not much else had stuck clearly in his mind. "Is she okay?"
Billy also really wanted Jim to mark him and he's feeling torn between checking on El and letting the alpha sink his teeth into him.
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He moved then, body sore and exhausted himself so he pulled Billy along with him until they were both laying down and he had the younger man tucked in against his side with his head on his chest. "I love you. I'm sorry I wasn't here."
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"I love you." The dam breaks and Billy lets out a heart wrenching sob, all the emotions from the last few months catching up with him, finally.
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The man pulled a blanket over the both of them, sighing happily once he had them both in the cocoon that was their blanket and he could inhale the omega's familiar scent. He'd missed this so, so much.
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He lets the alpha manhandle him into place, holding tight until the sobbing finally dies down into soft sniffles. He traces gently over a bruise on his chest. "Who did this?"
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"Small price to pay making sure you were safe. Thats all that mattered to me. Nothing they could have done would have made me talk."
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"Why did they want me?"
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He sighed, fingers still curling into Billy's hair slowly. "They knew you were possessed and they figured out we were connected. They figured out...what we were to one another. What we are. I'm not sure what they would have done to you, but I wasn't about to find out. They wanted El too. I had to keep you both safe."
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The tears come again and Billy doesn't even want to blame the hormones. It was one of the hardest things to come to terms with; second only to having to accept that his alpha was dead.
"I'm just so glad you're home."
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"Billy, don't think about it, okay? You beat it. You beat it and took care of her. You got rid of that thing...you fought it." He whispered to him.
His arms wrapped tighter around Billy, stroking up and down his back before brushing through his hair. He was just trying to do anything he could to sooth his omega. "Glad to be home with you and Jane, baby."
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"You're not allowed to leave."
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He held Billy close, slipping his hands up under his shirt and slowly stroked over his skin. "I'm home now and I'm not going anywhere. I'm here, with you. With Jane. I'm not going anywhere I swear." He whispered into his hair, kissing the top of his head.
"I love you. I love you so much. I'm going to take care of you. Of you and Jane...our family..."
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"I love you too." He finds Jim's hand and presses it low on his belly, curved around the small bump that's forming in the base of his abdomen. "I didn't want to do this without you."