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“We can put the TV on for her too,” Rafe suggests. “That helps them feel less alone, and they don’t get as scared of random noises.”

“Good idea,” Luc agrees.

“I think she will be absolutely fine with Shadow,” Atlas says, looking over at the happily sleeping pile of animals, “And we won’t be gone too long. I didn’t expect them to want us to come over this early, if I’m honest. I thought they would want to stay in their new parent bubble for a bit longer.”

“So did I,” I admit. “I think I would probably want to shut out the world for a bit longer.”

All of the guys' expressions immediately soften, and I realize that it's rarely, if ever, that I talk about having children.

Pete chuckles, “You successfully turned every single one of your men to mush in one fair swoop. That’s impressive.”

I grin, “Why thank you. It’s a talent.”

“I’ll say,” Pete agrees.

Trick clears his throat, his expression still soft. “Let’s finish quickly and then head down. I don’t want to be late. We need to remember the presents that we all picked out for all of them too.”

“Whatever you do, do not forget the brownies, Rafe. Lyric messaged me three times about those brownies, and I would be terrified of the consequences if we didn’t take them,” I say with a shudder.

Rafe’s eyes widen, “Shit.”

He gets up, abandoning the remainder of his lunch, and rushes into the kitchen.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ever

“I’m assuming that means that he’s forgotten to make them,” Riot winces.

Jensen smirks, “Judging from the sheer panic on his face, I would say that you’re right.”

We all finish lunch, and by the time we’ve cleared everything up and made sure that the dogs, and Runa, of course, are all okay, Rafe has finished the brownies, and they’re all packaged up and ready to take down to Lyric and the guys.

“They’re still warm, but I don’t think they’re going to mind that too much,” he says looking unsure.

“You’ve got way more containers for just brownies, unless you made them hundreds?” Cash asks.

Rafe smiles, and shakes his head. He holds up three containers, “No, only these three are the brownies. The rest are meals that they can just take the lids off and stick straight in the oven. I used the glass containers that we have. I thought the likelihood of them wanting to cook was going to be pretty slim. I might have overdone it, but they can be frozen.”

My heart melts, and I walk over to him and pull on his shirt so he bends down and kisses me.

“You are absolutely wonderful, and so incredibly thoughtful. I am lucky to call you mine, and Lyric and the guys are going to love everything,” I tell him quietly.

His smile brightens, the doubt that was clouding his eyes instantly disappearing.

“Thank you, Baby,” he replies, bending down to kiss me one more time.

Everyone grabs all of the food, as well as the other gifts that we’ve brought, and we head out to the cars, load them up, taking two trips to do so because there is so much stuff that needs to be taken down to Lyric’s place. When we’re finally done, we start the short drive to Lyric’s place.

I make sure that I message Lyric before we leave and double-check that she’s still happy for us to go down there.

Her reply was, ‘obviously, I want my daughter to meet her aunts and uncles as soon as possible’. Which obviously made me cry and panicked the guys until they realized why I was crying, and then I wasn’t the only one who didn’t have dry eyes.

My men are adorable.

Pete was a mess, although I have a feeling that although his reaction started because Lyric called him an uncle, I think it ended up being a release of more emotions, most likely about everything to do with Elijah.

“Hey guys!” Dominic greets us, opening their front door before we even get out of the car.