Chapter Text
“We're sorry to have to bring you here but you were the only one on his records that we could contact to identify the body.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Lets just fucking get this over with.”
He didn't really pay attention to anything as he was being led through the coldly lit hallway. Much like the lighting, the winter air outside seemed to have followed him in and he found himself pulling his brown leather jacket closer to himself; popping the collar up to cover his neck as his eyes counted the tiles on the floor with each step.
It had been earlier that day when he had gotten the call. Back when the sun was still out and the streets of Pandora were still busy and bustling. In front of his dingy appartment that he had shared with one other- the reason he had to make the trek outside today.
It was almost Christmas.
It was snowing a decent amount when Jack finally managed to drag himself in the building where the body of his fiance lay; cold as the ice outside. And even now, as he stood beside the covered corpse; nothing had seemed real when the cloth was slipped off to reveal that same face the omega would stare at everymorning.
Although, this would be the last time he would see it.
He only wished he could comit it to memory at this point. But genes being what they were, it was his twin that had the photographic memory- something Jack was angrier than ever, now.
“-ir? Sir? Is this him? Can you identify the identity of this man?”
His throat tightened and he found himself looking away; teeth bared as he fought off the wave of unfamiliar emotions rushing through him. Something he thought long gone and dead ages ago.
“Yeah, it's him. It's fucking Axton, alright?!!”
Aside from a few looks thrown his way, other than the soft words of condolences and thanks sent his way, no one uttered a word on his brash crudeness or his attitude like they normally would have.
Maybe it was because Axtons records showed him to be the mate of the man on the table.
Or it could be due to the fact that he was five months pregnant and already starting to show.
Fuck if he knew. His alpha was gone and that was all that he cared about.
Gone. Leaving him with twin brats to raise in the future.
It had taken him all the strength he had not to scream in that bag of belongings that Axton apparently had with him when he bit it. His clothes, his shoes- fucking dogtags...
Axton was supposed to return to base. He had been allowed a days home and on the day he had to go back; the fucker died in a collision thanks to some ice.
He had met the bastard that managed to walk away from the crash. He had come to apologize; supposingly to beg for forgivness and broke down when he saw the omega and his condition.
Asshole also earned himself a black eye and a threat from the omega to off himself.
Jack never wanted to see that man again because if he did, he wouldn't have stopped with a single punch next time.
He said nothing as he left that place- hadn't even looked back or responded when someone tried to speak to him. The omega hadn't wanted their condolences, he wanted his mate.
But his mate was dead. Screw them.
God, he has to plan a funeral now. Fucking damn it!!
The last time he had to plan one was for his own fucking daughter, and now this! Who else was he going to have to bury? His brother?! That was all he had outside the twins in his womb.
Jack was shivering again. Whether it was the cold or the realization catching up with him that he would be going home alone, he didn't know, nor did he really friggin care. There was no way he was walking home after all that and he left his car in the garage across the street from his place.
And if he walked, he would be all too tempted by the bars on the way back.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, his fingers were met with the loose change Axton had given him the day prior after lunch.
Bastard was still looking after him even in death.
Maybe this had been a sign that he needed to call someone, but the only one he could call was Tim, his twin, and his brother would be asleep at this time. There'd be no way of knowing he'd even hear his landline from his room, would he?
Rubbing the coins in his fingers, Jack gave a soft growl, making his way to the payphone down the street.
What the hell. He had nothing to lose anymore.
Fortunately, Timothy had heard the phone and while irritated at being woken up past midnight, the beta had taken the time to drive over and pick Jack up.
Neither had spoken when Jack climbed in the car, but the omega could see the trail Jack had left in the snow and drove off with the scrunch of his face.
--
“Let me guess, you got arrested.” That was the first thing Timothy had spoken that night as soon as they went through the door. “Jack, you have to stop doing shit like that. You're going to be a parent in the next few months, you can't be running around and getting into trouble!”
Strugging off his shoes once inside, the omega was met with the wooden walls of his twins home that soon faded into white with palmtree wallpaper once he passed the walk-in area. Lush carpet soon met his socks after the hardwood flooring of earlier mentioned walkway.
His brothers house had a warm coloring to it all.
Jack hated it.
Ignoring his twins ranting as he made his way into the kitchen, he vaguely heard Timothy following him with a puzzled gleam in his heated eyes.
“Are you listening to me?!” Tim cried in outrage as he watched his brother open the fridge to pull out the carton of his last bit of apple juice he had. Honestly, he would have yelled more but something in his brothers expression seemed to have caught him off guard.
“Yeah, yeah, I heard you, Tim-Tams.” Not bothering with a glass, he just opened up the carton and downed a good few gulps without a care for sanity or his brothers grossed out expression. This would have been funny, should have been funny, if todays events hadn't happened.
“I wasn't arrested, for once.” Jack continued with a gripe, setting the carton on the counter before leaning on it; catching the disbelief in his twins gaze. Scoffing, the omega only glared at his own hands. “I was confirming Axtons body.”
THAT, he found, got a reaction and Tim recoiled with a strangled sound and a look of absolute horror being sent Jacks way.
“Axtons.... body?” Tim echoed, not really looking as if he was able to process what he had just heared. “Axton... died?.... today- or.....?” The betas eyes went up and down his twins frame; eyes begging for the news to be just some twisted joke Jack was making.
But the omega was not joking.
“Oh my god,” Hands outstreatched, he stepped to the omega. “Jack, are you okay?!” only for Jack to slap the hands away and sidestep him.
“Do I fucking look okay, Tim?!!” Jack bit back; hackles raised but doing everything in his power to look at anything other than his twin. The lamp, the phone on the wall; even that ugly ass rug that used to belong to their grandmother. But not him. And not to the doorway to where Tims own mate was exiting, having heard the shouting. “I just had to IDENTIFY HIS CORPSE!! No, I am fucking, not okay!!”
“The fuck is going on?” Wilhelm, displeased as ever, could only look between the brothers; bleery eyed as can be. Standing with his arms crossed and wearing nothing but a tank top and boxers; the massive alpha was leaning against the wall. “You both are loud.”
Timothy, having heard his mate, peeked over the island counter to the alpha before rushing out of the kitchen and colliding into him; confusing Wilhelm as the alpha could only hold onto him.
“Ax---” Timothy began to say but when silent; glancing back to where Jack had been standing stock still and baring his teeth at the wall and the floor; the beta carefully turning back to the alpha and whispered. “Jack will be staying with us for a few nights. I'll tell you once we get him to bed.”
“I don't need to go to bed! I'm not a child!!”
“No, but you're going to bed, either way.” Wilhelm spoke up. Neither loud, not gentle, the alpha passed the beta to make his way to the omega. Upon seeing the alpha, Jack gave a yelp as he was promptly trapped against the wall with the larger man in front of him.
Back at the hallway entrance, Timothy fidgeted as he watched the two with wide eyes. His body radiating anxiety.
Gruffly glaring down at the omega, Wilhelm gave a huff; stepping away only slightly when he was convinced he had the omegas attention; knowing full well of Jacks personality and attitude alike.
“I have to go to bed for work and you being up is going to keep Tim up. No arguments.” The giant stated, glaring harder when he saw the feral look appearing on the omegas face in protest. “Don't make me command you, boy. You know I will.”
The giants eyes scanned Jack over; from his head to his stomach, then back to Timothy before landing on the omega once more. “Go to bed, Jack. It's been a long day.”
A beat had passed, maybe two, before Jack gave in with a loud growl and a shove against Wilhelm before promptly making his way across the room and to the nearby guest room that the omega had all been familiar with throughout the years.
The door slammed behind him.
Timothy, still standing in the hallway opening, gave a breath of relief. Jack didn't force Wilhelms hand for once. Usually, when situations like this and Axton was off serving; there had been several times where Wilhelm had to act as the main alpha to get Jack to behave. Mostly it was when he was messing up the house or causing mischief, but out in the wild, it had been more rare.
Something told the Beta that it will be nearly constant now.
And with the alpha, watching the omega vanish into his rooms and the door slamming; turned to Tim with a brow raised.
“So what happened?” He had asked.
Of course, biting his lip, Tim found it hard to get the words out. Stepping back out into the main area, he rubbed his arm; an anxious habit he had since he was a child.
“Axton died today.”
“Shit...” Being a vetran himself, Wilhelm didn't offer anymore in the way of sympathy. He was all too used to death and those around him dying, but that didn't mean he didn't know the struggle the spouses left behind, went through. “What got him?”
Tim, with his head down, only gave a shrug before making his way to his mate; wrapping his arms around the giant with a breath. “He didn't say. I never really got that far with him; just that his alpha died.”
“He's going to be unstable for a while.” The alpha warned, one eye looking down at the beta. “Broken bond and all that...”
“Y-Yeah...”
“I'll call in for a few days. Family emergency.”
Tim bit his lip. “You don't have to, Wil...”
“No. But someone has to keep that asshole in line. And we both know he'll listen to me.”
“Yeah...”
Although, deep down, Timothy had his doubts. Even as he and his mate made their way to bed; carton of juice still sitting on the counter, Timothy couldn't find himself caring about anything other than his brother and the news of the day.
Jack was ready to trash the room, he was so angry.
By some miracle, the omega had managed to restrain himself and instead, found himself sitting on the edge of the guestroom bed. A stupidly furnished room with more frills than he cared to even look at. Far better in quality than what was in his and Ax- his appartment, the decor practically burned his eyes. Orange and browns, it made his eyes hurt and had him thinking of burnt cheese.
Those stupid orange crackers sandwiches with peanut butter in between them, more like it.
It made him sick.
Axtons dogtags in his hands, Jack played with them absentmindedly.
God, this day sucked. Absolutely sucked. Head soon hanging, he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees as the past few hours finally hit him and a stangled omegan whine brushed past his lips. An unconcious call for a mate that would never hear or come to answer it. His secondary, despite having felt the bond snap earlier, couldn't seem to comprehend or accept Axtons death.
His alpha was gone. No metter what he did or said, that wouldn't change, and he felt like he was dying.
There had been studies, sure. Past the normal grieving process, the death of a bondmate only makes it worse and messes with ones mind worse than he ever could imagine. Since he and Tim were little, they had been warned about cases like this. The pain and distress the loss of a mate could and would cause. How many, mostly omegas or alphas, would lose their minds in in the process throughout their grief.
And if it hadn't been the twins in his stomach, Jack was sure he would have gone insane about now.
Maybe... He didn't really know. All of this was bullshit and he wished it was him that was beta instead of Tim. His brother would have prefured that as well.
That had been one of the few things the twins managed to agree with.
God... it had hurt so much...
Another strangled cry forced itself out. More desperate, more distressed. The omega wasn't even aware he was crying before he found his face in his hands; the stupid dogtags of his mate cutting into his face.
He was just alive that morning. They had shared a round of passion in bed. He had fucking kissed that bastard before he left to return to base.
Only to die in a car crash on the way.
A bitter laugh broke through and mixed in with his cries. It wasn't funny. Not really, but if he didn't laugh at the obserdity, he would get up and break something, only to hear about it from Timothy and rushed to the hospital to fix the damages to himself.
First his Angel. Now Axton...
But unlike Axton, at least with Angel, Jack had time to prepare himself.
Unlike the twins, Angel had been born to his Late wife, who had died when Angel was five. It had been a loveless marraige and only happened becuse he had gotten her pregnant. An alpha; stubborn and angry as can be, was a decent wife and a great mother. They were civil and kept it as normal as they could when raising their daughter.
But Maria had been killed in a mugging on her way home from work. She had refused to let Jack pick her up in his car, wanting to have a quick jog. Then she died, leaving him a widower and Angel motherless. That funeral had been held and planned by Marias family. Angel was allowed to go but Jack had been banned from attending despite her being his wife.
Assholes never liked him anyway. They nearly kept Angel from him but luckily, the courts usually favored omegas in custody agreements anyway. Being the more 'motherly' breed, ironically despite the very few of them that existed.
And raising his daughter on his own had been hard, but he managed to get her to sixteen before cancer took her from him.
He wasn't sure what it was but something out there didn't want him to be happy, he was sure. No family allowed outside Timothy and even then, the omega worried for his twin. Always keeping him at arms length unless nessisary, least the universe take him too.
Laying back onto the bed, Jack took one of those nasty frilly pillows of the bed to press it to his face and scream out all he had into it. Pressing it hard against his face to both muffle and suffocate himself all at once.
Maybe, if he were lucky, this would just be a nightmare and he'd wake up. Axton would be alive and Jack would tell the alpha all about it with a bunch of snark and rude comments alike. Maybe he'd punch his arm and chest while threatening to kill him if the alpha died on him and his mate would laugh...
Pillow to the side, Jack stared blankly to the ceiling.
He wasn't going to wake up from this one.
He sure as hell wasn't going to actually sleep well either. Nothing smelled like Axton. Not right now.
Upon sitting up and spotting the bag he forgot he had, of Axtons things, the omega hurried to fish out one of the alphas shirts and bringing it to his face; inhaling deeply of his mates scent.
That helped a little. But it would fade. It always did. But for now, he would immerse himself into it.
Curling onto the bed, Jack didn't even slide under the covers before curling around himself to fall into a rough sleep.
And dreamed of that afternoon when the police showed up with the news.
“Hurry up, Rhys!! We're going to be late!!”
Fixing his hair, Rhys stared into the bathroom mirror with a sense of energized joy. Hurrying to slip on his jeans, he rubs down his powder blue sweater; freeing it of wrinkles before grabbing his coat off the hook on the back of the door. Slipping it on as he races out to meet with his roomate at the front door; nearly tripping on the sneakers that he was trying to tie as he ran.
“Coming!!” He called out, hopping on one foot. “Hold the door!!”
They were going to the grand reopening of their favorite store. A geeks haven that sold everything comic book and Bunkers and Badass you could imagine. After the electrical fire that burned it down months ago, the two never thought the place would reopen, but, fortunately, they had been proven wrong, excitedly.
“Geeze, Rhys!! Take a minute, bro! You're going to break your neck.” Amused, the short alpha crossed his arms, watching the lanky omega stumble his way over; stopping just long enough to slip on his shoes and tie them.
Taking a moment, Vaughn took this time to observe his roomate; inwardly happy as can to know that it was just him and Rhys. Being the only alpha aside from Yvette, who had no interest in the omega in the slightest, the Vaughn sometimes allowed him a moment of 'what if'?
He'd been in love with the omega since their second year in collage after bonding over their shared love of all things Bunkers and Badasses and it made him all the more happy when they ended up deciding to move in together afterwards to save on money as they worked hard to get their dream jobs. While Vaughn had managed to get a position as an accountaint and had secured financial stability for both of them, Rhys was having little to no luck.
That had been the main upset for the omega, but it wasn't like Rhys to give up. He was bound to get his pep back and will rush out to apply to all the local papers as a photographer.
But not today. Today was a special day for them.
“I'm not going to break my neck,” Rhys had snorted before standing back up; brushing his hands nervously down his coat. “You and Yvette never fail to remind me that I'm too stupid to die and would end up bludgening someone with my head, instead.”
“I never said that.” The alpha pointed out with a faint laugh, pushing the front door further open. “Come on, we're letting in the cold- Ooh! My bag!!”
Arm jerking from the weight as Rhys grabbed his forgotten backpack on the floor, Vaughn hurried to reach in and pull out his walkman. “Thanks. I would have gone crazy without this thing.”
“No problem.” Rhys, closing the door, gave a small sigh; hugging himself when a cold breeze brushed past them. “Ghhhh!!!! We need to hurry. If I have to stay out here for long, my arm will come off.”