Chapter Text
Charles went through his first Omega heat at eighteen. That summer the overwhelming heat swept over him without warning. Restless heat and crippling weakness wrapped around his body ,leaving the usually reserved Omega fragile and utterly dependent. Max his Alpha boyfriend held him close with his unique pheromones ,wrapping him in gentle restraint ,soothing his every frazzled nerve. Their love in those young unguarded days was pure and unreserved, and that fateful heat quietly planted a tiny life between them.
Charles clutched his pregnancy test fingers brushing over the faint positive line over and over. His heart raced wild with quiet joy dying to share this sweet secret with Max. He had pictured taking Max’s hand pressing it to his still flat stomach and telling him they were going to have a child together. But before he could voice a single word of his happiness, an urgent hospital call shattered everything he held dear.
Max suffered a catastrophic car crash. He slipped into a coma for days and woke with every fragment of his past wiped clean. Memories of racing of his family of his tender love for Charles were all gone buried in blank empty darkness.
Jos had always resented the bond between Max and Charles. He had long planned a political marriage between Max and Kelly to secure and expand the family corporate empire. Max’s sudden memory loss became the perfect excuse. Under the pretense of letting his son start fresh overseas ,Jos arranged Max’s study abroad in a rush. He pulled every string cut off all lines of communication and sealed every possible path that could lead Charles back to Max. Not even a simple farewell was left for Charles.
Fate had always been cruel and merciless in its twists.
Five years slipped past in the blink of an eye. Max returned home fully grown ready to take charge of the Verstappen family business. His engagement to Kelly was publicly set in motion making them the most talked about well matched pair in high society. Yet on the day he stepped back into Monaco after years away he crossed paths with Charles entirely by chance.
The moment Charles learned Max had lost his memories and would leave the country his world crumbled completely. Even heavy with child he refused to fall apart or drop out of school. He endured harsh morning sickness relentless exhaustion and endless sleepless nights pushing through every obstacle to finish his studies. Not long after graduation he gave birth to his baby boy Ollie.
Jos had issued strict orders banning Charles from approaching Max. The hospital corridors were lined with towering bodyguards blocking every entrance ,making it impossible for Charles to draw near. On the day Max was finally discharged Charles clung to one last fragile hope. He slipped quietly to the outer gates of the grand Verstappen mansion hiding in the cold shadow of the gate pillar. Tucked tight in his palm was a small crumpled photo of newborn Ollie his fingers white from gripping it too hard. He only wished to catch a glimpse of Max from afar or just for a second hand over the photo and let him know he had a son.
What he witnessed instead carved itself permanently into his heart. Max stepped out of a striking red Ferrari side by side with Kelly. They shared a soft fond look and Kelly rose to press a tender kiss to his lips a picture of perfect harmony that stung unbearably.
The photograph slipped from his grasp and tears ,he had held back for months crashed down his cheeks. At that exact moment ,heavy rain poured down from the grey sky soaking his hair his clothes and the fallen photograph in one cold rush. Rain blurred his vision mixing freely with his tears. He knelt down shakily picking up the water wrinkled photo and pressed it firmly against his chest his chest, aching with a sharp tearing pain he could barely bear. He watched Max and Kelly rush into the mansion to escape the storm warm and sheltered together . while he stood alone in the downpour with nowhere to go.
Once he confirmed Max had left the country with no intention of returning Charles’s heart turned numb from grief. Still with a growing life resting inside him he knew he could not break. He had to keep moving forward for his child.
After graduation ,Charles opened a small quiet flower shop on a quiet street in Monaco. Warm soft lighting filled the little space filled with lingering floral scents. The slow peaceful life allowed him to spend all the time he needed raising Ollie. It also kept him far from old classmates and familiar faces letting him hide away in a simple quiet world only for him and his son.
Through those loneliest hardest years, Pierre his childhood best friend stayed faithfully by his side. When Charles insisted on moving out of his mother’s home tired of bringing worry to his family Pierre offered his own apartment without hesitation. He welcomed Charles to stay with him helped care for the baby and tended to trivial shop matters shielding Charles from harsh outside judgment and gossip. Still Charles never stopped feeling like a burden to the only person who cared for him. Once the flower shop gained steady income and he saved enough savings he moved out alone renting a small apartment close to his shop to live a quiet independent life with Ollie.
As five slow years passed, Charles buried his deepest heartache deep inside his soul choosing never to touch it again. He poured all his focus into watching Ollie grow up ,watching his little boy take his first steps, speak his first words and finally walk into kindergarten with a small backpack on his back. All he wished for was a simple peaceful life staying by his son’s side for every coming year.
Everything changed when Ollie got a new kindergarten teacher Carlos.
Carlos was an attractive gentle Alpha, endlessly caring and patient toward little Ollie. Whenever shop work delayed Charles and made him late for pickup Carlos would stay behind overtime never complaining once. On cold rainy days or busy afternoons when Charles could not leave, he would drive Ollie all the way back to the flower shop safe and sound ,sometimes stopping to tidy loose flower branches by the shop door in quiet kindness.
Charles was far from oblivious. He could feel the quiet gentle affection Carlos held for him. It lived in the warm perfectly brewed coffee and sweet pastries left on his counter every morning. It lived in the extra tender care he gave Ollie day after day. It lived in the soft restrained warmth in his eyes every time he looked over at Charles.
Yet Charles never dared to open his heart again. The scars left from five years prior remained buried deep a sharp thorn stuck in his chest throbbing faintly no matter how much time passed. He could not tell if he had truly healed from his past trauma. Late at night trapped in old dreams ,he would still see Max’s bright blue eyes lingering in the dark. He would lie awake convincing himself those eyes once looked at him with nothing but pure youthful love.
He had thought this plain peaceful routine would last forever until one calm ordinary morning. Sunlight spilled through the glass shop windows falling across petal scattered floors. Then a figure familiar yet strangely unfamiliar pushed open the shop door and stepped inside.
Charles’s breath caught in his throat and the pruning scissors slipped from his hand clattering to the floor.
He had never once imagined meeting Max again in this life. Time and fate had pulled them into two completely separate worlds strangers with a tangled painful past long left behind.
The boy he once loved had faded away replaced by a taller broader stronger man hardened by years overseas and the heavy pressure of running a large corporation. Max had just returned from the airport knowing Kelly loved fresh flowers he searched for the nearest shop on impulse planning to buy her a bouquet before heading to the hospital.
Max had only meant to make a quick casual purchase but the second his gaze landed on the shop keeper he froze entirely. Those soft vivid green eyes wrapped around his heart in an instant sending his heartbeat spiraling out of control. A powerful unexplainable sense of familiarity washed over him as if he had stared into those eyes countless times long ago etched deep into his soul.
He parted his lips ready to ask if they had met before to understand the strange longing stirring in his chest. Before he could speak a small figure darted suddenly out from the back of the shop. Panicked Charles rushed out in pursuit and Max followed after him on pure instinct.
”Ollie slow down!” Charles called out voice tight with panic. His little boy was always gentle and obedient and he could not understand why he would suddenly sprint toward the busy street.
Disaster struck in the next second. Ollie ran straight into the road and was hit by a passing car. His small body fell heavy to the ground falling completely still slipping into instant unconsciousness.
Every complicated tangled feeling from their sudden reunion vanished in an instant. Overwhelming terror crashed over Charles clouding his mind completely. He stumbled forward falling to his knees gathering his injured pale little boy carefully into his arms tears flooding down his face without restraint.
”Get in my car ,I will drive you to the nearest hospital right away!” Max said sharply stepping forward with steady urgency. He was already on his way to Maria Hospital where Kelly worked full time in the emergency ward.
They raced to the hospital in silence. Once the medical staff rushed Ollie into the emergency room Charles leaned against the cold corridor wall shaking uncontrollably drowning in fear and helplessness. His phone rang soon after it was Carlos. They had planned a fun day at the amusement park for Ollie that morning. Charles answered between broken sobs struggling to speak through his tears and told him everything that had happened.
Carlos arrived in a rush and pulled the crumbling tearful Charles into his arms holding him tight whispering soft soothing words to calm his trembling shoulders.
Max leaned against the opposite wall watching the scene unfold washed over by thick confusion and a strange sharp sour ache deep in his chest. None of this involved him he had simply helped a stranger in need and should have left without a second thought. Yet a strange unshakable thought lingered in his mind the one holding Charles and easing his pain should have been him.
The feeling baffled him entirely. He searched every corner of his restored memories certain he had never met this quiet Omega yet the raw irrational emotion in his chest refused to fade.
Moments later ,Kelly walked out of the emergency room with her expression heavy and serious. The child needs an urgent blood transfusion she said his blood type is extremely rare only universal donor blood can match his condition. Aside from Charles ,only Carlos and Max here meet the medical requirements. “Hospital policy strongly discourages direct family members from donating blood ,so which one of you will volunteer?”.
“Me!”Both Carlos and Max says immediately.
However, the words of direct family member struck Charles like a violent blow draining every drop of colour from his face. Before Kelly could finish her sentence ,Charles cut her off abruptly voice shaking with desperate urgency.
”Not Max!” “He…cannot do it ….Let Carlos give the blood instead.”