Joke's on You (SWAT Generation 2.0 6)

“Come in.”

I sighed and pushed through the tent flaps, nodding my head at my commander.

“Sir,” I said, trying to temper my irritation.

“Kid,” he said. “Your baby’s on the way. Your dad called.”

I felt my heart lurch into my throat.

My baby was on the way.

My son.

Over the last seven months, I’d gotten quite a bit of mail, emails, and letters, as well as a few packages. All of them I awaited with bated breath.

I was so goddamn excited about having a kid on the way that it wasn’t even funny.

I swallowed hard.

“Really?” I all but croaked.

Jordan’s eyes crinkled at the edges as his mouth formed into a semblance of a smile.

“You’ve got four days. Make the best of them,” Jerk, aka Jordan, muttered.

I blinked.

Honestly, I was surprised to get any days to go, let alone four.

Especially with the escalation in fighting we’d seen over the last few days.

“Thank you, sir,” I said softly.

Jordan looked up at me with a grin.

“You know, I had my first kid while I was deployed, too,” he said. “Didn’t even know about it until I got home. Nine months after he was born. So I get it. I know that it’s hard. It’s like your guts have been ripped out, and they’re rotting and exposed, just hanging there but you’re unable to fix it.” That was true. Very descriptive and imaginative, but true. “See the kid. Don’t let that baby grow up without you.”

I didn’t want him to grow up without me.

The sad fact was, the US government owned me lock, stock and barrel for another five years.

And, unless I was hurt to the point where I could no longer perform my duties for them, I was stuck.

Also, even if I did get to the point where I was no longer deployed, I highly doubted that I’d be able to convince Delanie to move where they stationed me.

So what did it matter if I was deployed or not? At least this way, I didn’t feel like a piece of shit for not being able to see my kid.

Rubbing my chest over my heart where it was at a constant ache since I’d found out about my child all of those months ago, I looked at Jordan.

“And your son?” I said softly. “How’s he doing now? Does he understand your job?”

Please tell me that he understood.

Jordan’s face went utterly blank. “I haven’t been able to find him again. When I deployed the next time, my ex was gone, and so was my son.”

That caused nausea to well up and fear to intrude.

Delanie would never do that, would she?

***

It took me a day and a half to get home.

I arrived at the hospital in my dirty clothes that I’d had on for patrol two mornings ago.

I smelled to high heaven, and I was fairly sure I still had sand in places there shouldn’t be sand.

Feeling my heart in my throat, I clutched onto the tiny little t-shirt that I’d gotten from the store on base before being deployed, and knocked on the door.

A loud ‘come in’ that was most definitely not from Delanie sounded.

I entered, shocked to find the room completely full.

My brother Bourne was there. My mom. Dillan. Hell, there was even a couple from church.

There was also a man in the corner of the room holding my kid that I’d never met before.

Jealousy burned in my gut that everyone had gotten to hold my son before me.

My dad. My mom. My brother. Hell, even the fucking gym’s owner got to hold him before me.

That really fuckin’ irritated me, but I had nobody to blame but myself.

I stepped into the room and my eyes didn’t stray from the baby that was in the man’s arms.

“Booth.” My mother came up to me, wrapping her arms around me tightly. “You made it.”

I hugged her back, my eyes still entirely focused on the baby.

“Yeah,” I rumbled.

She tugged on my hand and led me over to the baby.

She reached for him, but the man glared.

“Sorry, but this is my grandson. I just got him,” he snapped.

Why was he even there? The last I’d heard, he’d had nothing to do with Delanie from the moment that she got pregnant.

“Dad,” Dillan snapped. “That’s Asa’s father. Don’t start. You promised that all you wanted to do was see him and you’d leave.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “So you’re the little asshole that thinks he can get my daughter pregnant and not be there for her?”

Before I or anyone could reply, Delanie was there.

She took the baby from her father’s arms, offered him a glare, and placed him into mine.

My breath hitched as I stared at the small baby that was the perfect mini Booth.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

“Language,” David Gunnarson snapped.

I wanted to punch him in the throat.

I chose to step away from him and turn my back on him instead.