C.J’s POV

We were just relaxing on the couch when something suddenly popped up into my mind. Ellie looked at me in concern after feeling my body jerk a little.

“I’m just curious. Have you thought of any names for the baby yet? I know we still have a lot of time left to choose a name, but it completely went over my head until now.” He looked at me like I was crazy before giggling.

“You had me worried for a second. I actually have a name that I think is perfect for the baby, but if you don’t like it we can choose a different name. I promise my feelings won’t get hurt” I was surprised that he had a name picked out already considering he had never brought it up. I would definitely remember if he did.

“What is it then?” I prompted him to continue.

“I was thinking that we could name him August after your father. It wouldn’t be the same name, but it’s really close. I know how close you are to your dad, and your grandpa so I just thought that it would be nice to name our first boy after them.” He looked a little nervous to see my reaction.

I gave him a big kiss, “ I love that idea Ellie. We could call him Auggie for short. Did you want to have his middle name have something to do with your dad’s name?”

He shook his head, “ No, I thought about it, but he wouldn’t be upset if we didn’t. Plus he already has Jake who is named after him”

I nodded in understanding, “ My dad will be overjoyed when he finds out. Are we going to wait to tell him?”

“Yeah, I figured we could surprise him when Auggie is born. For a middle name I was thinking that we could use your middle name. When he gets older he might even be called A.J” My mate was just full of great ideas. I agreed with him. August Jamison Delaney sounded absolutely perfect. I couldn’t wait until Ellie became a Delaney after our bonding ceremony. We were waiting until August was at least 6 months old before doing our bonding ceremony because it was a lot of work, and just wouldn’t be realistic to do this far along in the pregnancy or when August is first born.

After our conversation we just settled back into the couch for the rest of the day.

⯀

My mom is driving me crazy. Today is the day of Ellie’s baby shower, and we were decorating the house. It was just going to be some of our family and friends coming, but that was still a lot of people.

“Constantine that is too crooked. Move it to the right slightly” I had been dealing with this for the past hour, and she was never satisfied. My dad had abandoned me and hid somewhere in the house so that my mom wouldn't find him. What a traitor!

“Mom, I don’t think that Ellie will mind if the decorations aren’t perfect. I’m sure he’s just happy that you guys are coming over to celebrate the baby, and shower us in gifts” I saw her stop reluctantly and head off in search of my father who I hope gets his ear chewed off. He deserves it.

Ellie had gone to his parents house while we set up. He knew about the baby shower, but we didn’t want to have him worried about setting up his own baby shower so we kicked him out of the house. His mom came over to help us cook, while his dad stayed home to keep him from going insane. He’s 30 weeks pregnant, and he looks as if the baby is going to come out any moment now. I know that it’s still too early, but it certainly doesn’t look that way.

He would be here in a couple of minutes, so it was a good thing we just finished. I heard a buzz and quickly walked over to the intercom. It was some of Ellie’s family trying to get into the gate so I buzzed them in. Right after them was Ellie and his dad.

Ellie walked into the house and we all watched with bated breaths to see his reaction to the decorations. To my dismay he just said, “This is so cute guys. Thank you so much, but that one piece over there is crooked”

“I told you so” My mom just always had to be right didn’t she. To make matters worse I just heard the traitor snicker beside her. To think we would be naming our child after this traitor.

Soon the house was full of our friends and family. Even Ellie’s friends from college came. I met Ryan, Ross, Brandon, and Luke before. I would have never guessed that these four would be the people that became some of his closest friends, but I guess you should expect the unexpected. I was just glad that Ellie hadn’t invited that fox boy, Connor. The little Alpha Derek being here already had me on my toes. He might only be fourteen, but an Alpha could never let their guard down when they had such a beautiful mate that everyone wanted to get a piece of.

We wouldn’t be doing a gender reveal considering everyone already knew that we are having a boy, but today is the day that the bets would be settled. It was really amusing to watch a bunch of adults sulking as they handed their money over to Mason and Max who looked identical with their hands held out and big smirks on their faces. Walker also hit the jackpot and was currently rubbing it in my mom’s and Cassidy’s faces.

Then we decided to open gifts. Ellie’s parents went first, and they had gotten us a stroller which we really needed. Ellie scolded them for spending so much money, but they just shushed him. Jonathan gave us a bunch of boxes of diapers, and the rest of his siblings got the baby a whole bunch of clothes. Ellie scowled at the onesie Drew got that said “My Uncle is the best”. Some of Ellie’s family from far away sent us clothes for the baby, and pacifiers as well.

My parents bought us a highchair, carseat, and crib. This child isn’t even born yet and they are already spoiling it. I mean my mom had already started buying clothes and shipping it to our house. I had to tell her to stop before we had an outfit for every day of the year. My grandparents got us a playpen, and a baby carrier.

Walker gave us a dalmatian stuffed animal which Ellie seemed to love. The guys got a bunch of football onesies, and even a little stuffed football. I guess this baby would be playing multiple sports. I scowled when I noticed Derek hand my mate a present. Ellie opened it and it was a baseball cap for babies. Ellie thanked him, and he blushed pink. He better back off if he knows what’s good for him. I looked back to Ellie to see him glaring at me. Great, now the twerp got me in trouble.

Wilbur and Cassidy got us a rocker that matched the highschair my parents bought so I’m pretty sure they talked to each other.

Even little Max got the baby a present. It was a framed picture of him hugging Ellie’s baby bump at the amusement park. Ellie gave him a big hug, and told him that the baby would love it.

After the gifts we played some babyshower games. We played something akin to a babyshower olympics. There were teams. One of the teams was Walker, Wilbur, Cassidy, Ross, Ryan, Luke, and Brandon. Another team was my mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, Ellie’s mom and dad, and Max. Then there was Mason, Derek, Drew, Lewis, Darcy, Jonathan, and Ben on the last team. Everyone else decided to be spectators.

The first game was a diaper changing race. They had to all take turns changing a doll’s diaper and whoevers team had the least collective time won the game. Team parents took the cake with that one even Max seemed to be pretty good at it. Team Jocks lost miserably judging by the fact that a lot of their diapers broke when they tried to change the baby. Team Baseball was just too slow to compete with team parents.

The next game was a relay race where each racer put on a fake baby bump, and had to run up and back then pass the bump to the next teammate in line. Similar to the other game the team with the lowest time won. It was very funny to see people trying to run with a giant bump on their stomach. The other teams had no chance against Team Jocks though who beat the other teams by over five minutes.

The final game was one where each player of the team took turns to blow up a balloon, and then stick it under their shirt. When everyone had it blown up and under their shirt, they took turns popping the balloon and shouting “I have a baby!”

To everyone’s surprise Team Jock ended up winning, and Team Parents started to accuse them of cheating. That was the end of the olympics but not of the games. With each person’s RSVP we asked that they submit a picture of them as a baby, and if they had kids then them as well. We were going to play a game of guess who. We gave everyone a numbered paper, and started the game. Whoever matched the most baby pictures won the game, and a $25 cash reward. People really wanted that reward. It got so competitive that people were shielding their papers away from wondering eyes, and no one was helping anyone else.

I tried not to blush when a picture of me as a baby where I was wearing one of my mom's bras and a wig popped up. Everyone laughed, and I was mortified. I heard Ellie’s little giggle and from the look he gave me, I knew that he knew that was me.

At the end of the game we asked everyone to write their name at the top of the paper, and then we collected them. We then passed them out for others to correct, and went back through the slideshow to see who each baby was. I couldn’t hide my blush when my picture came up and it was revealed that it was me.

It turns out that Ellie’s dad won the game, and he only got a few wrong. We asked him how, and he said that he’s always been pretty good with recognizing faces.

We then played a couple rounds of baby bingo, and this time some of the kids won rather than the adults. While these games were going on, Wilbur and I were bringing the baby stuff up to the room that would soon be the nursery. We thought of a theme, but we wanted to wait until the baby shower to see what else we would need to get.

“Hey dude, I know that we don’t get all mushy or whatever , but I just wanted to let you know how happy I am for you. Who would have thought that you’d be having a baby this year?” Wilbur gave me a pat on the back with his signature smile on his face

“Thanks Will, that means a lot coming from you. You’re like my brother” I smiled back at him

“Okay that’s enough with the sappy shit. Let’s go back down before your mom comes looking for us. That lady has always scared me” We laughed and headed back to the party. I’m honestly so grateful to have Wilbur in my life. I knew that he would always be there for me whenever I needed him and even when I didn’t. I hope that August finds a best friend like him one day, but even if he doesn’t I’ll always be there to back him up.

After all of the games everyone was starving so we decided to eat. The rest of the day was full of food, swimming, laughter, and love. It was the kind of atmosphere that was almost intoxicating.