May passed in a blur, the renovations on the kitchen finished up, the renovations on the basement finished up, and Richard was able to move into his own space. He said he wouldn't stay for long, but once the suite was done, Andrew and Maxwell didn't care as much.
Richard had his own space, it was soundproofed. Andrew really couldn't care less about it, and Maxwell didn't mind either. Still, Richard was adamant that he wasn't going to remain in the house of a soon to be married couple, and Maxwell ruffled his hair when he heard that with a smile.
It was June when Jordan and Rose announced that they were with child. The announcement made the whole Gates family celebrate. The first grandchild, and Jordan made sure not to announce it early either. He forced Rose to wait until he was stable because male omegas had a higher chance of miscarriages.
Everyone celebrated, and when the Beckett's heard the news? Luis and Thomas sent over baby things immediately. They sent them to May and Ford first, who could then pick and choose what went to the expecting parents. Amir stopped by Jordan's studio and workplace, overdo, just to congratulate Jordan on his way to the hospital.
No one knew he had done so until 24 hours later when Amir and Ben happily announced that they had given birth to their bundle of joy. Usually, with omega pregnancies, especially male ones, they didn't last as long inside of the body. Often they would be premature, or forced to have an early c section due to complications that had arisen during the pregnancy.
It was unusual that Amir was able to carry the baby the whole way through, but Amir didn't mind. Not after having a miscarriage. This was their rainbow baby, and up until the end he kept the gender a secret.
The first grandchild of the Beckett family was a little girl. A little girl named Mehar Luis Beckett.
Luis had cried when she realised that the little girl had been given her name as a middle name. Amir had brushed it off, trying not to take note of how meaningful it was to have given his child her name. His grandmother beamed with pride, so happy for his little baby, but also made sure that Amir was taken care of in the 'proper' way. Amir was showered with affection, while Ben was made sure to take good care of his 'wife'.
Ben was so happy, so tired, and so relieved that he didn't have a fighting bone in his body. Neither of them did. They didn't even react to the fact that William had practically disappeared from everyone's life. Even his parents didn't bring him up on such a happy occasion.
Luis and Thomas were beside themselves, so excited to be grandparents that the wedding plans were temporarily put on hold on their side, but Andrew didn't mind. He felt he hadn't been pulling his weight because Luis was so competent so now it was his time to step in.
Did that mean he didn't go visit the sweet little bundle of joy? Absolutely not. But Andrew did feel a little strange about it. He'd been grappling, truly, with several things because of the therapy he was doing.
Marking, becoming a father, his view on himself and how others saw him. He'd been a little bit in his feelings, so it was a good reason that Richard was staying around. Andrew had a feeling that was one of the reasons why Richard was sticking around as well. He could sense that Andrew wasn't quite well.
When Andrew had held the little, tiny body of the newest Beckett family member, Andrew had to fight the whole body reaction he had. He had to make sure that he didn't freak out. Not because of anything the others did, but because of Andrew's own issues.
He knew how small babies were. Always had known how small they were, but this? This small little baby, a mixture of Amir and Ben? It did something to Andrew. Changed something on him on a fundamental level.
It wasn't like every other time he'd held a child. This felt…serious, and given that Jordan also announced his pregnancy, Andrew could feel how everyone was looking at him and Maxwell, whether they were aware of it or not.
Maxwell didn't seem to mind, didn't even care. Brushed off all inquiries with a practised hand, made sure it was obvious that he was still drinking. He didn't want anyone to rush Andrew, and Andrew appreciated that. Maxwell was true to his word, giving Andrew as much time as he needed, and being with him every step of the way.
Holding the little baby in his arms, so soft, small, and full of energy, shifted something inside of Andrew. He wasn't sure if it was for the better or not, but having a melt down after Amir had asked him to hold onto his daughter was not something he was going to do in public.
So, he kept it together, made sure he behaved like things weren't shifting inside of him, and got through that hospital visit, and several more until Amir was allowed to go home with Ben and their little girl.
Maxwell let Andrew have those moments, didn't poke him, and didn't have to. Andrew made sure that Maxwell knew what he was thinking, what he was going through, but only when they were alone. Maxwell just held his hand, listened, and then asked if there was anything he could do to help Andrew. Andrew shook his head. There was nothing Maxwell could do for him.
Not yet at least. He needed to…ruminate on it a bit more.
~
June was also the month that Andrew and Maxwell selected what kind of outfits they were going to wear for the wedding. Because it was a large wedding, in the classic Beckett style, that meant that they would need several outfits.
They had the wedding outfits, of course, the reception right after the wedding, the second reception, and then the third and last reception. There was also the events prior to the wedding that they didn't do for Amir and Ben's wedding because Amir was pregnant and could barely get through the wedding itself without throwing up.
Since Maxwell wasn't pregnant, that wasn't something they had to worry about.
Maxwell did ask, rather cheekily, if there were any places that Andrew had mentioned to his Mom that he wanted to get married at, and Andrew had laughed. It was quite amusing to him that his Mom had taken the words of a child so seriously. Then again, it was Andrew, not just any child, but it was still sweet.
He promised Maxwell that he hadn't gotten that far, just the proposal, and Maxwell had smirked. Then they had gone over the assets that his Mom had purchased and found that there were several places, several grand halls that were known for hosting extravagant weddings that were in his name.
Maxwell only smirked at him when he pointed it out to Andrew, and Andrew just shrugged.
"Do you want to get married at any of these locations?" Andrew asked, and when Maxwell answered no, Andrew shrugged and moved the papers out of the way. That was the answer.
Maxwell had spent the better part of a month humming and hawing over whether he wanted Andrew and himself in white, cream, or something called champagne. Andrew didn't care, but this was the one time when it would have been nice to have Luis' help. Andrew could tell he was frustrating Maxwell with his inability to respond, until Andrew asked him if they both needed to be in the same colour.
They had different skin tones. They had gotten used to wearing contrasting colours for a while so that they could both match each other without washing the other out, why would getting married be any different?
Maxwell had stared at Andrew like he had two heads, before he pulled him in close and kissed him all over. Then he had flipped open a new tab and started typing aggressively. Andrew just let the man work as he looked over decoration books and things that had been thrust into his direction.
He felt out of his depth, but in a good way. He was glad that he was able to help Maxwell out, even if it wasn't something big. Granted, Andrew did know that their wedding was coming with a big cost. While Andrew and Maxwell had joked about venues, Andrew was under no false assumptions.
The venue had been booked since a ring had been on both of their fingers.
Did Andrew mind that? Not at all. Had he been asked several times to make sure? Yes, and he appreciated every person asking. Did he like it that it implied that Maxwell was trying to trick him into marriage? No, but he had a quick and easy way to make them regret thinking that.
All he had to do was gush about the man, and everything was solved.
With that said, while Maxwell was having a hard time deciding on their main wedding outfits, they (Luis and Maxwell) had selected the other outfits that they were going to wear. Maxwell didn't force Andrew to wear cream outside of the actual ceremony, knowing that Andrew hated seeing himself in white.
Which was appreciated.
Maxwell had gone with a softer, more pastel colour theme for the first reception and had also already sent out the save the dates to everyone else with the theme colours for each reception. If people were going to all three, they were expected to wear outfits that matched. If they couldn't afford it, Maxwell was going to make sure that there were outfits at the venue and a team of staff who could help people get into matching outfits.
The second reception was a more normal colour palette, but still something that would suit both Andrew and Maxwell. The third? Rich, gem tones that would look good on both Andrew and Maxwell. Of course, the man was making sure that no one would be able to outdo him. It would be damn near impossible for that to be the case.
Maxwell was getting their outfits hand fitted with gems and pretty stones. All from Amir's grandmother's place. Andrew didn't even want to think about how much that was going to cost. He knew how much he'd spent on Maxwell's engagement ring, and the only reason he hadn't fainted was because that wasn't even close to what he was making monthly off of the investments his Mom had left him.
He was just not used to this level of opulence, but Maxwell Beckett was getting married, and Andrew was going to be a willing participant. So, hand sewn gems and stones it was. Even if it meant that Andrew was going to feel a bit like a suncatcher on someone's porch.
No, everyone knew where Andrew was going to be picky, and where Maxwell wasn't going to give a shit. The food and cake. That was Andrew's white whale.
Maxwell had just wanted the most extravagant cake, the most expensive food without much care to everything else. Andrew nearly had a heart attack when he'd heard who they were going to order from.
A celebrity chef who was well known for making pretty cakes, but not tasty ones. And the caterer? Over Andrew's dead body. That was where Andrew was being a bit extra, and Maxwell was so proud of him.
Andrew could tell he was. From the way he looked at him when Andrew got into a heated conversation at home around him. He'd get this soft, proud look in his eyes and he would stop what he was doing so that he could watch Andrew tell someone off.
Andrew wasn't sure why, but seeing Andrew like that seemed to get Maxwell's engine going, and Andrew wasn't going to complain.