Alpha Additions Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ruby could remember the warmth of Penny, the feeling of other woman’s arms wrapped around her. She remembered how even as her whole body howled, raged at the lack of true satisfaction, Penny’s arms were still so warm. Even as the room grew cold, she could still feel it; like a ghost lingering with her, holding her close and taking care of her in all those ways the omega within her craved so deeply. Maybe it was just because of how Penny tucked her in? The memory of Penny’s kiss on her cheek lingering with the robot’s lipstick? Whatever it was, the feeling of her mate’s love stuck with her, helping stave off both the outside’s cold and the inward heat for at least a while. 

Sadly, even the ghost of Penny’s love only lingered with Ruby for so long in the bed. Eventually the cold, her heat, hunger, and thirst all got the better of her. Somehow, it was morning already when Ruby finally willed herself to get up from the comfortable. The ache had soaked into her bones. Every joint felt incredibly stiff. Ruby wished Penny were back already. During her last two heats on the travel back to Atlas, Penny hax been incredibly kind and massaged each and every aching muscle or sore joint. With a small whimper, Ruby sat at the edge of the bed, wishing Penny could return to soothe her, or at least to hold her? Sure, amidst her heat, her inner omega still raged against Penny’s lack of dynamic, but, wow! It was so much worse waking up alone. At least Penny’s warmth put some corner of her at ease. 

Rolling her sore shoulder in an attempt to release some tension, Ruby finally forced herself to stand. With some mild protest of her joints, Ruby picked out her loosest and warmest clothing, just wanting something to cover her as she went down for some breakfast. Once clothed, Ruby’s first stop was the room three doors over, just by the stairs. “Yang? Blake?” She called with a light knock. The powerful huntress felt even weaker than normal; her heat raging without her mate. “Blake? Yang?” She called once more, resting her head against the cold wood of the door frame. It was a heavenly relief against her forehead, just a little something to center herself and take her mind off how the world seemed to still be spinning just a little too fast. 

A soft sigh of insufficient relief slipped from her lips as her eyes seemed to slip shut just long enough to make her think she could fall back asleep right there. But those thoughts didn’t last long. “Hey Ruby! What’s up kiddo?” Yang cheered, unreasonably chipper for how much alcohol she had consumed the night before. 

Ruby’s eyes didn’t open until her older sister ruffled her hair. Then they appeared in an angry glare. “Not a kid anymore.” The normally lackadaisical omega glared, impatient and easily frustrated in her heat by the loving tease that probably should have died out years and years ago. 

“But you’ll always be my baby sister!” Yang complained with a playful pout that quickly died out when she finally caught the sight of Ruby’s furious and impatient silver eyes. 

“Where’s Penny?” Blake questioned, throwing her arms over Yang’s shoulders from behind. 

“Huh?” Yang’s brow furrowed. “Yeah! Where is she? You are still on your cycle.” Yang pouted, sticking her head out the doorway to her and Blake’s room. Quickly she looked around and over Ruby’s shoulder as the omega still hadn’t moved from resting her head against the doorframe. “I haven't seen her more than twenty feet from you while you were in a heat since… well, since Salem wasn’t an issue.” 

“She went home to see her father last night. Apparently, she needed some maintenance.” Ruby shrugged, clearly a little more drained by her cycle than usual. 

“And she left you alone? All night?” Yang wasn’t sure if she should be mad or just concerned, some corner of her raging against the idea of having to be away from her omega during her heat. Fuck; a missing arm couldn't keep her away! How bad could this maintenance be needed?

“Sweetheart, you are growling.” Blake patted Yang’s shoulder, trying to bring her back to reality. 

“Calm down.” Ruby sighed, overly frustrated from so little.

“You ok Ruby?” Blake half-whispered, knowing that during a bad heat, an excess of noise could be frustrating at best and downright painful at worst. 

“I’m tired, everything hurts, and I miss Penny.” Ruby admitted with a small rub at her temple. “And I’m hungry. I knocked on the door to ask if you two wanted to get breakfast? The innkeeper said they make a little something in the tavern downstairs for anyone who wants it.” 

“I’m down.” Blake nuzzled at Yang’s cheek and twitched her faunus ears into the Alpha’s nose. 

“Sounds good; as long as you are ok?” Yang gestured to her sister. 

“Will be. Just… miss my suppressants.” Ruby whimpered tired.

Blake slinked down from her tippy toes, pulling her arms off of Yang’s shoulders and patted Ruby’s shoulder. “It will be ok. Some food will help you get back some more strength.” Yang comforted as best she could. The fellow omega was certain that what Ruby was going through worse than she had ever personally experienced, and she wished to help as best she could. 

“Yeah, probably. Food should help.” Ruby tried to hype herself up as she pulled away from the door frame’s support. 

“Come one, we gotcha.” Blake offered the fellow omega shoulder to lean on. 

“Thanks.” Ruby nodded, but walked alone albeit on weary legs.

“Yeah! We’ll get some food in ya n’ you’ll be good as new!” Yang cheered, plopping one hand on either of the omega’s shoulders. 

Ruby visually waived on her feet, the extra weight putting her off balance to the point that she nearly toppled over and down to the ground. In fact, she would have, had it not been for Blake grabbing her and helping to keep her up. 

“Ruby!” 

“Hey! Watch out there! Are you ok?” Blake held Ruby up as Yang went pale with fear. 

“Yeah… just, just a bad heat.” 

“Ruby, you aren’t looking too good.” Blake worried. 

“I’m fine.” Ruby pushed, standing back up on her own. “I just need Penny. I need Penny and breakfast.” 

Yang growled once more, frustrated that Penny was even capable of leaving her sister alone when in such poor shape. If she were honest, some of her anger was being misplaced; frustration with herself landing on Penny’s head. The trek from Vale back to Atlas had taken much longer than they intended. The longer trip with sparse established towns on their route back entailed more rationing than she had ever intended for the omegas to have to endure. Something that was clearly taking some form of a toll on Ruby now. No heat before had pushed her to the point that she couldn’t reliably stand. She felt like a poor leader, an insufficient alpha, a woman incapable of providing for her pack. Logically, she knew that Penny just didn’t experience the same urges she did; that need to provide for her mate. But she was still furious with the robot for being capable of leaving Ruby at such a time. 

“Calm down!” Blake demanded in more of a hiss than the previous time as Ruby slowly made her way down the steps. “You don’t need to stress her out by growling!”

Yang halfway went to snarl, but stopped herself. 

“Come on. I’m hungry, and it sounds like more than one of us need breakfast.” 

“Other upgrades?” Pietro looked down to his mug of cocoa, swirling it in the cup once more. 

“Yeah. Just like being able to cry, and to taste a little.” Penny agreed, awkwardly looking down at her own mug. 

“I, well… yes. There were a couple more upgrades that I have had finished and set away in case you needed them or in the works. What was it you had in mind?” Pietro pretended that he didn’t already know what it was she was looking for. 

Penny’s thumbs battled each other along the rim of her mug. Maybe she was just stalling time, maybe just trying to figure how to say it. “You… I mean, you know?” 

“Know what?” 

“A- about me and Ruby. That… she and I are…” 

“Well, that is often a part of forming a pack, isn’t it?” Pietro nodded along, listening but not giving up that he knew exactly what she wanted. 

“Dad.” Penny sat in her uncomfortable embarrassment for a moment. “I love her.” 

Pietro laughed with a hint of longing. “I figured if you ever came to me for this that you would.” 

“Came to you for this?” 

“For a dynamic.” Pietro finally admitted to knowing what she had been seeking. 

“Oh? You- you know?” 

“I had a feeling.” Pietro nodded. “I figure you want to be an alpha then.” He noted. 

“I mean! I! Yes? I- How did you? Why didn’t you? I! Why?” Penny couldn’t figure out what she wanted to ask and it all seemed to blurt out at the same time. 

“How did I know? Why didn’t I tell you already? Why didn’t I already make you one?” Pietro inquired on her questions, somehow nailing everything she had been intending to ask. 

“Y- yes.” Penny choked out. “You made me a girl.” She blurted out. “You decided to do that, so… why not? Why not have already made me…” 

“Everyone else in the world has years to figure themselves out before suddenly developing a dynamic. Why shouldn’t you have gotten that? That, and, I didn’t want your dynamic or lack thereof pushing you to or inhibiting you from finding a mate. I didn’t want to interfere with that. And I figured one day you might want to be able to choose.” Pietro shrugged as his chair turned around for him and began trudging towards his lab. 

“I-” 

“As for the other questions. I know because if Ruby is your mate, and you’ve grown to be the type of woman who would gladly swap to coffee, just to make sure she can still have her hot chocolate? Let’s just say father’s intuition?” He suggested with a lighthearted laugh. 

Penny laughed with him, following just behind him as they entered his lab. “Guess I am just really subtle then huh?” 

“Something like that.” Pietro hummed. “As for why I hadn’t told you yet? Is it not allowed for a father to long for the days his daughter was a little girl?” He mused longingly. 

“Dad, I was never really all that little.” Penny sighed. 

“No, I guess you weren’t. But, you aren’t just a girl anymore either. You’ve grown to be quite the women; a maiden even.” Pietro smiled to himself. He had never needed the reassurance to know who he had made had no less a soul than anyone else’s daughter, but he also knew it meant a lot to her, and that made him happy. 

“Thanks.” Penny’s chest rose slightly in pride. 

“Always.” Pietro settled, logging into the computer which had been exclusively delegated to holding and applying Penny’s upgraded. With ease, he found the correct trio of files. Even over her father’s shoulder, Penny could see them labeled clear as day, Alpha, Omega, and Beta. He had gone as far as to ensure she could have been any dynamic she wished. “Here you go.” He announced, clicking to open the file labeled Alpha before he directed his chair to step away. 

“Uugh, don’t you need to-” Penny distinctly remembered that he had needed to do some updates and ensure the files and hardware would still apply without error before applying the update which had enabled her to cry. 

“I don’t need to. You do. I know you know how to check everything will work and be in order. And, this is your body. These choices should be up to you, not to me. I made a framework for it. The rest is up to you.” 

“Thank you.” Penny whispered to him as he left and before pulling over a chair and sitting down. She knew these updates were never quick, nor easy. But that didn’t change that she deeply appreciated the privacy and politeness her father had given her on such an intimate and personal subject. 

From there, time seemed to go fast. Incredibly fast. Before Penny had even crossed a halfway point on the file’s outline, it was after one in the morning. Sometime around midnight, Pietro had poked his head in to say a good night and wave her a goodbye. He didn’t anticipate for her to be there in the morning. With new alpha instincts, and by the smell of her, an omega in heat not far off, the absolute last thing he ever anticipated to see when he woke up was his daughter still fiddling around on the computer. 

“What in the world are you still doing here?” His jaw dropped. 

“I, I’m just finishing up the final touches. It’s loading right now. I’ll get to physically applying it any minute now.” 

“Penny, isn’t Ruby waiting for you?” 

“Yeah, but Ruby tends to sleep in till eight at least.” Penny dismissed. 

“Penny, it’s seven-thirty.”

“What? No! No! It was four last time I checked!” Penny’s eyes darted up to the clock. 

“Then you haven't checked in three and a half hours.” Pietro answered. 

“No! No! Uugh, it’s fine! I’m almost done.” Penny reassured herself. 

“Penny, I know it isn’t much my business, but isn’t she in a heat?” 

“I, yeah. So she will sleep in later.” Penny shrugged, eyes locked on the screen. 

“Penny, she is going to be missing you.” 

“I- I know, I just need to get this perfect.” Penny’s voice showed her stress. 

“Sweetie.” Pietro’s hand landed on her shoulder calmingly. “It will never be perfect.” 

Penny grumbled at how painfully accurate that sounded. She had been fidgeting with the same three dimensions of her would-be knot for well over two hours. “But! But!” Penny strived to earn herself an extra few minutes. 

“You can take longer if you need, but… just remember, it will never be perfect. And, umm, physical things… can be edited later if needed.” Pietro offered with an awkward cough under his breath. 

“Wait really?” Penny’s ears perked up. It was much less stressful an endeavor if she were not incidentally choosing how a part of her body looked, felt and everything else about it forever. 

“I just didn’t want for anyone's… eyes… to be too big for anyone else’s… anything else.” Pietro looked down and away, clearly embarrassed and entirely unsure how to bridge the topic. 

“Thanks Dad. I really appreciate it.” Penny leaned over and hugged him before eagerly rushing over to the station where she once slept, and now received any additions and upgrades. 

“Of course.” He hugged back weekly. “I’ll, I’ll leave you your privacy for the rest.” He turned his chair away quickly, not needing to see what came next. 

“Thank you. I, I don’t know how patient or impatient I will be after, but we are supposed to be staying in Atlas for at least a couple of weeks. Longer, as long as no one tries to kill or arrest us this time.” Penny gave a dry chuckle. “Maybe I can bring Ruby over for dinner sometime; after everything calms down.”

“I’d love that. I’d really love that.” 

“Me too.” 

End of Chapter 3