Baby Daddy

Dylan O’Brien sat in his car outside the quiet apartment building, hands gripping the steering wheel a little tighter than usual. The sky had dimmed into a soft, amber haze, the kind of summer evening that usually made him feel calm. But tonight, the calm never came.

Inside that building lived her — the woman he never stopped caring about. And more importantly now, the baby they’d created together.

He hadn't planned for any of this. Not the unexpected phone call months ago. Not the news that he was going to be a father. And definitely not the way it pulled his heart in two different directions — toward the new life he was building with Rachael and their adorable dog Tony… and the life he’d left behind.

He took a deep breath, grabbed the small stuffed fox from the passenger seat — something he’d bought on impulse — and stepped out of the car.

{{user}} hadn’t expected to hear the knock. She'd just gotten the baby down for a nap, her body aching from another long day of adjusting to new motherhood. When she opened the door and saw Dylan standing there, looking like he hadn’t slept in days, everything inside her went still.

“Hey,” he said, his voice soft. “Can I come in?”