The tree of life

Meanwhile, somewhere in the government's research department: 

"Ms. Jansen, we have a strange error message here, I think you should take a look at it," spoke a young man whose job it was to observe and evaluate the measurements across the country. "Why? What is it?" A middle-aged woman approached the screen. "There's a reading here, just a single one received and it's also, well, how shall I put it, extremely unrealistic. Have we been hacked?" 

The woman looked at the values and her face slipped. "No, that's a real value. But it's someone who knew what was happening to him and the other person who was measured, if we have more details," she explained excitedly. "But 100? There's never been a value like that before." "That's probably why the person destroyed the measuring device. Who knows how the other values turned out. We absolutely have to find out who the two people behind these values are." 

"That will be difficult, because the device was completely destroyed, we can't access the IP address and therefore the owner," the man explained after trying a few things on the computer that could lead him to the source. "I don't care how you do it, as long as you find it. A result like that is revolutionary, not only that. It could change the world completely." "Yes ma'am." 

POV: Leo

Jasper chased the car across the streets to his practice. Leo, meanwhile, who had been writhing in pain at the beginning, just cried. "Jasper...?" He asked in a very frightened voice. "What is it?" Jasper replied calmly as he turned into the street where his doctor's office was located. "Is it bad if I can't feel anything at all?" "What do you mean?" he said calmly and parked in front of his practice in his parking lot. "I don't feel anything anymore. "No pain, nothing at all," Leo sniffled. "Leo, don't panic unnecessarily now. We're going to go in and check on your child, okay?" "Mhm," Leo sobbed and nodded. 

No sooner said than done. Jasper unlocked his surgery and went into the examination room with Leo. "T-shirt up." Leo pulled up his T-shirt and Jasper got the ultrasound ready. "Your scan would have been due soon anyway," Jasper tried to distract Leo, "so you want to know the sex of your baby? It's clearly visible by now." The ultrasound machine glided over Leo's abdomen. Before Leo could answer, Jasper reacted strangely. "What the...?" Leo was even more panicked by the reaction. "What is it?!" Leo almost shouted. Jasper looked from the screen to Leo and scrutinized him. "What have you done?" Leo was now not only panicked but also completely confused. "What do you mean, 'what did we do'?" 

Jasper turned the screen so that Leo could see it clearly and he stumbled. "What's that?" Leo saw his child in his abdomen, it was surrounded by a bright, pleasant green light, the heartbeats regular, as if nothing had happened. "You've fathered a monster," Jasper said now, no longer as calm as before. Leo was visibly irritated. He didn't understand what was going on. "What's happening to my child?" he asked, not caring that what was happening was happening in his abdomen. He was only interested in his child. "Leo. Please be honest with me. You measured the values of you and the child's father, didn't you?" "Yes?" "Please tell me what those readings were."

Leo swallowed. "Since you no longer wear the watch, I'm assuming they were high, yes?" Leo nodded at Jasper's question. "Yes, very...What were the highest readings ever, Jasper?" Jasper raised an eyebrow. "I believe: physical: 86, psychic 82, potential 90 (the potential score is the maximum score that can be achieved. The psychic score is the only one that can change as you get to know and understand each other better), and ability all around 70, why do you ask?" Leo gulped. "Please, hold on and make sure this never gets out to the public." "Okay?" "Physical: 100, mental 92, potential 100, ability: 100" 

Jasper's expression completely slipped. "Under no circumstances should this be made public, it's understandable that you destroyed the watch. But I think that explains the phenomenon we've seen. Your child, and any child you would father with him, is a monster." Jasper held up a mirror to Leo. "You've been punched in the face, but you don't have any wounds left. This child not only protected himself, but also you, and that in an unborn state. Even if you had wanted to abort him back then, I'm afraid it wouldn't have worked. In short, I would describe it as: The child is invulnerable. And that's exactly what we're seeing here on the ultrasound. That's your child's ability." 

Leo didn't know what to say and just sat there dumbfounded. "It's a boy, by the way, I wanted to tell you that." "A boy?" "Yep, actually I said I wasn't interested in who got you pregnant, but after the whole thing, I would be interested now."

 "A boy, then...," Leo mumbled, almost not listening to Jasper anymore. "You're still not going to tell me, are you?" Jasper asked. Leo shook his head. "No, certainly not now. I do trust you, but not so much that I'm going to tell you. In fact, you already know too much for my taste." Leo got dressed again. Jasper sighed: "That's a shame. But I understand you. Well, I got what I wanted. I'm grateful enough that I can accompany you on this special pregnancy. As a researcher, that gives me a lot. But I would advise you not to move away before the birth, now that we know that little Hope is not a normal child. Let me help you with the birth and then I'll release you into the wide, free world."

"Yes, that makes sense. Thank you so much for everything, really now," Leo spoke calmly. "If I'd known that before, I could almost have stayed in the military," Leo stroked his stomach. "If only I didn't have this paunch," he joked, a tear of relief running down his cheek, 'Better not,' Jasper laughed, getting ready for his impromptu night out. 

"You've really become a crybaby since you got pregnant," he added with a laugh. "Oh, one more thing, now that we've clarified why you got pregnant, I'll give you a bit of advice: Unless you really want another child, never sleep with the father of the child without contraception. It wouldn't matter with others, but with the physical values you have with the father of the child, you'd be pregnant again immediately without contraception, so don't." 

"I'll do my best." "Very good. Oh, one more thing, would you move in with me for the duration of your pregnancy? As a salary for my help?" Leo looked at Jasper in irritation. "How? I don't understand that. Wouldn't that be more of a burden than a reward?" 

"As stupid as it sounds, as a researcher I want to miss as little of this pregnancy as possible and the best way to do that is for you to live with me so I can see you every day. Besides, you can't go to work without giving yourself away anyway, so that would be a win-win situation, after all, your savings won't last forever, especially after you hired the hacker a few months ago for a huge amount of money to delete your data." 

"I guess you're right," Leo sighed with a smile on his face. "All right, if you say you'll put up with me, then that's what we'll do." The two men exchanged a handshake. "Deal." "Deal."

And so the last few months flew by. Leo had to spend most of his time locked up in his new home, because the bigger his belly got, the more problems it caused. Not only could he hardly move towards the end, it would have been too noticeable outside. He had spent most of his time rearranging and cleaning Jasper's house. 

There was now also a makeshift nursery and birthing room in the house so that the birth could be as secret as possible. Every day Leo was looking forward to Hope's birth more and more, he felt confined but realized that it was the best thing for everyone and was very grateful for all the opportunities Jasper gave him and of course for the one-to-one care he received. 

Jasper regularly took his blood and did ultrasounds. Hope was big for his age, but perfectly healthy and ready to be born. 

It was a Friday at the beginning of the 9th month, Leo was doing his daily chores, he couldn't stop lying around all the time and had just gone into the kitchen to chop the vegetables for dinner when he felt he urgently needed to go to the toilet. 

He barely managed to take two steps before the amniotic fluid started running down his legs and he began to feel intense, cramp-like pain. He quickly reached for his phone and dialed his emergency contact: Jasper. 

He answered the phone immediately. "Yes, what is it?" Jasper spoke on the other end, calm as ever. "Hope... he's... coming," Leo said, out of breath. "I'll be right out," Jasper replied curtly and hung up immediately. 

Just as Jasper had told Leo to do to encourage labor, he paced up and down the hallway, leaning against the wall, until Jasper entered the house. "Leo?" Jasper shouted through the house. "Here!" Leo yelled back and it wasn't a minute before Jasper was standing in front of him, supporting him and walking with him into the birthing room.

Leo put on the gown and lay down on the couch and Jasper started his examinations and connected Leo to the necessary equipment. "Breathe in and out deeply, Leo," Jasper reassured Leo. "That looks good," Jasper said after he had examined Leo. "Hope's already got his head down and you're pretty far along too, someone's hurrying to finally see their mom, aren't they?" Jasper joked and sat down at the end of the bed, Leo's legs were bent and he squeezed Jasper's hand with his left hand with every contraction that came. 

"Hah, if someone had told me back then that I would be attending the birth of your child, I would have flipped them the bird," he said sarcastically, but Leo wasn't even listening. He tried to breathe normally and push, the pain was intense but bearable. "You'll have it soon. The little man is doing the final push now." "Ngh." "We just have to be careful now, slowly Leo, that he doesn't get a shock if he slips through the birth canal too quickly. Although with that little monster, I'm pretty sure he doesn't care about that at all." 

Leo clenched his hand into a fist and pulled it once over Jasper's head. He was in no mood for fun. With one last contraction, one last push, a loud child's cry rang out. "Don't stop pushing, the afterbirth has to come out too." Leo couldn't really see it, but Jasper had Hope in his arms and went to the examination table. Leo continued to push until he had finally managed it. "Well done," Jasper praised Leo as he briefly checked that Leo had completely survived the birth and then turned his attention back to Hope. 

"Oh," Jasper slipped out and shortly afterwards Leo panicked and sat up vertically: 'What oh?!' he cried anxiously. "Well, not to be expected, he's perfectly healthy," Jasper turned to Leo and approached him with the little boy wrapped in a towel, "I now know why you wanted to keep the father a secret..." A moment later, Jasper stared at Leo. 

"He's a Wollseif, isn't he?" "How...?" Leo asked Jasper, confused. Jasper just put Leo's son in Leo's arms. "Oh," Leo said now too. A slightly veiled but clearly violet pair of eyes looked at him, Hope chuckled as he recognized his mother. 

"That was poorly kept secret, my friend. Didn't you know that purple is the trademark of the Wollseifs? It is always inherited among the Wollseifs' children, 100 percent, without exception, and even appears only among the Wollseifs. So it couldn't be more obvious that the father is a Wollseif." 

Leo sighed: "Fuck, I didn't even think about that, not once during the whole time. What am I going to do now? I don't feel like locking myself and my child up any longer, it won't work," Leo said desperate. "Haha, don't worry. That's the least of the problems we've had," Jasper winked at him. "Remember," he pointed at himself. "I'm still primarily an researcher. Give me a few weeks and I'll whip up the nice eye drops that will solve the whole thing and make this kid look a little more like you and not completely like his father, with his thin black hair and violet eyes." 

"Thank you," Leo laughed and turned his gaze back to the little newborn. "You are welcome, always stressing about you," Jasper laughed. "And how are you feeling now?" "Exhausted." "That's understandable. Have a good rest. Get some sleep now. You'll definitely be staying here for the next few weeks, I'll help you until you're ready to move out, live on your own, with a little baby and when the eye drops are ready so that you're safe. I hope you think of a real name though. Hope is kind of...cheap." Leo hugged the newborn tightly. "Yeah, don't worry about it. His name is Oliver." "Hah, so you're hanging on to the metaphor of Hope, are you?"

"Yup." Leo replied curtly and unenthusiastic. "Okay, you really need to sleep now. We'll get you ready, get you changed if you can manage it, and I'll take Oliver, okay?" "Mmm." Leo didn't really want to give Oliver to him, but he knew that he was in good hands with Jasper, better than anywhere else. So he gave Oliver to Jasper in his arms, his eyes a little teary, but there was no other way. After everything was done, he fell asleep as if dead. He was very relieved that Oliver was fine and that he was born without any problems. At least that was one thing that was stress-free. 

But you couldn't expect that from the job search over the next few weeks. His previous job had been as a marksman, which was not something you looked for in general professions. It took him ages to get a job as a security guard in a small, remote town that tolerated him having a small child, but he still had to pretend to be an Alpha, on the one hand it was written in his documents, otherwise there would be problems elsewhere. 

In contrast, finding an apartment was a piece of cake. People were happy to take in a well-off man with a small child in a small town, out of pity or otherwise. In any case, the landlady was sympathetic to the single dad and even offered him her help, which he gratefully accepted out of politeness. Moving with a three-month-old wasn't easy, Jasper couldn't help much apart from packing, but he had already done enough for Leo anyway. 

Oliver and Leo quickly settled into the new town. There were occasional problems with other parents who criticized the fact that he was a single parent as an Alpha, that Oliver didn't have a mother figure, but that was one thing Leo could put up with, he was used to being discriminated against, whether as an Alpha or an Omega. 

And that's how quickly four years passed. Oliver had grown quite a bit by now, Jasper's eye drops worked wonders, dripped once a day and he had blue eyes instead of his violet ones. Apart from that, he looked just like his father. Until now, Oliver had never asked about his other parent, he was content to live alone with his dad, actually his mother, he was strong and didn't let the other parents and children from the kindergarten talk him into it. However, that all changed one day when Oliver saw someone special on television. 

Leo was doing the laundry while Oliver was watching TV at breakfast at the weekend. "Daddy," the little boy called across the apartment. "Yes, my darling?" "Come here, please." Leo quickly hung up the last of his clothes and then joined Leo in the dining room. "What's wrong?" he asked calmly. "Look," Oliver pointed at the television. "Is that my other dad?" 

Leo's heart sank as he looked at the TV. Oliver was a damn smart kid. Christopher was on the television. "He's got purple eyes too, like me," Oliver added by way of explanation. Leo stared at the television. Why was Christopher on TV? 

The newsreader said: "So Lieutenant General Wollseif. You're the youngest of your rank, you've almost caught up with your father. How did you manage to rise so quickly? What was your motivation?" Christopher had that wry smile that Leo knew he had when he was trying to be polite to important people. "You haven't changed at all," Leo murmured quietly, but continued to listen intently. 

"I've been looking for someone I owe for a long time. Unfortunately, I couldn't access that particular personnel file with my previous rank, so I've set myself the goal of moving up to see that person again." Leo had to laugh, typical Christopher, honest as ever. But wait a minute - he thought for a moment. - This person isn't me, is it? - he thought to himself in shock. It fit like a glove. 

"That's an interesting motivation, Mr. Wollseif." The interviewer now smiled a little wryly. "Would you like to tell us what this person is all about?" Christopher turned his gaze from the interviewer directly into the camera. "No, it's a secret," he put his index finger to his lips. "The person I'm talking about will know." 

With those words, Leo switched off the TV, sweat forming on his forehead. Nonsense. He hadn't meant him, had he? Did he know about Oliver and was secretly looking for me because of it? No, that couldn't be true. "Dad, are you all right?" Oliver asked worriedly, tugging on Leo's sleeve. "Dad, you don't have to tell me. I'm really happy with Dad alone. I don't need another dad," said Olivier sadly. "It's all right, sweetheart," Leo took Oliver in his arms. "Everything's fine...." - I hope. 

Two days later, on Monday morning, Leo was called into his boss's office. "Good morning, Leo," the old man with the white hair greeted him. "Hey boss, what's going on? Why are you calling me into your office so early in the morning?"

The old man sighed loudly. "I'm sorry, Leo." "What's wrong?" Leo was starting to get nervous at his boss's words. "I have to transfer you. Actually, I don't want to take you and little Oliver out of the picture." "Why do you have to transfer me, what's going on?" Leo was confused and agitated, he could already guess what was going on, and sank into the chair opposite his boss's desk. 

"I got a call from high up, from the government. They want me to transfer you to the capital. That's where you're from, isn't it?" Leo nodded, biting his lower lip. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. 

- Someone found me, either the research department or Christopher, after all, he had announced he was looking for me - 

"Do you know who it was that asked you to do that?" The old man shook his head. "Has it to do with your old job?" the old man asked, a little curious now. "I don't know, it could be," Leo replied honestly. "How long do I have?" "A month. They'll even organize the move for you." - so they wanted to make sure I didn't run away again - "I don't question who you are that the government would do something like this." "Thank you," Leo said reassuringly. "It's better this way, believe me." 

This time he really couldn't escape, and he didn't feel like running away any more. He had to smile a little. He remembered the conversation with Christopher about how he had said that he would never be able to escape from the government and his father, not even going abroad would work, as he was under surveillance everywhere. 

Now Leo was in the same situation. That was strange. So Leo accepted his fate and followed the government's orders; anything was fine with him as long as Oliver wasn't disadvantaged or hurt.

As a child, he also needed a stable home and a safe environment. Either way, he had no choice but to obey in the long run. A phone call also revealed that it was the research department that was behind the transfer. 

They had also been able to recover his file, putting further pressure on him to publish it and his current and future place of residence. It was bound to happen. 

Now he was forced into a new job, working in the secret services, where he basically worked in the office, which was at least somewhat considerate of a single father, and was rarely sent on field missions. Apparently they had Leo under surveillance for weeks, because they knew a surprising amount about Leo's daily routine and also about Oliver. 

There were actually two birth certificates for Oliver. Officially, he was the father and the mother had died during the birth. Unofficially, there was another one in which Leo was listed as the mother and the father was unknown. However, since the government knew from the research team that he was an Omega, they were aware of the latter and only put more pressure on Leo. 

Leo only explained the bare minimum to Oliver, that they had to move because Dad had a new job, that he shouldn't go with anyone in the city or talk alone because the city was dangerous and most importantly, that he shouldn't let anyone see him with his violet eyes. Oliver was sad, but he understood that it was all very important to his father. 

The apartment they moved into was huge. 7 rooms, a large kitchen and 2 bathrooms. The government certainly had to pay a lot for it and it was actually too big for the two of them, but Leo wasn't complaining. The few things they had in the apartment looked like a drop of water falling into a bathtub. 

"Dad?" Oliver had his favorite teddy bear in his arms and was looking at Leo with his googly eyes. "Why are we living in a villa now?" Leo grinned: "I don't know." After all the things had been carried upstairs, a person in a suit and tie entered the apartment through the open front door. 

"I'm sorry to have to attack you like this, Mr. Neumann." Leo looked at the stranger, but immediately recognized that he belonged to the government. "What do you want?" Leo's voice was tense. 

"You know that tonight is Military Chairman Wollfseif's gala, right? Now that you're back here, the event is mandatory. This is how we start integrating you again," the stranger spoke calmly and handed him the invitation for the gala. "I've also had a new uniform delivered to you and a babysitter has been organized so that you have no excuse not to show up today," the stranger added before disappearing out of the apartment again. 

"Dad, he was weird," Leo mumbled as he clung to Leo's leg. "Yeah, he really was." Leo stroked Oliver's hair, "Dad?"

"Yes." 

"I love you" 

"I love you too, sweetheart."

So tonight he was to see Christopher again for the first time in four years and probably speak to him too. Leo was already a little nervous, because on the one hand someone he doesn't know was looking after Oliver, and on the other hand he would be getting closer to his crush, the father of his child and his old comrade again, or something like that.

Somehow, however, he was also looking forward to the evening. A curious gamble, but he had no choice but to take his chances.

He had to make the best of it.

Prologue End