So lift your hands high and wave 'em proud
Take a deep breath and say it loud
Never can, never will
Can't hold us down

--"Can't Hold Us Down," Christina Aguilera

May 2005

"Theodore Schmidt and Blake Wyzecki, in as much as you have pledged yourselves, one to the other, by the exchanging of vows and rings, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Government of the Province of Ontario, I do hereby pronounce you to be married," the clerk said to the happy couple. "You may exchange a kiss as a token of your joy."

Ted embraced his new husband and gave him a big wet kiss, with Blake happily reciprocating.

"Gentleman, if you will now please sign your marriage license," the clerk requested.

Ted and Blake, along with the two deputy clerks who volunteered to be witnesses to the vows, signed the license.

The clerk smiled at the newly married couple. "Congratulations, gentleman. I wish you a long life together, filled with happiness and prosperity. May the vows you made to one another today sustain you forever."

"Thank you," Ted and Blake said to the nice woman before leaving the city clerk's office with their brand new marriage license.

"Holy shit!" Blake said once they were in the hallway. "Did we actually just do that?"

"Yep, we actually just got married," Ted confirmed with a goofy smile on his face. He felt like the luckiest guy in the world to have finally snagged the man he believed with all his heart was his soulmate.

Blake giggled, so happy to have made their relationship official, even if they had to travel to the neighboring country to the north to do it legally. "It feels so... surreal. It was only a month ago that we ran into each other at that ski lodge."

"Yes, it was," Ted said as he replayed the events of the past month in his head.

After they had reconnected at the ski lodge, Ted and Blake went back to Pittsburgh and spent many glorious nights together at Ted's condo. It had been a couple of years since the last time they'd been together, but it was as if they hadn't skipped a beat. Even with all the drama in their history, their relationship never lacked passion. They had found their perfect lover in one another. Ted knew they belonged together, and now that it finally seemed the stars were aligned just right and the universe would allow the two of them to be together, he wasn't going to ever let Blake go again.

They had been in the middle of another beautiful round of lovemaking on their one-month anniversary when Ted asked Blake to marry him. It wasn't the thoughtful proposal Ted had imagined, if he would ever be so lucky to ask or be asked the big question, but he just couldn't help himself. Blake had screamed "yes!" in the middle of his climax.

They drove straight to Toronto the next morning, neither of them wanting to wait another day. Once they were in town, they stopped at the first jewelry store they found and bought a pair of matching white gold rings, rather simple but still beautiful designs. They exchanged their vows in the Toronto Clerk's Office, which was far from the romantic wedding that Ted had always dreamed about but ended up being perfect for the two of them.

Out in the parking lot, the new husbands buckled up. Ted started the car but didn't know where they should go.

"So, my darling husband, should we go back home or find a hotel room somewhere?" he asked his blond. "I'm sure Mel and Linds would put us up for the night, but we probably wouldn't want to spend our wedding night with a couple of dykes and two kids, would we?"

Blake thought about it for a moment. "Actually, my darling husband, I've never been to Niagara Falls. It's not very far from here, is it?"

Ted turned on his GPS device and typed in their destination. "It looks like the Canadian side of the Falls is about two hours from here."

"Let's go!" Blake said with a big smile.

They were on Queen Elizabeth Way about an hour later, "Nessun Dorma" as sung by Pavarotti quietly playing out of the car's speakers. Ted reached over and ran his hand over Blake's left hand, his fingers trailing over his husband's wedding ring, which was shimmering in the sunlight.

Blake looked over at Ted. The older man was surprised to see that his younger husband didn't look too happy.

"What's wrong, Honey?" Ted asked.

"Are you sad that we didn't invite anyone?"

Ted immediately shook his head. "No... I can just hear Emmett telling me that we're rushing into this. Brian would make some kind of snide remark, leaving me feeling like shit. I don't know what Michael would say, but he may have been the only one who would've been supportive."

"Debbie would probably have been happy for us," Blake said.

"Yeah, but it would've reminded her how we can't legally do this back home. Same-sex marriage being illegal in the US is a very sore spot for her; she won't even marry Carl until every gay couple can get married."

"What about Melanie and Lindsay? They just moved up here, right?"

Ted wished that Melanie had been there to see him get married after having been friends with her since college, but he had no regrets. If he invited one person from the "family" he would have had to invite all of them. His mother would be heartbroken not to have been included. It wouldn't have been right to invite only his side, so they would have had to invite the whole Wyzecki bunch up there, too. Ted hadn't even met Blake's family yet, and the thought of meeting Blake's parents and his six younger siblings was very overwhelming.

"No, I'm glad we did it like this, just the two of us," Ted said. "What, do you have any regrets? You're supposed to have cold feet before the ceremony you know, not after."

Blake's smile returned. "No regrets."

As if he knew his mantra had been recited, Ted's cell phone rang. He almost wasn't surprised to see on his caller ID that it was Brian.

Ted answered the call. "Hello?"

"Where the fuck are you?" Brian snarled in his ear.

"It's always a pleasure to speak with you, Boss," Ted said sarcastically. "I took the day off, remember?"

"I need you to look at the papers for the Babylon contractor. You're not in your apartment."

"That's because Blake and I decided to take a little weekend trip. We should be back by oh, five o'clock Sunday evening."

"Fuck!" Brian yelled. "I was supposed to have these faxed by five o'clock today! We're going to lose this company's bid and we'll have to go with a more expensive one."

"How long has that paperwork been sitting on your desk? I'm sure it's been more than a day. This is what happens when you procrastinate, Brian," Ted said, using his dad voice.

"Fuck!" Brian yelled again.

Ted thought quickly. "When we get to our hotel, I'll call you back with a fax number, okay? We'll be cutting it close, but we'll get it taken care of."

"Drive fast, Theodore," Brian ordered before hanging up on him.

Ted sat his phone back in his center console. "Christ, Justin has only been gone for a month, but Brian is completely miserable without him. He's taking it out on the rest of us sorry bastards, especially those of us unfortunate enough to work for him."

"You know Brian, he just needs to get laid and he'll feel better," Blake said dismissively.

"Nah, it's more than that. I'm sure he's getting it regularly, but he's still a bear to be around. Cynthia has dubbed his office ‘The Temple of Doom.' He made Sarah in the art department cry last week. You didn't see how close they were before Justin left, they almost had a commitment ceremony. Brian even bought him a huge fucking mansion in the country, Justin's dream home. As soon as Brian admitted his feelings for his little Sunshine, he ran him off."

"They should have just gotten married, for real," Blake said.

Ted nodded in agreement. "That's what Justin really wanted, but Brian didn't think the boy could be happy unless he went to Manhattan and made it as an artist. They're both trying so hard to be selfless for once. Justin's only doing what he thinks Brian wants him to do, when we all know what Brian wants is Justin and what Justin wants is Brian."

Blake sighed sadly, feeling sorry for his husband's brooding boss and his wayward blond. "Maybe someday they'll both realize it."

Ted brought Blake's hand to his lips and kissed his ring. "Let's hope so, for everyone's sake."

Ted walked into the diner on Monday morning for his usual breakfast with Brian, Emmett, and Michael. He had been rehearsing all weekend how he was going to share his news with his friends, but his planned speech went out the window before he could even sit down.

"What the fuck is that?" Emmett said, pointing at Ted's left hand.

He quickly realized that he had forgotten to take his ring off. He reflexively put his hand in his jacket pocket. "Uh... what the fuck is what?"

Emmett reached over and yanked Ted's hand toward him. The southern queen gasped.

"What the... what?" Emmett sputtered. "You didn't! Please, tell me you didn't!"

All Ted could do was smile guiltily. "Uh..."

Both Brian and Michael were staring at his ring from across the booth.

"Holy shit," Michael said. "Is that a...?"

"Wedding ring?!" Emmett shrieked.

Ted stuck out his chin. "Yes, yes it is."

"Is it a real wedding ring or....?" Michael asked.

"As opposed to what, a fake wedding ring?" Ted offered.

Emmett looked at his best friend, tears welling up in his eyes. "You didn't actually get married, did you? Like, legally?"

"Married? Who got married?" Debbie's voice suddenly rang out.

Ted turned to find the rainbow-vested redhead standing beside him and looking down at his left hand, which Emmett was still holding. In fact, it appeared as if everyone in the diner was now looking in his direction.

"Yes, friends and Liberty Avenue Diner patrons, I went to Toronto and got married over the weekend," he proudly announced. "You can all go back to your meals now."

"Oh my God, Teddy!" Debbie said before wrapping her arms around the man, squeezing the air out of him. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Deb," Ted said in a strangled voice.

"I'm so happy for you and..." Debbie said before releasing Ted and taking a step back. "What's his name again?"

"Blake," Ted reminded her.

Debbie smacked herself on the forehead. "Of course, Blake! You two are so cute together."

"How could you fucking do this?" Emmett yelled. "You guys have been back together for like, five minutes, and now you're married? What the fuck were you thinking?"

Ted had expected Emmett to be upset that he hadn't been invited to the ceremony or asked to plan the event for them, but he never imagined his friend being angry with him for getting married.

"I was thinking that I love Blake and I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I thought you approved of us being together. Hell, you were the one who told me to go be with Blake when we saw him at the ski resort last month."

"Yeah, but I didn't think you would get married a month later! I thought that... oh, nevermind."

Emmett pushed past Ted and Debbie and started heading toward the door.

"No... Finish your sentence!" Ted yelled at him.

Emmett stopped in his tracks, paused for a couple of breaths, and turned around. "I thought you and Blake would have a little fun, and then crash and burn just like you always did. Maybe once and for all, you'd see that you and him shouldn't be together."

"And why shouldn't he and I be together?" Ted asked as his own tears started flowing, heartbroken to hear those words come out of his best friend and ex-lover's mouth. "We're both clean and happy in our own lives, so why shouldn't it work out for us this time? What has Blake ever done to make you not like him, apart from his addiction? You forgave me for the shitty things I did when I was high, so why can't you look past his mistakes?"

Emmett stood there with his mouth open, searching for something to say.

Ted spoke before he could answer. "Or are you just jealous because I'm with the man I'm going to spend the rest of my life with while you are all alone? Are you pissed that I didn't marry you?"

"Ooh, shit," Brian said, surprised Ted had the guts to go there.

"Shush," Michael said to him, looking at Emmett for an answer.

Emmett covered a sob with his hand before turning back around and running out the door. Ted thought about following him but decided to take his seat at the table.

"Well, that went way worse than I thought it would," he said to no one in particular as he wiped his eyes with a napkin. "Can I get some coffee, Deb?"

Debbie pulled her eyes away from the door. "Um, sure, Honey."

The three remaining men sat in uncomfortable silence for a minute. Debbie brought Ted's coffee and refilled Michael and Brian's cups before walking away.

"So... do either of you have anything to say?" Ted finally asked the other men.

Brian thought about it for a bit. "When I called you and we were faxing that Babylon contract back and forth, was that before or after you tied the knot?"

"About two hours after," Ted answered.

"Oh..." Brian said, surprised at how guilty he suddenly felt. Even on his wedding day, Ted was still acting as a loyal employee. "If I had known you were like, on your honeymoon or whatever, I wouldn't have-"

"Don't worry about it," Ted interrupted. "Blake and I had two very nice nights together before we came home yesterday."

"Where did you stay?" Michael asked.

"At the Embassy Suites on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We got a room on the fortieth floor and had a great view."

"Did you ever leave the room?" Brian asked with a wolfish smile.

Ted chucked. "Yeah, a couple times, briefly."

Michael finally asked the question Ted was hoping he wouldn't have to address. "So, why didn't you invite any of us to your wedding? I mean, you guys went to mine, and Brian invited all of us to-"

Brian loudly cleared his throat before taking a sip of coffee.

"Well, it's not like I didn't want you guys to be there," Ted explained, "but it's a long trip and it was kind of a spur of the moment decision we made. Hell, we biked home from Toronto, you know how fucking far away it is. We didn't want to inconvenience anyone by expecting you to haul ass up there for us on a Friday. Also, Blake has a really big family, so we thought what the hell? Let's just elope and celebrate with our families here at home later."

"I would have driven up there for you, plus we could have visited the kids," Michael mumbled.

Brian smiled at Ted, saluting him with his cup of coffee. "Well, I for one thank you for not inviting me. You know I hate witnessing those heterosexual suicide pacts."

"You stood up for me at my wedding and almost had one of your own," Michael so kindly reminded his friend.

Brian glared at Michael before dropping a twenty on the table. "Move your ass, I've got to get to the office."

Michael did as Brian asked and allowed him to get out of the booth.

"See you later, Boss," Ted said to the retreating man. "Jesus, Michael, why do you have to constantly throw that in his face?"

"What, that he was the best man at my wedding?" Michael dumbly asked.

"No, that he almost married Justin. Even though it was only going to be symbolic, it was still a huge step for him in his life. The fact that he was willing to make any kind of commitment to someone shows how much Brian has grown up. Shit, he bought Justin a huge house to show him he was serious, even toyed with the idea of selling the loft! He showed me pictures of the house online, it's really fucking nice... expensive, too."

Michael waved his hand. "Whatever. Justin's gone now, so Brian's free to move on. If Brian really wanted to be with him, he wouldn't have urged him to leave. He barely had to push him to go. It was like that little blond asshole was looking for an out. I say ‘good riddance' to him."

Ted downed the rest of his coffee and got out of the booth, needing to get away from Michael just as Brian had.

"Hey, you and Blake should come over for dinner sometime this week," Michael said as Ted was leaving.

"Yeah, sure," Ted said before he walked out.

Tonight we are victorious
Champagne pouring over us
All my friends were glorious
Tonight we are victorious

--"Victorious," Panic! at the Disco

Ted had a very productive day at the office, working until six before leaving. He called Blake to let him know he would be home within the next hour before heading over to Debbie's house.

He didn't know whether Emmett would be working an event or out on a date that evening, but he took a chance at catching him at home. He knocked on the door and smiled when Carl answered.

"Hey there, Ted," the old cop said to him, sticking out his hand. "I heard the news, congrats."

Ted shook his hand. "Thanks, Carl. Um, is Emmett here?"

Carl stepped aside and pointed over his shoulder. Ted found Emmett sitting at the kitchen table with Debbie.

"Sorry to be interrupting your dinner," Ted said as he walked in.

"Don't be silly," Debbie said to him. "We have plenty if you want to fix yourself a plate."

"No, thanks. Blake and I are going to Rigoletto's for dinner later."

"I make much better penne vodka," Debbie said, gesturing to her plate.

Ted smiled. "I won't argue with you there, but I came to talk to Em."

"I think we've said everything we need to say," Emmett said, refusing to look up from his plate.

"Emmett, please," Ted asked. "Give me five minutes."

Emmett sighed before wiping his mouth with his napkin and getting up. "Excuse me, Deb, Carl. I'll be back in five minutes," Emmett said, gesturing for Ted to follow him upstairs.

They went up to his room, where they could talk in private. Emmett sat on his bed and looked at his watch.

"Five minutes, go."

"Alright," Ted began. "I was out of line earlier, but you were, too."

"Where was I out of line?" Emmett asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Saying that you hoped Blake and I would ‘crash and burn.' That was really shitty of you. Why don't you want me to be happy?"

"I do want you to be happy, Teddy," Emmett insisted. "But... I just don't think that Blake is the right one for you."

"You don't even know him," Ted pointed out.

Emmett stood up. "And you do? You guys have only been together for a grand total of what... like, two months? You and I were together longer than that, after being friends for years."

"Do you still wish we were together?" Ted asked, walking closer to his former lover. "Seriously, Em, is that what this is all about? I thought we decided we were much better as friends."

"We did decide that, and it's true, we are much better as friends. That doesn't mean I still don't love you, that I didn't enjoy the good times we had. It was really good before it got really bad. We almost had a house together, remember? I'm jealous seeing you with anyone, I think that's just natural for a former love. I wonder all the time what might have been if you hadn't fallen into your addiction. Hell, maybe we could have..."

Ted put his hand on Emmett's cheek, as a comforting gesture. "And I always wondered what could have happened between me and Blake if his addiction didn't ruin it the first time and if my addiction hadn't prevented us from being together the second time. I fell in love with Blake before I fell in love with you. A part of me will always love you, Emmett, but me and Blake... we have one of those eternal loves that you read about in fairytales. He's the man for me and the time has finally come where we can actually make it work, now that we're both sober. Everything in my gut tells me that I've made the right choice, even if it does appear like we've rushed into it. All that matters is that he and I are happy together."

Emmett stiffened his lips. "Well, don't come crying to me if this whole thing blows up."

Ted got in Emmett's face, tired of his negativity. "Listen here, pal. If you still want to be friends with me, then you will accept Blake as my husband. I don't want to ever hear another negative word about him come out of your mouth, got it? He is a permanent part of my life now. If you don't respect that, then you will force me to choose between the two of you. Trust me, you won't be my choice."

Emmett took a step back. "Damn, Teddy."

Ted shrugged. "That's just the way it has to be. Blake is my number one. I want to be friends with you, but not if you're going to be like this. I'm sorry if I upset you by not telling you that Blake and I got engaged and for not including you in the ceremony, but what's done is done."

Emmett nodded in understanding. "Okay... even if I don't necessarily agree with your decision, I respect it, out of my love and respect for you."

"Please just give Blake a chance," Ted pleaded. "You are both very important people in my life and I want the two of you to like each other. He's a wonderful person, very funny and smart. You guys actually have a lot in common and you'll realize that if you try to get to know him. I'd love it if the two of you became friends."

"I guess if you think he's so great, there has to be something special about him," Emmett surmised. "I'll try, I promise."

Ted kissed Emmett lightly on the lips and hugged him. "Thank you."

The following week, Emmett still felt bad for blowing up at Ted the way he did. He wanted to show his best friend how much he meant to him, and that he truly did respect his new marriage and only wished the best for him. Emmett did what he did best when any kind of celebratory occasion arrived: he planned a party.

Emmett had talked about his plans with Brian and they decided to have the party at Kinnetik on a Saturday evening two weeks later. He brought with him lots of Italian-themed decorations and ingredients to make some non-alcoholic drinks, out of respect for the sober newlyweds. After a few hours, he had the place beautifully decorated and lots of yummy snacks ready. He made a variety of bruschetta, some meatballs, an antipasto platter, pesto dip, and figs stuffed with goat cheese. There was tiramisu and cannoli for dessert. Emmett put lots of Ted's favorite Italian opera songs and show tunes on his iPod to play on the stereo system.

Brian, Cynthia, nearly everyone else from Kinnetik, Debbie, Carl, Michael, Ben, Hunter, and Emmett's current beau were all there. It was up to Brian to get Ted and Blake to their party without looking too obvious.

Brian decided to make up a story to get Ted to the office. He had heard Ted mention the previous day how he and Blake were going to see the new Star Wars movie that evening, so he knew they would be out together. It would have to be something good for them to leave the theater early and have Ted bring Blake along with him, rather than drop him off at home first. The ruse would also have to explain why other cars would be in the lot.

"Alright, everybody shut the fuck up!" Brian yelled out, breaking up the chatter in the room.

Once everyone was quiet, Brian called Ted on his cell just before he knew the previews before the movie would start and Ted would turn off his phone.

"Yeah, Brian?" Ted answered.

"Hey Ted, are you busy?" Brian asked, adding a bit of panic to his voice.

"I'm getting some popcorn at the movies, why?"

"I got a call from the alarm company. Someone forced the front door open at the office."

"Holy shit," Ted said, obviously concerned.

"Cynthia and I are calling everyone because we don't know if anything was taken. I really need you to get over here and check your office, the sooner the better."

"Okay, I'm on my way. Blake, we have to go to the office right now," Ted quickly said before hanging up.

Brian smiled at Emmett. "He bought it."

"And the Academy Award goes to Brian Kinney," Emmett said.

Cynthia was watching from a window that looked out on the parking lot. "They're here!" she yelled when she saw Ted's Audi pull into his assigned spot.

Everyone gathered in the foyer and yelled "Surprise!" when Ted opened the door.

Both Ted and Blake's jaws dropped.

"What the fuck?" Ted asked, obviously not expecting this.

"Gotcha, bitches!" Brian said with a big smile before giving Ted maybe the third hug he had ever given the man.

"So, there was no robbery?" Blake said, impressed. "I guess this is still worth missing Revenge of the Sith for."

"It's almost as bad as the first two, you're not missing anything," Hunter said, having seen it earlier that afternoon with Michael.

The group soon moved into the conference room. The newlyweds loved the Italian theme since that was their favorite type of opera and where they hoped to visit on an official honeymoon in the near future.

The party had been going for about half an hour when a familiar voice suddenly rang out.

"This music sucks dick!"

Everyone turned to watch Justin walk across the room and over to the stereo. He turned off "Quando m'en vo'" from La bohème and put in a Daft Punk CD. He managed to press play before Brian literally swept him off his feet.

This being the first time Justin had been home since moving to Manhattan, Brian wasted no time exchanging salutations. He devoured Justin's lips, which the blond happily welcomed.

"Well, so much for any of the rest of us getting to talk to Justin tonight," Emmett said as he moved to the beat of "One More Time", which he enjoyed much more than opera.

"Did you invite him?" Debbie asked.

Emmett nodded. "I talked to him a couple days ago about the party. He wanted to surprise Brian."

Ted looked over at the couple, who were making out like teenagers on one Brian's armchairs, oblivious to anyone else being in the room. "Yeah, he looks... surprised."

Brian walked over to Ted and Blake a bit later, with Justin clinging to him like a baby primate. "Sunshine and I are going to cut out of here early, Theodore. We need to, um... talk in private."

Ted chuckled. "No problem. Thanks for the party."

"It was all Emmett," Brian admitted before pulling an envelope out of his jacket pocket. "Don't open this until you're home, okay?"

Ted added it to the stack of envelopes and gifts they had already received.

Cynthia came over to congratulate the couple, having only met Blake once before when he came to pick up Ted one day for lunch.

"You guys are so adorable," she said to them.

Ted leaned in toward his husband and smiled. "He's adorable enough for the both of us."

Blake rolled his eyes, annoyed that Ted never gave himself credit. "You're adorable too, Teddy."

"So what are you going to do about last names? I always wonder how same-sex couples decide that, especially two men."

"We talked about it and decided we're going to keep our own names," Ted answered.

"We're modern girls," Blake said, making them all laugh.

"But what about if you have kids?" Cynthia wondered. "Would they only take one of your last names, hyphenate, or...?"

The conversation was interrupted when Michael walked over. He flung his arm over Ted's shoulders and smiled in his face. Ted could immediately smell alcohol on his friend's breath and heard ice clinking in the glass in Michael's free hand.

"Great party. Very you," Michael said way too loud.

"From what I hear, it was all Em's doing," Ted said, trying to pull away from Michael.

"This is way better than my wedding reception... you know, the one Brian threw in the barn with the Hasidic Jewish band?" Michael said, snorting out a laugh.

"Yeah, that was interesting," Ted admitted. "Uh, I didn't know we had liquor here."

"Actually, there isn't any out here. It's a good thing I found a bottle in Brian's desk. You love Dewars, right? I'll pour you a glass."

"I stopped drinking, remember?"

Michael scoffed. "Duh, I knew that. You gave up everything fun when you went to rehab."

"Mmm-hmm," Ted said.

Honestly, he missed booze more than he missed crystal meth, but he wanted to cut out all intoxicating substances from his life.

"God, did you see Brian and Justin slobbering all over each other?" Michael asked. "Gross. Hey, I don't think I properly contra... congratulated you and Blake. So, congratulations, buddy. I hope you enjoy being married as much as I do. Blake's... great."

Before Ted could thank him for his sentiment, Michael planted a kiss on Ted's lips.

Ted pulled back from his friend in surprise. "Uh... wow. Thanks."

"You ‘member when you used to be in love with me?" Michael asked loudly, which caught Blake's attention.

"When he what?" Blake asked Michael.

"Yeah, he didn't tell you?" Michael said. "He had a collage of me inside his closet door in his condo. There was even a shirtless picture that I don't recall posing for."

Ted laughed, uncomfortable. "I think we were drunk when I took that picture."

"Which one of your friends haven't you been in love with?" Michael asked Ted. "I mean, there was me, then Emmett... I've always suspected that maybe Brian-"

"Okay," Ted interrupted, looking around for Ben to come and claim his husband. "I think it may be time for you to get going, Michael. You've had a little too much."

"You would know, huh?" Michael said, giving him the tongue click/finger gun combo.

Ted caught Ben's eye and motioned for him to come over. "Ben, I think your hubby needs to go home to bed."

Ben saw the glass of amber liquid in Michael's hand. "Dammit, he's still taking pain meds for his bombing injuries. He knows not to drink."

Michael pulled away from his husband when he tried to take the glass away. "Get the fuck off of me!"

Ben followed Michael toward the door, calling for Hunter to follow.

Ted and Blake watched as the Novotny-Bruckner family retreated.

"Him?" Blake asked.

Ted sighed. "Yeah... I was a lonely, confused man before you came into my life. My taste has significantly improved, don't you think?"

Blake nodded before kissing his husband.

After the party, Ted and Blake went home and started to open the cards and gifts they received. They mostly got checks, which they put in a stack to be deposited in their new joint checking account. They were saving up for a house, so the money would greatly help.

Ted got to a thick envelope. "Oh yeah, this one's from Brian. What the hell did he do, stuff it with dollar bills?"

Opening the envelope, Ted pulled out a sheaf of papers. Looking through them, he began cursing. "Oh, hell fucking no. That motherfucker. He did not... shit."

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Blake asked, concerned about the furious look on his husband's handsome face.

Ted got up and grabbed his car keys before heading out the door. Blake followed him out the building, continuing to ask what was wrong without getting anything other than muttered expletives in return.

Blake jumped in the car as Ted started it up. He had never seen Ted act like this before. Whatever was wrong, Blake didn't want Ted heading off alone.

They got to Brian's loft and parked out front. Instead of ringing the bell, Ted used his key to get into the building. They rode the elevator to the top floor with Ted still cursing under his breath. Blake was amused by his husband's antics by that point, wondering where it was all heading.

Brian and Justin were in the middle of their third round, with Justin riding Brian as if the brunet were a wild stallion. Suddenly they heard someone pounding on the door and then Ted's voice calling out.

"Brian, open this fucking door right now, Goddammit!"

Brian grabbed Justin's hips to still him. "Well Sunshine, apparently the newlyweds decided to open their gifts instead of fuck like the good Lord intended. See what happens when you get married? No more fun."

Justin laughed.

"I'm not kidding Brian, open the door or I'll use my key! I don't care what the hell you and Justin are doing, it's not like half of Pittsburgh hasn't seen the two of you fuck!" Ted yelled, still pounding on the door.

"Alright, alright!" Brian yelled back. "I'm coming."

"Not right, now you're not," Justin commented, smirking

The couple reluctantly pulled themselves apart. After throwing away the condom and putting on sweats, Brian went to the door and pulled it open. Ted walked in, still fuming, followed by a confused Blake. Ted didn't even check out Brian's bare chest and tented pants like he normally would have, he was so incensed.

"What the fuck is this?" Ted asked, holding out and shaking the envelope of papers Brian had given him earlier at the party.

"Well, although I normally avoid them, I believe it is customary at wedding receptions to give the couple a gift to aid them in their new life together. This is your gift, you're welcome," Brian announced, bowing with a flourish.

"Don't be obtuse, Brian, I know it's a gift. What I want to know is, what is the fuck is the meaning of this?"

"Now Theodore, please tell me that I did not hire a CFO who is illiterate."

"What I want to know is why the fuck you would do this. It's just too much, more than we could ever accept."

"Because I can and I wanted to, so just accept it and move on. Really, you've earned this. Again, you're welcome."

Brian looked at Blake, who was still standing there looking thoroughly confused as he stared at Brian's bare chest.

"Ted, did you even show the papers to your husband?"  

"No, I..." Ted answered, handing the papers to Blake while shaking his head in disbelief.

Blake looked through the papers and burst into tears. "Oh, my... I can't believe you did this, Brian. Thank you so much."

He threw his arms around the sweaty man after he saw the title and deed to a house Brian knew Ted was interested in buying but didn't think they could afford while paying Blake's tuition.

"What?" Justin asked, wrapped up in the sheet. "What the fuck did you do?"

"Oh, I bought them a house, paid in full." Brian patted Blake on his back and looked at Ted. "See Theodore? This is the kind of reaction you should have had. Well, maybe not the waterworks and the hugging, but..."

Ted joined in on the waterworks and the hug. "Thanks, Brian," he finally said.

"Brian fucking Kinney..." Justin said, shaking his head at his lover's generosity. "You're a magnificent bastard."

Brian nodded. "I know."

Am I gonna turn out fine?
Oh, you'll turn out fine
But you gotta keep your head up
And you can let your hair down

--"Keep Your Head Up," Andy Grammer

June 2013, Eight Years Later

Things were going great for the Liberty Avenue gang.

Ted and Blake celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary and were happier than ever. Blake just earned his doctorate in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and hoped to start a residency at their inpatient rehab center as an addiction specialist very soon. Ted was experiencing great success at Kinnetik, handling some of his own accounts, running a tight ship in the accounting department, and raking in lots of money, both for the company and for himself.

Emmett and Drew got back together five years before and were now proud parents to their adorable adopted children, Lyla and Sawyer. Emmett's catering company was a big success and Drew had retired from football and became a sportscaster on the local news.

Justin had returned from Manhattan, earned a degree in media design, and now ran the art department at Kinnetik. Brian was happy that his Sunshine was back in his arms and bed for good. He was also a lot more pleasant to work with, making everyone in the company happy. Blake and Justin had become very good friends over the years, with Brian and Ted calling the blonds "Our Twinks."

To Ted's delight, Emmett and Blake had developed a nice relationship, allowing the couples to share many dinners and even a few vacations together. Most importantly, Emmett was happy that Ted was happy, and Emmett respected Blake for the man he had become and how well he treated Ted.

Depending on who you spoke to, another great event was Michael being out of their lives. He had become a complete asshole following the Babylon bombing. Debbie blamed his downward spiral on his near-death experience in the bombing and JR moving to Toronto, but it was mostly due to his excessive alcohol consumption and addiction to painkillers. He refused to admit he had a problem, so no one could help him. At first, Ted didn't want to be around an addict, Emmett barely tolerated him, and Brian had only clung to his "best friend" because he thought Justin was going to break up with him while he was still in Manhattan. Once it became known that Michael was actually attempting to orchestrate their break up so he could have Brian for himself, everyone but Debbie turned their backs on him.

Both Blake and Ted had each thought about starting a family, although they hadn't talked about it with each other. They both loved Lyla and Sawyer and enjoyed babysitting and playing with them. Blake was the oldest child in his family and loved being a big brother, but he was unsure how he would be as a father, without having his parents to pass a screaming or unruly child onto like he usually did with his siblings. He was also just starting his career and didn't know if he would have the time needed to devote to a child. Ted had just turned forty-seven and thought maybe he was too old to be able to raise a child.

One night after Emmett and Drew had picked up their kids from an evening of babysitting, Blake decided to bite the bullet and ask Ted what he thought of possibly raising a child together.

"Ted, could I talk to you about something?" Blake said as they got ready for bed.

"Of course. What's on your mind?"

"Well, I was wondering if you ever thought about what it would be like to have a baby with me."

Ted looked at his husband's toned body. "You wouldn't mind ruining your waistline to have a baby, would you?"

Blake chuckled. "Of course we'd have to adopt or get a surrogate."

Ted smile wistfully. "Yes, I have given it some thought over the years. You'd be a great dad, for sure, but I'm getting too old. I have more salt than pepper in my hair, if you haven't noticed."

"I'm not nearly as blond as I used to be," Blake pointed out, running his fingers through his darkening hair.

"Shit, you still look like a teenager walking down the street with me," Ted said.

"You're only old in your mind. You still keep up with me in bed," Blake countered, leering at his husband, whom he had always regarded as classically handsome, like George Clooney.

"That's true, and I do manage to keep up with Lyla and Sawyer when they're running around here. Maybe it's something we should look into. Em and Drew would be a big help, since they've been through it twice."

"I agree, but right now I'd rather concentrate on the two of us," Blake answered, pulling Ted onto the bed and rolling on top of him.

Blake started laying soft kisses on his husband's face, wanting to build the fire between them slowly.

Ted stretched his arms up and closed his eyes. He loved when Blake took charge. He was thrilled that they were both versatile. Whoever felt like taking the lead, just did. With his eyes closed, he could lay there and feel like he was floating on the sensations Blake was causing with his talented mouth and hands.

Ted moaned as Blake's tongue licked at his nipples before softly biting on them. Lowering himself down the bed, Blake wrapped his hand around Ted's cock and licked around just under the flared head. Ted reached under the pillow and pulled out the lube, handing it to his partner.

Blake moved up and kissed him thoroughly while reaching down to prepare Ted for his thick cock. Once Ted was stretched and bucking back on his fingers, Blake moved over him as his husband wrapped his legs around his hips. Blake slowly pushed in until he was fully seated in Ted's heat. They had stopped using condoms in the first year of their marriage, loving how much closer they felt with nothing between them. They kissed deeply while Ted adjusted to being filled.

Once he knew Ted was ready, Blake started moving slowly as they stared into each other's eyes.

"God, I love you so much," Ted whispered to his man.

"I love you, too," Blake answered.

Every time one of them would get close, they would pause before starting up again. Finally, they both needed release and came together, shouting each other's names.   

Blake was about to start on dinner late one afternoon when there was a frantic knock on the door of his and Ted's home. He looked through the glass insert in the door and found his youngest sister, who appeared very distraught.

"Heather, what are you doing here?" Blake said after opening the door. "I haven't seen you in-"

"We need to talk," the twenty-two-year-old said, pushing her way past her brother to take a seat on the couch.

"Nice to see you too, Sis," Blake mumbled as he shut the door.

"I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do," Heather said, tears welling up in her blue eyes.

Blake took a seat next to his sister, who looked like a younger female version of himself. "What happened, Sweetie?"

Heather started sobbing. "I'm pregnant!"

"Uh-oh," was all Blake could say at first. "Uh... I guess, by your reaction, this is a bad thing?"

"Yes, it's bad! I don't know how I'm going to tell Nolan."

"And Nolan is the...?" Blake said.

"Father," Heather confirmed. "We've been seeing each other for a few months, here and there, nothing serious. We can't have a fucking kid right now! He's going to Harvard Law in the fall and I'm... I guess I'm not going to Pitt anymore."

"You got accepted?" Blake asked, knowing that his sister wanted to become a dentist and had applied to University of Pittsburgh dental school. She had just graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a Bachelor's in Biology the previous month.

"Yeah, I found out in February. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, I've been so busy with this last semester."

"It's okay, I've been busy with school, too," Blake said. "I was taking a final on your graduation day, otherwise I would have been there. You can still go to graduate school, you know. Lots of parents go to college and graduate school - our parents, for instance. Many of my classmates had kids and a few of the women were pregnant."

Heather shook her head. "No... I... I can't fucking deal with this right now! I mean, I still live with Mom and Dad. I work part-time at the mall. I'm going to have a shitload of student loans to pay. How the fuck am I supposed to afford a baby? I'm definitely not going to ask Nolan to drop all of his plans for me. Hell, I may not even tell him, just to spare him the pressure."

"So, what are you going to do? You're not going to get an... uh... are you?"

Blake had never personally been against abortion, mostly because it wasn't something he'd ever have to deal with in his own love life. He supported a woman's right to choose what happened to her body and with her future, but now that it was his sister's baby, his potential niece or nephew, he didn't feel comfortable with it.

"I don't know," Heather said, sniffling. "That's why I came over here. I was hoping maybe you'd know what I should do."

"Why me?" Blake asked, suddenly breaking into a sweat.

"Because you're my big brother! You've always been there for me. You're the smartest person I know... minus those couple of years when you were a methed-out party boy."

Blake flinched, hating to be reminded of the bad old days. He still had a tense relationship with his parents and some of his other siblings as a result of his addiction. 

Heather was only six years old when Blake came out as gay and moved out of the family home. He started using drugs after failing out of his first year of college. Prior to that, Blake had been her idol, by far her favorite of their other siblings. She was the most forgiving out of all of them after Blake got clean, mostly because she was so young and didn't really know what was going on at the time.

"Have you talked to Mom about this?" Blake asked, needing to get up and pace the room.

"I haven't told anyone but you. I've thought for a few weeks that I might be pregnant because I was late, but I hoped it was just from the stress of finals. I started having morning sickness last week and finally got the nerve to take a test. I got it confirmed at Planned Parenthood and came straight over here. I'm due in early January. Mom and Dad are going to kill me."

"They have six other grandchildren, it's not like they've never been through this before," Blake pointed out. "Sophia had her first when she was twenty."

"But I'm the baby of the family! I'm not supposing to be having a baby!" Heather buried her face in her hands and started crying hard again.

Blake sat back down and rubbed his sister's shoulders. "Do you want me to go with you to tell them?"

"I'd prefer you tell them without me," Heather blubbered.

Blake chuckled. "Sorry, Kiddo. You're the one who's pregnant, you need to be there, too."

Blake followed Heather to their parents' house in his car. With Blake holding her hand, Heather broke the news. Their parents were a bit upset at first, since Heather had always been responsible and "the baby", as she had said, but they soon warmed up to the idea of another grandchild.

"Nolan is a handsome young man, so your baby will be very cute," their mother, Carol, mused.

Heather bit her bottom lip. She couldn't find the nerve to tell their parents that she was considering ending her pregnancy. She looked at Blake for help, but he seemed to be too happy with becoming an uncle again.

It was decided for Heather by their parents that she would postpone going to dental school for a year so she could have her baby. Their father, Stan, was near retirement and was happy to help take care of the baby once Heather started back up at school. Once the ball started rolling, Heather felt like she had no choice but to become a single mother.

Heather's pregnancy was completely normal and healthy. She found out at her twenty-week scan that she was having a boy. Blake helped his mom and sister decorate the nursery, the bedroom that he used to share with one of his younger brothers.

Heather went into labor three days past her due date. She only wanted her mom to be in the delivery room with her, so the rest of the family sat out in a waiting room.

Blake rushed over to the women's hospital in the UPMC campus after his shift ended, learning from his dad that Heather was almost ready to start pushing. His mom walked into the waiting room about an hour later.

She didn't look very happy for having just witnessed the birth of a new grandchild.

"What happened?" Stan asked his wife.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Blake's sister Sophia asked.

"Is Heather okay?" Blake chimed in.

"The baby?" his brother Jason asked.

"They're... they're both okay," Carol finally said.

A chorus of voices demanded to know what the problem was.

"Well, the baby looks... different. His face is... I don't know. He doesn't look like anyone else in the family, not like any of the other babies we've had. Heather only held him for a few seconds before the doctors took him away to be examined. They asked me like, five times the name of our pediatrician. Apparently, they're trying to get her in here..."

It was rather chaotic in the hospital for the rest of the evening, with members of the Wyzecki family demanding answers from nurses and doctors who wouldn't tell them anything. Heather was very tired after her long labor and quite distraught. She had asked to be left alone to rest after being moved out of the delivery room into a regular room, but Blake went in to see her before visiting hours were to end at 9 PM.

He sat in a chair next to the head of the bed. Heather was asleep and looked as she did when she was a little girl. Because Blake was thirteen years older than her, he always looked at his baby sister as if she was still just as precious as she had been during her childhood.

Heather woke up a couple minutes later. Her blue eyes met Blake's and she started crying.

"The baby..." she choked out.

Blake didn't know what to say, so he just nodded.

"He... I think he has Down syndrome," she said. "I studied it in school, he looks just like the pictures I've seen. His face is flat and his nose is wide. It couldn't have just been from being squished during the birth because everyone else in the room knew something was wrong as soon as they looked at him."

Blake was afraid of that being the case. Down syndrome had been the first thing to pop into his head when his mother had described the baby's face looking "different" and unlike anyone else's in the family. He went to high school with a guy that had Down syndrome, who had the classic facial features and looked nothing like his older brother a year ahead of him.

"Well, the doctors haven't told us anything," Blake said, trying to comfort his baby sister in any way that he could. "They're running tests and won't let us see him."

Someone announced on the hospital's intercom that visiting hours were over.

"I've gotta go, Kiddo," Blake said before giving Heather a kiss on her forehead. "I'll be back in tomorrow morning to see you, okay? I love you."

Heather rolled over away from him and sighed heavily.

Ted was waiting out in the hall. Blake walked into his husband's open arms and began crying on his shoulder.

"She thinks the baby has Down syndrome, but the doctors won't tell us anything," Blake said.

Ted sighed and held his love. "Even if he does, he's going to be okay. It's not a deadly disease, is it?"

"No, but he'll never be normal."

"He's going to be okay," Ted repeated before he walked with Blake out of the hospital.

'Cause baby, you're a firework
C'mon, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go aah, aah, aah
As you shoot across the sky

--"Firework," Katy Perry

Blake went back to the maternity hospital the next morning before his shift at the rehab was to start. He walked into Heather's room and found his parents there. Stan was reading the newspaper and Carol was knitting something. Heather was asleep in her bed.

Blake bent down to kiss his mother on the cheek.

"I meant to finish this before the baby came, but..." Carol whispered to him, indicating the baby blue knitted thing she was working on. "The nurse told us Heather was awake crying most of the night, refused to let them give her any sleep medicine. She finally fell asleep a little bit after we got here. I think she feels more comfortable with us here."

Blake looked back over at his sister, who looked so young and innocent. "Has she gone to see him?"

"Um... she said she couldn't," Carol said. "I mean, they'll allow her to see him, but she's not ready."

"Go take him to see the boy," Stan quietly said to his wife.

"Um... okay... come on," Carol said to her eldest child, setting down her knitting project before walking toward the door.

Once out in the hallway, Blake asked her, "Did the doctors or nurses say what's wrong with him?"

"Yeah... We spoke to the pediatrician when we got here. She's pretty sure he has-"

"Down syndrome," Blake said, stating it rather than asking.

Carol sighed as they walked toward the neonatal intensive care unit. "He has the physical characteristics. They have to run a genetic test to diagnose him. Luckily he doesn't seem to have any complications from it at the moment, but it's too early to know for sure."

They got to the outside of the NICU, which was lined with windows. Carol stopped at the second window and pointed at an open bassinet.

"There he is," she said, a tone of melancholy to her voice.

Blake peered through the window. He could see a tiny body lying in a bassinet, but he couldn't make out any of the baby's features.

"He's too far away, I can't really see him," Blake said.

"Did you want to go in and see him? Heather put your name on the list of approved visitors."

He looked at his mother in surprise for asking such a silly question. "Of course I want to see him, he's my nephew."

A nurse requested for the two of them to wash their hands thoroughly before going inside the unit. They were then walked over to see ‘Baby Boy Wyzecki'.

Blake looked down into the open bassinet. He could immediately see that the sleeping baby indeed had the characteristics of Down syndrome, which he had read more about on his computer after going home the previous night. The baby had a small head and ears, a flat face, almond-shaped eyes, and a flat, wide nose.

"He's beautiful," Blake said, truly meaning it.

Carol sniffled. "Yeah... he's ours."

The baby had fair skin like Heather, with thin golden-blond hair. He had pouty pink lips, which were slightly parted. His pink tongue was poking out a bit. He was wearing only a diaper and had a few electrodes attached to his little chest and belly.

Blake finally reached out and touched the little boy on his arm. His skin was warm, due to the heating lamp overhead.

"Did she ever pick out a name? I think she had it narrowed down to two."

Carol shook her head. "I asked her this morning, but she just started crying."

A nurse walked by and Blake got her attention.

"Excuse me, how long is he going to be in here?"

"Probably for the rest of the day, at least," the nurse, whose name tag said Candace, answered. "He's doing very well at the moment. He's at a healthy weight and able to drink from a bottle without choking. Right now our main concern is his heart. These little guys are about fifty percent likely to be born with a heart defect. His heart seems to be normal so far, but we want to monitor that closely. He's also on a sleep apnea monitor because there's about a sixty percent chance of him having that. He'll need to be monitored for that in the future since it can be quite serious if it's not caught."

Blake tried to remain calm but couldn't help but tear up. "But otherwise... is he healthy?"

Nurse Candace gave him a small smile. "He seems to be, yes. He's a strong little boy. He'll need regular check-ups to ensure everything is okay. It's too early now to know if he'll have any developmental delays. These first three to five years are crucial in proper development. Are you his father?"

Blake shook his head. "Uncle. His mommy's brother."

She looked down at the baby and then back up at him. "He looks a lot like you."

Blake looked at the baby again. "You think so?"

"Oh yeah," she confirmed.

"Why was his condition not caught during an ultrasound or other prenatal testing?"

"I understand that his mother is fairly young," Nurse Candace said.

"She just turned twenty-three last month," Carol answered.

"Well, a majority of Down syndrome babies are born to women under thirty-five, because young women statistically have children more often than older women. The facial features aren't always caught in ultrasounds, so it can be quite a surprise when the baby is born. Fetuses of women under thirty-five aren't routinely screened for Down syndrome, especially when the pregnancy seems normal."

"Heather didn't have any tests like that run," Carol said. "She didn't see a need to have any kind of invasive tests run, like an amniocentesis, because her doctor kept saying that everything looked normal during her visits and we don't have any family history of serious diseases."

"Down syndrome isn't usually an inherited condition," Blake said, recalling what he had read. "It happens randomly and it can happen to any mother at any age."

Blake soon had to leave to go to work, but not before calling Ted with an update.

"See? I told you he's going to be okay," Ted said.

Blake rolled his eyes. "Yes dear, you're very old and wise."

"Hey kid, watch the ‘old' shit," Ted said to his husband, who was twelve years his junior.

Blake returned to the women's hospital later that afternoon to see Heather, only to find that her room was being cleaned by the housekeeping crew.

"Excuse me," Blake said to one of the cleaning ladies. "Do you know where my sister is?"

"Do you mean the patient in this room earlier? She went home," he was told.

He recalled his mother saying that Heather wasn't due to be released until the following morning, so that was a big surprise to him. As he made his way over to the NICU, Blake took his cell phone out of his messenger bag and called his mother.

"Hey, Honey," Carol said, her voice a bit tense.

"Mom, did you take Heather home?" Blake asked.

"Yes. When she woke up from her nap around lunchtime, she said she wanted to come home. She signed herself out against doctor's orders."

Blake looked into the unit's windows and found that ‘Baby Boy Wyzecki' was still in his bassinet.

"Did she see the baby before she left?"

Carol sighed. "No... she wouldn't even sign the paperwork for his birth certificate and Social Security number. She brought that stuff home and said she'd do it later."

"What the fuck?" Blake said, furious at his sister.

"Language," his conservative mother admonished.

He rolled his eyes. "Let me talk to her, maybe I can talk some sense into her."

"She's in her room, resting."

Blake hung up and stormed out of the hospital. He happened to see Ted's car out in the lot as his husband was trying to find a parking spot. Blake flagged him down and told him what was happening.

"Well, she knew that she wouldn't be able to take the baby home with her, so-" Ted began to say.

"I'm going over there," Blake announced before stomping off to his car.

Ted followed Blake to the Wyzecki home. Luckily he knew the way because his husband left him behind after the first stop sign, which he hardly tapped his brakes through.

He didn't feel right barging in his in-laws' home, so he rang the doorbell. Stan let him in, and Ted found Blake and his mother standing at the foot of the staircase with Carol trying to block her son from going upstairs.

"She just needs some time," Carol pleaded with her oldest child.

"Time for what?" Blake demanded to know.

"Time to get used to all of this," she answered, her voice cracking. "This is a lot to take in, having a special needs child. She was already terrified to raise this baby as a single mother, now this."

"Has she even told what's-his-face, the father?"

Carol shook her head. "She told him he didn't have to be involved when she first found out she was pregnant and he was happy to take the out. She doesn't want to needlessly dump this on him."

"Heather!" Blake suddenly yelled in the direction of the second floor.

"Blake, please!" Carol said. "Your sister is exhausted and very upset. Just let her rest, okay?"

"You need to stop babying her!" Blake said to his mother. "She has a baby of her own now. One who she needs to take responsibility for!"

"Go home, son," Stan said gruffly, putting his hand on Blake's shoulder.

"Get your fucking hand off me!" Blake yelled, before grabbing his father's wrist to remove his hand.

"Blake!" Ted yelled at his husband, not wanting to see this escalate any further. "Let's go."

Blake got ahold of himself and followed Ted out the door. He broke down into tears on the front porch.

"What the fuck is wrong with them?" Blake asked. "Heather is practically abandoning her son and it's like they're letting her do it! It's not his fault he wasn't born perfect."

Ted wrapped his arms around his husband tightly and let him cry on his shoulder for a minute.

"Let's go home. We can order some Chinese," Ted said after Blake seemed to calm down a bit.

Blake wiped his eyes with the arm of his coat and nodded.

I want to fly like an eagle, to the sea
Fly like an eagle
Let my spirit carry me
I want to fly, oh, yeah
Fly right into the future

--"Fly Like an Eagle," Seal

Blake and Ted were getting ready for work the next morning when Ted asked, "Were you planning to visit the baby before your shift starts?"

Blake smiled. "Yeah. Do you want to come with me?"

Blake and Ted later walked to the NICU together. The nurse named Candace that Blake spoke with the previous morning let him and his husband into the unit.

They went over to see the little boy.

"Aww," Ted cooed. "He's adorable."

"Yes, he is," Blake agreed.

"Do you want to hold him?" Nurse Candace asked Blake.

"You mean, I...? Of course," Blake answered happily.

Nurse Candace pulled a chair over and indicated for Blake to sit. She carefully picked up the baby boy, who was wrapped in a black and gold Pittsburgh Penguins blanket.

"The team donated a ton of these to us," Nurse Candace said about the blanket as she placed the baby in Blake's arms.

Blake looked at the baby in awe. Although he had held his other nieces and nephews before, it felt extra special this time, with this special baby.

"Hey, little guy," Blake said to the bundle in his arms. He couldn't help but tear up a bit.

"How's he doing?" Ted asked Nurse Candace about the baby, who was sleeping.

"Very well," she said. "The doctor will probably release him before dinnertime."

"Really?" Blake asked, hoping after a good night of sleep that Heather would finally come around and accept this beautiful boy into her life.

"I was surprised to see him still in here when I came on at six this morning. I thought he'd be in his mother's room, but I heard that she went home yesterday."

Blake gave the nurse a weak smile, not wanting to talk about his family drama with her.

"I'll leave you to bond," she said before going to check on another baby.

Ted pulled another chair over and sat down.

"Do you want to hold him?" Blake asked his husband.

Ted shook his head. "He looks very comfortable with you."

The two of them sat together, watching the baby sleep.

Ted looked at his watch a few minutes later. "I need to get to work."

"Yeah, me too," Blake said before kissing the baby on his forehead. "I'll see you later, handsome boy. Just know that even if your mommy doesn't accept you as you are, I do. You'll always have me in your corner. You're perfect. I love you."

Ted's chest tightened as he watched his husband with the baby and listened to his words.

Blake received a text message from his mother that afternoon simply stating, "The baby is being released." He told his supervisor he needed to leave early for a family issue before rushing across the hospital campus to the women's hospital.

He found his mother arguing with an older man outside the nursery, with his father standing nearby. Nurse Candace was holding the baby, who was bundled up in a blue body suit. Heather was nowhere to be seen.

"Why can't we just take him to his mother?" Carol impatiently said to the man.

"Once again, ma'am, we can't release the child to anyone other than his mother or father," the man sternly answered her.

"What's going on?" Blake asked. "Where's Heather?"

The man turned to him. "And you are?"

"This is the baby's father," Carol claimed, pointing at Blake.

Blake's mouth popped open. "What? No, I'm not!"

"My God, Carol," Stan said, rubbing his face with his hands in disbelief.

"I'm his uncle!" Blake said.

The man narrowed his eyes at Carol. "Ma'am, did you just lie to me about who this child's father is?"

Carol looked around guiltily. "I... I'm sorry, I just want to take the baby home, is all. I thought that-"

Blake got between the man and his mother before she could get herself into any more trouble. "Look, sir, I'm Blake Wyzecki, and you are?"

"Dr. Phillip Owens, I'm the director of the women's hospital," the man answered, shaking Blake's hand firmly.

"Dr. Owens, it's been a very rough couple of days for my family," Blake began to explain. "My nephew was born with Down syndrome, which was a shock to all of us, especially to his mother. I don't know where she is right now..."

Blake looked at his mother to fill in the blank.

"She's at home," Carol said. "She refused to come with us to take the baby home."

Blake shook his head at his sister's insolence. "Anyway, Doctor, can't one of us sign the baby out on behalf of his mother? I mean, she lives with my parents and they're both right here. His father isn't in the picture. If it helps at all, I actually work here at the hospital as an addiction specialist."

"Is the mother over the age of eighteen?"

"Yes," Blake answered.

"Unless the mother has a legitimate reason for being unable to come and claim the baby herself, such as a physical disability, we cannot allow anyone to remove a minor child from our hospital," Dr. Owens calmly explained. "Is there any reason why Ms. Wyzecki cannot take the baby home herself?"

"No." Blake wracked his brain. "Can't... can't someone like, be named as a temporary guardian of the baby, and then that person-"

"You would have to file something with the court in order to do that, but that won't solve our immediate problem. We have no medical reason to keep the baby here any longer. Unfortunately, this is not the first newborn we've had abandoned at our hospital. Our only option at this point is to call Human Services and have the baby placed with a foster family until his mother decides what she wants to do."

"No!" Carol said, breaking into tears. "You can't do that! Don't we have rights as grandparents?"

"I'm not a lawyer, I don't know." Dr. Owens turned to the nurse. "Candace, please take the baby to the nursery for the time being. I'll call Human Services and have someone come to get him."

"Doctor, please!" Carol cried out.

Stan put his arm around his wife's shoulders. "Honey, they have no choice here."

Nurse Candace looked at Blake sadly before she walked away with the baby and the doctor retreated to his office.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" Blake asked his parents, referring of course to Heather.

Carol took a tissue out of her purse to dry her eyes. "We told her they might not let us take the baby home."

"And what did she say?"

Carol just shook her head while her husband stared blankly at the floor.

"What, she didn't even care? Do you think she'll care that her son will be going home with strangers tonight?"

Blake didn't wait for an answer and instead went outside to his car. He called Ted on his way out to let him know what was going on.

He got to his parents' house soon after. He tried to open the front door, but it was locked. He then let himself in with his key.

"Heather!" he yelled as he headed toward the living room.

Blake found his youngest sibling sitting on the couch watching a rerun of Friends.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Why didn't you come to the hospital?"

Heather sighed as she turned the TV off with the remote. "I... I just can't do this."

"Do what?"

Heather stared at the remote in her hand. "This is all your fault."

"Excuse me?" Blake asked, his anger increasing by the second.

"If I hadn't come to you when I found out I was pregnant, none of this would have happened!" she said to him, standing up to speak to him eye to eye.

Blake looked at his sister in shock but waited silently for her to continue.

"I should have just gotten an abortion like I wanted to and then none of us would be here! I'd be going to dental school like I was supposed to and he would never have been born!"

Blake had to turn away and walk to the other end of the room, unable to look at her. "I can't believe you can be so heartless, so selfish," he said while looking at a family portrait hanging above the fireplace. The picture had been taken when Blake was seventeen and Heather was only four.

He then turned back to look at his sister, who felt like a stranger to him at that moment. "This isn't his fault. It's no one's fault that he was born like this, but it's especially not his fault. I've watched you over these past few months. You've seemed so happy to be having this baby, but then after he's born and he's not the perfect baby you envisioned, you don't want him anymore."

"I never wanted this baby!" Heather yelled. "I only had him because everyone else wanted me to have him. We're Catholic, so Mom and Dad would have never forgiven me if I decided to get an abortion after I told them I was pregnant. Nolan didn't even suggest it; he only said, ‘Do whatever you want to do.' I guess this is what I get for being a follower all my life. Well, I'm not doing it anymore."

Before Blake could ask her what she planned to do with the baby now, Carol and Stan walked through the door. Carol told Heather that a social worker was coming to take the baby.

Heather shrugged. "Well, maybe that's for the best."

"How can you say such a thing?" Carol tearfully asked. "That's your son! My grandson! How can you let a bunch of strangers take him away?"

Mother and daughter verbally sparred for a couple of minutes before Ted rang the doorbell. Blake let him in and spoke with him in the foyer.

"Heather doesn't want the baby and she blames me for stopping her from aborting him in the first place," Blake told him.

Ted looked baffled. "What, just because he has Down syndrome? Lots of kids have it, it's not the end of the world."

Blake looked his husband in the eye. "Would you want a kid with Down syndrome?"

"I..." Ted thought about it for a beat. "I would be happy to have any kid. Babies are a gift, no matter what. They're not something you throw away like a piece of trash just because they're not born exactly the way you hoped."

Blake gave Ted a small smile before walking back into the living room. Now all three of them - Heather, Carol, and Stan - were yelling at each other.

"When are you going to grow up?" Stan asked his daughter.

Heather scoffed. "Oh, as if you've ever urged me to! You guys have always treated me like a child!"

"Well, you have a child, so now you need to stop acting like one!" Carol yelled back.

"Hey!" Blake yelled, silencing his quarreling family members.  

The three of them looked back at Blake.

"Ted and I want to adopt the baby," he announced to the room.

A look of relief came over Heather's face. "Really?"

"Are you sure?" Carol asked, looking at Blake and Ted.

Stan, who had never exactly been crazy about having a gay son, kept his mouth shut.

Blake then looked over at his husband. Ted appeared to be a bit surprised by Blake's announcement.

"Well... Ted and I..." Blake began, waiting to see if Ted was going to say anything. "We've talked about having kids, but we've been waiting until I was finished with school and got a job. Now I have my degree and a job I love."

"The timing is perfect," Ted finally said.

Blake smiled at his husband, silently asking himself if he'd ever loved that man as much as he did at that moment.

When they got home, Blake started dinner while Ted called Melanie in Toronto.

"So..." Ted began to say after their initial hellos. "Did anyone tell you that Blake's little sister Heather was having a baby?"

"Someone may have mentioned it," Melanie answered.

"Well," Ted said before chuckling. "She had the baby Monday night. When he came out, they noticed that he had the characteristics of Down syndrome."

"Oh no," Melanie said.

"Yeah, they're waiting on the results of the genetic test, but the doctors are certain he has it. Anyway, long story short, Heather decided she doesn't want the baby, and Blake and I decided that we do."

Melanie was silent for a few moments before she started laughing. "Holy shit! That was kind of sudden."

"Yeah," Ted agreed. "Anyway, the baby is with foster care right now, but hopefully he'll end up with us soon. In the meantime, we don't know what we should do, as far as getting the whole adoption started."

"Can you get onto your computer?"

Ted walked into their home office and logged into the desktop computer. Melanie instructed him to send her one dollar through Paypal.

"Alright, I got it. I'm now your lawyer. Luckily I still have my Pennsylvania law license."

"Okay, great, thanks," Ted said.

"I'll file the papers electronically in the morning, petitioning for you and Blake to have temporary guardianship. My guess is that social services will contact Heather soon to ask her what she wants to do. If she's serious about doing this, she needs to sign the Termination of Parental Rights papers before the baby can legally be put up for adoption. This will be what's called a kinship adoption, which is when an immediate family member adopts a child. They're usually pretty simple proceedings since the court will agree that it's in the best interest of the child to be adopted within the family."

"That's great."

"Only..." Melanie said, hesitation in her voice. "You may run into a problem with your criminal conviction."

"What... oh, shit," Ted said, remembering his felony conviction for Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor back in 2003, stemming from unknowingly having a seventeen-year-old work for him on his porn site. "I'd forgotten all about that. I mean, I didn't forget, it's just not something I think about."

"Does Blake have anything on his criminal record?"

Ted got up and walked into the kitchen. "Honey, you don't have any criminal convictions you forgot to tell me about, do you?"

Blake laughed. "Uh, no, apart from a couple of speeding tickets."

"I tell you all the time to slow the fuck down... no, Mel, he's clean."

"Okay, so along with the guardianship petition, I'll also file a petition to have your felony expunged. It's been almost a decade since then and you haven't been in any other trouble. Hopefully the court grants it, otherwise they may not grant the guardianship petition and you won't be able to adopt."

Ted sighed and closed his eyes, kicking himself for being so negligent before. That conviction became the catalyst for his drug usage, which nearly destroyed his life. He hoped that part of his past was completely behind him, but it was now coming back to bite him in the ass.

"Teddy, you should try to gather up people who can be good character witnesses and vouch for you. You'll need to prove to the court that you have reformed, that you are a responsible person who can be trusted with the care of a child. I hate to say it but start with Brian, since he's your employer. He has a clean record and is one of the A-Gays of Pittsburgh. Justin, Emmett, and Drew would be good, too."

"That's a great idea," Ted agreed.

Like the sun we will live to rise
Like the sun we will live and die
And then ignite again

--"Live to Rise," Soundgarden

The next morning, Ted and Blake stopped in at the diner so they could tell everyone their news. When they got there, Brian, Justin, and Emmett were just getting their coffee. Debbie saw the pair smiling like they had just won the lottery and hurried over to the table.

"What's got you two grinning like that?" she asked.

"We're having a baby!" Ted answered before being sprayed with coffee from a shocked Emmett.

"Which one of you did the knocking up?" Brian asked, smirking.

Justin laughed as Brian handed over the napkin dispenser to Ted.

Blake shook his head and answered, "My sister Heather had a baby boy on Monday. He has Down syndrome and she doesn't want him, so we're adopting him."

"That's amazing of you guys to take him in like that," Justin said.

Debbie started crying.

Blake stood up and held open his arms to her. "I hope you don't mind having another grandchild."

The only answer he got was more happy tears and a tight hug.

Emmett was also crying. "I'm going to be an auntie!"

"Anything we can do to help, just holler," Justin said.

"Well, we will need help decorating the nursery," Blake said, knowing that Justin would probably want to add some of his artistic flair.

Justin gasped. "I can paint a mural! Do the walls need to be primed first?"

"It was painted white when we moved in. We never decided what to use the room for, so it's basically empty," Blake answered, thrilled that Justin wanted to do something so big for them.

"I'm assuming your boss won't mind you taking time off to paint..." Brian said casually.

Justin ignored him. "What do you want in the mural? I should do it right away so you can have it ready for him. If you know what you want, I'll get it started today."

"We'll leave that up to you, Picasso," Ted said to the youngest blond as he handed him a key to their house. "You'll need this to get in."

Justin jumped out of the booth, not even pausing to give Brian a kiss goodbye.

"Give the boy an art project and he's unstoppable," Brian said about his fiery blond.

Once Brian and Ted got to Kinnetik, Ted followed Brian into his office.

"Theodore, your office is down the hall. Did becoming a father age you so fast that you forgot?"

"I need to ask you something, Brian."

Brian was concerned about Ted's more-than-serious look. "What is it?"

"Mel said there could be a problem with me adopting the baby because of my conviction from when I had Jerk At Work. She said I could probably get it expunged, but I would need character witnesses when I go to court for the hearing."

"Jesus, is that all? I thought it was something serious. Of course, I'll vouch for you, so will Justin," Brian answered.

He knew the conviction was just a bullshit move on the part of the Pittsburgh Police and the District Attorney when it happened, and he was happy to help someone who had been there for him many times.

"And... Blake and I didn't talk about it too much yesterday since there was just so much to talk about, but we'll have to work out a childcare plan, especially in these first few months," Ted began to say.

"However much time you need off, take it," Brian said without hesitation. "Your guys can take care of accounting and my guys can take care of your accounts. It'll all be here when you come back."

"Thanks," Ted said, feeling relieved. "Also... we're going to need your muscles."

Brian looked at his right bicep. "They're attached to me, you know."

Ted chuckled. "We need to get all the baby stuff out of Blake's parent's house and take it to our house. They had a nursery set up for him there and Heather said to take the stuff that was bought for him."

Brian picked up his desk phone and pushed a few buttons. "Cynthia, clear my afternoon."

A social worker named Kathy Shanks came to the Wyzecki home that morning to speak with Heather. She was scared she was in trouble, but the lady assured her she wasn't.

"All fifty states have what's called a Safe Haven Law, which allows a mother to leave an unharmed baby up to twenty-eight days old at a hospital or police station without being prosecuted for neglect or any other criminal act. We usually take custody of the child with no questions asked and then place the child into the foster system, hoping that the child will later be placed with a permanent family. I'm only here because our agency received a phone call this morning from a gentleman claiming to be your brother, Blake Wyzecki. He said you had a conversation last night in which you agreed to let him and his partner adopt your son."

"Yes," Heather said.

"Your son is currently with a foster family who lives in Monroeville. With your consent, would you like for your son to be relinquished into your brother's care?"

Heather nodded vigorously. "The sooner, the better. Blake and his friends are supposed to come over today to get the crib and stuff."

"Well, we certainly prefer babies be with their biological family, so I will get the ball rolling on that right away."

Heather suddenly teared up.

"What's wrong?" Kathy asked.

"It's just hormones," she claimed before breaking down. "Am I a terrible person? I mean, what kind of woman gives up her baby like this?"

Kathy always kept her personal opinions to herself in these situations but wanted to comfort the young lady in front of her. "A lot of women find themselves unable to care for their child or children, for one reason or another. What's most important here is that you're doing what's best for your son. If you don't think you're equipped to raise him, then the best thing for him would be to let someone else take care of him. At least you'll be able to still see the baby as he grows up since it'll be your brother raising him, right?"

"Blake and I aren't really all that close anymore," Heather admitted. "He's my brother, but he's a lot older than me. We each have our own lives. I mostly just see him on holidays. I'd almost rather have the baby not know that I'm his real mother, so he won't hate me for throwing him away like I did. I'm sure someday he'll learn the truth... I just hope he understands."

"Do you trust your brother to provide a safe and happy life for your son?"

Heather nodded. "He was practically a third parent to me ,since our parents had to work so much to provide for us. I always felt safe with him. He's a great guy and I really like his husband, too. They'll be great dads."

"Then remind yourself of that if you ever doubt your decision."

The gang was exhausted after a day full of moving the baby's stuff from Blake's parent's house to his and Ted's house. Having to go up and down flights of stairs was the most draining part. Borrowing Stan's truck made the move easier. The crib, dresser, changing table, glider rocker, and other essentials were crammed into their home office in order for the nursery to be painted baby blue and for Justin to do his mural, which he decided would have a Wizard of Oz theme complete with the yellow brick road, the green castle, and the rainbow.

"Wow, Sunshine, you are so gay," Brian cracked as Justin worked his magic sketching out the mural.

Justin flashed his famous smile. "Thank you."

Since the baby was just a few days old, the new parents decided, for now, to keep a cradle in their room for the baby to sleep in. Blake was anxious about having a special needs newborn in their care, especially since neither of them had actual full-time parenting experience.

"It's going to be fine," Ted kept telling him.

He sure hoped so.

Blake received a phone call at 4:45 that evening from Kathy Shanks with Human Services.

"I'm sorry to be calling you so late. The day just got away from me," Kathy said.

"I understand. So, what's going on?"

"I met with your sister this morning and she asked that her son be placed with you immediately."

"I saw her earlier," Blake said. "I think I just missed you when I went over there to pick up the baby's stuff."

"Now, I have to warn you, Blake, that having a child with Down syndrome is different than having a... child without it."

Blake chuckled good-naturedly. "Well, I haven't had any kind of child before, so..."

"Yes, well, I just need to warn you that the next several months will be quite busy for you. There will be many doctors visits, going to this specialist and that specialist, to test for all sorts of things. You'll probably have to do some traveling to meet with doctors at out of town hospitals. It won't be cheap and you'll probably have to miss quite a bit of work. Regardless, you'll probably want to take some time off to be with him, since he's a newborn."

"My husband has great insurance and... we'll manage the rest," Blake said, slowly realizing what he was getting Ted and himself into.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Kathy asked, giving Blake a chance to back out.

"Absolutely," Blake said, despite the queasy feeling in his stomach.

"Okay then, you can go to pick the baby up from the foster home whenever you're ready. You'll probably need a few days to prepare your home-"

"No, actually we can go get him right now, if that's okay," Blake quickly answered.

Ted was listening in on the conversation. Everything seemed to be happening very fast, but he also wanted the baby at home with them as soon as possible.

Kathy gave Blake the address and said she'd meet them over there. Blake and Ted left Justin and Brian at their house to clean up the painting supplies. They had remembered to put the car seat in the back of Ted's car, hoping they had installed it correctly. The new fathers made the twenty-minute drive to Monroeville, finding the fosters' home easily with the GPS. They were both so anxious, they hardly said a word to each other on the way over.

Blake and Ted walked up to the fairly large home hand-in-hand. Ted rang the doorbell and they heard a dog bark from the inside.

A nice-looking woman answered the door a few moments later.

"Well, hello!" she greeted happily. "It looks like you beat Kathy here. I'm guessing one of you is Blake?"

"That's me," Blake said. "This is my husband, Ted."

"It's nice to meet both of you," she said. "I'm Jessica Franklin and... Rex, stay back!"

The men noticed she was talking to the Golden Retriever lumbering toward them.

"I promise he wasn't raised in a barn," Jessica said, referring to the dog. "Please, come on in."

Blake chuckled while he and Ted joined Jessica in the foyer. "We had a Golden/Cocker mix when I was a kid, he was a handful. At least it looks like Rex doesn't pee everywhere when he greets someone."

"No, but it took us forever to get him to not jump and knock people on their butts," a man said from the adjoining hallway.

"This is my husband, Mark," Jessica said.

The men shook hands.

"I'm sure you want to see your little guy, right?" Jessica finally asked.

Blake and Ted both answered in the affirmative. They followed the Franklins up a flight of stairs.

"Our two girls are doing their homework in their rooms," Mark said. "We have the babies in the nursery, we were actually about to feed them."

"Babies?" Ted asked.

"We're fostering two young babies at the moment, along with a two-year-old," Jessica confirmed. "We were glad when Kathy called to say little Peanut was being picked up because we have our hands full."

They stopped outside a closed door.

"She calls all the unnamed babies ‘Peanut,'" Mark explained.

Blake and Ted looked at each other in panic, realizing that they hadn't discussed names yet.

Mark opened the bedroom door, where there were two cribs and a cradle. Jessica directed them over to one of the cribs.

"Here he is," she said.

Blake looked down to find his little nephew, who was dressed in a sleeper gown and cap printed with green frogs. The baby was sleeping, his little tongue poking out of his mouth.

"He was quite cranky earlier, so I'm glad to see he's resting now," Jessica said.

They heard the doorbell ring, followed by Rex barking.

"That must be Kathy, I'll get it," Mark said before leaving the room.

"Do you work with Kathy often?" Blake asked as he admired the little guy, not wanting to pick him up and disturb him.

"Yeah, she's one of the main caseworkers we deal with. She really cares about all the kids she helps."

"I'm sure you must, too, having them in your home," Ted remarked.

Jessica nodded. "I'm always happy to see them go to their permanent home, though, especially when it's with family. We're just a temporary stop for these little ones."

Mark and Kathy soon joined them in the nursery. Blake and Ted spoke with Kathy about how they had a lawyer and planned to begin adoption proceedings immediately. She was pleased to hear how eager the couple seemed about establishing a permanent relationship with this special little boy.

Blake had to sign some paperwork that granted him temporary guardianship.

"So what... um..." Ted began to ask Kathy.

Kathy looked at Ted curiously.

"What happens if we're not granted full custody of the baby, I mean like if the adoption isn't granted?"

"Either someone else in the family would have to adopt him, such as Heather's parents, or he'll go back into foster care to be adopted by another family," Kathy said, giving Ted a sympathetic smile. "I certainly hope you won't have any trouble."

"Me too," Ted answered quietly.

"Do you guys have a name picked out?" Kathy asked.

Blake looked down at the slumbering baby again. "No. Everything has been happening so fast, we haven't had the chance to talk about names."

Once all the paperwork was finished and Mark had adjusted the car seat for them, Ted and Blake were on their way home with the baby.

"Well, I guess we need to pick a name for our son," Ted announced.

"Yes, we do. I really don't think ‘Peanut' suits him," Blake said, holding back tears at Ted calling the baby "our son." "Do you have any suggestions?"

"We both like opera, so what do you think of ‘Luciano,' as in Pavarotti?"

"As much as I love Pavarotti, I'm Polish, not Italian, so that would be a no. Plus, I don't know how well a name like that would go over on the playground," Blake answered with a snort, before suddenly thinking of a name he thought would be perfect.

Ted glanced at his husband as his face lit up.

"What are you thinking?"

"I was thinking about us and our relationship, the way it seemed to have risen from the ashes after we ran into each other at that ski lodge."

They were stopped at a red light and looked at each other.

"Phoenix!" they both shouted.

"It's perfect," Ted said, smiling. "And how about Brian for his middle name, after his godfather? I mean... that is... if it's okay if I ask Brian."

Blake nodded, smiling as the tears rolled down his cheeks.

"What about his last name?" Ted asked, recalling the unconcluded conversation they'd had with Cynthia during their surprise wedding reception.

"Um... what if we hyphenated?" Blake suggested.

"Phoenix Brian Wyzecki-Schmidt? That's a lot of name for one kid."

Blake giggled. "That just made me think of ‘John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,' you know that song?"

"Yeah," Ted said, chuckling.

"How about we give him your last name? I mean, you're not blood-related, so maybe him having your last name will make you feel closer to him. Phoenix Schmidt."

Ted liked the sound of that. "That would be nice. Plus he won't have to constantly spell his last name to people, like you've had to do your whole life."

"Yours doesn't always have the C or the D in it, and sometimes there's an extra T," Blake pointed out.

"Okay fine, he'll still have to spell his last name," Ted conceded.

I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose
Fire away, fire away
You shoot me down, but I won't fall
I am titanium

--"Titanium" David Guetta and Sia

By the time Ted and Blake got home with little Phoenix Brian Schmidt, he was very hungry. Luckily Jessica had sent them home with a can of formula powder and a bottle because they didn't have any since Heather had planned to breastfeed.

Ted held Phoenix for the first time with Blake showing him how to properly hold him and give him the bottle. Phoenix sucked down about two ounces before stopping.

"Okay, now we burp him," Blake announced.

"That doesn't seem like much," Ted said, seeing how little was removed from the bottle.

"He'll only drink like, one to three ounces per feeding for the first few months. He has a tiny stomach and can only eat so much before you'll see it in reverse."

"And how many times a day will he eat?"

Blake put a burp cloth over his left shoulder and picked up the tiny infant to gently burp him. "About every two to three hours."

"Shit," Ted whispered.

"I'll go to Babies R Us tomorrow to get some more formula and bottles, plus a bottle warmer. Justin will be here to finish the mural, so you won't be all alone with Phoenix while I'm gone. We'll need more diapers and-"

"Can't you just put the bottle in the microwave?" Ted innocently asked.

"No," Blake answered sternly. The bottle won't heat evenly and you could burn him."

Ted sat there feeling completely incompetent, realizing he didn't know jack shit about how to take care of a baby.

"I'll buy you some parenting books while I'm out," Blake said sweetly as he gently patted the baby's back.

"Thanks," Ted replied.

Once the baby was burped, Ted carried him up to their bedroom while Blake put a frozen pizza in the oven. A few minutes later, Blake walked into the bedroom and found his husband standing there in a wet shirt, holding a clean diaper in his hand while a naked Phoenix was lying on their bed kicking his feet and smiling. A box of diapers was ripped open on the floor beside the bed.

"What happened?" Blake asked, trying not to laugh at the sight in front of him.

"When you handed him back to me, I noticed his sleeper thing was wet. I was trying to change him. I got the wet sleeper off of him, took off the diaper, and reached for a clean one. When I turned back he smiled and peed all over me."

"So why didn't you put the clean diaper on him?"

"I realized I've never changed a diaper before. When we babysit, you've always done it. I didn't think it could be that hard, but..."

"Youngest child problems... I've been changing diapers since I was about four, after Jason was born. Let me show you how to do it."

Blake directed Ted into their home office across the hall, where the changing table was currently being kept. Ted laid the baby on the table.

"You only want to change him on the table here, not on any furniture that he can roll off of, once he becomes more mobile. You can lay him on the floor and put a towel or changing mat under him if you're not at home. We're probably going to have to wash the blanket on the bed now."

Ted felt terrible. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, you're learning what not to do in the future. Now, first things first: with a boy, always be ready to hover a diaper over his crotch after you pull the tabs open on the dirty diaper unless you want another shower. If he's just wet, hold a clean diaper in one hand, baby wipe in the other. Pull down the wet diaper, quickly wipe the pee off, lay the clean diaper over him. Lift his legs, remove the wet diaper, tuck the other one between his legs and under his butt. Check to see that his penis is pointed down - oh, I see they didn't circumcise him, since Heather probably left the hospital before they could get her permission to do it - anyway, smooth the diaper over him snugly and secure the tapes."

Ted was trying to mental notes. "Okay, a couple of questions. Why make sure it's pointed down? And what if he poops?"

"Point it straight down because if he moves and there are any gaps in the diaper, he will pee down instead of straight up right out of it. I'm guessing that's why he leaked just now. When - not if - he poops, you still need to do the hover-cover, but you will usually need more than one wipe to clean him. You'll need to lift him one-handed by the ankles and get him clean before all the tucking, smoothing, and taping.

"Another thing you need to know: you see how the shoulders of the t-shirts and onesies have that folded, padded looking part? Those are so you don't have to take it off over their head. It's made that way so you can slip it down instead. The first time everything solid isn't contained in the diaper, you will be very glad for those shoulders."

Ted looked over at his husband, panic in his voice. "You mean... if shit leaks out?"

"Ah, the ol' blowout. Yes, it can get quite colorful. The only hope is that you're at home when that happens, so you can get the baby in the tub to clean it all off."

Ted made a grossed-out face, hoping that Blake would be there to help clean the baby up after a blowout.

Blake had quickly cleaned, diapered, and redressed Phoenix as he had explained the mechanics of it to Ted. He made it look so simple. Ted just hoped he could remember all of it.

"After the first hundred changes, you'll be able to do it with your eyes closed," Blake said with a big smile.

Ted's eyes opened wide. "Hundred?"

"Babies shit and piss a lot, Honey, it won't take long to get to one hundred changes," Blake answered, patting Ted on his shoulder.

Sure enough, Phoenix needed to be changed again a couple of hours later. It wasn't just pee this time. Blake explained the steps again while Ted cleaned the baby up, nearly losing his pizza in the process at the sight and the smell.

"Stop laughing!" Ted said to his husband, who thought it was all hilarious.

"I'm sorry!" Blake said, though he was still laughing heartily.

Ted had the baby changed in about five minutes.

"How'd I do?" he asked Blake as he put the dirty diaper and wipes into the diaper genie, which they had bought Heather themselves.

Blake nodded in approval. "You won't win any speed contests, but good job, Dad."

Ted beamed with pride before giving his husband a kiss.

The happy couple put their son into his bassinet and began getting themselves ready for bed. The three members of the new family were settled in for about ten minutes before the youngest of them let out a loud cry.

"Jesus, that kid has some lungs," Ted remarked.

Blake threw the blankets off and put on his robe.

"Welcome to parenthood," he mumbled as he headed downstairs to make a bottle, knowing that this was going to be the first of many sleepless nights in the Schmidt/Wyzecki home.

Ted called his mother the next day to let her know about Phoenix. He started out by telling her about Heather and what had happened at the hospital. As he was explaining why they were adopting the baby, he could hear his mother start to cry.

"Mom, I hope you can understand why we need to do this..." Ted said.

"Oh Teddy, I think it's wonderful. I'm thrilled to finally have a grandson. Just because some people can't accept anyone who is different doesn't mean he isn't perfect. I can't wait to meet him."

"Really?" Ted said, relieved she took the news so well.

"I am thrilled for you and Blake. You'll both make wonderful fathers."

They talked a while longer and agreed that she would come over the next day to meet her grandson.

When Margaret came by the following afternoon, Blake met her at the door. She had her arms full of bags from baby clothing stores.

"The had all these cute things on sale and I couldn't help myself," she explained.

Blake smiled as he helped her with the bags. Margaret hadn't had a new grandchild for fifteen years, not since Ted's older sister had her second daughter, so he understood her new baby excitement. He led her into the kitchen where Ted was fixing a cobb salad for lunch.

Phoenix was in his carrier on the table. Margaret looked at the baby and started crying.

"He is so beautiful," she said, lifting him up and holding him close to her heart.

Ted served the salad and asked Margaret if she wanted to put the baby down. She refused, telling him she only needed one hand to eat. Neither he nor Blake argued with her, as Phoenix was sleeping comfortably in his grandmother's arms.

Margaret spent the afternoon with them, changing, feeding, and holding her grandson while they talked.

"You know, I get quite bored sitting at home all day, now that I'm retired," Margaret said, having retired from her career as an elementary school secretary before Christmas break. "Would you boys like for me to come by and help out with the baby a few days a week?"

Ted was relieved to hear his mother's offer, since he would be alone with the baby each day for the next few months while Blake was at work. "Oh Mom, that would be great. I'd appreciate the help."

Blake smiled at his mother-in-law, thankful and relieved to hear that Ted wouldn't be stuck at home alone with Phoenix all day. Ted would learn a lot from his mother about how to take care of a newborn, and he needed all the help he could get.

Blake was able to take a week off from work to spend with Phoenix. He had received a phone call from his mother a couple days after bringing the baby home. Carol had offered to help care for the baby but Blake declined her offer, finding it difficult to be around his parents so soon after the drama with Heather. He hoped in time that those relationships would improve, especially with Heather.

Justin finished the mural in the nursery, which of course was gorgeous. They were able to move the crib and everything else into the baby's room, although Phoenix slept better while in the cradle in his parents' room. They didn't mind, since they liked being close to him at night.

Blake and Ted took Phoenix for his first visit with the pediatrician, who luckily had experience with Down syndrome children. The genetic test result had come in, which confirmed the diagnosis. Both fathers cried when Phoenix got some shots, which he vocally disapproved of.

Despite his condition, Phoenix seemed to be a healthy little boy. He was a good eater and had gained some weight since his release from the hospital. Only time and meetings with specialists at later dates would tell how much his condition would affect him.

Once Blake returned to work, Margaret started coming over each afternoon, loving the time she could spend with her grandson. Ted asked her one day if she would watch Phoenix so he could take a short nap, having been up with the baby half the night. Phoenix was sleeping too, so she didn't mind.

Margaret was able to clean the kitchen and dust the furniture before the baby woke up demanding lunch. She fed and changed her grandson and was talking to him, thinking that her son was still asleep.

"My precious angel, I am so thrilled to be your Nana. You remind me so much of Joshua. He had the same silky hair and sweet smile. Back then, not a lot was known about this condition. A lot of the reason for that was probably due to people feeling ashamed of having a wonderful angel like yourself. Parents were told to take them home and just let nature take its course. Unfortunately, that's what happened to too many of you, but you have wonderful daddies and a great family who will always make sure you get the best of everything."

"Mom?" Ted called out as he walked into the kitchen. He had woken up and was about to get a drink of water when he heard what his mother was saying to Phoenix.

Both he and Margaret had tears in their eyes. She reached her hand out to her son.

"I was only four when Joshua was born," Ted said to Phoenix. "He was so beautiful. When he was born, my parents were told to take him home and just let him live as long as he could. There was no testing, no doctor's appointments, nothing. I loved him immediately."

"You loved being a big brother," Margaret said.

"He was so little and soft," Ted continued. "I would sit in his crib and feed him."

"You never changed his diapers though, you said it was too yucky," Margaret added with a chuckle.

"I still think they're yucky. I played with Joshua like he was my own little baby doll. He died right after his first birthday from a heart condition. It broke my heart to lose him."

"Have you told Blake about Joshua?"

Ted shook his head. "No... I really should, huh?"

Ted knelt down next to his mother, and they held each other and the wonderful baby they could share.

Still undefeated
With my back against the ropes
Still undefeated
You can knock me down with body blows
But you cannot break my hope

--"Undefeated," Daughtry

Two weeks after bringing Phoenix home, Ted was watching TV in the living room when there was a knock at the door. He had Phoenix in his arms as he answered.

Ted was shocked to see Michael Novotny standing on his porch.

"Damn," Michael said as he looked at Ted with the baby. "I was in town and heard the rumors, but I had to see for myself. What the fuck were you thinking, Ted? If you had to have a kid with your druggie boyfriend, you could have at least gotten a normal one, not some brain-damaged thing. What the fuck are you going to do with that? Bad enough you have Blake, now you'll have that mongoloid albatross around your neck forever."

Ted finally came out of his shock and slammed the door in his former friend's face without a word.

Looking down at his son, he smiled. "I'm glad you are too young to know what he said. Anyway, he is wrong. You are my son and you're perfect just the way you are, and you are very loved and always will be."

When Blake got home, Ted was feeding the baby in the kitchen. He looked up at Blake and smiled, but Blake could tell that something wasn't right.

"What happened? Is everything okay with Phoenix?"

"Our son is wonderful, but we had an unwelcome visitor today."

"Who?"

"Michael."

Blake's lips curled in disgust. "Michael? What the hell did he want?"

Ted repeated to Blake the filth Michael had spewed.

"Are you going to tell the others?"

"No. He likes attention. Even if it's negative attention, it's still attention. He knows that if I tell Brian, Emmett, or Deb what he said that at least one of them would probably call him to chew him out. I'm not going to give him that satisfaction. We have our wonderful son and he has nothing. I'm not letting anyone or anything spoil our happiness."

Ted received a phone call from Melanie the following week. The court hearing for the motions for expungement and adoption was two weeks away, and Melanie wanted to talk to Ted about what he could expect.

They had been talking for several minutes before Melanie brought up something Ted wasn't expecting.

"By the way, um... I received a copy of a letter the court received, detailing both yours and Blake's drug usage."

"What?" Ted asked, shocked that someone would butt in like that.

"The letter, of course, omits the fact that the both of you have been clean and sober for more than eight years and that Blake is now a licensed counselor."

"Who the fuck wrote it? This could cause us to have Phoenix taken from us, couldn't it?" Ted asked, scared that he and Blake would lose the son they had come to love so deeply over the past few weeks.

"It's signed ‘A Concerned Citizen'. There is only one person we know who would have written something like this."

"Michael," Ted said with a groan.

"I'm surprised it wasn't written in thought bubbles."

Ted told Melanie about the visit he'd gotten from Michael, where the man had berated him for wanting to adopt a child with Down syndrome.

"That son of a bitch," Melanie said through gritted teeth. "Don't worry, Teddy. Nothing will come of this letter, especially since you have both been clean and sober for so long. Don't forget who you have on your side when we go to the hearing, four of the A-Gays of Pittsburgh, who can all attest to the fact that you and Blake turned your lives around. I'd rather not tell Deb about this, because it will just upset her. She is beyond fed up with Michael and his antics."

"I don't know what I'll do if that asshole ruins this for us. I would need you to represent me at the murder trial. Would you charge me more than a dollar for that?"

"Don't worry, okay? I'll be down there the day before the hearing. I can't wait to meet my nephew."

"Thanks, Mel," Ted said, glad he befriended a lawyer.

Melanie, Ted, Blake, Brian, Justin, Emmett, and Drew marched into the courtroom the morning of the hearing. The hearing almost had to be postponed because the judge that was assigned to the case had come down with the flu, but they found another judge who was available.

Melanie, Ted, and Blake all took seats at the defense table in front of the judge's bench.

"Do you know who the new judge is?" Ted asked, hoping it wasn't a homophobic asshole who would find some reason not to let his record be expunged.

"No, I only found out about the change in judges because the court reporter sent me a text about it. I'm just hoping it's someone who is fair."

"It better not be that Regular Roy asshole," Brian said from his seat in the gallery, cracking a smile while recalling what he had done to him.

"He retired when his term ended last year," Melanie said, to everyone's happiness.

As the bailiff opened the door for the judge to enter, Melanie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who it was. She knew this man was very fair and had no problem with gays. The others were relieved when they saw her reaction.

Judge Dennis smiled and nodded for everyone to be seated.

"We will be addressing two separate but related matters here today, just to make things quicker and easier for everyone. I understand that Blake Wyzecki and Theodore Schmidt wish to adopt Mr. Wyzecki's nephew, and they wish to name the baby boy ‘Phoenix Brian Schmidt.' I have a copy of a Canadian marriage license for Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Wyzecki, which leads me to believe that these gentleman live as a married couple and plan to raise the child together. I also have a copy of the mother's relinquishment of parental rights paperwork and an affidavit from her stating that she wants Mr. Wyzecki and Mr. Schmidt to adopt her son. However, Mr. Schmidt has a 2003 conviction for Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor, a third-degree felony.

"Mr. Schmidt, by his attorney, has filed a motion to have that conviction expunged, knowing this conviction could inhibit his ability to adopt the baby. Indeed, while a felony conviction does not always bar someone from being granted an adoption, a conviction such as this, along with the circumstances of the original criminal complaint, would possibly make the court decline to grant an adoption. The case manager for this orphan child wrote a report expressing her concern in recommending the child to be adopted by Mr. Schmidt, as long as he has this conviction on his record.

"I have read all the statements, both pro and con, received by the court in this expungement petition. I also read the complaint filed in the felony case. Before I make my decision in this matter, I have a few questions. This isn't a formal trial, so when I call your name, just stand and answer the questions I ask. First, I'd like to ask Mr. Schmidt a few questions."

Ted took a deep breath and stood. "Yes, your honor?"

"My understanding is that you were charged with the sexual exploitation of a child, since you allowed a person under the age of eighteen to view people performing sexual acts for a pornographic website you operated. Could you explain what happened prior to you being arrested in your felony case, specifically how you came to hire this young man and what his job was?"

Ted explained that when he hired his assistant Edward "Eddie" Malone, the young man had given him his ID that said he was eighteen years old. Ted had no reason to question the legitimacy of the ID. After his porn studio had been raided by the Pittsburgh Police, it was found that Eddie's ID was fake and that he was actually seventeen. Ted resisted the urge to say that it was only because of Jim Stockwell's vehement desire to rid Pittsburgh of gays that his studio was raided, as Melanie had coached him prior to the hearing. He did include the fact that Eddie was only his production assistant, that he never participated in any sexual acts and never appeared on camera. Once Ted was finished explaining how it had happened, the judge nodded.

"Okay, next I have a couple of questions for Brian Kinney."

Brian stood. "How can I be of service, your honor?"

"Mr. Kinney, how long have you known Mr. Schmidt?"

"I've known him since my early twenties. Melanie Marcus, Ted's attorney, was dating a friend of mine and had decided to introduce me to her friend Ted, hoping to fix us up. She did that so I wouldn't have as much time to hang around her girlfriend, Lindsay... she was more than a little jealous of our friendship."

Brian looked over at Melanie, who had her back to him. He noticed her fidget in her seat.

"There was no amorous attraction, but Ted was a nice guy and we became friends. He is now the CFO of my advertising company, Kinnetik, as well as my personal accountant. I have complete trust in him."

"My understanding is that Mr. Schmidt is a prior user of methamphetamine," Judge Dennis said. "Were you friends with Mr. Schmidt when he was using drugs?"

"Yes," Brian confirmed. "It was a tough time in Ted's life. He had just made his guilty plea in the delinquency case, which forced him to shut down his website. He lost a home he was planning to buy and had very little career prospects. Ted only used drugs for a few months before he hit rock bottom and went to rehab. He hasn't used drugs or even had a sip of alcohol, that I know of, in nearly a decade. I wouldn't keep him as an employee or my accountant if he was still using."

The judge then asked Brian, "Do you know of any reason that should prevent me from granting Mr. Schmidt's petition to expunge this conviction from his record and grant his petition to adopt this child?"

"No, I don't, your honor. I think he will be an excellent father."

Ted turned his head to look at Brian, and they exchanged warm smiles.

"Thank you, Mr. Kinney, you may take your seat."

After that, Judge Dennis addressed a few questions to the others who had sent affidavits to the court and were present. Justin, Emmett, and Drew all vouched for Ted being a sober, upstanding citizen. Blake confirmed that he and Ted were many years clean from drugs and that they wished for nothing but to provide a loving home for Phoenix.

Judge Dennis looked around the room. "I see here in the file that there is a letter from ‘a concerned citizen' who is against Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Wyzecki adopting this child. Is that person here?"

Everyone turned their heads to look around the room. Michael was smart enough to stay in whatever hole he was living and not come to court that day.

The judge then said he would take a short recess to make his decision. Once he had left the courtroom, they all went into the hallway to wait.

Brian looked at Melanie and asked the question on everyone's mind. "You looked relieved when you saw who the judge was. Why?"

"Because Judge Dennis is the fairest and most unbiased judge in the county. He makes decisions based on the facts of a case, not his personal opinions. The best part is, he can't be bought. He has even turned in people who were his friends when he found them taking bribes. He really is the best judge you could hope to get."

Emmett and Drew had to go home, since Drew's mom was watching Lyla and Sawyer and had to leave soon. They wished Ted and Blake their best and made them promise to call as soon as the ruling was made.

Not long after, they were called back into the courtroom. Blake nervously held Ted's hand, hoping that things went their way.

Judge Dennis looked at Ted and Blake as he entered the courtroom. Seeing the distressed looks on their faces, he quickly smiled at them.

"Everyone please be seated, except for Mr. Schmidt."

Ted remained standing, one hand still holding Blake's and the other braced on the table. He felt like he was going to pass out.

"I have reviewed all the evidence and have concluded that the record of this felony conviction should be expunged," the judge said. "I read in the police report that the ID the minor provided to you was very well done. It would have taken an expert to see that it wasn't legitimate. You have maintained a clean record since this charge and I am confident that you will continue to walk on the straight and narrow... no pun intended."

Everyone in the room chuckled at the judge's joke.

"Ms. Marcus, if you have the adoption papers ready, I will gladly sign them so that these gentlemen can get home and celebrate with their son."

Melanie got out the papers and carried them over to the judge, who signed them. Melanie gave a signed copy to Ted with a big smile on her face.

"Congratulations to both fathers. Go home and love your child."

"Thank you, your honor," Ted said as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

With that, Judge Dennis left the courtroom while Ted and Blake cried and hugged.

Melanie hugged the new fathers and packed up her briefcase. She needed to leave for the hotel since she would be flying back to Canada that evening.

Justin went over to Blake to give him a big hug and congratulate him. While Blake and Justin were talking, Brian asked Ted to walk with him to the back of the courtroom.

"Theodore, I know Blake is finishing up his residency now and needs to concentrate on that, and well, I don't want my godson to be left with just anyone during the workday while he's still so young," Brian said quietly. "I know you'll have to see several specialists to check on his condition, probably during business hours. I have hired a temp with years of accounting experience to cover for you at Kinnetik for the next six months so you can be home with your son. You'll be paid your regular salary during that time, so you won't have to worry about bills. I have also made sure that everything you need, as far as additional medical insurance, is taken care of for Phoenix. There will also be someone contacting you from Early Intervention about extra therapies for him. Anything not covered by insurance will be taken care of by Kinnetik. I want to make sure that my namesake godson has the best available help he can get."

Ted stood there with his mouth open while Brian spoke, shaking his head at his friend's generosity. Trying to hold back tears, he finally said, "Thank you, Brian, for everything. I know I could never repay you for this..."

"You're welcome, Ted. Kinnetik wouldn't be what it is today without you and your years of hard work. Hell, it wouldn't have become a real company without the help you gave me in the early days when Wertshafter almost lost us our first big client, when it was just me and Cynthia working in that moldy old bathhouse. Just take care of that precious little boy and don't worry about a thing."

Walking back to where their twinks were talking, Ted looked at his husband. Blake looked back at Ted, knowing that something had happened. Ted looked like he was trying not to cry, leaving Blake to wonder what Brian had done this time.

When they got in the car, Blake finally asked Ted, "What were you and Brian talking about back there?"

Turning to his husband, Ted smiled and answered, "I'll explain everything to you once we're home, but just know that it's a good thing. Right now I just want to get home and hold our son."

Phoenix was sleeping when they got home. After they had thanked Margaret for watching the baby while they were gone and for all the help that she'd given them so far, they told her the good news about the adoption. Margaret soon went home so Ted and Blake could celebrate.

They took the baby monitor and sat in the living room to talk. Ted told Blake what Brian had said to him at the courthouse. By the time he was finished, both men were in tears at the generosity Brian was once again showing them.

"We're so lucky to have such good friends," Blake said as he snuggled up next to his husband.

Ted nodded and wrapped his arms around Blake. "We're lucky to have each other, too."

You gotta keep on keeping on
Even with the feeling that you're gonna keep losing
You gotta come back strong

--"Keep On Keeping On," Travie McCoy and Brendon Urie

The following weekend, Ted and Blake headed over to Debbie's house for the monthly Sunday family dinner. For some reason, Debbie wanted to have the meal early this month. Normally they would all get to her house around five o'clock, but this time she had called Ted to tell him to be there at three o'clock. When asked why so early, Debbie said she had to get off the phone for some vague reason.

When they pulled up at Debbie's house, they were surprised that they appeared to be the last ones to arrive. Even the notoriously "fashionably" late Brian and Justin were already there.

Ted and Blake noticed that the living room curtains were closed, which was odd. They looked at each other and shrugged.

Phoenix was just waking up from his afternoon nap, so the fathers were happy for the early time of the dinner. Ted rang the bell and they heard people moving around inside before Debbie finally opened the door.

When Ted and Blake stepped into the small foyer, everyone yelled "Surprise!"

They looked around to see that the room was decorated with streamers and balloons, and there were gifts and a cake set up on a folding table by the wall. Everyone, even Ted's mother, was there.

Ted looked at Blake, who had tears streaming down his face.

"We need to get better at noticing when surprise parties are thrown in our honor," the younger man said.

"Yeah, you guys are very easy," Brian commented.

"We figured now that Phoenix is officially yours, we needed to celebrate," Emmett said.

"Thank you, everyone, this was so great of you!" Ted said before putting Phoenix's baby carrier on the coffee table and getting him out of his little sweater.  

"Come and eat, then we can get on with the party," Debbie said, pulling the garlic bread out of the oven.

When everyone sat down to eat, Phoenix started whimpering.

"It never fails, the kid wants to eat the second he wakes up from his nap," Ted said.

"Damn, he's just like Justin," Brian commented, getting the finger from his partner.

Brian motioned for Ted to pass the baby to him.

"Warm up a bottle for him, Theodore. I get to feed him, because I'm the godfather and the boy is my namesake."

"And how do you plan to feed yourself while you're feeding a baby?" Justin asked.

"We can share a plate of pasta," his partner answered.

Justin proceeded to feed Brian from his plate, as if Brian was his baby. He knew Brian should eat more and that he would, if Phoenix kept him distracted long enough in order to feed him forkfuls of Debbie's famous chicken parmesan.

Once the meal was finished and the leftovers were put away, everyone moved into the living room. Ted and Blake were directed to the love seat and handed gift after gift. There were clothes, toys, and plenty of diapers and formula. There were also a few things that they didn't have yet, for when Phoenix got bigger, including a jogging stroller, walker, bouncy seat, and high chair.

After they had stuffed themselves with cake, Brian asked Ted to come into the backyard with him.

"Is everything okay, Brian?" Ted asked in concern.

Brian took an envelope out of his pocket. "Yeah, I just wanted to give you this away from the others."

Ted shook his head, wondering what Brian had done now. He opened the envelope and found paperwork for a savings account statement in trust for Phoenix Brian Schmidt in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars.

"Christ, Brian," Ted whispered.

Brian shrugged, as if it were no big deal. "It's for educational expenses and will be added to, so that he will always have every opportunity to be the best he can be."

Ted looked at Brian and couldn't stop the tears.

"I don't know what to say. You are just so amazing. We can't ever thank you enough for everything you have done and continue to do for us."

Ted threw his arms around his boss and friend, his best friend these days.

"Just take good care of my godson, that's all I ask," Brian answered, patting Ted on his back before heading inside and sending Blake out to Ted with a box of tissues.

Ted was very glad for his organizational skills. He needed to make all kinds of appointments for Phoenix with various doctors and therapists. Some even needed to be seen in a certain order and many had long waiting lists.

Margaret had agreed to attend the doctor's appointments with Ted so that Blake could concentrate on finishing up his residency at the addiction clinic. Having two sets of ears at the appointments would also mean less chance of missing something important. Hopefully, it would also be less stressful on Phoenix, who wasn't happy about being poked and prodded. Margaret often had to comfort her son when the baby would be crying on exam tables, as if father and son were competing for the number of tears shed per appointment.

It seemed, so far, that Phoenix was healthy, but he would have to continue to be monitored as he got older.

Secretly both Ted and Blake worried how they would handle being fathers and being responsible for the life of another human being. Trying to spare their partner from worrying, they didn't confide their fears in each other. They each went to the person they considered their closest friend other than their spouse.

Blake called Justin one morning and asked if they could meet for lunch at a deli near the clinic. Justin walked in to find Blake sitting at a table playing a mindless game on his phone.

"Hey Blake, what's up?"

"I needed someone to talk to," Blake said uneasily. "I can't talk about this with Ted."

Justin sat down across from him. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm just worried about what kind of father I'm going to be for Phoenix."

"Do you mean just in general, or is there a problem?"

"Just in general. I know I helped out with my brothers and sisters, but my parents were in charge. I wasn't the final decision maker on things. Now I am... well, along with Ted. We didn't plan to be fathers, it was something that happened literally over the course of two days. We had no time to prepare. The longer he's been home with us, the more real it's begun to feel, like he's really our kid. How am I supposed to be a parent and not have him turn out to be a fuck up like I did?"

"You're not a fuck up," Justin said, reaching over to give Blake's hands a squeeze. "You had a couple of rough years, but you cleaned yourself up. Now you're a fucking doctor."

Blake shrugged. "Just a psychologist, not a real doctor. If you had a seizure right now, I wouldn't know what the fuck to do."

"All you can do is love your son and teach him the best that you can. You and Ted are great people and I think you'll do just fine. You need to trust in yourselves. Just look at how far you've both come in your own lives."

Blake nodded. "Yeah... I think we sometimes just need to hear stuff like this from other people, for a boost."

"Glad to help," Justin said with a smile.

A server came to take their orders. Each man ordered a half sandwich and salad.

Blake looked around them once the server had left, to make sure there weren't other people in earshot. "Uh, there's something else. Not only am I doubting myself as a father, but I'm also doubting myself as a husband."

Justin leaned in close, interested to hear what else Blake had to reveal.

"This is kind of embarrassing. I hear you other guys talk about your sex lives all the time, but it's just not something I'm comfortable talking about. Chalk it up to being raised religious, I don't know."

"I'm sure there's nothing you can say that will shock me. I've been with Brian Kinney for almost thirteen years, minus a few bumps in the road."

"It's nothing shocking, but it still makes me feel uncomfortable to mention it, especially with someone as... active as you are. Ted and I have hardly touched each other since Phoenix has been home with us."

Justin sat back. "No offense, but I've never been able to picture Ted being ‘active' at all."

Blake chuckled. "What, do you think Ted and I never do it?"

"No, I mean, I've just never seen Ted as a sexual person. It's not that I don't find him attractive, but it's kind of like imagining a teacher or the mailman having sex. I just... don't."

Blake laughed some more. "Trust me, before we brought the baby home, we were active. That's why it's bothering me so much now. I think we've only done it twice in the past month and it was very brief both times."

"Wow," Justin said.

"My job is so mentally draining, then I come home to find Ted wiped out after taking care of Phoenix and the house all day. We're up half the night with him, taking turns with feedings and changings. His mom comes over most afternoons to help with the baby, but Ted still does the housework and most of the cooking. Who wants to get frisky after that?"

"I can only imagine," Justin said. In fact, he had imagined it, although he would never bring up the possibility of having kids with Brian.

"I feel like I can't connect with Ted anymore. Because of patient confidentiality, there isn't much I can tell him about what goes on at work. If I did, I'd only feel like I'm complaining. He was so supportive while I was in school, so I feel like I have no right complaining about my job. When I ask him how his day was, he just says, ‘Same as always.' Then we eat dinner and go to bed no later than nine o'clock after hardly saying a word to each other. We're up every two to three hours with Phoenix, changing shitty diapers all night. There's nothing sexy about that."

"I think it's natural for this to happen with new parents," Justin said. "I know that it was tough for Emmett when he and Drew first adopted their kids, balancing work with childcare, but I don't remember him mentioning their sex life evaporating. Actually, I remember him complaining that the babies would constantly interrupt them, mid-stroke."

Blake leaned in close again and quietly asked, "How often do you and Brian... you know."

"Fuck?" Justin said, a little too loud for Blake's comfort.

Blake looked around again, feeling like the whole building was listening. "Jesus... yes, fuck. Specifically, I want to know if your sex life has tapered off at all over the past few years. I'm sure Brian would slit my throat for mentioning this, but he and Ted aren't exactly young studs anymore. I have to admit that even before Phoenix, Ted would sometimes say he was too tired to have sex and then we'd just go to sleep."

"Well, time must be harsher on Ted than on Brian, because I'm still satisfied with the frequency," Justin answered honestly. "Do we get it on as much as we did in our younger days? No, but that's to be expected as time goes by. I don't think Brian can fall asleep unless he's come at least twice, even if I have to take the lead."

Blake couldn't help but be jealous, but this was the legendary Brian Fucking Kinney they were talking about. "What can I do to spice things up?"

The server brought over their drinks and Justin took a sip of his sweet tea while he thought about it. "Well, in the rare event that Brian is tired but I'm feeling frisky, I'll strip down and start without him."

"What do you do?" Blake asked, intrigued.

"I'll rub my hands all over myself, sometimes use a scented massage oil that I know Brian likes the smell of. I'll start jerking off or use a sex toy. It doesn't take very long for him to want to join in. Other times I'll just start pulling off his clothes and do what I want to him, and he lets me. Sometimes I think he just pretends to be tired, so I'll get on top and ride him. There's also dirty talk, of course."

Blake felt himself get hard under the table. "Yeah... I can give some of that a try."

Unbeknownst to Blake, Ted brought Phoenix into Kinnetik around lunchtime. He left the baby with Cynthia and her assistant, who were all too happy to coo over the adorable little boy while Ted went to talk to the boss.

"Theodore, surprised to see you here," Brian said when Ted walked into his office. "Do you miss us already?"

Ted smiled. "Honestly, no. I'll be sad once Phoenix starts going to daycare and I have to come back here to work. I came to get your advice."

"What's up?" Brian asked, gesturing for Ted to take a seat in front of his desk.

"It's just... I'm so fucking exhausted," Ted admitted, finding himself tearing up.

Brian was taken aback. "You're at home all fucking day, how can you be exhausted?"

"You've never taken care of an infant full-time, so you don't know how hard it is," Ted admonished. "The constant feeding, burping, diaper changes, laundry, cooking, cleaning, being woken up all night to a crying baby, and usually I have to try everything before I figure out what he needs-"

Brian held up his hand. "Okay, I get it."

"No, you don't get it!" Ted suddenly yelled, surprising himself with his volume. "You have no idea what it's like being a real parent, so don't pretend to understand!"

"Ouch," Brian said, genuinely feeling hurt by Ted's words, even if they were true.

Ted wanted to kick himself. "I'm sorry. I didn't come here to lash out at you, it's just... I've kept this pent-up-"

"It's fine," Brian said, knowing it was nothing personal.

Ted took a few deep breaths to calm himself before continuing. "My mom is helpful, but she can only do so much at her age. I wish she'd get carpal tunnel surgery, because her right hand cramps up on her all the time. I feel like I have no business complaining to Blake about this, because he actually goes to work five days a week, sometimes even on Saturdays to do paperwork. I know his job has to be draining, listening to addicts talk about their problems all day, especially since he's a former addict himself. I only go to group meetings once a week and it's hard for me to listen to it."

"What are you expecting me to tell you?" Brian asked.

"I don't know," Ted said, hanging his head.

"It's not normally my style, but have you actually talked to Blake about any of this?"

"No. I'm sure he probably feels guilty leaving me to take care of Phoenix all day. I don't want to pile it on. I'm just hoping it'll get easier as Phoenix gets older, but right now I feel so overwhelmed."

"I could chip in for a nanny, if-"

"No," Ted quickly said. "You're doing enough as it is, Brian, giving me this paid time off. I'd feel like a total worthless shit if I brought in a stranger to take care of my kid while I sat on my ass."

"Maybe you guys just need a good, long fuck," Brian suggested.

Ted scoffed. "That would require me to stay awake long enough. Once my head hits the pillow, I'm out. I don't even know if I could get it up, if Blake wanted to fuck."

"That's fucking tragic," Brian said, feeling genuinely sorry for his friend.

This was the exact reason he never wanted to be a "real parent" to begin with, because he would never want anything to get in the way of his sex life. Lindsay complained to him all the time about not having the time or energy to go bumper-to-bumper with Melanie. He'd rather be dead than not have the energy to fuck.

"Jesus, I remember the days when all I wanted was a boyfriend so I could have regular sex," Ted mused. "Now I have a gorgeous, amazing husband and I don't have the energy to do anything to him. I'm afraid that if this goes on any longer, he'll go out and find a young guy raring to go. I mean, he's still young and sexy, what's to keep him at home? I'm just some tired old bastard that smells like baby barf."

Brian stood up, unable to listen to Ted's sad tale any longer. "I have to go and meet a rep from Endovir for lunch. I say you should drink a pot of coffee and then fuck your young, sexy husband until you pass out."

Ted already drank enough coffee to give him a heart attack, but he knew he should talk to Blake about what was troubling him. "Thanks, Brian."

Brian waited for Ted to leave before picking up his phone and calling Justin.

"Hey," Justin answered.

"Hey, Sunshine. What do you have going on at one today?"

"Nothing important, that I know of."

"You now have a special meeting with your boss. It might just take the whole afternoon for us to bang this project out."

Justin knew exactly what that meant. "Ooh, I can hardly wait for a little one-on-one grind with the big boss man."

Brian hung up and pulled open his desk drawer to make sure he had plenty of lube. Hearing about Ted's lack of a sex life made him want to enjoy the lively one he still had.

Don't you know things can change
Things'll go your way
If you hold on for one more day

--"Hold On," Wilson Phillips

Blake got home later that afternoon, feeling excited to try the things that Justin had suggested to spice things up. He found Ted in the kitchen, where he appeared to be mindlessly stirring a pot of something on the stove.

"Hello, my darling husband," Blake said into Ted's ear as he wrapped his arms around him from behind.

"Hmm?" Ted said, just realizing that Blake had walked in. "Oh, hey."

"Where were you?" Blake asked, a bit amused by Ted's absentmindedness.

"Just... thinking."

Actually, Ted was rehearsing what he was planning to say to Blake. He decided the best course of action for getting past their lack of communication as of late would be to talk. The problem was that he didn't know what to say without upsetting Blake and making things worse.

Blake looked down into the stock pot and saw that Ted had made corn chowder.

"Mmm, looks good."

"I haven't made it in a while, so..." Ted began to say. He stopped speaking when Blake slowly began running his hands down his sides and settled them on each side of his groin.

Blake then put his lips up to Ted's ear and asked in a raspy voice, "Has the baby had his dinner yet?"

The warm, moist breath against his ear sent a shiver down Ted's spine. "No... uh, do you want to give him his bottle? The chowder will be ready in about ten minutes."

"Sure," Blake said, rubbing his right hand over the crotch of Ted's relaxed-fit jeans before making a bottle for Phoenix.

Ted couldn't help but wonder what had gotten Blake so revved up all of a sudden. He knew it couldn't be the chowder.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing," Blake claimed, intentionally drawing out the word.

"Did... did something happen today?" Ted asked, getting more curious.

"I saw Justin this afternoon."

Ted had to admit that Justin was a very attractive man - hell, he'd reigned in Brian Kinney, the Stud of Liberty Avenue, so he had to be a cut above the rest in the looks department - but he couldn't recall another time when simply seeing his blond friend brought out Blake's playful side.

"And what did you and Justin do?"

"Had lunch," Blake said nonchalantly as he waited for the formula to warm.

"Uh huh," Ted said. "What did you have, strawberries, oysters, and champagne?"

Blake laughed. "Sandwiches and salad."

Blake left the kitchen to go upstairs and feed Phoenix before Ted could ask him any other questions.

Ted served bowls of corn chowder with sliced baguette, deciding to set the table in the dining room rather than at their breakfast bar where they normally ate.

"Ooh," Blake said as he walked into the dining room. "What's the occasion?"

"I just wanted dinner to feel a little more... intimate," Ted answered with a shrug.

"Well, in that case..." Blake said, going back into the kitchen for a minute. He came back with a bottle of red grape juice and two wine glasses. "Too bad we don't have any of the real thing."

Ted watched as his husband poured out their glasses. "I'm glad we don't, I have enough trouble staying awake past dinner."

Blake picked up his glass and held it out. "What should we toast to?"

Ted picked up his own glass. "Our future?"

"To our future," Blake said, clinking their glasses.

They took a few bites of their food before Ted revealed, "I actually saw the other half of Britin today."

"You did?"

"Yeah, I went to talk to Brian for a bit at the office."

"Was there a problem with an account?" Blake asked, since that's all he could imagine Ted making a special trip to Kinnetik over.

"Uh... no," Ted began, wiping his mouth as he prepared to begin his speech. "I went to get some advice because I..."

Blake stared intently into Ted's eyes while he also unbuttoned his dress shirt. He was wearing a tight white tank underneath, which fit him like a second skin. Soon that was all he was wearing on his top half.

"It's a little hot in here, isn't it?" Blake asked, pulling the tucked-in tank out of the waistband of his dress slacks.

"A little bit, maybe," Ted said. "I can turn the thermostat down a degree, if you want."

"No, it's fine," Blake said as he pulled off his tank and dropped it on the floor next to his discarded dress shirt. "That's better."

Ted was feeling a little bit hot himself now, but he was determined to say what he needed to say. "Honey, I-"

Blake suddenly stood up and grabbed his glass of juice. "I'm not feeling all that hungry at the moment. I think I'm going to go up to the bedroom."

Ted found himself sitting at the dining room table alone, with two mostly uneaten meals in front of him.

"Are you going to join me?" Blake asked him from the stairway.

"There's dairy in this chowder," Ted answered loudly. "We really shouldn't just leave these bowls sitting out, you know."

"So why don't you just stick them in the fridge and meet me in bed? I'll make you a delicious cream sauce you'll love," Blake answered, his voice trailing up the stairs.

This was the first time since bringing Phoenix home that Blake was being seductive, but Ted was determined to get what he had to say off his chest. Taking Brian's advice of having sex would only be kicking the can down the road.

Ted put their bowls of chowder in the refrigerator before climbing the stairs. He went into their bedroom, where he found his naked husband in bed, slowly stroking his fully erect, very thick cock.

"Get over here," Blake purred.

Ted sat down on the bed but made no moves to join Blake in his current activity.

"Blake, we really need to talk," Ted began.

"We can talk after...," Blake replied, patting the bed with his free hand.

"I can't just turn it on and off, Blake. I'm here all day cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the baby. That's in addition to getting our son to all of his doctor appointments while you're sitting in an office all day, talking."

Blake stilled his hand and blinked several times. "Uh, excuse me? Are you implying that you work harder than I do?"

"I think the work I'm doing here at home is more important. Not that what you're doing isn't, but I think that taking care of our newborn son is a little more important than-"

"Are you seriously saying these words?" Blake asked, standing up from the bed.

"Well, you come in all hot from hanging out with Justin and what, I'm just supposed to fall into bed and want to fuck?"

"It wasn't Justin who got me ‘all hot'," Blake said as he put on his robe. "I asked him what I could do to spice things up between us. You're the one that got me hot, Asshole."

"That's not what it seems like. This is the first time you've been so overtly sexual, in like, ever."

"Try listening to what I said," Blake said, enunciating his words. "I went to talk to Justin to ask him what to do, so of course I'm trying something new."

"Sex doesn't fix everything, unlike what Brian and Justin think. Maybe they'd rather fuck than talk about their problems, but that's not how grown-ups should do it."

"Okay then, Mr. Grown-Up, how about you tell me more about how my job isn't important?" Blake said. "How what I'm doing every fucking day, literally helping to save people's lives, isn't important?"

"I didn't say what you do isn't important, but my current job of taking care of our newborn son all day, every day, takes a lot more energy."

Blake's anger escalated. "Wh... oh my God, what? Do you know how fucking hard it is listening to people talk about their addictions all day, every day? Yeah, I've been clean for several years now, but it's occasionally a trigger for me. People tell me about popping pills, smoking this or that, drinking, shooting up, snorting, blah, blah, blah... I won't lie, sometimes I miss it. Even when I hear how terrible their lives are because of the shit they put into their bodies and recall how bad I was before I got clean - sleeping on a floor in a crack house - it still makes me itch. Then I come home to you, hoping to get some comfort, and you're practically comatose."

"I had no idea it was that hard for you," Ted said. "Why didn't you tell me any of this before?"

"Because I have no right to complain when you were the one who supported me while I went to school, paying my tuition and the bills and never once complaining about it. I feel guilty for even feeling like I should complain. Plus, do you think it's easy for me to be away from Phoenix every day? He's gotten so big over this past month and I feel like I'm missing so much. Shit, I wish I could be as exhausted as you are, getting to spend quality time with our son. It would be nice if I felt like I was welcome when I come home after a long day, with a little attention in the bedroom. I do need some relief, you know, and not just from my hand in the shower. I'm still young."

Now it was Ted's turn to sputter in surprise at his husband's words. "Well... pfft... well then, why don't you do like your little friend Justin did and go find greener pastures? I'm obviously too old and tired to keep up with a young thing like you," Ted commented, grabbing his wallet and keys from on top of the dresser and storming out.

"Ted!" Blake yelled, following after him. "Wait, we can talk about this!"

Ted heard what Blake said but just kept going and got in his car. He sped down to the next block and parked. He sat there for a minute, taking several deep breaths to calm down, before heading to the loft to talk to Brian.

He arrived at Brian's building a few minutes later. He didn't see Brian's car parked on the street, but he took the chance that maybe he and Justin rode home from the office together in Justin's car that day.

Ted rode the elevator to the top floor and knocked on the door. It was opened several seconds later by the last person he wanted to see at that moment.

"Oh... hi, Justin," Ted mumbled. "Brian here?"

"No, he stayed behind at the office," Justin said, stepping aside and motioning for Ted to walk in. "He got a little... uh... ‘busy' after lunch, so he needed some extra time to prep for a meeting in the morning."

Ted just stood in the doorway. "Okay, well... tell him I stopped by."

"Wait," Justin said. "Why don't you come on in? He probably won't be long."

"Uh... no, that's okay."

"Is something wrong?" Justin asked, noticing how Ted seemed to be uneasy with him and wasn't meeting his eyes. "Why aren't you at home with Blake?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Ted countered in a harsh tone. "Obviously my husband talks to you more than he does to me these days, and you seem to be full of great advice..."

"Ted, he loves you and wants both of you to be happy. He just needed someone to talk to and he didn't know how to bring up the things that were bothering him to you. Why are you upset about him getting advice from a friend? Brian said you came to talk to him today."

"Apparently all you and your boyfriend have to suggest is sex, but why should I be surprised? Look who I'm fucking talking to."

Justin thought about it for a moment. "And sex is a bad thing?"

"When it's used in place of talking, it is!" Ted said, flapping his arms.

Before Justin could say something else, the phone inside the loft rang. Justin picked up the cordless and looked at the caller ID.

"It's Brian," he said to Ted before hitting the button to answer. "Hey."

Justin listened to Brian for a few seconds. "Yeah, he's here, in a foul-ass mood... Okay, see you soon."

"He's on his way home," Justin said to Ted after hanging up. "Blake called Brian on his cell, wondering if you were here."

Ted realized that he forgot to grab his cell phone as he made his quick exit.

Justin got Ted to come inside and sit down on the couch while they waited.

"You know, I don't think you and I have ever been alone together," Ted pointed out.

Justin thought about it. "Huh, I think you're right. Even at work, there's always someone else nearby."

They sat together awkwardly on the couch, staring at their watches as the waited for Brian to come through the door.

"So... how's work been going?" Ted asked, unable to take the silence.

"Good, good," Justin said, looking up at the ceiling. "How's Phoenix?"

"Great," Ted said. "And how's... uh, what's your curly-haired girlfriend's name?"

"Daphne. She's fine," Justin said, wondering how much longer they would have to make small talk.

"It's been unseasonably warm lately," Ted said.

"Mmm-hmm," Justin agreed.

Brian finally came in about ten minutes later.

"What the fuck did you do, Theodore?" the man said as he took off his overcoat.

Ted threw his hands up, his anger having subsided by that point. "I don't know. One minute my husband is jerking off in bed, inviting me to join him, next minute I'm here yelling at your twink... I'm sorry, Justin, you were only trying to help." Ted said, turning to Justin.

Said twink smiled. "Just make things right with Blake and we'll be cool."

Brian looked at Justin curiously.

"He yelled at me for giving Blake sex advice," Justin explained.

Brian then looked at Ted curiously. "If anyone knows how to please his man, it's Sunshine. Maybe it was the student who fucked up, not the teacher. Where did Blake go wrong?"

"He was doing everything right. I killed the mood when I told him that his job isn't as important as taking care of Phoenix and that I work harder than him. Then I told him to go fuck a younger guy if he wasn't happy with my old ass."

"If I were Deb, I'd slap you upside the head," Brian said, looking at Ted as if he were the dumbest motherfucker he'd ever seen. "No wonder he was so emotional over the phone. I couldn't tell if he was mad or worried. He had some choice words for you, but also said he hoped you didn't crash your car, because you were driving like a bat out of Hell."

"What can I even say to him now? I've never been good at recovering after I put my foot in my mouth."

"You know, I bet most new parents go through exactly what you guys are going through. Being sleep and sex-deprived can make a man say some stupid shit," Justin said to Ted, trying to offer him some kind of defense to use. "Would you like for me to go to your place and talk with Blake?"

"You would do that for me?" Ted asked.

"Trust me, it'll be as much for Blake as it is for you. Whenever Brian says something dumb and insensitive, which is often, his face is the last one I want to see."

"And then usually Daphne rips me a new asshole before she tells Sunshine to forgive me," Brian said.

"And then I do and we have great make-up sex."

Brian was almost thinking about picking a fight with Justin right there just so they could have make-up sex.

Justin drove over to Ted and Blake's house. He listened while Blake talked about what an asshole Ted was before Justin reminded him of what a great guy Ted was, too, even if he was a little boring.

"Do you love Ted?" Justin asked.

"Of course, I do," Blake said.

"Do you want to fuck someone else?"

"No. Of course not."

"Alright," Justin said, taking his phone out of his pocket. "Now you can get to the sex already."

Justin and Brian talked for a few minutes, deciding for Ted and Blake how their make-up sex would commence.

"Justin and I are going to take care of my godson this evening while you and your husband reconnect, so that way you won't have a crying baby interrupting you," Brian said to Ted.

"So, you're going to my house, while...?" Ted asked.

"When Blake gets here, show him that you are still the... hot guy he married," Brian said, trying not to shudder. "Two rules: don't fuck in our bed. And wherever you do actually fuck, clean it up."

Once Brian got to the house, Blake let them know that Phoenix had been fed and changed. He showed them where the essential baby items were, fussing around before Brian and Justin practically pushed him out the door. Blake then drove Justin's car to the loft, that way each couple could ride back to their respective homes together at the conclusion of the evening.

Blake let himself into the loft. Seeing his handsome husband, Ted spread his arms out for a hug. Blake happily walked into his embrace.

"I'm sorry... no, I'm sorry," both men said simultaneously.

Blake chuckled. "This was so silly."

"I know," Ted said, holding tight to his husband. "We both have plenty of reason to be tired and stressed out. We both have important jobs. What you do is really important."

"It isn't a competition," Blake confirmed.

Ted pulled back so he could look into Blake's eyes. "When we got married, we promised that we'd be each other's partner through life, through the good times and the bad. This is actually one of the good times, you know? We have a beautiful son, who is all ours. We need to be a strong team for him."

"I know, and we can't fight over petty shit like this. Ted, please promise me that if you're ever stressed out about something, you'll talk to me about it, even if you're afraid that what you have to say might hurt my feelings. I promise I won't hide things like this from you again. We're parents now, but we still have to make our marriage a priority. Someday our son will be grown and hopefully on his own, but we will still have each other."

"I promise," Ted said.

"And promise me that if we do fight, you won't storm out like you did tonight. Running away never solves anything."

"That was so fucking stupid of me. I can't believe I did that. My dad used to do that when he and my mom fought. He'd eventually come back... until one day, he didn't."

Blake put his hand on Ted's cheek. "You're not your father. I know you would never, ever run out on me and Phoenix, like he did to your family."

"Never," Ted confirmed. "I'm all in, for both of you. I can't promise we will never fight again, but it will never get so blown out of proportion like this."

"I love you," Blake said.

"I love you, too," Ted said before kissing Blake with everything he had.

Eventually, they had to break for air.

"You know, I used to have a fantasy..." Ted said.

Blake smiled. "What kind of fantasy?"

"That I would have sex with a hot guy in Brian Kinney's loft... essentially pretend to be Brian for one night."

"Well..." Blake said, biting his bottom lip. "I did promise Justin that we would properly make up."

"But I promised Brian that we wouldn't fuck in their bed... but I've always wanted to fuck in that huge shower of his."

Hand in hand, they headed to the bathroom. Once there, they took turns stripping each other, kissing down each other's bodies as they went. Ted turned on the water, letting it warm up while they pressed their bodies together and made out like horny teenagers.

When the temperature of the shower was just right, they stepped in and started washing each other sensuously with Brian's fancy French soap, building their desire for each other.

Ted silently thanked the sex gods that he was able to get hard without a problem.

When they were both moaning and more than ready, Ted looked over on the shelf and found a large pump bottle of silicone-based lube, perfect for shower sex.

"Of course they would have lube in here," he said, reminding himself to get a bottle of it for his and Blake's shower.

Ted got a handful of lube and turned Blake around. He prepared him, kissing and biting his neck as he worked his fingers in to stretch Blake. Once Blake was moaning and pushing back, Ted spread the rest of the lube on his hard cock and lined himself up with Blake's hole, smoothly pressing in all the way.

Wrapping his arms around his husband, Ted waited for him to push back, telling him it's time to start thrusting hard the way they both enjoyed. Once they have a good rhythm going, they joined their hands on Blake's cock and stroked it together, varying the motions to prolong the sensations. After a while, they both felt the need to finally let go and feel each other's release.

When they were finished, they stayed joined until Ted softened and slipped out. They rinsed off and got out of the shower, lovingly drying each other off before getting dressed.

They locked up the loft and headed home in Ted's car. On the way they talked, deciding that they were going to look into getting a new spacious shower put in their master bath. They were also going to talk to Margaret about spending some weekends with her grandson so that his daddies could have some much-needed time for themselves.

The winner takes it all
The loser has to fall
It's simple and it's plain
Why should I complain

--"The Winner Takes It All," Abba

Friday, June 26, 2015

Woody's was absolutely packed with people, standing room only. The bar usually didn't open until 1 PM, but the owner decided to open the doors early that morning. Every television was tuned to CNN. The bar's patrons were anxiously waiting for the announcement to be made: whether the Supreme Court of the United States would legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.

The Defense of Marriage Act was overturned two years prior, which gave federal recognition to same-sex couples that had been married in states and other countries where it was legal. This meant that Ted and Blake's Canadian marriage became legal in their home country. Same-sex marriage had been legal in the state of Pennsylvania for a little over a year, but the battle would not be won until every same-sex couple in the country could legally marry in their own state.

"It's days like this that really make me miss Vic," Debbie said.

"He would have loved to have been here with us," Emmett agreed, putting his arm around Debbie's shoulders.

Emmett and Drew were especially hopeful that the Court would return a favorable ruling. They had gotten engaged earlier in the month and were planning a Halloween wedding. Their marriage would be an even merrier occasion if they knew every gay person could marry the person they loved, especially those who currently couldn't in Emmett's home state of Mississippi.

Around 10 AM, the moment they'd all been waiting for finally happened. The Court had decided in a 5-4 vote that same-sex couples in all fifty states had the Constitutional right to marry.

The cheers and screams among the crowd in Woody's nearly shook the walls. Friends and strangers hugged and kissed.

"Finally!" Debbie said before grabbing Carl and kissing him.

Everyone knew of Debbie's personal promise that she would not get married until everyone in the country could, so today's announcement was especially important for her.

The crowd took to Liberty Avenue to celebrate. The sun was shining and music blared in the street.

Debbie and Carl were dancing to Abba's "The Winner Takes It All" when he looked down into his long-time fiancee's blue eyes.

"So, Red, when are we finally gonna walk the plank together?"

Debbie cackled. "Anytime you want to, Honey. There nothing and no one stopping us anymore."

"How about now?" the old cop asked.

Debbie froze in place. "Really? Like, now now?"

"Why not?" Carl asked. "Like you said, nothing's stopping us. Let's go down to the courthouse and do it."

Debbie spent the next few minutes rounding up the troops. Ted, Blake, Emmett, Drew, Brian, Justin, and Daphne had all taken off from work that day to hear the announcement and hopefully be able to celebrate together. Pretty soon they all packed into their cars. They made a quick stop at Debbie and Carl's place to grab the wedding rings they'd bought after the Court had agreed to hear the marriage case, giving them to Brian to carry. Everyone then headed to the county courthouse.

They were expecting to have to wait a while in line for Debbie and Carl to apply for their marriage license, but they got through pretty quickly. It was also a short wait for a deputy clerk to become available to perform the ceremony.

"Everyone wants to get you two hitched ASAP," Justin said.

The group was ushered into a room off of the clerk's office, where quickie weddings were done.

"We've been engaged for eleven years, so just give us the short and sweet version," Debbie said to the deputy.

Emmett took out his smartphone and handed it to the clerk. "I'm a wedding planner, so I have lots of different sample scripts saved. Here's a short one that I like. I even inserted their names in it for you, on the drive over."

The lady smiled. "Alright, then, thank you. Welcome everyone, we are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the wedding of Debra Jane Novotny and Carl Robert Horvath."

"And it's about fucking time," Brian mumbled, causing everyone to chuckle.

"Is there anyone here who believes that these two should not be married?" the clerk asked.

For once in their lives, everyone stayed silent, shaking their heads.

"Alright," the clerk said. "Let us proceed. Marriage is the promise between two people who love each other and who wish to spend the rest of their lives together. Carl, do you take Debra to be your lawfully wedded wife. To love, honor, and cherish, through all of her strengths and faults, until death do you part?"

"Of course, I do," Carl said, his eyes shimmering with tears.

"Debra, do you take Carl to be your lawfully wedded husband. To love, honor, and cherish, through all of his strengths and faults, until death do you part?"

"You bet your ass, I do," Debbie said.

"Does anyone have the rings?" the deputy asked.

Brian happily handed them over.

The clerk then said, "These rings are a symbol of the unbroken circle of love. Love freely given has no beginning and no end. May these rings always remind you of the vows you have taken. Carl, will you now place your ring on Debra's finger and repeat after me?"

Carl took the smaller of the two rings and slid it onto Debbie's finger.

The clerk continued, "Debra, I give you this ring to wear upon your hand as a symbol of our love."

"Debra, I give you this ring to wear upon your hand as a symbol of our love."

Debbie then put Carl's ring on his finger and repeated the same.

"Carl and Debra, you have exchanged vows and rings, and consented to marry in the presence of this company. By the authority vested in me by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I pronounce you husband and wife. Carl, you may kiss your bride."

Carl and Debbie sealed the deal while everyone clapped and wiped their tears.

The clerk asked the newlyweds to sign their marriage license. Trouble came when it was time to choose two witnesses to their signatures.

Debbie looked among the group. "Um... I don't know-"

"Let the old married couple sign it," Brian said, referring to Ted and Blake.

The two men happily signed the license, each recalling the day when they signed their own marriage license in Toronto all those years ago.

Everyone agreed to be back at the Horvath home later that evening to celebrate. Emmett, of course, went into party planning mode, hitting up some stores to get decorations and food. He and Debbie spent the afternoon cooking and getting the house ready.

The reception began around six. Ted and Blake brought Margaret and Phoenix with them. Drew brought Lyla and Sawyer. Justin called and invited Jennifer. Daryl Mackey, Carl's old partner who had taken over the Homicide Division for him when he retired, was there. Also present were Pat and Sandy Clarke, who helped Carl and Debbie run the Sunshine and Rainbows Shelter, along with a few kids from the shelter.

Since Carl had been so understanding with Debbie over the years, patiently waiting to get married, Debbie wanted the evening to reflect him. Carl loved "game night" food, so that was the theme of the evening. They had little smokies, loaded potato skins, and buffalo wings as appetizers. Since it was summertime and hardly anyone in the group drank anymore, they had strawberry lemonade and iced tea.  

Emmett decided to make big submarine sandwiches for the main course. One was made with Italian meats, one a turkey BLT, and another with roast beef. The sandwiches were accompanied by "the best damned" potato salad, which Emmett said was his Aunt Lula's recipe.

While everyone was enjoying their food, Brian and Justin asked Carl and Debbie to come outside with them. Following their boys, they found a huge, copper-colored Lincoln Navigator sitting in the driveway.

Justin explained, "We know you said no gifts, but we know you want to take some trips and that old Buick of yours is practically a pile of rust."

"So, congratulations on your marriage," Brian said as he handed Carl an envelope. "Here are the keys and the title to your new ride. Your first two years of service is paid for, too."

Justin hugged Debbie while she stood there crying.

"You boys... fuck."

"What I think my bride is trying to say is ‘thank you'," Carl said, hugging Brian for the first time in the thirteen years that they'd known each other.

"You're welcome, Ma," Justin said to Debbie.

As the evening grew later, people began to leave one by one. Soon it was only the closest members of "the family" left, that being Ted, Blake, Margaret, Brian, Justin, Emmett, and Drew. The three kids were all tuckered out from the excitement and were napping.

"Well, if you boys want to stay a bit longer, I'm going to take Phoenix home," Margaret said.

"Hang on, Mom," Ted said before he turned to his husband. "You know, today has been such a great day. First, we hear that gay people all over the country can finally get married, then we get to witness two of the most important people in our lives finally get married. I'm so glad that we were able to be there to see Deb and Carl finally tie the knot."

"We were happy that you were there, Baby, and that you signed as our witnesses," Debbie said.

"But that only reminded me of how no one was there to see us get married," Ted said before getting down on one knee in front of Blake. "So, Honey, would you marry me... again?"

Blake chuckled. "I'd marry you every day if I could."

"Then let's do it!" Ted said as he slowly forced his worn-out body into a standing position. "Let's renew our wedding vows, right here in front of our family."

Emmett started clapping. "Oh, yay!"

The others agreed that it was a great idea.

"Someone needs to officiate," Emmett said, already starting to tear up.

"Well, not you, Honeycutt. They'll both just end up covered in tears and snot," Brian commented.

Ted and Blake looked at each other for a minute before Ted spoke up. "Brian, would you do it, please?"

Brian looked at his best friend, outside of Justin, and smiled. "I'd be honored... but what the fuck am I supposed to say?"

Looking around, he saw Justin typing something into his phone and smiling. He showed Brian what he had pulled up on his phone.

"I love this poem," Justin said.

Brian skimmed through it. "That's perfect, Sunshine."

He went over and stood with his back to the fireplace. Ted and Blake took their places in front of Brian while the rest of the family gathered around the two men.

"Theodore and Blake please join your hands. This is ‘The Art of Marriage,' by Wilferd A. Peterson. ‘The little things are the big things. It is never being too old to hold hands. It is remembering to say ‘I love you' at least once a day.

"‘It is never going to sleep angry. It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through all the years.

"‘It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives. It is standing together facing the world. It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family. It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.

"‘It is speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways. It is not expecting the husband to wear a halo or the wife...' Or, in your case, the other husband, ‘to have wings of an angel. It is not looking for perfection in each other.

"‘It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding, and a sense of humor. It is having the capacity to forgive and forget. It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.

"‘It is finding room for the things of the spirit. It is a common search for the good and the beautiful. It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual, and the obligation is reciprocal. It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.'"

There wasn't a dry eye in the room, including Brian's. The man quickly wiped his eyes before he hoped anyone had noticed.

"Okay, uh... Theodore Schmidt, do you still take Blake Wyzecki to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Ted squeezed Blake's hands. "I do. With all my heart, I do."

"Blake Wyzecki, do you still take Theodore Schmidt to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do. Forever, I do."

"Good, so... fucking kiss him, Theodore."

Ted grabbed Blake and bent him backward for a kiss. Everyone clapped for the beautiful couple.

Ted and Blake thanked Brian, warmly hugging him. Justin walked over to Brian and wrapped his arms around him.

"That was beautiful," Justin said to his partner.

Blake commented, "This was even better than our first wedding because all of the important people in our lives were here to share it with us."

Phoenix had woken up during the applause and was reaching out to his daddies. Ted picked him up and kissed him on his cheek. "And as much as we love all of you, this little guy is the most important."

Blake kissed their son's other cheek, which made the boy giggle.