Three years later…

“Stephen! If you throw that cup, I swear to god…” Michael starts, staring at his son across the kitchen table.

Stephen glares, lets out a petulant cry, and throws the cup at Sawyer.

“STOP IT!!!” Sawyer yells, jumping down from his booster seat to try to push his brother over.

Michael sighs as he gets up from his own chair and picks both of the boys up. Ignoring hands flying out to try to hit the other, he sits Sawyer on the couch and Stephen on the loveseat.

“Now both of you stay there. Five minutes. I don’t know what’s gotten into you two today. You are brothers. You love each other.”

“Do not!” Sawyer shouts as he sticks his tongue out at his doppelganger.

“Yeah! Do not!” Stephen agrees.

Michael runs a hand through his hair. He knows it’s nothing to stress out over too much but he hates whenever his kids fight. His sons were attached at the hip most of the time. Always getting into trouble together and laughing over the silliest things. They were hard to keep up with. JR had a trying time when she was with them. They were great kids but Michael doesn’t personally remember getting into so much stuff when he was so young. Granted, he didn’t even remember the first time he turned into a duck so that doesn’t say much about his memory.

“Daddy?” Sophia asks coming up to him with a piece of paper.

Michael squats down and smiles. When he looks at the picture, he sees mostly scribbly forms so he has to think of a quick way to get her to say what it is.

“Wow! That’s really pretty! Wanna tell me about it?”

“I made a picture!” she exclaims, “That’s Pa, Daddy, JR, Stevie, Sawwer, Appa, Betty, the little duckies, Jenny, Gus, Unca Bwian, Unca Jussin, Fweya, Dylan, and the new baby!”

Michael chuckles and brings his daughter in for a hug. She’s so sweet. Never gets in trouble. Always quiet, curious, and inquisitive. She is so innocent but so wise. The way she looks at people reminds him of Ben every single day. She’s a peacemaker, especially with her brothers. They may be bigger than her but they quiet down and listen to what she has to say.

“Baby, you don’t even know what the baby is going to look like yet.”

“I know but you said they are coming weally soon!”

Ah, yes. The new addition had everyone excited, especially Sophia, JR, and his mother.

But Brian and Justin were the most excited of all. Michael has learned not to be surprised by anything anymore but it had been a shock when Brian had almost proudly announced they were expecting again. And, not only were they expecting, but the pregnancy had been planned.

So strange. So out of character. Or would have once been out of character. Brian had embraced fathering the twins. Even though he had worked from home when it was something important or the twins were napping, he didn’t start going back to Kinnetik every weekday until after a year and tried to make sure he didn’t stay at the office too late. He and Justin moved to this huge place in the northern panhandle of West Virginia so that, not only could the twins have their own rooms when they started to want them, but so that they could make room for a nursery and have a few guest rooms left over. Sometimes Michael envied them. They had so much money and they were so financially prepared when it came to bringing children into the world. It had to be nice to be able to afford to take a year off from work to care for your children or go to Hawaii to prepare to give birth to your next child. But, when it came down to it, he was so happy for Brian. He had wanted to be there for him, Justin, and the twins this time around but Michael wasn’t ready to monitor three year old triplets on a long plane ride and Ben wasn’t either. He thinks Brian was okay with it though. Eventually, they decided to keep the birth more private anyway. No one would get to meet the baby until he or she was back home with the proud parents and his or her three older siblings. The twins have been there since they took off a few months ago and Gus got flown down a few weeks ago, something that was only possible due to it being his summer vacation. Besides them and Brian’s birthing team, no one else even knows the sex of the baby. All they know is that Brian gave birth a week ago to one healthy baby and that his body bounced right back into shape within a couple of days, much to the girls’ frustration. They were coming home later this afternoon.

“It’s beautiful,” Michael tells Sophia as he stands up to put it on the refrigerator, “I’m going to put it right here.”

“It looks good there, huh?” she grins, happy with the praise.

“It sure does,” Michael tells her truthfully.

“Daddy?” Stephen asks softly from the loveseat, “We really sowry.”

“Yeah, Daddy,” Sawyer adds in, “Weally WEALLY sowry.”

Michael turns around and studies the two black haired little boys.

“Alright. If you are both truly sorry, then you can both get up,” he allows, “But I expect you both to be good for the rest of the day.”

“Yes!” Sawyer chants as he pumps his fist in the air and jumps off the couch.

“Thank you, Daddy!” Stephen yells before going over to hug his brother.

Michael rolls his eyes but doesn’t quite manage to stifle his laugh. Those two might be responsible for the two grey hairs he found the other day but he can’t get enough of them.

“Honey, I’m home!” Ben calls out from the door as he steps into the house.

“PA!!!!” all three of the three year olds scream as they tackle their father at the door.

“Oomph!” Ben lets out dramatically, “You all are going to knock me over one day.”

“Pa! We missed you!” Sophia tells him excitedly.

“Yeah!” Stephen adds in, “Weally missed you!”

“I missed you this much!” Sawyer tells him holding his arms out as wide as he can.

“I was only gone for a few hours, guys,” Ben tells them, looking at Michael with an amused expression, before he picks the two closest, Sawyer and Sophia, up.

“Why can’t you hold me?” Stephen pouts, tears starting to pool in his eyes.

Ben’s amused expression turns helpless, “I only have two hands, buddy. I just grabbed your brother and sister because they were closer. You know I’ll hold you next.”

“I’ll hold you, little man,” Michael tells his son affectionately as he picks his son up, “Pa will hold you really soon.”

“Pa?” Sophia asks politely as she turns to her father, “You put me down so you can hold Stevie.”

Ben’s eyes soften and he kisses the little girl on the forehead, “That’s really sweet of you, baby girl.”

Ben lets Sophia slide down to the ground as he takes Stephen away from Michael. Going over to the couch so he can hold the two needy boys in his lap, he looks up at Michael and smiles.

“Were they good this morning?” Ben asks as he bounces the two little boys, making them giggle.

“Well, Sophia was. You know the boys. But they definitely were trying to bring it to a new level today.”

Ben frowns. And Michael knows it isn’t because the boys were misbehaving.

“You don’t think they are ready to turn, are you?”

Michael sighs, “Marilyn did say to watch out for emotional and petulant behavior. Easier said than done when it comes to three year olds. But they have been more emotional and rebellious lately. I guess it could be a sign that they feel something is off.”

Ben smooths Stephen’s hair back and gently turns his head, “Are you feeling any different? Strange or sick?”

“I feel MUCH better now you’re here, Pa!” Stephen answers as he snuggles into his father’s side.

“What about you, Sawyer?” Ben asks, turning to their other son.

“I dunno,” Sawyer shrugs.

“I don’t think three year olds are too knowledgeable on complex emotions, Ben,” Michael points out.

“Sure, they are. You don’t see them ever holding anything back like adults do. They know what they feel.”

Michael smiles a little at that. After witnessing more tantrums, meltdowns, happy dances, and needy cuddles than he can count, he does have to admit that Ben’s right in a sense.

“What time do we need to be at your Mom’s?” Ben asks as the boys get off his lap to play.

“5 o’ clock. They should be at the airport in an hour. Brian wants the kids to get a chance to take a nap before coming over. Jennifer and Daphne are taking separate cars to pick them up so that everyone can get a ride home. Brian, Justin, and the new baby are riding with Jennifer and Jennifer let Daphne borrow her car seats for the twins. She’s lucky she has Gus there to help.”

“Multiples can be a handful,” Ben agrees, “With those two, it’s a whole different situation. I wonder if they can still talk you into almost anything.”

Michael snorts, “With Dylan’s sweet charisma and Freya’s calm but powerful debate tactics, I think those will be lifelong abilities.”

Just as Ben is about to answer, quacking interrupts them from outside.

“Bartholomew! Rosalie! Get back over here!” Appolonia quacks at two of her chicks.

Michael hears higher pitched quacks, pouting over getting caught at doing whatever they were doing.

“But Mami!” Rosalie cries. Michael can just see her stomping back over to her mother.

“We wanna have fun!” Bartholomew adds in.

“No! Now get in line with your brothers and sisters. Your mommy, father, and Auntie Georgina will be back with your older sister and your new nieces and nephews. Aren’t you excited to meet them?”

“...I guess,” the little ducks mumble.

“Everything all right out there?” Ben asks Michael, who has been too busy tuning in.

Michael grins, “Looks like we aren’t the only ones who will be participating in a family reunion.”

Ben raises an eyebrow, “Who’s coming over this time?”

“Daya. Betty and Appolonia mentioned that her ducklings had all successfully hatched. She and James are living by that old oak tree at the park so Betty, Hubert, and Georgina are lending a helping hand by walking here with them. They might stay a couple of days. That okay?”

Ben sighs, “I guess. The kids will love it, after all. It’ll give the neighbors plenty to talk about.”

“Eli and Monty are just jealous. Now come on. Let’s put those three down for a nap now so we have time to get them bathed and ready after they get up.”

Despite the fussing over not wanting to take a nap, the triplets go to sleep pretty soundly within 10 minutes or so. As they both gently shut the door, Michael looks up at his husband and traces his finger over his collar bone.

“Have something planned during this relaxing free time?” Ben asks knowingly.

Oh, Ben. He knows him so well. But it could be because they always make the most of any peace and quiet they have.

They rush to the bedroom, get rid of their clothes and fuck, come, suck, come, and fuck some more. They keep going at it until 15 minutes before they want to wake up the kids so that they can get showers of their own before facing bath time.

Bathing is a process now that it’s a tight fit for the triplets to fit in the tub together. After the kids wake up from their naps, Sophia enthusiastically volunteers to go first. She loves bath time, which is great, but she never wants to get out. She is always so sad that they are on a schedule which makes it so she can’t spend over an hour in the tub. They clean her off and let her stay in the tub for an extra fifteen minutes before reminding her that her brothers need to be cleaned off too. Head hanging down low, she steps out of the tub and lets herself be dried off and dressed before Ben comes in with a struggling Stephen.

They make his bath quicker. With the mood he’s in, he just can’t sit still and Michael gets splashed a few times in the process.

He lets Ben bathe Sawyer because, even though leaving one of the boys with their sister alone for a few minutes is safer than leaving their sons alone, he doesn’t want to think of what the rascals could get into if Stephen and Sophia put their heads together for the couple of minutes it would take for Ben to leave the room and return. So Michael follows Stephen out after getting him dressed and tries to get his son to chill out while he does his daughter’s hair.

“I want it braided!” Sophia says excitedly, clapping her hands in anticipation.

Michael smiles and does two french braided pigtails, something that he got Lindsay to teach him how to do a few months ago. Sophia squeals when she sees the finished product and hops off of her seat to hug him.

“Stevie, Daddy can braid your hair!” Sophia exclaims.

“No! I don’t want it!” Stephen yells, guarding his hair with his hands.

“Relax, Stephen. I’m not going to braid your hair or put anything in it,” Michael tells him.

Stephen is about to answer but is interrupted by his brother running into the living room at full speed, completely naked and hysterically laughing over his Pa trying to catch him.

“Sawyer,” Ben warns once he steps in from the hall, “You need to get dressed.”

“No!”

Michael rolls his eyes at their son’s disobedience as Ben picks the giggling boy up and starts to take him back to the bathroom.

“I want my hair did!” Sawyer yells when he sees Sophia’s hair.

“It’s too short to braid, buddy,” Ben points out.

“I want stuff in it like you and Daddy sometimes do!”

Ben sighs, “If you are good and get dressed, we’ll figure out something. Now off we go.”

After Sawyer gets dressed and comes back to the living room, he sits on a stool while Ben puts the hair gel on the counter.

“Now, what style are you wanting, son?” Ben asks seriously as Michael feels a smile forming on his face over the exchange.”

“Pointy!” Sawyer demands, clapping his hands together on the top of his head to mimic his desired hairstyle, “Like that!”

“A faux hawk? Interesting choice. Alright, move your hands. I’ll try my best.”

Ben gets to work on their son’s hair and a couple minutes later it’s done. Sawyer runs over to the mirror and jumps up and down.

“I look cool!” Sawyer yells before playing an air guitar.

“You’re our little rockstar, aren’t you?” Ben laughs.

Looking at the time, they are surprised that it’s already 4:30. So they get the kids out the door to load them into the SUV.

“Hey, Michael!” Betty calls out with a brace of ducklings behind her, “I’m a grandma! Again!”

“I heard!” Michael quacks out, approaching one of his closest duck friends, “Think you are going to settle down and enjoy being a grandparent? Let your kids do the rest of the work?”

“Fuck no!” Appolonia cuts in, stepping beside her wife, “We’re planning for more next spring.”

Michael shakes his head in amusement before looking over to wave at Betty and Appolonia’s newest offspring.

“Hi, guys!”

“Hi, Uncle Michael!” Esmerelda calls out, quickly waddling over to be pet.

“Uncle Michael!” Rex says excitedly as he hops on his shoe.

“Have you met our nieces and nephews, Uncle Michael?” Beatrice asks in a quacking tone.

“They’re really nice, Uncle Michael!” Deidre confirms as she nods her head vigorously.

“Yeah, really nice, Uncle Michael!” Carter agrees.

“Okay, I think I have never heard the words ‘Uncle Michael’ used more in my life,” Michael chuckles.

“Where are you off to?” Apollonia inquires.

“Brian and Justin are coming home with Gus, the twins, and their new baby,” Michael informs them.

“Aw! I used to think human babies were so ugly. No feathers, you know? But your kids and the twins have grown on me. I think it’s great that they are adding one more,” Betty sighs, holding a wing to her heart.

“Don’t mind her mushiness,” Apollonia snickers but nuzzles her wife in the process, “She’s just emotional due to the grandkids coming to visit.”

“Well, I’ll let you get to it,” Michael smiles, “I’ll try to visit some when I get back tonight if you are still up. Will they still be around tomorrow?”

“Oh, yes!” Betty answers excitedly, “They’ll be around for the whole week!”

After saying his goodbyes, Michael waves them off and helps get the kids in the car, ignoring the strange looks that Eli and Monty are giving him from their porch.

“See?” Michael murmurs once they get in the car, “What did I tell you? Jealous.”

Ben rolls his eyes, brings Michael in for a kiss, and starts up the car.

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JR plays with the triplets as everyone chatters, waiting for Brian and Justin’s arrival. Even though they are all excited, they manage to talk about other things besides the new baby.

That is, until they hear a couple of cars outside.

“They’re here!” his mother shouts out, as everyone stands in anticipation.

Justin comes through first, carrying the empty newborn car seat, followed by his mother, the twins, Gus, and Daphne.

“Okay, where’s Brian?” Debbie asks first, trying to look behind them.

Justin rolls his eyes, “Give him a couple of minutes. He’s trying to calm the baby down by rocking her where there isn’t a bunch of people.”

“Hi, Grandma Debbie!” Dylan grins, coming up to the woman to hug her legs.

“Hi, sweetheart! I hear you are a big brother now.”

“Uh huh! I’m a good big bwother!” he confirms.

Debbie turns to Freya and gives her a look.

“Aren’t you going to give me a hug, baby?”

Freya pretends to think on it before walking over to quickly hug the woman she calls Grandma.

“I missed you,” Debbie tells her softly, “You make things even more interesting than they already are.”

“I know,” Freya simply tells her.

“Of course you do,” Debbie says as she rolls her eyes, “Just like your pop, aren’t you?”

“Yes. We have the same colored hair,” Freya informs her.

“But you have your daddy’s eyes,” Debbie reminds her, “Getting used to the new baby?”

Freya makes a face, “I guess. It just cries SO much.”

“It? Don’t you mean he or she?” Debbie asks, trying to bait the little girl.

But Freya is smart. No one can ever deny this. Brian did tell them a while back that she had a touch of something to make her so articulate and well-spoken, probably something to do with Brian’s connection with Dionysus. But still, it was always shocking to hear her throw out clear and concise sentences that three year olds shouldn’t be saying.

“No. It. Pop told me not to tell. I promised him and I plan to stick by that. So it will be an it until he says otherwise.”

“Of course he told you that,” Debbie sighs, “Alright, but he better not take much longer!”

And, to everyone’s excitement, Brian doesn’t. Just a few minutes after his mother’s exchange with Freya, Brian walks into the room with a baby sling, gently holding his new creation.

“One at a time,” Brian orders quietly but firmly after sitting down.

Debbie walks over first, gasping with love when she gets a look at the newborn’s face.

“Oh. Oh, Brian, sweetie. She’s a girl, isn’t she?”

“I don’t think Sunshine would put Freya’s old bow headband on her if she wasn’t,” Brian comments amusedly.

“She’s absolutely beautiful,” his mother says truthfully, “What’s her name?”

“Caroline Astor Taylor-Kinney,” Justin announces proudly, “She was born on July 8 at 2:17 AM and weighed in 8 pounds and 2 ounces. She’s going to be taller like Brian, I think. She was 21 inches long when she was measured.”

“She’s lovely. How was the birth?”

“Pretty quick,” Brian admits, “A lot easier than those two. My water broke and I was starting to push about ten minutes later.”

“We opted for the water birth again. It was so peaceful and beautiful,” Justin sighs, “Brian’s birth plan was barely disrupted.”

“Birth plan? Seriously, Kinney? A birth plan?” Mel gapes.

Brian glares and tilts his head, “I’m sorry the fact that I want my children to enter the world in a peaceful and natural environment disturbs you so much, Mel.”

“Uh, what Mel is trying to say is that it’s amazing how much two pregnancies has evolved you!” Lindsay jumps in.

Brian takes her words into consideration, puts on a small smile, and nods his head, “It really is a beautiful thing. It has to be in order to produce something so perfect.”

They take turns holding Brian’s bundle of joy and eventually get pictures in. They get a picture of the parents and Caroline, a picture of all the kids together, a picture of Gus holding Caroline with Freya standing on one side and Dylan standing on the other, Dylan with a sunshine grin and Freya giving the camera a resting model bitch face. Believe it or not, they all have seen the little girl laugh, but most of the time she looks like she has bigger fish to fry. Michael wouldn’t be surprised if she grew up to be a CIA agent or something.

They all have dinner together. Lasagna, his mother’s specialty. After Brian and Justin give the details of their getaway and the kids put in their two cents as well, they get them caught up to speed on everything that has been going on in Pittsburgh. Caroline has been quiet, just sleeping when Brian hasn’t gotten up to go into the other room to breastfeed her. It’s not until 7:30 that she lets out a wail. Brian coos a little and rocks Caroline when she starts to get fussy before giving a look to Justin and standing up.

“She’s had a big day and so have the kids. Gus, you are probably wanting to get back to your moms’ so you can get into your own bed, huh?”

Gus nods, a little relieved that he brought it up, “I can come this weekend though, right?”

“You bet,” Brian smiles before kissing Gus on top of his head, “We’re going to go. Dylan slept but Freya resisted. It’ll be bedtime for both of them, but especially for her.”

“I don’t need naps or a bedtime,” Freya informs him, “I am too old for such trivial things.”

Seriously, no matter how many times they hear Freya say the things that she says, it never ceases to surprise them.

“Baby, you’re three,” Justin answers, amused.

“And four months. That’s almost 3 and a half and 3 and a half is almost 4.”

“Yeah, you’re stretching it a bit,” Brian laughs as he takes the little girl’s hand to lead her out the door.

He and Ben visit for another fifteen minutes or so but running around with JR and the twins has been tiring for the triplets so they gather them up, hug his mother goodbye, and get them back into the car to head home.

As soon as they get back, they do the triplets’ bedtime routine. They get their teeth brushed and their pajamas on before reading three stories, one for each of their choosing. It’s Stephen’s turn to choose first tonight and he chooses Go, Dog, Go! Sophia chooses an exciting and a slightly shocking story called The Amazing Bone. Sawyer chooses an ironic book that Ben bought as a joke called Five Little Ducks. The boys settle in their bunk bed and Ben slides the railing up so Sawyer won’t fall out during the night before they kiss Sophia goodnight, turn the nightlight on, and gently shut the door.

They talk for an hour with Hunter, who is so happy with everything going on in his life. Not only did he just land a supporting role in a new Showtime comedy based in New York, but he met the girl of his dreams a few months after the triplets were born and is so breathlessly in love. Fiona is great. She’s a couple of years older than Hunter and runs a few children’s theater groups for inner city children of all ages and backgrounds in the Bronx and a couple parts of Brooklyn. He and Ben knew Hunter had it bad when he called to tell them about her. They had never heard Hunter sound so passionate about any girl before. Their son was in love and was inspired by the woman. Michael knew she was a keeper when she had been staying here with Hunter for a few days and caught him shifting. Her eyes had widened in shock before let out a laugh and said, “Well, you don’t see that every day!”

Michael had told Hunter the very next day that he better marry that girl.

And, even though he told him that so he totally saw it coming, he can’t help but let a tear or two fall when Hunter announces that he’s going to propose.

“I love her,” he tells them over the speaker, “I’ve never...I’ve never felt so alive and happy before. She accepts me for who I am, for what I’ve done in the past. She wants to adopt because she was adopted and that’s what I want too since you did the same for me. I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

“We want that for the two of you too,” Ben answers, emotion filling his voice, “She is absolutely fantastic, son. I think you two are going to have a great life together.”

“I think so too,” Hunter answers after he clears the lump in his throat, “So if she says yes-”

“When she says yes,” Michael playfully corrects.

Hunter lets out a laugh, “Okay, when she says yes...Will you guys come up for the engagement party? I want have a party with you guys, JR, Sawyer, Stephen, Sophia, some of the kids and their parents or foster parents, and some of her partners but if you guys can’t come-”

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world, buddy,” Ben interrupts, “New York is one very short flight away. Give us the day once you figure it out and we’ll be there.”

“Love you guys,” Hunter tells them. It’s not very often he tells them that, but when he does Michael feels his heart soar. He loves that kid. Always will.

“We love you too,” they both answer.

After hanging up the phone, he and Ben just hold each other, so happy with life and their beautiful children. Michael wouldn’t change it for anything.

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“Daddy! Pa!”

Michael jerks out of a sound sleep and finds Sophia standing on the bed looking at them, crying hysterically.

“Baby?” Ben asks, concerned, “What is it?”

Sophia takes a few gasping, hiccupping breaths, “I can’t find my bwothers! I can’t find them anywhere! I looked in the kitchen even!”

Ben jumps out of bed and Michael follows suit as he picks their little girl up to look around the house.

Shit. She was right. Ben’s almost in a panic as he calls out for the boys and Michael is feeling the terror of what could have happened as well. He searches high and low and they’re about to call the police when-

“Quack!”

Michael turns towards the kids’ room and suddenly realization washes over him.

“Ben?” Michael calls out.

Ben takes the stairs two at a time and is at Michael’s side in a heartbeat.

“Did you find them? Where are they-?”

Michael puts a finger to his lips and waits a few more seconds.

“Quack!”

Ben stares at the room before turning to Michael.

“Oh my god.”

Michael goes into the room and gets down on his stomach to look under Sophia’s bed.

“Hey kiddos,” Michael says softly, reaching under the bed in a form of comfort, “You two are early bloomers, aren’t you?”

The two boys waddle out from under the bed. Michael looks at them and feels a little proud because there’s no doubt in the world that these are his boys. Feathers black as night and eyes as dark as coal, the two fluffy ducklings jump into his lap and look towards him in confusion and fear.

“I know this has to be confusing for you,” Michael tells them, “But you’ll never be alone, you hear me? I will always be there for you, as a human or a duck.”

Michael looks up at Ben, “Think it’s too early to run around with them outside to teach them the works?”

Ben gives him a sad smile, feeling as emotional about this milestone as he is.

“Go teach our boys how to be the best shifters they can be.”

With that blessing, Michael spreads his arms wide and lifts himself into the air, his feathers grow and his body morphs. It took a while but he’s gotten the hang of this. He’ll make sure their boys do too.