Billy was at the airport, waiting on the curb for Gus to pick him up. They all decided to ride back to Pittsburgh together to watch this year's valedictorian Max graduate with honors from high school. Billy missed being able to see his family all the time, but he couldn’t turn down the offer to attend Harvard Medical School. Billy had spent a lot of time with Aunt Daphne and liked the idea of helping people by becoming a doctor. It still surprised him some days that this was his life. He spent most of his childhood never knowing what was going to happen to him and Colton. Losing hope that anything good could happen for either of him. If anyone had told him this future back then, he wouldn’t have believed them. In Billy’s head, Max led him and Colton to the wonderful life he lived with his fathers and extended family. It’s why even Colton wasn’t planning to miss this. He had rearranged his busy schedule at his restaurant to make the time to be with the rest of the family for the week. Billy was looking forward to seeing everyone if Gus would finally show up.

Gus knew he was running behind and finally left the house after his mothers had taken a hundred pictures of all of them with Max in his cap and gown. Which, once Billy and Colton arrived would mean doing it all over again with all the parental units. In the end, all of the kids were willing to be tortured along with Max. Poor Max. Unlike the rest of them, he was the second to last one to leave the nest and would be the one going the furthest from home once it was time to start college. Gus could tell his dads were having a hard time, since they never liked any of their kids being out of their sight, and Mel was crowing that our Max was following in her footsteps. Although Brian liked to point out that she never could have gotten into Yale. It was all good-natured between them, and while Mel was proud of Max, even she had tears at the fact that he’d be so far away from them. Gus pulled up where Billy was standing, looking at his watch before getting in.

“They think if they don’t take pictures of everything, nobody will remember it,” Gus told him, helping Billy stow his bags.

“Please tell me, Michael, already started,” Billy said jokingly.

“Nope. He said he wanted to make sure everyone was there, so he got the whole family.” Gus told him.

“Hopefully we won’t end up in one of his books,” Billy said, not really caring.

Michael and Ben, after working through Michael’s issues, found a way to combine their relationship with work. Michael admitted that he was lonely, while Ben had been becoming a successful writer. Michael made sure Ben knew it was all on him, and that he felt it was time for him to find his passion, something the comic store ended up not being. After Michael created the book for Max about his fathers’ lives, he found something he loved. He liked bringing the world to people through pictures. Ben had another book tour in Europe and Asia, and Michael took it as an opportunity to immerse himself into the cultures the way Ben had been suggesting for years. He spent time with the local people, finding out about things he never knew, and with Ben’s help started documenting everything. He developed a cookbook, planning on giving it to Colton as a present since he loved everything about cooking. It ended up being published, after Ben and Michael threw a dinner with Ben’s editor, wanting to try some of the recipes Michael pried out of the people he talked to. People liked that none of the pictures were posed, and the way Michael and Ben found places off the beaten path. Of course, with Max graduating Michael and Ben planned to be there too since they loved the twerp as much as the rest of the family. Which meant hours of Michael documenting the occasion, which he did with every event in all the kids' lives. Gus and Billy both laughed, since once again Jenny would be running to hide because she got it the worst. They all joked that Michael finally became Deb, wanting to know everything in Jenny’s life.

“How’s everyone taking that our baby is all grown-up?” Billy asked as they pulled up to the house.

“They still have Aiden and Emmy to go, but Mom keeps saying she would be thrilled to be a grandmother, while Dad tries to tell her he’s not old enough for that torture. I have to admit, I wish Max hadn’t picked Yale. I hate it as much as the parents do, but Max wants to spread his wings the way we did, ” Gus tells him.

Billy couldn’t imagine what it would be like when Aiden and Emmy graduated since the twins were the last of the gangs' kids left in school. Ted and Blake joked they were taking pointers from the others since their babies were just starting high school. Aiden worshiped his namesake, telling his dads’ that he wanted to be just like his Uncle Brian. Ted groaned at the idea of chasing after a little Kinney clone. Brian joked that Ted must have a beauty gene somewhere, Aiden made all the boys and girls at school crazy. Emmy, on the other hand, was Daddy’s girl, and Ted was a slave to his daughter, who looked a lot more like Blake than Ted. None of the dads were thrilled when boys circled around her.  

Colton pulled open the car door, not caring he was covered in flour, before yanking Billy out hugging him. It was hard on both of them to not see each other all the time, having to rely on Skype and phone calls. Colton ended up as tall as Emmett, but built like Drew, something that still amazed all of them, since he started out a scrawny little redhead. Billy was the shortest between Gus and Colton. Gus inherited Brian’s height and looks, and to the disappointment of the guys at Babylon, he was straight like Billy. Colton was divided on the spectrum, saying he’d know when he found the person he couldn’t live without. Unlike Gus and Colton, who were still looking for the one, Billy didn’t have to, he found her when he found his dads. Which was all kinds of fun when Deb and Michael figured it out. Deb joked she was finally going to have a doctor in the family. Michael had a tiny meltdown, not because Jenny told him she wanted Billy, it was the idea that his baby had a boyfriend. Mel made sure they both understood she’d kill them if they didn’t finish school before they even thought of making her a grandmother. Brian on the other hand, with Emmett’s help, embarrassed the hell out of all the teens with their version of the sex talk, luckily for everyone, Justin and Drew confiscated the visual aides they wanted to use.

Max sat there thinking he really wanted this day to end, and to get started on the family vacation. The ‘rents did this thing where they planned a fabulous vacation (Emmett’s words) where the whole family attended. With Gus and Billy, it was Hawaii at the beach (which Brian said was all he needed, a tan and Pa, to be happy). When Colton started culinary school it was Italy (which Max was all for since he and Pa were all for the food). When they asked Max, he wanted to go to the first place they ever took him, only this time with Uncle Mikey (which only Max was allowed to call him). Max smiled when his brothers all came through the door, hoping they could escape for a while. He needed a distraction before he had to stand up in front of the entire school and make a speech. His speech was going to be unusual since he wanted to do more than making a speech, he wanted to give hope to other kids who weren’t as lucky as he’d been to have his fathers and the family behind him. Max got opportunities that changed his life. Instead of staying behind, Hunter caught him up and helped him blow past what they were teaching. Max wanted that for other kids who were like him, it’s why he wanted to become a lawyer. He wanted to change the way kids like him ended up if they aged out of the system and didn’t have any help. 

Max sat there thinking about his memories before his dads came into his life, and giggled that he once told Auntie Linds that he didn’t want to count since it did nothing for him.

“They driving you crazy with the speeches about how your life is going to change?” Gus asked, dragging Max to the kitchen with them, as the ‘rents were all getting ready for graduation ceremony.

“I was just thinking about the first time I saw Pa, and he smiled at me,” Max told him.

“It’s the reason we all got this life,” Billy said as Jenny hugged him from behind and the rest of us groaned as she kissed him.

“You think that?” Jenny asked.

“If we hadn’t been in the same foster home when Max went missing…” Colton said, getting out the freshly baked croissants he was making along with breakfast for the family.

“We would have found you anyway,” Emmett said as he came breezing into the room, grabbing Billy since he couldn’t hug his baby every day. “You have everything you need at school?” 

“Yes Dad, and I’m eating three a day even though it’s not as good as what Colton makes. Sleeping is the only thing I’m missing right now,” Billy said holding his Dad.

Emmett stood between his two boys, and started sniffling when he looked at Max.

“Seriously, I promise to call three times a day if you’ll stop,” Max joked.

“Please, that’s Uncle Mikey, not me,” Emmett protested.

“Um Dad, I live in Pittsburgh and you call like ten times a day,” Colton teased, ducking Emmett swiping at him.

“I only get away with once a day, because my girlfriend is as bad as her dad,” Billy joked, kissing Jenny’s pout.

“Speaking of, I’ll pay anyone who hides his torture device,” Jenny said, expecting her boys to help her. Max looked over at Jenny, noticing something new.

“What are you going to pay for?” Michael asked, coming in with Ben.

“A whole book of Max’s day, Daddy,” Jenny said while ducking behind Gus and Billy before the first flash blinded all of them.

Jenny looked over at Max and shook her head at him since he got the look that said payback was coming for focusing Michael on him. Max smirked, then tilted his head looking at Jenny, causing Michael to lower the camera.

“Max?” Michael asked, looking between Max and Jenny.

“Something is different, I just can’t put my FINGER on it,” Max said, loving that all the parents came in the room to hear him.

“I’m going to beat you,” Jenny said, putting her hand behind her back.

“Please, you’ll be too busy dealing with that,” Colton said nodding to all the parents.

“You forgot,” Billy told her since they agreed to keep their secret.

“We got up at the crack of dawn, I wasn’t exactly awake,” Jenny complained.

“What?” Michael asked, still confused.

Emmett ruined it by going over to Jenny and managing to get the ring off and in his pocket. Max let it go when Colton slid a plate to him, telling him he was a brat.

“Are you ready to make your speech?” Brian asked. Max nodded while stuffing his face.

“It’s killing me you won’t let any of us read it,” Emmett told him.

“Like we all aren’t going to cry anyway, no matter what our Max says,” Lindsay said, sitting next to Max and hugging him.

“Are you going to tell us why you were meeting with the school yesterday?” Mel asked Brian, who seemed to want to demonstrate that he still never got enough of Justin.

“Just taking care of what Max asked of us,” Drew said, distracting everyone from Brian and Justin forgetting everyone around them.

“So we have to wait?” Emmett pouted, giving up when Max nodded.

Everyone got in the cars. Max was riding with his brothers and Jenny. Justin, Mel, and Lindsay with Brian. Michael and Ben went to get Deb and Carl, while Ted and Blake drove themselves and their kids. Jen, Molly, Jason and the girls left the earliest planning to save an entire section for the clan.

Brian wasn’t sure how to feel about Max graduating, only because now he wouldn’t be there every day. They were proud of all he accomplished and the man he was becoming but wished he hadn’t grown up as fast as he did. They still had Aiden and Emmy to share but it wouldn’t be the same as Max for them. 

“Don’t think about him being gone,” Justin said, knowing the serious look Brian had since Max decided on Yale.

“I’m not, just all the empty rooms,” Brian smirked.

“God, he’s already planning to debauch the house,” Mel jokes.

“I doubt there’s anywhere we haven’t… no, still won’t, even though Max isn’t going to be there,” Brian said, snickering as Mel smacked him.

“I’m as curious as Emmett at what all you guys have been up to,” Lindsay hinted.

“You’ll find out when Max tells everyone,” Brian tells them, unwilling to steal any limelight from Max.

Max looked at the sea of hats, then to his fathers’. Before he spoke, he mouthed he loved them.

“I wanted to start by telling you a story. One that changed my life and brought me here to stand in front of you, making this speech. I could tell you my story started when my birth mother died leaving me alone in the world, but for me, that’s really not my story. My story isn’t even in the next few years, living in more homes than I can even remember. My story starts when a man smiled at me, and I felt like for the first time I’d seen the sun and it was shining on me. It was my first day in kindergarten, I’d been sitting in the room, not sure what we were there for, and afraid of everything around me. I remember sitting there only wanting to play with all the toys because when you’re in foster care toys aren’t something you get many of. I wasn’t interested in making friends because no one stayed in my life for long, and making friends meant hurting when they were taken away. So my only goal was to get to play, not learn things. Which apparently is the whole point of school.” Max stopped when everyone laughed, not wanting this to be a sad speech. “So I wasn’t thrilled when the teacher, who ended up being my aunt and one of my mothers, asked me to count,” Max smiled up at Lindsay who blew him a kiss. “I decided to explain to her that counting never did much for me. See, my life became about counting when the houses changed along with the families, and I told her I didn’t see the point in counting anymore. That’s the day my story started because a man had come into the room and he laughed at what I said. But for the first time, I didn’t think he was laughing at me to make fun of me, but just because he liked what I said. I sort of liked him more when he distracted my teacher, making it so that I didn’t have to count, but also the fact that there was something about him that made me want to see him smile again. Which he did, right before walking out of the classroom. I felt special because for once something was mine, he didn’t smile at any of the other kids. His smile stayed with me for the next couple of weeks. It was something I used to keep the loneliness away, which I felt even in a house with five other kids. My story could have ended there but it didn’t. Instead, I ended up being forgotten on a school field trip. The whole thing confused me because I didn’t have a clue what a field trip was and no one told me to stay with everyone. Instead, I sat where I was told, and just stared at the picture in front of me until I got hungry and went to look for someone who was supposed to be with me. When I couldn’t find anyone, I did the one thing I knew, I went back to where they told me to be and sat back down. That’s when the sun came back, his name was Justin Taylor-Kinney, or Pa as he became for me,” Max said, waving at Justin. “He sat with me, and all I wanted was for him to smile at me again because, in my five-year-old head, it meant things were going to be okay. I got that and more from that moment. He didn’t just call someone, he called my Dad, who told me years later just seeing me was all it took to know I was going to be their son. My story started that day because I found a home with everything that seemed like a fairy tale. I never again had to worry about things most people take for granted, being wanted, loved, and having a place to call your own. I grew up with the support of both of my fathers, who love me unconditionally and only want me to be or do what makes me happy. I have a huge family that will always be there to pick me up if I need it. Which isn’t something everyone has even if they aren’t in foster care, and why I wanted today to be about more than just the next step in my life or those of my classmates. My future is secure only because of the two men who wanted to share the love they have with a child. To them, it didn’t matter where I came from, just that they could love me, and be a part of the person I will be one day. It made me wish that was true for every child who doesn’t have what I have, along with my other siblings and cousins. It made me think about others who aren’t as lucky as some of us. In my family, each of us has choices that a child without a home doesn’t. This led me to talk to my dads, who always listened, even when I asked for a pony, which I’m still waiting for,” Max laughed when Brian shook his head no again. “See, most kids who live in foster care their whole lives don’t have a lot of options when it comes to school. They don’t have parents saving or hundreds of scholarships because most of them switch schools so often that it’s hard to keep up and do well. I wanted to change that, I wanted them to have more options than an overworked system can give them. My dads and our school listened to me and helped me find a way to make a difference, no matter how small it might seem. Starting next school year, there will be a center opening to help not just foster kids but any teen who needs help to give them a better future, and maybe the ones who need it will find home the way I did.”