Max sat in his class, for once not letting the other kids bother him. He had a family now and nothing anyone could say would bother him today. It was the first time since starting school that Max really didn’t want to be there, he wanted to be in his home with his Dad and Pa. The only thing that scared Max right now was that maybe the other people might not like him. Even though Gus, who knew everything, told him that everyone would love him. He wasn’t sure exactly what a Nana was, he’d heard the word Grandma and hoped maybe it had something to do with that, but he’d been too tired last night to ask Gus. He heard Dad tell Pa they’d come for lunch and continued to look at the clock waiting for it to be time. He was going to have his parents with him like some of the other kids did for lunch. That was a lot of excitement for Max.

Ms. Peterson got a note and then told everyone that instead of going to the lunchroom today, they’d be eating in the classroom, so everyone had to clean up. Max tried not to cry, but he was supposed to have lunch with Dad and Pa, not stay in the classroom.

Lindsay noticed everyone but Max cleaning. Brian sent a note saying he would bring lunch for all the kids if they could avoid the cafeteria. She thought it was a great idea since the other kids hadn’t warmed up to Max yet. It was the one thing that happened and all the talking in the world didn’t work with kids. Max was different from them, and even though they didn’t understand that it shouldn’t make a difference, it still did. She’d planned to talk to Max’s foster family about helping him get caught up, but with the change in his circumstances, she knew the talk wouldn’t fall on deaf ears since Justin and Brian were now involved. 

“Max, do you need me to help you clean up?” Lindsay asked.

Max shook his head no, as tears started to drip out of his eyes.

“Don’t you want Dad and Pa to see how good you are at school?” Lindsay tried a different tactic.

Max nodded, thinking she was mean when he wouldn’t see them because they were staying here.

“Then we need to get all your stuff put away because they should be here with lunch for everyone in a few minutes.” She told him, wiping the tears.

“They're still coming, even though we aren’t eating where we always eat?” Max asked her.

“Oh Sweetie, we aren’t eating in the cafeteria because your Dad is a bit picky. Plus, I think the kids would rather eat the pizza your dads are bringing instead today.” Lindsay said, loud enough for the one snickering about Max crying to hear. “Right everyone? We’d be happy to let Max’s parents feed us pizza?” Lindsay asked, looking at the other kids who all nodded eagerly.

“I just want to see my dads,” Max whispered.

“They’re bringing your Nana too,” Lindsay told him.

Lindsay expected Max to get excited about meeting Jen but instead, he looked serious and when he asked her his question she didn’t laugh, instead she wanted to cry that he had to ask, not understanding.

“What’s a Nana?” He whispered.

Before Lindsay could answer, Matthew, who’d been inching toward them did. “My grandmother likes to be called that instead,” Matthew told Max.

“I have lots of family now, my brother told me they would all love me.” Max told him.

“I only have a bratty baby sister,” Matthew complained, making Lindsay smile.

“Gus says we have to deal with a bratty sister, but I think Jenny is older than me,” Max told him.

Brian, Justin, and Jen walked in to hear all the kids discussing the merits of siblings. The smell of pizza got them all to look up and Max got up and ran, not caring about the pizza all that much, just that his Dad and Pa were here. Dad took him to the Nana, and even though she smiled like Pa, he was still shy. 

“I’m so happy to meet you,” Jen told him, not able to resist the eyes peeking at her from Brian’s chest.

“Dad, is she your mommy?” He asked.

“I am because your Dad married my son,” Jen told him.

“You aren’t going to kill Pa because he didn’t tell you last night, right?” Max asked, just to be sure.

“I love your Pa even though he’s naughty and didn’t tell me about you first.” She told Max.

“Dad said he loves me even if I’m bad,” Max informed her.

“I love you because you’re my son, just like Pa does,” Brian told him, waiting to make sure Max heard it and believed him that they were going to be his parents.

“As much as being a son is important, being my grandson is important too. Do you want to know why?” Jen asked Max, who nodded. “Because I get to spoil you with kisses and hugs and sweeten you up to send you home to your dads.”

Max reached over to his Nana and let her start with the kisses and hugs. She pulled a giant cookie out of her purse. It was bigger than Max’s hand. He looked over at the plate with smaller cookies then back to his. He didn’t know why but he felt like his Nana gave him the biggest cookie because she loved him bigger than all the kids in the room.

The kids were all sitting down eating. Jen stayed with them, holding Max on her lap, not wanting to let him go until she had to. Lindsay asked to speak to Brian and Justin outside about Max.

“Max is behind the rest of the children, but I think it’s only because the families before never worried about teaching him how to read or write. He is picking up fast but because he’s starting from scratch here, it sometimes causes the other kids to pick on him. Which causes Max to distance himself from them.” Lindsay told them.

“We can hire someone to help him catch up, but it doesn’t change the other kids,” Justin told her.

“I think today helped. One of the other students, Matthew, who’s never been part of the kids picking on Max, but hadn’t really talked to him, did today. They both ended up getting the other kids talking too, about sisters and brothers. It might not solve everything, but I think having a friend is something Max needs just as much.” Lindsay told them.

“We need to see if we can find someone to work with Max,” Justin told Brian.

“I could do it, but I don’t want him to think it makes him different since I couldn’t do it for all the other kids,” Lindsay told them.

“Ben would be great if he was here,” Justin told Brian because Ben loved working with Gus and Jenny when Justin or Lindsay couldn’t.

“What about Hunter? I could see if he has time.” Lindsay suggested.

“Guess you better tell Mikey soon,” Justin smirked.

“I’ll call Hunter and see if he can do it,” Brian told Lindsay.

They joined Max, who was too busy asking Nana questions about his Aunt Molly since he really liked Auntie Em. Jen smiled when she explained Molly was a girl, not like Auntie Em. Justin and Brian hugged Max, telling him they’d be waiting for him to take him home later, and not to get on a bus. 

“What time?” Max asked Pa.

“We’ll be here at three, just like all the other parents,” Justin told him.

Max waited while Justin wondered why he was staring at him so hard. Justin couldn’t help it, the little wrinkle in Max’s forehead and his serious look made him smile, thinking he be privileged to have a serious Max in his life. Max hugged Pa’s legs before running back to the other kids. His Pa smiled his sun smile at Max again and no one else.

Emmett cleaned the kitchen then the den and was almost to Drew’s man cave before Drew had had enough. Drew had given Emmett time to get his thoughts in order and now it was time to make Em tell him what was bothering him.

“You told me, my cave, my problem, remember?” Drew asked him.

“I’m just at loose ends today. Cleaning makes me happy.” Emmett lied.

“No, you clean when you don’t want to talk, and I appreciate the shiny toilet, the sparkling counters and that you rearranged my underwear by color and style. But wouldn’t it be easier to just talk to me?” Drew asks him.

“It was just, last night, remembering how it felt not knowing where to go or what would happen to you. I hate that it still hurts, and even though Max is going to get a great life…” Emmett shrugged sitting on Drew’s lap.

“It’s more than that.” Drew told him.

“Those kids and Max don’t see anything wrong with the people who kept them. I mean, they weren’t bad people, but they also weren’t the best people to raise those kids. I could be completely wrong because I’m judging them for something that could have been an anomaly for them. Parents all over the world do the same thing, leaving the older kids to watch the younger ones.” Emmett told him.

“I’m sure that’s true, but the situation is different, these kids have no connection to each other, other than the house they live in. Growing up, even when my brother and I tried to beat the hell out of each other if one of us needed the other we were taught to be there for each other.” Drew told him.

“It doesn’t always work. I mean, when I was younger all my sibling did watch out for me. But now they pretend I never existed.” Emmett commented, sadly.

“You want to tell me what else is on your mind about those kids?” Drew asked.

“I… Well... You want kids, right?” Emmett asked.

“I do. It’s something I always wanted, even before I came out of the closet. It was something staying in the closet might have made easier for me.” Drew answered.

“When we talked about it once you mentioned surrogacy,” Emmett reminded him. 

“It’s one of the options available to us, that at the time we talked about it, was easier if we wanted a baby. Adoption lists for babies take years, and even then they still put straight families ahead of non-traditional families.” Drew told him.

“I called Carl, and two of the kids are being put in a group home, to keep from separating them,” Emmett commented.

“Why those two and not the other three?” Drew asked.

“The other three are actually related to the foster parents. They took them in when their parents got into trouble. Billy and Colton were the children they decided they couldn’t keep.” Emmett told him. Drew noticed Emmett even got their names.

“What do you want to do?” Drew asked.

“I’d like to see if we could do it, maybe practice so we won’t screw up the baby you want,” Emmett told him.

“How about we do it in hopes to give Billy and Colton a home?” Drew answered him.

“Do you know how much I love you?” Emmett asked.

“Enough to call Brian and see if his shark can help us?” Drew teased, dumping Emmett on the sofa before climbing over him.