The party was winding down and most everyone had left. All that was left was Justin, Brian and their families, Ted and Fly and her mothers. Molly had gone home after eating, she didn’t think she could keep her mouth shut a moment longer. Everyone was helping clean up, even Fly’s mothers.

Rissa, the mother that Justin had only seen at the club was helping him put away chairs. While both mothers were elegant, Rissa was the one that wasn’t worried about breaking a nail.

“So, how do you like Gus?” Justin asked, feeling a little protective of Brian’s son. If that wasn’t a change from half a year ago, he didn’t know what was.

“He’s a good boy, Fly is over the moon for him. I don’t really think they should get invested so young but I can’t stop it either,” she laughed.

“I agree.”

It was time to bring up an unfavorable past. “You don’t remember me, do you?”

She looked at him and he could see her thinking, but she finally shook her head. “No, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, I don’t think I’ve seen you since I was like sixteen.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, Royal Oaks Country Club.”

Her head snapped up like she had been slapped and looked across the room to her wife. Then she looked back at him, really looked. “You’re Craig Taylor’s son, aren’t you?”

“Unfortunately.”

“That man almost ruined my life.”

“Same.”

“That man was a horrible human being. He wanted to prove that my marriage wasn’t real. If they had actually fallen in love, I think I could have gotten over it but that wasn’t it at all. He wanted to put the gays in their place. Diane was sick at the time, off her meds and an easy target. He leapt at her like a predator, I wish that man was dead.”

Justin could feel the rage coming off of the woman. “I don’t blame you. If it makes you feel better, he’s looking at a prison sentence for trying to kidnap my daughter.”

“Only thing would make me feel better is him being six feet under.”

Deciding it was best to change the topics. “I didn’t know you had a daughter.”

“She’s the only reason I stayed with Diane when everything was falling apart. We were young and stupid and wanted a kid, so we went to the sperm bank. Fly was perfect. I carried her and gave birth to her, but she’s just as much Diane’s as mine. That’s why I couldn’t just walk away from the marriage. Fly was only six or seven at the time, she needed stability.”

Ted came over and started getting chairs close to them. That made Justin change topics again, trying to lighten the mood.

“Any new dating prospect, Ted?”

Ted laughed. “Not likely. No one wants an old, boring accountant who prefers Mozart and stamp collecting.”

Rissa giggled. “It’s funny, when we went to the sperm bank there were all these tall, athletic gods that were options. I wanted smart, I picked an accountanting student who liked Mozart and stamp collecting. He was also on the dean’s list and analytical thinking.”

Justin noticed Ted froze. “Was this here in Pittsburgh?”

“Yes. But what are the chances?” Rissa said, looking from Ted over to Fly who was dancing with Nanette. “There was a childhood picture. What was yours?”

“Me in front school, it was my first day. I was five.”

“You were wearing a red bowtie.”

“Yes.”

“Oh my god.”

Justin was dealing with hyperactive twins on a sugar high. It was the lead up to Christmas/his wedding and he was officially freaking out. When Brian asked him to marry him in front of everyone, he had no choice but to say yes. It wasn’t that he wanted to say no. It was everyone looking at him and if he was honest, it was his old insecurities were coming back. After finding out about Ethan and his fucking everything that moved, he felt inadequate.

Emmett was taking care of the wedding, he promised Justin would have a stress-free event. Yeah, right, he would believe that when he saw it. Brian had shown all of them the house. It was gorgeous and huge. He didn’t know Brian could afford it. He had just started his own agency less than a year ago. But Justin didn’t deal with the finance part of things just the art. He didn’t really know that Brian was bringing in millions and so far, they only had a team of less than ten.

There was a gorgeous barn that had been converted into an office and Justin claimed it for his office/studio. Brian and his relationship seemed to happen fast, he was happy but still waiting for everything to fall apart.

“Could you boys watch the twins for a little while until your father gets home? I have an appointment that I’ve already rescheduled before. It has to be now or will be shoved to after the holidays.”

“Sure thing,” Gus said.

He didn’t know what pod people had taken over Gus and John, but he wasn’t going to argue.

“Thanks, I’ll have my phone off during the appointment so go through the list of who to call if something comes up.”

This was something so unlike him, so crazy. He tried to think of something to do for Brian. A wedding gift of some sort. He didn’t have a lot of money. He had spoken with Michael at depth about what Brian had always wanted. A family that loved him was top of the list, that was something he already had. Although Justin and the kids would be finishing that off. To be rich and successful was second on the list, Brian had also done that himself. Then there was the third on the list, an impossibly. Eternal youth. The fact that Brian was already past ‘youth’ it was an even further from happening. But there was number four on the list, have something others wanted. What Justin could to was give his future husband a piece of him. It was all he had.

“Hey, Jus, I’ve got everything ready. Just strip down and we’ll get started.”

Justin smiled at Brekin, a friend of his from PIFA. Brekin was the best photographer he knew. He could make anything he shot look amazing. He just hoped he wasn’t off point with Brian.

Brian was getting dinner ready, listening to Mika’s excitedly tell him about visiting Santa Claus tomorrow. Natalie was drawing Santa a picture of their new house, the one they were moving into just before Christmas so Santa would know where she was at. When he got home, he was surprised that the boys were watching the twins. He wondered where Justin had gone.

“Uncle Brian?” Nan asked from the table.

“When you marry Daddy will you be our daddy too?”

He really needed Justin here for this. Setting the spatula down he walked over to the table and sat with the twins.

“I am marrying your dad, but I would never try and take the place of your other father. Just because someone new comes into our lives doesn’t mean they replace another. Do you understand?”

Big eyes blinked at him. He could see they did not understand. “So, we don’t get to call you our dad?” Mika said with a devastated look on his face.

“I didn’t say that. Alright, what did you call your other dad?”

“Papa,” they both said.

“And Justin is dad.”

They both nodded.

“So how about this, you can call me Brian, Uncle Brian or Pop. Whichever name you please.”

“Gus calls you pop,” Mika said excitedly. His boys on occasion called him Pop but not much. It was all he could think of though.

As time went by, he started to worry, he had tried to call Justin after he put the twins to bed but it went straight to voicemail. They were supposed to be moving into the new house this weekend so everything would be done by Christmas. Justin had told him that he wanted to start his married life off in the new house, as a complete family. That meant it was a lot of more work on them.

It was midnight before his phone started to ring. He dreaded answering it but grabbed it and put it to his ear.

“Brian Kinney,” he answered.

“Mr. Kinney, we have you as emergency contact for Justin Taylor.”

“Yes, he’s my fiancé, what’s going on? Is he alright?”

“Yes, sir, he’s not in any immediate danger. I would suggest you coming down though because he does require surgery and asked for us to call you.”

“I’ll be right there.”

He called Molly, who was at Justin’s house, he had seen her when to put the twins to bed.

“What’s going on?” she answered her phone. She must have realized him calling after midnight is troubling.

“Your brother is in the hospital. I don’t know what’s going on, I will call you in the morning and let you know. I need you to watch the twins.”

“Of course, call as soon as you find out,” she said worriedly.

Next, he went to tell John what was going on, he didn’t want to wake the whole house. He told John because we was the most levelheaded. He promised to look after things until he got back. Then Brian drove hurriedly to the hospital.

The smell of hospitals always made him a little sick. He guessed it was his long hours, days he spent by Lindsay’s side and then when Gus was in the NICU ward. He was so small when he was born but was one of the luckier babies there. It was just sad all around.

“I’m looking for my fiancé, Justin Taylor?” he told the receptionist in the emergency room.

After a few back and forth he was buzzed through and told to follow the lines on the ground to Justin. It didn’t take him long to find him, Justin was clearly in pain.

“Justin?”

Justin looked up with tears in his eyes. “Brian, I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t want to go under, don’t let them.”

“What happened?”

“I was driving home, and my car stalled.”

“Again. I thought it was fixed.”

“So not the point,” Justin growled. “Anyway, I was able to get it to the side of the road. I realized I forgot my phone so had no way of calling for help. A man stopped and asked if I needed help, I did. He was driving me home when we got t-boned by someone running a red light. I don’t know if he’s alright, but it was a bad. We flipped but I think I lost consciousness. I’m fine except for my knee, I don’t have a choice now, a replacement is deemed necessary now. But I don’t want to go under.”

“Why?”

“What if I never wake up? Who will take care of Nan and Mika? Who will make sure Molly has a home?”

“Nothing will happen to you. But if you need reassurance, I’ll take care of them all.” He didn’t like even thinking about it.

“I need it in writing before I go under. Call Mel.”

Brian could see that Justin was freaking out but instead of calling him on it, he did what he could and called Mel. He was paying her double for writing up the contract and bringing down a notary to the hospital with her. Justin had the surgery as soon as the specialist got into the hospital the next morning.

Justin had been home for a few days and hated it. He had to move around using a walker like he was an old man. Not only that, they just moved into their new home, Brian and everyone had done it while he was in the hospital. Now he couldn’t get to two-thirds of his beautiful home. He hoped with all the exercises and PT, he’ll be able to do it soon.

It was another matter telling everyone he could do things for himself. He not only had a future husband trying to coddle him but three teenagers and two five-year olds trying to show Santa how good they are. Then there was the wedding, Emmett was having to finish everything up without his input. It was going to be a sparkly disaster, he knew it. What idiot thought to get married on Christmas day? Oh yeah…him.