Ted unlocked the door to Brian’s house, he was expecting the boys to be home any minute from school. Usually it would be Debbie, Emmett or Michael to come and stay with the boys while Brian was out of town. Unfortunately, Michael and Ben were out of town themselves visiting their oldest son, Hunter, at college. They adopted Hunter about four years ago, they just finished the adoption of another boy who had once been a street boy too. Bradley was only twelve when they found him. It had been an uphill battle but having Hunter do so well under their care and go on to college, the state finally got their act together and Bradley was officially Bradley Novotny-Bruckner. Bradley was right in middle of Brian’s boys’ ages, fourteen. Brian’s older boys didn’t really think anything of him, good or bad. Bradley seemed to want to be Peter’s friend, but Peter really didn’t do friends. He would rather stay home and work on things he liked.

Brian had asked Ted to try and get Peter to at least go to Debbie’s this weekend. Debbie would make the two help her, maybe that could bond them, Bradley needed a friend and so did Peter.

Emmett couldn’t watch the kids because he and Drew were still in their honeymoon stage, no one should put up with that. Just last weekend they took Gus and John to some football thing, he didn’t really know what. That left Debbie, she couldn’t come over and watch them because she had Bradley for the weekend.

Deciding he would start dinner, so he could help the boys with their homework when they got home. Brian had told him that the boys had been eating too much junk lately and to get back to healthy dinners.

Just as he put the salmon in the oven, the door opened. He waited to see which one it was. Two minutes later, John came into the kitchen.

“How was school?” Ted asked.

“Normal,” John asked, raising his eyebrow. He looked very much like Brian. Most people thought Gus and John were twins, not identical but they were similar. Peter on the other hand was the opposite of the dark-haired Kinney boys, he had sandy blond hair and deep green eyes.

“What kind of answer is that?”

“Normal,” he said, grinning that famous Kinney smirk.

“Where’s your brother?”

“Which one?”

Ted was going to end up strangling this kid, he just knew it.

“Gus.”

“In his room, probably writing his manifesto.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

John shrugged. “Fight with Dad, still pissed off.”

“So, he’s normal. I fought with my dad and the man was a saint. What was the fight about?”

John mumbled something that Ted didn’t catch. “I didn’t hear you. What was that?”

“He doesn’t understand why Dad has to be gay.”

Ted blinked. Brian’s kids always knew he was gay, they never had a problem with it before. Or at least he didn’t think they did. Hell, every adult they knew besides Debbie and Carl were gay.

“He’s upset with your dad for being gay?”

John groaned. “No, not really. Kids are just dicks, okay?”

That he understood. “Yeah, like giving up you bachelor lifestyle that you always wanted to raise you son and you dead sister’s sons, giving them everything you never had like food always on the table, a safe home, no fear of coming home. I agree, kids can really be dicks.” He hated to be so harsh but damn, Brian may be a lot of things, but he was a good father. Ted would be damned if he lets his kids think he’s a bad father just for being gay.

“What do you mean ‘no fear of coming home’?” A new voice asked.

Ted saw Gus standing in the kitchen doorway, he hadn’t heard it open. A thought that never occurred to him before hitting him full force, Brian never told the boys about his childhood. He had stepped in it now, Brian was going to kill him. Well, there is no way to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

“What has your father told you about his childhood?”

“Nothing, he said it was over and no use talking about it,” Gus said, taking a seat next to his brother.

“I don’t know all the details myself, your father is insanely private about his past. But I do know somethings, some from Debbie telling me, things Michael said, and mostly, from when he was sick.”

He had taken on making Brian eat, sleep, not kill himself trying to work. Shaking his head, he cleared his throat. “What do you know about your father’s parents?”

“Grandma is an alcoholic and Grandpa yelled a lot.”

Ted nearly jumped when he heard Peter speak. “Hey, hey, the gang’s all here. Well, best you all hear this together. You’re right, your Dad’s mom is an alcoholic, but his dad didn’t just yell. He beat Brian and Claire from the time they were small. Best way to explain it I guess would tell you what happened between his freshman year of high school and his sophomore. This is a story I heard from Michael, Debbie and Brian, each adding something the other two didn’t.

“Your dad got an award at school the last day of freshman year, it was something he said he was very proud of. He knew his father would say mean things if he knew so he hid it in his room. That summer he spent every day he wasn’t at work at Debbie’s. She had gotten him a job bussing tables at the diner. Anyway, one day, he didn’t show up for work. Debbie sent Michael to see what had happened, Michael found Brian in his room passed out on the floor in his own blood. All in all, he had a black eye, broken arm, two cracked ribs and broken nose. Brian told the doctors he fell while cleaning the gutters. The doctors knew it was bs, everyone did but they didn’t call the police. They just patched him up and sent him home.”

“What really did happen?” Gus asked, his voice strained.

“Jack Kinney had broken into Brian’s room that morning while he was in the shower. He was looking for Brian’s stash of money from his job. He found the award instead. When Brian got out of the shower, he was on him about how he thought he was better than everyone. Instead of trying not to get the beating, your father stood up for himself. He was proud of that award. So, he told his father that he was better than him, a slug was better than him because it had a purpose in life. He said that was all he remembered until he woke up in the ambulance with Michael by his side.”

All three boys looked sick. He hated sharing something so painful from Brian’s past, but he worked hard to give the boys everything. Sometimes, it made them spoiled and not caring anything for their father’s feelings. Brian may be a heartless bastard some of the time but never to his children.

“Was it because he was gay?” Gus asked quietly.

“No, it was because he was an abusive drunk. When you boys were really small, his dad showed up to tell him he was dying. Your dad did then tell him he was gay.”

“What did he say?” John asked.

“This was before your dad got sick. He told him that your dad should be the one who was dying, that he was a sick pervert for wanting to raise you boys. But he didn’t tell your grandmother, so at least Brian didn’t have her here trying to get you away from him and his deviant lifestyle.”

The hit to Gus looked almost like a physical blow. “I didn’t mean what I said.”

“I know and inside your dad knows. But you have to understand, he never felt loved when he was a child, never felt accepted for who he was. So, I don’t even have to talk to him to know what you said hurt. He’s done everything he could for you boys, and now he’s thinking that he’s never going to be enough. It’s okay to be mad about being picked on but it’s not okay to share that hurt.”

“No, he’s enough. He’s the best dad ever,” Peter said, panic lacing his voice.

“Maybe, when he gets home, tell him that. I’m sure he would like to hear it, even if he acts like he doesn’t.”

Gus was quiet, but Ted knew his words were taken in.

Justin and the kids just left the DNA clinic, they said the results would come back in about three weeks. He was lucky and Helen and Morris, Ethan’s parents went and had their DNA tested in Florida, where they moved after Ethan was accepted to PIFA. He hoped that Mika being Ethan’s wouldn’t cause any trouble, Ethan’s parents had already spoken in court before in his favor, something his old lawyer was against.

He needed to get some groceries, something he hated doing with two four-year olds, but he didn’t have a choice. Daphne was going out of town with her boyfriend.

“Can I get this?” Mika asked holding up a box of sugar cereal.

“No, it has too much sugar. But if you’re good while I’m shopping I’ll get you two a treat at checkout.”

“YAY!” they shouted.

The rest of shopping was pretty uneventful, they were usually very good at the store. It was just the day Brian found them at the Big Q, they all were on their last bit of patience.

“Justin?”

It was a voice that made his heart ache, looking up he saw his baby sister. She was standing with two other girls, they were all looking at him. She was so grown looking, sixteen he had to remind himself. In his mind she was always that seven-year-old little girl she had been when he got kicked out of the house for being gay. It had made going to PIFA more difficult, but he made it. That’s not saying he wouldn’t be paying off student loans until he was long dead. The last time he saw her, she was eleven and his dad had yelled at him for seeing her.

“Who’s that Daddy?” Nanette asked, she was standing behind him peeking around.

“That’s my sister, Nan,” he said, looking at Molly.

“Dad?” Molly’s eyes widened.

“Yep, these are my children, Nanette and Mika.” He turned around to look at his children. “This is your Aunt Molly.”

“I don’t understand. Where have you been? If you had kids why didn’t you bring them to meet me? Do Mom and Dad know?”

Justin sighed. “Mom and dad do know. I told them after the twins were born. They told me as long as I was still gay I wasn’t welcome in their home and neither was my…children.” He was about to say freak children, because that’s what his father called them but then he remembered his kids were listening.

“No, they said you left because you got into drugs, that’s why I wasn’t supposed to talk to you if you ever came by or called.”

“I’ve never done anything stronger that pot and that was only in college. They lied to you, but I didn’t expect them to tell you the truth. So, how is mom and dad?” He didn’t really care.

Her eyes started to water before she said, “They divorced. Dad moved in with his secretary. Mom ran off with my teacher a few years ago, they had been having an affair for years.”

“You live with Dad?” he asked, thinking it must suck to live with Dad and Hannah unless he got another secretary.

“No, Hannah didn’t want me there, she said she wasn’t really a kid person.”

“What about Mom?”

“Haven’t heard from her in three years.”

“Where the hell have you been living?”

“Lived with Grandmother for two years until Dad put her in the home. Now I’m couch surfing at friends’ houses, I came back hoping Dad would let me stay. Hannah’s pregnant, turns out she’s just not a kid person when the kid’s not hers.”

The rage he felt at his parents at that moment was almost tangible. “I’m in the middle of places right now, we’re staying with Daphne, but you are welcome to stay in the kids’ room with them until we get a place. I was saving money, but I don’t really need to save that much anymore. So, I could probably find something in the week. If I do, do you want to move in with us?” He would be devastated if she said no.

“Really, you want me to live with you?”

He could see how their parent’s abandonment had hurt her, and his own abandonment of her. If he were a better brother, he would have checked on her, not caring what his parents said.

“Yes, I really want you to live with us.”

“Are you sure Daphne wouldn’t mind? I’ve been staying at Jessica’s for the last few weeks, but I think her mom is getting tired of feeding me.”

“I’m sure of it, but to make you feel better I’ll call her.”

Twenty minutes later, he was buckling his two excited children up and watching his sister put the groceries in the car. He had been right, Daphne was fine with it. She was upset she hadn’t known about Molly and his parents. She knew they moved but that was all.