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Author's Chapter Notes:

The next chapter will be the final chapter. I hope everyone likes it. And for those still reading it, we're almost done with it. YAY!

“Alright, tell me why you look seconds away from spitting fire. I thought you were comfortable with Ian taking the kids for the night.”

Ethan had just left with the oldest three, he would have forbidden it if he actually thought he would run with them.

“He’s trying to take her.” His voice shook, not because he was sad or upset. It was because he wanted to tear stripes off Ethan’s back. He wanted to drown him in a river. Alright, maybe he was being a little dramatic, but the asshole was trying to take a little girl he never cared about before. Who was even pushing this? No way it’s Ethan, he never wanted anything to do with any of the kids. Still didn’t with the older ones. So, what was he playing at?

“What the fuck? He can’t pick and choose when he wants to be a dad. She doesn’t know him.” Brian’s ire calmed him some, Brian knew this was bullshit he was right to be upset.

“He said he wants to be a family with his new fiancé. Why try and adopt a child or use a surrogate when you have a ready-made child. Didn’t even care about the older three. It would break their hearts. If I actually believed he was serious in wanting a relationship with them, I wouldn’t be angry. But he doesn’t, he’s never cared. The only real question I have is why. He said he wants to be a family but Ethan hates children. They get in the way of his playing; they are dirty and loud. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Everyone has an alternative motive. Everyone is out for themselves.”

“Are we?” That upset him for some reason, Brian thought he had an alternative motive for being married. But he guessed it was alright since they did get married just because it made sense.

“Out for ourselves? Hell yes, we’re going to bury him in court.”

Over the next month he let Ethan take the kids twice for him and Greg to take them out to do fun activities. Not Hannah though, she screamed bloody murder when Ethan then Greg tried to buckle her car seat in their SUV. Ethan had gotten aggravated and got into his seat and slammed the door. Greg picked her up and brought her back to him. It seemed Greg was actually human unlike his ex who only cared about himself. It wasn’t until after Ethan ran the last time her realized what a true narcissist was.

They had a hearing in six weeks. Why it was so far away he didn’t know but at least he wouldn’t have a chance of losing her until then. His lawyer had said it would look better if he looked like he was trying to help Ethan and the kids have a relationship. It didn’t matter that the reason he didn’t want a relationship between Ethan and his kids was because his ex would just end up hurting them.

“You’re going to have to tell him soon,” Daphne said.

They were having dinner while the kids were all doing their own things. Gus was with his girlfriend; Brian still hates her. Eric took Freddie, Adam, and Mindy to a movie. It was an action movie, and the others turned their noses up to it. Krista was at the library, Nina was with her new boyfriend, Lola was with Nina’s old boyfriend. He was sure they were going to kill each other when that came out. Ted had Lucas and Logan because his son felt safer when Logan was with him, Lucas was still getting used to Ted and Blake. The twins were spending the night with Debbie. Brian had the other eight, since taking over full childcare this was the first time that he had a break, besides his little freakout.

“I know but he’ll be mad.”

Daph moved her plate to the other side of the table and reached across the table and grabbed his hands. “You’re my best friend, I usually pick your side on things but not now. You told him you had a termination, you let him believe you weren’t pregnant any longer.”

“I planned to get one, I just needed time. After I didn’t go to my first appointment, I just kept putting it off and now I don’t want to.”

“It was always your decision but he’s your husband, you have to tell him. If not, you’re going to have to pass the new baby off as one of Leia’s baby dolls.”

“Soon, I promise, just give me a little more time.”

“Fine, I don’t like it but fine.”

The rest of the evening was quite chilly between them. He knew she was right, but he feared if he did tell Brian the truth, his marriage would be over. Just when he was really starting to fall for the man too. Brian had made it very clear, there would be no more children. All he had to do is get Brian to change his mind. He’d have better chance of making pigs fly.

 


Tonight, he was breaking the news to Brian, there was no way his husband wouldn’t notice the baby bump now. It had to be tonight. Since his conversation with Daphne a week earlier, he knew she would tell Brian if he didn’t.

“Hey, Sunshine, I’ve got news,” he heard his husband call from the entranceway. Brian sounded excited so he would wait to tell him his news second.

“That’s funny, I have news too.”

Brian entered the house with a huge smile on his face. It wasn’t really like him. Brian usually was happy or annoyed, those were his two emotions. It must be really good news, which was good it would soften the baby stuff.

“WHAT’S FOR DINNER?” Freddie’s voice called from the stairs.

“I’M ORDERING PIZZA!” He wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to cook. There were several cheers from all the corners of the house, but no child was seen. The sitter would be dropping the kids off soon. She was brave and took two three-year-old’s and an almost two-year-old to play center.

Meeting Brian in the entranceway he almost tripped on the bookshelf that stuck out just a little, one day he was going to trip but it was a nice place for it. So far, he had been lucky and caught himself before he tripped. They went into the kitchen together; Brian usually got a beer when he came home.

“You sound happy and you’re home early.”

“I am happy and I’m the boss. I was going to wait until the kids got home but I’ll need you on my side.”

That worried him, if he needed to help get his children on his side it was bad.

“That can’t be good.”

“Not good…great. I just got the building I’ve been trying to get for two years. That means next week I fly to Chicago to observe the renovation and start hiring.”

“What? You lost me.”

“I’m opening an office in Chicago. Didn’t I tell you?”

“No, I would remember. How long will you be gone?”

“Not long. Six months tops.”

Justin gaped at him; he couldn’t believe what he just heard. “Six months? You’ll be gone for six months?” He was incredulous.

“I’ll come home when I can but there won’t be much time, I’ll be able to get away.”

Leaving Justin alone with eighteen children and pregnant. Of course, he didn’t know Justin was still pregnant so he couldn’t be judged for that.

“You didn’t think to discuss this with me?” His voice sounded angry, even to himself.

Brian’s eyes narrowed and clenched his jaw. “First, this is my business and not up for discussion. Second, it’s been planned for years, and you don’t get a say.”

Call him a bitch but that pissed him off. If Brian wanted to play this game so, be it. He was done being a doormat. He let Ethan walk all over him for years, now the man thought he could take his child away from him. Then Brian thought he could just say he’s leaving for six months, and he was such a doormat he wouldn’t say anything.

“When are you leaving?” he asked.

His husband seemed to relax, just where he wanted him.

“Tomorrow.”

The clock on the wall read just after 4pm, instead of responding to Brian he just watched the second hand. It was a clock he brought from his first apartment. It was a crappy bedsit that he had three kids living in a tiny apartment that was meant for one very small person. One of his neighbors moved out and he helped them move. She saw his interest in the clock and gave it to him. It was a cheap plastic clock that was originally black, but his children had long ago painted over that. Now it was multicolored with stickers. You can’t even see 5 to 8 anymore. But it reminded him of a simpler time. It was before George, and he was still hustling but he had more freedom than he has now.

“Are you even listening to me?” an annoyed voice broke through his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“I said, I’ll send Ted if you really have a problem with it. It’s been a while since I’ve had to check with another person. I don’t play well with others.”

For the first time since Brian got home, he felt like smiling. “No, I understand how important this is. Just next time, maybe not so much out of the blue, yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ll be here when we go to court, I promise.”

“Thank you for remembering.”

“She’s mine now too.”

 


                                           FOUR MONTHS LATER

 

“It’s the judgement of the court, that is in the best interest for Hannah Taylor, that she shall be removed from Justin Taylor- carrier father and put in the custody of Ethan Gold- donor father. The hand over will take place noon tomorrow at Justin Taylor’s residence.”

His ears were ringing, there was no way this woman just gave his daughter to a near stranger. Daphne gripped his hand hard. He hadn’t let any of the kids come, except Hannah because he was forced to bring her.

“This can’t be happening,” he said, feeling numb.

“Where the fuck is Brian?” Daphne hissed even though she knew.

His husband hadn’t been back since he first left. It was always something new. His friends had been suspiciously missing. Ted hadn’t even come to see Lucas. It only led to one conclusion, his husband had found someone new and was leaving him. Right now, he couldn’t care less, he would not give his daughter up.

“Daphne, I-

“I know. I’ve got sick time, emergency time and vacation time. I’ll take it all, I’ll have about three months.”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. They walked outside the courtroom; he picked up Hannah from the child advocate. When they were walking out, he was confronted by his lawyer. For the best custody lawyer in the Pitts, he sucked.

“Don’t worry, I will fix this. He’ll only have her a year at most. You’ve got visitation, that’s something.”

“Yeah, two days a week during the day. It’s shit, that’s what it is.” He turned away and followed Daphne outside.

After buckling Hannah in her booster, Daphne got in the passengers’ seat of the van.

“I can’t take my car or Brian’s, the van is out too, they can be tracked,” he said.

“What about Brian’s jeep?”

“It’s not traceable and it’s 20 years old. That might work.”

The kids were at work and Lea and Bea were at the sitter’s. Grabbing some clothes and toys for Hannah, then some clothes for himself. He went into Brian’s office and opened the safe.

“Wow, how much money does he have in there?”

“100 grand.”

“Holy shit, Justin, where did he get all that money?”

“He keeps it for emergency, like a sale at Armani. I can pay him back when everything’s over.”

Grabbing his hand, Daphne turned towards him. “Are you sure this is the right decision?”

“You know it’ll be twice as hard to get her back after losing custody. I need you to go to get a new lawyer, something is wrong with this one. It’s like he didn’t even try. Almost like he was working for Ethan. How did Ethan come out of this looking rosy, and I looked like the whore of Babylon?”

“I don’t know but I’ll find out. I promise. I’ll also castrate your lousy, piece of shit husband. I still think running is a mistake, but I’ll support whatever you do. But what if he takes the other three in spite?”

“They are old enough to make decisions for themselves. I would hate it and do everything to get them back. But Hannah is too little to protect herself. I don’t know what they are up to, but I don’t trust Ethan.”

“Says the man going on the run with a three-year-old. I’ll do it, for you.”

He smiled slightly. “Take care of my kids, all seventeen of them.”

“I promise. You’ll have to come back in three months anyway, you can’t have this baby on the run. No one would be there to take care of Hannah.”

“I don’t think it’ll be that long. Just make sure to tell Brian and the new lawyer something was really fishy. The judge wouldn’t listen to anything my lawyer put up what little he did, my lawyer acted like he just got out of law school, not the top custody lawyer for twenty years. And Ethan was smirking through it all, but his fiancé looked guilty, he’s the weak link. Look I’ve got to go and get miles between us before noon tomorrow.”

She hugged him. “I would say call me, but I know you can’t. A non-custodial parent taking their child, cops are going to search hard.”

“We’ll be fine, just as long as the kids here are fine.”

“I’ll have Brian hire a live-in nanny until we fix this.” She sighed. “Maybe three.”

One last hug, he picked up Hannah from where she was sleeping on his bed, shoved the money in the bag and took Brian’s jeep keys. Looking around one last time, he left hoping he wasn’t making the biggest mistake of his life.

 


“We need to tell Justin,” Ted said over the phone.

“I told you if you do, you’re fired.” Testicular cancer. Who would have thought? Not him. He was so sick after the treatment he couldn’t do anything. He dropped the ball with Justin…literally.

“He’s going to face that asshole in court today…without you.”

“Shit, I forgot.”

“Maybe because you haven’t spoken to him in months.”

“Just drop it Ted, there’s no way they’d give Hannah to that prick Ian. Justin is stronger than you give him credit for.”

“If that’s what you want to believe fine but I’m going to start seeing Lucas again and you can’t forbid it. We’re not your little minions to do what you say.”

After Ted hung up Brian fell face first on his bed. All he wanted to do was curl up and die. How can the treatment be worse than the disease?

Chapter End Notes:

Sorry the dialog is so stiff. I wrote half months ago then finally got back to it. Problem was that it was hard to fall back into the story. Hope you like. 

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