The party was going well, all the kids were having a great time. Some invited friends so there were a lot of teenagers around. Brian was watching Ted sitting on the edge of the pool. His friend had been acting weird all day.

“Beer?”

Brian turned and saw Justin holding up a beer to him. “Thanks.” He took the opened beer and sat back on the lounge he was on getting a tan.

Justin sat beside him, and he could feel the younger man looking at him. Instead of asking him what his problem was, he just continued to watch the kids play. The littles were playing in a kiddie pool that Justin had set up. They had hired a sitter to watch Leia, Hannah, and Bea. The sitter was reapplying sunscreen to the kids.

“It was a good idea to hire the sitter,” Justin said as if reading his mind.

“Yeah, it makes for less worry if we’re just watching the older kids.” Lindsay had always been worried the kids would drown when they went to the beach. He didn’t want his kids to have a fear of the water.

“We haven’t talked much since the hospital,” Justin hedged.

“Right.” He was ashamed of his behavior, but he didn’t want to admit it.

“I need to tell you something, but I don’t know how you’ll take it.”

Pulling his sunglasses off, he looked at Justin. He noticed the worry on his face. How long had he been worried like that? It couldn’t be from Leia because they had worked that out, he agreed not to turn his phone off.

“Just go ahead and say whatever it is.”

“Ted is Lucas’s biological father.” There was an extended silence, and he could see Justin was getting agitated. “Well, don’t you have anything to say?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“That you’re ok with this.”

“Is that what you want, Justin? Sorry, I don’t lie.” He got up and left, he didn’t stop until he shut himself in his office and locked the door.

It wasn’t like he thought Justin was a monk, after all he had eight children. Having a one-night stand with Ted wasn’t ideal but it couldn’t be changed. But finding out Lucas was a result of that one-night stand hurt. He didn’t know why it hurt but it did. No, he did know why it hurt. He thought he was the only one he knew to have this connection with Justin, having a child together. Then he finds out apparently that was a dime a dozen.

Someone knocked on the door and he glared at it. “Go away.”

“Dad?”

“What do you want?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Fine, come in.”

His second oldest walked in, Brian had noticed his son wasn’t in swimwear. He remembered then Eric wasn’t at the pool with everyone else. The look on his son’s face caused him to stop thinking about his own selfish thoughts.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“What? You can’t be, you’re not gay.”

“I think I’m bisexual. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m pregnant.”

“Eric was sixteen, he hadn’t wanted any of his children to be teen parents. He was young but at least in college. He knew about all the problems Justin had being one. From getting kicked out to living with the father and have more with him. That wouldn’t happen here because he wouldn’t be kicking Eric out. But he couldn’t put it on the other kids to share a room with him and a baby. He shook his head; he wasn’t even sure what Eric wanted to do about the pregnancy.

“Who’s the other father?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it.”

Brian was instantly suspicious because Eric was his quiet and responsible one. He was never one to get upset or do anything wild.

“Was it consensual?” He hated asking but knew he would have to get Eric some help if he was hurt.

“Yes. It was just someone I met before summer. I didn’t even think I could be until you introduced us to Justin. I took the test after that, it was positive.”

“What do you want to do about it?”

“I can’t be a father. There is so much I want to do in my life, and I can’t do it with a baby.”

“You know I’ll support you and the baby. You can still go to school and graduate go on to college.”

“I don’t want to have his baby, all right? Is that clear enough.”

Something was very off with the whole thing. Brian felt he was missing something, but he watched Eric shut down enough to know he wouldn’t be getting anymore from him.”

“Alright. We’ll follow your lead. Make the appointment and I’ll take you.”

“Can Justin take me?”

He tried not to let that hurt him, but he realized it was something the two had in common. This wasn’t about him; this was about Eric.

“I’ll ask him but I’m sure he’ll say yes.”

“Thanks Dad.”

Looks like he would have to get over his own little hissy fit. He guessed there were worse people to be Lucas’s father than Ted. At least he wouldn’t have questions. The other kids knew who their other father was, it was only fair for him.

Justin looked around the waiting room with trepidation. Not for himself but for the young man beside him. He had been that scared teenager. The good news for Eric was that he had a supportive father, where he did not. Eric had chosen to terminate which was more dangerous for males but not unheard of. It ran the risk of him not being able to conceive again but most men with the condition where straight and never conceived.

Eric was practically vibrating with nerves beside him. “Are you alright?” he asked the teen.

“I just can’t believe I’m here.”

“Can you tell me anything about the other father? Or anything you want to share?”

“It’s Gus’s best friend Clay.”

Justin tried to stop the gasp that threatened to get out. He had met Clay before, he was at the pool party just days ago with his very pretty girlfriend.

“That does sound like a lot.”

“He told me that he loved me, but he didn’t. I was just a means to an end while he was fighting with Jill. I’ve been in love with him since I was twelve and he knew it. He used that knowledge, something that Gus and he used to laugh about. I can’t have this baby. I can’t be linked to him for the rest of my life.”

“I know you’ve already thought about it…”

“I don’t want to give the baby up for adoption. I don’t want to be pregnant at all. I know you are fine having kids but it’s weird and I don’t want it. I don’t want to be a FREAK!”

Eric was sixteen and had a lot of emotions going on in him, so Justin would overlook the freak comment. Even if it did hurt but it was nothing, he hadn’t called himself at that age. He would have just had Krista if Ethan hadn’t pushed for more sex when they lived in his mother’s home together. They hadn’t even been together, but Justin didn’t want to be kicked out with a baby, so he did what he had to for his daughter, but that led to Nina and Freddie. Now he could say he wouldn’t have terminated because he couldn’t picture his life without any of his kids, even on the bad days. But if he had found out early in the pregnancy with Krista, he couldn’t say for sure he wouldn’t have.

“Ok.”

There wasn’t much else to say. They sat in uncomfortable silence for almost twenty minutes until Eric’s name was called.

“Do you want me to stay out here?” he asked.

Eric shook his head no, seemingly to have lost his voice from nerves. They followed the nurse into the room.

“How did it go?” Brian asked when they arrived back home.

“He has an appointment in a few days,” Justin told him. Eric didn’t say anything and just went upstairs.

“How is he, really?”

“Not doing well. I did find out who the other father is. He doesn’t want you to know but I can confirm it wasn’t an assault or an old perv. It was a boy that he liked who had a girlfriend and used him when the girlfriend stopped having sex with him because of a fight. He knew about Eric’s crush on him and just wanted to have a convenient fuck.”

How could he have missed all this? He hadn’t known his son was questioning his sexuality or even having sex. “Do you think he’s in a state to make this decision?”

“I think it would be devastating to him to carry this baby to term. He’s right, he’s not ready to have a baby, even to give it up for adoption. He feels betrayed by his body. I know what that feels like. I had no choice but to have Krista, he does.”

“When did parenting become this hard?”

“It’s always been this hard. Are you still mad about Ted?”

“No, could be worse, could be a sleaze. At least Ted will be there for him. Are you going to let him, and Blake be in his life?”

“Yeah, having more people love you isn’t bad. I wish the other kids had that. Four have a father who responsibility is a four-letter word and two have a dead man as a father. Lucas and Bea are so lucky.”

“Kids are at school, babies at daycare.” The kids had just started school the day before. Eric hadn’t wanted to miss the first day of school, so they went today.

“Eric’s here though.”

“He’ll be in his room. I think he’ll enjoy having it to himself for a few hours.”

“Do you think I’m a freak?”

Brian was surprised. “Where did that come from?”

“Just something Eric said.”

“He called you a freak?” Brian asked angrily.

“No, not in so many words. I understand where he’s coming from, but it just hurts. I just wanted to know your feelings on the matter.”

“I can say for sure, that I don’t want any more children.”

“Same.”

“Besides that, I couldn’t care less what your body is capable of. You’ve had eight kids and still have the tight body of someone ten years younger.”

“Thanks?” Justin said warily.

“Dad?”

Brian looked up to the stairway that Eric was standing on the bottom step.

"Yeah?”

“Can we talk?”

“Sure.”

It was about forty minutes later the call came. Gus, Lola, Krista, and Nina were all in the principal’s office for fighting.

“With each other?” Brian asked as they rode together to the school.

“All the receptionist told me was to come down because they were in a fight. You know as much as I do.”

It was their second day at their new school. How could they have gotten in a fight with others? It had to be with each other. This was supposed to be a new start. They had a teen that was pregnant and now the fighting four. What was next? Was Freddie going to start a cult?

Just as they were pulling in, Brian’s phone started ringing. Looking at the number he cursed. “Fuck.”

“What is it?” Justin asked.

“The elementary school.”

“Fuck. Well, answer it.”

Hitting accept, he put the phone on speaker. “Kinney,” he answered.

“Hello, Mr. Kinney, this is Principal Davis at Green Valley Elementary. Would you be able to come down to speak with us today?”

“Is something wrong?”

“Natasha and Noreen are in my office. I would like to speak to you in person, please.”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.” He hung up and looked at Justin. “Can you take care of this alone?”

“Guess I have no choice. Make sure you swing by and pick us back up, I can’t imagine whatever this is about that they aren’t sent home for the rest of the day.”

“Right. Good luck,” he told Justin as the younger man got out of the car.

“You too.”

Justin felt like he was walking to his own execution. He had been called to the principal’s office before. But this was the first time with their blended family. He had thought the kids were getting along. Gus and Krista were even friends. Lola and Nina were both into fashion and got along fine he thought.

He saw them even before he got into the office. They were seated in four chairs against the wall right outside the office.

“What have you four done?”

“It wasn’t our fault,” Gus said first.

“We didn’t do anything,” Nina said at the same time.

“Just tell me before I’m blindsided.”

“Some stuff was online about Eric. I guess someone here looked him up on socials after school yesterday,” Gus said, he had what looked like a nice black eye forming.

“What stuff?” he asked. The four looked at each other but didn’t say anything. “I have to know if I’m going to be talking to your principal.”

“Someone posted a pic of Eric with the word freak on it. There are rumors he’s pregnant. No one even knows him here, but they see it online and thing it’s the truth. No one calls our brother a freak and gets away with it,” Lola said.

If Eric didn’t know by now, he would soon. This wasn’t what he planned for their night. He would have to speak to Brian about maybe finding another school for Eric or homeschooling, he was more sensitive than the rest except Krista.

“Why aren’t the kids you fought with here?”

“Their parents already came and got them. There is a zero-tolerance policy for that sort of thing. They’re suspended a week. Mrs. Kline the receptionist thinks we’ll probably just get a few days,” Krista told him.

Justin just hoped Brian was having a better time than he was.

“What do you mean, they are expelled? They are ten years old.”

“They started a fire, Mr. Kinney. We can’t overlook the dangers of the situation.”

“You said yourself no one saw them. They didn’t admit to it, and you don’t have any video proof. How can you be so sure my girls set any fire?”

Principal Davis straightened herself in her chair. She thought she looked tough, but he had landed multi million dollars deals with sharks, she had nothing on them.

“According to their records they have form for this sort of thing.” Her face looked like a rat to him. The hideous green pantsuit wasn’t helping her either.

“When they were six another boy brought matches to school with him. He gave one each and they all tried to light it. They didn’t know what it was, they were just doing what was on the packet. Only one of the matches lit and it wasn’t even theirs. It was put out by Noreen, and she admitted to the teacher what happened. How is that form? My kids don’t lie.” At least the twins didn’t lie. They didn’t even understand sarcasm.

“Be that as it may, we have to deal with this accordingly.”

“If you suspend my girls for lighting a fire you better damn well have proof. If you don’t, I’ll sue this whole school system and yes, I have the money to do it.”

“They were in the area. If they didn’t do it, they know who did and aren’t saying. That can’t be overlooked.”

“Do I have to repeat myself?”

“Fine, they are suspended for the rest of the day though.”

“Fine. I’ll take my kids home and make sure they know their rights and my lawyer’s number.” He wasn’t bluffing either, he knew his girls. If they said they didn’t do it, they didn’t.”

On the way back to the high school, he started to question them.

“Do you know who started the fire?” He had found out it was a small one in a trash can in the girls’ bathroom.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell the principal?”

“Snitches get stitches,” Natasha said.

“Where did you hear that?”

“Gus said it to Freddie at the pool party,” Noreen said.

“Why would he say that?”

“We can’t say,” Noreen said.

“Why?”

“Snitches get stitches,” they said in unison.

“Tell me who started the fire and tell me what Gus was threatening Freddie about,” he demanded. It wouldn’t work with most of his kids, but the twins didn’t like his stern voice.

“Jessie Vicks started the fire, but she didn’t mean it. She was playing with a lighter, she was only supposed to make her pen melt,” Noreen said.

That was one down. “And?”

“Gus is joining the Navy when he graduates. Freddie found out; he doesn’t want you to know yet.”

The Navy? His son wanted to join the armed forces; he didn’t know what to think about that. “Alright. Thank you for telling me. Next time a friend thinks lighting something on fire would be interesting, just say no.”

“Yes, father,” the said in unison. He inwardly shivered. They always freaked him out when they did that, he didn’t even know if they were doing it on purpose.

Once they were all home, after taking Justin home to get his van to pick up the littles, they finally could relax. Well, not really because they still have to feed eighteen and it was a tense room because the older kids weren’t keen on telling Eric what was being said about him. They had discussed it and decided Brian would speak to him in private after most the kids went to bed.

“I used to fear the first day of school, now the second day is the one to watch out for,” Justin said later that night.

“It can only get better, right?”

Justin just started to laugh, and Brian joined in. He was right, it was stupid to think this was as worse than it could get. Eric still had his appointment and everything to help him after that.

“At least they’re getting along. They fought together for him,” Justin said.

“That’s what I like about you, always seeing the silver lining.”

“That’s me, Mary fucking Sunshine.”

“My little Sunshine,” he said, pinching Justin’s cheek.

“Oh god, what did I start.”