Justin’s Kids

Krista-15 Blonde hair, blue eyes 

Nina-14 dark hair, brown eyes

Freddie-13 dark hair and blue eyes 

Sadie-11 blonde and blue eyes

Mitch-8 blond hair blue eyes

Lucas-6 blond with blue eyes

Hannah-3 dark hair and dark eyes

Beatrice-1 blonde and blue eyes

Brian’s Kids

Gus—17 Dark hair and hazel eyes

Eric-16 blond and dark eyes

Lola-15 tall, blonde, blue eyes

Adam- 13 dark hair and dark eyes

Mindy-12 dark hair and hazel eyes

Noreen and Natasha- Identical twins 10 dark hair dark eyes

Alicia- 8 Red hair and hazel eyes

Logan-6 blond and hazel eyes

Leia-3 light brown hair and dark eyes

Brian needed a vacation, far, far away, possibly somewhere with alcohol. That was never going to happen because wherever he went, he had to take ten kids with him. He loved his kids, but they were very taxing. The school year had just ended, now summer was upon them.

Gus and Eric were going to be camp counselors at Camp Axlewood. Lola, Adam and Mindy were all going there as campers. Noreen and Natasha were going to Camp Visionary, a creative arts camp, it too was overnight, a month long just like the older kids. Alicia and Logan were going to day camp and Leia was going to her daycare’s camp. He had to keep them all active or he would lose control of the house and madness would reign free.

“Dad, have you seen my running shoes?” Gus asked, coming down the stairs looking panicked.

“Where did you last have them?”

“If I knew that, why would I fucking ask?”

Brian was never one to care if his kids cursed but he might change his way of thinking, if his son’s attitude didn’t change.

“I don’t think I heard you right,” he said, looking at him with what his kids called his ‘pissed off’ face.

“I didn’t mean to yell but we’ve got to be at the bus in an hour,” Gus said, rightly looking ashamed.

“It’s fine. Last time I saw them they were on the back deck with mud on them.”

Gus groaned and headed off for the back deck. The big kids leave in an hour, the twins in two hours and the others didn’t start day camp until the next day. After today for a whole month he was only responsible for three kids. Maybe he’d be able to get all the work that he hadn’t been able to in the last few months done.

He hired people at his agency that he could trust and that were the best, because of that he could do most of his work from home when things got too hectic to go to the office.

“Daddy, can Lucas spend the night tomorrow?” Logan asked.

“You have camp all week.”

“Can he spend the night Friday?”

“I’ll call his father, but I can’t promise anything.”

“YAY! Thank you.”

Four hours later Brian was sitting in his office and the house was quiet. It was never quiet. But now he had seven children off to camp and three spending some time with Lindsay’s sister. About once a year she got sentimental and wanted to spend time with her nieces and nephews. She wasn’t a bad person, but Brian couldn’t stand her. She’d been married more times that Elizabeth Taylor and didn’t agree with how he lives his life or raises his children. One day a year wasn’t that bad, usually he doesn’t like it, but this would be the first time in a while that he had the house all to himself.

His phone rang, causing him to jump slightly. He answered before it could wake anyone up before he remembered he was alone.

“Kinney speaking,” he answered.

“Brian,” the gentle voice said. He recognized it instantly.

“Justin, what’s going on?”

“I’m sorry to ask but are you able to meet me at the hospital?”

Worry filled him. “Are you alright? The kids?”

“I’m fine, my son Freddie broke his arm. My sister is with the kids and my friend Daphne is at work. I don’t have many people I trust with my kids. I know we really don’t know each other but I was wondering if you could come and stay with Freddie while I go take care of an issue with Krista.”

Brian smiled. “Well, all my kids are gone, and I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. Might as well babysit.”

“He’s thirteen, just make sure you don’t call it babysitting.”

“I’ll be sure not to utter the word.”

“Thank you. I’m at Alleghany General emergency room. I’ll tell them to let you back when you arrive.”

“Will do.”

Half an hour later he found Justin and his son Freddie’s room.

“Hey,” he said, gaining their attention.

Justin looked relieved, it made Brian wonder what was happening with his daughter.

“You’re here. Thank you so much, I’m so sorry about this.”

“Sorry’s bullshit. It’s fine. Go take care of what you need. We’ll be here when you get back.”

“Thanks. They are supposed to put his arm in a cast and let us go but they are running seriously behind.”

“If that happens, we’ll call you and tell you to come back.”

Justin smiled and Brian returned it. If he knew Justin and the boy better, he would have told Justin just to let the staff know he could take the boy home. But because he didn’t, Brian didn’t think it was right to ask for permission to take his teenage child out of the hospital with a stranger to him.

Now he was alone with a kid he didn’t know. What had he agreed to? He sat down in the uncomfortable chair and looked at the boy sitting on the exam table who looked to be trying to use his phone with his non-dominant hand. His arm was in a splint and he had some blood on his white shirt. He had dark brown hair and blue eyes; his hair was cut in a shaggy style that he wouldn’t allow his kids to have.

“What happened?” he asked to fill the silence.

“I fucked up doing a kickflip. The guys are going to laugh their asses off. My baby brother can do a kickflip.”

“You skate a lot?”

“It’s my life.”

“I thought skateboarding went out in the nineties?”

“No, man. I do other extreme sports too, but skating is my passion.”

“Wow sounds like it. How are your grades?”

“Oh god, you sound like my dad. He’s always bitching at me to study. I’m never going to be Krista; I just don’t care about grades. I’m not going to college.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Pro-skater.”

If this were his child, he’d make a remark about moving to California so when he’s homeless he doesn’t freeze. But this wasn’t his child, so he bit his tongue.

“What does your dad think about that?”

“Which one?” Freddie asked defensively.

“Justin.”

“He’s supportive, he knows what it’s like to want something people think is stupid and he’ll never live on.”

“What’s that?”

Freddie looked at him oddly. “I thought you knew my dad?”

“Not very well.”

“He’s an artist, a damn good one. But that’s not what he does for a living, he does sell some work, but it doesn’t keep us in clothes and food. He runs an art gallery. The Harold House.”

“I’ve heard of it, it’s good.” He thought about how defensive Freddie was when he asked about how his father felt, it was clearly not at Justin. “What about your other father?” he asked. Maybe he could find out a little about Justin.

“He’s a tool, and I hate him. Last time I saw him he said he wanted me to play an instrument. I hate that classical crap, but I wanted him to hang out with me. So, I tried, he gave me one of his practice violins and started training me. I was nine and stupid. Everything I did was wrong, and he was mean about how bad I was. Said stuff like Dad must have lied and I wasn’t his. When he stole our vacation money and ran away, I didn’t miss him. Just sad we didn’t get to go on vacation that year. It was alright in the end because my dad had morning sickness around that time anyway.”

“He does sound like an asshole.”

Freddie nodded. “I don’t know who has it worse. Krista, Nina, Hannah and I that have that waste of space as a father or Sadie and Mitch because their other father is dead. Then there is Lucas and Bea, they won’t ever know their other fathers.”

“How do you know?” How much of his personal life does Justin share with his children?

“I heard Dad talking to my Aunt Daphne. He thought we were asleep. He had said that he met Lucas’ father at a bar and had a one-night-stand. He just found out that he was pregnant with Bea, he said he never saw the guy’s face. Someone he met at a Halloween party at some club called Babylon. They were both wearing costumes. Dad was wearing Joker makeup and the other man was wearing Batman costume.”

Brian froze, he remembered back two years ago. He had sex with a man dressed up as the Joker at Babylon and he was dressed as Batman.”

“How old is Bea?”

“One.”

Oh god, this couldn’t be happening.

Justin just parked his car and headed back into the hospital. Krista was all settled and fine now at least for the moment. He worried the most about her, because of her depression and social issues. Freddie was his most likely to break a bone, today showing that but he wasn’t worried for him. Freddie was a athletic and fun-loving kid. Sadie was the one he thought he needed to save bail money up for just in case. Nina was the one he worried would be taken advantage of, Mitch was the one he was worried would live in his head most of the time and not make friends. Lucas, Hannah and Baby Bea were still coming into their own. All his kids had their problems and issues, but it was Krista he was worried about that would harm herself.

Which is why left his son in the hands of a near stranger to get to her when she called telling him that she felt like hurting herself. She had a history of self-harm and other things, so he had to get to her quick.

He had picked Krista up at the park that she was sitting in and took her home, they talked, and he promised to make her an emergency appointment with her doctor. His sister would have left Nina to watch the kids and get her but worried that she would say something wrong. Being a parent was like walking a minefield on a normal day, you didn’t know when you could trip something and cause a disaster.

He heard laughing when he neared Freddie’s room.

“You didn’t? That’s crazy. My dad would murder me if I did something like that at school.”

“My dad didn’t care as long as he wasn’t bothered at the bar. Now my friend Mikey’s mom, she was pissed enough for everyone.”

“What did she do?”

“She grounded me.”

“How did she ground you if she wasn’t your mom?”

“Because she grounded Mikey, she knew I wouldn’t go out without him. I was young and it was important that I had him around me, felt less lonely.”

“I couldn’t fell lonely if I tried. I share a room with my two little brothers. The girls are two to a room but that’ll change when Bea is big enough to have her own bed, then she’ll share with Hannah and Sadie will share with Krista and Nina.”

“Sounds like it’s all planned.”

That was when Justin chose to make his presence known. “It is, we have had a family discussion about it.”

“Ah, you’re back. Everything alright?” Brian asked.

“Yeah, everything is good.” He saw Freddie relax. All his children that were old enough knew to look out for their big sister. Which was why he was surprised to have her and Nina arguing the other week. But sisters and brothers were never going to always get along. “Thank you so much for stepping in and hanging out with Freddie while I took care of that.”

“No problem. I need to speak with you outside the room though. It’s private.”

“Sure. I’ll be right back in,” he told Freddie.

He shut the door behind them, making sure Freddie can’t hear whatever Brian has to say.

“Is everything alright?” he asked, his eyes drifted from Brian to the nurses and staff working in the ER. He hated coming to the ER but with eight children he had been more than he ever thought he would.

“Freddie said something that had me wondering. He told me about your youngest and how she came to be.”

Justin could feel his anger growing. This man had a lot of nerve to talk about him.

“You listen here-

“Wait, first let me tell you a day in my life. On Halloween two years ago my friend Michael went as Robin and I went as Batman to the Halloween party at Babylon. I met a guy dressed up as the Joker and took him into the backroom where I shoved him down on his knees. After he blew me, I turned him around and-

“Stop! I don’t need to hear anymore.”

“If you are sure that’s when you got pregnant, then I think your youngest daughter is mine.”

Now Justin’s hackles were truly up. Who did this guy think he was?

“Even if you are her sperm donor doesn’t mean you’re her father.”

“I want to meet her.”

“No.”

“What? I’m good enough to watch your son but not meet my daughter.”

“Stop calling her that. She’s my daughter.”

“Listen, I’m not trying to take her from you. I have ten kids, that’s more than enough but I would like to meet her. I think we should do a DNA test.”

“I don’t know,” he said, deflating some. He didn’t want to be the reason Bea didn’t know her other father. Look how many times he had let Ethan back in their lives because he thought their kids needed him.

“Please.”

“Alright, set up the DNA test and I’ll take her. If she is proven to be yours, we’ll discuss you seeing her.”

“Thank you.”

It had been two weeks since he had seen Brian. True to his word Brian had the DNA test set up the next day. Justin took her to have her tested and now it was a waiting game. He expected the results any day now. A part of him wanted Brian to be Bea’s other father because then she wouldn’t have any questions about her parentage. Maybe even have a relationship with him. That would leave only Lucas with a mystery father, and then it wouldn’t be such a mystery. Justin could go back to the bar and ask around. Find Ned or whatever his name was. He just had never cared before, Lucas hadn’t asked about him. Justin assumed Lucas probably thought Ethan was his father even though he hadn’t told him that.

“Sadie, those dishes better be in the dishwasher in the next few minutes,” he told her.

All his kids had their own chores, it was the only way to keep the house from falling into despair. Now that summer was in full swing keeping the house clean was even harder. There was sleeping in, groggy kids, fighting and playing on electronics late into the night, then start all over again the next day. Years ago, he thought about maybe day camp or something like that, but he just couldn’t do it. He liked having his kids around. And with his job it was a luxury to spend time with them. He had to travel a lot and he felt like a terrible father. But during the summers he had more help than he needed at the art gallery, students working on degrees. It was his only real time to be with his kids. Then he looked at their zombie eyes and wondered why.   

“Dad, can we go to the pool?” Freddie asked.

“You can’t get your cast wet,” he told his oldest son.

“I can put a trash bag over it and tape it up, like I do for the shower.”

“Fine but only after you do your chores.”

There was a community pool in walking distance. It really was the only good thing about the HOA. He hated all the rules he had to abide by to just live there and that witch of a HOA president was always over complaining about his yard or his kids. He once got a fine because Lucas left his toy truck in the yard because a storm was rolling in. He could spit nails when he got that fine, not even a warning. He regretted buying the house after Brenda became HOA president.

When he moved in it was a nice woman named Kat, but she had to sell and move closer to her parents. There was also Brenda’s daughter who was head over heels in love with Freddie, who sadly was a late bloomer. If it wasn’t about skateboarding or other extreme sports his son just didn’t care. Justin was sure when he did show interest in someone with would be someone into extreme sports like himself. So, Brenda had assumed that Freddie was being a jerk to her daughter for not liking her back. Justin had told her that teens were fickle creatures, it was best not to question their feelings, she called Justin some things and he went home and painted a portrait of her in hell, it made him feel better

“I go swimming,” Hannah said.

“Nope, I’m not going swimming, I have too much work to do. Only kids that can swim can go to the pool.” Which was only his four oldest. The younger ones could technically swim but unless or another adult was there, they couldn’t swim, pool rules. He was glad because he didn’t like the thought of them there without him.

“Mails here,” Nina said, coming back inside the house. She had been mowing the lawn, usually Freddie’s chore because he always asked for the chores outside. But since he got hurt it was now Nina’s. “Did you have a DNA test done?” she asked looking at an envelope.

His heart started to beat wildly. He hadn’t told the kids because he didn’t want to upset them if there was no reason. But he wouldn’t lie to them.

“Yes, Baby Bea.”

“Why?” Krista asked.

“A man who might be her father, let’s leave it at that.”

“Well, opened it,” Nina said thrusting the letter at him.

He looked around and had all attention on him, even the little ones who he knew didn’t understand what was going on. Slowly, he opened the envelope. His eyes scanned the letter. Brian Kinney is the other father of Beatrice Rose Taylor.

“So?” Nina asked.

“She’s his daughter,” he said numbly.

“Whose daughter?” Freddie asked.

“Brian,” was all he said.

Brian got his mail; he was expecting the DNA test any day now. The little kids were at day camp. When he looked in the mailbox, he saw the envelope from the DNA lab. He told himself he didn’t want another child but as he read that she was his, he realized he did want another. Then something occurred to him, he was going to have to tell his kids they have a sister they didn’t know about; this was going to suck.

He called Justin and asked to meet him at the diner to discuss the situation. He wanted to meet Bea but didn’t know how to ask if Justin could bring her. He asked Ted to pick up the littles if the meeting ran late, but he didn’t tell him why.

He was looking at his phone when the bell chimed over the door. Looking up he saw Justin carrying a little blonde girl with a pink dress and pink headband on. He had used this trick with Leia because everyone assumed, she was a boy because it took forever for her hair to grow.

Standing up he greeted Justin and the girl, who he assumed was baby Bea.

“Thanks for coming on so short notice. I’m glad you brought her.”

“I said you could meet her if she was proven to be your daughter. Do you want to hold her?”

“Yes, please.”

Justin handed over the little girl, who giggled in Brian’s arms.

“She likes taller people holding her. My friend Clay is like six-four, she loves when he picks her up.”

Brian bristled slightly at this man holding his child. But he knew that was crazy. He just met her and didn’t even know about her until two weeks ago.

They sat down at the booth and Brian sat her down beside him. She stood up on the seat and started to look around.

“Do you know what you want to do?” Justin asked, shocking Brian.

“Do?”

“Are you going to sue me for visitation?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Sorry, I didn’t have a great experience with one of my exes. Ethan was is an asshole, I just was too young and stupid to know at the time. Then when I was older, I just wanted him to be a father to the children he already had with me. I don’t regret Hannah, but I hated that I let Ethan come around to hurt my kids again.”

“I’m going to put my cards on the table here. I want Bea in my life, and I don’t want to be a every other weekend father. That might work for some but not me.”

Justin’s heart started to pound. Was he going to try and take her away from him after promising he wouldn’t?

“What?” he asked hoarsely.

“Let me finish before you start to freak out. I don’t date and my sex life is pretty hit or miss, has been since my wife died. I’ve always known I was gay, experimenting in college when she got pregnant. I was talked into marrying her and being a family. We both still were able to fuck who we wanted.” Brian had covered Bea’s ears when he said fuck. “But it wasn’t a real marriage. I have questions how we kept on conceiving so easily and everything. So much that over the last two weeks I’ve looked into it. My wife had our condoms ordered and they came to the house so even when she died the condoms still came. I used a different brand when I went out by myself but after she died, I’d been so busy I hadn’t had sex until that night. Instead of going to the store to get my brand condoms, I grabbed the lasted delivered condoms, and that’s when you and I got together.

“I looked into this brand, turns out there are tons of lawsuits. They are like sixty-three percent effective. I don’t know if Lindsay knew that or not but I’m pretty sure that is why I’ve got so many kids. I should have questioned it more when she got pregnant with Eric. But I guess I was in some kind of depressive state, just letting things happen. It was like I didn’t wake up until after Linds died. I failed my kids, but I’m done with that. So, like I was saying, I don’t want to be a weekend dad.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Let’s get married.”

“WHAT?” Justin shouted. Bea jumped and started to cry. “I’m sorry Bea, do you want fries?” She nodded and stopped crying now only a sniffle here and there.

Brian waved over a waiter and ordered some fries and a water for Bea. “Do you want anything?” he asked Justin.

Justin shook his head, his stomach was in knots already, he couldn’t eat a thing. “What did you mean get married?”

“Just like it sounded like. I know it’s not what you would expect but just think about it. I know the idea of twenty people living under the same roof is a little extreme but with two seasoned pros like us, I think we could do it.”

“So what? A marriage of convenience?”

“I guess if you look at it that way. But as I said, I have ten kids…well eleven now. No sane guy is going to look at me twice. But you have eight kids and one of them is mine. I think we could work together. We know we’re sexually compatible.”

“Having sex against a wall in a dirty backroom doesn’t really prove that.”

“I want someone to grow old with. There I said it. I’m tired of feeling alone when everyone else in my life is happy. I swore I would die single, but people change…I changed. I know we don’t have those kinds of feelings yet, but I think we could.”

“I’ll think about it.” Has he lost his mind? Think about it. “Have you told your kids about Bea?”

“No, I have to wait until the older ones get back from camp. That’s another two weeks away. I was thinking maybe my younger kids and your kids could get to know each other.”

“I guess.” He knew he was in deep trouble with Brian smiled. It was a beautiful one with a tinge of a smirk behind it.