EPILOGUE

   All four of them went back at Brian and Justin's cottage in the local village of Hazelwurst.

   The cottage was a two story, gabled, old-time shuttered, thatched roof type like many of the houses in town. Unlike most of them it now sported a large stable in back. Arrow had taken one look at the place in distaste and blew a large flaming breath at it. Only instead of burning inward and destroying the place, the flame burnt...outward and slowly the stable had appeared out of the flame. When it was done, the flames died and then POOF!...went out. He was now happily ensconced in his very own stall, under a huge horse blanket and munching oats before bed. Beside him was a second stall where the white cow now made her home, chewing her cud in udder....uhhh, that is, utter contentment.

   Inside, the cottage had a big living room done in fire tones, kitchen, bathroom on the first floor, and upstairs were two bedrooms and a second small bathroom in between.

   "You'll stay with us, of course," Justin said, as they entered. He pinched his nose and sneezed; there was a light coating of dust after being away so long and he was allergic. But a little water and a mop would take care of everything. He went in search of the implements.

   "Oh...well, you have a beautiful home...but we don't want to intrude. Besides we should be getting back..." Gus stopped and teared up. He remembered there was nowhere to go back to.

   Justin bustled back and enfolded the young man in a parental-penguin-ey way. *

   "Now don't you worry about that now," he soothed, "There'll always be a spot for you two here and besides we were going to ask you something but that'll keep for later. And when you're ready and married off, we'll find you a cottage of your own. There's a great realtor a few lanes over. Her name's Jennifer Tucker and she works miracles. Why, I even heard that she found a woman a huge house that was built up to look like a huge shoe!"

   "A shoe!!? Why on Earth would a woman want to live in a shoe!?" said Gus. Man he would never understand ladies and shoes!

   "Hey I remember that!" cried Brian, "Man she had a lot of kids! I remember they liked to play on the laces! It's a wonder how she knew what to do! Must have had a pritt-tee colorful past!" He winked.

   "Brian! She ran an orphanage!" barked out Justin.

   "Oh! Right...well....sooooooo.......who wants coffee?"

* In Penguin-dom, the fathers are the primary caregivers and nurturers

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Later that evening...

   Promptly at sunset, Brian turned into an owl. Fortunately, he was wearing the collar and so it was an easy thing to fetch the potion and both Justin and Brian took a second swallow, Justin from a glass and Brian out of a bowl.

   POOF! Brown feathers filled the room and that was that. The ordeal was over. The feathers were swept into the fire and now later, everyone was happy and content.

   The four men were lounging and enjoying hot chocolate after a nice dinner. The cottage sparkled with friendly candle and firelight and the nasty dust had long been mopped away.

   "What I don't understand is..." Gus was saying, "How did you know Craig was going to say that and doom himself?"

   "I wondered that myself, Sunshine," Brian admitted.

   "I didn't....not really," Justin answered, "The whole plan came to me in a split second. You probably remember me swearing the F-word a blue streak just before I rushed him?"

   "They all nodded.

   "Well, I was counting on it having the same impact on him. I wanted that word right at the front of his mind so that when faced with the pain, he'd use it. And it worked! Of course, it was still a big gamble. I'm just glad I won in this case."

   They all heartily agreed. There was a nice dozy silence broken only by a soft snicker from Brian as he thought of asexual Craig still out there getting it in both ends for all time.

   "Well, let's turn the page on that one," said Justin, "Gus...Randal...we were going to ask you..."

   "Oh let me! Let me!" said Brian excitedly.

   Justin sipped and waved a hand. "Go ahead," it said.

   Brian wondered where to begin. He thought about it and decided on full disclosure. "Gus...first, I'd like to say, I'm really sorry for what's about to happen. If we could stop it, we would. But since we can't I'd really like...we'd really like it if you...both of you would become our surrogate sons and family, move near us, be near us, share our families. Our children can be cousins or even siblings or whatever you like. I'm just hoping we can be together and close forever. Back in the forest...when the Green Fairy gave me instructions on the flower crown...he told me that in another dimension, another world, you actually were my son. I know that didn't really work out here in reality but...this would be the next best thing. I didn't then, but I can tell you now, that I envy that Brian more than I can say. Gus, Randal, please...be our sons...be our family instead. We'll even find Melanie and bring her into the fold when she finds out the crappy news."

   Gus looked at Randal "What do you think?" he asked.

   Randal shrugged. "What are the alternatives?" he pointed out.

   "Good point," he agreed.

   "I...Well, you know where I came from," Randal said, "I for one would like to experience some good parenting...or at least mentoring... if for once in my life. I'd like to accept your patronage."

   "Me too," said Gus, "I'll miss my real Dad too but I think this will be good for me and for all of us. Back there...I always felt...looked through, you know? There was just too many of us for him to pay proper attention. And then...I didn't realize it but he really lost touch with reality there for awhile."

   Brian and Justin were ecstatic. Their joy rubbed off on Gus and Randal whose joy was less vibrant but was more like a warm, soothing blanket, a feeling of belonging, of relief that they didn't have to figure out their next move because, quite simply, there was no next move. They were right where they belonged.

   Someone popped a cork and poured wine and they toasted and celebrated their new decision.

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   Two months later, in a quiet ceremony, with the least amount of fuss as possible, Brian and Justin, and Gus and Randal were married in a double ceremony in a civil ceremony by the mayor at Town Hall. They all wore the most delectable black tuxes and the courtroom had been decorated with generous bouquets of red roses.

   Randal had two more of his coins made into rings for himself and Gus and Brian and Justin gave them the sprig of diamond to use. Randal chose a more traditional solid band for himself and Gus with a nice setting for a generous diamond to...well, set. Gus loved it.

   They paid for the wedding using the dog's treasure and when all was said and done there was still a lot left over. This they used to buy a modest cottage a few streets over from Brian and Justin. There they moved and there they stayed for the rest of their days.

   Brian experienced a most supreme joy when he put Justin's ring back on his finger, this time, for good.

   "For forever and a day!" they both vowed in a whisper and then kissed long and deep.

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Eight months later...that is, ten months after the adventure....

   "Brian! I'm having that craving again!"

   "Again? That craving!?"

   "Yes! Pickles...and ice cream! Oh God! Thick, creamy chocolate ice cream!"

   "Me too! Only I want radishes and Rocky Road!" said Gus.

   Behind him, rubbing his shoulders, Randal closed his eyes. As always, he was secretly relieved about Gus' alternative craving. But he never said anything.

   "OK, boys, coming up! Good thing I stocked up from the market today!" Brian headed to the fridge and freezer.

   It had only been two months or so into the male pregnancy but they were exhibiting all the signs right down to the disgusting cravings of pickles, ice cream, peanut butter and sardine pizzas, of devilled eggs and angel food cake, and the like, and mood swings. Besides that, both men said that they could just "feel" that something was different in their bodies, could sense the new life growing.

   None of them knew where the baby was growing or even how it was going to get outta there but they knew the Fairy wouldn't have given them this gift if it were going to seriously hurt them so they just patiently waited.

   The four men visited each other so often eventually they came to feel that they almost lived at both places. As the babies came nearer and nearer to term, the four men grew closer and closer to each other until they were more like partnered brothers than two couples.

   On the eighth month of pregnancy, Justin awoke and went to go to the bathroom. He sat carefully onto the toilet seat and had a nice pee. As he got up and cleaned up, he noticed a pucker of flesh under his scrotum that hadn't been there the night before. He dabbed at it experimentally and it opened a little like an iris of an eye. However, when left alone, it shut itself up again.

   "Brian! Brian! Come look!" Justin yelled, running...well, waddling excitedly into the bedroom.

   Brian was still half asleep but he woke all the way up when he heard Justin yell.

   "Everything OK, Sunshine?" he asked, sitting up in bed.

   "I'm not sure! Look at this!"

   "I always like looking at you, sexy man!" Brian leered.

   "Oh Brian, really! I'm fat as a house!"

   "Not true! Just pregnant and gorgeous!" Brian grabbed him fondling him and pulling him in for a kiss.

   Justin rolled his eyes. "OK! OK! But check this out!"

   The pucker was fondled, poked, prodded and pushed into a little. At this, Justin winced in pain, so Brian stopped immediately. Otherwise there had been no feeling to it and it was not an erogenous zone.

   "Hmmmm. Well Sunshine, I think our chip off the old blocks might be preparing for a way out. I suggest we just ignore it and keep it clean but otherwise leave it alone."

   Gus' pucker appeared a few weeks later. (They had been very close apart).

   About a month later, to the day, Justin could feel the baby drop and for a few days he felt even fatter. But he was happy because this meant the baby was coming soon.

   All too soon. It was almost exactly two days later, when Justin went into labor. It was painful but he had been preparing for it so when it hit it was only like getting hit with a baseball instead of a stagecoach.

   Brian rushed him to the midhusband where Justin was given lots of pain numbing potion. As the contractions went on, the pucker opened more and more like a flower opening, until it was 10 cm in diameter. At that point Justin really needed to push and under the midhusband's directions, did so. And soon after that their baby pushed its way out into the wide and magically wonderful world.

   It was a perfect little boy. He had blue eyes and a full head of brown hair. They named him James because the name was as simple and beautiful as he was.

   After the baby and afterbirth had been expelled, the opening retracted again and puckered tightly closed. Before their eyes, it shored over and turned into a scab. A few days after that, the scab dried up, fell off and it was as if the opening had never been.

   Gus didn't say it but he was glad Justin had gone first. He was getting nervous about the whole delivery thing and wasn't sure how he was going to react to the pain. But when it came down to the wire and his baby dropped and then two weeks later fought his way into the world, he was scared but managed OK. It helped to have Randal there squeezing his hand during the rough spots.

   Their baby was smaller and red faced and was prone to squalling a lot. They had a girl. She had beginnings of black hair on her head, green eyes, and a birthmark in the shape of a rose on the bottom of her left foot. They named her Carrie for no good reason at all.

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A year later:

        Both couples were deliriously happy. They both visited back and forth and switched babies and babysat for each other so much that they could barely tell where one family started and the other ended. It was like the babies had 4 dads. And Justin was pregnant again. And six months after that, Gus was preggers again.

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Five years later:

   "Brian, goddamit! I swear to God, if you get me pregnant one more time, I swear I am going to kill you!"

   Justin had been pregnant three times and Gus twice and both of them had three children. Gus had sported fraternal twins and they named them Hansel and Gretel after another pair from another forest that seemed so long ago it was almost a dream. But Randal didn't want to forget them and besides his twins' eyes had sparkled like stars right out of a dream and so had spawned the names.

   And now Justin was pregnant a fourth time. He loved it and was used to it by this time but it was old hat at this point and he had three other rugrats crawling/running around and it was getting harder.

   Brian, maddeningly, just smirked and shrugged. He loved his husband pregnant and the resulting kids so he wasn't making any promises. Besides, Justin was sexier and hornier when he was pregnant and was prone to getting into some pretty weird shit. Brian couldn't wait to see what his creative boy came up with next.

   The kids came and went, back and forth between their houses until they all were irrevocably linked. They all continued back and forth visiting until it was as if they lived in both places and all of their kids were siblings. It was a most unusual arrangement but it worked for them so they didn't worry about it and kept doing it. The only thing they held separate from each other was their sex lives. And these were happy, vibrant and even a little experimental from time to time for the rest of their lives.

   For the rest of their lives, the magic of their world continued to affect them and spin them off into other adventures, each one wilder and more exciting than the last. As their children grew up, they began having adventures of their own. One found a magic cloth that made a feast appear anytime he wanted. Another bought a bathmat and found out it could fly. It was a little hard to control at first and before he knew it he was miles and miles away. It would be a year before he made it home but when he got there he brought home such a fortune that it more than made up for it. And his parents weren't really worried because they had all been brought up to be very self-sufficient.

   Ironically, all their children turned out straight except for Justin's sixth and last, who had been so blue eyed and blond haired that he named him Justin Jr., or J.J right on the spot. J.J. turned out to be very artistic and eventually he could draw or paint pictures that were so real that they could become real or create a portal to that time and place.

   I guess what I'm trying to say...in a roundabout way is that day by day...week by week...year by year....they all prospered....and lived happily ever after.

THE END