JUSTIN 

“Do we need to stop at the gym so you can let out the anger? Of course Drew would have to explain how to use the equipment, since you and I don't bother with it. Drew pay attention, Justin needs us.” Ryder tells us. 

“I'm trying to convince Emmett to run off to Paris next weekend.” Drew tells us, winking at a smiling Emmett.

“Dude, at this point I'm surprised he isn’t preggers from all the shit your mind has come up with.” Ryder grumbles. 

“Sweetie, that only happens in books.” Emmett tells him giggling.

“Yeah, but you never know what could happen, I read about some guy wanting to carry a child. I left a comment about where the kid would come out of, because that's a massive shit I never want to imagine.” Ryder tells us as we all cringe.

“Is he being serious?” Emmett asks us. 

“Ryder tends to think of things no one cares about.” Drew tells him. 

“Come on, what about that guy who had to be juiced. I honestly felt bad for him.” Ryder tells us.

“I'm going to regret asking aren’t I?” Emmett asks us. 

“Everyone regrets it.” I tell him. 

“You are so out of my will, I was planning on leaving you a whole dollar.” Ryder tells me. 

“Just tell him, I still think it's made up.” I tell Ryder. 

“So, this guy like wants to shove shit up his ass, why I don't get, because well, fruits and veggies don't do it for me. But anyway, he shoves a grapefruit up there and it gets stuck. So after a couple hours he runs to the emergency room and pulls a nurse aside and explains that there's a grapefruit stuck in his ass. She takes him to see the doctor because even she's worried about what that could do to someone. The doctor, after trying to remove it, decides they have to change the size of the grapefruit some how. So the nurse suggest juicing him. They got it out, so guess she was right.” Ryder tells us seriously. 

“Yep, regretted asking.” Emmett tells us. 

“Hey, it's good to know in case it happens.” Ryder tells us. 

“Right, because I look at fruit and think ‘shove it up my ass’.” I tell him. 

“People aren't logical Justin, they do all sorts of stupid things, you either laugh or you spend time worrying.” Ryder tells me. 

“My son is worth everything and any worrying I need to do.” I tell him. 

“Then don't let him near stupid people.” He tells me. 

“How do I do that when it's his mothers?” I ask him. 

“Anybody can live without shitty parents, you did without the sperm donor.” He tells me. 

“Why do you call him that, and not your dad?” Emmett asks me. 

“Let me, please?” Ryder begs. I just nod, because I don't talk about Craig.

“We decided when he tried to cut Justin out of everyone's life that he no longer deserves Justin. So like a sperm bank, you can't be sure who created you, but they don’t matter. My Uncle, Drew's dad, told him that he wasn’t any better than the guy who shot in the cup while looking at porn for money. So we say sperm donor like you say useless piece of shit.” Ryder tells him.

“Your father sounds amazing.” Emmett tells Drew.

“He's why I came out. He told me hiding in a closet just gets dark and lonely and that my girlfriend deserved someone who loves her, not uses her.” Drew tells him. 

“How is Sierra?” I ask him. 

“Good. She got married to the guy I introduced her to.” Drew tells us. 

“She wasn’t mad about being your beard?” Emmett asks him. 

“She wasn’t thrilled, but she's a really good person and told me she would support me. Which made my life easier when the shit hit the fan. Reporters couldn’t get her to play scorned girlfriend, instead they got her telling them she accepted me for who I really am.” Drew tells him. 

“That's nice, she sounds like someone I would like.” Emmett tells him. 

“We all love her for helping him.” Ryder tells him.

“Hey, Brian needs help with the fort.” I tell Ryder.

“It's like four walls and a roof, how hard could that be?” Ryder asks us. 

“Brian doesn’t think like normal people.” I tell him. 

“Do I need to call some of my guys to help?” He jokes.

“If he adds the game room, definitely.” I tell him seriously. 

“You know, I think I like him already.” Ryder tells me. 

BRIAN 

I sat next to Gus and JJ while the girls tried to convince us it's not bad. I stare at the fort that is competing with Pisa in the leaning department and wonder if it would fall if I touched it.

“Dad, I think we should have built the foundation first.” Gus tells me. 

“I nailed the bottom boards together. I figured it would hold the walls up.” I tell him. 

“You needed to build the bones.” Jenny tells me shyly.

“What?” I ask her, because she's only been talking to Gus, who talks for her.

“Like a skeleton, it shapes your body.” She tells me with more confidence. 

“You mean build the frame, then add the outside?” I ask her smiling. 

“Yes, I mean without our bones, we'd be puddles on the ground, or in the fort’s case, sideways.” She tells me giggling. 

“That was really smart Jenny.” Gus beams like a proud parent.

“It's also in his plans.” She smirks at us.

“Is she like a genius?” JJ asks, impressed.

“I'm just me.” She says directly to JJ, instead of to Gus. 

“Which is a good thing, because we like you.” I tell her. 

“So we tear it down again?” Gus asks, a little too excited about it.

“Dude, seriously?” A guy says, leaning his head to match the tilt of the fort.

“Ryder, he's an ad exec, not a builder. You build them, he’ll sell them to the idiots who can't afford them but want them.” Drew tells him. 

“I did construction once.” I grumble. 

“Only once, I can tell.” Ryder smirks. 

“Brian, Drew brought Ryder to entertain us.” Emmett snickers. 

“Dude, I'm hurt, you’re out of my will too. I planned to give you my porn collection.” He tells Emmett. 

“Dad, what's porn?” Julia asks.

“It's what grown ups have when they look for love in the wrong places.” Justin tells her, glaring at Ryder. 

“Hey, he told me I was his muse.” Ryder tells us. 

“Hey he told me too, only greasy chin rat doesn't do it for me.” Justin tells him. 

“I just wanted to get lai… you know, let me turn this into something that looks like a fort.” Ryder runs to Gus and ducks behind him, when Justin glares.

“So you'll protect me from your dad right?” He asks Jenny. 

“My dad would run the minute you glared.” She tells him.

“Really, cause I'd be chasing all the boys away from you and that gorgeous little sister of yours.” He tells her. 

“She's my friend, not my sister.” Jenny whispers to him.

“Friend, sister, pretty much the same thing.” Ryder whispers to her.

“I wish she was my sister, because then Mr Brian would be my dad.” She tells him.

“I might not be your dad, but I'll be there when you need me.” I tell her. 

“Really?” She asks me walking up to me.

“Really princess.” I tell her. 

“Dad loves princesses.” Julia tells her sitting in my lap. 

“I can be a princess, no problemo.” Ryder tells me. 

“Ryder, no hitting on him, he's got a big enough following without adding you.” Justin tells him. 

“Yeah, but I'll just smile adoringly, and dream of my life with him when you're gone.” He jokes.  

“We should call Michael, you and he would have that in common.” Emmett tells him.

“That’s the moro… guy?” Ryder asks when he realizes Justin is glaring at him.

“He's my dad. Not that he bothers much.” Jenny tells him.

“Then sorry, but he's a moron if he doesn't see the treasure you are.” Ryder tells her.

“We have to tear this down and start again.” Gus tells Ryder. 

“No, we just have to give it a support system. We just put braces around it until we stabilize everything that went wrong and it becomes able to hold itself up.” Ryder tells all of us.

“Ever think about the ad business?” I ask him.

“I like creating good homes with strong foundations.” Ryder tells me. 

“Welcome to my home.” I tell him. 

GUS

Jenny finally became comfortable enough to talk to people other than me. I want her to have what Ryder just described, a good home. I just don’t know how to do that for her. I know Dad and Daddy are trying, but like me, they can't make Mama do anything when it comes to Jenny. At least she got this weekend to see that all homes aren’t like ours. 

Why can’t my moms understand she needs more than them to be happy? Maybe Daddy knows.

“Daddy can we talk?” I ask him. 

“Sure, did you want Dad to listen too?” He asks me.

“Can we talk first?” I ask him. 

“Justin, just call me if you need me.” Dad tells us. 

We walk in the kitchen and Daddy gets me cookies and milk. He always does that when we talk. To me it's strange that I could see us doing this when I'm as old as him.

“Want to tell me what's on your mind?” He asks me. 

“I'm trying to figure out what to say that would make sense.” I tell him. 

“Do like I do when I draw, I throw my ideas down until I find what I'm looking for.” He tells me. 

“Why can't Mama see that Jenny needs people in her life?” I ask him. 

“People, or us?” He asks me. 

“Anybody, she even gives Grandma a hard time about spending time with Jenny.” I tell him biting into a cookie.

“I don't know her well enough to give you a honest answer. Your dad might know.” He tells me. 

“I just don’t want him more worried about me than he already is.” I tell him. 

“Gus, he loves you, he'll always worry. You also know he'll be honest with you.” He tells me. 

“Jenny needs days like today. I can't be the only person taking care of her.” I tell him looking at the table, because it hurts to think of myself and not her.

“Gus.” Daddy says as he lifts my chin to look at him.

“I don’t know what to do anymore.” I tell him crying. 

“You let us help by not keeping secrets if it's bad. There's a time when you have to think of what's best for you.” Daddy tells me. 

“She needs me to be the strong one.” I tell him, burying my head in his chest while he hugs me.

“Let me do that for you.” Daddy tells me, and I feel safe in his strong arms.