Justin woke up to his phone ringing. Swinging his arm out wildly, he grabbed it, and looked at the time on the screen. It was only a little after two in the morning.

“Who the fuck is calling?” Brian muttered before turning back over, burying his face in his pillow.

Justin withheld a laugh, long gone was his party all night lover. Now he wanted his sleep and couldn’t function without it. Justin’s eyes widened when he finally noticed who was calling.

“Shit,” he cursed before hitting answer. “Reece?”

Brian rolled back over and looked much more alert and awake. He mouthed “What’s wrong?” Justin shook his head.

“Dad?” Justin could hear the panic in his son’s voice.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?” he asked, his voice rising.

“I’m scared.”

“What? Why? Is someone there?”

Brian was already up and getting dressed, his movements quick.

“Someone tried to open the door, they couldn’t get in.”

“What about your dog?”

He had been shocked when Reece told him he got a dog, he thought that it was a bit much. But Reece seemed happy about it and said Harley was a sweetheart. His name had been Duke but Reece insisted his name was Harley, the dog agreed. When Justin asked him why Harley, Reece said it was because his coat was called Harlequin, white with black torn patches.

“He’s hiding in the closet under the cover with me.”

“Your father is on his way, he’ll be there soon,” Justin said watching Brian rush out of the room. If he wasn’t the only one home with Avery, Caleb and Sean he would have gone too.

“I can’t do this, I’m scared of my own shadow. Also, my big protector seems to be as much of a scaredy cat as I am,” his son said, sounding on the verge of tears.

“Come home then, we can protect you.”

“I’m not a child.”

Justin closed his eyes. This wasn’t going well. All he wanted was his son, safe and sound. An idea popped into his head, it was a little crazy but it might work.

“Kiddo?”

“Hmm?”

“How about this, we own the whole building. Mrs. Krantz moved out a few months ago. Your father is picky about who moves in, what if Matthew moves in. Then he is just one floor down. You’ll have freedom but Matthew will be there if you need him.”

Matthew wasn’t the ideal one but he was the only one that went to school in the area besides Reece. Kenyon and Maurice went to schools in different states. Kenyon would have been the better choice, he has a calming influence on his siblings. It takes quite a bit to anger him, sadly, Sean found out how to make Kenyon angry.

They had been insane to take on so many children. The thing was that Brian couldn’t say no to a child in need. Everyone thought it was Justin who pushed to become foster parents, but it had been Brian. Justin had pushed with the adoptions but in truth he didn’t have to push that hard, except with Avery. Brian thought he would be too old for another round of hyperactive kids running around.

“Matt move in downstairs?”

Justin noticed that Reece’s voice sounded a bit stronger. That was a step in the right direction, he suspected the person at the door was Michael. After Ben died, Michael started drinking heavily, he would be the only one with a key to the building that wasn’t Brian or Mr. Callory, who lived on the landing and was the building handyman. Brian had the loft locks changed when Reece moved in. But they hadn’t thought there was a need to get the buildings changed, after all it was very secure. Which was the only reason he wasn’t losing his mind right now.

He would just wait until Brian got there to confirm though, then he was going to kick Mikey’s ass. This was getting old. The man had become an alcoholic after the death of Ben. They were unsure of how bad it was until Hunter called them when he went to go check on Michael a few years before. Hunter found him passed out in his own vomit, he was lost at what to do. That was when Hunter called them. Brian paid for one of the best treatment facilities, but as Ted and Blake both told them, he wouldn’t get help until he ready, which hadn’t happened yet. The thing is with Brian, Debbie, Hunter and even Jenny covering up for him, that was a long way off.

“Can you stay on the phone with me until Pop gets here?” Reece said, suddenly sounding like the little boy that Justin remembered.

“Always.”

Brian broke every traffic law to get to Pittsburgh as fast as possible. It was so late or early, however you looked at it, so no one else was on the road, that made it easier to speed and run stop signs.

He cursed when he pulled up in front of the building. Michael was swaying as he walked out the building’s door. He had temporarily forgotten Michael had a key to the building. Had he really been in there banging on the loft door for that long? To give Reece his privacy, Brian had removed the app to keep a check on the loft, he regretted it now.

Getting out of his car, he rushed to his completely sloshed ‘friend’.

“What the fuck, Mikey? You scared Reece out of his mind.”

“Reece?” Michael asked, tilting his head a little.

“Yes, my son, who is terrified because you were banging on the loft door at two in the morning.” Michael swayed again before he started to fall. “Shit,” Brian cursed as he made a grab for him before his head hit the pavement. He took him to his car and laid him out in the backseat.

“Move over, Harley,” Reece told the big baby beside him. “Some guard dog you are.”

Harley was half over him but seemed to be trying to hide under him at the same time. They were in the large walk in closet his father had installed years ago. The light was turned off so he couldn’t really see around them. The noise at the door to the loft had stopped a little while ago, he was too scared to get up and check. Unfortunately, his guard dog was even a bigger chicken than him.

Reece heard the loft door slid open. The alarm didn’t go off so it must be his father. But instead of getting up and checking, he stayed put.

“I think Pop’s here,” he told his dad.

They had fallen into silence for the last few minutes but he wanted him to still be with him in a way.

“Let me call him real fast just to make sure. I’ll call you right back.”

Reece wanted to protest but he didn’t want to sound any more like a baby than he already did. “Alright.”

He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard his dad’s ringtone on his pop’s phone.

“Okay, we can stop hiding,” he told Harley.

The door suddenly opened, at least he guessed it did, he and Harley were still under his cover.

“I get you were scared. But why hide under hide in the closet under a cover with your ‘fearless’ guard dog?” his pop asked.

“How did you know Harley’s under here?” he questioned as he pulled the cover off his head.

“Because he’s huge, it was either him or you had a small horse under there with you.” Harley whined ever so slightly, he had yet to meet his family yet. Reece had only told them about him. “It was only your Uncle Mikey, he’s had one too many, forgot I don’t live her anymore. He’s passed out in my car. I’m going to take him home; do you need me to come back?”

“No, I’m fine now. I should have just found out who it was.”

“I don’t want you answering the door to anyone you don’t know.”

“Dad was talking about maybe Matt moving downstairs,” he said, hoping to sound casual.

“Fine, but both of you are going to pay rent.”

Reece smiled. It was one of the first signs that maybe they were on the mend. His father wasn’t treating him like spun glass or like he had to make up for something. And with Matt downstairs, he’d feel much safer. He knew the place was almost like a fortress, but nothing was a hundred percent failsafe.

“I’m out of here, call you father back and tell him. Oh, get a real guard dog,” his pop said before leaving.

Reece looked at Harley, who had his head cocked to the side. “Don’t listen to him, I’m sure you were just saving up strength, weren’t you?”

The next day, Justin along with Brian and some of their children moved Matthew into loft under Reece’s. It was a load off his mind. Not just for Reece but for Matthew too. Matthew was a bit of a wild child, he needed his space. The longer he stayed at the house the more chance Justin would demolish their newly repaired relationship by being too nosy. Maybe Matthew might also move on and finally ask Shorty on a real date. So far it seemed they had been bowling, Babylon and over to the house a few times.

He was seriously on the fence about the whole Matthew and Shorty thing. They were both so young, but he couldn’t really say anything because look at his own history.

“I’m taking the minor children to be fed; don’t want the police to arrest me for neglect,” Brian said, putting the last box down.

“Alright, I’m taking Matthew to pick up some things that the loft needs.” They had moved everything from his bedroom, but he needed a couch and kitchen supplies. Unlike Brian’s old loft, Matthew’s wasn’t furnished.

As they sat down in the booth, Brian watched the people around him. Debbie had long since retired from the Diner. Now Kiki ran the Diner, and she did it with an iron fist.

“I want the biggest cheeseburger,” Avery said, patting his stomach. He was a tiny little thing, most people thought he was around five or six instead of eight.

“I want a milkshake,” Sean added.

“Me too,” Avery said with a big grin.

“What can I get for you fellas’?” Nathan, a new waiter asked them.

“I want the biggest cheeseburger,” Avery told the young man. “And a chocolate shake.”

“Grilled cheese, fries and vanilla milkshake,” Sean said.

“Hamburger, no pickles or mayo and a glass of water,” Caleb said.

Brian raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask any questions. “Just coffee, black,” he ordered.

“Sure thing, Mr. Kinney,” Nathan chirped before going to put the orders in.

God, he felt closer to a hundred now. When he was fifty he had hoped he would just keel over, that didn’t seem to happen though. He had made sure Justin and the kids were well taken care of.

Five years ago, he had a midlife crisis, he regretted everything he had done then. He had hired a new bartender at Babylon. Tim was thirty-five, gorgeous and persistent. After a few months of harmless flirting, it became less than harmless. None of the kids knew how close they had been to divorce, Brian had in fact left Justin. He had moved into a hotel for a while, Tim staying with him. Moving into the loft was too much of a betrayal, he couldn’t bring himself to cross that line.

Because he was opening an office in New York at that time, the kids never questioned his absence. Then one day Justin called him, telling him he was going to have divorce papers written up. He wanted Brian to come home so they could tell the kids together. That was when it hit him, his marriage was over. He had destroyed it. He had agreed to go home for the weekend so they could talk.

Then Tim started talking about them getting married. About getting a home of their own. Brian shut him down fast, he told him that he only had one husband, even if they weren’t to be married much longer. The thing was, he didn’t feel anything for Tim. He still loved Justin, and he always would. After he came to that realization, he went home.

They just fell back into rhythm. He thought for sure he would hear about it for a while, but that never happened. When he finally asked Justin about it, he said, everyone gets one. He realized then, Justin had still felt extremely guilty about Ethan. Now he realized that Ethan was still trying to get Justin back at that time. Seeing Ethan at the hotel with his underaged son was just too much, he and Justin had only narrowly missed ending their marriage six months earlier. It was just too much, too soon.

Suddenly he was taken out of his thoughts when Avery started to bounce in his seat.

“Well, if it isn’t Avery Balthazar Taylor-Kinney.”

Brian turned in the booth to look behind him. A large dark-skinned man in blue tank top and black jogging shorts was walking up to their table. Brian had no clue who the man was but it seemed he knew Avery.

“Hi! Where’s your costume?” Avery asked.

“My uniform, I’m not working today. They kind of frown on wearing the uniform when not on duty,” the large man said with a big smile. “Where’s your father?”

“He’s right here,” Avery said pointing at Brian.

Brian slid out of the booth and stood up, even with his back straight the man was two inches taller than him. But it was the muscles that made him look intimidating, not that Brian was intimidated.

“Oh, I meant your other father.”

Brian made a living out of reading people. And he wasn’t liking what he was getting about this man. Even if there had only been a few words between them.

“He’s helping Matt get stuff for his loft. He’s moving in the loft under Reece’s so Reece won’t be scared no more. Reece has a dog, his name’s Harley. He’s funny too, Reece says he thinks Reece’s bed is his.”

“Dogs will do that,” the man said.

“Do you have a dog?” Avery asked.

“No, my ex didn’t like them. But maybe now that he’s gone on to greener pastures, I might just get one.”

That statement seemed to confuse Avery, who had an adorable perplexed look on his face.

“Who’s your friend, Avery?” Brian asked, eyeing the man in front of him.

“This is the policeman we talked to at the store. He said you were a lucky son of a bitch,” Avery smiled, any reason to cuss.

“Really?” Brian asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why would that be?”

“Because you and Dad are married. He touched dad’s butt, he shouldn’t have done that. He didn’t have permission, it’s wrong to touch someone without permission.”

Brian had always had a jealous streak, although he liked to keep it hidden. But in the years since they’ve been married, his green-eyed monster had come out a few times. This was no different. “No, he shouldn’t.”

The jerk gave Brian a cockeyed smile and told Avery he would see him later. Not if Brian had anything to say about it. The thing that bothered Brian the most was…why hadn’t Justin told him? But he had been married long enough to give his husband the benefit of the doubt. Even if he was cheating on Brian, he wouldn’t have done it in front of Avery. The guy must had just put the move on Justin and got shut down.

“Honey, I’m home!”

All the thoughts of Justin and the officer flew out of his head. Brian swung around and looked at the diner’s door. Standing there in a blue cut off shirt and blue jean shorts, was Anna. He thought her plane was supposed to be in the next day. She flew in to California, where she was stationed. Then they would give her leave to visit family. It took everything for them not to fly there to greet her.

“ANNA!” Avery yelled as he bolted to her, followed by Caleb and Sean.

Brian sent a quick text to in the family chat, to let them know that Anna was home. Just as Brian looked back up at his daughter and sons something caught his eye. Right there on Anna’s left ring finger, two rings. One clearly an engagement ring, the other a wedding ring. She was married. His little girl got married and didn’t even tell them. He wondered how long?

As she disentangled herself from her brothers, Brian made his way over to them. She smiled big at him, but he couldn’t even make himself smile. All he did was point at her rings.

“I’m married,” she said like he hadn’t already guessed.

“How long?”

“Four months,” she blushed slightly.

“Who?” It would have to be with someone she was overseas with, another seaman perhaps.

“His name is Saayed Jarral, he’s a marine I met. It was just like Dad said, love at first sight.”

Brian rolled his eyes, his husband had been telling their children that he had fallen in love with Brian at first sight. At least he had someone to blame for this. And there would be blame, she was much too young to be married.

“Where is this husband of yours?” he asked, proud he kept his voice in check.

“He’s flying in tomorrow. He’s a civilian now, has been for a few months. I wanted to introduce you myself. Then the bombing happened and I got a free ride home.”

“For how long?”

“Leave for two weeks but then back to sunny Cali, but after that, I’m stateside for the time being.”

“Small favors,” he murmured. He really hated having children sometimes.