JUSTIN

“Daddy, Papa, hurry!” Nathan screams from upstairs.

“How did he get past the gate?” Brian asks as we run to the stairs.

“Did you put it back up?” I ask, as we pass the gate, which is wide open.

“I showed him,” Penny tells us, at the top of the stairs, putting her thumb in her mouth.

“Daddy, Papa, I need to show you,” Nathan yelled, excited.

“Please just let there not be a flood.” Brian, who seems to pray every day since Nathan was born, begs.

We got to the bathroom and stood together, in hopes that Nathan maybe just made a small mess this time. Brian opened the door to Nathan peeing in the toilet.

“I did it,” Nathan announced, turning towards us, still peeing.

“Yes, you did,” I whisper, leaning on Brian as our son soaked us.

“Natty, in the doggy’s water bowl,” Penny tells him helpfully.

“Oh yeah.” He turns and finishes in the toilet.

“Doggy’s water bowl?” Brian asks Penny.

“It's where Fluffy likes to drink out of.” She tells us, smiling the smile that makes a slave of Brian. It's how we got a dog named Fluffy.

BRIAN

When Justin and I met the surrogate, it was with the idea that any children would be from Justin. I had Gus already, so it wasn't a big deal to me that my next child wasn’t biologically mine. Penny came and I got my wish of a child with his eyes and a head of blonde curls. I don't care what anyone says, JR was not attractive at birth the way my Penny was. I had the support of Gus on this, so we all know it’s the truth. Justin seems to think that Gus only sided with me because Gus thinks JR is a pain in the ass. Justin just likes that JR thinks he’s better looking than me. I think Mel needs to get that kid’s eyes checked because JR declared Blake better looking too.

Justin and I merged our two companies to save the life of my artists. They seem to understand better when Justin explains things than when I do. It freed up Justin’s time to work with Alex and Grant while managing the art on my campaigns. The only time we disagreed was when Justin wanted Lindsay to be the head artist on a major campaign. I’ve never felt her work was more than okay, but Justin told me to have a little faith in her, and in him for knowing what I want. Lindsay knocked me on my ass with the boards she presented. She explained that she learned to use more than one medium to achieve what she saw in her head when Justin told her what we wanted. We won the campaign and Lindsay started exploring art the way Justin does.

With Kinnetik in capable hands, I took a month off to be with Penny and Justin. When it was time for me to return to work, I made the decision that Penny being with someone where I couldn’t see her was not going to happen and called Molly to offer her an internship watching Penny at Kinnetik. Justin and Molly looked at me as if I made it up, well okay, I did. It still gave her credits towards college, so who cares. Molly finished her community service but found that she loved working with special needs children, so she stayed on at the center and is going to college to become a teacher with the idea that she will work with the children that need a teacher the most.

Justin’s birthday came and I asked him what I could give him because nothing I looked at seemed to be what I thought he would want. Justin is just not materialistic the way the rest of the world is. Mel and Lindsay were completely useless, suggesting romantic getaways and jewelry that Justin never wears anyway. So I did the smart thing and asked my husband, the genius.

“A baby.” He told me.

“I’ll call Tabitha and let her know you're ready again,” I tell him.

“I want you to be the one this time. I want to see you in our next child. It’s what I want for my birthday next year. This year I just want to know that you’ll do it.” He tells me.

Nathan arrived before Justin’s next birthday because there was no reason to wait when I wanted it too. Only we just weren’t prepared for a little boy. Gus was easy compared to Nathan, who couldn’t seem to not touch everything he saw. I remembered when he was two and I told him not to touch the ashtray Penny made in school for me, (which I love, but don’t use). The little stinker reached up and knocked it off the desk while I was watching him. Then ran to Justin to hide. Justin brought him back and showed him how to glue the two halves together, so Penny wouldn’t get upset. Later that night we found Nathan laying on his bed as if praying, and Justin grabbed the camera to take a picture of the precious moment. I went to get the alcohol to unglue his hands. Nathan has been the most fun I’ve had since ‘Gus of the disappearing pants’.

Of course, the potty training was easy with Penny, we just let Lindsay and Mel help us since they understood the plumbing better than we did. A week later Penny was diaperless. Unfortunately, Mel decided that since we each had a penis, that we got to teach Nathan. Nathan didn’t want to go near the toilet because he was convinced that if he fell in, Penny would flush him. Penny gave us a wide-eyed look and swore on her princess dresses that she didn’t say she would flush him, she had just explained what she saw in a movie to him. She didn’t realize Nathan thought that he would end up in the sewer like the rat. I didn’t even want to know what that meant.

So, standing next to my husband, soaked by my son, I counted it as one of the best days of our lives. Diapers were history.

“Wait, Nathan where is your diaper?” I asked as he reached up to flush.

“In there.” He tells me, flushing and pointing at the toilet that was now overflowing onto the floor.

“Oh,” I tell him raising my eyebrow.

“Was it aposta go somewhere else?” He asks, climbing in the tub when the water was everywhere.

“Don’t laugh, we can’t,” Justin tells me, burying his head on my chest.

“It should count that I’m not crying, these pants are my new Armani,” I tell him, kissing his head.

“NOT ARMANI!” My baby girl yells, horrified.

“Okay, now you can laugh,” Justin tells me, laughing with tears running down his face.

“Um, Daddy, Papa,” Nathan tells us from the tub.

“Yes, Nathan,” I ask since Justin is incapable of speech.

“I pooped.” He announces happily.

Justin just had to have my kid.