Chapter 40 - Noteworthy News.

‘What the doo doo was up with The Daddy these days, huh?’ Kevan wondered as his favorite new game - Pat The Daddy’s Face and Laugh - was interrupted for the third time.

Pat The Daddy’s Face and Laugh was the most wonderful game ever invented, even if Kevan, the inventor, did say so himself. It was just so hilarious. Kevan cracked up EVERY time. It was just so funny to watch as The Daddy would make that funny face when you patted him. And The Daddy’s cheek was funny feeling too - all scratchy soft. And sometimes when you patted it just right, the cheek would sort of wobble. A couple times, The Daddy’s cheek would even make a funny wobbly sound when it was patted. You just never knew what was going to happen when you patted that crazy cheek. The possibilities were endless. And so was the fun.

But Pat The Daddy’s Face and Laugh wasn’t nearly as much fun when The Daddy’s Face wasn’t around to pat. You couldn’t just pat the empty air - that would just be waving your hand around and there wasn’t anything funny about THAT. And Kevan guessed you could pat other things instead of The Daddy’s Face, but there really wasn’t anything that was half so funny - somehow, patting Uglyworm’s face or even The Papa’s face, just didn’t cut it. So, when The Daddy’s Face kept getting up off the bed and running off to doo-doo knew where all the time, it really messed up the game.

Not only did it mess up the game, but Kevan thought that The Daddy’s Face didn’t look so good anymore after the last time it ran away and then came back. Now The Daddy’s Face was almost the same color green as Kevan’s new finger paints. Kevan tried patting the newly green Face but green didn’t seem to be a very funny color on The Daddy. And you know what? The Daddy’s Face didn’t smell very nice after that last running away either.

Kevan tried to ignore these disconcerting changes and get back to his game. Unfortunately, the game was once again called on account of The Daddy’s Face having to run away a fourth time. This time it ran away very, very fast and stayed gone for quite a long time while strange, wet, splatting noises came out of the bathroom where The Daddy’s Face had gone.

Well, THAT wasn’t funny at all. That sounded pretty yucky. Hmmmm. Maybe it was time to invent a new game?

By Monday afternoon the boys were back in Chiefy’s office.

“Good afternoon, Brian. Justin,” she greeted them affectionately, even going so far as to give Justin a hug after breezing into the small exam room where they were waiting. “I didn't think I'd ever be seeing the two of you back here again,” she added with a laugh.

“That makes two of us,” Brian replied, without even a hint of a laugh. “Silly me - actually believing you when you told me this wouldn't happen again.”

“I know, right! Isn't this exciting? You're going to be making medical history, Brian!” Chiefy gushed, either ignoring Brian's foul mood or maybe just too excited over her own upcoming place in the history books to care. “Okay,” the doctor continued, rubbing her hands together expectantly, “let's see what we've got!”

Chiefy proceeded with a routine physical exam, took a blood sample and then asked Brian a lot of annoyingly personal questions. There wasn't really any question about the fact that Brian WAS indeed preggers. They'd done the pee-stick test at home first thing Sunday morning and it had turned blue almost before Brian could finish pissing. The only real question was precisely HOW pregnant was he.

Chiefy explained that it wasn't quite as easy to determine the date of conception for Brian as it would have been with a woman because he didn't have a regular fertility cycle. However, since he hadn't bottomed much at all since Kevan's birth, that simplified things a bit. The first time Brian had bottomed in months had been with Justin the night before he left for Cancun - five weeks earlier. So that was the starting date they were working with.

Chiefy was a little worried about how intense the morning sickness seemed and thought it was a little early in the pregnancy for Brian to be experiencing that particular symptom. Most women didn’t begin feeling sick until after about the sixth week. She was also a little surprised by the fact that Brian said he’d put on at least five pounds already despite not being able to keep much food down.

Chiefy put a rush on the blood tests.

There was a bit of a hold up after Chiefy finished her initial exam - they’d had to be fit into her already packed schedule at the last moment, so not everything was ready for them. That meant, unfortunately, that there wasn’t any ultrasound tech available right then. So, while Chiefy ran off to see to another patient, Brian and Justin went down to the coffee shop on the main floor of the hospital in order to kill the forty-five minutes they had to spare.

Both men were almost completely silent while they drank their coffee - Brian already regretting the switch to decaf seeing as he was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. Justin could see how nervous and worried Brian was already but he didn’t know if he could say anything that would help. Other than just being there for Brian - and reassuring him constantly that he would STILL be there no matter what - there wasn’t much more he could do. If he pushed Brian too hard to open up and talk to him, it was likely to backfire. So, Justin stayed quiet too.

“Fuck. I guess this nixes the idea of starting my own agency. At least for a while,” Brian finally spoke up, the disappointment in his tone almost tangible.

“Why?” Justin asked. “I mean, I know that THIS makes things a little more challenging, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t go ahead with your plan.”

“Come on, Justin. Be realistic,” Brian lamented. “How the hell can I go out on my own with another baby on the way? This isn’t the time to throw caution to the wind and take risks. I need to make sure that I’ve got a stable income. There’s going to be medical bills and shit. And what if I get put on bed rest again and can’t work? We just can’t afford to do this right now.”

“I know that there’s going to be a lot more to consider than you’d originally planned. Being pregnant is definitely going to complicate everything. But that’s also why this is the PERFECT time to do this thing,” Justin struggled to explain his thinking, ignoring the scoffing coming at him from across the table. “Think about it, Brian. Like Chiefy said, you’re going to be making medical history here. If you getting pregnant one time was as big of a media circus as it turned out to be, just think what this second time around is going to be like.” Brian immediately looked around them to make sure nobody was close enough to hear Justin’s words - he did NOT want to start the media circus right that minute. “Didn’t you manage to engineer your first time at the rodeo into a huge success with the Armani campaign? Well, couldn’t we do that again? Maybe even bigger this time around? And this time, whoever gets to use you for their promotions wouldn’t get just the end result of you already eight months pregnant - They’d get a full seven or eight months of Prego Stud. You could use this to bring in a couple of the biggest accounts you’ve ever dreamed of, Brian. Only, this time, you’d be roping them into your OWN agency, not handing them over on a silver platter to Ryder, and by default, to Vance.”

“So, what? You want to just pimp me out? Sell my body to the highest bidder for the next eight months?” Brian snarled over the top of his decaf latte.

“Well, I wouldn’t put it in those terms, precisely,” Justin smirked back at the unbeliever. “But, yeah . . . I mean, babies and everything to do with babies is big business. Can you imagine getting Gerber, Similac or maybe even Huggies on your client list? Your agency would be pretty much set forever with that to start you out. And it’s not like you’re going to get through this without everyone finding out anyway. Why not make use of the circumstances to our advantage? Right?”

Justin watched as Brian toyed with his now-cold cup of coffee while he mulled over the idea. He could tell that Brian was seriously considering this possibility. He knew that Brian wasn’t exactly going to be thrilled to be putting himself back out there in the public eye - one of the first things they’d talked about once Brian was home was his decision to break off his contract with Armani. Now, though, it looked like he’d be thrown back into the thick of things whether he wanted it or not. Justin knew it wasn’t going to be easy on his Stud. However, it also wasn’t an opportunity that Justin thought they could pass up.

“When the fuck did you turn into some cold-blooded, killer-instincts, business type?” Brian asked when he finally did speak up again, his mouth quirked up in that adorable crooked smile of his as he looked at his smart little twink.

“Well, I did learn from the Master,” Justin smiled back with an impish wiggle of his brows.

“You always were a quick study, too,” Brian complimented him then nodded. “And you’re right. If we handle this the right way, we could fucking clean up . . . So, I guess, if you’re going to be my pimp that makes me your bitch, right?”

“Hmmmm. That doesn’t sound all that bad to me,” Justin teased him, as he started to get up and take both their cups to the trash. “I see definite possibilities in that scenario for when we get home. But, for right now, I think it’s time to head back upstairs and see what other torture Chiefy’s got in store for you, Bitch.”

Fifteen minutes later they were back in Chiefy’s tiny exam room with Brian spread out naked on the table, when a young woman pushing the cart with the ultrasound equipment entered the room. This was not the placid and professional technician that the boys were used to. This was a twenty-something straight girl who was shocked and somewhat delighted by the eyeful of Brian that she got - as evidenced by the rather over-loud tittering laughter that came with the girl. Brian was amused by her reaction. Justin was not. He immediately rushed over and threw the unused hospital gown over Brian’s lower body then practically stood guard over his man while they waited for Chiefy to return. Which, of course, only amused Brian further.

Chiefy blustered in a moment later and her demeanor instantly calmed everything down. “We’ve got the blood test results back already and it looks like it’s official. You’re knocked up again, Brian. Congratulations!”

“Woo Hoo,” Brian replied laconically with a little sarcastic celebratory finger twirl in the air. “Now, tell me something I didn’t know.”

“Well, how about the fact that your hCG levels are almost off the charts?” Chiefy expounded as she looked over the figures on the paper in her hand. “That’s pretty unusual. Especially considering the dates you gave me as the possible date of conception. So we better get on with it and see what’s going on inside there.” Chiefy turned to the tech who was still just standing there, eyeing Brian and playing idly with the ultrasound wand. “Kimmy, if you could tear your eyes away from my patient and get on with your job, please,” Chiefy admonished her, causing the woman to abruptly shift into a more professional mode.

It took almost no time for the tech to spread the gel on Brian’s abdomen, switch the machine on and then start probing at him with the wand. Despite her youth and poor first impression, the woman seemed to know what she was doing with the equipment. Almost immediately, she located the correct spot and the monitor lit up with the image they were all expecting. There on the screen they could all see a grainy picture in black and white showing an oval-shaped black void in the middle occupied on one side by a tiny round blob. The inside of the little blob was flickering rapidly. When the tech turned up the sound, everyone could hear the pulsing beat of the tiny heart.

Justin grabbed Brian’s hand, squeezing affectionately, thrilled to see this phenomenon no matter how it came about. Brian was still too mesmerized by the image on the screen to look away but he squeezed back. Justin was about to lean over and give his man a big congratulatory kiss, when Chiefy’s voice stopped him.

“Wait. Go back.” She pointed to the very top left edge of the oval showing on the screen. “There.”

The technician redirected her wand and moved it around a little bit, angling it different ways and making the images on the screen twirl and coalesce only to refocus again and again in different configurations. Then, after several tries, she managed to get a better picture. This new image, seen from a slightly different angle, showed the same big black circle of space, only now you could see not one, but TWO, little flickering blobs of white.

“Well, that explains it,” Chiefy declared, clapping her hands with glee. “No wonder your hCG was so high and you’re experiencing so many symptoms so early. This is wonderful! I can’t wait to tell my colleagues. Not only are we going to have the first ever case of multigavida in a male, but it looks like we’ve got monozygotic multiples to boot. This is absolutely amazing! Completely unprecedented. Every medical journal in the country . . . make that the world . . . is going to want a paper on THIS!”

“Oh, Fuck me!” Brian turned towards Justin with the first signs of panic clear in his eyes. “Please, Sunshine, tell me that all that medical gobbledygook doesn’t mean what I think it means. Please.”

Justin could only watch silently as Chiefy and the technician fiddled around with the ultrasound equipment, taking numerous photos of the images they were able to capture from all angles. Even with his untrained eyes, he could easily see that there were two little blips. He didn’t even need the helpful arrows the technician put on the screen labeled ‘Baby A’ and ‘Baby B’ to know that Brian’s fears were spot on.

“Sorry, Stud, but it looks like we’re getting two for the price of one this time around,” Justin finally admitted, wincing in pain as Brian’s grip on his hand got so tight it was probably cutting off all circulation.

“Shit! Get me the fucking trashcan, Sunshine. I’m going to puke again,” was Brian’s only response.

As soon as the Taylor-Kinney’s got home, Brian crawled into bed with all his clothes on, pulled the covers over his head and refused to come out again for the rest of the evening. Since Justin wasn’t willing to let him brood for that long, he simply scooped up Kevan and the two of them joined Brian in the big bed after about an hour. Sure enough, Brian was unable to hold out for very long when confronted by a Kevan who wanted his Daddy to play with him. The whole thing turned into a large and elaborate game of peek-a-boo and by the end, Brian was substantially more cheery.

“What the fuck are we going to do with two more, Sunshine?” Brian asked when he finally felt up to confronting the situation. “This is totally insane. Twins? I mean, twins? Really? I’ve barely survived Kevan and now I’m being threatened with twins?”

“If I made some sad little quip about the fact that it will be ‘double the fun’, you’d probably hit me, right?” Justin surmised, and was punctually punched in the arm by his partner. “I don’t know how we’ll do it, Brian, but we’ll figure it out. I mean, now that we’ve had a little experience, we’re practically pros at this parenting stuff. We’ll manage, right?”

“Famous last words, Sunshine!” Brian answered grumpily, but at the same time he was smiling since Kevan had started in on a game of his own creation that involved patting Brian’s cheek with his fat little hand, and then laughing uproariously for no reason. “If I at least knew who to blame this on, I’d feel a little better. As it is, I don’t feel justified in yelling at you when this might not even be your fault.”

While they were still reeling over the big news that Brian was pregnant with what appeared to be identical twins - as evidenced by the fact that both fetuses were occupying a single fetal sac - Chiefy had explained that having twins further complicated the issue of determining the exact conception date. The best the doctor could do, based on the apparent development level of the babies, was to give them a two week window of time during which fertilization could have taken place. Which was absolutely no help whatsoever in helping them pin down who the other father was, since the two week window covered the entire time period when Brian was with both Justin and ‘Licious and maybe even Tag. But that was the best Chiefy could do at the moment. They’d have to wait until Brian was at least twelve weeks along before they could do an in utero DNA test to definitively determine paternity.

“Good. That means I'll be free from your bitching for at least two more months,”  Justin chuckled, trying to make light of the tricky situation as best he could.

“Oh, I didn’t say I wouldn’t be yelling at you. Only that I wouldn’t be yelling at you for THIS,” Brian said, patting at his belly. “That still leaves me with free range to yell at you for all the other annoying stuff you do, Sunshine.”

“I don’t do annoying stuff, Brian. I’m the easiest guy in the world to live with. Right, Kevan?” Kevan gurgled agreeably as soon as he heard his name and then went back to patting Brian’s face and laughing.

“Well, let’s just hope these two don’t have their big brother’s strange sense of humor,” Brian shook his head and actually laughed a little when Kevan’s last pat went a little astray and he ended up knocking Brian in the nose - which was apparently even funnier to the baby than hitting his dad’s face.

Justin was giggling right along with his son by this point, which seemed to be just the medicine needed to rejuvenate Brian’s flagging spirits. He looked at his sweet little son and his strong, young lover and decided then and there that he was done being upset. No, it wasn’t the news he’d been hoping for, but that was neither here nor there. This was his new reality - even though it was scary as shit - and he didn't want to waste his energy on something that he couldn't change. It was time to focus on the future.

“Okay,” Brian said, moving Kevan so that he could sit up all the way. “If we’re going to do this, we need a plan. A really good plan. Because, like Chiefy said, twins come with an increased risk of complications and the possibility of me getting put on bed rest even earlier than last time. Which means we need everything in place for the new agency, like, now. So, get your ass out of bed, Sunshine. We’ve got work to do.”

“Okay, Captain,” Justin jumped to attention, glad to be doing something productive. “What do we do first?”

Brian handed Kevan off to his Papa. “Well, first, I'm going to go puke my guts up - AGAIN - since that's what I seem to do best these days. While I'm doing that, you are going to run to the store and buy me a shitload of saltine crackers and ginger ale so that I can finally stop puking. And then we're going to get Ted and Mel over here and get started on incorporating our new business.”

The first person the boys took into their confidences this time around wasn't Grandma Jenn or Grandma Debbie. It wasn't any of Brian's old friends. It wasn't even Daphne this time. Nope. The first person brought on board this go round was Cynthia.

“Cynthia, how would you like to help out on another project like B4?” Brian asked her when they were seated at a discreet corner table in the restaurant where he’d taken her for a surprise lunch on Friday.

“If you’re talking about another fabulous campaign that will wow your boss and win him yet another huge client that he won’t be grateful for because he’s actually jealous of your superior talent, then no, I’m not interested,” Cynthia answered in her usual blunt manner.

“What about if it was a fabulous new campaign that will wow the client and allow ME to start my own agency?” Brian asked, being equally blunt.

“I’d say sign me up, Boss. But only if you plan on taking me with you to your new agency,” Cynthia responded with a huge ear to ear grin. “Have I mentioned how much I detest Gardner Vance? I’ve never liked small men with big egos. Whenever I have to talk to him, he stands there staring at my chest the whole time. I feel like he’s talking to my breasts.”

“Well, I can promise you I’LL never stare at your breasts,” Brian swore, holding up his left hand and placing his right over his heart. After they’d both laughed for a minute, he went on. “So, if you really are interested, then as soon as we get back to the office, I’ll need you to drop everything else you’re doing and find me two or three of the biggest companies out there dealing with anything related to pregnancy or infants, and who might also be interested in a new advertising agency that comes complete with an owner who just happens to be the biggest medical news story of the century.”

“When you say ‘news’ . . . you’re not talking about seven month old news are you,” Cynthia questioned, her eyes suddenly as big as saucers.

“Unfortunately, no. We’re talking brand new news . . . times two,” Brian admitted, tilting his head rakishly to the side and grinning at his assistant with a half-pained, half-desperate smile that was all Brian Kinney.

“NO!” The always contained and calm Cynthia shouted out the word loudly enough to cause all the other diners in the cafe to look in their direction. “No,” she repeated more quietly. “Brian Kinney, you crazy kid, you! What the hell were you thinking?”

“Well, I certainly wasn’t thinking I wanted to go through the nightmare of being pregnant again. Let alone with fucking twins. But that’s beside the point. As Sunshine told me just this morning, ‘better start squeezing some lemons if you want to make lemonade as opposed to just a fuckload of lemon-scented urinal cakes’.”

*Hehehe* “You always did have a certain way with words, Brian,” Cynthia laughed, but then sobered up abruptly. “I’m assuming that, all things considered, we’re happy about this and it’s okay for me to offer congratulations, Boss?”

“Thanks, Cyn. I don’t think I’ve passed the point of being shocked out of my fucking mind yet, so happy is still a little ways off. But it is what it is,” Brian replied truthfully. “However, I WILL be happy if this is what finally makes it possible for me to tell Vance to kiss my pretty little prego ass as I walk away with my own agency.”

At that point, Cynthia pulled a steno notebook out of her bag, slid her salad plate to the side and started asking Brian all the pertinent questions that would help her find just the right potential client for Brian to approach with this noteworthy new news.