J.C. was still trying to process all of the information his parents had given him when he decided to take Justin up on his earlier offer to talk it out. Sure Chris was the oldest but he didn’t often act like it and besides he’d known Justin the longest.

Even before he could knock, the door opened and he came face to face with his other mother, Lynn Harless, Justin’s mom.

“Man, I have more of these than I realize and I’m looking for another one?” he thought silently to himself.

“Your mother called and told me what’s going on; I hope that’s okay. Do you want to talk?”

J.C. nodded his head yes as he walked into Justin’s hotel room. He went and sat on the bed, his head buried in his hands once again. Lynn put her arms around him. He tried to speak but nothing would come out.

“I didn’t mean to hurt them”, he finally said. “I’m just curious.”

“They know you love them. I think they were just surprised because you’d never mentioned it before.”

“I never wanted to look before. They always said they’d help if I did, and they are, but I can tell it’s tearing them apart. Heather looked shell shocked; Tyler seemed to take it well, but I think he’s defusing his feelings with humor.”

“Um, I hate to interrupt,” interjected Justin, “But I think I have something that might cheer you up.”

“Not now, Justin.”

“Seriously, J.C. You need to read this email. It seems like you’ve talked to this fan before. Maybe it will help.”

He walked over to the computer and looked at it. Kristen and Jake. Why do those names sound familiar? And they just got back from Orlando?

“Justin, do you still have that sign Lance gave you when we got back from the courthouse?”

“Yeah, why?”

“What was the name of the fan who gave it to you?”

“Jake.”

“Mine was Kristen. Look at this.”

He pointed to the computer screen.

“I think your sign is from Jake and mine is from Kristen. They just got back from Orlando, which means they must have been supporting us. It’s a stretch, I know, but . . .”

Justin was just happy to see J.C. happy. He knew J.C. had been stressed out these past couple of weeks but to what magnitude he had no idea until a few hours ago.

“Why don’t you go get your sign so we can take a picture with them, answer the email, and attach it to prove it’s us. They’ll get a kick out of that.”

“As will Joey, Chris and Lance when they find out we located your boyfriend and my fiancé.”

“We are NOT telling them.”

J.C.’s face fell when he realized he’d have to face his siblings in order to get the sign.

“We can go with you if you want.”

“No. I need to do this on my own, but thanks.”

This time it was Lynn who interrupted. “J.C., Heather and Tyler are here to talk to you.”

J.C. stood up to hug them, but Heather backed away.

“Don’t touch me. Aren’t we enough for you? Are we so bad you want to go out and replace us?”

“Heather no matter what, you and Tyler are still my baby brother and sister. I’m still your annoyingly, overprotective big brother. That will never change.”

“It already has,” said Tyler. “Forget about us. How could you do this to mom and dad?”

“Believe it or not, I didn’t want to do this to any of you. I tried my hardest to figure out a way not to hurt you. But I couldn’t. Mom and dad showed me pictures of her with me and said that she raised me until I was five, but I don’t remember any of that. I only remember them and you. Do you really think I want to give all that up? I just want to know why she abandoned me and my twin, that’s all.”

“There’s more than one of you? Great. Like we need a double dose.”

“Shut up, Justin.”

“Well, if there’s one person that understands how hard it is to live with you, it’s him”, teased Heather.

“Hey! Why am I feeling ambushed all of a sudden? Does this mean we’re okay now?” he asked his brother and sister.

“Yeah, we’re good.”