After Lance was satisfied everyone had participated, he sent all the videos to his editor to piece together the best cut. “Well, since I have you all gathered, I think it’s a good time to celebrate the birthday girl!” Lance announced. Michael then came out onto the patio with a cake that simply stated “Happy Birthday Colleen” on top. “JC threatened me repeatedly if I put anything fun on it,” Lance leaned over and told her. “Uh, Joey?” Lance then prodded his band mate.

“Oh shit, hang on,” he said, pulling out his phone.

“Well Colleen,” Lance addressed her but obviously making it known to the entire crowd, “we wanted to take this moment to not only celebrate you being a new found part of our lives but for bringing back an old part to us as well.” Lance smiled and looked at JC. “So, while you may take us as cheap bastards, we really thought this would be the best gift to give you.”

“What up, Shit Rooster?” Joey smiled at his phone.

“I knew I was Shit Rooster!” Chris exclaimed.

“Shut up, I’m trying to tee off!” Justin could be heard yelling.

“Hold off a minute, it’s time,” Chris yelled back.

“What…what is happening?” Colleen looked between Joey and Lance as JC walked over to join them.

“Colleen,” JC began, “I’ve said it before that I have never been ashamed of my past but the way you make me not only reconcile it but embrace it…it’s helped me realize my past can also be part of my future.” JC put an arm around each of his bandmates.

“Now bear with us, we’re rusty,” Joey cautioned.

“Chris, you and Justin start. I think that will be the easiest,” Lance instructed them. 

“Alright, you ready?” Chris asked Justin, who nodded. “Happy Birthday” the duo started singing. “To You,” the trio in front of the crowd joined in.

Colleen watched in complete awe as Joey, Justin, Chris, Lance and JC sang Happy Birthday…to her. It wasn’t perfect but there were moments where the harmony still clicked, even with two of them singing through the phone. It couldn’t have been more than 15 seconds, if that, but for a group that, for all she knew, hadn’t performed as a whole in nearly a decade, it was the most breathtaking 15 seconds of her life.

When they got done, Colleen tried hard to hold it together as she applauded them but spectacularly failed as she put her head in her hands and wept with joy. Her friends piled in around her, wiping away their own tears and hugging her. “Please tell me someone filmed that?” she finally managed to say. Multiple people confirmed they did and Colleen let out a small laugh.

“Jesus, were we that bad?” Chris asked as he observed all the tears. He smacked Justin in the shoulder. “I knew you sounded flat.”

“Your mom’s flat,” Justin retorted.

“Fucking child,” Chris muttered. “Alright, we gotta go, we’re holding up the hole. Happy Birthday Colleen!” 

“Happy Birthday Kitty,” Justin shouted and waved.

“I fucking hate you,” Colleen yelled back with a choking laugh through her tears.

“Seriously Justin, stop it,” JC sighed.

“That is absolutely never going to happen,” Justin smiled. “Alright, love you guys,” he said as he went back to the tee box. Chris and the rest said goodbye and Joey ended the call.

“I can’t tell if we did good or bad,” Joey said as he noticed not just Colleen but multiple people drying their eyes.

“Most definitely you did good,” Michael smiled, giving Lance a kiss. “Now, we should probably actually light the candles so Colleen can make a wish.”

“What else is there to wish for?” she joked as she was finally calming herself back down. The assembled crowd sang her Happy Birthday again as she shut her eyes, thanked God for this moment in time, and blew out the candles.

“As a small actual gift,” Lance told her as Michael and Lisa took the cake back in the house to cut it, “I heard you and your friends like to go out and tear it up for your birthdays so this ones on me. Thursday night, VIP access at Rocco’s Adjacent and I got the bar tab covered.”

“Jesus, thank you, Lance. That’s incredibly sweet of you,” Colleen walked over and gave him a hug. Matthew and Joey exchanged looks, both knowing something more had to be behind Thursday night then either of them had been informed of.

“You really gotta get a better name,” JC shook his head.

“Well Rage was so good and the focus group wanted Glory Hole and I definitely couldn’t do that.”

“Was Joey the focus group?” JC asked.

“Hey!” Joey shouted, smacking JC in the arm.

“Why don’t you call it Glory but on the branding make the O larger than the other letters? People will get it but you can easily explain it away as well,” Kyle offered.

Lance blinked and turned to JC. “Never fuck things up with Colleen. She and her friends have insanely useful ideas for my brand.”

“That was the douchest sentence you’ve ever said but I’ll do my best to keep your brand out of harm's way,” JC laughed.

“You know what I mean,” Lance smiled while shooting him a look.

“Um, Lance?” Michael came over sheepishly. “I think I must have cut too big of pieces because we ran out of cake.”

“How the hell do you run out of cake at a birthday party?” Lance exclaimed exasperated. “Hold on, let me see what else I can find,” he said, walking in the house and poking around in the refrigerator.

“Thanks again for doing all this,” JC told Michael.

“Oh, our pleasure,” Michael replied. “Colleen’s a sweetheart, happy to do this for her.” Michael heard Lance returning and turned, grabbing JC’s forearm. JC looked down quizzically then also looked Lance’s way.

“Luckily I plan ahead and ordered a second cake,” he smiled brightly. At first glance, the cake was identical to the first one, with the same decorations, icing and script. The only difference was the actual writing, which now spelled out “We’re having twins!”

First the gasps happened, then the shrieks. Lance nearly dropped the cake as everyone came running at him or Michael to hug and congratulate them. Now there was a whole other reason for happy tears amongst the guests.

“Great job knocking him up,” Joey came over to Michael and pulled him into a tight hug. “Pro tip: if he whines about the babies kicking him, rub his tummy from the outside to the middle.”

“Thanks Joey,” Michael laughed.

“Sorry to have stolen your thunder,” Lance apologized to Colleen as she gave him a hug. “This is why we originally were having people over but when JC mentioned your birthday, we wanted to do something for you as well.”

“Please, take the thunder, the lightning, take the whole damn rainstorm. You’re having babies!” Colleen exclaimed, giving him another tight squeeze.

JC watched as the various scenes played out in front of him. The hugs, the pats on the back, the tears of joy. Babies…plural. He knew that was the plan, he knew they’d been trying. This shouldn’t have been a shock yet somehow it still was. It was the first pregnancy announcement since…

“Hey, JC, you ok?” Joey waved his hand in front of JC’s face a couple times, snapping JC out of his thoughts.

“Yeah, sorry just…twins. Wow,” JC managed to recover.

“Frightening, isn’t it?” Joey joked. “Knowing your luck, you and Colleen would end up with triplets.”

JC shot a look over at Colleen and her friends cooing over some pictures, which he imagined were printouts of the sonogram. Despite Justin’s prodding, they still hadn’t talked about kids. They were celebrating Colleen’s 39th birthday. It was a moot point, wasn’t it? Or, what if she did get pregnant and the same thing happened all over again…

“Jesus,” Joey remarked as he watched the color drain from JC’s face. “You’d think I just told you I killed your puppy.”

“What’s going on?” Lance asked as he approached the duo.

“The mention of potential fatherhood has rendered JC speechless with fear,” Joey said before pulling Lance into a giant bear hug and lifting him off the ground. “You’re so fucked,” he told Lance as he gave him a huge kiss on the cheek. “Congratulations brother, I’m seriously ridiculously happy for you.”

“Me too…of course,” JC finally spoke, hugging Lance after Joey finally put him down. “Congratulations. I know…I know what a struggle it’s been.”

“Yeah, it feels like it’s taken forever. After the miscarriage, I wasn’t having much faith but thankfully this one took. They’re like my little miracle babies.”

JC regretted in that instant not having spoken to Lance about the miscarriage he and Michael had suffered. His had only been a few weeks earlier and it was too raw at the time to discuss. They would have understood.

“Hey, I missed congratulating Michael in all the flurry of excitement. I’ll be right back,” JC excused himself. Lance and Joey watched as JC slipped into the house, the opposite way of where Michael was currently standing.

“What the hell’s with him?” Joey questioned.

“Probably the same thing that happened at Chris’s wedding. There he became the only one not married. Now he’s the only one who won’t have kids.”

“Hey, I’m single.”

“You still actually got married though.”

“I thought he didn’t want any of that stuff anyways. It didn’t fit his “lifestyle” he always said.”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s changed his mind since being with Colleen, maybe he’s just feeling left out. Just let him deal with whatever he’s going through,” Lance patted Joey’s shoulder.

JC paced the small interior of the hall bathroom. He was happy for Lance and Michael, he truly was but he hated he couldn’t rightfully express it. This feeling was so unlike him. He was normally so good at setting aside his own feelings for the sake of others. He dealt with it on his own, not wanting to ever rain on anyone’s parade.

He sat down on the floor and pulled out his phone. “Call your therapist, call your therapist, call your therapist,” he kept repeating in his head. It was the weekend, he didn’t want to call. He opened up his messages and texted.

Do you have time to see me tonight?

JC put his head back against the wall. Everything was so good, he knew that. He forced himself to remember that. Music was going amazing, his friendships were stronger than they had been in years, he had the most supportive and capable partner he could ever ask for. Nothing was lacking, nothing was missing. He just needed to get over his momentary doubt about that.

Does 9pm work for you?

A sigh of relief left JC’s lips as he saw the reply. He didn’t want this feeling lingering around. He wanted to deal with it and move on. He wanted to just be happy for his friends without feeling hurt…resentful…jealous.

I’ll be there.

He’d put too much work into Thursday night to let his feelings about a misguided dream of the future derail them. He knew his life now was infinitely better than the one that eluded him, he knew it in his soul. What he needed help remembering was that he couldn’t have it all and that was something he’d have to deal with.

“Don’t forget to call the other two knuckleheads,” Joey reminded Lance as the party wound down. “You know how butthurt Chris gets when he’s out of the loop.”

“I’ll give them a call in a bit,” Lance said, checking the time to see it wasn’t too late on the east coast. “Sure you don’t want to stay over? We could use all the practice we could get taking care of a toddler.”

“Make your jokes now. You will know true pain when they alternate which one is crying and you haven’t slept in three days. My diaper days are far behind me,” Joey stated.

“Pretty sure you still got some in your future, old man,” Lance teased, giving Joey’s backside a whack.

“Congratulations again, you guys,” Colleen said, hugging both Lance and Michael, “and thank you for including me in your celebration. Will I see you both Thursday night?”

“Sadly no,” Lance informed her. “Flying out earlier that day for a project. Super hush hush.”

“The project is helping my parent’s rearrange their living room and then yachting in Miami the rest of the weekend,” Michael laughed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t act like you’re that busy.”

“I am busy!” Lance protested then turned back to Colleen. “Have an amazing time. Do me one favor: please make sure Kyle gets a good look at everything. I gave her my number and she promised to give me some feedback, one business owner to another.”

“Well, a Pilates studio and a nightclub are pretty different but she did all the design and marketing of her business herself so I’m sure she’ll have a few ideas,” Colleen smiled as she hugged them both again.

“I was good this whole time,” Joey lied as Colleen turned around to hug him goodbye. “I am ready for my juice!” Colleen laughed but obliged as she whispered in Joey’s ear. “I figured you fucked in the tub,” Joey said out loud. “Give me something else.” Colleen rolled her eyes and whispered again. This time, Joey made a surprised face. “Really? Impressive!” Joey praised her and applauded. The other three looked on curiously. “I’ll text you,” Joey mouthed to Lance.

Soon enough, Colleen and JC were back on the road. “Did you have a nice time?” Colleen asked him.

“Yeah, it was fun. More importantly, did you have a nice time?”

“Absolutely! I…I mean, how’d you convince the guys to do that?”

“Didn’t take any convincing. Just asking and a bit of logistics planning.”

“You probably think I’m silly for crying.”

“No, I don’t,” JC reassured her, reaching over and grabbing her hand. “I’m happy I could do something for you that meant that much.”

Colleen squeezed his hand back. “I just know the new album is gonna be amazing.”

“Well, we’re still only 4 songs in and Joey’s still gotta lay down his vocals then they need to be mixed in. It’s a longer process than I imagined but it’s coming along,” JC told her. “Oh, actually, I forgot. Jimmy texted while we were at the party, having a jam session tonight. Would it be ok if I went?” JC hated lying to Colleen but this one time he wanted to keep his whereabouts to himself.

“Absolutely! Go, have fun!” Colleen encouraged him, making him feel extra bad. He could have just told her, she would have understood, and yet… “Do you want me to hang out at your place or head home?”

“It’s already past 8, probably won’t be home until 3 at the earliest. Is it ok if you go back to your place? I wouldn’t want to wake you.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Colleen told him, though a little surprised by his answer.

When they reached JC’s, Colleen ran in to gather up her clothes and keys while JC grabbed his guitar. “I really appreciate this, Babe,” JC told her, giving her a kiss. “How about I pick you up tomorrow and we drive out to Cici’s Cafe and split an order of pancakes?”

“What’s this splitting part? They have like 50 different kinds of pancakes. We can’t limit ourselves to one kind.”

“Their platters are huge. We’d be wasting basically a whole order.”

“Oh, what I don’t finish, I’ll be eating for dinner. Tiramisu pancakes are good any time of day.”

“Ok, deal,” JC smiled and kissed her again. “I’ll call you when I wake up,” JC promised before they hopped in their cars as Colleen headed home and JC drove to his actual intended destination.