“Do we HAVE to stay at JC’s?” Barb whined.

“He’s your dad, he wants to get to know you better,” Mikayla said.

“He promised us chicken nuggets, fries, and ice cream tomorrow night!  Don’t ruin this, Barb!” Joshy shouted.

“Well, how can you argue with all that?” Justin laughed.  “It’s just for a couple nights, you’ll be fine.  You’ve been without us longer than that before with Jackie.”

“But it’s Jackie, I know her…” Barb sighed.

“You know a lot about JC, too,” Mikayla said.  “Ask him to play piano, or guitar, or sing for you.”

“No one sings better than Daddy,” Barb said.

“JC is a better singer than I am, I will quickly and gladly admit that.  The way he sang on our songs back in the day, there were things I just couldn’t do that he did so easily.  Your dad is a great guy, he wants to be a good dad, just give him a chance.  He’s not wanting to take my place, he knows what we have is special, but he wants a piece of it, too.  You’re his kids as much as you are mine.  I raised you, but you are part of him.  Let him show you that.”

“I guess,” Barb shrugged.

They got in the car and drove to JC’s, Joshy excited to see his dad.  The transition had been pretty smooth for Joshy, liking the idea of another dad to hang out with, especially sharing his name, at least in part.

MIkayla was admittedly nervous, knowing how Barb was feeling, and also how unprepared JC was.  She’d wished the twins’ room was more finished, but that was the point of the couch sleepover.  She knew they’d fall asleep there anyway during the movie, so she let sleeping dogs lie.

JC had cleared room in one of his garage bays by parking the Jeep outside, giving them a clicker so they could go in without really being seen.  Justin opened the garage door, Mikayla hesitantly opening the door into the house.  

JC was waiting for them near the door, a smile on his face.  They could smell the pizza, the kids' faces brightening with excitement.  

“Hi, glad to see you guys again.  You excited to be here for a couple days?”

“Yeah!” Joshy shouted, Barb looking less enthusiastic.

“She’s in a mood,” Mikayla sighed. 

JC crouched down, eye level with Barb. “Can I show you something?”  He stuck out his hand towards her, Barb taking it reluctantly.  

He walked her to her bedroom, opening the door slowly. Barb’s eyes widened and she let out a high pitched squeal of delight. 

“Is this mine?” she asked quietly.

“Sure is, baby girl,” JC replied.

“I LOVE IT!”

“It’s a work in progress, but it’s a good start,” JC sighed. 

Her bed had a rainbow chevron striped comforter, with light pink pillows.  It was a poster bed, with dim twinkle lights running across the top of each post.  Above her pillows was a spray of paper butterflies in different colors.

“I’m thinking of something rainbow or unicorn or something for above the length of the bed.  Let me know what you think, sweetheart,” JC said.

“Thank you,” Barb replied. 

She turned and saw she had a chest of drawers that the base was white, the drawers were each color of the rainbow.

Joshy walked into the room, his jaw dropping. His bed had a Paw Patrol comforter and pillows, with the badges for each of the pups above his pillows.  

He had a chest of drawers with a white base and red, yellow, green, and blue drawers.  He saw another set of drawers under his bed, walking towards it.

“You both have something under your beds, no monsters can get under there for sure…”

They both knelt alongside their beds, pulling out the drawers. Joshy’s top drawer was a large Lego mat, the second drawer with small buckets of color coded Legos.  Barb’s top drawer had dress up clothes, the bottom drawer had a doll with matching outfits.

Mikayla stood in the doorway, watching the scene unfold.  “I’d say your bedroom is a hit,” she smiled. “Dad did a great job.”

“I had a little help from Pinterest and Google, then Amazon for the shopping.  It still needs a few final touches…”

“It’s perfect,” Mikayla whispered in his ear, his body relaxing, an arm wrapping around her waist.

Justin stood in the hallway, seeing his wife and best friend look comfortable together.  He knew it shouldn’t surprise him, given their history, but it hurt a little to see her like that with someone else.  If he didn’t know better, he’d swear he was losing her to the man she should really be with.

Mikayla turned and looked at Justin. She saw the pain on his face, walking over to him. “It’s a proud dad moment for him, Justin,” she said quietly. “Come and see.  Maybe then you’ll understand.”

Justin walked into the doorway, taking in the room. It had come a long way in only a few days, proud of JC for pulling it together.

“We could’ve helped you set this up,” Justin offered. 

“I had Lance and Michael, I wanted this to be a surprise for you two as much as the twins.  It let me talk and think things through with people outside of the situation.”

The adults stepped into the hall, taking a few steps from the door. “Think about what?” Justin asked, almost eagerly.

“About being their dad.  I mean, we all agree that’s the best for everyone, but it also confirmed… other things.”

“What other things?” Mikayla wondered. 

“That our… situation… is a good idea.”

“So they know? I mean, I guess I should’ve figured…”

“They don’t know. Michael suggested it. Lance at first was very much against it, that it crossed a line.  The more Michael explained how it made sense, that it could work if we all wanted it to, the more Lance agreed. They know we slept together in your office, and I told them about the things I’ve felt since we started seeing each other again. Lance said he could feel something between us at your birthday party.  It would be complicated to explain, but I think they’d support us if they knew. They don’t need to know, but if we need to tell people, I think they’d be on board.”

JC walked back to the doorway of the twins’ bedroom.  “Put stuff away, let’s go eat before the pizza gets cold.”

The twins eagerly cleaned up, Justin and Mikayla in awe of how quickly they complied with his request.  “Teach us, master,” Justin joked.  “I’d say you’re off to a great start.  We seriously have to ask them at least a couple times to clean up their rooms.  This is still new, so maybe that’s the difference.”

“Either way, I’m not complaining,” JC smiled.

They went out into the living room, the pizza boxes open on the coffee table, plates in the center of the table.  They each grabbed slices, JC hitting play on the BluRay player.  Disney’s Inside Out began to play, the kids excited to watch it.  It wasn’t lost on the adults why JC chose this movie, knowing that this weekend would likely bring out a lot of feelings, but hopefully make new memories that could become core ones for the twins and JC.  He hadn’t really felt like a dad yet, just an outsider watching his own children.  He hoped being on his own with them for a couple days would get things onto the right foot.

They watched the movie, the twins fighting to stay awake.  “Do you want to sleep in your beds tonight, or stay out here and watch movies until we fall asleep?” JC asked them while they were still awake.

“Out here,” Joshy yawned, Barb too tired to even respond, curling up in her spot on the couch.  Soon they were both out, and the credits began to roll.

“Looks like you’ve got things all set, hopefully if they wake up in the middle of the night they’ll just snuggle right up to you.  They usually don’t come in to sleep with us, but seeing as it’s somewhere new, they might.  You did a great job with their room, I think this is gonna be smoother for them than we think,” Mikayla sighed.

JC looked at her, loving the look of pride on her face as she looked at him. He wished it was his weekend with her, wanting to celebrate this victory, this moment in feeling more like a dad.  He cleared his throat.  “I should let you guys get going.  Big weekend and all…”

“I’ll go get the car warmed up while you say goodbye,” Justin sighed, knowing they’d want a moment alone, knowing that was all they’d get before he took her for the weekend.

They walked down the hall towards the garage, waiting until Justin was out of sight.  JC pulled her into his arms, Mikayla looking up at him.

“I’m proud of you, Josh.  You’re doing really well with all of this.  It’s a lot to take on so quickly, only really knowing about them for 2 weeks now.”

“But what a 2 weeks.  I had no idea when I saw you that morning for the tour that it would lead to all of this.  But I’m so glad that it did.”

He kissed her, the kiss deep from the start.  His hands wanting to roam over her back, his mind envisioning her clothes in a pile on the floor.  His body began to react to his imagination.  Mikayla slowly pulled away.

“I need to go.  I’m sorry we can’t continue this moment.”

“Next weekend,” JC smiled.

“I wish it was sooner,” Mikayla sighed.

“Me too, believe me.  But I’ll take what I can get.  We’ll have fun, it’ll be good.”  He pulled her in for a long hug, kissing the top of her head.  “I love you, Mommy.”

“I love you too, Daddy.  Damn, I gotta remember that for next week.  Mmmm, feels good calling you Daddy.”

“It’ll be here before you know it.  You should go, I don’t want to keep you.  I DO, but… you know what I mean.”

Mikayla nodded, grabbing her things before heading to the car.  JC stood in the doorway of the garage, half smiling as they pulled out of the garage and began to drive away.  He wished he could have Mikayla to himself, but he also knew he had part of both of them for the weekend, and was excited about the promise that had.