“Are you ready to meet more of your family?” Justin asked. “We’re all close, so hopefully that helps a bit. Barb, how are you feeling?”  He looked in the rear view mirror, seeing Mikayla between the twins.

“I’m ok.  Kinda tired.  Daddy, you said I have a girl cousin?”

JC smiled, glad she was comfortable calling him Daddy consistently now.  “Yeah, baby girl.  She’s excited to meet you.  She’s about your age, so you should have lots in common.”

“Any boy cousins?” Joshy asked hopefully.

“Sorry bud, not on this side of the family. You’re gonna have another girl on this side pretty soon. Around when Mommy has Silas, I think.  So at least you’ll have a brother soon.”

“I’ll have TWO brothers,” Barb huffed.

“Ask your Aunt Heather about that. She has me and Uncle Tyler, it wasn’t that bad.  They’ll all be out with us for Christmas, so you’ll have her to play with while the boys do their thing.”

“Can we get a sister next time?” Barb asked. 

“It doesn’t work that way, sweetheart,” Mikayla answered softly. “I’m sure we’ll have our hands full with you three.  I can’t promise that another baby would be a girl.”

“You wished for me,” she sighed. 

“And we got lucky,” JC answered. “Doubly lucky because we also got your brother.  It could have been two boys or two girls just as much.  There’s no way to know for sure.”

JC had driven, pulling into the driveway of the house. Mikayla smiled, nothing had changed since the last time she’d been there. She knew that was a lie, so much had changed, but it looked like it did years ago.  Any nerves she had were gone, knowing she had JC with her.

They got out of the car, Mikayla helping the twins unbuckle their car seats.  She’d toyed with switching to booster seats for the trip, but ultimately her mom worries got the better of her.

The twins held Mikayla’s hands, each of the dads holding a twin’s hand.  JC led them up the walkway, knocking on the door. 

The door opened, Karen beaming from ear to ear.  “Josh, you didn’t need to knock!”

“I figured it would be nicer than walking in and surprising you all,” JC smiled, seeing his mom.  The two hugged before she turned her attention to the rest of her guests. 

“Hi,” Karen said softly.  “This must be Barb and Joshy,” she smiled.  “I’m your grandma.”  She looked at JC.  “I never thought this would happen.  Josh, you’re a dad…”

“They’re great kids.  You ready to meet your grandpa, your aunts and uncle and cousin?” JC asked.

Joshy smiled, Barb was a little more reserved.  Justin put a hand on Barb’s back in reassurance.  “They’re gonna love you, baby girl,” Justin said quietly.

They walked into the house, Paw Patrol on TV.  The twins’ eyes lit up.  “PAW PATROL!” they shouted, running towards the TV.

“Well, that was easy,” Mikayla laughed.  

“I’m glad you’re back,” Heather smiled, hugging Mikayla tight.  “I’m an aunt, again…”

“Yeah.  I’m sorry if this is awkward for you guys,” Mikayla sighed.

“You’re always welcome here, Kayla,” Roy smiled softly, walking towards her.  He gave her a hug, patting her on the back.  “Welcome home.  It’s been too long.”

“I’m sorry I kept them from you…”

“It’s in the past.  I know you didn’t want to keep them from any of us, not even Josh.  I’m just glad we get to be with them moving forward.”

“Hey stranger,” Tyler smiled, walking up to her.  “You look great.”

MIkayla accepted his hug.  “You’re married, Tyler, and so am I…” she whispered with a giggle.  “Good to see you.”

Karen looked at Mikayla again.  “It seems some congratulations are in order.”

Mikayla’s bump was much harder to hide now.  “Yes, due in October.  Silas…”

“I’m due in November,” a female voice said, approaching MIkayla.

“You’re Sarah, right?  Josh showed me pictures from the wedding.  It was beautiful…”

“Not as beautiful as yours in Italy,” Sarah sighed.

“We didn’t mean for it to be on the same day…”

“I’m sure,” Karen said.  “You’d have been welcome to come if you’d been available.”

Mikayla turned her attention to the twins, the TV showing a commercial break.  

“Are you my new cousins?” the little girl asked.  “I’m Eliana…”

“I’m Barb, this is Joshy.”

“That’s my uncle’s name…”

“He’s my daddy.  I’m named after him.”

“I would not have agreed to that, just to throw that out there,” JC said.  “Maybe my middle name or something, or as HIS middle name, but yeah…”

“What names would you have picked?” Mikayla wondered.  The twins looked intently at JC, waiting for his answer.

“I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter.  You two are perfect the way you are.”  He wrapped his arms around the twins before giving his niece a hug and kiss on top of her head.

“Sarah, do you mind watching the kids for a minute?  I have a few things I want to say to the family,” Mikayla said.

“Not a problem,” Sarah said, nodding in understanding.

They moved to the living room, away from the children.  “What’s on your mind, dear?” Karen asked.

“I want to apologize to you all, formally, for it taking this long to get to this point.  It’s not fair to any of you…”

“You thought I knew about the babies and chose to walk away.  It’s my fault, more so than yours,” JC said.

“They deserved to know, especially once I knew you had no clue and was keeping them from you.  Which you know I didn’t want to do, but the time was never right…”  Tears formed in her eyes, Mikayla wondering if this was too much emotionally.

“Kayla, we understand,” Karen said, rushing to hug her.  “We don’t blame you for anything.”

“He kinda deserved it, by the sound of it,” Heather said, giving her older brother a nudge.  “To delete her voicemail like that.”

“If I had known…”  JC said.

“She wouldn’t have needed to leave the voicemail,” Justin said. 

“Enough,” Roy said.  “We can throw blame every which way, but it doesn’t change what happened.  I’m glad to have Kayla back in our lives, in whatever form that is, along with the twins.  I’m sure things would be very different if Josh had known from the start, but that shouldn’t make you feel guilty about how things turned out.  For all we know, Josh wouldn’t have been ready even if he had known about the twins.  Maybe this was the perfect timing for all of this.  No one is angry at each other anymore, we are able to be a family.  Justin, you’ve been like a son to us for all these years, thank you for helping raise the twins during this time, and we hope we can help love on Silas as our own.”

“Thank you, Mr. Chasez,” Justin said, choking back tears.

“Enough of that, I’ve known you for far too long,” Roy said, pulling Justin into a hug.  “Life’s too short to hold grudges.  I’m just glad everything is ok now and I get to have you as my family.”

Roy turned to Mikayla and the rest of the family. “Are we finished here? I’d like to get to know my grandkids.”

JC looked at Mikayla.  She nodded with a smile. “Yeah, I think we’re finished.”

They walked back into the family room, the kids playing with Eliana’s Paw Patrol toys.  Mikayla was glad they were getting along, not that she was that worried.

Roy sat himself in a chair right by the kids. “Barb, which one is your favorite?” he asked. 

“I like Skye, cuz she wears pink!  She also gets to fly, that’s pretty cool.”

“Joshy, who’s yours?” Roy asked. 

“I like Chase, cuz he has the fast police car.”

Justin and JC looked at each other, smiling at just how much that tracked. 

“He’s also the leader within the pups, isn’t he?” Roy continued.  “They’re a team, but I feel like Chase is closest to Rider.”

“I guess,” Joshy shrugged. 

They continued to play, Mikayla helping Karen with food in the kitchen.

“Can you help with the macaroni salad?” Karen asked. “The pasta is just about done, it just needs to be drained and everything mixed.”

“Sure. Same recipe as always?” Mikayla asked. Karen nodded. “Can I add something?”

“If we have it, sure.”

Heather stepped next to Mikayla. “That’s grandma’s prize winning recipe, this is a huge honor to let you add something to it…”

“I’m just adding bacon, it’s no big deal,” Mikayla laughed. “But I get it. I feel like they’re going out of their way to include me, make me feel welcome again.”

Heather looked around, Karen having left the kitchen.  “We never thought we’d see you again, after the breakup. We had all gotten attached to the idea of you two, hoping something would happen. So when it didn’t, it hurt all of us. Josh never told us what happened, just that things ended badly.  So for all of this to have transpired, you having his kids, being in each other’s lives, back in our lives, it’s a big deal. Mom has been so excited for this visit.”

“We all have,” Mikayla said quietly. “Things are going well as far as the twins accepting he’s their dad, so getting to meet more family is exciting. Barb is happy to have girl cousins, even if one will be a baby.  I think in her head it balances out her getting another brother.”

“Is it weird, having him back in the picture?  I mean, he’s the dad, you had all that history, but now you’re married to Justin, having his baby…”

“It feels… different,” Mikayla said, being careful with her choice of words.  “In a way it feels like everything is as it should be, Josh being their dad, being a family, but on the other hand, there’s a part of me that wonders what if, ya know?”

“That you wouldn’t be with Justin if things with Josh hadn’t fallen apart?”

“Yeah.  I love him, and I’m excited to have Silas with him, but other times I’m curious what it would be like to be married to Josh.”  

“Do you still love him?” Heather asked.

“I do, I always will.  We have kids together.  Justin would say that if we ever found our way back to each other, I could leave.  I never thought I’d get the chance, and when I do, I’m pregnant with his baby.  I can’t just abandon him like that.  Josh has full access to the twins, he’s even gonna take them for a bit, at least to start.  Justin and I are gonna take a short vacation, just the two of us.  Just a few days, but it lets Josh get to have that time with the twins.  I’d been nervous about it before, but I think now we’ll be ok.”

“Would you have left Justin if you weren’t pregnant?”

Mikayla was quiet.  “I don’t know.  As much as I loved Josh, I love Justin just as much, more than that after everything that’s happened.  He didn’t have to do any of this.  I really don’t know if he would have even offered to be with me if I wasn’t pregnant.”

“I would have,” Justin said quietly, walking into the kitchen. “I told you that night that I was in love with you.  That wouldn’t have changed whether you were pregnant or not.  It moved things up on getting married right away, but I wanted all of this with you.”

“I’ll just leave you two to talk,” Heather said, noticing the tension in the room.

Mikayla was mixing the macaroni salad, trying to not look at Justin.  “I’m sorry I said anything.”

“Things happened the way they did for a reason.  I play the what if game too, where I have everything we have now, but without the twins being his, or where you guys worked things out and were a family.”

“How does that scenario play out in your head?”

“Maybe I’d get back together with Jess, I dunno.  Maybe I’d meet someone else.  I’m glad I don’t have to worry about that.  I love you more than I loved you then, and I’m glad we have our life together, however messed up it is at times.”

“I love you Justin, you know that.”

“I do.  I heard you around the corner.  I’m glad you can be honest with people about it, not wanting to soften the blow because it’s his family.”

“While also being honest that I still love him.  I wish this was an easier situation to explain, getting full support of everyone for our arrangement…”

“I think there’s very few people that would be ok with that,” Justin said.  “For now, let’s just enjoy this time with his family, being all together again.”

Karen came back into the kitchen, Mikayla and Heather helping finish getting food ready.  It was late afternoon, so it was a late lunch, early dinner.  Everyone sat around the table, the kids being at a small table nearby.  Sarah and Mikayla had made plates for the kids, the adults being able to serve themselves at the table.

They caught up with Tyler and the family about work, projects JC and Justin were working on, the twins being in preschool.    Mikayla was thankful it all was going smoothly, everything feeling like no time had passed.  There was genuine conversation and no ill feelings, despite what Mikayla had built up in her head.  They’d had every right to be upset at being kept from the twins, not knowing they had more to their family.  

The twins were tired after eating, Eliana staying up a little later before joining the twins in her bedroom at the house.  “I’m tired myself,” Mikayla yawned, stretching her arms wide.

“You always are when you fly,” Justin smiled.

“The guest room is ready for you,” Karen said.  Justin kissed Mikayla goodnight, staying up with the others for a while.

Soon it was down to Justin and JC, Roy being the last to go to bed.  The two looked awkwardly at each other for a moment, Justin clearing his throat.

“No one else is up, go on into the guest room, I’ll take your room for the night,” Justin said.  

“T, you don’t have to…”

“I know nothing’s gonna happen, she’s way too tired, but I think it’s the right thing to do.  Give you some more time with her, even if you’re just asleep.”

“Thank you,” JC sighed, knowing Justin wouldn’t change his mind.  “I’ll make sure I’m up early so that we can switch back so no one suspects anything.”

“It’s just next door, but if that’s what you wanna do, I’m fine with that.  See you in the morning, C.”

JC walked into the guest room, seeing Mikayla sleeping soundly.  He smiled, her face angelic in blissful sleep.  He thought back to their first trip to Florida, staying at his house.  He missed having a place of his own out there, but it didn’t make sense if he was only there to see his family anymore.  His life was in LA, it had made sense to sell the house.  He got into bed, Mikayla automatically curling up beside him.

He looked down at her, seeing her eyes slowly flutter open.  “Josh?”

“Justin told me to come in here, give us more time together.”

“Ok,” she yawned before wrapping herself tighter against his side.  She didn’t question anything, just took it at face value, sharing a bed with JC for the night.  

He smiled, she really was too tired to do much of anything, but he was thankful for the chance to fall asleep and wake up next to her.