In the quiet of the morning, Justin slowly exits the bathroom, turning off the light behind him. He notes that Brian has already left, but isn't sure what time that was. Yawning, he quickly changes and leaves the bedroom.

Padding across the living room, the blond tip toes around the high wall dividers on the other side of the loft. Peeking in, Justin can't help but smile.

He quietly steps inside, "Kai?" he whispers. Justin grins, watching Kai sitting on the bed studying the same Sesame Street book he had fallen asleep with last night.

Taking another step, Justin begins to sing the same song he always sings each morning, "Wake up, it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining so get ready to play."

Kai looks up, grinning wide as he watches his brother walk deeper into the room.

Sitting down on the bed, Justin extends his hand out and waits.

Kai grins, "Ha!" he slaps his palm against Justin's.

"Hi!" Justin greets back. Pulling out the schedule board, he points to the first picture. "Bathroom."

Kai points to the picture and begins to get out of the bed.

"Give me book," Justin says, holding out his hand. Kai absently hands the book to his brother, his mind already set on the first task of the day.

Smiling, Justin follows his younger brother to the bathroom to help. Afterwards, the two Taylors walk over to the kitchen. "Let's check the calendar, Kai," Justin says, guiding his brother to the homemade calendar taped onto the counter wall so it's at eye-level.

"Today is Sunday," Justin points to the word and then scrolls his finger down to the picture. "Oh my!" the blond pretends to be surprised. "What is it?"

Kai is about to walk away, but Justin takes his hand and prompts his brother to point to the picture. He asks again, "What is this?"

Kai pats the picture and is about to walk off again, when Justin kneels behind him, successfully blocking his brother's next escape. "I see a ...."

"Ake." Kai comments, trying to peel the picture off of the square.

"Cake!" Justin repeats, "That's right! It's your birthday!"

Kai pats the picture and says without looking at his brother, "Ake."

"How old are you?" Justin asks. They have been practicing this question for the past week since the number was going to change.

"Four."

"That's right!" Justin pulls Kai into a hugs, "You're four-years old!"

Kai is about to walk off again, when Justin begins to sing, "Happy birthday to you..."

Smiling, Kai looks at the floor and begins to sway.

"Happy birthday to you...Happy birthday, dear..." Justin pauses and taps his brother's chest.

Kai finishes the phrases softly, "..Kai."

"Happy birthday to you!" Justin completes the song and kisses his brother's head. "Okay, I'll stop bugging you." He laughs as he watches Kai run off to the window to watch the cars.

Hearing the elevator, Justin glances at the clock. They still had plenty of time.

Sliding open the loft door, Brian enters carrying a cake. "It's about time you woke up, Sunshine," he drawls. "Is he at his usual perch?"

Justin nods as he pours himself some coffee.

"Hey!" Brian calls out.

Kai turns around and looks at him with a soft smile.

Brian opens his mouth as if to speak, but waits.

"...Hi." Kai finally says.

"Hi, Kai! Happy birthday." Putting the cake down on the counter, he walks over and ruffles Kai's hair, knowing that the smaller blond is staring down at the street again. Looking back at Justin, he asks, "Where's Gus?"

"Still asleep," Justin answers. "Not that I'm surprised." He smiles, remembering how Gus stayed up late helping to wrap Kai's birthday presents.

Brian nods, returning to the kitchen to help his lover make breakfast. Having Kai's birthday party on the same day that Gus was spending the night was not a coincidence. Though Brian explained to Lindsay and Melanie that it would be easier for Kai to understand if Gus was already at loft on his designated weekend instead of having him arrive and then leave on the same day, the bigger reason however was because Justin and Lindsay were still not getting along. Brian didn't think they ever would. Lindsay didn't always seem to understand, or want to understand, Kai's needs and the reasons for certain behaviors, and that always made Justin furious. Not, annoyed: furious. There were few things in life that made Justin furious, making negative comments about Kai was on the top of the list.

Needless to say, Melanie and Lindsay weren't invited, and neither seemed to mind.

"Kai," Justin calls, "Come to the table...time to eat."

Kai shuffles over, picking up a pen by the end table and carrying it over to the table with him.

Meeting Kai at the table, Brian extends his hand, "Give me pen."

Kai puts the pen in Brian's hand and climbs into the chair.

Standing in front of him, Justin asks, "Cereal or waffles?" He hold out both pictures.

"Wa" Kai says, gesturing towards the waffle picture.

"Waffle." Justin corrects, pointing to the picture.

"Wa." Kai says again as he looks past the picture and at the box of waffles sitting by the toaster on the counter behind his brother.

"Wa..." Justin begins.

"Fuh." Kai finishes.

"Right! Waffle." The blond pulls out a blueberry waffle from the box and sticks it in the toaster.

Kai picks up his empty cup and hands it to Brian who is sitting next to him. "Juice," he says while looking at his placemat on the table.

Brian waits a few seconds before tapping on the visual cue that they had placed on the bottom of Kai's placemat. It's a sentence strip that shows the signs "I" and "want."

Kai touches each symbol while saying, "I...want..." he looks up and then turns to the cup in Brian's hand. "Juice."

"Sure, Kai." Brian says, standing up and walking over to the fridge. He playfully bumps shoulders with Justin, who smiles but doesn't say anything.

Putting a waffle on Kai's plate and another on his own, Justin carries both plates to the table and sits down. "Here's your waffle, Kai."

"Fuh." Kai says, picking up the waffle and taking a bite.

Justin nods, "Wa..ffle...waffle." Pouring some syrup on his own waffle, he looks over at Brian, "Are you still hungry?"

He shakes his head, "No, I ate way too much at the diner with the guys this morning." He sighs loudly and pats his stomach with a grin.

Justin smiles, glad that Brian was able to meet the gang that morning. "How is everyone?"

He shrugs, "Same old, same old. Oh, and Debbie is bringing lemon bars."

Justin takes a bite of his waffle, knowing that it didn't matter how many times he told Debbie that she didn't need to bring anything to Kai's party, the woman was set in her ways.

They only invited a few people to the party. Debbie, of course, as she often babysat Kai, then there was Gus, and three other friends from Kai's preschool that Justin had invited over before for facilitated play dates. He had briefly considered inviting Kai's ABA therapists, but decided that it might be awkward and chose to give them each a cupcake at last week's clinic meeting with the psychologist when they reviewed Kai's progress and current programs.

"I can't believe you're four now, Kai," Justin comments, smiling at his brother.

Kai looks up briefly, watching his brother's face for a couple of seconds before returning his attention to his waffle.

"Happy birthday, Kai!" Gus' excited voice echoes through the loft. The five-year old runs into the kitchen and nearly pulls Kai out of his chair with a hug.

Kai smiles as he looks at his waffle, and Brian knows that if it was anyone else who nearly tackled him, Kai would be screaming right now.

"Good morning, Gus!" Justin greets, "Do you want a waffle or cereal?"

"Waffle, please." Gus announces, "And juice too!" He looks over at Brian, "Did you get the cake?"

Laughing, Brian asks, "What? No hug for me?"

Laughing, Gus lunges at his father, "Sorry!" and kisses his cheek. "Did you get the cake?"

Chuckling, Brian nods, "It's on the counter."

"Is it...you know...E...M..." he pauses, "No, I mean...E...L..."

Brian nods, "Yep."

Covering his mouth in his hands, Gus surpresses another excited squeal. He looks over at Kai and takes the younger boy's hands in his. "You are going to loooove your cake, Kai! It's your favorite character!"

Justin nods his head, "So let's finish eating so we can set everything up," he stands up to put another waffle in the toaster and pours a cup of juice for Gus. "You're gonna help, right Gus?"

Gus nods his head with the utmost serious expression. "You can count on me."

As soon as everyone is done eating, Kai is about to run back to the window when Justin stops him, "First," he points to Kai's "First, Then" board that shows two pictures, one underneath the word "First," and the other underneath "Then." He waits until Kai points to the picture. Nodding, Justin says, "First busy box. Then, window."

Kai runs over to his small work table and opens a rubbermaid box with three activities inside. One is a 15-pc shape sorter, the second is matching activity where Kai has to match pictures of him, Gus, Brian and Justin to their written name, and the third is a stringing bead activity.

Justin watches Kai sit down and work on the shape sorter. Smiling, he walks over and pats his shoulder, "Nice job, Kai."

Back in the kitchen, Brian and Gus are pulling out the plastic bags that were hidden underneath the sink. Justin quickly joins them to help take out the Elmo plates, napkins and cups. After about a minute, Brian heads over to Kai to check on his progress. "All done?" he asks, gesturing to the shape sorter.

Kai signs, "All done" while saying "Done." The four year old put the shape sorter back into the box and begins working on the picture activity. Brian sits down next to him and lifts up one photo.

"Who is this?" Brian asks, pretending not to know.

Kai turns his body around to look at Gus, whose back is to him in front of the counter.

"You're right," Brian confirms, "Same...but who is it?"

Looking back at the picture, Kai takes it from Brian and says softly, "Gus."

"Right!" Brian nods. He gestures to the four names in front of him, each with a piece of velcro underneath so that Kai can put the correct down on it.

Scanning the words, Kai places it underneath the word "Gus," and says again, "Gus."

"Very good," Brian pats his arm. "I'm going to help Justin. You keep working." Standing up, he walks back to the kitchen and comments, "He's pretty good at that."

Justin nods, "Splinter skills..that's what Sherry called it." Sherry was one of Kai's ABA therapists. "She says that many kids on the spectrum have some skills above their age group, but not the skills that should come before that...it's called 'splinter skills.'"

Brian nods his head as well, remembering Carol, the other ABA therapist telling him the same thing during last month's clinic meeting when he had commented how Kai knew all his letters and could count to 50, but still couldn't spontanously greet someone or have a conversation with Gus.

The door knocks and Gus announces, "That's probably the food guy!" He watches as Brian slides open the door and pays the delivery man.

"We could've made these ourselves, you know," Justin comments, but knows not to say anymore on the topic. Brian had wanted to go all out for Kai's birthday, like he always did for Gus, but they both knew that Kai would become overwhelmed if there was too much attention and stimulation around him.

Brian makes a sound of acknowlegdment as he opens the containers and puts the small sandwiches on a large Elmo plate. Gus helps Justin dump the raw veggies into another platter. It isn't long before the table is set buffet style and Justin heads over to the storage closet to pull out the large Elmo balloon he has been hiding since yesterday afternoon.

"Emo!" Kai shrieks and runs towards the balloon on his tip toes, his activity box now forgotten.

Laughing, Justin comments, "I knew he'd go nuts." He smiles as he looks over Brian, who is smiling at Kai's expression, both remembering the first time Kai had said "Elmo" when they introduced colors in his preschool last school year. The then three-year old had come home from school with a picture of Elmo that he had colored with red crayon. Justin had asked, "Do you know who this is?" Kai had answered, "Emo" and Justin nearly fell over. Of course the young Taylor would say 'Elmo' before 'Gus', 'Brian' and 'Justin''s name.

Gus claps his hands, "Just wait until he sees Daddy's surprise!"

"What surprise?" Justin asks, his expression changing to suspicion. "Brian?"

Shrugging, Brian replies as he sits on the floor beside Kai, watching Kai study the balloon with fascination, "It's a surprise."