Justin's POV

"Why do you have to go?" I shouted, my voice hoarse. "You have many other competent people you could send on this fucking trip to Brazil!"

"Justin, I already explained it to you. This is a new drug and I'm the fucking boss. I have to go there and talk to them in person. I'll even have a doctor with me to make sure I don't bring shit back in the country."

I was so sick of his excuses to take this trip, I wanted to dump his fucking suitcase in his head, then shove him out the window. "How long did you know about this?"

"A while." Okay, I seriously wanted to punch him, especially when he was acting so chill about it.

"How long is a while, Brian? Did you know you won't be here for my birthday? Did you?"

He cringed, but didn't look up from folding his shirt carefully. We don't want to get his precious Prada shirt wrinkled.

"I'm talking to you, asshole!" I snatched the shirt from his hands, throwing it on the other side of the room. I grabbed him by the chin, turning him to face me. "Why did you let me make the plans for skiing this weekend? Do you actually enjoy hurting me? Just fucking tell me, so I'll know what to expect in the future!"

He scoffed, pulling away. "Of course. I simply love hurting you. I get off on it." He rolled his eyes, taking my hand. "Sunshine, it actually hurts to see you so sad."

I wanted to pull my hand away, but I loved the way his skin felt against mine. Brian was always my weak spot, and it was never a good sign for him to touch me when we were fighting.

"Nothing was clear. I've been working on this account since Shane told me about it. Remember Shane? He's the guy we were after, years ago, then I got him, and he discovered my cancer."

"Shane?" I scowled. I didn't give a fuck who he was.

"He remembered I worked in advertising. He came to me last summer with this proposition. He knew about this company in Brazil, and I accepted his proposal to help him bring this new drug in the country. It took a long time to get everything legal and… Are you listening to me?"

"Were you ever going to tell me this?"

"I'm telling you now!"

I growled, pushing him out of my way as I stormed out of the room. I wanted to throttle him. The desire to strangle him had never been stronger.

For over a week I'd been working on making this trip our best holiday. Apparently, Brian and I and skiing didn't mix.

I was going alone. Again.

"Fuck off," I barked at the cat when she came to rub against my ankles. I didn't want any contact with any other living being.

I slumped in the stuffed armchair in Brian's study, staring gloomily at the bottle of whiskey. I was debating if it would make me a better man if I decided to drown my sorrows in the Beam.

Just as I was about to open the bottle, Brian came through the door, leaning against it. He looked pale, but I didn't give a shit. I didn't need his excuses.

"Justin."

"Leave me the fuck alone," I hissed, uncapping the bottle.

"Listen to me." He gripped the door handle, as if keeping his balance onto it.

I took a swig of the whiskey. "Save your apologies."

"Daphne's dad just called. It's happening."

I put the bottle away, standing so fast my world tilted. I fell back in the armchair.

"Justin!" Brian came closer, kneeling at my feet, his hands bracing on my knees. "Sunshine, we have to go to the hospital."

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out, not like my brain was working at the moment.

All I could think was: I'm not ready to be a dad.

I allowed Brian to lift me up and push me into the car. Once I was in the passenger seat, he rushed back into the house to grab the bag we had prepared.

When he slid behind the wheel, he threw me a small smile. It was the unsure kind he used after our fights.

"Are you going into shock? Do you want a paper bag or something?" He stroked my hair, still smiling.

"I'm okay," I managed to say, taking his hand and squeezing it. "Shit, Brian. I'm going to be a dad!"

Brian grinned, patting my knee, before focusing on backing out of the garage and driving away.

"You'll be amazing," he said softly.

"Why weren't you freaked out when you had Gus?"

He snorted. "I was too high to register what was going on. The next day, though, it hit me full force—I had two babies!" He mock-punched me in the shoulder.

I whacked him in the arm with a plush toy from the bag Brian had thrown in my lap. "Beware, the octopus might eat you!" I pressed the toy to the side of his face.

"Christ. You're still a baby." He pushed me away. "Don't play with the kid's toys. We have our own kind of toys, Sunshine."

"Shut up! It's catching up with me. I'm going to be a dad!"

Brian slapped the back of his hand to my chest. "I doubt anyone can top Daphne's Christmas present to you. And let's not forget your birthday is in two days."

"Oh, so now you remember about my birthday?" I muttered, then I considered his words. "How cool would that be? I read that first labor for women can take up to thirty hours. What if she gives birth on my birthday? This day is almost gone, only a couple more hours. That separates me from my baby by twenty-six hours."

"Your math skills scare me," Brian mumbled.

"Now, faster. I have a baby to meet," I said excitedly.

Brian shuddered. "Can you not put the words faster and baby in the same sentence?"

"Are you suddenly into pet names?" I leaned closer, biting his earlobe.

"Unless it's about calling you Sunshine, then no. Anyway, you should call everyone, give them the great news."

By the time we reached the hospital, I'd called everyone letting them know I was officially becoming a father.

When we arrived, I rushed to Daphne's room, while Brian stayed in the Waiting Room to wait for our family.

"Hey!" I took her hand, grinning. "How are you?"

Her sweaty hair was plastered to her forehead, her face turned into a grimace, and her eyes narrowed. "I'm never speaking to you again after this is over," she puffed out through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry you're in pain. I'll be right here. I promise." I patted our joined hands. "Though, can you let up? My hand hurts…you know?"

Her dark eyes turned to slits and I realized talking rationally with her would have to wait.

The nurse who'd joined us to check on Daphne, smiled at me. "They all say the same. You'll be in her good graces once the baby is in her arms."

I stared at her, surprised. After she left, I caught Daphne's eye. She even tried to smile, but failed miserably.

"She thinks we're this cute, straight couple," she said, between deep breaths.

The Lamaze classes must have paid off for her. Because for me, it was all a blur at the moment. The only thing I remembered was having a focal point and breathing slowly and deeply.

Her doctor kept coming in at regular intervals of time to check on her, but always left, saying she wasn't dilated enough.

"I can't fucking do this. It hurts. Do you think you can fool that nurse into giving me more morphine?"

"I don't want my baby to be born a junkie," I joked.

It was a poor time to joke, though. With more force than I thought Daphne capable of, she grabbed a handful of my hair, yanking me down. "I need morphine now, or I'll start yelling."

"On to it," I blurted, leaving the room.

At the nurse station, I spotted the easiest prey—a male nurse. It didn't take more than a smile and an explanation about my friend being in pain. He went to her room, while I decided to check on our family.

Ours was the largest group, and they all stood up when I spilled, literally, into the Waiting Room. My legs felt like jelly.

"Justin!" Brian was next to me in a flash. "Everything okay? Is it over?"

"Not quite yet." I couldn't help but chuckle at the general groan, while everyone went back to their seats. Except Debbie, my mother, and Daphne's parents.

"Shouldn't you be in there with her?" Mr. Chanders demanded.

"I fetched a nurse for Daph and decided to let everyone know…if you want to go home…it might be a while." I shrugged.

"We're staying. Do you think you can convince the nurse to let one of us stay with Daph until she delivers?" Mrs. Chanders almost begged me.

"I think I can do it. Thank God for male nurses." I winked in Brain's direction.

He gasped mockingly. "Should I remind you that you're married and it's not polite to blow the nurse?"

A few gasps followed his comment. I rolled my eyes. "Come with me, Mrs. Chanders." I turned to the doors when Brian caught my elbow, pecking my mouth.

"Next time you come here, you better have news like boy or girl."

"Aye, sir!" I kissed his cheek, before leading Daphne's mother to her daughter's room. "They think another hour or so."

"We've been here for over five hours, close to six."

Whoa.

I had no idea how much time had passed as I'd kept Daph company and had my hand abused.

Mitchell, Daphne's doctor slash love interest, was chiding the male nurse right outside her room.

Oh shit.

I wanted to hide behind Mrs. Chanders. Or maybe run to the bathroom.

Escaping was out of question when he pointed to me, telling Mitchell in a loud voice that I put him up to giving her more morphine.

Mitchell caught my eyes, shaking his head, then turning to the nurse. "You don't listen to family, you dumb idiot! Especially, the father. He'd always want to make the mother feel less pain!"

I liked the way he explained it without putting label on our status. It was as simple as that. I was the father and Daphne was the mother. Two best friends making a baby.

While the nurse was trying to excuse himself, a loud scream came from inside the room. All of us dashed inside to see Daphne holding her large belly, her eyes wide and locked onto mine.

"It's coming."

Mitchell and the nurse bustled around, as Daphne's mother went to her side, whispering to her. I stood rooted in place by the door. Only when Mitchell told Mrs. Chanders she had to leave, instincts kicked in and I dashed to Daphne's side.

"I'm here, Daph." I took one of her hands in both mine, squeezing.

The whole delivery process made me thank God I was a guy. I nearly fainted a few times, but I'd never admit it to anyone, especially Brian.

I'd also lost feeling in my hand from Daphne's powerful squeezing the shit out of it.

With all her screaming, I was curious whether she could still talk when this was over. But then everything ceased—Daphne's screams, the dull pain in my hand—because another sound filled the air in the room. It was a different scream; a baby's cry.

My stomach turned into knots as one of the nurses placed the small bundle of blankets in my arms. She smiled at us, saying, "You're the parents of a beautiful and healthy girl."

I beamed at Daph, before focusing on the small person in my arms. She was so warm and tiny. I was afraid to touch her.

Looking back at Daphne, I leaned closer and placed our daughter on her chest, not giving her time to argue. In the past few days, she'd told me she didn't want to hold the baby, but I told her it was bullshit. She was going to be a big part in their life. We weren't going to cut her off.

Brian had even joked that if we freaked, we'd pass the baby to her entirely.

"Thank you, Daph. Love you." I kissed her forehead.

She met my eyes, shining with tears. "She's the best thing I've done in my life. Thank you, Justin."

I smiled, carefully touching the back of my index finger to the baby's cheek when she fussed, giving a weak cry.

"The nurses need to bathe her. We'll see her soon."

I laughed, picking our daughter and holding her against my chest. "I might accept Brian's name choice. She's a little jewel."

"Alannah Tiffany Taylor-Kinney. What a mouthful." Daphne laughed along.

Reluctantly, I gave her to the nurse, already missing the warm, little body. We were announced we'd be reunited in the morning.

I had no idea what time it was. "What time was she born?" I asked, looking at Mitchell.

"You'd laugh. 3:33."

Daphne giggled. "Of course, we couldn't expect anything normal with you as her father."

"So there are about twenty-four hours between us. Mom said she had me at 3 in the morning too. But tomorrow," I added for Mitchell's sake when he eyed me curiously.

It made Daphne laugh harder. "You're not even born yet and you had a child!"

I poked my tongue out at her. "This is the best present ever!"

Daphne's eyes widened. "You mean it tops Brian's trick for your nineteenth birthday?"

"Definitely!" I said as seriously as possible.

Mitchell cleared his throat, probably wondering what depraved parents we were going to be. "Miss Chanders needs to rest. You can see her in the morning, Mr. Taylor."

"Call me Justin, for Christ's sake! I told you that Mr. Taylor shit reminds me of my father."

"Okay, Justin. Still, you need to leave."

"Go." Daphne waved me off. "Give everyone the good news. I won't be much fun. I'm exhausted, though…could you send my mom to my room?"

"Sure thing." I kissed her forehead, stroking her hair. "Thank you."

She smiled, cupping my cheek. "It was worth it."

I left Mitchell to take care of her while I went to the Waiting Room. I found Brian right outside with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Well? What are we having?" He said in greeting.

I beamed, taking the cup from him and sipping from it. I needed the caffeine. "A little jewel."

"So it's Tiffany. Thank Baby Jesus. If I had to call my kid Trevor for the rest of my life…"

I laughed, hugging him tightly. "Alannah Tiffany," I told him seriously.

"Let's give everyone the news then head home for a few hours of shut eye," he suggested, opening the door and ushering me inside.

I repeated every detail of the delivery to our family, before we decided to come back in the morning since it was late, and some of them still had work in a few hours.

Before leaving, I took Brian to the nursery. It wasn't difficult to spot our baby girl. "Look. Front row, third cot. Isn't she precious?"

Brian wrapped his arms around me. "She has your cute button nose. She is gorgeous, Justin."

I grinned, leaning into his side, simply staring at the small miracle in front of us.

"I'll call Patrick. I'll send him with Shane. You were right."

"Our weekend plans are gone anyway." I shrugged.

"I'm not leaving you—now or ever. It was silly to insist on going to Brazil. Patrick can do it. I trust him."

oOo

After a few hours of sleep, I was fresh and ready to be reunited with my girls.

With a little luck we could bring them home by the end of the day. After a lot of prodding and begging from our part, we'd convinced Daphne to come live with us, so she'd be around the baby, too. If it got to be too much, Brian offered to buy her an apartment, which we'd help pay.

I grabbed a shower, got dressed, made coffee, and Brian was still asleep.

I was too hyper to stay still or wait until he decided to rouse, so after I filled Cupcake's bowl with food, I petted his head, looking at him seriously. "Do your worst, boy."

He understood immediately he was allowed to do something that might kill him, but he went to war with a happy bark and wriggle of tail.

Not one minute later, I heard Brian threatening the dog with decapitation if he licked him again.

I snickered into my coffee.

When Brian joined me in the kitchen, half an hour later, thankfully dressed and ready to go, he threw me a death stare.

"What? No good morning kiss?" I teased, pouting.

Brian snatched a cup and poured himself coffee. "I already got mine elsewhere!"

As if knowing we were talking about him, Cupcake trotted into the kitchen, and went straight to Brian, nudging the back of his thigh with his muzzle. When Brian turned abruptly, stomping his foot to the floor, Cupcake scurried to me, hiding behind my legs.

"Aww. He didn't mean it." I crouched to hug the poor dog. I stroked between his eyes. "Be a good boy now. There's food and water. We'll be back later."

"Stop kissing his ass," Brian muttered. "What? You're a little monster," he told Cupcake when he turned to Brian.

I hugged the dog tighter, stroking his fur.

"This is all your fault, Sunshine. If you didn't coddle him so much, he'd act like a normal dog. This way he thinks it's okay to jump unsuspecting people and lick them."

"That's how he expresses his love and devotion. Humans kiss. Dogs lick." I petted his head one last time, before raising, and washing my hands. "We can go whenever you're done queening about the dog licking you."

Brian shoved me out the door. "I'd rather you licked me."

All the way to the hospital, Brian was on the phone, using the hand-free set, talking to Patrick then to Shane then back to Patrick. My dear control freak husband had to know everything was going according to his new plan.

When we arrived, I led the way inside, ignoring the looks we got at Brian's loud barking orders down the phone. I left him outside Daphne's door, and stepped inside alone.

Daphne already had two other visitors—my mom and her mom. They were on the couch, talking.

"Hey, grandmas!" I waved to them, walking straight to my girls. "Hiii." I grinned, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"She's so beautiful, Justin," Mom said warmly.

"Yes, I was just admiring her eyes," Daphne's mom commented. "If the blue stays, she'd be a real heartbreaker. With Daphne's skin color, your blue eyes and blond hair, my God!"

Daph rolled her eyes, patting my knee. "Here. Carefully." She put Alannah in my arms.

I bit my tongue not to repeat Brian's words from the night Gus was born when Mel had told him to be careful when he picked him up for the first time.

Holding her firmly, I moved to the chair next to the bed, bouncing her a little to make her quiet down. My breath caught in my throat when she opened her eyes. She truly had the most beautiful shade of blue I'd ever seen in my life.

One little hand thrust out of the blankie and a small cry escaped her little body.

"Does she need anything?" I looked around, worried. I got only amused looks in return.

"I just finished feeding her. She might need a change later."

"Then why is she crying?" I protested.

"Babies cry. If she's like you, I hope you slept well until now, because you're not getting any more sleep." Mom smirked at me.

I scowled at her, poking my tongue out.

Daph reached a hand to grasp Alannah's little foot. "Your dad is being silly."

The door opened loudly to reveal Brian in all his Rage glory. His sharp expression softened when he spotted me with Alannah.

"Good morning," he greeted everyone. "At least, I hope it's good for you. I had to deal with a fuckwit before I fully woke up, nevermind being roused by slobber on my face."

"And that's your other dad. He's pissed off at the moment, apparently," Daph added with a smile.

"Sure as fuck I'm pissed. No one can do anything right if I'm not there to hold their hand."

Mom eyed him concerned, probably wondering what kind of problems he had at work. Unlike Daphne's mother, she stared at Brian in shock at his vocabulary.

I cleared my throat. "Come here, Bri. Meet our daughter properly."

He leaned over me, rubbing the back of his fingers against Alannah's little cheek. I about melted at the sight, especially when Brian kissed her on the forehead. Then he moved to sit next to Daphne, lounging by her side, and draping an arm around her shoulder.

"You two make beautiful babies." He kissed her cheek soundly.

"Why, thank you. But this is the one and only. They say women forget about giving birth. Let me tell you, it's a huge fucking lie!"

"Daphne!" Her mother chided her, while I snickered.

Thankfully, my mother had stopped giving me the look when I said curse words. Mrs. Chanders wasn't used to hear Daphne cursing, apparently.

Daphne scoffed. "You didn't have me naturally. Don't say anything." She elbowed Brian playfully. It seemed it was time for their shameless flirting session. "As dashing as you look, I'd skip."

"Now, Daphne, my ego is seriously wounded."

"I prefer my men without any white hair or age lines."

Ouch. Low blow, my dear friend.

Brian rolled his lips inside his mouth, unconsciously touching his white temple. I made sure to kiss that spot every so often so he'd know it didn't bother me.

"I know, you prefer them blond, middle aged, and preferably your doctor."

She turned red, widening her eyes. "How did you know?"

"Everyone can tell you fucked your doctor."

No one could tell, besides Brian. Even I was shocked. I knew she had a thing for him, but actually to do something like that…while pregnant with MY child.

"It was twice, okay?" Daphne glanced around the room, embarrassed. "He's really hot. We're going to do it properly now."

"He's going to take you to his house next time, we know. There won't be any need for him to fuck you in his office anymore." Brian laughed.

While our moms picked their jaws off the floor, I busied myself with my daughter who started whining.

"They'll take some getting used to, but they're not bad guys. You'll see your daddy can be really sweet when he wants," I whispered.

"Don't spill all the gory details about my Stepford husband tendencies, Sunshine!"