Devil's House

Flying Solo

By the time Chester made it home, his mind was spinning. The conversation with Jason had thrown off the rest of his day, and he figured there was no need to wait to bring it up to Mike in private. They were talking about Jason, after all, and Chester saw no reason why they couldn't include Ryan in what he figured would be a longer discussion over dinner.

He walked in to see Ryan and Mike both on the couch, a baby in each of their arms. "Look at you two," Chester said as he left his messenger bag on the dining room table to cross the living room. "I'm so jealous right now. I want to sit with the baby girls." He smiled at them both before leaning down to catch a glimpse of Lily and Lila. "Hi, Princesses," he cooed to them just as Julien tugged at his pant leg while he babbled, "Chas! Chas!"

"Julien!" Chester called back as he scooped the boy up from the floor, planting a sloppy kiss to his cheek as the baby laughed. "Did you miss your Uncle Chester today? I know I missed you!" He tickled his fingers over the front of Julien's striped shirt.

Ryan couldn't stop the grin on his face. It was so nice to be home and surrounded by his partners - two men who adored his son. "Sexy Boy and I were just sitting here talking about how much fun we were having without you," he teased and then laughed when Chester's mouth dropped open.

"You were not," Chester denied dramatically as he looked from the amused smirk on Ryan's face to his husband. "Do you hear that, Julien?" He asked the baby instead. "Your daddy is lying to me. He should be ashamed of himself. Yes, he should," he told Julien in a silly voice before he stepped around to sit on the opposite couch, facing Mike and Ryan. Julien was perched on his leg as Mike asked how his day had been.

"Weird, actually," Chester confessed as he watched Mike pull the bottle from Lila's lips and lift her to his shoulder to get her to burp. "Jay called me a couple of hours ago."

Mike looked over in surprise. "He called you? Why?" He kept patting Lila's back methodically as he stared at Chester.

"I'm not incredibly sure," Chester answered as he dodged Julien's hand from grabbing his lip ring. "He said he's not coming home until after we go to our appointment on Tuesday, which I told him that makes no fucking sense."

Ryan's mouth dropped open. "But that's days away."

Chester frowned. "You didn't know? He told me he already told you both." Chester dodged Julien's grabbing fingers again before he set the boy down on his feet, coaxing him to stand and hold onto the coffee table.

Ryan watched as his son laughed and slapped the top of the table before using it to take a few steps before falling on his butt. "It's okay, buddy, you'll be walking in no time," he encouraged before pulling the bottle from Lily's lips and lifting her over his shoulder to burp. "He didn't tell me Tuesday. I knew he probably wouldn't make it tomorrow but I thought Sunday for sure." He glanced at Mike. "What did he tell you?"

"We talked about me and Ches going to counseling Tuesday," Mike said slowly, and then Lila burped softly. "Good girl," he whispered, his pats turning into gentle rubbing circles on her small back. "He thought maybe it was a good idea for us to go so I could see how I was feeling about things before he comes home. Something about whether or not the therapist would have me changing my mind about him again. And I told him that session wasn't about him. It's about me and Ches," Mike insisted, looking back at Ryan.

Lily got her burp out, and almost as fast Chester was in front of Ryan, begging to hold her. Ryan handed her over and smiled briefly at the way Chester spun her around and kissed on her face before plopping back down across from him. Chester had Lily on his lap, leaned against his stomach as her baby brown eyes looked around the room. The twins were getting bigger by the day.