“What about Cameron James? That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”
“It’s going to be a girl,” Lance stated, his voice muffled by the pillow his face was buried in.
“Okay, you don’t like that one, how about, hmmm,” JC bounced on his side of the bed for a moment before blurting out, “Andrew. Yeah, Andrew James, I like that.”
“It’s going,” Lance yawned, “to be a girl.”
“Actually,” JC went on as if Lance hadn’t spoken. “We can’t name him Andrew, Tori’s brothers name is Andrew. That would be too confusing.”
Tapping his fingers in static rhythm against his thighs, JC began to hum, “Baby, tiny beautiful baby.”
“Jace.” Lance shot his arm out and stopped JC’s tapping before it drove him insane. “Lay down, baby, come on now, it’s late.”
“I can’t.” JC, his body thrumming with energy, shook his head, making his curls dance madly in the process. “I’m too excited.”
Rising, JC stretched his arms to the ceiling, his naked body gleaming in the candle glow. “I think I need to go for a run or something.”
Lance rolled off the bed and padded over to where his partner was bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Jace, it’s two o’clock in the morning, you can’t go for a run now.”
Excitement coursing through him in waves, JC turned to Lance. “We’re going to have a baby.”
Groggy – from the bottle of celebratory champagne he and JC had consumed, and the lovemaking that had followed – Lance lay his forehead on JC’s chest. He could feel the thrumming of JC’s heart against his chest as he wrapped his arms around him. JC was warm, despite the coolness of the room, and his eyes, when Lance tilted his head up to look at him, were bright with pleasure.
“We’re going to have a baby, Lance,” JC beamed. “It worked. The turkey baster worked.”
Lance’s deep chuckle reverberated throughout the room. “I think maybe it’s what they put in it that worked, Jace.”
“I did good,” JC declared proudly.
“You did good,” Lance agreed, reaching up to stroke JC’s face. “You’re going to be a daddy.”
“I love Evan,” JC stated matter-of-factly. “You know that. I just, this – Lance. I never knew,” JC confessed. “I never knew it could feel like this.”
Lance remembered well what JC was now feeling; excitement, terror, and love so strong it was nearly overwhelming. He didn’t imagine that those feelings would change much simply because this baby was planned while Evan had not been. Once Lance had gotten over the initial shock of realizing he was going to be a father – and what that would mean to his relationship with JC at the time – he’d had much the same reaction JC was experiencing now. The difference was JC had Lance to share it with; when Lance had gone through it he’d been alone.
“I wish,” JC began, but Lance stopped him with a kiss.
“No regrets, Jace.”
JC wrapped himself around Lance and held on. “I love you, Lance. So goddamn much it hurts.” He stood, rocking gently back and forth, until he was sure he could speak without his voice catching. “Sometimes I can’t believe that all of this is happening to me, that I could possibly be this lucky. I look at you and Evan,” JC took a deep breath, “and I can’t believe that you belong to me. That after everything that’s happened, we’re so strong, and tonight when Georgia called and said the test was positive, I…” JC stopped, unsure that a word existed to describe how he’d felt. “All of our dreams are coming true,” he whispered. “And…”
“You’re afraid that maybe it’s all too good to be true?”
“Remember back then, before we knew about Evan? Things were so good and then it all fell apart.”
“It’s okay to be scared,” Lance soothed. “It’s a big step we’re taking, and adding another child to the mix is going to change things, but we’re strong, Jace.” And solid, more solid than anything Lance had known before.
And while Lance didn’t doubt that there would be trials in their future, he also didn’t doubt that they’d be able to handle them.
“We’re strong,” he continued, “and we have love, so much love between us. There’s nothing that will ever change that. Not now, Jace. Not ever again. You’re stuck with us, all three of us. Forever.”
JC, his face buried in Lance’s neck, sighed. “I think I can handle that.”
“You just think?” Lance asked, stroking a hand down JC’s back, over his hip and up again. He felt JC’s curls brush against his neck when JC shook his head.
“I know.”
“Good.” Lance pinched JC’s side, making him squirm. “Because I’d hate to have to beat it into you.”
“Are you trying to get kinky with me, gorgeous?”
Lance chuckled as he maneuvered JC over to the bed. “Tomorrow, if you’re lucky. Tonight, I’m beat. I need sleep.”
“You’re getting so old,” JC complained, but he snuggled back into Lance when he wrapped his arms around him.
“I’ll show you old,” Lance threatened, as he pulled the blankets up and over them. “In the morning, when I don’t have half a bottle of champagne in me, and I’ve gotten a few hours of sleep.”
“Whose turn is it to get up with Evan?”
“Yours,” Lance answered.
“Are you sure, because…”
“Mm sure,” Lance mumbled into the back of JC’s neck.
“But…”
“Sleep, Jace. I. Need. Sleep.”
JC sighed. “Fine, but if Evan wakes up at the crack of dawn,” which they both knew he would, “I get to take a nap later in the day.”
“Fine, whatever you want, baby. Just,” Lance yawned hugely, “go to sleep now, kay?”
“Kay.” JC agreed, snuggling deeper into Lance’s warmth. He did feel kind of tired now that he was finally lying still. Two minutes later the gentle rise and fall of Lance’s chest had lulled him to the edge of sleep and that was when he heard it, the tell tale pitter patter of little feet coming down the hall.
Evan had learned in the last few weeks how to climb out of his crib, and though he didn’t do it nightly, on occasion he did get out and wander down the hall to their room. They’d installed a heavy-duty gate at the top of the stairs, so that there was no chance of Evan tumbling down them. Still, JC had just started to ease out from under the covers to go check on him, when Evan ambled in.
“Hey, little man, come here.” JC held his arms out to Evan and hoisted the toddler up into the bed. “What are you doing up?” JC whispered, when Evan was settled down next to him.
“Poo-Beah,” Evan informed him, holding up the bright yellow bear for JC to see.
“Did he fall out of the crib?” JC asked his voice hushed.
Evan nodded his little head vigorously.
“Do you want daddy to tuck you guys back in?”
“Seep, daddy’s beh.”
JC hesitated for a brief moment. Normally they didn’t allow Evan to sleep in here with them, not wanting to get him into a habit – they’d heard from everyone – that was hard to break. Still, JC thought, looking down at his son, just this once wouldn’t hurt, and it was a special night, even if Evan wasn’t aware of that yet.
“Okay, baby. You can sleep in Daddy’s bed, but just for tonight. Okay?”
“Tay.” Evan readily agreed, though JC was sure he had no clue what he was saying yes to.
“Let’s get you and Pooh under the covers.” JC moved the blanket so that it covered Evan up to his chin, and then tucked Pooh in securely beside him. “Go to sleep, now,” he murmured, bending down to brush a kiss over Evan’s cheek as he did.
Evan obediently closed his eyes, and then just as quickly opened them again. “Ni, Daddy.”
“Goodnight, Ev,” JC answered. “I love you.”
“Wuv, too, Daddy.” Evan smiled sleepily at JC, and then turned on his side, hugging his beloved Pooh Bear tight. Within seconds he was out, and JC watched him sleep, brushing the hair off his forehead again and again as he did. It was fine like Lance’s, though shades darker than his father’s. He had Lance’s nose, his mother’s mouth, and eyes that changed from green to blue depending on what he wore. The shape of them was Lance’s, while the color was closer to the vivid shade of blue both Abbey and JC shared.
Evan had the temperament of a normal two year old; docile one moment, demanding the next, and his kisses were the sweetest things JC had ever experienced. Then there were the moments, when he wrapped those little arms around JC’s neck and snuggled into his chest, that bordered on perfection.
JC felt his heart swell just thinking about it. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have those feelings times two, but in about eight and a half months he’d be finding out.
Lying between Lance and Evan, he allowed his mind to drift to the baby that until today had been just a dream, one that the agency handling the whole procedure had warned them could take some time in becoming a reality. Of course that was before their friends Georgia and Bill had approached them with the idea of Georgia being a gestational surrogate for them. Already having three healthy children of their own, the couple had immediately been intrigued with the possibility of helping JC and Lance add to their family.
Georgia had loved being pregnant with her own children, and though the couple had long ago decided to quit at three, she and Bill had often talked of helping a less fortunate couple out, by Georgia joining a surrogacy program. So, when Bill had talked to Lance earlier in the spring and Lance had told him about his and JC’s search for an appropriate surrogate, Bill had gotten off the phone after, gone to Georgia, and that had been that.
Now, five months later, after only two tries, Georgia was pregnant. JC closed his eyes, reliving the moment when he’d picked up the phone and heard the combined voices of Bill and Georgia yelling, “WE DID IT!”
He’d gotten light headed for a minute, and then he’d let out a whoop that had Lance and Evan running into the room. He hadn’t come down off his cloud since.
They were going to be daddies, again. Evan was going to be a big brother, and as JC drifted towards sleep, he knew, despite Lance’s claims to the contrary, that the baby was going to be a boy.
Shades away from dreamland, his eyes popped open when a name drifted over his conscious.
“Lucas,” he whispered. “Lucas James.”
“It’s going to be a girl,” Lance mumbled in his ear. “Now go to sleep.”
JC chuckled and then, content at last, snuggled back against his lover, kissed the back of Evan’s head, and whispered, “Goodnight, baby, Daddy loves you.”