Golem

Throughout the day, members of Brian's extended family continued to drop by. Lindsay, Melanie, and Gus came first. Gus immediately joined Emmett and Noah's game of Go Fish while Julian excitedly led the two women on a tour of the house. Melanie wandered back to the kitchen alone sometime later, having left Julian and Lindsay in deep discussion over décor for Gus's room.

Ted popped in next, accompanied by his reasonable hot but excruciatingly boring boyfriend, Kirk, and bearing a large gift basket.

"Housewarming present," Ted explained unnecessarily as he presented the basket to Brian, who made a disgusted face.

Julian elbowed Brian in the ribs. "You'll have to forgive him, Ted. I'm pretty sure he's having second thought about all this domesticity. I, however, appreciate the sentiment," he said as he took the proffered basket.

"We tried to make sure there was something in there for everyone," Kirk explained.

"Hmm...does that mean I can't keep it all for myself?" Julian teased. "It's perfect. Thank you both." The moment he stepped into the kitchen to place the basket out of harm's way, Emmett whisked it from his hands. The wine was set to chill, and then the friends sampled the candy. Julian tried to cajole Brian into joining them, but he refused the sweets.

"They're really good, Daddy," Gus chimed in. He broke a cordial in half to peek at the filling. "This one's got the 'nilla stuff in the middle just like you like," he said, offering one half to his dad.

Brian let Gus feed him the candy.

Grinning mischievously, Julian leaned close to his lover as if to whisper in his ear. "It's okay, Brian," he said, just loud enough for everyone to hear him clearly. "I'll still love you even if you get fat." Still grinning, he dodged away and fled the room, Brian right behind him. Minutes later there was a crash followed by Julian's laughter and then the slamming of a door.

"Newlyweds," Emmett scoffed affectionately.

When the two finally reappeared in the kitchen quite some time later, disheveled and slightly sweaty, they found Debbie and Vic had taken over. Plates of pasta and glasses of wine and soda were being passed around.

Debbie stopped in the middle of dishing up her famous cannelloni to greet 'her boys' with exuberant kisses to their cheeks. "I'm so fucking proud of you," she told Brian.

"Thanks, Ma," he said, trying for his usual flippant tone; what came out instead was more of a choked whisper. Debbie immediately turned back to the food, trying to keep her emotions under control.

Eventually everyone had a plate and found a place to sit or stand while they ate, the dining table and the bar together not being large enough to accommodate the large family of friends. Somewhere in the midst of the usual table chatter, Debbie handed Brian a scrap of note paper with a strange phone number scribbled on it along with the word "Congratulations."

Brian stared at the familiar handwriting for a moment, then looked up at Debbie with a question in his eyes.

"He's moved on, Brian," Vic explained from his place at his sister's side. "And he's trying to be happy for you. He misses his friend."

Nodding, he tucked the scrap of paper carefully into his wallet. He missed his friend, too, and if there was a chance they could be friends again, he was willing to try.

***

Later that night, long after all of Deb and Vic's food had been eaten and everyone had gone their separate ways, Brian and Julian crawled into bed, exhausted. Julian fell asleep almost before his head hit the pillow, but Brian lay awake in the darkness, contemplative.

As he lay there in bed beside his lover - in their bed, in their house, with their foster son tucked safely into his bed down the hall - Brian felt like he'd found paradise. Years before, he had believed that relationships were for straights and dykes and that happiness was a penthouse in New York City. Now he thought that maybe - just maybe - he had been wrong all along.