Epilogue

Labor Day 2036 Westerville, Ohio

Jeff carried his five year old son, Nick (or little Nicky as most people called him) on his shoulders as he wandered the yard chatting with his family. He knew he should put the boy down and insist that he go play with some of his cousins but he loved carrying him like this. All too soon, he'd be asserting his independence, so why rush it?

The family get together wasn't as large as it was when he was a teenager and all of his aunts, uncles, and cousins were gathered together. These days, some of his cousins came but it was mostly his brothers and sisters, Finn, their spouses and children.

Michael and his ex-wife, Caitlin, were here with their twin children, Wade and Sydney. The eleven year old twins were racing about the yard in some incomprehensible game as were most of the children. Michael and Caitlin had married and divorced each other twice before discovering that they were great co-parents and friends but apparently terrible at being married to each other. They got along fabulously as long a the legal framework between them was a divorce decree.

The two of them accepted slobbery kisses from little Nicky then gave Jeff a detailed account of their children's latest accomplishments. It seemed that everyone's lives revolved around children these day's. That came with age.

He chatted briefly with his younger sister, Morgan. She was between lovers and jobs and came to the gathering with just her daughter. Morgan had never managed to settle down with one person and decided when she was 27 to become a single parent using anonymous donor sperm. A practice so common among her generation that no one batted an eye at the idea.

"Sunny!" cried little Nicky and Jeff was obligated to take his son to the object of his affection. Nick's oldest daughter, Sunday, known as Sunny to everyone who knew her, was standing next to her sister, Blake. Sunny, twenty-two, had just graduated from college and her sister had just started her sophomore year. Sunny was a tall leggy blond like her mother while her younger sister had Nick's darker looks.

"There's my little man," cooed Sunny with her arms held out for the boy. Jeff let her take him as he smiled and hugged each of the girls.

"Thanks so much for the graduation gift, Uncle Jeff. I'm so excited to start my trip abroad. It was so generous of you."

"Your welcome. I thought travel would be a nice change of pace. I'm so glad it suits you."

"You'll love it," added her sister who had spent her freshmen year in Paris. Sunny had been to concerned about leaving her mother but everyone had convinced her that Brittany had a great support system and would be fine without her.

"Where's your brother?"

The young women knew immediately that he meant Briton, Nick's oldest son, not Cal who was only twelve.

Blake sighed and pointed to a shady spot in the corner of the yard where the teenager was sitting still.

"He's in VR. I went in to get him out but he wouldn't come," she supplied. "I warned him that you wouldn't like it but you know how he gets."

"I'll get him out the hard way."

"Uncle Jeff, really? Is it so important?" pleaded Blake. She really didn't get her Uncle's old fashioned thinking.

Jeff left Nicky with the girls and headed toward Briton without further comment. Briton was still as statue. The older generation tended to move their hands and feet in response to the VR stimulus but those in the younger crowd, who'd grown up with the technology, seemed to be able to completely disconnect from the physical world when in VR.

His VR gear looked like an unremarkable pair of sunglasses and earbuds. Jeff unceremoniously reached behind Briton's head and switched the gear off. It was painful, sure, perhaps even a little traumatic but it wasn't really dangerous.

The boy came out cursing using first a string of letters, then Spanish, and finally some choice Chinese epitaphs as he ripped his gear off of his face and glared at Jeff. He looked and sounded so much like his father at fifteen that sometimes Jeff felt physical pain just looking at him.

"Uncle Jeff," he spat in a surly tone.

"You know the rules, Briton. No VR at family gatherings. We only do this four times a year, so I'd think you could tear yourself away for whatever you were doing in there for one day."

"It's so old fashioned. Nobody does this kind of thing anymore and besides they aren't my family. My parents are dead. You aren't really my uncle and those aren't really my cousins."

Jeff ignored the pain of being rejected by Britton and responded with logic.

"What about your mother and your brother and sisters? They're here too. They're your family."

"She isn't my mother."

"I'd think carrying you inside her for nine months would qualify. Family isn't just genetics you know. We all love you. You are part of my family, Briton. Your father was one of the most important persons in my life."

Jeff fought back tears because crying in front of this sullen teen wouldn't accomplish anything. Nick's death had left a huge hole in Jeff's heart and the years hadn't made it much easier to bear. He was still angry and bitter at Nick for leaving them. Nick had lived well and partied hard. He burned the candle at both ends and did everything in excess. He'd had two wives, two lovers, and six children. He threw himself into work and pleasure with equal abandon and refused to listen to Jeff's constant nagging regarding flying. Every time he took his small plane out for a trip, Jeff would recount the hundreds of things that could go wrong. Would go wrong eventually. The odds mounting up with each hour spent in the air. But Nick just hadn't cared. He flew until he did crash, ending not only his own life but Santana's as well on that fateful day.

Jeff pushed those thoughts and feelings out of his head. He couldn't afford to have them. He didn't have the comfort of religion to assure him that he'd see Nick again. All he had left were Nick's memories and he needed to remember the love and the good times. To hold onto them tightly in order to keep Nick alive. The memories and his children. With that in mind Jeff turned his attention back to Briton.

"Your father was my best friend for nearly thirty years. I loved him and I miss him too but you still have to live."

"More like a fuck buddy, don't you mean?" Briton pointed out cruelly. He didn't really know why he lashed out so much at Jeff. Sometimes RL was just too much to take and Jeff could push all the wrong buttons.

"Where did you hear a term like that?" asked a shocked Jeff.

"I'm not a baby. I'm fifteen and I have fuck buddies. There's nothing wrong with it."

"You're much too young to be having sex. Who with?" Jeff was seriously worried that he'd been so clueless about Briton's life.

"Sex? As if. I mean eww. That's so gross - exchanging bodily fluids and touching body parts in RL? How could you even think that?"

"Oh, you meant vex. You're not supposed to be able to do that at your age. There are age controls in VR. It's dangerous, Briton. You don't even know who the other person really is. Boy, girl, some dirty old man. I'm going to have to talk to your mother about monitoring your VR usage."

Briton snorted.

"Did age controls work on you back in the dinosaur days of the internet."

The boy had a point; they really hadn't. Jeff decided to change tactic and try to just draw the boy out. He'd talk to Brittany later about what to do about it.

"So do you like boys or girls? Or both?" he asked, keeping his tone light.

That drew an eye roll from the teen.

"Seriously? What is this, the middle ages? Nobody cares about gender anymore. That's just so stupid. Picking one gender when you're a baby and then being stuck with that your whole life. Why would I do that?"

"You don't pick your gender" replied a puzzled Jeff. "You just are what you are."

"Not in VR," laughed Briton, his mood lightening inexplicably. "I can be a boy or a girl or both or neither. Just depends on my mood."

Jeff was still mulling that alien thought over when his daughter, Elphaba, came running to them. Ignoring her father, she launched immediately into an excited conversation with Briton.

"Briton, Briton, Briton! Look what I have. Your mom gave her to me." Elfy pull a roll of film from her pocket and rolled it out in her lap where is became a flat screen. She touch the screen a few times and a kitten appeared above the screen. "See? Isn't she so adorable?" she continued as she petted the kitten who responded by nuzzling the girl's hand.

"Yes, she breeds them, I know. That's a really pretty one. They're smart too. Did you know that?" asked the boy with a smile. He was practically beaming and his sweet indulgent attitude toward the younger girl made the weight on Jeff's heart lift a little.

"I know! Look at the trick I taught her!" Elfy twisted her hand and in response the kitten rolled over.

"Owning a virtual kitten isn't all fun and games," warned her father. "You have to take care of her and play with her. Can you handle the responsibility?"

She made an exasperated noise that made Jeff feel really old. When had he become the old fuddy duddy?

"Daddy, she came with instructions. I know how to take care of her." Turning back to Briton she continued, "the best part is that when she grows up, she can have kittens!"

"No, no, no. Your Aunt Brit isn't supposed to let anyone else have breeders. They'll be everywhere in no time!" Jeff mentally added it to the list of things he needed to talked to her about.

"Come on, Bri, let's go play with the triplets!" Elphy said to Briton, ignoring her father.

She put her screen away, grabbed the teen's hand, and dragged him off in the direction of his younger sisters and brother. He seemed surprisingly indulgent about hanging out with the younger kids given his earlier words. Jeff was glad for it regardless of the reason. Elphy had grown up with Briton and the triplets and he often worried about the day when they would decide it was uncool to hang out with the younger girl. Cal (Caliban), Cali (Calisto) and Cami (Cameon) where twelve and Jeff recalled his youth well enough to know that a two age year difference could seem enormous to young teens. But thankfully, not today.

Having six children was excessive but everything in Nick's life had been. His youngest three were a strange reflection of his trio relationship with Santana and Brittany. One was genetically Nick and Brittany's child, one was Nick and Santana's and the third was Brittany and Santana's. Brittany had carried them as she had all of their children, even Briton, who was Santana's son with Nick. No one knew the exact genetic parentage of the individual triplets - a deliberate choice by their parents.

Jeff sought out Brittany and saw her standing with his sisters. Ali was having a very animated conversation with the two of them. She was probably complaining about her third husband who was conspicuously absent. Ali's third marriage was careening toward the same end as her first two had.

Brittany at forty two looked as beautiful as she ever had. As a smiled graced her face, Jeff wondered how she could be so strong. He couldn't imagine it, having lost both her husband and wife in the same moment. Losing Nick had nearly destroyed him and he doubted he could have survived it without Kurt. But she'd had her children, family, friends, and had proved more resilient than anyone would have thought. Jeff was ashamed to admit that he'd been no help to her. He'd in fact avoided her and her children in his grief at first. Things were better now but it had taken more than a year to get to that point. Five years later, the wounds weren't so fresh but they were still there.

Jeff decided to forgo talking to Brittany for the moment and headed back to his husband who was still by the grill but was now engaged in a conversation with Jeff's youngest brother, Austin. He hoped that Kurt was being diplomatic. Kurt didn't approve of Austin's choice to have a son by selfing.

The little boy in question, six years old, was running in circles with little Nicky in a game of chase. The boys were laughing and screaming just like any two ordinary children because that's exactly what they were. Jeff arrived mid conversation.

"It's self indulgent and weird."

"Maybe, but isn't having children always self indulgent? Isn't the whole reason just to leave part of yourself in the next generation? As for weird, my son was conceived using the exact same technology as your children so how is it weird?"

"He's a clone!"

"No, he isn't. That's just ignorant, Kurt. Selfing isn't the same thing at all. Cloning is illegal."

"All of his genes came from you. How is that not a clone?"

Jeff had tried to explain to Kurt when Austin had first conceived Aaron but some how explaining gene shuffling, cross over, and referencing plants and slime molds had done nothing to relieve the sheer creepiness factor that seemed to be Kurt's real problem with it.

"Because he's not identical to me." The two boys ran hand in hand off to another group of kids, seemingly oblivious to the adult's arguments. "He's just a kid... my son," continued Austin. "Fifteen years ago, you couldn't have thought that you and my brother could have children together. Not genetically. So how is it any different?"

"I'm sorry," replied Kurt sincerely. "I know intellectually that you're right . And I know it isn't any of my business anyway. I can't help how I feel but I'll try harder."

"Thanks. I guess that all I can ask for. I suppose, it's my own fault for being so open about it. I should have told everyone that I used a donor for half of his DNA."

"No," insisted Jeff. "You shouldn't. You haven't done anything wrong and no one should be saying you did."

"I didn't say that!" insisted Kurt. He couldn't believe they were arguing about this of all things. The reproductive choices of his brother-in-law really weren't his business. "I just said why didn't you use a donor egg or sperm instead of doing something so controversial. I know I shouldn't have even said that - it was thoughtless and I'm sorry. OK?"

"It's OK. Really, Kurt. I'll see you guys later, I'm going to go see what Finn is up to. I haven't seen him since Memorial Day." With that, Austin fled the scene hastily.

Kurt sank into his husband's arms and said "You're not mad at me are you?"

"No, I can't be mad at you. I know you didn't mean to start a fight with my brother. These things happen at family get togethers." Jeff put his chin on the top of his husband's head and squeezed him tight to let him know he really meant it.

"I love you so much," Kurt murmured into his chest. "I'm really happy, you know. With our life together. Happier that I ever thought I'd be when I met you."

"I know. You make me happy too."

"You know, I just wanted you for your hot body back then."

"And that's changed?" Jeff teased.

Kurt kissed Jeff and whispered in his ear "Let's just go inside and I'll show you. No one will miss us." Kurt took his husband's hand and led him away.