PRETTY? YES. MINE? NO.
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This is just a short thank you to all of you who read the story. I'm going to write a longer one at the end...but thank you! And enjoy the last chapter.
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Two years later…Daphne!
BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU STAND UP!
NO! NO DON'T—
CRASH!
Oops…
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Justin looked up from his sketchbook when he heard the small oops. He didn't even want to turn around to see what his daughter had broken but from the sound of it, it was something big and expensive.
He turned around to see Daphne running towards him, followed by Brian.
"Dada! Dada! Daddy mad at me!" she yelled as she clung to Justin's leg.
Justin smiled and picked her up.
"Well what did you do that made daddy mad?"
" Me an Aiden was playin hide an seek an I was hidin an daddy said be careful when I got up an I didn't see it when I got up and it fell."
Justin looked at Brian with a confused look on his face.
Brian pointed behind him and Justin saw that the vase his mother had given them was broken.
He also saw Aiden about to pick up one of the pieces.
"Brian! Get him away from the glass!" Justin yelled and Brian ran over and scooped Aiden up just before he picked up the broken piece of the vase.
Then he turned back to Daphne and continued to talk.
"Well miss Daphne," he said, setting the little girl down on the couch. " I think you need to say sorry to daddy for not listening to him and them give him a big hug."
"Ok dada."
Brian handed Aiden over to Justin and he held him as he watched Daphne walk over to Brian and give him a hug.
"I sowwy daddy." She said as she buried her face in brains leg.
"Its ok baby girl. It was an accident." Brian said as he picked her up and kissed her on the cheek.
"Why don't you guys go downstairs and play while daddy and I clean this up ok?" Justin said as he put Aiden down and watched him run down the stairs.
Daphne went running down the stairs after Aiden shouting, " TAG! YOU'RE IT!"
Justin went to get a bag for the glass while Brian began to pick up the bigger pieces.
"Thanks." Brian said when Justin held out the bag for him.
"No problem…but that's the third thing this month. Even with all this space…I think we need a bigger place." Justin said as Brian dropped the pieces into the bag.
Brian sat back on his heels and sighed. He looked up at Justin and nodded.
They had been talking about getting a bigger house but they had never looked at anything.
" Call your mom. We'll start looking this weekend. We can have Gus watch the kids." Brian said.
"Ok. I'm gonna go check on them downstairs and then I'll call her." Justin said, walking away.
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"Ok. So this one is three bedrooms. Three and a half bath. Finished basement. What do you guys think?"
Brian and Justin looked around the house.
Brian liked the sleek look of the house with its polished wood floors and minimal design. But when he looked at Justin he saw he was thinking otherwise.
"Eh…its ok…I guess…"Justin said.
"Ok Jen. What else do you have?" Brian asked.
"Well there is one more house. Its still in the building stages though. But its pretty much done." She said as she walked out of the house.
"Just follow me." She said as she got into her car.
Brian and Justin got into their car and followed Jennifer to the last house.
When the house was in sight, Justin gasped.
Brian smirked and looked at the awed look on Justin's face.
Welcome home he thought.
They pulled into the driveway behind Jennifer and got out of the car.
"Well. I can see from the look on your face that you're impressed." Jennifer said when she saw the look on her sons face.
"Yea. Its great." Justin said as he took everything in.
Jennifer smiled and showed them inside.
"Ok. So this house has a three-car garage with automatic opener."
They followed her as she walked into the kitchen pointing out different features.
" The house comes with all the appliances including a disposal and dishwasher." She said before leading them though the house again.
Justin was mesmerized by the house and Brian knew that this was going to be the house they bought.
When the tour was over Jennifer asked them what they thought of the house.
"It was amazing. Its perfect and it has all the room we need." Justin answered looking at Brian.
"Where do we sign?" Brian asked.
Justin ran up to Brian and excitedly hugged him.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" he said.
Jennifer smiled and said, " I'll come to the loft later with the paperwork you need."
--"Daddy! Dada!"
The twins greeted Brian and Justin as soon as they walked through the door of the loft.
They kissed each of them before putting them down and letting them run off to play again.
Gus came up from downstairs a couple minutes later to say hello.
" Hey dad. Daddy. Did you guys find anything?" he asked.
Even at 19 he still called Justin daddy. It was something that he had just never grown out of.
"Yea we actually did. Jennifer is coming over later with all the paperwork we need." Brian answered his son.
"So. How were they? They didn't give you too much trouble did they?" Justin asked.
"Nah. They were great. As always" Gus answered.
The three of them went over and sat down on the couch to talk.
"So you have any plans for tonight?" Brian asked.
"Yea. I have a date with Shannon tonight." Gust answered.
"Shannon? What happened to Alex?"
"Eh. It wasn't working out. So we just decided to break up."
"Ah...I see. Well have fun tonight," Justin said as he got up and went into the kitchen to grab something to drink.
"I will. I gotta get going. I'll see you guys later." Gus said getting up and giving his dads hugs good-bye.
"Daphne! Aiden! Come say bye to Gus." Justin yelled down the stairs.
The twins came running up the stairs and attached themselves to one of Gus's legs.
"Bye-bye Gus!" they said.
"Bye guys. I'll come back soon ok?" he said.
They nodded and then ran back downstairs to play.
Later that night…"Ok guys. All set." Jennifer said as she gathered up the papers.
Brian and Justin smiled at each other. They had just signed the papers they needed to buy the house. With all the money Kinnetik had made they were able to buy the house up front.
They had decided to keep the loft too. Just incase they needed to go somewhere quiet once in a while.
"Gamma Jen! Look at my piture!" Daphne said, tugging on Jennifer's jacket.
She reached down and took the picture from the little girl.
"Its beautiful baby." She said, smiling down at Daphne.
She giggled and then said, "for you."
"Well thank you." Jennifer said as she kissed the top of her grand daughters head. "I'll hang it on the refrigerator right next to the one you gave me the last time you came over."
Daphne clapped her hands and giggled before running back to play with Aiden.
Jennifer looked at Brian and Justin and smiled.
"I think you have another artist in the family. She's just like you when you were that age. You never stopped drawing and coloring."
Justin smiled as he looked at his children.
"I think so too. We'll have to get her into some art classes at the Center"
"Well guys. I have to go. I'll talk to you later." Jennifer said as she kissed the twins then Brian and Justin good-bye.
"Bye mom." Justin said.
When she was gone Justin turned to Brian and hugged him.
"We have a house!"
Three weeks later…Brian and Justin were finally all moved into the new house.
Everything was painted and all the furniture was in I place.
And all this happened just in time for the twins third birthday.
They had planned a house warming/ birthday party for the day of their birthday.
But before they could celebrate, there was one thing they had to do….
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Brian and Justin stepped out of the car and walked over to the grave marker.
Justin looked at the smooth polished surface and ran his fingers over the name.
Daphne Chanders it read.
He kneeled down in front of the headstone and pulled Daphne and Aiden close to him.
A silent tear rolled down his cheek as he hugged them.
Daphne placed a tiny kiss on his cheek and said, " don't cry dada."
"Ok baby." He said as he wiped the tear away.
" Hi mommy." Aiden said, surprising Justin. He looked over at the little boy who was waving at the tombstone.
He looked at Brian and said, " I didn't think they would remember coming here."
" Neither did I…but I guess they do." Brian replied as he placed a hand on Justin's shoulder.
"Say hi to mommy Daphne." Justin said.
"Hi mommy." She said.
"Hi Daph." Justin said. "I brought them to say hello. We miss you Daph. I make sure to tell them as much as I can how much you loved them right guys?"
The twins nodded when Justin said this. He knew that they didn't really understand what was happening and why dada was talking to no one but he thought they understood enough.
They sat in silence for a little while when Aiden stood up. He walked over to the headstone and placed a little kiss on the top of it. Then he turned around and sat back on Justin's lap.
Just seeing this brought tears to Justin's eyes. Brian rubbed Justin's shoulders and kissed him on the cheek.
It had been a cloudy day out but when Aiden had gone over and kissed the tombstone a ray of sunlight broke though the clouds.
Soon it was sunny and a warm breeze washed over the four of them.
Justin knew that she was watching and that this was her way of telling them that she was there.
After a little while longer they stood up and made their way back to the car.
Justin said goodbye and walked behind Brian and the twins.
He had a small smile on his face because he knew that she would always be watching over them…
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Justin brought the cake into the dining room where everyone was seated.
He set it down in front of the twins and everyone sang happy birthday.
They all laughed when Daphne and Aiden dug their fingers into the cake before it was even cut.
He took pictures of their smiling chocolate frosting covered faces and laughed as a blob of frosting that was thrown across the table by Aiden landed right in Brian's face.
When everyone was done with their cake, Brian and Justin washed the wins up and let them run outside to burn off the sugar energy. While they were on their way outside, the twins grabbed Gus's hand and he allowed himself to be dragged out with them.
Justin stood on the deck and watched Aiden and Daphne being chased around the yard by Gus. He thought back to when Gus was that age. He remembered taking gust for that weekend and when they had thrown his birthday party resulting in a rear meltdown from Brian.
And then he realized that they had come full circle.
They had gone from a non-defined, non-conventional couple to a house and kids. He never thought it would happen but here they were.
19 years later.
Yea. They had come full circle.
Justin looked at his kids one more time before he pushed away from the railing and walked inside to help Brian clean up.
THE END.
Wow. That's the end of Growing Pains. When I started to write this story, I was going to make it a two or three chapter story. 20 chapters later I'm happy that I didn't to that. This had been so amazing to write. And I never thought that it would be as popular as it became. Thank you to all of the people who read the story and reviewed it and told me to keep going. Without you I probably would have stopped a long time ago. Haha. So thank you sooo soooooooooo much! I really hope that you enjoyed reading the story as much as I loved to write it. Be sure to look out for the sequel to Growing Pains: Gus's Story sometime soon. But until then keep reading and reviewing.
love, jess