Evan was smiling when he pulled the door open to reveal Eddie and Christopher standing there. Eddie had a present bag in one hand, and an extra toy in the other. Evan's smile grew bigger at the sight of his boyfriend and boyfriend's son, and if Eddie noticed the look Evan was giving him, Eddie just smiled right back.

"Hey! Glad you guys could make it!" Evan moved to the side to allow entrance.

Eddie nodded and waited for Christopher to walk into the house first. "I hope we're not too late. Christopher couldn't decide which toy to get." Eddie laughed.

Evan laughed too as he excepted the hug to his legs from the boy. "No, they're actually still sort of setting up."

"Oh, so we're early then."

"No, more right on time," Evan laughed as he closed the door behind Eddie, "We're just running late. Elizabeth had a meltdown because she wanted to wear her Halloween costume instead of the new birthday outfit Maddie bought her last week."

Eddie followed Evan and Christopher through the house, dropping the present down on the kitchen table with the rest, to the backdoor and onto the deck. Chimney was being helped by Bobby at the grill while Hen and Karen were helping Maddie set up the tables with clothes and streamers.

"Hey, Eddie!" Hen was the first one that saw them.

"Hey," Eddie gave Maddie a hug as she turned towards him, "I already dropped Beth's present off at the table but this is for Lulu." He handed over the extra Barbie doll he had been holding.

"Oh, you didn't need to do that." Maddie smiled as she took the box from the brunet.

Eddie shrugged, "It's how my family did it when I was growing up, you know, keeping the peace between siblings."

Maddie nodded, "Of course, well thank you. I'm sure Olivia will be thrilled."

She squeezed Eddie's arm before turning back to Hen and Karen. Eddie looked around and found Christopher was already out in the yard playing with Harry and Denny. He quickly gave Hen and Karen hugs before going over to greet Bobby and Chimney. He had lost track of where Evan had gone, but he was still looking around for the blond.

Bobby clapped him on the shoulder, "He ran back inside to check on Lily, she's down for her nap."

"Thanks," Eddie sighed with a smile, knowing he wasn't being very discreet about his search for his boyfriend.

With one last look at Christopher playing with his friends, Olivia had joined them, Eddie headed back inside and quickly found Evan sitting in the living room with Lily in his lap, bottle in hand. The seven month old was drinking down some milk, with a fist full of cherrios. Eddie sat down next to Evan, their thighs pressed together.

"Hey," he whispered as he tucked his chin onto Evan's shoulder, his nose tickling the blond's neck. "Everything okay?"

Evan hummed and leaned more into Eddie, "He signed the papers."

Eddie sat up straight, "What? Really?"

"My lawyer called this morning, she got them in the mail yesterday." Evan was smiling and turned to look at the older man. "I'm free."

"You've been free for months, Evan." Eddie leaned back into his boyfriend's side, "You got out of one of the worse things a person could go through."

"Yeah, but this makes it official." Evan looked back down at Lily.

The little girl had finished her bottle and was reaching for Eddie. With a laugh, Eddie took her from Evan's lap and settled her into his own, facing him. Now free to move, Evan adjusted his body so he could lay his head on Eddie's shoulder, still watching his daughter as she played with the button's on Eddie's shirt. They sat like that silently, Lily babbling to herself as she continued to play with Eddie's shirt.

"You boys going to stay in here all day?" Hen asked as she came through the back door.

"Sorry, Hen." Evan sat up straight and stood. "I was feeding Lily and Eddie was keeping us company."

Eddie stood with Lily in his arms. He adjusted her on his hip to hold her in one arm so he could throw his other over Evan's shoulders as they followed Hen back outside. The boys and Olivia were still in the yard playing. Bobby and Chimney were bringing the grilled hamburgers, hotdogs and corn over to the table that Maddie and Karen had just finished decorating. Hen stepped up to Evan's other side as they walked through the door and leaned to whisper into his ear.

"Maddie told us, I'm happy for you." And then she was gone, going to call the kids to eat.

Evan just smiled, knowing she was talking about the exact thing he had just told Eddie back in the house. Evan had been floored when his lawyer had called that morning just as he had been getting himself and Lily ready. He had had to sit back down on his bed. It had taken months, Evan never believed his husband, ex-husband, would sign the divorce papers. He truly believed Doug would show up and cause havoc and fight Evan to return home, or worse. Evan shook his head to dispel those thoughts.

The three year olds birthday party went without a hitch - that wasn't a child's meltdown. They ate good food, spent time talking in good company, and Elizabeth loved all her new toys, ignoring the new clothes. It was pretty late in the evening when people started slowly saying their goodbyes and heading home. At the end Eddie and Christopher were the last ones still sitting around with them. Evan and Maddie were saying their goodbyes while tucking Olivia and Elizabeth - now in her big girls bed instead of a crib.

Eddie and Christopher followed Evan, with Lily in his arms, out the front door almost an hour after everyone else had already gone home.

"We'll follow you there, yeah." Eddie opened the door to his truck and helped Christopher up into the cab as he looked over at Evan, the younger man was half inside his jeep more then likely buckling Lily into her car seat.

"Uh, yeah." Evan emerged and turned to smile at Eddie. "You're sure about spending the night on a school night?"

Eddie shrugged as he double checked Christopher was settled before closing the door and taking the few strides to be standing in front of Evan, his hand coming to rest on the younger man's neck. "What's wrong?"

Evan sighed, it was weird how fast Eddie could almost read his mind. "This just feels different now. I'm free of him, and yeah we've been dating for months now... but."

"But," Eddie continued as Evan's voice trailed off. "You're suddenly divorced and this thing between us can be so much more." Eddie sighed, running his thumb over Evan's jaw. "If you're not ready I can take Christopher home and I will see you at work tomorrow night. Or we stay the night and nothing happens. We're in no rush, Evan."

Eddie had been surprised when Evan had called him early before the party asking for him and Christopher to spend the night. They usually only spent the night at each other's homes on weekends when Christopher didn't have school and they had the following day off so they could do family days. It was the one thing in their relationship they hadn't done yet because Evan hadn't been ready due to still technically being married. Sure they kissed and cuddled and slept in the same bed here and there, but that's all they ever did in bed - sleep. They hadn't gone further then that and Eddie was okay with it, had told Evan he would wait until the younger man was ready. With the call this morning Eddie had a feeling that was the reason for the impromptu sleepover. With them having the next day off, Christopher would be at school and Lily was easy enough to keep entertained for hours at a time being so young still.

Eddie blinked as suddenly Evan kissed him quickly before pulling away with a smile. "See you again in about twenty minutes, then?"

Eddie smiled back and nodded. "Hell, yeah."

The following morning had them rising earlier then normal because Eddie had to take Christopher to school and it was an extra ten minute drive from Evan's apartment then from Eddie's house to the school. After breakfast Eddie and Christopher had said goodbye to Evan and Lily, though Eddie would be returning for the day. Then that left Evan alone. Lily was playing on a blanket in the living room, baby gates now blocking her from going down the hall or into the kitchen now that she was getting more mobile.

Evan checked on her once before sitting down at the kitchen table with his phone in hand. He had only had a burner phone when he had been on the run for those two months, and even for the first month he was living with his sister. Now that he had a new phone, now that he was suddenly free - was once again Evan Buckley and not Evan Kendall - he had a call to make. Already having the number in his speed dial, Evan hit call. He was connected on the third ring.

A smile appeared on his face, "Lesley... it's Evan."

Evan was still talking to Lily's grandmother when Eddie returned an hour later. It was a testament to how safe Evan was now feeling that he didn't react to Eddie suddenly being at his side and kissing his temple in greeting, hadn't even heard him enter the apartment. Evan smiled up at him and grabbed his hand to give it a squeeze as Eddie walked past and into the kitchen to grab himself another coffee.

"Don't worry, I'll call again in a few days." Evan stood from the table. "And you have my number now. I'll send you all the pictures of Lily that I can, promise."

A few more words where exchanged while Eddie leaned his hip against the kitchen counter, taking a sip of his iced coffee, something he never thought he would like until he started dating Evan. The younger man always poured any leftover coffee from the machine into a jug and placed it into the fridge to make as iced coffee later. Eddie never thought he would like drinking cold coffee, but adding the Italian Sweet Creme that Evan introduced him to helped.

Evan hung up the phone, placed it on the counter and wrapped his arms around Eddie's waist, leaning into the older man. With his free arm, Eddie wrapped it around Evan's shoulders and poled him even closer, kissing the side of the blond's neck. "Was that Grace's parents?"

Evan hummed, "It's been five months since I've spoken to them. I knew they would be worried. As soon as she realized it was me on the line she started trying. Rick had to take the phone from her." He sighed, "They thought Doug had found us."

"But he hasn't."

Evan shook his head as he pulled back, "I think he has. Rick said that Doug went away on business for almost a month around Thanksgiving. Before I filed for divorce."

Eddie stiffened, "So he may have known all this time? Five months."

"I don't know," Evan shrugged, running a hand through his hair. "But if he has, I haven't seen him. He hasn't shown up anywhere that we know of." Eddie had to grab the younger man's hand from tugging at his hair. "And, I don't know. He filed. He actually signed the papers. Maybe... maybe he's actually just going to let us move on."

Eddie pulled Evan close again, kissing his temple. "I hope so but I'm still not convinced. If he's known this whole time..."

"Stop. I'm finally feeling safe, feeling at home. I don't want to think about it anymore." Evan closed his eyes and laid his forehead against Eddie's. "Please."

"I'm sorry," Eddie wrapped his arms around the blond. "I'm sorry, of course."

They spend the rest of their day before needing to get Christopher from school running errands, cuddling on the couch, playing with Lily, and just whatever they wanted. When they went to pick up Christopher they decided to have a family dinner out instead of going back home to cook something. They took Christopher to an arcade after dinner, letting him play all the old school games he wanted until he was tired and ready to head home. Eddie was just going to drop Evan and Lily off and take Christopher home but because tomorrow was Saturday and both Eddie and Evan had to work early, they had decided to have another sleepover. Eddie's Abuela had helped look after Lily as well as Christopher when needed and they knew she would be okay with looking after the little one while they worked since she was already going to have Christopher.