I'm baaaaaaaaack! Hope Thanksgiving was awesome for you!

"Spider-Man. Elvis. It's time for bed." Robin announced from the top of the stairs. Cameron and Morgan looked up from their circle of toys and let out a collective sigh. "They'll be plenty of time to play tomorrow." She promised them.

"Tomorrow's school." Morgan reminded her.

"Do we have to go to school Roby?" Cameron asked.

Cam's question caught her completely by surprise. She hadn't been considering the alternative, but maybe she should. From what Patrick had told her, it was a stroke of luck that he had gotten to Cameron before the reporters had. "Why wouldn't you? It's a school day." If she changed her mind in the morning, that'd be one thing. No matter what, Morgan was going to school. She had already spoken with his teachers about the last few weeks he would miss and they had been very kind and courteous about it, nothing like the situation Patrick had painted for her.

"But Patty promised I was going to see Daddy and Lizzie tomorrow."

Patrick bent the newspaper in half and sent Robin an apologetic smile before lounging back in the only piece of furniture he had gotten to keep: His leather Laz-E-Boy recliner. "Tomorrow afternoon. Visiting hours aren't until school gets out." Robin explained coyly.

"But I don't want to go to school." Morgan complained punching one of the purple couch pillows.

"Tough." Robin and Patrick said in unison.

Robin focused her attention on the four-year-old in her care. "Does your daddy have a special bedtime for you Cam?"

"No." Cameron shook his head.

"Okay. I have your toothbrush here. Why don't you boys go upstairs and brush your teeth and then we'll get into our jammies okay?" Robin suggested with a smile.

"Are you going to read us a story Roby?"

"Yes I am." Robin nodded. "But brushed teeth and jammies first."

"I'll race you Cam." Morgan goaded shooting up the stairs.

"I'll beat you!" Cameron called after him running just as fast.

"Hold it." Patrick yelled from his chair. "Slow down or you'll trip on the stairs." He missed his girlfriend's shocked expression and returned to his paper.

"Night Patty!" Cameron called as he ignored Patrick's warning altogether.

"Beat you! Beat you! Beat you!" Morgan chanted once his younger cousin reached the second landing. He was jumping up and down.

"No fair! You cheated!"

"Okay enough." Robin ordered pushing them lightly in the direction of the bathroom. "March."

"Thanks for getting us in trouble Cameron." Morgan muttered under his breath.

"You started it."

"I did not." Morgan argued.

"Did too."

"Cut it out." Patrick told them at the foot of the stairs, having left his chair long enough to pick up something from the kitchen.

"Are they fighting again?" Robin asked from Morgan's bedroom. She had snuck past them and retrieved their pajamas.

"Did they ever stop?" Patrick asked rhetorically.

"We do too." Cameron said crossing his arms exactly the way he had seen his father do a million times.

"If you boys can't get along, there'll be no bedtime story." Robin warned.

"Fine." Morgan grumbled shoving past her.

"Hey!"

"What?" Morgan challenged.

"Go to bed Morgan. Just take your bad mood to bed." Robin answered sternly.

"I was going anyway. Come on Cameron." Morgan took Cameron's hand.

"Night Roby!"

"Goodnight Cameron. I'll be back to check on you boys in a minute." Robin excused herself from the conversation and headed downstairs. Patrick crooked his finger at her and she walked into his waiting arms. "It's like he's finally taking after...nothing. Never mind."

"He's had a tough day. So have you. So have we all." Patrick reminded her. "Give him some time. He'll snap out of it."

"Do you think I should make Cameron go to school tomorrow?" Robin wanted to know.

"Yes." Patrick nodded. "If we start acting like there's something to hide, the press will never let up."

"And if they bombard him at school?" Robin countered.

"Then we'll handle it." Patrick attempted to diffuse her worry.

*****

"Morgan? Hey Morgan?" Cameron whispered from his spot securely snuggled into Morgan's Spiderman sleeping bag. "You awake Morgan?"

"Yeah. Are you?" Morgan whispered back.

"Yeah." Cameron twisted his head to the door, making sure that Robin or Patrick wouldn't bust in and interrupt anything. "Morgan? Grownups are acting weird."

"They really are. Do you know why?"

"No." Cameron shook his head. "They keep looking at me but I didn't do anything."

"Are you sure?" Morgan asked suspiciously. "Even little things make grownups mad."

"I know but I'm pretty sure I didn't."

"Were they weird yesterday?"

"No. I don't think so." Cameron shrugged his shoulders. "They were pretty caught up in the babies."

"Maybe they're sick of them. Babies cry a lot. That's what Michael said I did."

"They're pretty new to be sick of them."

"That's true." Morgan agreed. "Hmm. Maybe it's not the babies."

A door opened and closed and they each pretended to be asleep. Cameron broke the silence first.

"Morgan? Do you think it's 'cause there were two babies and not one?"

"You mean like they only have one bed and two babies? Maybe, but I don't see Lucky or Elizabeth giving one back."

"Me neither. But everyone sure seemed surprised there was two."

"Did you know?"

"No." Cameron shook his head. "But maybe since they have two now, there won't be anymore."

"Did they tell you about the babies before they came or did you figure it out first?"

"I guessed."

"But how did you know?"

"Gramma was talking about how she thought that was why Lizzie and Roby weren't coming to see her. And then Daddy and Lizzie said they had to talk to me about something big."

"Can we stay up for a little while? I'm scared." Morgan admitted hiding his face behind the flap of his sleeping bag.

"I bet we can stay up all night and Roby and Patty will never know."

"I hope so. I don't want to talk to them." Morgan nodded.

"Why not? I like talking to them."

"Because I want to go home."

"But this place is so much bigger than Roby's loft."

"I mean my real home." Morgan corrected his little cousin. "The one where my real Mommy and Daddy were. Where Michael was."

"But Michael was mean."

"Daddy wasn't though. He would come and pick me up from school sometimes and then we would play together without Mommy or Michael."

"Roby does that. And Patty does that too."

"It's not the same." Morgan told him.

"Why not?"

"It's like Elizabeth being your mommy. Do you want her to be?"

"I don't know." Cameron shrugged. "I've never had a Mommy before."

Morgan turned over. "I had one." He whispered and closed his eyes.

"What's it like?"

"It's great. Mommies take care of you when you get hurt. They make you chicken soup when you don't feel good. They take you places with them and yell at the other drivers on the road 'cause sometimes you're in a hurry and they're not going fast enough."

Cameron nodded. "Well Lizzie does that for me. Doesn't Roby do that for you?"

Morgan thought about it for a minute. "I guess she does."

"I don't know maybe having a mommy isn't so bad."

"Maybe."

*****

The streetlight shone abrasively into Lance's face and his hands reached up to hide his eyes. Usually, his daddies would pull the drapes together, but they hadn't been paying him any attention today. Yesterday Lucky and Elizabeth's babies had been born, but no one had offered to take him to the hospital to see them. It was just as well. He felt lousy. Rolling onto his right arm, he cringed and climbed out of bed.

He could never remember his house feeling dark and creepy to him because, after all, he had lived here as an itty, bitty baby. When he moved from the crib to a big boy bed, Daddy Dillon had bought him a Shrek nightlight, but he had given that up once he had started school. No way was he going to have a nightlight like Cameron, like a little baby.

Bedtime was hours ago, but something had woken him up, something other than the streetlight. Only in a pair of long Kermit trousers, he hurried to the bathroom and shut the door so no monsters could follow him in. Morgan had told him all about the monsters. He also told his cousin not to turn on any lights. The only way to beat a monster was to lure it out of the shadows and then scream for a grown-up.

Lance didn't want to scream for either of his daddies, because he simply wasn't going to look for any monsters to fight with. If he didn't bug them, they would leave him alone. He flipped up the lid on the toilet and slid his trousers down, finally realizing what had gotten him out of bed. Only babies peed in the bed and he was not a baby.

Lucas turned onto his side and collided with his husband's back. Blinking, he lifted his head off of the pillow and rested it in his palm. The house was silent. He told himself night after night that no one had come after his son and no one was going to during the kidnappings or immediately following them. Until tonight, he had been convinced that his son was completely safe. A scream tore through the air. He and Dillon tripped over blankets, pillows, and each other in their pursuit.

Barely edging Lucas out of the small doorway into Lance's small bathroom, Dillon eased the light on, blinking as the harsh glare assaulted their eyes. "What is it? What happened?"

Lance caught his parents' wild stares and wailed, "It hurts!" It was in that moment that both Dillon and Lucas glanced down and noticed the blood filling the commode.

Previews:

"Oh are you tired?" Sam sent him a look over her shoulder.

"No but you will be. The winner gets the bedroom for two weeks as well as the results of the loser's research. Sharing is always optional."