Families came in all shapes and sizes - something all of them had learned over the years- but Buck and Tommy were still caught off guard by Christopher's staunch declaration when they started discussing expanding their family. "You want to have a baby?" the teenager asked, his eyes lighting up.
The two men nodded. "We're discussing all our options right now but yeah," Buck told him.
Christopher gasped dramatically then fist pumped. "I'm going to be a big brother!" he yelled excitedly.
Tommy snorted. "You're more excited about this than we expected you to be," he observed with a grin on his face. And yes, he had known about Buck and Eddie's slightly weird co-parenting situation for literal years but nobody had really said it out loud in words before. He was genuinely shocked Chris had finally taken the initiative.
Buck just gawked at him. "What?" he finally asked in a strangled tone of voice.
Christopher responded by rolling his eyes. "I'm going to be a big brother. Get with the program!" He flashed him a smile and then bolted as fast as he could like hadn't just turned his whole world upside down.
Eddie chuckled and clapped Buck on the shoulder. "Our kid throw you for a loop after saying the quiet part out loud?" he deduced, amused.
Buck's mouth dropped open. "You doing okay, there, Evan, or do you want to find somewhere to sit?" questioned a somewhat concerned Tommy, wondering if his knees were about to give out from the shock.
"I'm okay." Tearing up, he wondered if he should head into Chris' room to give the teenager a much needed hug (for both of them).
The three of them talked for a little while before their food delivery showed up and Chris joined them again (Buck hugged him once they finished eating).
Buck and Tommy chose surrogacy a few weeks later but they both knew they wanted to adopt too when the time was right. Picking a surrogate was hard but they found someone they both adored and was a good fit. She got pregnant several months later, and with their family's help, the Kinards began preparing for the baby's arrival. "I can't wait to see you with our child, Evan," Tommy murmured in bed one night.
"I can't wait to see you with our kid," a sleepy Buck shot back, flashing his husband a grin.
The spouses beamed at each other, excited for what lay ahead of them. And when they finally got the call a little over five months later - in the middle of the night - that their surrogate was in labor - the two of them rushed to the hospital to meet their little girl. The two of them fell in love with Florence Leigh Kinard the second she entered the world and then made her displeasure known to everyone in the vicinity. "I never knew love like this before," a weeping Tommy whispered a little while later, fearful he'd wake Florence up (and that she'd start crying, and he'd have no idea what to do).
"We'll make sure she never knows otherwise," Buck vowed. The two of them were determined not to make the same mistake their parents had (not that they thought they would but there was a reason they had to talk each other down during irrational moments).
"Evan, look at us."
"I see you." Buck sniffled and whipped out his phone to take yet another picture of two of the most important people in his life.
After Florence's discharge from the hospital, the new parents carefully made their way home and found Eddie and Christopher waiting for them. "We're not staying long - Chris just wanted to meet his little sister," Eddie explained.
"Holy shit," an awed Christopher breathed out.
Eddie glanced over the baby as Chris sat down so he could hold Florence. "As suspected, you two make cute kids. She's beautiful, you guys." Then he got a mischievous look in his eyes that worried Tommy and Buck just a bit.
Tommy sighed. "Just say it already, Diaz." But he was looking forward to whatever was about to come out of their best friend's mouth next.
The glint in Eddie's eyes didn't scare Buck all that much - his best friend was about to mean the words he was going to speak into existence. "So she's mine now too, right? That's how this works," he teased.
Buck, Tommy, and Chris all laughed but tensed in anticipation of Florence waking up - fortunately, she stayed asleep. "Yes, that's how this works," Buck deadpanned.
"Thought so. Congratulations again." Eddie pulled them in for a hug and then stole Florence off Chris.
Buck and Tommy hadn't expected their relationship to quite go like this when they first started dating but neither of them had any regrets. Their family was certainly unusual but that's what they loved about it. And when the time was right, they expanded (and completed) their family once more by adopting when Florence was eighteen months old.
