Welcomes and Anniversaries

Skylar was so contented with the arrival of his son that he forgot, rather as he had done with Julia's pregnancy, to share his good news with anyone straight away. It was almost two hours after their son had arrived in the world, a little before 8am, that his wife, who had watched as he had cradled their son in his arms so lovingly for almost half of that time, remarked, "I think that it might be time for us to share the news of our new arrival with other people, don't you?"

Skylar paled slightly as he realised his omission, but he did not feel that guilty. He handed his now sleeping son back to his mother, then kissed her on the cheek before he made his way outside, blinking in the bright sunlight, to make the necessary calls. He made the first call to Julia's parents, and then contacted his own, telling them that they were grandparents. He then called the Carmichaels, knowing that Mrs Carmichael in particular needed this good news, as she had been a little down since Seth had passed…

Only then did he call Thad on his cellphone, who did not seem at all surprised by the news; Skylar immediately wondered if he had been informed by his angelic husband of what was going on. He asked, and the Head Warbler laughed, then replied, "Oh, no, Wes was the soul of discretion as ever. No, I guessed because I might happen to be at your place, and when I got here, the front door was unlocked…"

Skylar gasped, then exclaimed, "Oh, Lord! I was in such a rush…"

"There's no harm done, everything is as it should be. I've emptied the dishwasher for you, might have made myself a coffee, and now I am going to head for home. I will use the spare key to lock up. Moving on, I am guessing from the joy in your voice that there isn't just another child in the world ; there might well be another Seth…"

"There is, and he is absolutely perfect… I mean, had he been a girl, then I would have been perfectly happy too…"

"Well, I will let the others know what is going on, and I am sure that they will all be as delighted as I am for you."

"I have already let the Carmichaels know; I thought that this news would help cheer Mrs Carmichael up, and it did no end."

"I think that you can probably expect them to visit very soon, and no doubt you will receive the blazer cardigan like every other son our circle has had…" Skylar chuckled as he recalled that knitted replica of the Dalton blazer that he and the others wore so proudly; how it had gone to little Wes first, and then it had continued… He was also sure that one day the baby in the room with his wife would be wearing the blazer for real, every bit as proud of it, and what it meant, as he and Seth had been…

The first picture any of them received of little Seth with his parents came from the Carmichaels, who had arrived at the hospital before either set of parents, clutching two parcels as gifts for the new arrival. One was indeed the cardigan, which made Julia smile as much as her husband, and had the nurses looking on it with envy. However, the contents of the other parcel were unexpected, and reduced Skylar to sniffing with damp eyes. Unwrapping it, he found a box, and inside it an old teddy bear. It was a bit battered and care worn, a little threadbare in places, but he was spotlessly clean, and immaculately dressed. The moment that Julia saw it, she had an inkling of what was going on, but it wasn't until she handed the enclosed card to her husband that he fully grasped what was going on…

The bear in question was Seth's. He had known that his time was getting short, and had decided that he should pass down his childhood companion rather than leave him to gather dust somewhere. With trembling hands, Skylar opened the card, and read the note inside.

Hello, new arrival! I was given the teddy bear this comes with when I was your age, and he has remained my companion ever since. He has not been constantly with me, as when we get older people expect us to stop hugging our bears and having them in bed with us at night. That is a bit silly if you ask me. I am not going to be here to care for him anymore, so I was hoping that you might do that for me. His name is Baloo, though if you want to change that, I am sure he won't mind…

PS. Look after your mom and dad too for me; they are very special people,

Love, Uncle Seth.

Thinking back, Skylar now recalled Seth mentioning Baloo a few times when Hunter had been tormenting them at that terrible time at Dalton, and when he was in the most pain from his MND in the last few months. He had never mentioned the meaning, just said the name. He had assumed at the time that it was a reference to the character in The Jungle Book, but now he knew better; he had been calling for his childhood source of comfort and security…

The good news of the arrival of little Seth would cheer all of those that were connected to the young couple. The fact that Skylar was so cheerful and doting on his son made them all pleased, and when his picture emerged, they could all see why the new father was so besotted. As always though, Nick saw the slight sadness in his husband's eyes, and could only admire the conviction and resolve that made him keep to his decision that he would never have a child of his own…

There was of course speculation about how many siblings young Seth would end up having, which moved on to questions as to whether Skylar or Mason would be the one to have a second child first. Nobody suspected that the next arrival in their circle would actually be for Brittany, and had they even done so, few of them would ever have suspected who the father was…

Skylar would read all of their messages of congratulations when he finally returned home in the late afternoon, realising that it was the first time he had been home alone for a night since he had moved in. He was able though to enjoy that solitude, and spent his time checking that the nursery was just so for the new arrival, who would be moving in the following day.

It was late that evening when his phone went with a call from Barnaby. Seth's brother wanted to let him know that his parents had decided to contest the will change after all; their new lawyer had advised them it would be a major mistake to just roll over, and that they could both end up in jail, so they should try and make the courts see reason. On top of that, their previous lawyer had apparently, as part of his plea bargain, been given permission to continue in practice in a restricted way, and they couldn't have that…

"In better news, we contacted cousin Matthew and his mother, and we are going to be heading to New York next week. They have invited us to stay with them temporarily, and that is what we intend to do. The city would be a good place for us to call home, as we have a lot of old classmates that are settled there, the friends we need. It is also not a place our parents are fond of, so they are unlikely to follow us there. We would like to stay in touch with you though, if that is okay. You were so good to our brother, and it would be nice to be able to speak to someone that knew him…"

Skylar agreed, as he could see no reason to deny that request…

With the arrival of Seth Willetts into the world on the 14th of August, life seemed to resume some more of its normality, but only briefly, as all the events of the recent weeks had merely served to hide the elephant in the room that had been looming for a while. In ten days, it would be a decade since Wes Montgomery had been taken from them to gain his wings. Of course, that also meant that in nine days time, Niff would have been married for a decade too. For the two men in question, their wedding anniversary had never been something that they marked, tainted a little by what had happened the following day…

Nick had been giving consideration to altering that, given that they had reached a decade, but then Seth had passed away, and so he had shelved the idea once more. He did not think that it was the right time to ask his husband how he would feel about having a celebration of their marriage in the midst of such sadness and loss. However, the subject would be brought up on the evening of the 14th quite by chance by an unlikely person.

Jeff and Wes had spent an interesting day together, with an outing to the supermarket in the morning, and then Wes had painted as his papa did his illustration work. Caleb had joined them in the sunny studio of course, but had kept well out of the way of his young human and his paints. He had made that mistake only once, and that had resulted in him having to have a bath, and that had been far worse than the fact that he had been sporting a lilac stripe. The conversation between parent and child had turned to the new baby as they waited in the kitchen for Nick to arrive home from the office, Jeff hoping that they could avoid the whole birds and bees conversation, as it was far too soon. However, the question that did come was a whole lot easier for him to answer.

"Papa, do you have to be married to be allowed to have a baby?"

"Some older people, and some religions would say so, but no, you don't have to be. It is better I am sure to have two parents that love each other very much and raise their baby together though."

"Evie says that her dad is much happier since he let Uncle Ethan be her papa, but they aren't married… Of course, Uncle Drew was married to a witch when Evie was a baby…"

"He was married, yes…" replied Jeff, trying not to smile at his son's description of the lady in question, "…but he wasn't married for very long…"

"How long have you and daddy been married papa? What day did it happen on too, because I heard everyone saying that it was Uncle Skylar and Aunt Julia's wedding anniversary not long ago, and I need to know when I can say happy anniversary to you and daddy too…"

Jeff was saved from answering straight away by the sound of the front door opening and Nick shouting his usual greeting. Wes was immediately up and heading to the bottom of the stairs to greet his father with a hug, and Jeff hastened to put the final touches to their evening meal. He smiled happily at his husband as he knelt down to hug their son, and thought once more just how lucky he was to have Nick in his life. He was getting older, they all were, but in Jeff's eyes he was still the same boy that he had fallen head over heels for on first sight back at Dalton, even if he had the odd grey hair in his locks now….

And then it hit him; in a few days, they would have been married for ten years, although it seemed much less. He knew that other couples would have been planning a party to mark such a milestone in their relationship, and he almost envied them that freedom. He knew why they did not mark the date, but now, after so long, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe they should? He did not think that the angelic Wes would be upset by the idea, and they could ask Thad what he felt about it, given that the date had most significance for him and, of course, David. He dished up the food, his mind awhirl, wondering what Nick would think about the whole idea. Then he realised that there was a way they could mark a decade, even if it was only for their own family…

He said nothing as they ate, waiting until Nick got up to fetch the cake that he had baked the previous day specifically for their dessert this evening; then he turned to Wes and said, "I am sorry, I never answered your question earlier. Daddy and I were married on August 23rd 2014..."

Nick spun round to look at his husband, unable to speak, as their son replied, "So you have been married for ten years; that is a very long time! And it will be your anniversary very soon! Why do you not have a party to celebrate, like you do for my birthday?"

Nick came back to the table, and said, "We don't have a party because the day after we married each other, your Uncle Wes died. Everybody feels so very sad about that, and so it seems wrong to have a big party the day before, particularly as it might upset your Uncle Thad."

"I see," said Wes thoughtfully. He said nothing for a moment, then asked, "Would he still be upset if you had a party now that he is married to Uncle Wes though?"

"That isn't something we have ever asked him," said Jeff. "Right now though we need to concentrate on dessert, or it will be bath time, and you won't get any cake…"

It was only once their son was asleep in bed that the two husbands had a chance to sit down together and talk. "I still can't believe that it is nearly ten years, Nicky," said Jeff quietly.

"And you are still my red, red rose," replied Nick as his husband snuggles into him on the sofa;; he smiled broadly as he saw his husband blush at the memory of the song that he had sung to him that day in the New Yorker Hotel. "I think that maybe our boy has a point about time having moved on. I was actually thinking that maybe we should mark our decade as husbands before Seth died…"

Jeff turned to Nick, and said, "Really? Well, maybe it would be nice to do something, nothing extravagant, just to mark it. It is a Friday too, so it would make an excellent start to the weekend…"

"I think that we need to speak to Thad first though. It is a decade of happiness for us, but for him it is a decade since he and Wes were parted and placed in two different realms. I also think we need to ask him on Skype, not just on a voice call. He could easily say he is okay with it, but his face might be telling a whole other story…"

As it was not that late in the day, Nick sent a quick text to Thad to ask if he was available for a chat with them on Skype. The Head Warbler replied in the affirmative, and so the couple in New York headed down to Nick's study, and logged on, dialling up their friend at Dalton. As the call connected, there was a sudden movement, a blur of tortoiseshell fur, and Caleb was suddenly sitting up on Jeff's lap. His plaintive miaow ended up being the first thing that Thad heard, and it made him laugh. "And hello to you too, Caleb!" he said with a smile. "Was it you that wanted to chat with me, and you just got the two humans that you allow to stay in your house to set things up for you?"

"It seems like that sometimes," responded Nick, as Caleb miaowed again, as if in reply to Thad's question. "I will come straight to the point; we wanted to talk to you about the anniversaries that are coming up, and how long it has been…"

Thad nodded in reply as Nick stopped, noticing that his friend's face had taken on a sadder expression. Jeff looked at his husband, and then continued, "The thing is that our boy asked today how long we have been married, and what day we got married on…"

"And now he wants to know how you are going to mark ten years of almost constant matrimonial harmony?" responded Thad. "Well, the obvious answer would be a party, but I am guessing that you do not think that would be entirely appropriate, given what the next day means to me?"

"And not just you, all of us," said Jeff, which earned him a glance from Nick, who thought his husband had been a little crass in his choice of words. They all felt pain in losing Wes, but for Thad it had to have been much worse than for any of them, David excepted.

If Thad was upset, he didn't show it, and after a moment, he replied, "Well, I think that you certainly should do something to mark your decade, if only for the sake of little Wes. It doesn't need to be a big or raucous affair, just a small intimate gathering of family and close friends would be more than enough. A lunch party would be very sensible, and I would be happy to join you at it and celebrate our Niff. A lunch event would allow me to then go on to Boston on the train, as I will be in Harvard on the Saturday; not that anyone other than the three of us know that, and I would like it to stay that way. It is my private pilgrimage, although David might be there, and I am certain that Angela will be…"

Nick saw that Thad's face seemed to be showing the same emotions as his voice, and so he responded, "Well, I had actually arranged to have Friday off work, so a lunch event certainly would be doable."

"In practice it might well be easier for everyone; Sebastian won't be on stage then for a start," mused Jeff.

"Well, in that case I shall look forward to having lunch with you all on Friday. Now, I believe that it is a Tin Anniversary, ten years, in the old parlance?"

"I believe so, but there is no need for anyone to bring gifts," said Nick. "We have everything that we need…"

"Unless you want to bring a tin of cookies," added Jeff, which made Nick shake his head and set Thad chuckling again…

The next morning saw Jeff send out an E-mail invitation to a lunch party in 8 days time to celebrate a decade since their wedding. He worried a little at the short notice that they were giving people, and that they might all have other commitments that they could not escape, but the responses were swift in coming, and were all positive.

The first was from Mike, who said that he and Tina would be there even if they had to lie and tell their bosses they were sick. As the dancer had sent it, he had suddenly felt the skin on his right forearm prickle, as if it was recalling the burn that he had given himself on that same day, when a mishap had lead to a fire at the old Bushwick loft… That event also came back to the minds of Beats and Flint as they said they would be happy to attend…

Trent was quick to respond too, saying that by chance the President was actually going to be addressing a group of Democrats in the city on Friday night, although that was as yet a secret to everyone else, so he would be in the city himself, and would be only too happy to join them, at least for a short while…

Sebastian's reply would land in Jeff's inbox moments later, saying that he would certainly be there, as would Dave, to celebrate the marriage of the longest standing couple in their circle; then he stated that he was wondering if, when he and Dave marked their own decade next year, they could have a group outing to Vegas… As Jeff rolled his eyes at the very idea, and heard the words train wreck in his head, Sebastian too was remembering the other event of that night, when he had faced down an armed robber in a drugstore on East 34th Street. He wondered where that man was now… He also realised that it was one event in his life that he had never told Julian about, or indeed anyone outside his closest friends. He had a strange feeling that if Bette ever found out, she would tell him that he was completely mad…

Ethan and Drew confirmed, their minds going back to the fact that they had been the ones to rescue Nick from a slow painful death that night, and then had been forced to fight off Jeff's homicidal biological father… It had also been the last summer before the witch, but Ethan knew better than to mention that to his best friend….

In every case, thoughts quickly moved on to what had happened the next day, the day on which so many of the Warblers had suddenly started screaming and then passed out on the stroke of 8.47am. It was hard to contemplate even now, and they could only imagine what it had been like for those around them. There had been no repeat of that since, but those that had been the closest to Wes, his boys, all anticipated that there might be if another of that intimate circle passed away without warning…

Jeff had also taken the time to call Vermont, and speak to Elspeth, his mother, and to make a call to his mom and dad in Ohio, advising them of the plan. It transpired that all three of them had been wondering how to mark the date; they had decided to come to the city and surprise them, then spend the day with them, and to that end they had travel and hotels already booked. They had agreed that they would not use the A word if they were not too. All three of them accepted the invitation to lunch without qualm as a result.

Nick meanwhile had discovered that it was not an issue for his mother and grandparents, as they had been making similar plans. Grace too had arranged to be out of the office that day, and on hearing that Jeff's parents had also been coming to surprise them from her brother, she had laughed. "All I can say is thank goodness you decided to have this lunch party! Mom had no idea that the Sterlings and Elspeth were planning on coming, and there would have been two sets of plans for you! Imagine the stress of having to deal with two lots of in-laws at odds with each other…."

She of course confirmed that she and Cooper would be at the lunch, with the twins, then like so many others she thought back to that wedding day, her most vivid memory being of the moment that her father had appeared to lodge his objections to the marriage taking place, and her little brother had stood up to him, and had done so beautifully, sending him on his way with his tail in between his legs. At that time, she and everyone else for that matter had imagined that Nick would be standing up in courtrooms, just like she did, a decade later, passionately arguing the cases of the underdog. She supposed that in his role at the UN he argued for every underdog in the world at the same time, instead of a few lucky souls in one city…

That day and all that had taken place since had changed the direction of her life too she supposed; instead of being an employee in a big legal conglomerate, she was a senior partner in the most successful women's law firm in the city. They had their imitators now, and that they saw as the sincerest form of flattery. She also had the power, like her brother, to change the world for the better….

After speaking to her brother that morning, she had turned back to the newly arrived case file on her desk, the one that concerned the forged will of Seth's grandmother. She had initially agreed to act on behalf of Seth's estate on the case, but after a few phone calls and a quick meeting, she was now also acting on behalf of Matthew Johnson, his mother and sister. In theory, it was an open and shut case, given the video evidence, the testimony of the lawyer that had collaborated with the deceased's daughter, and the fact that they were not, allegedly, going to contest the case. However, she had heard that latter statement many times before…

In practice, when it came to the day in court, she expected Seth's parents would raise all kinds of objections to the simple implementation of the original will, as it was written, given the length of time it had been since the death of its author. They would argue about the impact on the value of her estate now, given the effects of depreciation, the costs accrued in running it, the amount of interest earned on the funds thanks to their investment decisions, and would want compensation. They would probably try and prove that they had been coerced into it by lawyer, and she was quite sure that in the court, husband and wife would turn on each other too…

She began flipping through all of the documentation on the estate as it had been back then, and as it was now. It was as she got down to the property involved that she did a double take. The identity of the building in the Upper East Side that would have passed to Mrs Johnson was quiet a shocker, given that she knew the address. It was after all the building in which Flint Wilson and his family lived…

Her heart stopped for a moment then, as she pictured having to be the person that informed Flint that he and his family were going to be evicted from their home as the building was tied to a fraud case. She studied the papers more closely then, and almost sighed in relief to see that the apartment that Flint lived in was not part of the inheritance, although those of some of his neighbours were. It seemed that the apartment that the Bernsteins had passed to Flint and their younger daughter as a wedding gift had been sold to the family by Seth's great grandfather decades ago, when the Upper East Side was not as desirable an address as it was now, despite the fact that it was never exactly a slum…

Much of the remainder of the building was still in the ownership of Seth's family, and there was a good amount of rental income, even if some of the tenants had been there so long that they benefited from rent controls. Looking down at some of the monthly payments being made had Grace's eyes watering, and when she came to the final total for net annual income, her eyes widened substantially. Looking back to the figures from the year that the old lady had died, she saw that it would have been enough to allow Mrs Johnson to stay at home and raise her two children, instead of having to work long hours to cover the costs of rental and schooling. That money instead had probably been wasted on clothes, extravagant foreign vacations, and plastic surgery…

That was the moment that Grace knew that she had to win the case, not so much for Seth, but for the woman that she had met briefly two days ago, who had struggled to keep going as she sank into a level of grief and despair that she could not imagine, and had felt that she and her children had been abandoned by her husband's family. She suspected that could not have been further from the case; that the old lady ahd possibly just wanted her daughter-in-law to prove that she capable of standing on her own two feet at first, as she worked through her own feelings of loss. She had not intended it to be forever, but her daughter had crushed her wishes for her own selfish gains…