When Adam emerged into the living room, he saw what having Aislin "clean up her godforsaken tea party" really entailed: Aislin carrying one stuffed animal to her room, and Ronan carrying the other ten or so. Adam took several of the animals from Ronan, including a rather large panda that was obstructing his view.

"They're on their way," Adam said. Ronan snarled in response.

Aislin held her bedroom door open for her dads, who set her stuffed animals down—Adam gently and Ronan less-than-so. The men exchanged looks, Ronan deferring to Adam.

"You got us into this, Parrish. You can explain it to her," his eyes said.

Adam shrugged and nodded.

"Hey, Ash," he said. (Ronan cringed. He hated the nickname Adam had given their daughter.) Aislin looked up from where she was carefully arranging her animals back on their shelf. "Come sit with me."

Adam sat down on Aislin's bed and waved her over. As Aislin crawled into his lap, Ronan took a seat next to them.

"Daddy and Papa have something to tell you," Adam continued carefully.

Aislin was unfazed. "Okay," she chirped. "What?"

Adam glanced at Ronan for support, but his husband's eyes were unyielding. "Well, we're going to have a few…guests…coming in tonight," Adam started.

Aislin's eyes lit up. "Aunt Blue and Uncle G?" she asked hopefully.

Adam smiled and shook his head. Ronan snorted. "They're coming to visit, but the guests I'm talking about are staying for…a while," Adam continued. "They're boys. Their names are Noah and Niall, and they're a little older than you. They're ten years old."

"That's seven years more than me," Aislin said matter-of-factly. "Why are they coming here?"

"They need somewhere to stay," Adam said.

"Why can't their daddies take care of them?" Aislin asked.

Adam looked nervously to Ronan and back to Aislin. He hadn't really thought his whole speech through. He hadn't had time to.

"Well, sometimes, boys and girls don't always have two mommies or two daddies or a mommy and a daddy that love them," Adam started. "Sometimes, parents don't have enough money to take care of their kids, because they don't have jobs or because their kids are really sick or because they're really sick."

"And, sometimes, parents are just jackasses and don't deserve to be parents," Ronan muttered. Adam hissed at him to be quiet.

"Or sometimes really bad things happen, and some kids' parents die," Adam finished. "And we don't know what happened to Noah and Niall, but we do know that they need people to take care of them and love them for a little while, and so they're going to come here and stay in Aunt Blue and Uncle Gansey's room."

Aislin looked carefully up at Adam and Ronan, her green eyes curious.

"How do you feel about having brothers, Aislin?" Ronan asked, half-smirking. Adam knew exactly how Ronan felt about his own brothers, Declan and Matthew. Declan and Ronan hadn't spoken in years, and neither was upset about it. Matthew, on the other hand, was perfect—Ronan's absolute favorite person—and he wasn't even real. He was a dream thing that three-year-old Ronan had created to replace his less-than-satisfying older brother. For Adam, he was more curious as to how Ronan would react to having the two brothers in the house than he was about Aislin.

After another minute of processing, Aislin smiled. (She was so very much like Adam that it unnerved him at times.)

"Okay," she agreed. "But Aunt Blue has to stay. There are too many boys here already."

Adam and Ronan both laughed out loud as Adam kissed the top of Aislin's head and put her down on the floor.

It was only about ten minutes after their talk with Aislin that Adam and Ronan heard the front door open. They were sitting on the couch, Adam's head on Ronan's chest, and Adam felt Ronan stiffen and his heartbeat speed up as the door opened.

"It's just Blue and Gansey," Adam reassured him, putting a hand on Ronan's knee. Ronan relaxed when he realized he was right.

Just then, Gansey's voice bellowed from the front hallway, further confirming his presence.

"Where's my favorite little girl?" he called, obviously indicating Aislin.

A faint squeal could be heard from the other side of the house followed by the pattering of feet as Aislin raced from the playroom into Gansey's arms.

"Uncle G!" she shrieked, and moments later, Blue led the threesome into the living room, Gansey holding a beaming and babbling Aislin on his hip.

"And Daddy and Papa said I'm gonna get two brothers!" she was exclaiming as she shoved two chubby fingers under Gansey's nose.

Gansey grinned at his niece and glanced at his two friends on the couch. "Really?" he exclaimed in mock surprise. "Do you think Daddy and Papa can handle two more kids? Aren't you enough trouble for them?" His words were playfully directed at Aislin, but his message was clear: Adam and Ronan were crazy. Thankfully, everyone present already knew that.

Aislin giggled. "No, I'm the best. Daddy always says so."

"Of course he does," Blue smiled as she tickled the little girl's side. Then, turning to Adam and Ronan, added, "Okay, boys, what's the plan?"

All eyes were on Adam: Blue's excited brown ones, Gansey's skeptical blue ones, Aislin's innocent green ones, and Ronan's snarky dark ones. And Adam didn't have a clue what he was doing.

"Um, Noah and Niall are going in the guest room," he said.

"Noah and Niall?!" Gansey spluttered, momentarily losing his usual composure. Blue blinked twice as her jaw fell. Adam shrugged. Ronan grimaced. They were all thinking the same thing.

"Creepy, huh?" Adam said.

"I come from a family of psychics, and even I think that's weird!" Blue exclaimed. Noticing the concern that crossed Adam's face, she quickly changed her tone. "But, I come from a family of psychics, so I can honestly say that these boys were meant to cross your path," she said. Quietly, she took Gansey's free hand. "Just like we all were."

Adam's thanks read on his face, but Ronan had had too much sentimentality for the day.

Ronan jumped up from the couch and started pacing through the living room. "Alright, let's get started before we start singing fu—" he stopped himself short of cursing, for Aislin's sake "—freaking Kumbaya or something." Blue rolled her eyes but didn't comment as Ronan started barking out instructions: "Adam, call Klase and learn something about these kids: what size clothes they wear, what they like, if they're allergic to peanut butter or begonias or laundry detergent or whatever, if one of them's a serial killer—and don't come find me until you have something to go on."

Adam nodded, unconcerned by his husband's gruffness, stood up, and reached for Ronan's phone in his back pocket. His hand lingered there a few seconds longer than it should have, and everyone—including Ronan—noticed. To anyone else, it would have looked like he didn't miss a beat, but Gansey and Blue could tell that Ronan was having a harder time focusing now.

"Blue, as soon as Adam has some details, you two can go shopping. Take Aislin with you."

Blue nodded amiably, grinning at Adam, Aislin, and her faintly visible baby bump in turn. "We'll look like a cute, heterosexual family!" she laughed.

"We are a cute, heterosexual family," Gansey reminded her teasingly, putting Aislin down and wrapping an arm around Blue's waist. Blue playfully swatted at his shoulder.

"Gansey, you can start moving stuff out of the guest room where the boys will be. Most of it's your shit anyway."

"Language, language, Papa," Gansey scolded, but he started walking toward the staircase anyway. "Jane, you want to come with me and help me figure out what we can take home?"

Blue chuckled. Gansey only ever used his old nickname for her when they were with Adam and Ronan. But she knew Gansey wouldn't be able to sort through all of their various possessions that lived at The Barns without her, so she obliged and took his hand as they climbed the stairs.

"I swear to God if you have sex up there now—!" Ronan called after them, but the threat went unfinished.

"Wouldn't be the first time!" Gansey's melodious voice called back.

Twenty minutes later—during which Blue and Gansey did more making out than clearing out of the guest room—Adam hung up the phone and brandished an extensive handwritten list.

"Blue! I've got the list! Are you ready to go?" Adam called to the ceiling, not bothering to keep the fluttering nerves and breathless excitement out of his voice.

"Coming!" came Blue's faint reply.

Adam grabbed a coat for himself and Aislin from the rack in the hallway. He could hear her in the playroom with Ronan and Chainsaw. A few weeks from now, he imagined he'd hear her in there with Noah and Niall. Her brothers.

Adam had no way of knowing how long the agency would want them to keep the boys, but he already knew that he'd keep them forever if they'd let him. But they wouldn't go back to their father. Adam had been there. Felt every stinging blow. Heard every despicable insult. No one had tried to save him from Robert Parrish. No one except Blue and Gansey. And Ronan. There was always Ronan. With his healing salve and rent money and chapped lips and winding tattoos. He had saved him—with his fists and with his heart. And now it was Adam's turn to save someone.

"Ready to go shopping, Ash?" Adam asked from the doorway of the playroom. Aislin, immersed in a zombie princess coloring book, didn't look up.

"No," she shook her head.

Ronan nearly chuckled as he scooped her up: "Oh, yes you are. Let's go."

"Papa!" she squealed. "I'm not done with my picture!"

"Who's going to help me pick out clothes then?" Blue asked from the doorway.

Aislin stopped and looked at Blue, a look of sheer joy on her face. She squirmed out of Ronan's arms and scurried over to her aunt.

"Come, on, let's meet Daddy at the car," Blue suggested, gently taking Aislin's jacket from Adam and nudging the preschooler toward the door. Finally, Adam and Ronan were alone.

"So," Ronan said.

"So."

"You've really done it, Parrish," Ronan smirked.

"I know."

"Are you ready for this?"

"I think so. Are you?"

"No."

Adam froze. "Ronan—"

"I have never been ready for one damn thing that's ever happened to me: my dad dying. Dreaming. Kavinsky. Cabeswater. Matthew and Opal and my mom. Gansey. Noah. Glendower. It's all been hell."

Adam dropped his gaze to the floor.

"And then there was you," Ronan continued. "And Aislin. And I sure as hell wasn't ready for any of that. I love you both so much that it hurts. It fucking hurts, Par—Adam. It's taken me so long to figure out to love you and Aislin the way that I want to, and now you're asking me to love two complete strangers in the same way. But they're going to hate me, because—"

"Ronan, they're not going to hate you," Adam said.

"I haven't even seen them yet, and all I can see is you!" Ronan exclaimed. "You, Adam! On the porch of that goddamn trailer while your asshat father beats the shit out of you. And you were so scared and so resigned and so goddamn proud. And I think about how I hit him. And hit him. And I don't even know if I'm any better than him anymore. And—what if I hit them?"

Adam looked long and hard into Ronan's eyes, the eyes that always seemed so dark and cold to the rest of the world. But Adam saw every emotion that crossed them, no matter how fleeting. He saw the uncertainty that always boiled just beneath the surface. He saw the compassion, the courage, and the love. And, right now, he saw the fear. And, suddenly, Adam was violently angry at the world that could have caused someone so good so much pain and make them doubt their goodness for so long that they actually believed they were capable of terrible things.

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up," Adam snarled. "You are not my father. You would never hurt me or Aislin, and you sure as hell aren't going to hurt these boys. The world fucked us over, Ronan. Both of us. And it fucked us up bad. And it's trying to do the same thing to these kids. But you saved me that night at the trailer and every night after that, and we're going to save Noah and Niall tonight. Nothing is ever going to hurt them again. Not while they're with us. Especially not you. So drop the pity party."

Ronan set his face and raised his hand like he was going to sock Adam in the jaw, but Adam met his gaze and didn't flinch. Not anymore. Instead of the sharp pain of a fist to the face, Adam felt that strong hand wrap deceptively gently around the base of his neck and pull him in. And with all the force he didn't put into a punch, Ronan crashed his mouth against Adam's in a kiss, his free hand instinctively going to Adam's curls.

Adam's calloused hands—the polar opposite of the impossibly smooth ones on his own neck—found the small of Ronan's back, and he pulled him in even closer until their bodies were against each other and touching in more places than not. They stayed like this for several minutes, lost in the high emotion of the day, until someone came up for air.

"I really wasn't sure if you were going to hit me or kiss me," Adam gasped, his heart thundering in his ears.

"Neither was I," Ronan panted.

Adam smiled. "Robert would have hit me and not thought twice about it."

"Have I mentioned recently that your father's an asshat?"

"And you're not him, Ronan. You love too much to ever be him."

Ronan pulled away from Adam with a curt, appreciative nod.

"You better get going, or the boys will be here before you get back," Ronan mumbled.

"And what exactly are you going to do while I'm gone?" Adam asked, his thumb still looped through Ronan's belt loop.

"Dream," Ronan replied as Adam's eyes widened. "Beds, furniture, you know. Big stuff."

"Be careful, Ro," Adam whispered.

"I will be And, besides, Gansey's here in case anything goes haywire."

"I'll be back soon," Adam told him. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Ronan whispered almost too quietly.