Nate cuddled Rezzi close to his chest, ignoring the string of toddler drool that dripped down the front of his sweatshirt (well, technically it belonged to Dallas, but it was Nate’s now). Nate loved naptime with Rezzi; everything about it soothed him and restored his soul, no matter how bad his day had been before. The softness of the toddler’s hair as he rested his cheek on the top of her head. The sweet scent of baby lotion and clean laundry in the nursery room. The repetitive movement of the rocking chair as they snuggled on it. The gentle music of Rezzi’s breathing as she dozed in the afternoon sunlight.

Rosalie was out with her sister getting mani-pedis at the local salon. Marjorie had been given discount coupons from the salon’s owner, who was a client at Alejo’s gym, but the coupons expired at the end of the week. Rosalie was reluctant to leave Nate with babysitting duty after he’d spent all morning in class, but he insisted that she should go.

“I don’t have to work this afternoon,” he told her. “Plus, Dallas said he’d pick Rico up from Little League practice after school and you’ve already put dinner in the crockpot, so you’re entirely free for the rest of the day. Go have fun with your sister and leave me to have fun with mine!”

At this, Rosalie had given him one of her charming smiles (which was so much like Rico’s) and kissed his cheek.

“You spoil me, my Parking Lot Prince!” she declared. “If you're sure, the crockpot should be fine for nowl, but if I’m not back before five, could you could wash the rice and put it in the cooker for me?”

“I think I can manage that,” Nate replied with a grin; he was taking cooking lessons from Rosalie and even though he knew he’d never be as good in the kitchen as she was, he was pretty competent at most things now.

Rosalie kissed his cheek again and then kissed Rezzi before she grabbed her purse and left the house. 

It was Rezzi’s idea to nap.

“Nap’ime Nat!” she’d said, swinging her arms up for him to carry her away to her room.

“As you wish, my princess!” Nate had declared, and they swished upstairs to settle down for a long nap. Rezzi never had any trouble going to sleep for Nate (Rob said he was jealous) and soon she was snoozing away while Nate relaxed in the rocking chair and wondered at how happy he was.

Despite how much he loved all of his new family, Nate felt a special kinship with Rezzi. They were both recent additions, both figuring out their way in this strange big world. He remembered the first day he’d seen Rezzi - he was still living with his grandmother and had recently started his last year of high school at his cousin’s school. Avery stopped by for a visit that afternoon to check in on Nate, like he did every week, and he brought an envelope with Nate’s name on it.

“Don’t worry, it’s something you’ll want,” Avery had said when he saw the worried look on Nate’s face at the envelope. “Rob sent it to me…Rosalie had the baby.”

“Really?” Nate was breathless with excitement. “Are Rosalie and the baby are OK? They’re all OK?”

“They’re all doing great, aside from missing you,” Avery promised him. “You can see for yourself - look in the envelope!”

Nate eagerly grabbed the envelope and tore it open so that a handful of printed photographs spilled into his lap. The top photo showed a baby wrapped in pink blanket with little clouds on it; she was wrinkled and a little bit red, but her tiny face was filled with the serenest expression Nate had ever seen. His eyes started to fill with tears. Nate didn’t know much about babies, but he knew this one was beautiful.

“She’s beautiful,” he whispered. 

“I agree! Say what you like about Rob’s looks, but all his kids have been extremely photogenic from the moment they were born,” Avery said, sitting down next to Nate to look over the photos too. “Her name is Esperanza Natalia Rodriguez Carpenter, but Rico has already nicknamed her ‘Rezzi’.”

Nate snorted as he looked over a picture of Rob and Rosalie holding Rezzi in the hospital bed. “Of course he did! And I’ll bet the next thing Rosalie told him was that he'd better not wake the baby with his shouting.”

Then Nate flicked to the next picture and felt his breath catch. It was of Dallas with Rezzi in the hospital; he was cradling his sister gently in those big strong arms of his while he grinned down into her tiny face. Nate remembered how it felt to be held in those arms, how safe and loved he’d felt that night ages ago, and his heart twinged with a prick of jealousy for lucky Rezzi. Dallas looked handsome as ever, although he seemed more like an adult than the last time Nate had seen him. He’d grown a little bit of a beard (which was DEFINITELY going to fuel some of Nate’s fantasies that night) and he was even taller now. Nate bit his lip as he tried not to cry.

“What if Dallas has grown-up and moved on from loving me?” he thought sadly, unable to stop the dark thoughts from taking over his earlier joy. “What if he’s forgotten about me? What if he found someone else to love who is as grown-up as he is? What am I going to do then?!”

As if he could sense Nate’s dark turn of mind, Avery rested a gentle hand on the young man’s shoulder.

“Rob said that Rosalie and Dallas wanted to name her after other family members,” Avery said softly. “Rosalie picked ‘Esperanza’ after her grandmother. Dallas chose ’Natalia’.”

Avery’s words slowly sank into Nate’s consciousness and it took him a moment to understand what his lawyer meant…but then realization hit him and Nate DID burst into tears. How could he have doubted Dallas? HIS Dallas, who was loyal and steadfast and above all things, GOOD. Of course Dallas wasn’t going to forget about him or stop loving him!

“I miss Dallas so much!” Nate sobbed as Avery rubbed his back soothingly. The teen wished this wasn’t such a common occurrence, but Avery had plenty of practice comforting him and he let Nate cry out until his feelings passed. 

“Dallas misses you too,” Avery replied. “But you’ll be seeing him again before you know it - maybe even before little Rezzi has learned how to walk!”

In the end, his grandmother’s sickness had prevented Nate from being back with the Carpenters before Rezzi took her first steps, but Nate was so happy to be home that he didn’t care. He hugged his little sister closer to his chest now, hoping that she felt safe and loved just as he'd felt with all the people who'd hugged him over the last few years.

Nate’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Carefully, without disturbing Rezzi, he pulled it out to read the message from Dallas.

“Just picked up Rico. Stopping at 7-11 for a Slurpee. Want one?”

Nate smiled and one-handedly typed back, “Yes, blue please.”

Dallas liked his message and Nate slid his phone back into his pocket. Rezzi stirred awake then and rubbed at her eyes with a chubby fist. 

“Hello princess!” Nate said, kissing her forehead softly. “Dallas and Rico are coming home. Should we go downstairs and get ready for them?”

“Poopy first!” Rezzi replied.

The Carpenters had been potty training Rezzi the past few months and she was really beginning to embrace the idea of using the toilet by herself now. Nate hurried the toddler to the bathroom, where she proudly did her business and earned a round of praises from Nate.

“Just wait until I tell Mama and Papa!” he told her. “Let’s go downstairs and get a snack!”

Rezzi was more than happy with this plan and she led him downstairs to the kitchen. By the time Nate got her situated in her high-chair and pulled out an applesauce pouch for her, Dallas’ car had pulled into the drive and Rico pounded inside the house. He was dressed in a dirt-streaked baseball uniform and his mouth was a distinctly purple color.

“Rezzi! Look what I got you!” he said, and he offered his sister a Slurpee straw. Rezzi took the straw with a delighted screech and immediately broke it in half.

“Dallas looks like he peed his pants, but it’s actually Coke Slurpee,” Rico informed Nate when he glanced at the door to see where his boyfriend was. “He was helping some kid with the Slurpee machine when ANOTHER kid spilled their Slurpee all over his crotch. Then both kids started to cry and Dallas had to calm them down.”

“Poor Dallas!” Nate said with a smile. Then Dallas came through the door and, yes, there was a dark suspicious stain on the front of his jeans. He took one look at Nate’s smile and sighed.

“Obviously Rico’s already explained the situation, so I have nothing I need to add,” he grunted, and he set a blue-flavored Slurpee down on the table for Nate.

“Don’t worry, I’d love you even if you had pissed your pants inside the 7-Eleven,” Nate replied, and he pulled a laughing Dallas into his arms so he could kiss him. Dallas tasted of cherries and sunshine.

“Don’t you guys get tired of that?” Rico rolled his eyes, but Rezzi chanted, “Kiss! Kiss!” until Dallas pulled away from Nate and went to kiss her.

“You done destroying this thing, darling?” Dallas asked, pulling the broken Slurpee straw out of her fist and replacing it with her applesauce pouch. “There. Has she napped yet?”

“Yup.” Nate nodded. “She pooped in the toilet too!”

“Good girl, high five!” Dallas held up a hand and Rezzi promptly smacked it with her own applesauce-covered fist.

“I pooped in the toilet too this morning, do I get a high five?” Rico said.

“Sure, why not?” Dallas held his hand up above his head, so that Rico had to jump to slap it; but both brothers were grinning. Nate felt that if his heart were any more full of love for them, it might just stop working. He took a sip of his own Slurpee, then he noticed the state of Rico’s shoes and pointed at them.

“No way,” he said. “Take those off before you go any farther into the house, or your mother will kill all of us for letting you.”

Rico obediently took off his shoes and handed them to Dallas.

“You can rinse them off with the hose for me,” he said.

Dallas raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I can? How good of you, m’lord! Anything other chores I should do while I’m about my business?”

“Don’t be rude,” Rico said. “We all know that Nate is going to help you while I watch Rezzi and you’ll kiss some more or something. You can tell him about that thing you were so excited about when you picked me up. You were practically bouncing in your seat!”

Dallas looked flabbergasted and Nate laughed.

“Come on Dallas,” he said, pushing his boyfriend towards the back door. “Let’s clean Rico’s shoes.”

“Can I have some of your Slurpee Nate?” Rico called after them, and Nate gave him the thumbs up before he slid the back door closed and took Rico’s shoes from Dallas.

“You talk while I hose,” Nate said. “Go on…I bet I can guess what this is about.”

Dallas blushed furiously.

“The meeting with my boss went well,” he said. “Like, REALLY well.”

Nate glanced at him with a hopeful grin. “Yeah?”

Dallas nodded. “I’m getting the raise, but…it’s going to be a lot more than I thought. Like, a LOT more. I think my boss is worried I might go to work at the other garage on the far side of town…not that he needs to be worried about me leaving, because I like where I am...but the extra money will definitely be incentive to stay.”

“That’s great, Dallas!” Nate dropped the hose and kissed him. Dallas wrapped his arms around Nate and Nate threaded his arms around his neck, clinging tightly.

“I’d be earning enough that we could easily live together and not worry about money,” Dallas continued softly. “You could even stop working at the senior center and focus entirely on your schoolwork if you wanted to.”

Nate sighed and rested his head on Dallas’ shoulder.

“I appreciate that, Dallas,” he said, “but I would like to keep working. I have something I’d like to save up for.”

“Oh?” Dallas pulled away a bit so he could look into Nate’s eyes. “Is it meant to be a surprise or am I allowed to know what it is?”

Nate bit his lip nervously, butterflies fluttering in his stomach. He wanted to tell Dallas…heck, Nate wanted to shout it to EVERYONE. But what if it freaked Dallas out? What if he said it was too soon or he wasn’t interested in that…

“No,” Nate thought, cutting off the bad thoughts. “I almost missed my chance with Dallas before because I was too afraid to speak up. I’m not leaving it up to another lucky moment with Rico to let him know how I really feel!”

“It…it’s not a surprise,” he said out loud. “At least, I hope it won’t be. I want to save up for a wedding.”

“You want a wedding…?” Dallas started to say, and then cut himself off with a furious blush. “You mean, you and me?”

Nate nodded. “I know we haven’t talked about marriage really, but I love you Dallas and I don’t want to be with anyone else. You’re my family now and I want to make it official. Will…will you marry me?”

His eyes had filled with tears and Dallas’ started to sparkle too. 

“Of course I’ll marry you, Nate,” Dallas said, resting his forehead against Nate’s. “I love you and want to be with you for the rest of my life. To be honest, I had actually considered proposing to you this afternoon too.”

“Yeah?” Nate breathed.

Dallas nodded. “Yeah. Sometimes I get these thoughts that something’s going to happen - like your parents are going to show up one day and try to take you away again - and if we were married, I could legally tell them to fuck off. I really want to be able to fight for you, Nate!”

“Oh Dallas!” Nate pressed a grateful, needy kiss to Dallas’ lips and they held each other for a long time. Eventually they realized their feet were soaked in the giant puddle that was coming out of the garden hose.

“Crap!” Nate let go of Dallas and hurried to turn off the hose.

Dallas laughed. “I honestly didn’t think that I’d be proposed to while cleaning Rico’s shoes, but with the way things have gone in my life, maybe I should have expected it!”

Nate laughed too as he picked up Rico’s sports shoes and set them beside the back door to dry.

“I’ll bet you definitely didn’t plan on your crotch being covered with Slurpee stains during your proposal either,” he pointed out.

Dallas grimaced with a glance down at his jeans. “Nope, that wasn’t in my daydreams either. But there was only thing that was important and that detail was exactly right.”

“Oh?” Nate looked at him.

Dallas smiled. 

“That I’d be marrying YOU,” he said, and he gave Nate a quick kiss. “Come on, let’s go back inside and see how long it takes Rico to guess what we were talking about.”

At that moment, the back door slid open and Rico peeked his head out; the boy was grinning.

“Not long at all!” he announced. “You closed the screen door, but not the glass door too. I heard all of that! How romantic - I can’t wait to tell all my friends at school!”

“Fucking hell, Rico!” Dallas cried, prompting Rezzi to repeat, “Fuck hell!”

“Ooh, Mom’s not going to like that,” Rico said and he ducked inside as Dallas chased after him. Nate laughed until his stomach hurt. 

Yes, this is what home felt like.

THE END. (again)