“Hello?” I groaned into the phone, rolling over to press my forehead to Alexander’s arm as he slept soundly next to me, “it’s four in the morning.”

“Sorry,” my father Remington sighed and I sat up quickly, “I just… we just…” he took a shaky breath and I patted Alexander rapidly, trying my best to wake him up, “It’s Papa Ollie.”

“What happened?” I whispered, putting my phone on speaker once Alexander finally woke up, blinking a few times as my panic startled him, “Baba… what happened to Papa?”

“He had a stroke. They have him in a medical coma right now but it’s… it’s bad, Cae,” he started to cry and I could hear a shuffling sound.

“We don’t know if it will be safe for him to wake up. Or if they do, we have no idea what he’ll be like. How much care he could need. He’s in his eighties after all,” Cassian sniffled.

“Do you need us to come back?” Alexander took my phone and I stared at him surprised, “We’ve been here a week, my parents will understand. We’ll just cancel the birthday party my family wanted to throw Caelan.”

“Oh fuck it is your birthday! Goddamit, I’m so sorry, Caelan. I didn’t mean to forget we were just trying to figure this out.”

“It’s okay,” I whispered, gripping the blankets, “I just…”

“I’ll book us two flights to Montana. But we won’t be there for about 18 hours. We have to fly to Los Angeles and then to Montana. There’s no way to do a one-way flight, it doesn’t work like that,” Alexander handed my phone back to me and scrambled out of bed, grabbing his pants from the floor and running into the living room.

“I…” was all I could say before clearing my throat, “we’ll be there in two days. Can someone pick us up?”

“I’ll send Cyrus,” Cassian sighed, “god I am so sorry, bubba. I wish… I wish this wasn’t happening.”

“Our grandparents are older now, Cash. It was bound to start happening at some point. If we base it on age and not health, Lio is… we need to start preparing for that too. Then Sebastian and finally Hyacinth. We lost Uncle Greg already. I can’t…”

My Uncle Gregory was the nephew of my grandfather Oliver. We had been incredibly close as he had taught me how to play basketball. He had a rough life and made a few poor choices and it had always made me laugh when I remembered there had been a chance he would have been our father, not our uncle as he had dated my father Teodoro before Remington. I loved him deeply and had been shattered when he had a heart attack.

“Baba is having a hard time,” Cassian whispered, “I need to focus on him. We’re waiting for you and Alexi okay? Oh and… it’s not the best timing but happy birthday, bubba. Can’t believe you’re 27.”

“When do you stop calling me Bubba? You’re only 29, Cash. We aren’t that far apart.”

“I’ve called you Bubba since you were in Dad’s stomach. I knew you were a boy before they did. So I will always call you that. I love you, Caelan. I feel like I never tell you that.”

“Because you barely do. I love you too.”

We ended the call and I slowly started packing my bags, stumbling around the bedroom. It took a while for Alexander to join me, a calm look on his face as he grabbed the sweater I was holding and wrapped me in a tight hug.

“I’m here, baby,” he whispered against my hair, making my eyes warm as I gripped his back, “I got our flights. We need to get to the airport in two hours. We leave in three. We can stay in Montana as long as you need,” he leaned away and wiped a tear from my cheek, “I resigned from Memorial,” Alexander smiled and I gasped, “we can come to Taupaki as soon as things are settled.”

“But… Alexi, you can’t keep your home in Indiana without money!”

“I have plenty in my savings to take care of everything. I’ll be okay for at least a year. I didn’t want to leave you in Montana when there was a very real chance you could lose your grandfather in the next few days. I need to be there with you. Your family is mine as well. I love your grandpa Oliver. He’s so nice to me. It actually hurts to know this is happening. When we lost my Papa I… I had no one to rely on except my Dad. Mum was too broken and I had to take care of her. But I was hurting too. Your parents are going to be working on making things stable for each other. I don’t want you to break because you’re trying to do everything on your own. I’m here. Every step of the way. Not only for you but for your entire family. Even if all I do is help take care of the many kids running around. Whatever is needed of me to make things easier for everyone.”

“Alexi,” I whispered and he kissed me gently, cradling my chin, “thank you.”

“Of course. Oh and… happy birthday. I know it’s not the happiest but…” he reached into the top left drawer of his dresser and placed a gift box in my hand, “I did get you something.”

I quickly opened it before letting out a startled choking sound, “Alexander?”

“What do you think?” he smiled as I took the gift out.

Inside the box were a few things. The first was a snow jacket I had desperately wanted but could never find in my size. It was a mustard yellow with black thermal lining, meant to keep me warm and dry. Under that was a set of trekking poles as I had broken mine a few years ago and stopped hiking in snow because of that. I never bothered to replace them, unsure why I hadn’t, but I told Alexander about it one night as we lay in bed. Finally, there were two tickets for a two-week trip around the south island of New Zealand, starting and ending in Christchurch and dated for next year.

“Two weeks of hiking,” I whispered, “are we going to be with a travel company?”

“Yes. Just for this one. I wanted to do our first big trip without stress. It’s not until March so we can settle in here and let our jobs know we aren’t available to start until April.”

“Oh I love it,” I sniffled, setting the box on the bed and hugging him tightly, “you put so much thought into it!”

“Anything for you, baby. Plus, my birthday is when we’ll be hiking Rocky Mountain on our eighth day on the trail. So while the surprise was entirely for you, we’ll be able to spend my birthday on a mountain. We spent my last at the bar with Laney and Serena. I want this one to be special. I’m turning 31 after all.”

“It’s perfect. Oh, we need to get back to packing! We have to get to my grandpa.”

“Yeah. I just wanted to put some relief into what was happening before you froze up on me too much,” he kissed the side of my head and packed one bag for himself, “I won’t need much and if I do, I can go to the store. Let’s go. Dad is taking us to the airport so I can leave my truck here. I already let Laney know we won’t be in Indiana for a bit so she’ll keep taking care of Hobbes. Are you ready?”

“No, but I don’t have a choice. I need to be there.”

“I know.”

After a grueling 18 hours of flights and layovers, we reached Montana where we found Cyrus leaning against one of the windows near baggage claim, Cosette with him sitting in a chair. They both ran over as soon as they saw us, Cyrus crashing into me full force as he tried to hide his tears and I hummed softly, rocking him from side to side as I had when he was a child. Cosette nearly climbed Alexander and he set her on his hip, easily grabbing the two bags we had brought as I left most of my things back in Taupaki, knowing we’d be there in a few months. Cyrus refused to let go of me and I rubbed his back, knowing how close he was to Oliver as he had been named after him.

“I am so scared,” he muttered and I kissed the top of his head, the curls tickling my nose.

“I know. I am too. But I’m here. You have me, at the end of the day. You’ve always been my baby, Cy. Papa would hate this. To see us broken. Is he uh…”

“Yeah, he’s still with us. They took him out of the coma for a bit yesterday but it’s just… not a great idea. His brain is severely damaged. At this point, they want to keep him under with pain medication and just… wait.”

“Okay. Let’s get going then. Straight to the hospital. Why do you have Cosette?”

“Cruz isn’t handling any of this well and Sunny is trying his best but I just… took her with me to give them space. Cadie and Callie flew in this morning but their partners stayed home. Layla can’t be away from their job at all and Bobby has Annamaria. She’s too immunocompromised to be at the hospital.”

“Biggest word I’ve heard you use,” I laughed sadly, “okay. Here we go.”

The hospital came into view about half an hour after we loaded in Cyrus’ car and I felt Alexander grip my shoulder. I looked back at him to find that Cosette had fallen asleep against his side, his arm around her back as he held her and I smiled gently, grateful these sweet moments could still happen even when things looked bleak.

“Dad?” Cyrus called quietly as we walked into a hospital room, “I got them.”

“Cae,” Teodoro rushed over, hugging me tightly before moving to hug Alexander, “thank you, Alexi. Cash told me you handled everything to get here.”

“Anything for you guys. You’re my family too,” Alexander whispered, kissing Teodoro on the forehead, “sorry. I kiss my parents on the head a lot.”

“It’s fine. I know you’re affectionate. I don’t mind. We closed the curtain to give Sebastian a bit of space. They uh… want to shut off the life support machines and just have oxygen and morphine going. But Bas refused to do anything until everyone was here. We’re only missing Sawyer.”

“Who is that?”

“Oh our cousin,” I nodded, “he’s a bit older than us though.”

“He’ll be here in ten minutes. Do you want to go see Oliver?”

“Yes,” I whispered as Alexander set Cosette onto a maternity ward chair, laying it down so she could keep sleeping.

Teodoro quietly pulled the curtain back and I swallowed slowly, moving to stand next to Sebastian. He smiled calmly at me before pressing a kiss to the back of Oliver’s hand.

“Bonjour, Papa,” I whispered, hugging Sebastian around the shoulders.

“Bonjour, mon beau bébé de feu. Tu m'as manqué,” he whispered, “oh and bonjour mon futur petit-fils,” he nodded to Alexander who smiled and hugged Sebastian as well, “you are sad. But that is okay. Oliver would not want that.”

“How are you handling this, Papa?” I sat on the chair next to him and Sebastian never looked away from Oliver.

“I am okay. I knew something would eventually take him from me. We had over 50 lovely years of marriage. He saved my life more than he ever knew. He cannot hear us anymore. There is no brain activity. The stroke damaged many brain tissue. I plan to sit here until his final breath. He promised to love me until he no longer could and he kept to that. You do not need to change anything in your life for me, do you understand, Caelan? I will not stand for it.”

“But… Papa, I can stay in Montana for a long time.”

“Non,” he shook his head with a sad smile, finally looking at me, “I want you to do what I did. Live your life with your wonderful partner. I will not be far behind Oliver. I have the same thing that your Papa Sawyer had. I won’t be able to walk much longer. I do not want you caring for me.”

“Y-you have…”

“Oui,” he nodded, “I didn’t tell you for a reason.”

“What is it?” Alexander whispered, gripping my arm.

“Sebastian has late-onset multiple sclerosis. The same as my great-grandfather. Uh… oh Remi’s grandfather. How did you get the diagnosis?”

“I thought it was dementia,” Sebastian shrugged, “I am having memory issues. But then the fatigue and tremors started. That is how I knew I needed a different doctor to see me.”

“Uncle Bas?” Sawyer called from somewhere before the curtain moved again and he came over to us, “Oh…”

“Bonjour,” Sebastian smiled again, “I will tell you the same thing I have told every single one of your cousins. I am okay. There is no need to be panicked or worried about me. It is your uncle Remi I would be worried for. He is not doing well. Auntie Madi and Uncle Auggie are outside with everyone else. We will take him off the tubes soon. It will be better. He never wanted to live this way.”

“Okay,” Sawyer sniffled, coming over to Oliver and kissing him gently on the forehead.

We waited for the remainder of my massive family to fill the room and after a doctor took the time to shut off all of the machines we waited quietly, Alexander holding me as we leaned against one of the walls, Camden asleep on Alexander’s chest. The beeping of the heart monitor slowed over a few hours before Oliver took a breath on his own for the last time and finally left us.

“A bientôt. Ne t'inquiète pas trop pour moi. J'ai nos merveilleux enfants. Je t'aime pour toujours, Oliver. Dors bien,” Sebastian whispered with a smile, a tear streaking down his cheek.

Burying my face against Alexander’s chest, I slowly started to cry and he rested his chin on the top of my head, rubbing my back. No one spoke for a long time, only the sound of crying filling the air and when I finally raised my head to look at Sebastian he was simply staring at Oliver, Hyacinth holding his shoulder from behind.

“He loved you,” Sebastian whispered looking up at Hyacinth, “he loved you very much.”

“I know, Bas. I loved him too,” Hyacinth smiled, cleaning their face with the sleeve of their sweater, “but you were his soulmate. There was never a time in which both of us would have been part of his world. You were all he ever wanted. Thélio always joked that if he died before me and you had, I could marry Oliver. But I would never have done that. The four of us have spent the last thirty years together. That doesn’t change now. You stay with us in our house okay? No reason to leave. Lio and I will take care of you.”

“I know,” Sebastian patted Hyacinth gently on the hand before holding it and I tilted my head before looking up at Alexander. He smiled knowingly and I held in the gasp trying to escape me.

Standing on my toes, I pressed my lips to Alexander’s ear, “am I understanding correctly? Are they one big…”

“Mhm,” he nodded, “I think they’re all together in some sense. Even if no romance is involved, they rely on each other as spouses. It’s beautiful.”

“I agree.”

Hyacinth sat next to Sebastian as Thélio hugged them both from behind, watching over Oliver as we waited for the doctor to come into the room.

“Goodnight, Dad,” Remington called from his spot between his siblings, the three of them holding each other, “we’re going to be fine. We have each other and we’ll take care of Daddy.”

“He knows, Remi,” Sebastian smiled, “oh he always knew. You’re the best children we could have ever asked for.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come stay with us?” Teodoro hiccuped, his face flushed from crying.

“Non. I am meant to be in our home with Lio and Cinn. We will be okay. I know you will be there to see us daily as you have been. My lovely grandchildren, you all have big lives to keep living. Do it with love in your hearts. It is our generation that is meant to set the ground for you and we did that. Do not be scared of the future or of the time that you stand here and watch the rest of us go. We will leave you with so much pride in our hearts that it will not hurt. I love you all so very much,” Sebastian smiled brightly and at that moment I knew he would be fine.