***A Week after Thanksgiving***
JC wakes up to the sound of one of the babies crying. He gets up and heads towards the door, stopping dead when he sees the reflection staring back at him in the full length mirror on the back of the door. "Justin!!"
Justin rolls over, "JC, will you hush? You're gonna wake the babies."
JC walks out the door and down the hall to the nursery, "Hope they don't mind. This could get ugly real fast." He walks in and picks up the crying baby, "Shhh. It's ok sweetie."
The baby opens it's eyes, stops crying for a second, then begins to cry again.
JC carries the baby down the hall, into the kitchen to make a bottle. "Shhh, Rose. It's ok." The baby stops crying again as soon as JC starts talking. "What you don't recognize me. I don't blame you, last time you saw me I had long hair and breasts. It's a bit of a shock isn't it sweetie? That's ok, it's still me and I still love you with all my heart." JC takes a bottle out of the fridge and offers it to the baby. Rose drinks greedily from it while JC continues to talk to her. JC walks back up to the nursery, taking with him a couple of extra bottles. By the time he gets to the nursery, Rose is full, burped and falling back to sleep.
JC walks into the nursery to hear both boys start crying, "Now you two, hush. You're gonna wake your sister." Again the boys stop crying once they hear JC's voice. "I know, I'm not exactly the same am I boys. JC pulls the two basinets next to a chair and places a bottle into each baby's mouth. "There you go boys, enjoy." He starts humming to the boys. When Josh Jr finishes his bottle JC picks him up and burps him, then places him back into his basinet. It doesn't take long for him to fall back to sleep.
JC picks up Justin Jr., "You know Uncle Lance was right. You look exactly like your daddy." JC places the baby on his shoulder and pats his back.
Justin strolls in rubbing his eyes, "Rose? You ok?"
"Shhh. You'll wake them all again. I just got the last one back to sleep."
Something in the voice made Justin wake up completely. He looked closely at the figure hunched over placing the baby back into the basinet. He smiles wide, "Jayce. You're back!!"
JC glares at Justin, "Would you please keep it down? They just went back to sleep."
Justin blushes, "Sorry."
JC rolls the basinets back to their positions on either side of their sister, "There you go boys. Take good care of your sister."
JC walks out grabbing Justin by the arm. Justin smiles, "God it's good to see you again."
"It's good to be back and it doesn't seem to bother the babies either." He smiles.
Justin pulls JC to him, "God I've missed you so much. I loved Rose but she ain't got nothing on you."
"J. We're the same person. Although it doesn't seem as strange anymore. It's nice to be back to the same, I really missed my body."
Justin looks him up and down, "You're not the only one."
JC meets Justin's gaze, "Oh, no you don't. That's the reason we had to go through all this in the first place. I sure don't wanna go through that again." He blushes, "At least not for a while."
"So we use protection from now on. It's not like you can take the pill or anything. I'll just have to wear a condom from now on."
"Josh? Is that you?" Karen asks, coming down the hall. "Oh my God, it is."
"Hi mom. Look can we please move away from the baby's door. I really don't want them to be woke up." JC sighs.
"Sure, might as well move to the living room. The others will be up soon anyway." Justin suggests.
"That's good with me. I'm gonna need a nap later in the day though." JC snuggles into Justin as they sit on the couch.
"You can go back to bed in a little bit. I just wanna hold you for a bit, ok?" Justin says.
"You could hold me in bed." JC suggests.
"No, I don't think I really want your mom and the rest of the guys in bed with us. Lets just deal with them and then we can go back to bed for a while."
"That might be a good idea. I'll even watch the little ones for a while for you. Maybe I can talk your father into going for a walk with them, you two need to have a little time to yourselves now that....Well...now that you're...."
"JC!" Chris exclaims. "Holly shit it really is you. Thank God. I was starting to think we were gonna have to go public that you had left the group."
Lance smacks Chris in the back of the head, "Would you shut up? The babies you idiot."
"Sorry," Chris states as he flies across the back of the couch landing in JC's lap. "Good to have you back man."
"Thanks."
Lance walks around the couch and sits on the floor in front of JC and Justin, "Don't get me wrong. I really liked Rose and all but...Well...It just wasn't the same man."
"I know. You don't have to tell me." JC smiles.
Lance gets up and hugs JC and drags Chris off. "Man, you don't have to be such a dweeb all the time. Give him some space."
"He wasn't complaining."
"Well, he's still recovering, so..."
"Actually, I didn't mind too much. You gotta sit still a bit though. I'm still sore, dude." JC ruffles Chris' hair.
"Sorry, didn't mean to hurt you. It's just I figured..."
"Nope, still got the same aches and pains. Just like Rose had all mine. Only difference is, now I'm me."
"Well, it's still cool. Glad you're back."
"Thanks guys." JC smiles.
"Ok. Lance, Chris. Come help me in the kitchen please." Karen states.
"Sure Mrs. C."
They leave the room. JC leans into Justin, "God. I'm exhausted J."
"We only have to deal with your dad, Heather and Tyler now."
"And Joey, Kelly, and your family. Have you talked to your mom yet?"
"No. I haven't had the chance. I keep getting her voice mail."
"She's not gonna appreciate finding this stuff out from a tabloid or through an interview. You need to talk to her."
"I know. It would be really nice if she'd call back when we weren't in the middle of something though."
"I know but you gotta make more of an effort. What about Randy and Lisa? Do they know?"
"Yeah, they were very happy for us, but couldn't come down til after the new year."
"JC!!" Tyler states coming down the hall.
"Here we go again." JC sighs into Justin's chest.
Justin wraps his arm tightly around JC, "Almost done baby."
Tyler, Heather and Roy come into the living room. Roy pulls JC out of Justin's arms into a big bear hug. "It's good to see you again son."
"Thanks dad."
"Damn, so much for an older sister." Heather teases.
"Thank God," Tyler smiles as he pushes Heather and hugs JC from the back. "Good to have you back bro."
"Thanks guys." JC smiles and sinks back down to the couch.
"You ok son?" Roy asks.
"Yeah, just a bit tired. Was up most of the night feeding the babies. Since he (nods to Justin) seems to have picked up my habit of sleeping like a rock. He barely hears them half the time." JC states.
"Justin, take him upstairs and make sure he gets some sleep. Don't worry about the babies, your mother and I will take care of them for a while. You need to get some sleep."
"Thanks dad." JC yawns and walks up the stairs.
They walk into the bedroom and JC collapses onto the bed, "This is really hard J. I'm dead on my feet. We need to get some help or something."
"What like a nanny?"
"Yeah, my mom and dad can't stay forever J."
"I know, but I'm not so sure we need a nanny Jayce. What about Lance? He seems pretty taken with them."
"J? They're our responsibility. We can't ask our friends to take care of our children."
"I know." Justin blushes. He lays down next to JC. "I just don't want strangers in our house. I don't trust them."
"Ok, we'll try to handle it without any help, but you're the one that gonna ask Lance and Chris for the help." JC states.
"I will. Now come here." Justin pulls JC close to his body, "Get some sleep baby."
"Hmmm."
"Justin?" Lynn states walking into the room. "What the hell is going on here?"
"Mom? When did you get back?" Justin sits up suprised.
"Don't you even give me that shit? What are you doing in bed with him? Where is that pretty girl you've been dating?"
"Mom. Let me explain."