2. Mom?

~Josh

"Hi, Suzanne, I'm Doctor Hart," I said, looking down at her information on the clipboard as I walked into the room my newest patient was waiting for me in. "Just a check up today, correct?"

I lifted my head just in time to see her mouth drop open. "Joshua?"

"I-I go by Josh," I stuttered out, extremely confused. I've never gone by Joshua in my entire life, so why would she call me that? "I'm sorry. Have we met before?"

Suzanne hopped off the table and took a step closer to me. I took a hesitant step back, now worried. She was just about my height, so I wasn't too worried she'd be able to hurt me, especially because she was also in her late fifties, but the look in her eyes was seriously creeping me out.

"Ma'am?"

That seemed to make her remember that she couldn't just attack her doctor in his office. She backed up again towards the table. "I'm sorry. Josh. Um, it's just... I never thought I would see you again."

This definitely wasn't going the way I thought this check up would go. "I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are."

She covered her mouth with her hand, and I could see tears forming in her eyes. "That's because it's been thirty years, Josh. I'm your mother."

I blinked, my mind going blank for a second at her words. "No, you're not."

Suzanne let out a soft chuckle, shaking her head, as she put her hand back down by her side. "I may not have been the mother that raised you, but I did give birth to you, thirty years ago."

I felt my chest tighten up. I had given up when I was still a child of ever knowing who my biological parents are. And now that I found her, I didn't know how I was supposed to react.

So I asked the question I've always wanted to know the answer to. "Why'd you leave me?"

She shook her head sadly. "We never wanted to. You see, your brother, Paul, had a baseball tournament one weekend. We left you with your grandparents because you were only a year old and we felt it was better that you didn't travel across the country with us, but rather stay somewhere safe." She paused to wipe away a tear. "We didn't know it at the time, but they were both suffering from extreme lapses in memory. They took a trip somewhere and forgot that you were with them. We never found you after that. Although we looked. We never forgot about you, Josh. You were always a part of our family."

What was I supposed to say to that? I have an older brother, and a mom, and a dad that I've never met before. My biological family. I didn't want to think about where I'd be if I was never lost. Probably not madly in love with the men I am in love with right now. I wouldn't have my children because I wouldn't have had a sister to give them to me. I don't even know if I'd be a doctor.

"Here," Suzanne said, holding up her phone. On the screen was a picture of an older gentleman and a man who was closer to my age. They both looked similar to each other, but the weirdest part was that the younger man looked just like me. "That's my husband, Martin, and my son, Paul. You look just like them."

I shook my head, dropping the clipboard I was still holding onto the small counter. "I'm sorry. Th-this is a lot to process. I'll just be a minute."

I barely saw her nod her head before I was out the door, leaning my back against it as soon as it was closed again. There was so much going through my head right now that I could barely process anything.

"Hi Debby, is there any way you can squeeze him in to see Josh?" My head snapped up at the sound of Kyle's voice drifting down the short hallway. "He's gotten a lot worse from this morning and-"

That's all I needed to hear. "Debby! Put them in room one!" I called over to her. "I'll be right there!"

Quickly grabbing a small notebook and a pen, I jotted down my number before running back into the room that Suzanne was waiting in.

"I'm really sorry to do this to you," I started with. "Here's my cell phone number. We'll talk, definitely. But right now, my husband just came in with our sick child and I need to make sure he's okay. I'll have someone else come in to finish this check up. I'm so sorry."

I didn't wait to hear her response before I was once again out of the room, running towards Kyle and Logan.

~Jackson

"Just one today, right?"

I chuckled lightly, nodding my head as I reached for the pen. "Yup. Logan's home sick. Hopefully he'll be back if not tomorrow, then Wednesday." Putting the pen back down on the counter after signing out my daughter, I looked at the secretary behind the desk. "I just hope Ashley doesn't get sick, too."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, don't count on that. Ashley should be down in a minute. Her class was running a little late today."

"That's fine. So how have you been, Marcia?"

I stepped out of the way of another parent trying to get to the sign out sheet while she answered. "I am quite ready for this rain to get out of here. Only a couple more months until summer."

"Hi Daddy!"

Turning, I watched as Ashley skipped over to me, her Barbie backpack bouncing against her back. "Hey, pumpkin. How was school?"

And that was the question that sparked it all. "It was fun! Miss Baker taught us a song to remember the days of the week! Do you wanna hear it, Daddy?"

I gave Marcia a wave goodbye as I steered Ashley towards the exit. "Sure, Ash."

She started singing, but only got a couple lines in when she started getting confused with some of the words. I was just helping her into her booster seat when she gave up. "I no remember words, Daddy," she said sadly.

"That's okay, sweetie. I'm sure Miss Baker will teach you it again tomorrow."

"She say that before."

"See?" I ruffled her hair, earning a pout. "Then there's nothing to worry about."

The drive home only took a couple of minutes and soon we were walking inside. I was anxious to see how Logan was doing. The last update Kyle had sent was that Josh looked at him, and he'll explain when we all get home, but it wasn't anything too worrisome. Not that it made me worry any less. I still wanted to know how he was doing.

"Hey," Kyle said as I walked into the kitchen, holding Ashley's backpack. She had immediately disappeared as soon as we got in, which wasn't too unusual for her.

Placing the backpack on the floor, I walked over and pulled him into a hug, capturing his lips with mine. "How is he?" I asked, breaking the kiss.

"Okay. It's a pretty bad cold and a milk allergy."

I backed up. "What?"

He nodded, laughing a bit. "Yeah. Little Logan's allergic to milk. That caused the vomiting this morning, and the first time made his throat so raw that it bled. He'll be fine, so long as we keep him away from milk from now on."

"Well shit. Out of all the things it could have been..." I shook my head, not wanting to think about that. The only problem would be having to say no to his wanting milk all the time.

"I know. Trust me, I know."

"Where's Josh?" I asked. "I saw his car outside."

"Upstairs with Logan."

"Nope. He just fell asleep," Josh said as he walked into the kitchen, coming over to me. I wrapped my arms around him as he laid his head on my chest. "Hopefully he'll rest for a couple hours. He needs it."

Something about Josh seemed a little off from usual, and I wasn't sure it all had to do with Logan. "Is everything alright with you, babe?" I asked him.

He started nodded, but then switched to shaking his head. "I want to tell you all when Leo gets home. I don't even know how I'm going to say it." He gave a small gasp before looking up at me. "How am I going to tell my moms?"

I didn't know how to reply. What could be so bad that he wasn't sure how to tell his mothers, who he tells everything to? "I still don't know what you're talking about, Josh."

He shook his head again, stepping away from me. "I'm going to find Ashley."

Kyle and I watched as he left the room. Then I turned to him. "Do you know what he's talking about?"

Kyle shook his head. "Not a clue."

"Good. Then we're on the same page."

After a few minutes, I started making my way towards the stairs, wanting to check in on Logan. I hadn't seen him since this morning, and, even though I knew he was sleeping, I still wanted to see him.

Just before I started up the steps, however, I heard Josh talking to Ashley in the living room. I backtracked a couple steps to stand in the doorway to watch the interaction. Ash was sitting on the floor next to the couch, one of her dolls in her hands. Josh was sitting on the couch next to her. Neither of them realized I was here listening in.

"You can't tease him about it, alright?"

"Why not?"

"Because you know how much your brother loves his milk. He can't drink it anymore, so he'll get upset if you do just to make him upset. And that's not nice. Okay?"

Ashley dramatically sighed, looking down at her doll. "Okay, Daddy."

I smiled to myself before leaving the doorway to actually head upstairs. That was definitely going to be another struggle with this whole thing. Ashley was probably going to rub it in Logan's face that she could drink milk and he couldn't, even after being told not to. It was just who she was, no matter how much we've tried getting her to be nicer to her brother.

Peaking into the kids' room, I watched Logan sleep for a minute. He had his Simba stuffed animal wrapped in his arms, burying his nose into the small lion's mane.

Just as I was about to leave, Logan opened his eyes and looked at me. "Daddy?"

I walked over and sat down next to him. "How you feeling, buddy?" I asked, brushing the hair out of his eyes.

"Okay. Can I have some milk, Daddy?"

I sighed lightly. "Sorry, Logan, but you can't have milk anymore. Didn't your daddies tell you that earlier?"

He pouted, snuggling closer to his toy. "Yeah. I was hoping you didn't know."

"Don't try that with your other daddy, either, okay? He knows too." Or, at least, Leo will find out as soon as he gets home. "You do understand why you can't have milk, right?"

He nodded. "Like Uncle Elliot can't have peanut butter."

I gave him a small smile. "Exactly."

Logan's gaze shifted to behind me, and turning my head, I saw Leo standing there in the doorway, his lips forming a small smile. As soon as he saw us notice him, he walked over and sat down on the other side of Logan's bed.

Leo then went through the same basic questions with Logan that I had asked, wondering how he was doing, and no, he can't have any milk. Eventually, Logan started falling asleep again, so Leo and I left him to rest.

Once we were in the hallway away from the partially opened door of the kids' room, Leo pulled me to him. "Hi," he whispered, just before planted his lips against mine. "Haven't seen you all day."

"I know," he said with a sigh. "Long day at work. But I think Josh wants to talk to us."

I nodded my head. "Yeah, he seemed a bit off earlier, but wouldn't say anything until you were here."

"Well let's go figure out what it is." Leo grabbed hold of my hand and started leading me down the hallway.

Ashley had been convinced to start her homework in the kitchen, so the four of us took to the living room. Leo, Kyle, and I all took the couch, while Josh paced back and forth in front of us.

"So, someone came in today, who I honestly forgot even existed," Josh began. "She recognized me immediately even though it's been thirty years because I look just like her husband and other son. Guys... I met my biological mother."

I'm pretty sure all three of our mouths dropped open in shock. For me, at least, I was shocked, even through his telling of how he came about to be left the way he was all those years ago. When he finished, none of said anything for a moment.

Kyle broke the silence first. "When was this? Before or after I came in?"

Josh finally stopping his pacing. "Literally two minutes before. I walked out of the room she was in to try and clear my head, but then I heard you talking to Debby, so I tossed my phone number at Suzanne, saying we'll have to talk some other time because my husband and sick child just came in. I didn't even properly tell her that I'm gay. I don't even know how she feels about it. I don't know how she'll feel when I tell her everything. Guys, what am I going to tell my moms?"

Leo reached out and pulled him closer to the couch. "You tell your moms whatever works for you. I'm sure they love you enough to not be mad at wanting to get to know the woman who gave birth to you. And I'm sure they also know that you love them too much to ever replace them."

Josh smiled at that, but didn't say anything, so I spoke up. "If you're really worried about how this Suzanne woman will react to us, think of it this way: if she freaks and runs, oh well. You didn't need her for thirty years, you sure as hell don't need her now. If she's okay with it, you get another mother."

"And a dad and another brother," Kyle added in. "You'll actually have a dad for the first time in your life, babe."

Josh let out a small laugh, and I could visibly see him relax. "Yeah, you're right. It'll be fine, no matter what happens."