Chapter 28

Finn

Apparently we passed the home visit with flying colors, Jessica called us the next day and told us that we had an appointment with the judge who would be presiding over our case in two days and if all went well, which everyone expected it would, we could bring Paisley home that night.

It was now Sunday afternoon, Nico and I just finished completing the nursery and were going to Ajax and Benji's for a barbecue. We'd been so busy we hadn't seen them for a while and they wanted to hear all the latest news and see the pictures we'd been taking of Paisley at each of our visits.

"You ready to head out?" Nico asked as I joined him in the living room.

"Yeah, do we need to bring anything?"

"I asked Benny to put a case of the beer I had shipped over from Belgium in the back of the car, but otherwise, Ajax said they were all set. Benny's going to drive us, so we can have a few beers without having to worry about driving."

I smiled to myself as we headed out the door; the irony, I now owned a gallery, have moved in with my 31 year boyfriend, was about to be a father, yet legally, I couldn't drink alcohol. Not that I really cared, it's not like I was a big drinker, but I enjoyed a good beer or glass of wine once in a while.

Benny was waiting for us at the curb and we hopped in. I looked around the back seat and suddenly realized something.

"We haven't gotten a car seat yet!" We'd been so focused on the nursery that neither of us had thought about a car seat.

"Don't worry, we'll go get the best one on the market tomorrow....we'll get a few, one for each of our cars." I chuckled at the thought of a car seat in the Jag. "Actually, I can't take her in the Jag," he said to himself as if the thought just occurred to him. "Shit, I need to get a new car too! Tomorrow's going to be a busy day!"

Nico trailed off and I looked up at Benny in the rear view mirror and we shared an amused look.

We made good time and arrived at Ajax and Benji's in 45 minutes. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, perfect for an outdoor barbecue. Benji met us at the door as soon as we arrived with an excited look on his face.

"Hi guys!" he blurted out, practically bouncing out of his shoes.

"Hey Benj," I hopped up the steps and gave him a big hug, Nico did the same as soon as I stepped to the side.

"What has you bursting at the seams Benji?" Nico asked.

"Nothing...no, nothing...just glad to see you....umm....come out back, Ajax is setting up the barbecue...and we have drinks and stuff to eat."

"Ohhkay." I looked at Nico and he raised his eyebrows. I shrugged my shoulders, it was Benji after all.

We followed him through the house and out the French doors to the patio. The first thing I saw were what looked like hundreds of pink balloons.

"Surprise!!" Came a shout from several people. I looked around in confusion, it wasn't my birthday and it wasn't Nico's birthday...then I looked back at the pink balloons, finally noticing a banner hanging on the gazebo.

Happy Baby Shower! It read.

"Oh my god," I laughed and looked back at Nico. He blushed as the sides of his mouth creeped up.

Tons of people we knew were there; Chris and Thomas, some of Nico's friends and employees, Liam, Jonah, Brett and Aiden, Garrett and his new friend Luke, Eli, Sebastien and several others.

Ajax walked over with two beers, "It was Benji's idea," he said with a sheepish grin.

We started to walk around, greeting as many people as we could while showing them the pictures on our phones, before we could get to everyone Benji came over and pulled us towards to the center of the patio. "So! I googled all sorts of stuff about Baby Showers, did you know there are special 'Baby Shower' games we have to play? I've got them all printed out and I've made a schedule so we don't leave anything out...I think you should sit down first and open your presents...then we'll play some of the games and then we'll eat."

"Benj...games? We don't...umm..."

"Yes!! This is the first Baby Shower I've ever thrown and we're doing it right. You two sit over there on the loveseat." Benji looked around frantically. "Seb! Here's a notebook, you have to write down everything they got and from who so they know afterwards...Liam, you're in charge of bringing the gifts over from the gift table one at a time...and Finn and Nico, you have to wear the ribbons on your heads...from the presents..." Benji scurried off yelling directions and I looked at Nico who looked pale and confused and then Ajax who was slowly backing away from the group.

"Ajax, you're staying," I called out, "we're going to need you!"

"Why aren't you seated yet," Benji came over and pulled us both to the loveseat that was decorated with about 25 pink helium balloons.

"Nico..." I whispered. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking utterly helpless.

"Just play along," Ajax whispered after we sat down, "he's spent days planning this. It will only be a few hours of hell."

Nico finally seemed to be coming around, "I'll get you for this brother," he grimaced under his breath.

"Just remember who brought you two back together," Ajax reminded him and Nico's face immediately softened.

Our friends were finding seats in a circle in front of the love seat. Sebastien pulled a chair up next to us.

"Hi Finn," he said shyly and then looked at Nico. "Umm...hi Mr. Salazar, my name's Sebastien." It came out in almost a whisper and he only looked up a few times, seeming to find something very interesting about the patio stones.

"Just call me Nicolas, Sebastien. You look familiar, do I know you?"

Sebastien nodded and looked around spotting a middle aged man sitting with some of who I figured were Nico and Ajax's friends, I recognized him from that day at the coffee shop. He pointed at the man and Nico followed his gaze, the other men all nodded at Nico with small smirks on their faces.

"Oh yes, you're with Gregory. I remember now, I'm sorry; I think I only met you once. It's good to see you again Sebastien, I'll have to go over and say hello to Gregory after..." he looked around and Sebastien giggled quietly. "Yeah, after," Nico finished.

At this point I had to laugh at the situation. Benji's heart was in the right place and if this was all it took to make him happy, I could do it. "Hi Sebastien, thank you for doing this. We'll want to send out thank you notes afterwards, so this is a great help."

"I don't mind...I just don't know who everyone is..."

"We'll let you know," I added.

"Okay...everyone's gathered around," Benji called out, rushing back. My crazy best friend looked over at Gregory and the four men he was sitting with and was about to open his mouth, presumably to yell at them to come closer, when Ajax came over and patted his arm.

"It's okay, Benji, they can watch from there."

"I wish Louisa and Rosita were here, they'd love this," I chuckled to Nico. They had agreed to come help us, more than agreed, they were ecstatic. Louisa had admitted that they were kind of bored and hated living like 'two old retired ladies,' as she described it. They missed 'their boys' and were over the moon about Paisley.

"When are they coming?" Ajax asked.

"They'll be here in about 2 weeks, they need to pack up their apartment and take care of a few things before they can leave. I'm sending a couple of our men to Miami to help them, well, after everything's confirmed on Tuesday."

"Are you...going to be okay until then?" he asked.

"Of course!" Nico glared at his brother with an offended look, "Mia's been teaching us a lot and she's going to be coming over to the apartment for a few hours for the first few days to help us with the transition."

"Don't worry Ajax, Nico's already an expert. He's read every baby book on the market and he takes copious notes when we're visiting Paisley." I was actually pretty impressed, whenever I had a question; Nico already seemed to know the answer.

Just then Liam walked over with the first present, looking a little embarrassed being in the spotlight, but managing it like a trooper. I took the large package from his hands and read the card, "this one's from Jonah and Liam," I said with a grin, looking up at the boy's eager smile.

"I also have one that's just from me," Liam said quietly, "it's a painting."

"I can't wait to see it Liam," I said as he beamed.

I looked over at Sebastien who nodded, having logged their names on the paper.

"Do you want to open it?" I asked Nico.

"You open this one baby," he replied, sitting back into the cushions and crossing his leg over his other knee.

I opened the box and it was a beautiful, colorful mobile with all sorts of aquatic animals. The colors matched many I had in the mural I'd painted in the nursery.

Jonah walked over and placed his hands affectionately on Liam's shoulders. "They had these other ones that are supposed to make the baby smarter, but they were black and white and really weird looking...and I figure if she's related to you, she'll be plenty smart on her own, so we picked out this one."

"Thanks Jonah," I replied, then looked down at Liam, "It's really beautiful. She'll love it!"

Liam went to get another gift while Benji snapped several pictures of us with the mobile. "Wait! You're supposed to put the ribbon from the package on your head!" he shouted.

"NO!" Both Nico and I said at the same time. Hell, we could only go so far.

"But..."

"Why don't they hang them from the love seat," Ajax suggested. "Then you can take a picture at the end with all the ribbons on it while they're still seated there."

"Good idea!" He grabbed the multicolored ribbon and hung it on the back between us.

It took us a good forty-five minutes to get through all the presents and we got anything and everything you could imagine for a baby, some we hadn't even thought about, plus the typical, but necessary baby clothes, boxes of diapers, toys, books... Ajax and Benji gave us a beautiful stroller that was like a transformer - you pressed buttons and moved things and it turned into like 5 different types of stroller or folded up to fit in a car trunk. Gregory and Nico's other friends had given Paisley large savings bonds for her education. Between Nico and I, she would of course have whatever educational opportunities she could ever want, but it was very thoughtful and generous, after we finished opening the gifts we walked over and thanked them, which also gave Nico a chance to introduce me.

I knew that Gregory was Sebastien's Dom and the others were also Doms, whose subs I had met through Benji. Luckily they were all acting like normal people today and their subs got to hang out with their friends and have a good time without having to check-in the whole time or stay by their sides.

Liam's painting was a beautiful portrait of a little girl riding on a big brown bear, holding out her hand where a bird sat on the tip of her finger. A crown of flowers sat on her head cascading down the back tangled among long curls, they were in a meadow similar to the one I was painting in the nursery. It was incredible; the image and technique just had me in awe. Liam's artistry was like this hidden window into a part of him that the world never got to see...they only had glimpses through his painting. No one would ever imagine that the quiet shy boy could create scenes that touched your soul in such a deep and meaningful way.

"I don't even know what to say Liam, this is..."

"Exquisite!" Nico finished for me. I smiled at the blushing boy, and laughed as he rolled his eyes at all the attention. A little while later I had Nico bring it in the house to put someplace safe while I went to talk to Brett and Aiden.

"Your brother is something else!" I told Brett.

"From bratty to brilliant," Aiden piped in while Brett smacked him on the head.

Later, I wandered over to Garrett to thank him for the books he had given us. "Love You Forever is a classic," he said, "no nursery should be without it."

"What's this other one?" I asked, holding up what looked like an antique in a special plastic holder. "The Journey of Bangwell Putt," I read, "by Mariana." I looked at the copyright, "1945, wow!"

"It's a first edition, the printing is Collotype and the drawings are hand coloured. They only printed 500 copies," he explained. "I have a copy from when I was a child that originally belonged to my Grandmother, I loved to read it when I visited her and when I was older she let me take it home. It's about a 100 year old doll in a museum, at night, she and all the other special toys on display come to life and wander around the museum looking at the famous paintings and getting into trouble. There are toys from all over the world and many different cultures...it's just a very sweet story. When I was wandering around an antique shop recently, I saw a copy and thought that maybe Paisley would get as much enjoyment out of it as I did, especially since one of her father's is a famous artist."

"Not quite famous," I laughed, "but thank you. It's beautiful, amazing how they hand colored each page, I've never seen anything like it."

"It's a very special gift," Nico echoed, "Thank you."|

"Game time!" Benji called out, startling everyone.

"God no!" I groaned.

"Just one," Ajax called over, "the food's almost ready."

"But you weren't supposed to start it yet," Benji whined, "I have a whole bunch here."

"Oh...I wasn't? My bad...well, you have time for one game."

Several of us shared knowing smiles while a pouting Benji flipped through his papers to find just the right game. "Okay...well, we can't do this one because you don't have a baby bump to measure...pass the poop seems like a bad idea..."

We ended up playing a game where I had to wear a blindfold; Benji had a bag filled with different baby things that I had to try to guess what they were - bottles, soothers - among the easier things; diaper rash cream, wipes, nursing pads and even a breast pump among the more difficult. At the end of course we keep all the items. Don't even ask about the nursing pads or breast pump, Benji didn't even have a good explanation either. Frankly, I don't think he even knew what they were when he bought them, Nico seemed to be the only one who could properly identify them once I gave up.

When Ajax finally announced the food was ready we all let out a sigh of relief.

"I can't believe you're having a baby!" Chris said as he sat down next to me once he had filled a plate with food. "Well...you know what I mean," he rolled his eyes after I patted my flat stomach with a smirk.

"Yeah, it's crazy, but wait until you meet her. I wouldn't change anything for the world. She's amazing!"

"I'm happy for you Finn."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm glad things worked out with you and Nico, I know that you really love him, you never got over him, I guess it was meant to be."

"I believe that Chris, and I'm glad you're so happy with Thomas. He's a great guy and you're perfect together." Chris beamed and looked over at Thomas who was chatting with Ajax at the barbecue.

"Thanks for the apartment too man, it's working out great. And I stopped by Juntado and talked to Garrett last week, like you suggested. He has a show for new and upcoming artists next month and he asked me to put some paintings in."

I looked up at Garrett across the yard who was sitting under one of the large trees talking to Eli's brother Luke; the two of them seemed to be hitting it off really well. "Yeah, that's great. He has a ton of contacts too."

Before we could finish our conversation Benji came over looking worried.

"What's up Benj?"

"Was it okay? I really wanted to make this the perfect baby shower, I feel like I screwed it up, we didn't do half the stuff we were supposed to..."

"No! It was great! The best one I've ever been to!" I quickly assured him.

"Have you ever been to one before?" Chris said quietly and I shot him a look.

"Really Benji, I never even expected it, but it was really great. Having everyone here, all the gifts, it was amazing!"

"I just wanted it to be special, this is like one of the biggest things that will ever happen to you and Nico."

I stood up and pulled Benji into a big hug. "Thank you brother," I whispered into his ear. "I was really scared at first, but knowing that I have Nico beside me and you and Ajax supporting us, I know that it will all work out."

Benji buried his face into my neck and I'm pretty sure I could feel a little moisture on my skin so I rubbed his back and rocked him back and forth. Benji did everything to extremes, he played hard, he worked hard, he loved hard and he felt hard...and it was probably one of my favourite things about him.

Slowly the party started to wind down until it was just Nico, Benji, Ajax and myself sitting on the patio as the sun started to go down. Benji had already given us a tour of the 'baby-guest room' he'd made up for when we visited. It had a crib for when Paisley needed a nap, changing station already fully stocked, playpen, toys and of course a state of the art baby monitor. The pool house was filled with baby-approved floaties and unlike Nico and I, Benji already had a car seat for his car.

"I take this Uncle stuff seriously!" he stated once we had found our way back to the patio.

"You'll be an awesome Uncle Benji," I assured him. "You too Ajax, just don't spoil her too badly, she'll be spoiled enough as it is by Nico and then of course Louisa and Rosita!"

Nico's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. "It's Jessica!" he told us.

"Hey Jessica, you're working late on a Sunday night."

We couldn't hear the other end, but suddenly Nico's brows furrowed.

"What do you mean there's a problem?"