Kevin woke up before eight in the morning, showered, and prepared breakfast. After arranging the table nicely with a little white note placed under a silver fork, he ran up to the room to check on the kids and Nick. He was pleased to find them still in their dreamland. Hurriedly, he ran down the stairs, grabbed his car keys and speed his way to the nearby jewelry shop.

When he reached the place, he exchanged greetings with a middle-aged man and followed him into a room. "Uncle Marcus, thank you so much for rushing the work for me. You have no idea how grateful I am." Kevin said as Marcus handed his nephew two small white boxes.

"You're most welcome, Kev. By the way, have you told Anne about Nick?" Marcus inquired, showing a concerned look.

Kevin looked at the two boxes on his hands and shook his head. "I can't break this to mom yet. Nick and I still have a lot of things to sort out... I can't bear to listen to anymore disapprovals before we settled the ones we are facing right now."

"I supposed you meant Brian."

"Yeah..." Kevin breathed. "I just hope that a miracle will happen. Hurting him was never a part of what we expected to come from our relationship... We never wanted to hurt him or anyone..."

Marcus shrugged. He knew exactly how his nephew felt. The day when he informed his sister, Anne, that he was having a relationship with a man, she severed all ties with him and forbid her children to go near him. However, as Kevin and his brothers grew older and wiser, they came to understand things and remained close with him as they did when they were young. "I understand and Brian's not the close-minded kind. He just needs time."

"That's what I've been telling myself and Nick. Time, time, time." Kevin sighed heavily and mocked, "Time's evil."

"Things will work itself out, Kev. Just put your worries away." Marcus offered an encouraging smile and Kevin nodded. "By the way, have you had a place in mind to hold the wedding?"

Kevin shook his head. "I haven't thought of that yet."

"Hmm, then may I suggest the Grote Kerk in Naarden?"

"Naarden? That's in Holland, right? I've heard Alex talking about that place before."

"Yes, and I hope he have mentioned to you that it was a really beautiful little town with the warmest people. And this really big church, Grote Kerk."

"Nope, but it sounds beautiful. Thank you for the recommendation. I have to check it out sometime." Kevin said politely as he looked at his watch. "I gotta run now. Don't wanna miss breakfast with him."

"You'll make a really good husband, Kev." Marcus teased. "Lucky Nick." he laughed as he walked Kevin to the door.

...

Nick walked down the stairs, scratching his head as he wondered where Kevin had disappeared. When he reached the kitchen, the sight of the breakfast on the table made his stomach growled. If there were anyone who can get to his stomach besides his mother, it would be Kevin. He patted his tummy, smiled blissfully to himself and turned his way back to the children's room to wake them up. Before he reached the stairs, he heard the sound of the keys and realized that Kevin was back. Quickly, he rushed to the door and almost startled the older man when he swung the door open.

"Nick! Jesus, I thought you were still in bed!"

"I just woke up... Where did you go at such an early hour?"

"Stroll. I went out for a stroll." Nick eyed him suspiciously and Kevin quickly changed the topic. "Had your breakfast yet?"

Nick shook his head. "Nah, I was about to go wake the kids up."

"All right, good. I'll go wake them up. As for you, you just sit at the breakfast table and be a good little boy." Nick stuck his tongue out playfully and dashed straight for the kitchen. Kevin realized that Nick didn't retorted back as usual and raised his eyebrows for a second. He let out a snigger and went to his children's room.

When he opened the door of the room, he was surprised to see Scott sleeping on the floor. He gently picked him up and laid him back on the bed next to Ilyssa. It was then Scott let out a little yawn, rubbed and slowly blinked his eyes opened to see his daddy. Ilyssa heard the yawning, opened one eye to peek only to close it again and went back to her dream world. Scott uttered a soft 'Daddy' and sat up to hug him. "Sa-sa kicked me off the bed last night. I'm scared to sleep with her,” he said, looking down and held Kevin's hand tightly.

"She kicked you off the bed?" Kevin arched his eyebrow at the dainty little princess with all the hair in her face. "Maybe she had a nightmare or something and roll you off the bed. She didn't do it on purpose. You'll have to forgive your sister."

"But my butt hurts."

"Daddy will make it all right." He kissed his palm and placed the kiss on Scott's bottom. "There. Better?" Scott smiled and nodded, his expressions reminding Kevin of Nick. "Now go wash up and head to the breakfast table. And no taking your Ultraman along. Promise?" Scott promised his Daddy and jumped off the bed. As he head his way out of the room, he saw Nick standing by the door and almost called out to him when Nick put a finger to his mouth to signal Scott to keep quiet instead. Scott obeyed and turned his way straight to the washroom.

Kevin ran his hand down Ilyssa's silky hair and moved off the strands on her face. "Ilyssa..." He gently called out. "Uncle Sunny has come out. Time to wakie."

"Uncle Sunny?" Nick couldn't help but laughed aloud.

Kevin spun around and rolled his eyes. "That's the sun, yes. Anything wrong with that?"

"Well, just not used to your 'kiddy talk'."

"Daddy..." This time, Ilyssa was fully awake and her arms were wide opened, ready for her warm and fuzzy hug from her daddy. A smile spread across Nick's face as he saw the beautiful sight in front of him.

Kevin reached over and hugged Ilyssa. "You need to go wash up too."

"Can I have a bite first?" Ilyssa blinked her eyes and gave a little yawn.

"Oh no, darling, you need to go wash up, just like your brother, remember?" Kevin said and chuckled when he heard Scott make a self-announcement that he had done washing up and heading for the food. "Better hurry now or Scott's gonna finish up everything on the table."

In an instant, Ilyssa jumped out of bed gracefully and make a beeline for the washroom. "Now that's fast." Nick commented and took Kevin's hand, leading him downstairs.

...

When Kevin had left the care of his children with Dominique, he set off for Howie's house together with Nick. When they arrived, it surprised them to see the person greeting them at the door.

"Faith!" Nick yelled in surprise. "Why are you here?"

"Yeah, we thought you were supposed to be-" Kevin said.

"-in Seattle right now." Nick completed.

Faith, amused by her friend's reaction, put on a mock frown. "Aww, I'm not welcome?"

"No, it's not that." Nick added quickly. "I'm just-"

"-Surprised." Kevin finished.

"Stop trying to finish off each other's sentences!" Faith laughed. "You guys freak me out!"

The two men looked at each other and smile as they entered the house. "We don't mean to..." they said at the same time and chuckled.

"All right now, who's ganging up against MY girlfriend?" Howie asked jokingly as he entered into the living room with a few cans of beer and drinks.

Nick raised his eyebrows. "Girlfriend?" Howie nodded with a cheeky grin and placed all the drinks on the table. "Faith?" Faith confirmed the fact by nodding her head as well. "Wow... I never expected this! When? I mean, when did you and Howie...?"

"Yesterday." Howie smiled blissfully while Faith linked her arm with his and went red in the cheeks. "I invited her to my parent's house for dinner and after that, I just pop out the question."

"Yesterday, huh?" Kevin said and directed a smirk to Nick, who was speechless. "Seems like it was a really good day on the calendar."

"You bet." Howie agreed, noticing the look on Nick. "Now... Where's AJ?"

"He just called and say that he'll be here any second. Betcha he must be driving around to park his ass or busy ogling at girls. There are too many pretty souls around this area..." Faith said with a worried hint. The three guys chuckled at Faith's words and she just rolled her eyes. "What? That's true, all right."

Howie smiled. "You'll always be the prettiest lady in my eyes."

"Together now.... Aww..." Kevin teased and Nick joined in.

When AJ finally arrived, the gang took their turns to wish him happy birthday. As usual, Kevin spotted his watch on AJ's wrist and began to nag about how the latter had been helping himself to his belongings. Nick and Howie would try to rescue AJ by shoving Kevin to a corner and showing AJ what gifts they have bought for him.

After the little episode, everyone sat down and AJ began talking about Kevin and Nick's current situation. However, Nick was feeling really uneasy and cringed at every mention of Brian.

"Yeah, I know that." Kevin responded when AJ mentioned about Brian needing time to make him realized. "I was telling Nick about it." he said, looking at Nick who's furrowing his eyebrows. "Talking to him is probably useless now."

"Right." Nick breathed, finally breaking his silence.

"It's just too sudden for Brian. Look on the bright side, guys." Howie comforted. "Maybe take a holiday or something. You both needed it."

"Yay, and bring back more presents for me since it's still within my birthday month!" AJ suggested jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"That's all you're thinking, J." Faith laughed and threw a cushion at him.

"Ow!" AJ caught the cushion but pretended to be hit by it. "Howie! Tame her!"

Howie grinned and hugged Faith. "She tames me, not the other way round. Besides-"

"Hang on." Nick interjected, a realization suddenly hit him. "Faith... you know about us?" he questioned and looked at Kevin. Kevin's jaws drop slightly. He never even realized.

Faith chuckled at the shocked looks on the both of them. "If I tell you two that it's Dominique who told me-"

"Dominique? What?" Kevin exclaimed. "I never told her anything."

"Kevin, relax. Let me finish." Faith said. "She actually told me she had a feeling that the two of you are either playing the best friends thing or are together. Coz you guys were so close to each other out of the blue. But being Nick's friend for heaven-knows-how-long, I knew it's so not the best friends thing and before long, Howie confirmed the fact with me. I'm definitely supporting the both of you."

"Faith... I know you have always been. I don't know what to say."

"Well, you don't have Brian's support for now but it doesn't mean in the future as well. Besides, you have the other best friend's support." Faith gave a genuine wink. "And you know, I finally see that smile."

"Smile?"

"Yup. The true blissful smile that you should be having when you're with someone you love. I'm really glad that it's Kevin. I know he'll do all the right things for you." Faith said and felt her eyes tearing up a little.

"Thank you, Faith." Kevin smiled and almost teared as well.

"And on Howie's suggestion, I'd raise both hands on it. You two definitely needed a holiday or just get out of this stress zone. Things will blow over after a while and hopefully Brian would have straightened out his thoughts."

Kevin thought for a moment and furrowed a little. "But I don't wanna leave Scott and Ilyssa at the children's home. I just fetch them home..."

"Not to worry. There's me. I can move into your house to look after them while you're away. If you don't mind, I'm obviously gonna drag Howie along as well. Sounds good?"

Kevin smiled. "You're too good to be true."

"Well, that settles then." Faith concluded.

Howie cocked his head to the side while smiling like an idiot and AJ grinned really wide at the scene in front of him. "Do I finally smell a party starting?" AJ beamed.

The rest of the people in the room laughed at AJ's comment and didn't forget that it's his birthday. "Yes, birthday boy, it's party time! And we're not gonna leave the club till we're all drunk, do we have an agreement on that?"

"Kevin, are you sure?" AJ asked, mildly shocked by his words.

"You heard me right. Only for your birthday though. And Nick, you're only allow one glass of beer and after that, it's juices." Nick started to give his best puppy eyes impression but Kevin ignored him. "Games and stuff, maybe, but not alcohol. Especially not at this moment. Remember your promise?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah... sure."

"Aaaalright, let's hit the club!" AJ hollered and they left for Tabu to party the night away.

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