Though Mark was satisfied with how their trip to Korea concluded, he was beyond ready to go back home and spend some quality time in his own apartment for the first time in a long time. Both Allison and Jackson had missed Lou incredibly during his extended vacation on top of being anxious over his health scare, so Mark dropped his son off to see the other half of his family almost as soon as they landed. He and Jinyoung had gone home and thoroughly enjoyed their first occasion of being completely alone in a long time, tiring themselves even further so they could sleep off the jet lag and wake up at least slightly refreshed.

There was a lot to do. Mark had to go back to work and catch up on all the missed sales reports, and they both had a wedding to plan. Jinyoung called in to reserve the Lake Park Pavilion, and luckily didn't receive any grief for it being a shocking same- wedding, and Mark started writing up their invitation list. Is was going to be a small ceremony—he'd invite Allison and Jackson (plus their newborn, if she delivered by her late August due date) and their families (he was assuming Allison's parents wouldn't come, but didn't mind either way), his family, Jinyoung's family, and assorted friends like BamBam and Kit.

He decided against inviting any of his own co-workers, though he did consider for a moment how amusing it would be to invite Lucy, even though she'd left the company a long time ago, presumably so she'd never have to see him again. He was a little curious if she'd managed to marry someone handsomer and richer than him as she'd promised. Or if she'd ended up with Guy from maintenance. Mark hadn't seen him around in years. Who knows what had happened?

The other details were going to be simple. A cake from CostCo, their standards tuxes they'd worn to other weddings over the years, flowers from one of Mrs. Wang's friends, simple catering. How much they did or didn't spend didn't matter to Mark. He just wanted the husband waiting for him at the end of all the formalities and traditions.

And in between planning all those little details, they also had the plan for the final “meet the parents” stage. Mark was arranging for both Jinyoung's parents and his own (plus siblings) to visit in the week before the wedding. They naturally couldn't all stay in their apartment, so he had his hands full getting a good discount at the nearest hotel and reserving the party room of the restaurant in the lobby for their get together. He usually wasn't half as organized as Jinyoung, but he actually made a to-do list for once in his life so he could keep all the details straight without killing his brain cells.

“I guess this is our rehearsal dinner,” Mark said to Jinyoung after he'd finished securing the restaurant. “Speaking of which, are we going to do the whole groomsmen...groomsmaids...thing?”

“It's up to you. You're the one with all the siblings.”

Mark considered. He could make a pretty sizable wedding party with his siblings plus Allison and Jackson, but he didn't think that was fair to Jinyoung who didn't have as many family members at his disposal. “Let's just have Lou be the ring bearer,” Mark suggested. “Our guest list is so small, if we made a wedding party, it would be 80% of the guests.”

“Fair enough. Simple is best, I think.” Jinyoung rested his head on Mark's shoulder. “So I had the name change cleared with the school. I'm going to be Mr. Tuan from the next school year and onward.”

“I bet that will take some getting used to.”

“How do you know I didn't scribble 'Mr. Jinyoung Tuan' in my notebooks during classes? I did fall in love with you during university, after all.”

“I'm just going to take a wild guess and say you didn't.” Mark paused. “Did the school ask about the reason behind the name change, by the way? I know a lot of schools are kind of rigid about male kindergarten teachers to begin with, and people are weird and ignorant think all gay teachers are creeping on the children, so...”

Jinyoung sighed. “The fact that that's even still a thing...anyways, it's a public school, and they're pretty strict about non-discrimination practices. They're fine with it, I'm just not allowed to bring it up to the students. We're generally not supposed to talk about our private life with kindergartners, anyways.”

“Some parents who had kids in your class before are going to notice the name change.”

“Well, luckily I'm not supposed to talk to parents about my personal life either.” He turned his head and lightly bit Mark's shoulder. “Stop worrying. We're fine. If troublesome things happen later, we'll deal with it. Or did we not just spend several weeks proving to my parents that we're capable of doing that?”

Mark ruffled his hair. “You're right. I'm sorry. I don't want to give you the idea that I'm having second thoughts.”

“You're allowed to have second thoughts. As long as the thing you're thinking about twice is wanting to marry me so badly that you can barely think of anything else.”

“Sounds about right,” Mark said with a grin. “The day can't come soon enough.”

But before they could get to the wedding, they had to get over the hurdle of the week before. Mark's family arrived first from Los Angeles, bringing with them their usual excitement and noise. Lou was beside himself to see his grandparents, aunts, and uncle all in one go, and they were in turn as thrilled to see him, Jinyoung, and Mark as ever. Mark normally would have been thrilled himself, if he didn't have to worry about getting the Parks safely from the airport on top of million of other little things.

He and Jinyoung left Lou at the hotel swimming pool with his family for a few hours as they left to pick up Jinyoung's family. As much as his parents hated airplanes and flying, they were willing to make an exception for their kid's wedding, but Jinyoung wasn't anticipating them being in the best of spirits after having to spend seventeen hours or so on the plane.

Sure enough, they arrived to the terminal looking incredibly exhausted. Mark had anticipated this, and had arranged the pseudo-rehearsal dinner for the night after they arrived instead of the day of. They were both eager to get to the hotel and rest, promising to “freshen up properly” before meeting Mark's family formally. According to Jinyoung, joining together families was a solemn proceeding in Korea, and it was important for them to be at their best.

After they got Jinyoung's family settled into their hotel room, they went back to the pool to retrieve Lou. “Are halmoni and halaboji here?” he asked as Mark helped him dry off with a towel.

“They're here, but they're tired from the plane ride, just like you were when we went to Korea. They'll need to rest for a bit, but you'll see them soon.”

“I want to tell them,” Lou said firmly. “That I'm going to be a big brother. I didn't tell them last time.”

“Your baby sister's a little late, though,” Mark said. It was already four days past Allison's original due date. “But maybe if she's born in a few days, your new grandparents will get to meet her.”

“She's just getting ready,” Lou insisted. “She wants to be the best baby ever.” Now that it was in the final days of the pregnancy, Lou had resigned himself to getting a baby sister instead of a brother, though he still brought up the issue of Mark and Jinyoung giving him a baby brother to make up for it. Mark's own brother had been decidedly unhelpful by telling Lou that the two of them could have a baby if they drank Mountain Dew and Fanta mixed together, so Lou had been chasing them around with his “magic potion” ever since the Tuan family had arrived from LA.

“Have Allison and Jackson decided on names yet?” Mark's mother asked.

Mark shook his head. “Last time I asked, they told me it would be a surprise.”

“Keeping things interesting, then.” Glancing to make sure Jinyoung was occupied chatting with Mark's sisters, she leaned into Mark. “I wasn't sure how well dressed the Parks would be tomorrow, so I brought five different outfits to wear for dinner. You'll tell me which one is acceptable, yes?”

“Mom, just because I'm marrying a guy doesn't mean I've suddenly started caring about fashion.”

“But you'll tell me which one won't embarrass me in front of the Parks, right?”

Mark sighed. “You won't embarrass yourself, okay? But if it makes you feel better, I'll help.”

The next day, Mark and Jinyoung started off by splitting up and spending time with their families individually. They hadn't bothered with a bachelor party, so Mark's family decided to take him to a bar and give him the updated version of “the wedding talk” they'd given him when he'd married Allison. His mother advised him on the harmonious division of household chores, his father just told him that Jinyoung would always be right no matter what and to never argue about it, and his siblings offered him suggestions so obviously laced with innuendo that he was amazed his parents didn't pick up on it. It was a fun afternoon, one that took his mind off the slight anxiety he was feeling for that night.

In the evening, they all rejoined together, dressed in their best clothes for dinner. Both Mark and Jinyoung had thought their parents would like each other, but they'd been a bit apprehensive about the language barrier issue. It hadn't wound up being a problem, in the end. The second they saw each other, Mark's parents and Jinyoung's parents went off in a jumble of basic English with a mixed smattering of Korean and Chinese, but they somehow seemed to understand each other. While they were waiting for their order to arrive, Mark was pretty sure he heard them discussing everything from raising children to how they would have managed the wedding. In between that was, naturally, heaps of praises for how well the other family had managed their son and how happy they were to have such a kind family as in-laws. Lou was also liberally praised, though he was more interested to solving the maze on the childrens' placemat to notice.

“Well, this outcome was pretty predictable,” Jinyoung whispered to Mark. “I knew they would love each other. But it's still nice to see.”

“It sounds like your family is inviting mine to Korea next time we come,” Mark said. “You know what that means?”

“Our next visit is going to be busier and crazier than last time?”

“Nope. There will be so many guests that we'll have to get a hotel next time, which means no more sleeping in the living room and not being able to have any fun.”

Jinyoung grinned. “I like the way you think.”

“Were you always this erted?” Mark's sister asked, rolling her eyes. “I don't remember all the excessive PDA when you were engaged the first time.”

“Were you always this nosy?” Mark shot back. “Oh wait, that would be a yes.”

“You're the one literally hitting on each other when your parents are across the table.”

“What's 'hitting on'?” Lou wondered. “Like punching? Are Daddy and Daddy Jinny fighting?”

Mark was saved from answering by the waiter bringing their food to the table. It was only a brief reprieve, though. Both Mark's parents and Jinyoung's parents shifted their focus to their sons and began to try and out do each other with embarrassing childhood stories about them. Jinyoung had the advantage since his parents didn't have the proper range of English to tell their stories completely, and Jinyoung declined to translate for them. “It's not that interesting of a story,” he'd say whenever Mark prodded him. He seemed to find the Tuans' stories about Mark simply fascinating, on the other hand. He almost spit out his drink when they mentioned an incident about Mark climbing up the library bookshelves when he was little and giving the librarians a mini heart attack.

They were about half-way through dinner when Mark's phone went off.

He glanced down. It was Jackson. He swiped to answer and was immediately greeted by a hysterical sounding voice.

“HerwaterbrokeandI'minthehospitalandfreakingman, howdoyoudothis?”

“Uh...excuse me? Jackson? Is everything okay?”

“ALLISON. Her water broke and we're at the hospital and she's having contractions like crazy and I think she's going to kill me and I really don't know what I'm doing, and I think maybe you should give me tips here because she's really going to kill me and maybe Lou should be here, I don't know, but I think maybe the baby's coming a lot faster than we thought it would based on her contractions and I think he should be here...his sister's coming.”

Mark leapt out of his seat. “OK. We'll be there. Talk to you in a-”

“WAIT, NO DON'T HANG UP! You've done this before, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do when she yells at me for causing her so much pain with this whole pregnancy thing.”

“Apologize. Tell her to breathe. Then apologize again, because it kind of isn't fair that only she's going through it when it's your baby, too.”

“Does that calm her down?”

“Not really, but she'll remember it in a few days and thank you. Just stay strong for her, and it'll be fine. We'll bring Lou.”

“OK. I'll call if something changes. Just get here quickly, this baby is seriously making up for being late.”

“We'll be there. See you there. And congrats.”

“The baby's coming?” Mark's mother asked when he dropped the call.

“And quickly.” Mark turned to Lou. “Your sister's coming. Want to go meet her?”

“YEAH!” Lou looked down in conflict at his remaining french fries and chicken fingers. “But, um...”

“Don't worry, we'll get a to-go box for you,” Mark's father said. “We can't overcrowd a hospital. We'll stay here and finish dinner. You text us with news, okay?”

“I'll come with you,” Jinyoung said. He translated what was happening to his parents, who nodded and waved him off. It had taken them some time to get used to the idea of how close Mark and Jinyoung were to the ex-wife and new husband, but they seemed to be taking it in stride now.

Mark, Jinyoung, and Lou hurried out to the car and started the drive to the hospital. Lou was full of energy and questions. What would his baby sister look like? Would she have hair? Would he have to change her diapers? How long would it take her to talk? Mark tried to answer as best as he could, but he was a little distracted. It reminded him of when Lou had been born seven years ago, how it had felt to hold him in his arms the first time, to know he was responsible for that tiny little body his arms, those little toes, those small, puckered lips. It felt like a long time ago—so much had happened between now and then, and Lou had grown and grown until there was little resemblance to the little and wrinkled baby who had once slept in the safety of Mark's arms. But his son and the memory of that moment were still among the greatest blessings in his life. He was glad Allison would have the chance to experience it a second time, and Jackson for the first.

He wished a little he could give it to Jinyoung, too. Their circumstances were different, of course, but he didn't think he would mind feeling that blissful sensation again.

They made it to the hospital in good time and navigated their way to the maternity ward. The head nurse didn't have any recent updates on Allison, but confirmed what Jackson had said—the delivery wasn't going to be a drawn out, hours long ordeal. The baby would be born by tonight.

Mark checked his phone for any missed updates from Jackson, but there was nothing yet. Lou was bouncing around and asking about his sister nonstop, so Mark had Jinyoung take him up to the cafe at the front of the hospital and buy him a cookie to distract him. He just hoped everything was going well.

After a few minutes, both the Wangs and Allison's parents also showed up to join them in the waiting room. “Any new news?” Mrs. Wang asked urgently. Mark could only shake his head. Not yet. The added stress of both grandparents-to-be overwhelmed him, but Lou coming back with Jinyoung and his giant cookie diffused some of the tension. His grandparents quickly shifted to fussing over him and asking how excited he was to meet his very first sibling.

A half an hour later, Jackson finally emerged into the waiting room, tears streaming down his cheeks, which only seemed to fall faster when he saw the many people waiting for him “I'm a papa,” he said, throwing his arms around his parents. “I'm a papa to a beautiful baby girl. I'm so...I'm just so damn happy, I don't even know what to say.”

Mark and Jinyoung both sighed in relief, and Lou started crowing “I'm a brother! A big brother!” Everyone else in the waiting room celebrated with them, showering Jackson with congratulations and high-fiving a deliriously excited Lou.

“Can we see her? Our daughter...our granddaughter?” Allison's mother asked. “Is Allison ready for visitors?”

“In groups,” Jackson said. “Would you two and Lou like to come in first?”

They nodded, and the Wangs graciously agreed. Jackson hadn't gone through as much of a physical ordeal as Allison, so it was fair for her family to check on her first.

“It's strange,” Jinyoung murmured to Mark as they waited. “I have no idea how this feels, something like this happening. But you do.”

“It's hard to describe,” Mark said. “Your world kind of reshapes itself. You belong to someone you didn't belong to before.”

“A little bit like falling in love, then?”

“A bit. A little more instantaneously and straightforwardly, but yes.”

“Not everyone falls in love as slowly and complexly as you do, you know.”

“I know. But this—it just happens at a different pace. At the snap of a finger. You'll-” He stopped. He was going to say “You'll understand when it happens to you,” but he couldn't exactly promise that it would.

After awhile, the Wangs were invited back to meet their granddaughter, and at long lost, so were Mark and Jinyoung. Allison was resting on the bed, her face sweaty and her hair disheveled, but still managing to look radiant. Lou was resting beside her, giving the tiny bundle in Allison's arms little taps on the nose.

The baby was like how Mark remembered Lou looking as a newborn. Small, pink, and wrinkled, strange and alien looking but still heartachingly beautiful. Her little eyes were closed, and her lips were puckered, just as Lou's had been. She was sweet and fragile and perfect.

“Congrats, Allison,” Mark said, his heart melting at the sight of her daughter. “She's beautiful.”

“She is,” Jinyoung echoed. “Congratulations.”

Allison nodded tiredly, gesturing them forward with a smile. “Come closer. Say hello to Regina Wang.”

“Regina,” Mark repeated. Lou and Regina. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“Sweetie,” Allison said softly to her baby. “These are your uncles. Uncle Mark and Uncle Jinyoung.”

Mark's eyes widened. Technically speaking, Regina wasn't related to him at all, only Lou. It wasn't a given that he or Jinyoung would be looked at as relatives to her, since they essentially weren't. But with her words, Allison had changed that. They were family in the whole and complete sense. They also belonged to Regina, and she belonged to them.

“I would be honored,” Mark said, gently brushing the fine brown hairs on Regina's head. “I would be honored to be your uncle.”

“Me too,” Jinyoung said in a choked up voice. “Thank you, Allison. Thank you so much.”

Allison simply smiled, as if what she had done was only natural. “This happened a little later than I had planned, but I'll try to get well in time to see you become an official part of the family, Jinyoung,” she said. “I can't promise to be in celebrity-where-the-f-did-their-baby-body-go shape, but I don't want to miss it for anything.”

“I wouldn't want you to miss it either,” Jinyoung said. “Thank you.”

“When they get married, if they drink Mountain Dew and Fanta, they can have a baby too,” Lou said sagely. “A baby brother.”

“Can they now?” Allison asked, laughing faintly. “Interesting. I'm more than happy for my family to get bigger, but just Regina and Jinyoung are enough for now. I won't ask for more just yet.”

Mark took Jinyoung's hand and gently squeezed it. Me either, he thought. This, right now, is enough. Everything I have right here in this moment is more than enough.