Start the song. It's Noisy Sunday by Patrick Watson. Friendly reminder that this is a sequel to Sacrificial Lamb, so be sure to read that first.

Crying. No alarm clock. Just loud, insatiable crying. For the last five months, Tyler had woken up to that almost daily. Even now he groaned as he pulled a pillow over his head and Ashley whined beside him.

Although his parents didn't like it very much, he'd been sleeping here most nights. On the ones he didn't, Ashley usually came home with him. They couldn't sleep properly without each other anyways.

"It's your turn," Ashley mumbled.

"I was up twenty minutes ago," Tyler mumbled back. "Remember? He had shit all the way up his back."

"I went through childbirth. I think you can handle waking up in the middle of the night a couple times, Tyler." There was no bite to her words. She just sounded exhausted.

Tyler sighed before kissing her quickly and sitting up lazily. "I got it."

Her eyes remained shut as she pulled the blankets to cover herself more, leaving his side of the bed bare. He walked over to the crib in the corner of the room. Their son was loud, but he was tiny. Tyler couldn't believe something as tiny as this little boy could have functioning organs and bones and a unique brain. He was itty bitty.

"Hey, buddy," Tyler yawned out as he picked the five month old out of the crib. He rocked him gently as he checked the diaper. It was empty. He looked up at Ashley. "Ashley?"

"Hmmmnng," she mumbled out.

"I think he's hungry."

Ashley groaned before sitting up, holding her hands out for the baby. "Give him to me."

Tyler handed Ashley the crying baby, laying back down as she pulled her shirt up. His eyes had just barely drifted shut when she smacked his arm. He whined, opening his eyes only to pout at her.

"Hell no. If I have to stay awake, so do you," she told him. "Sing us a song or something."

"Ashley-"

"Tyler Robert Joseph, if I have to let your child bite my nipples for the next half hour, you have to sing to me," she snapped.

Tyler smiled slightly at that. His child. Not just Ashley's child and not just Josh's. This was his son too. He sat up, yawning as he moved to sit behind Ashley, resting his head against her shoulder as he massaged her back.

"What do you want me to sing?" He asked quietly as he kneaded her stiff muscles with his thumbs.

Her head fell back against his shoulder. "I don't kn-Ow! Fuck. It's so hard not to smack his head when he bites me."

Tyler smiled, kissing her shoulder softly. "Will power, sweetheart. Same song as always then?"

"Same song as always," she confirmed tiredly.

Tyler hummed quietly, trying to find the tune. He was too tired to just pull it out of thin air. God, he hadn't slept in so long. Fortunately, he could sing this song easily even when running on two hours of sleep. Ashley liked it, so he sang it whenever she asked.

Keeping his voice quiet enough not to wake her parents (assuming the baby's crying hadn't done that already), Tyler sang You Are My Sunshine softly into her ear. When he'd finished, they sat in a comfortable silence. Finally, she pulled her shirt down, handing the baby back to Tyler.

"Remind me again why he can't just sleep with us?" She whispered, allowing Tyler to move out from behind her before lying back down.

"So we don't roll over him in the night and crush his tiny baby body," Tyler replied as he laid their son back inside of his crib.

Ashley sighed. "Well, if I can't cuddle him, you better get your ass back over here."

Their baby babbled sleepily as Tyler kissed his forehead. The child smiled, reaching up for Tyler. His heart swelled, prompting him to lift the baby out of the crib once again, kissing the top of his head. Ashley smiled drowsily as she watched them.

"He's sleeping with us again, isn't he?" She asked with a smile.

"I'm too tired to roll over anyways," he decided as he carried the babbling baby back over to the bed, laying down beside Ashley.

He let his son rest atop his chest, making the baby relax finally. At this age, he should be sleeping through the night already, but he only ever did when he was in bed with them. Maybe it was residual stress from their time spent inside of the community, but they slept better when he was close too. At least then they knew he was safe.

"He has his eyes," Ashley whispered for the millionth time.

Tyler nodded, looking down at those dark eyes he missed so badly. The tiny boy smiled at the attention his parents were giving him, reaching a small hand out to Ashley. She gave him hers, letting him hold her fingers. Sniffling quietly, she pressed a soft kiss to the back of the baby's hand.

"He has his nose too," Tyler whispered, feeling tears burn at his eyes.

They'd had this same conversation countless times-just pointing out proof that Josh had existed, left behind only in the traits he'd unknowingly passed down to his son.

"Yes, he does," Ashley agreed quietly. Her voice softened as she spoke to their baby. "You're just like your papa. You're a lucky boy. He was beautiful."

Tyler smiled sadly as he watched Ashley kiss their baby's soft hand once more. He pressed a kiss to her forehead when she laid back down. "I love you, Ashley."

She smiled. "I love you too. Brendon will kick your ass though if you try to get in my pants."

Tyler snickered, sliding an arm underneath her and pulling her against his side. "One, Brendon is weak. Two, I love you in a best friend way. Three, I've already been in your pants and it was too weird for either of us to accomplish anything."

His wife laughed a bit too loudly, covering her mouth quickly. He grinned at her. "You're the worst," she told him.

"But you still love me," Tyler pointed out.

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Goodnight, Tyler."

"Goodnight, Ashley." He looked down at their son, who was nearly asleep now from both the milk and the comfort of his parents. "Goodnight, Joshua," he whispered to the baby softly before letting his eyelids drift shut.

Goodnight, Joshua, he repeated in his thoughts.
Maybe Josh could hear him wherever he had wound up after The Family's doomsday massacre. Even if he couldn't, Tyler thought it anyways. He had to believe that Josh was out there somewhere. He'd go insane if he even tried to consider a universe without his husband in it. Yeah, Josh had to have heard him somewhere. Tyler was counting on that.

"Ty?" Ashley whispered suddenly.

"Yeah?"

She sat up slightly and kissed him slowly before laying back down. "Happy Birthday, dumbass."

Tyler glanced over at the alarm clock on the table beside Ashley's bed. It was well past two in the morning. He smiled as he looked over at her. "Thanks."

"Your present was that incredibly shitty diaper twenty minutes ago," she mumbled.

He laughed, rubbing his sleeping son's back gently. "Thanks, JJ. That was very thoughtful of you."

"He worked hard on it," Ashley commented as she wrapped an arm around his waist and rested her head on his chest to kiss the baby's forehead. "I mean, I contributed the milk so...."

"What did I ever do to deserve someone as thoughtful as you?" Tyler asked her in mock amazement.

"Mathias was a better wingman than he'd intended," Ashley decided.

The mention of that name still made Tyler's heart rate increase, but he smiled anyways. He was getting better at handling this now after fourteen months away from that horrible place. He was seventeen as of now. There was no reason for him to fear something that had ended when he was fifteen. The Family was gone, but he was still here.

About a month after everything went down, his mother signed him up for counselling. His father had wanted it to be through the church, but Tyler didn't want religion mixed in with it at all. He just wanted someone to talk to, not another judging pair of eyes reminding him that he was slotted for eternal damnation after losing his virginity to Josh atop a Satanic altar.

Fortunately, his father was supportive of anything and everything he felt would help him most. He never questioned Tyler about sexuality or whether or not he still wanted to do those things. In fact, he hadn't even blinked an eye when Tyler had told them he was going to claim Ashley and Josh's baby as his own.

His father had simply replied, "Well, I guess in some ways the baby is already yours. Is there anything we can do to help?"

Both of his parents had allowed him time to figure out what the hell was going on inside his head. He'd spent months away from church, too guilty to go back.

Nearly every day, he visited the plaque put up over the mass grave in the cemetery devoted to those who'd been fooled by Mr. Dun. Josh's name was on it, right next to those of his siblings.

Coroners had only identified the bodies that mattered to the police: Josh's father, elders, those who looked like missing persons, and some of the young children. There were close to two hundred bodies though, so they were quick to put them in the ground. Tyler sat in front of that plaque daily, whispering to Josh as if he could hear him.

The only thing he'd done that was met with his parents' disapproval and concern was going back to the remains of the community. Some of the buildings had been burnt down or graffitied, but most were just abandoned. Things had been looted by teenagers and people who still thought it would be cool to become devil worshippers after all of this.

Tyler had taken two things, and he didn't feel guilty for either of them. Batibat now rested inside of JJ's crib-the only item they had to teach him about his other father. The other was the one that got him in serious trouble with his parents, but it was only because they didn't understand the significance.

Hidden inside of the top drawer of Tyler's dresser was the small black sculpture of Satan that had been in the temple on the night of their consummation. Its evil eyes still scared him, but not all of the memories attached to it were bad. Sometimes he swore he could smell Josh when it was out. If nothing else, he could remember Josh's gentle voice and soft touches when he looked at it.

"I miss him," Tyler whispered, looking over at Ashley as tears gathered in his eyes. "I shouldn't anymore and I know it, but I do."

She nodded sympathetically as she wiped a tear off of his cheek gently. "Hey, no tears on your birthday. Josh would hate that."

Tyler nodded, sniffling as he wiped the tears away. "Is it bad that I still love him?"

"I don't know. I wish I could just hate him. Sometimes I do, but then I look at this baby and...and I can't be mad. He did some terrible terrible things, but he did some incredible things too. We'd be dead without him, and he really did love us. I just don't think he'd ever been taught how to do that properly."

Tyler soothed his hand along their baby's soft head. His hair was already starting to curl, which could've either come from Josh or Ashley.

Even if she didn't want to remember the good parts of Josh, Ashley had been the one to name their baby Joshua Dun Jr. She'd gotten strange looks from the hospital staff when she told them who the father was, but she hadn't cared. That was who the father was, and JJ deserved to know that. He should be proud of his biological father. Neither of his other parents would be alive without him.

"Well, I still think he deserved to be loved,"
Tyler replied quietly.

"Without a doubt," Ashley replied. "Get some sleep, Birthday boy."

Tyler nodded, letting his eyelids lip shut. Even if his mind wouldn't shut off, he was too exhausted to stay awake. Sleep overtook him quickly, leaving behind dreams of dark eyes and fences.