Brad went upstairs and stopped in front of Massey's room, pausing. He wanted badly to simply knock on the door and meet her, but every bone in his body told him not to, and that it was a bad idea. So instead, he made his way to Megan and Dylan's room that they shared, where he walked in on Dusty telling them a familiar story.

"The King messed up. He messed up bad." Dusty was saying, both kids captivated by his words. "He thought he could just ride off to slay dragons with his right hand girl, and his Queen would always be waiting for him. And then one day the King received word that his dominion was being ruled over by some curly-headed Step King with good credit?"

"Oh, no!" Dylan exclaimed in terror.

"Well, the King rode hard up on his lands, and when he arrived, he did gaze fondly upon the Queen, remembering their good times together, for he had known her in her prime, when she was down for anything, and I do mean anything." And that was when Brad interrupted.

"Psst... Sounds like your dad's spinning quite a yarn. Mind if I listen in?" But Dusty knew better than to keep that story going in front of Brad, and shook his head.

"Oh, actually, it's getting late. You two need to get some sack time." Both kids jumped up, unaware of the tension between their dads.

"No, we want more story, please!" They begged, but Dusty held up his hands in surrender.

"Hey, I'd love to be in here all night, but let's be respectful of Brad's rules, no matter how arbitrary they seem. All right?" Both kids looked a little down, but they were used to Brad's rules by now, and they lay down to go to sleep as Dusty kissed them each goodnight. "Good night, my little golden treasures." Brad stepped up next.

"Good night, my little magical cherubs." He told them, trying to one up Dusty already. "Here comes some butterfly kisses." Megan giggled at that as Brad moved to Dylan. "And some Eskimo kisses. Good night, buddy. Sleep tight."

"Sleep tight." Dylan murmured back sleepily, so Dusty stepped up again.

"Hey, who wants good-night tickles?" Both kids looked up, getting excited again.

"Me!" They both exclaimed, making Dusty chuckle as he tickled them for a few seconds, then tucked them both back in.

"Good night, my little breath of God. Good night, my little Jesus teardrop." He whispered as though they were the best things that had ever happened to him, which according to his track record, he had a few things ahead of them.

"I almost forgot, my famous good-night back scratches." Brad wasn't going down easily, and he gently scratched their backs, making them both sigh sleepily.

"Oh, so relaxing, so relaxing." they murmured, and Brad patted Megan gently.

"Good night, sweetie bear." But Dusty had one idea left.

"Hey, who wants twenty bucks?" Both kids jumped at once.

"I do! Me!" A loud thump was heard from the other room, and Dusty put his finger to his lips to quiet the younger kids, before pulling the money from his pocket and handing each of them a bill, Brad watching in disbelief.

"Twenty dollars? What?" Dusty nodded at him, smiling. "I don't know if that's appropriate." Dusty waved his hand dismissively.

"Ah, don't worry about it. It's what I used to do to get Massey to sleep." Then the two of them left, and Brad shut the door quietly, before turning to Dusty.

"Okay. Good night." He said awkwardly, clapping his hands together. "So, uh, if you want to, why don't you come by tomorrow after school? Might be a good time to..."

"What about the cold one?" Dusty interrupted, and Brad furrowed his eyebrows.

"The cold one?" Dusty nodded.

"You promised me a cold one and a handshake." Brad's eyes went wide. He had completely forgotten!

"Cold one!" He exclaimed, nodding. "One cold one, coming up." Dusty smiled, patting his shoulder.

"Great. I'll grab my jacket, we'll go outside."

"Perfect!" Brad told him.

"All right." And Dusty hurried off, Sara coming over to stop Brad from running off before she said her piece.

"Hey! Psst... What are you doing? What are you guys buddies now?" Brad shook his head quickly.

"No." Then he reconsidered. "I mean, I offered him a cold one. I really should honor the cold one promise." Sara sighed. She knew that this was just one downhill slide from here, but she was too tired to argue.

"Fine. You give him a cold one, and then you get rid of him, okay? You put up your Loving Fence, remember?" Brad nodded, planning on being a man of his word.

"Mmm-hmm."

"Then you come to bed." She told him, smiling now.  

"Okay. Will do." 

"Okay." She leaned up and gave a him a kiss and sent him on his way.

DVD

"What you got going on over here?" Dusty asked as Brad came out with a couple of beers, gesturing to a pile of wood and a few tools lying in the grass.

"Oh, uh, that's a treehouse." Brad told him, a little embarrassed by the  lack of progress. "A little, uh, bonding project for Dylan and I. Yeah, we've been at it for about two months." Dusty nodded his approval.

"It's looking good." Brad smiled, sitting down with Dusty, glad to see that Dusty approved.

"Thank you. So, Dusty, how long do you think you're going to be in town for?" Dusty shrugged.

"Well, Brad, the truth is, I'm wheels-up a week from tomorrow. Time to get out there and kick some ass for America." Brad nodded, mildly impressed with him.

"Oh, I see. So you're a soldier?" Dusty shook his head.

"Nope." Brad furrowed his eyebrows, his mind racing on guesses on what Dusty could've meant then.

"Oh, so you're a, uh..." He tried to trick Dusty into saying, but all he got from Dusty was a nod.

"Yep." Now Brad was a little nervous.

"Yep, what?" Dusty chuckled.

"You don't want to know any more than that, Brad." Brad cleared his throat, trying to move on with his thoughts.

"Okay. Um, listen, Dusty, I think that we should set up a visitation schedule. Right? That way, you feel like you have ample time with the children..." Dusty rolled his eyes.

"Why don't we cut the shit, Brad?" Brad's face fell, unsure what Dusty meant by that.

"No, we don't have to cut the shit."

"You want to know what I'm doing here, why don't you quit looking at whatever you wrote on your hand?" Brad hid the notes that he had written on his hand from his step parenting book  "Be a man and ask me, Brad." Brad decided to just go for it.

"Okay. What are you doing here?" 

"Now, we both know kids need a single primary male role model." Dusty explained. "Sara's made her choice. and so did Massey. I'm man enough to let that role model be you. I will vouch for you with my youngest children. As long as Massey stays with me, I will give them my sacred permission to trust you. To love you and to call you Dad." Brad furrowed his eyebrows.

"You'd do that for me?" Dusty shook his head.

"No. But I will do it for them. That is what you want, isn't it, Brad? More than anything in the world." Brad nodded, but he was still concerned.

"Well, yeah, but don't you think Massey should be settled? Should stay down somewhere and go to school?" Dusty shrugged.

"Massey and I have been doing great together. She does online classes, and she's too much a free roamer to be tied down to one town. She's old enough to decide where she wants to go and what she wants to do." Brad decided that was fair. He didn't even know Massey, so why should he be able to make decisions for her?

DVD

"He played you. You just got so played out there." Sara told Brad after he came in for bed.

"I know it looks that way, 'cause I promised I would ask him to leave, and then I invited him to stay for a week, but he didn't play me. You know what he did? He cut the shit." Brad tried to explain as he shaved his face, but Sara wasn't stupid.

"Oh, he did?" Brad nodded.

"And I gotta say, it was refreshing. I think more of us could stand to just cut the shit, you know." She nodded again, Brad not realizing it was sarcastic.

"Right."

"In one conversation, he just blew by eight chapters in my stepdad book. I mean, this is gonna be so good for me and the kids." Sara shook her head.

"Oh, baby, you have no idea who you're dancing with. Dusty gets into your head, that's what he does." 

"He has a very impressive, rugged bravado, there's no question." Brad told her as he brushed his teeth. "But I gotta say, I think in here, there's a soft, soft creamy center. You know? I think he feels a lot. He just... He needs someone with this," he pointed at his head. "a big ear. And I got them."