Photo Credit: Alex Block via Unsplash

London, England

A sportscar zoomed past Jared as he sat in a canvas chair on the sidewalk. People dove out of the way in a choreographed fashion before the car crashed head-on into the front of a shop. A loud crash reverberated off of the tall buildings on either side of the road and smoke began to rise from the crashed car.

"And CUT!" Adrienne called through a bullhorn. "Check the gate, thanks everyone!"

He saw her step down from behind a small platform lined with monitors and thick snakes of cables running off of it. She adjusted her sunglasses on her nose and pulled her jacket tighter around her slim body. When she spotted him, she smiled and walked over. After being stopped several times by different people, she finally stood in front of him.

"That looked expensive," he remarked with a grin. "Should I be worried about the budget?"

She looked over her shoulder at the smoking car in the distance. "Fortunately, we only had to do it once." She embraced him. "How are you? How's the tour?" she asked.

"Its fine. We're on a break until the beginning of December. Then we are done until June of next year, hopefully. We're still finalizing dates for next year, but its looking good," he replied, hugging her back.

"Ohh lucky you. You get a break," she said, walking toward a trailer parked up the road next to several others. "Does this mean you'll be on set more?"

"Not sure yet. I have a few things to take care of before I can just relax unfortunately," he replied. "Did you get Vishan's text?" he asked.

"About dinner tonight? Yeah, but I won't be able to make it," Adrienne said. "I've got to sift through dailies. But I'll definitely be done by nine or so."

"Hotel room then?" he asked, lowering his voice as several people passed behind him.

"Of course," she said with a wink as she opened her trailer door.

"See you then," he said, pushing off of the metal steps and walking toward the boundary of the set.

Jared nodded to the security guard at the barricade as he passed through, pulling his hat down low over his face and leaning into the brisk October wind. London in the fall was simultaneously beautiful and jarring. Leaves were stripped from trees with each gust of wind and people pulled their coats and scarves tighter around themselves as they bustled from place to place. He turned a corner and headed for his hotel, hoping to get out of the cold.

***

Six hours later, after grabbing dinner with Vishan at Murano in Mayfair (and getting papped as they got into a cab), Jared and Vishan were sitting in his hotel suite having a drink and waiting for Adrienne to come back from set. He was halfway through a story about an unfortunate experience in Portugal when the door lock turned and Adrienne came into the room.

"Hey, sorry I'm late," she said, dropping a large pile of paperwork on the desk and her overloaded messenger bag on an armchair. "We had a small crisis in Wardrobe and I had to avert a major disaster in scheduling. How was dinner?"

"It was good," Vishan stood to give her a kiss hello.

Jared followed. "I hope you aren't too tired," he said suggestively, wrapping his arms around her. "I've missed you."

Adrienne exchanged a look with Vishan over Jared's shoulder.

"We actually had something we wanted to talk to you about," Vishan said, refilling his wine glass.

"Can it wait until later?" Jared asked, nuzzling Adrienne's neck and making her hum slightly.

"No, I don't think it can," Vishan said, placing a hand on the other man's shoulders. "Its kind of something we want to make sure you've got a clear head for."

Jared pulled back and looked at the two of them. "Oh Jesus, what now? I feel like every time you want to talk to me about something its always so fucking serious." Still, he sat on the sofa and looked up at the two of them, like a child waiting to be told off by his parents. "What's up?"

Vishan took a deep breath. "When we were in Milan, Adrienne told me something that really changed things for us. She said she wanted a baby."

Vishan's words hit Jared like a brick wall. He had never figured Vishan or Adrienne to be people who wanted kids. When he first met them, they seemed completely career focused. And Adrienne's career was just taking off, so it didn't make sense to actively try for a baby.

"But I thought you were sterile?" he asked, remembering their conversation at the beach house in Malibu on Vishan's birthday, years ago.

"I am," Vishan said, sitting opposite him. "That's why we'd like to ask you to be a sperm donor for us."

Jared blinked and looked at Adrienne. "What?"

"We want you to be our sperm donor," she said slowly.

"Like, I'd jizz into a cup and then you'd do the whole turkey baster thing?" he asked. "Or IVF with the test tubes and shit?"

Vishan almost spat out his wine as he fought to contain a guffaw.

"That's an option, sure," she replied. "We don't want our baby to be conceived in a cold, sterile lab. We want it to be done out of love. And since we're in a relationship with you, it was most logical to ask you."

Jared sat back and fell into silence as Adrienne continued.

"Nothing would change between the three of us if we started trying. It would just be like all three of us were together," she explained. "I'd make sure it was a good time to try and we'd do it."

"There's a big problem here: I'm white, you're white. He's not. Your kid would be white," Jared said, pointing at Vishan. "How do you explain that one away?"

"Isn't your friend Sian half Indian?" Vishan asked. "She's blonde with blue eyes, if I recall. Its rare, but it does happen. You both have dark hair. You both have the same colored eyes. No one would ever know."

Jared shifted in his seat again and scoffed. "You know, I get that you two want this perfect family and you're career driven and things have to stay secret, but for once I'd just like to feel like I'm not getting fucked over by you."

Adrienne scowled in confusion. "Wh - what?"

Jared stood up and sighed. "First it was using me to up your sex life. Then it was using me to start your production company and finance your films. Then it was using me to fix your relationship. Now its using me to have a fucking kid," he snapped. "When do I get what I want from this relationship? Huh? When do things just go back to normal so we can actually be together and enjoy each other?"

"That's not fair," she whispered, her voice wavering. "You offered to help me. You don't get to use that against me."

He sighed. "You're right. That's not fair. I'm sorry," he ran his hands over his face. "But having a kid...it will change everything. Vishan, you're gone 70% of the time. Is Adrienne just going to raise the kid on her own? What, she's gonna cart the kid along with her on movie sets?"

"I'm bringing someone in to manage the New York office. I'm staying in L.A.," Vishan offered. "We already talked it through. One of us would always be home, or, the baby would travel with us. We'd hire a nanny, of course. But just because we hire a nanny, it doesn't mean we aren't taking care of our own child, Jay. Loads of parents have outside help with their kids."

"But what about us," he insisted. "You'll be a happy little family and I'll be off on my own. Again."

His words hung in the air for several seconds before Adrienne spoke.

"You'd be part of the family though," she started. "You're already in a relationship with us. It doesn't matter to us who the father is, Jared. You're just our first choice because we both love you. And the baby would be around you a lot anyway. It just seemed easier and it made sense at the time. But if you don't want it then I understand. We'll find someone else."

"That doesn't make me feel any better, Adrienne," Jared droned.

Vishan walked around the armchair and stood in front of Jared. "Jay, we want you to do this. We don't want anyone else. We want you because we love you. Because if someone else is going to be inside my wife, I want it to be the only other person I love. It'll be complicated and messy, but so are normal relationships. We would figure this out, just like everyone else figures it out."

"You can be as involved as you want to be," Adrienne added.

"You still don't get it," Jared said. "I'd have no legal claim to the kid. You could just leave me. All over again."

"We aren't going anywhere," Adrienne said softly. "I suggested this to Vishan. I suggested you because I thought you'd want to be a part of it. Vishan and I are married. But you'd be there in an even more permanent way. You'd be the biological father of our baby. There's no way we could get rid of you even if we wanted to. Don't you get that? This is more permanent than marriage."

Breath caught in his throat as he looked at her. The idea of them being bound together by a living, breathing, independent thing that shared their DNA was more terrifying and amazing than anything he'd ever thought of in his life. A kid changed everything. But how could he not want to give Adrienne exactly what she wanted? How could he deny her something she deserved to have, something he knew she'd be perfect at?

"Can I - can I think about it for a while? Like is there a timeline or anything?" he asked, avoiding their gazes.

"No," Adrienne shook her head. "You can take as long as you want. Matter of fact, please do. I don't want you to agree if you aren't 100% sure. Its a big decision and I don't want you to rush into it."

He nodded. "I know."