Chapter Text
I returned home to massive amounts of hugs. It seemed all of my partners were in the apartment we shared.
“Did you miss me?”
“Of course we did, Kitten.” My eyes widen and I look over to Mike to see Mal smirking.
“Happened while watching you compete, apparently the stress of not being able to protect you caused the others to return.” Dave brought up as I went over to Mal.
“I’m sorry.” He just pulls me close.
“It’s okay, we’re all co-operative. Mike will be in control most of the time and when he needs us, we’re here, for both of you.” I smile and kiss his cheek.
“Good to know, Edgy.” He chuckles before gasping, allowing Mike back in the front seat.
“I’m glad you still accept me like this.”
“But of course. I fell in love with the multiple mike, and still love the Mike that you are.” His smile was bright and hopeful.
“So, new members?” I turned and nodded as Noah was standing with the siamese twins.
“Mikey and Jay are a part of the harem.” The two blush at that and the others accept them into the group. Noah and Dave go over the list of allergies and things to look out for while I was filled in on what I missed by the others, beyond the fact that Mike now has the personalities back.
Duncan’s auto shop is going great as it’s jointed with Gwen’s tattoo shop which he helps in. Scott owns the family farm and gave Dawn a puppy from his dog’s litter to fix their relationship. Alejandro works with Heather as business partners in a fashion/model company. Dave has been working hard on getting his degree in management wanting to work with Noah as my Manager while Noah takes over as my Agent. I love them all so much, and I fear what’s going to happen next.
“What are we doing outside of McLean Manor?” I don’t respond as I asked all of my partners to meet me here.
“Are we planning on pranking him?” Scott asks.
“Or trashing the place.” Duncan offers
“I’m down for that.”
“No, Mal.” He huffs.
“Kaylub?” I sigh and look to see Mikey next to me as Jay’s on my other side.
“Everything okay?”
“It all depends.” I walk up to the sensor.
“Voice recognition?”
“Kaylub.”
“Welcome home,” the gates open and I hold my breath.
“I’m sorry, did it just say welcome home?” I take another deep breath.
“Let’s go inside, the gate only remains open for a minute.” I start walking up to the door and hear the 8 pairs of footsteps behind me. The door’s opened by Chef.
“He’s in the lounge. Take your shoes off as you enter.” I nod to him and slip off my shoes as I enter, placing them on the rack by the door. I waited for the others to enter as Chef had already slipped away to go grab the snacks.
It’s quiet as we travel further into the manor. I hadn’t been here since All-Stars, moving into the apartment with my boyfriends after All-Stars ended. I look and see the baby, and childhood photos of me everywhere and when we enter the lounge, dad’s waiting there for us sipping what I assume is hot chocolate. He notices us and places the cup down. He stands and smiles.
“Ah, welcome, contestants.” He has his host persona up.
“Don’t start with that.” His persona drops and his true self is seen. Empty black eyes and a cold expression void of life and emotion.
“Fine then, let’s get down to business.” His eyes only regain life when he looks at me and the softest smile is present. The dad I’ve known all my life is shown in that one simple gaze. “Kaylub.” I take another breath before I go over to him and then turn to stand beside him. I look at my boyfriends, all are confused, minus Noah. His expression is one of acceptance and knowledge and that alone makes my heart slow and allow the words to escape my throat.
“Chris is my dad. My full name is Kaylub McLean.” And I wait. It takes a second before many of them explode with questions.
“Of course he is.”
“You knew?” Duncan turns to Noah as do some of the others.
“I worked as his assistant, you really think I didn’t pick up on the calls, or the secret visits, or the random decisions to leave the country the same time that Starlight was out of the country. I’m not an idiot. Obviously it was important for them to hide it and with the multitude of seasons that Kaylub kept getting dragged back to do, he never had the time to tell us. Correct, Star?” Tears were in my eyes as I nodded.
“I wanted to tell you, but I was scared.” A soft hand on my shoulder has me looking up at dad who smiles.
“Any questions?” He looks at the others as I wipe my eyes.
“We went through hell and nearly died on that show so many times, and your son was there the entire time and you did nothing?” Duncan was pissed.
“I did everything I could to ensure that each challenge wasn’t deadly because I knew my son was competing. There were always safety precautions in place.”
“We nearly drowned in season 2.”
“The lever to stop the water broke. I couldn’t control that. You don’t think I was terrified when that happened?”
“We were on an island filled with toxic waste that Kaylub could have fallen into at any time.”
“You sent him into a mine filled with radioactivity. And he fell into a coma.” Scott and Mike went at him.
“I know what my son is capable of handling, and when something came up that he couldn’t handle I tried to appeal it or even lessen the damage of. I didn’t think the mine would cause that. Dakota was in there way longer than any of you and she was mostly fine.”
“Guys-”
“You sent us falling from a plane multiple times without a parachute.” Alejandro was adding in to it.
“Each time there was something there to catch him, I wouldn’t let him free fall out of a plane onto nothing.”
“The island nearly exploded, you food poisoned us!” Dave too.
“He had an override code, and he had a milkshake instead which gave him a stomachache.”
“Wait… how many times were you two cheating?”
“Never, to be honest. While, yes, he had a few advantages, he never was at a full advantage.”
“He was kidnapped!” Mal had appeared and all went quiet. I grip onto dad’s arm and notice him going cold again.
“That was not planned, Ezekiel’s target was me. Kaylub getting in the way wasn’t planned.”
“Guys,” they look at me. “Please don’t be mad at him. Everything that went down was by chance and accident. I chose to compete when I could have just not competed and been eliminated. I wanted the experience, and if it wasn’t for what my dad did. I would have never met any of you. Or see you again.” I look directly at Mal. “I’m sorry I hid this for so long and I understand if you want to-”
“I’m going to stop you there.” I look up at Noah. “Star, I love you despite having this crazy, egotistical, self-centered, narcissistic, fame-hungry-”
“Are you done?”
“Jerk of a father. Even if he’s a part of our lives for the rest of our days. I still want to be with you.”
“Noah’s right. Yeah, it’s a shock to know that the jerk who made our lives miserable on tv is your dad. It doesn’t change the fact that I love you.” Each of the others agree.
“I mean we knew of the guy, but knowing he’s your dad, doesn’t change a thing for us.”
“Yeah, we met you and only you so our love is only for you… does that make sense.” I giggle and nod at the siamese with tears in my eyes.
“Thank you.”
“That should be the other way around. Thank you for loving us.” Mike was back and I smiled.
“Let’s have a seat now that those agressions are out of the way.” I sit with dad as everyone picks their favorite seats and we start talking about the future. The fact that now that they know who I am, the manor is now home. The needing to meet the rest of my family… including my grandfather. And many more things, but I zoned out smiling happy to have my heart feel whole. My father accepts who I love and the ones I love accept my dad. It’s a happy ending to a hectic story.