Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Jesus fucking Christ can these baby sensates come already?” Nomi swore through clenched teeth as she writhed in bed.  

Wolfgang sat next to her, letting Nomi squeeze his hand as the headache he knew she was experiencing came in waves.  On Nomi’s other side, Amanita held a cool wash cloth to her forehead.  Kala, Will, and Sun were also visiting, offering moral support.  Everyone was excited to learn about the new addition to their already very large sensate family. Riley, Lito, and Capheus kept popping in when they could spare a moment to get updates.

“I’m so nervous. I’m going to be so awkward to them,” Nomi panted.

“Babe! They’ll love you, how could they not? Besides, worry about that later. You’ll only glimpse them for a second today,” Amanita cooed to her wife.

“My cluster told me that it was a bizarre, but calming experience when they first saw me,” Kala added, “like Neets said, don’t worry about talking to them today, you won’t have time.”

Wolfgang thought back to four years ago when he was going through the same thing with his child cluster. He recalled the feeling that his brain was solid ice that kept cracking repeatedly. He swallowed a laugh as he remembers biting Will’s shoulder and blindly punching him in the face during his laboring.

“Dude, if you ever birth a new cluster, I am staying far away. Should lock you in a padded cell.” Will said catching Wolfgang’s thoughts.

“Men. Zero pain tolerance. Cluster birth is easy compared human birth.” Riley quickly chimed in.

Kala nodded in agreement.

"You know, we could feel it when you were in labor." Will said.

"That's not the same," Kala and Riley said in unison.

“At least I didn’t have the cops called on me during my cluster birth.” Wolfgang mumbled.

“You guys said you wouldn’t make fun of me about that!” Lito pouted.

“Will all of you just shut the fuck up?!” Nomi said through clenched teeth. 

“You’re so close, Noms. This will be over soon,” Will said calmly.

They only had to wait a few more minutes and then Nomi was sitting up, gasping with eyes wide as her psycellic energy was used as the catalyst for eight other psycelliums in the world.

Wolfgang knew that she would start glimpsing the eight new sensates for a few seconds each before wanting to sleep for hours.

“Oh my god, they really are baby sensates. He’s only 18.” Nomi gasped out.  “Javier in Nueva Esparta, Venezuela.”

Amanita was scribbling down the names as Nomi said them out.

“Siraj in Rajasthan, India.  Maggie in Nunavut, Canada.  Oh my god, it’s Rue. I see Rue!” Nomi yelled.

Wolfgang snapped his gaze toward his wife, both of their mouths hanging open.

“Holy shit! Go! Go! We got this” Will yelled pushing at Wolfgang and taking Nomi’s hand from him. 

Wolfgang and Kala both instantly broke their connection with their cluster.  They were laying in their bed in Barcelona with their softly snoring husband.   The two of them quickly sat up and scrambled out of bed. Wolfgang grabbed his joggers to slide on as Kala grabbed her robe.  The commotion woke up Rajan who sat up asking “What is it? What’s going on?”

Before they could answer him, they all heard a pair of feet running down the hallway. “Mom! Dad! Papa!” their daughter yelled. Their bedroom door bust open as their 18-year-old daughter came barreling in. “Auntie Nomi! I just saw her in my room! She was standing in my room and then disappeared! What is going on?”, she asked wide eyed.

Rajan, still half asleep, asked “Nomi? When did she get here?”

Kala reached their daughter first and wrapped her arms around her. “Oh, Ruhani!  My baby, you’re a sensate!”

“I’m a sensate? What? How can- But I’m only eighteen!” Rue spluttered.

“What is going on? Rue is a sensate?” Rajan asked.

“Nomi was birthing a new cluster tonight. We’ve been with her. She told us a couple names before saying that she saw Rue.” Wolfgang explained. He put a gentle hand to his daughter’s head realizing that they were now connected in a way they never had been before. 

“My daughter is a sensate! Ruhani, oh my, I’m so happy for you!” Rajan exclaimed.

“I have a cluster? Who are they? When will I meet them? What if we don’t like each other? Can I call Nomi? Wait, can I visit Nomi? Oh my god, Nomi is my cluster mom! That is so cool.” Rue said, getting increasingly louder with each question and comment.

Wolfgang smirked at his daughter’s excitement.  He grabbed a shirt and threw it on before saying “Come on, let’s go sit in the living room.”

“I’ll make us some tea, since I don’t think any of us will be going to sleep again soon.” Rajan stated.

Rue kept up with the excited questions while the four Rasals walked to the living room.  “I don’t understand, I’m only 18. I didn’t think birth could happen so early. I wonder if anyone else in my cluster already knows what sensates are?”

“I’ll have to ask the network if anyone knows of a cluster this young. You’re right that it’s usually mid-20’s that rebirth happens. It also might be difficult with them so young, since I’m assuming many are still with their parents, we’ll have to be careful getting packets to them.” Kala exclaimed.

Wolfgang and Rajan glanced at each other and smiled knowingly. They both frequently laugh about how the two women are so alike when they have to voice every thought.

Rue and Kala sat on the couch next to each other, Kala throwing a blanket over the two of them.

Wolfgang followed Rajan to the kitchen.  Rajan started busying himself with the electric kettle and cups.  Wolfgang leaned back against the island counter and crossed his arms.  He could feel the parental concern seeping into his thoughts. She was only eighteen. She’s heading to university in a few months which is already a big enough change.

“I can feel you worrying, love.” Rajan said quietly to him.

Wolfgang loudly exhaled and scrubbed his hands over his face.  “Of course, I’m worrying. There’s a lot of cons that come with being a sensate. There’s now a part of herself that she’s going to have to hide from people. Being 18 is weird enough without being reborn as a sensate.”

Rajan stood in front of him, placing his hands on Wolfgang’s hips. “Rue will be fine. She will have her good days and bad days just like every other person on this planet.  Only now she will have the most amazing support system from the sensate community.  You and your cluster have worked so hard over the last 20 years to make this world a better place for her. You have done that and she will prosper because of it.” Rajan leaned in, kissing his husband. 

Wolfgang smiled against his husband’s lips, “How are you always so optimistic?”

“We balance each other out well,” Rajan said and then turned to finish making tea. 

Wolfgang opened the cabinet over the refrigerator and grabbed a couple of ibuprofen.  He picked up his and Rue’s mugs then walked out to the living room. He heard Kala and Rue talking about when him and Kala first met.

“—glimpse of him during my pre-wedding party with your father,” Kala said laughing. Rue smiled at her mother.  “Then about a week later we sang together, while he was doing karaoke.”

“I was very drunk during that. I thought you were a hallucination.” Wolfgang said chuckling as him and Rajan entered the room. He handed Rue her tea and the pills. “For the headache that’s probably already starting,” he explained. He kissed his daughters head, then settled himself on the opposite couch with Rajan, tucking his bare feet under the other man.

Wolfgang looked to the side as Lito appeared behind him looking teary eyed.  “She’s all grown up! Your baby! Tell her congratulations and that we love her so much and are so happy for her.”

Kala relayed Lito’s message to Rue before he disconnected again.

“I hope my cluster likes each other. I hope we’re close like your cluster,” Rue fretted.

“You’ll love each other,” Wolfgang responded confidently.

Kala nodded in agreement, “they’ll be different from you, from all over the world, but you’ll gain this deep understanding with each other that will bond you to each other in unexplainable ways.”

“When will I be able to meet them?” Rue asked.

Kala pushed a strand of Rue’s hair out of her face. “It’ll be a week or so. Your psycellium takes some time to wake up. You’ll first start picking up on their senses, like smells and sounds.  I remember one of the first things that happened to me was that I heard rain and thunder when it was a sunny, cloudless sky outside. Sun told me that a chicken appeared on her desk out of nowhere for her. Those feelings will get stronger and stronger until all of a sudden you find yourself in a completely different location.”

“It takes some getting used to, but you’ll catch on.” Wolfgang said. “Soon enough your cluster will just feel like an extension of yourself.”

“Papa,” Rue started, addressing Rajan, “I know I’ve asked about this before, but do you really not feel left out with Mom and Dad being in a cluster together”

Rajan smiled and hummed. “I’ve had my moments and I’ve thought about it a lot over the years, but no I don’t feel left out.  I think I have my own special, strong connections with both your mother and your father.” He placed his hand on Wolfgang’s knee affectionately. “I feel lucky that I know this other facet of the world and I feel beyond blessed that I am loved by two--well, now three--extraordinary sensates.”

“You’re so corny,” Rue laughed.

“Did you expect anything less out of your father,” Kala said smiling, looking lovingly at her two husbands.

“And when some drama is going down in the cluster, I am most definitely fine being human,” Rajan added.

The four of them continued talking for another hour, mostly Kala and Wolfgang reminiscing about the time shortly after they were born, before Kala pushed them all to go back to bed.  The three parents embraced their daughter outside her bedroom door, sleepily murmuring their love to her before she retreated. 

Rajan, Kala, and Wolfgang climbed into their shared bed together. Wolfgang curled up into Rajan’s side with a leg in-between the other man’s legs like they both liked. Kala lay to his other side, not liking being touched while she slept. “Do I have to have a sex talk with her?” Kala posed to her two men.

Wolfgang’s closed eyes flew open. “That is not something I want to think about right now.”

“She’s only 18! She’s going to be connected to seven other hormonal 18-year-olds. I just want to warn her and don’t want her to get hurt. We were 26 and had some years of adulthood under our belt and sensate sex was still shocking to say the least. It’s a part of being a sensate that we’ve never discussed with her before,” Kala said.

“I think talking to her is probably a good idea,” Rajan responded.

"At least she already knows she's queer, so she doesn't have the bisexual panic on top of everything else." Wolfgang mumbled against his husband's chest.

"I thought you already knew that before you were reborn?" Rajan asked

"Oh yeah, I did. Will on the other hand was totally freaked out. Didn't stop him from licking my ear and rubbing his dick on me the first time we connected though." Wolfgang said half-asleep.

Rajan and Kala both exhaled quiet laughs. Rajan lightly ran his fingers along Wolfgang's back lulling the man to sleep. Kala leaned over to kiss them both and then curled up in her blankets to sleep.

Chapter Text

Wolfgang slid a t-shirt on as he walked out of the bedroom. The early morning sun shone into the living room from the sliding doors that led to their terrace.   He could see his spouses sitting out there chatting and drinking coffee.  Wolfgang slid open the glass door to join them. A cool breeze and the city sounds of Barcelona waking up on a Saturday morning greeted him.

“Good morning, love!”, Rajan said happily.  “You have to try this one,” he said as he pushed his latte toward Wolfgang.  Wolfgang smiled at his husband, loving how excited he got trying to make new fancy lattes. 

Wolfgang leaned down to kiss Kala, whispering “Morning” against her lips first and gaining him a smile from her. She inched her fingers up the back of his shirt and lightly scratched his lower back affectionately as Wolfgang took a sip of the offered latte.  “Oh, this one is good.” He took a second sip before asking, “what’s that flavor?”

“Cardamom!” Rajan responded.  “And a bit of honey.” 

Wolfgang hummed and kissed Rajan. The spiced latte flavor lingering on both of their lips. “I love it.”

“Are you working today?” Kala asked.

Wolfgang nodded. “Yeah, just this morning though. I have a client at 9:30, so I have to head out soon. “

“Can you go talk to Rue first? You usually have more success than we do. She seems too in her thoughts.” Kala said.

“Yeah, I’ll try.”  Wolfgang stole one more sip of Rajan’s latte and squeezed Kala’s hand before heading inside.

He found his daughter in the kitchen sitting at the island counter.  Rue had her head laying in her arms. A half-eaten bowl of cereal was pushed to the side.

“Hey, kid. You okay?” Wolfgang asked.

She half-grunted in response.

 He smirked at her sulkiness and busied himself with grabbing coffee and making scrambled eggs. It had been a little over a week since she was reborn and he knew her psycellium waking up was still throwing her off.

Rue slowly straightened up. “This morning I tripped over nothing in my room and then saw grass stains on my knees for a few seconds. I could smell the grass,” she said shaking her head.  “It’s so weird, Dad.”

Wolfgang hummed in agreement and ate his eggs. He knew she was sick of Kala reassuring her it will all get better.  “I’m heading to the gym soon, want to come with?”

Rue nodded and loudly exhaled, “Yeah, that sounds perfect right now.”

“Go grab your shit, I have a 9:30 so we have to head out in ten,” he told his daughter.  She slumped out of the kitchen toward her room.

After quickly washing up their dishes, Wolfgang head to his bedroom to grab his gear. Will appeared laying on the bed face down.  “Alright?” Wolfgang asked him.

“mmhmm” Will mumbled and turned his head to look at Wolfgang. “I’m jealous of your quiet house.”

Wolfgang visited Reykjavik for a quick second to hear the twins blasting music and yelling from their bedroom.  Will and Riley were both in bed attempting to cover their ears with the blankets and pillows. “What the hell, it’s not even 7am there?”

“We agreed that they could do a 24-hour stream. This has been going on all night.” Will complained.

Wolfgang grabbed his bag before walking to Will.  He lightly rubbed the back of his neck for a moment like he knows Will likes. As Wolfgang turned to leave, Will grabbed his hand making Wolfgang look back to him. Will had a mischievous glint in his eye. Wolfgang huffed a laugh and said “Later, Gorski” before heading out.

Rue and him sat next to each other on the Metro mostly in silence. Rue had her hood pulled over her head and Wolfgang thought she was playing the role of the angsty teen pretty well. 

“Mom gave me the sensate sex talk last night,” she finally scoffed.

Wolfgang’s lip quirked up in a small smile.  “Yeah, I know. How’d that go?”

“So fucking awkward. I’m already nervous enough about meeting my cluster and now all I can think about is this,” Rue complained.

“Jesus Christ, I suddenly don’t want my kids to be sensates,” Will said next to him. Wolfgang punched him in the leg and Will disappeared again.

Wolfgang had always opted to be blunt and honest with Rue. “Listen. I know you’re nervous. And yeah, there are cons to being a sensate. But trust me when I say that sex with your cluster is not one of them.”

Rue didn’t respond and sat there next to him in heavy silence.

“Rue, I know you want to question me. Just ask,” Wolfgang said, both curious and dreading to find out where her head was.

“Does – um – does Papa know?” Rue asked quietly.

“That’s what you’re worrying about? We’ve been married for almost 20 years. Yes, of course he knows.” Wolfgang responded. “We have no secrets with him. He knows that he’s married to two non-humans, so he knows that we don’t exactly play by human rules.”

“Doesn’t seem fair to him,” Rue mumbled.

“Trust me, he benefits from it too,” Wolfgang said smirking.

“Eww, Dad! Eww. Do not elaborate.” Rue threw her head back on the seat and exhaled.

“Just hit the bag in the gym and clear your mind, kid.” Wolfgang said.

They didn’t say much more during the rest of their commute.

They reached their destination. Wolfgang unlocked and pushed up the graffiti-covered metal roller door that revealed his kickboxing gym.  The space took up two store fronts. On the large front window was a logo of a wolf with WOLFGANG KICKBOXING underneath.  The corner of the window had a collection of small stickers and flyers including a rainbow flag, trans pride sticker, and a sticker with a holographic 8 in a circle that signaled to anyone in the know that this was a sensate-owned business. 

He opened the door and turned on the lights letting himself and Rue into the gym. The standard musky gym smell of stale sweat and disinfectant reached him. Rue walked over to her usual punching bag in the corner next to the window.

Wolfgang busied himself with getting the gear ready for his client, Adrián, who was coming in any moment.  He had a few other employees that handled the group classes and maintained the gym.  Wolfgang mostly just ran the business and took on individual advanced clients now.

Adrián arrived shortly after and greeted Wolfgang. 

“I always want to fight this guy. He’s too smug.” Sun commented.

“I always want to do other things to this guy.” Lito said biting his knuckle.

The two kept watching as Wolfgang led Adrián through warm-ups.  Wolfgang kept half an eye on Rue as she progressed through her routine in the corner. 

“Rue is looking good. Disciplined,” Sun said.

“I still can’t believe our little Ruhani Banani is a sensate. I get all teary thinking of her grown up,” Lito said.

Shortly after Wolfgang starting sparing with Adrián, Rue let out a sharp yell.  He stopped for a moment and looked over to her.  “Rue, you good?”

She stood there with wide eyes and glanced briefly to Adrián then off to her right. “Yeah, yeah sorry. It’s nothing.” She then quickly tapped a finger to her temple mimicking his and Kala’s signal to their family that someone was visiting when they couldn’t say it out loud near unknowing humans. Wolfgang raised his eyebrows and nodded knowingly to her. He then upped the intensity with Adrián so he would be too busy getting the shit beat out of him to notice Rue actions.

“Someone’s visiting her!” Lito exclaimed.

“Now I’m the one getting all teary-eyed,” Sun mumbled watching Rue try to covertly talk to someone they couldn’t see.

“oooh I love it when you get all emotional, Sunny.” Lito said and hugged her to him.

“Never call me that again,” Sun said without any heat behind her words.

Rue’s mood was completely different on their commute home. She was back to being excited about having a cluster.  From what Wolfgang gained, she met Jiawei today who lives in Singapore with her mom, brother, and ‘the cutest dog ever’. 

“And Dad, she said that she’s on a football league! Isn’t that cool? I’ve always been bad at football but maybe now I can share her skills. And I told her that I could show her how to kickbox in return. Her bedroom is really cute and I can read Mandarin now!”

Wolfgang sat back in his seat on the Metro and enjoyed listening to his daughter tell him all about this newfound piece of herself. 

Chapter Text

Wolfgang sat at the kitchen island with his laptop, working on scheduling for the gym. He had a half-full bottle of beer next to him. 

Nomi appeared in the stool next to him. “Hey”, she said and then she grabbed Wolfgang's drink and took a sip. 

"What's up?" he asked her.

"The new cluster is really cool." she responded. "I mean, obviously they are because it's Rue's cluster, but I've been visiting them all week to fill them in on sensate shit and they're so cool. I'm excited for Rue."  

"Tell me about them." Wolfgang asked. "I don't think Rue's been able to connect to everyone yet." 

"There's Javier. Like his parents, he's an artist. He makes these amazing pieces out of found items.  Timur loves animals. He works at a shelter after school and you can tell that he just bonds with them. Maggie is hilarious, but has this super dry sense of humor, so it takes you a second to realize she’s joking." Nomi said, lighting up about all of them.  

Wolfgang smiled at hearing about Rue's new family. "Anyone need help or that we need to keep an eye on?" It wasn't uncommon for someone in a new cluster to be in trouble of some sort that the sensate community would step in to help out with. 

"Not immediately, but Alina is an activist, which I could see landing her in jail or worse in her country."

"Russia, right?"

Nomi nodded. "She reminds me a lot of you from when we first met, before Rajan turned you into a softie."

"I'm not a softie," Wolfgang said smiling.

"You know what I mean, you're not so guarded. You don't have a huge chip on your shoulder like you used to." Nomi said. "And there's Wyatt who kind of seems like a black sheep in their family. I get the feeling things are a little rocky at home. We might have to figure out a new housing situation for them in the future if they need it." 

Wolfgang nodded.  Nothing too crazy compared to some other situations they've helped out with. 

They heard Rue come home from school. She found them in the kitchen. "Hi Dad, Hey Nomi," she greeted. 

"Whoa, I am not used to you being able to see me yet when I visit your parents." Nomi said. 

"How was school?" Wolfgang asked. 

"Fine," she said with a shrug. "I met Wyatt today. They helped me on my chemistry exam." She said grinning. "Don't tell Mom." 

Wolfgang huffed a laugh as Nomi commented, "I didn't even think about school work and exams as a sensate! My high-school self is so jealous right now." 

"Ugh don't be too jealous. School fucking sucks. And I just want to tell my friends about being a sensate, but I know I can't." She said looking down at her finger trace patterns on the counter. “They keep asking me why I’m acting all weird and I’ve just had to shrug them off. My brain has just been focused on sensate stuff.” 

"Oh hon, yeah, I can't imagine having to deal with all this on top of the normal high school bullshit," Nomi said. "Don't write off humans completely though, you'll eventually meet people that you'll trust implicitly and be able to share everything with." 

"We've just seen first hand what can happen when humans know about us. They get scared and defensive. And how many people have we helped break out of psych wards now? Nine?" Wolfgang asked Nomi. 

"I think we're up to eleven," Nomi said, shaking her head in disbelief. 

Rue shivered and said "Gross, I hate thinking about that." 

“Things are getting better though,” Nomi offered.

“We just want to make sure you and your cluster are safe.” Wolfgang said. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Rue mumbled.  “Alright, I’m going to my room.”

“Love you, kid,” Wolfgang said. 

“Yeah, I know. Love you too,” she said leaving the room. 

“Why do I love seeing you in worried-dad mode?” Nomi said, grinning at him. 

Wolfgang finished the rest of his beer, closed his laptop and responded, “Because I’m a softie." He stood up from his stool, kissed Nomi on her temple, and then started rummaging around the kitchen to try to figure out dinner for later.

Later that night, Wolfgang, Kala, and Rajan were lounging in the living room.  They were half watching a movie, but mostly just chatting with each other. Kala was sitting on one side of the couch in pajama shorts and an old threadbare t-shirt of Wolfgang's. Rajan was sitting on the other side of the couch, also in comfy attire, and Wolfgang was essentially laying across both of them. His head was in Kala's lap and one leg was draped over Rajan with his other foot planted on the ground. Kala and Rajan both kept absentmindedly touching their husband, with Kala running her fingers through his hair and Rajan tracing his fingers over Wolfgang’s calf and ankle. 

Kala was telling them about some of her new research. She and Rajan had both left his father's pharmaceutical company in a move to try to distance themselves from Manendra and his ethically questionable political career at the time.  They started their own biotech company that was heavily subsidized by BPO as they focused on creating products for sensates.  They manufacture safe and affordable blockers and distribute them around the world.  Kala’s current research with her team was developing a blocker that could maintain a cluster’s connectivity but block sensates outside of the cluster.  While the death of Whispers definitely removed a threat to the sensate community, privacy and confidentiality concerns still arose that made the occasional blocker usage essential to many senates.  

They heard Rue throw open her bedroom door and their attention focused toward the hallway as Rue started walking toward them.  She was talking animatedly to her visiting clustermates.  As she entered the living room, Rue said “And this is my mom and dads – yeah, all three of them. They’re all like disgustingly in love with each other – no, you’d have to meet them in person before they’d be able to see you. – Just my mom and that dad are sensates,” Rue continued, pointing at Wolfgang.  “And Nomi is in their cluster.”

The three parents smiled at her, amused at her explanation and happy that she was seemingly getting along with her cluster.  “Who’s visiting?” Wolfgang asked. 

“Wyatt, Jiawei, Javier, and Maggie”, Rue responded as she headed into the kitchen.  They could hear her still talking as she opened cabinets in the kitchen.  She reemerged shortly later to head back to her room with her arms filled with a package of cookies, ham stuffed olives, a box of cheap sangria, and garlic prawns leftover from dinner.  

“Rue, what are you doing with all of that?” Rajan asked. 

“We’re all trying foods that the others haven’t had before.  Maggie just had us try whale meat! We’re also throwing things in a giant fire at Wyatt’s!” Rue said excitedly then turned to escape back to her room.

“Wait, Ruhani. Stop. Explain the giant fire.” Rajan said.

Rue stopped and turned back to her parents again. “They live in Tennessee in the United States and have this huge plot of land with this huge fire pit in the back.  We just threw an old chair in the fire,” she said happily and then continued back to her room.

“Okay, I’m so happy for her, but I’m also so jealous,” Kala exclaimed. 

Wolfgang looked up at her from her lap “How so?”, he asked.

“Her first memories with her cluster are so carefree and happy! And they have Nomi to explain things to them.  Think about our first two years!” Kala said. “We were going in blind without Angelica. Nomi was a fugitive. Will and Riley were hiding in holes. You kept getting into very scary situations involving way too many guns.  Sun was almost murdered multiple times while in prison. Capheus was fighting the Superpower. Lito was very publicly prosecuted for being gay. I had it best out of everyone and I was still trying my best to make sure Will didn’t die of a heroin overdose….and, you know, I was panicking about cheating on my husband with my seemingly imaginary friend who was a German criminal.”

“And now your husband is disgustingly in love with your imaginary German,” Rajan said echoing Rue's wording and placing a protective hand over Wolfgang’s abdomen. 

"I just wish we could have gotten to know each other with snacks around a bonfire and not while fighting for our lives," Kala continued. 

Wolfgang pulled her hand to him and kissed Kala's fingers. He hummed in understanding. "My life had always involved fighting. It felt nice to have more people fighting with me. I wouldn't have said no to snacks and fire though." 

"And what's this with Rue using her cluster to cheat on exams?" Kala asked.

"I wasn't supposed to tell you," Wolfgang said, looking up at her and grinning. 

"Oh whatever" Kala said, playfully slapping him. "She knows we literally can't keep secrets. Besides, I overheard when Nomi was laughing about it with Amanita, so your 'cool dad' status is safe. I don't like her cheating though! She won't learn and it will make it harder for her in university." 

"She could always just do what I did." Wolfgang said while sitting up.

"And what's that?" Kala inquired.

Wolfgang straddled Rajan and responded, "Marry rich." 

Rajan threw his head back laughing, which Wolfgang took as an opportunity to kiss up his husband’s neck. They both started inching their fingers up the other’s shirt and then slotted their lips together in a kiss.

“Boys.” Kala said for their attention.  The two men both turned to look at her, seeming very pleased with themselves.  “Come on, bedroom. Rue doesn’t need to walk in on this,” she said smiling at them.  

Chapter Text

Wolfgang and Rajan walked into the living room to find Kala and Felix on the couch together with popcorn and wine in front of them.  Wolfgang hadn't originally predicted the friendship between the two of them, but it’s now been going strong for twenty years and he can’t deny that it just works. Felix and Kala share weird common interests ...like reality dating shows, which is the reason they're together now. They had to watch the finale of Bachelor Island together.

"Did the couple you were rooting for win?" Rajan asked them about the show. 

"No!" Kala and Felix exclaimed together. 

"He picked the girl who used the show to promote her MLM scheme. Ridiculous!" Kala said. 

Rajan and Wolfgang leaned over the back of the couch to each give Kala a kiss as they headed toward the front hall. 

"Always love for you and none for me!" Felix loudly complained with a smile.

Wolfgang backtracked. He tugged Felix's hair to tilt his head back. Wolfgang quickly kissed his friend on the forehead and playfully smacked his cheek. 

"We're going to Dos Sirenas for a drink, do either of you want to come?" Rajan asked. 

"I'll go!" Felix responded. 

"Mmmm no." Kala stretched her arms over her head. "I'm staying home and curling in bed with my book. Ask Ruhani to go, she's been locked up in her room too much." 

"Already did. She's coming with us," Rajan said. 

As if on cue, Rue bounded out of her bedroom and down the hall to join them.  She had on black skinny jeans, an old t-shirt that Felix had given her with some German punk band on it, her short, black hair was pulled back in two small pigtails, and a dark purple beanie hat shoved on her head.

Felix looked at her. “Aren’t you too cool to be out with us old men?” he asked.

Rue huffed a sigh.  “Ugh, I wish I was too cool. Instead, I’m a freak. I’m one of the only teenage sensates in the world and you’re the only people that know, sooo you’re stuck with me while I sort out how to act normal with these voices in my head,” Rue responded with an over exaggerated smile.

Felix laughed and threw an arm around her shoulders. “Well, you’re shit out of luck then, kid.  None of us know how to act normal either.”

On the walk to Dos Sirenas, Wolfgang and Felix walked a bit ahead of Rue and Rajan. Rue kept lagging behind and talking to her cluster, pointing out different things to them.  Wolfgang realized that her cluster just hung out together a lot, much more than his cluster ever did.  Rue had told him they all liked to show each other around when they were able to. 

“Damn, Rue does sound kind of crazy.” Felix leaned over to whisper to him.  “Is she speaking three different languages?”

“I think she’s been switching between Mandarin and two different dialects of Russian,” Wolfgang responded.

Felix shook his head in disbelief. “I remember walking in on you speaking Hindi a few times, but never like this.”

Wolfgang smirked and glanced back fondly at his daughter who was smiling and animatedly chatting at whoever was next to her.  It looked like she just playfully punched someone in the arm. “Yeah, well I’ve never had seven other 18-year-olds in my head.”

“Rue told me that they more frequently talk on her side of the connection because she’s the only one with family who knows,” Rajan piped up. “I love seeing her so intu—”

A sharp scream from Rue suddenly interrupted Rajan.  Rue fell to the ground grabbing her leg and continued screaming. Wolfgang was next to her instantly.  Her pupils were blown wide and she looked like she was going to be sick.

“I can’t feel him. He’s gone. I can’t get him,” Rue started crying and panicking.  She patted her leg like she didn’t believe that it wasn’t injured. 

Wolfgang gently cupped her face, “Ruhani, look at me.  Focus on your body. You are here with me in Barcelona. You are okay.” Rue nodded and took a breath, but didn’t stop freaking out.

Kala appeared next to them looking alarmed, “Rue, what happened?”

“Timur.  He’s injured and I can’t feel him.  I think his leg is definitely broken.  He was out in the middle-of-nowhere camping with his dog and I don’t know why I can’t feel him.” Rue started raising her voice, clearly terrified.

Rajan and Felix helped Rue to stand and started guiding her back in the direction of home.  Wolfgang opened his mouth to ask more questions when Nomi appeared. “I heard from Alina and Wyatt.  What can you tell me about his location? I have satellite pictures of Almaty pulled up. Any directions he took, notable things you saw, signs, anything?” Nomi asked Rue.

Wolfgang visited Riley.  She had a shaving cream coated leg propped up on the bathroom counter with a razor in one hand. “Rue’s clustermate is in trouble.  You have a child in Almaty, right?”

Riley nodded, immediately alert and ready to help.   “Yes, Regina is there.”

“Tell her we’re going to need an emergency rescue from the mountains and an advocate. Nomi is gathering more information to narrow down exact location,” Wolfgang informed her.

Back in Barcelona, Rue was being led home as Kala assured her that it was going to be okay. That he was likely unconscious, but going to be fine.

Wolfgang and Riley appeared in San Francisco next to Nomi.  She had a satellite view of the mountain range south of Almaty where Timur had been camping on her computer. Amanita was next to her on a laptop searching for rescue services in the Almaty area.

Nomi was talking to someone he couldn’t see. “Okay, so we think that this was the lake you saw about an hour before he set up his tent? ---- Good, okay that narrows it down. ----- And what’s his dog’s name? -- Okay, okay. Don’t worry, babies. We’ll find him.”

Wolfgang disconnected with Nomi so he could be with Rue in Barcelona.  They were all just reaching home and getting ushered inside by Kala.  Rue slumped on the couch putting her head in her hands.  Rajan sat next to her looking concerned and rubbed her back. Felix got her a glass of water from the kitchen.  Kala was pacing the room looking concerned and probably connected with another sensate about the situation.

Wolfgang kneeled down in front of Rue.  “Hey,” he started gently.  She moved her hands from her eyes to focus on him.  “It’ll be okay.  Nomi has already narrowed down his location and has people out there looking for him. They’re sending out a helicopter and people on the ground right now.” Rue nodded and exhaled a shaky breath.

Wolfgang continued, “Is your cluster here?” 

Rue looked around the room and nodded, “Yeah, everyone is here.”

“When he wakes up, you’ll want to be there for him, but you will probably feel his pain too.” Wolfgang said addressing Rue’s cluster. “It is possible to block out his pain, but it takes a lot of practice, so just do your best.”

“Feel free to take turns visiting him if it becomes too much for you,” Kala said to them while still pacing, “you don’t want to make him panic more because of the pain you are feeling.  And make sure you let us know about his injuries, we may be able to walk you through basic first aid if needed.” 

Rue nodded looking nervous.  Rajan squeezed her shoulder and quietly said, “I’m so sorry you – all of you – are going through this.”

Wolfgang watched as Rue put her hand to the side. He could imagine that she was squeezing the hand of someone in her cluster.  She took a determined breath and nodded to that clustermate. 

Riley appeared in the room. “Regina contacted an advocate, they’re ready to meet Timur at whatever hospital they take him to.”

Kala relayed the news to Rue and her cluster.  Rue nodded.  After looking to the side, Rue started, “Yeah, advocates go with sensates to the hospital to…uhh… actually… Mom, will you explain to my cluster what they do?”

Wolfgang stood to go into the kitchen as Kala started explaining to the cluster that advocates meet sensates at hospitals to make sure that doctors don’t mistreat or misdiagnose them if they notice any peculiarities in their brain scans. A precaution the sensate community put in place after the nightmare Whispers caused.

Felix followed Wolfgang into the kitchen and grabbed two beers for them.  Wolfgang hoisted himself onto the counter and accepted the beer from Felix.  “You hate this, don’t you?  You hate seeing her have to go through this,” Felix asked. 

Wolfgang nodded. “It’s the worst part of being a sensate.  Feeling your clustermate in pain and then not knowing if they’re okay,” he said shaking his head and scrubbing a palm over his face.

“I’m used to your weird sensate shit now,” Felix started, “but I’ve only seen an emergency like this happen a couple of times before.  You have to agree that it’s amazing.  A kid in, what was it, Kazakhstan?”

Wolfgang nodded. 

“A kid in Kazakhstan, who was completely alone, got hurt only 20 minutes ago and you have people around the world working to make sure he gets found as soon as possible. Completely wild, man.” Felix said.

Will appeared next to Wolfgang.  “Hey,” Will said softly. He grabbed Wolfgang’s shoulder and gently tapped their foreheads together.  “Rue and her cluster will be fine, okay? Try to relax.”

“Hi, Gorski,” Felix muttered.

“I didn’t even move that time, how did you know he was here?” Wolfgang asked.

“I know you, Wolfie. I know your boyfriend—”

“We’re not boyfriends.” Wolfgang and Will said at the same time.

“—visits every time you’re a lil sad. You also tilted your head to the left a bit and all those worried-dad lines in your forehead relaxed,” Felix said matter-of-factly and tipped the head of his beer toward him.

Wolfgang huffed a laugh and shook his head in disbelief at his brother.

"And if you two aren't boyfriends, then what are you? Just two friends who fuck each other on the regular, comfort each other when sad, and take long walks together?" Felix asked smirking. 

"Yes, exactly," Wolfgang deadpanned. 

Will snorted a laugh and added, "You also do that thing with my ear..." Wolfgang glared at him. "Alright, I'm gone. I'll talk to you later." He squeezed Wolfgang's thigh and disappeared. 

"You know Kala calls him your boyfriend." Felix laughed. " I don't know why you're so against it." 

Wolfgang shrugged, "Just doesn't feel right for us."

“Or you have internalized homophobia,” Felix stated.

Wolfgang threw his arms up. “I’ve been married to Rajan for twenty years!”

They heard Rue groan loudly from the living room. Wolfgang immediately stood to go to her, but stopped and turned back toward Felix for a second. "You were just trying to distract me." 

"Did it work?" Felix asked smugly. He walked over to Wolfgang and threw an arm around his shoulders. "Like I said, I know you, Wolfie." 

Later that night, Wolfgang was walking through the house turning off lights and locking doors. Timur had been found and airlifted to a hospital where he was now on pain meds and scheduled to have surgery on his leg the next morning. 

Wolfgang saw that Rue's bedroom door was cracked open as he passed it. He lightly rapped a knuckle on the door and asked, "Can I come in?" 

Rue was sitting on her bed curled up with her arms wrapped around her knees. She nodded to him and as she looked at him her eyes started filling with tears. 

Wolfgang sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her. She turned into him and started crying into his shoulder. After a few minutes she sat back and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "That was awful," she mumbled. "I thought he had died." 

"I know, I'm sorry." Wolfgang said gently. "These kinds of days are the shit part of being sensate. But you also have to think about how lucky Timur is that he has all of you and how lucky you are if you ever get into a bad situation" he said quietly. 

Rue nodded and exhaled shakily. "Does stuff like this happen often?" 

"No, not often, but they are unfortunately unforgettable days." 

"Like when Lito was in the car accident?" 

He nodded, remembering how much his and Kala's reactions scared Rue when that happened a couple of years ago. Luckily all injuries were superficial and Lito and his family were completely fine afterwards. 

"Alright, get some sleep." He kissed her head as he stood up. 

"Can I skip school tomorrow?" Rue asked. 

Wolfgang smirked, "I don't care. Your mom will probably even agree this time."

As he was closing her door, Rue stopped him, "Wait, Dad." Wolfgang reopened the door and stood there waiting for her to continue. 

"Uhhh...Alina and Javier were pacing around the kitchen when you and Felix were in there today. They wanna know who your boyfriend is? Is it Will?" Rue asked with a small grin. 

Wolfgang tilted his head back and groaned. "Yes, we were talking about Will," he answered honestly. 

"I saw you two kiss at the reunion last year, out on that back patio," she confessed. 

"You little spy," he joked. "And your mom and papa know, so you don't need to worry about that."

"Yeah, I know. I get it now," she said. 

"Go to sleep. Love you, kid," Wolfgang said as he closed the door.

Chapter Text

Wolfgang arrived home from the gym and dropped his bag in the front hall. The house was quiet.  He sat on the couch in the living room and kicked a foot up on the coffee table.  Wolfgang closed his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the couch and quickly visited Kala. He found her and Rajan still at work in the lab.

“We’re almost done here! Sorry, we’re running late today!” Kala said to him. She seemed in an upbeat mood which likely meant her lab testing went well today.

“Hi, love”, Rajan said when he realized Wolfgang was visiting. “Don’t worry about dinner, we’ll pick something up on our way home.”

Wolfgang smiled at the two of them fondly and nodded in agreement to the plan for take-out dinner.

“He’s looking at us with heart-eyes.” Kala said to Rajan.

“Twenty years of marriage and we still get heart-eyes. I think we’re doing something right,” Rajan said.

Wolfgang rolled his eyes and huffed a laugh at his spouses. He quick kissed Kala on the cheek and disconnected. 

A short time later, Riley appeared on the couch next to him looking exasperated.

Wolfgang smirked at her knowing that the twins were probably up to something again.

"Why can't I have typical bad teenagers that sneak out to have sex and do drugs? I could deal with that," Riley said.

"What did they do?" he asked.

"Come look."

In Reykjavik, Riley pointed out of the window toward their small backyard.  The yard looked destroyed. There was the start of a massive hole dug taking up most the space, dirt everywhere, and shovels haphazardly thrown around. "They said they saw a video online about how to make your own swimming pool. I don't understand how they could think that was a good idea!  Even if it was a project they could realistically accomplish, which it’s not, we live in fucking Iceland! It barely ever gets over 10 degrees here!"

As if on cue, Wolfgang heard footsteps stampeding down the stairs and the two 14-year-old girls came into the room.  Normally they were identical, but Emý currently had her hair dyed turquoise and Lýra had her's magenta. In constant motion around the room, grabbing their coats and shoes, they both started talking, each saying bits of "Mom, we're so sorry. We thought it was a great idea, but your point about living in Iceland is a good one. We'll fix the yard, don't worry. We'll fix it before dad comes home. Sorry. We love you. A pool would have been cool though!" Then they both ran outside before Riley could voice a response to them.

Riley just looked at Wolfgang with her mouth hanging open and hands up in bewilderment.

"Want to go smoke on my roof?" Wolfgang offered.

"God, yes," she breathed.

Riley followed him as he grabbed a joint from the box on the hall table and led them to the roof access at the end of the hall.  The roof was one of the main reasons they chose this particular home as it offered them an amazing view of Barcelona.

They found Rue up there painting with an easel and a bunch of different paints surrounding her.

"Hey, I didn’t even know you were home. What's all this?" Wolfgang asked her.

Rue jumped a little, startled by him. "Oh, uh, hello" she said nervously and she wiped her hands on a towel. Then stuck a hand out to Wolfgang to shake, "Mr. Rasal, hi. I'm Javier actually. Rue and I switched so I could paint her something. She's playing video games with my younger siblings right now. Do you need her? She promised she wouldn't look until I was done, so she's kind of checked out of this body, but I could get her if you need."

Wolfgang raised an eyebrow at Javier and shook the offered hand of his daughter.  "You can call me Wolfgang and no, I don't need Rue right now. Riley, my clustermate, is here too," he said, tilting his head in Riley’s direction. Wolfgang then lit the joint he was holding.

"Wow, this is beautiful," Riley said of the painting. It was a portrait of Rue looking back over her shoulder and it was all done in black and purples. Wolfgang relayed the sentiment to Javier.

"Thank you, I plan to make one for everyone in our cluster. A different color for each of them," Javier said.

“How’s Timur doing?” Wolfgang asked.

“Good! He’s home from the hospital and his dad hired a hot nurse to take care of him while he’s still on limited mobility.” Wolfgang and Riley both grinned at his description of the nurse.  “And thank you both for all your help that night.  We would have definitely been panicking more if we didn’t have your family walking us through it.”

“Of course, kid, you’re one of us now.”

Javier smiled and nodded to him in understanding.

"We'll leave you to finish. Nice to meet you," Wolfgang said, then led Riley to the opposite end of the roof where a bench was.

They sat together, with Riley tucking her legs under her and Wolfgang draping an arm around the back of the bench behind her. 

“Our cluster seems so boring now,” Riley said. “We only share with each other out of necessity and we’ve never fully switched with one another to do cute things like paint a picture. Will and I have only fully switched when—"

“You’re being kinky fucks together.” Wolfgang finished. Riley laughed and nodded. “Same here, Kala and I have only done it a couple times on Raj’s birthday.”

Riley took a hit of the joint and slowly breathed out smoke before saying, “It makes me hopeful that clusters are bonding over friendship and fun things. Not like us, where we all just bonded over trauma.”

Wolfgang squeezed her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "Can you even imagine what your girls will come up with when they're reborn?" he asked.

Riley groaned, "Maybe they're not sensate."

"They are too chaotic to not be."

"Then I hope they have already moved out of my house when they are," Riley said laughing.

"So has Will seen your new pool yet?" Wolfgang asked.

"Yes, I fucking have," Will said, appearing on the other side of Riley with his head in his hands.

Riley passed the joint to him, which he gladly took, and squeezed his thigh.

"It's just dirt." Riley said determinedly to her husband.

Will nodded staring blankly out over the city. "I swear they are going to be famous for something, I just hope it's for good and not evil," Will mumbled.

Wolfgang laughed. "They'll be fine. I don't know if you two will be, but they will."

Riley and Will both glared at him.

About an hour later, the four Rasals were seated around their dining table with cartons of Thai take-out being passed between them.  Rue was back in her own body and Will and Riley had left to go talk with the twins.

“I spoke with Grandpa earlier today,” Rue said referring to Sanyam. “I told him that I had someone else from India in my cluster and told him about Siraj. Do you think we could visit Siraj in Jaipur when we go to India this summer?”

“Yes, we can work that in,” Rajan said. “It’s about a two-hour flight from Mumbai, but we could make that happen.”

“Not that I don’t want to meet your cluster, but do we want to meet each other’s clusters while you’re still living at home?” Kala asked.  “I was thinking about this recently. We would see them every time they visit you. The same with you seeing our cluster again. Are two clusters in one household too much?”

“Whoa, I didn’t even think about that,” Rue said nodding. “Yeah, I think you might be right.” 

Wolfgang nodded in agreement. Being able to see and hear Rue’s cluster every time they visited her seemed like an invasion of their privacy.

“Maybe just me and you could go to Jaipur, if you don’t want to go alone,” Rajan offered.

Rue smiled at him and nodded as she scooped more noodles onto her plate. “So Siraj asked me why we moved out of India. I told him that I think it had to do with your company, but I wasn’t sure if that was right.  I was so young when we moved, that Barcelona has always just felt like home to me.”

Rajan looked down for a moment smiling sadly. Wolfgang reached over to squeeze his hand. “No, it’s because we didn’t really feel safe being public about our relationship in Mumbai,” Rajan stated.

“Oh,” Rue said in understanding, having heard her fair share of disparaging things about her parents over the years.

“With Rajan’s father being a cabinet minister for the Prime Minister, it felt like there was a lot of attention on the family,” Kala added.  “We managed with the three of us, but when we thought about you getting older and starting school, we never wanted you to be in a position where you felt like you had to deny your family.”

“Do you miss living in Mumbai?” Rue asked. 

“I miss seeing my family all the time, but I do love living in Barcelona.  Moving here gave us a bit more anonymity than Mumbai and more freedom to be open about our marriage and family,” Kala responded and Rajan nodded along in agreement.

“What about you, Dad, do you miss living in Berlin?” Rue then posed to Wolfgang. 

He shook his head.  “No. I miss speaking German all the time, but that’s it. I never felt at home once in my life until I was with these two. I’ll be happy wherever as long as it’s with them.” 

Rajan pointed his fork at Wolfgang with a smile, “You are stoned. I wasn’t sure at first, but now with you being all sappy, I know.”

Wolfgang barked a laugh. “Riley had a hard day,” he gave as an excuse.

“Oh my god, I saw the pool!” Kala exclaimed.

“Smoking with a clustermate,” Wolfgang said shaking his head. “My brain makes me think I’m sharing, but really, I’m just smoking a whole joint by myself.”

“Wait, what pool?” Rue asked, giggling at her three parents.

Chapter Text

Wolfgang entered the house after having been out with Felix and found Rue in the darkened living room watching one of Lito’s films. 

“Which one is this?” Wolfgang asked her.

“Richter 9. The one about the earthquake and it has that scene where he jumps his car over the lava river to save his husband and children,” Rue responded, not taking her eyes off the screen. “I kinda forgot to tell my cluster that Lito Rodriguez was in your cluster, so now they’re mad at me and I’m making it up to them by hosting a Lito movie marathon.”

“Can you believe that! She forgot about me!” Lito said, throwing his hands up next to Wolfgang and then started pacing around him.

“I’m sorry!” Rue said. At first, Wolfgang thought she somehow saw Lito and was talking to him, but then he realized she was talking to her cluster.  “I don’t think of Lito as a famous actor. I just think of him as a favorite uncle who calls me Ruhani Banani.”

“Favorite? I’m her favorite?” Lito said as he stopped pacing. “Okay, I’ll write her back into my will.” He pointed a finger into Wolfgang’s chest. “Make sure you tell Capheus and Will that you heard her say I was her favorite uncle,” Lito said before disconnecting.

Wolfgang smiled and shook his head, not pointing out that Rue said “a favorite”, as in, one of many. He told Rue to have fun and then left her and her cluster to finish their movie. 

Wolfgang head to the bedroom, where he found his husband in only black briefs sitting against the edge of the bed and Kala in her bra and panties standing in between his legs.  Wolfgang connected with Kala, feeling Rajan’s fingers ghost along her hips, the thrum of arousal low in her belly. “Looks like I came home at the right time,” he said quietly to them.

Kala reached a hand out to him and Wolfgang came closer to join them. He kissed Rajan first, feeling Kala in the kiss connecting through him. Then, Kala turned in Rajan’s arms and slid her hands up Wolfgang’s chest and removed his offending shirt. “Welcome home, love”, she said before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. Wolfgang slid one arm around Kala cupping her as—

“ooh Dad, I forgot, tomorrow can you—OH FUCK,” Rue said as she visited and then just as quickly disconnected.

Wolfgang and Kala both jumped at the unexpected interruption.

“Who is it?” Rajan asked, being used to people he couldn’t see appearing to them.

“Our child,” Wolfgang said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I’m going to go talk to her, we forgot to teach her how to slowly visit and get a read on a situation before barging in,” Kala stated as she started heading toward her robe.

Wolfgang grabbed her hand. “Kala. No, stay here. She’s with her whole cluster watching movies, don’t embarrass her further. We can ask Nomi to teach her later.”

Rajan stood and wrapped his arms around their wife from behind. “Besides, we know she won’t interrupt again tonight,” he said in-between kisses laid across her neck.

The next afternoon, Wolfgang sat in his office at the gym entering paperwork into the computer for the new memberships he got signed up today.

“Hey, boss,” Hadley said as she flopped onto the couch in his office and started unwrapping her hand wraps. Her blonde hair was falling out of a pony tail and her black shirt revealed a purple sports bra underneath from the cutoff sleeves. Sara Hadley was a member of Wolfgang’s child cluster. Three-years ago, when her life was getting pretty dark in the United States due to some manipulative family members, Wolfgang told her that if she wanted to move to Barcelona, he’d give her a job and help get her on her feet. Hadley packed up her meager belongings and was on a plane the next day.

“How’d classes go?” he asked her.

“Good! You know that tiny new girl, Camila? I swear she’ll be able to take on most of the dudes within a month. She’s insanely strong,” Hadley said excitedly. “Oooh, how many new people did you get today?” she asked, looking at the forms Wolfgang had across his desk.

Wolfgang held up three fingers.

'Hmmm, wonder why they're joining." She said in a sing-song voice while pulling out her phone.

"Hadley, don't", Wolfgang groaned.

"Maybe because they want a piece of this in action!" She yelled, waving around her phone with the picture of Wolfgang up. The picture of him sweaty, shirtless, and punching a bag that Hadley talked him into posting on the gym's social media accounts.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into posting that,” Wolfgang said while he threw his head back against the back of the chair.

“But…” Hadley prompted.

He glared at her and then at her insistent stares, he complied by saying, “But it’s actually working.”

"Sex sells! Also, did you know Kala texted me and had me send her the whole series of pictures from that day?" Hadley said wiggling her eyebrows.

"Oh, yes. I'm aware. Raj and her both have these pictures set as their phone backgrounds to taunt me," Wolfgang replied.

Hadley laughed out loud at this. Wolfgang smirked at her, shaking his head.

"So, how's Rue doing?" Hadley asked when she stopped laughing.

Wolfgang groaned again, remembering last night.

"What happened?" Hadley asked, her eyes going wide.

"Remember when I taught you how to gently visit so you could suss out a situation first before actually visiting?" Hadley nodded, her eyes going even wider. "Yeah, we hadn't gotten around to that lesson with Rue yet."

"Oh my god, what did she see?" Hadley gasped excitedly. Wolfgang started shaking his head. "You in the bathroom? The shower?" Hadley guessed. Wolfgang kept shaking his head. "You changing? You getting sexy with Kala and Rajan?" Wolfgang pointed to her. Hadley started cracking up again. "So, about what time was this that she visited? Asking for scientific reasons of course."

Wolfgang huffed a laugh and shook his head at her usual antics.

"Alright, I gotta finish cleaning up," she said standing up. She left the office, but then immediately popped her head back in. "Ooh wait, can I come over for dinner tonight? I have no food at home and don't want to shop," she asked with a pleading smile.

"Yeah, yeah, of course," he responded. She smiled and waved bye as she went to finish up in the gym.

That night, Wolfgang and Kala stood next to each other at the kitchen island, both working at putting toppings on pizzas for dinner. 

The door buzzer rang and Rajan yelled from his office that he would get it.

A minute later they heard Hadley open the door and yell, "Hellooo family, your favorite strays are here!"

Rajan, Hadley, and Felix walked in the kitchen moments later. "Yesss, pizza." Hadley and Felix both exclaimed as they saw Kala and Wolfgang making them. Felix picked a pepperoni off of the closest one and popped it in his mouth before Kala could swat him away. 

Rue walked into the room and headed to the fridge.

"Yooo Rue, I heard you walked in on your parents boning last night." Hadley said loudly, which caused everyone to start talking at once.

"What the fuck, Hadley," Wolfgang groaned, tilting his head back and scrubbing a hand over his face.

"You TOLD her?" Rue yelled.

Rajan loudly laughed and opened another bottle of wine.

"We were not boning," Kala said matter-of-factly. "We weren't even naked." 

"Yet," Rajan muttered.

"You were naked enough! And-" Rue pushed her hands together intertwining her fingers with a look of disgust on her face.

"I've walked in on them naked enough and-" Felix mimicked Rue's intertwining fingers. "- before too! It was my first introduction to Mumbai!" he said laughing.

Hadley sat there grinning widely and darting eyes back and forth at people, clearly enjoying the spectacle she started and said, "Excuse me! I'm the only one that's been left out of the show!"

"Felix, you got much more of an eyeful than Rue did." Rajan said laughing and handed glasses of wine to both Felix and Hadley.

"Raj, stop bragging!" Felix joked.

"Oh my god! I'm leaving," Rue said and turned out of the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Kala asked after her.

"I don't know. I'll probably find somewhere to curl up and die." Rue yelled dramatically.

"Ruhani, I'm so sorry you have parents that love each other! That must be so traumatic for you!" Rajan yelled after her. "And if you're still out at midnight, text me so I know you're not actually dead."

"BYE," Rue yelled definitively and slammed the front door.

"Oooh, boss, I just had a great idea for what we can post to the gym's social media next," Hadley said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Wolfgang just stared at his cluster child for a moment before saying, “Hadley, you know I love you, but shut the fuck up.”

Chapter Text

Wolfgang grabbed a towel and stepped out of the shower just as Kala let herself into the bathroom. He smiled at her and asked “Long day?” as he dried himself off. 

Kala let out an extended sigh. “Yes, end of the quarter so I was jumping between our labs in Chicago and Taiwan most of the day.”  She stood looking in the vanity, taking her jewelry off and then unbuttoning her blouse.  “I’m happy to be home and in only one place now.”   

Wolfgang wrapped his towel around his hips and then came up behind her and rested a hand on her waist.  With his other hand, he moved her hair off her neck and kissed the soft skin there. “I’m happy you’re home too,” he murmured, both of them feeling each other through the physical touch and their psycellic connection.  Wolfgang stepped back slightly so she could continue removing her clothes. “Go shower and relax,” he said.

“Mmmm a shower,” Kala hummed as if that was the most novel idea in the world.  They were silent for a moment, each lazily focused on their own nighttime routine. “How’s Ruhani? I didn’t see her when I came in,” Kala eventually asked.  

“Raj and I barely heard from her,” Wolfgang said. “She had her face buried in a book all evening. Some teen romance series about time travelers that Jiawei got the cluster obsessed with. They don’t want it accidentally spoiled by each other so they’re all trying to read it as fast as possible.”

Kala paused thinking about what he just said. “I don’t know if I would love or hate being a sensate at eighteen,” she surmised. 

“I could have used your voice of reason in my head at eighteen,” he said with a smirk and pulled on a pair of loose sweatpants.  Kala rolled her eyes at him with a small smile before letting herself into the shower. 

Wolfgang walked out of the bathroom and found Rajan lying in their bed reading a book. Wolfgang wordlessly walked to the edge of the bed and slid himself in next to his husband, resting his head on Rajan's shoulder. Rajan shifted to wrap an arm around Wolfgang like he's done hundreds of times before.

Wolfgang glanced at the book and realized it was one of Rajan's old notebooks. "2018?" Wolfgang read off the date scribbled at the top. "That was a good year. The first good year." 

Rajan hummed in agreement. "The other night, when we were laughing about memories from Mumbai with Felix, it made me feel all nostalgic, so I dug this out." 

"Sometimes when I see dates, my first thought is to sort it either as 'Before Rue' or 'After Rue'", Wolfgang said. 

Wolfgang could hear the smile in Raj's voice when he asked, "So the year 2018 would be 3 B.R. and the current year would be 18 A.R.?" Wolfgang nodded and smiled against his husband's chest. "Ruhani does have a way of making it feel like the universe revolves around her." 

They were quiet for a while and Wolfgang picked a random spot on the page to start reading from.

" When I woke up yesterday morning, I found Wolfgang and Capheus in the pool together. They were playing like younger boys, both trying to dunk the other under the water. I loved watching Wolfgang look so relaxed, carefree, and having fun. I love that he has someone like Capheus to bring this out in him. 

30 April 2018  

Per usual, Kala came to my office during lunch today. She found me sitting in the lobby outside my office because I stupidly locked myself out. I told her I was waiting for the maintenance team to come and unlock it for me. She just smirked at me and said "Raj, you know breaking and entering is kind of a specialty of mine." Then she…or he?...they looked around for a second and took a pen out of the cup on my receptionist's desk. They took the pen apart and proceeded to unlock my door in mere seconds with the pieces. I was impressed! 

After that, behind my closed office door, I got kisses from them. I love that I can feel both of them…"

"Hey, sorry to interrupt this snuggle sesh." Nomi said as her and Sun appeared in the room. Sun, who was in a tank top and pajama shorts, spent no time crawling onto the other side of the bed and laying down. 

Wolfgang let Rajan know they were there. "Hey, you two. Hope everything is okay," Rajan said to them and kept reading. 

"Wait, I'm calling Raj. This concerns him too." Nomi said. "Where's Kal…" 

"I'll be out in a minute!" Kala yelled from the bathroom. 

Wolfgang leaned over to grab Rajan's phone off the nightstand and told him that Nomi was going to call and he handed over the phone. Then he resituated himself to lay in between Rajan and Sun. Him and Sun bumped knuckles in greeting. 

Rajan answered the phone after the first ring, "Nomi! Hello! You always make me nervous when I get roped into sensate happenings." 

Nomi laughed and said, "On a scale of 1 being "I just have a question" to 10 being "we're extracting someone out of North Korea again" the issue tonight is only like a 2.3." 

"So, what's up?" Kala asked as she came out of the bathroom wrapped in her fluffy white robe. 

"It's Wyatt, Rue's clustermate," Nomi answered. "When they came home from school today, the whole family was already fighting with each other, but right when Wyatt walked in they focused all their anger toward them. It was on the brink of being physically abusive. Wyatt threw what they could in their backpack and left."

"Poor kid," Rajan muttered. 

Nomi continued, "Sun's child, Colton, lives sorta close to Wyatt, so is currently driving to pick them up and Wyatt can crash with Colton for a few days. I was going to offer to have Wyatt stay with me, but I feel like they really need some clustermate contact and…"

"Rue's the only one in a position to do that," Wolfgang finished for her. 

"Yeah, exactly," Nomi said.

Kala, Wolfgang, and Rajan looked at each other for a second before Kala responded with, "I think I speak for all of us when I say that of course Wyatt is welcome here as long as Rue says it's okay." Wolfgang and Rajan nodded in agreement. "I'll ask Rue to come in here." 

"Cool, cool. If we can get all this sorted tonight, I'll work on details like a passport and plane tickets," Nomi rambled on.

Rue entered the room, the book she's been reading hanging from her hand. "Am I in trouble?" she asked after seeing her parents' slightly somber expressions. 

"No, it's about Wyatt's situation. Would it be okay with you if they stayed with us for a few weeks?" Kala asked their daughter. 

"Holy shit! Really? Oh my god, yes! I didn't know this was an option. Yes, yes, yes, I want them to come stay," Rue stated as she started bouncing on her heels. "You'll love them, Wyatt is super sweet." 

"Sun, you can tell Colton these general plans and that we'll be in contact again when I have more details. Then go back to sleep, sorry again for waking you up," Nomi instructed.

Sun shrugged, said it was no problem, and disconnected. 

Rue laughed maniacally as she said, "The rest of our cluster is going to be so jealous." Then she turned to the seemingly empty space next to her and gasped, "No! You wouldn't! Don't spoil the ending for me!" Rue reopened her book and kept reading as she headed back to her room. 

"Alright, thanks fam." Nomi said.

"Of course, Wyatt is family. Tell Neets I'll call her tomorrow, I need more book recommendations," Rajan said before hanging up the phone. 

As Kala finished getting ready for bed, Wolfgang rolled back over and resumed his position curled into Rajan's side and they both focused back on the notebook. "Would you mind if I read this when you're done?" Wolfgang asked. 

"Not at all. There's some spicy scenes I wrote about too," Rajan said, wiggling his eyebrows with a laugh. 

"I told you 2018 was a good year," Wolfgang murmured against his husband. 

Chapter Text

Wolfgang could see Rue strapped to a table in front of him. The same table Whispers had once strapped him to.  The same ominous medical devices surrounding her.

Chapter Text

Wolfgang woke up in an empty bed. He sat up and reached his arms up, groaning as he felt his muscles stretch and loosen up.  He got up and went to go see what his family was up to.   

He found Rajan on the couch reading a book, still in his pajamas and robe.  Wolfgang came up behind the couch and leaned down to slide his arms around Rajan’s shoulders and down his chest. 

“Mmm morning, love,” Rajan said to him.

“Morning,” Wolfgang responded quietly and kissed his husband’s neck.  

“Kala took the kids to Pastar. You might be able to still catch her there.”

“Thanks,” Wolfgang said and started to stand, but Rajan pulled on his arm and tilted his head to capture Wolfgang in a kiss first.  Wolfgang smiled against his lips.  

Wolfgang straightened and after seeing Rajan’s empty mug next to him asked, “Do you want more coffee?”

“Yes, please!”

Wolfgang grabbed the mug and headed to the kitchen to make them more coffee.  He visited Kala and found himself inside the busy bakery.  Kala, Rue, and Wyatt were next in line. “Right in time,” Kala said to him under her breath. He walked forward to peer into the display cases and pointed to the ham and gruyère croissant. Kala smiled and nodded to him before he disconnected. 

As he opened the kitchen cabinet to grab what he needed for coffee, Will appeared next to him sitting on the counter.  Wolfgang nodded to him in a silent greeting. 

“Morning,” Will said with a yawn.

“What’s up?”

Will shook his head, “Nothing. Doing the same as you. Just making coffee for me and Riles.”

“The twins up and wreaking havoc yet?” Wolfgang asked. 

Will let out a loud exhale, “No, I think they’re still sleeping. Kinda hope they sleep all day.”

Wolfgang raised his eyebrow in question.

“Yesterday, I asked them how their day was and they just yelled ‘WE DON’T ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM COPS’ at me and then went and locked themselves in their room,” Will said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.  Wolfgang grinned at him.  “It was, what, almost a decade before they were even born when I stopped being a cop.”

“You were always too good to be a cop.” 

“And you were too good to be some hardened criminal. God, it blows my mind that you used to be a fucking jewel thief.” Will said throwing his hands up. Wolfgang huffed a laugh.  “Now look at us!”

“Domesticated,” Wolfgang said with his nose scrunched in a faux look of disgust. Will laughed. 

Both of their attentions got pulled to Reykjavik as the twins entered the kitchen.  Lýra and Emý both looked like they just rolled out of bed with their feet dragging and their colorful hair unkempt. “Daaaad, will you make us pancakes?” Emý asked and they both looked at him with pouty pleading faces. 

“On one condition,” Will said and then opened his arms to them and waved his hands inviting them in for a hug.  The two girls both gave him exaggerated eye rolls but willingly moved in to hug their dad.

Wolfgang smiled at the three of them and gave Will’s shoulder a squeeze before disconnecting. 

A short while later, Kala, Rue and Wyatt returned home as Wolfgang settled onto the couch next to his husband.  The three of them each had to-go cups in one hand and Rue held the bakery box in her other.  They all settled around the living room and divvied up the baked goods between them.

"So, Rue, what was it like growing up with sensate parents?" Wyatt asked. 

Rue shrugged, "I don't know, probably wasn't that different from anyone else."

Rajan laughed out loud. "Ruhani, you are a lock picking, kickboxing teenager who spoke five languages even before you were sensate and your uncles are a former president of Kenya and a famous movie star. I think you grew up a little different than kids from non-sensate families." 

“Wait, you can pick locks?” Wyatt asked.

Rue nodded with her mouth full of croissant. “And handcuffs,” she added.

"She used to talk to imaginary friends all the time because she saw Wolfgang and I talking to people she couldn't see," Kala said.

"Oh, yeah! I think I was seven years old before it really clicked that you guys were actually seeing other people!" Rue said. 

"Well, yes, that year your teacher called us worrying you were hallucinating because you really thought you could talk to people by speaking to empty air," Kala continued. "We thought it was cute until that call, then we had to sit you down and explain as best we could." 

“When Kala and Rajan were at work, she would sometimes cry for her mom, so Kala would share with me and talk to Rue,” Wolfgang said. ‘Rue always seemed to know it was her talking and not me. But sometimes she would cry for her papa, and then I would just pretend to be Raj and it still would work to calm her down.”  

“Let me hear it. Let me hear you imitate me,” Rajan said laughing.

Wolfgang leaned over to cup Rue’s cheek and said in a more pronounced voice than his usual, “Oh Ruhani! My perfect child! Why are you crying? Tell Papa everything that’s wrong so I can fix it! Your toy broke? No worries, I’m ordering you three more right now!” The five of them started laughing at this. Wolfgang sat back on the couch and squeezed Rajan’s thigh in a loving gesture. 

“You two always had so much fun together,” Kala said pointing between Rue and Wolfgang,” I never knew what I was going to be walking home into.  Once when you were only three,  the two of you had rearranged all of the furniture into an obstacle course. When I walked in the door you screamed ‘Mommy! Look at me!' and then started climbing under chairs and jumping off tables. The last bit of this course involved you flying off the back of the couch and I thought for sure you were going to hurt yourself but your dad caught you at the very last moment.”

“Oh my god, you were probably so cute when you were three,” Wyatt said to Rue.

“I’ll have to show you some pic–” Kala started but was interrupted by Nomi appearing.

“Wyatt! Holy shit! I found your sister!” Nomi said. Wyatt had told her that their sister had also left home six years ago when she turned 18, but didn’t know how to contact her and Nomi had been working to track her down. 

“You found Kaelyn?” Wyatt asked, surprised.

Wolfgang leaned over to Rajan and started filling in Nomi’s side of the conversation for him.

“She just goes by Katie now, but yes! And guess what?! She’s a sensate too!” Nomi almost screamed in excitement. 

Wyatt just stared at Nomi with their jaw hanging open. “Are…are you serious? Oh my god! Where is she? Have you spoken with her? Does she want to see me?”

“I’ve only messaged her a little, but she responded saying she’s been wanting to contact you but didn’t know how without making sure your mom or brothers wouldn’t find out.” Nomi said. “I have her contact info here, she’s waiting for you to reach out.”

Rue stood up and grabbed Wyatt’s hand. “Come on, let’s go use my laptop,” she said as they left the room together with Nomi.

Kala moved to sit on the other side of Wolfgang opposite Rajan. He wrapped an arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder.  “I’m going to miss her when she leaves for university,” Kala said quietly. 

“Me too,” Wolfgang and Rajan responded at the same time.

Chapter Text

Wolfgang woke up in bed as the alarm on his phone went off. He reached over, shut it off, and connected with Nomi. He found himself in her familiar cozy house in San Francisco. Nomi was busy setting up her computer and a projector. Wolfgang headed toward the empty spot on the couch where Capheus and Sun were already seated. He stopped by Kala first who was seated at the small side table speaking with Lito.

“…she’s insufferable. Always sucking up to the director!” Lito said to Kala presumably telling her about his co-star.  

Wolfgang kissed Kala’s head in greeting and she squeezed his hand.

“Morning, love. There’s coffee waiting for you in the kitchen at home,” she mentioned to him. He hummed in acknowledgement and squeezed her hand back. 

Wolfgang then moved and sat on the couch where Capheus had Sun’s hand in his and was staring intently at it.  

“What are you doing?” Wolfgang questioned.

“Ah, Wolfgang! Good morning, friend. My one cluster child is a palm reader and was attempting to show me yesterday. So now, I am trying to read Sun’s palm,” Capheus explained, still looking at her hand.

“Find anything?” Wolfgang asked.

“Apparently, I have a large fortune coming to me,” Sun said with a hint of mirth in her eyes. 

“Yes, either that or a large amount of food. One of the two,” Capheus said, chuckling and gave Sun back her hand.  

“Your turn,” Sun said to Wolfgang. “Give us your hand.” 

“Oh, you read palms now too?” he asked Sun while offering his palm to them.  

“If Capheus knows, then we all know,” Sun said smoothly and raised a conspiratorial eyebrow at him.

“And he seems to be such an expert,” Wolfgang mumbled.  

His two clustermates took his hand and bent their heads over it. They made inquisitive humming sounds and pointed at different lines in his palm as if they knew what they were actually doing.  

“You two are so full of shit,” Wolfgang said with a slight roll of his eyes. They both ignored this.

Capheus and Sun then looked up. “Well! It looks like you are one lucky man!”

“Oh really? A large amount of fortune or food headed my way too?” he asked.

“No,” Sun said, slowly shaking her head. “It’s your love line.” 

“You mean his love lines,” Capheus said drawing out the S. “There are three of them!” 

Wolfgang coughed a laugh and shoved Capheus’s shoulder. “God, not you too,” he grumbled at them.

“Oh yes! Three loves in your life! Very, very lucky you are!” Capheus said, still playing into this fortune telling farce he had put on.

Wolfgang groaned and laid his head back against the couch. He glanced at his two clustermates who were looking at him with playful delight in their eyes. “Will and I have been fucking around for years. Why’s everyone been teasing us about this now?”

“Because you’re not just fucking around now, are you? It’s changed,” Sun stated in the mild, straight-forward way of hers. 

“Alright, can I get started?” Nomi asked the group of them. “Wait, we still need Riles and Will. What time is it? Can I wake them up? Yeah, I’ll go wake them up,” she said, mostly talking to herself.

“My friend, you can lie to yourself all you want, but you can’t lie to us,” Capheus said with a smile and bumped his shoulder against Wolfgang’s. “Enjoy it. You are blessed to have so many people love you. We only tease because we can feel it radiating off of both of you.” Sun nodded agreeing with what he said. 

Will and Riley appeared sitting on the floor with their duvet wrapped around them. Riley shifted so she was sitting in-between Will’s legs and could lounge back against his chest. Will wrapped his arms and duvet around her and kissed her head as they settled in their position. The corner of Wolfgang’s lip quirked up slightly as he watched the two of them be cute to each other.

“Okay,” Nomi said, clapping her hands together, “let’s get started. Neets and I narrowed our reunion location down to five places and since this is a big one, our 50th birthday…” Lito made a sound of disgust at this. “I want us to vote and agree that we all like the location that’s chosen,” Nomi continued. 

“As long as we don’t go camping again, I will be happy,” Lito voiced. “I am not made for roughing it.” Kala pointed at him, signaling that she agreed.

“Roughing it?” Riley said with a laugh. “We were in cabins that had electricity and water!”

“But no internet!” Lito responded loudly. “And do you remember that giant bug that was on me!?”

“It was a caterpillar,” Sun deadpanned.

“And the campfire made my hair smell for weeks! I can’t, guys. I just can’t” Lito said definitively, crossing his arms.

“I liked camping,” Will offered.

“Same,” Wolfgang agreed.

“We should go sometime!” Will said, looking at Wolfgang with excited eyes.

“I will not make a Brokeback Mountain joke,” Nomi mumbled to herself. Then louder to the group said, “Okay, back on track, people! Lito, I promise none of these places are remotely like camping.” 

Nomi started showing the group pictures of the giant house rentals she found and the different locations. Wolfgang zoned out, he didn't particularly care where they went. A few minutes into Nomi's presentation, Capheus leaned closer to him and asked, "Is Ms. Ruhani joining us this year?" 

Wolfgang nodded, "Yeah, she'll be there. She wants to connect with all of you before she goes to university." 

"Smart. I'm excited to see everyone in person again," Capheus responded. 

"And what about Xo?" Wolfgang asked about Capheus's daughter who was slightly older than Rue. 

"She's not sure yet. She has an internship starting this summer, so it depends if she can get the time off for it," Capheus said. "Since Rue was reborn, Xo has been anxious that she hasn't yet and is worried she's not a sensate." 

"She's still young. She shouldn't compare herself to the teenage sensate freaks that Rue's cluster is," Wolfgang told him.

Capheus quietly chuckled, "that's what I told her…without calling Ruhani a freak though." 

Nomi wrapped up her presentation. "Alright, questions? Think it over a moment and then we can vote," she said to her cluster. 

"Which one should I vote for?" Wolfgang asked Sun and Capheus.

"The third one. There's a pool, each bedroom has an en suite, and there's lots of couches," Sun told him.

Wolfgang glanced up and made eye contact with his wife. Kala held up three fingers to him clearly on the same page as Sun. 

The group chatted for a while longer before Nomi called them all to vote on a location. The third house won with six of the votes. 

"Nomi, can you pull up the pictures of this place again?" Kala asked. Nomi clicked a few buttons and the pictures appeared on the screen again. 

"Oh yeah, that pool area with the seating and bar off to the side looks so nice," Riley said.

"We just can't let your twins play bartender again. I couldn't drink for about a month after that," Wolfgang said, shaking his head. 

Will barked a laugh, "Dude, you were the only one drinking the concoctions they were mixing together." 

"No…." Wolfgang said trailing off as he tried to remember. 

"Yes! I even told you that we were humoring them and dumping the drinks, but you just shrugged and kept on taking them," Kala said. 

Wolfgang pinched his brow at his own stupidity. 

"Hey, at least you're their favorite now. You ended up leaving them like 300 euros as a tip," Riley said giggling. 

"What the…" Wolfgang scrubbed his hands over his face, "maybe no drinking for me at all this time."

Lito waved this nonsense thought away, "No, it's our time to celebrate. You drink twin-made cocktails if you want to!" 

"And Rajan and I will take care of you again if you do," Kala added.

"Didn't I wake up in the bathtub?" Wolfgang asked, narrowing his eyes at his wife.

"We gave you a pillow!" Kala laughed. 

"Such a good role model for Rue," Will chimed in with a smirk. 

"That's why she has three parents. One of us can fuck up and she'll still come out ahead," Wolfgang said throwing up his hands.

"Alright, even though making fun of Wolfgang is up there as one of my favorite hobbies," Nomi said looking fondly at him, "it's after midnight here now and I want to go crawl in bed with Neets." 

Everyone said their hasty goodbyes to each other, thanked Nomi for organizing, and disconnected. 

Chapter Text

"Ugh, Wolfie! I can't believe you don't remember this! It was in that apartment building next to that club with the bouncer who only had one eye." Felix said, waving his hands animatedly. 

Wolfgang and Rajan sat opposite Felix out on their terrace, listening to him tell some ridiculous story from when they were younger men. 

"Felix, Berlin seems like a lifetime ago. I don't remember this one drunken night," Wolfgang said smiling and then took a sip of his beer.  Rajan chuckled at the two men and reached to squeeze Wolfgang's thigh affectionately. 

"I swear this happened, these two girls had invited us up to their apartment, but once there–" Felix got cut off as their attention got pulled to inside the house as Rue walked in. 

"Ruhani! We didn't expect you home today. We thought you'd be out with friends" Rajan called through the open door. Rue walked over to speak with them.

"How's it feel to be all done with school?" Wolfgang asked.

"Today was your last day?" Felix questioned.

"Hasn't hit me yet. Still can't believe I'm done and graduating," Rue answered her dad and nodded toward Felix. "I just came home to change, then I'm going out with friends and staying at Sami's," she said. 

"Do you need money?" Wolfgang asked.

"Nnn..uhh...yes. Yes, I could use some," Rue said with a grin. 

Felix snorted a laugh. Rajan opened his wallet and handed a credit card to his daughter. Her eyes went a little wider at the offered card and she walked to Rajan to grab it. "Be good. I love you," he told her and she bent over to hug him. 

Wolfgang stood and gave Rue a hug. "Proud of you, kid." 

"Thanks, Dad," she said before turning to go back inside. 

"Wait! Rue!" Felix yelled to her and she turned to face him. "Call me if you get arrested and need someone to bail you out. I still owe Rajan for bailing me out that one time." 

"Don't get arrested," both of her fathers responded in unison. 

Rue giggled and stopped again. "What were you arrested for?"

"Being drunk and dumb," Felix said, waving a hand in the air as if it didn't matter. "It was in Mumbai and I remember this officer really didn't like me, I thought I was going to get deported or something! And my Hindi was garbage when I was drunk so I had no idea what he kept saying to me. But then your dad showed up and got me out right away!" Felix turned to Rajan, "what did you do, pay the guy off?" 

"No, no," Rajan said and rubbed a hand over his beard remembering. "It was maybe a couple of months after we had gotten married," he said looking at Wolfgang. "We had found that underground gay bar that we'd go to occasionally when Kala wanted us out of the house." Wolfgang smiled and nodded at this. "The officer was a regular there and recognized me right away when I walked into the station. He handed you over without question. I don't know if he was worried I would out him or was just doing me a favor." 

"See! I owe him, so call me if you get arrested," Felix said with a big grin. 

"I won't get arrested," Rue assured her dads. "I'm going to grab my stuff and go. Bye! Love you!" she said as she retreated back into the house. 

"You three raised a good kid," Felix said and raised his beer bottle slightly in Wolfgang and Rajan's direction.

Wolfgang looked at Rajan and then they both leaned in to kiss each other. "Yeah, we did," he agreed.

"Dad"

"Dad"

Wolfgang woke with a start to someone shaking his foot. 

"Shhh. Don't wake Mom and Papa, just connect with me," Rue said. She was standing at the end of his bed having just woken him up. Wolfgang connected with his daughter like she requested and found himself outside on a street corner. He could see people milling around outside multiple nightclubs up ahead. 

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Wolfgang asked, his eyebrows pulled together in concern. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was wondering if you would walk me home," she asked with a guilty smile. 

Wolfgang let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Shit, Rue. You scared me. For a second I thought you actually got arrested. What time is it? Where are your friends?" 

"It's a little after 3:00 am. We were at that club," Rue gestured behind her. "They got trashed so I put them in a cab back to Sami's place. I didn't want to deal with their drunken stupidity tonight." 

"Should have put yourself in a cab too." Wolfgang said as they started walking in the direction of home.

"Yeah, I know. I wanted to walk, burn off some of this energy," she said, skipping a little as they walked. "I'm sorry I woke you up, I wanted to run an idea by you though." 

"What is it?" Wolfgang asked, side-eyeing her. 

"I want to travel this summer," Rue said. 

"Where to?"

"I don't know. Anywhere. Everywhere," Rue responded, throwing her arms out dramatically. "Before I was reborn, I was looking forward to just clubbing and drinking with my friends and having no responsibilities all summer. But now…"

"Your world's expanded," Wolfgang said understanding. 

"Yes! My world has expanded!" Rue agreed. "Now hanging at clubs with my high school friends seems so trivial. I want to see new places and I want to meet more of my cluster in person. What do you think?" she looked to her dad, worrying her lip between her teeth. 

Wolfgang slowly nodded. "Yeah, you should. Now would be the perfect time for you to do that." 

"What do you think Mom and Papa will say about this?" Rue asked.

"They'll be a little sad. The three of us already miss you and you haven't even left for university yet." Wolfgang bumped his shoulder to Rue with a small smile. "But they'll also be excited for you. You'll probably need to send Raj pictures everyday that you're gone." 

"Yeah, Papa will probably want to come with me," Rue said with a smile. 

"We're going to Mumbai at the end of summer, you should be there for at least some of that time to see your grandparents. But otherwise, you've got two months to go do whatever," Wolfgang said.

"Yes, I definitely want to go to Mumbai with you. I would come back for that. Speaking of, Mom said you were talking about moving back there," Rue asked.

Wolfgang nodded. "Yeah, maybe in the next couple years we will. Kala wants to spend more time with her parents while they're still around. And with Manendra having passed away, Raj wants to try to rekindle some relationship with his mother." 

"Sooo I have some ideas, but what's the reason we were kind of estranged from them?" Rue asked.

Wolfgang sighed. "Your Papa is such a kind and gentle person, but the few times I've seen him lose it has been toward his father. Manendra hated me, thought I conned my way into Rajan's marriage. He always did his best to pretend I didn't exist, which constantly pissed Raj off. The last straw though was when that fucker said something like 'How do I know she's even my grandchild?' about you." 

Rue stopped walking and her jaw dropped as she stared wide-eyed at her dad.

"I had to physically pull your Papa out of there. Raj was done with him after that."

They resumed walking. "Whoa, I can't even imagine Papa getting angry like that. But also, I don't look German at all. I think we have all guessed which one of you is my bio parent."

Wolfgang shrugged, "Yeah, it's beside the point though. Either way, doesn't make Raj or I any less your father. The fact that Manendra wouldn't respect that had Rajan stop trying for any relationship there." 

"Guy sounds like a dick," Rue said. 

Wolfgang huffed a laugh, "Yeah, he was."  They walked in comfortable silence for another block before they got to their building. Rue shot a guilty smile at her dad. "You don't have your keys, do you?" 

"I left them at Sami's, I didn't think I'd be home tonight," Rue said. 

Wolfgang crawled out of bed trying to not wake Kala and Rajan. He padded through the house until he got to the buzzer that would let Rue into the building, then waited in the entryway for her.

"Thanks, Dad," Rue said once she got in and hugged Wolfgang.

"Anytime, kid," he said as he hugged her back. "Go get some sleep." 

When Wolfgang re-entered his bedroom, Kala was sitting up in bed. "Was that Ruhani? Is she okay?" 

"Yeah, she's fine. She just wanted to be home." Wolfgang responded. 

Kala snuggled into Wolfgang as he laid back down. She rested her head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her. 

"Love you," she sleepily mumbled into him.

"I love you too. I love our family," he said and squeezed her a little closer.