Growing Down - Epilogue
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Epilogue
December 29th, 2043
Joe was in the hospital for over two weeks, released just in time for Christmas and Christmas shopping, which he and Nick did go home for, but everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells around the two of them. All the adults, anyway, but Bree was Joe’s god-daughter and she absolutely idolized Joe, hardly giving Joe and Nick a moment alone together. While Joe was healing, resting, Nick had been dealing with the clean-up of what had happened at the ceremony. The mail-boy Greg turned out to be Rudy Stamos’ brother, Gregorio, and the two had had a relationship much like the one he and Joe shared only they weren’t as good at hiding it. Jealous that Joe and he seemed to have everything while also having each other they’d first attempted to sabotage the couple by catching them together on tape or video. They needed concrete evidence that Joick was real, and they were determined - just not as determined as Nick and Joe were at staying hidden.
They started making their own counterfeit money and bringing in friends from across the world illegally, forming an organization that was out to, well, out Nick and Joe. But when that proved impossible, they were setting up to kidnap Joe and try and get a straight up confession out of Nick as the ransom price. Instead, everything went wrong the night Rudy drunkenly met with Nick in a chance meeting and Nick had shot him. Greg, naturally, had geared for revenge and found out from Matt who had really shot Rudy because Harris had accidentally let it slip one night off duty. Unwilling to directly help his foster brothers, but not really helping Nick, either, Matt was also the one who told them about the President’s plan to vanish, which was what Nick had suspected ever since it had all gone wrong. He’d also withheld the real ransom contact information, fearing his own minimal involvement would be discovered if everything was laid out on the table like that. In the end, though, at that final moment at the reinstatement ceremony, Matt had chosen the side of his brother and died for it.
Joe had died, too. The bullet had just missed vital parts, his brother was very lucky to have survived a shot like that, or so Nick was told over and over again. And he believed it. He didn’t remember hitting the Secret Service Agents or the Paramedic, but the video footage didn’t lie; all he remembered was how desperate he’d been to get to Joe. He’d managed to break a few ribs on one of the Agents, too, but no one was pressing charges.
What Matt hadn’t known, however, was that Greg and his band of unlikely friends were planning on kidnapping the President, since they couldn’t seem to get to Joe. Also, once Nick had vanished, Joe would have been even more difficult to get to, so their best bet was to go after Nick himself. They had initially wanted Nick to suffer the most, to suffer the loss of a brother, but realistically it was easier to get to Nick, which was partly Nick’s own fault and he’d be the first to admit it. Nick had hoped that if Joe stated he would run for President, it would force whoever his (at the time) unknown adversary was to make a move, especially since Nick has somehow escaped; but they hadn't begun to panic until Joe moved into the White House and they called him. It was some kind of ironic twist of Fate that Greg had decided Nick’s death the more important for his message, but Joe had still been the one to get shot, in the end.
They’d found all this out from Harris who had found a few letters among Greg’s possessions that verified this information. It also fit now that they knew more about Matt and his relationship to the two brothers; the two lovers. It tore Nick a new hole to think that this had all happened because of love and made him appreciate what he had even more. Against Nick’s direct orders, Harris had destroyed the letters and now the only people who knew who had really killed Rudy Stamos were Joe, Harris and himself. It was probably better this way, but it was hard living with so many secrets that could get him in trouble.
At the moment, Nick was sitting at the mahogany desk in the Presidential Suite planning his campaign, Joe was sitting on the couch and ‘helping,’ which basically meant watching a movie and agreeing to almost every suggestion Nick made. And, yeah, if Joe had put on a few extra pounds since the shooting, well, Nick wasn’t saying anything about it. “You’re a real help, dude, you know that?” he said with a roll of his eyes and heard Joe laugh at the obvious sarcasm. Finally ditching the notes, he got up and walked over to the couch, plopping down next to Joe and stealing some of his brother’s popcorn. “What’s so interesting over here, anyway?” he asked, eyeing the commercial dubiously before looking back at Joe, face inches from his lover’s.
“Nothing, I just wanted you to come over here,” Joe admitted as if it was something to be proud of and Nick snorted. He didn’t have time for any other reaction when suddenly his lips and tongue were otherwise occupied. Joe was still more or less restricted from engaging in strenuous activity, which for them meant Nick did most of the work in bed lately (if it even got that far), but he figured he enjoyed it, too, and Joe had saved his life and all, he’d let it slide this once.
They were both sleeping in the Presidential Suite so that Nick could take care of Joe and help him with anything he needed, etcetera. They could have hired a nurse for that, but Nick had insisted he be the one and everyone let themselves believe it was a guilt thing. “You know,” Joe said and brought a hand to Nick’s hair, playing with the curls there. “I’m pretty much up to moving back to my own room as of last week.” He was smiling, an amused glint in his eyes as he added, “People are already suspicious, so I could manage on my own again, if you wanted.” The words stung because he remembered how Joe had moved to kiss him and Nick had pulled away. If CPR hadn’t worked it would have been the last time their lips touched. It seemed cruel to be willing to have let things end that way with Joe beneath him, and he denying a simple kiss to the love of his life.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking down and away from Joe’s eyes which were almost masking the hurt that still lingered there. He bristled uncomfortably and Joe just remained absolutely still. Nick had apologized before when they’d first gotten back to the White House, and Joe had brushed it off obviously still irked by the situation but not ready to talk about it, and Nick still felt terrible. But if Joe was making jokes about it, it really meant he was hurting and ready to discuss it at least somewhat, and this meant Nick had to own up to his own shortcomings.
“Yeah, well,” Joe said, shrugging uncomfortably. All was not forgiven, but it would be eventually, but for now he had to deal with Joe’s silent, accusatory glances. They’d stopped calling each other names during serious fights over thirty years ago, and their fights were very few and far between, but the timbre of his brother’s voice held all the names necessary. Jackass, douchebag, dick and a variety of others that took too long to really think about. “You kinda suck sometimes, you know?”
He nodded, eyes closing against the tears welling there and he bit his tongue to keep from saying anything just yet. “I don’t think any apology I ever give you will be good enough, Joe, and if I could redo that moment I would. I acted on instinct and I’m sorry. I can promise you, though, that I will make it up to you.” He took a deep breath, a plan on just how he would make it up to Joe already set in his mind, and he gave his brother a semi-confident smirk which grew into a genuine smile as he saw Joe bodily relax. His biggest problem was going to be keeping it a secret, but if he was the only one who knew, then it’d be difficult but not impossible.
He shifted so they could cuddle and turn their attention to whatever movie was on the SyFy channel, but mostly ignoring it as they occasionally kissed and just enjoyed being with each other. “I love you,” he said softly.
Joe just grunted and muttered, “Ditto.” He chuckled and added, “And as for making it up to me, there’s really only one way you could and sorry little bro’, but you don’t have the guts for it.” And just like that his plan cemented, because Joe’s words had sounded entirely too much like a dare.
Joe moved back into his own room a few weeks later but there weren’t any bitter or hard feelings about it, it was just necessary and they both knew it, even if they didn’t like it. Their father passed away shortly after Easter, outliving the doctor’s expectations by over a month but after that Joe and Nick went to a lot more family functions. Nick got re-elected, winning the election by a lot, everyone remembered what he’d gone through and how far he’d gone to save Joe’s life; tragedy helped with popularity, sadly.
In 2046, Joe adopted a little girl from an orphanage. Her parents had moved to the states from France and Ariel had been born on American soil, but when she was three she’d been in a car crash. The crash has killed both parents and she’d been in the orphanage ever since, no one wanted to adopt the little blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl who had scars from her right cheek bone to her collarbone along with various smaller ones dotting her right arm and leg. She was five when Joe had adopted her, and Joe was planning on paying for plastic surgery when she was old enough that it would do any good, if she wanted him to, anyway. Although he’d originally planned on waiting a few more years before adopting a kid, (and had originally intended on adopting a boy), when Joe got an idea in his head he usually lost patience and did research. He’d dragged Nick along on his visits to various adoption agencies and orphanages, but once he saw her and their eyes met Joe and Nick had both had fallen completely and hopelessly head over heels for her. Once they heard her story, though, that was when they decided that maybe adoption didn’t have to wait after all.
While Joe had bought a new house in D.C., the three of them lived in the White House and Ariel had her own room which she seemed to like just fine. She was happy, too. It had taken a few months for her to adjust to having Joe as a parent rather than being at the orphanage, but once she realized she wouldn’t have to leave she bloomed like a rose in spring time. She called Nick ‘Uncle Nicky,’ but he was really more like a second parent and everyone noticed how domestic the three of them really were. It didn’t take long before even the staff considered her family, and for Nick there was nothing better than making her smile, and sometimes her smiles were worth more to him than Joe’s. She was their Princess, their Angel, and the rest of the family welcomed her as if she were truly Jonas by blood and not just by name. Bree instantly made it her personal job to become Ariel’s best friend, of course, but it was nice the two of them bonded so quickly.
It wasn’t until a few years later that Nick would be able to properly make good on his promise to make up for that lost kiss by the inaugural podium. Later, he would tell the press that it was a simple display of brotherly love, he’d smooth it all over that he was so relieved he was no longer President that he’d gotten a bit more personal with Joe in public than he usually did; excited at the prospect that now that he’d lived out that one dream he could pursue others. He’d claim he’d gotten lost up in the moment and hadn’t realized what it might look like if he kissed Joe like that and let them know small pecks on the lips were normal for them and didn’t mean what people would assume they did, but he wouldn’t quite be able to hide the small smirk that belied there was more to the story he definitely wasn’t telling - and wouldn’t tell.
It happened in January, 2049, and Nick turned to the new President as he finished his own speech on the Podium and said, “Being the President is easily comparable to being married to the most high maintenance woman imaginable but I can tell you from experience she’s worth every second of it.” He smiled as the audience laughed appreciatively and then added, “President Brennan, I’m sure you’ll do a marvelous job and I hope I’ve left everything organized enough for you, but forgive me a moment when I say I’m free!” Again, more laughter, this speech had been planned for a really long time and not even Joe had gotten to hear it beforehand. In fact, he’d purposefully avoided Joe all week to keep from accidentally giving anything away. After everyone had stopped laughing once more he added, “Really, though, I wish you the best, President Brennan, and good luck.”
And with that he walked purposefully back toward where Joe was standing and passed by where he was supposed to stop and Joe raised an amused eyebrow in his direction. Ariel was with Bree in the audience along with their other family members, but Joe got to be on the stage which was exactly what Nick had needed. He stepped right into his older brother’s personal space and placed a hand on either side of Joe’s face before leaning in and kissing Joe right on the lips. It was a pretty short, chaste kiss and was over almost as quickly as it began and as he pulled away he whispered, “See? I told you I’d make it up to you.” Joe blinked once, twice, and then burst out laughing as he pulled Nick into a tight hug.
~THE END~
((Sorry that's uber corny at the end...but...yeah. idk.))