This is the sequel to The Detective's Son. I'm still writing my other stories but this idea caught me and wouldn't let go. I hope you enjoy this. Just so everyone knows, there is no death of Justin or Brian in this story.

The plane hit another patch of turbulence, and a woman two rows back screamed. If he hadn't been so pissed off at Brian, he wouldn't have even been on this plane let alone in economy. Brian was such a snob he would never fly less than first class. But Justin needed to get away from Brian for a while. After Brian made a smart ass comment about how much the trip would cost, Justin made sure to only spent his personal money. He was still a relatively unknown in the art world so his painting didn't bring in a lot.

He was supposed to leave last night but his flight was overbooked. He was put on the first flight out this morning. He was still too mad at Brian so he stayed at the airport hotel. After that he was going to have to count every penny.

When Brian asked him what he was going to do about Briana, Justin almost screamed at him. The man had spent less and less time with both of them since September.

He thought everything was great, sure they had a fight when he found out Brian lied about the doctor's visit. The only saving grace there was Briana being healthy. Justin decided to tell Brian the truth about having sex with Calvin, his sister's brother-in-law. Brian didn't like it but he got over it, at least Justin thought he did. He was having his suspicions now that he hadn't. He only had a one-night stand with the man. He didn't know at the time that it was Vicky's brother-in-law. He hadn't even asked the man's name. It wasn't until Vicky and Lewis came with his brother, Calvin that Justin found out the man's name.

Calvin hit on him a couple other times, the last was when they all were in Disney World four months ago in June. He almost went to Calvin's room but instead went back to his husband. He thought that was the turning point, but maybe he shouldn't have told Brian anything.

In the past month he had barely seen Brian. The man was putting in more hours at work than he ever had before. He also was staying at his old loft more and more. Justin went to pick up Gus for their weekend with him only to find out Brian already had him. They were staying at the loft. Justin lied and told Briana that Gus was sick and couldn't come.

He didn't know what was going on but he could see the writing on the wall. His marriage was over. That was why he decided to take this trip. He needed the time alone to think. Having Briana always with him asking where Brian was…was starting to get to him. So for the first time in almost five years he only had to worry about his own wants and needs; because even if Brian was going to divorce him he knew he would take care of Briana.

Justin didn't know why his marriage was over but he couldn't fix it alone. Brian refused to say more than two words to him. And when he did it was always because he was busy at work. Justin couldn't stand hearing his little girl ask why Daddy didn't love her anymore. He was glad Brian hadn't wanted another child now. Just the thought of bringing another child into that environment was horrifying. He still wanted another child but he would do it as a single parent. He was never getting married again.

"Settle down, Joshua," the older woman on the aisle seat said to the little boy beside him.

The little boy looked to be about three. He had dark black hair with brown almond shaped eyes. He was a cute little thing but he was constantly wiggling around in his seat.

"Sorry, Nan, but I gots ants in my pants," Joshua said as he wiggled once more.

Justin couldn't help but snort at the little boy's reply. The woman seemed to be embarrassed by the little boy's antics though.

"I'm sorry," she said to Justin. "This flight is very long for a three-year-old."

"No need to apologize. I know what you mean, I couldn't imagine having my almost five-year-old with me. She would be driving everyone mad with her complaining."

"You can't have an almost five-year-old. You're just a child yourself," the woman said.

"I not only have an almost five-year-old but I also have a seven-year-old stepson."

"You and your wife must be very happy with your little ones."

"Husband, actually." He wasn't going to start lying about himself now.

"Oh… that's nice," she said, he could see she was telling the truth though a little surprised.

"You gots a husban?" Joshua asked.

"I do," Justin said before his smile faded, remembering he probably wouldn't have one for very much longer.

Turbulence shook the plane again. Justin heard the little boy next to him whimper.

"It's okay, Joshua. It's just wind. We'll be free of it soon." He hoped he was telling the truth; he was a little worried himself with all the turbulence.

Justin looked out the window and saw the clouds, they were so bright they made his eyes water. They were over the Atlantic on their way to Amsterdam. Then he would have to rush to catch his flight to Rome. He had already flown from Pittsburgh to New York then boarded this flight. He was already tired of airplanes.

"Can I look?" Joshua asked once the turbulence stopped.

"If it's okay with your nan," he told the boy.

"Please, Nan. I want to look out the window."

"Just for a little bit."

Justin traded seats with the small boy and smiled at the woman.

"So where are you headed?" he asked, trying to make conversation.

"Away," she said sadly.

"That sounds far."

She looked Justin straight in the eyes and said, "You have no idea how far."

"I'm sorry, it's none of my business. I shouldn't be prying," he said guiltily.

"It's alright. It's just a long story."

"I've got the time if you want to tell me."

The woman looked down at her wrinkled hands before looking back at him. "Joshua is my daughter Jackie's son. Jackie was my only child." He caught the use of past tense when she spoke about her daughter. "When Jackie was four, I married a very bad man. I didn't know that until much later. Because of that, my daughter had a lot of problems. I didn't see it until it was too late." She looked at Joshua, making sure he was still enthralled with what he was seeing out the window.

"You don't have to tell me," he told her.

"It's been eating at me for years; I feel if I don't tell you, I'll never tell anyone. I don't know why but it feels right, maybe it will be cathartic. Anyway, as I was saying because of things that happened to her, she turned to drugs. By the time she was eighteen her addiction had taken over her life. She ran off but came back three years later. She was pregnant and had nowhere to go.

"She was able to get clean during her pregnancy; she loved him, I know she did. A day after she and Joshua came home from the hospital… she was gone. It was two days after I made the missing persons report that they called me. I had to take a seven day old baby to the morgue. The kind woman in front held him so I could identify my child's body."

Justin reached over and grabbed her hand. Both his dad and Brian had told him about the horror of going to see if a baby in the morgue was Briana. They had been lucky and it wasn't her. But some other family had been unlucky and that had been their baby. It still made him sick just thinking about it.

"I'm so sorry."

"It is what it is. I have Joshua now; we only have each other. Jackie didn't know who his father was; she didn't have a good memory of the prior three months before she found out she was pregnant. I don't really know why I decided on this trip. I guess I just wanted to see the world before I leave this world."

Justin gasped. "You're dying?" He slapped his hand over his mouth, not believing he just said that.

"They said I'd have a ten percent chance, if I took the treatment. Treatment means I wouldn't be able to care for Joshua. He's so young, he probably won't remember me."

Justin felt a little sick. He didn't know her; she was just a woman on a plane with him. That didn't matter though, he felt like he was going to cry for her. For her and for Joshua.

"Do you have family that is going to take in Joshua?"

The woman sadly shook her head. "No, I don't have anyone."

"What are you going to do?" He was nosy, he could own that.

"I'm a big believer in signs. I believe when the universe finds the perfect person to raise Joshua, I'll know. I just hope it's before I get any sicker."

They sat there for a few awkward moments. He thought about what she told him. He had Brian to raise Briana if something happened to him. Then they had his dad and siblings as backups. Hell, they even had Brian's sister if everyone else died. Claire had been much better since marrying again.

"Listen to me, just going on at the mouth. You don't want to hear an old woman's problems. I don't even know your name."

"I'm glad you shared your story with me. My name is Justin."

"I knew a Justin once. He stole my garden gnomes." She looked at him suspiciously.

"I promise; I've never stolen a gnome in my life."

They both laughed. "Barbara Carmichael," she introduced herself.

"Look sky," Joshua said when they broke out from some clouds.

The plane shook again, this time the it rolled to the left slightly. The fasten seatbelts indicator came on and the flight attendants quickly made sure everyone was buckled. Because they were still in turbulence Justin quickly moved Joshua back to his seat in the middle and helped buckle him up. He had to wave off a flight attendant as he got into his seat by the window again.

"Nan, are we still in the sky?" Joshua asked with a slight panic to his voice.

"Yes, but don't worry about that. The pilot will fix everything."

Just then the pilot's barely masked panicked voice came on the loud speaker telling staff to buckle up. What happened next seemed to be the slowest few minutes of his life. The plane went into a nosedive; the pilot was back warning about the possibility of a crash landing.

Justin was surprised the man said crash landing, not water landing. He looked out and saw a bit of land, it seemed the pilot was trying to get to the island.

Panicked screaming filled the cabin and Justin closed his eyes. He thought about Briana and Brian. He thought about his parents, siblings and his friends. He thought about never seeing them again.

He was pulled out of his thoughts of hopelessness by Joshua crying out. Justin looked over at the little boy to see him crying and shaking in his seat. The boy's nan looked like she was in shock; she wasn't saying or doing anything just letting her body be jostled by the plane's rapid decline. Justin grabbed Joshua's small hand.

The oxygen masks dropped, and just as he was reaching for Joshua's mask he felt more than saw the plane breaking apart. Justin was able to get Joshua's mask on him just the plane lurched again, Justin banged his head into the window- and everything went black.

---

"Daddy, can we go to the park?" Briana asked him.

Brian couldn't believe Justin left on such short notice. If he would have given him one more day, the blonde would have dissolution papers. Their 'marriage' had been over since Justin started lying to him. He could handle Justin's one off with Calvin but seeing someone behind Brian's back was something completely different.

They still had an open marriage but they had rules. No kissing, no names and no repeats. He had followed those rules perfectly. But Justin, the one who made the rules, had been the one to break them.

It had been a month since he learned that his 'husband' was running around on him. Sex he could handle, hell he had his share of conquests but this was more. This guy was calling Justin morning, noon and night. Brian had been suspicious from the first time Justin mentioned that he had something to do on Thursday nights. Not wanting to seem like that kind of husband, Brian didn't ask what he was doing.

The calls started soon after, Justin would look at his phone and who was calling then he would go to another room. Because of who he was, he never asked Justin who he was talking to. It wasn't until last week that he had his suspicions confirmed. It was past midnight when Justin's phone started ringing. Justin got up and answered it. Then he put his clothes on and snuck out like a thief in the night. Once Justin came back while he was in the shower Brian checked his phone. The call was from a man named Clay. When Brian asked him where he went, Justin told him that he had somewhere he needed to be. That was it, no explanation…no nothing.

"Please, Daddy?" Briana asked again, interrupting his thoughts.

"Not today," he told her.

"Why don't you love me anymore, Daddy?" she asked, tears running down her face.

Brian sighed. This wasn't how he thought his life would be after marrying Justin. He had known Justin was young but had convinced himself that as long as Justin got to sew up his wild oats maybe he wouldn't leave him or find someone younger. But he seemed to be wrong on that count.

The worst part was that he was letting Briana down. He just didn't know how to fix it. He was so angry with Justin for his cheating on him that he was taking it out on her. It wasn't a conscious decision but it just happened. He didn't know if it was because she looked so much like Justin or he didn't want to hurt worse when Justin took her away from him.

There was no way the new guy was going to have Briana call him daddy though. Brian would make sure of that.

"Daddy," Brian cried, shaking him once again out of his reverie.

"You didn't do anything. I still love you so much. You'll always be my princess, right?"

He watched her as she sniffled and used her sleeve to dry her eyes. "Yes."

"Don't do that, it's not sanitary. Why don't you go get cleaned up and we'll go to the diner for lunch?"

Her eyes lit up like he just offered her the moon. "You haven't taken me there in forever. Do you think Gus and J.R. will be there? I miss playing with them."

Brian cursed himself for letting his insecurities mess with his relationship with his daughter. And she was that, he adopted her right before her second birthday.

"I'm not sure, but if not this weekend we can ask Lindsay and Mel if they can come over. How does that sound?"

"Yes, It's going to be so much fun. Gus and J.R. are so lucky to get to live with each other. Sometimes, I wish I lived with them. But then I wouldn't be able to live with you and Papa and that's never going to happen. I love living with both of you. I just wish you were home more and we did more family things, you know… like you used to do."

The guilt started eating at him again. He really was an awful father this last month. It was just so hard to be home and pretend that life was the same when it wasn't. Justin had taken their life together and thrown it away. He treated Brian like a fool, and that was inexcusable.

"I promise; we'll do more things together. Just you and me, okay?"

"Yay."

It was an hour later when they tumbled into the Diner. The snow had come early and covered the ground. He helped Briana unbundle then shed his leather jacket.

"Can I get a milkshake?" Briana asked, she was looking up at him with those big blue eyes.

"After lunch, not with," he told her, promising himself to be a better father.

---

Gus and J.R. were upstairs playing. Lindsay finally had a moment to herself. She loved both of her children but sometimes she just wanted a break from them. Usually Michael would take J.R. and Brian would take Gus for the weekend. Lately though it had been tense, Gus had told her that Brian was taking him to the loft to stay instead of his home. She had known for the better part of a month that Justin and Brian were having problems. She just had no idea what it was that bad.

It wasn't her any of her business but she couldn't lie and say she wasn't curious. The last time she saw Justin he seemed sad. Brian always just seemed angry nowadays. She longed for the snarky asshole he used to be.

Her phone rang bringing her out of her thoughts. She rolled her eyes when she saw it was her sister.

"Lynette, how are you this evening?" she answered as primly as she could muster.

"Lindsay," Lynette said, Lindsay could tell she was crying.

"Lynny, what's wrong," she asked worriedly.

"Turn on the news, it's Mom and Daddy," she said brokenly.

Lindsay ran over to the TV and turned it on. There was breaking news over the normal broadcasting. On the ticker on bottom it was talking about the loss of Liberty Airlines flight 530. They lost contact with the plane two hours ago over the Atlantic.

"I don't understand."

"That's the flight Mom and Daddy were on. They were going to Italy, they had a layover in Amsterdam."

Just like that Lindsay's life started to spiral out of control. She had to catch herself before she fell to the ground. This couldn't be happening. They had just started to come around and accept that her and Mel were together. They had even invited her, Mel and the kids to brunch at the club. Dropping the phone to the ground she let the panic overtake her.

Brian had just dropped Briana off at Debbie's for an overnight when his phone rang.

"What?"

"Daddy, something's wrong with Mommy," Gus cried. Instantly, Brian's mind turned to what awful things could befall Lindsay and his son.

"Gus, what's wrong?"

"She's just sitting on the couch watching TV. It's the news about a plane. Mommy won't move away from the TV. I tried to call Mama but she's not answering her phone."

Mel always turned her phone off if she was with a client. With everything going on with Justin he was less involved in knowing what was going on in Gus's life.

"I'm on my way," he told Gus.

When Brian arrived at Lindsay's he was greeted at the door by Gus. His son had tears running down his face and his eyes were puffy. J.R. was behind him and she looked just as upset. He followed Gus into the living room where Lindsay was staring blankly at the TV. The TV had been switched off.

"I turned it off because it made her cry harder," Gus said as if he read Brian's mind.

"Thanks, take J.R. and go upstairs. I'll take care of her." Gus looked like he wanted to argue but turned and followed his father's directions. Once the kids were upstairs he turned to Lindsay.

"Linz, what's going on? You're freaking the kids out." She continued to stare blankly at the dark screen. He knelt in front of her and kissed her lightly on the lips. It always had worked on Justin when he would shut himself down.

Lindsay pulled away from him and blinked a few times. "Brian."

"Linz."

"What are you doing here?"

"Gus called me. What's going on?"

Lindsay's eyes seemed to clear of the fog she was in. Her expression changed to one of pain. "They're gone."

"Who's gone?"

"My parents." She reached for the remote and turned on the news.

Brian looked at the screen stunned. He realized what Lindsay was saying. He never liked her parents but she loved them dearly, even when they treated her like garage.

"They were on the plane?" he asked to verify. He had heard the news report on the radio on his way over.

Lindsay nodded her head, silent tears running down her face. "Lynette called, they were going to Italy, with a stopover in Amsterdam. It's their flight number. Liberty flight 530."

For a second Brian worried about Justin but then remembered Justin's flight was last night. He may be pissed as hell at Justin, but he would never get over it if he died. Briana needed both of them, even if they weren't living together anymore.

---

Once they were finally able to reach Mel he left to take Gus and J.R. to spent the night at Deb's with Briana. After he did that he went back to Lindsay's, everyone but Deb and Carl were there. Emmett was fluttering around trying to make sure everyone was comfortable. Mel was wrapped around Lindsay as they watched the ongoing coverage. Ted was making calls on Lindsay's behalf to see what the airline was telling families. Blake, who Ted just started to date again, was in the kitchen making some kind of stew. Ben and Michael were silently sitting on the floor, they both looked like they just arrived shortly before he had.

"Anything new?" he asked Mel, Lindsay was too engrossed in the coverage to hear him.

"No. They can't find a fucking thing from the flight. It's like it disappeared into thin air."

Hours passed and Ted didn't have any luck with the airline. Lindsay's sister and her new husband were at the airport demanding attention. Mel took Brian to the side and asked if he had anything that would help Lindsay sleep. He didn't because he had stopped the drug use after his cancer diagnosis. But he called one of his tricks, a doctor, who owed him a favor. He called the prescription in and Michael and Ben went to get the meds. After Lindsay had screamed at Emmett for his chattering, Emmett decided to leave. Blake had left when the emotions started running high.

Brian was sitting on the ugly green chair that she found at a second hand store when his phone rang.

"Kinney," he answered.

"Brian Kinney," a feminine voice said.

"You called me," he said gruffly.

The person on the other line sniffled. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. My name is Clay Lopez, I'm a friend of Justin's. I was wondering if there is anything I can do for you and your family in your time of need."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" The voice he had mistaken for a female was a man. And to make matters worse it was Clay. Clay- Justin's boyfriend.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry, I thought you would have seen the news. The plane going missing." The man was rambling.

"How do you know Lindsay's parents were on board?" he asked suspiciously. Had Justin called him? Which one of Brian's so called friends called him?

"Who's Lindsay?"

"What? If you didn't know about Lindsay's parents, then why are you calling?"

"Because Justin. Because him and his whole flight is missing."

"What are you talking about? Justin's flight was last night."

"No. His flight last night was overbooked. He got the first flight early this morning. He called me last night to tell me that he had to get all his flights changed. The airline was able to move his flight from Amsterdam to Rome. I keep hoping that he didn't get on the plane in New York today but I know he did."

"I need you to come over here," he told Justin's boyfriend and then gave him Lindsay's address. He needed more information before he called Carl. Justin was safe, he had to be; anything else was unacceptable.

He didn't tell anyone else about Clay coming over. In fact, he didn't talk to anybody at all since he got the call. He could see the questioning looks from Mel and Ted but he did his best to ignore them.

Michael and Ben arrived soon after and gave Mel Lindsay's medicine. Mel was able to get Lindsay upstairs to rest. Brian noticed when Michael figured out something was up. He ignored his bugging him to tell him though.

Twenty minutes later someone rang the doorbell. Brian beat everyone to the door. He was expecting someone like Vas, Justin's ex. Someone tall, built and gorgeous. That's not who he saw though. The man at the door could barely be called a man. He was seventeen if he was a day. He was also smaller than Justin with dark tanned skin. He had a blue fauxhawk.

"Clay?"

"Are you Brian? God, Justin wasn't kidding, you're hot." The boy blushed deeply, a feat with his skin tone.

"Yes, I'm Brian. Can I ask you a question before I let you into the house?" He couldn't explain why he needed the details, maybe because his anger would help him get through the next few hours.

"Sure." The kid's eyes were red and puffy but he was holding himself together well.

"How do you know my husband?"

"Oh… I… I met him in group. He has been a godsend. He's been the big brother that I used to pray for."

"Group?"

"Yeah, Sexual Assault Survivors. I met Justin a little over a month ago. A friend made me go, that's how I met him. He gave me his number and told me to call if I ever needed anything. I think he knew how close I was to the edge. He let me call him and just sob on the phone. I know some of those times he was exhausted from everything else he had in life going on. I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for him. Last week, I lost myself. I called Justin just to tell him goodbye. He talked me into telling him were I was. He came and let me cry on him. I was a mess. Then he drove me to a treatment facility. I just got out two days ago. The Dandelion House has accepted me. I'm supposed to move in tomorrow. I know that Justin did something to get me in." The kid sniffled again.

"The Dandelion House?" he asked, processing what he just heard.

"It's a teen shelter for abused teens. It has real doctors; I haven't been able to see real ones. For the first time in a long time, I see light. I wouldn't be able to do that without Justin."

"You said he's on the missing flight. How do you know?"

"Justin called me last night to tell me about his flight change."

"Why didn't he call me?"

"I don't know. He sounded really sad when I talked to him. I think he was just so tired. Justin never told me any of his worries or problems. I think I overwhelmed him with mine. I was so fucking selfish, it's all my fault."

"It's not your fault. You say here with us until tomorrow."

"I'm not going to off myself."

"I'm not taking that chance. Justin didn't do all this work with you for you to end it now."

Brian was talking and acting calm but on the inside he was dying. Justin hadn't been cheating on him. No, Justin had been helping someone. And he wasn't running off and having fun on Thursday nights, instead it was going to group counselling. One thing was for sure, when Justin comes home he has a lot to answer for. The secrets almost cost them their marriage.

 

 

I hope everyone enjoys this new chapter. Remember because this is a AU Justin hadn't seen Lindsay's parents or met ANYONE else. I know it's all pretty far-fetched but I hope it goes together well. R&R

 

The first thing Justin heard when he came to was a child crying in the distance. In his hazy brain it sounded like Briana. He opened his eyes and looked around for his daughter. It took a few minutes for him to realize where he was. He knew then it wasn't Briana crying.

 

He was still in the fuselage, at first he thought he was alone in there but then he saw he had been wrong. Most of the seats were in different places than they started in. There were bodies around him, the man that bitched at him earlier for being too slow was one of them. His neck was in a horrible unnatural position.

 

That was the moment he remembered Barbara and Joshua.

 

"Barbara," he called, his voice raspy.

 

He smelled smoke and knew he needed to get out but he wasn't going to leave them if they were in the plane still.

 

"Joshua."

 

There was no answer from any one of the bodies inside the plane. His eyes adjusted to the darkness inside the fuselage but still didn't see Joshua or Barbara. The back of the plane was open, it looked like someone took a can opener to it.

 

Once he was outside, he was blown away with the level of panic that was around him. People were walking around stunned, some were over bodies on the ground sobbing. His eyes burned in the sudden sunlight. He also noticed something wet running down his face. Wiping it away he saw that it was blood.

 

As soon as he sure of what he was doing, he started looking for Barbara and Joshua. He heard the child's cry again and looked for the source. It was then he saw Joshua, he was curled up to a body lying on the ground. He stomached dropped; it was Barbara, and she didn't look good.

 

He rushed over to them as quickly as he could. His leg ached as he did.

 

"Joshua," he called to the little boy.

 

Josh looked up at him and then back down to his grandmother. Justin saw her face then; she was still alive but only just. Kneeling down on the other side of Barbara he grabbed her hand.

 

"Barbara," he whispered her name.

 

Her foggy eyes landed on him. "Justin, you're alive." Tears started to fill her eyes.

 

"Yes, ma'am. Can I do anything for you?"

 

"Joshua."

 

"What about Joshua?"

 

"I'm not going to be here when help comes."

 

"Yes, you will," he lied.

 

"We both know that I can't overcome this." He knew she was referring to the piece of metal sticking out of her abdominal. "I need you to take care of Joshua. That means when you get rescued also. He needs a family; I don't want him in the system."

 

"Barbara, you don't know me," he pointed out.

 

"Like I said earlier, I believe in signs. There is a reason both you and he are alive. There is a reason we were seated together. I believe that is the same reason I was able to tell you about my past. I think it was meant to be. You are meant to be Joshua's father. "

 

"What!" he shouted. He looked over at Joshua who had fallen asleep against his grandmother's uninjured side.

 

"He needs a father not just someone to watch him. You said you have a daughter and stepson. He will have a brother and sister."

 

Justin stared at her in shock, not knowing what to say. He knew he would do it because he couldn't deny a grandmother's dying wish, and Joshua did need someone.

 

"I will protect him with my life." It was the only thing he could think to say.

 

"Good, that's really good. I need you to treat him like he is your natural child. If you can't-

 

"I can, I promise. I will love him like he is my own."

 

Barbara nodded and her eyes fluttered shut. He watched as she took her last breath. He stood back up and walked around her until he was by Joshua. Gently, he picked up the small boy. Joshua whimpered but soon settled into his arms. Looks like he left to find himself and found another child instead. He would make sure that Joshua never forgot his grandmother. When they are rescued, he hoped he wouldn't have any problems with the government on Joshua. All he had was his word that Barbara wanted him to raise Joshua.

 

"EVERYONE, PLEASE CALM DOWN!" a man yelled. He was in the outfit Justin recognized as a flight attendant's uniform. It was then he noticed the nose of the plane was trashed. The pilots most likely didn't make it. "Thank you," he said when it quieted down. "I need to know if we have a doctor or medical personal here.

 

"I'm a cardiologist," an older man said stepping up. He had been wearing a suit that was mostly in shreds now.

 

"I'm a EMT," a small woman with long black hair spoke up.

 

"Anyone else?" the flight attendant asked.

 

"We're nurses," a tall, blonde man said, pointing between him and an equally tall and blonde woman. He didn't know if they were twins, married or some weird mix.

 

"Good, I need you to go around and see who's in most need of help. My name is Francisco Fadega, I'm the only one of cabin crew to make it through the crash. I expect help to come soon, the only way that we won't is if the pilots went off course."

 

"What are the chances of that?" an older woman asked, she was standing with the cardiologist.

 

"Truthfully, there was a lot of turbulence, I can't be sure we didn't go off the course to try and get around it, but if we did it shouldn't be by much." Justin could see the man was more hoping he was right than speaking the truth.

 

The medical people took off in different directions. Justin was surprised that Francisco was able to take control so easily. While everyone else was freaking out, including him, Francisco was cool, calm and collected.

 

"Okay, next I need someone to do a head count. I need a number of people alive total, and people seriously injured. And for someone with a stronger stomach, I need someone to count the dead. I need to know if we are missing anyone. Including cabin crew, we had one-hundred and six people. Who will count the living and injured?"

 

"I'll do it," the woman that had been with the doctor said. Justin guessed she was the man's wife.

 

"Your name?" Francisco asked.

 

"Nancy Peterson," she said slowly. The name sounded familiar to Justin but he couldn't place it.

 

"Thank you, Nancy. Now, who can count the dead?"

 

This time it took longer for a volunteer to speak up, he didn't want to do it but he would have volunteered if he didn't have Joshua.

 

"I'll do it." This was from a young woman. She had her red hair pulled up in a ponytail and a sever look about her.

 

"Are you sure you can do this?"

 

Justin knew right away dear Francisco had made a mistake. The woman looked to only be a few years old than him but Justin could see that she was years older than her physical age.

 

The woman reached under the collar of her shirt and pulled something out. Justin squinted to see what it was. When he did he knew why she was as calm as Francisco. She had pulled out dog tags. She then leaned down and pulled up her pants leg revealing a prosthetic leg.

 

"This is my job," she said shortly.

 

Francisco nodded and the woman started to walk away.

 

"What's your name?" Francisco asked her.

 

"Ricki." She then turned and went about her duty. Justin was in awe of her strength and confidence.

 

"Okay, I'm going to need one more strong stomach, I'm going to be assisting this one. We need to move all the bodies away from camp. We don't know how long we're going to be here and the bodies will start to decay.

 

"I'll do it." This was another woman. She didn't look as hard and sever as the other woman. She was wearing a plain white shirt and jeans. The shirt was stained red from blood; he didn't know if it was hers or someone else's. She had long light brown hair.

 

"Okay, let's go…"

 

"Leda," she said before following him into the fuselage.

 

Justin looked around at everyone else. It looked like the only ones not panicking and flipping out were going about with their tasks now. He felt guilty but he had promised to take care of Joshua, and that's want he was going to do.

 

It was almost sundown when they had finished with their tasks. After Joshua woke up, they had been tasked with getting firewood. First they had been tasked with getting the food and water out of the fuselage, but Joshua freaked out when he was asked to go back in. There was no way Justin was going to leave him alone outside even with the others, he didn't know any of them.

 

He had explained to Joshua the best he could about his grandmother. He told him that she went to heaven. When Joshua asked if she was with his mommy, he knew that had been the route Barbara had gone. He told him that yes, she had gone to heaven to be with his mommy. Since he had never seen his mommy Joshua assumed they couldn't come back from heaven. That had helped because Justin didn't think he could stand Joshua asking when she was coming back.

 

He didn't know how long it would take before they were found but Francisco said it could be a couple of days. They would be looking at the last place they got a reading but that didn't mean that it was where they were. The electoral system of the plane was a wash, but they did have a man named Tony seeing if he could get the emergency radio working.

 

It was colder than he thought it would be on a beach so he had bundled Joshua in clothes people had donated to him.

 

"I go to your house?" Joshua asked as Justin held him while they set around the fire.

 

"Yep, you have a new big sister who lives with us and a big brother who lives somewhere else." He didn't care if he was jumping the gun, the child needed stability right now, not a maybe or an if.

 

Justin wanted to make sure Joshua didn't get dehydrated so he only sipped a little from his bottle. He wanted Joshua to have most of it. They had raided luggage and found quite a bit of food. Justin had found his own carryon that had some cookies in it, Joshua was very excited.

 

Justin and Leda had first watch, it had been Ricki's idea. She said it was harder for two to nod off than one. Leda had the first flare beside her ready for action.

 

"Where were you going?" he whispered to Leda, not wanting to wake Joshua.

 

"I had an ex who wanted me to come to her in Amsterdam. She paid for the ticket and everything, so I said what the hell. Biggest mistake of my life, she wasn't even that great of a lay, I only went because I thought I could get some good pictures."

 

Justin snorted. "That sucks."

 

"Tell me about it. I was only with her in the first place because she looked a lot like the one that got away."

 

"Are you from New York?" he asked. He was started to feel tired, he needed to keep talking so he could stay awake.

 

"Nah, from Michigan originally, then went to University of Pennsylvania for five weeks. It's were I met Melanie, the one that got away."

 

Justin almost mentioned that he knew a Melanie but he didn't want her to laugh at him. There had to be tons of women named Melanie, maybe hers was only experimenting in college. Justin didn't even know what school Mel went to. It would be too much of a coincidence to be stranded on the same damn island and know people in common.

 

"So what happened to the one that go away?" He knew he was being nosy but that's how he is. Brian always made fun of him for it. He stomped down the thought of Brian; it hurt too much.

 

"She met the love of her life," Leda said sadly.

 

"Oh."

 

"I still talk to her, they have kids and everything. I visited once a long time ago but I knew I wore out my welcome."

 

Just like that he remembered sitting in Lindsay's house. Brian was away on business and the house was just too empty with him and Briana. Linz offered to have him over for the night. While the kids played upstairs they talked about past loves.

 

They all knew about Vas, so really he didn't have much to say. Lindsay went on a little too much about Brian for his taste. Then, it was Mel's turn. The wild, fun, sexy Leda. This woman was sexy, he wasn't sure if she was fun and wild because of the way they had met but believed it was one and the same.

 

"Leda, Melanie Marcus' Leda," he said, a little too loudly going by Joshua shifting in his sleep.

 

"Mel. You know her?"

 

"Of course I know her; she is my son's other mother."

 

"Justin, you're that Justin. The one who tamed Lindsay's Brian."

 

"I wouldn't say he was Lindsay's Brian. And I really wouldn't say I tamed him. But yeah, I'm that one. This is crazy, you know to meet someone that you already knew about in this kind of situation."

 

"Lindsay and Melanie?" a new voice joined them.

 

Justin looked over and noticed it was the cardiologist.

 

"Umm… Yes, they are my friends," Justin said.

 

"Lindsay Peterson?" Nancy asked from beside her doctor husband, Ron.

 

"Yes. How did you know?" he asked.

 

"She's our daughter," Nancy said.

 

"You're the assholes who treat Lindsay like she's gum on the bottom of your shoes," Leda accused. He guessed Mel vented to her on the phone a lot.

 

"I beg your pardon," Nancy said.

 

"I'm just saying, how many times have you been around your grandchildren? How many family dinners have you had with them?"

 

"What's that supposed to mean?"

 

"Well, you obviously don't know Justin is your grandson's other father."

 

"What does that supposed to mean. We've met the man who is Gus's father, and it's not him," Nancy said pointing at Justin.

 

"No, I'm Brian's husband," Justin said bitterly.

 

"Would all of you just shut up, some of us want to get some sleep," a deep voice yelled at them. Justin hadn't met that man yet but he didn't like him.

 

They had been lucky and unlucky at the same time. Out of the one-hundred and six people there was thirty-eight unaccounted for, those they suspected were close to the back. Justin felt guiltily about being alive just because he was sitting closer the midsection of the plane. They had fourteen dead; ten died on impact, four died during the next several hours. That left them with fifty-four people. Out of the fifty-four, six were badly wounded and three were in trouble if their medicine couldn't be found.

 

Instead of them all staying in the same area they broke up in to four smaller groups. Justin was with the group that included the wounded and people with children. There was only one other woman who had a child with her. The kid was ten and his mother was one of the injured, she only had a broken leg though, Dr. Ron said it was a clean break so that was good. Logan, her son was a quiet kid, he mostly just sat beside her and read a book he found in the debris.

 

The three other groups were further down the beach. It helped to keep the fighting and agreements down. It had only been one day and they were at each other's throats. The only people Justin could stand was Leda and Ricki. Leda reminded him of a female Brian and Ricki was quiet, strong and someone that Justin respected even though he had known her less than a day.

 

Brian had gotten a confirmation from the airline that Justin had been on the flight. Lindsay got it confirmed that her parents had been on the same flight. They had been shopping in New York when they decided last minute to fly to Italy.

 

It had been almost two days since Justin's plane went missing. Brian had taken Clay to the Dandelion House and made sure he was safe. He had been shocked that a place like it existed and he never knew about it. He talked to the house mother when he dropped Clay off. It wasn't just sexual abuse teen survivors they take. They also take kids who had been physically abused at home.

 

There were three levels to the house. Clay was going to be in the top and most restricted level. Since he was a risk to his own safety it was the one with its own medical staff, including a two doctors who volunteered there. The bottom floor was a starting out place for teens. They had shared bedrooms and place to stay while they finished school and got jobs. No one was turned away unless they hurt other kids at the facility, and then they just found another place for them.

 

It was a place that he thought could have helped him get away from Jack once upon a time. This was a place that could have helped Justin too. It was a nice but underfunded place. Brian made it his new personal goal to help them with getting more funding.

 

God, when did he become some "save-the-world" hero? Oh, he remembered now, it was about the same time he asked Justin to marry him.

 

He was running late and knew as soon as he got home Justin was going to queen out on him. He had been working long hours with Ted, Brown Athletics were demanding a revamp of the what they had done with a new line. It was taking most of his time just to keep up on all their changes. His junior execs were working on the easier accounts, but everything still needed to go by him for approval.

 

When he walked through the front door the first thing he noticed was how quiet it was. With an almost two-year-old it was never quiet. And he knew they were supposed to have Gus this weekend. There should have been giggling and playing but there was just a darkened house.

 

"Justin!" he called.

 

There was no answer. He sat his briefcase down by the front door and went in search of his family. The living room was dark, and more surprisingly there was no toys strewn about on the floor. He was always getting on to Justin about not cleaning up after the baby. She was always throwing her toys around and Justin would just leave them where they fell. After almost breaking his neck sliding on a toy Frisbee on the floor, they had a huge fight. Brian had moved having Clarence from cleaning once a week to three times. Justin hadn't been happy with that.

 

It seemed nothing he did made Justin happy, and he was about to give up trying.

 

Brian was started to get worried about not finding Justin or the kids when he noticed the note on the kitchen table.

 

It read, 'Brian, I tried to call you but your phone was off and no one was answering your work line. I guess since it's already five o'clock Friday night, you either decided not to come with us or you forgot. I have taken Gus and Briana to Philadelphia for the weekend, like we had planned to see The Nutcracker. We have a suite at the Royal Blue Inn, if you choose to join us. We won't be back until Sunday night. Love, Justin.'

 

He had forgotten all about the damned trip. Justin had been planning it for weeks. Brian told him how stupid it was to take a two-year-old and four-year-old to see The Nutcracker. Justin had told him that he was just being a spoilsport. He had finally agreed to go with Justin and the kids to Philly. It wasn't until he read the note that he had remembered though.

 

It seemed like all he was doing lately was messing up. He knew he would have to do something big for Justin to forgive him this time. He knew just the thing too. Packing his things, he went to his dresser and pulled out the small hidden box. The rings inside the box he had bought last month after his adoption of Briana was finally finalized. The rings were a spur-of-the-moment purchase but he knew he wanted to marry Justin, now he just had to convince the man to marry him.

 

Brian smiled slightly at the memory of his proposal to Justin. He had surprised Justin by coming to the Inn in Philly. The ballet was on Saturday night, Brian had been right, they had to leave early because the kids weren't interested. He had surprised Justin with champagne and roses. It was terribly sappy and romantic and Justin quickly accepted his proposal.

 

He kept calling Justin's cell phone. He knew it was useless but he just wanted to hear the man's voice, even if it was just his voicemail. Carl had called earlier and asked Brian to come by the house. Brian had forbid anyone telling Briana about Justin's plane. He didn't want to tell her until the plane was found. Even then he didn't want to tell her, it would make it real.

 

The first day after the plane went missing, he was too occupied with helping Clay and Lindsay. Ever since he dropped Clay off he had been watching the news non-stop. Briana, Gus and J.R. were still over at Deb's. He needed to bring his daughter home. Without Justin the house was lonely, but without Briana it was completely devoid of feeling like home. Justin was coming home…. there was no other option. And when he did, Brian was going to have Briana waiting for him.

 

He had mistakenly thought Justin was leaving him and wanted to throw the first punch, metaphorically speaking. It didn't matter what had happened before, the damage was done. But he was going to fix things. Just as soon as Justin comes home.

 

"Daddy!" Briana yelled from the open front door of Debbie's house. He was halfway up the walk when his arms were suddenly filled with his daughter.

 

"Well, hello to you too."

 

He had no excuse for what happened next. For the past two days he hadn't cried, he hadn't even thought of the possibility of Justin being gone for good. But having Briana in his arms brought everything home. Things started to flash in his head. Wonderful times that they spent as a family. A family that he thought he didn't deserve because of his parents.

 

Picking up Briana, he hugged her tightly. "Daddy, why are you crying?" Had he been?

 

"I'm just happy to see you."

 

Once inside Debbie invited him to dinner but he begged off. It wasn't that he didn't want to be around family, it was just that he needed his daughter at home now.

 

"Brian, can I speak to you?" Carl asked from his chair.

 

"Sure." Brian replied. "Where is Gus and J.R.?"

 

"Melanie picked them up a few hours ago. I'll just take Briana upstairs," Debbie said. He watched her and Briana go upstairs.

 

"So what did you want to talk about, Detective?"

 

"I think it would be best for all involved for Briana live here."

 

"I gotta tinkle," Joshua said loudly.

 

Justin smiled at the boy doing his version of the peepee dance.

 

"I'll take him," Leda volunteered.

 

"Thanks, Lee."

 

Justin laughed when Leda threw Joshua over her shoulder and stomped off with the giggling boy. He didn't know what he would have done without Leda. It was like having a piece of home with him, even though he had never met her before. She told the best stories though. He would have never guessed the stuff she and Mel got into when they were younger.

 

She had met Brian when Gus was a baby. It was funny when she said that if she ever did want to switch teams Brian would be her choice to play with. There was no denying Brian could even make lesbians a little hot under the collar. If Justin was being completely honest if he was straight Leda would be the kind of woman, he would want. She was the female Brian, so that made sense.

 

Standing up, he dusted his pants off. He was wearing Olly's sweat pants. He had to roll them up several times to walk. Olly was a native of the Netherlands. He had been visiting his girlfriend in Montana. When Justin couldn't find any of his luggage with his clothes, Olly offered him some of his. He accepted because he didn't want to just grab a bag and wear those clothes. It felt wrong to wear the clothes of the dead. People kept giving him clothes for Joshua, so he didn't have to worry about that.

 

"When you get back to the states you'll have to give him up."

 

Justin rolled his eyes. He usually tried his best to ignore Nancy for the most part. The sad thing was that Lindsay had told him she was getting along with her parents lately. But he couldn't see it, he couldn't say they horrible people because they worked from sun up to sun down on the sick and injured. He just wished they would see past his sexuality.

 

"What are you talking about?"

 

"That boy's family will take him when we go home," Nancy said smugly.

 

"He doesn't have any family and his grandmother's dying wish was for me to raise him."

 

"That's outrageous. Did she know you were a…"

 

"Yes, she knew I was a fag. I told her about my daughter, son and husband. So thank you very much for your concern but Joshua is my son and I will make sure he stays with me." He was so mad he didn't realize Leda was back with Joshua.

 

"Papa, I peed on a tree. Lee show'd me how."

 

Leda coughed loudly but it sounded like a laugh. "I think it's time for dinner."

 

Joshie jumped up and down and ran around in circles. "Can I help Izzy with dinner?" he asked.

 

"Isaiah?" Justin asked the tall, dark skinned man.

 

"Come on, rat," Isaiah said. Joshie giggled and ran to Isaiah. The tall man leaned down and Joshie wrapped himself around the man's thick forearm. It was funny when he lifted Joshie up like that, and Josh loved it.

 

"We need to move further down the beach or in to the trees," Francisco said suddenly.

 

"Why?" Nancy asked.

 

"The bodies. The smell is starting spread. It's not healthy for us to be this close. We need to move camp, and the injured."

 

"Shouldn't we stay close to the fuselage?" Justin asked.

 

"We won't be that far away from it. If we see a search plane, we can always run back. That and we have the flares. It's only been three days; they'll find us soon."

 

Justin nodded and they made plans to move camp in the morning.

 

 

 

 

This chapter is shorter than the others, I usually aim at 5,000 word count or close to it for a chapter on this story. I hope you all like this chapter. R&R.

 

"I'm sorry I could swear you just said that you it would be best if Briana lived here."

 

Brian glared at his father-in-law, it wasn't the first time they butted heads. The man thought that he always knew what was best for Justin, and Brian for that matter. Carl wasn't the only one in Justin's family that thought they had a right to tell them what was good for them. C.J. was known to tell Brian that he was too cold with Justin. Justin told C.J. to shut the fuck up that time. Justin was able to get his sisters to back off by telling them he could always get involved in their relationships, that did the trick.

 

But there was no way in hell that he was going to leave his daughter. First of all, her home was with him. Secondly, Justin had made it quite clear to everyone, should something happen to him, Brian would get Briana. That was the whole reason for the adoption, Justin wanted to make sure no one could take her away from him.

 

"Brian, it's what is best for Briana. You spend ten to twelve hours a day at work. Justin was the one taking care of her day and night. She needs stability."

 

"I agree, she needs stability, that's at home with me."

 

"Please, think of her."

 

"I am thinking of her. First Justin disappears off of the face of the earth. Then you are trying to take her away from her home. I'm her father, not Justin's special friend. I have more rights to my daughter than you do. Don't try this again or you want see her until she fucking graduates college. Got it?" Carl angrily nodded.

 

Standing up, he walked to the stairs. "Briana, it's time to go home," he yelled.

 

Soon Briana was dragging her bag downstairs, chatting about all the things she had done that day. He ignored the looks that passed between Debbie and Carl. It was all he could do to be civil when he walked out the door.

 

"Daddy, is Papa home yet?" Briana asked as he checked her buckle on her booster seat.

 

"Not yet, Breezy."

 

Briana giggled, it wasn't a name that he usually called her. It was Justin's nickname for her when they were being silly. He just wanted her have a little piece of Justin, even though he wasn't with them in person.

 

"Can we call him? Papa said I can call him on the phone. He'll call me too. He's going to bring me a present, he promised."

 

Brian's heart broke even more at his daughter's words. He hadn't realized that Justin would have told her that he would call her and she could call him. It would have been no problem if Justin was reachable from the phone.

 

"I think Papa lost his phone. We're going to have to wait to hear from him." Guilt ate at him. He knew he should tell her a part of the truth but he didn't want to break her heart. He believed with all his heart that Justin would be found alive. It could be no other way. "What do you want for dinner?"

 

"Pizza, please, Daddy."

 

He looked in his rearview mirror and saw her hands together in a pleading gesture. Justin was the one to treat her to pizza or other food like that. But he didn't have the heart to say no to her today. "Pizza it is."

 

"Pizza! Yay!"

 

"What kind of pizza do you want?" He felt he should already know what kind of pizza his daughter liked best.

 

"Cheesy."

 

"Just cheese?"

 

"Lots of cheese. Get it the way Papa gets it, okay?"

 

Brian inwardly sighed, he really had been neglecting Justin and Briana the last few months. No matter what his feelings for Justin were, he should never have distanced himself from his daughter. He wouldn't make that mistake again. No, his daughter wasn't going to live with Carl and Debbie. After that stunt at their house it would be a very long time before he visited again. He would consider it after Justin came back.

 

It turned out the cheesy pizza Briana wanted was cheese-stuffed crust. He had been lucky the woman behind the counter recognized Briana and knew what kind she wanted. It did make him question how much takeout his husband and daughter had been eating the past month though.

 

Once he got home he could hear the landline ringing.

 

"Hurry, Daddy, that might be Papa," Briana said eagerly.

 

Brian was balancing the pizza with one hand while trying to unlock the front door with the other. It was not helped by Briana almost under him trying to open the door. Just as he got the door open the answering machine picked up.

 

"Mr. Kinney, this is Morris Bass with Liberty Air. We wanted to call the families first before the news was made public. The search has been suspended due to weather. We at Liberty Air are sorry, we hope your husband's plane is found soon. If you have any questions, feel free to call."

 

Brian looked over at Briana and sighed, she was distracted with some of the Halloween decorations that Justin had put up before he left.

 

Suspending the search? How could they do that? It had only been a few days.

 

---

 

"I don't think we're ever getting off this island," Francisco bitched.

 

Long gone was the take charge leader he had been. After the first week Francisco became the mess he probably always had been. It happened when Gretchen Debose died.

 

A week in, Gretchen's diabetes got the best of her. She had other medical issues the made it worse, at least that's what Ron said. Gretchen had been a kindly grandmotherly type from Poland. She had talked fondly about her grandchildren, and she loved talking to Joshua. Her English was better than Justin's Polish, which was none.

 

After Gretchen died hope of being rescued started to dwindle. They had been able to convince themselves that help was on its way. Daily, they would tell Gretchen and the others that hurt and ill that help was just around the corner. It hit home that it was all just lies they said to make them feel better. Justin was one of only a few that hadn't given up completely. It had been two weeks since the plane crash.

 

Depression thy name is castaway.

 

"Papa, I don't feel good," Josh cried.

 

Josh was curled up in Justin's lap. It had been a long

 

day with no end in sight. Josh had started running a fever the day before, it hadn't broken.

 

"Ron, is there anything else I can do?"

 

"Just continue with the treatment plan. The fever will break."

 

Justin soaked the strip of cloth and put it back on Joshie's head. He was worried about Josh but Ron said there wasn't anything to worry about. Briana had her share of fevers but it was different when he couldn't run to the hospital if he was really worried. He just prayed that Ron knew what he was talking about. It wasn't a high grade fever, without knowing what it was exactly.

 

"I'm going to go get some more water," Ricki said. She grabbed the makeshift bucket and started to head inland.

 

"I'll go with you," Leda said, quickly jumping up.

 

Justin held back the smile, Leda was infatuated with the quiet, strong woman.

 

"I think we should move closer to the waterfall. It would do us good to be closer to the drinking water," Ron said.

 

Ricki and a guy named Stephan from one of the other camps found the waterfall on the third day. One of the groups had already moved closer to it.

 

"How my little man?" Isaiah asked. Joshua adored Isaiah, Leda and surprisingly Ron.

 

"Still running a bit of a fever. Ron thinks it will break if we just keep treating it the way we have been."

 

"That's good, I miss my little helper."

 

Isaiah had taken over preparing the food. He was paranoid if anyone else did it they were going to kill everyone with undercooked fish. Olly, Kimble and Racine (the blonde nurses), and Henry were great at catching fish. Lyssa was great at knowing what kind of vegetation was eatable. Before Josh got sick it was Justin's job to keep the campsite clean. He still did it when Josh was sleeping.

 

By their math they had been on the island for two weeks. He was grateful that he had his sketchbook and pencils. He had sketched Gretchen and showed it to her before she passed. He had also done one of Barbara from memory. He had a half completed sketch of Isaiah holding Joshua. In the back of his mind he wondered what Brian would look like holding Josh.

 

---

 

The knocking on the door woke Brian up out of his stupor. He regretted drinking as much as he had the night before. Ever since Justin and Briana moved in with him the drinking had been less and less. Last night though was just too much for him. They had suspended the search a couple days early on but now a month later they had suspended it for good.

 

After talking to Lindsay he found out about the passengers being declared dead because of imminent peril and failure to return. The judge was waiting a year before he declared them dead but it still was six years sooner than a normal missing person. Apparently Lindsay sister was upset because she wanted to access her parents bank accounts now.

 

Brian didn't want Justin declared dead. It would just make it more problematic when he came back. He was coming back; he just knew it. Brian had been forced to tell Briana about the missing plane. He told her that Justin was coming back and they just had to wait for him.

 

That started more problems with everyone else. They all told him it wasn't healthy to fill her head with a fantasy. They wanted to have some kind of remembrance gathering for Justin and Lindsay's parents. Brian was against the whole idea and refused to be involved or take Briana to it. So instead he spent the night drinking after he put Briana to bed.

 

Brian rolled out of bed and made his way downstairs to yell at whoever was pounding on his door. He opened the door revealing his very awake and surprisingly sober mother.

 

He hadn't seen his mother since she found out about Chris being transgender. She had cut all ties with both Claire and him. Claire took it hard but he was surprised how hard he took the loss too. She had never been what anyone would call a good mother, but she did have her moments.

 

"What are you doing here?" he asked, a little too harshly.

 

"I wanted to see how you were doing. John told me about your… friend."

 

"My husband, Mother, not my friend."

 

John had moved in with Joan a few months ago. Claire said that Chris and John just butted heads too much. John then decided he didn't want to live in his mother's home anymore.

 

"Daddy, I'm hungry."

 

Brian looked behind him to see Briana standing on the bottom step of the stairs. She was wearing her pink elephant pajamas and was clutching her stuffed unicorn to her chest. Her hair was always wild in the morning. Justin usually had it braided before she went to bed, Brian was hopeless with her hair.

 

"Is that that man's daughter?" Her voice was icy at best.

 

"This is my daughter, Briana."

 

"Who are you?" Briana asked eyeing Joan suspiciously. The kid had good instincts that was for sure.

 

"I'm Brian's mother," Joan said curtly.

 

Brian cursed to himself when his daughter smiled. She was too much like her papa, seeing the good in people even if there was none there. His daughter's whole face lit up and before he could stop her said, "That means you're my grandma."

 

Briana threw herself at his mother's legs and hugged her. Brian stood still, shocked at his daughter's reaction.

 

"Brian, please remove this child from my leg."

 

Whatever love he had for his mother died at those words. How anyone could hurt a four-year old like that? It was despicable.

 

"Did I hurt you? I'm sorry, Daddy always says I hug too hard." Briana looked brokenhearted at the thought of hurting Joan.

 

"You didn't hurt her; stone doesn't hurt." He turned to Joan. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, please leave my house. My daughter and I am going over to my mother's house." He knew calling Debbie his mother was going to sting but at the moment all he wanted to do was hurt her like she hurt Briana.

 

Joan looked crushed when he showed her the door. For the first time in a long time he didn't feel a bit of guilt. Maybe the Brian of old was coming back. After Joan was gone he dressed Briana in her favorite outfit. She had a lot of Justin's taste in things but she was his daughter too, and that meant she was a label queen.

 

As they entered the diner Briana ran over to Kiki. Kiki adored Briana and the feeling was mutual. In truth everyone at the diner loved Briana. Brian would go to the restroom and Briana would never be where he left her. He didn't worry because every member of staff there was very protective of all the kids.

 

One morning he found her eating lunch with some of the rent boys. It was then he saw how much some of them missed their little brothers or sisters. She greeted almost everyone by name. If she didn't know who they were, she would go up to them to introduce herself. She was very outgoing.

 

"Kiki said I could help serve," Briana said brightly.

 

"I thought you were hungry?"

 

Kiki was tying a child-sized apron around her waist. Justin had gotten it for her months ago, they kept it at the diner for when she 'needed' tip money. Briana turned and glared at him. "I'm working, Daddy."

 

Chuckling, he sat down in his usual booth and watched Briana follow Kiki around.

 

"What do you want, asshole?" Briana asked when she got to his table.

 

"What did you call me?"

 

"That's what Grandma Deb calls you," she said pouting.

 

"You know that's a bad word."

 

"Papa says he doesn't care if I say bad words."

 

"At home, and never call someone a bad word."

 

"Fine, what do you want, Father?"

 

"You've been spending way too much time with your brother."

 

It was Gus' way of saying he was mad at Brian without being openly disrespectful. It seemed that his little girl had picked up the passive aggressive move.

 

"Just coffee, thank you." She rolled her eyes at him. The teenage years were starting to look bleaker and bleaker. Maybe he should have given in to Justin and considered having another child. Maybe she wouldn't be so spoiled if she had an another kid living in the house with her.

 

Briana carried his coffee cup in one hand and the saucer in another. Kiki was behind her with the hot carafe of coffee. After Briana sat his saucer and cup down, Kiki poured his coffee.

 

"Thank you." He turned from his daughter and started to pay attention to his coffee.

 

"I think you forgot something," Briana said loudly.

 

"What would that be?" He asked, knowing what she would say.

 

"My tip."

 

"You don't get a tip until I'm leaving. And it's not polite to ask for a tip, you know that."

 

"Screw politeness."

 

"Briana Rea Kinney." She finally looked down guilty for the way she had been talking. He knew she was acting out because she was worried about Justin. She was seeing the same child psychologist as Gus and J.R., Justin's disappearance was hitting all the kids pretty hard.

 

"I'm sorry, Daddy. It's on the house," she whispered, tears running down her face.

 

On the house? She really did spend too much time here.

 

"Come here," he told her. She crawled up onto the bench seat and then climbed into his lap. It was lucky he was so thin or she wouldn't fit. "Why are you acting like this?"

 

"I just miss Papa. Can't you call and have him found. You gots lots of money."

 

"I wish I could. It's just not that easy." It was something he had been thinking about though. Maybe he and some of the other families could get a private agency to look for the plane. It was clear every government involved had given up on them. Brian wasn't about to give up on Justin. He already knew a rich oil tycoon's son was on board. Maybe the man had already hired an agency and hadn't made it public. What was the man's name again? Colin, that's right. Colin Savage. His son Travis was on the flight. Brian would make the call as soon as he got home.

 

---

 

(Okay, I know I jumped around two days, to a week to a month. But now a month after the plane crash it should be a day to day story for a while. Thanks.)

 

"Justin, can I told to you for a minute?"

 

Justin looked up and saw it was Travis. Travis was with the group closest to the beach now. They had all moved inland now because of violent storms. Travis was a nice guy with a deep, southern accent. He was around thirty-five. A wilderness guru that helped everyone. He helped all the camps make sufficient cover from the elements.

 

"Sure, what's up?"

 

"I want to move Gishi to your camp. I think he may be having some sort of medical issue but he won't let the twins look at him." Kimble and Racine weren't really twins they were boyfriend and girlfriend, but they really did look alike.

 

"What's wrong with him?" In the past month Justin had become peacemaker. With the exception of Nancy everyone seemed to get along with him, even Ron. Because of that, Justin had been given a new job. Coordinator. If there was a problem within a group and they couldn't fix it, they called in Justin. If one camp had a problem with another, he was called. And like now, if someone needed help he was asked to talk them into it.

 

"He's talking out of his head."

 

"Maybe we should have Ron talk to him. That sounds over my non-qualifications."

 

"I would but…

 

"But what?"

 

"He's a tool."

 

"That's not very nice." And totally true.

 

"I'll ask Ron to go and check on him."

 

"Thanks, Jus."

 

After Travis left Justin approached Ron about Gishi. Nancy stuck her nose in it about treating a foreigner. Ron thankfully seemed to be tired of his wife as everyone else was. He told her about his oath and that skin color didn't matter in that. 'Just sexuality,' Justin thought.

 

"Story," Joshie said as Justin put him on his makeshift bed. Josh luckily hadn't been sick again since his fever broke two weeks ago.

 

"What do you want the story about?"

 

"Breezy, Gussy and Jenny."

 

Justin smiled down at the boy and started to tell him about the time they went to the aquarium. Gus had convinced Briana and J.R. that the fish could fly outside of the water because they used their fins as wings. They had been extremely lucky the girls didn't try out this new information. They would have been banned for life from the aquarium.

 

 

Colin Savage sat at his desk, going over detailed maps of the Atlantic Ocean. His desk was covered in maps, satellite shots and reports from his search team. It had been a month since his son's plane disappeared. He would spend every dime he had to bring his son back if it came to that. Travis was the one good thing he had done in his life. Unlike Colin's brother's children, Travis was a good person, while his nieces and nephews relied on their trust funds so they could drink and party all the time, his son wanted to make the world better. After college he joined the Peace Corp. They had an agreement, five years before Colin wanted to retire Travis would come work at the company and learn his role. It was all going to Travis, that was already a done deal. His son had the purest heart he had ever seen. He just wanted his little boy back.

A knock on his door drew his attention. Looking up he saw his assistant, Greg. If was funny, ten years ago after one of his wife's friend's lost her husband to his own assistant his wife made the demand, he could only have a male assistant. After three useless assistants over the period of six years Greg started working for him. It was Travis who convinced him to give the kid a shot.

Greg was a little too flamboyant for Colin's taste but the man was a kickass assistant. He kept everything on schedule and moving like a well-oiled machine. Also it didn't hurt that his wife, Ronda, loved Greg.

"Yes, Greg?" he asked the man at his door.

"I have a Mr. Kinney on the phone. His husband was on Flight 530. He said he was going to pay for a search and salvage team for the plane. He was wondering if you already have a team, he wanted to be able to cross some places off if you've already looked." The sadness in Greg's eyes was clear. Greg and Travis had been best friends since middle school.

"What line?"

"Four."

Colin nodded and waved for Greg to shut the door. He didn't want the whole office to know that he was just holding on by a string. He was sure talking about Travis would make that string break.

"Mr. Kinney?"

"Yes, is this Mr. Savage?"

"Yes, sir. My assistant said you called about my search for Flight 530?"

"My husband was on that flight. Ever since they stopped the search, I've been going crazy. It wasn't until my daughter said that I should look for him that it occurred to me. I was wondering if you hired a search team? I didn't want the one I'm hiring to look over the same area you already had looked."

"Well, yes I am looking. But Mr. Kinney, you have to know how expensive the search costs."

"I have nowhere near the kind of money you have but I do have some."

"What do you do for a living Mr. Kinney?"

"I own an advertising agency, Kinnetick. I also own a few other businesses."

"Wow, I've heard of Kinnetick." He was impressed it was big firm. "So let's get down to business, maybe together we can find this damn plane."

---

"My eyes, my eyes," Justin said as he turned and practically ran from the horrific sight he just saw.

There were a lot of horrible things he had seen in his life. But that had to be worst, he was going to be sick. Thankfully, Joshie was helping Leda with making the shelters more secure.

"Justin, please stop," a female voice practically yelled. She must have gotten dressed using super speed.

"Nancy, I really have to go…do anything else but be here."

"Justin, it wasn't what it looked like."

"That's good, because it looked like you and Paulo were having sex." He shivered as the memory came back to him.

"I was just hoping that you keep this to yourself. I wouldn't want Ron to be upset."

"Then maybe you shouldn't be fucking the twenty-year-old rugby star from camp three. What did you promise him? Maybe aged is his thing though."

"Ron won't believe you even if you tell. Who would?" she sneered.

"Then you have nothing to worry about."

He turned and got the hell out of there. That was the going to be the last time he went looking searching for useful things for camp.

"Justin, have you seen Nancy?" Ron asked as he entered camp.

To lie or not to lie that is the question. He thought about what Brian would do. He truthfully didn't know. Brian always was straightforward but if it was someone he liked, it was hard for him to come out and say something.

Justin liked Ron, God help him he did. The man adored Joshie and started talking about getting a relationship going with Gus and Lindsay again. He missed his daughter but had let his wife's views cloud his own. Ron even talked about wanting to meet Briana.

"Yeah, I saw her out with Paulo." There he said it, he didn't say what they were doing but he didn't lie.

"That woman and her boy toys. You would think being on a secluded island would stop it but apparently not."

Justin looked at Ron shocked. "You knew?"

"Of course I know, she's not exactly James Bond. Leda and Joshie were looking for you. I'm going to check the other camps to make sure everyone is doing okay."

"Papa, looks," Joshie ran to him holding up a small, blue booklet.

"Whose passport is that?" he asked Leda.

"It's Joshie's, or should I say Joshua James Matthews. We found his grandmother's carry on. It had her passport in it too, there was also a lot of documentation for Joshie. I put the bag by yours."

"Wow, that's really helpful. Thank, Lee."

"No, problem. If his grandmother didn't want you to raise him, I might have fought you for him. I know Izzy's real close to him, and Ron. If we ever get rescued I'm really going to miss the hell out of all of you."

Justin felt bad for Leda, he was sure she was ready to settle down but she wouldn't admit it. He knew she had feelings for Ricki but the redheaded woman was very standoffish and quiet.

"You're not getting rid of us that easy. We're family after all," he told her. She smiled at him warmly.

"Papa, looks," Joshie said again. Justin took the passport from Josh and looked at it.

"Josh, why don't you go help Ron and be his helper for today." Justin looked up at Ron who was eyeing Justin confusedly. "Is that okay with you, Ron?"

"Sure, I'd love to have Joshie as my intern." Ron was about to make his rounds to check on all the camps.

"Yay," Josh yelled before joining Ron as he started to walk towards Travis' camp.

"What was that about?" Leda asked.

Justin usually only let Josh do things inside the camp where he could see him. So far the only ones that he let take Josh anywhere that he couldn't see was Leda and Isaiah. They were his closest friends and he trusted them. His trust wasn't easy to come by but they had made being trapped on the island easier for him. They were good people; it was clear to anyone who met them.

"What do you think today's date is?"

"Well, the flight was on the third of October. We've been here thirty days, at least I think we have."

"Yesterday was Joshie's fourth birthday. We have to do something for him."

"We're out in the middle of nowhere; it's not like there are party stores here."

"He's four, I know four year olds. When Gus was four he wanted a treehouse. Now we can't do a treehouse because we aren't Swiss Family Robinson but we can make him his own play house. I can sneak over to get Travis from his camp, I'm sure he'd love to help."

"That's a great idea. I hope he likes it. What about a cake?"

Damn. There was nothing there they could use as a cake. They only had what they could catch and find like berries and plants.

"We can't do a cake but we can pick some blackberries. He was so heartbroken when we said that we would have to stop. I thought he was going to eat them all."

"That's a great; I'll go collect them."

Justin smiled as Leda rushed off. Sometimes he saw her looking at Josh sadly. She wanted a family, she was just too scared to admit it to herself. He hoped once they were gone from here that she got everything she wanted. She really was just like an extra sister to him.

He laughed thinking about his brother and sisters meeting her. That would be something to see.

Justin headed for Travis' camp; he hoped that Ron and Joshie were still at the camp. He needed to talk Ron into keeping Josh busy away from their camp.

Luck seemed to be on his side because Justin saw Ron and Josh talking to Mrs. Calloway. Mrs. Calloway was an older woman who was very much like Debbie. She was brash, fun and nice. Justin wished she would have been in his camp but then he thought it would get old real fast.

Ron looked up at that moment and spotted Justin. He had known there was something up when the blonde had asked him to take Josh with him.

"Josh, can you stay here for a moment and find out what is ailing Mrs. Calloway?"

"Ail'n?"

"Yes, find out what is making her not feel well."

"Oh, yes," the boy said happily, turning towards the older woman. Mrs. Calloway had cut her hand a day ago. He had treated it the day before but was worried because the woman couldn't remember the last time she had a tetanus shot. He just hoped they were rescued soon.

He neared Justin and asked quietly so Josh wouldn't look up. "What's going on?"

"Leda found Joshie's passport. Yesterday was his birthday; he's four now. I wanted to ask Travis to help build a small playhouse for him."

"That's a wonderful idea. The girls loved their playhouse when they were small," Ron said wistfully.

"Thanks, do you know where Travis is?"

"Yeah, he took off for his traps a few minutes ago."

Ron pointed off to the forbidden area. It was only forbidden because Travis was the only one that knew where all the traps were.

"Damn. I'm going to go to the edge of the area and see if I can see him. Can you keep Joshie away from our camp for a few hours?"

"Sure, why not?" He really didn't have anything else to do today. His whole reason for these check-ups were to get away from Nancy.

He had been eighteen when he met Nancy. She was a beautiful, sweet and smart seventeen-year-old. Once he started at university they had started a long distance relationship. It had been a true love story in his opinion. The next year when Nancy graduated, she told him she had been accepted to his school. He had been so excited. He followed his dream of being a doctor and Nancy on the other hand changed her mind a lot. She never stuck with a major.

She used to go on about wanting to be a teacher but seemed to lose enthusiasm for it. They started to drift apart right before he graduated from med school. He was going to end it when she told him she was pregnant. He had always wanted children. They were married by a justice of the peace soon after.

Lawrence James Peterson was born seven months later. He was the light of their lives. Nancy's mother, Faye flew out to see them. She adored the baby and Nancy was happy to have her mother's acceptance for once. Faye was a wonderful grandmother but she had trouble loving her children. He knew the secret the woman kept, she had told him on her deathbed. She had sensed a kinship in Lindsay before Lindsay told anyone that she was a lesbian, and that was why she had favored her.

But before Lindsay or even Lynnette was a thought there had been Lawrence. At two months old, Nancy put Lawrence to bed one night and expected him to be waking her up at in a few hours. She had been so exhausted that when he didn't wake up she didn't think anything of it. Ron had been doing his internship at the teaching hospital he was accepted at. He was basically living at the place at the time. One of his many regrets. Maybe if he would have come home that night.

The next morning Nancy arrived with an ambulance. She had woken up and Lawrence wasn't breathing. It had been way too late by that time to save him. He was gone. After that Nancy wouldn't allow anyone to mention him, and no one did. But he did think about the baby a lot.

Two years later came Lynette then a year after her came Lindsay. He knew Nancy loved their girls but she didn't get attached to them like she had Lawrence. In his heart he knew it was because she couldn't handle if the same thing happened. But somewhere along the way she also distanced him away from his children. Lynette had become a spoiled brat afraid of staying with the same man. She married like people changed shoes. Lindsay on the other hand had been with the same woman for a while, and they had two beautiful children that he only had seen in pictures. He was tired of letting Nancy run his life. It had already been thirty-five years. It was time to make a stand. He missed out on his own children's childhood but he would be damned if it happened with his grandchildren. Spending time with Joshie just drove the point home.

Truthfully, he had been the only one in the marriage in a long time. She hadn't been faithful in a long time. He just wanted one woman who wanted him. He had known that wasn't Nancy, it hadn't been in a long time. But he had been holding on to the woman he held when they buried their son. It was strange but it was like the crash was God telling it to just end it now. There was no denying who she was anymore. Even stranger, he was okay with that.

---

"Travis," Justin called into the wooded area.

"Who's there," an annoyed voice asked.

"It's me Justin. I was wondering if you would do a favor for me?"

Travis' head popped out from behind some brush. "Oh, hey. Sorry I was short with you but it's dangerous here, this is where my traps are."

"I know, and I'm sorry. This is just time sensitive."

"That sounds important. What's up?"

"Yesterday was Joshie's birthday. I wanted to set up a playhouse for him. Do you think it's possible?"

"Yeah, we'll give the kid the works." Travis smiled at Justin with his killer smile. If Justin wasn't hopelessly in love with Brian, he might have crushed on the man. Travis on the other hand seemed asexual. He didn't talk about a girlfriend, wife, boyfriend. Nothing. But he did travel a lot maybe he just liked to play the field.

The next few hours were spent setting up a makeshift playhouse. It wasn't big but or very pretty but it was a present. He was sure once they got home Brian would have a big playhouse built for all the children. The longer he was on the island the surer he became on making his marriage work. Whatever it was that made Brian so cold with him, he would fix.

Leda had done wonderfully with berries. (Since I made this island up I put blackberries on it. Not sure if they would be there but that's what I'm going with.) Logan, the ten-year-old and only other kid made a present for Joshie too. He didn't really make it but was giving something to Joshie. Logan had found his bag earlier in the week, his stuffed panda bear. Justin told him he didn't have to, that it was a nice thought but it wasn't necessary. The kid surprised him and actually smiled at him. He said that Lockie needed new home anyway. He went on to say that if he was as young as Joshie and had just lost his grandmother he would need Lockie to hold onto. Logan's mother was doing better; she was even walking without help now. It looked like everything there would be okay. At least he hoped it would.

Francisco and Ricki were decorating the camp as best as they could. He cared about everyone in his camp and the others, except maybe Nancy. It was really looking like a birthday party now. They had used everything they could find. Bags, tissue, colorful clothes and someone's colorful packing peanuts.

Justin couldn't wait until Olly figured out how to get into the cargo hold. The man had been working on it forever it seemed. Their salvation wasn't there; it was somewhere lost on the island. Travis, with his traveling so much actually had a satellite phone. But he couldn't find his bag. He turned it off when it was fully charged so after a month out in the weather, who knew if it was even usable but it seemed like their only shot. They had search groups every day go out and look for the phone, but no luck so far.

Justin shook himself out of his depressing thoughts in time to see Ron carrying Joshie back into camp. He could tell the boy was awake just tired of walking.

They all started to sing happy birthday. Joshie's head shot up from Ron's shoulder and he turned to look at them. Joshie started to squirm in Ron's arms until he put him down. Joshie ran full speed to Justin.

"Who's birthday?" Joshie asked excitedly.

"Yours. You're four today." Justin decided they didn't have to be on the exact date.

"Me? Yay. I gots presents?"

"Yes, first do you like the pretty things around the camp? That is Francisco and Ricki's present to you."

Joshie looked around at all the things that were new to their camp. He nodded happily. "So pretty," he said dreamily.

"What do you say?" asked gently.

"Thank you, Franny and Ric."

Justin held back the snort at the nicknames the boy had for the two. Ricki didn't seem to care but Francisco didn't seem to like being called Franny but wouldn't call the small child on it.

"Here, he used to be mine but I think Lockie would like to be with you," Logan said handing Joshie the worn stuffed panda bear.

"Mine?" Joshie asked in awe.

Justin was sure that Josh's grandmother had gotten him stuffed animals before. He hadn't had one on him at the time of the flight and it wasn't in his grandmother's bag. Justin was sure Josh's bag was around somewhere with some mementos and clothes in it. He had looked for it but couldn't find it. He would ask Leda where she found the grandmother's bag later, maybe it was near it.

There was still places almost no one went. Back to the original site was one of them. The bodies were too close and it smelled like death there. Even now if the wind blew the wrong way you could smell them. He mourned for the people lost and hoped one day they could be put to rest. It was getting to where they were wondering if they should be burying them. They didn't want to because they were sure they would be found soon. But soon was starting to feel very far away.

Justin smiled as Joshie hugged the stuffed animal to himself. He kept kissing the top of its head, and telling it how much he loved it. It was a sweet sight to see. Justin knew that even when they were found he wanted to keep that sense of awe in Joshie's eyes. His thoughts wondered to Briana but then his heart started to hurt. It was only at night he let himself think of his daughter, when no one could see him cry. He could only function knowing Brian was there with her.

"Did you get me something Papa?" Joshie asked shyly.

"I did, it's not just my present though, Travis helped me."

Justin led Joshie over to the playhouse. It was put together with sticks, mud and twine. Travis had used brush to fill in the holes. On the inside was a small log for Joshie to sit on, it had a pillow on the top of it.

"What's this?"

"This is your playhouse." Justin hoped he liked it.

"Wow," Joshie said before climbing inside. "Lokie loves it."

Justin saw Logan smile when Joshie mispronounced the name. It was so good to see the boy so happy.

"Joshie, there is one more thing." He looked to Leda who had the berries on one of the airplane trays.

Josh popped his head out of his playhouse, his eyes widened as they spied the berries right away.

"Berries!" he yelled.

They all sat around the fire and ate berries before the dinner. It was wonderful. There was something that he had noticed but it was more clear now. After a few berries he was getting full. He looked down at his stomach and noticed how sunken it was. He only ate what kept him moving. He gave most of his food to Joshie. The boy was so small but he seemed to always be hungry, possibly a growth spurt. Justin didn't want Josh to get sick. They were all unhealthy to a point now but he wanted Josh to say closer to healthy. Logan's mother was doing the same for him he saw. It was not Blue Lagoon out there, it was more like Lord of the Flies with democracy and no boar.

---

Pilot Malik Morris looked out the side of his rescue plane. It was week four since the plane disappeared and two weeks since Mr. Savage had hired him and his team. They weren't the only ones looking but they were the best. They were all former special forces. When he had been in the Air Force he was a Combat Rescue Officer. It was something he loved.

"See anything?" his co-pilot and friend, Cole, asked.

"Not a thing. Gurk, you can mark this area off. The sun will be setting soon, we better start heading back in," he yelled back to their navigator.

---

"What's that noise?" Leda asked.

"I don't know," Justin told her. They had just started dinner. It was still light out but the sun would be setting soon.

"LOOK!" Isaiah yelled.

Everyone in their camp looked up to the sky. It was a plane but not the kind they were used to seeing. They had seen one or two planes that were commercial flights, too high to see any signs. This one though was much lower.

"Where's the flare?" Ricki yelled.

They all started scrambling to find it. Each camp had one but at the moment they couldn't find theirs.

"I gots it, Papa," Joshie said running to Justin with it in his hands. For a moment Justin pictured the flare gun going off and hurting the small boy. It didn't happen though; Josh gave it to him without an issue.

Justin handed it off to Ricki. She grabbed it and ran to the beach as fast as she could. Just as she shot the flare in the sky the plane started to circle around to go back where it came from.

"NO!" several people shouted. People from other camps had started to run to the beach too. They must had run as fast as they could. But it was no use, the plane was now flying further and further away. Some people fell to their knees and started crying. He wouldn't do that though, not in front of Joshie.

Justin looked around to see which one of his friends weren't breaking down. Ricki wasn't but she wasn't moving either. Leda seemed calm but disappointed.

"Leda?"

"Yeah, Justin?"

"Can you watch Josh for a little bit? I need a moment."

He could see she understood what he meant. After everything settled down she would go off on her own for a while. They all would probably need a moment after tonight. Being so close to being rescued with it just slipping though their hands.

"Sure, go get your head on straight." She picked up Josh who immediately settled on her laying his head on her shoulder.

Justin watched her carry him away towards camp before he headed off in the other direction. He was going away from all the camps. Further into the woods than he usually would. He wandered around until it was close to dark. His stomach rumbled reminding him he had only had berries that night.

Just as he decided to head back to camp he heard a crunch behind him.

Turning around he looked for the source of the sound but he didn't see anything. "Hello?" he called.

"It's about time you separated from the pack," a male voice said. It was familiar but Justin couldn't place it. He didn't know everyone that well.

"Who's there?"

His eyes widened as the man walked out from behind a tree.

"What do you want?" he asked Gishi.

Travis had wanted Gishi moved to their camp but Ron refused. He said it was too big a risk with the children. Gishi had started showing signs of severe mental illness. Ron couldn't tell them exactly but because of this he was given a sort of keeper. Justin looked around to see Eito wasn't anywhere in sight.

Eito was born in America and a businessman. He had volunteered to watch over Gishi because he felt it was his duty because Gishi was of Japanese descent as well. He didn't know where Gishi was from but he knew he didn't live in Japan or America. When Gishi started talking out of his head though it was always in Japanese. It was an easy way to see where is head was.

What really freaked Justin out was Gishi was big, like really big. His size reminded Justin of Caveman. The thought made him shiver. Gishi was nothing like that man he had to remind himself.

"Where's Eito?"

"Sulking over the plane. I was able to slip away. This has got to be the worst day since the crash." Gishi stepped closer to Justin, who unconsciously took a step back. "You're scared of me?" Gishi asked, sounding hurt.

"It's not that, it's just getting late."

Gishi looked up and saw that the light was barely coming through the trees. "Yeah, let me walk you back to camp."

"Thanks, that would be nice." He didn't want to offend Gishi again.

"You speak English really well. Where did you learn?" he asked as they walked back through the trees.

"There were classes but truthfully it was my father. I'm only half Japanese but I take after my mother more than my father. Well, at least looks wise. She didn't really like me. I was a mistake that she never could forget about. When I was nine my dad came to visit. He saw the bruises on my body and made her an offer. She didn't want me anyway. He took me home to Ireland."

"You don't sound Irish."

"My dad isn't either, his wife is. He's American but has been living in Ireland since the seventies."

"Was he married when you were conceived?" Justin couldn't help but ask.

"Yep. It was why I lived with my mother until I was nine. When my dad called my stepmom about the abuse she made him bring me home as soon as possible."

"Your stepmom sounds nice." He felt so bad for the little boy that Gishi had been.

"She was," he said sadly.

"I'm sorry." Catching on to what wasn't said.

"It's okay, it's what this whole trip was about. Dad died when I was seventeen, Siobhan then just a few months ago."

They walked in quiet for a little bit.

"I'm not crazy," Gishi said suddenly.

"I never said you were."

"I'm bipolar. I can't find my bag with my meds. They are completely out of my system now but I'm okay. Well, at the moment I am."

"What does your bag look like, I can keep an eye out for it."

"Doesn't matter, I only had two weeks of meds left. It's not enough for my system to adjust again if we have to stay here." Justin nodded.

They had just entered his camp. "Thanks for walking me back."

Justin thought Gishi was going to say something but suddenly the man leaned in and captured Justin's lips. The kiss was hard and painful. By the time Justin's brain caught up with what was happening it was over. Gishi turned and quickly went back to his camp.

"What the fuck was that?" he whispered to himself.

"That's what we'd all like to know."

Justin turned around and show his entire camp staring at him, including Joshie. Just great. Leda had been the one who had spoken.

---

"The ship is on its way to the coordinates," Colin Savage said to his assistant, Greg.

"This could be it, right? The plane crew said they saw a flare right?"

"That's what they said. Unfortunately, they were running out of gas and daylight. The ship should be there in a four days. Four days, Greg. In four days Travis might be on his way home."

Colin looked up to see Greg wipe a tear from his eye. Greg was really a great friend to Travis, they were almost inseparable. He hoped all their wishes were answered in four days. He thought about calling Mr. Kinney but decided not to; no need to get his hopes up if it wasn't them.

 

 

Brian woke up to someone banging on his front door. He could hear Briana bitching about her beauty rest from her room. The girl really was a mix between him and Justin. She may look like a mix between Daphne and Justin, but her attitude was Brian and Justin completely. She pouted like Justin but had Brian's temper.

The banging on the door only got louder. If it was his mother again he was going to call the cops on her. He wasn't about to let his daughter see that woman again. As he opened the door to his bedroom he was met by the sight of a very pissed-off almost five-year old.

"I was sleeping." she growled at him.

"Don't blame me, I was sleeping too."

The door to his right opened and Gus stepped out. Unlike his sister he was wide awake, and already dressed for the day. Brian headed downstairs, the kids following him downstairs, Briana grumbling the whole way. If he wasn't so exhausted, he would have laughed. He hadn't been sleeping very well since Justin's plane disappeared. For the past couple of weeks, he had to get used to his shadow. Briana had been very worried that he would disappear like Justin.

The doorbell rang quickly followed by the knocking again. He really was going to kill somebody today. It was Saturday morning, for crying out loud. He had worked, then came home to take care of his children. It was the first time since the plane vanished that he had Gus for the weekend. Two weeks ago Lindsay cancelled their weekend, saying the loss of her parents was too new and she needed time with her children. Like Brian didn't lose anyone. Even after all this time, sometimes his friends still thought that he and Justin were just killing time until something better came along, that they weren't a family like the rest of them.

"Why the fuck are you beating my door down?" he growled at person on his doorstep.

The guy looked like he could be Emmett's little brother, except for the height. He would guess the guy was only an inch or so taller than Justin. He had short, wavy brown hair. But the reason why he looked like Emmett to Brian was the bright tangerine top with tight low-rider jeans. He black rimmed glasses slipping down on his pert nose.

"Mr. Kinney?"

"Who the fuck else would I be?" he growled. It was his house and it was six in the fucking morning.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kinney. My name is Greg Yates, I'm Mr. Colin Savage's assistant."

Brian looked down to where Briana, who was still glaring at the early morning visitor. He didn't know what Yates wanted to say but he didn't want Briana or Gus to hear anything upsetting.

"Briana, I need you to go upstairs and get dressed. Breakfast will be in half an hour. Gus, I need you to go set the table." Gus didn't argue, he looked sadly at Brian before turning and heading into the kitchen. He knew he wouldn't be as lucky with Briana.

"It's Saturday," she whined. Justin had always let Saturday mornings be very causal, if you call pajamas at noon casual.

"Upstairs, now." he said sternly.

"Fine," she growled out, before heading upstairs.

"Make this quick. What did you come to tell me?"

"Yesterday, our search team saw a flare from an island they were near. Unfortunately, they were out of daylight and gas, so they had to head back. But because they saw the flare a rescue ship is on its way. It should be there by Monday."

"Are you saying they found Justin but just turned the fuck around and won't be back for three days?" Brian was livid.

"We don't know if the flare was from Flight 530."

"Who the fuck else would it be from?" Brian could feel his blood-pressure rising.

"It's way off course of where 530 should have been."

"It's still a flare, that means someone needs fucking help." His chest was heaving.

"Which is why the search and rescue vessel is on its way. There was no way even if they found them that they could get them. It was always the plan for the ship to retrieve the survivors, if there are any."

"Justin is alive, I know it."

"Papa? Is Papa coming home?" Briana asked as she ran back to where Brian was standing.

Brian glared at the man, telling him without words not to say a damn word. If it wasn't Justin, he didn't want her to be anymore broken-hearted.

"This man is helping with looking for your papa," he told her.

"You need to find him soon," she demanded.

"I'll do everything I can." Then he looked at Brian. "My partner was on that flight too." The man sniffled a little. "I just wanted you to know; Colin wasn't trying to keep it a secret, he just didn't want more people disappointed if it turned out not to be them."

"Your partner…it's Mr. Savage's son isn't it?"

The man's eyes brightened and smiled a little smile. "Yeah, I've been with Travis since I was thirteen."

"Aren't you impotent by now?" Brian even shocked himself with the question.

The man glared at him; Brian knew he should have kept his mouth shut but that never stopped him before.

"Why's he important?" Briana asked.

"Fuck," Brian cursed.

"I'm important because I've been with the man I love since I was thirteen. That almost never happens. To me that makes me and him important and special."

"Oooh," Briana said slyly. "My daddy and papa is important. They've been together forever."

Yates looked at Brian and smirked. "Is that so?"

Briana nodded excitedly. "When is Papa coming home?"

Instead of answering her he looked at Brian. Even if he didn't like Brian's words he wouldn't say anything to hurt the girl. If he had been a betting man he would have thought that Mr. Brian Kinney was trying to cover up his misery with snark.

Brian met the eyes of Mr. Yates but then looked down at his daughter. "Remember what he said? They are doing their best to find him. We have to be strong for Papa."

She nodded her head again. "Yep, we gots to be strong."

Brian said goodbye to Greg Yates, the man promising to call him as soon as he heard from the rescue team. His mind ran wild with thoughts of Justin. Monday…. It was so soon but so far away. There was also the little voice in his head that talked about Justin being dead, gone forever. He told that voice to shut the fuck up and he turned to look at his daughter.

"Let's go eat breakfast, then you, me and Gus are going to watch movies until lunch."

"You want to watch movies with us?" she asked in surprise. Justin usually was the one that watched movies with her.

"Yes. I get to choose one too, though." He grinned when Briana groaned.

"Please, no Dean James."

"I promise no Dean James," he said, smiling at her mix up with the name.

He made omelets for the kids while he had cereal.

"That's gross. There's not even any marshmallows in it," Briana said pointing at his multi-grain cereal.

"Dad, guess what Jenny said yesterday," Gus said after he swallowed some of his omelet.

"What did she say?" he asked only half listening. He was used to stories that went nowhere and endless chatter from both his children.

"She said eating too much playdoh makes her stomach hurt. Can you believe that?" His son then giggled.

That would be Mikey's pride and joy. He loved Jenny but she was a little off, in a good way though. She marched to the beat of her own drum. She lived in a fantasy world just like Michael. But instead of a world made by others, like Mikey's comics, hers was completely in her imagination. It was interesting to listen to her go on about this and that. One day she swore up and down fairies lived in her closet. No one wanted to touch that with a ten-foot pole.

When Briana wanted to start ballet, she convinced Jenny to join with her. Briana was a graceful and talented dancer, Jenny, on the other hand, was a klutz. Jenny's talents rested elsewhere. Brian was glad that his daughter's best friend was also his best friend's daughter.

---

Justin watched as Francisco and Leda screamed at each other. Ever since the night before and the plane turned around without seeing them all the camps had descended into turmoil. No camp was left in peace. Justin had stayed in his camp because he didn't trust some of the people in the others. But as of an hour ago people had started leave their camps and go further inland. They wanted to be left alone and die in peace. But there were also the people who had turned to violence. Sweet, mild-mannered Francisco was losing his ever-loving mind.

When they awoke this morning Francisco was trying to set their camp on fire. Isaiah, Ron and Ricki raced to him and got control of the situation before he could succeed in his setting the whole camp ablaze. His eyes were intense and wild. They had tied his hands and feet together. He was sitting on the ground, leaning up against the tree that they had tethered him to so he wouldn't get away.

At the moment he was having a screaming match with Leda. Most of what was coming out of Francisco's mouth was nonsense. Ron said he believed Francisco had a psychotic break. Justin had seen what happened when someone had a mental break that resulted in violence. Daphne had done terrible things when she wasn't herself. She was getting better every day. He hoped no one at the institution told her about him. She wasn't well enough for news like that. There was talk that she might get out of the hospital by early next year. He hoped it was true. There was no way Brian would allow Briana to be around her but Justin would be able to see her. Maybe even with time Brian might change his mind. Maybe.

But that didn't change the situation they were in now. With their only hope of rescue long gone; things were falling apart. Justin hadn't lost hope though, not as long as there was breath in his body. He would just have to learn to live on the island instead of just surviving. He had Joshie, Briana and Gus to think about. There was only one way to stay sane and that was not to lose hope until they were saved. It was just going to take longer than they first thought.

It was sad that he was going to miss his daughter's birthday, maybe. It was still in early November by their calculation. That left a month until his little girl turned five. The image of a huge birthday party popped in his head. Brian was all about making the kids birthday's big occasions. Justin had found out early that Brian didn't think adult birthdays should be celebrated. But was relieved that wasn't the case with children's. Brian wanted the kids to have everything in life he never had, Jenny Rebecca included.

A pang of sadness hit him at that moment as he remembered he would miss the girls' ballet recital. Months ago, Briana and Jenny Rebecca begged both Lindsay and Justin for ballet lessons; he suspected it was Briana leading the charge. Brian and Mel were both against it but Lindsay and Justin had won. Brian went to a class to see how it was but thought the teacher was too hard on the kids. Mel didn't want her daughter to think she had to dance and wear tutus to be loved. Justin had been the designated ballet parent. He would be there at every class and event. The kids were doing a Winter Solstice show. They were due to start practicing mid-November. Justin hoped Brian still would let Briana do it.

"Let me go!" Francisco yelled, tearing Justin from his thoughts.

"We already told you we can't. Now calm the fuck down," Leda yelled. Her face was red and blotchy; Justin was worried she would have a stroke. Finally, she took off deeper into the trees, Ricki following her.

"We're all going to die, I was just ending it fast," Francisco screamed hysterically.

"I think we should move to another camp," Lucy, Logan's mother, whispered to Justin.

"The other camps are the same. Travis said that most of his camp had disbanded. There's only him and a few others left. The other two camps are at each other's throats. Sad to say this is the best place for us to be."

"He tried to kill us all."

"He's sick."

"I don't care; he could have killed my son. I'm taking Logan and moving to Travis' camp. It is for the best. I would suggest you do the same with Joshua."

She stood up and wobbled a little on her still- healing leg. Limping over to Logan she whispered into his ear. It was sad to see her pack up their meager things but he understood, she was scared for her son. Justin hoped she and Logan would be safe in the other camp.

"Is Nan going to live with us too?" Joshie said out of the blue.

Justin was momentarily stunned silent. Everyday Joshua would talk about his grandmother, Justin encouraged it. But this was the first time that he mentioned seeing her again. Justin had assumed the boy understood that she was gone. What had he been thinking, Joshie was way too young to understand.

"No, Josh, remember, Nan is in heaven." Brian would bitch at him if he had heard him. The man believed in a lot of things, and he was secretly religious but he wasn't a big believer in the afterlife.

"Can I go to heaven?"

Justin felt tears burn his eyes. How did he explain to a four-year old that his grandmother was never coming back? He wondered what Brian told Briana and Gus about him.

"Come here." Joshie climbed up onto Justin's lap. "Your nan loved you very much. But the plane crash hurt her too much. She died, she isn't coming back." He tried to be as kind and truthful as possible.

Joshie started to cry and Justin just held him while he cried himself to sleep. Blocking out the sounds of Francisco screaming he closed his eyes. Letting his mind roam, he thought about family dinner at his dad's. Debbie making a big dinner. Ted, Emmett and Cathy gossiping about the latest on Liberty Avenue. His sister-in-law was an honorary part of Liberty Avenue. She and Emmett had started their own party planning business together. They were a huge success. He even missed the Brian and Michael show. It used to make his a little jealous but now he hoped that Michael was there for Brian.

"Hey, kiddo."

Justin looked up and saw Ron. "Hi."

"Is he okay now?"

"Yeah, he cried himself to sleep though. He wanted to go to heaven to be with his grandmother. I thought he had understood but I was wrong. How could he? He still is a baby."

"Justin?"

The pain he heard in the man's voice caused him pause. "What, Ron?"

"I want to know my grandchildren. I want my daughter back in my life. I let old wounds ruin my life. There was so much I wanted in life. After we lost Lawrence though everything changed."

"Who's Lawrence?"

"My son. He was my first born. He died of SIDS at two months old. Nancy hasn't been the same since. Everything had to be prefect after that. When she thought Lindsay wasn't perfect anymore she wanted nothing to do with her. It was like losing Lawrence all over again. I want to watch Gus play baseball."

"Soccer."

"Huh?"

"Gus plays soccer, not baseball."

"See I didn't know that. And I don't have any idea what Jenny likes."

"J.R. can play with a plain cardboard box and make you think it truly is a castle. She has a wonderful imagination. She is truly Michael's daughter though," he said with a laugh.

"Why do you say that?"

"Briana can talk her into anything. It's like watching The Brian and Michael Show Part Two."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"Me either but what can you do. Briana may have my blood but she is more Brian's than mine."

"How can you say that?"

"The first thing you'll learn in the same-sex based families. Blood is only something that takes bleach to get out of clothes after the kids play tag at night."

"Tag at night?"

"Yep, it was stupid idea. We were at my brother's, and it was my genius idea to have the kids play a game. They wanted to play tag, it was all fun and games until J.R. ran face first into the back of Briana's head. J.R. lost a tooth and Briana had a hell of a headache."

"I wish I could have been there."

"You wanted to see blood spewing from J.R.'s mouth and almost everyone freaking out."

"Who wasn't freaking out?"

"Brian, of course. It would take a meteor hitting earth to shake Brian."

"I bet this has."

"This?"

"The plane crash."

"Yeah, I just wish I could tell them I'm okay. The kids must be so scared, not to mention Brian. I just wonder if he's self-destructing or not."

"When we get out of here I'm going to miss this little guy," Ron said as he ran his hand over Joshie's hair.

"Why are you going to miss him? Unless you go back to the way everything was before. If you play your cards right, you might have four grandkids to spoil instead of just two."

"Really, you'd let me be in Joshie and Briana's life?"

"As long as you are in it for the long haul. And as long as that woman never gets near them."

"I promise. I can't promise about Gus and Jenny Rebecca because Lindsay has always wanted her mother's approval."

"Listen, as a boy raised by a single father let me tell you. One parent there for you one hundred percent is better than two that only call on the holidays."

"I'm going to spoil thing like crazy, I can't wait to be their grandpa."

"Hmm… My dad is Grandpa, maybe you should be…Granddad? Pawpaw? Pepaw? PopPop?"

"My mother's father was German. I used to call him Opa. I have great memories of my Opa. He moved from Germany to the states when he was only seventeen. It was nineteen twenty-one."

Justin smiled at Ron. "Opa it is. So are you in or out?"

"In. Completely in." He leaned over and kissed the top of Joshie's head then stood up. "When we get out of here anything you need to keep him just say. I'll help in any way I can."

"You will?" Justin asked surprised. He knew from talking to Lindsay how much power and connections her parents have.

"I've got to keep my new grandson with his brother and sisters don't I? So tell me what do you think Brian will think when you show up with another child?"

"Go to sleep old man," Justin said playfully.

Ron walked back to his sleep area laughing.

---

"Justin, wake up."

Justin woke up out of his doze, he didn't even know he feel asleep. Looking up at the person who woke him, he was surprised to see Gishi. It had been days since he saw the man. Not since the day they saw the airplane.

"Gishi, what's going on?" He looked around and noticed no one else was in the camp. It had been abandoned. It was then he saw that Joshie wasn't in his arms anymore. "Where's Joshie?" he asked, panicking.

"Leda took him to the shore with her. Everyone is gathering on the shore."

"What? Why?"

"I don't really know. Travis came and got everyone. I didn't want you to be left alone."

"That's really sweet of you," Justin said uncomfortably. Ever since the night Gishi kissed him he had done his best to stay away from the man.

Justin got up and started to head for the shore. It was a ten-minute walk from his camp. He couldn't figure out what was going on and why everyone was there. It sounded to him that all the camps were there. Did that mean even the people who had went off on their own were on the shore? For what purpose?

During the walk he tried to not worry that Gishi hadn't said anything for most of the walk. They were halfway to the shore before he started to feel something was wrong with the big man. He was just about to ask what was wrong when Gishi pushed him to the ground, pinning him down with his body.

All the air in his lungs left his body when he hit the ground. It had been years since he had a panic attack but he could feel another one coming on. Just as he started to completely lose it something buzzed by his ear. He heard Gishi grunt.

"What the fuck!? Let me go!" screamed a voice from above and a few feet away. It wasn't Gishi because he was still on top of Justin and oddly silent.

"Stop it, you're going to kill him," a female voice yelled. He recognized it as Ricki's.

"Can someone help me?" Justin grunted out. His panic had lowered but he was still having trouble breathing with Gishi weight on him.

"Shit, sorry," he heard Ron say.

Gishi's body was lifted from him. When he got his first look at Gishi, he thought the man was dead. His shoulder was covered with deep red blood.

"What the fuck is going on?" Justin yelled.

"Boris, you know the Russian from Travis' camp. Well, he went fucking crazy. Found a gun in the weeds. We think it must have been in the cockpit but when it was smashed to bits it flew out. Anyway, Boris apparently since last night has been planning our slaughter. Going on and on about needing fresh bodies to eat," Ron said.

"What the fuck?" Justin said, trying not the vomit.

"Yeah, seems that Francisco isn't the only one that has had a break from reality," Ron said.

It was then Justin noticed that Travis and Isaiah were holding Boris in place. The gun had fallen onto the ground.

Ron looked at Justin. "Go get Racine and Kimble, we're going to need to get the bullet out. Tell them we've gone to the waterfall. Also tell Olly to come back too, we might need his help." Then Ron looked at Ricki. "Help me carry him to the waterfall."

Any other man might have been emasculated to be made the errand boy while a woman not much older than him was asked to carry an injured man. But not Justin, Ricki was a total bad ass and strong to boot. Also he wanted to see that Joshie was okay with his own eyes.

"You're lucky that Gishi saw Boris coming at you with the gun. If he hadn't saved you we may be having to dig this bullet out of you, if you were lucky," Ricki said before turning to help Ron.

In a daze he passed by Travis and Isaiah who were still wrestling with the crazy Russian. His mind ran wild, Gishi wasn't trying to hurt him. The man had saved him. After Ron saved Gishi he owed the big man a huge apology. After the kiss he realized Gishi had a bit of a crush on him. It didn't take too much thinking to figure out that he had been the first guy that Gishi had ever tried to hit on. He was very new at it and very awkward. To make matters worse he was off his meds and was having trouble dealing. Justin prayed that Gishi would be okay.

He ran in the direction of the crash; they wouldn't be very close to it because the smell but he would be able to find them.

They were all gathered on the beach, at first he didn't know why but then he saw. In the distance he saw a small dark mass. He tried not to get his hopes up, but he was failing.

"Papa!" Joshie yelled. Justin turned and saw Joshie break away from the crowd. The boy ran full speed to him and crashed into his legs.

Justin swung Joshie into his arms and hurried to the group. Racine and Kimble needed to help Ron right now.

"Ron needs you by the waterfall," he said looking at them. The nodded and took off inland. "Olly, Ron said he might need your help too."

Olly left but not before grumbling that he wasn't no damn nurse.

"Why is everybody here?" he asked, still trying to keep his hopes down.

"Travis was out here catching fish when he saw the boat. He came and got us, we've been here for hours. It hasn't seemed to get any closer. We already shot off another flare," Leda said.

"Papa, we're going home," Joshie said as he bounced up and down in Justin's arms.

"We don't know that for sure. I don't want you to be upset if it doesn't happen." Justin inwardly groaned, Joshie wasn't going to understand.

"Puppy," Joshie said.

"What?"

"Oh that, he said as soon as you take him home you promised him a puppy."

"Fuck," Justin cursed. That was the last time he tried bribery to get a kid to sleep.

"You better be glade you didn't promise him a pony," Leda said laughing.

"Pony? I can have a pony? Yay."

"Fuck."

---

It was Monday morning and Brian stayed by his phone. He called into work and told them he wouldn't be in. He dropped the Briana off last night with Gus at Lindsay's. There was no way he could tell her about the flare. It was excruciating to wait. No one else needed to be broken hearted if it wasn't them.

Sitting at his desk he looked over one of Justin's sketchbooks. This one was filled with Brian and only him. One was him lying in bed stretched out naked on their bed. Another was him working at this very desk. Then there was one of him at pride with Gus on his shoulders. But it was the last in the book that was his favorite. It was beautiful in its simplicity, it was just the back of him walking down the street with holding Gus' and Briana's hands. You didn't know who it was because you couldn't see their faces. Justin drew if completely from memory.

Please, let him be okay.

---

"I've done what I could," Ron said. He had just joined them on the beach, leaving Racine to take care of Gishi.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"I think so, I sterilized the knife as well as I could but we won't know for a while. Is the ship getting closer?"

"It's still pretty far off. How will they get to us? There is no way for it to dock," a woman named Bernice said.

"They will lower their anchor as close as they can get them they were send out small boats," Justin said. It wasn't sure but that was what he thought would happen.

"When do you think they'll get close enough?" Bernice asked.

"I think they should be here within a few hours. Just think about it, in two hours we could be getting off this island. It doesn't seem real does it?"

Justin held Joshie tight against him, trying not to let the tears fall. Home. Seeing Brian and Briana. Gus. His dad. Deb. Talking to Molly. Seeing his whole family. Introducing them all to Joshie. He knew that it wouldn't be easy to keep Joshie but he was going to do everything in his power to keep his promise. Brian was going to freak out when he meets Joshie. Justin's hope was that Brian had gotten over whatever had been eating him for the last few months. He wanted a family for Joshie.

They watched as the two motorized inflatable rescue boats came toward shore. This was it, they were being rescued. When the two men and two women from boats touched down on the beach it was the moment Justin finally was able to feel the pain of the last month. He lowered him and Joshie to the ground and he just cried. He could hear Travis and Ron talking with the people from the boat.

"It's okay, Papa," Joshie said, patting Justin's unshaven cheek. Not having been able to shave for a month his facial hair was a bit much. It looked like he was going for the lumberjack look he guessed. Maybe if he asked nicely they would let him shave before going home. Home. Damn, there goes those sinuses again.

---

It was a little after ten at night on Monday when the phone rang.

"Hello," he answered without his usual gruffness.

"Mr. Kinney?"

"Yes."

"This is Colin Savage. I just got the call from my team. They have found the wreckage of Flight 530. Only fifty-three of the one-hundred and six are alive. Some of them are injured." The man sounded like he had been crying.

"Justin?" he whispered.

"I'm sorry Brian, Justin wasn't listed as one of the living. My Travis wasn't either." There was a hitch in the man's voice.

The phone slipped out of Brian's hand and his world went dark.

---

They had all gotten on to the ship. It had taken many trips back and forth for the boats. Justin was sitting beside Gishi's bed waiting for him to wake. Josh was in his lap, refusing to leave him. All the new people were scaring the boy.

"I need to take everyone's names again. I think something got mixed up. Some of these names don't match the passenger log," a tall, blonde woman said.

"Justin Kinney, and this is Joshua Matthews." He pointed to the unconscious man in the bed. "And this is Gishi Kaneko."

"Great, just great."

"What?"

"I have no idea who they collected names from when we're bringing you in but I don't have any of those names."

"We're not on the passengers' log?"

"No, you're there but not on the rescue log."

"Who did you get you info from?" he asked.

"Tony Angelo."

"Well, that explains it. Tony doesn't call anybody by their name. He said I didn't look like a Justin. So he started calling me Lance. Been so long he probably forgot our real names. He also could be fucking with you, he does that."

The woman rolled her eyes. "I have to make an important call." She ran out of the room. Great, she had told the man who paid for this whole thing his son wasn't a survivor just to find out he could be. She needed to find Travis Savage if he was here. Everything had been so hectic they just pulled on survivor over to get the names, it had been their luck to get a fucking comedian.

 

 

The phone ringing woke Lindsay up. She fumbled with it trying to answer it before it woke the kids. They had stayed up late playing board games. Just as her hand closed around the phone she eyed the clock. Three in the morning. Who would be calling that time of the morning?

"Who the fuck is calling this early in the goddamn morning," Mel growled before covering her head with her pillow.

Finally, she hit the connect button on the phone. "Hello?" Even at three she had to be the perfect little WASP; Brian always made fun of her for it.

"Princess," a voice she thought she would never hear again said. She shot up, her back straight as an arrow.

"Daddy?" she said quietly, she knew it was him but she didn't trust her own ears.

The bed moved and she saw Mel sitting up, looking at her intently.

"Oh how I've missed your voice, princess." A sob escaped him.

"Daddy. What? How? Where?"

"I know you must know about the plane by now. Your mother called Lynnette, I wanted to be the one to call you."

"This really is you? You really are alive?" she asked fearing her sanity.

"It's really me. The rescue ship picked us up hours ago. They just now are letting us call our families. I can't talk long; in fact, I'm being told to wrap it up. Do me a favor and get a hold of Brian. Justin said he tried to call him but his phone was off. Justin used up all his time trying to get ahold of his husband."

"Justin's alive," she said looking at Mel. She saw her wife visibly relax. They had been so worried about Justin too.

"Is Melanie with you?" her father asked. She recoiled some at the question. Where else would her partner be at three in the morning?

"Yes," she said quietly.

"Good, tell her Leda is okay too. She used her call to phone her brother but she wanted Melanie to know she was alive and well."

"Leda was on the plane?"

Mel looked at her shocked. The list of the missing was made public weeks ago but they hadn't noticed Leda's name. But then again they weren't looking for it like Justin and her parents.

"Yep, she's a real spitfire. Look, I have to go now, they don't know when we'll get home. There is a lot of red tape they need to get through. Hopefully I'll be able to call you tomorrow or the next."

"Okay, Daddy. I love you. I can't wait to see you and mother again," she said brushing tears off her cheek.

"I can't wait either. Just know, a lot of things are going to change when I get back home. I want to get to know my family. I want my grandchildren to know me. There is so much I need to make up for. I love you, princess."

"I love you too, Daddy," she choked out.

"Goodbye, princess."

"Bye, Daddy."

After the phone call ended she fell into Melanie's arms. Then she just cried, from sadness and from joy. "They're alive," she whispered into her wife's shoulder.

Another few minutes passed before she remembers what her father said. Justin had tried to reach Brian but his phone was off. Since the plane went missing anytime Briana was somewhere else for the night Brian would get bombed. Picking the phone back up, she tried to call him but there was no answer.

"I need to go and tell Brian," she said, getting off the bed.

"Can't this wait until morning?"

---

Mel asked.

"If it was me, would you want to know as soon as possible or the morning?"

"Okay." She paused of a minute. "I can't believe Leda was on that plane. I thought Richard would have called me."

"Who's Richard?"

"Her brother. We all used to be so close. But I guess he may take the word ex to heart."

"Daddy said she was a spitfire. He sounded so different, he said he wants to get to know us as a family. To know his grandchildren, not just his grandson. I can't believe it Mel, they're alive."

Mel got out of the bed and wrapped her wife up in her arms. "Be careful," she told her wife, not liking the idea of her out driving so late.

"I will, promise."

"Brian, wake up," someone said while shaking him.

Brian opened one eye and saw Lindsay looking down at him. He was regretting giving her and Michael keys to the house in case of emergency now.

"What?" he choked out. His mouth felt like he had cotton balls in it. His throat was dry also.

"I've been trying to call you. The plane was found." She was beaming at him, it made his heart hurt worse. When it was clear he wasn't going to say anything else she continued. "Brian, did you hear me? Daddy just called me. He and mother are fine. He said Leda is okay too, I didn't know she was on the plane. He told me Justin used up his time on the phone trying to call you.

"Justin?" Brian asked, the fog clearing a little from his brain at the name.

"Yes, Daddy said he used up all his time trying to call you."

"Justin's dead."

"No, he's not. Daddy has been talking to him. I promise you Brian, I'm not lying."

Brian looked into the eyes of one of his oldest friends and saw the honesty mixed with worry. "He's really alive?"

"He is, I bet he's left some type of message on your phone."

After hearing that he pulled himself up. It was then he realized he had passed out on the floor of his kitchen. Shit, his back was going to pay him back for that the rest of the day. He staggered over to the counter where he had dropped his phone earlier. Turning it back on he waited until it chimed, telling him it had messages.

First message was from Colin Savage telling him there was a mix up. Travis and Justin both were on the ship and alive.

Second message was Colin again repeating the earlier message.

Message three and four were Mikey checking up on him.

Message five was Justin, his voice was hoarse like he had been crying. "Brian, I love you. I was beginning to think I would never see you again. There has been so much that has happened in the last month. I know before I left we were having problems, but I really want to work through any we were having. Oh yeah, I need you to get a family lawyer as soon as possible. A woman named Barbara Carmichael passed away the day of the crash. She left her grandson in my care, she wanted me to raise him, there is no one else in her family. Please Brian, I can't lose him now. His name is Joshua James Matthews, Ron said he would help if we ran into any big problems. They're telling me to wrap this call up. Tell Briana and Gus I love and miss them. I love you Brian, bye."

Brian felt Lindsay behind him rubbing his shoulders. Everything that Justin had said, he had needed to hear. He felt like kicking himself for turning his phone off last night. And what in the hell was that Justin said about a kid? They had another child now. The kid's only family had died in the crash or after, he was unsure.

"I can have Mel refer you to one of the other attorneys in her firm."

"No, I'll fine one. If Justin is attached to this boy, I bet the boy is attached to him too. I have a lawyer in mind already, we shouldn't be fighting anyone. You heard Justin the boy doesn't have any family left."

"Be real Brian, you've heard Mel. Gays in Pittsburgh never get a fair shake."

"Who said anything about Pittsburgh?"

"I'm not following."

"Justin got on that plane in New York. Who the hell knows where this boy and his grandmother were from. I just hope it's not Arizona or Georgia, or really any fucking place like them."

"Just think about it, another boy for Gus to play with."

"Justin didn't say how old the boy is, maybe he's a teenager. Don't start getting your hopes up, he might be closer to Hunter's age than Gus'. I just hope Sunshine knows what the hell he's doing." Brian stopped and turned to look at Lindsay. "He's alive," he whispered.

Tears brimmed Lindsay's eyes as she nodded. Brian couldn't contain his joy. He ran to her and lifted her up, spinning her around.

"Okay, you can put me down. I have to go back home," she said laughing.

"Have you told Briana?"

"No, I just got the call and came here to tell you. I didn't think you'd want me to wake her up and tell her. I was thinking next time he called you could put her on the phone with him." It wasn't a bad idea. That way she could hear his voice and know that he was okay.

"Yeah, okay. I'm going to pick her up at eight. Okay?"

"Sure." She gave him a peck on the mouth and left.

Looking around the house he realized he had a lot to do before Justin got home. First, he needed to clean out the guest room. He would wait until he talked to Justin before he bought furniture and clothes for the boy. He hoped the boy wasn't a teenager, he didn't think he could handle an older child. He also hoped it wasn't a very small child, he didn't think he could handle diapers again.

---

"So where do we go from here?" Ricki asked Lt. Palma.

They had been on the large ship for almost two days and had yet been allowed to call their families again. They had no idea where they were even headed.

"Since the flight originated from the states that's where we are headed back. For those that are not from the states they will be given emergency passports and can get home as soon as they are issued," Lt. Palma said in a monotone voice.

"What! I want to go home. How I'm I supposed to get there? Board another plane? Not very fucking likely," Olly ranted.

They were all seated in a large room on the ship. The injured were still in the infirmary. There was no way this was going to end well. Too many emotions were in this room. Francisco and Boris were both sedated in the infirmary, so at least they didn't have to worry about them.

"Papa, when are we going home?" Joshie asked.

Since they were rescued no one really questioned him about Josh. He hoped that Brian would have a lawyer, and a plan waiting for him by the time they got there.

"Soon," he told the boy.

A tall man in a business suit walked to the podium and tapped the mic. Justin couldn't explain it but he was getting a bad vibe from the guy. It might be because his face and glint in his eye reminded him of Craig. Some people in the world were just not good people. After that thought Justin started to feel bad, he was jumping to conclusions. He didn't even know this guy, judging a book by its cover and all that.

"Excuse me," the man said. The survivors quieted down. "My name is Mike Seisler, I work for Liberty Air." Murmurs filled the room.

Justin tried to listen to the man talk and keep a squirming preschooler entertained. There wasn't much success on either end. Before he knew it the meeting was over, and he had missed what it was about.

Luckily, he was in-between Leda and Ron. "I missed what he was talking about. What's going on?"

"It was their fault," Leda said, her face pale.

"What? They said it was their fault?" He had never heard of a company taking the blame, even if it was their fault. This one resulted in deaths, that was going to make the news big time.

"In a roundabout way that's what he said. Something about making this transitioning time as easy on us as possible," Ron said.

"I'm not following." Wishing now he had listened better.

"They are going to pay us and the dead's family off. They're saying they know what the problem was, it was their fault so instead of going to court and suing that could last for years we should take the settlement."

"Did he say why the plane went down?"

"No, but they'll tell us right after they have us sign a non-disclosure contract."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's a deal of the settlement."

"Come on, I'm getting sick being in this room," Ron said.

"Fuck," Justin whispered.

---

"FUCK!" Brian yelled, throwing the phone across the room. It had been two days since the call from Justin.

He had done everything Justin wanted. The lawyer was ready and waiting. He also went through the victim log and found two boys on the flight. One a ten-year-old named Logan Masters. They didn't believe it was him though because his father had been on the news talking about his son. The other boy was Joshua James Matthew, newly four years old. He was in the care of his grandmother, the only living relative he had. It seemed to match what Justin had told him. He would deny it to anyone who asked but he was excited about having another child.

The lawyer couldn't find any family for the boy, and he did look. It was looking good for them; the boy was from Connecticut so it didn't look like they would have problems from the state. His lawyer said that with the plane crash and relying on Justin for a month, that it would most likely be in the boy's best interest not to be ripped away from him. Brian hoped he was right.

The room was almost ready for furniture. The painters had just finished the walls in the room. When he was picking a color for the wall he thought blue. Gus had begged for his walls to be blue. But then he remembered not every little boy wanted blue walls. He might have gone a little over the top. But he wanted it to look perfect. The room is a pale yellow, if he wanted it changed Justin could arrange it. Before he bought the furniture he was going to have to confirm with Justin that it was the four-year-old. He had already bought the preschool section out at the toy store. If it wasn't the four-year-old, then a shit load of toy donations was going to be made in Briana's name.

"Daddy?" Briana's voice shook him out of his thoughts.

She was looking at his broken phone; it was broken at the mouth of the fireplace.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he said, usually he was better keeping his temper in check when she was around.

"You didn't scare me but Papa is gonna be so mad at you."

He smirked. "Why would he be mad at me?"

"You broke another phone."

"Sue me. Are you ready to go to Claire's?"

His sister had invited them to dinner. Although their relationship was much better now, this was unusual. The last time he was invited over like this it was to tell him she was pregnant. He didn't think that was going to be the news this time, at least he hoped not.

"Steven?" Briana asked shyly. Everyone knew about her massive crush on her cousin's seventeen-year-old boyfriend. The boy was cute in the boy next door way, he reminded him of Michael, when they were that age. Thankfully, Peter seemed to escape the Kinney curse. He was able to love and be loved before the age of thirty.

"I don't know if Steven is going to be there. Why don't you go get dressed and we'll see?"

"I'm so glad you could make it," Chris said, greeting them at the door.

"Hi Uncle Chris," Briana said giving him a big hug.

"Hello to you sweetpea. Claire's just finishing dinner, come in and have a seat."

As they walking into the well decorated open space he heard a noise from upstairs.

"You kids come on down and greet our guests."

The loud thundering of teenage feet stomped down the stairs. Peter was quickly followed by Steven. Then Chris's two daughters Rose and Azalea were behind them. Azalea had Simone in her arms. Chris wanted a flower name for Simone but Claire always wanted to name her daughter Simone. So they compromised on Simone Lily. Could be worse, her name could be Buttercup.

"Uncle Brian," was yelled by three of the kids. He tried to ignore the way his nephew's boyfriend checked him out. It was just creepy on so many levels.

They all sat around the living room and he listened to the endless chatter of teenagers. He wasn't fond of teenagers even when he was one.

Standing up he left them there, Briana was too busy giggling at everything Steven said. As he walked into the kitchen to see what Claire was doing he was followed by his youngest niece, leaning down he picked her up.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

She just giggled. He realized a while back that Simone was a little delayed in the speech department. She was smart as far as he could tell, she just only said a couple words. At two and a half both Gus and Briana chatted a lot, Briana more than Gus.

"So what do I owe the invitation to teen hormone central?" he asked Claire.

She was over the stove stirring something that looked like a heart attack in a pot.

"Brian, I didn't hear you arrive." She walked over and they had an awkward hug. It helped that he was still holding Simone.

"What's going on?" he asked, cutting to the chase.

"John wants the join the marines."

"Good."

"That's all you have to say?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"That it's a stupid idea. You know him he would end up getting his ass kicked before the first day is over."

"Maybe that's what he needs. Discipline."

"I know he's a loud mouth, and takes after Mom too much but he's still my son."

"Then you should be happy. Maybe now his life goal won't be to have the least amount of brain cells on is cell block. Is this what you really wanted to talk to me about?"

"Mostly," she hedged. He wasn't getting a great feeling about this. The worry about her asking for money wasn't really there anymore, Chris owned his own store, in truth he owned five of them. Sports stores.

"What do you want Claire?"

"I've got a house full, with four kids and Chris."

"So." The bad feeling started to get worse.

"Mom can't stay at her house alone."

"Why the hell not?"

"She's sick, she needs someone to take care of her."

"This is the same woman who told me I deserved cancer. The same woman that told you that you're going to hell for marrying a woman."

"Chris isn't a woman."

"We both know that but it doesn't change her mind. I'm not having my children around that woman. Mine are younger and more impressionable than yours."

"Brian…please," she started.

"I'm going to say this slowly so you understand. Fuck. No. If you want her in someone's house, take her. Or you could hire her a fucking nurse. Because that's the only way someone will deal with her is if they are being paid."

He didn't stay for dinner, picking up Briana right in middle of her conversation and left.

The house phone was ringing when they arrived home. It was then he remembered breaking his cell phone. He carried his sleeping daughter into the living room and laid her on the couch. Grabbing the phone, he answered it.

"Kinney."

"I was starting to think you didn't remember me," Justin's sweet voice said.

"I could never forget you, Sunshine."

"I love you."

"Me too."

Brian heard Justin sniffle. "God, I've missed you so much. How's Briana?"

"Good, she's sleeping right now on the couch. We just got back from Claire's."

"What were you doing there? Is she having another kid?"

"No, she wants Joan to move in with us."

"Like hell. The woman ruined your childhood, she won't be allowed to ruin our children's childhood. I especially don't want her to around you. I've seen what you're like when she's around."

Brian laughed a bit as he relaxed some. For a moment he thought Justin would tell him to let her move in. He shouldn't have worried Justin was always wanted the best for him.

"I've missed you so much, Sunshine. This house is so empty without you here."

"I was leaving you." Even though Brian thought that was the case it still hurt hearing it.

"I know."

"I left to find out who I really am."

"Did you?"

"Yes."

"Who are you?" Brian held his breath waiting for Justin's reply.

"Justin Taylor Kinney, father of Gus, Briana and Joshua. Struggling artist. Husband of Brian Kinney, the love of Justin Kinney's life." Justin voice broke at the last part of his sentence.

Trying not to break down on the phone with his husband Brian decided to change the direction of the conversation.

"So, we have another son now?"

Justin laughed. "Yes, he's amazing. His name is Joshua but we call him Joshie. He just turned four and lost his grandmother. Barbara asked me to raise him like my own."

"Christ, how long did you know the grandmother?"

"I chatted with her for about an hour before the plane went down. Did you get a lawyer; I won't give him up."

"Yeah, yeah. He said there shouldn't be any problem. He's going to start the process tomorrow."

"That's wonderful."

"I've started on his room. What does he like?"

"Animals, he's been terribly sad that the only ones he saw on the island turned into food very quickly. Polar Bears are his favorite at the moment because Logan gave him a stuffed one."

"Logan?"

"The other boy here, he's a sweet boy. Luckily, both of them survived."

"Do you know when you'll be home?"

"That's why I'm calling you. We'll dock in New York in a few hours. I was wondering if you could come and get us."

"I'll pack an overnight bag and we'll be there soon."

"Drive don't fly."

Brian decided not to argue with his husband about planes being safer than cars. He didn't think his husband would appreciate it after his ordeal.

"We'll be there in the morning."

"Listen, my time is up so, I'll see you later."

"Yeah, later."

Brian quickly packed bags for Justin and Briana. Then he went and got some of the clothes he bought for Joshua. By tomorrow morning his family would be whole again. But could he really handle three kids, he hadn't been sure about the first, the second just snuck up on him, now the third is being thrown at him. He hoped he wouldn't fuck everything up like he was prone to do.

Brian was an hour out of Pittsburgh before his phone rang. Briana was asleep in her car seat and that was the way he wanted to keep it. He pushed a button, and then the call was hands-less.

"What?"

"Brian, I'm glad you're still up. I got a call from Daddy a while ago, they are going to be in New York by morning. We're headed up there now."

"So are we," he said passing a slow as hell semi.

"We're going to be staying with Mel's cousin Imogen. What about you?"

"A hotel, like a normal person." He couldn't imagine sleeping on someone's guest bed or worse their couch. It was an unappealing thought.

"Daddy said he is leaving Mom. He wouldn't tell me why but said it was a long time coming. I'm sad their getting divorced but I'm happy that she won't have him under her control anymore. Is that wrong?"

"Of course it's wrong. You're a horrible daughter."

"Brian," she said with a laugh. "That's not funny."

"Then why are you laughing."

She sobered. "I just don't want him to hate me."

"He's called you twice already right?"

"Yes."

"How long has it been since he called to that many times this close together?"

"Not since college."

"Well, you have your answer right there."

---

Justin grinned as he laid down on a real bed. He had a shower on the ship but it was a very short one because they were to save water. The hotel the airline put them up in was swank. They were really trying to sweeten the pot but Justin had told the lawyer guy he wasn't signing anything until he talked to Brian.

A whole four levels were blocked off just for them. Too bad Justin couldn't find a vending machine on those levels that had the chips he wanted. Joshua was laying on the bed watching some cartoon that seemed to be written for adults instead of kids. Justin didn't turn it off though the kid needed something funny to watch.

He looked at the clock, it read two in the morning. Deciding he wanted something to munch on he grabbed the key to his room. He didn't want to wake up any of his friends to watch Joshie so he just picked the boy up. Josh had woken up a few minutes ago too. Being in the hotel was too strange to him.

"Where are we going?"

"To the lobby and see if they have any good chips in their vending machine." It seemed like they had been there forever even though it had really only been a few hours. The press conference was at noon but he tried not to worry about that.

Joshie laid his head down on Justin's shoulder as they took the elevator down to the lobby. He was too anxious to sleep, in a few hours he would be seeing his husband and daughter. It was a dream come true.

"I don't fuck care about your rules," a loud familiar voice roared.

Justin blinked at the slight in front of him. Standing in front of the reception desk was Brian. He had Briana in his arms and a scowl on his face. The man had yet to notice him because his attention was focused on the woman with the name badge.

"Please, sir, you have to calm down. As I explained we are booked solid for tonight."

"Even the fucking presidential suite?"

"Sir, that suite needs to be booked at least a day ahead of arrival."

"Is it book?" he growled.

"No, sir but-

She was cut off by Brian. "So let me get this straight instead of making thousands of dollars for a few hours you would rather have the suite empty making no money?"

"Sir, I'm going to have to call security if you don't calm down."

Justin not wanting to see his husband get thrown out of one of best hotels in the city decided to intervene.

"Brian," he called softly.

Brian turned around quickly, their eyes locked and it was like they both were in a trance. That was until Briana noticed him.

"Papa!" she yelled, making Brian put her down.

Justin was glad he has showered and shaved now. He didn't want Brian to see how slovenly he looked before.

Kneeling down he sat Joshie down on his feet just at the time Briana hit him full speed. Tearing up he hugged her tightly. He didn't admit it until this moment he was broken without her.

"I've missed you so much," he whispered into her hair.

"We've missed you too, Sunshine," he heard Brian say.

Looking up he saw the man brush a stray tear off his cheek.

"Come on up to our room," Justin said, refusing to break down in the lobby.

"Sure."

It was a quiet ride back up to his room, chips forgotten about. Briana would let him put her down. He noticed Joshie was being oddly quiet and followed sullenly.

As Brian shut the door of the room Justin laid Briana down on one of the queen beds.

"It's time for us all to be introduced. I'll start, for those who don't know, I'm Papa." Justin smiled when both Briana and Joshie giggled. "This tall guy over her is Daddy."

Joshie gasped. "Daddy?"

Knowing he was treading on shaky ground he went lightly. "Yes, remember we talked about it. We're all family. You. Briana. Gus. Daddy. Me."

"Are we going home?" the boy asked quietly.

"Justin," Brian warned. Justin knew Brian was worried about getting the boy's hopes up.

"Yes, we're going home tomorrow." Justin looked up at Brian. "What did the lawyer say?"

"He'll be here tomorrow. The social worker is going to meet us at ten."

Justin nodded his head. "Okay, I think it's time for bed."

"I'm not sleepy," Briana said followed by a large yawn.

"I not sleepy," Joshie said adding his two cents.

"That means no doughnuts in the morning," Justin said. He had only a few dollars he got from an airline rep. But now with Brian they would eat like kings.

Both kids laid down on a bed each. "Nope, everyone under the age of five sleeps on this bed," Brian said picking up Briana and laying her down beside Joshie. "And everyone over the age of twenty can sleep on this one." Pointing at the newly empty bed.

"Brian, it'll just be sleeping you know."

"I'm not an idiot, Sunshine."

Justin was surprised when Brian made no attempt to hug him or kiss him, in fact the man hadn't gotten near him.

After a few minutes the kids both had nodded off to sleep. Even being in an unfamiliar place being so late they couldn't stay awake a second more.

"I'm going to shower," Brian said, breaking through Justin's thoughts.

Brian flipped the extra lock on the door to make sure the kids couldn't get out if they were asleep.

Justin watched as Brian disappeared into the bathroom. Maybe Brian had found someone else. Maybe he didn't want him anymore. Maybe it was him telling Brian that he had been leaving him the day of the crash. His mind was going crazy with horrible thoughts. Not being able to take it anymore he went to the bathroom. He turned the knob, luckily it wasn't locked.

As he opened the door and walked in he felt himself be lifted up. Before he knew what was happening he found his body being pushed up against the now closed bathroom door. Brian's mouth locked on to his and Justin wrapped his legs around the man's waist.

Brian pulled away just long enough to pulled Justin's shirt off. Then he plundered Justin's mouth again. Suddenly, he was lowered to the ground.

"Take your pants off," Brian growled.

Doing what he was told he quickly shed his clothes, Brian losing his also.

"You didn't bring in your bags," Justin pointed out.

Brian shoved his hand in his pants pocket and pulled out several packets, condoms and packets of lube both. He then picked Justin up and sat him on the sink. After hurriedly preparing him he quickly sheathed himself. Justin wanted it quick and hard and he wasn't disappointed. The hardest part was trying to keep quiet so the kids wouldn't wake up.

Brian lifted him back off the sink and pushed him up against the door.

"I've missed you so fucking much," Brian said as he continued to slam him into the door with his thrusts.

"Never again, Brian. I'm never going to be apart from you again."

"I won't let you," Brian growled now thrusting even harder. Justin closed his eyes and enjoyed knowing that he would be feeling Brian for days. He was never letting his husband get as distant as he was before the crash again.

 

 

Brian woke up and knew immediately he was alone in the bed. For a scary split-second he thought that getting the call from Justin, and everything since was a dream. That was until he heard the familiar sound of his husband breathing.

Sitting himself up on his elbows he looked around the room. He found his missing bed partner in the other bed. Justin was in the middle of the bed with both kids on either side of him. Both kids had their little heads resting on Justin's chest.

For a while he just stared at his family. He fought off the tears that threatened to fall. It wasn't until Savage told him that Justin wasn't one of the rescued before he really lost it. He remembered the feeling. The absolute devastation. Gus and Briana were the only reason he didn't off himself that night.

His eyes landed on the little boy. The boy didn't say much of anything last night. Justin said that he was usually a chatty little guy. He hoped that the boy warmed up to them as a family. Brian had always felt like an outcast in his family, and he had been born into it. He didn't want the same thing for any of his children, and Joshua was one of his children now.

Knowing he couldn't fall back asleep he decided to get up. It was a little after eight in the morning, so he called down to room service. After ordering breakfast for everyone he went into the bathroom and got ready for the day. There were still dark circles under his eyes from a month of almost no sleep and lots stress.

Just as he was finishing shaving he got the feeling someone was watching him. That was when he looked towards the open bathroom door. It was then he saw Joshua staring at him.

"Hey little man," he said quietly. He didn't want to scare the little guy.

Joshua just looked at him, not saying a word. It was starting to freak him out. Justin said the boy was smart for his age and had a large vocabulary.

"I ordered breakfast. Are you hungry?"

Nothing. No response at all.

"I hope you like waffles."

Nope, nada.

He wasn't used to trying this hard to get someone to talk to him. It was starting to piss him off.

There was a light knock at the door. It was either the fastest room service on earth or it someone else. He unlocked the door and opened it. He was greeted with the sight of Lindsay's homophobic father. What the fuck was he doing there?

"OPA!" Joshua shouted before throwing himself at the man.

"Joshie. I've missed you so much."

Joshua giggled. "I just seen you."

"Well, I still missed you." Ron looked up at Brian and smiled. Brian did not return it. "I called Lindsay and Melanie. We are all going to meet at the social worker's office. We have to make sure Joshie goes where he belongs."

Before Brian could say anything another person walked up. This was a tall, dark skinned man.

"Izzy!" Joshua shouted again. He went from Ron to the new man.

"How's my little guy?" Joshua giggled. "Where's your papa?" The stranger picked the small boy up and the boy looked extremely happy.

"Papa's sleeping. That man gots food comin," Joshua said pointing at Brian.

Brian forced himself not to wince when Joshua referred to him as 'that man'. He saw the man holding Joshua look at him with suspicion but Ron looked at him with pity. He preferred suspicion. Pity was for losers. Like Ted. Ted deserves pity.

"I would invite you all in but as you heard, Justin's sleeping."

"We're awake now."

Brian turned around and saw Justin still in his sleep clothes and Briana almost hiding behind his leg.

"Justin, morning. I came to see how you and little man are doing," Izzy, as Joshua called him, said.

"Good, I'm starving though."

"I ordered room service," Brian said, and gave Justin a once over. Justin was thin as a rail and not in the good way. This was the smallest he had ever seen him, he looked sick. But then again all of them did, Joshua the least. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out; it was clear the others made sure the boy had food even if they didn't.

"Ron invited me to breakfast with his daughter and daughter-in-law. I'll see you guys later," Izzy said as he set Joshua down on his feet.

"Can I come with you?" Joshua asked, his voice trembling.

Brian was just about to say no when Justin cut him off. "Sure, Opa will make sure to bring you back before we leave for the social worker, right?"

"You bet. Come on, kiddo."

The small boy danced around the two men as they walked down the hall. Brian heard him jabbering on and on. It was clear to see his affection for both men, and that pissed Brian off more.

"Why'd you let him go?" Brian asked.

"Joshie needs familiarity, he knows Ron and Isaiah. Besides that, he wanted to go with them. I didn't have a reason for him not to go."

"What about that he needs to get to know Briana and I."

"That can't happen in a few hours. Hell, I was in a plane crash with him and it still took days for him to let his guard down around me. You just have to wait him out. So, what did I hear about breakfast?"

---

The next day they were headed back towards Pittsburgh. The last twenty-four hours had been crazy. It turned out no one signed the papers Liberty Air had handed out. When Justin had Mel look them over, she said the papers were bullshit. If he signed, he was saying that basically they didn't mind being in a plane crash. As Brian said 'Fuck that'. Liberty Air, being a client of Brian's was also a problem. He had a meeting with CEO in the morning. Brian wanted to know what had happened. During the time that the plane was lost, apparently they had been sweet as pie but now it was radio silence. Something smelled funny. Justin also had to be interviewed by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). It was their job to investigate plane crashes. Since Liberty Air was a U.S. based company, it was theirs to investigate.

The meeting with the social worker had gone a little better but not by much. They didn't like that Brian and he were a couple. Already having Briana and Gus did help though. As did Brian's money, Ron's support and Mel's knowledge. They walked out of there with temporary custody. They were going to see a new social worker in Pittsburgh. He hoped this one would be a little less homophobic.

Then there was the elephant in the room. Hate, all-encompassing hate. Briana hated Joshua and it looked like Joshua returned her feelings. As it stood they were glaring at each other in the backseat at the moment. He never thought they would hate each other.

"He's looking at me again," Briana snapped. She sounded like Brian when he was annoyed.

"Well, you're looking at him," he reasoned.

"Why can't he go to his home?"

"Our home is his home. Remember, we told you we want to adopt him. He'll be our foster son until they get done looking for another living relative. After that we'll be able to adopt him if everything checks out."

"Papa?" Joshie asked.

"Yes, Joshie?"

"Briana is mean."

"I am not!"

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Stop it, both of you!" Brian shouted, his knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel.

"Briana, can you tell me why you are fighting with Joshie?"

"You like him better than me and Gus," she whined.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

"You went away and didn't let me come because you had him."

Justin thought about telling her that if she were with him he would have gotten first class, because the trip was so long. First class had been all but obliterated. The only ones to make it was Ron and Nancy, and they had been in the very last seats. But he knew not to tell her any of that.

"Honey, I met Joshie on the plane. I'm glad I did, because I got to meet his grandmother. She was an amazing woman, she wanted your daddy and me to raise him. If I didn't meet him he might not be in our family, and I couldn't imagine my life without him. Just like I couldn't imagine my life without you or Gus."

Strangely he heard his daughter giggle. "And Daddy?"

Justin lightly laughed. "And Daddy."

"Can I call him Daddy?" Joshie's small, timid voice asked.

"I would be honored if you called me Daddy," Brian said. His death grip had lightened up on the steering wheel and a small grin was on his face.

Justin wouldn't say the rest of the trip home was harmonious but it was less tense. Every so often he heard Briana and Joshua quietly chatting. She was telling him about the room they made up for him. Brian obviously made her aware of what was going on, she just was too young to really understand the words.

Both kids were asleep when they arrived home. Brian was happy when he pulled into the driveway and no cars were there. He had to threaten the family not to come over. It had been hard because Carl and Justin's brother were desperate to see him. But Brian had told them that because of Joshua they needed to cool their jets. The boy needed to adjust to the house and them before being bombarded with that brand of crazy.

Brian picked up Briana from her boaster as Justin got Joshua. They carried the sleeping children into the house after Brian unlocked the door.

"I want to lay them on the couch. When Joshie wakes up from his nap I don't want him scared," Justin said.

Brian nodded and put a sleeping Briana on one end of the couch. Justin followed and did the same.

"I want to be alone with you," Brian said, needing to hold, touch and feel Justin.

"I know; I need to be with you too…but we have other priorities right now." Justin's eyes shifted to the small children on the couch.

"Careful there, Sunshine. You might start sounding like a respectable adult if you keep talking like that."

Justin huffed a laugh before sitting down on the loveseat. He wasn't surprised when Brian sat beside him. Brian put his arm around his shoulders and brought him in closer. It felt good to be this close to his husband again. They hadn't talked about all their problems but it could wait. They had all the time in the world now.

"Only you could get yourself in a plane crash and come back with a kid," Brian said into his ear.

"You'll love him; I know you will." Justin hesitated for a second but continued anyway. "We need to talk about what happened before I left. Why I left to be more specific."

"Do we have to talk about that now? Can't we just enjoy being together before the family descends on us."

Justin laughed. "When did you tell them they could come?"

"Tomorrow. We're going to have a cookout."

"It's too cold to have a cookout," Justin pointed out. It was early November after all.

"You don't expect me to let all of them in my house do you?" Brian asked with his devilish smirk.

"You're evil," Justin said as he kissed Brian on the lips.

"I'm sweet."

Justin couldn't wait until tomorrow. He missed his dad and siblings. He also missed his friends. Nerves had him a little on edge because he was worried about how Joshua would take everything. He had faith in Briana, she was strong-willed just like Brian. Josh though was so lost. After losing his grandmother along with the crash, and now being thrown in with people he barely knows. Justin just hoped he would be okay. He hoped they all would be okay.

 

If he saw another reporter, he was seriously going to lose his shit. Brian knew that it was because it was a human interest piece, if it wasn't his life he would probably tried to make a profit off of everything too. But it was his life, and he'd be damned if he was going to subject Justin and the kids to this media frenzy.

"I just don't understand why they won't leave us alone," Justin snapped. He had just hung up on another reporter.

"I told you to change your number or get an assistant, like I have," Brian said smugly.

I'm sure Cynthia just loves fielding your calls about your personal life."

Brian knew that was she was getting a little ticked off. It had been six months since the rescue of Justin's flight. Everything was great until the preliminary report came out about the cause of the crash a month ago. Pilot error was suspected when the plane was found so off course. It turned out nothing was what it seemed.

Liberty Air was doing damage control and thankfully had dropped Kinnetik as their advertising agency. After news broke, there was no way he could save it anyway, no rose-colored glasses could fix what had happened.

First, they had been using discount parts and cheap labor, but they were also lying on their logs. They said they fixed something but only basically put a quick fix that would break sooner rather than later. The plane had a time limit, and Justin was there when time expired. They still had no idea why the pilots went off-course. Brian had heard that the flight data recorder and black box had no explanation on that. If they couldn't find that out they wouldn't ever get a clear picture of what was going on. The full investigation could take years though.

Then there were the lawsuits. Several survivors and family of those dead were suing Liberty Air. Justin chose not to involved because he didn't want to cause any hindrance to the lawsuit. He was there on a discounted ticket because they were a client of Brian's.

But the worst of the worst was Dale Nichols coming into their lives. Just when it looked good on Joshua's adoption coming though, Dale Nichols appeared. The man was Barbara Carmichael's estranged husband. Barbara was Joshie's grandmother. Justin had told Brian what the woman had told him about her husband. Unfortunately, it was just hearsay because the victim was dead along with her mother now. Justin said that she didn't outwardly say what had happened but what she didn't say spoke volumes.

Dale Nichols was trying to get custody of Joshua. He first tried to get in on the class action lawsuit but Justin had Ron turn him away. It was clear to them that now he was trying to get custody, to get Joshua's part of any settlement. They had gotten Joshua his own lawyer to deal with the class action lawyer, he would collect anything awarded to him and in his grandmother's name.

"Daddy, can we go home yet?" Joshie asked with a groan.

They had been at the boutique for an hour already. Joshie had just had a growth spurt. Most of his clothes, he could still wear except his dress pants and all of his shoes. Justin had come along with them, Gus, Briana and JR. All the kids had spent the night with them. Justin was grumpier than usual because of the calls and being stuck in a store.

"Just a little while longer," he said, picking up a pair of blue dress slacks in size four.

"That's what you said forever ago," Joshie whined.

"He gets that from you," Brian said pointing at Justin. "Mini drama princess."

"Well you would know about being a drama princess, after all now you're the queen and everything."

"Smart mouth, fine let's pay for what we have and leave." Three cheers went up from three children.

"But I didn't get anything," Briana whined.

"You just got a new wardrobe a few months ago, as per your request and your father being a clothing diva," Justin said.

"Can I help it if Briana is the only one with taste."

"Hey," JR and Gus said together. Joshie was now laying on the ground, face down.

"I'm going to take the kids to the car, you pay and we'll meet you out front," Justin said, reaching down and picking up the four-year-old, who was pretending to be sleeping.

"I wanna stay with Dad," Gus spoke up.

"Me too," Briana said.

"Me, three," JR shouted gleefully.

---

Justin huffed, done with this day, he just wanted to leave. "Fine, stay." He carried Joshie out the front of the boutique and to their car. With all four kids they had to bring his SUV, and not Brian's new baby, his Vette.

"Papa," Joshie said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Who's that man?"

Justin looked up and saw a tall, older man standing in front of his SUV. It was Dale Nichols. He had only seen the man a few times. Both their lawyer and Brian didn't want Joshua to know about what was happening.

Justin clutched Joshie to him. "Mr. Nichols, I think you need to leave,' Justin said with strength he didn't feel.

"It's a free country, boy. I'm here to see my grandson."

The man's tone was harsh, and Justin could see the glazed look in his eyes. If he'd been closer, he was sure he'd be able to smell the alcohol on the man's breath. Swaying ever so slightly, the man started walking towards them. "Give me the boy." Joshie whimpered in Justin's arms.

Wishing he would have waited for Brian now, he didn't know what to do. The obvious thing was to get out of reach of Dale Nichols. Turning, he practically ran back inside of the fancy boutique. Noise flowed to him and he followed it to his family. Who were loudly fighting at the register.

"You never buy me anything!" Briana yelled at Brian.

"He buys you everything!" Gus yelled back at her.

"I don't mind not getting anything, I really don't need it," JR said, barely louder than a whisper.

"It's because he loves me," Briana yelled, ignoring JR's interruption.

"It's because he feels sorry for you. You're not his real daughter and he doesn't love you!" Gus yelled.

Silence descended in the upscale kid's boutique. Justin was surprised his jaw didn't make a sound, it dropped so fast. The cashier was looking everywhere but at the family just losing their shit in front of her counter. What followed was heartbreaking, on all fronts.

Briana started to sob into her hands. Gus looked wrecked about what had just come out of his mouth. JR was hugging Briana's back trying to comfort her. When Justin saw Brian's face he was ready to scream himself. His face was completely blank, there was no emotion at all. It was something that had happened quite a bit in their past. It was something Justin was used to, it only happened when Brian was in overload, a trick he taught himself when his father would beat the hell out of him.

Realizing it was up to him to take control, he walked over to the clerk. Smiling warily at her, he signed the store's receipt. Setting Joshie on the ground, he grabbed all the bags.

"Gus hold Joshie's hand. Girls, I want you to hold hands and stay in between me and Dad.

He led the way with Gus and Joshie beside him, behind him was the girls with Brian following, still blank.

Once Justin got back to the SUV, he was glad Nichols was gone. After the kids were strapped in, Brian slide into the drivers' seat. Justin wasn't worried. Brian was completely there, he was just numb so the kids wouldn't see him at his worst, like he hid from his dad.

Pulling up in front of Linz and Mel's, Brian finally spoke.

"Justin, take JR and Joshua in. Ask Linz and Mel if they can watch Joshua for the night. Let them know also that Gus will be spending the night again tonight."

Knowing better than to argue or ask question when Brian was barely holding on he nodded, and took JR and Joshie inside.

"Hey, sweetie," Linz said as she let them in.

"I gotta go. Is it okay if Joshie spends the night here and if Gus stays at our house tonight?"

Lindsay's eyebrows rose in confusion.

"I'll explain tomorrow. Can you?"

"Sure," she said before picking up Joshie and grabbing JR's hand.

They had learned early on after getting acquainted with everyone Joshie preferred to be carried, and his social worker said it would help build bonds. The only one that he seemed to not want to carry him around was Hunter's girlfriend. Ben said it was because kids were great judges of character, there wasn't a lot of hope for the relationship.

The car was silent when he got back in. It was the same environment he left in so he knew nothing had been said.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," Gus sobbed, grabbing onto Brian's arm, as they entered the house. Gus hadn't called Brian Daddy in about a year.

Brian wasn't ready to discuss what had happened with the children yet.

"I want both of you to go to your rooms. I'll call you down when we're ready to talk about what happened today."

Sniffling, both ran to their rooms, slamming the doors.

Bugging Brian to talk would have the opposite effect, so he started sorting out Joshie's new clothes and shoes. Once he was almost done Brian walked into the kitchen where he was placing everything on the table.

"I fucked up, again. Didn't I?"

Justin turned to look at him, now his face was very readable. It screamed- pained.

"No, they're children. Children fight. But I do wonder how it started?" he mused.

Brian let out a mirthless laugh. "The cashier just started ringing everything up. Briana brought over two hair clips, they were pretty expensive for just clips, and I told her no. She went on about them being prefect for her and JR's dance recital. I said she had plenty hair clips. Then she started yelling that I never get her anything. This was the first time I've said no in a long time. After the crash, it started because I felt guilty. Then it was because Joshua and the change to her life. And this thing with Gus, I created that. Does it look like I favor her or that I'm buying her off because of everything she's been through? She doesn't even remember it. Daphne, or her kidnapping. What the hell am I doing to these kids? Is it fair to take in another one when I'm screwing up the ones we have?"

"You're not. Don't say that," Justin begged.

"When Gus said that she wasn't my daughter, and that I didn't love her… it killed me. When she was a baby, I heard that I wasn't her father from your dad when she went missing. Then when your plane went down, they tried to take her from me," he said, breaking down a little.

"What? Who?" This was the first he had heard about it.

"Your dad, he wanted her to live with him and Deb. Said it was best for her."

"That's bull."

"That's what I said. But what if they're right. I only have Jack as a paternal figure."

"That's a crock too, you had Vic. Vic loves you and Michael like his own. You also have to admit Deb was quite the masculine figure you needed."

A small laugh escaped from Brian. "Don't let her hear you say that."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"What are we going to do?"

"Parent."

---

Both children sat on the couch, huddled together. It seemed to Brian that they were ready to protect each other from what might happen next.

"First and most important for both of you to know is we love you both. Nothing you say, scream or do will change that," Justin said, he was leaning against the doorway.

"We know," Gus said quietly, eyeing Brian.

"Yea," Briana squeaked out.

"Gus, why did you say those things to your sister?" Brian asked.

Gus bit his lip. "I miss you. Briana gets to always be with you and Papa."

"But you have your moms, you love living with them."

"I know, I just wish I could stay over here more," he said sadly.

"How about this, we'll talk to the moms and see if maybe every other week you can stay Thursday and Friday along with your weekend," Brian suggested.

"Really? That would be great."

"I can only ask, it'll be up to your moms."

"Okay."

"Now about what you said," Brian said firmly.

"I didn't mean it, I was just so mad." Gus turned towards Briana, wrapping her up in his arms. "I'm so sorry, Breezy."

"It's okay, Gussy. I was being a brat."

"You were," Brain said. "But you're my brat, you both are." The kids giggled.

Brian readied himself to talk about something, he knew he needed to address it because it was something that was going to be hard for him to change.

"Next thing is there is no your dad or my dad. Both of you are ours, and hopefully Joshua too," Brian said. "I may not be the best father but I love you all equally and deeply. I have two wonderful sons, and an amazing daughter and a brilliant goddaughter. I couldn't imagine my life without any one of you. Sometimes, I do show my feelings with money. I think it's time you both understood why."

"Brian," Justin said, uncomfortably.

"No, they're old enough to speak the way they did earlier than they're old enough to know the reason. "

"Okay," Justin said, before sitting beside Brian on the chaise lounge.

"You two know Grandpa Carl and Grandma Deb. They are Papa's dad and uncle Mikey's mother. But you don't know my parents." He looked at Briana. "Breezy, you met my mother once but I don't know if you remember it."

"She wasn't very nice," Briana said.

"No, she wasn't. Aunt Claire and I didn't grow up in a house like any of the ones you're used to seeing. Instead of going on about everything that happened in my house, I'm going to share a story with you. Right before my sixth birthday a little boy in my class had his birthday. He brought one of his gifts to class for show and tell. It was an Erector Set. I was blown away with everything that could be made with it. I wanted one so badly.

"I thought if I was really good, and behaved like my mother wanted, she might ask what I wanted for my birthday. I was right too, she did ask me. I told her about the boy in class and the Erector Set. She said she'd look into it. My sister told me not to get my hopes up but I knew I'd been very good. On the morning of my birthday I came downstairs and there was a wrapped present on the kitchen table. My mother was cooking breakfast, she said I'd have to wait until later to open it. I didn't understand why, she'd wanted me to wait until my father left…I know that now. I begged her to let me open it. Finally, she gave in and I got it that morning. It was just what I asked for. I jumped for joy and ran to show it to my sister clutching it to my chest.

"When I came back into the kitchen, I heard my father yelling at my mother. He was saying that they couldn't afford stupid little toys, it was time for me to learn my place. He told her to take the set back. She refused. He hit her, knocking her to the ground. After he stomped out of the house, I went over to her and told her she could take it back. She did. I never asked for another present again. I had learned my place.

"If I over indulge myself or you kids or Papa, it's because I've worked hard; so any present I give doesn't have to go back. I'll say no when I don't think it's a good reason but I'll never do anything like he did to you. Never." Brian left out the fact that even though the present went back, his father cracked two ribs for that birthday.

Both kids had tears in their eyes, and he could hear Justin sniffling. Christ, this was why he usually didn't do the touchy-feeling crap. It was Justin's department. But hearing Gus saying he didn't love Briana, and there being a reason Gus said it hurt.

 

 

The moment he saw him, he wanted him. The man was tall, toned and blonde. When the man turned him down, Brian had never felt that before. Rejection. Sure he had been rejected by his birth family since the day he was conceived, but men never turned him down.

"I never thought I'd see the day, Brian Kinney. Rejected," some leather daddy said.

Humiliation ran through him like fire, making him want to be anywhere else but in the center of the dance floor at Babylon.

Tonight had been about blowing off steam. It was the whole point they came out. He hadn't seen Justin since earlier in the night. Brian had found a trick and took him straight to the backroom. Justin almost never tricked anymore. A secret part of him loved that. He hated when he saw Justin was with other men, mostly. Not that he'd say it. They would go through monogamous phases but they never lasted. The longest was after they got married.

There was no way he could live his life like that. Justin just had to get used to that idea, and for the most part he had. They still had yet to have that talk that Justin wanted to have. After six months, Brian was hoping that he forgot about it. He really didn't want to go on and on about feelings. That sounded like death. But because he was the one to mess up completely, he would. That wasn't to say; he would remind Justin that they needed to have said talk just later.

Life had gotten the best of them lately, this was the first time they had been without at least one kid in forever.

Brian decided to find his husband. Justin always had an uncanny way of cheering him up. It was like with one look, he felt like he was on top of the world. At the moment, he really needed that.

Making his way to the bar he looked for Justin. Ted and Blake were leaning against the bar, drinks in hand.

"So is this week an on week or off week?" he asked the two. They broke up and got back together more times than he could count.

"Very funny, Brian," Ted said, gloomily.

Ah. An off week.

"Have you two winners seen Justin?"

"No, it's weird. I haven't seen him since you two got here," Blake said.

"I saw him after you went to the backroom the first time. Whatever he's doing, he won't be back for a while," Ted guffawed.

Brian didn't like the sound of that, they came here together. It was what Justin wanted, why did have to get upset because of that.

"Which way did he go?"

"Out the front door."

"What are you talking about?"

"Brian, he left." Ted paused, seeming to think of his next words carefully. "He left but it wasn't alone."

"No, our rules are for only here, never anywhere else. Justin wouldn't break that; I didn't trust him before. I won't make that mistake again." No matter how much his insides burned at the moment.

He headed up to his office so he could call Justin. It was quieter there, so he could hear what the blonde had to say for himself.

Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he hit Justin's name. As he went to unlock his office door he noticed it was unlocked. That pissed him off, it was locked when he left it. Opening the door, he stopped in his tracks. Justin was sitting in Brian's chair and some gym 'roid queen was in between his legs, with Justin's cock in his mouth.

"What the fuck is going on here?" he roared.

The guy jumped away from Justin, just as the little shit started to laugh.

"God, Brian, you really know how to kill the mood," Justin said, shoving himself back in his too tight jeans.

"My office? This is what the backroom is for," he snarled.

The gym bunny ran out the door without a second glance. Coward. Justin on the other hand looked utterly calm, if not a little annoyed.

"I thought what is yours is mine and what's mine is yours. I could swear that was in your vows to me, somewhere." He smiled but it wasn't his sunshine smile. This one was cold and calculating. For the first time in their relationship, he feared Justin. Not physically but the fear was there still.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"I don't have a problem. I came here with my husband to have a fun night. Does he ask me to dance? No. Does he buy me a drink? No. Does he even glance in my fucking direction after walking in the doors? Hell no. We need to do what we've been putting off for six months."

"What?" Brian asked, already knowing the answer.

"We don't communicate, like ever. So let's go back in time a little bit. Like when you started to pull away from me because of Calvin. Tell me why you started to pull away then."

Brian groaned, he was already a few drinks into this. Enough to make his tongue a little looser than usual.

"Why do we have to do this now?" Brian bitched.

"Because, I'm tired. And if I don't get an answer, I'm walking out this door. We will stay roommates until the court battle is over and hopefully the adoption goes through."

"So what, you fight for us to be a fucking family just to walk. So what are we doing? Splitting up the kids, or what? Weekends with me and weekdays with you. Yeah, great, we really are like the breeders now."

Justin was so angry he could hear ringing in his ears. When they had gotten to Babylon he envisioned a fun night with Brian. But that hadn't happened, seconds after walking through the doors Brian was pulling some trick into the backroom. He was so fucking mad.

That was when he realized they needed that talk, sooner more than later. Brian wasn't a bad person, no matter what he liked to think about himself. But they had pushed this talk away for too long. It was now or never.

The plan had just occurred to him after he lost sight of Brian. After a few drinks he told Ted to tell Brian he left with some guy. If Brian wasn't going to bring the subject up himself, he would force his hand. He knew Brian was extremely jealous. Jealousy wasn't something that Brian would admit, but it was a fact. The man couldn't stand the thought of him with anyone else, unless they were together. Sometimes he liked when they would invite another couple into their hotel bed. But that had been years since they had done that. The last time was right before the vacation to Florida last summer. They never took tricks back home, that was their children's home.

"Listen, I don't want to walk. I've done everything I can think of to work this out but you're shut off to me. I love you, I love you more than I thought was possible but I can't live this way."

Brian kicked the desk before turning towards him. "I told you from the beginning that I think monogamy is stupid. If you want to fuck someone, then you should. Just because I married you doesn't mean you own me."

"I know that. I never asked for something that you couldn't or wouldn't give. All I ever asked for was a little fucking respect. But you couldn't even give me that," he snapped.

"Respect, that's rich. You come in here to get a blowjob. In my fucking office, couldn't you go to the backroom." Brian was pacing in from of him, hand pulling at his hair.

"You really don't see what's right in front of your face, do you?"

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"Look around."

That caught Brian's attention. He calmed enough to look around, really looking. First thing he noticed was an open book on the desk, a word puzzle. Second was it was almost completed. The chair over by the window had a magazine lying face down on it. His mind went back to when he walked it. He hadn't been quiet coming up to the door or fumbling with his keys. He remembered when the guy pulled his face away from Justin, his cock wasn't hard, not even close.

Brian stopped pacing. "It was a fucking set up!"

"Of course. I didn't come to Babylon to fuck, Brian. I came to dance, drink and have a fun night with my husband. What I got was the shaft, and not in the good way. How can you always get so fucking jealous of me being with anyone else, but you don't care where you'll stick your dick."

Brian's face was red now. "Because with me, it's only just fucking."

Justin ran a hand through his hair. "What the hell does that mean?"

"I can fuck a guy and not care about him the next minute. I've seen you even with your tricks, they always take a little piece of you. It's never just fucking with you, no matter how much you pretend it is. It's just a matter of time before one of them gets a bigger piece of you than I have."

That stunned Justin, is that what Brian really thought. He thought that every trick got a piece of him. Well, that was true but for all the wrong reasons.

"I HATE TRICKING! You think they take a little piece of me because I want them to have it? No, they take it because a little part of me breaks every time when I'm with some strange guy. It's killing me."

The fight fled Brian at that statement. He always assumed Justin was just more old-fashioned than him. Brian thought back to when they were with guys together, one such time sticking out in his memory. Something about that night disturbed him but he didn't know why, until now. Brian was fucking one half of the other couple, the guy was about his size. Justin was getting fucked by the other guy. Justin kept his eyes open and locked on Brian. Brian thought that Justin just got off on watching him, like he was with Justin. But that wasn't it at all. Now he saw the truth, Justin made sure he could always see him because if he didn't, he was alone again. Alone in that room in his brother's house. Alone with a strange man. It didn't matter that Justin was grown and stronger now. Being with strangers was a trigger to him.

In two steps he was sweeping Justin into his arms. He just held him, not saying a word. He could hear Justin's breathing go from harsh to calmed as the minutes ticked by.

"Why didn't you just stop?" he couldn't help but ask.

"You talk so much about having an open relationship. You always say that people are either honest about fucking other people or liars. I didn't want you to think I was a liar. So every few months I would have a trick, just so you wouldn't leave me. But I can't do this anymore. The thought of men, men I don't know, touching me. It turns my stomach, please, I don't want to anymore."

"No, you don't ever have to anymore. No tricks for you and no couples. Nothing like that anymore. I didn't see it before now, I'm sorry."

"Sorry is bullshit," Justin said with a small giggle.

"One more question?" Brian asked.

"Sure."

"Why didn't you tell me about the kid you were helping? The one you meet in your sexual assault survivors meeting."

Justin laughed. "Duh, it's confidential. I also didn't want to lie to you, so I just didn't tell you anything. Why did you think I was having an affair?"

"Because…"

"Because why?"

"Because you're too good for me. I'm broken," he snapped out.

Justin ran his hands up Brian's back. "No, never broken. We're both bent, maybe bent so much the metal is wearing, but never broken. Every time you root for your son at his soccer games, you win. Every time you sit at your desk and braid your daughter's hair, you win. But most of all, every time Gus talks back or Briana screams, you go for a walk. You take yourself out to that situation, that shows the real difference between you and Jack Kinney. You won. They didn't break you so much that love and feelings could never touch you. You would die for us, I know this. You cried when your father died, that's not someone who can't feel. Bent but never broken."

Brian didn't say anything else. He just wrapped Justin in his arms more. There really was nothing else to say. After five years, their relationship took another turn. Justin was finally telling him how he felt, and not what he thought he wanted to hear. Monogamy might not be something he could ever do but now that he knew what it did to Justin, he was going to try. It wasn't like he had a lot of tricks in the last three years anyway.

"Kids are still at my dad's," Justin said, his voice raspy.

Brian's mood instantly lightened. "You don't say?"

"All weekend. Wonder what we'll do? Maybe we should pick up a Monopoly game."

"Actually, that sounds like a great idea," Brian said pulling away from him.

"What?" That was not what he had in mind.

"Let's go get the game and go home."

"Umm… Brian, I was joking."

"I wasn't."

"What the hell are you going on about?"

Brian turned and smirked devilishly at him. "I never played games when I was a kid. Closest thing was when Deb made us play Canasta with her and her friends. I've just decided, I'm going to do things I've always wanted to do."

"That's great, Brian. But does it have to be tonight? I was hoping we could do something a bit more adult," he pouted.

"Oh, it will be," Brian purred coming up behind him.

A shiver ran up Justin's spine. Now he was really interested in what Brian had in store for them.

Justin cackled as he stood on their bed, smiling triumphantly at him.

"Why are you laughing? You lost," Brian pointed out, shedding his shirt. Justin had lost his clothes early in the game, he had been holding on to his last bit of money and socks for half an hour. It wasn't until he landed on Boardwalk that he lost it all. Brian had quite a nice business going there; it wiped Justin out.

"I haven't had this much fun in forever. We should play board games every weekend," Justin said, jumping lightly on their bed.

"Did you take anything?"

Justin had been acting fine most of the night, then an hour again he started to behave erratic. At first, Brian had thought he was messing around but now he believed something really was wrong with Justin.

"Just a little E," Justin said, shrugging his shoulders.

"E? Who the fuck gave you E?" Everyone at his club knew better than to give Justin so much as a tic-tac.

"New guy, never saw him before. I met him after you went into the backroom."

"What did he look like?" Brian would make sure he wouldn't be coming back to Babylon, that was for sure.

"Tall and hot," Justin said, giggling.

"What color hair?"

"Blonde, I think." He jumped higher on the bed.

"Christ, Justin. Can you tell me anything about him that stands out?"

"His name is Brandon. He told me before he tried to pull me into the backroom." Justin jumped up and folded his legs up under him, then landing on his butt on the bed.

"Great, there were probably only twenty Brandon's there tonight. Did you go with him?" He tried his best to keep the anger out of his voice, it would be very hypocritical.

"Of course not. If I wanted to fuck you, I would have just found you." Justin laid back in the bed, putting his forearm over his face.

"What does that mean?"

"He was you just with blonde hair. Same 'I'm above everybody' attitude. One is enough, thank you very much. He even had a goddamned black wife-beater."

"When did he give you the E?"

"After I told him to fuck off," Justin said slowly.

"And you took it?"

"Of course. He seemed nice. Just because I didn't sleep with him doesn't mean I don't want to be friends. He was gorgeous Brian; you probably already had him."

Just like that, Brian knew who had given Justin the E. That motherfucker who had turned him down. Apparently, this was before he had turned Brian down though.

"Why did you take the E though? That doesn't make sense. You don't even drink that much." That was just met with silence. "Fine, I'll drop it." Not really, he would just wait until the morning.

"Make love you to me," Justin said, sitting up. He was still naked.

"Well, that made sense. You're tweaked, that doesn't turn me on."

"No, just when you are," Justin pouted, but started to crawl towards the end of the bed where Brian was.

"Cut this shit out," he growled when Justin made a grab for him.

"You're no fun. Maybe I will go find Brandon after all." They both knew he was lying his ass off because of what he confessed earlier.

"Fine, have a blast," Brian called him on his bluff.

"I'm sorry, please."

Brian knew Justin was capable of making his own decisions at the moment. E made him aggressive and horny. They both knew this because he had done it before, but usually it was supplied by Brian. Last time, Justin tried to bite Brian's nipple off.

"If we do this you have to let me tie you up," he told him.

He wasn't risking getting a clock upside the head, like the time before last. Usually, Brian was high too so it didn't matter much. But that had been years ago, when they were on their honeymoon. It had been years since either of them touched the stuff. Now he remembered why.

"Please," Justin begged. He could see what the thought was doing to him. Justin was hard as a rock now.

After laying Justin out on the bed he grabbed the nylon rope they kept in the bedside drawer. Tying Justin's wrists together he looped it and tied it to the headboard.

"What do you want now?" he asked, as Justin's body jerked at the lightest touch.

"Touch me. Kiss me. Fuck me. I don't care just do something," Justin growled.

"Your wish is my command."

The rest of the weekend was a blur for Brian. Mostly they stayed in bed and made up. The dreaded talk was finally over but they would both have to live with the aftermath from it. First thing Sunday morning Brian did was call Ted and tell him that he wasn't going to be doing business at the club anymore. Ted was to bring all the pertinent document to the office with him. Better to stay away from temptation. There was one thing that bothered him though. Why would Brandon give Justin E, even after he turned him down? Something just didn't sit right with him about the whole thing. Justin didn't want to talk about that night. He remembered Brandon but all he would say was that the man did not like being rejected. But then again, who did. Brian knew he didn't because he felt old and ugly when Brandon rejected him, not an hour after trying to fuck his younger husband.

 

 

Kinnetik was in chaos, Gardner Vance was in Brian's office shouting at him. It was almost funny because for a second Brian flashed back to when he worked for the man. But then he remembered there wasn't really anything funny about the whole situation.

It had all started a week ago. He had walked in to his agency like any other day. For the most it was a normal day. That had been all blown to shit when Brandon Collier walked into Kinnetik. He recognized him the moment he walked in the door. It was the same blonde who turned him down. The same one who hit on Justin and then gave him drugs. He had given the man's description to his staff, he wasn't to be allowed in again. No one gave Justin drugs in his club.

At first Brian didn't know why the man, Brandon, was there. Then everything got very fucking clear. Brandon Collier was the new hot-shot at Vanguard. It really didn't matter to him; he had gotten most of Vanguard's big clients that were his to begin with.

When Brandon first showed up he thought the up and comer was trying to get a job at Kinnetik. It wasn't that though, he wanted to gloat. He had just stolen one of Brian's biggest clients. Brian had been sure the company was going to re-sign, maybe he had been a little too lax with the account.

The following week, he had gotten calls from two other clients that Brandon was trying to poach them. Brian had closed ranks and started to woo back all his clients that were on the edge. After a week of sixteen hour days he was finally able to breathe again. He had just signed his last client that was up in the air. Though still working on accounts for the two new prospects he had, but they were smaller accounts.

Tonight was supposed to be the first night he got home before midnight but it seemed Gardner Vance had other plans. Vance was yelling at him for stealing a client, Brian pointed out that was rich since Vance had stolen one of his biggest, barely a week ago. He knew they would screw up the account, he just had to wait for it to be available again; then he would get them back.

Finally, after another few barbs Vance left in a huff. Brian made sure to tell his security team to keep Vance and Brandon out from now on.

By the time he made it home both kids were asleep and instead of Justin being there, Emmett was.

"Where's Justin?"

There was one thing Brian really liked about Emmett. He couldn't lie to save his life. His eyes gave him away every time.

"Oh, well, I think he just needed to get away for a while. Probably out working on his art, you know him always sketching or painting. Something like that I'm sure." Brian knew he was lying his ass off.

"Fine, you know where the door is," he said, dismissing Emmett.

There was no way he was going to spend a minute thinking about were Justin was. This week he had only seen Justin when he climbed into bed with him, leaving while his husband was getting the kids up. He trusted his Justin. He didn't think that after all this time Justin would choose now to start running around on him. It wouldn't make sense. But just because he wasn't fucking other guys didn't mean that he could just take off and leave their kids in the hands of one of their friends.

After locking the house up, he took a shower. He was so tired he feel asleep before Justin could come home.

He woke up to someone jumping up and down on his back. The giggling let him know who the culprit was.

"Joshua, what do you think you're doing?" he asked, face half buried into his pillow.

"Jumpin," Josh said, emphasizing with another jump.

"Where's Papa?"

"Don't know. I'm hungry."

That got his attention, he quickly maneuvered so he didn't end up throwing Josh off of him when he turned over.

"Have you seen Papa this morning?" he asked.

Josh shook his head. "Nope, haven't seen him in forever."

He knew for a fact that Justin was home the night before last, he was there when he climbed into bed. Justin must have left early yesterday morning. Brian would have to call Emmett to find out.

Getting up he dressed and headed downstairs. Josh joined Briana on the couch and started watching cartoons. He made them each a bowl of cereal and called them to the table.

"I don't like this kind?" Briana pouted, poking at the bowl with her finger.

"Too bad, this kind is good for you."

"Papa lets us have the marshmallow one," Josh added.

"Well Papa isn't here, I am. Eat." He really wasn't in the mood to feed the kids plain sugar for breakfast so they could bounce off the walls.

"Are you mad at me?" Josh asked, tears brimming his eyes.

Sighing. "No, I'm not mad. I just really need you two to eat your breakfast. I'm going to call Grandma Deb and see if she can watch you."

"Why can't we stay here?" Briana asked, playing with her cereal.

"I need to go find Papa." He had tried to call his husband a few minutes ago, it went straight to voicemail.

"Oh I know where he is," Briana said as it was the most obvious thing.

"Where?"

"Mr. Brandon's."

Mr. Brandon's? What the fuck?

"Who is Mr. Brandon?" he asked.

"Papa's friend. He came over yesterday and Papa called Auntie Em."

For the first time in a long time when someone mention Justin and another man he wasn't jealous. After the conversation with Justin and talks that happened later he knew Justin wasn't going to have sex with anyone else. He was curious though, and worried. Justin was an adult though, so he would let this play out without getting involved. Justin didn't get into his business; so he should take a lesson from his book.

"Okay, but I'm not eating cereal. Go get dressed and I'll take you both to the Diner."

"Yay!" both shouted.

---

Justin laughed as Brandon sang along with a Spice Girls song.

"You really should keep your day job."

"Hey, I'm a damn good singer," Brandon said, laughing too.

"Shh…here he comes," Justin said as their target walked out of the house.

They watched Dale Nichols walk to his car and get in. Brandon started up his car and kept a good distance between them.

"Tell me again how I let you talk me into this?" Brandon asked.

"Because you're my friend," Justin said batting his lashes at the man.

"I've known you for two weeks. I don't think I want to be your friend. Anyway, your husband would kill me if he knew."

Justin laughed. "Brian has friends, most started out his friends because he didn't want to fuck them. Why can't I have a friend I don't want to fuck."

Brandon took a turn, falling behind a pickup four cars back from their target. "I think I'm offended."

"I think you're full of it. You're Brian 2.0."

"I'm my own person, thank you very much. And unlike your Brian, I don't plan to ever settle down. I would rather die."

"Of course, Brian." Justin laughed. "I mean Brandon."

"Shut up. He's slowing down. What do you think we'll find out about him? You've already hired a private investigator and a top notch lawyer. I don't see why you think we'll be able to catch him at something."

"You invited yourself, I didn't ask you."

"No, you just came down to Popperz looking for someone to go with you to Philly."

"No, I was looking for my friend Dennis, he's a bartender at Popperz. I was going to ask him to come with me. He was a ranger in the army. You invited yourself along."

"You weren't going to take your husband, brother or even your friend Em. You left him to take care of your kids but didn't trust them to go with you."

"No, I just didn't want Brian to know. He would say I'm looking for trouble."

"Can't argue there." Brandon pulled into a spot and shut off the car. Nichols went inside a rundown motel.

"What is he doing here?"

"I know as much as you do," Brandon snapped.

"You need coffee, I need coffee. I'll go get us some, but don't let him out of your sight," Justin said.

"I don't think anything they sell in there could be called coffee," Brandon said nodding at the small gas station across from the motel.

"Fine, no coffee," Justin huffed and sat back.

"How does your husband put up with you?" Brandon asked, annoyed.

"No clue. How does your boss but up with you?"

Justin didn't know much about Brandon. It was the damnedest thing. Brandon had seemed eager to help him. They really didn't talk much about Brandon's life. He knew he was some big shot in some business. He was only able to get away from work yesterday morning. Justin then called Em to watch the kids. Brandon picked Justin up at the house and Em almost swallowed his tongue. He told Emmett that they were going to Philly to visit Daphne. Justin hated lying; but Em would freak out if he knew he was following a suspected sex offender. And that would be after he squealed to Brian.

"I'll have you know I'm very successful. Living in a car for two days is not my idea of a good time."

Justin rolled his eyes, it had been much of the same since they left. It was odd how badly Brandon wanted to help. He basically forced himself on the trip, it was getting of Justin's nerves that he was complaining so much now.

"You think my idea of a good time is following some creep around? Being stuck in a car with your sanctimonious ass?"

"I'll go get the coffee, I need a moment to myself," Brandon said bitterly.

"Fine." They seemed to be at their limit of harmonious time together.

After Brandon left; Justin watched the motel, not taking his eye off the place. He watched as Nichols walked out of the front office talking on his phone. The man took out a key and put it in the door. It went to show how behind the times the place was to still have keys and not keycards. Nichols looked around but didn't look in Justin's way. He opened the door and slipped inside.

Worried tinged with panic hit him. What if he had a child in there? What if he was abusing someone else? Just as he was about to get out to look in the windows Brandon got back in the car, holding two small coffees.

"Can't guarantee how they taste but they are coffee. I think."

Justin thanked him then mentioned what he saw. He told Brandon he was going to look in the window. Brandon quickly discouraged that idea.

"He knows who you are, right?" Justin nodded before taking a sip of the coffee. It was terrible. "Then I'll go look. You can't risk your case anymore by being seen looking into his motel room."

The man did have a point. Nichols could easily have him for stalking if he found out. Then he might as well hand Joshie over. So he agreed to let Brandon do the looking.

He watched as Brandon got out and walked around the motel, casually peeking into each room. The man was very different from the man he met in Babylon. Brandon had his long blonde hair pulled back in a short ponytail. He was also wearing baggy jeans and a blue pullover.

Justin had told him the room number. When he got to that room he slowed down and looked a little harder. Then he quickly picked up his pace and walked around one more time. Again looking into the same room. After that he made his way back to the car.

"What did you see?" Justin asked when he got back in.

"Well, the curtain was pulled halfway closed but I saw him with a middle aged woman. They both looked really consenting. Don't make me look at that again." He shuttered.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, she looks like she could be my mom's age."

Justin growled. "It's not that I wanted him to be hurting someone."

"But then you'd at least have something to call the cops on and keep Josh. Yeah, I know. So are we staying here while he gets his rocks off?"

"We have to; we are having a stake-out."

"Fine, but I have to go back to work on Monday."

"I know, and I have to face my husband and tell him why I left our friend to take care of our kids then turned my phone off for the whole weekend."

As if he was on a merry-go-round his head started spinning. Brandon seemed to notice.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Justin closed his eyes trying to stop the spinning. "I don't feel well. Something doesn't feel right."

"Just lay back in the seat and rest. I'll keep an eye out," Brandon said, sounding only mildly concerned.

"Just for a minute." He laid the seat back and closed his eyes. It felt like someone was casting a net over his entire body and dragging him down. He tried to open his mouth again but his body wouldn't cooperate. Finally, he was swallowed up by the black hole.

He could hear Brian's strong heartbeat under his ear. This was the best part of his day, laying with his head on Brian's chest. Without opening his eyes, he slid his hand down Brian's stomach all the way to his cock. His body felt a little different but Justin put that off to his tiredness.

As soon as his hand found what it was looking for he knew his mistake. The cock his hand found was not Brian's, he knew because Brian was circumcised and whoever this was wasn't.

"I thought you'd still be worn out. I'm game if you are," a familiar voice said.

Justin nearly jumped out of the bed.

"What the fuck?" he yelled as his bare feet hit the disgusting motel carpet.

Brandon sat up from the bed and looked at Justin in question.

What Happened?" Justin asked, voice firm. The last thing he remembered was laying back because he felt a little ill.

"We had sex. I have the video if you want to see."

"You taped me without my knowledge?" It was really just a guess because he couldn't remember any of it.

"Of course not. Watch the video if you don't believe me. You kept making sure the camera was on you at all times. No wonder Kinney keeps you around. You're a firecracker in bed."

"I want to see this video." He refused to believe what Brandon was saying.

Brandon got up and grabbed a small handheld camcorder on the dresser. He pushed a few buttons and handed it over to Justin. The video was already up all he had to do was push play.

"What has got into you?" Brandon asked. His body appearing in front of the camera walking towards the bed.

"You, hopefully." It was his voice but it wasn't. It was huskier than he ever had sounded before.

Suddenly there he was on the screen, laying naked on the bed stroking his cock. He didn't look like himself either, he looked like a stranger at least to his own eyes. Confident, alluring and sex personified. Brian was the only one he felt even close to that way with.

"Jus-

"Uh-uh, I won't have you calling me his name. I told you my name not five minutes ago."

"I'm sorry. Sabastian."

"That's better. Now come here."

Justin watched in horror as he and Brandon rutted together like animals. After another second he turned if off before he could throw up. It was clear he was an active member of what happened. But why couldn't he remember? And why was he acting so different?

"I feel sick."

"Come on, Sabastian," Brandon purred, opening his arms to Justin.

"My name is Justin. I have to go home." Pushing away the arms that tried to embrace him.

"I want the Martin Account just like you promised. Vance will make me partner then. Youngest in company history, I'll beat Kinney by two years."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Kinney is trying to sign Martin Lumber. I want that account. You already agreed to help me last night. If you don't get him to back off, then this video might find its way to him."

Justin scoffed. "You really don't know my husband do you? I don't get involved in his work. Show the video to him, he won't care." Mostly true.

"What about Dale Nichols' lawyer. I'm sure the judge would love to see what a promiscuous person that is trying to get custody of a vulnerable young child."

Blood drained from his face. "You wouldn't?"

"Oh I would."

"But Brain won't listen to me about his work," he said, panicking.

Brandon sighed loudly. "Then how about this. You get me his presentation ideas."

"How?" His stomach started to rebel at the idea.

"You live with him. I'm sure his office doesn't have that much security."

Hell, he was in hell.

 

Brandon dropped him off at his house. He knew that Brian and the kids wouldn't be there. Brian would be at work and the kids at school. Briana in kindergarten and Joshie in pre-school.

The house was quiet when he entered, as expected. First thing he needed to do was shower. He didn't feel as dirty as he had during his attack and drugging. This felt like it really did happen to someone else. After his bat to the head his memories shifted and they felt like something he was watching. But this was like it didn't happen at all to him. Like it was completely someone else. Even when he watched the video.

After showering, he dressed in some casual slacks and a red polo. Brian would make jokes once he saw him and that was what he was aiming for. If Brian was making fun of him then he couldn't be mad. Right?

When he went into the garage he noticed Brian had taken his car. Of course he did, he was driving the kids around. Justin went back in and grabbed the extra set of keys to Brian's baby.

He smiled when he slid into the sleek classic 'Vette. Brian's was going to lose it when he found out Justin drove it. He rolled down the windows, letting the wind dry his hair.

There really wasn't a way to explain it, but he felt lighter than he had ever been before. It was like all the bad things that had ever happened to him just went away. He felt almost giddy.

Pulling into the parking lot at Kinnetik, he shut the car off. It seemed to be a pretty busy day. People were shuffling inside and out without so much as a glance in his direction. He looked very different from the people around. They were all in business attire and he looked like he got dropped off by a parent for freshman orientation.

Bill, the man working security at the front desk waved him in.

"Boss man is pissed today. I would watch out," he warned Justin.

"I'll take that into consideration."

He made his way to Brian's office, coming to his assistant first.

"You are in so much trouble," she said when she saw him.

"Yeah, so I've heard. He busy?"

"Nope, no one wants to be around him for more than two seconds."

"Thanks Cynthia."

He tapped on the door and opened before he heard a response. As he walked in he felt it as soon as Brian's eyes locked on him.

The giddy feeling was still overtaking his body. That was his only explanation at smiling at Brian.

"What are you smiling about?"

"I'm just glad to see the love of my life is all."

"Funny, you would think a person would leave their phone on for the love of their life. Or maybe call in the three days they've been gone." There was no warmth in Brian's voice. Justin realized he may have bit off more than he could chew.

"Look, I'm sorry. A lot of stuff has happened this weekend. I've been following Nichols. We need to talk about it."

Brian sat up straighter in his chair. "Did you get something on Nichols?" Now he looked less pissed and more curious.

"Umm…no. He did have sex with some woman but nothing illegal."

The scowl was back. "Then what happened this weekend that you need to talk to me about. I'm really busy."

"I didn't go alone."

Brian's eyes narrowed. "Who went with you?"

"His name is Brandon. He hangs out at Popperz. He gave me E a couple weeks ago, remember?"

"Yes, I remember," Brian said slowly, like he couldn't believe what was going on.

Justin knew what he had to say was going to hurt Brian. After the fight they had and Justin telling Brian he didn't want to have sex with anyone but him. Now he was going to have to look his husband in the eye and tell him that he slept with a man and doesn't even remember it.

He walked over to Brian and pulled his chair out. Brian didn't say anything as he straddled him.

"If you think this is going to make up for everything, you are sadly mistaken." Brian went to push him off his lap, but Justin held on.

"No, I just need to tell you something and you can't leave."

"You slept with him," Brian said flatly.

"How'd you know?"

"Because you're scared I'm going to leave because of it."

"That's not why I'm scared you'll leave. I don't even remember having sex with him. I wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't shown me the video."

Brian tensed under him. "There's a video? Wait a minute, you don't remember?"

"No, I don't remember. The last thing I remember is drinking some horrible coffee and getting sick."

"Where did you get the coffee? Maybe someone slipped something in it when you weren't looking."

"No, Brandon got it. We were arguing and he went and got the coffee. No one had time to put something in it, it was in Brandon's eyesight the whole time."

Brian's grip on Justin's hips tightened. "He drugged you?"

"Of course not. Brian, I saw the video I wasn't unconscious or barely awake. I couldn't believe how I was acting. It was so odd. I did things that I've never even thought about doing. Things we've never done."

This time Brian did succeed in pushing him off. Justin fell onto the floor, hitting his back against the desk.

"Brian?"

"So why are you here? Why aren't you home packing?"

"Packing?"

"Moving in with your little boyfriend."

Justin was about to start yelling back until his brain caught up. Brian was jealous. He wasn't this furious until Justin said that him and Brandon did things Brian and him didn't do.

"Brian. The things in that video that we did. I would never do if I was in my right mind."

"What did he make you do?" Brian asked, reaching down now to help him up.

Justin grabbed his hand and let him pull him up. When Brian pulled him back onto his lap he went willingly.

Running his hand over Brian's hair, he cupped the back of his head and pulled him into a kiss. "Can you tell me what was in the video?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know?" Justin wished he didn't know even though he felt very…meh about the whole thing.

"At least tell me you used protection?" Brian asked, staring into his eyes.

"I didn't watch much of the video but there were used condoms in the trash."

"Thank fuck for that. One day you'll have to tell me. I have to admit I'm curious. He didn't rape you did he?" Brian's eyes begged him to say no. Justin was glad he didn't have to lie.

"Brian I watched the video it wasn't rape. I have no idea what it was but I can tell you the two men in the video were very much into it."

"The two men?"

"Even watching it, it doesn't feel like it happened to me. I didn't behave like me or even talk like me. It was weird there was a part when Brandon tried to call me Justin. The faux me stopped him. He called me Sabastian then. Isn't that odd?"

"I'll say."

"Brian, that kind of isn't the worst part. The worst part would be where he said if I didn't steal your ideas for some account he would send the video to you. I told him to go for it. But then he said that he would send it to Nichols' lawyer. He said that I should sneak into your office and get the mock-ups."

"But you didn't," Brian said. Justin could see the fury dancing in his eyes.

"Of course not. This is your livelihood, your life. Why would I steal from you? That kind of betrayal you would never forgive. I could never do that to you."

"So what are you going to do?"

"That's easy. I'm going to let my brilliant husband figure that out," Justin said, giving a big, fake yawn.

"Uh-uh Sunshine. You made your bed now you have to lay in it."

"I think you should make fake files, stuff that the client would hate. Then I'll save it to a thumb drive and give that to him."

"So I'm supposed to do twice the work and just give Brandon my hard work?"

"The way Brandon talked he hadn't met with the client at all. That means you're the one who knows the likes and dislikes. Just make everything that he would hate."

"How about this, I tell you everything they hate. Then you can make the files along with artwork. By the way, who is the client."

"Martin Lumber."

"FUCK!" Brian yelled.

"What?"

"I'm in more trouble than I thought."

"Why?"

"Because no one outside Kinnetik knew about Martin Lumber."

Crap.

"So that means there is a mole here."

"Yes."

 

A moan forced its way out of his mouth. The time didn't matter, work didn't matter. The only thing that mattered, was for Justin to keep up the magnificent job he was doing on his cock at that very moment.

When they had gone to sleep the night before he thought it might be a while before Justin initiated sex again. Maybe the night with Brandon really wasn't bothering him like Brian thought it would. Brian was doing his best to not let it bother him.

He slid his hand down to where Justin's head was bobbing. Their sex life wasn't boring by any stretch of the imagination but it had been awhile since Justin woke him up like this. It was the best way to wake up. Maybe he could ask for this to become a morning ritual.

Finally, he cracked his eyes open to look down at the blonde. Blue eyes locked on him from under a fall of blonde hair. It was an odd look he was receiving. With Justin there were many different looks. But this one he had never seen before. It was like Justin was looking at him through a stranger's eyes. There was something dangerous behind those familiar yet unfamiliar eyes.

A sharp pain bit into his thigh.

"Shit," he hissed.

Justin was digging his nails into his thigh. Hard. Pushing Justin away, he jumped out of bed.

"What?" a familiar voice said in a strange tone.

"Jesus, you claw my leg and you have the gall to ask 'what.' What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Standing up, Justin sauntering over to their beautiful bay window. It was the reason Justin had wanted the house. He would sit for hours in the window and draw. Lately, Joshua had taken up sitting with him. It wasn't until Justin was at the window that he realized his husband was completely naked.

He noticed he had a tattoo he hadn't ever seen before. It was on his left shoulder blade. Since it looked like Justin was ignoring him now, Brian walked closer. The tattoo's image was clear now. But that didn't make Brian any less puzzled. Why wouldn't Justin tell him that he was getting a tattoo? And why in the hell would he get a tat with a simple letter. It was a capital B, that was all. Was it for Brian? Briana? Banana? Boy George?

"When did you get the tat?" he asked, reaching for Justin.

Instead of answering, Justin just shrugged. He also moved away from Brian's touch.

"What's wrong Justin?"

"Don't call me that."

"What am I supposed to call you? It's your name."

"Do I look like a whiny little pussy? Just the thought of someone thinking we're anything alike makes me want to vomit. Just like touching you, but I thought why not. When else was I going to get the chance to see what everyone talks about."

Brian's eyes widened; it was like a stranger talking. "What are you talking about? You're not making any sense."

"You two are made for each other. You both are so pathetic. How someone hasn't murdered you in your sleep is a mystery to me? Daphne should have finished the job with Justin years ago. Maybe if she had no one would have to put up with his weakness."

Not-Justin suddenly turned back towards Brian and looked him straight in the eye. Fear gripped Brian because whoever this was he was just wearing a Justin suit.

"Umm…okay. I'm going to leave you alone."

He was going to get his kids out of the house with the Not-Justin.

"I've taken care of the children already. You don't need to worry about them."

In his life there were many things that scared him to his core. The day his father put him into the hospital the first time. His first HIV test. The day Gus was born. The day Justin's plane went down. But nothing had ever scared him as much as those calm words spoken by the man wearing his husband's face.

Ignoring the Not-Justin and his evil smile, he took off. Coming to Briana's room first; it was empty. Then he ran to Joshua's room. It was empty too; the thing that stuck out to him that Lockie was still on his bed. Joshua never went anywhere in the house without his stuffed panda bear.

Running back into the bedroom he grabbed the smirking, naked man. "What did you do with them?"

"Don't worry. I didn't hurt them. I don't know if Mr. Nichols can say the same though. He seemed real enthusiastic to get his hands on the girl."

There were no words to describe his fear and hatred at that moment.

"Where are they? Tell me before I kill you right here." He worried he would do it anyway.

"Gone. All gone," he singsonged.

He shoved the man down and ran back out of the room. Not believing that Justin could hurt their children he searched the house. When it became clear that they weren't there he called Carl.

"Horvath," the gruff answer came.

"Something's wrong with Justin. He says he's not Justin and that he gave the kids to Nichols. They aren't here. Where are my children?"

"Brian, calm down," Carl yelled.

"Calm down? How can I calm down? My children are in the hands of a pedophile."

"NO! They are not. They are here."

"What?" He became so dizzy he had to sit down.

"Around four this morning there was a knock on the door. Both kids were on the porch in their PJs."

"Why didn't you call me?" he accused.

"Briana didn't want to go home. Brian, they are terrified of Justin. I was waiting until you called me because I was worried about Justin answering."

"I don't know who the man pretending to be my husband is, but that isn't him. There is something majorly wrong with him. Maybe I should take him to the hospital."

"Are you sure the hospital is the answer?"

"It's either that or divorce. I don't trust him with the kids, and I don't want to be near him."

"We'll keep the kids until you figure out what's going on."

Breathing slowly. "Thanks. Did Briana say how they got there?"

"Yes," Carl gritted out.

He didn't want to hear what his father-in-law was going to say, he just knew it. But he asked anyway. "What happened?"

"Briana said that Justin got them up last night. Didn't even let them get dressed. Joshie wasn't even allowed to bring Lockie. He put them in the car, not caring to even buckle them up. Briana buckled her and Joshie up. She said he stopped out in front of a loud building. She said she didn't know where he went but knew where they were. After a while and Justin didn't return she got Joshie out of the car. She walked down Liberty Avenue at night with her little brother.

"It's a miracle she made it here. I'm thankful she has been walking down here as long as she's been walking. She knew the way to safety. She said she was worried we wouldn't be home. She was crying when Deb opened the door."

Murder. That's all he could think of. He wanted to murder Justin…Not-Justin. Maybe this was his way of getting out of their marriage. Maybe he had been playing him the whole time. Maybe he wanted Brandon after all. Kids and a husband is a lot of work and responsibility for a twenty-five-year-old. At twenty-five he wouldn't have been able to make the commitment he had now.

But nothing was excusable for what he had done to the children. For what could have happened to them. They could have been snatched off the sideway. Or been hit crossing a side-street. His children could be dead at this very moment. That was unforgiveable. What he couldn't understand though was why Not-Justin would lie. Why did he tell him that Nichols had the kids?

"To hurt you, of course. You really are pathetic," Not-Justin said. He was looking at Brian as though he could read his mind.

"You left them in a car while you were doing gods knows what."

"I was spending some quality time with a nice gentleman. I gave him the time of his life and he gave me a little present."

Bile rose in his throat. "You were out whoring yourself when our children were out in your car."

"Those brats aren't mine. I would never tie myself down like that. I was doing you a favor. Unfortunately, I took a little longer than I expected and they were gone when I got back."

"Where were you taking them?" Already knowing the answer.

"Nichols. I wasn't lying, he really wants both kids."

"Fuck, Justin, they are innocent children. You know what kind of man he is."

Not-Justin rushed and jumped on him. Brian's head smacked into the wall behind him. Pain radiated from his skull but he didn't let Not-Justin win. He threw him off of him. The blonde's body fell onto the ground with a thud. Brian straddled his chest, pulling back his fist ready to smash him in the face.

It happened then, he felt the change. The dark, murderous eyes of Not-Justin melted to the sad, loving eyes of Justin.

"Brian? Why?" His eyes shifted from Brian's face to his pulled back fist.

Brian didn't know what was going on but he knew in his heart, that Not-Justin was as real as Justin. It wasn't a game he was playing. Brian had been right to begin with, Justin needed a hospital.

"Sunshine?"

"Please, you're hurting me."

Getting up, he reached down and helped his still naked husband up.

"I don't know what's going on but I don't like it. I'm going to shower and get ready for bed."

"Justin."

"No, I don't want to hear another apology from you."

"Justin," he said rather loudly. "It's six in the morning."

"No, I just put the kids to bed."

"What is the last thing you remember?"

"Just what I said, I read the kids a chapter from their book then put them to bed."

"Sunshine, something's going on with you. Remember that video? You said that you didn't act like yourself."

"Don't remind me of that. I thought you forgave me." It had only been a two days ago.

"I did, but you did something last night."

"Oh god. Did I sleep with Brandon again?" He covered his mouth with his hand.

"No, worse. You got the kids out of bed and took them somewhere on Liberty Avenue. You left them in your car and disappeared. When you didn't come back Briana got Joshie out of the car and took him to your dad's."

Justin was shaking his head. "No, I would never."

"I know you wouldn't. I think something is wrong. Your dad says the kids are scared of you now."

The only thing that jumped out to him was remembering someone telling him about schizophrenia, you had your first break in your late teens to early twenties. Was thinking you are someone else a symptom? That movie he watched with Deb when he was young, that woman thought she was several people. What was it? Sybil. That was it. But he remembered seeing something about multiple personality disorder was a myth.

"Why can't I remember?"

"I don't know. So you feel like it's still last night?"

"Yes. No. Sorta've. It's hard to explain. It's like my body and brain know but I'm sleeping through it. I can almost hear it but nothing makes sense. There is something really wrong isn't there?" Tears ran down his face.

"I think so. We'll get you help, I promise."

"I need you to promise me something else."

"What?" His chest tightened at the pained, broken look on Justin's face.

"If I don't get better, take the kids and leave. Don't let me have a chance to hurt them again."

"No, you not being there is going to hurt them."

Justin gently circled his arms around Brian's waist. "Something terrible could have happened last night. I already scared them and Briana had to protect them both. If the courts find out about this, I want you to start divorce proceeding. Adopt him as a single parent. That man can't get his hands on him; no matter what. Promise me."

Brian knew the answer to that. "I promise."

The drive to Branchwood wasn't like he thought it would be. They both knew it was probably the last time they would spend together for a while. Justin joked about being at home in the place after living with his Dad and Molly. Brian turned up the radio and Justin sang to several songs without really knowing the words. Too soon they were pulling into the mental health facility.

After a short talk with the receptionist Justin signed himself in for a seventy-two-hour observation. When Brian tried to question the staff they told him that they would call. Brian explained shortly what had happened that morning. Fear for the lives of their children being the reason they both came in. Justin was led away, locked behind an iron door, far away from the safety of home.

---

Never in his life had Justin felt so alone.

"Really?" Sabastian asked.

---

Two days later Brian got the call. They were going to admit Justin for treatment. His diagnosis was Brief Psychotic Disorder. His symptoms had only been there for two weeks. Since it had never happened before, they were very optimistic that was a onetime occurrence. They were starting him on intensive psychotherapy. He would then need to see his psychiatrist regularly to properly deal with his thoughts and worries. He hadn't seen anybody for help since he was rescued. It seemed to be all too much. Because of that Sabastian had been born. It wasn't a Dissociative Identity Disorder, which would be lifelong treatment.

Justin was coming home at the end of the week, Brian just now had to prepare him for their new news. Yesterday, Carl had called Brian at work. He had just got the news from a detective in Philly. Nichols was killed in a rundown hotel room the night before. Just like that the custody suit was over. But now unfortunately both Brian and Justin were suspects. That was only until he talked to the cops though, during the time of the murder Justin was in Branchwood and Brian was at Lindsay's with Gus.

There was one thing that bothered him about the whole thing. When Justin was his sickest he was apparently talking to Nichols. What would they find on Justin?

 

The adoption of Joshua was finally over. A month after Justin's release from Branchwood it was finally over. Joshie was officially Joshua James Kinney. After they left the courthouse Joshie kept introducing himself to everyone with his full name.

"Papa, is it time yet?" Joshie asked him.

After all the shit that they had been through in the past year, they planned a vacation. It was going to be amazing, best yet. No planes.

Brian had told Justin he wanted to leave before the sun came up. They had quite a drive ahead of them. Justin's doctor gave him the all clear to go. He hadn't lost any time since his hospitalization. Thank God for that. Once he got out and saw the kids again, he learned how forgiving children could be. His kids forgave him, even though he didn't think he deserved it. Brian told him that there was nothing to forgive, he didn't want to be sick. It wasn't a choice like to pick up a drug or a bottle.

Justin poured coffee into two large travel mugs. He was wearing black sweat pants and a Nike tee. He wanted to be comfortable. Most of this first day would be driving.

"Can I bring my princess dresses?" Briana asked from the kitchen table. She was eating cereal, so was Joshie.

"What did Daddy say last night?" he asked her.

"That I could only bring one," she murmured. "But I need all of them."

"Daddy said only one then it's only one. Everything has been packed into the SVU last night anyway."

"Where's Daddy?"

"Daddy is making sure everything is ready for us to be gone for two weeks."

"Like what?" Briana asked.

"Like making sure no child left water on in their bathroom," Brian said as he came into the kitchen, looking at a guilty faced Briana.

"Sorry, Daddy."

"It's okay. That's my job to make sure you rugrats don't flood the house."

Briana glared at him. Justin bit back a laugh. He loved times like this with his family.

"Is that what you're wearing?" Brian asked Justin, looking at his clothes with evident distaste.

"We are going to be in the car almost all day. I want to be comfortable."

"You look homeless."

"You look like you're dressed for a casual business party."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"What it means is that you're dressed like your trying to impress someone." And he was, he was wearing an electric blue silk shirt and black dress slacks. Not to mention his leather Gucci shoes. Hell he looked like page nine on the fall issue.

"Can I wear jammies like Papa?" Joshie asked.

"I'm not wearing jammies," Justin said, a little perturbed.

Brian and Briana laughed at him. He knew he was right in naming her. She was Brian Jr. after all.

"Okay, let's all get in the car, we have a long drive ahead of us," Brian said.

"Here's your coffee. Just let me wash the breakfast dishes really quick."

Brian grabbed his travel mug. "Just put them in the dishwasher, it's what it's for."

Fifteen minutes into their drive the bitching started up. Not surprisingly it was from Brian.

"This is why I wanted to leave early. Look at all this traffic."

"Do you mean that one car all the way up there," Justin said, smiling at the grumpy man.

Brian didn't really want to go on the trip, because he was still dealing with the mole. But he didn't want the family to go without him. So he left Ted and Cynthia in charge, with instructions to call him immediately if there was a problem. He had locked down Martin Lumber and for that Justin was glad. It was disconcerting that they hadn't heard from Brandon since Justin slept with him. It seemed that Nichols being killed was his last hold over him so he didn't get in touch with him again.

Thankfully, they were in the clear with Nichols death. It was still unsolved but their alibies were airtight. Justin just wished that he hadn't spoken to the man at all. They still didn't know what he talked to Nichols about when he was sick.

"I'm hungry," Joshie said, not thirty minutes on the road.

"You just ate before we left," Brian growled.

"I have snacks in my bag," he said grabbing the bag at his feet. It wasn't his first trip with kids.

"They just ate," Brian said again.

"But I'm so hungry," Joshie said, he was rubbing his belly to emphasize his point.

Brian rolled his eyes as Justin handed two baggies of goldfish crackers back to the kids.

"I'm not hungry," Briana whined.

"Well, just hold it until you are," Brian said, grip tightening on the wheel.

This was going to be a long freaking drive. Soon both kids quietened down, playing with their PSP's (PlayStation Portable.) Brian had rented a darling little house in Bar Harbor, Maine. Just looking at the pictures of the town and area, Justin fell in love. If most of his family and friends didn't live in Pittsburgh, he might try to talk Brian in to moving there. But Brian would have to move Kinnetik, he probably wouldn't like that.

"When is Gus and Jenny coming?" Briana asked out of the blue.

"They are coming next Saturday, and they'll spend a whole week with us," Justin answered.

Lindsay and Mel were flying into Bangor where Brian and Justin would pick the kids up. Then from there, Lindsay and Mel were flying to Hawaii for their long awaited honeymoon. Justin was nervous for them to be flying but knew it was stupid; just because his plane went down didn't mean theirs would.

It was around noon when Brian pulled off an exit to get lunch. Both kids had fallen back asleep and napped for about an hour. But after they woke up they had complained every few miles. They also seemed to have to pee every thirty minutes. Brian called a stop to peeing. That seemed to make Justin need to go, but he knew better than to poke an irritable Brian.

Once they were all seated in the small restaurant a new type of complaining started. Not brand new, just new for that day.

"I don't like it," Joshie said, poking his spaghetti with his fork.

"That is what you said you wanted," Brian growled.

"It's doesn't taste like Grandma's."

"Of course it doesn't. This cook makes about as much as a chicken wrangler. Grandma Deb makes food for you because she loves you. This cook couldn't care less about you."

"Brian!" Justin admonished.

"What?" he asked. "It's true."

"Well I don't like him either." Joshie stood up from the table.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to kick him in the balls."

"Kick who in the balls?" Brian asked. Justin could see him covering said body part.

"The cook." The boy was looking mighty intimidating; you know for a four-year old holding a stuffed panda bear.

"What if it's a woman?" Brian asked.

"Then I'll kick her in the balls."

Justin was shocked that his little sweet boy was talking that way. He needed to fix that mouth of his. Brian was no help because at the moment he was laughing his ass off.

"Brian, you're not helping," Justin snapped. Looking back at his son Justin lowered his voice. "We don't hit people. It's not nice."

"Daddy hit Uncle C.J.," Briana pointed out.

Justin rolled his eyes. Of course his kids would remember that. A week after he got out of the hospital Brian was still pretty high strung. C.J. came over to the house and told both of them maybe it would be better for him to have the kids for a few months. Their dad kept the kids while he was in the hospital but gave no problem when they came to get them. Justin was still always supervised with kids, his own rule. But they were a family, and C.J. coming in and telling Brian what should happened pissed the hell out of him.

Brian told C.J. that he wouldn't trust him with an artificial plant. Things were said by both parties until finally C.J. went too far. He called Brian a slut and said he hoped they were using protection because he was probably infected with every STI known to man. C.J. with all his military training went down with one punch. Justin still hadn't talked to his brother.

"Daddy's very sorry he hit Uncle C.J." Justin glared at Brian. "Aren't you?"

"Not fucking likely."

"Brian!"

"Fucking fine already. Josh, you can't hit anybody until you're forty."

"Are you forty, Daddy?"

Justin nearly spit his soda out. The look of horror on Brian's face was priceless. It was too funny when the tables were turned on the older man.

"So very old," Justin said, shaking his head.

"I'm not forty, I'm only thirty-seven."

"Oh, that's verrry old," Joshie said with a look of admiration, like it was obvious Brian must be magical to reach such an age.

"Sit down and eat your gross spaghetti," Brian said to Joshie.

Muttering that he would like to kick Brian in the balls, he got back into his seat and ate. Justin wondered where he got the whole kicking someone in the balls. He didn't use that phrase and he hadn't ever heard Brian say it. Finally, curiosity got the best of him.

"Joshie?"

"Yes, Papa?" Joshie was drinking the last of his milk.

"Where did you learn about kicking people in their balls?" Soon he would have to explain that women didn't have balls…well most women.

"Oh, Grandma."

"Grandma Deb?" he asked just to make sure.

"Yep." He was kicking his feet back and forth.

"When did she say this?"

"She said if Unca C.J. makes Daddy cry again she'll kick him in the balls."

Justin's head shot up and looked at Brian. "When was this?"

"At my 'doption party."

That had been last week, a week after C.J. showed up at the house. The next day after they dropped the kids off at Lindsay's and Justin went to his doctor's appointment, Brian went off on his own. When he came back to pick Justin up he thought he looked like he had been upset. The big, strong, tough as nails man must have gone to Deb. She was his mother for all intent purposes. She was the only one beside Michael and Justin allowed to see Brian that vulnerable.

Knowing Brian like he did he knew it was time to change subjects. But first. "Don't threaten to kick or actually kick anyone's balls."

"Fine," Joshie huffed.

"Okay, we need to get back on the road. First bathroom breaks while Daddy takes care of the bill."

"Why do I always have to pay for things?" Brian asked in mocked annoyance.

"Cause you're the daddy," Briana pointed out.

"Why doesn't the papa have to pay?" Justin asked.

"Cause it's the papa's job to just look pretty."

Justin's eyes widened. He had never heard such bull in his life. He worked just as hard as Brian. Maybe his job wasn't out in the world like Brian's but he worked. And it wasn't just to sit around looking pretty. "Where did you hear that?" he asked. It must have been C.J. or Michael. While he loved Michael because he was his brother, the man could get on the nerves of a saint.

"From Daddy," both of them chirped.

Justin narrowed his eyes at his husband. The man in question didn't look one bit guilty.

"What? This was weeks ago. They asked me if you were going to work outside the house like I do. I told them no, your job is to look pretty for me. I was joking. It's not my fault your kids take everything as serious as you."

Huffing he stood up and grabbed Joshie's hand. "Come on kids, bathroom time." He didn't even give Brian a glance on the way past.

It wasn't that he was really mad but he had to keep the man on his toes.

They stopped a couple more times for the restroom. Then once more for dinner. Finally, they were in Bar Harbor. They picked up the keys from the woman renting the house out.

Both kids were asleep when they pulled up. Justin carried the kids in while Brian brought in the bags. Once everything was in and the kids were sleeping in the double bed upstairs they went to sleep themselves. There wasn't even any energy for any fun, but they would make up for it on their vacation.

---

It was the end of their first week there. Tomorrow they would go and pick up the kids from the airport. Tonight Justin had a surprise for Joshie. He hoped he liked it because it wasn't just one for him but Justin as well.

The plan was to not even tell Brian until it was time. That was only because he knew Brian would freak out if he told him about some of their guests on their way.

They were all going to meet at Ceely's on the Wharf. It was a nice looking restaurant with a nice looking party room. They needed room to walk around, sit eat and just have a good time.

Justin got there early, Brian was bringing the kids at six. He didn't tell Brian it was so he could meet everyone, and get the surprise ready.

"Justin," a quiet, strong voice said.

It wasn't until he saw Gishi that he remembered how much he missed the man. Rushing over he hugged the man tightly.

"I'm so glad you could come, Joshie is going to go nuts when he sees everyone."

It had taken months but he was finally able to get several of the survivors to come at the same time. Joshie would talk about them, and how he missed them. So Justin got the idea to bring them all together again. Some wanted to forget the whole thing, or their lawyers were against it but mostly he got positive feedback. One person was coming and he wasn't one of the survivors. Justin hoped Brian didn't hit the roof when he saw him.

"I'm so glad you could make it. Truthfully, I'm surprised you didn't go back to Ireland."

Pulling himself away he looked up at his friend. They talked bi-weekly, he knew why the man stayed. It made him so happy for both men.

"As if I could leave after finding the love of my life."

"I'm glad to hear that," a familiar southern accent said.

"Vas!"

The man rushed to Justin and lifted him up in his big, strong arms. It had been a month after he got back that he ran into Vas. He was visiting some of his friends that he made in Pittsburgh. Told Justin about cutting the toxic Trevor out of his life. Vas confessed how lonely he was. Justin knew Gishi was still in town, so he invited him out to lunch with him and Vas. Never in his life had he thought that love at first sight was possible. But when he saw Gishi and Vas look at each other for the first time, he knew it was real.

"You two are the first to arrive. So how is life?"

Vas wrapped his arms around Gishi's shoulders from behind. They were the same height so it didn't look awkward, but it was hot. He was so happy for both of them, and he was glad to claim his part in them being together.

"We wanted you to be the first to know. We're getting married, and moving."

"Oh, that's great. Where are you moving?"

"I got a job in D.C., it's a pretty good job."

Gishi huffed. "Don't let him downplay it. He has been accepted to the ATF."

"Oh my god, that is amazing." Justin hugged both of them.

"What about you?" he asked looking at Gishi.

"I'm working on my citizenship at the moment. It looks really good. You get a lot of sympathy for being in a plane crash."

Justin laughed.

"I thought this was a party."

"Leda!" Justin yelled before turning to see the woman. "Oh my god."

"What you look like you haven't ever seen a pregnant woman before."

Leda looked to be about six months pregnant. She talked to him regularly but never mentioned having a baby. In fact, she would talk about not being ready for kids.

"Get that look off your face, it isn't mine."

"Whose is it?"

"My sister and her husband. Beth couldn't have her own, she's been wanting this for years. I'm not getting any younger. I wanted to help while I still could. The crash helped me put my priorities in order."

"I can't believe it." Justin hugged her. "Maybe after this you'll want one?"

"I wouldn't go that far. But maybe if I meet someone who wanted kids I wouldn't be against it."

"I wonder is Ricki is still single," he said suggestively.

She rolled her eyes as they all laughed. More people showed up. Ron and the new woman he was dating. Travis and his partner, Greg. Next were Lucy with her son Logan, who had a growth spurt since he'd last seen him. Then Racine and Kimble showed up, looking tall and beautiful as ever. The last two to arrive were Isaiah and Ricki. It got a little awkward after that because Ricki was wearing a wedding ring. She wouldn't tell them about her partner though.

At six on the dot Brian came in with the kids. Justin waited for Joshie's reaction. It wasn't long in coming.

"Izzy!" the boy yelled before throwing himself at Isaiah.

He then slowly worked his way through the room. Justin tried not to pay attention to Brian in the corner talking to Vas and Gishi. The man didn't look very happy. Briana was chatting with Opa and his new lady friend.

"I need to talk to you," Ricki said quietly, standing beside him.

"What?"

"I made a mistake four months ago."

"What mistake?"

"I slept with someone who didn't want me. And I didn't want them. It was just a mistake all around. But I got pregnant."

Justin looked down and he could see a very small baby bump.

"Hold up, you slept with a man?" That was unexpected.

"Yes, I'm bi. Anyway, I married him because he said the child couldn't be born a bastard. That was two months ago. Before the ink was dry on the marriage license he was in the wind. I have ten more months to go before I can get a divorce for abandonment. I can't find him to send divorce papers to him."

"Wow. That's really bad but what do you need me for?"

"Talk to Leda for me. Tell her I'm sorry. I just freaked out after the rescue and ran away like a dog with my tail between my legs. I know it's too late, she's found a woman she wanted to start a family with."

"No, she's a surrogate for his sister and brother-in-law."

"Oh."

"I can't talk to her for you but I'll be here for you if she doesn't accept your apology."

"Lot of help you are," she grumbled before standing up straight. "I can do this."

"You can. You've been through war and a plane crash. You are one of the strongest women I know."

"You can't sweet talk me that much." She gave him a small smile before walking over to Leda like she was walking to her execution.

By the time the last of the people left he felt it was a success. He didn't say anything when Leda and Ricki left together. Brian actually shook Vas' hand when he and Gishi left. Ron and Lily were staying at a bed and breakfast and would visit with all the kids for the weekend.

"You mad?" he asked Brian when they got back to the small house.

"No, it was a great thing you did for Josh. Of course you're going to be punished for inviting your ex without telling me." The look in Brian's eye told him he would very much enjoy the punishment.

"Bring it on."

 

 

This is the second to last chapter. The next one that i'll be posting in a minute is very short. I have loved writing this story. I hope you all like this and don't hate me for doing what I've done.

On their last day in Bar Harbor, Brian had a surprise for Justin. So when Justin showered after putting the kids to bed, he got everything ready. Just because he usually wasn't romantic didn't mean he couldn't be. Maybe he wasn't the champagne and roses kind of romantic but this was better.

"Oh. My. God."

Brian smiled at his husband's lust-filled voice. He was laying on the rug without a stitch of clothes on. There were lit candles surrounding him. He knew what it looked like. The whole thing was hot as fuck.

"Brian, the kids could wake up."

"They won't."

"How do you know?"

"Well even if they do, they wouldn't come down here."

"How do you know?"

"I told them if they stayed in their room all night tomorrow they can eat ice cream for breakfast."

"Brian."

"So, do you like what you see, Sunshine?"

The fight left Justin's eyes as he started to devour Brian with just a look.

"I have a question for you before the night festivities start."

Justin just looked at him with a comical look. Finally, he said, "You want to talk while your naked and surrounded by candlelight?"

"Yep." He shifted onto his knees and grabbed Justin's hands.

"What's going on?"

"Justin Taylor Kinney, will you marry me… again? Now before you answer, just remember we've seen each other at our very worst and our best. I think it would be fitting for us to be stuck with each other."

Instead of answering with a yes or no, Justin just nodded his head. Brian knew it was so he wouldn't blubber like a giant baby.

---

Once they were back home life got in the way of planning the renewal. But Justin would see something he liked and would make a note of it. It was three days after they got home that he got a call he wasn't expecting.

"Hello," he answered the phone without looking at who was calling.

"Yes, I would like to speak to Justin Kinney," a prim female voice said.

"Yes, this is him." He started to go through the mail Brian had put on the table.

"I'm Dr. Rivera. I don't know if you know but I'm Daphne Chanders' doctor."

"Yes, sorry." He talked to Daphne every couple of months and they wrote letters to each other.

"Ms. Chanders has made tremendous progress in the last five years. Because of her work, therapy and medication she'll be released at the end of the year. To prepare her for the outside world we are hoping to have family and friends come in and acclimate her to them again. I was also hoping that you would bring her daughter in."

Justin knew Daphne felt major guilt about what happened. She hadn't been well and he had forgiven her. But there was a difference between forgiveness and trusting her with his daughter. Briana knew that her mother is in the hospital. She also knew her mother was sick. But she didn't know that she tried to have her killed. She's just a little girl for crying out loud. There was another problem with taking her. Brian would never allow it. He didn't like the few times Justin had gone, there was no way we would let her go.

"Listen, Doctor. I will do whatever I can to help Daphne. I'll come to as many appointments you want me to but I can't put my daughter through this."

"It would be good for your daughter too. She must have questions about her mother."

"She knows what she needs to know."

"Please, just think about it. Daphne would love to see her daughter in person. She shouldn't be punished for being sick. She was found innocent."

"Because of temporary insanity. That's not the same thing as innocent." He blew out a breath. "I'll talk to my husband about it. But if he says no, the answer is no."

"I really don't see why your," she paused. "Your husband would have any say in it."

"Because legally he has that right. He has more rights to Briana than Daphne does. He adopted her years ago. And you saying 'husband' like it's a dirty word is no way to talk me into it." He hung up on the woman.

---

Brian knew something was up when he got home. Justin was slamming kitchen drawers shut, quietly cursing and both kids were parked in front of the television. That was only done on rare occasions.

"What's for dinner?" he asked. It was an innocent question, no way that could get him in trouble.

"Why don't you cook dinner for once? Why does it always have to be me?"

"I cook dinner," he defended himself. Every Friday he made dinner for the kids and Justin, just so Justin could work into the night on his art.

"Oh, I forgot, salad and two bites of salmon," Justin said snidely.

Now Brian was getting a little pissed. Cooking wasn't something he did because he liked it. He only did it for Justin, now it was being thrown in his face.

"Are you fighting?" Briana asked from the doorway.

"No, I'm just having a bad day and Daddy is letting me vent to him. You go finish your show. I'll call you when dinner is ready." Briana nodded and was off.

Walking up to Justin he circled him in his arms. "Want to tell me what that was all about?"

"Daphne's doctor called. She wants me to bring Briana in to meet Daphne."

"No fucking way," he snapped, letting go of Justin. "That's not going to happen."

"But Brian, I've been thinking about it. I think she should."

"She tried-," he said then stopped. Briana was only in the other room. Justin didn't need to be reminded what that woman tried to have done.

"I think we need to close this chapter of our lives. It's just been left open. I need closure, she needs closure. And most importantly Briana needs to meet her mother, at least once. It will be only once though. I will make sure both Daphne and Briana know that. When she's a teenager she can make her own decisions to talk to her if she wants. But for now it's only this once."

Knowing this was something Justin wouldn't budge on he had to concede. "I don't like this."

"I know."

"I'm going with you two, I hope you know that."

"Do you think that's a good idea?"

"It's the only way this is happening."

"Are you saying I can't take Briana do see her mother?"

"I'm saying that if the situation was reversed would you be all for me taking Gus to see Lindsay?"

Justin's head dropped but Brian could see the slight blush. He had busted his husband on this point. It didn't matter who her biological parent was, she was their daughter.

"Is she coming home with us?" Briana asked from the backseat.

"No, she's going to stay in the hospital for a bit longer," Justin told her.

"She's still sick?"

They had gone over all this already but it seemed she still didn't understand. Justin wished that Brian would have stayed at home. As it was they left a confused Joshie at Mel and Lindsay's. He didn't understand why he couldn't go on this trip.

"Not as sick as she used to be but she's still getting better." That was a good answer, right?

"I wonder if she looks like me," she said with a sigh.

"You look more like your papa," Brian said.

"Oh, yeah," she said with a giggle.

---

This was the moment she had been waiting years for. To see her daughter, see her in person. She understood why Justin hadn't brought her before. Just the thought of all the things she had done when she was sick made her want to vomit. This was a one-time only thing, she knew that. After she got out of the hospital she was starting her life fresh, this time healthy. Being a doctor was not an option any more but she had a cousin in California. The plus with moving out there she was moving in with her cousin, she'd have someone to help her out if things got too much.

The door to her room opened and in walked her doctor followed by Brian, Justin and Briana. Her breath caught at the sight of her little girl in person. She was absolutely stunning. Her dark blonde curls were brushed back and hung down freely to her mid-back. She was also wearing a dark purple dress with white leggings. Black little Mary Jane's on her feet. She really did look so much like Justin, she was so beautiful.

As soon as the little girl saw her she hid behind Brian. Daphne tried not to let it hurt her, Briana didn't know her after all.

"Hello, Briana," Daphne said softly. The little girl hid further behind Brian.

"She's just really shy around…sorry," Justin said quietly.

"It's okay, I get it. Maybe if we just talk she'll get used to me."

Justin smiled at her and they sat on the bed together. She watched as Brian took a seat in the chair by the door, Briana climbing in his lap and burying her face in his chest.

They talked about life, he told her about them going to renew their vows. She told him about California and the kind of job she was looking for. The need to help others like her was important. Maybe she could become some kind of advocate. She had her whole life in front of her after all.

Picking up the scarf she had been knitting she held it up to Justin.

"You're making something? How domesticated of you?" he joked.

"I know can you believe it? My mother can't stand the idea of something so…dull as she put it. But I don't find it dull, after years of staring at the walls when I was allowed this bit of freedom, I jumped at it."

Justin laughed lightly. She didn't mind, it was something she wouldn't have done before. The new Daphne was much more a simple girl.

"That's pretty," a quiet voice said from beside her.

Daphne looked over, just beside her knee stood Briana. She was running a small finger over the unfinished scarf.

"You like it?"

"Yes. I like green. It's my second favorite color."

"It is? I love green too. My favorite though is red. What's yours?"

"Magenta."

"Wow, I guess you take after your father and like art."

"I like art but I'm not very good at it. I'm more like Daddy. We both like clothes and both really smart. I get that from him. I get my hair from Papa. What do I get from you?"

The question surprised her. It wasn't something she expected. Justin said that he told Briana who she was but he wasn't sure what she understood.

"I don't really know; you look like a girl version of your papa. So I just don't know what you get from me."

"Your hair," Justin said. "It might be blonde but the curls are all you." Daphne smiled at him.

"And her loyalty. Justin always says she has your determination too."

"Oh, well, the teenage years will be fun for you," she said with a chuckle.

All of the sudden it felt like a dark cloud fell over them. She had crossed a line that she forgot was there. Talking about the future with Briana. Not that it was what she meant.

"Brian can you take Briana out into the hallway for a minute."

Brian picked Briana up and carried her out, shutting the door behind them.

"You don't even have to say. I know this is a one-time shot. I know." She looked at him trying her best not to cry.

"I'm sorry but I have to think of what's best for Briana."

"And that's not me," she agreed.

"I'm not saying ever. Just not until she's old enough to understand."

"How can she understand, I don't."

"She knows you were sick. But she doesn't know what happened. I don't want to lie to her but she is way too young to know what happened."

"How old is old enough?"

"I was thinking fourteen, maybe earlier if she asks. I won't keep you a secret but no more visits. You can send birthday and Christmas cards. I'll make sure you get pictures but no writing personal letters or phone calls until she's older."

Tears started to roll down her face. She had been hoping to at least be able to talk to her on the phone when she got out.

"Please, don't cry," Justin begged.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to just blubber on like this."

"I'm being unreasonable aren't I?"

"No."

"If I were sick, would you let me see her?"

"Not if you told your lover to kill her. I understand why. Never think I don't understand."

He grabbed her hands and put them to his lips. The kiss was gentle and made her remember when they used to practice kissing on their hands.

"I'll allow letters but I'll read them first. She can write you back, if you'll allow them."

She jumped up off the bed and threw her arms around him. Never in her wildest dreams would she expect such kindness. She was a murderer after all. The death of a man was on her head. Not only that but her daughter's life would have ended barely after it started. Then there was setting up Justin for all the horrible things that had happened to him, and working with Craig. How could he let her have this wonderful link to their daughter?

"Really?" she asked, not daring to believe her ears.

"Really."

---

"Cynthia, where is the contract for the McMillian account?" Brian snapped into his intercom.

"I believe Ted took it home with him to look over. He was worried about the wording on the last page."

"Well, is Theodore here yet?"

"No, actually he's late."

Just then his private line rang, only a few people had the number.

"What?" he snapped into the phone.

"Brian?"

The voice was strained but Brian recognized it. "Blake? If you're calling me to tell me Ted is too sick to come into work tell him to get off his ass anyway. We have work to do."

"Ted's dead," Blake sobbed.

The rest of the day was just as hectic as ever, but now it was all done with a somber tone to it. When Blake had called him at first he thought it was a joke, that was until he realized Ted and Blake didn't have a sense of humor.

It then really hit him, Ted was gone. This wasn't like before when he was in the coma. He was gone, really gone, never to come back. Sometime during the night Ted's house burned down. The house was fully aflame when the firefighters got there. They didn't find the body until the next day. They said it would take a couple weeks to get the ID. They didn't need it though; Ted was in the house alone. Blake and he had split up again and he wasn't seeing anyone else.

Debbie, Lindsay and Justin went over to Ted's mother's to help her out. That left Brian, Mel and Carl to sort through what had really happened. Michael and Ben took the kids so they wouldn't have to worry about them.

Later that day they found out there was another body in the house. When the cops asked if they knew who it could be they were just as clueless as the next guy. Blake seemed to take it the hardest that Ted was with someone new.

"Brian." Looking up he saw Carl standing in the doorway of his office at work.

"What are you doing here Carl?" It was out of the ordinary for Justin's father to visit him at work.

"We have an I.D. on the other person in Ted's house." It had been a month since they lost Ted.

"Who?"

"Brandon Collier, age twenty-eight. It looks like they had been cavorting for a while. We found Collier's car down the street. It had some papers from Kinnetik in it."

Just like that Brian knew who the mole was. Ted. One of his most trusted friends and employee's was the one who was working against him. The betrayal ate at his gut. Why would he do that? Was he trying to score with the younger man? Did he blackmail him like he did Justin? Fuck, he wished Ted was alive so he could ask, and so he could kill him himself.

---

Weeks past and everything seemed to slowly get back to normal. Brian made sure that Ted's mother was taken care of even if Ted had backstabbed him. Life went on but really he didn't feel much of anything. Sure he joked with Ted about the man being pathetic but never in his life would he think he would just be gone like that. That one day he would wake up and find out that one of his friends would just not be there. And that was what Ted was - his friend, he didn't even care if Ted was giving information to Brandon. Knowing Ted, Brandon either tricked him or blackmailed him. Brian was a little pissed Ted didn't come to him but it wasn't something where he wished Ted was dead.

It reminded him of when Ted met Blake. He thought he had gotten so lucky that Blake even looked at him. Then the man had left Ted on the floor of his apartment convulsing. The group had forgiving Blake because of his addition and recovery. But a little part of them still couldn't get over it all the way. Sure Ted went through his own struggle. He did horrible things: stealing and hurting Emmett. Maybe it was bias on their end but it was what it was.

"We don't have to go through with the ceremony. We're already married, this doesn't matter. I don't feel like celebrating anyway."

"Are you sure?" Brian didn't want to admit it but neither did he.

"Yeah, it doesn't feel right with Ted being gone."

Justin was setting the table for the kid's dinner. Brian was finishing getting everything ready for a business trip. He was leaving in a few minutes to fly to Chicago. The kids were being little cusses because they didn't want him to go. At least now Justin didn't have to plan a renewal party without Brian, not like he would help anyway.

"Daddy, can I come with you please?" Joshie asked.

"Sorry buddy, I'm going to be working all week." Brian didn't say that he had more work to do now that Ted was gone.

When they told the kids that Uncle Ted was dead they all had different reactions. Joshie, who had been through so much death in his life took it the hardest. Briana almost showed no reaction at all, Brian's influence. Then there were J.R. and Gus. J.R. cried off and on for about a week but Justin was sure that was because Michael took the death so hard. Gus had been sad that he wouldn't see Ted again but didn't seem to be broken up that much about it. It was understandable, Joshie and Briana spent more time with Ted than Gus and J.R.

"I'll be really good, I promise," Joshie said.

"I can't." Brain looked at Justin pleadingly.

"You can't go Joshie, remember? Peter and Steven are taking you to SplashDayz." Brian's teenage nephew and his boyfriend were taking all four kids to a waterpark the next day. Two other friends were going with them, two girls their age who were dating.

"It's going to be so fun," Briana squealed. Brian rolled his eyes.

"I've got to go."

Both kids gave him a kiss, Justin followed him outside to give him a more private kiss. If they kissed in front of the kids Briana would make a retching sound.

"Papa, can we watch a movie."

"Yeah, go for it."

 

I hope you've enjoyed this story. Thank you for reading.

A year after Ted's death everything had settled down. Brian had a new accountant for Kinnetik, but that's all he was. They didn't hangout and he wasn't a part owner. For the longest time he kept Cynthia in the dark about Ted being the mole. He'd finally told her a few months back.

The kids were doing great, Josh had just graduated kindergarten. Justin had to fight the school board because Josh was fifteen days' shy of their age cut off. Thankfully, they tested him and he was allowed in. His teacher told them that Josh should probably skip a grade but Josh wanted to stay where he was.

Justin seemed to make a full recovery. He hadn't had another incident since the hospital. Not only that but their sex life was finally getting a little more adventurous again. Even without the multiple partners. But there was sometimes that something seemed to lurk behind Justin's eyes, then in a flash it was gone.

Then there was Daphne. She did in fact move to California. In her last email to Justin and Briana she said she met a man. Justin hoped it was true love. Even after everything Justin wanted her happy. Brian pointed out she didn't need a man to be happy. Justin just said that she had been alone for too long, she needed this. Brian wondered how the man would take learning that she killed her last boyfriend.

Justin had left earlier with Emmett to put flowers on Ted and Brandon's graves. They were at different cemeteries so they had a bit of driving to do. It was a little surprising him how much he missed the dull accountant.

---

"Hey, Jake, look what I found," Benny said, holding up a tabby kitten.

"No cats," Jake said, looking at the disgusting little thing.

Benny just rolled his eyes, he would be keeping the cat. He sat the little guy down. The kitten ran off under the coffee table, he would let him be while he explored.

"You're not even going to listen to me are you?" Jake asked.

"Why would I? It's not like we're a couple or anything," he snapped.

They had been sleeping together for over six months but Jake still refused to admit there was anything going on between them. At first he didn't think much of it because he knew what he looked like. He wasn't tall, blonde and gorgeous like Jake. No, he was average. Completely average. The first time they had sex he thought it was just a fluke. They had been stuck in their house for a full month after they had been reassigned.

"Do you miss home?" Jake asked, changing subjects.

"I miss my mom and my friends. My job. My nieces and nephews."

"I thought you were an only child?" This was something they never talked about. Their life before they were Jake and Benny.

"I mean my friends' kids. Brian and Justin's kids. Also Lindsay and Mel's kids."

"Brian Kinney. God, I fucking hate that guy. If it wasn't for him I would be home, fucking my latest trick. Not to mention working on my next account. But no, I'm in fucking Montana with his dopey, loser friend."

Those words stung even though he suspected Jake felt that way about him. He was just a convenient fuck.

"No, you're here because you tried to blackmail a hitman. Now we're both stuck here until they catch him and we can testify. I'm here because I was unlucky enough to have been confronting you about using that poor intern to get inside information. I'm sure everyone thinks I'm the one who did it. I hate you so fucking much right now."

"You are so fucking hot when you're pissed off."

And just like that they were rutting against each other on the ugly patchwork couch. Most of the times he missed being Ted Schmidt but right now having Brandon AKA Jake kissing down his jaw, it wasn't too bad.