BRIAN

I sat in front of Mel waiting for her to stop laughing. I really wished she’d stop acting like this was funny. She kept reading the document, laughing even harder through each read.

“What the hell do they think this will do?” Mel asks me.

“Apparently enough that Lindsay’s installed as a judge’s trophy wife.” I tell her.

“They can try anything they want, but Royboy isn’t going to keep Lindsay’s ass from prison. He is barely holding on to his seat on the bench. A few people are already filing suits against him for purposely ignoring the law. I really want to go handle this for the entertainment reasons alone. Ron is Lindsay’s court ordered guardian, Nancy is going to find out when Lindsay wanted to pretend crazy it meant the court appointed someone to oversee her. All of this is paperwork they sent you is about as good as the toilet paper in the bathroom.” She tells me.

“Apparently Royboy still has friends, because I’ve been ordered to appear with Gus.” I tell her.

“Then we’ll appear. But sadly, Lindsay has to explain to the judge why it’s necessary for her to be in the same room with you, Justin, and Gus. I wonder how much Nancy told Roy about what Lindsay did. He most likely is going to wish he stayed away from the triad.” Mel tells me.

I get up to get some ginger ale when baby isn’t being happy with me. I guess I shouldn’t have eaten the burrito. Mel giggled, rereading the paperwork. I pulled out cookies and sat back down with her.

“It’s strange they didn’t ask for Justin to be there.” She tells me, then stares at me.

“Why?” I ask, biting into the second cookie.

“They are trying to take Gus from you, and Justin is adopting him. They should have tried to stop that first. Unless they don’t know Lindsay’s already lost custody.” She tells me.

“We all know our little Lindsay will lie to get what she wants.” I tell her, picking up another cookie

“Brian, you do realize what you're eating, don’t you?” Mel asks.

Hannah comes in, grabbing the plate and putting it back on the counter. She grabbed fruit and cheese and put it in front of me. “Dad, the baby needs good foods, not the evil that kills abs.” She tells me, kissing my cheek and skipping out.

Gus came in, kissing Mel and bringing me a glass of milk.”Hannah said she forgot.” He tells me running out of the kitchen.

“Baby? As in, YOU having one?” Mel asks, as if it’s unbelievable.

“Yes, Justin apparently has amazing sperm, it managed to get past spermicide.” I tell her.

“Where is Justin?” She asks.

“He said something about making sure a package got to where it was going. He wasn’t thrilled to read this shit.” I tell her.

“Brian, even being pregnant, you can’t forget who you married.” She tells me.

JUSTIN

I decided to call Ron, I think he should know what the women were up too. What do these morons think they're going to accomplish, other than upsetting my family? My phone rang and my mom gets first place over all the bullshit.

“Honey, Tucker’s family wanted to have everyone over soon. I wanted to check when you, Brian, and the kids could come.” She tells me.

“We’re going with Emmett, he wants to get married in Vegas. After that I think we were planning on coming there anyway.” I tell her, pissed at why we were going there.

“What’s going on?” She asks, I never could get one over on her.

“Nancy thinks she can get custody of Gus from us.” I tell her.

“How is that possible when you already have custody? It’s not like Lindsay can even have visitation from prison.” She tells me.

“They got some judge, Roy Russo, he managed to get Lindsay out under his care.” I tell her.

“Russo? I think it’s time for your father and I to have a talk.” She tells me.

“Why? It’s not like he would give a shit, this would probably make him happy.” I tell her.

“I’m sure it would, but he knows if he wants any chance to know your daughter, he needs to do something for you.” She tells me.

“Why would he want to know Hannah?” I ask.

“He tried to ask about her a few times. He said you don’t really say much to him about her.” She tells me.

“He already hates me for being gay, I didn’t need him hating Hannah for being Brian’s.” I tell her.

“He can either step up to the plate or continue to live without you. At least offer him the chance to help you. Russo plays at the club your father goes too.” She tells me.

“I’m still going to call Lindsay’s father, he probably doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s the only one who wanted to stop Lindsay.” I tell her.

JEN

I went to see Craig at his store. He saw me and walked to his office, expecting me to follow. These are the days when I remember how few manners I was able to instill in Craig.

“What do I owe for now?” He asks.

“Nothing. I wanted to talk to you about Justin.” I tell him.

“Is he really married to Kinney?” He scowls.

“Yes, and they are raising their daughter and son together. You said you wanted to know your granddaughter. You help your son and I’ll try to convince Brian you're not the total shit he thinks you are. Don’t help and you can live with the fact that you’ll never know any of your grandchildren.” I tell him.

“They’re having more?” He asks.

“According to Brian, they will have another one. Molly told me to let you know if you can’t love one grandchild, she wouldn’t feel comfortable allowing any child she has near you either, if she becomes a mother.” I tell him.

“Jen, it wasn’t easy for me to accept Justin’s decisions, it wasn’t all about him being gay. In fact we do talk on occasion.” He tells me.

“You call the courtesy calls he makes just so he knows you're not dead, talking?” I ask him.

“What does he need me to do?” Craig asks.

“Roy Russo, you know him don’t you?” I ask.

“He’s a member of my club, why?” He asks.

“He got the woman who kidnapped Justin out of jail. Nancy Peterson wants to punish Brian for her divorce. I need you give Roy a history lesson. I have a feeling Nancy forgot to tell him what he was getting in Lindsay. All I need is for you to take me with you to the club, I’ll handle the rest.” I tell him.

“You’ve changed, you used to look to me to talk.” He tells me.

“I saw what waiting for you to do the talking did to my relationship with Justin. I learned that sitting by while you kicked him out of our home, wasn’t the person I ever wanted to be.” I tell him.

“How’s your new husband going to feel that you're spending time with me?” He smirks.

“Tucker doesn’t see you as much of a prize, in fact the only nice thing he could say about you was that Molly and Justin came from you. In fact, he gets to spend time with Hannah because he loves Justin. You want to meet her, you help your son, for once.” I tell him.

“Justin would be okay with that?” He ask.

“I think Justin still waits for the father who loved him to show up again. Give him a reason to believe you're still in there.” I tell him, leaving.

CRAIG

I picked up the phone to call. Justin always answers, but I know I’ve never made it easy on him. I only know about Hannah because Molly mentioned her to me.

“Hello?”

“Yes, can I speak to Justin?” I ask.

“Craig?”

“Brian, I wanted to know what I can do to help.” I stutter out.

“You want to help us? Do what, split up?” He sneers.

“I know you have no reason to like me, or even trust me. Jen told me there’s a problem with the woman who kidnapped Justin.” I tell him.

“We’ll handle it, I don’t want you fucking with my family.” He tells me.

“I need to do the right thing for once. I will never understand why Justin is gay, but he is my son.” I tell him.

“He never needed you to do anything but accept the fact that he was still the same kid he was before you found out he was gay.” He tells me.

“I know Russo, and I want to help.” I tell him.

“It won’t erase that you turned your back on Justin.” He tells me.

“Then I’ll live with it. Tell me what’s going on.” I tell him.

By the time Brian was done, I almost wanted to ask if he thought he deserved Justin. I didn’t say it though, because in order to know my granddaughter, I had to find a way for Brian and I to deal with each other. I also knew I couldn’t die without finding a way for Justin to forgive me for what I did to him.

“I’ll call Roy, before Justin manages to beat us.” I tell him.

“What is with this sudden change in you?” Brian asks.

“What makes you think it’s anything but wanting to be a better father?” I ask him.

“I read people for a living. So what’s causing you to suddenly care?” Brian asks me.

“Cancer changes you.” I tell him.

“Yes, it does. Maybe being pregnant changed me enough to want to believe in you. Don’t give me a reason to regret telling you anything.” He tells me, hanging up.