BRIAN

Hannah and Gus were excited that Emmet included them in the wedding. I was attempting to at least not sound like an asshole. We were going to go to sin city, and I was going to be like a kid denied all the wonderful things that make it the town I love to call fun. Justin was already making sure we had a room in the no smoking section. He even talked about how to avoid any place I might get a whiff of smoke around my pregnant ass. I just sat eating the pie we had in the refrigerator, which only had the twat telling me that sugar wasn’t a food group. I really wanted to ask about all the times I walked in to him eating cookies and junk food. I just didn’t want him laughing, since he’s still the same weight he was when we met. I’ve been avoiding the scale, since my diet has become all things I once saw as evil on earth.

Emmett called to let us know that Deb managed to track down Michael, when he showed up in Emmett’s yard. Charles told me it was like talking to himself for all that Michael listened to anything anyone said to him. I can see the loser points piling up in Charles’s head every time he meets my past. Then I saw the same points being deducted on him when I met Miles. All I can say is, at least they have taste, to want Justin and me. Now if they could just go away.

“Brian, are you even paying attention?” Justin asks.

“No, just wondering how you and I ended up with twin stalkers.” I tell him.

“Because we attract crazy?” He asks, grabbing a fork and eating with me.

“Before you I never… never mind, pretend the baby is making me forget where the first two nut cases came from.” I tell him.

“I’m going to blame you, before you, I only had Daphne.” He jokes.

“We could share her, she’s like the only sane one in all the bullshit.” I tell him.

“She did have a huge crush on you.” He tells me.

“And you, at least she did until the deflowering.” I joke.

“Yeah, she told me later that I needed lessons.” He laughed.

“None that I want you to ever learn.” I tell him.

“Dad, they want to have a career day at school. I might have told my teacher you would do it. It’s just Gus told his teacher the same thing.” Hannah tells Justin.

“Are they at the same time?” Justin asks.

“No, but I think Gus wants to ask you.” She tells Justin.

“If you want me too, of course.” Justin tells Gus, who’s standing in the hall.

“I just thought it would be neat to see you draw something.” Gus tells Justin.

“Gus likes art.” Hannah tells us.

“It would make sense, you get it from your mom.” Justin tells him.

“I guess.” He tells us, distracted.

“Gus, it’s okay to talk about her.” I tell him.

“I don’t know how to feel about her.” Gus tells me.

“I’m going to do homework.” Hannah tells us, leaving so we can talk to Gus.

“It’s okay to love her. You can’t help it who you love, Sonny boy.” I tell him.

“Even when I don’t like her?” He asks us.

“Even then. My father and I don’t have a relationship because we don't ’t like how we view each other. In the end he's still my Dad, and at one time was a father who I looked up to. I’ll always love the man he was, but not like the man he became.” Justin tells him.

“I can’t say I love or hate my parents, just that having them in my life isn’t a possibility for me. I wanted you to have a good home with your mother but she can’t give that to you. Like Justin said, you love the mom she was at one time, but not the mother she became.” I tell him.

MICHAEL  

I hung up the phone with Nancy and thought it could work. I looked over to the back of Justin’s house and there sat Ted, as if waiting for me. He kept looking at me, about to say something but shaking his head instead.

“What, you don’t think I've been bitched out enough?” I ask.

“Why are you here?” He asks.

“It's my business not yours or anyone else’s.” I tell him.

“Okay, then make it easy on us and stop thinking running after Brian is going to change anything.” He tells me, getting up to leave.

“That's it?” I ask.

“I don’t see the point in telling you anything. It's like no matter what we say, you change it into what you want to hear. I no longer have time to worry about the world according to Michael Novotny. You just aren't important in our world any longer.” He tells me.

“I guess you suddenly think you're important because of your boyfriend. He's going to ditch you eventually.” I sneer, pissed.

“In your world that's how you want to see it. In my world, Brandon wants to marry me and raise children together, which makes it hard for me to fall for your constant need to put me down. Like I said, you're a waste of time.” He tells me.

“Wait until Lindsay finds out about Brian, then it won’t just be me you all have to deal with.” I tell him.

“I would love for you to call Lindsay, it would give the DA exactly what he wants, you in jail with Lindsay.” He tells me, getting in his car.

“So it's true?” I ask.

“Is what true?” He asks.

“You know what I'm talking about, it's not like Brian didn’t come to me and tell me.” I tell him.

“Really, I heard he saw you and showed you how he felt about you. I hope you enjoyed the moment where you got what Brian wanted to give you.” He laughs, leaving.

I thought about yelling at him, but he was already gone. If they think they've won then I'm sure what Nancy and Lynnette have planned is going to show them differently. Justin really thinks he's going to raise Gus. Not without a fight. It was time to show Brian what he's going to lose by staying with Justin. I walked over to Miles’s house to see him scowling when I push past him.

“I'm going home, where people fight for what they want, not sit around whining over a worthless boy toy.” I tell him, going to get my things.

LINDSAY

I read the papers my mother put in front of me. She kept tapping her foot, impatient that I didn’t sign already. I know there was a reason she wanted this, but the last thing I wanted was her being the person controlling anything about my life. It wasn’t like she did anything that had her winning in the mother stakes.

“You want to be guardian over me?” I ask.

“I need to be the one making your decisions, your father isn't helping you. He’s left you to that psychiatrist, who makes it sound like it’s my fault how you turned out. Your father washed his hands of you by not doing more. ” She tells me.

“Don’t you mean you, he still pays for me. I like Alex, he has such a low opinion of you.” I smirk.

“Lindsay, I'm going to admit I might have been wrong about Brian. He makes your father's fortune look like pocket change. We need to show Brian he can't walk all over us, and take away my only grandchild. I should be the one raising your son, so he understands the world we want him to live in.” She tells me.

“How old is my son?” I ask.

“He's five or six isn’t he?” She asks.

“I would think a loving grandmother would know, but then you never even came to see me at the hospital, did you?” I tell her.

“Why does that matter? I'm willing to make sure Brian can't keep…” She couldn’t even remember his name.

“George?” She tried.

“Why not read it from here.” I tell her, throwing the paperwork at her.

“Look, Lynnette’s friend said he’ll help us get your son. All I need is your signature so Brian can't fight me. I talked to that unfortunate man you had me helping, he's willing to help us.” She tells me.

“Why do you want Gus?” I ask, not seeing what it would do for her.

“It’s time to show Brian that he can’t ruin our lives and not lose something too. I think the amount we could make him pay for Gus’s care would be a way to get him back for what he did to us. Lynette’s husband served her with divorce papers, and with your father no longer supporting her, it’s not going to be easy to find the caliber of husband she deserves. You owe it to me and your sister, for getting into the mess you got yourself in. Your father left me, because of you.” She tells me.

“You don’t think Brian will fight you for Gus? He loves the son I gave him.” I tell her.

“Then he’ll do what we want if he wants Gus to have a good life. I think he’ll see that even without your father, there are people in this town who don’t like Brian raising Gus around perversion.” She tells me.

“I won’t sign until you can get me out of this place, why not suck the right dick for once.” I tell her.

“I don’t have to get down to your level to get what I want. All it takes is talking to the right judge, and even he feels you’ve been railroaded by the Kinney-Taylors. You will behave the way I tell you, if you want my help. Roy already agreed that you would be an excellent hostess for him, and you are going to do what I taught you to do.” She tells me.

“I can be whatever you want me to be, as long as you understand that in the end, anything Brian gives belongs to me.” I tell her, signing the paperwork.

She takes the papers and heads to the door. “Darling, according to the paperwork you just signed, anything you have, belongs to me.” She smirks, walking out.