They had been in deliberation for the three days when things went crazy. The bailiff came in and told them that the judge would like to see them. It was worrisome because they hadn’t said they were unable to come to an agreement.

“There has been a development during your sequestering. On behalf of the city of Pittsburgh, I thank you for your doing your civic duty. This case has been dismissed.”

They all stood there stunned, Justin looked over to the defendants table and saw Brian Kinney looking shell-shocked. He knew he couldn’t ask any questions about what had happened. They were led out of the courtroom, and it was over. Justin collected his things and left, still not sure what had just happened.

“You’re free to go,” his lawyer told him.

Brian still couldn’t believe it. Two days ago, Michael and David had been arguing at their house when David hit him. Michael went to leave, and David attacked him. Somewhere in the attack David admitted to killing Kip to set Brian up. Michael was able to escape and went right to the police and gave a statement. David was arrested for domestic abuse of Michael but also the police had to look into what he said. Brian’s attorney said not to get his hopes up, cops usually never listen during this part of a trial. They think they have their guy, and they don’t want complications. It wasn’t until they found out that there was a witness to David leaving the loft. Apparently, she had told police at the time of the murder, but they had their eyes on him. The case fell apart faster than anyone thought was possible. But it wasn’t until that morning when the prosecutor had contacted his lawyer and told they were dropping the charges. His lawyer said it was a one in a million case. Usually, it would take months for the police to prove or disprove if the other guy did it. He said he thought maybe there was some dirty cops, and they were trying to get it swept under the rug as fast as possible.

When he got home, he just looked at his Loft, no longer it was his sanctuary. In fact, his whole life had changed. He was broke now because of his lawyer’s fees. His name was garbage, no reputable Ad agency would have him. There was only one choice now…to move. Pittsburgh had betrayed him and that wasn’t something he could get over.

                          4 and a half years later

“Alright Sonny Boy, what do you want to do?”

“Disneyland,” his said with a huge smile.

“We are going tomorrow; I’ve got the tickets already. What do you want to do tonight?”

This was the first time that Lindsay and Melanie allowed him to have Gus for the summer. He was sure it was only because they were having marital problems. Gus was almost seven now and wanted to spend more time with Brian.

Since Brian moved away and started his new life, he could admit he hadn’t been there for his son. But even after he was cleared of the charges and David convicted it still wasn’t enough. He was able to get a great offer, but it was across the country in Los Angeles. Although he would miss his son, he thought it was better going somewhere with out a question mark over his head.

Now he was a full partner in one of the biggest ad agencies in the nation. He made more now than he ever even dreamed. Moving also opened up a whole new pool of fresh tricks. It was all getting a bit old though, he hated coming home to an empty home. He wondered if it was just because all of his friends were across the country.

“Can we go to the beach?”

“That’s a great idea. Go get dressed.”

Brian sent his sometimes boyfriend a text that he would be unavailable for the next two months. Rick was alright, a little too much like himself to be anything permanent. He hadn’t even told his friends about the man because he knew they would lose it because he had laughed at the idea of relationships. Rick was a few years younger than him and a very ambitious lawyer. He wasn’t really someone that Brian thought Gus should be around, mostly because Rick wasn’t a fan of children.

Once he had gotten himself ready, they headed to Santa Monica, he was sure Gus would like to walk the pier. The drive from Silver Lake where he lived to Santa Monica didn’t take too long but he was used to driving a bit to get anywhere good now. California was a big state, so you had to drive everywhere almost.

On the way Gus giggled about everything and was talking a mile a minute. He was telling Brian about all the cool things he wanted to do. Brian had saved his vacation just for this and was taking a full month off. Next month he would have to rely on childcare to help him, but this month was all about time with his son. His son would want for nothing on this trip, maybe then after it he wouldn’t feel like a total failure as a father.

The day was pretty much perfect until Gus wanted a lemonade. As Brian was paying for the drink, Gus wandered off.

“Gus,” he said, looking around him. He didn’t panic because his son wouldn’t have gone far. “Gus,” he said a little later.

Ten minutes later he was freaking out. “GUS!” he yelled. There were several people helping looking for him. How could he lose him? What if he’d been kidnapped?”

“Daddy!” Gus yelled.

Brian looked up and saw Gus running towards him, he was soaking wet. Being in the water had never even occurred to him. Kneeling down, Brian hugged his son hard.

“Where the hell were you?” he asked with a little heat in his voice.

“I saw a doggy and wanted to pet it.”

Great, his son was just asking to get kidnapped. “You shouldn’t have wandered off.”

“I’m sorry, Justin said he would help me find you when I didn’t know where I was.”

“Justin? Who the fuck is Justin?”

“That would be me,” a voice said.

Brian looked up and saw a blond man with a stroller and a dog. As Brian stared at him, he thought he was vaguely familiar but couldn’t put his finger on it. The younger man was wearing rainbow board shorts and white t-shirt with two stick figures made out of rainbow colors. The dog had a rainbow flag collar. The baby stroller had rainbow flag decals on it. The only one that seemed not to be covered in rainbow flags was the baby and it was wearing a sunflower sundress. This whole getup would have never gone over in Pittsburgh.

“Thank you. I just turned away for a moment.”

“I’m not looking forward to that stage. Right now, she’s running me around me and she can’t even crawl.”

“Again, thank you. I was seconds away from calling the police.”

“It’s alright, Brian.”

Brian stopped. “Did Gus tell you my name?”

“No, I remembered it.”

“Do we know each other?”

“Not really.” The man looked at Gus, looking to be choosing his words. “We was on a jury once.”

It clicked then to Brian; this was the twink on his jury. The same very one that he saw almost be hurt in a bar. He was much different from the schoolboy looking twink now. His blond hair was long to his shoulders and a tattoo peeking out from under his sleeve on his left arm.

“I remember now. What are you doing in California?”

“I live here now. You?”

“Same.”

“I was just about to get some lunch and get out of the sun for a while. Want to join us? Maybe by then your heart will have left your throat by the time we’re done. My sister got lost in a store once and my mom still talks about it.”

“Yeah, that might be best.” His heart was still beating fast. Just the thought of something happening to Gus sent his blood pressure through the roof.

They went to a popular burger joint at the pier. Once he sat down, he felt like he could breathe again. As they waited for their food, he decided to find out more about the blond.

“How old is your daughter?” he asked.

“Oh, she’s not mine,” the blond said with a laugh. “Her dad is my ex, he’s in Japan on business this week so he asked me to watch her. There isn’t many people he trust with her, so I agreed.”

“You’re taking care of your ex’s kid? I guess there isn’t any bad feelings between you.”

“No, Hank is a good guy, we were just not suited well together. I think we were just too much alike. I’m Hannah’s godfather so I get to watch her grow up. I love her and Hank but knew it wasn’t for me. After we broke up, he went on to sleep with his own ex. She got pregnant and here Hannah is.”

“Where’s her mother?”

“She didn’t want to be a day-to-day mom. She comes to visit when she’s in town, which isn’t much. Hank has full custody, but he wants her to know her mother.”

“How long have you lived her?”

“Three years.”

“Why did you move?”

The blond picked up the baby out of her stroller and put her in his lap. “I got expelled from art school because they found out I was putting up posters against the man running for mayor. When I started PIFA, I fell in love with a violist. I was stupid and moved out of my fully furnished, beautiful apartment I shared with my best friend. My grandparents and her parents made sure we had everything we needed. But then I moved into the shoebox Ethan called an apartment. I knew pretty much right away I messed up. But my pride wouldn’t let me admit everyone of my friends were right. I needed to make money, so I started to work at Babylon.”

“I’m guessing you weren’t a bartender.”

“Nope, too young. But I was plenty old enough to let gross old men paw at me. Let’s just say it wasn’t something I would like to remember. The police chief was a jerk and got what was coming to him.”

“I guess I missed that. I know he lost but that’s about it.”

“He got caught trying to cover up the attack on a hustler by his ex-partner. It was a big thing, if the boy hadn’t been smart, he wouldn’t have made it.”

“Wow, move out of the Pitts and it goes to hell.”

“Daddy, no bad words,” Gus said.

Brian had thought Gus was too engrossed in his coloring, but he guessed not. Their food arrived no long after. Brian watched Justin eat and try to keep his fries away from the baby. He felt her something from Tupperware he brought but she wanted the greasy fry.

“Can I have your number?” Brian surprised himself by asking before they departed. Justin smiled as he wrote his number Brian’s wrist.

“Got to get her home before she starts to get tired.”

Brian had officially ended things with Rick. They didn’t have a monogamous relationship. But when he found out that Brian was sleeping with someone else, he threw a fit. Brian liked Justin so he wasn’t about to stop seeing him.

Justin was insane, beautifully insane. He would paint for hours or stretch and forget that other people existed. He was also selfless while being spoiled. Justin was just an interesting mix of contrasting abilities.

There was also Hank, Justin’s ex. When Brian met him, he wanted to dislike him, but he was a good guy. He didn’t understand what Justin saw him though. Hank was even older than Brian and not very fit. That was probably his ego talking though.

Jusitn had come to the airport with Brian and Gus when Brian took his son home. It was sweet and Gus said that he would miss him. A few days after Gus returned home Justin showed Brian the picture he got in the mail. Gus had taken up drawing and now sends Justin what he thinks is his best.

It had been almost a full year since he had met Justin again. He was going to propose to him in a few hours. Justin would be so surprised. Brian was taking Justin to the pier where they had officially met.

Justin smiled when Brian picked him up. “So where are we going?” Justin asked.

“You’ll see.”

“Please tell me we’re not going back to Rodeo Drive. I don’t have it in me to watch you try on clothes for hours again. You didn’t even let me bring my sketch pad.”

“Because the time before you wrote ‘help me I’ve been kidnapped by a clothes horse’ that means no. You had people laughing.”

Justin laughed. Brian had gotten a bit red in the face with that. He hadn’t meant to embarrass him.

“Are we going to Santa Monica?” Justin asked.

“I think that would have been obvious.”

“Because it’s been a year since our first date?”

“That wasn’t a date, I don’t do dates, I’ve told you.”

“Right, right. I guess I imagined all those times you took me out to dinner.”

“That was dinner, not a date.”

He just rolled his eyes; Brian was being so annoying. They had been together a year. Well, for about eleven months Justin knew he was Brian’s fallback. Brian and Rick had been together up until last month. Rick didn’t like that Brian fucked him. He wanted to be Brian’s only repeat. Rick had accused Justin of being a gold digger. It wasn’t true, Justin worked his ass off to live in an apartment with two other people. He didn’t let Brian pay for anything that he considered taking care of him.

Once they were walking on the pier a familiar boy came into view. “Gus?” Justin asked.

“Yep, he wanted to be here.” Gus was standing back at a distance with two women who Justin guessed was his mothers.

“Here for what?” Justin asked, turning back to Brian only to find him on one knee, holding a beautiful wedding band. “What are you doing?” His eyes felt like they were bulging out of his head.

“Will you marry me?”

“What?”

“Will you marry me?”

“What?” Something flashed in Brian’s eyes and Justin could tell it was unease. He thought Justin was trying to turn him down.

“Of course, I’ll marry you. I just thought I died for a moment.”

Brian smiled and got off of his knee, sliding the ring onto Justin’s finger. He heard Gus’s squeal and run for them, the two women following behind. He remembered the blonde woman being a character witness. The other woman wasn’t smiling but she wasn’t frowning either, she just looked like she couldn’t be bothered.

“It’s great to finally meet you, Justin,” Lindsay said.

“I feel like I already know you, with as much as we’ve talked on the phone.” She had called lots because Gus wanted to tell him about some project he was doing.

“Did you show him the house?” Lindsay asked.

“What house?” he asked.

“That’s for that. I know you wanted to move back east to be closer to your family. I bought a house there. I thought we spend six months here and six there, I can do most of my work over the phone or internet. I’ll have to commute some but shouldn’t be too much.”

“I can’t believe this is actually happening.”

“We’ll believe it, we have the rest of our lives for you to get tired of me,” Brian said with a smile. He couldn’t imagine a life where he would ever tire or him.