BRIAN

Justin left and told me he’d be waiting up for me. I couldn’t leave Rodney here alone until I made sure Deb didn’t run over everyone to get what she wanted. Michael took Justin’s leaving as he’d won something over Justin. Justin walked over to the nurses' station and handed her something before leaving, but I didn’t have time to figure out what he was doing because Deb seemed to think arguing was going to change who the POA for Vic was.

“Brian, I’ve been through this before, and he needs me to kick his ass when he tries to give up,” Deb tells me.

“He has a kidney infection, Deb, it’s not like the last time. Let’s go in and check on him, then allow Rodney to stay as Vic wants.” I tell her.

“It might be better if you, Ma, and I stay too. We need to be here as a family.” Michael tells me, trying to grab my hand as I pulled it away.

“If you two want to see him before you go home, we need to go, so I can get home to Justin,” I tell him, walking to Vic’s room.

Deb charged ahead of us to get to his room before we did. I walked in to see Deb treating Vic like a child, which wasn’t making Vic happy to have them here.

“Sis, I’m fine, and I really don’t understand why you woke everyone up.” He tells her.

“How was I supposed to know anything when the doctor couldn’t be bothered to come and tell us you were okay? Now, apparently, I have to wait for Brian to tell us anything. What made you think he was the person to put in charge?” She demanded.

“I put him in charge because Brian would listen to the doctors, which you never do,” Vic tells her.

“It doesn’t matter, because now that we’re here you can tell the doctors that I’ll handle everything,” Deb says, ignoring what Vic told her.

“We’ll all help out Uncle Vic. I tried to tell Brian it would be better for us to all be here together, and if Brian’s in charge then he needs to see that OTHER THINGS aren’t a priority over us.” Michael puts in.

“Since I’m not dying and can make my own decisions, Brian really doesn’t actually need to be here,” Vic tells them.

“I would have come anyway,” I tell him.

“Which I appreciate, but I’m really ready to rest so I can get out of here. Everyone should go home.” He tells us.

“I’ll get Rodney,” I tell him, trying to usher Deb and Michael out when they didn’t listen to what Vic was saying.

“I’ll stay here since Vic is going to need me,” Deb tells us.

“No. It’s not what Vic wants, and for once you're going to listen to him.” I tell her, taking her by the arm and walking her to the waiting room.

“We’ll be waiting for you, we need to talk,” Deb tells me, sitting her and Michael down.

Rodney got up and followed me. “If I didn’t love Vic so much, they would be the reason to let him go.” He tells me.

“You're most likely the only thing that keeps him sane,” I tell him, as we go in the room.

“I should have just gone home instead of sitting around the diner to walk Deb home tonight,” Vic tells me.

“It’s not like you thought you were going to get sick,” Rodney tells him.

“Brian, she knew I was okay when we were in the ambulance, I’m not sure why she called anyone but Rodney.” He tells me.

“She didn’t call me, Emmett did,” Rodney tells him.

“I can deal with everything, just get well. Justin likes you and I want you and Justin to get to know each other.” I tell him.

“Make sure Deb and Michael don’t run him off, he makes you happy,” Vic tells me, looking at Rodney.

“Justin hasn’t really seen them as a reason to leave me, but as a reason to stay with me,” I tell him, as I head to the waiting room to tell everyone to go home.

As soon as I walked in Deb was out of her chair. “We need to talk to the doctor, Vic isn’t thinking clearly if he doesn’t know I would be the best person to handle this for him.” She tells me.

“With what you did tonight, I think he was thinking very clearly. I called every one, scaring the shit out of them because you made it sound like Vic was dying. Rodney didn’t even know what was going on, because you left him out, instead of calling him.” Ted tells her.

“Right now it doesn’t matter that Deb didn’t think about what Vic would want. It’s time to go home and leave him to get better.” I tell them, waving at everyone to leave.

“See, this is why he shouldn’t have put you in charge. You can’t be bothered when the family needs you. Look at what happened when Michael needed Brian here. He didn’t come because partying was all he cares about.” She tells everyone.

“Do you really want me to tell you what I think of Michael and all the unnecessary visits I paid for? Right now, I’m willing to leave it alone, even though it was money that I could have put aside for things Gus needed. But believe me, there is only so far you can push me on what your son was doing for four years to fool not only you but all of us. I will not jump to attention because you only remember things that make you and your son look innocent, and make me look like I’m the asshole for not loving Michael the way he wants me to. I gave up my life to help Michael, but I’m not going to continue to give up what I want because you think I still owe Michael my life. I won’t have Justin attacked by either of you because you don’t like that he’s the one I plan to marry one day. Now, I’m leaving to go home to my partner. I will be back in the morning to make sure Vic’s wishes are being followed, even if it means having you and Michael barred from his room.” I tell her, leaving so furious that I’m ready to throttle Deb.

TED

All of us were silent when Brian left the room. I could honestly say we were all shocked by Brian finally standing up to Deb and her way of using anything to make us all feel like shit if we didn’t see things her way.

“Brian’s finally getting it,” Drew tells us.

“Unfortunately, so is Michael,” Blake tells us.

“He had to know. It’s not like Brian isn’t making it obvious who he wants to be with.” Emmett tells us, as Michael got up and took off out of the room after Brian.

“Michael where are you going?” Deb yells, leaving to find him.

We all followed, wanting to let Brian leave before they pissed him off any further. We caught up to Deb, who stood back, with her hand over her mouth, while Michael was screaming at Brian.

“HE DOESN’T GET THE THINGS YOU PROMISED ONLY ME. I SPENT MY LIFE WAITING AND LETTING YOU DO THE THINGS YOU WANTED, BUT NOW YOU PICK HIM.” Michael yells.

Brian opened his car door, not paying any attention. Michael went over and slammed the door shut before Brian could get in the car. “ANSWER ME. WHAT THE FUCK MAKES HIM SO GODDAMN SPECIAL WHEN ALL OUR LIVES YOU NEVER WANTED ANYONE BUT ME?” Michael just couldn’t let it go, even when we could see Brian wasn’t going to play this game with Michael.

Brian moved Michael out of his way, but then turned and whispered something in his ear that had him backing away from Brian. Deb went running to him, and at that point, there was no reason to stay, because it wasn’t going to be us coddling Michael with Deb.