BRIAN

I asked everyone to leave Vic and me alone. I needed to know that he would understand if I did go ahead and sue Michael for the money. The money was gone, and really, it wasn’t about the money. It was about the fact that I wanted Michael to understand the friendship he ran around crowing about was over.

“What are you thinking about?” Vic asks.

“If I end up taking this to court…”

“If you do, either Deb faces that her son conned you, or she defends him. She wants to believe what the psychiatrist told her was most likely what caused Michael to make us all think he was still sick. That it got him the attention he wanted all his life from you,” He tells me.

“What do you think?” I ask.

“I think he’s wanted more than you could give him from the beginning. Then when you were sitting at his bedside after the accident, and came anytime he called, he knew it would stop if he recovered. You would once again resume your life; the one you wanted, the one that never included him in your bed,” He tells me.

“Then why did he get his own place, at the time he could have convinced me to let him stay with me?” I ask.

“He isn’t stupid, even with everything pointing out that he is. If you and he were sharing the same space, he knew you’d notice things, like the limp coming and going at whim. I think he didn’t want the fantasy he believes to be ruined by the reality; that living with you wouldn’t have changed that he wasn’t going to get to be more than a friend to you,” He tells me.

“I don’t even know what the point of suing him is, it’s not like Michael has the money to pay it back. Although, Lindsay mentioned that even without Michael working he doesn’t seem to be hurting for money.” I tell him.

“She has a point. Where is he getting money? It isn’t from Deb or me,” He tells me.

“I thought maybe he was living off the settlement with the insurance company.” I tell him.

“I’m not sure how much he got, because I never really asked. Deb said if he was careful he could live for a while off the money,” He tells me.

“But with Michael’s spending?” I ask.

“How he managed to live on his own for the past four years could be questioned. Why haven’t you?” He asks.

“I was starting to get my life back, because Michael convinced me he didn’t need me holding his hand at the doctor's office. Then I met Justin, and Michael made it easier to be with Justin by not needing me to do everything for him all the time. So I suppose I just ignored the obvious,” I tell him.

“Do what you need to do. I’ll still be there for you. The same way I always have and always will,” He tells me.

JUSTIN

Brian was sitting on the couch looking over boards. After Deb stomped out, and he’d talked to Vic, he hadn’t said much about the whole situation. I left him alone for a few hours, but then wanted to know what he was thinking. I also noticed something about the bills and wanted to ask, but not if he didn’t want to talk about it.

“We can leave the Michael thing alone, it really wasn’t my business,” I tell him, sitting next to him.

He put down the board he was studying before turning to look at me. “Anything in my life is your business. What bothers me is that it took this long for me to see what he was doing to me. I thought I was better at reading people than I obviously am,” He tells me.

“You considered him family, and trusted him. Until the accident, did he do anything that would have had you questioning him?” I ask.

“No. I knew he wished for more, but seemed satisfied that friends was all we were. Deb wants to believe that the accident gave Michael the attention that he waited for from me. I let him cling to me more than I did before, but it was because he wouldn’t do what the therapist wanted when I left him alone. I wanted him to get better,” He tells me.

“I don’t think he was satisfied. He was probably still hoping that you’d eventually want him. You mentioned that after the accident you stopped all the things you were doing and focused on Michael’s recovery. When the doctors started telling him he was healed, he didn’t want to hear it, because then you wouldn’t have given him the attention he craved from you. In a way Deb could be right about that, but it doesn’t excuse him from the fact that he was using you. I have a question about the bills. Why were the doctors still treating him when there was nothing to treat? It doesn’t make sense. I looked over some of the bills and they seem higher than a doctor would bill for a standard appointment. Think about it, why would they run tests that weren’t necessary?” I ask him.

“Deb said the primary doctor ran the tests to show Michael there was nothing wrong with him,” He tells me.

“Which explains that one bill, but not the ones from another doctor he was seeing. Maybe have Ted look into why that doctor was billing you for treatment that the primary doctor said wasn’t necessary anymore. I’m hoping I’m wrong, but it looks like Michael had someone billing for treatment that he didn’t have. The question then becomes, why would the doctor do it?” I ask him.

“How did you see that when Ted didn’t?” He asks, grabbing the folder.

“At the time, most likely what Ted was seeing was what he expected, because you all believed Michael was still recovering. If you look at the ones from primary doctor, his bills lessened around the time Deb said Michael was considered recovered. I started looking through the bills going forward, the bills for all the doctors but one, weren’t for more than my doctor bills for check-ups,” I tell him.

Brian looked through the ones I separated because of the cost difference from the others. “I need to call Ted and Mel, because David Cameron has some explaining to do,” He tells me.

“Who is he?” I ask.

“The chiropractor who blamed me for Michael not loving him,” He tells me.

TED

When Brian called and asked me if I knew David was one of the doctors that Michael was seeing, I was ready to wring my own neck for not seeing it.

“The practice wasn’t listed in David’s name?” I asked, because I would have noticed that.

“No. It’s listed as Health Care Solutions, but the doctor listed on the second page was David Cameron,” He tells me.

“Let me call Mel, and we’ll come over. I can’t believe I missed that,” I tell him.

I picked up Mel and explained to her on the way. She didn’t know what to make of the situation. Justin was grabbing everyone drinks when we came in and told us he was going to leave us to talk. Brian told him to stay, because he wanted him there.

“I thought David was still in Portland. How could he be treating Michael?” She asks.

“He never liked Brian, so he could possibly see it as a way to get back at Brian,” I tell her.

“By losing his license? He’d have to be stupid to risk losing everything, just for revenge,” She tells me.

“He wanted Michael, and would have seen this as a way of getting me back for Michael not giving him what he wanted. He might not have seen the ramifications, because he wasn’t running it through insurance companies, but directly billing me. It helped that we didn’t question the bills coming in for Michael,” Brian tells us.

“I should have been; but we were starting Kinnetik and you told me to just pay the bills when they came in,” I tell him.

“I still don’t think anyone would risk a career for what would be considered a small amount of money compared to what he was making,” Mel tells us, looking through them.

“Lindsay mentioned it, but do any of you know how Michael managed to pay for things?” Justin asks us.

“Michael never came to me for help, so no, I don’t,” I tell him.

“If David gave him the money for these bills, then where is it going? He lives in a modest apartment, doesn’t own a car, and really, eats most of his meals at the diner. Nothing really screams the money that were charged from these bills,” Mel tells us.

Justin got up and said he wanted to make a call. He sat on the phone talking while we waited for him.

“What did Michael like that he couldn’t afford? If he suddenly came into money he never had before, what would he spend it on? I asked Carl, he told me to ask you guys,” Justin tells us.

“Comics, maybe collectables, but he has so many I don’t think I ever paid any attention to them,” Brian tells him.

“He mentions them, but none of us pay attention, since it doesn’t interest us,” I tell him.

“Collectors pay mint when they want something. My cars are collectable the minute they're made because we only make one of each. The buyer sees an investment, because what they pay they could get three times more if they auctioned it off later. Find out if he has one of a kind items, and you could find where the money was going,” Justin tells us.

I went to Brian’s computer and looked up the practice listed on the bills. I think David has some questions to answer, since the practice is in Portland and Michael hasn’t left Pittsburgh since he came back. Brian looked over my shoulder and his glare said it all.

“If he helped Michael, he’s going to have a real reason to hate me,” Brian tells me.

“I need to go talk to someone,” He tells Justin.

“Call if you need me,” Justin tells him, kissing him and letting him go.

“Do you think it’s a good idea, letting him go?” Mel asks Justin.

“I think it’s his decision to make; and it’s mine to respect him for doing what he needs to do,” Justin tells us.