BRIAN

I knew Justin was waiting for me, but I didn’t want to bring home my anger at Michael pushing me to finally say what I’ve held in for years. All our lives I let Michael believe it was our friendship that kept me from changing our relationship, when the truth was something that would end our friendship. It was something no one needed to hear but Michael. So I leaned down and whispered, “I didn’t do relationships, wasn’t that what you told people? You got it partly right, I didn’t do relationships if the choice was you. I didn’t love you, I pitied you.”

I looked up at the light in the windows, knowing Justin was most likely going to find a way to soothe the rough edges. The same ones he soothed every time I called him to come to New York. It’s one of the things he did that he never knew about in the two years we were together. Only tonight just knowing he was there waiting was all I needed.

I walked into the loft, seeing him typing on his laptop, papers around him, and the loft had life in it because Justin was there with me. He looked up, moving everything out of my way, then let me lay my head on his lap while he ran his hands through my hair. He knew just how to help me relax.

“Is everything okay with Vic?” He asks me.

“What were you doing at the nurses station?” I ask.

“I let her know if Vic needed anything not covered by his insurance to call and we would cover anything his insurance didn’t. What’s wrong?” He asks me when I stiffened hearing that.

“Deb said one of the reasons Vic shouldn’t have chosen me was because I was too busy partying to be there for Michael the other night. I ended up talking to her in a way I never have before. Then Michael followed me, screaming bullshit. I’m just tired of it all.” I tell him.

“Then sleep, and I'll make sure nothing bothers you,” I tell him.

JUSTIN

Everything that happened to us before makes more sense the longer I'm here. I see the reasons he never wanted to talk about his life. I kept running my fingers through his hair until he was sleeping, then put a pillow under his head. It was hard to not want to find Deb and Michael and bitch them out. Although it wouldn't accomplish anything, since they only care about what they want and apparently don't listen to anything anyone tells them.

When I picked up all the plans I’d been working on for our house to put on Brian’s desk, they fell on the floor. I picked up everything, but found a folder that wasn’t mine. Opening it, I saw it was full of bills, with notes about payments made by Brian. Looking through them, you could almost date when Michael actually recovered. I called my grandfather to ask if there was some way for Brian to recoup some of the money.

“It depends on if he specifically offered to pay the bills because he was told the visits were necessary to Michael’s recovery. If he did, then he could sue for fraud. If that's the case, then he needs witnesses who can verify it was given because he was led to believe Michael was still recovering from the accident. The easy part is that he can have access to all the insurance records because the car in the accident was his,” He tells me.

“At the time, and even now, Brian was listed as Michael’s POA, could the doctors make his records available to Brian?” I ask.  

“That's a tricky one, while unable to make decisions Brian would have access to Michael’s records, but once Michael was able to make his own decisions, it would be up to him if Brian was allowed the information,” He tells me.

“Michael had all the bills sent to Brian,” I tell him.

“Are they in Brian’s name and listing Michael as the patient?” He asks.

“Yeah, it weirdly looks like the bills Mom got for Dad,” I tell him.

“Before I look into this, you need to find out if Brian gifted the money without conditions, or were there stipulations on it being for necessary treatment. If it was gifted, than Michael won't be required to pay it back,” He tells me.

“I'll ask him when he wakes up,” I tell him.

“Was everything okay with Vic?” He asks.

“Vic has a kidney infection, but Deb made it sound worse. Which caused a bigger problem when Ted had Mel bring Vic’s POA. Brian was in charge, but Vic could make decisions, so I doubt it matters now. It was a lot of drama over nothing, which apparently is normal when it comes to Deb and Michael,” I tell him.

“Let me know what he wants to do. Tell him I can get him one of the best fraud lawyers in the country if he decides to go ahead with it,” He tells me.

“Thanks. By the way, Brian and I are going to change our POAs to each other,” I tell him.

“Are you two planning to combine all your finances?” He asks.

“We only talked about POA. I plan to spend my life with him, so it would make sense to combine everything. I at least want to pay for half of the house, since it's ours,” I tell him.

“Talk it over with him. Make sure he understands what you bring into this relationship. It's not easy on someone like Brian, who worked for everything in his life, to find out you have more,” He tells me.

“How would you know?” I ask.

“My career should tell you that, you don’t support a candidate unless you know there isn’t a skeleton that will bite you in the ass. Other than Brian’s family being less than stellar, he's never done anything you haven't, well, in going to jail you're one up on him,” He jokes, hanging up.

I put everything back, deciding to leave it alone unless Michael and Deb cause him to come home this upset again, then I'll let my grandfather loose on them.

TED

Blake was cleaning out the closet again, which means he's angry. I don't have to ask why, what Deb and Michael did pissed him off. It's something that's always bothered him - the way they treated Brian. Emmett said it bothered Drew, too. Blake couldn’t understand why everyone stuck up for Michael and shit on Brian. My explanation had him disappointed in all of us. I told him it's how it's always been. He asked why none of us opened our eyes and saw the way Michael manipulates everyone into siding with him. After Mel jumped on me, it opened my eyes. Blake told me it should have opened my eyes that Brian, the asshole, gave me a job, trusted me when no one else did, and never made me apologize for anything, even if it was my fault. Everything he said was true, but we were all blinded by how we began as friends.

“I've never asked this before, but I don't want Deb or Michael in our house,” Blake tells me, closing our newly organized closet.

“If that's what you want,” I tell him.

“It's the only thing I can say, short of telling you I don't want them in our lives,” He adds.

“I know what happened tonight bothers you, but you've never let them get to you before,” I tell him.

“I don’t want how they treat Justin to ever be the way they treat me,” He tells me.

“Blake, if that happened, they wouldn't like how I would react. Nothing in my life is more important to me than us.” I tell him.

“I know. I'm just angry for Brian. He's never done anything but help everyone. Yet even you can admit, for a long time he’s been treated like shit for helping people,” He tells me.

“For me, it was more my jealousy over him having anything he wanted,” I explained.

“How was that his fault?” He asks.

“It wasn’t, and now I know better,” I tell him.

“Thank god, because I was ready to paint the house, if you didn’t,” He jokes.

EMMETT

Drew paced in front of me, looking like he wanted to tackle someone. I knew exactly who, but it would only give Michael broken bones, which he would use to get attention. I'm just as angry, not only for Brian, but because I was scared, thinking we were going to lose Vic. Tonight showed me Deb could be as bad as Michael, by blowing things out of proportion.

“I want you to know I'm proud of you.” He tells me.

“Okay. Why?” I ask.

“Tonight you didn’t let Deb get away with her bullshit. It's something that bothered me, that no matter what Deb or Michael did, you seem to overlook it,” He tells me.

“I really don't have a good excuse for why, it's just the way we've operated. It has a lot to do with Deb caring about us when none of us had families that did,” I tell him.

“I appreciated when she stood by me, but it didn't mean overlooking the bullshit from her. There are times I like Deb, but not when it involves you guys kissing her ass for allowing you in her circle,” He tells me.

“I keep thinking Deb gets it, but she only gets it when she's mad at Michael,” I tell him.

“I don’t want her over here if it's a repeat of the last time. She uses all of you in hopes to get at Brian. That really bothers me, because he didn't do anything to deserve being conned by her son,” He tells me.

“I promise, if she shows up I slam the door in her face and beat you to your man cave,” I tell him, laughing.

“I'll let you share the cave when you do.” He tells me, pulling me up. “How about we work off some of my anger?” He asks, leading me to his cave.

LINDSAY

Mel came in and couldn’t say anything when she sat down. I got up and got her a drink, before asking her what happened at the hospital.

“How bad was Vic?” I ask, starting to worry more than I already had been.

“He wasn’t dying, which Deb had everyone thinking. His kidneys got infected, but the doctor said he should be home in a couple of days. Which meant I didn’t need to bring the POA, which caused Deb to jump on both Vic and Brian. To top it off, she acted like Justin being there was wrong, and not because of Vic. According to Emmett, Deb said that Brian shouldn’t have brought Justin because it would upset Michael. Then Michael tried to keep Brian away from Justin, and it took everything in me not to kick his ass when he smirked at Justin while Brian was explaining what the doctor told him,” She tells me.

“It’s why I told Michael I don’t want him over here anymore. He would smirk at me when he’d get Brian to wait on him. It was like he was trying to show me that Brian cared more for him than he did for me or Gus. I didn’t want Gus to grow up with Michael one day causing problems for Brian with Gus.” I tell her.

“I wish you’d told him it was so he could see that if you call Brian, he’d drop Michael to be with you,” She tells me.

“Wouldn’t that bother you?” I ask.

“Nope. Because I know who you love, and what you have with Brian is a loving friendship,” She tells me.

“It would have been fun, but I think Justin will have Michael squirming. How about we go upstairs and I show you a loving relationship? Michael and Deb aren’t worth talking about.