JUSTIN 

Brian came in the house, looking as if he was just done. The kids didn't notice, which only showed me he was good at masking his emotions. He caught Jenny when she ran to hug him and checked on Gus before saying he needed a shower. Blake told me he'd stay with the kids, so I could check on Brian.

Brian was laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I laid next to him, waiting to see if he wanted to talk about it.

“He's my best friend, but the second I step outside what he thinks I want…” He trails off.

“Blake thinks Michael doesn’t like anyone that pulls you away from Michael. Which apparently is what I've been doing, at least in Michael’s head,” I tell him. 

“You don’t get to make excuses for Michael. We've all done that and this is the result. It wasn’t something I wanted you to have to deal with,” He tells me, pulling me to him.

“I'm not making excuses for him, just trying to rationalize why, as Jenny’s doctor he's fine with me, but me having anything to do with you, bothers him. Why would he care when he's happily married to Ben?” I ask.

“It's likely his fear of being alone. But I can't be his answer. The life I want is with you, while we watch our kids plot our lives together,” He tells me, making me love him more because it was about us and our kids. 

“God help us, they think we need to be in time-out for breaking up,” I tell him, getting the laugh from him I was hoping for. 

“After tonight, I honestly don't care what he wants. Bringing another guy when he knew I was pissed about the other night wasn't the way to say he was sorry. I never believed in apologies, but treating our relationship like it was only you being a doctor that I wanted,” He tells me. 

“Blake and Gus sort of filled me in on the guys he set you up with. None of them sounded like anyone you'd be interested in for a relationship,” I tell him. 

“Which I wasn’t, but then maybe that was his goal. He liked being friends with the Stud, more than me,” He tells me. 

“I think it was more that he still depends on you for everything, when he should depend on Ben. It said a lot when in my office, until you showed up they weren’t listening, but when you showed up, all of them did. Mel might have acted like she didn't want you involved, but all it would have taken was her telling me you weren’t approved to hear anything. As much as she protested, not once did she ask you to leave. It was most likely she knew Michael wouldn’t act up with you there,” I tell him. 

“Which should be Ben’s job, not mine,” He tells me. 

“I agree, but in any group they defer to the one who leads. From what I've seen of Ben and Michael’s relationship, Ben caters to Michael’s tantrums, the way Mel does for Lindsay. Instead of Ben and Mel taking over, they let Michael and Lindsay go at it, most likely waiting for you to deal with them. Which you did. The only difference in the couples was that Mel and Lindsay at least saw they needed to worry about Jenny,” I tell him. 

“Michael and Lindsay showed up at your office bickering the next day,” He pointed out. 

“But after that, Lindsay called the doctor to set up the appointment. Which Michael could have done if he was as concerned as he was saying. I'm not saying he doesn't love his daughter, but he takes a backseat when it comes to anything that solves the problem. It's probably a role he's played so long he doesn't even know he's doing it. Then you add Ben’s avoidance of anything to Michael’s indecision. You get two people who depend on someone else to keep from having to deal with the fallout of any decision. It’s where Blake and I think you come in, and why Ben likes the idea of you dating someone in their social set. It keeps him from having to deal with the parts of Michael he doesn't like. So, like I said, deferring to the one who leads, which also means keeping you from making them figure it out,” I tell him. 

“It's something I've done since I met them, they've never been good at handling their problems. It's why I gave up my rights to Lindsay and Mel, so they'd get back together, because it's what they both wanted,” He tells me. 

“So your wants didn’t matter? Let me guess, when it was a decision between what Michael wanted and what you did, Michael normally got what he wanted?” I ask. 

“It never mattered until I met you,” He tells me. 

“Hopefully he figures it out, because as much as I'm not happy with what he did, he's still someone who's a big part of your life,” I tell him.

“I'm not sure he'll ever get it, although the guy he brought tonight was a least a step up from the usual. Granted, he seemed more interested in knowing how I got you to agree to a date,” He tells me, cheering up.

“Did you tell him you used your kid to get me to agree?” I joke.

“I'm told him you wanted my body,” He says smugly.

“It's really hard to resist,” I tell him, unbuttoning his shirt.

“Why resist, when you own it,” He says, while helping me get our clothes off.

We didn’t take it slow, because we knew the kids would eventually show up. He spooned in, turning me over. Then prepped me for him and didn’t waste any time sliding home. I bit into the pillow to keep from alerting Gus and posse that they needed to save us. Brian pulled out, slamming back in and making sure to hit my prostate with each thrust. We sealed our moans in our kisses, but broke apart as I came. He rode me through my orgasm then finally reached his. We laid there, trying to regain the strength to move.

“Dad, are you and Brian done making sure he washes behind his ears?” Gwen yells through the door.

“Ears. Is that the best Blake could do?” Brian whispers, snickering.

EMMETT 

I like a good tongue lashing, just ask Drew. It's just I didn’t enjoy Brian pouring his heart out because Michael acts like an asshole. I waited to see if Michael bought a vowel or at least recognized he fucked up. I think Ben started to see he couldn’t sit around playing innocent partner to Michael’s bullshit. Maybe in order to help Brian, we needed to help Ben. Michael was in the kitchen apologizing to Monty, Eli, and Robin for Brian, which told me Michael was still clueless.

I yanked Ben out the front door, because for some reason he goes blind, deaf, and dumb where Michael is concerned. Tonight was the first time he actually said something that didn’t defend Michael.

“It's time you show Michael who he's married to,” I tell him. 

“I know he tends to go overboard when it comes to Brian, but Brian is the one who came to him saying he was ready for a relationship,” He says, stopping when I roll my eyes.

“I'm sure Brian regrets saying that to him after the parade of losers Michael has marched through Kinnetik, the diner, and Babylon. Which I didn’t come out here to talk to you about,” I tell him. 

“Why did you want to talk to me?” He asks. 

“Because as much as Michael loves you, he doesn't respect your place in his life. Which you don't help by letting him depend on Brian. Do yourself a favor and show Michael you’re just as much an Alpha as Brian is. Brian didn’t marry Michael, you did. So show Michael that Brian isn’t the only man who can take charge. Believe it or not, it's sexy when your man takes charge,” I tell him, thinking of Drew. 

Ben did his inner Zen thing before nodding and walking in. I followed behind him, ready to get Drew and go check on Brian. Holy hell, Ben can do Alpha well.

“Michael, we're going home,” He says calmly.

“Eli thought…”

“NOW MICHAEL!” Ben made us all jump.

Michael’s eyes nearly popped out of his head at the voice that could rival Deb's. Only, he also took off with Ben like an eager puppy. Shit, maybe Michael likes the whole being yelled at, which sort of makes sense since Deb yells while she's talking. On the way out, Lindsay asked if she should get Gus and Jenny, so Brian and Justin could have time together.

“Why not let Brian decide,” Mel tells her.

“Mel, aren’t you the one who thinks Brian is evil?” Teddy jokes.

“I've decided to accept that the women in my life love all that is Kinney,” She sighs dramatically.

“I might love Brian, but you're the one who went to slay his dragon. My hero,” Lindsay says, batting her eyes at Mel. 

“Just don’t tell him, it will just have him thinking the apocalypse is coming,” Teddy jokes.