Brian was the first to lose patience with the waiting game for the girls. His irritation grew with each passing minute. It wasn't exactly springtime in Toronto right now and he was freezing his balls off. In a minute, he was going to give up and go inside for a nice belly warming slug of Jim Beam, (something the girls always made sure they had on hand whenever Brian was coming to town). It took Justin's cooler head to realize that something probably had gone wrong.



"Brian, stop fidgeting. They'll be here... unless their car broke down or something," Justin admonished Brian.



Justin turned to Gus who was obviously growing steadily more anxious.



"They did have their cell phones with them, didn't they, Gus?" Justin asked.



"They always do," came the reply. "I'll try and get JR to release her death grip on the phone and I'll try to get them."



Gus hurried into the house, and the men could hear the heated discussion between brother and sister as they argued over possession of the telephone. Gus must have been the winner since he returned several minutes later, looking more worried than when he'd left.



"I tried several times to reach them on both their phones and I can't get anything." Gus turned to Brian. "Why won't one of them pick up, at least? It's not like them. Something's wrong!" His agitation was growing with each word spoken.



Brian put his arm around his son, who was already the same height as him, and tapped his shoulder. "I'm sure its nothing, Sonnyboy, but we should backtrack just in case." He turned to Justin, who looked just as concerned as Gus. "Up for another late night ride, Sunshine?" Justin was back at the Jeep before Brian could finish the last word. Gus had run back in the house to let JR know that they were going to check on their mothers. JR stopped in mid-sentence to one of her many cronies and tossed a quick bye to her waiting brother. Gus headed back out to the Jeep and jumped in the back. His worry for Mel and Linds had made him forget all about the need to drive at every opportunity.



Brian pulled out of the girl's driveway with a screech of tires and headed towards the nearby freeway. He had gone only about five blocks from the house when the three men saw flashing lights in the night sky. One more block revealed an ambulance pulled to the side of the road on the opposite side of the Jeep and a half dozen police vehicles scattered about. Traffic, though not heavy, was at a complete standstill in both directions. A stabbing coldness like ice began gripping the insides of the men in the Jeep.



"Dad?"



Brian could hear the fear creeping into Gus's voice and it echoed in his own brain. There were only a few cars in front of the men but Brian could feel Justin's fingers digging into his arm as they crept ever closer to the scene of what looked like an extremely bad accident. When they finally reached a point where they had a visual of the car that was wrecked on the side of the road, Justin let out a loud moan like Brian had never heard before followed by an even louder "NO!" from the back seat.



Brian swerved the Jeep to the side of the road and was quickly swarmed by several officers in uniform, looking none too happy. He had exited the vehicle moments before the first officer could reach him.



"Sir, this isn't a circus. Get back in your car and move out," came the angry voice of the first officer.



"I'm not going anywhere!" Brian shot back. "I know that car! It belongs to my son's mother." Brian pointed back to the Jeep where Justin was trying valiantly to get Gus to sit back and let Brian handle things. "My son is in that Jeep. We NEED to know what happened and what's going on. Where are Mel and Linds?"



The stern look on the officer's face changed in an instant, but the look was even more frightening to Brian. It was a look of pity. "What is your name, sir?" the officer asked more gently. The tone brought ice to Brian's veins. He looked over to the Jeep again and answered slowly. "It's Kinney, Brian Kinney. That car over there looks like the family car. We were expecting the women to be home any minute and they hadn't arrived. Please tell me." Brian paused, trying to gather his wits about him. "There were two women in the car... a tall blonde in her mid-forties and a short brunet a couple years older. Are they all right? Where are they?"



The officer took a quick breath. He always detested this part of his job, but the anxious man in front of him didn't look like the type you could coddle so he went ahead with his duty.



"There were two ladies in the vehicle, Mr. Kinney. They've taken their bodies away in an ambulance. I can tell you where. I'm so sorry!"



Brian had stopped hearing a word when the uniformed man standing in front of him said 'bodies'! He suddenly felt a gut wrenching pain that felt like the sucker punch Justin's father had laid on him so many, many years ago. Only this pain went deeper, much deeper. Brian felt on the verge of throwing up and only the tug on his jacket brought him back to his senses. He turned to stare into the bewildered face of Justin. Justin had seen the way Brian had changed in an instant. He knew instinctively that something was very very wrong. As always, his first reaction was to run to Brian's side.



"Brian?"



Brian turned his stricken face towards his lover and tried to speak. Words stuck in his throat like glue. He shook his head in anger, trying to dislodge the agonizing words he needed to say but dreaded to hear. Justin waited patiently, knowing that Brian had to pull himself together before he could go any further. Brian looked over at the Jeep and saw his son leaning on the outside of the vehicle, fear written all over his face. Brian took a shuddering breath. "They're dead, Justin!"



Every word was a hammer blow to Justin's heart. He looked rapidly over at Gus too. "Both of them?" he moaned. "How are we going to tell the kids?"



Brian had no answer. He had never felt this kind of pain before. Justin's bashing was the closest thing to it but that pain was his to bear alone. This was different. So Goddamned different. This pain would have to be shared with the young ones and Brian had no clue how he could do it. Before he could answer Justin, an officious looking man in a suit approached and interrupted.



"Sir, my officer tells me that you are related to one of the women that was in the accident. We need to get some information from you."



Brian nodded, almost relieved to have a direction to go with his jumbled thoughts.



"Can you give me the name of the two women?"



"Their names are Melanie Marcus-Peterson and Lindsay Marcus-Peterson."



"So they were related?"



"They were married." Brian noticed the familiar look of disdain that flashed fleetingly over the officer's face, but was in no mood to deal with an asshole's attitude. He said nothing more, waiting to see which direction the judgemental man was headed for.



After a brief pause, the officer continued. "All right. So how are you related?"



"Lindsay is... was my son's mother. This is my husband, Justin, here and we came up from the States to visit the girls for their Anniversary."



Brian had put his arm around Justin, drawing him close and looking defiantly into the officer's face for a reaction. The man was more careful this time in revealing any disapproval. There was something about the way the older man looked at him that made the officer nervous and convinced him that discretion was the better part of valor.



"Just one more question, sir. Can you come down to the hospital morgue and make an ID for us?"



Brian felt that deep searing pain again and clung tighter to Justin's waist. Justin knew Brian wouldn't be able to take much more. He spoke up for the first time, looking deeply into Brian's misery filled eyes.



"Brian, why don't you go with the officer and I'll take Gus back home. I'll tell them that there has been an accident but we don't know all the details yet. I'll wait for you to get back. We'll deal with this together."



The word, together, had never sounded better to Brian. He clung to it like a lifeline. Somehow it made him feel less frightened and unstable. He knew that he could handle anything with Justin beside him. Although, for the life of him he didn't know how he was going to get through this tragedy in one piece. He leaned down and gave Justin a kiss of gratitude that came from the deepest part of his heart. He then turned to the officer and began following him over to a parked police vehicle.



Justin watched his lover move away from him with the slow steps of a man that was weighed down by more than he could carry. It made Justin's heart bleed. He knew that Brian always seemed the stronger of the two, but in fact Brian was more easily devastated by life's cruelties than himself. He wished he could wipe away the pain for all of them. But now was the time to deal with the aftershocks of this life changing night, not a time for empty useless wishes. Justin crossed the road and headed for the Jeep.



Gus stood like a statue as he saw Justin approaching from the other side of the road. He could barely breathe, waiting to hear what was happening. Justin drew close and put his arm through the young boy's who stood taller than him, just like his Father did. He wasted no time.



"Gus, there's been an accident. Your mom's have been taken to the hospital so Brian is going with the police officers and see what he can do. He'll tell us everything there is to know as soon as he can. We need to get back to the house and wait."



Justin's words didn't begin to answer all the questions that whirled like a mad dervish through Gus's brain, but he recognized the calming effect that Justin's voice gave him and moved back into the passenger seat of the Jeep. There was no desire to show off his driving skills this night. All he could think about was his baby sister and how she was going to react to their injured parents. Within minutes the Jeep had pulled back into the family driveway. The two men heard the sounds of JR's laughter as she recounted some silly prank that she and Angie had pulled on a waiter at the Anniversary party. For a single moment the sound was comforting. It sounded so normal... like all was right with the world again. Justin was the first to break from the spell. He walked into the living area and saw the young teen sprawled on the large Early American sofa. He spoke as slowly and deliberately as he could, making sure to keep his tone moderate.



"JR, I need you to say goodbye. We need to leave the phone free."



JR was clearly agitated to be interrupted but there was something in Justin's face that would brook no argument. JR was a perceptive child, no doubt about it. She mumbled a quick farewell and laid the head set in its cradle. She turned to the two fellas standing stiffly at the end of the sofa.



"What's up, guys?"



Gus sat down to be close to his sister and waited while Justin gave her the same story he had passed on to Gus earlier. The next hour was spent in keeping both young folks as calm as possible while Justin secretly cried a river of tears inside. He knew that nothing would ever be the same for these two kids that he had loved from the day they were born. There were too many unanswered questions plaguing Justin, however, for him to concentrate on any one thought. The only thought that wouldn't go away was... how was Brian dealing with all this and when would he come back to them.



Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the huddled little group heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. A couple minutes passed and then the sound of the front door opening drew everyone to the foyer. Brian stood there with the look of a man who had just lost his best friend clearly written on his face. JR began to cry before Brian could utter a sound. Gus sank to the steps of the stairwell just muttering ‘No, No, No’, over and over again. Justin wrapped his arms around JR and Brian wrapped his around the both of them. He knew that tonight was going to be one of the longest and most painful of his life... and he didn't have the first fucking clue how to get through it.



To be continued....