JUSTIN

Brian called me while Deb and I watched as Ben took a bite of Michael’s burger. I left, telling Ben I’d catch up with him later, not wanting to interrupt the two of them. Deb followed me out, and told me she’d come with me to see Brian. She liked to check-up on all of them at least once a day. She was worried about Emmett and gave me a brief version of Emmett’s active love life. 

“Until Drew, Emmett tended to be able to pick himself up and go on. Well, for a little while after Ted, he mopped around, but Brian managed to help him get over Ted. I think we all wondered why the two of them thought it would work. It’s the same thing Michael took years to understand about Brian... Shit, you did know about Michael’s crush didn’t you?” She asked, telling me Michael was right, someone would eventually tell me.

“He told me about it, but Ben talked about it a lot too,” I told her.

“They all wanted relationships, but weren’t willing to look outside what was comfortable. I think Brian just knew if he did have a relationship, the person would have to be someone who challenged him and stood up to him. And my son, God love him, likes having someone else do the standing up. It would have been as disastrous as Emmett and Ted were. I wasn’t thrilled with Blake at first, but he proved to me he could love our Teddy. Now, I just want Emmett to find his way. He’s really happy that you and Brian decided to make a go of it, but I can tell he feels left out,” She told me.

“What about the Drew guy?” I asked.

“Drew wasn’t ready for the things Emmett wanted. Emmett was watching Drew explore a new world, and found out that Drew wasn’t at his level yet. It wasn’t easy, but Emmett told him to go experiment. Emmett isn’t like you and Brian, he needs to be the only one in the person’s life,” She told me, without sounding like she disapproved of what Brian and I were doing.

“Why not find Drew and see if he’s tired of the experiments?” I asked.

“He’s not easy to get to. I’ve called his agent, but I think the agent is just trying to keep this chapter closed after the last time,” She told me.

“What does he do?” I asked, since my agent knows who works for who.

“He’s the Quarterback for the Iron Men. Carl got tickets, but we can’t convince Emmett to go. I think he wants Drew to come to him,” She told me.

I was about to ask her why she was telling me all this, when I saw my mom taking a crowbar to my dad’s penis car. 

“Jesus, that woman’s got an arm. Maybe we should call Carl,” Deb told me, laughing when my mom shoved the crowbar into the tire.

“I didn’t know my mom had that in her,” I responded.

Brian came walking towards us, stopping my mother from using the crowbar on my father before coming over to me. Brian tried to act like it was every day my parents were here at Kinnetik. I watched my dad trying to tell my mother that whatever pissed her off meant nothing to him.

“So, I met your parents. By the way, you have a brother or sister on the way. I told them that we’ll be hoping ours doesn’t share a birthday. And it’s likely the divorce is going to be in progress after your mom gets out of jail for killing the car,” Brian remarked casually.

“Why were my parents here?” I asked.

“Sweetie, it’s normal to want to meet the new man in your child’s life,” Deb said, walking over and blocking my dad from stopping my mom.

“What did they think of my new man?” I asked, letting him know I wasn’t happy he didn’t tell me.

“I think they came armed to see if they could make the new man do what you wouldn’t, for the good of the Taylor family. Which includes a file of everything I did when we weren’t together. I guess they thought showing you the dates I got a blow job while we weren’t together would be a problem for you,” He told me.

“Really, they only got the blow jobs?” I asked, since I know Brian had no problem with pretty much doing anything in public.

“I guess it took them a few months before they got someone inside Babylon. By then it’s about all they could have caught me doing,” He admitted.

“Why?” I asked, curious.

“Why put in all the work when the end was disappointing,” He answered.

“The blow jobs weren’t?” I asked, thinking I’m pretty good at what I do.

“My hand was getting calloused,” He told me.

“You know I don’t really mind, right?” I told him.

“Yes. But since the moment you came here, we’ve been fucking like the energizer bunny. I can’t believe I’m actually going to say this, but I’m actually too fucked out to even think about getting it up after you,” He admitted.

That was really a compliment I could get behind, since I usually took a week to recover after our visits in the past. I wanted to return his sharing, but apparently my dad was at the pleading stage, trying not to lose half of what he owned to my mom.

“We can make her sound like a gold digging whore; someone who used our daughter. I promise there won’t be anymore indiscretions,” Dad said, as if my mom was being offered a deal.

“He knocked up one of your daughter’s friends and all you're doing is killing his car?” Deb asked, looking at my mother.

“Not only that, he was telling me that he was only giving the girl a father figure,” Mom told her, going for the front now.

“Seriously?” Deb asked, looking at my dad.

“Mind your own business,” My dad told her, treating her like the help.

“Sure. But next time use a raincoat, because a baby probably isn’t the only thing you gave her,” Deb told him.

“I like her,” I told Brian.

“He touches either of them, and make sure you have bail money,” Brian tells me, as he heads towards my dad when tries to shove Deb out of the way.

Holy hell, it was on. Ted came out with Emmett, while Cynthia was on the phone. This was my mom’s nightmare come to life. Only, for the first time she didn’t demure and try to pretend nothing was wrong. Brian, Emmett, and Ted didn’t touch my dad, until he tried to push past them to tell my mom how he expected her to handle the police officers that pulled up. I could tell Brian didn’t like Emmett taking the lead, but stopped when Emmett told him he had a family at home and Emmett didn’t. That was all it took for me to decide I was going to help Deb with Emmett.

Deb called Carl and told him everything was handled and there was no need to drag anyone in. Cynthia called a cab and let my father know he needed to leave when he seemed to be waiting around, as if my mom would eventually go with him. I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with my mom, still not happy about the last meeting she and Molly sprung on me. I’m sure Molly would be calling anyway.

“Justin, I should have listened.” My mom told me.

“When I’m ready to listen to you, I’ll call,” I answered.

“Hungry?” Brian asked.

“Pizza sounds good,” I told him, happy he understood that I really didn’t want to talk about it.

“To you and me both, Baby. Let’s get Big Bad out of here before he shows Craig just how close he was to get his ass handed to him,” Emmett told me.

“My hero,” Brian said, sarcastically

BRIAN

I called Lindsay to tell her to meet us at the carb fest, after Justin told me they asked to come over to the house. Until Justin wanted people over it wasn’t going to happen. I also wanted it so Justin didn’t hold back if he was pissed at me about meeting his parents without telling him. One thing I learned was that Justin didn’t share anything in common with his dad or sister, but like his mother, he’d wait until it was time to say what he felt. Although, hopefully he doesn’t trash my car the way she totaled his dad’s.

Justin and Emmett ordered three different pizzas, but I noticed Gus’s favorite was one of them. When Gus came in he at least looked like he’d had a good time, which right now was all that was important to me. Mel sat beside Emmett while Lindsay sat next to me.

“Thank you for making it easier on us,” Lindsay whispered.

“All I want is what I asked for, my rights reinstated. What I did was for Gus’s sake,” I told her.

“Mel and I are talking about it, and if she doesn’t agree than I’ll help you any way I can,” She told me.

“Are you two having problems again?” I asked.

“We’ve been doing better than we ever have, but if it comes down to Gus being happy the way Jenny is, then I have to do what Gus needs,” She told me, this time loud enough for Mel to hear.

“We have to have the papers drawn up, it takes time. There’s also the fact that we don’t live in US, and we’ll be dealing with two countries,” Mel told me, which just sounded like her excuse for not already starting the process.

“You’re citizens of Canada?” Justin asked.

“Not exactly. Apparently it wasn’t as easy as Mel thought it would be,” Lindsay told him.

“It’s like most countries, they don’t mind the revenue you bring, but they want to help their citizens keep the jobs, not give them away to people who aren’t citizens. In a few dealings for my grandfather, we usually work it out so we look for the talent within the country. It makes it easier to deal with the local government. Politicians don’t like reporting their unemployment rate is growing because we looked outside the available workforce,” Justin told them.

“I thought he was an artist?” Mel commented.

“I am, but I also decided to use the degree I got to piss off my father,” Justin told her, smiling.

“Why not move back to the states?” Emmett asked.

“It’s something we’ve been talking about, it’s not like my job is very challenging anyway,” Mel said, looking like it hurt to admit she was wrong.

“We both miss being where we know everyone,” Lindsay said to Mel.

“We both realize that the kids need more than us,” Mel told Lindsay.

“Do they need us for this conversation?” Emmett asked.

“No one is going to make us feel like we failed,” Lindsay told her, reaching for her hand.

“Nope. Want to go swimming?” Justin asked Emmett and Gus.

We left while they went on and on about their feelings, paying the bill. I ordered a couple bottles of wine, since they didn’t notice we left. When we got to Deb's, Emmett dragged Justin up to his room, saying he was just going to grab a few things. Carl was eating leftovers and watching TV.

“Where’s Deb?” I asked.

“Helping some new friend drown her sorrows. Something about man problems, I just told her to have a good time,” Carl told me, sharing his chips with Gus.

“By any chance did it have something to do with the thing at Kinnetik?” I asked.

“Son, as long as I’m not the main problem, I don’t ask. That’s what she has Emmett for,” He told me.

“I’m ready.” Emmett said, carrying a bag.

“Swimming doesn’t require that much,” I told him.

“Baby was telling me he was having a hard time getting organized, I thought I could make it easier on both of you if I helped him,” Emmett told me.

“He’s going to finalize the baby room too.” Justin added.

“You do understand that that means the rest of them will start trickling in,” I told him, pulling him to me.

“Did I mention that I invited my best friend to come and see where I plan to live,” Justin told me.

“No, you didn’t,” I answered.

“I guess I forgot. The way you did about the meeting with my parents,” He responded, kissing me and pulling Emmett and Gus to the door.

I could deal with Emmett if that was all Justin was going to say on the subject. Not that we wouldn’t talk about what his dad tried. Then it hit me, he said where he planned to live. Hell, my mother could come over after he said that. Not that I wanted her to.