JUSTIN

Brian didn’t take it well when I told him I wouldn’t be there until a couple days later than I originally said. It bothered me that there were problems with his son, and I wanted us to start out happy. Maybe it was because I wanted him to have all the things he wanted in life, which is a problem I have with people I love, wanting to solve everything.

I got the information out of Ben about where to find Gus. He wanted to know why I was asking, but I was still a little pissed that they sort of blamed Brian for the problems that caused him to not be able to see his son. My only problem was how to approach them, which led me to call Cynthia for help. 

She was able to tell me that they were attending an art opening, and told me I owed her because she had to be nice to Michael to find out. Apparently he expects reports when they plan to leave his daughter with strangers. I really had to wonder about Ben’s taste in men, because although Michael wasn’t an ass when we met, I could tell I bothered him. I’d spent the last few years listening to Ben complain about Michael putting his friends before everything, and apparently Michael felt the same way when Ben spent time with people other than his friends. In my head it seemed strange that that was all I could come up that they had in common. 

I walked in and saw the artist, who was someone I knew, so I headed over to Keaton. He was acting bored like he always does when people praise his work, so I did what I always did to get him to stop acting like an ass.

“I can’t believe people think this is art.” I said, standing behind him.

“Who the hell… Justin, what are you doing here?” Keaton asked.

“I was hoping to meet one of your fans, want to help me?” I asked.

“You’re chasing someone?” He asked, as if that would never happen.

“No, I just want to help a friend,” I told him.

“Who are we looking for?” He asked.

“Two women who were supposed to be here,” I told him.

“Are you taking a walk on the wild side?” He joked.

“I just wanted to meet them, so act all moody and help,” I told him.

“You should have just shown here, the art world would be enraptured that you graced us with your presence,” He joked.

“I really just don’t have the patience it takes to act bored like you,” I commented.

“We could walk around, but I might need a clue about who we’re looking for,” He told me. 

I showed him the picture Cynthia sent to me and it turned out he didn’t have a problem finding them, since apparently Lindsay had been practically stalking him all night. When we walked up, I was surprised Lindsay knew who I was.

“Keaton you’re full of surprises. How did you get Justin to come?” Lindsay asked, like we were old friends.

“He probably showed up because he wanted to see what a working artist does,” Keaton joked.

“I was shocked to hear anyone wanted to see your work,” I threw back at him.

“Are they joking?” Mel asked, looking confused.

“It keeps him humble, which is hard to do,” Keaton laughed.

A flash went off, which wasn’t new at these things, but since I sort of lied about why I wasn't in Pittsburgh yet, I hoped it was for some local paper. 

“I should get going. I need to get a room for tonight and something to eat anyway. I just wanted to congratulate you on your show. Do any of you know of a good place around here?” I asked, hoping Lindsay would offer to help me out.

She fell for it and offered to give me a ride, since she and Mel were leaving. Keaton smirked, knowing what I was doing. We walked to a mom mobile, and it got me thinking that my Porsche wasn't going to cut it since it wasn't kid friendly.

“How long are you staying?” Lindsay asked, after we got on the road.

“A couple of days, I figured I see the sights while I was here,” I told her. 

“If you don’t mind company, I could take you around,” Lindsay offered. 

“It would give her and the kids something to do. Unless you'd rather not help babysit,” Mel joked.

“I love seeing things through kids eyes, they make you look at things in a way you don't normally,” I answered. 

“Hopefully it will cheer Gus up,” Mel mumbled.

“He's just upset. You know why. But it might take his mind off it,” Lindsay reminded her.

“If you want we could have dinner on me, since you’re helping me out,” I told them when they pulled up to a hotel.

“I’d love to hear about what you've been doing. I know everyone wonders why you don't show more often,” Lindsay answered, which obviously meant yes.

“Lindsay, we told the sitter we'd be back early. If you want drop me off you can come back and talk art with him,” Mel told her, smiling.

“I could get a cab, that way you have the car,” Lindsay told her.

“Call if you're going to be late,” Mel told her, kissing her. “Sorry if she interrogates you,” Mel commented, before driving off and leaving me with Lindsay.

“Not a big art fan?” I asked, since Mel was practically gleeful to go home.

“She likes it, but doesn't get why it’s all I talk about. But then I really don’t get what's so exciting about law either,” Lindsay answered, laughing.

When I pictured them, I sort of had the whole evil bitches going in my head, but they were actually nice. Of course, I was biased because of Brian’s experience with them. We were seated and I really wanted to know about Gus.

“How many kids do you have?” I asked. 

“Two, a boy and a girl. You heard about Gus, but there's also Jenny,” She told me. 

“If it's not too intrusive, what's upset Gus?” I asked. 

“Mel and I made decisions that at the time we thought were right, but didn’t see that they would hurt him,” She told me. 

“What's stopping you from making it right? Not that you have to tell me, it's just, well, I'm having a baby and need all the help I can get to do it right,” I joked.

“I think it's more that we're worried he’ll be mad at us for limiting his time with his father. In the beginning, it seemed like the right thing to do,” She told me. 

“Why?” I asked.

“Gus’s father and Mel can't get along. They never really could, but when we decided to have a baby, I wanted one with my best friend. Mel wasn’t thrilled, but neither of us really saw him making room in his life for a baby, so she agreed. When Gus was born, he was still more interested in partying than being a father, and Mel and I used that to get him to give up Gus. Only now, he seems more settled and has started wanting to be around, which I don't have a problem with, but Mel doesn’t believe he's changed enough to be there when Gus needs him,” She told me. 

“And Gus is angry at you guys?” I asked. 

“No, not at us. He's angry at his father because he thinks it's Brian’s fault; when it's really ours for letting Brian be the bad guy,” She told me. 

“How is it his fault in Gus’s eyes?” I asked. 

“When Gus asks him to visit he knows he has to get our permission. So he'll make up an excuse for why he can’t come, until he talks to us. Gus started to think Brian didn’t want to see him, so he stopped asking, then he refused to talk to Brian. I feel awful because Mel and I realized we treat our children differently, and Gus sees that Jenny’s fathers come and spend time with her, but his doesn’t. We backed ourselves into a corner, and as selfish as it sounds we haven't told him the truth because we know he’s going to be angry at us for what we did. Mel is worried it will affect her more because it’s more about her unwillingness to meet Brian half way. What makes it worse is Brian is willing to help with anything for Gus, no questions asked. I’m so sorry, here I am telling you everything about our problems when I wanted to hear about you,” She said, embarrassed.

“There’s not a lot to tell. I show if I think what I’m doing is worth the showing. Lately I’ve been busy with other things and my art had to take a backseat to it. I’ll eventually get back to it, but right now I want to concentrate on the baby and figuring out how to be a good partner to the father,” I told her.

“Did you and your partner plan to have the baby?” She asked, which I was fine with me since I asked personal questions first.

“Until a week ago, we were just friends with benefits, because it’s what I thought I wanted. Now we both agreed to try to see if there can be more. He really surprised me by being happy about it. He didn’t even question if it was his, which he could have since we were pretty much in an open relationship, or let’s just say open, since I wasn’t really calling it a relationship,” I told her.

 “It didn’t bother either of you that there were other people?” She asked.

“No. Why would it? It wasn’t like either of us loved the other people, and most of the time we weren’t even in the same country. To me, as long as it’s understood, there’s nothing wrong with having fun,” I tell her.

“Too bad you don’t know my best friend, you’d be perfect for him. I do have a question though, now that you’re trying, are you closing the relationship? You don’t have to answer if I’m being intrusive,” She added.

“We haven’t really talked about it. It’s just like I said, I don’t have a problem if he wants to keep it open. I know a lot of people couldn’t do it and I don’t see anything wrong with that either. It’s just that sex doesn’t equal love to me. Although lately I haven’t bothered, most guys just can’t compete with mine,” I told her, enjoying calling Brian 'mine' for some reason.

“If Mel and I could have looked at it that way, we probably wouldn’t have had so many problems,” She told me.

“It’s not for everyone,” I assured her.

“If he said he wanted to be monogamous would you want that?” She asked.

“I don’t really know. Right now, it would seem strange to be with someone else, only because I’m pregnant. Later on, who knows,” I tell her.

We’d managed to talk through dinner, and I actually didn’t hate her. I didn’t like that she couldn’t face her kid and tell him the truth about Brian, but I could tell she didn’t like it either. I hoped it was something she would to do, for both Brian and Gus. I went out with her to wait for her cab, and made plans with her for the next day. I barely made it to the bed before falling asleep. 

BRIAN

It was disappointing that Justin wouldn’t be here when he said he would, but I didn’t want to act like a possessive asshole, so I let it go and told him I was busy anyway. 

The house was a fricken mansion. Emmett kept giving me strange looks as we walked around it. I could see he was biting his tongue with the millions of questions as to why I was moving and how I managed not to tell anyone I bought a house. I really didn’t need him telling everyone, so I just said it was an investment and left it at that. Emmett went crazy calling in all kinds of favors to get everything I wanted for the house.

Finding the doctor wasn’t easy because I really didn’t know anything about baby doctors. When I asked Cynthia she laughed her ass off, thinking it was me. 

I waited until she took a drink, getting out of range. “Actually it’s my partner,” I told her and watched Ted get sprayed.

“What?” Ted asked, just as shocked.

“Seriously, I’m so going to spank him for falling for your shit,” Cynthia told me, cleaning up Ted and the desk.

“Who?” Ted asked.

“Who do you think? I swear you and Brian don’t pay attention to anything. Brian’s been following him around for a year. Justin Taylor,” She told him, when he still looked confused.

“Really? He was interested in you?” Ted asked, like it wasn’t something that happened all the time. “Wait, you’ve been, well... with other guys,” He told me.

“Justin and I agreed, although I really don’t like the idea now that he’s having my baby,” I told them.

“Are you going to tell anyone?” Ted asked.

“I’m not hiding it, but I thought we could wait until Justin got here and settled in before telling everyone. I’m sure it will make Mikey’s day,” I commented.

“Sure, now that it’s all about Ben, he’ll likely be relieved that Ben didn’t stand a chance with Justin,” Cynthia told me.

“How in the hell were they friends?” I asked.

“Justin met him while he was going to college. Ben was one of his advisors, later they became friends. That’s what Ben told Emmett, who told Blake,” Ted answered.

“Do me a favor, don’t tell Blake, so he won’t tell Emmett. Justin needs a chance to settle in before dealing with all of you gossiping,” I asked him.

“You don’t think Michael isn’t going to notice Justin at your loft?” Ted asked.

“Since Justin bought a house and that’s where we’ll be living, it might be hard for him to figure it out. By the way Emmett thinks I bought it, so keep it that way,” I told him.

“You think Michael is going to have a problem with Justin?” Ted asked.

“Not now that Michael is happy being with Ben. I just don’t want Justin to get overloaded by everyone the minute he comes here,” I told them.

“He really didn’t have a problem with it when he was here. I know he and Ben did things without us, but when we did run into them, Justin was friendly to everyone, even Michael. It was more that Michael likes to turn everything into a drama, than Michael didn’t like him,”  Ted said, opening one of the newspaper on my desk, bored with the subject of Mikey the Drama Queen.

“You know what Deb would be like if she knew I was actually in a relationship. She’d expect to meet Justin and then she’d be everywhere when she found out we’re having a baby together,” I told him.

“Are you going to tell Gus?” Cynthia asked, looking worried for some reason.

“I planned to call the girls and tell them, not ask them, to let me see Gus. I don’t want him finding out about Justin and the baby because Mikey tells them,” I told her.

“Or Justin telling them,” Ted said, looking at me.

“Justin doesn’t know them,” I answered.

Cynthia gets up and looks at the paper Ted held, looking between me and it. 

“Shit,” Cynthia said when Ted looked at her. “Brian, he only wanted to help,” She told me, grabbing the paper and trying to get away.

I got it from her and stared at Justin smiling at another man with Lindsay and Mel standing next to them. The article was about how elusive Justin had been, but turned up to support a fellow artist. 

“I’m going to spank him,” I said, but part of me wanted to kiss him, because I know the twat likely just wanted to help me. “Looks like I’m going to see Gus sooner than I thought,” I told Cynthia, who understood and started booking a ticket.

“Where are you?” I texted.

“Lunch?” Justin answered.

“I’ll be there in time for dinner.” I texted back.

“Cool,” He answered, once again not giving a shit that I might be pissed.