BRIAN

Gus raced into the house, wanting to look around. Justin was still on the phone arranging to move his things and answering questions for the company Marshall was buying into. He’d been taking calls the whole way here, and answering Gus’s questions about him. He didn’t notice that he would ignore his call if Gus asked a question. Something that leads me to believe he's going to be a good father.

The deal he was working on before he came here was in the final stages, and I was willing to stay at his grandparents house until he and Marshall finished, but Justin wanted to get to Pittsburgh. He told me he could work from the phone and computer at this point. I called Cynthia and told her to set up the office at the house, for both Justin and me. With Gus here, and Justin not sure how to deal with a preteen, it made more sense to try to work from home. Gus wasn’t going to be left waiting on me while I worked. I wanted to talk to Justin about helping to free up my time for both him and Gus. Justin was good at reading people, and in my business that's what I looked for in my employees. 

Cynthia showed up with Ted in tow ten minutes after we arrived. She passed me, handing me files, and went to find Justin. Ted just stood there, likely waiting for me to kill him.

“Color me surprised that there wasn’t a caravan waiting at my front door,” I growled, just to watch him jump.

“Brian, leave Ted alone,” Justin told me, coming out with Cynthia.

“He should have expected worse, since he hired Emmett to do the house. Ted is owed a thanks for managing not to tell Blake, who would then tell Emmett, who would in turn squirm until Deb got the information out of him. So yes, leave Ted alone,” Cynthia commented, while Justin seems to absorb what she said.

“Where is Michael in that chain?” He asked her.

“No one tells him, since Deb will make sure everyone knows,” I told him.

“Is there a reason you don’t want to tell them?” Justin asked.

“I wanted you to have a chance to settle in, to make this our home. They all mean well, but they also can’t mind their own business. For example, Michael’s throwing a party in my loft, without thinking ‘will Brian kill me for the damage I’m likely to cause the loft’,” I told him.

“Why does Michael have access to the loft?” Cynthia asked me, raising her brow.

“Did Emmett get everything done?” I asked, ignoring her.

“We sort of ran into a problem. Emmett didn’t want to buy the furniture, worried that Justin might not like what he chose. He told me to tell you, just check out the rooms he did and tell him which direction to go, then he’d return what you didn’t want,” Ted said, backing away.

“Explain what you mean by ‘rooms’,” I asked him.

“Hey Dad, there are like five different baby rooms, is there something you didn’t tell me?” Gus asked, looking at Justin, who doesn’t look like he’s carrying quintuplets or even one. 

“Why are we decorating a baby room?” Justin asked, like he forgot he was pregnant. “Yes I remember, but you do realize we have a while before we needed to worry about it?” 

“I want things done, so we won't have to worry about it later,” I explained to him.

“He hates not being prepared,” Cynthia told him.

“Tell Emmett, when Justin and I decide, then I’ll send everything back,” I told Ted, who knows exactly why Emmett did it.

“He’ll show up anyway. He really deserves it for managing to keep it all quiet,” Ted told me.

“It was Mama who told Michael, so he has a point,” Gus reminded me, defending Emmett.

“I’m good with Emmett coming over, he always smiled at me when Ben and I ran into him. Which reminds me, I need to return the ten calls Ben made soon,” He told me. “Did Emmett stock the kitchen? ” Justin asked Ted.

“He filled you guys up with things you can just warm up. He was planning on looking up things that were good for the baby, but stuck to easy things for now,” Ted told him.

“You hungry?” Justin asked Gus.

“Are you kidding? I’m a growing boy, so of course,” Gus told him, following Justin in.

“Anything I need to know about at the office?” I asked them, as they follow me in.

“We got a call from Taylor Electronics, wanting to schedule a meeting,” Ted told me.

“Cancel it,” I told him.

“Why?” Ted asked.

“My dad owns it, which means he knows I’m here. Sorry, I shouldn’t have told Molly,” Justin told me.

“Is there a problem between you?” Ted asked.

“Not really. He disowned me years ago. I’m sure he thinks I’m here to try to buy into Kinnetik for my grandfather. If he had asked a year ago then he would have been right. At least I didn’t tell Molly about the baby. So we have time before my mom shows up,” Justin told us.

“You were trying to buy into Kinnetik?” Ted asked.

“Not me. My grandfather. He was impressed at what you all accomplished in such a short time. We couldn’t figure out why you hadn’t expanded, so I got a job to see what I could find out. It’s what I do,” Justin told him.

“You decided against us?” Cynthia asked.

“Brian wouldn’t have been willing. After we started seeing each other on and off, my grandfather didn’t want Brian to think I was using him, so he told me unless Brian agreed, knowing everything, we’d leave it alone,” Justin told her, putting a pan in the oven. “I’m going to call Ben, so remember this is in the oven. I’m hungry.” 

“Hey Justin, you know the oven has a timer right?” Gus asked him.

“Cool,” He said, walking out of the room.

“Who is his grandfather?” Ted asked.

“You know, I’m not going to say it… Yes I am. Do you ever ask questions?” Cynthia asked him.

“You knew he was Marshall’s grandson?” I asked her.

“Yes. Since we talked about his family,” She told me.

“Guys, I’m still waiting for an answer,” Ted reminded us.

“Marshall Miller,” Cynthia answered him.

“He was interested in us?” Ted asked.

“He still is, but is willing to wait for us to come to him. Right now we aren’t ready to expand,” I reminded him.

“With that kind of backing we could. I’m not saying all over the world, but maybe Chicago or New York,” Ted told me.

“Eventually. And when the time comes, I’ll take him up on his offer. Are we done?” I asked them both, wanting to get back to my time with just Gus and Justin.

“Knock, knock, I let myself in when Blake told me that Ted said you and Justin were here,” Emmett told me, smiling.

“Deb and Michael better not be behind you,” I growled, looking at Ted, who at least knew his ass was dead.

“I’m turning over a new leaf… They were busy planning the party, so I slipped out when they were debating streamer or silly string... and forget you heard that. So where is the womb carrying my next niece or nephew?” Emmett asked, exiting the room, after knowing silly string and my hardwood floors were never to meet.

JUSTIN

Ben picked up on the first ring. I’d been ignoring his calls, only because I knew he’d be upset that I didn’t tell him about Brian. It wasn’t because I was hiding it, just not wanting to discuss it to death. Ben might not be forceful in his opinions, but he tends to analyze things to death.

“So, was there something you forgot to mention to me in the last year?” He asked. 

“I wasn't sure what it was, and I didn’t want to hear your opinion on Brian and I having a baby. What you told me was enough to make me worry he wouldn’t be happy about it. Which, in case all the unanswered calls didn’t tell you, pissed me off, when I found out it wasn't the real reason he has problems seeing his son,” I told him. 

“I honestly thought it was. It wasn't like he corrected what we believed. It isn't like that for Michael and me with Jenny,” He told me. 

“You have partial custody, so they couldn't put conditions on you. You do know Brian doesn’t have any rights, so instead of assuming the worst, realize you didn’t have a clue why his situation was different,” I told him. 

“I guess I wanted to believe it was Brian,” He admitted. 

“Why?”

“You know how Michael idolized Brian. In a way, for me it meant Brian wasn’t the idol Michael thought he was. It's not his fault that my relationship with Michael had problems in the beginning but mine, for saying I understood that there were feelings that you can't change for people from your past,” He told me. 

“From what you told me, they are in the past for Michael, so why say shit that made Brian sound bad?” I asked. 

“Habit and jealousy. I'm not telling you this to cause problems, just in hopes it explains my mind set. Brian and I had a one night stand, and he went on with his life. When we met again through Michael, it was a blow that he didn’t even look at me as anything but the guy Michael brought with him. I don't want him, I’m just used to men being attracted to me, and Brian acting like I wasn’t memorable wasn’t easy,” He told me. 

“Why would you even want him to, since you said you didn't want him?” I asked, confused since my theory was always to walk away when they wanted me to.

“Because my husband couldn’t stop wanting him. Even though Michael no longer treats Brian as his personal property, it’s still a fear that if Brian gave Michael the chance, he'd leave me. Once again, my fault, since Brian never did anything but encourage Michael to be with me. I promise to work on it so you don't feel like we can't talk to each other,” He told me. 

“Then don't take this the wrong way, but you tend to overshare about you and Michael. I'm not like that, and there are just things I wouldn’t tell anyone. I would have told you about the baby, but Mel seemed to think it was her place to announce it. Something I don't appreciate,” I told him. 

“She knows she was wrong.” He responded. 

“It doesn’t really help my opinion of her. She didn’t have the right to tell anyone, but apparently none of you care about that,” I tell him, knowing Ben would start on reasons I should try to see it her way.

“Justin, she's always worried about how Brian’s life would affect Gus. What she and Lindsay did, while not right for Gus, was only to protect him from what they knew of Brian. They haven't seen that he's changed from the past. And in truth, he still does things that someone in a relationship normally doesn’t,” He told me. 

“Since we both agreed to an open relationship, not that I called it a relationship, he wasn't doing anything wrong. Just because you need to be in a relationship without any diversions doesn’t make it the only way to be in one. Judging his parenting based on his lifestyle means you never bothered to see what he's like with his son. It's why I'm not willing to see Mel’s side on this. The whole time Gus has been with us, Brian’s attention is on him. It's more than I can say for a lot of supposed great parents,” I told him. 

“Based on yours, Brian would be better,” He responded. 

“I'm hanging up if all you want to do is put him down,” I told him. 

“Justin, I didn’t mean it to sound like that,” He told me. 

“It did. So it sounds like you mean it to. Which bothers me, since I’ve never said anything about my opinion of Michael to you,” I reminded him. 

“Can you convince Brian to come to the party? We can talk and it will give me a chance to apologize to you. Michael is really excited, and wanted to show you he's a good friend,” He told me. 

“Brian doesn’t want a party. Maybe you and Michael could respect that,” I told him, hanging up. 

“This will be fun. I'm Emmett. I tried to stop it, but once Deb and Michael want to do something, it's impossible to stop them,” Emmett said, standing behind me.

“I’m starting to see that. It's nice to actually meet you,” I told him, getting engulfed in a hug.

“Could you convince Brian it's a good thing to meet me?” Emmett asked, getting behind me when we heard a growl.

“Hands off,” Brian glared.

“Really, caveman?” I asked, returning his glare.

“Possessive is new,” Emmett teased the bear about to maul him.

“Not where he's concerned. Remember it,” Brian told him, pulling me against his chest.

“So about this party…”

“It's not my fault,” Emmett told him. 

“Make sure Deb and Michael know it's not mine either that we didn’t show up for a surprise party. Off you go,” Brian told him, pointing to the door.