The knocking on his door was not what Justin needed. He was in the middle filling in the details on the panel before he added the words, and in truth, he hated dealing with people. He ignored it, figuring whoever was knocking would realize they had the wrong door since no one ever visited him. Only, the person seemed to think if knocking didn't get his attention, then ringing the bell was the answer. Throwing his pencil down, he prepared to make sure whoever was at his door understood to go away.

Only he didn't expect what opening the door got him. He didn't say anything to the blonde woman, who pushed into his apartment, making noise and not caring if it disturbed half the building since she was standing there panting while holding her stomach looking like she was in some major pain.

"Look, I know we haven't met, but I need someone to help me. My baby is coming." She told him.

"Call 911, it seems to work when you need help." He told her, trying to get her out and close his door, not willing to get dragged into a stranger's drama, since he avoided even people he knew, not wanting to invite anyone into his life.

"I did, they haven't sent anyone, and this baby isn't waiting." She panted, then screamed loud enough that most of the building probably heard her.

Justin stood there trying to figure out why she thought it was his problem, but in the end, grabbed his keys and helped her into his car. Wondering why he couldn't just ignore everything, the way he had for a few years now.

The whole way to the hospital the woman alternated between breathing loudly and screaming even louder. Not really being one to pry into anyone's life, Justin just drove, hoping to get there fast and dump this problem in someone else's lap. Only, for some reason when they got to the hospital the woman seemed to think Justin wanted to join in her pain and latched on to him, making the nurse think he was the father. No one listened to his protests and managed to get him changed and shoved into the room while the blonde woman was apparently giving birth. No one listened to his explanation that he really wasn't the father. Which only caused Justin to turn around and try to get out of the room. There was no way he wanted to see this nightmare-inducing shit. Of course, the doctor who was coming in the door just thought it was the nervous new father, and dragged Justin to stand next to the blonde woman, who put a vice grip on his arm to keep him from getting away. At that point, Justin resigned himself to staying around and seeing what the fuss was all about, it wasn't like she was letting him go anyway.

"By the way, I'm Justin." He introduced himself since he got an unwanted view of a sight normally reserved for someone who caused the birth to be necessary.

"Lynn Pet... Kinn..." Was all she got out before the next few words, which were really funny since she somehow sounded so proper cussing and Justin went from thinking it was funny to cussing with her when she grabbed his hand hard enough to make him astounded she didn't break it.

It seemed like hours before he heard. "And we have a boy. Would you like to see your son?" The doctor asked Justin, who was about to explain how unlikely it was he would ever manage to get it up for a woman, let alone knock up a woman when the idea of pussy was an erection killer for him.

The doctor handed him the baby without waiting for an answer, and Justin couldn't say a word. Looking down, he did something he never believed was possible, he fell in love at first sight.

"Have you thought of names?" A nurse asked, looking at a dazed Justin, mistaking him once again as the father.

Justin turned, figuring Lynn likely had one, only to have the doctor ordering the nurse to get him out of the way. Justin stood there with the baby in his arms, watching as the doctor was working to keep the baby from being an orphan. No one paid attention to him and the baby until Lynn was back with them, which left Justin imagining a life where this baby was his. When the doctor managed to get Lynn out of danger, the nurse came over and carefully took the baby from Justin.

"How about we name the baby?" She asked him like he needed a distraction.

Justin tried to think of a name he wouldn't have wanted to kill his parents for, and then settled for one he actually chose once for the first friend he had. "Gus?" He asked like he needed someone's permission, which he really thought he did.

"Gus is nice." The nurse told him and wrote it down.

Justin stayed with Lynn when no one seemed to question why he was there, and he really worried about Gus, not Lynn. He didn't want Gus to be left to strangers, which somehow made sense in his head, even though he was pretty much a stranger until he got dragged along. Only he wanted to see if somehow what he thought he felt when he saw Gus was real. Love always seemed foreign to him. His mother kept telling him she loved him, but didn't stop him when he left home as soon as the money in his trust from his grandparents was released into his hands. Which led him into a relationship, only to find out the money that made his life easier was also a strong motivator for a guy to pretend to be gay and in love with Justin. Justin was lucky to find out the truth, and at that point was done welcoming anyone into his heart. Only, apparently, his heart didn't get the memo, because this tiny bundle named Gus didn't care that Justin's heart no longer believed in love.

When Lynn woke up, she didn't change the name, she just agreed to it. Then reintroduced herself to him only as Lynn, while waiting for him to tell her who he was. "Justin Taylor." He told her, not really paying attention to anything but Gus while he fed him. Forgetting that it was no longer a name he went by but didn't think she would tell anyone since she didn't seem to have anyone either. He stayed, thinking he had nothing pressing so staying with Gus until Lynn was ready to go back home wasn't a hardship.

Justin figured everything would get back to normal after she went home. Although Lynn seemed to think that him seeing all of her somehow made them best friends for life, or a babysitter, since every time she visited, Gus was left with him. Justin didn't complain, because well, Gus was the only person he could love, and apparently the love was returned with every smile Gus seemed to reserve for Justin and the cries anytime Lynn showed up to take Gus with her.

As the first year went by, Gus stayed more with Justin than Lynn. Justin's world became about Gus, and in a way Gus got Justin to venture back out in the world. There were experiences Gus needed and Justin planned to make sure the child got them. Gus didn't seem to notice his mother not being around. Justin was fine with it since he really didn't get her, he only let her believe he enjoyed her company in order to keep Gus with him. Justin wanted Gus to know that he would make up for what Lynn didn't seem to see as part of her job for being his mother. On his first birthday, Justin made sure to do everything the mothers at the park talked about being important. Lynn showed up long enough to tell Justin she needed to go somewhere for a week. It wasn't unusual that she left Gus, so Justin didn't really question her, just made sure Gus's birthday was perfect.

Only, a week came and went with no contact from Lynn. Even the number she gave him no longer worked. Gus didn't notice her absence, but Justin worried since if something happened that required a legal guardian, there was no one. It didn't matter that in essence, he was the only parent Gus knew, doctors required legal guardians. His publisher, Sandi, was the only person Justin talked to and trusted not to involve anyone unless Justin asked, so he explained everything to her. Between the two of them, they hired a detective to see if he could find out anything and what he told them caught Justin off guard.

"Whoever she is, it isn't Lynn Peters, which is the name she rented the apartment under. In fact, it's like she didn't exist before she showed up here. You need to prepare yourself for this next one. Apparently, she put your name down as the father." He told Justin as if that would bother him.

"So, as far as anybody is concerned, he's mine?" Justin asked.

"A lawyer and DNA should take care of it." He told Justin.

"But if I wanted to keep him, there's nothing anyone could do?" Justin asked.

"That's right. But if she comes back, there's a chance she could take him back." He told Justin.

"Not if I file for sole custody since she abandoned him. As long as I don't say he isn't mine, then it should work, right?" Justin asked him.

"Justin, are you really serious, he's not even yours," Sandi said, thinking Justin had lost his mind.

Justin looked down at Gus playing at his feet, and at that moment Gus showed everyone sitting there exactly what he and Justin knew from the first day.

"Dada," Gus said, climbing on Justin's lap.

"He's mine in every way that counts," Justin told them, and made it understood that the truth they knew, they needed to forget.

It took a month before a judge was willing to declare what Lynn did as abandonment, but didn't require anything but the birth certificate to give Gus to Justin. Justin worked hard on his comic because living off his inheritance was no longer an option. That would be left to his son, Gus Taylor. In the next year his comics became a must-have for serious comic collectors, and once again Justin's life changed because people wanted to meet the man who created their hero. With Gus still young, it made it easier on Justin to take him with him. Justin never wanted Gus to be without him, or worry that one day he might not come home. Which Gus didn't remember about his mother, but Justin did, and he refused to ever let his son think Dada could be gone.

Justin started to realize that not only did Gus show him love was possible, but he also made Justin stop living in the bubble he had created to avoid people. He found friends in readers who sometimes didn't have friends, and looked to comics for them. It also made his comics sell faster because he was known for appreciating the people who came to conventions to meet the authors. Which wasn't always the case when the authors hit it big. Justin avoided his hometown until Gus was four. By then the pain associated with Pittsburgh vanished. Gus took that away by loving Justin, and he wanted to show Gus where he came from.

"Dada, am I gonna likes your friend?" Gus asked while they waited for Daphne to pick them up.

"She was excited she gets to meet you," Justin told him.

Justin hadn't really known what to expect when he called Daphne since he didn't stay in contact with her either. It wasn't because they weren't still best friends when he left, but that their families were friends. He didn't want her to have to lie if anyone asked if she knew anything about where he went. He managed to convince his publisher to drop his last name and make Justin Cole his pen name, leaving his picture off anything that would connect him to what he did. He really didn't think either of his parents would look for him, but if they did, it would lead to a dead end. Justin could admit to himself that it was not wanting to know nothing had changed and that his parents would still feel the same way about his form of pain management, they would ignore it.

When he called Daphne, she was only angry that he waited years to call her but told him he was staying with her so she could spoil Gus. Which was Daphne's way of telling Justin nothing had changed as far as she was concerned. Justin warned her he didn't want to see his family and she told him what he had missed by staying away. Justin wasn't really sure he wanted to see his mother yet but figured he'd make a decision while he stayed for two weeks.

"Dada?" Gus asked, getting Justin out of his head and back into the real world.

"Sorry, I was thinking too much again," Justin told him, deciding they needed to get their bags before meeting Daphne out front.

The airport was bustling and Justin picked Gus up when people seemed to be too busy to notice him. Which was proven when someone bumped into him while talking on the phone.

"Sorry." The guy said, smiling at Gus.

"It's fine..." Justin said, looking at the guy and losing his ability to speak.

The guy smirked like it was normal for him to do that to everyone. "Cute kid." He said before he went back to ignoring everyone but the phone. Justin watched him walk away, not getting why the guy made him wish he was the one picking him and Gus up. When someone yelled loud enough that even the intercom couldn't have competed with him, Justin realized what he was doing, but thought at least he had a name to go with the fantasy. Brian.

Brian barely concealed his annoyance that Michael had never learned yelling tended to annoy everyone around him. He wanted to kill Ted for needing time off and Cynthia for getting married the same week. Although it was the best time since they had a break in accounts and it was the only time they all could be out at one time, leaving one of the senior execs in charge. Brian wouldn't have left if the lead on Lindsay hadn't sounded more promising than all the others. Only she managed to leave before they found her again. In the five years since she disappeared, running from the bullshit she pulled on him and Mel, Brian didn't give up. He wanted the truth, if Lindsay really had his child, he was going to do everything in his power to get it away from her. Mel still believed the lie Lindsay told her and went on to a new life. The child Lindsay claimed Brian slept with her to create didn't fit into her life. Brian understood and welcomed Mel's exit from his life. They'd never been friends, and when Lindsay told her the story about a night that never happened between them, Mel, of course, believed it, since she knew Brian and Lindsay once slept together in college. Only, Brian managed to get the truth out of the guy he was fucking the night Lindsay showed up to get what she needed to make the child Brian refused to give her. The guy, thinking that telling Brian how Lindsay paid him to help her would get him another night in Brian's bed, found out that what it got him was ostracized by all of Liberty Avenue.

Brian turned to see if the guy with the kid was still behind him, not really sure why. It wasn't like he went after guys with kids, but he did appreciate beauty when he saw it.

"Jesus Brian, I don't have all day to wait for you. Can we go?" Michael said, annoyed that all of Brian's attention wasn't all on him.

"If you were busy I could have just called for a car," Brian told him, following him.

"NO... I mean, you know I'm always there for you." Mikey told him, pretty much letting Brian know he still wanted more than what Brian would give him.

"Where did you go anyway?" He asked, as they started walking towards the doors.

A whirlwind came running by, making Brian laugh when she yelled for a Justin, and he turned to watch the guy he ran into get swallowed by the whirlwind. Justin looked up, smiling at him while trying to pay attention to the kid and the whirlwind.

"Brian, come on, the meter is running." Mikey told him, narrowing his eyes at the guy Brian was eyeing.

Brian didn't understand why it bothered him to walk off, but it did. It wasn't like there was any reason, since he didn't know Justin, and kids had complications written all over them. It was the first time Brian ever thought he really wouldn't mind the kid either, which was the moment he finally moved, wondering what was wrong with him. He got in the car, not really wanting to talk to Mikey, but he knew there was no way around it trapped in the car.

"I got us passes to Comic Con, and this time you promised to come with me." Mikey reminded him.

"We'd have more fun doing something else." Brian told him, hoping to get out of it.

"Brian, this year is the first time the author of Rage is going to be here. If I can get him to autograph enough copies I can sell them and not have to ask you to help me out this month." Mikey tells him, as if he wouldn't end up asking anyway.

Brian wished he could go back to the day he'd supported Mikey's dream and change it, since it seemed to mean he would be supporting Mikey forever. Mikey didn't get that there was more to a business than reading comics, and spending the money he made on more collectables.

The first time Mikey got in a hole, Brian helped because he didn't need Deb crawling all over him, reminding him that he encouraged Mikey to quit a good job for the money pit that Buzzy told everyone was the reason he was selling out. With his search for Lindsay and running his company, Brian didn't need Deb chasing him down expecting him to drop everything to help her fix Mikey's problems.

"Hello, I was also thinking about you." Mikey said, when Brian's attention wasn't on him.

"Then listen to Ted about what you should do with your earnings." Brian told him, wishing the car magically was at his loft.

"Ted doesn't understand the comic business. People come in hopes to find the collectables I've bought as an investment. I know you think I'm wasting my money, but it's long term. If I sell the collectables, it won't matter that I'm not selling as many comics." Mikey told him.

"Which I could agree with, if you would sell the collectables when people show up trying to buy them." Brian told him, waiting for Mikey to explain why he was turning down paying customers.

"I can't just sell them to anyone. Those are rare items, and the guys who came seem to think it doesn't matter what they do to the collectable." Mikey told him.

"When people offer to pay twice what you did, they can fuck the collectable as far as anyone running a business needing the profits is concerned." Brian said, not having the patience he normally did with Mikey.

"And when Justin Cole signs his comics for me, I'll do just that. Only, authors can be sort of picky about signing a lot of copies, it's why I invited you, Ted, and Emmett to come to help me. I expect you to make sure they don't ditch us." Mikey demanded.

"When is it?" Brian asked, just wanting to shut Mikey up.

"Tomorrow night. Which works because Ted will be back from the stupid couples thing he did with Blake." Mikey answered, still not happy that Blake wasn't willing to put up with Mikey's expectations of everyone doing what he wants.

Mikey pulled up to the loft, and as usual, seemed to think Brian needed him to hang out. Only, Brian for the first time, stopped him.

"I have a lot of work to get done. Before you say anything, it's my condition for going with you, leaving me alone to get done what I won't get done if you're here because you think what you have to say is more important to me." Brian told him, grabbing his bags.

"I can watch TV, and make sure you don't forget all the work you're saying you have to do. And then go out and get your dick sucked. Then use work again to skip out on me tomorrow." Mikey complained.

"I've got a better idea. Run the fucking store yourself, instead of hiring an assistant you can't afford to pay." Brian told him, slamming the door to the car.

Brian got up the stairs and into the loft, letting the silence get rid of the headache spending time with Mikey constantly caused.

Mikey didn't understand why Brian was still looking for Lindsay. He thought she did them all a favor by disappearing with the child. At the time it happened, Brian was barely holding back his own anger at what Lindsay did, and didn't care what Mikey was saying to Lindsay.

Thinking about it didn't help the headache Brian needed to get rid of, which even getting a trick wouldn't help. Brian took the hottest shower he could and by the time it was done, fell into bed, letting his mind wander to the guy at the airport and all the things they could be doing together.