Justin started working on his animated comic, just needing a distraction from how fast everything in his life had changed in a week. Brian didn’t act as if he was worried about Mel talking to Lindsay’s parents. But Justin worried, only because he felt like everything was out of his control. He looked over at Gus playing with Brian and wanted his future to be like this. Not having it clouded by having to worry about Lindsay. Justin knew Brian would fight for Gus, and he trusted Brian to be on Gus’s side. Only, eventually, Gus would need the answers about Lindsay. And those thoughts were the reason Justin needed a distraction. Randolph’s question was also running through Justin’s head, did he love Brian? Justin really didn’t have the answer to that. He knew that right now he felt more for Brian than he’d ever felt for anyone. Not that he had a lot of experience with men. Just a con artist, and men who had hit on Justin, but they just didn’t interest him. Brian’s looks were the first thing Justin noticed about the man. Eventually, it was the way Brian made sure Justin knew it was more than Gus that he was interested in. Brian looked up at Justin as if he knew Justin was thinking of him.

Brian saw a hint of the smile he was starting to crave as Justin looked at the screen of his laptop. He knew Justin was worried about the whole situation. Brian’s main concern was that Lindsay could make anyone believe she was anything that fit what she needed, in order to get what she wanted. He really wondered why she overplayed her hand, by showing Randolph the Lindsay that was underneath. It was hard on Brian to sit back and let others take care of his problems, but it was better he didn’t get near Lindsay since he wanted to wring her neck. He looked up again when he felt Justin’s eyes on him again. 

“Do you really think Lindsay’s parents are going to listen?” Justin asked.

“Her parents are more the, ‘ignore it until you can’t’ type, so they’ll listen, but whether they’ll do anything is really the question,” Brian told him.

“I grew up with it, at least until my father couldn’t fake his view on my life, any more than I could fake not being gay. It’s strange sometimes for me to look back on the times when everyone thought our family was perfect because, at that time, I thought we were. Do you know the messed up part for me? It was finding out that the father I thought loved me, didn’t.” Justin told him.

“I grew up pretty close to the same way. Only my father didn’t care if anyone knew the Kinney’s were trash. While my mother used God to excuse anything that didn’t fit into her idea of the perfect Christian family.” Brian told him.

“Is it weird to you that in essence we all sort of grew up in the same kind of families?” Justin asked.

“Except mine barely had a dime,” Brian told him.

“Is that why you’re so ambitious?” Justin asked.

“I wanted anything that made that life a distant memory,” Brian told him.

“Is that what Chicago will do for you? Make Pittsburgh a memory?” Justin asked.

“Honestly, even before I met you, I thought about the fact that I should have opened my business somewhere else. Looking at my life, it became almost routine, as you said on our first date.” Brian told him.

“It’s why I started doing things like getting out of my apartment. I didn’t want Gus to think the world consisted of just the apartment and the few places I frequented. The Cons gave us a chance to travel around and see and do things that at one time I wanted to do.” Justin told him.

“Why did you stop wanting them?” Brian asked.

“Dada wanted to shows me the world,” Gus told Brian.

“Are you done showing him?” Brian asked Justin.

“There are always Cons to go to. In fact, the plan was to go to Europe after Pittsburgh. Only now, it looks like we’re stuck here until the other problem is solved.” Justin told Brian.

“We need to talk about it. I think we should go ahead and go back to Chicago.” Brian told Justin.

“You don’t think we should stay here until we know what’s going to happen?” Justin asked, trying to be careful of what Gus heard.

“Mel will make sure we know if we’re needed here. I need to start looking into moving Kinnetik. Since apparently, there’s a lot of interest, from what Ted was able to find out. You also have things that you need to do. We aren’t going to put our lives on hold while someone has a temper tantrum. I think being somewhere where my life can’t constantly interfere would give us time to see where this is headed with us.” Brian told him.

“You know, I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of us,” Justin told Brian.

“I know. You think we barely know each other. But part of the reason I know I want us to do this is that nothing about you makes me want to run the other way. The last few nights, I wake up happy that you're next to me.” Brian told him.

“How about I go get some things to make for dinner, and maybe see if my mom wants some time with Gus before we go. Then I’ll see if I can’t keep you happy tomorrow morning.” Justin said, ready to really leap.

There was no love lost between Ron, Nancy, and Mel. In a way, Mel now got it. She was Lindsay’s way of slapping them in the face to the kind of life they expected from Lindsay. They never said it out loud, but Mel sensed their discomfort anytime Lindsay forced the three of them to be in the same place. For years they made it so Lindsay and Mel had to play the roles they wanted when having Lindsay at an event was mandatory. Which in Lindsay’s head meant shoving her relationship with Mel down their throats, even when Mel would have rather stayed at home.

“I see you’re doing well for yourself,” Nancy said, looking around the office.

Compared to Mel’s previous office, which was barely big enough for her desk and a couple of chairs, this office was spacious and welcoming. The firm owned the whole building, not just a small area in the building, so Mel nodded at Nancy’s words.

“Is there some reason you wanted to talk to us?” Ron asked when it got uncomfortable that they really had nothing to say to each other.

“I’m representing Brian Kinney and Justin Taylor and thought we should talk about Lindsay’s baby. The one she abandoned with Justin Taylor.” Mel told them.

Nancy’s composure dropped, and what Mel saw was the ice queen Lindsay never quite perfected. 

“You expect us to welcome the child into our family?” She asked, not sounding happy at the prospect of a grandson.

“The baby is our grandchild,” Ron argued with her, not convincing Mel he was any happier about it than his wife.

“The baby represents every reason we had problems with Lindsay. She used it as a way to taunt Lynette, upset me, and get you to open up your wallet when I specifically forbid you to help her.” Nancy told him.

“She’s our daughter. I did no more for her than I did for Lynette. The last thing either of us wanted was her life to bring scandal to the family. I got her out of the situation for that reason.” Ron told Nancy, looking uncomfortable saying what he did in front of Mel.

Mel listened to them argue more, but was going to take a gamble and see if they already knew about Lindsay’s escapades. “Brian and I both agree that Ron made a good decision getting Lindsay out of her flirting with prostitution.”

Ron didn’t have the poker face to hide his surprise at Mel knowing about it. Nancy, on the other hand, once again acted like she didn’t hear what Mel said.

“I think, along with her abandonment of Gus, you both know it would be better for everyone to make sure Lindsay keeps all the chapters in her life before her new marriage, closed,” Mel told them.

“I’m sure your client understands we don’t take threats lightly,” Ron said, acting like the entitled bastard he tried to hide behind the fake smiles that he had taught Lindsay.

“Brian doesn’t threaten, he promises. And he follows through on them. But you're not just dealing with Brian Kinney, you’re also dealing with Justin Taylor. In the case of both of them, they will do whatever it takes to guarantee Gus never has to know the kind of family having Lindsay as a mother would give him. Neither one of them gives a shit if they have to drag the Peterson name through the mud to get it. And to give you a clue, nothing you could drag up on Brian would matter to him, since he’s never given a shit what anyone thought about how he lived his life. Something I’m learning from him. Something you two will learn if you don’t get your daughter under control too is that I have no problem telling anyone exactly what it was like being your daughter’s lesbian lover, and how little you two liked the idea of it. Although I’m sure the fellow country club patrons agree with you, they also know supporting your bigotry isn’t popular. How do you think that would work for your company when they find out?” Mel told them.

“We’ll speak to Lindsay, but she wants to meet with Justin Taylor,” Nancy told her.

“She already tried, and he really doesn’t want to speak to her,” Mel told her.

“Maybe if he spoke to her then he’d realize she only wants Gus to be with him. She feels the connection to Brian would be less acceptable for Gus to have in his life. From what she managed to get Randolph to share with us, we agree. Justin would give Gus an upbringing that wouldn’t be tainted by Brian’s unfortunate background.” Nancy told her.

“Really, you never cared for Lindsay’s association with him, so I would think you would agree he was a mistake all around, for all of us,” Ron told Mel.

“We plan to speak to Craig Taylor about Justin’s new acquaintance, and hope he can see how this could work for both families. Lindsay and Justin could make sure no one ever knows about Brian’s involvement in the child’s conception. And in turn, she only wants to be included in Justin and the child’s life.” Nancy told her.

“Where does Randolph fit into this?” Mel asked since Nancy was pushing this as if he wasn’t included.

“He realized last night he made a mistake marrying our daughter, but we both believe he’ll change his mind when he sees that Lindsay was only worried about her child,” Ron answered.

“You people are a piece of work. You’re trying to save your connection to Randolph by using your grandchild.” Mel said, incredulous at their audacity. 

“We just agree that family is important,” Nancy told her.

“Only when you get something out of it. Because nothing you and Ron did the entire time that Lindsay and I were together, says you do. What neither of you seems to get is that you’re dealing with Brian Kinney, a man who will remove anything that threatens the people he loves. And while he might not say it, Justin and Gus are who he loves the most. All Lindsay managed to figure out is that Justin isn’t the kid she thought would let her walk all over him. Since the only reason he gave in to Lindsay was for Gus. If she thinks she can threaten to take Gus from him to get what she wants, she might want to rethink it, since Gus is now legally in Brian’s custody. Something Justin did to keep Gus from a mother who walked away from him and never looked back until she found out the ‘starving student’ was anything but. Although it won’t do anything for her since she means absolutely nothing to Justin.” Mel tells them.

“You want to know why we didn’t approve of you? It’s because you never understood what was expected from anyone associated with our family.” Nancy told Mel, getting up to leave.

“There are sacrifices you have to make, and I’m sure Justin’s family understands that,” Ron added, following her out.

“Something Justin didn’t make when he left Craig Taylor’s expectations behind. Have fun if you think Craig can get Justin to fall in line since he couldn’t before.” Mel told them as they walked out.