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Emmett showed up first thing in the morning after Ted told him Brian was planning to leave earlier. He’d been so wrapped up in Reese that he didn’t think about anything else, and for some reason felt guilty. Ted rolled his eyes and told him there was nothing to feel guilty about since Brian was pretty much wrapped up in Gus and Justin. Justin was off to get Gus, while Brian packed the things he would need until Cynthia had his other things sent or put in storage. Justin told Brian they lived in a relatively normal house, and that there were two rooms Justin had used for storage but they could be cleaned out for anything Brian wanted to bring with him. Emmett found Brian looking around the loft as if it wasn’t the showplace he was once proud of.

 

“Ted said you planned to move everything out,” Emmett said when Brian hadn’t said much.

 

“I’m moving on to a new life. Why leave my old life as if it’s waiting for me to come back?” Brian answered.

 

“At least part of your old life can come and visit. You know, to remember what an asshole you can be.” Emmett told him.

 

“I’ll make sure to dial up the charming asshole you know when you visit,” Brian told him.

 

“Need any help?” Emmett asked.

 

“Watch over Deb and Ted for me. Blake doesn’t need Ted being too busy to remember him. If Deb needs anything, call me and we’ll figure out how to help her without her figuring out we are.” Brian told him.

 

“Reese and I plan to visit often. I want to get to know my nephew.” Emmett told him.

 

“It seems not only am I working fast but so are you,” Brian commented.

 

“He gets me. For once it’s like there are no games I have to play.” Emmett told him.

 

“You never should’ve had to play games. That’s something I’m learning from Justin and Gus. Call me when you finally realize you want to do something with your talents.” Brian told him.

 

“Honey, we agreed to only be friends, since anything else would have me killing you,” Emmett answered jokingly.

 

“Emmett, people are waiting for you to hang a shingle on your door, instead of renting yourself out when someone shows up,” Brian told him.

 

“You can’t help trying to take care of everyone can you?” Emmett asked.

 

“Isn’t that what you and Ted were doing for me all this time? Both of you encouraged me to keep looking for my child. Not once did either of you make it sound like wanting to be a father to him or her was something I couldn’t do. And I know being the premier party planner is something you can do if you want it enough.” Brian told him.

 

“Reese seems to agree with you,” Emmett told him.

 

“Reese was always a good guy, and apparently a good judge of character. He had to be to see the Emmett I know.” Brian told his friend.

 

“I need you to go back to being your snarky self, cause otherwise, I might hug you,” Emmett told him.

 

“Jesus Honeycutt, you’re acting like a girl,” Brian said, making Emmett laugh.

 

“Don’t call me Honeycutt, Kinney,” Emmett said, pulling Brian into a hug. “Call once a week so I know Justin hasn’t killed you,” Emmett told him, backing off.

 

“Yes, Mother. I’ll make sure to keep you in the loop of all the gossip in Chicago too.” Brian answered.

 

“Are you going to tell Deb about Gus?” Emmett asked.

 

“I called her to come over before we left today. She needs to know where I’m going and to be ready to deal with Michael when he figures it out.” Brian told him.

 

“She loves you and will be happy for you. I’ll try to help with Michael, even though Reese thinks we should just shove him into oncoming traffic. Since you’re not leaving until Deb gets here, I’ll stick around to make sure she doesn’t try to hug you to death in order to keep you here.” Emmett laughed.

 

Justin had taken Gus over to say goodbye to Aunt Daphne, and to make sure she knew he planned to visit more now. His mother was concerned about Craig’s talk but told Justin she really thought he was sincere in wanting to work on having a relationship with him. So, after seeing Daphne, Justin brought Gus to meet his grandfather. Craig was busy as usual, dealing with customers and rearranging parts of the store. In the past, Justin would have to wait until his father had time for him, but Craig handed off the customer he was helping and led Justin and Gus to his office.

 

“I didn’t expect you to come this soon,” Craig said, sitting down.

 

“Brian and I are leaving to go back to Chicago this afternoon. I wanted Gus to meet his grandfather before we left.” Justin told him.

 

“Yous Dada’s Dada?” Gus asked.

 

“Yes… and that would make me your grandfather young man.” Craig said, clearing his throat several times.

 

“I nevers had a grandfather. Whats you do?” Gus asked.

 

“When your dada was as young as you, I’d read him bedtime stories, get rid of the monsters in his closet, and play anything he wanted to,” Craig told Gus.

 

“Is that why Dada does it for me, cause yous showed him?” Gus asked, walking around the desk and climbing on Craig’s lap.

 

“I guess I taught him something good since he does it for you,” Craig told him.

 

“Him and Daddy do everything for me, but theys be willing to let you help,” Gus told him, kissing his cheek.

 

“I’d like that. And when my new son comes, maybe you could help me, since I’m rusty at the things I once did for your dada.” Craig told him, falling under Gus’s spell.

 

“Can we?” Gus asked Justin.

 

“If you want, you can come to visit with your girlfriend. Mom says she’s really a nice woman.” Justin told his father.

 

“Cara and I will make plans to do that. Just let me know when you and Brian think it’s convenient.” Craig told him. “Gus, would you mind if I talked to your dada alone, my assistant can show you around the store?” Craig asked both Justin and Gus. 

 

Craig called in his assistant and told him to show his grandson around for a few minutes. Gus walked off, announcing he had a grandfather, and Craig took a few deep breaths at Gus’s excitement over him.

 

“I could’ve lost that too,” Craig said, knowing he was done losing everything because he couldn’t accept Justin.

 

“What did you want to talk about?” Justin asked.

 

“This situation with the Petersons. If you need me to help in any way to keep Gus away from that family, tell me. Between you, me, your mother, and… Brian, they won’t know what hit them. I called Mel again and she explained a little more about Lindsay to me. It could be a problem if she can make a judge believe she’s changed. I got the feeling she was playing with me, in hopes of finding something to use to get what she wants from you.” Craig told him.

 

“I don’t know why she’d think there’s anything to gain since she isn’t the kind of mother I want Gus around. The only thing I can come up with is that she wants to control her life, and thinks I’ll be like I was when she met me, doing anything she wanted just to spend time with Gus. She had control of any time Gus and I spent together until she left. When I found out she put me down as the father, I sued for sole custody. Which meant I no longer had to do anything for her in order to keep Gus. I think she thought eventually she could come back and take over again.” Justin told his father.

 

“She didn’t just think it, she’s trying to. I just don’t get why the Peterson’s are trying to help her when they disowned her the way I…” Craig answered, stopping because he didn’t want to say what he had done.

 

“She married someone they would die to have in their circle. Money changes everything.” Justin told him.

 

“What you have could make up for Lindsay screwing up with Randolph. Your mother’s father is enough of a connection to them. Only your grandfather would have taken one look at them and turned his back on them. One thing they seem to be worried about is Brian. Which means they know they can’t control him, any better than they can control their daughter.” Craig told Justin.

 

“Brian doesn’t care about anything but what’s best for Gus. Although, from listening to an old friend of Brian’s, it sounds like they all are hoping that he will eventually get tired of being a father and then they can get what they want.” Justin told him.

 

“I wonder why Lindsay used Brian to get pregnant if she wanted to control the situation. From everything I heard from Mel, the Petersons, and your mother, Brian is his own man. And he’s like you in that he doesn’t let anyone tell him what to do. Lindsay wouldn’t be able to get him to do what she wanted, and she had to know that.” Craig told him.

 

“If she had kept Gus, I think Brian would have done anything she wanted him to. Only she didn’t, which was her mistake. But then maybe she never thought Brian and I would meet. Which we wouldn’t have since when she knew me I barely left my apartment. Only, I started my comic and doing the conventions. Then I wanted to see Daphne and came here.” Justin told him.

 

“Once you did, she showed up.” Craig pointed out.

 

“Brian figured out there was someone working for him who was feeding her information. She fooled the guy into believing she was protecting Gus from Brian. Although… shit. How did Michael know Brian had custody?” Justin said, getting up. “I need to go. I didn’t think to tell Brian about Michael’s visit, we sort of got... distracted.” Justin told him, laughing at his father trying not to cringe at what distracted Justin.

 

“I get it since Cara does the same thing.” Craig joked.

 

“You win,” Justin told him, not even hiding the shiver at the thought of his father’s love life.

 

Craig went with Justin to find Gus, who was playing a video game and he once again had to stop another person from trying to give Gus everything when his father suggested sending them off with the system. 

 

When he got back to the loft, he didn’t get a chance to tell Brian about Michael, since Michael’s mother was there telling Brian she didn’t want him to move away. Gus looked up at Justin and went over to Deb, yanking on her shirt. She looked down into his big eyes and then to Brian.

 

“He looks exactly like you,” Deb said, crying.

 

“Whys you crying?” Gus asked her.

 

“I don’t want to lose my son,” Deb told him.

 

“Who?” Gus asked.

 

“Your daddy,” Justin told him.

 

“Whys you lose him?” Gus asked.

 

“Miss Deb thinks if she can’t see us every day, she loses us,” Emmett explained to Gus.

 

“But I need my daddy too. I wants my friends to see he’s mine.” Gus told her.

 

“Then I guess we have to share him, don’t we?” Deb told him.

 

“If he’s your son, does that mean you’re mine now?” Gus asked.

 

“I’d love to be yours,” Deb told Gus, tearing up again.

 

“How about lunch before Deb floods the room?” Emmett asked, wiping a tear.

 

“Have you told Michael you’re leaving?” Deb asked Brian.

 

“For now I really need the time to get settled with Justin and I’m going to be busy. I don’t have time to argue with Michael about it.” Brian told her.

 

“It’s better for everyone if Michael doesn’t know what’s going on,” Emmett told her.

 

“I hate it but I know you’re right. It’s not like he has anything to do, and would likely follow you. His store is in a lot of trouble right now.” Deb told them.

 

“I told him that what he was doing was a bad idea. He just expected Justin to appear because he wanted him to.” Emmett told her.

 

“I hate that people felt duped by me,” Justin told her.

 

“I sold all his collectibles and put the money in the account Ted set up for the shop. It’s enough to get the store redone and set up to open again. As strange as it sounds, I sort of like running the shop, not that I get half of what the kids are talking about. Will pretty much takes over that part for me, but the kids are fun.” Deb told them.

 

“You can’t run it for Michael, you already work too hard at the diner,” Brian told her.

 

“I don’t want Michael to lose it,” Deb answered.

 

“He already lost it, if you and Will are the ones running it.” Brian pointed out.

 

“The money Will managed to make off the collectibles surprised me, since Michael never seemed to have any money,” Deb told them.

 

“The collectibles are why Michael didn’t have any money,” Emmett told her.

 

“I don’t feel right keeping the money, it’s Michael’s,” Deb told them.

 

“Then give it to him and let him fail if that’s what he wants to do. We talked about this Deb. He needs to start dealing with his life, not letting you do it for him.” Brian reminded her.

 

“What do you think?” Deb asked Justin.

 

“I really don’t know him well enough to tell you anything,” Justin told her, but then decided that maybe she should hear what he needed to tell Brian. “When he showed up here yesterday…”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Brian interrupted.

 

“I forgot since you were more interesting at the time. But when he showed up he acted like he was here to give me advice on how to deal with you. He told me not to expect anything from you, and that eventually, you’d get bored with our plans. It got really confusing because he seemed to think eventually the things that would bore you with me, you’d want with him. I didn’t catch it at first, but he knew you have custody of Gus. Which we didn’t announce, so how does he know that?” Justin asked.

 

“Lindsay?” Emmett said, looking at Brian.

 

“He can’t stand her. But they would ban together if it got them something.” Brian told him.

 

“What would Lindsay get? Michael we all know wants Brian.” Deb asked.

 

“She wants Brian back in her life when you think about it,” Emmett told them.

 

“But she’s trying to involve Justin,” Brian commented.

 

“I would too because you’re doing things you never did before, for him and Gus,” Emmett told him.

 

“Being in love with Justin, you mean,” Brian said, without caring that anyone heard it.

 

“Call me, and make sure I know you’re okay,” Deb told him.

 

“I promise,” Brian replied.

 

“I’ll clean up and lock up, you two need to get going.” Emmett told Brian.

 

“We goes home?” Gus asked.

 

“Yes, we are.” Brian told Gus. 

 

“Emmett, can you tell Reese about everything?” Brian asked.

 

“I’ll do it, and try not to get distracted.” Emmett smirked.

 

“We’ll go see him. And I want to know everything so I can help.” Deb told Brian.

 

“Michael, at least wasn’t involved knowingly, Deb.” Brian tells her.

 

“But it sounds like he is now. And if Lindsay thinks I’ll sit back while she tries to mess with my boys, she’s forgotten who I am.” Deb told them.

 

Brian took one last look around as Justin took most of the suitcases down to the car. Gus grabbed his new soccer ball and hugged Deb and Emmett, waiting for Brian to suffer through goodbyes that he thought were a bit too much, when he’d be back on and off.

 

“I’m happy you didn’t let anything get in your way.” Deb told him.

 

“I never have. I’ll be back, so you can let go.” Brian teased.

 

“Asshole.” Deb said, kissing his cheek.

 

Brian walked over to Gus, looking back one more time, smirking at Deb and Emmett before following Gus down the stairs.

 

 

 

 

 

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