Brian moved Justin over until he was back on his own pillow. He needed to get up since he had a full day of meetings with clients. He debated laying there as he had for the last week, waiting for Justin to wake up and for them to start their day. Unfortunately, he couldn’t, since Ted would be there for the meetings that interrupted the vacation he’d been taking to spend time with Justin and Gus. Cynthia and her husband had talked and were going to look for a place in Chicago, because she wanted to be where Brian was, and her husband Mark was happy to put in a transfer to a hospital in Chicago. Mark didn’t care where they lived as long as Cynthia was happy, and Brian realized that he and Mark had something in common, going where their partners were so they could be happy. 

This was the first time Brian hadn’t looked forward to going to work. It wasn’t that he didn’t relish the challenge a new city would bring, just the idea of Gus and Justin doing things without him. He thought about what Mikey said to Justin, that eventually, he’d want the life back that he’d left in Pittsburgh. Brian didn’t see that happening, because being here meant his life was new, without the expectations his reputation caused. 

He planned to meet Justin and Gus at the park for lunch since he knew he was in for a long day. For Brian, it was different in that he set aside two hours to spend with his family, in the past nothing mattered but work. 

After getting dressed, Brian smiled when he got to the kitchen and found Gus sitting there waiting for him. He started the toast and coffee, getting milk out for Gus and trying not to laugh at how normal this all seemed after only being here for two weeks.

“Yous gots to go to work, Robby’s mommy will be sad,” Gus told his father, smiling when Brian made him toast just like his.

“I’ll be at the park when you and Dada get there, but I have to go back to work, so I can’t play and get dirty today,” Brian told Gus.

“Dada and I will gets you my snacks,” Gus told Brian, nodding.

Justin came in yawning, kissing Gus’s head and pouring coffee for himself and Brian. Justin didn’t even try to make Brian’s sugar infested coffee, just handed Brian the sugar as he sat down.

“Gus, Mark, and I are going to look around for a place for him and Cynthia, but we’ll be at the park in time to meet you,” Justin told Brian.

“Yes Dear.” Brian joked.

“Well Dear, my publisher would like us to have dinner with her tonight, but it sounds like you’ll be busy, so if Gus and I aren’t here when you get back that’s where we’ll be,” Justin told him.

“What time?” Brian asked.

“Since Gus will be there we decided on six. We should be home by eight or nine.” Justin told him.

Brian looked through his appointments that Cynthia sent to his phone, deciding that he and Ted could discuss business while eating with Justin and Gus.

“If you don’t mind if Ted comes, I can be there,” Brian told him.

“You don’t have to change what you need to do,” Justin answered.

“I won’t let work take my time from either of you. Ted and I can talk over dinner, and I can meet your publisher and see what she wants to use Kinnetik for unless you need to talk business with her first.” Brian told him.

“She just likes to know how everything went at the convention, and she’s curious about you. Normally we meet as soon as I get back, but I’ve been busy.” Justin said, kissing him.

Brian went to his new office, feeling the same way he felt when he opened Kinnetik in Pittsburgh. Only now when he celebrated, it was going to be with his new family.

Gus was running around with Robby after spending the morning with Justin and Mark looking at houses. Mark was going to pick up Cynthia for lunch and show her the three that met the requirements she told him she wanted. Justin was unpacking lunch for Gus when a shadow stood over him. Looking up he started to smile, thinking Brian showed up early. Instead, it was Lindsay, standing there looking at Gus.

“What are you doing here?” Justin asked, wanting nothing more than to get Gus and leave.

“I wanted to talk to you. Until today you haven't been alone.” She told him. 

“Talk all you want, but it won't get you anywhere.” He told her.

“Maybe not, or maybe you’ll get that I only want the best for you.” She commented.

“Why? You don’t know me, and I honestly don’t want to know you. Even if anything you said would get through to me, it wouldn’t get you anything.” He told her.

“Why did you do it, leave everything to Gus? With what you have you could have the kind of life most people only wish they could live. No one could tell you what to do or how to live your life.” She asked him.

“That life gets lonely when at the end of the day there is no one but yourself. I want the life I’ve made with Gus, it was what I dreamed of all my life.” He told her.

“I wanted so many things…” She whispered, staring at Gus.

“But left when it wasn’t enough. You can’t come back and use Gus to get what you want. He needs to know the people around him love him and will always be there for him. He doesn’t even know to ask about you.” He tells her.

“What did you tell him about me?” She asked.

“That you were the reason I got him as my son, nothing more. He doesn’t need to know you walked away on his first birthday, though I doubt you even knew it was his birthday.” Justin told her.

“I… needed to find myself again, and he was happier when he was with you. It hurt every time he cried to get away from me. Why did he love someone other than me?” She asked, shaking her head before changing the subject. “That wasn’t why I wanted to talk to you.” 

“The only reason to talk to me as far as I’m concerned is about Gus. Brian and what we’re doing is off limits. Nothing you say about him will work on me, because he didn’t walk away from the person that means the most in my life.” He told her.

Lindsay stared at Justin, trying to figure out how he got Brian to break all of his rules. And even then, Brian didn’t turn his back on Justin. How did this simple guy manage to get everything she couldn’t in life? Why, when Lindsay tried to give Brian a baby, did he just throw her out of his life? But for Justin, Brian changed his life into the life he denied Lindsay. Everything Justin did gave him everything, and everything she did left her alone, still depending on others for everything she had in life.

“There is only one thing I want to hear from you, and that is that you’ll let Brian and I do what we want for Gus. Why would you fight for him when you don’t really want him?” Justin asked.

“Brian doesn’t get to have everything he wants when he turned his back on it just because it was with me. What is it about you that makes Gus okay to Brian?” Lindsay asked.

“Brian wanting Gus has nothing to do with me. Him not wanting a baby from you has everything to do with you. You ignored that he said no, then went ahead like a rapist and took what he didn’t want to give you. He didn’t hate the baby, he hated being violated because you couldn’t take no for an answer. It had nothing to do with the innocent baby, and everything to do with how his son, who Brian loves above everything else, came into existence. Why did you do that to him, when you were supposed to be one of his best friends?” Justin asked.

“I was the only best friend he had. Look at Michael…”

“This isn’t about anyone but you. You came here for a reason, and I’ll listen to it only if you answer how you could do what you did, not only to Brian but to Gus. I need to know how to tell him about you one day in a way that won’t have him questioning why he wasn’t enough for you.” Justin said, noticing Brian standing behind Lindsay.

“I left Pittsburgh to protect him.” She told Justin.

“From what?” Brian asked, angry.

“Everyone. You, my family, and fucking Michael. You, because of the kind of father would you have been. My family because their solution was to give MY BABY to Lynette, going on and on about how special the baby was because Lynnette would raise it. According to them, the baby was an unfortunate mistake, until Lynette was suddenly the mother. The baby wasn’t good enough until they saw it as a way to give Lynette what she wanted. I refused to let you raise it when you let Michael treat me the way he did since he couldn’t give you what I could. The only good thing about all of this is that for once Michael is finally being thrown aside by you, the way you did to me.” Lindsay ranted.

“Is that why Lynette didn’t press charges, because she paid you to give her Gus?” Brian asked, reading what Lindsay didn’t say.

“She didn’t press charges because she gave me the money,” Lindsay told him.

“Why are you here?” Brian asked, wanting her gone.

“Because you want me to disappear and let you have what you didn’t want with me. I gave you everything, but you threw me away.” Lindsay answered.

“You fucked me over. Not just by getting pregnant, but by lying to everyone about it. Did I want the baby you were carrying? No, I didn’t, but that didn’t matter to you. The only thing that mattered was that Lindsay got what she wanted.” Brian said, sitting next to Justin, grabbing his hand before continuing, keeping his voice low. “I want you to listen to this next part, are you listening? I didn’t want my life to change just because Lindsay wanted something. Only it did change, in a way you wouldn’t understand. The baby was important to me. I wanted the baby because none of it was his fault. He wasn’t some game piece on a chess board, the way you saw him. That’s why I turned my back on you when you expected me to fall in line with what you wanted. The only thing you did right in my eyes was leaving him with Justin. Do you want to know why what I didn’t want with you I do with Justin? Because he loved a child that was only his through love. He gave Gus the life neither of us ever had. For once I can say you and I have our selfishness in common. I won’t walk away from Justin and Gus, even if it’s the only way to get you out of their lives.” Brian told her.

Lindsay reeled in shock looking first at Justin, then to Brian. “You love him…” She said, shaking her head, not believing it was a possibility.

“And I’ll make sure there’s nothing you can hide from the world in order to keep him and Gus,” Brian told her.