Cynthia looked up from the lunch she was sharing with her husband and wanted to scream when Lindsay seemed to think it was okay to just pull up a chair. There was absolutely no love lost between them. Lindsay knew exactly how Cynthia felt about her. Mark knew all about Lindsay and the shit she put Brian through and made sure Lindsay knew her attempt at flirting was lost on him.

“What do you want?” Cynthia said, wanting to get straight to the point and for Lindsay to be gone.

“I just thought we could put aside our problems with each other. We both know Brian can’t really want to settle down and do all the things he used to act as if he would rather be dead than have to do.” Lindsay told her.

“Do we? Or is it that you couldn’t figure out that Brian was truly a gay man? Something that was pretty obvious to everyone but you. To him, settling down the way you wanted him to would be a death sentence, unless you’ve grown a dick. Hell, even if you did, you’d be in the same boat as Michael. In the past, no he didn’t want to settle down. But apparently, Justin has the magic formula you don’t.” Cynthia told her.

“All Justin has is Gus and enough money to attract attention,” Lindsay commented.

“That’s all you can see because otherwise, you would have to admit that even if you kept Gus, Brian wouldn’t have wanted you. Justin gives Brian peace from the bullshit that came with you and Michael. I know, because for years I watched you and Michael demand things, expect him to be at your beck and call, and to solve the shit you got yourselves into. You expected Brian to thank you for forcing him to father a child he told you he didn’t want?” Cynthia asked.

“He wants him now,” Lindsay told her.

“Which should tell you something. But you don’t want to acknowledge that it wasn’t about who carried Gus, but who loved Gus. What you did actually gave Brian someone he could see wanting the life with that he never wanted with you or Michael.” Cynthia told her.

Lindsay sat quietly for a minute, trying to think of a different strategy. “I want Gus to have the kind of life Justin was giving him.” 

“That’s wonderful of you. Only you don’t seem to get that you left your child with a stranger. Regardless of how you want to spin this, you had no clue who Justin was. You could have left Gus with a monster, and only lucked out that Justin is the person he is. There’s nothing you can say to my wife or me that would make either one of us believe that what you did was anything but you leaving Gus, not giving a shit what happened to him.” Mark said, wanting Lindsay to stop upsetting his wife.

“He loved Gus.” Lindsay defended.

“Did you? Or was Gus just another casualty?” Mark asked.

“Gus didn’t want me. He cried all the time when he was with me. I needed to get away.” Lindsay told him.

“Children do that, especially when they know they aren’t wanted. Lindsay, let Gus be with the people who will love him, in a way you're not capable of. Let Gus have the life you wished for with your family, by letting Justin and Brian do that for him. Brian isn’t the same person you once knew, he changed when you took off. The man I got to know through my wife isn’t the man you think you know anymore. He was haunted by not knowing what happened to the baby you forced on him. Now he’s happy to love the son Justin gave him without conditions. You can tell me you know him, but you only seem to know the superficial parts of him. I got to know the man behind the reputation. Justin is the man Brian would be willing to move across the world for if he wanted him to. It’s something Brian and I have in common, we’d move oceans if the person we loved wanted us to.” Mark said, kissing Cynthia’s hand.

“I’d give up anything Mark needed me to, including being Brian’s second hand,” Cynthia tells her.

“So you see Lindsay, it’s about really loving someone. Brian loves Justin for more than just keeping Gus safe for him, for more than money or anything that being with Justin could give him.” Mark tells her.

“Brian couldn’t love anyone,” Lindsay told them, before getting up and leaving.

“She never got Brian,” Cynthia told Mark, answering her phone when it rang.

Ted hated to make this call, but Kelly from Eyeconics wanted a meeting with Brian. She didn’t have the time to go to Brian, but it was really her wanting Brian to come to her. He called Cynthia, hoping Kelly would agree to meet in Chicago, not wanting Brian to have to come to Pittsburgh to calm down the client.

“What is she worried about?” Cynthia asks.

“I think it’s that Brian isn’t going to be where she wants him to be,” Ted tells her.

“Have you called Brian?” Cynthia asks.

“Not yet. Usually, after talking to you, Kelly’s okay.” Ted tells her.

“Let me call her and see what exactly is the problem.” Cynthia sighed.

The problem was Kelly was worried Brian would hand over her account to another exec. After hearing from others the excitement that Kinnetik was opening its doors in Chicago and Brian was heading the new office, Kelly wanted Brian to personally assure her that her account wasn’t going to get lost in the new clients. She wouldn’t be happy with a call and demanded they meet in New York since she was currently in talks to partner with a clothing line. Cynthia read between the lines. Kelly was hoping to use Kinnetik and not the firm the clothing line wanted to go with and needed Brian to impress them the way he impressed her into going along with him when she could have stayed where she’d been.

“I guess we’re going to New York,” Cynthia told Mark.

“I’ll get everything moved in if you’ll just say yes to the house I know you want.” Mark teased.

“Yes, it’s perfect. Just like you are.” Cynthia told him.

Brian called Kelly after Cynthia returned from lunch and agreed to go. She didn’t tell him about her run-in with Lindsay. Not because Brian didn’t need to know, just because right now business was more important. Brian knew he’d have to travel sometimes, but hated that it had to be just when he and Justin were just getting settled in. Brian came home to Gus playing at the kitchen table while Justin was cooking dinner, hating that he’d be away for a few days but knowing Justin wouldn’t make him feel guilty about it.

“I have to go to New York tomorrow, one of my clients needs me to reassure her and she wants me to meet with the company she wants to partner with,” Brian told him, kissing Gus.

“I planned to get work done on the animation, and start the next issue of Rage anyway,” Justin told him.

“Could you do it in New York?” Brian asked.

“If I brought my computer, sure,” Justin told him.

“Why not come along? You and Gus could see the sights while I take care of business.” Brian told him.

“You know we’ll be okay while you work don’t you, or are you worried about Lindsay?” Justin asked.

“I want you and Gus with me when you can be. Eventually one of us will have to stay when the other needs to be somewhere else, but until then I want my family with me.” Brian told him.

“New Fork?” Gus asked.

“York,” Justin told him.

“Toy Store!” Gus said, thrilled.

“Which doesn’t mean Dada or Daddy buying everything you look at,” Justin explained to Gus.

“Dada, I needs stuff,” Gus told him.

“He really does,” Brian added.

“Within reason, or Daddy goes alone,” Justin told them, laughing.

“Dada doesn’t get when you needs stuff, Sonny Boy,” Brian told Gus, as the boy nodded seriously.

“Dada gets that we’ll have to buy another house at the rate Daddy is trying to fill this one,” Justin told them both.

After dinner, Gus was waiting for Brian and Justin to put him to bed. Brian grabbed one of his books and laid down next to Gus as he read him to sleep, pretending not to see Justin rearranging the toys that were everywhere in Gus’s room. Brian and Justin could buy a new house, but Justin’s house felt like home to Brian. And unless they wanted a bigger house, Brian would control his buying habits.

“Do you want more kids one day?” Brian asked when they were in bed.

“I never really thought about it. I wanted kids before Gus, but I never really had an idea of whether I wanted more than one. Why? Do you want more?” Justin asked.

“Not right now. But if you did, I won’t mind.” Brian told him.

“Is there some reason you’re bringing this up?” Justin asked.

“Just so you know that if you want to have another one, I’d be willing,” Brian told him.

“Why?” Justin asked again.

“Because I like being a father, and I love the father you are,” Brian said, leaning over Justin.

“Is that all you like?” Justin teased as Brian kissed his neck.

“Let me think about it,” Brian told him, pulling off Justin’s shirt. “I like the idea of a child with your eyes and smile,” Brian said, kissing Justin’s lips. “I love the idea of watching Gus being a big brother, the way he is with his friends,” Brian told him, running his hands down Justin’s chest. “I love the idea that we’d have a baby because it’s what we wanted, together,” Brian told Justin.

“You want it all, don’t you?” Justin moaned as Brian stroked him.

“With you, I want it all to be mine,” Brian told him.