BRIAN

Justin didn’t automatically welcome his mother with unlimited access into his life. Instead he let Hunter buffer him when he needed space. I wanted to be there, but Justin insisted that for once I do what I needed to do and get Kinnetik up and running, now that Julian, Carter, and Saperstein were in custody. Justin meanwhile, was ignoring all job offers being thrown his way. Instead, he and Hunter were busy trying to design the game Hunter came up with. George set up an office for my staff since we were still looking at locations, and because George knew I didn’t want to be away from Justin unless it couldn’t be avoided. 

George had talked us out of leaving his house for now. He wanted as much time as Justin would give him. And Justin commented that, with the size of the house, at least if he needed to he could find a place to go to be alone if it got to be too much. I stayed because where Justin goes I plan to be and because George needed us to support him while Virginia and George Jr tried to dig up anything they could to discredit him, both in public and business. 

Ron Peterson proved once again that I had misjudged him when he made sure anyone who followed Virginia’s lead, could end their association with Ron and his powerful friends. Nancy, for the first time, seemed to understand Ron wouldn’t tolerate her either if she didn’t support both their daughters. He proudly talked about his grandson to anyone in their circle, while Nancy and Lynette knew how shaky their ground was if they didn’t follow his lead. For the first time, they invited Mel and Gus to a family dinner, which Lindsay refused, saying she was too busy working, and sitting around having tea wasn’t what she saw as a job. Cynthia and Lindsay went to the business first to make sure Kinnetik and the company fit. It was one thing I explained, while I wanted us to be successful, I also didn’t want clients who would end up afraid to take risks by playing it safe. I’d had enough of that with Ryder.

Jennifer started spending more time talking to me, trying not to push Justin when he wasn’t ready for anything. Molly on the other hand, took time to get to know everyone, while Justin couldn’t seem to say no to her. She spent half her time asking Hunter and Justin to explain what they were trying to do and helping when she could while being told by Hunter about Justin. Justin rolled his eyes when Hunter and Molly seemed to hero worship him, but he just let them talk away while working on coding and graphics when Hunter got stuck. The only time Justin wouldn’t let anyone follow him was when Blake showed up and the two of them locked themselves away. Ted, like me, didn’t ask what they were doing.

“I feel like I’m doing something wrong.” Jen says, dragging me out of my thoughts.

“He’s trying to figure everything out, and for him right now the people still missing takes precedence in his mind,” I tell her. Not wanting to tell her Justin was still having a hard time with the fact she gave him up.

“I can’t get over the idea of Justin near those people, and what they could have done to him. I thought that by letting him go, he’d never deal with people like Virginia again.” She tells me.

“Julian saw how valuable Justin was, all Virginia saw was a problem.” I tell her.

“Too bad she didn’t realize her actions would end up doing much worse to her reputation than our grandson’s birth,” George commented. 

And that was the only reason Julian protected Justin from Gary and Carter. Justin was giving him people to manipulate into doing anything Julian couldn’t do himself. Justin no longer blamed himself, since, as things were coming out, the people had other secrets that had nothing to do with what Justin had brought to light. It wasn’t the hackers, but the people Justin and Blake caught together, that interested Julian. Julian had an inside guy at the FBI, who would feed him names as they were facing prosecution, and Julian would make sure to hire people to minimize the punishment. Julian fed that bit, saying he would give them the guy in exchange for a deal. Then explained what happened once he got the names, including other things Hill could prosecute them for. Excusing himself because they found out nothing came for free and landed in Julian’s prison. At first, they stuck to their fear of Julian staying free, but as the charges racked up, and the proof became undeniable, Julian’s lawyers no longer looked as confident as they did with the IRS. Which led them to convince Julian to cut off funds to locate Carter Yates, hoping somehow they’d convince the FBI Julian was a victim himself of his older brother. All we saw was them trying anything to save the client that paid the bills for them. Carter managed to get into Canada with plans to leave the country. But he stayed when he contacted a few clients only to find out they were all being detained when they came to end the Yates family. He didn’t even try to fight being taken in since there were still others out there who hadn’t been caught yet.

“Everyday something new comes out, like dominos falling.” Ted commented.

“Each one of them did it to themselves.” Justin tells us, as Blake nodded and sat with Ted.

“What have you been doing?” I ask when Justin and Blake both seemed a little too happy.

“Making sure Hill and Caraway don’t have to spend time finding out who gave Julian the information. Which was what Justin had me do.” Blake tells us.

“They had enough on their plate as it is.” Justin told him.

“What were you doing?” Jennifer asked.

Justin slumped down on the sofa next to me. Jennifer tried to hide her disappointment when he didn’t answer her at first.

“I wanted to try to make it so Hunter wouldn’t have to go back to his mother. She hasn’t even noticed he’s missing, but if she does he shouldn’t have to go back.” Justin tells her.

“How old is he?” Jennifer asks.

“Seventeen right now.” Justin answered.

“If he can support himself, he wouldn’t have to go back. Although he needs to get back in school, if she tried to fight for him. That way he can show he’s responsible.” Jennifer suggested.

“I’m working at the supporting himself, hopefully I’ll hear back from a guy.” Justin tells us.

“Not someone you met through Julian?” I asked.

“No. Someone who Blake knows through his real job.” He tells me.

“Who only returned my call when I told him the White Rabbit wanted to talk to him.” Blake teases.

“It’s not like he wouldn’t have if you told him who you are.” Justin blew him off.

“I could talk to a judge I know and make sure of any requirements Hunter would have to meet.” Jennifer offered, as George didn’t allow her a chance to help her child.

“I can… Okay, if you want.” Justin tells her, giving her a chance, when he likely already had the information.

“Okay… I should get out of everyone’s hair anyway, since I need to show a house.” Jennifer told him.

“Maybe… you could help Brian too.” Justin tells her.

“I really don’t know anything about advertising.” She tells him, smiling at him.

“You could help him find a location for his business.” Justin tells her.

“It would help. Since right now we’re doing it all from here.” I tell her.

“Let me know what kind of specifications you need.” Jennifer told me, getting up to leave.

“Molly can hang out here and when you're done... “ Justin said, lost at where to go next.

“You can come back and have dinner with us. While we wait for news.” George tells her.

“I’d like that a lot.” Jennifer tells them.

Jennifer moved to go, without trying to do anything Justin wouldn’t be comfortable with. Justin took a second, but got up and let her hug him, before telling her he’d walk her to her car. I watched out the window with George as Justin awkwardly help Jennifer into the car, and walked back as she was still sitting there watching him. I knew he was trying and didn’t need us pushing him any more. Justin came back in but didn’t come back to where we were.

George looked saddened at how hard this was for them. “She’s still being punished for my family’s mistakes.” 

I debated what might help for a second before calling and asking the person to help Justin with this.

JUSTIN

I kept hearing George’s words, not liking how it made me sound. I couldn’t help the way I felt about it all. Even hearing everything and knowing she was in a situation where she felt trapped, it didn’t take the feeling away that I was the one that was sacrificed. It wasn’t logical at all, but logic didn’t matter right at this moment. This was why I never tried to think about what ifs, because my life wasn’t some tragedy. I had people who fought with me, while she went on with her life. I wasn’t angry that she went on, just that I was left behind. Shit, this is why I didn’t want anything to do with it.

“Hey, sorry I haven’t been around.” Michael said as he came into the pool area I was hiding in.

“Nothing’s really going on anyway.” I told him.

“It doesn’t mean I can’t want to be here, even if there’s nothing to do. Everything okay with you?” Michael asked.

“As okay as it can be.” I tell him.

“How you dealing with the instant family you’ve now got?” Michael asked.

“I want to be okay with it, but how do I when I don’t really know them… her. For some reason, I can deal with Molly, but not my… mom.” Justin tells him, not sure why he did.

“It’s hard growing up believing one thing, and being happy with it, only to find out your life wasn’t the one you knew.” Michael agreed. “Ma told me all these stories about my father who died a war hero, and maybe that’s why I spent so much of my life living in comics. I couldn’t have my father but I could pretend he was one of the comic heros.”

“What happened?” Justin asked.

“I found out my father was really a drag queen and my mother never told him I existed. I got angry at her because I had a father, yet she let me believe a guy she found in an article was my father. Instead of admitting the truth she kept lying to me about it. She became every villain in my comics because I lived without a father who could have been there for me. She was my mother and she lied because she thought she did the best for me, by not involving my father.” Michael told me.

“You two seem okay now.” I mentioned.

“Because I got my head out of ass and realized my father wasn’t going to be the father I thought she denied me. She knew he’d be miserable staying because it wasn’t the life he wanted or the life she wanted me to deal with. Something he pretty much told me too, before telling me how lucky it was that my mother loved me as much as she does.” He tells me.

“She didn’t give you away.” I tell him.

“Instead she gave up all the things she wanted in order to do what she could for me. Which isn’t the same, but she also didn’t have assholes threatening to put her in jail for keeping me either. My mother just lost her family, your mother would have lost everything, including you because she had no one to help her, like my mother did.” Michael tells me.

“Did you ever have a relationship with your father?” I asked, thinking about what he said.

“I didn’t need one anymore, because I had a mother who did everything she thought was right to protect me.” Michael tells me.

“It’s hard to see it that way, and the idea she wanted my father still bothers me.” I tell him.

“My father was a drag queen waiting to come out. Sometimes attraction doesn’t make any sense.” Michael laughed.