Chapter 10

“Where is Brian?” Daphne asked when she and Emmett came back into the house with her father ten minutes later and only found Justin sitting at the kitchen table.

“He left about ten minutes ago.”

“And what about the custody papers?” Daphne's father inquired, looking at the papers in front of Justin.

“We agreed that we don't need them,” Justin informed him calmly, bracing himself for the explosion he was sure was to come at that announcement.

“You what? Of course you need them, Justin. What if that asshole decides once more that you shouldn't be in your son's life,” Daphne nearly yelled.

“He won't,” Justin told her calmly.

“How can you be sure of that?” Daphne asked him in total bewilderment. “It's not like he didn't try to keep you out of it before.”

“Because Brian wouldn't do anything to hurt his children, Daph.”

“And what's keeping you from your son for five years? Is that not hurting Luke?” Emmett muttered angrily.

“I don't expect either of you to understand, okay? But... Brian and I have come to an understanding where Luke is concerned. Neither of us would ever willingly hurt our son and we both know that he needs both of us in his life. We don't need papers and a schedule to tell us as much.”

“Justin, this is not smart. He has all the power if you don't get a custody agreement,” Daphne's father warned his daughter's best friend.

“No, he doesn't. My name is on Luke's birth certificate. I am his legal parent which gives me as many rights as Brian has, too. And... he won't do anything to hurt Luke any further.” 'Or me,' Justin thought to himself, but knew better than to mutter that thought out loud. Neither Daphne nor Emmett would understand this agreement between him and Brian, but he was sure, beyond a doubt, that Brian would keep his word. Brian had never broken a promise to him before and Brian had promised him access to and a relationship with his son. He knew Brian well enough to trust him on this. Why, he didn't know after Brian had betrayed him, but somehow he just knew that he could trust Brian on this.

***

Justin pulled up in front of Luke's preschool and took a deep calming breath. Saying he was nervous would be the understatement of the year. The more he had thought about it, the more he knew that picking up Luke at his preschool was a bad idea. What if the boy didn't want to go home with him? What if the boy didn't trust him and wanted to only be picked up by Brian? What if he would create a scene because he didn't know Justin? God, Justin had driven himself crazy all morning with every possible scenario that could go wrong and now he was sitting here, outside of Luke's preschool and the moment of truth was only minutes away.

This had been a mistake. Definitely a big mistake. He should have let Brian pick him up and should have only come to Britin later. That way Brian could have prepared Luke for what was to come and could have given the boy some time to get used to the changes that were now about to happen in his young life. Bad idea. Yes, absolutely bad idea, Justin thought to himself and rested his forehead on the steering wheel. As far as bad ideas went, this was possibly the worst idea ever.

Justin only lifted his head when he heard his cell phone beep to alert him of an incoming message. He couldn't help but smile when he saw that the message came from Emmett. 'Bring it on, Papa. You'll do just fine. And don't forget, I want a picture of your little munchkin :*'

Justin read the text once more, then put his cell phone away and got out of the car. He didn't want to be late on the first day he was supposed to pick up his son. He made his way over to the entrance of the preschool and was greeted by a nice lady in her thirties who smiled warmly at him.

“May I help you, sir?” she asked in a friendly voice, probably noticing that he looked slightly lost and didn't quite know where to go.

“Uhm, yeah. My name is Justin Taylor and I am here to pick up my son,” Justin started, but was then interrupted by the smiling lady. It still felt weird for him to say 'my son'. After all he had only found out about his existence a mere 48 hours ago.

“Luke Kinney-Taylor. Yes, I know. Mr Kinney has informed us that you would be by to pick up Luke and Luke has been talking about nothing else but you picking him up all day.”

“Really?” Justin all but stuttered.

“Yes, really. He's really excited. I take it you haven't picked him up before?” She asked, still smiling at him.

“Uhm, no. I have mostly been working out of state and didn't have the chance, yet,” Justin answered evasively.

“Well, let me show you around then. Luke is still playing with his friends. He won't notice if you're five minutes late.”

“Uhm yeah, sure. Why not,” Justin answered and then followed her around the preschool.

After fifteen minutes his tour of the premises was done and he had to admit that he was quite impressed. This was definitely a high-class preschool. Then again, he hadn't really expected anything less from Brian. Nothing would be too expensive for his children. They would only ever get to know the best of everything in life as far as Brian would be concerned.

When they had made it back to the entrance hall, the woman, who had by now introduced herself as Simone, disappeared to pick up Luke from his class. Justin heard her coming back before he saw her. Or rather he heard his excited son.

“My Papa is here? Really? Daddy said he would pick me up, but I didn't believe him. He's really here?”

“Yes, Luke. He is really here. See? Over there,” and before she had a chance to say anything more, Luke had run from her side and had propelled into Justin's legs, totally taking him off guard.

“Papa! You're here! You're really here!” The young boy exclaimed as he hugged Justin's legs as if they would disappear the second he'd let go of them.

“Yes, I am here, buddy,” Justin said, feeling just as emotional as his son did as he leaned down and engulfed Luke in a hug. The first time in his life that he hugged his son. And at that moment Justin knew that this had been the worst idea ever. He didn't want to ever let go of Luke again and couldn't stop inhaling his scent and holding him close as the boy hugged him back just as tightly. Justin was only mildly aware of the watching mothers and fathers around him who were all watching this ongoing hug with hardly disguised interest. After about two minutes Justin remembered his surroundings and realised what a spectacle he was making of himself and his son. He carefully loosened the tight embrace from his son and looked at his happy face. “How about we get out of here and go back home?” Justin asked as he picked up his son, still holding him tight, refusing to lose contact with him just yet.

“Okay, Papa. Just don't leave again,” Luke whispered, looking at Justin intently as they made their way to Justin's car.

“Never,” Justin promised, placing a kiss on his son's forehead.

As he opened the door and helped Luke into his car seat, he was once more grateful for Daphne's quick thinking. He would have totally forgotten about something as trivial as a car seat, but she had forced him to go shopping for one after they had left Debbie's house the day before. She had reminded him of all the laws he would be breaking if he transported his son without a car seat and of course she had been right. It was just that he hadn't even thought about something like that. All he could think about was seeing his son and spending time with him for the first time ever.

“I didn't believe Daddy when he said you would come to pick me up,” Luke informed him quietly from his car seat as Justin got behind the steering wheel.

Justin turned around to look at his son. “Why not?”

“You were so angry when you first came to our home and... you said you hated Daddy. I didn't believe him when he said you two had talked,” the small boy told him honestly.

Justin's heart nearly broke when he saw his son's sad eyes. “You heard me say that?”

Luke nodded solemny. “Gus and I were in the kitchen eating a cookie.”

“Oh Luke... jeez... I-I am sorry,” Justin said honestly. “I didn't mean that. I was just really angry about something, but... I didn't mean that.”

“That's what Gus said. He said you're too nice to be that mean.”

“And Gus would be right about that. I am sorry you had to hear that, buddy,” Justin whispered.

“It's okay, Papa. You're here now,” Luke enthused, happily clapping his hands together. “I am really looking forward to showing you my room. Daddy said I can show you my room. Do you want to see my room?” Luke asked, hardly ever stopping to take a breath.

“I would love to see your room, Luke,” Justin nodded and turned back towards the steering wheel, starting the car to get them on the road. Brian was probably wondering where they had disappeared to. They were already 20 minutes late.

Ten minutes later they pulled into the drive of Britin and Luke got more and more excited the closer they got to his home. He was happily bouncing along to the music from Justin's radio in his car seat and was telling Justin story after story about his day at preschool and all the things he had done there. Justin couldn't help but smile at his enthusiastic son. He was so engrossed in his son, that he didn't even have time to become nervous or think about his upcoming encounter with Brian, something that had kept him awake for a long time last night.

He was still pissed with Brian and felt hurt by his betrayal and he had no idea how he was supposed to behave in his company day in and out. In the end he had fallen into an exhausted sleep, knowing that no matter what, he would have to find a way to deal with Brian, since there was no way he was leaving his son's life again.

Once the car had stopped outside of Britin, Justin helped Luke out of his car seat and was pulled towards the entrance of the house by an overexcited five year old.

“Come on, Papa. I have to show you my room. Now!”

“I am sure your room will still be there in five minutes, sonny-boy,” a deep voice greeted them as the door opened to let them in.

“Daddy!” Luke exclaimed excitedly as he ran into Brian's waiting arms.

“How are you sonny-boy? Did you have fun?”

Luke nodded eagerly and then turned towards the door where Justin was waiting. “Papa really came, Daddy. He really picked me up.”

“I told you so. Next time just believe me,” Brian smiled gently, before he let his son down. He threw Justin a quick glance. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Justin replied, still standing in the doorway, not quite sure of what to do with himself. Thankfully, he was saved by his five-year old son. “Come on, Papa. I'll have to show you my room. You have to see my lego dinosaur.”

Justin just nodded, following his son up the stairs towards his room, not sparing Brian another glance. He could do this if he just focused on Luke. Yes, he could. They were stopped by Brian's voice however.

“I'll be in the office if you need anything,” was all he told them, before closing the main door and walking down the hall to what was supposedly his office.

Twenty minutes later Justin had been introduced to all of Luke's toys. Some even by name. He wondered if he would ever be able to remember all those names. He sat down on his son's bed, trying to catch his breath and just relax for a second, when something on Luke's nightstand caught his eye. It was a framed picture. When he took it in his hands, Luke joined him on the bed. It was a picture of him and Brian holding a laughing Gus between them. Gus was maybe three or four years old and they were clearly outside in a park somewhere. They all looked happy and were smiling.

He studied the picture for a long time and didn't notice how Luke had sat down next to him. “I like that picture,” Luke said quietly and Justin looked down at him from surprised eyes.

“Where did you get that, Luke?” he asked, although he had a feeling that he knew the answer.

“Daddy gave it to me. He said with the picture on the nightstand I wouldn't have nightmares and the monsters under my bed would all go away, because they would be scared of my family. Daddy says monsters are scared of happy families,” Luke explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Yes, yes they are,” Justin affirmed, looking back at the picture, not quite able to believe that Brian had remembered the time so long ago when Justin had told him of his childhood memory of his mother giving him a family picture to protect him from nightmares. He couldn't believe that Brian had actually remembered that story and much less had then used it to help his son cope with nightmares as well. “It's a really nice picture, Luke.” He then put the picture back on Luke's nightstand, not wanting to dwell any longer on a past that was long gone.

“Now we can all take a picture together. You, me, Daddy and Gus and then I can have a new happy family picture with all of us,” Luke exclaimed, excited by his own idea.

“Luke, I-...,” Justin started, but then stopped himself. He loved seeing his happy and excited son and he didn't want to dash his hopes. “That sounds like a really good idea,” he said instead and was rewarded by a smile that could have lit up the entire room. Now he understood why Debbie called Luke 'Baby Sunshine'.

This is kind of the image that I had in mind for Luke