Chapter 20

An hour later Carl arrived at Britin and was let into the mansion by the three men who were still up. All thoughts of sleep long forgotten.

“Is everything okay? What did you have to show me in person at this time of the night?” The old man grouched slightly, if not angrily.

“There's something you need to listen to,” Ted said solemnly before he led Carl into the kitchen where they all sat down at the kitchen table, nursing cups of coffees as Ted started playing the recording of Brian's call to Michael.

They all listened in silence, Carl's eyes only widening slightly when he heard Michael's confession. After more than 35 years in the field he wasn't surprised by much anymore. When the recording ended, Carl sighed deeply.

“The fool,” he muttered angrily before he turned to Brian. “Why did you call him? I told you to not go after him!”

“I didn't go after him,” Brian replied seriously. “I just gave my best friend a call. Isn't that what you do with best friends? Check in with them after traumatic events?”

“Brian...,” Carl sighed, but then stopped when he saw Ted's slight shake of head. Aggravating Brian now was not a good idea. Not after the day the man had had. Carl understood that himself even without Ted's non-verbal communication. “There is no way I can keep this under wraps. Do you understand that? You just played me the confession to a major federal crime. I have to report this.”

“I know,” Brian only said darkly, before taking another sip of his hot beverage.

“You're not asking me to keep this to myself?” Carl frowned, wondering what the three men at the table with him were playing at.

This time it was Blake who replied. “No, we know Michael confessed to being an accessory to a major crime which in itself is a crime. We... just wanted to check in with you first to know how to best proceed.”

“Well, I will report about his confession and we'll need a copy of that tape, Ted,” Carl started. “He'll probably be taken in first thing in the morning along with Lindsay and well... the tape is clear enough. There's not much he can do to save himself or Lindsay from that,” Carl sighed. “He confessed to being an accessory to a child abduction across state borders. That's... a major federal crime in itself.”

“What are we looking at in terms of a sentence?” Brian asked, his voice weirdly void of all emotion.

“Probably seven years at the least. Add to that the false testimony at the airport and it might even go higher,” Carl said darkly.

“Good,” was all Brian said, before he got up and left the room.

“Good?” Carl frowned as he looked after Brian.

“I want him to go down for this,” Brian snarked when he turned back to look at the three men seated at his kitchen table. “He helped her to take away my baby. He went after my son because he didn't like that I didn't live my life according to his ideas. I want him to go down for it. Both of them!”

“I can understand that, Brian, but...don't you think you're letting the heat of the moment get to you here?”

“He went too far. All year long I've listened to his bullshit and just let him go on, but now he went too far and if he goes down for it, I'll be absolutely fine with that.”

“Whatever will happen next will be out of our hands anyway, right?” Blake asked, trying to calm down the situation. “This is now in the hands of law enforcement and then probably a judge, right?”

“Yeah, there will probably be charges filed against him immediately and then it will go to trial,” Carl affirmed.

“And Lindsay? What about her?” Ted asked quietly. He agreed with Brian that she deserved everything that came her way, but he couldn't help but feel slightly sorry. She had been a friend for years and Melanie had been an even closer friend to him. This would break her.

“She's probably looking at more than 10 years if we also take into account her false testimony about Luke's parentage and the clearly counterfeit passport for Luke.”

“What a fucking mess,” Ted muttered as he hid his head in his hands. He relaxed slightly when he felt Blake's hand massage his back in soothing motions.

“Indeed,” Carl only sighed.

After a few minutes of pacing the large living-room, Brian returned to the men in the kitchen. He had obviously calmed down a bit and forced himself to keep a cool head. He knew that with all of what was coming their way in upcoming days and weeks, he would need it. If only to make sure that his son made it through this mess in one piece. Both his sons really. With Lindsay going to prison for what she had done, this didn't only affect Brian and Luke but also Gus.

“Ted, I want you to call Melanie tomorrow morning. Offer her a ticket to come down with the kids. She shouldn't be alone in Toronto right now,” he muttered silently and Ted only nodded in return, feeling once again amazed by Brian's generosity. Even in a situation like this where he had been hurt beyond imagination and where he could be mean and cold and could punish Melanie for Lindsay's mistakes, he looked out for a woman Ted knew Brian had never particularly liked to begin with. Those two had always clashed heads and fought more often than not and yet Brian wanted to make sure that she was not alone at a time like this.

After several more minutes of silence where each man hung on to their own thoughts, Carl cleared his throat and got up. “Well, I better head on back to Pittsburgh and hand the recording over to the FBI. And then I'll try and prepare Debbie for what's about to happen.” His voice had turned into hardly more than a whisper towards the end of his statement and none of the other three men wanted to be in his shoes. This would hurt Debbie so badly. They could only imagine how the matriarch of their family would react to finding out what her son had done and been a part of.

“I am sorry, Carl,” Brian whispered, hanging his head.

Carl squeezed his shoulder in silent support. “Don't you apologize, son. None of this is your fault! And Debbie will see that as well.”

Carl hoped that he was right when he said that. He knew better than anyone how blind Debbie could be at times to her son's faults and mistakes. He just hoped against hope that this time Debbie would realise that Michael had caused grievous harm to a family member and deserved what was coming his way.

***

After Carl had left all three men agreed to retire to bed. It was nearly 4.30am and they knew it would only be a matter of time before Luke would wake up. Poor tyke had to have been more exhausted than they all had thought seeing how he hadn't woken up yet.

Ted and Blake settled in one of Britin's guestrooms and Brian made his way to the master bedroom. He lay down on the bed replaying the day's and night's events and just couldn't find any peace or calm. He was twisting and turning and sleep was eluding him as the details of Lindsay's and Michael's betrayal went through his head again and again.

Having tried to fall asleep for almost an hour, Brian finally gave up and moved into Luke's nursery. He watched his peacefully sleeping son and wished that he could just sleep like that as well. He carefully lifted Luke into his arms, being especially gentle as not to wake up the sleeping infant and held him close, inhaling the scent that was so uniquely Luke.

“Hey sonny boy, I am so glad you're alright. You've got no idea,” Brian whispered, before he made a decision and carried Luke back into the master bedroom with him.

He gently lay the baby down in the middle of the big bed and lay down next to him after he had placed a big pillow on Luke's other side to make sure that the baby couldn't roll off the bed. He looked at his sonny boy and every once in a while ran his hand over the soft fuzz on top of Luke's head.

After some time he had to have fallen asleep because that was how Ted found him the next morning when he had made his way through the house in search of Luke. He had been confused when he couldn't see the baby in his crib, but had then figured that Brian had to have taken him sometime after they had turned in. He had carefully and quietly entered the master bedroom and couldn't help but smile to himself when he saw a still fully dressed Brian lying on his side, one of his arms wrapped around Luke's small body in a protective gesture. The small baby was awake as Ted saw when he walked around the bed and was happily gurgling and touching Brian.

Ted chuckled at the cute sight and could only imagine how tired Brian had to be if he didn't even notice his son touching him and grabbing for every piece of hair he could reach. He watched the cute scene for a couple of minutes and couldn't help but be amazed at how content Luke seemed to be just to be at his daddy's side. It was as if he knew that he was back next to Brian and as if being close to his daddy was already enough to keep him quiet.

Deciding not to disturb the scene and knowing that Brian would probably kill him if he ever found out that Ted had seen him and his son in a gentle moment like that, Ted quietly made for the door and left the room, deciding that breakfast could wait a bit longer.

***

About an hour later Brian and Luke made their way downstairs when Luke had deemed that he had waited long enough for his daddy to wake up and had finally decided that his hunger was more important than being with his daddy.

Brian had quickly changed Luke and had then taken his small son into the kitchen where he was greeted by Ted and Blake who both eyed him warily.

“What?” He snarked at both men.

“We're just wondering how you're holding up,” Ted bravely announced as he watched Brian prepare Luke's bottle while Luke was growing more and more impatient in his arms.

“What do you think, Schmidt?” Brian hissed and then cursed when the bottle with Luke's formula fell from his hands and onto the countertop.

Blake immediately jumped up to help. “Here, let me,” he said as he picked up the bottle and cleaned up the mess it had created on the countertop.

“I can do that on my own,” Brian pressed out while Luke in his arms had started to wail pitifully.

“But you DON'T have to,” Blake only replied sternly, holding Brian's gaze, making it clear to the older man that he was not scared of him. “Ted and I are here to help, so you better swallow your damn fucking pride, sit down with your son and make sure he gets his bottle while I take care of this mess.” Blake eyed Brian in a 'Don't even dare to contradict me'-way and Brian wondered if this was how Blake handled junkies at the clinic he was working at. Who would have thought that Schmidt's twinkie could be that determined?

Nodding silently, Brian took the bottle Blake held out to him and sat down at the kitchen table with Luke in his arms. Luke immediately quieted down when Brian held out his bottle to him and started sucking on it.

“He sucks like a pro,” Ted commented, trying to light the tense mood in the kitchen.

“Are you surprised? With me and Justin as fathers, how can he not?” Brian joked, feeling grateful that Ted hadn't commented on the scene with the bottle and what Blake had said. Brian was grateful for them being there if he was honest with himself and he appreciated their help the day before, but he just wasn't sure how to voice that appreciation without making a complete fool of himself.

All three men chuckled at that and once Luke had been fed and burped had their own breakfast. They didn't talk much, all three of them enjoying the comfortable silence and still feeling the effects of the very short night they had had.

Their silence was interrupted by the doorbell however ten minutes later and Brian sighed, having a feeling that he knew who would be on the other side. He took a quick glance at Luke who was playing with his rattle in his baby seat, before he made his way to the door. Upon opening the door his suspicions were confirmed.

“You fucking asshole!” An irate Debbie greeted him, stomping into the foyer of Britin. Brian sighed to himself as he closed the door, then turned to her.

“It's always a pleasure to see you, too, Debs.”

“Cut the bullshit, you fucking bastard!” Debbie yelled and her yelling brought Ted and Blake to the kitchen doorway.

“Debbie, calm down,” Ted admonished, then nodded towards the kitchen where Luke was still playing in his baby seat. “You're scaring Luke.”

“Calm down? Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down when my baby has been arrested?”

“Debbie,” Blake admonished as well when he heard Luke start to cry. “Lower your voice.” He then left the doorway and headed into the kitchen to take care of Luke after a quick nod in Brian's direction.

“Lower my voice? Is he for real?” Debbie yelled at Ted and Brian, before turning on Brian, stabbing her finger into his chest, making the brunet back into the door behind him. “How could you fucking do that to him? How could you?”

When Brian didn't reply and just let Debbie continue with her rant, it was Ted who spoke up. “Brian didn't do anything.”

“Of course he did!” Debbie screeched. “He got my baby arrested.”

“Michael brought everything upon himself,” Brian said in a deadly calm voice when he replied to the woman who had been his surrogate mother for more than twenty years.

“Brian, he's your best friend. You need to help him.”

“Help him? After he helped Lindsay to kidnap my baby?” Brian looked at her as if she had gone crazy.

“He didn't mean it, I am sure.” Debbie argued, her finger still resting on Brian's chest.

“So he didn't mean to distract me and keep me in Pittsburgh, giving Lindsay the time she needed to take my baby to the airport so she could take him home with her to Toronto? Then why would he admit that on tape?” Brian hissed at her, slapping her hand away from his chest and brushing past her into the middle of the foyer.

“Brian, you know Michael would never do anything to hurt you. He loves you,” Debbie wailed, tears now running down her cheeks.

“He loves me enough to help someone else kidnap my baby. A baby he has been talking shit about for a year. If that's love, I can very well do without it,” Brian spat.

“You need to help him. He's your best friend!” Debbie wailed.

“He is nothing to me. All he is, is dead to me. I hope he goes down for this.”

“Brian!” Debbie screeched and then slapped him hard.

Brian held his cheek where her hand had connected and eyed her furiously. “That never worked on me. You should ask Jack.”

“After everything he has done for you, how can you not help him now?” Debbie glared at him, and when she was ready to slap him once more, Ted came up to her and grabbed her arm, stopping it before it connected with Brian's face once more.

“Debbie, I think you should leave.”

“Let go of me, Ted.”

“Your son made his own bed. For once in his life let him face the consequences of his actions. He's a grown man. Stop treating him like a preschooler,” he growled at her and for a second she looked at him as if she had never seen him before. Then her features turned into a growl.

“You are siding with the asshole? After everything Michael and I have done for you?”

“I am grateful for allowing me to be a part of your family, Debbie, but that's about everything you ever did for me.”

“Ted,” Brian said quietly, not wanting his friend to fall out with Debbie over this. This was between him and Michael and to some degree Debbie, but Ted was not involved.

“What?” Ted asked angrily then turned back to Debbie. “Do you really think we haven't all seen how you've always dangled Brian's childhood over his head? Do you really think we don't notice how you use guilt to make sure everyone does what you want them to do? Let me tell you something, Debbie: Yes, you have welcomed me into your home when Michael became my friend and I am grateful for that, just like I am sure that Brian is grateful for all you did for him when he was a teenager, but I am his accountant and I know what Brian paid on your mortgage so you could keep your house. I know how much Brian paid so Michael could have his dream of his own comic book store. As far as I am concerned Brian has repaid his alleged debt to you and Michael ten times over. And Debbie, some people help other people out of the goodness of their heart, not because they expect something in return. Ever thought about that?”

“How dare you?” Debbie glared at Ted.

“Debbie, you better open your eyes to what your son has done. He is facing a long prison sentence and the earlier you accept that, the better it will be for everyone involved.”

The mention of the prison sentence made Debbie blanch and all colour left her face. After a minute of silence the fight returned to her however and she turned on Brian once more. “He is your best friend. You need to help him. You need to get him a good lawyer!”

“He helped Lindsay kidnap my son. I will not pay for his damn lawyer so he can get off these charges,” Brian said seriously. “He has gone too far and for all I care, he can go rot in hell.” With that Brian turned around and left the foyer to move back into the kitchen.

“Brian!” Debbie started yelling after him and was about to follow him into the kitchen when Ted blocked her way.

“You should leave now! He will not help Michael. Not after this. Michael has finally gone too far and Brian will not help him in any way. Unless you can accept what your son has done, don't bother coming back here.”

After having said his piece, Ted yanked open the front door and glared at Debbie until she moved through the door. Without as much as a goodbye he closed the door behind her, not able to believe that the woman had seriously demanded that Brian pay a lawyer for a person who was involved in his child being abducted.