Chapter 14

After that day things finally calmed down for Justin and Brian and their family. After Debbie had kicked his ass and had made him see that his son deserved to know who his father was and that Gus deserved to know his real relationship with Brian, Brian and Justin had sat down and had a serious conversation about what this meant for their relationship.

Before it had just been the two of them and things had already been complicated enough with it just being the two of them due to the circumstances of Brian being a slave and Justin being his owner. That ugly monster always reared its head again and again and caused problems for them wherever they went.

Having a small child added wouldn't make their life any easier and Brian knew that he was asking a lot of Justin to just accept that a child was now also part of their relationship. He knew that Justin was well within his rights to say that he didn't want to be involved in raising a child as that had never been his plan for life or whatever.

Not that Justin had any intention of doing that. He had always enjoyed spending time with Gus and he had always got on well with the tyke, especially since Brian had become his favourite babysitter and Gus would spend a lot of time at their place or they would spend a lot of time at the girls' house. Knowing that Gus was Brian's son wouldn't change that, quite on the contrary. It had only strengthened Justin's belief that he wanted to make sure that the small boy would always be happy and only experience the best in life.

He knew how, despite what it might look like on the outside, Brian loved his son deeply and cared for him and wanted to become a part of his life. When he saw Brian spend time with Gus that day, he knew that he would never stand in the way of that. A child might not have been something that had been on his agenda, at least not at that point in time, but now the child was there and much like Brian had, he could accept that and get used to it. They would figure it out and they would make it work. Justin knew he would try his damnest to give this to Brian, knowing how much a relationship with Gus would mean to his boyfriend and how much happiness it would bring to his life in the long run. And all Justin had ever wanted was for Brian to be happy, so he would never stand in the way of his relationship with his son.

Once they had agreed that they wanted Brian to be a part of Gus' life and that they wanted to be together for that new stage of their lives, they agreed that they needed to talk to the girls.

A couple of days later the four of them met at the girls' house and went over their options. It had been an honest, if sometimes – especially for Brian – painful and uncomfortable conversation.

Due to his status as a slave, Brian had absolutely no rights at all to his son. Brian had no rights to visitation, had no rights to make any decisions for him, he didn't even have any rights to be around him if Justin didn't allow it. Nobody liked voicing it, but that was the harsh truth of their situation.

Melanie being an anti-slavery lawyer and having worked for anti-slavery groups all of her career had looked into the best options for them and had talked to some of her colleagues to figure out how to best go about their current situation.

Everyone had agreed that Brian should be a part of Gus' life and everyone had agreed that Gus should grow up knowing about the real relationship between him and Brian. No, this wasn't what the girls had originally wanted, but now that they were faced with the situation, they had accepted it and had decided to see the good in it. Their son would have another person, adding Justin to the mix two people really, that would love him beyond anything and would do whatever they could for him.

At the same time the boys had agreed that they didn't want to become full-time parents. Neither of them felt ready for that, so they had immediately assured the girls that they had no intentions of setting up a complicated visitation or custody schedule and that they would always accept that the girls would be Gus' primary caregivers as they had intended to be from the very beginning.

Brian and Justin agreed that Gus deserved to know Brian as his father, but that his primary parents should be his mothers who he would be living with.

The girls had appreciated that gesture and in the end it had been pretty easy to come to a decision concerning Gus. The four parents had decided to pretty much just continue things as they had been then. Brian had been Gus' primary babysitter for a couple of months now whenever the girls needed someone to take care of the boy because of Gus' deep affection for Brian and since Brian didn't really have a job or much else to do, he had been happy to help out whenever he was needed.

They all decided that would continue, so Brian would get a chance to spend time with his son. In addition, Melanie and Lindsay assured the other couple that they had an open door policy and whenever Brian or Justin wanted to come by, they were more than welcome.

After some more talking, everyone agreed that Gus would spend one afternoon a week with Brian, despite any babysitting that might be needed in addition, so that Brian and Gus could bond some more and Melanie and Lindsay suggested that the boys might also want to take Gus for an overnight visit every once in a while.

At first Brian and Justin had been rather unsure about that, after all Gus had never spent a night with them before, but the girls assured them that they wouldn't mind and would appreciate a quiet evening every once in a while with just the two of them, so in the end all agreed that Gus would spend one afternoon a week and one overnight visit per month with his father and his boyfriend.

As Brian didn't officially have any rights, no agreement could be signed by all of them, so Melanie suggested the next best thing that she had come up with. They would make Justin one of Gus' legal guardians and would have him sign their agreement. That way Justin's place in Gus' life and by extension Brian's place as well would be secured. It wasn't perfect, they all knew it, but they all were also acutely aware of how little they could do for Brian as long as the laws weren't changed, so in the end after some consideration between Brian and Justin the two men gave their okay and Justin officially became one of Gus' legal guardians and signed the agreement they had come up with.

Everyone in their family was beyond happy when Brian's relation to Gus was revealed to them all at the next family dinner and over the following months everyone got so used to seeing Brian and Gus together, that no one seemed to be able to remember a time when they hadn't known that Brian was Gus' father.

Gus grew up calling Brian 'Dada' and Justin would never forget the joy on his partner's face the first time Gus had called him that with a big smile on his chubby face. Gus seemed beyond happy to spend time with his Dada and loved hanging out with Brian and Justin. He enjoyed their visits and all four parents quickly got used to their new family dynamics.

After less than two months, Brian hesitantly asked the girls if they would be okay with Gus spending a whole weekend at the Loft with Brian and Justin and Lindsay and Melanie had only been too happy to agree and had gone on a short, romantic weekend getaway while the boys took care of their son.

They all realised how much they had enjoyed that weekend, Brian and Justin had realised how much they had enjoyed having Gus around for longer than a few hours or a night, the boy had enjoyed sleeping with his dada and his 'Jus' in the big bed and the girls had enjoyed the freedom to go somewhere and do something without having to worry about their small son.

Quickly everyone agreed that it would make sense to amend their agreement and the one overnight visit per month that Gus had with his father and his partner was changed to a weekend visit.

Everyone had been happy with that change and things had settled into a quiet, happy routine from there.

But of course that peace and quiet wasn't to last. That would have been too much to ask for.

“I told you to leave me alone and to stop contacting me! Do not call this number again!”

Brian sighed when he opened the door to the loft and entered, watching as Justin angrily slammed down the phone. He eyed Justin from the kitchen island where he put the groceries he had bought and went over to his pacing boyfriend, wrapping his arms around his waist, effectively stopping his pacing.

“Was it her again?” He asked quietly and pulled Justin closer when the younger man only nodded in reply.

For the last two weeks Justin had been getting random calls and emails from his mother, who had been trying to get in contact with him. It had been the first time in more than five years that Justin had heard anything from any of his family members and if he had had his way, they would have stayed away from him.

“She just can't seem to accept that I don't want to see her or talk to her or hear from her or anything,” Justin muttered angrily.

“She's your mother. Of course she can't,” Brian replied quietly, not surprised when Justin only snorted. They had had this conversation before when the calls and emails had started and while Justin had blank out refused to talk to her or meet with her, Brian had been more open to her side of things.

“Where was she when I was 17 and would have needed her?” Justin only spat and loosened Brian's embrace, turning around to look at the older man. “She didn't care then, so I sure as hell don't care if she suddenly cares now.”

“Hey, don't let her get to you, okay?” Brian whispered, leaving a gentle kiss on his boyfriend's forehead. “If you don't want to talk to her, you don't have to.”

“Of course I don't want to talk to her. She didn't do anything to stop him when he...,” Justin sighed, not able to continue his sentence and trailing off. They both knew what he was about to say and neither really wanted to think about what Craig Taylor had done to hurt Brian and how he had sold Brian to an agency that would turn him into a pleasure slave.

“Shhhhhhh, calm down... Don't let it get to you. It's in the past,” Brian whispered, giving Justin a gentle hug before he let go of his boyfriend and returned to the kitchen to put away the groceries.

“How can you be so calm about this?” Justin walked after Brian and eyed him in confusion. Usually Brian was the emotional, dramatic one, not Justin and it was giving Justin a hard time that Brian had stayed so calm about his mother trying to get in contact with him. He thought Brian would have been scared or panicked or just traumatised by hearing from Justin's family, but nothing like that. Brian had been so incredibly calm and sometimes it even seemed to Justin as if he wouldn't mind if Justin met with his mother. Which utterly confused the younger man.

“Who says I am calm?” Brian started putting away groceries as he continued their conversation.

“Well, unlike me you're not a drama queen about this and you're not yelling, crying, slamming doors or running away.”

“Maybe because it's not about me this time,” Brian shrugged.

“Of course it is about you.”

Brian sighed and closed the fridge before he turned to look Justin straight in the eyes.

“No, it's not. This is about you. YOU! Your mother wants to get in contact with you. She doesn't even know I am part of your life, does she? So how could this be about me?”

“You know how,” Justin just muttered.

Brian took Justin's hand in his and held it gently. “I know that you left your family because of me, I know that you broke off all contact with them because of me and... ever since I've found out, I think you're the bravest fucker I know, but... this... for once it's not about me. Yes, years ago it was about me, but her contacting you now, that's about you and her.”

“Would you still be this calm if I agreed to meet with her?” Justin asked with curiousity in his voice.

Brian shrugged and was quiet for the longest time. “Are you considering it?”

“I... No, not really.”

“But you've thought about it,” the older man said quietly.

“I am just wondering why now,” Justin admitted, not looking at Brian when he spoke. “Why hasn't she tried to find me before? Or why is she wanting to talk to me now if she hasn't cared before?”

“Only one way to find out,” Brian said, as usual not mincing his words.

“I am not sure if I care enough to find out,” Justin admitted, finally meeting Brian's concerned gaze again. “Yes, she is my mother, but... she hasn't been in a long time and... something died that day when I left. I... I have closed the door on the Taylor family when I left that day.”

“And she apparently wants to reopen it,” Brian said quietly. He walked around the kitchen island and walked over to where his boyfriend stood, once more taking him in his arms. “For whatever it's worth, I have always hated your father. From the very first day. He was an arrogant prick all the time I have stayed with your family...”

Justin only snorted at that. “You wouldn't say...”

Brian ignored him and just went on quietly. “But your mom... She was different. She... she was even nice at times and one thing I have never doubted was that she loved you and Molly, Justin.”

“Yeah, she loved me enough to not care that I walked out the door aged 17 without any means to support myself. She loved me enough not to care about what my father had done to you or how much he had hurt me as well. Where was she when he sent you away? Where was she when he fucking assaulted you and hurt you so badly? Where was she when he hit me?”

Justin had talked himself into a rage and Brian could see the angry tears on his lover's face.

“You know there's only one person who can answer those questions,” Brian replied seriously.

“You want me to meet with her,” Justin said quietly, eyeing Brian from his tear-stained face.

“I just think that there is probably a reason for her reaching out to you now after all this time and... maybe it's worth finding out.”

They didn't talk more about Jennifer Taylor's attempts to get in contact with Justin that day. Brian knew that in the end Justin would have to be the one to come to a decision and he could only be there and support his boyfriend whatever that decision might be. Honestly, Jennifer Taylor wasn't worth them arguing about and he didn't want to pressure Justin one way or the other. Justin was an adult and he would make the right decision for himself whenever he was ready. Brian knew it.