“Is Daddy mad at me?” Tommy asked seconds after Brian practically flew out the door.

“No, he just needs to do some work. But maybe we shouldn’t draw on the walls anymore. Let’s go see if we can get the crayon off the wall.”

“But I draw’d it for you.”

“I know, but we can’t draw on walls. That’s what we have paper for.”

“Okay,” Tommy agreed, begrudgingly.

Maxwell didn’t allow Tommy to have any crayons at the house. That meant it took a lot of work and time for Justin to figure out how to get the crayon marks off the wall. Just as they finished he heard the intercom buzz. For a terrifying minute he thought it was Maxwell, until he remembered Erik was bringing his daughter to him.

“Who’s there?” he squeaked into the intercom, still nervous it was Maxwell or one of his cronies.

“Ted Schmidt.”

Justin remembered Brian saying that his friend Ted was dating Erik now. So he buzzed them in. He was so nervous to meet his daughter. She was still a newborn but he never even felt her move while pregnant. He had none of the memories he had when he was pregnant with Tommy. She was a stranger to him. As he was to her, she wasn’t used to his voice at all. He hadn’t been awake for any of that. He worried that he wouldn’t have the connection to her like he did Tommy.

Knock. Knock.

Startled he looked at the door with wide eyes. Could he do this? On the other side of the door was his daughter.

“Someone’s here,” Tommy said, jumping up and down.

Justin slid open the door to reveal an older man holding a baby.

“Ted?” he asked.

“Uncle Ted!” Tommy yelled.

The man shifted nervously. “Can I come in?” he asked.

“Of course,” he said, before stepping out of the way. Justin looked out into the hallway after Ted passed him for Erik. “Where’s Erik?”

Ted sighed. “He couldn’t hand her over. He knows she belongs with you though, so he gave her to me to bring. It’s tearing him up.”

“I won’t keep her from him. We can have a paternity test done and everything will be fine.”

“Erik doesn’t think she is his,” Ted said, his voice rough.

“Why?”

“She has a strawberry birthmark on her back. Erik said it was identical to your husband’s.”

Justin knew the birthmark Ted was talking about. It was his worst nightmare coming true. If Erik was her father, they would co-parent and she would have a good life. But if Maxwell was her father there were problems. First, he was a suspected murderer. Second, he already tried to kill him. Lastly, the thing that scared him the most. What if Maxwell didn’t go to jail? What if he got custody of their daughter? If that happened, Justin knew without a doubt some accident would happen to her. She wouldn’t survive until adulthood; Maxwell would make sure of it.

“Can I told her?” he asked Ted.

“She’s your daughter. Oh, by the way Erik is letting Marissa’s caseworker know that you’re taking over her care.”

“Caseworker?”

“Yes, when you were in your coma the state took custody of Marissa. You’ll have to meet with her caseworker but there shouldn’t be any problem.” Ted handed the baby over to Justin.

Justin decided to not worry about the caseworker at the moment. Instead he just looked at his daughter in awe. She was the most beautiful little girl he had even seen. Ted had her in a pink sleeper with red hearts. She was asleep with her tiny fists next to her cheeks. It had been so long since he held a baby as small as her. In fact, he didn’t think even when Tommy was born he was as small as her. Tommy had Brian’s height and was a chubby little thing when he was born. He now looked like a Brian clone, except for his lighter complexion and blue eyes. She on the other hand looked nothing like her sperm donor, thank God.

“I’ll just go get the rest of her stuff. Erik and I made sure she had everything she needed.” With that Ted left the loft, most likely having left the stuff in the car.

“Why you holding ‘Rissa?”

“She’s my daughter. Do you know what that means?”

Tommy shook his head. They tried to explain it to him yesterday but they weren’t that successful.

“That means she’s your sister. You know like Gus is your brother, she is your sister.”

“Is she gonna live with Gus?”

“No, she’ll live with me in the downstairs loft.” Brian had told Justin he bought the building about six months ago because the prior owner never kept anything fixed. The front door’s lock almost never worked. Since then Brian’s building was the safest in Pittsburgh.  

“What about me?”

“You’ll get to come downstairs and visit anytime you want. Daddy said so, remember?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot.”

That seemed to pacify Tommy’s curiosity. He wandered over to where his toys were and started playing. Ted came back through the door with two big suitcases and a diaper bag. His face was a little pale.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just not feeling too great at the moment. I have two more trips to make.” Justin wanted to volunteer to go get the rest but Brian made him promise not to leave unless it was an emergency. They didn’t know if Maxwell’s friends would be after him or not.

Finally, after the two more trips Ted seemed done. There was a car seat, and a bag of odds and ends. Just as it looked like Ted was going to leave, he almost fell headfirst into the couch before catching himself.

“Are you okay?” Justin asked, worriedly.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I just got really lightheaded for a minute there. I’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure? Can I call someone for you?”

The man’s face paled some more, making Justin very worried. “Yeah.” He fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a small silver phone. “Emmett.” Ted handed him the phone before sitting on the couch and closing his eyes.

Justin laid Marissa down in her car carrier. Then he searched Ted’s contacts looking for the name Emmett. He almost stopped on Brian and called but that’s not who Ted asked for.

Two rings in, the call was answered.

“Teddy, you will not believe who I just saw.”

“I’m sorry, this is Justin. Ted’s not feeling well, and I don’t think he can drive himself home.”

“Well, who is this? You sound absolutely scrumptious. Wait, somethings wrong with Teddy?”

“Justin. Yes. We’re over here at Brian’s loft. Can you come over?”

“Sure, baby. I’ll be over there lickity-split.”

“Thanks.”

After getting off the phone with the loud man he looked back at Ted. He still had his eyes closed, head laying back on the back of the couch.

“He’s on his way.”

“Thank you,” Ted said, still with his eyes closed.

“Why didn’t you want me to call Erik? I thought you two were a couple.”

“I don’t want to worry him. He’s already going through so much; he doesn’t need me to add to things.”

“How long have you been feeling this way?”

“The dizziness is new. I’ve been feeling off for a while.”

“Why don’t you go to the doctor?” He leaned down and picked Marissa back up when she started fussing.

“I’m scared what he’ll say.”

“What do you mean?”

“Two years ago, I wasn’t in a good place. I’m a meth addict. I’m in recovery, I haven’t touched any in over a year. But I’ve done a lot of damage to my body. I just don’t want to know how much.” He opened his eyes and looked at Justin.

“But if it’s bad you’ll need help. Or maybe it’ll be something easily fixed.”

“My luck has never been good. It’ll be something fatal, probably.”

“Don’t say that.”

The buzzer went off, signaling his friend Emmett was there. After making sure it was the man, he buzzed him in. They weren’t there for more than a moment before Emmett rushed Ted out, telling him he was taking him straight to the hospital.

Finally, he was alone with his children. Tommy was watching some cartoon on Brian’s huge TV. Marissa was sleeping peacefully in her car carrier.

He wrote a note to Brian telling him that that he was taking the kids to his loft. Slinging the diaper bag over his shoulder, he picked up the car carrier.

“Come on Tommy, turn the TV off. It’s time to go downstairs to my loft.” Just saying it was ‘his loft’ felt empowering.

“Yay, sleepover.”

“Just until your dad comes home. I’m sure he’ll want you to come back after he gets in.”

“Okay.”

The music and lights always made him feel alive. It had been a few weeks since he was last at Babylon. Lindsay had taken Tommy for the weekend. He had partied like he hadn’t in a long time. Tonight was going to be just like that night. He knew Justin was going to take care of Tommy. He had everything he needed in his loft. They had also prepared it for Marissa.

Something about Justin being there made it possible for him to relax. He knew Justin wouldn’t leave the building, maybe because he had Rolf, the bottom floor tenant, lock the front door deadbolt. Without a key Justin couldn’t open it. Anyway, it would be good for him to be alone with the children. At least Brian hoped so.

“Brian, what are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at Woody’s.” Michael said, appearing out of nowhere.

Damn, he had completely forgotten about meeting Michael at Woody’s. He really didn’t feel like having this conversation yet. But he really needed to know what was going on in Michael’s head. And if Michael had really done all the things Justin said he did. Grabbing Michael’s hand, he pulled him outside. It was cold, and the wind was biting into his skin.

“What the hell, Brian?”

“I’m going to ask you a question and don’t you dare lie. Did Justin tell you he was pregnant with Tommy?”

“W-What?” Michael sputtered.

“Did Justin come to Liberty Avenue five years ago and find you? Did he confess he was pregnant? Then did you call him a whore and tell him to get lost? Did you know all that and still keep your mouth shut?”

“No. I never saw him after he followed you to Woody’s. I tried to get you to let him down easy. Then after you left, I took him to the diner. I haven’t seen him since then.” If Brian was a normal person, he might have believed Mikey. But he wasn’t, he knew the man better than he knew anyone. Michael was lying through his fucking teeth.

“Why did you tell Justin’s abusive, scumbag husband where he was?”

“I didn’t.”

Snow started to fall down around them. Brian couldn’t feel the cold anymore, just red-hot rage. “How did he find out Justin was in that place then? No one knew where he was, except for Erik until he told all of us. Soon after that Justin was taken out of there by the fuckwad. Do you know what he did to him then? DO YOU?”

“Why are you screaming at me? I didn’t do anything.” Michael was curling into himself. Brian wasn’t done with him yet.

“The fucker beat Justin then threw him in the fucking river. If some bystander didn’t see and save him he would be dead. Tommy would have never seen him again. Marissa would never get to know him. All of that over what? Jealously?”

“Brian, please…”

“NO! GO AWAY!” He thought he could deal with Michael at the moment but he couldn’t. The need the pummel Michael was riding him hard. But he was not Jack Kinney. He wasn’t going to smash Michael’s face in, no matter what he had done.

Michael seemed to understand it wasn’t the time to push Brian. He sputtered some more before he turned tail and left. Brian was so worked up he needed to relieve it. There was only one way that he knew for sure.

He headed to Woody’s, he would find a trick there.

“Well, if it isn’t Mr. Kinney,” Emmett said, as Brian walked into the bar.

“Not in the mood,” he snapped.

“I thought you were always in the mood,” Emmett guffawed.

“I am for what I came for, and it wasn’t conversation.”

“I tried to take Teddy to the doctor today but he refused. I just dropped him off at home with Erik.”

Brian tuned Emmett out after that. Then he made eyes with a tall, dark-skinned stud with a shaved head. He gestured to the bathroom with a nod. The stud headed back there. Finally, something was goin.g right.