Brian hung up the phone and sat back in his chair thinking about the changes in his life in the last few years. Justin left for New York but wasn't communicating with him about his money problems. As a result, he became a stripper for one of those companies that people hire to dance at birthday parties and other occasions. While he wasn't tricking all over town, he was still putting himself at risk. Brian found out by accident about Justin's new line of work when one of his clients brought him as a guest to a party where Justin was the entertainment. He saw Justin and wasn't going to discuss the issue while he was working, but agreed to meet him at the hotel so they could "talk". Unfortunately, the "talk" never came because the cab that Justin was traveling in was hit and he suffered another concussion and subsequent amnesia. He brought Justin home and eventually Justin regained the majority of his memories. During that time, he and Justin spent many hours talking about a lot of events that they should have discussed earlier in their relationship.
When they both thought things were back to normal, a fan from New York developed an imaginary relationship with Justin and even went so far as to apply for a job in Pittsburgh to be near him. This set of events sent Justin into another talespin and he didn't feel safe for a long time. Eventually the individual was found and his friends intervened, promising to keep him away from Justin.
These events both strained and strengthened their relationship. During this time, they decided to get married and eventually agreed to have a child. Enlisting Cynthia as the surrogate was the perfect solution, since neither man wanted anyone in the "family" to be the birth mother. She loved both men, but did not want to have a child herself. She was not related to either of them and would be ensconced in the role of favorite aunt, but the child would eventually know that she was her biological mother. Their family's reaction to the pregnancy and birth was mixed. Jennifer, Ted, Blake, Emmett, and Drew were all in favor of the new addition and never questioned their ability to want or raise a child. Lindsey, Michael and Mel, were on the other side of the fence. None of them could imagine that Brian really wanted the child or that he would willingly give up his lifestyle to be a full time parent.
Now he was the full time parent of his infant son and he had taken the steps to be a full time parent to his 10 year old child as well. Gus' addition to their family was unexpected but very welcome. Gus had said early on during the pregnancy that he wanted to live with Brian and Justin, but they had not taken him seriously, reminding him that he would miss his mothers. Things came to a head when Lindsay and Mel became too busy for their children, choosing their careers over parenting. The changes to full time parents to two children were huge, but neither he nor Justin regretted their decision. Brian was concerned what type of father he would be based on his terribly abusive childhood, but Justin's reassurance that he was a good man and that he was generous with his friends and Gus resulted in Brian's agreement to have a child with Justin.
Last night he talked to Ben,the spouse of his long time friend, Michael, about gaining custody of Michael's daughter. It appeared that not only were Mel and Linds neglectful of Gus, they were demonstrating the same behaviors with their daughter. Unfortunately, J.R.'s situation was very different than Gus'. While Michael, her biological father had joint custody of her, he had shown little interest in spending more than a casual day here and there with her. Brian thought Michael's whole reason in donating his sperm to the cause was to be like Brian. Since Brian was a dad, Michael wanted to be a dad, too. The only problem with this thought process was that Michael really had no interest in children. Truth be told, initially Brian had no interest in being a father either, but Lindsay pushed his interactions in Gus' life and eventually his place in Gus' life was very important to him. He was so glad that he had talked to the lawyer all those years ago and a custody agreement was written.
By the time, the munchers were ready to have another child, Brian was very involved in Gus' life but he did not want to father a second child for them. They wanted the children to be related but Brian had had enough of Linds' manipulations when it came to Gus and did not want to repeat the mistake again. The girls had asked Michael to be the donor, so he jumped at the chance to be like his "best friend" and be a father. They assumed that he would not push for custody and would be a drop in father, at best. When he sued for custody after J.R. was born, they were shocked and hurt. Even though he had joint custody of the little girl, he was not very involved in her life. Michael saw J.R. as a way to hang out with Brian and have something in common with him. Unfortunately for Michael, Brian saw fatherhood as a much more involved process than just showing up every Sunday to eat a meal.
Brian had just announced to a friend that he was going to leave work early to pick up his oldest son and would willingly pick up his son's sister, J.R. He wondered when his life became that of a "soccer mom", but smiled at the title. He loved his life; he was married with two kids and he had carpool duty. These were words and actions he never thought would happen. He looked forward to spending time with both of his children and while his relationship with Justin had changed, he was still very much in lust and love with the man. Now, he really should get back to work and stop with the nostalgia. Looking down at his crotch, he verified that he'd not lost his balls in the last 24 hours and wasn't turning into a lesbian.
He opened his computer and clicked on the latest file for Ice Mountain, needing to review their upcoming campaign. Quickly he became engrossed in the tasks of running a multi-million dollar company and left behind thoughts of fatherhood. His concentration was interrupted by the phone when his assistant, Cynthia rang.
"I've got Sam on the phone. You asked to put his calls through," she said.
"Sure."
"Sam, that was fast. I hope you have good news for me."
"Well, I did some investigating and it is only preliminary. You said your friend has joint custody with the mothers, but he isn't all that involved. You told me that his husband is interested in raising the little girl."
"Right on both counts."
"With the passage of the marriage equality bill a few years back, his partner is considered a parent, even if he doesn't share biological connection with the child. This is all contingent on whether they were actually married in the U.S?"
"I know they were married in Canada, but a few years ago they were married here. I think it was after we got married, but yeah they are married. So the law allows either partner to claim custody? What if the biological parent ( ie, my friend) isn't interested in custody? Would his partner be able to seek custody since he is his spouse?" Brian asked.
"The law is pretty clear in this situation. In mixed sex couples, either parent can seek custody, but in this situation there are four parents. Since gay couples often don't have biological connections with their children, the law has decided that any of the parents can file for custody. If either father wanted to seek custody, the law says that he could."
"Let me just be clear. This is actually a four way agreement. The two moms, in this case Linds and Mel and the two dads. The non-biological parents would not have to go to court to adopt the child. So even though my friend is not biologically related to the child, since he and his husband are married, he can still seek custody? The non-biological parent could legally just have the child come to live with him without agreement from the other parents?"
"Yes, you are correct. It gets a little complicated. Of course, one set of parents could sue for full custody, but unless they want a long court battle and can show neglect or abuse, it would be pretty difficult to accomplish."
"Thanks, Sam. I'll share this information with my friend. Can you talk to him if he has more questions? You were able to lock up my challenge for Gus so well and I'm so glad that you advised me to write the papers like you did. Gus is now living with us full time and I don't think there is anything his moms can challenge. I'm just not sure if that is the case in this situation."
"Brian, you have me on retainer and I'm happy to help."
"Look, Sam. My friend doesn't have a lot of money. Give him all the help you can. Just bill me for it. I want that little girl in a loving home."
"Sure thing, Brian."
Brian hung up and smiled. This appeared way easier than he thought. He was excited to share the information with Ben; although he did have concerns how Michael would take the news. Michael saw J.R. as a pawn, had always seen her in that way. He remembered when J.R. was born and he helped Michael with custody and they passed the baby around, keeping some complicated custody schedule. He remembered Justin talking about some silly assignment they had in high school where you are responsible for a fake baby for a week. The baby is programmed to cry every so often and you have to log when you feed it and change it. He was glad he never participated in such a silly assignment. He hoped Michael would not make the same mistake again, using J.R. to push his idea of fatherhood.
It was almost time for him to pick up the kids. At least today he would not have to worry about J.R.'s mothers being there trying to bully her into going home with them. They had given Ben permission to keep her all weekend. He fast forwarded to a few days or weeks from now when that was a distinct possibility. He wondered if Ben could slip under the radar as he did, casually offering to pick her up from school, keep her overnights, etc. It would be much harder for him since his schedule was probably not as flexible and Ben did not have some of the resources that he and Justin had. While Justin had Jennifer who was always more than happy to pick up Gus or stay with Colin, he didn't see involving Debbie in this mix would be as positive of a move. He wondered too how Michael would see things. Would he willingly take J.R. in their home and actually step up and be the father that he should be or would he argue about not "signing on " for the responsibility. Too many ifs in the mix to think about at the moment and he really did need to save his work and make a to do list for tomorrow. Today was not a very productive day on his end but he did have excellent employees who made sure Kinnetik ran smoothly. He closed down his computer, put a few files in his briefcase in case he had some time to work this weekend and grabbed his coat.
"Cynthia, I'm off to pick up Gus and J.R. from school. Justin and I were talking the other night that you haven't been out to see Colin for a bit. Do you want to swing by sometime this weekend? We will probably be hanging around the house."
Smiling, Cynthia said, "Sure. I haven't seen him in at least a month, he's probably doing all kinds of new things. I think Saturday morning about 10:00 would work. Does he still take a morning nap? If so, I can come later."
"No, 10:00 is good. He's almost outgrown the morning nap and only does it 1-2 days a week. Usually on the weekends when we are there, we are so busy doing activities with Gus and running errands that he usually only takes an afternoon nap. I'll let Justin know you plan on coming out tomorrow."
"See you, Brian," Cynthia said as she took out her phone and put a reminder in her calendar.
He listened to some soft Jazz on the way to pick up Gus and J.R. knowing they would be talking a mile a minute once he had them in the car. There were things he missed as a result of being a full time father, but he knew he would never change having his children.
Pulling into the carpool lane, he surreptitiously looked to see how many fathers were there to pick up their children, but he really couldn't see through the tinted windows of the cars. He didn't care if he was the only father since this was a favorite activity of his. Gus shared about his day and he didn't have to share the time with anyone. He wondered what it would be like when Colin was old enough to talk at the dinner table and he and he and Gus would be vying for attention.
Gus and J.R. came out and spotted Brian's silver car. They got in and buckled their seat belts and Brian drove toward the exit.
"Hi, Uncle Brian. My teacher said you would be here to pick me up. This is so much fun, going to your house. Is Daddy going to be there when we get home? Are we going to eat dinner at your house? I hope so. I love Uncle Justin's cooking. He sometimes lets me help. Do you think I can help cook? Can Gus and I play that cool game on the Xbox?"
"Woah there, missy," Brian said. "One question at a time. Let's see.... No your daddy has class and that is why I picked you up. He won't be at the house until dinner time. I imagine you are eating at our house, since there isn't anyone to cook dinner at your father's house. And, hmmm.... Gus, what do you think? Do you think you two can play until dinner?"
"Sure, we can, Dad. Do you think we could go play with Colin for a bit? He was sleeping when J.R. came over last night. She hasn't seen him for a bit. He's gotten so big.," Gus said.
"Okay. I think you can go see what Ms. Chloe and Colin are doing and if he is awake then you can play with him for a bit. But I don't want you staying too long. Maybe 30-45 minutes. Your brother needs his routine and when you come in the afternoon, it disrupts it. After you play with Colin, you can go play outside for a bit or play in the media room. Ben will be joining us for dinner, but I don't know if Uncle Michael will be here."
"Thanks, Dad. I promise not to bother Ms.Chloe and we will be great playmates with Colin."
"So how was your day, J.R.?"
"Good. We had an assembly and talked about friends. I have lots of friends at school, but I don't get to see them out of school. Mom and Momma are always too busy for me to go to a friend's house."
Brian's heart went out to the little girl, yet again. She was missing out on a key piece of childhood. Friends were important for everyone. He didn't have a lot of friends in high school, but Michael and his family were literal life savers during those horrible years. He didn't know what he would have done without them. Michael was the subject of many bullying episodes until he came along. Once the guys knew he was friends with Brian, the bullying pretty much stopped since none of the guys wanted to stand up to Brian. He was heartened to hear that J.R. had friends even if she didn't see them out of school.
"Did you have the same assembly, Sonny Boy?"
"Yeah. It was about bullying and what someone should do if they are bullied."
"I see. Have you been bullied?"
"No. But I did stick up for this one kid when some other kids were giving him a hard time."
"Good. I'm proud of you for that. Being gay, I was bullied a bit, but when the kids realized I could hurt them, they stopped pretty fast.
"I didn't know that you were bullied Dad," Gus said, not really knowing what else to add to his statement.
"Justin was too, but that is a discussion for another time. If you want to know more, we can talk about it."
"Ok. I'll let you know."
Brian hated this discussion. He hated admitting that he was the target of bullies and that he knew first hand what it was like. Even worse, he hated that Justin was bullied and as a result of this bullying was a victim of a hate crime. They had not really discussed the bashing with Gus, but he was getting to an age where that discussion would need to be had. Gus had already noticed that sometimes Justin's hand hurt and he winced in pain when he overused it. Gus was a smart kid and it wouldn't be long before he started questioning things. Brian needed to add that topic to the list of things to talk to Justin about. Once again, he wondered when he became the guy that made lists of things to discuss with his spouse.
Thankfully before any additional difficult topics could be brought up, they were at Britin. "Dinner is at the usual time, 6:30 so make sure you have hands washed and are at the dinner table by then. Go have fun, you two." Brian said as he motioned for the children to leave the car.
It was early, barely 4:00 and usually Justin was in his studio at this time of day. Realizing that the weekend was going to a busy one, he hoped Justin wouldn't mind the intrusion. Knocking on the studio door, he hoped for a "enter" from within. He was rewarded by the door actually opening.
"Hey," Justin said. "With all that is going on, I thought it might be you. Let me put my brushes up to soak and we can sit on the couch," Justin said after taking one look at Brian's face. Quickly he placed his brushes in turpentine and closed down the computer program he was using. Grabbing two waters from the mini - fridge he handed one to Brian and then sat opposite him on the couch.
"Why the worried look? Did the lawyer have bad news?"
Brian smiled, having half forgotten the discussion from earlier. "No, that is actually some good information. I think Ben may have a chance at custody. We can talk about that after dinner. No need to go over the information twice."
"Okay. So if you got good news from Sam, is there something wrong with Kinnetik? A client giving you a hard time?"
"No, Kinnetik is great. Cynthia and Ted have all fronts covered. Speaking of Cynthia, I invited her to come out this weekend. She is supposed to try for tomorrow morning. It's been a while since she came out to see Colin"
"Brian, you need to tell me what is wrong. It's not the custody thing. It's not Kinnetik. You look like you've seen a ghost or something worse. Help me out here." Justin reached out and grasped Brian's hands and leaned in to give his husband a quick kiss on the lips.
"They had an assembly at school today. The topic was bullying. J.R. said she had lots of friends but she didn't see them at home since her moms were too busy."
"That seems to fit with the information that we've been given by Gus and her," Justin said.
"I mentioned to Gus that I had been bullied when in high school but the kids backed off pretty quickly when they realized I would fight back. I also mentioned you."
Justin's face turned white, understanding why Brian was so upset. They had worked through the bashing and after his amnesia a few years back had finally come to grips with the incident. They had talked a lot about many things; the bashing being only one of them. While the amnesia had not been a good thing, it had resulted in bringing them much closer and finally pushing Brian to open up about his feelings.
"We knew this day would come. Gus is smart and he has started to notice things. I know he sees you massaging my hand sometimes. What did you tell him?"
"I only said that you had been bullied too. I said if he wanted to talk about it, he could ask."
"I see. Shit!! We have so much other crap to deal with, but we don't get to choose when the right time to talk occurs. Do you want me to talk to him?"
"No. Let's give it some time. A few weeks, maybe. If he brings it up before that, of course, we will talk to him, but until then. Let's just deal with all the other stuff in our lives," Brian said as he leaned in and kissed his husband. "You know, I told the kids that dinner won't be until 6:30. This might be the only time we are free this weekend. What do you say to a little afternoon delight?"
"I say that we both deserve some delight. Lead the way."
TBC