Chapter 1

Justin was humming along happily to the music that was playing on his iPod, looking at the painting in front of him which was nearly finished. He had been able to get some good work done on it today and was happy with the progress he had been making.

He had started the painting two days ago and was planning to use it in his next show which was scheduled at a gallery in New York early next year. With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner though, Justin knew that he would be busy and wouldn't find a lot of time to paint, so he had been happy for the time he had been able to spend on the painting in the last two days.

It wasn't like he wouldn't have anything to show if he didn't finish any more paintings in time, but he always liked seeing where his creativity took him and right now he was really happy with this newest painting and felt really good about including it in the show. It was inspired by some of the beautiful flowers and colours he had seen on their honeymoon to Hawaii four months ago. A lot of paintings recently had been and it had amused Brian greatly when Justin had shown him some of his most recent creations and he had realised where Justin's inspiration had come from.

“When did you have time to even look at anything besides the bedroom?” Brian had joked, earning himself an outraged gasp from his husband.

“All those times I forced you to leave the villa? What were you looking at?” Justin had asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Your ass,” Brian smirked which only earned him a snort from the younger man.

“I should have known.”

“You really should have, Sunshine. How long have you known me now?”

“Too long,” Justin had replied, though his face had shown how happy he really was. He had smiled brightly as Brian had pulled him closer and had started kissing him and just thinking back to that made Justin blush now.

He couldn't believe how happy he had been in recent months. It wasn't like he hadn't been happy before, but ever since they had gotten married four months ago, he had just been that much happier. It had seemed liked being married had made him and Brian even more connected to each other and Justin couldn't really describe it, but he knew that they were even closer now than they had been before.

Being married to Brian had been amazing, just like being with Brian had been all this time and Justin still couldn't believe how life had turned out. Here he was, married to Brian Kinney, Kinney-Taylor now, they had three children, two of them their biological children that Brian had carried and after everything they had been through with Brian's cancer and everything concerning Luke's birth, Justin had never thought that they would make it this far. But they had, not the least because of how much Brian had changed and because of the amazing man he had turned out to be once he had allowed himself to stop caring about what other people thought about him and had allowed himself to just be a father and later on a partner.

Justin knew that he couldn't love Brian more than he did, he loved him with all his heart and always would, just like he loved their children. All three of them.

Yes, they had made it through some pretty bad times together, but – and that was what mattered to Justin – they had made it. They had made it together by holding on tight and now they had finally moved on to the good times that they had promised each other in their wedding vows. They had survived the bad times and were now enjoying the good times and the last four months, the last couple of years ever since Brian had beaten his cancer and Vicky had survived her early birth, had been great for their family.

Justin felt blessed to have Brian and his children at his side and as he looked back at the painting in front of him, he knew that he was one of the luckiest men alive. He was loved by his husband and his children, loved them back just as much and he genuinely loved his job, loved being able to just create whenever he felt like it and to create whatever he wanted without any pressure, knowing that even if he didn't create anything for a month or even longer, they would still be fine. Both he and Brian were doing very well financially, which gave him a sense of security he had never had when he had been younger and had just started out. Having it now made him even more grateful for how his life had turned out. He was a lucky man and in a position many other people on this planet would kill for.

As his smile widened, Justin forced himself to look away from his painting when he heard the doorbell ring. For a second he was tempted to ignore it, but knowing that he was the only one in the house, he sighed, putting away his brushes and quickly wiped his hands on a wet cloth he had lying on a small table close by.

He sighed as he heard the doorbell once again and made his way out of his studio. “I am coming,” he muttered to himself as he made his way down into the foyer.

Brian had promised to pick up Vicky from her playdate on his way back home from the office, but he knew that they wouldn't be home for about another half an hour and Luke was still at soccer practice and wouldn't be back home for another hour at least. Gus was in New York and wouldn't be back home for another couple of days when he would come home to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with his family. He was already on his Thanksgiving break, but needed a bit of time to finish some projects he had been working on and would only arrive in two days time.

As he made his way to the door, Justin wondered who it could be, knowing that he wasn't really expecting any visitors that day.

The doorbell rang once again, making Justin call out once more. “I am coming!”

A couple of seconds later he had made it to the door and opened it. “Sorry, I was in my studio,” he apologised as he opened the door and frowned when he saw a teenage girl standing in front of him.

She looked about the same age as Luke was, which was 15, though Justin wasn't really sure. With makeup and everything you never really knew. Maybe she was a year or two older, but she was definitely younger than Gus was, who was 20 now.

“Can I help you?” He asked politely as he looked at the girl in front of him. Something about her looked slightly familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he had seen her before. Or if he had ever seen her before at all. Maybe in some pictures? He wasn't sure, but he was sure that there was something familiar about her. She was rather short for her age, thin, had short dark hair and dark eyes and reminded him a bit of a pixie.

“I am looking for Gus Marcus-Peterson. Is he around?” She asked, meeting his gaze head on.

Justin frowned, not having expected that. Not because she had been asking for Gus, but because of the last name she had been using. Gus hadn't used that last name in a long time. Even when Justin had come back from New York Gus had already been called Gus Kinney and later when Justin had adopted him, he had taken the name Gus Kinney-Taylor, wanting to have the same last name as his siblings and his parents once they had gotten married and taken each others names.

“Gus? He's not here. He goes to university in New York and won't be back for another couple of days until Thanksgiving,” Justin informed her. As he was about to continue, he was interrupted by the young girl.

“Oh shoot! That sucks! You're Justin Taylor, aren't you? I think I remember seeing you in some pictures,” she said, smiling a friendly smile at him.

“Kinney-Taylor,” he corrected her automatically, before he registered the rest of what she had said. “Pictures? I am sorry, do I know you?”

“I think you used to babysit me when I was younger,” the girl informed him which only confused Justin more. “Me and Gus, whenever my mother was busy.”

Justin eyed her closely and suddenly something in his mind clicked. He suddenly realised why she looked familiar and why she would have asked for Gus by his old name and why she would have known Justin from pictures. “Your mother is Melanie Marcus?” He asked, feeling like he was in an episode of Twilight Zone because he sure as hell had not expected to ever be caught in this situation, not after what had happened between Brian, Gus and Melanie so many years ago.

“Yeah,” the girl sighed and the sigh sounded frustrated and angry. “I am Jenny Marcus. I am Gus' sister.”