Chapter 12

The rest of Friday had been quiet. Gus had gone out in the evening to meet with some friends from school that were home for Thanksgiving as well, catching up with the ones he didn't usually see much anymore as everyone now went to different universities and colleges all over the country.

Once Vicky had been in bed, Brian and Justin had excused themselves for the rest of the night and Jenny and Luke had spent the rest of the evening playing video games.

Now they had made it to Saturday afternoon after a quiet morning and were ready to talk about Jenny's future. As they had previously decided with Debbie and Carl, they had agreed to meet after Thanksgiving to talk about what options they had.

Jennifer had offered to watch Vicky and Luke was out with some of his soccer teammates, which left Gus, Jenny, Brian and Justin as well as Debbie and Carl who had come over for the conversation.

Brian had started their talk by summarising what the lawyer had said concerning their situation, that Melanie couldn't really come after them for kidnapping or anything like that as Jenny had run away of her own free will and had not been coerced in any way to stay with them. He also mentioned the current custody situation which meant that Melanie had sole custody, but with Jenny already being 17, her opinion definitely mattered.

“Can she force me to go back with her?” Jenny asked, looking around at the adults in the room.

“Legally, yes,” Brian said, before he continued. “But we don't know if it would even come to that. So far she hasn't even been in contact once and it has been three days already since Sunshine came back.”

“What if Jenny doesn't want to go back with her?” Gus asked, looking at his fathers for advice.

“Well, should it come to that, we can always get a lawyer involved as well and look what our options would be,” Justin replied.

“Meaning?” Gus frowned, not sure he understood what his father was talking about.

“I think we would have a pretty good case arguing that Melanie is not what one would consider a good mother and that Jenny would be better off staying with her family in Pittsburgh. We could argue that Melanie didn't even notice her absence for several days and if it's Jenny's wish to stay here, I am sure that would also have some weight,” Justin went on explaining.

“I want to stay here,” Jenny added quietly, looking at everyone around the table. “I know I don't really know you, but even after just these couple of days I already feel more welcome here than I ever did with my mom... I want to get to know my family and find out more about who I really am. My mom never told me the truth and … I think I want to know it and want to know who I really am.”

“Honey, you are always welcome here,” Debbie immediately said. “We are your family and we'll always love having you around. You will always have a place to stay with me and Carl.”

“Or with us,” Justin added with an encouraging nod.

“Should the situation arise, I think we might have a better chance of success should Debbie and Carl contest the current custody situation. They are your biological grandparents and with Carl being a former police officer that should vouch for their characters,” Brian pointed out, looking at Jenny. “Which doesn't mean that you're not welcome here. Like Sunshine said, you'll always have a place with us here. You're Gus' sister and as such you're family.”

“I... I don't know what to say,” Jenny stammered. “You're all so nice and helpful.”

Before anyone could reply to that, they heard the doorbell ringing. Justin looked up with a frown and Brian shook his head in reply. No, they weren't expecting anyone else as far as he knew. Maybe it was one of Luke's or Gus' friends looking for them. He got up and left everyone to see who was standing outside their door. When he opened the door, he wished that he hadn't and that Justin had gone instead.

“What do you want here?”

“I want my daughter. Now!” A furious Melanie announced as she glared at him, not even bothering with any kind of greeting after all these years of not having seen each other. “I told Justin in no uncertain terms that I expected her on the first flight back to Florida, but she still hasn't been returned to me.”

“Returned to you?” Brian couldn't help but snort. “What is she? A possession?”

“None of your concern. That's what she is,” Melanie spat, pushing past him into the entrance hall of Britin. “JR! JR, come here!” She started calling for her daughter, not even caring that Brian hadn't invited her in so far.

A second later, Justin showed up in the hallway as well, looking from Melanie to Brian, then back to Melanie. “Melanie,” he greeted her coldly. “We weren't expecting you.”

“After not returning my daughter to me even though I told you that I expected her back home days ago?” Melanie scoffed.

“Yes, days ago,” Brian interjected. “You didn't seem to care so far, so colour us surprised that you seem to care now.”

“Brian,” Justin said quietly, trying to calm his husband down. He could see by one look at Brian's face and whole stance how angry his husband was. Not that he could blame him or that he felt much different, but he had a feeling that they would need to stay calm for everyone's sake.

Brian had gotten the message though and just nodded back at Justin, not saying anything more for the moment. He couldn't promise though that he would stay calm for long.

“Where is she?” Melanie asked, looking at Justin from angry eyes.

“She's spending some time with her family, her brother and her grandparents,” Justin said calmly, nodding towards the living-room where everyone was gathered. “Why don't you come and join us and we talk about this quietly.”

“Yes, why don't you come inside and join us?” Brian scoffed, looking at Melanie with fake politeness.

“I just want my daughter and then I am out of here. She doesn't have family here.”

“I beg to differ,” Justin replied. “Gus is her brother and Debbie and Carl are her grandparents. You might not like it, but you can't deny that fact.”

“He is nothing to her, they're not even related. And you had no right to introduce her to Debbie,” Melanie fumed, as she stomped over towards where Justin had nodded earlier.

“I think you will find that your own daughter will disagree with you,” Brian muttered as he followed everyone into the living-room.

Melanie didn't acknowledge anyone in the room and just directed her gaze to Jenny. “JR, pack your things. Now!”

“No,” Jenny said, looking up at her angry mother from where she was sitting between Gus and Debbie who had moved closer to her once they had heard Melanie's yelling from the hallway.

“JR! I said go and pack your things. I don't have time for one of your tantrums.”

“Now calm down a minute,” Debbie started, looking at Melanie angrily. “You can't speak to her like that.”

“How I speak to my daughter is none of your concern,” Melanie shot back.

“Of course it is, she is my granddaughter and if you can't treat her with the respect that she deserves, you better turn around and get your ass out of this house right now,” Debbie gave back without pause.

“What? Do you want me to pamper her like you pampered Michael? We all know how that ended, don't we?” Melanie scoffed, before she turned back to her daughter. “Now, JR! We have a plane to catch. I already lost too much time on this newest tantrum of yours. You know I have a big case coming up.”

Several people were about to speak at once, including Brian and Justin, but it was Gus' voice that stood out above all else. “How dare you speak to Grandma Debs like that?”

“Gus, honey,” Debbie started, but Gus just shook his head.

“No, she can't just come here and throw around accusations like that.” He then turned towards Melanie. “You don't have the right to accuse anyone of anything.”

“Why am I not surprised that no one ever taught you to keep your mouth shut when adults are talking,” Melanie shook her head.

Before Gus could reply something to that, Justin had stepped in front of her, glaring at her from icy blue eyes. “If you ever talk to my son that way again, you will regret it! He has every right to speak his mind in whatever way he wants.”

“And in case you forgot, which I wouldn't even put past you with how little you obviously cared about me, I am 20. I am an adult!” Gus shot back right after, now getting up and stepping next to Justin.

“I think it's time for you to leave,” Brian announced unceremoniously, walking up to Melanie's side as well. “You're not welcome here, so get out of our house!”

“Now if that isn't quite the image,” Melanie huffed as she looked from one man to the other, then settled her eyes on Justin. “Your son? My ass! He is no more your son than he was ever mine.”

“How dare you?” Brian hissed, taking a step closer towards her.

“He is more my father than you have ever been my mother,” Gus replied calmly, meeting Melanie's gaze head-on. “And I think my Dad is right, you should leave. You're not welcome here.”

“Oh, I will leave. I have no intention of staying here. Get your things, JR. I can't wait to get out of here.”

“Jenny will stay,” Gus said, his voice dangerously low. “She told you that she doesn't want to go with you.”

“And I don't care. I am still her mother and have custody. She has no right to be here. She is to go where I tell her to go which is back home.”

Gus just shook his head and snorted. “Do you even care that she doesn't want to go with you? That she prefers staying with people she hardly knows to going back with you? You know... I thought it was just me, that you couldn't love me because of who my father was, but now I am not so sure anymore. You seem to have no idea what being a mother is about and how to be one. No wonder she doesn't want to go back with you. You are a horrible person!”

“How dare you speak to me like that?” Melanie angrily shouted, apparently looking ready to lunge at Gus any second.

“He has every right to speak to you in whatever way he wishes to after what you put him through,” Brian hissed, stepping right in front of her. “And you better think very well before you even think about attacking my son. You will not like the consequences.”

“Guys, why don't we all calm down?” Carl interjected, walking over to where the standoff took place, trying to get in position between Brian and Melanie, trying to avoid the situation getting out of hand completely. As it seemed, no one was paying attention to him though.

“What I put him through? More like what you put him through. You're the one that sued for custody.”

“Because you wouldn't let me see him. What did you expect me to do?” Brian gave back, his face red with anger. “You're the one that left without as much as a goodbye. And that's the one thing he will always remember about you. That you left and couldn't be bothered to even say goodbye.”

“He seemed fine with Justin leaving without as much as a goodbye. Looks like they seem pretty close anyway.”

“Excuse me?” Justin's voice rose and he looked at Melanie as if she had just lost her mind.

“Oh, don't play innocent with me. Sitting on your high horse, acting like you're all holy and sanctimonious when we all know that you're no better. Who stopped coming to Canada to see him? Who didn't care about Gus missing him? You think you're so much better than me? Well, I don't remember you saying goodbye to him either or staying in contact. So don't tell me you care about him when you made it awfully clear that you didn't.”

“How dare you?” Brian shouted again, ready to lunge. “You know that's not what happened!”

“Brian,” Justin said quietly, reaching out a hand to put it on Brian's arm, trying to restrain his husband. He could see that Brian was this close to exploding and he knew that Melanie had made a terrible mistake by accusing him of being no better than herself. She had no idea that she had just pushed the wrong button with Brian, reminding him of that time in their lives, a time Brian still regretted terribly and felt awfully guilty about. Brian was well aware of the role he had played back then and would never allow anyone to blame Justin for anything that had happened back then. Justin knew that, but it was very obvious that Melanie didn't. Or maybe she did and had done it on purpose. Justin wasn’t sure if she would be that stupid and suicidal though. “Don't,” he whispered, tightening his grip on Brian's arm.

When Brian's eyes locked with his, Justin could see the inner struggle in his husband. He just kept their eyes locked, then shook his head slowly. She wasn't worth it. She wasn't worth getting in trouble for. As much as he could understand Brian's desire to lash out, she just wasn't worth it.

After the longest time Brian nodded. He then closed his eyes for a second, before he turned to Melanie once more. “OUT! Get out of my house! I don't want to see your fucking face ever again!”

“What? The truth hurts?” Melanie laughed bitterly. “Just because he bent over for you and forgave you, doesn't mean we all forgot what you did. Don't act like you're such a good father when you cost your son years with his father.”

“Carl, if you don't get her out of my house right now, I will not be held responsible for my actions,” Brian warned with a look to the former police officer, who immediately understood the seriousness of the situation. Just like Justin had realised that Melanie had pushed the wrong buttons, he had realised it as well. And he had no doubt that Brian meant every word. If Melanie didn't get out of here soon, Carl wasn't sure he would be able to stop Brian with the way she kept pushing his buttons.

“Melanie, I think you should leave now,” he said with as much authority as he could muster, gently reaching for her arm and guiding her out of the room.

“I will not leave without my daughter,” Melanie angrily yelled at him, struggling to get out of his grip.

“She doesn't want to go with you. She made that very clear,” he just gave back as he continued to lead her towards the front door.

“You have no right to keep me from my daughter. I have custody and she's underage.”

“And you didn't even notice she was gone for several days. Yes, I know the story. The whole story. Melanie, let me give you some advice: If you continue down this road that you're on right now, you will lose her for good.”

“You know nothing about me or my daughter,” Melanie gave back, looking angrily at Carl.

“I know enough to know that your daughter doesn't want to be with you. And I know that she is old enough to have her wishes respected.”

“She is underage and I didn't give her permission to come here.”

“You do realise that you will lose her for good if you force her to come back with you now, don't you? She doesn't want to be with you. She wants to get to know her family here. What harm is there in that?”

“I don't want her interacting with people like him,” she spat the last word, making it clear who she was refering to.

“You are doing him wrong, Melanie. He is a great father and loves his children very much,” Carl said quietly, looking at Melanie intently.

“Yeah, why am I not surprised that mighty God Kinney has you in his pockets as well. How much did he pay you to overlook his past, huh?”

“He didn't have to pay me anything,” Carl shot back. “I have eyes in my head and I recognise a good person when I see one.” He left the implications of that statement open, but it was clear that he didn't consider Melanie a good person.

“I want my daughter to come back with me now. I will not leave here without her,” Melanie said, not even reacting to what Carl had previously said.

“She will not go back with you, Melanie. Either you accept that and we all start trying to come to a solution together or you will lose her for good.”

“A solution? I know the solution: My daughter will come home with me. Now!”

Carl just shook his head. “She will not, Melanie. Let me ask you something: Why are you so intent on taking her back with you? You didn't notice that she was gone for days even though we tried getting in contact with you. You didn't come here for three days even though you knew exactly where she was and apparently have such a big problem with it. And now you want her to come back with you even though you've told us repeatedly that you have a big trial coming up, are busy and don't have time for her. So why are you so intent on taking her back when she is surrounded by a loving family here?”

“This is not her family. And I don't want her hanging out with the lot of you.”

Carl was about to say something but was interrupted by Justin's appearance in the hallway. His voice was ice cold when he spoke.

“You accuse me of being sanctimonious, you accuse Brian of things you have no idea about, you lash out at my son and think you have a right to? Let me make one thing very clear, Melanie: The only person that is sanctimonious is you! You act like you’re so much better than anyone else, but are you really? You accuse me of having left Gus without a goodbye when it was your wife who told me to go! I didn’t hear you say anything about that. I didn’t hear you say anything about Brian’s pregnancy and Luke to me either. How dare you act like you’re so much better than anyone else when you lied to me just the same as everyone! You are no different, Melanie, but unlike them, you don’t see anything wrong with your behavior and just accuse everyone else instead of taking responsibility for your actions. You’re the one who left Gus even though Brian wanted you to stay in contact and wanted you to have visitation. You are the one who continued reading my contracts even after my son was born and never mentioned him with one word to me. You are the one who continued lying to me for years. Lindsay was already in prison, Gus was already living with Brian, but you still replied to my emails in which I asked about the kids and Lindsay that everyone was doing fine and things were great. The next time you want to accuse anyone of anything, take a good look in the mirror first!”

When Melanie was about to reply something to what Justin had just said, he just shook his head and continued.

“You should leave, Melanie. You caused enough trouble for one day. You are not welcome here. You will hear from our lawyer concerning Jenny's custody on Monday.”

“You have no right,” Melanie started angrily, but was stopped by Justin right away.

“Jenny doesn't want to go with you and we won't force her. As Carl has told you several times already, we respect Jenny's wishes. On Monday our lawyer will get in contact, but believe me, we will do whatever it takes so she will never have to go back to you ever again.”

“You have no right,” Melanie spat, but once again Justin had no intention of listening to anything she was about to say.

“Maybe, maybe not. I'll leave that with the judges to decide. Now leave. If you're not gone in the next 60 seconds, we will call the police for trespassing. I am sure Carl can confirm that we have asked you several times to leave our house.”

Carl nodded. “You should leave, Melanie. Don't cause even more trouble.”

“You will hear from me again. Don't think that this is over,” Melanie spat as she turned towards the door.

“I am sure it won't be,” Justin sighed, as he watched after her as she stormed out of the house. Once he was sure that she was in her car and driving off, he closed the door and leaned against it with a deep sigh.

“Are you okay, son?” Carl asked, looking at Justin in concern.

Justin nodded slowly, before he met the older man's gaze. “Can she call the police on us? Because we refused to let Jenny go with her?”

Carl ran a hand over his face, taking a deep breath. “I guess, but she would only cause more of a rift with Jenny if she did that.”

“I don't think it's Jenny she really cares about,” Justin said sadly, not surprised when Carl nodded in agreement.

“Justin, I think it might be best if Jenny stays with us for the time being,” Carl said carefully, gauging Justin's reaction to his statement. When the younger man just frowned at him, he continued. “If Melanie's problem is Brian and your family, maybe it's best to take all of you out of the equation.”

“Carl,” Justin sighed, shaking his head. “Jenny came here to get to know Gus and to spend time with him. I don't think we should send her away just because of some trouble that Melanie might be causing.”

“Gus will go back to New York tomorrow anyway, won't he? And just because she's staying with us doesn't mean she can't spend time with you guys anymore. You know how much time Debbie spends here anyway. You heard what Brian said earlier, if it comes to a custody hearing, we might have more chance of success than you and Brian, being her biological grandparents. And with Jenny staying with us, it won't matter if Melanie wants to come after you guys or not.”

Justin listened to what Carl had to say and nodded slowly, knowing that the man was most likely right.

“I just don't want her to feel like she isn't welcome here because of her mother.”

“She's smart, I am sure she will understand.”

Justin nodded once more, then started to walk towards the living-room with Carl right behind him. He frowned when he entered the room and found only Debbie and Jenny there, Jenny hiding in Debbie's arms, clearly crying and upset.

“Where are Brian and Gus?” Justin asked, knowing that they had still been in the room when he had left a couple of minutes ago.

When Debbie just shook her head, indicating that Justin shouldn't follow them and leave them alone for the moment, he nodded, even though everything in his body spoke against it. He wasn't surprised that Brian and Gus had disappeared, both of them needed time to work through their emotions and feelings on their own before they were ready to talk to anyone about them. While Justin prefered talking things over right away instead of letting them fester, he knew both his husband and son well enough to know that they were different and needed more time than he did before they were ready to talk about how they felt. And he would be willing to give them that time, knowing that when they were ready to talk to him, they would.

Instead he focused on Jenny, who seemed very upset. “Hey honey, are you okay?”

Jenny continued sobbing for a few minutes, allowing Justin to sit down beside her and run a gentle hand over her back. Once she had calmed down a bit, she pulled back from Debbie's embrace and looked at Justin from the most sorrowful eyes he had ever seen.

“I am so sorry. So sorry... I never meant for any of this...”

“Hey, hey, don't say that,” Justin immediately replied, trying to smile at her. “It's not your fault. You're not responsible for your mother's actions.”

“The things she said... She was so hostile...”

“Jenny, we always knew that your mother didn't like us and has her problems with our family. None of that is your fault. You are not responsible for what happened in the past. You were merely a baby... So don't worry, okay?”

“Is Gus okay?” Jenny asked, looking at Justin from concerned eyes. “He seemed so angry.”

Justin took a deep breath before he replied. “No, I don't think that he's okay, but he will be... He will need a bit of time to work through everything that happened today, but he will be fine. Don't worry about him, okay?”

“I don't want him to hate me for bringing her back into his life,” Jenny whispered, before new sobs wracked her body.

Justin took her into his arms and held her close, as Debbie now rubbed her back in a soothing motion. “He doesn't hate you. He never could. Gus knows that you are not responsible for Melanie's actions and he would never blame you for them.”

“Maybe I should have gone back with her. Just to stop her from saying all these mean things...”

“Hey, don't say that. You don't have to go back to her if you don't want to. We'll set up a meeting with our lawyer on Monday and we'll see from there what we can do. You just try not to worry too much, okay? No matter what happened here today, you're still part of this family and we still love you as such.”

Jenny nodded slowly, before she pulled back from Justin's embrace. “I think I want to be on my own for a while. Is that okay?”

“Of course,” Justin and Debbie said at the same time. They watched as Jenny got up after giving both of them a hug.

“We'll be down here if you need us, okay, honey?” Debbie said as she watched after Jenny as she left the room.

“I think I should check on Brian and Gus,” Justin announced, getting up as well.

“Sunshine,” Debbie started, looking at him. “If you want us to leave, just say the word.”

“I just want to make sure that they are okay,” he said, squeezing her shoulder. “You don't have to leave. In fact, I think it would be good for Jenny if you stayed, if you don't mind.”

“Of course not,” Debbie nodded, watching after Justin as he also left the room. She watched as Carl walked over and sat down next to her.

“How can one person cause so much pain and trouble?” she asked, looking at him from sad eyes.

“I don't know,” he replied honestly, pulling her close.