Chapter 38

“Brian?” Ted had a frown on his face as he made his way into Brian's office.

“What is it now? Don't tell me there's another problem,” Brian sighed, running a hand through his hair. It had just been one of those days where one thing had gone wrong after the other and he couldn't wait for this day to be over and to get back home.

“No, not a problem, just... why are you paying a private investigator to locate Michael?” Ted asked, looking at Brian from confused eyes.

Brian took a deep breath as he looked at his friend and CFO. He shouldn't have been surprised that Ted would find out sooner or later. After all Ted also took care of his and Justin's private finances and would of course see the bill from the private investigator that they had hired. And he was sure that being as diligent as he was, Ted had probably called the private investigator to confirm that they had billed the correct people.

“Jenny wants to meet him.”

Ted raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

Brian shrugged. “He's her father, she doesn't know him and now she wants to get to know him and see what he's like.”

“But...,” Ted started, only to be interrupted by Brian right away.

“Yes, she knows all about what he did, has heard all the stories, knows all the bad stuff and still wants to meet him because he is her father and she has no memories of him at all.”

“And you are helping her?”

“Yes, Justin and I agreed with Debbie and Carl that it was best for her if someone was by her side through this whole process, just in case it ends badly.”

“Justin is okay with this?” Ted sounded honestly surprised by that statement.

“Define okay,” Brian sighed. “Does he like it? No! Does he like that we got involved? No! Does he agree that it's better for Jenny to have someone support her instead of doing this on her own? Yes!”

“I just... I know that Michael has always been a sore topic with him,” Ted said somewhat apologetically.

“And he still is, trust me... he still is,” Brian replied.

“And you? How are you feeling about this?” Ted asked, now coming over to Brian's desk and sitting down in the chair across from it.

Brian shrugged. “This isn't about me. It's about Jenny wanting to get to know her biological father after her mother has turned out to be such a disappointment and has lied about his existence.”

“Brian,” Ted just sighed, holding Brian's annoyed gaze. “We're talking Michael here. You must have feelings about this. After all he has done...”

“Of course I do, but they don't really matter. This is about Jenny having someone in her corner when she goes and meets her biological father. If that's what he wants, that is.”

“Deflecting might have worked with him, but it won't work with me,” Ted just said quietly, looking at Brian from warm, clearly concerned eyes.

“What do you want me to say? That I am happy about this turn of events? Hell no! If I never have to see him again, I'll be more than happy... And the idea of him and Jenny working things out and him getting access to our family again... it gives me sleepless nights, but... this isn't about me and what Justin and I think of Michael. This is about a neglected teenager trying to connect with her biological parent. I can't say no to that just because I don't like that parent and have my own history with him.”

“But it doesn't have to be you, Brian. I am sure Jenny would understand in light of what Michael did. Blake and I could help if it's needed. You know we wouldn't mind doing this for Jenny if this is what she wants,” Ted said seriously.

“I know,” Brian nodded, “but she came to me and she asked me because she trusts me. God knows why, but she seems to think that I understand her thinking and will support her and God help me, but I do...”

“It's just with your history with Michael and... everything,” Ted tried once more only to be stopped by Brian again.

“If she wants to meet him, she can. Justin and I won't stand in the way of that. Neither will Debbie, though she has made it clear that she wants no part in any meeting like that. Carl has already agreed to go with her as well, but... I don't know... I feel like it should be me that goes with her and is there for her.”

“Don't you think Michael might misinterpret that to mean something else?”

“Hell will freeze over before I want him back in my life,” Brian muttered, then met Ted's gaze once more. “We don't even know if the PI will find him. And if he does, we don't know if Michael will even agree to a meeting with Jenny. And if he does which to me is still a very big IF, we will still have time to figure out the details of what that meeting will look like. Who will go with her, will be with her, that kind of thing. I try not to think about it too much at the moment.”

Ted nodded. “Just... know that if we are needed, Blake and I will be there to help. This doesn't have to be done by you, Brian.”

Brian nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Once we know more, I am sure the whole family will get together and everyone can decide then what the best course of action would be.”

Knowing that Brian wasn't ready to say more on the topic, Ted nodded, got up and headed for the door of his office.

***

At the end of February, a week after they had returned from Justin's show in New York, which had of course been a huge success and had sold out very quickly, the private investigator got back to them with the information he had found about Michael.

Brian had sat on that information for two days, only sharing the news with Justin, but no one else. He hadn't really felt ready yet to share the information with Jenny or Debbie. Now that they knew where Michael lived and had his contact information, he didn't feel so sure anymore about what he wanted to do.

Secretly he had been wondering if it wouldn't be better for Jenny to just lie to her and tell her that the private investigator hadn't been able to find Michael. It sure would be easier for him and Justin, for Debbie and Carl. And while he had been thinking those thoughts, he had known that Jenny deserved the truth. She was old enough to make her own decisions and they had promised her to support her even though they all feared that this might end badly.

So in the end, Brian had finally gotten over himself and had shared the information the PI had found with Debbie and Carl and Jenny.

As per the information they knew that Michael still lived in California. He lived just outside of LA and was working as a store clerk in a small comic book store in West Hollywood. No one seemed really surprised by that news. Comic books were the only thing Michael had really ever known anything about and they had pretty much been his life, so it wasn't really too shocking that he would still work in that area in some capacity.

They had also found out that Michael was still trying to cash in on the rights to Rage that he had gotten from Justin – though not directly from him and through secret channels. He had started a website where he was still selling the old issues and was offering Q&As with “the creator of Rage” as he refered to himself.

Interest had dwindled a lot over the years from the looks of it and by now the comic and website were barely producing an income any longer which was why Michael had needed to start working at the comic book store. Apparently he had met the owner of that store on his website during one of his Q&A sessions.

The family had gotten together and it had been agreed that Jenny would get in contact with him and would see how he would react to her suggesting a meeting.

They had debated for a while if a call or email would be best, but in the end Jenny had decided that she would feel more comfortable with an email. She had needed a week before she had been ready to send her email. She had gone back and forth over the text she wanted to send, having shared it with Gus, Luke and even her grandparents, but in the end she had just decided to send it, knowing that it was just her insecurity and fear of her father's rejection that had stopped her from sending it before.

It had taken a couple of days before she had received a reply from Michael and when she had, everyone had been surprised by how civil it had actually sounded.

Michael had replied that he would love to see her if that was her wish and that he was happy that she seemed happy with her new life in Pittsburgh (she had told him about moving from Florida to Pittsburgh in recent months, though she hadn't gotten into too much detail about the custody issues with her mother).

In the end they all agreed that Jenny could meet with Michael the first weekend of her upcoming sprink break.

That way she would have time to fly to LA without missing any school and the rest of the family could prepare for the details surrounding her trip.

Michael had seemed okay with that suggestion and had agreed to try and take that weekend off work, so he could meet with her.

Once a date and location in LA had been agreed, the planning had started. As had been agreed before, Brian and Carl offered to join her on the trip to LA. They had been surprised when the rest of the family had then spoken up and voiced their opinions as well.

“Honey, you are part of the family now and as far as I am concerned, this calls for a family trip,” Emmett had announced. “I've never been to LA, can you imagine? A trip like that is long overdue for me and Drewsie.”

“Blake and I haven't been to LA in years. And a trip somewhere warm and sunny sounds really nice after the long winter we just had,” Ted had then announced. “And I am sure my boss won't mind me taking off a couple of days. He always tells me to take better care of myself and to take holidays more often.” He had then looked at Brian with a smirk.

“I want to come, too,” Gus had announced when they had next spoken to him, surprising both Brian and Justin. “She's my sister and I want to be there for her.”

Neither Brian nor Justin had really been happy about that turn of events, but both knew that with Gus being 21 now, there wasn't anything they could do to stop him.

“You know, maybe we should all go,” Justin said quietly after they had ended the call with Gus.

“And make it a nice, big, fat family reunion? I don't think so, Sunshine,” Brian shook his head. “And I don't have to remind you of how much you hate the very idea of this meeting taking place.”

“I do,” Justin agreed, then looked at Brian from serious eyes. “But isn't it nice to see everyone coming together like this, wanting to be there for Jenny in case it ends badly? I am pretty sure once Luke finds out that Gus will go, he will start pestering us as well, demanding that he can go as well.”

“Luke?” Brian frowned. “There's no way in hell I'll let him get anywhere near Michael.”

“And neither will I, but... you know he'll want to go and support Jenny. You know how close they have become.”

And it was true. With Gus in New York, Luke and Jenny had gotten very close in recent months. They were close enough in age with Jenny only 2 years older than Luke and they spent a lot of time together whenever they could. Justin had a feeling that something else was developing between them, but so far neither had shown any indication that there was anything but friendship between them – yet.

“Sunshine...,” Brian sighed.

“Luke won't be happy if Gus gets to go and he doesn't.”

“Well, he'll just have to get over it,” Brian shrugged. “Unlike Gus he's not of age and can't make his own decisions. And she's not his sister anyway...”

Justin chuckled at that. “Which is probably for the best...”

Seeing something in Justin's eyes, not quite sure what it was, Brian raised an eyebrow. “What am I missing here?”

“Don't tell me you haven't seen the awkward looks between them,” Justin snorted, not really surprised that Brian wouldn't have. Brian had always been rather slow to catch on to things like that. Even when it had been his own love life.

“Wait... are you saying?” Brian frowned, waiting for Justin to confirm what he was thinking. When Justin nodded, he shook his head slowly. “No way...Luke and Jenny?”

“I am not sure if they know yet themselves, but... just watch them when they are together... there are a lot of awkward looks, touches... and they like to spend time together.”

Brian seemed to think about what Justin had said for a couple of minutes, then nodded slowly as well, turning to look at his husband. “How did we of all people end up with two straight sons?”

“Well, we don't know if he's straight... he might just be curious,” Justin said, his voice showing clear amusement.

“Still... I had such high hopes for him,” Brian lamented, though Justin could see that he was clearly joking.

“Well, you still have Vicky. She could still end up gay,” Justin pointed out, leaning into his husband's side and snuggling close to him.

“A muncher? Under my roof? I don't think so, Sunshine,” Brian snorted, shaking his head. “All my hopes are now resting on her. She'll have to be the one to bring home young, beautiful men for us to ogle.”

“No pressure for her at all, I see,” Justin snorted now as well, resting his arm around Brian's midsection.

“Well, someone has to keep up the family tradition,” Brian smirked, pulling Justin closer.

They were quiet for a few minutes, each hanging on to their own thoughts before they returned to the topic at hand.

“So, this big family vacation idea of yours... how will that work out?” Brian asked.

“I don't know, I haven't really given it much thought yet...,” Justin admitted. After a couple more minutes of silence, he spoke again. “Well, we wanted to take Vicky and the boys to Disneyland anyway, right? It doesn't have to be Orlando, does it? We could make it a trip to Anaheim. It will be spring break, so they'll all be off school and free anyway and that way we could make sure that they'll have a good time anyway.”

Brian thought about the idea in his head for a minute before he replied. “I guess, yeah... Vicky would love to go to Disney with all her uncles and the whole family and I guess it would give everyone a nice enough distraction from seeing Michael.”

“Yeah,” Justin agreed. “It's worth suggesting to them, isn't it?”

Brian nodded in agreement.

And indeed, three days later they had talked to everyone in the family and everyone had agreed that a trip to Disneyland with the whole family sounded very nice.

In the end they decided to stay at the Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa (https://disneyland.disney.go.com/hotels/grand-californian-hotel/). They had booked two three bedroom suites for the whole family.

It was agreed that Brian, Justin and the kids would share one suite, with Luke and Gus sharing one of the bedrooms and Jenny and Vicky sharing the other bedroom, while Debbie and Carl, Ted and Blake and Emmett and Drew would share the second three bedroom suite among themselves. Jennifer would sadly have to miss the trip as she had an important realtor conference that week that she couldn't miss.

Everyone had seemed happy enough once the plan had been decided. Vicky had been beyond excited because really? What was not to love about a trip to Disneyland for a six year old? And Luke and Gus had seemed excited enough, partly because of their sister's excitement, partly because there would still be rides and attractions that would be fun for them, too and even if they got bored of Disneyland, the hotel itself offered pools and waterslides.

All the adults had seemed excited due to Vicky's excitement and because the hotel also offered a nice Spa for them to enjoy. Additionally, the hotel's location was close enough to LA in case anyone wanted to make the trip when they got tired of Disneyland.

Jenny stayed in loose contact with Michael in the weeks leading up to their trip to Anaheim. In the end they had decided to meet on the Sunday after they would fly in. They would fly in on Saturday and arrive late in the afternoon and Jenny had argued with the family that it would be best to have the meeting at the start of their trip. If it went well, it would give her more time to meet with her father again during the week that she was in Anaheim and if it didn't go well, she would have a week at Disneyland with her new family to distract her and keep her occupied.

No one had been able to argue with that, so a meeting with Michael had been set up for lunch on Sunday.

On Saturday evening after Vicky had gone to bed, full of excitement for the next day and going to Disneyland, everyone had met in Brian's and Justin's suite to talk about the plan for the next day.

“I will go with her,” Gus had announced, looking at everyone in the room, daring to contradict him.

Brian and Justin had wanted to, but knew better than to do so. Gus had made his intent to join Jenny clear for weeks and they had discussed it with him already. He was her brother, he knew all about parents that were a disappointment and he wanted to be there for his sister in case she needed him. He had assured his parents that he would be fine and wouldn't let Michael get to him.

In the end, Brian and Justin knew that there was nothing they could do about it and agreed that Gus should join his sister if he wanted to. He was old enough to make his own decisions and both men knew that he wouldn't let Michael get away with any bullshit. When it came to his siblings, Gus was very protective and that included Jenny as much as Luke and Vicky.

They had a bit of a discussion about who should join Jenny and Gus. At first Carl had volunteered, but so had Ted. When they had talked it over, Ted had raised the very valid point that Michael had never liked Carl and might take his presence badly. Michael had always felt like Carl had diverted his mother's attention away from him where it should have been and that he had made her treat Michael in a way Michael hadn't approved of, which meant making him deal with his own problems for once in his life.

Ted argued that he and Michael had been friends at one point and that Michael might be more open if he saw him than he would be with Carl.

Carl grudgingly accepted, but insisted to go into LA with them and to stay somewhere close. Just in case. He was still a police officer at heart after all and would always be worried about people's safety. Especially if it was about people close to him.

Brian had insisted on being close as well, just in case Michael pulled anything and Gus and / or Jenny needed him. He wouldn't let Michael get away with anything where his son and his sister were concerned.

Justin wasn't really happy about that and would have prefered for Brian to stay in Anaheim and spend the day at Disneyland with him and Vicky and Debbie, but he knew better than to say anything. They had been over this before and he knew that this was important to Brian and really, now that Gus was going to be present at the meeting with Michael, Justin really felt a lot better knowing that Brian would be close.

Jenny, Ted and Gus would meet with Michael at a restaurant in downtown LA and Brian and Carl would wait for them at another place just around the corner, but far enough for Michael not to see that they were around as well.

Everyone agreed that it wouldn't be good for anyone if Michael saw Brian, especially with the restraining order still in place. Brian and Carl would wait for the meeting with Michael to be over and would then be there to meet with Gus, Jenny and Ted afterwards.

Once they had agreed on everything, the couples returned to their own rooms while the teenagers and Gus spent some more time in the living-room of their suite watching movies and eating crappy snacks before they retired for the night as well.

Whatever would happen the next day, they would be together as a family and as a family they would deal with it.