Chapter 41

The rest of their week in Anaheim had been surprisingly happy and a good one. Jenny had been sad, but it had been obvious over the course of the next days that she was trying not to let the meeting with Michael affect her too much. It was obvious that she was focusing on having a good time with her new family at Disneyland and at the resort they were staying at.

After three days it almost seemed like nothing bad had happened and she seemed to be back to her usual cheery self. She spent a lot of time with Luke and Gus at the resort and once they also went into LA for some sightseeing, but she also went to the theme park with the rest of the family and had a great time there as well.

By the end of their week in Anaheim everyone was sad to see the week end and to return to Pittsburgh. Everyone had enjoyed being together and Vicky's enthusiasm for all things Disney and princesses had been infectious to everyone, especially her dads.

The whole family had one last dinner together on Friday night, before everyone retreated to their suites to get packed for their flight back to Pittsburgh the next day.

Early the next morning everyone had breakfast together, before it was time to check out and leave the resort.

Especially Vicky seemed inconsolable and didn't want to leave and her parents actually had to promise her that they would return one day for another holiday.

Once they all arrived at the airport, they checked in their luggage. As they were waiting in line, Brian walked over to Jenny and talked to her.

“You and I are not going to fly back to Pittsburgh with the rest of the family,” he announced to a clearly surprised Jenny.

“We're not? Why not?” Jenny frowned, not sure that she understood what Brian was saying.

“I have a surprise for you,” was all Brian said with his trademark smirk. “We'll be checking in on a flight to D.C.”

“Washington?” Jenny asked, clearly surprised by this turn of events.

“Yep,” was all Brian replied.

“Why?”

“If I give you an answer now, it won't be a surprise, will it?” Brian said mysteriously, then walked over to Justin, who was looking at her with a friendly smile on his face.

A second later Gus appeared by her side.

“Did you know about this?” Jenny asked him with a frown.

“About you and Dad going to D.C.?” Gus asked, thereby answering Jenny's question. “Dad told me last night.”

“So you know what this is all about?” Jenny tried to get more answers from him.

“I do, but I can't tell you. Dad wants to surprise you.”

Jenny didn't look happy with that evasive answer and it showed on her face.

Gus smiled at his sister and threw an arm around her. “Don't worry! It's a good surprise. I am sure you'll like it.”

Once all the luggage was checked in, the whole family made their way through security and towards their gate. Thankfully Brian's and Jenny's flight to D.C. would only leave ten minutes before the flight to Pittsburgh and only three gates away, so that they could still spend most of their time waiting for their flight with the rest of the family.

Once it was time to head to their gate, Brian and Jenny said goodbye to everyone. Jenny noticed how most people, except for Vicky obviously, seemed to know what was going on and were smiling mysteriously at her. Everyone assured her that she would love the surprise and Carl and Debbie told her that they would see her later that evening which only surprised Jenny more. Why would they go to Washington, but obviously not stay?

Luke asked Jenny to give him a call once she made it back to Pittsburgh as well and Gus hugged his sister for a long time before she left with Brian to catch her flight. He would be travelling on to New York from Pittsburgh and it would be a couple of weeks before they would see each other again.

Brian said goodbye to Justin and Vicky, promising his daughter that he would see her the next day for breakfast at the latest.

The flight to Washington was rather quiet. It was clear that Brian wouldn't give Jenny any more information on why they were going to D.C. Additionally, he seemed to be busy concentrating on work, typing away on his laptop the whole flight. Jenny decided to watch a movie to distract herself from her curiousity. She really couldn't think of any reason why they wouldn't have returned to Pittsburgh with the rest of the family.

After they had landed, they made their way towards the exit, but Jenny was surprised when they didn't pick up their luggage or left the building.

“It will go straight to Pittsburgh. We'll pick it up when we land there,” Brian had just said and had then led her towards a small coffee shop next to an exit that led towards a busy taxi rank outside the airport building.

“Ah good, they're here already,” he muttered as they headed towards a table where Jenny could see two men sitting. One of them seemed to be around Brian's and her father's age, the other was younger, but definitely older than Gus. Maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. Jenny had no idea who they were.

She frowned as she saw Brian greet both men with hugs and friendly words. It was clear that Brian knew both of them and there was a familiarity in their interactions as quick hellos and how are you's were exchanged.

Brian then stepped to the side and urged Jenny to come closer. She had been standing back a bit, but he now asked her to come closer.

“Jenny, this is Benjamin Bruckner,” he pointed at the older of the two men who was inredibly good-looking for his age and smiled at her warmly.

“Hi Jenny,” he said with a friendly voice, a warm smile on his face. “It's so good to see you again after all this time.”

“And this rascal is Hunter Bruckner, his son,” Brian introduced next, pointing towards the younger of the two men. Son. Okay. Jenny couldn't really see a family resemblance between them, but what did she know?

“Wow, you have sure grown since I've last seen you,” the younger man commented with a big smile on his face. “Last time you were still wearing diapers.”

“Uhm...hi,” Jenny just said, not quite sure how to respond to that greeting and what to make of it. These two men obviously knew her, but she had no recollection of them at all.

“Why don't we all sit down and then we can explain to you why we're here,” Brian said, pointing towards the two empty chairs at the table Ben and Hunter were sitting at.

Jenny just nodded, then they all sat down.

“How about I get us something to drink while you do all the talking?” Hunter offered and Ben and Brian gladly accepted. Everyone said what they wanted and Hunter left to get the drinks.

“I know that you're confused why we're here and who Ben and Hunter are,” Brian started, not surprised when Jenny just nodded. “Ben was married to your father when you were born. He was pretty much your stepfather and raised you together with Michael and your mothers. Hunter was adopted by Ben and Michael when they were married. He would have been your stepbrother for a lack of a better word.”

Jenny's eyes widened as she looked from Brian to Ben and back.

“I know it's a lot to take in, but we thought you would like to meet them. They are your family and would very much like to be a part of your life going forward,” Brian said quietly.

“Family?” Jenny frowned, clearly surprised by what Brian had just said.

“Whenever you stayed with your Dad and me, I considered you as much my daughter as you were his and as much my daughter as Hunter is my son,” Ben said quietly, looking at Jenny intently from warm eyes. “After your Dad was involved in Luke's kidnapping, we got divorced. I just couldn't stay with him any longer and sadly that was also the time when your mom disappeared with you from Toronto. I would have loved to stay a part of your life, even after your Dad was sent to prison, but sadly your mother had other ideas.”

“You...you were married to my Dad?” Jenny frowned, looking at him from confused eyes.

“I know, right?” Brian chuckled, then turned serious again. “Ben has the patience of a saint. He was with your father for several years. They were married, had bought a house together... the whole shebang.”

“I didn't know that he was married,” Jenny said quietly.

“Brian mentioned a bit about the situation with your mother and how you ended up in Pittsburgh with Debbie and Carl. Seeing how she didn't tell you about Michael or Gus or Debbie, I am not surprised that she wouldn't have mentioned me or Hunter either.”

At that point Hunter returned with their drinks and sat back down.

“So, where are we?” He asked, ready to join the conversation.

“Explaining to Jenny about me and Michael being married,” Ben said.

“Temporary insantity,” Hunter rolled his eyes, then turned serious again as he looked at Jenny. “Sorry, I know he's your Dad and all, but... you know?”

The way he smiled at her, Jenny couldn't really be angry with him. And really, from everything she had heard, he seemed to be right. Why would anyone marry her father when all he did was obsess about Brian?

She hadn't really noticed that she had voiced her question aloud, but apparently she had.

Ben looked at her sadly before he replied. “Yeah... I guess that's on me. At the time I thought it was rather sweet how Michael cared about his best friend and I thought it showed his caring, loving side that he was so concerned about Brian and everything in his life.”

Both Hunter and Brian snorted in response, but stayed quiet otherwise.

Ben continued. “Obviously I was wrong and I guess I loved him enough to look past all the warning signs. Love makes blind they say and I guess that's true. I didn't really want to see anything bad in your father's behaviour and told myself again and again that he was just a concerned friend, but... when Brian was pregnant with Luke, I couldn't lie to myself any longer... And the more I saw of your father's behaviour then, the more I disliked it and him. We were having problems for quite some time before he got involved in the kidnapping and by that point it was really just the last straw...”

Jenny nodded, taking everything in that Ben had said. “And you were both a part of my life back then?” She asked next, looking from Hunter to Ben and back.

“Not as much as I would have liked,” Ben sighed. “Your father... he wanted to have you and when you were born, he fought very hard to get custody of you, but it was clear very quickly that he wasn't made to be a father. He cared more about Brian, his comics, himself... he wasn't really made to be a full-time father and I am sorry to say, but he quickly lost interest in raising you when he realised how much work taking care of an infant actually was. He mostly left you with your moms and we would only see you occasionally. I tried to urge him to go and visit you more often, to go and have you stay with us for more nights, but he wasn't really interested in that. He had liked the idea of you, because to him it had meant that he and Brian would have something in common and could hang out more now that you and Gus were siblings, but when it turned out that that wasn't true... he didn't show as much interest any more. I would have loved to spend more time with you and I went and visited your moms a lot to be able to see you, but... I was just your father's husband. That didn't mean a lot back then and it certainly didn't give me any rights.”

“Yeah, it was quite sad actually,” Hunter added. “It was fun when you were staying with us at the house. I could see that Ben really enjoyed having you over and spending time with you and honestly, it was quite cool to see you grow up and learn new things. Every time you were staying with us, there was something new you could do. It was a pity that he didn't want to have you stay with us more often.”

Jenny nodded. “You said you got divorced from my Dad after the kidnapping?”

“Yes,” Ben nodded. “It was the last straw. Like I said, we already had problems before, but after that, there was just no way I could stay with him or allow him to be a part of Hunter's life. Once we had been divorced, I tried to stay in contact with your mom in Toronto, but she made it really hard for me to come and see you, always finding a reason why we couldn't come over. And then one day she was just gone and her phone number didn't work any longer, she wasn't living at your house any longer... You were just gone...”

“Ben was really devastated when he couldn't get in touch with your mother any longer. I remember him talking to Debbie a lot and every time we went to Pittsburgh afterwards, everyone would be all sad, hoping that you were okay and well,” Hunter added. “I am really glad you found everyone in Pittsburgh. They are great!”

“But... how come I haven't heard about you before? I've been in Pittsburgh for a while now,” Jenny frowned, now looking at Brian for more answers.

Brian nodded. “When the professor and Hunter moved to D.C. we all tried to stay in contact, but really... after everything that had happened with your father... it was hard. Everyone was working through their own trauma and shit and I know that I could have done more to stay in contact.”

Brian sounded rather sad as he spoke about that time. “And with your grandparents... It was hard for your grandmother to see Hunter and Ben and not think about your Dad... So contact got less and less, but there was always some form of contact, if only a christmas card. After Vicky was born, we all tried to stay in touch more and tried to see each other more often. It was just bad luck that last year was the year of all years that Ben went to Tibet.”

“I always wanted to go to Tibet,” Ben then continued. “It had always been a dream of mine to stay with the buddhist monks at a monastery there for a couple of months and to learn all about their way of life. For one reason or another it never worked out until it did last year. I went to Tibet from last September until earlier this month.”

“And Hunter here now has his own family, so he spent Christmas with them instead of coming to see us,” Brian added.

“Did you miss me?” Hunter leered mockingly, which made Brian roll his eyes.

“You wish.”

Jenny watched the interactions between these men and could see that they were very familiar with each other and liked each other a lot.

“I bet Blondie didn't miss me either,” Hunter then snorted. “Always felt threatened by me...”

“Pft,” Brian just made a face. “Sunshine has nothing to worry about.”

Ben was the first one who seemed to notice Jenny's confused face as she followed the interaction between the two men. “Don't worry about them. This is just their usual banter... It's all good! Hunter is straight, married and a Dad now.”

Jenny nodded slowly, for a second having wondered if Hunter might have been obsessed with Brian like her Dad had been.

“When I got to know Ben, Michael and Brian, I lived on the streets and worked as a hustler. I've tried to get into his pants, but he would never let me... Justin was always by his side,” Hunter said good-naturedly.

“You...you were a hustler?” Jenny's eyes widened.

“Yeah, it's a long story. One I'll tell you another time, but yeah... my mom was a drug addict and pimped me out to get money for drugs, so I ran away and lived on the streets until Ben and Michael took me in, became my foster parents and later adopted me.”

“Wow,” Jenny just breathed out, slowly realising that no matter how bad her relationship with her mom had been, at least she had never been forced to live on the streets and had always had a roof over her head.

“It's okay,” Hunter said, seeing the sad look on Jenny's face. “It's been a long time ago. Ben really took care of me, encouraged me to get an education and to move past that.”

“And that's how our young hustler actually became a computer nerd and now works for Google as a developer,” Brian said, not without pride in his voice. To him it was still amazing what Hunter had overcome and how he had turned his life around.

Hunter smiled, having recognised the pride in Brian's voice for what it was. “Well, I am just one of many, but yeah... it's a good life.”

“Nice,” Jenny said, quite impressed. She then turned to Ben. “And what do you do here in Washington? Are you in politics?”

Ben actually laughed at that. “God, no. I couldn't be a politician if my life depended on it. I'd be too honest and have too much empathy for people in worse positians than me. I am actually a professor at George Washington University. Gay studies are my subject.”

“A professor?” Jenny seemed honestly surprised by that.

“Makes it even harder to believe that he was married to your father, huh?” Brian joked.

“A bit, yeah,” Jenny admitted. She had heard a lot about her father not having been good in school, not having been what one would consider intelligent and yet he had seemed to have gotten married to a university professor.

“I met your Dad when I was looking for some comics with gay characters to use in my gay studies class at Carnegie Mellon where I was working at the time. What can I say? I liked his enthusiasm and his boy next door charm. And it wasn't all bad... we were happy for a long time before things turned really bad.”

Jenny nodded. “It's just... a lot to take in.”

“I know and I don't blame you,” Ben said, his voice full of understanding. “Brian said that you met with your father and that it didn't go well and he then asked if we would like to meet you and I know that I am not your father, Jenny, but at one time, I considered myself as one of your fathers. And I know it's a lot to take in now and to ask of you now, but Hunter and I would really like if we could establish some kind of relationship going forward. We would love to be a part of your life and maybe with time, we could all become a sort of family as well.”

Jenny nodded once, but didn't say anything. It was clear that she was still overwhelmed by everything she had heard so far.

Seeing that and not wanting to put her more on the spot than he already had, Brian decided at that point to change the topic of conversation. He gave Ben and Hunter the best wishes of the rest of the family members and soon after they were talking about Ben's time in Tibet, how Hunter's family was doing and about their week in Anaheim.

By the time they started talking about their vacation in Anaheim, Jenny seemed more comfortable again and joined the conversation again, telling a couple of stories herself.

She and Brian stayed with Hunter and Ben at the coffee shop for two more hours, before it was time for them to head to security and get towards their gate for their flight to Pittsburgh.

By the time they all said goodbye, Jenny already seemed a lot more comfortable with Ben and Hunter and they hugged each other when they said goodbye, promising to stay in contact. They had exchanged phone numbers and email addresses and had made tentative plans for Hunter and Ben to come to Pittsburg for Easter and to spend some time together then.

Once they were on their plane to Pittsburgh, Jenny turned towards Brian.

“Thanks for introducing me to them,” she said, looking at him with a warm smile.

“I thought you might like to know that there is more family than just us or your mom and dad. Ben and Hunter are really good people and I know that Ben really cared about you a lot when he was still married to your Dad.”

“He seems really nice,” Jenny nodded. “Both he and Hunter.”

“They are,” Brian agreed. “And I think you might get on really well with them if that's something you're interested in.”

“Hmmm,” Jenny agreed. “I think so too. They were really friendly and nice.”

“I just want you to know that you're not alone, Jenny,” Brian said seriously, looking at the girl by his side. “I know your parents suck, but you have so many other people that would love nothing more than to be a part of your life. So many people that love you, care about you and want the best for you. Fuck your Mom and Dad! They're the ones missing out... They have no idea what a great person their daughter is and they're the ones missing out because of their stupid behaviour. You? You still have a loving family that supports you, loves you and will always be there for you, no matter what. Them? They will be all alone with no one around. Now who got the better deal?”

Jenny eyed Brian for the longest time, then nodded as a single tear ran down her face. “Thank you! Thank you for everything!”

“You're more than welcome, Jenny!” And Brian meant it. Every word. No kid deserved to be treated the way she had been treated and he hoped that from hereon out, she would have a happier life than she had had so far.