Michael yelped as Brian grabbed him, pulling him out of the party. He had been talking to Vic and C.J. about the rent boy problem he and Ben had been having outside their house. It was then that Brian blazed into the living room, grabbing him and dragging him out of the house.

"Brian what's your problem?"

They were already to Brian jeep by the time he was able to shake Brian off of him. Michael had been the man's friend for over fifteen years. That being the case when Brian looked at him he knew he needed to get in the vehicle with him.

Once they both were in the jeep Brian sped off. Brian was only ever serious when it came his work. He didn't know what was going on with his best friend but it was freaking him out.

"Where does Justin and the cop live?"

Michael gapped at his best friend. This was about Justin? Michael had hoped Brian gotten over whatever the hell it was he had for the kid.

"Brian, leave Vas and Justin alone."

"Don't you ever get the feeling something is off in that relationship?"

"Jesus, Brian, you sound like Ma and Ben."

Brian turned towards him for a moment before looking back at the road.

"What have they been saying?"

Michael huffed. "Just that they thought Vas was a little controlling. Ma said she regretted setting the two of them up. Justin's never around anymore, you would think she had known him for more than six months."

"Where do they live?" Brian demanded.

Michael relented and told him the address. Vas's treatment of Justin never really bothered him. It reminded him too much of how David was. David was very controlling but not in a violent way. He just had to control the house, their friends, and generally everything Michael did. Maybe that was why he never really thought anything of it, he was used to that kind of relationship. Ben was David's complete opposite so he had tried to push all those thoughts away. Now he was feeling guilty for missing something that everyone else had apparently seen.

Brian pulled up in front of the three story apartment complex. It wasn't as nice as the one he had lived in with Emmett but it wasn't as bad as he'd seen before. Brian parked and jumped out of the jeep, Michael had never seen him so distressed. He quickly got out and followed his best friend.

The building's door wasn't locked, they made their way up to the second floor. Vas's apartment was 2B, they were standing in front of the shut door in less than a minute.

Brian pounded on the door. "Justin!" he yelled.

There was no answer, it was eerily quiet for an apartment with people in it. He started to suspect they hadn't gotten home yet. Brian kept beating on the door with no answer. Michael reached out for the door knob and turned it, he was shocked when it opened. Sometimes, it did help to not be as smart as Brian, because he would have over thought it; the man would have kicked the door down before thinking a cop would leave the door unlocked.

The door swung open with a little help from Justin. After a few steps in the apartment Michael stopped. "What's that smell?" Michael asked, he couldn't say it was a smell he was familiar with. He felt Brian stiffen beside him before a sob escaped him. Michael's brain finally caught up with his eyes and recognized what he was seeing.

Brian ran towards the blonde on the floor. Michael knew the young man had blonde hair but all he could see was red coloring it usual hair color. Justin lay motionless on the floor. He was lying next to a bloody bat.

Brian knelt down beside Justin, looking like he didn't know where to touch him.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," he sobbed. "God."

Michael called 911 in a daze. He wasn't sure he was all that coherent. It was like he was watching everything as an outsider. That this couldn't possibly be real, these things happened on TV. Justin was just at his mother's house, healthy and whole. Now he looked like a little boy dying on the ugly linoleum flooring.

Carl was sitting at one of the tables with three of his children. He wished Justin was still there. When he had set Justin up with Vas, he only thought about the man being gay. They were both gay and Vas was a fellow cop. He wanted his son away from Kinney, hearing way too much about the man. He didn't want Justin to be another notch in Kinney's headboard.

"So, how's it going with Debbie?" Vicky asked. They had just finished eating and everyone seemed to be leaving the reunited family alone. They were the only ones still outside. Vicky was across from him, Molly to his left and C.J. beside Vicky. He still had anger towards C.J. but Justin had asked him to work on their relationship.

"Good, real good. Debbie is a good woman. I owe that to Justin, I would have never met her if I didn't go to PFLAG."

"I'm glad you met someone. I know how lonely you've been without Mom," C.J. said.

Carl knew that wasn't going to sit well with his youngest, and he was right.

"He hasn't been lonely. He's had us, we've been there for him," Molly said defiantly.

Seeming to know when to pick his battles C.J. relented. "I know I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"I wish Justin would have stayed," Vicky said.

"Justin wanted to stay but Vas made him leave," Molly said, looking more upset now.

"What do you mean?" he asked but before he got an answer the backdoor opened.

Stepping out into the backyard wasn't anyone from Debbie's menagerie of lost boys, no, it was someone he wasn't expecting.

"Matteo? What are you doing here?" Detective Matteo Marquez, friend for over twenty years. In all that time he had never seen the man cry. But now he was standing in Debbie's backyard with tears running freely down his face. "What's wrong? Is it Alicia or the boys?" Had something happened to his friend's family? Matteo's boys were only a little older than Justin.

"Carl," Matteo said, his voice broken. Carl felt dread in the pit of his stomach.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

Looking around the people from that house had filled the backyard. They looked just as confused as he was, but no fear. They didn't know Matteo like he did, this man never cried.

"I'm sorry, Carl. I told them to let me tell you. I didn't want them to call you."

There were only a handful of people in this world that he loved. Most of them was in this yard. There was one noticeably absent though. Matteo wouldn't be crying if he had to deliver news that Carl's younger sister on the other side of the U.S. died, he didn't know her. But he did know the little blonde boy who dressed up as Detective Marquez at the age of seven, and trick or treated at his house. The same little boy who at fourteen beat Matteo in bowling, and instead of gloating just smiled and thanked the older man for going easy on him. Even though Carl had known the boy was better than the older man.

"You're wrong," he said, pleading that what the man was going to say didn't have anything to do with his little boy.

"I'm sorry, Carl. Justin's been hurt. He's at the hospital and I think you need to get there right away. They didn't have time to ask for your permission, he was rushed into surgery. Carl, I heard the doctor, they don't think he'll make it."

For the first time in his life, the world around Carl darkened and faded away.

Brian sat in the same hospital chair he had months ago when Lindsay was in surgery. Maybe it was him, maybe he was a curse on people in his life; his parents seemed to think so.

Michael sat soundlessly beside him, the only thing keeping him from breaking completely down. When he had seen Justin on the ground covered in blood, he felt his world stop. He never liked to admit it that the beautiful blonde had a hold over him. Now, he didn't care, he would scream it from the roof if they would come back and said he was okay. While Brian was being interview by the detective he heard a doctor say he didn't expect Justin to come out of surgery. He would have been mad but he just felt numb.

Brian had told them that Vas had left with Justin and the older man was very angry. When they asked if anyone else saw, he pointed out that Justin's baby sister saw. It occurred to him then that no one called Carl. When he told that to the detective, one that he recognized from Lindsay's case, the man had said he would take care of it. He remembered that Justin had known the man.

He didn't know how long, but sometime later everyone arrived. When they started to question Brian, Michael told them to leave him along. Michael answered all the other questions, Brian was thankful. Blood still covered his clothes and face. He had put pressure on Justin's head wound while waiting for the ambulance.

"I want him to talk to me," Carl roared.

Brian looked up at the man, he still felt numb. There was just no feelings left in him. Carl was standing in front of him shaking with rage.

"What do you want to know?" he asked emotionlessly.

"What the hell were you doing at his apartment?"

Debbie gasped. "You don't think Brian did this do you? For one he would never hurt Sunshine. For another Michael was with him, unless you're calling one of my son's an attempted murderer and my other one a liar."

"He makes a good point, what were they doing there?" C.J. piped in.

He was so done with this, Justin was dying in there and they just wanted to fight. He couldn't even work himself up to fight with them.

"Stop it!" Molly screamed. "Just stop it. This is all your fault." She was facing her father. "You wanted Justin away from Brian so you set him up with Vas. You didn't care what Justin wanted. Justin wanted Brian, but Brian wanted everyone else, Justin understood that. Instead of letting them work it out between themselves you set him up. What you did was give Justin to a scary, controlling man. What's worse was a month and a half ago when Justin brought up Vas not wanting him to go to the club with his friends, you agreed. You refused to see any of the signs. It's only been lately that you realized Justin wasn't coming near us either." She was breathing hard.

"I didn't," a new voice said.

All eyes shot towards the voice. The feelings that had escaped Brian, came back full force. He jumped out of the seat and leapt at the man. He got one good hit before Justin's brother-in-law and brother pulled him off.

"You son of a bitch! You have a hundred pounds and half a foot on him. Were you so scared of him that you had to hit him with a baseball bat?"

The man's face paled. "Baseball bat?"

"Yes," he growled.

"I don't own a baseball bat, I haven't touched one since I was fourteen and was almost killed by my stepfather with one."

The waiting room got real quiet with that admission.

"If you didn't do it than who would want to hurt Justin that bad?"

"Trevye," Michael said.

"Michael, we were only minutes behind them. There was no time for someone else to hurt Justin. It had to be him," Brian said looking at Vas, he was still being held back by C.J. and Lewis.

"I just dropped him off. He told me that he was scared of the way I was acting. Ever since my attack, I have anger issues. I told Justin I would never hurt him but I also told him that if he ever got scared of me to tell me to leave. I may have anger problems and be a jealous boyfriend but I would never hit someone else. I dropped Justin off at the apartment and told him I would call when I calmed down. I would never hurt him, I love him."

Brian didn't want to believe him but he could see the truth in the man's eyes. Vas was a jealous, possessive, controlling man but he hadn't attacked Justin. He wasn't ready to say he never laid an unkind hand on Justin but it wasn't this time.

"Who did it?" Debbie asked.

"Family of Justin Horvath," a tall doctor called.

They all turned around as one, Carl, Debbie and Brian were the firsts to reach the man.

"Yes, I'm his father," Carl said, voice suddenly very shaky.

"I'm Dr. Dillard, your son was brought in with severe trauma to the head. They lost his heartbeat in the ambulance but were able to get him back. We had to go in and fix the brain bleed. He's in a medically induced coma right now. He did great in surgery, he's a strong young man it will work in his favor. I'll have to be honest, we won't know where we stand until he wakes up."

"Can we see him?" Debbie asked.

"Only one person for today, tomorrow he'll be allowed more but only one at a time." He looked around at the room full of people. "If they're not immediate family make sure you give written permission to the staff," the doctor said looking at Carl. "He got here just in time, any longer and we wouldn't have gotten him back."

"I want to see my son," Carl said, voice almost gone.

"Of course, Ann will take you back to the recovery room." He motioned over to a grandmotherly looking nurse.

C.J. snuck out of the waiting room. He didn't know who this Trevye was but he didn't know where the man would be. He only knew where one person that had hurt Justin was at. That man was in Denver last time he checked. Over the years he had kept up with the man. Making sure he stayed far away from his brother.

Truman wasn't convicted of Justin's assault. He never had to pay for what he had done to his brother. Now that he was no longer in the Air Force, he could act on his own accord. His anger was overflowing, he couldn't make Justin better but he could take care of Truman.

He was moving on adrenalin. Trevye probably was the attacker but now it was time to put some of his own demons to rest, and finally get vengeance for his brother, Justin had been living with this shadow over his life for too long.

I promise it gets happier after this.