Brian woke up to someone banging on his front door. He could hear Briana bitching about her beauty rest from her room. The girl really was a mix between him and Justin. She may look like a mix between Daphne and Justin, but her attitude was Brian and Justin completely. She pouted like Justin but had Brian's temper.

The banging on the door only got louder. If it was his mother again he was going to call the cops on her. He wasn't about to let his daughter see that woman again. As he opened the door to his bedroom he was met by the sight of a very pissed-off almost five-year old.

"I was sleeping." she growled at him.

"Don't blame me, I was sleeping too."

The door to his right opened and Gus stepped out. Unlike his sister he was wide awake, and already dressed for the day. Brian headed downstairs, the kids following him downstairs, Briana grumbling the whole way. If he wasn't so exhausted, he would have laughed. He hadn't been sleeping very well since Justin's plane disappeared. For the past couple of weeks, he had to get used to his shadow. Briana had been very worried that he would disappear like Justin.

The doorbell rang quickly followed by the knocking again. He really was going to kill somebody today. It was Saturday morning, for crying out loud. He had worked, then came home to take care of his children. It was the first time since the plane vanished that he had Gus for the weekend. Two weeks ago Lindsay cancelled their weekend, saying the loss of her parents was too new and she needed time with her children. Like Brian didn't lose anyone. Even after all this time, sometimes his friends still thought that he and Justin were just killing time until something better came along, that they weren't a family like the rest of them.

"Why the fuck are you beating my door down?" he growled at person on his doorstep.

The guy looked like he could be Emmett's little brother, except for the height. He would guess the guy was only an inch or so taller than Justin. He had short, wavy brown hair. But the reason why he looked like Emmett to Brian was the bright tangerine top with tight low-rider jeans. He black rimmed glasses slipping down on his pert nose.

"Mr. Kinney?"

"Who the fuck else would I be?" he growled. It was his house and it was six in the fucking morning.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kinney. My name is Greg Yates, I'm Mr. Colin Savage's assistant."

Brian looked down to where Briana, who was still glaring at the early morning visitor. He didn't know what Yates wanted to say but he didn't want Briana or Gus to hear anything upsetting.

"Briana, I need you to go upstairs and get dressed. Breakfast will be in half an hour. Gus, I need you to go set the table." Gus didn't argue, he looked sadly at Brian before turning and heading into the kitchen. He knew he wouldn't be as lucky with Briana.

"It's Saturday," she whined. Justin had always let Saturday mornings be very causal, if you call pajamas at noon casual.

"Upstairs, now." he said sternly.

"Fine," she growled out, before heading upstairs.

"Make this quick. What did you come to tell me?"

"Yesterday, our search team saw a flare from an island they were near. Unfortunately, they were out of daylight and gas, so they had to head back. But because they saw the flare a rescue ship is on its way. It should be there by Monday."

"Are you saying they found Justin but just turned the fuck around and won't be back for three days?" Brian was livid.

"We don't know if the flare was from Flight 530."

"Who the fuck else would it be from?" Brian could feel his blood-pressure rising.

"It's way off course of where 530 should have been."

"It's still a flare, that means someone needs fucking help." His chest was heaving.

"Which is why the search and rescue vessel is on its way. There was no way even if they found them that they could get them. It was always the plan for the ship to retrieve the survivors, if there are any."

"Justin is alive, I know it."

"Papa? Is Papa coming home?" Briana asked as she ran back to where Brian was standing.

Brian glared at the man, telling him without words not to say a damn word. If it wasn't Justin, he didn't want her to be anymore broken-hearted.

"This man is helping with looking for your papa," he told her.

"You need to find him soon," she demanded.

"I'll do everything I can." Then he looked at Brian. "My partner was on that flight too." The man sniffled a little. "I just wanted you to know; Colin wasn't trying to keep it a secret, he just didn't want more people disappointed if it turned out not to be them."

"Your partner…it's Mr. Savage's son isn't it?"

The man's eyes brightened and smiled a little smile. "Yeah, I've been with Travis since I was thirteen."

"Aren't you impotent by now?" Brian even shocked himself with the question.

The man glared at him; Brian knew he should have kept his mouth shut but that never stopped him before.

"Why's he important?" Briana asked.

"Fuck," Brian cursed.

"I'm important because I've been with the man I love since I was thirteen. That almost never happens. To me that makes me and him important and special."

"Oooh," Briana said slyly. "My daddy and papa is important. They've been together forever."

Yates looked at Brian and smirked. "Is that so?"

Briana nodded excitedly. "When is Papa coming home?"

Instead of answering her he looked at Brian. Even if he didn't like Brian's words he wouldn't say anything to hurt the girl. If he had been a betting man he would have thought that Mr. Brian Kinney was trying to cover up his misery with snark.

Brian met the eyes of Mr. Yates but then looked down at his daughter. "Remember what he said? They are doing their best to find him. We have to be strong for Papa."

She nodded her head again. "Yep, we gots to be strong."

Brian said goodbye to Greg Yates, the man promising to call him as soon as he heard from the rescue team. His mind ran wild with thoughts of Justin. Monday…. It was so soon but so far away. There was also the little voice in his head that talked about Justin being dead, gone forever. He told that voice to shut the fuck up and he turned to look at his daughter.

"Let's go eat breakfast, then you, me and Gus are going to watch movies until lunch."

"You want to watch movies with us?" she asked in surprise. Justin usually was the one that watched movies with her.

"Yes. I get to choose one too, though." He grinned when Briana groaned.

"Please, no Dean James."

"I promise no Dean James," he said, smiling at her mix up with the name.

He made omelets for the kids while he had cereal.

"That's gross. There's not even any marshmallows in it," Briana said pointing at his multi-grain cereal.

"Dad, guess what Jenny said yesterday," Gus said after he swallowed some of his omelet.

"What did she say?" he asked only half listening. He was used to stories that went nowhere and endless chatter from both his children.

"She said eating too much playdoh makes her stomach hurt. Can you believe that?" His son then giggled.

That would be Mikey's pride and joy. He loved Jenny but she was a little off, in a good way though. She marched to the beat of her own drum. She lived in a fantasy world just like Michael. But instead of a world made by others, like Mikey's comics, hers was completely in her imagination. It was interesting to listen to her go on about this and that. One day she swore up and down fairies lived in her closet. No one wanted to touch that with a ten-foot pole.

When Briana wanted to start ballet, she convinced Jenny to join with her. Briana was a graceful and talented dancer, Jenny, on the other hand, was a klutz. Jenny's talents rested elsewhere. Brian was glad that his daughter's best friend was also his best friend's daughter.

Justin watched as Francisco and Leda screamed at each other. Ever since the night before and the plane turned around without seeing them all the camps had descended into turmoil. No camp was left in peace. Justin had stayed in his camp because he didn't trust some of the people in the others. But as of an hour ago people had started leave their camps and go further inland. They wanted to be left alone and die in peace. But there were also the people who had turned to violence. Sweet, mild-mannered Francisco was losing his ever-loving mind.

When they awoke this morning Francisco was trying to set their camp on fire. Isaiah, Ron and Ricki raced to him and got control of the situation before he could succeed in his setting the whole camp ablaze. His eyes were intense and wild. They had tied his hands and feet together. He was sitting on the ground, leaning up against the tree that they had tethered him to so he wouldn't get away.

At the moment he was having a screaming match with Leda. Most of what was coming out of Francisco's mouth was nonsense. Ron said he believed Francisco had a psychotic break. Justin had seen what happened when someone had a mental break that resulted in violence. Daphne had done terrible things when she wasn't herself. She was getting better every day. He hoped no one at the institution told her about him. She wasn't well enough for news like that. There was talk that she might get out of the hospital by early next year. He hoped it was true. There was no way Brian would allow Briana to be around her but Justin would be able to see her. Maybe even with time Brian might change his mind. Maybe.

But that didn't change the situation they were in now. With their only hope of rescue long gone; things were falling apart. Justin hadn't lost hope though, not as long as there was breath in his body. He would just have to learn to live on the island instead of just surviving. He had Joshie, Briana and Gus to think about. There was only one way to stay sane and that was not to lose hope until they were saved. It was just going to take longer than they first thought.

It was sad that he was going to miss his daughter's birthday, maybe. It was still in early November by their calculation. That left a month until his little girl turned five. The image of a huge birthday party popped in his head. Brian was all about making the kids birthday's big occasions. Justin had found out early that Brian didn't think adult birthdays should be celebrated. But was relieved that wasn't the case with children's. Brian wanted the kids to have everything in life he never had, Jenny Rebecca included.

A pang of sadness hit him at that moment as he remembered he would miss the girls' ballet recital. Months ago, Briana and Jenny Rebecca begged both Lindsay and Justin for ballet lessons; he suspected it was Briana leading the charge. Brian and Mel were both against it but Lindsay and Justin had won. Brian went to a class to see how it was but thought the teacher was too hard on the kids. Mel didn't want her daughter to think she had to dance and wear tutus to be loved. Justin had been the designated ballet parent. He would be there at every class and event. The kids were doing a Winter Solstice show. They were due to start practicing mid-November. Justin hoped Brian still would let Briana do it.

"Let me go!" Francisco yelled, tearing Justin from his thoughts.

"We already told you we can't. Now calm the fuck down," Leda yelled. Her face was red and blotchy; Justin was worried she would have a stroke. Finally, she took off deeper into the trees, Ricki following her.

"We're all going to die, I was just ending it fast," Francisco screamed hysterically.

"I think we should move to another camp," Lucy, Logan's mother, whispered to Justin.

"The other camps are the same. Travis said that most of his camp had disbanded. There's only him and a few others left. The other two camps are at each other's throats. Sad to say this is the best place for us to be."

"He tried to kill us all."

"He's sick."

"I don't care; he could have killed my son. I'm taking Logan and moving to Travis' camp. It is for the best. I would suggest you do the same with Joshua."

She stood up and wobbled a little on her still- healing leg. Limping over to Logan she whispered into his ear. It was sad to see her pack up their meager things but he understood, she was scared for her son. Justin hoped she and Logan would be safe in the other camp.

"Is Nan going to live with us too?" Joshie said out of the blue.

Justin was momentarily stunned silent. Everyday Joshua would talk about his grandmother, Justin encouraged it. But this was the first time that he mentioned seeing her again. Justin had assumed the boy understood that she was gone. What had he been thinking, Joshie was way too young to understand.

"No, Josh, remember, Nan is in heaven." Brian would bitch at him if he had heard him. The man believed in a lot of things, and he was secretly religious but he wasn't a big believer in the afterlife.

"Can I go to heaven?"

Justin felt tears burn his eyes. How did he explain to a four-year old that his grandmother was never coming back? He wondered what Brian told Briana and Gus about him.

"Come here." Joshie climbed up onto Justin's lap. "Your nan loved you very much. But the plane crash hurt her too much. She died, she isn't coming back." He tried to be as kind and truthful as possible.

Joshie started to cry and Justin just held him while he cried himself to sleep. Blocking out the sounds of Francisco screaming he closed his eyes. Letting his mind roam, he thought about family dinner at his dad's. Debbie making a big dinner. Ted, Emmett and Cathy gossiping about the latest on Liberty Avenue. His sister-in-law was an honorary part of Liberty Avenue. She and Emmett had started their own party planning business together. They were a huge success. He even missed the Brian and Michael show. It used to make his a little jealous but now he hoped that Michael was there for Brian.

"Hey, kiddo."

Justin looked up and saw Ron. "Hi."

"Is he okay now?"

"Yeah, he cried himself to sleep though. He wanted to go to heaven to be with his grandmother. I thought he had understood but I was wrong. How could he? He still is a baby."

"Justin?"

The pain he heard in the man's voice caused him pause. "What, Ron?"

"I want to know my grandchildren. I want my daughter back in my life. I let old wounds ruin my life. There was so much I wanted in life. After we lost Lawrence though everything changed."

"Who's Lawrence?"

"My son. He was my first born. He died of SIDS at two months old. Nancy hasn't been the same since. Everything had to be prefect after that. When she thought Lindsay wasn't perfect anymore she wanted nothing to do with her. It was like losing Lawrence all over again. I want to watch Gus play baseball."

"Soccer."

"Huh?"

"Gus plays soccer, not baseball."

"See I didn't know that. And I don't have any idea what Jenny likes."

"J.R. can play with a plain cardboard box and make you think it truly is a castle. She has a wonderful imagination. She is truly Michael's daughter though," he said with a laugh.

"Why do you say that?"

"Briana can talk her into anything. It's like watching The Brian and Michael Show Part Two."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"Me either but what can you do. Briana may have my blood but she is more Brian's than mine."

"How can you say that?"

"The first thing you'll learn in the same-sex based families. Blood is only something that takes bleach to get out of clothes after the kids play tag at night."

"Tag at night?"

"Yep, it was stupid idea. We were at my brother's, and it was my genius idea to have the kids play a game. They wanted to play tag, it was all fun and games until J.R. ran face first into the back of Briana's head. J.R. lost a tooth and Briana had a hell of a headache."

"I wish I could have been there."

"You wanted to see blood spewing from J.R.'s mouth and almost everyone freaking out."

"Who wasn't freaking out?"

"Brian, of course. It would take a meteor hitting earth to shake Brian."

"I bet this has."

"This?"

"The plane crash."

"Yeah, I just wish I could tell them I'm okay. The kids must be so scared, not to mention Brian. I just wonder if he's self-destructing or not."

"When we get out of here I'm going to miss this little guy," Ron said as he ran his hand over Joshie's hair.

"Why are you going to miss him? Unless you go back to the way everything was before. If you play your cards right, you might have four grandkids to spoil instead of just two."

"Really, you'd let me be in Joshie and Briana's life?"

"As long as you are in it for the long haul. And as long as that woman never gets near them."

"I promise. I can't promise about Gus and Jenny Rebecca because Lindsay has always wanted her mother's approval."

"Listen, as a boy raised by a single father let me tell you. One parent there for you one hundred percent is better than two that only call on the holidays."

"I'm going to spoil thing like crazy, I can't wait to be their grandpa."

"Hmm… My dad is Grandpa, maybe you should be…Granddad? Pawpaw? Pepaw? PopPop?"

"My mother's father was German. I used to call him Opa. I have great memories of my Opa. He moved from Germany to the states when he was only seventeen. It was nineteen twenty-one."

Justin smiled at Ron. "Opa it is. So are you in or out?"

"In. Completely in." He leaned over and kissed the top of Joshie's head then stood up. "When we get out of here anything you need to keep him just say. I'll help in any way I can."

"You will?" Justin asked surprised. He knew from talking to Lindsay how much power and connections her parents have.

"I've got to keep my new grandson with his brother and sisters don't I? So tell me what do you think Brian will think when you show up with another child?"

"Go to sleep old man," Justin said playfully.

Ron walked back to his sleep area laughing.

"Justin, wake up."

Justin woke up out of his doze, he didn't even know he feel asleep. Looking up at the person who woke him, he was surprised to see Gishi. It had been days since he saw the man. Not since the day they saw the airplane.

"Gishi, what's going on?" He looked around and noticed no one else was in the camp. It had been abandoned. It was then he saw that Joshie wasn't in his arms anymore. "Where's Joshie?" he asked, panicking.

"Leda took him to the shore with her. Everyone is gathering on the shore."

"What? Why?"

"I don't really know. Travis came and got everyone. I didn't want you to be left alone."

"That's really sweet of you," Justin said uncomfortably. Ever since the night Gishi kissed him he had done his best to stay away from the man.

Justin got up and started to head for the shore. It was a ten-minute walk from his camp. He couldn't figure out what was going on and why everyone was there. It sounded to him that all the camps were there. Did that mean even the people who had went off on their own were on the shore? For what purpose?

During the walk he tried to not worry that Gishi hadn't said anything for most of the walk. They were halfway to the shore before he started to feel something was wrong with the big man. He was just about to ask what was wrong when Gishi pushed him to the ground, pinning him down with his body.

All the air in his lungs left his body when he hit the ground. It had been years since he had a panic attack but he could feel another one coming on. Just as he started to completely lose it something buzzed by his ear. He heard Gishi grunt.

"What the fuck!? Let me go!" screamed a voice from above and a few feet away. It wasn't Gishi because he was still on top of Justin and oddly silent.

"Stop it, you're going to kill him," a female voice yelled. He recognized it as Ricki's.

"Can someone help me?" Justin grunted out. His panic had lowered but he was still having trouble breathing with Gishi weight on him.

"Shit, sorry," he heard Ron say.

Gishi's body was lifted from him. When he got his first look at Gishi, he thought the man was dead. His shoulder was covered with deep red blood.

"What the fuck is going on?" Justin yelled.

"Boris, you know the Russian from Travis' camp. Well, he went fucking crazy. Found a gun in the weeds. We think it must have been in the cockpit but when it was smashed to bits it flew out. Anyway, Boris apparently since last night has been planning our slaughter. Going on and on about needing fresh bodies to eat," Ron said.

"What the fuck?" Justin said, trying not the vomit.

"Yeah, seems that Francisco isn't the only one that has had a break from reality," Ron said.

It was then Justin noticed that Travis and Isaiah were holding Boris in place. The gun had fallen onto the ground.

Ron looked at Justin. "Go get Racine and Kimble, we're going to need to get the bullet out. Tell them we've gone to the waterfall. Also tell Olly to come back too, we might need his help." Then Ron looked at Ricki. "Help me carry him to the waterfall."

Any other man might have been emasculated to be made the errand boy while a woman not much older than him was asked to carry an injured man. But not Justin, Ricki was a total bad ass and strong to boot. Also he wanted to see that Joshie was okay with his own eyes.

"You're lucky that Gishi saw Boris coming at you with the gun. If he hadn't saved you we may be having to dig this bullet out of you, if you were lucky," Ricki said before turning to help Ron.

In a daze he passed by Travis and Isaiah who were still wrestling with the crazy Russian. His mind ran wild, Gishi wasn't trying to hurt him. The man had saved him. After Ron saved Gishi he owed the big man a huge apology. After the kiss he realized Gishi had a bit of a crush on him. It didn't take too much thinking to figure out that he had been the first guy that Gishi had ever tried to hit on. He was very new at it and very awkward. To make matters worse he was off his meds and was having trouble dealing. Justin prayed that Gishi would be okay.

He ran in the direction of the crash; they wouldn't be very close to it because the smell but he would be able to find them.

They were all gathered on the beach, at first he didn't know why but then he saw. In the distance he saw a small dark mass. He tried not to get his hopes up, but he was failing.

"Papa!" Joshie yelled. Justin turned and saw Joshie break away from the crowd. The boy ran full speed to him and crashed into his legs.

Justin swung Joshie into his arms and hurried to the group. Racine and Kimble needed to help Ron right now.

"Ron needs you by the waterfall," he said looking at them. The nodded and took off inland. "Olly, Ron said he might need your help too."

Olly left but not before grumbling that he wasn't no damn nurse.

"Why is everybody here?" he asked, still trying to keep his hopes down.

"Travis was out here catching fish when he saw the boat. He came and got us, we've been here for hours. It hasn't seemed to get any closer. We already shot off another flare," Leda said.

"Papa, we're going home," Joshie said as he bounced up and down in Justin's arms.

"We don't know that for sure. I don't want you to be upset if it doesn't happen." Justin inwardly groaned, Joshie wasn't going to understand.

"Puppy," Joshie said.

"What?"

"Oh that, he said as soon as you take him home you promised him a puppy."

"Fuck," Justin cursed. That was the last time he tried bribery to get a kid to sleep.

"You better be glade you didn't promise him a pony," Leda said laughing.

"Pony? I can have a pony? Yay."

"Fuck."

It was Monday morning and Brian stayed by his phone. He called into work and told them he wouldn't be in. He dropped the Briana off last night with Gus at Lindsay's. There was no way he could tell her about the flare. It was excruciating to wait. No one else needed to be broken hearted if it wasn't them.

Sitting at his desk he looked over one of Justin's sketchbooks. This one was filled with Brian and only him. One was him lying in bed stretched out naked on their bed. Another was him working at this very desk. Then there was one of him at pride with Gus on his shoulders. But it was the last in the book that was his favorite. It was beautiful in its simplicity, it was just the back of him walking down the street with holding Gus' and Briana's hands. You didn't know who it was because you couldn't see their faces. Justin drew if completely from memory.

Please, let him be okay.

"I've done what I could," Ron said. He had just joined them on the beach, leaving Racine to take care of Gishi.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"I think so, I sterilized the knife as well as I could but we won't know for a while. Is the ship getting closer?"

"It's still pretty far off. How will they get to us? There is no way for it to dock," a woman named Bernice said.

"They will lower their anchor as close as they can get them they were send out small boats," Justin said. It wasn't sure but that was what he thought would happen.

"When do you think they'll get close enough?" Bernice asked.

"I think they should be here within a few hours. Just think about it, in two hours we could be getting off this island. It doesn't seem real does it?"

Justin held Joshie tight against him, trying not to let the tears fall. Home. Seeing Brian and Briana. Gus. His dad. Deb. Talking to Molly. Seeing his whole family. Introducing them all to Joshie. He knew that it wouldn't be easy to keep Joshie but he was going to do everything in his power to keep his promise. Brian was going to freak out when he meets Joshie. Justin's hope was that Brian had gotten over whatever had been eating him for the last few months. He wanted a family for Joshie.

They watched as the two motorized inflatable rescue boats came toward shore. This was it, they were being rescued. When the two men and two women from boats touched down on the beach it was the moment Justin finally was able to feel the pain of the last month. He lowered him and Joshie to the ground and he just cried. He could hear Travis and Ron talking with the people from the boat.

"It's okay, Papa," Joshie said, patting Justin's unshaven cheek. Not having been able to shave for a month his facial hair was a bit much. It looked like he was going for the lumberjack look he guessed. Maybe if he asked nicely they would let him shave before going home. Home. Damn, there goes those sinuses again.

It was a little after ten at night on Monday when the phone rang.

"Hello," he answered without his usual gruffness.

"Mr. Kinney?"

"Yes."

"This is Colin Savage. I just got the call from my team. They have found the wreckage of Flight 530. Only fifty-three of the one-hundred and six are alive. Some of them are injured." The man sounded like he had been crying.

"Justin?" he whispered.

"I'm sorry Brian, Justin wasn't listed as one of the living. My Travis wasn't either." There was a hitch in the man's voice.

The phone slipped out of Brian's hand and his world went dark.

They had all gotten on to the ship. It had taken many trips back and forth for the boats. Justin was sitting beside Gishi's bed waiting for him to wake. Josh was in his lap, refusing to leave him. All the new people were scaring the boy.

"I need to take everyone's names again. I think something got mixed up. Some of these names don't match the passenger log," a tall, blonde woman said.

"Justin Kinney, and this is Joshua Matthews." He pointed to the unconscious man in the bed. "And this is Gishi Kaneko."

"Great, just great."

"What?"

"I have no idea who they collected names from when we're bringing you in but I don't have any of those names."

"We're not on the passengers' log?"

"No, you're there but not on the rescue log."

"Who did you get you info from?" he asked.

"Tony Angelo."

"Well, that explains it. Tony doesn't call anybody by their name. He said I didn't look like a Justin. So he started calling me Lance. Been so long he probably forgot our real names. He also could be fucking with you, he does that."

The woman rolled her eyes. "I have to make an important call." She ran out of the room. Great, she had told the man who paid for this whole thing his son wasn't a survivor just to find out he could be. She needed to find Travis Savage if he was here. Everything had been so hectic they just pulled on survivor over to get the names, it had been their luck to get a fucking comedian.