This chapter is shorter than the others, I usually aim at 5,000 word count or close to it for a chapter on this story. I hope you all like this chapter. R&R.

"I'm sorry I could swear you just said that you it would be best if Briana lived here."

Brian glared at his father-in-law, it wasn't the first time they butted heads. The man thought that he always knew what was best for Justin, and Brian for that matter. Carl wasn't the only one in Justin's family that thought they had a right to tell them what was good for them. C.J. was known to tell Brian that he was too cold with Justin. Justin told C.J. to shut the fuck up that time. Justin was able to get his sisters to back off by telling them he could always get involved in their relationships, that did the trick.

But there was no way in hell that he was going to leave his daughter. First of all, her home was with him. Secondly, Justin had made it quite clear to everyone, should something happen to him, Brian would get Briana. That was the whole reason for the adoption, Justin wanted to make sure no one could take her away from him.

"Brian, it's what is best for Briana. You spend ten to twelve hours a day at work. Justin was the one taking care of her day and night. She needs stability."

"I agree, she needs stability, that's at home with me."

"Please, think of her."

"I am thinking of her. First Justin disappears off of the face of the earth. Then you are trying to take her away from her home. I'm her father, not Justin's special friend. I have more rights to my daughter than you do. Don't try this again or you want see her until she fucking graduates college. Got it?" Carl angrily nodded.

Standing up, he walked to the stairs. "Briana, it's time to go home," he yelled.

Soon Briana was dragging her bag downstairs, chatting about all the things she had done that day. He ignored the looks that passed between Debbie and Carl. It was all he could do to be civil when he walked out the door.

"Daddy, is Papa home yet?" Briana asked as he checked her buckle on her booster seat.

"Not yet, Breezy."

Briana giggled, it wasn't a name that he usually called her. It was Justin's nickname for her when they were being silly. He just wanted her have a little piece of Justin, even though he wasn't with them in person.

"Can we call him? Papa said I can call him on the phone. He'll call me too. He's going to bring me a present, he promised."

Brian's heart broke even more at his daughter's words. He hadn't realized that Justin would have told her that he would call her and she could call him. It would have been no problem if Justin was reachable from the phone.

"I think Papa lost his phone. We're going to have to wait to hear from him." Guilt ate at him. He knew he should tell her a part of the truth but he didn't want to break her heart. He believed with all his heart that Justin would be found alive. It could be no other way. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Pizza, please, Daddy."

He looked in his rearview mirror and saw her hands together in a pleading gesture. Justin was the one to treat her to pizza or other food like that. But he didn't have the heart to say no to her today. "Pizza it is."

"Pizza! Yay!"

"What kind of pizza do you want?" He felt he should already know what kind of pizza his daughter liked best.

"Cheesy."

"Just cheese?"

"Lots of cheese. Get it the way Papa gets it, okay?"

Brian inwardly sighed, he really had been neglecting Justin and Briana the last few months. No matter what his feelings for Justin were, he should never have distanced himself from his daughter. He wouldn't make that mistake again. No, his daughter wasn't going to live with Carl and Debbie. After that stunt at their house it would be a very long time before he visited again. He would consider it after Justin came back.

It turned out the cheesy pizza Briana wanted was cheese-stuffed crust. He had been lucky the woman behind the counter recognized Briana and knew what kind she wanted. It did make him question how much takeout his husband and daughter had been eating the past month though.

Once he got home he could hear the landline ringing.

"Hurry, Daddy, that might be Papa," Briana said eagerly.

Brian was balancing the pizza with one hand while trying to unlock the front door with the other. It was not helped by Briana almost under him trying to open the door. Just as he got the door open the answering machine picked up.

"Mr. Kinney, this is Morris Bass with Liberty Air. We wanted to call the families first before the news was made public. The search has been suspended due to weather. We at Liberty Air are sorry, we hope your husband's plane is found soon. If you have any questions, feel free to call."

Brian looked over at Briana and sighed, she was distracted with some of the Halloween decorations that Justin had put up before he left.

Suspending the search? How could they do that? It had only been a few days.

"I don't think we're ever getting off this island," Francisco bitched.

Long gone was the take charge leader he had been. After the first week Francisco became the mess he probably always had been. It happened when Gretchen Debose died.

A week in, Gretchen's diabetes got the best of her. She had other medical issues the made it worse, at least that's what Ron said. Gretchen had been a kindly grandmotherly type from Poland. She had talked fondly about her grandchildren, and she loved talking to Joshua. Her English was better than Justin's Polish, which was none.

After Gretchen died hope of being rescued started to dwindle. They had been able to convince themselves that help was on its way. Daily, they would tell Gretchen and the others that hurt and ill that help was just around the corner. It hit home that it was all just lies they said to make them feel better. Justin was one of only a few that hadn't given up completely. It had been two weeks since the plane crash.

Depression thy name is castaway.

"Papa, I don't feel good," Josh cried.

Josh was curled up in Justin's lap. It had been a long

day with no end in sight. Josh had started running a fever the day before, it hadn't broken.

"Ron, is there anything else I can do?"

"Just continue with the treatment plan. The fever will break."

Justin soaked the strip of cloth and put it back on Joshie's head. He was worried about Josh but Ron said there wasn't anything to worry about. Briana had her share of fevers but it was different when he couldn't run to the hospital if he was really worried. He just prayed that Ron knew what he was talking about. It wasn't a high grade fever, without knowing what it was exactly.

"I'm going to go get some more water," Ricki said. She grabbed the makeshift bucket and started to head inland.

"I'll go with you," Leda said, quickly jumping up.

Justin held back the smile, Leda was infatuated with the quiet, strong woman.

"I think we should move closer to the waterfall. It would do us good to be closer to the drinking water," Ron said.

Ricki and a guy named Stephan from one of the other camps found the waterfall on the third day. One of the groups had already moved closer to it.

"How my little man?" Isaiah asked. Joshua adored Isaiah, Leda and surprisingly Ron.

"Still running a bit of a fever. Ron thinks it will break if we just keep treating it the way we have been."

"That's good, I miss my little helper."

Isaiah had taken over preparing the food. He was paranoid if anyone else did it they were going to kill everyone with undercooked fish. Olly, Kimble and Racine (the blonde nurses), and Henry were great at catching fish. Lyssa was great at knowing what kind of vegetation was eatable. Before Josh got sick it was Justin's job to keep the campsite clean. He still did it when Josh was sleeping.

By their math they had been on the island for two weeks. He was grateful that he had his sketchbook and pencils. He had sketched Gretchen and showed it to her before she passed. He had also done one of Barbara from memory. He had a half completed sketch of Isaiah holding Joshua. In the back of his mind he wondered what Brian would look like holding Josh.

The knocking on the door woke Brian up out of his stupor. He regretted drinking as much as he had the night before. Ever since Justin and Briana moved in with him the drinking had been less and less. Last night though was just too much for him. They had suspended the search a couple days early on but now a month later they had suspended it for good.

After talking to Lindsay he found out about the passengers being declared dead because of imminent peril and failure to return. The judge was waiting a year before he declared them dead but it still was six years sooner than a normal missing person. Apparently Lindsay sister was upset because she wanted to access her parents bank accounts now.

Brian didn't want Justin declared dead. It would just make it more problematic when he came back. He was coming back; he just knew it. Brian had been forced to tell Briana about the missing plane. He told her that Justin was coming back and they just had to wait for him.

That started more problems with everyone else. They all told him it wasn't healthy to fill her head with a fantasy. They wanted to have some kind of remembrance gathering for Justin and Lindsay's parents. Brian was against the whole idea and refused to be involved or take Briana to it. So instead he spent the night drinking after he put Briana to bed.

Brian rolled out of bed and made his way downstairs to yell at whoever was pounding on his door. He opened the door revealing his very awake and surprisingly sober mother.

He hadn't seen his mother since she found out about Chris being transgender. She had cut all ties with both Claire and him. Claire took it hard but he was surprised how hard he took the loss too. She had never been what anyone would call a good mother, but she did have her moments.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, a little too harshly.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. John told me about your… friend."

"My husband, Mother, not my friend."

John had moved in with Joan a few months ago. Claire said that Chris and John just butted heads too much. John then decided he didn't want to live in his mother's home anymore.

"Daddy, I'm hungry."

Brian looked behind him to see Briana standing on the bottom step of the stairs. She was wearing her pink elephant pajamas and was clutching her stuffed unicorn to her chest. Her hair was always wild in the morning. Justin usually had it braided before she went to bed, Brian was hopeless with her hair.

"Is that that man's daughter?" Her voice was icy at best.

"This is my daughter, Briana."

"Who are you?" Briana asked eyeing Joan suspiciously. The kid had good instincts that was for sure.

"I'm Brian's mother," Joan said curtly.

Brian cursed to himself when his daughter smiled. She was too much like her papa, seeing the good in people even if there was none there. His daughter's whole face lit up and before he could stop her said, "That means you're my grandma."

Briana threw herself at his mother's legs and hugged her. Brian stood still, shocked at his daughter's reaction.

"Brian, please remove this child from my leg."

Whatever love he had for his mother died at those words. How anyone could hurt a four-year old like that? It was despicable.

"Did I hurt you? I'm sorry, Daddy always says I hug too hard." Briana looked brokenhearted at the thought of hurting Joan.

"You didn't hurt her; stone doesn't hurt." He turned to Joan. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, please leave my house. My daughter and I am going over to my mother's house." He knew calling Debbie his mother was going to sting but at the moment all he wanted to do was hurt her like she hurt Briana.

Joan looked crushed when he showed her the door. For the first time in a long time he didn't feel a bit of guilt. Maybe the Brian of old was coming back. After Joan was gone he dressed Briana in her favorite outfit. She had a lot of Justin's taste in things but she was his daughter too, and that meant she was a label queen.

As they entered the diner Briana ran over to Kiki. Kiki adored Briana and the feeling was mutual. In truth everyone at the diner loved Briana. Brian would go to the restroom and Briana would never be where he left her. He didn't worry because every member of staff there was very protective of all the kids.

One morning he found her eating lunch with some of the rent boys. It was then he saw how much some of them missed their little brothers or sisters. She greeted almost everyone by name. If she didn't know who they were, she would go up to them to introduce herself. She was very outgoing.

"Kiki said I could help serve," Briana said brightly.

"I thought you were hungry?"

Kiki was tying a child-sized apron around her waist. Justin had gotten it for her months ago, they kept it at the diner for when she 'needed' tip money. Briana turned and glared at him. "I'm working, Daddy."

Chuckling, he sat down in his usual booth and watched Briana follow Kiki around.

"What do you want, asshole?" Briana asked when she got to his table.

"What did you call me?"

"That's what Grandma Deb calls you," she said pouting.

"You know that's a bad word."

"Papa says he doesn't care if I say bad words."

"At home, and never call someone a bad word."

"Fine, what do you want, Father?"

"You've been spending way too much time with your brother."

It was Gus' way of saying he was mad at Brian without being openly disrespectful. It seemed that his little girl had picked up the passive aggressive move.

"Just coffee, thank you." She rolled her eyes at him. The teenage years were starting to look bleaker and bleaker. Maybe he should have given in to Justin and considered having another child. Maybe she wouldn't be so spoiled if she had an another kid living in the house with her.

Briana carried his coffee cup in one hand and the saucer in another. Kiki was behind her with the hot carafe of coffee. After Briana sat his saucer and cup down, Kiki poured his coffee.

"Thank you." He turned from his daughter and started to pay attention to his coffee.

"I think you forgot something," Briana said loudly.

"What would that be?" He asked, knowing what she would say.

"My tip."

"You don't get a tip until I'm leaving. And it's not polite to ask for a tip, you know that."

"Screw politeness."

"Briana Rea Kinney." She finally looked down guilty for the way she had been talking. He knew she was acting out because she was worried about Justin. She was seeing the same child psychologist as Gus and J.R., Justin's disappearance was hitting all the kids pretty hard.

"I'm sorry, Daddy. It's on the house," she whispered, tears running down her face.

On the house? She really did spend too much time here.

"Come here," he told her. She crawled up onto the bench seat and then climbed into his lap. It was lucky he was so thin or she wouldn't fit. "Why are you acting like this?"

"I just miss Papa. Can't you call and have him found. You gots lots of money."

"I wish I could. It's just not that easy." It was something he had been thinking about though. Maybe he and some of the other families could get a private agency to look for the plane. It was clear every government involved had given up on them. Brian wasn't about to give up on Justin. He already knew a rich oil tycoon's son was on board. Maybe the man had already hired an agency and hadn't made it public. What was the man's name again? Colin, that's right. Colin Savage. His son Travis was on the flight. Brian would make the call as soon as he got home.

(Okay, I know I jumped around two days, to a week to a month. But now a month after the plane crash it should be a day to day story for a while. Thanks.)

"Justin, can I told to you for a minute?"

Justin looked up and saw it was Travis. Travis was with the group closest to the beach now. They had all moved inland now because of violent storms. Travis was a nice guy with a deep, southern accent. He was around thirty-five. A wilderness guru that helped everyone. He helped all the camps make sufficient cover from the elements.

"Sure, what's up?"

"I want to move Gishi to your camp. I think he may be having some sort of medical issue but he won't let the twins look at him." Kimble and Racine weren't really twins they were boyfriend and girlfriend, but they really did look alike.

"What's wrong with him?" In the past month Justin had become peacemaker. With the exception of Nancy everyone seemed to get along with him, even Ron. Because of that, Justin had been given a new job. Coordinator. If there was a problem within a group and they couldn't fix it, they called in Justin. If one camp had a problem with another, he was called. And like now, if someone needed help he was asked to talk them into it.

"He's talking out of his head."

"Maybe we should have Ron talk to him. That sounds over my non-qualifications."

"I would but…

"But what?"

"He's a tool."

"That's not very nice." And totally true.

"I'll ask Ron to go and check on him."

"Thanks, Jus."

After Travis left Justin approached Ron about Gishi. Nancy stuck her nose in it about treating a foreigner. Ron thankfully seemed to be tired of his wife as everyone else was. He told her about his oath and that skin color didn't matter in that. 'Just sexuality,' Justin thought.

"Story," Joshie said as Justin put him on his makeshift bed. Josh luckily hadn't been sick again since his fever broke two weeks ago.

"What do you want the story about?"

"Breezy, Gussy and Jenny."

Justin smiled down at the boy and started to tell him about the time they went to the aquarium. Gus had convinced Briana and J.R. that the fish could fly outside of the water because they used their fins as wings. They had been extremely lucky the girls didn't try out this new information. They would have been banned for life from the aquarium.