Chapter 16 - The Healing Powers of Paper Airplanes.

Justin was struggling a bit with the heavy pressboard tray full of drinks and the bag of bagels and croissants while he simultaneously attempted to turn the door handle. He was grateful when someone inside the room pulled the door open for him. Melanie stepped aside to allow him in but didn’t smile at him at all, her attention immediately returning to the small, silent figure in the hospital bed. Justin efficiently began distributing coffees to everyone and then he set the bag with the food on the rolling hospital table, pulling out one plain bagel for himself. Unfortunately, now that he’d completed his self-appointed task of getting lunch for everyone and had nothing more to do, he felt just as useless as he had before he’d left on his errand.  

Brian looked up when Justin handed him half a bagel, but shook his head no. How the fuck could he eat while they were still unsure whether or not Gus would make it. The doctors had advised the parents that, while E. coli food poisoning was easily cured with modern antibiotics, the effect on children, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems was much more serious because of the risk of severe dehydration and the possibility of complications like kidney failure. Brian had heard all this but had only understood bits and pieces. All Brian could think of was that his son looked so small compared to that huge hospital bed.

He and Justin had arrived a little after 8:00 am - they’d been lucky enough to catch a midnight flight from Portland to Chicago, and then a commuter flight to the Pitts. Since then, they’d had nothing to do but sit and wait along with Lindsey and Mel. Gus had been unconscious since just after the girls had brought him to the hospital. Brian really detested the feeling that there was nothing he could do to help his son - that was almost harder to bear than the fact that Gus was ill.

Brian felt the warm, comforting weight of Justin leaning against him, sitting on the arm of the chair Brian was using, and the concerned father absentmindedly snaked an arm around the slim hips of the younger man. Justin had been there for him all night and he was incredibly grateful, but he didn’t know how to express this to the youth. Brian was so completely out of his depth when it came to dealing with the young man who was sitting next to him - he’d spent the first thirty years of his life trying to suppress all his emotions other than his driving ambition, and now, without any time to prepare, this beautiful, exasperating, captivating conduit of pure emotion had been thrown into his life. The emotional highs and lows he’d experienced over the past two weeks with this man had left him feeling wrung out and now he had to deal with his son being sick as well. Brian thought he hadn’t felt this exhausted ever in his life, and it had nothing to do with a lack of sleep.

“Brian, please eat something,” Justin tried again, holding out a bite of the bagel towards the older man. “You’re not going to be any help to Gus if you make yourself sick.”

Brian turned to the concerned young man and, with a half-hearted attempt at a smile, opened up his mouth, allowing Justin to pop the piece of bagel inside. Justin smiled down at him and ruffled his hair affectionately, then firmly wedged the rest of the bagel into Brian’s hand, kissed the brunet locks and stood up to get himself another bagel. Justin then looked over at the two women who had been at the hospital even longer than he and Brian had, and had been up with a sick child for hours more before that.  

“Lindsey. Mel. Why don’t you two go home and try to get some sleep. Brian and I can stay with Gus for a while.” Justin offered, knowing that it was futile even as the words left his mouth.  

Lindsey offered the caring young man a sad little smile and shook her head, but said nothing. Justin was at a loss as to what more he could do to help these people he cared so much about. He was too full of restless energy though to just sit here any longer. Finally he made a decision and stood up with renewed purpose. He couldn’t help Brian or the others by sitting here, and Brian wouldn’t leave, so Justin would go and take care of all the other stuff that needed doing away from the hospital.

“Brian, I’m going to go back to the airport and get our luggage out of the baggage claim. Then, I’m going to stop in at the office and check with Cynthia about the Grand Century contracts and bring her up to date on everything. When I’m done there, I’ll be back and I’ll bring you back a change of clothes.” Justin thought it felt good to actually have a plan and something productive to do. He then turned to the two women. “Lindsey, Mel, I could stop by your place on the way and get you anything you need as well.”

Amazingly enough, Justin’s little ‘plan of action’ perked everyone up a bit. The girls handed over their house keys and made a quick list of what they wanted Justin to bring back. Brian reminded him about a couple details Cynthia and Ted would need to work on for the new account. When everything had been sorted out, Brian walked out to the elevator with Justin and kissed him tenderly as the young man turned to leave.

“Justin really is wonderful, Bri,” Lindsey commented as soon as Brian had returned to Gus’ room.

“He’s actually fucking amazing,” Mel piped in. “Why the hell is he wasting his time with you?”

“I have no fucking idea,” was all Brian said in response and the unheard of show of sentiment effectively shut both women up.

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The two women carried their Starbuck’s lattes to an empty table at the back of the coffee shop and sat down. Jennifer Taylor seemed even more on edge than usual, thought Daphne, who had been surprised when the older woman had met her on the front steps of school this afternoon and asked if she had time for a cup of coffee. They were both still worried about Justin, but since Daphne had actually seen her friend and knew he was okay, she had been a little less concerned. Daphne was actually more angry at Justin now than worried - she couldn’t fathom why her best friend had just abandoned her without calling and wasn’t returning any of her calls either.  

“Thank you for coming with me, Daphne,” Jennifer began. “I think maybe I need your help with something.”

“Of course, Mrs. Taylor. What can I help with.” Daphne was getting even more confused by the worry evident in the other woman’s voice and on her face.

“Well, you see, after you told me you’d seen Justin, I thought it was important to call the police and let them know. I mean, if the witness that said she’d sold Justin a bus ticket to New York was mistaken, then the police looking for him would want to know that, right?” Jennifer was a little hesitant as she began her explanation.  

She was still reeling from her discoveries over the past couple of days and didn’t know exactly what to do next. She was hoping the smart young woman sitting across from her would have some better ideas.

“Anyway, I called the police station closest to our home, but they told me they didn’t have any record of a missing person’s report having been filed regarding Justin. I asked Craig about it but he just blew me off and ordered me to drop the matter. Of course, that just pissed me off, so after I thought about it some more, I decided to do a little investigating on my own.” Taking a deep breath, Jennifer launched into the full disclosure of her suspicions. “So, I spent the past couple days contacting every police precinct in the city. None of them have any record of a missing persons report on Justin.”

“But, I thought your husband said he’d filed the report and that he’d talked to the police several times, too?” Daphne questioned. “If he never filed any report, then . . . . what was all that about a witness who said she’d seen Justin at the bus station?  

“Exactly my point.” Jennifer agreed, reassured that Daphne had caught on so quickly. “I think. . .  no, I KNOW that Craig has been lying to me about all this. He never filed any missing persons report and that means he must have made up all that drivel about the bus station. What I don’t know is why he would do something like this. He knows how worried I’ve been about Justin. Why would he deliberately mislead me about this? And, if Justin is still here in the city, why hasn’t he contacted me? Or, answered his phone for that matter? This just doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know that was Justin I saw last Sunday, Mrs. Taylor. I know it. That means that he must still be here in the city and at least we know he’s okay.” Daphne reasoned. “I don’t know why he hasn’t called you or me back, though. It’s just not like him to disappear. Even when he went AWOL before, he always told ME where he was headed.”

“I agree. This is definitely not like my son. And, I don’t trust Craig anymore - he’s not going to help us find Justin. So, I thought maybe you and I could formulate our own plan - if we work together, maybe we can find Justin and figure out what’s going on.”

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Brian was dozing in his chair next to Gus’ bed when he heard it. “Da da.” He bolted upright and could have shouted with joy when he saw those two huge round hazel eyes finally open and staring at him. He didn’t want to startle the boy, though, so he tamped down his enthusiasm.

“Hey, Sonny boy. I’m glad to see you’re finally awake.” Brian murmured, reaching over to touch the soft brown hair on his son’s head. “How are you feeling, Gus?”

“Tummy hurts.” Gus said, screwing up his eyes in preparation for crying.

“I know your tummy hurts, Sonny boy. Don’t worry though, the doctors have given you some medicine that’s gonna make you all better, okay.” Brian sat on the side of the bed, gathering the small child into his arms, desperate to fend off the boy’s tears. “Your Mama and Mommy are going to be so happy to see you awake. We’ve all been really worried about you all night long. But, now you’re gonna get better in no time. Okay.”

“Mama?” Gus asked.

“Your moms will be right back, Gus. They just went to get some food and coffee. But see, I’m going to call them right now and they’ll come back as fast as lightening. You’ll see.” Brian said, pulling out his cell and speed dialing Lindsey - damn the hospital regulations against cell phone use.  

Twenty minutes later, when Justin returned to the hospital, he was overjoyed to see an alert and smiling Gus surrounded by now smiling adults as well. The boy was sitting up in the over-large hospital bed with Brian right next to him and Lindsey and Mel hovering on the far side of the bed. Brian was trying to get Gus to drink some water from a colorfully decorated sippy cup while the boy was complaining about the I.V. needle in his arm. The difference in the atmosphere now from when he’d left was palpable.

“Jus’n!” Gus yelled happily as soon as he saw the smiling young man entering the room.  

“Hey, Gussie! Are you giving your parents a hard time over there?” Justin teased.

“Hey, Sunshine.” Brian smiled radiantly at the dazzling blond who was beaming that blinding sunshine smile into the room. “Look who woke up.”

“I see that.”  

Justin handed Lindsey her keys and pointed the women towards one of the small overnight bags he’d dropped just inside the door. Then he leaned against Brian’s back and wrapped his arms around the man, squeezing tight, conveying his happiness through this touch. When Brian twisted his neck around to leave a happy little peck on the younger man’s cheek, Justin knew that everything was finally going to be alright.  

After the doctor had come in to check on the antsy little patient and had reassured the parents that the boy was improving nicely, Justin managed to talk all three of them into taking a break to change and get some food while he stayed with Gus for a few minutes. When Brian re-entered the room several minutes later, he found both boys happily involved in tearing pages out of a battered old National Geographic magazine and creating a fleet of paper airplanes, many of which had already seen their maiden flights and were littering the floor of the room everywhere. Neither had seen Brian yet, giving the man a chance to observe the pair without their knowledge.

-Fucking adorable! They are so cute playing together like that . . . Shit. Did I just think of my boyfriend as ‘cute’? . . . Double shit - did I just think of him as my fucking ‘boyfriend’? What the fuck is happening to me? . . . Get a SERIOUS grip, Kinney. You are fucking losing it! . . . This is moving way too fucking fast - I’ve only known the kid a couple weeks. Where is all this lesbionic crap coming from? . . . I’ve got to rein this fucking sentimental shit back or I’m gonna be so fucked.

Brian adroitly caught the next paper airplane to head his way and, disregarding everything he’d just told himself, he playfully lept onto the bed, kissing first Gus and then Justin and energetically joining in with the airplane construction. Mel and Lindz were dazzled when they returned a few minutes later to find the laughing, upbeat trio. Mel thought she was about to faint when she even heard the normally taciturn Brian actually GIGGLING as he watched his latest airplane creation nose dive and crash immediately after take-off. This was so completely out of character for the Brian Kinney she knew that she was completely speechless, which was practically unheard of for the brash, outspoken attorney.

When Brian Kinney looked over at Melanie and impishly smiled at her, launching a new paper airplane directly at her chest, and then laughed unrestrainedly at her astonished expression, Melanie Marcus just collapsed into the nearby chair, shaking her head in wonder, contemplating if it was Brian or herself that needed to be committed to a sanitorium first, because one of them had obviously lost it completely.