Title: Christmas Presents…
Story Type: AU
Word Count: 4062
Rating: R, Porn…
Warnings: Passion, Lust, M-Preg…
Beta Queen: BigJ52
Banner: aaa_mazing
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, plot, etc. are property of their respective owners, including, but not limited to Russell T. Davies, Cowlip, and Showtime. The author of this story is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended…
Summary: The tables turn after Michael rejects Brian’s offer.
Chapter Six ~ Payback’s A Bitch!
“I’m sorry Mr. Montgomery, there must be some mistake. I personally wrote out the mortgage payment checks, and my partner mailed them.”
“Mr. Bruckner, do you have any idea how often I hear someone who’s behind in their payments claim they mailed them, and they’re just lost in the mail?”
“No, I’m sure that must be the case. How about I just write you another check and have the first one canceled.”
“That would be great, but I don’t make personal visits to our customers when they’re only thirty days late. The next payment is due in two weeks, and at that point you will be ninety days past due. Are you able to write me a check for the last two months, as well as your next payment?”
“What? No, no, that can’t be right.”
“Mr. Bruckner, at this point I can’t accept partial payment. You will need to bring your account up to date within the next two weeks or I’ll have no choice but to start foreclosure proceedings.”
Ben’s literally dumbfounded. He just stares at Mr. Montgomery in shock. He’s wondering what the hell is going on, and why Michael never made the payments. After the mortgage representative leaves Ben calls the bank to see if the checks have been cashed, and check the bank balance.
Ben hopes he’s overacting, but he’s so mad at Michael right now he could kill him. But by the time Michael finally gets home at eight thirty, Ben’s pacing the living room, worried that something has happened.
“I’ve left a dozen messages for you to call, and the shop closed at six. Michael, where have you been?”
“Oh, I had to work late. I got a new shipment in, and I turned off my phone so I wouldn’t be disturbed.”
“But I called the store phone and it just rang and rang.”
“Really? I didn’t hear it. The ringer must have been turned down low.”
Ben just stares at his partner, he knows that look. It’s the look Michael gets when he’s lying. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but he plans on getting to the bottom of this.
“Dinner’s getting cold. Let’s eat and then we need to talk.”
~~~
Brian and Justin have turned off their cell phones and unplugged the house phone. They’re ready to just relax and enjoy each other, leaving the outside world behind. It has been a stressful couple of days with all the unreasonable demands being placed on them from their supposed friends.
But would friends really treat you so horribly? Taking advantage of you when you go out of the way to help them, literally saving their life. Or placing conditions on their love and friendship? Wanting to take your child away, saying you’re an unfit parent?
Do they even know you anymore? Can’t they see all the changes you’ve gone through? How your life has improved? How you’re making a commitment to your partner? But, most of all since your son’s been born you’re putting his needs first? Finally growing into the man that Justin’s always believed you could be.
Maybe it’s time that they stood on their own two feet? Finally stop expecting you to come to their rescue. Always bailing them out when they’re in over their heads or can’t make ends meet. It hurts never being appreciated, and always being expected to save the day. Sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is to let them pull their own weight.
So with the world safely locked outside the loft door the two of them can finally spend quality time together. It’s been so long since they’ve been together. Okay, maybe not totally alone together. After all they still have Jamie, and there’s no way they’ll ever let anyone take him away. They’re a family now, united as one.
The three of them are all curled up on the sofa, snuggled down under a blanket, watching an old James Dean movie. Justin’s stomach growls, making Brian laugh; he always seems to be hungry. As Justin looks through the cupboards for a snack, he’s surprised to find a new package of Oreos. He pours himself a glass of milk, while waiting for Jamie’s bottle to warm.
Brian’s looks a little guilty, as Justin brings their evening snacks over and places them on the coffee table.
“I see you found my guilty pleasure.”
“Oh? I thought these were for Gus.”
Brian laughs. “When I was pregnant I always seemed to have a craving for Oreos, and of course they reminded me of you. How much I missed you.”
“God, Brian. Why didn’t you just call me? Tell me what you were going through?”
“I couldn’t… I didn’t want you to only want me because of the baby. Besides, you had your new career to think about, and then there was Brett. I thought you were in love with him.”
“I just want to kill Michael for lying to you about that. He had no right. He knew the truth, about me and about you and the baby. But he just lied to both of us out of petty jealousy. God, I wish I had been here with you, taking care of you. I love you so much.”
“I know, Sunshine. You know I feel the same way.”
Justin lets it slide that Brian still has a hard time saying ‘I love you.’ He hopes that it will come with time, once Brian is more secure in their relationship.
~~~
There’s pounding on the front door to Ben and Michael’s house. They’re still finishing dinner so Ben hasn’t had time to question Michael about the house payments.
“Ma. What are you doing here?”
“I came by to see what was going on with the store?”
“I thought that you said you and Brian were partners?”
“I did… Why?”
“Because there’s a big ‘closed’ sign on the door, and an ‘out of business’ sign in the window.”
“Michael? I thought you said you worked late tonight? What’s going on?”
“Okay. I wasn’t at work today. I had a few things I needed to do.”
“You closed the store?”
“No, no, never. I don’t know what that’s about.”
“I looked in the window and all the racks and shelves were empty. The only thing there was your computer sitting on top of an empty display case.”
Both Ben and Michael shout, “What?”
Now Ben’s getting angry. “What’s going on, Michael?”
“I’m not sure, but I think I know who to ask.”
With that he grabs his cell phone and calls Brian. The phone just rings, and rings. Then he tries the landline, more ringing. Angry, he calls Justin’s cell, more of the same… Fuming he decides to call Ted.
“Ted. Teddy, it’s me, Michael. What’s going on at my store?”
“Well, it’s not really your store anymore.”
“Yes, it is. Brian agreed to pay the back rent on the store and the house payments. Just ask him, it was part of our agreement.”
“You mean part of the agreement that you refused to sign?”
“No, ah… I mean, I still wanted him to bring those accounts up to date. I just didn’t want to sign over the house deed, or the store lease, and business papers.”
“Well, Michael. I’m pretty sure Brian assumed the agreement was off when you refused to sign the paperwork.”
“Oh my God… But you have all the merchandise, right? Thank God. When can I come by and get it?”
“All the merchandise has been removed as collateral for your unpaid loan to the loan sharks from Brian. And your landlord stopped by just after everything was packed up and taken away. He changed the locks, saying that you were in breach of your lease. You owe him for the last four months’ worth of rent. He evicted you from the premises.”
“Oh my God… All my merchandise. I can sell it to help get caught up on my payments.”
“It isn’t yours, Michael. You forfeited it when you decided not to sign the store over to Brian.”
“That fucker stole my stuff! I’m calling the cops if he doesn’t return it, all of it.”
“You want to explain to the police how you borrowed money from a loan shark to gamble illegally?”
“This isn’t fair! Goddamn it! I’m talking to Brian! He would never do this to me. I’m his best friend!”
Ted says sarcastically, “By all means. I’m sure he’s wanting to hear from you.”
~~~
It’s New Year’s Eve, and Gus is running around excited, waiting to go and spend the evening with Brian and Justin. He’s hoping that his dad will let him stay up for the big countdown at midnight. Mel and Lindsay never let him stay up that late.
“Gus! Stop running in the house! And calm down, for goodness sakes!”
Now he’s skipping in the hallway singing, “I’m off to spend New Year’s Eve with Justy and Daddy, Justy and Daddy, Justy and Daddy!”
“Gus! You’re not going to see your father. That’s cancelled!”
Now Gus is screaming and crying and running away from Lindsay, shouting, “Why? Why? Why?”
“Because I said so…”
“But why? Why Mommy? Why?”
“I don’t want you seeing him right now!”
“No! No! No! Daddy said I could spend New Year’s Eve at his house! I want Daddy! I want Daddy! I want Daddy!”
“Gus! Just stop. You’re giving me a headache!”
“I HATE YOU!”
With that he runs into his bedroom and slams the door. He can be heard crying through the door, sniffling and calling out to his father.
Melanie is standing in the entryway of the house with the mail, reading the legal papers sent from Charles Murphy and Associates. He’s a very well-known attorney that specializes in custody battles concerning gay and lesbian couples. He’s the best in his field, and he’s never lost a case. He’s outrageously expensive. Mel can’t believe what she’s reading. It seems that Brian has beaten them to the punch, charging Lindsay with slander, and for threatening to take Jamie away from him and Justin.
Not only that, but he’s also suing for shared custody of Gus. It seems that Charles has done his research. He knows that Mel never filed the legal papers relinquishing Brian’s rights to Gus. Basically, she is not recognized as Gus’s legal parent, Brian is. And he now wants shared custody, and considering all the financial support Brian has given them over the years he will probably win in court. Mel feels sick to her stomach, but she also thinks Brian has become a good parent and there really isn’t any reason he shouldn’t have shared custody.
“OH! MY! GOD! Oh my God, Lindsay!”
“Mel, you’re home.”
“Listen, you’re not going to like this but…”
“What? What is it?”
“Brian’s hired the best gay custody attorney in the state, and he’s suing for shared custody of Gus.”
“Well he can’t. We have legal papers.”
“No, actually we don’t”
Mel sits Lindsay down and explains to her that she never got around to filing the paperwork. She never thought that it would be a problem. Because in the early years of Gus’s life, Brian only made random appearances. He only showed up for holidays, birthdays and special occasions. But in the last couple of years Brian has visited frequently, often takes Gus on outings, even letting him spend the night and he has taken him for weekends as well. Lindsay was the one pushing for Brian to play a more active role in his son’s life, and he has.
It wasn’t until Brian became pregnant that Lindsay got the idea that she wanted another child with him. And in her mind it made perfect sense, that she and Mel would raise the new baby. Even though Brian always said right from the start that he wasn’t interested in giving up the baby, Lindsay was sure that once the baby was born he wouldn’t have the patience or desire to be a fulltime father.
She really believed that it was in Baby J’s best interest to be raised by Mel and her. She’s now starting to understand that she’s been pushing too hard, and discounting Brian and Justin’s feelings. She’d be outraged if someone tried to take Gus or JR away from her and Mel, and now Brian wants shared custody. In her heart she knows that it isn’t right to let Michael have his parental rights, yet deny Brian his. She never thought how this might affect Brian or Gus’s feelings, and she realizes that what she and Mel have done isn’t right.
She can’t help wondering what it would mean if Brian and Justin shared custody of Gus. Would it change Brian’s financial responsibility for Gus? Michael doesn’t help support Jenny Rebecca, he’s never contributed to her welfare and he takes her several nights a week. It’s actually come in handy when Gus would spend the weekend with Brian, and JR with Michael. It’s given them some much-needed time together to work on their relationship.
Oh God. What if Brian brings up the on-again, off-again relationship between her and Mel. This could look bad in court, and the truth is things have been shaky between the two of them this last year. She had hoped that having Baby J would bring them closer, they seem to be drifting apart lately. As much as she wants to blame Brian, accusing him of being unfit, having multiple sex partners, doing drugs and drinking, wasn’t fair.
She knows in her heart that all changed the day he found out he was pregnant. Actually if she was honest, she noticed a change after his cancer scare. And then when Justin was in California, he didn’t really go back to his wild ways. He focused on his work, growing Kinnetik’s clientele and landing some major accounts. He hasn’t really been the sexy playboy for a couple years now.
She sinks down on the bed feeling slightly sick to her stomach, she’s treated Brian poorly as of late. Accusing him of all kinds of behaviors that no longer apply, because in her mind she never thought that he would grow up, but that’s exactly what he did. Now she has to face the truth, she owes him an apology. She’s not only been mean, and rude, she’s actually threatened him when she called him unfit.
“Mel, you know Brian really has changed a lot recently. He’s a good father to Gus, and he’s probably a good father to Jamie as well.”
“I know, Linds. That’s why I didn’t want to go along with your ridiculous idea of taking him to court.”
“So these papers we received in the mail, do we have to go to court or can we handle this in a hearing or something?”
“We’ll still need to hire an attorney to represent us, I can’t represent myself. But hopefully Brian will be reasonable and be willing to settle this out of court.”
“He must really hate me right now.”
“Well, I’m sure you’re not his favorite person right now. But I think he’s more upset with Michael. I heard from Ted, that Brian and he had to meet with some loan shark and pay off Michael’s debt. Then Michael backed out of the agreement him and Brian had. It’s a real mess.”
“I knew they were angry with each other but I didn’t know why.”
“Michael’s really screwed up this time, he’s gambling. He’s actually gambled away most of the investment in the house, and Ted said that the store’s landlord has evicted him for non-payment of rent.”
“Oh God. I guess were lucky that we don’t depend on him for financial support for Jenny Rebecca.”
“Yeah… But… My guess is our situation with Brian will be changing once he’s granted part-time custody. After all he’s not obligated to pay us for Gus, especially if he lives with Brian half the time.”
“My God, Mel. What are we going to do? We’ve come to depend on the financial support from Brian.”
“All we can do is wait and see.”
“Lindsay! What is Gus screaming about? I can’t take it. It’s driving me crazy!”
“He’s mad because I told him he can’t spend New Year’s Eve with Brian and Justin.”
“Why in the fuck would you do that? He doesn’t need any more reasons to be angry with us, and that is just the kind of thing that won’t sit well with the court. Denying him his agreed visitation rights is a big mistake.”
“I was just so mad at Brian. I wanted to punish him for not giving us Baby J.”
“He’s name is Jamie!”
~~~
“Michael Charles Novotny! How could you be so stupid?”
“Ma. I already feel bad, do you have to rub it in?”
“You need to apologize to Brian, and then beg him to reconsider his original offer.”
“I can’t… I said some really bad things.”
“You’re losing your house, your business, and you basically have no income.”
“I really thought that I could win it back. I thought that it was just a run of bad luck. I was sure I’d be able to get back on my feet. I just needed a couple more good hands.”
“You know that’s the exact description of a compulsive gambler. I didn’t believe Brian when he told me. I was so mad at him. Now I see I should have be grateful for all his generosity.”
“I know, ma. But what can I do now? Ben’s so angry with me I think he might actually leave me. I really fucked up this time.”
“What I don’t understand is why didn’t you accept Brian’s offer? So you wouldn’t own your house anymore. But you’d still have a place to live and Brian would have paid your back payments. And the same with the comic book store. The ideas he had might have really brought in business for you. So you wouldn’t own it but he’d never fire you either. You wouldn’t have to worry about how you were going to pay your bills.”
“Really, ma. Do you have to make me feel even more stupid than I already do?”
“Yes! I think I do! What is wrong with you?”
“I’ve lost everything… I’m destitute…”
“Stop feeling sorry for yourself and help me bring in the boxes from the car. We can at least start packing, and you can stay in your old bedroom.”
“Thanks, ma. I don’t know what I’d do if it wasn’t for you.”
“But it looks like Hunter will have to sleep on the pull-out sofa. We just don’t have any more room. And I won’t ask Emmett to move. Although he probably will, considering how crowded it’s going to be.”
~~~
“You’re actually buying a birthday cake?”
“Yeah. Its Jamie’s first month’s birthday on January first.”
“Ah ha. You just want to eat that chocolate torte.”
“Maybe.”
“Brian. You’re buying champagne that costs a hundred dollars a bottle?”
“It’s New Year’s Eve. I’m also buying filet mignon and shrimp cocktail.”
“Umm. That sounds great.”
“You’re sure it’s okay that we have New Year’s Day dinner with my mother.”
“Yes, dear. But shouldn’t we bring her some expensive champagne too?”
“I really do love you, you’re the best.”
“What about Molly? Is she going to feel left out?”
“Let’s see… How about we get that box of Godiva chocolates?”
“The huge one?”
“Yeah…”
“Then you and Molly can lay on the floor in a sugar coma the rest of the night.”
“Yep. I knew you’d understand.”
“And yet you never gain weight.”
“It must be our strenuous sex life. They say you use all your muscles during sex.”
“What would I do without my personal, public service announcements?”
“I’m brilliant.”
“Ah ha. Oh, we need to stop at the travel agency on the way home.”
“You’re going on a business trip? I thought that you said you were off work until March. That you’d just be working from home when absolutely necessary.”
“It’s not business. I thought that we could use some time away from all this freezing weather. I’ve rented a condo in Florida until the middle of February.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Right on the ocean. Merry Christmas, Sunshine.”
“Brian! Oh God! I really do love you!”
“Well, we can only stop answering our phones or the door for so long.”
“You really are the best!”
“Okay, come on, come on, come on. Let’s get out of this store, and back home so you can properly thank me.”
“Oh Brian!”
“I know, I know, I know… I love you too, Sunshine.”
“Now make sure he’s all bundled up, so he won’t get cold.”
“Brian. If he was any more bundled up he’d pass out from heat stroke.”
“Remind me to spank you when we get home… Smart Ass!”
“I love you!”
“I know…”
~~~
There’s a note taped to the loft door, and Brian can tell from the handwriting that it’s from Michael. Justin notices the smile from Brian’s face disappear as he takes the note off the door. Justin remains silent while Brian unlocks the door, then he carries Jamie over to the sofa. Brian’s sets the groceries on the kitchen counter then walks over to the liquor cart. Brian’s resistance is waning as he pours himself several fingers of Beam. Justin is watching Brian out of the corner of his eye while fussing with all the layers of clothing on Jamie, removing them.
“There we are. There’s actually a baby boy under all those scarfs, blankets, and snowsuits.”
Then they hear a knock on the loft door. Brian braces himself for a confrontation with Michael as the loft door is pulled open. Then there’s a blur as Gus runs into Brian’s arms now crying again, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”
“Hey, hey there sonny boy what’s wrong?”
“Oh Daddy, I need you! I love you Daddy!”
“I’m right here Gus. There’s no reason to cry. Come on now, let me see you smile.”
Now he’s barely able to talk he’s crying so hard. “Mom… Mom… Mommy said… She said I… She said I couldn’t see you…”
Now he’s truly crying as tears stream down his face. “Daddy I love you!”
“I love you too Gus!” Brian repeats over and over again, as Gus continues to cry. Looking over Gus’s shoulder, Brian glares at Mel questionably.
“I’m sorry, Brian. Lindsay was in one of her moods. But I convinced her that it wasn’t fair to not let Gus have New Year’s Eve with the two of you.”
“You two really shouldn’t put him in the middle of our disagreements. He’s too young to understand.”
“I know. I tried to explain it to Lindsay. I’m sorry for all this drama.”
“Jennifer’s invited us for dinner on New Year’s Day. How about you let us drop him back after dinner tomorrow?”
“Sure, that’s fine.”
She walks over and runs her hand through Gus’s hair. “You want to spend tomorrow with your Daddy and Justy? Then come home before bedtime?”
Gus is still sniffling, as he nods his head ‘Yes’. Brian reaches down and wipes his tears away. “Now say good bye to Mama.”
“Bye Mama, and Happy New Year!”
Now his tears are almost forgotten. It’s amazing how resilient he is as he kisses Mel good-bye. Justin moves over to Gus, helping him out of all his layers of clothing, removing mittens, scarves, and his boots and snowsuit.
“Justy, can we have cocoa? I’m freezing and Mama makes it for me to help me get warm.”
“Sure thing, that sounds good. I think I’ll have some too. Just let me get Jamie’s bottle on to warm first.”
“Can we have Oreos too?”
“Yep. We just bought a new package at the store. They somehow magically disappeared last night.”
Brian blushes. “You know I had help.”
“Daddy? I get to stay up until midnight, right?”
“If you can say awake, you can stay up.”
“Maybe I should take a nap after we have cocoa and Oreos?”
“That’s not a bad idea. We all might need a nap.”
“Can I give Jamie his bottle?”
“How about you sit next to me, and you can hold his bottle?”
“While I wait for my cocoa to cool?”
“That sounds perfect.”
TBC…
