Brian left the hospital and went to Kinnetik as Justin had suggested. He asked Cynthia to join him in his office and to bring his appointment book for the remainder of the month.

"How's Justin and Michael?" she asked as they sat down.

Brian ran his hand through his hair before answering. "Michael's got a really bad broken leg, but he will recover. Justin broke his collar bone, his arm and some ribs," Brian reported in a fairly neutral voice.

''Is it his drawing arm?" Cynthia asked.

Brian looked up and above Cynthia, staring at the glass panes as if some magical answer were there. He didn't answer for several minutes and Cynthia didn't repeat the question, recognizing her boss' need for privacy. "Yeah, it is."

Cynthia winced at the confirming words.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too," Brian admitted. He'd learned that sorry wasn't always bullshit and this was one of those times.

"I'm going to work from home for at least a week, maybe longer, so let's see what's on the agenda. You and Theodore may need to do some presentations."

"Sure boss. No problem," Cynthia assured him.

They worked through the afternoon and Brian felt he could safely leave his business interests in the very capable hands of his assistant and CFO.

Walking to the diner, he entered, looking around for a familiar face, but realized that most of the "family" were probably at the hospital. Justin told me to leave him alone for a while and take care of business. I have no one to justify my actions to. Still it felt odd, going into the diner and Deb not giving him grief, or one the "family" asking some inane question regarding who he would fuck on some make believe TV show. Justin is the most fuckable man I know--always has been and always will be. The car accident will put a crimp in that activity, but we're grown men, not teenagers and we'll be able to survive a while without fucking.

He sat down at the counter, ordering a turkey salad with dressing on the side and a lemon bar. The salad was pretty tasteless and the turkey was dry. Why do I continue to eat this shit? A salad from anywhere else would be better than this. Old habits die hard. He finished about half the salad and ate the lemon bar. He ordered two extras and wrapped them up.

It was a little before 7:00 p.m. and visiting hours were still in session. He drove to the hospital, stopping at Jack in the Box to buy a cheeseburger and fries to accompany the lemon bars. Parking the car, he remembered last night when he returned too late to see Justin and Mikey and congratulated himself on getting there on time today. He really didn't want a repeat of the previous night.

Turning toward Justin's room, he walked in as the aide was taking his dinner tray away. Bending down to kiss Justin, he touched his forehead in the familiar greeting. "Hey," he said. "I brought you food. I seem to recall the dinners here are the worst meal of the day." He brandished the bag of food and laid it out on the hospital tray. "And for dessert, a lemon bar. Do you want anything else? I can get you a soda from the machine?" he offered.

Justin smiled as he eyed the food. "I knew you were good for something." He attempted to unwrap the burger, but he was finding it difficult with his cast and injured collar bone.

Brian saw his struggles and unwrapped the burger and dumped the fries on a napkin. He threw away the wrappers, getting them out of the way. Picking up the ketchup packets, he tore several open and made a pile of ketchup for Justin to dip his fries in. "I'll get you that soda," he announced and didn't wait for a reply.

He's so fucking helpless. He can't even unwrap a burger. Shit. Why'd that mother fucker have to hit the car on the passenger side? Why couldn't he hit the driver's side? Why didn't I buy the milk the night before? None of this would have happened if I could've waited an extra ten minutes to get my dick sucked. Justin had promised me he was waiting with a fucking surprise if I'd get home early. I was so fucking anxious to get to Justin, I forgot his milk. Now I won't be fucking getting my dick sucked for two months. I should have taken five minutes and gotten the milk and then come home. Justin wouldn't have cared if I was five minutes late for our rendezvous. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say.

He put the money into the machine and hit the button for Pepsi. He saw the coffee pot nearby and poured himself a cup of coffee, filling it with sugar and cream. Taking the beverages to the room, he set the soda on the tray and placed a straw in it.

He sat down and drank his coffee while Justin ate his second dinner. Justin picked up the burger with his good hand and managed to eat it with little difficulty. He attacked the fries and drank the Pepsi. He was almost finished within ten minutes of Brian's arrival.

"Guess dinner was really lousy or you're pregnant," Brian teased.

Justin laughed at Brian's levity, but then gasped at the pain, "Don't do that. It hurts to laugh," Justin whispered.

Brian turned white, wincing at Justin's discomfort. "Do you need drugs?" he asked.

"No... I'm good. I'm just going to have to get used to this. The nurses said they don't bind the broken ribs anymore because it's too constricting. She said it starts to get better in a few weeks and after several months, I won't feel a thing," Justin explained in his PSA voice.

"Glad to know that you have all the necessary information," Brian snarked. He drank the last of his coffee, throwing the cup in the trash. "I need to go see Mikey before visiting hours are over. Be back in a while." He leaned down and touched his forehead to Justin's forehead and said, "Later."

"Later," Justin repeated and gently shook his head. He closed his eyes as silent tears fell down his cheeks.

Brian walked down to Mikey's room and found Michael sitting up in bed, pillow propped under his leg and the bed tray over his bed where he could easily reach things.

On the tray was a current copy of Rage, the familiar pad of yellow paper that Michael always carried so he could write notes about new storylines, and his cell phone. Several plants and balloon arrangements adorned the corners of the room, and someone had brought a weird cactus that looked like a giant cock.

Brian hadn't bothered to knock on Michael's door either. They'd been friends forever and there were few secrets. Mikey had asked Brian about barebacking Justin, but Brian refused to acknowledge their personal life. Brian thought Mikey knew the answer, but he didn't like to discuss Justin and his sex life, especially when he knew that Michael envied them the possibility of barebacking, something that he and the professor could never enjoy.

"Jesus, it looks like a funeral home in here. There's enough flowers and plants for a dead guy," Brian half-joked.

"No one died, but last night... I wish they could have put me out of my misery. I now have a better appreciation for your pain when you broke your leg. It hurts like hell," Michael admitted.

Brian winced in sympathy. "I just had a cast. Unfortunately, the real pain is when you go home."

"What do you mean?" Michael asked innocently.

"Mikey, your bedroom is upstairs. How are you going to get up there? How are you going to take a shower? You don't have a walking cast--I recognize the lack of a walking stump. You can't crutch up a flight of stairs and you can't stand for a shower."

Michael nodded and looked solemn. "Oh shit!"

Brian walked over to the bed, gently hitting Michael on the arm. "Never fear, Rage is here to rescue Zephyr. I stayed in the loft after I got out of the hospital. We weren't living at Britin. Remember, Justin and I weren't exactly together at the time."

Michael shook his head as he remembered that time over seven years ago. "Hard to believe that it's been seven years. It seems that you two have always been together," Michael observed. He pushed the pillow under his leg, trying to get relief from the heavy cast. He sat up straight and squiggled in the bed as well, finally getting comfortable again. "So, how does that solve my problem, Rage?" Michael joked, enjoying the banter.

"You can stay at the loft until you get a walking cast. Stay there longer if you'd like. Justin and I only use it when we're in town for the evening, for business or a rare visit to Babylon. I doubt we'll be doing either for a while. Broken ribs kind of put a damper on dancing," Brian explained. Brian walked over to the cactus, examining it from all sides. He picked up the card, seeing that it was from Ted and Blake.

I think Ted still has latent feelings for Mikey, but I'm not going there. He has a good thing with Blake and they're happy. Makes for a good employee, so I won't complain.

Michael looked at his friend, wide eyed and innocent. "You'd let us stay in the loft?"

"I offered, didn't I."

"Love you, Brian," Michael exclaimed.

"Me too. Always have, always will," Brian repeated the oft-stated phrase. He leaned down, giving Michael a kiss on the lips.

"I'll talk to Theodore and see if he can find the ramp and the shower chair. They really will come in handy, Michael."

"Thanks, Brian," Michael said as he pushed the button for the nurse. "Time for more meds and I'm getting tired. Say ‘Hi' to Justin for me," Michael yelled out as Brian left the room.

Brian returned to Justin's room and noticed the plants and balloons there as well. "Hi Sunshine. Michael says ‘Hi'. Between the two of you, I think the gift shop won't have any flowers or balloons left." He walked around the room looking at the gift cards attached to the items. "Hmm, this is from Cynthia, this is from Ted and Blake, this from Em and Drew, this is from Rosa, the housekeeper, and this is from Sidney Bloom. Did anyone you know not send you flowers or balloons?" Brian teased.

"You didn't, but I wouldn't expect you to," Justin answered with a smile. "It's much easier to send flowers than to visit someone in the hospital. Don't you think, Brian?"

"Twat. You know I learned my lesson a long time ago. I'm not going to be making surreptitious visits to you in the middle of the night. Besides, after my fiasco the other night, I wouldn't ever get to see you if I tried that."

"Good thing you learned your lesson, Mr. Kinney. I would hate to discipline you." Justin raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Brian walked over to Justin's bed and kissed him lightly on the mouth. "Now, you should behave. You can't do anything here and I don't want you hurting yourself with a hard on that you can't take care of. We'll just have to see what we can do when we get you home." Brian straightened up and sat in the chair.  "How was your day? Did Jose come back and work with you again? Can you go home tomorrow as promised?"

"One question at a time. I slept a lot during the day. They still are giving me nice drugs to stave off the pain from the ribs, but they've told me that when I leave, I'll only get some Darvocet. Maybe you can supply me with weed for a few months. Staying high for two months straight certainly has its advantages," Justin winked at Brian. He drank the last of the soda and motioned for Brian to take the trash off the tray. "Jose came back and he said he would sign off on my chart. I guess it's up to the docs to let me go. What did you do today?"

Brian sat down in the chair after he pulled it to Justin's bed. He took Justin's hand in his own and caressed the arm with his fingers. "I went to Kinnetik and met with Cynthia and Theodore. They both say ‘Hi', by the way. Then I went to the diner. They have the worst food. Remind me why I eat there," Brian teased as he gave a tentative smile.

"Good," I'm glad you listened to me. Are you ready to be at my beck and call?"

"Of course not. I've hired a live-in companion who will meet your every need while I go off and get my dick sucked," Brian said, tongue-in-cheek. "There's no place I'd rather be. Well, that's not exactly true. I'd rather spend the next two months with my cock up your ass, but seeing how that is not going to happen, I guess this will have to do. Think you can put up with me for that long, Justin?"

"Some questions don't need answers. How is Michael?"

"Michael has a room that rivals yours. I swear, the two of you should have bought stock in the flower and balloon market. He has a broken leg. I offered him and the professor the use of the Loft for the next few months. I had to explain to him that his beautiful home in the Stepford neighborhood was not conducive to a broken leg."

Justin smiled at Brian's playful mocking. "I hadn't thought of that," he admitted.

"Of course. I am the powerful Brian Kinney and think of everything." Brian waved his hand.

Justin laughed, and held his ribs. "You as the powerful wizard is something I cannot wrap my head around. While the experts say that laughter is the best medicine, they obviously didn't have broken ribs."

A knock on the door interrupted their banter. "I'm sorry, sir. Visiting hours are over. You 'll have to come back tomorrow," the nurse explained.

Brian looked at the clock on the wall.

"Night Sunshine. I'll be back tomorrow. What time are they going to spring you?"

"I don't know, but I hope early. If I have to eat any more hospital food... Night, Brian."

Brian went over and kissed Justin on the lips, then leaned his forehead down in their familiar touch. "Later."

"Later," Justin repeated as he watched Brian leave. We've come so far. This sucks, but at least he's here this time. He's handling the accident better than I ever imagined.

Justin buzzed the nurse and she assisted him in positioning his pillows so he could comfortably sleep. She gave him a pain killer and he fell into a blissful sleep.

Brian left the hospital, went to the grocery and returned home.  He put away the food, checked the mail and fixed himself a drink.  He finished the drink and poured another one.  He drank that one and took the bottle to the couch, where he passed out after drinking the remainder of the liquor.