BRIAN 

Mel, Justin, and I agreed to talk together on Friday, because nothing new was out there. Lindsay seemed to have decided to leave us alone, and Michael was most likely deaf from being yelled at by Deb. Deb told us that she paid to bail his ass out but decided he was a captive audience in a cell.  

“Why bail him out?” I ask her. 

“Carl didn’t need to have his guys see his stepson in there.” She tells me. 

“You just wanted a place he couldn’t avoid the conversation.” I tell her. 

“He needs to see that nothing he’s doing is going to get him anywhere but homeless if he doesn’t stop.” She tells me.

“I don’t think it will do any good. He seems to ignore that nothing is going to change the fact that Justin is here.” I tell her.

“Sweetheart, it’s not your problem. Michael has to figure out that what he wants, isn’t something that is possible. He needs to either find a life he can be happy with, or watch all his friends find happiness.” She tells me.

“I know, but at one time I thought our friendship was a good thing in my life.” I tell her.

“You needed us to keep you away from the flying fist and your mother. Michael was your way to escape that.” She tells me.

“You were there too Deb. I found that all mothers didn’t sacrifice in order to look good in the eyes of God.” I tell her.

“I don’t think that God has a book where he checks off things like Santa Claus. To me he put us here to do what we were suppose to do, so I don’t see harm the in being who you were supposed to be. I only wish he could clue us in on Michael and Lindsay, so we could have peace.” She tells me.

I smiled and thought, yeah God, give us a clue, because this is getting old fast. I waited in my conference room for Mel and Justin to show up. Justin’s been tolerating Mel so far. I don’t expect them to be best friends, but they need to get along so we can present a united front for whatever happens. Daphne showed up with Bryant in tow. I love this kid, he reminds me of Daphne in a lot of ways.

“Mom why can’t you just lock them up and throw away the key. Dad says your job is to get rid of stupid people.” He tells her.

“I keep them from getting away with stupid things, not get rid of them.” She tells him.

“Are you going to be stuck doing this all week, because I’d rather play at Brian’s house.” He tells her.

“Honey, you wanted to come with me.” She tells him.

“You said Gus would be here.” He tells her.

“Gus is coming with Justin to talk to your mom and a doctor, then a friend of the family is going to take you both home.” I tell him.

“Will it take long?” He asks us.

“It’s going to be a while, I want to make sure Gus is comfortable talking to the doctor.” Daphne tells him.

“I could stay with him so he has me.” Bryant offers.

“That’s sweet to offer, but he has to do this alone. It’s just so he can say anything he might not want to talk about in front of others.” Daphne tells him.

“You mean like that his moms are always fighting?” He tells her.

“Yes, and if there is anything else we need to know about.” She tells him.

“He’s scared for Jenny.” He tells us.

“We know, and we are working on making it so he doesn’t have to worry about her anymore.” I tell him.

“Then it’ll be fine, he told me that if you promise him something, you do it.” Bryant tells me.

“I keep promises, so how about we go and see if Cynthia has something for you to do while Gus does this. She told me that her files are out of order.” I tell him.

“Right, I’ll take care of it and write suggestions for campaigns on post-its for you.” He tells me, walking to Cynthia’s office.

“How did my kid want to be like you?” She asks me.

“I got him while he was young and impressionable.” I tell her.

Justin comes in with Gus, Jen, and Matt. Mel shows up with Ryder, who was pestering her about the house.

“Just because you want all that, doesn’t mean we should do it.” She tells him.

“What’s wrong with a home theater, and trust me, a heated driveway is a must here. I mean do you want to dig through snow to get to work everytime it snows. I like being able to get in my car and go when I want to be somewhere.” He tells her.

“We are not buying a hummer, she will be safe with a seatbelt.” Mel tells him.

“I already own the car so get over it. I plan to buy a tank when she wants to learn to drive.” He tells her.

“You two planning a wedding next, because that really sounded like it?” I ask them, to see them both wrinkle their noses at the thought.

“I could if you give me half the assets and a less masculine version of you.” Mel teases him.

“Get a dick and you’re masculine enough.” He teases her back.

“I guess I’m just going to have to look else where for someone.” Ben tells Ryder as he walks in.

“You're already completely what I want, so nope, staying with me.” Ryder tells him.

“Ben, I filed a petition for divorce for you. The only thing you own with Michael is the house, so you can sell and divide the proceeds or give the house to Michael.” She tells Ben.

“He can have it if he doesn’t want to sell. It’s in a good neighborhood so it should sell fast if we decide to go that way.” He tells her.

“I’ll send him a letter to let him know about the petition and the house.” She tells him making notes.

“Is Bryant here?” Gus asks us.

“He’s with Cynthia, waiting for you.” I tell him.

“Dad, do I have to talk to this person?” He asks me.

“Gus if this goes to court we need someone who can explain your side. She does what Uncle Matt does and is good at it. We don’t want you to have to testify in the court, this way only the doctor and the judge talk to you.” I tell him.

“Okay.” He tells me.

“I will be with you the whole time.” Daphne tells him.

“Why couldn’t Uncle Matt do it?” He ask her.

“Because he’s family and we don’t want to confuse the issue with that.” Mel tells him.

“That makes sense.” He tells her, smiling. It’s been small steps but he’s talking to her without the look of distrust we’ve seen so much of.

“Gus don’t hide anything no matter if you think it would hurt your mom or me. This is to help you be happier.” She tells him. 

“We’ll be in Brian’s office, so you guys wait here.” Daphne tells us, taking Gus with her.

“By the way Justin, Aunt Linda’s coming when this goes to trial.” Jen tells me, and I wanted to groan.

“Why?” Justin asks.

“My wife thinks that we need more Lloyds in the courtroom.” Uncle Matt tells us.

“Brian, having you investigated wasn’t about you, but Justin.” Jen tells me.

“You didn’t do it, so why did she think she should?” I ask, not really that upset about the investigation, just the interrogation I got.

“She’s a lawyer and wanted to protect Justin.” Jen tells me.

“I bet that wasn’t fun.” Mel tells me.

“She likes you so it’s fine if she comes, right?” Justin asks me.

“Sure, she’ll have a new victim since Emmett and Drew are all over each other.” I tell him smiling.

“Mel, Brian wondered about the money Lindsay wanted from him a while back, forty thousand for a car.” Jen asks her.

“Really, when was this?” She asks us.

“Right before I told Ted that you and Lindsay had to show why you wanted anything outside child support.” I tell her.

“She wanted to go with her family to Europe about that time. We ended up not going because she said her parents backed out of paying for us to go. We had a car at the time so why would we have asked you to pay for another one?” She tells me.

“This is why us fighting caused problems. She told me you two needed a car and I believed her.” I tell her.

“She was mad because they planned a trip to celebrate Lynette getting engaged again. Then she seemed to calm down when she told me that her parents wanted us to come too. I was surprised, because they never invite me to anything, but then I never really questioned things when she was happy.” Mel tells us.

“Are you going to do anything about the money she took from Jenny’s account?” Justin asks her.

“The account was a couple of bonuses I got, I put it in there to save it from Lindsay. I don’t even know how she knew it existed.” She tells us.

“She probably went through any paperwork you had to see if you were hiding things.” Matt tells her.

“What would I be hiding?” She asks him.

“You had an affair, she had affairs, it breeds mistrust that you never really get over. All it takes is a late night, a phone call you don’t explain, or anything seen as being secretive to bring it up over and over again. Put someone who thinks she’s entitled to everything on the wrong end and she becomes a detective to prove what she thinks is right while hoping she’s wrong. Growing up she couldn’t make them approve of her, unlike you Brian, she kept trying.” Matt tells us.

“Does that help us in any way?” Justin asks him.

“She wants to be the star in her world. You’ve taken her place, unless you disappear she will always see this as the upstart taking her place.” Matt tells us.

“She called him that in our last conversation.” Mel tells him.

“Then make a big statement in court that Justin is the center of attention. She’ll lose it.” Matt tells us.