BRIAN 

Returning to Pittsburgh my only thought was how to get our lives to a place where looking over our shoulders wasn’t part of it. Emmett called Terry to tell him that Michael showed up yesterday evening trying to act as if he hadn’t left town. Lindsay seemed to disappear again, but as far as that goes I just hope she stays gone. Brandon stayed in New York and as far as Cameron can tell, plans to stay the week. It left me with time to talk to Mel and then deal with Michael. I waited for Justin to go to our new house with his shadows before going to Mel's house.

“Brian, Gus is at school, is everything alright?” Mel asks me when she opens the door.

“I need to talk to you about Gus and the other things that have been happening,” I tell her.

“Come in, but Ben’s here, so if you don’t want to say anything in front of him, then it might be better to wait till he’s gone,” She leads me to the living room, where Ben is sitting on the couch.

“Brian, what are you doing here?” Ben asks, looking at Mel.

“Mel and I need to discuss a way to get Lindsay out of Gus’s life. Which makes me remember a question I had for you,” I tell him.

“What?” 

“What were you and Lindsay doing at the hospital?” I ask.

“What I was doing is none of your business, and Lindsay was there to argue with me about what I was doing which like I said, isn’t your business,” He tells me.

“Ben, it’s fine to tell him,” Mel tells us.

“Why are you so interested?” Ben asks.

“There are things going on in Justin’s life that make running into you and Lindsay at the hospital where we were bother me,” I tell him.

“Ben, just tell him,” Leda comes in and kisses my cheek. Mel just smiles, unlike when Lindsay used to do the same thing.

“Leda and Mel want to have another child with me as the father again. I went for a check up because my ex cheated without me knowing while we were still together and still, I thought, monogamous. I wanted to make sure I was still clean before saying yes. Lindsay found out that Leda wanted this and came to tell me that she wanted me to say no,” He tells me.

“Yeah, I’ve been having problems with her thinking that she rules all our lives too. I need to tell Cameron why you were there, so we can put any doubt about you to rest,” I tell him.

“What would make you doubt me?” He asks me.

“Justin might have a stalker, and Cameron wanted to rule out as many people as he could. Mel was on the list for less than a second, but only because she knows me and met Justin,” I tell him.

“Was I on there?” Leda asks.

“Nope, but you come at someone from the front, so if it was you there would have been no need to figure it out,” I tell her.

“I could be sneaky,” She tells me.

“Are you really trying to get on a list to be a stalker?” Ben asks, he still hasn’t learned much about Leda.

“No, but it sucks that no one at least tried to suspect me,” She tells him, laughing when he shakes his head at her reasoning.

“Brian, what does this have to do with Gus?” Mel asks me.

“Lindsay once again seems to think nothing she does will affect her. She took pictures of Justin’s unreleased work and sent them to Sam. We managed to find out that Sam wanted to use them to get Justin to agree to show with him and his new muse. Neither of them seem to remember that being famous for art means it’s illegal photograph it without the Artist’s permission. Also, Lindsay might be dealing with unlawful entry for this one. Which means we can declare her unfit to be around Gus,” I tell Mel.

“What do you want me to do if we do that? Because I won’t just hand over my son.” Mel tells me.

“I don’t expect you to uproot Gus, but allow me to have partial custody. I’m willing to pay support on top of anything he needs and if you need more you just have to ask,” I tell her.

“Brian, you don’t need to do anything but promise to show up when Gus needs you,” Leda tells me.

“Which I always have, and always will. I’m sorry if it seems like I’m bribing you for the right to be with my son, but it seems to be the only thing that worked in the past,” I tell them, looking at Mel, who couldn’t look at me.

“I shouldn’t have done it, but I’m a bitch,” Mel says without looking up.

“You and I were playing a game which Lindsay enjoyed, neither of us were right, but I need to know if we are past that and can work out a way that Gus has both of us,” I tell her.

“What did you do?” Ben asks looking concerned, but then he should be since they’re asking him to give them more children.

“I made him sign a life insurance policy in order to not circumcise Gus,” Mel tells us.

“You made him prove he had a say?” Ben asks.

“I thought he would back out. I was jealous of the hold he had on Lindsay and then when we were supposed to be having a child, she was including someone we agreed wasn’t more than a sperm donor. I don’t feel that way anymore, but it took Lindsay finally leaving us for me to see it was her and not Brian who caused my jealousy. Brian, I’m willing to meet you halfway without you paying for it, I just don’t want to lose Gus over this,” She tells me.

“You’ve loved Gus in a way that Lindsay never could, I wouldn’t take his true mother away from him. I just think he deserves to be a part of my family too,” I tell her.

“Just tell me when you need me to be there,” Mel tells me.

Getting up I start to leave, but Mel follows me to the door. I wait to see what she wants to say to me. Looking to see Leda and Ben were far enough away she turns back to me.

“Is Justin really going to prosecute her?” She whispers.

“Justin has to do what’s best for his career and I have to support him,” I tell her.

“You might want to tell his lawyer that Lindsay took off to Italy right before you guys came back. I think her parents are trying to get her to leave Sam, by giving her what she wants,” She tells me.

“So you're not going to try to save her anymore?” I ask, because I’m surprised with the way they seem to run around pretending to still care about each other.

“Leda made it impossible for me to care about anybody that didn’t want me happy,” She tells me.

“Justin seems to be doing the same for me,” I tell her.

I don't think either of us know how to take the oversharing and she didn’t stop me when I walked out the door. Of course finding Cameron leaning on my car really didn't surprise me. 

“Is there some part of my job you’re not understanding?” He asks me. 

“No, I think I understand protecting Justin and my child as clear as day,” I tell him. 

“It also means protecting anyone in his circle, which means you too. I can’t do my job if you aren't cooperative,” He tells me, waving at the SUV that starts up and leaves.

“I didn’t see the harm in coming here, Brandon is still in New York and if somehow this is Michael, then it’s really not worth the money Justin is paying you to worry,” I tell him.

“Get in the car,” He orders me.

I really wanted to show him the asshole I can be, but if I’m telling Justin to listen then I need to do the same. Driving to Kinnetik, Cameron decides it’s time to ram a few facts home with me. 

“Brian, right now I’m still not absolutely sure it’s Brandon. It’s just he’s insinuating himself in any part of Justin’s life he can. It doesn’t mean anything unless I can prove he’s the one. Michael might be harmless normally, but if it’s him, you have to understand that people can go from nothing to dangerous if they don’t like what the infatuation is doing. Do I think it’s Michael? No. Because like in the first picture, he’s there and in all the other videos, seeming as clueless as the rest of you that you're being taped. If Brandon isn’t the guy, then the guy is still lurking around waiting to do whatever is next on his agenda. Which, after reading your file, wouldn’t be good for you. You're reading the messages, but are you really seeing how the person views Justin. He thinks he’s an ‘Angel’ and doesn’t like the idea of anyone spoiling the angel. You would be seen in his eyes as ‘Satan’, all because it’s what his mind would see. I think it’s a miracle that out of the things we think he’s done, you weren’t the one driving without brakes,” He tells me.

“You checked didn’t you?” I ask him.

“I like my looks enough not to test your windshield, so of course. Can you at least promise me that if you go somewhere, that you make me aware. I can have people follow if it bothers you to have someone with you, but I think Justin would prefer you have someone with you,” He tells me.

“Lindsay took off to Rome, or at least that’s what she told everyone. Which I find hard to believe, since her parents don’t really care what she does anymore,” I tell him, not answering his questions.

“Women are actually worse than men when it comes to this kind of thing,” He tells me.

“Why?” 

“No one believes that a man can’t protect himself, including the guy. When it gets dangerous the police are still more likely to see it as the guy’s fault, because the poor woman was led on, even if the guy never dated her or showed interest. Then there’s the problem that like all men, we think we can deal with anything thrown at us. Women don’t use fists, they use cars, knives, and guns. What kind of woman is Lindsay?” He asks me.

“The kind that will force my son to give her attention when no one else will,” I tell him.

“Then you and Mel need to make sure she can’t get Gus in her hands, and that she isn’t left alone with him, because if she leaves anywhere with him, it’s a custody issue which she can win being the primary caregiver and biological mother,” He tells me.

“Mel’s been the primary caregiver since she and Lindsay split,” I tell him.

“Biology is a strange thing, it makes judges give children to all sorts of people,” He tells me.

JUSTIN

Blake and I walk into Kinnetik to see Deb standing in reception. I really don’t have time for her and the stupid shit she wants to say, but it seems that she thinks everyone owes her something. Which, since I don’t really know her and she’s done nothing but piss me off, is kind of a mystery why she thinks that about me. Blake nods at my guys and they walk with me, keeping her from being able to get near me. 

“Justin, I need to talk to you and Brian,” She raised her voice so everyone could hear her.

“Ma’am, there is really no reason for you to bother Justin,” Blake tells her.

“Who the fuck are you to tell me what I can do?” She asks him with her hands on her hips.

“I’m part of the team that keeps people like you away from my client,” Blake tells her.

“Justin, your mother would want you to help me,” She tells me, and I almost turned around to tell her what I thought of guilt trips.

“Deb, you have no business coming here, this isn’t the diner but a professional BUSINESS. One which needs our clients to see professional behavior, which you obviously don’t understand when you come here yelling like a fishwife through the building,” Ted tells her.

“He’s really hot when he talks like that,” Blake whispers, following me when Ted stopped Deb.

“Yeah, let’s give Ted props for that one,” I tell him.

“You can stand here and talk to me like I didn’t welcome you into our lives. I’m sorry Michael couldn’t love you, but standing by Brian is really a petty way to get back at Michael for that,” She tells Ted.

Blake and I just couldn’t help it, we stopped because, really, Michael? Now I know Ted really needed me to kiss that idiotic thought out of his head.

“I might have given the idea of Michael a thought or two, but you want to know one of the reasons I let it go?” He asks her.

“I doubt you did, you just like the money Brian offers you to side with him,” She sneers at him.

“I let it go because the idea of you as more then the waitress that serves me shitty food made it easy. I decided that even though my parents didn’t like my sexuality, at least they could still love me and support me without the conditions your acceptance seems to require for all of us. Why not go back to the diner and see if you can force another group of guys to take care of your son for you. Who knows, maybe they’ll be dumb enough to think what you do is caring about anything but your son,” Ted was practically seething.

“Ted, let it go, she doesn’t see anything but what she wants,” Brian walked up behind him and pulled him back.

“Brian…” Deb tries, but stops when he nods to Cameron who seems to really enjoy walking Deb out the front door, while she is screaming that no one kicks her out. Which now has her screaming from OUTSIDE the door.

Brian grabs my hand and heads to his office without saying a word. We get there to see an envelope on his desk.

“Cynthia did you leave that there?” Brian asks her.

“Yeah, it was on the floor by the entrance this morning.” She tells us.

Cameron came in and pulled out gloves to open it, which for a second I thought was just more overprotectiveness. It was when photos fell out of us at the restaurant talking to Brandon that it didn’t seem overprotective anymore.

“I agree with Brandon, you destroyed your beauty, and we all know why.” Cameron read.

Looking at the photos, they had red X’s over Cameron and Brian and a red question mark on Terry and Blake.

“I think maybe you might need to have someone watch your ass too,” Brian tells Cameron.