Debbie sat quietly with her hands in her lap, while she slowly scanned the hospital waiting room.  She was pleased to see so many folks still hanging around, waiting for the chance to visit Brian nearly two weeks after that awful night.  She wasn't surprised at all to see Justin sitting over in the corner, his mother right beside him.  The poor boy had barely left the hospital from that very first night on... only doing so when both she and Jennifer had demanded he go home to change and get some rest.  

She was also not surprised to see her own son, Michael, sitting across the room from her.  Not surprised, but certainly not that happy about it either.  She was happy to see that Vic, Emmett, Ted, Lindsay, Melanie, and even Brian's secretary, Cynthia were present.  Everyone whose lives had been affected in one way or another by Brian Kinney now stood vigil... all but members of the Kinney family.  Those present were now waiting for word from the head doctor attending to Brian.  

After thirteen days in the hospital, Brian had finally opened his eyes that very morning.  That was all she was told over the phone.  She had contacted everyone that she knew would care, before heading back to the hospital.  Justin was, of course, already there.  He spent more time at the hospital than anywhere else.  As they sat and waited, Debbie thought back on the previous couple of weeks.  It had been one of the worst periods of her life.  The burden had been almost too much to bear, but she knew it had become necessary to take it on.  Espcially after talking to the woman who actually had the right to claim the title of being Brian's mother.  She felt her anger rising again when thinking on that particular phone call.

********************************************

Debbie recalled the horrific sight of Brian laid out on his hospital bed in the ICU.  The side of his head was engulfed in bandages, with just one eye barely peeking out.  It wouldn't have mattered if both eyes were covered up, because they were tightly closed.  It seemed that there were tubes running into his body everywhere, although she knew that was an exaggeration.  He was so pale.  This was not the vibrant Brian Kinney she had known for over twenty years.  It seemed ludicrous to see him like that... like some macabre joke was being played on her.

After learning more about the damage done to Brian, whom she had long thought of as a second son, she was better prepared to take the next steps.  Getting help for Justin was at the top of the list.  There was not a thing that anyone but the doctors could do for Brian at this point.  Justin was the one in serious need... a need that she could do something about.  It was a lucky thing that they were not allowed to stay with Brian for too long in the ICU.  If they would have let him, Justin would not have left his side for a single moment.  Debbie led Justin out of the sterile-smelling room and back into the hallway.  There, she sat him down, ordering him to stay, while she walked away to where she could use her cell phone.  He obeyed, having no will of his own.

Deb's first call was to Jennifer.  She had no idea whether Justin's mom had heard anything about the attack as of yet.  So when she heard Jen answer the phone, she kept her voice as calm as possible.  

"Jennifer, this is Debbie," she began.  "I need you to stay calm while I tell you what's going on."

Jennifer immediately tensed.  No one ever started a conversation off with such words, unless there was something less than calming to hear.  

"What is it, Debbie?" she asked apprehensively.

"Alright, here goes.  I'm with Justin right now.  He is perfectly okay... not physically hurt in any way, but he needs you right now."

Jen interrupted.  "Not physically hurt?  What are you talking about?  Why didn't he come to me if he is in any kind of  trouble?"

Jen's first thought was that Justin got into one last fight at the prom with the bully who had been bothering him all through the school year.

"No, no!  We're not at my house.  We are at the hospital.  Jus...."

Jen interrupted again, more frantically this time.  "Hospital!  What is going on?  Debbie, why is Justin in the hospital?"

"Please stay calm!  Justin isn't in the hospital.  Brian is the one.  Justin came with him.  There was an incident at the Dance tonight and Brian has been hurt.  Justin is a mess.  Jen, he is blaming himself.  He needs his mother with him."

Jennifer felt herself calming just a little bit.  As long as Justin wasn't injured, she could deal with anything else.  She quickly got the information needed from Debbie, and then hung up.  Debbie heard the line go dead, and just stared ahead.  Who to call next, she pondered.  She knew she would have to call Michael sooner or later, but he had probably only  just arrived in Portland, Oregon.  He would be jet-lagged and not thinking clearly.  She opted for a little later with that call.  She wondered if the news of the bashing had gotten out yet.  She was hesitant to bring any of the Kinney clan into the picture, but it had to be done.  She couldn't fake being Brian's next of kin forever.  

The decision made, although reluctantly, she gave Joan Kinney a call.  They had never been close friends, but they certainly knew each other.  After all, their sons had been the closest of friends since early childhood.  Debbie still had the phone number to the Kinney household.  She checked her contacts list and made the call.  Joan answered on the third ring.

"Joan, this is Debbie Novotny.  I have some bad news I need to pass on to you.  It's about Brian."

"What about him?  After the way he acted at his father's funeral, I don't have much to say to him.  He went out of his way to embarrass us with his ludicrous story, about his father telling me to get an abortion when I was pregnant with him.  He is always going out of his way to bring shame to his family.  So, what kind of trouble has he brought us now?"

Debbie felt her chest tighten and her teeth clench.  It took every ounce of strength she possessed not to scream at the woman.  Bracing herself, she went on.

"He's in the hospital, Joan.  He was badly beaten by a teenager tonight."

"Wait a minute," Joan interrupted.  "There was a news alert that interrupted my program tonight.  They said something about an attack by one of the teens at a Senior Prom.  And they went on to say that the attack was not against another teenager.  They gave out no names.  You can't be talking about that event!  What the hell would Brian be doing at a high school prom?"

Debbie felt her blood turn cold.  She had no idea the press had already gotten the news out for anyone watching TV to see.  This was going to be harder than she had expected.  She was surprised there had been no sign of reporters already gathered at the hospital, asking questions.  Her thoughts swung back to the problem at hand.

"I'm afraid that is the incident involving Brian.  He went to the Prom to support a young man that I had taken into my home temporarily."

"A queer boy, right?" Disdain clearly spilling out from her mouth.

"Yes, he's gay... just like my son," Debbie answered tersely, barely containing her anger.

"As I was saying, this kid had a long-standing grudge against my young man.  Brian was caught in the middle.  This bastard took it out on Brian, and now he's in the hospital in a very serious condition.  You'll need to come down here and help them with his medical information."

Joan never hesitated.  

"Don't give me that bull.  There's more to the story than what you're telling me.  The news report said that witnesses claimed the older man, who was attacked, was dancing with one of the teenaged boys.  The attack was the direct result from that dance.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out who the older man was now, or why he was attacked.   If you ask me, Brian asked for it.  I have no intention of coming down there to support his stupidity.  You know as much about his medical information as I do.  Hell, he spent more of his childhood at your house than he ever did in his own home!  You take care of it!"

With that, Joan Kinney hung up the phone.  It took a long time for Debbie to collect herself again.  She was virtually shaking from head to toe with the fury she felt towards Brian's mother.  She was too upset to decide on who else to call for now.  Instead, she went back to join Justin and wait for Jennifer to arrive.  Together, the two women could decide on how to take care of Justin.  After that, Deb would return to the task of contacting others who should know about Brian's attack.

**********************************************************

Once Debbie and Jennifer had convinced Justin to return to Deb's house to change, and get as much sleep as he could manage before returning to the hospital, Deb took to the phone again.  She did this after explaining to Vic what was going on.  He had been asleep when the hospital first called and she didn't want to disturb him.  The ordeal over his arrest for indecent exposure and soliciting a short time before, had left him physically drained, even though Melanie had helped him get the wrongful charges dropped.  When hearing the news, his anger over one of their own being bashed was clearly etched on his face.  He did his best to keep his feelings under control for Justin's sake.  The moment Justin entered the house, Vic knew something devastating had happened, and he had no intention of making it worse for the traumatized youth.

Debbie now had to tackle the rest of their circle of friends.  Her first call was to the house of Melanie and Lindsay.  Uppermost in her mind was learning some of the legal ramifications of this outrage.  Melanie could help her with that.  There was also the fact that Brian was the father of their son, even though he had given up his rights to the boy.  She knew that the girls, or at least Lindsay, still honored Brian as Gus's dad.  For these reasons, she called them first.  She called Emmett next, and then finally Ted.  Every single person she spoke to was in a state of shock at the news.  Even though Brian was as openly gay as any one person could be, and he had a habit of taking the kind of risks that none of the others would have even considered, they never pictured Brian as being the object of a gay bashing.  

After Debbie explained about Brian being the unnamed victim of the bashing being talked about on the news, and that the crime scene being mentioned was Justin's prom, the shock deepened.  However, knowing how Brian felt about their young friend, despite his protestations, they weren't as surprised as they expected to be to find out that Brian had gone to the prom.  They had figured out some time ago that Brian's relationship with Justin was a little deeper than he would ever admit out loud.  Tragically, it looked like they had been right, and Brian now suffered the results of his attraction to Justin.  

Strangely enough, it was Ted who was the most understanding.  He had just suffered a great heartbreak that same night simply because he had fallen in love with Blake, a young man addicted to crack cocaine.  When he heard about Brian, he felt almost lucky that it was only his heart, and not his head, that had been broken.  Lindsay was, of course, a mess.  Brian told her earlier about Justin's invitation to the prom, but had made it clear he would never attend.  She had done her best to encourage him to forget about turning thirty.  A sense of guilt overcame her when she heard the whole story.  If anything she said was the reason Brian attended the prom, she knew she would never forgive herself.  It took all of Melanie's efforts to reassure Linds that she had no blame in what happened.  Brian would come out of this trauma with nothing more than a very bad headache, she repeated several times.

Debbie's final call was to Cynthia.  She knew that Brian's bosses at the ad agency would have to be made aware of the situation.  Deb knew Cynthia personally and liked the girl a lot.  She knew nothing of his bosses.  As a result, Deb decided to leave Brian's work place in Cynthia's capable hands.  She had been right.  Cynthia did take care of the business end of Brian's life.  By Monday morning, while Brian still lay in a coma, everyone at work knew why the 'golden boy' of Ryder Advertising was absent.  Also by Monday morning, all of Pittsburgh knew the name of bashing victim, Brian Kinney, along with the sordid details of the crime against him.  Or at least they thought they did, based on news reports.  The city was divided between those who thought that Chris Hobbs should be strung up for the crime of gay bashing, and those who thought Brian Kinney got what he deserved for his 'disgusting' display in front of the innocent 'children' of their fair city.

While all the drama swirled around the 'story of the year', those that cared about Brian waited... and waited... and waited some more.  Each of them did their best to avoid the press.  Those people hung around the lobby of the hospital at all hours.  They were like vultures while waiting for a chance to get a juicy quote from someone on the inside, or a tidbit of information on the victim's condition.  Meanwhile, Brian's supporters took turns keeping a vigil.  The only one who barely left the hospital was Justin.  No one was willing to ask too many questions of the young man.  Not yet... not while he was in such a distressed state of mind.  Questions would have to wait.  The only two people who knew every detail were Debbie and Jennifer, and they felt no need to divulge everything.  There would be time enough for that once Brian was back among the living.

And now, after nearly two weeks of unbearable stress and worry, there was finally hope that Brian would indeed be alright.  He had finally opened his eyes.  What was to come next would determine the future.  Debbie prayed it would be a bright one.

To be continued...................