Chapter 56 - Dealing with Joanie.

"Hello, Mrs. Kinney," Justin said as the older woman was escorted by a guard into the small conference room at the county jail where Justin was waiting for her.

"What are YOU doing here? Where's my son?" Joan Kinney griped as soon as she saw the slight blond youth that was seated at the table in the antiseptic little room.

"I'm here on Brian's behalf," Justin explained, standing and courteously pulling out the other chair for his partner's disheveled mother.

Joan was dressed in the standard issue orange jumpsuit with flip flop shoes. She didn't have any make-up on and her usually tidy hair was a mess. She looked like she hadn't slept at all in the past two nights - there were thick dark circles under her eyes and her skin was an unhealthy yellowish color. She had a big bruise on her left cheek and a couple of small cuts on her chin and jawline. All-in-all, Joan Kinney did NOT look her usual proper church-matronly self.

Joan regally accepted the chair Justin held for her but didn't relent in her obvious dislike of the boy himself. She looked at Justin snootily, her prim little mouth puckered as if she'd just sucked a bag full of lemons. Justin smiled at the vile woman facetiously as he resumed his own seat.

"Brian sent me down here with a message for you," Justin advised, taking his smart phone out of his pocket, laying it down on the bare table and tapping a few icons until a video of Brian started to play.

"Good morning, Mother," the image of Brian said from the screen of the phone. "How are you enjoying your stay at the County facilities? I take it, not very much? Well, good! Frankly, you deserve everything you're getting right now. If I could, I'd just leave you there until you rot. But, try as I might, my conscience just won't let me leave my Mother in jail, regardless of how spiteful and mean she's been to my Partner or myself."

"So, I've given Justin the authority and the funds to get you out on bail. But, ONLY if you agree to three stipulations," Brian announced as he smiled dangerously into the camera. "First - and this should go without saying but since I don't really trust you, I'll say it anyway - you better fucking show up to your hearing, sober, plead guilty since you have no defense whatsoever, and take whatever punishment you're given with good grace. I've spoken to a lawyer friend this morning and she told me that you'll probably only get community service. Provided, of course, you don't piss off anyone else between now and your trial. But, if I'm posting your bail, you damn well better plan on showing for the hearing. I won't just throw that much money down the drain for you because you decide it would be beneath your dignity to return to court or because you show up drunk."

"Second," Brian's video continued on as Joan sputtered her useless protests at the miniature screen. "You have to promise not to participate in ANY other protesting. At least not with that group of reprobates you've been supporting. If you want to start attending Pro-Gay Rights rallies, that would be different. But, I'm not going to have my mother out there protesting against me, my friends or my lifestyle ever again. You just look stupid, uneducated and ridiculous. I'm a public figure now and I'm not going to put up with my own mother shaming me every time I turn around. Plus, I'm not going to make it a habit to bail you out of jail if you get in any more street brawls. So, as of today, your days of protesting are finished."

"Finally - and this is the Big One - I want a public apology for me, Justin, Kiki and everybody else in the Gay Community that you've offended with your actions and your, oh so lovely, recent news interview. It must be on camera and you will follow a script I dictate. My assistant, Cynthia, will set it up and arrange a press conference where you'll apologize and retract everything else you said. This is NOT negotiable. If you refuse to follow through on this, I'll revoke your bail and send the cops out to arrest you again. Then you can sit in the County lockup until your trial, which shouldn't take more than a month or two, seeing as how backed up the court system is."

"So, it's your call, Mother. Justin knows my stipulations and will do what I've directed. If you want out of jail today, all you have to do is agree to everything I've said. If not, have a nice stay in jail. It doesn't really matter to me either way."

The video screen went blank after that. Justin picked up his phone and put it into the back pocket of his jeans. Then, the young man leaned back in his chair with an inscrutable smile and waited while the outraged older woman complained, ranted and eventually fell silent. Justin didn't say a single word.

"Fine," Joan Kinney finally caved when it didn't look like Justin would relent at all. "I'll do it. You win. But, this doesn't change my opinion at all, you hear? The bible says what you do is a sin. I can never condone what you do. And I want no part of your disgusting lifestyle or this abomination of a child."

"That's fine with me," Justin conceded, rising from his seat and going to the door where he knocked to get the guard's attention. "Because there's no way I'd want you and your hatred anywhere near a child anyway. Hopefully, this is the last time I ever have to see your sorry ass."

Justin left as soon as the guard opened the door, effectively getting the last word in on Joan Kinney.

##########BBBB##########

"Brian, I'm home," Justin called out as he entered Britin's Chapel about an hour later.

It had been simple to finish posting Joan's bail and then arrange for a cab to take the woman home. Justin was out the door before Joan was even done being processed. He called Cynthia and got her started on arranging Joan's press conference on his walk to the car. Brian wanted the retraction statement on record as soon as possible - before Joan had time to change her mind.

Justin dumped his bag and jacket on the dining table as he passed by, making a mental note to add, 'hang coat hooks by front door' and 'get a small table for bags/briefcases' to his To Do List. Justin also noted once again how huge this place was and wondered if Brian would agree to putting in an intercom system - it worried him that someone in the back couldn't hear a person entering by the front door.

Unfortunately the security system was one of the items the contractor hadn't finished before they'd moved in. That, along with many, many other small tasks were scheduled to be completed over the three or so days that Brian would be in the hospital after the baby was delivered. Finishing off the other big stuff, like the guest room, utility room and Brian's office had been put on hold indefinitely since Brian didn't want construction work going on while he was home on bed rest or right after the baby was born. Instead, the construction team was working on the patio that opened off the side of the house, the garage addition in the back and the landscaping. The plan was to have everything finished by no later than Thanksgiving.

Britin’s Chapel Room Plan (not to scale)

Justin made his way down the main hallway, past the unfinished office, the guest bath and the utility rooms that opened off to the right. The door to the Master Bedroom was opened, and he assumed Brian was back there, in bed, where he was supposed to be resting. Justin peaked around the doorway but didn't see his wayward brunet in the beautiful new platform bed. The door to the nice-sized walk-in closet in the back corner was closed, so at least Justin knew Brian wasn't up and trying to rearrange the closet, like he'd threatened when he first saw it the night before. Justin had made Brian promise NOT to take on the closet until after the baby was born, although it was driving him crazy since the moving crew hadn't organized things the way he would have done it.

Master Bedroom

The door between the bedroom and the master bath, as well as a large section of the wall itself, was made of frosted glass. Justin loved that you could lie in bed and watch whoever was using the huge walk-in shower which was just to the right of the bathroom door. He couldn't wait until Brian was up to christening that particular space. But, due to the see through walls, you could easily see that there wasn't anyone in there now.

Master Bath (Taken from shower door)

Justin was on the verge of getting seriously worried about where Brian had disappeared to, when he remembered the one other room that was finished - the nursery. Brian had to be in there. The anxious youth quickly trotted down the short hall, passed the door to the unfinished guest room on the left and entered through the opened doorway into the baby's room. Which was, indeed, where he found Brian.

  
Nursery

The new nursery wasn't a very big room. It had originally been a small storage room for the old church. But, it would be just fine as a nursery until the baby was a bit older. Justin had picked out a warm brown and a contemporary, bright green, as the base colors for the walls and then accented the walls with all different sized polka dots of the contrasting color. The furniture Brian had selected for this room had all arrived and been set up by Jenn and Daphne the day before. Luckily, most of the baby stuff they'd purchased had been brought over already by Justin the previous weekend because they hadn't had the space to store it all at the loft. So, for all intents and purposes, this was the only room in the house that was completely ready.

Brian was sitting in the large brown oversized recliner chair set up in the corner. The seat was pushed back and the foot rest was out so Brian was essentially lying down and being a good little patient. He was holding one of the plush 'Ugly Dolls' toys that they'd bought the day they'd been shopping with Gus. This one was called 'Ice Bat' - it had been Gus' favorite. They'd also been talked into buying it a big blue companion 'O-X' (shorthand for 'hugs and kisses', not the large farm animal).

"Hey, Sunshine," Brian greeted cheerfully as his blond came through the door. "I think you did a fabulous job in here. I love the colors."

"It did turn out great, didn't it," Justin agreed and then bent down to turn on the switch that lit up the Japanese lanterns he'd suspended over the crib. "I really like these lamps. But, I have an even better idea for a mobile that will play on the same theme - I'm sure I could submit it as my end of term project in my kinetic sculpture class and then I can bring it home for the baby."

"I'm sure it'll be wonderful," Brian said as he grabbed onto the hem of Justin's shirt and pulled the boy down into his lap. "So, how was dealing with my Mother?"

"It went fine. She agreed to everything. She wasn't very happy about it, but she didn't really have much choice," Justin told his companion, not very happy himself to be talking about such a potentially distressing topic. "She's . . . well . . . not a very nice person, Brian. I kind of told her . . . I told her I wouldn't let her and all her hatred near the baby. I hope you're not pissed at me for saying that. But she was just being so spiteful about everything . . . I'm sorry . . ."

"Sorry is bullshit, Justin. I probably would have said a lot worse if I'd been there," Brian blew off Justin's concerns. "And, I completely agree that Joanie shouldn't be within a half mile of any child - especially not ours. She was pretty much the worst possible mother you could imagine and I doubt she's improved with age. As a grandmother she'd be even scarier. We're better off without her in our lives. In fact, to be honest, I've never even told her about Gus. I didn't want to expose him to that. I wish she didn't know about Kevan, either."

"Well, Kevan will have my Mom and Debbie as grandmas, so he'll never even miss Joan," Justin agreed reassuringly as he squirmed around until he was snuggled up in the chair more comfortably. "So, what did you want to do the rest of the day? We have the whole afternoon to ourselves - no visitors for a change and no hordes of protesters outside. Unfortunately we don't have a TV here yet, so we can't watch movies."

"Em told me yesterday that he brought over that dirty puzzle of his," Brian suggested. "We only got it about a quarter done the other day. How about we work on that? I could handle a couple hours of playing with hundreds of tiny dicks. Then, we could take a nice long soak in that brand new jacuzzi tub, have some dinner and maybe work on christening those two new couches out in the Great Room? How does that sound, Sunshine?"

"Sounds like a perfect plan to me!" Justin enthused, scrambling out of Brian's lap and then turning to offer his man a hand up.

"Oooonnnnhhh," Brian groaned as he stood up.

"What's wrong," Justin immediately asked.

"Nothing, I just feel fucking huge," Brian whined. "And every time I move it feels like there's a bowling ball knocking against the inside of my pelvic bones. My back and everything else aches. I'm retaining more water than the Hoover Dam. I have to pee every fifteen minutes. And, worst of all, my sweat pants keep rolling down off my belly and puddling around my hips so I'm constantly having to pull up my pants like a toddler. But, other than that, I'm just peachy, Sunshine."

"Oh, poor little Prego!" Justin teased. "Come on, you poor thing. Let's go sit on the couch. I'll set the puzzle up for you on the coffee table and then we'll see who can put the most dicks in the right places before dinner."

"That's hardly a challenge, Sunshine," Brian bragged as he waddled along behind Justin down the hall. "You did see all those hands raised the other day when Deb asked who had been with me, right? I've got far more experience than you. I'm sure I can out do you when it comes to sticking dicks places!"