Part One



The phone woke Justin from a sound sleep and it took him a few minutes to really wake enough to know what was going on.  He grabbed the cordless beside the bed and croaked out a sleepy “hello” before glancing at the clock.  2:46 am.  Why would anyone call at that hour?  And where was Brian?  He should have been home hours ago.  He was too tired to have gone anywhere but to Debbie’s and then here.



“Mr. Justin Taylor?”



“Yeah,” Justin said with a frown.



“My name is Charlene Connors,” the woman said calmly, but Justin could hear a note of urgency in her voice.  “I’m a counselor at Allegheny General Hospital.  Mr. Brian Kinney was brought in a few minutes ago.  He was involved with a serious head-on collision and has suffered multiple injuries.  The paramedics found your name and information in his wallet.  Are you Mr. Kinney’s next of kin?”



“And his medical proxy,” Justin said.  He was wide awake now, but his mind was working on automatic while he tried to process everything this woman was telling him.



“We’ll need you to come down to the hospital,” the woman said.  “Mr. Kinney has been taken into emergency surgery.  I’m afraid I can’t give out any more details over the phone.  If you ask for me at the ER reception desk, I’ll meet you and fill you in.  You’ll have to fill out some paperwork, so you might want to bring Brian’s insurance information and a copy of his medical proxy.”



Justin nodded and then realized she couldn’t see him.  “Yes… I’ll… I’ll be there right away.  Um…Brian… Is he…?”



“It’s serious,” Charlene said gently.  “I’ll tell you more when you get here.”



Justin hung up the phone and realized he was shaking.  Shit.  He had to get dressed.  He had to find the papers.  He had to get to the hospital.   He repeated that list in his mind as he crawled from the bed and thought how empty it looked; it should have Brian in it, but Brian was in the hospital, in emergency surgery.  Still shaking, Justin hurriedly pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, socks and sneakers.  He ran to the desk and flipped through the files in the drawer.  He found the folder with all their legal and medical papers.  Justin had never been so glad that Brian was anal about shit like this.  He grabbed his jack, his cell phone and his keys and headed for the front door.  Then he realized that he had no way to get to the hospital.  He’d left his car at Kinnetik and Brian had driven him home before heading to Debbie’s.



Still shaking, Justin headed down to the apartment below the loft and knocked at the door.  It took a minute, but a very sleepy Daphne eventually answered.  They weren’t the closets friends, but they had chatted and hung out a couple times since Justin had moved in with Brian.



“Justin?  What’s wrong?” Daphne asked.  Justin looked pale and completely shaken.



“It’s B-Brian,” Justin stammered out.  “I- I need to get to the hospital.  I- I don’t have a car.  P-please.”



“Yeah, sure,” Daphne said. “Just let me…  Just give me a minute, okay?”



Justin nodded.  “I’ll meet you downstairs.”



Justin continued down the steps and lit a cigarette before he had even made it out the front door of the building.  He needed something to calm his nerves.  He couldn’t deal with the doctors and shit if he was this anxious.



Daphne looked a mess when she emerged, wearing pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt with her hair sticking out everywhere, but Justin didn’t care.  He started to toss his cigarette, but Daphne stopped him.  “You can smoke in the car.  I’ll air it out later.”



Justin nodded his thanks and they were soon on their way.  Justin actually finished three cigarettes between the loft and the ER doors, but when he walked inside, he wasn’t shaking nearly as bad and he thought he might actually be able to form complete sentences.  He asked for the counselor, and while he waited for her, Daphne caught up with him.



“Mr. Taylor?”  Justin nodded to the young woman met them.  “I’m Charlene.  Let’s go up to the surgical waiting room and we can talk on the way.”



Justin and Daphne followed her onto the elevator.  “What happened to Brian?”



“Brian was driving down Liberty when a drunk driver crossed the road into incoming traffic.  He hit two parked car, flipped his truck and landed head-on into Brian’s vehicle.”  Charlene wasn’t sugar-coating anything, and Justin appreciated the brutal honesty.  “It took the rescue squad nearly an hour to get Brian out of his car.  It had collapsed around him and they had to cut him out.”



They stepped off the elevator and Charlene led them through a series of door and turns.  Justin didn’t think he’d ever find his way out of there.



“He was brought in and treated in the ER for multiple broken bones, but the reason he’s in surgery right now is because they found evidence of internal bleeding in his abdominal cavity.  That, along with the concussion, are the two things the doctors are most concerned about.”  Charlene took them to a small waiting room and had them sit while she went to pour coffee at the small kitchenette to one side of the room.  She handed on cup to each of them.  Justin thanked her and drank it, not minding that there was no cream or sugar.



“I got an update on his progress just before you arrived,” Charlene said.  “They found the source of the internal bleeding.  One of the veins leading to the spleen suffered a tear, partially dislodging it from the organ, but they are sewing that up and performing a lavage to reduce the chances of infection.  They should be finishing up within the hour.  They’re also keeping an eye on Brian’s brain.  If the swelling doesn’t start to reduce in the next couple hours, they’re going to have to go in and relieve some of the pressure to prevent brain damage.”



“But he’s going to live?” Justin said.  “He’s… he’s going to be okay, right?”



“The doctors are very optimistic,” Charlene said with a small smile.  “That’s the best I can offer.  There is always a chance that something could change, but as long as he responds to treatment, we should see some improvement over the next 24 hours.”



Justin nodded and Daphne said, “Thank you.”



“I’ll be back as soon as they bring Brian out of surgery,” Charlene told them as she got up to leave.  “If you need anything, you can ask them to page me at the nurse’s station down the hall.”



Justin was numb as he watched the door swing closed behind her.  Daphne was silent beside him for a while before she took his hand and asked, “Is there anything I can do?  Anyone I can call?  His family?”



Justin thought of Brian’s family.  He hated them.  Then he thought of his surrogate family.  He probably should call them, but… But he didn’t think he could handle their shit right then.  Justin pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Daphne.  “Could you call Emmett?  Let him know what happened?  Tell him… tell him not to tell anyone else yet.  Not until we know more.”



“I can do that,” Daphne said.



“And Cynthia, Brian’s Assistant should know what’s going on,” Justin said.  “Tell her the same thing.  Don’t tell anyone else until we know more.  I don’t want this place swarming with people.  I don’t think I can handle that.  Okay?”



“Yeah,” Daphne said and squeezed Justin’s hand.  “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”



Daphne left and Justin stared at the clock on the wall.  Charlene said within the hour.  Justin wiled the hands to move faster.



BJBJBJBJBJ



Emmett arrived soon after Daphne returned from her sojourn.  Cynthia was understanding and would keep the wolves at bay for the time being.  Emmett, on the other hand was a rock for Justin to cling to.  As soon as the southern man saw Justin, he scooped him into his arms and Justin finally broke down and cried out all his fears.  Emmett stroked Justin’s hair and let him cry until he had no more tears left.



Time sort of passed in waves.  It dragged while Justin had been sitting alone, but once Emmett arrived, it seemed to fly by and before he knew it, Charlene was back.



“Brian has been moved to recovery,” she told them.  “Justin, I can take you to see him for a few minutes, but you can’t stay long.  Once we get him into ICU, you can sit with him, but he can only have one visitor at a time.”



“How long will he be in recovery?” Justin asked.



“It’s usually only an hour or two,” Charlene said.  “And he’ll probably only be in ICU for a day.  The doctors said that he did really well with the surgery.  The swelling around his brain seems to be reducing as well, so there really shouldn’t be any reason for him not to have a full recovery.”



Justin let out a small sob of relief and Emmett put a supporting arm around Justin’s shoulder.  “You go see him, Baby.  I’ll be here when you get back.”



Justin nodded and followed Charlene down the hall to an open area that was separated only by curtains.  Justin noticed that most of the curtained areas were empty at this time of the night, but the nurses at the central station were attentive and there were two doctors there as well.  Charlene led Justin to one of the areas and let him step inside.



Brian was laying there, a ventilator whirring and hissing as it pumped oxygen into his lungs.  There were numerous bags hanging from the IV pole and dripping fluids into the tube connected to Brian’s left hand.  There was a catheter bag hanging from the gurney.  Justin wasn’t surprised by any of that.  He was shocked at just how beat up Brian looked.  It was obvious that the truck that hit him came from the left as his left side took the brunt of the impact.  The whole left side of his face was swollen and bruised, like a black eye taken to the extreme.  He had two stitches in his lower lip.  Brian was bare to the waist to allow access to the monitor wires and the bandaged sutures from his surgery.  Across his torso from left shoulder to right hip he had black and purple bruises from the seatbelt.  There were small cuts, presumably from the shattered window glass, all over his face, neck and torso.  Justin couldn’t see his legs, but he wondered just how bad they looked.



He stepped up to the bed and took Brian’s right hand.  “Hey.  You were supposed to come and keep me warm.” He brushed a stray lock of hair from Brian’s forehead and brushed his lips there.  “If you did this to try and avoid me, it won’t work.  I’m going to be here every second until they let you go.  You are going to be so sick of me.  But that should give you incentive to get better.”



Charlene cleared her throat and Justin knew his time was up.  “I can’t stay with you right now, but once they get you cleaned up and presentable, they’ll move you to a room where I can sit with you.”  He kissed Brian’s unbruised cheek.  “I love you, Brian.”



Justin followed Charlene back out to the nurse’s station where she introduced him to one of the doctors who had performed the surgery.  “He’s starting to fight the ventilator, which is a sign that he’s ready to breathe on his own.  So we’ll get him off of that, monitor his vitals and make sure he doesn’t have a bad reaction to the anesthesia.  Then we want to set his broken left arm and leg.  He should be ready to move to ICU in an hour or two.”



Justin thanked him and then they were on their way back to the waiting area.  Emmett was alone when they arrived.  Charlene left and Justin turned to Emmett.  “I… I need to go smoke.  But I have no fucking clue how to get out of here.”



Emmett nodded and took Justin’s hand.  They walked out to the elevators and were soon standing outside one of the side entrances where Justin lit up and Emmett sat on the low wall of a planter box.



“How does he look?”



“Like shit,” Justin muttered.  “He’s going to be pissed when he sees the bruising.  But it’s nothing permanent.  He’s got cuts and bruises all over his body, but the worst are on his face and across his torso from the seatbelt.”



“Thank god he was wearing it,” Emmett said.



Justin nodded and took a drag on his cigarette.  “His left arm and left leg are both broken, so getting around is going to be a bitch.  But the good news is that they fully expect him to wake up within the next couple hours.”



“That’s great news, Baby,” Emmett said.  “That’s what you’ve got to hold onto.”



Justin seemed to just notice Daphne’s absence.  “Where’s Daph?”



“She had to go home so she could get ready for work,” Emmett said.  “She told me she would stop back this evening.”



Justin nodded and realized that the sun was starting to rise.  He checked the time on his phone and sighed.  “I’m going to have to at least call Lindsey.  Gus has a right to know what’s going on.  But once I tell her, the other will all soon follow.”



Emmett laughed.  “That is true Honey.  They may treat Brian like shit sometimes, but they do feel a bit protective of him too.”



“You mean controlling,” Justin said.  “Like he’s their possession.  Like they can dictate who he is and what he does.”



“Sweetie,” Emmett sighed.  “I know you feel a little protective of Brian as well, but you have to know that they love him.”



“No Emmett, they love who they imagine him to be,” Justin said.  “They don’t even know him.”



“Maybe,” Emmett allowed.  “But has he ever bothered to make them see that he’s changed?  Even with you, he’s never told them about you and I know that you mean the world to him.”



Justin sighed and crushed out his cigarette butt before lighting another.  “I know.  For someone who is supposed to be so arrogant, he’s really very insecure.  He’s afraid to lose them if he doesn’t live up to their expectations.  Or down to their expectations as the case may be.”



“Well, we aren’t going to solve this today,” Emmett said.  “Make your call.  Unless you want me to do it?”



Justin shook his head and took a drag of his cigarette and then dialed Lindsey’s phone.