Part Two



The family descended before Brian was moved to ICU and Justin was forced to endure their inquisition.  He had hoped he might be locked away in the ICU before they arrived.  It was cowardly, but he really didn’t care right then.  At least he wouldn’t have had to deal with their shit when he was already tired, anxious and stressed.



“Why did they call you?” Michael demanded.  “They should have called me!  I’m his best friend!”



“And I’m listed as his emergency contact and medical proxy,” Justin said tiredly.  He looked around the waiting room at the people gathered there.  They were split into two camps.  Michael, Lindsey and Debbie were on the attack.  Emmett and Ted were attempting to remain neutral, though Justin saw Emmett give him the thumbs up once or twice.  Justin was glad that Melanie had stayed home with Gus and Jenny Rebecca so the kids weren’t witness to the melee.



“Why did you wait so long to call us?” Debbie demanded.  “We should have been here!”



“To do what?” Justin wondered.  “There was nothing you could do.  There’s still nothing you can do. And I called Lindsey when I knew for sure what was going on. They’ll be moving him to ICU in a little while.  Once he’s there, only I can sit with him.  They won’t let other visitors in to see him until he’s in a regular room.  Probably sometime tomorrow.  I might be able to get Gus in once Brian is awake, but I doubt they would let anyone else in.”



“Why you?” Michael demanded once again.  “Who says you get to be the one to sit with him?”



“Again, I am listed as his medical proxy and emergency contact,” Justin said.  He was getting tired of this circus.  “I’m his next of kin.”



“Just because you have some papers…”  This time it was Lindsey staking her claim on Brian.



“I’m his fucking husband!” Justin shouted.  Shit. He hadn’t meant to tell them that.  Well, the cat was out of the bag now.  He took a deep breath to calm down. “I’m his husband,” Justin repeated in a more normal voice.  “Which is why I’m his next of kin.  It’s why they called me.  It’s why he made me his medical proxy.”



There was complete and utter silence from the group.  And Justin could hear the clock ticking above his head.  He so wished Charlene would come tell him Brian had been moved.



“That’s a lie!”  It figured that as soon as Michael found his voice he would start hurling accusations.  “Brian would never get married.  Especially to someone like…you.”



“You think he’d rather marry you?” Justin snarked. “I don’t think so.”



“I didn’t…”



“Even if Brian would miraculously decide to get married, he would never do it without his family,” Debbie said in a bewildered tone, interrupting her son’s defensive lies.  They all knew that Michael was still hoping that Brian would someday love him back.  Even Ben knew that, which was why the man had eventually left Michael. He got tired of coming second in his partner’s priorities and affections.



“His family?” Justin scoffed. “When was the last time any of you actually came to visit Brian?  Either at the loft or the office?  I can tell you that it’s been longer than the eight months I’ve been living with him.  Emmett is the only person who has been by.   And I’ve never once seen any of you at the office…other than Ted of course…and I’ve been there for more than a year.”



“So we don’t go to the loft or Kinnetik,” Michael said.  “That doesn’t mean we aren’t still his family.”



Justin saw Debbie start to back off as she realized that Justin had a point.  She hadn’t made an effort to seek Brian out other than for family dinners in so long that she couldn’t remember the last time she did.



“And I see Brian all the time,” Linsdey said.



“When he picks up Gus,” Justin said.  “When was the last time you talked to him about something that wasn’t related to when he had to drop Gus off?  For that matter, when was the last time you talked to your son about what he does with his father on their days out?  If you had asked, you might know that I’ve been living with Brian for eight fucking months.  You might know that he calls me Papa.  You might fucking know that the three of us spend most of those Sundays together as a family!



“You say Brian wouldn’t get married without his family?” Justin asked.  “Well he didn’t.  I was there, and so was Gus.  If you want the privilege of being Brian’s family, then pull your heads out of your asses and stop taking him for granted.  Stop pretending he’s someone he isn’t anymore and try to see the man he’s become.  Fuck!  You people have no idea how much you hurt him, do you?”



“You don’t know shit,” Michael denied.  “And I still think you’re lying about being married.”



Justin rolled his eyes and grabbed the folder with copies of their important papers.  He flipped through it and pulled out three pieces of paper.  He handed them to Michael.  “The first is a copy of our marriage certificate.  You’ll notice that it’s dated October 12 of last year and has the seal for the State of Massachusetts.  The next paper is our partnership contract, combining all of our personal and professional holdings—it was the closest thing to marriage Brian could think of that would be legal in this state.  The third paper gives me medical proxy and power of attorney over Brian’s affairs if he is incapacitated.”



“October…” Lindsey murmured.  “That was six months ago. Brian said he was taking Gus to Boston to see the sights over the long weekend.”



Justin rolled his eyes.  “And we did see the sights.  We also got married.”



“Un-fucking-believable,” Michael muttered.  “This has got to be a joke.  These aren’t real.”



“Christ!”  Justin shouted.  “Ted, Emmett, will you stop trying to play Switzerland and confirm this?”



“I’ve handled their joint accounts for a while now,” Ted said.  “Brian asked me not to say anything.”  He shrugged.



“And I’ve seen the wedding photos,” Emmett said wistfully.  “It was quite the beautiful ceremony, even if it was just the three of them.  It was right down by the harbor.”



Justin noticed Debbie had sat down and was now crying into her wad of tissues.  He sat down beside her and patted her back.  “Listen, I didn’t mean to get into all this right now.  I’m not saying Brian doesn’t love you… I’m sure he must to put up with all of you. But I need you to understand that I love him too and I have a right to be with him. My position as Brian’s husband outranks any of your claims to his time or attention.  And right now, that means I’m going to go sit with him in the ICU and pray to god that the doctors are right and that he’s going to wake up from this okay.”



“Justin?”  That was Charlene.  Finally.  “You ready?  They’ve got Brian settled.”



Justin stood and nodded.  “Yeah I’m ready.”  He looked back at Brian’s friends.  “Lindsey, I’ll call when Brian wakes up and you and he can decide if you want to bring Gus.  And I’ll keep in touch with Emmett.  He can let the rest of you know what’s going on.”



With that, Justin followed Charlene out of the room and down the hall. They were both silent for a while, but eventually Charlene stopped Justin.  “Families either fall apart or come together during a crisis.  I’ve seen both happen.  If you need to talk about it, I’m here.”



Justin nodded and they kept walking to the elevators.  As they waited, Justin said, “Brian never told them we got married.  They’ve been taking him for granted for a long time now and…he’s been withdrawing from them slowly but surely.  They never even noticed.  Now, everything is out in the open.  In a way I’m glad.  They’ll have to either face what they’ve done, or walk away.”



“I take it you’re all for the walking away,” Charlene said.  “In-laws will make even the nicest people crazy.”



“I wouldn’t mind if I never had to see some of them again, but… Brian loves them,” Justin said.  “It would hurt him if they walked out of his life.  That’s why he’s let them go on believing their false images of him for so long.”



Charlene laid a hand on Justin’s shoulder as they stepped onto the elevator.  “Just hang in there.  If they love him back, they’ll figure that out.”



BJBJBJBJBJ



Back in the waiting room, there was silence following Justin’s departure.  Emmett and Ted both waited for the pack to turn on them, and it didn’t take long.



“How could you two keep something like this from us?” Lindsey demanded.



Ted frowned.  “We may not be the best of friends but Brian has done a lot for me.  More than you probably know or would understand.  I owe him my loyalty and if that means keeping his secrets from you, then yes, I’ll lie through my teeth and never think twice about it.”



“But we’re your friends too,” Michael whined.



“And if you asked me to keep something to myself, how would you feel if I blabbed it to everyone else in this room?” Ted asked him.  “There are a few things I could share if you would like?”



Michael paled and shook his head vehemently.  “No!”



Ted smirked in a way that he had to have learned from Brian.  “I thought not.”



Then all eyes turned to Emmett who was filing his nails.  He was playing it cool but he was very upset with his friends for attacking Justin that way—especially right now, when he needed support and understanding.  “What?  Like Ted said, it wasn’t my place to tell tales out of school.”



“But why did they tell you?” Lindsey asked.



Emmett shrugged.  “After Brian brought Justin to dinner last year, he and I became friends.  We would go out for drinks or shopping or lunch… You know, girl stuff.  He doesn’t have many friends in town, you know, being new here and all.  Did you know he’s from Philly originally?  Well anyway, he didn’t come back to family dinner because, frankly, the rest of you snubbed him the few times he did come.  But I was with Justin the day Brian asked him to move into the loft.  And I was there when they got back from their wedding trip.  I’m just as much Justin’s friend as Brian’s.  And Brian is pretty grateful that Justin and I have become friends.  I think he rather likes me these days.”



“Brian can’t really be serious about this though,” Michael said, almost to himself.  “It’s not like Brian could ever be monogamous.”



Ted and Emmett exchanged a look, but Ted was the one who spoke. “Um, Michael, when was the last time you actually saw Brian tricking?”



“I see him at Babylon all the time,” Michael said.



“And he dances, most of the time with Justin,” Emmett said.  “When was the last time he took some nameless trick into the back room?  Or took them home?”



Michael got defensive again.  “I don’t know.  I don’t watch his every move.”



Ted chose not to comment on that.  Instead he said, “If you had been watching, you’d know that he hasn’t tricked since he and Justin got together more than a year ago.”



“Well, if you don’t count the times they take a pretty boy home together,” Emmett said with a smirk.  “They do like to keep things spicy.”



Ted rolled his eyes, but Debbie looked floored.  “Brian’s not tricking?  How did I not hear about this?  Something like that would be gossiped about all over Liberty Avenue!”



“It was,” Emmett shrugged; he was not going to sugar-coat the truth.  Justin was right to force them to see what they had been doing. “I think that was about the same time you all were caught up in the drama over JR and Ben.  You know, fathering the baby, custody battles… all that shit.  And then Ben left…  Since then, Michael, you have been a bit self-absorbed.”  In fact, Michael had been drunk, high and tricking almost every night since Ben left him, like he was channeling the spirit of Brian Kinney past.



Ted nodded his agreement.  “I heard about it for weeks.  Everyone wanted to know what the hell was going on.  But it didn’t take people long to figure out that Brian was always with Justin.  These days, they wait for the two of them to go on the hunt together and vie to be the lucky one to go home with them.”



Michael slumped in his seat.  “I knew that Justin was still around, but I thought it was just because they work together.  I never… “



Emmett stared at Michael.  “You didn’t see because you didn’t want to see.  You wanted Brian to be that same boy you fell in love with. But the problem with that is that boy never loved you back.  Not as anything more than a friend.  If you accepted that Justin was a part of Brian’s life, then you had to accept that he was never going to choose you.  But Michael, Justin or no Justin, Brian was never going to fall in love with you.  You threw away two great guys for something that was all in your head.”



Emmett turned to Lindsey next.  “You really don’t have an excuse.  Even if you were caught up in the custody drama, you still should have been paying attention to what was going on with your son.  He’s got two daddies.  That should have been something you caught.  I’ve seen Justin and Gus together.  That boy doesn’t try to hide how he feels for Justin.  And I know that Brian and Justin never asked him to lie about anything.  So if you don’t know, it’s because you never listened.”



Emmett’s face was a bit softer as he turned to Debbie.  “You… Brian looks to you like a mother; you should have been paying attention.  But Brian knows you love him.  Otherwise he wouldn’t still try to please you by coming to the family dinners.  Hell, he’s been trying to live up to all of your expectations for so long that he got lost in his own deceit.”



“What do you mean?” Lindsey asked.  They were all listening intently to Emmett now.



“I mean, Brian has been changing for a long time,” Emmett said.  “He’s been dissatisfied with his life, but he kept up the pretense, he kept up the image of Brian Kinney: Stud of Liberty Ave, because he knew that no matter how much you all like to lecture him about his bad habits, that was what you wanted him to be.  You want him to be the reckless fuck-the-rules man he was at twenty-five.  He knows that because the only time you seem to notice him is when he’s being the bad boy.  And if you don’t believe that, just take a look at this last year.



“Brian’s a dad now.  He’s gone through cancer, has lost everything and then built a business from the ground up.  He fell in love and got married.  His priorities have changed.  He grew up.  Maybe it’s time you did too.”  Emmett stood up and stretched.  “Well, I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been up most of the night. This little girl needs her beauty sleep.  I’m going home to rest for a bit before Justin calls.  They are both going to need support through this and I, for one, want to be there to give it in whatever form is most helpful to them.”



He left the room, leaving some very shocked people behind him.