Part Four



Brian woke up to the sound of a soft knock at the door and looked up to see Debbie standing at his doorway.  Justin was asleep in the chair beside him.  Brian waved Debbie in and she came around to the left side of the bed.



“Hey, kiddo,” Debbie said quietly, not really wanting to wake Justin. “How do you feel?”



“Like shit,” Brian said.



“You look like you got into a fight with a freight train,” Debbie told him.



“Thanks,” Brian sneered and then winced at the way it pulled at the stitches in his lip.  “This really sucks.”



“It does that,” Debbie agreed.  She looked nervous, but eventually she said, “You’re boy laid into us this morning.”



“He told me,” Brian said.



“Told us you two got married,” Debbie continued.



“We did.”



Debbie shook her head.  “Why didn’t’ you tell me asshole?  Christ!”



“No one seemed to care that I was happy,” Brian said quietly.  “I tried to tell you.  I brought him to dinner at the house and no one…” He shook his head.  “You were all busy with your own shit.”



Debbie nodded.  “That’s what Emmett said.  That southern belle has quite the temper on him.  After Justin left us, he told us off too.”



“Emmett is stronger than he looks,” Brian said.



Debbie nodded.  “I’m sor—”



Brian cut her off.  “Sorry is bullshit.”



Debbie nodded again.  “But I am.  I can’t believe you’re married.  And I know shit all about him.  Does he at least make you happy?”



“Yeah, he does,” Brian said.  “And if you want to know about him, ask him sometime.”



“I don’t know if he’ll want to sit down and chat with me after everything,” Debbie said skeptically.



Brian chuckled.  “You think he could last a week with me if he wasn’t the forgiving kind?  Fuck, I doubt we would have lasted a day.”



“Well, that is true,” Debbie said lightly.  “You really can be a shit sometimes.”



“He isn’t a pushover, so don’t expect it to be easy,” Brian warned her.



“I’ll pay my penance,” Debbie said.  “Brian, you know I love you, right?  You know I think of you like you were my own?”



Brian blinked back tears and swore to himself about the fucking meds that made him so emotional.  “Yeah.  It’s nice to be reminded sometimes, though.”



Debbie swiped at her own tears and nodded.  “Well, good.  That’s good.  I… I think my time’s up.  If I stay over Emmett will have my ass.  That man can be a real bitch when he’s got his panties in a knot.”



Brian laughed at that and accepted the kiss Debbie placed carefully on his swollen cheek.



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Emmett came with Justin’s clothes not long after Debbie left, waking the blonde from his nap.   Brian sent him off with Emmett to get dinner at the cafeteria and clean up.  Justin protested loudly, but Brian eventually got his way.  He knew that the visit with his next guest would go better without Justin around.



“Brian,” Michael’s voice was little more than a whisper.  “You look like shit.”



Brian smiled wanly at Michael’s lack of tact.  “So I’ve been told.  I’m avoiding a mirror so I don’t have to see for myself.”



“Sorry, I…” Michael shook his head.  “Where’s the… where’s Justin?”



“I sent him to get dinner and to clean up.”  Brian leaned heavily against the pillows and closed his eyes.  He was tired, but he had to stay awake long enough to make Michael understand.   “He’s my husband Michael.  You should probably be nice to him.”



“He’s the one who…!” He stopped and sat heavily in the chair beside Brian’s bed.  “He’s been a jerk, but I haven’t given him any reason to be nice to me, have I?”



Brian opened his eyes and looked at Michael.  “No you haven’t.”



Michael nodded.  “Bad enough I ignored him and talked down to him when he came to Ma’s last year, but I… I took you for granted too.  He has reason to be pissed at me.  So do you.”



“I’m not,” Brian said.  “A little hurt, but not pissed.”



“I’ve been thinking a lot today,” Michael said as he stood up and walked over to where the cards and gifts were lined up along the window.  “Do you remember when we were kids and I got all caught up in that drama with Tim Maloney?”



Brian laughed at the memory.  “You were obsessed with him.”



Michael turned back to face Brian and nodded.  “Yeah, I was.  For weeks he was all I could think about or talk about.  And when I finally pulled my head out of my ass and realized he was a prick who was never going to come out… I had missed a lot.  I missed your birthday that year.  I missed the award ceremony when you got into the honor society.  I missed when your dad caught you smoking and…  I missed all of that.”



Brian was silent, so Michael took a deep breath and went on.  “But you were still there for me.  Every time I needed a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen to me bitch.  And when it all blew up, you took me out and got me drunk and we picked up those guys from the liquor store… Anyway, there have been a dozen times since then that I’ve gotten caught up in myself and totally ignored what you were going through, good and bad.  I’m a shit friend.”



“Sometimes,” Brian said.  “And sometimes you aren’t.  Sometimes you’re a great friend.”



“But you’ve always been there for me,” Michael said.



Brian snorted.  “I outed you to your coworker at your thirtieth birthday party.”



Michael laughed at the memory now, but it hadn’t been funny at the time.  “You thought you were doing what was best for me.”



“Mikey, this isn’t about who did what for whom,” Brian said.  “That’s bullshit.  Friends don’t keep score like that.”



Michael nodded and took the out Brian was offering him.  “Right.  Well, just so you know, I still don’t like your—husband—but I’ll do my best to get along with him.  And I’ll do my best to be a better friend.”



“Getting your shit together would be a start,” Brian said tiredly.  He closed his eyes again.  “You party too much, Mikey.”



“That’s rich coming from you,” Michael muttered, but Brian was already asleep.  Michael tucked the blanket up around him and kissed his cheek.  When he stepped back, Justin was standing in the doorway.  “Um… how much of that…?”



Justin rolled his eyes.  “Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, Michael.  I don’t like you either, but I’m not going to stop you and Brian from being friends.”



“So…truce?”  Michael held his hand out and Justin looked at it for a minute before taking it.



“Okay, truce.”



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Brian was kept in the hospital for two more days before the doctors decided that he was ambulatory enough to go home.  Justin wasn’t sure he would call Brian ambulatory; since he couldn’t use crutches with his broken arm, he was confined to a wheel chair until his leg was healed enough to use a walking cast, which would be three weeks at least.  Other than getting up to use the toilet, he still had been completely bedridden for his entire hospital stay.  As soon as he heard he was being released, however, Brian insisted that meant he could go back to work.



Brian was going on and on about what all he was going to do as soon as they got out of there the entire way down from the fifth floor.  Justin shared a look with the orderly who had been working their floor all week as they rolled his husband out to his SUV.  It took some effort for Brian to maneuver into the vehicle and he was sweating with the pain and effort by the time Justin had the seatbelt buckled and shut the door.



The orderly helped Justin put the chair, the single crutch Brian used for his jaunts to the bathroom, and his box of personal items into the back of the SUV.  Then, with a quick thanks, they were off.  Brian’s monologue about all the things they were going to do had stopped and the drive was a mostly silent affair.  Justin could see that the strain of getting into the SUV had hit Brian harder then he had expected.



Getting out of the SUV was easier, but still tiring and painful and Brian collapsed gratefully into the wheelchair Justin had waiting for him.  Justin left the other things in the back of the SUV.  He’d come back for them once Brian was settled.  Instead, he set about pushing Brian up the small ramp to the front door of their building.  The trip up the elevator was silent and then they were finally walking through the door…



…Only to find that the entire family had decided to welcome Brian home.  Justin swore and Brian groaned.



“Daddy!  You’re all better now?” Gus asked as he ran over to his father.  Justin scooped him up before he could climb on Brian.   “Why are you in that chair?”



Justin carried Gus over to the side and let the others surround Brian. “Daddy’s not all better yet.  The chair is to help him get around until his leg heals.  It’s going to be a while before your Daddy is completely better.”



“Justin,” Brian called.



Justin sat Gus back down and went to Brian.  He was sweating again and pale.  “Alright.  That’s enough for now.  Brian’s a bit tired from the trip, so he needs to be in bed.  Gus, if you want to stick around for a few minutes while I help Daddy get settled, I’m sure he’d love for you to read him a story before he takes a nap.”



Gus crinkled his nose.  “A nap?  Only babies like JR take naps.”



“I don’t need a nap,” Brian argued.  “I just need my fucking pain pills.”



“Which will put you to sleep,” Justin said.  He looked at the others in the room and sighed.  “The rest of you can stay or go.  It’s up to you.”



Justin pushed Brian’s chair up the temporary ramp he’d had installed and shut the frosted dividers.  It took ten minutes to get Brian undressed and under the covers.  By the time Justin handed him the pain meds and a glass of water, he looked gray.  Justin helped him settle in and then called for Gus, who had picked out one of his favorite books to read to Brian.  Brian and Justin had a shelf of books just for him and he knew exactly where to go to get the one he wanted.



Justin watched the father and son for a few minutes.  Gus read out the words he knew and sounded out the words he couldn’t remember.  Brian would help him every once in a while, but Gus was getting better and better at reading on his own.  He was a very bright kid.



When Justin returned to the other room, everyone was getting ready to go.  Debbie was putting food into the fridge, Ted already had his jacket on, and Emmett was just coming back in with the stuff Justin had left in the SUV.  Melanie was getting JR bundled up, and Lindsey came over to Justin.



“If you want, Gus could stay here for a while,” Lindsey said.  “We’d pick him up after dinner.  Or if you think that he’ll be too much trouble, we can wait until he’s done and bring him with us.”



Justin smiled.  “He’s fine.  You can leave him.  I’m sure both he and Brian will appreciate the time together.”



Just then, Gus came down the stairs with a look of disgust on his face.  “He fell asleep right before the good part.”



Justin chuckled.  “Well, you can read the rest to me.”



“Gussy,” Lindsey said.  “You’re going to stay here with Justin and your Daddy.  Is that okay?”



“You mean Papa,” Gus corrected her.  “Yeah.  I can help Papa help Daddy get better.”  He stalked over to the sofa to say goodbye to Melanie.



Lindsey straightened up and looked ruefully at Justin.  “I guess I stand corrected.  I think that’s going to take some time to get used to, but… Well, I’m glad Gus has you in his life.  I can tell that he loves you and that you love him.”



“I do,” Justin agreed.  “He’s a great kid.”



Lindsey and Melanie left with Ted, Michael and Emmett following close behind. Only Debbie lingered.   She was wiping down the worktop for the third time when Justin went and sat at the counter.



“You don’t have to scrub the whole kitchen,” Justin teased.  “We do have a cleaning lady.”



Debbie huffed a laugh, but set the towel aside to dry.  “I just feel like there should be something I can do.  Are you sure you don’t need me to come by and help during the day?”



Justin smiled and shook his head.  “I’m sure.  We’ve got a nurse coming in while I’m at work.  Brian’s pissed about it—says he doesn’t need a baby-sitter—but after today, I doubt he’ll fight too hard.”



“He looked bad before,” Debbie agreed.



“He’s got to build his strength back up slowly,” Justin said.  “You could come visit him.  I’m sure he’s going to start going stir crazy before the day is out and the doctor said it would be at least a week before he was strong enough to start back to work for even half days.”



“Papa!”  Gus called, getting impatient for his audience to come listen to him read.



“I’ll let you go be Papa,” Debbie said.  She grabbed her jacket and pulled it on.  “You should stop into the diner for lunch sometime.  I’ll buy you a lemon bar.”



Justin chuckled.  “I’ll do that.”



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Later that night, after Lindsey had picked up Gus, Justin climbed into bed with his dozing husband.  Brian woke up almost as soon as he felt the bed shift.



“Go back to sleep,” Justin told him.



Brian blinked at him several times then shook his head.  “Not tired.”



“Now you sound like Gus,” Justin laughed.



“I talked to Lindsey,” Brian said.  “She said… she’s sorry.”



“And you told her that sorry is bullshit,” Justin guessed.



Brian shook his head.  “No.  Actually, I didn’t.  I told her that she’s got to do better about paying attention.  Especially to Gus.  But I also forgave her.”  Brian blinked slowly.  “It must be the drugs.”



Justin chuckled.  “Probably.  Debbie invited me to the diner for lunch.”



“She loves me,” Brian said.



“Yes she does,” Justin agreed.  “They all do.  They just forgot for a while.”



Brian nodded tiredly, his eyes drifting closed.  Suddenly he jerked awake again.  “I think it will be better.”



“Well, if they forget just how special you are again, I’ll just have to remind them again,” Justin said and kissed Brian tenderly.  “But I’m not going to wait for you to almost die to do it. Now, lay down with me.  You may not be tired, but I’m exhausted.”



“Okay,” Brian said and pulled Justin to him with his good arm.  Soon they were snuggled up together.  “I missed this.”



“Me too,” Justin said.  “I love you.”



“Love you too,” Brian murmured and was asleep again before he took his next breath.  Justin smiled and closed his eyes.  It was good to be home.



The End