“Get Your Ass out of bed, Kinney.”  A voice called.

Brian barely heard it buried in his covers and refused to acknowledge anyone or anything.  He was exhausted.  All he truly wanted to do was go back to sleep.  He groaned and turned over.

“I don’t think so, asshole.”

Brian swore loudly as the covers were ripped away.  He sat up bleary-eyed reaching for their lost warmth.  It was then that he realized that he was not alone in his bedroom.  He rubbed his eyes and looked toward the door.  Melanie stood in the doorway still clutching his covers.

“Jesus Fucking Christ, Melanie.”  Brian shouted.  “Give me back my God dammed covers and get the fuck out.”

“Good God.”  Melanie smirked.  “You kiss my son with that mouth?”

“MY son.”  Brian corrected.  “And what the fuck’s it to you?”

“So’re you up now?”  She asked undaunted by his bad disposition.

“Yes, God damn it, I’m up.”  Brian grumped.  “Happy?”

“Very.”  Melanie said calmly.  “Now, come on, we have a lot of ground to cover and not much time to do it.”

“You’re the ghost of Christmas present?”

“Who better?”  Melanie said with a shrug.  “Get your robe and slippers cause we have places to be.”

“Right.”   Brian said pulling on his robe and slipping his feet in to his slippers.

Once dressed, Melanie grabbed Brian’s hand and dragged him toward the door of the loft.  As the heavy door slid aside, Brian found himself outside the Novotny home.  

“What, is this a rerun?”

“Shut up and come on.”  Melanie said motioning Brian toward the front door.

Inside, Brian heard Debbie and Vic discussing dinner arrangements for the following day.  The smell of Debbie’s world famous pumpkin pie wafted through the house as Deb broke bread and Vic chopped vegetables for the stuffing.

“So, you think Brian will show up this year.”  Vic asked.

“I hope so.”  Debbie said.  “I’ve been so worried about him.”

“He’s fine, Sis.”  

“But, he really loved, Sunshine and I know he’s hurting.”  Brian saw genuine concern in Debbie’s face.  “I never thought I could be so angry at anyone they way I have been with Justin and Michael.”

“Well, it isn’t like Brian gave either of them a choice.”

“They both had a choice.”  Debbie countered.  “Michael could have kept his big mouth shut.  Justin could have made Brian talk to him.  God knows the kid can get Brian to do just about anything.”

“Water under the bridge, Sis.”  Vic said with a wry smile playing on his lips.

“I’m going to call him around noon, make sure he gets his ass over here.”  Debbie decided.  “He should be with family at Christmas and our little band of merry men will have to do.”  Vic smiled and nodded.

“She really loves you, you know?”  Spirit Melanie said.  

“Yeah.”  Brian agreed.  “She’s like the mother I never had.”

The scene changed suddenly and Brian found himself in Michael’s apartment.  Michael and Ben sat together on the couch as Emmett leaned against Ted as he sat on the floor in front of the chair.

Brian suddenly felt dizzy and staggered a bit.  Melanie rushed over to him helping him settle himself.

“You okay?”  Brian nodded.  “Sometimes this kind of travel can be a bit disorienting.  Just take some deep breaths and the dizziness with pass.”

Brian took several deep breaths then stood up and waved Melanie off.  “I’m fine now.”  He assured her.  “Why am I here?”

“Listen.”

“You think Deb’ll invite Justin?”  Ted asked.

“She’d better not.”  Michael whined.  “Justin has his own family to spend Christmas with.  Brian needs to be with us.”

“Brian doesn’t seem to ‘need’ anyone.”  Emmett said.

“Well, he needs us.”  Michael sounded as if he were trying to convince himself more than anyone else.  “I just wish there was something I could do to help Brian.”

“I’d say he did enough, wouldn’t you?”  Spirit Melanie asked.  Brian said nothing.  “I mean, he should have kept his mouth shut or gone to Justin, but no, he had to come straight to you didn’t he.”

“He was only trying to protect me.”  Brian said defending Michael as Michael defended him all the time.

“Yeah right.”  Melanie scoffed.  “More like trying to save you for himself.”  Brian glared at her.

The scene shifted once more placing Brian in the foyer of Lindsay and Melanie’s house.  Spirit Melanie pulled on Brian’s arm making him move toward the living room.  A tree sat next to the sofa and a menorah sat on a table next to it.  Brian smiled when he looked at the menorah.  He knew that Melanie believed that Brian would forget Chanukah, but Brian had come over to the house each of the 8 nights and presented Gus with 8 gifts one for each night.   He looked at the tree knowing that several of the gifts under it were also from him.

“So, what time will his highness be over tomorrow?”  Melanie asked as she and Lindsay walked into the living room.  

“Brian said to call him around eight.”  Lindsay explained.  “He said he’d be over as soon as he could.”

“So, we should expect him, what, Saturday?”  Melanie snarked.

“Christ Mel, do you have to do that?”

“Do what?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”  Lindsay said rolling her eyes.  “Brian would never let Gus down.  He said he’d be here around nine and I know he’ll be here around nine.”

“Is he going to be at Deb’s for dinner?”

“Nobody knows.”  Lindsay said.  “Although, I doubt he’s in a very festive mood.”

“Maybe he shouldn’t be there.”  Melanie said distractedly.  “I mean, if Justin is bringing Ethan and all.”

“Justin has his own family.”  Lindsay offered.  “And from what Justin told me a couple days ago, he, Jennifer and Molly are spending the holiday together.”

“What about Ethan?”

“He didn’t say anything about Ethan.”

“Odd.”

“Besides, we’re the only family Brian has really.”  

“Christ.”  Melanie hissed.  “You never give up on him, do you?  I’ll never understand it.”

“You have her snowed, don’t you?”  Spirit Melanie said.

“I’ve never lied to Lindsay.”  

“I’m not talking about Lindsay.”  Spirit Melanie said.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, time to go.”

“Can’t I just go say goodnight to Gus?”

“No time.”

The scene changed as Brian was about to make a run for the stairs.  Suddenly he was in Jennifer Taylor’s condo.  She was on the phone as Molly worked on making cookies into angels, stars, and Christmas trees.

“Molly’s spending Christmas with me, Craig.”  Jennifer said.  “She wants to be here with me and Justin. . . I know, but she didn’t like going to your parents for Thanksgiving. . . She wouldn’t say. . . Well, I’m not going to beat it out of her. . . What about Justin? . . . Oh for crying out loud, Craig what do you think Justin is doing in front of Molly? . . . He’s your son, too. . . Oh, don’t give me that. . . That would be your fault now wouldn’t it? . . . I’m not going to argue. . . Well, you just get that lawyer then.”  Jennifer hung up the phone and turned back to Molly.  “Now, where were we?”

Molly looked up from her work and Brian was struck by how truly unhappy the young girl looked.  Brian was sure Molly was near tears.

“Craig Taylor is demanding Molly spend all the holidays with him and his parents.”  Spirit Melanie explained.  “He’s serious about getting a lawyer involved.  He’s already spoken to one about fighting for custody.”

“That’s fucked.”  Brian said angrily.  “What kind of judge would hand a 10 year old girl over to a homophobic asshole like Craig Taylor?”

“The same kind of judge that gave Chris Hobbs community service for nearly killing Justin.”  Spirit Melanie said.

Brian glared at Melanie trying unsuccessfully to hide his emotional reaction to her words.  Spirit Melanie just smirked knowing that she had hit a sore spot with Brian.

“And, what about Jennifer and Justin?”

“Craig doesn’t care about them.”  Melanie said.  “You should know that by now.  I mean, how often did he visit Justin after the bashing?”  Brian fumed.

“Mom, I don’t want to go with Daddy to Grandma and Grandpa’s.”  Molly said softly as a tear tracked down her cheek.  “All Daddy does is ask about what Justin is doing and then he says nasty things about him.”  Molly sniffed.  “Grandma and Grandpa say it must be your fault that Justin is gay because they don’t have any fags in their family.”  Jennifer pursed her lips in anger.  “I try to tell them they’re wrong, but then they get mad and I spend all my time in my room staring out the window.”

“Don’t worry, sweetie.”  Jennifer said as she gathered her daughter into her arms.  “You don’t have to go and I’ll make sure that your father knows that either that crap stops or I’ll deny his visitation.”

“Why does Daddy hate Justin so much?”

“Oh Baby, I wish to God I knew.”

“Craig Taylor thinks he can poison Molly against Jennifer and Justin.”  Spirit Melanie said.  “He’s wrong and he’s only hurting Molly in the process.”

“Will he win if they go to court?”  Brian asked.

Spirit Melanie’s eyes misted over and she took a deep breath.  “I see Molly as a sad young woman sitting in a chair in her grandparent’s home staring at the snow falling outside the window.”  She took another deep breath.  “She’s lost all hope of seeing her mother or brother ever again.”  Melanie then looked at Brian.  “If these clouds persist, it is a safe bet that Molly will be forced to live with her father.”

“Fuck.”  Brian swore as the scene changed again.  “Where are we now?  Some kind of dorm?”

“Watch.”  Spirit Melanie said as a young man walked in the common room sketchpad under his arm.  He sat down on a ragged old couch and turned on the TV.  

“What the fuck is he doing here?”

“He lives here.”

“Since when?  What happened to the banjo player?”

“Violin.”  Spirit Melanie corrected.  “And, Justin’s been living here since Ethan won a competition that sent him to a conservatory school in Europe.”

“Ethan went without Justin?”

“Justin wouldn’t go.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because he didn’t love Ethan enough to give up his life here.”  Spirit Melanie explained.  Brian stared at her as if she’d grown a second head.  “He never really did actually.  Love Ethan that is.”

“Then why’d he leave me for Ethan?”

“Did you really give him a choice?”  Brian pressed his lips together then shook his head no.  

“Does he. . . does he still love me?”  Brian asked.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

“But, I don’t understand, how do I fit into all of this?”  

“You have always been able to help Justin find his strength.  In turn, Justin was able to help Jennifer stand against his father.”  Melanie said.  “Without you around to remind them that they don’t have to take that crap, they’ve forgotten.”  Brian frowned.  “And without your support, without you there to bolster Justin’s resolve, he feels that he can’t fight against his father any more or against the homophobic judicial system.  In turn, Jennifer can’t stop Craig from bulldozing his way into getting custody of Molly.”

“Can I change it?”  The room began to mist over.  “Wait!  Can I change it?”  When the room cleared, Brian found himself in his bed once again.  “Fuck!”

He looked around the loft realizing that Spirit Melanie was no longer there.  He sat up and walked into the kitchen where he angrily paced the length of the bar trying to figure out what he could do to change what he’d just seen.

End Chapter 3