Justin took another shot of whisky and drank it like it was water. Ethan and Michael watched him, but didn’t say anything. “I think I’m going to take him home.” Ethan said. Michael scoffed and pulled out his cell phone. “What are you doing?” Ethan asked. “Making a call.” Michael told him. “What for?” Ethan asked. “Daphne.” Michael told him. “We can take care of him.” Ethan insisted. “He needs his best friend right now.” Michael told him. “If you are worried about me, you shouldn’t.” Ethan said. Michael walked away, ignoring Ethan as he talked to Daphne. “Why do these things happen to me?” Justin asked. Ethan turned his attention back to Justin. “What things?” Ethan asked. “Why can’t I be happy?” Justin asked. “It’s always something.” Ethan bit his lower lip. “He is going to be okay.” Ethan said. “It’s been a week and he still hasn’t woken up.” Justin hissed. “His body is healing.” Ethan reasoned. Justin looked up and frowned. “What the fuck do you know? You’re probably happy.” Justin spat out. Ethan closed his eyes and moved closer to Justin. “No. I’m not. I don’t like to see you like this.” Ethan told him. “I know…I know you love him. I know he loves you back. You need him and I wish it wasn’t him, but I can’t do anything about it. I am not so bad that I would be happy to see him hurt just because he won your heart.” Justin looked away from Ethan. Michael came back and sat down. “No more drinks.” Michael said. “Fuck you.” Justin hissed. The bartender nodded at Michael and walked away from them. Justin got up from his stool and walked away. Michael watched as Justin started talking with some guy and then they left for the bathroom. Michael shook his head and asked for a beer. “I offered him a place in my life and he turned me down.” Ethan told Michael. “No shit.” Michael said surprised. Ethan nodded. “He deserves better than me.” Ethan said in a very low voice. “And he finally saw that.” Michael pouted and got up to stand in front of Ethan. “You are a good man.” Michael said and kissed Ethan on the lips. “Now you know what not to do to your next boyfriend.” “I never had a boyfriend.” Ethan said and took a deep breath. “I’m never going to fall in love with anybody ever again.” Michael laughed. “Yeah, you will. You know how to now.” Ethan looked at Michael and smirked. *** “Michael.” Brandon said. “What are you doing here?” Ethan asked. “We came for Justin.” Daphne said. Ethan pointed at Justin who had managed to get someone else to buy him more alcohol. “How is he doing?” Daphne asked. “Not good.” Michael said. “All of this is hitting him hard.” Daphne said. “He really loves Brian.” Brandon looked over at Justin who looked pretty miserable. He nodded in agreement with what Daphne had said before he started walking towards the blond. Never in a million years would Brandon have thought he would find himself worried for Justin. But he was, because his brother loved the blond and the blond loved Brian back and for that, Brandon cared about what happened to Justin. *** Justin opened his eyes slowly and smiled, seeing his boyfriend. He moved forward and kissed him. Justin frowned when he was pushed back. “Fuck, Justin.” Brandon hissed. “If you do that again, I’m going to kill you.” Daphne turned back to give Brandon a questioning look. Brandon shook his head. Daphne then took out her keys and opened the door. She walked in and started turning the lights on. “Brian?” Justin asked as he caressed Brandon’s face. “If you start groping me, I swear I’m going to drop you and kick you.” Brandon threatened. Justin squinted his eyes as he stared at Brandon. “You are not Brian.” Justin told him. Brandon rolled his eyes and went inside the house. He practically carried Justin into the guest room and put him on the bed. Daphne sat down next to Justin and started running her hands through Justin’s hair. “Daph?” Justin asked. Daphne smiled and lay next to Justin. Justin moved closer to her and hugged her. “Daphne.” Justin sighed. “It’s okay.” Justin closed his eyes and rested his head on her shoulder. Brandon was sitting on the dresser looking at them. “Are you staying with him?” Brandon asked. Daphne nodded. “Okay.” Brandon said and started walking away. “Bran.” Daphne whispered. Brandon looked back and smiled when Daphne had her hand up asking him to join them. Brandon turned off the light and walked towards the bed. He got behind Daphne and held her close while she held on to Justin. The room was quiet except for the sobs that were coming from one of them, or what was more likely, the three of them. *** Brandon was holding Brian’s hand and waiting to see if there was any change. “Do you want some coffee?” Daphne asked. Brandon shook his head. “Aren’t you hungry?” Daphne asked. “No.” Brandon told her. Daphne took a deep breath. “Baby, you have to eat something.” Daphne told him. “Later.” “Justin and Michael are coming to see Brian.” Daphne said. “We could go to the cafeteria and have something.” Brandon nodded. “Oh my.” Brandon said looking up at Brian. “What is it?” Daphne asked. “He gripped my hand.” Brandon said. “Are you sure?” Daphne asked. Brandon nodded. “Go get the doctor.” Brandon told her. Daphne got out of the room in search for the doctor. When she came back, Brandon was talking to Brian. Brandon was telling him to wake up. “Mr. Kinney?” The doctor said. “Miss Chandler tells me that Brian gripped your hand.” Brandon nodded. “It could be that he is waking up or…it could be a spasm.” The doctor said as he got ready to check Brian. Brandon licked his lips and nodded. Daphne walked next to her boyfriend and held his hand. “No…more…more…no.” Brian whispered. “Oh my god.” Daphne said. Brian opened his eyes and stared ahead before he closed them again. “Is that a spasm?” Brandon asked with a big smile. The doctor shook his head with a little smile and checked Brian. *** Justin was coming down the hospital hall with Michael when Daphne came rushing to them. “He woke up.” “He did!” Justin said smiling. “He mumbled something and fell asleep again.” Daphne said. “That’s good.” Michael said. “Yeah.” Daphne said smiling from ear to ear. “You see, I told you everything was going to be okay.” Justin smiled and nodded. “Come on.” Daphne said taking Justin’s hand. Michael smiled and followed them. “Hey.” Brandon said smiling. “The doctor said that Brian could wake up any minute now.” “He is probably going to sleep for a day or two.” Daphne reminded him. “He is pumped full of drugs.” Justin nodded and sat down on the other side of the bed. “I think I need a vacation after all this chaos.” Brandon said. “I have never been so scared.” “I know.” Justin said. “Maybe we could go to the cabin.” Brandon said. Daphne smiled and walked over to Michael. “Want a coffee?” Daphne whispered. Michael smiled at her knowing exactly what she was doing. He nodded and they walked out, letting Justin and Brandon have some bonding time. *** Justin caressed Brian’s forehead, pushing the brunet’s hair back. “Hey, baby. I miss you.” Justin said. Brian lay there with his eyes closed and looked like he was just sleeping. “I can’t wait for you to come back to me. I want to hold you tightly in my arms.” Justin said as the tears ran down. “Please wake up, baby.” “Excuse me, sir?” The nurse said. Justin looked up not bothering to clean his tears. “What?” Justin asked. “You are going to have to leave. Visiting hours are over.” She told him. Justin looked at Brian and frowned. “I’m not going anywhere.” Justin told her. “But you can’t stay here.” The nurse told him. Justin shrugged. “I’m not moving.” Justin told her as he grabbed Brian’s hand. She looked at him for a moment before she nodded. “When Bruce comes around tell him that Ivy said you could stay.” The nurse told him smiling. Justin looked up and smiled at her. The nurse got out and closed the door. “I’m here, baby. I’m not going anywhere.” Justin told him as he caressed Brian’s arm. Justin watched Brian the whole night until he fell asleep in the hard, plastic chair holding Brian’s soft, warm hand. *** Justin took a deep breath as he looked at his watch. They were throwing Ben a welcome home party and even though he was happy, he didn’t want to be here. He wanted to go back to the hospital and lay next to his boyfriend. Michael sat down next to Justin, giving him a beer. Justin smiled and took it. “What are you doing back here?” Michael asked. “Counting the minutes. I’m going to go pretty soon.” Justin said. “You just got here.” Michael said. “I want to be with Brian.” Justin told him. Michael smiled and nodded. “So?” Justin said smirking. “Ben is back.” Michael smiled. “He came home last night.” “He did?” Justin asked. “I thought he had come today. Why didn’t you…you dog.” Michael laughed. “So, it’s all there?” Justin asked. “Like he never left.” Michael said. “I’m happy for you.” Justin said. “I never thought that we would survive a year apart.” Michael said. “But you did.” Justin told him. “Barely.” Michael said laughing. Justin smirked. “I hope that one day Brian and I will be like you two.” Justin said. “What do you mean?” Michael asked, taking a sip of his beer. “You guys still love each other after a whole year of him being in Tibet. You had only a few calls in between and nothing more. And your love still could survive that.” “Well, is not like he had a lot of options over there.” Michael said. Justin and Michael laughed. “But you did.” Justin said. “And you didn’t go taking them.” Michael put his arm around Justin and smiled. “I heard what happened with Ethan before he left.” Michael said. “You didn’t take that either.” Justin smiled and drank his beer and waited a little while longer than he was going to before he got back to Brian. *** Brian opened his eyes slowly and looked around. He tried to get up, but found out pretty soon that it hurt to move. He stayed lying back and took a deep breath. There was a guy looking at him with wide eyes and a big smile. He wondered what his father had done this time to put him in the hospital. “You are up.” Emmett said. “I’m going to go get the others.” Brian watched as Emmett left and wondered who the guy was and what the hell he was talking about. *** “You are cheating.” Daphne said to Justin as she pulled the cards away from him. “I’m not.” Justin told her. They both laughed. “I think I’m going to go.” Brandon said. “I have to go back to work.” “Guys!” Emmett yelled as he came into the cafeteria running for them. “Emmett, what’s wrong?” Justin asked getting up. “What happened?” Brandon asked. Emmett took a deep breath. “Brian woke up. He was looking around the room. He’s awake.” Brandon and Justin looked at each other and smiled. *** When the door to the room opened and his older brother came in, Brian smiled. He wondered why Brandon had come all the way from Pittsburgh to see him and who the woman and the two men with Brandon were. “Hey.” Brandon said. “How are you doing?” “Good.” Brian told him with a hoarse voice. “Where are Mom and Dad?” Brandon raised a brow not sure what Brian was talking about. Justin and Daphne looked at each other with confused expressions while Emmett just frowned as he looked at Brian. “What are you talking about, Brian?” Brandon asked. “Mom and Dad…they died and you know it.” Brian lay looking at his brother, wondering what the fuck Brandon was talking about. He looked at the people staring at him and then wondered what the hell was going on.