"What?"  Brian frowned as he listened to Justin.  

"Is something wrong?"  Michael asked frowning.  "Brian?"

Brian pulled the phone away from his ear.  He stared at it as if he had never seen one before.  Michael frowned and grabbed the phone.

"What are you saying?"  Michael asked.  "Slow down."

"Michael?"  Justin rubbed his face.  "Look, there was accident."

“What the hell happened?”  Michael asked.

“Lindsay and Melanie were in an accident,” Justin said. 

“Holy shit!”  Michael said not wanting to believe it.  “Are they okay?”

“Lindsay is okay but Melanie is not.  There is more,” Justin sighed.  He didn’t know how to tell them about Joy.  

“Are they okay?”  Brian asked worried.  He only had heard that Lindsay and Melanie were in an accident and froze. 

Michael nodded.  “What is it?” 

“I don’t know if I should tell you now,” Justin took a deep breath.  

“Just say it,” Michael told him. 

“Joy was with them and she didn’t make it,” Justin finally said it.

“Fuck!”  Michael closed his eyes and turned away from Brian.  

“What is it?”  Brian asked. 

Michael told him to wait with a gesture of his hand.  “We’re going to get there as soon as possible.”

“Okay,” Justin said.  “Can I speak with Brian?”

Michael turned around and gave Brian the phone.  “Here, he wants to talk to you.”

Brian swallowed and took the phone.  “How are they?”

Michael moved to get his cell phone and call the rest of the family. 

“Lindsay is okay.  Melanie is in critical condition,” Justin looked at the entrance of Melanie’s room and saw Lindsay coming out.  “I need you here, Brian.”

“I will be there,” Brian told him.  “Tell Lindsay I love her and that everything is going to be okay.”

“Yeah,” Justin closed his eyes briefly.  “Later.”

“Later,” Brian hung up and frowned.  “What else did he tell you?” 

Michael looked up at Brian and shook his head.  “Nothing else.  Just start calling people.  I’m talking to Ben right now.”

Brian looked at the phone in his hand and just busied himself with calling the rest of the family.

***

“How are you doing?”  Daphne asked as she caressed Lindsay’s face.

“Better,” Lindsay told her.  “Melanie woke up a few minutes ago.  She went back to sleep but the doctor said that it was a good sign that she regained consciousness for a little while.”

Daphne smiled and nodded.

“Matthew, Val and Emmett just got here,” Michael said as he closed his cell phone.  

Justin was getting out of the elevator with a few bags of food for the family.  “Hey,” he walked to them and put everything in a chair.  “I brought some food.”

“Thank you, honey,” Debbie told him.

“I just want some coffee,” Vic said as he got up to get it. 

“I think it’s time you go home,” Justin said looking at Lindsay.  “You have to take a shower and then I might let you come back.”

Lindsay shook her head.  “I want to be here for them.”

Justin bit his lower lip and looked at Brian who had been really quiet after learning that Joy hadn’t made it.  

“But you need to rest,” Debbie deduced.  “Come on, honey.”

“We’ll be here,” Michael assured her.

Lindsay started crying.  “I don’t want to leave.”

“You’re coming back,” Debbie said.  “Just a shower and we’ll be back.”

“Hey,” Emmett said and went straight to Lindsay.  He gave her a hug and kissed her.  

“Thanks for coming,” Lindsay told him.

“Don’t mention it,” Val added.

“Hey,” Matthew kissed Lindsay and then moved towards Brian.  “Are you okay?”

Brian looked at his friend and shook his head. 

“Brian, can we talk?”  Justin asked.

Brian looked at Justin and frowned.  “I really don’t want to do much right now.”

Justin nodded.  “It will be quick.”

“What is it?”  Debbie asked worried.  “Is something wrong?”

“I just need to talk to Brian,” Justin told them.

Brian frowned and got up.  He and Justin walked to the end of the hallway.

“What do you have to tell me?"  Brian asked.  "Jesus, can't it wait?"

"No," Justin said grabbing Brian's hand.  "You...you have a little boy fighting for his life."

"What?"  Brian asked. "What little boy?"

"Joy was pregnant," Justin said.  "They saw the opportunity of saving the child and they took it."

"Jesus fuck,” Brian said thinking how horrible it all was.  Then it hit him.  “Mine?”

Justin nodded.

“Fuck!”  Brian hissed.  “Oh, Jesus fuck!”

“I saw him,” Justin said smiling briefly.  “He’s so tiny.”

“I didn’t know,” Brian’s voice was broken.

“No one except the girls did,” Justin said.  “Joy came to stay with them because her parents didn’t approve.  She was going to tell us eventually, I think.”

Brian shook his head and moved away from Justin.

“Brian,” Justin said.

Brian turned around and ran out of there.  Justin ran his hands through his hair.

“I’ll go after him,” Matthew said knowing that something was horribly wrong since he had been watching the guys.  

Justin looked at the floor and nodded.  

Matthew caught up with Brian and stopped him.  “Hey, wait up.”

“What do you want?”  Brian asked and kept walking towards the stairs.

“What happened back there?” Matthew asked not stopping.

“Joy is dead and it’s my fault,” Brian told him.

Matthew didn’t know what Brian was talking about so he just followed him.  

“Fucking hell,” Brian cursed once he was outside the hospital.  “Do you have a cigarette?”

“Sure,” Matthew told him.  He took out one for Brian and one for himself.  “Care to explain what’s going on?”

Brian walked to the curve and sat down.  Matthew did the same.  

“This is so fucked up,” Brian said with unshed tears.

Matthew just stared at Brian.  He used his lighter and then handed it over to Brian.  “Tell me.”

Brian lit his cigarette and saw his hands shaking.  

“Brian,” Matthew said after a few seconds.

“This is my fault,” Brian said.

“How the fuck do you figure that?”  Matthew asked.  

“If Joy hadn’t been pregnant she would have never had to come here.  She was fucking hiding,” Brian spat out.  “She wouldn’t have been in that car with them.  She would be alive.”

Matthew swallowed.  “That’s fucked up, Brian.”

“I got her pregnant,” Brian told Matthew.  “That’s what’s fucked up.”

Matthew opened his mouth a little bit stunned at the news.  “You guys fucked?”

Brian closed his eyes and tried not to think about it. 

“Still,” Matthew said getting back to the issue at hand.  “It’s not your fault.”

“It is.  I got her pregnant and she had to run away.  It’s the fucking truth,” Brian hissed.  “I killed her.”

“She could have been visiting,” Matthew deduced.

Brian glared at him.

“Maybe it was just her time to go,” Matthew told him.  “Hell, for all we know.  She could have been home, back in the Pitts and she could have died there.”

“That is bullshit,” Brian said as he got up.  He threw the cigarette on the floor and stepped on it.    

“Well, that is pretty much what your fucked up theory is...bullshit,” Matthew told him.

Brian shook his head and walked away from Matthew.

“Where the fuck are you going?”  Matthew asked. 

Brian just kept on walking, never looking back.

“Great,” Matthew said.  “Just fucking great.”

***

“This is it,” Lindsay said putting her keys on the counter.  “This is our place.”

“Its nice honey,” Debbie told her looking very quickly around the room.  “Now go relax for a while.  You’re about to fall over faster than any queer at the white party.”

“I have to go back,” Lindsay told her.

“You need to rest,” Debbie raised her voice.

“I can’t be here,” Lindsay’s eyes watered.  “Melanie needs me.”

“That’s why you need to regain your strength, honey,” Debbie said.  “Now stop bitching and go and do what I’m telling you to do.  I’m older than you; I know about these things.”

“I don’t really want to be here,” Lindsay choked out.  “I need to go back to the hospital.”

“You will go back later,” Debbie told her. “The guys are there and when you shower and eat and sleep then you can go back.”

“No,” Lindsay said.  “I have to do this by myself.”

“We’re here to help you sweetie,” Debbie said to the blond.  “Now go take a shower and don’t worry too much about anything else.  And don’t try to fight with me.  You won’t win.”

Lindsay sighed and gave up.  She deduced that the faster she took a shower the faster she could go back to the hospital.  She made sure to put her arm in a bag so the cast wouldn’t get wet.  When she came out she smelled food.

“Honey,” Debbie said.  “I took the liberty of preparing you something.  I know it’s not my house but you have to eat.”

“I’m not hungry,” Lindsay said.

“You’ll eat now or only over my dead body will you leave this apartment,” Debbie warned.

“Okay,” Lindsay whispered as she went to get dressed.  

Debbie frowned when there was a knock at the door.  She went to open it and found Brian there.  “Sweetie,” she pulled him inside and hugged him.

“Deb,” Brian pushed away from her.  “Where is she?”

“She’s in the bedroom,” Debbie told him.  “She’s getting dressed.”

Brian nodded and went to find the blonde.  “Linds.”

“Brian?” Lindsay opened her door and smiled.  “Hey.”

“Can I come in?” Brian asked.

Lindsay nodded and he came inside.  She was half dressed already.  She grabbed a shirt and put it on.   “What are you doing here?”

Brian shrugged.  “I wanted to talk to you.”

“About what?” Lindsay asked him.

“About her,” Brian closed his eyes and put a hand over them.  “About the baby.”

Lindsay walked up to him and pulled Brian’s hand away from his face.  “She was very happy.”

Brian’s tears formed slowly and fell down quickly.  He felt guilty for all that had happened to Joy.

“And we bought so many things,” Lindsay told him.  “Melanie didn’t want to...said it was bad luck.”

Brian looked up at her.  “Why didn’t you tell me?  Someone should have told me.  I thought you all were my friends.”

“She really wanted to tell you,” Lindsay said.  “But she was scared.”

“Of what?” Brian asked.

“Of you being so happy and Justin not liking the idea,” Lindsay told him.

Brian chuckled acidly.  “Justin’s right now with the baby.  Did you know it’s a boy?  So far the Doctors are doing everything to save him.  Justin has been there at the hospital, by his side while I fall to pieces.”

Lindsay hugged him.  “He’s a great man.”

“Yeah,” Brian told her.  “He is.”

***

"He's really small," Matthew said as the nurse changed the premature baby.

Justin nodded as he watched too.  

"Has Brian come to see him?"  Matthew asked.

Justin shook his head.  "He doesn't even want to hear about him."

"What are you talking about?"  Matthew asked as he looked at Justin.

Justin pushed his mask down.  "Let's get out of here."

Matthew followed Justin out of the room.  

“Brian’s blaming himself for what happened,” Justin said.

“I know that,” Matthew said.  “But still that is no reason to not see his son.”

“Brian’s brain works differently to the one that normal people have,” Justin said.  “It’s a mystery.”

Matthew and Justin laughed slightly.

Justin sighed and reality reigned again; it was no laughing matter.  “It’s fucked up, I know that.  But I don’t know what to tell him and I don’t want to push him to come here.”

“He might come around all on his own,” Matthew said.  “He has a good heart.”

“He also has this problem with wanting to be a martyr,” Justin pointed out.

“Does the boy have a name?”  Matthew asked.

“That’s not my place,” Justin told him.  “Although I like Dante.”

“I like it,” Matthew told him.

“Guys,” Jennifer said walking over to them.

“Mom,” Justin was surprised.  “What are you doing here?”

“Debbie called me and told me everything that was going on,” Jennifer kissed Matthew on the cheek.

“You didn’t have to come,” Justin turned back to look at the room.

“When am I going to be able to hold him?”  Jennifer asked.  “I didn’t come all this way not to hold my grandson.”

“I don’t know, Mom,” Justin told her.  “And he’s not your grandson.”

“Of course he is,” Jennifer contradicted him.  

“Okay, whatever you say,” Justin decided to let it go.

Matthew chuckled.  They went back to the room.  Jennifer was given a gown and a mask.

"He’s beautiful," Jennifer said.  "What's going to happen to him?"

Justin didn’t know what would happen.  “I don’t know, Mom.”

“Brian has to do something,” Matthew told them.

“I don’t have to do shit,” Brian said wearing the gown and the mask behind them.

“Brian,” Justin said walking over to him.  “Are you okay?”

Brian just stared at Justin before he walked towards his son.  He watched for a while not sure what to think.  

“All of you can’t be here at the same time,” a nurse told them.

“I think we should go,” Matthew whispered to Jennifer.  “Let’s give them a few minutes.”

Jennifer nodded and left with Matthew.

“Brian,” Justin put his hands on the brunet’s waist.  “He needs us.”

Brian sighed and nodded.  He looked at his son and frowned.  “Justin, what’s going on?”

Justin turned to look at the boy who had suddenly turned blue.  He saw tow nurses running towards the infant.  The hospital P.A. started blaring while it called for a doctor to the neonatal ICU.  Justin and Brian watched anxiously as the boy fought for his life.  They each silently prayed and held on to each other, hoping for miracles and that their love would suffice.  The medical personnel fought valiantly but in the end the monitors flat lined and the boy didn’t make it.