Lois and Carolyn, thanks for the beta...you’re the greatest!
Chapter 70 – And It Continues Sunday Afternoon…(Day 49) Brian walks into Debbie’s kitchen with a giggling Gus under one arm and a giggling Nicky under the other. “Brian, what are you doing to my babies?” she said with mock protest, putting her hands on her hips for good measure. Debbie’s reaction caused Gus and Nicky to giggle even more. “Not a thing, Debbie,” Brian said innocently. “Right, guys?” he asked, jostling them a bit for good measure. “Right,” they both said in between laughs and shrieks. “Come here, my babies,” Debbie said, releasing them from Brian’s grip first Gus and then Nicky…both of whom went to her willingly. “That’s better,” she said, taking a quick look to be sure they were both ok. Debbie took a minute to try to smooth out Gus and Nicky’s hair and kiss their cheeks. Brian just rolled his eyes in mock frustration. Once Debbie was assured that Brian hadn’t damaged anything, she could finally smile. “Now tell me, what you two have been up to,” she finally said, wrapping one arm around each of the little ones. “We made breakfast,” Gus proclaimed with some pride. “You did?” Debbie asked in amazement, then looking a Brian for confirmation. Brian simply smiled and nodded yes. “Me too,” Nicky echoed. “I helped.” “And what did you make?” Debbie asked, never one to miss even the slightest detail. Then she volunteered, “Did you make cereal?” Brian thought he’d better step in here. “No way. They made fruit and French toast,” he explained. “Justin and I were totally surprised. It was delicious.” Gus and Nicky were simply beaming after Brian’s words. “And you did this all by yourselves?” she asked. “Well…Grandma Jen and Aunt Molly helped a little,” Gus sheepishly admitted. “Yes, that may be true, but I watched Gus and Nicky making French toast with my own eyes,” Brian boasted, much to the delight of the two little ones. “So I think we can safely agree that they definitely made breakfast,” he added with a laugh. Debbie nodded her agreement, as she continued to smile. “I’m really so proud of you two,” she added, giving them each a hug. “Making breakfast is a big thing.” “I would have to agree,” he added. “Well Brian, can I borrow Gus and Nicky to help me announce that dinner is ready. I need two very strong helpers to get everyone to the table,” she said gleefully. Gus and Nicky agreed to help, so the trio of Debbie, Gus, and Nicky announced, “Dinner is served.” “You better come and get it!” Debbie added just for good measure. Everyone in the room clapped at the announcement and quickly moved to find seats. As they were taking their places at the table, Paul couldn’t resist asking, “Nicky, wouldn’t you like to come over and sit with us?” Nicky quickly responded, “I’m going to sit with Jus,” he said with some determination. “Like that’s a surprise,” Jason said with a laugh. “Me too,” Gus answered, making himself comfortable between Justin and his dad at the table beside Nicky. Jason turned to Melanie and Lindsay. “It’s official, we’ve lost our kids.” Paul threw his arms in the air with mock exasperation. “First Emmett and now Justin…what are we going to do?” he sighed. Nicky blew them both kisses. “He still loves us, Paul,” Jason teased, “Pheew, that’s a relief,” “I guess that means, he’ll be going home with us, after all.” Paul admitted. “I think you can count on at least that,” Brian remarked with his usual smirk. Everyone else at the table just laughed. Lindsay and Melanie were sitting close to Paul and Jason so they were able to keep each other company during dinner. Jenny Rebecca was trapped in her high chair between Michael and Melanie. Ben was seated on the other side of Michael. “You know, Hunter,” Ben began, “You and Molly could easily join us here at this table. You really don’t have to sit over there alone.” “Were fine, Ben,” Molly said with a smile, gently nudging Hunter to check on his agreement. “We can keep a better eye on everyone from here,” Hunter added, never one to be shy about his actions. “Well, if that’s the case, maybe I should join them,” Emmett quipped, making moves to start to relocate to their small table. “Stay where you are, Em,” Ted insisted. Blake and I will join them over there. From an analytical perspective, I think that we need to check out this vantage point that they’ve set up for themselves. We’ll fill you in on all the details later,” Ted teased. “Won’t we Blake?” “Absolutely, someone needs to keep an eye on the trouble makers,” Blake added. “Mom?” Molly started to whine. “Don’t look to me, dear. I agree that you and Hunter need adult supervision,” Jennifer added. “Thank you, Ted. You and Blake have taken a load off my mind,” she teased. “Mom!” Molly protested with a huff. Jennifer and Debbie were able to sit together, and Carl went down to the other end of the table to join Ben. Everyone managed to chat easily through most of dinner. No one would bring up the topic that was on everyone’s mind…the pink elephant floating in the room…the legalized union of Brian and Justin. All during dinner, discussions between Blake, Hunter, Ted and Molly flowed easily at their own little table, but all four of them definitely had their ears tuned to the happenings at the main table. Finally, Blake leaned over to whisper, “So Hunter, did you get a chance to see today’s paper?” “No, I came over here to help set things up,” Hunter casually responded. “What did I miss?” “Well…” Blake started to gush. “Ah, Blake…” Ted cautioned just above a whisper. “Sorry…never mind,” Blake said penitently, “I was just wondering,” he mumbled quietly. “Oh, you mean the picture of Brian and Justin in the paper,” Molly added fearlessly. “Wasn’t that a great picture? We’re ALL still trying to figure out where the paper got that picture.” “You saw the picture?” Ted asked with some surprise. “But weren’t you out at the mansion?” Ted was trying to gage if that ALL that Molly was referring to included Brian and Justin as well. “Of course,” Molly said nonchalantly, “Jason showed ALL of us the picture and the article this morning. Isn’t it great?” “Molly, what are you whispering about over there,” Debbie asked. “You have to share with us. There are no secrets here,” she added with a laugh. “We weren’t whispering, Debbie,” Molly answered, “We were just talking about the picture in today’s paper. Did you see it? It was with an article about Brian and Justin and everything that happened. It was great!” she continued. “It’s like a wedding picture!” A collective, audible gasp could be heard at the main table while Brian and Justin simply smiled knowingly at each other. “How did you manage to do it, Jennifer?” Ben asked with a laugh. “What?” Jennifer asked innocently, looking up from her dessert. “What do you mean?” “How did you manage to raise two children, who are totally unafraid of Brian Kinney?” Ben responded with a laugh. “It must be a trait incorporated in the family’s genes.” “Oh, I don’t know,” Brian interrupted, “I guess I can be very menacing, can’t I, Sunshine?” Before, Justin could respond, Debbie interrupted. “All right Ben, don’t force the tiger out of his cage. Brian is behaving himself so far. Don’t you dare start anything!” she teased. “Thank you, Deb,” Brian quipped. “Although I do have to agree, it was a lovely picture of them. You have to admit that Brian and Justin make a lovely couple,” Jennifer continued on with confidence and a smile. “There is that too. But they also make one of the hottest couples around,” Drew volunteered. “Em and I being one of the others, of course.” “Ok, all of you. Before you go too far down this road, there are little ones present,” Carl reminded them with a word of warning. “That was so thoughtful of you, Carl, but totally unnecessary,” Jason interjected with a twinkle in his eye. Justin looked over at Jason and knew that trouble was about to brew. “Jason,” he tried to caution. “Yes?” Jason asked with an innocent smile. And in that moment, Justin braced himself for whatever was about to happen. “Oh Gus,” Jason said sweetly in a singsong fashion. “Yes, Uncle Jason,” Gus answered. “Why don’t you tell us about the new union between your dad and Jus?” “It’s so great. Jus now belongs to me and dad,” Gus happily explained. “Dad explained it to me. Jus will be with dad and me forever,” he added. “Just like my dad and daddy,” Nicky chimed in. “And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, out of the mouths of babe,” Jason added. “Was that really necessary?” Lindsay asked solemnly, attempting to chastise Jason. Jason merely feigned total innocence and said, “It’s public knowledge now. What’s the problem?” “Brian, this is big news. I know that you and Justin have been together for a long time,” Drew began. “I heard about everything in Dallas, last night. I immediately booked a flight to come home and see for myself. Congratulations, you two. I guess that means that Justin won’t be going back to New York.” “Of course, Justin’s going back to New York,” Lindsay interrupted. “He has a wonderful career as an artist ahead of him there. Brian’s not going to let him throw his future away.” “If you’ll excuse me,” Justin said quietly, pushing his chair back to stand up. He smiled at Brian, before he pushed away from the table. “Let’s see if I can get some of the stickiness off of Gus and Nicky.” “You do that,” Brian said softly. Once Justin had left with Gus and Nicky, conversation seemed to resume in the room. “So, we’re back here again are we, Lindsay?” Emmett continued in rising harshness. “No, I think Lindsay just made an excellent point,” Michael chimed in. “Just because Brian and Justin legalized things, doesn’t mean that anything has to change.” Brian looked at the two of them incredulously. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Brian couldn’t believe that his two best friends thought that he went to all this trouble to make things legal with Justin for them to continue to be apart, but he said nothing and continued to listen. “Well they do have that house in West Virginia,” Jennifer reminded them. “It’s a wonderful place for Justin to paint,” she added, showing her support for Brian and Justin, without divulging any of their future plans. “Which will be great for when Sunshine comes to visit,” Lindsay added. “In the meantime, Brian will just continue to live at the loft when Justin returns to New York,” Michael added confidently “Ah…Michael,” Ted tried in vane to stop him before things went too far. He had no intention of divulging what he knew, as his mind played over all the complex details he was trying to work through so that Brian and Justin could be together in New York. Still he wanted to stop this discussion, before things got out of hand. Brian calmly listened to everything but said nothing. “But you would think married people would want to be together,” Melanie suggested, hoping to salvage things before they got completely out of hand. “Brian and Justin aren’t married,” Michael was quick to point out with a shake of his head for emphasis. Brian continued to sit in stunned silence. Melanie continued again, trying the calm voice of reason. “No, you’re right. They’re more than married. As I was saying…you’d think that a couple would want to be together like Lindsay and me…we knew we wanted to be with each other, so we got back together, and then we both moved to Toronto.” “That’s different. You moved there for the safety of the kids,” Michael pointed out. “Things are different for Brian…Brian’s different.” “What am I missing?” Paul asked, unable to keep quiet any longer. “Ben, you and Michael are together. Lindsay and Melanie are together. Carl and Debbie, Blake and Ted. Don’t you all want the same happiness for Brian?” “You don’t understand,” Michael added, “Brian isn’t like the rest of us.” “How is he different?” Paul asked in protest. “I’ve known Brian since college, and he sure seems pretty normal to me.” “That’s just because you and Brian are so much alike,” Jason added with a laugh, trying to lighten the developing tension in the room. Michael paid no attention to Jason’s efforts. He already had his mind made up and nothing was going to deter him from his appointed speech. “Brian’s my best friend, and I’ve known him since we were fourteen,” Michael professed, stopping for a breath. “I’ve always been there for him, and I think, I’m the best one to know what he wants. And I’m sure…” “Well, this has truly been enlightening,” Brian said as he interrupted all discussion…and everyone froze at the sound of his voice.