Home again, home again, jiggety-jig “Daddy!!!” Gus shrieked happily, lunging into Brian’s arms. “Hey, Sonny boy,” Brian whispers, kissing his son on the cheek; “I missed you.” “I missed you too, Daddy!” Gus exclaims as his father puts him back down to his feet. “I drew you picture, Daddy! Picture of you and Justin!” He quickly snatches it from the tables and proudly shows it to Brian. Brian smiles; sitting on the floor so that Gus could explain the drawing in detail to him. He couldn’t believe that he had an almost-three year old. Brian secretly hoped that Justin and Molly would want to return home before Gus’ birthday so that they could all celebrate together. Lindsay grins, sitting down on the floor of her home beside Brian, “We all missed you, Brian. How are Justin and Molly?” Opening his mouth, Brian wants to say so much, but only smiles, “Good.” “Daddy, you and Justin married now?” Gus asks, looking at his father’s finger. “Look, Mommy, Daddy has ring like you!” Lindsay laughs, nodding, “That’s right, Gus. Daddy married Justin and now they have rings just like your mommies.” Pulling Gus onto his lap, Brian asks, “I brought pictures. Do you want to see them?” “Yeah!!” ************************************** “Wow, Linds, he has a lot of energy,” Brian comments once Gus is upstairs taking a nap. “No kidding.” She laughs, picking up some of the toys off the floor. Straightening up, she states, “We really wanted to be there for the wedding.” “I know,” Brian nods. “Is Justin really okay?” He pulls out a cigarette, stopping before taking his lighter out, “Not in the house, right?” He asks with a smirk. She nods with a smile, “Avoidance, huh?” With a wink, he walks outside to light up. Following him out the door she asks, “Justin doesn’t want to come back, does he?” “Would you want to come back to a place your family was murdered in?” Brian asks casually. Sitting on the step, she runs her fingers through her hair, deep in thought. “I can’t imagine anything like that happening…how could something like that happen?” Brian shrugs, not really wanting to go into any details. “Justin never said anything about his father’s business…I never thought…” “He wasn’t Tony Soprano, Lindsay,” Brian cuts her off; “He was just shady. A lot of people are shady… some just more than others,” he mumbles. “Justin just seemed so normal… grounded… and with what happened at prom… why didn’t… I mean… if Craig had all these ties why didn’t he take care of Hobbs himself?” “Maybe because he was a homophobic, cowardly asshole who felt ignoring what happened to his son was better than dealing with what happened to his son,” he states, swallowing the animosity sitting in the back of his throat. Lindsay is silent for a few moments. “It must have been hard for Justin to process.” “No shit.” “Is he really okay?” She asks again. “What do you think?” He asks, taking another drag. “I have no idea, Brian.” “He’s better than anyone else would be in his position, that’s for fuckin’ sure.” Lindsay nods, “He’s always been a survivor.” Brian exhales slowly, looking up at the afternoon sky. “He’s lucky to have you, Brian.” “Sometimes I think I’m the lucky one, Linds,” Brian replies softly, hoping that she didn’t hear him. She smiles, letting him pretend that she didn’t.