I'm so excited I've been planning this for a year and now I finally get to do it. I'm really excited, huh, I guess I should be worried about that. I mean I shouldn't be this excited about murder. But I am, I've been thinking about this for a year now and everything is almost perfect. I watch him walk out of the gym and to his car.

I start up my van and follow him. He drives around (like always) then he parks in front of his favorite bar (that he always goes to). I watch him go in then I check my wig and the color contacts in my eyes. After I'm satisfied that I look unrecognizable I head into the bar. I find him easily, he's sitting in the corner, sulking. I buy two drinks and head over to him.

"I'm not interested" he said before I can say anything.

"Me either, you just look like you needed a drink" I said putting the glass next to him and walking back to the bar. I sit and down my whisky, order a beer and wait. Five minutes later he sits next to me.

"So you just buy me an expensive glass of whiskey and walk away?" he asks. I smile to myself triumphantly.

"Well I didn't think some cheesy pick up line would work on you" I said flashing him my winning smile. He can't help but smile back.

"Smart move" he said

"You want to buy me another drink?" he asks.

"Sure" I said. We talk and flirt for a few hours.

"Hey do you wanna get outa here?" he asks me. Finally!

"My place or yours?" I ask cunningly, to my delight he says

"Yours"

Perfect. I pay for our drinks then we head outside, I need him to drive his car so no one sees us leaving together. I convince him to follow me in his car. I drive him to the construction site that I'd prepared. "You live here?" he asks

"Tonight I do" I whisper in his ear. He laughs and stupidly follows me into the half built building. I walk behind him and take the knife out of my pocket. The stupid fuck doesn't notice that anything's wrong until it's too late. When he turns around I jab the knife into his neck.

He falls down clutching it and choking. I hit the artery dead on and he bleeds out pretty quickly. Good thing there's plastic everywhere.

I roll him up in the plastic and tape it up. I dump him in my van and go back inside to inspect. I don't see any blood anywhere, I even look with the back light and spray I bought (you can get anything if you're rich enough). And I don't see a spot of blood anywhere. Pretty lucky for my first time, then again I did my research.

I change my clothes putting the dirty ones in a plastic bag along with the contacts and wig. I drive the van to the cabin I rented. After changing into some coveralls I get started, I burn the bag with my cloths and the clothes he was wearing.

After that I change him into some new cloths which isn't as easy as I thought it'd be. Then I re-wrap the body switch vans and take him back to his car. I drive around to a spot in the woods that he won't be found until I'm good and ready. Then I sit him in the driver's seat of his car. I stage it to look like he did this to himself.

I'm not stupid enough to think anybody will believe it, but it can't hurt. I kind of feel bad for the guy, but he should've noticed something was wrong. Especially since I was wearing gloves the whole time. I walk back in shoes that are two sizes too big for me. The tracks from my van are tractable but so what, it's a company van.

That van makes a hundred trips to that construction site every day. Plus I put plastic all over the van while I was moving the body. Plus I wiped it clean, and whoever else rides around tomorrow will contaminate the evidence. I'm not worried. Phase one complete now for phase two.    

I wake up the next morning refreshed and rejuvenated. I wake up before my wife Julie, I stare at her for a while before going to shower. My wife would be a good reason to let it go if she didn't approve. I mean like really approve, she would've helped me last night if I would've let her. Talk about finding a soulmate.

Julie slips into the shower with me "somebody's excited" she said washing my back.

"Can you blame me? Big day today" I said smiling at her

"Just be careful and remember the number one rule"

"Be invisible" we said at the same time.

"Babe don't mock me, I understand and support what you need and want to do-"

"Which is what makes you the perfect women" I said cutting her off.

"Thanks but I need you to be alive at the end of all this" she said. I turn around and kiss her.

"I'll be careful I promise"

"You better, and just so you know what you're coming back too..." she said kissing me again.

If I wasn't rejuvenated before I definitely am now (a shower quickie with your wife will to that). "So what time am I heading out?" Julie asks me.

"About an hour before this baby goes off" I said pointing to the bomb. I made it myself it shouldn't kill too many it's really more of a distraction. Plus Taylor's rich boyfriend owns this fag club now so it's also a good excuses to fuck with him.

"How many will it kill?" Julie asks mimicking my thoughts

"Not too many, hopefully someone the list" I tell her.

"Are you going in today?" she asks

"Have too, I'll slip it into the club after work before I drop you off" I tell her.

"How do you know that they'll be there tonight?" she asks.

"I called my dad and had a few of his friends. They told the hotel that if they have the event there they'd take their money elsewhere" I explain.

"Do you think he'll talk? You're dad I mean"

"No way he'll back me up no matter what" I assure her. "Come on we better get going" I said as we both head out to work.

I can't help but laugh as my guys do their job. In the same place I murdered someone last night. If they only knew, it's almost noon and I have to go put my bomb in place. "Hey Danny, you got everything covered here. I'm about to go get lunch" I ask my partner.

"Yea we're good here boss" Danny said, so I head out.

I drive over to Liberty Avenue and park near Kinney's club, Babylon. When John sees me he walks over to the car. "Gloves?" I ask him, he holds up his hands showing me that he's wearing gloves. I hand the bomb over to him.

"When do I get paid?" he asks taking it

"Tomorrow sometime in the afternoon to early evening" I promise him.

"Okay, where do you want it?" he asks

"Put it by the bar" I tell him.

"You go it boss" he said I watch him sneak into the club. No one sees him, which is crazy. When he comes out he winks at me and keeps walking. The only thing I regret is that I won't be here to see the thing go off.

I head back to work and I'm more than happy when the day is over. Everyone says goodbye to me and wishes me a happy vacation. "If anyone deserves a vacation it's you, boss" Danny says.

"Thanks" I said before he drives off.

My thoughts exactly. I go home shower and change. I wait for Julie to get home. She's going to visit her mom in New York while I handle my little revenge plot. Everything is set up, anything that's not at the cabin is in the duffle by the door. When Julie gets home I help her finish packing. We eat dinner and hang out until I have to get her to the airport. I'm taking her luggage out of the car when she turns up the radio.

"Babe listen" Julie said, I walk over to the passenger's side and listen to the radio report.

"This just in from WDBX News there's been an explosion at Babylon, a local gay club. Where a political fundraiser was underway tonight. Authorities fear there may be many injuries, possibly fatalities. Police say there no clues yet as to the cause of the explosion" the announcer says.

"You did it" she mouths getting out and closing the door.

"Sounds like it" I said before she kisses me.

"Be careful...and have fun" she said before taking her bags and going inside.

God I love that women, I drive as close as I can to Liberty Avenue. Then I walk to Babylon, there are a bunch of police ushering people around. Everybody coming out of the building is covered in soot. There are a bunch of ambulances and fire trucks everywhere. The street is littered with fireman and police officers.

The sky and air is filled with ash and soot. It's complete chaos, I can't help but smile, I'm loving this. I watch along with a bunch of other people that are gathered around the taped off area watching. Considering the amount of people by the ambulances getting help, and the amount of people still pouring out of the building. I was right about the bomb being almost harmless. I do see a body bag or two, then I see Kinney.

He comes on the scene completely stunned until he sees someone. I walk around to get a better angle. He's talking to Taylor's mom. She looks happy and stunned to see him (although the stunned thing might be because of the bomb). It looks like he's asking if she's okay.

She ignores his question and tells him something. Then he runs straight into the still smoking building. I know immediately what he's doing. Taylor's mom must have told him that Taylor's still inside. Kinney is the only one who goes into the building. Other people show up looking for their friend or family member, but they don't go into the building. Only Kinney does, I knew he was still in love with Taylor. Even though rumor has it that they broke up not too long ago. I guess their back on now.

While I'm watching and waiting I see a familiar face being carried to an ambulance. I watch as two other people follow the person. Michael that's his name Kinney's best friend. He looks pretty fucked up. Now I remember the red headed women, with the big mouth. She's Michael's mom, and the big beefy guy is his boyfriend Ben. I'm so busy watching them I didn't see Kinney and Taylor come out. But I see Kinney as he comes to watch them take Michael away. I also notice two other people, two women uh... Melanie and Lindsey (like I said I do my research).

After the ambulance packs up Michael and Ben, Brian takes the red head lady to his car and they speed off. Most likely to the hospital, I look around for Taylor when I spot him. He's wearing a paramedic's jacket. He's standing by his mom while an officer questions him. He probably won't leave until Kinney comes back. So I decide to follow Michael and Kinney to the hospital.

The hospital is a mad house, which helps me blend in. Kinney and his friends are in the emergency waiting room. The red head is pacing back and forth. While everyone else is sitting down looking dazed and overwhelmed. Kinney asks a few questions at the desk, then goes to comfort Ben. It's not like they hug or anything, just a simple pat and squeeze on the shoulder. Melanie says something to the red head, Debbie I think her name is. Debbie shakes her head at whatever Melanie asks her. Debbie says something that seems to upset Ben. I get closer so I can hear what their saying.

The doctor comes out and they all get up, Kinney says "well?" the doctor sighs. He tells them that Michael has lost a lot of blood and that before they can do anything he's going to need a transfusion. Kinney asks why they haven't given him the transfusion yet. The doctor explains that Michael is AB- and their low on that blood type. I have to cover my mouth to keep from laughing at the irony. Michael and I are the same blood type. Kinney offers his blood but the doctor rejects it after he finds out that Kinney's gay. Kinney gets all upset and starts yelling, Ben calms him down by reminding him that they can't use his blood either way. Apparently Kinney had cancer, obviously he's fine now though.

After the doctor walks away, I stop him. "I couldn't help but over hear and my blood type happens to be AB Negative" I tell him.

"You want to give your blood?" he asks.

"If I can" I said.

"Follow me" he said we go to an empty room, he asks me a few questions. I have to sign some papers and other stuff before they take my blood. The doctor thanks me after taking the blood. After the nurse patches me up I decide to head back to Babylon.

I get there in time to see Kinney and Taylor hugging, talking and then kissing. It's almost like something out of a romance movie. They stand there hugging for a while, then Kinney takes Taylor home. I follow them to Taylor's new crappy place. I watch Taylor practically float into the building. Kinney drives off with a more muted version of Taylor's sickly happy expression on his face, as he drives off. Yea boys enjoy it while you can, because tomorrow your lives are going to get even messier. 

I take my last shower in the house and go to pick up my car. I had someone rent a van for me, and just like with John the other day I tell him he'll get paid sometime today. I drive over to the hospital dressed jeans, a black t-shirt, and a sweat jacket. I have a baseball cap but that would make me stand out too much. I leave the van at Taylor's and walk to the hospital.

When I get to the hospital I find the doctor that took my blood last night. I ask him how Michael's doing, he tells me that Michael's on his way out of surgery. And that their cautiously optimistic. I act relived and happy at the news.

I find Michael's chart and read it. I see he's allergic to dicloxacillin (an antibiotic), if I mix that with the right amount of morphine he'd die pretty peacefully. I put on my gloves and slip into one of the supply closets. I grab what I need and head to the waiting room. Taylor, Debbie, Ben and the tall guy uh...Emmett, are there too. Ben clearly hasn't left since last night.

He's still got soot on him and his clothes are still dirty too. I listen to their conversation and can't help but smile at Debbie's nickname for Taylor. 'Sunshine' I guess that name does fit him.

Kinney shows up looking just like Ben, still dirty and in the same clothes. Kinney tells them that the police found out that a bomb caused the explosion. No shit what else could've caused that? I roll my eyes and keep watching and listing. They bitch and moan about 'what kind of sick fuck would do something like that'. 

I tune out until a doctor walks over to them. Apparently they had to remove his spleen. The doctor tells them the something they told me about being cautiously optimistic. Everyone is all happy and relieved. Everyone except Debbie gets up to leave.

Kinney follows Taylor and asks to talk, so they find a vacant corner. I get close enough to hear what their saying but far enough so they don't see me. "Did you think about what I said last night?" Kinney asks.

"When you told me you loved me? Or when you took me home and asked me to marry you?" Taylor asks. This couldn't be more perfect.

"Both" Kinney said

"Come on Brian I know you way too well, you love me I believe that. Hell I've always known that, but it was nice to hear. But you're only asking me to marry you because of what happened. To the club and to Michael" Taylor insists.

"Well I did have this weird dream-"

"See once this dies down you'll be back to normal" Taylor tells him before he can finish.

"Not without you" Kinney insists

"Brian-mm" Kinney cuts him off by kissing him.

"I'm selling the loft and Babylon" Kinney states, Taylor looks at him shocked.

"Even though I never gave you an answer?" he asks shocked.

"I'm taking a chance on love. To show you how much I love you. That I'd do anything, I'd be anything for you Justin" Kinney said

"Where are we supposed to live?" Taylor asks trying to keep himself together.

"I've known you for five years, I know what your dream house looks like. And I bought it, I can show it to you later." Kinney tells him smugly.

"You're unbelievable" Taylor said smiling

"I know" Kinney said. Taylor bites his lip and thinks (or pretends to anyway).

"Yes, yes I'll marry you" Taylor said kissing him. They make out for a good ten minutes.

"Unfortunately I have to shower and go to work for a bit. But you should move your stuff back to the loft for now. I'll show you our new home later" Kinney said with no intention of moving.

"Okay" Taylor said taking a key from Kinney. They kiss a few more times before leaving together.

I head to Michael's room and slip in unnoticed. I know how to work the machine to make it give him more morphine than it should. I inject the dicloxacillin first and after about three minutes I give him the morphine. Then I slip out of the room and head to Taylor's shitty house. I parked at the back of the building. Not that anyone here would care about what is about to happen. That's what happens when you live by a bunch of users, prostitutes, and dealers. I honestly don't know how his mom let him live here.

I put on the baseball cap and tie a bandanna around my head. It covers my nose mouth and chin. I head up to Taylor's 'apartment' if you can call it that. The door isn't locked so I just walk in, Taylor is on the phone talking to his friend Daphne. He's packing and gushing about Kinney's proposal. 

I get out the needle filled with the sedative I borrowed from the hospital. I decide to wait for Taylor to get off the phone. Don't want anyone knowing he's missing until I'm ready.

After he hangs up he stops moving for a second, that's how I know that he knows I'm here. He flips open his cell trying to call for help, since I'm blocking the main way out. I snatch the phone away from him at the same time his fist connects to my jaw. He's faster than I remember and he finally learned how to punch. I grab him by the back of his shirt and clamp my hand over his mouth. 

"If you fight me it'll hurt more" I said as he struggles to get free. He stops moving when he sees the needle. I stick it into his neck and slowly inject the sedative. I give him just enough to pass out.

After his eyes reluctantly flutter shut I put the top back on the needle and pocket it. Then I sling Taylor over my shoulder, pocket his cell and head back to the van. Luckily no one sees me, then again everyone who lives around here sleeps during the day. So it's really not that surprising. 

After I get him in the van I handcuff his hands over his head, blindfold and gag him. Then I send Kinney a text and start driving to the cabin. Game on.    

Brian's POV

"Brian? Are you okay?" Cynthia asks shaking me "uh yea, I'm okay" I lie sounding better than I feel. Cynthia talks to me but I don't hear her I'm still looking at the text I just got from Justin. It says:

'Send money to these accounts in an hour or he dies'

I can't even look at the account numbers, this has to be a joke. I just talked to Justin less than an hour ago. I focus for a minute and hear Ted tell me to go home because he can handle everything here. I walk mechanically to my car and just sit there staring at the text. I'm about to call Daphne because she was supposed to give Justin a ride back to the loft. Before I can call her another text comes in.

'I'd hurry if I were you. Wouldn't want to lose your fiancé and your best friend in the same day.'

That snaps me out of my daze and I zoom off to the hospital. At the first red light I pull my cell out. I'm about to call Daphne when my phone rings.

"Hello?"

"Hey Brian it's me" Daphne says I sigh a little relieved, at least she's okay.

"Do you know where Justin is? I'm inside his apartment his stuff is half packed and he's not here" she says confused.

"Shit!" I mumble "I need you to meet me at the hospital" I tell her.

"What about-"

"I'll explain at the hospital just meet me there alright" I snap.

"Okay, okay I'll see you at the hospital" Daphne says before hanging up.

I put myself together the best I can before I go inside. I don't have to talk to anyone to know that Michael's gone. I can hear Debbie yelling from where I'm standing. I walk slowly into the waiting room that we were in just this morning. Ben is on the floor crying, and Carl is trying to calm Debbie down. I walk over to the doctor that Debbie was yelling at.

"What happened!?" I demand. I must look pretty terrifying because the guy shrinks back.

"Th-there was a-a mix up with the antibiotics an-and Mr. Novotny had allergic reaction" the doctor explains.

"How could you assholes make a mistake like that?! You killed my son!" Debbie yells taking a swing at the doctor.

I back away and try to think, I head to the bathroom and lock the door. It's not the hospitals fault but so far I'm the only one that knows that. I have to give this psycho the money he wants. I can't lose Justin too, especially since I just got him back. I look at the text again, and I notice something strange.

Whoever this fucker is he's making me send weird amounts of money to each account. A thousand here, five hundred here. What the hell is this person playing at? I look at the time and decide not to waste any more. I call Ted.

"Why do you want to transfer money to these accounts? And who are these people?"

"I don't have time to explain just fucking get it done!" I yell.

"Even with everything that's going on?"

"Just get it done Theodore! Now!" I yell so loud my throat hurts

"Alright, Alright I'm doing it"

"Stay on the line until it's done!" I snap

I hear Ted making calls and talking to people. It takes a few minutes, I look at my watch and I'm almost out of time. Fuck how did an hour fly by?

"How long is this going to take!" I say pissed and nervous. The time is ticking away and Justin's life is hanging in the balance.

"Theodore!" I say impatiently

"It's done, it's done. Geeze Brian what's your problem?"

I sigh relieved "You need to get over here"

"Uh I'm busy there are other things I need to-"

"Mikey's gone" I say hoping to distract him from why I needed to transfer the money.

"That's not funny"

"It's not a joke" I say blankly

"And you wait till now to tell me! What the fuck Brian?! You should've told me that first, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Truthfully I'm just really selfish" I say before hanging up.

I grip the edges of the sink so hard my knuckles turn sheet white. I try to focus and calm down, which is a lost cause. Between Mikey and (mostly) Justin

I'm a mess, I'm angry, sad and yea I'll admit it I'm fucking terrified. Whoever has Justin either killed Mikey their self or had someone else do it. Which means that this person is a coldblooded killer.

Then a thought surfaces, the text said fiancé. How does this fucker know that I asked Justin to marry me? The only thing I can think of is that... whoever this is must've been watching us. But which one of us? I don't know why anyone would want to hurt Justin. Me, I've pissed a lot of people off, but not enough to do something like this.

Before I can think about it anymore Carl comes in the bathroom asking me to join everyone else. I do so robotically following him into a room with Debbie, Ben, Ted, Emmett, Lindsey and Melanie. There are also police officers, and some hospital security. Ted makes a show of not looking at me. Not that I really care.

"What's going on?" Lindsey asks

"First of all we have to tell you that Michael Novotny died earlier this morning" one of the police officers says.

Every one gasps and looks at Deb, who looks numb and dazed. Then they look at Ben who looks, well he looks dead. Like there's no one home, his eyes are hollow and empty. I idly think that's how I'll look if anything happens to Justin.

"At first we thought there was a mix up with the medications. However after looking into it further we found out that there was foul play involved. Meaning Mr. Novotny was murdered" the other cop says.

The room is so quite I swear that everyone's hearts stopped beating.

"What!" Ben says coming back to life

"We checked the security cameras and someone sneaked into Mr. Novotny's room before he passed away" he says looking at everyone's faces. He settles on mine glaring at me, I know I don't look surprised. But I can't fake any emotions right now.

"Do any of you know anyone who would want to hurt Mr. Novotny?" he asks looking straight at me.

Everyone says no then thinks about it for a minute. Soon the room is filled with their idiotic theories. The cop stares at me watching my reaction. Clearly I'm not reacting like a grief stricken friend or relative. But they've got nothing on me, then again my alibi was kidnapped.

The thought makes me look at my cell, no messages. The money was sent but I didn't get any conformation that Justin's okay. Shit! I get a text from Daphne asking me where I am.

"I have to go" say to no one in particular.

"Mr....Kinney right?" the officer asks looking down at his note pad.

"Yes" I say annoyed

"You don't seem too upset, and from what Debbie's told us you were Michael's best friend"

"If I killed Mikey would I really still be here? Despite what people think I'm not a sociopath!" I snap turning to leave. My phone beeps before I can turn thehandle and I open the new text immediately.

'Nice to know you can follow orders Mr. Kinney. And in a timeline too. Taylor's safe...for now'

I can't help the relief that floods my body it's like I can breathe again. Then I read the text again and the fury from before comes back. Justin's safe 'for now' this person's not going to let him go. Most likely they'll make me do something else.

"Mr. Kinney?" the officer says, reminding me of my audience "who was that?" he asks.

I decide to answer truthfully "I don't know"

"How could you not know? You seem more relaxed than you did a second ago. What did the text say?"

"Don't answer that! Are you charging him?" Melanie says her eyes all glassy from the news about Michael.

"No, at least not yet" the officer says

"Artie give it a rest, Kinney wouldn't do anything to hurt Michael"

"Just doing my job Carl, where were you at eleven forty? Were you here at the hospital?"

"Yes!" I snap

"Brian don't" Melanie insist.

I ignore her and for once in my life I can't control the words coming out of my mouth.

"I was by the east side of the hospital proposing to my boyfriend, and making out with him"

Everyone looks at me shocked, they can tell by my expression that I'm not joking.

"You asked Justin to marry you?" Lindsey says surprised

"Tell me exactly what happened" officer Artie (what an unfortunate name) says.

I cut Mel off with an icy glare before answering.

"The doctor told us that Mikey should be fine, then most of us decided to go home. I pulled my boyfriend aside and asked or re-asked him to marry me. After he finally said yes, we made out for a good...ten minutes? Then I drove him home, changed showered and went in to work. Ted told me that I could take the day off and he'd handle everything. So I came here to check on Mikey, then I found out he died. My day got worse when this asshole cop decided to try and pin my best friend's murder on me! Are we done here?"

"Can I talk to this alleged boyfriend to confirm you're story?" Artie the asshole asks.

"We all know Justin he's real and Brian wouldn't do anything like this" this time its Ben sticking up for me.

"Where's your fiancé Mr. Kinney? We'd like to speak with him"

Yea well so would I, somehow sensing what's happening my phone buzzes again

'No Cops! You do want him to keep breathing don't you?'

The text makes my heart (yes my heart) contract. I need to get away from all these prying eyes. Mainly tweedle dum and tweedle dumber, I won't let anything happen to Justin. I won't lose him. I don't know how to answer the question, and I'm not gonna say anything else about Justin, not to these ass holes. So I pull a grade A Brian Kinney stunt.

"I need to be somewhere so unless you have some evidence. Or you're going to arrest me, I'm free to go right?"

The police officers and the security officers look at each other mystified.

"Fine but don't leave town Mr. Kinney" Artie says

I leave the room looking for Daphne. I find her with Jennifer waiting in the main lobby.

"Brian what's going on?" Daphne asks

"I'll tell you both everything at my place. We can't talk here, too many nosy people"

Daphne takes in my expression and nods, just as Ted and Carl walk over to us.

"What the hell was that all about?" Ted demands

"Yea that little performance didn't help anything" Carl says

"And what's going on with you and Justin?" Ted asks

"Does it have anything to do with-?"

"Not here!" I hiss at Ted cutting him off "I'll explain everything at my loft, so either come with me or stay here!" I say walking away.

Their all right behind me, Jennifer stops me

"I need a ride Tucker dropped me off and-"

"You can ride with me" I say cutting her off and taking her hand

The ride to my place is quite and awkward. Jennifer can tell that something is terribly wrong. But we don't talk.

"What's going on and where's Justin?" Daphne asks as soon as I lock the door and set the alarm.

Where the fuck do I start? I think about it for a minute, there's no right way to tell them.

"J-Justin's been...taken" I say pathetically

They all stare at me like I'm speaking another langue.

"You mean like...like someone abducted him?" Daphne asks

I take off my jacket and loosen my tie suddenly I need to change badly.

"Yes" I say heading to my closet and start stripping.

"H-Ho-How do you know?" I hear Jennifer ask

"Check the text's on my phone" I tell her putting on the first shirt and pair of jeans I see.

I watch all of them crowded around my phone reading and rereading the texts. Jennifer plops down on one of the stools in the kitchen.

"So this is why you needed those transfers" Ted says.

"You shouldn't have paid this guy" Carl says

"Yes usually I'd agree with that. But you never know what you'll do in a certain situation until you're in that situation"

"So what do we do?" Daphne says

"I assume you don't want to get the police involved. Usually that's what I would suggest. But since this creep is taking credit for Michael's murder. And like you said it's easy to tell someone what to do when you're not in their shoes....I'll look into this privately. I mean there's not much to go on seeing as the texts are coming from Justin's phone. I could track it but, whoever this guy is, he's going to have to get rid of it at some point. If he's as smart as he thinks he is" Carl says

"So all we can do is wait" Jennifer says

"I'm afraid so and I'm gonna need a list of names. Uh...of people you think would want to hurt Justin. It'll help us narrow this down and figure out who this is"

I give everyone a piece of paper, we all write our lists and I collect them. I can't help but skim the names on the list. One name is on everyone's list. And suddenly a memory's flash through my head.

"Shut up Taylor" "You are fucked!"

I remember that night the way he looked at Justin. In every text calling Justin by his last name. Just like he did that night, I know who has Justin.    

Justin's POV

I wake up groggy and confused, until the memories come back. I remember talking to Daph and hanging up. Then I remember feeling like someone was watching me, seeing a tall figure out of the corner of my eye. There was a slight struggle then...a needle. That would explain the grogginess and why I can't see, I must be blindfolded.

I move my arms their a little stiff and their cuffed above my head. I can't talk either, there's something sticky over my mouth, tape obviously. I start freaking out a bit, the realization of what's happened to me hits. Some one for some reason has kidnapped me, but who? I haven't pissed anyone off, at least not recently.

I start struggling with the cuffs, when someone starts talking. I realize that it's a radio, then I notice that I'm moving. I must be in a car or something, I start struggling with the cuffs again.

"Good you're finally awake. I was worried that I gave you too much" a vaguely familiar voice says.

I try to talk through the tape but it's useless.

"Oh here let me get that for you. No one will here you now anyway"

He (whoever he is) rips the tape off in one swift motion. It stings, I turn my head to wipe my mouth off on the sleeve of my shirt.

"W-Who are you? Why are you doing this to me? And where are you taking me?" I demand

"So many questions"

"Well can you blame me? I've never been kidnapped before"

"Yea because no matter how many times you get knocked down you just keep getting up. You're pretty tough, tougher than I ever thought. But I'm not underestimating you anymore."

So this guy knows me, or he's a stalker. Honestly I think both are possible.

"What are you doing with me?"

"Putting you on the side lines while I ruin your life. And you're boyfriends"

Brian! He must be going out of his fucking mind by now. He finally let me in, told me he loves me. Asked me to marry him and now...now some guy who I may or may not know. Is ruining everything. And he wants to hurt us, me and Brian.

"Br-Brian has nothing....don't you dare fucking hurt him!" I yell trying hard not to cry.

"You're really not in the position to make demands Taylor"

Taylor? Only one person ever called me that, holy shit!

"Ho-Hobbs?"

"Long time no see" he says

"Why are you doing this to me? Is it because of the whole thing with the gun? I'm not gonna apologize. You deserved it after what you did to me. Frankly this isn't going to help you"

"It's not about that, at least it's not only about that. It's certainly on the list. You're little friend, Cody he's already paid for his part in your petty revenge that night"

My blood turns cold. "Wha-What does that mean?"

"What do you think it means, I killed him"

My stomach churns and I feel like I'm going to vomit. I haven't even talked to Cody since that night. He was too angry for me and even though I hated to admit it, Brian was right about him.

"I don't believe you, you're just trying to scare me"

"You'll see soon enough" he says stopping the car "we're here"

I hear the car door open and close, I start struggling with the cuffs again. I know it's useless but I have to try. Then I hear another door open, one right in front of me. He grabs my leg and I kick him.

"Don't fight me" he says trying to grip both of my legs.

I keep kicking at him, then he climbs in and sits on my thighs. Holding my legs more securely but I can still move them. It's pointless though because he ties my feet together tightly.

"You're intent on making this harder than it has to be. Aren't you?"

He moves over to my hands and ties them together before removing the cuffs. I struggle with the rope while he packs some stuff up. At least that's what it sounds like, I'd take off the blindfold but he's still right next to me. And I'm too scared to try, which annoys me more. I haven't been scared of Hobbs since our last meeting. Which is apparently why I'm in this situation now.

After he's done, he pulls me half way out the van. So I'm sitting on the edge.

"Alright lets get going it's gonna be a pretty long walk"

"Yea and how am I-" before I can finish he slings me over his shoulder.

"Hey! You know if you untie my feet, I could walk myself" I say angry

"Not taking the chance, I can handle it. You're not that heavy"

"Thanks" I say sarcastically.

He's right it's a long walk, it's a bit uncomfortable. And he doesn't seem to be struggling at all. Which pisses me off, I wish it was more of a burden for him. When we get to wherever he's taking me, he lets me down and leans me against a...door? Or something. I hear locks clicking, Then he picks me up again and sets me down in a chair.

I hear him shuffling around and since my hands are tied in front of me, I decide to take the blind fold off. After my eyes adjust to the light I take in my surroundings. I'm in a cabin, I look towards one of the windows and I see just how trapped I am. I'm not directly in front of the window, but from where I'm sitting all I can see is trees. Hobbs must've really thought this through.

The thought brings me up short, and scares me. What exactly is he going to do to me? Or to Brian? This is all my fault, I can't let Brian get hurt because of me. Maybe I can talk him down and make him only focus on hurting me.

When he finally comes back from where ever he was in the cabin, he smiles at me. I'm confused until he takes the black scarf from around my neck, which was acting as my blindfold. He goes to the kitchen and pulls out a bottle of water. I look at it longingly, maybe it's because of the drugs he used to knock me out, but my mouth has been really dry. I'd kill for some water, I'm surprised when he opens it and hands me the bottle.

I take it cautiously, but I don't drink it. For all I know it could be poison. Then again he wouldn't go through all the trouble of kidnapping me. Just to give me a poisoned bottle of water. I take a tentative sip, it's cool and refreshing and it doesn't taste funny. So I drain the whole bottle. Chris hands me another and I take a sip.

"Wha-"

"What am I going to do to you?" he asks cutting me off before I can ask the whole question.

"Can't blame me for being curious" I say taking another sip of water.

"Nothing as long as you do everything I say, which I'm sure is a pretty cliché thing to say but-"

"Cliché huh kind of a big word for you" I say cutting him off, he just smiles at me.

"Still so feisty" he says amused, then he pulls out a pocket knife.

I drop the half empty bottle of water, and shrink back a little. My breathing speeds up as he puts the knife to my neck. He presses down a little and I gasp, it's sharp really sharp. He pressed down more and my eyes start to water. But I refuse to beg or plead with him, he gives me that nauseating smile again.

"Like I said I'm not going to hurt you" he says cutting my legs free "as long as you do what you're told" he says grabbing my arm, making me stand up.

He leads me upstairs to a bedroom with a bathroom attached to it. He closes the door behind him, while I look at the room nervously. He opens the dresser drawer and pulls out some clothes. And puts them on the bed.

"I need you to change, you can even take a shower if you want"

"Why?"

"You can either change yourself or I can help you"

I grab the clothes go to the bathroom and lock the door. I look around it's a pretty nice roomy bathroom. I look at the lock and think about staying in here. But I'm sure Hobbs could break it down if he really wanted. So I decide to do what he wants.

I take off my clothes and decide to shower. Maybe it'll help clear my head from the rest of the drugs. I don't take long, but it does feel nice. After I dry off and dress I find a blow-dryer. Maybe taking my time and drying my hair, will piss him off. After I'm done I look at the clothes he's put me in. It's a simple shirt and sweatpants. The sweatpants aren't baggy they kind of hug my body. Brian would think I look hot.

Thinking about Brian makes me sad and scared. I need to go back out, I have to get Hobbs to tell me what he's going to do to Brian. I take my clothes with me and open the door. He's not here, so I walk back downstairs to the kitchen slash living room. He has gloves on and he's rummaging through a bag on the kitchen table.

"Put your clothes in that bag" he says pointing to a clear plastic bag.

"What for?"

"Just. Do it"

I roll my eyes and do what he says

"Sit"

Since I'm deciding to listen to him, I sit in the chair I was in earlier. The fact that Hobbs has gloves on is unsettling. Then he takes out a gun, I can't help the ripple of fear that goes through me.

"Don't worry it's not for you...at least not yet"

He puts the gun in his waste by his back. Then he takes out a crowbar and slips some car keys into his pocket. Then he walks over to me with rope and the hand cuffs, that I'm guessing he's gonna use to tie me up.

"So what are you gonna do? I mean what's the plan here? You can't expect to keep me here forever" I tell him while he cuffs my hands behind my back.

"Maybe not forever but defiantly for a couple of months" he says tying my feet together.

My stomach clenches at the thought. I don't think I could play this cat and mouse game for months. I can't be away from Brian that long, and my mom she's probably freaking out.

"You can't fucking keep me here for months! What are you going to do to Brian? And me, you want to hurt me because of what Cody and I did? I understand that bu-but Brian doesn't have any-"

"You see this?" he says lifting up his left pants leg. I see some type of scar.

"I got this from your boyfriend the night I realized why I hated you"

One of the only times Chris and Brian have been in the same place was...at the prom. When he bashed my head in.

"Why do- did you hate me? I mean it was an innocent hand job. If you're not gay you could've just ignored me an-"

He shocks the shit out of me by kissing me. I'm to shocked to do anything, my whole body freezes.

"That's why I hated you"

When I don't say anything and just stare at him in shock, he keeps talking.

"I was young and worried about what everyone would think. I was convinced that being what I was, was immoral. I never had to think about it until you jerked me off that day. Then I was obsessed with you and angry about being obsessed with you. Which is why I was so harsh on you. Then Kinney shows up at prom and you guys had your romantic dance scene-"

"Which I don't remember! You obliterated those memories! You...bastard!" I say angry tears reluctantly rolling down my cheeks.

He has the audacity to try and wipe them away. I jerk my head away from his hand, so he drops it and stares at me.

"Don't you fucking touch me!"

"I overreacted at the prom, it took me a while to come to terms with what I am"

"And what exactly are you!?"

"I'm bisexual, and my wife can attest to that"

Again I'm shocked "you're married? Does your wife know what you're doing?"

"Yup, she totally supports me" he says smiling

"Wha-what? You're wife knows that you're doing this to me? And why? Because you're still obsessed with me? I mean you're life seems pretty good"

"Yea and that's what pisses me off!" he yells kicking a chair and making me jump.

"After that night my knee was ruined and that was the end of my football career. So I went to school for architecture, I got my own construction company. I met Julie and almost completely forgot about you. Then you showed up at one of my sites. You looked different, you're beautiful hair all gone. But you still looked..."

He looks at me in a way that makes me nauseas

"Anyway that little moment made me start thinking about you again. Then you were at my house...Cody probably saved you that night"

"What do you mean?"

"Heh, what do you think I mean? It only accrued to me after you humiliated me and made me 'suck it'. That I realize the gun probably wasn't loaded, was it?"

He asks leaning down and looking me in the eye. I hadn't thought about that, honestly I always thought it was loaded. Cody was so pumped about the whole thing, for all I know it probably was. I never told anyone about that night, now it's come back to bite me and everyone I love in the ass. I thinkabout the last thing Hobbs said, about Cody saving me.

"Yea I might've gotten you out of my system that night. Then again maybe not"

"What. Are. You. Going. To. Do?"

"Well so far I've gotten your boyfriend to fund the bombing at Babylon-"

"That was you?"

"Yea it was, oh and before I grabbed you, I killed Michael. That's on person off the list, next I'll probably just go sniff everything out. Then I'll have to get rid of your phone and start using the prepaid ones that I bought."

I'm still stuck on the news about Michael

"Why? Why Michael, he had nothing to do with..."

"Don't tell me you're upset, the guy wasn't you're friend. At best he tolerated you"

"Even if that was true...you had no right..."

"He was Kinney's best friend, plus I hate Kinney, for a long list of reasons. Of course I had too"

He grabs my face and makes me look at him.

"And I'm just getting started, my plan Justin, is to systematically destroy everyone in your life. Starting with Michael and ending with Brian"

I can't help my eyes getting all teary again

"Please, you're mad at me, it's not their fault"

"Everyone in their own special way deserves it, Debbie's big mouth at the trial. How hard Melanie fought to get me jail time. Granted she failed, but she's still on the list. Along with Lindsey, Ted, Emmett, Daphne, and your mom"

"No, d-don't hurt th- please don't do this!" I plead "I'll do anything, just don't hurt them"
He lets go of me and stands up, he packs up his bag and heads for the door.

"Be good and I'll be back later"

"Please don't do this! Take it out on me!"

"I am" he says before leaving    

Brian's POV

After I told Carl that I'm a hundred percent sure Chris Hobbs took Justin. He went off to look into it, everyone stayed at my house. Either not wanting to be alone or not wanting to leave me alone. Honestly I didn't mind, it's actually nice to know where Daphne and Jenifer are. Knowing who's behind this made me feel better for a second.

Then after it really sinks in, all the stuff Hobbs ever did comes back. Personally I shared the same idea that Daphne does. We both always felt that Hobbs had a secret thing for Justin. One more thing for me to feel uneasy about. I mean what if he decides to...do something to him? 

While everyone's still sleeping I sit on the floor in the kitchen drinking a bottle of Jim Beam. I fucking hate feeling so useless, and I miss him so much. Justin could be getting beaten or...worse. I'm just sitting here, maybe I should tell the cops...but he said not too. I wipe away angry tears, I hate not knowing. 

I should've stayed with him, if I would've stayed, he'd be with me right now. He'd be drawing up seating charts for our wedding.More stupid tears. 

"You shouldn't blame yourself" Jenifer says sitting next to me. I don't even wipe the tears away.

"Why not?" 

"Can I have some of that?" she asks I shrug and give her the bottle.

Unexpectedly she takes a long drag from the bottle. 

"Wow mamma Taylor I didn't know you had it in you"

"Yea well under the...there's a time and place for everything"

"I'm sorry"

"After everything you've done for me and my son...I know you would've stopped it...if there was any possible way. We've...he's been through so much, I refuse to believe that he won't come home safe"

I think about what I said to him the other day. About if anyone would come out of the bombing unruffled...the bomb. 

"That fucking cunt!" 

"Huh?"

"Hobbs he...he set off the bomb at Babylon"

"The police said that whoever set off the bomb did it in protest of prop 14"

"Or that's what he wanted them to think. It can't be a coincidence, that as soon as I buy Babylon...maybe that's why he really did it"

"Because you bought Babylon? Why would Hobbs care after all this time?"

"May be he never stopped caring" Daphne says surprising both of us, and giving me a knowing look.

"Don't tell me that you agree with Daphne, that he has some type of...crush on Justin" Jenifer says.

"Why else would he...he wouldn't have killed Michael if this was only about Justin. I mean sure killing his boyfriend's best friend and blaming him would screw with Justin's head. But only if he tells him, and he took Justin before he found out about Michael's death" Daphne says

I can't help but think that she's right

"So what he's doing this out of jealousy?" Jenifer says  

"Yes but he might think its revenge or something" I say thinking it over 

"Revenge for what! They didn't even send him to jail for trying to kill Justin. And why would he have even tried to kill Justin if he liked him?" Jenifer says angry

"Because he's a self-loathing piece of shit" I offer as someone knocks on the door.

I get up to open it and find Carl there with Debbie, Emmett, and Melanie.

"Really Carl?" I say already exhausted 

"You didn't think we had the right to fucking know! You didn't think I had the right to know the same animal that tried to kill sunshine killed my son!" Debbie yells

I shut the door after they all pile in.

"Do you know for sure that Hobbs is behind this?" Melanie asks

"Nope just a gut feeling. So did you find anything out" I ask turning to Carl

"Well it's going to be hard pinning this on him. I mean ever since the incident at the prom he's been a model citizen. You ended his football career, when you saved Justin. Apparently Hobbs suffered some sort of fracture, which caused him to have to wear a brace during his community service. After that he went to an architectural school, started up his own business and he's been married for about a year and a half"

"He's married! Who'd marry him?" Daphne says surprised

"Do you know where he is now?" I ask Carl

"I asked some of the guys at his newest construction site. Apparently he's on vacation"

"How convenient" Melanie says

"I couldn't press more because I don't have any physical evidence" Carl says apologetically

Everyone is quite for a minute, well it seems that so far Hobbs has thought this through. At least so far.

"What about Justin's phone? Could you track it? I mean we know it's on plus he's using it" Daphne says hopefully.

"That's not a bad idea I mean if his phone has a tracking feature on it"

I bought him that cell and I remember adding some sort of GPS type thing to it.

"It does, what would you need to track it?"

"His number"

I give Carl his number and he goes off in the corner to make some calls. Everyone has floated into their own groups, Debbie and Jenifer are talking on the couch and Emmett, Ted and Melanie are talking quietly next to them. Daphne seems to be fine sticking to me. 

"Okay thank you" Carl says hanging up and walking over to us

"We found out where the phone is and sent a few guys ahead of me. Just...in case"

"In case what?" Jenifer says

"In case we find them and he has a gun, or in case we find something...else"

Like Justin's dead body, which is what Carl really means. The thought sends a shiver down my spine.   

"I'm going with you" I tell him

"I don't think that's a good idea, I think you all should head over to the station and wait for me there"

"Okay" I say surprising everyone yet again. Daphne and Jenifer decide to ride with me.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to just wait at the station?" Jenifer asks when we're in the car

"We're not going to the station, we're following Carl" Daphne says smugly

"Oh thank Goodness" Jenifer says relieved, I can't help but smile.

While the rest of the gang heads over to the station, I carefully follow Carl. I make sure he won't see us. We end up on a bunch of back streets, then we're basically in the woods. I stop the car when I see all the cop cars and the ambulance. Then I see something that makes my stomach drop.

"I-Is that a b-body?" Daphne asks

I get out of the car and one of them follows me, I don't turn to see who. I run over to the scene and Carl stops me before I can see anything.

"I told you to wait a-"

"Let me see Carl" I demand. He sighs and leads me and Daphne to where they're about to load the body. 

I take a deep breath and look the first thing I see is all the blood. But it's not Justin and I feel like I can breathe again.

"Holy fuck!" Daphne says looking at the guy like she knows him.

"Do you know this man?" Carl asks

"Yea this is Cody...uh Cody Bell" 

Cody, that guy that Justin was hanging out with during his angry heterophob stage. That's two people connected to Justin dead. I hear someone throwing up, I look behind me and see Daphne bent over and puking her guts out. While some paramedic lady holds her hair. Jenifer, I have to tell her it's not Justin.

I walk back to the car and she's standing by it with tears sliding down her face. I walk up to her and hug her.

"It's not him, it's not Justin"

"Thank God!" she sobs against my chest. Carl walks over to us with Daphne tucked under his arm.

"I need you three to come down to the station for questioning" he says grimly

I put Daphne and Jenifer back in the car and follow Carl to the station. The police mostly question Daphne, she was the only one who really had an inside look at Cody and Justin's relationship. I never really met the kid, neither did Jenifer. 

They didn't find anything on Cody, no finger prints, a couple of fibers from some gloves. Justin's cell was clean too no finger prints or any other DNA. Apparently it'd been wiped down, after they went through Justin's cell they found the texts. So I had to tell them that Justin was missing and or kidnapped. I reluctantly let them take my phone too, hoping that nothing will happen to Justin because of it.

I'm so tired and stressed that when they ask who I think is behind it I tell them about Hobbs. I event tell them that I think he's the one who blew up the club. And surprisingly they take me seriously, which means a lot more questioning.

After the police are done working me over, I go home without talking to everyone else. I don't know how to do this, it's like I'm in a permeant state of panic and I don't do panic. I just wish that this was over and that he was here, Justin would know what to say. He'd bug me about not being there more for Debbie, and about me barely even acknowledging the death of my best friend. I try not to cry on the way up to the loft.

As soon as I open the door I know somethings wrong. Someone was here and for a second I think maybe its Justin. That hope dies immediately when I see the brand new disposable cell phone on the counter. With a note attached to it, I think about it for a minute, deliberating whether or not to call the cops. 

I decide not to I don't even open the note. I open a fresh bottle of Beam and settle into the couch for another sleepless night.

I'm still sitting in front of the police station, Kinney left a while ago. I smile thinking about his face when he gets his new phone. The rest or most of Justin's friends are still inside the station. I rub my bottom lip, thinking again about how soft Justin's lips were. I shouldn't have kissed him it's totally messing me up.

Every time I'm not thinking about what I have to do next, I'm thinking about Justin's lips. I snap out of it when I see Ted, Emmett and Melanie leaving the station. I follow them chewing over whether or not I should go after three at a time. I decide to go after at least two of them. So I wait for my opportunity while they go into that bar Woody's that their all so fond of. 

I wait for an hour before Ted comes out. He doesn't go to his car so I get out and follow him. We end up in a blind spot, it's not exactly an ally but it'll do. I put the cap and scarf over my face just like before, and take out a crowbar. As I close in on him he turns around and takes me in.

"Brian was right it's you isn't? It wasn't enough that you bashed his head in. Now you have to terrorize him and his friends and family. You killed Michael!" he says charging at me.

Before he can land a punch I hit him in the gut with the crowbar. When he doesn't get up I hit him again and again. Each time I hit him I feel more energized and...angry. After that I kind of black out, when I come to the crowbar is as bloody as he is. 

"Teddy! I know you're down here your always down here" I hear Emmett say. I hide out of sight so he can't see me.

"Oh my...Teddy!" he says kneeling down next to Ted

While he's doing that I come out of my hiding place, he sees me and he's faster than I thought he'd be. He gets a hold of the crowbar and kicks me in my bad leg, the pain makes me loosen my grip. He grabs the weapon from me and tosses it aside, then he punches me and kicks me again in the chest. He's more of a fighter than I thought.

While I'm on the ground he goes over to where he threw the crowbar. Before he can hit me with it I take my knife and stab him. He coughs up a little blood before crumpling to the ground. I contemplated using the gun but it's a little too early for that. Plus gun powder is a bitch to get rid of. 

Before I can leave I hear someone else walking over to the scene. If it's Melanie then I must have some sort of twisted guardian angel watching over me. Sure enough it's her, I pick up the iron and hide around the corner. As soon as I see her I hit her in the head hard enough to knock her out. But I can't hit her again, maybe it's because I know that she's a mom. Or maybe because she makes me think of my mother, I don't hit her again. 

I drop the crowbar and take a different route to my car. When I get in the car I take off the now bloody gloves. Then I take off the scarf, I sit there for a minute breathing heavily. Finally feeling the effects of what I just did, my arms are sore and my hands cramped. I stretch them out and dig in my bag for my water, I drain the whole bottle. 

Then I see someone running into the bar from the direction that I originally came from. I guess someone found them, I decide to leave, no need to stick around and wait. While I'm driving I think about the little gift I left for Kinney. I wonder how long until he'll call, it probably won't be tonight. Finding Cody's body probably drained him, he probably thought it was Justin.

I smile at the thought, I would have loved to be there. To see his face when they took the body out of the car. The only downside is that I was hoping to keep the police out this for a little while longer. Oh well, I knew Kinney wasn't an idiot, he'd figure out it was me eventually. I'm going to enjoy screwing with him. 

I guess I'm going to have to speed a couple of things up though. I'm sure the police will be calling me in for questioning, but they don't have any proof. So I'm not at all worried, my thoughts stray to Justin's soft kissable lips. He was fucking shocked, I bet out of all the things he thought I'd do. Kissing him wasn't on his list. I loved it so much I might have to do it again.   

My stomach growls letting me know how hungry I am. I change sneakers and go to my favorite Chinese place. I order enough food for me and Justin, and head back to the cabin. I might have left Justin alone for too long, he could be sitting in a puddle of his own piss by now. I can't help the pleased smile on my face, four down five to go.

Justin's POV

It's been hours actually it's been all day. I tried to get myself untied but without something to pick the hand cuff lock. It was pretty useless, I hopped around a bit but that didn't do me any good. So I ended up sitting on the floor against the couch, thinking about all the horrible things he could be doing to my family. Then I hear a car, he's back which I hate to admit I'm happy about. I really, really have to pee.

When he walks in he looks happy, and he's carrying two big bags of take out. The smell of the food makes my mouth water. I try to remember the last time I ate something...maybe a day or two ago. While Hobbs is putting the food on the kitchen table, I notice blood on the cuffs of his shirt.

"What did you do?"

He looks around confused until he sees me on the floor. He smiles at me

"Been busy huh. How'd you get down there?" he asks taking off his gloves and washing his hands. 

He takes off his jacket, shirt and hat. I notice a small bruise on his jaw and a huge one on his chest. Whoever he attacked got a few good hits in, the thought makes me smile. He walks over to me and puts me on the couch. The he unties me.

"Who beat the shit out of you?" 

"Uh your friend Emmett" he says putting his clothes in a brown paper bag

My smile widens then disappears, he hurt Emmett. I mean obviously Emmett got a couple of good hits in, but Hobbs looked a little too happy when he came in. 

"What the fuck did you do!?" I demand holding back angry tears

He looks at me and his face twists not in pain. Almost like a mix of pure joy, anger and pain. Which is weird, he walks away and goes upstairs. When I hear the door close I think about going to the door. I decide against it and go through the bag with his clothes in it. 

As soon as I touch the jacket its wet really wet. Looking at it, it looks like a wet spot maybe water or something. But up close and personal I can tell its blood, and my hand is completely slick with it. My I close my eyes and hold my breath and wash my hands in the sink. Trying to get all of it off, for all I know it could be Emmett's or...Brian's.

I grip the sink and try to calm down, then I feel a hand on my shoulder. I jerk away and almost slam into the table, Hobbs looks at me like I'm some kid throwing a tantrum.

"Come on you should eat something"

I noticed that he's changed into pajamas no less. He's holding his dirty (and most likely bloody) black jeans, he puts them in the bag with the rest of his clothes. I turn away to go upstairs, and he grabs my arm tightly making me wince.

"Where are you going?" he asks pulling me too him

"I have to pee" I say letting as much venom pour into the sentence as I can

"There's a bathroom down here" he says dragging me to a door down the hall. 

He opens the door and pushes me in, flicking on the lights before closing the door. I hear a clicking sound and I know I'm locked in, but I try the door anyway. It doesn't open I sigh and look around. This bathroom is smaller than the one upstairs, there's just a sink and a toilet. There's not even a window, I piss wash my hands and splash some cold water on my face. Emmett could be dead and it's my fault.

"You done?" Hobbs asks knocking on the door

"Yes" 

He opens the door grabs my arm again leading me back to the kitchen. The food is all unpacked and despite the worry I feel my stomach rumbles. 

"Take whatever you want" he says grabbing two containers and a bottle of beer

I watch him walk to the couch and turn on the TV. I look at the food and pick up some shrimp chow mein and two shrimp rolls. I think about taking some fortune cookies, but they remind me of Brian. I grab a ginger ale and sit in the accent chair, so that he won't try and sit next to me. I pile my food in my lap and start eating. The food is warm and delicious, after I finish with my chow mein I remember that I was worried.

"What did you do?"

"Don't worry about it"

"Why not you've got me here I can't go anywhere. Just...tell me what you did. Did you kill him?"

"Who Emmett? Nah he's not dead" he thinks for a minute "he's just fucked up"

There's more that he's not telling me, I finish my food and take a long drag of my soda. 

"Did you hurt anyone else?"

"Smart aren't you?" he puts his beer down and looks at me weighing something. "Do you really what to know this stuff Justin?"

"Yes" I say sounding more sure than I feel

"Okay well first, and you might like this, I'm pretty sure your friends know that I'm behind this"

Hope swells in me and I try to keep it off my face

"I'm sure your detective friend will be questioning me soon. Especially because of the dead body they found today"

My whole body goes cold and I remember him saying that he killed Cody

"How and why?"

"I left your cell with the body and because they can't pin it on me. They've got nothing to prove that I did it. I wish I could've seen Kinney's face when they saw the body. Judging by the way he, Daphne and your mom looked when they got to the station. I'm guessing they freaked" he says smiling

"You can't really think you're getting away with murder. There's no such thing as ‘the perfect murder' you know" He ignores me and keeps talking         

"I'm guessing that the three of them went to the crime scene, while everyone else went to the station. So I waited for them to come out, when they did they went to a bar. Then Ted strayed from the heard. So I followed him and I beat the shit out of him. Now Ted...he might be dead, after I stopped hitting him it didn't look like he was breathing. Then Emmett came looking for him, we fought for a while. Then I stabbed him, then Melanie came looking for both of them I guess-"

"Tell me you didn't" I whisper. Shit! What about JR? 

"Look I was going to leave but she showed up and-"

I lunge at him and punch him right in the face. I'm rewarded with a bunch of blood pouring from his nose. Hobbs grabs my wrists and tries to push me off of him. We both topple to the floor and I hit him again, he curses and pushes me off of him. I hit the floor hard, and I'm disoriented for a moment by the pain.

He grabs me and pins me to the wall with my arms trapped at my sides. I struggle, yell and curse at him. He just keeps me pinned and smiles at me.

"What the fuck is so funny!?" 

He traps both of my wrists in one of his hands and cups my chin

"You're really sexy when you're angry" 

No! He's gonna kiss me again. I try and twist my chin out of his grasp but it's useless. He smashes his mouth over mine. And to my complete disgust he forces his tongue into my mouth. I bite down on his tongue hard and taste blood.

He jerks away from me with blood in his mouth and a wolfish grin on his face. He laughs and slings me over his shoulder. And I completely panic.

"No! Put me down, let me go!" I shout beating on his back, he laughs while carries me upstairs.

He takes me back to the room and dumps me on the bed. He gives me one last nauseating smile before leaving and locking the door. I jump off the bed and into the bathroom, I rinse my mouth out with hot water. I search around for a toothbrush. When I find one I tear it open, smear toothpaste on it and scrub my mouth clean. When my mouth is numbingly minty, I grab a pillow and blanket from the bed and lock myself in the bathroom. I bury my face in the pillow and cry. 

I cry because of what he's doing to my family. Because I know it's only a matter of time before stealing a kiss or two isn't enough. And I can't help but wish Brian was here, if he was here...I wouldn't be so scared. I miss him so much it hurts, I wonder if he's looking for me. I shake the doubt away, of course he's looking.

So I need to do my part, tomorrow I've got to find a way out of here. Back to my family and back to Brian.

Brian's POV    

"Justin!" I shout pushing past people in the rubble of what used to be Babylon. 

"Brian!" I see him but I can't get to him. I try to push past the crowd of people, but they push me away from where he is. 

"Justin! Hold on I'm coming!" I yell trying to get through the crowd. Then I see him Hobbs, he gives me a ruthless grin as he walks towards Justin. 

"No! Justin look out!" I rush through the crowd and I'm almost to him. I grab his arm and pull him too me. Then I feel something warm and wet I look over Justin's head and I see Hobbs with a bloody knife. No! I look at Justin and there's blood spilling from his chest. Justin slumps down and I follow I pull him into my arms cradling him.

"I-I-I wa-waited for you" he stammers as blood streams out of the corner of his mouth 

"I'm sorry sunshine...I'm so sorry" I say rocking back and forth and crying

"Why? Why didn't you come f-for me?" 

"I....I don't know? I meant too...please don't go Justin"

"I waited but you never came" he chokes out

"Brian! Brian wake up!" 

Daphne? What? He's gone Justin's gone there's nothing left but his blood. Justin I waited too long...I'm sorry.

I wake up disoriented and hung over, I bolt up looking at my clothes, no blood it was just a dream. Fresh tears roll down my face, he's not here, Hobbs still has him. And I haven't done one fucking him to bring him back home. 

"Brian! Open the Door!"

I wipe my face and go to the door. When I open it the look on Daphne's face snaps me out of the daze from my dream.

"What? What happened?"

"You really didn't answer you're land line did you?" she says plugging her nose "You need to shower"

"Thanks now what did I miss?"

"Ted, Emmett and Lindsey were attacked last night. We need to get to the hospital" she explains

I run to the bathroom and take the fastest shower I've ever taken in my life. After I brush my teeth I throw on some jeans, a shirt and some shoes. When I get to the kitchen daphne is holding the unopened letter from Hobbs that came with the burner phone.

"What's this?" 

"A note"

"From Hobbs? When did you get this?"

"It was here when I got home along with..." I go to my old pants and fish out the phone "this"

"Cocky son of a bitch isn't he" 

"What does the note say?"

"It says ‘I figured by now you'd need a new phone. You know to make sure our boyfriend's okay' asshole" she says frustrated

I grit my teeth then pull myself together, Daphne looks at the note confused 

"Do you think we should give it to the cops?" I ask

"No...they haven't found anything on Justin's phone when they found it. I'm sure he didn't leave his prints or anything" she sighs "we should go"

Daphne took a cab over so she drives with me to the hospital. When we get there a nurse guides us to Emmett's room. Lindsey, Melanie, Debbie, Drew, Carl and the two officers from the other day are here. 

Emmett's face is bruised he has a black eye and a few of his fingers are wrapped up. Melanie looks fine  

"Where the fuck have you been!?" Debbie demands

Having nightmares and then waking up to one "had to drink myself to sleep"

"Oh" 

"Yea ‘Oh'. So what happened? And where's Ted?"

"We've been waiting all morning for Mr. Honeycutt to tell us that. Seeing that Mr. Schmidt is still in surgery and Miss. Marcus can't remember anything-"

"I was waiting for you, I don't want to have to go through this fucking story twice. Plus if anyone's going to actually find Justin it's you not them" he says pointing to the two officers

"Well I'm here so what happened?" 

"Last night after the police were done drilling us about Hobbs we went to Woody's. Ted got really depressed, you know because of....anyway. He left to take a walk I waited a while and when he didn't come back I went looking for him. When I found him he was all bloody and it didn't look like he was breathing."

He stops to take a deep breath before continuing.  

"So I knelt down next to him to see if he had a pulse. That's when I saw him out of the corner of my eye. He was about to hit me with a...I think it was a crowbar. I got a hold of the crowbar and kicked him in the leg, his grip loosened, so I yanked it from him and threw it. Then I punched him and kicked him in the chest."

He squeezes his eyes shut and takes another breath

"I couldn't see his face but his eyes looked...surprised, like he didn't expect me to fight back. While he was lying there I went to go get the crowbar, before I could smash him with it he stabbed me" 

Emmett's eyes are all glassy as he tries not to cry, Drew squeezes his hand and smiles at him encouragingly. 

"I tasted blood in my mouth and... I thought I was dead. I laid there waiting for him to finish me off. Then I heard someone coming and so did he, so he hid by the wall. When Mel turned he hit her over the head, he hit her so hard I thought she was dead too. Then he sort of just...looked at her like he was trying to figure something out. Then he left"

I take a minute to soak everything in. Emmett's story tells me a few things, one the fucker is watching us. That's the only way he would've known to attack them. Hobbs isn't as dumb as I thought he was, pretty smart actually. Maybe too smart

"Do you have any type of surveillance, outside of the station?" I ask Carl

"Yea...uh I mean it's fairly new but it should've been recording last night"

"You think he followed us from the station?" Mel asks

"Yea I do, what about this supposed wife of his?" I ask Carl

"Uh from what I found out she's in New York visiting her mother or something. Why?"

"I don't think Hobbs is smart enough to have come up with all of this by himself"

"You think his wife helped him with this?" Lindsey asks

"It's either her or somebody else. But I think it's pretty convenient that she leaves town just as all this happens" 

"Well I can ask him about it later" Carl says carefully

"What?"

"I agree that it's weird that your club gets blown up, Taylor goes missing and now both of your friends and family are getting attacked. He's a good place to start looking, so I asked him to come to the station for questioning"

"If he was guilty why would he even show up?" officer Artie the asshole asks

"Because he thinks he'll get away with it, I mean why shouldn't he?" Mel said

"Because he'd get caught" Officer Asshole says

"He got away with it before! He fucking tried to murder sunshine with a baseball bat and he got off with a slap on the wrist!" Debbie yells 

"So why should this time be any different?" Lindsey whispers clutching Melanie's hand

The small gesture makes the pain in my chest more present. I wish I could hold Justin's hand, let him know that I'm looking. That I won't stop until I find him, until he's home with me. Suddenly I feel angry and the room turns red.

"Carl-"

"No it's a bad idea Kinney"

"I'll...behave"

"That was convincing, it's not a good idea for any of you to be there when we question Hobbs. You're all too emotional and too close to this"

I look at Daphne and her phone is open, I can't help but smile. I know exactly what she's doing.

"Is that what you're going to tell Jenifer? Because I'm pretty sure that Daphne's been letting her listen to this whole conversation. And either she's on her way here or she's going to the station"

Carl glares at Daphne who just shrugs her shoulders

"She's his mother she has a right to know" she said shamelessly

"Fine! But remember as much as you all may hate it this interview is a courtesy on Hobbs part. We don't have any physical evidence that proves he did anything"

"Which is bullshit!" Debbie says 

"I'm not arguing with you. But if you guys do anything...fuck it. Look if you guys physically harm Hobbs in any way he could sue you and you'd be no use to anyone locked up" Carl said talking to everyone but looking at me.

"Got it, we'll all be on our best behavior" I say sweetly Carl rolls his eyes

"Yea right" Carl mumbles 

Carl goes ahead of us to the station to wait for Hobbs. After he leaves I get the full medical rundown of everyone. Emmett was stabbed in the side and luckily it missed any vital organs. But he's gonna be a little tender for a while so he has to stay. Melanie has a minor concussion.

Ted on the other hand has a major concussion. Plus a lot of internal bleeding, which is why he's in surgery. The doctors are trying but I can tell it's not good. Jenifer called to let us know that she's already at the station. In the end me, Melanie, Debbie, and Daphne head to the station to wait for Hobbs. When we get there Jenifer is clearly nervous and pacing in Carl's office. She relaxes a little when she sees me, and I do the same. Which is weird and it makes me realize how close mamma Taylor and I really are. And I thought she hated me. 

"Is he here yet?" I ask after she hugs me

"Not yet but Carl said he should be here any minute. I can't believe he's ruining our lives again" she mumbles angry and tired.

I feel the exact same way, we all wait in Carl's office anxiously. It's about twenty minutes until he comes in. 

"He's here and I'm going to question him. Now you guys can watch in the other room, you'll be able to see me question him. But-"

"We've all seen a cop show before Carl, we get it" I said cutting him off

He sighs and leads us to a cold grey room with a glass mirror which I'm guessing is two way. Then I see him, Hobbs is sitting in the chair waiting for Carl and looking smug. Seeing him makes flashes of Justin getting hit with the bat and going down assault my head. Holding Justin while he lay there bleeding and unconscious. I squeeze my eyes shut trying to shut out the memories.

"Are you okay?" Jenifer asks

"Um...yea just bad memories" I say grudgingly

Jenifer tenses but doesn't say anything. Carl walks into the room with Hobbs and you can feel the tension in the room. 

"Hello Mr. Hobbs do you know why I've called you here today?" 

"No not really, you just said that you needed to ask me a few questions"

"Right" Carl said looking at him skeptically "What happened to your nose?"

I look closer and notice that Hobbs nose is a little swollen. And a reluctant smile pulls at my mouth.

"What?" Daphne asks

"Fifty bucks says that Justin did that" 

"Really?" Jenifer asks hopefully 

"I'm sure of it"

"Got into a little fight" Hobbs said coolly

"Hmm any way, what do you know about the bombing that occurred about two days ago?"

"You mean at Babylon right"

"Yes"

"Well when I was taking my wife to the airport we heard about it on the radio. So after I dropped her off I went to the club to check things out"

"Why? Did you have any friends or family there?"

"No but I did do a bit of construction on the place when it got a new owner"

Carl stares at him dumbstruck just like the rest of us. Hobbs! Fucking Hobbs did the upgrade work at Babylon and this is how I have to find out! 

"Again I have to ask why, I think it's pretty well known how you feel about..." Carl looks in a file and reads from it "Fudge packing faggots. Isn't that how you referred to the gay and lesbian community?"

Hobbs sighs stifling a smile and rakes his fingers through his hair. "I was eighteen, angry and... I haden't come to terms with who I was back then"

"Who you are?"

"Yes, see back then when the classmate I assaulted, Justin Taylor, and I were cleaning out the athletic room. We started talking about this time me and this girl...anyway things got hot and heavy. Then he gave me the best hand job of my life" he said reminiscing. 

Bile rises in my throat at the look on his face and Jenifer stiffens beside me. My fists are balled up so tight my knuckles are white.

"After that day I started having sexual feelings-"

"For Taylor?"

He laughs "Him and every other hot guy I saw. Then Taylor was all out of the closet and sure of himself and so...proud. I was jealous of his confidence, which is why I picked on him so much. I got worse and worse, then at prom he has the nerve to dance with his thirty year old boyfriend. I guess I just snapped, which is no excuse"

"So what after the trial and everything you were better?"

"Nope I was still angry, took a lot of therapy to get my shit together"

"And what exactly did you get together?" Carl asks out of pure curiosity

"I go both ways"

"Which would explain the wife. Okay anyway back to Justin Taylor"

"What about him?"

"When's the last time you saw him?"

"Um....I'm not sure I can say"

"Why not?" 

"Well the last time I saw Justin Taylor...he had a gun pointed at my head"

Everyone gasps shocked, everyone except Daphne.

"Is that true?" I ask her

"Well...yea but Justin didn't tell me Cody did. But since they stopped hanging out I didn't think we had anything to worry about" she said guiltily

"It's alright I mean it happened a year ago..."

"But maybe that's why he's doing this whole revenge thing?" Mel suggests

"Revenge for what? It's not like sunshine actually fired the gun" Debbie said

"Shh"

"Are you serious? Why would he do that?" Carl asks 

"He wanted an apology and for me to know what it felt like. To be afraid of people who hate you for something you can't change even if you wanted too"

I roll my eyes "He's good"

"You don't believe him?" Lindsey asks

"I believe that Justin put a gun to his head, what I don't believe is that he's all reformed. But everything he's saying is making him look less suspect. I mean these things are recorded. He's doing this on purpose"

"Right are you sure you want to stick with this whole I'm reformed thing?" Carl asks 

"Um...Yes?" 

"Okay so you were just at Babylon to check out the damage because you worked at the building. Did you work on the building because you knew Justin's boyfriend Brian Kinney now owns the club?"Hobbs can't hide the irritation on his face when Carl says my name.

"No I didn't know that"

"Can you explain how or why rather you gave your blood to save Michael Novotny's life?"

"What!?" Debbie shouts making everyone jump

"So I saw Taylor and Kinney then I followed Kinney to the hospital. I over hear the doctor and I happened to be the right blood type. Is it a crime to do something nice?"

"Why did you follow Kinney?" 

"I don't know...I just did"

"Well maybe you snapped again followed them both around and when Taylor was alone you grabbed him!"

Hobbs smiles "Oh is that what this is about? Taylors missing, I don't have him and if you're not charging me then I think I'll go" he said getting up

"One more thing where were you last night?"

"I was up in a little cabin that I own, while my wife is away I figured that I get a little R&R"

"Do you mind if we check this cabin of yours" 

"Sure do you want to follow me and head out there now?"

"No tomorrow"

"What time?"

"Just be ready"

"Yes sir" he said leaving. "Oh and I really do hope you find him" he said looking at the glass directly at me

I storm out of the building and wait for Hobbs outside. He walks out with the biggest smile on his face.

"You know I think this is the first time we've even met face to face" he said turning to face me

"What the fuck was all of that in there!? Did you really expect any of us to believe that shit!?"

"You're causing a scene" he said calmly "If you want to talk then we could go have a coffee or something. I'd really like to apologize for-"

"For blowing up my club or kidnapping my fiancé?" 

He leans in and whispers "Both"

It takes every ounce of strength in me not to beat the shit out of him. Right in front of the police station. He walks away and I follow until we get to some kind of diner. I follow him wordlessly, as he gets us a booth in the back. So no one will hear what we're talking about. He puts on some black gloves and orders two slices of chocolate marshmallow pie and two coffees. 

Then he just sits there 

"Well you wanted to talk so talk" he said

My anger ebbs "Did...did you hurt Justin?"

"Aww how cute, no I didn't hurt him. Not yet anyway"

"Why'd you take him?" I ask as the lady comes back with the food

"Honestly...because I like him a lot. I mean I've got a great job and beautiful wife but I can't get him out of my head"

"I thought you saw a shrink?"

"I've seen seventeen including my wife" he said taking a bite of his pie

"I'm not even going to comment on that" I say taking a big gulp of coffee

"Wise choice"

"Why blow up the club?"

"Because I kind of- no I just plain don't like you. And as for hurting and in some case killing your and his friends. That's to get at both of you."

I try to keep my anger in check "Justin do that to your nose?"

"Yea he was pretty pissed when I told him what I did to your friends last night" he says finishing his pie. 

"I'm sure he was...what exactly do you want? You won't get away with this, there's no such thing as ‘the perfect kidnapping' or ‘the perfect murder'. No matter how perfect or careful you thought you were you'll leave some type of evidence"

He laughs "Wow you and Justin sound exactly alike. He said the same thing. As for what I want, I want to hurt you, both of you. And I can tell that you're hurting and I just love that. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside"

"Yea laugh and crazy it up but I won't let you get away with this" while he's distracted I take the knife "and I promise that when this is all over you'll either be in jail or in the ground" I said stabbing him in the hand.

I'm extremely satisfied when he pulls his hand away with the knife sill in it. Doing that helped with a nice chunk of the anger.

"You might be paying for that sooner rather than later" he said pulling the knife out and gingerly holding his hand "I gotta go I have a lot to do. Oh and if you or anyone else tries to follow me. I'll be mailing you Justin's insides" he growls making my blood turn cold.

After he leaves I feel...weird still sad and angry. But more determined and strangely...hopeful. Hobbs is still just an angry if slightly (or full on) crazy kid I know I can save Justin but I'm definitely going to need help.

Justin's POV

I wake up feeling stiff and disoriented, I blink a few times confused. I can't remember why I'm sleeping on the floor in a bathroom. Then I remember what's happening, I pee and wash my face with some cold water. I listen to hear if Hobbs is still here, it seems pretty quiet so I open the door. I take a chance and look in the dresser for better clothes. 

I find a warmer long sleeve shirt and some jeans, so I change out of the t-shirt and sweats. I look around for my sneakers, I find them under the bed and put them on. I carefully head downstairs, thankfully I'm alone. I head for the door and notice something, there is a small tiny box next to the lock. It's some kind of alarm, I take a look around and find one on every window and the back door. 

If I'm gonna do this I better make it to some place safe, because if he catches me. I don't know what he'll do, I go to the fridge and scarf down some cold sesame noodles and a bottle of water. The noodles remind me of Brian, their one of his favorites, when I'm done with my late lunch according to the clock. It's about three in the afternoon, I try the locks on the door, the bottom lock is locked from the outside. I look around for something to pick it, I find three paper clips. They'll have to do.

I unfold the large edge of one of the paperclips twice, until one part of it is straight and sticks out. Then I take the bigger clip and take out both bends until it has two straight sides with a curve at the end. I press the curved end down with my teeth, then I put them in the lock. I twist them around for about five minutes before I hear a satisfying click. Yes! A huge grin spreads across my face.

My little victory is short lived when I open the door. All I see is trees, I walk outside and notice that this is one of those places that no one can find unless they know where it is. I mean I'm sure there should be a road around here somewhere. Then again I was blindfolded the whole way here, even when he walked the rest of the way. I see a little space where some tire tracks are. 

I could follow them but they're pretty warn in, so I could run into Hobbs on his way back. Maybe I could follow them from a distance so I won't be on the exact trail. Then I could still be close enough to see the tire marks so I don't get lost. I need to get moving because I've already tripped the alarm. And I'm sure that Hobbs knows I'm out. I go back and grab two bottles of water just in case I need it.

I start walking putting some distance between me and the tracks, but I make sure I can still see them. So far it's pretty easy, I walk for what feels like hours and the sun is starting to set. I've gone through one bottle already and my legs are starting to hurt. I find a branch big enough to be a walking stick. It helps me save some energy, I trip on a little group of rocks and hear a popping sound. 

I fall on my face and a bear trap goes off a few inches in front of my face. I jump back and wince, I move my left ankle and hiss in pain. Shit, it's either broken or sprained either way I'm screwed. I take a beat to slow my breathing. I can't believe a fucking bear trap almost tore my face off! 

That bear trap was either a really strange coincidence or Hobbs set up booby traps. I sit there trying to think. I look at my hand and unfortunately there's a medium sized cut on my palm. I tear off the edge of my shirt and wrap up my hand. I get up slowly and pick the stick back up and use it to as a crutch. 

There could be more traps or he could've just put that there to scare me. It doesn't matter I have to keep moving, I have to try to get away from hear. To another house, a phone, A road something. I can't let Hobbs catch me like this injured and weak. I won't be able to fight him like this, and after what happened last night. 

I shudder at the thought, if he wanted to...I can't even think it. He could've last night, hell I thought he was going to. I was really happy that he didn't but logically, and if I understand his actions towards me correctly. He likes or at the very least wants me, I shudder again and move as fast as my ankle will allow. No matter what I won't let him, I'm not going to stop fighting.

"That's right sonny boy"

I stop in my tracks that was defiantly Brian's voice. And obviously Brian's not here, no matter how much I wish he was. I mean I know hallucinations are caused by lack of sleep and certain meds. But I've been sleeping a lot and Hobbs only drugged me once.

"Are you just going to stand here debating whether or not you're crazy? Or are you going to get moving before that fucker comes back?"

I smile, hallucination or not it's nice to hear his voice. Maybe it's because I got kidnapped, sometimes traumatic events can cause hallucinations. 

"Move your ass, now!" 

"I'm going, I'm going" I say inwardly wincing, I shouldn't be talking to an imaginary voice in my head.

"Less thinking more walking!"

I roll my eyes and start moving with a stupid grin on my face. Hallucination or not I'm glad at least now I don't feel so alone.

I should get back to the cabin soon, I got the text from the alarm system that Justin got out. It's been a few hours but I had things to do. Plus Taylor can stumble around in the woods for a few hours. Maybe he'll find the little present I left out there for him. I didn't actually buy the trap I found it out in the woods fixed it and set it. He might not even find it.

I pull up to the hospital where Julie's friend works. I called her a head of time to let her know I was coming. I text her to let her know I'm here before I go inside. I may have gotten a little carried away by talking to Kinney. That could come back to bite me in the ass.

Julie warned me about my anger and my cockiness, I can't afford anymore slip ups. When I get inside Julie's friend Kim is waiting for me.

"I don't have a lot of time it's packed tonight" she says leading me to an empty room

"Well hello to you too"

"I'm sorry" she says hugging me "I've been working for forty straight hours"

"Well maybe I should get someone else to patch me up" I tease

She rolls her eyes at me "Let me see" she says pushing me down on the bed

I unwrap my hand and show her

"I thought you had your anger issues under control" she says pulling some stuff out of a cabinet

"It wasn't a fight...not really"

"Hmm" she says examining the wound "well it didn't hit anything important but I'll have to stitch it up" 

She wipes some alcohol over it and spreads some brown ointment around it 

"Numbing cream" she explains as she starts to stitch me up 

I idly think about Taylor "hey how would you treat a bear trap wound?" 

"That's really random, but it would depend on where. Usually a lot of muscle gets damaged"

"Is there any way to...miss getting stuck?"

"Sure but odds are you'd still hurt yourself. So I'd suggest that you buy a very expansive first aid kit from the pharmacy across the street. For whoever got stuck in this hypothetical bear trap" she says finishing up.

After she's done she wraps up my hand in gauze "make sure to keep it clean" she gives me two pills

"What are these?"

"Antibiotics just to make sure you don't get any infections. You need anything else?"

"Nope thanks for the patch work" I say kissing her on the cheek

"Yea just try and stay out of trouble alright"

"I'll try"

I go across the street to the pharmacy that Kim suggested and get the biggest first aid kit they have. I also pick up a bottle of aspirin. I head to a burger joint and order two bacon cheese burgers with fries. I eat mine in the car on the way back to the cabin. 
I don't want it to get cold while I'm looking for Taylor.

As soon as I turn into the woods I look on both sides for Taylor. After about ten minutes I see a flash of white. Huh he's pretty persistent, he got further than I thought he would. I get out and head to where I saw him.

"Come on out Taylor you must be exhausted by now. And hungry" I hear a little bit of rustling up ahead. 

I walk over to where the sound was coming from and get hit in the face with something heavy

"Fuck!" I yell as I go down, I roll over and see Taylor limping to the car.

I get up and run over to him right before he opens the door I slam him against the car. He slumps to the ground with a groan. I notice blood on the ground and realize that it's mine. I put my hand to my forehead and see blood. 

"Son of a bitch!"

I look in the car window and see a long gash across my forehead. Great just great, my anger takes hold and I kick Taylor hard in the stomach. I notice that his ankle is swollen. I laugh

"I guess you did find my little present" 

"Fuck you" he mumbles weakly

"That's not an offer is it?" I say reaching down to pick him up

"Don't fucking touch me!" he yells swatting my hands away

He kicks and hits me and the anger takes hold again and I punch him in the face. He stops moving and I put my finger on his neck to make sure he's still with me.

"Fucking baby" I mutter throwing him in the back seat

I drive back to the cabin and carry the bags and Taylor up to the room. I set him down on the bed and check his face. He'll have a bruise on his cheek in the morning, and his lip is split. I look at his hand and notice he has a ripped piece of his shirt wrapped around it. I unwrap it and take a look there's a long cut on it. But it's not that deep. 

I wet a washcloth with warm water and clean off his hand with it. Then I take some antibiotic cream smear it on and bandage his hand. Then I roll up his pant leg and look at his ankle. It's really swollen but I don't think it's broken. I find a compression wrap and use it to wrap up his ankle. I take some of the pillows and put them under it after I wrap it. 

It's funny, I like taking care of him as much as I liked kicking him. Strange, I reach over and stroke his cheek. Right now it's just a little red, it'll ruin his perfectly snow white skin.

"Still so irritatingly beautiful though" I run my finger over his flawless mouth

I pull my hand away and decide to leave before I do something that...I just might regret. He shouldn't be out all night at least I don't think he should. So I leave his bag of food with a bottle of water and a can of ginger ale on the bedside table. Then I put two aspirin next to it on the table.

I take one more longing look at him before locking him in and heading to my own room. I have to attend to my own wound. Now I have another wound to explain to that fucking detective.

Brian's POV

"You stabbed him!" Carl screams at me 

After my talk with Hobbs the other day I went straight home and drank myself to sleep again. So this morning I decided to head over to the hospital to check on Emmett and Ted. The rest of the gang had the same idea, and as soon as I got here Carl started drilling me. So I had to tell him about the little conversation I had with Hobbs.

"It wasn't that bad...at least I don't think it was. He seemed fine...a bit pissed but fine"

Carl sighs warily "well at least I don't think he'll press charges not with all he told you"

"So you believe me?"

"Kinney you may be a lot of things but a liar isn't one of them. Plus I've been a cop long enough to know when a perp is making fun of me. And that's exactly what Hobbs did the other day, he knows we know about him. So he's screwing with us, you especially, but that gives us an advantage"

"An advantage?" Jenifer asks

"Yea the cockier he gets the better chance he'll slip up. Like telling us about his company doing construction for Babylon. I can and did get a warrant to search his job office and his home office. We're going today before we head up to the cabin he's supposedly vacationing at. And yes you can come" he says before I can ask

"Come to search the house or the cabin?" Jenifer asks

"The cabin"

I think about that for a minute Carl didn't want us anywhere near the interview, but he wants us to go to Hobbs house. He must think or know something we don't. 

"Why? What do you know that you're afraid to tell us?" I ask

Carl looks at me and Jenifer and rubs his neck tiredly "Hobbs...he might be holding Justin at the cabin"

Cocky little cunt! As soon as Carl says it I believe it, this is all a huge game to him, son of a bitch is really getting off on this. 

"He'll hide him when we go to search the cabin of course...which is why I want to wait until we can get a warrant" Carl says slowly

"How long will that take?" Jenifer asks

"A long time, to get a warrant you have to convince a judge that there is probable cause to search a property" Mel says in lawyer mode  

"But you keep saying that you don't have any evidence slash probable cause. So what? Do we have to wait months for you to finally find some evidence?!" Daphne says getting upset

"Well not necessarily"

I roll my eyes "you know Carl considering how tense we all are about this, maybe you should lead with the good news from now on" I say agitated

"Right well when Hobbs told me that he worked on Babylon. That gave me probable cause to search his office and his house. Since he has papers and things from work there"

"So you're not going to get Justin" I say dully 

"I can't prove that he has him Brian, I don't have any proof. But maybe searching the house will get me the proof I need"

I know where Justin is and I can't just sit here and do nothing. I'll find that cabin and get him myself if I have too, fuck all this red tape shit. 

"Hey don't do anything stupid Kinney, let me handle it"  

"Fine" I snap before leaving the room

Now how do I find this cabin? I think getting into my car. The only reason Carl was going to have an in was because Hobbs was willing. There's no way he'd willing tell me, so I'll have to play detective, without Carl's help. Which wasn't part of the plan, before I can pull away Daphne and Melanie pile into the car.

"Um can I help you?" 

"We know you're going to look for Justin. He's my best friend and I'm going to help you whether you like it or not. Plus I promised Jenifer" Daphne says determined.I sigh frustrated "and what's you're excuse?" I ask Melanie

"That fucker bashed me in the head, attacked Em, Ted's hanging on for dear life again. And he killed Michael" 

That last part got me, I'm still in shock about the whole Michael thing. I can't believe he's gone.

"If you're going after him I want in"

"Fine" I say pulling out of the parking lot

"So where are we going?" Daphne asks

"To Justin's, maybe, and I know it's a long shot, but maybe someone saw something"

A thought crosses my mind "Mel do you think you could find out where that money went?"

"The money that you sent when Hobbs first texted you? I think so, I know a few private investigators. I should be able to do that" she says pulling out her cell phone.

Aside from Melanie talking on her cell the ride to Justin's is quite. Only when we pull up in front of the building does Daphne say anything.

"Do you really think anyone here saw anything?" 

"I'm sure they saw something getting them to remember is the trick" I say as we get out

"I still can't believe Jenifer sold him this place" Mel says on the walk up to Justin's apartment.

"Yea well at least he gets good cardio going up these million stairs every day. Gosh I wish this place had an elevator" Daphne complains 

"Less complaining more walking" I say panting 

When we get to the top the three of us take a few minutes to catch our breath. Then we head to Justin's apartment, before we get inside some girl stops us.

"Hey! What are you doing? You don't live around here" she slurs either high on something or coming down from something.

So I take a chance "What do you know about the guy who lives in this apartment?" I ask pointing to Justin's door.

The girl gives us a funny look "You don't look like cops, you undercover or something?" she asks.

"Cops why do you think we're cops?" Daphne asks 

"Because!" she says exasperated "I called them a few days ago about my friend Justin. Some big guy took him" she says rubbing her arm like she's cold.

"What's your name?" Melanie asks

She looks at us and takes a step back.

"We're not cops we're Justin's friends too" Daphne says

The girl relaxes and smiles "I'm Max and you must be...Daphne and your Brian. Justin told me about you guys" she says pointing at me and Daphne

"How do you know Justin?" Melanie asks

"I live here" she says pointing at the door behind her "we're neighbors and he gives me food and stuff"

"Would you mind telling us what you saw?" I ask her

"Sure maybe you guys can find him since the cops aren't doing shit. Justin was in his room, I told him to keep that fucking door locked. That was like one of the first things I told him, that's how we became friends."

"What? What are you talking about?" I ask

"Well the first week he moved in Kevin and his goons were harassing him"

"Did he tell you about this?" I ask Daphne

She shakes her head "who's Kevin?" Daphne asks

"He's...well there's no nice way to say this. He's a pimp...and a kid like Justin would sell for top dollar" she says solemnly

I ignore the wave of nausea that passes through me

"I know a bunch of dirt on him so I got him to back off. Anyway back to a few days ago, Justin was packing up. I got home late and I was sitting in the staircase, I could hear him though. He was gushing about you proposing to him. I was happy for him, I hear noise so I hid, crawled into a corner. That's when I saw the big guy, he had on a black t-shirt, and a sweat jacket. I couldn't see his face because he had a scarf covering it"

She sighs disappointed and tears up "I wanted to help him but I was too...strung out...I-I could barely walk. I was able to get to a window though, I saw him put Justin in a van"

"A van Max do you remember the license plate number?" Melanie asks 

"Um...yea I remember it" 

"Great would you mind coming with me?"

"Uh I guess not" 

"Good you two see what you can find in the apartment, I'll try to find this van" Melanie says dragging Max down the staircase

"Wait Max do you remember anything else?" I ask

She thinks really hard for a minute "yea there was a little bottle in his pocket, like the ones that doctors use for shots" 

"Like a sedative or something" Daphne muses to herself

"Thank you Max"

"No problem"

After Melanie and Max leave Daphne and I head into Justin's apartment. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Just two boxes knocked over, one of them half packed, clearly there was a struggle. I reach down and pick up Justin's keys to the loft, I thought Hobbs took them. I thought that was how he got into the apartment to leave me the cell.

Great another mystery to figure out, I sigh and stuff the keys in my pocket. I look at all the stuff he had packed, and I decide to take his things with me. My eye catches his red shirt sticking out of one of the boxes. Without thinking I gently grab the shirt and hold it up to my nose. I inhale deeply...and I can smell him, his perfect combination of vanilla and cinnamon. 

"I can take his things for you, I can get a cab and you can keep looking" Daphne says awkwardly

I don't understand her awkwardness until a tear almost trickles down my face. I hastily wipe it away and cram the shirt back into the box.

"We'll both go besides Max we didn't find anything, hopefully some of Mel's contacts will find something"

After we pack up the last of Justin's things we load it into the car. Daphne doesn't say anything the whole way back. And I appreciate it I didn't mean to get all teary eyed over a shirt. After we get to the loft and finish loading Justin's stuff back where it belongs. The house phone rings making both of us jump.

I run to answer it "Hello?" I say timidly

"It's me" Mel says

"Tell me you've got something" 

"Yea, the van that Max saw Hobbs put Justin in, is a rental. And of course it's not under Hobbs name. But the name that is on the paper work matches a name from the list of bank accounts that you asked me to look into" 

For once in day's I feel optimistic

"And one of my private eye guys was able to find an address"

"Are you going to give it to me or not?" 

"I can give you today to talk to this guy but tomorrow I'll have to tell Horvath" Mel tells me after giving me the name and address.

"Okay fine" I say hanging up

"I'm going with you"

"We don't know if this guy is dangerous, it might not be safe" 

"Exactly if you get in trouble who's going to save you?" she says swiping the car keys and running downstairs.

"Stubborn kid" I say rolling my eyes

We drive to the address that Mel gave me and end up in a disgusting trailer park. 

"I guess I could see why this guy needed the money" Daphne says plugging her nose 

"Yea I guess everyone can be corrupted by money" I say looking for the blue trailer

She laughs "that's rich coming from the guy that almost got Jim Stock well elected mayor. For his rich clients and a comfy move to New York" Daphne says smiling

"I almost forgot about that" I say while we walk

"Yea, kind of ironic how instead of getting money off of that deal you ended up a hundred thousand dollars in debt" she teases

I laugh and a memory floats in my head

"Brian if you're in trouble I'm sure I could loan you-"

"A hundred thousand dollars?"

"How much?" Justin asks shocked 

"The cost of twenty thirty second prime time spots at five thou a pop"

"You said that was paid for by the-"

"Meet the concerned citizens for the truth"

"You?"

"Who the hell else was going to pay for it? I maxed out five gold cards"

"Guess concerned citizens really are lunatics" 

"I think I'm experiencing possession withdrawal I need to lie down" I say pulling him with me to the bed.

"Good thing you didn't sell your bed"

"Huh I'd rather sell a kidney" I say laying down and hugging a pillow

"I can't believe you did this it's so..."

"Noble?"

"Out of character" he laughs softly "what made you do it?"

I turn and look at him "some asshole told me that if you believe in something strongly enough, you have to be willing to sacrifice everything"Justin gives me his rare ‘you're my hero' look and kisses me. I pull him closer and kiss him again. Then it turns into this whole make out session that quickly escalates...

Daphne's voice brings me back to the present "you know it was kind of like karma" she says smiling. She teasing me again

"Yes but that was also an opening for me to start Kinnectick" 

Which I wouldn't have without Justin. I just realized that he named two very important things to me. Gus and Kinnectick, he really is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. I wonder if I've ever...no of course I've never told him. That's just not who Brian Kinney is...well I did kind of tell him. Another memory floats through my head.

"Just as well I hear the guy who runs it is about to lose his shirt" I say getting ready to change for Babylon. 

"I'm sure he'll survive as he always does...beautifully" Justin says following me

"You going somewhere?" he asks putting my suit jacket on a hanger

"To the soon to be former Babylon, can't let the ship go down without its Capitan" I say taking off my cufflinks.

"This club Brett took me too in LA really knew how to work it. There'd be fags lined up around the block begging to get in" he says putting my tie on the same hanger

"Must've been a hell of a place"

"Wasn't that different from here" he says hanging the stuff in the closet "they just made it seem like it was"

He squeezes my shoulders as an idea forms in my head. I turn and look at him.

"Sunshine how did I ever get along without you?"

"You didn't" he says then he gets on his tip toes and leans in for a kiss...

"Uh earth to Brian" Daphne says tugging on my arm and snapping me out of it yet again. 

"Are you okay?" she asks

"Yes why?"

"Um...no reason" she says handing me a tissue and pretending to look at something interesting behind us.

I look at the tissue confused until I feel the tear rolling down my face. Shit I didn't even know I was tearing up. I wipe my face and shove the used tissue in my pocket.

"This is the one, the blue trailer number 889" Daphne says pointing to the trailer in front of us "so what are we going to say to this guy?" she asks

"Don't worry just let me do all the talking" I say banging on the door

"Brian at least try to stay calm" 

"Cool as a cucumber" I mutter granting me an eye roll from Daphne

I bang on the door louder when there's no answer. Then the door burst open

"What the fuck!" some greasy haired guy in his mid-twenties yells answering the door

I push Daphne behind me "Are you John Haze? Shitty name by the way" I ask

"Yea who the fuck are you and what do you want?" he asks

"For starters I want to know why you blew up my club an-"

Before I can finish he tries to slam the door on us. Daphne and I shove our way into his dirty little hovel. Making him fall right on his ass, Daphne locks the door behind us. He tries to get up but I kick him in the knee keeping him down. 

"Move again and I'll kick you so hard in the stomach you'll pee blood for a week" I growl 

"Remember Brian calm...at least until we get some answers" Daphne says

"Right as I was saying...besides the money, what made you want to blow up my club?!"

"I would've done it for free, fucking fags it's not enough you have to flaunt your selves in front of us. Then you want the right to get married...you ask me the government should've stepped in a long time ago and-"

"Alright, alright I get it your homophobic..." I notice the hateful glare that he gives Daphne "and racist"

Daphne rolls her eyes "great now we have to deal with some hick ass..." she starts mumbling and I can't keep up with her rambling.

"What made you think you wouldn't get caught?" 

"Because who gives a fuck about a-"

"Bunch of fags" Daphne and I finish for him

"Well guess what? This fag has friends in the police department plus bombings is a serious offence. You could get labeled as a terrorist" Daphne says  

"Do you know how we found you?"

He shakes his head

"You're friend Hobbs put your name on the rental paper work for the van that he used to kidnap my fiancé. So you're also looking at a kidnapping charge" 

After I tell him that his face turns white

"So you can help us find my boyfriend and Hobbs and maybe save you're self some jail time"

"Your choice" Daphne says 

He's quite for a long time

"I don't know a lot alright. I met Chris at a bar and he we talked for a while. Then he told me about this job, he wanted me to take a...the bomb to the club. I didn't have to set it or anything just wear gloves and put the bomb in the club. After that I'd get the money wired into an account. That's it I don't know anything about you're fiancé or any fucking kidnapping!"

"Think really hard" Daphne says

"I...I don't...um I know that he made the bomb himself and...we met at this cabin a few times-"

"Cabin?! What cabin?" I demand

"Could you take us there?" Daphne asks

"Sure I-"

There's a loud popping sound and we both duck almost instinctively. There's a lot of yelling outside and when I get up I see John Haze dead. He has a bullet in his skull, I look out the window and see a bullet hole. And I see a guy running away.

"Are you okay?" I ask Daphne 

"Yea I'm fine go!"   

I bolt out the door after the guy who shot John. I gain on him quickly and he turns around and shots at me three times. But I dodge each one, closing the distance between us and I tackle him. He points the gun at me again, I grab his wrist and slam his hand against the ground until he lets go. Before I can stop myself I'm hitting him over and over again.

All my buried rage and frustration channels trough me and into my fist. I can't stop I hear yelling behind me, a few male voices and...Daphne's. But I can't stop, then I felt pain the most excruciating pain ever. My muscles contract and I fell to the ground shaking.

I hear more yelling and Daphne saying "no don't hurt him he's not the one..."

After hearing that everything goes black

"Yea stop being cynical"

"I'm not being cynical I'm being-"

"Realistic" he says mimicking me

"Do you mind if I finish my own sentences? I despise when couples do that."

"Is that why you're letting me die?"

Shocked at his response I turn around and look at him. My eyes widen when I see his throat slashed open and blood all over him. 

"You said you'd save me, that you wouldn't give up until you found me" he says fresh blood running out of the wound with each word. 

"Justin..." I whisper

"He's hurting me he's killing me and you're not doing anything" he says fresh blood flowing from his wound. And tears spilling from his eyes.

"I'm trying...Jus I'm trying but there's nothing..."

"That's what I'll be when you finally find me nothing"

"Don't say that!" I say trying to grab him but he disappears and a sick laughter echo's around me.

"He's right you know you won't find him until it's too late. I've made sure of it see"

A bunch of light fills one spot in the room showing me a giant hour glass. Justin's stuck inside it half drowned with sand.

"Justin!" I yell running towards him but the closer I get the further away he gets. It's like running on a tread mill.

"By the time you get to him he'll be dead Brian...you can't save him"

I wake up pissed and confused until I remember the fight and my only lead to Justin getting shot in the head. I sigh and realize that I'm in a hospital bed handcuffed to it actually. I sigh trying to get the stupid dream out of my head. I'll find him my dream was and is wrong. I hear the door open and look to see who it is.

"I can't believe you lost it like that!" Daphne says scolding me

"Yea is that why I'm handcuffed to this hospital bed?"

"Yup their going to leave you like that until they question you. You got shot you know and tazed"

"Yea the tazeing I remember but when did I get shot?"

"Well grazed is more like it" she says pointing to my wrapped up arm

"Well it was all for nothing bec-"

"Not really" she says smiling

"Why are you-"

"I snuck into the guy who shot our lead's room and he gave me the directions to the cabin" she says excitedly

"You mean that we..."

"Yup as soon as you're better we can find him. We can find Justin" she says smiling

Hobbs POV   

"What the fuck happened?!" I yell into my phone

"Well John is dead and...Kinney got to Gary before I could. From what I hear they both gave you up, John told Kinney everything. From the chatter I'm hearing I'm pretty sure Gary is going to give you up too."

"Fuck!" I yell knocking over the kitchen table

"You guys were supposed to be watching him! And Kinney!"

"We were but by the time I realized where they were going it was too late to intervene"

"I thought you said your friend wasn't a squealer"

I'd hired Gary and his ‘business partner' Derek to tie up any loose ends even if it meant killing each other.

"I didn't think he was stupid enough to talk"

"I hired you two to fix problems not become them"

"You hired me because you knew if push came to shove I'd kill Gary, take his cut of the money and disappear" 

I laugh "Well you're not wrong" 

"You wanna hear the worst news?"

"Why the fuck not" I say plopping down on the couch

"Horvath got a warrant to search your house and they found something to connect you to the bombing"

I sigh and rub my eyes, in a matter of what...five hours my whole plan got blown up.

"You mind keeping me posted...and taking care of Gary as soon as you get a chance?" 

"Sure boss, call you if anything else happens"

"Thanks" I say hanging up

Shit! I'm gonna have to switch to plan C since plan B is no longer an option. I head upstairs to get Justin we have to move, now. The police are going to be all over this place soon, their probably already on their way. 

"Looks like it's time to go sunshine" I say bursting into the room and startling him

He's sitting on the edge of the bed I guess he was trying to walk

"How bad is it?" I ask noticing he ate all his food and took the asprin

"Like you really care" he says facing me and giving me a good look at the bruise on his face 

"Phew I got you good didn't I" I say grabbing his face to get a closer look at the damage

He snatches his face away and I laugh "I was just wondering about the ankle because I wanted to know if I'm going to have to carry you or not"

"You're moving me?"

"Yea it seems your friends, the ones still standing anyway, are really fucking persistent" 

He laughs "he found me" he mumbles 

"Almost any way" I say yanking him up

"You could just let me go, maybe if you turn yourself in-"

"Not gonna happen" I say pushing him into a chair 

"Then why don't you just kill me already. Stop dragging it out because we both know that's where this is heading" he says

"You really haven't been paying attention" I say walking over to him and caressing his face

He tries not to flinch away from my touch "so what's the plan you're just going to hide me away somewhere? How long do you think that'll last?" 

"A few years give or take" 

His eyes water a little "please" he whispers

"As soon as I'm done loading the van we're gone. So don't get your hopes up about seeing your boyfriend" I say before taking some bags to the van



Brian's POV

"Are we there yet!? I'm tired of stepping in various animal shit" I yell to Daphne

"Almost, in like two minutes we should get to the cabin" she looks at the map she swiped from Carl

"Good" I say a little too sharply "I-I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine Brian, I get it I want him back too"

"You know it's been...nice hanging out with you. I mean the situation isn't ideal but..."

"But you're glad I've kept you out of jail long enough to find Justin" she says smiling

"Something like that" I admit

"You know we haven't really thought this through. I mean I'm sure that Hobbs has a gun or some type of weapon. And we don't have anything"

"That's not particularly true" 

She stops and raises an eyebrow at me, I sigh and pull out a gun

"Where the fuck did you get that?" 

"I've had it ever since Justin came to live with me. After he got bashed, just in case"

"Really? You have a permit and everything?" she asks

"Yup, and now I'll finally get to use it on Hobbs"

"It's nice to reach your goals isn't it" she says dryly

"Yea well-"

"Shh" she says grabbing me and pulling me behind a tree "were here"

I peak around the tree and see Hobbs packing bags into a van

"Holy shit we found them" I say about to go over there and beat the shit out of him.

"Wait we should go around to the back of the house. We'll wait till he goes inside-"

"What if he gets to Justin before we do?!"

"It looks like he's packing, so the next time he goes inside, we sneak around back. We wait for him to go back out. Then we grab Justin and get the fuck out of here"

She's right it's the safest plan for Justin, no matter how much I'd love to shoot Hobbs. It's more important for Justin to be back with me where he belongs. 

"Fine"

As soon as Hobbs goes back inside we run around to the back of the cabin and wait



Justin's POV

I jump when Hobbs comes back inside, I spin around too fast hurting my ankle. I try to hide the knife behind my back but I can tell he saw it.

"Nice try Taylor give it" he says walking over to me

I immediately point the knife at him almost like a reflex

"Stay the fuck away from me!"

He just laughs "what's the plan Justin? Do you really think you're capable of stabbing someone?"

I honestly don't know but I have to get away from him.

"Plus I have this" he says pulling up his shirt and showing me the gun in his waist

"You'd really shoot me?" 

"Not to kill you of course, maybe in the leg or something. But don't you think you're hobbled enough?"

He's right my ankle is killing me. I grudgingly put the knife down

"Good boy" he says patting me on the head "we're almost-"

We both hear it a, muffled banging sound coming from the back door. He grabs me and the knife, sealing his hand over my mouth and holding the knife to my throat.

"I know you're out there! Show yourself or I swear I'll slit his fucking throat!" he says pressing the knife to my neck and making me cringe a little.

"Okay!" Daphne says barging in and holding her hands up "don't hurt him"

"You too!" Hobbs yells pressing the knife to my throat harder 

Then I see him...I'd never thought I'd see him again

Brian's POV

I walk into the house with my hands up just like Daphne. As soon as our eyes meet it's like nothing else matters. His eyes are watery and still just as...perfect and blue as I remember them. He looks at me relieved and surprised.

"What? You didn't think I'd come for you? Even I'm not that heartless"

"Sorry to break up this beautiful moment but I'm kind of threatening here" 

Hobbs voice snaps me back to the moment. That's when I register his hand over Justin's mouth and the knife pressed tightly to his throat. I also notice the bruising on Justin's perfect face and his wrapped ankle. I try to stay calm.

"Let him go, you've got nowhere to run"

He laughs "Really I mean unless the cops are one their way. I'm pretty sure I have the upper hand here" he says moving the knife directly over Justin's jugular vein.

"You're not gonna kill him" Daphne says 

"What are you doing!?" I whisper to her

She looks between Justin and Hobbs clearly seeing something I don't 

"Oh really"

"You would've done it already, I was right and you were telling the truth at the police station" she says. Justin looks confused at the mention of the police station.

"Y-You don't want to hurt him" she says walking closer to them. Hobbs takes an almost skittish step back. 

"You're not taking him" he says his grip loosening on the knife and tightening on Justin 

"You can't keep him Chris, he needs to go home and you have to stop what you're doing" she says taking another step towards them. I mimic her taking small steps around them blocking his exit.

"I'm not done yet. It's not over yet" he mumbles

I'm directly behind him now. I pull out the gun and turn off the safety. I point it directly at his head and cock it. 

"Yea it is, now drop it!" I demand

He stills for a while before dropping the knife

"Now let him go!" I says pushing the gun to Hobbs head. 

He slowly lets him go and Justin hobbles over to me. I give him a one armed hug, his hair tickles my nose filling it with his sweet scent. Daphne walks over to us pulling Justin off me.

"No!" Justin sobs against my chest

"Justin" I say making him look at me 

"Brian" he quietly sobs

"I know" I say looking him in the eyes and telling him quietly how much I've missed him and how happy I am to see him. I kiss him quickly on the head before he lets Daphne drag him out the door. 

"They won't get far, you know that right" Hobbs says whatever vulnerability Daphne brought out gone.

"They just have to get far enough, I'm about 99.9 percent sure that Carl followed us" I say 

"Well then we better make this quick, I'm not entirely done with Justin. And I'm definitely not going to jail" he says 

I'm confused before he tackles me to the ground, pinning the arm with the gun down. He slams my hand on the ground trying to make me let go. I hold on as long as I can before I let go, instead of picking up the gun he pushes it away. Then he punches me in the face hard, again and again.

"I'm not going to let you take him from me again!" he yells getting ready to hit me again

Before he gets another hit in I use my legs to heave him off me. He falls down hard and winces then he goes for the gun. I trip him bringing him back down, I get up and kick him hard in the stomach. And I keep kicking him.

He grabs my leg mid kick and pushes me. I stumble backwards giving him time to get up. I'm about to attack him again when he hits me with a beer bottle. It breaks and I feel the glass scratching and digging into my face. He makes a run for the gun and door. I grab a chair and hit him with it.

"Ahh fuck!" he yells falling to his knees and holding his ribs

"It's over Hobbs we can duke it out all day. But in the end you'll go to jail and Justin will be with me where he belongs" I say trying to catch my breath. 


Hobbs stands up still holding his ribs and spits blood. "Yea, you know you're tougher than you look Kinney. But your forgetting something" he says walking over to the couch "they're on foot and I have a car" he says dangling the keys.

I lunge at him and he hits me with what feels like a brick. Everything gets fuzzy and there's a ringing in my ears. 

"Looks...like you...lose...Kinney" his voice is dull and goes in and out like static

I helplessly watch him leave and I hear the van start. I push through the pain and make it outside, the van is already leaving but it doesn't matter. I have to get to them before he does.

Justin's POV


It feels like we've been running forever and I...I know it's childish but I want Brian. We were together he was right there and I left him. I left him with a grade A psychopath. I tug on Daphne making her stop again.

"Come on Jus I know you miss him but we've got to keep moving" she says securing my arm around her shoulder and helping me walk. "We have to get you somewhere safe" 

"But Brian-"

"Has a gun, he can take care of himself-"

"Justin! Daphne! RUN!" 

We both freeze 

"You heard that too right?" I ask her

"Yea it's Brian something went wrong, Hobbs must've gotten away. Come on we've gotta move" she says. Then we hear it a car, we look behind us and the van is coming at us full speed.

"Run!" Brian's voice echoes, he must've been right behind Chris

We run and hop as fast as we can, before I know what's happening Daphne pushes me to the side. I sit up long enough to see the van hit her, and hear a sickening crunching sound. 

"Daphne!" Brian and I yell at the same time

The van stops and Hobbs storms out with a crazed look in his eyes. He's coming right at me, I try to get up and run away but he's too close. He grabs me by the back of my shirt and yanks me up.

"Let go of him!" Brian yells getting closer

"You know what Kinney!" Hobbs says securing his arm around my waist and pulling out his gun "I'm really tired of you" he says firing, it misses thankfully.

"Chris stop!" I plead trying to break his hold on me

He keeps firing and Brian keeps dodging. Hobbs fires one more time, and Brian gets hit. An explosion of blood erupts from him as he spins around and goes down. He doesn't get back up.

"NO!!!!" I scream trying to get to Brian I scratch kick and bite at Hobbs trying to get to Brian.

Hobbs finally gets me to the van and cuffs me too it. He gags me with a piece of tape before speeding off. 

I yell, scream and cry through the cuffs and gag. I feel like the whole world is...gone.

Daphne and Brian are dead...and it's all my fault.

Carl's POV

"Would somebody tell me what the hell happened!"  I demand as I see Kinney and Daphne being loaded into ambulances.

"W-W-Well we were following them like you told us but when they started hiking in the woods we uh..." Artie stammers

"You decided to just sit on your ass while the perp got away with the kid and two people got hurt!" I yell.

I walk over to the ambulances to check on them. "What's wrong with them?" I ask one of the EMT's.

"Well the girl's already been taken to the hospital. It seems she was run over, she's in pretty bad shape but she might recover. The other one, it looks like he got into a fight with the suspect. He was barely conscious when we got here. He's pretty beat up, a bunch of bruises, scratches and he was shot in the neck. Luckily it went straight through and didn't hit a vein. Here he comes" she says pointing to the three people carrying Kinney on a stretcher.

I watch in utter disbelief "thanks for the info" I say walking back to the so called cops "is someone searching the house?" I ask Artie 

"Yes we found proof that Mr. Taylor was being held in the cabin along with a lode of finger prints and blood. The samples are already being taken to the lab. And we have guys tracking down the van the suspect left in."

"Well at least you can do something right. I'm going to meet them at the hospital so I can question them when they wake up. Find that fucking van! I don't want any more messes got it!"

"Y-Yes sir"

"Good"

I storm off to my car and speed over to the hospital. Of course when I get there the whole crew is there. Debbie, Jenifer and Lindsey run up to me first.

"What happened?" Lindsey asks 

"They just bought Daphne and Brian and they looked really hurt" Jenifer asks

"Nobody's telling us anything!" Debbie says

"Ladies we don't really know anything yet. But it looks like Daphne and Kinney went to find Justin an-"

"Did they find him?" Jenifer asks

"Yes and no. My guess is that they were trying to rescue Justin. Brian tried to distract Hobbs so Daphne and Justin could get away. They got into a fight and....based on Daphne's injuries. Uh...Hobbs...ran her over."

"Jesus" Debbie says

"Do you know how to get in contact with Daphne's parents?" I ask Jenifer 

"They're out of the country, second honeymoon" she says dazed

"Okay I'm going to talk to the doctors and see what's going on? I'll be right back" I say heading to the front desk.

It takes about ten minutes for the doctor to come out and talk to me.

"Detective Horvath right?" a very young looking blond women asks me

"Yes"

"I'm Doctor Clair Holden. You're here to check up on Ms. Chanders and Mr. Kinney right"

"Yea"

"Well they're both going to be alright. Ms. Chanders has a broken leg and arm, a cut on her head that we stitched up and a mild concussion. Mr. Kinney thankfully didn't lose that much blood, a few stitches and some broken fingers but other than that he's okay. With some rest they should both be alright." She explains rolling her eyes at the last part.

"Kinney giving you problems huh" I say trying not to smirk

"Huh he's demanding to be released and he wants to talk to you. I mean he should be alright but I'd like to keep him over night just to make sure" 

"I'll talk to him, if that's alright"

"Sure I'll take you to him. Maybe you'll be able to talk some sense into him" she says leading me down the hall. I can hear Kinney complaining before we even get to the room. Dr. Holden rolls her eyes irritated.

"I'm fine I need to get out of here" Kinney complains to the nurse I notice that his voice sounds a little scratchy. 

"Don't you think you've done enough?" I ask, he finally stops arguing with the nurse and actually looks guilty.

"Lisa let's give them a minute" Dr. Holden says to the nurse 

"What the hell were you thinking Kinney!?" I demand as soon as they leave

"Justin. I was thinking about Justin. We found him and-"

"Lost him and in the process you got yourself and Daphne hurt. And probably put Justin in more danger. We don't know how unstable Hobbs really is, what if he takes his anger out on Justin!"

"From what we saw he already did!" Kinney yells

"Justin was injured?" I ask

"Yea his foot was all wrapped up and he had bruises...did you find him?"

"We're tracking the car and with yours and Daphne's statement. Plus the fingerprints we found at the cabin we can put an APB out on Hobbs. We're going to find him Brian but no more lone ranger shit"

"Fine" he says sounding grumpy and tired

My cell rings "Horvath" I answer

"We found something at Hobbs house that I think you'll want to see" 

"Alright I'll be there in a minute"

"What's going on?" Brian asks

"Apparently they found something at the Hobbs house that we missed"

"I wat to come"

I sigh frustrated "fine it'll be easier to keep an eye on you. And on the way you can tell me what happened at the cabin." After I promise Dr. Holden that I'll keep an eye on Kinney she discharges him. While we drive to the house Kinney tells me everything that happened. The part that sticks in my head most is the exchange between Daphne and Hobbs. 

"What is it Carl? You have this weird look on your face. Spit it out"

"This might be more dangerous than we thought"

"How?"

"I think this has less to do with revenge and more to do with obsession. Hobbs is obsessed with Justin."

"So...if all he wants is Justin why come after us?"

"Some people who are obsessed or stalk someone usually try to isolate them. Coming after Justin's friends might be Hobbs extreme way of doing that"

"But he never stalked Justin, I mean he never sent threatening letters or phone calls"

"Just a thought" I say as we pull up to the house. When we get there the officer that called me greets us. "What'd you find?" I ask as he leads us into the house.

"We were looking around in the office again and we found a door hidden inside the wall. Like a secret room" he say leading us to the office. 

I see what he's talking about, we walk into the other room its dark. When the lights switch on I'm stunned.

Brian's POV

Shit! That's the only thing I can think when the lights go on. Every inch of the walls are covered with pictures of Justin. There are pictures of him with me, Daphne, his mom by himself. In front of the loft, his school, at Debs, even pictures of him at Babylon. All from different times too, there's a picture of him and Daphne at the Rage party. A picture of us kissing after the election.

The worst part is that there are pictures of Justin sleeping. Which would explain how he got the cell phone into the loft without Justin's key. I was wrong so wrong, Hobbs was stalking Justin. How didn't I know he was in my house while we were sleeping!

My blood boils and I need to hit something, then everything gets blurry and my ears start to ring. I suddenly feel weird like I need to sit down. Then I hear something, someone talking I think. Then everything goes black.When I wake up I'm back in the hospital Debbie is passed out in a chair next to Lindsey. Jenifer gives me a wary smile.

"What happened?" I ask sitting up

"Yesterday-"

"Yesterday?!" I say surprised 

"Yes you've been out all night Brian. Any way last night after you guys found Hobbs...shrine to Justin...well..." she doesn't finish almost like she's afraid to tell me.

"What did I pass out?"

"Um well Horvath said that you kind of just...laid down and went to sleep" 

"I...I did what?" I say shocked, I don't really remember what happened but that can't be true.

"Clair-your doctor says that it's a symptom of the um...trauma"

"I'm not fucking traumatized" I say sitting up and looking for my clothes

That's what I told them, but you have been through a lot Brian" she says handing me the bag with my clothes.After I get dressed I hear a phone ringing a cell phone. The phone Hobbs gave me, I ruffle through the bag until I find it.

"Hello?" I answer

Hobbs POV

A Few Hours Earlier 

Justin is still screaming and crying when I pull over. I have another car waiting, the van is burned the windshield is cracked and caked with blood. I load the truck with only a few things before I go to get Taylor. As soon as I go to touch him he starts kicking at me.

"Taylor...fucking stop!" I yell before he kicks me in the face "Fuck!" 

I go over to the other car and look for the drugs I used before to knock him out before. I take the needle back to the van and fight my way in. It takes me a while to pin his arm down and get the needle in. in a matter of minutes he's out, I cuff his hands behind his back and toss him in the trunk. Then I speed off with no real direction, all my plans are fucked.

I don't even really have anywhere else to go, fucking Kinney. I really hope he's dead, he ruined everything! If he's dead then Justin will hate me, not that he doesn't already.

I shake my head to clear it and try to think of a place to go. Then it hits me this motel that we just agreed to fix up, it's deserted and empty no one around for miles. So I head there. I choose a room that still has furniture and electricity in it. I dump Taylor on the couch and turn on the TV. I switch to the news and see that there's an APB on me and I also found out that Kinney's still alive and so is Daphne.

Not that they mention them by name of course trying to protect their identity. Everything is completely fucked, I go out to the car and dig around until I find the bottle of scotch. I drink half the bottle outside stewing over everything. I wobble inside and look at Justin this is all his fault. I'm gonna go to jail...I guess that's what he wanted all along and he'll finally get it. So maybe I should get what I want, why not if I'm going to jail anyway.

Justin's POV

I wake up squinting against the sunlight on a dusty squeaky bed. The gag is gone and my legs are free but my hands are still cuffed behind me. I sit up and look around it looks like we're in a motel or something. I stretch a little and my back hurts from sleeping on this shity bed. Then everything that happened yesterday assaults my memory like a ton of bricks.

The tears start before I can stop them, Daphne and Brian their gone and it's all my fault. Before I can really start to lose it Hobbs comes in with an eerily calm look on his face. When he sees me crying he rolls his eyes at me.

"Relax Taylor defying all logic both Daphne and Kinney are fine" he says turning up the TV

When he does there's a report about Hobbs and about what happened at the cabin. They said that the victims of the attack were recovering well at the hospital. The report also said that if any one sees Hobbs not to approach him. Because he's armed and extremely dangerous. Nothing about me though.

"I think their trying to protect your identity so when you survive this you can live a happy normal life" Hobbs says almost reading my mind

He tosses me a plastic bag and points to the bathroom "shower works if you want to clean up" he says freeing my hands with that same creepy calm.

I take the bag and hurry to the bathroom I lock the door behind me. At least I think I do this place is so run down I can't tell if that sound was the door locking or the lock breaking.

Brian's alive their both alive! I feel a little calmer and take a semi-warm shower. Thankful that there's any hot water in this place at all.

After I shower I put on the jeans and long sleeve shirt Chris bought me. I carefully put on the socks and one of the shoes, it hurts way too much to put the other on. When I head back in the room I think about what Hobbs said. He said ‘so when you survive this'.

"Are you...letting me go?" I ask out loud

"Yes" he says simply helping me up and too the car.

"Why? Not that I'm not grateful" I ask as he lodes me into the car

"Because my face is plastered all over the fucking news. This little game isn't going to last long now."

The way he says it lets me know that it's not over, not yet anyway. I decide to stay quite the whole time. When we get to where we're going the place looks familiar. And when I realize where we are my stomach tightens with nervousness.   

"What are you going to do?" I whisper

He doesn't answer me he just takes out his phone and dials.

Brian's POV

"Hello" I answer eagerly 

"Well I guess the news wasn't lying you really are alive. Shit man where'd I shoot you, I mean there was a lot of blood" Hobbs said

"In the neck. Is Justin okay if you hurt him I swear to-"

"In the neck? Huh well shit...anyway you can hold your threats...I'm letting him go" Hobbs said

I stand there shocked he can't really mean that "you're...you're what?" 

"You blow an ear drum or something? I said I'm letting him go" he said sounding annoyed 

"What's he saying?" Jenifer whispers

"He's letting Justin go" I whisper back quietly

The door opens and Carl walks in "Kinney w-" I raise my hand cutting him off.

"You're just gonna let him go just like that?" I ask skeptically 

"Are you complaining?" 

"No it just doesn't fit the obsessive stalker thing you've got going on. We found your shrine to Justin. So at least now we know just how crazy you really are" I say

"You know earlier you saying that would've pissed me off but now I've accepted my fate. So what'd you think of my pictures? Which one's your favorite, personally I think he looks adorable while he's sleeping" Hobbs said trying to get under my skin

The whole ‘accepted my fate' thing kind of has me worried "So what's the catch? I mean you wouldn't just let him go" I said
"Aww you know me so well. The catch is that I want you in exchange, I mean if I'm going down I don't really want to take Justin with me. I mean as far as I'm concerned this is all your fault. So if I'm gonna take someone down with me it's gonna be you" he explains

"Where?" I ask 

"Where it all started" he said before the line goes dead

"What did he say?" Carl asks after I lower the phone

I only debate on telling him everything for a second. "He'll let Justin go if I take his place"

"No!" everyone said at the same time 

"It's not a discussion I'm doing this with or without police back up" I said looking at Carl

"Well you're not going in alone did he tell you where to meet him?" Carl asks

"Not exactly" I said thinking back to what Hobbs said the whole where it all started comment.

I'm not sure what he's talking- then it hits me. Of course that sick fuck would want me to meet him there.

"The garage where he..." I don't finish

"Where he attacked Justin" Jenifer finishes for me 

I feel strangely numb and fuzzy and my legs feel wobbly. I haven't been back there since I tried to help Justin get his memory back. No matter how much time passes I can still see that image in my head. Justin bloody, beaten, cold and still, so fucking still. The image dances around my eye lids vividly, going back there again under these circumstances. Hobbs must really be enjoying himself.

"Brian?" Jenifer said worriedly holding either side of my face. I'm confused, I look around and I'm sitting on the bed and everyone's staring at me.

"He's not up for this" Debbie said to Carl

"I'm fine" I insist talking mostly to Jenifer

"Are you sure?" she asks

"Yea" I said while Carl makes a call when he's done he asks everyone to leave.

And they do, Jenifer is a little more hesitant to leave. But after a quick nod from me she goes.

"We need you to do this Brian, it might be the only chance we get to bring Justin home. Hobbs choosing this location for the trade. He's trying to rile you up mess with your head. But you can't let him, you need to stay sharp. You can't let him win, if he hurts you or Justin he wins. Got it?" he said

Somehow Carl knew exactly what to say, because my head isn't fuzzy anymore and I feel more clear and determined. There's no way I'm letting Hobbs win, not after all that's happened.

"Got it" I said

Everyone is allowed to come somehow, when we get there SWAT is there along with a bomb squad. Which is a really bad thing Carl leaves Jenifer and me by one of the vans. So he can figure out what's wrong. When Carl comes back he looks kind of defeated.

"What's wrong?" Jenifer asks regretting the answer

"He...Hobbs..." it's like he can't believe what he's about to tell us. "He set the whole dam garage to blow" Carl says

"Another bomb?" Jenifer said

"Big one" Carl said rubbing his eyes

"They're not gonna let me go in? Are they?" I ask

"Na SWAT's in charge now and they want the garage and the adjoining building clear, before they let you in" he said

"How long is that-" the cell rings and I scramble to answer it "hello?"

"So are you coming in or what?" Hobbs asks

"Kind of hard when you've set explosives up everywhere" I snip back

"You really gonna let a bomb keep you from your precious fiancée?" he said taunting me

"Let me talk to him" I demand 

I hear a sigh and some shuffling 

"Brian?" he said softly

I turn away from Jenifer and Carl "Hey sunshine"

"You...you can't come up here. He'll...he'll kill yo-" Justin is cut off by some more shuffling

"Five minutes Brian tick-tock" Hobbs said before the line goes dead

I shove the phone in my pocket and head straight inside. I can hear people yelling and screaming at me to stop. But I don't look back, I head straight for the elevator and go up to get my prince back.

Justin's POV

I try to stay calm, I'm teetering on the edge of complete happiness and total horror. I stare at my tied hands while I contemplate. I can feel Hobbs staring at me, but I refuse to look at him. 

"What are you thinking?" he asks

I don't answer I refuse to talk to him anymore because it's the only thing I can do.

"You should be happy your dark knight is coming to rescue you" he scoffs

"Don't mock me!" I mumble

I feel him walking over to me, he grips my chin and kisses me hard. I push him off of me and he almost falls. He laughs and walks back over to me.

"I'm gonna miss you" he said stroking my cheek

I shrug his hand off, I'm about to say something when I get cut off.

"Hobbs!!" Brian yells his voice echoing through the garage

"Bri-" before I can finish Chris puts his hand over my mouth

"Shhh, make him work for it Taylor" he said walking away 

"I'm right here Kinney" Hobbs said, I can't see Brian but I can hear him

"Where is he?" Brian demands

"He's right here" Hobbs said grabbing me by the arm and pulling me into view 

Brian looks different, still a little angry and determined. But something's off his eyes look a little hazy.

"Brian?" I said his eyes focus and the haze goes away

"What exactly is the plan here? And why does it involve a bomb?" Brian asks sounding like his regular self. Then I think about what he said.

"Another bomb? Is that what you've been doing?" I ask Chris 

"Just an insurance policy to make sure your knight here comes back" Hobbs said untying my hands. "Bye Justin" he whispers so only I can hear.

Brian and I lock eyes while Hobbs lets go of me. I take a few wobbly steps and when Hobbs doesn't follow, I run ignoring the pain in my ankle. I run straight into Brian's arms and with tears running down my face.

"Shhh sunshine I got you" he said stroking my hair. "Let's get you home" he whispers in my ear

"Remember Kinney if you don't come back this whole building and the one next to it boom" Hobbs says. 

As soon as we're out of Hobbs sight Brian pry's my arms from around his neck. He cups my cheek and I lean into it and sob.

"Are you okay?" Brian asks looking at my ankle and the rest of me.

"I'm fine can we just go home? You can't go back Brian. Promise you'll stay with me" I demand clinging to his arm.

He doesn't answer instead he scoops me up and cradles me in his arms. He carries me to the stairs, I idly wonder why he didn't take the elevator. But I don't care, I bury my face in his neck and start peppering his neck with kisses. He laughs and I start laughing too.

"Why are we laughing?" I ask

"I'm just really happy to see you" he says facing me

Before either of us knows it our lips are furiously crushing against one another. I dig my fingers into his hair and moan into his mouth. Brian laughs again against my mouth.

"We shouldn't start something we can't finish, sunshine" he said opening a door.

When we get outside we're bombarded with people yelling and shouting. Brian refuses to let me go until we get to the ambulance. Brian lays me down on the stretcher in the ambulance. I clutch his hand to keep him next to me. 

"Justin!" my mom yells piling into the ambulance 

"Mom!" I said as she clutches me in a tight hug 

"Thank God!" she sobs into my neck

"I'm okay mom" I say into her hair

Then there's a loud familiar bang and the whole ambulance rocks. The EMT closes the door and tells the driver to go. 

"What happened?" Mom asks letting go of me so the EMT can get an IV in my arm.

"He, he must've blown it already" Brian said

"Why would he do that? He gave you five minutes it's only been three" mom said

"You heard that? How?" Brian asks

"Carl has a wire on you somewhere" she said trying not to smile

I lose focus on their conversation when the EMT starts poking at my ankle. Which now that I'm looking at it, looks puffier than it did before. I lay back while he examines it and asks me the occasional question. I feel tired and try to keep my eyes open when I hear Brian's voice in my ear.

"I think you've more than earned a power nap angel. I'll wake you up when we get to the hospital promise." He whispers

"Angel?" I mutter sleepily, that's a new nickname. "I think I like that" I muse before falling asleep.

Justin's POV

It feels like hours have passed when Brian wakes me up. Which it was, the whole bomb thing had traffic backed up. When we get to the hospital Brian takes care of the paper work. Which would explain the fancy room I get, it almost feels more like a hotel room. My doctor is a nice lady named Clair, I have a feeling she took care of Brian too. Because she gives him a scolding look when she shoos him and mom from my room. 

Plus, Brian doesn't argue with her when she kicks him out. She gives me a pretty basic checkup, she takes my blood, gives me some antibiotics, the cut in my hand was pretty well taken care of. But according to her since the bandage wasn't changed it got infected. She had to reopen it (with a scalpel which really hurt) to get the puss out and clean it properly. After that she made me do one more test (which I found extremely unnecessary) but I did it. After that she looks at my ankle. 

"Well Mister Taylor it looks like you've come out of this relatively well. You're a bit dehydrated, your ankle's not bad but you'll need to stay off it or it could break. Other than that you're all good, but I will be checking on you throughout the rest of the day. If you need anything just press the call button and I'll be right here" she says 

"Thanks doc" 

"One more thing, your whole um...crew is waiting to see you. Do you want them all to come in or would you like me to tell them one at a time?" she asks

I laugh lightly "you can send all of my friends in. I can handle it, I only have one question"

"Okay"

"Am I okay to uh eat whatever I want?" I ask

This time she laughs "sure, the drugs forced into your system have been worked out. You're good to go"

"Well in that case could you send Brian in first then everyone else?" I ask

"Sure" she says leaving

It takes a few minutes for Brian to come to my room. When he does he's carrying a bag that smells heavenly. He smiles at me and his body relaxes, almost like he was holding a breath.

"How you feeling sunshine?" he asks pulling the side table up to me and sliding it in place

"Sunshine? What happened to angel?" I ask playfully 

He smiles and starts unpacking the bag without answering.

"What's this?" I ask as he unloads the bag

"I figured that you'd be hungry so I went to Al's Steakhouse and got you their famous-"

"Beef stew!" I finish for him excitedly sitting up. Brian uses the remote by the bed to adjust it.

"You got it" he smiles 

"How'd you know?" ask as he takes the lid off the food

"After you had it the first time you declared it your new favorite food. Remember?" he says

"Yea I do" it was the closest thing we ever had for a date

As soon as Brian hands me the fork I dive in. They gave me a pretty big bowel of stew. Which is as usual on top of a fluffy bead of rice, Brian even got me a few of their rolls. I rip one open and steam comes out, I dip it into the stew so it can sop up some of the gravy. Then I pop it into my mouth it tastes so good that I moan. And I can feel Brian staring at me, when I look at him his eyes are filled with lust.

"Sorry" I say around a mouth full of food, remembering his ‘start something we can't finish' comment

"It's fine angel, I've waited this long I can wait a few more days" he says tilting my chin and kissing me. 

I drop my fork and roll and wrap my arms around his neck. He deepens the kiss and I feel a stirring under my flimsy hospital gown. I didn't even hear the door open.

"Geez Brian did you at least get an all clear from the doctor before trying to get your dick in him?" Debbie asks

I laugh and Brian rolls his eyes and groans as we pull apart. 

"As a matter a fact I did" he says sitting on the other side of the bed next to me

Then everyone's on me first Debbie, Lindsey then Mel. Before I can tell her I'm sorry she stops me.

"It's not your fault honey, I'm just glad that you're okay" she says

Emmett says the same thing when he hugs me. Everyone hugs me and kisses me and cries. I'm able to stay strong until Debbie finally makes her way over to my bed. Then I turn into an inconsolable puddle of tears. Brian, mom, and Debbie try to calm me down but it doesn't work. 

The doctor comes in and I feel something cold in my IV. 



Brian's POV 

I hear some movement coming from Justin's bed that wakes me up. I see him sitting up and rubbing his eyes, with a confused look on his face. 

"You're awake" I say sitting up in the chair I was sleeping in

"What happened?" he asks sitting up 

"You were over reacting about something that's not your fault. And your...our stupid over reacting doctor sedated you" I tell him sitting on the bed with him

"Sedated me? Why?" he asks still confused

"I knew that bitch was lying when she said it was a light sedative" I say pouring him a cup of water.

He takes it gratefully and drinks it all in one gulp. Then he hands me back the cup, and I can see the fog from the drugs fade. And he starts to tear up.

"Don't Justin, it's not your fault. Hobbs is-was an obsessed psychopath-"

"Was?" Justin asks

"While you were sleeping" I say bitterly making him laugh "I talked to Carl and he said that there were a few people injured in the bombing. No deaths except for Hobbs, they found some male remains in the garage. And they think it's him" I explain

"So...it's really over?" he says, his eyes start watering again before he wraps his arms around my neck and hugs me.

"Yea angel your safe" I say holding him tightly 

We sit there for a while before he breaks the hug. 

"I'm sorry about Michael, you...you hate me don't you?" he says wiping his eyes

"Of course not honestly I've been too worried about you to really process that" I tell him

"Really?" he says genuinely surprised "I always thought that even though you were with me. I always kinda thought that you loved him more than me. Which probably sounds horrible, at least right now" he admits.

"I loved Michael that's true but I was never in love with him. But I am in love with you Justin Taylor"

He gives me his signature sunshine smile and I can't help but kiss him. Before we can get too carried away he stops me.

"I'm still hungry" he says making me laugh "and I want to brush my teeth and shower, and I want real clothes. Not this gown thing" he complains 

"One thing at a time" I tell him

I call the doctor into the room so she can help him with the IV while he showers. I'd already bought him a few toiletries. Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, stuff like that. I ordered some more of the beef stew for Justin. And I asked the doc about getting Justin real clothes. She gave me a white t-shirt and some loose blue pants. I help Justin get dressed after his shower. He seems back to his regular self after the shower. 

"Better?" I ask settling him back into his bed

"Uh huh, still hungry though. Do you think they have anything good in the hospital café?" he asks

"Please Justin like I'd really let you eat that crap. I ordered you more stew I was just about to pick it up." I tell him 

"You're leaving me?" he asks slightly panicked 

"Just downstairs to pick up your food" I assure him before kissing him and heading downstairs

I bump into Carl after I pay the delivery guy for Justin's food. He's arguing with what looks like a doctor and few officers. I walk over and ease drop on their conversation.

"Doc are you sure?" Carl asks

"Yes I'm sure, the remains we found in the garage aren't Christopher Hobbs. They belong to a man named Derek Stanton, he was a patient here. That's how I had his DNA of file, I'm a hundred percent sure that those aren't Hobbs remains" the doctor explains

"I want two officers at Taylor's door and I want this hospital locked down" Carl says to one of the officers. "I want everyone back on full alert, make sure to keep the APB out on Hobbs" he says to the other.

"Uh boss" one of then says nodding to me, Carl turns around and sees me. 

I'm not sure how I look but I walk to the elevator and push the button. I pray it comes before Carl catches up to me. As soon as the elevator comes Carl yells after me, I try to close the door but he slips in before it can close.

"Are you going to tell Justin?" he asks 

"Of course not, because you're gonna do your fucking job. You're gonna keep Hobbs away from this hospital and away from Justin!" I yell barging off the elevator. I'm getting that fuzzy numb feeling again.

I practicality run to Justin's room when I see him all happy and safe the feeling goes away. He was in the middle of talking to Jenifer and looks up at me and Horvath with a confused expression. 

"What's going on?" he asks immediately knowing that somethings wrong

"Nothing" I say setting up his food for him

He's pretty hungry so he starts eating before saying "bullshit"

"Look Justin-"

"I already said no Carl" I say cutting him off

"Brian you're not exactly the boss of me" Justin say shoveling a mouth full of food into his mouth

"He deserves to know Kinney" Carl says

"Can't you at least wait until he eats?"

"He can tell me now" Justin says wiping his mouth

"We have reason to believe Hobbs is still alive" Carl says 

Jenifer plops down in her chair and Justin stops mind bite.

"But we've got two officers outside and we've got the hospital locked down. You're safe here" Carl explains

Justin nods and starts eating again. "What about everyone else?" he asks

Of course he'd be worried about the rest of the gang and not his self.

"We don't think he's gonna go after them anymore. We think he's completely focused on you, both of you" Carl says looking at me.

Justin grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly, great this is exactly why I didn't want him to know. I kneel by his bed and kiss his hand.

"I'll be fine angel and nothing's gonna happen to you" I assure him "finish your food I'll be right back" I say digging in my coat for my emergency cigarettes and lighter.

"You can't just leave after hearing that! And you said you'd try to quit that" he scolds

"Well if it helps I've only been drinking since you've been gone. I'll be right back I promise" I say kissing him before he can protest.

Carl makes an officer go with me to smoke. I take it across the street just to make sure I don't violate any nonsmoking laws. Justin's been trying to get me to quite ever since I got over the whole cancer thing. Even though I told him I got ball cancer not lung cancer. Even though I know he's right, I toss the now offensive thing on the ground and step on it. 

As soon as I do a black van pulls up to us and I hear two gun shots. The officer that was watching me goes down and the passenger door opens. Hobbs points the still smoking gun at me and says

"Get in" 

"Why should I? In a few minutes this place is gonna be crawling with cops" I say

"Because I could just shoot you, sneak my way into the hospital and kill Taylor. Or you can get in the fucking van!"

Justin's POV

After Brian left Dr. Clair wheeled Daphne into my room. I basically hopped out of bed to hug her granting me a glare from Clair. We hug awkwardly because she has a broken arm and leg. And it's hard to stand with my ankle but we hug until the doctor insist that I sit back down 

"I'm so happy you're okay" she said her eyes shiny with tears

"Back at ya. But they told me you were in a medically induced coma" I said confused

"Na I had some internal bleeding and a concussion. And obviously the broken limbs but I'm alright. I've mostly been worried about you" she said squeezing my hand and holding something back. I give her my spill it look.

She rolls her eyes before saying "Whoever told you that had their info mixed up. Ted's the one in the coma, Hobbs hit him in the head a lot. Like more than five times. And Ted had a lot of internal bleeding in his head as well as a lot of brain swelling. So they put him in the coma until the swelling goes down"

"Jesus" I said exhausted and rubbing my eyes

"You're not sitting here blaming yourself are you?" she asks

"I'm trying to but no one's giving me a chance" I tell her

"Well lets talk about something else like how gross the food is here" she said 

I can't help giving her a guilty look "I wouldn't know, Brian went to Al's Steakhouse and got me something" I confess

"Of course he did" she said rolling her eyes "you know he spoils you right?" 

"Brian? Spoil me, that is so not true just because-"

A loud gunshot sound interrupts my sentence waking up my mom. Suddenly the officers standing guard outside burst into the room talking frantically into their radios. My hands and fingers go numb, and my heart is beating like crazy. I start breathing really hard I-I think I'm having a panic attack. I try to calm myself down, it doesn't work until I remember Brian. He would've been back by now to check on me. By the time I'm refocused Carl is in the room yelling.

"Wh-What happened?" I ask

"Hobbs was outside he...he shot one of my guys..." he doesn't finish

I give a strangled hysterical laugh "he uh...he took Brian. Didn't he"

"We're gonna find him" he said

"You've been saying that a lot, but you haven't done anything! I mean we found Justin, we lost him but we found him. And I hate to say it but the only reason we got Justin back is because Hobbs gave him back!" Daphne said

"Daph calm down" I said but I don't think she's listening

"I mean he wouldn't really hurt Justin because he's obsessed with him. We found more than enough evidence of that. But he hates Brian he's gonna kill him!!" she yells

"What evidence?" I ask

"Um...just a few pictures" Carl said

"I wanna see them" I said

"Justin...honey I don't think that's a good idea" mom said

"I need to see this evidence" I said to Carl 

He looks at me for a few minutes before leaving the room. He comes back a couple of minutes later with a folder. He hands it to me quietly and goes back to talking into his radio. I take a deep breath and open the folder.

I look through the pictures quietly each one more disturbing than the last. I feel violated and naked, hell in some of these pictures I am. There are pictures of me alone, with my mom, with Daphne, fucking at Babylon with Brian. Everything that I thought was private, my whole life or at least the last five years. Just splayed out for him to look at whenever he wanted. I don' feel numb anymore I feel angry, and it's almost like the anger makes me see clearly. I know where Brian is.

"Could uh...could you two give us a minute" I said to mom and Carl

"What are you thinking?" Daph asks warily when their out of the room 

I hop off the bed and look in the bag that mom bought over for me. And thankfully there are clothes in them I change into a black long sleeve shirt and some jeans. I can't really fit my foot into my sneaker so I just have to use one shoe. I rip up the blanket and carefully wrap up my other foot.

"I know where he took Brian" I said putting on my coat

"Where?" she asks

"He took him to the school, where I jerked him off. Where all this really begin" I said

"And where do you think you're going?" she asks

"Just give me a head start like maybe ten minutes, then tell Carl" I tell her

"I don't know" she said

"Ten minutes with this ankle I'll probably get there at the same time they will" I said trying to convince her

"Fine ten minutes but how are you getting outta here?" she asks

"I'll find a way" I said slipping out of the room

The hallway is surprisingly empty then I hare the voices. Everyone must be around the corner, luckily the elevators are clear. But I'm sure it won't be for long, I can hear the officers coming back to guard my door. I slip into the elevator before they spot me. The only thing I can think about on the way down is that I hope I get there before he kills Brian.

___________________________________________________________________________

Brian's POV 

I was a little surprised when Hobbs took me to St. James. But when he tied me up in what looked like an equipment room then I remembered Justin telling me about this spot. This is where Justin first hooked up with Hobbs. I knew Hobbs was crazy but I think he's actually snapped. I mean everything else has been pretty carefully planned out up until this point. But this was just sloppy and predictable, I'm sure it won't take long for Carl or Justin to figure out where we are. I just hope Justin doesn't try and get me by himself. 

Hobbs has had me here for about an hour now and he's not even here. He tied me up and left, I've been struggling with the rope and it feels a little looser but I still can't break free. I look up when the door opens and Hobbs walks in.

"Nice to see you haven't gotten out. At least I can still tie a knot" he said 

"What were you doing planting another bomb?" I ask

"Nope no more bombs. I was just walking down memory lane. Justin and I had our best times in this building. And our greatest time in this room" he said with a disgustingly eerie look on his face

"You really are insane aren't you? I mean you know Justin wouldn't call any of his memories at this school good right. I mean because of you he hated school, he couldn't wait to get out of here. Then you even took that from him!" I yell

"What are you talking about?" 

"You know what I'm talking about! Everyone else was at graduation while, because of you, he spent that time in a fucking coma! Jesus do you even realize how much you've ruined his life!? The panic attacks, the nightmares, not to mention the permeant physical damage!" I yell

"That whole prom mess was you fault not mine! If you hadn't showed up-"

"If I hadn't showed up Justin would probably be dead and we both know it" I said cutting him off

He's quite for a second while he thinks about it "yea you're probably right, but I was different back then-"

"Doesn't look like you've changed that much to me. Your still the same violent and crazy animal you were back then!" I growl at him

The next thing I know he has a knife against my throat. He's pressing it so hard I feel blood trickling down my neck.

"Truth hurts doesn't it" I said making him push the knife further "go ahead do it! It's over we both know that, you'll spend the rest of your life in a padded cell. And that's if you lucky, I mean you killed a cop and accidents happen all the time"

"You think your real tough don't you ‘Mr. I Laugh in the face of danger' that's why I didn't just kill you in the first place. I knew you'd find a way to take all the fun out of it" he said sounding irritated

"Sorry" I said shrugging

"It's okay because when I kill you Justin will blame himself. And he'll be miserable and he'll never forgive himself." He said mocking me  

I see something in the corner of my eye but I can't make it out

"So why don't you think about that before-"

Hobbs doesn't get to finish because he gets hit in the back with a bat. When he turns around to see who it is he gets hit in the head and goes down. The knife that was in his hand skids right next to the gate. I look up and see Justin holding the bat and staring at Hobbs.

"D-Do you think he's down?" Justin asks with the bat still raised

"Probably not for long" I said staring at him "you should be in the hospital"

"Yea well you said you'd be right back" he said taking the knife and cutting the rope

"Well I got a little tied up" I said

"You're not funny" he said smiling a little while cutting the other rope

Then everything happens really fast, Hobbs grabs Justin and stomps on his already sprained ankle. I hear a stomach churning snap right before Justin screams. Hobbs grabs me by my throat and squeezes as hard as he can.

"You know before I kill you I just think you should know that..." I don't even have time to respond to what he tells me before he buries the knife in my stomach.

"Brian noooo!!!" Justin yells he tries to crawl over to me but Hobbs grabs him

I can't breathe, I cough and blood comes out I reflexively pull the knife out and wince. It kind of doesn't hurt, but I can't remember if that's a good thing or a bad thing. He took him again, I'm bleeding and I feel shity, but I won't let him take him. I get up and follow Hobbs and Justin, at least where they were going. That's when police cars and ambulances show up. 

"Brian! Are you alright?" Carl asks looking at the wound 

"I'm fine, he took Justin and they went that way" I said pointing as paramedics rush towards me.

"We'll find him while you get patched up" officer Artie said

I don't believe them, I have to get him myself. Before anyone can stop me I run towards the empty ambulance and drive off. I can hear them yelling after me but I don't care. I drive for at least three minutes before I see them. Hobbs is dragging Justin along towards a car. I speed up and open the door. 

"Justin move!" I yell 

Justin is quicker than Hobbs. He hobbles out of the way just in time for me to slam the ambulance into Hobbs nailing him to a tree. When I look up there's a fountain of blood pooling out of Hobbs mouth and his eyes are open but glazed over. I did it Justin's safe.

"Are you crazy?!" Justin yells his voice still choppy from crying. I can't help but laugh.

"Well that's the last time I save someone's life" I mumble

"Do you know how dangerous that was!? Ambulances explode all the time. Sometime for no reason at all. Do you know how lucky you are!?" Justin lectures dragging me out. 

I turn grab him and crush my lips to his. He kisses me back, tears rolling down his face.

"You're safe" I said after breaking the kiss

"Yea we're safe" he sniffles 

"More you then me" I said, Justin looks at me confused until I almost collapse.

"Brian!" he yells setting me against a tree. "No! No y-you hold on okay help is coming" 

"You're gonna be okay sunshine" I tell him weakly as fresh tears stream down his face

"We, we're gonna be okay" he sniffles "you can't leave me"

"I did what I needed to do you're safe" I said feeling relaxed, which I know is bad.

"No! I need you. I need you to hold me at night when you think I'm sleeping." He said making me laugh or choke I'm not sure. I sit up trying to suck in more air.

"Plus we still have to get married, and spend the rest of our lives trying to forget this ever happened. Or knowing me, I'll convince you to go to therapy. And you'll hate it but you'll go because you love me. And I have to dance with my mom at our wedding, then she'll make you dance with her. We have so much to do Brian you can't leave me. Not after everything that's happened."

Everything he just said sounds nice but I won't get to do it with him. But he's still young he'll find someone else. It might take some time but it'll happen.

"I love you always have always will" I said closing my eyes

"No I won't let you!" he said then I hear him get up. I want him to stay. "You're not dying on me you shellfish bastard" Justin said sitting back down next to me.

"Not nice to say to a dying man" I mumble, then I feel Justin rip open my shirt. "I don't think I'm in the condition for that right now sunshine" I said smiling.

He ignores me mumbling to himself and tracing lines on my chest. It feels nice his fingers are warm, against my cool or cooling skin. 

"No that's not what you're supposed to do" he said to himself 

His fingers start to move on my arm. Like he's looking for something, then there's a sharp stabbing pain in my arm. After he's done doing whatever it is he's doing I grab his hand and hold it tightly. Then I cup his cheek.

"If this is the last thing I see" I said staring into his deep blue teary eyes "I'm okay with that"

"Keep your eyes open okay, k-keep looking at me" he said pressing my hand to his cheek

I do, then I hear the police sirens and the other ambulance but it's too late.

"Brian...Brian no! Help I need help!" I hear Justin yell.

I feel panicky and I shake a bit, then Justin is yanked away from me. But I can still hear him, he's talking to someone. I can't keep my eyes open, but I want my angel back.

"Justin?" 

"I'm still here"

"I love you" is the last thing I say before I fall into beautiful numbing darkness.

Justin's POV 

I'm letting the doctor patch up my new scratches and check my ankle. Which is now officially broken and Dr. Clair demands that I say off of it. All I can really focus on is Brian, he made it to the hospital alive. The paramedics said that was because of me. Because of the adrenaline I gave him and because I talked to him the whole way here. 

They rushed him into surgery as soon as we got here. I'm sitting on my hospital bed giving my statement when everyone rushes into my room. 

"Oh honey you're alright" mom said hugging me. I hug her back tightly.

"Are you done getting kidnapped?" Daphne asks hugging me around her broken arm.

Then everyone else takes turns hugging me. 

"Are you okay?" Lindsey asks

"Yea I'm fine"

"What happed to...Hobbs" Melanie asks. I look at her questioningly 

"The fucking cops won't tell us anything" Debbie explains

"He's dead Brian got him" I tell them 

"Thank God" Emmett said getting choked up 

"Where is Brian?" Lindsey asks

I can't help my eyes from watering "He's in surgery, Chr-Hobbs stabbed him. He got him pretty good, he lost a lot of blood..." I can't finish, mom squeezes my hand comfortingly. I smile at her then Dr. Clark (Brian's surgeon) comes in.

"Is he okay? Please tell me he's okay" I said standing up. Which gains me a glare from Dr. Clair. So I sit back down.

"He's holding on, but we need you're permission too-"

"My permission?" I ask confused

"Well you have power of attorney"

"Isn't he a little young?" mom asks

"Well the other person he had listed is um..." the doctor doesn't finish

"Michael" I said finishing for her, everyone gets really quite. I only take a minute to absorb this information and make my decision.

"Do whatever you can to safely keep him alive" 

"Alright, I'll let you know as soon as he's out of surgery" she said leaving. I lean on my mom's shoulder tiredly.

"You need to rest" Dr. Clair said still clearly upset that I broke out, she and my mom tuck me into the bed.

"Usually it's against the rules to let so many people stay. Especially after visiting hours, but considering everything that you've all gone through. I'll let you all stay, but only if you agree to let him rest!" she said putting an IV in my arm.

I don't complain, I let her hook me up. I yawn and settle into bed, I freak a little when Clair puts something in my IV.

"It'll just help you sleep, I promise to wake you as soon as Brian is out of surgery" she assures me.

I'm satisfied with her speech and I'm really tired, I hear her talking to everyone about getting more chairs as I fall asleep.

When I wake up its morning and everyone is asleep in chairs. I press the nurse button and Dr. Clair walks in. She carefully walks over to me trying not to wake everyone. 

"He's been out of surgery for about two hours. He's in the ICU you can see him soon alright"

"Thank you" I whisper before falling asleep again. When I wake up again the only people still here are my mom and Daphne. 

"Hey honey, I bought you some clean clothes from the loft. And Dr. Clair's insisting, and I agree, that you eat something before you go see Brian"

"Okay" I said, I have no arguments with that, honestly I'm hungry. So I follow the doctors (and my mom's) orders. Then I gently (because of my ankle) shower and change into the clean clothes. When I get out of the little bathroom, my mom's taking out a bowl of soup. I remember the bowl from home. 

"You cooked?" I said surprised

"Well before you left and went to live with Debbie. I used to be a really good cook, remember"

I roll my eyes "yea I remember" 

I eat the soup and after I keep it down, Dr. Clair lets me eat the turkey sandwich mom made for me. After that Dr. Clair and mom help me into a wheelchair. It's the only way Clair lets me leave my room. While she wheels me towards Brian's room she explains what happened during the surgery.

He lost a lot of blood, but I knew that already. He bled a lot the other night, I shudder remembering how he almost...

She also told me that they had to remove his spleen. Then she explained that although he'd obviously be able to live without it. That it means that his immune system is a bit compromised. Which means that, especially because of the cancer, he'll need vaccinations and preventative antibiotics. Most likely for the rest of his life.

She warns me before we go in that he's going to be hooked up to a lot of machines. She's right and it's kind of scary looking. But he's asleep and looks so young, she wheels me right up to the bed. After she leaves I sit on the side of the bed with the least amount of tubes. I take his hand and move a few strands of hair out of his face. 

"You did it, the doctors said the worst part is over. All you and I have to do is get better"

He moans a little like he's trying to talk. Then he makes this little sound and motion with his mouth. Which I know from personal experience, means that he's thirsty. There's a pitcher of ice chips with a cup and spoon, on the table next to me. After I pour some ice chips in the cup and put a small spoon full to his lips.

His eyes open for a second before his lips part. Allowing for the ice to go in, he sighs with a small smile on his face. I take this as a cue to feed him more. After two cups he looks content. While I put the cup back down, he squeezes my hand. I look at him a little surprised, his eyes are open slightly.

"Hey" I said smiling at him

"Thank you...pretty angel" he mummers. 

I blush a little and kiss him on the forehead as he falls back to sleep. 

With permission from the doctor I feed him some of the broth, from the rest of the soup mom made me. He spends the day half asleep, mumbling about how he must've died. He keeps calling me an angel. I think the pain killers are making him loopy. I end up falling asleep. I'm not asleep long when I feel Brian's fingers in my hair. I look up at him and he still has that hazy look in his eyes. Which means that he's still mostly asleep. So I lay back down and try to ignore him.

"You look like my angel" he said, making me roll my eyes

"You're not dead stupid!" 

He laughs "You even sound like him...where am I?"

"You're in the hospital and I'm really here" I said looking up at him.

"You have the same eyes" he mumbles

I sit up getting a little angry 

"Why don't you believe me!? I know you must be in pain, if you were dead there wouldn't be pain." I take his hand and squeeze it "can't you feel that?" I ask desperately.

At first he was amusing but now I'm starting to think that he has brain damage. 

"I'm really here, it's me Justin. I'm real, I'm laying right next to you"

I'm about to bitch some more when he surprises me by pulling me down and kissing me.

"Huh I guess I am alive" he said before falling back to sleep, leaving me breathless as usual.

"Jerk" I said and he smiles

Brian's POV

My eyelids feel like lead and it takes me a long time to open them. When I do I notice that I'm in a hospital. I'm confused at first until everything that happens comes back to me. I got stabbed, Hobbs stabbed me then...then I...I killed him. And I...I thought I was going to die, but then Justin. Justin fuck! I have to find him.

I panic a little at first until I see Justin carefully snuggled up to me. I sigh relieved and try to pull him closer but the movement hurts a little. I flex my fingers and hand that's when I notice the dull aching everywhere. I groan more irritated than hurt but the sound wakes up Justin. He rubs his eyes looks at me then settles back down.

"Not exactly the reaction I was expecting" I said, my voice sounds terrible I hear Justin sigh. "Christ is that really my voice?" 

Justin shoots up and stares at me rubbing his eyes "is that really you?" he asks

"Who the fuck else would it be?" I said smiling at him

His eyes water and he lunges himself at me, wrapping his arms around my neck. Then he starts showering kisses all over my face and neck. I can't help but laugh and it almost sounds hysterical. I can't believe it's over. I pull him into my lap and he settles there gently before I smash my lips against his. Justin stops me before I can take it any further.

"Awe come on sunshine do you know how long it's been since-"

"Yes I do" Justin said cutting me off and getting off the bed. "But we need to tell the doctor that you're awake so she can tell you what's going on. And so a nurse can take out your um..." he bites his bottom lip holding back a laugh.

I don't understand until I shift around and feel something...wrong. I look over at the side of the bed and see the bag filled with piss. 

"Fuck! You really let them put a catheter in me?" I said annoyed 

"Well you've been asleep for a while, even longer than I thought. Time seems to go slower in hospitals." He muses

"Isn't there a button to push for the nurse? You don't have to leave" I said trying not sound as edgy as I feel.

"Yea" he said hobbling back over to the bed. He sits on the edge of the bed then pushes some unseen button. A minute later a nurse walks in.

"Hey Justin what do you ne-oh he's awake I'll go get the doctor" the nurse said walking back out the door

"On a first name basis with the hospital staff huh?" I ask

"Yea our story is pretty popular. Plus I have been hanging around the ICU for almost two weeks" he said solemnly 

"I'm sure we can talk to the police about keeping our names out of this. Protect our identity's or something, they owe us that much" I said trying to stay calm

"Geez what's with you and Daph hating on the cops?  Any way I'm sure they wouldn't mind, they hate Hobbs way more than we do"

"Not possible" I said gritting my teeth

"Relax Brian it's over he can't hurt us any more" he said taking my hand 

I nod in agreement and try to calm down. Then I remember the other part of what Justin said. 

"I've been out for two weeks?" I ask 

"Well kinda you were in and out, the pain meds were making you all loopy. You were convinced that you were dead, and you kept calling me an angel." He said smiling

"Yea well I've always called you that just not to your face." I said smiling at him

"Why didn't you tell me that you gave me power of attorney?" he asks curiously

"I didn't want you to make a big deal about it" I said shrugging

He smiles at me and leans down to kiss me, before I can deepen the kiss the door opens. The nurse and another women walk in.

"Well Mr. Kinney it's nice to see that you're really awake. And that you seem to be feeling better." The other women said looking at Justin. He smiles at her and sits in the chair by the bed, while the doctors walk over to me.    

 "I'm Dr. Clark are you in any pain?" she asks

"Not really just a dull ach"

"Where?" 

"Kind of allover"

"Your muscles are probably just a little stiff. It should go away once you start moving around more. Now the knife cut pretty deep it'll heal but there will be a residual...feeling left over when it does." She explains 

"So it's gonna be one of those scars" I said rolling my eyes

"One of what scars?" Justin asks

"Let's just say when it's about to rain my lovely new scar will let me know" I explain

"Oh" he said looking a little guilty

"It's not your fault angel" I whisper so only he can hear, he smiles but doesn't say anything

"Well we have to change your bandages, clean your wound and remove your cat-"

"Please don't talk about it just get it out" I said cutting her off

Justin smiled and looked away as they got to it. It wasn't....I don't have any words for it. I just hope I never have to go through it again. Justin convinced the doctor to let me shower before they put new bandages on me. The shower really helped, moving around and letting the warm water run over my aching body felt good.

After I showered and cleaned up the doctor explained my situation. Apparently they had to remove my spleen she explained that I'd clearly be able to live without it. But now my immune system, which was already fucked up by the cancer, is even more messed up. She said that I'll have to be on a regiment of vaccinations and antibiotics for a while. But the way she said it I'm pretty sure I'll be using them forever.

After that it was just a blur of visits from everyone and then the police showed up to talk to us. I worked out a deal with Carl so all of the files on this case would be sealed. It was easier than I thought to convince him, Justin was right the police department wasn't too happy about the whole Hobbs thing. Some of them are pissed most of them in fact, the rest seemed embarrassed.

Which is understandable since he did give them the run around. Plus he made them look pretty stupid. So they had no problem keeping it quite. The official story was the young man that he (Hobbs) kidnapped was rescued and Hobbs was killed in the process. There was also some stuff thrown in about Hobbs having mental issues. 

I asked Carl what was going to happen to the pictures that Hobbs took. He said they would be locked away, which I wasn't happy about. I made a mental note to try and get rid of them somehow. It made me uncomfortable to think that those kind of pictures of Justin are out there. 

Justin was technically released from the hospital before me, but the hospital staff let him hang around all he wanted. After a few more days they moved me out of ICU and into a regular room. Justin never leaves my side, not unless Jennifer or Debbie drag him home for a shower, food, or a decent night's sleep. I spend most of my time getting treated, taking meds, and walking around so my muscles don't get all achy again.

Whenever Justin isn't here I plan with Jennifer, I loved the new house but I don't want to live here anymore. I hated that I had to give up the house that I bought for him but I honestly don't think I can handle it. So we spend all our time looking for someone to buy the place and looking for someplace else to live. 

I also have other things I want to work out before they discharge me. If they ever do, eventually Jennifer and I work everything out. Then I enlist Emmett for my second task. I keep everything a secret so I can surprise him. But I'm pretty sure Justin suspects something, I just hope he'll keep off asking until I'm ready. 

Finally I have everything I'm looking for and I'm ready to tell Justin. I just hope it goes well.

Justin's POV
I'm getting dressed which now takes forever with this stupid ankle, but I'm excited. Brian's finally getting discharged today and he said he has something important to tell me. Which is good because over the past few days I've felt like he was ignoring me. I mean every time I leave the room he locks himself in the room and has private talks with mom or Em. 

I know it sounds crazy after everything we've been through but I feel like...he's pulling away from me. Which kinda makes me nervous for the little talk he wants to have. But that's probably from the anxiety, the doctors made us both see the shrink they had at the hospital. The guy had given me something for it but I hated taking it. So dealing with anxiety and paranoia is the result.

I try to shake it off while mom drives me to the hospital, it's ridiculous. Brian loves me I know he does, after everything he did to get me back. He wouldn't dump me now, I mean I know he got stabbed because of me but...ugh. I try to ignore the nagging thoughts as we walk into the hospital.

Mom waits in the waiting room while I head to the elevator. I try to stay calm but I'm kinda freaking out, I walk as fast as I can to Brian's room. I bump into Em coming out of Brian's room.

"Whoa baby where's the fire?" he said smiling

"Just happy for him to come home" I said shrugging

"Aren't we all" he said holding the door open for me

When I get inside Brian is pacing in the clothes I brought over for him yesterday. When he sees me his whole face lights up and it kinda stuns me. I mean lately he has been giving me some very uncharacteristically loving looks lately. But this was something else.

"Hey" he said helping me sit on the bed

"Hey" I said hugging him before sitting back down "um since when do you pace?"

"I just...I just wanted to do this right" he said biting his lip

He carefully gets down on one knee and I'm extremely confused until he pulls out a little box.

"Brian" I whisper softly as all my anxiety melts away 

"I know I already asked you and you already answered. I just needed to do this right, we...we have our own way of doing things. And it works for us the whole you always telling me you love me thing. And me always implying it but I need you to know how much you mean to me." He said as my eyes start to water.

"Before I took you home that night...I didn't even think I could love anyone. Care about them sure but love absolutely not. Then you just snuck under all my...defenses and made me fall in love with you. No matter how many times I tried to get you to go away" he said making us both laugh.

"Even though everybody I know told you I was a selfish shit. You saw something else in me and...you made me see it too" he said a tear rolling down his face. "And I've changed you've changed me, in the best possible way angel. You know my heart by heart and I want to be with you for the rest of my life." He said opening the box

Inside is a perfect white gold ring with a vine looking design on the sides. With three blue topaz stones in the center.

"Justin Taylor will you marry me?" he asks

"Yes!" I said with tears streaming down my face

Brian stands up to kiss me before taking my left hand and slipping my engagement ring. 

"I don't suppose you'd let me get you an engagement ring would you?" I ask half-heartedly, I don't mind having an engagement ring. I love my ring. 

"Nope I already know how much you love me. This ring and the one after it will be two constituent reminders of how much I love you" he said kissing me again

We're interrupted when Daph bursts in on her own set of crutches.

"Are you guys okay, I'm only asking because Emmett is standing by the door bawling like a baby and -" she stops when she takes in our expressions

"Is everything okay" she asks

"Were you really listening the whole time?" Brian asks annoyed 

Emmett walks in and nods his head as he walks over to me. "Let me see he let me help him with almost everything but the ring. Well at least this one" he said grabbing my hand 

"Ring?" Daph said confused 

"Brian asked me to marry him...well re-"

"Oh my God! Well let's see it" she said sitting on the bed. I show her and let her and Em fawn over my ring.

Then my mom pokes her head in "did you do it?" she asks Brian he nods and she walks over to him and gives him a huge hug. Then she hugs me before inspecting the ring.

Only a few seconds later Debbie and the rest of the gang spills into the room. Daph explains and shows everyone my hand. I have to admit all the attention is a little much right now. Debbie tells Brian how happy she is for him and hugs him. Doctor Clair comes in to tell us to calm down we did get a little loud.

She also gives us an update on Ted who's finally awake. She said he's healing up well and that we could go see him if we wanted. Two at a time though Emmett followed after her first with Drew right behind him. Everyone else followed while Mom and Daph stayed with Brian and I while he singed the forms Doctor Clair gave him.

"Well you're free to go whenever you're ready. And I'm happy for both of you" she said smiling

"Thanks" Brian said pulling me close and wrapping his arms around my waist

"Um Mr. Taylor could I take to you for a minute?" she said and I rolled my eyes

"I'll be right back" I said giving Brian a quick kiss before following Dr. Clair into the hallway

"I know you asked me not to tell anyone about the-"

"And I'm happy you haven't and I am going to..." I look back into the room and watch Brian. And I start crying again "he's so happy...I-I can't" I said wiping my eyes.

"Look I know this is hard-"

"And unnecessary since I don't even remember it!" I said trying not to yell

"Fine but you should talk to someone about it. Which reminds me" she said pulling a list out of her folder. "This is for Brian, I really am happy for you and I hope you tell someone about it Justin" 

"I will" I said before giving her a quick hug and going back to Brian

I skim the list she gave me and I don't get it "Um why did Clair want me to give you a list of therapist in New York?" I ask

"That's the other thing I wanted to tell you...after we get married which won't be for a while because I want us both to walk down the aisle as opposed to hobbling-"

"Brian" I said getting a little annoyed at him beating around the bush

"After we get married...we're moving to New York"

Brian's POV

"Not the best way to start a relationship. I should at least have a say in this Brian" he said looking hurt and agitated.

"I'm not making the decision for you but...I...I" I sit down on the bed trying to gather up the balls to tell him.

"What is it?" Justin asks sitting next to me

"I don't...fuck! I...can't stay here angel. The only thing here for me is you-"

"What about Gus? And your job and your friends-"

"I'm not the only one thinking about jumping ship" I said cutting him off

"Who else is leaving?" he asks

"I heard Lindsey and Melanie talking about moving to fucking Canada. You're mom wants to come with us to New York, so do Emmett and Ted after Jenifer told them what I was planning. Although I don't think Emmett's gonna be able to convince Drew to leave-"

"Maybe I don't want to go to New York did you think about that?" he said standing up wobbly and folding his arms.

"Angel-"

"Don't angel me!" he said

"Really I haven't even been calling you angel for that long" I said trying not to laugh at him

"I'm not ready for everything to change so fast Brian. We just got together again and I just wanna go home and sleep in our bed and..." he starts blinking back tears

"Hey" I said pulling him back down next to me. "We're not packing up and leaving right now. We'll live in the house I bought for us until we get married. I've got my eyes on a place for us in New York but it's not done yet. And we still have to get married here where we first met. We'll have a few months maybe a year here in the Pits" I said stroking his hair.

He looks at me with those beautiful eyes of his all watery and makes a cute sniffling sound. "Really? You'd do that for me?" he said looking up at me

"Aren't you the one who said I'd do anything for you?" I said caressing his cheek

"B-But what about your job? What about Kinnetik? You're clients-"

"Most of whom have to fly out here to meet me, I mean sure some of them are local. But I'm sure they wouldn't mind coming to see me in 'The Big Apple'. Plus your career and future is there, you know it's true" I said pulling him into my lap

"Brian your stitches" he complains, I roll my eyes at his concern

"So what do you say sunshine?" I ask

He sighs and rests his head on my shoulder "I guess New York was always this bad guy waiting to take one of us away from each other. So it'd be nice to go together and build our lives there. And we'll get to properly close out this chapter in our lives...sure after we heal up and get married. I'll let you drag me to New York"

"Thanks angel" I said before devouring his mouth

"Mm, Brian we should...ahhh...go home first. Where is home exactly?" he said while I kissed his neck

"Right well I had some movers take all of our stuff from the loft to Britin-"

"Britin?" he said making my ears a little red, I didn't mean to call it that out loud

"In the mist of my drug induced haze that's what I named it" I explain

"Is it supposed to be our-"

"Yes, yes it's our...couple name" I said

"Wow you're not gonna get too soft one me now are you?" he asks giving me that cute little mischievous smile of his.

I grab his hand and place it firmly on my hard cock "never soft" I said making him bite his lip.

Before we could get too carried away the doctor comes back followed by a nurse with a wheel chair. I groan and roll my eyes at the offensive thing.

"Hey you made me leave in one so hop in. I'll go get the car and met you out front" he said giving me a quick kiss and hopping on his crutches

"Can you even drive with that ankle?" I ask him

"I got here okay didn't I" he said before leaving

After I get myself into the chair Dr. Clair asks the nurse to leave.

"I shouldn't do this but you need to know and I'm not sure he's gonna tell you. I didn't want to tell you-I mean I shouldn't tell you at all. But I really didn't want to ruin your whole proposal and-"

"Just spit it out doc" I said cutting her off in the middle of her rambling

"Okay well when someone in Justin's situation, having been kidnapped by someone who's obsessed with him. When or-uh when they get here especially having being drugged, we usually insist that they let us um...uh. Usually we insist on a few test"

"Okay so what kind of test did you perform on Justin?" I ask getting nervous

"I did a um... SOEC on him and-"

"And a SOEC is..."

She sighs sounding defeated "it stands for...sexualoffenseevidencecollection" she says it all in one word probably trying to lessen the blow.

But it doesn't help it's like a rock settled in my stomach. My face goes completely blank and it's like I'm suspended in time. A memory surfaces and I remember something Hobbs said to me before he stabbed me. But at the time I didn't think it was true. Plus between the whole dying thing and all the pain meds. I guess I forgot.

"So what's a...um what did you call it?" I ask even to my ears my voice sounds dead

"It's a sexual offense evidence collection it's type of ra-"

"I-don't say it. What'd you find?" I ask, I probably shouldn't ask but I need to know

"Um...well we found. Are you sure about this?" she asks I just nod

"We found...some of Hobbs DNA on Justin's clothes. On his pants and his...underwear, and there was on him and in him-"

"Where on him?" I demand

"I really don't think-"

"Just tell me"

"We found it on his back and there was some in his...um in his hair. We got all his blood work back and he's fine he's clean, he didn't get anything."

"Why wouldn't he tell me?" I say more to myself than to her

"He says he doesn't remember it, he said that he was drugged and unconscious. But I've seen cases like this is a very complicated thing. No one ever really stays unconscious during that type of trauma. You could be fine for a week, a month, hell even a year. Then one day something triggers a memory."

"Something like what?" I ask

"A word, a smell, a sound it could literally be anything. Which is why I told you, he might not want to tell anyone or talk about it. But he needs to even if he only talks to you about it"

"Thank you for telling me...I think" I said as the feeling returns to my body "I'd like to go home with my fiancé now"

"Right of course I'm really sorry I didn't mean to ruin-"

"Yea I get it you were just trying to help. Thanks"

She wheels me out and I try to fix my face so Justin isn't suspicious. When I get outside Justin is standing by the car nervously biting his nail.

"Hey what took so long" he said hobbling over and taking my bag

"Nothing" I said getting up carefully "I'm driving"

"Bu-" I silence him with a look

I get in the car and slam the door, I see Justin give the doc an angry look before he gets in. we make a stop to pick up some food and other toiletries before we get to the house. When we get to the house Justin spends a while looking around and admiring the house. While I unpack and set up the food in the kitchen, I try to find a way to tell him.

Justin talks my ear off while we eat, he talks about the house. About random thoughts he's thinking of for the wedding. He talks about anything so I can't get a word in.

"And I was thinking of us both wearing white suits or is that too cliché? I mean it's kinda of a nice idea-oh and I was defiantly want us to have Golden Gardenias.

"Golden Gardenias?" I ask

"Their beautiful and there's a Chinese legend that once your lover breathes them in he'll love you forever. The only thing is they only grow in the Xishuangbanna Mountains in Southern China. I'm sure we could have them imported or something-"

"Golden Gardenias just popped into your head right now?"

"I've planned our wedding a thousand times before in my head Brian" he said it like it's just a fact. Like I should already know that he's pictured our life together.

In the middle of his pacing and rambling I grad him and kiss him harder than I've ever kissed anyone including him. He gasps and quickly wraps his arms around my neck. I pick him up and put him on the table.

"Brian I know we're...ah...it's been a while but...your stitches" he gets out in between moans

"Relax" I said picking him up and grabbing the bag from the store "the hospital is only a hour or two away"

He giggles as I carry him upstairs to the bedroom. I know after what the doctor told me we probably shouldn't, but right now we both deserve some normal.    

After our third round we both just laid there holding each other. I listen to Brian's heartbeat while he runs his fingers through my hair. It's nice to finally have a minute to relax, it's also nice to know that Brian still wants me. Especially since I know that, that stupid doctor told him. Which I'm pretty sure is illegal. But maybe he won't want to talk about it, I mean he hasn't bought it up yet so-

"Justin I...we need...no we have to talk" he said sitting up and looking at me

Before I can get up and make an excuse Brian pulls me into his lap and holds me there.

"We need to talk about it even though neither of us wants to angel" he said

"There's nothing to talk about, it didn't happen okay!" I practically yell at him

"Then why are you mad?" he asks

"Because you're restraining me! Let go"

"Right so your doctor just made up a fake story to...what? I honestly don't see the point in her doing something like that"

"I said let go!" I said my voice cracking

"Justin" he said gently taking my chin and turning me to face him

I keep my eyes closed refusing to look at him. We stay like that for a good five minutes before I finally open my eyes. Brian's face is what finally makes the tears come. He's not looking at me with pity, guilt, or anything like that. He's looking at me with love, I mean I've seen glimpses of that look before but not the pure unfiltered look he's giving me now.

"I don't even remember it" I whisper turning and burying my face in his chest

"I know angel, but you can tell me what you do remember. Or just how you...you know feel. Which I know is something we don't do, but hey there's a first time for everything." He said and when I looked up at him he had a small smile on his face.

"You really want to hear how confused I was when I realized I got kidnapped. How terrified I was when I found out it was him."

"Because of what you and Cody did?" he asks

"You know about that?"

"He told me" Brian said gritting his teeth slightly

I try not to get angry at that "yea that was part of the reason but then he started talking about hurting you. And everyone else...and when he told me about Michael. I was so terrified Brian...then...the first time it happened-"

"The first time what happened?" Brian demands

"He kissed me...a lot" I explain

Brian breathes a sigh of relief before getting angry again. He tightens his grip on me and takes a few deep breaths.

"You okay?" I ask when his breathing goes back to normal

"No...I should've gone with you to your apartment. Instead of fucking worrying about work! Then none of this would've happened" he said angrily

But he said it as more of a fact, removing whatever regret he may or may not have. Which makes me smile, when he notices my smile he gives me a slightly confused look.

"What?"

"Nothing just happy to see you haven't changed too much" I said, Brian shrugs and waits for me to continue.

"I thought he was going to do it earlier. After he attacked Ted, Emmett and...Mel, I got so angry when he told me about Mel that I hit him." Brian smiles a little at that "we had a little fight and he pinned me and kissed me. I bit his tongue so hard it started bleeding, then he carried me up to the room. I thought 'he's gonna rape me and I can't stop him'"

Brian holds me tighter while the tears roll down my face

"What happened?" he asks

"He left and locked me in the room, and I almost gave up. Right then and there but then I thought about how you were probably looking for me and-"

"What do you mean probably?" he said kissing my head

"Right sorry, so I thought about how you were looking for me, I got my shit together, and the next day I tried to escape. Which is how I messed up my ankle, well how it originally got messed up anyway. And how I got this" I said holding up my hand

Showing him the scar I got from nearly getting my face torn off by a bear trap. He traces it gently with his finger.

"I was hiking through all those woods and I fell. A bear trap went off right in front of my face. That's how my ankle sprained I fell on it wrong or it got twisted during the fall. And my hand must've caught on a branch or a really sharp rock"

"Huh"

"What?" I ask curiously

"Nothing I just would've pictured you as more of a boy scout than that" he said making both of us laugh

"Anyway I got up and decided no matter how bruised or broken I was. I wouldn't let him...any way then I...um well...I heard your voice. I know it sounds crazy-"

"Not really, I mean I didn't hear your voice. But I had these crazy dreams, I was always too late to save you. You'd always..." he clears his throat and wipes his eyes. "You'd always die in my arms before I could save you"

I don't really know what to say to that so I keep going.

"The only time he could've done it was...after you and Daph tried to save me. He bought me to this run down motel and I was so upset. I mean I thought you two were dead. I guess I was too much for him because he stuck me with a needle again. When I woke up the next day I remember vaguely feeling some...pain. But I was so worried about you guys I didn't think about it too much"

I have to admit it does kinda feel good to talk about this. I wait for Brian to talk but he doesn't he stays quite for a long time.

"Brian? You know. It wasn't-"

"Wasn't it though? I mean maybe if we hadn't pushed him"

"Then maybe you would've bought me a little more time but it...still would've-"

"Maybe, but..."

"But you saved me" I said

He doesn't say anything even though I think he wants to point out that technically Hobbs gave me back. It takes him a while before he relaxes and kisses me on the cheek.

"Actually I think you saved me" he said smiling a tiny bit

"We saved each other" I said

Brian smiles and kisses me then he just rests his forehead against mine. We sit there for a while like that. Just enjoying the fact that we're out of harm's way. But then I hear something some kind of rustling sound and I jump a little. After I calm down and realize it's nothing a tear rolls down my face.

"Are we ever gonna be the same again?" I ask him

"I think...we'll be the same in some ways, different in others. We just gotta find our groove again sunshine" he said stroking my cheek

"How do we do that?" I ask laying back down on his chest

"I can't believe I'm actually saying this but, one day at a time. Plus, we could focus on happier things"

"Like what?"

"Like you have a wedding to plan"

"You're really gonna make me do all of that by myself? You don't want any say in anything?" I ask looking up at him and playing with my ring.

"I get to register us for wedding gifts" he said making me laugh

"Really and where are we gonna be registered?" I ask

"Prada" he said without hesitation

I can't help but laugh again "seriously? I mean the idea of registering at Prada is genius, but we're moving to a new home in a new city. Don't you think that; pottery barn would be more useful?"

"Hmm let's see shoes, serving bowls. Shoes, blender. No I don't think so."

"Well may we should register at both"

"As long as I get my shoes sunshine you can do whatever you want"

"Yea I love you too Brian"

Brian's POV

The next week after our little heart to heart consisted of closing out everything with the police. After giving our full and final confessions I made sure that our names were kept out of everything. I also made sure that the case was sealed and that I could sue anyone who tried to dig around. Which took a lot of work and lawyers but I got it done.

The next week consisted of doctor visits, my doctor wasn't too happy about me and Justin getting reacquainted. I had slightly reopened the wound, so it had to be cleaned again and closed back up. She stressed that without my spleen I wouldn't be able to fight off infections as well as I used too. Which didn't mean shit to me because my immune system was already compromised anyway.

The only part that upset me was the whole having to cut down on my alcohol consumption. And that until we're both healed no more sex, which just about killed me. Then again I didn't think about Justin's ankle while we were fucking. It couldn't have been comfortable for him.  

Then the doctor prescribed me some antibiotic and pain meds, which took a while because she had to find the right combo. To make sure that they were safe to take considering the long medical rap sheet I'm getting. Justin's ankle was healing well luckily it was a clean break. And as long as we didn't do anything too strenuous it shouldn't take that long to heal. She also set us up with a shrink until we could find one of our own.

Which Justin ground his teeth over, he still hadn't forgiven her for telling me. So he wasn't too happy about her suggesting a therapist for us. But I convinced him to go with it which surprised him.

"Why do you want to go to a shrink?! You don't even-"

"I want us to see a shrink because I want us to be happy and get over this shit the right way. I want us to be together for a long, long time. I don't want us to act like we're okay. So two years from now all this shit doesn't bubble back up and make us break up. Because I, being the shelfish asshole that I am, don't want to lose you ever again!"

Justin looks at me with a surprised and slightly pouty face "Fine! When are you gonna go back to normal?" he asks burying his face in my chest

"As soon as possible sunshine, I promise" I said wrapping my arms around him

After finishing up with the doctor we went to visit Ted for a little while before we had to head over to Debs. I promised to help her with the arrangements for Michael's funeral. Ted was doing well for a guy that'd been on a coma twice. After visiting with Ted Justin seemed happier on the drive to Debs.

"I'm sure that you can survive a few weeks Brian. Plus, I'm sure we can do other stuff that's less strenuous" Justin said trying to pacify me on the way to Debs

"So what we're supposed to tease each other until we heal up? Because anything we do that's not too strenuous is just foreplay" I countered

"Maybe we should talk about something else" Justin said shifting around in his seat

"Why you getting all revved up sunshine?" I ask

"Shut up" he said laughing

"God I love that sound" I said making him blush a little

"You haven't done that in a while" I said quickly stroking his cheek

"Yea well...same but different right. Maybe we'll be different in good ways too" he said quoting me from our conversation a few days ago

I just smile and hold his hand for the rest of the drive. When we get to Debbie's she opens the door holding J.R. and smiling. She crushes Justin and I in massive hugs before letting us in. As soon as we do Gus runs over to us and wraps his little arms around my legs. He hugs Justin's legs (or leg) more gently because Justin is still using crutches.

Next up on the hug train is Linds and Mel followed by Emmett. Who right after we hugged dragged Justin to the living room to talk about wedding stuff. Gus followed after them and so did Linds. Which just left me Debs and Mel to plan Mikey's funeral. Which turned out to be more draining than I thought it was going to be.

I ended up sitting in Michael's room trying not to cry. After a few minutes I heard a timid knock on the door and Justin peeked his head in, with his eyes all watery. I sighed and nodded for him to come in and pulled him into my lap.

"It's not your fault sunshine" I said rubbing his back

"But-"

"Not buts"

"I feel bad planning our wedding, while you're planning your best friend's funeral a few feet away." He said sniffling

"Well you deserve to focus on something good. Plus, it makes me happy to know you're happy and not all depressed over something that you couldn't stop"

"I guess" he said shrugging sadly

"I am gonna miss him though" I said hugging him a little tighter

"I know you will" Justin said sounding a little strange

"What's wrong?" I ask looking at his watery eyes

"Just something...he said" I wait for him to go on "it's nothing really" he insisted

"Justin"

"I don't want to say anything bad about the...well you know" he said

I roll my eyes at him and bite back a reply.

"You're not gonna drop it are you?" he asks

"Nope so you should just make things easier and spill it"

"After he you know...I got mad and he- Hobbs said that Michael and I weren't really friends. That ‘at best' he tolerated me" Justin explained

We both know that it's kind of true. It took Michael a while to accept the fact that Justin was going to be a permeant fixture in my life. We'd have constant arguments about Justin, I honestly couldn't believe it at first. But Michael was just jealous he got better after he met Ben. Not completely, now that I remember how he acted when Justin had his brief time with the fiddler.

But he at least tried...I think I sigh and shake my head. I'm about to say something to Justin when I her his slow breathing. I look down and realize that he's asleep, I look at the time and realize that it's almost midnight. I guess we all lost track of the time. I scoop my angel up and head back downstairs carefully.

"I thought the doctor said you weren't supposed to-"

"He's only like ten pounds, we're gonna head home" I said as Deb walks over with our jackets and the car keys.

"Thanks for helping" she said pinching my cheek

"Of course Debs" I said getting Justin into his jacket

I notice that everyone is asleep all over the living room with no intention of getting up.

"Looks like your hosting a sleepover" I said making her laugh

"Yea I don't have the heart to wake them, they look so peaceful" she said

"Yea I get it" I said holding Justin a little closer

Watching him sleep was always one of my favorite things to do. Ever since he first started sleeping over with me all those years ago. After hugging Debbie, I carry Justin to the car and drive home. Justin wakes up enough to enjoy a nice warm shower with me. Then (with very little help from him) I get Justin into his PJ's.

Then I do what I haven't been able to do in a while. I watch him sleep looking like every bit the angel he is.

Justin's POV

When I wake up I feel a little bad, I didn't mean to fall asleep on Brian last night. I was just so tired; he must've drove us home last night, which I don't remember. But I do remember us showering together last night. Brian isn't in the bed but I hear the water in the bathroom so he must be in there. I sleepily walk to our in-suite bathroom where Brian is standing in front of the mirror.

He's lightly twisting back in forth; it takes me a minute to realize what he's doing. I tried as long as I could to keep him from seeing it. I did a pretty good job, until now that is.

"You were trying to hide these from me weren't you" he said turning to look at me

"Yea, but it's not a big deal Brian" I said getting my toothbrush

"Their fucking hideous!" he said pointing to his stomach

I tried to keep him from looking at them because I knew he'd act like this. There are two scars on his side and stomach, one from where he was stabbed and the one from the surgery. They're not even that big and they'll look better when they fully heal up.

"It's not that bad Brian, plus I'm the only one who's seen it. And it makes you look even more sexy" I said winking at him

"Yea fucking right" he said looking at his scars miserably

"Do you regret getting them?" I ask

"Don't be stupid" he said which makes me smile a little

"Well then you shouldn't be surprised, I mean you did know that you had surgery. Plus, you had a whole fucking organ removed. You had to know that there'd be some scaring" I said

He glares at me for a second before grabbing his own toothbrush. We both take a long leisurely shower making out for a good thirty minutes. Then after getting dressed I make us breakfast, but not even my cooking can cheer him up. He's still sulking a little.

"You should cheer up grumpy pants" I said handing him his meds and some juice

"Why?" he asks taking them

"Because Emmett's coming over so we can do more wedding planning" I said popping some bacon into my mouth

"Just Emmett?" he asks

I shrug starting to clear the dishes, after I clean everything up I make a fresh pot of coffee.

"Well then I guess it's gonna be a full house" he murmured finishing his juice

"Why?"

"Well your mom is coming over and she's bringing Daphne. I invited Mel over because I have to get all or papers and shit together and I need some legal advice for work. And she'll probably bring Gus and Lindsay." He explains

"Huh I guess it really will be a full house. So we should talk about one thing before everyone gets here"

"And what would that be?" he asks

"A date for our wedding" I said and he smiles a little

We talk about it for a while, we both want a summer wedding but not in the middle or end of the summer. And not in the beginning of the month, it takes us a few minutes before we agree on a date. As soon as we decide on a date there's a knock at the door.

Emmett and the girls get here first and Mel hands me a brand new laptop. Apparently Brian made her get one for me this morning. Em, Gus, and I go into the living room to plan and Brian and Mel go into the kitchen.

"So baby have you finally picked a color scheme?" Em asks as soon as we get settled

"Yup"

"Well don't keep me guessing"

"Navy and black" I said excitedly

"That's kind of perfect for you two" he said getting out one of his binders. "I hope you don't mind but I set up a cake testing for today"

"A cake testing? But I just told you the color scheme and we still have so many-"

"Trust me we have to get all the food out of the way first. I assume you'll want the wedding here. Both the ceremony and the reception?"

"Yea" I said

"Great you want it outside right? And from the look of this place I'm sure if anything bad weather wise happened we could have it inside?" Em asks

I think about it for a minute and remember a huge almost ball like room downstairs. "Yea actually there is"

"Perfect so the venue is taken care of. I'm sure Brian is going to want to have a say in at least the suits."

"Definitely" I said making both of us laugh

"So have you too decided on a date?"

"Yea we decided on June 26" I said

"Perfect that does give us an amazing amount of breathing room and we can get everything booked. I found a few wedding invitation ideas for you guys, you'll just have to image them in black and navy" Emmett said pulling some papers from his binder

And with that we were off, we got a lot done and that was before the cake people even got here. I picked an amazing invitation design and some save the dates that Emmett swore he have mailed by tomorrow. We went over the guest list again and it was pretty solid I left some space incase Brian would want to invite his mom or Clair. I'd wait for his official no before locking it down. 

Gus was excited when I told him about his role as ring bearer. He proudly announced it to my mom and Daph when they showed up, then ran off to tell Brian. Mom called Molly and even though she's a little old for it she was happy to be the flower girl.

I decided to have Daphne be my best person instead of me having a best man. She agreed after making a joke about me being a nerd, while trying to not cry. By the time the cake people showed up Brian and Mel came out of his office, Linds left saying she wanted to check on JR. Who was at Debbie's.

I was in heaven getting to ‘taste' (but mostly eat) all that cake. Eventually Brian and I decided on a black magic cake with salted caramel filling and buttercream icing. It was beyond amazing and decadent, I think Brian loved it more than I did. Having Brian join the conversation was really helpful. I ended up drawing up most of the things we wanted as far as designs and decorations.

When it started to get late I made dinner for everyone and we all just relaxed and talked. Mel and Gus ended up crashing at the house, so did Mom and Daph. Even Emmett ended up falling asleep. So basically everyone crashed with us, which I'm sure would be happening for a while.

After making sure the house was locked up tight Brian and I made our way to our room. After some hot and steamy shower blowjobs we laid in bed talking.

"So you've hit your wedding planning stride I see" Brian said while running his fingers through my hair

"You were having fun too" I said gently slapping his arm

"You were very excited; it was nice watching you" he said pulling me closer

"Did you and Mel get enough work done?" I ask

"Yea, a lot actually I can't believe I'm saying this but Melanie isn't so bad to work with" Brian said with genuine surprise in his voice

"About time you two stopped acting like you can't stand each other" I said rolling my eyes

"I guess...are you and Emmett going to be busy tomorrow?" he asks

"Probably why?" I ask

"Well I have to go check on Debbie and help get her ready for Michael's wake. And she wants to check on Ben. Hunter went over today and told her that Ben's not handling everything too well." He explains

"Oh" was all I could think to say

I had completely forgotten about Ben, I was so worried about Brian and Debbie. He must be completely devastated and angry...

"Uh Brian I don't think I should..."

"You're going to the funeral. I need you to be there" he said tilting my chin up so I could look at him

"But it's my-"

"No it isn't and if Ben feels that way then that's his problem. You're going and that's final okay?" he said

"Fine" I said not really knowing how to feel

I mean I don't want to not show up but I don't want to make things awkward. But Brian... just said he needs me...wow I can't believe how far we've come. That we're getting married...it just sucks that all that shitty stuff had to happen to get us here.

"I love you Brian" I said as all the emotions crashed over me at once

"I love you too Justin" he said pinning me to the bed

He hovers over me for a second before swooping down to kiss me. I moan into the kiss giving his tongue access to my mouth. Brian kisses me deeply and thoroughly until we're both breathless. Then he lifts up my shirt and starts trailing kisses down my body until he gets to my pajama bottoms. He slowly pulls them down and tosses them off of the bed.   

"We're not supposed to...your stitches" I said suppressing a moan

Brian crawls back up to me giving me the most passionate kiss I think we've ever had.

"Don't worry I'll take it easy" he said smiling down at me

I chuckle softly remembering when I said something like that to him. When I was still getting over getting bashed.

"Like the first time?" I said

We both smile for a second then I kiss him and we're all lips and tongues. Then I'm yanking off Brian's pajama bottoms and he's grabbing the lube from the table next to the bed. After he's inside me we go slow just enjoying the feel of each other. We move together perfectly and right before I cum Brian whispers in my ear.

"I can't wait to marry you"

Brian's POV

I spent the next morning with Justin and Emmett helping them with the wedding planning. Mostly with our suits and the guest list, Justin spent a good amount of time trying to get me to invite my mother.

"This is supposed to be the happiest day of my life why would I want Saint Joan there?" I argued

"Because she's your mother Brian, no matter how awful she is. She should still be at her son' s wedding" Justin counters

"So by that logic I guess you invited your dad?" I said smugly

"Yup" Justin said surprising me

"Why?"

"Because I'm being the better person" he said shrugging

"Don't you mean bigger?" I ask smirking

"That too" he said smiling

"Why would you want your dad there? Wouldn't he just ruin your day? Why would you want that kind of negativity at our wedding?" I question

"Because one day when my dad wakes up and realizes that he regrets how he treated me. And wants a relationship with his son again he won't be able to say that I didn't try either or that I didn't even invite him to my wedding" he explains

I stare at Justin remembering all the reasons that I love him. This being one of them how mature he is and forgiving. I mean half the reason that I didn't want Saint Joan there is because I haven't really forgiven her. Every time I try she gives me another reason not to. But Justin, forgives his dad enough to still want him at his wedding.

He still loves him, Justin loves so much and has such a big heart. I mean he has to right, he fell in love with me didn't he? I pull him into my lap and kiss him. He gasps surprised before kissing me back.

When we pull away he beams his trade mark sunshine smile at me.

"What was that for?" he asks still smiling

"For being you" I said making him blush a little, then a random thought pops into my head. "Are we writing our own vows?"

"Well I wasn't planning on it, I thought we'd just do the generic exchanging of vows" he said shrugging

"Considering there's nothing generic about us do you think that really fits?" I ask

"That's what I said but he insisted" Emmett said walking back in with a box full of envelopes

"Really" I said cocking an eyebrow at Justin, he blushes again

"I didn't want any extra...pressure on us" he said shrugging

Translation he didn't think I'd want to.

"Well I think I'm going to write something, if you don't want to you don't have to. I mean I know your busy with all the wedding planning and everything-"

"No, I mean yea we could both write our own vows if that's what you really want" he said trying to suppress his happiness

"Great well I have to go met Deb so we can go check on Ben. I'll see you when I get back" I said kissing him on the top of his head before heading out.

"Brian?" Justin said stopping me before I leave

"Yea?"

"Just try to remember that Ben is hurting right now, and...just try and stay clam" he said

"Promise" I said pecking him on the cheek and heading out

When I get to Debs she got about a months' worth of food packed and ready to go.

"I thought we were just going to check on him" I said while Hunter and I help her load the food into the car.

"We are but you know he probably hasn't been eating right, or at all so I just want to make sure he has food. It's important he eats with all those meds he takes" she said

Truthfully she looks about as nervous as I feel about talking to Ben. I mean we're not really friends the only thin Ben and I had in common was that we love Michael. Now that he's gone I don't really know why Debbie wanted me to come with her. I mean I don't even know what to say, I mean the guy lost his husband. Just like Justin feared I'm sure he blames one or both of us for what happened to Michael.

 I help Deb carry the food up to the apartment, Debbie just lets herself in with her key. We both freeze as soon as we step inside, the whole apartment is trashed. Debbie tosses the food in the kitchen and starts shrieking Ben's name. She runs straight to the bedroom; I decide to wait out here. I look around and notice a few boxes with Michaels name on them.

I wonder what Ben's gonna do with all of this stuff, then I think about the store. Who's gonna take care of that? I didn't think about any of this stuff. I didn't even think to ask Debbie if she needed help with anything besides the funeral. I'm not sure I'm processing Michael's death the right way. Everyone else is devastated, hell so is Justin and Michael pretty much hated him.

So what's wrong with me? I mean I'm surrounded by all his stuff - stuff he's had since we were kids, and nothing. Maybe I'm just repressing it and it all spill out later.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Ben says snapping me out of my thoughts. Debbie plants him at the dinner table and starts fixing him some food.

"I asked him to come with me" Debbie said

"Haven't you done enough?" Ben slurs angrily, huh I guess Zen Ben is a little lubricated

"Ben!" Debbie said shocked

"What? Are we all just gonna tip toe around the fault- fact that this is their fault!" he said tripping over his words

"No it wasn't, they didn't force Hobbs to do any of the horrible things he did" Debbie said scoldingly

"Didn't they? I mean Hobbs had basically forgot all about Justin until Justin tried to shoot him?!" Ben yells

"You don't know that, and don't blame Justin he didn't ask for any of this" I said getting angry

"Look at you protecting you precious fiancé or I guess it'll be husband soon. What you wait a few hours to start planning your wedding? Your best friend's mother is planning his funeral and all you can think about is starting your new life. I bet Justin sure is happy that Michael's gone"

"Ben that's enough!" Debbie said slamming her hand on the table

"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about! Justin is anything but happy right now!" I yell

"Bullshit! I bet he asked Hobbs to kill Michael, so he wouldn't have to share you anymore" Ben said

I lose it and punch him right in his idiotic drunk mouth before storming out of the house. I ignore Debbie calling after me and get in my car. I have no idea where I'm going but I just need to clear my head.

Justin's POV

I'm starting to get worried Brian's been gone all day and he hasn't called. Neither has Debbie I try not to freak out, I mean if something was wrong they would've called. So I busied myself with wedding planning, then I played with Gus, then I made my homemade soup for everyone. Now I'm sketching which I'm surprised that I'm able to do. I'm starting to notice that most of my sketches are turning out pretty dark.

Then Brian stumbles into the bedroom and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Brian smiles then frowns, that when I notice that he looks a little drunk.

"It went that well huh?" I said putting my sketch book down

He strips till he's just in his undies and plops down on the bed with his head in my lap. He sighs while making himself comfortable.

"I'm sorry sunshine I know I'm supposed to be cutting back but he was so awful" he said

"He's just grieving" I said gently running my fingers through his hair

"I don't think I'm doing it right" he said sounding confused

"Doing what right? Grieving? Brian there's no right or wrong way to grieve. You'll do it in your own way and time I promise" I said reassuringly

"Are you sure?"

 "Yup"

"You always know what to say you know that? I love you angel" he said before he started snoring lightly

I laugh lightly at my drunk fiancé "I'll never get tired of hearing you admit that" I whispered