-Monday morning, Britin-

Brian's phone keeps buzzing and vibrating from its place on the vanity top in the bathroom.
"I think you’d better get that. It's been ringing nonstop for the past ten minutes," Justin points out as he and his lover stand under a spray of warm water in the shower, trying to make the most out of their morning routine before their new work day starts.
"I don't hear anything," Brian replies huskily as he cups Justin's balls, making his husband moan with pleasure.

"It…it might be important," Justin manages to breathlessly utter as Brian continues his ministrations, making his husband’s head swim with desire.

"So's THIS," Brian grunts, his fingers playing with Justin’s slippery opening before they slowly press inside, making Justin whimper and struggle to maintain control. The phone, however, continues to buzz incessantly, demanding a response.

“Brian….”

Brian’s shoulders droop in defeat as he sighs in resignation. Justin plants a deep, soft kiss on his husband's lips before getting out of the shower, drying his naked body off with a large, gray towel.
"You're going to owe me for this later, Mr. Taylor," Brian warns playfully as he shuts off the water and follows his husband out of the shower, earning an indignant squeak from Justin as he smacks his bare bottom once before grabbing his phone from the marble counter. “This had better be good,” he growls into the phone, not even bothering to see who the insistent caller is.

"Brian, finally! I've been trying to reach you all morning!" Lindsay's distressed tone of voice at the other end of the line sends chills down Brian's spine, making him immediately forget his previous irritation. “Lindsay? What’s going on?” He glances over at Justin, who furrows his brow, as he shrugs his shoulder to indicate he’s as much in the dark as Justin is. He could hear what sounds like Lindsay sniffling on the other end of the phone, causing his own anxiety to rise. “Lindsay?” he presses her again.

"I'm…I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to call you again, but I really don't know what to do. Gus hasn't been back home since yesterday morning. I tried Mel's phone, but it goes straight to voicemail and I'm literally going crazy here.”

Justin walks over to stand behind Brian and slide his arms around his bare back as he continues to talk to his friend. "Try to calm down, Lindsay. I assume you’re coming into school?”

Lindsay says, “I…I guess so. But I’m really worried about him, Brian! He’s been so distant lately. What if he’s run off or something?”

“Lindsay…he’s a teenage boy; they can be just as emotional as the girls. Don’t worry; I’m sure he’s okay. Look, I’ll see you in about an hour at school, okay? We can talk more then. I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Okay…” She agrees with a sigh.

Just before Brian can hang up, however, he hears what sounds like a door banging in the background, followed by conversation. “Lindsay? What’s going on?”

“It’s Gus,” she tells him, her voice a mixture of relief but also distress. “He just came back in. I can’t talk right now, Brian,” she quickly adds in a whisper. “I have to go; I’ll talk to you later.” Before Brian can say anything else, the phone disconnects.

Brian stands there, holding the phone as Justin walks around to face him, concern written on his face.
“Brian? Is everything okay?”

Brian sighs. “I’m not sure,” he tells him honestly. “I guess.” He pecks Justin on the lips. “Let’s get dressed and head into school; I’ll tell you on the way.”

_ _ _ _ _

-Later that morning… Baldwin High school-

Walking into his office before the first class of the day, Brian expects to find his friend there to explain what is going on, but he is surprised to find that she is not the only one present. There is a tall, sullen-looking boy who he assumes is Gus standing rigidly in the corner. It’s hard to tell what he looks like, however, with his downward stare, hands jammed in his pockets, and a gray hood pulled low over his head, obscuring his face. In addition to the boy and Lindsay, however, there is Melanie, Daphne Chanders, and her daughter, Jennifer, standing next to the boy. She has her arms crossed over her chest defiantly, her own, bright green hood pulled low over her head, and her lips pressed downward into a pout. As he enters, everyone’s eyes are on him until Lindsay breaks the tense silence.

“Well? What do you have to say for yourself, Gus?” she asks tersely as she addresses her son.

Brian peers over at the boy with renewed interest, his suspicions confirmed that this is, indeed, the boy that he had heard so much about from Lindsay. But what did his student, Jennifer, have to do with this? And why was her mother here as well?

Gus, however, remains obstinately silent as Jennifer’s mother speaks up then. "Maybe YOU have something to say, then," Daphne responds as she turns to her daughter. Except for the different colors of the hoodies, both teens could have been bookends of each other with their similar stance and their lack of communication.

"Nope," she finally quips, glancing sideways towards Gus.

“What’s going on here?” Brian finally asks, totally confused.

Mel speaks up. “It seems that Mr. Peterson here and Ms. Chanders have managed to break every code of conduct rule the school has,” she tells him in a hard, disapproving voice. “But worse of all, they have both broken the trust that their parents had in them. And on behalf of the school, I’m disappointed in them as well.”

Brian pinches the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache trying to emerge. It was way too early in the morning for such drama. “I’m still not following any of this,” he admits candidly.

"Let me explain,” Mel continues. She peers over at Daphne then as she abruptly changes her mind. “Or perhaps you would like to do the honors?”

Daphne clears her throat and steps forward; it is clear that she is quite agitated and in distress. "I know I haven't been the perfect mother, not as much as I could have been, that is, "she begins. “And I know she's been causing a lot of problems in school since she started, and that you’ve all tried to help her…”

“Ms. Chanders, please,” Mel prods her, a hint of exasperation in her voice.

The young mother nods. “Sorry,” she murmurs. “But I never expected to come home from work this morning and find out that she had run away from home…" her voice trails off as she glances over at Brian, who is listening intently. He could definitely tell there was more to the story than he was hearing so far. He peers over at Lindsay, who seems to be on the verge of tears.

She sighs as she stares over at her son, who still refuses to look her in the eye. "That’s not all,” she interjects. She takes a deep breath. “It turns out her daughter here has been spending all of her time for the past six months with our…my son. Who has also been sneaking out of the house, smoking who knows what…and having sex with her!" She shakes her head in disbelief. “Gus, how could you?”

That at last earns a reply as Gus huffs indignantly. “Mom, I’m not a kid! And besides, we used condoms," he helpfully points out as if it weren’t a big deal.

"Well, all but that one time," Jennifer finally speaks up as the three women gasp in surprise. “I said it was just once! Sheesh!”

"Once is all it takes!" Brian growls in irritation, shocked at how nonchalantly they seem to be taking it.

Daphne shakes her head in disbelief as Gus takes his hands out of his pockets and pushes off from the wall to take a step toward his mom. He sighs heavily. “Look…I know it might have been wrong to sneak out without telling you," he concedes as his mom gives him a ‘you think?’ sort of look. "And skipping school and not spending time with you every other weekend," he continues as he looks over at Melanie. "BUT I'm not going to stand here and apologize for what I did, because I know why I did it and so does Jenn. And that’s all I’m going to say about it," he concludes stiffly, turning his face to look at the girl as she pulls her hood off her head, her tousled curls springing up rebelliously. Brian is shocked to see the change that comes over the girl, as she breaks out in a smile when she looks adoringly at Lindsay’s son. It is like he is looking at a totally different person.

"I'm afraid this is not your decision, Gus," Brian sternly addresses him, feeling the need to take control. "You might think we're all too old to understand what you and Jennifer are going through, but believe me we do. And let me remind you that even though you both THINK you're old enough to do whatever you want, you're still minors, and it's still our responsibility as adults to intervene as we see fit."
“And take that hoodie off when you’re speaking to an adult, Gus,” Lindsay commands, highly irritated at how contentious her son is being. “I didn’t raise you to be so disrespectful.”

"Fuck you, mom!” Gus yells as Lindsay winces. “I don't need that from you! I already told you I'm NOT a kid!" he lashes out.

"Then stop acting like one," she fires back, barely holding back her tears. “And do NOT use profanity when addressing me, young man.”

"There…are you happy now?" he shouts, taking his hood off with a swift twist of his hand.

The room falls quiet as they all try to process what just happened, and as Gus pulls his hood away to expose his face, Brian finally has a chance to get a clearer look at him. His mouth falls open in stunned disbelief as his mind travels back in time to when he had been this kid’s age. Gus is approximately the same height as he, with the same auburn-colored hair, full lips, defined, strong nose, bold jawline and deep, moss-green eyes. Even the way he rolls his lips under as he stares defiantly back at the adults in the room with unapologetic pride is an exact replica of what he typically does when he is irritated at something. If he had had a photo at the moment of him at Gus’s age, this would be it…come to life. My God…No way…He stares over at Lindsay. “Lindsay….” He begins, but she shakes her head as if to say ‘Not Now,’ so he turns his attention temporarily back to the two teens, observing Gus sliding his arm around the young girl protectively.

"I…umm…I'm…" Brian, for once in his life, finds himself without words as he tries to concentrate on the matter at hand. He is spared having to think too logically as the buzzer suddenly goes off on his desk, making him and the rest of the group jump, startled. He takes a deep breath before punching the button to respond. “Yes?”

"Brian, Mr. Taylor is here to see you," his long-time executive secretary, Cynthia, announces meaningfully. Brian now realizes that lunch break was approaching, and that Justin is probably waiting outside his office. Brian always appreciates Cynthia's efforts to send him an 'advanced notice,’ reassuring him that the two of them wouldn’t be disturbed behind closed doors during their daily, forty-five minute break. Today, though, it seems their plans are going to be disrupted. "Cynthia, wait…" he says quickly, noticing from the corner of his eye how all the adults in the room – even Daphne Chanders – were unsuccessfully trying to hold back their amusement, knowing precisely what sort of ‘visit’ he was anticipating. But it was too late; Cynthia had evidently hung up.

Before Brian can call Cynthia back to instruct her to have Justin wait, the door opens and his husband steps inside, his normal, cheeky smirk quickly disappearing as he notices to his utmost surprise that Brian isn’t alone. As his eyes scan the people in the room, they fall upon the young mother standing several feet away, and his jaw drops in astonishment.

Daphne’s eyes grow wide as saucers as she recognizes him. “Jus…Justin? Is that really you? What are YOU doing here?”

“I…I could ask the same thing about you,” he finally says, finding his voice. He notices Daphne seems uncomfortable; was it because of how long it had been since they had seen each other…or something else?
Daphne glances over at Jennifer before she silently comes to a decision. There was no way to escape it now. Everyone else in the room seems to fade away, taking her back in time as she explains quietly, “I’m here because of my…daughter.”

“Daughter?” Justin whispers. Daphne nods as he turns to study the young woman standing a few feet away from them. He mentally calculates how old this young woman must be…and how much she seems to be a hybrid…a hybrid of Daphne…and him. “Oh, my God…” he whispers in epiphany, thinking he must be jumping to conclusions. But one look at Daphne’s face, and he knew. He just knew it was true.

Slowly she steps forward from where she stood at the corner of the room and takes a deep breath to compose herself. Daphne swallows hard and turns to her daughter. "I know this is crazy, and maybe this isn’t the place or the time, but…”

“But what, Mom?” Jennifer takes turns staring at her mom, and then at her art teacher.

Daphne lets out the breath she’s been holding before she finally explains, “Honey…I’d like you to meet your dad. Justin…say hello to your daughter, Jennifer.”

Justin looks as he's been stuck by lightning as he shakes his head in disbelief. “Daughter?” he whispers, stunned to hear that his theory had been correct. “This is my daughter?”

Daphne bites down on her lower lip and nods as Jennifer steps closer to peer at the man who up until now had simply been her art teacher. Little did she know just how deep a connection they had! “You’re…you’re my father?!” she whispers, just as stunned as Justin is.

Brian couldn’t believe it. Of all the odds…of all the places father and daughter might have been…of all the destinies that might have occurred…to be here, in the same place at the same time; it was almost too hard to believe. “Maybe we should leave you two alone,” he tells Justin. “So you can talk about this.”
But Justin shakes his head, unable to take his eyes off his daughter. “No…No, I want you to be here,” he tells his husband as he finally turns to peer over at him. “I…I had no idea,” he told him as Brian nods in understanding, his own mind occupied on much the same thing. Only it is focused on the other student in the room. This is all too much to envision at one time, but as he glances back over at Lindsay’s son, he can’t help feeling that Justin isn’t the only one about to be surprised.

Justin turns to his friend, his mouth open. “Daphne, why? Why didn’t you ever tell me about her?” Brian quietly walks up to him from behind and slides his arms around Justin’s waist in silent support, his husband instinctively leaning back against Brian’s chest.

“Justin, perhaps she and Gus should wait outside,” Lindsay suggests, but both teens stubbornly shake their heads.

“No way!” Jennifer protests. “I’m not going anywhere! I’m NOT a kid!” Gus nods in agreement beside her. “I want to know what happened, too!”

Daphne sighs. “Okay,” she finally agrees. She takes another deep breath as she faces her daughter. “I never told you who your dad was, Jennifer, because it was all a mistake.” She hastily continues as she notices the look of hurt that appears on her daughter’s face, “What I mean is…Not YOU but US, Justin and me. We had been best friends since third grade, and I always knew Justin was gay. Heck, I think I even knew way before HE accepted it himself," she reveals, earning a slight half-smile from her friend in response. Her voice trails off again, but then she takes another deep breath before she continues, this time turning to peer over at her old friend. "I don't even know why I asked you to be my…first," she almost whispers that last word, all the time keeping her eyes on Justin. "I knew nothing would ever happen between us, but apparently life throws some huge curve balls at you when you least expect them," she explains ruefully.

“But why, Daph? Why didn't you tell me?' Justin asks, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.
She sighs. “Justin, we were just kids ourselves! I never expected to have it happen. I had gone to all the trouble to get birth control, but it’s not foolproof…obviously. You were doing a favor for me…the last thing I wanted to do was saddle you with the responsibility. And I knew how much trouble you were having with your parents, especially your father,” she points out. “I didn’t want to add to all your stress.”

“My father was an asshole,” Justin mutters in agreement. “After we drifted apart, he tried to make me go to military school, so they could ‘straighten me out.’ He snorts dirisively. “When I refused to go, he then tried to take me to a psychiatrist for conversion therapy.” He shakes his head in disgust. “And when that didn’t work, he fucking kicked me out!” He twists his head to peer up into Brian’s eyes. “If I hadn’t left, though, I would have never met you.” Brian smiles softly at him as he gives him a brief, soft kiss. He turns back around to face his old friend. “Daphne…maybe I can understand your reasoning,” he concedes reluctantly. “But that still doesn’t make it right what you did.”

“I know,” she admits. “But at the time, I really thought it was for the best. I’m…sorry, Justin. I know now that you had a right to know.”

Justin swallows the lump in his throat and nods as something occurs to him. Was it just a coincidence? “You named her Jennifer. Why?”

Daphne seems to fidget for a moment before she explains, “Your mother suspected what had happened, and she got in contact with my mom after I left to go live in Chicago with my aunt. When she found out that I was pregnant with her only grandchild, she agreed to help pay for Jennifer’s schooling. She died before Jennifer was born, but I thought it was only right that I name my baby after her because of all the financial support she had given me. Her money is the only reason why I was able to send her here to Baldwin. Only I had NO idea that you were a teacher here!”

Justin shakes his head in sadness. “And my own mother never thought it was a good idea to tell me? I don’t know if I will ever understand that.”

“I’m so sorry, Justin,” Daphne whispers regretfully. “If I had to do it all over again….”

“It’s too late for that now, Daph,” he murmurs. “But it’s NOT too late for me to get to know our daughter better.” He peers over at his art student with renewed interest. “Now I know where you got all your artistic ability from. It certainly wasn’t from your mother,” he adds, finally smirking at his friend.

“Hey!” Daphne complains initially, but she finally has to smile. “Yeah, I never was too good at drawing,” she concedes.

“That’s being generous,” Justin teases her, chuckling when she huffs indignantly at him. He shakes his head, still unable to believe what had just happened. “A daughter…” He gazes intently at the young woman standing next to him. “I always wanted to be a father,” he tells her. “Now I have that chance…that is, if you want me to be. Do you?”

Jennifer stares into the sincere, blue eyes; eyes that are so much like hers. She nods almost shyly. “Yeah…I think I’d like to get to know you better, too, Mr….” She shakes her head. “I don’t even know what to call you now!”

Justin smiles. “How about you call me Mr. Taylor when you’re in my class…and we’ll take it from there outside school, okay?”

She nods, a small smile appearing on her face as well.

“Good,” he tells her softly. “We have a lot of catching up to do.” He turns in Brian’s arms to face him. “Brian?”

“Hmm?”

“I’d like to invite Jennifer and Daphne to have dinner with us tonight. Would that be okay?”

Brian nods. “Sure.” First, however, there is something he needs to discuss with Lindsay. He peers over at her son to add, “You’re welcome to join us, Gus. In fact, I think it’d be a good idea if Lindsay and Melanie joined us as well…don’t you?” he asks them, directing his question more to his old friend. “I think you may just have something that I need to know as well.”

Justin frowns in surprise. “Something else that could top what I just found out?”

One side of Brian’s mouth lifts as he nods. “Well…maybe not. But just as important. Right, Lindsay?” he asks, his brow lifting expectantly. He could be wrong…but as he looks at the young man who is the spitting image of him, he knows somehow that he is right.

“Lindsay?” Melanie peers over at her in curiosity, noticing how pale her face appears, almost as if she is about to be sick. “You all right?”

Lindsay lets out a deep breath. “Yes,” she murmurs as she peers over at her friend. “And you’re right,” she tells Brian. “I DO have something to discuss with you.”

He nods. He really doesn’t need to know anything else. “I thought as much,” he tells her, leaving everyone else in the dark for now. Whatever happens tonight, though, he knows it will be a dinner long remembered.