February 9 (Part One)

Justin carried the completed salad to his mother's table and set it down in the middle before fiddling with the three place settings, making sure that everything was straight and to his mother's specifications. Usually the table held five place settings for his mother's bi-weekly family lunch, which, much like Deb's dinners, were mandatory unless you had a damned good reason for not being there.

But this week it would only be his mother, Molly and himself as Tucker was away on a teacher's conference this weekend and Brian had gotten a call from the police wanting to go over something they'd found in the loft when they were investigating. Justin offered to go with Brian, but his husband shook his head and told him to go to his mother's lunch, so she wouldn't be put out too badly, and that he'd meet him there.

Stretching his arms above his head, Justin yawned and felt amazingly relaxed still despite everything that had happened. This weekend had been perfect and exactly what he had needed to feel centered and to get his feet back under him. Dropping his arms, he walked back into the kitchen and began placing the croutons into the small crocks of French Onion soup and covered each with a slice of provolone cheese, getting them ready for the broiler for whenever Molly got her ass there.

"So, how was the rest of your weekend, sweetheart," his mother asked as she built the pesto chicken sandwiches, also getting them ready to be put onto the panini grill. "Brian called me to let me know that you'd be gone for the weekend, but he didn't tell me why or where you were going."

"Well the why is that Deb…well, that's not accurate," Justin said as he leaned against the counter. "The why was the culmination of everything that's happened since we got back from Geneva. But the last straw was him coming back to the office to find that Deb acted true to form and was blaming Brian for Michael's bullshit."

"I just don't understand her sometimes," Jen sighed as she set the finished sandwiches, (including one for Brian that she'll likely make him take home for him to eat if he didn't make it for lunch), onto a tray.

"Sometimes?" Justin huffed, rolling his lips under as he shook his head.

"Justin," his mother chastised, shaking her head when he just smiled innocently. She sighed and began cleaning the counter. "I understand wanting to protect your children; it is the most natural feeling in the world for a mother. Typically. But there is protecting and then there is coddling. Deb definitely falls into the latter."

"You've been known to be a bit overprotective yourself," Justin reminded her as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"That's because I had a fiercely independent son, who was always telling me that he could do it himself,'" his mother said, mimicking his childlike voice. "That strong sense of self tends to terrify a mother who has lived in the world that he is so determined to take on much longer and knows the dangers associated with it."

"I just knew what I wanted from a very young age," Justin said with a lofty smirk.

"And you'll notice that after awhile I backed off and left you to it," his mother said, her voice dry as the Sahara. "What I did not have was a helpless man-child that can barely put his socks on in the morning without consulting the world if wearing socks would be appropriate or not."

"Gee, Mom," Justin snorted and bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing at her very accurate description of Michael. "Tell us how you really feel."

His mother just sent him a chiding look and continued to clean up without a word; mostly, because she couldn't deny anything as it would be an outright lie. Justin sighed and thought back to the confrontation with Deb, his heart aching a bit that he'd been forced to rip the blinders from her eyes, but needs must. He really couldn't tolerate listening her badger and disparage Brian any longer.

"I think the main problem with Deb is," Justin continued with a thoughtful frown. "She feels guilty about Michael's dad. More to the point, she feels guilty that she damned well knew that Michael's father has been alive, and well, this entire time; but she was too embarrassed to admit that she'd fallen for, and slept with, a gay drag queen. And thus prevented Michael from ever knowing his father until it was far too late to build a real relationship with him."

"Don't make excuses for her, Justin," his mother scolded, a frown on her face. "Her behavior on Friday was deplorable. Not only was she blaming the wrong person; but to then confront Brian at his place of business was just the height of unprofessional. I would never have dreamed of doing that to you or your father no matter how angry I may have been at the time. It's just not done."

"I don't think those words have ever existed in the Novotny lexicon," Justin stated dryly, sniggering when his mother shot him a wry look.

"Point," his mother conceded with a nod, changing the subject as she walked to the dining area to wait for Molly. "So, that was why; now where did you go?"

"We didn't go far at all," Justin said, following in her wake. "Brian needed to stay in Pittsburgh because he has a couple of key accounts to present this week and didn't want to be too far away if something went wrong with the boards. So, we stayed at the Penn for a couple of nights."

"Oh," his mother said as she leaned against a chair, "How was it?"

Justin opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the slamming of the door and hurried footsteps making their way into the kitchen. He exchanged an exasperated look with his mother; she'd often said that Molly would be late to her own funeral.

"I'm here, I'm here!" Molly called, rushing into the room in a flurry of limbs and ragged, panting breaths. "I'm here!"

"You're late," his mother said, arching a single delicate eyebrow as she walked back into the kitchen to finish the last steps of their meal; Justin winced at the eyebrow of doom, recalling all too well the number of times he'd been on the other side of it.

"I said I was sorry," Molly huffed, her tone a bit petulant as she flopped into her chair; she didn't bother to help out in the kitchen as it was well known that she somehow managed to set fire to water one time. How the hell that happened, he had no idea, but she'd been banned from the kitchen ever since.

"Actually…" Justin said as he walked towards the kitchen, about to point out that she hadn't actually apologized at all, but his mother gave him the look.

"Justin," his mother said in a warning tone as she set the sandwiches on the grill. Justin scowled, but knew better than to say anything as he put the crocks under the broiler. But when her back was turned he did stick his tongue out at his sister anyways.

"I was up late studying last night," Molly whined, flipping him off in retaliation.

"Is that what they are calling it these days," his mother asked dryly as she grabbed the plates from the table and took them to the counter. Much to Justin's amusement, especially as Molly squawked and flushed bright red at their mother's words.

"Mom!" Molly exclaimed as she buried her face in her hands.

"What?" his mother said, a smirk on her face as she pulled the sandwiches off of the grill and cut them in half before placing them each onto a plate. "Please, darling; I was once your age too. I didn't just spring up, full grown, out of your father's head, ready to produce children. Although, he would have probably preferred if I had."

Justin snickered and grabbed the potholders; he pulled out two of the crocks and placed them on the trivets next to the place holdings, dancing around his mother as she juggled the three plates. He pulled out the third and closed the broiler before walking over to the table to set it down on the trivet next to his plate.

"Oh, gross," Molly groaned, grimacing in disgust and rubbing her hand over her face. "I don't want to know these things, Mom."

"Oh, all right," his mother said, laughing at Molly's expression as she grabbed the iced tea and lemonade out of the refrigerator and set them on the table. "You're no fun."

"Teenagers…" Justin sneered teasingly, pouring himself his typical mix of half sweetened iced tea and half lemonade mixture. Hey, he hadn't had any coffee in five days, he was going to damn well have his tea if it was the last thing he did.

"Hey, it wasn't so long ago that you were one yourself," his mother chided, her eyes sparkling with amusement as she sat down. "Don't cast stones."

"I was never this bratty," Justin mock piously informed his mother, his nose in the air.

"I beg to differ," His mother snorted as she poured herself some unsweetened tea. "I recall a stubborn young man that basically told me to go fuck myself' numerous times; although, granted, never in those exact words."

"Lies," Justin cried, his hand over his heart, sending his mom into a fit of giggles. "I have no idea who this person you speak of is."

"Yes, well memory is the first thing to go when you become an adult," his mother said in mock sympathy, patting his hand consolingly.

"Anyway," Justin said, getting back to the topic at hand now that they were situated. "So we stayed at the Penn Friday and Saturday night in the Presidential Suite." Justin paused as both his mother's and Molly's eyebrows rose at that announcement. "Yup; how Yasmeen swung that I have no idea, but it was available for some reason."

"Lucky dog," Molly grumbled around her sandwich, and then winced when his mother looked over at her in disapproval.

“So we left Kinnetik, and checked in not long after Yasmeen made the reservation,” Justin continued in between bites of his food. “Got to the room to check it out; and my God, it’s amazing. Really beautiful, if a bit much for what we needed this weekend, but you know Brian. “

Justin rolled his eyes as he bit down on his sandwich, showing exactly what he thought of Brian's extravagant ways at times. His mom and sister laughed, having been privy to his and Brian's 'discussions' about just this thing.

"I would have loved to just stay there for a while," Justin continued after he'd finished chewing. "But Brian immediately dragged me off to go shopping. He says it was because he didn't want to drive all the way out to Britin to get clothing, and then all the way back in; but let's face it – Brian doesn't need a reason to shop."

"That is true," his mother said, covering her mouth as she laughed; she flicked her eyes over Justin's new clothing with approval. "It's a shame his taste in clothing hasn't rubbed off on you after all these years."

"I just don't see the point to spending all that money on clothing that is just going to end up getting covered with paint," Justin scowled, stabbing his fork into a cherry tomato and popping it in his mouth; chewing and swallowing before he said. "I prefer to be comfortable and not worry about how much something cost when I'm working in the studio."

"Yes, dear," his mother said in that tone that told him she was merely humoring him.

"And then when we got back that evening, with more than we needed," Justin said, taking a sip of his drink. "Because shopping with Brian is never a quick and easy undertaking; we decided to just order room service and rest for the evening."

"What did you get?" his mother asked, dipping her spoon into her soup.

"We split a shrimp cocktail and the bruschetta trio which had sundried tomatoes, artichokes and kalamata olives on charred focaccia," Justin said, pushing his mixed greens into a small pile before stabbing them with his fork. "And then I had the Jumbo Lump Crab Cake with forbidden rice and grilled zucchini and carrots. And Brian had the Salmon Aveline, which was just salmon over a bed of mixed greens, cucumbers, pine nuts, bleu cheese crumbles and brown sugar vinaigrette."

"That sounds lovely," his mother nodded, taking a dainty bite of her sandwich.

"We spent the rest of the night relaxing and watching TV," Justin said after finishing up his salad, he set the plate aside and pulled his soup closer to him.

"Is that what they are calling it these days," Molly mocked, her eyes sparkling as she managed to look up from her food long enough to comment. And they said he was bad about his food.

"Well, I figured Mom wouldn't want the rest of the details," Justin smirked, a devilish look lighting his eyes as he looked at his mother.

"I do appreciate your discretion," his mother said, huffing with amusement; Justin grinned and took a bite of his soup.

"Saturday was the best though," Justin continued, taking another sip of his drink. "After breakfast, Brian hired this masseuse that specializes in prenatal massage to teach him proper massage techniques so that we can do baby and me type belly bonding massages every night." Justin paused as his mother made a small happy noise. "Yeah, it was really sweet of him."

Justin finished off the rest of his sandwich in a couple of bites, and then wiped his mouth with a napkin as he chewed. He set the napkin aside and leaned back to fill them in on the rest of the day and evening.

"And then, we went to the Warhol and finally got to see the new exhibit as well as walk around for as long as I wanted. Pay back for putting up with his shopping the day before. And then we had dinner at the Terrace room, where we had the Lobster Bisque en Croute for starters, the Spring Salad with Blueberry-Sour Cherry Vinaigrette and then I had the Seafood Provencal with shrimp, scallops and sea bass over freshly made pasta and Brian had the Skuna Bay Salmon with spring onion potato puree and cherry tomato-fennel salad. And then we made it another early evening."

"Code for we had more sex," Molly quipped.

"Yes, dear," his mother said dryly, shaking her head. "I figured that one out for myself. It sounds like a lovely weekend darling."

"It was really nice," Justin said quite happily, loading his plate once more with salad and looking at Brian's sandwich with considering eye. He could easily make him something else later. "And just what we needed. Although…"

Justin trailed off with a shudder as he recalled last night's dream.

"Did something happen?" his mother asked, looking over with a concerned frown.

"Just a nightmare on Saturday night," Justin mumbled, his cheeks heating as his mother looked even more worried. She was well aware of his past with nightmares and he felt bad for worrying her. As, while the dream was unpleasant, it wasn't all that bad.

"About the break in?" his mother asked.

"No; you'll probably find this hilarious, but it was quite traumatizing at the time" Justin muttered reluctantly; and then just gave up because he knew she wouldn't relent until he told her about it. "I dreamed that Brian and I were at the doctor's to get our first ultrasound. And when Amy, the tech, started moving the wand around, she gasped. And when I asked her what was wrong, she told me that she hoped I was okay with multiples because I was having quintuplets."

His mother looked at him for a moment and then threw her head back and laughed; a full-bodied one that that seemed to start from her toes and nearly busted her gut. His sister quickly followed suit, leaving Justin scowling at his plate. And then he shook his head ruefully and chuckled, continuing his story.

"And I looked at her and screamed, 'What do you mean I'm having five!?' and she just started pointing them all out to me, like she hadn't just dropped a massive shit bomb on me; and I'm just laying there getting more and more panicked until finally I turned to Brian, glared at him and said, 'This is all your fault! You and your fucking super sperm! You are never touching me again!'"

"Oh my God," his mother wheezed as she tried to draw air back into her lungs, only to start laughing again at his expression. "That's hilarious."

"Oh, but then it gets better," Justin said with a wry smile. "Because Brian was just sitting there calmly through the whole thing, and after I was finished yelling at him, he just smiled blandly and said, 'That's exactly how we planned it, Sunshine. Remember? You said, let's just get it all over with in one go.' And my mouth just dropped open and I was so close to killing him, but then I woke up."

"God," his mother said in between laughs. "I remember those dreams; this one time with you, I dreamt that I gave birth to you, but instead of a baby, you came out as a small, full-grown adult. I remember my doctor saying something about it meaning that I was worried that I would miss out on your life or something like that. Frankly, I just think it was the sauerkraut I ate that night."

"I can't wait for these to end," Justin groused, rubbing the back of his neck before he dug into his salad. He was definitely eating that sandwich no matter what his mother said. "That was truly horrifying."

"I hate to break it to you kiddo, but dreams like that never fully go away," his mother said, getting up from her chair to put her dishes into the sink. "Instead they change from pregnancy dreams to baby dreams to toddler dreams to child dreams to teenage dream to…well, you get the picture. You are always going to be worried about your child, no matter what age they are. It's all part of being a parent."

"Well, at least there won't be anymore litter birth dreams," Justin muttered, stabbing a cherry tomato and popping it into his mouth.

"Well, at least until you decide to have another," his mother said from the counter, bagging things up and putting them away.

"Oh hell no," Justin said, shaking his head violently as he focused on his plate. "NO more after this one."

"That's what I said too," his mother snorted walking back over to the table. She set a plate next to him, Brian's sandwich neatly cut in two on it. "And then your sister came along and blew that idea right out of the water."

Justin beamed and grabbed the sandwich, happily biting into it as his mother kissed the top of his head and laughed as she said, "I remember that too."