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The End Done Right
by Vamphile
Chapter Sixteen
There were a couple of members of the cleaning crew finishing the task. The large silver confetti had all been swept up, the furniture was back where it belonged, and other than a few boxes of rental glasses the great room looked the way it was supposed to.
The dining room was also back in order, the kitchen however had a few extra items, specifically, a large table of guests.
Brian shot them all a crooked smile, not ready to deal with conversation before coffee. He walked over towards the coffee maker and was pleasantly surprised to find a full pot.
“It’s fresh I just made it.” Debbie said from her seat at the end of the table.
“Deb, it’s so nice of you to just drop by.” Brian said caustically.
“I came to see my granddaughter. She’s been here for two days and this is the first chance I’ve gotten to see her.” Brian winced at the sound of Deb's voice as he pulled down two mugs from the cabinet and filled each with coffee. He dumped sugar into his and handed Justin’s to him, black the way he liked it. They silently toasted each other. Justin moved toward the table and took a seat next to Emmett.
Mel was sitting on Deb's right, not taking her eyes off of JR, and Michael was on her left, making faces at the baby.
Brian walked down the three steps that led to the den and sat on the sofa, watching Lindsay and Gus watch Dora the explorer.
“Great, you’re already training my son to be a lesbian.”
“Brian.”
“Sorry Lindz, lack of coffee.”
Ben chose that moment to come in from the back deck. “This property is amazing, I love the tennis courts.”
Justin smiled, “I’m gonna have to learn to play I guess.”
“I used to play in college.” Ben said, “Be happy to give you a few pointers.”
“Great than you and me and Justin and Mikey can play mixed doubles.”
Everyone involved in the statement shot Brian a look.
Justin grabbed the aspirin from the cabinet walked over to him and kissed the top of his head. In a syrupy sweet voice, “Brian, honey, shut the fuck up until the caffeine takes effect, and here, open this goddamned bottle for me.” Justin handed him the bottle in frustration.
Brian opened the aspirin and gave Justin a couple. Brian himself swallowed three with his next gulp of coffee and then just sat quietly, realizing that Justin probably had a point about keeping his mouth shut at the moment.
It was easy to do; everyone seemed to be talking at once. Dora was going on and on about some fucking plant, or maybe it was an animal. Emmett and Debbie were discussing the previous nights events, Michael was talking baby talk to JR, and Justin and Ben seemed to be in deep discussion about something or other. He let the sound wash over him, turning to lean his head against the back of the sofa, cradling his coffee as if it were the most precious item on earth.
Justin joined him on the couch a few minutes later, looking no better off than he was.
“Want to get out of here?”
Justin nodded.
“Let’s go” Brian mouthed.
They quietly walked towards the garage door, and let themselves out before anyone noticed. Once they were in Brian's car, and out of the driveway they both laughed.
“I’m starving”
“Uggggh food.”
Brian drove them to the same diner they’d originally found the very first day Justin was back.
Sitting and staring at each other, coffee cups in hand they both looked up and smiled.
“That was a hell of a party.”
“I’m glad you liked it.”
“I just wasn’t ready for a coffee klatch to be going on this morning.”
Justin lifted Brian's wrist to look at his watch, “It’s three in the afternoon.”
“That’s really really early.” Brian said.
“Well we’ll just get something to eat and then head back. By then, hopefully either things will have calmed down, or we’ll be less hung over”
Their food came; Brian ate his eggs and watched Justin tear apart a bagel into little tiny pieces.
Today was not the day to take this on, today was the day to recouperate and enjoy how much effort Justin had put into making last night amazing.
“Last night was hot.”
“I do what I can.”
“So, how many poppers do we have left?”
Justin laughed, “Actually it turns out that buying them in bulk has its privileges, quantity discounts are handy.”
“Leave it to Emmett to know where to get volume discounts on the really important party supplies.”
“Ready to head back?”
“Should we stop and pick up milk?”
Brian just stared at him
“to make it look like we had a legitimate reason to leave, like a real errand to run?”
”No apologies, no regrets, it’s our house and we felt like leaving.”
He threw some money on the table and pulled Justin close to him as they walked back to the car, both feeling like they might be able to handle company now.
Brian and Justin walked back into the house quietly, but not quietly enough. Michael was the first to confront them “Where the fuck were you?”
Brian sighed “Out.”
Michael followed the two as they headed back towards the den “Well it seems pretty rude to just leave when you have guests.”
Brian pulled Michael to him, kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear “You’re not a guest, you’re family.”
Michael relented, and the rest of the group simply shot them disapproving, if slightly amused looks and the conversation started back up, revolving around how big Gus and JR were getting, how Emmett liked still living with Debbie and Carl, and Michael and Ben’s plan to take a vacation over Ben’s Christmas break.
Brian and Justin might as well have been in their own world, they were both still tired, and Brian was working hard at looking bored while watching Mel and Lindz interact. He sat quietly on the sofa, Justin leaning against him.
Eventually everyone realized that the homeowners were asleep, tangled against each other. They disbursed, Mel and Lindz moving the kids outside. Debbie heading off for the dinner shift at the diner and Michael and Ben heading back to their own home. Emmet oversaw the last of the cleaning crew who were loading the van with the rental linens to return, and then headed over to Ted and Blake’s new place. They had finally found a house, within walking distance of Debbie’s in fact, and today they were supposed to be picking paint colors.
It was about an hour later that Brian came back to consciousness. He was on his back, Justin practically on top of him, still asleep.
He moved slightly, finding a more comfortable position so that Justin's knee wasn’t pushing directly into his thigh.
He listened to the silence for a moment and then a harsh sound interrupted his return to sleep.
“WHAT THE FUCK!” it was Mel, she was yelling, Brian groaned and tried to ignore the noise.
He heard the soft murmur of Lindsay’s voice, they were outside, apparently too far away for Brian to hear much of what they were saying, but it was clear that Mel was angry about something. The ebb and flow of the conversation continued in that manner, harsh bursts like gunfire from Melanie, a few discernable words, most of them curses, and then the soft, soothing Lindsay, obviously trying to appease her wife.
Brian closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to hear what they were saying, trying to ignore them, trying to decide if he needed to intervene.
The voices stopped. He heard the slam of a door in the kitchen and the stomp of feet up the stairs. He moved again, trying to dislodge Justin without waking him.
He eventually managed it, and casually walked out of the den onto the patio, lighting a cigarette. He glanced over and saw Lindsay sitting on the wooden bench on the deck, her body shuddering as if she were crying.
He walked up the few steps and sat next to her. Saying nothing he pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. Lindsay didn’t say a word, and they stayed like that, in silence except for the occasional sob from Lindsay. Brian fought back the urge to yell, to tell her that the bitch wasn’t worth crying about, that nothing Mel said mattered if it was going to make her this upset, but he really didn’t know if he could keep from being unforgivably cruel if Lindsay decided to defend her. So he said nothing.
Justin woke up on the sofa, alone. His heart was racing as he looked around and found no one. He shakily lit a cigarette, and mixed himself a gin and tonic. He walked around the house, it was empty, and the cleaning crew Emmett had hired had obviously been first rate. All remnants of the party were gone. The place was perfect. Justin sat wearily at the kitchen table, nursing his drink, breaking the rules about where they were allowed to smoke. Justin was good at agreeing to rules and then breaking them. He eventually swallowed the last of his drink, and locked himself in the studio. He had promised Brian that today he would rest, but his mind kept circling back to the canvas he had left unfinished two days earlier, and he knew he would rest better if he could just see it, just contemplate the next stroke. It was hours later before he emerged from the studio, he hadn’t even picked up a brush, he’d simply smoked and stared at the work he’d completed, letting the smell of paint and turpentine, the feel of the textured paint on canvass against his fingers, the look of a large stack of completed work calm him.
He opened the door to the studio to find dangerously calm Brian waiting for him in the den.
“We agreed no working today.”
“I wasn’t working Brian, I was just looking over a few things and…”
“Bullshit.” Brian cut him off. “You’re fucking exhausted and you’ve been running yourself ragged and you can’t take a single fucking day to just…”
The sound of yelling interrupted Brian’s diatribe.
Neither of them were quiet sure where it was coming from until they realized that the intercom in Gus’s room had been left on.
“I can’t fucking believe you’re even bringing this up!” it was Mel’s voice.
“I’m not bringing anything up, I was just saying it was nice to be back home.”
“This isn’t our home anymore, we have a home, this is Brian's home.”
“I didn’t mean this house, I meant Pittsburgh.”
”Yeah, well we don’t fucking live in Pittsburgh anymore, or can’t you even fucking remember that much?”
Justin shot a glance at Brian, wondering if they should turn off the intercom, this argument seemed none of their business. He moved to hit the button when Brian made a gesture to stop him. Justin shrugged and they continued to listen.
“Mel, you’re not being rational, I never said I wanted to move back here, or that I don’t know where we live.”
“You don’t have to say anything, I could tell from the moment we got here that you think we made a mistake moving away.”
“I never said that.”
“I just fucking said that you didn’t have to, Christ, you’re getting more stupid every day we stay here.”
“Melanie, would you just calm down, you’re going to wake Gus.”
“Well, I think we should wake Gus, and JR too, and get the fuck out of here. Every goddamn place I turn there’s another thing Brian’s done to lure you away from me.”
“Melanie you’re being ridiculous, Brian just made a space in his life for his son, what’s wrong with that?”
”God, you can’t even see it can you? He made a space for his son, and JR, who’s not even his, why would he do that, huh? Maybe it’s because his plan is to keep you and the kids here, he’s always wanted you away from me.”
“Mel, honey, Brian has done a lot to keep us together, you’re not being fair to him.”
That’s when Brian heard it. A sound he knew well enough from his own youth. That’s when Brian decided it was time to stop pretending nothing was wrong.
Justin watched Brian as he listed to the conversation, watched Brian get angrier, watch his expression get more bland, as his eyes darkened, and a small twitch in his jaw that gave away everything about what he was feeling. And then he saw Brian physically flinch at the sound, and suddenly Brian was moving quickly, Justin followed him.
Brian strode into Gus’s room and before Melanie was aware of him, and before Lindsay could protest, he had the petite-framed brunette jacked up against the wall, his arm pushed against her shoulders, holding her there motionless.
He gritted his teeth. Justin, take Gus downstairs, and turn off the goddamned intercom.” Justin silently followed Brian's orders.
Lindsay was crying, holding a hand to her face, but she reached to Brian.
“Don’t, you’re misunderstanding.”
“Lindsay, shut the fuck up. Don’t defend this cunt.”
“Brian” Melanie was trying to pry his arm off of her, but he had her immobilized.
“Don’t fucking talk to me.”
Lindsay reached for Brian's free arm, trying to reason with him.
Brian backed away from Mel. She put her hand to the spot where Brian’s arm had been.
“Pack your shit and get out.”
“It’s what we were planning on doing anyway asshole”
“Brian.” Lindsay tried again.
“Don’t even try to reason with him Lindz lets just go.”
Melanie strode out of the room, and Lindsay turned to follow her. Brian saw the fresh red handprint on her cheek. He wrapped his hand around Lindsay’s wrist and pulled her back, “You can follow her if you want, but Gus and JR stay here.”
“Brian that’s not fair.”
“Fair’s bullshit, this is your choice Lindsay, but those kids stay here, I’m pretty sure Mikey will back me on this one.”
Lindsay stood, rooted to the ground, unable to make a choice. Melanie, realizing Lindsay was not behind her stepped back into the doorway of Gus’s room. “I always knew when push came to shove, you’d end up choosing Brian over me.”
Lindsay opened her mouth to say something but before she could get any words out Melanie launched at her, all the fury she’d been restraining for so long suddenly unleashed.
Lindsay was on the ground, Melanie on top of her. She only had the chance to land a single glancing blow before Brian physically pulled her back, lifting her completely off of Lindsay and positioning himself between the two women.
Lindsay stood up, scared, shaken, her voice wavering. “Melanie, I think it’s best if you leave.”
“JR and I will be out of here in 20 minutes.”
Brian opened his mouth to protest but Lindsay beat him to it.
“The kids and I are going to stay with Brian for a little while, maybe you should just go back home, and we can talk on the phone.”
“You can’t keep my kid.”
“No but they’re still American citizens, you can’t take them out of the country without the custodial parent’s consent. You want to take this to the courts Mel?”
Melanie looked at Brian, surprised, he was right and she knew it, and he knew she knew it.
“I’m not fucking leaving without them.”
“Well you’re not staying here.” Brian said.
“I’ll call you a cab, you can go anywhere you want.”
Justin came back upstairs in time to witness the standoff. Melanie refused to drop her gaze, and Brian didn’t look like he was planning on moving a muscle. It was Mel who gave in first. “I’ll be at my cousins.”
“Justin, call Mel a cab.”
Justin was startled, he didn’t even know Brian was aware he had come back upstairs, but he responded quickly and went down to the den to find the number and make the call.
Gus was happily watching his tape again and talking to Sam. “Yeah, the monster was really mean but you did good pretending to be asleep.” Justin was shaking when he made the phone call and was still feeling shaky a half hour later when Melanie loaded a suitcase into the cab and left.
Brian and Lindsay were upstairs, sitting on Gus’s bed, neither of them had spoken a word since Mel had left the room and gone to pack. Brian knew he would eventually find out what he needed to know, but in the meantime, he gave Lindsay a small respite from the drama and when her breathing was even and her eyes closed, he eased her back onto Gus’s bed, pulled the blanket over her and left her to sleep.
He walked into the den, saying nothing, poured himself a triple and downed it in two swallows.
Justin sat down next to him. “Everything okay?”
Brian didn’t even move his head, just glanced over at Justin.
“You’re right, stupid question. Can I help?”
Brian, still silent, shook his head, and then seemed to reconsider and held out his empty glass to Justin. Justin refilled it and sat back down, their legs touching, silently they both watched Dora explore something.
Hours later a very very drunk Brian, pretty much passed out on the sofa. Gus had fallen asleep in front of the TV. Justin picked up the boy, and carried him up to bed. Lindsay was still asleep in Gus’s room. He changed Gus into a pair of pajamas and laid the groggy boy next to his mother. Gus snuggled his back against his mom’s chest and Lindsay threw an arm over the boy instinctively pulling him a little closer. Justin saw the bruise on her arm, took a ragged breath and went back downstairs.
He watched Brian sleep; debating his options, and decided just to cover him up. A glance at the clock told him it was after midnight. Recalling the argument they had been having before all of this started, Justin discarded the idea of going back to the studio. He went upstairs, and climbed into bed where he tossed fitfully for the rest of the night.
Justin was the first in the house to wake up the next morning. This was probably because Justin was in the only room that JR’s intercom was connected at the moment. He’d spent the previous day taking care of JR and keeping her occupied. He was now bleary eyed, it was only five am.
He changed her, and brought her downstairs, he had no idea what to feed her, so he poured her a sippy cup full of juice and looked in the fridge for anything that looked kid friendly. He ended up cutting up an apple and found a few slices of cheese. He had to assume Mel and Lindz had brought these, neither Brian nor Justin ate American cheese. It probably wasn’t an ideal breakfast but Justin didn’t think it would hurt her. He started the coffee and sat next to her high chair, watching her picking up pieces of apple, and offer them to him. He finally took one from her and chewed on it.
“He eats.” it was Brian
“Shit, you scared me, how long have you been standing there?”
Brian shrugged and stepped out of the doorway, couple minutes. You’re good with her.” He walked up the steps from the den, “coffee smells good.”
“It should be done.”
“Want some?”
”Yes please.”
”I take it she woke you up?” Brian motioned his head towards JR
“I was gonna get up anyway.”
Brian shrugged, handing Justin a cup of coffee and sliding his leg behind Justin's back so that they were both sitting in the same chair. Justin leaned against Brian's chest. “I missed you last night”
“Yeah I guess I kind of…”
“Passed out?”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
“So what now?” Justin asked, taking a sip of his coffee and reveling in the warmth of both the strong brew and Brian's chest.
Brian lifted his head to take a sip of his own and shrugged. “No clue. I’d like her to stay here for a while.”
They both sat in silence, sipping their coffee and watching JR.
“I’m not sharing my studio with her.”
Brian laughed, “Never occurred to me that you would.”
“Maybe we should get the carriage house done next, and fast. So she can have her own space.”
“Maybe you should let her make her own decisions about what’s next.” A voice interrupted their conversation; it was Lindsay, holding Gus’s hand.
She poured Gus a bowl of cereal, and poured herself a cup of coffee, adding milk and sugar.
She sat down across from the two of them. “I’m an adult, I’ll figure this out, and I just need to talk to Mel.”
Justin felt Brian's entire body stiffen at the sound of her name. He put a hand on Brian's knee, he didn’t have to look up to know the mans eyes were dark with anger.
Justin tried to cut Brian off before he started. “Maybe you should wait a few days before you…”
“Maybe you just shouldn’t talk to her.” Brian interrupted.
“I’m not talking about this right now.” Lindsay said. Brian, I appreciate your help but I can’t put you in the middle. I’ll take care of it.
Brian shrugged. “Okay.” He wasn’t going to subject Gus or JR to any more screaming or yelling right now.
The rest of the day was spent pretending. Pretending everything was fine, pretending no one was angry, pretending he was just going to let Lindsay go back to Mel.
Justin spent the entire day in the studio, pretending that he didn’t care what had happened between Mel and Lindz, pretending he wasn’t shaken by how used to it Gus was, pretending he was fine.
They all practiced pretending until Michael stormed in without knocking.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Brian was lounging on the floor watching Gus play with his trucks. He didn’t even look up. “Hi mikey, nice to see you.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit, Melanie just left the store, she was ranting about legal action and getting a restraining order to keep you and me away from the kids. Brian what the fuck did you do now?”
Brian remained calm. “I guess I pissed Mel off. I do that sometimes.” He’d eventually have to tell Michael what was going on, but not in front of Gus, not while Lindsay was still not admitting to it, not right now.
Brian backed Michael out of the room and into the foyer, so they could have this conversation outside of Gus’s hearing.
“Fuck you Brian, she’s my daughter, and you just don’t give a fuck what the consequences are when you do shit like this. You know what, you’re a…”
Lindsay had heard him come in; she’d been trying to lose herself in a book, curled up in a chair by the window in the great room. She interrupted Michael now. “It wasn’t Brian Michael, it was me.”
Michael was too upset to even notice that Lindsay’s eyes were red and puffy from crying.
“Well whatever you did, fix it.” Brian took a deep breath and fought the impulse to punch Michael in the jaw, eight years and counting 'til his decade was up and he could deck the guy again.
Michael was frowning; his forehead wrinkled in confusion, Brian was trying to keep his voice down.
“Mel and Lindsay had a fight. Mel is angry because Lindsay chose to stay here.”
Michael looked over at Lindsay “you guys always fight, just go make up with her, she’s really upset.”
Lindsay looked like she was going to cry again and Brian pinched the bridge of his nose trying his hardest to accept that his best friend was sometimes very very stupid. “It wasn’t that kind of a fight.”
“What do you mean not that kind of a…” Michael suddenly seemed to have been handed a clue, he noticed the darkening bruise on Lindsay’s cheekbone, just below her eye. “Did she hit you?”
Brian inhaled deeply. “Gus is in the other room Mikey, you want to shut the fuck up?”
Lindsay backed away a little from the question. “She got angry, she’s been having a really hard time lately and…”
“She’s been beating Lindsay.” Brian said.
“Brian, that’s not true.”
Brian looked at Lindsay, “you gonna blame this on Gus too?”
Lindsay looked at the floor, knowing that blaming her own son was wrong but she was sure, or at least had been that she could work things out with Melanie on her own. She knew if Brian got involved it would just get messier. But Mel had ruined her plans to keep Brian out of it. Melanie had dragged Brian, and now Michael into their personal business.
Michael took in all of what had just been said and sat down on the steps. “Lindsay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“It’s okay Michael.” Lindsay cut him off, I just need a little time to figure out what we’re going to do.”
“So JR and Gus are here with you now?”
”Yes.”
“Well, I can take JR back to my place.”
Lindsay kissed him “That’s very sweet, but she’s asleep right now, why don’t you come by tomorrow and you and Ben can take her for a couple of days.” Michael nodded, and kissed Lindsay on the cheek. “ Take care of yourself okay?”
Lindsay smiled and Michael left. Somewhat appeased. Lindsay walked unsteadily back to the chair she’d been sitting in for most of the day and stared out the window at nothing. Brian stood behind her.
“You shouldn’t have told Michael that.”
“It’s the truth, he deserves to know the truth about the mother of his kid.”
”It’s not, Brian, it’s not the whole truth.”
“Melanie has been beating you. What part of that isn’t the truth?”
”The part where you make it sound like she’s just this evil asshole and I’m this poor victim.”
“You let her turn you into one.”
Lindsay inhaled sharply “Fuck you Brian you don’t know anything about this.”
Brian snorted. “Right, I don’t know anything about parents who get really mad and hit people, cause I grew up in such a lovely world. Jack taught me a thing or two before he gave up on me. You know that Lindz.”
“Brian it’s nothing like that, she’d never hurt Gus or JR.”
“So the monster that Gus and Sam run from, the loud one who they hide from, that’s not Mel?”
“She would never hurt them.”
“She hurts you.”
“I can take it.”
“You shouldn’t have to. Never let anyone hit you Lindz. Why the fuck would you put up with it?”
”Because we’ve been through so much together, because this is just a phase, because I…”
“You what? you deserved it? Why, because you cheated on her? Because you agreed to move? Because you got a job before she did? Because you have friends who love you and whom you love? Which one of those makes you worthy of becoming a punching bag?”
”You know, I’m not at all sure I like the way you’re characterizing this.”
”You know I’m not at all sure I give a flying fuck how you feel about the words I use.”
Brian was still standing behind her, he moved, to make eye contact. He reached his hand out slowly and ran his thumb over the bruise under her eye. She flinched as he touched it. “How long Lindz? How long has she been beating you?”
The tears were flowing freely down Lindsay’s face, she almost couldn’t talk. “Since before we left Pittsburgh.”
Brian pulled her to him, letting her cry again. Angry with himself that he hadn’t seen it sooner, that he’d let them leave, that he’d missed it.
He wasn’t crying. It must be allergies.
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