“Hello.”

“Justin, where is he?” The blond moaned when he heard the voice on the other end of the phone. He knew it would only be a matter of time before the rest of their little family heard about the judge’s decision, he had just hoped that they would give them a little time before calling or coming over. The phone call proved that wasn’t going to happen.

“Hi Debbie. I’m fine. Things are going well. And how are you?” Justin said, not able to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. He rolled his eyes at Brian, who had just walked into the kitchen to hear Justin’s greeting.

“Don’t fuck with me, Sunshine,” Debbie told him and he knew instantly that, even if she had gotten over her initial anger at Brian for suing for custody of Gus she was still upset with the two men. “Let me talk to that asshole.” Before Justin could say anything else Brian took the phone from him. The brunet kissed his lover quickly.

“What’s for dinner?” Brian asked, giving himself a minute. He knew that his ignoring Debbie would only anger the woman more but he didn’t care. He had already put up with two months of her yelling at him and didn’t think one more time would be that big of a deal.

“I was thinking about cooking up those ravioli we picked up the other day. I still have some of the sauce and meatballs that my mom gave us.”

“Sounds good.” Debbie’s voice could be heard screaming through the phone and Brian took a deep breath to prepare himself. “Hello, Debbie. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

“Cut the shit, asshole,” Debbie shouted. “I can’t believe you actually went through with it. How dare you fucking take Gus away from those two girls?”

“They didn’t leave me much of a fucking choice, Debbie,” Brian said, wanting to raise his voice but knowing that he couldn’t because of the little boy that was sleeping upstairs. “They knew that things couldn’t stay the same. That I wasn’t going to let them treat Gus the way they seem to think they can treat me. Nothing changed.”

“You didn’t give them enough fucking time to change,” Debbie continued to shout. “You took Gus away from his own damn birthday party and the next thing anyone knew, you were suing for custody. You didn’t even have the fucking nerve to talk to them before hand. That’s low, even for you.”

“I gave them plenty of fucking time. Gus’ birthday was just the final straw. None of you wanted to see what was going on until I made it so you had no choice so don’t you dare come yelling at me because you don’t like what I did to make sure my son knew he had someone that loved him.”

“We all love Gus. Don’t you dare fucking say that we don’t.” Brian rubbed the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache coming on and knew that if he continued the conversation with Debbie there was a better than good chance that one, if not both of them, would say something that they wouldn’t be able to take back.

“Debbie, I am not having this conversation with you. Not again,” he told her. “Justin and I have both told you why we felt we had to do this. If you still can’t agree with it, or at least be willing to see why we had to do it, I don’t know what else I can say. Now if that’s all, I have a blond waiting for me.” Justin smiled at Brian from the stove.

“Don’t you hang up on me you asshole,” Justin could hear Debbie yell as Brian did exactly that. The brunet walked over to his lover wrapping his arms around the smaller man and putting his head on his shoulder.

“She’s going to be pissed at you for doing that.”

“It won’t be the first time she’s been pissed at me and I know that it sure as shit it isn’t going to be for the last time,” Brian assured him. “And it isn’t as if we didn’t expect it. No matter what Debbie and the rest of that little band of merry makers may say, they are not going to be happy that Gus is going to be living with us instead of the munchers.”

“I know,” Justin sighed, “but that doesn’t mean that I have to like it. I don’t understand why they can’t see that you were only doing what you think is right. It’s not your fault that Melanie and Lindsay didn’t leave you any choice.”

“You know that and I know that. The thing is, we’re the only ones that know that,” Brian reminded Justin.

“Vic, Ben and Emmett support you,” Justin pointed out. “They’ve supported you since the very beginning. Shit, they were willing to put with Debbie kicking them out of the damn diner for you so at least we know they won’t treat you like shit because you did what you had to.”

“I know,” Brian said. “And I appreciate everything that you, and they, have done do make sure that Gus has gotten through all of this without losing everyone. I know Ben is the reason that Mikey even started talking to me again, even if it wasn’t to support me necessarily. Fuck, Vic even moved out of the house, although I know that he and Rodney were looking into getting a place together before all this had happened.”

“And Emmett even gave up any chance of him and Ted becoming as close as friends as they had been, especially since Blake is out of the picture now.” The ending of that relationship had surprised only a few people, although the reason for the breakup did. Blake had contacted his parents again, after five years, at the insistence of Ted, only to find out that his mother was sick. The blond had gone to see her and was welcomed back into the family with open arms. Blake decided that, as much as he loved Ted and wanted his relationship with the accountant to work out; Blake wanted his family more and decided to stay with them.

“He’s better off without him,” Brian stated.

“Who? Ted or Emmett?”

“Surprisingly, both of them, although I was talking about Emmett,” Brian said. “But I know what you’re trying to tell me, Sunshine. I know what those guys had to deal with because they supported me and there’s no way I can repay them for it.”

“Brian, do you think things will ever be the same as they were before all this started?”

“I doubt it,” Brian told him. “Considering this family’s history, even if things calmed down to the point where we could all be in the same room without killing each other, things won’t ever be the same. There’s no way things can ever be the same. Now what about dinner?” Justin laughed at the way Brian could just change the subject, no matter what it was or how serious.

“Coming right up,” he told him, moving to put the ravioli in the now boiling water. It didn’t take long for the pasta to cook and Justin added the sauce to it. Just as he was carrying it to the table, they heard someone ringing the doorbell. “Why do I think I really don’t want to know who that is?”

“Because you know our family and their history of having bad timing.” When neither man made a move to answer the door, the bell rang again and was promptly followed by banging on the door.

“We better get that before whoever it is wakes up Gus,” Justin said. “You’d think that, after the hearing, we would be persona non gratis when it comes to our friends.”

“We are, but that doesn’t mean they won’t take the opportunity to yell at me if they can,” Brian told him over his shoulder as he went to get the door, opening just as the person on the other side was about to start banging again.

“Mikey, what a surprise,” Brian said, greeting his old friend, returning to go back to the kitchen. “Let me guess, you’ve come to tell me how horrible I am because I took Gus away from his mommies.”

“I heard what happened in court,” the store owner told him.

“What did they do, announce it on the early news?” Brian asked, sarcastically. “We’ve only been out of court for a little over an hour and somehow everyone knows what’s happened.”

“Melanie called,” he told him. “She wanted to know if I could take Annie for the night. She and Lindsay wanted to spend the night together without having to worry about upsetting her.”

“Probably so they could argue about who thinks I’m a bigger asshole,” Brian quipped.

“I thought Mel didn’t want Ben around Annie since he told her that he thought Brian was right,” Justin said.

“She doesn’t,” Michael told him, “but I told her she didn’t have a choice. That I wasn’t going to give up my family because she wasn’t happy with what they thought about her.”

“I can only imagine her reaction to that,” Brian stated, motioning for Michael to sit down.

“It wasn’t pretty,” Michael affirmed. “She threatened to keep Annie away from me but I think the judge’s decision today scared her.”

“Probably afraid you might decide to try and take Annie away from her,” Justin said. “She’s not going to want to do anything to get you so angry that you’ll do that to her.”

“I have no intentions of trying to take Annie away. The only reason I would even think about it would be if she started treating Annie they way that she had been treating Gus,” Michael told them. “Mel loves Annie and I know that.”

“Mikey, I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Brian assured. “Mel’s problems with Gus were because of how she feels about me. She likes you, even if she’s not happy with you right now, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Just give her time to cool down and I’m sure things will get better, but Mikey, I gotta ask. What are you doing here? I’m sure you didn’t just come to tell me that you were taking Annie for the night.”

“Actually no,” Michael admitted. “I just wanted to let you know that Ben and I are here if you need anything, even if it’s just someone to vent at.”

“Michael…”

“No, Brian. It’s okay. I know that I haven’t been as supportive of you as I could have been. I knew what was happening but I was afraid of what might happen if I went against Mel and it didn’t help that Ma was bitching about you the entire time. I didn’t want them to take their anger out on me.”

“It’s not going to get any better just because the judge said that Gus could stay with me and Justin,” Brian told his friend. “If anything, it may get worse because Melanie and Lindsay are going to do everything they can to prove that being with me isn’t good for Gus. Shit, you’re mother has already called to bitch me out.”

“I can only imagine what she had to say,” Michael groaned. “I’ll work on her, don’t worry.” Michael looked down at his watch and grimaced when he noticed the time. “I better get going. I told Mel that I would be right over and that was a half hour ago.” Michael walked towards the front door, Brian and Justin following him. “Maybe we can get together soon. We never have given you a good housewarming party.”

“And you have no idea how grateful I am about that, but you’re right. Maybe this weekend you and the rest of those still talking to me can come over,” Brian offered.

“Sounds good. I’ll give you a call.” Michael gave Brian a kiss good-bye. “See ya, Boy Wonder.”

“Bye, Mikey.” The two men watched Michael leave, their arms wrapped around each other. They couldn’t believe what the other man had just offered. They knew the position that Michael was in, being pulled in two different directions and it was the reason that they didn’t try to force him to make a decision. Brian and Justin were just glad that Michael had managed to get his family back after he had kicked Ben out. The couple had worked hard to get their relationship back on track and now they were happy. Brian hoped that they would stay that way, his friend deserved it.

“Do you think that Melanie will take out her anger at us on Michael and Ben?” Justin asked, pulling Brian out of his thoughts.

“When it comes to her, I have no idea of what she’ll do,” Brian answered. “I just don’t want her to hurt Gus anymore and unless she gets some more help, that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”

“She’s going to counseling now, though,” Justin pointed out. “She knows that she fucked up and that’s a step in the right direction, right?”

“I hope so, Sunshine.”