For Love of Justin

Tramps Like Us, Baby, We were Born to Run

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No sooner did Brian lower his mouth to touch Justin's lips than a sound most nearly resembling a sledgehammer hitting the loft's door in rapid succession invaded his consciousness. Focused as he was on the task at hand, there was just no way he could ignore the noise. Only one person in his circle was able to put that much power behind a knock.

"Fucking Melanie Marcus," he exclaimed, pushing away from the bewildered blond, regretfully, and adjusting himself before standing to go to the door.

"Kinney, open this damn door now!" Brian stood by the sofa, debating whether there was any chance of Melanie eventually going away if he pretended he weren't home.

"Coach, can you please let us in? We really need to see you!" What the fuck? Who the hell was that? It sounded like a young female, it must be someone else from the team. Looking over at Justin, sitting all flustered looking on his sofa, Brian was really not sure so sure he wanted to open the loft door now. Then came the clincher.

"Hey Coach, this your kid? He's really cute, looks just like you, too!" Shit, Mel had Gus with her, she would only have Gus out this late for an emergency and couldn't reach Lindz, or fuck, the emergency was Lindz ....

By the time Brian reached that point in his thought processes, he was at the door in record time, and it flew open under the force of his arm. His face didn't reveal the alarm he felt, of course; he showed only his customary impassive face to his unexpected guests, with perhaps the brows drawn together more than usually and the lips more compressed after he sharply asked the dark haired woman standing there, "what?"

"Took you fucking long enough! What's the matter, couldn't take your dick out of someone's ass long enough to come to the door?"

"Not in front of the kid, Mel, make that kids. What are any of you doing here?" he asked, taking Gus from Melanie, as red headed George, and a dark skinned girl runner he remembered from the afternoon's practice as Daphne, peered past him to catch sight of Justin sitting in his living room. At least if Mel were talking like that, there probably wasn't anything seriously wrong. She tended to become less foul mouthed when the chips were down, her own personal concession to God, Brian supposed. The ensuing conversations tumbled over each other as everyone tried to talk to Brian at once.

"Lindz called and said she was in the middle of a brainstorming session with Michael and couldn't make it home until late ...."

"Justin, we've been going out of our heads like crazy worrying about you when we didn't see you at your usual spot ...."

"Shit, man, is this like a movie set or something? Yo, Justin, can I be your new best friend and hang out with you guys cause my brother says I gotta move out and this place is like...."

"Daddy, Daddy, look, the boy gave me a Pokemon Card, look Daddy, it's a Slo Bro...."

"I have to head out of town to meet up with this witness, which Lindz knew was a possibility but I also promised to watch Gus, and she's being stubborn and not answering her cell and I'm not sure she's going to be home at all tonight .....

"Okay Sonnyboy, you come to Daddy; Slo Bro, huh, perfect for you, George,"Brian directed that sour comment to the redhead who just grinned irrepressibly at him. Nothing got to that kid. Brian couldn't help grinning back at him. He continued, trying to channel his inner drill sergeant, "okay, you two, close your mouths for five minutes and go get yourselves something out of the frig, get Sonnyboy here something too, while you're at it and then sit with Justin. You can catch up with him if you can do it quietly so we adults can talk." Brian glared at the two runners menacingly but it didn't have the effect it would've had on any sane person at Kinnetics. The girl just giggled and the redhead winked at him, but both said, "sure, Coach," before heading off to follow his orders obediently enough.

"Daddy, I want to go with them!" Gus demanded, with all the fickleness of a four year old.

Brian looked at Mel for permission, figuring he didn't need any battles over parental rights with her in front of the runners, but she just nodded, too busy trying to figure out why Brian Kinney, master at avoiding responsibility, was apparently acting as coach to several college age athletes. The boy on the sofa, who she had at first glance been written off as a trick, albeit an incredibly young and naive looking one for Brian's taste, now appeared to be part of a team, and a mixed gender team at that, and Brian was being treated with friendly, non-sexual, respect, not at all the way potential or former tricks treated him. And as for girls, Brian had, to her knowledge, no time for them at all, outside of his work, where, to his credit, he treated them the same as he treated the men: badly. On the rare occasion when Brian needed a beard, such as for some work function, he used Cynthia, his assistant, or Lindsay, both tall, statuesque blondes. This girl, while cute, was definitely the girl jock type. Mel's investigative instincts were on high boil.

Brian put Gus down so he could join the runners. Showing true sprinter form, he dashed off for the kitchen.

"Yay, I can play too. I want something to drink," he announced, making a beeline for the frig, where George was peering inside.

"Well, little guy, let's see, beer is out for you," he noted.

"And it's out for you too, since you have to run in the morning, so water, milk, or juice for everyone. There are juice boxes in the cabinet above, you can put ice in yours, Gus likes his room temperature," Brian interjected, leading an openmouthed Mel over to the window, where he had his work area set up, to talk. It was either that or his bedroom if they wanted some privacy and he figured having Mel in his bedroom could induce impotence; he wasn't taking the chance.

"I don't have to run tomorrow morning, it's Saturday, my day of rest, no practice," George called over, handing Gus the juice box which he'd located after stretching quite a bit to reach a spot that a much taller man had thought a convenient place to put them. Justin and Daphne watched him, giggling, from their spot on the sofa, cuddled under the blanket. Watching the two of them, Mel knitted her brows together, clearly confused. She would have sworn she had interrupted something between Brian and the blond when they first arrived. She would have to get him to introduce her to his little friends.

Brian glared over at George. He stalked over to the kitchen and grabbed the beer back out of George's unresisting hands. He tossed a package of Oreos at the cowed boy and pushed him toward the group on the sofa.

"You're running tomorrow. Comfort yourself with cookies, they don't go with beer anyway. Go watch a Pokemon movie with the other kids, and don't forget to take them some juice too, Red,"

"Here, Gus, you get under the blanket with Daphne, and I'll find the movie to put in. I'm Justin and that's George. We're on your Dad's running team," Justin informed the small boy, giving Gus one of his megawatt smiles. Brian noted his son responded with his own big smile and couldn't help grinning at the sight until he saw smelly Melly watching him. He quickly switched to his impassive face as he turned to make introductions.

"Thanks, Sunshine, I forgot my manners. Mel, I believe you heard the names of my charming guests, Justin, George, Daphne, this is Melanie Marcus, one of my son Gus' mothers, and no, I'm not going to explain that to you, George. Now you go eat your cookies with the other good little children and let us talk."

Brian smirked as he cut off the question that clearly was on the tip of the redhead's tongue and indicated with a pointed glance that the younger man was to join his friends in the other room, which he did with a laugh. Brian finally turned his back on them as he heard the opening refrains of the Pokemon theme song starting, with Gus insisting that the "big kids" sing along with it, a request that they all met, with much laughter. Happy to hear Justin's voice joining the others in the light-hearted fun, and to know that with that final icebreaker, all four "children" were settled down under the blanket with their juice and cookies, he stood, arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the window frame, and met Mel's raised eyebrows. He waited for her cross examination, as well as the reason for the sudden visit. When she just sat at his desk, staring him down, he decided to start.

"How long do you need me to watch Sonnyboy for?" Brian asked, eying the bag that she had been lugging, which, now that he thought about it, appeared bigger than the usual gear bag that accompanied Gus on a visit, now that he was potty trained.

"Well, the thing is, Lindz is leaving tomorrow to go to a seminar in Harrisburg, and will be out of town all weekend. So, I was supposed to watch Gus, but I really can't. Brian, this is a major breakthrough in this case; if this witness will talk to us, and if she says what we think she'll say, it means the defense's whole case falls apart!"

"So, you want me to watch him this weekend for you so you can go track down this witness's statement?" Brian was amazed. Mel always fought allowing Brian to have Gus for an entire weekend whenever he and Lindz asked her. The worst thing he'd ever done was give in to Lindsay on signing away his parental rights. He'd be damned if he would do it on this next one that Lindsay was carrying.

"Well, you don't really want to watch him all weekend, do you? I mean, it looks like you have a full house already. And what's with this, anyway, these kids calling you ‘Coach?' I know Ben is doing some coaching at the college but what does that have to do with you?" A thought occurred to her. "Brian, you're not impersonating Ben are you?"

Mel tried to whisper but her outraged tone carried over to the sofa and three heads whipped over to stare at her. Daphne's mouth opened into a perfect circle while George was so amused, apparently an almost constant state with him, that he fell to the floor laughing, a feat which Gus found so funny that he joined him. Justin, however, was indignant on his hero's behalf. He jumped to his feet and took several steps over towards Melanie, fists clenched at his sides. Daphne and George took a look at him and then concentrated on distracting Gus from the tense confrontation going on by the window.

"How can you make such a slanderous accusation against Coach Kinney? Of course he's not doing any such thing! Professor Bruckner introduced him to us today as his assistant coach and made it clear that he appreciated the favor that Coach Kinney was doing in sharing his running expertise with us and helping out on the long distance program. How could you, his friend, possibly impugn his integrity in such a way?" Justin spoke quietly but the blue eyes were shooting bullets at the petite lawyer, who sat for the moment, looking at Justin in a considering way. Brian, in the meantime, was smirking.

"Well, Sunshine, I guess Ben didn't lie, you must have scored as high as he said you did on those SATs to spout out those fancy words straight from a Pokemon movie. Impugn?"

"This isn't funny, Brian, I think she owes you an apology," Justin said. Mel, who had sat silent, observing the boy's fiery defense up to this point, bristled at this notion and spoke up finally.

"Wait just a second, Sunshine, when we showed up here, you were ensconced on "Coach" Kinney's couch and your little buddies were pretty frantic to find you. Since apparently you met Brian today, I can see where you might be a little starry eyed, especially since we apparently interrupted you before you got fucked, much less fucked over by your hero here..."

"Excuse me, but could you watch your language please, we're trying to keep the little guy entertained and all but you're making it kind of hard if you're gonna talk like a cable TV show," George called over from the blanket.

"And while we're new to you two so-called adults,," Daphne added in a cheery voice designed to allay any concerns Gus might have that his parents were fighting with his new friends, "if you say one more nasty thing to our Justin, I may have to ipray oofay a new asshole-ray."

"Asshole-ray?" George whispered to her under the blanket.

"She meant asshole," Gus told him in a stage whisper. The three of them got the giggles and ignored the other three from that point as they practiced pig Latin together.

Conscious of Gus, thanks to Daphne and George's reminder, Justin moved closer to the other two to continue the confrontation with Mel.

"I'll have you know, Ms. Marcus," he hissed quietly, so the other two runners couldn't hear, "although I fail to see what business this is of yours, that I tried coming on to Brian more than once today and he turned me down because it would violate his ethics to get involved with one of his runners as a coach.."

More than once? Brian wondered, with surprise, which time he missed, he thought it was just in the shower, perhaps he was slipping, or maybe the kid was subtler than he gave him credit for being? Brian watched the small blond as he continued to light into Mel, who remained speechless at the novel experience of having someone tell her off so forcefully when she picked on Brian. Lindsay might defend him, but it was always in a diffident, quiet way, designed not to set off her feistier partner's temper. Michael's defenses of his "best friend" were often more incriminating that her insults. This young man was taking her on in a no holds barred fashion that was a completely alien experience to her. Or maybe it was the idea of Brian having ethics that had her floored, he thought; it kind of shocked him.

"Coach Kinney very properly put me in my place each time, explaining that he doesn't get involved with runners. So for you to continue to make disparaging comments about him, in front of your own son, his own son, is disgraceful, and I think at this point you should be ashamed of yourself. He has been the soul of propriety. I'm only here because I have nowhere else to go and I'd be out on the streets tonight if it weren't for him. What you interrupted wasn't him seducing me, it was him comforting me over how lousy my life has turned out. Sure, I was willing to settle for a quick," at this point Justin turned to make sure Gus wasn't paying attention, "fuck, but instead he offered me friendship. So maybe next time, before you start throwing stones, and insulting the man in his own home, you'll get some more information." Justin stood his ground, staring Mel down, fists still clenched, seemingly ready to take her on, mano el lesbo, Brian thought with an inward grin. Yetl, he had better intervene before nasty Mel annihilated the boy. Once she recovered her equilibrium, it would be just a matter of moments. Besides, it better suited Brian's purposes to have her be off guard and a little conciliatory towards him, as a result of apparently having wronged him, (neither she nor Justin needed to know how close he almost came to betraying Ben's trust in him), when Brian wanted her to start trusting him with Gus's care.

"Well, Mel, I think for Gus's sake, I'll pass on insisting on the apology because even if Justin doesn't realize it, I know that for you to attempt any such thing could well leave the boy without one of his mothers, and while I may be willing to risk that, for some reason Gus and Lindz seem to be fond of you. There's no accounting for taste," again the Kinney smirk made its fleeting appearance.

"But Brian," Justin protested, still looking daggers at Mel, who was looking more perplexed than anything else.

"Justin, I really appreciate your standing up for me, don't think I don't, but at this point, I need to straighten a few things out with Gus's mother, so if you don't mind, now that you've cleared up that I wasn't impersonating Coach Bruckner, and that I attended practice today with his full knowledge and consent, indeed, at his request, I'd really appreciate you returning to our regularly scheduled programming. And if you want to pull the chairs over so you all can stretch out your legs, that's fine with me, too."

"Okay, you're the coach," Justin said with one final glare at Melanie. She returned his look thoughtfully.

"So, have you reached Lindz about where Gus is for now? What's your plan if you need to get on the road tonight and she has to leave in the morning for her seminar?" Brian looked at the lawyer calmly, already fairly sure what her plan was and the change he was going to make to it.

"Well, I thought maybe you could keep Gus with you tonight, since it's so late anyway, and then have fun with him until tomorrow afternoon, but leave a message for Lindz that she has to pick him up by dinner time. That gives you two plenty of bonding time and she'll be much more understanding about coming home and getting him from you." Mel smiled at Brian ingratiatingly.

"Not as much time as we would have if I keep him the whole weekend and let Lindz have her time away at the seminar. Why should I be the one to call her away from it? If I'm doing you the favor of watching Gus, then I'll do it, but there's no way I'll simply be the fall guy for you and call Lindsay away from something she's looking forward to and you promised she could go to." Brian gave her his charming smile, knowing full well she was immune to it.

"Well, if it's so important to her, why isn't she home in bed getting a good night's sleep instead of out to all hours?" Mel grumbled, killing time as she tried to come up with a reasonable argument when she knew in her heart that she was making an unreasonable request.

"Maybe so you couldn't sabotage this trip away at the last minute with some work needs of your own like you do every other time, and good golly miss molly, or should I say something's smelly, miss Melly, looks like Lindz finally caught on and left one night early on you. Did you ask Gus where Mommy was? If you did, I bet you'd find out she said goodbye to him this morning."

"No way!" Mel breathed. Brian laughed. He walked over towards the snuggling group on the sofa. Gus was happily curled up between Justin and Daphne. George was on the other side of Justin, and was fast asleep on the blond's shoulder.

"My God, I didn't think that ever ready bunny would ever wind down." Brian commented.

Daphne giggled. "It takes a lot . Though he usually manages to catch up on his sleep in lecture classes, marketing, advanced economics, the boring stuff."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Brian rolled his eyes. He sat down on the floor in front of his son, careful not to block the television. He was amazed that Gus was still wide awake, given that it was close to midnight. The boy definitely took after him in a lot of ways. Although Brian could never remember being as happy as Gus. Mel, for all her faults, loved his son and was helping to raise him to be a happy, secure little boy. He reminded himself of that whenever he wanted to kill her.

"Sonnyboy, do you know where Mommy is tonight?"

"Sure." Justin and Daphne grinned at the child's matter of fact tone as Melanie stifled a growl of frustration.

"And where is that Gus? Could you tell me since Mama is kind of worried. Seems Mommy forgot to tell her where she was going."

"She's at a bed and cereal place, and she's going to bring me back a toy on Sunday when she gets home and she promised to call me tomorrow morning and the next day too so she won't miss me too much, you know how she gets, Daddy."

"I know Sonnyboy, she misses you a lot when she isn't with you, but I'm glad she's at the bed and cereal place. Did she say bed and cereal or maybe Bed and Breakfast?"

Gus giggled. :"That's the same thing, Daddy, unless it's pancakes, are we gonna have pancakes tomorrow? Mommy said I could have anything I wanted for breakfast tomorrow, especially if Mama took me to your house."

"Served," Daphne murmured.

Brian laughed out loud at that. Lindz certainly knew her partner. Mel was looking chagrined.

"Okay, you win, you can stay with Daddy for the weekend, but you'd both better be good," Mel said with a slight smile as Gus threw his arms around his father, squealing at the prospect of spending a whole weekend with Daddy, the source of late night snack binges and computer games, of pillow fights and guy stuff. And now big kids to play with too.

"But what about practice tomorrow,"Justin asked in a small voice. "I guess you can't run after all."

"Sure he can," Daphne joined in. "My sister has a running stroller that's in great shape. If we swing past her house in the morning I know she'll let us borrow it."

"Gus is kind of big for a stroller," Mel started to say.

"These strollers go up to eighty pounds, Gus doesn't look like he could weigh more than half of that. And they're really safe, my sister and brother in law are doctors, not to mention my mother, so trust me, this thing is the best on the market, Ms. Marcus. Gus will be perfectly safe and he'll love it. Maybe Brian will want to get one if he likes it so the little guy can go out with us all more often. And if he gets tired, I'm sure one of us, such as me, will be more than happy to wait it out in a park with him until the hot shot distance guys finish their long run."

"There won't be any really long runs tomorrow," Brian interjected, "but the running stroller sounds like a great idea, Daphne, maybe in the morning you can tell me what model your sister has and where I can get one and we won't worry about borrowing it. I'm sure it will come in handy with Gus. With the new baby soon to be here, Lindsay might like getting back into her running once she delivers, right Mel?"

Mel just looked at him. Running together was something else Brian and Lindsay shared in college, so she wasn't sure how she felt about Lindz running again, but she had to admit that she preferred Gus being outside in the fresh air than spending his time coloring while his father worked at his ad agency on a Saturday. In all fairness, she was being a little hypocritical there, because if he were with her tomorrow and this witness thing had not come up, they probably would have spent the day at her office and not at the park or zoo. With a shake at herself, she crouched down by Gus.

"Are you sure you're okay staying until Sunday night with Daddy, sweetheart? Mama will take you home and stay with you until Mommy gets back if you would rather?" Brian was impressed. He knew how much of a workaholic Mel was; it was a trait they shared, but he knew she was sincere in her offer to Gus, and it sounded like she was motivated by concern for him and not just spite for Brian.

"No, Mama, you have to work. I want to stay and be a runner too. Like Justin and George and Daffy. And Daddy is a runner, did you know that, Mama?" Gus wrapped his arms around Mel's neck and talked right into her nose, one of his more recent habits to ensure her full attention.

"Yes, sweetie, I think Mommy mentioned something about that. And Mommy was a runner too. She can tell you about it when she gets back on Sunday. And you know, I think Mommy has some pictures she can show you from when Daddy and she were runners together in college. Maybe Daddy has some of those pictures too, but for now, it's times for little runners to be getting some sleep." Brian really was touched now, and he helped Mel to her feet, surprising her, and him.

"Can I sleep out here with Daffy and George and Justin and ....?"

"Woah, stop right there, Sonnyboy, you are going to kiss Mama goodnight and then brush your teeth and get into your pajamas and scoot into Daddy's bed, okay? Come on, good night kisses," Brian commanded, in the voice Gus always obeyed right away. He could see that now that the time has come to actually leave Gus with him, Mel was having second thoughts. For once, since her hesitation didn't seem to arise from animosity towards him as from real love for Gus, he had all the patience in the world for her.

Once Gus kissed his Mama about a dozen times, running through several body parts that he decided needed special goodnight kisses, a routine that had Daphne smiling but which Brian noted was making Justin increasingly melancholy, no doubt due to his own fucked up family situation, he once again, gently this time, suggested it was time Gus moved on to prepare for bed and his mother headed off on her trip, if it wasn't too late to start out. Daphne volunteered to take Gus into the bathroom to get ready while Brian walked Mel down to her car.

"I'm not quite sure what's going on here Brian but it seems like you're the good guy. You certainly have your little champion who thinks so. You actually turned down sex? Are you okay, should we be updating your will or anything?" Mel looked up at the tall man as they stood by her car in the parking garage,.

"The will's already updated for the new kid, Mel, don't worry, touching though your concern is. Everything goes to them other than the bit set aside for Deb and Mikey, you know that. And as for my sex life, that is and always will be none of your business, unless you grow a nine inch cock, and even then I suspect you won't be my type and I'm sure as hell not yours. But for what its worth, and because I'm in a good mood with you tonight, yeah, I actually did the right thing. But don't tell anyone, okay? And that goes for Lindsay too, for the time being, okay? There are extenuating circumstances and Ben and I would like to keep this as quiet as possible for as long as possible which means...."

"Which means Michael doesn't know. Gotcha. Well, thanks for helping out." She unlocked her car door and he opened it for her and watched silently as she got in. She looked back up from her seat before starting the car. "So help me God, Brian, if you do one thing to put Gus at risk this weekend and make me regret leaving him with you, I will make your life a living hell."

"If anything should ever happen to Gus while he's in my care, Mel, there's not a thing you could do to me that would be worse than I would do to myself," he told her soberly.

She looked him in the eye for a few moments, then nodding, she started the engine and drove off. He watched her exit the garage then headed back upstairs to his quartet of kids. He had the funny feeling that he was saddled with the extra two for the night as well.

That was one way of removing all temptation. Gus in his bed and George and Daphne sharing the living room with Justin effectively put an end to all amorous activities for that evening. Brian's honor and Justin's virtue were safe for another night.

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The next morning dawned bright and clear but no one in the loft saw it. Of the youngsters, Daphne woke first, stretching out on the expensive Italian chaise. Justin was sprawled on top of the leather sofa, sound asleep, while George had elected to make a tent out of a blanket stretched between the chaise and the sofa and he and Gus had bunked down on blankets on the floor. Gus wanted nothing to do with Daddy's bed when the chance to sleep in the living room under a tent presented itself. Since Gus tended to kick, Brian gave in readily enough. Daphne giggled now to see the two moppish heads close together, the little boy curled up in the crook of the big one's arm.

"They look so innocent in their sleep, don't they?" a wry voice commented.

Startled, the young girl straightened her t-shirt as she glanced over, red-faced, to see that her host was already up and drinking a glass of juice at the island that separated the kitchen area from the living space. He looked at her amused.

"Oh don't worry, I'm certainly not looking at your tits, and with the possible exception of Gus, I doubt if anyone here would notice if your t-shirt were to fall off completely, much less ride up a bit in your sleep. Some juice?"

She untangled her lean runner's legs from the blanket and got up, grinning, all embarrassment gone at his words. She walked over, talking low so as not to wake the sleepers.

"Well, I was pretty sure about you, but actually, George isn't gay, despite all indications to the contrary." Brian snorted in disbelief. Her eyes twinkled.

"Okay, then, for the record, he isn't ‘out.' His parents would be kind of upset and he comes from this big family out west where they don't take to things like queer sons too easily. He misses his little brothers and sisters something terrible, which is why he was so good with Gus. Justin just has the one sister, and she's a lot younger, so I get the impression he isn't used to being around many little kids like Gus. It was a nice treat for him." Daphne was chattering a mile a minute, pausing only to take a swig from the glass of juice Brian handed her.

"And what about Miss Daphne? Is she Wendy to this generation of lost boys?" He thought back with a smile to his own college days with Lindsay, and how she used to mother him. Lord knew she and Deb gave him the only mothering he ever knew. Saint Joan was incapable of the act.

Daphne watched the new coach smile, the first truly genuine one she could remember seeing on that handsome face, and thought she just may have fallen in love. Quickly, she took another swallow of her juice, and promptly choked.

Warm hands were on her back, softly thumping to help clear her airway. Oh God, her nipples were getting hard.

"I have to go to the bathroom," she gasped out, thoroughly embarrassed now, and dashed from the room, tripping on the end of the makeshift tent and sending it and herself crashing down on the sleepyheads inside.

"What the fuck," George's voice could be heard, as his head poked up, still covered by the blanket. Gus woke up and started crying.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy!" As Brian's long strides took him over to rescue his son, Justin started thrashing on the sofa.

"NO! NO! Stop! Don't, please, stop!" Brian paused, mid-step, but with Gus still crying, he quickly pulled the blanket away from where George was impotently flailing at it, and hauled the sobbing Gus up against one shoulder,

"George, help Daphne," Brian curtly ordered, indicating where she was lying on the floor, holding her ankle, tears coursing silently down her face. He continued on to the sofa, and with his free arm, hauled the other distraught boy, who was sobbing in his sleep, caught in an apparent nightmare, up against his other shoulder. He leaned back against the sofa, and started crooning an old Gaelic lullaby his grandmother used to sing to him, rocking both boys softly. Gus quickly stilled, and opened his hazel eyes, caught by the novelty of having his Daddy there to sooth away his fears. Within a few moments, a pair of blue eyes opened shyly, and glanced up as well.

Whereas Gus snuggled closer, smiling happily to find himself in Daddy's arms, once Justin became fully awake and aware of his position, he flushed deep red and pulled back with a muttered apology. Brian fixed him with an intent look, but just said, "no problem, bad dreams happen. Several this morning it seems. Okay, how about I pass you this little guy while I check out what damage our Miss Daphne has done falling on the tent. Okay with you, Sonnyboy? Will you go to Justin while Daddy takes care of Daphne? Maybe you two can check out the bathroom even?"

Gus nodded solemnly and scooted over into Justin's open arms. Brian knelt down to examine the small girl's ankle, which he was glad to see George had already placed iced. It looked swollen, but not too badly, definitely not a break but a bad sprain was his diagnosis but he'd better call Ben and see if there was a team trainer or if she needed to be taken to Allegheney's E.R. for x-rays. Shit, so much for a nice early morning run. He scowled, looking down at the offending limb.

"I'm so sorry, Brian, I didn't mean to be so clumsy." He looked up at her distraught face, wondering in passing when he went from "Coach Kinney" to "Brian." When you let them sleep-over in your living room, you ass, came the prompt answer. But he made a conscious effort to soften his features; it wasn't her fault he was an ass. And he certainly didn't lack for chaperones last night.

"It wasn't your fault, Daphne, I clearly need a bigger loft if I intend to hold practices in here," he dead panned. "The question is, what's the next step? You need some professional evaluation, and by the way, good move icing it, George. Obviously, you aren't as dumb as you look," he noted, making it clear that he thought no one possibly could be, his expression making both kids giggle, though George looked happy with the praise. "So, do we take you to the hospital for x-rays or ..."

"Oh, there's no need for that. Remember, my mother's a doctor, and so's my sister. I can get one of them to check it out. But I really think if I just stay off it for a little bit, it'll be fine."

By this time, Justin and Gus were back and everyone, even Gus, participated in a spirited discussion about whether Daphne should be checked out right away. Eventually, after she cried, a maneuver to get her way that Gus endorsed and Justin and George called her on, but which was the trump card as far as Brian was concerned, she was permitted to call her sister, who quickly offered to come over and check out the ankle there. At Daphne's request she also brought her running stroller, for Brian to try out and see if he liked it. Also at her request, this one endorsed by all three boys, her sister showed up with a breakfast for everyone, chocolate chip pancakes for Gus and bagels and fruit for the runners.

Thus it was that the so-called morning run evolved into an early afternoon run, with Daphne given strict orders not to run on her ankle for three days. The ankle was also professionally taped, giving her much more support and comfort. When the sister, Monica, an older, taller, more sophisticated looking version of Daphne, handed a pair of crutches out of the car to Brian, he raised his eyebrow at her.

"You keep crutches in the car?"

"Well, not in the car, but in the house. Daphne has need of them a couple times a year, and then there are the sets I keep around for the brothers. Two sets of twins, all of them basketball players, you can imagine why I went into orthopedics. Dad said he wanted to recover the cost of my medical school and figures with the younger five, he'll do it in just a few years in saved co-pays alone."

"I can see that," Brian laughed.

"Have her call me if the swelling doesn't go down by Wednesday, will you? And again, thank you. It's nice to know there's such an involved coach looking out for the kids this summer. A bunch like that would get into all kinds of trouble without someone with some street smarts looking out for them," Monica looked Brian in the eye as she shook his hand. He didn't know what to say to that so elected to say nothing.

"Thanks again for the stroller." That seemed safe. She smiled, that Daphne smile and got into her BMW to drive off. Nice woman.

Leaving Daphne ensconced in his loft with the remote and a charged cell phone for calling for take-out if she got hungry, Brian finally lined up outside with an excited Gus strapped into the stroller with his helmet on. George and Justin were nearby doing their warm-up stretches. Drinks for all were loaded into the stroller. He had a phone with him. He was all ready for a nice, ten mile run.

"Briiiiiiiiaaaannnn." The short, dark haired man came running up, glaring at him.

"Why didn't you show up last night?"

Brian looked at the two boys, who were looking back at him ready for the word to start running, at Gus, all ready for his run, and at Mikey, who would yammer at him for at least forty minutes, and made up his mind.

"Let's go guys, sorry Mikey, gotta RUN!"

He would pay for it later, but for now, it was worth it to see the look on his best friend's face as the four of them just took off. Leaving him in their dust.

Return to For Love of Justin