The Twelve Eves of Christmas

Chapter 1

~ * ~ * ~ * Day 1 * ~ * ~ * ~

"…And here's a song to start your Christmas Eve." The clock radio blared in the background.

I'll be home for Christmas,

you can plan on me.

Brian growled and slammed his fist down on top of the offending clock/radio. The last thing he wanted to hear right now was another sappy Christmas song.

The tall brunet rolled out of bed and headed for the shower. The hot water pelting down his body helped relax some of the muscles that had started to tense the moment he'd been so rudely awakened. As he gradually relaxed under the spray, mind wandering, memories of other showers with other hands gently massaging the shampoo into his scalp began to assail him. Memories of someone who wasn't here now.

Suddenly realizing what he was doing and irritated at himself now, Brian quickly rinsed and turned off the water. No one else had been here to share his morning shower for several weeks. And Brian was fine with that. He didn't need anyone else tying him down. Now he was free to spend his days however he saw fit. At least, that's what he kept telling himself.

After he dressed, Brian walked into the kitchen for his morning cup of coffee only to find that the pot was empty. Just like it had been the day before… and the day before that. Justin had always made sure the coffee maker was set at night so that his lover would have a cup first thing in the morning. Brian chastised himself for not being able to remember to do something so simple. He'd become much too dependant on those little things that the blond had done for him on a routine basis.

Picking up his coat and briefcase, Brian decided that he'd get a latte on the way to work. No use standing around this tomb any longer than he had to.

They were playing more of that sentimental Christmas nonsense in the coffee shop, so Brian was in even a worse mood when he left there than he had been in before. He wondered what was with people and their holiday festivities. How could they stand listening to these same corny songs every day for a month? All that music did was give him a headache.

Parking his car by Kinnetik , Brian grabbed his briefcase and his latte and made his way down the sidewalk. He was about ten feet from the front door to the offices when he heard a splash and felt something cold and wet hit his leg from the knee down. Letting out a few choice words, he glared at the back of the truck that had splashed the icy water onto the pants of his Armani suit. His day was getting progressively worse.

Cynthia looked up in surprise as Brian walked in, cursing everything that moved and a few things that didn't. Seeing his wet pants leg, she realized immediately what must have happened and for once, kept her mouth shut as her boss stomped his way into his office and slammed the door.

Brian threw his briefcase on the couch across from his desk and picked up the phone. He started to dial the loft, intending to ask Justin to bring him another suit, then realized that there would be no one there. Placing the phone back in its cradle, Brian rapidly considered his options. He had a meeting in two hours and no time to make a trip back home to change and still be able to look over boards and notes one last time. He'd have to find someone else to go for him.

"Cynthia!" Brian yelled, then picked up his latte a take a drink, wishing he'd gotten a double now.

The door opened and his assistant poked her head in. "You yelled?" She asked cautiously. She recognized the foul mood the man was in and was ready to duck and cover.

"I need a clean suit before my meeting." Brian said, fully expecting his assistant to come up with a solution for him.

She sighed heavily. "I'll pick one up for you." She replied, knowing that there weren't too many people Brian would trust in his loft alone. "Ted has the conference room all set up." She added, hoping that might improve the brunet's mood.

Brian, however, expected his people to be prepared and thought nothing of it. He tossed her the keys to the loft and sat down with his latte in one hand and the file for the meeting in the other. This was a big account for a nationwide company and Brian didn't want to blow it. Kinnetic was fast making a name for itself and a loss of this magnitude could cause permanent damage.

"Is Justin here yet?" Brian asked, knowing the blond wouldn't be. Since the younger man had moved out, he seldom showed up before 9:00.

"No, he should be in soon though." Cynthia said, then made her exit.

Brian growled about that a bit. Even though Brian knew his ex… ex-whatever worked just as hard as he did, the blond's aversion for early mornings irritated him more today than usual. If the younger man wasn't so damn good at what he did, Brian would really regretted having made him his business partner. Having to work with the blond everyday… well, Brian told himself that it wasn't anything he couldn't deal with.

Cynthia returned a little later with a clean suit and Brian was just getting changed when his 'partner' walked in, not bothering to knock first.

"I looked over the setup in the conference room and …" Justin's voice trailed off as he noticed that Brian was standing in the middle of his office in just a shirt and briefs. His eyes gave the brunet a quick once over and he cleared his throat nervously. No matter what had happened between them, the sight of his lover standing half dressed sent an electric jolt straight to his groin.

Seeing Justin's reaction, Brian smirked a little realizing he still could get the blond hard without lifting a finger. Unfortunately, Justin had the same effect on him and he wasn't in any position to hide that fact at the moment. Brian turned his back on his 'partner', grabbed the clean pants and pulled them on. "So, how did it look?" Brian asked, trying to put his traitorous dick under wraps.

"Huh?" Came the confused reply.

Everything in place and out of sight, Brian turned to face puzzled blue eyes. "The setup in the conference room?" He prompted, smirk firmly in place once again. There was no way he'd let Justin know the effect the blond had on him.

"Oh! It looks good." Justin stammered, blushing a little. Even after all these years, he still reacted like that naive teenager Brian found under the street light. A fact that Brian usually found endearing.

'Well, it's your own fault, Sunshine.' Brian thought to himself. 'You're the one who decided to leave… again.'

Aloud, Brian said, "Good. Ms. Madison should be here at 10:00. We'll give the presentation then take her to lunch." His mind was running through the schedule for the day as he talked.

"Uh, Brian, don't forget that Gus's school concert is at 2:00." Justin interrupted. "He's really hoping you'll be there."

Brian snorted at that. It was a good thing the blond was an artist. With his sentimentality, he'd never make it in the business world. "And I have a business to run. Gus understands that."

Justin looked at Brian with sad, puppy dog eyes. The brunet knew that while Gus may understand, Justin never would. He thought to himself that it was probably a good thing the blond had left. They would never see eye-to-eye on some things.

"At least we could let the employees go early." Justin persisted. "It is Christmas Eve after all."

Brian glared at him. Once again, Justin was thinking with his heart, not his head. "Why should I pay them for time that they're not working? I was planning on giving Ms. Madison a tour of the offices after lunch and there won't be much to see if no one is here. Besides, they have all day tomorrow off, even though I plan to be here."

"You're not coming to Deb's tomorrow?" Justin asked, sounding surprised.

"I'm trying to make this company into something." Brian replied, feeling as though he were repeating himself for the thousandth time. "If we're ever going to get any place, I don't have time for that sort of nonsense." They'd already had this same argument so many times. It was the same one they were having when Justin decided to walk out… again.

"Brian, you already have one of the best ad agencies in the North East. When does it become enough?" Justin's eyes pleaded with his partner to understand.

"And the others are just waiting for me to let my guard down so they can snap up what I've worked so hard to build. If you had any kind of business sense, you'd understand that." Brian snapped. He couldn't understand why Justin didn't realize how hard he had worked to get where he was right now.

The two men stood staring at each other for a moment. Brian thought the blond was going to argue some more, but instead Justin said. "I'll be in the conference room at 10. If you need me before then, I'll be in my office."

As soon as Justin walked out the door, Brian pushed the argument out of his mind. He had an account to win and no time to worry about the hurt feelings of his overly emotional 'partner'.

The presentation went well as did the lunch afterwards. On returning to the office, Brian gave Ms. Madison a tour of the Kinnetic operation. However, when they reached the art department, Brian noticed with irritation that the art director was conspicuously absent.

'He's probably gone to that damn school concert.' Brian thought to himself. He made a mental note to have a few words with his 'partner' about that later.

Ms. Madison was quite impressed with Kinnetic's ideas and company and left with a promise to have her lawyers look over the contract and get back to them. Just the Christmas present that Brian needed to get his day on a better note.

Brian went back to his office and started looking over some preliminary boards for a presentation the next week. He wrote down some ideas that he had and called Cynthia into the office.

"Take these down to the art department and have these changes made. I'd like to see them on my desk when I come in tomorrow." Brian said handing her the boards.

He started to turn back to his computer, but noticed that his assistant continued to stand there. "Is there a problem?" Brian asked, feeling a headache starting to come on.

"Um, Jerry and Linda have gone home for the day." She said slowly.

'Of course they had.' Brian thought. 'And I can guess who had suggested that as well.' Aloud, he said. "Let me guess, Justin."

Cynthia swallowed nervously. "He told everyone to stay until the tour with Ms. Madison was finished, then to head on home."

Brian could definitely feel a pounding start right behind his eyes. "So what are you still doing here?" He growled.

"I, uh, was getting ready to leave when you called." She responded, blushing a bit.

"Well, don't let me keep you." Brian said sarcastically. "I'm only the boss."

Cynthia just stood there, obviously unsure what to do next. Brian began to make plans to kill a certain blond artist.

"Go on, get out of here." He snapped and turned back to his computer screen. He was definitely going to need some Tylenol soon. No, make that aspirin. He'd quit buying Tylenol because … well, it didn't really matter. Aspirin would do.

When Brian finally decided that he'd accomplished enough for one day and started to leave, he noticed that the offices were as silent as the loft had been this morning. He wondered when silence had started to bother him so much.

Once outside, however, it was anything but quiet. The traffic was bumper to bumper, the sidewalks were packed with last minute shoppers, the stores were all opened trying to make that last minute buck and full of last minute shoppers looking for that 'perfect present'. Brian decided just to walk to the diner since it would probably take hours to get there by car, even though it was only a few blocks away.

Just as he'd expected, the guys were sitting in their usual booth in the back already. They were busy talking as Brian slid into the booth next to Michael.

"I think you should call him, sweetie." Emmett was saying. "He sounds really hot."

"Hey, Brian." Michael greeted with a bright smile, then returned his attention to his other friends. "I don't know, Emm. I'm not sure I'm ready to start dating again."

"What's this? Have you got a date, Mikey?" Brian asked with a smirk. He thought Michael had finally gotten smart after he and Ben broke up.

Michael looked a little sheepish. "Well, not exactly. I met this guy and we traded numbers, but I'm not sure I want to call or not."

"He really seemed to like you, Michael." Ted interjected, having been there when the two men met. "You should call him."

Brian snorted. "Leave Mikey alone. He's finally wised up and realized that relationships are bullshit."

"Coming from the King of Relationship Denial." Ted snarked. "Don't listen to him, Michael. You should at least give this guy a chance."

"Maybe some other time." Michael said with a glance in Brian's direction. "So, what are you guys up to this evening?"

"Oh, we're going to that lovely party that the Pavilion is having. You should come with us, sweetie." Emm gushed. "You too, Brian." He added, almost as an afterthought.

"I have better things to do with my time than spend it with a bunch of hetero wannabe's." Brian answered. "I think I'll check out Babylon and see whose Christmas wish I can make come true tonight."

"How about you, Michael?" Emmett asked.

"Maybe Jon will be there." Ted added.

"Naw, you guys go ahead." Michael responded. "I'll see what's going on at Babylon tonight."

Ted and Emmett exchanged glances. Brian knew what they thought about Michael following him around and to be honest, he really didn't give a shit what they thought. Michael was a grow man and could make up his own mind as to where he wanted to spend his time.

The guys finished their dinner and headed their separate ways. Brian went back to the loft to change into more appropriate 'club wear'. Before meeting Michael, he decided to stop by the liquor store since his stock of Beam was getting low. While leaving, a tall brunet walked by checking Brian out. Deciding that the man would make a decent appetizer, Brian followed the guy back to his place for a few rounds of fucking and sucking.

Having whetted his appetite, Brian left and headed back to his jeep, intending to meet Michael. He glanced at the clock on the dashboard and realized that it was almost midnight. Michael was going to be pissed at how late he was.

Brian parked a bit down the street from the club and started walking. About a block away, he heard a strange groaning noise and stopped to look around, trying to find the source of the sound. Someone in the distance screamed and Brian looked up just in time to see a sign falling from the roof of the store he was standing in front of, directly overhead.

~* ~* ~* ~ * ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~* ~ * ~* ~* ~* ~

"Mr. Kinney?" A soft voice was talking, although it wasn't familiar. "Mr. Kinney, are you awake?"

"Mmm." Was about all Brian could manage in response. His head was pounding. He opened his eyes to find a woman in white standing next to him.

"Mr. Kinney, do you know where you are?" The woman asked.

As Brian slowly turned his head, taking in his surroundings, he realized that he was in a hospital bed. "Hospital." Brian croaked. He cursed to himself as he realized that he sounded like a frog.

The woman smiled. "That's right." She said and gave him a long look.

"What the fuck am I doing here?" Brian growled, thinking that sounded better.

The woman continued to stare, which was making Brian very uncomfortable. "You, Mr. Kinney, are being given a second chance."

Brian just stared at the woman, thinking she was nuts. Other than the headache, he was obviously okay, but this woman made it sound as if he were at death's door.

"I'm fine." Brian said. "When can I get out of here?"

"We have a few things to discuss first." She said.

Brian huffed a bit at that, expecting to get one of those talks that medical people give you on what you can and can't do. "Save the lecture and just let me out of here." He replied, attempting to climb out of the bed to find his clothes.

"Oh, no. You're not going anywhere until we get a few things straight." She said. She put a hand out to stop the brunet from getting up. She was either a lot stronger than she looked or Brian was a lot weaker than he thought.

Realizing that he wasn't going anywhere until this woman gave him the all clear, Brian leaned back with a sigh. "Fine, get whatever it is over with so I can go."

She stood there silently for a long moment. "Mr. Kinney, I'm going to give it to you straight. You should have died tonight when that sign fell on you, but you have been given another chance. I'm here to make sure you don't screw it up."

Okay, this was not what Brian was expecting. He did have some vague memory of a sign falling, although he failed to see what that had to do with second chances. "If that's all, can I go now?" Brian asked.

"No, not until I'm sure you understand what I'm saying to you. For whatever reason, you are being given a very unique gift; a chance to make some changes in your life. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

"Yeah, yeah… another chance… make changes." Brian parroted back to her. "Can I have my clothes now?"

She stood staring at him, arms crossed over her chest and an exasperated expression on her face. "Mr. Kinney, I don't think you comprehend what I'm telling you." She began.

"Sure I do. I'm getting another chance to change my life. Can I go now?" Brian asked again. Fuck, what was this woman's problem?

She let out a very unladylike snort. "Fine, I'll get your clothes."

Brian dressed quickly, ignoring her disapproving glare while she watched.

"Well, if that's all, I'm out of here." Brian told her, fully expecting the lecture to continue.

"I'll be seeing you." She replied dryly.

'Seeing me?' Brian thought to himself. 'What was that supposed to mean?'

Shrugging it off, he left the hospital as quickly as he could. This place had never been his favorite place to be and ever since… well, he'd rather be anywhere but here.

Assuming his Jeep was somewhere on Liberty Ave. still, Brian caught a cab back to the loft. His head was pounding and he just wanted to curl up and sleep the pain away. There wouldn't be anyone at work the next day anyway, so maybe he would just sleep in.

Ignoring the silence, Brian walked into the loft, locked the door and set the alarm. Walking to the bathroom, he looked at himself in the mirror and cursed at the bruise along the left side of his face. Thinking that'd he'd never be able to pick up a trick while sporting that monstrosity; he was comforted by the fact that at least there weren't any stitches.

Brian stripped and slowly slid himself into bed, moaning slightly at the pounding behind his temples. Maybe he should have asked for some painkillers. He covered himself with the duvet and ignored the fact that the other side of the bed was cold and empty. He must have been more tired than he realized because before he knew it, blackness was claiming him.

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