I Will Remember You

Chapter 13

~ Revelations ~

The Day before the Wedding

Justin was lying in bed, trying to get his thoughts organized after the shocks he had received last night. He'd finally 'met' the man from his dream dance and learned his name. But the reality was nothing like the dream.

Brian… he was just as gorgeous in real life as he had been in the dream. The way those hazel eyes had grabbed him, held him enthralled, refused to release him, he was still breathless remembering. But there had been no love there, just lust. Had they been lovers? The way his body ached with longing even now said yes. Was that all it had ever been?

Why hadn't Brian ever come to visit him in the hospital? Why had he left town without a single word? Why had Brian told him he didn't know him on the cruise? Why couldn't he get this man out of his head?

Had Brian seen him as damaged after the bashing? No memory, a gimp hand, months of rehab in the future. Had he been relieved when Justin had awakened with no memory, seeing it as his chance to escape?

And what warped twist of fate had sent Tee into the arms of that same man? Oh, Tee said they were just friends, but it seemed like more than that to Justin, who had seen them leaving the club with their arms around each other. Besides, Tee didn't believe in friendship between gay men. Tee had even admitted he found Brian hot. Not that he could blame Tee. He didn't have a clue that this was the same guy Justin had once talked about being in love with.

Still, he couldn't help the bitter, jealous thoughts that were preying on his mind at the moment.

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Emmett looked up from the booth in the diner as Brian walked in. He could immediately tell that the man was in no better a mood today than he had been last night. Glancing at Ted, he warned in a sotto voice, "Somebody doesn't look to happy this morning."

Ted grimaced as Brian slid into the booth next to him. Michael, unaware of what had transpired the previous night, perked up on seeing that Brian was alone.

Ignoring Michael's cheerful greeting, Brian eyes bored into Emmett. "Tell me what you know. And don't leave out anything."

Michael looked from Emmett to Brian, perplexed. "What's going on? Know about what?"

When Emmett seemed hesitant to respond, Brian turned toward Ted. "Theodore?"

There was no way Ted could stand up to those flashing hazel eyes. "He just showed up out of nowhere, Brian. Honest, we had no idea he'd be there."

Turning back to Emmett, who always had the scoop on the goings on in the area, Brian prompted again. "Emmett?"

Deb bustled up at that moment, preparing to take the boys orders. Looking around, she could see the tension between the men at the table. "What the fuck is wrong with you guys this morning? Brian, what are you doing to poor Ted and Emmett?"

"Just attempting to obtain a straight answer as to what a certain former acquaintance of ours is doing in the area." Brian patiently explained, which actually explained nothing.

Of course, Ted had to elaborate. "We saw Justin last night at Babylon."

Deb hmped, "Well, that's easy enough. He's probably here for his mom's wedding. Glad to hear he decided to show up. Jen was afraid he'd blow her off again." Deb noticed that someone was missing. "So where's Bright Eyes this morning? Didn't wear him out last night, did you?"

Brian gave the women a pained look, "He had other plans." He said simply.

Michael was starting to get an idea of what had happened. "You mean, Justin showed up at Babylon while you were there with that twink?"

Ted jumped in again, "Yes, although only Brian knows what happened between him and Justin in the backroom."

Michael looked at Brian in shock, "You took Justin to the backroom? Does he even know who you are?"

"Justin was already in the backroom." Brian stated.

Ted interjected, ignoring Emmett's warning glare. "He seemed to know Brian, although he didn't remember us. Doesn't explain why he came running back out from the backroom though. Or why he left in such a hurry."

"Where was the boytoy during all this?" Michael asked.

Emmett sighed, "He was on the dance floor. I don't think he even knew anything was going on."

"Don't count on that." Michael sneered, "He and Justin are probably off comparing notes right now."

Brian narrowed his eyes as he looked at Michael. "What are you talking about?"

Michael feigned innocence, which he wasn't very good at. "Well, doesn't it strike you as strange that they were both on the cruise, yet you never saw them together. And here they are again in the same place at the same time."

Brian didn't like where this was going. "If you know something, Michael, then spit it out. Otherwise, I'm not sitting here listening to innuendoes."

Michael lost all pretense of innocence at that point. "Fuck, Brian! Who do you think Justin took off with a year ago? They've been living together ever since." Michael decided it was time to open his friend's eyes. "That Tee just loves a good scam or bet. Look at what he did to his cousin on the cruise. Just makes me wonder what they've been plotting to pull on you. Or maybe he's trying to get one over on Justin for losing that contest they had."

Brian felt as if the bottom had dropped out. Michael couldn't be right. He couldn't have misjudged the kid that badly. But it all made sense. It couldn't be just a coincidence. Without a word, Brian stood and left.

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Justin was still lying in bed when he heard the doorbell sound, wondering who would be showing up so early. Glancing at the clock, he realized that it wasn't really all that early at all. In fact, it was more like mid-morning.

He started at the sound of raised voices coming from downstairs. A moment later, Molly slipped into the room, her eyes frightened. "It's Mom and Dad." She whispered. "Dad doesn't want me to spend the summer with you." Tears threatened to overflow any moment.

Justin wrapped his arms around his little sister, trying to comfort her. "Stay here." Justin told Molly as he quickly dressed and headed down the stairs.

"I won't have my daughter staying with that deviant son of yours." Justin heard Craig's voice before he saw him and winced.

"In case you have forgotten, I have custody of Molly, not you. You've had your two weeks of summer with her. Where I choose to let her spend the remainder of the summer is not your decision, nor is it up for discussion." Jennifer's voice was tight but controlled. Justin felt a glimmer of admiration for his mother. This was the first time he'd seen her stand up to his father.

"I'll take this to court if I have to, Jen. You'll lose custody unless you listen to reason." Craig ranted.

"Do whatever you feel is best, Craig. But Molly will be leaving with her brother at the end of the week, and that is final. Now if you'll excuse me. I have things to do today and need to get ready. You can show yourself out." With that, Jennifer brushed past her ex-husband and headed up the stairs. As she passed Justin, she gave him a reassuring smile.

Upon seeing Justin, Craig bridled again. Once sure that Jennifer was out of earshot, he launched into a new attack. "If you think you can just waltz in here and corrupt an innocent young girl with your deviant lifestyle, think again. I'll have both you and your mother in court and trust me, no judge in his right mind would award custody to a women who leaves her teenage daughter with a flaming fag while she's out of the country on vacation."

Craig headed for the door, opened it and stepped back, his face suddenly pale. Tee was standing on the front porch, hand raised as if about to knock. Taking in the scene before him, Tee decided that he had picked the exact worst moment to return to Jennifer's house. Well, there was no escaping now.

Craig's face began turning red with outrage as Tee entered the room and walked over to Justin. "What the hell are you doing here?" He demanded.

Justin had recovered somewhat from his father's previous onslot. "He's here because I want him here. We've been living together for the past year, or weren't you aware of that little fact?"

Craig narrowed his eyes as he absorbed this bit of information. Then he laughed cruelly, "And I thought your aberration was limited to sex with pedophiles. I didn't realize you were into incest as well. I'm sure the judge will find that piece of information quite interesting."

Tee's eyes hardened as he felt Justin stiffen, "There is nothing aberrant about two brothers living together, *Father*." Tee spat out. "But just imagine what people would think if they knew you knocked up my mother while your wife was pregnant with your first child."

Craig's mouth twisted into a sneer, "Well, they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." He gave a bitter laugh. "And where is dear little Daphne these days, Justin?"

Tee could see Justin turn pale and knew that comment had struck hard. He couldn't let Craig rattle Justin like that. "At least Justin was willing to do the right thing, not just pay for an abortion and be done with it. It's not his fault that Daphne ran off. She couldn't take any more of *your* manipulations."

Craig's eyes narrowed, "At least I'm a normal, straight man. Not some faggot who can't make up his mind."

Tee laughed at that statement, "It must really gall you that you have not one, but two gays sons. I wonder what that says about you, daddy dear."

Molly, who had been listening from the top of the stairs, couldn't take the attacks on her brothers any longer. Running down the steps and into the living room, she confronted her father. "Stop this! They're my brothers and you can't talk to them like this."

"I'll talk to them any way I damn well please." Craig shouted. Then something occurred to him. "This is all your fault, you little brat. If you had stayed out of this, *he* wouldn't be here right now." Craig pointed at Tee as he said this.

"If I had stayed out of this, you'd have left him for dead at the bottom of the stairs!" Molly was outraged at her father's callousness. "You're nothing but a heartless asshole."

Molly reared back in shock as her father's hand connected with the side of her face. "Don't talk to me like that, child."

Craig suddenly found himself facing two irate, teenage boys with homicide in their eyes. "Get out." Justin's voice was deadly soft.

Craig looked from one set of blue eyes to the other, realizing that he'd screwed up badly in striking his daughter. With a snort of disgust, he headed for the door. With one final, backward glance at his children, he said, "This isn't over yet." Then he was gone.

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When Jennifer returned downstairs, she found Justin and Molly sitting on the couch, Molly crying into Justin's shoulder while he tried to comfort her. Tee was standing off to one side, staring at the floor.

"Would someone like to tell me what happened here?" Jennifer wished she hadn't been in such a hurry to escape her ex-husband by taking a shower. Something had obviously happened after she left.

Molly looked up when she heard her mom's voice. Jennifer took one look at the red mark on her daughter's face and hurried to her side. "Molly! What happened? Who did this to you?"

Justin snorted, "One guess, Mom."

Jennifer just shook her head, pulling Molly into her arms. No matter what he'd done in the past, she would never had believed that Craig would hurt Molly. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry." She continued to murmur soft, meaningless phrases, trying to calm the girl down then gently pulled Molly to her feet and began leading her upstairs.

Once they were out of the room, Justin looked over at Tee. Tee felt Justin eye's on him and looked up.

"I'm sorry, Jus. I know I should have kept my mouth shut. Or I should have just left when I saw he was here." Tee was blaming himself for what had happened. If he had been just a few minutes later, none of this would have happened.

Justin knew it wasn't Tee's fault. He really did. But he needed someone to blame. And the someone who really needed to be blamed wasn't here. But Tee was and Justin was already rather ambivalent about him this morning anyway. "Yeah, you should have." Was all he said.

Tee blanched. It was one thing to blame himself. It was something else to have Justin do the same.

Once again, Justin's mouth shifted into gear before his brain engaged. "I think we're going to have to tell Mom the truth now, not later…it might be best if you weren't here when we do."

Tee nodded his head, not really understanding, but not wanting to cause anymore trouble.

Thinking of the trouble his father could cause, Justin continued, "Maybe it would be best if you stayed away until it's time to go back."

Tee felt as if someone had sucker punched him. He wasn't going to let Justin see how much that had hurt though. "I'll get my stuff together." Was all he said.

Justin watched as Tee headed out the front door, his bag in hand. He knew he should say something, he just didn't know what to say. It wouldn't be until much later that he would realize just how hurtful those few words had sounded.

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Brian was working his way through a fifth of Beam, his thoughts in turmoil. What did Justin remember about him? How much did Tee know? Why had he deliberately wormed his way into Brian's confidence? Both of them had. Made him care about them. This is why he didn't do relationships. This is why love was bullshit. You start to care then find out its all lies or some homophobe with a bat comes along.

Brian paused in his internal rant, hearing a knocking at the door. Answering it, he found Tee standing on the other side. "Well, what a surprise. Returning to finish what you started, I suppose."

Tee could see that Brian was well on his way to becoming drunk. He knew that Brian had been upset about something last night, but he had never seen his friend like this before. He proceeded cautiously. "What do you mean?"

Brian took another swig from his bottle, then slowly began walking toward Tee, until he had the younger man backed against the wall. "Everything is a game to you, isn't it? What was the game this time? What were the stakes?"

Tee shook his head, not understanding. "There's no game, Brian."

Brian turned and threw the bottle he was holding against the far wall. Tee flinched as it shattered, shards of glass flying everywhere. "You're right. The game's over. You lose." Brian opened the door and shoved the startled boy out the door. "Don't bother coming back." The door slammed in Tee's face.

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Tee sat in his car, wondering what had just happened. He had no idea what had set Brian off. What he might have done. But Brian had made it quite clear he didn't want him coming back. And, thanks to him, Molly had been hurt. Justin had made it clear that Tee wasn't welcome there either.

Tee decided there was only one thing to do; it was time to go home.

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Author's note: OK, I know there was more than just the original 'what if' in this one. If this story turns out well, then I may go back and explore those a bit more, especially the one about D. For those of you who think this is the most frustrating story ever, YEA! I love to keep people guessing. But I will give you a slight heads up. The next chapter is called "Confrontations" where Justin and Brian will confront each other about what's been going on. Don't expect them to make up anytime soon, but they will at least start talking to each other (or yelling, as the case may be).

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