I Will Remember You

Chapter 16

~ Brian Makes Amends ~

Pittsburgh, a few days before Thanksgiving

It was nearly Thanksgiving as Deb frantically cruised the isles of the local grocery store, getting those last minute items that she had wanted to get fresh or just now realized she was out of.

As she headed down the fresh fruits and vegetables isle, she mentally checked off her list of things left to fix. Lindsay and Mel, along with sweet little Gus who was now two, were bringing a green bean casserole and salad. She would need some potatoes to mash however and some fresh yams. None of that canned stuff for her family. Oh, and some tomatoes and sweet peppers to roast.

As she sailed past the organic vegetables, she wondered what she should prepare for Michael's new health nut boyfriend, Ben. Maybe if she put some tofu in her sweet potato casserole, he would consider that healthy.

At least she wouldn't have to worry about Justin. She had never had a problem with that one's appetite although she wasn't so sure about Molly. Teenage girls could get rather picky about their figures.

Deb was glad that Justin had agreed to move back to the Pitts and stay with his sister, although she and Jennifer had both been disappointed when he hadn't returned to school immediately. Instead, he had decided to take the year off and had gotten a job at the Children's Museum to save for school. He had applied to PIFA for the upcoming year though, so that had been a relief.

Looking over the items in the dairy isle, Deb passed by the cheeses. Plenty of those already at home. Stopping at the butter, she picked up a couple of pounds. She had been sure she had a least a pound at home, but when she'd started to make some cookies for the upcoming holidays, she could only find half a stick. She would have to have a talk with Vic and Emmett, fairly sure that *her* butter had found it's way into something they were making for their catering business. However, she was expecting some of those tasty desserts and appetizers to make an appearance at her house in a few days.

It seemed such a shame that just as Emmett's business was picking up, his poor partner Teddy had lost his. At first, those two had seemed such an unlikely couple, but they seemed to getting closer all the time. If only Teddy could find a job, but who wanted to hire someone who had been arrested for running an illegal porn website? Well, they'd both be there on Thursday and Ted was bringing the wine, so she wouldn't have to worry about that.

The bird was already roosting in the fridge at home. Everything else seemed to be covered as well… opps, almost forgot the cranberries. What was Thanksgiving without cranberries? As she headed back toward that isle, Deb wonder if her last lost boy would be making an appearance this year. Even though he'd moved back to the Pitts a month ago, Brian hadn't been around all that much although she had heard that Gus was spending more time with his father these days. 'Bout time that boy took an interest in something besides getting his dick sucked! She had heard that his new business, Kinnetic, was taking off. Deb had no doubt that her boy would give those New Yorkers a run for their money.

Deb determined that she had everything she needed and headed for the checkout counter. Only a few days 'til the family descended on her house for their Thanksgiving feast.

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Justin stopped by the Micheal's comic book shop on his way home from work. He and Michael had been working on an idea for a new comic book, called Rage, and he wanted to drop off the latest set of drawings he'd done. The ideas for the first issue had been mostly ironed out by this point. JT and Zephyr were set. However, Justin had been having trouble with Rage's look. He had finally come up with what he felt was the perfect Rage. He just hoped nobody else noticed the similarity between Rage and Brian.

Ben was hanging out at the shop as well, waiting for Michael to take a dinner break. Justin wondered how mousy little Michael had ended up with a hunk like Ben. Go figure.

Ben looked up from the book he was reading, "Hey, Justin. How's the comic book coming?"

Michael came walking in from the back, "Got those prints done? How's Rage look?" Michael was anxiously waiting to see their baby in print.

Justin pulled the sketches out and laid them on the counter. "I think I finally have a Rage we can agree on."

Michael looked over the artwork with growing excitement. "This is perfect, Justin!" He flipped through the remaining pictures. "All we need now is to put it all together and send it off to the printer's"

Justin nodded. "Well, if you're ok with these, I'll print out the finished copy tonight and drop it off tomorrow after work."

"Great!" Michael enthused. "And don't forget about Thursday. Mom's expecting everyone to be there, including you and Molly."

Justin gathered up his sketches and grinned, "Don't worry. I know better than turn down one of Deb's special invitations. And I think Molly's is looking forward to spending the entire day with a bunch of gay men." He rolled his eyes as Ben laughed. "I swear, she's going to be as bad a Deb one day."

Michael gasped in mock horror, "I feel for you then."

Justin headed out the door with a backward wave, "See ya."

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Brian sat back in his new chair at his new desk in his new office, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers as he felt a headache coming on. Whose brilliant idea had it been to hire that incompetent Art Director, Mixon? Oh, that's right, that would be him… Well, first thing tomorrow, he'd have Cynthia start looking for someone new. This guy may have the credentials, but he had the imagination of a potted plant.

While she was at it, she could look for someone else to handling the accounting as well. Those idiots at the agency he'd hired had screwed up for the last time. Actually, it only took once. Brian didn't suffer fools. He'd just find someone else that he could trust to do the job properly and on time.

Leaning back and taking a deep breath, Brian tried to relax. Running his own business was proving to be a challenge, but now that he had a taste, there's no way he'd go back to working for someone else. He knew people wondered why he'd come back to the Pitts to start Kinnetic. After a lot of thought, he decided that he could work just as easily from either place.

However, he realized that if he wanted to be a father to Gus, he would need to be more accessible. NY just wouldn't cut it. Also, Cynthia had been in the Pitts and had agreed to come back to work for him. Brian had to admit that he had missed her, although he'd never tell her that. And then he had friends here, which he had not bothered to cultivate while in NY. And last, but not least, there was a certain blond twink who had recently moved back as well. Even though Brian had yet to see him, the thought was never far from his mind.

Unfortunately, the dark-haired twink had disappeared. Apparently, even his family no longer knew where he was, or at least, they weren't saying. The boy was still writing his 'Angel' fanfics under the same pen name though, so at least Brian knew he was ok. Since leaving Carolina, the kid had started ending all his stories with Angel thinking, 'Now it was time to go home. Back to Tal West. Back where he belonged.' Even though the stories were not 'slash', he found it odd that Angel always returned to the what was apparently Tee's alter ego. He had a vague memory of seeing 'TWJ' on the kid's backpack and wondered if West was really his middle name? Well, enough of that.

Brian glanced over at his calendar. Only two days until Thanksgiving. The whole gang would be at Deb's, including Gus… and Justin. Only two more days, then he would try to set things right with at least one of the people he had wronged.

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It was the day before Thanksgiving and Brian was feeling a little apprehensive about the dinner tomorrow (not that you would ever know that by looking at him). He decided to stop by the comic book shop and see if Michael wanted to go out for a while. Since Michael had started dating the professor, he had mellowed quite a bit toward Brian, much to Brian's relief. He actually found himself liking his old friend again, now that Mikey wasn't trying to be so overprotective all the time. Ben was definitely a good influence on Michael.

The bell above the door chimed as Brian walked through. Ben was sitting in his usual spot in the corner, reading a book (non-comic variety). Upon hearing the bell, Michael came walking out from the back. He brightened upon seeing Brian, who had not had a lot of time to visit since starting his own business. "Hey, Brian. What brings you out this way?"

Brian smiled slightly, "I was wondering if you and the professor had plans for dinner tonight. Caruso's? My treat."

Ben looked up and smiled at the unspoken question in Michael's eyes. "It's fine with me. Are we celebrating something?"

Brian shrugged, "No, just glad to get out of the office for awhile. I have from now until Friday morning to forget about incompetent accountants and unimaginative art directors and I plan put my time to good use."

Then Michael remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot. Justin is supposed to be coming by to drop off the finished copy of Rage. Do you mind waiting a bit?" Michael looked at his friend apologetically. "He should be getting off soon." He added.

Brian had a sudden interest in sticking around, although he hid it well, "Not at all. We can't keep the eagerly awaiting, but as yet unknown, fans of Gayopolis waiting for it's newest hero."

Michael grinned. He'd shown Brian the rough-cuts of the comic book the last time he'd come by. Of course, Michael had shown them to anyone who would stand still long enough; he was so excited about the project.

The bell sounded again and the subject of their recent conversation walked in. Justin paused when he saw Brian. He hadn't actually seen or talked to him since their encounter at the hotel several months ago. Deciding to just drop the comic off and leave, he headed for the counter without acknowledging Brian'' presence.

"Here Michael. The finished product, as promised. Although, I don't know why I bothered with it today. It'll be Friday before the printer will be available."

Michael nodded, "This will give me one final chance to look it over, just in case." Justin knew how much Michael wanted this to be perfect, so took no offense at his apparent lack of faith.

Brian walked over and picked up the comic, "Let's see what you have here, Sunshine." Justin had never understood that nickname or where it came from, but it seemed to be routinely used among his friends.

Flipping open the comic and quickly perusing it, Brian had to admit he was impressed. He'd already read the story, but had only seen rough sketches up 'til now. "This is very good, gentlemen. I think your adoring fans will be dazzled."

Michael beamed. Justin wasn't sure what to make of it. He looked hard at Brian for some sign of sarcasm, but found none. Ben walked over and looked over Brian's shoulder.

"This is good, guys. I think with the right publicity, this could be a major seller among the comic book genre." Ben stated. "You should be proud of yourselves for seeing this through."

Brian sensed a break. Just what he needed to make things up to Justin. With a smile, he turned to Mikey, "Speaking of publicity, I happen to know of a certain up and coming ad agency that might be able to help with that." Then glancing over at Justin, he added. "We were just going out to dinner. Why don't you join us and we can discuss this a bit further."

Justin was tempted to decline. He didn't really relish the idea of spending the evening with Brian. Molly was spending the night at a friend's house, so he couldn't use that as an excuse. And if Brian were willing to help out with Rage, it wouldn't be fair to Michael for him to not even hear the man out. Knowing he'd probably regret this, Justin grudgingly agreed.

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Much to his surprise, Justin found that he was actually enjoying dinner. Brian had a subtle, understated humor that Justin found he liked. Although if something he didn't want to discuss came up, he could be quite cutting. Overall, Justin found he liked Brian which made denying the attraction he felt for the older man that much harder. It had been much easier when he could just think of Brian as an asshole.

Whereas, Michael and Justin had only thought to distribute their comic on a local level to begin with, Brian had suggested a plan of action for publicizing on a national level. He'd offered to take care of the advertising for a small percentage of the net sales. That had sounded fair to the other two men. Justin had wondered at Brian's motivation, but had put it down to his being such good friends with Michael. It never once entered his mind that Brian's offer had anything to do with him.

The four men were lingering over coffee when Justin's cell phone began to vibrate. He glanced down at it, not intending to answer unless it was Molly, but the caller ID troubled him, so with an 'excuse me' to the others, he answered it.

From the corner of his eye, Brian watched Justin answer the phone. At first, the young man appeared slightly aggravated, then concerned and finally he turned pale and slowly lowered the phone toward the table. Brian could still hear someone on the other end talking, although Justin no longer seemed to notice.

Concerned, Brian gently took the phone from Justin's unresisting hand and identified himself to whoever was on the other end. Michael and Ben realized that something must be up and sat quietly as Brian talked and made notes on a piece of paper that he had been using to jot ideas down on earlier. With a heavy sigh, he turned the phone off and laid it on the table in front of Justin.

Seeing the distance stare on the younger man's face and the concerned looks on Ben's and Michael's, he decided to answer the latter's questions first. "It seems that Tee totaled his car in Speedway, Indiana. That was the police department asking if … if someone could come and identify the body." He glanced at Justin as he softly said the last part and saw him wince. "It seems that Justin's name was on the registration and Tee had his cell phone listed on a card in the glove box."

Putting one hand on the younger man's shoulder, Brian tried to get Justin's attention. He could see the tears that Justin was fighting back as the man turned toward him, a bewildered look on his face. "Justin? You don't have to do this. I can call his Uncle Rick to take care of it."

Justin shook his head. "No…no, I have to…I owe him that much."

Brian nodded, formulating a path forward. His first priority was to get Justin out of here before the young man broke down. "Why don't I take you home and we'll see what we can do about getting you there."

Ben asked if there was anything they could do and Justin asked if they could take care of Molly for him until he got back. He also asked that they not say anything to her. He would tell her himself when he returned. He'd have to call her later to let her know he'd be gone and he'd come up with something to tell her then.

Once they arrived at Jennifer's, Brian said he'd look into flights and suggested Justin go upstairs and pack a bag. That should give the boy a little time to himself before anything needed to be done. When Justin returned downstairs, he learned that there were no flights until the next afternoon. Seeing how agitated Justin was at this news, Brian suggested that the drive was only six hours. If they left tonight, they could be there by morning.

Justin had been surprised when Brian had suggested that 'they' drive down. When he questioned it, Brian had just said that Justin wasn't in any shape to drive himself. And so, after a quick stop by Brian's to pack a bag for him, they had headed to Indiana.

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It was the night before Thanksgiving and Tee found himself with a four-day weekend, an unusual occurrence since he'd started his new job. He and Paul had been having a great time getting high back in at Tee's apartment, and now they were planning to head out clubbing. Tee stumbled through the parking lot, not seeing his car where he thought he'd left it.

Damn! When was the last time he'd driven it anyway? Had it been Monday? No, that's right…it was Sunday. He always took the bus to work because it was so hard finding parking.

He felt a pair of arms goes around him and Paul began nuzzling his neck. "My car's over that way. Why don't we take it?"

Groaning as Paul ran his hands over the front of his jeans, Tee nodded, forgetting all about the car and where he might have left it this time. It would be Saturday before he'd become sober enough to figure out that the car was missing.

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