If It Made Sense, It Wouldn't Be a Mystery, Would It?

Chapter 22

POV: LINDSAY

As the door slides open, I sense something's off. Brian's at the counter sipping his coffee, seemingly shaken and looking off into space. And Justin looks like he just heard his dog died.

"Hi, guys…" I say tentatively. "What's up?" As soon as Gus sees Brian, he leans over, arms outstretched. "Daddee!!!" I hoist him higher on my hip. "Gus, shh…"

Brian blinks and looks over. "Hey, Sonny Boy! You can put him down, Linds. The floor's clean." He pauses a split second. "For the moment, anyway."

It occurs to me just how much Brian sacrificed to defeat Stockwell. And, well. Throw in the cleaning service, I think to myself.

I lower Gus to the floor and he wobbles over to Brian. "You walk a little like me," he comments. "Only better." He reaches out to cup the boy's chin and leans down to give him a kiss. "Can't pick you up though. Gotta heal first."

"Up! Up!" Gus insists, clawing at Brian's legs. Brian carefully maneuvers so that Gus can't reach where he was hurt.

"Sorry, kid. But Justin'll pick you up." Justin glances over and seems to be biting back some sort of emotion. But he walks over and picks Gus up and puts him on his shoulders, straddling his neck. Gus giggles in rapture at his vantage point and claps his hands.

"Jusssin!" He squeals.

"That's me!" He says, smiling, gripping both of the toddler's hands and walking around to face Brian and I.

Still, Justin is simply not happy about something.

"Did I come at a bad time?" I ask in a low voice as Gus continues giggling and babbling.

Brian is rubbing his temples like he does when he's got one of his headaches. "No. It's fine. We just had a long night. As you know, Mikey showed up."

Uh huh. Justin had told me on the phone that Michael had finally appeared. Justin had sounded fine then. "Yeah. But that's good news, isn't it?"

Brian pauses and glances at me. "Yeah." He says simply, not responding to the implicit question of 'so why the fucking tension?'

After a moment of silence, interrupted only by Gus' incessant chatter, I decide I'm not going to learn much of anything right now.

"Okay, well…" I pause. "Shall we go?"

"You want some coffee first?" Brian asks. I glance at him. Is he stalling for some reason? I see Justin give Brian a look. I can't read it.

"Oh. Um, yeah, sure. Only like a half cup or so, though," I say, tossing the baby bag by the counter and my purse on a stool.

"Gus, honey, grab my head." Justin says as he walks behind the counter towards the coffeemaker. Gus complies, giggling with the walking motion. He nearly covers Justin's eyes and when Justin turns around to hand me a cup, Brian laughs. Justin's longish hair is all in his eyes, gripped there by two chubby little hands. I snicker too.

"See okay in there?" Brian asks. At that moment, the tension magically dissipates and Justin breaks out into a smile.

"Well, actually…" He says, hesitantly.

After I accept the mug, he reaches up to lift Gus' hands from his face. But Gus has a firm grip on his hair. Brian's still chuckling.

"Um, Gus…?" Justin says. Gus sees Brian laughing lightly and has started squealing with delight, not hearing Justin at all. "Gus?"

I reach over to help out. "Gus, lambskin- honey, let go of Justin's hair," I coax. His eyes on Brian, he's oblivious and has started an all-out laughing fit and gives Justin's hair a sudden hard yank in his glee.

"OUCH!" Justin complains. Brian's full on laughing now. "Shut up, Brian! You're not helping!" He grumbles- but he's smiling. "I'd really rather you didn't share a special father - son moment at my expense, you know…"

I quickly reach up and lift Gus off of Justin's shoulders, Justin simultaneously prying his fists open to release his hair. I put Gus on the floor and he shrieks with laughter, crawling rapidly around the counter towards his father. He still crawls when he's in a hurry. And he's definitely in a hurry. He stands up unsteadily and leans against Brian. "Up! Up!"

Brian, chuckling, catches him in his right arm and lifts him onto his good leg. "You win, Sonny Boy! Up it is. Just be careful, 'kay?" Gus seems to understand, quits squirming and simply plants a slobbery kiss on his Dad's face. I lean over and wipe off the spit since Brian's good arm is busy keeping Gus on his lap. "Thanks, Linds."

Justin is raking his fingers through his hair, trying to un-muss it or re-muss it, I don't know what. Then he looks affectionately at Brian and Gus. "Geez, boy, you have a grip to ya!" He says.

Brian gives him a look. "Which Kinney you talkin' to?"

"Gus," he says, exaggerating, "YOU have quite a grip. I've practically got two bald spots now!"

"Ball spots!" Gus mimics, giggling.

Brian cocks an eyebrow. "I love ball spots." He smirks. I just roll my eyes. Justin laughs.

"Okay. So…" I kinda want to say, 'whatever the fuck was going on before I got here is over now, so let's go!' But- I decide against it; "Let's go! I have a date with Mel."

Brian makes a face. "Smelly Melly. Ugh." He grabs his jacket and the cell phone from the counter.

I ignore him.

"She made it past her first trimester." I say proudly, handing Justin my keys.

"We know, we know. Gawd, I still can't believe Mikey's sperm and Smelly Melly's egg…" he just shudders, saying no more.

I frown at him. "I know you and Mel have your problems, but the baby will be your son's sibling!" Ass.

"Although, thankfully, unrelated to him." He's standing now, still holding Gus. He gives the child a kiss on his forehead.

"Daddeee!" Gus says happily.

"It'll probably be a girl." He snorts.

"And what is wrong with girls?" I demand.

"You have to ask?" He says. "You're probably the only girl I like."

I soften a little at that, despite myself. "Woman," I correct, "AND: I frankly LOVE girls. Women. And don't forget that you like Debbie, too."

Justin has been watching this little exchange like he was watching a tennis match. "Let's go." He says, suddenly. Brian nods and motions for me to take Gus. As I lift him from his father, he starts to protest, clutching and pulling at him.

"What is with him today?" I say out loud.

"He loves his Dad." Justin interjects. "Here, Brian, let me…" Then, simply: "Here." He's holding out Brian's jacket for him to put it on.

"Is it cold out?" He quickly asks me.

"Yeah. It's about 30 degrees. And be aware that the Cavalier overheats in this weather."

"Overheats?" Brian says quizzically, agreeably pulling on his coat with Justin's assistance. "Have you checked if the thermostat needs to be replaced?"

"Yes. They replaced it twice. It's not the thermostat. They don't know what the hell it is. But keep an eye on the temp- if it starts climbing, rev the engine hard. They fashioned some kind of fan thing that will help everything cool, and revving it turns it on. And put on the heat, high, using the air conditioning settings." I say. "More fans."

"Jesus, Linds. Aren't you the little Ms. Bandaid…" Brian mutters, grasping the crutches and pulling them under his arms. "And you drove my son over here in that heap?"

"Brian!" Justin admonishes.

"Yes. Because I'm doing you a favor, remember?" I say. Ass.

"Let's just go."

We go.

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