Blended

Chapter 3

Brian was looking at the blueprints for the building. Roger, the owner, was very fond of Brian and had gladly handed them over. Junior was on the bed sound asleep. "Some of us cannot sleep the day away," Brian told his daughter as he got up off the bed. He took a shower and got dressed.

Brian picked his daughter up off the bed and put her jacket on. He sat Junior in her car seat and pressed the lock into place, waiting for the click. The click did not come and Brian was getting irritated. Junior looked up at him with wide eyes. He pressed once more before realizing that the belt was backwards. He turned it around and it easily clicked into place.

He grabbed the plans and her diaper bag and headed out the door.

********

"It's doable, but it'll cost ya," Hank said as he looked at the blueprints that Brian had given to him. Brian sat on the stool across the table from Hank, holding Junior and her bottle with one hand as he pointed to the blueprints with the other.

"I don't care," Brian told his old friend. "I just want it done… and fast." Hank nodded and looked back at the prints.

"When would you want to start?" Hank asked. Brian took the bottle out of his daughter's mouth and burped her. Hank's eyes traveled to the small baby and back up to Brian's. Brian was too busy thinking to notice Hank looking at him.

"Does Monday work for you?" Brian asked. Hank got up and walked to his desk. He looked in his appointment book and then back at Brian.

"Yeah, we can start first thing," Hank said. Brian nodded and got up. Hank rolled up the blueprints and put them in a cardboard tube. Brian looked over at the man. "We'll need them when we start. Don't worry. We'll take care of all the permits and things." Brian shook Hank's hand and left the office.

Hank went to work. He got together the team he would use and all the equipment he would need. Brian had not chosen him lightly. Hank was known for being thorough, a quality that Brian greatly admired.

Brian stepped out of the construction offices of Hank Patrick and slipped his shades on. Junior was in the bend of his one arm, looking out at the world. Brian stepped away from the door and headed toward the SUV. "Okay, you are all strapped in," Brian said as he placed his daughter in her seat.

Junior smiled, her big hazel eyes looking up at him, the thin layer of dirty blond curls slowly forming on her head. "Let's go see daddy," Brian said as he got in the car and backed out of the parking space.

********

"Hey Sunshine," Brian said as he walked up behind Justin.

Justin jumped and almost ran into the wall. "Fuck, you scared the shit out of me. What are you doing here?" Justin asked as Brian leaned forward and kissed him.

"Mmm, we missed you. So, since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to come and see how daddy is doing at his big new important job," Brian said as he held Junior up in front of Justin's face.

Justin took his daughter and kissed her cheeks. "Hello baby girl, does dad have you out in all the cold weather?" Justin asked as he looked over at Brian.

Brian simply shrugged. "We live in Pittsburgh, she better get used to it." Justin hit him in the arm. Brian just smirked.

"So, what were you <i>really</i> doing down here?" Justin asked as they started to walk back toward Justin's office. Brian held onto the diaper bag to keep it from swinging into any expensive pieces of art. Justin opened his office door and Brian walked in behind him.

Justin sat down behind his desk and Brian sat in the chair across from him. "I went to see Hank," Brian said. Justin looked up from his daughter and stared at Brian.

"For what?" Justin asked. Junior was looking at him and smiling. Justin looked down at his daughter in his arms and then back at Brian.

"He is going to renovate the loft," Brian said. Justin looked at him, still saying nothing.

"What?" Brian asked.

Justin shifted Junior in his arms and looked at his husband. "Wait, when did we decide that we were going to get the loft renovated?" Justin asked.

Brian sat back a little. "Last night, after we fucked," Brian said, smirk firmly in place. Justin was not amused.

"No, I remember us talking about getting a bigger place. I remember you saying that you wanted to renovate and I remember me saying that we should look at all the options before making a decision. The key word there being 'WE,'" Justin said. Junior heard the rise in tones from her daddy and started to wail. Justin propped her up on his shoulder and tried to soothe her.

"Look, we are tripping over each other in the loft. We need a bigger space, so I fixed the problem. What the fuck is the big deal?" Brian asked. Justin moved slowly back and forth, but Junior would not be deterred.

"The big deal is that we should have made the decision together," Justin said as he looked at Brian. Brian sighed and got up out of the chair. He walked over to Justin and took Junior from him. Justin didn't say anything, he just watched Brian as he got ready to leave.

Brian walked to the door and turned back to Justin. Nine years together, four of them married, and Brian still did shit to land himself in hot water. "Will you just look at the plans that I have? If you don't like them we'll look for something else, okay?" Brian asked.

Justin sighed and nodded. He could deal with that. "Okay, but if I hate it we look for something else, no arguments, deal?"

Brian smirked, his tongue pressed into his cheek. "Deal," Brian said as he left the office.

********

"Well?" Brian asked as Justin looked at the prints. Justin looked down at the plans for the renovation of the loft and he had to admit that he liked the new layout very much. He flipped the top page back down and looked at it again.

"I like it. I cannot believe that you bought the downstairs loft," Justin said. Brian smiled at him.

"No, we bought the downstairs loft. Come on," Brian said. He grabbed Justin's hand and pulled Justin away from the table. Justin paused long enough to grab Junior, complete with her bouncing chair, off the table. He followed Brian out of the loft.

"Where are we going?" Justin asked. Brian led him out into the foyer. Justin just stood there. Brian loved architecture and Justin smiled as Brian talked in detail about what was going to happen.

"These steps are going to be what connects the two levels," Brian said. Justin nodded and walked down behind Brian. Brian pulled the keys to the downstairs loft out of his pocket and opened the door.

"Holy shit, it's huge," Justin said as he walked inside. Brian slid the door closed and Justin placed Junior on the counter. "It's disgusting in here. When was the last time someone lived here?" Justin asked.

"It's been about a year, I think," Brian answered.

"Don't you think that's a little sad?" Justin asked as he opened some of the cabinets and looked inside.

Brian answered as he walked up into the bedroom. "What?"

"That we don't know our neighbors," Justin said. Brian was looking in the closet and Justin left Junior on the counter and walked up the other steps and into the bathroom. Brian walked into the bathroom behind Justin and shrugged as he looked around and took some pictures.

"They don't fuck with us, we don't fuck with them," Brian said. Justin walked out of the bathroom and looked at the bedroom.

"It is almost just like the loft upstairs."

"Yeah," Brian answered. "I knew you'd like it."

Brian smiled at the blond next to him. "I knew you'd like it," he said.

"Yeah, well, you still should have talked to me about it." They made their way back toward the door and Brian stopped to pick up Junior.

********

"Are you really nervous about tomorrow?" Daphne asked Justin as they sat on the sofa in her apartment.

"Yeah," Justin told her. "I never thought I would have to put her in daycare."

"Yeah, who would have thought that your mom was going to go back to work?" Daphne said sarcastically.

"Not me, that's for sure."

Daphne looked over at Junior, playing on the floor. "She'll be fine you know," Daphne said. Justin smiled at his best friend and Daphne placed her head on his shoulder. Her hair was long and straight. Justin could not resist pulling on a strand of it. "She is so big," Daphne said.

"Yeah, it feels like it was yesterday that she was two months old." Justin watched his daughter as she crawled over and picked up a toy off the floor. "Now she is nine months old. Where did the time go?" Justin asked.

"I have no idea," Daphne said as her son ran up to her and gave her a toy.

"You hold it mommy," he said. Daphne took the toy from her three year old son and smiled.

"Thank you," Daphne said to him as he went back to play with Junior.

"I cannot believe you named him Damien," Justin said as he looked at the two kids playing. "That's the name of the evil little boy, you know that right?"

"Your daughter's name is Junior. Do I really need to say more?" Daphne asked.

"Nope," Justin said. Daphne sat up and took a drink of her water.

The two friends talked for hours, cherishing the time they were spending together. Junior and Damien were sleeping soundly on the blanket on the floor. Justin reached forward and grabbed his juice. "Cedric called me yesterday," Daphne said out of the blue.

Justin stopped drinking, the bottle still touching his lips. "What did he want?" Justin asked. Daphne sat up and ran a hand over her hair.

"He wants to see Damien. But he hasn't been to see him in months. I don't want Cedric to get his hopes up and then disappear again," Daphne said as she flopped back and turned her head to look at Justin.

"He is his father. Damien will see what a piece of shit he is all on his own. Plus, you always said he was a very good dad."

"Yeah," Daphne said as she thought. Justin moved to get up off the couch.

"I gotta go. We have a big day tomorrow. Miss. Junior starts her first day of daycare and I get to pretend like I am not falling apart," Justin said with a smile.

********

"Brian, she is going to daycare, not a fashion shoot. She does not have to look like she is about to take pictures," Justin said as he filled Junior's bottles with formula and juice.

"That doesn't mean that she has to look like we found her on the side of the road," Brian said as he came down the stairs and into the new kitchen. It was still weird for them to walk up and down the stairs but the renovation had been a complete success. Brian and Justin were left with an open space downstairs and bedrooms upstairs.

Brian sat Junior in her highchair and walked over to the coffee machine. He poured himself a cup and sat down on one of the stools. Justin looked at Brian as he read over the business section of the paper. Justin grabbed the tray of the highchair and pulled the whole unit until it was sitting next to Brian. "What?" Brain asked.

Justin smiled brightly and placed the box of cheerios on the counter and a bottle of milk. "Breakfast… do you think you can handle that?" Justin asked with a laugh.

"Fuck you," Brian said as he grabbed the box and poured some on Junior's tray.

********

"We are the only guys here," Justin said as they walked into the daycare center.

"Yeah, well," Brian said as he entered the office. Junior was in his arms with her eyes fully alert. Justin walked slowly behind, taking in the paintings and drawings on the walls.

"May I help you?" A very short lady asked. Brian nodded just enough to acknowledge her presence.

"Yeah, we're here to drop off Junior Kinney," Brian said. Justin sat down in one of the chairs. Brian stood where he was until the woman asked him to sit.

"Okay, I see a Junior Marie Taylor Kinney," the woman said as she looked down at the records on her desk.

"Yeah, that's her," Justin said.

The short lady marked her name off and looked up at Brian and Justin. "She is in Mrs. Remmy's class," the woman said. Justin could not suppress his laugh. He laughed until he started to choke. Brian just rolled his eyes.

Brian and Justin followed the woman to Mrs. Remmy's room. "Mr. Taylor and Mr. Kinney this is Mrs. Remmy," the woman said. Katie Remmy looked at the two men and smiled.

"Nice to meet you," she said offering her hand. "Thank you Ms. James," Katie said to the short woman, dismissing her.

Brian and Justin talked with Mrs. Remmy in detail, before leaving Junior in her care. Justin found it a lot easier than he thought he would. Brian on the other hand was not so calm. "Does she look scared to you?" Brian asked. Justin looked through the small window at his daughter who was already crawling around and getting into trouble.

"She looks fine," Justin said.

********

"Are you sure she was okay?" Brian asked. Justin just smiled and patted his thigh as they rode in the SUV.

"She was fine." Brian smiled and tried to believe him.

Justin listened to Brian ask questions about Junior the whole way to his job. He was thinking out loud and it was pissing Justin off. "Brian, you are worrying too much. She'll be fine."

"She better be," Brian said as he pulled into the parking lot of the gallery to drop Justin off.

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