PAR-TAY WITH BREE

Chapter 2

“So what are you going to say to her?” Justin asked as he lay beside Brian basking in the red hot glow of their recent coupling.

“Fuck if I know.”

Justin chuckled. “You could always be the brutally honest Brian Kinney that we all know and … tolerate.”

“Thanks heaps,” Brian responded sarcastically. “Um, maybe you could talk to her.”

“Unh, unh, this is your call.”

“I thought we were supposed to be partners.”

“Only when you find it convenient to remember,” Justin said with a chuckle that helped take the implied criticism out of his words.

“I believe we just consummated said partnership,” Brian smirked.

“For the trillionth time.”

“Hm, we’ve hit the trillion mark?”

“I think that came a few years ago. We’re well on the path to a quadrillion,” Justin laughed.

“And you won’t help me?” Brian looked over at Justin and batted his eyes in a very bad attempt at puppy dog eyes.

“You better leave that look to Michael. It just doesn’t ring true when you try it,” Justin advised him.

“Fuck!”

“Come on, big guy, we need to get showered and clothed before Bree comes home.”

“We could yell through the door and tell her to go to her room,” Brian suggested hopefully.

“You’re afraid of her, aren’t you?” Justin said with a laugh as he sat up in bed. “And don’t forget that Ashley is coming home with her.”

“Fuck!” Brian reacted at having his plan to hide from their daughter thwarted. But then something else hit him. “I can’t give her the bad news while Ashley’s here,” he said trying to sound very sincere.

“She’ll only be here for an hour or so until Susanna picks her up.”

Brian made a face before allowing his husband to pull him out of bed. They headed for the shower, Brian still wondering what Bree’s reaction was going to be when he told her there would be no medieval knights at her birthday sleepover.

 

*****
 

Dinner was just finishing up at Edna’s Treasures. Brian had conveniently found ways to stay busy so that he didn’t have to have his chat with Bree. He had let Bree and Ashley play until Susanna had arrived to pick up her daughter. Then he had made sure Bree spent some time on her homework and reading the book that she had brought from school. Then it was time for dinner. Brian realized that he had just about run out of excuses.

Justin gave Brian a look as he gathered up the plates from the table. Brian shrugged.

“Why don’t you and Bree go work up in your office?” Justin asked pointedly.

“I already did my homework, Daddy,” Bree said smugly.

“I know, sweetheart, but maybe you and Dada could have a little chat about your sleepover.”

Brian made a face at his husband, but then decided he might as well get this fucking talk over with. “Come on, Bree, we’ll have our chat.” He held out his hand towards his daughter.

“But what do we have to chat about, Dada?” Bree asked with a frown. “Ashley and JR and Brenda and Hannah and Winona are all coming to the sleepover. And I’m having med-i-evil knights and it’s going to be great!”

“Medieval knights?” John asked as he sipped his coffee while listening intently. He could tell something was up.

“Yep,” Bree said emphatically making her ponytail bounce as she nodded her head.

“I haven’t heard about any knights,” John observed, looking at his brother.

“It was Auntie Emm’s idea,” Bree told him.

“Why am I not surprised?” John said with a chuckle, eliciting a glare from Brian.

“Um, John, let’s go back to our side and make sure Patrick has all his homework up to snuff,” Bobby suggested. He could see there was trouble brewing.

“Good idea,” Brian said pointedly.

“But my homework’s done too,” Patrick protested.

“Let’s go make sure,” Bobby continued, standing up ready to retreat to their side of the cottages.

“Yes, let’s,” John agreed getting a good look at Brian’s unhappy face.

“Come on, Bree,” Brian said.

“I don’t want to,” Bree objected. She suddenly got the feeling that she wasn’t going to like whatever was about to happen up in her fathers’ office.

“Bree, come with me,” Brian said in his tone that informed her she better do as she was bidden.

“’Kay, Dada,” Bree said contritely, “but I don’t think I’m going to like this.”

Brian almost swallowed himself at her response, but he managed to keep a straight face. He cleared his throat to stop the chuckle that wanted to escape. Instead of saying anything he merely held out his hand and Bree inserted her small one into his. She trudged up the stairs behind him, looking very much like a condemned criminal on her way to the gallows.

“What the hell’s going on, Justin?” Bobby asked poking his head into the kitchen from the sun porch. Curiosity had got the better of him. “What’s Brian going to do to Bree?”

“He’s going to tell her that there will be no medieval knights at her sleepover.”

“Oh? Oh! Shit! She’s going to be devastated.”

“That’s why he’s petrified to do it, but it’s just too ridiculous to contemplate. Medieval knights at a kids’ sleepover,” Justin scoffed.

“Yeah, but we do have room for the horses and … jousting, and stuff,” Bobby said thoughtfully.

“You’re not saying we should have medieval knights, are you?” Justin asked in utter surprise.

“Well, um, no, but it would have been kind of neat,” Bobby admitted sheepishly.

Justin laughed. “I keep forgetting who the kids are in these cottages.”

“Can’t help it if I still have some fantasies,” Bobby said with a grin.

“Don’t we all.”

“Let me know how it all turns out,” Bobby requested as he exited the kitchen.

Justin was sure he was off to inform John and Patrick what was going on. He wished he knew himself how Brian was handling things up in the office. He hadn’t heard any wails from Bree or any shouting from Brian, at least not yet.

Meanwhile Bree was about to hear her sentence of doom. Brian had lifted her onto his lap and he held his arms loosely around her. He’d almost started to tell her the bad news a couple of times, but then he had chickened out. So he sat, holding his daughter and dreading what was about to take place.

Finally Bree couldn’t stand it any longer. “Dada, you’re not going to let me have my med-i-evil knights on horseback, are you?” she asked batting her blonde lashes at him.

“No, Squirt.”

“But why, Dada? I really want them.”

Brian hesitated. He had thought about lying to Bree and saying that they couldn’t find any knights for her party, but he knew he had always had a policy of total honesty with Bree and he didn’t want to start changing that now. “It’s too much, Squirt. Way too much for a kids’ party.”

“But I had ponies and clowns and things at my other birthday, Dada. Why can’t I have med-i-evil knights on horseback at this one?” she asked looking into his eyes.

“We were kind of extravagant and foolish for your fifth birthday. That was a once in a lifetime kind of party,” Brian said seriously.

“Oh?” Bree studied her father’s face. “I can never have another party like that again?”

Brian blanched. He hadn’t meant it to sound like that. “Maybe you can have a special birthday party for milestones, like when you’re sixteen or eighteen,” he suggested.

“That’s a long time,” Bree observed.

“Yeah, but it will come faster than you think.”

Bree heaved a huge sigh. “Why did Auntie Emm tell me about the med-i-evil knights on horseback if I can’t have them?”

“He just kind of got ahead of himself,” Brian replied hoping Bree would buy that explanation.

Bree frowned. “So what can I have for my sleepover?”

“You will have a princess cake, and Auntie Emm is going to make pink princess beds for each of you.”

“That’s good,” Bree said. “Anything else?”

“Well, we’ll have some games to play.”

“Like what?”

“Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and Twister and … stuff.”

“I like Twister,” Bree said.

Brian smiled. This wasn’t going so badly after all. Bree was being quite reasonable and she hadn’t cried even once.

“Will Auntie Emm be here for the games?”

“I can ask him,” Brian said willing to do anything at this point to keep Bree happy. “He might have to work though.”

“I want him here.”

“I’m sure he will be at your party if he can, but he has other parties to plan. That’s his job.”

“But he’s planning my party,” Bree declared. “He told me.”

Brian drew in a breath. “I know he’s planning your party, but he has other parties as well. Just today your Auntie Molly called him and asked him to plan a party for Taylor’s first birthday.”

Bree’s eyes grew huge as she took in what her father had just said. “You mean he’s doing Taylor’s party and not mine?” she demanded.

Brian felt Bree’s spine go rigid, and she pushed his hands away.

“No, that isn’t what I said,” Brian answered quickly. He felt all the good will between them slipping away. Why the fuck did he have to mention Taylor? He remembered now that Bree had been very jealous of the little boy when he was first born.

“Is Taylor having mid-i-evil knights on horseback?” Bree asked with fire in her eyes.

“No, no, I doubt that he’ll have knights.”

“I bet he does!” Bree declared. “I hate Taylor. He always gets everything, and I don’t get nuthin’! I hate you all!” she yelled and jumped off Brian’s lap.

Before he could stop her she was running down the spiral staircase at break neck speed. “Bree!” Brian called as he reached the top of the stairs.

“Leave me alone!” Bree screeched. “I hate you!” She kept on running.

Justin heard the ruckus and started into the sun porch. “Bree,” he said as she ran past him.

“I hate you!” she screamed. She ran down the hall and into her bedroom. She slammed the door as hard as she could, and then turned to flip the lock. “I hate you all!” she screamed again through the closed and locked door. Then she threw herself onto her bed and wailed like her world was going to end at any minute. And as far as she was concerned, it was ending. She hated everyone and everything. She had never been so miserable in all her life. They all liked Taylor better than her. He got everything, and she got nothing. She pulled her grey bunny against her body and cried and cried her heart out.

“What the fuck happened?” Justin asked Brian as he came down the stairs.

“She thinks Taylor’s having her medieval knights at his birthday party, and she hates us all as a result.”

“What the fuck made her think that?”

“I … I guess I did … inadvertently.”

Justin shook his head. “Well, you handled that really well,” Justin said sarcastically, before heading down the hall to try to talk some sense into their daughter.

 

*****
 

“I fucked up,” Brian said with a sigh into his phone.

“How?”

“I told Bree that there wouldn’t be any knights at her party.”

“Did you tell her about the alternate plan?”

“No, I didn’t get a chance to. She screamed at me then ran into her room. She’s locked us out.”

“Us?”

“Me and Justin.”

“I see.”

“It gets worse.”

“Worse?”

“Besides her hating us, she also thinks that Taylor is getting her knights and that he’s getting you too.”

“Me?”

“Yes, she wants you at her party. And she hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you, Brian, Briana loves you.”

“No, she hates me. And I...”

“What, honey.”

“I must be a very bad father,” Brian whispered, totally defeated.

“Oh honey, Princess Bree could never hate her most precious, most handsome prince. She loves you more than anything else in the entire world except for her other daddy.”

“No. She won’t open her door. She’s thrown herself on her bed and she’s crying,” Brian said with a hitch in his voice.

“How do you know she’s on her bed if she’s locked her door?”

“I went outside to look in her window,” Brian said pitifully. “Emm, what am I going to do? I ruined everything. I am a bad father.”

“Sweetie, you are the best father a kid could ever have. Bree’s inherited the best from the two of you.”

“And the worst.”

“She does do drama queen well,” Emmett chuckled.

“So what do I do now?”

“Would you like for me to talk to her? I could explain about the taped knight.”

“Could you?”

“Of course. I’ll be up in a minute.”

“In a minute? You’re here?”

“Honey, Bree’s party is in two weeks. And Taylor’s is about a week later. I have lots to do so I decided to spend a couple of weeks up here.”

“What about Drew?”

“He has some Ironman things to do and some stuff with his store. He’ll be up for the weekend.”

“Oh. Has he forgiven me?”

“Forgiven you?”

“About the Christmas tree thing.”

“There’s nothing to forgive and he’s learned a valuable lesson when it comes to Christmas trees and little girls.”

“What? Like never fuck with them?”

Emmett laughed. “Something like that. Brian, honey, don’t worry. Auntie Emm is here. Leave the princess to me.”

“What will you say to her?”

“Something a very wise man explained to me about moderation, restraint and that even though one can afford to have medieval knights at one’s party, it’s not always prudent to have them.”

“Think she’ll understand?”

“Well, I did talk her into going to her gifted class, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did.”

“Then have no fear, your fairy godmother is here. I’ll see you in a few.”

“Okay, and Emm.”

“Yes?”

“You really are our fairy godmother,” Brian admitted.

“Oh honey, that’s got to be one of the sweetest things you’ve ever said to me.” Emmett hung up as Brian sat back on his chair.

“Brian?” John called out over his balcony rail to his brother. Brian stood up to walk to his balcony rail.

“Yeah?”

“Is it safe yet?” John asked with amusement, although he realized how devastated his brother was at the moment.

“No. But Emmett should be here any minute. He’s going to give it a try.”

“What’s he doing here?”

“Party planning. Ours and Taylor’s.”

“Ah. Are you all right?”

“Honestly? No, I’m not. Maybe I should just hire the knights.”

“Maybe you should listen to your original instincts and not hire the knights.”

“John...” John had come down his stairs, traversed the porch in several long strides and was at his brother’s side in moments.

“Brian, you can’t deny that Bree is spoiled but she’s not that spoiled. She’s the little princess in a house full of men. We all overindulge her. And I do mean all of us. We can’t help it. She’s a sweet beautiful child who happens to have Justin Taylor for a father. And for most of the time, she’s irresistible. Most of the time. But there are some times when you must put your foot down. And this is one of them.”

“I’m right about not having knights?”

“Of course you’re right! Has there been any doubt? Brian, just a couple of weeks ago Ashley’s mom was worried about paying the bills and having a house fall down around their ears. By some miracle they now can live comfortably. I say comfortably because even though Susanna will have a job soon, she’s not working yet and the child support just barely covers her expenses. This whole county is struggling to make ends meet. Who are we to flaunt our good fortune?”

“I was going to explain it to Bree but I never got the chance.”

“She’s too angry right now to listen. Give her time to calm down.”

“Patrick was never this difficult.”

“That’s because I’m his father,” John said with a smirk.

Brian searched his brother’s wise eyes. “Sometimes I wish...” Brian couldn’t finish his statement. John wrapped his paternal arms around his brother.

“I know, Brian. I could never be your father but I am your brother and your friend. I’ll always be here for you.” John bussed the auburn hair that showed little signs of aging. Brian gave John a squeeze. But before he could say anything, a certain fairy godmother made his dramatic appearance.

“Hellooo! Oooo, two of my very favorite Kinney men and looking oh so sexy together at that!” Emmett gushed over John and Brian. Brian gently pushed back from his brother to scowl at their cheerful friend.

“Honeycutt! What the fuck do you want?” Brian growled.

“Just here to confirm our plans for the princess’ party. She in her room?” Emmett knew that she was. “Breeeeee! Auntie Emm is here!” Emmett called out loudly. His flames were in full rage. As Emmett sashayed himself down the hall toward Bree’s bedroom, Brian groaned.

“May the gods have mercy on my soul,” Brian moaned as John patted his back.
 

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