MY GIRL
Part 12

Thanks to Mandi, Connie, Lois, Acacia and Darren.

WARNING: There is death in this chapter. Not to the main characters (Brian/Justin/Bella) though.

Two Months Later:

Brian looked on as his daughter was being fed ice-cream by her grandmother. It was quite remarkable really, how gentle Eddie was with her. What was even more remarkable was how well Bella had adjusted to her. Bella didn't scream much, actually listened to Eddie and was rewarded with anything she wanted. Brian realized that was probably the motive behind her good behaviour, but he really wanted to believe it was more than that... that maybe it was because Bella loved her already. He knew Eddie adored the baby, no questions asked.

Brian felt guilty everytime he brought Bella over to see Eddie. He knew Justin would be upset if he found out about the visits. But Brian knew Bella needed Eddie in her life... just like Eddie needed Bella.

His cell phone rang and the caller ID displayed Justin. He placed a finger over his mouth when he saw Eddie looking up at him.

"Hey," he said into the phone.

"Where are you?" Justin asked anxiously. "Linds said you were supposed to pick Gus up a half hour ago!"

"I'll be there," Brian assured him.

"Hurry up then, you're going to make them late for their flight!"

"No I won't, stop panicking will you?"

Justin laughed. "Ok, where's Bella? Is she behaving?"

"She's being good." Brian winked at her when he noticed her looking at him. "I'll be home in a bit. What are we having for dinner?"

Justin groaned into the phone. "I don't feel like cooking. I was at the store all day and I'm exhausted."

"I'll get us pizza then."

"Great. I'm gonna go take a nap now. Be careful ok?" Justin warned softly.

"I will. Later."

"Later."

Eddie was looking at Brian disapprovingly.

"What?" Brian asked, annoyed.

"You still haven't told him about me, have you?"

Brian sighed. "He's not ready."

Brian got off the chair and took Bella into his arms. "Tell grandma bye."

Bella's face set up to cry. Eddie gave her a stern look. "Now now, none of that. You're a big girl now. No more crying, ok?"

Bella nodded. She let Eddie kiss both of her cheeks and then returned the kisses. "Bye gwammy."

"We'll see you next week." Brian told her.

She touched his arm gently as he walked out. "Thanks, Brian. You don't know how much this means to me."

Brian smiled. "You take care of yourself."

He got Bella settled into her car-seat and reminded her, as he did every week, "Don't tell daddy about this, ok? It's our little secret, alright?"

She nodded. "Alwight. Ice-cweam?"

Brian sighed. His daughter was quite the little blackmailer. "Sure sweetie, you can get ice-cream."

He got her a small cone at the local ice-cream parlour and drove over to Lindsay's quickly.

Before he could even knock, the front door opened and a flustered Lindsay stormed out, ready for battle.

"It's about time! Where were you?" Lindsay rushed out. "Justin said you left hours ago!"

"I had some things to take care of." Brian kissed her cheek and walked in, carrying Bella. "Where's Gus? Sonnyboy?" he  called.

Melanie walked out of the kitchen with a half-eaten green apple in her arms. "Bella!" She handed Brian the apple and took the baby girl in her hands. "Hi sweetie. How are you?"

Brian looked at the apple in disgust and placed it on the side table.

Bella gurgled, enjoying the fact of being the center of attention.

"Do you want me to bring back anything for you?"

"Toys." Bella replied without hesitation.

"So are we all packed?" Brian asked Lindsay.

The lesbians were off to Australia for their honeymoon. One week down under. The thought brought a smirk to Brian's face. He made no comment though, knowing how much they were looking forward to their trip; they'd been planning it for months.

"I hope so." Linds said. "Thanks for doing this Bri."

Brian pulled her into his arms. "Anytime." He kissed her forehead. "Just have a good time."

Lindsay smiled. "We definitely plan to!"

"I'm ready!" Gus raced down the stairs, a back-pack on his shoulders and another in his hands.

"Well, let's get out of here," Brian suggested. He took the bag from Gus and Bella from Mel.

The lesbians walked them to the car and got Gus and Bella settled.

"Be good, ok?" Linds told Gus.

He nodded.

"Listen to Justin," Mel added.

Linds kissed his head. "Love you."

Gus turned red. "Mom!" he whined.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" she said sadly.

"Ok, enough smothering," Brian protested. "You're going to turn my son queer."

Mel snorted. Linds kissed Gus once more. They stood there waving until they couldn't see the car anymore.

Five days later:

Justin opened the door to his art room when he heard the front door slam.

"Gus?" he called. "Is that you?"

"Yeah!" Gus called back.

Justin used a paper towel to get the paint off his hands as he walked down the stairs. Gus was standing in front of the fridge, drinking milk straight from the carton. His white shirt was out of his navy pants, the black and red school tie about ready to fall off from around his neck. And there was caked mud on his track shoes.

"Gus!" Justin scolded. "Use a glass!"

Gus sighed, obviously annoyed. "I couldn't find one."

Justin opened a top cabinet and handed him one. "Are you hungry?"

Gus wiped at the milk moustache over his lip with his shirt sleeve and poured himself another glass. "Not really."

Justin noticed the traces of mud on the floor. "Gus, haven't I asked you time and time again to take your shoes off before you come upstairs?"

"I forgot," Gus said after he gulped down the rest of his milk.

Justin slowly shook his head. He suddenly realized that he sounded just like his mother and immediately stopped. "It's ok," he patted Gus on the shoulder. "Why don't you go take a shower? Bella's taking a nap so try not to make too much noise, ok?"

Gus nodded and walked up the stairs, dirty shoes and all. Justin squeezed his eyes shut and prayed for patience. He was more and more grateful that God blessed him with a daughter every minute Gus was around.

Two days later:

Brian was greeted with tears when he got home. Bella was on the kitchen floor crying her eyes out as Justin glared down at her.

Brian sighed. These past couple days had been a living hell. Living with a baby was bad enough. Add a pre-teen to the mix and it was sheer hell. Brian was sick of Bella's temper tantrums. And he'd never realized just HOW spoilt Gus was until now. This was the first time he'd ever spent more than a weekend with his son. He loved the kid, but he was eagerly awaiting the lesbians' return.

When Justin noticed him standing there, he smiled, the exhaustion evident in his face. "I'm going to kill somebody soon," he said without a hint of emotion in his voice.

Brian smiled. "As long as it's not me." He dropped his coat and briefcase on the table and kneeled to the ground so he could be level with Bella. "What are you crying about?"

"Gus ate the last cookie," Justin told him. "And he didn't want to share."

Brian looked up at Justin and they couldn't help but grin.

Brian took the crying toddler into his arms, wiped at her tears with a finger. "You're being very bad lately." he told her.

She shook her head in denial. "Not me! Gus!"

Brian kissed her chubby pink cheek. "If you behave yourself, I'll take you for a surprise after dinner."

Bella clapped her hands. "Gwammy?"

Brian looked up quickly to see if Justin had heard and realized he had. Justin's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he glared at Brian.

"What's for dinner?" Brian asked quickly. "Gus?" he called. "Dinner's ready!"

Justin brought plates to the table. "Move your stuff from the table, Brian," he said coldly.

Brian settled Bella in her high chair before clearing the table as Gus came bouncing down the stairs. He had his portable CD player stuck in his ear. The music was on so loud, Brian could hear every word clearly. As soon as Gus sat down, Brian reached across and yanked the earphones out of his ear.

"Hey!" Gus protested.

"None of this at the dinner table," Brian told him, the player visible in his hand. "How was school?"

"Great," Gus responded after taking a huge gulp of water. "I aced my Math test."

Brian nodded. "Heard from your moms today?"

Gus nodded. "They'll be back tomorrow as planned. Send their love."

Justin mouthed 'thank God' behind Gus as he brought dinner to the table. Brian couldn't help but laugh.

They chatted about their day as they ate, each wanting a turn and waiting impatiently for it. As soon as the plates were cleared away, Bella turned to Brian, "Go gwamma now?"

This time, Justin didn't ignore it. "Brian."

Brian inwardly groaned, tongue in cheek. Why the hell couldn't Bella just forget about that? That kid just wanted him to get in trouble! He had some serious explaining to do now.

"Brian, have you been taking her to see Eddie?" Justin asked quietly.

Brian looked up at him. "I can explain."

Justin snorted. "Don't even bother." He threw the kitchen towel on the counter where he stood. "How could you do this to me? You promised me Brian!"

Brian got up from the table. "She's her grandmother," he offered as way of an explanation.

"And I'm her father!" Justin shouted. "How DARE you go against my wishes?"

Gus stood awkwardly. "I'm going to go upstairs now."

"Stay put, Gus!" Justin warned. "You haven't had your dessert."

Gus quickly sat back down again.

"Go to your room, Gus," Brian contradicted, his eyes never leaving Justin's.

Gus stood up again. "I'm pretty full anyways," he assured Justin.

"Sit down, Gus!" Justin repeated firmly. "Listen to your father explain why he can't keep his goddamn promises."

Brian glared at Justin. "Gus, take your sister upstairs with you. Keep her busy until I come up."

Justin didn't argue this time and Gus rushed upstairs, Bella in tow.

Brian took a deep breath. "I'm fucking sick of you telling me Bella is YOUR daughter!" he said angrily. "She is OUR daughter."

"Don't you fucking turn this around!" Justin shouted. "You promised me you wouldn't let Eddie see her! You promised, Brian!"

"Justin, calm the fuck down."

"I will NOT calm down! How can you do this to me? How can you break your promise?"

Brian raked a hand through his hair in frustration. "Will you fucking quit the drama routine? You're a little too old for that."

Justin gritted his teeth. "I'm not going to forgive you for this, Brian."

"Can't you just trust me on this?"

"Trust you?" Justin laughed mockingly. "I can't fucking trust you! Ever!"

Brian snorted. "I can't talk to you when you're like this," he turned to walk up the stairs. Before he knew it, the damp dish-towel was flung at his head.

He turned around and noticed Justin was searching for another one. He bolted over to his partner's side and swung him around to face him.

"What the fuck's wrong with you?" Brian asked angrily, shaking him gently as he tried to get over the fact that Justin just threw something at him.

"YOU are what's wrong with me!" Justin shouted back. "I'm fed up! I can't do this anymore, Brian!"

Brian roughly let go of Justin's hands. "What can't you do?"

"This. Us." Justin started sobbing. "I'm sick of your lies. I'm just fucking tired."

Brian couldn't believe what he was hearing... couldn't believe Justin was reacting the way he was. He expected him to be mad but not enough to want to leave him. Of course, this was most likely another one of his drama queen antics, but Brian was still hurt that his partner of so many years was willing to throw it all away just like that...or at least SAY he was going to.

Brian shook his head. "You're fucking crazy, do you know that?"

Justin ignored him, continued sobbing.

"It's amazing how quick you're ready to bail on US," Brian said coldly, hazel eyes flashing. He leaned in closer and added, "Well, FUCK YOU, Justin."

He stormed out and left Justin crying in the kitchen, alone.

It must have been after three in the morning when the phone in their bedroom rang.

Brian groaned sleepily and nudged Justin, who was cuddled up in his arms, awake.

"What?" Justin mumbled.

"Answer the phone," Brian murmured sleepily into his partner's ear.

Justin sighed and reached for the receiver. "Hello?"

Brian turned on his side and closed his eyes, listening to Justin mumble out answers to the person on the other line.

"Justin Taylor."

"Who? How did you get this number?"

"Oh. Is everything ok?"

"What?"

"Oh, my God. Nooooo. What...what happened?"

"Oh God."

"Brian...Brian!"

Brian had Justin in his arms immediately. His partner was shaking, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Baby, what's wrong? Who was that? Justin? Look at me. Tell me." Brian blurted out the questions, one after the other. He picked up the phone with his free hand, but whoever it was had hung up...all Brian heard was a dial tone.

Justin was beginning to scare him, he wouldn't stop shaking...or crying.

"Brian," Justin cried softly.

"What's wrong, baby?" Brian hugged him closer. "Tell me."

"They're gone," Justin blurted out.

"Who? Who's gone?" Brian cupped Justin's face in his hands, his eyes locked onto his lover's.

Justin let out a stifled cry before he responded. "Lindsay and Melanie."

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