Brian had been on his cell phone since he had picked a surprised Justin up at Deb's that afternoon. All Justin could make of the conversations was that some deal was falling apart and Brian and Cynthia were using every resource possible to pull things back together. Ryder had even called him. Justin had heard a good deal of that conversation but most of it was drowned out by the sheer volume of Marty Ryder's voice as he yelled for his top exec to fix whatever was wrong.

When he finally cut the phone off and acknowledged Justin with a quick kiss, he had already begun filling his Louis Vuitton luggage in preparation for a spur of the moment business trip.

"But I thought we were going to do something this weekend." Justin controlled his voice just enough so that he didn't sound childish. Understandably disappointed but not whiney.

"Well I can't exactly say no to this, Justin. If I can get them back, I'll have the new campaign and it will mean serious headway towards a promotion. Hell, a whole new tax bracket."

Justin whistled softly. "Big deal then huh?"

Brian smirked. "You could say that."

"Okay. Just promise me that you will try to set aside next weekend for me."

Major step, Brian acknowledged. Justin wasn't giving him a hard time about work. Usually he would have at least bitched for half an hour about broken promises. It wouldn't have mattered that Brian's job might have been on the line. So what did it mean? Either the young man was growing up...or he's planning to replace him with a study date.

Justin wrapped his arms around his waist and brushed his lips against Brian's neck. "I love you," he whispered.

Brian felt like instant shit. Not only was he being suspicious of Justin's intentions, he was breaking his promise that he wouldn't let Lee come between them any more. Justin had been adamant about Lee remaining his friend. Since Daphne had gone off to college in California, he had been lonely. Not completely alone since he did have the guys and Brian but he was want for someone closer to his age that actually enjoyed video games and could handle watching the Cartoon Network for hours on end. So instead of being happy for Justin, Brian had immediately gone into insecure attack mode and assumed that Justin and Lee were fucking.

It was the ultimate double standard - their relationship. Everyone, including himself, figured that Justin would be the ever faithful one while he would try but eventually end up screwing around. Nothing serious, but a few random tricks at least. Yet the first time he had seen Justin and Lee hug goodbye outside of Babylon, jealousy had raged within him.

The rule now was that they could do what they wanted. An open relationship. But it had to be equal and anyone they fucked shouldn't come between them.

Justin was kissing his chest now. Licking intricate patterns of figure eights along his collar bone. Biting and then sucking his nipples.

Brian smiled. "Hmmm." His breath caught as Justin kissed down his ribs. It was a very sensitive area of his body. The blonde new that, damn him.

Crash-landing on the bed, Justin continued his thorough exploration of Brian's body. It wasn't long before Brian - the king of self-control - was squirming under Justin's skillful tongue and all unpleasant thoughts were wiped from his mind.

***

Ted made his way over to the pay phone in the hall just outside of the waiting room and put in the change. Emmett had won the coin toss and was currently using his cell phone to call Debbie. He had, of course, lost and was now making the dreaded call to Brian.

After four rings, Ted was ready to give up but then he heard someone growl into the other end. "Fuck!" There was moaning in the background and Ted's ears perked up. "What?!" Brian yelled, nearly bursting his eardrums.

"Brian!" He clarified. Another moan.

After an annoyed grunt, "Ted this better be fucking important!"

"Michael fell off a ladder. He hit his head," Ted finally managed to spit out.

There was a pause on the other end then, "Is he okay?"

"He's still unconscious. The doctor said he thinks he has a concussion but other than that, he won't be able to tell until he wakes up."

Another moan, this time louder and longer. "We'll be there in fifteen." He heard a bit of a scuffle before the phone clicked signaling that Brian had hung up.

When he returned to the waiting room it was to find Emmett reading an old issue of W. He looked up as Ted sat down heavily beside him. Looking only slightly shell shocked. "So what did Brian say?"

"Um...well I told him Michael fell and hit his head and we are at the hospital and he replied with...‘fuck yeah. Oh. Oh-ah. Fuuuuuck!' and he said they'd be here in fifteen."

"Which translates to..."

"I'll be there as soon as the Boy Wonder finishes on my dick." They both nodded.

Within moments, a frantic Debbie rushed through the waiting room doors and located them. "How is he?"

"He's fine Deb." Emmett rushed to assure her. "We just have to wait for him to wake up."

"He's still out of it? Shit," Deb swore. Then in her usual demanding demeanor, "I wanna see him."

Vic put his arms around her, comforting her. "Wait sis. Calm down. Even when he does wake up, you can't go charging in there all upset like you are. It'll just distress Michael. I'm sure he's gonna be just fine." Ted admired the man's strength and level head.

Finally Deb allowed him to guide her to a chair and they sat together in silence.

***

When the doors to the waiting room opened again, it was Justin and Brian who came in looking a bit frazzled.

Emmett tossed his magazine aside. "Well don't you two look freshly fucked."

Ted checked his watch. "And it only took...20 minutes!" Emmett smirked as his friend frowned and handed him a crisp twenty from his wallet.

"Thank you for being so quick about things baby." he wrinkled his nose happily and winked at Justin. Justin proceeded to blush as he realized just what the bet must have been. He really wished he could ignore things like that. It took virtually nothing to make him blush like a virgin, which was amazing considering that he was sleeping with the most brazen man ever to grace Liberty Avenue. He thought for sure that some of Brian's attitude should have rubbed off on him by now.

Brian ignored the entire exchange and finally erupted impatiently, "Well?"

"Nothing yet," Vic informed them, his arm still around his sister.

Half an hour later they were still awaiting word on Michael. Justin was getting antsy as he was sure the others were as well. Ted and Emmett were in deep conversation about something or other. He figured it must have been about their dating situations because...well basically it seemed to be the only thing they ever talked about when there was nothing else to say. Although with their sex lives, one would have thought they wouldn't have had much to say in the first place.

Brian was pacing. Back and forth. Up and down. It was making Justin nervous. His lover looked anxious and a little green. He thought that it probably had to do with the memories of the last time he had been in the same room. When Justin had been in the hospital after the attack. Hospitals weren't any of their favorite places anymore, not that they ever had been. But still - when you spend hour after hour, day after day for weeks in a small enclosed room with yellow-green wallpaper, a television that only picks up CNN and no windows it tends to make you even less fond of the entire building.

The double doors opened and they all looked up expecting a doctor or at the very least a nurse, but were disappointed when Vic came in balancing three cups of coffee. One for him, one for Deb and the other for Brian, who really didn't need it seeing as how he couldn't even be still for more than a minute at a time anyway.

An hour later the group was finally graced with the presence of a doctor. "Are you folks with Michael...Novotny?" The tall graying man asked, consulting his chart.

Debbie was the first to respond with a hesitant, "Yeah. We're his family."

"He's awake now." Debbie stood quickly with relief radiating from her features. "But...there's a slight problem." The woman sank back down again as if the air had been let out of her. A deflating balloon of worry.

Brian studied the doctor. "Slight problem? Would you care to expand on that doc?"

Consulting the chart again, "He has a small concussion with a slight case of amnesia. Do any of you know a...Brian Kinney?"

Brian frowned and drew his eyebrows together in confusion. "I'm Brian."

"And what is your relationship with the patient?"

"I'm his best friend." Brian said a little defensively.

The doctor merely nodded. "I've never seen this before but..."

Deb was getting even more worried. "What are you talking about? Spit it out!"

"Well, sometimes when people have amnesia they will...fill in the holes with other things. Sometimes they just make up their past. Other times they take on the memories as it where of someone they are close to and have shared a history with. In Michael's case, it would seem that he believes himself to be Mr. Kinney."

Vic was the first to regain the ability to speak. "Excuse me?"

"My son believes he's Brian?!" Debbie's shrill voice pierced the quiet room but no one even flinched.

"Christ." Ted breathed.

"Oh, this is bad."

Understatement of the year Em, Justin thought.

Brian crossed his arms and squared his shoulders. A bit annoyed. A bit worried. "So...we just tell him who he is and straighten this out."

The doctor - Dr. Stephenson by his name tag - held up his hand. "I'm afraid not Mr. Kinney. He's still a bit disoriented. Trying to explain everything would be too much for him emotionally."

"Well what do you suggest we do then?" Deb was wringing her leopard print scarf in her hands, choking the life out of the silken fabric.

"You simply go along with him until his memory comes back on its own." Easy for the doctor to say. He wouldn't be the one to have to live with two Brian Kinneys.

Emmett began to speak but stopped. Finally he drew a deep breath and sighed. "How long will that take?"

"Could take a few hours." A collective sigh of relief was heaved at Dr. Stephenson's words. "Or it could take a few months."

Justin rolled his eyes. So like a doctor. Hope for the best, expect the worse. It was a way of life obviously. Why was it that medical types always seemed eager to share their worse case scenarios with people that were desperate for good news?

Brian was getting frustrated. Justin could see a small vein in the man's forehead and his hands had balled into fists. "This is bullshit. Let me see him and I'll-"

"That's not possible either. He thinks that he is you. Seeing you - basically what his mind's eye sees himself as - would send him into shock."

"Fuck this!" Brian pushed past the doctor. Justin immediately started after him.

"Brian wait! Stop. He's right. Remember when I came out of the coma." He saw Brian stiffen at the mention of that particular incident. He turned his head slowly and their eyes locked. "After prom... I had to regain my memory naturally. I would have freaked out if I would have been told everything straight out." Justin smiled feebly hoping that his experience would finally be of help.

"Yes but you were attacked. Michael fell and bumped his head." Brian mumbled.

Justin continued, working hard to rationalize everything to his stubborn lover. "Yes but he also thinks that his life is totally normal right now. That he is you. If you were to suddenly find out that you weren't who you thought you were, you would go fucking nuts."

Brian stared at Justin long and hard before letting out a long breath. A small smile flitted across his face. "Only if I was told that I was really Ted." Everyone knew that for Brian Kinney that was as good as giving in and they relaxed.

"How about us?" Deb stepped forward. "Can we see him?"

"Actually he's going to be discharged in just a few moments."

"Discharged? Shouldn't you keep him for observation or something?" If anyone knew hospital procedure, it would be Vic. And of course he was right but it hadn't gone unnoticed that the doctor was grimacing and looked extremely uncomfortable. Never a good sign.

"Normally, yes we would. Only Mr. Novotny was very adamant that he leave tonight. The staff and I have decided - after finding him in something of a..." The doctor cleared his throat, searching for the proper wording. "...compromising position with one of our male orderlies that perhaps he was well enough to leave after all."

Ted scoffed. "Sounds familiar."

All eyes swung to Brian, who had the laughable audacity to look up at them with innocent eyes. "What?"

***

The next morning, Justin drove the jeep across town to Debbie's, making sure to go the speed limit the entire time. The last thing he needed was to go ten rounds with Brian over a speeding ticket or a dent or something.

As was the norm of the Novotny home, Justin didn't even bother to knock before letting himself inside. He made his way through the living room and into the kitchen. "Morning."

"Just getting in from Brian's?" Jennifer asked, hoping that it hadn't sounded like she was prying.

"Actually I just took him to the airport. He had to catch a flight to New York." Justin looked over his mother's shoulder to see about four books spread across the table. "What are you doing?"

Deb smiled and waved an ink pen at him. "We're trading recipes. Now what the Hell did he go to New York for?"

"Especially this early on a Saturday." Jen checked the clock on the stove and realized that it was only nine. Usually Justin wouldn't even be awake yet.

Justin grabbed a recipe book and flipped through it. "Ryder called him last night in a panic. Before we went to the hospital. The New York account he was trying to get, started falling through so he has to go and do a little ass kissing. Ryder said if he could get the account back with their firm then he could have it."

"And if Brian's good at anything it's kissin' ass!" Vic finally looked up from his paper.

Justin smirked. "Tell me about it." All three eyes cut to him. Exasperated - that was Deb, shocked - his mother of course, and amused - Vic, who was trying his best not to laugh out loud and risk his sister's wrath. Quickly Justin giggled and glanced towards the stairs. "How's Michael?"

Vic began reading his paper once again. "Still asleep."

"I called David this morning. He was upset about Michael having to go to the hospital. I neglected to tell him about the fact that Michael actually thinks he's...you-know-who. I just don't think he would take to that news too well."

"Good call." Justin nodded in complete agreement. Though they did tolerate one another a great deal more than they had before, David and Brian were nowhere near being friends. Who knew what David would say to the idea that Michael thought he WAS Brian.

"He wanted to come back early but I told him that we would take care of Michael until he got back tomorrow." While Deb continued on, Michael had made his way down the stairs and was standing directly behind his mother, looking a little sleep dazed but none the worse for wear.

"Somebody wanna tell me why the hell I slept here?" Michael looked to Justin, who was flustered and at a loss for words. The manner of speaking, assertiveness, stance...all Brian. The voice and physical appearance were the only things that belied Michael's identity. Not receiving an answer, Michael moved to the counter, grabbing Justin's ass on the way. The stunned blond watched as Michael hopped onto the surface and picked an apple out of the bowl of fruit, tossing it back and forth between his hands.

Deb was still struggling for something to say. "Um...well..."

Finally Justin refocused. "You hit your head. Passed out."

"Couldn't have been too bad. The jeep's outside so I had to have been able to drive here right? What was I on?"

"You don't know?" Vic played along.

Michael paused and furrowed his brow a la Brian. "Last thing I remember is breakfast. Must have been...yesterday?" Justin nodded realizing that was the last time Michael must have seen Brian. "Well whatever. I have to get back to the loft."

The other four's eyes widened as they looked at one another and frantically shouted, "NO!"

To Be Continued...