Not Easy - Part 4

“Are you crazy?” Michael couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

“What?” Brian gave him a confused look.

 “Do you have any idea what it’s like to live with a kid?”

“First of all, Justin’s not a kid.  And it’s not like I’ve never lived with him before,” Brian replied.

“I’m talking about Molly.  You’re gonna have an eleven-year old girl living here.”

“So?”

“So, when was the last time you were even in a room with an eleven-year old for more than a few minutes?”

Brian stopped and looked at Michael, dropping any pretenses.  Emotions, the worry, the concern for Justin were showing on his face.  “Mikey, have you seen him?  He’s…just…he’s completely wiped out…physically AND emotionally,” he sighed.  “I had to do something.  I HAVE to do something.” 

Michael sighed.  “Well, what about his father?”

“Nobody’s been able to get a hold of that prick for months,” Brian said, anger in his voice.

“His family?”

“What family?  We’re his only family.”

Michael nodded, realizing the truth in what Brian said.  “Well, I’m sure my mom would be more than happy to have Molly living with her.”

“No, Justin’s right.  Deb has enough on her plate taking care of Vic.”

“You didn’t worry about that when Justin was living there,” Michael said accusingly.

“Justin didn’t require active parenting.  He was almost eighteen.  Molly’s eleven,” Brian said, not sure what Michael’s problem was.  “Besides, Justin wants to take care of her himself.”

Just then the door slid open and the two people in question walked in through the door.  Justin had one bag over his shoulder, another in his left hand, and Molly’s hand in his right.  Molly had a backpack over her shoulders and a small bag in her free hand.  She stood as close as she could possibly get to Justin.  He put his arm around her, protecting her from whatever it was she was afraid of.  They stared at the two men in front of them. 

“Hi,” Michael was the first to speak.

“Hey,” Justin nodded, “Molly, you remember Michael.”

The little girl nodded slightly, but didn’t say anything.

“Do you need help?” Michael asked motioning to the bags.

“No, just got one box in the Jeep.  I’ll get it later,” Justin replied, “Thanks.”

“Ok. Well, I should get going then.  See you guys later,” Michael said, waved to Brian, and left.

As the door closed behind him, Justin looked back at Brian, who, probably for the first time in a long time, had no idea what to say or do.  The three of them stared at each other.  Brian was amazed at just how much Molly looked like Justin.  The only difference was the red hair instead of blonde.  But everything else, nose, eyes, cheekbones, was the same.

Brian took a deep breath, realizing that he should probably say something.  He tried to smile.  “Well…uhm…come on in.”

Molly looked around the loft, taking in the size of the place as Justin put the bags down and helped her take the backpack off.

 “I need to go to the washroom,” she whispered to Justin. 

“Uhm…it’s through there,” he pointed to her. 

When he was sure that she found her way and heard her close the door, he looked back at Brian. 

“I…uh…made some room in the closet and cleared a few drawers.  But I think we might have to go and buy a new dresser or something,” Brian finally said.

“It’s fine.  We don’t have that much.”

“And we’ll probably need to buy her a bed.”

“Oh, it’s ok.  The couch is big enough,” Justin said, trying to cause as little problem for Brian as possible.

Brian nodded and walked over to his lover, finding Justin’s lips with his own.

“Justin?” Molly’s voice startled them and they pulled away from each other.

~~

Brian turned off the shower and stepped out, grabbing a towel.  After a quiet dinner he decided that he should give Justin and Molly time to settle in and get ready for bed, so he took a shower…a very long shower.  Drying himself off he looked around, noticing a few foreign objects around the bathroom.  There was a green ‘Wild Watermelon’ shampoo bottle, Molly’s hairbrush, two extra toothbrushes. 

Brian finished drying himself off, pulled his jeans back on, deciding that flashing Molly her first night here wouldn’t be such a good idea, and opened the door.  He walked through the bedroom and into the living room, looking for Justin.  He was about to call out his name when he noticed two heads, one blonde and one red, on the couch.  He walked over, trying not to make a noise, to see brother and sister fast asleep, arms around each other.  Brian stared at them, not being able to look away.  He wished he could just make them forget everything that they’ve been through, but he couldn’t.  All he could do is to make it better from now on, to make their lives just a little bit easier.  He walked around the couch, grabbing a blanket from a chair, and pulled it over the two sleeping forms. 

~~

“What are you doing here?” Michael asked as Brian slid next to him in the booth.

“Nice to see you too,” Brian said.

“You know what I mean.”

“I had a light day at work, so I thought I’d take the rest of the day off,” he opened up a menu.

“Go home, catch up on your sleep?” Ted joked, “The kids keeping you up at night?”

Brian stuck his tongue out at him.

“Yeah, how is the parenting going?” Emmett chimed in.

“What parenting?” Brian said, sighing.  “You can hardly tell they live there.”

It was true.  He saw more of Justin when they didn’t live in the same place.  Justin was busy catching up on school work for classes that he’d missed after Lindsay helped to pull some strings to get him back in.  He was also picking up as many shifts as he possibly could.  No matter how much Brian refused, Justin insisted that he should pay for food, since he and Molly did eat most of it and Brian paid for everything else anyway. 

So, mornings Justin spent in school…in classes or studio.  Then he picked Molly up from school, went home, ate, changed, and went to the diner, dragging Molly with him.  She did her homework while he worked.  By the time they got home Brian was usually out.  On the weekends Molly usually slept over at her best friend’s house, so Justin could go out and catch up on some needed rest.  He tried to make himself and especially Molly scarce, trying his best not to get in Brian’s way, not to disrupt his life too much. 

~~

Brian slid the door shut behind him.  Jokes aside, he did need some rest and not for the reasons everybody else thought.  Justin had been having nightmares almost every night again.  Sometimes he’d wake up screaming, sometimes he’d just toss and turn.  He didn’t talk about it.  In fact, Justin barely talked about anything.  At first when he’d wake up from a nightmare Justin would just get out of bed and leave.  Once Brian went after him only to find Justin sitting on the floor in the kitchen, drowning a shot of Jim Beam.  Now Brian was just glad that Justin would let him hold him while he calmed down and went back to sleep. 

Brian took his jacket off and threw it on the couch.  A red head popped up, startling him.

“Hi,” Molly said, shyly.

“Hi.”  He looked around, looking for a sign of Justin.  He’d never been alone with her before.  “Where’s your brother?”

“Still in school.  I’m waiting for him,” she said, as if apologizing for being in the loft.

“Shouldn’t you be in school too?” he asked.  It was only a little after twelve.

“Somebody came to school sick or something and they said that we should all go home until they make sure it’s not contagious or something like that so they let everybody go early.”  She finally finished, making Brian smile at how much like her brother she really was.

“How did you get home?”

“Oh, Katie’s mom gave me a ride.  I didn’t wanna go to the diner ‘cause Justin’s not there yet, so I thought I’d just wait for him here.”

Brian nodded, “Does he know you’re here?”

“I left him a message.  And he usually comes here before picking me up from school on Fridays.”

“Cool.”  He looked around, not sure what else to say.  Michael was right.  He had no idea what to do or say to an eleven-year old.  He turned his attention back to her only to find two big blue eyes trained on him.  “So…what are you doing?” he finally asked.

“Just finishing homework.”

“On Friday?”

“Yeah.  That way I have a whole weekend free.  Mom always made us…” she stopped and looked away. 

Brian took another deep breath.  He wasn’t sure what he’d do if she started crying.  Dealing with a crying toddler when his diaper is wet is one thing.  Dealing with an emotional little girl was another thing altogether.  “So, you’re almost done?” he asked, trying to change the subject.

Molly nodded in response. 

He walked around and slumped on the couch next to her, “Wanna watch TV?”

A huge smile spread across her face and she nodded again.  “Cartoons?” 

He looked at her lit up face, “Don’t tell me…Power Puff girls?”  He didn’t think it was possible, but her smile just got bigger as she nodded her head.  “You definitely ARE your brother’s sister.”  He picked up the remote and turned the TV on to the cartoon network.

~~

“Ha-ha, I win!” Molly exclaimed.  “You’re completely broke,” she giggled.

“I demand a recount,” Brian joked.

“A what?”

Brian smiled, “Never mind.  So, anything else you wanna do?”

“We could play again.”

“So that you can win again?”

“Uh-huh,” she grinned.

“Fine,” he gave in.

They were sitting on the floor in front of TV, playing monopoly, Brian having changed into jeans and a t-shirt. 

While Brian was busy putting all the cards and money back in its place Molly stared at him. 

“What?” He asked, looking up at her. 

“Can I ask you something?”

“Uh…sure.”

“Do you love Justin?”

Out of all the questions in the world that he imagined she would ask him this was not one of them. 

“Uh…” He stared at her, trying to come up with what to say when he heard the door opening.  Silently he thanked God or whoever was up there for having Justin come home at that moment.  “Justin!” he called, getting up.

“Hey,” Justin said, puzzled look on his face.  “What are you doing home so early?”

“Just thought I’d take the day off.”

Justin turned to his sister then, who was still sitting on the floor, “Why are you home?”

“They let us go early,” she said.

“Why didn’t you call me?” Justin demanded.  He had a day from hell in school and he still had his shift at the diner. 

Her lower lip quivering, she answered, “I did.  You phone was turned off.”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket.  “Shit.”  He turned it on and saw that he had a new voice message.  He took a deep breath, hating that he had taken his frustration out on Molly.  “Well, I’ve got a shift in half an hour.  I want you to put everything away and be ready in fifteen minutes,” he said to her, then started to walk towards the bedroom to change. 

Brian saw Molly’s shoulders slump.  She got up and started to put everything away. 

“Hey, why don’t you let Molly stay here tonight?” Brian asked.

Justin stopped and turned around.  “No, it’s fine.  She can do her homework at the diner.”

“She already did her homework.”

Molly stopped and looked from her brother to Brian back to Justin again.

“Come on,” Brian said softly, coming closer to Justin.

Justin looked at Brian then at Molly.  He saw how hopeful she was that he’d let her stay in tonight.  He hated dragging her everywhere with him.  He could see that she was tired.  He sighed.  “Ok.”  He saw a huge smile spread across Molly’s face once again.  “You better behave yourself.”  Molly nodded. 

He turned around and went into the bedroom, Brian following him.

“Aren’t you gonna tell me to behave myself as well?” Brian joked when they were in the bedroom.

“Yeah, like that’s ever gonna happen.”

Brian smiled.  “True.  So why don’t you stay in as well and make sure that I’m a good little boy?”

“Can’t.  I’ve got a shift…”

“In half an hour, I know.  Why don’t you just call in sick?  You could use a day off yourself.”

“I can’t.”

Brian took a step closer, “Come on,” he said, putting his arms around Justin’s waist, “We can order pizza and then play Monopoly.”

“You play Monopoly?” Justin asked, sounding like he just heard the most unbelievable news.

“Yeah.  And Molly’s kicking my ass.”

Justin laughed.  For the first time since his mother died Justin laughed.  “Yeah, she always wins.  Even when she had no idea what money was she still won.”

Brian smiled.  “So, what do you say?  Are we playing hooky today?”

Justin thought about it for a moment, then smiled.  “We’re playing hooky today,” he replied, earning a kiss from his lover.

~~

Almost five hours, two medium pizzas, a viewing of Rugrats in Paris, and a game of Monopoly later all three of them were ready to drop from exhaustion and overeating.  While Brian started to clean up in the kitchen, Justin picked up his sister, who had fallen asleep on the floor and carried her over to the couch.  Then he brought the remaining plates and cups over to the kitchen.

As Justin washed the dishes he could feel Brian stare at him.  He looked up from what he was doing.  “What?”

“Nothing,” Brian said, a small smile playing on his lips.

“What?” Justin asked again since Brian just kept staring.

“It’s nothing.  Just…nice.”

“What’s nice?”  He put the last dish on the dish rack.

“Seeing you smile again.”

Justin looked away then back at him, “Yeah.  It’s been…”

“I know.” Brian put his arms around his lover, placing a soft kiss on his lips.  “We should do this more often.”

“Have a slumber party?” Justin joked.

They both laughed.

“And I think you should let her stay here from now on.  Stop dragging her to the diner.  I mean, this is her home now.  It’s time she started to feel like it.”

Justin nodded.

“You too,” Brian added.

Justin put his hand on the back of Brian’s neck, pulling him down for another kiss, then took his hand and pulled him into the bedroom.

Go to Part 5

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