Accepting Your Fate

Part 3

The next day Brian and Justin brought Stacy and Brianna home from the hospital. The three of them were so happy to finally have the baby there that they took turns sneaking into her room to watch her sleep. Of course Justin was worried about Stacy so he tried to make her stay in bed for most of the day, waiting on her hand and foot and only letting her up to peek in on Brianna every now and then. By late afternoon, she had had enough.

"Justin Taylor! I am not an invalid. I had a baby, not quadruple by-pass. Now my mother is going to be here soon, so I am going to take a shower and go downstairs. I don't want to hear another word out of you. Understand?"

"But Stacy..."

"Not a word." Stacy demanded, stalking out of the room.

Brian heard the confrontation and couldn't help but chuckle. "That went well."

"I'm just trying to look out for her. She had a baby, Brian. She needs her rest," Justin sighed, trying to make Brian understand.

"Millions of women have babies everyday, and they manage to survive. Leave her alone and she will be fine. Now, since the baby is sleeping, and Stacy is in the shower, why don't you come to my room and I will give you something to distract you," Brian suggested with a smile.

Justin couldn't help but smile as he took Brian's hand and allowed himself to be led down the hall, where Brian kept his promise and distracted Justin over and over again.

By the time Stacy's mother showed up, Justin was a bundle of nerves. He wasn't sure how she was going to react to everything she had learned over the last couple of days. He was worried about how she was going to handle Brian being gay since he was going to be dropping his own bombshell as soon as his parents got back from their trip. Apparently, he didn't have too much to worry about. As he walked into the room, he heard Stacy and Brook talking about what had happened.

"Honey, I had no idea what happened between Brian and Joan. She told me that Brian had done the unthinkable and she couldn't talk about it with anyone. I didn't know what she was talking about, but she was so upset that I didn't press her. I tried asking her about it a few times, but she always put me off, telling me that it was too hard to talk about, so I eventually dropped the subject. If I had known, I would never have gone along with her. Brian is my nephew and I love him dearly. There has not been a day that has gone by where I haven't thought about him, wondering if he was okay," Brook explained, trying to hold back the emotion she was feeling after all that she learned.

Before Stacy had a chance to reply, Justin entered the room. "Maybe you should try telling him that."

Brook looked over at Justin as she stood up. "That's what I plan on doing. Is he here?"

"He's upstairs, taking a shower. Have you told Jack and Joan your plans?" Justin asked, slightly doubting Brook's sincerity.

"Yes I did, last night. After we left the hospital we all went back to the house and finally talked about it," Brook replied, wondering how her daughter and son-in-law were going to take the news.

"Mom? What happened?" Stacy asked, noticing the change in Brook's demeanor.

“Unfortunately, they didn’t take it well. They told me that they didn’t have any room in their lives for fag lovers. They left last night to head back to New York,” Brook said softly.

“It sounds like Ma and Pa haven’t changed a bit,” Brian said dryly as he appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

“Brian!” Brook exclaimed, startled by the man’s appearance. “I didn’t know you were there. I am so sorry about everything. I should have pushed harder to find out what had happened, but she’s my sister. I never thought that she would push away her own son for something so trivial.”

“Well, that’s Jack and Joan for you. They told me I was dead to them and that if I ever came to my senses to give them a call, otherwise I was never to contact them again. Oh, and that I was going to hell for my sins,” Brian replied softly.

“Going to hell? Because you’re gay? Please, God created you to be exactly who you are. If anyone is going to hell, it’s them for being hateful and ignorant!” Brook exclaimed, her voice rising from her anger.

Brian could feel himself begin to blush slightly from Brook’s outburst. “Thank you, Aunt Brook. It’s nice to know that someone else is on my side, but she’s your sister...”

“She was my sister, Brian, but I’m beginning to see that I didn’t know her as well as I thought I did. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but she took you away from all of us and I don’t know if I can forgive her for that. You grew up in my home. You and Stacy were more like brother and sister than cousins, and you were like a son to me. They had no right to take that away from us.”

“What about daddy? What does he have to say about all of this?” Brook asked tentatively.

“He agrees with me one hundred percent. We stayed up late talking about everything and we both agreed that Brian comes first. If Jack and Joan can’t accept that, then it’s their loss, not ours,” Brook replied confidently, glancing over at Brian.

Brian was speechless. He was overcome by the love his family had for him and he was beginning to regret not calling them and telling them the real reason for his departure from the family. He just always assumed that they were told of his sin and agreed with his parents warped ideas. So much time had been wasted because of it and he had to fight to hold back his emotions. "Thank you," he whispered.

Brook took Brian in her arms for the first time in over ten years and knew that she made the right decision by choosing to stand by her nephew. "I've missed you so much, Brian. I hope you plan on staying around for awhile. We have a lot of catching up to do."

Brian pulled back and looked into Brook's eyes. "I'm not going anywhere."

The three of them sat down and began catching up, stopping only when Brianna started crying. Justin went upstairs to retrieve his daughter, still in awe of the little bundle. As he finished changing her, he turned around to find Brian standing in the doorway.

“I just wanted to say thank you,” Brian said quietly.

“For what?”

“For giving me a reason to stay. If it wasn’t for you, I would be on a plane right now, heading back to my old life.” Brian explained as he approached the younger man.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t do it for you. I did it for me. You’ve turned my whole life around. I could never go back to being the happy hetero.” Justin teased, trying to lighten the mood. He didn’t even want to think about Brian leaving the states again; leaving him behind.

“Good thing. It will make it easier tonight when I’m fucking your brains out,” Brian smiled before taking Justin into his arms. The kiss started out gentle, but quickly turned into so much more. Neither one of them really aware of their surroundings until a small cry came from the dressing table, reminding them of what they were doing.

“I guess I better get Brianna down to her mommy before those soft cries turn into something straight out of a horror movie,” Justin chuckled.

“Good idea, Daddy. Just remember who gets your attention later tonight,” Brian replied with a gleam in his eyes.

“I promise, tonight I’m all yours,” Justin said as he took the baby to her mother.

Unfortunately, they didn’t get their time alone until well after midnight. Stacy’s father showed up after work and he and Brook stayed for dinner, catching up with Brian’s life and enjoying their granddaughter. Brian revealed in the fact that he had some of his family back, even though his heart was still a little heavy at his parents rejection. By the time he made it to bed, he was completely exhausted.

“I didn’t think this day would ever end,” he said as soon as Justin climbed into bed beside him.

“I know what you mean. I love my in-laws dearly, but boy can they talk,” Justin laughed as he wrapped his arms around Brian. “If you would rather go right to sleep, I understand.”

“Yeah, right. Your ass is mine,” Brian grunted as he quickly rolled on top of Justin and attacked his waiting mouth.

Their exhaustion was immediately replaced with passion as they lost themselves in each other. Once they were sated, they fell asleep in each other’s arms and drifted off to sleep, happy with their lives together.

Brian was startled out of his sleep by the soft crying from down the hall. At first he thought it was the baby, but he quickly realized that the sounds were coming from Stacy. Suddenly alarmed, he slipped from the bed, throwing on a pair of sweats as he made his way towards the sound. He found her rocking the baby in the nursery, tears rolling down her face.

“Stace, what’s wrong?” he asked with concern.

“Oh Brian, what if I can’t do it? What if I can’t be a good mother to Brianna? I couldn’t even keep my husband happy, how am I supposed to be there for my daughter?” Stacy cried, quiet sobs overtaking her.

Brian took the baby from Stacy’s arms and placed her back in the crib before taking Stacy in his arms.

“Shhh. It’ll be okay. You are going to be a wonderful mother. As for making your husband happy, that had nothing to do with you, Stacy. Justin is gay. He was born that way. There is nothing you did or could have done to make him that way. Trust me, I know,” Brian assured her as he held her close and rubbed her back. He had heard about how women tended to be over emotional after childbirth and knew he was seeing it first hand.

“But what about when you and Justin move out? What will I do?”

“Stacy, I’m not going anywhere. Justin can move out if he wants to, but I’m going to be here for as long as you need me. I promise. Now why don’t you try to get some rest and we can talk about this after the sun comes up,” he teased, eliciting a small smile.

“I love you, Brian. I am so glad you came back.”

“I love you, too. I’ll see you in the morning,” Brian replied, leading Stacy out of the room. He never saw Justin sneaking back to their bedroom.

Tiptoeing in so as not to wake Justin up, Brian quietly climbed into bed, only to be startled when Justin spoke.

“Thank you.”

“You scared the shit out of me. Thank you for what?” Brian asked in confusion.

“For coming home. For being here for us. I don’t know what we would do without you,” Justin explained softly, wrapping his arms around the older man. He was touched by the way Brian was willing to protect Stacy and was happy that he was such a loving man, despite being raised by Jack and Joan Kinney.

Brian knew that Justin had been listening to his conversation with Stacy, and was thankful that he apparently approved of the promises he made. “Don’t worry, you’ll never have to find out. I will do anything for the people I love, and you, Stacy, and Brianna are at the top of my list.”

“I love you, too, Brian,” Justin replied, drifting off to sleep with a smile on his face.


End of part 3
5/3/04

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