A/N: First things first. Thank you InconspiciousBunny for reviewing! At this point I'm writing for my enjoyment and for you. I wanted to make sure I took some time to answer your questions so that you don't get frustrated and decide to stop reading. Okay, so here we go. I'm aware of the fact that Lindsey fought so hard for custody of J.R. and Melanie of course cares so much about Gus that it seems impossible that they would give up on that. Later in the story the real story of what exactly happened with Mel and Linds is revealed and I think that'll help you understand a little more what exactly was going on. And J.R. does remember little things! Just not very much. Mel tried her very best to keep her away from everyone that wasn't necessary. She had to of course meet Michael, he was her father. And along with Michael you get Ben and Hunter and Debbie. Those are all people that J.R. knows very well it's just everyone else she's fuzzy on. The fact that Justin went to PIFA is definitely brought up eventually and Lindsey being artist. All god things come in time. With THAT being said, here's my actual Author's note about the chapter.
A/N2: You should know that Gus calls Debbie Grandma just like Hunter and J.R. even though technically she isn't, I feel like that wouldn't matter and Gus would get the same treatment.
Disclaimer: I don't own Queer as Folk, but it would be cool if I did.
The entire car ride to Pittsburgh, Jenny had been practically bouncing up and down in her seat and talking a mile a minute. She was far too excited and it was driving Melanie completely crazy. Melanie was already nervous as all hell and it didn't help that Jenny was so damn excited.
"Do you think Hunter will come over and see me? I haven't seen him since last year! Although, I hope he doesn't bring Jade." She shivered, thinking about her brother's fiancée. "She's such a brat, I don't know why Daddy and Ben don't make him break up with her. She's fucking awful."
"J.R.! Watch your mouth! Your father won't let you talk like that, and neither will Grandma Debbie. She'll rip your tongue out. "
Jenny rolled her eyes, "Ugh. Hunter's allowed to say whatever he wants. It's only different with me, because I'm a girl."
"It's different with you because you're the baby." Melanie mumbled before pulling into the Novotny-Bruckner driveway. Melanie sighed a little before looking over at her daughter.
"Here we are. Go get your things out of the trunk will you?"
Jenny was just excited to be able to get out of the car, and stretch her legs. Also, she hadn't been here in years. She was excited to see how much the house had changed in her absence. She was even excited to see the things that hadn't changed. She didn't remember very much but she hoped that they hadn't touched the backyard. From what little she remembered, there used to be a swing set, and it was wide, and open with a little tree that Ben and Michael had planted together. She remembered little moments there with Hunter chasing after her, playing some form of four year old tag, pushing her on the swing set. Had there been another child there too? It was fuzzy, but Jenny was sure that there had been…
"Jenny?" Mel said, staring at her from still inside the car. "Are you okay?"
Jenny tore her gaze away from the house, and then shook her head a little to clear it. "I'm fine. I was just thinking about something." She sighed a little bit and then turned towards her mother.
"Hurry up!" She said as she hurriedly rushed around to the trunk grabbed her own bag, and rushed up the steps to the door and rang the doorbell three times.
"Mom! Come on!" She said glancing at her mother who was still at the car.
The door opened after a few minutes to reveal her father. Jenny squealed with excitement. "Daddy!" She said wrapping her arms around his middle.
"Hey there!" He said hugging her back and pulling her inside. She squeezed him tightly for a few minutes and then she spotted Ben.
"Hi Ben!" She said just as excitedly, he was standing a little bit behind Michael and she had to duck around a little bit to hug him. He was much taller than Michael. J.R. laughed just because she'd forgotten how tiny her father was compared to Ben.
"Hey, J.R.! " He said with a huge smile on his face. "Here, I'll take your bag, and take it up to your room." He said holding his hand out for it, once they'd finished embracing.
She swung her bag off her shoulder and handed it to him. "Thanks, Ben."
"Hey Mel!" Michael said waving to her mother who was just coming up the steps.
"Hi Michael. " She said sounding weary as she gave him a quick little hug. It was awkward for a few seconds and quiet. Melanie broke the silence quickly though.
"Alright. Well, you've got all her things. And you've got her." She said grabbing her head lightly and kissing the top of her head.
"If you need anything, I'll be staying at the Hyatt. Two blocks from where Babylon used to be."
Michael laughed. "Still is, you mean. Brian re-opened it as Justin's welcome home gift when he got back from New York."
Melanie looked shocked, and then she shook her head. "Justin came back from New York? Christ. When?" She asked.
"Two years after he left. Brian was a mess without him, and they hated going back and forth to see each other. It wasn't working. So, Justin came back. He said that he could paint anywhere. But Brian was only in Pittsburgh. "
Melanie shook her head. "Wow. So everything's the same then? Justin's still in love with Brian, Brian's still an asshole, and Lindsey…?" She trailed off at the end, looking a little pained.
"Again, who is Lindsey?" Said J.R. who'd been listening to the whole conversation, completely confused.
Michael looked down at her and sighed. "Just an old friend." , then he looked back up at her mother. "Melanie." He said her name full of meaning, and some sort of hope. "Were all meeting at the liberty diner later, maybe you should-"
"Christ. Your mother's still running that place?"
Micheal shrugged. "She owns it. But maybe you should come."
"Absolutely not, Michael. And J.R. isn't going either."
"Aw, mom! You're SUCH a buzzkill! I want to go!"
"I knew this was a bad idea." Melanie started and then shook her head. "Listen, she' here to go to school, not to mingle with the in-crowd on liberty avenue. "
"Mel, Come on, she has to meet them eventually, they're family! " Michael said. Melanie opened her mouth to say something else, but Michael was faster. "They miss her, Melanie! They haven't seen her since she was four years old! That isn't fair."
"No. This clearly isn't going to work. I'm taking her back to the hotel with me, and we'll go back to Toronto as soon as possible."
"Mom! That's not fair!" Jenny shouted, but then Ben reappeared.
"She can stay home with me, Mel. It's not a big deal. I wasn't going anyway. I was going to stay home and get some work done."
"Bless you, Ben." Jenny said in a thankful voice as Mel sighed.
Melanie looked suspicious, but then she looked down at her daughter's excited face and realized how much she wanted this, so she gave in.
"Alright. But I'm going to call the house tonight at 9:00, Ben Bruckner, and I expect my daughter to answer the phone. "
"Yes, Ma'am" He said giving her a little salute, before she kissed the top of J.R.'s head again.
Mel looked up at Michael shaking her head. "I'm allowing her to stay here. I expect you to respect my wishes. I don't want her seeing ANYONE beside You, Ben, Hunter, and Debbie."
"Mel-"
"Don't push it Michael. I'll take her home right now."
"Yeah, don't push it Michael!" J.R. said through her teeth. She would just die if her mother took her home now. She was so close!
Michael nodded in agreement. "Okay. I'll respect your wishes. "
Melanie breathed a little sigh of relief and then turned to her daughter.
"Be good. Don't get yourself into trouble, and don't be too much of a pest."
"Oh, she could never be a pest, Mel." Michael said with a smile.
"Love you." She said to J.R., "If you need anything-"
"Yeah, yeah, call your cell! I know. I love you too! Now go!" She said impatiently. Melanie sighed again and then with a little wave, got into her car and took off.
Jenny looked at her Dad and Ben, a defiant expression on her face. "I'm going to the diner with you."
Ben smiled. "Look at you, standing up for yourself."
Jenny didn't laugh. "It's not fair. She acts like everyone in Pittsburgh is out to get me or something. I want to meet everyone. I want to go to the diner."
Michael nodded. "Well then I'm taking you to the diner."
Ben nodded. "Yeah. We'll all go. I'm pretty sure Mel thinks my cell phone is the house number anyway."
Jenny smiled a little. "Thank you. I love you both."
Ben grinned, "Now," He said looking over her black pleated skirt, and white long sleeved T-shirt.
"You'll never fit in on Liberty Avenue wearing that. I think we need to call Emmett."
Michael sighed, "Alright, fine, but tell him if he brings anything remotely resembling something Brian would wear, were he a girl, I'll kill him."
J.R. decided directly upon meeting him, that she liked Emmett, a lot. He called her Baby. Although he called Michael and Ben the same thing, it still made her feel special. She didn't remember a thing about him, but she now had no idea why her mother would want to leave people like THIS for stupid Toronto. He'd come bearing bags and bags of clothes. She ended up having to be a dress-up doll for a few hours, as Ben and Michael looked at each outfit and gave an approval or disapproval. The final consensus had been a black tank top and dark red miniskirt with tights and black patent leather shoes, and a red headband. It took a little convincing to get Michael to approve, "She doesn't look sixteen!" He kept exclaiming, but sooner rather than later, the three of them were crammed into a booth at the liberty diner.
Jenny's eyes were bright with excitement. She'd never been any place like this, with such a brilliant array of different types of people. It was amazing, and she couldn't imagine living anywhere else anymore. Toronto was like a very distant memory.
"Did you see that guy outside? He was dressed up like-"
"A woman?" Emmett cut in. "It happens, baby. This is Liberty Avenue."
J.R. laughed, shaking her head. "No, I've seen that before. But he was dressed up like a hot dog!" She said her laugh increasing.
"Oh. " Ben said in a low voice. "Gus must be working tonight."
"Who's Gus?" J.R. asked curiously.
"The bus boy." Michael said quickly before anyone else had a chance to answer. "Sometimes My mom has him dress up like a hot dog to bring in customers…" His eyes moved around the tiny diner for a while and then he smiled.
"Speaking of…MOM!" Michael called, waving his arms around as if he were flagging down a waiter. A woman that Jenny had only met twice, but who'd sent her a birthday card every single year, made her way towards them, vibrant red wig and PFLAG shirt intact, with a pile of plates on her arm.
"Jesus, Michael what do I look like, some kind of waitress? "
Michael ignored her jab, and then pointed towards J.R.
"I'm presenting to you my beautiful daughter, Ms. Jenny Rebecca."
She gave a little embarrassed smile and managed a little wave.
"Hi Grandma." She mumbled, but then Debbie hurriedly handed her plates off to another waitress and reached across the table to grab her face, planting to great big kisses on each of her cheeks.
"My granddaughter! Look at you! You're gorgeous!"
Jenny blushed and then shrugged a little. "Um. Thank you." She grinned.
And Debbie gushed more. "Oh, and she's so modest! Nothing like you when you were little Michael! You know what? I'm going to whip you up your favorite chocolate chip pancakes. You LOVED those, do you remember when you loved those?"
"Um-"
"Of course you do!"
"You never make me chocolate chip anything. " said a voice that J.R. would know anywhere. She looked up excitedly to see her big brother Hunter. "Hunter!" She exclaimed.
Debbie looked at him and shrugged, "She's cuter than you, and she doesn't have the same mouth." She grabbed his mouth, as she said it and then motioned him to sit down. "Sit down, I'll bring ya a pink plate special." She turned back to J.R. as Hunter slid in next to her.
"I'll be right back! You stay adorable!" she said quickly hurrying off towards the kitchen.
Hunter wrapped an arm around J.R. kissing her forehead. "Hey you! What the hell is up with you not texting me to tell you were coming to town?"
She shoved him playfully. "You never answer my texts anymore. You're too busy with Jade!" She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Oh don't be such a little brat, Jade loves you."
J.R. rolled her eyes "Sure she does. And she doesn't just love you for your penis." She gave him a fake smile as everyone else at the table, looked at the girl completely shocked.
"What? " She said staring back at them. "I grew up with Melanie Marcus, you guys are acting like you thought I wouldn't fit in or something."
Everyone laughed except for Michael.
The door to the diner swung up open and in walked three men Jenny was sure she must know from somewhere. The first one was very tall. Brown-haired with flecks of grey throughout but there was something about him. He was definitely what she'd call old-man sexy. The second man was blonde, and he looked relatively young. He had his arms wrapped nicely around the older man and he looked so happy that it didn't seem unnatural. And then there was another man, clearly older than the other two, trailing behind.
"Oh, Jenny, this is Brian, his partner Justin, and Ted." Michael said, introducing each as they walked in and sat down.
"Hi." Jenny said with a smile as they all turned to look at her.
"J.R.? I used to babysit you!" Justin said excitedly leaning in. "Well, you were a really cute baby. You're cute now too. I'd do you."
Michael hit him playfully, and then Brian smiled.
"Mikey, she's a spitting image of you. Just a dab of that pesky Mel."
J.R. blushed. "Actually, people tell me I look a lot like my mom. With soft hints of my Dad."
Brian smiled. "Do they? Well they only tell you that because they know telling you anything else would drive Mel crazy."
Michael sighed. "Brian, would you be nice to her? She's my daughter."
"I am being nice." He said leaning back in his seat, his eyes not leaving her.
"She's beautiful Michael, it's about time she made an appearance here." Ted said with a smile, reaching out to shake her hand. J.R. took it hesitantly, with a smile.
"Is Mel in town too?" Justin asked curiously. Michael nodded.
"She's staying at the Hyatt." He replied.
Jenny was trying hard to remember everyone. She must've met them at least once when she'd been here. There were little flashes in her memory but nothing concrete. A park outing where Brian and Justin were in attendance, playing in the sand box and getting sand in someone's hair…but nothing was sticking.
She didn't have much time to dwell on it though. The boy she 'd seen dressed up like a hot dog, came storming inside, already stepping out of the suit. "I'm not doing this anymore Grandma! It's stupid! And everyone makes fun of me!"
"Serves you right Gus Peterson-Kinney for mouthing off to me and giving your mother hell for the past few months!" She replied to him from behind the kitchen door.
"I did NOT mouth off. I'm twenty for gods sake!" He complained.
"Bullshit! Bring these pancakes to my granddaughter! Hurry up!" She said as he quickly changed out of the hot dog suit and put on his apron, picking up the plate of pancakes and carrying them over to the table. He sat them down in front of her. He hadn't paid much attention to her at all and it was obvious he was planning on going as quickly as possible but then their eyes met.
Gus was very attractive, J.R. really couldn't deny it. He looked like a younger version of the man with grey-flecked hair. He was beautiful. He seemed just as taken with her though, as she was with him.
"There's your pancakes." He said slowly his eyes still not leaving hers.
"Thanks." She said quietly, looking up at him.
"You're Jenny Rebecca then?"
"That would be me." She said softly. "Jenny Rebecca Marcus-Novotny."
"Nice to meet you Jenny Rebecca." He said with a smile.
"Most people, just call me J.R."
"Well then, it's nice to meet you J.R."
Suddenly, J.R. remembered that they were surrounded by people, which included her dad. She blushed as Brian cleared his throat.
"Now, Now sonny boy, you've done your job, now leave the pretty girl alone and get back to work."
"Leave me alone, dad." He mumbled, before walking away from their table. Jenny looked up at Brian.
"He's your son? She asked curiously.
"Yeah." He said an amused smile taking over his face. "That would be the fruit of my loins."
"He looks like you." She said observantly, as a blonde woman who looked flustered made her way through the diner.
"Is Gus here?" She said, stopping at their table, taking off her jacket and scarf.
"Right over there." Brian said pointing towards the kitchen.
"Oh good. If he's working, than I know he's not in trouble. Who's this?" She said looking at J.R. as she took her seat.
"Um. Lindsey, this is J.R. This is Jenny Rebecca." Michael provided.
Lindsey was still for a long moment staring at her. "Oh." She breathing sounding as if she'd just been told they were sitting with the president. " I'm Lindsey."
Jenny blinked up at her. So this was Lindsey. She was pretty. Blonde. Tall. One of those woman that you wanted to look like when you were grew up.
"Nice to meet you." She wanted to add 'finally' at the end, but Lindsey was already acting weird enough so she left out the part where she'd heard her name twice without any explanation, already.
Everyone was silent, as they watched their introduction. Jenny felt uncomfortable, mostly because Lindsey's eyes started to fill with tears, but then she looked away.
"Well this, this is certainly a surprise." She blinked a couple of times, and then the tears disappeared.
"Have you met my son Gus?" She asked absentmindedly.
Jenny nodded. "He brought me my pancakes."
"Speaking of, Are you going to eat those Baby?" Emmett asked.
She shook her head quickly, pushing the plate towards him. "Go for it. Ben made me a sandwich before we left."
Emmett began eating right away, and everyone laughed.
"Hey Dad?" Jenny asked and Michael looked up at her curiously. "Do you think I could go outside for awhile? I need some fresh air."
"Um…yeah, sure…just uh, don't go too far, and stay on the avenue."
"Of course. Thanks Dad." She said before she slid out of the booth.
