Brian looked up from where he sat at the kitchen table reading over some paperwork when the doorbell rang. He put down the papers and stood just as he heard Gus come running from where he had been playing upstairs in his room.

"I'll get it!" Gus yelled as he ran for the front door. He struggled with the door for a moment before finally getting it swung open and lunging at the person standing on the porch. "Aunt Daphne!"

"Hey Squirt!" Daphne smiled as she wrapped her arms around the little boy and hugged him to her.

"He acts like he didn't just see you two days ago." Brian huffed as he entered the front hall and stood in the doorway, arms crossed.

Daphne rolled her eyes as she let go of Gus and the little boy grabbed her hand and dragged her inside. Daphne stood next to Brian and the older man leaned down and kissed her cheek. She soon again followed Gus into the house.

"Guess what Aunt Daphne!" Gus started jumping up and down after releasing her hand.

"What!?" Daphne clapped her hands, getting just as excited as the little boy.

"I made a new friend at the park!" Gus squealed. "Her name is Lily and she got lost from her daddy so I helped her find him with daddy's help!"

"Wow, that's amazing!" Daphne gasped.

"Yeah and daddy got her daddy's number so we can play together!"

"Awesome!"

"Okay Gus, go back to playing, we've still got an hour before dinner." Brian finally spoke. "Aunt Daphne and I have some things we need to talk about."

"Okay." Gus hugged Daphne once more before running back upstairs.

"So." Daphne followed Brian into the kitchen. She watched as he pulled two beers out of the fridge and handed her one. "I don't really want this, water is fine."

Brian snorted. "You're gonna need it."

Daphne frowned. "Why? What happened?"

Brian sighed and took a long drag of his own beer before answering. "Justin's alive."

"What?"

"He's alive and living here in New York."

"No. No" Daphne shook her hand and took a sip of her own beer. "His dad said he was dead. His mom said..."

"I know what they fucking said but I stood in front of him today." Brian growled. "I fucking talked to him. Lily is his daughter!"

"What!?" Daphne's eyes widened. "If he's alive where the fuck has been been all these years? And he has a kid?"

"Two actually. He also has a baby, no older then a few months." Brian scrubbed a hand over his face. "And he didn't recognize me."

"Didn't... recognize you?" Daphne frowned again. "As in..."

"Doesn't remember who I am."

"Fuck."

"Yeah."

They were both silent for a moment as they downed their beers.

"Okay but if he doesn't remember you, that still doesn't answer where he's been all these years." Daphne huffed. "Why would he just not call me? Why let his parents do what they did?"

"I don't think he remembers anything."

"What do you mean? Like he doesn't remember me either?"

Brian nodded. "Why else wouldn't he contact his best friend?"

"Point taken, he never would have just cut me out like that. So you've got his number."

Brian hummed and nodded as he stared at his now empty beer bottle. "Gus wanted to play with his daughter but I panicked. I needed to get out of there. He was the one that suggested giving me his number to set up a play date for them."

"Well then you have too." Daphne leaned against the counter. "Why would his parents lie about their son dying? That's just so wrong!"

"I don't fucking know." Brian grabbed another beer from the fridge before also leaning against the counter across from Daphne.

"And how have I not seen him? I've lived in New York three years now!"

"New York is a big place." Brian smirked. "I think it was just a fluke."

"Or meant to be?" Daphne smiled. "It's been five years. Five years we've thought he was dead. Five years, what are the odds that after only a week of you living here you run into him?"

Brian shook his head but didn't say anything. He was thinking about what Daphne had just said. He didn't want to believe it but how else were they to explain it. She was right. She had been living in New York for three years and not once had she seen Justin. He moves to New York just a week ago and just happens to meet him in the park while letting his son play?

Daphne helped him finish dinner of burgers and fries. It wasn't long before the four of them were sitting around the kitchen table and eating. Gus kept telling Daphne about his new friend Lily - even if he had only known the little girl for a half hour at best. Brian and Daphne kept thinking to themselves what all this could mean. Their biggest question was one Daphne had already voiced - why had Justin's parents lied about Justin's death all those years ago?

Once dinner was done Daphne took the time to read both Gus and Jenny their bedtime stories and tucking them into bed. Once that was done she said her goodbyes and headed home - she really did have an early class for school in the morning and her apartment was closer then Brian's house. Brian sat up later then he probably should have just going over in his head what had happened that afternoon at the park and what he was going to do.

It wasn't until the next afternoon that Gus finally broached the subject and asked Brian to call Lily to play. It took Brian an hour of just staring at his phone before he got up the courage to hit the call button. It just kept ringing and he was about to hang up when Justin finally answered. They only talked a few minutes, Brian trying the whole time not to sound awkward. He couldn't believe how he was reacting to this news.

Justin was alive. He was alive with two daughters. Brian had spent most of the night thinking about it. Justin had found another love, of course he didn't know who Brian was so of course the younger man probably thought whoever the father of Lily and Chloe were was his first love. Brian didn't want to admit it out loud but that hurt him to realize Justin had love someone else. He had never admitted it to the blond twink that stalked him for months - but Brian admitted it to himself the night he thought Justin had died - he, Brian Fucking Kinney, had fallen in love with the blond.

After they set up a play date for Gus and Lily the following day, Brian had hung up with a smile on his face. He had decided the night before that if Justin hadn't moved on and was currently with someone else, Brian was going to do what he needed to get the man himself. After learning of Justin's death all those years ago Brian had always regretted pushing the kid away constantly over those seven months they knew each other.

He regretted kicking him out of the loft after he had been robbed. He regretted going to Justin's prom the most. None of this probably would have happened if he had just stayed away like he originally knew. Of course he also knew that had he not gone to Justin's prom and surprised the teen a lot of what he had done over the last five years probably never would have happened. He probably wouldn't have his daughter, he probably never would have just moved his family to New York - it would only be himself. He also knew he would have continued to push the kid away.

Now he knew he wasn't going to do that. Having Gus and Jenny, being their father full time now, it had really changed him. Before when Lindsay and Mel were still alive and raising the kids like they were suppose too, Brian still tricked. He still did drugs and drank too much. It wasn't as bad as before Gus was born, before he had met Justin, but it was still probably too much. Even after losing Justin like they had, it got worse as drinking and drugs and sex were his ways of forgetting.

He had mellowed out again months later after coming to realize he was sending himself into an early grave and he really didn't want to do that. He wanted to be there for his son - and Jenny once the girls had asked him to donate once again. He wanted to be a better father than his own. And then the girls had been killed by a drunk driver one night. Gus and Jenny had been in the car with them and though Brian was angry with losing two close friends - he had been relieved that neither of his children had been killed as well.

When Brian was told that he now had sole custody of Gus and Jenny he was surprised. He expected the girls would have given them to one of their families - or even to another close friend. He knew he was their father and would still do anything to help raise them but he never thought he would end up raising them alone. Of course he wasn't actually alone in raising them. He had Debbie and Michael and Ben and Ted and Emmett and Cynthia.

Cynthia had really become part of his world after the loss of Lindsay and Mel. She helped with the kids and even became pretty good friends with Michael, Emmett, and Ted over the last year. Even her being a hetero woman she knew about Brian's lifestyle and didn't care. She was just one of the guys and fit in perfectly with the rest of them.

It had actually been Cynthia that had encouraged Brian to pack the kids up and move them to New York for the summer. She had told him he needed to finally decide if he was going to open his own advertising agency, and where he wanted to set up shop so to speak. Pittsburgh or New York. She knew he always wanted to move to New York so she knew he needed to make the decision before starting his own company. He owned the club Babylon and that was still making him money - he had left Ted and Cynthia in charge while he was in New York.

Debbie and Michael had been the only ones that hated that Brian was taking the kids to New York for the summer. They were both afraid Brian was never going to come back and they would never see him again. Ben and Emmett were happy for him to finally be going for something he really wanted. It wasn't until the day they were leaving that Michael had finally told Brian he was happy for him and would hope they returned to Pittsburgh at the end of August but would understand if they didn't. That they would just have to visit each other every months. Debbie said every holiday he better bring the kids back to be with family - if he decided to keep them in New York.

Brian agreed. He knew he would never keeps his kids from the rest of the family that they know and love. Debbie was their grandmother - not by blood but where it counted. Michael and Ben and Ted and Emmett were their uncles - though Emmett insisted he be called Auntie Em instead of "Uncle" - Brian wasn't going to stop him. And then there was Aunt Cynthia. The only family living in New York for the kids - and Brian though he would never say it out loud - was Daphne. After the death of Justin, Brian had found Daphne on his doorstep and since then she would show up and they would get high. Daphne would tell him stories from her childhood with Justin and Brian would just sit and listen.

When she decided to move to New York for college Brian was the one that helped find her apartment and move her in. When she came back to Pittsburgh for vacations and holidays she stayed with Brian since he had bought the loft below his and converted it so Gus and Jenny had rooms - which had been a good thing after the death of the girls. Brian had been happy to keep Daphne in his life after Justin because he felt like it kept him connected to the blond that had caused so much change in his life in so short of time. He and Daphne had really become close friends through the tragedy.