A/N: As always, thank you soooo much, Xrifree. If not for her, Justin and Brian would exchange less than ten words to each other every chapter, and their romance would be conducted telepathically.

To everyone who is still reading and/or putting this on their lists, you're much appreciated. As well as all those who review - thank you! Reviews are inspiring :)

Justin was relieved that the rain had finally ceased, because he did not relish the thought of having to walk to Babylon with an umbrella. Taking the bus in such weather was not much better. He sat with Vic at the diner, waiting for Kiki to bring his order. He had spent the whole day at the library, completing a paper on art history for a student who had called earlier in the day, wanting it done on an urgent basis. He hadn't even had a chance to go back to his apartment for a shower and he figured that he'd just go to Babylon slightly earlier and get himself cleaned up there. He had hoped to catch Brian or at least Michael at the diner, but neither men were there.

"Hey Sunshine, Mikey told me you were back. How's your dad?" It was Debbie who appeared with his order.

"My da- ...oh, he's fine. Better. He's better now." Justin cursed himself for fumbling over his words. He had totally forgotten his cover story.

Debbie narrowed her eyes and sat down next to Vic. "You sure your father was sick? Because I've been thinking about how strange it is that you and Brian just so happened to appear and disappear at the same time."

"Debbie, that's –"

"Be careful, Sunshine."

"What?"

"Be careful. Look, I know there's something going on between you and Brian; and don't even try denying it. All I'm saying is, Brian is a heartbreaker. And it takes bright-eyed bushy-tailed kids like you about fifteen years to get over him; I should know, considering that I raised one myself. So. Keep your eyes open and heart closed and be the fuck careful. He might have fucked you more than once, and even met your family, but that don't mean –"

"Met my family? What are you talking about?" Justin felt his heart at his throat. Had Craig come looking for him? It couldn't have been his mother…

"Don't play dumb with me or I'll have your balls in a knot so tight that even Brian Kinney himself wouldn't be able to undo it."

Vic shook his head, more at Debbie than at Justin. "You're cousin dropped by the diner earlier today, looking for you and Brian. Well, he didn't mention Brian by name, but there are precious few men who answer to such a detailed description."

"My…cousin?" Justin was thoroughly confused. What cousin? Vic had said 'he', so it couldn't even have been Daphne. "I'm sorry Uncle Vic; I'm confused. What cousin are you talking about?"

"The cute one with the strange accent. Wavy brown hair and a goatee? What was his name…Ian? No, Ethan. That's it. Ethan."

Justin could only stare at Vic, unable to figure out what the older man was talking about. He didn't have any cousins, cute or otherwise. Certainly none called Ethan.

"He left a message for you. Now let me try and remember what exactly it was…" Debbie frowned slightly.

"Sis, I told you to write it down."

Debbie was successful in turning Justin's confusion into horror. "Oh be quiet. I remember now. He asked me to tell you that Joshua was supposed to let you know that he was coming, but if you hadn't got the message, he'll see you later in the evening anyway."

For a brief moment, Justin almost felt dizzy. Joshua was supposed to tell him? There was a man, walking around Pittsburgh, talking about Joshua? Describing Brian? Who was Joshua? And who the fuck was this Ethan?

What on earth was going on?

Before Justin could formulate a coherent sentence, he felt someone slide into the booth next to him, and turned to find Ted.

"Here you are, Justin. Your cousin's been looking all over for you."

"My…cousin?"

"Yup. Ethan. He was over at Michael and Em's place when Brian and I got there. He's really a strange fellow, if you don't mind my saying so."

"If by strange you mean arrogant, I must agree. No offence, Justin." Vic said.

"Brian…er…this…er… and…Ethan…are at Michael's?" Justin felt goose bumps form on his arms.

"Well, Brian was at Michael's. The guys were going to go to Babylon, but I think your cousin – Ethan – is sleeping over at Michael's because he said he was tired. Not quite sure." Ted glanced at his watch. "I don't think you'll have time to head back there before your shifts starts. Don't worry, Em and Michael don't mind; besides, I think Michael's heading to Ben's after Babylon."

Justin could only stare at Ted, his mouth slightly open. What the fuck was going? Who was this Ethan?

Debbie left them for a few minutes to take another customer's order.

Ted turned back to Justin, smiling. "Your cousin talks funny, very clipped, like he just came from finishing school. And he couldn't take his eyes of Brian; I guess the two of you have similar taste. And you're family's truly an artistic bunch...wow. I'm really really impressed by how talented you all are. Your drawings are better than photographs and Ethan plays the violin like a dream!"

Violin? Justin remembered his nightmare of being trapped in the forest, violin music playing from all sides. He felt his blood turn to water.

Justin wanted to set everyone straight about the stranger posing as his cousin. He wanted to, but he couldn't. If the message about Joshua wasn't enough, Ted's comment about the violin had forced Justin to play along with this Ethan's ruse, at least for now.

The violin was from his nightmare; Joshua was from the Ouija board séance; where was Ethan from? What was he forgetting? Justin felt sick to his stomach. There was nothing he wanted to do more than run all the way to Michael and Emmett's place, but he had appearances to maintain and a job to do. He had just taken almost a week off; somehow he didn't think that Sap would be very tolerant of Justin calling in a sick day so soon after being back.

Justin had some amount of luck at Babylon, as Michael came to speak to him almost as soon as Justin was on his break.

"Michael -"

"Justin, good to see you back! I hope you had fun with Brian, wherever the two of you went off to." Michael grinned and Justin found himself blushing in spite of himself.

"I don't know –"

"Look, Justin, I know Brian almost better than I know myself. After that stunt at the diner that day...but that's not why I wanted to talk to you. Your cousin is passed out on my couch. I think he's either sick or exhausted; he was really pale and couldn't do anything much. Except play his violin. He's really weird…he doesn't even have a cell phone."

"Oh." Justin tried to think something appropriate to say, but his mind was a complete blank. What were you supposed to say when you were pretending that a stranger that you hadn't even met was your cousin?

Michael's frowned slightly.

"Well, he got some life into him when he saw Brian, but that didn't last too long. If I were you, I'd keep an eye on him, and I mean that in more ways than one. Anyway, that's none of my business. He's your cousin so I let him stay at my place. I think you should check on him once your shift is done though. I'm going home with Ben and Em won't be in either, so here's my key. You can return it to me in the morning, ok?"

"Uh...thanks Michael. Thanks a lot." Justin smiled at him. Honestly, apart from smiling, thanking him and giving blank looks, Justin was running short of ideas on what to say. He had never before been in a situation where he had to pretend that a man he had never even met was his cousin, because said man may be carrying a message for him from a spirit.

"Where's Brian?" Justin had been so preoccupied with this supposed cousin of his that he almost missed noticing that Brian was not at Babylon. Almost.

"He went straight back home from my place. He said he was feeling sick." Michael frowned for the second time. "Now that I think about it, it's pretty weird that he was too sick for Babylon. I've never known Brian to be too sick to get his dick sucked off."

As the night progressed, Justin thought about what Michael had said. Maybe he should just give Brian a call to see how he was doing. He had to wait patiently for his next break to do that, so he entertained himself with more theories on who Ethan was and what he could possibly want, each more implausible than the other.

When the calls he finally made to Brian's cell phone went straight to voicemail several times, Justin began to seriously worry. He wasn't sure why, but it was a gut feeling. A strong gut feeling. He knew that Ethan was passed out on Michael's couch, possibly in need of immediate assistance, but Brian was way more important to him than a man with a message from a spirit. So Justin batted his eyelashes at Todd the Backroom Dude and wangled himself a ride to Brian's loft as soon as his shift was over. Ethan, whoever he was, would simply have to wait.

Justin's worry increased ten-fold when Brian didn't answer to repeated knocks to his door. He knew that he would probably regret what he was about to do, but it was too late and Justin was too tired and scared and confused to think of alternative ideas. He took a deep breath, clearing his mind, and stared intently at the loft door. He tugged the door as soon as he heard the bolt come undone and walked inside.

The lights were on and Brian's jacket lay on the sofa. Justin's eyes honed in on the figure lying on the bed. Justin was standing by the bed in an instant, his face slowly draining of colour and bile rising up his throat as he took in the sight that greeted him.

Brian was fully dressed, sprawled on his bed. His face was almost ashen; the way Justin normally looked after waking up from one of his nightmares. He couldn't tell if Brian had fallen asleep or if he had passed out. There was also an erratic line of dried blood making its way from his nose to the side of his face. Justin took several deep breaths, willing himself to stay calm. Brian couldn't have had the nosebleed when he was conscious, because surely he would have washed his face? He didn't look like he was having a nightmare, but Justin had enough experience in that particular field to know that looks could be extremely deceiving.

Fuck fuck fuck! Justin couldn't believe that his own personal demons had slowly started seeping into the life of the one man who meant the world to him. Suddenly, Michael's words from earlier came back to him.

He got some life into him when he saw Brian

If something had happened to Brian, Justin told himself, he would tear that charlatan cousin of his from limb to limb. Brian better be ok.

He quietly walked into the bathroom, and soon located some Wet Wipes which he brought over to the bed. Justin gently wiped Brian's face, trying his best not to wake the other man before he got the dry flakes of blood removed.

"Ugh…Sunshine…? That you?" Brian's voice was groggy and he blinked several times before his eyes focused on Justin.

"Hey…you feeling ok Bri?" Justin discreetly balled the stained Wet Wipes in his hand. Brian's face was clean. He couldn't explain why, but he didn't want Brian to know that he had suffered a nosebleed.

"Yeah…no…I feel like shit. I didn't even take anything…fuck!" Brian used his elbows to push himself up into a sitting position, facing Justin.

"Probably something you ate earlier. Just try and relax ok? I'll make some lemonade for you, unless I can find some tea in the kitchen." He kissed Brian on the cheek and was surprised when Brian leaned into Justin, resting his forehead on the younger man's shoulder.

Brian mumbled, and Justin had to gently tilt his chin upwards to hear what Brian was saying. "It's so fucking bright…I have a goddamn headache. And what are you doing here? How'd you get in?"

Justin gently helped Brian backwards against the pillows, and then dimmed the bedroom light as far down as it would go.

"Michael mentioned that you were feeling sick, and you weren't answering your phone, so I got worried. I dropped by to check on you…you hadn't locked your door." Justin offered the lie with ease as he walked to the kitchen.

Luckily, he found some tea bags and ended up making some lemon tea which he paired with cheese and crackers. Brian's kitchen really had very little he could work with. Brian grumbled, but he ate and drank it all. It seemed to energize him slightly, and he was beginning to look much better than how Justin had found him.

"Picasso and Paganini…you never told me you had a cousin." Even though he was sick, Brian's acerbic tongue clearly remained the same.

"I try not to talk about boring people." This was the last topic on earth that Justin wanted to discuss with Brian right now. "Did you drive back from Michael's place in this state?"

"Cab. Jeep's still parked there."

"Come on, you need to have a shower and get into bed and sleep off this bug."

"Fuck the shower. Switch off the lights and get in here."

Justin smiled ruefully. "I wish. But I have a cousin passed out on Michael's couch that needs to be dealt with, so very unfortunately, I can't spend the night. And you mister, need to get cleaned up. Come on."

"And here I thought my very own Florence Nightingale was going to nurse me back to health. You're ditching me?"

Justin couldn't help smiling. It was true what people said; men did turn into little boys when they were sick.

"Florentino Nightingale is going to wait with you till you fall asleep. And if you promise to be good and have a shower, Florentino might even reward you by sucking you back to health."

"If Florentino is leaving tonight, he better call a cab. Take cash from my wallet."

A sick Brian Kinney was nevertheless Brian Kinney, and the reward of a blowjob was sufficient enticement. Justin managed to get Brian into the shower, without further complaints. Brian was still slightly groggy, and Justin ended up showering with him just to make sure that Brian wouldn't hurt himself.

Why is this affecting him more than it ever affected me?

Justin contemplated giving Brian a Xanax, but without knowing whether Brian would suffer a nightmare, Justin was loathe to give him sleeping pills. He didn't have to worry too much, since the blowjob relaxed Brian as much as a Xanax probably would have, and he fell asleep in time. As much as Justin wanted to stay, he knew that he had to deal with the ever-more mysterious Ethan before anymore damage was done.

Before he fell asleep, Brian complained once more about Justin heading back at that time of the night, insisting that he call a cab and take the money for it from Brian's wallet. For once Justin decided against throwing a fuss. There were far bigger things to worry about.

In a night of increasingly worrisome surprises, the worst of it all was the sight that greeted Justin when he walked into Michael and Emmett's apartment. Lying prone on the sofa was presumably Ethan. Justin recognized him instantly.

Ethan was the violinist from Justin's painting. He was a fucking painting come to life.

Justin felt his grasp of reality slowly slipping away as he struggled to stay calm. What is happening? Is any of this actually real or have I officially lost my mind?

Ethan's eyes opened and locked with Justin's.

"Help me." Ethan's voice was barely a whisper, as he struggled to sit up.

Justin walked over to him slowly, the thoughts in his head exploding in a million different directions.

"Who are you? What are you?"

"Help me. Please."

Justin could barely hear what Ethan said. He knelt down next to the sofa, and spoke to Ethan again, bringing his face closer.

"What are you?"

Before he could move, Ethan grabbed him by the shoulders. There was a blinding flash of light before the whole world turned to black.