A/N: I am so close to the ends of the three stories I've been working on (no way I'll miss the August 31 deadline I set for myself) that I decided to start updating HSII before September. Also…I reread it today…I feel bad for having left Brian and Justin drowning for so long. I plan to post another update later tonight, but here's this. Help is on the way

Gus actually smiled for the first time in two months. "Molly! I thought I'd never see you again."

"You aren't seeing me. We're on the phone."

"Oh, right. I miss you. And Sweetie. She's lost. Wait, how did you get my phone number? Is Sweetie with you? I taught her the number." He was very proud of that.

Molly sighed. "No. I don't know where she is, but we'll find her. We'll fix that. We'll fix everything."

"If she didn't tell you, how did you get it?"

"I asked my music teacher for help. He has a friend at Little Red Primary."

"That's MY school!" He giggled.

Molly sighed. "I know. You told me. He talked to his friend and got him to find your number."

"Cool! So how are we going to find Sweetie?"

"It's simple. We're going to have a playdate."

"We are? I don't know. My daddy hasn't been around much lately. He never calls me back. I call him every day and I ask him about Sweetie. I even tell her how much I miss her, in case she's listening to the machine. I wait, and I wait, but nobody calls."

"Look, I don't have time for this. Just give me your address."

"Oh. Okay. I live at … wait. I have to go on the porch and check the number. I forget."

Molly sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose (something she'd picked up from her archnemesis Brian). Boys were SOOO stupid sometimes.

Molly's plan had taken … was taking a lot of doing, but it was really quite simple. Fake cry in front of her music teacher a few times and see if he could help her find Gus. She knew he would want to help her because he liked her mom. She'd seen them kissing in the music room, and boys only kissed people they liked. Then ask Daphne to take her to Gus's to ask if they could all go to the park. Then convince Daphne to take them to Brian's. Call Justin telling him where she was and lying (saying she'd got there on her own). Then tell Brian to stop being stupid while awaiting Justin's arrival. Phase one was complete. If only she had thought of it sooner, maybe things wouldn't have gotten so bad. But she couldn't think about that now. She had to just keep moving forward as her mom always said.

Now she dialed Daphne's number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Molly."

"Molly, sweetie, why are you calling? Is Justin okay?"

"No. You'd better come over." Justin had not been okay in 60 days. She'd counted.

"Oh God! Is he hurt?"

"Yes." Every time she asked about Brian, Justin refused to answer and got all teary eyed.

Click. Daphne ran to her car.

Molly didn't know this, but Daphne was scheduled to leave that day. On her way over, she canceled her flight and called the outreach coordinator and asked for a month-long extension.

A minute or two after bolting through the Taylors' door, Daphne burst into tears. Then she started laughing. "Molly! You can't do that! You scared me to death."

Molly widened her eyes on purpose and gave Daphne a wtf look. "What? You said, is Justin okay? Well, he's NOT. He's been miserable for 60 days. He's always crying or mad or just sits there like a lump on a log. He never cooks. He never eats. All he does is exercise. And go on dates with Joe." Molly scrunched her nose light she'd smelled something gross. "Joe is creepy. And boring. And stupid. He talks to me like I'm three. 'Do you want me to tickle-wickle you?' Ugh! Seriously? Justin even made a face at that one. He doesn't smile at Joe like he smiled at Brian. He doesn't laugh hardly at all anymore. We either need to fix Justin or trade him in."

Daphne sighed. She couldn't have agreed more. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Be awesome! I got Gus's number. Gus is Brian's kid. I called him, and he gave me his address. So you just take me there and ask if the three of us can go to the park. They have to trust you. You're a doctor! But instead of the park, we go to Brian's house. Then we slap him around a little bit. Presto chango, problem solved!"

Daphne shot her a dubious look. "Sweetie, these are adult problems."

Molly put her hand on her hip. "Oh no! I get enough of that from mom and Joe. If I hear the word 'inappropriate' one more time, I'm going to scream!"

Oddly enough, Phase two of Molly's plan went off without a hitch. It had been so long since Gus had smiled and laughed, which he did the second he saw Molly (and didn't stop). He just stood there grinning and giggling and holding her hand. And Molly had mentioned 'casually' that Daphne was a doctor for Doctors without Borders and had been in Africa for a few years (and was Justin's best friend and an honorary member of the Taylor family). Lindsay and Mel got Daphne's cell number and said just for a few hours, but gave permission. They were kind of happy to have a break. Brian hadn't been over much and hadn't been taking Gus for 'excursions,' not in a while.

Onto Phase three. While Daphne was chatting with Lindsay and Mel, she took Gus (and his treasured cordless phone) out onto the porch. Then she dialed Justin's number.

"Hello!"

"Hi, Jus. It's Molly."

"Hey Mollusk. What's up?"

"I'm lost and alone."

Gus's eyes widened. She wasn't lost. She was on his porch. And he was with her. He started to remind her of that (he didn't want her to be scared), but she put her finger to her lips to shush him.

"What?" Justin got up from the table and walked outside, where it was quieter.

"I went to Brian's by myself. But now I don't know how to get home."

"Holy crap. Okay, just where exactly at Brian's."

"In the hallway upstairs."

"Oh okay. Just stay there. Don't talk to anyone. I'm coming."

Click.

He didn't even say goodbye to Joe.

"Molly, you told a fib. Two fibs. You're gonna get in trouble."

"It's okay. Don't worry."

Minutes later they were headed to Brian's neighborhood.

Unfortunately, Gus couldn't remember the number. Only the street name. So they walked the entire length of it before reaching Brian's building.

More unfortunately, Justin was nearby when Molly called. So he got there first.

When he didn't see Molly in the hallway, Justin knocked. Actually, he pounded. He was so terrified that something had happened to Molly, he wasn't even freaking about the fact that he was about to see Brian for the first time in 60 days.

And when Brian opened the door, he was so surprised (and some other pleasant emotion he would rather not have tried to name) that he didn't much care what had brought Justin there or about anything beyond that moment. He slid one hand behind Justin's neck and pulled a stunned Justin into a rough, desperate kiss.

A couple of minutes later, Molly and company arrived.

Neither Brian nor Justin noticed until Molly let out a whoop. "Suck it, appropriate Joe!"