The two men were in the hallway heading towards the elevator when they heard a feminine voice call out to them. They turned to see Daphne running towards them with Brian's jacket.

"Don't forget this," she said handing it to Brian.

"Thanks darling," he responded with a smile as he slid his jacket back on.

"You guys looked so hot out there," she continued. "You dance really well."

Justin turned to Brian with a questioning look.

"Where did you learn to dance like that? I don't recall seeing that kind of dancing at Babylon."

"It's a mystery," Brian said with a smile.

The two shared a look and all Justin wanted to do was throw himself at him, but he wasn't sure how that would make Daphne feel.

"I'm gonna go walk Brian out and then I'll be back okay?"

That surprised both Daphne and Brian. Brian had expected Justin to come back with him to the loft and Daphne had assumed that Justin would want to do same thing.

"Oh, no," Daphne protested. "Go home with Brian, it's okay."

"I can't leave you here," Justin explained. "We came here together and that's how we should leave. Plus, this is going to be our last time in high school, I can't ditch halfway through."

Daphne smiled at him and Justin looked at Brian.

"You're not upset are you?"

Brian shrugged.

"Nah," he said. "It's your loss."

Justin smiled and Brian took his hand and led him towards the elevator.

"He'll be right back then," Brian said as he pulled Justin along who gave his friend a little wave. They walked into the elevator and Daphne said good-bye to them and headed back. As soon as the elevator's doors closed, Justin flew into Brian's arms and kissed him. Brian was surprised to feel his back come into contact with the steel wall. Justin pulled back and kissed him again, more warmly this time, and then pulled back and slid his arms down until they were wrapped around Brian's waist.

"Have I thanked you for coming yet?" Justin whispered as he re-placed the scarf around his lover.

Brian licked his lips and slowly shook his head. Justin kissed him again and smiled into his mouth until he pulled back again with a large grin on his lips.

"Thank you for coming," he said softly.

Brian smiled.

"Yeah well, what else was I gonna do?"

The elevator bell lightly sounded and the doors opened.

"Besides," Brian said. "The music wasn't half bad."

Playfully, Brian took his hand again and pulled him, laughing, out of the elevator. Their voices echoed through out the garage.

"Don't forget who's takin' you home and in who's arms you're gonna be!"

The two of them laughed as they resumed their dance positions and stumbled towards the jeep. They swung around one another and Justin could not control his smile.

"Did you see their faces?" Justin asked about his peers.

"Yeah," Brian answered. "We gave 'em a prom they'll never forget."

"Me neither," Justin laughed. "It's the best night of my life."

Justin allowed Brian to pin him against his jeep as he once again wrapped the scarf around him and pulled it tight in the front with the both of his hands.

"Even if it was ridiculously romantic," Brian added with a smile.

The older man leaned in to kiss him but before their lips made contact, he paused. Brian waited until Justin locked eyes with him, granting him permission, before he continued forward and kissed him very delicately. When he pulled back, Brian smiled slightly and kissed him again, longer and deeper this time. Pulling back again, he kept his eyes locked on his and pulled him away from the jeep using the scarf. Brian's fingers toyed with the frayed ends of the satin.

"Later," he said.

It was a promise, not a statement.

"Later," Justin said as well in a dreamy voice.

Justin backed away, laughing, with the biggest smile that Brian had ever seen which for the first time made him realize why Debbie called him "Sunshine". Brian opened the door to the jeep and, after one more fleeting glance at Justin, hopped into the driver's side. With a smile on his lips he glanced into the side-view mirror, watching as Justin walked away with the ends of the scarf in each one of his hands and stretched around his back. Brian felt a wondrous feeling of serenity until he viewed another figure coming up behind Justin with a baseball bat in his hand. For a moment of sheer terror, Brian was unable to react, then he flung the door to the jeep open and jumped out.

"JUSTIN!"

The sound of Brian's voice caused Justin's smile-lit face to turn just as the bat went swinging with unbelievable violence into the side of his head. Justin could not register anything other than the searing pain as he fell to the floor and almost immediately began to feel his body shutting down. Brian was running at full speed towards his lover's assailant and roughly shoved his palms into his back as he attempted to escape. Before Brian had seen his face he knew that is was Chris Hobbes.

He'd been nothing but a nightmare to Justin since the very beginning of Justin's sexual realization. Taunting him in the hallways, the locker-room which had resulted in a bloody fight, the classroom which had caused Justin to be suspended and even confronting him outside of Woody's with a group of his fiends. Justin had bravely stood up to him and now the motherfucker had smashed his head in with a bat.

Once the bastard went crashing to the floor, the bat slipped from his grip as he let out a groan and struggled to his feet. Brian paused for a brief moment of thinking and then picked the bat up, and as the teen attempted to flee, he sent it crashing into his knees. Chris screamed in pain and cursed as he fell to the ground again. Brian wanted to beat him senseless with the bat, but instead he rushed to Justin's fallen body. He was lying on his side and Brian dropped to his knees and leaned over him, gently cradling him. The large wound of the side of his golden head was bleeding and all through Justin was breathing, he did not move one inch under Brian's careful touch.

Leaning protectively over him, Brian could feel the panic in his throat threatening come in the surface.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," He frantically muttered. "God!"

Gently, Brian slipped his hand under Justin's knees and turned him over on his back and placed his head in his lap.

"Justin," Brian said. "Jesus, say something."

Upon getting no response he again felt a moment of dread before he remembered his cell phone and reached into his jacket pocket to retrieve it. With quick fingers he dialed 911 and placed the phone to his ear while he stroked Justin's hair, which was matted with blood. Quickly, Brian explained to the operator what had happened, where they were, and that they needed an ambulance now. After the operator informed him that paramedics were on their way, he hung up and put his phone away. The blood was still leaking from Justin's head and Brian pulled the youth up to hold him more closely.

Justin's cheek was resting against his chest and the wound on his head was staining Brian's neck with the boy's blood. Tears were blurring his vision but Brian noticed that Chris Hobbes had somehow managed to crawl away, leaving Brian and his unconscious lover in the garage. Brian placed his lips on Justin's head and tasted blood as he muttered what soothing words he could, all though he wasn't sure if Justin could hear him.

After a painfully long seven minutes, the comforting sound of the siren and the bright flashing lights filled the concrete lot. The white van stopped beside the two men and three paramedics in uniform stepped from the vehicle and rushed to them. One of them immediately kneeled beside Brian who was holding Justin as he lay silent in his arms as the other two opened the back doors of the ambulance and pulled a stretcher out. After Brian once again explained what happened, they carefully pulled Justin from his embrace, lifted him, and laid him flat on his back on the thin mattress.

Fearing shock they covered him with a thick blanket and lifted the stretcher into the van. One of the medics asked if Brian wanted to come along. Immediately, he jumped into the ambulance and took his place at Justin's side, next to the boy's bleeding head. He watched as they placed him in a neck brace and covered his beautiful face with an oxygen mask. The medics tried to speak to Brian again about what had happened, but he was barely able to respond. Instead, Brian reached forward and clasped Justin's lifeless hand in his own and looked at his face which was covered by the plastic of the mask. Brian was unconsciously waiting to feel Justin apply pressure to his grip, but he never felt anything.