Healing Hearts at Heartland

By: Ryu Katanna

Beta:

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Two

Lisa quietly entered the room with the key she'd picked up at the reception desk downstairs. She gently set down her suitcase inside before softly closing and locking the door behind her. It had been a long flight from Calgary, and she felt exhausted. Yesterday had been a good day before she'd gotten the call from her nephew.

After hearing what Justin had to say, Lisa honestly couldn't understand what her sister or her brother-in-law were thinking. It felt like both of her sisters as well as their husbands had lost the plot at some point. Her other sister, Mary, and her now ex-husband had been fighting for a long time before they'd gone through a messy divorce just over two years ago. Poor Ben had been stuck in the middle as his parents fought over any scraps they could get out of each other. Then, once the divorce had been finalized he had been shipped off to boarding school so neither one of them needed to deal with him. Now, Justin had been told to get out simply because he was gay, and refused to pretend he wasn't?

Oh, Lisa didn't doubt what Justin had told her over the phone the night before. Her nephew may have been prone to dramatizing things, but she'd never known him to lie. She couldn't say that she liked the idea of Justin having a twenty-nine-year-old boyfriend either. Was he even his boyfriend? Regardless, Justin was of legal age though he had a little more than two months yet before he would be a legal adult.

Even so, she suspected that the man he was seeing was only a part of the bigger issue his parents were having with recent events. It had sounded more like the issue was his being gay at all. Otherwise, Craig wouldn't have made such stipulations for Justin to continue living at home. Lisa was honestly shocked that her sister had supported those demands. She could understand that Jennifer just wanted to maintain the status quo in her home. Lisa and Mary were both divorced, and Jennifer had commented on how she was the only one of the sisters to have maintained a stable household.

Lisa had suspected that Justin may not have been attracted to girls for two years now. He'd never looked at girls that way from what she'd seen. He had never said anything about girls in her hearing. She had noticed him watching one or two of the more attractive male stable hands though. It honestly hadn't surprised Lisa when he'd told her last night. The only thought she'd had on the subject was that she had been right.

Looking around the dimly lit room, Lisa placed her bag on the foot of the empty bed. The room was a simple one with two queen beds, a desk, and small tv. One bed was empty, but she could see Justin's bare back on the other. He was laying on his stomach with the pillow bunched up over his head and the blanket resting halfway up his back. Watching the steady rise and fall of his breathing soothed her from the worry she'd been feeling for almost eleven hours now.

Lisa sat down on the edge of the empty bed with a small smile of relief as she took off her shoes. She got comfortable as the tension she'd felt in her chest and shoulders finally ease. Justin was alright, and Lisa was determined he would continue to be one way or another. She was determined to support Justin through this as it seemed that her sister had taken leave of her senses.

Lisa lived a good life. She couldn't complain as she'd found her passion. Yet, children of her own were something that she had never been blessed with. After her divorce from Dan, she'd even been thankful not to have kids as she would never want to put a child through what her nephew Ben was going through. It just made her care more for her nephews and niece.

Opening her bag, Lisa pulled out her laptop and took her phone out of her purse. She would wait for Justin to wake up on his own. She was a bit tired but had gotten some sleep on the plane. She wanted to be ready for whatever happened when they went to speak with Jennifer and Craig. To do that she would have to make a few calls. Starting with her lawyer just in case things went south.

123

"You still can't function in the morning without coffee." Lisa chuckled an hour later as Justin struggled to sit up with a groan.

"Aunt Lisa... When did you get in?" Justin mumbled the question sleepily before reaching out to hug her from the edge of the bed.

"About an hour ago. I got a few things done instead of waking you. Get dressed and we can go get coffee ad food. Show me this diner you went to last night." She replied as she returned the hug before nudging him to get up and changed.

"Kay..." He mumbled again before pushing himself off of the bed and grabbing his duffle bag as he stumbled on the way to the bathroom.

Justin took a quick shower as he started to feel a little bit more alive. It had taken him almost an hour to get to the hotel the night before because he'd been a few minutes late for the bus and then the next one had been running late. He'd laid awake for a while staring at the ceiling once he'd gone to bed. His mind circled as he thought about Brian and what might happen once his aunt got there.

Getting dressed, he rearranged his bag before checking himself in the mirror and running his comb through his hair. Justin left the bathroom feeling a little more awake though he was looking forward to his caffeine fix to give him some much-needed energy. That's when he paused. Lisa had said something about going to get coffee and then...

"You want to go to Liberty Diner?" He asked in surprise that she would want to go there.

"Of course. I want to see where you spend your time. Maybe meet some of the people you know. I wanted to thank Mrs. Novotney as well. She told me a bit about what had been happening from her perspective when I spoke to her on the phone last night, and she spoke to your mother in support of you. I would like to meet her if that's alright." Lisa explained as she tied her shoes, and he noticed that she had changed into fresh clothing while he'd been in the shower.

"Oh, it's fine. I just didn't know if you'd be comfortable going down to Liberty Ave. It's very... colorful and different from what you and mom are used to. Mom looked very uncomfortable the few times I saw her go there looking for me." Justin admitted as he picked up his shoes before sitting down on the bed he'd slept in to put them on.

"It's somewhere you like spending your time, isn't it? Somewhere you're comfortable to just be yourself?" Lisa asked seriously as she picked up her purse and waited as he tied his shoes.

"Well... Yeah. There's no one there judging me for not being straight, or telling me I need to be a certain way. The people I've met, Brian and his friends, they've been good to me. Even Michael; Brian's best friend and Debbie's son. He kind of swings between hating me, tolerating me, and maybe kinda liking me... But he's never been intentionally cruel the way dad sometimes is." Justin explained before looking up at her as she smiled.

"Then I want to go, and maybe meet them if I can. I'm on your side. I want to know the part of your life that I'll be defending to your parents." Lisa said as she patted his shoulder and nudged him toward the door.

"Thanks. Okay. We'll go to the diner. How are the horses doing?" Justin asked since it had been a few months since he'd been there.

"Good. Really good. Some of the foals are starting to wean so I've been busy." Lisa replied with a bright smile at his interest as they made their way out of the hotel to her rental car.

"Has Dash placed in any more races now that his regular jockey is back?" Justin asked as he remembered ridding Dashing Duke as a jockey in two races for fun last summer.

It had been fun, and they had placed second in one of those races and fourth in the other. He had loved being given the opportunity by his Uncle Dan, Lisa's ex-husband, when his usual jockey had been away for a family emergency. Dan could be a bit of a dick sometimes, but he'd always made an effort to support Justin's interest in horses.

"He placed second and third in the last two." Lisa said as she unlocked the car and they got in.

"How's Uncle Dan been doing? I didn't get the chance to see him for the last few weeks before I came home." Justin said knowing that though Lisa and Dan had gotten divorced a while ago that they were still business partners; he still called him his uncle because that was his relationship to Justin for most of his life.

"He's doing well enough. Having some trouble with Gallant Prince after a barn fire." Lisa admitted as Justin pointed out which direction to take.

"Gallant Prince? Wasn't I there when he was born? I think I was. Gorgeous dark brown coat and a white diamond on his forehead... He knocked me over when he walked right into me on clumsy legs. He acted like I wasn't even there." Justin laughed at the memory before sobering when Lisa spoke.

"You're right. Well, Dan is retiring him now. He was burned pretty badly in the fire. He's still healing, but he's become easily spooked and his behavior is unpredictable. Dan wants to retire him to the stud farm, but it's going to depend on how well he recovers." She said and Justin felt sorry for that horse.

"I hope he does. It's a left up here. What about Ben? How's he been? I haven't seen him since Aunt Mary and Uncle Paul divorced." Justin asked about his cousin who was almost a year younger than him.

"I know it's not been easy on him, and being pushed into going to boarding school hasn't helped. I think he'd be happy to see you if we can't sort this out with your parents and you come home with me. You don't get to see each other much these last two summers, but you've always gotten along. I think I need to go right here, don't I? It's been a while since I was in Pittsburgh..." Lisa said as she slowed at the light to turn.

"Yeah. Then Liberty is just another five blocks." Justin told her as he could already see the difference in this neighborhood to others with the colors becoming more vibrant.

"This it?" Lisa asked as she motioned to the diner once she'd pulled onto the street.

"Yeah." He confirmed as he undid his belt while she parked on the side of the street.

"Wow. There are a lot of people out and about." Lisa said as she looked around to see many people in all manner of dress and colors mixing and mingling as they moved along the sidewalk on both sides of the street.

"You should see it at night when the bars and clubs are open. Deb is here. So are some of the guys." Justin told her as he looked into the windows of the diner.

"Good. Well, let's get some coffee and breakfast." Lisa smiled as she followed him through the door.

"Baby!" Justin looked up at the familiar voice; only one person called him that.

"Emmett, hey. Good morning Ted." he greeted them as he walked over to the table where the two of them were seat when Emmett scooted over and waved for him to sit with them.

"Oh, I'm so happy to see you. Michael told me about what happened when he came home last night. I was worried after hearing that Brian had thrown you out like that." Emmett said as he wrapped his arms around Justin's shoulders and Ted moved over to make room for Lisa when he noticed she was with him.

"I'm alright. Guys, this is my Aunt, Lisa Stillman. She flew in this morning when I called to tell her what's been going on. Aunt Lisa, these two are Emmett Honeycutt and Ted Schmidt." Justin said as he introduced them once they were seated.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Stillman." Ted said with a nod and Lisa smiled as she shook her head.

"Please, both of you can call me Lisa. It's nice to meet you. I hope we're not intruding." She said as she set down her purse.

"Oh, not at all. We meet here most days for food and gossip. Justin said you flew in this morning. Where is it you were coming from? The only one from his family we've met was his dad, and well..." Emmett trailed off, but that was enough to know what he didn't say.

"Yes, Justin has told me about that. I'm his mother's sister, and I flew in from Calgary." She answered easily as she avoided talking about Craig because she knew that her brother-in-law had been doing himself no favors.

"Oooh! Big sky country! I heard that the mountains out west are absolutely gorgeous." Emmett replied with a big smile as he clapped his hands in front of him.

"They really are. Aunt Lisa owns Fairfield Stables and breeds horses. Her stables are famous for putting out some of the best thoroughbred race horses in the country." Justin told him and Ted's brows raised in interest at seeing a different side to the teen as he lit up.

"Sunshine! I'm sorry I didn't see you come in. Here. Coffee. You must be Ms. Stillman. Hi, I'm Debbie Novotny. I spoke to you last night. I'm happy you came all this way for your nephew. He's had a hard time of it lately." Debbie said brightly as she set two cups in front of them; bussing Justin's cheek in greeting and leaving a mark from her red lipstick.

"It's nice to meet you in person, Mrs. Novotny. It looks like you're quite busy this morning." Lisa said as she didn't see anyone else working the floor, and they were busy with the breakfast rush.

"Oh, please, it's just Debbie. It's going to be a minute. We just had one of our staff up and quit on us. I can take your order now. Do you want your usual, Sunshine?" Debbie asked as Justin was almost inhaling his coffee as he tried and failed to get the lipstick off by rubbing at it until Emmett handed him a napkin he'd wet from his water glass.

"Yeah, and more coffee." He replied as he held up the cup to show them it was already mostly empty.

"I'm assuming you've been to your Aunt's stables from the way you talk about it. Does that mean you know how to ride a horse, Justin?" Ted asked in curiosity once Lisa had given Debbie her order and left to put them in.

"I've always gone to Aunt Lisa's for the summers since I was little. I grew up around horses, so yeah, I can ride them. I love it." Just said with a bright smile only to blush a bit Lisa spoke.

"He's very good, too. Just this last summer he was a replacement jockey for my ex-husband and placed second in one of the two races and fourth in the other. He's also won several show jumping ribbons since he started competing in the summer events several years ago. Don't let him fool you. He's quite skilled on a horse." She teased at seeing his embarrassment.

"Baby is so talented! First with art and with horses too?!" Emmett cheered as he patted Justin's cheek and kissed his temple playfully; taking advantage of the fact that Brian wasn't there as it was something he wouldn't have allowed without pulling the blond away.

"My love for horses comes second to my art. I've been wanting to try dressage, but a few months in the summer isn't enough time to train." Justin said with a small pout.

"Dressage? What is that?" Ted asked in some confusion; he would be the first one to admit that he knew nothing about horses of horse shows.

"Dressage is a discipline where the horses and riders ride through a predetermined test or pattern. They're judged on their demonstration of control, rhythm, suppleness, and the horse's willingness to execute everything that the test calls for." Lisa said and Justin shook his head when he could see that both men still looked a bit confused.

"I think dressage is almost a form of art. When trained well, and both the horse and its rider are in sync, it's like watching a dance. The jumpers I rode in shows were mostly colts or a filly that I would train before Aunt Lisa would sell them to others. There was no point in training a horse of my own to compete when I could only be there for the summer." Justin explained as Debbie returned with their food and refilled their coffee.

What's this about horses?" Deb asked, choosing not to make any wisecracks in case Justin's aunt was as uncomfortable as his mother had been, though she certainly didn't show it if she was.

"Apparently baby has been holding out on us. Lisa here was just singing his praises when it comes to horsemanship." Emmett replied with a bit of a flourish toward Justin.

"Really? That's great, sweetie." Debbie smiled as she pinched his cheek and Justin grumbled in embarrassment.

"Debbie, could you spare a moment to talk before we leave? I'd like to know what my sister had to say when you spoke to her before I go to confront her and her husband." Lisa said as she cut her pancakes into bite-sized pieces.

"I get off in an hour. We can talk then if you don't mind waiting. Lord knows that boy needs someone on his side that can deal with his parents. Heaven knows I've tried talking to Jennifer." Debbie said and Lisa nodded in agreement.

"We can wait. I'm not taking Justin to school today because we're going to talk to his parents. Depending on what happens with them then we'll see about addressing the harassment he's been getting at school." Lisa said firmly at the thought that the school hadn't done anything, and because she knew these things tended to escalate if not addressed.

"On that note, I need to get to work." Ted said as he looked at his watch.

"Ah! You're right, Teddy. I'm going to be late if I don't hurry." Emmett agreed, and both Lisa and Justin stood to let them out as they tossed money on the table.

"Well, it was nice meeting you both."Lisa smiled with a small nod.

"You as well." Ted replied before leaving, and Emmett wrapped Justin in a hug.

"Good luck with your dad, Justin." He said before he hurried out as well.

For the next hour the two finished breakfast before continuing to enjoy their coffee as they caught up with each other; talking about things that had happened over the last few months. The time passed quickly as Debbie stopped by once to clear away the dishes and collect the bill before clocking out and coming to sit with them with a cup of her own and a fresh refill. Justin mostly stayed quiet as Lisa and Debbie spoke about his mom; only speaking up a few times with his own thoughts.

123

Justin just felt numb as he closed the car door behind him and pulled his bag into his lap. It was all pointless. He had gone with his Aunt Lisa to see if he could change his mom and dad's minds with her help. In the end, nothing changed.

His dad refused to be reasoned with, and his mom had supported her husband. Aunt Lisa's presence, which he had thought would make them listen, had done nothing but further aggravate his dad with her defense of Justin. Craig had started yelling while Jennifer tried to play peacekeeper, but had also told her sister to stay out of it. Aunt Lisa was not a confrontational person by nature, but she had remained firmly in his corner. Hurtful things had been said on both sides, and the only thing that had changed was that Justin had lost all hope of ever working things out with his parents. He would never be welcome in his parent's home unless he pretended to be straight and denied who he was.

Aunt Lisa had stood up for him, and said that was no way to live.

In the end, Aunt Lisa had firmly told his mother that Justin would be going home with her. Lisa had already had paperwork drawn up for her to have guardianship of him until he turned eighteen with her lawyer. It wasn't really even needed, but Lisa's lawyer had wanted her to make sure she was covered legally. Luckily, Justin was a dual citizen of Canada as that was where his mother had been born so he could live there for more than six months without needing to go through all the bureaucracy.

"You know, mom only agreed because she thinks that I'll have to give up on Brian if I live so far away." He said a few minutes after Lisa had started driving away from the house.

"That may be true, but I think she also wants to know that you're safe. She loves you, Justin. She's just in a difficult position. She knows Craig is being unreasonable, but she's trying to preserve her marriage for Molly's sake." She said quietly as she turned toward the hotel.

"I can understand where she's coming from when it comes to the man you've been seeing. I also think he's too old for you, but it's your life. Neither Jen nor I can live it for you. You'll be eighteen in a few months and you know your own mind. If you want to pursue something with him then I know there's nothing either of us could do to stop you. Whether you choose to continue something with him or not, I don't think it's right what Craig is doing. The things he said turn my stomach. Justin, you always have a home with me that you can come to. I will never tell you that you're not welcome just because you're gay." Lisa said, and Justin felt some of the tension drain from him at her support.

"Thanks, Aunt Lisa. What do we do now?" He asked as she pulled into the parking lot of the hotel.

"Well, I've already had my lawyer draw up the paperwork just in case things went south. I'll get us plane tickets for our flight and we can leave tomorrow evening after visiting your school to get your transcripts. Jen said she would talk to them today so they would have them ready." Lisa told him as they entered their hotel room.

"At least mom let me get some of my things before dad could throw them out." Justin said with a sigh as he placed the bag on 'his' bed.

"That you're laptop?" She asked as he unzipped it and started pulling things out.

"Yeah, and my camera. A few of my sketch pads and any pictures I could find. Some clothes." He said as he set them out to organize everything since he hadn't had time and had just thrown them in so he could get out of the house as quickly as possible.

"Is this Brian?" Lisa asked as she picked up one of the pictures that he'd pulled out.

"Yeah. That was taken at Woodys. It's one of the bars on Liberty where the guys hang out and play pool." Justin smiled as he looked over at the picture of the two of them; Justin smiling with Brian's arm wrapped possessively around him as he bit his ear and smirked at the camera.

"He's certainly attractive. You look happy." Lisa said with a small smile at how relaxed Justin looked in the picture.

"It was a good night." He replied as he picked up his duffle bag to add the clothes into and shuffled his sketch pads and shoebox of photos into his other bag so that only his school books and materials remained in his backpack.

"Who are these two with the baby?" Lisa asked as she picked up another picture of a blonde woman holding a baby while wrapped in the arms of another woman with short brown hair.

"Lindsay and he partner Melanie with their son Gus. Gus is also Brian's son." Justin said with a smile as he looked at the photo that had been taken in their living room before handing her another one where Brian was holding a sleeping Gus and looking down at him tenderly; though the man would deny it.

"He has a son?" Lisa asked in surprise as she accepted the photo from him to look at them both.

"Lindsay is an old friend of Brian's from college. She asked Brian to be the father when she and Mel decided they wanted to have a baby. I met Brian on the night Gus was born, and he took me with him to the hospital." Justin told her as he watched her for any disapproval which he didn't find.

"Gus? Wasn't that the name of your teddy bear when you were little? You used to drag it everywhere with you." She said as she remembered, and he smiled sheepishly as he pulled the old bear that was still in good condition out of the bag.

"Melanie wanted to name him Abraham, but Lindsay liked Gus. Brian asked what I thought, and well, he wouldn't have survived a day at school being named Abraham. Actually, could we stop at Lindsay and Mel's before we leave? I wanted to give this to Gus." Justin explained and Lisa nodded in agreement.

"Of course. We can go right after breakfast tomorrow."

123456

Alright, I will admit that I have tried to find Hudson (Where the show takes place.) on a map. I had thought that I'd found it, but then they mentioned it being an hour away from Calgary in the show. The only Hudson near Calgary is three hours away on the map. I'm just going to go with what the show says.

I like to try to be as accurate as I can with details and tidbits of information as I can. If anyone were to look at my web browser's search history they would probably wonder about my mental state. Lol. If information such as laws, geography, etc are made up then I say so.

Justin in this story will be a bit more mature in his way of thinking than he was at this age in the series. The reason for this is that he grew up a bit differently having spent summers with his aunt. In the series, he kind of regresses from season one to season two due to the trauma from the bashing. Without that, I don't think he would have lost sight of what he and Brian had. In season one he was able to read Brian's nonverbal cues better than after the bashing, and this is what led him to be unsure of Brian's feelings. Thus leading to the Ethan saga. Bleh.

Anyway, I hope you like chapter two. We'll have a bit of a time skip starting in chapter three with more going forward.

~Ryu