Family Matters

Chapter Seven

Gus and Brian entered the diner and Gus followed his dad into the booth in the back corner of the room. Brian looked around to see who was working, and of course, Debbie was heading in their direction. She pushed Brian further into the booth and sat down.

"Heya, boys," she smiled, snapping her gum.

"Deb, should you really still be working these long hours?" Brian asked, concern in his voice. Debbie waved her hand at him.

"Don't worry about me, honey, I'll be fine. I'm only working the night shift today, I'm off at 10," she said. Brian nodded, but made a mental note to talk to Carl about the hours Deb was working. Debbie looked over at Gus, who was just kind of sitting there. Gus smiled.

"You might as well tell her the story, dad. Otherwise she'll just sit there and stare at me like that," Gus said. Deb looked surprised, and Brian laughed.

"I wasn't staring," she said.

"Yes you were," Brian agreed. Deb rolled her eyes. "Why don't we order our food, and then you can take a break. Sit here and talk with us," Brian suggested. Deb rolled her eyes again.

"Brian, I don't need a fucking break!" she insisted. Brian held up his hands.

"Fine, fine. I just thought you could sit here with us and we'd tell you the story. I mean, it's not a two second kind of thing," Brian said. Deb sighed.

"Fine," she stood up, and took out her pad and pen. "What can I get you?" she asked.

Brian and Gus ordered their food, Gus a double bacon cheeseburger with fries, Brian a turkey sandwich on wheat, no mayo. Debbie insisted on serving it to them, too, and then she'd take her break. The bell over the door dinged, and Brian glanced over at the door, surprised to see Michael and Ben enter.

Michael walked into the diner and saw Brian sitting at their table in the back corner. He noticed that Brian was sitting opposite some brunet, but he couldn't see the guy's face. He headed over with Ben in tow.

"Brian!" Michael leaned over giving Brian a hug and kiss. Brian smiled.

"Hey, Mikey. Professor," Brian smiled. All the years he knew Ben, yet he still called him Professor. Ben smiled.

"Brian, nice to see you," Ben said. Michael turned to look at Brian's guest and his mouth dropped open.

"Holy shit," Michael said. Gus raised an eyebrow, and Brian laughed.

"Well, sonnyboy, if you ever doubted that you looked like me, I think you've been reminded every time you see someone new," Brian said. Gus smiled.

"Brian … what … how …," Michael looked from Gus to Brian, then back to Gus. Gus couldn't help but laugh. Debbie came up to them with their food.

"Double bacon cheeseburger with fries for you, and the usual for you," Debbie said, putting their plates down. She turned to Michael. "You remember the other day here? When you told me that there was no possible way that kid was Gus?" she asked, and Michael nodded. Debbie reached up and smacked the back of his head. "You were wrong!" Brian laughed, shaking his head. Deb pushed Michael aside and sat down next to Brian again.

"Ow, Ma!" Michael said. Gus scooted further into the booth so that someone else could sit down. Ben slid in next to him, and Michael slid in next to Ben.

"So, Brian, this is your son?" Ben asked, glancing next to him, then over at Brian. Brian nodded.

"Yeah, that's Gus. And he can talk, too, you know," Brian said with a slight smirk on his face. Michael glanced over at him.

"So that was you in the diner that day!" Michael said. Gus nodded.

"I had just gotten in Pittsburgh, and my friend noticed this place, and wanted to stop to get something to eat," Gus said.

"You never did tell me how you found the house. Because I'm sure Melanie wasn't going to tell you that I moved, because then she'd have to admit to me giving her all the new information," Brian said, taking a bite of his sandwich. Gus nodded.

"I went into the address book that she kept in her drawer. The one that my other mom used to use when she was still alive," Gus said. He noticed the sad look cross Brian's face when he mentioned Lindsay. "Sorry, I keep forgetting that you knew her. I never got the chance to," he said quietly. Brian shook his head.

"Don't be sorry … I just miss her, that's all. You can keep going," Brian said. Gus nodded.

"So, the address for you in there was in some old building on the corner of Tremont. So, that's what I entered into the navigational system in my car. I left in the middle of the night, so that mom couldn't stop me. I called Jeff, and he came with me," he looked at Ben and Michael. "Jeff's my best friend … he's the guy that was here with me that time," he informed them. They nodded, and he continued.

"So we went to that building on Tremont, and pushed the button for the sixth floor. No one answered, so we went inside when someone came outside. The door to the loft on the sixth floor was open, so we went inside, and it was empty. Real nice place, though," Gus smiled at Brian. Brian laughed.

"I still own that building. I just don't' feel right renting out that loft," Brian shrugged.

"It's nice. Anyway, then we came into the diner, and I looked you up in the phonebook. There was a different address there, so I wrote it down on a napkin, and I was going to enter that into my navigational system, but then Debbie came over and asked me who I was," Gus said. Debbie laughed.

"Well, Michael said that you weren't you, but I swore that you were," she said. Brian laughed at how strange that sentence sounded.

"And Deb told me how to get to your house. And … I went," Gus shrugged.

"But why did it take you so long to come here? I mean … it's been like 18 or 19 years, right?" Michael asked.

"I came as soon as I could. But I was coming to get answers. Apparently, my mother lied to me for 18 years about dad. She told me that he didn't want me. And that he never tried to see me," Gus informed Ben, Michael, and Deb.

"Why the fuck would she say something like that? Brian tried for years to see you!" Deb said. Gus nodded.

"I know that now. I don't know why she lied," he said, shrugging again.

"What did she say when you confronted her about it?" Michael asked. He couldn't believe that Melanie would be such a bitch about it.

"Um … I haven't really confronted her, yet. She called me earlier today, and I wasn't ready to confront her about it, so I told her not to call me again, that I'll call her when I'm ready," Gus said. Ben shook his head.

"I never knew Melanie, but I'm sure she had some kind of a reason behind what she did," Ben suggested. Brian rolled his eyes.

"Ben, you can be as zen as you want to, but what Melanie did was wrong," Brian said. Everyone else at the table agreed, and Ben shrugged.

"Well, the important thing is that he's here now, and he knows we love him," Debbie said, reaching across the table and pinching Gus' cheek. Brian shook his head, laughing.

"So how long are you staying, Gus?" Michael asked. Gus shrugged.

"I don't know. I mean, I never really gave much thought to staying. I thought I would get here, get the answers I wanted, then leave. I never even imagined that I'd stay," he admitted.

"Well, you know that you're welcome for as long as you want to stay," Brian said. Gus smiled, nodding.

"I know. And we'll see how long that ends up being," he said. Brian's cell phone rang, and he pulled it out, smiling when he saw the number.

"Yes, dear?" he answered in a high voice. Gus smirked, rolling his eyes as he ate more of his burger.

"Hey. Where are you guys?" Justin asked.

"We're at the diner. Gus got hungry, so we stopped to get something to eat," Brian explained.

"Oh. Well, thanks for letting me know not to plan on your for dinner," Justin joked. Brian rolled his eyes.

"Oh please. I know you, Jus. You probably ordered something in because you didn't feel like cooking," he said with a smile.

"Yeah. Pizza. Hey, bring home some lemon bars," Justin said.

"Alright. We should be leaving here in a few minutes. I'll see you when we get home."

"Okay. See you then. Love you," Justin said, causing Brian to smile.

"Love you, too. Bye," Brian hung up. Debbie shook her head.

"I still can't believe that Brian Kinney's a married man," she said with a smile. Brian rolled his eyes, putting his cell phone away.

"Yeah, well, even the craziest get tamed somehow," Ben said with a smile. Brian smiled as well.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said, glancing down at the ring on his finger. "Who'd of thunk it?" he smiled.

End Chapter Seven
09-30-05