Mo Chuisle Mo Chroí Chapter 12/?
Author: Magos186
Summary: On the verge of losing Justin, Brian decides to take him away. Can the two find their way back together while they're away from "helpful" suggestions from their family? Or will Justin disappear on him once they return...This is a season 2 AU.
Word Count: 3,106
Disclaimer: I don’t own them. Closest I come is the dvd. They’re just fun to play with.
A/N: In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I give you a new chapter of MCMC. Enjoy. This would have been up a few hours ago but had to break to do the traditional corned beef and cabbage with the fam.
WARNING: Here there be lots of swearing and Novotny/Peterson-Marcus bashing. Unbetaed so all mistakes are my own.
Justin looked out the window as the plane descended and sighed. He and Brian had made amazing progress while they were away. They were closer than they had been before and both had relearned how to read the other. Justin was happier than ever, but now they were back in the Pitts, he was afraid he was going to lose everything. Brian promised monogamy and in Ireland, sure he could believe that, but in Pittsburgh there are dozens upon dozens of guys wanting to hook up with Brian, plus his “friends” who push him into going to the clubs and hooking up all the time…The blond was just afraid that he would fall by the wayside again.
“Nothing’s going to change,” Brian whispered, taking his lover’s hand. “I know you’re worried, but I have never lied to you before. I’m not about to start now. We are in this together. No one else belongs in our relationship. And the only person aside from Mámó, Tommy, and us who will even have a key to the building is Ted. The locks have been changed. There is now a security system for the whole building. To even get passed the lobby door, you need to input the security code. I let everyone come between us before and I almost lost you. I’m not letting that happen again,” he vowed, staring into the blonde’s eyes. “And if I ever mess up, Mámó will be there to kick my ass and make me apologize,” he said with a smirk. Justin laughed at that and pecked him on the lips. “Let’s go home Sunshine.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The boys made it back to the apartment within minutes of each other. Due to their insane amount of luggage, they had to take two cabs. Between them, they each had 3 suitcases; Brian’s filled mostly with clothes, while Justin had only one for clothes. The other two were dedicated to souvenirs, gifts, and drawings. He had done several paintings while at Brianna’s as well. One was a gift for Tommy and the other four had been shipped back and retrieved by Ted. On top of their own suitcases, the boys also had 4 belonging to Brianna. They held her most fragile and beloved things that she didn’t trust the shippers not to break. And seeing as how the boys had been loaned the Liberty Air jet on which to fly back, her belongings would be safe enough with them. She decided to take a later flight, claiming that she had a few friends yet to say goodbye to. Well, that’s what she told her grandson. In truth, Brianna had taken an earlier flight and was in Pittsburgh before the boys even arrived.
Brianna decided that before her Mickey returned home, she wanted to have a chat with some of his “friends.” She needed Justin for her plan and he agreed to help, although he was sad he would miss what sounded like an excellent showdown.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mel heard knocking and answered the front door to find Michael and his mother standing there. “What are you doing here?” She asked, surprised.
“Justin called and said to come here-that it had something to do with Brian,” Deb replied.
“He said that he needed to talk to Lindsay and me about Brian, but he didn’t say you were coming. I wonder what’s going on. Well, come on in. I’m sure he’ll explain when he gets here.”
The two followed Mel into the house and explained their presence to Linds, who had been waiting in the kitchen. Between the four of them, they tried to figure out exactly what was going on, but nothing they came up with made sense. Finally after twenty minutes of waiting, the doorbell rang. The group all got up and rushed to the door. A woman was standing on the other side. She was about Justin’s height, her fading red hair, infused with streaks of gray, was in a thick braid that rested over her shoulder, extending almost to her hip. Her hazel eyes were dark with determination, her face expressionless. “Good, you’re all here,” she said, a thick brogue coloring her voice.
“Excuse me, but who are you?” Lindsay asked politely.
“I’m the one who called this meeting with the help of Justin. I’d like to talk to you all.”
No one said anything, but they did move aside so she could enter the house. Lindsay helped her remove her coat and hung it up, before motioning to the others to enter the living room. Mel, Lindsay, and Michael sat together on the couch, while Debbie sat in the chair next to it. The mystery woman remained standing, staring at the group. “What the hell is going on? Who the hell are you? And how do you know Justin?” Debbie demanded, unable to hold the questions in any longer.
“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brianna Katherine O’Malley Dunn.”
“Great,” Michael replied with a tight smile. “What the fuck does this have to do with Brian?”
“You must be Michael,” she replied with a humorless laugh. “My daughter is Joan Margaret Dunn, but you know her better as Joan Kinney.”
There was a collective gasp as the four realized just what that meant. The three women were too stunned to speak, but Michael wasn’t. “No way. Brian would have told me if he had a grandmother. He’s my best friend. He tells me everything (Brianna scoffed at that) and he never told me about you.”
“Did you honestly expect him to? Does he tell you where he disappears to every summer? Does he talk to you about his relationship with Justin? Does he tell you how he feels? Of course not. And do you know why? Because you don’t ever listen to him. He tells you the truth when you need to hear it and you call him an asshole. As for relationships, you tell him to grow up but you continually try to drive him and Justin apart by saying he doesn’t do love or boyfriends. Besides, what would you know of those? You get yourself a boyfriend and then walk around like you’re better than everyone else because you’ve settled down and they haven’t. You’re no friend to him. And let’s be honest here. None of you have ever cared about what my Mi-uh Brian, has felt. You don’t think he knows how to feel.”
“Now wait just a goddamn minute,” Debbie said loudly as she stood, pointing her famous finger at Brianna. “First off, how dare you talk to my son like that!? And second, how can we worry about Mr. Insensitive’s feelings if he never shows any?”
“Don’t you dare insult my grandson you loudmouthed, overbearing fool! Your son deserves much worse than a tongue lashing if you ask me. For years he has treated my grandson like shit. He constantly belittles my boy when my boy is more mature than yours will ever be. And you are no better. How many times have you blamed my Brian for things your son has done wrong? Every single time your son does something idiotic, something that has nothing to do with my grandson, you are the first to jump down Brian’s throat blaming him. I’ve got news for you lassie. Look to your right. Your son is responsible for his own damn life. He’s a grown man and his mistakes are his mistakes! My Brian has never been at fault! Your pathetic, whiny little son is the one making all the mistakes! So you stop blaming my boy and treating him like shit! Brian is a good man, a kind man. He is the one you all turn to for help, yet no matter how much he helps, you treat him like shit. You call him an asshole. Do you honestly believe that doesn’t hurt him? To hear the woman he’s always considered a mother call him an asshole…he had a hard enough life living with Joan and her demon husband. He doesn’t need to be abused by you too!”
That shut Debbie up fast. She fell back onto the chair, looking like she’d just been slapped. In all the years she’s known Brian, she never once thought like that. Her mind began replaying time after time that Michael did something wrong and instead of blaming her own son and making him take responsibility for his actions, she blamed Brian. She was beginning to understand now just how much her actions affected him and she felt her heart break. She would need to talk to him soon and apologize.
When Brianna saw that Debbie had been sufficiently berated, she turned towards the group on the couch. She ignored Michael completely, knowing he wouldn’t retain anything she told him. He was a horrible excuse for a man and an even worse excuse for a friend. “As for you two,” she said, pointing at the girls, “You are the worst women I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. I have quite a few things to say to you both. First off being that you should be counting your blessings instead of complaining constantly. My boy has done a great deal for you and he deserves your respect. He gave you a wedding. Without him, it never would have happened. He gave you a son, but that never should have happened. When the baby’s born, you let my boy interact with him, but he’s limited. Still, once you noticed Brian falling in love with his child, you force him to take out a million dollar life insurance policy. As if that wasn’t enough, you force him to give up his rights to his own child. And even after you put him through all that heartache, you still get money from him. Now, I understand that he wanted to help pay for things for his child, but you both have taken such advantage of his generosity it’s not even funny. I’ve raised four children and let me tell you, it does not cost thousands of dollars a month to take care of them. If you need a nanny, you should not be asking Brian for money to pay for one. Now let me tell you both something. My grandson is worth so much more than you even know, both as a person and in terms of money. But as of now, your gravy train stops. You are not going to get one more penny from my grandson. And if you think he’s going to object, guess again. You two decided to have a baby. You two decided to raise him. You two decided to take away my boy’s parental rights. When you did that, Brian was no longer obligated to pay anything. If you weren’t financially ready to have a child then you should have waited until you were able to take care of it yourselves. As you love to remind him, he was just the sperm donor. He has no reason to give you money any longer and he won’t. You gave him the one thing he never wanted and then you took that away from him. Far as I’m concerned you two can go rot.
“And don’t think I’m finished. That’s just my speech for you as a couple. I have a few things to say to you individually. I’ll start with you Melanie. I understand that you’re very stubborn and hard headed. You’ve had to work extremely hard not only as a woman, but also as a lesbian, to get ahead in your career. That being said...back the hell off my grandson. You think that he hasn’t worked just as hard as you? You think just because he has money now that he hasn’t worked extremely hard to earn it? Brian’s home was about as broken as one can be. God forgive me for saying this, but his mother is an uncaring drunk and his father was just as bad. He barely survived that household. Do you know how we met? I was contacted by child services because his father beat him so bad one night he almost died. He was in a coma for a week. Do you know how old he was? Nine. He was just a little boy being beaten because his father was an angry drunk. However that never stopped Jack from going to him for money later on.
“Brian barely made it out of that house alive. He worked his tail off in school, getting straight A’s all through high school while working two jobs and playing soccer. He got a full scholarship to Penn State not only for soccer, but for academics as well. In college he worked just as hard as high school, accepting no help from anyone, not even me. He put himself through graduate school as well. When he got the job at Ryder, he was so low on the rankings he was equivalent to a mail boy, but he worked his way up the ladder. He is brilliant at what he does, that’s why he makes so much money, not because he had it handed to him. Brian has worked hard for everything he’s done. Even when he opened his own company, I had to force him to accept a loan from me to help finance it. Brian has worked hard for every single thing he has and he is successful because he is very good at his job. Don’t you go insulting him because you’re angry he makes more money than you. He clearly respects you.”
“Oh please. He insults me every chance he gets,” Mel interrupted.
“And you insult him every chance you get. Do you know how I know he respects you?”
“Enlighten me,” Mel said sarcastically.
“When he was having legal trouble with that sexual harassment case, whom did he come to for help? He had the money he could have hired anyone. He could have used one of my lawyers. Instead he came to you, because he knew he could trust you to help him. He knew you would do everything you could, not just take his money and slack off. He knew you’d help because he knows how hard you work to do everything possible for your clients. You’re a good lawyer and he respects you for it. So yes, he may insult you. He may not like you, but he does respect you. And he should get some in return.”
Melanie sat there, a dazed look on her face. Brianna was right. Brian did come to her for that case when he could have gone to any lawyer in the city. As Melanie began to have an epiphany, the angry Irishwoman moved on to the last of the group. “Lindsay Peterson…I have been saving you for last. Although from my earlier speech, you know just how angry I am at you. There are only two people I can say that I truly hate. The first was Jack Kinney, may he burn in hell. The second is you. Brian has his own very good, very understandable reasons for not wanting children. And instead of respecting his decision, what do you do? You get him so drunk and high that he doesn’t know what he’s doing and force him to say yes to donating his sperm so you can have his child. Why? It’s not because of his good genes. It was for two reasons. The first is so you can get your grubby hands on his money. You grew up with money. You’re accustomed to it, but you don’t have it now so you’re using my boy for it. And the second is because you wanted to claim him. Brian’s always been gay, but you fell in love with him anyway. I understand. He’s very attractive. He’s kind and funny and just plain amazing. But you couldn’t have him because you’re the wrong gender. So instead you find yourself a way to tie him to you for the rest of your lives. You took what was never yours to begin with. My Brian may love you, but it does not go beyond friendship. You claim to be gay yourself. You have a wife, yet you still worm your way into my grandson’s life. You are no better than Michael there. You tried to split him and Justin up as well. Sure, on occasion, you’ve given him advice to help, but you really just want Justin gone because you’re jealous of him. He’s the one in Brian’s bed every night. He’s the one who holds Brian’s heart, not you. You don’t deserve to be Brian’s friend and you sure aren’t the woman I want raising his child. You need to pull your head out of your ass girl. Life isn’t a fairytale. Brian Kinney is not your Prince Charming. He never was and he never will be. Focus your obsession with him on your wife. Maybe then she wouldn’t need to turn to other women for affection. You are a truly despicable person and like I said earlier, you won’t be receiving another penny from my grandson. I don’t care how you twist your words to make it seem like it’s for the baby or anything else you can think of to guilt trip him. Leave my grandson alone. All of you.”
With that, Brianna grabbed her coat and stormed out of the house. The further away she got, the more she was able to calm down. She had been holding all that in for so long that with it all gone, a huge weight had been lifted off her. Now there was only one more person for her to talk to before she could move on with her life and begin anew in this new place with her grandson. One person she hadn’t spoken to in twenty years…her daughter.