Monday Posting_A Time From Now_21

[gaeln9796]

STORY TITLE: A Time From Now
    CHAPTER TITLE: We’re Doing it For Our Own_Twenty-One of One Hundred
AUTHOR: Gaeln
RATING: this chapter: PG
WORD COUNT: this chapter: 775
WARNINGS: this chapter: none, Melanie POV
DISCLAIMER: Nothing I can say that hasn’t been said already? Not mine.
    Originally Beta’ed by herefordroad, all subsequent mistakes are mine
    Story throughout contains excerpts from The Brian Kinney Operating Manual including commentary from the Editors
SUMMARY FROM THE EDITORS: ‘There had been a time, not so long ago, when even glimpsing that truth would have pissed me off but not anymore.’
    Melanie decides that maybe Brian isn’t the enemy after all.
AUTHOR‘S NOTES: This story projects 59 years into the future and reflects all that that entails, many of the loose ends are tied-up. I dance with POV, I dance with time, in essence, I just dance to the song Brian & Justin sang to me.
    Contains: Brian_others, Justin_others. They grow old, they are always together for just as long as time allows, but, ultimately, they will die.
    As someone wise once said, ‘In the end, it’s all about Brian and Justin’ and I can only agree

A Time From Now

We’re Doing It For Our Own
***************
Two Days Later - Toronto

She cradled Jenny Rebecca in her arms while Lindsay gently pushed their swing, lulling them both into a sweet warm afternoon place. The sky was a robin’s egg blue with only see-through clouds dotting the horizon. In the distance, they could just pick out Gus’s voice, his laughter carrying high over the sound of the rustling leaves and the other playground children. Somewhere even further away, a radio played while Brian sat nearby, smoking and watching his son.

It hadn’t been bad. I mean, it hadn’t been great, but it certainly hadn’t been what I’d call bad either. Brian had been trying, so I had been too and, frankly, that put me off my game a little. This was unfamiliar territory with him acting almost, well…I couldn’t say almost human, he unfortunately nearly always acted all too human, it was just that I could kind of almost understand what Lindsay said about how there was just this something about him that got to people. There had been a time, not so long ago, when even glimpsing that truth would have pissed me off but not anymore. Maybe that game had gotten old, maybe it was simply time for a change.

Absence made the heart blah blah blah…right? It could, with Brian and me anyway. We were definitely tolerating each other better. I told myself I was just doing it for the sake of Lindsay and the kids but honestly, I just didn’t feel the need to fuck with him as much as I used too and I guess he didn’t feel that need with me either. Maybe we were learning how to not push each other’s buttons, a hard thing to unlearn but apparently worth the effort. Lindsay loved him, she always would, he was Gus’s father, JR’s ‘uncle’, so,I just didn’t want to mess with any of that anymore.

If Ben could handle the ‘situation‘, and he could, then I could too. I had to admit that the little talks he and I’d been having when they were here had been informative, helpful even. Ben was wise and his situation with ‘The Brian and Michael Show‘ had been even more difficult than mine. We would learn from each other, Ben and I. We would transcend.

And I loved playing the little wifey to Michael…for short periods of time, extremely short periods of time but it was fun. I knew that most people would gag to hear me admit that but for a couple of days, bitching with him about this and that was…fun. I would catch Lindsay and Ben laughing sometimes, they thought we were so funny and we were. At least for a couple of days and then, it was time for everyone to go home.

Brian got that better than the rest of the family. They would’ve stayed forever if we would have let them, and the outside world would have allowed it, but not him. He understood the disruption in routine, the abnormal energy levels required when others, no matter how close to you, were in your home, within your personal space. He understood about all those little things that made life different when someone was living with you who didn‘t normally.

So, he’d taken us to dinner, he’d played with and had read to Gus, had even paid some nominal attention to JR. He’d helped with some little things that still needed doing around here that I really didn’t think he’d be any good at because I couldn’t help but remember what a disaster it’d been when he and Lindsay had tried to put together Gus’s birthday swing set, but even in this, it turned out, I could be mildly wrong. He’d done good and and when the time was right, he’d be gone. One day, he would fuck-up again; the asshole always would, but wouldn’t we all, at least once in a while?

And yes, I found it just slightly ironic to admit but I really did hope he’d come a little more often. If he only visited every three months, well…three days every three months just wouldn’t be enough time for him to be a part of Gus‘s growing up. He’d miss so much and that was the thing, I didn’t want him too, I didn’t want Gus to forget him. Like Lindsay, I’d promised Brian I wouldn’t let that happen. I needed to make him feel he was welcome in our home. So, I held my tongue and he did the same. At first I thought we were just being civil to each other for the sake of Lindsay and the kids. But I knew, we both knew, we were doing it for our own.

Next Chapter: Brian, contemplatively, watches Gus play with Markey at a Toronto park

for original post & additional chapters, please see here