Lois and Carolyn, thanks for the beta...you’re the greatest!
Chapter 74 – The Quiet Storm Sunday Evening … (Day 49) The house was dark and quiet when Michael finally arrived home. “Ben?” he called out as he entered and turned on the lights. “I’m right here,” Ben said quietly. “Why were you sitting here in the dark?” “I’m thinking…I’m meditating…I’m trying to make sense of my life…take your choice, Michael.” “Your life is fine,” Michael quickly pointed out. “It’s my life that’s a mess. Brian just…” “Not now, Michael,” Ben cautioned him. “I’ve had all that I can take of your tantrums about Brian.” “What do you mean? Something is obviously wrong with him. He wasn’t himself at dinner tonight. Did you see the way he treated me? I’m his best friend. Well, he can’t treat me this way. I’m going…” Ben interrupted, “So what are you going to do, Michael, huh?” “Brian will come to his senses and realize that he needs me.” “And if he doesn’t, will you just continue to wait? Are you just going to hang on until forever?” “I can wait. Time is on my side. I know him better than anyone,” Michael said emphatically. “You may know him better than anyone…and you may be prepared to wait…and Time may be on your side…but none of that is true for me,” Ben pointed out. “What do you mean?” “I mean that Time isn’t on my side…and I have no intentions of remaining in a marriage where my life partner is simply waiting for me to die…so he can ride off into the sunset with someone else…real or imaginary.” “That’s a terrible thing to say!” “It’s a horrible thing to feel! You should have told me the truth way back at the beginning. You should have told me that you had no plans to ever stop wanting Brian Kinney. You should have told me the truth…and I could have simply gone on with my life.” “Ben, I love you…you have to know that.” “That may be true, Michael…but sometimes loving someone is not enough. This just hurts too much. Sometimes the kindest thing you can do is move on.” “But you love me, Ben.” “Yes, I love you more than you’ll ever know. But you and Lindsay were quite the dynamic duo today. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. You and Lindsay are supposed to be Brian’s closest friends…yet the two of you would rather completely destroy Brian than see him happy with Justin. I never knew friends could do that to someone they love. That isn’t love…it’s selfish perversion…and I’ve decided to leave you alone to pursue it. I’ve decided that I’ve had enough.” “But Ben…” Michael started to whine. Ben simply held up his hands to silence his partner. Michael tried to be strong and pull himself together. “What are you going to do?” Michael finally asked calmly. “I’m going to find a hotel room for the night. Then tomorrow, I’m going to start looking for an apartment. Once I find a place, Hunter will probably be moving in with me. So you can do whatever you like,” Ben finally told him. “You can’t do that!” Michael complained. Ben simply looked at him incredulously. The look didn’t stop Michael. “You can’t leave me. I want you here with me!” “No,” Ben said softly. “I no longer care what you want. You asked me to give you time to accept the changing status of Brian and Justin…and I tried. But I don’t have an eternity to wait. And even if I did,” he started to whisper, “Even if I did…I just can’t do this any more.” “You can’t walk out on me,” Michael protested, “We’re a couple. We got married. We bought this house. We adopted Hunter. We planned a life together. We belong together.” “I’m afraid not, Michael,” Ben corrected him. “Hunter will always belong to both of us. Nothing is going to change that. The other things in our lives can be disposed of…including this house. We no longer belong to each other…because you believe that you belong to Brian.” “You can’t leave me,” Michael started to cry. “I’ll be all alone.” “Michael, you don’t understand. Maybe you’re right that I can’t leave you…I can’t leave you because you were never here. But in a few minutes, I am going to walk out that door. I can no longer be a placeholder. You know that Melanie and I have a lot in common. But Lindsay and Melanie have little kids so I’m sure that they will try to make things work. But you and me…we’re done.” “This is goodbye, Michael. I’ll have my attorney get in touch with you.” “You have thought this all through so you’re just going to walk away and leave me. But, what am I supposed to do? What’s going to happen to ME?” Michael protested. “Who’ll take care of ME?” “Once everything is settled…you’ll be able to move on with your life…and I’ll be able to move on to mine.” Ben calmly walked over and picked up his suitcases. “But Ben…” Michael tried to argue. “Goodbye Michael,” Ben said quietly, still holding his emotions in check. “I really did love you…but I guess it wasn’t enough.” And with that Ben walked out the front door and was gone. Michael couldn’t believe what just happened so, out of habit, he picked up his cell phone. His call rolled over into voice mail. “Brian will fix this,” he said to himself. *** Meanwhile in Toronto, a Liberty Air flight was touching down at the airport. Melanie and Lindsay were aboard with the sleeping Gus and Jenny beside them. Melanie and Lindsay had been relatively quiet during the flight, with each of them lost in their own thoughts. Lindsay knew that Melanie was upset, but unlike her usual bouts of anger, this time Melanie was simply quiet. No matter what happened, Lindsay didn’t want her partner to give up on their relationship. They had both worked so hard to get back together…and to hold things together during this last year. Jointly, Melanie and Lindsay got their kids into to bed. Once the kids were settled for the night, Melanie took a shower and easily settled into the peace and quiet of the guest room. Lindsay spent some time alone with her thoughts in the living room. No matter how things may have appeared at this moment, this was not a relationship that Lindsay wanted to lose. She opened the nearby scrapbook with clippings from Justin’s art shows. Lindsay still wanted this to be her life. She started to formulate a plan to still make her dreams come true. Lindsay eventually went to take her own shower. Before settling down for the night, she knocked on the door to the guestroom. When there was no answer, she opened the door a bit. There was something that she needed to say. “Melanie, I want us to go back and see Elizabeth,” Lindsay said with determination in her voice. “I love you, and I want you to give us a chance.” “Goodnight Lindsay,” was the only response that Melanie could offer, before she turned over to go to sleep. Lindsay quietly closed the guestroom door and walked to her bedroom to sleep alone.