Emmett walked into the diner like a man on a mission. And of course, he was. As soon as he'd located his target, he made a beeline for him and pulled him into a booth.

"Baby, what the sam hell are you doing?"

"Uh…waiting tables."

"No, I mean with that grungy guy I saw you kissing!"

Justin's eyes widened. "When did you…?"

"Today, when you were putting up posters. Anyone could have seen you. You're damn lucky that it was me. Can you imagine if Michael had seen you? He'd've gone straight to Brian."

"Fuck."

"Fuck is right."

Justin paled. "Are you going to tell Brian?"

"No."

Justin breathed a sigh of relief.

"But I think you should tell me what's going on."

Justin took a deep breath. "Do you remember when Lindsay and Mel took me to the classical music concert for my birthday?"

"Yeah."

"I met him there. He plays the violin."

"Well, I can't blame you too much. Musicians are hot. Plus, being a fellow artist of sorts, he can probably relate to you in ways that Brian can't."

"Well, yeah, I guess. But it's more than that. He's romantic. He actually believes in love."

"Does he love you?"

Justin smiled shyly and nodded. "He says he does."

"Do you love him?"

Justin shook his head. "I don't know. He'll do things that Brian refuses to do. Like have picnics on the floor and give me flowers."

Emmett stared at Justin, a strange look in his eyes.

Justin frowned. "What?"

"Is the fact that he'll do what Brian won't what you find most attractive about him?"

"Well, they are very different people."

"How?"

"Well…he plays music on the street for money. He doesn't care about living in luxury. He'd rather live by his principles."

"So…he doesn't want to be famous?"

"Well, he's not desperate to get there. Fame isn't all that matters to him."

"But money and career advancement are all that Brian cares about?"

Justin chuckled. "Well, yeah."

Emmett just stared at Justin. "Hmmm."

"What?"

"Since you met Brian, have you ever been without anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, has he ever denied you anything? He pays for your school, and he bought you that fancy computer so that you could keep being an artist. Right?"

"Well, yeah."

"So…he's generous?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"You guess? If Deb or Michael or Lindsay or Gus or you ever needed anything, wouldn't he make sure you all had whatever it was, no matter what the cost?"

Justin laughed. "Of course. But he has a lot of money."

"So…what? You think that if he had less he'd be less generous?"

"Yes."

"Don't get me wrong. Brian can be an asshole, but…did it ever occur to you that he might work so hard so that he has enough money to be generous? That his evil career ambition might be motivated, in part, by a desire to be able to give the people he cares about whatever they need?"

Justin's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth, but he didn't answer right away. Finally, he managed, "I…"

"Have you noticed that Deb, Michael, and Lindsay tend to look to him for solutions and help when things go wrong?"

"Yeah."

"That must be tough. He must feel a great deal of pressure."

Justin scrunched up his forehead. He grimaced as he pondered this possibility.

"Just because Brian makes it look easy doesn't mean that it is. He'd probably rather die than let anyone see him as being weak."

Justin nodded and, in a small voice, agreed, "Yeah."

"Look, I don't know what brand of craziness has come over me. I should be telling you to run into this grungy musician's arms. And as fast as you can. But…"

"But what?"

"Well…when you were in Vermont, he came to Babylon looking for you."

"So?"

"He seemed so excited and eager to find you…he said he had news, but he only wanted to tell you."

Justin flushed. He breathed, "Really?"

Emmett nodded. "In retrospect, I think he probably wanted to tell you that he'd made partner…and…I mean, if going to Chicago and canceling your trip to Vermont was what he had to do to make partner, and making partner was important to keeping that money train rolling…you know, so that he could take care of the people he cares about…doesn't Brian live by principles, too?"

Emmett laughed. "Or principle anyway…"

Justin looked like he was going to be sick. "Oh God. I…I have to go."

He quickly stood up and untied his apron. "Will you tell Debbie…I don't know…tell her something…"

Emmett smiled. "Sure Baby."

Then Justin hurried out the door.