DISCLAIMER: QAF and its characters are the sole property of Cowlip Productions and Showtime; no copyright infringement is intended.

This is just a little one-shot that came to me before I update my other stories - needed an angst break - LOL! Hope you enjoy it.:)

"No, Baby! Not that way – it has to go the other way!"

"It's not that easy!" Justin answered defensively. It was simple for HIM to say… "I've never done this before! Aaargh! Why did I have to pull the plug out?"

"Sweetie, just take a deep breath and relax for a second, okay? I realize it's pretty tight in there, but I know you can do it." Brian heard a slight giggle before the voice added teasingly, "You always were better at working with your hands than I was."

The sounds of grunted exertion wafted down from the upstairs bedroom area as Brian paused at the foot of the steps, frozen in shock, a bottle of Dom Perignon clutched in his right hand; he was so busy concentrating on the conversation upstairs that he didn't realize he was holding onto the neck of the bottle so tightly that his knuckles were white as a result. He couldn't believe his fucking ears as he continued to listen in. Justin…and Emmett Honeycutt?

"Aaarrggghhhh!" Justin cried out loudly; the sound compared suspiciously to the type of ones Justin made when he typically…no, he wasn't even going to think about that; the whole idea was totally ludicrous, especially when it involved Emmy Lou of all people.

"Why does this have to be so hard?" he suddenly heard Justin bemoaning.

Plausible explanation or not, Brian had heard enough. Placing the expensive bottle of champagne down on the round, wooden foyer table just a little too roughly, he sprinted up the steps two at a time. Reaching the top of the stairs in record time, he made a sharp right turn at the landing and rushed down the polished, hardwood hallway, almost missing the open doorway to his and Justin's bedroom in his haste to get there. He grabbed onto the door frame as he poked his head into their opulently-appointed master suite, almost afraid to look over at their king-sized bed but vastly relieved not to see anyone lying there; in fact, it was completely made up now, a far departure from this morning when he had left his and Justin's bed after a vigorous round of lovemaking, quietly and reluctantly slipping out from under his lover's warm, tousled, drowsy body and the crumpled, tangled sheets to go get dressed for work.

He sighed in relief, pushing the awful vision from his mind just before his ears perked up at the sound of the two men picking up with their conversation nearby. He could clearly make out every word being said this time, even though Justin's voice was lower now.

"I never should have gotten in this situation in the first place, Em," Justin was lamenting softly. "Brian is going to be so pissed when he finds out what I've done, especially today of all days."

"Now, Baby, that's the whole point of us doing it while he's at work; he'll never, ever have to know," Emmett was reassuring him quietly. "We'll be in and out before he knows it, and he'll be none the wiser."

Another grunt sounded before Brian heard Justin say, his voice full of uncertainty, "I don't know, Em…I think this was a huge mistake. We never should have started this; what a mess!"

In disbelief, Brian's eyes darkened in suspicion as he stomped over to the master bathroom and yanked the partially ajar door open wider, needing to see the evidence for himself before he would ever believe it. He stopped dead in his tracks as he observed a fully-dressed Emmett sitting cross-legged, Indian style, on the floor near one of the bathroom vanity's double sinks. Justin's body was half-in, half-out of the cabinet underneath a few feet away, his legs splayed out behind him as he lay on his stomach; a thick bath sheet was lying underneath his slender body to cushion him from the hard, marble floor.

He couldn't help the soft sigh of relief that blew between his lips as Emmett turned around at the sound of the door being opened and his eyes widened in shock. Heart hammering in his chest, he sputtered out, "Uh, Sweetie…"

"Not now, Em!" Justin chided him with another grunt, his voice echoing inside the small space. "I almost got it loose now!" he cried out in pending victory. "I think I feel it giving just a bit!" He inched a little further into the crevice to get a better grip on the pipe as he said, "Just…a…couple…more…turns…." He held onto the wrench with both hands and tried to give the "S" shaped pipe another twist, but to his disappointment it was barely budging. "Fuck!" he muttered in disgust. "I thought I had it that time!" He began to bang on the pipe now with the end of the heavy metal wrench fruitlessly as Emmett reached over and tugged firmly on the back of one denim-clad pant leg to try and get his attention.

Emmett plastered a half-apologetic, half-apprehensive smile on his face as he looked over at Brian while he advised his friend, "Uh, Justin…Better come up for air, Goldilocks. The big, bad wolf has come home early."

Fuck…No, not now…. Justin closed his eyes briefly in dread as he tried to twist around in the cramped space to take a look for himself. "Ow!" In his haste to turn around, Justin lifted his head too fast and promptly banged it hard against the underside of the marble sink situated directly above him. "Shit!" he cried out in pain as he lowered his head down just enough to avoid banging it again and began to frog leg backwards out from under the sink. Could things get any worse now? he sighed.

As he finally emerged out from under his hiding place, he turned reluctantly to look up at Brian who was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, still wearing the same Armani suit he had been wearing earlier that morning when he had left for work. He peered down at Justin in curiosity, his eyes darting between him and Emmett.

"Hey," Justin answered back casually, pushing some stray, wet hair back from his forehead as he tried furiously to sound like he always spent time under their bathroom sink. He sat up on the thick towel and cradled the wrench in his right hand before he asked nonchalantly, "What's up?"

Brian peered down at him, his eyes narrowed. "That's what I'd like to know," he answered with deadly calm. "Would you mind telling me what in the fuck you're doing under there?" He noticed the front of Justin's oversized, favorite, denim painting smock was splotched with water and his hair was damp. "Taking a leak in there…or repairing one?"

Justin stole a quick glance over at Emmett for a moment as Emmett shrugged back at him with a "You're on your own" sort of look. He had a definite idea that he was about to be in water, all right – HOT water.

"Well, Baby, I think the cat's out of the bag now…Or it soon will be," Em announced suddenly as he abruptly stood up and pulled down the hem of his thin, iridescent, sleeveless, maroon tank top to straighten it out. Coupled with the pair of ivory-colored leather pants he was wearing, the ensemble looked decidedly out of place in the bathroom next to Britin's own blond version of Josephine the Plumber presently glaring over at him as if he were a redcoat about to turn tail and run back to the motherland.

"I think it's time for this good ole boy to get back to the big, bad world of the Pitts. Let's do lunch some other time, shall we? My work is done here for the day…"

"Em…" Justin pleaded for support as Brian frowned; he knew now that it wasn't anything like his wild imagination had conjured up before; but what type of conspiracy WAS going on here, then?

"You gave it a valiant try, Baby," Emmett consoled Justin as he nervously wiped his sweaty hands on his thighs and glanced over at Brian looming like an impending storm in the doorway. "Better just…suck it up and deal with it now and get it over with,"he advised his friend. "It's for the best when these things happen…Trust me." He began to walk toward Brian as he mysteriously told him in passing, "Be gentle; he's been traumatized enough today already," before he turned and quickly rushed out of the bathroom. "Tootles, Honey!" he shouted back to Justin as he scurried out of the adjoining bedroom; he was down the hallway and scampering down the steps faster than you could say "Tidy Bowl man" before Justin could even stand up from his place on the floor. Justin huffed out an exasperated sigh at his friend's hasty retreat before his eyes anxiously lifted to confront Brian's.

"All right, Sunshine," Brian demanded quietly. "Drop the weapon of mass destruction and tell me what the fuck is going on here." His eyes widened slightly in concern as he noticed the blue eyes glistening with unexpected tears; now he was really starting to get concerned. "Justin…" he said a little softer this time. "Just tell me why you're getting up close and personal with our bathroom sink. If there IS a leak, that's what plumbers are for."

Justin bit his lower lip as Brian slowly walked closer to him; as he did so, he noticed Justin placing his hands behind his back awkwardly as he laid the heavy tool down on the countertop behind him. "I'm sorry," he whispered contritely.

Brian tried furiously not to read anything ominous into that vague apology as he responded, "You know how I feel about regrets," he told him curtly. "But just for the record…You're sorry about what?"

"I know you warned me not to take it off near the sink," Justin told him, his eyes full of guilt as the words poured forth out of him now like an oil gusher. "But I was using that fucking midnight black paint upstairs and I didn't want anything to happen to it. I put it in the soap dish for safekeeping beforehand and when I came downstairs afterward to wash my hands, it plopped right out when I dropped the slippery bar of soap and accidentally hit the edge of the dish; I reached to grab it, but it was gone in an instant – poof!" He sighed heavily. Even now he could hear the clatter of the ring as it bounced inside the marble sink before it promptly disappeared down the open drain hole. His eyes glanced beside him in the direction of the ring's hasty departure. "It didn't stand a chance," he murmured, saying the words as if he were mourning the loss of a best friend; in a way he was. That ring was the most cherished possession he had ever owned. He knew it was just a piece of jewelry – expensive, gold jewelry certainly, but jewelry just the same. To him, though, it was much more than that – it was an outward sign of his and Brian's deep love and their ongoing commitment to each other. And this is how he showed his appreciation – by promptly dropping it down the sink. "Stupid, stupid," he muttered to himself as he shook his head in disparagement; without that ring his finger suddenly felt so barren while his heart ached over its loss.

He held his hands up to either side of his body as if in surrender to explain, "It was gone – just like that - before I could do anything about it. I tried, Brian! I really tried to get under the sink and retrieve it before you got home. Em stopped by unexpectedly to take me out to lunch at the deli down the street and he wanted to help me…But he had his new leather pants on and, well, you know…He didn't want to get them dirty or get chafe burns from the leather," he told him, realizing how ridiculous that sounded, but with Em he knew Brian would understand their friend's reasoning. "Besides, I'm smaller so I fit under the sink better than he did." He sighed as he averted his eyes in embarrassment. "I never should have taken it off," he murmured as he shook his head sadly and cast his eyes downward. "It's the first time I've had it off in a year," he reminded Brian as he held his left hand out in front of him to look at his bare ring finger, "and it feels so...empty not seeing it there." That ring had become a part of him; it was the first thing he looked at in the morning when he awoke in his husband's protective arms. It had become a guilty pleasure that he participated in before Brian could awaken and chide him for being overly sentimental. It gave him so much pleasure to gaze at it in the morning as he admired the way he glinted under the sun's early-morning rays. It was as much a part of him as his heart that belonged to Brian. How could he been so clumsy and cavalier over its safety, then?

Brian smiled softly then, partly in relief that it was merely a lost ring and not something more serious, and partly in sympathy over how terrible he knew Justin must feel; he knew how much that particular piece of jewelry meant to him. Truth be told, his own ring snugly surrounding his own finger at the moment was pretty special to him, too; he hadn't taken his off in the year since they had been married, either, not for anything or anyone. Of course, he didn't normally spend every day up to his elbows in paint like his husband did.

He walked over and, placing his hand under Justin's chin, slowly lifted his face to gaze into the regretful, blue eyes that peered up at him through long, golden lashes. "Don't worry, Mr. Taylor-Kinney," he told him tenderly. "I happen to know someone else who's very talented with HIS hands, also." He leaned in to gently kiss the soft lips, tasting a little saltiness in the kiss from the tears that trickled from Justin's eyes as he reached around his husband's body to retrieve the wrench.

"Brian, you'll get your suit all messed up," Justin cautioned him, but Brian ignored him to squat down in front of the sink and brace himself with his spare hand on the lip of the vanity above him, preparing to do battle with the contraption that dared to swallow up his husband's ring. Releasing his hold on the vanity, he held his jacket's sleeve up for Justin to pull on it before switching the wrench to his other hand and allowing his husband to pull it off. As Justin hung it up carefully on a brass hook attached to the back of the door, Brian rolled his sleeves up before he crawled under the sink and began to work on the "S" curve of the metal pipe that was hopefully still holding the precious symbol in its grasp.

"Wow, this pipe is tighter than your ass," Brian deadpanned several seconds later as he worked hard to loosen the threads, his long fingers wrapped around the handle of the wrench as he tried to turn it. Two flicks of his wrist later and the pipe slowly began to turn toward the left; he winced as the metal emitted a squeak each time that sounded just like nails on a blackboard. "Shit!" he muttered as some water spilled out of the ever-widening gap between the "S" pipe and the rest of the structure and trickled into his eyes. Shaking his head to clear the water away, he continued to turn the wrench until first one end of the curved pipe and then the other was finally loose. Giving it a good tug, he managed to separate it from the rest of the piping. Holding it in his hands, he tilted it at an angle away from him as he held his palm up under the end of the pipe and waited for what he hoped would be the errant piece of jewelry to show up.

Justin bit his lip anxiously as he waited impatiently for word. "Brian?" he called out softly at last, unable to stand the suspense any longer. "Anything?" Please let it be there, he prayed silently. He watched as his husband finally scooted backward to escape from under the sink, the wet, slippery, and downright icky piece of pipe held in his left hand. As Brian emerged out from under the cabinet with the silver pipe, Justin noticed with dismay that his husband's shirt sleeves, which had previously been crisp and white this morning, were now dirty, wet, and greasy as a result of his earlier mishap.

Kneeling on the towel still lying on the marble floor, Brian slowly rose to his feet and turned around to face Justin, wiping his wet, dirty hands on another towel hanging on a nearby warming rack. He stole a glance downward to observe his appearance, taking in the soiled kneecaps of his pants, the now-filthy Gucci shirt, and the scuffed shoes. He sighed in resignation, knowing his clothing was pretty much ruined now and that he would need a shower right away to clean up. First, though, there was something more important he needed to take care of.

He gazed over at a very remorseful-looking Justin as his husband sadly stated, "You didn't find it, did you?" He swallowed hard in regret, feeling horrible over the loss. He was so sure it would have been caught in the "S" part of the pipe, but apparently he had been wrong.

"We can always get you another ring, Sunshine," Brian gently reassured him as he observed the mournful look on the beautiful, pale face.

"I know," Justin replied. "But it just wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be the same one we picked out together; the same one that was custom-made with the inscription inside. The same one that you held in your hand when you slid it on my finger at our wedding." That day when Brian had gazed into his eyes, repeated his unorthodox vows to him and had finally clasped his hand to slid the ring onto his finger had been the best day of his life. And the first time he had read the inscription Brian had placed inside the ring just before the ceremony – For My Prince – his heart had promptly melted in response over the outwardly-romantic sentiment. It had been so unlike what Brian would typically say or do, even though in a way perhaps it shouldn't have been such a surprise; Brian had slowly been changing when it came to verbalizing such thoughts to him, but no one else knew that. It was something special just between the two of them.

"I know," Brian said as he walked closer to him and dug inside his pants pocket to retrieve the somewhat battered gold ring he had found in the middle of all that muck inside the pipe. "That's why I knew I couldn't come back out of there without this."

Justin's eyes lit up at the familiar sight. "You did find it!" he cried out in relieved delight. His eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you SAY so?" he scolded him as he realized someone had been deceitful; he smacked Brian on the chest as he came within touching distance. "You KNOW what that means to me! You fucker!"

Brian bestowed a lopsided grin at him over his tirade as he reached down to grip Justin's left hand. "Hey, I just totally destroyed a thousand-dollar outfit for you, Sunshine; the least you can do is show some appreciation. In addition to the fact that you had me wondering if you – and Emmy Lou…" He couldn't even finish the thought as he shuddered, realizing he was probably giving too much away anyway.

It was too late, though, as he watched Justin's eyes widen in realization. He sputtered out, "You mean you thought that me – and Em…" He thought back to his and Emmett's conversation earlier and he began to laugh. "Shit, Brian! You didn't really think that, did you?" He began to laugh hysterically at the mere thought. "You've got to be kidding me! I would never do to that you ever again, Brian! And with Em? Come on; I mean, he's a great friend and all, but me…and him? That's ridiculous! Why in the world would you th…?"

He never got to finish his sentence as Brian's hands reached over to grab his shoulders and pull him closer just before he was effectively silenced with a deep kiss.

"Mmmm," Justin moaned softly in response as he wrapped his hands around Brian's back and melted into his embrace; their kiss continued for several seconds until at last they both reluctantly pulled away, breathless and flushed.

Brian released him as he murmured, "While you're temporarily rendered speechless, I believe we still have some unfinished business to attend to." He curled his lips under as he reached to clasp Justin's left hand in his right before he took the gold band and slowly slid it over Justin's left ring finger, back where it belonged. Justin's eyes lingered on the gold band for a few seconds before he lifted his gaze to meet Brian's as his husband smiled back at him tenderly and nodded. "There; that's much better."

Justin couldn't help sniffling a little as he gazed down at the ring on his finger, his eyes shining with tears of happiness this time. It might be a little scratched up now, but to him it looked absolutely beautiful. Everything felt right once more; perfect. "Yes…Much."

Brian nodded with an amused smile at his husband. "Well," he replied as he curled his lips under. "Now that you've gotten me filthy dirty, Sunshine, you'll just have to take a shower with me to help clean me up. After all, Em did say something about you needing to 'suck it up.' Now's your chance. You can consider that duty the first part of our one-year anniversary celebration."

"My pleasure," Justin replied as he brought his hands up to rest them on Brian's chest, admiring how the ring shone under the soft glow of the bathroom's track lighting. He frowned as he recalled what Brian had just said. "First part?"

Brian nodded with a smile. "Yeah…I have an outrageously-expensive bottle of champagne downstairs to go with our outrageously-expensive gourmet dinner warming in the oven. Think you know someone who can help me take care of that?"

The smile Brian received was almost blinding as Justin nodded, his entire face glowing; as he looked over at his husband, his breath quickened as he once more was struck by Justin's beauty. You're one damn lucky man, Kinney, he couldn't help thinking.

Justin began to unbutton Brian's shirt as he replied playfully, "Yeah, I think I do…but Emmett's gone, so I guess I'll have to do instead."

Brian laughed as he dragged Justin toward the shower. "I think you'll do just fine..."