Hey Deb,

So glad that you are still enjoying this very eclectic mix of Canon and AU. The response to this has been absolutely AMAZING and I remain so grateful that all of you continue to believe in my work. It's kind of convoluted, or as I'd like to think of it, Rewritten Literary Gumbo. So now to answer your questions:

Roughly this story is based from Ep:309 going forward, only I've also shortened the amount of time Justin spent with Ethan in the process. Somewhere in my mind, they were together about nine months, and to me, it shouldn't have taken as long as it did for him to figure out that he and Ethan were a mix made in hell. It was like watching what would have happened if Brian had given into Michael's wishes and became a couple. YUCK!!!!! That was SOOOOOOOO NOT a welcome image! So that said, I've moved up certain canon concepts to make them fit my vision of what could have happened during this time period if the writers had but time and inclination. For example, Brian and Justin's relationship as it was post-bombing has been reformatted and rewritten inside the post-Stockwell era, where they were just starting to really get their relationship on solid footing. The events that are happening regarding Claire, Michael, Lindsay, Craig and Lance are intermingled between Seasons 1-3, thereby giving the story its AU track. Which brings me to how the Sap storyline fits in...

In this work, Michael wouldn't have liked ANYTHING to take Deb's focus off of him and his goals. This is especially the idea given when it's mentioned that Debbie was beginning to develop a life of her own. True, that in JT2U, Debbie didn't officially meet Carl until much later, but she would have certainly been involved with other things. Remember that not only was she friends with Jennifer during that time, but that she was also the President of PFLAG, and possibly would have had social gatherings that did NOT include Michael. Her son definitely would not have been happy with that since in his mind, his mother's only reason for living was to serve him from the moment he was conceived. So that is why he would have gone to her house that night, as opposed to him stopping her from dating Carl.

Also in this story, Brian refused to work on the Stockwell campaign, and instead decided to dismantle it during his off hours. Gardner had the not-so-brilliant idea to gain the votes of the LGBT population by using Brian's openness regarding his sexuality. It backfired here because of a clause Mel had put into Brian's contract stating that, as a partner in Vangard, he could not be made to work with a client whose views were in direct opposition of his own. Gardner tried to override that clause, and enlisted the help of his lover (Lindsay) and Brian's 'best friend' to make that happen, figuring that between the three of them, Brian would bend to their wills especially if it threatened Justin in any capacity. Of course, it working on that particular campaign would have freed up Brian's time for Michael and Lindsay, and also kept him away from Justin. As for Craig's motive in obtaining the video, again it was to finally have something on hand to bend Justin to his will. All of them had motive and opportunity, except that none of them counted on getting caught and going to jail. So Gardner was the one holding that particular trump card, which has now backfired tremendously.

I hope this helped clear up the confusion!

HAPPY READING and HUGS,

~Nichelle