Hey Darling! A couple of things:

First, the setting of this is definitely post 513, BUT I also had to move some timelines to fit the story. Considering that I started this 3 years ago (?), I kinda have to keep a lot of it in that vein in order for the story to remain authentic. Also, alot of the plotlines from the canon itself, I moved up a bit simply because Lindz isn't really featured here; the Ethan arc really shouldn't have lasted more than a month in my mind, and Deb was trying to get a life sooner than she did in canon. If taken that way, basically Mel and Lindz moved to Canada at the beginning of S2, Stockwell happened at the end of S2, as did Ted's addiction, and Dummy met Ben a little earlier. Also the L.A. trip and all Rage-related storylines also happened earlier than in canon. Since there is no Gus or Lindz, the narrative/timeline had to change. That said, I do need to go back and look at the ages again, as if I'm not mistaken all of them are closer to forty now. But yeah, I have to make sure because that's somewhere in the beginning of the story.

The most important thing to remember is:

B/J have been together for almost twelve years, and have been in partnership for almost nine (post Ethan and Stockwell; LDP signed), but the family really only thinks that they have been 'serious' for three years when in actuality, they have been married longer than Michael and Ben. Remember now that they were literally keeping everything on the down low in anticipation of how Michael would react. And sadly, they were proven RIGHT!

Ben and Michael have been involved for eight years, although married about seven. Therefore Justin was bouncing between both in L.A., and NY during the first two years of Michael and Ben's union working on the movie, then Kinnetik and JTD business interests. It made it easier to keep 'the family' out of B/J business.

Ted and Blake have officially been married for five- almost six- years, at this point. Teddy's first foray into the drug scene happened as it did in canon during the Stockwell Era, only earlier due to the timeline for the story being moved up a bit.

Em and Drew have been together officially for about four years, since they spent about six months to a year just being friends, before making things official between them.

Okay I think I have all of that right, so I'll move on... 

Secondly, as for Michael going to jail... that remains to be seen. Not because I don't want him there- I mean, come on now this is ME LOL- but mainly because until it's actually proven, or they find people (ie. Reece), who were either involved or heard the conversation, it's basically going to be their words against Michael's. Think about the character, Michael as a whole. First and foremost, even if he was guilty, for some reason, people were often hardpressed to believe it. So unfortunately, the same thing has to ring true here, as well. Now we as the audience knows that he's guilty, in my world he always is.

But, just as in real life, a sequence of events has to happen to prove that guilt. For example, I could call someone an evil whore, while from your perspective that same person could be sweet and kind. The only way you would see it from my POV is if I showed you the proof that such-and-such is a bonfide hosebeast. Get it? LOL Yeah, girl you can tell I'm a bit sleep-deprived.. I mean, I actually used the term Hosebeast, in a sentence within its proper context at 1:15 a.m.  LAWD HAM TURKEY, I need more coffee, or to just drop where I stand because sleep is definitely NOT coming easily.

The signing is supposed to happen later today, and believe it or not ALL OF US are still awake. Talk about collective anxiety and exhibiting signs of PTSD... Just saying Anyway, enough about my RL drama...

But back to Michael, that's why he can't automatically go to jail at the moment. In addition to that, they have to have at least a modicum of probable cause in order to access Michael's phone records, or at the very least record him admitting to the misdeed. We'll have to see how this situation plays out. So yes, Carl is correct in his thinking at the moment, because without the actual proof or physical innuendo of conspiracy, the law technically can't do anything to Michael at the moment. You know I try to craft a story as true to life as possible, taking creative license only here and there to bring the story together.

So unfortunately, although Steven King is yelling in my head to kill this 'darling' (read as pain in the ass), I can't... yet (?) LOL

The good news is that Melanie and Diane are going to the island, so a couple of things that have been mentioned in previous chapters have a good possibility of occurring now. However, the first order of business for Melanie as one of the founders of the resort is to take care of certain employees misdeeds, who succumbed to Michael's urgings. That should be very interesting. 

I hope this moved your confusion (you're not going to let me live that down, are you? LOL) into clarity! 

HUGS and LOVE,

~Nichelle