BRIAN

I hated this waiting around shit, but since we didn’t know what would happen if we ran into ourselves, we didn’t want to risk it. Since I knew what time Justin would be dropped off, I borrowed Marilyn’s car and waited. Daphne was standing at the top of the stairs, waiting for Justin. I got out and went over to her, it really wasn’t fun to see her look at me like I was some pervert.

“I need to talk to you about Justin.” I tell her, because Daphne would run into a burning building for Justin.

“Where is he?” She asks, looking worried.

“He’ll be here soon but I need your help.” I tell her.

“Why would I help you? I don’t know you.” She comments, inching away.

“In a minute a jeep is going to come speeding down this road with Justin in it. When he gets out and comes up these steps, he’s going to tell you he met the face of God, and his name is Brian Kinney. After that you can decided if you want to talk to me.” I tell her, going back to the car and waiting for what ended up outing Justin at school.

The Jeep skidded to a stop and I watch as Justin talked to me, noticing the smile on my face as I told him he could see me in his dreams. Michael isn’t the only one who can look back and not be happy with the things he did. I watch Daphne listen to Justin, and then instead of following him in, she came to my car.

“Okay, I don’t even want to know how you knew that, but I’m willing to listen.” She tells me, getting in.

“I have a kid who needs a place to go for a couple days. There’s a lot of shit that he doesn’t need to be in the middle of.” I tell her.

“What do you think I can do?” She asks.

This is where knowing Daphne the way I do, means that I also know to give it to her straight.

“This kid’s mother uses him to feed her drug habit. Right now she’s got a cop to help her, and that means we need the kid to be somewhere no one would look for him. It might be hard for you to believe, but one day this kid is going to be like a brother to Justin.” I tell her.

“Are you on drugs? I mean, I’m still trying to figure out how you knew what Justin said, but this sounds a bit well, nuts.” She tells me.

“Yes it does, can you at least meet me tonight. Justin is going to ask you to drop him off on Liberty Avenue again. Can you at least meet the kid I’m telling you about? He needs a break and a place to be when this all goes down.” I tell her.

“Why do you think I would help you?” She asks.

“Because it’s the person you are, you couldn’t leave a kid to get hurt and not do something about it.” I tell her.

She sat there looking into my eyes, looking for something that she must of found. “If my parents find out I helped, I’ll be grounded until I’m eighteen. I’ll at least meet him, but this better be for real, because otherwise you and the cops will be having a talk tonight.” She tells me.

“After I leave my next stop is to talk to a cop, one who will hopefully help us. So you can file the complaint directly to him if I’m lying.” I tell her.

“I have to go, the last thing I need is Dixon up my ass for skipping his class.” She tells me, taking the paper with Marilyn’s address.

I waited for her to get to the doors of the school and there was her partner in crime, coming out to find her. He looked in my direction, but Daphne pulled him with her into the building, not that he could see me from that distance. I really hated that this wasn’t going to be a one day and away. There was no way I could get what we needed done that quickly.

Carl was standing outside the station when I got there. I walked up to him and asked if we could talk. One of the things I had learned was that Carl has always had a strong moral code, but he also has a strong bond of brotherhood with his fellow officers. I wasn’t going to tell him once again I needed him and it involved someone on the force. It was better to let him think he was saving the kids, not that he was about to arrest Stockwell’s old partner on the force. He was on his way to get something to eat and I offered to buy in order to get his opinion on a situation.

“Have we met?” He asks, trying to place me.

“No, I asked around and they said you were the one to go to about this.” I tell him.

“What exactly is it you think I can help you with?” He asks me.

“I went out the other night with a few friends to a bar that we don’t normally go to. When we got there the clientele wasn’t what we were expecting.” I tell him, naming the bar.

“Is there a reason you went to that particular bar? It’s reputation leans towards, well, gay men.” He tells me.

“Do you have a problem with gay men?” I ask, then remember this is Carl before Deb. “Look it’s not about my preference, which has never been kids barely in their teens. I don’t like seeing some kid selling his ass to a man your age, just to be able to get something to eat. If you don’t care then I’ll leave it alone, but sooner or later you could be staring at a dead rent boy, because he didn’t realized the guy his pimp sold him too, was a psycho, on top of being a pedophile.” I tell him.

“I can’t just take your word for it. How do I know you aren’t just trying to stir up trouble for the owner? A lot of groups would love to use the police force to stir up shit with the gay community.” He tells me.

“Since I’m gay, the last thing I want to do is confirm anyone’s belief that gay men like little boys. But it doesn’t change what’s going on at that bar. I came to you because not coming to you would say that I condone what’s going on there. The last thing we need is Stockwell parading a bunch of perverts in front of the press, preaching that being gay is one step away from being a pervert, but right now the more important thing is keeping these kids from being hurt. One of the kids is staying at the house of a friend of mine, will you at least meet him and hear what he knows?” I ask.

“Just understand, if this goes any further, it’s not to make the gay community look bad, but because of the kids you told me about.” He tells me, agreeing to meet at Marilyn's place.

MICHAEL

I felt kind of useless just sitting around at Marilyn’s. I mean, if I’m here shouldn’t I be doing something? Looking at the time, I knew where I was, so it wasn’t likely that I’d run into me. Of course part of the reason I wanted to go out was to watch me. It wasn’t fun to figure out I was kind of an asshole in every life. Only it’s like I’m seeing my life from the outside.

I stood outside the Big Q, dressed in the hoody that Marilyn insisted I wear everywhere. I remember worrying that someone would figure out I was gay when I worked here, and couldn’t believe it bothered me. I spent my new life not caring that anyone knew, even when Ethan tried to tell me to hide it, since I’d been passed up for promotion a dozen times, so maybe I wasn’t just paranoid in this life. I walked in and just wandered around, seeing Tracy standing there talking to this Michael. I wanted to walk up to him and tell him to tell her, because she wasn’t going to out him, but knowing that this Michael was scared of everything. After a while I realized there wasn’t really a reason I came here, except maybe hoping that I could find something about me that wasn’t annoying. Watching me joke with Marley about gay men just made me want to slap him in the head.

I left, because one of the things that I don’t want is to watch this history. I wandered around, feeling out of sorts because I can remember the way I felt about Brian in this life, but then in the life we were in now, he really doesn’t do anything for me. It’s like, for the first time I can say he really would only be a friend, because the reasons I thought I loved Brian aren’t there anymore. Maybe it’s knowing that there is someone that was created for me, or that Brian isn’t the hero this me believes?

I went to PIFA, because I wanted to see Ethan. The fucker was messing with my life too. If he was involved in this life, he wasn’t going to get away with it. So far it only seems like he was involved in the new timeline, but the last thing we needed was another loose end to tie up. I found him in the music room playing, and wondered how he avoided it in the new timeline. He finished a playing and looked up at me.

“Are you lost?” He asks.

“No, I heard you playing and stopped.” I tell him, trying to see if he recognizes me.

“I was great, wasn’t I.” He smirks.

“Sounded like two cats fighting.” I tell him, walking away thinking Ian was a self important asshole, who didn’t know me. At least one thing was going our way.

BRIAN

I opened the door and let Daphne in, who seemed okay when she saw Hunter and Carl. Carl wasn’t happy when he heard that the pimp was Hunter’s mother, and that she was also the person who pimped him out at one time. He listened to Hunter, and was willing to agree to stake out the bar, to verify what we told him. When he saw Daphne he wasn’t happy another teenager was involved.

“She’s only going to hide Hunter until this is over.” I tell him.

“Her parents aren’t going to mind she’s got a boy staying at her house?” Carl asks.

“My parents are sort of oblivious to things. My best friend stays over all the time, and normally they don’t even notice that he’s there.” She tells him.

“You expect me to go with her?” Hunter asks.

“Yes. Because your mother has a new way to look for you. If you stay with Daphne, it’s the last place they would think to look for you.” I tell him.

“She’s a good person and a lioness when she cares about someone. No one get’s past her.” Mikey tells him.

“How would you know?” Daphne asks.

“Trust me, I know.” Mikey tells her.

Hunter explained to everyone that his mother was meeting with the kids who agreed to help. She tried to make him stay with her, but he was able to get away when she started talking about her percentage. Daphne started getting angry when Hunter told her that his mother pimped him out. At that point Daphne was all in, ready to go find the woman and show her what she thought of a mother who did that to her son.

Carl told Daphne and Hunter that he would follow them to her house, so he could make sure she was right and her parents were really that oblivious. “There’s more to this isn’t there?” He asked me when he was leaving.

“Yes, but it’s better you don’t know. It saves you from anyone thinking you turned on another cop.” I tell him, watching him to see if he’s going to have a problem with this.

“If they’re dirty, then it doesn’t matter.” He tells me, closing the door.