Blonde haired Cynthia Moore was more than just Brian's second in command, she was the backbone of Kinnetik.   They'd worked together since their early days at Ryder's; Brian had taken a chance on someone from the secretarial pool and grooming her into doing research before making her his assistant, and they'd risen up the ranks in Ryder together. 

Over the past few years, Brian had gone through a great deal of changes.  He was still an asshole to those who incurred his wrath, but those who came through for him were well rewarded.  The best thing was, he never treated her any different then let's say the Bobbsie Twins, Bob and Brad.  If she fucked up he let her know, on the other hand when she did something he liked, he gave her credit for her part. 

He'd learned not to try to deal with things on his own and Cynthia was fortunate enough to have his trust, and in turn she had his back. 

Over the years she'd learned his quirks, but one thing she was certain of was that Brian Kinney would not light a match and torch his own apartment.  In fact anyone who really knew Brian would have known that.  She had known that he'd been thinking of moving, but wouldn't until he'd found the perfect place.

The first thing on her agenda was to get the charges dropped.  The fact that charges had been brought on such flimsy evidence was puzzling.  Having worked with Brian a number of years she was more than a little surprised by the charges.  When she heard the story of why he was accused and by whom, she'd been understandably angry. 

She had never understood the dynamics of Brian's friendship with Michael Novotney.  Brian was smart, his attitude was to do his best and he expected that of everyone else, except Michael.  Michael coasted through life, letting other people tell him what to do and how to do it. 

She knew Ted because he had become one of the few trusted members of Brian's company, but she had never had many dealings with Emmett Honeycutt, and one of the things that surprised her lately was how protective Emmett was of Brian.  She wasn't aware that the two men were particularly close, and it was Emmett's concern for Brian that made her decide to keep him in the loop, and she was glad she did.   It was he who suggested the surveillance tapes that proved without a shadow of doubt Brian's innocence.

In the meantime she had felt better when they transferred Brian to a hospital.  That 's when she discovered and was beyond surprised that she had been named Brian's POA.  At first she wondered what the hell he was thinking, but the more she thought about it the more it began to make sense and she took a perverse pride in doing the best job for Brian.  She was  proud of the fact that he trusted her enough to choose her over his 'best friend'. 

While he'd been doing as well as could be expected with his latest illness, being arrested was hardly conducive to his health and she made sure that he got the best medical care she could find.  She agreed with Brian's doctors that it wasn't in his best interests to be told about his test results, such as they were, especially once his condition worsened. 

When Brian's blood test came back showing  some unusual substance, she noticed that Emmett seemed to know something.  Using her powers of persuasion, Cynthia managed to get Emmett to confess what he thought he saw at Babylon.  As far as Michael was concerned, Cynthia wouldn't put anything past him, but what escaped her was his reasoning for doing something like that.

Then it came the time for Brian to leave the hospital and Emmett insisted that Brian stay with him, but Cynthia was reluctant to agree.  It wasn't until he mentioned that his apartment building had a doorman, that she changed her mind.  Convincing Brian was going to be the problem.

She was greatly surprised to find that no convincing was necessary.  None at all.

QAF

Finding himself in a hospital was not something Brian was happy about.  Lately, it seemed, he spent all too much time there.  The last few days were slowly coming back to him in between nurses coming in to check his blood pressure or wake him up to give him something to put him to sleep.

It took him awhile to piece together the last two days of his life.  His last distinct memory was in his office talking to Ted and being told that the insurance company wasn't planning to pay for his apartment being destroyed by fire.    Then the police turning up to cart him away, and after that things got a little blurry, until he'd woken up in the hospital.

 He remembered all too well the supper at Deb's.  A more boring meal he'd never had!  Not even Emmett could have saved it.

Then Mikey had pushed for them to go to Babylon.  He'd been difficult all evening, more clinging than normal and even though Brian didn't want to go out, Mikey had turned on his puppy dog eyes.   He was tired, lately he always seemed to be tired and he hated that.  He remembered that the music was loud and vibrating through him.  His head was hurting and he just wanted to go home.  After that things got a little blurry and the next thing he remembered clearly was going home to find his building in flames. 

True, he'd been surprised to find himself waking up at Honeycutt's, but once he wrapped his mind around the fact that he was homeless, he started making plans for finding a new place.  His life over the last couple of years had been a jumble.  Memories of Justin tainted the loft and finding some place new was actually something he'd been thinking on for a while.  The loft held too many memories, some good, some not so good.  It felt as if it was time to let it go.  That's what he decided to concentrate on.

Just when he felt ready, the business had taken a turn downward and he'd had to deal with everything related to that.  Both Cynthia and Ted had been his saving grace, seeing him through the worse of it and making things happen.  In fact he was going to have to consider making Cynthia partner.

Thank goodness Cynthia was not only on top of things happening with Kinnetik but watching out for him too.  She let him know that the insurance company would most definantly be settling and there was a suit against the police department, but he shouldn't count on seeing the money anytime soon .

The problem was - where was he going to live in the meantime.  Evidentially other people had the same thought.  Mikey had offered for him to move into his and Ben's home, an offer that made Brian shudder.   Deb also volunteered her home.  Now that thought was more than a little scary. 

Then there was Emmett.  They'd never been what you'd call close friends, and Emmett had been more Mikey's  friend then his.  The same could have been said for Ted.  Now he relied on Ted, and felt that he could do the same with Emmett.  Their previous relationship had mostly been based on insults and barbs,   but lately things have mellowed. 

Speak of the devil.