I walked into the diner just in time to hear the overly loud voice of Brian's 'best friend'.

"You know what?  I wouldn't put it past him to have burned his apartment down."

What the fuck?... I thought as I hurried to the last booth, noting everyone was turned toward it listening in.  Oh no, now it's going to be all over Liberty!...  I stopped in front of the booth Michael and Ben were occupying, my hands curled into fists on my hips.  "And why would you say a thing like that?"

Mikey jumped up and looked around.  "Where's Brian?" he whined.

I  slid onto the bench seat across from them.  "Brian had an early meeting.  Now why would you say something like that and so loudly?"

"He ditched me last night, so he could have done it."  Mikey asserted.  

I knew for a fact that Brian had not left the club, but I held my tongue, knowing that whatever I said would be discounted by my former roommate.  

"Hey, Em."  Deb showed up, smacking her gum and pulling her feather tipped pen from behind her ear, causing a distraction.  "What'll you have?  We have those blueberry pancakes you like."

I considered and smiled.  "No thanks.  I think I'll have an egg white omelet and toast."  

Deb looked at me doubtfully.  I can't blame her, that was the type of meal that Brian would have ordered.  "At least have some butter on your toast."

"And jelly."  I agreed.  No sense in going overboard.  Michael was ranting on and on about the injustices of Brian.  Ben, after having warned Mikey that he was being too loud, shook his head then appeared to ignore his husband's ravings.  Once my breakfast arrived, I, too, let my mind drift.   At least until I got hit in the face with a wadded up napkin.

"You're not listening to a thing I'm saying!"  Mikey bitched.

It had taken me years to realize that what Michael's concept of Brian as an asshole was a tad faulty. True Brian could be an asshole, but not the way Mikey presented it.

"Sorry,"  I said, though I really wasn't.  "I'm afraid I must go.  You know places to be, people to see."

Michael smirked.  "Don't you mean people to do?"

"Haha."  I fake laugh.   I stand up and grab my check.  "No!"  I say bluntly before walking away.

QAF

I'm practically bouncing as I make my way to Brian's office.  I had a fabulous time shopping on Brian's dime and I mentally go over everything I've gotten and think maybe I should have left them at my apartment  instead of lugging them all over.  

Underwear, check.  Socks, check.  T-shirts, check.  Sleep pants, double check.  Shirts- white, red, black and pink.  Two suits- one dark gray, the other beige, waiting for Brian to go in for a fitting.  Ties- to compliment the suits.  Two pair of shoes- one pair black, and the other brown.  Anything Brian didn't like could be returned, or better yet kept for myself!

As I got closer I could hear yelling coming from Brian's office.  I hurried and arrived just in time to hear Brian bellow, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY WON'T HONOR MY CLAIM?"

Dropping the bags on the leather couch, I sank down. "Uh oh."

Unfortunately Brian caught sight of me and directed his ire at me.  "Honeycutt, what do you know about this?"

Before I could say 'don't call me Honeycutt' the door burst open and two policemen hustled in with Cynthia following close behind.  

"Brian Kinney?"  One of them asked.  Barely waiting for a nod of confirmation, one of them withdrew a pair of handcuffs and moved toward the tall man whose mouth was hanging open.  "You're under arrest for arson.  You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Anything you say may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to the police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future.  Do you understand these rights as I've given them to you?"

Before Brian could respond, they were hustling him out the doorway and down the hall.  "Fuck!  Ted!"  Brian turned and called over his shoulder.

Teddy came out of the stupor he was in and hurried after them and pulled out his phone with me not far behind.  "Boss, don't worry I'll take care of calling your lawyer."

Cynthia was yelling wanting to know what was going on, and nobody was answering her.  I moved to one side and  pulled out my phone to call the diner.  There was only one person I could think of that might help in this situation and there was only one way to get in touch with him.

"Liberty Diner."

"Deb, thank God.  Can you give me Carl's number."

"Carl?  What the fuck to you need him for?"

"Just give me the fucking number.  It's an emergency!"

The next sound I heard was "Horvath here."

"Carl, thank heavens, this is Emmett.  Brian's been arrested for arson, you need to get your ass over there and do something."  

"What the heck are you talking about?" Carl asked.  "Why would they do something like that?"

I had a pretty good idea why, but I didn't think it would be wise to say.  "How the hell should I know?  They hustled him away so fast."  

"Damn.  Do you know what precinct?"

"No, but Ted's following them.  Don't ya'll have some sort of network to let you know?"

Things sort of got out of hand after this.  The telephone lines were burning.  Ted got in touch with Brian's lawyer and explained where they were as well as why.  Then he contacted Cynthia who was doing her best to hold everything together.  She in turn told me what she knew.  I rushed to met up with Ted at the precinct where we found out that Brian was rushed to the hospital.  Before we could leave for the hospital and to find out why, they met up with Carl just as he was walking into the precinct.  

Carl had checked around and found that the fire department had not been able to determine the cause of the fire yet, but there were rumors going around that Brian Kinney had torched the place for the insurance money.  How those rumors had started he hadn't been able to find out.

I slumped down into the nearest chair and closed my eyes.  "Michael."

"Michael?"  Ted asked in disbelief.

I looked around and then leaned forward and lowered my voice.  "This morning at the diner, Mikey was spouting off loud and long that Brian must have set the fire."

"Michael?"  Carl shook his head.  "His best friend?  Why would he say a thing like that?"

"Because he couldn't find Brian at Babylon last night,"  I stated.

Ted's eyebrows kind of scrunched together and he had this confused look on his face.  "But Brian never left Babylon.  He was with me until we took him home and found his building in blazes."  

"Can you prove that?"  Carl asked.

Ted hesitated while Brian's lawyer shook his head.  "You're his employee.  Anything you say will be discredited.  

...There must be some way...  I thought, feeling discouraged and then it hit me.  "The security cameras?"

Ted nodded approvingly.  Then he explained to the lawyer and Carl.  "When Brian rebuilt Babylon he had top of the line security cameras installed.  He felt that the crud that bombed Babylon would not have gotten away if there had been working surveillance cameras."

The best part was all the tapes were fed to another location.  Brian hadn't skimped on security, he wanted his friends safe.  They even had face recognition software and would have no problems tracking Brian's movements.  

QAF

After Ted called Cynthia and told her to call the security company to get the tapes ready for us to pick them up, Ted and I hoofed it over to the hospital with Carl following along in his car.  Carl somehow managed to sweet-talk Brian's hospital room number out of the nurse at the front desk and the next thing I know we're walking through the door to his room.  Luckily the doctor was standing just inside the door, and Ted and I cornered and badgered him until he reluctantly told us that Brian's heart had started racing and that he'd nearly fainted while he was in the back of the police car.  Of course, it might have had something to do with the fact that Carl flashed his badge in the man's face.

Brian was kind of out of it while we were there so we didn't stay long, just long enough to give him our 'get well' and 'see you tomorrows' then we were out of there.

I was truly weary when I entered the diner, intent on getting something to eat, then going home to my bed. 

Unfortunately Michael was standing in one of the back booths waving his arm and yelling.  "Emmett.  Over here."

I mentally rolled my  eye as I placed my order and reluctantly went over and sank onto the seat across from Ben and Michael.

"Where's Brian?  I've been trying to get in touch with him all day!"  Michael whined.

"It seems somebody was telling everyone who had ears that Brian had set fire to his apartment and the cops arrested him."  I pointed out.

"Who the hell would say such a thing?"  Michael asked indignantly and looked around to find the culprit.   

I couldn't believe my ears.   I looked at Ben for conformation.  

Ben merely shook his head and gently broke the news to his husband. "You did."

"But... but I was just joking,"  Michael sank back to his seat protesting feebly.  Then he perked up.  "Maybe a little jail time will do him some good."

Right then I felt like slapping Brian's 'best friend' in the face.  ...A little jail time will do him some good?  Serious?...  Even Ben covered his face, not quite believing what was coming out of his husband's mouth.

"He's not in jail, no thanks to you.  He's in the hospital." 

"The hospital!"  Michael squealed and tried to climb over Ben to get out of the booth.  " I have to go to him."  

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Michael."  Ben pulled him back.  "I think Emmett has more to tell us."

I debated on telling Michael anything but knew that the man would not stop pestering me until he got what he wanted.   After going to the security company and getting the tapes that proved without a shadow of a doubt that Brian Kinney was innocent of all charges,  Carl and Brian's lawyer had taken the tapes to the precinct and gotten the ball rolling.   Then Teddy and I, along with Cynthia had a long discussion.

 "You'll be happy to know that they've dropped the charges, no thanks to you,"  I said looking pointedly at Michael.  "And Brian's attorney thinks they have a good case of false arrest against the cops.  He also feels strongly that Brian should file suit against the person who started the malicious rumor that nearly got him incarcerated."

Ben turned white, but Michael on the other hand, just waved that thought away like he didn't have a care in the world.  "He wouldn't do that, I'm his best friend."

If Michael hadn't been so arrogant and self-assured, especially when I thought he was probably right, he probably would have kept his mouth shut.  But the devil in me made me open my mouth.  "Maybe, he wouldn't, but Cynthia would."  Cynthia did not like Michael at all.

"What?"  Michael blurted.  "She can't do that!"

"She can if she has his POA." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"I thought Justin has his POA?"  You could see Michael was getting worried.

My name was called and I grabbed my meal, but I just had to have the last word before leaving the diner.  "Apparently not."