Lindsay tried not to scream when she found out Brian and Justin were going to New York. She couldn’t believe it when the moms at the park gossiped about what a great family Justin and his new boyfriend would be for Gus. She sat there listening to how Brian was father of the fucking year. One of them started talking about Gus, telling her son about a trip to Europe that he was going to go on with his daddies. It was like Lindsay didn’t exist. No one at the park talked about Gus having a mother. She sat there wanting to tell them that she was the one who Brian should be treating the way he does Justin. She got up and went to her hotel, planning on going to New York and making sure Brian and Justin couldn’t ignore her. Her parents had been trying to get her to try to salvage her marriage to Randolph. But as far as Lindsay was concerned Randolph was useless once he told her the only way she could stay married to him was by leaving Gus alone. Lindsay’s tears didn’t work, nor did her argument that she only wanted to be the mother she couldn’t be when Brian was a threat to Gus. When she said that, Randolph walked out of the room and left his bloodsucking lawyer to deal with her.

Lindsay had hoped to use Michael to cause problems, but he somehow thought partying would bring Brian back to him. Lindsay couldn’t believe Michael never figured out what a leech he was in Brian’s life. Although she didn’t see anything she did as wrong, or even close to how Justin described it. She didn’t see what she did to Brian as rape. Brian was careless, that wasn’t her fault. Lindsay was so busy trying to justify things to herself that she didn’t see Reese until he got in the elevator with her.

“You really need to give up,” Reese told her.

“How about I call the police and tell them you're harassing me?” She asked him.

“Go for it. Then we can tell the police about your warrant in California. I guess your dad didn’t clean up everything you did.” He told her.

“I don’t have a clue what you're talking about. I was never in California.” She answered him, worried.

“No, that was Melanie Taylor, right? Only, the man you decided owed you more than the agreed on amount for a weekend, identified you. He really was trying to cover up why you were there, and guess what? Apparently, the story was that you showed up with his single brother for lunch and then robbed his house. Which his brother is willing to agree to since he doesn’t want his brother’s wife to find out you stole her jewelry while she was away and his brother was screwing you in her bed.” Reese told her.

“He identifies me and I’ll tell exactly why I was there. I have the email ordering me for the night.” Lindsay said smugly.

“Go for it. But then you’ll be charged with prostitution and burglary. Either way, you’re out of Brian and Justin's life. After that, no judge will want to give you access to the kid you abandoned years ago. Do everyone a favor and leave. I can make sure the other thing goes away, as long as you go find someone else’s life to ruin by being in it.” He tells her.

Reese waited, hoping Lindsay fell for it since he was really only piecing together the information based on the guy being one of Lindsay’s clients, and the theft that was discovered after she took off. The guy admitted to the detective Reese sent that he hired a call girl for the weekend, and identified the woman he hired as Lindsay. He didn’t know if Lindsay stole his wife’s jewelry since they didn’t know it was missing until his wife was looking for an heirloom her family passed down to her. Reese was guessing it was Lindsay.

“Craig Taylor is willing to help you as long as you walk away,” Reese said, hoping to sweeten the pot.

“Tell him I want first class all the way,” Lindsay said, needing time to think of a plan to get what she wanted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brian hated that he was stuck in a meeting, but Justin and Gus texted him what they were doing. Kelly wasn’t sure what to think of Brian. Normally he was all business, but he seemed distracted when Harry asked him what he thought about doing a duo campaign for the clothing and sunglass like they were teaming up to do. Ted had told Kelly about Brian’s partner and that Brian planned to mix business with a family trip. So she didn’t know what to expect from this meeting, but it wasn’t Brian smiling at his phone. Harry had been resistant to using Brian, but only because Brian’s campaigns were more risque than anything Harry had allowed in the past. It only took Kelly showing him the numbers for him to see that he needed to at least consider what Brian could do for them. Kelly snooped through Ted to find out what man managed to get Brian’s attention. She didn’t know what to make of the fact that Justin Taylor wasn’t anything she imagined Brian Kinney would be interested in but found it interesting that Brian was willing to move mountains to be with him. Which she used to get Harry, the family man, to meet with Brian.

“I could have done this from Chicago,” Brian said to both of them.

“What made you change cities?” Harry asked.

“We were planning to start branching out, and recently found there was interest in Kinnetik in Chicago,” Cynthia answered when Brian was texting instead of talking to Kelly and Harry.

“I wanted to be with my partner and son, and they live in Chicago,” Brian answered, surprising Kelly since normally Brian didn’t talk about his personal life.

“You should have moved your family to New York, it’s where you need to be,” Harry told him.

“And if Justin decides he wants us to move here, then I’ll be here. I don’t need an office here, which you just proved since I’m here with you wanting to use Kinnetik, which is still based in Pittsburgh, and now Chicago.” Brian told him, making Kelly hold back her smile at the arrogant man she knew and loved.

“I honestly hoped Kelly would go with my ad firm, but she said it was you or she would pull out,” Harry told him.

“I’ve seen what your ad firm’s done, and they’re good, but I’m better. Kinnetik will cater to your products and every campaign will be designed specifically for you. If you decide not to go with us, that’s up to you. Right now I’m only willing to help because Kelly’s always stuck by me, and I appreciate her loyalty.” Brian told them.

“It means traveling with us. We have fashion shows planned in most of Europe. This campaign is going to be global and it’s something Kinnetik hasn’t done yet.” Harry told him.

“All of us are willing to do what you need,” Ted told him.

“Even with the family that Brian seems to be distracted by?” Harry asked.

“My family comes first, but it doesn’t mean what you need from me will be a problem,” Brian told him.

“I’d like to meet them. Why not invite them to lunch after we sign the contracts.” Harry told Brian, which he found odd, but didn’t say anything about.

Justin and Gus took a cab to meet Brian at the restaurant. Brian told him the clients wanted to meet him and Gus. He wasn’t sure why since it was business but agreed since Gus wanted to see Brian. Brian introduced Justin and Gus to Kelly and Harry, as they all sat down to order. Kelly was watching as Brian was busy listening to his son, and smiling when Brian seemed not to remember she and Harry were there.

“Brian never mentioned you to me. Of course, Brian rarely mentions his personal life, so you can see why I wanted to meet you both.” Kelly told Justin.

“I feel the same way. My editor actually wanted to hire Brian before she found out we were seeing each other. But either way, it’s nice to meet the people smart enough to see using Kinnetik as prosperous to their futures.” Justin told them.

“I heard you’re a comic book author?” Harry asked Justin.

“I write a comic, but mostly I raise Gus with Brian,” Justin told him.

“I was disappointed that Brian chose Chicago to open up a branch of Kinnetik. But I understand wanting to be with your family.” Kelly told him.

“While I was resistant to using Brian, the fact that his family is so important was a reason I was willing to sign with him today. I almost learned that lesson too late. There was a time when business was everything to me, and my family got shuffled behind it. I was lucky my wife stuck around, when even now business sometimes has to come first.” Harry told them.

“I guess that’s where Brian and I are lucky. We both lead lives where sometimes business will get in the way. Right now is my downtime, but eventually, I’ll be traveling again for conventions, and with Brian in my life, it means if Gus can’t come there’s someone home for him.” Justin told him.

“In the next couple of months, we plan to be all over Europe, and want Brian to be there too,” Harry told him.

“What are you really saying?” Justin asked.

“Justin was already planning to take our son traveling, so it shouldn’t be a problem to tailor the trips to what you need for business,” Brian told him.

“I can work from anywhere right now since most of my work is done from my home. I do have to meet with a producer since I’ll be putting out an animated movie of my comic soon, but it shouldn’t be a problem for us.” Justin told Harry.

“I admit I don’t know much about the comic business, other than that my daughter is in love with one in particular, and was very sad to miss one of your conventions because we were away. While I’m admitting it, I became a fan through her.” Harry said, smiling.

“I’d be happy to meet her,” Justin told him.

Harry smile sheepishly at Brian. “That was really why I asked you to bring him.”

Brian really didn’t care, he was proud to show off Justin and Gus to anyone. “Does this mean I was only hired because you’re a fan?” Brian joked.

“You were hired because Kelly showed me what having you on a campaign did for Eyeconics. I resisted at first, but only because my business is more conservative, and your campaigns would change the way we market.” Harry told him.

“Taking a risk is part of business. I know it was a risk when I wrote a character in a market where superheroes are heterosexual. In the first year I left it up in the air, but I wanted to stay true to the hero I was writing about and not make it about his sexuality. Only I found the readers loved the character and that I brought in new readers by showing them a new look at the character.” Justin told him.

“We’ll be working on bringing in new customers for both of you, by showing them you aren’t outfitting just families, but everyone,” Brian added.

Brian thought over lunch later that night and laughed at how it would have gone if he had brought someone like Lindsay. Lindsay always thought she would be the perfect addition since she was raised on how to act during any social occasion. With Justin it was more natural, he could easily deal with the business as well as the social side of conversations. Only, what made Brian know Justin was who he wanted was that he didn’t care if Justin was capable of doing any of it.