BRIAN

Justin called to let me know he was on his way to Woody’s. We agreed there was no reason to hide the fact that we were seeing each other. At first Ben didn’t plan to come because he wasn’t sure if being seen with us was a good idea, especially since we didn’t want Mikey involved. But he didn’t like the idea of Justin wandering around without someone watching him. At that point, I didn’t care about anything but making sure Justin was safe. Mikey would just have to deal with it. 

Emmett saved us a table while Ted ordered the first round. Ted was excited about our venture and wondered why Justin wanted to talk to him when I told him. Justin asked me to wait for him to get there before asking any questions. Since Mikey told Emmett he had to work late tonight, it meant we could talk without worrying about Mikey freaking out.

Justin walked into Woody’s looking nervous, something he never did when he followed me to Babylon. Thinking about it, I realized that at Babylon he knew where he was going and didn’t have to pay attention to the people around him. He’d never followed me here, so he didn’t have a direction to follow. I got up to go get him when he didn’t see me at first. Ben came in looking relieved because the bar was busy tonight. I saw Ben look at one guy, who watched as we walked to the table at the other side of the bar. Justin didn’t look anywhere but at me once he saw me.

“He’s one of the guys that watches Justin. His name is Ames, he’ll do whatever Julian wants.” Ben whispered as we made our way to Emmett.

“As long as he stays where he is we should be able to talk.” I said when we sat down.

“Not to worry, I told some guys to keep him busy.” Emmett tells us, seeing Ben looking confused. “I’ve spent the day with Baby and that guy showed up a few times, so since you guys are trying to keep everything on the down low, I made a point of remembering anyone who was around. Between Deb and I, we will keep them running in circles if they try to get too close.” Emmett tells us.

We watched as the guys crowded Ames in, and Ted sat so he could watch the guy in case he got any closer. I wanted to laugh at the way my friends rallied around Justin, but didn’t because they were proving to me that the men I considered family felt the same way about me and anyone they knew was important to me.

“What did you two figure out?” I asked.

“I… think…” Justin kept looking at everyone stumbling, which was hard to hear because he’d been doing well with people lately. 

I made him stop looking at everyone else and just at me. “It’s just you and me, don’t look at anyone but me.” I tell him.

“I think Julian is worried about me seeing him with Gary Sapperstein” Justin says, keeping his eyes only on me.

“The Sapp?” Emmett asks.

“Why would it matter?” Ted asks.

“Sapperstein in general wouldn’t be someone anyone in business would want to admit knowing.” I said.

“He’s also been investigated continuously because the FBI thinks he might be trafficking people.” Ben tells us.

“It makes sense… a few weeks before I started following you to Babylon, I saw him at Yates’ office. I didn’t know who he was, but Ben confirmed it. I started following you to Babylon, a place I never went.” Justin tells me.

“I’m sure Sapp would have noticed Justin.” Emmett tells us.

“What do you mean Sapp is trafficking people?” Ted asks, as if he didn’t want to believe it.

“We don’t have proof, but there are kids who have gone missing and the last time anyone saw them was at Babylon.” Ben tells us.

“Doesn’t anyone look for them?” Emmett asks.

Justin stopped looking at me, and in his anger over what Emmett asked, he didn’t have a problem giving him the answer.

“Why bother, they’re kids who live on the street. From what Ben tells me the cops just decide the kids moved on. Why bother with a bunch of kids cops would rather not deal with? They just make up excuses for what happens to them.” Justin tells him.

“Justin, that’s not what I meant. It’s hard for them to investigate when no one is willing to tell them the kids disappeared.” Ben tells him, as Emmett snorts. “The kids are transient, and when they leave it’s not like they have anyone who knows who they are or where they go.” Ben tells him. 

“Or no one bothers to ask the right person.” Emmett tells him.

“The cops have tried to talk to the other kids.” Ben tells him.

“Who would they need to talk to?” Justin asks.

“Our mother.” I tell him.

“Yeah, if there is one person who knows everyone it’s Deb.” Ted tells them.

“Can we talk to her?” Justin asks.

“We need to worry about you.” Ben tells him.

“I’m sure you do, but those kids need someone to worry about them, since no one seems to give a shit.” Justin tells him, trying to get up.

“We’ll help not only the kids your worrying about, we’ll we also help you. But it won’t change that I want you safe.” I tell him.

Justin leaned into me, putting his head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around him, when he seemed to need someone to hold him together.

“They’re alone, no one even looking for them. What’s happening to them is because they have no one who cares.” Justin whispered to me, while I felt the tears on my shoulder.

“You do. And so will the rest of us. You're not alone anymore.” I tell him.

“Baby, we’ll help.” Emmett tells him.

“Let’s get out of here, while the guy is trapped.” Ted tells us.

“I needed to… ask..” 

“Ask me when we get out of here, and the answer is yes.” Ted tells Justin.

“Where are we going?” Justin asks me.

“My place, since no one would think Brian would bother with me.” Ted tells us.

Only Ted didn't know he was wrong. It's why I kept him around, because I did care about him.

JUSTIN

Ben went with Emmett and Ted, Brian wanted me to go with him. I thought about how easy it was to let Brian help me when I was falling apart over kids who were lost out there. I knew somehow that Brian understood. He didn’t have to hear me say it, that in them I saw me, I could have been one of them. The only difference was I got lucky with the people who took care of me. I was lucky because the only commodity people saw in me was my mind, not my body.

“Let it go. We can’t do anything right now.” Brian tells me, as I watched his hands turn white on the steering wheel.

“I will when you do.” I tell him.

Brian’s hands relaxed on the steering wheel. “I can’t help thinking of the times I left you standing on the catwalk to go get my dick sucked. What if Sapp had decided to do something then?” Brian says, as if it would have been his fault.

“He didn’t. And playing ‘what if’ isn’t going to do anything but make you feel like shit.” I tell him.

“Just like what happened to the street kids isn’t your fault. In the world, assholes like Sapp get away with anything because the world is full of assholes who are like him. People like Julian find them and use them to kept their hands clean.” Brian tells me.

“When I didn’t know, you’re right, it wasn’t. But now that I do, if I ignore it the way I have everything most of my life, then it is my fault. Living in ignorance is an excuse, one that I won’t use anymore. According to everyone I’m ‘exceptional’, but yet what does that mean when the things I did hurt people's lives? So what if they did other things, it was me who put them on Julian’s radar.” I tell him.

“You did the job you were paid to do. You weren’t responsible for what Julian did or what the people themselves did. Don’t use Hunter to prove your point. You had no clue about Hunter's past. All you knew was that he hacked into a system you were hired to protect. Julian is the one who managed to find Gardner. Remember that, because you're taking blame for something you didn’t do. You’re also playing ‘what if’ in your head, because your life turned out differently.” He tells me. 

“How do you know that’s what I’m thinking?” I ask.

“Because there was a time it could have been me if I hadn’t found the right people in my life.” He tells me.

“I want this to just be about me, not what it’s becoming. I could handle it because the things I did in my life at least would make sense in my head.” He tells me.

“Justin you didn’t do anything other than your job.” He points out again.

“What I was doing with Daphne wasn’t my job.” I tell him.

“What you were doing with Daphne was in hopes to help and do good. Don’t turn it into something else.” He tells me, parking the car.

“If what Ben and I think is true, this is going to be bigger than helping a few businesses.” I tell him.

“I’ll stand next to you and help you in any way I can, for the kids as well as for you.” Brian tells me, kissing me.

TED

Justin took a few minutes before talking to me. He was surprised when I told him yes without even knowing what he needed me to do. I trusted Brian and Emmett and knew they wouldn’t ask me to do something if they didn’t agree with it. At first I didn’t know what to think of the guy who seemed to have a hard time talking to me. It was just me, Ted Schmidt. I intimidated no one, but I understood it wasn’t that Justin was intimidated but actually shy in a way, unless it was Brian or Ben. I sat there not knowing what to think of the way Brian knew what Justin needed without being asked. I pretty much knew then that Justin was different for Brian. At first I sort of saw Justin as another Michael in Brian’s life, but Brian didn’t talk down to Justin, just helped Justin focus. On top of that, Brian never looked at Michael the way he’s been looking a Justin. I really didn’t know what to think when Emmett told me Brian and Justin were still at first base. I mean the guy is beautiful, almost angelic looking, and I’m not the only one who notices it. I’d seen Justin in Babylon before, but as usual I ignored him, because guys that look like Brian and Justin don’t look at guys like me. That brought me out of my thoughts because there was one other person who we could talk to, if I could find him.

I waited because I wanted to know what Justin needed to ask of me. “You wanted to ask me something?” 

“Ben wanted to know if there was something in Julian’s financials. I can find anomalies, but not tell you what makes them significant. If Julian’s in this with Sapperstein, the money needs to be funneled somewhere.” Justin says, looking at Brian's hand in his.

“In a lot of those cases the money flows in and out. It makes it so the money can be accounted for, then it’s assigned a purpose that would look right on paper.” I tell him.

“I’m not in that system often enough to know what to look for, but if I could get you in, could you work with me on it?” Justin asks.

“He can work with me on it. We need to make sure the chain of evidence stays clean too.” Ben tells him.

“I have to make sure no one figures out we are in the system. Daphne can do that if you trust her.” Justin said, looking at Brian.

“We don’t need another hacker involved, the less outside the law we go the better it will be. Julian has the kind of lawyers who will dig up everything we did.” Ben tells him.

“When they dig at Daphne what will they find?” Brian asks Justin.

“Depends on what name they look up, two of them are why the CIA recruited her.” Justin tells him.

“Why didn’t you tell her you knew?” Brian asks him, losing all of us.

“What are you talking about?” Ben asked.

“I told you Julian could only catch me if he had someone as smart as me.” Justin tells him.

“I remember, but what does this have to do with Daphne Chanders?” Ben asked.

“She’s the only one I could think of that would help.” Justin says, like it made sense to us.

“Why didn’t you act like you knew what she does?” Brian asks.

“She was doing this to help me, and to try to say she was sorry. I was giving her a way to know I accepted without her having to tell me it was also her job. I kept up with her, even when she wanted nothing to do with me. I wanted to make sure if she needed me, I was there. That even when she wanted nothing to do with me, I was still there.” Justin tells him.

“She’s the one your guys are using to get caught.” Brian tells Ben.

“We have to tell Carl.” Ben tells him.

“Carl seemed to already know her.” Brian tells him.

“Who’s Carl?” Emmett asks.

“He’s a homicide detective at Pittsburgh PD, and he’s also the man who recruited me when I was making a mess of my life. He retired, saying he wanted out of the spy game, but he couldn’t just sit on the sidelines, so he went into the police force. But he still watches over the ones he liked, me and I guess your friend Daphne.” Ben tells us.

“Then get Daphne to help me find what you need me to look at, and I’ll get you what you need.” I tell them.

“If she gets caught, we’ll try to keep you out of it.” Justin tells me.

“If you can’t I’m good with doing what I can to help.” I tell him.

“Why?” Justin asks.

“Because I’ve spent my life playing safe and all it got me was an office the size of a closet. And that I spend my time in a club where the owner treats people like commodities to sell to the highest bidder. Take your pick, but I don’t care what it takes if we can get one of those kids out of the hell they likely live in. I always saw my job as boring, but by helping you it makes what I can do make a difference in the larger scheme of things. But none of that is why I want to help, it’s because for once Brian asked for something, and I know someone who will talk to me.” I tell him.

“Blake?” Emmett asks.

“He’s someone the kids would trust, since he’s been one of them most of his life.” I tell them.

“Deb could tell us what we need to know.” Emmett tells me, and I know he’s worried about the effect Blake has on me.

“Yes, but Blake could warn the others to stay away. Something Deb would do but they don’t always listen to her.” I tell him.

“Do you even know where to find him?” Emmett asks.

“Not yet, but I know the people he knows, so I should be able to find him.” I tell him, wishing this wasn’t how to locate Blake.

“You really think he would help you?” Brian asks.

“I know you guys don’t have any faith in Blake, but you don’t know him the way I do. He honestly cares about the people.” I tell them.

“He also leaves people when it could get him in trouble and takes off when you wanted to help him.” Emmett tells me.

“I’m willing to try if it could help us with all of this.” I tell him.

“I guess it means we find Blake.” Emmett tells us, having faith in me.

LINDSAY

I’m still trying to figure out why I let my mother talk me into showing up for the weekly dinner at the club. I could be home with Mel, cooking dinner while we marvel at all the things Gus did today. Instead I dressed up and showed up on time to this bullshit dinner my mother likes to have to show off Lynette’s new spousal support check. Something she never did for me after Mel came into my life. What’s strange is it no longer hurts that she can’t accept the woman I’ve been with for ten years, yet wants to celebrate that Lynette’s once again snagged a husband. I remember being jealous of the way my mother treated Lynette like the princess for doing everything she wanted. Only now it makes me laugh. I don’t need her to approve of me or Mel, because what we have makes what she expects a joke. Which is why I question my need to be reminded why I finally stopped caring about this farce, as Brian calls it. I guess for me it’s that I’m happy no longer looking for mother’s approval. That is what I celebrate when I show up.

Mother looked around as we sat down, like a queen in her court. I watched as she nodded to the right people, offering false smiles to the ones that weren’t the right people, but had the money to mingle. Why she sees herself above them is beyond me, since she married into money. My mother’s family was middle class all the way, perfectly nice people, but people my mother left behind in her pursuit of wealth. My father’s family was everything my mother strives to be, yet my father would rather be around my mother’s family. I spent my life trying to figure out what made my father marry my mother, but in the end I believe he really loves her. He doesn’t always agree with her, but he never openly disagrees with her. Which was apparent in his sneaking off to spend time with Gus, while my mother thinks he’s playing golf. Daddy jokes it’s because I managed the one thing she couldn’t, I had a son. Which never made sense to Daddy because he loved us just for being his children. I guess I come for my dad, since he is proud of me. Which I see in his eyes every time my mother talks about Princess Lynette. He loves Lynette but told me that her ability to get married over and over wasn’t something he saw as an accomplishment. 

I looked up from my musings to see my mother’s eyes light up. Turning I saw Julian Yates, who I decided to dislike after meeting Brian’s Justin. It wasn’t like I liked him before, I just didn’t care one way or the other.

He was coming to our table, which he never did. In fact he pretty much treated my family like we were invisible. Daddy got up and practically shook his hand off, while Mother made a point of introducing Lynette, while ignoring the man they were so happy Lynette brought to meet them. Julian sat down next to me, looking around at my mother, Lynette, and Charles, barely concealing how little use he had for them. Which meant he was here because of me. 

“I heard you're getting married again. Third time's a charm and all that.” Julian tells Lynette, and I couldn’t hold back the giggle at the insult.

“Charles is lucky to have Lynette.” Mother said, not missing the insult.

“I’m sure he is, sorry if you took it otherwise.” Julian tells her.

“Let’s hope, these wedding are getting expensive.” Father says, trying to make a joke.

“Well you must be happy that Lindsay managed to get it right. A friend of mine recently meet Lindsay and seems to be charmed by your grandson, Gus, right? I really wanted to meet him, but you came alone.” Julian tells me.

“Lindsay understands tonight was about Lynette, and wouldn’t want to call attention on herself.” Mother says, suddenly not as happy to have Julian join in.

“It’s the only thing about this table that would call my attention.” Julian tells us.

“Really? You never seem to pay any attention to children when they’re here.” I tell him.

“No I don’t, but then Gus is special isn’t he? He’s the one thing that could get me what I want.” Julian says, turning towards me, speaking quietly.

“Only if you want to see what my wife and best friend would do to protect our son from anyone. I have a feeling I can add your friend to that list. So test us and see what will happen.” I tell him, not caring at the gasps around me. “I have no problem showing anyone what I’m capable of if you come near my child, or my friends.” I tell him.

“What could an art teacher really do?” He whispers.

“In this world it only takes one whisper. Since you seem to relish this world you know what happens to the ones who no longer shine in their eyes. I’m sure you think I’m no one, but trust me on one thing, I learned this game from the best.” I whispered back.

“I could deal with your mother blindfolded.” He smirks.

“My mother has nothing on Brian Kinney.” I tell him, as he goes from smirking to angry. “Nothing will stop Brian if you hurt the ones he loves, and that includes Justin. Which means the country club set isn’t really who you need to worry about.” I tell him, getting up. “Sorry, but I think celebrating a third marriage pales in comparison to the one I’ve been in for ten years. Good luck Chuck.” I said as I tipped my glass on Julian’s lap. “Sorry I’ve made a mess of you, but really, get used to it, because we can play as dirty as you.” I tell him, ready to go.

I got to the door, when my father catches up to me. I waited for him to ask me what I was thinking.

“He touches Gus you tell me.” Daddy tells me.

“I will, maybe come by, Gus misses you.” I tell him, kissing him on the cheek.

“Or bring him to my office, I’d love to show him off.” Daddy tells me.

“Be careful with Julian, he’s not a good man.” I tell him.

“I know sweetheart. It’s why I made sure nothing I did could have him at my door. What put him at yours?” He asks.

“Brian fell in love.” I tell him.

“Do you know anything about George Shickle calling me on behalf of Brian?” He asks.

“No, but if you need me to find out I will.” I tell him.

“I’ll call George myself, and if Brian is really opening his own doors then I’ll be there helping him.” He tells me.

“Why? You never really liked Brian.” I tell him.

“I didn’t like that you loved a gay man, but that changed didn’t it?” He tells me.

“Mel changed it.” I tell him.

“I owe Brian for giving me Gus, so let him know I’m in.” He tells me.

I left thinking it was time to find out what Brian had been up to, and hoped he could hold back Mel when I told her about what Julian said to me tonight. One thing Julian didn’t understand was that he wasn’t dealing with the people he knew, people who were afraid of what the world thought of them. He was dealing with Liberty Avenue, and we understood how to protect ours no matter how dirty we had to fight.