BEN

“Anything you can tell us?” I ask Det. Hardy as we wait for her and Agent Green to get settled on the sofa.

“It's the same old thing, Gold says Kinney gives me what I want, I tell you where he is.”

“And the other shithead?” I demand, no longer able to say his name.

“Remaining silent…” Agent Green sighs. “...we had to release him. Once Gold confirmed, all he did was follow him around.”

“Seriously, if he were here now…” Brian growls; he looks wretched as well he might, it has been agonising for him since Ethan Gold took Justin. Even worse was when he calmly handed himself in, saying he had kidnapped him, put him in a place only he knows, and that until Brian figures out why he will stay there. He wouldn't even say if he had done anything to him, just smirked and said when you find him you'll find out,

We jump as Brian's cell rings. He looks at the ID and relaxes a little. “Hey, Mercy, how you…” Suddenly he drops it and rushes out the door. I run after him, shouting his name, but he ignores me. Det Hardy and Agent Green are hot on our heels. Brian is haring down the street, and I see a car door open then stop running; Agent Green streaks past me.

“JUSTIN!” Brian screams and speeds up.

“DON'T TOUCH HIM! DON'T TOUCH HIM!” Agent Green bellows, and manages to grab hold of Brian to haul him to the ground. I start running again and catch up to Agent Green and a determined to get out of his grasp Brian. I look at Justin, who is sitting of the ground sobbing Brian's name. “FORENSICS!” Agent Green shouts at Brian, which stops the struggling.

The next thing I hear are sirens; down the road come two ambulances and a few squad cars. Det. Stewart is in one and she rushes to the car that Justin got out of. I can't hear what she is saying over Brian’s crying in my arms. Agent Green has reached Justin as have two EMTs.

Rushing out of another car are Justin's parents and Molly. I strain to see who is in the car that Det. Stewart was talking into. I gape as out of the car finally step Mercy, Caleb and Barney! All looking shattered but happy. Caleb runs towards us just as Justin is put in the ambulance.

“I want…” Brian hiccups and tries to pull out of my arms.

“He never touched him!” Caleb declares. “He just took him and put him there!”

“Where?!” I demand. “Where was he?!”

“The home of the late not-so-great Howard Bellwether!”

“Why the hell would he put him there?! I need to follow Justin!” Brian shouts, finally wrestling himself out of my grasp. “How does Gold know Bellwether and to put Justin there?!”

“Only Gold can answer that.” Barney answers as he approaches. “Which should be an interesting answer because Bellwether is the guy who gave Ethan Gold HIV.”

The whole world goes quiet.

FBI BUILDING - SAME TIME

ETHAN'S CELL

ETHAN

I look up at the ceiling and smile. He has no idea the suffrage I shall put him through. Ironically, I had actually forgotten about the phone. It wasn't until she called to leave that message that I remembered it. I chuckle as I realised what had happened, I had been doing some clean up, getting my affairs in order and had put it in the drawer and then the books and stuff I no longer need. Seems like the jamming in of the books was how it got switched back on.

I look up as I hear voices outside my door. It opens and I smirk. “He’s not figured it out then?”

“Come on. Get up and out.” The Agent orders.

“Why? I am just going to say the same thing.”

“Not today you're not.” He retorts, and gestures me ahead of him. “We’re going for a little ride.”

52ND DISTRICT POLICE STATION - TWO HOURS LATER

INTERVIEW ROOM 2

JENIA

As he sits down part of me feels sorry for him. To have this at such a young age is heartbreaking, but this does not excuse his behaviour. He has a small smirk on his face, as I scrutinise him knowing what I do now, I can see how ill he is.

“I don't know why you…” He begins.

“Two things, Mr Gold: one, we found Justin. He's at the hospital now being checked over…”

“I never touched him like that!” He explodes.

“We know.” I tell him, surprising the both of us with the gentleness of my tone. He slumps in his seat. “And the second, Brian Kinney is here and wants to talk to you.

He gawks at me. “He is?!”

“Yes, will you talk to him?” He looks thoughtful before nodding.

“How'd you find him, Justin I mean?”

“We didn't, it was his friends that did. Have you heard of Mirabelle Mercedes?”

“Of course! Who hasn't?!”

“She found him; her, Caleb Green and Barnabus Mitchell. You know Barnabus, don't you?”

“Yes. Nice guy. Have good memories of him.” He smiles.

“He is, and he’s a former cop.” His face falls. “Why did you put Justin at Bellwether’s former home?”

“He said I could use it any time I wanted to, so I took him there. How do you know that I knew him?”

“Like I said, we didn't know anything, the people that found him worked it out. I am sorry you are going through this.”

“That means so much!” He sneers. “At least Kinney got all the fucking in the world out of his system. How will Liberty Avenue react if they know the truth?!”

“May I let Brian in now?” He nods. I go outside and get him. After a minute the door opens and Brian Kinney steps inside. “Take a seat and don't let me regret this, understand?”

“Yeah, and I won't.” He sits down and stares at Gold. “Explain to me.”

“Have you ever been back to North Dakota?”

“What for?” Brian snaps, then rubs his temples. “No, once was enough.”

“Why did you ask about North Dakota?” I ask. “Mr Gold? North Dakota?”

“That's where I first saw you.” He looks at Brian who shakes his head.

“No, the first time I saw you was in Woody’s when you asked me to fuck you.” I gape at the pair of them. “I wasn't very nice about rejecting you.”

“That means nothing now. As for North Dakota, it is where I first saw you. You were at a Bellwether party, and…”

“Ugh. That man was repulsive. Yeah, I went there. My then fuck buddy wanted to go, so figured might as well tag along for the ride. But when we got there and saw what kind of party it truly was, I left immediately. Bellwether was so pissed when he found out that he wrote The Art of being a Bastard article in a thinly veiled attack against me.” He leans forward. “It was heavily redacted before it could be printed. I made sure about that. Bellwether almost lost his job. I will not allow anybody to destroy me with lies. So again, why…”

“Ahem, Mr Kinney, can you sit back and let me conduct this?” I chide him. He gives a brisk nod and sits back in his seat, then moves further away. “Sit back here.” I order him and he quickly obeys.

“Sorry. Didn't move because of that, just so fucking angry that I needed distance.”

“Understandable.” Gold gives a small grimace.

“Want to take it from the top?” I ask, and again he nods.

“I had just come out, well to myself anyway. I was 18 and went to a book signing of Howard Bellwether. We corresponded for about a year. He was giving me the courage to come out, and I finally did. When I told him, he said he wanted to take me to a party to celebrate.”

“Oh Jesus.” Kinney mutters.

“What?” Ethan frowns. “He was nice to me. I was so sad when he died. He was not repulsive!”

“Ethan, he wasn't nice. He groomed you...” Kinney tells him bluntly. “...and he invited you to a virgin roast bareback party.”

“Mr Kinney!” I snap. “You could be a bit more…”

“Why?! He kidnapped Justin, most likely shot me, and you want me to be a bit more what?!”

“Ah, about that, I didn't mean to do that. I got the shakes and my aim was off.”

“Your aim was off?” I repeat.

“I was aiming for James.”

“Why the hell were you shooting at him?!” I can't believe this.

“Because he didn't recognise me from the party, but it was the way he was about Justin...I mean he was obsessed! He asked me to keep Justin safe. I had no problem with that, but when he said he wanted him pure as well, I began to get creeped out.”

“What do you mean pure?” Kinney looks nauseated.

“He told me the night he stabbed you, that he was determined to fuck Justin before the so called Stud of Liberty Avenue did.”

“Dixon stabbed me?!” Brian springs up and paces for a bit before sitting back down again. “I think he is very lucky to be dead now!” He frowns a bit. “Did you have…?”

“No, but I heard him crash. He was badgering me to burn down his wife’s studio and I wasn’t going to until I got the news.”

“That?” I prompt.

“I had three months tops.”

“Oh my god, when was that?” Kinney is the first to speak.

“Two months ago. It’s partly why I came back. To finishing giving back.” He sits forward. “After I shot you, by accident, again. I went to the hospital to leave you a...but then saw how bad you were and figured that you would be dead anyway. I took the watch as a souvenir like I did the others…”

“Others?”

“Hmm, when I first found out about it and got over the shock, I was so fucking angry. But I was doing great, and it was contained, but soon after I found James and you, I started to get sicker and sicker. The meds weren’t working anymore. They put me on another trial, and at first that too worked, but again after a while my body started to reject it. And then they told me why: full blown AIDS.”

Kinney is silent. “So how did you reconnect with Bellwether?” I ask.

“I bumped into him. He at least remembered me.” Gold looks briefly bitter. “Then he told me about him being sick and not having much longer. I wanted to help him, but then again I got sick. By the time I was well enough, he had died. Like AIDS, cancer is a fucking bastard when it gets hold of it and is determined to take you down…”

“Cancer, where did you hear that?” Kinney is looking like he’s going to explode.

“From him, that’s what he told me.”

“No, it wasn’t cancer, Ethan.” Kinney swallows hard. “He died of complications due to AIDS. And according to the people that found Justin at Bellwether’s house, he was diagnosed with HIV before the party. He went there knowing that. Was he the only guy that you barebacked with? ”

Gold looks heartbroken. “But he was so kind to me and so gentle at the…no, he wasn’t the only one, but that party was the only time, but he swore to me that he and the others were clean! He swore to me...I trusted him. That’s why I figured it was one of the other people I saw at the party!” Then he goes pale. “I...oh God what have I done?!”

“Listened to the lies of a duplicitous man.” I answer, handing him some tissues. At the same time, there is a knock at the door; an officer comes in and hands Brian a paper. He glances at the paper, then back at Ethan.

“How did you find Justin?” Kinney asks before I can. I shake my head at the other officer in the room and he takes a step back.

“Novotny. He was following Justin around, so I followed him, because I was curious as to what he was doing, which was for about a week. It was just before I took Justin, that I asked him, Novotny I mean. He said he was looking for Ben, so figured that he would be with you. He was determined to get to Ben so said he would follow your latest toy about. He was so sneering about it.”

“He always was, and not just the relationship between Justin and I, but also Ben and me. But how does you talking to Novotny lead up to you taking Justin?”

“I am sorry.” Ethan continues to weep. “I heard that you and Justin were going to do it raw, because of your status, I knew I had to keep him safe.”

“My stat...raw? First, here!” Brian throws the paper at Ethan. Ethan looks at it in disbelief, just shaking his head. “Second, who and when in the hell did you hear that from?!” He exclaims.

“Before I took him. The moment I heard that...I just...I just couldn’t let him...is this real? Are you really showing me your test results? How the hell are you negative?”

“Because when I fucked around I was always careful. I would never ever bareback, especially not then.” Kinney growls.

“But who told you that?!” I demand.

“It wouldn’t have been Justin, as we’ve not even discussed that and if he did, he knows that would’ve pissed me off.” Kinney retorts. “So who told you?!”

“No, no it wasn’t Justin. It was Novotny. Novotny told me.”