Chapter 55 - A Moving Day!
Saturday was Moving Day. This was complicated by the dual facts of Brian's inability to help, other than to order everybody around in an annoyingly officious manner, and the need to move without giving a heads up to the protesters and reporters still encamped outside the loft. It was going to be a major undercover mission, worthy of the CIA or MI5. Maybe even on par with a Torchwood job.
Jennifer had spent much of Friday at the new house making decisions on the boys' behalf, accepting delivery of furniture and prodding the construction crew to hurry. It was a complete mess over there by Friday evening, but the determined little blonde realtor stubbornly refused to concede the battle. She was there until almost midnight cleaning and trying to get things organized for Brian and Justin. She didn't want there to be anything that might stress Brian out more than he already was. She was a mother - it was how she was wired.
Jenn was back again early on Saturday morning, in charge of the 'moving crew'.
Since Brian and Justin didn't want to give away their escape plans, they couldn't just hire a moving van to show up at the loft and transfer all their possessions to the new house. Instead, they drafted, cajoled and bribed the other residents of the loft building to sneak out their stuff on the sly. Many of them were happy to help - Justin had made friends with practically everyone in the building already. The ones who weren't already friends were talked into it once they understood that the sooner Brian and Justin left, the sooner the circus outside would leave, too. The antisocial guy in 3C only agreed to help after Brian paid him $50 bucks cash.
So, Friday night and Saturday morning, Justin, Emmett and Daphne made several small bundles of clothing, personal items and necessities, which they distributed amongst the other building residents. They would have to leave all the furniture and other bulky items until some later time. For now, all they could take was the bare minimum.
Each resident was directed to take their assigned bundle or bag to one of several different locations - Brian and Justin didn't want to trust even these people, so nobody was given the address of the house. Instead, they were directed to take their packages to Brian's office, Daphne or Em's apartments or Jennifer's work or condo. On Saturday morning, the residents, one by one, left the building each carrying their bags, a box or a small suitcase. They were completely disregarded by the protesters and media, except for the occasional request to give an interview about their knowledge regarding Brian and Justin, which were all declined.
Later that morning, Emmett headed over to the local car rental agency and picked up the nondescript, white, American-made, panel van that had been reserved in his name and paid for by Cynthia. Em drove it around to the various drop spots and picked up the bags and boxes delivered by the building residents, then delivered them to Jennifer, Daphne and Ted who had been 'volunteered' to unload the van and put away stuff as it arrived. It took pretty much the whole day, with Justin parceling out additional bags to anyone who he thought he could trust. There was an amazing stream of visitors to the loft that day but, somehow, the vultures around the building didn't get suspicious enough to follow anyone.
By late afternoon, the contractor was done with all the tasks he needed to complete to make the house livable, and had moved out his equipment. Jenn and her minions had managed to keep abreast of the cleanup chores and unpacking, but only barely, and they had the place as habitable as possible by the time it was dark. Brian had asked Cynthia to arrange for a late supper for all of them at the house, and the caterer was the last delivery of the evening. Then, Daph, Ted and Em collapsed on the newly delivered sofa while Jenn went to pick up Brian.
This was the trickiest part of the whole endeavor. It was easy to smuggle out a few bags of clothing or some small nicknacks. It wasn't quite as easy to smuggle out a 6'2", eight-months pregnant man whose face had been plastered on every media outlet in the country over the past week. Especially when that man wasn't supposed to be out of bed for long and was definitely not supposed to be stressed out in any way.
It was Cynthia who had come up with the final plan - she was almost as adept at dealing with the press as Brian. She arrived at the loft just after 7:00 pm with the full contingent of Hulk Brothers, even baby brother Lev. The protesters had packed up and gone home about an hour earlier so the crowd was already slightly reduced. Hulks #3, 4 & 5 stayed by the front of the building while Cynthia and the other two entered the building and went upstairs. A couple minutes later, Cynthia and Justin reemerged from the building and the assembled Hulks provided crowd control, keeping the reporters and assorted fans at least twenty feet back from the door.
It was a classic distraction and diversion plan. Justin and Cynthia were the distraction. Justin emerged from the loft, waving to the assembled masses and, from behind his Hulky barricade, he made a short statement to the public that asked the protesters and media to please BACK OFF - although he said it in much nicer terms. He apologized to his friends and neighbors for all the disruptions in their lives caused by the situation and pleaded with the public to give Brian and him some space. Justin semi-promised that they'd issue updates on Brian's condition at a future time but explained that all the uproar was causing too much stress in their lives.
Justin didn't for one minute think that anyone would listen to his pleas - it was all simply a ploy to keep the masses busy while Brian, whisked out the back by Hulk #1 & 2, was driven away by Jennifer.
When Justin was done speaking, he retreated into the building and waited until Cynthia got the call from Jenn that they'd arrived safely and, as far as they could tell, hadn't been followed. Then, Justin and Cynthia, accompanied by the remaining Hulks, went out the back door and got into the rental van. Cynthia had picked up the van from the house earlier and inconveniently parked it in the alley behind Jenn's car blocking any possible followers. They drove around for a half hour - randomly making abrupt turns and weaving in and out of traffic until they were reasonably sure they weren't being followed - before they turned back towards the environs of Liberty Avenue and the new house.
Justin hadn't been to the house in several days. He was speechless at the amount of progress that had been made in that short time. The chaotic construction zone he'd left here last weekend was gone. In its place was a gorgeous, fully functional designer home. The entire place had a fresh coat of paint and all the light fixtures had been installed. The new wood floor had been polished so brightly it gleamed. A good proportion of the new furniture had already been delivered. If there was a substantial number of things that the contractor hadn't finished - at least on the interior - it wasn't at all evident. It was beautiful!
When Justin, Cynthia and the rest of the Hulk brothers arrived, the 'moving crew' cheered and then everyone immediately moved towards the catered food laid out on the bar in between the kitchen and the Great Room. Moving was hungry business and everyone was starving waiting for the last few members of the party to arrive. Brian was already set up in the place of honor on the end of the couch, a blanket draped over his lap to ward off any drafts, when Daphne brought him a plate full of his favorite Thai food.
Justin grabbed a plate of food and then seated himself next to Brian on the couch, amazed and happy to be together with his partner in their beautiful new home. Brian waited until everyone was seated with their food, then tapped his sparkling cider glass with his knife until he had everyone's attention. He carefully set aside his plate and the blanket and then stood up, his hand immediately going out to the side to quell Justin's protest.
"I promise I'll be short, Sunshine. But, it's only appropriate to offer a toast at our first meal in our new home," Brian raised his glass to the assembled guests. "Thank you, all of you, for helping Justin and I get situated here today. I see a few old friends here," Brian gestured to Ted, Emmett and Cynthia, "and I'm grateful that our friendship has meant enough that you're still here. There are a few faces missing that I thought would always be there for me, but who haven't proven to be reliable enough, which only proves to me the value of those who are left. To old friends!"
"I also see a lot of newer faces which, frankly, I'm amazed to see. I thought I was too . . . Well, I won't say 'old' . . . But, maybe 'set in my ways', to make this many new friends. A year ago I thought a lot of things that have been proven wrong by one very important person," Brian half-turned and extended his hand to Justin. "Everything I thought I knew has been turned on its head in the past year. I'm already a father - I can't even begin to tell you what having Gus has meant to me - and here I am on the verge of becoming a parent again. It's absolutely incredible. Brian Kinney. A father! Really, if that doesn't surprise you, you need your head examined! But, the fact that all of you are here tonight proves that even I am capable of change. To new friends!"
"I don't think I would ever have made it here tonight without all of you. Shit, this whole thing is crazy! I still can't believe it's all true and I have the proof right here," Brian said as he stroked his distended belly and laughed. "But the one person that deserves the most credit for getting us here tonight is my Partner, Justin." Brian beamed down at the amazed blond sitting next to him. "Sunshine, I've never met a braver, more courageous man. In the past year you've stood up to bullies, your father, your formidable Mother," Brian raised his glass in Jennifer's direction, "and even my own family. You believed in me even when I didn't believe in myself. You were willing to give up your entire life for me, without even being asked. You were with me the night Gus was born and I trust you'll be here when Kevan arrives. Thank you. You . . . I . . . I look toward to having you beside me through the rest of this adventure! To Justin!"
Everyone clapped and Jennifer and Daphne even teared up at this pronouncement. Em burst out sobbing outright. Justin held on to Brian's hand tightly but looked down at his plate, speechless at this unprecedented display.
"Okay. I'm sure I've said more than enough," Brian laughed to help relieve the tension caused by his toast. "I can't even blame it on being wasted this time, damn it! So, everybody else has to now start drinking enough that you forget everything I just said! Thank you all for being here! Welcome to our new home!"
"Welcome to Britin's Chapel," Justin added, standing and raising his glass to clink against Brian's as the pair smiled on all their guests.
"Justin, Brian," Jennifer took the initiative to respond to the lovely toast, "on behalf of everyone who's worked so hard the last two days to get you both here safely, I'd like to say, 'you're welcome'. Now, please, Brian, SIT DOWN!"
"Yes, Mother Taylor," Brian jokingly replied but complied nonetheless, sinking back down onto the couch and letting Justin replace the blanket and hand him his plate.
That was the signal for everyone to tuck into their own food. There was much laughter and comraderie and plenty of food, even with all the Hulk Brothers eating roughly their own weight in Thai. However, most of the group was pretty worn out after all the work they’d put in the past few days, and the party broke up early.
The last to leave was Cynthia. She came over and sat on the couch next to Brian, looking concerned. “How’s your stress level, Boss?” Cynthia asked hesitantly.
“Right now, I’m feeling great,” Brian admitted. “It’s a huge relief getting out of the mess back at the loft. I didn’t realize how much it was stressing me out until I left. But, why do I get the impression that you’re about to tell me something that will raise my blood pressure all over again?”
“Well, there are a couple messages for you that I haven’t been forwarding,” Cynthia confessed. “I wanted to make sure the moving was over with before I gave you something new to worry about.” Cynthia reached into her bag and pulled out a paper-clipped stack of pink message slips. “Do you want to read them all or should I just paraphrase?”
Brian glanced down at the note on the top of the stack, saw the name written in next to the word ‘From’ and sighed. “Claire. . . I think this calls for the abridged version, Cynthia. What does my darling sister want from me this time?” Brian replied and tossed the stack of notes onto the coffee table without looking at them further.
Justin had joined them, sitting in the armchair next to the couch. He reached over and picked up the pile of messages and thumbed through them briefly while Cynthia explained.
“The short version is that your mother was arrested yesterday afternoon along with the rest of the rioters at the loft,” Cynthia explained. “She’s being charged with assault by one Kiki Saunders. She would have probably just been released on her own recognizance after being processed but, from what Claire said, it sounds like she saw the person she’d been fighting with earlier and lit into her again right in the middle of the police station. Now she’s also charged with resisting arrest and assault on a police officer. It seems she was pretty sloshed at the time she was arrested and wasn’t sobering up in a very good mood. They threw her in a holding cell overnight hoping she’d cool off.”
“But she must have really pissed off someone important because now they’re refusing to release her without posting $5,000 bail. Claire called a couple times last night and about forty times today. She, of course, doesn’t have the money to bail your mother out and is demanding that you do it,” Cynthia said without any tinge of sympathy at all for the mother or the sister. “What do you want me to do? I can go over there on the way home and take care of it for you but I didn’t know if you would want to help out or not. If it were me I’d leave her there to rot. But she’s your mother, not mine, so. . . .”
Brian sat there shaking his head with an unreadable expression on his face for several minutes without saying anything. Eventually, Brian took a deep breath and stood up. “Thanks for everything Cynthia. You did a great job coordinating all this today. You deserve to go home and get a good night’s rest. I’ll deal with my mother tomorrow. I don’t think a second night in the clink will hurt her. Maybe she’ll meet some new people and expand her horizons a bit. Good night, Cynthia,” Brian said and pecked his assistant on the cheek. “Now, come on Sunshine. I still haven’t seen the master bedroom or the new bath. Let’s go check things out and then start off on christening this place with a celebratory fuck or two.”