Part 12

"You guys didn't have to invite me over. I CAN take care of myself you know."

"Daph, after all that you've done for me, the least I can do is help out while you are one handed. How long do you have to keep the brace on?"

"Not sure. Another week at least, I have to go back to the clinic next Saturday, I guess they'll tell me then."

"How did it happen?" Brian asked.

"I was at Dylan's and his place is such a mess. He's messier than you," she said looking at Justin.

"Not possible," declared Brian.

"Anyway, his bike helmet was under a shirt on the floor and I tripped. I guess I hurt my wrist when I tried to catch myself."

"You didn't see a helmet under a shirt?" Brian asked. He thought her story was too rehearsed and that she sounded nervous.

"No, it was dark. I got up to pee in the middle of the night and didn't turn the light on."

"I even walk into the door at the loft in the dark when I get up at night and I know that place really well. Don't feel too clumsy."

"Does it hurt?" Molly asked.

"It did, but it's not too bad now. Let's go up to your room for a little while Mol. We need to girl talk," Daphne said, glad to get away from all the questions.

"Okay."

"Thanks," Justin whispered to Daph as she went by. He was still concerned about Molly having such a milestone while his mother was away.

"No prob."

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Police cars and an ambulance with their lights flashing were parked in front of the diner. Inside several officers milled about trying to gather evidence.

"Will you leave me alone? I'm okay!" A brash voice yelled.

"We are just trying to check you out, Ma'am."

"I'm fine."

"MA. MA." Michael rushed through the door and past the officer that was trying to hold him back. He ran to his mother and hugged her. "Ma, are you okay? What happened?"

"I told you on the phone. The diner was robbed."

Ben talked to a policeman by the door.

"Did he hurt you? You have a mark on your face," Michael said raising his hand to touch the bruise.

"He pushed me to the floor and I tried to fall closer to the phone and I hit my chin on the lower counter."

Brian and Justin arrived and went to Deb right away.

"Deb," Justin whispered with tears in his eyes. She pulled him into a hug.

"I'm okay, Sunshine. I don't want this upsetting you. Where is Molly?"

"She's with Daphne and too late, I'm going to worry over you like you would over me," answered Justin, squeezing her tighter and then letting her go.

Brian examined the mark on her face. "You're going to have quite a bruise there. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I wish everyone would stop fussing over me. I AM FINE!!"

"Did they catch the bastard because I'd like to have a moment alone with him," Brian added.

"No, he ran off with the money."

"Mrs. Novotny, now that you've been checked out and have the support of your friends, could I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure, but these boys aren't my friends, they're my sons."

The policeman tried to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. "Could you describe the man that robbed you?"

"He was about five foot ten or eleven. White, bulky build but that could have been because of his jacket or muscles, I'm not sure. The jacket was black. He had jeans and sneakers on. Brown hair. I didn't notice his eye color, sorry.

"Didn't you call Carl?" Brian asked, not liking the attitude of the guy doing the questioning.

"One of the officers called him for me," Deb explained.

"Good. He'll get to the bottom of this," Michael said rubbing his mother's back.

"Was there anything about the guy that stood out? Tattoos? Scars? Anything like that?"

"No. I didn't see any tattoos or scars," Deb said trying to picture the guy in her mind. "Wait, he had his eyebrow pierced. The left one." The officer wrote that down.

"Deb," Carl said, pushing his way through the crowd of people and hugged her.

"I'm okay, but I'm glad you're here."

"I rushed here as soon as I got the call. Is Jerry okay?" Carl asked, looking over to the cook with an oxygen mask on his face.

"He's okay. He had a panic attack but he's okay too."

"Murphy, did you take her statement?" Carl barked.

"Yes, SIR," replied Murphy, none too happy to be called to task in front of a bunch of queers.

"Ma, I don't want you to work night shifts anymore."

"Michael Charles Novotny, I have worked at this diner since you were in diapers. This is the only job that I've ever been good at."

"Turn in your apron, Deb. You are going to come work at ADvantage," Brian said evenly.

"What the hell would I do there?"

"We'll figure that out in a couple of days."

"Absolutely fucking not! I'll be damned if a scared kid with a gun is going to scare me into giving up my job. I love working here. I get to keep an eye on and brighten the days of the boys whose families have deserted them. I will be here for my shift tomorrow. Now, who will be kind enough to give me a ride home?"

"Ma."

"No arguments please. I'm tired and I want to go to bed."

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"Mr. Honeycutt, thank you for meeting me. I have heard such wonderful things about your parties."

"Why thank you. Please call me Emmett."

"Only if you'll call me Rosalyn."

"Deal. Rosalyn is a beautiful name."

"Thank you, my grandfather named me."

"Then if I get the job, I want to meet him. Someone with such wonderful taste should be included in the planning."

"I wish that was possible, but he passed away a couple of years ago."

"I'm so sorry," Emmett said sympathetically. "I am sure he is watching over you and we'll keep him here in spirit."

"I know that he's smiling up there right now looking down at us. You are definitely hired. I have a good feeling about this. I know that Grampa would approve," Rosalyn smiled. More than you know, she said in her head.

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"Is Deb okay?" Ted asked Brian as he entered the ADvantage brownstone.

"Yeah, you know Deb, she's a tough lady." Brian replied as Cynthia handed him his mail.

"Michael must have been going crazy," Ted said.

"Yeah and Justin too."

"Did she get hurt? In the paper, it said that both employees sustained minor injuries." Cynthia wondered.

"She hit her chin on the counter when the bastard pushed her to the floor. My guess is that she has quite a bruise this morning. The cook had a panic attack. What a queen," Brian said shaking his head.

"Thank God, no one was hurt."

"I offered her a job here so she wouldn't have to work nights anymore."

"That's a good idea," Cynthia said stunned. "I'm sure we can find something for her to do."

"Relax, Cyn. She turned me down." He chuckled. He knew that Cynthia was trying to figure out what and where to put Debbie. He continued to open the mail.

"Why the hell do all the bills arrive on the same day? This company doesn't even dare put the letterhead on the envelope must be a big one. What the fuck?"

"Who is it from?" Ted asked. "I have set up the accounts so that it shouldn't be a problem."

"No. Look at this," Brian snapped.

Ted took the papers that Brian offered him. Cynthia looked at them as well. On each page there were several pictures obviously printed off a home computer. There was some of Brian and Gus shopping. A lot of Justin on the PIFA campus, Michael in the comic bookstore, Lindsay at the gallery and another of her picking Gus up at day care and finally one of Debbie in the diner. The last piece of paper had a warning note. Cynthia gasped and Ted groaned.

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

KINNEY,

FOR SUCH A CYNICAL MAN YOU AND THE PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT ARE VERY TRUSTING AND ACCESSIBLE.

I AM ALWAYS WATCHING

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

"Cynthia, call Horvath and tell him to get over here as soon as possible."

"Already on it," Cynthia said with the phone in her hand.

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"I have a late meeting and I won't be able to pick Gus up at day care tonight," Mel said as she ate a slice of toast quickly.

"That's been happening a lot lately. We hardly ever see you," Lindsay said.

"I have an appointment with the therapist this afternoon so I had to push that meeting back. There was nothing else I could do," she snapped.

"Will you be home for dinner?"

"Probably not. Go ahead without me. I'll grab something," Mel said as she gave both Lindsay and Gus a peck on the cheek and rushed out the door. "Bye."

"Bye," Lindsay replied to the closed door. She sighed, wondering if their relationship would ever get back to what it was before Mel got pregnant. She went to her purse and pulled out her datebook to see if she would have to cancel anything to be at the day care on time. She looked at the dates in her book and smiled. "Could I…" she whispered.

"Come on Gus, let's get you washed and ready for school because Mommy has to stop at the drug store."

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

"Murphy, what do you have on the robbery so far?" Carl asked.

"Not much, sir."

"Why the hell not?"

"There isn't much to go on. I did a canvas of the neighborhood and came up with nothing. Not surprising considering what neighborhood it is."

"What?"

"They don't really trust us down there."

"Maybe that's because one of 'us' murdered a kid. Not to mention how 'we' have treated them."

"Whatever the reason, I am not getting much cooperation. I know she's your girlfriend and you're down there occasionally. Maybe people would be more likely to talk to you. At least you are familiar to them."

"I'll give it a try. But for some reason I think you are so reluctant to be in that part of town that you are passing the case off to me to be rid of it."

"I guess you will think whatever you want to."

"I definitely will," said Carl.

"Horvath, you have a call on line three," came a voice from across the room.

"You don't mind if I use your phone, do you Murphy?"

Carl didn't wait for the answer before grabbing the phone. "Yeah." He listened for a minute. "Okay, I'll be right there."

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"When did this envelope arrive? There isn't any postage stamp on it," Carl stated, looking over the papers on Brian's desk.

"I'm not sure. It was in the mail box with the rest of the mail," Cynthia answered.

"Do you think this has something to do with the robbery?" Ted asked.

"It might. This picture of Deb at the diner seems more than coincidental. Do you remember seeing anyone with a camera around lately?"

"No, but with all the new technology it could have been taken from a cell phone," Brian replied.

"I know. All these advances sure make police work a lot harder. Since these were printed on a home printer there isn't even the possibility of a lead from the photo developing place."

"Besides the obvious, who else hates you?" Carl asked.

"I'm assuming you were talking about Stockwell as the most obvious…"

"Who else could it be?" Carl interrupted.

"Craig Taylor," offered Ted.

"Who?"

"Justin's father."

"Gardner Vance hasn't been too happy that Brian is getting all his clients back and away from Vangard." Cynthia said.

"My sister is a diabolical bitch who blames me for her pathetic life. She's jealous that I got the brains and beauty in the family."

"David Cameron." Ted said. "I'm sure he still blames you for sabotaging his relationship with Michael."

"Like I did anything to sabotage it," Brian huffed. Ted leveled a look at him. "Okay, I did, but he was an asshole. Mikey is better off with Ben."

"I can't argue that," agreed Ted.

"There's also Kip Thomas," Cynthia added.

"You're going to need more notebooks for this list," Ted said to Carl with a laugh. "Someone with Brian's cheery disposition inspires a lot of hatred."

"I can see that," smiled Carl. "To narrow this down a little, how about we start with the one's that you think might actually do something like this."

"Good idea, otherwise we'd be here for days," snickered Ted.

"Shut up, Theodore."

Cynthia couldn't help but smile at Ted. She loved the way he and Brian interacted.

"I think it was Stockwell," said Brian.

"Me too, but I have to look like I am investigating all possibilities while I am really trying to nail him. Give me three other names to check out."

"Craig Taylor," said Ted.

"Kip Thomas," added Cynthia.

"Chris Hobbs," Brian finished.

"Hobbs is the kid that attacked Justin with the bat, right?"

"Yeah, I broke his kneecap with the bat and he lost his football scholarship. He's working as a foreman for a construction company downtown."

"How do you know that?"

"I've kept tabs on him since Justin ran into him unexpectedly a few years back. I try to keep a buffer zone between them and I can't do that if I don't know where the prick is."

Carl looked at Brian suspiciously.

"I haven't broken any laws and Hobbs doesn't even know that I know what he's up to. I know where he works, where he lives, and what car he drives. That's it! No big deal."

Carl looked at his notes again. "Who is Kip Thomas?"

"He sued Brian for sexual harassment three years ago," explained Cynthia.

"I take it that he lost the case?"

"He dropped the case and no one quite knows why but he's never been able to get back in the advertising business in this city at least." Cynthia explained.

"Okay, I'll look into that. What about Justin's dad?"

"He attacked me physically once and rammed my jeep when Justin first started hanging around but he's kept his distance since then."

"I'll start to investigate this. I will get more cooperation at the station if I am not overtly looking at the chief."

"I really want this cleared up. If he wants to come after me that's one thing but to use the people around me is scaring me especially, the pictures of Gus at day care and Justin alone on campus."

"I know, I'll get right on it," said Carl before he left.

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Hunter and Sam were watching the second Lord of the Rings in the family room of her house. Aragorn and Arwen were pledging their love for each other in the fairy world on screen.

Hunter, however, couldn't keep his mind or his eyes on the screen. He kept stealing glances at Sam. She was very aware of his attention and slowly inched her way closer to him. Soon their arms and thighs were touching.

After a short time an epic battle scene filled the screen and Sam buried her head in Hunter's shoulder. Instinctively, he wrapped a comforting arm around her.

"It's okay. It's only a movie, everything works out in the movies," he said.

"I know. I just get caught up in it, that's all. But this is nice," she sighed, snuggling closer.

What the hell am I doing? Hunter thought. I shouldn't be leading her on like this, but she's right this does feel nice.

Without any notice Sam leaned up and kissed him. It was a tentative, sweet kiss but she soon became more urgent and tried to deepen the kiss. Hunter not only accepted it but returned it. They missed the rest of the movie because they were too busy making out. Only the sound of the front door closing brought them back to reality. Sam's older brother Shane walked in the room.

"I gotta go," Hunter said, as he grabbed his backpack and jacket and rushed out of the house.

"What are you doing Sam? You know he's gay right?"

"Maybe he isn't. I can't explain it, but there's a connection between us."

Down the street Hunter slumped onto a bench. What's happening to me? I don't even know what I'm doing anymore.

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Michael had a notebook and pen on the coffee table next to a large glass of root beer. He was watching some kind of animated movie with the volume turned up. Ben sat behind him at the table glaring at the back of his partner's head. His laptop was sitting in front of him.

"Michael, I'm trying to work on my book. Do you think you could turn the TV down?"

"Oh sure," Michael said and turned it down one notch. "This is so cool, we're both writing."

"How can you possibly concentrate with all that noise?"

"I need to get myself in the right frame of mind to come up with all the action sequences and this is the best way to do it."

"I guess that makes sense," grumbled Ben.

"Is it bothering you?" Michael asked over his shoulder.

Ben just stared at him. How in the hell wouldn't it be bothering me, he thought to himself. Before he could say anything Hunter opened the door and entered the apartment. He tossed his backpack onto the floor along with his jacket and went to the fridge to get a soda.

"Hey, how was your day?" Ben asked.

Hunter was too lost in his own thoughts to hear him. He looked through the cupboard for some snacks.

"Hunter?"

"Huh?"

"Ben asked how your day was."

"Oh, sorry. It was fine. I think I did okay on my geography test."

"Where have you been? School let out awhile ago," Ben wondered.

"I hung out at Sam's place."

"Good, we're glad you're making friends."

"Yeah, me too. I don't have any homework tonight so I'm going to relax for awhile."

"You want to watch the movie with me?" Michael asked.

"No, I think I'll check some stuff out on the net," he said as he went into his room and closed the door.

"He seems preoccupied, don't you think?" Michael asked, walking toward the door.

"Michael, let him be for a little bit. Maybe we can get him to talk at dinner."

"Okay," he sighed, sitting down and starting the movie again. Ben rolled his eyes and shut down his computer and went to start dinner trying to accomplish something worthwhile.

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

Carl walked through an abandoned building just off of Liberty Avenue. He was slamming things around and yelling for everyone to wake up.

"Get up or I'll have you all arrested for vagrancy."

"Hey man, we're just trying to get some sleep. We aren't doin' anything."

"Well, someone did something the other night and I'm not leaving all of you alone until I get some answers."

"What do you want to know?" Asked another boy. "We are all off duty right now but if you come back tonight I am sure you can find what you are looking for."

"Someone robbed the diner the other night. I know that Deb has helped a lot of you out at one time or another and I'm just trying to make sure I catch the bastard that hurt her."

"I thought she didn't get hurt," said a small boy from the corner.

"What do you know about it?" Carl asked.

"Nothing," the boy said shuffling to his feet and making his way to the door. Carl followed him out.

"I'm not trying to make trouble for you. I just want to know what happened."

"Good because I don't want any," the boy said.

"Do you know Deb?"

"Yes, she's really nice. She gives me more food than I can afford sometimes. Is she okay? He said he wouldn't hurt her."

"So you do know something."

"Kevin said that someone paid him to do it and helped get him out of jail."

"No one was arrested for the robbery," Carl corrected.

"No, he was in jail before and the guy got him out and paid him to hold up the diner."

"Who paid him?"

"I don't know."

"What's Kevin's last name?"

"Don't know."

Carl handed the boy some money. "Here, go get a hot meal. Thanks for the information."

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

Carl leaned against a patrol car in the parking lot behind the police station.

"Carl? Were you waiting for me?" A young officer said as he approached.

"Yeah, Newton, I wanted to talk to you about a kid you brought in a few nights ago. What did you arrest him for? And why did you let him go?"

"I'm not sure what you are talking about?" He answered nervously.

"Kevin Walters."

"Oh, he was a nice kid. I picked him up for vagrancy in a tough part of town. It was as much for his safety as anything else. How do you know him?"

"He's a possible suspect in a robbery."

"I think you have the wrong kid. He seemed a little too nervous for that."

"Okay. Why did you let him go?"

"The chief said I should give him a break since he didn't do anything violent and the holding cells were filling up. So I took him back to the Liberty area and let him go."

"Okay, thanks Newton. Have a good night on patrol. Be safe."

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Michael noticed Ted slumped over his cup of coffee at the far end of the diner as soon as he came in. He tapped Ben on the arm and they made their way over to his table.

"Ted, are you okay?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, just trying to wake myself up. I haven't been sleeping well."

"How are things otherwise? Do you still go to meetings?'

"Yeah, I was going everyday for a while there but now I go every two to three days. I really like working at ADvantage. I am getting the chance to do so many different things."

"Is Blake the reason that you can't sleep?" Michael asked, wriggling his eyebrows.

"No, he's at a training session in Philadelphia. I have just been having some nightmares. It's no big deal."

Michael's eyes softened. "I have been such an awful friend to you. I want to be more supportive."

"I know," Ted said.

"I don't even know how or when you decided to go into rehab. I was so wrapped up in my own life I wasn't there for you."

"That's okay. I wasn't really open to sharing back then. It seems so long ago, except when I am dreaming."

"I have to get to the office but I would love to talk about me hitting bottom sometime. I might need your advice," Ted said to Ben before he left some money on the table. "See you guys later."

"I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means," sighed Ben.

"Me too," agreed Michael, sadly.

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