A/N: Thanks for Boriqua522 for checking this over for me; you're awesome, my dear!:) *Hugs*

This Chapter: Brian and his father scramble to counteract Telson's and Thomas's ugly accusations; an enemy must alter his plans to fulfill his goals.

One Hour Later

From his place on the RV's couch, Fin shook his head in disgust as Brian gave his version of the events regarding Telson and Thomas. As he figured, by the time Brian got finished his version of the story nowhere near resembled the distorted, deceitful, and malicious tales that the two other men had spouted earlier at Turner's press conference.

By now he had heard enough about his son's earlier lifestyle to realize that Brian would have never been accused of being a saint when he was younger, but to think his opponent would have stooped to such nonsense merely to be elected filled him with repugnance. What ever happened to concentrating on the issues instead? God forbid if they should focus on that in place of waging a smear campaign; not that he was surprised, though. It wasn't called 'dirty politics for nothing. The only question now, though, was how they were going to combat the damage that had been done? He studied his son sitting nearby on one of the RV's matching, cream-colored leather chairs and couldn't help feeling a twinge of sympathy to accompany the anger he was feeling.

"Well, that was about what I suspected," he told his son. "Motherfucking pieces of shit!" he growled. "I knew Turner might start getting desperate with his numbers going down in the polls, but to resort to this? He thinks this is how he will win the election? Well, I've got news for him," he vowed.

His long legs splayed out in front of him, Brian brushed his hand restlessly through his hair in nervous energy as he stared over at Fin; he felt oddly uncomfortable discussing his previous, over-the-top lifestyle with his father, but he knew it was necessary. They were still getting to know each other and he felt a little guilty about dredging up examples of his sexcapades in front of him. If it had been his adopted father, Jack Kinney, he wouldn't have cared one bit about the fallout, and it hadn't been too long ago that he would have been bragging about his exploits; now, however, he averted his eyes from the man who had trusted him to lead his campaign toward victory. Thanks to his cavalier attitude about fucking everything that had two legs and a cock, the lifestyle that he used to relish threatened to blow everything to shit now.

He felt Justin squeeze his shoulder silently from his place on the arm of the chair as he lifted his gaze to meet his husband's. He clasped his hand over Justin's in response, grateful as always for his unwavering support, before he turned to peer over at his father and Tony, who was sitting beside him on the couch. "This is one fucked-up mess, isn't it?" he murmured.

Fin sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you could look at it that way," he said ruefully. His gray eyes darkened, however, as he added, "Well, it doesn't matter; he's made a huge tactical error. If he thinks this is going to make me go cower in a corner somewhere and retreat, he's got a rude surprise in store for him."

Tony grinned knowingly as he reached to clasp Fin's hand from his side on the couch; he would have expected nothing less from his partner. "Trust me, that is not the way to intimidate him," he told Brian and Justin. "One of Fin's favorite expressions is that which makes me angry makes me stronger. And he's feeling particularly strong."

"Glad to hear it," Brian told him, silently proud as well as relieved about his father's combative attitude. "So how do you want to handle this? We'll have to respond somehow; if we merely keep silent a lot of people will take that as a sign that those two bastards were telling the truth, and I'm not going to let them get away with it...Even if I'm forced to resign from your campaign and fight it on my own. I'm going to straighten those fuckers out - and the voters, too. He will NOT get away with this!"

"Brian..." Justin began in dismay; as worried as he had become for Fin and Brian's safety, after what Turner had done to try and disgrace both Brian as well as his father, the last thing he wanted to do was let them win. They couldn't win.

As if he read Justin's mind, Fin's eyes flashed in righteous irritation. "Brian, I told you earlier; you're not going anywhere. I need you for this campaign; I trust you implicitly and I am not going to cut my losses and run just because he thinks he has the upper hand. And furthermore, I resent my son being subjected to such blatant lies and I'm going to enjoy cutting that asshole down a notch or two - along with the slimy scum that are undoubtedly on his payroll. Understood?" He cocked an eyebrow upward in a perfect imitation at the man staring back at him from across the room.

Justin and Tony exchanged a look as they both pursed their lips together in an attempt to keep from laughing; despite the seriousness of the situation, it was hard not to be amused by the mirror looks father and son were giving each other at the moment.

Brian arched one elegant eye brow back at his father. "Yes, Sir," he responded quietly with a curl of his lips. "Completely. So what the fuck do you want to do about it?"

Fin grinned. "That's more like it," he responded as he stood up and stretched his upper body backward to try and remove some of the kinks, his mind lost deep in thought. Tony silently rose from his seat to stand behind him and began to knead his shoulders to try and remove some of the tight, stressful knots as his partner told Brian, "Well, the first thing we need to do is to find a way to refute both of their stories. Were there any witnesses to any part of your encounters with either man that could contradict what they said?"

"Well, I hate to disappoint you," Brian said, "but as much as I got off on being an exhibitionist at the time I didn't exactly have an audience for either event. The incident with Kip; or should I say incidents, because we fucked twice, remember - once in the loft and once in my office - were done without anyone else around." He turned to look into Justin's eyes apologetically. If he hadn't felt some ridiculous need to maintain his reputation as a queer version of the Energizer Bunny of Liberty Avenue back then, he could have prevented a lot of this grief now by simply realizing he had had all he would have ever needed with Justin. Now, however, they were stuck with the situation and they would have to deal with the fallout.

"I was there at the loft when Kip showed up and Brian told me he was meeting him for just business," Justin offered helpfully, although he knew deep down that wouldn't be enough. "I was leaving by the steps just as he was arriving on the elevator. That's how I knew what he looked like," he said as he turned to look at Brian in explanation.

In verification of his suspicions, Fin shook his head. "That might establish that he was at Brian's loft, but it wouldn't prove anything. In fact, it might just make things worse if they knew you were there, knowing how you 'persuaded' him to drop the charges later. It would just make it seem even more like a setup then."

Justin peered over at him glumly and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he conceded. He turned to look at Brian. "What about this Marvin character? No one saw the two of you together or saw him coming on to you?"

"Well, everybody came on to me," he responded simply, "and he didn't exactly force me to come to his hotel room," Brian pointed out.

Justin worried his lower lip as he placed a hand on Brian's knee. "No," he agreed quietly; both were true enough. "But there's got to be a way to prove this he wasn't exactly an innocent party here, either; the way he was talking it sounded like he was happiest-married man in America. I find that extremely hard to believe."

He stared into his husband's handsome face as one corner of his mouth turned up sympathetically; he could tell exactly what Brian was thinking: If only I had never gone there... Justin shook his head slightly as if to tell him it was water under the bridge now and they needed to move ahead before he pressed, "You said he wanted to go to Babylon."

Brian nodded. "Yeah," he snorted. "And here I thought he wanted to go to a steakhouse or something. He was interested in meat, all right; just a different kind of meat."

"But if you went to Babylon, surely someone saw you there with him?"

"Justin," Brian said to him as he covered his husband's hand with his. "That was years ago, Sunshine. Now I admit I can be quite memorable," he added, evoking a slight smile from the blond, "But no one would have given that weasel a second look." He sighed. "No one's going to remember that he was with me now, anyway, not after all this time."

"What about Ryder?" Justin pressed. "If Telson was such a big shot tire manufacturer he had to have a big account with him, didn't he? Maybe he would remember something else that might help us now."

Brian shook his head. "At the time all this happened we were trying to GET the account; I only agreed to meet Marvin the Moron later when he made my appearance at the hotel a condition of signing on with the agency. He made it quite clear. I put out - and HE would put out; simple as that. Besides, Ryder isn't even around anymore; last I heard he was sunning his backside on some beach in Hawaii somewhere. I haven't talked to him in years now. Even if I could figure out where he was, he never knew about what happened at the hotel; all he knew was that the man ultimately decided not to go with his agency. I never told him the real reason why." Somehow he didn't think it would look too good on his part if he told his boss at the time that he had pretty much transformed himself into a male whore simply to land an account, although he assumed that Ryder was secretly aware of the creative ways in which he tried to 'encourage' a potential client to accept them as their advertising vehicle.

"Well, there must be some way to prove that he wasn't the happy little husband he made himself out to be," Tony interjected. "I mean, no offense, Brian - you're attractive and all; but I doubt seriously if Marvin only converted to homosexuality after taking one look at you; he had to have had other encounters before then."

Brian had to smile at that statement. "Well, it's possible..." he began facetiously before he sobered over the seriousness of the situation. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right. But my experience also tells me that those kinds of closet queers are good at hiding their tracks, too."

"No doubt," Fin agreed as he nodded his head. "But how would we track them down, anyway? That would require a private investigator and who knows how much time; that's a precious commodity that we don't have a lot of right now. We need to put this fire out before it burns out of control."

He watched as Tony stood up and flipped his phone open. "I think I can help with that," he said mysteriously with a smile as he began to punch in a phone number. Fin frowned in puzzlement as he watched Tony bring his phone up to his ear a few seconds later and say, "Karen? Hi, it's Tony Cassinelli. How are you?"

Tony nodded. "Wow, seems like Kevin was in middle school the last time I talked to you! Is Danny around? Thanks." Tony gazed over at his partner who raised his eyebrows in question. He was about to explain before his party apparently came to the phone and he returned his attention to his call.

"Hey, Danny! How's it going, man?" There was a pause for a few seconds before Tony laughed softly. "I'm that transparent, am I?" he responded. "Has it been that long already?" Again there was a few seconds' pause before Tony continued, "Okay, you got me, then; guilty as charged. I have two of them." Tony chuckled as he said, "Hey, you told me you owed me a BIG favor, remember?" He glanced over at Fin as he said, "Okay, the first one is Marvin Telson. T-E-L-S-O-N," he spelled out as he looked over at Brian for confirmation, who nodded. "The other one is Kip Thomas. Yeah, I know - cutesy little name, isn't it? But trust me, there's nothing cutesy about THIS fucker," he explained to him.

The three other men could hear Tony's friend saying something on the other end before the attorney added, "Yeah, I need the works; any and everything you can dig up on them. Oh, and Danny...sorry about the short notice but I need this need it ASAP; you know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

"No, no, I don't," Tony said after a few moments. "But both names shouldn't be that common, and Telson was - or is, I don't know - owner of Telson Tires. Older man, maybe late 50's, 60's? That should help pin him down. And this Thomas guy should be somewhere around his late 30's, I'd guess? About average height, slender with straight, dark hair; could still be working in advertising, and I think he's from the Pittsburgh area."

Tony felt Fin's arms come up to slide around his waist from behind as he nodded on the phone, finding it a little hard to concentrate as Fin placed his chin on his shoulder and nuzzled his neck. He tilted his head away from his partner while he tried to focus on keeping his hand up to the phone as he nodded. "Yeah, we're definitely even now, my friend," he said with a smile. "I'll be waiting for your call; thanks."

He let out a breath as he flipped the phone shut and explained, "That was Danny Seavers, a P.I. friend of mine," he explained. "Got into a big jam about a year ago when he was caught using an illegal wiretap device on someone. I managed to help him keep his P.I. license and avoid jail time, so he told me if I ever needed any favors from him to look him up. I thought this was the perfect time to take advantage of it."

Fin turned him in his arms to bestow a quick kiss of gratitude on his lips before pulling back. "It certainly pays to have an attorney in the family," he said softly as Tony smiled. He released his partner, Fin's face sobering as he asked, "How fast do you think he can get back to you? I'm not going to be able to hold the wolves at bay for much longer; and something tells me that Kirk's getting drilled big time by the press right about now."

Tony replied curtly, "Well, let Littleton do his job that I'm sure he's being paid outrageously well to do. I imagine he's more than capable of holding them back just a little longer until Danny gets back to me."

Tony turned to face Brian and Justin as he divulged, "He said he'd do a full background check on both of them; that should involve searching for any criminal history, suspicious financial records, credit worthiness, a full social security check and reviewing all local and state databases. He said he should hopefully be able to get back to me within the hour."

"You think that he might turn up something that could indicate they received a payoff of some kind for what they did this morning?" Fin asked his partner.

"Well, I CAN tell you one thing; if there's some money they're trying to hide, Danny will find it. He's the best P.I. I know; and he has some - shall we say - unique ways of finding out information. He employs one of the best computer hackers I've ever seen. If they're trying to hide money they've received lately, trust me, he'll find it."

Brian nodded from his place next to Justin. "I think we should wait until he calls back with a report before we meet with the rest of your staff, then," Brian told his father, who nodded in agreement. "We won't know how to combat the damage until we know what sort of ammunition we'll have."

"I agree," Fin replied. "There's no point in holding a strategy meeting until we find out what he's learned. I'm going to call Kirk and let him know there's going to be a small delay."

Brian nodded as he peered down to check the time on his Rolex. "It's close to opening time here; we're going to have to move soon. I think under the circumstances we should head on over to our next destination. And I suggest we hold the staff meeting by Skype to avoid running into the press until Tony's P.I. friend gets back to him." He let out a weighted breath. "Let's just hope he manages to come up with something to prove that I didn't do what they claim I did."

"Well, if he does it will certainly go a long way toward destroying their credibility," Fin replied. "But even if he doesn't, it's still going to come down to their word against yours," he pointed out. He smiled over at his son. "And you can be quite persuasive when you need to be," he said confidently. "My bet's on you."

To his surprise, Brian felt a lump form in his throat. He wasn't used to such support from his father; well, at least not from the man he used to think was his father. He wasn't accustomed to actually having someone believe in him like that - at least someone other than Justin. A little awkwardly, he replied, "Well, I haven't exactly led a stellar life; it wouldn't be hard to believe all of that really happened."

"Bullshit," Justin growled next to him. "No matter what sort of life you led before, you would have never done anything as heinous as what they are accusing you of now. You certainly never had to force yourself on anyone."

Brian curled his lips under. "Well, you were certainly willing enough," he pointed out.

Instead of the teasing rejoinder Brian expected, Justin's eyes flashed in irritation instead. "Brian, I'm trying to be serious here! You need to fight this, to tell everyone that it's totally absurd. I'll tell them if YOU won't," he vowed.

Brian pulled Justin to his feet. "My little bodyguard," he murmured as Justin glared up at him; he wasn't sure if his vehement reaction was due to the word little or his husband's fear that he would give up. He took hold of Justin's upper arms as in all seriousness now he replied, "You know me better than that, Sunshine; I have no intention of letting them win." He leaned in until their foreheads were touching as he whispered, "But I know whatever happens, you won't be going anywhere either." He pulled back enough to place a short kiss on Justin's lips before he turned to his father. "I'd like to sit in on your conversation with Kirk before we leave," he told him. "I don't want him taking it upon himself to put words in my mouth, especially until we know what this friend of Tony's can dig up." Fin nodded as Brian looked over at Tony. "Let's hope your faith in your friend's abilities is well-founded."

"Yeah, me, too," Tony told him. He let out a breath before telling them, "Justin and I can fix some breakfast while you make your call if you want." Justin nodded in agreement.

"Sounds good," Fin told him softly as he gave him a kiss on the cheek. "But better make it something quick; I don't think we'll be sticking around here too much longer." Tony nodded as Fin motioned to his son with his hand to follow him.

"Brian," he said as he flipped open his cellphone and walked toward the back of the RV. Brian took a moment to lightly brush his hand against Justin's cheek and give him an encouraging look before he followed his father down the hallway.

Justin sighed as he walked over to Tony and plopped down in one of the kitchen chairs. "What a fucking mess!" he stated. "I found out when Stockwell ran for mayor how dirty politics could be, but this is even more than I could have imagined."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, me, too." He sat down next to Justin as he asked, "You really went home with that sleaze ball?" When Justin nodded, he asked, "Weren't you scared? You were only seventeen then."

Justin nodded. "Yeah...Seventeen and young enough to be reckless and just a little stupid when it came to personal safety," he told him with a small shrug. "All I knew was that Brian needed help and no one seemed to be offering him any."

Tony walked over to open the fridge and take out a carton of eggs and turkey bacon to place it down on the counter. "Wow. You must have really been in love with Brian practically from the start, then, to do that for him."

Justin retrieved a loaf of wheat bread from the mini pantry next to the stove and turned to face his friend with a smile of recollection. "Yeah, I was. I don't think anyone back then believed that a teenager could know what love was, but I proved them wrong. And to answer your other question, hell, yeah, I was scared. But you know what? My need to help Brian, along with my feeling that Kip Thomas was just a spineless, conceited piece of shit with an overly high opinion of himself convinced me to do it anyway. And I was right about him; he is a worthless piece of trash only concerned with himself and what he can get without working for it. That always was the difference between him and Brian, though. Brian has had to work his ass off to get where he is; Kip Thomas thought he could get all those privileges merely by latching onto others who he thought he could use to get ahead. And he's still doing it. Slimy, good-for-nothing bastard," he spat out. "Just the thought of him touching me makes me almost sick to my stomach even now."

Thinking once more about how brave Justin had consistently been all of his young life, as well as admiring his young friend's willingness to risk everything for his husband when no one else would, Tony replied, "Well, I got a good look at him up there." He broke several of the eggs into a medium-sized bowl to prepare them for an omelet. "He's one hell of an actor; trust me, I've seen my share of good and bad performers on the witness stand, and he wins the Oscar hands down."

"You're not saying you actually believe he was telling the truth?" Justin responded incredulously.

"Hell, of course not!" Tony promptly assured him as he clamped one hand on Justin's shoulder. "Even with his acting skills, I could see right through him. When people are being evasive, they give off certain body language that nails them every time. To the untrained eye of John Q. Public, he might appear to be the innocent, maligned, defenseless party; to me, though, he was obviously lying through his teeth. His inability to look people in the eye as he spoke, the arms hugging his body as if he were closing himself off to questions, the slight shifting of his feet from side to side. No, my friend, I have no doubt he is exactly as you describe him," he told him. "But that doesn't mean we won't need some strong counteroffensive to deflect the damage he's done - in addition to what Telson said. That's where I hope Danny comes through for us."

Justin sighed. "You and me both."

One Hour Later - Turner's Corporate Headquarters - Owner's Office Suite

Underwood smiled broadly in recollection of the two men who had turned in consummate acting performances earlier at the press conference. "Brilliant," he said, not only referring to the two men's appearances at the podium, but also Stockwell's idea to pay them handsomely in exchange for them telling their tainted stories; the aftermath had created a maelstrom in the press. Despite his earlier doubts, he had to hand it to Stockwell. The story of how Fintan O'Connor's son had pushed his sexual advances on two 'innocent,' hard-working men was already all over every media website and talk show around the state, as well as some of the national news outlets. And everyone was commenting on how O'Connor had failed so far to issue any sort of rebuttal, which made their stories seem all the more plausible - and the man's son all the more guilty.

"Don't underestimate O'Connor," Turner warned him abruptly from his place behind his massive, oak desk. "He's not stupid; there's got to be a reason why he hasn't said anything yet." He had to admit - the men had appeared to cause some major damage to O'Connor's campaign from what he had picked up so far, but only an hour had passed since the event. The eerie quiet and 'no comments' reverberating from the O'Connor camp so far did little to dissuade him that the man wouldn't be fighting back - and with a vengeance.

Underwood snorted from his place on the couch, his teeth clenched around a nasty cigar stub as he held a glass of whiskey in his hand. "Give me a break," he muttered. "He's got his tail between his fucking legs as we speak." He smirked. "He should be used to having something between his legs by now anyway, so it shouldn't be a new feeling for him. Fucking pervert," he muttered between his lips. Underwood had no particular love for queers; that was part of the reason why he had agreed to undertake Turner's campaign even though he still felt the man lacked the balls to come out victorious. He saw him more as the lesser of two evils. Hopefully after today, however, it wouldn't matter how inept the man was; he would still look more preferable to a man whose son was being deemed a virtual sexual predator. "He's going down, all right; just you watch."

But Turner wasn't convinced. He eyed the other man warily, smelling the foul stench of the man's cigar even from the other side of his spacious suite. "What about Telson and Thomas? You took care of them?"

Underwood glared over at him in insult. "What kind of idiot do you think I am?" he snarled. "Of course I took care of them! They're already at the airport, taken there by one of your own trucks. I'm sure the press was expecting them to be whisked away by limo, which is exactly what I let them believe when I had your personal vehicle leave immediately after the press conference. The press is tailing it as we speak; they're going to be mighty disappointed, though, when they find out it's just the chauffeur picking up some breakfast on the other part of town," he said with a smug-looking smile. "By the time they figure out no one else is in the car, Telson and Thomas will be on their way to a nice little vacation in the Bahamas - with a warning to keep their big fat mouths shut until the election is over - or until O'Connor bows out of the campaign. If he knows what's good for him he'll just give it up now and be done with it. He's never going to be able to squirm out of this mess, believe me."

"But it wasn't him that did those things," Turner couldn't help pointing out. "It was his son. There's nothing to prevent Kinney from just resigning as manager and O'Connor continuing on with his campaign without him."

Underwood shook his head in disgust; the man really WAS dense. "Who has the most experience here, Turner? I've been in politics for two DECADES! You've never held a political office in your life!" He fumed in exasperation as Turner's face turned red from anger. "Just leave the operations of the campaign to me, understand? Unless you want to fall flat on your fucking face!"

"Listen, Underwood!" Turner snarled, finding the courage to reply. "I don't appreciate your attitude OR your tone of voice! I'M the candidate here!"

Underwood harrumphed. "Only because the party pundits wanted you as the candidate," he told him brusquely. "Without their backing, you'd be nothing." Turner's face reddened even more in disdain as Underwood told him, "I know you want this, Turner; you can taste it, can't you?" he asked with a knowing sneer on his face. "It's written all over your face. You wouldn't be in this deep if you didn't. Heading up your company no longer gives you the notoriety and satisfaction that you crave; you want the attention, the power that being governor would give you, not to mention all the political clout and the influence."

He continued, "Even if you wanted to, it's too late for you to back out now; not if you want to keep your precious transportation company and your reputation. By the time they got done with you, you'd be in so deep you'd be lucky to keep both your company AND your freedom."

Turner stood up, his white-knuckled hands gripping the edge of the desk. "What do you mean?" he demanded.

"Come on, Turner! You know how Telson and Thomas were paid; your company's funds are so intermingled with the party bosses you'll never be able to squirm out of the backlash. You're either going to have to grow some balls and a spine, or resign yourself to spending several years in a jail cell, penniless and destroyed. Do I make myself clear?" He couldn't believe this insufferable man; why in the hell had the party bigwigs chosen this joker as their 'best' candidate? Perhaps it wouldn't have mattered what Kinney had done if he hadn't been here to spearhead this man's campaign; by himself Turner would have fucked it up for sure.

Turner gritted his teeth. "Crystal," he growled out before he took a deep breath and wearily sat back down; the small color television suspended from a corner of the room was softly broadcasting yet another feature about the press conference held a short while ago. The crawling ticker at the bottom of the page left no doubt that everyone was waiting with great anticipation for O'Connor's camp to respond to the serious allegations that had been presented. The only question was: when was that going to happen? He knew the man couldn't afford to just ignore it; so what was he waiting for?

All this stress lately was making his blood pressure shoot straight up; and as much as he hated to admit it, Underwood was right. He DID want to win this election badly. This was not the way he had anticipated winning over the voters of Pennsylvania, however. Could he stand several months of this dirty warfare in the meantime? As he glared over at the other man, however, he already knew that answer. The man was right; he was in way too deep, both emotionally as well as financially, to back out now. And why should he? They had the upper hand now, not O'Connor...Didn't they? The only real question to him was whether he could stand the arrogant man who was managing his campaign until it was over.

"What now?" he asked in resignation, feeling totally spent despite the apparent upper hand they were enjoying at the moment.

Underwood eyed him from across the room as he finally removed what was left of his cigar and stubbed it out in a silver ceramic ashtray made to resemble a hubcap, smirking at the kitschy knick knack. He spoke to the other man as if he were a recalcitrant child as he advised, "We wait to see if O'Connor responds to the charges today; if he doesn't, we dangle your name out in front of the radio talk personalities and provide them with the opportunity to invite you to come on the air to keep hammering about how perverse Kinney is. Of course, you won't say it's because you find his lifestyle personally repugnant; you will concentrate merely on him forcing himself on others and being a sexual predator. You will come across as the righteous but open-minded candidate that we need for you to be. That way you won't alienate the few gays that actually have the intelligence to vote for you instead of O'Connor."

"But doesn't he have to be given the same opportunity to speak that I'm being given?" he pointed out.

"I'm impressed, Turner; you have done some of your homework," Underwood replied sarcastically as he took a large gulp of his whiskey, savoring the burn as it went down his throat. "Yeah, he'll have to be offered the chance to speak; but if YOU were the current focus of a scandal involving your son and had no way to refute it, would you want to risk the additional exposure?"

Turner sighed heavily at the man's know-it-all attitude; the man was the most intolerable person he had ever had the displeasure of meeting. "Well, I can't read his mind," he told the other man curtly. "Maybe he would think he had nothing to lose instead."

Underwood shrugged. "Let him show up, then; we'll chop him down to pieces and spit him out before he can so much as utter a denial of the allegations." He stood up and turned to face the television playing quietly in the corner, noticing with satisfaction that Kinney's face was plastered prominently on the right side of the screen and his father's was on the left. He smirked as he read the glaring headline written across the bottom of the screen that said Ugly sexual allegations arise in O'Connor camp. "I'm going to call Stewart to see if he's heard how O'Connor's planning on responding," he told Turner. "That should tell us something before I start contacting the media outlets."

Turner nodded mutely as Underwood punched in the number, silently hoping that the arrogant man knew what he was doing - and that he would eventually come out victorious as the man believed he would.

Same Time - Fin's RV - Allentown, PA

Fin sat restlessly on the couch, one leg crossed over the other; Tony had one hand on his knee in silent companionship as they waited anxiously for word back from Seavers.

"I can call him to check on his progress if you want," Tony offered softly as he looked over at Fin's face; by now he knew that look. Fin was trying his damndest not to let his anxiety or nervousness show, but Tony knew his partner was worried. It was obvious to him by the stiff way Fin was sitting and the slight furrowing of his brow. Anything he could do to assuage that concern, then, was of the utmost importance to him.

As if he were coming out of a trance, Fin turned his head to stare over into his beautiful partner's face; his expression softened into a tender smile as he shook his head. "I'm that easy to see through?" he murmured as Tony smiled back at him.

"Only to me," he whispered as he leaned toward Fin and their lips came together for a brief kiss. As he pulled back, Fin shook his head.

"No, he said he'd get back to you in an hour and it's just now getting to that point. And I know YOU - if someone makes a promise and doesn't follow through with it, you're on them like flypaper. Let's give him a few more minutes before I sic my partner the bulldog on him."

One side of Tony's mouth twisted upward into a grin. "Okay, five more minutes," he said. "What can we do to pass the time in the interim?"

His desired hope was quickly understood as he noticed his partner's body relaxing a little; Fin placed his leg back down onto the ground and pulled him into his arms. "I think we can think of something," he whispered as they began to kiss anew.

Seated in front of a small desk built into the far wall of their RV's bedroom, Brian stared at the laptop's screen intently; he felt Justin's arms slide around his neck from behind and then down his chest as he placed his head in the crook of Brian's neck and shoulder. "Having any luck?" he whispered as he gave Brian a quick kiss on his cheek.

Brian reached back to place his hand around the curve of Justin's face as he nodded slightly. "Well...it's pretty dry stuff as you might imagine and I'll have to get Tony to verify that I'm interpreting it correctly, but it appears to be pretty much what I thought; any contributions over $500 - and any expenditure over that amount, too - have to be reported within 24 hours to the election supervisor." He leaned backward to stretch out his upper back as he added, "Neither one of those fuckers would have done what they did out of a sense of citizenship or for a measly 500 bucks. Hell, no." He closed his laptop shut and twisted around to stand up and face Justin as he said, "No, both of them wouldn't have done what they without being compensated well. I only hope Turner doesn't turn out to be too adept at hiding his tracks and this P.I. is as good as Tony thinks he is."

Justin nodded at him as Brian slid his arms around his back and added, "In either case, we're going to have to address what happened this morning at least before the day is over; we can't just ignore it. Obviously I don't want to do that until we have as much background information as possible."

Justin peered thoughtfully into Brian's eyes. "You know that I'm perfectly willing to..."

"No," was the prompt and firm reply. "You're not getting up there and being grilled by the media," Brian told him. "No fucking way."

Justin opened his mouth to protest, but was stymied by Brian placing his hand gently over his lips. "It would still be your word against his," he pointed out. "And while you would no doubt come across as sincere, as much as I fucking hate to say it, so did he." He gazed down into the blue eyes, a tender smile ghosting over his lips. "Let's see what the P.I. comes up with; hopefully that will make your offer unnecessary. Either way, I'm not putting you through that, Justin." He knew that despite the progress his husband had made with feeling more comfortable in large crowds, there were still residual effects from what he had gone through as a result of the assault and the aftermath; he wasn't about to cause Justin unneeded discomfort in front of a bunch of media jackals for the sake of saving his own ass. His voice softened as he added, "But I love you for offering, anyway."

Justin nodded as Brian removed his fingers and twined their hands together. "I love you, too," Justin whispered before the two men came together for a slow, passionate kiss. They were interrupted several seconds later by Fin calling them from the front of the RV.

"Brian? Justin? Come out here; Danny's calling back with the results."

Brian leaned down to quickly kiss Justin's lips one more time before he responded. "We're on our way."

As they walked into the living room area, they could hear Tony speaking to Danny on the other end of the phone. "Danny, I've got Fin, his son, Brian Kinney, and Brian's husband, Justin Taylor here with me now."

"Good," they heard a deep, baritone voice say over the speaker of Tony's cellphone now sitting in the middle of the coffee table. "You might want to get a pad of paper and a pen; this is pretty extensive; that's why I couldn't get back to you any quicker."

Tony exchanged a hopeful look with Fin before he nodded. "Hold on a second," he told the P.I. as he walked over to the kitchen table to grab a yellow legal pad and a pen. Returning to the couch, he joined Fin as Brian and Justin sat down in matching chairs set perpendicular to the couch.

"Okay, Danny, I'm ready," Tony told him. "What have you got? I hope it's good news."

"Well, let's start with our buddy Marvin," Danny started out. The four men could hear what sounded like papers rustling as the Seavers rattled off, "Marvin Edward Telson; 58 years old last month. Has two children: a son, Rodney, 38, who's an accountant and a younger daughter, Cassie, who's 20 and in college at Baylor. Was divorced from his wife, Elizabeth, or Betsy as she is known apparently, two years ago and she now lives in Santa Barbara, California in a nine-million-dollar mansion, no doubt obtained through her divorce decree. Part of the settlement also stipulated that her husband had to sell his business and divide the proceeds between the two of them as part of the divorce. He also was directed to pay her $10,000 a month in alimony."

Tony rapidly wrote down everything Danny was telling him, raising his eyebrows at the cost of Telson's ex-wife's alimony, as well as the exorbitant cost of her residence; he thought his and Fin's home was opulent and it was merely valued at a million. "Wow," he said softly with a whistle. "So he doesn't own the business any longer as of two years ago. That answers one of our questions. Did you find out who bought him out?"

"Yeah," Danny said. "That's where it gets interesting. An LLC that goes by the name of Quality Tires, Inc. is listed as the owner. Turns out that Quality Tires, Inc. is owned by a conglomerate based out of the Channel Islands of all places. There's a P.O. Box in the States strictly to collect payments for goods and services, but the actual corporation that owns it is based overseas. The funds get deposited into an account through the Bank of England. I had a hell of a time tracking that one down," he muttered. "That's where Picker came in handy."

Fin, Brian, and Justin all frowned at that statement as Tony whispered, "His hacker," in explanation. "So where did it all end up?" he asked curiously.

"Well, that's the best part," Danny told him. "I have a feeling Telson's wife's lawyers didn't do a very good job of representing her, because when Picker finally tracked it down, turns out Telson still owns it under the LLC; he merely sold it to himself under cover."

Fin grinned. "Conniving little fucker, isn't he?" he responded dryly, pleased to hear that Telson was crooked as a dog's hind leg. "How convenient."

"Yeah," Danny replied. "He was very creative, all right, but it didn't do him much good financially. Seems Telson's business has been drowning in debt big time for the past two years since the divorce decree; according to the financial statements I reviewed his net worth is practically down to nothing. I'm sure having to pay his ex-wife's alimony isn't sitting too well with him at the moment. Here's where it gets really interesting, though; there was a deposit made to his overseas account two days ago, but I have a feeling that it wasn't due to selling a lot of rubber. A payment of twenty thousand dollars - and that's American dollars, gentlemen."

"Holy shit," Justin murmured from his place next to Brian as they looked at each other in surprise.

"You said two days ago?" Tony asked as his hand flew over the paper while he tried furiously to write everything down that his friend was telling him.

"Yep," Danny said. "Oh, it gets even better, Tony. Want to guess which account the payment came from? Don't feel bad it if doesn't ring a bell. It was from a U.S. account here in the Wilkes-Barre area under the name of Alfred Kleemeyer."

Tony frowned. "You're right; I don't recognize that name, Danny; should I?"

The men could hear the man chuckling softly. "Not unless you used to work at Turner Logistics. Seems that Kleemeyer used to be the comptroller at Turner's company back in the late 1990's until he retired several years ago and moved to South Carolina."

Fin started. "Wait - did you say this man used to be Turner's comptroller at his company?" He turned to peer over at Brian, who raised his eyebrows in response.

"You got it," Danny told them flatly. "Now I wonder why this man would be sending Telson a deposit for $20,000? That's a hell of a lot of Michelins."

"Fuck," Brian exclaimed under his breath. "How stupid can you get? Did he really think he was going to be able to hide that fact?"

"Actually, he did a pretty damn good job of hiding it in Telson's account; if Picker hadn't found it, I don't think it would have been detected. He's the best at what he does, trust me, and even he had to use every trick in his book to track that one down - and to make the connection to Turner."

Fin shook his head in disgust. "Unbelievable; but why should I be surprised?" he mused. "As they always say, politics makes strange bedfellows. But I still don't understand how Telson and Turner even knew each other. How would he have even known about the man?"

"Maybe I can answer that one," Brian supplied. "My guess is that Telson was holding a grudge for what I did - or didn't do - and made contact with HIM, not the other way around," Brian told his father. "That's the only thing that makes sense to me."

"But that was years ago, Brian!" Justin told him in disbelief. "Isn't that going way too far?"

"Well, I do tend to be unforgettable," Brian teased as Justin shook his head and rolled his eyes at him. He sobered as he shrugged. "Some people have a hard time accepting rejection," he offered by way of explanation as he gazed into his husband's eyes. Justin's eyes locked with him, both knowing Brian wasn't talking about Telson at the moment. Thank God he had managed to break through Brian's rejection of HIM. But to go to this extent just to get back at his husband? It sounded so preposterous; was it possible?

"Any other info, Danny?" Tony asked as they turned their attention back to the phone call. "Although I think that will likely nail the guy - and Turner - with that information alone."

"Well, I'd say at the very least Telson - and Turner - have some major explaining to do about that little disclosure," Fin agreed. "Although I suppose he could always pretend he didn't know what his former employee was doing on his behalf. What about this other idiot? Kip Thomas?"

There was a small laugh on the other end of the phone. "Now, that one has led quite a colorful life," they heard the P.I. say. "Much more so than Telson. Christopher Kipling Thomas," Danny recited. "Age 39; born in Chicago; moved to Pittsburgh in the mid-90's after being terminated by an advertising agency there by the name of Orbit Enterprises."

"I've heard of that agency," Brian remarked in surprise as he recalled meeting one of their ad executives at a regional awards dinner. "Very prestigious, well-established company. I never knew he used to work for them," he stated. As far as he knew, Ryder's company was the first advertising job that Thomas had ever had, not that he had ever really investigated Kip's background himself; he had been too busy fucking the guy and then blowing him off (and not in a good way) when the man wouldn't go away and became too demanding afterward. He frowned as the rest of the P.I.'s words sunk in. "You said he was terminated? Do you know why?"

"Insubordination," was the terse, one-word reply.

"That could be anything," Brian countered, well aware as a business owner how broad a term that could be. "Any idea exactly what sort of insubordination?"

"Well, from the document Picker found, apparently Mr. Thomas got caught trying to take credit for someone else's advertising campaign idea and was outed when the real creator came forward with proof that it had been his idea all along. Thomas even got a promotion out of it initially until his true colors were detected; then he was promptly dismissed."

"Shit," Brian muttered. "That doesn't surprise me in the least; I bet Ryder didn't have any clue about that; normally when HR calls for references you only get their employment dates and position held. Most companies are too fucking scared about litigation to say anything else."

"Exactly," Danny told him. "You can't believe how many times I've run into that proverbial brick wall when I've been asked to do an employment check on a potential applicant. That's where my hacker comes in handy," he said a little smugly. "And he and I get well paid for it, too; saves the potential employer a lot of money and grief down the road."

"I can imagine," Tony mused. "How about any court records on him, Danny?"

"Well, he's had a multitude of speeding and parking tickets to the point where he's about to have his license suspended if he picks up so much as one more infraction," Seavers replied. "But there's more; seems our little Mr. Thomas is a regular at the courthouse filing lawsuits; he's filed a total of 10 grievances for everything from what he claims are illegal rent increases to car repair issues to dry cleaning complaints. Oh, and he tried to file a lawsuit against Orbit Enterprises, claiming he was fired erroneously; I'm sorry to say they folded under the pressure and actually settled with the fucker for $50,000 rather than go to court."

"What a crock of shit!" Brian growled in disgust. "Well, he didn't get a penny out of me." He turned to look at Justin who returned his grateful expression with a smile of his own; he realized his husband knew he was silently thanking him for saving his ass. "Is he working at an ad agency now?" he asked curiously, silently vowing that if he was he would notify the asshole's employer immediately to warn them that they had a snake in their midst; at the moment he didn't care what it might cost him.

"No," Danny told them. "Get this; he's been on workers' compensation for the past two years; they've declared him totally disabled due to an 'accident' he sustained while running an errand for the last ad agency he worked for in Philadelphia; seems he was on his way to pick up some advertising materials at a printer on the other side of town there when he was struck by a Metro bus. Not only did he wind up filing a worker's comp case against his last employer - Donaldson, Inc. - but he also sued the city of Philadelphia for reckless endangerment and punitive damages. Fucker not only was awarded total disability through worker's comp but he also settled with the city of Philadelphia for a cool $100,000. He must be one hell of an actor."

"Fuck," Justin said in disbelief. "One hundred thousand dollars? Why would he even need to take a bribe from Turner, then?"

"Well, it seems that your buddy Kip has very expensive tastes," Danny told him. "According to his checking account, he's already run through the hundred thousand and is now existing solely on the $1200 he gets each month from workers' comp. After having caviar tastes, I guess it's hard to get used to tuna again."

"Danny, it's Fin O'Connor," Fin said from his place next to Tony. "That's certainly some good fodder we can use at our own press conference to destroy both their credibility and truthfulness," he said. "But you just mentioned Thomas's checking account; what about any hint of impropriety with him? Did your hacker uncover anything that might tie him directly to Turner's campaign, too?" As much as he was ecstatic over the confirmation that both men were not to be trusted, he wanted to nail Turner's ass to the floor for what he had done to his son.

There was a snorting sound like a harrumph that came from the other end of the phone as Danny responded, "Well, Kip Thomas' financial dealings weren't nearly as hard to track down as Telson's; he still has a checking account at the First National Bank of Philadelphia; that's how Picker knew about his settlement with the city and how he's hurting for money now. I'm sure it's just a big coincidence that Thomas, too, had $20,000 deposited suddenly into his checking account two days ago, just like Telson. And guess where it came from?" he said, the smugness obvious in the tone of his voice.

"Alfred Kleemeyer," Tony responded with a grin.

"Bingo," Danny told him with a laugh. "Good thing Turner's a first-time candidate; he hasn't learned the fine art of bribing people under the table yet. I could have probably found THAT one myself; not so sure about the one for Telson, though; that's what I pay Picker to do."

"Holy shit," Fin replied as he shook his head in amazement. "I can't believe this; someone in his camp must have been influenced him to do what he did. I always heard he was a very smart businessman."

"Well, he wasn't THAT smart," Justin couldn't help retorting. "He did business with my asshole of a father, didn't he?" He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before opening them again. "Sorry, couldn't help it," he murmured as the three other men looked over at him sympathetically. Fin and Tony had been told the basic story of his falling out with his father; Brian, of course, knew about it intimately. Anything that reminded him even remotely of his father, though, still filled him with a combination of both anger as well as sadness. Why did virtually everything have to remind him of HIM, anyway? He sighed in frustration as he felt Brian's hand on his shoulder; he turned to stare into his eyes and shook his head slightly as if to say it wasn't worth their time or consideration. He turned his attention back to Tony as his friend asked, "Anything else, Danny?"

"That's about it, Tony, at least for now. If I find out anything else, I'll give you a call. I'll email you the full report I have so far, but obviously you need to keep this on the QT."

"Don't worry; as far as we know you're just a concerned citizen reporting what you discovered. I know the drill; I'm sure Picker's got a way to erase his ISP address so the information can't be traced anyway."

"You got it, my friend. I'm emailing you the info now. And Senator - Good Luck. I hope you nail that fucker and his cronies."

Fin smiled. "Don't worry, Danny. I'm planning on doing just that."

"Thanks again," Tony told his friend. "I think I owe YOU one now."

"No sweat," Danny replied. "But the next time I need to do some 'creative' surveillance, make sure your phone's turned on just in case. See ya," he replied as the connection was broken.

"Bye, Danny," Tony replied with a chuckle as he reached to disconnect the call.

The room was silent as the four of them digested what they had just heard. Finally, Fin spoke up quietly, "Well, that was quite enlightening to say the least."

Tony shook his head in disbelief. "Doesn't Turner realize he could be convicted of perjury if he failed to report his expenditures to the election supervisor? And that doesn't even get into the issue of bribery; if he's proven guilty of THOSE charges, he could be sent to prison for up to seven years and be fined as much as $15,000. How stupid could he be?"

"Apparently pretty fucking stupid," Brian commented. "After all, he got involved with the twin twits; that should tell you all you need to know."

Justin sighed in relief. "Well, at least we can fight back now. By the time you and Fin get done, he'll be lucky to get out of this without doing some serious jail time." He looked over at Brian's pensive-looking face; for someone who had just been given a way to be vindicated, his husband didn't appear too happy. "What's wrong?" he asked softly. "You should be thrilled that we can take him down now."

"Yeah, Brian," Fin told him, puzzled at his son's lack of enthusiasm. "He'll probably be forced to withdraw from the race now - after I insist on a retraction. Why don't you seem happy about that?"

"I'm relieved that we have the necessary information to reveal Turner's culpability in this whole situation," he told them. "But something is still gnawing at me; honestly I don't think the man's smart enough, even with his staff, to pull this off on his own. You heard what the P.I. said; this was a pretty sophisticated plan, and Turner's never been involved with politics before. That was supposed to be one of his 'charms,' remember?" he reminded them, his voice tinged with disdain over the use of the word charms; there was nothing 'charming' about corruption in his opinion. "No, I think there's someone else involved with this. I'm afraid that once we expose Turner's manipulations, though, the man culprit is going to slink back under the rock he crawled out from under and we'll still have to somehow deal with him later."

"Not if Turner has to withdraw," Fin contended. "Brian, I honestly don't see any way that he can stay in the race now; he's made a major blunder here - and a complete fool out of himself for parading those two fuckers in front of the press."

"Maybe," Brian said, his tone of voice leaving no doubt that he still wasn't convinced there was more at stake here than they knew. He sighed. "Well, if that does happen, we'll just have to face it when it comes." He turned to his father to say, "At any rate I think it's time to formulate our battle plan with the rest of your staff and return a few pointed volleys of our own at the other camp."

Fin nodded with a grin. "I agree; this is one 'battle' I'm going to enjoy participating in immensely. I'll give Kirk a call and tell him to meet us at the rear of the Allentown Civic Center's parking lot in thirty minutes. He told me the security guards there have assured him that we will have secured access to that part of the parking facilities and that no press will be given authority to enter. We should be able to meet in complete privacy there."

Brian nodded. "Good." He stood up and pretended to be looking for something.

"What is it?" Justin asked him as he stood up to join him.

"I was looking for my chauffeur hat," he said, curling his lips under.

Justin grinned, taking solace that his husband could joke a little now that they had what seemed to be more-than-sufficient information to bring Turner's campaign to a sullied end; at least he hoped so. Anyone who would resort to such underhanded tactics in an effort to win a political office had no business being governor. "I dropped your hat off at the tailors," he told him as he played along. "For some reason it seemed to be getting too small for your head."

Brian slid behind the wheel of the RV as he countered, "You never complained about how big my head was before; in fact, I think you rather enjoyed it."

Justin slid his arms around Brian's neck as he whispered in his ear, "I still do, and I'll even prove it to you later. Now let's get this bus moving, Driver. We have some trash to take out."

Brian grinned. "I like the way you think, Mr. Taylor-Kinney," he replied. He started up the RV as Justin gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before releasing him to slide in next to him in the other seat.

From their place on the couch, Fin and Tony watched the other couple in wistful amusement. Tony couldn't help feeling his heart constrict just a bit at the mention of Justin's married name; once more he thought silently how wonderful it would one day be if he was referred to as Tony Cassinelli-O'Connor. He really liked the sound of that; whether that would ever happen, though, was open to debate. He turned his head as he felt Fin reach for his hand and clasp it, giving his partner a reassuring smile.

Fin had noticed the slight look of distress that appeared on his lover's face before he had smiled at him. "What?" he asked softly in concern as he tilted his head to peer into the blue eyes.

Tony shook his head slightly in response. "Nothing," he murmured reassuringly. "Just thinking about the work I'll have to catch up on when I get back." He had no idea why he felt he needed to evade the issue; he and Fin normally prided themselves on being upfront with each other about everything. In this case, though, he didn't feel now was the time to broach the topic. Even though they had been together for over a decade now, Fin had only recently come clean about the true nature of their relationship. He didn't need the added pressure from him about whether or not their partnership would eventually lead to marriage, especially not now. There would be time later to talk seriously about it; but for the moment, he rather cowardly decided to mask the true nature of his concern behind his work responsibilities.

To his relief, Fin accepted his explanation with a smile. "You're always too conscientious, my love. Knowing you, I'm sure you will have things well in hand in short order once you get back. You know you could bail out now, by the way, if you want; I would certainly understand, and I'm sure Brian and Justin would, too."

Tony smiled at him affectionately. "No," he whispered softly. "I want to be there when you bring those lying assholes down. And just because Turner might bail out, I'm sure the GOP will be scurrying to find a replacement right away; they're not about to let you run unopposed, no matter how much Turner fucked up."

As the RV began to slowly pull out of the dealer's parking lot, Fin nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right; God forbid if a gay man should become governor. That would be akin to the apocalypse as far as the opposition's concerned. They'll find someone else, all right, but they're running out of time. The election's less than four months away now. It's possible to get another serious contender in that time, but it'll have to be someone who already has some sort of name recognition."

Tony eyed him curiously. "Any idea who they might get to replace him?"

"Hard to say," Fin told him as he studied the question. "They would have to find someone who would appeal to a wide range of conservative voters in the state. Maybe one of the other state senators? There are some decent Republicans," he teased, "despite what Turner would have everyone think." He sobered as he looked into Tony's eyes to say, "I've worked with some in Senate chambers, in fact." He shook his head as he let out a heavy breath. "They sure found a gem to run for them this time, though."

Tony nodded; savoring the warmth of Fin's hand clasped in his. He leaned back in the couch and placed his head on Fin's shoulder, relishing the small amount of quiet time they had presently. Something told him that would be very short-lived soon. Fin took a moment to look down into his partner's face before he quietly flipped his cell phone open to make the call to Kirk that they were on their way to meet with him and the rest of his staff. His call concluded a few minutes later, he quietly set it down on the couch before sliding his arm around Tony's shoulder and pulling him closer, silently expressing his gratitude for the day fate conspired to bring them together at the courthouse so long ago.

Same Time - O'Connor Campaign Bus

The staff's mood inside the campaign bus was somber as they waited for their candidate to arrive with the currently most-talked about man in tow - his son and their campaign manager, Brian Kinney.

From his place at his makeshift desk near the back of the bus, Adam observed their downtrodden expressions and the funeral-like atmosphere with barely restrained glee. Stockwell's idea to discredit Kinney through Telson and Thomas seemed to be working perfectly; pretending he was taking a short smoke break, he had taken advantage of his time outside a short while ago to inform Underwood that they were still waiting to hear what O'Connor and Kinney were going to do to invalidate the startling revelations that had been leveled at them earlier this morning, but he had no idea yet exactly what tact they were going to take; he knew Kirk had spoken to Fin right after the press conference, but the man was holding whatever was said close to his vest at the moment for some reason; his face a neutral mask.

As intensely curious as he was at the moment, though, it was of no consequence in the long term. Whatever they decided to do, he was convinced the damage was irreparable. No matter whether Kinney went the predictable route and decided to resign as manager or not, there was no way the father could completely separate himself from what his son had done. You made your bed, O'Connor, he couldn't help thinking silently in satisfaction, now go lie in it, fucker...

His head jerked up to stare over at Kirk as the man abruptly banged a pen against his glass bottle of iced tea. "Listen up, everybody!" he told them. "I just got off the phone again with Fin; he and Brian are on their way over to the next meeting point in Allentown right now; we're meeting them there in thirty minutes; he will lay out our next step then. Everybody stow your gear so we can get moving!" he told them urgently.

Stewart squared his jaw in anticipation; so they were apparently about to find out the ramifications of what Turner had accomplished earlier this morning; he couldn't wait. Hopefully by the time this morning was over, there would be one less candidate to worry about. He smiled in delight at the thought as he began to gather up his belongings and secure them. I've been waiting for this, he thought in smug satisfaction as he sat back in his seat and the bus began to pull out toward the rendezvous point. It won't be long now, Dad.

Thirty Minutes - Allentown Civic Center Back Lot

Fin's staff fidgeted in their seats, drumming pens on the fold-out desks of the bus's interior, taking an occasional sip of coffee or a drag on their cigarette as they waited impatiently for their beleaguered candidate to arrive with his son. They knew Fin had been intent on Brian Kinney leading his campaign; after this morning's events, however, was that about to change? Most of them thought that would be the only possible way they could still salvage their candidate's run for Governor.

"Here they come," Kirk observed as he looked through the front window of the bus and saw Fin's RV pulling up to the security gate; he could see a parade of media people pressing against the entrance, trying fervently to break in somehow but the guards had stationed themselves firmly in front of the metal, swinging structure and succeeded in permitting only the large vehicle to pass through as they literally shoved some of the more insistent members of the media out of the way.

Adam couldn't help scowling in disgust as the RV slowly approached their bus and he recognized Kinney behind the wheel with his husband next to him in the passenger seat. The quiet murmuring that had been permeating the interior of the bus instantly ceased as everyone watched the RV come to a stop next to their bus; through the massive windows of the RV they could see Fin and his son stand up and turn toward the door. A few seconds later, Kirk stood up to swing the door of the bus open in time to welcome the two men aboard.

"Kirk," Fin said, his tone serious as he shook his speechwriter's hand. Kirk returned the Senator's handshake, studying the expression on his face to determine his mood. To the man's credit, it didn't appear to be especially worried or defeated; rather, he seemed to have a determined sort of look on his face. He glanced over at Kinney, who shook hands with him as well, his grip strong and confident. He had to hand it to both men; neither appeared to be resigned or the least bit downtrodden.

"If everyone will have a seat," Fin told them as he and Brian sat down in a vinyl, navy-blue bench seat placed alongside the right side of the bus facing the small, fold-out tables interspersed throughout the remodeled interior. "We have a lot to cover with you."

Adam frowned, not liking the man's attitude or the sound of his voice. This did appear to be someone who was bemoaning his fate and accepting the inevitable; he had never taken O'Connor for an idiot, despite his disgust for the man's lifestyle, so why would he seem so unaffected by what had happened earlier? And his son looked almost cocky at the moment. What sort of game were they playing here?

Fifteen minutes later, he found out the reason why; while the rest of the group exploded into delighted cries of vindication over what their candidate had discovered, Adam plastered on a look of relief as he silently seethed inside with rage. What the fuck had Turner done? How stupid could he have been? He didn't even have people competent enough working for him that could adequately cover up their tracks? And just how did they discover all this, anyhow? O'Connor and his queer son were being especially tight-lipped about how they found all this incriminating information out, but supposedly some 'well-meaning' citizen had dredged up the information somehow and had contacted them. He turned his face toward the bus's window, pursing his lips tightly together in disappointment and disgust.

Everything he had worked for and hoped for was promptly going to shit; this was bad, very bad. If Turner didn't have to withdraw after Kinney and O'Connor got done with him, it would be a fucking miracle. And it would be too late to find someone suitable to overcome their horrendous logistical mistakes. No, if the worse-case scenario did come to pass, it would be up to him to prevent this man from ever attaining office.

He turned his attention back to the rest of the group as he heard Kinney telling them, "We're scheduling a press conference for one hour from now to replace the town meeting that was due to take place later tonight." He smiled as he turned to look at his father. "I think we'll manage to finish it just in time to make the evening news hour."

Fin grinned. "It's just a coincidence, you understand," he told his staff as they laughed in appreciation. "But something tells me we just might be the lead story tonight. We couldn't have dreamed up this publicity if we tried. And we owe it all to Turner - and his bumbling incompetence."

He stood up and walked over to a nearby coffeemaker, pouring himself a cup as he turned to face his now ecstatic followers. Holding up his mug as if in salute, he toasted the group, saying, "Here's to you, Turner; you really ARE a Dick!"

He waggled his eyebrows at Brian as his son grinned back at him.

"I have to take a piss," Adam muttered to no one in particular as he stood up to proceed to the back of the bus, no longer able to stand around and see everyone celebrating Turner's gross miscalculations. No one else seemed to even give him a second glance; they were all much too busy gloating over their unexpected good fortune. Expecting the inevitable by no later than tomorrow, he closed the narrow, accordion door of the compact bathroom stall, staring at his haggard face in the small mirror secured above the tiny sink. "Laugh all you want, fucker," he muttered softly to himself. "You won't be laughing when I get done with you."