Folle Sagesse

AnniKay

Sam/Mercedes/Puck

Disclaimer: I own Nothing…Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennen along with Fox and others own this fandom and all the characters there in…Anything you recognize obviously belongs to them

*****PLEASE NOTE: Thanks for this story's title goes to MsLadyThankYouVeryMuch. The Title translates into Foolish Wisdom.*****

****THANKS to everyone who has taken the time to review! Your encouragement helps more than you know!****
Thank all of you for being avid readers & reviewers of my stories:
I appreciate all of you.

Boredom Busting Book Reread Rec
Zoya by Danielle Steel (Her BEST book)

Isis Aurora Tomoe You are the most awesome Beta ever. Thank you for being such a help in my time of need!

AN: PLEASE KNOW for the bulk of this serious, certain famous singer-songwriters were, quite unfortunately, never born in this alternate universe. Therefore, while in the real world all songs remain the property of their songwriters, singers and labels, in this AU these songs, unless stated as a cover, were written, recorded and are thereby the property of the fictional music group KAMA. Thank you for reading this disclaimer. (Yes, this includes Lily Allen, Megan Trainer and Rachel Patton among others)


4X4 (Miley Cyrus & Nelly)
Mercedes PoV

By the time, we left the Staples Center I was riding high. As far as I was concerned, I'd had my faith in God and my faith in myself and my talent completely validated. To be honest the closest thing I could say to describe how I was feeling…I felt ten-foot-tall and bullet proof. KAMA was, officially, a Grammy award winning music group. I was a Grammy award winning artist. I was looking amazing if I did say so myself…but I didn't have to because the Twitter-sphere, and the fashion blogosphere were all saying it for me. I also needed some time with Puck and Sam in the WORST way. We'd not had a moment alone since we left the hotel. I knew that there was a clear and present danger situation happening, but after performing on Music's Biggest Night, I really needed some time alone with my husbands. Thankfully, Junior and Binkie knew and understood. They pulled Ranger to the side and, after Sam came down from the Eric Church duet, they cleared our dressing room got Puck and the three of us had a delicious little make out session. It was almost embarrassing that we were so hard pressed, that all it took was some kissing, hand jobs and their hands between my thighs and we each came so hard it was hard to muffle our passion. We got cleaned up, refreshed ourselves and got back into our arrival finery, then returned to our seats to watch the rest of the show.

As I listened to John Legend and Common's performance, I was filled with a feeling of pride and happiness. It always made me proud to see the black struggle represented in a way that brought positive attention to us and, hopefully, furthered the cause. Sam took one of my hands and pulled it up to kiss the back of it even as Puck leaned over on my other side and kissed my temple lovingly. I had been greatly blessed in my loves. I was still trying to figure out what to give them for Valentine's Day and to give Sam for his birthday. We were going to be ridiculously busy all weekend or I'd have tried to get us up to Chicago for some down time. But, unfortunately, the first weekend we weren't booked solid was the second weekend in March. and even then, we would be in practice and travel mode for South by Southwest. The simple truth was that we didn't have time to breathe, let alone chill. But that was okay…I was tired but I was happy.

As we gathered everything and everyone after the show ended, I realized that I was also starvingly hungry. I said as much to Puck, and he laughed. "You haven't eaten since breakfast and I'm not even sure that a smoothie counts. Of course, you're hungry. Hell, I did have an entire breakfast and I'm still hungry."

Sam cosigned with a groaned. "Why did you two have to go and mention food? I'm starving." His Shaggy impression was really improving.

Fortunately, our PA was a Queen of forethought and efficiency. She had booked us a private dining room at WP24 by Wolfgang Puck. It was in the hotel, which made the entire evening run just that much smoother. We were all ravenous. No one had managed to have lunch and most of the women had only had a light breakfast. Dinner was a-may-zing. But I guess that is what happens when one is dining at one of the best restaurants in the world. Daniel chided us to just eat a lighter entrée because there would be food at the after parties as well. I heeded his advice and ordered the Hong Kong style steamed Atlantic salmon served with baby bok choy, lotus root, garnished with ginger, and drizzled with aromatic soy. Right after I finished placing my order, my phone started vibrating so much it tried to knock my purse off my lap. I had a million and three text messages of congratulations from all the New Directions that weren't there, all the Jones and Harris family members who weren't there. Though, unsurprisingly Aunt Arielle was not among them. Santana came over and showed me the autograph book that she'd created for Becky. She had a shit ton of artists represented. "This is going to make her so happy. You got Prince to sign it. I am so jealous of Bex right now." I laughed. "I've got to send her some of the lipstick I was wearing on the red carpet tonight. Well, probably not the same color." I grabbed my phone back out of my purse. "Help me choose." Yeah…I should not have said that. Me, Santana, Artie, Brittany, Puck, Sam, Kurt and Blaine literally all picked a different color. After arguing for ten minutes, I just sent her all eight shades of the forty bucks a pop, designer lipstick. I had it sent to her at the school though. Her mom was a serious stickler when it came to things like that.

Dinner wasn't just great because the food was good. It was great because the company was superlative. We also took the opportunity to divvy up the swag bag. Daniel wanted the book on the life of the Live Nation CEO for Brantley. We couldn't agree more. We did have three though, so one was set aside for Brantley and Haja took one and Blaine tool the last one. The children's books, Electrokidz toys and the water bottles were all set aside for the younger siblings and our daughters. The teeth whitening products and veneers gift certificates went to my parents and Xena wanted a set for some reason. Darcy, Ruth and Hudson claimed the specialty chocolates. We kept one Candy Bar gift certificate and set the others aside for Amanda and Riker. The sleep anywhere, travel neck pillows went to BaeBae, Brits and Xena. No one really wanted the trucker hats. That just wasn't right for any of us. Finally, Jax took one to wear 'ironically' when he went jogging. Stephanie took one because, 'sometimes these curls just don't feel like cooperating'. The last we decided to give to Ranger just in case it could ever prove useful in an undercover look. I wasn't sure if they ever did anything that would need an undercover look, but still seemed like a good idea at the time. The Dam Bros each claimed one of the fitness trackers and Cassidy claimed the third.

There were stationary sets and beauty products, three Gibson guitars, and a luxury train trip through the Rockies. That one we kept for ourselves. The Sean Jean track suits…well, we sent one to Sue Sylvester. Then we decided to send another to Coach Beiste and the last we sent to Shelby. Soon everyone had something they wanted and we had to pay, tip our waiters and leave a nice big thank you for them not kicking us out given the fact that we were so hyped up, we were not on our usual good behavior, and get upstairs to get changed for the after parties. The very first thing we did was shower and yes, there was love made in the confines of that shower stall. Both of my husbands had taken great care to ensure, that even at the heights of our passion, my hair did not get wet. I did not have to time to start from scratch on the hair front. When our legs stopped shaking, we got clean and then got out of the shower. I removed all the makeup that I'd been wearing, and it felt like a ton, taking care to moisturize my face before starting again. I used foundation and powder before concentrating on my eyes. Thankfully, I'd been careful enough removing my makeup and the adhesive used had been strong enough that my lashes held. Using silver, black and some deeper purple, I created a dramatic, silvery, smoky eye. I didn't bother with blush, contouring was not something I ever bothered with. I padded over to the room's safe, Harry Winston hadn't been the only jeweler to have made a delivery that morning. We just let the whole world believe that they had. Thankfully, Ranger had been willing to send Hal and Junior to return the jewels I'd worn during the show. I didn't want to have to leave those in the room overnight since we'd be out so late.

I pulled out what I'd be wearing that evening. I owned one piece…the necklace that had been a gift from Lyor. We'd rented the rest of the collection for the after parties. I laid the pieces on the dresser, and started to get dressed. A clean, black lace, strapless bra with matching panties went on first. That was covered by a one piece, strapless spanx shorts shaper that covered me from chest to knees. Then I stepped into the bright blue, Christian Siriano shantung silk slacks and ruffled, peplum matching top. I had to be careful with the two, almost ornamental, halter straps when putting the top on. It was essentially and off the shoulder top, but for them. I needed help with the zippers. Women's formal wear always had hidden zippers either at the back or the side, the outfit I wore that night had the top's zipper on the side and the pants all the way in the back. Sam caught the butt zipper while Puck handled the one alongside my boob. Taking a look in the floor length mirror, I breathed a sigh of relief. I'd been a little worried that the 'jumpsuit' would actually make me look dumpy or extra short, but Bubbie's tailoring was impeccable as always.

While I was there, I took a second to check Sam and Noah out behind me. They were both, already almost finished getting dressed. They were both wearing black suits, Sam a traditional black suit, with a white shirt and black tie…Noah's was similar, but rather than being made of wool or linen or even a high quality cotton, Puck's suit was leather. An expensive, pliable, breathable leather, but leather nonetheless. Neither of them were wearing their jackets yet. Puck was tying his shoes while Sam was playing with his watch. They had swapped their watches from earlier. Now Sam wore the Tourbillion and Noah wore the Skeleton. I could tell that while I'd been doing my face and hair, they had taken the time to get most of our stuff together. That would come in very handy in the morning. I knew that time was getting short, so I made quick work of putting on my earrings, bracelet and watch. Sam came over and helped me with my necklace. I had just enough time to switch to a nude Louboutin clutch bag, slip my feet into my red bottomed Gravitanita starry pumps and double check that I had everything I needed before Stephanie knocked on our door. A quick glance, eyes looked great, shiny 'nude' lips looked fabulous…hair on point, outfit even better. I spritz on a little of my Hermes perfume, God Bless Uncle Saulie, and I headed out to meet the world head on.

I checked Stephanie out. She was still in Haja's assistant mode, but she looked beautiful. Her long brown curls were shot through with gold and red and flowed around her shoulders and back. Her makeup was really pretty, understated, as if she was trying not to draw attention to herself. Something told me that was difficult for a Jersey girl. She was wearing a navy blue, La Petite Robe one shoulder ruffle, sheath, cocktail dress. The blue made her blue eyes come alive. She had large diamond drops sparkling at her ears and a traditional tennis bracelet on a slender wrist. The other wrist held a slender, formal women's watch of white gold. Her shoes though…they were magnificent. At least five inch high with a hidden platform, they were covered in a floral motif material that included white, purple, and blues to create something beautiful. At the exact same moment, she and I both whispered, "I love your shoes."

We chuckled and let the guys join us in the hall. On the way, down we swung through the twenty-second floor and collected the rest of our crew. I was a little surprised by some of the outfit choices. Santana was wearing an adorable, pale salmon, cold shoulder, ruffle romper that showed off her annoyingly perfect legs. Her black, Steve Madden Dancing Rope, cage sandals had been a find while we were both together…they had them in her size and not mine…or we'd have had a throw down right there in Saks. The black trim on the romper matched the cords of the sandals and the tassel earrings she'd finished the look off with. Artie was rolling next to her in a dark slate suit with a gray shirt. He had forgone a tie and had his hair a little wild. Brittany's dress was just pure Brittany. It looked like one of those magic eye posters in dress form. The front was cut high while the back was naked to her waist, well not really, thin laces crossed between her shoulders and tied across the middle of her back. A pair of embellished, rainbow crystal pumps covered her feet. A thin, gold and crystal choker rested against her neck and pretty earrings that had the same makeup, but which were much more intricate graced her ears. Like her wife, her hair and makeup were flawless. Either Santana, or Brittany herself, had recreated the look from the performance, but added glitter to both eyes and lips. It was untraditional, but it worked for Brittany S. Pierce. Man, I wondered if I could managed to get a picture of her with Brittany Spears.

JaJa looked hot in a figure hugging, bright pink, off the shoulder mini dress. Her hair was long and stick straight with just a hint of a curl as was its natural state. Her makeup was cute, but you could tell that she was planning to dance all night long, because she hadn't bothered with much of the stuff. Her shoes were cute too, pale pink, crystal embellished Badgley Mischka pointy toe pumps. She didn't bother with jewelry beyond earrings either. I checked and she did have a purse, so she'd have her phone with her just in case. I quietly asked her if she needed cash for a taxi. "I'm good Madame Worry-Wart. Don't worry so much. Jax, BaeBae, Simeon and me are going to stick together. We just want to dance until we can't feel our toes…then we'll come back and get some sleep and be ready to go before you are. I promise."

BaeBae came out of the room as if summoned by Ja's mention of her. She was in a silver, sequined mini-tank dress, with black crystal coated, peep toe slingback heels. Like Ja, her makeup was simple, her accessories basically non-existent. She must have washed her hair, because it was back in its natural curly state. Her purpose for the evening was to have fun. I was a little envious. Jax, by comparison was DRESSED. He was wearing a sexy, slim fit, navy blue suit with a simple white dress shirt and slightly darker blue slender tie. Simeon was looking like his look was inspired by the Rangemen's red carpet looks. Black suit over a black shirt, but he'd left off the tie. I asked them if they were covered and, of course, they both reminded me that I was younger than them and they were supposed to be looking out for me, not the other way around.

When I saw Rainbow, I shook my head. "Rainbow…you have gotta like stay way far away from me all night. You're gonna show me all the way up." I teased. She was wearing a apricot colored Halston Heritage cross pointe cocktail dress, a pair of Rockstud crisscross ankle-wrap sandals with four inch heels. The color of the dress and the sandals were almost perfectly matched and made her skin glow beautifully. Her jewels, well, she only wore earrings, but they were Graff pave, yellow, diamond earrings. That told me a metric shit ton about how much success she had had as a choreographer and how lucky we were that she'd agreed to work with us.

She looked me over from head to toe and shook her head. "Darling girl, you look amazing. And you know it." She shot back.

That gave me a certain shot of confidence. She'd been in the music industry for a long time. If she said that I looked more than good enough, than I really did look good. Ruth came over and gave me a long look. She arranged my hair, twitched the ruffles that comprised my 'sleeves…I don't know how she just did that but two twitched and suddenly the ruffles fell better and made my boobs look huge. I looked at her and she was working a pair of hot pink Manolo Blahnik pumps…there was a diamond anklet around her ankle. She had a great natural colored, sequined lace, Tadashi Shoji, knee length dress that made her skin look like porcelain and her dark hair look really awesome. She'd worn it pulled back in a bun earlier and I think I wasn't sure that I had realized how long her hair had gotten in the years since we'd met. The dress itself was cool, the blouson cut gave it an edge, but the lace made it completely age appropriate. Her jewelry was understated, sort of. Pink sapphires twinkled at her neck, wrist and ears. They had been Puck's gift to her from his and Sam's revenge spree the day before Christmas Eve.

"You look beautiful, Cede…I'm betting on every outfit tonight making a best dressed list." She assured me.

"Thanks, Bubbie. You are looking great tonight too." I replied excitedly. She was family, so I could let her see the tiny part of me that was feeling some minor insecurity. "Bubbie…please tell me that this night has been real. That we really did perform on the Grammys and even won some." She pinched me. "Ouch. What was that for?"

"Did it hurt?" she smirked.

"Yeah it hurt…you pinched me…with boney fingers." I grumbled.

"Then, Cede-Baby…I don't think you're dreaming." Ruth's laugh filled the hallway.

It drew all eyes, especially when my own delighted giggles joined hers. Erika and Cassidy came out checking their purses as they joined us. Erika was in a tight, black one long sleeve, one shoulder number that made the most of her curves. Her strappy sandals, purse and other accessories were all rose gold. With subtle makeup and a halo of curls around her head, she looked beautiful. Cassidy looked chic, edgy and dangerous. Her hair was stick straight down her back. The cocktail dress had some traditional aspects like lace sleeves and structured ruffle accents but with the cut out at the waist, the angled peplum waist and tulip skirt with its flounced hem…it was a rock star of a dress. Her makeup and jewelry went right with her hair and dress, dark smoky eyes, deep wine lipstick and black nails, even the geometric, chandelier, hematite earrings were perfectly hard core. It was funny to me how many of the chicks in our crew, clique, family and friend groups owned the Steve Madden Slithur sandals, and yet other than three of us having them in black, none of the rest had the same color. Cassidy's that night were red…adding a pop of vibrant color to her look.

Hudson popped out of the room she was sharing with, someone…either Darcy or Bobby from Rangeman. She looked really cute in an emerald green shantung silk, tea length, A-line dress with dark crystal embellishments around the boatneck collar. The dress was sleeveless, so Hudson had added a simple black sweater with similar embellishments along its edges. A pair of modest, almond-toe, patent leather black heels and the pretty watch we'd given her for Christmas finished off her look. She'd had 'tamed' her curls back into a thick bun that morning and I didn't blame her for not bothering to release them that night. Darcy came out of another room with a pair of pave hematite circle drop earrings and passed them to Hudson. She was barefoot and her own curls were down. "Damn, Boss Lady…I'll be finished in like five minutes." She shouted as she raced back into the room she'd exited.

Lester was unceremoniously kicked out into the hall to facilitate Darcy's quick finish. He was wearing black on black Armani, the only Rangeman who hadn't dressed in their more casual uniforms for the evening. "Apparently, it's all my fault Darcy's late." He said unapologetically.

I found Ranger where he stood talking to Tank nearby. "Yeah, I might need some help making sure we keep Puck and Lester far, far away from each other." I was only half joking. "Santana too."

"Believe it or not…we've already anticipated the fallout of either of those meetings." Ranger said with one of his near smiles. "I'm hopeful to avoid Stephanie and Ms. Lewis bonding tonight as well. Maybe in a more contained environment…but not tonight."

"Good idea." I said reasonably. I was distracted by Xena's appearance. She looked beautiful, but kind of deadly in a halter LBD with a long ruffle down one side. It was probably a midi length dress on any other woman, but on Xena, it brushed the tops of her knees. She accessorized the dress with crystal ear climber earrings, and a bracelet and cocktail ring that went with them. She was wearing the highest heels I'd ever seen her in. Probably because she didn't have to try and not look TOO much taller than Damien. Her hair was still stick straight. I would have left alone too. Her hair was long and so very thick…that blowout had taken hours. Her makeup looked more restrained than I think I'd have gone, but she looked beautiful.

Damien and Adam were the last of the guys to arrive. They were talking with Dave, Justin and Artie. It was funny to me how many different colors and silhouettes were reflected among the women, but even though the guys standing together were three to four different body types, they were all wearing basically the same outfit. The colors changed, but they were all wearing a suit with a dress shirt, except Dave, he was wearing a suit with a v neck, slightly dresser than regular, tee shirt. Damien was in a dark brown suit that looked surprisingly good with his light caramel complexion. The ivory shirt made the look brighter. He wore Stacey Adams, which surprised me a little bit. Those seemed like black dad shoes. Adam was in a bolder than navy, dark blue suit with a dove gray shirt. His shoes looked more like something Puck would wear, dressier boots rather than shoes. If I wasn't mistaken they gave him an inch or two of height. I was pretty sure that Justin had tried to look more mature. His suit was a staid shade of navy. It was well pressed and paired with a perfectly white shirt. He looked adorable, but a little like a young man trying just a little too hard. So, I went over and ran my hands through his carefully coiffed hair, after tricking him into bending down for me.

By the time I was finished making Justin look a bit more devil may care, Darcy came out looking more than dressed to impress. She had pulled her hair back like Arwen from Lord of the Rings…complete with a silver necklace with a filigree pendant on a chain at the back. Her makeup was soft and rosy, with a vibrant red lip. One always knew when Darcy was feeling super confident…that was when she whipped out the 'blow job' red lipstick. Her dress had a deep V neckline that was filled not just with some serious cleavage, but with a ruby statement necklace that drew the attention back up to her glowing face. The same stones floated from her ears and adorned her wrists. The dress itself was a black as midnight and red floral jacquard, sleeveless, high-low frock with layered skirts. It looked great on her hugging her upper curves while showing off her legs…she'd found a pair of red satin strappy sandals that had four and a half inch heels and worked with her pedicure like nobody's business.

Kurt's blazer was almost the same wine tinged red. He'd paired it with deep, wood brown slacks and a red micro-check shirt finishing the look with a solid red tie and a paisley red, brown and ivory pocket square. I took one look at his jacket and I could not resist teasing him. "This is beautiful…what is that, Velvet?" I asked as I petted the coat. I was proud of how many of the crew and team and Rangemen chuckled at my joke. Blaine showed his love for classic black cinema and laughed right along with us. He was looking pretty fly himself in a tonal gray plaid Brooks Brothers suit with a super white shirt and solid gray tie. For a moment, I swore I could see them running a fashion empire together pairing Blaine's business acumen with Kurt's amazing fashion sense.

Daniel and Haja came over both looking quite handsome. Daniel was in black Armani, probably from the skin all the way to the tie, though his suit was cut different from Sam's. He looked amazing, and yet nowhere near as threatening as Lester, even if they were pretty similarly built. Haja was in a winter white suit with brown Ferragamo belt and loafers. He was not wearing a dress shirt, just a darker tan vest. It was an interesting look, and he was working it well. They both reminded me that we needed to get the show on the road. A quick head count and we were finally ready to get under way. The limo ride to Chateau Marmont was hilarious. Everyone had a glass of champagne to toast our happy night. There was talking and laughter and I was pretty sure that with the combined forces of Lester, Darcy and Stephanie Plum, even Ranger smiled at least twice. We were a little bit 'fashionably late, but the red carpet was still active. It was much the same as it was for the Grammys themselves…well, that wasn't accurate. There were just as many photographers, not as many people shouting questions. The fashion people still wanted to know who we were wearing though. The pose wall was stark white with the Spotify, Deleon and Warner logos on it. I wondered for a second if Bubbie had realized that my 'jumpsuit' was almost the same color as the Warner Music logo.

Within minutes of walking inside the party, we were in the thick of things. Deborah had appeared and disappeared with Ruth. Anika had popped up next to me wearing a gorgeous, poppy red lace gown with cutout back. She was so thin, as happy as I was with my body, sometimes I kind of hated her. "Love the jumpsuit…Siriano?" she asked pleasantly. "Your whole crew looks great. Grab Lopez, leave the guys with the rest of your team, there are some people who could be invaluable to her when she goes solo in a few years."

Anika had me and Santana meet MADONNA. No seriously, I met Madonna. I shook Madonna's hand. I may have gushed like an idiot at Madonna, but I met Madonna. She was really kind of nice, too. She flirted with both me and Santana…in a way that kind of reminded me of Bubbie Ruth, effortless and maybe even inadvertent. Then Anika took us to meet Nile Rogers. He would be a great resource for Santana when she was ready to be her own headliner. Anika made sure that we spoke to Lyor who introduced us to Cameron Strang who oversaw all the west coast operations for WMG. He in turn introduced us to Livia Tortella his chief operating office. "You guys have hit it out the park with your performances. When are you coming to LA to a big venue? Our A&R department is cultivating some new artists that would be great opening acts for you."

"Oh, I know that LA is a major stop on our summer tour. We're actually playing the Staples Center. As for the opening acts, I know that Brantley and Haja are in talks with some local acts. Puck, Sam and I want to stick with singer-songwriters. Our band DJ, DJ Ca$$ will be handling the mid-card slot on the entire tour. We are so excited to be able to give her the opportunity and to showcase talent." I said excitedly. No way was I going to let our tour become a showcase for some pretty face with no voice. Stephanie poked me and I just knew that she meant that I should give him a chance. "But if you contact Brantley and Haja, we may well be able to give a short intermission set to one of the WMG-LA acts." I swear Hudson had seriously cross trained Stephanie or something. She reached into her purse and pulled out a credit card holder that had a few cards of everyone on Team KAMA. She handed me one of Brantley's cards. "Brantley will be at the office tomorrow, you can have your assistant send him names for his evaluation then." I said giving him the card.

"It is nice to see a young artist who is fully apprised of their career." Mr. Strang said with a smile.

I gave Lyor a big smile. "Well, we've been lucky to have some amazing mentors."

"Thank you, but you three make it easy to mentor you, you actually listen and you don't try and behave as if you know everything already." Lyor said with a small. Mr. Strang excused himself after a few more minutes of chit-chat so Lyor pulled me to the side and his face became more serious. "I read the release that you all put out on Thursday about the voyeur, but I want to make sure you really are okay. I noticed that you've got added security."

I debated how much to say. Stephanie must have seen the indecision on my face. She pulled out a simple black and white card, very different from the KAMA purple ones the Team used. "Mr. Cohen, I'm Stephanie Plum with Rangeman Security. I'd advise Mercedes against discussing the security issue here. If you'd like we can meet Wednesday in Manhattan, preferably at the Rangeman offices…more secure that way, to bring you and your staff up to date on the threat against Ms. Jones."

"I will have my assistant set something up. Their parents are aware?" he nodded pocketing the card.

"Yes." She nodded.

"Good, good." He really seemed concerned. "I will definitely meet with you all on Wednesday. I'd like to know what we can do to help. I've also been interested in finding out if Rangeman would be interested in helping us with guarding a few of our other younger clients. I've noticed that their military bearing tends to make people less willing to challenge their rights to go places with KAMA."

"They also pride themselves on discretion." She assured him. "Oh, and we offer both commercial and residential security services."

"Really. I was under the impression that you only offered residential security." Lyor was definitely interested in that news.

Stephanie shook her head. "It is a common misconception. But we do offer comprehensive corporate security services in New York, Trenton, Atlanta, Boston and Miami. Oh and soon we'll be expanding our services to include the Heartland."

Lyor smiled deviously. "I cannot tell you how much I am done with Guardsmart. If you can have one of your sales reps available on Wednesday, I'll have the East Coast COO there. We may be able to use Rangeman not only in New York, but Miami as well."

She smiled beautifully, "I am sure that we can take care of all your security needs."

They shook hands and Lyor congratulated me again. Before he moved on to go meet and greet other Warner artists. Not long thereafter Puck and Sam and Ranger joined me and Stephanie where we were talking with Jamie Foxx, who I'd, of course, had to share the 'Blame it on the Alcohol' story with. He shook his head and just grumbled. "He called himself a teacher? How did he not know that his class of teenagers were all drunk off their asses?"

I just shrugged. "Mr. Schue wasn't what one would call, observant."

A little while later, waiters all appeared with champagne flutes as Lyor and Mr. Strang took the stage. After introducing themselves, as if we didn't know who they were, Lyor held up a glass and started. "Ladies and Gentleman, we won't take much of your time. We just wanted to offer our congratulations to all of Warner Music Group's many Grammy nominated artists."

Mr. Strang read off a full list of names. Including Charli XCX, Trey Songz, Faith Hill, Hunter Hayes, Neil Young, Paramore, Tegan and Sara, The Black Keys, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead and Coldplay. There were more too. WMG had had a damn good Grammy's night. "We'd especially like to congratulate, our winners; Beyoncé and Jay Z, Ed Sheeran, KAMA, Kendrick Lamar, and Paramore. We are amazingly proud of all of our artists for the music they create and for being so heralded in their genres." He held his glass high, "Congratulations and Salut." We all drank our champagne as one. Then the room was filled with cheering and congratulatory celebration.

From there the party became something of a blur. I remember meeting Ed Sheeran and becoming a member of his mutual admiration society. I remember wondering why the hell Charli XCX was performing in a leopard cat suit. I danced with Sam and Puck…a lot. But I also danced with Pharrell, Ryan Phillipe…who was way hotter than I remembered from True Intentions. He was shorter than I thought too. Jordin Sparks and I got along so well, we exchanged private contact information. She was just plain good people. Trey Songz was a total flirt. Missy Elliot was so cool. There would never be a time I didn't turn into a fan girl around her. It was almost worse when we met Annie Lennox. I don't know which of us punked out the hardest, me, Tana, Artie or Puck. T.I., for some reason, decided that Puck, Sam and I were his peoples, he treated us like his younger siblings for like, an hour. He took us around and made sure we met every person of color, who wasn't 'a rampaging bitch' that was there that evening. Taye Diggs was nice. He introduced himself by saying, "Girlie, I was almost your daddy. Malik Yoba beat me out by this much." I liked the confirmed bachelor immediately. His girlfriend Amanza Smith-Brown seemed nice. I resisted the temptation to ask her about her ethnic background. I was curious, but that would have been really rude.

As awesome as the party was there were a few negatives. A couple of fashion models a few young starlets who thought that I wasn't hot enough for my husbands tried to convince them to 'trade up'. There were also a few older women who were rich as hell and liked young meat…and my husbands were the best looking men there. We were all still on very high alert. So, Stephanie had my six all evening. No matter where I went, she was right there with me. I'd have thought it would be remarked upon, but apparently it was kind of a normal part of life for these people. Like, more than one person asked us if Stephanie was Hudson's assistant. Because that was a thing. When your PA's life got ridiculously over busy managing your life, you got them an assistant of their own. That wasn't a bad thing to know. I did think that if we got anyone an assistant anytime soon, it would be Brantley and Haja…someone to liaise between them when one or the other joined us on the road. It was a thought.

We spent a few hours at the Warner Party, then we went to check out the GQ and Armani party at the Hollywood Athletic Club. The very first person we met there was Weird Al Yankovic. He was the single nicest person ever. He must get all his mean thoughts about people out in his songs…that or he liked us, because he was just plain kind. When we ran into Josh Groban there, Sam asked him if he was following us. Then we ended up leaving the two of them chatting while Puck and I went to dance. Apparently, Kevin Hart's joke about the Kim K sex tape at the Globes, annoyed her sisters. Khloe, Kylie and Kendall tried to make an issue of it. Their body guard took one look at Ranger Manoso, who appeared out of NO WHERE and stared him down…and he ushered the sisters along quickly. Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars more than made up for the bit of rudeness of that encounter. Jason Derulo was the world's biggest flirt. I was pretty sure that he would flirt with lettuce if it sat still enough. In another life he and Puck would have had a blast scamming on chicks together. We didn't manage to avoid Bieber. It was hard to remember that he was basically our age, just two weeks younger than me and Sam. He was just so damn, young acting. I thought he and Puck were going to get into it for real. Questlove managed to jokingly diffuse the situation without even drawing attention to the two bowed up white boys. Puck and Miguel chatted for a while, disappeared and came back smelling like weed. I was not happy about that, but Sam pointed out that if he was going to get high, at least he did it when we were in a limo and in California where it was more 'accepted' than in New York.

Sam dragged me over to meet Chadwick Boseman, who was getting ready to start filming Captain America: Civil War as the Black Panther. He was talking with Anthony Mackie and Estelle so that was cool. I loved her voice and her accent was so beautiful. She shared that she was getting ready to head to New York to record with Jamal Lyons. I may have been very enthusiastic in telling her how great a person he was. We ran into Blaine and Kurt. Kurt was giddy, he had met Isabelle Wright and she suggested that he should do his senior FIT internship with her. The two of them mentioned that they were starving which made my stomach join theirs in protest of the fact that it was pretty much breakfast time and we'd been awake but hadn't really eaten in the seven hours since dinner.

How on earth Hudson had anticipated that possibility, I will never fully understand. But she had a list of all night diners and restaurants that we could go to ready when we gathered our crowd that was there. Primarily that was just us, the team plus Blaine and most of the Rangemen, the crew had headed to other clubs and hotspots. As a personal favor, Binkie was shadowing Bartana. Unfortunately, bad people liked to think Artie was easy prey. They usually got proven wrong, but we were leaving in, what was literally, a few hours, and didn't have time to bail him or Santana out of jail. We got into the Hummer limo and Hudson directed us to the Pacific Dining Car, a restaurant near our hotel. They accommodated us easily seating all of us together at several tables put together. Their late-night menu was great, filled with breakfast for dinner type of fare…but much more high end. The filet and eggs called out to me and it was perfect. A tender filet mignon was bought out with scrambled free range eggs. The proteins came with muffins or toast and sliced tomato. Puck went with the huevos rancheros while Sam built his own omelet. By the time we finished eating, I was more than ready for a nap.

I don't know how I made it back to the car. I was seriously sleep. In fact, I didn't wake up until our wakeup call at eight. Sam and Puck had gotten me up to our room and taken off my clothes and put me to bed with them. Thankfully, everyone had made it back in a timely fashion. We were all together and at the airport in time to have breakfast before our flight. We left LA a hell of a lot happier than we'd been when we flew out a few weeks earlier. We were exhausted…but we were happy.

Circus Envy (R.E.M.)
Rachel PoV

My life had become a never-ending cycle of elations and nightmares. I had a great Christmas, got to know Channing…and I suppose Terrence and Reba too, though those two just didn't feel as connected to me as my darling little Channing. But then, New Year's Eve I was slapped with pictures of those former so-called friends partying at one of the most exclusive nightclubs in the entire city. My only consolation was that I found out that the person I had believed was Finn in the pictures was some random human being who just looked a bit like him. Instead Finn was student coaching the Ohio State football team to a National Championship. For several days, whenever I turned on the TV, KAMA or Finn, their names were being talked about everywhere. I found that my grades for the fall had not been as good as I had hoped. Apparently, my performance class grades were undervalued greatly and not high enough to elevate my other less than stellar grades in my core curriculum classes. I did not understand that. I'd always had very high grades in high school.

I may have let that get me a little down in the dumps, but then comeuppance came to KAMA. They released a sex tape. Yes, the always so morally upstanding Mercedes Jones tried to up her cache by releasing pornographic material. That was such a delight to my senses that it completely made up for the fact that they had won two People's Choice Awards. Add to that their losses at the Golden Globes and I was definitely happier. I floated through the rest of January on a cloud of righteous joy. Not even the reviews of Jesse St. James' off Broadway role could dampen the feelings of virtuous bliss that I felt every time someone mentioned how senseless it was to try and attain fame through such distasteful and unscrupulous means. No matter that KAMA showed up on the SAG red carpet or that they were pictured all around New York looking young, affluent and exhibiting their lustful, base relationship for all to see. All anyone could really talk about was the way KAMA had debased themselves.

There were a few things that tried to depress my good mood. Dr. Watson was monitoring my appointments with my New York psychiatrist and if I missed or rescheduled more than once or twice, then my fathers paid my rent and utilities but stripped my stipend to the bare bones until I went. I hated that damnable woman. She was so sure that I needed help. I didn't need any help. I just needed to finally achieve all that was meant for me to reach. I was having to remind myself more and more often that friendships and other relationships were really only needed by the weak. According to that hack, I was forced to indulge my fathers by seeing every week, I was lonely, but I knew better. I was strong. I was invincible. I didn't need other people to bolster my esteem. Therefore, unless I found a use for a specific individual, there wasn't a reason to horde them. That had been my mistake with the New Directions. I wouldn't repeat it again.

Even given the small contretemps in my life, I was riding high…until the Wednesday before the Grammys. I was working on a project for my completely worthless physical science class. When would I ever really use the information taught in a class called Energy and the Environment. "BREAKING NEWS…Breaking News from the entertainment world. An arrest has been made in the KAMA sex tape scandal. Forty-three-year-old Richard Macardo had turned himself in to the LA County Sheriff's office as of three o'clock Pacific Standard Time. Macardo is facing a slew of charges ranging from simple disorderly conduct to felony fraud and forgery charges. According to sources at the LASD, Macardo has confessed to all charges and provided proof of further charges. At this time he is being held on one point five million dollar bond."

Maurice DuBois threw to his co-anchor, Dana Taylor. "KAMA has released a statement. We are quite happy that this criminal has been brought to justice. As we have stated all along, we have never made and will never make such a recording. This was done without our knowledge or consent. We call on anyone who may have a copy to destroy said video. Our attorneys are still moving to make sure that the video is not released to the public and anyone doing so will face the full brunt of the legal system. Thanks to all of our team, crew, staff and fans for their continued support." She read confidently. "I have to say, I am gratified that the truth has come to light. The children, young ladies and girls especially, have really and will hopefully continue to benefit from the example Mercedes Jones has set."

"That is very true, Dana. Very true." The light skinned black man said before moving to the next story. "I'm still jealous that your husband got you tickets to their pre-Valentine's concert." He joked and they laughed together.

I almost messed up the teeth my fathers had spent so much to keep perfect. As a child, I ground them in my sleep. I threw my semi-completed homework to the ground, grabbed my laptop and went to work. I spent the next hour on Twitter, Facebook and even Tumblr dissuading people from falling back into their stupid KAMA worship. I fell into bed around four catching only a little sleep before I had to head to campus. I turned in the partially completed assignment as if it wasn't basically garbage. Throughout my classes, I was busy trolling the boards making sure to keep stoking the fires of hate for KAMA…or at least trying to. With the confessions of the bad actor, Macardo, people were very resistant to think poorly of the vindicated music stars.

Thursday bled into Friday. Friday leached into Saturday. Saturday became Sunday…and as each day, each hour passed, I found myself getting angrier and angrier. It baffled me as why people even thought KAMA was worth their positive attention. Mercedes was fat. Sam was stupid and Puck was coarse. I deserved all the accolades they were receiving and more. If the world wasn't going to give me my due, I would just need to make that happen. As I watched the ridiculously over rated 'music group' comprised of three people who should have been supporting me in my rise to greatness walking the Grammys red carpet, my not inconsiderable intellect was racing trying to figure out what the best thing to do to force people to see the three of them for the no talent hacks they really were.

I followed several threads as I watched. As someone posted the designer of her dress, I couldn't help but remember Quinn's evaluation of the dress I'd worn by the same designer to the KAMA record release party. With a wicked grin, I quoted her on twitter, 'designer ugly is still ugly'. There were many who disagreed with me. But I was entitled to my opinion. The purple and black monstrosity may have been cute in a sensible size…perhaps one to fit my own lithe size two form…but on her grossly obese body, it was simply dreadful. I could admit that Sam and Noah both looked well turned out. But the simple truth was that Sam needed to look good to overcome the fact that he was flighty and dumb. Noah…he was Jewish of course he was attractive. But it did cover the fact that he was crude and rough and almost pathetic in his need for the approval of those he considers his friends. It was a weakness that I could exploit, if I could just find a way into their circle.

It was later as I was watching the stupid performance of the group… The waltz was a three-count dance, not a dance for three people. And wasn't the whole world tired of hearing about how the color had been stolen from her world because a guy was gone. How pathetic! As I was watching, I realized that there were several members of the KAMA band that I could research and perhaps one of them would be able to grant me entrée into the group's inner sanctum. Once I was inside, it would be easy to lay the seeds of discord. I lost my train of thought again as the group won half of the awards they had been nominated for and Mercedes won both of the statuettes she'd been up for with Jill Scott. My anger knew no bounds. I missed more of the show than I watched and when I came back to myself, my throat was hoarse from my screams of indignation. If not for the reinforced cinderblock walls of the former tenement I called home, there was every chance that the police would have been called. As it was, it took me several hours of cleaning to repair my living room. Thankfully I'd not thrown another phone against a wall. But it was a very near thing.

Monday, I skipped classes entirely. I knew that given that Santana and Artie both were NYU students as well, the stupid Grammys KAMA had won would be all anyone wanted to talk about, just as the arrest of their scapegoat had been on the Thursday and Friday before. Instead I spent Monday working through my plan to connect with one of the KAMA band members. Going over everything I could find about them, I realized that Justin Alexander would be the best option. He was young and naïve. He had very little dating history, according to his social media sites. He was close to my age and was something of a musical prodigy…nothing on me, of course…but good enough to make him somewhat interesting. Yes…he would be my way in and I would exploit whatever I found to make KAMA crumble from within.

I Shall Be Released (Bob Dylan)
Will Schuester PoV

Taking April Rhode…French's advice turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. After carefully examining my actions during my time in teaching, I knew that I'd been stupid and even worse…I had been ignorant. I'd foisted all my shortcomings and insecurities off on kids I actually did care about and as they reflected them back at me, I tried to stamp them all out rather than actually dealing with them in the kids and in me. Even worse, I'd gotten into the horrible practice of letting others think for me. Thanks to all my introspection, I knew exactly when that had started. I'd not excelled in college. In fact, after my sophomore year I'd been on academic probation. Terry had taken over managing everything about my life so all I really had to do was study and show up where I was supposed to be. She managed my life for the next twelve years.

After our divorce, I really did just let Rachel do as much of my thinking as she wanted to. That allowed me to focus on my love life…such as it had been. I'd loved Emma, because she made me think. Don't get me wrong, she led my thoughts to where they needed to be, but it was leading rather than straight up thinking for me. Another reason I loved Emma was because for the first time in my life, I was the strong one in a relationship. The problem with that was that I got tired of the feeling really quickly. That was why Holly and April held such appeal for me. Both of them were strong…and not the pillow and velvet covered steel that was Emma. They were almost Sue Sylvester level strong. Granted they both used me and discarded me like a Kleenex. Apparently when a woman was that strong when she finally wanted to settle down, she wanted an equal partner just as strong as she was. Victor French, for all that he doted on April…he was strong. A person didn't survive all he had if they weren't. I was trying to learn to be strong, to think for myself…I wasn't sure that I would ever get the hang of either, let alone both.

Two weeks before the Grammys, I was surprised to get a call for another date with Daphne March. She had pre-booked enough dates for the year to be among my preferred client list, so when she called needing a date to a Grammy watch party someone who ranked even higher than her at Colgate-Palmolive was throwing, the date was automatically hers and she wouldn't be bumped for someone who was willing to pay more for my company. Not that that was really much of a concern for any of my clients. She was kind enough to let me know that the event was dressy casual and that she would meet me in the lobby of her building so we could go together. I arrived promptly at her East thirty-ninth street apartment building at six. I was dressed appropriate for the party, wearing a pair of charcoal, casual slacks, a white long sleeved polo under a navy blue shawl collar sweater. She was uncharacteristically not yet ready and had the security guard bring me up to her apartment. The building was protected both by a doorman and an elevator that wouldn't work without a key card that was unique to each resident.

Daphne ushered me into a truly gorgeous apartment. "Sorry, I am running a little late. I ran in to the office to speak with the head of our Asian Markets Oral Care office and the time got away from me. I'll be ready in just a minute." She explained as she headed into the master bedroom. It took her another twenty minutes to finish getting dressed. I wandered around checking out her art work…some of which I was sure were original works.

"You look lovely." I told her with a smile. She really did. Daphne might be a bit on the plain side, but she was trim with an almost athletic build. She dressed very well. That evening she was wearing a black dress with white lace detailing at her shoulder and along the neckline with a big medallion of white lace on her stomach. She had paired the dress with a pair of knee high, shiny, black, leather heeled boots. Her brown hair was curled and brushed her shoulders. She'd kept her makeup light, but her lips were a pretty dark coral pink that made her face look more feminine than she'd allowed herself to look for the office party. There was a bold wrist cuff on her arm that looked to be in the same coral pink color family while the dangly earrings in her ears were simply gold. I extended my arm to her and we headed out. The party was being thrown in the mucky-muck's beautiful, East Seventy-ninth Street mega condo. I mean the place had two floors and was the size of a small mansion. It was very beautiful and I was pretty sure that the welcome mat cost more than I had made the entire previous year.

The canapes were great. Her fellow VPs and the people above even them in the company hierarchy were all personable and, thankfully, none of them were any of my other current or previous clients. However, one of my co-workers was. Herman was there with a tall thin, red head. He and I went with it rather than trying to pretend we didn't know each other. We simply said that we worked in the same building. Thankfully Herman was using his tax attorney persona and I was Will Schuester, 'yes,that Will Schuester' who was now working as a junior accountant in the Herman's firm. Ever since the article had come out where KAMA stated publicly that I was forgiven…I could be me. Before I had just not mentioned that I was the same guy who'd been such an asshole to the group. I was only myself for this persona. It was the only one that I used my real name with. I may have thought of using something different, but when Daphne had been laying the ground work for my attendance at the office party that was our first 'date', she'd used the name that was on the website. There was no changing the persona's name after that…well not with her or her circle. The very best thing about the admission was that I never had to hear about that stupid sex tape that was all over the news when I was their former teacher. I preferred it that way. I had made sure that I never saw it. I didn't need to see my kids like that. Besides, Mercedes was a good girl. I knew all along that what they said about it being someone who had filmed them without their consent. I'd been very glad when the person had turned himself in. I would have loved to have a few minutes alone with him to have shown him the error of his ways.

As the evening slowly crept by, I soon realized that the party was less about the Grammys and more about the company heads getting together with the division heads and schmoozing and talking. I noticed that a lot of the beautiful wives of the men present were kind of looking down on Daphne. This was the first one of these types of events that she'd attended accompanied by a date. So, I made sure that I was attentive and charming. By the end of the red carpet preshow, there wasn't a catty word or look being aimed in Daphne's direction. Daphne and I both cheered like crazy whenever KAMA was announced as having won anything. I almost wept in joy for Mercedes when she won her two awards with Jill Scott. I was so happy for and proud of her. My date was even more exuberant than I was. Their performances were each met with cheers as our enthusiasm was definitely contagious. They had some damn good performances. Puck looked like a Rock God with AC/DC. And the KAMA performance was just amazing. Their choreographer must have had the patience of a saint. They managed to teach Sam and Puck to dance…even if in that case it was just a waltz that was definitely a feat worthy of note.

At the end of the night, I accompanied Daphne back to her apartment. She had my services for the entire evening. But per our previous agreement, I went home. She didn't want nor need company on a Sunday night when she had to get up early the next morning. I had to admit I did admire her intellect and strength. When I got home, I emailed congratulations to Mercedes, Sam and Noah. I was glad that we'd gotten to a better place. I found that I felt better about myself since they'd forgiven me. I would never hold the place in their lives that I could have, had I been a better, fairer mentor. But I was very happy just knowing that they were creating amazing music and they were happy.

I Feel Lucky (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
Lyor Cohen PoV

I had been in the music business since I was twenty-seven years old. Part of the reason that I'd made it to the very top of the game, was because if I had a feeling about something…I went with that feeling. All the metrics and statistics couldn't really anticipate the human emotional response…and that was where music lived. I had felt something in that small French restaurant three years before when I heard the most unlikely threesome singing of love as if it were a living, breathing being, which for them…their love was strong enough that maybe it just was. I'd let my feelings guide me into making the best deal of my career. There had been many who couldn't understand why I was offering three teenagers, fresh out of high school the kind of contract we used to lure an act away from a competitor. Others had wondered why I was wooing them so aggressively. Honestly, it had pretty much taken reworking an entire department just to create a place for them in our organization. I'd been facing censure from the board, despite the numbers that their single from the 'SongBird' soundtrack drew in and the popularity of the movie that Warner Brother Studios hadn't promoted as well as they could have. For over a year, the board was, well, skeptical would be the nicest way to put it. However, once the numbers from their debut album came in and the nominations and awards started to amass, slowly they started singing a different tune. With a total of five Grammys won, I knew that there would be no further cynicism from the Warner Board of Directors. Best of all the way A&R now functioned there would soon be more genre nontraditional groups on the Warner roster which would only see our profits increase even further.

Still, as I said, when I encountered a feeling that gave me a direction with which I could move forward and which would seem to bring me some sort of reward, I listened to my gut. So, when I was speaking with Ms. Plum about setting up a meeting to discuss KAMA's new threat, why on Earth couldn't those poor kids get a break, I felt that it could be an opportunity to do something our COO had been discussing for almost three months. Replacing our joke of a security agency that 'guarded' our building. How they could guard the building when, every time they were called to task they were always asleep? There would be the added benefit of bringing on a veteran run and staffed company. It was good for the vets, it was good for Warner…a complete win-win situation. The next morning, before I flew back to Manhattan, I made sure that Estella set up the meeting and I had her get some nice gifts for KAMA to celebrate their wins. I gave her a firm fifteen-thousand-dollar budget for each gift. She went with more jewelry for Mercedes, earrings that time and she somehow managed to get her hands on a "Golden Age Captain America" number one…in decent shape for Sam. But the shocker for me was that Estella managed to get a sixty-one Fender Telecaster guitar for Puck without going over the budget. That woman was a miracle worker. All I could do to show my appreciation was to give her a small five thousand dollar bonus.

I stopped into the Warner Music Group LA offices just to make sure they all remembered that Strang may be their boss, but I was his. I made it back to New York and made myself dinner in the kitchen of the ridiculously large six bedroom house in the sky I'd purchased after Amy and my marriage ended seven years ago. I'd wanted to make sure that there was enough room for our children to know that this wasn't my bachelor pad but their other home. It helped that it was just a few blocks from the home we'd all shared and it was near their schools. Both my kids were adults at this point but their rooms were still here whenever they wanted to visit. Once they started having kids of their own, there would be room for them to both visit at the same time without anyone feeling crowded. It was something to look forward to…even if it was a bit lonely in the in between time. I was seeing an amazing woman, however her career was based in Asia and that often meant long stretches home alone. Though, she had been hinting that she might have been ready for a change

The next morning, life resumed. Work was enlivening…there were three A&R execs we were wooing from Universal. I was only nominally involved in the process…but I liked showing my face and letting everyone know that I had my fingers in every pie at WMG. The day and the following one moved quickly and before I knew it Estella was putting me and the NYC office COO, Julia Frasier-Harding, in a car with my PA, Rasheeda and her PA Tommy, to make it to the Rangeman Norfolk Street building. Upon entering their lobby, I couldn't help but compare their visible security to the one in our building. The gentleman was at least six foot tall with the build and bearing of someone with extensive military service. Our 'guards' were usually a little shorter and a lot paunchier. He called up and before I knew it Stephanie Plum was coming out of the elevator to escort us up to the office where our meeting would be held.

"Mr. Cohen, right on time." She said with a smile. Stephanie Plum was a beautiful woman. She was just above average height with a wealth of dark curly hair. One couldn't help but notice that she had a nice little figure in her Armani, black, slim cut pants suit. It almost made me smile that she paired the suit with a pair of Louboutin pumps, and a black men's tank tee shirt. Something, in her slightly careful strides, told me that the only part of the entire ensemble she was really comfortable was the three dollar tee-shirt.

We chatted in the elevator up to the building's seventh floor. Ms. Plum showed us into a smallish conference room where the company's owner Ricardo Carlos Manoso introduced himself to myself. Julia, Tommy and Rasheeda were taken on a tour of the Rangeman monitor and control rooms. They would see the services we would be hearing about in action. We took a seat at the table and were brought up to speed on the dangers being posed to one of Warner's top new artists. "It would seem that the suspect is currently out of the country on a pre-planned business trip. However, we are unsure if he had any plans in place that could be enacted while he is elsewhere, so we're keeping a slightly elevated presence in place around KAMA as a whole as well as around both of the Puckerman daughters. The gentleman who will be heading up our Midwest operations, Hal, is enjoying his time in Lima providing security for Beth."

I nodded. "I notice that you've been very careful not to state the man's name, I'd just like to make sure that he isn't anyone in the Warner Music organization." I asked carefully.

Ranger shook his head. "The suspect is not affiliated with WMG. He used to have a part in a small, independent label that has been absorbed by Warner. He is an entrepreneur, but most of his money is made in venture capitalism."

That made me feel a great sense of relief. "Good…I do understand that you cannot give me a name. That would put you in a very actionable place. But if there is anything that I can do to help, please let me know," I offered genuinely. I also made a point to text Rasheeda and ask her for a list of all the former label partners who fit the 'description' of the suspect. I already had a few people in mind who it could have been. If the legal system wouldn't persecute the dangerous jackass…then I'd just have to make sure that his life became a living hell. He was going to regret trying to hurt one of my signature artists. Ranger must have sent out a text or signal of his own because no sooner had I hit send than the tour guide brought Rasheeda, Julia and Tommy into the conference room. "Thank you for sharing what you could. Now, as I told Ms. Plum Sunday night, we would greatly benefit from a change when it comes to the security in our building. The current company is GuardSmart and we've had several unresolved instances of theft in the building. On more than one occasion, they have been found asleep in the lobby reception desk by someone working late. We would like to know more about Rangeman and how you serve your clients."

Over the next hour, Julia and I learned that we had been getting ripped off by GuardSmart for at least five years. Rangeman offered a whole wealth of services that our current security company didn't. They did it while charging less than fifteen percent more than we were currently paying. Every single person who would work in our building would have to pass the same fitness requirements as an Army Ranger. Rangeman would install firewalls that would serve to protect our servers as an extra layer of fortification against hackers and intrusion. They wouldn't just have a hidden presence each shift, but they would have a presence in the lobby, sharing the reception desk with our receptionist and making sure that all of the guests and visitors were correct and proper. That our staff and visitors would be safe. There would be another Rangeman seated outside the elevator bank on each floor of the building, protecting each of our staff and visiting artists. The ones working the desks would be in a Rangeman uniform covered by a black blazer with the Rangeman logo on their left breast pocket. The guardians who would watch the monitors would be in just the traditional Rangeman uniform. Julia raised the discussion of putting them into place at our recording studios around the city. It was a very, very productive meeting. Julia and I left having signed a contract with Rangeman that would kick in eight weeks later when our contract with GuardSmart expired. They would be responsible for security in our New York offices and studios as well as those in Miami. When the Rangeman Heartland opened, if they decided to include Nashville in their region, Julia and I were determined that they would have that office to secure as well.

Ms. Plum walked us down to the lobby and as the four of us returned to Paramount Plaza, Rasheeda and Tommy regaled Julia and I with all our new guardians would have available to protect us. Then Rasheeda told me that Estella was compiling a list for me based off the criteria that I had texted her during the meeting. I also asked that when Estella finished with the list that she make sure it gets into the hands of the person assigning the tickets for the Warner tickets to the Lucky in Love concert that coming Friday. "Yes sir, and as you asked, we've already made sure that Steven Friche and his husband Frank Glass both have tickets for the concert."

"Great, Rolling Stone will run the review in their magazine that comes out on the following Thursday and the summer concert series tickets go on sale two weeks later. The boost in ticket sales from a positive review of their live show…will certainly be worth the two extra comped tickets." I murmured.

I had a good feeling about the coming concert. It was too bad that Warner hadn't had a hand in on the planning. Something told me that it was going to be an exceptional money-maker but since it was something that we'd asked them to do without offering to hold it with the same cost division as their contractual concerts…we were not entitled to the profits thereof. It was a hit that would shore up my stand with the board that KAMA was one of the biggest acts currently on our roster. Perhaps it was a little petty to enjoy rubbing their noses in that fact. But the simple truth was that their inability to take any risks at all when it came to signing acts or the contact our acts produced was causing Warner to stagnate. Profits were not made in stagnation. With all the proof in hand, I would be able to cultivate some more diverse acts and, hopefully, get Warner to the top of the big three music labels. It was certainly something that would be a feather in my cap and it wouldn't hurt my signature act at all. Yes, deciding to sign those three kids I heard singing in that restaurant was one of the best decisions I'd ever made. I had a feelings the contract we'd entered into that afternoon would prove just as beneficial.


I may have a problem. I may be addicted to writing & reading fanfiction.

I rode up to the March with my the VP for my dept. Told myself that I wasn't going to write anything in the car...ya know...no need to let the mucky-muck know that I spend all my free time writing Glee fanfiction.

I didn't make it out of the state before I had my notebook out working on the next chapter.

Told my boss that I was thinking about starting to blog about #theresistance.

Oh the tangled web we weave.

So to feel better about the lie...#RESIST. Write Pres. Trump a letter telling him to keep his hands out of women's uteruses.

Now...please make all I went through worth it...Leave me a nice review.

Thank you very much.

TTFN,

Anni