Assignment - Part 6:
Choices
It was a regular night – having come back from a successful mission, Brian met his friends at Babylon. It was just what he needed – a way to unwind, to forget for a while about his worries, his concerns.
Unfortunately, it seemed that his worries and concerns followed him wherever he went.
“Isn’t that Justin?” Emmett pointed to a man in the middle of the dance floor.
Despite his better judgment, Brian followed Emmett’s gaze, his eyes falling on the slim form of the young blond man. He appeared to be dancing, although, from where Brian stood, it looked more like mating. Brian found himself unable to look away as Justin finally pulled away from the other man and walked toward the exit, the stranger following closely behind.
“Looks like little blondie there found himself another playmate.” Ted seemed to glow at that piece of news. “Someone hotter. Someone younger.”
Brian squeezed out a smile at the other man. “You know, Theodore,” he said, slinging his arm around Ted’s shoulders. “I find it extremely inspiring how you continue to come here every single night, pretending that your life is worth anything, while everybody in this fine establishment would rather lick cum off the backroom’s floor than stand within ten feet of you.” Shooting a death glare at his so-called friend, Brian stalked off toward the backroom.
~~~***~~~***~~~
The next morning it was business as usual. Brian, wearing his black suit and tie, was sitting in a conference room along with six other agents, waiting to get the latest intell on the mission they were prepping for.
Finally, Melanie and Lindsay walked in the room.
“What’s the latest intell?” Brian immediately asked, hating to be kept waiting.
While Lindsay took a seat at the front of the room, Melanie remained standing. “We received information that a copy of Kissilyev’s database is being stored in Kiev,” she informed the group.
Kissilyev was a Russian extremist. Brian became familiar with the name after getting all the information he could get his hands on about Justin’s year-long mission in Ukraine – which involved bringing down Kissilyev’s brother and associate.
“Shouldn’t Justin be here for this?” Brian asked, surprised that the one person who knew more about the man they were after than anybody else in this room was not called in to assist in the mission.
Melanie glanced down at Lindsay. The blonde woman cleared her throat and finally looked up at Brian.
“Agent Taylor took some personal time,” she told him.
That was the end of that discussion. Brian spent the rest of the briefing memorizing all the information he needed to complete this mission successfully, while trying not to let the same fears and worries from the previous night break his concentration.
It had been almost two weeks since the last time he had spoken to Justin – that day at the gym. He didn’t know if Justin was avoiding him or their paths simply hadn’t crossed, but he had not seen the younger man once since then.
And the latest piece of the information bothered him more than he cared to admit. When Melanie finished with the briefing, Brian stayed behind to speak with Lindsay.
His friend seemed to understand the reason he remained in the room.
“Justin asked for a few days off,” she told him as soon as they were alone in the room. “And because he’s been working since he’d gotten back from Ukraine, I thought it was a good idea as well.”
Brian simply nodded. “Is he ok?”
“Yes. Seemed to be.”
With that Lindsay walked out of the room.
~~~***~~~***~~~
It was the next day that Brian got a chance to think about everything that had happened again. And the same strange feeling he had experienced for the last few days had brought him to a suburb of Pittsburgh.
Brian turned off the ignition and took off the helmet. He knew Justin was home since his black Porsche was parked in the driveway.
Making his way up the stairs leading to the front door, Brian rang the doorbell. A few seconds later a blonde woman opened the door.
“May I help you?” She smiled politely at him.
Brian knew right away that the older woman was Justin’s mother. Same blonde hair, same WASPy manners, same features.
“I’m looking for Justin,” he said.
“Oh, yes. He’s in the back,” she said, opening the door wider for him. “Come in, please.”
“That’s fine. I’ll wait here,” Brian told her.
“Ok. I’ll get him.” The woman cast one last glance at him before disappearing inside.
“Sweetheart, there’s a man here to see you,” Brian heard her say. He shook his head at how fucking suburban it all was.
Finally, he heard footsteps and the door opened, this time revealing Justin.
The blond looked surprised to see him. “Brian.” Quickly getting over his shock, Justin stepped outside, closing the door behind him. “What are you doing here?”
Brian opened his mouth to reply, but at the last minute changed his mind. In all honesty he didn’t know what to say. He came to check up on Justin? It sounded ludicrous and completely fucking insane. He had no right to check up on anyone, least of all Justin. Besides, it was obvious that Justin was doing just fine.
“Forget it.” He shook his head, turning to leave. “I don’t know what I was thinking.” He quickly walked toward his bike, not turning around once, not even when Justin called his name.
~~~***~~~***~~~
“Honey, who was that man?” Justin heard as soon as he walked inside and closed the door behind him, his mother peeping out of the utility room.
“Just someone I work with,” Justin replied, his hand still gripping the handle on the door, his mind focusing on one question – what was Brian doing here?
“He seems nice,” Jennifer said, walking up the stairs. “Good looking too.”
It finally registered that she was talking to him. About Brian.
“Uh…yeah,” he said, cringing when his mother shot him the all-knowing smile.
“Are you and he…” she trailed off, leaving him to fill in the blanks. Which wasn’t all that hard to do. Aside from the fact that it took his mother a little while to get used to the idea of having a gay son when he had first come out to her, Jennifer Taylor had been the perfect mother, supporting him in all his decisions.
And she always wanted to know what was going on in his life. Who he was seeing, who he was sleeping with? A few times she even tried to set him up with somebody’s son she knew at the office.
And as Justin grateful as he was for having such a wonderful mother, discussing his love life with her was the last thing on his list of things to do.
“No,” he shook his head, quickly running up the stairs to the second floor of his townhouse.
“Well, I just figured that since he came here…” Jennifer continued as she followed him up and into the kitchen.
Justin opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk. Opening it, he gulped it down, trying to put an end to this bizarre conversation.
“Justin,” his mother chastised him. “Use a cup.”
Satisfied with having changed the subject, Justin put the carton back in the fridge and closed the door.
“Are you?” Jennifer asked.
“Am I what?” Justin turned to her.
“Are you seeing anybody?”
Justin rolled his eyes. “Mom, come on.”
“I just want to know,” she pleaded.
The young man sighed loudly. “No.”
He saw the disappointed look on her face and more than anything he wished he could be what she wanted, what she hoped for when he was growing up. But he was never what his parents wished him to be. And he never would be.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Finally, three hours later, with his mother gone, Justin left his home and headed in search of Brian. He needed some answers. One in particular – what the fuck was Brian doing at his house.
Figuring that the best chance he had of finding the man at this hour would be on Liberty Avenue, Justin directed his Porsche toward that part of town.
Parking the car a couple of blocks away from Woody’s, Justin made his way down the street, deciding to make his first stop the bar that Brian frequented. Stopping in the doorway, he scanned the crowd, smiling when his eyes fell on a lone figure at the bar.
He signaled for the bartender as he walked up to the bar. “Scotch,” he ordered while taking a seat next to Brian.
The brunet looked up, snorting when he saw Justin. “Mommy finished laundry already?” Brian didn’t wait for Justin’s response, instead finishing off his drink and motioning to bartender for another one.
“Yes,” Justin answered, realizing that the other man was less than lucid at the moment.
“That’s great.”
The bartender arrived with both of their drinks.
“So, what are you doing here?” Brian inquired once they were alone.
“Looking for you,” Justin responded honestly.
The older man snickered. “Stalking me again, Sunshine?”
Justin was surprised to hear the nickname the waitress in the diner gave him, except when Brian said it, it was more mocking than endearing.
“Only if you’re stalking me.”
Brian raised his eyes to his. “I was never stalking you.”
“What about earlier today at my house?” Justin pointed out.
“Ahh, that…” Brian picked up his glass and brought it to his lips. Swallowing, he put it down. “That was a momentary lapse in judgment.”
“Is that right.”
Brian looked up at him again. “That’s right.”
Justin nodded. Getting up from the stool, he pulled a few bills out of his wallet. “I guess I’m wasting my time then.”
He turned to leave only to be stopped by a hand on his arm. Brian’s hand – holding his tightly.
Turning, Justin gazed into the two hazel eyes burning into him. Moving closer, he leaned his head down and covered Brian’s mouth, tasting cigarettes and Jim Beam on the man’s breath. “Let’s get out of here,” he whispered, pulling away slightly.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Brian thrust inside the smaller man, losing himself in the sensation as the waves of orgasm rolled over him.
He collapsed on top of Justin, both of them breathing heavily. For a few minutes they stayed like that, arms and legs entwined, slick with cum and sweat.
Finally, Brian felt like he could do a little more than breathe and he began to unwind himself from his lover. Justin moaned slightly as he rolled over on his back, settling in the sea of pillows.
“I don’t think I’ve ever fucked anybody who had that many fucking pillows,” Brian commented, pulling out yet another pillow from under his head and hugging it to his chest instead.
Justin laughed. “I blame my mother for that.”
Brian arched his eyebrow at the younger man in amusement. “Don’t we all,” he commented causing both of them to laugh.
“Does she know?” Brian asked when they calmed down.
“About me blaming her for my pillow addiction?” Justin joked.
Brian’s only response was a pointed stare.
“About me being gay or about me being an agent?”
“Both.”
“Yes and no,” Justin simply responded.
Brian stared at him for a moment. “If she could handle you being gay, don’t you think she could handle you being CIA?”
Justin’s face immediately turned serious and he looked away. “I couldn’t tell her,” he said quietly.
Brian rolled on his side and propped himself on an elbow, looking down at his lover. “Why not?”
Justin turned his head to look at Brian. “It would be too much for her to handle. She’s been through enough shit in her life. She doesn’t need that too.”
Brian didn’t know what else to say, so he remained silent, letting Justin lead the conversation in which ever direction he needed it to go.
It seemed, though, that the blond needed to talk about this. He shifted himself into a sitting position, crossing his legs in front of him and turning to Brian. “The last thing she needs to know is that her son’s risking his life every fucking day. She worries enough about me as it is.” He shook his head. “I started to tell her once. Right after I joined. But…”
Brian nodded. “Why did you?” When Justin looked at him confused, he clarified. “Join, I mean. You had everything going for you. Why the fuck did you let Lindsay talk you into joining the CIA?”
He watched a small smile appear on Justin’s face and then disappear just as quickly as it had appeared. The younger man dropped his head and stared at his hands. Justin remained silent for a long time and Brian was wondering whether he should say something when Justin finally looked up and stared at him.
“It was my chance to make things right. I guess I thought I could somehow clear the Taylor name by doing this.” Justin chuckled. “You know, right the wrongs that my father had done.”
Brian stared at him in confusion. “Your father?”
“Yeah,” Justin replied, seemingly confused himself that Brian didn’t know what he was referring to. “My father,” he said again, his confusion growing. “Craig Taylor,” Justin made one last attempt.
The name immediately turned on the alarm in Brian’s head, his eyes growing wide at the information he had just learned. “Craig Taylor is your father.” He couldn’t believe that he had failed to make the connection between one of the most wanted terrorists and the man sitting next to him.
“You didn’t know?” Justin was obviously as surprised by that as Brian was.
The brunet shook his head.
Well, that certainly explained things. Not the least of which was the fact that he now knew the reason behind Lindsay’s seemingly innocent recruitment of a PIFA Junior.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Brian pounded on the door of the house, not caring in the least if he might wake up the neighbors. Of course there was also Gus, but the man was too angry at the moment to think about anything else except finding out the truth once and for all.
He finally heard footsteps and saw the light being turned on before the door opened.
“Brian?” A disheveled Lindsay exclaimed.
Brian didn’t wait for the invitation to come in, already pushing past her and walking into the living room.
“Do you have any idea what time it is?” Melanie asked, following Lindsay into the room.
“No other reason, right?” He glared at the blonde woman. “You said, there was absolutely no other reason other than high score tests for recruiting him.”
“Would you keep your fucking voice down?” Melanie hissed. However it was too late and all three adults were greeted by Gus calling for his mommies upstairs.
Shooting daggers in Brian’s direction, Melanie rushed up the stairs, leaving Brian and Lindsay alone in the room.
Brian shook his head as he paced the room. “I can’t believe you would stoop that low.”
“Brian,” Lindsay started and it took every ounce of control for Brian not to snap at her.
“Don’t,” he warned her. He finally stopped in the middle of the room and looked at her. “How could you do that to him?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Lindsay tried to defend herself.
“You brought a man into this. Into this world. Into OUR world. Just because of who his father is?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh, really,” Brian glared at her. “Then please tell me, how is it?”
Lindsay opened her mouth, then closed it. Taking a deep breath, she walked over and sat down on the edge of the couch.
“You knew Craig would want his son to take over the family business,” Brian started for her.
Lindsay looked down, then back up at him. They both knew she had no way out of this one. “Yes,” she relented. “We knew there was a risk.”
Brian waited for her to continue.
“We watched him for three years. When he came back from New York we realized that he would be more susceptible to what his father had to offer. We had to make a decision.”
“We?”
“I had to make a decision,” Lindsay corrected herself.
“So just because his father is a fucking maniac you decided to ruin Justin’s life?”
“I did not ruin his life, Brian,” the woman responded, rising from the couch. “Yes, we did go after him, but we didn’t force him into anything. I gave him a choice. But he was the one who made that decision. Just like you did before.”
Brian shook his head. “This is different. He’s different. He’s not like us.” He turned away. “He could have done something good with his life.”
Lindsay walked over to stand before him. “He IS doing something good with his life. He’s serving his country. Or have you forgotten?”
Brian held her gaze for a long time before turning to leave.
~~~***~~~***~~~
He parked his bike behind the black Porsche and turned off the ignition. Brian thought about it all night and he came to the decision that Justin deserved to know why he was recruited. Taking off his helmet and black leather gloves, Brian slowly made his way up the stairs to the front door. He hesitated for a moment before pressing the doorbell.
He heard voices and footsteps and then the door opened.
“Brian,” Justin smiled, opening the door wider. “What are you doing here?”
“You’re not alone,” Brian pointed out.
“Oh,” Justin looked over his shoulder, then back at Brian. “Daphne and I were watching a movie.”
Brian managed a smile and nodded.
“Everything ok?” Justin asked, closing the door behind them, which Brian was grateful for.
“Yeah,” he said, not sure how to begin. The direct approach was the only one he could come up with. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
Justin silently told him to go on.
“I talked to Lindsay,” Brian began. “I know why you were recruited into the agency.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah,” Brian said. “It’s because of your father. Because of who he is.”
The shocked expression that Brian was expecting was nowhere in sight. The blond’s face remained the same as it was before the big revelation.
“You knew.” It was a statement rather than a question, realization hitting Brian full force.
Justin half smiled at him. “Of course I knew. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that the CIA doesn’t actively recruit art students.”
“And you’re ok with that?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Brian was speechless.
“Look, Brian,” Justin took a step closer, a big smile firmly in place on his face. “I’m grateful that you came here to share this with me, but the truth is, it’s fine. Yes, the CIA pursued me, but they weren’t the ones who made the decision to join the Agency. I did. I made that choice.”
Brian stared down at the helmet in his hands. “Choice,” he repeated quietly. “I’ve been hearing that word a lot lately,” he said, meeting Justin’s gaze.
“That’s because we all make choices. Every fucking day. Everybody makes them. The people we’re trying to save. The people we’re trying to catch. It’s what makes us who we are.”
Brian snickered. “That’s pretty deep for an early Thursday afternoon.”
Justin chuckled, moving ever so closer and wrapping his arms around Brian’s neck – his sign for letting Brian know that the conversation portion of the meeting was over.
Brian got the message loud and clear. His arms winding around Justin’s waist, he pulled the blond closer against his body and dipped his head down to cover Justin’s mouth with his own.
Go to Part 7