Lois and Carolyn, thanks for the beta...you’re the greatest!  

I would also like to thank everyone who previewed the chapters for me.
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Chapter 25 – The Assistant
Saturday Morning…(Day 62)


“Good Morning, Cynthia,” Brian said cheerfully, as he entered his office.

“Good Morning, Boss…” she tried to reply but a little voice interrupted her.

“Good Morning, Cynthia,” a six year voice finally echoed.

At that moment, Cynthia looked down into the miniature face of Brian. “Good morning, Gus,” she quickly said with a smile, opening her arms for a hug. Gus immediate hugged her.  “I heard a rumor that you might me joining us today,” she added with a smile in Brian’s direction.

“Now Cynthia, if you will release my new assistant from your death-grip, we might actually get some work done today,” Brian complained, shaking his head.  He was trying to hide a smile.

Cynthia also tried to hide her smile, but she knew that today was going to be really interesting.  She was going to make it a point to stick as close to Brian and Gus as possible.  She didn’t want to miss anything.

“You’re in early,” she pointed out.  “Ted’s in, of course.  Murph and George want to see you, if you have a moment.  Can I get either of you a cup of coffee or a Danish?” she asked with a smirk.

“No thanks,” Brian answered, “We had breakfast this morning.”

“Mickey Mouse Pancakes!” Gus quickly volunteered.  Brian rolled his eyes.

“Really?  How?” she asked, looking at Brian for answers.

“Jus made them just for me,” Gus continued to explain, “But Dad had them too,” he added to Cynthia’s continued amusement.  

Brian was now glaring.  “Don’t you have work to do?” he finally asked her.

Cynthia turned around to go to her desk, laughing.  Finally Brian could hear strains of “I love my job” echo forth as he and Gus walked away from her into Brian’s office.

With Cynthia finally out of the way, Gus quickly agreed that with Brian that they needed to examine his calendar for today.  

Brian observed that he had several important meetings with his staff, but not before he and Gus made sure that they had everything necessary for building the perfect fort. 

***
A little later, Brian decided to show Gus the Art Department, so hand in hand they visited Murph and George together for a brief meeting. 

Gus felt extremely important because he got to join them at the table during the meeting.  He sat quietly at the meeting watching everything that happened.

Gus got to look at the boards that they were talking about.  

And he rested his chin on his hand during the meeting just as Brian was doing to show that he was listening to everything that was being said.

When the meeting was over, somehow the discussion turned to forts.  Murph and George were quick to a few quick sketches of forts before Brian and Gus returned to Brian’s office.  

Gus immediately started working on his building projects, carefully testing out these new design ideas for his forts.

***
Creativity was flowing at Kinnetik.  Gus was continuing to work on the design and construction of his newest fort, and Brian was working on his newest campaign. Both of them were lost in the creative process.

In the midst of this creative process, Ted entered Brian’s office.  He stood there at the doorway for a moment and just observed father and son in action.  Then he smiled at what he saw, before breezing into to disturb things.  He had a meeting scheduled with Brian.

“Hey Gus,” Ted quickly said in greeting, as he confidently took a seat next to Brian’s desk.

“Uncle Ted,” Gus said back, quickly pulling a chair over to join the meeting at the desk.  

Brian was couldn’t resist a smile.

“Theodore, I’d like you to meet my assistant,” Brian said, motioning toward Gus.

“Assistant?” Ted asked with some surprise.

“Theodore, did you not wash your ears this morning?  Assistant!” Brian reemphasized.

“I see…” Ted whispered and then waited to see what else Brian had to add.

“So I would be on my best behavior today if I were you, or my assistant might fire you and save me the trouble,” Brian smirked for good measure.

Ted just sighed…for obviously, Brian had found a new way to torture him.

Cynthia entered the office and smiled at Gus.  She too pulled up a chair to Brian’s desk to join the group.

“So now that everyone is present,” Brian said, looking first at Ted and then at Cynthia and finally at Gus, “Let’s go over those figures for the new office,” he requested.  

Ted cast an eye in Gus’ direction, realizing the absurdity of this situation.  He was about to discuss financial plans and projections in the presence of a six year old.  Ted thought to himself, ‘Wait until I tell Em!’  Then he simply smiled and made his report to Brian as usual.  

Brian asked his usual probing questions during the meeting, which Ted answered quickly. 

When Ted was finished, Brian leaned over and whispered something to Gus.  

A few moments later, Gus turned to Ted and said, “Good job!” 

Since strokes rarely happened in the office, Ted accepted the compliment with a smile, even if the source was Gus.  He promptly made sure to thank Gus for the vote of confidence.  He glared at Brian, who now had his mask in place, which told Ted nothing.

“I’ll be in my office if either of you need me,” Ted finally said with a smile as he was leaving.

After the meeting, Cynthia stood up to leave.  Then she suggested, “Gus, I was wondering if you would like to keep me company at my desk for a while?”

Gus thought it over for a bit and decided that he liked Cynthia so that wouldn’t be so bad.
So, he waved goodbye to his dad.

“You’re leaving me?” Brian asked.

“Just for a little while.  Cynthia needs me,” Gus explained. “I’ll be back,” he added.

Brian smiled as he watched them leave his office; then he quickly went back to working on the computer.

***
Gus and Cynthia were sitting at her desk discussing Gus’ favorite topic…painting with Justin…when Vincent, one of the new ad exec in the office came up to her desk.

“Cynthia, I need to see Mr. Kinney,” Vincent explained.

“He’s tied up on a call at the moment, but you’re welcome to wait.  What do you need?” she asked.

“He wanted to see these boards,” he explained, showing her the stack he had in his arms.

“Do you mind if Mr. Kinney’s assistant takes a look at these first?” she asked, reaching for the stack of boards.

“No, go ahead…I could probably use a second opinion,” 

“Well, in that case,” Cynthia said with a twinkle in her eye, “what do you think, Gus?” she asked, showing him each board…one at a time…and noting his reactions.

Gus and Cynthia looked at each board carefully.  Gus really liked some of them, and he let Cynthia know.  For some reason two of the boards Gus just didn’t like.  No reason he just didn’t like them.  

Cynthia just smiled.  She knew that she was about to enjoy what was about to happen. “Well Vincent, I think you have your answer,” she innocently said, handing the boards back to the ad exec with a smile.

“When did four year olds become judges of art,” Vincent protested as he took back his work.

Gus stood up and put his hands on his hips and announced, “I’m six years old!”

“I’m sorry,” Vincent apologized. “I didn’t know.  Excuse me!”

“And Gus IS Mr. Kinney’s Assistant.  You don’t want to forget that,” Cynthia teased.

“Right….” Vincent said, now completely dejected, wondering what the world was coming to when children were passing judgment on his professional work. 

“My Justin does stuff for my dad all the time,” Gus added confidently, as if he knew things that others didn’t.

“What?” Vincent asked, in total confusion.

“I have two mommies and a dad and a Justin,” Gus announced, as if it were the most normal revelation in the world.

“Gus has two mommies and two daddies,” Cynthia clarified.

“Oh, I see,” Vincent said with a laugh. “I only have one mommy and one daddy,” he commented in reply.  He now laid the boards down on Cynthia’s desk to talk further with Gus, lowering him self down to Gus’s level.

“Too bad!” Gus answered.  Cynthia tried to hide her smile.

“So you think your Justin could do a better job on my boards, huh?” Vincent said with a laugh.

“My dad … well, Jus knows what he likes,” Gus added confidently.

Vincent stood up at this point, shaking his head.

Cynthia smiled. Then she tried to put on a straight face as she handed the stack of boards back to him.  “Maybe you should make another stab at the boards.  Or, maybe you would like to have Murph or George take another look at them with you before you show them to Mr. Kinney,” she suggested with a smile.

“You’re kidding?” Vincent challenged.

“What can it hurt?” Cynthia suggested, gesturing toward Gus.

Vincent took the stack of boards, and then he tried to scowl at Gus.  

Gus refused to be intimidated.  Instead, he merely raised an eyebrow in a gesture so reminiscent of Brian, that Cynthia was having a hard time not laughing.  

She finally reached over to give Gus a hug to hide her laughter.

A few moments later in Murph’s Office, Vincent entered, shaking his head.

“What wrong, Vincent?  Bad day?” Murph innocently asked.

“I was just told by a six year old that two of my boards are bad. He muttered something about Jus does stuff for his dad all the time,” Vincent said mockingly, making himself comfortable on one of the stools.  “What the hell is he talking about?”

Murph laughed, “I see that you’ve met Gus.”

“Yes, with two mommies and two daddies,” Vincent confirmed.

“Yes, well one of those daddies happens to be the artist, Justin Taylor.”

“The darling of the New York Critics? Fuck!”

“I see that you read the Arts & Entertainment Section of the papers.  I’m impressed,” Murph teased.  “Sometimes Justin can be coaxed to work on projects for the company,” he added.

“And my boards are supposed to compete with his fine art?  You’ve got to be kidding!” Vincent protested.  He began to wonder would his humiliation ever end.

“That’s right you’re new, you haven’t worked with Brian…Mr. Kinney…yet either, have you?”

“No…I have a meeting in a few minutes.”

“Think about it!” Murph suggested.  “Brian lives surrounded by the fine art of one Justin Taylor.  Do you really think we can get away with just anything here?  At Kinnetik, we’ll redo boards until Brian is happy.  You’re new here, but you’ll get used to it.  Maybe you should be a little nicer to Gus,” he teased. “By the way, I forgot to mention that one of his mothers is an art critic.”

Vincent sunk lower on his stool.  His Saturday was not going quite the way he had hoped…and now this.

“You’re kidding, right?” Vincent tried to complain. “Now you want me to listen to a six year old critic.  I thought that this was one of the premier agencies in the country.”

“Remember, Gus may be only six…but he’s Brian Kinney’s kid.  Obviously, he already has clear ideas of what he likes.”

“So!  What’s your point?”

“I’m not saying that Gus is right.  And he may not be able to tell you what’s wrong…but he can feel that something isn’t quite right.  Gus knows what he likes.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Nothing.  Gus just gave you a warning.  Don’t worry.  Brian will definitely set you straight,” Murph gently said with a smile.

At that moment, Murph’s phone rang.  It was Cynthia asking Vincent to return because Brian was ready to see him now.  

Vincent returned to Brian’s office with his boards in hand.  Murph decided to go along; he couldn’t resist seeing how this mini-drama played out.

Arriving back at Cynthia desk, she immediately told them to go right in to see Brian.  
Vincent immediately noticed that Gus was no longer not at her desk.  He started to wonder why.

As Vincent entered Brian’s office, he quickly found his answer.  

Brian and Gus were sitting at the table waiting for him.

“Hi, Gus,” Vincent said, upon entering. “Mr. Kinney…”

“Hi,” Gus said with a smile.

Brian smiled, “I see that you’ve met my assistant,” he added.

Murph too greeted Gus and Brian and made himself comfortable at the table.  He didn’t want to miss a minute of this meeting.

“Oh yes, we’ve met,” Vincent responded, “I’m just surprised to see him at OUR meeting,” he added hesitantly.

“Where else would you expect my assistant to be?” Brian innocently asked with one raised eyebrow.  

Vincent immediately recognized the gesture…the same challenge that he had seen earlier from Gus.  At that moment, he knew this was going to be a very long meeting.

“Now, give Gus and I a chance to get settled, and then you can dazzle us with your preliminary ideas,” Brian finally said, handing Gus a bottle of water and getting one for himself.    He nodded to Murph and Vincent offering them water as well, but they shook their heads no.

With that out of the way, Brian made himself comfortable again and checked on Gus.  Then motioned for Vincent to begin.

Although he was terribly nervous, Vincent made his presentation to Brian and Gus and Murph.  

They all listened intensely, but no one said anything.  

When Vincent was done, he handed the stack of boards to Brian and waited for his comments.

Brian looked at the boards and then made a big deal of showing each board to Gus.  

Gus showed that he liked most of the boards.  Vincent felt some relief.

Brian noticed that Gus still didn’t like two of the boards. Vincent knew he was in trouble.  Murph simply waited to see what would happen next.

“My assistant seems to be have liked your presentation,” Brian began with a hint of a smile.  “The fact that he’s still awake is definitely a point in your favor,” he teased.  “And he even seems to like most of your boards,” he continued.  Then he paused.  “But for some reason, my assistant seems to have problems with these two boards,” Brian said with a smile. “Do you have any idea why?”

Vincent took a deep breath.  He realized that now he was into the surreal.  

“Obviously, something is wrong with those boards.  I haven’t had time to re-evaluate since Gus pointed out the problem earlier,” he said after a gulp.

Murph couldn’t resist a silent smile.

“Might I suggest that you rethink the color and size of the font? At the moment, I think that your copy and your artwork are fighting, rather than complementing, each other,” Brian added with a patient tone.

Vincent felt totally dejected.

“Vincent, don’t take it personally,” Brian said with am understanding smile.  “Ever since Gus was a baby, he has been hanging out with Justin while he paints,” he pointed out. “I’m just lucky that he agreed to be my assistant today,” he added.

“Lucky indeed,” Vincent said with a smile. “Well Gus, I’m going to see if I can fix these two boards.  Maybe when I’m done, you’ll have another look?” he asked.

Gus smiled and nodded yes.  Murph couldn’t believe what he just witnessed. He couldn’t wait to tell George and Ted all about this.

“Vincent,” Brian finally said, “I really liked your campaign idea.  Good job.  Once those boards are fixed.  I think your campaign idea might be what the client had in mind.”

“Thanks, Mr. Kinney,” Vincent finally said.  “Bye Gus.  I’ll talk to you later.”

Gus was now beaming as Murph and Vincent left the office.

“Well Gus, look at the time.  We’ve had quite morning, haven’t we?  How about I treat you to lunch from the Diner, that way we can keep on working?” Brian suggested. “We’ll have Theodore go pick lunch up for us.”

“And we have to get lemon bars for Jus!” Gus insisted.

“Of course…”

Brian picked up the phone to call Ted, who quickly announced that he would be delighted to go to the Diner to pick up lunch for Gus.    

Ted said he would stop by Brian’s office shortly to get everyone’s lunch order.

Ted hung up the phone and was finally able to get a laughing Murph out of his office. 

Then Ted stopped by Brian’s office to get everyone orders.   The entire time he was there he had a hard time keeping a straight face while talking to Brian and Gus after the story that he just heard from Murph.

Ted couldn’t wait to tell Cynthia what he’d heard.  In that moment, he once again understood why Emmett loved to share gossip so much.

And Cynthia heard strains of  “I love my job” as Ted had walked by her desk.  

She couldn’t wait to hear the details.