A Man For All Seasons (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

Lab Rats: The Best of Intentions

Sal here! My apologies for how long this took, and double apologies that it had to be a Lab Rats chapter. But we have to have this as a springboard in order to get to where we're going next. So I hope you enjoy, those of you still hanging in there with me, and please have a lovely V for Vend- I mean Guy Fawkes Night.

Stuart was disappointed.

Relatively speaking, that is. For Freddie, he was full of hatred and disgust; with Julia, cross-eyed with rage; and over this flailing operation they together had unabashedly submarined beyond hope of salvage, humiliated before his superiors. But right then, he settled for mere disappointment. It was too early in the morning, and not far enough into his second espresso, for anything stronger.

If it wasn't for Roger I would have likely heard from Brian by now, he grumbled inwardly. Just like if it weren't for Jules "busting" her smartphone, I wouldn't be relying on secondhand information. 

Shortly after they began dating, Stuart had requested Julia install a tracking app on her device. Not that he had anything to worry about in those days, of course, but he did get a kick out of tracing her daily routine of leaving the house at eight, arriving at Princeton around half an hour later, then heading back between five and six. He had enjoyed the subtle deviations, so mundane and few in number that often times he would make a wager with himself over where she would stop that evening if she wasn't driving Danny home from school: the supermarket, the bookstore, or one of her three go-to restaurants she would settle for if she didn't have the energy to cook that night. And three times out of four, he would emerge victorious. 

Now he didn't have the first clue which state she was in.

 That's mostly because of Freddie, since he stopped swallowing the trackers - I knew I shouldn't have let Steve talk me out of injecting a permanent one into his arm - but it's also because of that damn phone she broke. The app must not have transferred over when she bought her new one. Unless she straight up deleted it- or he did it himself. Not that he has the mental capacity to figure a smart phone out, of course, the dentally-challenged dinosaur. 

Stuart allowed himself a grim chuckle at that, but the situation was too tragic to find much humor in it for long. So many unfortunate coincidences. So many cruel twists of Fate to the point that if he believed in God, Stuart would curse Him for choosing a side.

All was not hopeless yet; he had other secret weapons. One involved a few "minor" adjustments to her bank account- Ling's idea, which was sure to bring Julia down to her knees as soon as he gave the word - but also ran the risk of cutting off a potential tracking channel at the same time. C had proposed something even more diabolically effective - the "nuclear option," he had called it; however, the fallout from such a drastic move could attract more unwanted attention from the media, not to mention law enforcement. 

For now, though, there was another, safer tactic he had acquired only last night, one that could yet prove his ace in the hole: 

Julia's cousin, herself, Roxanne Brazzi.

The way that even came about boggled Stuart's mind. The day before, purely on a hunch, Stuart had dialed Roxie's number, which was conveniently listed on their church's website, and asked her if she had any idea where her favorite cousin was headed.

At first, Roxie played coy. "Why are you asking me?"

"Because if anyone were to know, you would," he said. "I know how close you two are."

"Well, I would imagine if she wanted you to know, she would have told you too," she replied simply.

"Not necessarily, Ms. Brazzi. Jules hasn't been herself for over a week, and that's due to one factor only."