Haha, yeah. There definitely was a lot of organising involved for this Christmas trip home. But I know it made my mom and grandfather really happy and to be honest, it was nice to see them again after a year of not being home and not being able to hug them in person. And thankfully everyone stayed healthy, nobody got infected, so it all worked out in the end:)

I agree with you on the impeachment: They just can't let him get away with this behaviour. If they do, they're setting a very dangerous precedent for more extremists coming after him. Which is what really pisses me off about the Republican party right now: They're so power hungry that they only care about their own positions of power, but don't give a shit about the country, its people and the constitution they always claim to defend. They are just a bunch of hypocrites out for their own gain... People like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, etc should be punished right along with Trump... 

Saying now that an impeachment will only divide the country further and that Democrats should just "move on" and forget about it... WTF? Can you see them do the same if the situation were reversed? Just remember how they all acted when it came to the BLM protests last summer... And those were mostly peaceful! Back then it was okay to arrest people and cart them away in unmarked vans, to have police use tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protestors just so Trump could take a picture with a bible in front of a church, but when it's white people storming the capitol, those are patriots and peaceful protestors that need to be forgiven... God, they make me so fucking angry, I have no words... 

Yes, the Handmaid's Tale is a very scary show. Especially the flashbacks to how Gilead started, how they got into power reminded me so much of what's going on in the world right now. It also reminded me of 1930's Germany and once again showed that we have learned absolutely NOTHING from our history :( What made the show so scary for me was that it all seemed so realistic and while I was watching it, I had no trouble imagining people like that getting into power again. I mean, just look at some of those people in the US Senate/Congress, at Höcke and friends, etc... :( 

And like you said: It made me very grateful that I am living in a state (and really, I am considering both Germany and Ireland here) where freedom of speech is valued, where different opinions are accepted and appreciated, where we have real democracies. Just look at Nawalny and Russia right now... scary stuff :( All those AFD morons going on about censorship and dictatorship by Angela Merkel? They obviously don't know what real censorship or dictatorship looks like. If they were right, they wouldn't be able to voice their opinions so openly, but would have been in prison a long time ago... :/ 

Okay, enough ranting, back to the story: We will find out what Brian went through and what happened to him, but I tried not to make it as graphic as it was in "No Matter What" for example... I tried to make what he went through a part of the story, but not an essential part. This story will be more about moving on, finding a new balance for everyone involved, etc.

Yes, Brian and Justin were together for a long time and much of it was already under the rule of Gilead. No, they weren't married, which will make sense once we find out more about the rise of Gilead in this story. I will explain at what point Gilead rose in the Brian/Justin timeline and how it happened, how they reacted to it and how it changed their life in Pittsburgh and affected everyone in their Liberty Avenue family. We will get answers to all of that, I promise!

As for Brian and Justin getting back together... well, you know me: I am a Brian/Justin girl and love my happy endings, so that's a given, but... the way there... might not be as smooth and easy as some want it to be/are expecting it to be. We shouldn't underestimate that Justin moved on, thinking that Brian was dead and has pretty much built a life with Ethan and Gus at this point. Will he just give up that life for Brian? Would Brian even want him to once he finds out the truth about Ethan? Hmmm...

So much that will happen in upcoming chapters :)

Thanks for your comment - it's much appreciated as always! More will be up tomorrow :)