Dinner in the Langdon house became a joke to Tate. His mother always insisted on having him or Frank say grace. With the way his life was turning out, Tate didn't even know if he still believed in a God. "Thank you God for this..beautiful new family I have been blessed to be a part of," Frank finished, smiling. "Tate would you kindly pass the salt please," he was offered a glare before Tate picked up the salt and handed it to the man. With the way Frank dressed, it surprised Tate that he was loafing around in their house. The man's shoes were probably enough money to buy a small house in themselves. Constance was in the relationship for the money, so this guy was in it for..the house? It was certainly a mystery to him; a mystery that he'd solve if he could think about the man for more than ten seconds without being sick. What he really wanted to fill his mind with was the sweet taste of the stuffing on his plate/

Without thinking, Tate began to roll his sleeves up to dig in when he remembered the scars on his wrist. He quickly pushed them back down and glanced up to see if anyone had noticed. Addie was too amazed by how the stuffing was coming out of her piece of turkey, almost like someone had ripped a hole and the turkey's guts smelled delicious. His mother was muttering something about how well Frank had done preparing the meal. Frank had his eyes fixed on Tate. When Tate's eyes met his, he smiled knowingly; almost menacingly. He had seen. Tate's stomach flipped and the stuffing on his plate suddenly didn't look very appetizing. "May I please be excused?" He felt the urge to vomit, but kept to looking at his plate to avoid unnecessary contact with John Wayne Gacy's lawyer-cousin sitting beside him.

"Not until you finish this wonderful meal, young man. Frank took sweet time out of his day to go all out for us; like havin' our own personal little chef around here." That cheap smile on her face made him hold his stomach.

"Yes young man, you don't realize how fortunate you are to have a meal of mine. I don't find myself in the kitchen very often, but boy when I am.." Tate jumped up from the table and ran upstairs to the bathroom. He was dizzy with anger and fear. What if he tells mom about my wrist? What if she finds out how flawed I am? He wasn't about to have some worthless component enter his life just to screw everything up beyond repair. What could he do about it though? Even though the man was below average height and looked like a washed up Disney sidekick, he still wouldn't be able to bring the guy down easily. Tate felt that familiar pull of gravity and took a pill, two for good measure when he heard a knock on the door. "Tate are you in there?" Frank.

"Go away, I don't feel very well," he closed his eyes and wished Frank away. "I think I'm going to bed, uh..sorry I couldn't finish your nice dinner."

"Do you think it's the blood loss?" Tate froze as Frank's voice became hushed and frantic sounding. "Cut the shit, kid. Mama's little boy isn't so beautiful after all. Oh, and by the way, that's quite the stash under your bed."

"Every teenager needs a little reading material," Tate said feigning ignorance, but even he knew he was doomed. The door knob to the bathroom turned and Tate dashed over to lock it before Frank threw it open.

"You had better straighten the fuck up," He moved forward, trapping Tate in a corner. "or I will make your life a living hell. If you cooperate and do what I tell you, we won't have any problems. Better get used to calling me daddy too, because your mother is crazy for me."

"Well didn't you even entertain the idea that maybe she's just crazy," Tate was rewarded with a fast slap in the face that shut him up.

"When I'm your father, even the prettiest of that woman's children will learn a little respect." The bathroom door shut and Tate crumpled to the floor.

~Back at the table, Constance was asking Addie how she felt about Frank. "I like him very much, he seems happy a lot. I think he likes Tate too, he's always looking at him." Constance hadn't noticed that before but Frank sure did put on the smile when he saw Tate.

"I wish your brother were more open to new people Addie. Or people in general. He used to be such a sweet boy. The world has yet to wrong that boy; when he's lived my life, he can come crying." Frank came back into the room, shaking his head in good humor.

"Locked himself in the bathroom. He says he's sorry but he sounded pretty bad off, poor thing. Must've had something that didn't agree with him. He needs to be more careful." Frank finished two plates of food that night.