James nearly broke the front door as he came barreling through it. He had gotten a call from a hysterical Joie, who told him about the physical altercation that had taken place between Mark and Cooper. To say that James was upset would be a major understatement. "MARK!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He was absolutely furious with his boyfriend. "MARK!" He headed straight to the kitchen, where he found the older man holding an icepack up to his face. "You fucking son of a bitch…"

Mark groaned as he looked at James. "Lawson…"

James didn't want to hear it. He grabbed Mark by his shirt and slammed him up against the wall as hard as he could. "What the FUCK is your problem?" Mark was so lucky that he was who he was; if he wasn't there would be a lot of stabbing happening right at that moment. "That was my SON! Who do you think you are to put your hands on him?" He wrapped one of his hands around Mark's throat and squeezed it roughly. "How about I choke you until you pass out?"

Mark made a half hearted attempt to push James away but it didn't work. He had drank too much and was starting to get sleepy, so he was no match for James. "He attacked me first," he slurred out. His alcohol filled breath made James wrinkle his nose and move his head back just a tad bit. "Fucking came in here punching me-"

"What did you do?" James asked impatiently. "What did you do to make him attack you?"

"Nothing!" Mark said defensively. "Fucking kid came in here going apeshit because he found out I'm his real father and-"

"WHAT?" James felt all the blood drain right out of his face. This was not good. It wasn't good at all. "How did he find out? Did you tell him?"

"No! I didn't deny it when he told me he knew but I didn't say it! Why the fuck would I tell him? He's your fucking boy, not mine." Mark threw his icepack down and shook his head. "Fucker knows not to fucking confront me on shit when I'm drunk. He-"

"Don't you DARE turn the blame on him!" James snarled. He was defending Cooper even though Cooper did know better than to get in Mark's face when he was drunk. "You hear me?" He shook his head as Mark just grunted and rubbed his sore face. "Just go to bed you jackass. You fucking need to sleep this shit off."

"I'm not a child," Mark mumbled as he staggered off towards the living room so he could pass out on the couch. James took a moment to just stand there and collect himself, knowing that the conversation he was going to have to have with Cooper was not going to go well. There was no way it possibly could. It was no secret that Cooper violently disliked Mark and they had had plenty of fights about him staying with Mark despite the way he acted. This damn revelation was only going to add more fuel to the fire and cause a boat load of problems. "Damn it," he cursed under his breath. He grabbed the ice pack and threw it back in the freezer before heading upstairs.

"Daddy?"

James stopped halfway up the stairs and saw that Connor was coming towards him. "What's the matter?" he asked when he noticed that Connor's eyes were red and puffy.

"Marky hurt Coopy," Connor whimpered sadly. "And Coopy says you're not really his daddy." He rubbed his eyes with both of his fists and looked up at James innocently. "Is that true Daddy?"

James sighed and scooped the lanky eleven year old up into his arms. "It's complicated Connor. I need to go talk to Cooper first but I'll explain it to you next, I promise."

"You can tell us at the same time," Connor objected. "I'll be a good listener Daddy, I promise!"

"I know but I really need to talk to him alone-"

"Mean! Mean mean mean MEAN!" Connor wiggled out of James's grasp and stormed off, making James sigh and shake his head. He would have to deal with Connor later. Right now he was going to try to deal with Cooper. He finished going up the stairs and went to Cooper's door. "Cooper?" he said as he knocked on the door. "Can I come in?"

There was no answer at first. James waited as patiently as he could, but then he knocked again. "Cooper?"

The door opened this time around but it wasn't Cooper who answered it. It was Joie. "How is he?" James asked immediately.

"Upset," Joie whispered. "Like really really upset."

James suspected as much. "I need to talk to him."

Joie looked apprehensive about that idea. "I don't think-"

"Let him in." Cooper's voice scared the crap out of both James and Joie. "He's not going to go away otherwise."

Joie nodded, even though he still looked extremely apprehensive about this idea. "I'll be um…somewhere else," he said as he walked away, leaving James to go into the room and shut the door behind him. Cooper was sitting on his bed with his knees pulled up to his chest, his gaze down until James started approaching him. Then he looked up and revealed not only how angry he was but also displayed the bruises on his neck from where Mark had choked him.

"Jesus Christ…" James muttered. He ran a hand over his face and shook his head slowly. He didn't know what else to say. "Cooper…" He winced as Cooper's expression didn't change. "So um…how did you find out?" That question needed to be asked because honestly, James didn't know how the fuck he had found out in the first place.

"Mom's diaries," Cooper replied.

James was taken off guard by that. "You read them? Why would you even…"

"I don't know, okay? I just…you keep all of her stuff in that old house and Joie and I went in because Connor ran in there…I wanted something that was hers. I wanted to be close to her." Cooper chuckled bitterly. "I should have known better than to read it. I hate that I know this. My whole life is one big fucking lie."

James shook his head. "It's not. Don't talk like that."

Cooper acted like he hadn't heard him. "You know, I always used to think Mark hated me because not only I could see through his bullshit but I called him out on it. Connor's too young to understand, Bearer doesn't give a shit, Glenn is too loyal and you're too fucking blinded by love-"

"Cooper please-"

"-but that wasn't it at all. He fucking hates me because I remind him of Mom. He hated her and treated her like crap and you not only knew about it but you let him do it! You let him act however he wanted and I'm fucking disgusted with you."

James winced at his words. "It's not that simple-"

"It IS that simple!" Cooper was too angry to hear any side of the story that didn't agree with the way he saw things. "That was MOM! The way he acted…" He shook his head in disgust. "He called her a bitch before I punched him earlier. Did he tell you that?" He chuckled bitterly when James didn't respond. "Of course he didn't." He sneered suddenly and got really nasty. "That doesn't bother you does it? You'll just let him do and say whatever he wants and you'll sweep it under the rug because you're his whipped little puppy dog."

James shook his head. "Cooper stop. Just stop. You're not being fair-"

"Fair? My real father is a man I hate! My real father denied me from day one and told Mom to get an abortion if she didn't want me! Mom hated him. She didn't want a baby from him."

"That doesn't mean she didn't want you," James said, trying to calm Cooper back down before he went even more crazy. "She loved so much-"

"She would hate that you were still with him," Cooper interjected. "She would. I know she would."

James shook his head. He wasn't going to debate that. Not only would Cooper not understand, he wouldn't even want to get it. "Cooper I'm sorry. You were never supposed to find out…look, fuck Mark, okay? Forget about him. He doesn't matter."

Cooper snorted loudly at that. "Your words don't mean shit."

"They don't?"

"No. You want to know why?" Cooper kept going before James could even begin to answer. "Because you don't mean them. You're so fucking stuck on Mark that you're going to let him stick around, no matter how much it fucking hurts me just to have to look at his fucking face. Hell by tomorrow I'll bet you'll be mad at me for hitting him even though he DESERVED it and you'll be fucking him and begging him not to leave you, just like you always fucking do."

"Cooper…" James didn't even know how to defend himself at this point. He had never seen Cooper this angry. It was actually scaring him because he didn't know how to fix this. This secret being revealed had single handily fucked Cooper up, which was what he had always been afraid of it doing.

"I'm going to bed," Cooper said angrily. He laid down and turned off the lamp that was by his bed. "I don't want to talk anymore."

"Cooper just let me-"

"Good night Uncle James."

James felt like had just got hit in the chest by a bowling ball. Those words…if Cooper understood the impact those words had on him he probably didn't even care. Completely defeated and feeling like the biggest jackass on the planet, James left the room, passing an eavesdropping Joie and a pissed off Connor on his way out the front door. His chest was aching horribly and he had to go hunting to try to make it better. At this point he doubted it would even work but he had to try. If he could at least get his head cleared, he could maybe think of a way to undo the damage that had been done to poor Cooper.