Jeff sighed as he rested his head on James's chest. It had been a couple of hours since Matt and Adam had left, and the fight that had taken place was still bothering him. He didn't like fighting with Matt. Sure it was easy to do sometimes, but it was never something he actually enjoyed. Tonight had been no different. No wait, tonight had been different. Tonight had been worse. Much, much worse.

Sighing again, Jeff looked up at James. The killer appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Smiling a little bit, Jeff looked over to the other side of the bed. Mark wasn't there yet. He had promised to be in after a few minutes, but he hadn't made good on that promise yet. Jeff carefully slipped out of James's embrace and got up to his feet. He was going to find Mark and see why he hadn't come to bed yet. Hopefully nothing is wrong. I really don't want anything to be wrong right now. I'm not sure if I can handle anything else tonight.

Mark ended up being out on the back porch. He had his bad leg propped up on the little table that had been set up there and he was staring up at the moon, a bottle of vodka dangling loosely in his right hand. "Mark?" Jeff said hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

Mark sighed. "Pull up a chair Jeff. I need to talk to you."

Jeff frowned but did what he was told. "What's wrong Mark?"

"I've just been thinking about this whole thing with you, James and me. I'm not sure if it was the best idea."

Jeff gulped. He already didn't like where this conversation was going. "Why?"

"Because I'm not sure if being with us is good for you." Mark shook his head. "It's already ripping you and Matt apart."

"So? This isn't the first time Matt hasn't approved of someone I dated."

"Yeah, but this time he's not in the wrong." Mark shook his head. "I've just got to ask this right now: do you even really even think about what James and I really are? You know, with the whole killing people thing?"

"Mark you're retired. You--"

"That doesn't mean I don't ever feel the urge," Mark confessed. He took a drink of the vodka. "Sometimes I do still feel the urge. But I don't actually want to act on it, so I don't."

"Well that's what's important," Jeff said. He put his legs up on the chair he was sitting on and hugged them up to his chest. "You stopped. You're not that guy anymore. As for James...I mean if you stopped, he could--"

"He won't," Mark said immediately. "Not for good. There's no way in hell it's going to happen."

"But--"

"Look, he's tried before. Back when Annabelle was alive, he tried about three times. None of them took for long." Mark took another drink of his vodka. "See, the thing with me was, I did like to kill people, but it wasn't an uncontrolable need for me. If I had to not do it, I would not do it. That was why I was able to stop for good. But James isn't like me Jeff. He's practically addicted to murder. And I know I've enabled him in the past, and I know I'm going to keep enabling him. Maybe it's not right, but it is what it is. Killing gives him joy and even though I'll never admit this to his face, I like seeing him happy."

Jeff rested his chin on his knees. "But the only person that he's killed since he hooked up with us was that one hooker he--"

"That's what he's admitted to Jeff. James isn't always the best at admitting to what he's done. Maybe the body count is down for now, but it's only a matter of time before it goes back up."

"Jesus Christ Mark, you have no faith in the guy."

"Jeff, you don't know him the way I do. You know the side of him he's allowed you to see. You know that he kills, but you don't know that side of him." Mark put the vodka down on the porch. "So what do you even think about that hooker that you know that he killed? I mean, do you think she deserved it?"

"I don't know. It's not like I knew her." Jeff shifted around in his seat uncomfortably.

"Well let me clear something up for you: she didn't. She just had the misfortune of meeting James at the wrong place, at the wrong time." Mark got up enough to move his chair so that he could be completely face to face with Jeff. "You need to understand something Jeff. James is not this dark avenger that kills the wicked and saves the day for all the little children and puppies and shit like that. James kills innocent people. A few of his victims--like Dave, his parents and this really nasty child rapist who tried to attack Connor--do deserve to die. But for the most part, the majority of them do not deserve it. I've killed my share of innocent people in my time, but my numbers don't even really compare to James's. He has no regard for human life. The only lines he doesn't cross are raping his victims and killing children."

Jeff chewed on his lower lip. While it was good to know that James did have some sort of boundries, he still really didn't like this conversation. It was making him think about things he would rather not think about. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked. "Can't we just--"

"What? Ignore the huge serial killing elephant that is in the room?" Mark interrupted. "Jeff, I am telling you this because you need to actually think about this and understand what it is that you have gotten yourself into. If you are going to be with James, you have to come to terms with the fact that James kills innocent people. You have to come to terms that I used to do the same thing and that I still have the potential to do it if the mood really strikes me. This isn't something you can just ignore completely. By being with us and not turning us in, you are enabling us to keep going on the road we've always been on. You have to decide if we're worth ignoring everything you've ever been taught and possibly throwing your relationship with Matt down the drain."

"You are," Jeff said quietly.

Mark shook his head. "You didn't think about it Jeff. You're clinging to the fact that we saved you from Dave and that's all your basing your opinions on."

"That's not true," Jeff denied stubbornly. "Why are you even acting like this Mark? Aren't you happy that I want to be with you guys?"

"I'm fucking estatic about it. But I don't want you waking up one day and regretting your choice. If you don't try to at least start actually dealing with these issues now, you're going to not be happy with yourself later."

Jeff looked down at his legs. Deep down, he knew Mark was right. But he didn't think it was fair. He didn't want to think about all of that shit. He had finally found two people who made him happier than he ever had been before. It wasn't just because they had saved him from Dave. It had gone way beyond that. For years now, he had felt like he was missing something in his life. And even though he hadn't let anyone else know about it, and he even tried to deny it to himself, he had been really lonely for a long time. He had loved Mark for so long yet but Mark was always out of reach. Mark was something he thought he could never have. But then he got Mark and he had fallen even more in love with the man. And on top of that, he had gotten James too. And as fucked up and bad as James was, Jeff knew he had fallen for the psycho too.

"Jeff?" Mark said slowly. "You okay?"

"Why can't love just ever be enough?" Jeff asked. "Why does other shit have to matter?"

"Because love can be a dangerous thing sometimes," Mark answered. "Sometimes love gets you into situations that you shouldn't be in."

"Is that a way of saying I shouldn't be with you?"

"Well--"

"You WANTED me to be with you. James and you came to ME. You wanted this relationship and I did too!"

"I know but--"

"But what? Do you want to break up?"

"No, but I want you to think about what's best for you. I want you to make as much peace with everything as you can now before it haunts you later. And don't excuse James's behavior because of his parents. That's not an excuse. Thousand of kids get abused but they don't all turn into serial killers. And I was never abused but look how I turned out."

"It did play a role in how he turned out," Jeff pointed out. "You know him better than I do but even I can't deny that."

Mark sighed. "Yeah, it definitely didn't help. But it's still not an excuse. What if Dave had been abused? Or what if he was abused but none of us knew it? What would you say to that?"

Jeff didn't say anything. He couldn't without sounding either like a hypocrite or really cold and mean.

Mark picked up his vodk again and drank it. "I didn't want to bring this all up. I really didn't. But we can't avoid these issues forever. You understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Jeff said. "I get it." He didn't like it, but he got it. "I'm going back inside," he muttered. He didn't wait for Mark to say anything else. He just went back inside and started heading towards the bedroom that he had been sharing with James and Mark. He wanted to talk to James about all this. Mark's position on the situation was clear, but now it was time to hear from the active killer himself.

"James?" Jeff said as he opened the bedroom door. "Are you..." The question went unfinished. James wasn't in the bedroom anymore. "James?" Jeff called out. He began searching the house, calling out for his other lover over and over again, but it was no use. James was gone...and so were Cooper and Connor. Now why do I have the feeling that's not a good thing?