EternalxInsanity: *shakes head* Mindy's definitely suffered enough but unfortunately, Caroline's not done with her quite yet. We'll find out what else she has in store for her soon enough. NeroAnne: It's all very sick and disturbing. As far as my stories go, this is one of the most twisted things I've ever wrote (Vermi will have to speak for herself on this one though because she's even more delightfully demented than I am). We're very happy you're enjoying it though ;)

…

Cooper eventually managed to pick himself up off the floor and go into Julie's bathroom so he could attempt to clean up the screwdriver induced wound. He really didn't know what else to do with himself. He was so torn up that he couldn't even think very coherently. He wished he felt numb; numbness was always good. Numbness would be relief. But of course he couldn't have relief. He had to feel the pain, just like he always did. His chest hurt so bad that he could barely breathe and his eyes were starting to sting from the hot tears that were fighting to get out. Caroline had brainwashed Mindy against him and it made him want to scream. That bitch…that fucking bitch…she had realized Mindy was weak against psychological attacks and had taken full advantage of that, using her love for James for all it was worth.

"I love you so much Cooper but I am IN LOVE with Daddy…I belong to him. I will always belong to him."

He let out a choked sob and kicked the wall angrily. It wasn't fair. What the hell had they done to deserve this? They had been happy. So fucking happy. Life had finally come together in a way that Cooper had never thought it possibly could and in the matter of days, everything had been ripped apart. James and the kids were gone, Mindy was playing house with a psychotic bitch who was going to eventually kill her and there seemed to be nothing Cooper could do about it. No matter how much he tried to reason with her, Mindy was never going to listen to him. She was going to stay with Caroline until she got killed and that fact absolutely killed him. He couldn't lose her. He couldn't. He didn't know how he would survive if he did. One would think he would be used to losing people by now but he wouldn't be able to survive without Mindy. Not now; not after he had grown to need her this much.

His cell phone rang and he bit down on his lower lip so hard that it began to bleed. He knew just by the ring tone that it was Jeff calling him. He got his phone out and put pressed the speaker button so he wouldn't have to hold it up to his ear. His once good arm hurt too much to lift up now and his broken one was even more useless. "Hey," he said, trying to keep a hold of himself so that Jeff wouldn't know anything was wrong. He failed miserably though. Jeff knew right off the bat that there was something horribly wrong.

"Cooper what's going on?" Jeff asked. The concern was so clear in his voice that it made Cooper feel like a gigantic jackass. "You haven't called or stopped in and you promised to check in-"

"I know, I'm sorry. Things have just gone completely to hell and I'm trying to deal with it." Cooper opened up Julie's medicine cabinet and began trying to patch himself up, quickly giving up when he realized that he couldn't do it alone. He was going to need someone to help him.

"Is it drugs?" Jeff asked innocently "I mean I know you got kind of mad when we discussed this but-"

"It's not drugs," Cooper said with a shake of his head. He looked down at the phone, wondering just what the hell he should say right then. He was so lost and he hated it. He hated it so badly that it made him want to throw up. "If I told you something that sounded absolutely insane, would you give me the benefit of the doubt and not think I was lying?"

"Of course," Jeff said without hesitation. "You can tell me anything, you know that."

"Okay…" There really was no easy way to say this so he was just going to have come out and say it. What was the worst thing that could happen? Jeff wouldn't believe him? Jeff would think he was a crazy liar? Honestly, he had more important concerns than being thought of badly. "My dead grandmother is possessing my dad and making him act like a crazy person."

Jeff didn't say anything to that at first. Cooper waited impatiently, about to tell Jeff to say something when the Charismatic Enigma broke the silence. "You're serious."

"Of course! Why would I joke about this?" Cooper didn't mean to snap. He really didn't. He was just not in the mood to have a debate about whether this was possible or not.

"You wouldn't," Jeff said simply.

"So you believe me?"

"Yeah. I got attacked by him…or her…or whatever and there definitely was something seriously wrong. I actually like the possession idea better because that means it's not your dad doing this. Whatever he does, it's not him. It's someone else who has serious fucking issues."

Cooper smiled weakly. That was about the only comfort that could be found in this situation. This shit wasn't James. James wouldn't do this to all of them. It wasn't much comfort at this point but it was better than nothing at all. "Mom won't believe it's not him. Caroline is brainwashing her and I have to make it stop."

"Why does it have to be you? Can't-"

"It has to be me Jeff. It's not like there's an army of people lining up around the block to do it. Caroline's going to eventually kill her if someone doesn't save her."

Jeff whimpered and Cooper knew that Jeff wanted to talk him out of this. Thankfully though, he didn't even try it. He knew better than that. "Be careful?"

"I will."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too." Cooper instantly felt like he was betraying Mindy by saying that but he didn't know what else to do. He did love Jeff. He really did. But Mindy…fuck, why was this so complicated? Why did he have to feel this way? Why did everything have to turn so romantic? Why…why why why. He could write a book with all the whys that were in his head. It hurt his head to think about them but it hurt his heart even worse. He was so lost. There was Jeff and there was Mindy and Jeff was his boyfriend and Mindy was married to his father but he wanted her so badly that he couldn't think straight.

"Call me soon, okay?" Jeff said, interrupting Cooper's train wreck thoughts.

"Okay," Cooper agreed. He hung up the phone and finally let out a pained and frustrated scream that made his throat raw and failed to make him feel any better overall. Fuck my fucking life. Fuck it fuck it fuck it!

…

Annabelle paced back and forth, wringing her hands together as Mark sat at the computer, doing whatever it was that he was doing. "I can't do this," she said in a weak voice. "I can't. We have to go after him."

"We don't even know where he is," Mark said with a shake of his head. "It would be like looking for a needle in a fuckstack."

"Well that would better than just sitting here!" Annabelle couldn't stand this. Her oldest son had probably fallen into a trap of some kind and the fact that she had let him go out the front door in the first place was absolutely killing her. She should have stopped him. She should have stepped up to the plate and tried to stop him a lot harder than she did.

Mark pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Look, if you want to go after him, then go. I'm going to stay here and see if I can find a priest in the area that can do a fucking exorcism. If there's not, I'm going to have to try it myself."

Annabelle ran a hand through her hair and tried to swallow the golf ball size lump in her throat. "Do you think that will really work?"

Mark shrugged. "I don't know. It's the only thing I can come up with. My concern is that if it doesn't work, we're going to majorly piss off Caroline and there's no telling what she'll do then."

Annabelle winced at that thought. She didn't want to think about what Caroline would do if they got her really mad. There was no way it would end well for anyone. Absolutely no way. "We can't just leave her in there though," she pointed. "If an exorcism is our only chance-"

"It probably will be," Mark interrupted. "But how we're going to find the bitch and subdue her…that's another story. She's too strong so I can't do it by myself. Even if you helped she would toss you like a rag doll and Cooper's injured so he won't be much help…fuck I wish Glen was here. The two of us would have a shot."

"Yeah, like he would help. He would want James to die." Annabelle sighed as Mark just grunted at that. She had always told James not to be so mean to Glen but did he ever listen? No. He just did what he wanted and she didn't push the issue because she hadn't seen the point, although now she was wishing she had tried harder. Maybe things would have turned out differently if she had. "Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"When Glen died…I know it had to upset you."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Well no shit. He was my brother-"

"Why didn't you just take it up with James? Why did you have to try to use it as an excuse to get Mindy and Cooper out of the way?"

He just grunted again and shook his head. "Don't go down this road with me Annabelle. I don't want to talk about it."

Annabelle sighed loudly and shook her head. She should have known better than to ask. Even if Mark had answered her, she would have wound up regretting finding out. Understanding what went on in Mark's head was not really a good thing, especially considering the logic he had to use to make the decisions he did.

The sound of the door opening and slamming shut drew both of their attention. "Cooper?" Annabelle called out, hoping to God that it was him.

"Belle get over here!" Mark snapped, grabbing her by the wrist and yanking her behind him. "Jesus Christ, Lawson will skin me alive if Caroline did something to you!"

"We don't even know if it's Caroline that just came in," Annabelle countered as she rubbed her wrist. "And besides, how do you know he won't skin you for letting shit happen to Mindy?"

"I don't. But since Little Sister ain't here to protect, you're the one who's-" Mark stopped talking when Cooper came into view. Annabelle gasped at the sight of her oldest song, immediately concerned by the sight of his red eyes and the blood on his shoulder. "Cooper honey what happened?"

Cooper didn't even acknowledge Annabelle at all. He just lunged at Mark wildly, spearing him to the ground and pummeling him with his fists. "Cooper!" Annabelle yelled. She put both of her hands over her mouth and stared at the scene with wide eyes. "Cooper no!"

"Get the fuck off of me!" Mark snarled. He tried to push Cooper off of him but when that didn't work, he blatantly punched Cooper's new injury and got his foot up so he could kick him off at the chest. Cooper stumbled back and Annabelle quickly tried to grab him in order to separate the two of them. The only problem with that though was that Cooper was so enraged that he ended up elbowing her right in the face as he attempted to get at Mark again, causing her to cry out in pain and stumble backwards.

"Momma?" He looked absolutely horrified once he had realized what he had done. "Oh god Momma…"

"Now look what you did," Mark muttered as he got back up to his feet. He did not look pleased with getting attacked again and he was staying in a defensive position in case Cooper went after him again.

"SHUT UP!" Cooper screamed angrily. "JUST SHUT UP YOU FUCKING BASTARD! THIS IS ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT!"

"Cooper don't," Annabelle pleaded. "Please-"

"She brainwashed her." Cooper's voice cracked as he said that. "That fucking cunt Caroline has brainwashed Mom. You fucking-"

"You fucking quit blaming this shit on me boy," Mark growled dangerously. "You hear me? I know I fucked up by passing out out there but I'm not the only one who fell asleep. You did too which meant you weren't watching Little Sister like you should have been. So really-"

"Mark shut up!" Annabelle surprised them all with that outburst but she stood her ground as best as she could as she was glared at. She knew Mark was going to blame Cooper and she didn't want to hear it. He was so obviously upset right now that it was breaking her heart and she wasn't going to let anymore salt get added to the wounds if she could help it. Cooper was her child and Mark could kiss her ghostly ass for all she cared at the moment.

Mark shook his head and muttered something that was unintelligible before storming off. Cooper lunged at him wildly but Annabelle managed to hold him back this time. "Momma let go!" Cooper ordered, trying to struggle in a way when he wouldn't inadvertently hurt her again. "Let me go! I'm gonna kill him! I-"

"Cooper stop," she pleaded. She wrapped both of her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Please just stop. No more baby. No more."

Cooper roared in frustration before finally dropping down to his knees and clinging to her as his whole body shook uncontrollably. Annabelle hugged him even more tightly, trying to comfort him as best as she could while her heart absolutely broke for him.