Words are powerful. So are names. Reginald DuChamp - King of the Field. Clement - Merciful.

I hope this week has been better than the last few. I'm working and writing my way through the second lockdown - and yes, date night is coming.

As always, enjoy x

Thursday 5th October 2017, 11:58pm, Evelyn's Condo, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Gregory Clement was a patient man; the kind to listen to an album from the intro to the final track including the interludes. That was his approach to life; to take it all in long before he formed an opinion or had a response. He was attentive to the panic in Taylor's voice, the rushed cadence of his attempt to recount an entire summer in five minutes, and the hesitation of holding himself back when he wanted to fling himself into action. Any action. It was clear Taylor wouldn't or couldn't rest until he did something. Anything at all. "First of all, Taylor, breathe. Can you do that?"

Taylor was suddenly more aware of his own body. "Yeah."

"Okay, so keep doing that." Gregory gave him time to find a comfortable pace, while Evelyn waved the Bible as a solution to all problems. "And grandma says, read your Bible. There are gems in there." Evelyn smiled with satisfaction and snuck off to eat some bonbons behind his back.

"I do."

"You're not responsible for Zahra or what happens to her. If her parents feel she's too Western, it's not your friendship that made them feel that way; it's their mindset."

"But what about…? I mean…what if…? I'm so confused."

"Of course; you want it to make sense. They have an idea of how the world should be and what part she plays in it. So, if they need to control what she studies, where she lives, what she thinks and who she spends time with; you can't change that."

"Then what do I do?"

"You've already done it. You tried to understand Zahra and see her for who she was. You didn't judge her past or her body. And you didn't take advantage of her. What more can you give?" Taylor felt a little better than he did with a warm gun in his hands. "Now, are you eating right?"

He sighed. "Not really."

"Drinking hot water?" His silent was complicit. "Listening to white noise? Kendrick Lamar?"

"No, sir."

"Then you have a job to do; take care of you for the people who love you, youngblood."

"Goodnight, Mr. Greg." And with that, Joss' son managed to lay his head to sleep; unaware that somewhere in a house off-campus Margot O'Donnell was penning a blog post entitled "New Radicals" about youth and extremism in the US and in the coming days, Zahra's wrath lead her to his doorstep.

"'Til next time, son." Evelyn stared expectantly at her husband, waiting for the blow-by-blow account of what was going on with her only grandson, but he wasn't forthcoming. "You should be more careful." He warned, as he wiped the powdered sugar evidence from the corner of her mouth with his thumb. "Didn't I tell you you're sweet enough already?"

She rolled her eyes and looked away to induce another compliment. "No."

"Well, you are."

"So, what did he say?"

"What did Dr Lynn say about your blood sugar on Tuesday?"

She sauntered off to the bedroom. "La, la, la, la, la…."

Friday 6th October 2017, 12.20pm, Finch's Townhouse, Carnegie Hill, New York

Harold dusted off the 24-karat gold-edged China teapot recently imported from England along with the matching mugs. He was looking forward to having a visitor, a brunette visitor, to share one of life's simpler joys with someone he was fond of. Nothing could dim his joy, not even Shaw's wretching noise in response to the petit fours platter. "It's not enough for you to break out the good china, she gets snacks too?"

"Good afternoon, Ms. Shaw. Zoe will be here soon. I have one word for you; hospitality."

Shaw scratched the back of her head. "And I have one word for you; suckerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." Fortunately, The Machine interrupted what would have been a graphic description on her part of what was being sucked, how, by whom and for how long. Shaw rubbed her hands together when she saw the Latina with the shoulder-length bob and smouldering brown eyes on the monitor. "Helllllllloooooo…Teresa Vidal, 26, Tisch drama student, lives on the Lower East Side."

"I wonder wh-"

"I got it." Shaw volunteered with more enthusiasm than he'd ever seen, but anything that got her out of the house and his hair was just fine by Finch.

11.29pm, Cece's House, Waverly, South Carolina

Carolyn "CeCe" DuChamp had her hand in a bag of toffee popcorn and an avocado mask on her face when she watched her ex-husband lift his new wife off the ground in celebration on her 49in LCD screen. The SC State Bulldogs' 31-27 victory over the FAMU Rattlers meant Big Reggie's probation was going very well and from the looks of the princess cut diamond ring, his marriage wasn't too shabby either. Since then, she had tried to wind down. She ran a bubble bath, drank a glass of wine, painted her toenails, drank another glass of wine, and started a new series on Watchflix. But her son walked in dragging his feet, with the weariness on his face that she carried in her heart.

"Popcorn?" She offered.

He shook his head and sat beside her. "They won."

"I know."

"Aleesha was there."

She tried not to roll her eyes. "Really?"

"With her girls…and someone else."

Ouch. "I'm sorry, junebug."

"You think I can still make it?" He asked because he had always needed external validation.

"You only need a High School Diploma to try out and you got that, so, why not?" He couldn't tell if she was lying or not, so he chose to believe her. "You have to graduate, Reggie."

"I will." He promised because he was tired of letting her down. "I got a job on campus. Food Service Assistant."

"You did?" That was the only good news she'd received all day, so she hugged him like she used to when he slept in Ninja Turtle pyjamas. "I'm proud of you…and we're gonna get through this."

He shrugged his shoulders because he had no idea how. "Did Aunty J call you back?"

"Yeah. She can't help us…I mean this time. Maybe some other time." CeCe would never say out loud that she felt abandoned at her time of need, that Joss had more to spare and chose not to, that she asked Joss so she didn't have to ask her mother and stingy-ass-lying-ass-cheating-ass Hamilton, and that pride wouldn't let her ask Big Reggie. Instead she said, "I picked up more hours, in Customer Services."

"Maaaaaaaa…" Reggie groaned. He knew first-hand the customers at the discount airline were as frugal (or cheap) as they were entitled, and she would be miserable on the phoneline from start to finish.

"Like I said, we're gonna get through this." Suddenly, bussing tables and serving lunch in a hairnet didn't seem so bad.