When we last left off, Angel was spotted (out of drag) by Marvin. OH NO! What's gonna happen now?

I own nothing. The Almighty Larson owns it all.

Angel stood completely still, frozen with fear. She wasn't expecting something like this to happen. She just stared at Marvin, who looked like he could explode at any moment.

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" he yelled. Angel opened her mouth to give an answer, but nothing would come out. Hearing his father's outburst, Collins ran into the hallway.

"Dad, what's the matter?" he asked, standing in front of the still frozen Angel.

"You don't see him!? He wasn't here earlier! Who are you!?"

"Dad, he . . . she was here earlier. She's been here all day."

"'She?' As smart as you are, you can't see that's a boy!?"

"Dad it's . . . it's Angel." Collins looked at the floor as everyone else emerged from their rooms.

"Angel's . . . a boy?" Collins gave a slight nod.

"What's goin' on?" Lamont asked. He looked at Angel. "Who's that?"

"It's apparently Angel," Marvin told him. Then reality hit him. "You kissed Angel today, Tom."

"Yeah, I did," Collins said, still looking at the floor.

"You're . . . you're . . . Lord Jesus, give me strength. Tell me I don't have two gay sons."

"I would tell you just to get you to calm down, but I'd be lyin' to you," Jasmine said.

"Jazz? Did you know Angel was a boy?"

"Yeah."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't want you to . . . well, do what you're doin' right now."

"Dad, please don't hate him," Jesse said.

"You stay out of this," Marvin demanded.

"He can't just stay out of it, Marvin," Virginia said. "He's his brother."

"I don't care. I'm not talkin' to him right now. I'm talkin' to Tom. Speaking of which, look at me when I'm talkin' to you boy!" Collins lifted his head up slowly and met his father's furious gaze. "How many times have I said it when you were younger? 'A man is not meant to lie with a man . . .'"

"'As he does with a woman,'" Collins finished. "You said that practically every day once Jesse got his first boyfriend."

"And I thought it would've sunk in to your skull, but I guess your brain is so full of other things you forgot that bit of information."

"What about women lying with women?" Maureen asked randomly.

"Excuse me?" Maureen simply kissed Joanne gently. "Good God Almighty. Lesbians? I'm never gonna make through this reunion. Tom, do you have any heterosexual friends? At all?"

"Yeah," Collins said. "Mimi, Roger, Mark, and Benny." He thought for a moment. "Why are you so obsessed with the fact that I have gay friends?"

"I'm not worried about your friends, Tom. I'm worried about you."

"There's nothing wrong with me!"

"I beg to differ! The lifestyle you're choosing right now is goin' put you on the fast track to hell!"

"Hell would be better than here any day!"

"Tom, you don't mean that, do you?" Virginia asked. Collins said nothing, took Angel by the hand, went back to the room they were staying in, and locked the door.

"Honey," Angel said, sitting on the bed and speaking for the first time since Marvin yelled at her. "I am so sorry. I didn't know he'd be out there. I-"

"It's not your fault," Collins interrupted, tears burning his eyes. He then sat on the bed.

"You gonna be okay?" There was a knock on the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Jesse," Jesse said from the other side of the door. Angel opened it and saw Jesse standing in the doorway, holding onto a wall to keep himself on his feet. "Can I come in?" Angel nodded and shut the door as Jesse limped into the room. "Tom, you alright?"

"He's never talked to me like that before," Collins said, a tear falling from his eye. "Is that how he treats you?" Jesse nodded and sat next to him on the bed.

"I've learned to ignore it," he said.

"That's easier said than done."

"Yeah, but once you do it, you'll be okay."

"Now I know why you didn't wanna come here," Angel said, sitting next to Collins and grabbing his hand.

"You didn't wanna come?" Jesse asked his brother.

"No," Collins replied. "I should've just wrote Mamma back and told her that."

"And leave me by myself to get tortured by Stack and the twins? What kind of brother are you?" Collins chuckled. "I knew I'd get you to smile somehow." Jesse put a hand on Collins' shoulder. "In all seriousness, don't let that homophobe of a preacher stop you from lovin' Angel. Your decisions are your decisions. You understand me?"

"Yeah." There was a small silence. "So, have you called him Marvin lately?"

"One time! I did that one time and you won't let me live it down!"

"What're you guys talking about?" Angel asked.

"When we were little, Stack dared one of us to go up to our dad and call him by his first name," Collins explained. "Neither of us volunteered, so we had a race to see who had to. I won."

"Only cause you tripped me!" Jesse interjected.

"Not the point. Anyway, Jesse walked up to him and said, 'Anything good on the news today, Marvin?'"

"What'd he do?" Angel asked.

"He went insane!" Jesse said. "We all had to hide in our tree house. I've never ran so fast in my life!"

"Wouldn't he be able to come up to the tree house and catch you?"

"Nope, he hates climbin' stuff. So we were safe 'til dinner." Angel giggled. "Did Tom ever tell you about the talent show?"

"What talent show?"

"Don't you dare tell her about that!" Collins demanded.

"You told her about me callin' dad by his first name, so I'm tellin' her about you singin' in the talent show."

"He sang in a talent show?"

"Yup. We both did actually. We sang 'Shout' by The Temptations."

"How old were you?"

"I was 12 and he was 10. We had all the girls right in front of the stage and they were all screamin'. We were like little celebrities. Those girls loved us so much they decided to run up on the stage and mob us." Jesse chuckled. "One of 'em ripped Tom's pants off and another one ripped his shirt off."

"Oh. My. God. You're kidding!"

"Nope! He was standin' there clad in nothin' but his underwear, socks, and shoes!" Jesse began laughing.

"It's not funny," Collins said.

"Yes it is!" Virginia then came into the room.

"Is he alright, Jesse?" she asked.

"Yeah, he's fine."

"Good. Tommy, don't feel obligated to go to church tomorrow. You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Wasn't plannin' on it," Collins replied.

"The same goes for you and Jesse, Angel."

"Alright, thanks," Angel said. Virginia smiled at Angel and left the room.

"Well, I'm gonna head to bed," Jesse informed Angel and Collins. "See ya'll tomorrow."

"Goodnight," both Angel and Collins called as Jesse limped out of the room.

"Poor Jesse," Angel said.

"I'm gonna ask you again," Collins stated. "Why are you so interested in Jesse?"

"I'm not interested. He's just-"

"Hot?" Angel looked turned to Collins and saw an expression that somewhat resembled anger.

"No! Well, yeah, but . . . you're confusing me!"

"Admit it, Angel. You like him."

"Yeah, as a friend."

"You like him more than I friend! Don't lie to me! I can tell!"

"No I don't! Collins, what's wrong with you? Why are you so paranoid all of a sudden?"

"He kissed you."

"On the cheek, honey. It was a friendly kiss."

"It was still a kiss. And you don't see the way he looks at you."

"How does he look at me then?"

"He looks at you like you're . . . a piece of meat and he hasn't eaten in days. It's disgusting."

"So, he looks at me the way you look at me whenever you're horny?"

"Um . . . yeah, but you're my girl so that's different."

"How is it different?"

"He wants you, Angel."

"You want me too."

"I'm allowed to want you. He ogles you every five seconds."

"You mean like that girl on the plane was ogling you every five seconds?" Collins was silent and turned away from Angel. "Honey, even though he wants me, there's a small problem with that." Angel turned Collins' face toward her and kissed him lightly. "I belong to you. I didn't accept this ring from you for nothing, you know." Collins looked at the engagement ring that he'd put on Angel's finger almost a month ago and sighed. "I love you."

"Love you too," Collins replied.

"Prove it."

"How?" Angel pulled her lover on top of her, kissing him passionately. After a few moments Collins broke the kiss. "Wait a minute, Ang."

"What's the matter?"

"We're in my parent's house."

"So?"

"So what if somebody walks in on us?"

"Honey, it's always fun to sneak around. It just makes it more exciting, you know? Worrying if someone's listening, trying to moan quietly . . . though with you that's damn near impossible."

"You really wanna do this?"

"Is Tom Collins turning down sex?" Angel gasped. "I thought I'd never see the day."

"Don't get crazy now. I was just askin' a question."

"Well, my answer is yes. And if I were you, I'd hurry up before-" Collins cut her off with a bruising kiss. "I love you, Collins."

"I love you too, Angel."

FINNY! Yeah . . . so the next story of mine to be updated will be A New Life. Be on the lookout for that. Review please.