Lisa slipped back inside the hotel room to see Greg sat on the side of the bed; "you and James fighting again?" he questioned, grabbing his cane and standing up, heading over to the table.

"Yeah… I'm not quite sure what set him off. He just seems… funny around me lately, and I don't know why. I don't know if he sees me as… competition or something and he's staking his 'territory' or what; but yeah, he's outside smoking of all things," she mumbled, pulling the takeaway out of the bag.

"Smoking, hey? He must really be riled up," Greg chuckled, but there was no humour behind his laughter, it was cold and empty.

"Does… does he get like this with you?" Lisa pried, and Greg looked up at her with raised eyebrows, "you don't have to answer if you don't want to," she amended, serving up the food on a plate, one for herself, and one for Greg, and putting the remainder in the fridge for James for later.

"No, no, it's fine," Greg shrugged, "we fight, all couples do. And heaven knows that I'm no Saint; but his bark is worse than his bite, Lisa. Take it from someone whose father was the opposite, no bark and all bite. The fact that he actively takes himself away from a situation means that he's putting himself back in control, it's better that way. I could do a lot worse than James. He's just stressed about this trip, he's stressed about my family, he's stressed about some of my family members he's going to meet, he's annoyed at me for not telling you why yet. Don't stress, Lisa, none of this has anything to do with you,"

"Why do you think he snapped then? I don't think I did anything particularly wrong?" she wanted to bring up the events of the other night but decided against it right now; it wasn't fair to corner Greg like this over a shared scenario where they were really all at fault, and James' possessiveness over him could end in another argument, or even the police being called.

"I think… I think that it was more to do with you sounding disgusted when you walked in and saw us kissing. We'd been having a pretty… intense conversation beforehand and I think that he took personal offence to your reaction, and probably took personal offence on my behalf too. I don't necessarily always appreciate it, but it is nice to have someone who cares, you know?" Greg sighed as he pushed his food around on the plate, "you have to remember as well, Lisa, is that James is coming to terms with his sexuality just as I am, and I guess we're handling it differently. It's not an easy thing to do,"

"That's understandable," Lisa nodded, "very forgiving as well,"

"He's a good man, Lisa, trust me. He's just stressed out at the moment, but he's a good man, you'll see,"

"Yeah, he's a good man, he just seems changed," she mumbled.

Greg smiled, "he hasn't changed, he's still the same old Wilson we came to know and love, you're just seeing him more intimately now,"

Shortly after, James came back in through the door, "you've already eaten?"

"Your food is in the fridge," Lisa responded, working to not be short and aggressive back at James, as he had been with her, he nodded and grabbed the food out of the fridge, microwaved it, grabbed a fork and sat down at the table.

"Did you tell her yet?" James asked Greg pointedly, who just hung his head and shook it, "do you want me to tell her?" James pushed.

"No, it's okay, I'll tell her," he mumbled.

"Greg, you don't have to tell me anything that you don't feel comfortable to," Lisa corrected, reaching out to grab his hand, and Greg smiled back at her, his smile not reaching his eyes however, just small and submissive.

"No Lisa," James cut in, "you have to know this,"

Greg shifted uncomfortably in his chair as James watched him with an eagle eye, "fine," he sighed, "Lisa, there's… there's something you need to know, and you need to know it before we get to South Dakota," he muttered.

"Okay, well, I'm listening," she whispered encouragingly, not wanting to push Greg one way or the other into saying or revealing anything that he felt uncomfortable in doing so.

"Some of… some of the people that you're going to meet aren't necessarily good people," Greg revealed, not meeting anyone's eye line, "my dad, and my uncle too for that matter… abused me when I was growing up," Greg's voice shook ever so slightly and he glanced down at his hands, unsure of what to do with them.

"I know that you mentioned before when your parents have come to visit, that you and your dad had a strained relationship," Lisa pointed out and Greg just nodded.

"Go on," James pushed, and Greg side eyed him, clearly uncomfortable but continued with the point anyway.

"They abused me, my whole childhood, it was relentless… as in several times a week for many years kind of relentless," he kept on.

"You mean they beat you?" Lisa queried and Greg nodded.

"Yeah, all the time… but they did other stuff too," he mumbled.

"What kind of 'other stuff'?" and then Lisa's expression paled when Greg wouldn't return her gaze, "you mean… you mean like they raped you?" she couldn't believe that she was saying those words. They were horrific enough to hear on their own, but regarding a man as strong willed, confident and sure footed as Greg; it seemed truly unbelievable.

"Yeah, among other things… but yeah, the sexual abuse was pretty consistent," he mumbled, wringing his hands awkwardly, Lisa reached out an arm to wrap around his shoulders, but Greg instinctively pulled away.

"How, how old were you?" she asked, then immediately felt a twang of regret in having asked that question.

Greg let out a shaky sigh, as though he was trying to hold himself together; "it happened a lot… probably I'd say at least a few times a week until I was around twelve, and then sporadically until I was around sixteen. I'm not really sure when it all began; but the first memory I have of it, as in… penetrative abuse, in fact my earliest childhood memory I have as a whole- I was three,"

Lisa felt a cold wave come over her, and then a rush of nausea bubbling up from her stomach, but she forced it down, until she heard the next few words; "that was when I wasn't being sold off to some of his military buddies," Greg added coldly, "I didn't want to go on this trip, I have buried that all deeply in my past, he-" pointing at James "is the one that insisted that we go, I'm pretty sure that he's planning a double homicide when we get there, so just be prepared if you see trash bags in the tray of your pick up," Greg tried to joke, but there was a flatness to his voice.

"I don't blame him," Lisa muttered, swallowing more harshly at the last revelation, sold off, she could only imagine what that meant, and honestly, she didn't want to.

"So, he- we- thought that we'd tell you in advance that at least two of the people you'll be meeting with are… you know, child abusers," Greg muttered as James gave him a harsh look.

Lisa continued on, "how do you cope? If it's not prying too much, having been through all of this, to be with a man, and have a healthy sex life?"

James shot her a look of somewhere between surprise and inquisitive suspicion, before Greg answered with a cold, forced laugh; "there's a big difference between consensual homosexual sex, and rape, Lisa,"

Lisa excused herself to the bathroom after a few moments of shared silence as the nausea was beginning to become extreme and unpredictable; coughing and spluttering over the toilet bowl, trying to force out the vomit that she knew was bubbling away in her stomach, and before long threw up all her dinner. She couldn't believe it, Greg, ever fearless around authority, in a relationship with a man, who appeared so mentally and psychologically strong. She pictured a scared little boy, being towered over and abused by adults constantly, and felt sicker than she had before.

"I told you we shouldn't have told her," Greg muttered.

James just shrugged, "well it had to come out at some point, and you didn't go into too much detail at all; nor did you even mention the nightmares or your blackouts during sex,"

Upon hearing this, Lisa couldn't help but let out a wail, which silenced the men who clearly made the connection between their words and her distress, and she sat there and cried; cried for Greg who was clearly so severely affected still, the Greg she knew, and the Greg she didn't; the little boy who desperately needed saving, but no one was there to hear his cries, or if they were; they simply didn't care, the fact that nobody cared was absolutely beyond her.

I wish that it was a parallel universe where I was there for little Greg and I could have rescued that sweet, innocent little boy from all of the House house of horrors. I just can't believe no one cared enough about little Greg to stop this, to stop him from being raped by his own father and uncle, from being sold to men to rape and molest him for what? Money, alcohol, drugs? Why? Why didn't anyone care? Even his mother didn't save him, or she didn't notice. Who couldn't care for him? Who couldn't care for a pure, sweet little boy, and instead opt to take his innocence from him before he knew the meaning of the word. How alone and scared he must've felt. She cried for hours in the bathroom, as James and Greg prepared for bed and lain under the covers, neither being remotely interested in any kind of activity or even having the thought cross their minds, as the sounds of Lisa's distraught cries filled the hotel room.

When Lisa returned, Greg looked over at her from where he was lying in bed, "Lisa," he patted the edge of the bed next to him, sitting up and offering for her to come and sit beside him. "Lisa, come sit with me, I'm so sorry for having made you feel this way. It wasn't my intention to upset you like this. I can talk and think impassively about it- usually- because I've mentally removed myself from the situations. It's only sometimes that they seep through. You have to remember Lisa, is that this hasn't happened in about 30 or so years, I've tried working on the trauma myself, Lisa. I even tried to go to traditional therapy many times as an adult, but unfortunately very few therapists are equipped to deal with adults who were extensively sexually abused as children, much less with cases involving situations like my own where the child, me, was a victim of incest and being sold; basically prostituted, out. So, I gave up on usual therapy. I was never intending to go back to South Dakota; but someone," Greg looked pointedly at James lying next to him earphones in and watching something on his phone, totally oblivious to the world- "insisted that I go, I had to try and convince him from going there alone and committing a double homicide, and more if any of my dad's buddies or acquaintances or whoever else was 'offered a ride' is there. You're here because James is sneaky, and I won't be able to stay on top of him the whole time,"

"Greg, why didn't you ever tell me? Even not only as your boss, but as your friend too? It makes me feel awful that I didn't know that I couldn't help you," Lisa's eyes began to well up again, and Greg pulled in her for a hug and just held her for several minutes while she cried, until she let go and he passed her a tissue. "Don't take it that seriously, Lisa, I didn't even tell Stacy during out entire relationship,"

"But James knew about it?" Lisa couldn't help but hear the hurt in her voice, "why were you so okay with telling him, but terrified of telling me?"

"You know that he's only known about any of it for a couple of months, right?" Greg continued, "and he found out in about the worst way possible,"

Lisa gave him an inquisitive look and Greg shyly and awkwardly half-smiled as he continued on, knowing that James was dead to the world with his headphones in, "it was the first time that we had ever had sex actually, and I had a massive panic attack, because James, at least when he's on top- gets really turned on by being exceptionally dominant and… well, kind of dark… and he just happened to get really carried away that first night. Because he had no idea of my history; he'd assumed that I would be turned on by violent, rough sex and having him strangle, more accurately throttle, me and wanting me to call him 'daddy' which just ended in a panic attack so huge I needed to use his asthma puffer,"

"Oh wow, that… that certainly makes sense then," Lisa added, "you sure you're doing okay? This is your family, we can head home in the morning, no questions asked,"

"Thanks, but I think its important, especially for James. Maybe it'll help me too, who knows? But he -we- thought that you might want to know some of my history behind who I am, and why," Greg nodded.

"James shouldn't have any input into whether we go or not. He's not your keeper, Greg," Lisa frowned.

Greg chuckled emptily, "yeah, I know, and I appreciate the worry, but it's just easier this way. Thanks for being so understanding, Lisa. If you want to… know anything more, you just ask, okay?"

"No worries," she smiled back, knowing it was just as fake as Greg's smile as she headed to bed herself, but knowing that sleep would certainly elude her tonight… she just couldn't get her mind off the whole situation, poor Greg…