On the drive back, James' phone starts buzzing like crazy in his pocket; he glanced at the screen and promptly hung up the phone. "Who was that?" Greg asked, frowning ever so slightly.

"My parents," he growled, as the phone started buzzing repeatedly, and on the fourth missed call, James finally picked up, "Hello?... Hi, yeah, sorry I'm in the car at the moment… Everything is going great… No, no, I moved to Detroit nearly a year ago, I don't live in Princeton anymore… Yes, still working as an oncologist… Yes, Greg is still around… No, no, just enjoying the single life… I gotta go… yeah, love you too, bye!" as he hung up.

"'No, no, just enjoying the single life'" Greg repeated slowly, empathising each word, "yeah, alright. What's the deal with that? Don't want to tell your parents that you're now heading into your fourth marriage? Or that this time you're marrying a guy? Or that you now have two kids you never told them about?"

"Pretty much all of that. My parents aren't really a part of my life, so why should I tell them all about my life? But no, they're not going to be particularly happy with the whole marrying a guy and being gay thing. It's just better for no one if they don't know," James shrugged.

"Whatever happened to being honest?" Greg teased, "what was it you said to me before we went to South Dakota?" he paused, "I don't remember, but I do remember you pressuring me into going when I knew that it was a bad idea, and look what happened,"

"We moved, created a better life for ourselves, got two kids, got engaged, and now live a happier life than we ever had before. Proving that you should listen to me implicitly," James suggested.

"Yeah, and while I wouldn't change any of that, we also had to deal with you going off the rails, two near death experiences from your own hand unto yourself, my father nearly ending us both, two trips to the hospital, and you nearly getting arrested," Greg pointed out.

"All the more reason that the less they know, the better," James shrugged.

That evening, Rob was upstairs putting the kids to bed, and Lisa, in the basement, could hear a commotion coming from upstairs; walking into the kitchen Greg and James were just about nose-to-nose screaming at each other, neither taking any notice of her. "What the hell, James? What could be so bad about them that you're hiding your whole life from them? Surely, we can't be as disgraceful to your family as three divorces!" Greg yelled.

James put his hands up in a halting manner, "Greg, leave it…" James' voice was starting to shake, "leave me alone, I need some space…"

"Or what? What are you going to do, James?" Greg yelled, shoving him in the chest hard enough that James had to take a step back to steady himself, "you can't even tell your parents that you're gay! So, what are you going to do to me if I get in your face? Do your worst!"

Greg found out a split second later, when James punched him with his nasty left hook across the face, dropping Greg to the ground. "You bitch!" Greg screamed up at him, blood dripping down his chin from where the ring he'd bought James had made contact.

"Get up!" James screamed at him, "get off the floor! If you want to talk about this, then let's talk!"

"Forget it," Greg muttered, staggering up, "it's your family, you don't want them at our wedding, then fine, that's your choice,"

James' expression immediately shifted, "Greg, baby, I'm so sorry. I won't do it again,"

"Of course you will," Greg muttered, "you always do. And I always ignore it,"

"Next time I'll aim for the wall," he shuffled closer to Greg, pulled him in to embrace him and kissed him in the crook of the neck, "I'm sorry, you know I can't help it," he pulled away from Greg and smiled gently, "sometimes… you just make me so mad; but I wouldn't have it any other way," as he leant forward to gently kiss him, tears running down his cheeks, "please forgive me, I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened to me," James muttered, resting his forehead against Greg's, holding his hand behind the back of Greg's neck.

Greg hesitated, "you need to start getting this anger under control, James, you've been doing so well. But… but I should've given you space when you gave me that last warning," Greg sighed, "so I suppose we're both at fault there… come here," he hugged James, who was now sobbing loudly, into his shoulder, "I love you so much, James," Greg whispered.

"I love you too, Greg," James responded hiccupping, "let me make it up to you,"

Greg sighed weakly, "well how could I ever say no to that?" he smiled.

"Well, well, well; look who turned out just like dad, after all?" James looked over his shoulder at his father.

"I'm nothing like you," he snarled, "and so what are you saying? That I'm unfit to be a father?"

"You're a monster, James, look at you, punching your fiancée in the face just for speaking up. Does that remind you of anyone?" his father half smiled back at him.

"I don't have to listen to you," James snarled back, "all you ever did was hurt us and mom,"

"And you've turned into me despite always swearing that you wouldn't. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it, Jimmy? You're going to ruin your kids, James. All you're going to end up doing is teaching them that this is okay. You're just ensuring that nothing is going to change; that one day Tyson will hit his wife, and that one day Charlie will be getting beat," his father sneered back, "you try and control everything, but you do is fuck it all up! Just like usual, just like always!"

"If you were half the father I am, then I wouldn't be so screwed up!" James shouted.

"I'm ten times the father you'll ever be!" came the roaring response, as James was knocked to the ground and felt tears prickling at his eyes, "oh what, Jimmy? You can dish it out, but you can't take it? You pathetic piece of shit! You were always the weak one, weren't you? The stupid, overachieving middle child! You pretend that you're so empathetic and caring, but all this is doing is just proving the opposite!" as a barrelage of vicious kicks pummelled his body.

James awoke in a cold sweat, gasping; feeling almost as though he should check over his body for bruises from his dream. He could see Greg lying fast asleep next to him, his split lip now scabbed over as he slept peacefully next to him. Greg had forgiven him almost immediately. James sighed deeply, I just need to get up and get some fresh air, so I don't wake Greg up, he's actually sleeping peacefully for once. James pulled back the sheets, using his phone torch to search the floor for his underwear, pyjama pants and a comfortable top to go and sit outside for a little while in. James got dressed in silence and crept silently out of the bedroom, headed downstairs as silently as he could through the dark house, grabbed a beer out of the fridge, and crept outside.

Relaxing back in the chair, James took a shaky breath and cracked open the beer, taking a long swig, staring out into the darkness, hearing the distant hum of traffic from the nearby major road. The door squeaked open, and Lisa looked down at James staring back at her, who just rolled his eyes and went back to staring into the darkness, "if you're here to lecture me about anything, save your breath, I've heard it all before," he growled, "if you're here to 'talk' to me about my fight with Greg, save it. It's only the second time I've hit him since we've moved in here, and he hits me too, for the record. We just don't do that in front of the kids; so, no harm, no foul, and it never escalates any further than that,"

"It's your relationship," Lisa sighed, "I can't tell either of you what to do with your lives,"

"Good, then don't," James snarled, pulling his bowl towards him, and then grabbing the scissors and a jelly jar, pulling out a couple of buds, and set to work cutting them up. As he packed it into the cone, he side-eyed Lisa, "just… just drop it, okay? I can hear your brain running on speed dial from judgment right now. I feel like shit enough already,"

"Pot and alcohol will help that," Lisa pointed out sarcastically, and James sighed deeply.

"Lisa, I don't know what you want from me. You know that Greg isn't the only one who had an abusive childhood, right? He wasn't the only one who witnessed and experienced violence? He's not the only one who has traumatising nightmares? But everyone always makes sure that Greg is okay. Which is great, but no one ever checks that I'm okay," James sighed as he hit the lighter, before taking a hit from his bong.

"I'm not here to judge," Lisa whispered, and James rolled his eyes, "no, seriously," Lisa added, "I'm here to listen if you ever want to talk, but I'm not going to force you to. And I accept that if you and Greg want to spend your lives out here, hiding, then well, that's your purgative,"

"Have you ever loved somebody so much that it hurts? It absolutely tears you up inside? You'd kill anybody that hurts them? You can't imagine life without them? That's how it feels with Greg. And yeah, maybe I do get a little bit jealous sometimes, and maybe I do get a little bit mad when he presses on issues that aren't his, but that's always been Greg, he's always been this way. Maybe it probably wouldn't have happened tonight if it wasn't the fact that everything is kind of stacked on top, one thing after another. You're here, which is stressful, my parents calling me out of the blue when I haven't spoken to them in five years, Greg pushing the topic and kept pushing me when I asked him to stop and give me space," James shook his head, "but at the end of the day, it was my fault, and I know it was my fault. I'll feel constant guilt until his lip finally heals up properly, and I should. Goddamn, you'd think that if I would've learned anything from my childhood, it would've been not to hit," James restuffed and lit up the bong again, getting very stoned, "Damn, this stuff is strong,"

Several minutes passed in silence, "James, I don't know what's really gone on between you and Greg. I did see that fight, and he shouldn't have gotten in your face like that, I wouldn't say he was asking for it, but he knew what the potential consequences would be for doing that… I'm sure he forgives you," Lisa said.

"He forgives me alright, and goddamn that make up sex was great. I mean, we have sex at least once a day on average I'd say- we pretty much have sex every night before bed, and then sometimes in the morning, and any other time of the day we're free, which is rare. But, after one of us has been mad; the other will be much more willing to do things the other enjoys but maybe don't usually like," James then giggled, "I can't believe I just told you that," he threw his head back and laughed manically, "like damn, after that time I was in the mental hospital and got told I had BPD after I took all of Greg's pills… the sex after that was just out of this world. Or that time that Greg got pissed because I took some of his Vicodin and also dropped acid, on top of an edible brownie he gave me before I saw a therapist for the first time- but I didn't tell him about the Vic's or the acid until afterwards when we got home… he was so mad that I had to give him the absolute ride of his life!" James laughed while Lisa frowned, this was beginning to get a bit concerning; but tried to keep her judgement to herself.

"You have BPD?" she questioned, and James looked at her in alarm.

"Aww, shit, yeah, yeah I do," James scratched the back of his neck through his loose hair, "but thankfully now, we've got it all under control, therapy, anti-depressants, all that sort of stuff, keeps it all at bay,"

"Well, that's good to hear," Lisa nodded, "I do have a question though, what's with the super long hair? Like it's down to your waist now. Is that a permanent thing, or?"

"Yeah, initially I just didn't get it cut for a while, and then Greg discovered that he quite enjoyed pulling hair, and I'd do just about anything to get him more risqué, so I kept it long. I didn't really like it at first, but now I do like it. You know what, Lisa? Tomorrow morning, Greg is meeting up with a couple of his buddies to play shot euchre, I'm going along, you should come, it's a lot of fun," James invited, "unless of course you'd rather stay here with Rob?"

Lisa thought about it, as much as she was hesitant about meeting some of Greg and James' friends, she'd rather do that than stay here and endure unprovoked verbal attacks by Rob; "what is 'shot euchre?'" she asked hesitantly before answering.

"It's a drinking game. Euchre is a card game Greg likes to play, he's played it since he was a kid, and he's taught me; its very simple, you'll catch on quickly. Euchre pairs very well with drinking, so 'shot euchre' is a game we play where every hand we lose, we have to take a shot," James explained.

"And I'd be the only woman there?" Lisa asked through narrowed eyes.

"Well, y-yes, but all of Greg's shot euchre friends are gay. And Andre, you'll recognise him tomorrow, he's the skinny, black guy, he really, really, REALLY sucks at euchre. Even as a newbie, he'll probably be on the ground in a puddle of his own vomit before you've even lost a hand," James shrugged.

"You're not making this sound particularly inviting, James," Lisa laughed lightly, shaking her head, glad that for the first time in a long time, she felt like she was really talking with James, not just speaking to him.

"Nah, nah, you'll enjoy it, I promise. Just give it a go, it's only one game, what could possibly go wrong? If you hate it, well, you'll never have to play euchre again once you go back to Jersey," James tempted.

"Well, I guess I mainly came to see you guys, I'd be a fool not to spend time with you," Lisa considered, "oh, to hell with it, I'll give this 'shot euchre' a go. What's the worst that could happen?"

"That's the spirit," James grinned, before smoking another cone and effectively launching himself into outer space as they sat there in silence for a bit, before Lisa placed her hand on James' shoulder, "night, James," and headed inside, certain James would've forgotten about euchre by morning.