FOUR MONTHS LATER
"That'd be Amy, can someone let her in for me?" Rob yelled as he was cooking dinner and Tyson ran towards the door, "an adult!" Rob yelled back after him, so Greg walked over and opened the front door to greet a woman maybe five years older than he was.
"Amy?" Greg asked, and she nodded, "here let me take your coat," as he took it from her and noticed a large cross hanging from a necklace around her neck, "Christian?" Greg enquired.
"Yes," Amy nodded, "I take my religion and the teachings of The Bible very seriously. The Bible and Church are my bread and butter and how I live my life and expect others in my circle to do the same,"
"Oh, brilliant," Greg muttered under his breath.
"You've got a bit of a limp, is everything okay?" Amy noticed the man was slightly favouring one leg over the other as he walked away towards the kitchen.
"Yeah, it's… an old injury," Greg muttered, not turning around, before he grabbed James and hissed into his ear, "evangelical, ultra-religious Christian incoming," to which James just sighed and shook his head, whispering back that surely at some point in the last four months that Rob had mentioned his gay nephews.
"Gallagher gang! Chow time!" Rob bellowed out; Charlie came bounding down the stairs and Tyson got up from in front of the television, loudly pulled out their chairs across the lino floor and dragged themselves across closer to the table before they began shovelling the spaghetti bolognaise that Rob had prepared. Greg and James sat down and began eating.
Amy sat there in silence for a moment before she grabbed a hold of Charlie's hand, who growled and snarled like a dog and barked at Amy; James just laughed in response as he reached for the ketchup, "Charlie is protective over her food, and she's started getting influenced by the puppy, don't put your hands near Charlie's food if you want to keep your fingers," Greg laughed, grabbing a handful of mozzarella out of the packet, "we're just glad that she's finally out of the high chair, can feed herself independently, and is starting to talk in multiple sentences now,"
"How old is she?" Amy asked curiously.
"She's three as of a couple of months ago, stick your hand back near her food and she'll stab you in the hand with her fork," James answered, holding up the back of hand that showed three red dots on the back of his hand, "that's from the night before last,"
"She's a little bit… most kids by three are doing things a bit more advanced… and behaving differently than this," Amy muttered, watching Charlie stab at her bolognaise with her fork.
"She's got autism type 1. Asperger's basically. What they used to call Asperger's back in the day, we're waiting on a waitlist to get her assessed, but we're pretty sure that's the case. Can't be certain until it's diagnosed of course. Why aren't you eating?" Greg answered.
"I was waiting to say 'Grace' or another prayer before dinner," Amy responded.
"We don't do that in this household," James said, "rule is that you eat your whole meal, and that's it. Boy, do I know a lot about that,"
"I was wondering, you have very long hair for a man, James, is it? Is there any reason for that? I mean it's down at your waist," Amy questioned.
"What is this? 20 Questions?" Greg whispered to James.
"Yeah, well, I'm a Jew by birth and raised as one, so I thought that I'd go the fully Jesus route; grow my hair long, I thought about growing some facial hair, but it just didn't suit me and it was a little bit patchy in places so I'll stick to the long hair, while making a living off of healing the sick… All I need to do now is start a religion and get executed in the middle of the desert. You know, really honour the most famous Jewish man in history," James responded, "that and my fiancée loves pulling hair in the bedroom, if you get what I mean," winking at Amy, "so I have no intention of cutting it again any more than the occasional trim," which silenced Amy in a facial expression somewhere between shock, mortification, and anger and cracked Greg up.
"I'm so sorry about them," Rob apologised, "he is right about one thing, he does heal the sick; he's an oncologist. The hair pulling thing, I have no idea, that's not my business. Greg used to be a doctor too; in fact he was one of the most world renowned doctors on Earth and working in a huge hospital on the east coast where he ran a super specialised, one of a kind department and taught the best of the best. Now however, he takes care of the kids 24/7 now that I've passed on full legal custody. I've raised my daughter, who as you know passed away. Now it's my time that I'm getting to my late 50s that I have some time for myself,"
"I'd like to invite you all to come to Church with me tomorrow," Amy smiled, "the kids can go to Sunday school, tomorrow they're going to be teaching the kids about families and different types of families,"
"Greg, don't," Rob warned as soon as Greg went to open his mouth, "Tyson and James, no talking about that right now either, it's not your business," Rob dropped his voice so low that Amy wouldn't be able to hear; "Tyson, you shouldn't be talking about that full stop, I get that you know that Daddy and Papa live a different lifestyle but you shouldn't be talking to adults about it. Especially not just because you might hear them talk about it," and Greg and James shot Rob a suspicious, slightly disgusted glare; just because your girlfriend of four months is a bigot, that means that she can put ideas into the minds of the kids that we legally have guardianship for since you signed over legal guardianship recently instead of when you pass away?
"I'd argue that it is our business, does she not know?" James queried starting to smile, studying Rob's expression, "she doesn't, does she? Can't I ask? Just to get her opinion, see if she's… compatible with our family,"
"Let's all just give Church a go tomorrow, I know you and Greg aren't really religious… but it's all about love and acceptance," Rob suggested.
"The people in the Middle East being thrown off of skyscrapers would beg to differ," Greg added nonchalantly.
"Guys, come on, Amy's not like that, I'm sure. You just need to give her a chance," Rob dropped his voice to a whisper so that Amy shouldn't be able to hear again, "please you guys, this is the first time I've felt truly happy since we lost Josie. Just give it a chance, they won't be like you think. Amy is a lovely woman, I'm sure that the Church congregation will be just as lovely. Please, just for me?"
"Fine," Greg grumbled, "but no Sunday school for the kids. You know my policy on strangers being around my kids without me knowing them or being there,"
"Okay, fine," Rob answered.
"James, you mentioned that you're engaged, does your fiancée not care that you're here instead of with her?" Amy asked and Greg looked over to James with his mouth hanging open as they shared a thought; he really hasn't told her about us! We can surely get a bit of fun out of that!
"My fiancée knows where I am," James flashed up a smile, "we're saving ourselves for marriage, you see?" as Greg covered his mouth with the back of his hand and snickered, James smiling innocently as he snuck a hand under the table out of sight of everyone and gently rubbed Greg's crotch, whose eyes went wide.
"Look at the two of you, acting like a pair of mean girls," Rob shook his head, rolling his eyes, "a couple of old biddies you two are,"
"Oh, my phone is ringing, I better take it, it must be my fiancée calling," James faked a phone call, giving a pointed look towards Greg, who excused himself to the bathroom soon after, locking the door behind him. James grabbed him and pulled down Greg's trousers and underwear, dropping to his knees and wrapping his mouth expertly around Greg's giant cock, dropping the back of his tongue to allow further access down his throat, while one hand wrapped around his own cock, as he began exciting himself, and the other around behind Greg as he slipped a couple of fingers up his ass and massaged his g-spot as Greg gasped in pleasure and ran his fingers through James' hair knotting his fist through at the back of his head, supporting his head and setting the pace. James brought Greg to completion, swallowing his cum as he looked up with big brown eyes, "am I a good Christian?" he smiled cheekily, "praying on my knees like this?" while Greg nodded in his euphoric state.
James stood up, his hand still on his hard cock before lifting Greg up onto the bathroom countertop. Greg leant back onto his hands while James fucked him as he leant forward and kissed Greg, pounding his ass. After about 15 minutes, James had finished and pulled out, looking to his fiancée, "you are the love of my life," James whispered, running his thumb down Greg's panting face, who smiled back up at him, "I can't wait to marry you,"
"Not long to go now," Greg smiled back, as James helped him down off the counter as to not jar his leg upon jumping down, "fourth time's the charm, right?"
"No one has ever held a candle to you," James responded, pulling up his jeans and redoing his belt as Greg did the same, leaning forward to kiss him again, "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you,"
"Me too," Greg smiled back, "we better head downstairs, we've been gone for five…" he checked his watch, "thirty five minutes! Crap!"
The two of them headed downstairs awkwardly, "nice of you to rejoin us, boys," Rob stated, glaring suspiciously between them, "everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything's fine," Greg answered, then gently held his stomach, "just a bit of stomach trouble is all,"
"Right, and what were you doing, James?" Rob asked.
"Folding the laundry?" James answered with a rising inflection in his voice, to which Greg just looked over at him as though to say 'seriously? That's the best you can do?'
"So not a phone call then?" Rob asked, and the colour drained from James' face, as he shook his head, too afraid to speak as if he would blow his own cover if he were to do so.
"Rob, who are these guys?" Amy asked with a frown, "I get that that one is your nephew and has custody of your grandchildren, for some reason… but who the hell is that one?"
"That's James," Rob established simply, switching on the TV and settling down.
"Tell her," Greg growled in Rob's ear, who swatted him away.
"Go away, get your kids ready for bed and put them to sleep, both of you, shoo,"
"You're only delaying the inevitable, Rob, come on kids, let's go," Greg whispered in his ear before he called the kids away and started heading upstairs as Rob stared blankly forward at the television set.
The following morning involved Greg and James being disturbed by pounding on the basement door, "go away! It's Sunday! It's your day with the kids, Rob! One day a fortnight! And this one day a fortnight off, we're spending it in bed! Leave us alone!" James yelled.
"Get your asses upstairs! Don't make me get the key and come down there and drag you two idiots out! You promised, remember!" Rob yelled back through the door.
"You really don't want to do that right now," James warned, "we're not decent!"
"We're…we're tired, Rob. We… we didn't get much… sleep last night," Greg added.
"My house, my rules! This is still my house! Five minutes, boys! You've got five minutes to get up and dressed!" Rob yelled through the door, "I've set an alarm on my phone, so wrap it up!"
"Seven minutes, not bad boys, not bad, now let's go," Rob stated as they walked out from the basement door, "Greg… you can't wear a shirt like that to Church, for fuck's sake. Go downstairs and change,"
"What's satanic about Black Sabbath? We already had to cut our morning workout short," Greg questioned, looking down at his Black Sabbath band shirt with a defiant smirk on his face, "this is my silent protest that I don't want to be there. Unless you'd prefer a… less silent protest?"
"You are not having sex in a church," Rob hissed.
"Hey, hey, we're respectable men, no one is suggesting having sex in a church… a bit of French kissing wouldn't go astray though, surely?" Greg smirked, and there was a car horn outside.
"Just go… I can't believe that you're being so disrespectful to me… I'm just trying to find some happiness after Josie died, Amy hasn't given either of you any reason to be so cruel towards her. She's not a homophobe, I'm sure," Rob walked out, herding the family outside, he climbed into the front seat of Amy's Honda Civic and looked over to see James helping Charlie get in the Chevy. "Hey," he smiled at her, running fingers through her blonde hair, "you look nice. Sorry we were running late, it can be a bit like herding cats to get everyone out of the door at a certain time,"
"Don't worry about it," Amy responded, "long hair Jewish guy, he's still here? Does he live here, Rob?" she nodded towards James.
"He and his fiancée had a fight," Rob lied, "so he spent the night on the couch," to which Amy just nodded slightly suspiciously and reversed out, with the dark truck following her.
"This place stinks. It smells like old people houses," Tyson exclaimed loudly as he shoved his fingers up his nose when he walked into the church, until he had to loudly gasp for air.
"Sit down," Greg instructed, before looking over at Amy's horrified face and shrugged, "he's six, and he's a Gallagher. You gotta pick your battles with this family," as he winked, and sat between James and Charlie.
"Your nephew is very rude," Amy whispered back, "absolutely spoilt, and he's going to ruin those children. Maybe his father should've taken the belt to him once in a while and made him a bit more respectful," she saw the long-haired guy turn around slowly towards her and extend his middle finger at her.
"Fuck you, bitch," James muttered now facing Amy, "you don't know anything about anything. Fuck you, you stupid, dog faced, whore cu-," to which Greg grabbed him and spun him around, reminding him that Charlie will probably end up repeating any words she hears at preschool, and to try and intervene before James split entirely and a puddle of a mess became a raging sea.
Amy looked at Rob in horror, and he had to kind of shrug, "he's not wrong about you not being aware of things that have happened, or how my brother-in-law treated Greg, and that it's not any of your business. But you're completely wrong in your assessment, Amy, this is my family. I love you, but they will always come first,"
After the church service, they filed out back into the parking lot, "you don't want to stay for coffee and cake?" Amy asked.
"Let's go get some coffee and cake somewhere else," Rob suggested, seeing this entire situation unravelling before his eyes. While they were sitting down, Tyson was the first to spot Phil and Ryan walking with their daughter, Gracie through the mall just outside of the coffee shop.
"Gracie!" Tyson yelled, getting up, running over to his friend and hugging her, and Phil and Ryan walked over.
"Greg, Jimmy, how is everything going?" Ryan smiled as he approached them, "how are you going with the planning?"
"It's absolutely exhaustive. There's only about two months left to go, and it seems that everyday we're realising that there is more and more to plan than we'd first realised… and everything needs to be planned in advance unless we want it done half assed. If I knew it would have been this impossible, we would've just eloped," James shook his head, "we haven't even figured out a honeymoon destination, or if we'll even really have one,"
"Maybe you'll be better prepared if you actually spent some time with your fiancée instead of spending 24/7 with the Gallaghers every night," Amy muttered, still internally fuming at Jimmy's behaviour towards her in church that morning.
"You think sitting a metre away from his fiancée is being too far away from him?" Phil frowned and Amy looked around, puzzled and completely confused. Rob sighed, and Greg then pulled James to him and kissed him, and then shooting a murderous look at Amy.
"You know what that say about assuming, Amy. It makes an ass out of you and me," Greg shrugged, going back to eating his cake, "as of the 29th of November, there will be two Dr. Gallaghers in the house,"
"You're both changing your names to Gallagher?" Phil queried.
Greg nodded, "we've talked about it a lot, I don't want to be a House anymore, too much stuff tied to it, and James isn't particularly keen on Wilson either, and now that we're the legal guardians of the kids, figured we might as well have the same last name as them. Make things a lot easier,"
"That makes a lot of sense, I can understand why neither you or James want any association with the people who raised you, even if its just through a surname… If you guys are free, we're about to take Gracie to the movies; do you want to tag along?" Ryan asked.
"Yep. Absolutely, let's go Greg," James jumped up and Greg took Charlie's hand and led her away after them. "What movie are we watching?" James asked.
"I don't know, some animated kid's movie that Gracie wanted to see. It seems to be a bit boring, but most kid's movies are," Phil shrugged.
"How could you not tell me that they're gay?" Amy hissed.
"It wasn't my news to tell," Rob shrugged, "as far as I'm concerned, they're both consenting adults, what they do in the privacy of their own bedroom is really nobody's business but theirs. They are both amazing father figures… or fathers really at this point, to Tyson and Charlie, and that's my main concern,"
"Aren't you worried about them going to hell someday?" Amy whispered back.
Rob shook his head, "no, I'm not. And if there's a God who wants to punish my nephew and his partner for being gay, but allow all these bad things to happen, and let people who do awful things but technically might pray every night into a heaven while torturing James and Greg for eternity when they've done nothing wrong, that's not a God that I want on my side,"
"Alright… well it sounds like we might be at a bit of an impasse," Amy mumbled.
Rob rolled his eyes, "seriously? You're going to dump me for being a good uncle just because my nephew just so happens to be gay? They didn't choose to be gay anymore than you or I chose to be straight or white. You've got no idea what those boys have been through in their lives. You don't even know them at all,"
"It goes against the teachings of my Church, and it goes against my beliefs. Maybe if they'd had the fear of God put into them as children then they wouldn't have grown up to become such… degenerates. They're rude, obnoxious, spiteful, and the way that James has spoken to me is borderline sadistic. Not to mention that you lied to me about why he was still in your house this morning!" Amy argued back.
"Amy," Rob's voice began to shake slightly, "like I said you have no fucking clue what James and Greg have been through and experienced in their lives or what has happened to them. Sure, they can be a… bit rough around the edges and defensive, but they have good right to be. James was well within his rights for getting angry at you earlier over what you said to Greg, he is his fiancée. His life partner. James is the only person who Greg has consistently had in his life over the last twenty years! You have no idea what they've endured both apart as children, and together as adults. What they've been through in their lives. This is my family you're talking about here. You need to leave them the hell alone!"
"It's me or them, Rob. Without getting into the fact that they're gay which is an issue in itself; they are rude, nasty, offensive and every second word that comes out of their mouths is cursing; including in front of the children! You have to pick, them or me, Rob," Amy stated her ultimation.
"Easy, them. 100 percent them. No doubt in my mind. Here's fifty dollars, that'll cover our part of the bill and tip, bye Amy. Have the life you deserve," Rob stood up and walked away towards the cinema to see if he could catch up while Amy watched dumbfounded and shocked as he walked away.