The radio crackled into life, and the adults all stopped and looked at it, almost as though they were expecting it to show images like a television, as it ultimately repeated the same message it had every half hour or so; to stay inside, that conditions were deteriorating, that more areas were losing power, to stay off the roads and dial 911 if you require life saving assistance, to wait until new information comes about.
"Where are we going to sleep?" Lisa asked, and Greg pointed to the giant bed.
"Everyone will sleep in there. That way we don't need to worry about spreading out blankets, people sleeping in other parts of the house, and becoming too cold. Everyone will keep each other warm," Greg pointed out, "if anyone wants to go and spend time upstairs alone or with anyone else, then they can. But otherwise, everyone will rest in there,"
"I agree that the bed is huge; but are the nine of us and Shady all going to fit in there?" Rob frowned.
"Probably not comfortably, no. But it's all we've got. It's an Alaskan King-sized bed. It's literally about as big as beds get," James added. "If anyone wants to sleep upstairs, they can, but personally I'm not keen on it. It's going to be fucking freezing up there,"
"Last time the three of us shared a bed, Greg kicked me like a horse all night, and you were essentially rolling yourself into a cocoon all night with the blankets; that Greg would then yank back," Lisa frowned at James.
"Wait, you have had a threesome with Lisa? While you guys were together?" Phil asked in horror.
"No! Never! When did the three of us share a bed?" James frowned.
"In South Dakota. The night that you OD'd. No threesomes or anything sexual happened that night. At all, or ever for that matter. That house doesn't exactly elicit feelings of horniness for me," Greg frowned.
"I mean, there was that one quickie," James added, "but that was just you and me,"
"Yeah, the same 'quickie' where my father attempted to beat us both to death; including knocking out several of your teeth and dislocating your shoulder and strangling me until I was lapsing in and out of consciousness. I… don't like talking about that house, can we talk about something else?" Greg muttered.
"I'm going to go upstairs and see if I can find a few things," Rob mumbled, getting up from his seat, and heading up the stairs.
"Your uncle has lost a lot of weight, he's like, skinny now," Ryan added, "anyone feel like another game of euchre?"
Nobody noticed when Lisa headed upstairs either. About twenty minutes later, Greg leant over and whispered something in James' ear who grinned wickedly and nodded; "uh, guys, we're going to head upstairs for a little while… keep an eye on the kids, I don't know… make sure that they stay asleep, I guess?" Greg shrugged, pushing his chair back, to which James followed.
"Okay, the naughty newlyweds. Off you go," Phil laughed, "I don't think those kids are stirring any time soon. The storm isn't seeming so bad yet, certainly not loud enough to wake them up," as Greg and James followed each other upstairs.
"Where?" Greg hissed once they were upstairs.
"I don't know… I'm not having sex in the kids' rooms though, that's just… gross on too many levels," James whispered, and Greg nodded; "Rob's room!" James whispered, and they crept over towards the door; not bothering to knock as he silently opened it.
No one was sure who screamed first. Greg and James stood, feeling paralysed in horror and shock in the open doorway. There was Lisa facing them, completely naked in a reverse cowgirl position on top of Rob, everything looked incredibly passionate and… loving. It was as though time stood still and hung in the air for a few seconds, before James with his jaw hanging open, reached forward, grabbed the door handle and slowly pulled the door closed.
"Okay, what the fuck was that?" Greg whispered as they walked back down the hallway.
"I don't know… but I'm suddenly not in the mood anymore, are you?" James mumbled, and Greg shook his head numbly as they headed back downstairs to the basement.
"That was a real quickie," Ryan teased, "discovered that one of you had shrunk so much in the cold you discovered you're now inverted?"
"Only one that'll be happening to is you, Chinaman," Greg grumbled, which silenced Ryan and rather shocked him a little as he pulled a face and rolled his eyes, while Greg grabbed a beer and cracked it open, and James just opened up a bottle of bourbon and started drinking from that.
"I'm Filipino, Greg, you know that," Ryan rolled his eyes again, and Greg just shrugged and told him that he didn't witness what he just did or he wouldn't care if Greg had just called him a 1940s Japanese soldier in that situation.
"What happened up there? Did you see a Sasquatch or something?" Phil half joked.
"I wish," James pulled his mouth away from the bourbon, shaking his head with his eyes squeezed shut.
Within thirty minutes, James had gotten so wasted that it took the three of them to carry him into bed and lay him down under the blankets. Phil bent down afterwards and picked up Gracie's toy cat and placed it under her arm, as Ryan climbed over James' unconscious body and climbed in under the several duvets closest to where the three kids were sleeping towards the edge of the bed, followed by Phil next to him.
"Where are Rob and Lisa?" Ryan asked, and Greg sighed and shrugged saying that they were asleep upstairs. After saying that, Greg grabbed a trashcan and placed it by James' bedside with a sigh, switched off the light, climbed in next to James and dozed off with Shady at the foot of the bed.
"What the fuck was that last night?" Greg woke up to hear James half slurring, half yelling at Rob and Lisa the following morning, "hey? What the actual fuck was that last night?"
"You were the ones sneaking into Rob's room, what were you two planning to do in there?" Lisa pointed out her arms crossed.
"No! You do not get to judge what Greg and I do! You are not our fucking mother! You are our fucking ex-boss, that's all you are!" James screamed, and Greg dragged himself out of bed, glancing up at the clock to see that it was already midday.
"Shut the fuck up! All of you. People are trying to fucking sleep in here!" Greg growled, popping a Vicodin from the pill bottle at the top of the wardrobe; "let's just talk like civilised fucking adults here. What the fuck was going on last night between the two of you?"
"You and James were sneaking into Rob's bedroom without permission to have sex on his bed, that's what happened," Lisa turned to look at Greg.
"Right, let's get a few fucking things straight here," Greg began, watching carefully as James started to pace; "firstly, we need to keep this conversation fucking civil. Lisa, you don't really have any fucking input here at all and your attempt at any fucking hypocritical input as you're doing it now is only going to cause James more stress and anger. Secondly, James and I have been together for years, and we are married. So yeah, we have sex, and we couldn't think of a fucking more appropriate place than Rob's bedroom; what we weren't expecting was to see you facing us, completely naked and fucking my uncle, bouncing up and down on him!"
"Wait, what?" Ryan asked from the bed, "that's what happened last night? Gross. I'd have rather seen a Sasquatch too,"
"Your uncle and I have been dating for a while now," Lisa answered, "we started dating online; that's part of the reason I was in Detroit,"
"So, you were in Detroit under false pretences in order to get to us? Again! Fuck me!" James shouted, and Greg put a calming hand on his shoulder.
"You couldn't get the nephew, so you went after the fucking uncle instead?" Ryan frowned from the bed.
"Oh, shut the fuck up, Ryan," Rob rolled his eyes, "you have nothing to do with this,"
Greg took an infuriated step forward towards Lisa until he was essentially standing over her, glaring down at her, his blue eyes looking as cold as ice; "you told me that you were here visiting your dying sister, you told me that every single hotel in the city was booked out, you told me that you just happened to be trapped, you came to my front door wet and crying that you were about to freeze to death in the blizzard, you told me you were desperate for somewhere safe to stay and had absolutely nowhere else. You manipulated me, Lisa! Again! You knew that your presence here was only going to really upset my husband given your performance last time! Instead, you're just here to fuck my uncle! And you have the fucking gall to seemingly question why we're mad? You filthy, disgusting, slutty whore!"
"It's not my fault that your husband is crazy, controlling and dangerously paranoid with out of this world anger issues! It's not my fault you married a psychotic, violent and immature fucking psychopath!" Lisa screamed, and with that, Greg could no longer contain his rage he felt bubbling up inside himself and punched Lisa in the face, sending her staggering to the floor, the fact that Rob grabbed her before she dropped was the only reason she didn't crack her head open on the cement floor under the carpet in the basement. Greg breathed deeply and heavily, staring down at his fist; I just hit a woman. Never in my life have I hit a woman before, maybe dad was right. Maybe I truly am no better than him, at least in the context of hitting women. I mean I have never and would never hurt kids in any way, especially like he did- I'm nothing like him in that regard, I know. More in the fact that he used to hit mom all the time, and how much I hated him for it but here I am now… I can't believe I just hit a woman! Let alone a woman I thought of as my friend for so, so long!
Once Lisa was steadied, Rob launched himself without a word at his nephew and fists started flying; Rob grabbed Greg by the collar and smashed him into a bookcase, James leapt in and smashed Rob over the head with an empty beer bottle from the night before and pulled him away from Greg while Rob was stunned. James stood between them; with his almost black eyes staring straight ahead, not breaking eye contact as James stood slightly hunched forward, his breathing deep and heaving, "get away from my husband," he snarled, taking a step forward, Rob returned James' glare with just as much fury and hatred.
"You fucking faggot queers, go on James, do your best! Prove that you're not violent and crazy by beating up the man who houses you and your queer husband and your kids! Come at me, Jimmy! Come on! Give it your best! Show your children what a big strong man you are by beating up their grandfather!" Rob yelled.
"Right, this is more enough. This has gone beyond too far," Phil climbed out of bed, and he and Greg restrained James back, each hooking him under the armpits and Greg wrapped another arm around James' waist.
"This isn't worth it, Jimmy, this isn't worth it. The kids are watching," Greg whispered trying to calm him down as James tried to wriggle out from the grasp. Greg turned and looked at Rob; "you've been drinking, I can smell it on you, hear it in your voice and know how it affects your behaviour and attitudes towards James and I, all of that is shining like a beacon right now; it especially shows every time in your attitudes regarding our marriage and relationship. Doesn't any alcohol consumption at all violate your parole and will get you sent back to prison? You told Lisa about that, didn't you?" and when Lisa's expression showed she had no idea, Greg went on; "oh, Lisa, so you don't know! It was quite the list; property damage, grand theft auto, aggravated domestic assault and battery, solicitation of a prostitute, threatening a police officer, a DUI… it wasn't that long ago either, surely in the time that you two were 'internet dating'. Now, either the two of you head upstairs and we don't see you until we decide to see you again, or we ring the police, they breathalyse Rob; and he goes off to jail,"
"You call the police, and I'll have you and your fucking husband arrested for assault!" Rob screamed back.
"I didn't see anything," Phil responded, and Ryan repeated, before Phil added, "and neither did the kids,"
With that, Rob turned and stalked back up the stairs, with Lisa trailing behind him; "fucking bitch," Greg growled, "come on, James, let's have a cone and calm down," Greg sat down at the card table, pulled out one of the jelly jars, the scissors, and a bowl and began cutting. James walked over and sat down next to him.
James looked over at the kids, who were all sitting in the bed, staring with wide eyes and watching, before he put his head in his hands and began to sob, "I can't believe that I split on Rob in front of the kids… I always promised I'd never split in front of the kids…"
Phil placed his hand on James' shoulder and gave him a gentle squeeze; "you didn't split, James. Your husband was being physically attacked, you jumped in to save him. It wasn't an attack, it was defence. You're the significantly physically stronger one out of you and Greg; it's your responsibility to protect him from a physical attack, the same way it'd be my responsibility to protect Ryan if he got attacked; because he's physically weaker than I am. You'd protect the kids if someone attacked them, wouldn't you?"
"Not to mention that they goaded you into it, James. Rob had been drinking in secret last night, and we both know how much of a monster he is when he's been drinking. Rob needs to go to rehab, or even jail; given that he can't maintain his sobriety through AA and barely goes to meetings. I have half a mind to call the cops…" Greg growled, "Rob knows how to set you off, James, and he deliberately chose to do it. He's a Gallagher, remember? He's wanting a reaction just for fun," James glanced over to his husband as he inhaled, "you'll start to wind down soon and feel a lot better, baby," Greg promised, leaning over to give James a little kiss after he'd inhaled, "and if you have to smoke so much weed that you smell like a skunk's ass for the next week, then we'll just have to deal with that," Greg smiled, and James broke into a smile and chuckled.
"Dad, what is a 'faggot queer'?" Gracie asked, and Phil winced.
"They are really nasty words to call someone. You know how because you're black; your dads have taught you to not let anyone ever call you the 'N' word?" Greg explained, and Gracie nodded, "well, calling someone a 'faggot' or a 'queer' is kind of the same in that it is a horrible thing to say and is tied into history and being treated badly by other people; you'll learn more about it, and Black history too, when you get older. Don't worry about it for now, Grace, just make sure you never let anyone call you the 'N' word. 'Faggot' and 'queer' are bad words for us. My uncle Rob was bullying us; they are words of hate for people who are gay; like your dads; or Uncle Jimmy and me. That's why Jimmy and I were so angry," Greg explained, and Gracie nodded before asking Tyson if he and Charlie wanted to play house; that he'd be the daddy, she'd be the mommy, Charlie would be their kid and Shady would be their dog. Tyson readily agreed and they began playing without any more questions
"Funny how an eight-year-old is more accepting and less bigoted than a man who is nearly 60 years old," James growled, "look at our kids; one white, one black, and one who is half Indian all playing together nicely because they don't see each other's differences. Not that they always play nice by any means, but you get where I'm coming from,"
"Just proves that the four of us are doing everything right," Greg responded, as Charlie stopped playing for a moment, and while carrying her frog she slept with, she walked over to James, climbing up onto his lap and hugging him, wiping tears off of his cheek with her little fingers.
"Don't cry Papa, it's okay, I love you. Here is Froggy to make you feel better," she whispered, and wrapped her little arms around James, placing the stuffed toy frog in his arms.
"God, now I'm going to cry for an entirely different reason," James laughed, "I love you too, baby girl. I love you so, so much; more than you know," he whispered into her hair, giving her a kiss on top of her head, before Charlie jumped off his lap and ran over to Tyson, Gracie, and Shady, ready to start playing.