"Wow, good on Rob for being so free minded and pointedly accepting," James sighed behind the door.

"Rob is just confrontational. He just likes to argue and to play devil's advocate to anyone who disagrees with him, but yeah, at least he was on 'our side' of the argument this time," Greg muttered, heading off back towards the lounge room.

"Kind of reminds me of someone else I know," James laughed, "is it all a familial thing? A familial personality trait?"

"I don't know, James, you've met the grandkids, what do you think?" Greg chuckled back.

"Yeah… that does make sense," James mumbled, "it's shocking that I ever thought there was only one person like you in the world, when it turns out it is your mother's entire lineage dating back God knows how long,"

"Fascinating, isn't it? It's freezing tonight, do you feel like ordering in some pizza? Maybe my sloppy drunk uncle will be awake by the time it arrives and will have a slice or three, help with his hangover a bit," Greg pulled a takeaway menu off the fridge, "the usual?" he asked, dialling the phone, and James just nodded numbly.

"It doesn't upset you at all? The things that my parents said, about you, about your family?" James asked once Greg hung up the phone.

Greg just shrugged, "not especially, their actions upset me a hell of a lot more. But their words, at least what was targeted towards me, don't upset me. It's just words at the end of the day, Jimmy, like I tell Tyson… it's all just words… and words alone can't hurt you,"

"They can't be around me without making stupid, insensitive, awful comments about me every single fucking time! And then they started targeting Tyson and making really inappropriate comments and questions about him, and about you, that are none of their business, and… and…" James started to break down.

"Hey, come on now, stop that," Greg mumbled, pulling James in close as James started to shake and cry, "it's okay, baby, it's okay, they're gone now, it's all over. I promise you," as he led James to lie down on the couch and curl up next to Greg, "it's okay, baby, tell me all about it,"

The following afternoon; Greg brought James along with Tyson to his teacher's meeting for the long term substitute teacher; who had taken over the class while Tyson's original teacher was on maternity leave. While Tyson played on Greg's phone in the back corner of the classroom, the teacher revealed some concerns about Tyson that she'd recently been having.

"You must be Tyson's dad," she walked up to Greg and shook his hand, "and you would be?" she looked over at James.

"Uh, James Gallagher, sorry, I've not really been to one of these meetings before, it's always just been Greg coming along," James added in.

"Oh, so you two must be brothers, then? Cousins?" the teacher queried.

"Husbands," Greg added in, "and as far as paternity goes, I'm not Tyson's biological father; but I'm, we're, his legal guardians. His mother was my cousin, she has passed away which is how we came to get legal custody. I understand the confusion; however, the Gallagher look is a strong one," he chuckled slightly at the end; and the teacher noticed this man's piercing blue eyes staring through her like lasers, as well as the many shared features between Greg and Tyson, as she nodded slightly and then continued.

"Okay, all right. Let's get this started then," the teacher added, "Tyson is a very spirited boy, and he has a lot of energy and creativity, but that does make it difficult sometimes for him to follow directions and stay on task, and not to distract himself or others. He is developing his social skills, but he has a hard time waiting his turn, and to understand what behaviours are and aren't appropriate in the classroom; he is also sometimes mean to his friends in the class and on the playground. Tyson is an extremely bright boy, and maybe he would benefit from some extracurricular activities outside of school to challenge him, as well as working more closely with myself and other staff to keep updated more often on how things are going with Tyson,"

"He does do a lot of extracurricular activities; for example, I teach him music, the piano and guitar, and James is teaching him French, although he doesn't really seem to have much of a knack for that. Foreign languages don't really seem to be his thing, to be honest," Greg answered with a light shrug.

"While that's fantastic that you're taking such an active role in Tyson's education outside of school; maybe he needs to do things that are a bit more active," the teacher suggested.

"We've got a dog. A Rottweiler, so he can keep up with Tyson's rough housing," James piped up, "Tyson spends a lot of time playing with the dog. It's good, physical energy for him,"

"And that's great," the teacher cut in, "but that isn't quite what I had in mind. I had something more like the scouts or some kind of camp in mind for Tyson," to which Greg immediately shook his head in response to.

"We're not really the kind of 'send our kids away on camps' kind of parents," James added, "it's just our personal choice,"

"See, Tyson has been bringing up South Dakota a lot lately, and while I'm not sure why, I did find out recently that there's a camp for kids aged seven and up lately that's coming up," the teacher added with a frown, watching both men exchange a look; "but neither of you seem particularly keen,"

"Tyson!" James growled over his shoulder, "what have we told you about-" when Greg put a pausing hand on James' shoulder.

"I have biological family there. That's why we're here in Michigan. Tyson has been bringing it up a lot at home too since he found that out. Tyson wants to go but we can't take him there," Greg added.

"Oh, well, if you have some family there, then that could work out well then. If they're willing to take him for a while," the teacher added cheerfully, and Greg's face dropped ever so slightly.

"Not happening. This meeting is over, come on Greg. Tyson, let's go!" James stood up, pulling on his coat, "we're done here. Are you okay?" he bent down and whispered the last part in Greg's ear who just nodded as he went to stand up, shooting the teacher a small, apologetic smile before following James out.

"The fucking nerve of that teacher," James snapped on the other side of the door, slamming it behind him, "now you're not going to be able to sleep for the next two weeks!" he snarled as they walked down the hallway.

"It's not her fault, Jimmy. It's hardly going to be the first thing that people think about when they have just heard I have biological family there. To most people, the mention of biological family is not going to illicit such images or ideas about histories. I'm used to it," Greg sighed, "I'm just tired, I think I need a rest when we get home,"

"It affects me too, and I'm sick of it," James grumbled, pulling out the car keys and climbing into the driver's seat.

"What do you mean 'it affects me too'? I'm the one going through the nightmares! I'm the one reliving all that fucked up shit! I'm the one who is being forced to imagine what if it happened to Charlie or Tyson, or even you! I'm the one who had to live through all that shit!" Greg snapped, louder than he had anticipated, "I was the one who was hurt, James! Hundreds or thousands of times over! Not you, me!"

"That's not what I meant Greg," James mumbled, starting up the car, "you buckled in, Ty?" turning his head to check his son, as Tyson nodded, before James turned back towards Greg. "Greg, of course I don't know what it was like, I can never know what it was like. And I'm so amazed and thankful that you ended the cycle so our kids can have a normal life. What I meant, Greg, and I know I went about saying it the wrong way; is that it does affect my sleep, and not only the night terrors, but the stress about you and how you're doing. You're right, however, I shouldn't have made it about myself. I'm sorry,"

"Uh huh," Greg grumbled, lighting up a cigarette and cracking open the window to blow the smoke out of, "look James, I'm not mad at you, I'm just… mad at everything else instead. Just give me a little bit of time and I'll cool down. Don't stress, nothing has changed, okay? I just need a chance to recuperate my emotions. I am angry, but I am not angry at you; I'm angry at those people, the you know who's, especially now I have kids myself I can see how truly fucked up it all was. I am sad, sad that I didn't get the childhood that Charlie and Tyson have, and maybe I'm a little bit envious and jealous at the same time too. I'm mourning my childhood I never had, and I probably will forever. In saying that, I'm going to keep doing my darnedest to make sure that Charlie and Tyson have the childhood that little Greg would've killed to have. To be the father he could only dream of,"

Tyson sat in the backseat, as it seemed that both of them had forgotten that he was back there, "daddy, how were you hurt? Who hurt you? Thousands of times? That's a lot. Why did Charlie and I make it seem even more fucked up? Why are you jealous of me?"

"Shut up, Tyson," Greg snapped sounding panicked and Tyson flinched, "just fucking… just don't talk, okay? It's none of your damn business, got it?" and as soon as they pulled up in the driveway, Greg immediately climbed out, slammed the door behind him and stalked furiously towards the house, letting himself in.

"Papa, what's going on?" Tyson asked nervously, "why is daddy so angry at me?"

"He's not angry at you, Tyson, he's just… angry at the world right now. The world has not been kind or good to your daddy. He's hurting, and he's… he's sad, Tyson. Your daddy wasn't lucky like you and Charlie to have a family who loved him the way that a child should be loved. He's only experienced the worst side of people, let's go inside, okay?" James tried to placate Tyson, who was quietly crying, "he isn't angry with you, Ty, he's angry about other things. He loves you, Tyson… he's just… he's sad, that's all. Come on, out you get," they walked inside, and James upon shutting and locking the door, called out; "Greg! Come on, let's talk about this. I'm sorry, okay?" as he walked away; leaving Tyson stood in the front of the house.

"You alright there, Tyson?" Rob approached him, "what's happening?"

"I… I don't know… Granddad, do you know what happened to daddy when he was a little boy?" Tyson asked, looking up at Rob.

Rob's eyes widened in shock, and he took a little step back, "I… I do, but Tyson that's not really anything that you should know about… it's adult things, adult issues, it's nothing for you to worry about, okay?"

Tyson frowned, "he said that he feels jealous about me and Charlie, that he's the one who has to have the nightmares about those things happening to me and Charlie, or to Papa, and that he's angry 'at those people'. Who are 'those people', Granddad? And why is daddy angry at them? He said that he was hurt thousands of times… and that is a lot. How did they hurt him, Granddad? What did they do to daddy?"

Rob sighed, "Tyson, it's not my story to tell, it's daddy's. And he will tell you when he's ready. But I'll go and have a talk to him,"

The next morning, a Saturday, Tyson was sitting watching TV when Greg came and sat down next to him. "Tyson, I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday, okay? You shouldn't have heard anything about that, it's not your fault I was angry, okay? It's not even Papa's fault that I was angry, and I shouldn't have told you to shut up; that was rude and mean of me. It's just that… daddy has some demons that I buried very deep, but I guess they're still breathing. I was just sad because I didn't have the life you and Charlie have, and I didn't experience love the way that a child should. But that's nobody here's fault. Do you… have any questions?"

"Yeah," Tyson nodded, and Greg nodded grimly.

"What happened to you, daddy?"