We were sitting like that when we heard Teddy's voice.

"I smell coffee. What's going on, mate, you're not a coffee drinker. I might have a little myself, my head's aching fit to fucking split--" He came around the corner and saw us, or saw me, rather, and stopped in his tracks.

He'd obviously just showered, because his hair was still wet, and for just a split second, I thought I saw unadulterated joy flash across his face, but if I did, it was replaced almost immediately by the animosity slash courtesy version of Teddy.

"What are you doing here? And how did you get here?"

"I came because Geth called me, and I got here in a car that he sent for me," I responded evenly, deciding that the straight truth was probably the easiest way to go.

He turned to Gethin.

"I don't remember much about yesterday, but I'm pretty sure the first thing I asked of you was to not contact her," he said curtly.

"Yeah, I know, mate, but once I found out what was going on, I realized that was something I couldn't do, I'm sorry," Geth said reasonably.

"Don't 'I know, mate' me, Geth, it was the one thing I asked, and you fucking didn't do it!" His voice rose with his temper, echoing through the large house, and I flinched on the last word. Geth rubbed my arm comfortingly, a gesture which wasn't lost on Teddy.

I stood and moved from Gethin's lap, returning to where I'd been sitting before.

"There's no need for shouting, is there?" Gethin asked. "Can't we just talk? Let's get you some coffee, and maybe something stronger for your headache, and we can talk, yeah?"

He stood and poured Teddy a cup of coffee and got him some aspirin from a cupboard. When he approached him, however, I wasn't sure if Teddy was going to accept it or hit it out of his hand; in the end, he accepted both with a very quiet "Thanks," and he downed the aspirin with a mouthful of coffee, grimacing at the taste.

"I don't really see what there is to talk about," he said mutinously.

Gethin gestured at a chair at the table, and Teddy sat, crossing his arms and looking from one to the other of us. Now that we were all together, I had no idea how to broach the subject of how I came to know about Teddy's texts, private texts between him and another person.

"Well, how about if I start?" I said. Both of them looked at me. "It seems to me that you and I haven't been talking much lately," I began, looking at Teddy.

"I told you, when I'm writing, I don't have a lot of time," he said with a sigh. "Look, we've covered this topic already.

"And I don't see why he has to be here for something that should just be between us, anyway," he said, gesturing toward Gethin.

"Look, you're the one who showed up at my house and drank yourself to oblivion, mate," said Geth, again, very reasonably, I thought. "How about if you just think of me as an objective arbitrator, all right?"

"Yeah, objective, that's a laugh," said Teddy.

"What's that mean, then?" Asked Geth, getting his hackles up for the first time.

"You think I haven't noticed how you look at her? How you touch her? There's a word for that, mate, and it isn't objective." Teddy sat back in his chair, taking another drink of his coffee.

Fuck.

"I think you've got me confused with Matthew," Gethin said.

"Nope. Matthew's feelings for her are defined by love, as in romantic. Your feelings, my friend, are a little bit baser in nature. You've been coveting my girlfriend in a physical way; to wit, you've been lusting after her, haven't you?

"I've known you since we were fifteen years old, Geth; I know when you want someone, for fuck's sake," Teddy practically spat in his face. "So don't sit across from me in your kitchen and give me your sanctimonious bullshit about how you haven't been wanting to fuck the woman I love practically since the day you fucking met her, okay?" Again, his words rose in pitch, until the last words practically made the windows rattle. I spilled a little coffee on the table, and rose to get something to clean it.

"Jesus," Gethin said, running his hand through his hair. "Theo, this is going to get us nowhere if we can't keep our tempers. And Tink's sitting right here, what's the point in upsetting her, hmm? I mean, why?"

"No, no, I think this is a good topic to cover, while we're all together," Teddy continued, looking from Geth to me. "I've wondered, but never asked, until now, but while we're all 'talking', why not?" He leaned forward. "So please, tell me, you two, what exactly went on all that time that she was in your room the night of the football match, hmm?"

Oh dear god.

Gethin rubbed his hand over his face and looked around before looking at Teddy. "Are you fucking kidding me?" He asked in a soft voice. "With the train wreck that your life is right now, this is what you want to discuss?" He looked at me, and looked back at Teddy.

"Yeah, I think I have a right to know, frankly," Teddy said, looking back and forth between us.

"Let me get this straight," said Gethin, in a voice that sounded dangerously controlled. "After the way you've treated her for the last three months, ignoring her and treating her like a piece of clothing that you've outgrown but haven't bothered to throw out just yet, you expect me to believe that you care what happened up in my room for a few minutes last September while you were in a fight with her, during which, again, you had treated worse than a piece of shit which had gotten stuck to the heel of your shoe?"

Teddy looked at him in surprise. "Wow, quite articulate, Gethin, I'm impressed."

Gethin banged his hands down on the table, spilling all of our drinks all over the place. "What do you want to hear, Theo? That we fucked each other's brains out?" He shouted across the table. "Fine! We did. It was amazing. She's a beautiful, wonderful girl, and she was a beautiful, wonderful lover. It was gentle, and we felt close, and I held her in my arms and made her come, over and over." He leaned over the table for that last part, and got right up in Teddy's face. "There you go. Happy?"

I leaned forward, putting a hand on Geth's arm. He looked at me, at my tearstained face, as if surprised that I was still there.

Teddy stared at Gethin, his gray eyes wide, a tear rolling down his face. He slowly shook his head. "You better be lying," he said in a near whisper. "I'll kill you, I swear it."

I choked back a sob, covering my mouth and shaking my head. "Please stop, please," I begged.

Gethin looked at me and sighed. He pulled me to his side in a rough hug. "God, I'm so sorry, little one," he said. He looked back at Teddy.

"You, you asshole, she's with you for not even six months, and she's turned into a bruised and battered little bundle of bones. I mean, what the fuck did you do to her? I picked her up, there's nothing to her, she must have lost ten or fifteen pounds! And she's got a bruise on her the size of my fucking hand! I mean, if this is what happens to her when she's with you—"

"No, Geth, no," I interrupted. "That's what happens to me when I'm not with him, don't you see? I couldn't eat, I didn't take care of myself...

"And you need to tell him the truth about what happened in your room..." I looked up at him, squeezing his arm. He looked at me, at the beseeching look in my eyes.

"Nothing happened, man," he said. "Honest, we just talked. Tink was so upset. It took ages just to get her calmed down, to get her to stop crying and tell me what happened. We talked, she decided she wanted to go back and talk to you, I told her I thought it was a good idea, and she did. That's it.

"I'm sorry about the other stuff I said. I just lost my temper. No excuse. I'm just tired, and angry that with all the other shit, you chose to focus on that, I guess." He shrugged.

Teddy's tearful gaze shifted to my eyes, and I realized he was looking to me for corroboration.

"Nothing happened, honestly," I lied. Gethin gave my shoulder a squeeze. "We just talked, like he said. I really didn't know what to do. He mainly just listened to me, and agreed with me when I was finished." I took a shivering breath. "Please believe me. I don't know what I'll do if you don't believe me."

He wiped his eyes, letting out a huge breath. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm being a wanker. I really don't know what's happening to me lately. I'm not myself. I dunno, maybe I'm having some kind of breakdown or something."

I took a deep breath. "Well, look, guys, I think Teddy got something right. Most of this is between him and me. And it's Christmas Eve. Geth, don't you have to get to your parents' house?"

"Yeah, I'm supposed to head over there this afternoon, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging. I mean, you're my family, too, you know?" He smiled at us.

"You need to go, now," I said firmly. "We can handle this on our own. I promise." I looked over at Teddy. He looked uncertain, and he was still wearing his animosity courtesy mask. This wasn't going to be easy, but now that I knew the truth, I had the knowledge to fix it. I had to, somehow.

Gethin looked from one to the other of us, then looked at his watch. "Well, I should get going, then, I suppose. You sure you'll be okay on your own? Won't blow the place up?"

"No, I promise," I said with a confidence I didn't feel. "In fact, we'll be leaving for London shortly ourselves. I didn't make arrangements for the cats." I looked over at Teddy, and he nodded, reluctantly. I let out a sigh of relief, pushing my guilt over lying, right to his face, away. I nodded back, biting my lips. We had to fix this.