These weren't memories Sam liked to relive very often, especially not since he had seen Justin on a similar destructive path, just much more life-threatening. There was little doubt now that some of Justin's tendency to addiction and mental illness was inherited from Mark. "No, he was only diagnosed with cyclothymia around the time Justin nearly drowned at Bondi. If I remember rightly, he had just started medication when Justin attempted. He was dealing with side effects. Things with Gen had fallen apart, Alec wasn't long home from deployment. He noticed the signs. Before that, we knew he had a problem with booze and depression, but we just thought he had a reckless nature. Turns out it was up and down cycles all along, like Jus. Just much milder in presentation. For a couple of years, before Justin came into our lives and before Jamie was born, it was pretty bad. He'd have these benders and write himself off. He'd burn through loads of cash on expensive liquor. Convinced himself he wasn't father material so moved back here to Sydney, the other side of the world to his newborn daughter. I helped him dry up and detox a few times but he kept falling off the wagon. We had to stage a full-on intervention because we all knew he'd regret not being in Jamie's life. Once he met her, it gave him purpose and reason to stay dry. You're not prying, it's definitely part of Justin's genetic makeup. You should know these things. It was about as bad as it could be. When he hits hard liquor like vodka, he gets very angry and combative, so that was never fun when you consider he can be a stubborn bastard when he wants to be. Sparky is confident and highly intelligent but substance is stronger than any of that when it takes hold of you." He took Alexis' hand. "I know you probably don't want to hear this but I'm glad you missed seeing Justin before we got him treated. I think you carry enough guilt over losing him. Being here for him now is all that matters. Shit, so Chance is okay now? Did he only lose one ball? You know how Mark will feel hearing this news then."