"Once Jus is feeling okay enough to realise a DUI driver nearly killed them, shit is going to hit the fan. He won't stay quiet on this publicly, and so he shouldn't. But it'll take time for him to get there. Just like it took time for him to want to talk about his mental illness publicly and why he's still struggling with whether he wants it publicly known he's the survivor of sexual abuse. It's best to just put out the minimum facts and ask for privacy until Jus is ready to make calls on the rest himself. He's always been vastly more protective of Sash's privacy than his own so a lot will probably bear on how Sash holds up." Sam listened to Mark, concerned at what he was saying. "What did it sound like he was hallucinating? We all remember the time he thought Sash was his abuser trying to murder him. Some of it has proven to be past traumas. He could've been conscious in the car with Sash even if he wasn't when the emergency crew arrived at the scene."

He sighed, watching Justin quietly before he replied. "This isn't something that's just going to resolve, Sparky. I love Alexis and I want to make a life with her once all this calms down and we're back in the US. But I also don't want to hurt Justin. At all. I don't want even an iota of thought in his mind that he's going to be replaced. It's already been difficult navigating the whole being his uncle but in a position of his stepfather thing. I know that's not a concern for anyone but it's a difficult situation. Maybe this is just a way of be able to remove any grey area and move on from it. I don't think it's past my time, I just don't think it's a factor in the life I'm choosing with Alexis. It feels like the world is trying to tell me something. I can't shake that feeling but I'm also feeling too wiped out to think much at all. Sometimes, life just means we're not meant to have what we want."