"I'm gonna go see Grace today." Taylor announced abruptly, as he stepped into the front room.
   Looking up from Zoë's conversation with which she was having with her teddy bear and one of Jessica's old Barbie dolls, Isaac shook his head. "You've got to give her time, Tay. She needs lots of rest and no emotional outbursts from my brothers or anyone else."
   Zac stepped out from the kitchen entryway and shook his head. "We have to go see her soon, Ike. Just to see for ourselves. For the sake of our own minds."
   Isaac glared sharply at them, but kept his voice level for Zoë's sake. "So for your own selfish needs, you would disrupt Grace's process. For what? To sleep better at night, and make hers worse?"
   His brother's glared back at him. "You know that's not what we want." Taylor murmured succinctly.
   Isaac raised an eyebrow, "do I now?" Kissing the side of his sister's head, he stood up. "Let me tell you what I do know. That two of my brothers are fighting over the same girl. This girl also happens to have been victim to a very serious and disgusting crime."
   He tapped his chin, "now let's see why else I would not want you to go." He snapped his fingers then. "That's right. Grace is being monitored, and if we show up, there's going to be a lot of questions and it will soon leak that you were there."
   When they both moved to protest, Isaac held up his hand. "No, I'm not going to explain to mom and dad and any other interviewer why you were there. I won't stand up for you, I won't defend you, I won't do anything."
   Zac's lips thinned with irritation, "I don't remember asking you for any of that!" He stated darkly, before spinning around and stomping out.
   Taylor crossed his arms in front him and gritted his teeth for a moment. "You're not going to keep either of us from seeing her, you know? This will all happen eventually."
   Isaac nodded once; "I know that. But if you can postpone your little contest for the moment and give Grace some time. Because think about it! She was just raped." He hissed angrily, "do you think she wants to date right about now? Or be around any guy for that matter!"
   They stared each other down for several silent moments, before Taylor stepped back. "Fine. You win, Isaac." Then he smiled, "for now."
   "That's all I need, Tay. Now."
   Though confused by his remark, Taylor accepted it, and left with his mind filled with questions and hopeful solutions.
   Sighing to himself, Isaac went off to find his phone and started dialing the number he remembered long ago. "Yeah, Em? It's Isaac."
   He smiled at her sharp comment then sobered immediately, "Tay and Zac want to see Grace. I don't know how much longer I can put them off, and I'm running out of lies as well!"
   Frowning at her acid reprimand, Isaac felt his heels digging in already. There really was only so much you could take before giving as good as you got. "Well you should have watched out for you friend just a little bit more, and before that, you should have minded you own business. If you did any of those, none of this would be happening now!"
   He regretted the words before they even left his mouth, but he couldn't seem to stop them. Waiting in agony for her remark, for her tongue to rip him to shreds as he deserved he was surprised when she just hung up.
   Switching off his phone as well, Isaac tried to ignore the guilt that ate at him.