Ian appeared in the entrance of his building, with my sister beside him. Damon and his father both paused their fight, whirling their heads around as the sound of his voice. Damon let out a shocked, pained noise.

"Ian, go back inside," Damon ordered. He flicked his gaze between his brother and his father. Ian hadn't noticed who Damon was fighting with yet.

"First tell me why you're having an impromptu boxing match in front of my building, and then I might," his brother said.

"Ian, please," Damon pleaded.

"What the hell is so—" Ian cut himself off abruptly as his gaze followed Damon's. He saw his father. His eyes widened. He let out a strangled noise and stepped back. Hope laid a hand on his shoulder with a concerned expression. She held her cell phone in one hand.

"Fuck," Damon swore under his breath. "Ian, get back inside."

Ian ignored him "Dad…?" he asked, expression half-confused, half-pained.

His father went silent, a scowl on his face.

"What are you doing here?" Ian's face was white, as if all the blood had drained out of him.

Gareth wiped a streaked of blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "Just needed a little favor from your brother, that's all."

"And that's why you're beating each other up?" Ian's wide eyes narrowed, dubious. He turned to his brother. "Why didn't you tell me Dad was back?"

"You should go back inside," Damon said instead of answering. "Let me handle Dad. You don't need to deal with all this."

"All this?" Ian began to look incensed. "What exactly is all this?"

Neither of them said anything. Gareth had just lost his leverage. Damon had just been confronted about his lies.

"Start talking," Ian demanded. "Now."

"Your father's been blackmailing Damon," I spoke up, since Damon and Gareth were clearly not going to answer. "He's been doing it for years. Extorting money. He's been threatening to go to you if Damon didn't do what he asked."

Ian's expression twisted into disbelief. "Are you serious?"

I nodded. I looked to my sister. She had take Ian's hand in hers, squeezing it tight.

"What the fuck, Damon?" Ian blurted. "What— Shit—" Ian ran a frustrated hand through his hair, struggling to find the right words. "What the hell were you thinking?" he finally asked.

"You didn't need to know," Damon insisted. "The last time Dad showed up, you flipped out." Damon looked at his brother with wounded eyes.

"That was years ago," Ian said. "Things were different, then."

"I didn't want to see you lose all the progress you've made," Damon said.

I looked to Hope, wanting an explanation. She met my eyes and shook her head no with a slight movement. I supposed whatever Ian's deal was, it wasn't for the world to know.

"I'm not a kid anymore," Ian said. "You don't need to protect me from everything."

"Not everything," Damon insisted. "Just this."

Out the corner of my eye, I saw Gareth trying to slink off.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest. "You don't get to run away after causing all this drama."

Gareth scowled at me.

"Have you really been blackmailing Damon for years?" Ian asked him.

He flicked his eyes between his two sons. "I was simply collecting what's owed to me."

"We don't owe you shit," Ian said flatly. "So you really have been extorting him for money."

"So what if I have?" Gareth said with a snort. "I'm your father."

"You think that means we owe you something? Go fuck yourself," Ian spat.

"You better learn some respect, boy," Gareth said with a warning tone.

"Or what?" Ian challenged, his eyes burning with fury.

Damon looked between his brother and his father, expression both confused and amazed. Damon really had expected Ian to fall apart if he saw his father again. But Ian was holding his own.

"Or I'll call my buddies down at the station and have you hauled off to jail," their father answered.

Ian let out a derisive laugh. "Get the fuck out of my sight."

A slow grin spread across Damon's face as he watched his brother confronting their dad. A glow of pride and delight shone from his eyes.

"I said get the fuck out," Ian repeated. "You have ten seconds."

"Ungrateful little—"

"Five seconds."

Gareth took a moment to glare at each of us in turn. He opened his mouth as if to say something else, to get the last word in. Instead, he turned on his heel and stalked off.

"Good fucking riddance," Ian muttered. He shocked his head and turned to Damon. "You asshole, what the fuck were you thinking?"

Damon cringed. "I'm sorry."

"You've been keeping this from me for years," Ian accused.

Damon nodded miserable, not trying to deny it.

Ian let out a sigh and pulled his brother into a hug. "You dumbass." There was both exasperation and affection in his voice. "I can take care of myself."

"I'm your big brother," Damon insisted.

"Stop." Ian smacked his brother in the head. "Don't pull the one minute older thing."

"Oh my god, does he do that, too?" Hope said with a laugh. "I hate it when Faith does it."

The four of us shared a chuckle, the tension breaking.

"I'm sorry." Damon looked his brother straight in the eye, earnest. "I didn't mean to keep this from you for so long. But I thought it would just be the one time and he'd go away, so I didn't think you needed to know. And then he showed up again, promising this was the last time. And then it happened again. And then before I knew it he'd been doing it for years, and every time I didn't tell you, that just made it even harder."

Ian examined his brother, scrutinizing him. He nodded. "I guess I'd be a hypocrite if I stayed mad at you for keeping secrets."

"I really did think it was for the best," Damon said.

"I know. But you need to stop treating me like a kid."

"You'll always be my little brother," Damon said.

"By one fucking minute!" Ian protested, his mouth twisting in annoyance.

Hope nudged me in the shoulder with a grin. It was the exact same conversation we'd had ourselves over the years. It must have been a universal twin thing.

Ian punched his brother in the shoulder. "Thank you for looking out for me."

Damon punched him back. He winced and flexed his fingers. His knuckles were cut up. "I haven't been in a fight like that in a while. I'm rusty."

"It's late," Ian said. "We still need to talk about this, but for now you should go home and let Faith patch you up."

Damon pulled his brother into one last hug. "You know I love you."

Ian returned the hug. "I love you, too." He pulled back with a grin. "Even when you are a fucking idiot."

A sentiment I knew all too well.