First of all, thanks for the dedicated! :) Second, oh god, I love this! I makes so much sense. I admit, I was sceptic when you revealed that in your review response, and now here, that it's Bill who's not completely right and that's him who's been manipulating Tom all along, because I thought we'd already covered that in Checkmate and come to the conclusion that it wasn't so. But...I dunno, here it just makes all the sense in the world. I really like Dr Sedlag, and I agree with him: that's a lame excuse, Tom. Just because your parents thought you to hate non-Christians, for instance, doesn't mean that you can't start thinking for yourself. Still, the things Tom and the doc talked about...it's sort of like how you're looking at this abstract painting, trying to see, say, the apple, that the teacher tells you to look for, and at first there's just paint, and then something clicks and it all makes sense! Am I making sense? ^_^ That's how I feel, anyway. Can't wait for the second part!

Oh, wow, this really felt a bit like a slap in the face. I mean, I did get it, after having read 'Dark Side' but this is the first time that you really bring it all in the open.

Their relationship in all its ugly glory. Although, I hesitate to use the word ugly here, I just can't find another word to describe it.

It's such a complex and layered dynamic, a dynamic that we can only hope to grasp as it's something you'd need to endure to understand it completely.

And yet, it's glorious and simple at the same time: Bill loves Tom. Tom loves Bill. Bill loves Tom. Tom loves Bill. A neverending circle.

Really, really heartbreaking how the doctor forced Tom to open up but wow. Did you nail this or what?

I can't say enough, how I envy your writing and delight in it at the same time.