James put his head into his hands, sneaking a look to his brother for support, but although Jake's eyes seemed to share his own uneasiness, he only yawned and pretended nothing was wrong. Abuse? Did their father seriously think they would mistreat another human being like that? Sure, Jake might have gotten into a scrape or two in his time, but it wasn't like this woman was going to present a threat. Slave? James knew a little about the BDSM lifestyle - having to take what friends you could get in high school led to picking up some "interesting" bits of trivia, but this wasn't anything like what they'd been into. This woman wasn't their father's girlfriend, in fact he'd seen no indication that they'd even laid eyes on each other before today, so why was she so...obedient? What he'd seen had always been rather affectionate...this seemed cold. Uncaring.<br/><br/>Dad was right, Mom had been the only one he loved. He felt sorry for the girl in this situation...who would she turn to if she wanted to talk to someone? Although...it wasn't like she'd said anything so far. Her robotic demeanor unnerved him like nothing else ever had. He resolved then and there never to touch her, even if he was permitted. He just couldn't stand the thought of it. He felt like his life was crumbling down around him...seeing his always caring father so cold, seeing his always outspoken brother keep his thoughts to himself...it was too much to handle. He couldn't take it anymore. "Dad, look, whatever kind of joke this is has gone on long enough. It's just getting too weird...." He looked up, his eyes pleading for something to return sanity to their calm, normal little family.