Disclaimer: I do not own Secret Life and with the storylines lately, I have no wish to.
Ben's eye still hurt from where Camille had punched him. And what was worse, he still heard his dad laughter ringing in his ear. And he heard his dad propose to the woman who had just punched him. He had just been trying to stop his dad from making another mistake. Okay, maybe going off on his dad and Camille hadn't been the best way to go across it. But, come on. First, his father marries a prostitute, which of course leads to a messy divorce. Then, he wants to go and marry his secretary. Come on! What a cliché. The rich boss and his secretary.
Ben heard a knock at the door and looked up to the figure in his doorway. Great. If it wasn't the Sausage King himself. "What do you want?" Ben asked his father angrily.
Leo came in Ben's room and stood next to the bed Ben was currently laying on, staring at the ceiling. "I want to talk to you." Leo said.
"No thanks," Ben said sourly, "You obviously didn't want to talk before."
Leo sighed, "Ben, I'm sorry. Camille shouldn't have hit you."
Ben sat up and smirked at his father, "Wow really? I thought you enjoyed it. Considering you proposed right after she did it."
"I love her, Ben. And you said some pretty cruel things."
"So she had no choice but to hit me. Makes perfect sense," Ben said sarcastically, "And you enjoyed seeing your son being hit so much at you knew you had to be with her for the rest of your life. God, I hope she can't get pregnant."
"Ben!" Leo said, annoyed.
"So what was she doing?" Ben said, smirking to hid his hurt, "Showing me who's boss. Putting me in my place?"
"Ben! Stop it! Camille cares about you and you know it. So, don't even start with me!" Leo warned.
"Whatever, Dad. I don't even get why you're so angry! Aren't you trying to show her how much trouble I am. Anything to make her not want a kid, right?" Now, Ben was on an angry roll and couldn't stop. "I mean aren't I stupid and you can't wait to be rid of me."
Leo froze. He hadn't realized Ben had known all of this was going on. "Ben," Leo started, trying to be careful, "You have been getting into a lot of trouble lately. The pot. The school burning down. Omar."
"You're using me as the poster child for bad children!" Ben protested.
Leo argued, "Well, you keep screwing up so maybe I have a point."
"Well, if I'm the poster child for bad children, you're the poster child for bad parents." Ben argued back, "You won't even help me fix my mess."
"I want you to fix your own mess. Take responsibility!"
"I tried to take responsibility. Like you told me too! But then you got mad!" Ben yelled, angry at his father.
"I just wanted you to get away from your girlfriend," Leo yelled back, "She's trouble, Ben!"
"You could have just let me switch schools!" Ben objected, "Don't give me shit about money! You gave Amy and Ricky money to start a life together. Of course when your son needs it, its not there. But when the guy who married the girl I love wants it, suddenly you're more than happy to give it"
"I didn't want you to throw your life away for this girl" Leo argued, "You just said it. You don't even love her."
"God, Dad! It wasn't the girl! I just wanted to get away from everything. From Amy and Ricky and Adrian. Every time I walk through those hallways I see everything we all went through Every time I see Amy and Ricky, it reminds me of everything I lost. I can't see Adrian with out seeing my dead baby girl in her arms." Ben started to cry.
Leo looked at his son, lost. "Ben, you should have said something. If I had known this..."
Tears were streaming down Ben's face, "But you've been so mad at me. Even before Dylan. You've just been so mad and I don't known why. God, you even let your girlfriend hit me. What did I do?" Ben looked up at his father, wondering what he had done.
Leo tried to explain, "Ben, you didn't do anything..." What had Ben done. He couldn't deny he had been a little cold to his son lately. Even before Ben had been dating Dylan.
Ben interrupted him. "Is it Ricky? I know you like him more than me. Why wouldn't you?" Ben said, almost helplessly, "He is perfect, after all."
"I love you both equally," Leo protested.
"He's not your son!" Ben yelled, "I am! He has two mother and a father. He has Amy's parents too. You're all I have. You and Betty, but you divorced her. I guess I also had Camille, but you mad her hate me."
"Ben..." Leo protested.
"I don't know where the hell you learned about parenting, but I would NEVER do this to Mercy." And that was true. He may have never gotten to know his beautiful daughter, but he would never make Mercy feel unimportant, no matter what she had done.
Leo was silent, not knowing how to respond to that.
"Good luck with your marriage, Dad. You'll really need it." Leo took that as his cue to leave.
TBC
I don't know about the rest of you, but if that episode has Ben apologizing to Camille and Leo I may consider stopping watching it. Who responds to their child being punched with a proposal?