~Who's Influence Are You Under Now?~

"Talk to me," Robert offered, looking back and forth at his former kids. "How's everything? Ronan told me you're taking a break?"

"Um, yeah," Riley replied, shifting in her seat. She had her head bowed and was pulling at a loose thread on her cut off shorts. "We thought it'd be a good idea." She fleetingly looked at him and added with a hint of bitterness, "Y'know, cause we've been working nonstop since we were kids."

Robert's eyebrows twitched but he didn't say anything for a while. "So, how's it going then?" He raked his fingers through his longer hair.

"It's okay I guess," Rhuben replied with a shrug. "We're just hanging out and stuff."

"And dating?" Robert asked, looking pointedly at her.

"Not that it's any of your business," she muttered in reply.

"Um, how are things here?" Patrick asked, popping his knuckles.

"I just got out of a single therapy session," Robert replied as Patrick inspected his short fingernails. "We had group earlier."

All the way up to the rehabilitation place, he had chewed his fingernails in anticipation of what was going to happen, or what could happen. This action reminding him however that the had broken that habit years ago, and would probably tempt him to start up again. "That's good, I guess."

There was another moment of silence until it was shattered by Sydney's stomach growling. Robert glanced over at him and Sydney tried to make himself smaller in his seat. "You guys, uh, want me to order something to eat?" He saw the quick look of panic cross the kids' faces, and added, "We'll eat in the common room." He moved to get the phone and a menu from the drawer. "Is Chinese alright with you? Or do you want pizza? Oh, hell, I've had Chinese a lot recently, we'll get pizza. You guys decide on the toppings you want."

As he used his thumb to punch in the pizza place, the Jacksons exchanged glances before they started to discuss what pizza topping they wanted. This quickly escalated into an argument over how always got their favorite kind of pizza and how it wasn't really fair that Noah, who only really at Cheese, always got his favorite.

"Would you be quiet!" Robert snarled, lifting his head from the menu in his hand. Sydney flinched violently at the sudden shout, pulling his legs up to his chest. "I'm on the phone. God!"

"Sorry," Patrick mumbled, moving to sit next to Sydney, rubbing his little brother's back. Noah silently bowed his head. "You asked…I mean, sorry. Just sorry."

A pained expression crossed Robert's face as he momentarily held his breath. He then let out a heavy sigh, his face relaxing. "Sorry," he muttered, looking uncomfortable. "I'm working on it. You…you never really get rid of anger. It's just how you cope with it."

"Which, clearly, you still need work on," Riley shot back and Robert flinched. She noticed that his hands began to shake. He set the phone and the menu down, balling his hands into fists, shoving them into his tan pockets. Her eyebrows twitched as she watched the movement. "Maybe we should go."

That was a warning sign, she could tell. With the clench of his jaw and the tapping of his foot, it was all he could do to not blow up at them. She had seen the mannerisms so many time, it was her natural instinct to want to leave and as fast as possible. She knew by the pained look on his face that, if he was going to do or say anything, he wasn't going to be harmless. He was going to be anything but.

"Come on," Riley reiterated, grabbing Patrick's arm. "Now." Robert continued to sit on his bed, not even bothering to stop him. Riley lead her brothers and sister towards the door.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," Robert said to them as they reached the door. "I have changed. I just want you to see that." He lifted his head and looked at them, an odd look in his eyes. "Maybe if you come back, I can show you." He then tilted his head towards the door. "Ronan's waiting for you. You don't want to keep your dad waiting."

Riley twisted the door knob and Robert suddenly started to laugh. "I'm not surprised you're leaving," he commented. "Why wouldn't you? I've been nothing but trash to you for your entire lives." He started looking around the room. "Why does everyone say that children are the greatest gift in the world when they are the worst thing that can possibly happen to a person?" Her eyes began widening. "I mean, look where I am now, because I had kids? You're so completely incapable of doing anything right. You make me regret having ever wanted children. You make me ashamed. Ashamed of what I've become and what I've done." A wild look came into his eyes. "I'm sorry. I truly am. I can show you if you come back."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Noah whispered as they moved out into the hallway. Riley closed the door behind them and seconds later, they all jumped when they heard a loud crash followed by muffled laughter. "He's gone insane."

"Not much of a change if you ask me," Patrick commented, digging the tip of his shoe into the carpet, staring at the ground.

"I wanna go home," Sydney muttered, pressing himself into Patrick's side.

"This was a stupid waste of time," Rhuben added with a shake of her head, crossing her arms over her chest as they made their way away from the room. "I don't know why we even decided to come here."

"Because just like the rest of us, you truly wanted to know if Robert had changed," Riley replied with a sigh. "We couldn't even get him to answer our questions."

"He didn't apologize either," Sydney added, sticking out his bottom lip. "I'm tired of this. I just…I want to be a normal kid. I'm tired of being scared to go to sleep because of nightmares. I'm tired of being scared of people I don't know. I'm just tired."

"We all are, Syd," Patrick replied putting a hand on his brother's head.

"But…I don't think we should give up on him," Noah slowly commented, staring at the ground. He blinked and looked up at his siblings as they stopped walking and stared at him. Noah was known for the type to really only talk whenever he had something to say, so they were all giving him their undivided attention. "I know. I'm normally not one to give people like him second chances." He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "It's just...I feel like he's really trying, y'know?" He shrugged. "It's just a thought."

They silently made their way down the stairs and into the lobby, gaining Ronan's attention. He set aside his magazine and gave his kids an expectant look, silently asking what happened. Sydney wordlessly gave Ronan a hug and the older man lead the way towards the exit.

"Oh, are you leaving already?" one of the nurses who sat at the reception desk asked as they passed. She gave the Jacksons a warm smile. "It was great to finally see you guys here, your father has been expecting you all day. I've never seen him so excited."

"With all do respect ma'am, I'm their father," Ronan replied curtly and the nurse blinked.

"My apologies," she replied, flushing. "But, he was excited. He couldn't wait to finish classes so he could see you arrive. I sure hope you come back and visit again."

"He was happy to see us?" Patrick asked, a confused look on his face.

"Oh, yes," the nurse explained with a nod, her dark brown curls bobbing and swaying. "He talks about you all the time and how wonderful you are. He really cares about you. I'm just sorry he has to be in here, but everyone has drinking problems every now and then, right?"

"Um, right," Ronan slowly replied, placing his hands on Sydney's shoulders, gently pushing him towards the door. "Good night."

"So, how'd it go?" WayneWayne asked eagerly as he and Riely sat at a table with Dak and Rhuben, all four of them sharing an ice cream sundae.

His eyes scanned the area as he moved his spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. Setting her spoon down, Riley spent a moment arranging wiping her mouth free of chocolate sauce, chewing on the hunk of brownie that sat on her tongue, but didn't say anything. Rhuben stared off into spaced, obviously not having heard him.

WayneWayne exchanged glances with Dak before attempting again. "Riles? How was seeing Robert?"

Riley blinked, looking over at him, swallowing "Sorry," she replied, brushing one of her pigtails off her shoulder, "Um... it was... okay I guess."

Rhuben just nodded before digging her spoon into the ice cream and moving a large amount of ice cream into her mouth. "It was good. It's just weird knowing that we saw him earlier. Just gettin' used to it I guess."

"That's good," Dak replied, trying to be supportive.

But, he felt uncomfortable. His two friends weren't acting like they usually were. He didn't know just by seeing someone could change their demeanor that much and he didn't like it. He could barely sit through their story of what happened while they were at the rehabilitation center, but there wasn't a lot he could do about it. He knew in the long run that it was going to be something that truly helped his friends start to move on from.

"Are you going to see him again?" Dak asked quietly, looking pointedly at Rhuben. She shifted in her seat, before looking back at him.

"I'm not sure exactly," she replied before nodding at Riley who blinked in reply. "But we'll let ya know. Ronan asked us the same thing. You know he wouldn't push us into anything, but he was proud that we went."

"So, um, how is he?" WayneWayne asked as he set his spoon down onto his napkin. "Is he as different as he says he is?"

"He's trying," Riley replied with a sigh, pushing the ice cream bowl away from her. "You can't fault him for that. He's gettin' by, I guess. Doesn't talk much, but that's not any different. His hair is longer. He looks calmer."

"He seems to be making progress," Rhuben added. "Like we told you, he seemed to have wanted to blow up at us, but he didn't." She gave the Jackson family famous one shouldered shrug. "It's better than nothing I guess." She seemed to be very uninterested in her food and more so involved with separating the pieces of cookie and brownie that sat in the ice cream bowl.

"Hey, why don't we go and do something to take your minds off this?" WayneWayne suggested, clapping his hands together. "We could go to the boardwalk and check out some of the rides or something."

"Or we could go back to my place and watch some movies," Dak added.

"Or in your guys' case, make out while we watch the movies, " WayneWayne replied, motioning between himself and Riley. He frowned when Rhuben didn't even crack a smile. "That was a joke." He exchanged glances with Dak and his eyes narrowed slightly. "Did something happen while you were visiting Robert?"

"He didn't…hit you or anything while you were there?" Dak asked.

"No," Riley replied, shaking her head. "We're just trying to figure out if we really want to go back, that's all." She gave a fleeting smile. "Sorry, we're really bringing you guys down. Why don't we just call it a night?"

"You sure?" WaynWayne asked, standing up as soon as she did. Riley silently nodded, pulling out her wallet. He reached out a hand and placed it over top of hers, before quickly pulling his hand back. "I got it; don't worry about it." He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and set a few dollar bills down onto the table. "Hey, um, do you wanna watch the, uh, Sox game with me tomorrow night?"

"Okay," Riley replied, seeming distracted as she patted her pockets for her car keys. "Yeah, sounds good. It'll take my mind off this for a while anyway." She pulled her keys out of her pocket, spun the ring around her finger and then finally looked up at WayneWayne with a smile. "I'll call you later, ok? Rhubes, you ready to go?"

"Yeah," Rhuben replied with a nod, getting to her feet. "Yeah, I'm coming." She leaned over at gave Dak a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug. "See you guys later."

The twin girls waved goodbye to the boys before making their way out of the small restaurant and across the parking lot. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes until Riley broke the silence. "He has a stronger influence on us than I thought," she muttered.

She ran her fingers through her hair and gave a heavy sigh. "I haven't stopped thinking about how psycho he could've gotten if we stayed. Not only that, and I hadn't said anything before because I don't want to worry Ronan, but I swear I've been seeing Robert everywhere recently."

"I was thinking the same thing," Rhuben replied, sliding her hands into her jeans pockets. "Dude, read my brainwaves." She chewed on her thumbnail. "You think we should go back? Noah did have a point."

"When does he not?" Riley asked in a monotone, opening the driver's side door. The two girls climbed into the car and buckled up. Riley glanced into the rearview mirror before shifting the car into reverse and making her way out of the parking lot, moving the car into first gear. "We want our questions asked, and he did stop himself from physically hurting us."

"Yeah," Rhuben agreed with a nod. "But that nurse made me feel—not guilty—but really weird. Like, as if Robert had some kind of influence on her."

"Me too," Riley replied. "But then again, he can influence just about anybody to get what he wants."

So, I was really just focusing on how awkward it was between Robert and the Jacksons, but you'll be seeing more of him. Hope you guys liked this chapter.

Cheers,

-Rhubes