Finally, the field trip day had arrived, and Ella had a plan up her sleeve.

It wasn't one that she thought was devious or immoral, but when she told Stephanie what she had done, the other girl couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

She had lied. And not about something small, either.

The other night, when her father was deciding whether or not to accompany the children on their trip to the amusement park, she saw the beginnings of disinterest in him and jumped into action, begging him to join her, claiming that she was terrified to go alone.

Of course, this wasn't the case. She was far from afraid—in fact, she was incredibly excited about this trip and had been gushing about it to her friends the entire week leading up—but she had told him so her plan would work. Her plan, of course, was to force her father somewhat out of his shell and into the world where other adults existed and talked and made friends with each other. She hated seeing her father struggle to hold even the simplest of conversations up because of his awkward and reclusive nature, but she had decided that she had to do something about it—even if it meant lying directly to his face.

Of course, she felt guilty over doing this to an extent, but the compliments that rained in from her friends when she told them what she had done and the light, genuine smiles that appeared on her father's face as he sat down next to one of the parents and began chatting away with them washed away all of her insecurities. How could she be upset when what she was doing seemed to be helping her father?

As the bus pulled to a stop at a gas station, she tip toed out of her seat and to her father, claiming she needed him to accompany her to the restroom. She didn't have to go, and lying was becoming easier and easier for her. Once the two were inside the tiny convenient store and gas station duo and away from the other kids and parents, she hugged her father tightly.

"Are you having fun talking to the other parents?"

Scoffing slightly, he ruffled his daughter's hair. "Sure, but don't worry about that too much, El. You should focus on having a good time yourself."

The girl shrugged. "I can't help it. you always seem so sad, so when I see you looking happy, it makes me really happy. And I just want to make sure you were actually having a good time and not pretending to have a good time…you do that a lot."

He let out another laugh. "Oh, I do, do I? Like I haven't seen you do it."

She crossed her arms. "So? I never said it was an entirely bad thing. Sometimes we both just get tired of talking and have to pretend. But I wanted to make sure you weren't pretending. At least, not yet."

Robbie rolled his eyes and led his daughter to the restroom. She smirked up at him. "I didn't have to actually use the restroom, silly."

Huffing, Robbie shook his head and led his daughter back to the bus. Still, she felt her eyes flickering over and checking on him and how he was interacting with the other parents as if he were a dog in a dog park and not her father. She just wanted him to fit in and be happy again.

Finally, the group neared the amusement park, and the children all began to restlessly cheer as one by one they hopped out of the vehicle and started planning out who they were going to go with and what they were going to do.

After about half an hour of planning, it was decided that Paul, Gabe, and Trixie would be taken to the rollercoasters by Trixie's moms, who were also very pumped for riding the fast, looping machines. Stingy and Pixel teamed up to go to the arcade with only Stingy's father joining them as Pixel's parents both had work and were absent. Of course, Stingy was not as eagerly excited by the idea of being in a cooped-up dark room full of dozens of other sweaty kids, but he was eager to be hanging out with Pixel without kids from the group disturbing him. Gina and Tina were far too afraid and far too short for the majority of the rides, but they were gleefully prepared to follow their mother to the kiddie rides. Ziggy wasn't interested in riding anything and instead decided that all he wanted was to eat the amusement park food, and didn't even end up buying a ticket with the hopes of using that money on said snacks instead. The last group, of course, included only Stephanie and Ella, who were wanting to ride the normal rides but not the rollercoasters, who were led by Robbie and Sportacus.

Ella watched all of the kids excluding herself and Stephanie rush off into their groups jubilantly, leaving the group of four behind to think. After about a moment of glancing at the map of the amusement park, the girls decided they first wanted to ride one of the spinning teacup rides near the middle of the park. Skipping, they lead the men to the ride and dragged them on with them.

At first, the group laughed and giggled and enjoyed themselves as they spun faster and faster, but after about five rounds of the same ride, Robbie felt himself growing ill. Upon seeing her father's ill state, the girl couldn't help but feel guilt sting in her chest. She knew when she dragged him along that he couldn't handle amusement park rides very well, especially ones that whirled him around with barely any restraint to the seat, causing him to smash against the person beside him or the seat beside him.

As Sportacus helped the girls onto the same spinning ride on their own, he placed a gentle hand on Robbie's back and guided him to a nearby bench. Right away, the other let out a small whimper of pain and squeezed his hand over his abdomen. When Sportacus shot him an extremely worried look, like one of a man who would lift the other up bridal style and race him towards the hospital look, Robbie laughed lightly, wincing. "I'm fine. I just don't usually do these kinds of things."

Sportacus nodded slowly, leaning back against the bench. He listened closely to the other as began to speak. "You know, I wasn't going to come originally. Things like this always happen to me."

Sportacus solemnly nodded at that. He couldn't help but pity the other. "Why did you end up coming? I mean, if you knew you wouldn't be able to handle rides like that…"

Robbie sighed and stared at the twirling cups. "Ella begged me to come…said she would be too scared to come without me. That she would get sick like I do. But she's never had that happen. She rarely gets sick, at all, really."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Sportacus tilted his head slightly. "That's….strange, to say the least. She didn't tell me she was scared…in fact, she told me all week about how excited she was for this. I don't know why she would tell you she was afraid."

Nodding, Robbie rubbed his temple. "That…explains a lot. I know why she did it, now." Sportacus tilted his head again, so Robbie continued on. "Well, she's always worried about me not making friends…isn't that silly?"

Sportacus couldn't help but stifle a chuckle. "Yeah, it's usually the other way around."

"Mhm." Robbie sighed and removed his hand from his stomach as it calmed. "But every since my husband died and she joined this little club she's been dedicating all of her energy at home to making me get out of my box. It can kind of sweet sometimes, but other times it's just exhausting."

"Like this time?"

Robbie chuckled again and winced, slapping his hand over his gurgling abdomen. "Yeah, like this time. But stop making me laugh. I don't want to hurl on you."

"That wouldn't be ideal." Sportacus murmured sarcastically, causing another painful snort to escape the other's mouth. This time he added a playful punch to the arm as a warning to the other on his stupid jokes and one-liners that made him laugh.

Robbie almost didn't notice the girls hurrying off the ride and over to them, and he certainly didn't notice the way they giggled and whispered as if they knew the secrets to the universe.

Robbie gave them a suspicious look and let them off the hook for the time being as they made their way to the girls' next desired ride. It was another spinning ride, so once again, Robbie and Sportacus leaned against the railings of the ride and chatted to each other instead of riding it themselves.

At one point, Robbie found himself once again begrudgingly chatting about his past lover and couldn't help but slightly lean against the other for a bit of support. He hated relying on others for anything, but seeing his daughter prosper from learning to lean on her friends and the adults around her made the idea very tempting. When Robbie found a small tear leaving his eye, he forcibly shut himself up, even if he wanted to scream out his insecurities and pains of the past, knowing that if he did act out as he felt exactly he would be an embarrassment to his child and her club, and he wasn't ready to ruin her day.

"Hey, Mr. Rotten?" Sportacus whispered suddenly, surprising the taller man slightly., who was currently wiping away one of his tears. The other just looked down at him, smiled, and nodded. "Can I give you a number to call about these types of things?"

Thinning his lips out, the taller father groaned. "I don't know, what kind of number is this? A help line or something? Look, I appreciate the sentiment behind it, but I'm a grown man, I can look up a help line if I need one myself, I don't need your sympathy." He started to regret voicing any of his thoughts to the other man. The number thing he hated was being pitied.

Sportacus tensed up at the words before staring at the number in his phone and reconsidering his choices. "It's…not a help line. Not really, anyways."

Crossing his arms, Robbie peered down at the other. "If not a help line, than what?"

A flustered grin grew onto Sportacus face as he glimpsed up at the other. "It's…my phone number."

Shocked, Robbie dropped his arms, jaw, and defenses in the same movement, taking a moment to recover. "Why do you want to give me your number, exactly?"

"I just thought…if you wanted to be able to talk to a fellow parent, or if you want to talk stuff out without having to call a help line and feel embarrassed or have to wait numerous hours…I'm always open and happy to listen others problems."

Robbie nodded slowly and stared at his phone. "Well, if you're really alright with it." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and handed the other his phone.

Smiling gently, Sportacus nodded. "I promise I won't try to bother you, but I'd be happy to share some of my recipes and whatnot with you some time."

"You do bake some wonderful cookies…" He couldn't help but watch affectionately as the other entered his phone number.

"And I can bake other sweets as well, if you're interested. I make the best cupcakes."

Robbie couldn't help but laugh at the enthusiasm of the other. "I don't know, you haven't tried my cupcakes." He glimpsed over to Ella, who was spinning around gleefully on her ride. This is what she wanted, right? This is what making friends was like, right? He couldn't help but doubt himself.

"Are you sure you wanna do this? I'm such a depressing person to be around." Robbie asked quietly, a bit taken aback by the other's confession.

Sportacus nodded softly, staring at his hands. "I don't think you're depressing. You're just going through a hard time." Confused, Robbie stared at him. "I just think…nobody deserves to be alone, especially while they're grieving."

Robbie looked forward and found a small smile creeping onto his face. He still felt that he was being pitied to some extent, but the strange man seemed to genuinely care about his happiness. It was almost... refreshing, to see someone wear their heart proudly on their sleeve. "Well...thank you." He whispered, glancing back up at his daughter, who was now exiting the ride. The two idly chatted about cooking while they were led to another ride, to the delight of the purple-clad daughter.

Eventually the day pulled to a crawl and the children all clambered back onto the bus with the intentions of having a slumber party at Stephanie's house. The groups excitedly chatted along until the bus stopped to let Paul and Gabe return home to Gabe's abode from their made-up 'soccer game' in another city.

Luckily, his parents were in the kitchen and didn't notice the bus speed off, a rainbow flag flying from the back of it gracefully.

When the bus stopped next, it was to allow Gina and Tina go home, as they were too nervous to stay the night at someone else's house.

Finally, the bus pulled into the mayor's driveway and all the children and remaining parents hopped out of the vehicle. The group of children jubilantly hurried inside, shouting out their plans for the evening to each other, their parents chuckling and trailing behind.

Robbie found himself once again standing next to the loud blue man, a soft grin on his lips at Ella's enthusiasm. He hadn't seen her this excited in years.

One by one the parents found a seat in the living room, with what was definitely too many people crammed onto the same couch, with Robbie practically attached to Sportacus' hip in the process. He wasn't used to the contact and shivered immensely any time one of them shifted in their seat. Slowly, the number of sitting parents diminished as adults stood up and told their children goodbye, leaving them with gentle kisses on their forehead.

Before long, Robbie found himself being the last parent to leave, with only Sportacus, Bessie, and Milford sitting on the couch.

At one point, Milford, who had a long day of work while last the kids were out riding rollercoasters and eating cotton candy, suggested they all open a bottle of wine. Robbie felt fine with this—he had been fine with holding his liquor in the past, but found himself a bit nervous at the idea. He hadn't drank in years because of Ella being in the house, and he wasn't sure he still could handle it. He definitely knew he didn't want to be driving home drunk and risking her losing her only living parent.

Sportacus seemed to catch onto the other's expression and elbowed him, whispering. "I can drive you home later, if you need it."

Robbie nodded in agreement. That made him feel more confident in drinking. The worst he would probably do is start crying over his husband, but he made sure not to fill his glass too much to prevent that from happening.

After a few moments of talking in the living room, the group made their way out onto the patio and relaxed in the lawn chairs. Robbie's head started pounding and he knew that it was time for him to stop drinking, but instead he indulged and kept going. He knew he would regret this later.

Bessie and Milford noticed how tired Robbie seemed and it made them yawn as well. Bessie stood up and announced she was going to bed and that she had a nice time talking to Robbie before leaving, soon followed by Mayor Meanswell. A few minutes of silence apart from the crickets chirping drove Sportacus mad.

He reached for the bottle of wine and tilted it towards Robbie. "Want anymore?"

Chucking solemnly, Robbie leaned against the back of chair and sighed. "No, I better stop before I make myself sick." He peeked out of the corner of his eyes and noticed how uncomfortable Sportacus seemed in the silence and sighed. "I wish my daughter didn't feel like she had to lie to me."

Intrigued, Sportacus leaned forward in his seat and sat the wine bottle down. "What do you mean?"

"She…lies to me a decent bit. Not about super serious things, but…stuff like today. She cares about me a lot and knows I have a hard time being alone." Robbie huffed, pulling his legs up to his chest. "I imagine she invited me today because of that. Otherwise I would have sat around the house moping, and because of her, I had a good time. Got a little sick, but had a good time. I just…wish she didn't have to lie to me. She could have just invited me."

Clearing his throat, Sportacus set a gentle hand on the other's shoulder. "If she had just asked, would you have said yes?"

Sighing, Robbie rested his face against his hand. "I don't…I don't think I would have."

"Why not? You obviously had a good time."

Robbie glimpsed at the other and considered hiding his emotions, but the liquor convinced him to keep talking. "I don't know… I want my daughter to have a good time, but I'm still working myself up to the idea of me joining her. I hate to be alone at home, though."

"I think you did a great job today, if that counts for anything." Sportacus relaxed against the back of his chair. "And I think she believes the same."

Robbie shrugged the others hand away and sighed again, a shudder running down his spine. "I'm sorry. I know this must be embarrassing to hear."

Shrugging, Sportacus grinned at the other. "No, it's not. Just talk your heart out, I'm here to listen."

Robbie stared a minute before chuckling and resting his chin on his knees. "You sure? I can be quite the downer."

"Well, go on. You keep saying that but I haven't seen that side of you."

Solemnly, Robbie settled back into his own restlessness and leaned slightly against Sportacus. "Well, I guess I…can't stand being alone. At least, not in my own house…that's where I was when I found out my husband had died. I wasn't there with him, and neither was Ella. Poor kid was at school and I couldn't even try to let her finish the school day. I went and picked her up right away, and we cried for hours together. We were both so broken. Now anytime I'm alone in that house, I feel like she'll get taken away, too." He sighed and wiped at his eyes, which were now watering. "I know that's silly and I shouldn't think like that, but I can't help it. I don't want to be alone. I hate it. But being with other people is hard, too." Robbie didn't realize how hard he was sobbing until Sportacus slowly pulled him into a hug. He tensed up a bit and Sportacus released the hold but held his arms still, gazing at the crying man in front of him. After a moment of staring back, Robbie plunged himself back into the other's arms. While it was true he was most often touch-repulsed, he had never felt so utterly touch-starved before. Quickly, he dried himself up, the last little bit of his sobriety smacking him in the face.

Damn that wine, making him act like this.

"Look, I imagine that was awkward," Robbie wiped his eyes and could only laugh when Sportacus attempted to pull him back in for another embrace. "I'm fine now, Sportahug."

The latter chuckled and let go, causing Robbie to lean back into his chair. "I do hate being alone, though. In my house anyways. I want Ella to go and be happy, though, so I don't want to keep her all cooped up there, either."

Sportacus gently rubbed the other's back. "You'll just have to go with her, than. That works out for both of you."

Robbie couldn't help the small grin growing on his face. "Yeah, you're right… I'll just have to get used to it. I was never an incredibly social person, and I don't think I'll be able to change that, though."

Rubbing the back of his head, Sportacus found himself smiling abashedly at the other. "Maybe you should just talk to the right people, than. Not many people like spending time with strangers…You and Ella are both always welcome here."

An equally embarrassed grin found its way onto Robbie's face. "I figured that, Sportahold."

A small chuckle escaped Sportacus' mouth as he leaned forward in his chair. "You really are welcome, though. I mean, even tonight, if you want."

Staring in disbelief, Robbie felt his mouth fall slightly open. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if you're worried about going home tonight, we have guestrooms here. You're free to stay in one."

Robbie couldn't help but continue to stare in shock as Sportacus stood up and held out his free hand, the bottle of wine in the other, "come on, I'll show you where they are. There's one pretty close to the kids' room, and there's one at the other end of the hall, as well." He gently grabbed the other's hand and helped him stand up. "Which one of those sounds the best to you?"

Slowly, Robbie moved his hands away from Sportacus' and nodded. "Um, I'd prefer the one at the end of the hall, please."

Grinning from ear to ear, Sportacus lifted up the bottle again and brought the other man up the stair ways and to said bedroom. He pushed the door open and flicked the light on, smiling as light flooded the clean room. "Sorry it's a bit dusty in here. If you need anything, just let me know. I usually sleep down on the couch."

That caused Robbie to stop him. "Okay, I do need something. I need to know why you sleep on the couch when you said there's not one but two guest rooms in this house. Why don't you take one for yourself?" He set down on the bed and crossed his arms.

"Oh, well…I have my own room, but I just typically don't use it. I have really bad insomnia and my room is right above the Milford and Bessie's'. I watch television real late at night to help me sleep sometimes, and it can bother them, so I spend time on the couch most of the time. People can't hear if from down there."

Robbie smiled awkwardly at the other. "Yeah, I get that. I have bad insomnia, too. Usually have to use a fan to sleep."

Right away, Sportacus rushed out of the room without another word and returned a minute later with a fan. Robbie found himself laughing again and Sportacus awkwardly joined in. "Thanks. I appreciate this a lot." He rubbed the back of his neck. "What kind of tv do you usually watch?"

"Ah, cooking shows, those weird pawn shop shows, whatever is on the comedy channel."

A small grin grew onto Robbie's face. "Care if I join you for a while longer?"

Sportacus found himself smiling widely. "Of course not."

The two clambered back down the stairs and sat on opposite ends of the couch, casually choosing sides on whatever cooking show was on and rooting for opposite competitors for laughs.

Near the end of the second episode, the kids' door creaked open and a little face peered over the railing and down at the men. Sportacus nudged the other as the glanced up and saw Ella staring down at them, clinging to a blanket that was tied around her waist, her eyes teary.

Right away, Sportacus sprung into action and made his way up to the girl, Robbie following suit. "What's wrong, El?" Robbie whispered, and his daughter shook with tears as the two adults led her downstairs to the couch and set her between them.

"I..I had a dream about Dad again…it was a nightmare this time." She sobbed, clinging gently to her father. "I feel really sick. I don't know what to do. It's making my stomach hurt."

Sportacus rubbed the girl's back gently as she pulled her knees to her chest and hid her face in her father's shirt for a moment before peeking her head back up. He glimpsed at Robbie, who looked lost on what to say or do other than to join in on rubbing his daughter's back, which he willingly did.

Noticing his distress, Sportacus took over and whispered to the small girl. "Will telling us about your dream help?"

Nodding, she took a deep breath before beginning. "Well, in my dream, I was at home, and no one else was there." Swallowing hard, she continued on. "I kept walking around and calling for someone, anyone, to come and show me that I wasn't alone." She squeezed Robbie's shirt in her fists. "But no one was answering. I went into the kitchen to grab the phone and call you," she looked up at her father, "but there was something else in the kitchen…it was a big dark red box. I was really confused, and my stomach started hurting really bad. I walked up to it to try and figure out what it was, and it had a big lid on it." She twiddled her feet together nervously and bit her lip. "I pushed the lid off and…inside of it was Dad. His eyes were still open, like he could see me, but he couldn't move or talk or breath or anything." She cried against her father's chest, "I reached forward and tried to hug him, but he started spitting out blood and it got all over me. He just kept coughing and coughing and no matter how many times I tried to help he kept coughing, and then he just stopped. He didn't move no more and his eyes closed really tight…like he was making a wish." She rubbed at her arms as if she could still see the imaginary blood covering her arms. "I feel so sick. It's not fair that Dad had to die. It's not fair."

Sobbing harder, the girl rocked in her father's lap like an infant would, clinging to her own arms. Gently, he hugged his daughter closely and nuzzled his nose into her hair. "I know it's not fair, Sweetie, I know." The girl continued to shake and shudder as she wailed into her own arms, unable to stop.

Sportacus didn't quite understand what the child was going through, but he rubbed her back and cooed to her anyways, hoping he was being supportive to her in some way.

Slowly, the girl pulled herself together from the bootstraps, leaning against her father and squeezing Sportacus' hand. "I hope I go to heaven. I want to see Dad again really badly."

"I know you do, and I do, too, sweetie. But you've got a lot of memories left to make, okay?" Robbie whispered, his daughter nodding softly.

Sportacus glimpsed between the two and with another gentle rub to the young girl's shoulder, he added his own comment. "If you make a lot of memories, you'll have a lot of memories to share with him when you meet him again."

Ella smiled softly at that. "I didn't think of it like that… I would be able to tell him a lot already, but… if I keep going, I'll be able to tell him so many more things…and I think I want to have a kid of my own one day, so they can meet their grandpa." She smiled at that and Robbie let out a chuckle.

"Don't worry about that too much right now, though, El. You don't need to have kids anytime soon. The longer you wait, the easier it is, most of the time."

The girl giggled as her father brushed her hair out of her eyes and held her close to his chest. "I know, Dad…" she glimpsed between the two men nervously. "Can I stay down here for a while? I don't think I can go back to sleep just yet."

Sportacus glanced at Robbie for permission before nodding. "Of course you can."

The girl clapped in joy before looking at the tv and smiling brightly. "Oh, you're watching cooking shows? I love those!" She glimpsed between the contestants as they were listed off on the new episode. "I think Kaleb will win, for sure."

"Really? I think Brittany is a way better bet." Robbie huffed, turning to the tv and smiling down at his daughter, Sportacus joining in on their antics. Two episodes later and the girl yawned, falling fast asleep in her father's lap.

Chuckling, he lifted the girl into his arms with tender care and turned to the stairs. "Hey, thanks for your help today. I mean, for everything…"

Shrugging, Sportacus turned to the tv abashedly and snuggled under his blanket. "Sleep well, Robbie."

Robbie just laughed and made his way up the stairs, setting his daughter down in the room with her slumbering pals before going back to the guest room he was staying in. He couldn't help but smile as he slept, taking Sportacus words to heart.

While the words were simple, they were surprisingly comforting.

'If you make a lot of memories, you'll have a lot of memories to share with him when you meet again.'