(A/N: sorry for the spam of updates, I really didn't want to post this chapter on Wattpad without it being on here too, and people have been getting kinda impatient about it so here we go)

If looks could kill, he would've dropped dead long ago. Linda's eyes shot daggers at the man who betrayed her and her daughter, who had the audacity to show up at the worst possible moment. Things were finally starting to get back on track for their family, why did her ex-husband have to come back into the picture when she managed to keep him away for this long already?

After a couple seconds of tears and squeezes, Candace and her father finally pulled away from the hug. It was almost hard to believe he was back after all these years. Seeing him sent several memories flooding through Candace's mind. She now could remember exactly what he looked like and everything sweet he ever did for her—making her breakfast, taking her to theme parks, carrying her around on his back, etc. She felt guilty for suppressing those memories and forgetting the impact he had on her childhood.

"I can't believe it," Cameron said, now getting a better look at his daughter. "Look at you! My baby girl's all grown up! The last time I saw you, you were still missing your front teeth."

Candace laughed and wiped away her tears, "I just can't believe you're actually here."

"Neither can I." Linda mumbled to herself, but she wasn't unheard by those around her. Cameron's smile faded quickly when he saw her, especially noticing her angered expression. He should've known ahead of time that their reunion wasn't going to be as exciting.

"Linda..." He spoke up, awkwardly putting his hands in his jacket's pockets. "It's— it's nice to see you."

Linda cocked a brow at him, not at all falling for that bullshit greeting. It most certainly wasn't "nice" for them to see each other. She cleared her throat and stood up from the table, folding her arms. "What are you doing here, Cameron? I told you 18 years ago to never come near me or my children ever again."

It was exactly 18 years now since Cameron had left their lives for good. The day everything he owned was no longer in the house and he had officially moved out. Linda swore she would never let him return, she never wanted to see his face again. He didn't deserve to call himself the father of her children.

Cameron sighed, "Look Linda, I—" He stopped midway when his eyes unintentionally shifted aside, now spotting three teens standing next to each other. One in particular, with red hair and a triangular-shaped head, the eyes of his mother and the freckles of his father. Somehow, Cameron knew who it was, but he needed to be sure. "Is..is this—?"

"Yes, Dad." Candace answered with a nod, smiling and gesturing at her brother. "This is your son, Phineas."

Phineas felt strangely uncomfortable being introduced to his father now, yet at the same time he felt like a piece of him that had been missing his entire life was finally found. He never knew of this man's existence until very recently, and meeting him now was almost surreal. He stared at the 'mystery' man for a moment, noticing how he didn't look that much different from the old photos, just with more facial hair and his teeth were a bit crooked (he chose not to question why).

Cameron smiled, his heart melting now that he finally got to see his son. "Phineas..." He whispered, overwhelmed by just knowing his name. During Linda's pregnancy, they used to argue for hours over what they wanted his name to be. He never actually knew what it was and for 18 years he always wondered what his ex had picked.

Feeling a bit awkward, Phineas just gave him a forced grin, since he didn't know how to introduce himself at the moment. He didn't know what was appropriate, a handshake or a hug? Was a hug even warranted? This man did betray their family, and he never even met him before so it wasn't like he was much of a father to him. But a handshake was too formal. Perhaps it was best not to show physical affection at all and just stand there, hoping someone else would speak up instead.

Cameron didn't notice the uncomfortable tension, he just continued to smile and stepped closer to the teenager. "It's so good to finally meet you." He said, respectfully patting his son's shoulders—which Phineas felt oddly comforted by. "I don't know if you've ever heard of me before, but I'm Cameron. Your father."

"Yeah, I've uh..heard some things." The redhead said, laughing awkwardly as he patted his father's hands.

"You have?" Cameron frowned.

Realizing his mistake, Phineas quickly corrected himself. "Um, very recently, of course. Like, very recent. Literally just last month." He stammered nervously, "I— a lot happened, don't ask."

Saved it. He told himself, even though it was clear he almost fucked it all up. Cameron had specifically requested that Linda keep it all from their kids, and she did up until they demanded the truth from her a month ago. He didn't want Cameron thinking that she told them too soon.

Cameron nodded, taking a step back and wrapping an arm around his daughter to pull her in close. "I'm just glad to be back. I've got so much catching up to do with you kids." He said, kissing Candace's head, making her laugh. "You've gotten so tall, you must get it from me."

"Daaad." She whined, though she didn't mind it. She kind of missed the compliments he used to give her.

"Well, look at you! You're almost as tall as me!" He said, squeezing her closer to him. "Ah, I've missed you, my little candy cane."

His eyes once again wandered elsewhere, now taking more notice to the other people around them. Candace saw that he was doing this and once again decided to do the introductions to clear up confusion. "Oh Dad, this is our stepbrother, Ferb." She gestured to him, "And his dad, Lawrence."

Cameron wasn't surprised to hear that they were related, but it was still a bit much to take in. Ferb didn't do anything in response and just gave the man a nod of acknowledgment, while Lawrence grinned and waved awkwardly.

"Nice to meet you." Cameron said politely, even though he felt a little awkward himself. What could he even say to a man that had replaced him?

The greetings were followed by uncomfortable silence, not just among the group, but also throughout the restaurant (since they were the only ones there). Isabella cleared her throat and slowly took the check, "Well, I think I'm just gonna leave you guys be."

Phineas gave her a pleading look, silently begging her not to leave. But he understood why she wanted to, and unfortunately she was already backing away. Sorry...she mouthed to him before power-walking to the kitchen.

Linda was still suspicious of the man's presence, and she still needed to know what brought him back to Danville. "Cameron, I don't know how you found us, but you need to leave." She said, "You promised that you wouldn't come back and I expected you to keep that promise."

"But Linda—"

"No, I don't want your excuses!" She raised her voice, startling everyone around her. "Haven't you done enough to us?!"

Seems like she hates him. Phineas mentally commented, noticing how unhinged his mother was at just the sight of her ex. Maybe she had only told him she had no hatred simply for his benefit, or just seeing him back after all these years spiraled built-up anger that she never got to express.

"Linda, I'm sorry, okay? You know I didn't mean to hurt you." He said in a much calmer tone than hers.

"I'm not having this fight again." She shook her head, walking around the table to approach him. "But if I ever see you near my children again, you will never hear the end of it."

"Mom, stop." Candace sighed.

Linda didn't want to listen to reason, she didn't want any excuses as to why Cameron was breaking his promise. She honestly didn't care, she just wanted him out of her sight before something else could go wrong. "No, I don't know why you're here—"

"I asked him!"

Once again, the room fell silent. Linda's gaze slowly shifted towards her daughter, the shock growing apparent in her expression. "What?"

Candace nodded, though she was now starting to regret admitting it. Hell, she was regretting ever getting involved in this in the first place. "I wrote a letter asking him to come visit me." She said, her stomach twisting in a knot as she noticed the way her mother was staring at her. "I— I just wanted to see him at least once, I honestly didn't think he'd show up."

"How did you contact him?" Linda asked immediately, narrowing her eyes. "How did you even know his name?"

Candace hesitated to answer, but she unintentionally gave it away when she glanced over at her brothers. Linda gapped and turned to them, "You guys told her?!"

Phineas shook his head, "I didn't say anything..." He looked up at his stepbrother, surprised that he wasn't denying it. In fact, after a moment, Ferb nodded.

"Wh— how could you? It wasn't your place to tell her!" Linda said in disbelief. "What else did you say?!"

Ferb anxiously bit the inside of his cheek, his throat growing dry. "Everything except why he left."

"When did you tell her all of that?" Phineas asked confused.

"A week after she left." The taller boy answered, lowering his gaze to his feet.

Now it was Phineas' turn to be shocked. "Wait, you texted her? And she responded?" He asked for clarification, earning another quiet nod from his brother. He turned his attention to Candace, "So you responded to him and not me? I was worried sick for weeks! You were seriously just ignoring me on purpose?!"

Candace frowned, once again overwhelmed by guilt. "Phineas, I'm so sorry, I can explain."

"No, you've done enough, Candace." Her mother spoke up, "You've made it clear that you have no respect for this family." She looked at Ferb, "Neither of you do."

It was here that Lawrence decided to step in, since his wife was now speaking irrationally and things were going to get worse if he didn't. "Okay Linda, let's not get out of hand." He said, walking up behind her. "I'm sure we can work this out, we just need to hear each other out."

But Candace ignored him, since she was still fixated on what her mother had the nerve to say to her. "We're the ones with no respect? What about you?! Kicking out your husband for no reason doesn't sound very respectful to me!"

"There was a reason, Candace!" Linda gritted her teeth.

"Then what was it?!" She yelled, "What was the goddamn reason?!"

Cameron cautiously put his hands to her shoulders, in hopes to calm her down and keep her away from Linda—just in case. "Candace, sweetie, don't be mad at your mother." He said, realizing now that he knew he had to come clean. "I— she had every right to kick me out. I did bad things, she was just trying to protect you."

Everyone except for Candace shared a frown, since they all knew the truth and they knew it was going to crush her. This was the one thing they tried to protect her from knowing, but clearly her lack of knowledge on the subject was tearing the family apart. It was best that she finally heard the truth.

"Well?" She asked, crossing her arms.

Cameron sighed, now avoiding eye contact with her. He couldn't bare to imagine the look of disgust on his daughter's face, let alone actually witness it. "I wasn't the man she— you thought I was. I was..disloyal." He said in shame, "I struggled financially and I did stupid things to cope with it."

He paused briefly before finally confessing, "I was seeing other women."

Candace felt as if her entire world began to crumble around her just hearing those five words. Her father, someone she admired and loved for her entire childhood, someone she always trusted and always hoped would return to her someday...was nothing but a liar and a cheater all along.

"W-wait..you— you cheated on Mom?" She asked, her voice just barely above a whisper. "Why? Wh-why would you do that? You— you had a family."

Cameron frowned, "Look, I know it's a lot to take in, but please just let me—" He began, but with his past experience, he wouldn't be heard. And he didn't blame her. What he did to Linda still haunted him to this day.

"No, I— I don't wanna hear it." Candace shook her head, taking a step back. "I— I can't believe you would do that me and Mom. What did we ever do to you?"

"Candace, just calm down." Linda said. She expected this type of reaction from her daughter, but that didn't make it any less painful to see. "It's fine, it was years ago."

"No, it's not fine!" She exclaimed, "I was lied to my entire life! Because you tried to 'protect' me, I grew up thinking my dad was the greatest person in the world, when all along he was just a piece of shit!"

The insult stung quite a bit, but Cameron couldn't say he disagreed with it. He knew how horrible he was, he just wished his daughter didn't have to know. This was exactly what he wanted to avoid all these years.

Candace turned to her brothers, "And you two knew about this?! And you didn't tell me?!"

"Well, maybe I could've told you if you had answered my calls." Phineas said aloud, by accident.

And that was enough to set her off. "That's it." Candace shook her head and grabbed her purse from the table, now turning away towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Lawrence asked.

"I'm going home to pack my stuff, and then I'm out!" She said, pushing the door open. She turned to look at them one last time with a cold glare, "I'm done with this family."

With that, she stormed out the door, leaving the rest of them to stand in silence.