Chapter 24: Soft

"Uncle Prince?" Thomas said speechless. "We'll just don't just stand there give me a hug," Prince said pulling in his nephew for a hug. Prince squeezed his nephew tight and then let's him go. "Who's at the door… son…" Bandit said coming down the stairs and now seeing Prince at the door. "Hey Bandit, thought you could keep my nephew from me huh?" Prince said, crossing his arms and smiling, showing off he's golden tooth. "Prince? What are you doing here?" Bandit asked coming down the stairs and now standing next to his son. "Came to see my nephew of course," Prince said poking Thomas in the stomach. "You should've have called first uncle Prince," Thomas said rubbing the back of his neck. "What? Now there's rules to see you now," Prince said grabbing Thomas and puts him in a headlock. "Hey, go easy on him," Bandit said.

Prince then let's go of his nephew and looks at Bandit. "What? Did you make the kid soft or something?" Prince said before punching Bandit's shoulder. "Ouch," Bandit said rubbing his shoulder. "Oh I see, your the one who is soft," Prince said poking Bandit's stomach. "Need to work out more buddy otherwise you won't get rid of this puppy fat anytime soon," Prince said with a laugh."Puppy fat!" Bandit shouted. "Okay! Uncle Prince let's talk outside," Thomas said pushing his uncle outside. Bandit lowered his ears having his feelings hurt from Prince. "What are you doing all the way out here?" Thomas asked as they sat down at the porch. "Hey I told you that if you didn't come see me I would see you," Prince said sitting down.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you were serious," Thomas said looking at his uncle. "I'm always serious when I want to see you," Prince said rasing his eye brow above his sunglasses to look at his nephew. Suddenly Rusty walked up to the porch and interrupted Thomas and his uncle talking. "Hey Thomas is Bluey home?" Rusty asked. Thomas opens his mouth to say something but Prince beat it him to it. "Beat it kid can't you see the adults are talking," Prince said rudely. Rusty lowered his ears and walked away. "What was that for!" Thomas shouted as he stood up. "Well we are talking, and whose Bluey? Whose he?" Prince asked. Thomas face palm his muzzle and looked at Prince. "She's my sister and you just scared her friend away!" Thomas said.

"Oh, well anyways isn't this place too small for you? You'd have more freedom if you lived with me," Prince said picking at his teeth with a toothpick. "No this place is just right for me and I have freedom," Thomas said Prince laughed. "Sure you do I mean by the looks of it your dad made you soft," Prince said still with his toothpick. "What do you mean by that?" Thomas asked. "Remember when you didn't care about pinky and bongo?" Prince said with a dark smile. "It's Bluey and Bingo," Thomas said now getting upset. "Whatever, remember you wanted nothing to do with them or that loser father of yours," Prince said throwing his toothpick away. Thomas's blood boiled with anger. "You don't care about us?" A small voice said from a far. Thomas turned and saw Bluey and Bingo at the side of the house. "Bluey… Bingo…" Thomas said. "Leave us alone!" Bluey said with tears in her eyes as she and Bingo ran into the house from the back.

"You Jerk!" Thomas shouted looking at his uncle "there's the Thomas I know not so soft after all," Prince said with a laugh. Thomas then grabbed Prince and threw him out on the lawn. "Wow a strong one too!" Prince said still laughing. "I never want to see you again ever!" Thomas said as he ran into the house. "Bluey! Bingo!" Thomas said as he ran through the house. Bluey and Bingo slammed their door. "What happened?" Bandit asked now worried. "Prince happened," Thomas said as he went up stairs to Bluey and Bingo's room. "Bluey, Bingo, are you in there?" Thomas said as he knocked on the door. "Go away! We don't want to see you ever again!" Bluey shouted. Bandit walked outside and saw prince getting up from the ground. "What the heck mate?" Bandit said walking up to Prince. "Oh don't mate me ex brother in law," Prince said slurring his words. "Were you drunk the whole time mate?" Bandit said now standing a few feet away from Prince. "Emily was way too good for you Heelers and you all know it," Prince said with dark smile. "Get off my property mate or I'll call the police," Bandit said crossing his arms "you made that kid soft! he hated you with his whole heart! You replaced him with two new kids and you know you hurt him by doing that!" Prince said, stumbling to his rental car.

Bandit's heart was aching from hearing that. "Get off my property and don't come back!" Bandit shouted in anger. Prince got in his car and drove away. Bandit's blood boiled until he turned and run into the house. "Kids?" Bandit said as he closed the front door and headed up stairs. "Bluey please let me in," Thomas said as he tried to open the door. "Go away! You hate us!" Bluey said on the other side of the door. "Bluey I could never hate you or Bingo for that matter," Thomas still trying to get his sisters to open the door. "You're a liar!" Bluey shouted. "I'm not lying!" Thomas exclaimed. "What I'm saying is the most trustful thing I've ever said," he said with a softer voice.

With tears filling his eyes, he could feel his breathing starting to get heavier and heavier, his heart racing and everything around him was starting to spin, causing him to lean his back against his sister's door and slowly get down. He knew what that was: another panic attack. However, he couldn't let that stop him from trying to reach his sisters. He needed to tell them everything he was feeling at the moment, let them know how important they were to him… even if that meant telling them the hard truth about his deep feelings for them he had been harboring for years long before he came to know them and love them. He tried to control that panic attack as much as he could with his deep breaths.

Bandit arrived to the hallway and, seeing his son like that, realized he was having another one of his panic attacks. He prepared to go to him, but then he started hearing him speaking, directing his words to his sisters. "But… I have to tell you… that was not always the truth," Thomas confessed. "Ever since I can remember, it has been only me, dad and my mom… and we were happy, we had problems, but… we we're happy, until dad left my mom, came back to Australia, met and married your mom and then he had you…" he continued, taking a moment to take some more breaths.

"Bluey… do you remember that day at uncle Stripe's… you made that drawing of our family, but you didn't include me? You felt that… I was taking dad away from you and Bingo… Well, that's exactly what I thought you two were doing to me…" Thomas admitted. "After dad met and married your… our mom, I thought I could handle it, dad told me he would continue to love me all the way and I believed him, and when they were expecting you… I couldn't be happier, because I would be an older brother… but that feeling only lasted until my ninth birthday," Thomas said. Bandit, hearing Thomas mentioning that birthday, could feel his heart aching, as he also remembered that dreadful day, where he did the thing he regretted the most.

"Dad didn't came to my birthday… the first time ever… and all because he was back here… having you" Thomas told. "And the worst part… is that it was for nothing, because you only came to be born a month later, and because of that I felt so angry, so mad… It was like he had replaced me… betrayed me, because he broke his promise," he continued. Bandit had a tear running through his face, all while hearing the pain he had caused to his son. "After that, I shut down every single bit of love and respect I had for him and I put them, along with all the love I was nurturing for you, behind a door at the back of my mind, hoping to forget it ever happened, even when I was forced by mom to meet you two… I just put on a mask, a fake smile, and I pretended I cared about you… because, despite I knew it was not your fault, I couldn't help but remember the pain I felt at that day, when I looked at you."

"But then… my mom died and I came to live with you guys… and at the beginning, I hated every single moment of it, because, if it was up to me, I would go live to my grandparents or my uncle Prince and keep pretending you didn't exist, but I guess my mom thought that would be the easy way", Thomas told, before releasing a small and weak chuckle. "It's ironic, actually, my mom's death, that is my worst memory ever, ended up saving me from myself, because probably I would have ended up like my uncle Prince, being a jerk full of hate and contempt… for everyone and myself, but instead I came here and you two managed to open that little door I shut down years ago… and because of that, I allowed myself to love you, to love our dad again… I even dared to call 'mom' to another," Thomas continued, with his face now completely wet with tears. "I guess it was all that love I felt for all of you, my new family, when coming in conflict with all the pain I've endure and blamed on all of you, that caused me to have this panic attacks…"

"Deep down, I always knew that was the reason I was having them, but I chose to ignore it, I chose to keep moving forward, to keep loving and treasuring you all as much as I could, hoping everything else would just disappear, that everything would be fine again… that I wouldn't lose this second chance to have a family," Thomas said. He found harder and harder to keep controlling his breath, so put all the energy and air he had on this next words. "I love you, little sisters… Now and forever…" He closed his eyes, waiting to pass out, until he felt himself falling back, as the door that was supporting him opened, and he felt the warm hug of his little sisters engulfing him. "We love you too, big brother!" both Bluey and Bingo exclaimed, also crying. Feeling their hug and hearing their words made Thomas to smile yet again, feeling himself be filled with their love and happiness, before passing out.

Bandit, who had heard everything his son had said, also had his face wet with tears. He couldn't believe how much his son had endured, both before and after he came to live with them and how much strong he was for doing it. It only made him get even prouder of him, proud of the strong and caring son he had… and was the only thing left he had for his first true love. After overcoming the feelings he was feeling, Bandit rushed to his son and tried to raise him. "Girls, go get your mum, we need to take Thomas to the hospital now," Bandit told to his daughters, who nodded and rushed to get Chilli.

Bandit then rose Thomas with all his strength and managed to put him on his shoulders, starting carrying to the staircase, something that was costing him to do. He hated to admit it, but maybe Prince had a point when he said he needed to work out more. He went down and put Thomas at the car. Chilli wanted to go too, but she thought it was for the best if she stayed with the girls and tried to calm them down and so Bandit started driving to the hospital.

Kodiwolf321 A/N I told you guys this one would tear you apart. Hopefully things will go back to normal with dr beagles help in the next chapter.