Bandit and Chilli woke up to the smell of breakfast as they turned and looked at each other. "Is someone making breakfast?" Chilli asked waking up some more. "I don't know, let's go check," Bandit said getting up. The two Heelers then walked into the kitchen to find their son making breakfast for them. "Mate? What are you doing up so early?" Bandit asked. Thomas turned and looked at his parents. "Good morning mom good morning dad," Thomas said while cooking. "Did we wake up in the right house?" Chilli asked, while getting inside the kitchen and sitting down. "Just thought I would make everyone breakfast." Thomas said with a smile. Bandit and Chilli looked at each other and then looked at back at their son. "When did you learn how to cook, mate?" Bandit asked also sitting down next to his wife. "I learned from the best dad of the world… that is you," Thomas said looking at father. "Have you forgotten all those times I helped you making breakfast?"
Bandit felt proud that his son had said that, causing him to remember those happy times. "I'll go get the girls," Chilli said as she stood up. Bandit stayed in the kitchen while Thomas cooked. "You know, it's not like you to cook, even if you know how to do it, what can only mean… you are nervous about today, right mate?" Bandit asked as Thomas served him some food. "A little, dad what if I fail?" Thomas asked turning off the stove. "Son I was nervous at my first game too," Bandit confessed. "Dad, you're a legend at school, how could you have ever been nervous?" Thomas asked preparing the other plates. "Hey, all legends started from the bottom, when I started at the team I was a tenth grader, I had a lot to prove, trust me mate I was nervous and so were your uncles," Bandit explained. Thomas laughed at that. "I don't see uncle Rad being nervous at any game… or at anything," Thomas said as he started to eat. "Between me and you mate, he was nervous because he didn't have me by his side," Bandit said winking at his son.
Thomas laughed just as the girls and Chilli came into the kitchen. "Wow you made this big brother?" Bingo asked. "I sure did" Thomas replied. "Wow, look at this…" Bluey said. "I thought you only knew how to make American breakfast," she commented. "Hey, I did grew up with dad… and I learned everything from him," Thomas said as looking to his father with a smile. "Okay, girls, eat up, and after, school, we're all going to see your brother's first game," Chilli said. "Hurray!" the two of them exclaimed, excited. "We can't wait to see you play, Thomas," Bluey told. "Yeah, for sure you're going to win!" Bingo exclaimed. Despite being glad of Bingo's confidence in him, Thomas couldn't help but feeling even more nervous. "Now, Bingo, we must be glad that your brother is playing and support him, even if he doesn't win," Chilli said. "That's right, because we're proud of him, no matter what," Bandit said. Those words from his parents made Thomas become more tranquil, as if they knew how nervous he was getting after what Bingo had said. "Okay…" Bingo said, turning then to Thomas. "You'll do great, big brother," she said to him. "Thank you, Bingo," Thomas replied.
After breakfast, Bandit went to drive the kids to their respective schools. After leaving Bluey and Bingo, he drove Thomas to his school. After stopping and before Thomas got out, Bandit turned to his son. "Look, mate, just keep your head cleared, you got this, okay?" he told him. "Thanks, dad," he said, before getting out of the car. After Bandit went away, Thomas started going to the school. "Hey, Thomas," a voice called. He turned away to see Tori approaching. "Oh… hey, Tori," he greeted, with a little blush. "Thank you for the great afternoon, yesterday, it was lovely," she said. "I am the one that needs to thank you, you really helped me there, thanks to you, I will be able to control my schedule better," Thomas told. "Your welcome, it was a pleasure, if you need any more help, don't hesitate to ask me," she said. "I say the same to you…" Thomas told, while scratching the back of his head. "Well, I better go, I still need to review my homework before class," Tori told, preparing to go. "You know, I can't wait to see you playing," she said, before going. "Thank you, Tori," Thomas said. And she moved away, with Thomas following her with his eyes, before snapping to reality and also getting in.
While Thomas was at his locker, Alfie and Liam approached him. "So, ready for the game today?" Alfie asked. "As ready as I can be, especially since my dad and uncles will come to watch me playing," Thomas told, while closing his locker. "Wow, having the Heeler brothers altogether at one place is something to expect, although I wouldn't want to be at your place, I bet the pressure will be great" Liam commented. "Yeah, I don't know if I would be able to do it," Alfie told. "Acutally, I am quite calm regarding that… at least now, I know my dad and uncles will be proud of me, no matter what," Thomas replied. "And… what about a certain red heeler we all know very well?" Liam asked, in a teasing way. "You mean my mom, or is it my sister Bingo?" Thomas asked. "Come on, you know very well who I'm talking about," Liam replied. Thomas just rolled his eyes as he started heading towards his class, with his two best friends following him. "Come on, man, are you going to tell us you're not even just a little bit nervous?" Liam asked. Thomas turned to them. "What I will tell you is that you really need to stop using Tori to mess with me… it just lost its fun," Thomas told, before hurring his pace to get to his class. "See, I told you to not teasing him about Tori," Alfie told Liam.
At the end of the classes of the day, Thomas walked to the field and started to train before the real game. But, to his surprise, Thomas found his father and uncles talking with his coach. "Dad? Uncle Stripe? Uncle Rad?" Thomas said walking up to his father and Uncles. "Ah Heeler, your dad and uncles were telling me how proud they were of you joining the team," Coach Wolf said with a smile. "Thanks guys," Thomas said looking at his dad and uncles. "To tell you the truth, this boy might be a better player than all three of you," Coach wolf said with a laugh. "Well, he sure has the potential for that," Stripe said. "I agree, after all, he is a Heeler," Rad agreed. "Not to mention I was the one to give him the love for the sport," Bandit told. "I'm not sure about that, coach, I still have a lot to prove to be even compared to them," Thomas spoke up. Bandit smiled putting his arm around his son's shoulders. "Come on, mate, don't be so modest, you do have a talent for this, that I can attest," Bandit said. "Thanks, dad," Thomas replied.
"Where's mom and the girls?" Thomas asked his dad. "They'll be here when the games starts, me and your uncles just wanted to come early and see you train, mate," Bandit said with a smile. "Dad, I know I got a lot to prove and all I want to do is make you, uncle Stripe and uncle Rad proud," Thomas said looking down. Bandit then lifts his son's chin up to look at him. "Mate, me and your uncles are already so proud of you," Bandit said with a smile. "You got this," Bandit said giving his son a hug. "Thanks dad," Thomas said hugging his dad back.
Thomas went on the field to train before the game while Bandit and his brothers sat and watched. "Feels like a lifetime ago since we were here," Stripe said while watching his nephew. "Sure has, mate," Rad added. "Do you think this was the right time for Thomas to be doing sports?" Bandit asked his brothers. Stripe and Rad both looked at their brother. "Why do you ask that mate?" Rad asked. "He is still recovering from all those panic attacks and there're still a lot of things he still needs to solve in his mind, and trying to achieve something where we all excelled… he may think we're not proud of him or something," Bandit confessed. "What!? Why would he think that? Of course we're proud of him," Rad said strongly. "I know that, you two know that, but he is not sure about it, after all, it must be hard to try to live up to our legacy, I know I did," Bandit told. "Yeah, so did I," Stripe added. "Really, you two?" Rad asked. "Hey, you were the team captain and I was your little brother, not to mention the all Emily situation happening between us," Bandit told. "What about me? I had to endure being compared with you guys, sometimes it realled sucked being the youngest," Stripe told. Rad had no idea his brothers had felt that way, what caused him to think that maybe Bandit was right about Thomas.
"Alright mates take a break we have about an hour before the game!" Wolf shouted to his players. All the players went and rested at the stands. As they were getting out of the field, Zach approached Thomas. "Hey, Heeler, try not to mess up our game later, I can only imagine how disappointed your dad and uncles will get for seeing their little Tommy staining their great legacy" he said, while moving away, laughing. That really annoyed Thomas, but he couldn't help but feeling exactly what Zach had just told, while he went to his bag and grabbed some water. "Thomas! Mate! Come here for a second," Rad said standing up. "What are you doing, Rad?" Bandit asked looking to his older brother. "I'm telling my nephew how much I'm proud of him for joining the team and how far he's come," Rad said before looking to Stripe. "And you'll tell him too Stripe, you're his favorite uncle after all and he should hear it from you too," Rad added. Stripe nodded as Thomas walked up to his family.
Thomas arrived to their side. "What do you guys want?" Thomas asked. "Just to tell you that we're proud of you already, you don't have to prove us anything, all right?" Rad told said. "Dad already told me that… like a lot of times", Thomas said. "And I meant every single word every single time I said it," Bandit said. "He may have told you that, but I haven't," Rad said. "And neither did I, and I should have told you that already, after all, if there's one dog that may understand how it is to have something to prove is me," Stripe said, getting up. "Really? You got nervous at your first game too, uncle Stripe?" Thomas asked. "Are you kidding? Have you forgotten I am the youngest of us three? By the time it was my time to get into the team, I already had two brothers to be compared with," Stripe said. "But it was not just him," Bandit said, while getting up as well. "Yeah, we all did," Rad said. "I mean, I didn't have the same pressure you three had, but I had to work a lot to get where I got and, at the beginning, I felt like I would make the team, but I knew no matter what, I would always make my family proud," he continued. "And that's what you must always think, son, that, no matter, we will always be here for you, we'll always be proud of you," Bandit told. Hearing all that made Thomas to get more confident. "Thank you, guys… I really needed to hear that," he said, going to hug each one of the three older Heelers.
It was then that the time of the game arrived and the stands were full of students and families from both the schools that were competing. The Heeler brothers were between the crowd, along with Chilli, Bluey, Bingo, Trixie, Muffin, Socks and even Frisky. Tori was also in the crowd, together with Liam and Alfie. Seeing how his family, friends… and even Tori were cheering for the team, but especially for him, made Thomas feel himself with the confidence he needed. The game started with Thomas' team attacking. He and his team made a swift trade of ball that allowed them to quickly score the first try, with Thomas being the one to do it. "That's my boy!" Bandit shouted from the stands, with Thomas being able to hear that. As the game continued, his team seemed to have some advantage, in part thanks to Thomas. He was really showing that he was really the son of a legend of touch football.
However, it would appear someone was not liking that. Zach, despite seeing his team winning the game, couldn't help but feeling jealous of all the attention Thomas was having. That caused him to start making individual moves that only result in him being touched, facilitating the opposite team in recovering the offensive. That caused a tie to occur near the end of the game. At the ending of the game, Thomas' team was at the offense, with only two touches away from a changeover. Zach had the ball, but he insisted in being the one to score the try. "Shepherd, what are you doing?! Pass to Heeler, he's better positioned!" the coach exclaimed. But it was like Zach didn't want to listen. When he saw that he wouldn't actually be able to score a try, he tried to pass to Peter, the dummy runner, but he was touched before he could do that, much to his frustration. He put down the ball, while his adversaries retreated, hoping that Peter would be the one to grab the ball, but the one to do it was Thomas.
As he grabbed the ball he started running through the field. "Go, Thomas!" Bluey, Bingo and their cousins shouted. "Yes, Thomas, keep running!" Bandit, Stripe and Rad incentivated. Thomas run and, as the other team tried to touch him, he just dodged them quite effectively. He knew the best to do was to pass, but he also knew if he did that, they probably wouldn't be able to win the match. Following his instincts, he just kept moving forward, until he managed to dodge the last adversary, leaving him to just reach the try line. With seconds to spare, he gave a quick sprint and was able to cross it, touching then the ball on the field, scoring for his team and winning the game. The all school cheered for that, but the Heeler family and Thomas' friends were the ones cheering the loudest. Thomas' team (except for Zach and Peter) came to congratulate him and Bandit, Stripe and Rad came down to give him a big hug, each. The rest of the family came also to congratulate him, with his sister jumping at him, causing him to fall, all while hugging him. At that moment, Thomas got to know that, as long he had his family by his side and supporting him, he would be able to do anything.
Adam and Sam walked over to Thomas and greeted him. "Hey Thomas!" Sam called to Thomas. "Sam! Adam!" Thomas said with a smile. Bandit turns and sees Adam and Sam coming over to them. "Dad, this is Adam mom's ex," Thomas said as Adam and Bandit looked at each other. "Nice to meet you mate," Bandit said handing out his hand to shake Adam's. "Nice to meet you too," Adam said shaking Bandits hand. Adam and Bandit talked for a bit before everyone started to head home. Now in the car Bandit was driving home when he asked his son. "You really did make me proud son," Bandit said while driving. "Bandit, he and girls are sleeping," Chilli said looking in the back and then looking to her husband. Bandit couldn't help but to smile as he parked the car at their house. Bandit then looked on the back and seeing his son sleeping laying his head on Bluey's car seat. "Thomas, mate we're home," Bandit said softly.
Thoma woke up and yawned. "Oh okay sorry I fell asleep," Thomas said looking at his dad. "No worry's mate, I know you're tired," Bandit said with a smile. Thomas then got out of the car while Bandit and Chilli grabbed the girls. Thomas laid in his bed about ready to go to sleep until Bandit walked into his room. "Hey mate, are you sleeping?" Bandit asked. Thomas sat up and looked at his father. "No not yet *yawn* what's up?" Thomas asked. Bandit smiled as he sat down at his son's bed. "Just wanted to tell you I'm so proud of you again" Bandit said still with his smile. "Thanks dad," Thomas with a smile. "Get some rest mate," Bandit said patting his son on his back. "Alright dad good night." Thomas said laying down again. "Good night son," Bandit said, shutting his son's door.
Kodiwolf321 A/N: Hey guys hope you liked this chapter it was really fun to make and I'm glad to see Bandit is always proud of son and Thomas has came along way since we first met him in the beginning. Alright guys I'll see you in the next chapter real soon!