Chapter 16

It's the second week of December, everyone is out and about doing Christmas shopping. Tadano and the gang are out at the mall shopping for each other, Jason walking with Anai to look for a present for Jojo, Jason asks, "Hey Uncle Anai?"

"Yeah Jason what's up?" Anai looks at the fox walking beside him.

"Where is my other dad?"

"Jojo, he's...well he's dealing with stuff." Anai says placing his hand behind his head as if those words he just spoke put a weight on his shoulders.

"What do you mean?" Jason asks concerned and confused. Anai lets out a sigh as he sits down with Jason on a bench outside of the shop that they were going in.

"Well you see Jason, during the month of December, your dad he ughh..He has a history of really bad depression and anxiety, and he was alone for so long before he met Haida that for years during December, he would make multiple attempts." Anai says softly resting his arms on his legs looking down at the ground.

"You mean dad would try to kill himself." Jason says as tears begin to form in his eyes.

"Yeah, but your dad, he isn't one to die so easily, he's been trying for the past 11 years and still hasn't died. You know he was in a car accident, the airbags didn't deploy except for the side one, and your dad he walked away with a headache and a small scratch on his side. But I don't think that time was intentional, The roads were slippery and it was raining hard but yeah your dad don't die easy." Anai says placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I...I know we still got alot of shopping to do but can we go make sure my dad is ok." Jason looks at Anai with pleading eyes.

"Sure, I will text Tadano and tell him to let the other's know we will be back later." Anai says as him and Jason begin their walk to the parking lot, Anai takes out his phone and begins to text Tadano. He lets Tadano know that him and Jason will be leaving to go check up on Jojo and will be back later.

Once they get in the car they begin to drive towards Jojo and Haida's work place. When they were crossing the bridge right before their work place they notice that traffic is backed up. Anai wondering how there could be this much traffic at this time sticks his head out the window to see what the issue is and sees Jojo standing on the bridge holding onto two wires.

"FUCK JASON WE GOTTA GO!" Anai says putting on his hazard lights and gets out of the car as him and Jason begin to run in Jojo's direction.

"DAD...PLZ DAD, DON'T DO THIS...I NEED YOU, NATE NEEDS YOU, WE ALL NEED YOU DAD," Jason says slowly making his way towards his dad, Anai not far behind.

"It's not worth it Jason, I failed my whole life, I failed in the military, I failed so many people, I am so mentally fucked in the head that people would always leave me, I thought it was them that was the problem but no it was me I was the problem and I still am, I deserve to die" Jojo says looking at the water below

"Jojo, Listen to me you have made such a difference, thanks to you I got a beautiful baby girl, thanks to you, me and Emily have a family now not just me and her but we have Tadano, Henry, Haida, Jason, Nate, and so many more people and its all thanks to you. Please Jojo don't do this, do you want me to call Tadano them and have them come over here?" Anai says as him and Jason are roughly ten feet away from Jojo.

"Everyone, get back in your car and go about your day, we are his family we will take care of this, Jason you stay here and talk to Jojo while I go park the car so that we aren't blocking traffic." Anai says as he runs to his car unlocks it and begins to drive over the bridge and parks it in the nearest lot.

Twenty minutes later, Tadano, Henry, Nate, Haida, and Emily arrive at the scene.

"Babe! you promised you would talk to me before it got this bad, I been there for you all these years during your episodes, I never left because I know you can't help it, you don't mean to have these episodes but you do, and I never judged you, in fact it made me love you more, I love you babe flaws and all, and look we got two wonderful kids that we adopted and a beautiful niece, we have a big family now babe and it's all thanks to you," Haida says.

"Please daddy, I just got a family that loves me, I didn't think that I would ever get adopted let alone get adopted with my big brother, I thought we would be seperated and never see eachother again, but thanks to you and Haida me and my big brother have a family that we can grow with. Please daddy, please get down from the ledge" Nate sobs as Henry hugs him and the small fox cries into Henry's shirt.

"I'm sorry everyone, if I had met you guys in the past, maybe things would be different," Jojo says as he lets go of the wires and as soon as he did Anai grabs him by the shirt and yanks him back. Tadano and Haida catch him as Jojo begins to thrash.

"LET ME GO!" Jojo yells thrashing trying to break free.

"No, the more you struggle Jojo the tighter we will hug you and the harder we will love you," Anai and Tadano say together in unison.

"Babe, my caring queen, please...please calm down. Your king as well as our two wonderful princes need their queen to stay alive." Haida says as he gently pets Jojo on the top of his head.

Once Jojo finally calms down. Anai offers to take him back to the house while the rest of the family finishes shopping. Everyone agrees as Anai leads Jojo to the car as the rest of them hop in theirs and head back to the mall.

Fourteen minutes later, Anai arrives at the house with Jojo, they both walk in and Anai takes Jojo's keys and puts it in his pocket. Anai walks up to Jojo and punches him in the face causing him to fall to the floor, before Jojo could get back up Anai sits ontop of his chest pinning his arms above his head. Jojo seeing the pain in Anai's eyes doesn't blame him for the punch, knowing very well that Anai wouldn't punch him for no reason. Jojo not even putting up a fight just lays underneath Anai trapped between his legs.

"Jojo...you selfish bitch, didn't you think about the heartache that your death would have caused this family, do you have any idea how it would affect your two sons, they would be devistated that they lost one of their dads, they wouldn't know how to cope and would probably never recover from it, not a day would go by that they wouldn't think about a way they could have prevented it" Anai says holding back the tears.

"I didn't think about it, because I didn't care... I just want my pain to end," Jojo says in a emotionless tone. Only to be greeted by a slap by Anai who then moves up on Jojo's body trapping his arms above his head now sitting on Jojo's neck.

"Listen here you son of a bitch, we are a fucking family, get that through your fucking head ok, your problems are no longer yours to face alone, if you need someone call one of us, we would be here in heartbeat, we would drop what we are doing and come if it's not important, but you know we would be here Jojo" Anai says crying now as his tears begin to fall onto Jojo's forehead.

"I...Im sorry Anai" Jojo says tears forming in his eyes now.

"It's ok bro, just please reach out to us ok no more making attempts." Anai says as he is about to stand but Jojo uses his arms to keep Anai ontop of him.

"D...do you really think that I am that important to this family?" Jojo says

"Of course you are you beautiful idiot, if you weren't do you think we all would have come to stop you." Anai says as Jojo releases his grip and lets Anai stand up.

"Hey bro, can...can you hold him till everyone comes home please, this whole episode has got me exhausted." Jojo says as he sits on the couch.

"Course bro not a problem," Anai says as he sits behind Jojo and lets Jojo lean back against him resting on his chest. Anai wraps his arms around Jojo and interlocks their fingers together.

"I remember, when I was having a problem and I wanted to give up, you came up and without asking or thinking of the consequences grabbed and held my hand in yours. It was different for me but I felt like I wasn't alone so I know holding hands isnt just for you and Haida but for anyone to feel like they matter." Anai says giving the top of Jojo's head a kiss. So when the family gets back we will all wrap presents and watch Christmas movies together ok, no more sad boy for today. Anai says gently rocking back and forth as Jojo just closes his eyes and breaths softly. While Jojo is resting in his friend's arms Anai softly whispers a poem that Haida told him that would help calm Jojo.

"Rest well mi'lady your anger was all in vain, sleep well mi'lady for tomorrow will be a brand new day, upon your head we place your crown, we will always pick u up our queen when ever you are down, in our hearts we place your trust, we will protect you our queen each and everyone of us...Jojo please don't do this again please reach out to us we cannot afford to lose you," Anai says looking down at the rabbit breathing softly through his nose. Anai slowly gets up and lays Jojo carefully on the couch, placing a blanket over him before kissing his nose and then his forehead.

An hour later the rest of the family gets home slowly opening the door, once Tadano opens it all the way they see Jojo and Anai sitting on the couch drinking cocoa.

"DAD!" Jason and Nate says rushing to Jojo almost making him drop his cup. The two boys embrace their dad sobbing their eyes out again, Hadai comes over to and embraces Jojo as well in his arms.

"Jojo my queen, me as well as our boys were so worried, they didn't even want to finish Christmas shopping, they wanted to come home, Rosco them called Jason to see if he wanted to hang out, but they heard Jason crying histerically over the phone, and for the first time ever in Jason's life he had friends that actually cared, Rosco's mom dropped the gang off and they all rushed to Jason and Nate embracing them in their arms comforting them. They...They refused to leave our son's side so they came over too," Haida says looking behind him as Rosco, Desoto, Jules, and Anna walk into the house, their eyes puffy as well because they shared the same pain and worry that their friend felt.

"We are so glad, that you are alright Mr. Jojo sir, Please sir we will do what we can to help you out as well in anyway we are able too, we don't want Jason to lose his dad, not like this." Rosco says. Out of nowhere Jason walks over near his friends as they all face Jojo, Jason kneels followed by his friends before they all say in unison "Your majesty, we will always do what we can for Jason, and for you and Haida."

Jojo along with everyone else breaks out in laughter. "OMG babe, did you put them up to this?" Jojo says holding his side.

"No...I had no idea this caught me by suprise too" Haida says laughing on all fours.

"I uhh...I heard you and dad calling each other king and queen when one of you was upset, so I assumed that it was a way for you to cheer up each other, you guys would only call each other that when one of you had a really stressful day. And well today was a really stressful day so when Rosco them came I told them what you guys call each other, I thought they would laugh at me for it, but they said if thats what it takes to get your dad out of the hole he is in, we got u," Jason says looking at his dads.

"So looks like you got three knights, and 6 knights in training" Tadano says as him and Henry kneel as well.

"Oh god you guys get up already this is getting too much, im struggling to breath" Jojo says as they all get up and begin laughing once more.

"Hey Rosco, do you and your mom want to have dinner with us, in fact do all your families wanna have dinner here, we got enough dinner tables and room for a party fit for a legit kingdom" Tadano says.

"Hey Tadano, if i may ask how much money do you have?" Rosco asks.

"Enough, I promise I have enough, with all the income that me, Henry, Jojo, Haida, and Anai bring in, we don't have to worry." Tadano says.

"Why don't you guys just retire then?" Jules asks.

"We aren't the type of people who can just sit on their ass and not do anything, it would get extremely boring extremely fast" Henry says. Rosco and the rest get on their phones and ask their parents if they want to come over to Tadano's place for dinner, the parents think its a joke begin to face time the gang, once they turn on the video chat they all lift it up so that Tadano is in the background. He simply waves and smiles. The parents shocked but agree to come for dinner as Tadano heads to the kitchen with Henry and Anai. Emily is in the bedroom feeding Harmony. Jason and the rest of the gang are busy setting the table, putting the plates and utensils. In the kitchen, Tadano leans over and whispers something into Henry's ear.

"Of course babe, those kids out there did something for our nephew, they did something genuine and expect nothing in return, you know that they truly care for him and will not use him so of course you can babe, you are such a kind and caring soul, so selfless. That's why i married you" Henry says licking Tadano on the mouth.

Once the family of Rosco, Desoto, Jules and Anna come over Jason opens the door for them and welcomes them in. Tadano, Henry, Anai, and Emily just got done placing the foods on the table as little Harmony is bouncing in her jumper.

"Holy shit son, you guys really do know Tadano!" Rosco's mom says.

"Yeah he was Jason's uncle and honestly we thought he was joking as well until Tadano came to pick him up from Rosco's garage," Rosco says as he makes a plate for his younger sister.

"Also before it slips my mind," Tadano, Henry, Jojo, and Haida all stand up and hand out an envelope to Rosco, Desoto, Jules, and Anna's parents.

"This is just a little way for me and my family to show our appreciation, for the kindness that your children showed my nephew and Haida's adopted son. But before you open it, since it is in your hands now, you can't return it," Tadano says as they sit back down and begin to eat.

The other parents shrug their shoulders and open the envelope, they all nearly fall out of their chairs when they pull out a check for $250,000.

"Tadano we can't accept this!" Rosco's mom says, choked up on her words

"To bad we said no takesy backsies" Jojo, Haida, Henry, and Tadano say together in a childlike voice.

"We are really grateful and appreciative, I am not sure if we can pay this back but we will do what we can to help you guys out." Jule's dad says as he gets up from the table to shake their hands. Later that night even though it wasn't Christmas yet the gang opened up their Christmas presents early.