"Hello Mother, Hello Father."

Tulio tried to look as calm as possible on the outside but inside, he was screaming. Screaming and cursing at the cruel gods that seemed to laugh at his pain, while he kept his face as neutral as possible. He wouldn't cry in front of them, they didn't deserve his tears.

The room was so quiet you could have heard someone sneeze at the other end of the castle. Mrs Maduro took a small step forward and it took all of Tulio's courage not to step back. Miguel could feel his blood pressure rising as he resisted the urge to run forward to protect Tulio, but he trusted Tulio's ability to protect himself; but the second Tulio needed him, he would be there.

"Tulio.. It really is you…" Mrs Maduro whispered out, her voice that once brought Tulio comfort and love, now only instilled fear and disgust into his very core.

"Son… You're alive." Mr Maduro's tone was full of shock and warmth and joy but his voice as well only filled Tulio with hatred and he even let himself scrunch his nose. Mr Maduro put his hand out as if to touch him but Tulio sent a cold hard glare his way, which caught Mr Maduro off guard so he let his hand fall.

"Yes, I am alive; no thanks to you," Tulio grunted, his voice was so low it was almost hard to hear but the contempt in his tone was crystal clear. The two older people; visibility flinched and confusion littered their faces.

"Son, we looked everywhere for you. Do you know how afraid we were when we found out you had been kidnapped?" Mr Maduro rasped out, his voice cracking, from old age or despair Tulio didn't care.

"Is that what you think happened? Is that what you truly believed happened, you couldn't think of any other reason that I could be missing in the slightest?" Tulio hissed out, his hands clenched into fists so hard he could have drawn blood but he was far too angry to be bothered at the moment. "Oh no, I was definaiuly kidnapped against my will and taken away from my loving, caring parents." That whole sentence was dripping with sarcasm and anger and it made the elderly couple uncomfortable.

"So, you weren't kidnapped?" Mrs Maduro whined out.

"Of course I wasn't kidnapped, Pendejos! I ran away!" Tulio chastised throwing his hands in the air as if to emphasise how obvious it was.

"Ran away… Why on earth would you do such a thing?!" Mrs Maduro shuddered as her voice shook. Her husband grabbed at her shoulders to steady her, trying to understand.

"Why?" Tulio snapped. "Look me in the eye and say you can't think of a single reason why I would run away. You know damn well why."

Eugene had never heard his papa speak in such a way, sure his papa had gotten angry in the past, he had been on the receiving end of many lectures but this was different. Tulio usually yelled when he was frustrated and afraid, but this wasn't yelling. Tulio wasn't even raising his voice but Eugene could feel the anger and to be honest; he was glad his grandparents seemed uncomfortable.

"Chiquito…" Mrs Maduro mumbled, but Tulio cut her off before she could say anything else.

"Don't you dare call me that! You don't get to call me that after everything you did, after everything you let happen to me!" Tulio bellowed as he felt his eyes sting with repressed feelings as he pushed his tears back. He despised that pet name, what was once a name he smiled and loved to be called; now just remind him of one man who came to see him one night and called him that the whole time.

Now, he only associated it with pain.

"You… Remember all that?" Mr Maduro spluttered out, as his and his wife's eyes widened in shock.

Tulio let out a loud deafening laugh that continued longer than it should have. Miguel was concerned and wanted to rush over to comfort his darling but knew that Tulio needed to do this and if he couldn't, Miguel would happily step in.

Tulio stopped laughing and looked at the two elderly people in front of him with a manic look in his eyes. "Do I remember? Of course, I remember! Do you know just how much I wish I could forget; the nights of crying myself to sleep, the feeling of being disgusting and how nobody would love me with a soiled body, waking up screaming from constant nightmares, lashing out at the people I love and feeling so worthless I wanted to kill myself!? Does that sound like I remember?!"

Tulio panted as he tried to compel himself from his rage-induced rant, but then he realised he wasn't done, he needed them to know how badly they had affected him.

"In fact, if it wasn't for that man over there," Tulio shouted, pointing at Miguel, who was also glaring at them, "I wouldn't even be alive and now that I am a father myself to a young man who makes me proud every single day; I can not fathom how you could possibly let me go through what I did and for what? Money that we didn't need? We were already rich before that man came along, you could have said no and we could have been happy but no, you would have rather let me suffer for years so that you have more money."

The couple looked at Eugene and Rapunzel, grasping what their son had said but before they could ask any questions, Tulio stepped into their line of sight, prompting them to step back.

"Don't look at them, Don't you dare look at my family, you lost that right the moment you let that disgusting man crawl his way into my bed and every other man after him. That is my family and I hate the fact that they know you even exist, if it was up to me, I would have lived the rest of my life never seeing you again but I guess the gods had a different plan for me, huh? Just my luck too."

There was an incredibly awkward silence before the sound of sobbing broke through the air, Mrs Maduro to be exact. Tulio hadn't noticed before but tears were running down both of his parent's faces. He felt himself stop and his eyes widened, he was surprised that they were crying, despite trying to act as if nothing had happened at first.

"You're right…" Mr Maduro whispered into the air. "You have no idea how much I regretted that decision every day, especially when I saw how much pain you were in but we thought that if we bought you present after present it would make it ok, but we were wrong."

Tulio just listened, too shocked to even think of something to say, he had rehearsed this argument in his head for over 40 years and not even once had he thought of his parents regretting their actions.

"I was no better, I should have done something the moment you came to me crying in pain but I didn't, god when did I become so greedy as to throw my own son to the wolves for money and power we didn't need?" His mother cried and she shook as the sobs wracked through her old body. "I never truly believed you had been kidnapped, that was just what I told myself because I couldn't face the reality that we had driven you away from us. There wasn't a night afterwards where I didn't think about you, my beautiful boy, who we let someone defile for selfish reasons."

Tulio let his mother finish, then looked at his father who began to speak again, "Son, Tulio, we can't even begin to imagine how much pain you've been in all these years and we completely understand why you ran away but this... This could be a new start for us."

…What? Oh, no. No, no, no; NO! This was not happening.

"We could start again, and you could come back, with your son and, I'm sure, your beautiful wife and they could get to know us and we could be a family again, doesn't that sound wonderful?" Mr Maduro said with a sad smile while wiping his wife's eyes.

"...Are you serious?" Tulio asked in astonishment, how could they think he would possibly want that?

"B-but we realise that we have done you wrong, so very wrong and we have always felt so bad about what happened."

"S-so, you're apologising?" Tulio said in a dead voice, displaying no emotion.

"Yes, Son, we are so so sorry." Mr Maduro apologised.

"Ok. I don't forgive you."

"Tulio, we said we're sorry."

"Yes, and I do not forgive you."

"Chiquito please, we know we were wrong but-"

"No." Tulio cut Mrs Maduro off before she could say anymore. "I'm not going to forgive you, I don't have to forgive you. You purposely let man after man crawl his way into my bed long after you had all the money for your spice and sugar, you let them keep coming for three years. Almost every single month there was someone new and every single time it hurt like hell; I remember begging you both in private just to please stop inviting them over so often but your excuses were 'It's for the good of the family.'

"Where was that mentality when you bathed me the next day and the water was pink with blood, where was it when they would burn me with cigars is just prove they could and you would cover them up with bandages so I didn't look unsightly; and where was it the time that man almost choked me to death because I couldn't stop crying and he gave you some cash to pay for a decent doctor to patch me up?"

The room was uncomfortably silent as Tulio kept describing atrocity after atrocity, there were things said even Miguel didn't know about; he had to physically restrain himself from actively killing the Maduro couple, as was everyone else in the room.

"So no, I'm not going to forgive you. And just for the record, I don't have a wife, I have an incredibly loving and caring boyfriend who loves more than I ever thought anyone ever could. I have wonderful in-laws who have accepted us with open arms, who I can't thank enough for everything they've done for me and my family. And I'm certainly not going anywhere with you, you can go back to that disgusting place you call home and I'll stay right here, where I belong."

Tulio turned his back to them, took a deep breath and coldly said, "Your boat has been restocked and is ready for departure, you have no business here and I suggest you leave. You will never be welcome here again, good day Mr and Mrs Maduro."

Tulio tried to walk away but stopped when he felt a hand grip the back of his neck, also grabbing at some of his hair, stopping him in his tracks with a sharp yelp of pain.

"Tulio, wait please-" Mr Maduro was cut off by a blade in his face, he froze and followed the length of the blade to find Miguel at the end of it.

Since he had become a Lord, he now carried a fencing sword everywhere. He even trained Eugene and some of the rookie royal guards on sword fighting, and he had never been so glad to have it as he held it to Mr Maduro's neck, just barely nicking the skin.

"You get your filthy hand off my husband right now." Miguel growled, he never thought he could be this angry but here he was, "I thought Tulio made it very clear that he didn't want you here, in fact, none of us want you here. So, what you're going to do is that you're going to let him go, turn around and leave and then, you're going to get on your little boat and you're going to sail away from here and you are never going to try to contact him ever again. And if you do, I'm going to have no choice but to hunt you down and make sure you never do that again, do I make myself clear?"

Mr Maduro could do nothing but nod as he let go of Tulio, who crumpled against Miguel, who wrapped his spare arm around him for support.

When Miguel felt he was at a reasonable distance he put the sword down but not away as he called out, "GUARD'S!" He yelled and not a second later what seemed like the whole royal guard swarmed into the rooms and surrounded the older couple.

"Captain!" Miguel bellowed.

"Yes Lord Miguel?" The royal captain replied.

"See to it that these people make it back to their boat, if they try to resist; you have permission to use lethal force. Do not come back until they are out of sight, understood?"

"Yes Sir, understood." The captain nodded his head as his men led the couple out of the room.

Miguel then sheathed his sword and wrapped his arms around his partner as he felt him trembling against him, "It's alright, they're gone now."

The sound of sobbing pierced the air but nobody cringed, nobody was uncomfortable at the sight of a 53-year-old man crying his eyes out because that man had been through hell. Eugene and Rapunzel rushed forward and inserted themselves into the hug, as did the King and Queen.

Tulio had imagined this moment for years, he had dreamed about confronting his parents since he was 13 and now he was 53 and he had done the impossible, he had actually done it. He had told them everything he had wanted to tell them and made them feel as bad as he had been feeling for years but… he wasn't happy.

He didn't feel any better about what happened. Somehow he just felt worse, to see them again and to have everything that happened in the past thrown back in his face after finally having the life he had always wanted just made his chest hurt.

But what hurt the most was that deep, deep down in a crevice in his heart that he liked to pretend didn't exist, he still loved his parents.

He didn't miss Mr and Mrs Maduro, the business couple who own and operate a spice and sugar distribution company, he missed his Mommy and Daddy. The people who he would run to hug every morning, the people who would play with him and read to him; and give him everything a little boy could want both financially and emotionally.

He missed his family.

He didn't know what happened to his family but he missed it.

He missed those people that loved him but they were also the same people that left him alone with those disgusting men.

It hurt.

It hurt so much Tulio thought he was going to die.

But… It also felt right.

As painful as seeing them again was, he was able to comfort them, get that closer that he could have possibly gotten as a child. So as much as his heart hurt, the pain was somewhat dimmer than what it could have been.

Miguel could only hold his partner as he cried his little heart out, Miguel whispered reassuring things into his ear but he wasn't sure he could hear him. Miguel's own heart broke for Tulio, he wished he could wave his hands and have everything fixed but he couldn't.

After quite a while, the crying stopped and Tulio was calm once again. Soon enough the whole family migrated to the dining room and began drinking tea; if Tulio noticed it was his favourite kind, he didn't say anything. He stayed silent the whole time but there wasn't much conversation going around; that was until after an hour of sitting in pretty much silence, Tulio's gazed up from his mug and looked at Eugene and croaked out, "Come here for a moment, Mi Pequeño Ladrón."

Eugene got up from his seat and kneeled next to his papa, "Papa?" He asked and was surprised when Tulio reached his hand out and cupped his son's face and smiled the warmest smile. "I meant what I said back there, you truly do make me proud every single day and I count imagine my life without you; but not just you, Miguel, Rapunzel, Fred and Arianna all of you; every single one of I can't thank you all enough for all you've done, but especially you Miguel."

Miguel reached over and put his hand on Tulio's thigh. "You have nothing to thank me for, I did all of this because I love you, the crazy, paranoid, beautiful you and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Tulio then swivelled his chair so that I was Facing Miguel, "Well, if that's the case, I just have one thing to ask you?"

Miguel smiled, reached out and began cradling Tulio's right hand in both of his, "Anything my Darling, what is it?"

"What did you mean back then when you said 'You get your filthy hand off my husband right now.'?"

Oh.

OH.

You could see the sweat drip from Miguel's brow. "Oh.. Is that what I said?"

"Yes Miguel I heard you loud and clear… Did you mean it?"

Miguel took a deep breath and stood from his chair and rooted around his pocket, "I wish it could have been more romantic and how I planned but that doesn't matter, what really matters to me is what you say next.."

Miguel then got down on one knee and held up a small black box that opened to reveal a gold ring with silver accents and a large blue jewel in the middle.

"Tulio, my partner in crime, love of my life and my everything, Will you marry me?"

Tulio was sill for a moment but quickly lept out of his seat and practically tackled Miguel to the ground. Miguel just laughed and tried to keep a tight hold of the ring, "Is that a yes?"

"¡¿Incluso tienes que preguntar?! ¡Por supuesto que me casaré contigo, estúpido y apuesto idiota!" Tulio gushed as fresh tears ran down his face, cradling Miguels face in his hands as kissed his face all over.

"What did he say Eugene?" Queen Arianna whispered over to her son in law.

"Uh, he said yes, in so many words." Eugene had lost a lot of his Spanish in the years he was away but he could still understand most of what his papa had said.

"Congraulations!" King Frederic bellowed as he reached down and grabbed the couple in a huge bear hug, that if it cut off the couple's air, they didn't say.

"Well that's wonderful, we need to hold a celebration." The Queen proclaimed.

"That's a great idea!" Miguel agreed, "We are gonna have the best wedding, the colour theme is gonna be gold, we need to invite Chel because she'll actually kill us if we don't and-"

"You really thought this through didnt you?" Tulio laughed.

"I've been thinking about this moment from the moment I met you, Ladrón de mi corazón~, " Miguel said as he stood up and picked Tulio in a princess carry along with it, laughing at Tulio's modified reaction.

"Oh shut up and put me down before you break your hip Anciano! " Tulio blushed as he hopped out of Miguel's carry but didn't move Miguel's arms from around his waist. Rapunzel then couldn't keep her excitement in anymore as she rushed the couple for a hug.

"I'm so happy for you two, I can't wait to help you plan your wedding, its gonna be the best wedding ever!" The brunette exclaimed, flapping her hands as her thoughts ran wild.

"Actually, I'm sure you'll say yes but I'll ask anyway. Rapunzel, would you like to be my bridesmaid?" Miguel asked and a scream echoed through the room as Rapunzel jumped into Miguel's arms, giggling as he twirled her around.

Tulio and Eugene could only watch on and smile as their partners laughed and talked excitedly to each other. Tulio stepped to stand next to his son and put his hand on his shoulder, "You picked a wonderful wife Eugene."

"I know Papa."

"Eugene would you like to be my best man?" Tulio asked out of the blue. Eugene turned to him, a little shocked. "You're asking me?"

"Nothing would make me happier than marrying the man I love with my son and the rest of the people I love around me. Yes Eugene, I want you right there next to us, will you?"

Eugene tried to hold the tears back but one or two slipped out as he pulled his father in for the gentlest of hugs.

"I love you papa."

"I love you too Eugene, and you know what would be the best wedding present?"

"What is it?"

"A grandchild would be nice."

"DAD!"

Tulio laughed as Eugene's face went bright red.

It was funny how the worst day of his life had turned into one of the best.

The part of him that missed his parents would never truly die, but now, it was pushed down deep enough to ignore it for now.

This was his family now, and he was never going to stop loving them.