So, all I will say is you might see a familiar face in this chapter. ;) But, thank you all so much for all your continued love and support to the fanfic project of mine and I hope you enjoy the latest chapter! :)

(Diego's POV)

Today was an off day from training for me. And as much as my coach and trainers told me to rest… I couldn't.

I had so much on my mind that I couldn't stop myself from taking a jog.

Normally I'm not supposed to go out without consulting padre's security, but I didn't care. I just needed to go out and stretch my legs and clear my head.

Especially after the thing with Claire and how I backed out again… not to mention madre still hardly wants to even talk to me.

Dammit…

I should have just told Claire regardless.

Now I feel as pent up as an angry bear being poked by a stick. Like the smallest thing at this point would set me off completely.

But, the jog was helpful so that was at least 'something'.

I eventually finished my lap and stopped in front of the gate in front of the house. As I stood there cooling down, I looked at my watch before putting my fore and middle fingers at my pulse point to keep track of my heart rate.

I was about to go inside when all of a sudden I heard a car door shut and an enthusiastic male voice call out, "Hey! There's the guy I'm looking for!"

When I looked up and saw this older but fit looking man with dark hair walking up to me.

He looked like he was in his early to mid sixties… despite the fact that even I could tell he had a lot of 'work done' to be as politely bluntly honest as possible. Or at the very least had regular facial injections of some kind to try to avoid looking his age.

Not that it matters to me but I could just see how VERY apparent this man was trying to make himself look younger.

His face had a layer of dark 5 O'clock shadow with a confident yet almost sneering grin as he took off a pair of sunglasses to reveal a set of equally mischievous dark eyes.

But he proceeded to walk right up to me as he started, sounding even more so like he was hiding his age by the way he was speaking from my perspective, "What's going on, man? Now that I'm seeing you in person, I can't tell if you look more like your mom or dad. Either way, I bet you're pretty popular with the ladies? Especially with all those magazines I saw you on at the airport on the way in. Must be nice, eh dude? Hehe… "

Almost as if to punctuate his statement, he was almost trying to be chummy with me as he nudged me with his elbow and gave me a wink.

To which I returned with a skeptical and disturbed look as I took a step back from whoever this strange old man was who was acting as if he knew me and my family well?

Is he a lunatic? This man must be insane.

And how did he even get this close to our family residence?!

Should I alert security?

But, before I jumped to that conclusion, I quirked up an eyebrow and took a chance as I inquired, asking the question that was begging my morbid curiosity, "Excuse me, but… who are you exactly?"

The man gave me a surprised yet intrigued and curious look before chuckling and saying, almost mysteriously matter of fact, "Really? Kinda surprised you don't know who I am? Considering if it wasn't for me, you probably wouldn't even be here, man. Hehe…"

Qué?

I was going to continue questioning him until I heard what I was 110% sure was madre call out in perturbed anger, "CHRIS!"

My assumptions were immediately confirmed as I saw my mother stomping toward me and this very odd man who I guess was named 'Chris'?

Well, I suppose he wasn't lying when he said he knows my parents personally… since it seems mother at least seems to know who he is.

Chris just grinned as he responded, "Ah! Heather! Long time no see, eh? Wasn't expecting to talk to you today."

Mother looked as if she had a fiery sharp glare in her eyes as she got right in Chris's face before accusing, "Seriously?! You are standing on my property! And I don't know how the hell you got in here, but I am calling security if you don't get the hell out of here and go back to whatever 'D list' dumpster you crawled out of."

However, and to my surprise, Chris seemed completely unphased by mother as he responded, putting his hands up slightly, "Easy Queen Bee. Besides, I wasn't here to talk to you or Alejandro anyway. Now, if you'll stop cutting in. I wanted to talk to your son Golden Boy, over here."

He smirked at me and pulled out a piece of paper as he said, "Hey man, how would you like to be a contestant on Total Drama, hosted again by yours truly. Bigger, badder, and more dramatic than ever! Plus the $100 million grand prize would be something you'd want, eh dude?"

'Total Drama'… what?

But I hardly had time to ask questions as he continued, "Took almost two decades, but we got a reboot approved! Hehe… We were about to hold auditions, until I thought to 'ask around'. But you're in luck dude. Between your parents making you a legacy contestant, a face good enough for TV, and being an Olympian… Man, you are GOLDEN! You'll practically be a ratings magnet just by showing up on our latest reality show season."

Reality show?

Again, before I could even speak, mother got right between Chris and I and aggressively shoved the paper into his chest as she spouted, "Well, he isn't interested! In case you haven't noticed, Alejandro is now Spanish Prime Minister and I am more famous than you will ever be no thanks to you and your garbage content with tormenting us and me particularly for YEARS for your own fucked up gain. And I am not about to let…"

Mother kept ranting and ripping into Chris as I just further slipped into confusion.

Mother was on TV with Chris? And padre?

Yes, I knew my parents met on TV since that's all father told me and I was never too interested to look into it further than that… until now.

"Madre, what?..." "Not now." She snapped while putting her hand up. Completely cutting me off and making every muscle in my body tense up.

I could feel my blood boiling in frustration as mother kept ignoring me. Almost as if she thought she could practically talk for me right now.

I kept tensing up in seething rage and frustration until I felt as if I snapped as mother put a hand on my shoulder as she said, "And Diego is also above your trash 'programming' and he doesn't want to be a part of whatever shit circus you're drumming up this time. So you can…!"

I couldn't hold it in anymore as I practically exploded through my teeth, "HOW DO ANY OF YOU THINK YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT I WANT?! I just…UGH, CARAJO!"

I didn't even care to stay any longer and was pissed off beyond my limits.

All my brain seemed to process other than rage was allowing me to run, just wanting to get away from the situation as I took off past the gate to get inside the house.

({No POV})

Heather and Chris stood there in silence after Diego's sudden outburst.

Particularly Heather seemed almost stunned at seeing that sort of behavior from her usually 'even keeled' son ( typically being much like his father in that sense to her).

Heather kept staring at Diego's wake wide eyed until she was pulled out of it as she heard Chris comment snarkily, "Wow, that seems pretty familiar, eh Heather?"

As Chris chuckled in amusement, Heather immediately tensed up at Chris's jab to get at her before she eventually recomposed herself and turned back around to be face to face with Chris.

Her expression was unreadable yet almost somehow casual as she looked Chris dead in the eye, making him freeze up in unsure trepidation at whatever Heather had in mind at the current moment.

Well, until his suspicions were immediately confirmed as his eyes went wide as Heather casually took out her phone and looked like she pressed something that immediately set off a loud alarm, clearly indicating she alerted her and Alejandro's private security that they had to a degree even before Alejandro was Prime Minister.

With that Chris immediately took his leave and jogged off toward a black sedan as he called out in panic to his driver, "START THE CAR OR YOU'RE FIRED!"

After Chris quickly hopped in the car, one of Heather and Alejandro's security guards was already going after him via motorcycle to clear them off the premises as Heather started making her way immediately inside the house.

Meanwhile inside, Alejandro (who had a meeting canceled with his staff and decided to come home early to spend time with Heather and Diego on their free afternoon) was walking out of his study when Diego came practically speeding around the corner and ran into him.

Not only that, but Diego had almost a tense, livid, and infuriated look on his face.

It looked like Diego was about to keep running until Alejandro stopped him with his hand on his shoulder as he inquired, feeling Diego tense up under his touch, "Diego, what is it? What happened?"

Then almost as if to punctuate it, a very on edge (and deep down secretly embarrassed from being poked at by Chris for Diego's outburst) Heather appeared around the corner as she snapped in frustration, "Hey! What was that out there?! What has gotten into you?!"

Diego went almost bolt upright as he turned around and practically exploded, "OH, WHAT DO YOU EVEN CARE?! CONSIDERING IT SEEMS LIKE NOTHING I DO IS EVER GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU! IS IT?!"

Heather's eyes went wide and her expression dropped, clearly in shock from seeing her son act like this… and because of what he said.

Alejandro; however, was quick to jump in and assert himself as he countered in a very stern parental tone, "Diego, don't yell at your mother. You need to calm down."

But Diego seemed completely undeterred. Almost seemingly like a rabid animal with its hackle up as he shouted back, "NO! ALL I'VE DONE MY WHOLE LIFE IS DO EVERYTHING SHE WANTED! I lived up to and surpassed every expectation set in front of me! AND FOR WHAT?!"

Diego slowly looked back toward Heather and made eye contact with her as he directed, while still angry seemed to be speaking somehow genuinely hurt, "I work so hard and not once have you ever told me I did a good job or acknowledged it. WHY?! YOU'RE MY MOTHER! DO YOU EVEN CARE?!"

While Heather was initially shocked by Diego's directness, it appeared her defensive side came up from clearly hating being 'backed into a corner' as she snapped, "OH! WHAT?! It's my fault! Just because I wasn't constantly 'stroking your ego' your whole life every time you did literally anything that it means I don't care?! Why do you even need the validation?! Have you ever thought of that being a 'good' thing to not turn you into a useless, lazy, and complacent idiot like your cousins?! I never got that crap from my parents and look at me now! And look at you! You turned out okay! What the hell else could you possibly want from me?!"

Diego grit his teeth before stomping his foot (almost as if he was an alpha asserting themselves rather than a teenager) as he shouted in frustration accusation, "WELL THEN WOULD IT ATLEAST KILL YOU TO SAY YOU LOVE ME EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE?! JUST… AGH! WHATEVER?!"

And with that Diego stormed off, leaving his in-shock parents in his wake as he ran upstairs. Alejandro and Heather remained silent until they heard Diego slamming his door shut.

The sound echoed for a moment as Alejandro stood there with his right hand clutched into his hair as he tried to process what just occurred.

Alejandro remained in that state until Heather eventually exasperated in frustration as she complained, "Ugh! What is with you Burromuerto men and being so damn 'emotional' and 'needy' all the time?!"

Then almost as if to punctuate her frustrated statement… Heather walked around the corner to her private makeup room and slammed the door shut behind her, leaving Alejandro all by himself to process the situation and sort through his thoughts.

But, in all this uncertainty, one thing to him was clear. The afternoon was clearly not going to be a family or spousal related one.

That was for certain.

Well, and another thing I think we can say for sure is 'yikes'. D: But, after 17 years of holding in his deep seeded emotions around his mother, it looks like Diego officially broke. We'll get more into ALL OF THAT later, but for now I hope you enjoyed a brief cameo from our favorite sadistic and narcissistic reality TV host, Chris McLean! Thanks to a lovely piece of info we got via Sierra in TDWT, it was revealed Chris was born in 1978. With that fact and after doing some basic mental math with TDI premiering in 2007 and Heather and her fellow contestants being age 16 at the beginning of the series, this would mean Chris was 29 years old when he was introduced in TDI and make him 13 years older than Alejandro and Heather. So, at this point in my series and as you heard Diego and Heather reveal in this chapter, Chris at this point in a bit of a 'secret mid to late life crisis' with his view on his appearance. His life is your basic 'washed up, low brow celebrity' and (while there is nothing wrong with getting botox and plastic surgery if you want it) Chris has been struggling in his 60's to desperately remain 'forever young' and not embrace his looks or age out of his own unhappiness and insecurity to fully fulfill that celebrity stereotype. Which to me would be accurate for Chris considering how much we've seen how shallow and narcissistic he is when it comes to his 'looks' particularly. That and Chris at this point in time is also not 'doing well' professionally. He's a guy struggling on the 'D list' and has had SUCH a difficult time getting work when "Total Drama" ended and he was essentially unemployed after that. That and show business is still a pretty 'vain industry' and the older Chris got, the less networks wanted to hire him on to host other shows. So once Chris FINALLY got "Total Drama" revived, he decided to take a chance to track down the children of former contestants to be a part of it. And who better to start with than trying to recruit Diego as the son of his show's two former big time antagonists, an Olympic gold medalist, and a European 'teen heartthrob'. But, Diego it seemed wasn't too interested in Chris's offer as he was to finally discover this long since buried 'treasure trove' of information regarding his parents' pasts with Chris on the show. Because as weird as it sounds, Diego is actually kind of ignorant to his parents' past on TV since they hardly ever talk about their time on "Total Drama" and no one else ever brought it up further to Diego to make him curious about it since it happened over 20 years ago… until now. Lol. ;) All in due time though to see what will happen from here! Stay tuned! As always, thank you all SO much for reading and constructive reviews are always much appreciated! Have a lovely weekend and be kind to each other!

Stay classy, healthy, and safe all!

Dexter1995