To keep this short and sweet… WOW, you all are… I'm speechless. I can't believe I have been writing this fanfic series for close to 2 years and there are people still here AND new people hoping on this journey with me?! Seriously, freaking BLESS all of you! These have been some of the most stressful years of my life and you all have made this hobby of mine even more of a treat in my free time. So just… thank you. :) Okay, now that I'm done blubbering, on with the story. This chapter begins the day after the previous chapter and opens on Natalie back in Ottawa before we join back in with Diego. Enjoy!

(Natalie's POV)

That little chicken shit.

"Babe?"

Ugh, I still cannot fucking believe he wussed out of just fucking telling her AGAIN!

"Nat, you okay?"

Great! Now I'm going to be stuck listening to more of Diego's bitching when he's being too much of a little bitch just to tell her already like he always does!

"NAT!"

I completely snapped out of wherever I was in my head and saw Felix giving me a weirded out but concerned look.

He even got up off the creeper he was sitting on in the garage and walked over to me as he asked, "Nat? Sure you're okay? You looked like you were on another planet or somethin' just now."

Guess it was THAT obvious… Then again, he always seems to know what's up with me half the time without me even saying anything.

Instead I just scrunched my eyes and shook my head as I started, thinking about the other thing that's been on my mind, "Just a lot going on for my next match. I could be getting up to twenty grand if I win this next match. Bigger venue, bigger crowd… I just need to make sure I'm ready for it."

That actually wasn't completely a lie.

My next match really was something weighing on my mind too.

It wasn't just some $1000-$5000 prize fight at a small organization's gym with folding chairs set up outside a ring. I'm actually going to be in an actual auditorium this time.

Sure it wasn't some huge venue, but it was still bigger than what I've been used to. That and this chick I'm going against is no joke. She's been champion of her division for 5 years and had her promoter issue me the challenge after she saw me hand Katia's ass to her during my last match.

So her promoter set up a match and issued me the invite for the prize fight and I would have been fucking stupid if I didn't take it.

Twenty G's is no joke and with that I could get something really nice and have more than enough saved up for something else at this point. Then maybe I can also FINALLY force Felix to take some of my money to fix his parents' roof which is STILL LEAKING WHEN IT RAINS IN THE KITCHEN!

I was looking down, getting lost in thought for a different reason this time, when I felt Felix pretty much cradling my face in his hands and brought me back up to looking at him.

He smiled at me and smoothed his left thumb over my cheek as he said, "Hey, yer gonna be fine. You know I'll be there in a shitty back row seat watching you kick ass."

As if that wasn't enough, I couldn't fight off a smile as he leaned in and kissed me on the forehead.

Agh, I love it when he does that.

But, before I could even respond I heard Felix's dad call out, "Oye! Make that 3! Me and Maria already got our tickets too."

Then right behind me I felt a hand on my shoulder and saw Luís grinning at me as he leaned into my ear as he said, "I already placed a bet on you… just don't tell Maria, a'right?"

I snorted out a laugh as I responded, keeping up the same yet fun schtick each time with Felix's dad, "Gracias señor, but… seriously you don't have to do that."

He just grinned at me as he responded, almost waving it off like nothing, "Don't worry about it, Natalie! At least this way I can support our Luchadora, eh?"

Then he leaned into my ear again and whispered, still hearing his usual joking tone, "That and it's either spending some money on you or beer, so you're really doing me a favor."

He started laughing and I smiled and shook my head in amusement.

But, Felix started, sounding almost serious, "Pop, c'mon, Nat said she's nervous for this one. She doesn't need to know of any bets on her right now to psych her out."

But, Luís just chuckled and smoothed back his already slicked back greying dark brown hair that was also already pulled back more into a low ponytail like it always was as he started, "Oye mijo, relax! Sometimes the best thing ya gotta do when you're worked up over something is brush it off. Now c'mon, your ma already has dinner on the table. Still staying, Natalie? Maria made her Pabellon Criollo. And believe me, you're lucky it's my wife's dish and not her late mother's. My wife was always better at cooking than my mother-in-law and she would watch me at every holiday and almost hunt me down if she saw I ate Maria's food instead of hers. Man, that lady was loca. But, then again, guess I can't complain. She also let me marry her daughter so we could have this good lookin' guy over here."

Luís immediately pulled Felix into a headlock and playfully ruffled his hair a little and Felix pushed off a little as he complained, mostly looking embarrassed about his dad doing this in front of me, "Pop! C'mon!"

Luís just grinned as he pat Felix on the shoulder and said, "What? Of course you are! You're Venezuelan and Cuban! How can you not be just muy guapo?! Natalie, you agree with me, right?"

"Pop!" Felix complained slightly, still looking embarrassed and like he wanted the conversation to end.

And it seemed he got what he wanted as we heard his mom call out down into the garage, "The food's getting cold!" Immediately Luís started to head back upstairs until it was just me and Felix in the garage. Felix was still just looking anywhere but at me until I put a hand on his shoulder and pointed out, "What? Do you not want me to agree with your dad on that?" Eventually he smirked back at me and said, messing around, "Oh, and here I thought you liked me for my personality? But, I see how it is…" I smacked him a little on the arm as we both started laughing. But for real… Felix is hot. Or at least I think he is. That's why when we were first started dating and he told me he couldn't believe I even liked him like that since he said most girls he knew never wanted to go out with him because of his leg… which to me is fucking stupid. I know plenty of guys with two 'normal' legs and they all suck! The fact that Felix has part of his left leg missing just never really phased me too much or made me think about him differently. Honestly I almost forget about his prosthetic most of the time unless he's wearing shorts during the summer or we're getting closer and he takes off his prosthetic beforehand if we're alone in his room. Honestly as much as my parents are literally fucking insufferable when it comes to them with their… 'sex life'.

Ugh, fuck I hate it.

Yeah, I know most people don't want to think about their parents having sex... but that's kind of fucking hard to do when they're so FUCKING OBNOXIOUS ABOUT IT!

Especially considering I was only down the hall from them in our house and could hear them 'going at it' a lot of the time to the point where I still want to fry my brain with bleach or want someone to just kill me.

But, I don't know?

I just never really felt that physically interested in sex until I got to know Felix.

Honestly I pretty much thought most guys were just a bunch of shallow, fucking assholes that did nothing but make me feel uncomfortable whenever they tried hitting on me.

But Felix?... I seriously don't know?

Even before we started dating, I just always felt comfortable around him and never minded him looking at or touching me since he was always, well… sweet.

That and he always respected my boundaries which I always appreciated.

Even though I still remembered how annoyed I was with him for that same reason when we had our first time together. It was 3 months after we officially started dating last year and we knew his parents were going to be out of the house that night so we decided to 'take advantage'.

And I will never forget it... for several different reasons.

Yeah, we were both our 'firsts' and it was special… but all I wanted to do the whole damn time was tell him to just fucking shut up and relax since every time he made any move he kept on overthinking literally everything and asking me a million times if 'it was okay' or if 'he should stop'.

And I was the one who actually felt more physically uncomfortable for obvious reasons right off the bat but didn't give a crap because of how bad I wanted him and only wanted him to shut up, relax, and just have sex with me.

But, as much as that part of him drives me insane sometimes… I also love that about him with how he's never done anything to purposely make me uncomfortable and always looked out for me.

Because Felix really is a genuinely sweet guy and as corny and lame as it sounds to me coming from me… I seriously cannot imagine doing anything without Felix at this point.

We kept laughing until he jabbed playfully, "Well, at least I know you're not with me for my 'money', right?" He laughed at his own self-deprecation until I smiled a little and reassured but still teased a bit, "Hey, if I really wanted some stupid guy with money, then I'd just settle for some rich dipshit and be like my aunt and my cousin. And I think you know me by now that I don't give a crap about that."

He just smiled at me and grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze as he responded, sounding nothing but genuine, "I'd like to think that."

Slowly I smiled and squeezed his hand back as we started to go upstairs for dinner.

Meanwhile outside Madrid, Spain

(Diego's POV)

I've hardly left my room in almost a day and only left to eat, train (mostly to blow off steam), and use the bathroom.

I just… I don't even want to speak to anyone, especially not my mother.

AND PADRE WAS SIDING WITH HER TOO?!

And apparently I know 'nothing' about my own parents since apparently they had this whole thing they never decided to tell me about with being on reality TV and took some deranged old man to tell me about.

WHAT?!

Is my whole life a fucking lie?!

Can I trust ANYONE?!

Almost as if on cue, my phone went off and my stomach clenched in frustrated conflicting at who I saw was calling.

Claire.

Ugh… don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to talk to her but it's just… 'complicated'. And not because of her, but pretty much just being completely me torturing myself by holding everything in.

But, because I'm a 'glutton for punishment'... I answered, "Hola Claire."

As much as I tried to cover up how pissed off and stressed I was, she wasn't fooled. And I knew she wouldn't be. She's known me for way too long for me to get away with lying to her about when something is bothering me like this.

My thoughts were only confirmed as she started, "Diego, what's going on? I messaged you last night and you never got back to me. Are you okay?"

Dammit… I knew it.

She knew it.

I didn't even try to hide it since I know she is way too smart for me to outright lie to her.

Instead, I swallowed my pride and started, "Well, something happened yesterday and… do you have time? It's kind of a long story."

Then making me feel like a little bit of weight was lifted off me as she started, completely hearing the smile in her voice, "Yeah, go ahead. Shoot."

15 minutes later

"YOU KNEW ABOUT MY PARENTS AND "TOTAL DRAMA"?! Since when? And why didn't you tell me?!" I called out in shock.

Seriously! IS my life a lie?!

CAN I seriously not trust ANYONE?!

Not even my best friend?!

JUST… QUÉ CARAJO?!

Claire sounded a bit taken off guard as she said, "I don't know? I thought you knew too, but maybe you just didn't want to talk about it or something since you never brought it up?"

I was about to keep going with why she never thought to talk to me about this… until I caught something that she said. Instead I look a mental step back and quirked up and eyebrow as I started, "Why wouldn't I want to talk about it? What do you mean?"

Silence.

My stomach almost seized as I pressed, trying to figure out what everyone is hiding from me, "Claire…"

Eventually I heard her let out a sigh as she finally responded, "Look Diego, I… I think this is something you just need to watch and see for yourself. I can send you the links to the seasons if you want to watch them. And who knows? Maybe this can help you with trying to figure out your mom?"

After I took that in and also repressed a fiery seething feeling of frustrated hate as she brought up my mother… I couldn't help but agree as I gave in, taking her offer, "You really know where I can watch these? It's over 20 years old!"

"Yeah, I watched them all last year actually after my dad mentioned something about them. Honestly, it was actually pretty… interesting. But, hey, if you need to talk about anything while you watch them, just… just call me, okay? I just don't want you to loose it or anything. I know I'm here and you're there. But, just don't think you're alone."

As much as I didn't appreciate how much it sounded like 'pity' a bit from her, I also couldn't help myself even in this moment from remembering why I am still hopelessly falling for her.

Because no matter what, Claire has always cared about me.

She's never judged me or treated me differently. Claire just treats me like me and always looks out for me… no matter what.

"Diego?"

I realized I was lost in thought for a moment too long as I responded, "Sí, sorry… Thanks Claire."

I could hear the smile in her voice again as she replied, "Anytime. I'll send you the links, okay?"

We both hung up and I was intensely looking at my phone for what felt like ages (despite it only being a few minutes) until I saw a message from Claire with 4 different links and wasted NO time in opening up the first one and crossing it over to the TV in my room.

Although right as the first episode of the first season started and I heard a voice and saw who I distinctly could tell was Chris, I had to say I was shocked at seeing the camera panning what looked like a very drab and run down summer camp on an Island in Ontario.

Look, for as long as I've known my mother in my life, she has always been a woman with very high standards. I

remembered her sending her assistant out twice for getting her the wrong coffee order.

And my mother was raised in a very 'upper class' background like my father so I had ZERO idea why she would agree to be on a 'low brow' looking show like this?

I continued to let my shock over take me about that fact until I went into an entirely different state of shock as I saw Chris finally pop up in frame again. Sure he definitely looked A LOT younger for obvious reasons and had A LOT less work done since I met him yesterday, but it was Chris for sure when he was probably in his late 20's or early 30's.

I kept watching as various contestants about my age at this point in time got introduced.

Even though it was clear to me as people got introduced and looked around that they were most definitely lied to about their 'accommodations'... and suddenly things started to make a lot more sense to me.

And then, there was this very obvious and sudden drop edited into the music as I saw a pair of feet in wedge sandals step casually onto the dock.

I was a bit confused until the camera panned up. The camera held its position on a young woman with dark hair, very fair complexion, and a pair of designer sunglasses. Well, until she removed said glasses to reveal a very narrowed, intense, yet VERY familiar set of gray eyes that I knew all too well.

Madre.

And thus Diego's deep dive "Total Drama" binge adventure into Alejandro and Heather's pasts begins! I'll leave you all to speculate in the meantime on how things will go. Place your bets ya'll! Lol. ;) I also hoped you guys enjoyed a further peek into Natalie and Felix's relationship as well as meeting the final member of Felix's immediate family in the story, Luís Heredia (Felix's father). Luís as you can see is a bit of a joker, but is ultimately a guy with his heart in the right place. Because while Felix and his family really have little to nothing financially, they make up for it with their positive outlook for what they do have and their love for each other. And as you saw, this has also transferred to Natalie since Felix's parents have given her the consistent love and support with her dreams that she has never gotten from her own parents. Which while still a bit sad in a way, it is very sweet for her to find that support somewhere where she lives. :) Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and be sure to prepare yourselves! Things are going to get even MORE interesting from here, if I do say so myself. Haha. ;) As always constructive feedback is always VERY much appreciated. Hope you all are taking care of yourselves and showing kindness to those around you. :)

Stay classy all!

Dexter1995