Chapter 16- Coming Clean

It was almost 10pm when Kane arrived home after spending the whole day evening with Dean. They had dinner together, eating macaroni cheese and afterwards watching some cartoon movie and then playing Call of Duty video games until Dean got exhausted and wanted to go to to bed. Kane tucked him in bed, reading the child the story of the tiger and penguin as per his request .

"Its my favorite story. Daddy read me the last night he was with me, " Dean told him when Kane asked him about the storybook.

"Oh yeah? Where is he now? " Kane asked curiously.

"I don't know. Mommy hate Daddy so much. I just remember police came to our house and they took Daddy away. Mommy said Daddy is a bad man. He will hurt me badly if she let him around me," Dean answered sleepily. 'I miss him so much."

Makes sense, Kane remembered the time Randy mentioned that Dean's father is a mental patient. Probably he was being sent to a rehab or mental institution.

"Do you remember how he looked like? "Kane asked. Dean nodded eagerly.

"I still remember him. People says I took after him a lot. "Dean said, " I don't have any pictures of him. Mommy burnt away all his stuff and clothes, "

That's strange, Kane thought. Was the man really a dangerous guy that his ex wife would go painstakingly to erase all the memories of him from his own son? He was getting more curious. The Ambrose family had a quite tragic affair, it seems. Dean fell asleep with his hand clutching on the book after a few while.

It was after that Kane learned from Lilian that Dean's father indeed was indeed a mental patient, but according to her, the man was a nice guy and he never abuse his son or treating him in any sort of way. He was just having a mental breakdown as a result of severe depression because of marital problems. Mr. Ambrose used to work at a hotel owned by Mrs. Ambrose when they had met and fell in love and got married after one year of relationship. Then Dean was born and when the kid was three year old, conflicts start to arise between the Ambrose couple. They were divorced after that, and Mr, Ambrose began to suffer from depression ,and at some point, Dean's mother accused him trying to hurt Dean.

Her attorney had issued restriction order from court to prevent Dean's father from seeing their son, and one day Dean's father broke the rules, invading the house in search of Dean and police were called immediately to the scene. They detained the man and since that, Lilian had never heard of Dean's father again. She guessed that Dean's father might be jailed or being sent to institution or something.

Kane thanked her and hurriedly left the house , knowing his parents would be furious again now that he was breaking the curfew. He had forgotten to bring his phone when he was going to send Dean home earlier, and that was another bonus point for his mother to be mad at him now.

He turned the car engine off, tiptoeing his way slowly into the house, hoping that his parents would not be in the living room watching tv or something. Kane breathed in relief as he notice only Randy was sitting at the table , looking to be engaged in doing his school homework. Randy lifted his head up as he saw Kane crept into the house cautiously.

"Hey Randy, " Kane greeted as he approached his younger brother. "Where are Mom and Dad? " He asked, glancing all over the room. Hunter and Stephanie were nowhere in sight.

"They were at the backyard with Uncle Shane and Aunt Marissa," Randy replied, eyeing his brother curiously. "Where had you been? Mom was angry at you. She kept fussing about you sneaking out after taking Ambrose back home,"

"Oh man," Kane sighed, "I did not go anywhere. Just hanging at Dean's house, "

Randy's eyes widened in surprise. "Why'd you do that? I thought we all hate him now? " He was getting confused. "Did you beat him or something? "

"No, " Kane denied , laughing a little. "I had a few words with him, that's all. Whatcha doing anyway? Its getting late, you should go to bed, " He asked, peering closer at Randy's school books.

"I have to finish this, " Randy yawned, " Its my History class assignment. We have to do essay about Connecticut's history background, "

"Oh yeah? Did you go through Wikipedia page? " Kane looked at the laptop screen in front of Randy. "Seems like too many stuff, " He remarked , scrolling through the internet page.

"Yep, but we are not allowed to directly copy and paste. Like, we have to write a summary of it all, " Randy explained. "That's the hardest part. I really hate writing essay, " He added.

"It's not that hard. Just make up some bull- I mean, just write down anything you ever think of, " Kane encouraged. " I'm going to check on Seth, " He said.

"He's been acting weird , " Randy said. "He was quiet at the dinner. Then he locked himself in the bedroom, he did not want to speak to anyone, "

"I'll fix that. " Kane assured and started to walk upstairs. Halfway through, he stopped and turned to Randy. "Hey Randy, " He called out.

"Yeah? ' Randy answered, but he didn't turn away from the laptop screen.

"Happy birthday, kiddo." Kane said. Randy cocked his eyebrow, remembering the party incident where Kane had gloriously smashed his face with the birthday cake. He was quite puzzled now that Kane suddenly bringing it up, but it was amusing at the same time.

"You owe me one cake! " Randy shouted back as Kane resumed his way upstairs.

When Kane reached Seth's bedroom, he gently knocked on the door but there was no answer from Seth, so he just pushed the door open. Seth was not sleeping yet, but he was lying on the bed and seemed to be staring into space. Kane walked up to his bed and dipped in beside the younger boy.

"Hey buddy. You're still awake? " Kane asked, grabbing a teddy bear behind Seth's pillow. "You okay there? " He asked concernedly.

"Did you go to Dean's place? Mom said you been driving him and you had not return for awhile," Seth asked quietly. Kane nodded.

"I did. And I spent some time with him , that's why I didn't return. I kept him company because his mommy was not able to be with him, so I tried to cheer him up a bit. " Kane confirmed. "We talked about stuff, had dinner together and played Call of Duty , "

Seth did not say anything for a few minutes, remained silent. Then he spoke again. "Did you talked about me? "

Kane had no choice but to nod again as a yes. "Oh yeah. We talked a lot about you. About Roman. And your buddies Dolph Ziggler and Mike Mizanin."

"So now you know. Everything about what I did to Dean and Roman? " Seth asked, "You must hate me right now for lying to you and Daddy." He rolled to other side so he was turning his back on Kane, but Kane pulled him back so he had to face him.

"Hey, " Kane said, pulling out the drawing sketch he took from Dean earlier from the pocket of his pants and showed it to Seth. Seth was a little surprised as he retrieved the paper and studying the material for a few seconds. "I got this from Dean. He said I can have it."

"These are us. We dressed as SWAT team for school cosplay theme. I still remember it, " Seth said, suddenly was smiling a little. "Roman and Dean were fighting to be the leader of the SWAT, and I have to play peacemaker between them so they'd stop fighting."

"Sounds cool." Kane commented. 'So what happen to the peacemaker? '

Seth remained silent again, but he just stared back at his brother, his eyes were glistening with shed of tears that Kane was beginning to feel slightly alarmed.

"Okay, if you don't feel like talking about it, we'll stop right here, alright? ' Kane said, tapping on Seth's small shoulder. 'To be honest, I think Dean is really nice kid. He apologized to me for constantly bullying you at school. Don't you think you owe him an apology too? And Roman?"

"I wanted to. But I was scared, alright?" Seth suddenly snapped. "I mean, I did not mean to hit Roman with the briefcase back then. But I wanted to prove to Dolph and Mike that I was able to beat other kids too. But I'm afraid of Roman because he was bigger than me, I know he would easily overcome me. So I just figured out I'll attack him with the briefcase. And Dean tried to interfere, so I did that to him, too."

"Why you wanted to prove it so much to them? What makes their impression on you so important? " Kane asked in dismay. "Because they are in second grades and they were much cooler than your friends? "

Seth nodded helplessly.

"It doesn't prove you anything Seth." Kane stated. "I know this just sounded so harsh , but you just prove you are a coward. You don't have to be squeaky clean like John Cena, but ,turning on your own friends and attacked them from behind doesn't make you cool or whatever you called it. But then, I can imagine your situation. I know you are probably freaking out and you were torn apart between the two sides, each are your friends nonetheless. The damage was already done and you did your best to hide it because you afraid if Dad find out, he will be angry at you, right? "

"Dolph threatened them not to tell Mr Jericho." Seth said, almost in tears. "I wanted to apologize, but I didn't know how. And I'm scared if Daddy find out about this, he and Mommy will punish me like they punish you,"

"Okay. Tell you what. Let's make a deal, " Kane offered. "Since I already knew everything, I want you to do me a favor, Seth. Tomorrow you apologize to Dean and Roman. Make peace with them and start being friends with them all over again. I'm sure that Dean and Roman will have no problem with that, they seemed like good person to me. And, in return, your secret is safe with me."

"What? " Seth blinked.

"Well..what do you think what happen if Dad and Mom know about this? That you attacked Roman and Dean with school briefcase? " Kane smirked. Seth immediately shook his head in panic.

"No! I don't want that!" Seth grew terrified.

"So..we had a deal then. Tomorrow after school I'll pick you and Randy . And I had promised Dean I will be seeing him too, so I want to see you three meet face to face and you do what you have to. Are we clear?" Kane asked.

"Okay then. But do you think Dean will forgive me? Will Roman forgive me too? "Seth looked worried.

"Hey, trust me. I don't know both of them really well. Well, not Roman. I spent some times with Dean and like I told you, he was actually a good kid. He was just lonely and miserable, and I think he'd have no problem if you apologize to him decently. As for Roman, I don't think he's the grudging type. He was a good friend to Dean. He cares a lot about other people, " Kane assured.

"Mmm..You growing closer to Dean. You guys were hanging out together all day?" Seth asked curiously. There were slight jealousy in his voice Kane suspected, but he just gave him a smile.

"Pretty much like that. " He pulled Seth's blanket up, "Now get some sleep , okay? I got stuff to answer to Mommy and Daddy, " Kane grinned as he handed the teddy bear to Seth.

"Goodnight kiddo." Kane said as Seth took the bear and hugged it to his chest. He got up from the bed and headed towards door.

"Goodnight Kane." Seth answered in a sleepy voice as he closed his eyes. Kane turned off the light switch and closed the door behind him.

As soon as he was walking towards his own bedroom, Stephanie appeared before him and looked furious. "Where'd you been? And you did not even bring your phone to let me know where the hell are you? "

"I'm sorry mom, " Kane said. "I didn't go anywhere. I swear. I just hanging around with the little boy. Just that, I swear."

Stephanie looked at him with the expression she wasn't buying the excuses, as usual. " Yeah right. What are you doing with him anyway? Don't tell me you took him to carnival or something you likely getting trouble into, "

"Mom! " Kane howled exasperatedly. "I did not go anywhere. I'm just keeping him company. We talked, have dinner, watching cartoon, that's all. Why'd you always wanted to find fault with me? Do I looked like a sort of pedophile to you or something?"

"I did not say anything about you being pedophile! " Stephanie yammered back. " We had been here like too many times, Kane. Everytime I let you out of my sight even for one second you always got us and yourself into trouble and you always-"

"Well then fine! Blame it all on me! You never, for once appreciate what I do for you , what I did for Randy, what I did for Seth, everything is always my fault! Oh wait, Stephanie McMahon is the perfect and the best mommy in the world, the daughter of almighty Vince-"

"Don't you ever dare talking back to me like that! You-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Hunter suddenly screaming out of nowhere interrupting the heated argument between his wife and his eldest son. Their loud voices brought Seth and Randy rushing along out of their room, astonished to find their brother and mother were fighting on the stairs.

"Go to sleep now, Kane. " Hunter ordered. Kane glared again at Stephanie for a few seconds before he stomped into his own room, sulking. "You both too. " Hunter told Randy and Seth softly as both of his younger sons staring at their parents and looking confused. They obeyed him, anyway , after mumbling a sleepy goodnight to both of their parents.

"Come on honey. Let's just catch a break okay? " Hunter tried to comfort his wife, who was still fuming with anger towards her son.

Mark's house

"Mark, its your phone ringing, " Glenn called out his brother. He was watching a movie on tv while Mark was polishing the glass surface of a cabinet. "Its your buddy Kane, " He checked the caller ID on the screen.

"Coming, " Mark said and went to take his phone from Glenn.

"What's up man? Any good news? "

"Mark, I need you to do me a favor." Kane said from the end of the receiver.

"What favor? " Mark asked. "You okay there? You sounded weird,"

"Just fighting with my mom. You know, like always. Anyway I need you to help me with something. I'm just getting sick of this ."

A/N: ouch...what Kane's been up to again? Steph really getting on his nerves, isn't she? Thanks again for those who reviewed and followed this , you guys are the best!

Story aside.. it seemed like The Authority had been getting new family members today on Raw..And they are really coming handy with their sizes! Looks like Seth is the only small one in the group. But I still missed Orton..the faction would never be the same without him.