((Okay, just one more, bc I really wanna see Ford punch somebody. XD ))
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Things were as good at they ever were in the Ford family. The children were healthy and doing very well in school. Kym's farm was prospering, and she had indeed managed to find enough part-time help to take a good deal of stress off of herself, which gave her more time to spend with the children, and of course, more time to check on husband in the middle of the day~
They didn't fool around every day, only on the slowest, and it had been busy lately because of a recent festival sponsored by the same health and wellness magazine Ford had ordered their favorite personal massage table from, a few years ago now. This naturally prompted everyone in town to remember to schedule a check-up all at once. But Kym had just gotten a call from her husband telling her that the last of his appointments were over for the day, and that if she hadn't had lunch yet, that he would gladly accompany her to Brad's for a meal.
So that's where she was heading now. She was just climbing the last of the stairs that would lead her to the clinic, when to her absolute shock, the door to the clinic was very suddenly and violently shoved open, and a very rough looking older man stumbled out of the clinic. The door hit the wall hard and broke the window with Ford's name and hours printed on it. Just about everyone in town is staring in shock as the man begins to scream and curse as Ford apparently shoved him out the door, "THE HELL WITH YOU! You think you're BETTER than me?! YOU'LL LOSE IT ALL SOMEDAY TOO, MISTER BIG-SHOT! YOUR HEALTH, YOUR KIDS, EVEN THAT WHORE YOU MARRIED - THEY'LL ALL LEAVE YOU SOMEDAY!"
Everyone is staring, aghast. Miranda and Lisette are frozen in front of their shops. Carrie has rushed inside to get Brad for help. Hector was sitting with Colin on the bridge, though he immediately started to get up and advance after hearing the commotion. But it soon becomes apparent that no help is needed, from anyone, as Ford suddenly pulls back his fist and lets it fly with wild abandon, striking the man across the jaw and sending him crashing to the ground.
Everyone in town has eyes wider than dinner plates. The good doctor has never been seem harming another human being. He takes his Hippocratic oath just as serious as he takes everything else. So... Everyone kind of gets that this has been a long time coming, and instinctively gives him some space to vent.
Which he does, panting from the exertion and the emotions overtaking him. He seems almost as shocked by his own actions as everyone else for a second, staring at his own fist.
He quickly clenches it again and stares down the dirty but already bandaged man. Clearly the worst of his injuries were exacted on him by someone else and he had come here for treatment, but Ford apparently had no more pity for him. "That... That's DOCTOR BIG-SHOT TO YOU, DAMN IT!" Ford yells back, making all the ladies around him gasp, and even a couple of the fellas. No one has ever heard the good doctor curse either, no one except Kym anyways, he would normally be way too professional for that in public. "And you're DAMN RIGHT I'm better than you!"
Apparently a LOT had happened in the forty-five minutes it took Kym to arrive since Ford called...
(Forty five minutes earlier...)
Ford put his work phone back in the receiver and took a sip of his herbal mint tea. The clinic has been very busy lately, and he was sore and exhausted from the day's work, but it was fulfilling, so he smiled to himself as he took a break. He liked making people feel better when they were sick, and helping to keep them healthy. But now he was thinking it sounded nice to have his dear wife give him a massage and make him feel better.
Well, that had been the plan, until a sharp knock sounded off at the door.
Which was... A little unusual. People generally just tested the door and knew they were allowed to come in if it was unlocked... Ford went to investigate, already apprehensive as he opened the door. When he saw who was standing behind it, he froze.
A man was standing there, a man about twenty-something years older than him. A man who looked almost exactly like him, except his hair was a little darker blonde and streaked with white and gray, and tousled around instead of combed or slicked back. He had much rougher, dirtier-looking skin, facial hair that hadn't been taken care of for at least a week, and he'd been beaten to hell and back.
It was... His father.
"Hey... Can you spare yer old man a band-aid?"
Ford had to really just stare in shock for at least a moment, but then he quickly ushered the man in, not really wanting to, but not really thinking about it either. He had some very severe injuries that needed treatment right away...
Bruises and abrasions everywhere. There was almost as much red and purple skin to be seen as normal peach. Ford set to work right away, and focused entirely on his work. He didn't say anything at first, and neither did his father. Both men sat in silence for several minutes as Ford cleaned and bandaged the open wounds. Only when he was almost done did Ford bother to inquire, "So what happened." He wasn't really interested or curious. He might not know the specifics but he already pretty much knew what happened. His father pissed someone off somehow, most likely gambling, and got beat up for it. Same as always was the case when he was a kid.
His father beamed proudly, "Yeah, did a pretty big con job on some idiots from the nearest city west of here. Unfortunately they caught up with me. Slow-witted but fast-footed, bad combination. Yer old man was too smart for them, but they were too fast for me, I guess."
Ford didn't look nearly as impressed as his father did with himself, and began to reply, dryly, "I believe knowing your opponent's strength and weaknesses before you challenge them is part of playing things smart. I'm not sure if you can really claim you outwitted someone if you didn't account for how fast-"
"Hey." His father suddenly cut him off there, steeling a stern look back at him. "Watch it, punk. Don't think yer too old to get popped in the mouth if you sass me..."
Ford stiffened up at that. A few rare but stark memories flashed by in his mind. He was always very frank with other people, he'd almost forgotten why... Because he knew from a young age that he ought not to say anything to his parents that he really thought or felt inside, so he expressed himself to anyone else who would listen instead. The few times he dared to speak out against them, or bring up a flaw, his father had always used a very specific punishment with him. A 'pop in the mouth'. It wasn't just painful, it was demeaning. Degrading. It let Ford know that not only would there be pain, there would be embarrassment and shame, and the knowledge that what he thought and had to say didn't mean a damn thing...
So, as Ford had learned to do for the sake of his teeth, which he took a lot of pride in and knew his future career would depend on, he wisely decided to keep his mouth shut for now... Even if he was seething inside, that this man had the gall to show up on the spot, get free treatment, and then treat him like a child and threaten him... But he supposed if he had to be in his presence, there might as well at least be a point to it. "How is mother? Have you heard from her lately? I haven't received post from her in a while. I never received a reply to the last letter I sent."
"Huh? Oh, you didn't hear..." The older man scratched his neck, looking awkward and a bit disinterested. "Yeah, she, uh... She's dead." He finally confessed, dropping the words like a sack of potatoes at Ford's feet.
Ford's eyes went wide and his throat got a little thick. He quickly swallowed it down. "...What? How?"
Ford Senior shrugged, and replied simply, barely more than monotone. "House fire."
A chill went down Ford's spine. So it had finally happened. He had hoped she would wise up after the last time she nearly burned them in their sleep, by dozing off with a lit cigarette in her hand. Apparently not...
Most people would probably cry, learning their mother had died, and so horribly. And he probably still would, later, when he had time to process it properly. But not now, and not in front of him. Not when his eyes were so dry...
And those dry eyes were now staring at a nearby collection of pictures by his desk. One, of Kym with him on their wedding day. Another of Ana at her Kindergarten graduation, wearing a pastel yellow mock graduation gown made and gifted to her by her mother, and one more of Freddy, riding a red tricycle they bought him recently.
Suddenly... Ford felt even more uncomfortable than he'd had the whole time. He was far too used to having his parents judge him personally. Having his family now at his mercy made him start to grit his teeth without thinking about it. Ford had never been the type to be too superstitious when the townspeople or Kym performed their little rituals for the health and safety of their lands and livelihood. But having his father stare at his family, especially Kym, like that... Ford had the strong urge to have a priest purify the place or something...
"You didn't mention getting married or having kids, last I heard from ya..." That sounded slightly accusatory. Even though his father had never responded to the last letter he sent him, several years ago...
"...Honestly?" Ford deadpanned back at him, running out of patience. He wanted him to just leave by now. Kym would be arriving any minute. He didn't want her to have to cross paths with the likes of him. "I really didn't think you'd even care..."
He barely skipped a beat before admitting, cruelly candid, "Well... I suppose I can't say I would have. Marrying your mother was a mistake. Having you was a mistake. Why would I care to hear about you making the same dumb mistakes I did?"
"..."
Ford wasn't about to argue with him. He wasn't about to tell him his wife and children weren't any sort of mistake. He felt very strongly that he shouldn't have to. As far as he was concerned, any obligation he had to fill as a half-decent son was now fulfilled. "I think I'd like you to leave now..."
His father stopped and stared at him. Then his lips started to curl upwards, which made a shiver run down Ford's spine. They were both remembering at roughly the same time that Ford was a bit of a weakling with no real way to force him to leave.
Well. Or so they both truly believed, until Ford Senior decided to get cocky. Smirking, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a carton of cigarettes. He then took one out, put it in his mouth, and then reached for his other pocket for a lighter.
Seeing that cigarette... Just made Ford snap. A cigarette had killed his mother. A cigarette had nearly killed him as a child. A cigarette could kill ANYONE who came in contact with it's poisonous fumes! This bastard was seriously about to try to SMOKE, in his CLINIC, right in FRONT OF HIM?!
"What the-" Ford began at first in shock, then began outright growling as his quickly rising anger took over, "What the HELL is WRONG WITH YOU?!"
It almost seemed for a second like Ford had swung out to slap or punch him, but instead he only snatched the cigarette from his mouth, hurling it into the nearest trash can. To HELL with this. Weakling or not, he was going to get this awful bastard out of his clinic before he RUINED it with his FOULNESS.
So he got behind him, and began shoving as hard as he could towards the door. "OUT! OUT! NOW! GET OUT OF MY CLINIC, NOW!"
When he managed to reach the door, he shoved it open so forcefully that he heard it hit the wall outside and break the window. Shit... Oh well, damn it, who even cared about that right now...
But then to his added mortification, his father began to scream and curse at him as he was shoved outside, for everyone in town to hear, "THE HELL WITH YOU! You think you're BETTER than me?! YOU'LL LOSE IT ALL SOMEDAY TOO, MISTER BIG-SHOT! YOUR HEALTH, YOUR KIDS, EVEN THAT WHORE YOU MARRIED - THEY'LL ALL LEAVE YOU SOMEDAY!"
...Oh hell. The fuck. NO.
That was the LAST straw... Everything he'd done before was horrible, constantly putting his own son was just terrible - But insulting his wife, right in front of him and the whole town? He was NOT going to get away with that...
On pure instinct, Ford let his fist fly, striking the man square across the jaw. He felt back, right into the dirt. Oh gods that was satisfying...
Ford said his piece, and then stood there panting from the exertion. But his old man seemed to recover from the attack much faster than he thought he would. He'd had plenty of much worse beatings before, after all. And Ford, well, didn't have much of a boxing hand... "Heh..." He began to snicker as he got back up to his feet. "Wow, finally enough of a man to throw a punch, eh? Bet that felt good! Know what's gonna feel even better though?" He directed a very evil look at his son then. A look that informed him that he had him just where he wanted him. "Letting this whole town know what your REAL name is."
...Oh shit. SHIT! He'd completely forgotten about that...!
A threat of violence would have had no effect on Ford, but this? This stopped him dead in his tracks. No one in town but Kym knew about his real name, and she only knew because she had to see it when they registered to get married. Having seen it, she swore to keep in secret always. His father had apparently thought it was a hilarious name to give his son in his youth, not thinking or caring about the merciless teasing he would receive in school for it. Yes, there was definitely a reason Ford had been going by his surname since high school. No one in town knew. No one in town or ANYWHERE near COULD know-!
No one could find out... His real first and middle name was 'Dick Cannon' Ford...
Ford immediately began to backtrack, his entire frame filled with dread. "N-No... P-Please, I'm sorry, please don't-"
His so-called 'father' grinned up at him. Grinned like a demon, like the -Devil- himself. "Please don't what? Tell them your name is-"
In the next instant, Ford's father had his entire, no longer grinning mouth firmly in Kym's grasp. She really had just bolted up to him, fast as a ninja, and grabbed his entire mouth with one hand. The single grip of a farmer that had worked and mined hundreds of miles of earth over the years. Who had moved beasts several times his weight over. He was no match whatsoever against her, and every single person in town knew it in a second, especially when Kym decided to be freakin' extra as she was occasionally known to do, and this was definitely a situation that called for it. She lifted him right off the ground, at least a full inch.
"Hi." She told him, barely strained with the effort, and more from the effort it took not to do much, much worse. "I'm the woman you just called a whore in front of this entire town."
Ford let out a quick, silent sigh of relief. Thank the GODS for his amazing wife...!
Oh but she wasn't done yet.
"This entire town, by the way," She went on, still not putting him down yet, staring right into his shocked, frightened eyes. "Is MY town. All three of the towns in this area are MY towns, in fact. I guess you didn't find that out before waltzing in here to harass my husband. Like, I don't literally own the whole place of course, it's not like it's named after me or whatever. My farm just provides about 60% of the surplus food and raw materials, that's all. I'm just building a new school, no big deal. I only almost completely funded and with own hands renovated and rebuilt each of these towns, whatever. I just made them all greater than they were before. With the help of everyone here, including Ford. And then you come in and try to tear down my husband and me, who both put our blood and sweat into this town? I don't THINK so. You're in BOSS KYM'S territory now, fool. So LISTEN UP."
Of course. Brilliant. She knew a thug like this would only recognize her if she made such a claim. And she knew no one in town would contradict her after seeing what they just had.
In fact Kym even decided to put that to the test, by next addressing the entire town, calling out for everyone to hear. "Hey everybody! How would everyone here like to get a special bonus this year? I'll give everyone in town a huge bribe to keep it to yourselves if I murder this man!"
Everyone went completely silent from the shock of Kym's nerve, so she called out to Wayne first, who was at the bottom of the stairs, ready to rush up and help her if need be. "Hey, Mister Post-Man! How about you, could you use a bonus?"
Wayne quickly got the idea, and put his hands on his hips, smirking. "Hell yeah I could use a bonus!"
Smirking too, Kym looked up at Miranda, Lisette, Brad and Carrie. "What about you guys?"
Miranda crossed her arms and glared heavily, "Honey you don't even have to pay me."
Brad quipped too as he stepped forward, cracking his knuckles menacingly while Carrie and Lisette glared behind him. "If anything I'd pay YOU to see that. Need a hand?"
Hector and Wayne also started cracking their knuckles and advancing.
Kym finally put the man's feet back down on the ground. "Now.I suppose you have two choices - Leave this town forever without saying a single word about me or my husband again, or I'll hunt you down and slaughter you like the pig you are. And trust me, I'm a farmer. I know how to slaughter a pig."
She'd actually never slaughtered a pig before. But he didn't need to know that...
As soon as she loosened her grip, he took off like a scared little rabbit, running past everyone and right out of town.
Utterly relieved, but completely mortified by the display, Ford came up to Kym and begged her, "Nevermind lunch, please, let's just go home for now..."
She nodded to him, and then again in thanks to everyone else for 'playing along', and to signal without words that the good doctor needed the rest of the day off to recuperate himself. Everyone nodded back, and they headed off for home.
Once there, Kym had been planning on making him a lunch, figuring he must be famished. And he was, but there was something else he was craving much more now. His beautiful, wonderful, brilliant wife. Defender of their family. His guardian angel against the forces of darkness. He grabbed her, as soon as they were past the door, and kissed her, madly, passionately, more intensely than he ever had.
After a few moments of kissing her, he finally pulled back and gasped, "Thank you... For everything, my love, but today... I have no words. Just, thank you..."
She smiles up at him, looking a little dopey after the rush of all that. "Oh, it was nothing, dear..."
But he shakes his head. "You are everything, my love..."
"Oh come on now..." She insists, kissing his cheeks sweetly, before capturing his lips in a much more heated kiss. "You were pretty badass yourself back there, Doctor Big-Shot! Heehee!" Grinning like mad, she practically purrs to him, "Watching you defend yourself and my honor against that creep... Gotta say, it was pretty hot! What do you say, my love... I think we still have an hour before we have to get the kids. What do you say we skip lunch and have an early dinner when they get home~?"
Hmm. Fascinating.
It turned out Good-For-Nothing fathers were sometimes good for at least -something-, after all. Also, that was how Kym got the nickname 'Boss Kym' from then on...
And things were back to being as good as they ever were in the Ford family~
(( PROBABLY REALLY THE END THIS TIME LMAO ))