J.J. burst into Adriana and Jon's room and hopped on the bed. He started jumping on it and woke his parents up.
"Mommy! Daddy! Can I go to Chuck E. Cheese's Today!?" he said excitedly.
"Huh?" Jon said. He was still half asleep.
"Chuck E. Cheese's, Daddy!"
J.J. jumped up and landed smack on Jon.
"J.J.!" Jon said. Now he was wide awake.
"Get up, Daddy!" J.J. said, shaking his father.
"J.J., you don't have to kill Daddy, alright?" Jon said, sitting up.
"I'm not going to kill you, Daddy!" J.J. said.
"Boy, you knocked the wind out of me," Jon said.
"Aww! Come on, Daddy! Let's get dressed!" J.J. said. He grabbed ahold of Jon's hand and tugged on his arm.
Adriana was watching the whole thing through halfway opened eyes and smirking a little.
Jon slid out bed and took J.J. to the bathroom. Adriana then got up and put on her robe and went to see what Jon and his son were up to.
J.J. was mimicking his father. He brushed his teeth like Jon's and even rinsed his mouth like Jon. When Jon leaned in to check his teeth in the mirror, J.J. leaned forward and checked his teeth as well. The sight on J.J. on his stool was even more amusing to Adriana.
"You missed a spot, Daddy!" J.J. said.
"Where?" Jon said.
"There!"
J.J. poked his father in the face.
"Oh, so you think you're clever huh!?"
Jon tickled J.J.'s stomach.
"Aw, Daddy! That tickles!"
"Okay, let's let Mommy get ready," Jon said, helping J.J. down from his stool.
"All yours Mommy!"
"Thank you kindly gentlemen," Adriana said.
"Daddy, can Uncle Max come with us to Chuck E. Cheese's?" J.J. asked.
Jon was tying J.J.'s shoes.
"I'll see," Jon said.
Deep down, he didn't want Max anywhere near his son or near his house for that matter. Not until he cleaned himself up. But he wasn't going to deprive his son from seeing his uncle.
After Jon got J.J. ready, he called Mrs. Germanotta.
"Hey Mom. Is Max there?" Jon said.
"Yes, he's right here," she said.
"May I speak to him?"
"Sure thing."
Seconds later Max was on the phone.
"Hello?" he said.
"Me and Adriana are taking J.J. to Chuck E. Cheese's. He wants you to come," Jon said.
"Cool. I'll be ready in five minutes," Max said.
"Be ready," Jon said.
Jon picked up Max and drove everyone to Chuck E. Cheese's.
As soon as they got stamped, Adriana went to order pizza.
"J.J., go with your mother. I need to talk to Uncle Max for a second," Jon said.
Jon put his arm around Max and led him to the men's bathroom. Adriana knew exactly what Jon was going to tell him.
"W-what's going on?" Max said. He was getting nervous.
Jon led Max inside of the men's bathroom and bent down to check to see if anyone was occupying the stalls. He then locked the bathroom door.
"Turn around and put your hands on the walls," Jon ordered Max.
"What?"
"You heard exactly what I said," Jon said.
Max obeyed and turned around. Jon did a thorough search of Max. Max was slightly shaking.
"Why are you shaking for? Relax. It's just me. You've known me all of your life," Jon said.
"Yeah, but you're a cop now!" Max said.
"Correct. Which means I can't let you walk around here with drugs and shit in your pockets. And I am for damn sure not letting you around J.J. with that shit either," Jon said. "Turn around and look at me."
Max slowly turned around and stared into the eyes of Jon. Jon's blue eyes were piercing into his. Max felt like Jon had Superman x-ray vision.
"I told your sister if you kept doing the stuff you're doing, I'll have no choice but to take you in," Jon said. "Do you understand that?"
"Yeah."
"I don't think you do."
"Yeah. I do!"
"Two more strikes and you're out," Jon said. "Now, let's go have fun shall we?"
"You gave him a search!?" Adriana said.
"I did," Jon said. He took a big bite of his ice cream bar.
"Really Jonathan?"
"Really Jonathan what?"
"You didn't have to do that."
"Adriana. I. Found. Max. With. Crack. What part of that do you not understand?"
"That was one time, Jonathan. You can't assume Max has something on him every single time you see him!"
"Adriana, I love you. I love you very much. I also have a child by you who I love just as much as you. You two are the most important people in my life. Nothing else matters but my family. Your mother and Bob I also important to me. I care about every single last one of you guys. Even your brother. But if he keeps this crap up, I'm arresting him. He's old enough to go to jail you know," Jon said.
Adriana took a drink of her water and slammed the cup back down.
"Damn!"
She buried her face in her hands.
"Look, this is hard for you like it is for me. I'm not doing this to be a dick, Adriana," Jon said.
"I know. I just wish Max would've never got caught up," Adriana said. "I failed as a big sister."
"Do not say that again," Jon said. "You didn't fail as a sister. You and your mother showed that boy nothing but love, support, and compassion. HE chose to leave like a fool. You better not start blaming yourself. You better not. You hear me?"
Adriana nodded her head.
"Yeah, you're right," she said.
Jon leaned over the table and gave Adriana a kiss.
"Damn, I love giving you kisses," Jon said.
Adriana giggled.
"I'm sure you do!"
"BACK OFF ASSHOLE!"
Jon and Adriana looked around to see who was yelling. Jon saw that Max was antagonizing another teen.
"Shit," Jon said.
Jon down his ice cream bar he was enjoying and went to see what the hell was going on.
"Max!" Jon yelled at to him.
Max wasn't listening and cocked back his fist. Max smooth punched the other teen in the mouth.
Jon grabbed Max by the arm before he could continue. Jon was steaming mad and wanted to kill Max right where he stood.
"What the fuck are you doing, you idiot?" Jon said in Max's ear, growling.
"He took J.J.'s tokens," Max said.
"That doesn't mean you punch someone and start a fucking fight," Jon said. "Hey you, give those tokens back to him and my son. Those don't belong to you."
The teen reached in his pocket and pulled out the tokens.
"Here," he grumbled.
Max took the tokens and walked off.
"Don't take what's not yours," Jon warned the teen.
"I understand," the teen said and sulked off.
"Give them to me," Jon said.
"I still was playing with J.J.," Max protested.
"You need to be with your sister. Go get some pizza and wings. I'll finish playing with J.J.," Jon said.
Max gave Jon the tokens and went to join his sister at the table.
"What happened?" Adriana asked.
"Douche took J.J.'s tokens and we got into it," Max said.
"Max, I'm worried about you. I really am," Adriana said. Adriana placed her hand on Max's hands which were folded in front of him on the table.
"Don't worry about me sis. I'll be alright," Max said.
"Promise?" Adriana said.
"I promise," Max said.
"Mommy! Look what Daddy won for me! More tickets!" J.J. said, running to Adriana.
"Wow. That is a lot," Adriana said. "Well, let's go cash them in!"
Jon and Adriana cashed in J.J.'s tickets and got him a Tootsie Roll pillow. Which was in the actual shape of a tootsie roll.
"Damn, now I want some tootsies," Jon said.
Jon bought a pocketful of them and started munching on them.
They left the place and headed to the car. Jon walked alongside Max. Max was nervous as shit once again. Max knew Jon wanted to take his head clean off. Adriana was keeping Jon from killing him. But Jon had something different to say.
"I would say strike two but you were taking back what was taken from you and your nephew. I'll let you slide this time because I don't like people taking what's not theirs. You're off the hook," Jon said. "Here. Have some tootsies."
Jon dropped Max off at home and took his family home.
"Did you have fun today?" Jon asked J.J.
"I sure did, Daddy!" he said.
"Now, that's what I like to hear!" Jon said.
"How long are you going to be gone for tonight?" Adriana asked Jon.
"8 hours," Jon said.
"Lovely," Adriana said. She really hated it when Jon would leave.
"Don't worry baby," Jon said. "I'll have plenty of time off soon. Do me a favor and be fully undressed when I get home tonight."
"I'll see," Adriana said.
"Hey little man! Come over here and give Daddy a hug," Jon called out to J.J.
J.J. was watching cartoons and went to give his father a hug.
"Don't go. Please stay Daddy," J.J. said. "You don't have to go."
"Ah, but I do. If Daddy doesn't go to work, how else is he going to buy you that Star Wars Lego set you want?" Jon said.
"Ooooh!" J.J. said. "Well Daddy, don't be late for work! Love you!"
J.J. gave his father a huge kiss on his cheek.
"Love you too, little squirt," Jon said. He gave J.J. a kiss on the forehead. "Take care of Mommy, okay?"
"Will do!"
"Have a nice night," Adriana said.
"Thanks, babe," Jon said.
He gave Adriana a kiss and left.
Jon was listening to his radio in his car. So far there was no announcement of anything crime being committed, which was good.
Jon was driving through a neighborhood and was looking around to see if everything was fine.
So far everything was fine.
Until Jon noticed a familiar face. This person was smoking along his friend on the sidewalk. Jon had his window down and could smell the aroma. It wasn't a regular cigarette. It was marijuana.
"Fucking hardheaded ass boy, I swear," Jon said to himself.
Jon sounded his car's siren once which startled the shit out of Max and his friend. The both of them looked like deer in headlights. Jon parked his car and got out.
"Oh shit!" Max said.
He took off running alongside his friend.
Jon ran right after him.
Author's Note: The boy never learns.
P.S. If I spell something wrong in a chapter, I apologize. My brain is working a million miles a minute! .