On the first day of summer break, Calvin was hanging at home with his parents and sisters. The three siblings were playing a board game, Yumi was doing some work around the house, and Ulrich was just reading a book. A short time later, the phone rang.

"I got it." Ami said as she went to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" She asked. "Oh hi... Sure, I'll check... Hold on."

"Dad." She said. "It's Grandma Ilsa, she wants to talk to you."

"Okay, give me the phone." Ulrich said as Ami handed him the phone. "Hello."

"Hi, Ulrich."

"Oh hey, Mom." Ulrich said. "How are you?"

"I'm just fine." Ilsa said. "Listen, I need to tell you something. It's about your father."

"What about him?" Ulrich said.

"He's really sick." She said. "As in he could die."

"What?" Ulrich said.

"He's in the hospital and in critical condition." She said. "Do you think you can visit him?"

"I don't know." Ulrich said.

"Please? For me?" Ulrich just sighed.

"Alright. I'll be right there." Ulrich said. Ilsa then gave him the address of the hospital as Ulrich wrote it down. He then hung up and went to his kids.

"Kids. I know how much you love Grandpa Johannes, especially you Calvin."

"Dad, what's going on?" Calvin asked.

"Well, he's in the hospital and he could die." Ulrich said.

"No, really?" Calvin said worriedly. "What's he sick with?"

"I don't know. Your grandmother didn't tell me." Ulrich said. "I'm going over to the hospital to see what's going on."

"When will you be back?" Yumi asked.

"I don't know." Ulrich said. "Maybe later tonight." He then walked out the door, headed to his car and drove off.

A short time later, Ulrich arrived at the hospital. He asked the lady at the front desk where his father was and she gave him the room number. When Ulrich got there, he found his mother on one of the chairs crying as the doctor was talking to her.

"Excuse me." Ulrich said. "I'm Johannes Stern's son."

"Oh. I was just telling your mother about his condition."

"What happened?"

"Your father had a heart attack and fell down a flight of stairs." He said. "So far he's alive, but we have him on intensive care right now."

"Is there a chance he'll survive?" Ulrich asked.

"Even if he stays on life support for the next year, he still only has a 10% chance of survival."

"I should have been there." Ulrich said. "I could have at least prevented him from falling."

"You have no reason to blame yourself." The doctor said. "Given the severity of the heart attack, whether or not he fell would have made little difference."

"Can we see him?" Ilsa said.

"He's asleep, so you can't talk to him." The doctor said. "But you can see him."

Thanks, doctor." Ilsa said as the two went inside.

As they went into the room they found Johannes sleeping on the hospital bed hooked up to an intensive care unit. Ilsa felt herself begin to cry as Ulrich walked over and held his hand. Just then he woke up and looked around.

"Ulrich, is that you?" He said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes Dad." Ulrich said.

"How are you feeling?" Ilsa asked.

"I feel better now that you two are here." Johannes said. "Ulrich, I thought you never wanted to see me again."

"I didn't." Ulrich said. "Mom asked me to come and I did."

"You could have said no." Johannes said.

"Yes, well..." Ulrich said. "Look, I just want to say that Anthony says he's sorry for everything."

"Anthony?" Johannes asked. "Anthony Schaeffer?"

"You talked to Anthony Schaeffer?" Ilsa asked.

"I did." Ulrich said. "He says he's sorry for everything and that he hopes you all forgive him."

"Well, I guess I can't say I'm one to hold a grudge." Johannes said. "Especially since it was almost 60 years ago."

"Very well." Ulrich said as he headed out. "I'm going back home to the wife and kids, let me know how it turns out. I'm sorry I was such a disappointment of a son."

"Ulrich, come here." Johannes said with a no-nonsense tone. "You could never, ever be a disappointment to me."

"What?" Ulrich said almost surprised.

"I said you could never disappoint me." Johannes said. "I thought that pushing you to become the best would make me proud of you and help forget my past life. But it was pushing you that blinded me from seeing that you already have. Just by being born and growing up to become the wonderful person you are today has made me proud of you. I should be the one apologizing; I'm sorry."

Ulrich just went up to him and held his hand.

"It's my fault, Dad." Ulrich said trying his best not to cry. "I shouldn't have been so stubborn. You just wanted to help me and I called you out on it. Even when you were forcing me to marry Sissi, you only thought is was best for me."

"Don''t blame yourself, Ulrich." Johannes said. "In fact, marrying Yumi was the best thing you could have done. Had you not married her, you wouldn't have given me such wonderful grandchildren, especially Calvin."

Ulrich just nodded.

"Here. I want you to have this." Johannes said slowly reaching into one of his pockets and pulling out a small picture. The picture showed a young kid smiling and holding a trophy and an older man standing beside him looking at the kid with pride. "You remember when that picture was taken?"

"That's me when I won my first soccer match when I was five." Ulrich said. "And that's you standing next to me."

"I was so proud of you that day. You know that?" Johannes said. "You keep that picture. To remind you that your father was always proud of you. And one more thing..."

"Yes Dad?" Ulrich said. Johannes then lifted a hand up and brought it up as close to his shoulder as he could.

"I love you, son." He said. "No matter what you do or what you become, I have and I will always love you."

"I love you too, Dad." Ulrich said. "No matter what I've said."

Ulrich then knelt down towards him as his father wrapped an arm around him. Ulrich just cried in his chest. Just then, they heard Johannes's heart monitor flatline.

"Johannes, no." Ilsa said as she, too, began to cry. Ulrich just kept his father's arm wrapped around him as he continued crying. Seconds later the doctors came in and within a short time, he was pronounced dead.

Ilsa just continued crying and Ulrich just went up and hugged her.

"It was good to see you again, Mom." Ulrich said.

"He loved you so much and missed you when you never came back." Ilsa said.

"I know." Ulrich said. "I just wish I had realized that before it was too late. I think I'll stay with you for tonight."

"Are you sure?" Ilsa asked.

"I'm sure." He said. "I'll call the kids and tell them what happened."

That night, back at the Stern Residence, Calvin heard the phone ring as he went to pick it up.

"Hello?" Calvin asked. "Uh huh... Oh... Ok... I'll see you then... Bye..."

"Calvin, is something wrong?" Rumiko asked. "How's Grandpa Johannes."

"Grandpa Johannes died, Rumiko." Calvin said sadly. Rumiko just gasped and Ami just burst out crying. Calvin just held her close and cried with her, albeit much quieter.

"What's going on?" Yumi asked as she headed down the stairs.

"Grandpa Johannes just died." Rumiko said.

"Oh my God." Yumi said. She then went and hugged the two younger children. "I'm so sorry, you guys."

The whole family just cried and said nothing more. After a while, everyone just headed off to sleep after what had been a tragic night.

Alright, one more chapter 'till my next story.

Please Review.