Chapter 14:

After the initial shock at seeing his father had worn off, Ezra's expression quickly turned to anger. "What do you want?" he asked harshly.

"To talk." Todd replied.

"I don't want to talk to you." Ezra said, stepping past him but Todd moved, blocking Ezra from leaving.

"Move." Ezra said. "I have to go somewhere."

"I'll come along." Todd said.

"No, you won't." Ezra replied, annoyed.

"Ezra, you have two choices." Todd started, starting to get annoyed as well. "You could take me with you wherever you're going or I could just walk up that front porch, ring the doorbell, and wait for your wife to open the door and the two of us could sit there and wait for you to get back. It's you choice."

"Stay the hell away from Aria." Ezra said, glaring angrily.

Todd just shrugged and held Ezra's gaze for several moments. Finally, Ezra went to his car, got into the driver's seat and waited. Todd climbed into the passenger seat, a smile on his face. Ezra started the car and began driving. After a long silence, he finally spoke.

"What do you want?"

"I told you, I want to talk." Todd replied.

"About?"

Todd was silent for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "Look Ezra, I know I haven't been the ideal father..."

"That's a bit of an understatement, don't you think?" Ezra said, bitterly.

Todd sighed. "Let me finish. I know I haven't been the ideal father for you and your brother but I didn't want to leave you guys. I didn't want to be one of those fathers that just left their family."

"So why did you?" Ezra asked, not quite believing the elder man.

"When you were fourteen, I met this woman at work, she worked in the human resources department at our company, and I...uh...I did some things that I'm not proud of and your mother found out. Said she didn't want to see me ever again and kicked me out of the house, forbidding me from seeing either you or Wesley ever again. I wanted to fight for you guys but, after what I'd done to your mother, I felt that I didn't deserve it. You were such good kids and I didn't deserve to have either of you in my life."

"Didn't you ever stop to think of how that might affect us?!" Ezra practically shouted. "We thought you just left us because you didn't love us and you know what? Because of you, I had to step in as a father figure for Wes. I WAS FOURTEEN YEARS OLD AND I HAD TO DO ALL THE THINGS THAT WES SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING WITH HIS FATHER! I taught him how to ride a bike, took him fishing, went to all of his hockey games, I did all those things with him because YOU WEREN'T THERE!" Ezra was breathing deeply when he finished his rant, not even looking at Todd, focusing on the road ahead of him. He pulled into the parking lot of the 24-hour fast food joint and got out of the car, happy to be able to get away from Todd, even if for just a few minutes.

After quickly ordering Aria's fries and ice cream and a burger and fries for himself, Ezra headed back to the car where, sure enough, Todd was still waiting.

"Did you get me anything?" he asked. Ezra didn't even grace this with a response.

"Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood." Todd muttered. "Look, son, I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that. But I want to make things right with you and your brother. It's too late for your mother and I but I want to try and fix this."

Ezra shook his head. "Talk is cheap, if you really want to make things right, you've got to show us."

Todd nodded. "I figured as much. And I'm willing to do whatever it takes to win both of your trust again."

Ezra just shrugged as he pulled up into his driveway. Once he'd parked, he stayed seated for a moment, waiting for Todd to speak. When he didn't, Ezra got out of the car.

"I would invite you inside but it's been a long day and..." Ezra said, knowing how lame his excuse sounded but not wanting to let Todd in either. He'd had enough of him for the time being.

"It's okay, I was just leaving anyway." Todd said, holding out his hand to shake. Ezra hesitated a moment before shaking it. As he watched Todd leave, he went into the house and walked up the stairs with the take-out bag in hand. As he walked into the bedroom, he saw Aria asleep in bed. A small smile crept onto his face as he lifted the blanket over her body and watched her sleep for a moment before going downstairs, placing the takeout bag in the fridge and crawling in next to her. He gently wrapped his arm around her torso, and she snuggled against his chest, her eyes fluttering open.

"Goodnight." she murmured, resting her head against his chest.

"Night babe." Ezra replied, as he caressed her hair. Aria fell asleep again within seconds. Her deep, even breaths calmed Ezra and he found himself falling asleep after the events of that very long night.

Hey y'all! So here's the next chapter, sorry it's kinda short, the next one will be up hopefully by next weekend. Don't forget to review :)

-xox Sobia