Assassin's Creed (c) Ubisoft

Concept (c) Sannam

Haytham growled as he slammed the door closed behind him before violently throwing his backpack into the wooden box by the door. His face throbbed, bits of dried blood still clung to his upper lip and he could feel the start of a bruise over his left eye. Ziio had managed to ruin his Friday when she chucked a dodge ball at his head during recess. Haytham just had the ill luck of turning around right at that moment, allowing the rubber ball to collide with his face.

He took his jacket off and hung it up on the coat rack before heading into the kitchen. His father was nowhere to around, but he could hear the low rumble of AC/DC coming from some part of the house. He walked into bathroom and washed it face. He opened his mouth, inspecting the collage of baby teeth, halfway visible adult teeth and gaps. He had one more tooth to lose, an eyetooth on the bottom left side. Pity Ziio's attack didn't knock it out. He touched it, wiggling it slightly. Haytham wondered if he should let Uncle Thatch yank it out with a pair of pliers, but decided the tooth wasn't loose enough just yet for extraction. He headed into the kitchen, pulling out bread, a knife, peanut butter and strawberry jelly. His father popped in as he slathered jelly onto a slice of bread. "Haytham, you're home!" Edward said.

"Yeah," Haytham grumbled, hoping his father wouldn't get too overly concern about his face. Haytham felt another bruise forming on the bridge of his nose. "School was fine."

"What happened to your face, son?" Edward asked, setting down the wrench he held and walking up to his son. He tilted Haytham's head up, turning it from side to side. "Didja run into a wall?"

"No," Haytham growled, pulling his face away from his father. "Ziio threw a ball at my face."

"Who's Ziio?"

"Some stupid girl in my class," Haytham said before chomping down on his sandwich. "I'm starting to agree with Charles and Thomas that she's a violent tomboy."

"Why did she throw a ball at you?" Edward asked as he opened the cupboard and got two glasses out. He opened the fridge and pulled out the gallon of milk, broke the seal and sniffed it, satisfied that the milk had yet to spoil, he pour two glasses before putting it back into the fridge.

"Thanks," Haytham mumbled accepting the glass of milk. "And I don't know why she was throwing a ball at me! She always does stupid stuff like that, Father! Yesterday, it rained in the morning, but stopped before lunch so we had lunch recess outside, and do you know what she did?" Haytham asked, giving his father an imploring look.

"Nuh-uh." Edward shook his head.

"She threw mud at me! When I tried to comfort her, she told me to leave her alone otherwise she'll tell a teacher before running off! Three days ago she poured milk on my head!"

Edward laughed. "That's why you called and had me bring you a change of clothes, wondering what you could've gotten into on that playground."

"It's not funny, Father!" Haytham seethed, taking his frustration out on his poor sandwich. "She's crazy!"

"Have you done anything to her?" Edward asked. "Girls hold grudges like you wouldn't believe." Edward looked away, "I should know too," he grumbled.

"I told her to not beat up Charles and then a few weeks ago I had to track her down during lunch recess to get her to rescue the Frisbee we were playing with that got stuck up in a tree. She was angry both times."

"Well Haytham, she probably has a wee crush on you," Edward said. Haytham stared, his eyes nearly popping out.

Ziio.

Violent, tomboy, Ziio.

Has a crush on him!

Besides, if he allowed himself to admit it, he was the one with the crush.

"No, that's impossible Father. She hates us! All because we're friends with Charles and he called her a mucky savage! She especially hates me, because I came to Charles' rescue!" Haytham said.

"I bet ya dollar that she does," Edward said. Haytham frowned.

"Girls are crazy Father," Haytham stated, finishing off his sandwich and taking a gulp of his milk. "I'm never going to get married."

Edward tossed his head back and laughed. "Oh, Haytham," Edward chuckled, "I said the same thing when I was your age. I got married twice."

"You did? Then where's my step-mom?" Haytham asked, wondering where his stepmother was. He knew his mother died when he was a baby, and all he knew of her was what was captured in the photos that his father kept in his room and that her name was Tessa. His father didn't talk about his mother.

Edward sobered rather swiftly. "Your mother was my second wife, Haytham. Caroline was my first wife. She lives in New York with your half-sister, Jenny."

"Oh, can I meet them someday?" Haytham asked, not sure how to feel about his half-sister and her mother.

"Someday," Edward agreed and drained his milk. Haytham wondered if his father wished the milk were beer.

"I'm serious though," Haytham said, "about never getting married."

"Right," Edward said. "Keep tellin' yourself that. One day you'll change your mind."

"No," Haytham said, adamant, "never."

Edward grinned as he stood up. "Anyway, sea urchin, I wanna show you something. A little improvement I made to the bathroom!"

Haytham felt a knot of dread began to tangle in his stomach. "Father," Haytham said slowly, "what did you do?"

"Come look," Edward said, "I found it on Amazon. It's brilliant!"

Haytham followed his father with trepidation. In the bathroom, with its ocean themed decorations, toothbrush holder and soap dispenser was an opened Amazon shipping box where the old toilet seat rested, in its dingy white glory. Atop the toilet now sat a blue plastic toilet seat with seashells, a big bright orange starfish, bits of sand and two dolphins. Haytham sighed, amazed at how utterly tacky it was. "Do you think this bathroom needs more ocean stuff, Father?" Haytham asked. He was glad it wasn't the guest bathroom near the front of the house, at least that bathroom only had a sea horse soap dispenser.

"Don't count it out yet," Edward said. Haytham swallowed. "It gets better!"

Haytham wanted to tell his father that his definition of better and other people's were vastly different. "Okay?"

"It lights up!" Edward said, grinning like a child at Christmas as he opened the lid of the toilet seat. The seat, also blue with seashells, glowed a pale blue. "See, no more knockin' yar knees in the dark when ya have to take a midnight leak!"

Haytham stared, wondering just went on in his father's mind. "Father…"

"No, son! This purchase is the single greatest achievement of my life!"

I'll fix the errors after dinner!

I wanted to do a squirt gun fight between the Templar kids and the Assassin kids, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. So, this is set a couple of weeks after the last chapter. :D

Edward's house has two baths, three bedrooms, and is one story. There's a guest bathroom near the front of the house, a second bathroom in the back between Haytham's room and the master bedroom. (It has all the crazy ocean/nautical themed stuff), and a guest bedroom near the living/family room.

This chapter wasn't even supposed to be up today, but NOOK is pissing me off (they are getting rid of their Video option thing and one of the apps I need I can't download on my NOOK HD+ ) and I needed to vent my anger. So, Haytham is upset and vowing to never to get married.

Haytham's reaction to him learning of Jenny is based on personal experience.

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-Nemo