Thank You

Chapter 2 Seeing the Truth

Chip wrung his hands together out of nervousness, the tension was building more and more rapidly with each step he took and he felt like his knees would turn into jelly at any moment. Chip tried his hardest to try and relax but he felt as if he was walking on pins and needles, the tingling sensation slowly creeping up his spine as well.

Had his dad heard all of that ranting from earlier? And if so, what would this mean for him? Chip was already aware of the love/hate relationship they had, so Chip wasn't even sure if he had anything left to lose at this point; His pearly whites had been devastated multiple times, his chopper still laid outside in a smoldering wreakage, he had been permanently banned from the city, his Wholesome Crew was gone, and he had lied to the citys residents, his own father and the Greens, all due to his own self absorbance. Chip had even lost out on trying to strike a deal with what at first seemed like a humble family of farmers.

Mr. Whistler led them through the house and into the kitchen. "Take a seat, make yourself at home." He offered as he strolled to the freezer. Chip did as he was told; pulling the chair out and sitting down. Soon, the older gentleman caught a better glimpse of his sons attire while handing him the cold compress to ease the sewlling on his bruised eye and face. Chip looked awful and his father immediately took notice at the disheveled blonde locks and the gap in the teeth, "What happened to you this time?" Chip's dad could only imagine while he wandered back to the kitchen counter to pour two cups of coffee.

Chip hissed when the ice pack made contact but the sensation only lasted a few moments and his face started to feel better and Chip began to remember a similar gesture except with frozen peas; courtesy of the Greens, maybe they weren't so bad after all?

Soon his dad came back with the drinks. He sat them down and returned to his chair.

Exhaling a long, slow deep breath after a breif period of quietness, Chip explained his latest predicament. "It's not fair, I got banned from Big City."

Hearning that, Mr Whistler leaned forward slightly, clasping his hands together, and the sigh that left his mouth sounded disappointed. He felt sorry for Chip, "Son, were you ever taking your role in the company seriously? I mean, you got my forgiveness contract signed, so I thought you made amends with that family?" Soon realization struck him and he began to connect the dots. "Did you lie to me about that and when I called to check in on you about skipping out on your work? Did you not feel any sympathy at all for the people you hurt?" When his son didn't respond, he got the sneaking suspicion that Chip didn't actually apologize and soon, very slowly, he leaned back in his chair, shaking his head.

There was a lump in Chip's throat and he found it difficult to swallow. Setting the ice down, he reached forward and grabbed his coffee, taking a quick sip to cleanse his palate and to hopefully rid himself of whatever was caught in the throat. He swished it around a bit and then swallowed, looking at it as an breif opportunity to try and collect himself. Chip had known this wouldn't be an easy conversation from the start and he wasn't wrong. Chip didn't know how to explain his inexcusable actions; he had lied and deceived all the city's residents. He wanted now to throw another lie onto the fire but a voice in his head refused to let that happen.

"Well, I...I." Chip then tugged at the collar of his shirt before he sighed and sat the cup down, a clear sign he was admitting defeat. "Alright, yes. Yes I lied to you. I did make amends and I did give an apology but it was all a ruse to get the ceo position and get control of the company. It was all just for payback but, the Greens took pity on me before I became ceo and now I don't know how to feel about them. They're so sympathetic...ugh, makes me sick sometimes." Chip groaned again, placing his hands over his eyes as he slumped down in the chair.

"I did tell you to put the company to work for you but I hadn't realized that you took that so literally." Disappointment laced his fathers face "Well, the important thing is you have to realize your mistake."

As soon as that statement was thrown out there, the blondes mind flashed back once again, this time to the Feud Fight at the market.

"Chip, I don't like you and you don't like me but this fighting can't go on. We need to set aside our pride before both of our businesses are destroyed. Will you join me?" Cricket offered. Tilly was right, the feud was based only on petty revenge, her brother wanted Chip to be defeated but that wasn't the route the Green family took. They wouldn't sink so low. Chip slowly wandered twords the young farmer, a skeptical look his face.

"Really? No tricks, no tomatoes behind your back?" The Wholesome Foods manager suspected a trick or at least that's what he wanted Cricket to believe.

"No sir, only my honest hand." Cricket reached out his hand, hoping Chip would accept his offer. But the youths eyes widened when he saw his rival smirk.

"Good." Cricket screamed as Chip launched a barrage of tomatoes at him. Pelting him over and over again, laughing while he did. "Haha, sucker, Chip doesn't settle!" Once Cricket was on the ground in defeat which was followed by Tilly's incredible acting, the manager kept on gloating and taunting. His workers looked on terrified and a group of people who had observed the fight were more than enraged.

The guilt was slowing killing Chip from the inside out; that was part of the nervousness he had been feeling and soon enough, he found himself admitting the truth, knowing he couldn't evade the inevitable. This was one bullet he couldn't dodge.

Chip also knew that with his dad now retired, he had all the time in the world. Mr Whistler would wait as long as it took.

"Alright, I admit I did make a mistake, I had a chance to make things right with the Green family long before your Forgiveness Contract but I didn't take it." He rubbed at his shoulder in an awkward manner. Chip's gaze then shifted tword the window but he didn't see his current reflection staring back at him. Instead all he saw was the crazy eyed expression he had before being slung all the way out here. It was the look of a deranged madman whose sanity had slowly withered away over time. Chip was only now beginning to realize how much of it was gone.

"Wait, you didn't want to make things right with them?" Chip's father couldn't beleive what he was hearing. He thought Chip had at least some sense of empathy for the way he treated Cricket. Did he fail at raising his own son?

"I didn't think I did but I guess I was the one who caused this feud to begin with. Cricket gave me a chance to team up with him and his family but I declined. I made them an offer and...and him and his family filled my order. Of course, when I went to taste it for myself, Cricket tried to tell me I didn't want to eat it. He told me it was fake." Images started flashing though his mind. "I first chipped my tooth...on an apple..." Chip slowly started to fade out as he pushed his chair back and headed for the living room couch. Seeing his sons behavior unexpectedly shift, Mr. Whistler got up and followed him. Of course the younger blonde didn't take notice of that, he was too deep into his own thoughts. "A simple apple that my teeth couldn't penatrate causing them to break...fruit isn't suppose to be so hard." Soon, reality smacked Chip square in the face right as he plopped down onto the cushion. "Oh my gosh, it was fake, that little goblin wasn't lying to me!"

His dad was glad Chip had finally gotten a dose of reality while at the same time, he was also curious as to where his son would head now.

A/N

Another chapter, woo! Ok, so this story is really fun to write, the main purpose being to have Chip mend the love/hate relationship with his dad and also a what if scenario if his dad had found out the truth of Chip's plan. And reality check Chip, you're finally seeing who's to blame here! Lol.

Also, in the process of writing this, I'm preparing another Big City Greens fic that's possibly going to be an alternative scene to the Fued Fight episode and will involve Gwendolyn Zapp. So until next chapter (and later on, the next story) keep smiling! Bingo Bango. :P