Chapter 34

Father Knows Best?

On a warm Monday evening, at Phillipe Phoenix's mansion, he and Fara were having dinner in their large dining room as they were discussing their current events and updating each other of what was going on in their prospective lives.

Fara was giving her father an update on her patrolling job for the past week, telling him that there were only a few shipments of those weapon refills for the Cornerian military. Phillipe was pleased to hear that the military was restalking on their weapons as many of them were destroyed during the Aparoid invasion. The cleanup was taking much longer than expected and he's still irritated that not many of the roads have been cleared up. He really wants to go enjoy his nights at the opera house again!

Phillipe updated his daughter of the 'vile' Star Wolf's first time of working at the Corneria military base, as well as Star Fox's newfound 'friendship' with the disgusting criminals that reek with wickedness. Hearing that from her father made Fara's skin crawl. Star Fox being friends with Star Wolf?! It sounds completely unbelievable and downright insane.

It was bad enough that they had to hear about the news about those criminals at the press conference that General Pepper gave over a week ago, but those three getting jobs and becoming friends with Fox and his team? Despicable! Utterly despicable!

Fara finishes her dinner and excuses herself to do some paperwork, leaving her father alone in the dining room. As she left, Phillipe took out his bell and ringed it for his butler. "Bring me a bottle of champagne," he said. The butler nodded and said, "Yes sir" before going to the kitchen to grab a bottle for him.

Phillipe closed his hands together and sighed as he laid his head on them. He felt tired from irritation and annoyance over the fact that Fox McCloud of all people could ever want to be associated with that degenerate garbage! He looks back to when he and Fara used to be in love with each other.

'Ahh, such good times they were…' he thought to himself, remembering how happy his daughter looked with a man he knew was best for her. (Note that Fara and Fox were constantly arguing since they started dating, so this is just Phillipe's fantasy.)

But those were just memories now. After James was killed, Fox let his grief turn him against her and ended their relationship. Of course, he had to go to war and fight Andross, as well as Star Wolf, who were the ones responsible for the misery that Fox was wrapped up in. He doesn't care about whether or not they were framed, they're all guilty! ALL of them!

'Well,' he thought to himself again. 'There is another hope…'

His butler returned with the requested champagne and poured him a glass. "Your drink, Sir," he said.

"Thank you," Phillipe replied. "That will be all."

The butler nodded and left the fennec alone. Now alone, Phillipe took a sip and looked down at a few papers that he had in his pocket. One of them was of Bill Grey and the other was Sabre. He knew that these two were capable of being worthy spouses for his daughter, but he doesn't know which one he liked the most.

He needs to think of a way to meet with both of them to see which one would be worthy of Fara's hand in marriage. Sabre would probably be easier as he, along with his 'sister', had their parents out of the picture, but he wants to be sure that Bill would be a better specimen to be a part of his family. Bill, however, is gonna be tricky, as he never met the latter's parents in his life, so he'll have to meet them first before making his choice.

He maliciously smirked at how well his plan might go in his favor. "I can hardly wait to see how well things will go from here."

A while later, Phillipe finished his wine and summoned his butler to place the bottle back in the kitchen.

"About time too," the fennec fox said impatiently. "Don't want to have a hangover tomorrow morning…"

The pig butler received the bottle of champagne and placed it back into the kitchen while Phillipe took a look outside the window. Upon returning, the butler has a letter that was received in the mail earlier that day.

"Sir," he said, handing over the letter. "The latest bill has arrived."

"Ugh, damnit!" he cursed from under his breath. "I HATE doing this… *sigh* very well, I'll take care of it in the morning." He took the bill from his butler and chuckled.

"May I ask what is humoring you, Sir?" the butler asked.

"Haha, well Dennis," he looked at the bill then back to Dennis. "Here I was, thinking of wanting a bill in this residence, and this one wasn't what I was referring to. Isn't that nuts?"

"Pardon me, Sir," Dennis was confused but didn't show it. "But what 'bill' were you referring to?"

"Why, Bill Grey of course!" he replied with boastfulness. "I was thinking of arranging either him, or that new guy Sabre, to be betrothed to my daughter. I was wanting to make my little girl happy by helping her move on from Fox, and I may have found the chance to do that. Plus," he placed his hands together and closed his eyes while making a cheeky smile. "This will be a wonderful benefit for the Phoenix family's legacy, and I couldn't be happier to find a solution to appease both."

Dennis just stood there, with his blank expression, disturbed by Mr. Phoenix's idea of putting his own daughter on a pedestal for his own use. He worked for him for years and he never ceases to surprise him over what selfish and greedy plans he would come up with. He's started being this way ever since he began to love his money more than loving people, it's no wonder why his wife divorced him. Well, he can't actually say that to his face unless he wants to get into real trouble.

He doesn't understand why Fara puts up with his crap. Even if she just wants to have a good relationship with her father, that doesn't mean she should go along with whatever despicable plan or opinion that he has in his head. She's so much better than that. He can only do nothing but unfortunately suck up this garbage that he was spewing out of his mouth.

...

The next morning, General Pepper was sitting on the bed in his room. He just woke up, took his shower and finished getting dressed already. Today was his day off, and although he wanted to use it, to put his worries aside and relax for just a little bit, that wasn't gonna be possible.

Since last week, when Phillipe Phoenix was sharing his thoughts about the arranged marriage between Bill and Fara, he just couldn't get those thoughts out of his head. That subject that the fennec fox gave him that time was chewing away at his nerves, little by little. He simply wants to tell Phillipe that Bill was not gonna be part of an arranged marriage, and that if his son wanted to marry someone then it would be out of love, not of obligations. He wanted his son to be happy with someone who really wants to spend the rest of his life with, rather than being married to someone that neither of them have feelings for, which will end up having a miserable life in the end.

But there's one problem; If he vouched for Bill, Phillipe would suspect or even realize that he adopted Bill and could use that information to his advantage to make Bill and Fara get together, since he knew firsthand that Phillipe Phoenix has his ways to get what he wants while slimming away from the law. In a moment like this, he seriously wishes that he could go back in time and he would've made adopting Bill public, since keeping this secret is starting to cause him a lot of trouble, and revealing it nowadays was not a good idea. He's gonna have to find a way so that Bill would never ever meet Phillipe alone anywhere, so that he wouldn't try to get his son involved in his schemes.

"Dad! Breakfast is ready," a voice echoed from downstairs which snapped him out of his train of thought.

Bill was calling for him. Looking at the time on his watch, he realized that he wasted half an hour worrying about his current situation. He got up from his bed, left his room and went down the stairs to head into the dining room. When he got there, his son was already sitting at the table, breakfast prepared on both of their plates.

'It's a good thing that he remembers our rule about eating,' Pepper thought in his head.

Since Bill was a kid, he and Pepper always had a ground rule that until they were both in the dining room, whether for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, they weren't allowed to eat until both of them were present, and they've been following this rule for years. The smell of hash browns, toast and eggs that Bill cooked made Pepper hungry like a drooling baby… It smelled pretty good. His son definitely learned a lot from him when he first taught the younger dog how to cook during his teen years.

Pepper had the ambition that when he started his own family, Bill would be the family cook. He'd hope that his future spouse and children (who would be his grandkids) would enjoy the food he prepares as much as he does.

"Glad you came down Dad," Bill said. "I was beginning to worry about you."

"Sorry, Son," Pepper said. "I had a few things on my mind that I lost track of time."

Bill nodded in understanding, without wondering to ask what concerns his father. After a few seconds of praying in silence, they began to have breakfast.

He wanted to ask Bill a question, but he didn't want to bring up the truth about Phillipe's offer, so he decided to ask him indirectly.

"Bill?" he asked, getting his son's attention. ""Tell me, what do you want to do for your future when I'm gone."

His son looked at him with his eyebrow raised. "Why do you ask?"

"Umm…just curious…", General Pepper half lied.

"Well," Bill placed his finger under his chin and thought for a moment. He smiled and replied to the old golden retriever's question. "To be honest, I want to continue serving the military to protect the peace of Corneria and the entire Lylat System. Who knows," he thought for another moment and his smile softened. "Maybe I'll become a general like you one day. That's my greatest wish…"

The old dog felt tears forming in his eyes. Bill said the exact same words that he said when he was a pup, long before he became a general himself. He hoped that he could live long enough to see Bill take his place in the army.

"I'm glad to hear that boy," General Pepper said with a smile. "I'm happy that you want to become like your old man. But I wanna ask you; have you thought about wanting to start a family of your own?" This question made Bill''s eyes glisten. "As you know, I wasn't able to form the traditional family that I wanted and I felt disappointed at first. But on that evening that I found you all alone on the street, when fate brought us together, I knew that my place was to give you a loving family, even if it was just the two of us. And if I was given the opportunity to choose between starting a family of my own again or raising you again, I would definitely choose you." Pepper placed his hand over Bill's and let a few tears escape. "Out of all the accomplishments I have done, you have been the greatest pride of my life."

Bill let a few tears shed from his eyes too and smiled as he wiped them off. He sniffed as he said, "Thank you very much Dad." After a few seconds of regaining his composure, he answered his father's question. "As for starting my own family? Well, yes. I want to have my own family, but I haven't found the right person yet."

"Really?" Pepper asked. "Have you ever dated someone without telling me?"

"Well, I dated Fay once. We started dating back to when we were in both middle school and high school, but we broke up not long after I started working in the military." Bill lowered his head and ears as his smile went down. "We…didn't get very far in our relationship. Just a couple of dates, hugs and kisses, but nothing more. My feelings for her went away as time passed, so I only see her as a friend now."

"Oh, I understand." Pepper was surprised. His son never told him that he formed a relationship with anyone. Could it be that he wanted to be sure that he really wanted to spend the rest of his life with her before telling him? Or was it…somehow related to keeping their father-son relationship a secret…? "Is there…anyone in particular that you like now?"

"No," he replied. "There are a few girls I know or heard about. Miyu Lynx? I don't think she's interested in either boys or girls. Either she's asexual, or keeping her relationships privately. Lucy is just a friend and I could see her as the younger sister type to me. I don't know Krystal very well, but I do know that she's interested in Fox. There's also Falco's friend, Katt Monroe, I only saw her once during the end of the Lylat Wars and I haven't seen her since. Anyway, I think she had feelings for Falco, but I don't know if she still has feelings for him. And as for Fara…"

Pepper began to listen carefully to the part about Fara. Depending on what Bill would say, he would be able to figure out a course of action regarding what to do about Phillipe.

"Well, Fara is a good person and friend, but I don't feel any interest in her and, I don't know…" Bill begins to shutter a bit before he continues his explanation. "I feel some kind of strange aura when I'm around her father, Phillipe. I don't know what that feeling is, but I don't seem to like being around him. Like…he's not who he says he is…" Pepper sunk a little deep in his chair. He can only quietly agree with his son about what he was trying to say. "Although, I do like spending time with Fara and our friends whenever he isn't around."

Bill kept quiet about any guys he could possibly be interested in, as he didn't want to disappoint his father if he found out about him being bisexual.

Pepper relaxed after hearing his brief explanation on Fara and Phillipe. He always knew that Bill and Fara were friends and he wouldn't force him on her if he didn't want to, but he was curious as to why he wasn't so comfortable being around Phillipe and what made him start to feel that way. Now, General Pepper was more than ever to be sure that he doesn't get left alone with Phillipe. So, the next time Phillipe visits the military base, he'll send Bill to patrol outside of Corneria until he finally leaves.

Fortunately, the fennec doesn't know where Bill lives, so it wouldn't be much of a problem for him if the fennec tries to search for him outside of working hours.

"Well, son," he sighed in relief. "When you find the right person, I hope you can introduce me."

"Of course, I will, Father."

After they finished talking, the two dogs continued to eat their breakfast.