The Failure of a Father

Ch 10: Repairing a Broken Heart

Things were getting better and better for Michael, ever since that one trio hug with Roberto and Lori, he felt like a weight was lifted off his chest. He was eating with the rest of the Williams family members. Their dinner for today was a salad consisting of a mixture of cucumbers and tomatoes, and don't forget the chicken casserole Abigail cooked up for today.

"Hey, Mike?" Julius asked.

"What is it, Mr. Williams?" Michael replied to Stephanie's father.

"This is an important matter, honey. We need to talk about what happened since Tuesday." Abigail said, her tone becoming sharp.

"It's going to be a long story…" The oldest Afton child said. "…so you may want to continue eating."

Julius then took a bite of his casserole. The Williams family then prepared to listen for whatever Michael was going to explain, and the boy cleared his throat.

"OK, when I got home, I slammed the door open. CC asked me if I'm OK, and I just ignored him and went to my room. Father came upstairs and asked me why I ignored him, I just scoffed and cursed him off in response. He told me he was my 'father', and I yelled at him in response." Michael started forming tears in his eyes. "Then…then, I laughed darkly, and used foul language in front of Father. He then yelled and told me that I can't use that type of language in the house." His voice started breaking. "I then yelled back at him, and showed my bite wound." Michael said as he removed the sleeves of his pants.

"Oh my God, you got bitten by a dog?" Jamie asked.

"Correct." The oldest Afton replied to Stephanie's younger brother.

"Continue." Julius prompted Michael.

He wiped the tears from his eyes. "Then Mother asked me if I was fine, and I answered 'yes'." Michael said. "I then continued yelling and snapping at Father, and he slapped me. I stood a millimeter away from him, and did the same, but even harder. I even yelled and asked him, if he showed any remorse for what happened over the last 3 weeks, it went on until…I ran away, Mother tried to chase me, but to no avail." He sniffled. "Listen, even though I despise my parents right now, doesn't mean that I like it when they go to prison."

Abigail then thought. "What a kind-hearted boy…what did he do to deserve that type of treatment?"

Julius then patted Michael lightly on the head. "You're a pure-hearted boy, Michael, even though you hate your parents, you still love them deep inside."

Michael then hugged Julius tight. "Thank you so much…" The man then patted the boy's hair.

Smiling, he hugged him back. He thought. "I'm always here to keep you safe no matter what."

Abigail and Stephanie smiled at the cute moment between Julius and Michael.

"How cute…" Abigail said.

"You're right, Mom…" Stephanie smiled.

Sooner, they finished their dinner and put their plates in the sink. Julius washed the dishes, and Stephanie retired to her room, in her PJs. Jamie did the same, and read some comics for a bit. Michael then changed into his PJs, which consists of a grey T-shirt, and black-and-white plaid shorts, Stephanie's PJs consist of a pink hoodie and red pants. The teenage girl removed her hair tie, as she lied down on her bed.

"So…" Michael said as he lied down. "What are we going to do for us to get to sleep?"

"Just stare at the ceiling, eventually we will…" Stephanie yawned, and gradually closed her eyes, as the pineal gland in her brain secreted melatonin to initiate the sleep cycle. "…fall asleep." She closed her eyes, and snored.

Michael followed suit a split-second later. The evening dragged well into the dead of night, as everybody was initiating their sleep patterns. Not even a soul was awake, until the clock struck one in the morning. Stephanie was woken up from her usual sleep cycle, as she went to the bathroom to release the urine her bladder had been holding in for a while.

Afterwards, she went back to bed and resumed her usual sleep pattern, which was 8 hours.

In the morning...

Everybody got up from their bedrooms to take a shower and get ready for a new day. Stephanie changed into her day clothes, fixed her hair, and put her hair tie back on. Abigail started cooking up dinner in the kitchen, while Julius was in the home office upstairs doing some work on the computer. The father had a business meeting today at quarter past 8 in the morning, and he didn't want disturbances, so as to interrupt the meeting.

Jamie woke up, and asked his mom. "Hey Mom, where's Dad?"

"He's upstairs, honey, he has a business meeting today so don't cause any disturbances." Abigail answered.

"Sure thing, I'll be in the living room playing cards with Michael." The 13-year-old said, as he retired to the living room to play cards with Michael.

They then pulled out their cards, counting up to 13 each. Shuffling their decks, they got ready to play the game. Michael pulled out 13 cards, consisting of an ace, two cards with the 8 of clubs, the three of spades, the eight of spades, and lastly, the 9 of hearts.

Jamie put his card on the table, which is the 7 of Spades. "What's your card?"

He pulled out a three of Spades, and laid it on the table.

"You lost." Jamie said as he pulled out a card consisting of 9 clubs.

"Not for long…" Michael chuckled as he pulled out an ace.

As the two resumed their little game, Abigail finished cooking breakfast for today. The mother got out of the kitchen, and saw the duo playing their card game. She smiled at the sight of Michael and Jamie playing cards with each other. "Don't get too comfortable now, kids!" She said. "Breakfast is ready!"

Their mouths watered at the mention of breakfast, as they rushed to the dinner table and got their plates ready. Stephanie followed suit a split second later, and they all ate breakfast except for Julius since he had an important meeting that day. Later, Julius was done with his meeting and came downstairs to eat.

A few weeks have passed since Michael ran away from his family, and things were slowly getting better for the Afton family. They were beginning to see hope for the oldest Afton child to return, they knew he was going to forgive them; he just needed time to be on the fence and sort his decisions out.

William thought of what Lynn Sr. told him on Sunday.

"But hey, get your hopes up!"

A smile gradually formed on his face.

"Michael will forgive you over time, just give him some space to think, maybe he's on the fence about it."

William then smiled, considering the support Lynn Sr. gave him.

Later that day...

Everyone was up to their usual antics in the Afton family, they were thinking up of ways to get Michael's forgiveness. William had something to show his family today.

"Dad, what's that book in your hand?" CC asked his father.

"It's a picture collection of Lincoln and his sisters before we arrived here, as well as Lynn and Rita." William said, smiling. "So come on, I'll show you!"

The 2 girls of the Afton family came into the living room, interested by what William said last time.

"Are you ready?" The Afton father asked his family, and they gave a thumbs-up in response.

He then pulled out the first picture, which showed Lynn Sr. and Rita coming home with baby Lincoln from the hospital and showing the sisters' reaction to finally having a brother. Olivia took it, and smiled. "I didn't know Lincoln can be cute for a newborn infant." She gave it to her other kids, to whom they adored Lincoln as a little baby.

"Oh my God, Linky is too cute to be seen as a baby!" They said in awe.

They gave the picture back to William, and pulled out the second picture, showing a one-year-old Lincoln throwing his baby food around when Leni was trying to feed him.

Olivia giggled warmly. "How cute, Leni was trying to feed him his food."

Elizabeth and CC took the picture and looked at it, and they smiled.

They gave the picture back to William, and he pulled out another one. They look at the pictures, one showed Lincoln and Lynn Jr. horseplaying in the bathtub, and another one showed Lori spoon-feeding Lincoln his first ice cream, and so on. After, they finished looking at the pictures. William decided to put them in the drawer under the TV.

In the afternoon…

Everyone got back to their usual hobbies in the Loud residence, Leni was making a dress for her prom, Lana was playing with mud outside, Luna was playing guitar in her room, and Lynn Sr. and Rita were outside buying groceries, which complies with the reason the fridge is nothing but blank canvas.

Michael was sitting on a bench, looking at the cars passing by before him. He looked at the road, until Elijah came up to him.

"Yo, dude." Elijah said as he sat near Michael.

"Oh hey, Elijah." He greeted his friend. "What's up?"

"I heard the news between you and your dad, what happened?"

"It's just that he was acting like an asshole to me over the past 3 weeks, and when I finally snapped at him, that's what happened."

Elijah pouted. "That's sad…" His heart was filled to the brim with sympathy, at the sight of Michael getting hurt by his own parent.

"Yeah, you're right, Eli." Michael said, his sadness clear as day.

"I hope things get resolved between you and your papá." Roberto said, coming into the scenery and sitting beside the duo.

"Thanks, Bobby." Michael said to Roberto.

"De nada, amigo." The Hispanic teen said. "By the way, how did you know my nickname?"

"Isn't that what Lori and Lincoln call you?"

"Sí, correcto, that's what they call me." Roberto said. "But mi abuelos call me Roberto, so does mi tío, tía, and primos CJ, Carl, Carlitos, and Carlota."

"Who is the youngest out of all of them?" Elijah asked.

"Carlitos, he is 7 meses old as of now." He said.

"Oh."

"Sometimes, Carl would always, ¿Ya sabes? Mess everything up in mi abuelo's bodega."

"So your cousins may be naughty at times?" Michael asked.

"¡Exactamente!" Roberto said as he laughed. "He would always let the gatos in there, and scare his babysitters away."

"Yeah, I know right?" Elijah said, chuckling.

"That's funny."

"Oh, how about the time when Carl snatched Carlota's eyeliner and lipstick?" The American-Mexican said to the duo.

"How did he look like?" Michael asked.

"He looked like a brujo!" They laughed. "Carlota got angry at him and chased him throughout the apartment!"

"You know, this was quite fun after all." Michael said.

"Yes, and it helped take our minds off the bad times." Roberto replied as he, Elijah, and Michael got up, and put their hands on their shoulders, mirroring a sense of brotherhood between them.

To be continued in Ch 11…

A/N: Sorry if I took too long updating this chapter. BTW, I mentioned some characters from the spin-off show of The Loud House, and as a minigame, can you guess all of them? :D

And I used some of the pictures from Lincoln's childhood, and had William and his family see it, but don't worry, Michael will too, when he finally comes home on his own accord. I am also going to have Lynn Sr. and Rita see him in chapter eleven and talk things out, then plan Ronalda's first cameo in the story.