Michael waited outside for just a couple minutes, mostly because he felt bad about walking through the house all wet. He wasn't exactly upset about Melissa pushing him into the pool, he should have noticed it when she put her hands on his chest (it made Michael really nervous, that's why he didn't say anything), but he was kind of upset with himself for not dragging her in with him.

And now Michael had a plan.

Finally he walked through the back door of the house and sopped his way back into the kitchen, where he could hear Parker and Katie giggling with each other and Melissa moving dishes around, probably to make the hot chocolate.

When Michael entered the kitchen Katie screamed again and ran out, because of course Michael looked a lot scarier now that he was soaking wet. He still didn't understand why Katie didn't like him, he dyed his hair purple for her and she still didn't care. Parker ran up to Michael and quickly gave him one of his signature leg-hugs before running away and following after Katie.

"You look a little wet." Melissa stifled a laugh, turning around and leaning against the counter.

"Oh, you don't say?" Michael rolled his eyes, taking one step closer to her.

"Did you enjoy your swim?" Melissa asked, cocking her head to the side. She didn't notice how close Michael had gotten to her, or the way that he'd carefully place his hands on her hips.

He was nervous, because girls always seemed to make him nervous no matter who they were, but Michael knew that this really didn't mean anything. He had a plan to get back at Melissa for pushing him in the pool, and this was just part of that plan. It didn't mean anything.

"Oh yeah, I really enjoyed it." Michael nodded sarcastically.

"You're hair looks really funny when it's wet." Melissa chuckled, raising her hand up like she was going to touch his hair. Michael took this as a perfect opportunity to carry out his plan and he (somehow) grabbed Melissa by the waist and lifted her up, throwing her over his shoulder. "What are you doing?!"

"Revenge." Michael said simply, turning and maneuvering his way through the kitchen and out the back door again.

"Oh, come on. You're acting like a ten year old." Melissa groaned. She wasn't even struggling to get out of his arms, which Michael found amusing, because it was like Melissa knew that she wouldn't be able to win this fight.

"You're the ten year old." Michael argued, sliding the door open. "You pushed me in the pool first."

"So?" Melissa asked, "You were already wet."

"And you're about to get wet as well." Michael laughed, nearly tripping over his own two feet as he walked through the yard and to the pool deck.

"Kinky."

"You're awful!" Michael whined, and Melissa just laughed. She had a really pretty laugh, Michael noticed, but he didn't want to mention anything in fear that it'd ruin the whole vibe that he had going. Whatever vibe that was.

"Oh, fine." Melissa sighed. "I guess I deserve this."

"You do." Michael nodded. They were on the pool deck now, and Michael was trying to decided whether or not he just wanted to throw Melissa in or set her down and push her. There was a difference.

"Just throw me in already." Melissa groaned, actually sounding impatient. Who got impatient about being thrown into a pool? "Oh my God, put me down at least."

"Stop being so pushy!" Michael yelled. He set Melissa down anyway and watched her straighten herself out again before standing in front of Michael, still waiting.

"I'm asking you to be pushy. Come on, push me." Melissa said, holding her arms out, ready to be pushed.

"Are you seriously just going to let me push you into the pool without putting up a fight at all?" Michael laughed. He stepped closer to Melissa and held his hands out; he wasn't sure if he was trying to defend himself from getting pushed in again or just preparing to shove Melissa forward.

"Yeah, this is your one free shot. After this I'll put up a fight." Melissa shrugged.

"So there's a possibility of this happening again?" Michael gasped. He wasn't sure how much pool-pushing he could take.

"Maybe." Melissa said, shrugging again.

"Okay then." Michael said and pushed Melissa forward, sending her flying towards the pool. But of course things just couldn't go Michael's way, and Melissa grabbed both of his wrists before she had fallen completely, pulling Michael down with her.

"What the fuck?" Michael yelled as he popped up on the surface of the water. He shook out his hair again and ran his hands through it, trying to make himself look a little better.

"Oh my God, I think your butt, like, collided with my head." Melissa groaned, also pushing her hair out of her face.

"Good." Michael snapped, "I hope you liked it."

"Well I never said I didn't." Melissa shrugged.

"You're so annoying." Michael groaned as well, splashing some water towards Melissa, who just laughed.

"So are you!" Melissa laughed, splashing Michael back. She swam closer to him, splashing some more water in his face.

"Stop it!" Michael whined, trying to cover his face so he didn't get water in his eyes. He understood now why Parker didn't like when Michael sprayed him in the bath. "I don't like the feeling of water in my eyes."

"Aw, poor baby." Melissa pouted.

"Stop it, I'm not a baby." Michael whined again, failing to realize that he sounded exactly like his four year old son. He splashed Melissa one more time before retreating to the pool wall, leaning up against it with his arms crossed.

"You sound just like Parker sometimes, it's funny." Melissa chuckled, making her way over to Michael, standing in front of him.

"Well he's my son." Michael scoffed, "So obviously he acts like me."

"Obviously." Melissa scoffed, imitating Michael. "But what if he wasn't your son?"

"Oh, don't even start with that." Michael said, rolling his eyes. "My friend Calum already tried to convince me that Parker's not really my son, because he hardly looks like me. He looks just like Beth."

"Calum sounds like a douche."

"He is!" Michael laughed, "But he's my best friend, so I kind of have to tolerate him."

The two of them stood in silence again, almost like they'd forgotten that they were literally standing in the middle of a pool while they're kids were doing God knows what inside the house. Michael kind of liked this, though, it was pretty peaceful compared to what things were normally like for him.

"Parker has your eyes." Melissa said, leaning a little (actually it was a lot, but Michael didn't want to admit it) closer to him.

"What?" Michael asked dumbly, like he hadn't even heard what Melissa had said.

"Your eyes, they're just like Parker's." She said quietly, leaning in even closer, clearly very interested in Michael's eyes.

"Oh, yeah." Michael nodded, swallowing hard at the fact that Melissa was so close to him now. "I've been told that Parker got my eyes but he got Beth's... Everything else."

"They're pretty."

"Oh?" Michael questioned, his face heating up again and most likely turning a nice light pink color. "Thank you."

"Yeah, I've always wanted eyes that were a cool color." Melissa sighed, looking down at her feet.

"Your eyes are cool." Michael shrugged, though he'd never really taken a good look at them. He really wasn't used to interacting with Melissa this way, he felt as though they were arguing most of the time they were with each other, they didn't normally just sit and talk about normal things. Like eyes. Michael liked it.

"I think my eyes are kind of boring. I don't know, I've just always wanted someone to look at me and be all 'whoa, you have pretty eyes'. But that doesn't really happen, because my eyes aren't even that cool." She explained, and Michael leaned in for a quick second and looked at Melissa's eyes before speaking again.

"Whoa, you have pretty eyes." Michael said, which forced Melissa to look back up at him and smile, a real genuine smile, before she looked down again.

"I think we should go back inside now." Melissa said quietly, and Michael realized that, yeah, they should go back inside now, because their kids were alone in the house.

"Right." Michael nodded. He quickly climbed out of the pool and gathered up all of his things, which he'd left on the deck after the first time he was pushed in the pool.

Melissa followed him, not stopping to grab anything because she didn't have anything to pick up, and made her way back to the house, both of them hoping that everything inside was okay and the kids were fine. Michael was sure nothing bad had happened, he doubted that Parker and Katie even noticed that Melissa and Michael had gone missing for a few minutes.

Everything appeared to be fine as they walked back in the house and Michael was thankful for that, because he would hate for Parker to have run around and made a mess of everything like he did at home. They made their way into the kitchen, only to find Parker and Katie both sitting quietly at the table were Melissa and Michael had been earlier. But what surprised Michael was the woman sitting opposite of the kids, and he honestly would have scream and ran or something if Melissa hadn't spoke.

"Oh, hi!" She said, looking down at herself, probably remembering that she was soaking wet.

"Why are you wet?" The woman (Michael was going to assume for now that she was Katie's mother) stood up from the table, glaring at Melissa.

"I can explain." Michael said quickly. He was trying to attempt to save Melissa's ass by making up some excuse, but he was having trouble thinking of something to say and he felt that he'd maybe just made things worse by speaking.

"Marisa, who is this purple haired fool and why is he standing in my kitchen?" She asked, her eyes switching over to Michael, who was dripping all over the place.

"It's Melissa." He mumbled, trying to correct her as nicely as possibly, though he didn't think that the woman heard him at all because Parker spoke at the same time.

"That's my daddy!" He yelled, standing up on his chair. Michael mentally slapped himself on the face, because the rude woman standing in front of them looked like she was absolutely going to explode at the sight of Parker standing on the chair like that.

"Oh," She said, pursing her lips. "That's your daddy?"

"Yes." Parker nodded. Katie grabbed the edge of Parker's shirt and yanked him down again, so he was actually sitting on the chair rather than standing.

"This is Parker, he's Katie's friend." Melissa explained, walking towards Parker. Michael probably should have walked over there as well and maybe grabbed Parker and ran away, but he stood frozen, too scared to do anything. "She's been telling you about him."

"What?" Katie's mom asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "She hasn't told me anything."

"Yes she has." Melissa argued. She glanced at Michael over her shoulder for a second and rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed. "Every night for the past month, at dinner."

"Oh. Speaking of dinner, what are you making? I only have a couple hours, I have to run back into - "

"I haven't even thought about what our plans for dinner are yet, actually, because Michael and Parker were here." Melissa snapped. Michael was honestly surprised that she acted like that around her boss. She was so sassy, you would think that she'd have gotten fired by now. "You'd be better off just going out and getting dinner for yourself, because I don't think I'll have anything ready in time."

Katie's mom (whatever her name was, she hadn't cared enough to introduce herself to Michael) just let out a big sigh and grabbed her purse from where it was hanging off of a chair and left the room. She might have even left the house, too, Michael didn't know and he sure didn't care. This lady was awful, he couldn't believe that she treated Melissa that was or even Katie, who she didn't seem to care about at all.

"Well." Melissa finally broke the silence, turning around to face Michael. "That was fun."

"Park, I think we should get going now." Michael called over to Parker, who was intently watching Katie as she sat with her head down on the table. She didn't seem to be crying or anything and Melissa wasn't really making a big deal out of it, so Michael didn't say anything. Maybe this was a regular thing.

"Daddy, I want to stay - "

"Let's just go, buddy, we can come back another day." Michael said, walking over to Parker. He grabbed him from the chair he was sitting in and lifted him up, throwing him over his shoulder just like he'd done with Melissa earlier.

"I'll walk you out." Melissa said quietly. Michael really would have preferred to stay, but he could tell that Melissa was obviously upset now and he didn't think that things would be very fun if everyone was in a bad mood, so he decided that they'd had a long enough visit.

So Michael and Parker gathered their things up as Melissa waited for them by the door, and when they were all ready she even walked with them to Michael's car parked in the driveway. Michael got Parker all buckled up (despite all of his whining) and then shut the door, so he could talk to Melissa for a second without Parker interrupting.

"I'm sorry if I got you in any sort of trouble." Michael said softly, looking down at the ground.

"It's fine, it was my fault anyway." Melissa shrugged. "I didn't even know she was going to be coming home."

"What's her deal, anyway?" Michael asked, just curious as to why Katie's mom was such a, well, bitch.

"She's just always been like that." Melissa said, shrugging once again. "She can't fire me because she's been friends with my parents, like, forever, and they'd kill her if she did. That doesn't mean she can't yell at me, though, which she does. A lot."

"Can't you just quit?" Michael asked, although he knew that it was a stupid question. Melissa would never leave Katie.

"I don't want to leave Katie." Melissa said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. "She doesn't really have anyone else, I could never just quit and leave her alone."

"I see." Michael nodded.

"It just sucks sometimes, but I get through it, you know?" Melissa said softly, looking back up at Michael. She really did have pretty eyes.

"I'm sorry." Michael said again. He just felt really bad. This was his fault, after all, he was the one that decided to throw Melissa in the pool for revenge.

"It's fine." Melissa said, glancing towards the house again. "I should get back to Katie, I'll see you later."

And with that she left, turning around and walking to the house again without another word. Michael let out a big sigh, still upset with himself for the big affect this girl had on him, and got back in the car.

"Kitty's mommy is evil." Parker said as soon as Michael sat down.

"Park, don't say that." Michael sighed. Although he did agree, he didn't like his four year old son going around talking like that.

"Kitty said it." Parker shrugged again. "She hates her mommy, she wishes Melly was her real mommy."

"Hate is a strong word, Pac-Man." Michael said as he pulled out of Katie's driveway. He didn't know what four year olds even knew what the word hate was, or meant, and he was a bit shocked.

"You should adopt Kitty." Parker suggested, waving his lion around in the air, clearly proud of his idea.

"No Parker, I can't." Michael refused, because he didn't think that it was a good idea at all for so many reasons, and he didn't even want to explain them all to Parker.

"Why not?" Parker whined, kicking the back of Michael's seat again. It wasn't as hard as the first time he'd done it, but it was enough to annoy Michael.

"I just can't, Park, I'll have to explain it to you another time." Michael sighed, trying to pay attention to the road rather than Parker and how obnoxious he was being by kicking the seat. The last thing they needed today was to get into a car accident.

"But I want Kitty to live with us forever." Parker pouted.

"Dude, you just met the girl." Michael scoffed, rolling his eyes. When he was Parker's age he never wanted to hang out with girls as much as Parker did, he didn't understand why Parker seemed to like Katie so much when they'd literally known each other for a month.

"But I like Kitty." Parker whined again, not wanting to take no for an answer.

"I like her, too, Parker, but I can't just adopt her." Michael explained, "Kids that don't have any parents are meant to get adopted, and Kitty has parents."

"But she doesn't like them." Parker argued.

"Parker, no, I can't do it." Michael said again, hoping that Parker would get the point.

"I bet Mommy would adopt Kitty for me. Mommy is more fun than you." Parker said quietly, looking down at his lap, and Michael almost slammed on the breaks.

"Okay, listen, Parker, you need to stop doing this. If I don't give you what you want, it doesn't mean you can automatically assume that Mommy will do it. I. Can't. Adopt. Katie. And neither will Mommy." Michael said, making eye contact with Parker as he looked through the rearview mirror. "You have to stop whining about everything you don't get, because this isn't how life is always going to work."

Parker was silently for a few more minutes before speaking. "You're mean."

"Yeah, buddy, I know." Michael said sarcastically, and then he and Parker ignored each other for the rest of the ride home.

*•*•*

When they arrived back at the apartment Michael made Parker take a bath right away and get ready for bed, just because it was already pretty late and Michael knew that it was just a matter of time before Parker got tired.

When Parker was done with his bath and all dressed up in his Spiderman pajamas Michael made some chicken nuggets for dinner, even though Parker tried to argue and beg for pizza. They sat on the couch in silence and ate while watching TV, and Michael didn't even pay attention to it.

Michael was pissed off. He was pissed off at Parker, for not being able to take no for an answer. He was pissed off at Beth, for giving Parker everything he wants. (Even though Michael really, truly, tried his best to give Parker anything and everything he asked for). He was pissed off at Katie's mom, because it was technically her fault that Katie hated her and that Parker wanted Michael to adopt his new little pal. He was also kind of pissed off at Melissa, just because.

"Can I have more ketchup?" Parker asked, pulling on the sleeve of Michael's shirt.

"Sure." Michael said, getting up from the couch and walking back into the kitchen. He grabbed the ketchup from the fridge and squirted some on Parker's plate (even though he only had two nuggets left and didn't really need more ketchup) before brining it back to him.

Parker ate the remainder of his dinner while Michael continued to play around on his phone and text Calum (who was filling Michael in on his latest one night stand). After a few minutes Michael felt something fall into his lap and he looked down, only to find Parker's stuffed lion sitting on him.

"What's this?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow at Parker.

"Lion says he's sorry for the way I acted in the car." Parker smiled sweetly, like he knew that he was going to get out of this easily.

Michael could have just told Parker that it was okay and moved on, that would have been easier, but he didn't want to do that. He was Parker's father, he was supposed to teach him lessons and all that shit, he didn't want Parker to think that he was always going to get the easy way out in situations like this.

"But, Park, Lion didn't do anything, why is he apologizing to me?" Michael asked.

"'Cuz I don't want to." Parker huffed, folding his arms over his chest. He pouted, because he was obviously upset that Michael hadn't just given in like he usually did.

"Parker," Michael sighed, running his fingers through his sons hair. "If you do something bad, you need to apologize for it yourself. You don't make other people do it for you."

"But my lion said it for me," Parker groaned. "Isn't that good enough?"

"No, it's not. Your lion didn't do anything wrong, and I want you to apologize to me yourself." Michael instructed, literally praying to himself that Parker would understand and do the right thing.

"I'm not going to say sorry." Parker protested, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Parker, why?" Michael groaned, rubbing his hands over his face.

"I don't want to say sorry!" He yelled.

"Parker, please." Michael begged, pinching the bridge of his nose. He had a headache now, and all he really wanted was to just go to sleep and forget this whole day happened.

Parker pouted. "No. You're still mean."

"Fine." Michael snapped and leaned back in the couch, because now he was completely done with trying to reason with Parker. At this point Michael just wished that Parker would shut up and go to sleep already.

"I am ready for bed." Parker said, standing up from the couch. He ran off down the hall (carrying his lion) and Michael heard the bathroom sink turn on, letting him know that Parker was brushing his teeth on his own.

Eventually Michael got up and walked into the bathroom, just to check on Parker. He found his son looking at himself in the mirror and making funny faces, which Michael would have found adorable if he wasn't so upset with Parker at the moment. As soon as Parker noticed that Michael was in the room he stopped making faces and started pouting again.

"Let's go, buddy." Michael walked in the bathroom and grabbed Parker gently by the shoulders, leading him back into the hallway.

"I'm going to sleep in my own bed tonight." Parker said, and Michael felt this weird pang in his heart, because he actually really enjoyed when Parker slept with him. The two of them hadn't slept alone in what felt like forever, Michael didn't think that Parker was that upset with him to want to sleep by himself.

"That's fine." Michael said, trying not to show that Parker had actually hurt his feelings a little.

"Goodnight." Parker said when they made it to his room, and he shut the door behind him without giving Michael a chance to even tuck him in.

*•*•*

At around three in the morning Michael woke up to someone shaking his shoulder, and he slowly rolled over to see Parker standing at the edge of his bed. He had tears rolling his cheeks and he was sniffling like crazy, clutching his lion tightly to his chest.

"Hey, little man, what's going on?" Michael asked, sitting up quickly. Parker whined and pouted and sometimes let a few tears slip out, but if was rare that he actually came to Michael in a state like this, and Michael was worried. He wasn't sure what had happened to Parker, but he knew that it must not have been good for him to cry like that.

"Daddy, I had a nightmare." He spoke softly, taking one step closer to Michael's bed. "Can I sleep in here tonight?" He sniffed, choking back a big sob.

"Of course, Pac-Man, come on." Michael sad softly, lifting up Parker and helping him into bed. "What's wrong, Parker? What did you have a nightmare about?"

"Nothing, I don't want to talk about it." Parker said, but he started crying really hard again, and Michael knew that he was lying.

"Park, please tell me what happened." Michael begged, his fingers raking through Parker's hair, that was matted and sweaty.

"I had a dream that I got up and you weren't here anymore." Parker said through his tears, trying to wipe at his eyes. "You hated me so much so you just left."

"Parker, I'd never do that to you." Michael said, his voice very serious, so Parker knew that he was telling the truth. "I will never leave you, no matter how upset you make me. Understand?"

Parker just shook his head once before he started coughing, and he needed to sit up again. Michael sat as well, patting Parker on the back and telling him that everything was going to be okay while he continued to cough and cry at the same time.

"I'm-I'm sorry f-for not being nice to you t-today." Parker sobbed once he'd stopped coughing a little, leaning over so his head was resting on Michael's chest.

"Aw, Parker, it's okay." Michael whispered, rubbing Parker on the back.

"I di-didn't mean what I said." Parker cried, covering his face with his hands. "You're not mean. Don't hate me, Daddy, I didn't m-mean it."

"I could never hate you, Park." Michael chuckled lightly, continuing to rub Parker's back to comfort him.

"I love you, Daddy, I'm sorry for saying all those bad things to you." Parker turned and tightly wrapped his arms around Michael's waist, burying his face into his chest.

"It's okay, Parker." Michael said soothingly, trying to calm Parker down. "I love you, too."

"I'm so sorry." Parker cried into Michael's chest, neither one of them caring that Michael's shirt was (once again) soaking wet.

"Park, buddy, it's okay." Michael assured him, hoping that Parker would calm down soon so they could both get some sleep.

"I'm really sorry, Daddy." He repeated, scooting down a little on the bed so he could lay down. He pulled Michael with him, forcing him to wrap his arms around Parker and let him cuddle into his chest.

"It's alright, Park, I promise." Michael whispered, kissing the top of Parker's head. He wasn't crying as much now, and Michael thought that maybe Parker would be able to fall asleep again without any more problems. "Go to sleep, we can talk some more in the morning."

"You're still the best daddy ever." Parker whispered, and he fell asleep a few moments later. Michael fell asleep shortly after, feeling much better than how he did earlier that evening.

-

tHESS CHAPTERS ALWAYS END WITH THEM FALLIJG ASLEEP I HATE MYSELFF

and also I feel like this story is moving too quickly idk how do you guys feel just comment and tell me

i think this chapter was super long I'm sorry

parker's a little shit and katie's mom is a bitch

but anyway yes idk how I feel about this chapter but it was pretty significant and it talked about a lot of important things

I hope you liked this