"Michael."

"Michael, stop it."

"Michael!"

Melissa laughed as she tried to stop Michael from knocking more things off of a shelf and she grabbed the grocery cart from him, also rescuing Katie and Parker, who were sitting in it, from tipping over sideways.

"You're no fun." Michael pouted, reaching over and grabbing about five boxes of cereal off of a nearby shelf ms throwing them into the cart with Parker and Katie.

Michael had the day off of work and had been sitting around and doing nothing all afternoon, so as soon as he picked up Parker from school he spontaneously decided that they absolutely needed to go grocery shopping right that very second. (He hated grocery shopping alone, and that's why he waited for Parker). He also made Melissa and Katie come with, just for fun.

"You can't just spin them around like that in the middle of the store." Melissa sighed, letting out another laugh.

"It was fun!" Parker spoke up from the back of the cart, holding both of his hands up in the air.

"See, Pac-Man thought it was fun." Michael says, making a face at Melissa. She just rolls her eyes and takes the cart away from Michael again, continuing to push it through the store.

"We need juice and milk," Michael said, directing Melissa towards the right aisle. "Then I have to see if they have any of those little sippy-cuppy thingys because I broke all of Parker's and I don't trust him with regular cups yet."

"How do you break more than one sippy cup?" Melissa asked, trying to hold back another laugh.

"He sat on them." Parker said, a big smile on his face. Katie was smiling as well, but Michael wasn't sure what she was smiling about. Probably the fact that Michael was an idiot.

"No, I only sat on one of them." Michael scoffed, rolling his eyes at Parker. "I ran the other two over with my car."

"Oh my God!" Melissa said loudly, her eyes widening. "How does that even happen?"

"It's totally Parker's fault." Michael said, trying to cover up how dumb he could be sometimes.

"Oh, I'm sure it was." Melissa chuckled, stopping in front of where they kept the milk. Michael grabbed a gallon and then handed it to Parker, who smiled like the gallon of milk was the greatest present in the world.

Michael shoved Melissa out of the way and took the cart from her again, then pushed it into the aisle where they kept the juice. Melissa quietly walked beside Michael, both of them trying to listen to what Parker and Katie were talking about with each other. It was something about puppies.

"Park, do you want apple or orange juice?" Michael asked once they reached the juice aisle, tearing Parker away from his intense conversation about puppies.

"I don't like orange juice, Daddy, it has those little things that get stuck in my teeth." Parker said, shaking his head and pointing to the apple juice.

"I don't have to get it with pulp." Michael shrugged, still trying to decided which type of juice he wanted more.

"Pulp?" Parker questioned, cocking his head to the side.

"That's what those little things are called." Michael explained, looking at Melissa out of the corner of his eye, only to see her laughing at him.

"I like apple juice a lot more, can we please get that?" Parker asked sweetly, still cuddling with the damn gallon of milk.

"Okay, buddy, that's cool too - " Michael stopped when something else caught his eye, and he let out an annoyingly loud scream. "Do you want cranberry juice?"

"If he spills that you'll never get the stain out." Melissa finally spoke up, seeming annoyed with the way that Michael got so excited.

"That's why I'm getting him more sippy-cuppy thingys." Michael groaned, rolling his eyes. He grabbed a thing of apple juice and a thing of cranberry juice for himself and handed them both to Katie, who looked like she didn't even know what to do with herself and all of this juice.

Michael pushed the cart down to the end of the aisle, where he found the sippy cups the first time. "See, here they are."

"Congratulations, you found them." Melissa said, sarcastically clapping for Michael.

"Shut up." He said, rolling his eyes again. "Park, which ones do you want? There's a blue one, a green one... Oh my God, this one has Spiderman on it, we're definitely getting it."

"I want the blue one too!" Parker shouted, reaching up to grab them from Michael. Michael thought it was so cute that Parker got excited over little things like this.

"Alright, I think that's enough for now." Michael sighed, glancing at Melissa once before turning to Katie. "Katie, do you want one?"

"Michael, you don't have to buy her a sippy - "

"Shh, I'm trying to get her to like me!" Michael cut Melissa off, waving his hands around to try and get her to stop talking.

"You can't buy someone's love with a sippy cup." Melissa said, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head at Michael. She thought it was funny, though. Michael could tell.

"If I buy you a sippy cup will you like me more than you already do?" Michael asked jokingly, obnoxiously leaning in too close to Melissa.

"No." Melissa said, trying to keep a straight face as Michael leaned in even closer.

"Really?" Michael asked, raising his eyebrows at her. "Are you sure?"

"I don't want a sippy cup." Melissa laughed. She turned so she was facing Michael and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him.

"Well, I would totally buy one for you if you asked." Michael shrugged, leaning in and quickly kissing Melissa on the lips, laughing a little to himself because the kids were actually watching them this time.

Melissa pushed Michael away from her and blushed a little when she realized that Katie and Parker were staring at them with their mouths wide open. Michael heard Parker say something along the lines of "Kitty, I told you!", but he wasn't quite sure what they were talking about.

"Do you need to get anything else?" Melissa asked as Michael walked back over to the cart and began to push it down the aisle, not knowing where exactly he was going next.

"I think I should get some more frozen pizzas." Michael shrugged.

"Did you already get the mac n' cheese?" Melissa asked, peering into the cart to check. It was hard to see what was in there, though, because Parker and Katie were sitting in the middle of everything.

"Yeah, like, six boxes." Michael scoffed. "I have a coupon for it."

"You're such a dork." Melissa laughed, linking her arm with Michael's while they walked.

"I'm saving money, that's not dorky." Michael said, pouting again.

"Yeah it is." Melissa argued with him, biting back a smile.

"I get buy two get one free mac n' cheese! That's not dorky at all, that's smart." Michael protested, slightly annoyed that Melissa was calling him a dork for something like this. She never had to worry about spending her own money on groceries, Katie's mom always gave her cash to go shopping with.

"Okay, okay, fine." Melissa sighed. "I think that your coupons are cute, not dorky."

"That's better." Michael smiled, stopping the cart to pick up a couple frozen pizzas and throw them in there with the rest of their food. And children.

"Melly, tell Daddy the funny joke you told me and Kitty." Parker yelled, smiling widely at them.

"Daddy, do you want to hear a funny joke?" Melissa said jokingly, turning to Michael and looking up at him.

"Melissa!" Michael snapped. They'd been over that multiple times, Melissa was not supposed to call Michael 'Daddy'. Especially not in public.

"Do you want to hear the joke?" Melissa asked, looking less amused now that Michael had shot her down.

"Yes, Mel, I'd love to hear your joke." Michael sighed, a smile forcing it's way onto his lips again.

"Okay, say 'Knock knock'." Melissa ordered.

"Knock knock?" Michael said, almost as a question. He didn't get it, he wasn't really good with knock knock jokes. He likes pickup lines.

"Who's there?" Melissa asked.

"Um..." Michael trailed off, because he had no idea what he was supposed to say.

"See, that was the joke!" Melissa said, and her, Parker, and Katie all burst into a fit of laughter. "You didn't know what to say!"

"It's so funny!" Parker giggled, hardly able to breathe because he was laughing so hard.

"I don't really get it." Michael said, shaking his head.

"That's the point." Melissa calmed herself down but continued to smile at the way Parker was cracking up in the back of the cart.

"Oh, so the point of the joke was to confuse Michael Clifford?" Michael asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah!" Parker and Melissa said at the same time, laughing again. Michael wasn't that mad, he was just happy to see Melissa and Parker getting along. For a little while he was worried that Parker didn't like Melissa, based on the way he acted about her sometimes.

"I have another joke." Melissa spoke up after a second, making Michael roll his eyes again.

"What is it?" He sighed.

"Knock knock." She said, and Parker started to giggle even more.

"Who's there?" Michael groaned, no longer in the mood for these stupid knock knock jokes. Seriously, he was a pro at pickup lines, but he just did not enjoy knock knock jokes. They were dumb.

"Amnesia."

"Amnesia who?" Michael sighed.

"I don't know." Melissa laughed, and of course Parker did too, but Michael just groaned again.

"Clever." He said sarcastically.

They made their way over to the check out line and Michael lifted Parker out of the cart, sadly leaving the milk behind, and set him down on the ground. Melissa started to take other things out of the cart while Michael grabbed Katie, who, instead of letting Michael set her down on the floor next to Parker, wrapped her arms around Michael's neck and refused to let go.

"Well, okay." Michael chuckled to himself and held Katie in his arms while he helped Melissa empty the rest of the cart.

"I have more knock knock jokes." Melissa said as they waited for the cashier to finish ringing up their stuff. Parker stood quietly in between Michael and Melissa and looked up at them, waiting patiently for them to be ready to leave.

"Please keep them to yourself." Michael grumbled, not wanting to hear any more of them.

"Fine, I'll just tell Parker." Melissa shrugged, and then she bent down to talk to Parker and probably tell him some ridiculous joke that Michael would hear ten thousand times later that night.

Eventually the old lady cashier got to them and Michael was able to use his dorky coupons, which came in handy and did save him some money. After an awkward conversation with the cashier about Katie not actually being Michael's child they were finally done at the grocery store and walking back out to the car.

"You knock knock joke about amnesia reminded me of something." Michael said as he loaded some more bags in the trunk of the car. Katie and Parker were already inside, buckled up in their car seats.

"Oh yeah?" Melissa asked.

"Yeah," Michael nodded. "Calum asked if - "

"How did a joke about amnesia remind you of Calum?" Melissa laughed, cutting Michael off.

"Oh God, it's a long story." Michael chuckled, deciding to save it for another time. "Anyway, Calum was wondering if I wanted to come over later tonight. He's going to have Lacey so I was going to bring Parker and I wanted to know if you'd come too."

"Really?" Melissa asked slowly, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, yeah." Michael shrugged. "Ashton and Luke will be there too, I just thought it'd be a good time for you to, you know, properly meet all of them."

"Are you sure? You really want me to hang out with Calum for the whole night?" Melissa questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, I trust that you're not going to run off and blow him in a closet halfway through dinner."

"Oh."

"That was supposed to be a joke." Michael said, laughing nervously. "You're supposed to laugh."

"It wasn't even funny." Melissa said as she scowled at him.

"Just a little." Michael shrugged, hoping that Melissa wasn't going to punch him in the face.

"Anyway..." Melissa said, obviously trying to change the subject.

"Will you please come with me to Calum's house tonight?" Michael begged. He was just trying to make an attempt to spend some more time with Melissa, since they hadn't lately. He thought this might be an easy way to spend time with his girlfriend, his kid, and his friends. Apparently not.

"You don't think it'll be awkward?" Melissa asked.

"Well, at first I thought that it might. Because, you know, you've sucked his dick and not mine. But I think it'll be fine." Michael said quickly, looking down at the ground and hoping that Melissa didn't hear half of that. "Why, do you think it'll be awkward?"

"No, not really. It'll only be awkward if you make it awkward." Melissa said, turning away from Michael and walking around the car, to the passenger side door.

"Are you saying that I usually make things awkward?" Michael questioned, heading over to the drivers seat.

"No, not at all." Melissa smirked, quickly getting in the car and trying to end the conversation.

"So, are you going to come with or not?" Michael asked again when he got back in the car, not letting Melissa forget about this.

"Yeah, sure." She nodded, playing around with the dial on the radio. "If you really want me to."

"I do." Michael nodded back, still not understanding why Melissa was acting all weird about this. All he did was invite her over to his friend's house, was that a really big deal or something?

"Is that alright, Katie?" Melissa turned around and looked at Katie in the backseat.

"What?" Katie asked, obviously having no idea what Melissa was asking about.

"We're going over to Calum's house later tonight." Michael explained, smiling at Katie.

Katie just smiled shyly back and nodded before looking at Parker, who was distracted and staring out the window.

"Do I get to go to Uncle Cal's house?" Parker asked after he was done spacing out, facing Michael again.

"Yeah, buddy, we're all going over there." Michael chucked. Parker nodded slowly and looked down at his lap, still seeming a little out of it.

"Will Lacey be there?" Parker spoke up again after a few minutes, once they were driving down the street again.

"I'm pretty sure." Michael told him, "Calum said she would be."

"Okay." Parker said happily, then turned and looked out of the window again.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked, glancing over at Melissa. She hadn't said anything for the last few minutes, and Michael was wondering if she was upset for some reason.

"Yeah." Melissa said slowly, a confused look on her face. She laughed softly, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know. You're just quiet, that's all." Michael said and shrugged again.

"Sorry?" Melissa said, as if it was a question.

"Well, a few minutes ago you wouldn't shut up with all of those ridiculous knock knock jokes, I was just wondering if something had changed." Michael explained, although he didn't know why he was even talking anymore.

"It's only been, like, five minutes. Nothing's changed." Melissa said, letting out a short chuckle.

"You're just being so - "

"Michael," Melissa interrupted him.

"Hmm?" He asked, trying to keep his eyes on the road.

"Knock knock." Melissa said, turning a little in her seat so she could see him.

"Who's... There?" Michael said super slowly, because he thought that Melissa had gotten it through her head already that he didn't like knock knock jokes, yet she still insisted on telling another.

"Shut up."

*•*•*

After coming back to their apartment and hanging out on the couch for another couple hours (Michael was sill exhausted even though he'd done nothing for most of the day), the four of them went back over to Calum's house.

They were all in the living room now, quietly sitting on the couch and having small conversations with each other. Michael was talking to Melissa, Luke was talking to Ashton, and Calum was on the floor with the kids.

No one wanted to admit it, but there was some tension in the room. You could tell by the way that Ashton wouldn't look at Calum and Calum wouldn't look at Melissa. Luke kept looking at Michael, though, and that was pretty annoying.

"So, Melissa." Luke finally broke the silence, leaning forward in his chair. "Where did you and Michael meet?"

"Luke." Michael groaned, because he knew what was coming next. Luke did stuff like this all the time, with all of his friends.

"Uh... At Parker's school." Melissa said quietly, barely glancing up at him. She didn't really know Luke very well, they'd already been over that earlier that night.

"Didn't you guys get into a really big fight?" Luke continued, ignoring Michael's attempts to get him so shut up.

"I guess." Melissa shrugged.

"Luke, stop it." Michael said quickly, trying to stop Luke from saying any more.

"Michael, didn't she make you cry?" Luke turned to him and Michael let out yet another loud groan. He grabbed a pillow that was laying on the couch next to him and covered his face, trying hard not to scream in it.

"Luke..." Ashton said softly, probably able to see that if Luke continued this it wouldn't end well.

"Did I really?" Michael heard Melissa ask Luke. He could tell that she was laughing a little about it, but didn't want to look and see for himself.

"Only because you said I was a bad father." Michael mumbled. He fell over so he was laying with his head on Melissa's lap, the pillow still covering his face.

"I didn't really mean it, though." Melissa said, laughing, and shifted into a more comfortable position. "It was all in the heat of the moment."

"Yeah, I know that now." Michael sighed into his pillow, still refusing to look at anyone.

For the next few minutes Luke interrogated Melissa with questions ("Have you and Michael had sex yet?" "Do you think Michael's a snores loudly?" "Did he give you a key to his apartment? I have a key to his apartment.") and eventually Michael say up again, taking the pillow away from his face. Melissa sat and politely answered all of Luke's questions until they got to be too much, and she finally excused herself and went to the kitchen.

Michael followed her, of course.

"I'm sorry about that." Michael said, leaning against the kitchen counter.

"It's fine." Melissa shrugged.

"Luke does that to everyone, it's not just you." Michael chuckled softly, replaying some old memories in his mind. "He's done it to every girl Calum's introduced us to and all of Ashton's girlfriends. He even used to ask Beth dumb questions all the time, even though he's known her for his whole life."

"Yeah, it's really not a big deal." Melissa said, taking a step closer to Michael. She finally closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his chest.

"What's wrong?" Michael asked quickly, startled by Melissa's actions.

"Nothing's wrong." Melissa laughed, her face buried in his chest.

"Are you sure?" Michael asked, letting out a small chuckle.

"Am I only allowed to hug you when there's something wrong?" Melissa questioned, pulling back a little. She looked up at Michael with a confused expression on her face, and he sighed and pulled her closer again.

"No." Michael smiled, resting his chin on the top of her head.

They stood in silence for a few seconds, neither one of them wanting to ruin the nice moment they were finally sharing.

"How much longer do we have to stay here?" Melissa asked after a few minutes, still hugging Michael tightly.

"Not much." Michael shrugged. "Why?"

"I was just wondering." Melissa said quietly. "It's weird."

"What's weird?" Michael asked, not understanding.

"I feel awkward. Like, everyone in the room knows each other really well and I'm kind of just...there." Melissa elaborated, pulling away from Michael for real and standing in front of him.

"Well, you kind of know them..." Michael trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. Apparently his plan to hang out with everyone at once had failed.

"Not well enough to hold an actual conversation." Melissa shook her head. "And Luke's questions were really weird, like, why would I care about how loud you snore?"

"I don't snore loud." Michael groaned, going off topic for just a moment.

"We can talk about that later." Melissa said quickly, brushing his comment off. "I just feel really out of place with all of your friends here."

"There isn't much I can do, Mel, they're my best friends." Michael bit down on his bottom lip, staring at the floor. He didn't want to have to choose between his girlfriend and his friends, that was just stupid.

"I'm not tell you that you can't hang out with them anymore." Melissa assured him, "I was just letting you know how I feel, since you're apparently very concerned with my well-being."

"Well, I could just ignore your feelings, would you like that?" Michael scoffed.

"Michael."

"I'm sorry."

"I just wanted to tell you how I was feeling." Melissa said. "I'm trying to communicate things with you instead of us fighting about everything."

Michael was getting really bored of fighting with Melissa about everything, so instead of continuing whatever this was he decided to try and change the subject. But Michael was stupid, so of course he didn't change the subject like any normal person would.

"Communicate? Did you read a 'Relationships for Dummies' book?" Michael asked, letting out a big laugh.

"No."

"Did you read one of those dumb girly magazines that always say that communication is the most important part of a relationship?" Michael scoffed again, still finding this amusing.

"Why do you think this is so funny?" Melissa asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "I'm right. If I didn't talk to you about anything at all would you be very happy with our relationship?"

"It depends on what we're doing instead of talking." Michael shrugged.

"You know, you're really annoying me right now." Melissa sighed, glaring up at Michael.

"Am I?" Michael asked cockily, tilting his head to the side.

"Yeah." Melissa nodded.

"Maybe you should punish me for being so annoying." Michael smirked and Melissa's eyes widened again at his words, like she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Oh my God." She laughed.

"Come on." Michael encouraged her, grabbing Melissa's waist and pulling her forward until their chests were touching again.

"You just went from annoying to horny really fast." Melissa laughed. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood up on her toes her lips inching closer to his.

"Well, yeah." Michael laughed. "I'm a guy, what do you expect?"

"You're such a dork." Melissa laughed again and leaned in the rest of the way, pressing her lips to Michael's.

Michael lost track of how long they stood there just like that, he really wasn't worried about anything at the moment except this. For the first time in what seemed like forever (it was really only a few weeks) Michael actually felt content with everything going on in his life.

"Hey, is everything - Oh." Calum entering the room forced Michael and Melissa to pull apart, their faces red and their lips swollen.

"Hey." Michael nodded to Calum, trying to act as casual about this as he could.

"I just came to see what was taking you guys so long, but I think I get it..." Calum chuckled, slowly backing out of the kitchen.

"We were talking, actually." Michael said quickly, in attempt to make this seem a little less weird. "We just started kissing a few seconds ago."

"It was ten minutes..." Melissa mumbles so only Michael could hear and he looked down at her, his mouth wide open.

"Are you serious?" He whispered, not believing her.

"Uh, yeah." Melissa said blankly, nodding slowly.

"Oh, God." Michael groaned, before directing his attention back to Calum. He repeated. "We were only kissing for a few seconds."

"Dude, I really don't care if you make out in my kitchen. Just don't get too carried away." Calum laughed, "Our little family already has enough babies."

*•*•*

"Daddy, can we make popcorn?" Parker asked, rolling over and facing Michael. It was late at night and they were in bed already, so why Parker suddenly wanted popcorn now was completely beyond Michael.

"Popcorn?" Michael questioned.

"Yes, popcorn!" Parker giggled, throwing his lion up in the air. "Pop!"

"Why do you want popcorn?" Michael asked, still not understanding Parker's random craving.

"It's yummy. Duh." Parker said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh." Michael made a funny face at Parker, making him laugh even more. "Okay then."

"So, will you make me some?" Parker asked nicely, putting a big smile on his face for Michael. He rolled over more until he was laying on Michael's chest, staring down at him.

"No, Park, it's pretty late." Michael sighed. "And you already brushed your teeth."

"I'll just brush them again." Parker suggested. "Duh."

"Can you please stop saying 'duh'?" Michael begged. He was tired, he'd had a long day, and he just wanted to go to sleep without Parker bothering him any more.

"Mommy says 'duh' all the time." Parker giggled, placing his hands on the sides of Michael's face. That only annoyed him more, but there wasn't anything that he could do about it.

"Oh yeah, I know Mommy says it all the time." Michael said, rolling his eyes. Beth's annoying use of the word 'duh' was probably the only thing that she ever did to piss Michael off, and he was just so happy that Beth got Parker into saying it too.

"Mommy says that you're going to take me to the doctor soon." Parker quickly changed the subject, a small pout forming on his lips.

"I am." Michael nodded.

"I don't really like doctors..." Parker trailed off, looking down again.

"You've only been a few times." Michael chuckled, brushing a piece of hair away from Parker's eyes.

"But they gave me shots." Parker whined.

"Yes, but the shots helped you stay healthy." Michael tried to explain, even though he knew that Parker wouldn't get it no matter how hard he tried.

"Do you promise that the doctor won't give me shots when we go?" Parker asked quietly, purposely pouting again and staring up at Michael.

"Yeah, I promise." Michael nodded. "It'll just be a check up, they're going to figure out why you keep coughing."

"Oh, good." Parker sighed, seeming much more relieved now that Michael had told him that. "I don't like the coughing."

"I know, buddy, I don't like it either." Michael agreed. He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't worried about Parker, he was just too lazy to take him to a doctor. He would do it soon, though, for sure.

"Will you get a check up when we go to the doctors too?" Parker asked, already laughing at the thought of Michael at a doctors office.

"No, I don't think I need one." Michael shook his head, scrunching up his nose.

"But you were just sick, weren't you?" Parker asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Yeah, but I don't need to go to the doctors for it. I just had a little cold." Michael said, shrugging a little.

"Well, if you go to the doctors they'll make sure that you don't get sick again." Parker explained and Michael nodded, trying to go along with what his son was saying.

"I don't think it works exactly like that." Michael chuckled, shaking his head.

"If I have to get a check up then you have to get one too." Parker ordered.

"Really?" Michael whined, "I don't like doctors either."

"It's okay, I'll be there with you." Parker giggled, giving Michael a big smile.

"Alright, buddy." Michael chuckled again. "I guess that if you promise to stay there will me the whole time I'll get a check up too."

"I promise!" Parker said loudly, making Michael flinch. "I promise, Daddy, I promise I'll stay with you for the whole thing!"

"Okay, then I'll do it." Michael laughed. "Let's go to sleep now, okay? You have to get to school tomorrow."

"Aww." Parker whined, but grabbed his lion anyway and hugged it tightly to his chest. He laid down again (still on top of Michael) and sighed, "Okay. I love you, Daddy, goodnight."

Michael waited for a little while, until he was sure that Parker was asleep, and then slowly moved Parker off of his chest so he could move around easier. Michael set Parker down on the bed next to him and was able to lay there for about a second before Parker sat up again and glared at Michael.

Parker crawled over to him and then climbed onto Michael's chest again, positioning himself just like before.

"I love you, Daddy, goodnight." Parker repeated softly and closed his eyes again.

Michael laughed and kissed the top of Parker's head before closing his own eyes and deciding to just go to sleep with Parker on top of him. "Goodnight, Pac-Man."

-

this was really long again oops ((just like my dick))

anyway I think I want to recast who I have for Melissa so if you have any suggestions please let me know

michaels finally going to take parker to a doctor!!!! wow!!!! good job!!!!

hey thanks for reading

^^^ I tried to type bye but it changed to hey