Michael let out a big sigh as he turned off his car, grabbing the grocery bags from the passenger seat. He quickly got out of the car and walked up the driveway, letting himself in through the front door.

It was Saturday afternoon and Michael was late. He was supposed to be at Melissa and Katie's house an hour and a half ago to help her set up for the birthday party they were throwing for Katie, but errands and traffic and what seemed like a thousand other things had gotten in the way.

He hadn't meant to be so late, it wasn't like he did it intentionally. Ashton had called Michael earlier that morning and gave him a whole list of errands to run. He didn't want to take too long, he was supposed to get everything done quickly, but Michael's new job was a lot harder than he thought it was going to be.

"I'm here!" Michael yelled as he walked in, kicking off his shoes by the door.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Melissa yelled back. Michael made his way through the house and into the kitchen, where Melissa was getting things ready for later.

"Hi." Michael said. He set the grocery bag down on the kitchen island before going and wrapping his arms around Melissa's waist from behind, leaving a short kiss on her cheek.

"Hey, how are you?" Melissa smiled, and Michael was surprised that she wasn't mad about him being so late.

"I'm alright, I'm sorry I'm so late." Michael sighed. He pulled away from Melissa and leaned up against the counter. Melissa turned around as well and faced him. "I had to do a few things for Ashton and it took longer than I expected."

"That's fine, the party doesn't start for another couple hours." Melissa shrugged.

"Great." Michael nodded. He stepped away from the counter and walked over to Melissa, resting his hands on her hips.

"Great." Melissa repeated, smiling up at him. She ran her hands up Michael's chest, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I think Calum should probably be getting here soon with Lacey and I know Ashton is coming with Em and Riley." Michael trailed off, just thinking about things that they still needed to do before this party. "Luke and Sara will probably be late, as always..."

"Yeah, I talked to Calum on the phone earlier." Melissa nodded. "He said that he needs to go pick up Lacey from Hanna's house and then he'd head over."

"I told him to just invite Hanna to come with him." Michael sighed and shook his head, his nose brushing up against Melissa's.

Michael knew that Calum's situation with Lacey's mom was pretty complicated, but he also knew that Calum had feelings for Hanna. Really, he'd told Michael himself. Everyone thought Calum should just make a move already, but he never listened.

"Yeah, I think that'd be kind of awkward." Melissa chuckled softly, biting down on her bottom lip.

"Right." Michael nodded, remembering that there was a bit of a history between Melissa and Hanna and Calum. "Maybe it would be good for you guys to get together again, though, maybe you could forgive and forget?"

"I totally agree with you, I really do, but I don't think that Katie's birthday party is a good place for my ex-best friend and I to reunite after not speaking to each other for almost six years." Melissa said, still smiling. She was in a really good mood, and Michael was kind of worried. Whenever something like this happened it didn't end well.

"Oh, yeah." Michael paused. Melissa was right, like she usually was. "That's true."

"I'm sure we'll talk things out eventually, just not now. This is Katie's big day, I don't want anything or anyone to mess it up." Melissa said, reaching up and moving a piece of hair away from Michael's eyes.

"She's excited for this, isn't she?" Michael asked. He'd seen Katie the day before and all she could talk about was how her birthday was coming up and she was finally going to be 5 years old, a big girl.

"Yes, she is." Melissa nodded, pulling Michael closer to her again. He leaned down and left a short kiss on Melissa's lips, wishing that they didn't ever have to separate and get ready for the party.

"Is there anything I can do to help out?" Michael asked quietly, his lips brushing against Melissa's again. She stood up on her toes and quickly brought her lips to Michael's once more.

"You can go make sure that Katie's dressed in something presentable and that Parker doesn't have syrup in his hair." Melissa laughed against Michael's lips, twisting her fingers in the ends of his hair.

"Did you give him pancakes again?" Michael chuckled.

"Yes, I did." Melissa nodded again, laughing to herself. "He really likes syrup."

"I know." Michael let out a sigh, shaking his head. He rarely gave Parker syrup with his pancakes or waffles because the four year old boy just made a big sticky mess and got it everywhere.

Michael pulled away from Melissa after another minute of them just standing there, figuring that he better go check on the kids.

"Michael, wait." Melissa said, grabbing his hand and pulling him back.

"Yeah?" Michael asked.

"If Katie asks about her dad coming just say that you don't know." Melissa said, her voice dropping down to a whisper.

"Why? Is he coming?" Michael questioned. He really hoped that Katie's father would show up, Michael knew how much she missed him, but he had a feeling that her dad wasn't going to come.

"He called me and said that he might stop by but I know that he won't, he's just saying that to make Katie feel better." Melissa shook her head. "He's only seen Katie twice since he moved out, and one of those times was when he came back for five minutes to get some of his things."

"What a dick." Michael muttered under his breath, because he still couldn't believe that Katie's parents were so ridiculous.

Michael wished that he could just take this whole situation to court and get custody of Katie, because he knew that she would be much better living with him and Parker, where they actually cared about her. He knew that it would never work, though, Katie's mom was always going to win.

"Michael, shh!" Melissa laughed, slapping his chest. "I still think this place is wired."

"Right, sorry." Michael nodded.

"Anyway, Katie's mom is supposed to be coming back later and I doubt it'll even happen, but, you know..." Melissa explained, running her fingers through her hair.

"Yeah...?" Michael asked, rolling his eyes. He really couldn't stand Katie's mother, and he'd only officially met her once.

"Don't yell at her, please." Melissa begged. Michael understood why Melissa didn't want him to start anything. This was her job, if Michael said something stupid he could risk getting Melissa fired and he'd just feel awful.

"She deserves to be yelled at by me. She deserves to have someone tell her that she's being an awful parent by practically neglecting her child. God, Melissa, if I could just - " Michael rambled on, getting a little too carried away.

"I know, I know." Melissa sighed.

"You're basically her mother, anyway, I don't see why - "

"I know." Melissa said, cutting him off. Michael knew that Melissa wished that she could just have full custody of Katie, she was the only one that took car of her after all, but that just wasn't possible.

"We can still kidnap her, can't we?" Michael leaned in a little closer, just in case the place was wired.

"No, that's illegal." Melissa whispered, shaking her head.

"Would it be illegal if Katie agrees to be kidnapped?" Michael questioned. He figured that if he had Katie's consent to kidnap her first things wouldn't be as bad, because she'd actually want to go.

"Uh, I think so?" Melissa shrugged, not knowing the answer.

"I'll look into it." Michael decided, figuring that he could just google this later and plan everything out.

"Okay, you do that." Melissa laughed. "Now can you please go check on her and Parker?"

"Yeah, of course." Michael nodded, leaning down and kissing Melissa on the top of the head again. She wrapped her arms round his neck once more, pulling him closer.

"Try to get Katie to wear the new dress I bought her. She'll know what I'm talking about." Melissa smiled, looking up at Michael before standing up on her toes and kissing him on the lips again.

"Okay." Michael nodded, blushing even though there was really nothing to blush about.

He walked up the stairs and down the hall, into Katie's room where he assumed Katie and Parker would be playing. Michael was right, and he walked into the room to find Parker and Katie sitting on the bed with some crayons and a few coloring books.

"Katie? Parker?" Michael said, knocking on the open door a couple times just to get their attention.

"Daddy!" Parker yelled, jumping up and standing on the bed.

"Hey, buddy." Michael said, walking over to the edge of the bed and grabbing Parker, picking him up into his arms for a few seconds before tossing him onto the bed again.

"We're coloring." Parker said excitedly and pointed to Katie, who was concentrating very hard on staying in the lines.

"Oh, nice." Michael nodded, watching Parker as he grabbed another coloring book opened up to a picture of a cat.

"I colored a dinosaur." Katie said, finally looking up at Michael.

"Oh my God, I love that." Michael said, sitting down on the bed next to Katie and Parker. "Can I have some crayons?"

"Here, Daddy." Parker said, holding out a few crayons to Michael.

"Thanks." He smiled, climbing onto the bed and sitting next to the kids. Michael found a third coloring book and opened it up to a blank page. "Are you excited for your party, Katie?"

"No." Katie said quickly, looking down again and shaking her head.

"What? Why?" Michael asked, suddenly concerned. He could swear that just last night Katie was telling Michael over the phone how excited she was for everyone to come over and celebrate her birthday.

"Because." Katie shrugged.

"Because why?" Michael asked, trying to refrain from rolling his eyes at how stubborn Katie could be.

Katie looked at Parker and glared. "Don't tell him."

"Katie." Michael sighed.

"I'm not." She shrugged again, returning to coloring a new picture of a new dinosaur.

"Katie, come on, you know you can tell me what's up." Michael said, just to let Katie know that he'd always be there for her if she needed him, and then decided to color his own picture.

After a few minutes of the three of them silently using the coloring books, Parker crawled over to Michael and somehow managed to sit in his lap. "Daddy." He whispered, poking Michael in the chest a few times.

"What?" Michael asked, keeping his eyes on the picture of the dragon that he was coloring purple.

"Katie's sad 'cuz her daddy's not coming to her party." Parker whispered.

"Park!" Katie yelled, obviously having heard what he said.

"Katie, is that true?" Michael asked. "Your daddy might come to your party, babe, we just don't know yet. He's very busy."

"I know he won't." Katie pouted, folding her arms over her chest.

"And who told you that?" Michael questioned. He set his coloring book down and lifted Parker off of his lap, climbing off the bed. Melissa had sent him up here to get the kids ready, not stay in bed with them and color.

"No one. I just know. Daddy doesn't like me anymore." Katie said quietly, her eyes wide as she watched Michael walk towards her.

"Katie, come one, that's not true." Michael sighed. He walked over to where Katie was sitting and picked her up, letting her drop the coloring book down onto the bed.

"Mommy told me." Katie mumbled, resting her head on Michael's shoulder.

Michael didn't say anything else, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to something like that, so he just kissed Katie on the forehead and carried her over to her closet so she could get dressed in something else.

On the inside, Michael was fuming. He couldn't believe that Katie's mother had told her something like that. He couldn't believe that Katie was still even living with her mother, she obviously didn't care for her like Melissa or Michael could. He was so angry, but he had to do his best to keep it all inside for now.

"That's not true." Michael sighed and shook his head, trying to keep all of his anger inside for the time being. He climbed off of the bed and grabbed Katie, picking her up. "Let's get you dressed, sweetie, your party is starting soon."

"Daddy, do I have to get dressed?" Parker asked, standing up on the bed and watching Michael take Katie over to her closet.

"You're already dressed, Park, you look fine." Michael said, barely glancing over his shoulder at his son. "Katie, Melly said that you should wear the dress that she got you the other day."

"Oh, okay." Katie nodded. She pointed to a dress hanging in her closet and Michael grabbed it for her.

For the next few minutes Michael helped Katie get ready and checked Parker's hair again to make sure that he didn't have any syrup in it. Then he decided that they were all good to go downstairs again.

"You have to be good today, Parker." Michael reminded him as they walked down the stairs. "There's going to be a lot of people in the house so you can't just run around. Got it?"

"Sure." Parker nodded.

"I'm not kidding, Park, it's really important that you behave. There's going to be a lot of people here that you've never met before and you have to give them a good first impression." Michael continued.

"Yeah, whatever." Parker shrugged, not seeming to care very much.

"Parker, I'm not kidding!" Michael groaned. Parker shrugged again and ran into the kitchen where Melissa was.

"He's being a jerk today." Michael said to Katie, who was still in his arms. He followed Parker into the kitchen, only to find him trying to bribe Melissa into letting him eat some of the cake frosting.

"Uh huh." Katie nodded.

"Park, did you hear what I said?" Michael asked again once they entered the kitchen, setting Katie down on the counter.

"Yes, Daddy." Parker groaned, rolling his eyes. He looked back up at Melissa, who was paying way too much attention to the cake. "Can I try some frosting?"

"Not now, Park, I'm still working on the cake!" Melissa smiled. "When I'm all done you can eat whatever's left over."

"Okay." Parker nodded quickly, a big smile on his face. He continued to stand right next to Melissa, as if he thought that walking away would make her change her mind.

"Parker, we really need to talk about this - "

"Michael, stop bothering him." Melissa chuckled, shaking her head. She set the knife down that she was using to frost the cake and turned towards Michael. "He's going to be fine, you don't need to worry about Parker getting in anyone's way."

"Uh huh." Parker nodded. He stood on his toes and grabbed the knife with the frosting. "I'll be good."

"I just - I'm just - " Michael stopped himself and let out a groan. He reached over and took the knife out of Parker's hands. "I'm still worried."

"You don't need to be." Melissa smiled. She walked over to Michael and grabbed both of his hands, pulling him closer. Melissa stood up on her toes, giving Michael a quick kiss on the lips. "I promise."

"Ew, no kissing." Katie whined. Michael laughed and stepped away from Melissa, picking up Katie off of the counter again.

"Yes kissing." Michael giggled and kissed Katie on the forehead, making her squeal and try to wiggle away from him.

Just as Michael set Katie down on the floor again the doorbell rang and both Katie and Parker ran out of the kitchen, towards the front door. Michael followed quickly after them, knowing that neither of the kids would be able to get the door open on their own.

Michael unlocked the door and opened it up, greeting Calum as he walked into the house carrying about three presents in one arm and Lacey in the other.

"Hold her for a second." Calum said without even saying hello. He handed Lacey off to Michael and then bent down and gave the presents to Katie before running out of the house again.

"Are these for me?" Katie asked excitedly, looking up at Michael as she struggled to hold all of the presents.

"Yeah, I think." Michael nodded. He had no idea, he hadn't talked to Calum in a while so he didn't even know what Calum had gotten for Katie. "You can go put them in the living room on the coffee table."

"Open them now!" Parker yelled, jumping up and down a few times.

"No, no, we'll open presents after we eat." Michael said, quickly shutting down Parker's little plan. He adjusted Lacey on his hip, hoping that Calum would come back soon and take his daughter. He didn't want her to start crying, Michael wouldn't be able to handle that.

Michael felt someone tugging on the leg of his pants and looked down, finding Katie standing there with a scowl on her face.

"Put Lacey down." She pouted.

"I can't, babe, not now." Michael chuckled, ruffling Katie's hair. "When Cal gets back I'll hand her off to him again."

"Daddy?" Lacey's head shot up and she looked around the room for Calum, who was taking forever with whatever he was doing outside.

"Daddy will be back soon, it's okay." Michael assured Lacey, trying to keep her calm so she didn't end up throwing a fit.

"Come on, Mikey." Katie whined, pulling on Michael's jeans again and trying to drag him into the living room. Parker was sitting on the floor now and shaking all of Katie's presents, trying to figure out what was in them.

"Can I please open a present, Daddy?" Parker begged.

"Parker, those aren't even yours. This isn't your birthday, it's Katie's." Michael said.

"It's not fair." Parker pouted, folding his arms over his chest. He pushed the pile of presents away from him and continued to sulk, attempting to get some sympathy from Michael.

"I'm back, give me my baby." Calum said as he entered the house again, holding even more presents. He dropped them down next to Parker, who looked excited for a moment until he realized again that these weren't for him.

"Sure." Michael said and passed Lacey over to Calum. She smiled as soon as she saw him and wrapped her arms around his neck, giggling when Calum kissed the tip of her nose.

"The present wrapped in Spiderman paper is for you, big guy." Calum said to Parker. His eyes lit up and he let out a high pitched scream, immediately grabbing the present with Spiderman wrapping paper

"Can I open it now?" Parker asked, looking up to Michael for approval before doing anything else.

"Sure, just take all of the presents into the living room first, please." Michael sighed, already beginning to stress out about this party.

He had no idea where Katie's mom was right now, but Michael had a bad feeling that she was going to walk in on something ridiculous going on and he and Melissa would be to blame for it. Michael was just very on edge, he felt like he needed to have a constant watch on every single person in the house.

"You okay?" Calum asked, noticing Michael's behavior. "You seem a little off."

"I'm fine, I'm just stressing out." Michael sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He could hear Parker screaming in the living room, probably about whatever Calum had given him. "You didn't need to get all of those presents."

"I felt like it." Calum shrugged. "I have a lot of money and nothing to spend it on, I felt like spoiling Katie for her birthday and then I figured that I needed to get Park something too."

"Yeah." Michael nodded. He hadn't even thought about getting Parker a small present just so that he could open something too; it was Katie's birthday, not Parker's.

The doorbell rang again and Calum opened up the door this time, letting Ashton in. He was carrying Riley in his arms, holding her very carefully as he stepped into the house. Emily followed behind him with a present for Katie in her hands and Riley's diaper bag slung over her shoulder, looking frustrated with her husband.

"Hey, are we late?" Ashton asked, finally looking up at Michael and Calum.

"Nope, Calum's the only one here." Michael laughed, shaking his head.

"Oh, good." Ashton said, letting out a relieved sigh. "It took us forever to get out of the door and I was scared that we'd be the last ones here."

"No, you're good." Michael said, turning towards Emily, looking at the present in her hands. "Do you want me to take that from you?"

"Yeah." Emily said and handed the gift to Michael. She looked over at Ashton, sending him a glare.

"Oh, stop it." Ashton scoffed and rolled his eyes, shaking his head. Clearly they'd had an argument before coming over here, but Michael didn't want to get in the middle and ask about it.

"I'm going to go say hi to Melissa." Emily said and took Riley from Ashton's arms, taking her with her.

"She's in the kitchen." Michael said, pointing in the direction of where Melissa was. Emily nodded and walked away from the three of them, leaving Ashton looking very confused.

"You obviously did something to piss her off." Calum said once Emily was gone, bouncing Lacey in his arms. She giggled and nodded, as if she understood what her father was saying.

"I did not." Ashton argued.

"You did." Michael said, furrowing his eyebrows together. He knew how girls acted when they got mad, and Emily was definitely showing the signs of being upset.

"We got in a little fight about money, it's fine, it's no big deal." Ashton said, trying to change the subject.

Luckily for Ashton, before anyone else could say anything more, Luke walked through the still opened door by himself. "Hey, did I miss anything?"

"No, just Ashton being a jerk to his wife." Calum chuckled, earning a glare from both Ashton and Michael.

"Stop it, Calum, I wasn't being a jerk to her." Ashton groaned, shaking his head. "We got in a small fight, all couples fight sometimes."

"Speaking of couples, where's Sara?" Michael asked, noticing again that Luke was all alone.

"Who knows?" Luke scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"What?" Michael questioned, still confused. He'd been busy with his new job for the last few weeks and hadn't had time to talk much with Luke or really anyone else, so Michael felt kind of lost.

"She left the other day, she's either with her mom or her sister." Luke shrugged, not seeming to be bothered by his girlfriend leaving at all.

"Oh my God, why?" Ashton gasped. He seemed very upset about Sara leaving, more upset than he was about his own wife being mad at him.

"Who knows?" Luke repeated, making Michael, Calum, and Ashton roll their eyes.

"Stop that, Luke." Michael snapped, smacking Luke on the back of the head. "Seriously, why?"

"We got in a fight." Luke said, letting out a big sigh. "She wants to get married and I don't think it's necessary, and now she's just pissed off and hormonal."

"Well, yeah, she's pregnant." Calum laughed. Lacey laughed again, even though they all knew that she had no idea what was going on.

"It's just so stupid, she's so stupid." Luke whined, tugging at the ends of his hair.

"Don't say that." Ashton shook his head quickly. "Really, it's not good for you two to get in a fight now. She's having your children, you need to fix this."

"Maybe I don't want to." Luke said stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest. Michael led the three boys into the living room, where Katie and Parker were sitting on the floor and playing with the new toy that Calum had given him.

"You don't mean that!" Ashton yelled.

"Maybe I do." Luke pouted, sitting down on the couch and leaning back. Luke acted so childish sometimes and Michael really hated it. If he didn't get his way he would just sulk about it until something changed.

"Luke, come on." Calum sighed, sitting down on the floor. Michael took a seat on the floor next to Katie, who almost instantly crawled into his lap. Ashton sat next to Luke on the couch.

"We fight about everything lately, we're going to make shitty parents anyway. My kids deserve a better father than me." Luke said, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Luke, shut up. That's not true." Ashton assured him.

"I didn't want a baby and then I found out that we're having two babies and I still don't want either of them. And I feel awful, but that's the truth. How am I supposed to live with myself knowing that I don't want my own kids?" Luke groaned. Parker looked up, noticing for the first time that the boys had entered the room.

"You're going to change your mind, Luke, I know you will." Michael assured him, playing with the ends of Katie's hair. He'd given her little braids and and he was quite proud of himself. "I felt the same way."

"You still feel that way." Luke pointed out.

"Parker is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I love him so much, I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world and when Beth was pregnant with him I felt exactly like you did." Michael said, trying to prove his point.

"I'm just scared, I guess, and Sara doesn't get that." Luke sighed. Parker stood up, leaving his toy behind on the floor and walking over to Luke. He crawled onto his lap and even though Luke was freaking out at the moment he wrapped his arms around Parker. "I don't want to get married, guys, I'm not ready for that. I'm not even ready for the babies."

"Well you need to talk to Sara about this. We can't fix it, only you two can." Ashton sighed. He was right, there was nothing that he or Michael or Calum could do to help Luke.

"God, this sucks." Luke groaned, resting his chin on top of Parker's head.

"I know, but like, that's what life's all about. Shit happens, you just have to push through it." Calum shrugged. Lacey was laying down on the floor in front of Calum and he'd pushed her shirt up, tickling her chubby tummy.

"Wow, Calum, that was deep." Ashton said, amazed. Calum wasn't even paying attention, he was too busy trying to get Lacey to laugh.

"Thanks." He shrugged.

"What are you talking about?" Parker questioned, staring right at Michael.

"You wouldn't really understand, Parker." Michael sighed. He didn't really want to explain the whole thing, especially now. Maybe Michael would later, when him and Parker were alone.

"Yes I would." Parker insisted, folding his arms over his chest and pouting.

"It's pretty complicated, buddy, I don't think you'd really be that interested." Luke chuckled, squeezing Parker's sides and making him laugh.

"I want to know." Parker said after giggling for a few seconds. He became serious again and hopped off of Luke's lap, walking over to Michael and standing in front of him.

"It's not a big deal, Parker, you don't need to know." Michael said harshly, not understanding why it was so important for Parker to know. "You don't need to know."

"I will understand." Parker insisted. "I want to help Lukey."

"Luke doesn't need your help, Parker." Michael sighed. He didn't know why this was bothering him so much but for some reason Michael was really pissed off by Parker asking so many questions. "It's okay, you don't need to know."

"Michael - " Luke said quietly but then stopped himself when he saw the look on Michael's face.

"This isn't exactly a topic for four year olds, Parker doesn't need to know about any of this stuff." Michael said, continuing to play around with Katie's hair. He liked her, she was quite and didn't try to include herself in adult conversations.

"You're so mean." Parker whined, glaring at Michael.

"I'm not being mean, Parker - "

"Yes you are." Parker pouted, cutting him off. "You're mean. You don't like talking to me anymore. You're mean."

"I am not mean, Parker, stop saying that!" Michael raised his voice, getting more upset now. He hated that whenever he did something that someone didn't like he was considered "mean". Michael felt that Parker just needed to grow up already and realize that things weren't always going to go his way.

"You're the meanest person I know and I hate you!" Parker said, stomping his foot on the ground. "I hate you!"

They both stared at each other for a moment, Michael refusing to say anything back that would cause any more drama, before Parker took off and ran out of the room.

"Dude, what the hell?" Calum asked, all of them now staring at Michael. He just shrugged innocently and hugged Katie tighter, keeping her close to him. "You don't have to be so mean to him."

"I wasn't being mean." Michael scoffed. "We were talking about a topic that Parker really didn't need to know all of the details of, I wasn't going to sit there and explain it all."

"Yeah, but I don't like the way you talked to him." Calum said stubbornly, grabbing Lacey again and picking himself up from the floor.

"You don't like the way I talked to him? Really?" Michael questioned. He hated when people tried to tell him how to parent. Parker was Michael's son, his friends didn't have the right to tell him what to do. "The kid just told me that he hates me!"

"Well of course he doesn't mean it, Michael - " Luke said softly, attempting to help.

"Shut up, what do you know? You don't have any idea how to take care of a kid. You have no idea." Michael snapped. That clearly just made Luke feel even worse, so he just signed and sunk back into the couch, looking down at his lap.

"I think Luke's right, Michael." Ashton said softly, like he was afraid to speak up. "Lately you've been paying more attention to Katie than to Parker, and I think it's finally hitting him."

"I've given Parker all of my attention for the last four years and I think he can handle sharing me with someone else now." Michael said, rolling his eyes.

"It's all happening kind of suddenly, though." Calum said. "Michael, I think that if this is how things are going to be now, you should sit down with Parker and explain to him - "

"Honestly, Calum, shut up!" Michael groaned. "Just a few months ago you were a self obsessed asshole who only cared about how many girls he fucked per week. Don't act like you're father of the year now!"

"Seriously? You're going to yell at me for attempting to actually be a good person for once? At least I give a shit about my kid! You pretend that yours isn't even there half the time!" Calum yelled, helping Lacey sit up again. She was glaring at Michael now, because of course she had to be mad at him too.

Deep, deep down, Michael knew that Calum was right. He'd been giving Katie a lot of attention recently and not hanging out with Parker as much, but Michael didn't think that anyone else had noticed, especially Parker. He wasn't going to admit that out loud, though, Michael was too stubborn for that.

"Wow, Calum, you don't have to be such a dick." Michael chuckled nervously. "I know that you haven't gotten laid in a while but you don't need to take it out on me - "

Ashton and Luke both gasped from where they were sitting on the couch. Both of them were obviously not involved in this argument anymore, it was a conversation between Michael and Calum now.

"Shut up! Oh my God, shut up!" Calum yelled, getting up from the floor and standing up. He looked down at Michael, clenching his fists at his sides. "I don't know what has gotten into you lately but you've been acting like such a jerk! I can't even stand to be around you anymore!"

Michael had to admit that this was true. In the last few weeks he'd changed, he'd become more irritable and easily annoyed, and it was clear that the people he was close with had noticed. Michael blamed it on his new job, but honestly he wasn't sure exactly what the reason was.

"I'm not acting like a jerk." Michael said simply, giving Calum a small shrug.

"Fine, fine. You seem to care about Katie and your girlfriend much more than your own son, anyway. I don't know why I even bother." Calum snapped, picking up Lacey and carrying her out of the room with him.

Everyone that remained in the room sat there silently for a few minutes. Even Katie, who usually talked a lot when Michael was around her.

"I think that was really rude of you, Michael." Ashton said quietly after a few moments of silence. He quickly looked between Michael and Luke and then got up from the couch, walking out of the living room.

"Jesus Christ." Michael mumbled under his breath. He was mostly just upset because Ashton was his boss now and would probably make his life a living hell now that he'd gone and made everyone upset.

"I'm going to go see if Melissa needs help with anything." Luke said and slowly rose from the couch, not wanting to be in the room with Michael anymore.

Michael didn't say anything, he just stayed sitting on the floor with Katie in his lap, who was the only one that hasn't gotten mad and left yet. Michael knew that if Katie wasn't just a little kid she probably would have left by now, he was a jerk and didn't deserve to have anyone on his side.

"Mikey?" Katie whispered and crawled off of Michael's lap, turning around to face him.

"Yeah?" Michael asked in a bored tone, secretly hoping that Katie wasn't going to ask him to do anything with her. He wasn't in the mood to play any games at the moment.

"Am I allowed to go see Park?" Katie asked.

"Why wouldn't you be allowed to?" Michael asked, confused as to why Katie was asking for his permission.

"I don't know." Katie shrugged innocently. "You're mad at him."

"Go ahead, Katie." Michael said, letting out a deep sigh. He figured that it might be better for him to just be alone for a while anyway.

"Okay." Katie nodded and then made her way out of the room, leaving Michael all alone.

*•*•*

The rest of the night was almost uneventful.

Katie's party ran smoothly for the most part. Her mother never showed up, which pissed off both Katie and Melissa. Some of Katie's other relatives did come, though, and Michael enjoyed being introduced to them. Melissa knew them all really well, so nothing was awkward like Michael had feared it being.

Calum and Luke didn't speak to Michael for the rest of the night, and Ashton only talked to Michael so he could tell him something about work. His friends all seemed to hate him at the moment, but Michael really didn't care. This wasn't his fault, of course.

It was after the party now and Melissa was in the kitchen cleaning up while Michael sat on the counter and watched her. He was trying to fill her in on what had happened with his friends, all while keeping his voice down in case Parker or Katie were listening in on the conversation.

"I think you need to apologize." Melissa said, wiping her hands off on a towel. "To everyone."

"Why?" Michael questioned. He still felt that he'd done nothing wrong, he didn't need to apologize.

"Michael." Melissa sighed, walking over to him. "I think you know why."

"This all started because I wouldn't tell Parker what we were talking about, and I don't think I need to apologize for that - "

"I think you just need to apologize for the way you treated everyone." Melissa said softly. "I know that you've been stressed lately but that doesn't mean you can take it out on your friends like that."

"I don't know..." Michael trailed off, still not wanting to give in. He knew that it would be the right thing for him to just say he was sorry to everyone, including Parker, but Michael didn't want to. "Maybe."

Michael hopped off of the counter and wrapped his arms around Melissa's waist, leaning down and kissing her neck a few times. She was the only person that hasn't seemed to upset Michael today, and he was extremely thankful for that.

Melissa opened her mouth to say something else but was cut off by the sound of someone running into the kitchen, and Michael pulled away from his girlfriend to see Parker standing there beside him.

"Daddy, I need your phone." Parker said, his arms folded across his chest. He was still upset, it was very obvious.

"Why?" Michael asked.

"I'm going to call Mommy." Parker snapped, glaring up at Michael. "I need the phone."

"Fine." Michael scoffed, because he didn't want to start any more arguments by denying Parker the right to talk to his own mother.

Parker snatched Michael's phone out of his hands and quickly clicked on Beth's contact, already knowing how to work the phone. Melissa didn't say anything more to Michael, she just leaned up against the counter and watched this whole thing unfold.

"Mommy?" Parker asked into the phone, his face lighting up when Beth answered.

"Can you put it on speaker, Parker?" Michael asked. Parker ignored him.

"I hate Daddy and I never, ever want to see him again." Parker said to Beth, and Michael tried hard to ignore the big pain in his chest as Parker spoke.

Michael understood that Parker was upset, but he'd never been so angry with Michael where he said something like that. Michael didn't even know that Parker was capable of saying something like that.

"Can you put it on speaker?" Michael asked again, even though he already kind of knew that Parker was ignoring him. Parker looked up at Michael and glared again, shaking his head.

"I want to see you..." Parker said into the phone again, still refusing to talk to Michael. "...Okay, I'll ask."

"Ask what?" Michael questioned, looking back at Melissa. She just shrugged and shook her head.

"Daddy," Parker let out an annoyed sigh, finally looking up at Michael again. "Mommy wants me to come to her house."

"Give me the phone." Michael demanded, holding his hand out.

"No." Parker said, shaking his head.

"Give me the phone." Michael repeated, his voice even harsher than before.

"You're so mean." Parker mumbled and handed over the phone, still scowling at Michael. He walked over to Melissa and started talking to her about how much he hated Michael at the moment.

Michael and Beth had a short phone conversation, both of them staying surprisingly calm. In the end, they decided that maybe it would be okay for Beth to come pick Parker up and take him home with her for the night. He obviously was mad at Michael and Parker definitely wasn't going to behave if he took him back to their apartment.

"Just text me the address, I'll be there as soon as I can." Beth said, already making her way out to her car. "I'll just take Parker back to my place and talk to him, I can bring him back tomorrow afternoon."

"Okay." Michael nodded. "I'll see you soon."

He hung up the phone and then texted Beth the address of Melissa and Katie's house, still not believing that Parker was actually so upset that he didn't even want to stay in the same apartment with Michael.

"Parker, Mommy will be here in a little bit." Michael said. It was really starting to hit him now that he'd been a jerk to everyone, even his son, and now Michael was going to have to suffer through the consequences.

"Okay." Parker nodded and then left the room, not even saying goodbye to Melissa as he walked out.

Michael nervously licked his lips and turned back towards Melissa, who looked like she was having trouble finding the right thing to say.

"He really hates me." Michael mumbled, trying to blink back tears. "He says it all the time, but I guess he really means it now."

"No he doesn't." Melissa assured him. "He doesn't mean it, Michael, he's just a little upset right now. Beth will talk with him and it'll all be okay."

"I guess I've been neglecting him. I didn't mean to, I was just trying to show Katie some love." Michael sniffed. He would always do this; he'd do something shitty and not realize it until later and then completely break down. "She doesn't really have a dad anymore and I was trying to fill that spot."

"I know." Melissa nodded. "I know, and it's really sweet of you to do that, Michael, but you can't forget about Parker. He should come first."

"I really messed things up, didn't I?" Michael asked, trying to laugh at himself. It didn't work, and more tears just ended up falling from his eyes.

"No you didn't, Michael, it's okay." Melissa said, even though it was impossible for her to tell him that for sure. "This is all going to be okay in the end, don't worry."

Michael nodded slowly and let Melissa pull him into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her and burying his face into his neck. He tried not to think about everything that had happened that day, the fight that he'd gotten into with his friends and having Parker say that he hated him.

That's when Michael started to sob even harder, and he knew that things weren't just going to be okay.

-

SORRY this took me so long to write and sorry if it makes no sense or has spelling mistakes because I didn't want to edit this and I wrote it all over the span of like a month and a half so some parts may not add up lol