My Daddy "The Fonz"

Chapter 12/Part 6: End of the Aftermath

Fonzie's POV:

So, long story short, we pretty much worked it out, me and Richie that is. Me and Mr. C, I ain't so sure about. I still think he wants to skin me. Probably best to stay a good distance from him for a little while. Oh well, such is life.

When I bound down the stairs from whence I was banished, I'm met with both a smiling Bobby and a smiling Spike, as if we hadn't just had a massive blow out between them. Weird, it's like when I'm gone, everything just magically gets fixed. Go figure.

I pause, perplexed, pointing at the kids standing together. "Alright, who did this? Who made 'em best friends all of a sudden?" This is strange, perturbing, suspicious. I look around the room, scanning each person for the guilty culprit. Then Spike raises his hand. I call on him. "Yeah Spike?"

"It was sort of everyone."

I raise an eyebrow at him and kneel between both kids. I try to hold in a smile but it doesn't work. It's so good to see both Spike and Bobby happy at the same time. It's almost surreal. "Everyone, huh? 'Cept me and Richie?"

Spike shrugs. "Well, you two were sort of busy hashing out your own shi—I mean fixing your own problems."

I have to chuckle at his poor attempt at class. My eyes search the two boys to make sure they're actually okay. "So you're serious? You two are buddy-buddy now? Just like that?"

To confirm, I stare intently at Bobby. Bobby usually breaks his facade if I stare at him. But he never wavers this time, so it must be true. "Yeah, Daddy, Spike's sort of nice now."

"Oh yeah? How come?" I question. Seems a little odd that this all got fixed in an hour.

Bobby shrugs. "Just is."

I decide to nod, figuring I'm not going to get much more out of him. Then I glance at the group of older kids, more like teenagers, and I fold my arms at them. "What happened? What did you do?"

Joanie comes up to me and grabs my hands. She always does this when she really wants me to get something. "Sometimes, Fonz, you just gotta accept that problems can be fixed without you always controlling and intervening."

"And really, Spike just sort of had a change of heart it seems," Ralph adds. "At first I thought he was gonna wrastle the poor twerp to the ground but ended up giving Bobby a hug. Now, it's like, fine now."

"Well that's great, Ralph," Richie says behind me, gleaming. "And all it took was them working it out. Geez. Well, I feel silly, but I guess, also relieved."

Richie glances at me. I'm really not sure what to do right now. I sort of feel silly myself. We both were acting a lot like Bobby and Spike were. When we both should've been there—especially me—for the kids. I do feel pretty stupid. What sort of parent just gets so self absorbed in his ego that he forgets his kids are needing his help? I'm not good at this. I suppose this internal conundrum is shown on my face because Richie tries to console me. "Hey, Fonz, it's all okay now. I mean, look at them." He gestures to Spike with his arm around Bobby. "They're learning. They fixed their problem all on their own."

Bobby speaks up. "Well, really, I was still really mad, but everyone helped me feel better. And Spike is okay now."

"Well," I pause, not really sure what to do from here. "Thanks everybody—for bein' there when I was too caught up in my own shi—problems. I appreciate all of you. Come here, you little rascals." I spread my arms and lean down again, then both boys clamor onto me so fast that we fall backward into a big fit of laughter. Man, are they cute when they're not raising hell.

Everyone just sort of looks on and laughs with us, and the laughing continues until Bobby pipes up. "Daddy? Am I in trouble for running out the door and stuff?"