Back, and better than ever.

Relationship Problems

A few days later, Oswald and Ortensia were walking in the park near their homes. It had started as a date, but the time spent together had turned into a very heated discussion, as the subject of the first day of school came up into conversation.

"I just don't get what you're so mad about, Oswald. Your brother is going to school with you now, you should be happy." Startled at what Ortensia said, Oswald turned his head to look at her, and sighed. "He's not my brother, Ortensia. He's just my father's son." Shrugging off the strange words that her boyfriend had said, Ortensia continued.

"I'm only saying that if I had a sibling that lived across town, and I barely ever got to see them; I'd cry tears of happiness to be in the same school as them seven hours a day, much less having a history class with them." "Which is why you should be glad that you don't, Ortensia! Think about it, do you really think I want the reason my father left me, sitting down in the one place I felt like I didn't have to think about that crap?" Oswald snapped her, eyes opening wide at the sight of hers filling up with tears, and felt his breath catch in his throat.

Oswald didn't truly mean a word of that, he was just angry and confused about everything, and the words just slipped out before he could stop them. Trying to keep the emotion from seeping into his voice, he turned away from her angrily. "I gotta go now, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Ortensia reached out to touch his arm, but decided against it, withdrawing her hand. "Maybe."

He stopped, as if to turn around, but instead shook his head and kept on walking. Ortensia stood there for a few minutes, struck dumb, before sinking into the grass and sobbing into her arms. That's not the Oswald I know. It was as if he was following a script that someone else wrote, or his words came from an outside source somehow. Never, in the entire year that we've dated, has he talked to me like that.

Ortensia heard the rustle of grass as someone sat down, and she looked up excitedly, hoping it was Oswald come back to apologize. Instead it was Walter Allwine, Mickey and Oswald's dad. "He reacted that badly to Mickey coming to school with him?" "How do you know?" He chuckled quietly. "My dear, it's no secret to me why he chose to take on his mother's name; Foray, instead of mine."

Ortensia's eyes widened at this. "He really hates you that much?" Walter smiled sadly. "No, Ortensia. He could never hate his father, and I'm not saying that in a moment of pride. Maybe he's disappointed in me for letting him down his whole life, of course, but Oswald's not the type of person to hold a grudge. He's proven to me in everything he does, that he's too good for that."

"If you don't mind, Mr. Allwine, what happened between you and Ms. Foray? What makes Oswald feel like the two of you are basically not family anymore?

"I lost Oswald when I separated from his mother, because I was only thinking about myself and my relationship with Lily. Don't be like that, Ortensia. Don't be like me. It doesn't take a genius to know how much he loves you, and believe me when I say that I am no genius, and I would know. I'd even go as far as to say that when Mickey was born, I considered him my chance to fix what I did wrong as Oswald's father, as much as I don't want to admit it."

Ortensia's eyes filled up, not with shock as before, but remorse as she realized the mistake that she made. "I never should have let him go off alone. Who knows what he's going through right now." Walter helped her stand up, and covered her hand with his own. "You can't change the past, sweetheart. What you can do though, is learn from it in order to change the future. Please, go to him and apologize. Have the courage to go and make it right, and promise to never make him suffer as much as I have."

Ortensia nodded and smiled. "That I will do, if I haven't broken that promise already." Walter nodded thoughtfully, and gestured at the direction that Oswald had walked off to. "Only one way to find out. The world is your oyster, and the pearl is too precious to not be treasured."

Suddenly Ortensia ran back to him, and wrapped her arms tightly around him. Walter stood there, shocked for a minute before doing the same. "No matter what Oswald may say, I think you did a great job as a parent, to both of your sons."

"That means the world coming from you, Ortensia. Though, you may want to save that kind of love for Oswald. Who knows what the poor boy is going through right now." She smiled brightly and nodded, before running off in the direction in which he had walked away. "My son, It's been so long. I don't know how I could have not seen that you were growing up so fast." Walter whispered under his breath before turning and walking back to his car parked on the the street.

Oswald was sitting on the grass, hunched over to conceal his tears, when Ortensia finally found him. "Who has two thumbs and loves you more than you love me? This girl!" With that she tackled to the ground, though harder than she expected, according to his chest heaving with surprise. "Sorry!" Ortensia said, her face inches from his.

When she finally let Oswald sit up, he wasn't angry, or even crying anymore. Instead he was laughing so hard his sides were shaking. "O-o-ortensia, wh-what the heck are y-you doing? Y-your go-go-going to give me a heart attack someday!

Ortensia smirked and put her arm around his shoulders. "So you're saying we're still gonna have a future together? When Oswald met her question with silence she sighed, swallowed her dignity and stared at a dyed shock of pink hair in her curly black locks. "Look, I know what happened between you and your dad." When he stiffened at what she said she quickly covered her mistake.

"I'm not going to say how I know, because I know if I did then you'd hate me forever. Still, I understand why you were upset about having to see Mickey everyday, and I'm sorry to bring it up."

Oswald suddenly put his arms around her, much to the surprise of Ortensia. "I could never hate you, Ortensia. I love you, and I'm sorry for getting so mad. To tell you the truth, I've wanted to get into a good place with my dad and Mickey for years, but never quite knew the right way to go around doing it."

Ortensia took his hand in hers, and squeezed it gently. "Well, maybe this is a way for you to do it. I mean, I could be wrong, but I swear I saw Mickey smiling when he heard your name on the roll call. No matter how much anyone wants to deny it, Oswald, this is your family we're talking about. You can't just ignore them and hope they'll go away, because if somehow that comes true, you have almost nothing left."

Tears began to roll down Oswald's cheeks once again, but these were tears of happiness as he put his hand on Ortensia's head and pressed it against his own. "What did I ever do to deserve you?" Ortensia smiled and closed her eyes, feeling the pleasure of being near him. "I could say the exact same thing."