Michael

The Next Day

---ring-ring---

Ezra rolled over looking at his alarm clock. It wasn't going off. It was 4:30 am. He tiredly searched for his phone on the nightstand. Without looking to see who it was he tiredly answered, "hello?"

"Ezra?" an excited voice said on the other end.

"Yes, Fortune?" Ezra smiled resting his arm above his head.

"So...how are you?" Fortune said excitedly.

"Umm tired?" Ezra laughed. "How are you?"

"Oh, just lovely!" They both laughed.

"Are you going back to school today?"

"Unfortunately, Fortune." Ezra giggled.

"Well what time do you have to be up?"

"Not for another hour," Ezra sighed.

"Do you wanna go back to sleep?"

"Yes, but I'd rather talk to you."

"I miss you Ezra."

"I miss you to.." Ezra whispered as he fell asleep.

"Ezra?" Ezra didn't respond to him. He whispered, "I love you," and hung up the phone.

6:00 am, Michael burst into Ezra's room, "hey, wake up Ezra. Your alarm is going off."

"I don't want to," Ezra responded.

Michael laughed as he laid next to his son. "Well I made you breakfast, so get up." He pushed Ezra out of bed and Ezra fell to the floor.

"Ugh.." Ezra slid his tired feet to the bathroom.

Michael returned upstairs to finish breakfast with his children.

"Michael do you want me to drop the little ones at daycare or are you good?" Fitz questioned.

"Well I have to go to school with Ezra this morning to have a meeting with his principal, so just drop them off and I'll pick them backup on my way back through." Fitz nodded as he finished feeding Sophie.

"You know, I think Sophie likes me better," Fitz laughed. Then Sophie started to cry and everyone burst into laughter as Fitz tried to calm her down, "you're embarrassing me missy," he laughed.

"Finish up Ezra, so we can leave." Michael told his son as he began to clear the table.

"So, are you dropping us off at school then?" Vinny asked.

"Nope." Michael laughed as he put the dishes in the dishwasher. "The walk will be good for you guys, so you better get going."

"You're mean," Ariana joked as her and her siblings marched out the door towards school.

"Love you!" Michael shouted as he was followed by 'I love you's.'

"Let's get this over with." Ezra stated rolling his eyes as he buckled his seatbelt.

"You know what they're going to tell you Ezra. If you leave school one more time you won't graduate."

"I know. I know.."

"Ezra this is serious. You need to graduate. Do you want to get held back?" Ezra hook his head 'no.' "Then straighten up! You only have one more month. No more fights." Michael finished as he parked the car.

They made it into the school office where they sat and waited for the principal. When they finally finished the meeting Michael and Ezra said their goodbyes and hugged, "I love you Ezra. Stay out of trouble and have a good day."

Ezra broke their hug, "i love you dad." And they walked their separate ways.