Lady and the Tramp II

"We've made a home from which we'll never roam, Why would we when we're so contented here."
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“Thanks for the ride, dad!” Collette called out to Alex, tucking a strand of her long, brown hair behind her ear as she made her way up the stairs, followed by her sisters, Annette and Danielle.The two other girls also expressed their gratitude, before the trio dispersed into their designated rooms.
The aforementioned man called back a tired reply, just glad to finally be home. He’d had a busy day, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. First, he’d went to work, then, he’d picked up his daughters at school. The three seventeen year olds were then all driven to their next respective destinations; the skating rink for Annette, the dance studio for Collette, and the swimming pool for Danielle. Alex’s final task was to then pick his girls up, before arriving home and preparing dinner.
It may seem like a bit much for a thirty eight year old, but Alex was a professional, and even then, he wasn’t alone. He had the Tramp by his side, too, his now forty two year old husband, who was just arriving home, as well. Along with him was their sixteen year old son, Luke, who’d just finished up a long day of school followed by football practice. Jack’s day was quite similar to Alex’s, as he’d also attended work, and then drove their son to and from practice. It’d make sense to say that Jack was just as tired as his other half, but finally seeing Alex was the cherry on top of his day.
Jack placed his things down in the kitchen, as Luke ran off elsewhere, and then turned to Alex.
“Good evening, love,” Jack greeted, wrapping his arms around his husband’s small frame, as he placed a kiss on the top of his head.
“Hi,” Alex chirped in response, looking up from where he was preparing dinner to press a kiss to the underside of Jack’s jaw.
Before the couple could get any further with their greetings, though, they were interrupted by a spout of yelling come from upstairs.
“Me first!”
“No, me first!”
“No, not you! Wait a minute!”
“I’ll go see what they’re up to, Alex sighed, before freeing himself from Jack’s grasp and heading upstairs.
In the meanwhile, Jack went to check up on Luke, wherever he went. He found the boy sitting in the living room, just as Alex was making his way down the stairs.
“They were fighting over the bathroom, they all wanted to shower. Hey, Scamp.” Alex informed Jack with a chuckle, then greeting his son, before returning to the kitchen.
Taking in his son’s dirty attire as he replied to his other father, Jack shook his head as he, too, sat down on the sofa.
“Speaking of showers, I think you could use one.” The man half joked, giving his son an expectant look.
“That is way too much work, I’ll take one tomorrow. I’m fine.” Luke replied with a huff.
“I know what you mean, I really do,” Jack sighed, “But if you’re going to live here, you can’t be messing the place up all the time. Seriously, Alex isn’t going to like the look of this couch.”
“Well, then I guess I’ll be moving out soon,” Luke joked with a smirk, tossing the football in his hands into the air.
“Luke, you know you’re not supposed to throw that in here. Stop it before you break something,” Jack warned, grabbing the ball out of the air before his son could catch it.
“Oh, come on. Hey, let's do some fun stuff, huh, pop?” Luke questioned, taking the football back from his father. “Just play a little catch with me,” the black haired boy continued to prod, throwing the football into the air once more.
“Luke, come on now. You’ve already made a mess, and now you’re going to break something, too.” Jack reprimanded, getting Luke’s attention before grabbing the ball out of his hands for a second time, leaping off the couch and running across the room calling, “Got it!”
“Pop!” Luke laughed, standing up and receiving a pass from his father. The pair continued to throw the football around for a while, until it hit the ground with a thud, due to a pretty lousy pass on Jack’s part.
“Jack? What are you two doing in there?” Alex called from in the kitchen.
“All right, whirlwind. Time to settle down.” Jack laughed, walking over to his son and patting him on the back. “Why don’t you go call Juliet? I heard she’s in town, maybe you could invite her over for dinner tomorrow?
The next day, while Jack and Alex were at work, their four kids had the day off. Annette, Collette, and Danielle had gone to their friend’s houses, while Luke had stayed at home with his friends.
To say Luke’s parents were disappointed with what they came home to, would be an understatement. The kitchen was covered in spills and dirty dishes, and the decorations in the living room were thrown astray.
“This time you've gone too far. You've left me no choice.” Jack scolded, pacing in front of his cowering son sat on the couch in front of him. “Some kids just have to learn the hard way. Maybe grounding you will teach you a lesson.”
“We’re sorry, but I just don't know what else to do.” Alex continued, shaking his head.
“Serves him right.” Danielle mentioned from in the hall.
“Simply incorrigible.” Collette chimed in, rolling her eyes at yet another one of her younger brother’s childish stunts.
“He brought this on himself.” Annette finished, crossing her arms.
“Jack?” Alex asked tentitively, poking his head out from behind the door to see where Jack was sat on the porch.
“Best thing we could have done for our boy, grounding him for a month.” Jack mumbled with a sigh.
“Oh, Jack, he's never been grounded before. He’s just a kid, don’t you think a month is a little rough?” Alex tried, walking over to Jack
“He has to learn to live by the rules of the house, love. And besides, he’s sixteen for crying out loud. We should have done this ages ago.” Jack reasoned, welcoming Alex onto his lap. “Firm discipline moulds a boy into a man.”
“You turned out pretty good.” Alex pointed out, leaning his head on his lover’s shoulder.
“Yeah, pidge, but I found you. And if it weren't for you, I'd have wound up in jail eventually.” Jack replied, turning his head to kiss Alex on the cheek. “I'm just trying to protect him. He'll understand some day.”
“Maybe he needs to understand today.” Alex responded, before reciprocating Jack’s kiss and going back inside.
“I thought you might be hungry.” Jack said quietly, coming into Luke’s room without knocking, placing a plate on his table. In return of Luke’s unresponsiveness from where the boy was sitting up on his bed, Jack continued. “I'm sorry, pal. You're just gonna have to shape up a little, that's all.”
“I always get blamed for everything.” Luke finally spoke up.
“Sometimes it's hard being part of a family.” Jack explained, “You have to obey certain rules.”
“I don’t want to obey rules,” Luke stressed, looking his father in the eyes at last.
“Son, the world out there is full of traps. Here, you... You have a family that loves you.” Jack expressed, looking for at least a bit of agreeance in his son’s features.
“As long as I do what you say.” Luke remarked, voice dripping with distaste. “Pop, I just don't feel like I belong here. Didn't you ever feel this way?”
“I was just like you when I was your age.” Jack reflected, hoping to gain a bit more trust out of his son in the subject.
“You were never like me.” Luke disagreed in annoyance, “You've lived in this neighbourhood all your life. How would you know?”
“Oh, you'd be surprised.” Jack countered, quirking an eyebrow. He then decided it’d be smarter to try a different approach. “Luke, I'm only trying to protect you.”
“By not letting me do anything?” Luke spat.
“Those are the rules, son.” Jack said sternly, standing up to leave.
“All I ever hear is, “Rules, rules, rules!” “Don’t do this,” and “Don’t do that!” Well, what good is the world if you can’t explore it?” Luke suddenly burst, sitting up and glaring at his father.
“Stop yelling at me!” Jack cried in return, turning around.
“I can't help it, pop! I’m just not meant to be quiet!” Luke stressed, rolling his eyes.
“There will be no acting out in this family!” Jack commanded, tired with his son’s attitude.
“Then maybe I don't want to be in this family!” Luke taunted, flopping back onto his bed.
“Like it or not, you are a part of this family. And until you start acting like it, you can just get used to being up here every night!” Jack finally called, leaving the room and shutting the door firmly.

Notes

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