Chapter 67: Responsibility

"Waaaah!!!"

The sounds of a baby crying jar me awake from the peaceful sleep I was having. I swear I just fed and changed the baby five minutes ago. The sheets of my bed rustle as I get up to see what Nikolai wants.

RATTLE! RATTLE!

The crib threatens to fall apart into a million pieces with how hard the baby is shaking the rails. How did he get so big already? I feel like it was just yesterday when he came home from the hospital, all wrapped up in his little blue blanket.

"Hey little guy. What's the matter?"

Nikolai can't talk yet, so he just rubs his eyes and stomps his feet more. He's stopped crying at least, looking up at me with his pretty eyes. I pick him up and give him a hug, rocking him back and forth. Nikolai smiles at me and lays his head on my shoulder. I still don't know what was making him cry in the first place, although I'm starting to think maybe it was lack of human contact. He rubs his eyes again and yawns. I don't know why he doesn't just go to sleep, he's showing all the signs of being tired. As soon as I have him in my arms, he cries again.

I'm getting tired of standing in my room so I go out to the living room and watch some tv. Maybe the sounds of something soothing will help Nikolai sleep. This early in the morning, there's nothing on but infomercials. I start thinking about my dad, wondering where he is and what he might be doing. Mom said she met him on an airplane, so maybe he has a cool job where he gets to go on trips to exotic destinations like France. Mom has no bitter feelings towards him, so he must have been nice to her during their short time together. I contemplate whether my dad would be easygoing like Mom, and I decide that he probably is based on what Mom has told me. I wonder what my dad would think about me. From what Mom told me, he's just as promiscuous as me.

I feel Nikolai get really relaxed, and I look at him, watching his little face on my shoulder. His eyelids are droopy and he might actually be trying to fall asleep. I look at the time on the television and it says 3am. I put Nikolai back in his crib and then crawl into bed myself. It was so sneaky of Mom to leave my old crib in my room, so that I'd be forced to share the room with my baby brother. I chuckle to myself as I think of her reasoning for it, probably to make me know what it's like to be a parent so I don't become one before I'm ready.

I signed up for karate at the local gym because it sounded like fun. Today was my first day, and I have to say I wasn't expecting to see what I saw when I walked in the door. There was a guy with hair the same color as mine. His had more black in it, but there really wasn't any hiding that the other part of his hair was hot pink. It looked like he was doing yoga, or meditating, or something, I don't really know what, but I felt like I wanted to talk to him. I felt weird about it since he was technically a stranger, which made me stop from going any closer to him. I don't even know why I cared.

I wandered around for a little while, looking at the decorations on the walls. There were two other people in my class, Gregory, and Sandra. They both looked like they were pretty good at karate already.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around. It was the pink haired man I saw sitting on the rug when I came in earlier, except he now had on a karate uniform. If I wasn't prepared for how similar his hair color was to mine, I was definitely not ready to see that his eyes were the exact same shade of green as mine. Looking at his face, he probably had the same thought I did when he saw me.

"Hi. Are you the new student for my karate class?"

"Yes. My name is-"

"Maximus. Zenteri-Hunt. I have your name on the sign up sheet. I'm Alexander Hunt."

I think my mind has just been blown. He just said his name was Alex Hunt, that's what Mom told me Dad's name was. I mean, I already knew from seeing his eyes and hair color too, that he had to be my dad, but for whatever reason, him saying his name just added to the shock. I felt like time froze for a little while, and it must have for him too because we both just stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Finally... Dad... broke the silence.

"Well, Maximus, do you want to get started with the basics?"

I nod politely through my shock and Dad... that still sounds so weird to me, um, Alex, or Mr. Hunt, leads me over to a training dummy. I have no idea what I'm doing, but Mr. Hunt seems to think I'm doing fine. He likes my first attempt at kicking the dummy.

Mr. Hunt teaches me a few techniques for blocking and better form for kicking. I'm getting the hang of this really fast and it is just as fun as I thought it would be. He tests out my skills at blocking by taking the training dummy and spinning it, challenging me to stop the rotation with one of the blocks he just taught me. It's a little intimidating at first because the dummy spins pretty fast, but I concentrate like he says and put my hand up real quick. To my delight, the dummy stops.

"That was really good, Maximus. You learn really fast."

"Thank you."

"Um, well, class is over for now, but I'll see you next Saturday? I can teach you how to break boards."

"Yeah."

I head over to the showers in the back of the gym. I don't know how I feel right now. I feel weird, but kind of happy. I'm pretty sure I just met my father. Maybe that was why I wanted to talk to him when I saw him. I was excited for karate class when I first came in, but now I'm even more excited because I get to hang out with... Dad? I still feel weird thinking of him that way since I don't really know him at all. On my way out of the building, Mr. Hunt stops me.

"Uh, Maximus? Can I talk to you?"

Everyone else has left class, and I think I have an idea of what Dad... wants to tell me.

"I don't mean to be all awkward, but I feel like maybe we should talk about... well, the fact that we're probably related. There's no real good way to ease into it, so I'm just going to jump right in, I'm probably your father."

I feel a little relieved that he addressed the elephant in the room.

"Yeah, I don't really know what to call you. Mr. Hunt?"

"Ah, yeah, when I saw your last name, I didn't think anything of it, but when I saw you, I was pretty shocked. It would be okay with me if you wanted to call me Dad, but not unless you want to, otherwise you can call me Alex."

"Really? You'd be okay with me calling you Dad? It's kind of abrupt? I guess... I mean, I don't want to impose on your life or make you feel like you owe me stuff."

"Yeah, this whole thing has been pretty abrupt, but with how old you are, I probably missed out on a bunch of stuff, so why not start now instead of waiting longer? I don't feel like you're imposing at all. Um, I don't want to make you feel like you have to accept me either... I guess since I haven't been much of a father. I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt your mother, I've just never been one for relationships."

I feel like I'm talking to myself in the mirror, since he just said 'I've never been one for relationships,' I don't know how many times I've said those words, or a variation of those words to Helena and Mom. I do think it's cool that Dad... and I seem to have lots in common upon first glance.

"No, it's okay, just recently I was wondering who you were and what you were like. Mom told me your name, I think in case I ever... I don't know, ran into you? Maybe she just wanted me to know that even if my dad wasn't in my life that he did exist out there somewhere. I'm pretty sure that is why she hyphenated my last name. Mom's okay, by the way, she's not really looking for anything serious either."

That's sort of a half truth, since Mom has Austin that she's hanging on to, she's not looking for anything with anyone else, so I didn't want to make Dad... hm, it's growing on me since he brought it up, feel like he had to try to get to know her or anything like that.

"Okay, Dad, I guess I'll see you at my next lesson."

Dad smiles and I leave the gym, debating whether or not to tell Mom that I met Dad today. She might think it was cool, after all, I don't think that she would have told me his name if she didn't want me to know him.

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Guest Starring: Alexander Hunt by mrsoogieboogie