I'm back with a fresh chapter for you all! Hope you enjoy reading it because this one gave me a bit of a challenge to write down! Also, take a look at Michael Ketterer's rendition of a classic song... I think it conveys the emotions of a father perfectly!

Please vote, comment, and share if you enjoy this story.

-VIVKELLER23

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Dimitri's POV

The last time he'd seen his father had been towards the end of his eighth grade school year, when Dimitri had just started pursuing music. He remembered the day clearly for it had been the saddest day of his life; a day forever engraved into his mind because he hadn't been able to stop it. What boy forgot the look of utter resentment he saw on his father's face as he said goodbye?

Dimitri had known for the better part of a year that his parents' arguments weren't just issues stemming from a rough patch in their relationship. He knew that the shouting matches were a result of a loss of trust and respect between them. He'd witnessed their tense silence when in the presence of family friends. He'd seen their half-hearted attempts to get marriage counseling to try to return to a semblance of what they had once been. And he'd seen everything fail the minute they got home and started criticizing each other. When he thought back to all the problems, the fights, and the countless dishes they'd gone through, it shouldn't have come as a surprise that his father would look to escape to another country to escape the mess of his marriage.

But it had hurt so much, to sit there at the kitchen table with a plate of his mother's famous enchiladas before him, listening to his father's stern farewell.

He'd wanted to yell at his father to stay. He'd yearned to demand an answer from his mother, to ask her to deny that he was anyone's son but his father's. He'd wanted to beg that they try a little harder, that they do it for him because he was so tired of suffering for their mistakes. He'd nearly choked with the effort it took to keep it all down and eat the dinner he couldn't even taste.

In the end, he'd kept quiet and watched them both leave him without a backwards glance.

Years had come and gone without so much as a phone call from his parents. It hadn't bothered him all that much before he met Kaliah, he'd figured it was better all around not to have to listen to the fights. But since meeting her and seeing how she had cared for her parents, how she could love so completely, he'd begun wishing for a miracle. He'd come to yearn for some sign that they missed him as much as he missed having even the idea of parents.

Three days ago, a postcard had been dropped off at the front door. It seemed his wish was going to be made a reality.

He'd recognized his father's handwriting the minute he'd flipped the card over, the clumsy scrawl etched into his memory due to all of the notes his father had signed during the school year.

With a feeling of dread and apprehension, Dimitri read his father's message.

Dimitri,

I know this may come as a shock for you, but I wanted to take the time to tell you how proud I am to see who you've become. It may not mean much to you, coming from an old man who was never a good father to you, but I'm happy to see you chased your dreams.

To say I'm not very good at this sort of thing is obvious. I don't know how to be a father, and I think my problems with your mother left their share of scars on you. I can't tell you how sorry I am, son. I can only say that these years away have given me the time and space I needed to come to terms with the issues I didn't want to face. And I think it's time I clear some things up with you, so you can at least come around to tolerating me. If you never see your mother and I as parents again, I'll understand.

Your resentment is no less than the two of us deserve, but for mercy's sake, I'd like to explain it to you. If you feel inclined, please meet me at the Jack in the Box located right outside the LAX. I'll be waiting there everyday from 1 to 4 until you show.

With love,

Your father

The man had fit as much as he could into the ten lines on the back of the postcard. He'd packed a sucker punch in between those lines, he'd give him that. After all the years of having nothing from him save silence, his father had finally worked up the nerve to try to clear the air.

The question now was whether Dimitri wanted to hear the truth or not. For years he'd grown up suspecting he wasn't his father's son. That gnawing suspicion had made it easier for him to accept his father's coolness and his mother's mediocre mothering. To him, being born out of his mother's affair had been the only reasoning that made sense. But how would he feel to finally have his father confirm what he had grown up coming to terms with?

He had Kaliah now, even if she liked to pretend she would escape him eventually. He liked his life with Kaliah in it. She was his sunshine after eight long years of gloom. Just the sound of her voice as she conversed with Miss Santillan in the kitchen brought a smile to his face every morning. The evenings he spent with her in his studio, without Sydney's constant badgering and Ronan's teasing, had brought him fresh inspiration after such a dry spell. How strange that he'd left her to become a successful singer, but in leaving her, he'd left behind the one thing that had made him want to sing.

His parents had left him without a backward glance. But Kaliah? She'd stayed by his side, encouraged him to use his gift, and cried for him to stay and love her. If he went to his father now, he would have to acknowledge the truth. He wouldn't be able to hide it from Kaliah forever, not if he meant to keep her with him. Worse still, the truth would eventually come out to the press as well. Everything he'd worked so hard to keep locked away would no longer be his secret to bear.

But if the truth was what Kaliah wanted of him, how could he deny her? He realized that if the truth could make her forgive him for leaving, he'd do it for the chance to have a new start with her.

When he thought of all he could gain from knowing the truth, his decision didn't seem all that hard. Having Kaliah look at him without hurt or shadows of the past clouding her eyes would be the best reward after all. He could bear knowing his parents' sins if it would give him a shot at a life with Kaliah. Everything else he could deal with as long as she was by his side.

Mind set, Dimitri glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that there was still half an hour left before his father supposedly left. If he hurried, he could probably find some answers today.

***

He spotted Samson Hale almost immediately. The man hadn't lost his towering frame despite the years he'd been away. His full set of hair was all but silver now, the ends reaching at the very top of his shoulders. He'd lost some weight, Dimitri could see, because the plain clothes he wore hung loosely on his body.

Dimitri's eyes ran over his father from across the fast food joint, hungrily looking for any changes in the man standing before him now and the man he remembered leaving him on his Uncle's doorstep.

Then his father turned around and found him standing near the entrance. The eyes were the same clear green he'd inherited, but they seemed brighter now with a kindness Dimitri had only ever dreamed of. It was that kindness and the sadness he saw in them that made Dimitri walk forward until he stood before his father.

His father smiled, really smiled, as he looked up into his face. "Hello, son."

That was it. Those two words were spoken softly, it was almost like his father feared any other voice would give away too much. But those two words were something Dimitri had yearned to hear for so long. Whether or not he was his father's biological son, those two words told him that no matter what the truth was, his father saw him as his own.

He'd waited years to hear those words.

"Father," he rasped before his father pulled him into his warm embrace.

They stood that way for awhile, simply enjoying the fact that they were able to hold one another after such a grueling time. The years fell away, and Dimitri once again felt like the insecure boy who had tried so hard to become someone his father could look at with pride rather than sad regret. Only this time it was reality.

Samson Hale, looking every bit of his sixty-three years, was the first to pull away. His face was a mixture of love, disbelief, and, yes, pride. "I'm so glad to see you, Dimitri," he said. "I was afraid I'd caused some irreparable damage, and you would refuse to see me."

Dimitri shook his head, taking in the new lines in the face he'd always considered to be severe. "I always hoped you'd reach out someday and talk to me."

"It's long overdue, I'd say."

Dimitri smiled. "Better late than never, don't you think?"

"Yes," came the soft reply. With an outstretched hand, the older man gestured for Dimitri to take a seat. Once seated, Samson took the time to study his son's face, almost as if he, too, was trying to find the changes the years had made. "I hear from your Uncle Glen that you discovered a passion for music and went for it. I'm surprised, but happy that you found something you could put your heart into."

Funny that. His father thought, understandably so, that Dimitri sang with all his heart. How strange that until now he had been able to pretend the lack of passion he felt while performing wasn't all that important. He'd fooled himself into believing he'd survive in the industry despite feeling empty every time he went on stage. Except for the duet in Reignville. He hadn't felt empty when singing then because he'd known he was singing with Kaliah.

And the few times Kaliah had practiced with him in his studio. He'd spent hours writing and playing with her, and he hadn't felt empty at all.

He realized his father had been waiting for an answer from him. "What was that?"

"Word around here is that you've found yourself a fellow artist. I wonder which one actually holds your affection though? The snotty pop diva who broke away to start a solo career or the unknown girl with the silvery hair you danced with?"

Dimitri stared at his father in shock. He knew of the issue between Sydney and Kaliah then. "I don't know what you're referring to."

"No? I guess I can get an answer from you after I've given you some of mine." He raised an eyebrow, issuing a challenge. "Well, shoot, boy, what do you wanna know?"

Everything. Dimitri drew in a deep breath and expelled it before diving headlong into the long overdue conversation. "I've known for years that Mom had an affair with someone. I overheard one night while you two argued in the kitchen, but I could never work up the nerve to ask outright." He took in his father's solemn expression, reading the shock and regret that hid just beneath the peaceful expression on his face. "I didn't want to have to accept the truth then, but I've been living for so long fighting the truth. I just want to know. Who's my real father?"

There it was, at long last. He'd finally laid it out. He couldn't hide behind indifference or pretend to be unaffected after this. He wouldn't have a secret to bury, to push Kaliah away again.

And as his father finally opened his mouth to answer, Dimitri held his breath.

"You... All this time, you thought you were the product of your mother's affair?" he choked, his slightly sunken cheeks ashen. "You're my son. I fathered you. Your moth- Holy Croissant chiz, you weren't the one born from your mother's affair, Dimitri."

Dimitri was so elated to hear his words, to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he wasn't to blame for the problems that had always existed between his parents. He was a Hale, through and through!

But his father wasn't done.

"You have a half-brother, Dimitri." He paused to let his words sink in. "A son your mother gave birth to three years after you were born."

***

A brother...

Dimitri had prepared himself to hear the worst, that he hadn't ever had real affection from his parents because he'd been the consequence of a mistake they'd wanted to forget. He hadn't ever contemplated that he could have had a brother born of his mother's liaison.

But it made perfect sense. The fragments of conversation he'd caught the night he'd walked in on their fight. The son his mother had been forced to give up. He wondered why it had taken him so long to piece all of it together.

"It was hard for your mother to adjust after giving birth to you. She wanted more than to stay home despite our agreement that she should give up her job at least until you went to school," his father had explained. "She found someone else to give her the attention I'd stopped giving her. She got pregnant. I told her she had to give the babe up or I would take her to court and fight her for full custody of you. She chose you, but she was never able to forgive me."

It was so simple, to hear the truth from his father.

His mother grew resentful over the years because she'd wanted the child even if she hadn't particularly wanted to keep the affair going after his father found out about it. And why wouldn't she? No matter who the father was, the boy she'd given birth to had been hers first and foremost.

What a mess of things. Dimitri couldn't believe how much he'd suffered thinking he was the one to blame. How he'd pushed Kaliah away because he hadn't wanted her to know that part of who he was. He knew now that even if he hadn't been Samson Hale's legitimate son, Kaliah would have loved him just the same. The fault had been with him. He hadn't trusted what they shared would be strong enough to survive in the public eye if his suspicions had been proven true.

But now it seemed only a matter of time before another secret broke out.

Aside from the fact that he now knew he had a brother, he was also married and playing up to the role his fans had cast on him. That role being a man who was secretive because he was shy about his relationship to Sydney. But if he'd wanted to convince the people who cared about his relationship status, he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

He'd decided to walk his father home to the hotel he was staying at. It was only a few blocks down from the Jack in the Box they had met at so Dimitri did not mind the walk. His father hadn't accepted Dimitri's invitation to join him at his condo anyway, so there hadn't been much of a choice.

He noticed the problem on his way back towards his parked car. A gas station with a colorful assortment of magazines and cheap tabloids. A bunch of worthless gossip. He would have gone right past it without another thought if he hadn't caught a glimpse of that familiar white-gold hair.

He'd only ever seen hair that color on Kaliah. It was a picture of Kaliah kissing him. The kiss they'd shared on the balcony three days ago. And though the shot was made blurry due to having been taken from a great distance, there was no mistaking that Kaliah in this photo was the same woman from the last picture of them on the beach.

He groaned. Would he never have the privacy he needed to shield Kaliah from the gossip?

Dimitri knew that this time a simple interview wouldn't extinguish the rumors. But he had to do something fast before everyone else caught on to the truth. Before the fact that Dimitri had a wife and a brother hurt the one woman he'd meant to spare in the long run.

He just hoped Kaliah was willing to listen to him now that he had some answers.