A/N: The girl is Madi and the guy is Alex and what they look like now (in this story obviously).
"Yes, Dad. The flight was fine." I groan, getting my luggage.
"Okay, I'm just making sure my oldest is okay." He sighs. "Are you sure you can handle going into the house?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I promise, I'll be okay." I assure him.
"Alright. Stay safe. I love you."
"I love you too." I respond, hanging up to then call an uber. I didn't want to leave Australia, away from family, but my dad wasn't getting the house sold in LA and was still paying the bills for it. It's exactly how it was left when we left it when I was 7. Or that's what it's supposed to be. My room is probably still in that bright green that I loved, my brother's room still in the light blues. The only things left should be furniture and extra sheets and blankets. Or so I thought.
I unlock the door, walking into my childhood home to come face to face with sights I didn't want to see. The house is exactly how it was left after my dad was taken to the hospital. The feeling of sadness fills the house. I look at family photos and seeing my dad again brings me to tears. And now at this point, I don't want to walk into my parents' bedroom. I just want to lay in my old twin size bed and cry. I walk into the kitchen, to find it clean, but all the food isn't edible anymore. I'll have to go grocery shopping and pitch everything, no matter how gross it is to touch. I make my way upstairs to see a mess. The carpet has blood drip stains leading to my parents' room. Tears start to well up and stream down my face. I walk into their room to see the pills and the pill bottles. There isn't as much blood as I expected. It's not pools, just a few stains that can easily be covered with an area rug. As soon as I see the scene, I just get hit with the overwhelming sadness. I collapse to my knees in tears, imagining how my dad felt when he found him like this. He was so sad and I wish I could have helped him. I thought I could handle living here, but I can't.
I curl up on the couch in one of my dad's flannels, just the flannel and underwear since it is big on my lanky 5'0" body. I'm laying here doing nothing. I haven't stopped crying since I saw the bedroom and that was hours ago. My phone starts ringing for Facetime and it's my dad. I sit up, answering it as I wipe my tears.
"Hey, are you alright?" He asks worried. I shake my head.
"This is harder than I thought." I practically mumble. "I walked in and saw it all and it hit me hard." I sniff.
"I know. It's hard." He pauses. "Are you wearing his flannel that has 'idiot' on the back?" He asks. I shrug.
"I think so." I smile, laughing a little. My dad smiles.
"That one was his favorite. I even wore it a few times on off days. I bet all of his clothes still smell like him." He sighs, trying not to get upset.
"Do you want me to send you some of his things? I don't mind doing that." I smile, wiping even more tears. He nods, constantly wiping tears. Me wanting to move here has taken a toll on the whole family. It's been fifteen years, but none of us seem to forget what he was like. He was always making sure that I was happy and that Dad was happy. I didn't stop calling Luke 'Daddy' until I was 16 because I always called Michael 'Dad'. It differentiated them when I needed to talk to one or the other. It took me a while to adjust to that. I never liked calling one dad and the other by their name. It didn't seem right because they're both my dads.
"Yeah. Send me a few things. You can keep the flannel, I want you to find comfort in it now." He smiles. "If you find a guy, or girl, you can share it with them." He grins widely when he says girl. I can't help but smile and roll my eyes.
"I'm nowhere near gay, Dad." I laugh, shaking my head.
"I know, but I'm just saying. You will meet someone one day and you're going to fall in love with them for their eyes, just like I did and just like your father did. If you fall in love with their eyes, you'll always love them because their eyes never change as they age. Just keep that in mind." He smiles. I smile back.
"I'm going to get going since it is very late and I have to babysit the little stinker with the last name of Irwin tomorrow." I laugh.
"Alright. Well tell Ashton and Lane I said hi. Also, tell little Kirk I said hi too. Tell him that I miss him already." My dad nods, smiling and waving bye and right before he hangs up, Calum ends up in the background, waving at me and you can hear arguing right before it ended. The arguing is cute little stuff. It took my dad a while to move on, he still hasn't fully moved on, but about 10 years after him and Calum got married and Alex and I walked him down the isle. He wore the suit that Michael wore at their wedding and Calum didn't mind at all. Calum was one to not mind that my dad still talked about Michael like he was the love of his life because he was. They were meant for each other. Calum adopted Alex, but didn't adopt me. I decided to keep the last name Clifford instead of Clifford-Hemmings. Ashton met a girl named Lane at one of their shows. They were actually dating for about a year before my dad ended his life. Then Ashton finally got the nerves to ask her to marry him and they got married and had Kirk. Kirk is my favorite little bean. At home, I would baby sit him all the time. He's now 4 years old. I already miss him a lot and I've been gone for a day. I miss all of my family.