Stepping out of his black jeep liberty, Nick took a deep breath as he walked up the stairs to the run-down brick building. He couldn't believe she lived in that building, let alone that section of the neighborhood. How someone could live like this is beyond me, he thought. Taking a deep breath, he opened the gray steel door and walked in. “Let’s get this over with,” he muttered. Nick walked through the small lobby of the apartment building to the stairs that were located in the back. Thank god I only have to do this is a couple more times and I will never have to see this place again.

He ran up the stairs, skipping every other one, and made his way down the hall. The halls were a dingy brown and needed to be fixed because of all of the cracks.

He stopped in front of the door with D15 barely readable. He took a deep breath and knocked on the gray door.

Nick waited a few minutes and then proceeded to knock again. Why can’t you just answer the damn door? He thought. I don’t want to be here.

“Just a fucking minute!” a female voice answered.

Rustling could be heard before the door was opened. She opened the door. Her appearance didn’t shock him one bit. Her clothes were wrinkled from what looked like she wore them the previous night. Her black capris hugged her skinny bird legs and her yellow tank top drowned out her pale skin. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Hello Tracy.” Nick stepped into the dingy apartment. The smell of smoke was making him sick. He couldn’t identify the scent of a single drug. He wrinkled his nose at the smell, but she didn’t notice. “Where’s my daughter?”

Tracy waved her arm in the direction of the hallway and took a drag off her joint. “She’s in her room. You can have the little brat.” She placed her joint on the ash tray.

Nick shook his head in disgust while she used her credit card to prepare a line of cocaine. He cautiously made his way down the hall to the tiny room at the end of the hall. He pushed the curtain out of the way so that he could enter the room. The door had been gone for so long that Nick wondered if the door ever existed. Ariel was sitting on the floor combing her baby doll’s hair. He smiled at the four-year-old sitting in the middle of the room, although her appearance broke his heart. Her long blonde hair was tangled and obviously dirty. She had dirt smudges all over her face, arms, and clothes. Her sundress had holes in it. “Hi Ariel.”

She looked up from her doll. “DADDY.” She grinned widely and abandoned her doll on the floor and ran to Nick. He scooped her up and hugged her tightly.

He placed her back on the floor. “Go get your doll and we’ll leave.”

“Ok Daddy.” Nick never had a problem getting Ariel to leave. He knew she didn’t like living there. He couldn’t be happier that the custody fight was over and that he had won. He had Ariel for that weekend, then he was supposed to bring her back there and then pick her up permanently next weekend. He didn’t want to bring her back there and he knew that she didn’t want to come back. He knew he was going to have to find a way to keep from having to bring her back. “Daddy, can we go shopping? I want a yellow, flowery dress.” She said coming back to his side.

Nick smiled. “Sure, we’ll go to the mall and see what we can find.” He ran his hand through her unruly hair. “We’ll get you a hair cut too.” She smiled at him. There was no denying that she had his smile. He took her hand and led her down the small hallway. They reached the front room. “Say bye to mommy.”

Ariel went up to Tracy. “Bye mommy. Daddy said he’ll take me to the mall to get a new dress and a hair cut.”

Ariel stepped closer to Tracy to hug her mother, but Tracy had other plans. Tracy bent down and snorted another line of cocaine. “That’s nice. Bye.” Tracy stood up and started to walk away. She turned back around and said to Nick, “Don’t bother bringing her back.”

Nick saw that Ariel was about to start crying from her mother’s cold treatment. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s go.” Ariel made her way over to Nick, climbing over food and condom wrappers. Nick took her hand and led her out to his car. He buckled her into her car seat. He got into the driver’s seat and pulled away from the building.

While Nick drove, Ariel was babbling about everything that she wanted to do. He looked into his rearview mirror at her and smiled. He was glad that he finally got Ariel out of that living environment. It took him two years, but he was glad to say that he finally got Ariel away from Tracy.

Soon Nick was pulling into his driveway. He owned a one-family house. His house was a little big for him and a young girl, but he bought it in the hopes that one day he’d have a real family.

Nick opened the front door and let Ariel step inside. A small, black ball of fur ran toward the door and tackled Ariel. Ariel giggled. “Daddy, you have a puppy.”

“Yep.” He bent down to pet the hyper Siberian Husky puppy. “Her name is Missy. I felt since you would be living here permanently now that it was time for a puppy.”

Ariel giggled and stood up. “Come on, puppy.” She said and followed Nick toward her bedroom with Missy following along.

Once inside the bedroom, Nick sat behind her on the bed with a brush in his hand. He attempted to gently comb out her hair.

“Ouch, Daddy. You’re hurting me.”

“I’m sorry, baby, your hair is really tangled. I’m trying to be gentle.” Nick continued to try and untangle her hair. He felt horrible every time she whimpered. He refused to cut off her beautiful hair, so the only way was to get it untangled. Things were going well for a while when the brush got caught in a really big knot. Ariel screamed and started crying. Nick placed the brush down and hugged her. “I’m sorry. Tell me when you’re ready.”

“No more Daddy. It hurts.”

“Ok, honey. How about I give you a bath first and then we come back to this?”

“No Daddy.”

“Please baby? If, after your bath, we still can’t untangle your hair, I promise, but please let me try one more time.”

She nodded. “Ok Daddy.” She wrapped her hands around his neck. He carried her to the bathroom. He took her dress off and immediately threw it away. He wasn’t about to allow his daughter to dress in rags.

After her bath, he wrapped her in a towel and took her back to her room. He pulled out two outfits; a pair of jeans and a cute shirt and a dress. “Which one?”

“The dress.”

Nick laughed. “I should have guessed.” He dressed her and the sat on the bed once more. This time, he pulled her onto his lap. Once again, he attempted to untangle her hair. Now that her hair was clean, it was a little easier to handle. After about 20 minutes, he had her hair untangled. He picked out a headband that matched her dress and put it on her. He smiled. “There’s my little girl.” She giggled. “Come on, let’s go to the mall.”

“Yes Daddy.” She grabbed his hand and he led her back out to the car.

Once she was buckled into her car seat, he got behind the wheel. He pulled out of his driveway. Just about 10 minutes later, he arrived at Stonestown Galleria Shopping Center.

They entered the mall. As Nick led Ariel passed The Children’s Place, Ariel said, “Daddy, you passed the store.”

“I know. We’re going to get your hair cut first. Then we’ll come back and shop.”

A half hour later, Ariel was done. The hair stylist managed to get all the knots out of Ariel’s hair and then cut it so that Ariel’s hair rested just below her shoulders. Nick paid for the hair cut and then left the salon. Nick ran his hand through Ariel’s hair. That time he smiled.

“Daddy, you promised me that I could get a yellow flower dress.”

“I know honey. And we’re going to look for one now.”

Ariel smiled and grabbed Nick’s hand.

They went in The Children’s Place first and they did not have a yellow flower dress. “Do you like any of them?”

“No Daddy, they aren’t a yellow flower dress.”

“I know that. But a lot of what you have at home doesn’t fit you anymore. So we need to get you more than one dress.”

Ariel looked through the dresses and picked out the ones she liked, while Nick grabbed her size. They followed that pattern with jeans and t-shirts too. Nick paid for her clothes and they left that store.

Next they entered Gap Kids, and Ariel ran from Nick straight to the dresses. Nick got to the dresses moments after she had. “Daddy, look. A yellow flowery dress.”

Nick smiled and looked through the sizes. “Honey, they don’t have your size.”

A sales associate came out of nowhere. “What size do you need?” Nick turned around quickly in the direction the voice came from. “We just got a delivery and more of this dress was in that delivery. I can look in the back to see if the size came in.”

“Thank you. 4T.” Nick saw Ariel looking around the room excitedly. He picked her up to keep her from running off.

Soon the associate was coming back. “We didn’t have a 4T but we do have a 4.”

“That’s fine. We’ll take the 4.” She handed him the dress. “Thank you.”

Nick turned to walk to the counter to pay for the dress. “Wait.”

He turned around confused. “What?”

“You look familiar.”

“I’m no one special.” He turned to leave again.

“Wait. I think I know.” She waited for him to turn around again. “You work at Waves Records, don’t you?”

“Um, no actually, I own Waves Records.”

“Oh wow. I love that store.”

“Thanks.” He looked at Ariel. “You ready?”

“Are you hiring?” The associate asked bluntly.

“No. My staff is full.”

“If I came by and put in an application, would you consider me when there is an opening?”

“I don’t accept applications when I’m not hiring. Sorry.” He turned to walk away once again. That time the associate let him leave. He paid for the dress and took a deep breath when he got out. Ariel giggled. “What’s so funny?”

“That girl didn’t want you to leave.”

Nick laughed. Nick was nearing the toy store. He stopped in front of the door and pointed inside. “What do you think?”

She clapped her hands excitedly. Nick walked into the store and put Ariel down. She headed straight for the dolls. She picked out a new baby doll. Holding the doll, she ran to the stuffed animals. She looked at the stuffed animals and spotted a stuffed dog that she liked. However, she couldn’t reach it. “Daddy, I can’t reach it.”

“Which one do you want?”

“That one Daddy.” She pointed and Nick grabbed it. He handed it to her. “Ok Daddy, we can leave now.”

Nick laughed and walked to the cashier. Ariel stood on her tip toes to place her doll and stuffed dog on the counter.

The cashier smiled at her. “Are these for you?”

Ariel nodded. “Yep.” She pointed to Nick, “It was his idea to come in here.”

Nick chuckled. “I’m just lucky that she didn’t want to buy out the whole store.”

Once the toys were paid for, the cashier bagged them and handed the bag to Ariel. “Thank you.” Ariel said. She grabbed Nick’s hand and they left the store. Once outside of the store, Ariel handed the bag to Nick. “Here Daddy.”

“You don’t want to hold it?”

“No Daddy. It’s getting heavy.”

“Ok Ariel. Are we done?”

“No. You said that I needed a new copy of The Little Mermaid.”

“I did say that, didn’t I.” Nick headed toward Suncoast Motion Picture Company.

“Daddy, you passed the Disney Store.”

“I know.”

“But aren’t we going to get The Little Mermaid.”

“Yes but the Disney Store only sells current Disney movies and The Little Mermaid isn’t current.”

After buying the DVD, they left the mall. When they got home, Nick took their purchases up to Ariel’s room and put them away, while Ariel stayed downstairs and played with the puppy.

As Nick was about to step off the staircase, Missy bolted underneath his foot, chasing a ball that Ariel had rolled in that direction. Nick shook his head in amusement, and then scooped up Ariel. “So what do you want for dinner?”

“Pizza.”

“Pizza?”

“Yes pizza.”

Nick laughed. “Ok, pizza it is.” Nick ordered the pizza and then sat on the floor with Ariel playing with Missy. About 20 minutes later, the pizza arrived. Nick paid for it then put the box on the stove. “Come on Ariel, let’s get you washed up and then eat.”

“Ok Daddy. After dinner can we watch The Little Mermaid?”

“Sure.” He washed her up and they walked back to the kitchen. Ariel sat in her seat while Nick got two slices. He cut Ariel’s piece into tiny pieces and handed her a fork.

Once dinner was over, Ariel jumped up. “Ok, it’s time for The Little Mermaid.”

“Not yet. I have to clean up dinner and then we need to get you into your pajamas.

“But Daddy, I already had a bath.”

“I didn’t say anything about giving you a bath. But we do have to get you into pajamas.”

“But Daddy, I not tired.”

“You don’t have to go to bed now. But it is already close to 7:00. Which means it’ll be after 8:00 by the time the movie is over. And by that point you’ll probably be tired.”

Ariel nodded and then ran after the puppy while Nick cleaned up dinner. Holding the wrapped pizza, he was about to open the freezer door when Missy ran between him and the door. Nick chuckled as Ariel ran after the hyper puppy.

He put the pizza in the freezer and then took Ariel upstairs. Missy bounced after them. Ariel sat on her bed and Missy jumped up to get petted. Nick grabbed a couple pairs of pajamas from Ariel’s drawers. “Let’s see, we have The Little Mermaid, Dora the Explorer or My Little Pony.”

“The Little Mermaid.”

“Ok.” Nick put the other ones back in her drawer and then changed Ariel. He placed her on the bed and Missy crawled into her lap. Nick put on The Little Mermaid and then climbed on the bed.

The movie started and Ariel sang along to all the songs that Ariel sings in the movie. “Why are you only singing Ariel’s songs?”

Ariel looked up at Nick like he had five heads. “Because I’m the little mermaid, I can’t sing the other songs.”

Nick laughed. She answered so matter-of-factly. “Oh right. I forgot.”

“Silly Daddy.”

“I’m silly? No, I think it’s you that’s silly.”

“No daddy. You’re silly.”

Nick laughed again. He reached over and started tickling Ariel. She giggled in delight. Missy joined in on the fun, she made her way between Nick and Ariel and kissed Ariel repeatedly on the face.

“Daddy, save me. The puppy is trying to kill me.”

“Oh but Ariel, Missy loves you.”

“Maybe a little too much.”

Nick smiled. He reached over and pushed the little dog off the bed. He pulled Ariel closer to him. That’s how they stayed for the rest of the movie.

After the movie was over, Nick looked down at Ariel to find that she was already asleep. He kissed her forehead and got off the bed gently so that he wouldn’t wake her up and shut off the movie. He put her Little Mermaid nightlight on and headed for the door. Once at the door, he shut the light and was preparing to leave the room. “Daddy.”

He put the light back on and walked over to the bed. “I thought you were asleep.”

“Read me a story please?”

“What story?”

“The Three Little Pigs”

Nick grabbed the book and sat on the side of the bed. By the time he was finished with the story, Ariel’s eyes were almost completely closed. “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart. Goodnight.” Nick smiled as she closed her eyes and went to sleep. He went back to the door, shut off the light. He closed the door behind him, leaving it open slightly

Nick woke up the next morning with an overwhelming feeling in the back of his mind that he had forgotten something. He tried to dismiss it while he waited for his alarm clock to sound, alerting him that it was time to wake up. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully attempting to fall back to sleep, he rolled over and glanced at the clock beside his bed. His eyes bulged when he saw that it was 8:30. He had to open the store in a half an hour! He suddenly remembered that setting his alarm clock was the thing he had forgotten to do. He quickly dismissed the thought as he scrambled to find some clean clothes to wear. He wasn't even going to bother attempting to take a shower. When he found clothes, he ran down the hall to his daughter's bedroom to wake her out of her peaceful slumber. Aside from taking care of himself, he had to get her breakfast and dressed before the sitter arrived.

He entered the room and stood in the door for a few minutes. He didn’t really want to wake up his sleeping angel, but he knew that he really had no choice. Ariel wasn’t cooperating; she just didn’t want to wake up. Nick glanced up at the clock and realized that it was almost a quarter to nine and the babysitter would be there any minute. He scooped Ariel out of her bed and carried her downstairs.

Once in the kitchen, he placed her at the kitchen table. “What cereal do you want for breakfast?”

“I don’t want cereal. I want waffles.”

“Honey, I don’t have time to make you waffles today. How about captain crunch?”

She started screaming at the top of her lungs. “I WANT WAFFLES.”

Nick sighed and turned to lean on the counter. He grabbed a bowl and filled it with milk and captain crunch. He placed it in front of Ariel and she immediately threw it on the floor. He rubbed his eyes in frustration. Just then the phone rang.

Nick answered his phone while keeping an eye on Ariel. “Hello...Oh, hi Tonya. Honey, don’t do that. Daddy has to get to work…What? You can’t be serious….Well, couldn’t you have given me some notice. How am I supposed to find a replacement at such short notice?” The phone call ended and he turned to Ariel. “Change of plans.” He said as he pulled a pack of poptarts out of the package. He handed them to Ariel and firmly said. “You will eat this, or you won’t eat anything.” Ariel nodded meekly and started to nibble on the poptarts. He began to run through the house, collecting anything he might need to keep Ariel occupied while he worked.

Finally, he had himself and Ariel ready to go. He glanced at the clock as he got into his car. He sighed. It was already 9:10. Providing there wasn’t any traffic, he wouldn’t arrive until close to 9:30.

He sighed in relief when he pulled into the parking lot. He parked in his usual spot and hoped that his morning from hell was over. He stepped out of his car and helped Ariel out. He grabbed the bag and walked to his store. He stopped short when he realized that he had a line of people standing outside his store. He noticed most of them checking their watch in annoyance. He realized at that moment that it was a Tuesday and that his new releases weren’t even on the shelf yet. At that moment, all he wanted to do was cry.

In attempts to ignore the unwanted glares from his customers, he picked Ariel up and walked quickly over to the door. He unlocked it and was nearly trampled as the crowd rushed through the door. He carried Ariel behind the counter and started to set her up with her coloring books as a customer started to complain about the lack of new releases. Nick pretended that he didn’t hear anything. In his frustrated state, he might have snapped at the customer and that wasn’t good for business.

He entered his stock room and carried out a box of newly released CD’s. He carefully set up the display in the front of the store and sorted the rest alphabetically by artist. Once that box was empty he had a customer requesting to pay. Nick made his way to the register and as he was ringing up the customer he heard a big crash coming from the entrance. He cautiously glanced over and found his daughter about to burst into tears and his carefully placed display scattered around her.

He finished ringing up his customer and walked over to Ariel who was still amongst the mess of CD’s. He scooped her up and led her back to the register collapsing into the chair behind him. His morning associate would be in soon and the first project would be to fix the display.

More customers came to the register. Some were complaining and some seemed almost understanding. Once his line died down he realized that his associate probably wasn’t coming in since his shift was supposed to start 30 minutes prior. He sighed for the umpteenth time that day. He left the counter and went back to his display and fixed it. After he placed the last CD back on the display, he wished that he could place his display in a plastic bubble so no one else could knock it down.

A couple hours later, Nick's day hadn't improved in the least. Not only had he been dealing with unruly customers all morning, but he was short-staffed and to call Ariel hyper was an understatement. At the moment, Ariel was running through the store, and the more he told her to stop the more she ran. Nick gave up on trying to calm Ariel down. He figured as long as she didn’t run into any more displays, everything would be ok.

Roxanne Martin walked into Waves Records. This was her first time in this store and the first thing she spotted was an unattended toddler running through the store. She rolled her eyes at how self centered parents of today were. She knelt down so that she was eye level with the little girl. “Hi, what’s your name?”

“Ariel.”

“Ariel, that’s a pretty name. I’m Roxie. How old are you?”

Ariel held up 4 fingers. “This many.”

Roxie smiled. “That’s awfully young to be wandering on your own. Where’s your mommy and daddy.”

Ariel pointed to Nick, who had a box balanced on a fixture while he stocked the CD’s. Roxie grabbed Ariel’s hand gently and led her to the back of the store where Nick was. Roxie cleared her throat loudly.

Nick turned toward her quickly, causing his carefully balanced, mostly full, box of CD’s to fall, and land directly on his foot. “God damnit, fuck, motherfucker, shit.”

"Wow, nice language!" Roxie shouted sarcastically right away.

"You just..." NIck sighed, looking at all of the CDs on the floor. "Never mind." He said, feeling doomed to have everything go wrong for him all day.

"Are you aware that your daughter is running around this store unattended? I easily could've snatched her up."

"Is that a threat?" Nick asked, getting defensive right away. "Ariel, c'mere." He said and Ariel ran to his side.

"No, it's NOT a threat... It's just that I hope you're aware of what a danger it is to not be watching your little girl. Not to mention the language you use in front of her... Do you really want her to run around using those words?"

"Listen, you don't understand..." Nick told her. Who was she to judge him? She didn't know him. He would've normally had Ariel safe with a baby-sitter and he would've been able to concentrate on his work. "My sitter called and cancelled on me last minute this morning..." He explained. "I'm trying to take care of my store. And I had Ariel setup over there, but she's 4 and she's not going to just sit in one place. I'm sorry she disturbed your shopping experience, okay?" He apologized, looking down at the floor. His appearance was pretty pathetic. He bent down to pick up the CD’s that were now scattered on the floor.

“Daddy, I’m hungry.”

“There’s some cheerios in the bag behind the counter, do you want them?”

“Cheerios? That’s what you expect her to eat for lunch?” Roxie questioned.

Nick sighed. “Are you just going to stand there and criticize me? I have no other worker here, I can’t leave to get her lunch, and Cheerios was really all I had time to grab.”

Roxie silently turned around and walked away. Nick stayed on the floor and held Ariel so she wouldn’t run off. He was very tempted to close his store for the day, but he knew that would be bad for business. He held her as he stood up. Stepping over the scattered CD’s he carried her behind the counter. He placed her on her chair and handed her the cheerios. He sat on the other chair and leaned against the counter. He could feel a headache forming, and his day was only half over.

He looked up as the bell over his door signaled that someone was entering. He noticed that Roxie had returned and was holding a McDonald’s bag. She walked over to the counter and handed him the bag. “Thank you. How much do I owe you?”

“Don’t worry about it.” She placed a business card on his counter. “You should consider hiring a nanny.”

He handed Ariel the Chicken McNuggets and her small soda. He threw the bag away. He stood up. “You stay here and eat. And when you’re finished, don’t move.” He left the counter to go back to the site where he dropped the box on his foot. He placed the CD’s back in the box to make it a little easier on him to put them on the shelf.

Two teenage girls started screaming at each other over a CD that they kept trying to grab from each other. Roxie glanced over at Nick to see how he would handle it.

Nick sighed. He placed the box he was working out of under the shelf and walked over. “Is there a problem here?”

Both girls started screaming at him at the same time. “Ok, that’s enough. I’m standing right here you don’t have to yell at me.” He took the CD from both of them. “Either, you figure this out like civilized human beings, or neither of you get it.” They looked at him in shock. “Now, one at a time, explain what happened.”

“She pushed me out of the way to grab the CD as I was about to reach for it.”

“She was just standing there.” With that the two girls started pushing each other and grabbing at each other’s hair.

Nick gently pulled them apart. “I think you both should leave.”

“I want the CD.”

“Honestly, I think if your parents knew how you were acting, they’d say you didn’t deserve it. So, both of you leave, and come back in a couple days. Maybe, I’ll have gotten more in by then.” Nick watched them leave and suddenly he was afraid of what would be in store for him when Ariel was a teenager.

“Nicely handled.” Roxie stated from behind him. Nick jumped and turned around. Roxie couldn’t help but laugh slightly. “After I gave you my business card, I was questioning why I would do something like that. But now, I think I made the right choice.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“I should also apologize for how I treated you before. I see now that you’re just having a rough day. Although, I must say, if I was having a day like yours…I’d be looking for a rock to hide under.”

“Trust me, I’ve thought about doing just that.” She smiled at him, causing him to smile in return, the first real smile to grace his face all day.

“I’m ready to check out.”

Nick nodded and led the way to the register. He rang up her purchase and soon she was on her way. Nick started to feel like his day was starting to get better. He looked over just in time to see one of his shelves collapse. He closed his eyes hoping that when he opened them, everything would be fine. No such luck.

That night, Nick sighed in relief when he walked into his house. Ariel was practically asleep on his shoulder, so he took her up to her room to get her ready for bed. He got her into bed and went downstairs to check his messages. He nearly had a panic attack when heard the message from his babysitter telling him that she had quit. He didn’t want to have another day like that day. He was becoming frantic and he didn’t know what to do. He then remembered the business card that was in his wallet.

He grabbed his phone and sat on the couch dialing. He waited for Roxie to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Uh, hi, Roxie?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“Nick, uh, Nick Carter.”

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“You gave me your business card in my store today, uh, in Waves Records.”

“Oh that’s right. What can I do for you Nick?”

Nick woke up to the incessant beep of his alarm clock.  He glanced at his clock and was glad to see that it was 6:30.  He casually got out of bed and headed for his bathroom.  He relieved himself and then got into the shower. 

After his shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist and started to look for clean clothes.  He realized that tonight, when he got home from work, would be laundry night as he pulled out his last clean pair of pants.  He threw on the first shirt he grabbed and left the room carrying his laundry basket.  He peeked into Ariel’s room to see her sleeping peacefully.  He didn’t want to wake her up just yet, so he headed downstairs.  He placed the laundry basket in the laundry room and then walked into the kitchen, Missy looked up expectantly and started wagging her tail.  He bent down to pet her and she started running around in circles.  He grabbed her leash and took her out for a few minutes. 

After her walk, he started opening and closing cabinets trying to find his waffle maker.  He laughed to himself when he realized how unorganized he was, as he never put anything back in the same spot.  He opened the last cabinet and spotted his waffle maker.  As he was getting it out the cord got stuck on another pan and 3 pans fell to the floor in a loud clanging of metal.  He laughed thinking to himself that he was grateful that this didn’t happen yesterday.  He shoved the pots back in the cabinet and plugged in the waffle maker.  He prepared the batter and poured it onto half of the waffle maker to make the waffle that Ariel requested yesterday.  After it was done cooking, Nick put some butter on it then cut it into tiny pieces for Ariel.

Ariel walked into the kitchen in her little mermaid nightgown.  “Waffles.” She squealed excitedly and took her place at the kitchen table as Nick placed the waffle in front of her.  He put the syrup on the side of the plate and she started to eat it.  He smiled at her and made a waffle for himself.

Once breakfast was over, Nick put the waffle maker in the sink and scooped up Ariel and she giggled as he threw her over his shoulder.  He was halfway up the stairs when the doorbell rang.  Leaving Ariel on his shoulder he opened the door.  “Hey Roxie, come in.  I’ll be right down to show you around, I need to get rid of this sack of potatoes on my shoulder.”

Ariel giggled.  “Daddy, it’s me.”

“Oh, Ariel, I didn’t realize it was you up there?”  He joked. Roxie smiled and went to sit on the couch as Nick took Ariel upstairs to get dressed.

Roxie looked around the living room, stopping to look at the pictures Nick had placed sporadically through the room.  All the pictures were of either Nick and Ariel or of Ariel by herself.  She noticed that there wasn’t one picture of a woman who was possibly Ariel’s mother.  Roxie thought that was a little odd.  Roxie looked up the stairs and smiled in amusement as she heard Ariel giggling loudly.

Nick came downstairs and said.  “You ready for that tour now?”

Roxie jumped and turned around to him.  “You seem to be having a much better day today.”

“Hey now, don’t jinx it.” He said and laughed.

As Nick gave her the tour, Roxie asked, “So what’s expected of me?”

“Just to take care of her.”

“Can I take her on daytrips?”

“You mean like to a zoo or something?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean.”

“That’s fine.  Just if you get home after me, I may freak out if I can’t find my daughter, so just let me know so that I don’t report a missing kid.”

“You’re exaggerating.  You wouldn’t report a missing kid that quickly.”

“Yes I would.”

“Isn’t that a bit paranoid?”

“You’d be paranoid, too, if you were me…” He let the end of his sentence trail off.  Roxie looked at him wondering what he was getting at, but she knew that it wasn’t her place to ask him.  He quickly changed the topic.  “All the emergency numbers are on the fridge, including the number for Waves Records, and my cell.”  Ariel came into the room with her Little Mermaid DVD.  He knelt down and pulled her in for a hug.  “Give Daddy a kiss.”  She kissed his cheek and he stood up.  “I’ll see you later.”  He looked at Ariel.  “Be good.”  He said firmly and left.

The store wasn’t busy that day and Nick was bored.  He kept looking at the clock wondering when his assistant manager, Dustin Wallace, would get there and relieve him of his extreme boredom.

Nick looked up when the bell over the door rang.  He nearly jumped out of his skin in excitement when he realized that Dustin just walked in.  At least now he’d have someone to talk to. 

Dustin walked to the counter.  “Damn Nick, you look extremely bored.”

“That is the understatement of the year.  I’ve seen ghost towns busier than this store is today.”

Dustin laughed, “I’m going to go clock in, and then we need to talk.”  Nick nodded and then Dustin disappeared into the stock room.  Dustin returned minutes later.  He took a seat in the other chair behind the counter.  “So, um, you remember when I took this job, I said that I’d only be here temporarily?”

Nick looked at him.  “You’re quitting aren’t you?”

“Yeah, as you know, I finished my degree and well, I got a job, so I won’t be able to work here.”

He nodded in understanding.  Part of him was jealous.  Nick failed out of college his freshman year and although things are looking up for him, this wasn’t the life he envisioned for himself.   “How much longer will you be here?”

“Two weeks.”

“Ok.”  Nick grabbed a marker and made a sign that said, “Help Wanted.  Position needed: Assistant Manager.”  He taped the sign into the window.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Ariel was sitting on the floor playing with Missy while The Little Mermaid was playing for the third time that day.  Roxie sat on the couch behind her.  Ariel turned to Roxie and said, “Did you know that I’m the REAL little mermaid.”

Roxie smiled.  “Really?”

“Yep, and Daddy is King Triton.”

“What about your mommy?”

Ariel frowned.  “Mommy would have to be Ursula?”

“Ursula?  Why Ursula?  I mean, Ursula isn’t Ariel’s mother.”

“Well, Ursula is mean and scary and so is my mommy.”

“How is your mommy mean and scary?”

“Well, she was always smelling powder, or putting rolled up paper in her mouth and then set it on fire.  And sometimes she would even give herself a shot.  And then she would drink something smelly that looked like water.  She didn’t give me enough food, or give me baths and she’d hit me.  And then, she would take off all her clothes and a boy would take off all of his clothes and he’d climb on top of her and then they’d start screaming.”

“They did that in front of you?” Roxie asked in disgust. 

“Yeah.”

“And your dad didn’t do anything?”

“Daddy wasn’t there.  Daddy was only there when he had to pick me up.  I saw Mommy smack Daddy once.”

“She smacked him?”

“Yeah.  Mommy and the boy had just finishing the naked and screaming thing and then Daddy was coming to pick me up and the boy opened the door with no clothes on and Daddy got mad at Mommy and they started yelling at each other, and then Mommy smacked him.”

“Do you see your mom anymore?”

“No, Daddy made sure of it.  He got a judge to say that mommy couldn’t see me.  I don’t want to see mommy anymore.”

Roxie wanted to ask another question, but she lost Ariel’s interest.  Ariel reached for her doll and hugged it.  She looked at Roxie.  “Did you see the new doll that Daddy bought me?”  She hands the doll to Roxie.  “Isn’t she pretty?”  Roxie could sense that Ariel didn’t want to talk about her mother anymore, so she let the subject drop.

“She is pretty.”  Roxie smiled.  “You like your daddy right?”

Ariel nodded eagerly.  “I love my daddy.”

“He buys you a lot of pretty things?”

“Yep.  We went to the mall on Friday, and he bought me clothes and toys and this really pretty yellow flower dress, but daddy says I can’t wear it yet because it’s still a bit too big.  And he bought me Missy.  I always wanted a dog, but I knew mommy wouldn’t buy me a dog, so I didn’t want to ask for one, but then I moved in here with daddy and Missy was here.  And this house is really cool.  I actually have a bedroom door.  At mommy’s apartment, I just had a curtain.  And there’s a backyard and daddy said he’d put a swing set up for me.  He just moved here, so he hasn’t had time yet.  Daddy used to live with us, but I think things are better now because even though daddy went to work a lot, mommy always said that we couldn’t afford food, so that I needed to eat less.”  Ariel looked up at Roxie.  "So where do you live?"  She asked her, changing the subject quickly.

 "I have an apartment."  Roxie told her.

 "Alone?"  Ariel asked.

 Roxie nodded.  "Yeah, alone..."  She answered, a hint of saddness in her voice.  If Ariel noticed, she didn't comment.

 "Do you have a boyfriend?"  Ariel asked, a little giggle erupting from her mouth at the idea.

 "Nope..."  Roxie answered.  "How about you?"  She teased.

 "Nooo."  Ariel giggled.  "I'm only 4!"  She said.  "How old are you?"

 "23."  Roxie said.

 "Wow!  That's old."  Ariel replied, her eyes wide.  ""A year younger than daddy!""

 Roxie laughed.  "Oh you think we're old, do ya?"  She said and reached out and tickled the little girl.  Ariel wiggled around, her high-pitched giggle filling the room.  She got up and ran away.

 "Can't catch me!"  She said and ran upstairs to her bedroom.  Roxie followed her and then sat down on Ariel's bed.  She started looking around a little, not having had much of a chance to do it during the tour earlier.  Ariel smiled.  "Do you like my room?"  She asked.

 "Yeah, I do."  Roxie smiled.  "It reminds me of my room when I was a little girl...  My daddy made me a little princess room..."  She thought back to the memory.  "You know, I only lived with my daddy when I was a little girl, too."

 "Really?"  Ariel said, getting more interested suddenly.

 "Yeah."  Roxie said.  "I lost my mom when I was really little..."  She sighed and tucked back Ariel's hair.  "You have really pretty hair, you know that?"

 "Thanks."  Ariel smiled.  "My daddy just took me for a haircut."  She told her.

 "Well it's very pretty."

 Ariel grinned back at her for a moment, then turned.  "Can I have something to eat?"  She asked meekly.

 "Of course.  Let's go downstairs."  Roxie told her.  The two of them got up and went back downstairs.

Roxie was in the kitchen cooking dinner when she suddenly heard the excited squeal of a 4 year old yell.  “Daddy.”  She lowered the flame and went to the front door.  She was just in time to witness Ariel running straight into her daddy’s arms.  She smiled as Nick picked her up with ease and placed her on his shoulders. 

Nick spotted Roxie.  “Was she good?”

“Perfect.  She’s a sweet little girl.”  Nick smiled up at Ariel.  “Dinner is almost ready; you should make her wash her hands.” Nick put Ariel on the floor and patted her behind until she ran for the nearest bathroom.  “So did I jinx it?”

Nick looked at her confused, apparently not remembering the conversation from earlier.  “Huh?”  Suddenly the conversation dawned on him.  “Oh yeah.  No.  The day went pretty smoothly, well, except for my assistant manager giving his 2 weeks notice.”

“Well, that’s not horrible.”

“No, I’ll just need you to stay later for a couple weeks.  The interviewing process usually goes over my shift.”

“That’s no problem.”

“Thanks.”

“Um, Nick?”

“What?”

“Is Ariel allowed to eat whenever she wants?”

“Of course she is.  Why?”

“Well, we were talking about her mom and she said that her mom wouldn’t let her eat too much.”

“That’s not the case here.  If she’s hungry I feed her.  I take good care of her, even if you don’t seem to think so.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.  I…”

“You questioned my ability to take care of her yesterday, and now you’re asking if I feed her?  If that’s not how you meant it, then how did you mean it?” Nick asked her defensively.

“It’s just, the way she asked me, it was almost as if she was afraid I’d say no.”

Nick nodded.  “For the past two years she lived with Tracy.  Whenever she told Tracy that she was hungry, Tracy would brush her off or say they didn’t have enough food for her to eat as much as she wanted.  She hasn’t even been here for a full week yet.  It’s going to take her some time to break the pattern she followed with Tracy.”

Roxie nodded, finally understanding why Ariel was so nervous about asking for food.  “Dinner should be ready now.”

“Are you staying?”

“No.”

“Why not?  You cooked, you should stay and eat so you don’t have to cook again when you get home.”

Roxie smiled.  “Okay, I’ll stay.”

Nick walked into the kitchen and looked into the sink confused.  “I know I left my waffle maker in the sink.” He said more to himself then to Roxie.

“You did, I washed it and put it in the only cabinet that I thought it fit in.”

Nick looked at her in shock.  “You didn’t have to do my dishes.”

Roxie shrugged.  “It was no big deal.  I did your laundry too.  I put away Ariel’s clothes, but I left yours in the basket in the laundry room because I didn’t want to invade your privacy by looking for where everything would go in your room.”  Nick continued to look at her in shock.  “Did you not want me to do that?”

Nick stayed silence for a moment until his shock wore off.  “No, it’s fine.  I just wasn’t expecting it.  I mean, I hired you to take care of my daughter.  No one else I ever hired would even consider doing housework.”

“I don’t mind.  It kept me busy while Ariel was napping.  And besides, the house isn’t messy, so doing small cleaning things won’t bother me.  I’ll help you out with some of the housework.”

Nick laughed.  “I haven’t lived here long enough for the house to be messy.  Give it a month or two and you’ll regret offering to help.  You can still take that offer back if you want.”

“Well, maybe with me working here, that won’t happen.”  Roxie couldn’t believe she was flirting with him.

Ariel came bounding back into the room before Nick could respond.  “What is for dinner?”

“Chicken cutlets.”  Ariel made a face.  Roxie looked up at Nick.

“I haven’t gotten her into eating meat yet.”  Nick looked at Ariel.  “Why don’t you try them?”

“No, I want grilled cheese.” 

Nick knew that he couldn’t argue with her.  If she wanted grilled cheese, then grilled cheese is what she’ll get.  He scooped her up and walked into the kitchen with Roxie following.  Nick placed Ariel in her seat.  He put a couple of cutlets onto a plate and went to the stove to make the grilled cheese.

“Nick, sit down.  I’ll make that for her.”

“You just cooked.  You should relax a bit.”

“Me?  I was just playing with a toddler all day.  You were the one who was working.  You should relax a bit.”  Roxie said mimicking Nick’s statement and stood up and took his plate back to the table.  “Now, sit.  I’ll make the grilled cheese.”

Nick obeyed and sat at the table to eat his food while Roxie continued to make the grilled cheese.  Minutes later, Roxie placed the grilled cheese in front of Ariel and she too sat down to eat.

Once dinner was over, Roxie left.  Ariel made Nick watch The Little Mermaid.  Once the movie was over, Nick scooped her up, holding her so that she was lying across his arms while he’s holding her steady.  “Ok.  Arms out.”  Ariel put her arms out and as Nick walked up the stairs, she pretended to be swimming. 

He entered her room and dropped Ariel on the bed causing the little girl to erupt in a fit of giggles.  She crawled to her pillow and climbed under the blankets.  Nick tucked her in.  “Daddy, read me a story.”

Nick stood up and grabbed her copy of Goodnight Moon.  He sat on the edge of her bed and read the story to Ariel.  Her eyes were closed when Nick finished the story.  He stood up and kissed her on the forehead, leaving the book on her small bookcase on his way out.

He stood in the doorway and shut the light.  “Daddy.”  Nick put on the little mermaid nightlight thinking that’s what Ariel wanted.  “Goodnight Ariel.”

Nick thought she went back to sleep until he heard her little voice say.  “I like Roxie.  Did you know that she’s only a year younger than you, and she doesn’t have a boyfriend.”

Nick had an idea where this conversation was going and he chuckled.  “Goodnight Ariel.”  He said again, this time leaving the room to let Ariel sleep.

Nick woke up abruptly to the sound of his doorbell.  Without opening his eyes, he rolled over and came in contact with the floor.  He opened his eyes, frantically wondering how he could have fallen off his bed.  He looked around and realized that he wasn’t in his room and that he was in the living room.  He must have fallen asleep on the couch the night before.  The doorbell rang again and he stood up and walked groggily to the door. 

Roxie bit her lip trying really hard to not laugh at his appearance.  He was in sweatpants and an inside out t-shirt.  His hair was sticking up in 20 different directions.  Roxie couldn’t help it and started giggling.  Nick rolled his eyes and let her in.

“Don’t you have to be at work soon?”

“Huh?”  Nick asked in confusion.

“Nick, are you aware that it’s 8:30.  Don’t you have to open the store at 9?”

Nick thought about it and he was about to bolt up the stairs.  He stopped mid-step finally starting to regain coherent thought.  “I took the rest of the week off before I have to extend my shift to interview people.”

“Oh, well, that makes sense.  I was thinking of taking Ariel to the Zoo today.  Maybe you should come with us.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.  Let me just go get dressed and I’ll get Ariel up too.”

“I’ll get Ariel, you just worry about yourself.” 

Nick laughed.  “Ok, that works.” 

He turned to walk away.  The tag that was proudly displayed on his back was driving Roxie crazy.  “Why do you have your shirt on inside out?”

Nick turned back to Roxie and walked back.  “Because it was the first shirt I grabbed and I wasn’t paying attention to which shirt it was.  Then when I saw my reflection in the mirror, I realized that it’s inappropriate for young eyes so I turned it inside out.”

“It can’t be that bad.  Most of those offensive shirts are just words and she can’t read yet.”

Nick shook his head.  “Not this one.  It says on the top.  “Looking for Meaningless Overnight Relationship.” Then underneath the words is an image of two people fucking doggie style.  Ariel is traumatized enough by having to see Tracy have sex, she doesn’t need to be reminded of that with my shirt.”

Roxie nodded.  “Then why do you still have it?”

Nick looked down briefly.  “It kind of has sentimental value.”  He caught the look of confusion on Roxie’s face.  “Um, my younger sister gave it to me as a prank.  It was the last thing I got from her before my family disowned me.”  An awkward silence fell between the two.  “I’m, going to go get ready.”  Nick said quickly than ran for the stairs.

He couldn’t believe he said that.  What possessed him to speak that openly with Roxie?  More than that, he couldn’t believe he brought up his family.  He saw them once in the past several years.  He wanted to try and reconcile, but he couldn’t bring himself to approach them, so he settled with watching from afar as his family seemed to be carrying on just fine without him.  They didn’t even seem to miss him.  He knew one thing for sure; he missed them.

He sighed as he stepped out of his shower.  He knew that his reminiscing of his family would ruin the rest of his day.  He quickly got dressed in a pair of jeans and a graphic t-shirt that had 3 squirrels playing on a branch with the saying underneath “It’s all fun and games until someone loses a nut.”

When he got downstairs, he saw that Roxie had already gotten Ariel dressed.  It made Nick wonder how long he was in the shower.  Ariel was talking Roxie’s ear off.  As cute as it was, Nick couldn’t bring himself to smile.  He took a deep breath and put on a fake smile, for Ariel’s sake and the three of them went to the zoo. 

They arrived at the zoo gate and waited on line until it was their turn to enter.  Ariel was excited.  She loved animals, but had never been to a zoo.

“Daddy, can we go in yet?”

“No, not yet.  We have to wait our turn.”

“When will that be?”

“Soon.”  He then mumbled to himself.  “I hope.” Even though Nick was still feeling depressed, he was determined to not ruin Ariel’s trip.

Roxie saw that Ariel was about to run off into the zoo, so she scooped Ariel up and moved next to Nick, who reached around Roxie to tug gently on one of his daughter’s braids.

Ariel turned quickly toward Nick.  “Daddy, what did you do that for?”

“What did I do?”  He said with a smile.  It was a fake smile but Ariel was too young to distinguish between a genuine smile and a fake smile.

You tugged my braid.”

“Who me?  I would never do something like that.”

“Then who did it?”

“Roxie.”

Roxie looked at Nick and shoved him lightly.  “That’s what you get for accusing me.”

The elderly lady in front of them turned around.  “You are such a beautiful family.”

Roxie blushed.  “Oh, um…”

Nick interrupted her by kissing her on the cheek and holding her around the waist.  “Thank you.”  He said with a smile.  The woman turned around and Roxie glared at him.  “What?”

The woman in front of them entered the zoo.  “Why did you do that?”

“Because I didn’t feel like explaining that you are the nanny I hired to take care of my daughter.”  Nick stepped up to the window.  “Two adults and one child.”  Nick paid and walked into the zoo, followed by Roxie, who was still holding Ariel.

“I was going to pay for myself.”

Nick shruggegd.  “Don’t worry about it.”

“Serioiusly Nick.  How much do I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything.”

“Nick…”

“It’s already paid for.  Don’t worry about it.”

“You’re so infuriating.”  Roxie said with a laugh.

“Thank you.”  Nick said and they walked to the first exhibit.

The first exhibit was a penguin exhibit.  The empire penguins were standing in a huddle.  Every now and then, a penguin would leave the huddle and go for a quick swim.  “Why aren’t they doing anything?”  Ariel asked innocently.

Nick looked at her, “What exactly would you like them to do?”

“I don’t know.  Something.”

“How about we move on?”  Nick asked and then led them away from the penguins.  The next exhibit was a river otter.  Ariel looked through the glass and saw the otter swimming toward the glass.  The otter approached the glass and looked Ariel in the eye before swimming off into another direction.  “Daddy, did you see that, it looked at me.”  Ariel said, then she grabbed Nick’s hand, obviously having enough of that otter.

They arrived at the next exhibit.  “Daddy, that animal has big horns.”

“That’s a moose.  The horns are called antlers, and only the adult boys have them.” 

Another moose came into view, this time a female.  “Daddy look, there’s another one.”  At that point, a much smaller moose came out following the female.  “It’s a baby.  Isn’t it cute?” 

“Yeah it’s cute.”  Luckily for him, Ariel was too excited about seeing a baby moose that she didn’t notice her father’s uninterested tone.

As they were walking away, Roxie smacked him.  “What was that for?”

“She’s excited, the least you could do is respond with a bit of enthusiasm.”

“She didn’t notice.”

“That’s not the point.  You can’t let whatever is bothering you affect her.”

“Are you done lecturing me yet?”

“Nick.”

“What?  Just drop it ok.”

“Fine.”

Nick looked down at Ariel.  “Where to next?”

Ariel scrunched up her little nose in thought.  “Lets go that way.”  She said as she pointed down a path.  They started walking in that direction.  Soon they arrived at an animal house.  “What’s that Daddy?”

“That’s a Nocturnal House.”

“What’s inside?”

Nick looked at the sign right by the door.  “It has, Aardvarks, Barn Owls, Brazilian Porcupines, Indian Flying Foxes, Southern Three-Banded Armadillos, and Vampire Bats.  Do you want to go in?”

“Bats are in there?”

“Yeah.”

“I can’t go in there.”

Nick chuckled at how serious she said that. “Why not?”

“Because the bats will get into my hair.”

Nick looked at the door of the nocturnal house and found himself transported 7 years into the past.

Nick and his family were standing in front of the Nocturnal House trying to decide if they were going to go in.  Nick hadn’t wanted to come to the zoo, like a normal 16-year-old, he wanted to hang out with his friends.  He would only admit to himself that he was having fun. 

Aaron looked at the list of animals that would be in there and excitedly wanted to go inside.  Nick glanced at his youngest sister Angel, to see that the idea of entering the Nocturnal House was making her nervous.  Nick smirked, and looked toward his little sister.  “You know Angel, the bats aren’t behind glass and they’re gonna fly right into you hair.”

“What?”  Angel frantically threw her hands on her head.  “I don’t want bats in my hair.”

BJ grabbed the baseball cap off of her older brother’s head.  Nick glared at her, “Hey, give me my hat back.”

BJ smirked at Nick and placed the hat on Angel’s head.  “There, now the bats will get into Nick’s hair, and not yours.”  Angel smiled up at BJ thankfully, then turned to Nick and stuck her tongue out at Nick. 

Aaron was standing at the door waiting impatiently for his family to catch up.  “Are you guys coming?”

They all started walking toward the entrance.  Just before they entered, Nick reached over and took his hat back from Angel.  Angel started freaking out.  “Hey, give it back.  I don’t want the bats to get into my hair.”

Nick smiled down at his little sister.  “They won’t get in your hair.  They’re behind glass.” He said truthfully

“But you said…”

“I know what I said, and I was only playing with you.”

“So the bats won’t get in my hair?”

“No, the bats won’t get in your hair.”

Angel went to Nick’s side and stayed as close to him as possible.  Nick placed his arm around her shoulders as they entered the Nocturnal House together.

“Nick?”  After comforting Ariel, she turned to Nick to see him starring at the door.  When he didn’t respond she tried again, this time shoving him a little.  He blinked and looked at her.  “Are you ok?”

Nick took a deep breath.  “Yeah, I’m ok.”  Roxie saw the sadness in his eyes, and knew that he was lying.  “So, are we going in?”

“Yeah, I explained to Ariel that no bats would get into her hair.”  Nick reached down and picked up Ariel as they walked in.

They walked out the other side, and Nick placed Ariel down and grabbed her hand.  “Ariel look, there are lions over there.  Do you want to go see them?”

“Yeah.”  Ariel said excitedly and they walked over to the Lion exhibit.  A young lion was playing with a ball and Ariel laughed as it chased the ball all around the exhibit.  An older lion turned to the younger one and roared.  Ariel jumped and ran behind Nick’s legs. 

Nick picked her up and she buried her head in his shoulder.  “Ariel, they can’t hurt you, they’re behind a fence.”  Ariel peeked from Nick’s shoulder to look at the lions as another lion roared.  Ariel placed her head back on his shoulder and started crying.  Nick moved her so that he could look at her.  “Hey don’t cry.  It’s ok.”  With his free hand, Nick wiped her tears.  “Would you like me to yell at the lion?”

“Yes.”  She said and sniffled.

Nick turned so that he was facing the lion he pointed at it and said.  “How dare you roar and scare my little girl like that.”  Ariel giggled and Nick turned back to her.  “Much better.”  Nick placed her on the floor and they headed away from the lions.

“Daddy, I’m hungry.”

Nick looked around and found a food pavilion and they walked toward it.  Nick bought his lunch and Ariel’s.  He didn’t feel like fighting with Roxie over buying her lunch, so he just let her buy it.  They found a table and began eating.  When they were done eating, Ariel spotted a play structure and wanted to go play. 

Nick and Roxie were sitting on a bench by the structure while Ariel played.  Now that they were alone, Roxie thought it would be good time to question Nick.  “What happened before?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Before, when you were starring at the door to the Nocturnal House.”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

“I’m only trying to help you.”

“Well, don’t.  There’s nothing you can do anyway.

“Sometimes it’s helpful to just talk about it.”

“I appreciate your concern, but no thanks.”

Roxie wanted to try and push him but at that point Ariel came back and she wanted to go on.  Both Nick and Roxie grabbed one of Ariel’s hands as they continued to walk.  They walked up to an area where the animals weren’t separated and there were people inside with the animals.  “What’s that Daddy?”

“That’s a petting zoo.  You can go inside and pet or feed some of the animals.”

“Can we Daddy, please?”

They headed toward the petting zoo, where Ariel was ecstatic as she got the choice of petting a variety of animals, such as goats, sheep, rabbits, llamas, pigs, and miniature donkeys.  Nick bought some feed from the kiosk and put some in Ariel’s hands.  Ariel giggled as a goat came up to her and started nibbling out of her hand.  At that moment, Nick was wishing he had a camera.  He looked at Roxie and saw that she was holding her camera phone out and taking a picture of Ariel feeding the goat.  “I’m gonna want a copy of that picture.”

Roxie looked at him.  “Of course.”

“Thanks.”  When the goat ate all the food out of Ariel’s hand, she went back to Nick.  “Ariel, do you want a pony ride?”

“YEAH.”  She said and excitedly clapped her hands.  They took her over to the line to wait for her turn on a pony ride.  Soon she was on the pony and giggling wildly. 

Roxie took another picture and before Nick could even say anything, she said.  “You’ll get this one too.”

After Ariel’s pony ride, they left the petting zoo.  Ariel was rambling about feeding the animals. 

They continued walking through the zoo, seeing animals, such as bears, wolves.  They walked through an Aviary, and Insect House, a Reptile House, a Primate House.

Next they entered an Aquatic area.  Ariel was especially excited about the aquatic animals.  She looked down at dolphins that were doing tricks with their trainers.  Ariel was practically hypnotized as she watched the dolphins.  Nick tried to get her to move on, but she refused.  Nick tried to pick her up so they could move on and Ariel reached out to try and stay by the dolphins causing her to almost fall out of Nick’s arms.  Luckily Roxie was there to catch her. 

Nick looked at Roxie who was still holding Ariel and realized that he almost dropped his daughter.  If Roxie wasn’t there, he would have dropped his daughter.  He looked around the area.  He spotted a restroom and ran for it.

Inside the bathroom, Nick went over to the nearest sink to wash his face and to hopefully calm himself down.  He couldn’t believe that he almost dropped her.  He tried to remind himself that he didn’t drop her. 

He splashed some more water onto his face and looked into the mirror.  He saw his reflection and felt that the face starring back at him was the face of a bad father.  After all, it wasn’t the first time he dropped her.

It happened when he was still with Tracy.  Ariel was probably about 6 months old.  He had gotten home from work and Ariel was crying, and Tracy was more concerned with painting her toenails than feeding Ariel.  Nick then, picked her up and tried to calm her down while he tried to find a clean bottle.  He had moved an old pizza box and was startled when a mouse scurried toward him.  He remembered jumping back in shock and Ariel slipping from his grasp.

The memory was unsettling.  He felt his stomach churn and ran to the nearest stall; making it just in time to vomit.

Roxie watched Nick run off and was glad that Ariel was still enthralled by the dolphins.  She stood next to Ariel, waiting for Nick to return.

Ariel looked around them and got a little upset when she didn’t see Nick.  “Where’s Daddy.”

Nick returned at that moment. “I’m right here.  You ready to go to the next exhibit?”

Ariel nodded.  “Yep.”  She walked ahead of them a little but not too far ahead.

Roxie looked at Nick while they were walking behind Ariel.  The first thing she noticed was how pale he was.  “Are you ok?”

“I almost dropped her.”

“But you didn’t.”

“If you weren’t there, I would have dropped her.”

“Don’t think about ‘what ifs’.  After all, I was there, and I did catch her.  It didn’t even phase her.”  Nick nodded and they continued to follow Ariel silently. 

Later that day, they were still at the zoo, but they saw all there was to see.  On their way out, they spotted a gift shop.  Nick, who was holding an almost asleep Ariel, turned and entered the gift shop.  After all, you couldn’t spend the day at the zoo and not go home with a souvenir. 

Ariel opened her eyes as Nick walked around the small shop.  Ariel spotted dolphin merchandise and wanted to go over there.  “Daddy, dolphins.”

Nick turned and spotted what she wanted to go near.  She adjusted her position so she could see the gifts.  She reached for a stuffed dolphin.  Nick took the dolphin from her and Ariel placed her head back on Nick’s shoulder and stuck her thumb in her mouth.  As he was heading toward the register, he spotted an animal puzzle as well as an aquatic animal puzzle.  He grabbed one of each and then went to pay.  With a little bit of struggling, he managed to get his wallet out of his pocket without putting Ariel down. 

After he paid and took his bag, he looked around the shop but didn’t see Roxie.  He knew she came in with him.  He went outside and saw Roxie sitting on a bench with a bag from the gift shop.  “What did you buy?”

She reached for her bag and pulled out a small dolphin t-shirt.  “I hope you don’t mind.”

Nick smiled.  “Not at all, she’ll love it.  Are you ready?”

“Yeah.”

They left the zoo and headed to Nick’s car.  Roxie took Nick’s bag as he placed Ariel in her seat gently.

Nick and Roxie got into their seats.  Nick looked into his rearview mirror to glance at Ariel who was already out.  He smiled and then started to drive out of the parking lot.

On the way home, Nick spotted a Pizza Hut.  “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah I am.  But do you think we should wake her up to eat.”

Nick nodded.  “Yeah, she needs to eat, and besides, she’ll fall right back to sleep.”  He said as he pulled off the road into the Pizza Hut parking lot.

After they finished eating, they were sitting in the booth waiting for their waiter to bring the check.  Ariel crawled into Nick’s lap and rested her head against his chest.  She stuck her thumb back in her mouth and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly on Nick’s chest.

It wasn’t long before Nick was pulling into his driveway.  He gave Roxie his house keys.  She grabbed the bags and went to open the door while Nick gently got his sleeping daughter out of her car seat.  He carried her upstairs. 

Roxie was already up there waiting with Ariel’s pajamas out.  Nick smiled.  “Thanks.”  Nick placed Ariel on the bed and the two of them changed her into her pajamas.  Nick looked around the room.  “I have a feeling that after today, I’m going to have to redecorate this room.”

Roxie laughed.  “Yeah I think you’ll go from the princess room to an underwater world.”

Nick laughed.  “Exactly.  I never realized how much she would like dolphins.  And it wasn’t just the dolphins she liked.  She liked all the sea creatures; she just liked the dolphins a lot more.”

Nick put on her Little Mermaid night light and they left the room, leaving the door open a crack..  “When do you go back to work?”

“Monday.”

“So should I still come until then?”

“You can if you want but you don’t have to.”

“Ok.  We’ll see.”  Nick walked her to the door.  She was about to walk out when she turned back to him.  “Nick.”

“Yeah.”

“I know you were upset today and I know that you don’t want to talk about it, but if you change your mind, give me a call.”  Nick nodded and she walked over to him and hugged him

Shocked at first, he didn’t immediately respond to the hug.  When he did return the hug, he felt as though he wasn’t as alone anymore.  That maybe he’d finally have a friend to help him out of his usually well hidden depression.

Roxie found herself in her car the next day.  Even though she knew Nick was going to be home the remainder of the week to watch his daughter himself, something inside of herself possessed her to get into her car and drive to his house.  It was almost noon and she smiled to herself as she pictured Nick and Ariel watching The Little Mermaid together in the living room around that time, Ariel probably eating mac and cheese.  It was no secret that Roxie had fallen hard for the little girl.  And her father was starting to get under her skin as well.  Roxie couldn't help but daydream a little as she slowed down near his house.  She turned into the driveway and put her car into park.

She got out of her car and headed for the door.  Standing on the porch, she knocked on the door.  She didn’t hear any movement on the other side of the door. She thought maybe that Nick took Ariel out.  She turned back to the driveway.  His car was still here, so that meant that they were home.  She knocked again.  Again, there was no movement on the other side of the door.  Roxie was starting to panic.  What if something happened?  She tried the door and to her surprise it was open.

She stepped into the house and closed the door behind her.  Taking a deep breath, she headed into the living room.  The menu from the Little Mermaid DVD was playing in a loop.  She thought it was a little odd that Nick didn’t turn it off.  She cautiously walked further into the room.  She wasn’t quite sure what she would find.  She walked around the couch and she laughed to herself as she realized that she was only freaking herself out.  Nick was lying on the couch fast asleep with Ariel lying on his chest.  She too was fast asleep.  Roxie smiled.

Not having the heart to wake them, Roxie made her way into the kitchen.  She decided that she would start making lunch.  She pulled out a kettle to prepare the mac and cheese.  She placed the kettle on the stove, and as soon as she let it go, it fell to the floor with a loud clang.

Nick woke up abruptly to the sound of a crash in the kitchen.  He listened carefully and heard moving around in the kitchen.  He stood up careful to not wake Ariel and placed her back on the couch.  He looked around the room looking for something he could use as a weapon.  He spotted Ariel’s metal baton and grabbed it.  He headed for his kitchen and took a deep breath as he gently pushed the door open, with the baton held so he could hit the intruder.

As he was about to swing at the intruder, he realized it was Roxie.  “Jesus Roxie, you scared me.”

“Sorry Nick.  I didn’t want to wake you.”

He lowered the baton and took a seat at the table.  “Well then you shouldn’t have dropped anything.  God Roxie, look what I grabbed to defend myself.” He said waving the metal baton, w/ purple and pink ribbons at her.  Roxie started laughing and soon Nick was laughing with her.

“Why are you here?”

“You don’t want me to be here?”

He started to stumble over his words.  “No, I just meant that, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I just felt like coming.  That’s ok right?”

“Yeah.”  He said with a yawn.

Roxie noticed and looked at him confused.  “You just woke up, how could you be tired?”

He stayed quiet.  He didn’t know what to say.  He looked at Roxie and something compelled him to tell her the truth.  “I barely slept last night.”  He yawned again.

“How long?”

“What?”

“How much sleep did you get?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know.  An hour, maybe 2 at most.”

“You should go take a nap.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Nick, go take a nap.”

“What?  Are you my mother now?”

“No, but you look tired.”

Nick laughed lightly.  “I thought I hired you to be Ariel’s nanny, not mine.”

“You did, but you look really tired.”

“I’m fine Roxie really.

“Ok, Nick.  If you say so.”  She said with a chuckle.  She turned back to the stove to continue making lunch.  “So Nick, what were you and Ariel planning to do today?”  Nick didn’t respond.  “Nick?”  She turned around to find that he had his head resting on his arms on the table.  He looked to be asleep.  She walked over to him and gently shook his shoulder.  He opened his eyes and turned toward her.  “Go take a nap.”

“What about Ariel?”

“What about her?”

“I can’t take care of her if I’m sleeping.”

“I’m here; I can take care of her.  Now go.”

Nick nodded.   “Ok.”  He said, finally giving in.  He stood up and walked out of the room.

Roxie watched him practically stagger out of the room.  She felt concerned for him when she realized that he was more tired than he let on.  She turned back to the stove to continue cooking lunch for herself and Ariel.

“ROXIE.”  Ariel ran toward Roxie and hugged her legs.

“Hi Ariel.”

“Is Daddy at work?”

Roxie shook her head.  “No.  He’s taking a nap.”

“Oh.  Do you want to watch a movie with Daddy later?”

“We’ll see.” Roxie said without thinking.  She noticed the big grin on Ariel’s face and realized what Ariel said.  "Wait, you mean, watch a movie with you and Daddy?"

“I can be there if it’ll make you feel more comfortable.”

Roxie couldn’t believe it.  A four-year-old was trying to match her up with her father.  “Why don’t you go wash your hands?  Lunch will be on the table soon.”  She said, trying to change the subject.

“I’ll go get Daddy.”

“No.”

“Why not?  Don’t you like my Daddy?”

"Yeah, I like him, but - "

 "Ooo, you liiike him?"

 "He's nice, but he needs his nap."

It was several hours later, and Nick was just waking up from his nap.  He sat on the edge of his bed trying to wake himself up.  He stood up and stretched and went downstairs.  He found Roxie and Ariel in the living room playing Candy Land.  He leaned against the doorframe watching them.  He smiled and felt his heart skip a beat. 

He wasn’t sure what to make of that feeling.  He’s been single, with no intentions of ever dating again, for two years.  And now, watching Roxie playing with his daughter was making his heart swell with feelings that made him realize that he was tired of being alone.  It was at that point that he realized he’d like to have a more personal relationship with Roxie, but he didn’t know how to achieve that.

Ariel looked up and spotted Nick standing in the doorway.  Ariel smiled and with a mischievous glint in her eyes she said, “You know Roxie, you don’t have a boyfriend and Daddy doesn’t have a girlfriend.”

Nick’s eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.  Roxie looked up from the game and then realized that Nick was standing in the doorway, obviously in shock from his daughters words.

“Hey Nick.  Feel better?”  She asked, completely ignoring the fact that she knew Nick heard what Ariel said.

“Yeah.” He walked further into the room.

“That’s good.  I wasn’t sure if I should wake you up for dinner or not.”

“You could have woken me up.”

“It’s just that you were asleep for five hours.  I figured you really needed that nap and I didn’t want to disturb it.  Oh, I was planning on making spaghetti for you two.”

“That’s fine.  But don’t you mean us three?” He asked and sat down on the floor with them, pulling Ariel onto his lap.  “Listen, if you’re going to cook us dinner while you’re here, you may as well stay with us and enjoy it.  Why cook twice when you don’t have to.”

“Alright then, I’ll stay for dinner.”

“Yay.”  Ariel said excitedly. 

~*~

Roxie was in the kitchen cooking dinner while Nick and Ariel were in the living room.  From Nick’s position on the couch, he could see perfectly into the kitchen to where Roxie was cooking.  He couldn’t make himself turn away.  Ariel was pretending her Barbie dolls were getting married.  Ariel saw Nick starring at Roxie and smirked.  “I think Roxie would make a good mommy.”

“I bet she would.”  Nick said distractedly, since he was still starring at Roxie.  Ariel giggled and Nick turned to her.  “Wait?  What did you say?”

Ariel giggled.  “Roxie would be a good mommy.”

Nick was kind of in shock about his daughter’s statement.  He sputtered out, “Well, uh, yeah, but I don’t know…”  He took a deep breath  “Does she even want kids?”

“Well, she doesn’t have a boyfriend, and she really likes you Daddy.  And if she likes you, then she has to be ok with kids, because of me.”

“You heard her say that?”

“Well, no, but you’ve seen the way she looks at you.”

Nick wanted to believe it, but he couldn’t.  “I really doubt that she likes me Ariel.”

“Why?”

“I’m nothing special.  Girls like Roxie don’t like guys like me.”  He said sadly.

“Why not?”  At that moment, Roxie called from the kitchen saying that dinner’s ready. 

Ariel got up and ran out of the room. Nick watched her in confusion.

Ariel returned shortly, holding a couple candles.  Nick looked at her strangely.  “What you are doing?”

“We need candles.”

“Why?”

“Because we do.”

Roxie was putting the food on the table as Nick and Ariel entered the kitchen.  She noticed that Nick looked sad, sadder than he usually looked.  She watched him put a small amount of spaghetti onto Ariel’s plate.  He put some sauce on it, and then made his plate.  Roxie looked at him concerned when he didn’t take that much.  She tried to brush it off thinking he’d have seconds.  She grew more concerned when she realized that he was barely picking at his food.  “Nick, are you feeling alright.”

Nick was too absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t hear the concern in her voice.  He nodded.  “I’m fine why?”

“You’re not eating.”

“I guess I’m just not that hungry.”

“You skipped lunch.  You should be starving.”

He only shrugged.  Ariel finished her food and Nick turned to her.  “Do you want more?”

“Uh, nope.”  She slid off her chair.  “I’m going to go play.  You two can be alone.”  Ariel said and ran from the room.

An awkward silence fell over the two.  “Nick, what’s bothering you?”

Nick scoffed, “We’d need more than a dinner to have that conversation.”

Roxie looked at him briefly before looking down at her food.  They finished dinner and Nick silently helped her clean up

As Roxie was about to leave, Ariel came flying to the door. “Why don’t you sleep over?”

“Ariel, I’m sure Roxie has things to do at home.”  Nick said

Ariel ignored Nick and looked at Roxie.  “Well?”

“Ariel, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”

Ariel started crying.  Big, fake tears were rolling down her cheeks as she said, “Don’t you love me?”

“Oh, well, of course I do, but…”

Almost immediately, Ariel stopped crying.  “Great, then it’s settled.  You’re going to sleep here tonight.”

Roxie looked at Nick to get his approval.  He just shrugged.

Roxie sighed.  She didn’t know what to do.  Ariel really wanted her to sleep over, but it seemed that Nick didn’t want her to stay.  She looked into Ariel’s pleading eyes and gave in.  “Alright, I’ll stay.”

~*~

It was time for Ariel to go to bed.  She insisted that Roxie tuck her in that night.  Nick couldn’t help but feel jealous. 

Roxie took Ariel upstairs and changed her into her pajamas.  Ariel climbed into bed and Roxie pulled the sheets around her.  “Roxie, what did Daddy mean when he said that girls like you don’t like guys like him?”

Roxie started to feel nervous.  “Huh?  Why wouldn’t I like your Daddy?”

Ariel giggled, “So you DO like my Daddy.”

Roxie smiled.  “Goodnight Ariel.”  She said and left the room.  She found Nick channel surfing while lying on the couch.  She stood over him trying to figure out what was going through his mind.  It seemed that Nick liked her, otherwise why would he say that there’s was no way that she could like him.  “Ariel’s asleep.”

Nick looked up at her briefly.  “Thanks.  You know, you don’t have to stay here.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

"No, Ariel will be upset if you go...  But you don't have to stay if you really don't want to.  I'm sure you have something better to do than sit around spending time with me..."

“Why do you do that?”

Nick looked at her confused.  “Why do I do what?”

“Put yourself down like that?”

He shrugged.  “No one I know, except Ariel, likes to spend time with me.  Why would you be any different?”

It was at that moment that she realized that his insecurities were much deeper than she thought.  His insecurities were rooted in his depression.  Roxie bit her bottom lip, trying to think of a way to demonstrate to Nick that she did want to spend time with him.  Since she didn't want to call it an early night, she decided that she would stay up with him and watch some television.  Maybe a conversation would spawn off of something on the TV.  Roxie could only hope as she watched Nick flip through station after station without any luck in finding a good program to watch.

“We can watch a movie.  Are there any good movies on?”  She asked.  Nick shrugged and handed her the remote.  She searched through the movies on TV and didn’t find anything good.  “Nick, where’s your movie collection?”

“In that cabinet by the TV.”

“Thanks.”  She opened the cabinets and looked over the movies.  She spotted a few scary movies and smiled to herself.  She hated scary movies, but it would give her an excuse to get physically close to Nick, hopefully without making Nick uncomfortable.  She pulled out A Nightmare on Elm Street and then turned to Nick, showing him her selection.  He nodded his approval and sat up to make room on the couch for her.

She put the movie in and then started walking toward the couch.  “I must warn you.  I absolutely love scary movies, but they terrify me.  I will probably end up burying my face in your shoulder for half the movie.  I hope you don’t mind.”

“Okay.”

Roxie started the movie and sat down next to Nick.  She stood up quickly.  I’m gonna go make popcorn.”  Nick nodded and she hurried off into the kitchen.  She returned minutes later with a bowl of popcorn.  She placed it on the table in front of them and got comfortable on the couch.

As the movie began to get scary, she kept getting closer to Nick.  On the screen, Tina reached up to Freddy’s face and pulled his face off revealing the skull.  Roxie screeched and buried her face in Nick’s shoulder, cautiously peeking at the screen every now and then to see if the scene is over.

Nick looked at her longingly.  This innocent physical contact seemed right to him.  He began realizing just how much he actually likes her.  Unfortunately, with the realization of his feelings came the much stronger and painful realization that there’s no way that she could possibly like him in return.

The two of them continued to watch the movie.  Roxie became more comfortable with the closeness she was experiencing with Nick and she hoped that he wasn't uncomfortable with her being there.  Part of the way through the movie, Nick's eyes became droopy and he fell asleep.  Shortly after, Roxie had a wave of tiredness come over her body as well.  Both of them were out by the time the movie was over.

In the middle of the night, Nick and Roxie were asleep in each other’s arms.  Roxie opened her eyes slowly.  It took her a few minutes for her to realize that she was sleeping on Nick’s chest as he held her.  She smiled and looked at his face to see him sleeping peacefully.  Reaching up, she pushed a few strands of hair away from his eyes.  He stirred a little, adjusting his position in his sleep and then settled down again.  She kissed his cheek and then curled up against him again.

Nick woke up and moments later realized that there was a weight on his chest.  He panicked at first but then realized that Roxie was lying on top of him.  He sat up abruptly knocking Roxie off of him. 

Roxie woke up abruptly as she hit the floor.  “Ouch.  What’s wrong Nick?”

“Oh god, I’m so sorry.”

Roxie thought he was apologizing for knocking her off him.  “It’s ok Nick.  Just get comfortable and we can go back to sleep.”

“Wait what?  I was apologizing for holding you.”  Roxie looked at him, confused and hurt.  “We should go to bed.”  Nick said and stood up.  He helped Roxie up and they went upstairs.  He told her what room she could sleep in and they went in opposite directions at the top of the stairs.  God Carter, you’re so stupid.  How could you hold her like that?  You know she doesn’t like you.  But damn, it felt good to hold her.

Roxie entered the guest room.  She couldn’t figure out what went wrong.  One second they were happily curled up in each other’s arms, and the next he was freaking out.  She sighed; maybe he doesn’t like me after all.  He keeps sending me mixed signals.  She really liked him and hoped that the mixed signals that he was sending were due to his confusion.

The next morning, Roxie woke up with a bit of a headache.  She went into the bathroom in the hallway to find some form of painkiller.  She opened the medicine cabinet and found that it had no medicine.  Then she remembered that Ariel would be able to reach this cabinet.  She walked out of the bathroom and went to Nick’s room.  She knocked on the door and waited for a response.  After no response, she knocked again, this time a little louder.

A soft response came from inside.  “It’s open.”

Roxie opened the door and found Nick still lying in bed.  “I’m sorry to wake you.  But do you have anything for a headache?”

“It’s in my bathroom.”

“Thanks.”  She walked through Nick’s room and into his bathroom.  She opened the medicine cabinet and looked around for a common painkiller.  She found it next to a small prescription bottle for Prozac.  She couldn’t believe that he was on antidepressants.  She quickly took two Advil and closed the medicine cabinet.  She turned around and saw Nick starring at her. 

Nick was watching her in the bathroom.  He saw her briefly stop looking and stare into the cabinet.  He realized that she found his medication and a feeling of inferiority washed over him.  She turned around and he saw sympathy in her eyes.  He sighed and looked down.

She walked over to his bed and sat down on the side of it.  She looked at him and hugged him.  She was suddenly determined to do whatever it takes to make him feel better about himself.  “I’m going to go make breakfast.  Is there anything specific that Ariel likes to eat?”

“She loves waffles.”

“Ok.  Breakfast will be in about 10 minutes, so go wake her up.”  Nick nodded.  Roxie started to leave the room and realized that Nick wasn’t moving.  “Well, aren’t you going to get out of bed?”

“I sleep in my boxers.” 

“Oh.”  She giggled.  “Sorry.”

Roxie left the room and went downstairs to make breakfast.  Soon, Ariel made her way into the kitchen.  She spotted Roxie.  “Roxie, you’re still here.”

“Of course I’m still here.”

Ariel sat at the table. “What are you cooking?”

“Waffles.  Your daddy said you liked waffles.”

Ariel nodded excited.  “Yes.”

Nick walked into the room at that point.  “There you are Ariel.”  He said and then kissed the top of her head.

“Didn’t you wake her up?”

“No.  She was already out of the room by the time I got in there.”

“After breakfast, can we all watch The Little Mermaid?” 

Nick groaned and Roxie smiled.  “Of course.”  Roxie said.

“Ariel, why don’t you pick another movie?   You have so many to choose from.”

“Daddy, I want to watch The Little Mermaid.” 

“Ok, ok.”  Ariel ran out of the room to get her DVD to make sure that’s what they watched.  “I swear, one of these days, I’m gonna hide that DVD.”

Roxie laughed.  “Aw Nick, it can’t be that bad.” Nick just glared at her.  Roxie laughed harder.

Ariel returned with the movie and placed it on the table.  Nick grabbed it.  “Daddy, where are you going with my DVD?”

“I’m moving it off the table while you eat.”

They ate breakfast and then Ariel slid off her chair.  She handed the DVD to Roxie.  “Ariel, we need to clean up first.  So why don’t you go inside and color and we’ll be in momentarily.”  Nick said.

“Okay Daddy.”  Ariel said and then ran off into the living room.

“Are you trying to put off the movie?”

“For as long as possible.”  Nick said with a slight laugh.

They finished cleaning up the kitchen and Roxie grabbed the DVD.  Nick sat on the couch while Roxie put the movie on.  Ariel sat up.  She watched Roxie walk to the chair in the living room to sit.  “You can’t sit there Roxie.”

“Okay Ariel.  Where do you want me to sit?”

“On the couch.” 

Okay Ariel.”  Roxie walked over to the couch and sat on the opposite end that Nick was on.

“Don’t sit there.”

“You told me to sit on the couch.”

“Yep.  Sit on the couch, just not there.”  Roxie moved to sit on the cushion next to Nick.”

“Not there.”

“Ariel, there’s no other place on the couch to sit.”

Nick took a sip of his coffee.  “Sit on Daddy’s lap.”  Nick started coughing.

“Are you ok Nick?”

“Yeah.”

Ariel was looking at Roxie.  “Well, sit.”

Roxie looked at Nick and he shrugged.  Roxie sat on Nick’s lap.  Ariel smiled and turned her attention on the movie.

Throughout the movie, Nick kept starring at Roxie.  Nick was trying to forget about his feelings for Roxie, but it was difficult with her sitting on his lap.  He tried to turn his gaze onto the movie but always found himself looking back at her.

The song “Kiss the Girl” was playing in the movie.  Roxie turned to Nick and caught him starring at her.  Roxie leaned in and kissed him.  She pulled back almost immediately to apologize.  Before she could say a single word, Nick leaned in and kissed her.  Nick ran his tongue over her lips until she opened her mouth.

Ariel turned around and saw them kissing.  She giggled excitedly.  Nick and Roxie pulled back immediately.  They were both blushing.  Roxie slid off Nick’s lap and Nick stood up and walked out of the room.  Ariel looked at Nick confused.  She didn’t understand why Nick walked out.  “Come here Ariel.  We’ll finish the movie together.”

Ariel climbed onto the couch and crawled into Roxie’s lap.  “I didn’t mean to make Daddy upset.”  Ariel said.  She was on the verge of tears.

“Oh honey.  Your Daddy is fine.  “We’ll finish the movie together, and then I’ll talk to him.”  Ariel blinked and a tear fell out of her eyes.  Roxie wiped it away.  “Don’t cry.”

Ariel rested her head on Roxie’s chest.  She popped her thumb in her mouth.  Nick walked back into the room; he saw the tears in Ariel’s eyes.  He took Ariel from Roxie and held her on his lap.  Ariel hugged him.  “What’s wrong honey?”

“I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I know baby.  Don’t worry about it.  You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I didn’t?”

“No.  Now turn around and let’s finish watching your movie.”

“Ok Daddy.”

The movie finished and Ariel ran to her room to play with her dolls.  Nick was in the living room cleaning up Ariel’s toys when Roxie walked in.  “Nick, we should talk.”

Nick took a deep breath.  “Ok.”

Nick sat on the couch and Roxie sat next to him.  Nick was nervously fiddling with his hands.  Roxie placed her hands over his to calm him down a bit.  “Nick, how do you feel about me?”

“I like you a lot.”  He said softly.

“That’s good, because I like you a lot too.”

“You can do so much better than me.”

“Nick is that why at some points I think you like me and others you are pulling away?”

“How could you like me?”

“You’re a sweet guy, a great father.”

“No I’m not.”

“What sweet or a great father?”

“I don’t know about sweet, but I know I’m a horrible father.”

“No, you’re not Nick.  And I don’t want to ever hear you say that again.”

Roxie kissed him again.  He pulled back.  “Trust me; you don’t want to be with me.”

“Let me make that decision.”

“I’m a mess.  I have nothing to offer you but problems.”

“Nick, I like you, despite your problems.  I want us to be together.  I like you.  And I know you like me, because you’re trying to protect me from, well, from you.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Nick, I know you’re depressed.  I knew before I saw the Prozac in your medicine cabinet.  I like you.  I don’t know what else I have to do to get you to believe that.”  Nick stayed quiet so Roxie continued.  “I know you like me, because you admitted it.  So why not try a relationship.  Your problems aren’t a good enough reason for us to not try.  We all have problems.”

“Probably not as bad as mine.”

“Nick…”

“Roxie, I need antidepressants to function normally so I can take care of my daughter.”

“You won’t need them forever.  I really want us to be together.  But if you really don’t want to, I won’t push you.”

Roxie stood up to walk away.  “Roxie wait?”

“What?”

“I’m scared.”

“Why?”

“I haven’t been in a relationship since Ariel’s mother.  I don’t know how to be in a relationship anymore.  And what if we break up, what’s that going to do to Ariel?  Not to mention all the problems I have.  I don’t know if I’m ready.”

Roxie walked back to the couch.  She sat down next to him and took his face in her hands and gently moved his head so he’d be forced to look into her eyes.  Her heart broke at all the sadness that was found in her eyes.  “If you have feelings for me, then you are ready.  It doesn’t matter that you haven’t been in a relationship since Ariel’s mother.  All relationships are different anyway.  Ariel wants us together.  She was playing matchmaker after all.”  She stopped briefly and Nick chuckled.  “Let’s not worry about the breakup yet.  We won’t know what will happen with us until it actually happens.  As for your problems, I’ll help you to the best of my ability to help you feel better.”

“I don’t know.” 

Roxie kissed him and once again he pulled back.  “No.  I want you to kiss me.”  Roxie kissed him again and this time he gave in and returned the kiss.  They pulled back breathless.  “How did that feel for you?”

He looked down.  “It felt right.”

“I think we should be together then.  Or are you willing to regret not doing anything?”

“I want to be with you.” 

Roxie smiled.  “I’m glad I was able to change your mind.  And I promise I’m going to help you with your problems, if you’ll let me.  You’re not alone anymore.”

Nick smiled.  For the first time in a long time he realized that she was right.  He didn’t have to go through his problems alone.  He kissed her. 

The kiss deepened and they ended up lying down on the couch making out.  Ariel walked into the room and gasped when she saw them.  Nick sat up abruptly trying really hard to not laugh.  Roxie sat up and moved next to him so that she was leaning against him.  He put his arm around her.  He kissed her head and whispered in her ear, “We need to stop kissing when my daughter is awake.”  Roxie smiled.

Ariel smiled at them.  “So, I guess I don’t have to remind both of you that the other isn’t dating anyone.”

“No, you don’t.  Because now, I’m your daddy’s girlfriend.”

Ariel giggled.  “Let’s go to Chuck E. Cheese?  We need to celebrate.”  Ariel ran upstairs to put her shoes on. 

Roxie walked over to Nick and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.  He in return wrapped his arms around her waist.  “So, are we going to Chuck E. Cheese?”

“I guess so, seeing as how we owe our new relationship to my meddlesome daughter.

Ariel came downstairs clutching her tiny purse.  “Okay Daddy, we can go now.”  She turned to Roxie, “Come on new Mommy.”

Nick's and Roxie's eyes grew wide upon hearing what Ariel said.  They glanced at each other and chuckled a little, both of them trying to hide their nervousness.  Ariel was putting a lot of pressure on them already and they'd only been together for a matter of minutes.

 "What?"  Ariel giggled, noticing their reactions. 

 "Nothing..."  Nick trailed off.

 "Okay, good.  Are you two ready to go?"  Ariel asked.

It was close to 8:00pm.  Nick wasn’t home from work yet.  Roxie was trying to get Ariel ready for bed.  Ariel was fighting her.  “I want to wait up for Daddy.”  Ariel stated.

Roxie sighed.  “How about we come to a compromise?”

“What is compromise?”

“It means to agree somewhere in the middle.”

“Oh, okay.”

“How about if you let me get you ready for bed, I’ll let you stay awake until your daddy gets home.”

Ariel thought about it.  “Okay.”

“There’s just one thing.”

“What?”

“If you get tired, I don’t want you to fight sleep.”

“Deal.”  Ariel crawled off the bed and went to get her pajamas out and Roxie helped her change.

They went downstairs and Roxie put The Little Mermaid on.  Roxie retrieved a pillow and blanket.  Ariel lied on the couch using the pillow and Roxie placed the blanket over her.  Ariel was asleep within 20 minutes.

Roxie was still watching The Little Mermaid when Nick walked in.  “Has Ariel rubbed off on you so much that you’re watching The Little Mermaid without her? 

“I started off watching with her.  But as you can see, she fell asleep.”  She said motioning toward Ariel’s sleeping form.

Nick gave Roxie a quick kiss and then picked Ariel up.  “Daddy?”

“Yes it’s me.  Go back to sleep.”  Nick carried Ariel upstairs and placed her in her bed. He then went back downstairs to spend time with his girlfriend.

Two months had passed since Nick and Roxie became a couple.  In that time, they didn’t get to spend much time together alone.  The first couple weeks, Nick was working longer shifts so he could hire a new assistant manager.  When he hired a new assistant manager, his shift went back to normal.  Then he received disturbing news from his bank.  His deposit was $1,000 short one day and Nick found out that his new assistant manager stole the money from him.  Needless to say, she was fired.  Nick started going to work a couple hours before the store opened so that he could prepare his own deposit.  However, since he was once again in the hiring process, he was again staying at work later.

Nick collapsed heavily onto the couch and lied down, pulling Roxie on top of him so he could hold her.

“Don’t you want to eat?”

“No.  I’m really tired tonight so I don’t want to think about food.”

A small rumble started.  As minutes passed, the rumble got louder and the house began to shake

From upstairs, Ariel screamed.  Nick scrambled off the couch and ran upstairs as fast as the shaky ground would let him.  He arrived at Ariel’s room.  Upon entering, he grabbed Ariel and carried her to the door.  He got as close to the floor as possible, cradling Ariel who was crying in fear.

The earthquake ended, but Ariel was still very shaken up.  While Nick was trying to comfort Ariel, Roxie decided it was time for her to go home.  Nick gave her a quick kiss before she left.  He locked up his house while holding Ariel.  Once the house was locked up, he carried Ariel back to her room.

“No Daddy.”

“You don’t want to go back to bed?”

“I scared.  Can I sleep with you daddy?”

“Sure.”  He took her into his room and placed her on the bed.  He entered the bathroom and changed and then got into bed holding Ariel.  Ariel fell right to sleep, and Nick was soon to follow.

As she got closer to her apartment building she began to get nervous.  The amount of destruction increased.  She arrived at her road.  “Shit.”  She said when she realized that her road was closed.  She continued to drive until she found someplace to park her car.  Once she found somewhere to park, she walked back to her road.

She approached the police blockade.  “Excuse me Miss, you can’t come here.”

“I live here.”

“Not anymore.  The only thing left is a few walls and a massive pile of rubble.”

“Okay, thanks.”  She walked back to her car.  She reached her car, but she didn’t know where to go.

Sitting behind her wheel, she was still at a loss as to where to go. Glancing around her car, she spotted a picture of Nick and Ariel.  She never felt so stupid.  She had completely forgotten about Nick.  Starting her car, she drove back to Nick’s house.

Nick woke up thinking he heard something.  When he didn’t hear it again, he put his head back down and closed his eyes.  That’s when he realized that he did hear something.  He heard the doorbell.  He couldn’t believe he was getting visitors this late.  He glanced at the clock and realized that it was only 9:15.  It was still pretty early but it felt so much later to him.

He slowly made his way toward the door.  He shut off his alarm and unlocked the door before pulling it open. 

“Hey Nick.”  Roxie looked at his appearance.  “Were you asleep?”  She asked as he let her in, closing the door behind him.

“Yeah.  I thought you went home.”

“I did.  When I got there my apartment building was a pile of rubble, so I was hoping you’d allow me to stay here.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”                                                                       

“Thanks.”  Roxie said.  She stood on her tiptoes to give Nick a kiss.  She looked at him in confusion when she realized that his eyes had a watery, glassy look to them.  Roxie ignored it, thinking it had something to do with the fact that he just woke up.  Roxie started to walk toward the living room.  Nick took a step to follow her, and immediately grabbed onto the wall.  Roxie looked back as he steadied himself against the wall.  “Are you ok?”

“Yeah.  I just got dizzy.” 

Roxie wasn’t sure he was ok, but didn’t push it.  Nick walked into the living room after Roxie and collapsed.  Roxie turned when he fell.  “Nick?”  She ran to his side.  She gently caressed his cheek and found his skin to be warm.  “God Nick, you’re burning up.” 

She helped him stand up and began leading him to the stairs.  “Not upstairs.”

“Why not Nick?  You need to lie down.”

“Ariel’s asleep in my bed.  I can lie down on the couch.”

“No.  We’re going upstairs.  I’ll put Ariel back in her own bed.” 

After a few minutes, Roxie got Nick to his room.  She picked up Ariel’s sleeping form and told Nick to get into bed.  She made sure Nick was comfortable and carried Ariel back to her room and tucked her in.  She returned to Nick’s room and climbed onto the bed next to him. 

He opened his eyes when he felt the bed shift.  “Hey.”  He was barely awake.

“You should sleep Nick.”

“I’m cold.”

Roxie kissed his forehead.  “I’ll go get you another blanket.”  Roxie left the room and went to Nick’s linen closet, pulling out a couple blankets.  She placed a heavy blanket on him, and placed the others near the bed, in case he needed them.  He closed his eyes and he was asleep within minutes. 

Roxie starred down at him, gently brushing his hair back.  As she looked down at him, she couldn’t help but worry.  He was too stressed, overworked and tired, and now sick.  He needs someone to live with him full time.  When she came to that realization, she also happened to remember that her apartment had just been demolished by the earthquake.  Was it a sign?  Should she move in with Nick and Ariel? 

 She smiled to herself at the very idea of it.  Ariel would without a doubt love Roxie there to play the full-time mommy role and she thought that she could help Nick get over his depression with her presence there the whole time.  The more she thought about it, the more she loved the idea and couldn’t wait to run it by Nick.  She just hoped he agreed.  She began daydreaming about what it’d be like to live with the man she loved and his daughter.  She fell asleep with the pleasant daydream that continued once she was dreaming.

In the middle of the night, Nick woke up abruptly due to a severe coughing fit that he was having.  He tried to get out of bed so he could get some water.  But he found that he didn’t have the strength to get out from under his many blankets.  Since he couldn’t get up, he was trying to control his coughing so that he wouldn’t wake up Roxie.  He wasn’t successful, and his coughing started to get worse.

Roxie woke up.  She immediately noticed Nick’s coughing fit.  She jumped out of bed and rushed into the bathroom, emerging moments later with water.  She placed the water on the bedside table and uncovered Nick so that she could help him sit up.  She handed him the cup.  He drank the water slowly, and his coughing fit slowed until it finally stopped.

“Thanks.”  He said softly

"You're welcome.  Are you okay?  Do you want some cough medicine?"  She asked.

 Nick bit his lip.  He was always cautious about taking anything that was not prescribed by his doctor.  “Uh, I um, don’t take over the counter medications.”

“Are you sure?  It’ll probably help you sleep.”

“I’m sure.  I don’t like to take medication.  But if it comes to the point of needing it, then I’ll go to my doctor.”

“That seems like a waste of a trip if you really don’t need to go see a doctor.” 

“It’s better for me if I go to a doctor when I need medicine.”  Roxie looked at him, slightly confused.  “We should get some sleep.  Ariel will be up early.”

“And when she does wake up, you’ll still be in bed.”

“But…”

“No buts.  If you refuse medicine then you’re not getting out of bed.”

“Fine I’ll stay in bed.”

“Good choice.  Now you need to sleep.”

“If you’re gonna wake up with Ariel, you’ll need to sleep too.”

“Don’t worry.  I’ll sleep after I make sure you’re ok.”

“I’m ok.”

“Ok Nick.”  She helped him as he struggled to lie back down.  She covered him once again with his blankets.  As soon as he was asleep, she fell back to sleep again.

The next morning, Roxie woke up to movement on the bed.  She opened her eyes and saw Nick trying to get out of bed.  “I thought we had an agreement last night about you not getting out of bed.”

“Am I not even allowed to go to the bathroom?”

She giggled.  “Yes that’s allowed.”  She bit her lip as she watched him slowly make his way to the bathroom.  He came out moments later.  “How do you feel?”

“My head is killing me, I can’t breathe, my body is completely achy; muscles I didn’t even know I had hurt.  I’m still coughing.  Other than that, I’m fine.”

“I think you need medicine.  You should call your doctor.”

He sat on the bed.  “How exactly do you propose I get to a doctor?”

“I’ll take you.”

“And do what with my daughter?”

Roxie shrugged.  “We’ll take her with us.”

“What?  No.”

“Why not?”

“She’s sensitive; I really don’t want her to see me like that.”

“She’ll see you like that anyway while we’re here.”

“But if I’m up here, she’ll soon forget that I’m not feeling good.”

“Fine.  We won’t go yet.  But as soon as you start feeling worse, I’m taking you to the doctor.  Even if it means I’m taking you against your will.”  Nick nodded in agreement and closed his eyes hoping to fall asleep.

Ariel woke up and looked around her room confused.  She knew she fell asleep in her Daddy’s bedroom.  She slid off her bed and walked to Nick’s room as Roxie walked out.  “Roxie.”  Ariel squealed excitedly.

“Sshh.  Daddy’s sleeping.”

“Why?”  She bit her lip.

“He’s not feeling good.”

“Oh.  Did you kiss him to make him better?”

“Uh, no.”  Roxie said wondering what the young girl was up to.

“I’ll do it.”

“Uh, no, Ariel, he needs to rest.”

Ariel ran under Roxie’s legs pushed the door open.   She ran to the bed and climbed onto the bed.  She stood on the bed and walked briskly toward him.  Her small feet got tangled in the sheets and she fell onto the bed with a small giggle.  Nick groaned at the sudden movement and opened his eyes.  “What’s wrong Ariel?”

“I need to kiss you to make you better.”

“You don’t need to do that.”  The longer sentence caused him to start coughing. 

When he turned back to Ariel, she crawled into his arms and kissed his cheek.  “Feel better Daddy?”

“You’re kisses always make me feel better.  But I’m just gonna sleep for a bit longer.  Why don’t you go downstairs and play?  Maybe you can convince Roxie to make you waffles.” 

Ariel smiled.  “Ok Daddy.”  She climbed off the bed and ran to the door where she found Roxie leaning against the doorframe.  “Daddy said you’d make me waffles.”

“He did?  I thought he said you could try to convince me?”

“Nope.  He said you would make me waffles.”  Ariel said matter-of-factly and grabbed Roxie’s hand to lead her downstairs.

Roxie made Ariel waffles and a couple slices of toast for Nick.  She brought the toast up to Nick and then went back down to be with Ariel.  Ariel finished eating and ran to grab her favorite DVD.  She showed it to Roxie and Roxie chuckled, realizing that Nick was probably right to be completely sick of the movie.

Roxie took the movie from Ariel and put it on.  “Ariel, I’m going to go check on your Daddy.  I’ll be right down.”  Roxie said and went to check on Nick.  She kneeled next to the bed and brushed his hair back.  She was concerned at the amount of heat radiating off of his forehead.  She went into the bathroom and found his thermometer and returned to him.  “Nick, wake up.”

“What?”  His voice was a mixture of a groan and a word.

“I need to check your temperature.  Open.”  Nick opened his mouth and Roxie slid the thermometer under his tongue.  He closed his eyes hoping that he could fall back to sleep.  “Nick, where do you keep your doctor’s number?”

He opened his eyes.  “But you said…”

“That as soon as you got worse you were going to a doctor.  Well guess what, you got worse.  You are running a pretty high fever, 102.1 to be exact.”

“It’s in the phone book in the kitchen.”

Roxie hurried downstairs.  Ariel curiously watched Roxie fill up a bowl with ice water and put a hand towel in the bowl.  Roxie grabbed the bowl of water and the phonebook upstairs.  She placed the cool cloth on Nick’s forehead, hoping that it would cause his fever to break.  She grabbed his phone and went into the hallway to make an appointment.  Once she made the appointment, she pulled a chair over to Nick’s bed.  She grabbed the towel and dipped it back into the cold water.  She then reached over to Nick and wiped his face and neck with the cool cloth.

Ariel entered the room.  “Ariel, go back downstairs.”

“You said you’d watch The Little Mermaid with me.”

“Oh, Ariel, I need to stay up here with your dad.”   She placed the towel back on Nick’s forehead and went downstairs and shut the movie off, so she could carry it upstairs.  She put the movie on in Nick’s room and kept the TV on low volume.  She resumed her position by Nick’s side.

~*~

“Nick?”  A nurse called from the doorway.  Nick made his way over to the nurse and disappeared down a hallway.

“Where’s Daddy going?”  Ariel said while sitting on Roxie’s lap.

“To see a doctor so the doctor can make him feel better.”

Ariel looked up at Roxie. Tears were forming in her eyes.  “Is Daddy going to be ok?”  She blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek.”

Roxie wiped the tear from Ariel’s face.  “Daddy will be fine.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”  Ariel laid her head on Roxie’s chest.

Roxie smiled down at Roxie and gently ran her hand through Ariel’s long blonde hair.

“How old is your daughter?”

“4.” Roxie said.

Ariel smiled up at Roxie.  Ariel noticed immediately that Roxie didn’t deny being her mother.  It made Ariel wonder if Roxie really would become her new mommy.

45 minutes after he got called, Nick walked back into the waiting room holding his prescription in his hand.  Ariel spotted him almost immediately.  “Daddy.”  She slid off Ariel’s lap and ran toward Nick.

Nick caught Ariel as she ran toward him and lifted her up.  The addition of her weight made him lose his balance, proving just how weak he really was.  “Wow, when did you become such a big girl?” He said, trying to hide his weakness.  Ariel giggled and Nick put her back down on the floor.  He grabbed her hand and walked toward Roxie.

Roxie stood up when she saw him.  “Well?”

“Just the flu.”

Roxie sighed in relief.  Her overactive imagination was picturing Nick returning to the waiting room to tell her that he had some rare disease that no one had ever heard of.  “You ready to go?”

“More than ready.  I’m ready to go back to bed.”

Roxie smiled.  “I bet you are.  We’ll stop at the pharmacy on the way home to fill your prescription.”  Nick nodded and they walked out to the car. 

Once in the car, Ariel started babbling excitedly.  Nick groaned slightly, as Ariel’s high pitched voice bounced off the car and into his already pounding head.  Roxie looked over at Nick, who had his eyes shut tightly as he reclined as comfortably as he could in the seat that was too upright for his achy back.

“Ariel, Daddy’s not feeling well, can you try to be quiet until we get home?”

Ariel lowered her voice but continued to go on and on about nothing.  “Ariel, please.”  Nick said sternly rubbing his head hoping that it’ll help.  Ariel bit her lip.  She sniffled and started crying.  Nick groaned and turned around slightly.  "Ariel, don't cry.  Daddy's just not feeling well, all right?  Once I take some medicine, you can talk as much as you want."  He promised. 

 "You wanna go home and watch The Little Mermaid?"  Roxie added after Nick was finished, knowing that Ariel would be excited to hear that.

“Daddy watch it with us?”

"After a little nap, okay?"  Nick said, hoping that would be a compromise for her.

“But Roxie said we could watch it when we get home.”

Nick sighed.  “Fine, we’ll watch it when we get home.”  He said giving in to his daughter’s request.

After stopping at the pharmacy, Roxie drove home.  Roxie got Ariel out of her car seat and they walked back into the house.  Nick lied down on the couch while Roxie put the movie on.

Ariel was lying on the floor on her stomach coloring.  Ariel had finished coloring a picture of Sebastian.  She turned to show Roxie her picture when she realized that Roxie was doing something that she never saw before.  “What are you doing?”

“It’s called knitting.  You start with yarn and you kind of weave it together to make stuff.”

“Oh, what are you making?”

“A sweater.”

“Oh,” Ariel quickly lost interest and turned to show her picture to Nick.  “Daddy look.”  She was puzzled when she realized that her Daddy wasn’t answering her.  She stood up and walked over to him and realized that he fell asleep on the couch.  “Daddy.”  She said shaking his shoulder.  He opened his eyes slowly.  “Look at my picture Daddy.”

Nick glanced at the picture of the red crab in front of him.  “Very nice honey.”  He said and closed his eyes.

“Daddy.”

He opened his eyes again.  “What?”

“If you close you’re eyes, you’ll fall asleep.” 

He then realized that Ariel wasn’t going to leave him alone long enough to let him sleep.  He glanced at Roxie.  She only shrugged and smiled at him sympathetically.  Realizing that Roxie wasn’t going to help him, he turned back to his little girl.  “Ariel, do you want to curl up with me to watch the rest of the movie.”

Ariel’s eyes lit up excitedly and she crawled onto the couch.  She got comfortable as Nick held her.  For the remainder of the movie, Nick played with Ariel’s hair as he held her.  He kept his eyes closed.  As long as he was playing with Ariel’s hair, he was awake, and Ariel wouldn’t wake him up again.

The movie was almost over when Nick opened his eyes.  He smiled slightly when he realized that Ariel fell asleep on his chest.  He closed his eyes again.  He was almost asleep when he felt Ariel being pulled from his grasp.  He opened his eyes to see Roxie taking her off of him.

Roxie carried Ariel up to her room and tucked her in.  She then went back down to the living room and got on the couch to cuddle with Nick.  While Roxie was taking Ariel up stairs, Nick fell into a light sleep.  “Nick.”

“Hm?”

"I was thinking about it and it'd be good for you and Ariel if, you know, I moved in"

“Mm.  Okay.”  He mumbled in his half asleep state.

Nick walked into the kitchen.  It was the first time that he got out of bed in the two weeks since he got sick.  He liked the feeling of family he got when he saw Roxie cooking breakfast and Ariel happily talking.  Ariel turned toward the door.  “Morning Daddy.”

“Morning.”

Roxie turned from the stove.  “Hey.  You look like you’re feeling better.”

“Yeah. I am.”  He walked over to Roxie and gave her a good morning kiss before returning to the table where Ariel was.

“So, are you going to work today?”

“No.  I’d rather just relax.”

“Sounds good.”

“Guess what Daddy.”

“What?”

“Roxie lives with us now.”

“She does?”  Nick questioned and looked toward Roxie.

Roxie looked back at Nick.  “Don’t you remember?  I asked you if you were okay with it.”

“You did?”

Roxie blushed and bit her lip.  “It was the day you went to the doctor.  We were lying on the couch and you were half asleep.”

“Wait, that really happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought I was dreaming.”

Roxie laughed.  “So, you’re okay with it?”

“Yeah.  Although you should know that the answer would have been the same either way.  You didn’t have to be sneaky and tell me when I was completely out of it.”  He said with a laugh.”

“But it was fun.”

He shook his head.  “You’re too much.”

“I know.”  She walked over to him and quickly kissed him before going back to making breakfast.

A comfortable silence fell over the kitchen and Ariel felt compelled to break it.  “I want to redecorate my room.”

Nick and Roxie made eye contact and smiled.  They knew what Ariel was going to say next.  They were just surprised how long it took Ariel to ask.  “You don’t like your princess room?”

“Well, I do.  But I want to change it so I can have dolphins and whales and other sea creatures.  And then we can put Atlantica so I can have Ariel and friends.”

Nick nodded.  “Okay.”

“Really?”  Ariel asked excitedly.

“Yes really.”

“We should go to the mall today.”

Roxie put breakfast on the table.  “Then I guess we’re going to the mall today.”

After breakfast, they made their way to the mall.  Once inside Nick asked.  “Ok Ariel, where to first?”

Ariel scrunched up her nose.  “Well, we need paint, bed stuff, pictures, furniture…”

“Wait, furniture?  What’s wrong with your furniture?”  Nick questioned.

“It’s part of the old room.”

“Ariel, there’s nothing wrong with your furniture.  I’m not buying you a whole new bedroom set.” 

Ariel whimpered.  “But…”

“No.”  Ariel looked up at Nick pouting.  “You don’t need new furniture.  You have a white bedroom set.  Trust me when I say it'll match the new look of your room.”

“Oh okay.”  Ariel said conceding

After 2 hours of shopping, they were nearly almost done.  They got everything they’d need but paint and bedding.  They were about to go into Sears when Ariel announced that she was hungry.  They turned around changing their destination and headed in the opposite direction toward the food court.  Once at the food court, Ariel ran toward McDonalds.  Nick placed the bags on a table and ran after Ariel.  He didn’t catch her soon enough as she ran right into the legs of two girls.

He cringed and made his way over there quickly.  He approached them and without looking at the strangers, he looked down at Ariel and scolded her for running away.  He looked up.  “I’m sorry.  She…”  He stopped realizing that two of his younger sisters were standing in front of him.  “Uh, hi.”  He said nervously.

“C’mon Angel.  Let’s go.”  BJ said before dragging Angel away. 

Nick sighed sadly and grabbed Ariel’s hand and took her to the McDonald’s line.  He ordered his, Roxie’s and Ariel’s food and then made his way back to their table, holding the food in one hand and Ariel’s hand in the other.  He approached the table and placed the tray on the table.

Without warning, he felt someone hug him from behind.  Slightly confused, Nick turned around and was shocked to find his sister Angel hugging him.  “I’ve missed you Nick.”

Nick smiled too.  “I’ve missed you too.”

“Daddy, I just realized that I need a fish tank.”

Nick turned to her briefly.  “We’ll see.”

“Oh my god, you’re a father.”  Nick turned quickly to the sound of his other sister’s voice.  “It wasn’t enough that you had to screw up your life and everyone in your life, now you have to screw up a little kid.”  Nick opened his mouth to try and defend himself.  “Angel, let’s get out of here.”

“No.  I miss him.  I want to stay.”

“Angel, now.  I can’t believe you even came over here.”  BJ looked over and spotted Roxie.  She turned back to him.  “I can’t believe you found someone dumb enough to date you.  How much are you paying her?”

He stood there watching them walk away.  He received a false sense of hope when Angel hugged him.  He thought maybe the time had come for him to reconcile with his family.  And then BJ came along and realized that almost 5 years later he still hadn’t been forgiven which meant to him that he probably never would be forgiven.  He turned back to the table.  Roxie was looking at him with a look of concern.  He didn’t want to deal with anything right now.  All he knew was the he wanted to be alone.  He grabbed the bags from the table.  “I’ll be outside.”

Ariel watched Nick leave quickly.  “Daddy didn’t eat.”

“We’ll save his lunch for him.  Maybe he’ll want it later.”

“Okay.”  Ariel said then began to eat.

Outside Nick was putting their purchases in his jeep.  He kept hearing BJ’s hurtful words repeating in his head.  He felt tears begin to well up in eyes.  Even though he had been expecting that kind of reaction, to actually face it was worse than he ever imagined it to be.  He took a deep breath.  He couldn’t let this get to him.  He took a few more deep breaths before he felt composed enough to go back inside.

He approached the food court and found Roxie and Ariel almost done with their lunch.  He approached the table.  “So, you girls ready to continue.”

“But Daddy, you didn’t eat.”

“That’s ok.  I’m not really hungry.”  He looked at Roxie and almost lost it again when he saw the look of sympathy she was giving him.  He put on a fake smile.  “So, what do you say?”

Ariel slid off the chair.  “Let’s go.”

“You guys go ahead.  I’ll be right there.”

“Ok.  We’ll be in Sears looking at bedding.”

“Ok.”  Roxie stood up and kissed him.  It was intended to comfort Nick.  Ariel giggled, and they broke apart.  Nick took Ariel’s hand and walked toward Sears.  Roxie watched them walk off.  She looked around the food court until she spotted the two girls from earlier.  She ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­marched right up to them.   “Excuse me, but who the hell do you think you are, coming up to him and attacking him like that?  What right do you have to say those things to him, and in front of his daughter?  And for the record, he’s not how you think he is.  He’s a great father, and a great boyfriend.”  Roxie said and then walked off toward the entrance to the food court.

Angel stood up.  “Where are you going?”

“BJ, I miss him.  And don’t you sit there and tell me that you don’t miss him.”

“You were too young to fully understand…”

Angel interrupted her.  “I know why he was disowned.  Did you ever think that if maybe we supported him, like a family should, then maybe we could’ve helped him?”  BJ went to respond but Angel cut her off.  “You may be ok with hating him for the rest of your life, but I’m not.”  Angel said and ran off to follow Roxie.

Angle caught up with Roxie and tried to stay far enough back so she wouldn’t get caught.  She wasn’t successful.  Roxie turned around quickly.  “Why are you following me?”

“I’m sorry if you hate me, but I didn’t say those things to Nick.  Please.  I just want my big brother back.  I miss him.”

Roxie searched Angel’s eyes and found that she couldn’t see anything but sincerity.  “Fine.  But if I see one frown cross his face, then I’ll personally make sure you never go near him again.”

“Deal.”  Angel walked silently at Roxie’s side.  “I’m Angel.”  She said shyly. 

Roxie, realizing that Angel really was trying, let her guard down a little.  “I’m Roxie.”

They walked in silence for a little longer until they found Nick and Ariel looking at children’s bedding.

Ariel glanced back and noticed Roxie first.  "Roxie!"  She sang happily, then quickly her smile faded when she caught sight of the girl walking with her.  "Hey!  What are you doing here?"  She said immediately, ready to defend her daddy.

“I…”  Angel said just as BJ walked up. 

Ariel glared at the two strangers and stood in front of her daddy with her hands on her hips.  “You said mean things to my Daddy.  Go away. You don’t belong here.”

Nick wouldn’t look at his sisters.  He looked down at Ariel and couldn’t help but smile at the small girl.  “Ariel, not everyone’s going to like me.  Don’t worry about it okay?”

Ariel looked back at Nick.  “Why would anyone not like you?  You’re the best Daddy in the world and I love you, so that means that everyone else should love you.”

Nick couldn’t help but chuckle.  “I’m afraid that’s not how it works.”

Ariel turned back to BJ and Angel.  “Why don’t you love my Daddy?  Do you even know him? I don’t think so, cause if you did, you’d really really love him.”

Angel looked at BJ.  “See, he has to have changed.

“What makes you so sure?”

“Well, for one, that little girl really loves him.  And secondly, he’s not dead.”

Nick’s eyes widened and he suddenly became nervous.  He wasn’t ready for his secret to come out.  “Maybe we should go somewhere where we can talk alone.”

BJ glanced over at him, then looked at Roxie and Ariel.  She suddenly realized that neither of them probably knew about Nick's past.  She made eye contact with her brother again and decided that she could either go all through her life hating him or she could try to make amends.  She nodded.  “Okay.”

Nick walked toward his sisters then turned back to Roxie.  “Make sure she doesn’t buy out the store.  I haven’t gone to work in a couple weeks.  I might run out of money if she did.”

“Don’t worry Nick.  I’ll keep her grounded.”

“Okay.” Nick turned around and followed his sisters silently. 

They walked out of the store and sat on the bench in front of the store.  The silence was deafening.  “How old is she?”  Angel broke the silence.

“4.”

“Oh, she was born right after you…”

“I’d rather not talk about the past.”

“Well, you’re going to have to eventually.”  BJ said.

“BJ, I know what I did to you was wrong, and I’m sorry.  But it does seem that you’re not ready to forgive me.”  Silence fell over them again. “I guess I’ll go back in.”  Nick stood up and turned back to the store.

“Nick?”  He stopped.  He knew that voice all too well.  He turned around slowly. His eyes locked with his mother’s and she smiled before coming up to him and hugging him.  She pulled back and held him at arm’s length.  “You look a lot better than the last time I saw you.”  She smiled. 

Jane was about to ask him a question when Aaron ran over and hugged him tightly.

Leslie walked over to them and glanced at Nick briefly.  “Ok, so you’re still alive, can we move on now?”

Nick didn’t get a chance to respond.  It was at that moment that Ariel ran out of the store and over to him.  Nick bent down to pick her up.

“And who is this?”  Jane asked as she looked at the younger female version of her son.

“This is Ariel, you’re granddaughter.”  Nick looked at Ariel.  “Do you need me to come back in and pay?”

“No Daddy.  Roxie paid.”

Nick nodded.  He looked up just in time to see his father and Leslie walk away. 

“So, Nick.  What have you been doing with your life, besides raising a daughter?”

“Um, I own a music store.”

“Wow, that’s good.  I’m glad you’re doing so well.”

“Thanks.”

“You don’t have to be a stranger anymore Nick.”

“I don’t think everybody wants me back in your life.”

“They’ll get used to it.”

Roxie came out of the store carrying Ariel’s new bedding.  She approached Nick.  Nick handed Ariel to Roxie.  He introduced Roxie to his interested family then quickly stepped out of the crowd.  He wrote out a check to his father for $1,000, and nervously approached him. Nick was afraid to look in his father’s eyes, so he kept his gaze on the floor.  “I’m sorry.  Here.”

Bob took the check and looked at it.  He nodded but knew that he’d never accept the money.  He handed the check back to Nick.  “Use it for your daughter.”

He took his check back and turned to walk away from his father.  He turned back.  “I’m sorry.  I know I screwed up.  But I’ve changed.  I want my family back, or as much of it as I can get back.  I just hope that you’ll be able to forgive me one day.”

Bob only nodded.  “I hope so too.”

Part of Nick hoped to be instantly forgiven and the fact that he wasn’t hurt, but he tried to not let it show.  He looked at Leslie and she turned and walked away form him.  He walked back to the small group by the bench.  He looked at Ariel and Roxie.  “You ready to get going?  We still have to go to the Pet Store.”

Ariel looked up excitedly.  “I’m getting a fish tank?”

“Yes.  A small one, and you’ll have to help me take care of the fish.”

“Okay,” Ariel said excitedly.  “We also have to go to the paint store.”

“We’re not going there today.  I’ll stop on the way home from work.”

Nick walked into his bedroom and found Roxie lounging on his bed flipping through channels.  

 “Ariel’s asleep.  She kept telling me that she wasn’t tired.  She put her head on her pillow and that was it.  She completely passed out.”  Nick said as he sat next to Roxie on his bed. 

 Roxie laughed.  “Well, she was excited.  Today was a good day.” 

 “Yeah, it was a good day wasn’t it?” 

 “Yeah.  Ariel got new decorations, and you got your family back.” 

 Nick leaned over and kissed her softly, reaching up to hold her by her chin.  Roxie pulled back, taken by surprise.  "What was that for...?"  She whispered, their faces still close. 

 “I don’t know.  I just felt like it.”  He said and kissed her again, in a matter-of-fact way.  This time, the kiss was much more passionate.  Nick moved his hand to Roxie's cheek and held her there close to him.  Both Nick and Roxie felt the connection between them.  “Mmm…”  Nick whispered against Roxie’s lips.  Roxie smiled slightly to herself and opened her mouth to take a breath.  She was definitely overwhelmed by the unexpected kiss.  When Roxie opened her mouth, Nick's tongue moved in and grazed Roxie's tongue teasingly.  Roxie moaned quietly against Nick's lips and Nick took it that she was enjoying the kiss.  

 One of his hands moved down her body and grabbed hold of her hip.  He pulled her over toward him and Roxie climbed onto his lap and straddled his lap.  She started to grind her body against his as they continued to kiss.  Nick grunted loudly, feeling himself begin to awaken in a place that hadn’t been touched for so long.  When she realized what she was doing to him, Roxie pulled away and looked into his eyes.  Nick grinned, giving her the okay to continue.  Roxie was smirking out of the side of her mouth before she leaned in to kiss him again.

As they kissed passionately, yet aggressively, Roxie’s fingers made their way down to the bottom of his t-shirt.  Nick chuckled deep in his throat in response.  He was getting more excited with each passing moment.  Roxie’s hands tickled their way up and underneath Nick’s shirts, her nails gently grazing his skin.  Nick breathed in sharply when he felt her touch on his abdomen.  It had been so long since he had had any physical contact with a woman and he felt the nervousness building up in his stomach as Roxie pulled his shirt off of him and over his head. 

 As soon as his shirt was off, Roxie leaned in to kiss his lips again, but Nick stopped her and quickly pulled her shirt off, too.  He briefly glanced down at her topless, taking her all in for the first time.

 “You’re beautiful…”  Nick whispered and leaned in to kiss her gently.  His hands moved to her sides, then went around to the small of her back.  “Your skin is so soft.”  He muttered.  His hands moved up her back and in the process, pulled her close to him.  He so much wanted to feel their bodies pressed together; flesh against flesh.  Roxie smiled and leaned up and kissed Nick's lips again.  One of Nick's hands went to the back of Roxie's head and guided her as they made out.  

 After a few minutes, Roxie’s hands moved down to Nick’s pants and began to

unbutton and unzip his fly.  Her hand pressed against his obvious bulge and Nick uttered a low groan in response.  Roxie let out a quiet giggle.  “Like that?”  She asked quietly.

            “Like you have to ask…”  Nick said just as quietly.

“Good.”  Roxie said and slid her fingers into his boxers’ elastic for a moment.  Nick breathed in sharply and Roxie pulled her hand away from him teasingly.

 Just as Nick began to lean back against the headboard, Roxie moved down slightly, getting ready to pull his pants down.  Nick’s and Roxie’s eyes connected and then suddenly, the bedroom door swung open and Ariel ran in crying hysterically.

They jumped.  Nick closed his jeans while Roxie quickly grabbed the shirt closest to her and put it on, not caring that it was Nick’s shirt.

As Ariel approached the bed, Nick went to grab her to pull her on the bed.  Ariel whimpered.  She climbed on the bed and began sobbing into Roxie’s chest.  Concerned, Nick placed a hand on her back. Although he quickly removed it when Ariel screamed.

“I’m sorry Daddy, I don’t mean to be a bad girl.  Please don’t hurt me.”

Nick looked at Ariel in confusion. “Ariel, you know I’d never hurt you.”  He tried to hug her but she became hysterical again and he backed off.

Roxie slid off the bed.  “Come on Ariel.  Let’s go into the bathroom.  I’ll give you some water, and you can tell me why you’re so afraid.”  Ariel nodded and Roxie lifted her up and carried her into the bathroom.  She placed her on the counter and gave her some water.  “Now Ariel, what happened?”

“I had a bad dream.”

“Why don’t you tell me what it was about?”

“Daddy was beating me up.” 

Nick was standing outside the bathroom door.  He heard what Ariel said and immediately went downstairs.

It was about 20 minutes before Roxie went downstairs to find Nick.  She found him sitting on the couch starring down at his hands.  He heard her walk into the room, and tried to hide his tears.  She sat down next to him and placed a comforting hand on his leg.  “She’s ok Nick.  She’s asleep.”  He stayed quiet and wouldn’t look at her.  She reached over and grabbed his chin to force him to look at her.  She saw the tears in his eyes.  She pulled him into a hug.  In her arms he started crying.  “Hey, sh, it’s ok.  She’s ok.”

“I don’t want her to be afraid of me.”

“Nick, that was nothing.  Sometimes a child just needs a mother figure, and not a father.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Why don’t you explain it to me?”

“I’m not sure I can.”

“Oh c’mon Nick.  You know you can tell me anything.”  He looked reluctant to talk.  She leaned up and kissed him gently.

“I don’t want you to think any differently of me.”

“I’m sure I won’t think differently.”

“I don’t know.”

“Ok.  How about we go to sleep, and you tell me in the morning.”

“I won’t be able to sleep.”

“So take a sleeping pill.”

Nick shook his head.  “Too big of a risk of addiction.”

“Not if used wisely.”

“For me, it’s too big of a risk.”

“One sleeping pill isn’t going to hurt you.”

“I don’t have the strength to fight another addiction.  So, I can’t risk it.”

“What do you mean another addiction?”

He took a deep breath and looked back down at his hands.  “I’m a former drug addict.”  Roxie stayed quiet.  She was starring at him in shock.  He continued.  “Tracy and I started dating our senior year in high school.  We started drinking and smoking at parties.  But at that point it was only social.  By the time I graduated high school, I was a chain smoker, but only drinking at parties, which were a regular occurrence. 

“That summer was basically the same as our senior year in high school.  Except, that there was a lot more sex.  Most of it was drunken sex in the backseat of my car.  We were usually too drunk to even remember that there was such a thing as condoms, let alone to remember to use one.  Of course she ended up pregnant.  Not with Ariel.  She got into a car accident and lost the baby.  I later found out that she purposely drove her car into a tree.

“We had decided to go to the same college.  We were young and thought we couldn’t live without each other.  Our first college party was when things changed.  It started with marijuana.  Toward the beginning of October, I began experimenting.  I tried so many different drugs, that I honestly couldn’t tell you what I tried.  I got hooked on heroin.  I used to snort it.

“That’s when I started failing classes.  When I wasn’t in class, all I cared about was sex.  And in class, all I cared about was my next fix of heroin.  I actually used to take it to class with me, and snort a line or two in the bathroom.  I ended up on academic probation that semester.

“Over winter break of that year was the last time my sister Leslie talked to me.”

Nick was at home in his parents’ house during winter break from college.  He was hanging out with Tracy in a drunken haze.  None of his family was home, of course, because it was during the day.  His siblings were in school and his parents were at work.  Tracy and Nick were spending their alone time like any time they were alone.  They were passing a joint back and forth and making out.  

 After a few minutes, Tracy’s hand moved down to Nick’s crotch and started massaging the bulge in his pants.  Nick groaned out and Tracy snickered deeply in her throat.  She undid his pants with ease and then began stroking his exposed shaft right away.  Nick rarely bothered to wear underwear considering how much sex he and Tracy had.  Tracy felt him grow just as Nick reached up and put his hand on the top of her head.  He pushed her down his body, letting her know what he wanted.  Tracy pulled his jeans down for more access.  She wrapped her lips around his tip and then pulled away, rubbing her saliva down his dick.  She pulled away for a moment and pumped her hand over him, getting him hard.  Nick brought the joint up to his mouth and inhaled deeply.  Tracy glanced up and smirked and then moved back down and deep-throated him right away.

 “Oh fuck…”  Nick leaned back against the couch.  He brought the joint up to his mouth and inhaled again, closing his eyes and savoring the moment.

 Neither of them were paying much attention to anything going on around them and they definitely didn’t hear the front door opening or the footsteps coming into the living room.  

 “Oh my God!”  A voice screeched.

 Nick opened his eyes slowly and saw his sister Leslie.  “Heyyy, Les.”  He said.  “What’s up?”  He asked.  Tracy continued and her head kept moving up and down in Nick’s lap.

He paused as he took a deep breath.  He kept starring down at his hands.  He didn’t want to look Roxie in the eyes, afraid of what he’d find.  “At the end of January, we went back to school.  We started off going to class.  We were high most of the time when we did go, but we still went.  Then it came to a point where, half the time we didn’t go to class.  We started going through drugs faster than we had in the past and we ended up running out of money.  I was home one weekend and I stole some money from my dad.  Stealing my dad’s money became almost like another addiction.  Between February and April, I stole about $1,000 from my dad.

“By April, it was obvious that I was failing and that I’d get kicked out, but I didn’t care. 

Nick was looking through his dad’s dresser for cash.  His father had begun hiding his money in other places in the house due to theft.  “Trace, I can’t find anything!”  He said.  “Tracy?”  He called out, making his way down the long upstairs hallway.

 “In here!”  Tracy called.

 Nick walked into his sister’s room.  “What are you doing in here?”  Nick chuckled.

 “You think this is my size?”  Tracy asked, holding up a sweater of BJ’s.

 “I don’t know…  Let’s try it on you…”  He smirked.  “First we gotta take this shirt off.”  He said and walked up to her.  He reached down and pulled her shirt up over her head.  “Let’s just keep you like this.”  He grinned.  He kissed her aggressively.  

 Tracy backed up against BJ’s bed and Nick climbed on top of her.  The two shed their clothes quickly and then all of a sudden, Nick was thrusting into Tracy roughly.  Of course they weren’t using protection.

 “Oh fuck…  Fuck me, Carter…  Fuck that pussy!”  Tracy screamed out as he kept doing her.  Nick pounded her roughly.  He moved down and bit her neck roughly, leaving teeth marks in her skin to cover her fading hickeys.   

 Nick leaned up and opened Tracy’s legs further to push into her deeper.  “Fuck, baby, I’m close…”  Nick warned her.  

 BJ walked into her room.  “What the fuck!”  She screamed.  “Nick!  Get out!”

 Nick glanced back at his sister, then turned around and looked back down at his girlfriend.  He thrust into her deeply and deposited a large wad of his seed into her body as he came.  BJ was still in the background shrieking, but neither he nor Tracy seemed to notice or care.  He pulled out of her spent womanhood, pulling some of his cum out and letting it drip on BJ’s bedspread.

 “You’re sick, Nick.  Fucking sick!”  BJ said as Nick collapsed onto his girlfriend on his sister’s bed, not caring about what was going on around him.

“BJ went running to my dad.  He had enough of me.  First Leslie, then the money, which he had just realized I stole from him and BJ, was the last straw.  He told me that if I was going to live like that to get out of the house and out of their lives.

“A couple months later, we found out that Tracy was pregnant and that the conception date was the day that BJ caught us in her room.

“We moved into the apartment that Tracy currently lives in.  I stayed sober long enough to go to work, went home.  When I got home, I smoked a joint, snorted a line, or fucked Tracy and not necessarily in that order. 

“We didn’t stop our use of drugs while she was pregnant.  And it was for that reason that Ariel was born weighing 4lbs. 

“Sometimes I wonder how Ariel survived.  We were such horrible parents.  We were selfish.  If she started crying while we were having sex, we didn’t stop.  As she got older things kinda got worse.  We were used to having sex whenever we wanted it, and that didn’t stop, not even when she was in the room. 

“In the first two years of her life, I was abusive.  If she interrupted us, I hit her.  And I had hit her hard.  She was terrified of me when she was younger.

“One of my friends and his girlfriend somehow found out about how she was treated and they threatened me.  They said if I didn’t get my act together they were going to call social services.

“I don’t know how, but somehow that got through to me.  I guess even fucked up, I knew that I didn’t want to lose Ariel.  So I packed a few things and I went to their apartment.  Unfortunately I had to leave Ariel with Tracy.”

I waited nervously at the door to the apartment, waiting for it to open.  “Nick, what are you doing here?  Are you on something?”

“Please don’t call social services.”

“I told you.  If you don’t clean up your act, I’m calling.”

“Will you help me?”

“What are you asking?” Nick reached into his bag and handed James his stash.  “Why are you giving me this?”

“I want to quit.  So I need you to dispose of that.”

“You should go to rehab.”

“I can’t afford it.  The only way to quit will be to do it cold turkey.  I know that’s hard.  I’m going to need you to help me.”

“James, who’s at the door?”  Becca came to the door and saw Nick.  “What’s going on?”

“Nick wants to quit cold turkey.”

“Please help me.”

“How can we help you Nick?”

“If I stay in my apartment, I’ll have access to the drugs so I won’t be able to stop.  And I looked up what will happen to me, just to get some kind of idea, and I’m going to get pretty sick.”

“So, you want us to take care of you?”

“Please.”

~*~

Becca opened the door to their spare bedroom.  “How are you doing Nick?”

Nick’s responded only by moaning in pain.  He was sweating and he had just spent the past 48 hours vomiting frequently.  He was feeling cramp like pains in his arms and legs.  His muscles and bones ached.  His stomach was cramping and he was definitely running a fever.  And to make him feel even worse, he wasn’t sleeping.

He could barely move out of bed.  He had a bucket at the edge of the bed for when he had to vomit.  As Becca was coming into the room to check on him, he leaned over the bed and vomited violently.  Becca wrinkled her nose.  When she was sure he was done she sat on the bed next to him.  Holding a towel, she tried to wipe some of his sweat away.  “Do you feel any better?”

“I feel like I’m dying.”  He said with a painful moan

“You’ll get better in time.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” Nick felt his stomach churn, and leaned over the bed.  He wasn’t fast enough and he missed the bucket.

“Eww.”

“I’m sorry, I can help you clean it.”

“You can barely stand up Nick.  Don’t worry about it.”

James walked into the room carrying another bucket.  “Whoa, he got sick again didn’t he?”  He was only referring to the smell.

“Yeah, he missed the bucket a little too.”

“Oh great.”  James groaned.

“I went through, maybe a month of withdrawal, maybe even longer, before I started to feel normal again.  When I started to feel better, they helped me buy the space that my store is in.

“Once the store was successful, I hired a lawyer and that’s when the custody battle started.  The rest is history.”

Nick finally had the nerve to look up at Roxie.  She smacked him hard across the face.  “Guys like you are nothing but trouble.  I’m glad I didn’t sleep with you.” She said and stormed out of the room.  He reached up and held his stinging cheek.  He was regretting telling Roxie, because just as he feared, she now hated him.

He stood up and slowly walked up to his room.  He was hoping that maybe Roxie would be there and they could talk about it.  He entered his bedroom and saw that Roxie wasn’t in there.  He shut the door and leaned against it, sliding down the door until he reached the floor.  Hugging his knees, he started crying.

Nick woke up to find himself lying on the floor by his bedroom door.  He was confused.  Suddenly he remembered everything from the night before.

He walked into the kitchen and found both of his girls there.  “Morning.”

“Morning Daddy.”

Roxie was standing by the stove and didn’t even acknowledge Nick’s presence.”

“What are you cooking?”

“Ariel and I are having chocolate chip pancakes.  You’re a big boy.  You don’t need someone to cook for you.  So you’re having whatever you want.”

Nick looked at Roxie in confusion.  First she smacked him without explanation, now she was acting as if she didn't care about him at all. He watched her place the pancakes on the table.  At first he thought she wasn’t serious about not cooking for him, until he saw that she really did only make enough for herself and Ariel.  He made himself a bowl of cereal and sat next to Roxie.  Almost immediately, she stood up and moved.  Nick took a deep breath and starred down at his cereal.  He felt tears prick the back of his eyes.  He stood up and dumped his cereal in the sink.  Leaving the bowl in the sink, he left the kitchen.  He was trying not to cry, but in case he did, he didn’t want Ariel to see him that vulnerable.

He went back in his bedroom.  He blinked and felt a single tear slide down his cheek.  He angrily wiped it away in vain as more were soon to follow.  He sat on his bed, resting his elbows on his knee and his face in his hands.  Get a grip Carter.  Stop crying like a fucking baby.  It took him a few minutes, but he was finally able to compose himself.

He went back downstairs.  As he stepped off the bottom step, he saw a ball of fur go running past him.  He was wondering what got into his dog that caused her to be running like that in the house.  Then, as Ariel ran past him, he realized that Missy was running away from Ariel. 

He entered the kitchen and found Roxie washing the dishes from her breakfast.  “Can we talk?”

She stopped what she was doing and turned to him.  “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“What do you mean, there’s nothing to talk about?  Last night, you made me tell you something I wasn’t comfortable telling you, then you smacked me.”

“Just drop it Nick.  We’re over.”

“What?  Roxie you can’t be serious.  Can’t we just talk about this?  I think I have a right to know why you’re dumping me.  Why won’t you talk to me?”

“Because you don’t deserve it.”

“I don’t deserve what?  To talk to you or you?”

She didn’t answer him.  She just turned to leave the kitchen.

Nick followed her to try and get her to talk.  However he gave up when he realized that Roxie stopped in the living room where Ariel was coloring.

“Roxie, Daddy, look what I drew.”  She handed them a picture of the three of them.  Ariel was in between them and they were both holding her hand. 

Nick was about to smile when Roxie said.  “Oh, that’s very nice sweetie, but it won’t happen.”  Nick looked at her.  Their eyes locked briefly.  If Roxie noticed the pain in his eyes, she didn’t acknowledge it.

~*~

It was a few days later.  Nick walked up his front walkway to his door.  He checked his mail and found nothing, then unlocked the front door.  When he walked in, he announced that he was home to a quiet house.  He heard Ariel's cheerful laughter in the backyard and knew she must be playing outside with Roxie.  He sighed, wishing that he knew what he did to Roxie.  Nothing had changed between the two of them in the last couple of days and she was still refusing to talk to him.  It was strictly business when she did utter words in his direction. 

 When he walked through the dining room to look at his daughter and her caregiver, he saw apartment finder magazines on the table.  He noticed one of the magazines was opened.  He cautiously glanced down at the page.  He felt his heart break when he realized that every highlighted address was at least 20 minutes from him.  He sighed and went out back.

Ariel heard the back door open and ran to greet her father.  "Daddy!"  She said happily.

 "Hey honey."  Nick said unenthusiastically, but smiled a fake smile for Ariel's benefit.  "Wanna come inside and get ready for dinner?"

 "Piggyback ride?"  Ariel asked, tilting her head.

Nick turned around and kneeled so that Ariel could climb onto his back.  He stood up and carried her into the house and purposely dropped her on the couch.

Roxie entered the room.  “You can handle dinner tonight right?  I’m going to the Grand Opening of The Captain’s Table with a few of my friends.”

“Yeah.”  Was all he could find in him to say.  They were supposed to go there together.  But he knew it’d be useless to try and remind Roxie of that.  He watched her leave, wishing that he hadn't done whatever caused her to hate him.  It was so frustrating and depressing at the same time.  He sighed and turned to Ariel “What do you want for dinner Ariel?”

~*~

It was that Saturday night.  A week had passed since Nick had shared his secret with Roxie and still nothing had changed.  That particular evening, Roxie was upstairs in her bedroom while Nick and Ariel were watching television in the living room.  The Little Mermaid was playing, of course, per Ariel's request.  Nick was zoning out to the movie as he watched Sebastian sing "Under the Sea" for probably the millionth time in his life, when all of a sudden the doorbell brought him out of his daze. 

 "Who's that?"  Ariel asked, perking her head up and turning her head in the direction of the front door.

Nick shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Stay here.”  He stood up and walked to his door.  He opened the door to find a man he didn’t know.  He looked at him in confusion.

“I’m Brad.  I’m here to pick up Roxie.  I met her the other day and when I asked her out on a date, she said yes.  She’s an unbelievably remarkable woman.”

“I guess she’ll be right down.”  Nick began to walk away.

“So, can I wait on the couch or something?”

“No.  I have a policy about not letting men I don’t know near my daughter.”  He said and continued to walk back to the couch.

He couldn’t believe that she had a date.  He still didn’t know what he did, but she apparently, already moved on.  Nick’s already broken heart shattered at the mere thought of her dating another man so soon.  For a moment, Nick was positive that he felt physical pain in his heart at the mere thought of her on a date, with someone who wasn’t him.

He heard footsteps on the stairs and soon the front door opened and closed, signaling that Roxie had left for date.

Shortly after The Little Mermaid Nick took Ariel upstairs to get her ready for bed.  He was sitting on the side of the bed tucking her in.

“Daddy?”

“What?”

“When Roxie moves away, can I spend weekends with her?”

Nick was taken back by his daughter’s question. “Ariel, she’s here all day when I’m at work.  If you’re with her on weekends, you won’t see me a lot.”

“That’s ok.  I have a lot of fun with Roxie on the weekends.”  She said, not realizing how much her words would have an effect on her father.

My own daughter loves Roxie more than she loves me.  Sighing defeatedly, he said.  “As long as she’s ok with it, so am I.”

Nick tucked her in and then left the room.  He leaned against the wall, letting his head fall back against the wall. He took a deep breath and started crying outside of his daughter’s room.  He stopped crying and peaked back into her room.  Ariel was sleeping.  He whispered into the quiet room.  “I love you Ariel.  I just hope you always remember that.”

Roxie returned later that night.  She invited her date in so they could spend some more time getting to know each other.  She entered the house and hung her key’s on the hook.  She bent down when she realized that she knocked something off.  It was a folded piece of paper with her name on it, written in Nick’s sloppy handwriting.  She was tempted to leave the note alone until her date left, but she had a strong feeling that was telling her that she really needed to read the note.  She opened it and began reading.

Roxie,

I know you hate me.  I just don’t know why.  I wish I did, then maybe I’d understand what happened between us.

Ariel asked me a question tonight.  One that made me realize that my own daughter doesn’t love me.  And if she does, she certainly doesn’t love me as much as she loves you.  She asked me about moving in with you part time.  Once I’m gone, she’ll get her dream and be able to live with you full time.

I spent the past week trying to get you to talk to me, but you would barely even look at me.  I can’t do this anymore.  I’m a waste of a human being and it’s for that reason that I’m ending it tonight.  Everyone would be better off without me, including Ariel who will be much better off living with you.  The only thing I ask, is that you make sure she knows how much I love her and that she doesn’t forget me. 

Nick

“Oh my god.”  She ran up the stairs without even acknowledging her date.  She reached Nick’s room and threw the door open.  She checked his bathroom, but like his bedroom, that was empty too.  “Oh god.  Where are you Nick?  Please let it not be too late.”  She ran back downstairs trying to think of anywhere he could be.  She ran right past her date, who saw her run by and then left soon after.  She stopped in the kitchen not sure where to go next.  She saw the basement door was slightly open.  Nick always kept that door closed.  She ran for the door and ran down the steps as quickly as she could without falling.  She found Nick sitting on an old beat up couch.  He had tears streaming down his cheeks as he held a knife over his wrist.  “Oh my god.  Nick don’t do it.”

“Oh my god.  Nick, don’t do it.”

“Go away Roxie.  There’s nothing you can do to change my mind.”

“You don’t want to die Nick.”

“Yes I do.  I fucked up my family.  I’m a horrible father.  There’s no reason for me to still be here.  Please just go away and leave me alone.”

She cautiously took a step closer.  “You’re not a waste and you’re a great father.  That little girl loves you.  She needs you.”

“Not anymore.  She has you now.”

She started to move closer to him slightly faster.  “She needs her father.  And besides, do you really not want to be around as she grows up?  You’ll miss her first day of school.  The day she learns to ride a two wheeler, her first adult tooth.  If you do this now, you won’t be there to scare away her first boyfriend.  Who will give her away at her wedding?  You’ll never see your first grandchild.  Then one day, one of her children will ask her, ‘Mommy, where’s Grandpa?’  Do you really want her response to be that you committed suicide?”

Nick started sobbing.  His grip loosened on the knife.  He realized he was dropping it and went to grab it tighter.  He was shaking.  As he tried to steady the knife, he pressed the blade against his skin.  He felt the blade cut his wrist.

She reached Nick and gently took the knife from him.  “Hey, I need that.  Give it back.”

“No.  I will not allow you to commit suicide.”

"Why do you care what happens to me?  I pay you to pretend to care about Ariel, not me."

“If that were true, that I was only pretending to care about her, do you think I’d be down here trying to save her father from himself?  I love Ariel.”

“You don’t care about me, or what happens to me.”

“I love you.”  She said matter-of-factly.

He scoffed.  “Yeah right.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Are you suffering from short term memory loss?  It was only a week ago that you told me that guys like me were nothing but a waste of time and trouble.”

Roxie never regretted saying anything as much as she regretted those words to Nick at that moment.  “Nick, I didn’t mean that.  I was just hurt.”

“Why would you be hurt?”

Roxie knew she’d have to tell him.  She knew that that moment wasn’t the right time.  He was in a very fragile state of mind.  There’s no telling what he would do if she told him at that moment.  “Nick, think about Ariel.  How do you think she’ll feel if I let you do this?  And one day, sooner than you think, she’ll understand that you died by your own hand.”

“She’s better off without me.”

“Is she really Nick?” 

“She loves you more than she loves me.”

“She’s a kid.  Just because she wants to spend time with me doesn’t mean that she doesn’t love you.  She adores you.  You’re her Daddy and she’s definitely Daddy’s little girl.  And besides, with you gone, there’s no guarantee that she’d ever even see me again. She’d either end up in foster care, or even worse with Tracy.”   Nick started crying harder, if that was at all possible.  Roxie immediately grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, holding him tightly as he cried.

Ariel woke up to the feeling of having to go potty.  She crawled off her bed and went into the bathroom.  When she came out, she noticed that her Daddy’s bedroom door was open.  She smiled.  She always loved crawling into her daddy’s bed in the middle of the night.  She ran for the door and looked in confused when the room was empty.  She shrugged and went downstairs.  “Daddy?”  She called out as she looked around for him.  She couldn’t find him anywhere.  She was starting to wonder if she was alone in the house and she started crying.  She saw the basement door open.  She cautiously approached the door.  She had never been in the basement and she was kind of nervous about going down there.

She heard what sounded like someone crying.  She cautiously made her way downstairs.  She turned a corner and smiled and immediately stopped crying when she realized that both her daddy and Roxie were there.  She took a step closer and then stopped when she realized that her daddy was crying.  “Daddy?”  She said then ran over to him.  She climbed onto the couch between Nick and Roxie and hugged him.  He put his uninjured arm around her, but wouldn’t let go of Roxie.  He needed the physical contact with Roxie.  He wanted to stop crying because he hated that Ariel had to see him like that.  “Daddy, why are you crying?  Did you get hurt?”

He nodded slightly.  “But we’re here to make him feel better, right Ariel.”

“Right.”  Ariel stated matter-of-factly.  “I love you Daddy.”  She said as she hugged him tighter.

Nick started crying harder.  Somehow he managed to choke out, “I love you too, Ariel,” in between sobs.

“Why don’t we go back upstairs?”  Roxie started.  She turned to Ariel.  “We’ll get you back to bed, and when you wake up in the morning, your Daddy will be feeling better.”

“No, I don’t want to go back to bed.  Daddy needs me.”

“I promise.  I’ll take good care of him.”

“Okay.”  Ariel said. 

She picked up Ariel so Nick could stand up.  Ariel put her hand behind Roxie and made a face as she looked at her hand.   “Eww, blood.”

“Yeah, Daddy’s hurt, but I’ll clean him up and get some bandaids for him and he’ll be fine okay?”

“I want Daddy.”  She turned toward Nick and leaned forward until he came close enough to hook herself onto his neck.  Roxie held onto Ariel until Nick had her supported with his uninjured arm.  She kissed Nick’s cheek.  “Don’t cry Daddy.”

He smiled slightly at her.  “I’ll try not to.”

Roxie left the room and returned moments later with a towel.  She grabbed Nick’s wrist to apply pressure to his wound.  Nick flinched.  It wasn’t until that moment that he realized how much the cut actually hurt.

Nick and Roxie headed upstairs.  Nick was still carrying Ariel.  At the moment, Nick was calm.  He still had tears in his eyes, and occasionally a few would fall when he blinked, but he wasn’t sobbing anymore.  Roxie reached over and took Ariel.  “I’ll put her back to bed.”  She handed the bloody towel to Nick.  “Make sure you apply pressure.  Wait for me in the bathroom.  Nick nodded and went to his room while Roxie took Ariel into her room.

Roxie placed Ariel in her bed and then started to head toward the door.  “Roxie?”

“What sweetie?”

“Is Daddy going to be okay?”

Roxie walked back to her bed and sat down on the side.  “Believe me when I say that he’ll be fine.”

“He was crying.”

“Yeah, but you can help him feel better.”

“I can?”

“Yeah.”

“How?”

“By giving him a lot of hugs and telling him that you love him as often as possible.”

“I can do that.”

“I know you can.”  Roxie stood up.  “Sweet dreams Ariel.”  She kissed Ariel’s forehead.  She left the room.

“Goodnight Roxie.”  Ariel said and closed her eyes.

Roxie entered the bathroom.  She knelt in front of Nick.  “Let me see it.”  Nick held his arm out to her. She gently removed the towel and was surprised by the amount of blood.  “Are you feeling lightheaded?”

“No.”

Roxie gently pulled Nick to his feet.  She ran the cold water and instructed Nick to place his wrist under the faucet.  He hissed as the cold water hit his open wound.  A lot of dried blood washed away.  She pulled his wrist from the water and looked at the wound.  “It doesn’t look that deep.  I don’t think you need stitches.”  She said.  She saw the wound was slowly filling up with blood.  “It looks like the bleeding is stopping.”  She took out the first aid kit and cleaned the cut and wrapped his wrist in gauze.

They left the bathroom and sat on the bed.  “Are you still gonna leave me?”

His words hit her like a ton of bricks.  She realized at that moment that she played a big role in his decision to attempt suicide.  She felt horribly guilty

“I’m not leaving you.”  She hugged him.  “I’m sorry for anything I did in the past week that hurt you enough to lead you to suicide.”

He started crying again.  She rubbed his back hoping to comfort him.  After he spent close to a half hour crying, he fell asleep.

She stayed up.  She kept brushing his hair back as silent tears streamed down her face, while he slept.

The next morning, Nick woke up and his eyes immediately locked with Roxie.  “How long have you been awake?”  He asked his voice rough with sleep.

“I never went to sleep.”

“Why not?”

“I was worried about you.  How are you feeling this morning?”

“Okay, I guess.”

She kissed him and rested her head against his chest, drawing shapes on his abdomen with her finger.  “I love you.”  She knew he didn’t believe her, but she was going to tell him until he believed it.  Then she was still going to tell him every chance she got, just to make sure he never forgot it.

“What happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“The night I told you about my past.  I want to know what I did to make you want to dump me.  What did I do?”

“You didn’t do anything.  That was all me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It was my junior year in college.  My boyfriend was a drug addict.  And he was abusive.  I had just turned 20 when I found out I was pregnant.  I was terrified to tell him.  But eventually I did.  He responded by punching me in the stomach until I miscarried.  He killed my baby.  I left him and swore to myself that I would NEVER get involved with someone like him again.

“Then I met you.  You seemed so different from him.  Then you told me about your past, and how you used to abuse Ariel.  Even though, I’ve seen no evidence of you acting like that, in my mind you seemed to have turned into my ex.  I’m sorry Nick.  I’m so sorry.”  Roxie said and started crying into Nick’s chest.

Not knowing what else to do, Nick just put his arms around her.  Nick held her as she calmed down.

The door flew open.  Ariel ran to the bed and climbed on and crawled over to Nick.  “Are you ok Daddy?”

He kissed the top of Ariel’s head.  “I’m ok.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Roxie regained composure and smiled at Ariel.  "How about we go get breakfast?"  She asked her, not wanting the little girl to think she was upset.

  "All right."  Ariel nodded happily.

 "What do you want today?"  Roxie asked her.

 "Umm...  Let's have what Daddy wants!"  She said and smiled at Nick.

Roxie looked at Nick.  “What would you like for breakfast?”

“Uh, French toast?”

Roxie laughed because it sounded like he was asking instead of telling.  “Are you sure?”

“Do I like French toast Daddy?”

“Yes you do.  You just always ask for waffles.”

Ariel looked at Roxie.  “French toast.”  She grabbed Nick’s bandaged wrist to get him out of bed.

He breathed in sharply and closed his eyes tightly hoping the pain would subside.

Roxie noticed what happened.  “Oh, Ariel be careful.”

“Why?”

“Daddy got hurt, so just watch out okay?”

“Come on.  Let’s go eat. I’m hungry.”  When they were off the bed Ariel went over to him and hugged his legs.  “Up Daddy?”

Nick looked down at Ariel.  “You want to get picked up?

“Well yeah.  How can I hug you if I’m all the way down here?”

Nick smiled down at Ariel.  He was suddenly feeling really good about everything.  Ariel did love him and he knew it at that moment.  "Yeah, c'mere."  Nick said and picked her up and held her.  He kissed her head gently.

“I love you Daddy.”

“I love you too.”  He carried Ariel downstairs and placed her at the table.  Just then the phone rang.  Nick answered then handed the phone off to Roxie.

“Who is it?”

“Your date from last night.”  He said with a hint of jealousy in his voice.  He was feeling inferior again.

“Oh,” Roxie took the phone from Nick.  “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Brad.”

“Oh, hey Brad.”

He decided to ignore the disappointment in her voice.  “So, I know last night didn’t end too well, but I was wondering if you were free tonight.  I was thinking, dinner and a movie.”

“Oh, that sounds nice, but I can’t.”

“Okay, what about tomorrow night?”

“Look, I’m sorry, you’re a nice guy but I have a boyfriend.”  She said and smiled at Nick.

“Since when.  You were single last night?”

“Actually I wasn’t.  I may have been saying it, but our date made me realize that my ex still had my heart and that it’d be stupid of me to be with someone other than him.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Well I am.  Let me spell it out for you.  I love Nick.  And you’re not Nick.  Bye Brad.”  She said and hung up the phone.  She smiled at Nick.   She walked over to him and kissed him. 

After breakfast, Nick went upstairs to get dressed.  He came back downstairs.  He kissed his girlfriend and daughter and headed for the door.

“Where are you going Nick?”

“To work.  I’ll be back in like 2 hours.”

20 minutes later, Nick was walking into his store.  “Well, hello stranger.”  Joann, the manager said. Joann was an older woman, who had grown quite fond of Nick and looked at him almost as a son.

“I only came in for the interview.  And also, I needed to talk to you about something.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Would you be able to take over for me until further notice?

“Are you quitting?  You can’t quit.  You own the store.”

“No, I’m not quitting.  I guess you can just call it a personal leave of absence.”  Nick noticed her confused look.  “My life is kind of spiraling out of control right now, and I need time off.”  He walked behind the counter and reached for the binder on a shelf.  The sleeve of his long sleeved shirt rode up a bit revealing his bandage.

“Nick what’s that?”  He quickly put his arm down and pulled his sleeve back over the bandage.  “Nick, please tell me you didn’t.”

“I had intended to.  My girlfriend stopped me.”

“Thankfully.”

“Yeah.”  He said softly.

“When?”

“Last night.”

“That’s why you need time off isn’t it?”  Nick nodded.  She came over and hugged him.  “You take whatever time you need.”

“Thanks.”

“Hi, I’m here for the interview.”

~*~

That night, Roxie entered their room.  Roxie had just put Ariel to sleep and was shocked to find Nick already asleep.

He heard movement in the room and opened his eyes.  “Is she asleep?”

“Yeah.  I thought you were sleeping.”

“No, just resting my eyes.”

“Tired?”

“A little.”

“Oh.”  She said sounding disappointed.

“Why the disappointment?”

“Because I want to watch a movie and cuddle.”

“We can do that.  I’m not going to sleep yet.”

“But you’re tired.  You’ll probably fall asleep on the movie.”

“So, I can’t think of a better way to fall asleep than holding my girlfriend.”

Roxie smiled and put a movie on.  She got into bed and curled up next to nick.  “How are you feeling?”

“Okay?”  He wasn’t quite sure what she was getting at.

“I mean no depressing thoughts?”

“I always have depressing thoughts.”

“How about suicidal thoughts?”

“None of those, except for whenever I see the bandage, I’m reminded of last night.”

Roxie leaned up and kissed him.  “I love you.”

Nick knew that he loved her.  He realized that he needed to tell her.  “I love you too.”

“I love you too.”

“Oh really?”  Roxie smirked when she heard Nick tell her that he loved her.  She didn’t wait for a response from her boyfriend and instead rolled over onto him and kissed him softly.  Nick gave into her kiss at first and opened his mouth to allow access for her to deepen the kiss.  Roxie’s tongue dueled with Nick’s and one of her hands traveled down his body slowly.  Nick started to pull away, realizing what direction they were moving in.

 “Wait.”  Nick said.

 “Nick…  It’s okay…”  Roxie whispered.

 “But what if…”

 “Ariel’s asleep.”  Roxie nodded.

 “But - ”  Nick started to protest, but Roxie placed a firm kiss on his lips to cut him off.  She ran her tongue along his bottom lip and Nick’s mouth once again opened.  He shut his eyes and let himself give into her again, so much wanting the physical attention from the one he loved.  Nick’s hands moved to Roxie’s hips and held her there close to his body.  

 Roxie’s hand moved up to Nick’s chin and held him there as they made out fiercely.  Their noses were pressing up against each other as their lips and tongues connected.  All of a sudden, Nick took control and began to pull Roxie’s pants down.  Roxie smirked against Nick’s lips, half in excitement and half in surprise, as she felt Nick remove her pants and panties simultaneously.  

 “Guess you changed your mind…”  Roxie muttered as she kicked her bottoms to the end of the bed.

 “You could say that.”  Nick smiled.  He placed a kiss on her lips and then rolled her over onto her back so that he was on top of her.  He sat up and knelt over her legs, his on either side of her.  He pulled his shirt over his head as Roxie reached down to his boxers.  Her fingers briefly grazed the bulge under the cotton fabric and Nick groaned in response.  He wasn’t used to feeling anyone’s touch, much less hers.  Roxie giggled quietly when she saw his reaction.  “What?”  Nick asked.

“Just…  You.”  Roxie muttered.  

 “Oh.”  Nick smiled and leaned down.  He kissed her gently.  “You…  Ready?”  He whispered and played with the bottom of her shirt.

 “Mmhmm.”  Roxie responded against his lips as she felt his fingers go up her shirt.  Nick sat up again and Roxie leaned up to allow Nick to pull her shirt off.  When it was off, Nick looked down at her body longingly.

 “You’re beautiful.”  He told her softly and Roxie could tell that he truly meant it.  Roxie reacted to his words by reaching down and tugging at the last piece of clothing either of them had on.  Nick wasted no time in pulling his boxers off.  Roxie glanced down momentarily and Nick caught her gaze.  “Like what you see?”  He whispered and leaned down to kiss her neck.  Roxie leaned her head back and moaned quietly in response.  Both of them were being quiet so they wouldn’t wake Ariel.

One of Nick’s hands reached down to spread Roxie’s legs as he continued to kiss her neck.  He stopped abruptly at one spot and began to suck on her tender skin.  Roxie sighed out in pleasure and one of Nick’s fingers gently grazed the sensitive area between her legs.  Roxie whimpered when she felt a bolt of electricity run through her body.  She could feel his hardened manhood against her thigh.

 “Nick…”  Roxie said pleadingly, letting him know that she had had enough foreplay.  Nick pulled away from her neck and looked up at her face.  Roxie gave him a look and Nick instantly read her mind.  He moved up her body, positioning himself between her legs.  Nick reached down with one of his hands and rubbed her opening gently, making sure that she was ready to be entered.  When he felt how moist her center was, he was definitely more encouraged that he had been doing something right.  His eyes focused on Roxie’s as he slowly moved into her.  Roxie opened her mouth and spread her legs wider to accommodate his size.

He pushed into her deeply before he filled her completely.  Roxie broke eye contact when Nick began to pull out of her.  It had been so long for both of them and they somehow knew that they were together in their happiness.  Nick continued to move in and out of Roxie.  He went slowly at first, getting them both used to each other, and then he picked up speed and became more rhythmic.  She started to match his thrusts and in no time, they were matching each other’s movements.  Roxie reached over and intertwined their fingers and Nick pressed their hands against the mattress.

 Nick knew that he had never experienced anything like that before.  Usually, sex to him was rough and dirty.  With Roxie, however, he honestly felt a strong connection between the two of them.  Not only was it physical, but emotional and spiritual as well.  As their eyes locked, Nick felt his climax approaching.  

 “Nick, I’m almost…”  Roxie breathed, apparently getting there before him.  She leaned her head back and shut her eyes gently.  She bit down on her bottom lip as she came.  Nick felt her body react to the pleasure it was feeling and he groaned as ecstasy overcame his own being.  He thrust into her once more as deeply as he could.

 “Oh Roxie…”  He whispered against her neck.  He stopped moving and the two of them lay there contentedly for a few moments before either of them spoke.

“Wow.”  Roxie said as she got her breathing under control.

Nick looked over at her, “Really?”

Roxie smiled at him and moved closer to him.  She felt herself falling asleep as Nick wrapped his arms her. 

“Hand me my boxers?”  He said and it was apparent that he was falling asleep.

Roxie crawled out of his embrace so she could grab his boxers.  Nick smirked to himself enjoying the view.  She threw his boxers at him hitting him in the face.

“Hey, you blocked my view.”  He grabbed his boxers and scowled playfully when he realized that she already had clothes on.  She had she put on her panties and Nick’s shirt and crawled back to him.  By the time she got back to him, he already had his boxers back on.  He wrapped his arms around her one more time and they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

Hours later when Nick and Roxie were fast asleep, Ariel walked into the room.  She was clutching her stuffed dog and looking to climb into bed to cuddle with her daddy.  She was in for a surprise when she saw Roxie wrapped up in Nick's arms instead.  Feeling annoyed she made her way over to Nick and smacked him in the arm with her stuffed dog.

Nick woke up and smiled at Roxie.  Then he noticed Ariel standing above him.  “What’s up Ariel?  Is something wrong?”

“She’s in my spot.”

“What?”

“Roxie is in my spot.  You’re only supposed to hold me.”

Nick looked at his daughter, slightly confused.  "I thought you wanted me and Roxie to be together."

“But I wanted to cuddle with you.”  She said with a slight whine.

Roxie woke up.  “What’s going on?”  She asked groggily.

"You're in my spot."  Ariel informed her.

 Roxie looked at her.  "C'mon.  You can come up and lay next to me."  She offered, not wanting to leave Nick's warm embrace.

“No, I want to cuddle with my daddy and you’re in the way.  Now move.”

“Ariel Elizabeth Carter, apologize right now.”

“No.  I want my spot.”  Nick got out of bed and picked up Ariel, carrying her under his arm.  She giggled.  “Where are we going?”

“You’re going back to bed.”  He entered her room and placed her on her bed.  “Go back to sleep.”

“But Daddy, I wanted to cuddle with you.”  She said on the verge of tears.

“You’re going to have to learn that you won’t always get what you want.  And if you’re going to disrespect me or Roxie, you won’t get what you want.  Now go back to sleep.”  Ariel started crying.  Nick sighed.  "Ariel, go to sleep..."  He said.

 Ariel turned off her tears.  "Will you let me sleep with you?"

 "No."  Nick said.  "Sleep in your own room.  You aren’t going to get rewarded for the way you acted."  He told her.  He walked back to his room and Roxie glanced at him.

 "Nick, I can - "

 "No."  Nick said.  "She's being disrespectful.  We're not doing anything wrong.  She's going to have to learn to share me with you."  He told her and kissed Roxie gently.

Roxie moved back into Nick’s embrace.  “It’s not going to be easy, you know.”

“I know, but she’s the one who pushed us together.” He realized how that sounded.  “Well, I mean, that I’m sure it would have happened eventually, but, she um, sped the process along.”

Roxie giggled.  “Lets go back to sleep.”

“I like that idea.”  He said and kissed her.  “You should be warned.  Ariel will be a walking terror tomorrow.”

Roxie smiled.  "We can manage her."  She said as they drifted off to sleep.

Nick woke up feeling very refreshed.  He smiled as he watched Roxie sleep.  He kissed her forehead and gently stood up.  He went to Ariel’s room to check her.  He opened the door and gasped when he saw his little girl’s unruly bed but she wasn’t in it.  He walked into the room.  He looked under her bed, in the closet.  He checked the bathroom.  He then ran downstairs.  He looked in the pantry first.  It wouldn’t be the first time he found that she climbed onto the top shelf and was eating the cookies that Nick kept up there.  She wasn’t in there. 

Nick ran into his room, throwing the door against the wall accidentally.  Roxie woke up abruptly.  “What’s going on?”

“Oh, sorry, I wasn’t intending that.”

“What did that door ever do to you?”  She joked and realized that he was sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.  She moved so she was next to him.  “What’s wrong?”  She placed a hand on his back.  She then realized that his shoulders were shaking.  “Hey, hey look at me.  What’s wrong?”

“I should’ve let her sleep with us last night.”

“Why what did she say to you?”

“I think she ran away.  I can’t find her anywhere.”

“Nicky, she’s 4 years old.  I doubt she could have gotten very far.  And besides, don’t you have an alarm that was indeed set last night?”

“Yeah.”  He said, but didn’t know what she was getting at.

“Well, she’s not tall enough to shut the alarm off, so if she opened any doors, the alarm would have gone off.  Which means, she has to be somewhere in the house.”

“Then where is she?”

“We’ll find her.  Now let’s go look for her.”  Roxie walked into the living room.  She looked around for possible places that a tiny girl like Ariel could hide.  She spotted one lone slipper by the couch.  Roxie knew that when she was little she used to hide under the couch.  “I wonder.”  She walked over to the small slipper and bent down and looked under the couch.  Sure enough, Ariel was under there.  “Nick, I found her.”

Nick came into the living expecting to see Ariel.  “Where is she?”

“Under the couch.”

“Under the couch?  How did she fit under the couch?”

“She’s little.  I used to fit under the couch when I was her age.”  Roxie said with a laugh.

Nick bent down to look under his couch.  “Honey, are you going to come out?”

“No.”  She said stubbornly.

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t love me.  And Missy does love me, so I’m staying with Missy.”

“Missy’s under there too?”  Nick looked next to Ariel and sure enough she was under there.  He stood up and went into the kitchen and got a treat for Missy. 

Missy heard the rustling and knew that it meant treat.  She scrambled until she was free to run out to retrieve her treat.  Nick gave her the treat and heard Ariel scream.  “You tricked her Daddy.”

“That was only to prove a point that she’s not going to stay under there forever, and neither should you.  Now come out please.”

“No.  You wouldn’t let me sleep with you last night.”

“Alright stay under there.  You’ll miss breakfast.  And Roxie was going to make us waffles.”  Nick said and stood up, pulling Roxie with him. 

“Bribe?”

“If it works, you’re going to have to make waffles.”  He whispered and walked into the kitchen.  He pulled Roxie closer to him.  “I don’t think I kissed you this morning.”  He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips.

Ariel came running into the kitchen.  “Daddy said he’d cook waffles for me.”

Nick looked at her in confusion.  “Actually, I believe I said that Roxie would make you waffles.”

“I want you to make me waffles.  Roxie might poison me so she can have you all to herself.”

“What’s gotten into you Ariel?”

“I just like them more when you make them.”  Ariel whined.

“Fine whatever Ariel.”  He turned around and got his waffle maker.  He made the batter and made a waffle for Roxie and a half of waffle for Ariel.  He placed them on the table and sat down. 

Roxie looked at him in confusion.  “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You should eat.”

“I’ll eat later when I get hungry.”

“Nick.  You skip too many meals.  You need to eat.”

“Fine.”  He stood up and grabbed an orange from the bowl of fruit before sitting down.

“Nick.”

“What?  You said I had to eat so I’m eating an orange.”

Roxie knew that he was upset about how Ariel was acting so she just let it go. 

After breakfast Ariel ran from the room to play with Missy.  After they were done cleaning up the food, Nick sat at the table and pulled Roxie unto his lap.  He kissed her softly.  He pulled back and she just leaned her head on his shoulder.

Ariel walked in clutching her movie.  She walked up to them.  She handed Nick the DVD.  “Can we?”  She asked meekly, expecting Nick to say no because all he’s been doing in the past couple days was yell at her and say no.

“Sure.”  Nick took the DVD from her and was shocked to find that it wasn’t The Little Mermaid.  He looked at it slightly confused.  “Aladdin?”  You don’t want to watch The Little Mermaid?”

“Um, well, I thought you might say no if I wanted to watch The Little Mermaid again.”

Nick handed Ariel her movie back.  “We can watch this if you really want.  But I think you really want to watch The Little Mermaid.  If that’s the case, I want you to bring this upstairs and bring down The Little Mermaid.”

“Really?”

“Really.  Now go get it.”

“For someone who always tries to get her to watch a different movie, you had your chance and you just gave it up.”

“You might think so, but she wasn’t bringing Aladdin because she wanted to watch it.  Not to mention, I don’t like when she’s acting like this.  I want my sweet little girl back.  And besides, one day, hopefully sooner rather than later, she’ll grow out of her little mermaid phase.”

She smiled.  “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you’re a bad father.  And that includes you too, okay mister?”

“Okay.  We should go into the living room.  Ariel will be down with the movie soon.”

When they got into the living room, Ariel was already there.  She was lying on the floor coloring.  The movie was lying next to her. Nick went over and picked up the movie and playfully rubbed Ariel’s hair as he went over to the DVD player.  He started the movie and went over to the couch and sat down.  Roxie sat down next to him, leaning into him while he put his arm around her.

Ariel turned around to ask Nick a question.  She immediately forgot her question and saw red when she saw Roxie cuddling with her daddy.  She stood up and walked over.  She stopped in front of them with her hands on her hips.  Nick knew what was coming.  “Okay, Ariel.  We aren’t starting this again.  Roxie’s is not going to move, so why don’t you come over here and sit on my lap.”

“But…”

“Either sit on my lap, or go back to coloring.”  Ariel gave in and climbed onto Nick’s lap.  She leaned into Nick’s chest as the movie continued.  He put his arm around her.  “I love you Ariel and I always will.”  He said to her and kissed the top of her head.

A couple days later, Nick was standing over Ariel watching her sleep.  He had been standing there for almost 4 hours as it was almost midnight.

Roxie entered the room.  “Are you coming to bed?”

“I’ll be right there.

“Nick her actions aren’t your fault.”

“Yes they are.  She never acted like this until we got together.”

“Nick she wanted us together.”

“I know.  And I’m glad we are; I wouldn’t change that.  I just wish that she could understand that us being together doesn’t change how I feel about her.”

“Well there’s nothing you can do right now.  So let’s go to bed.”

Nick nodded and followed Roxie back to his room.  He sat on the bed.  “I don’t know what to do.”

“Nick you’re doing the best you can.”

“Well that’s obviously not enough.  She’s never acted like this before.”

“It’s the first time you had a girlfriend since you left Tracy.  She’ll come around.”

“I hope you’re right.  I hope you’re right.”  He said with a sigh.

“C’mon.  Let’s get some sleep.”

It was sometime in the middle of the afternoon the next day.  Roxie was making lunch and Nick was looking for Ariel.  Something compelled him to check his room.  He opened his door and saw Ariel giving Missy one of Roxie’s shoes.  “Ariel, what are you doing?”

“I…”

Nick came over and took the shoe from Ariel.  He shooed the puppy out of the room and closed his door.  He went back to his bed and sat down on it.  “C’mere Ariel.”  He said patting the bed next to him.  She climbed onto the bed and sat next to him.  “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

“No.”

“Okay.” He said knowing that’s the response he was going to get.  “Then why don’t you tell me why you were giving one of Roxie’s shoes to the dog?”

“I couldn’t get in trouble if the dog ate the shoe.”

“You weren’t expecting to get caught.  But you did.  So you are in trouble.  Now you have a choice.  You can either tell me why, or you don’t tell me why.  But if you don’t, then you’ll be in more trouble.”  Ariel stayed quiet.  “Okay Ariel.”  He picked her up and carried her to her room.  He left the room and returned with a box and started putting her toys in the box.

“Daddy, what are you doing?”

“When you decide to tell me what I want to know.  You’ll get your toys back.”  Ariel started throwing a temper tantrum.  “That won’t help.”

Roxie heard Nick enter the kitchen.  “Were you killing that girl upstairs?”  She said jokingly.  Then she turned around and saw that he was sitting at the table, starring down at it.  “What happened?”

“I caught Ariel trying to feed Missy one of your shoes.  I tried to get her to talk, but she wouldn’t.  So I put her into her room and took her toys and she started screaming.”

“You did the right thing.”

“Did I?”

She sat on his lap and hugged him.  “I know this is hard on you, but you need to stop beating yourself up over this.  It won’t do you any good.”

Nick sighed.  “I know.”

“So, tomorrow, if you don’t mind, I was going to hang out with a few friends.”

“Why would I mind?  Have fun.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The next day, Roxie left to hang out with her friends leaving Nick and Ariel alone.  She had already been gone for a few hours and Nick knew that she’d be home soon.  Nick and Ariel were in the living room.  Ariel was coloring.  “Daddy.”

“Yeah?”

“Roxie is out with her boyfriend.”

Nick chuckled.  “No she’s not Ariel.  I’m her boyfriend.”

Without either of them knowing, Roxie walked into the room.  “Not you.  Her other boyfriend.”

Roxie realized what Ariel was implying.  “That’s not true.”  Nick turned to her.  “I swear Nick, you’re my only boyfriend.”

Nick turned back to Ariel.  “Go to your room.”  Ariel just looked at Nick.  She’d never gotten sent to her room.  “Ariel now.”  With tears streaming down her face she ran from the room.  He turned back to Roxie.  “I need to go out for a little while.  Will you be okay with her?”

“Oh, did me going out ruin your plans?”

“No.  I’ll probably end up going to work.”

“You need time away from her don’t you.”

“Yeah.  I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

“Okay.”  Roxie kissed him.  He stood up and grabbed his keys and drove to his store.

He entered the store and Joann looked up at him in confusion.  “I thought you needed time off.”

“Yeah I do.  I just needed to get away from my daughter before I kill her.”

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t want to bother you with this.”

“Nick, I have a couple of children.  I might be able to help you.”

“Okay, Ariel has been acting up a lot lately.”

“How so?”

“Well, it started when she wanted to cuddle with me but I was holding my girlfriend.  And instead of asking if Roxie would move, she demanded it.  So I punished her for disrespecting Roxie.  Then she accused Roxie of wanting to poison her.  She was trying to feed one of Roxie’s shoes to our dog.  And now she’s spreading lies about Roxie.”

“It sounds like she’s jealous of Roxie.”

“I think so too.  I just, I don’t know what to do about it.  I mean, she wanted me and Roxie to get together.”

“She probably didn’t realize that you two being together would mean that she had to share you.”

“So what do I do?  I don’t want to break up with Roxie.”

“Then don’t.  Talk to Ariel.”

“What do I say to her?”

“Explain to her that you having a girlfriend don’t mean that you don’t love her.  Reassure her that you still love her and that no matter what happens with Roxie, she’s you’re daughter and nothing will change that”

“I’ve been trying.  So maybe I’m saying it wrong.”  Nick sighed.  At that point the bell over the door rang and in walked the new assistant manager that he had come in just to interview.  “You hired him huh?”

“That’s okay right?”

“He probably would have been my choice too.”

He approached.  “Hey John.”

“Hey.”  He spotted Nick.  “Oh, I thought you didn’t work here anymore.  I thought I was being hired as your replacement.”

Nick chuckled.  “No I still work here.”

“So does that mean I’m being fired because you’re back?”

“Not at all.  You’re not my replacement.  I actually own this store.  I’ve needed time off recently.”

“Oh, so are you back?”

“No not quite.”

“He’s only here so he doesn’t kill his daughter.”  Nick opened his eyes wide and looked over at Joann.  “I was about to tell him that all toddlers drive their parents crazy.  Right John?  Did your kids drive you crazy when they were toddlers?”

John nodded.  “In fact.  My daughter nearly broke me and my wife, well, girlfriend then, up.  She was four.”

Nick sat up in his chair.  “What did you do?”

“Huh?”

“That’s exactly what my daughter is doing.  I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Well talking is important.  Making her understand that even if she has to share you it doesn’t mean that you don’t love her.  But talking doesn’t work all that well.  No matter how you phrase it.  Another remedy would be to set time aside that’s just for you and her.”

“Did that work for you?”

“Yeah, it did.  Because it’ll make her see that you still love her.  And it’ll make sharing you a lot easier.”

“Thanks.  I appreciate it.”

“So does that mean you’re going to go home now?”  Joann asked.

“Not quite yet.”

Back at the house, Roxie entered Ariel’s room.  “What would you like to eat Ariel?”

“Pizza.”

“Okay, that’s easy.  We’ll just call your father and have him bring one home for us.”

“Will you be leaving when Daddy gets home?”

“No.”  Roxie said with a smile.

“Daddy told me he liked it better when you left before dinner.”

Nick walked into the room at that moment.  “Ariel you need to stop lying.”

“Nick.  I was about to call you and tell you to bring home pizza.”

“Okay.  I’ll order that in a little while.  Roxie, could you leave me alone with my daughter for a little while?”

Roxie smiled.  “Sure.  I’ll be downstairs.”

“Thanks.”  Nick sat on Ariel’s bed and leaned back against Ariel’s headboard.  He pulled Ariel onto his lap.  “I know what’s going on with you.”

“You do?”

“Yes.  You’re afraid that because I’m with Roxie that I don’t love you anymore right?”  Ariel nodded.  “Well it’s not true.  I love you so much.  Nothing will change that.  The only difference is that you’ll just have to share me a little bit.”

“I don’t want to Daddy.  I liked it when it was just me and you.”

“I know you did.  But you know what.  Even though Roxie and I love each other now, there’s absolutely no guarantee that we’ll always love each other.  But no matter what happens, I’ll always love you.”

“Okay Daddy, but do I REALLY have to share you?”

“Yes you do, most of the time anyway.  I was thinking we could set aside some time that’s just for me and you, without Roxie.”

“Really?”

“Really.  So what do you say?  Will you be a good girl now?”

“Yes Daddy.”

“Good.  Then your first task as a good girl is to go downstairs and apologize to Roxie.”

Ariel crawled off Nick’s lap and ran downstairs.  She found Roxie in the living room knitting.  She ran over to Roxie.  “I’m sorry.”

Roxie set her knitting aside and pulled Ariel onto her lap and hugged the little girl.  “I accept your apology.”

Ariel smiled.  “Daddy said that he’d set aside time that’s just for me and him.” Nick walked into the room.  He smiled when he saw his little girl sitting on Roxie’s lap while Roxie knitted.  “Roxie, can you teach me how to do that?”

“Sure.  Next chance we get, me and you will go to the craft store and buy you supplies that will be safe for you to use.”

Nick walked further into the room.  “I’m going to go get that pizza.”  He said.  He kissed Ariel on the head before kissing Roxie.  He turned to walk away, then turned back.  “Would you like to come Ariel?”

“I’ll stay here Daddy.”

“Okay, I’ll be back in a little while.”  He said and left to go get their dinner.

Nick walked into the living room.  He spotted Ariel lying on the floor coloring while Roxie was knitting on the couch.  He sat down next to Roxie and placed his head on her shoulder.

She laughed.  “You’re in the way.”

“So.  Stop.”  Roxie adjusted her position so that she could knit with him leaning on her.  She kept knitting while he sat there with his head on her shoulder.  “Roxie.”  He whined.

“Why are you whining?”

“Because you’re not paying attention to me.”

She looked over at Nick but kept knitting.  “What’s gotten into you?”

He sat up and leaned against the other side of the couch.  “Nothing.”  He said, but Roxie could tell that something definitely was going on with him.  He was acting like he had something to say, but he was waiting for her to pry it out of him.

She placed her knitting down and looked at him.  “Something’s bothering you.”

“Nothing’s bothering me.”  He lied and stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“Upstairs.  You won’t have to decide who gets more attention, me or a ball of yarn.”  He said and headed for the stairs.

She secured her knitting.  “Ariel, stay here and color.  I need to go talk to your daddy.”  She said and headed up stairs.  She entered the room to find Nick pacing.  “Nick, what’s going on with you?  Did I do something to upset you?”

"No...  You didn't do anything..." Nick said.

 "Okay, who did?"  Roxie asked.

 Nick looked down at his feet.

 "Are you going to make me guess?"  She sighed.

He sighed and sat down on the bed.  “I’m scared.”

“What’s wrong?  Why are you scared?”

“My mom wants us to go over there for dinner.  I made every excuse why we couldn’t but somehow she got me to agree.”

“Nick, that’s a good thing.  Isn’t it?”

“No, of course not.”

“Why?”

“Because the last time I was there, I was disowned.”

“Nick, how old is Ariel?”

“Almost 5, but you knew that already.”

“Yes, but the last time you were there was before Ariel was even conceived.”

“Actually, she was conceived on BJ’s bed, but they don’t know that.”

“My point is.  That it’s been over 5 years, since that day.  You’re not the same as you were back then.”

“Call her back and tell her that I suddenly came down with a rare disease and I won’t be able to make it.”  She couldn’t help it.  She giggled.  “Why are you laughing at me?”

“I’m sorry Nick.”  She sat down next to him and put her arm around him.  “They’re your family.  You wanted them back.  Now you’re willing to throw that away.  They invited you.  That’s a good thing.”

"How are you so sure it's a good thing?  It could be bad.  What if I do something they don't like again and throw me out?"

“Are you planning on running around the neighborhood streaking?”

“No.”  He said with a chuckle.

“Then I think it’s safe to say that you won’t get thrown out.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I am.  Now relax.  You’ll be just fine.”

“I don’t want to go.”

“Nick, if you keep avoiding them, you’ll never get them back the way you want them.”

“And you think one dinner will make BJ and Leslie like me again.  I think not.”

“They’ll forgive you in time.  Now come on.  We should get Ariel ready.”

“No thanks.  I’ll stay here.  You can go though.”

"Nick, I'll be RIGHT there with you...  You don't need to worry.  But it’s your family, they invited you, I don't think you need to be worried.”

“But…”

“No.  Just go.  If it gets too unbearable we can come home.  If you just relax, you’ll see that it won’t be as bad as you’re making it out to be.”

~*~

Nick parked his jeep in front of the house he grew up in.  He stared at the house for a few minutes.  “Are you ready?”

Nick sighed.  “As ready as I’ll ever be.”  He stepped out of the jeep and walked around the side to get Ariel out of her car seat.  Holding Ariel’s hand, he headed toward the front door.  He rang the bell and nervously started to shift his weight from foot to foot.

The door flung open.  Angel was standing there.  She saw Nick and smiled excitedly.  "Nick!!"  She said and ran over to him and hugged him.  "You're here!  C'mon in, I've been waiting for you all this time!  Mom's already got dinner almost ready."  She said, talking a mile a minute.

 Roxie glanced over at Nick and smiled, hoping his sister's excitement would ease his worry a little. 

As they walked into the living room, Jane came out of the kitchen.  “Oh, I thought I heard the door bell.”  She said and came over and hugged him.  She bent down so she was at eye level with her granddaughter.  “I have something for you sweetie.”

Ariel looked at her curiously.  “You do?”

“Yeah.”  She stood up and walked Ariel over to the couch.  Once Ariel was sitting, Jane handed her a gift bag.  Ariel immediately opened the bag and looked inside.  There was a big box in there and big boxes usually meant the best toys.  She reached in and took out the box and realized it was a baby doll.  She gasped excitedly.  “Daddy, can I open it?”

“I don’t see why not.” 

Ariel smiled.  “Here Daddy.”  She said handing him the box to open.  After a couple minutes he got the doll out and handed it to her.  She squealed in excitement and held the doll close.

“What do you say?”

She looked at Jane.  “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome sweetie.” 

Jane went to walk back into the kitchen to finish cooking.  She passed Nick and gently squeezed his shoulder.  “Thanks Mom.”  He said thanking her for buying a toy for Ariel.  “You didn’t have to buy her anything.”

“Sure I did.  She’s my only grandchild and I missed 4 years of spoiling.  I have to make up for lost time.”  Jane turned to head back into the kitchen.

“Do you need any help?”  Roxie asked.

“Everything is completely under control.”

Aaron came downstairs.  “Hey Nick.”  He said and plopped down on the couch next to his brother and put his feet on the table in front of him, leaning back into the couch. 

“Hi Aaron.”

“So, Nick.  When can I work in your store?”

“What?”

“Just think of it Nick, we can change the name to ‘Carter Brother’s Records.’”  He said and pretended to display the name by holding his hands up.

“Nice try, but no.  The name stays.  And if I do let you work there, you’ll just be a sales associate, not a partial owner.  Sorry.”

 Aaron chuckled.  “Are you sure?  Because that would be a great business venture.”  He nodded encouragingly.

 “I’m sure.  And besides, it’ll be awhile before you work there.”  Nick explained, trying to let him down easy.

 “Why?  Don’t you want your little brother working with you?”  Aaron narrowed his eyebrows.

 Nick shook his head and smiled for a second.  “You’d work for me, not with me.  And the store is fully staffed, and since I’m not working at the moment there’s no one to okay taking on another staff member.”

 "Aww, but come on, Nick...  I've been trying to find a job forever!"  He continued to pester.

“Well, then you can wait a little longer until I go back to work.”

BJ walked into the living room.  “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”  She said when she saw Nick.  “Mom.”

Jane emerged from the kitchen.  “Yeah?”

“What’s HE doing here?”

“I invited him for dinner.”

"INVITED him?  Why would you invite him?!  He's probably just here to scope out the place and see what he can - "

 "BOBBIE JEAN!"  Jane shouted scoldingly.

 "What?!  Seriously, mom.  You really want him back?"

 "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do."

 "What's going on in here?"  Bob asked, rushing into the room.  He could sense the tension in the room.

No one in the room spoke.  Nick stood up and picked up Ariel.  “Where are we going Daddy?”

“We’re going home.  We’ll stop for pizza.”  He said and headed for the door, feeling stupid for going when he knew this would happen.  But most of all, he felt rejected.

“Nicky, stay.”  Jane said.

“I don’t think so.  I shouldn’t have even come.”  He said and proceeded to walk outside.

Roxie started to follow Nick outside and turned back to his family.  “I know he hurt you all, but that was almost 5 years ago.  Isn’t it time to forgive him?  I had to convince him that he should even come.  He was afraid that this would happen.  And just so you know, he really needs his family right now.  He's really depressed.”  She said, and then headed toward the door.

“Wait here.  I’ll go talk to him.”  Bob said.  He went outside and saw his son trying to get Ariel into the car seat.  Ariel was fighting him because she wanted to say.  “Ariel, why don’t you go back inside?”  Ariel turned to the house and saw Roxie standing in the doorway and ran to her.

“What are you doing Dad?” 

“Roxie told us, about you.”

Nick’s eyes widened thinking that she told them about his attempt.  “I swear I won’t try it again.”

“Nick what are you talking about?”

“Oh.”  He realized that Roxie didn’t tell them about what he did.  “Um, Nothing.”

Suddenly it dawned on Bob.  “You attempted to kill yourself didn’t you.”

“What?  No, that’s ridiculous.”

“I may not have seen you since I kicked you out, but you’re still my son, and I can still tell that you’re lying to me.”  Nick leaned against his car and looked down, not daring to look at his father.  “Why’d you do it?”

"I...  I didn't think I mattered to anyone..."

"How could you think you don't matter?  I thought you were doing well...  You have a beautiful daughter and a girlfriend that's crazy about you."

“It’s complicated Dad.”

“Why don’t you try to explain it?”

“I don’t have a family, at that point Roxie was so mad at me that she had dumped me and was planning on moving out of my house and my daughter wanted to go live with Roxie.  I wasn’t needed.”

"Of course you’re needed.  You’re daughter will always need you.  Even when she’s an adult and it seems that she doesn’t and it seems to me that your girlfriend and your daughter love you a lot.  And you have your family back...  Your sisters might take a while to come around, but they will...  I'm sure they will.  Now do you wanna come in for dinner now?”  Nick nodded and stood up straight and began walking back to the house.  Bob put his arm around Nick’s shoulders as they walked across the lawn to the front of the house.

When Nick and Bob entered the house, both BJ and Leslie were glaring at Nick.  “Come on Les, let’s go out for dinner.”  BJ said.  She grabbed her purse and headed for the door, with Leslie following right behind her.  An awkward silence fell over the group.

“Dinner is just about ready.”  Jane said, then disappeared into the kitchen.

Nick looked down at Ariel.  “Let’s go get you washed up for dinner.”  He said, taking Ariel’s hand and led her to the bathroom.

“Daddy, how do you know where you’re going?”

“I grew up here.”

“You did?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I see your room?”

“Well, right now, dinner’s ready and also, I doubt it is still decorated as my room.  It has been about five years since I’ve lived here.”

“Oh.”

“Now get in there.”  He said nudging her into the bathroom.  He leaned against the wall, waiting for her to come back out.

Inside the bathroom, Ariel was about eye level with the top of the counter.  She looked for something she could stand on.  Not finding anything, she stood as high on her tiptoes as possible.  She still couldn’t reach it.  She started hopping trying to reach it, but that didn’t help her.  “Daddy.”  She called.  Nick stood up and pushed the door open.  He looked at her jumping up and down.  “I can’t reach.”

Nick smiled at her and lifted her up so she could reach the faucet and wash her hands.

Jane walked to the bathroom wondering what was taking them so long.  She arrived at the bathroom just as Nick shut off the faucet and turn around so that Ariel can reach the towels and dry her hands.  She smiled as Nick put Ariel down.  When Ariel was on the floor, she realized that her sink cabinet was just about as tall as Ariel.  “Geez Nick, do you feed this child, she’s so little.”

“Yes I feed her.  And yes, she is little, but she only looks smaller because your sink is so high.”

After dinner, Aaron, Angel, Nick and Bob went into the living room.  Bob was sitting there quietly listening to his children catch up with each other.  Jane was showing Roxie and Ariel around the house.

“And lastly, this was Nicky’s room.”  Jane said and pushed the door open to reveal a room that had definitely been lived in by a teenage boy at one time.  As they stepped into the room, Roxie said.  “I thought he didn’t like being called Nicky.”

“You’ve called him that?”

“Yeah, and he immediately told me that he hates that.”

“Oh he does hate it.  But if you call him Nicky often enough, he’ll eventually give up and stop fighting you.”

“Really.  That’s valuable information.”  Roxie said.

Ariel walked around the room.  She couldn’t believe that this was where her Daddy used to sleep.  She looked around the room for a few more minutes before running downstairs into the living room.  She immediately climbed onto Nick’s lap.  Nick hugged her as she sat on his lap.  “Daddy, I didn’t know you played the guitar?”

Nick looked at his daughter.  “What?”

“Jane showed me your room.”

Nick nodded and leaned so that his mouth was right by his daughter’s ear.  “You should call Jane Grandma and Bob Grandpa.”  He whispered into Ariel’s ear.

“Okay Daddy.  I saw your room and you have a guitar.  How come you don’t play at home?”

“I don’t play anymore honey.”

“Oh, why not?”

He shrugged.  “I just lost interest I guess.”

“You should play now.”

“I don’t think so Ariel.”

“Why not?” 

“I haven’t even picked up a guitar in five years.  I doubt I can still play it.”

“Please Daddy?”  Ariel said with a pout.

“You’re cute but not cute enough to get me to embarrass myself.”

Ariel turned to Jane.  “Can we take Daddy’s guitar home with us?”

“Of course.  It is his after all.”

“Come on Daddy.  We need to go get your guitar.”

“We’ll get it later, before we leave.”  He said, not ready to see his old room.

“But if we get it later you won’t be able to play it now.”

“I’m not going to play it now Ariel.”

“I want you to.”

“The first time I ever pick up a guitar in five years, will not be in front of an audience.”

“Oh come on Nick.  We’re all family here.”  Bob said trying to encourage his son.

Nick shook his head.  Ariel slid off his lap and grabbed his hand and pulled to try and get him up.  “What?”

“Come on Daddy.”

“Where are we going?”

“Just come with me.”

Nick relented and let Ariel lead him to his old room.  He entered the room.  It felt so weird for him to be back in that room.  Just by looking around the room he realized just how much his life had revolved around music.  He remembered that there was a time that he wanted to be a famous singer.  That obviously never happened, and never would happen.  He didn’t miss his old dream, but he did miss the music.

Ariel was standing by the guitar.  “Daddy, it’s too big for me to lift.” 

Nick looked over at Ariel.  “That’s okay.  I’ll get it before we leave.”

“Why won’t you play?”

“I’m out of practice.  I’m not sure I can even play it anymore.”

“Try.”

“Not right now honey.”

“Please Daddy.”

“Maybe some other day.”  He stood up and grabbed his guitar.  He immediately brought it out to the car and then returned back inside.  He sat on the couch next to Roxie and she leaned into him.  He put his arm around her.  He looked around the room for Ariel and found her sitting in Angel’s lap and talking excitedly to Angel.

A couple hours later, he looked over at Angel and found that she was still holding Ariel.  The only difference being that Ariel was falling asleep.  He looked at the clock and realized that it was getting close to 9:00.  He stood up.  “We should really be going.”

“Do you have to?”

“Yeah, it’s passed Ariel’s bedtime.”  He walked over to Angel and took Ariel from Angel.  She immediately placed her head on his shoulder and stuck her thumb in her mouth, while holding her new doll in the other hand.  He said goodbye to Aaron and Angel and nudged Ariel to do the same.

He walked over to his parents and gave his mother a one handed hug and shook his father’s hand.  Bob pulled Nick into a hug.  Nick looked at Ariel, “Go say goodbye.”  He said and put her down.  She went over to Jane.  “Bye Grandma.”

Jane smiled proudly.  “Bye sweetie.”  Jane said and hugged Ariel.

Ariel walked over to Bob.  “Bye Grandpa.”

“Grandpa?”  He said with a smile.  He loved the sound, but he still had to tease someone.  He looked at Nick.  “I’m not old enough to be a grandfather.”  He said teasingly to Nick.

Matching his father’s joking tone he said.  “Get over it old man.  You’re a grandfather.  Now say bye to your granddaughter.”

With a smile he bent down and hugged Ariel.  After the hug Ariel went back over to Nick.  She looked up at him tiredly and reached up.  Nick bent down and picked her up.  She once again placed her head on his shoulder and popped her thumb in her mouth.  She closed her eyes and fell asleep on Nick’s shoulder.

Later that night, Nick and Roxie were lying on their bed.  They had found a movie on TV to watch while they cuddled.  The movie was horrible so they were barely paying attention to the movie.

“Was it as bad as you thought?”

“I guess it could’ve been worse.”  He said then turned his attention back to the movie.

“Were you in a band?”

“What?”

“When you played the guitar, did you play in a band?”

“Yeah.  God, that was a long time ago.”

They fell into silence.  After a couple minutes, Roxie broke the silence. “This movie sucks.”  Roxie said with a laugh

“Yeah, but there’s nothing else on.”

“So, we don’t have to watch TV.”  Roxie said and grabbed the remote to turn off the TV.

“What did you have in mind?”

“You’ll figure it out.”  Roxie said then climbed on top of him.  She kissed him passionately as she grinded against him.  He moaned into the kiss and she broke away from him.  She kissed down his neck and bit down on his flesh.  She smirked as he moaned in pain and pleasure.

She felt the growing bulge against her stomach as she continued to kiss down Nick’s chest.  Roxie reached down and rubbed him through his boxers eliciting a moan from Nick.  She slipped her hand inside his boxers and continued rubbing him.

Nick moaned loudly.  Roxie took her hand out of his boxers and moved back up his body and kissed him.  “You need to stay quiet if I’m going to do this.”

Nick nodded and Roxie made her way back down his chest.  Nick’s breathing was labored and he was getting impatient.  He reached for his boxers to push them down to free himself.  Roxie slapped his hands away.  “Be patient Nick.”

Nick let his hands fall to his side.  Roxie began to slowly inch his boxers down, kissing, and slightly nipping at every inch of skin that she exposed.  Nick moaned deeply in his throat.  Roxie pulled his boxers down, finally allowing his erect penis to stand straight up. 

Roxie gently blew on his tip.  Nick bucked his hips.  Roxie placed her hands on his hips to hold him down.  “I thought I told you to be patient.”  She said as she started to rub him.  She gently blew on his tip. 

“Oh my…

Without warning, Roxie took him fully into her mouth.  “Holy shit.”

Roxie began sucking him.  His moans were becoming progressively louder.  He grabbed a pillow and put it over his face to muffle his screams.  He started to buck his hips, trying to get himself further into her mouth.

Roxie knew that he was close, but she wasn’t ready for him to come.  She pulled back letting his manhood fall out of her mouth.

Nick opened his eyes and looked at Roxie.  “Why’d you stop?”

She didn’t answer him.  She started to teasingly lick his tip.  She slowly began taking him into her mouth until she deep throated him.  She began to lightly graze her teeth over his shaft.  He was groaning loudly.  She brought her hand in between his legs and began massaging his balls, sending him over the edge.

“Oh fuck.” He moaned as he shot his load down her throat.  She swallowed.  She slowly moved up his body as Nick's breathing slowed after coming down from his high.  He kissed her, tasting himself on her mouth.  She pulled back and rested her head on his chest while he played with her hair.  “Wow.” 

“I’m glad you liked it.”  She looked up at him and realized he was already falling asleep.  She smiled.  “I love you Nicky.”

“Mmhm.  Love you.”

The next morning, while Nick was still asleep, Roxie was in Ariel’s room getting her dressed. “Where are we going?”

“To the mall.”

“Should we get Daddy?”

“I was hoping that today it could be just me and you. Is that okay?”

Ariel nodded. “Why are we going to the mall?”

“So we can get you supplies that are safe for a child to use when knitting.”

Ariel smiled and let Roxie finish dressing her.

After breakfast, Roxie took Ariel to the mall to buy her, her very own knitting supplies. She left a note for Nick telling him exactly that as well as that she hoped they’d end up shopping more.

Nick woke up and went to pull Roxie to him. When he felt the empty bed beside him, he sat up frantically, thinking that Roxie left him. As he woke up more, he realized that there was nothing wrong with his relationship. He relaxed. He got out of bed and walked into the bathroom.

When he was done in the bathroom, he quickly got dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, and then went to search for Roxie. He smiled when he found the note. He was glad that his girlfriend and his daughter would have a chance to bond. He ate breakfast and then went into the garage to get the supplies he would need for the day.

Meanwhile, Roxie and Ariel just left the craft store. Roxie purchased a pair of knitting needles that would be safe and easy for Ariel to use. She also let Ariel pick out a color and texture that she likes. As Roxie picked up enough yarn for Ariel to make a scarf for herself, she wasn’t surprised that Ariel picked yarn that is typically used for baby blankets, due to its softness. Roxie also purchased two knitting books; one was a book of patterns to make scarves and a book of projects that are small and easy for kids.

Holding her purchases in one hand and Ariel’s hand in the other, Roxie headed for the entrance of the mall. She wanted to make a whole day of shopping with Ariel, but she wanted it to be Ariel’s idea. She was almost at the entrance and Ariel hadn’t asked about shopping more, so she assumed that Ariel wasn’t interested.

“Roxie, I have to go potty.”

As Roxie turned around to head for the nearest bathroom she said, “It’s good that you told me now.”

They were almost at the bathroom. “Roxie, I really have to go.”

“Its okay sweetie, we’re almost there.” Just as Roxie was about to push the bathroom door open, Ariel started crying. Roxie turned to Ariel and immediately noticed the wet spot on Ariel’s jeans. Roxie stepped over the small puddle to hug Ariel.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It happens. Don’t cry.”

“Do I have to stay in these all the way home?”

“Of course not honey. I’m going to take you to a store so we can buy you a clean pair of clothes. Does Daddy make you wear wet pants home after an accident?”

“No. I don’t know. I’ve never had an accident with Daddy. He always asks me if I have to go. But when I went shopping with Mommy she wouldn’t pay attention to me. When I told her I had to go potty, she used to tell me to hold it, but she’d never take me to the potty and I had accidents all the time with Mommy. And it usually happened a lot of times in one shopping trip. And Mommy wouldn’t buy me new clothes. So I’d be in wet clothes until we got home.”

“I’m not her. And I’m sure Daddy would buy you something to change into. But first, we need to go into the bathroom so I can get paper towels.” Roxie took Ariel into the bathroom and to get paper towels. She went back to the door and cleaned up the mess and threw the paper towels away in the bathroom.

They left the bathroom and went to the nearest children’s store. Once in the store, Ariel was clinging to Roxie. Roxie picked up a cute dress off the rack and showed it to Ariel. “What do you think?” Ariel’s eyes became wide and she nodded excitedly. Roxie laughed. “Okay, let’s go buy it.” Roxie said and started toward the cash registers.

“Can’t we shop some more?”

Roxie smiled. “Of course we can. But let’s buy this first so that we can get you out of those wet clothes.” Roxie paid for the dress and a package of panties and took Ariel into the fitting room to change her. Once Ariel was in her new dress, Roxie slid her small flip flops toward her so Ariel could slip them back on. “Alright, let’s go do some more shopping.”

“Yeah.” Ariel said excitedly.

As they were shopping Ariel was just standing there letting Roxie show her clothes. “Aren’t you going to pick anything out?”

Ariel shook her head. “I like what you’re picking out. It’s different than anything Daddy has ever bought me.”

Roxie laughed. “I’m glad you like what I’m picking out for you.”

“Yeah. I always went shopping with Daddy, and he’s boring.”

Roxie laughed. “That’s because Daddy’s a boy.” Ariel smiled as Roxie picked out more clothes that she thinks Ariel might like. When Roxie had a few more outfits for Ariel she turned to the young girl and said. “You ready to move on?”

“Yeah.”

Roxie once again went to the register and paid for Ariel’s new clothes.

Once out of the store, Roxie started leading Ariel through the mall.

“Where are we going?”

“I want to get something for Daddy.”

“What are you getting him?”

“Some things for his guitar. Maybe we can convince him to start playing again.”

“Yeah.” Ariel said excitedly.

Roxie walked into a music store holding Ariel’s hand. The store was very well organized and Roxie had no problem finding what she would need. She grabbed a pack of picks and moved over to the guitar strings. She remembered that Nick had said he was in a band, so she assumed that he had an electric guitar. She picked up a pack of strings and walked over to the counter to pay and then left the store

As they were walking through the mall they passed the saloon. “I really need to get my hair cut one of these days.” Ariel started to pull Roxie toward the entrance of the saloon. “Where are you taking me?”

“To get your hair cut. We can make you pretty for Daddy.”

“Wait a minute, you don’t think I’m pretty now?” Roxie said with a chuckle.

Ariel looked at Roxie. “We can make you prettier for Daddy.”

A couple minutes later, Roxie found herself sitting in a chair while the hair dresser prepared her dark brown hair to be highlighted with a chestnut red and then eventually cut.

During the hour that Roxie was getting her hair done, Ariel was sitting on the floor talking nonstop to the hair dresser. After Roxie’s hair was done, the hair dresser turned the chair that Roxie was in to show Ariel. “Do you think your daddy will approve?”

Ariel nodded. “Yeah.”

The hair dresser turned to Roxie, “Well, now that the hair is done, and looks fabulous if I do say so myself, I think a complete makeover is in order.”

“Oh I don’t know.” Roxie said.

“Well if you’re going this far to impress him, you might as well go all the way. I’ll apply the makeup and if you like how it comes out, you can buy what I use to use all the time.” She turned back toward Ariel. “What do you think? Makeup, or no?”

“Makeup.”

Roxie relented and let the hair dresser lead her over to the makeup.

After taking several minutes to set up, the hair dresser, now makeup artist, started to apply makeup to Roxie. Ariel watched on in excitement. “What about me?”

The makeup artist turned to Roxie for permission. “I don’t see the harm in putting a little on her.”

“Okay. Get closer sweetie.” Ariel moved forward a bit so the makeup artist could reach her.

Twenty minutes later, Roxie was completely done. Ariel had gotten some eye shadow and blush and a little bit of lip gloss.

Roxie looked in the mirror and was absolutely shocked. She could barely tell she had makeup on. “So what do you think?”

“I think you need to tell me how you did this.”

The makeup artist smiled. She got out brand new containers of everything she used and gave Roxie detailed instructions on how to apply it so she gets the same kind of look. Roxie paid for her hair cut and makeover, as well as the makeup.

On the way out, Ariel said, “Wow, that cost a lot of money.”

“Yeah, but it’s worth it to look pretty for Daddy right?”

“Yeah.”

“You were very good in there. So, how about a treat?”

“What kind of treat?”

“Ice cream?”

Ariel smiled in excitement. Roxie laughed and led Ariel to Baskin & Robbins. After they finished their ice cream, Roxie asked, “Where to now?”

Ariel srunched up her little nose in thought. “TOY STORE.”

Roxie chuckled. “Okay, toy store it is. Just be nice and don’t buy out the whole store.”

“Deal.” Ariel said and grabbed Roxie’s hand.

Roxie led Ariel to the toy store. Once there, Ariel immediately went over to the baby dolls. She stood there for a couple minutes looking at her choices. She saw one doll that only had one left and she reached for that one.

She grabbed it and turned to show it to Roxie when it was pulled from her hands.

Ariel turned to the young girl who took it from her. “Hey, that’s mine. I had it first.”

“Well, now it’s mine.”

Ariel started crying.

“Mikayla Marie Collins, give that back to her right this instance.”

Roxie was hugging Ariel trying to calm her down as well as convince her to pick out a different doll.

“But Mommy, I want this one and there aren’t anymore.”

“Give that one back to the poor girl and pick out another one or else you aren’t getting any.”

“No. I want this one.” Amanda Collins grabbed the doll from her young daughter and handed it to the crying toddler in front of her as her own daughter started to throw a temper tantrum.

Amanda turned to Roxie. “I’m so sorry about this.” Roxie looked up and nodded to accept her apology. Amanda recognized Roxie almost immediately. “Rox?”

Roxie looked at her in confusion. “Nobody has called me that since…Mandy?”

Amanda smiled. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Yeah, you too.”

“God, I can’t believe the last time I saw you, you were 8 years old. You’ve really grown up.”

“Oh don’t be so sentimental.”

Amanda laughed. “You look like you’re doing well. How old is your daughter?”

“Oh, actually, she’s not mine. She’s my boyfriend’s daughter.”

Ariel looked up at her. She still had tears in her eyes from the traumatic event of almost losing the doll she wanted. “Don’t you love me?”

Roxie looked down at Ariel. “Of course I love you sweetie”

Ariel held onto Roxie’s leg with the arm that wasn’t holding her doll. Roxie looked up at her older sister.

Amanda smiled. “So, tell me about your boyfriend.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Start off with how you met him?”

“Well, I went into the store Waves Records and Ariel here was running around unattended and I took her over to her father, who I later found out was the owner of the store and having a very bad day.”

“Waves Records? I love that place. I go there practically every morning after I send the kids off to school. Who are you dating?”

“Nick.”

“Ooo, the hot blonde who’s always there?”

Roxie blushed. “Yeah, that’s him.”

“Wait, did you say he’s the owner?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you mean he was the owner?”

“No, he still owns it.”

“Oh, I figured there was a change of ownership because he hasn’t been there for awhile.”

“No. He…” Roxie paused not quite sure how to phrase this without revealing too much of his private life. “Uh, he’s been sick.”

“Oh that’s too bad. How sick is he? Is it life threatening?”

“Well, it can be. He’s doing a bit better now.”

“That’s good. So, how long have you been together?”

“About three months. Our three month anniversary is on September 10.” She wasn’t including the month that they were separated.

“That’s on Friday.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll watch…” Amanda paused realizing she doesn’t know the little girl’s name.

“Ariel.”

Amanda smiled. “I’ll watch Ariel if you two want to do something romantic.”

“I’ll have to talk to Nick. It’s really up to him.”

“Oh, he knows me.” Amanda’s oldest daughter came over pulling a still screaming Mikayla. “Come here girls. I want you to meet my sister. Roxie this is Alana and the little drama queen over there is Mikayla. Girls, this is your Aunt Roxie and Ariel.”

Alana looked at Ariel. “You mean like the little mermaid?” Ariel nodded shyly. “Cool, I love that movie.”

Ariel smiled. “Me too.”

Roxie and Amanda smiled as Alana and Ariel talked about The Little Mermaid. “How old is Ariel? She looks like she’s about three.”

“Actually, she’s just very small for her age. She’ll be five in January.”

“Oh wow.”

“Yeah. How old are your girls?”

“Alana here is eight. Mikayla is five. And I have three more at home driving Chris, my husband, nuts. Dean is six, Zackary is three and Landon is ten months.”

“You certainly have your hands full.”

Amanda smiled. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. So, you never told me how serious you and Nick are.”

“Well, I know it happened fast, but we’re in love. I live with them. And honestly, I can’t see myself without them.”

“That’s great. Hey, we should all have dinner together tonight at your house. That way I can bet better acquainted with my future brother-in-law.”

“Okay, but why our house?”

“Well, if he’s sick, then we can’t make him go out to come to us. He should be resting.”

“Uh, right. I’m just going to call him to see if he’s feeling up to starting dinner.” She said and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed the house and waited for Nick to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Hey you. What’s up?”

“I need you to do something for me.”

“What’s that?”

“I need you to start dinner.”

“Why? We can just throw together pasta or something when you get home.”

“Well, I wanted something a little more elaborate because I ran into my sister…”

“You have a sister?”

“Yeah.”

“You never mentioned her.”

“She’s ten years older and I haven’t seen her since I was 8. But anyway, I ran into her today and I want her to come over for dinner so can you start it.”

“Today’s not a good day.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m painting Ariel’s room. I won’t have time to start dinner.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Hey, I’m not saying never. Just any night but tonight. It can be tomorrow night. I’ll help you and we’ll have a lot more time.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“I love you too. Bye.” Roxie hung up.

“Aww, you’re so cute. So, what time should I be there?”

“Actually, he said that tonight’s not a good night for this. So, how’s tomorrow.”

“Aww, he must be sicker than you mentioned. I’ll follow you home from the mall. I’ll help you cook. If he’s feeling that sick, he’s going to need a good meal.”

“But...”

“But what? It’s settled. How much more shopping do you have to do?”

“I don’t know. Today didn’t have a set shopping plan. It was basically just so that me and Ariel could bond.”

“So, you’re telling me that you’ve been with the guy three months and you haven’t bonded with his daughter yet?”

“Well, we did, but we had a few rough patches recently.”

“Oh. Well, you’ll have plenty of time to bond with her. Especially since you live with them. And with him this sick then I’m sure you have lots of time with her when he’s resting.”

Roxie didn’t know what to say so she finally gave in. “Let me go pay for Ariel’s doll.” Roxie paid for Ariel’s doll and returned to Amanda and handed her a piece of paper. “This is how to get to Nick’s house, just in case you lose me.”

The left the mall and soon Roxie found herself pulling into the driveway. She wasn’t sure how to tell Nick that they were having company that night after he asked to have it a different day. Roxie’s only consolation was that she managed to lose Amanda and that she gave Amanda the long way to Nick’s house from the mall.

Taking a deep breath, Roxie got out of the car. She got Ariel out of her car seat and the bags out of the trunk. Grabbing Ariel’s hand, they walked into the house.

“Daddy, we’re home.” Ariel called loudly into the house. “Roxie has a surprise so come here.”

Up in Ariel’s room, Nick heard Ariel screaming through the house. Damn that girl has a set of lungs on her. Nick thought with a chuckle. He left the room, making sure to close the door behind him. He went downstairs and stopped mid step as soon as he saw Roxie. His jaw dropped. After a couple minutes he regained his composure. “Wow, you look…wow.”

Roxie smiled. “You like it?”

Nick smiled and walked closer. “I think you look gorgeous.” Nick said and kissed Roxie.

“See, Daddy, I told you Roxie had a surprise.”

“Yes you did.” Nick looked down at Ariel. “Roxie, is that makeup on my four year old?”

“Don’t I look pretty?” Ariel asked with a big smile.

“You always look pretty Ariel.”

“When I was getting my makeup done she asked for a little. I didn’t see any harm. Are you mad?”

“No. There are worse things you could’ve done to my daughter than put make up on her. You didn’t get her a tattoo right?” Nick said jokingly.

Roxie caught on to his joke. “Actually. She begged me for a tattoo. She gave me that puppy dog look that she learned off of you. Well, anyway, I caved.” Roxie grabbed Ariel’s arm gently and showed nick the temporary dolphin that was on Ariel’s skin. “She saw them in the mall. I just couldn’t say no.”

Nick laughed. “Temporary tattoos are okay.

Nick went to kiss Roxie again when he saw a van pull into the driveway. Nick went to the window. He saw a woman get out with 2 young girls. “Roxie, do you have something you want to tell me?”

Roxie bit her lip. “Um.” The bell rang.

Nick stood by the door. “I thought we agreed to have her over tomorrow.”

“I know, but she...”

“But she what?”

“She’s my sister.”

“And I never said that she couldn’t come over. I just asked for you to have her over tomorrow.”

“She wouldn’t take no for an answer. And besides, she’s here now, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

The doorbell rang again. Nick opened the door roughly. Amanda was about to say something. “You have to wait a minute.” Nick said and closed the door.

“Nick, that was rude.”

“So was bringing her here when I specifically asked you not to.” Nick said and brushed past Roxie, he went back into Ariel’s room to finish where he left off.

Roxie opened the door and smiled apologetically at Amanda.  “I’m sorry…”

“He must be very self conscious of his disease.”

“I think you should go.”

“Fine.  If you didn’t want me back in your life you should’ve said so.”

“Amanda wait.”

“What?”

“It’s just that Nick requested that you come over tomorrow.  Now he’s mad at me.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so?  I would have come over tomorrow.”

“I did say so.”

“You did?”

“Yes.  You were just so occupied with him being sick that you weren’t even paying attention to me.”

“Well, I’m here now, so I’ll just help you with dinner.”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll go talk to him.”  Roxie tried to object but Amanda wouldn’t hear any of it.  “Where is he?”

Roxie sighed in defeat.  “He’s upstairs.  At the top of the stairs turn right, second door on the left.”

Amanda went upstairs and found Nick standing on a ladder painting.  She stepped inside the room.  “Oh my.  I feel like I just entered an underwater kingdom.”  She said after noticing the sea creatures on the wall.

“That’s the point.”  Nick said, not stopping what he was doing.

Amanda stood in the room for several minutes while Nick seemed to be ignoring her.  She broke the silence.  “It wasn’t Roxie’s fault.  I wanted to come so I could get to know you on a more personal level since you’re dating my little sister.

“I’ve been in here all day painting.  There is no way that I’d be able to finish painting as well as prepare a meal.  That’s why I asked her to do this tomorrow.  But since you’re here, make yourself useful.  Hand me a small, clean brush and the red paint.”

Amanda handed him the paint and brush.  “I must say, your wig looks very real.  You can’t even tell it’s a wig.”

“My wig?  I’m not wearing a wig.”

“Oh, that’s good.  You’re one of the lucky ones.”

“I guess.”  Nick was confused.  He had no idea what she was talking about.

“I can’t believe you’re painting.”

“Why?”

“Well, I would think you’d spend your last days on earth being, I don’t know, more adventurous.”

“My last days on earth?  Am I dying and nobody told me?”

“You aren’t dying?”

“No.  Where did you get that idea?”

“When I was talking to Roxie at the mall, she said you were sick.  So I asked her if it was serious and she said it could be fatal.”

“So you envisioned a sickly, bald cancer patient?”

“Well, yes.”

Nick sighed.  “The sickness Roxie was referring to is depression.”

“Oh.  Well, depression is treatable, which is good.  You’re too young and attractive to be fighting cancer.”  Amanda felt foolish for assuming cancer.  “Well, I’m going to go help Roxie with dinner.  Would you like something special, you know, considering that you’re dying?”

Nick laughed.  “No.”

“Okay.”  Amanda went to leave.  “You will come down for dinner right?”

“Yeah.  I’m going to keep painting until dinner’s ready.”

"All right."  Amanda smiled briefly and then left.  She went downstairs and smiled at Roxie.  "He's fine.  He's going to work until dinner.  Why did you tell me he had cancer?"  She asked her.

 "I never told you he had cancer."  Roxie said.  "He's really okay...?"

 "Yeah."  Amanda smiled.  "Now let's go make dinner.  Where are the girls?"  She asked as she walked into the kitchen.

 "In the living room playing."  Roxie answered.

“Are they getting along now?”

“Well, I haven’t heard any recent crying or screaming, so that must mean that all three girls are still alive.”

“Well, my girls can be little terrors, so maybe I should check on them.”  Amanda said and poked her head into the living room.  She noticed the girls were quietly playing Candy Land.  “Everything okay in here?”

“Yes Mommy.”  Alana said.  Amanda went back into the kitchen. 

"Your turn."  Alana told Ariel.

 Ariel picked a card.  "Queen Frostine!"  She said excitedly and moved her piece all the way up to the designated spot. 

 "My turn!"  Mikayla said right away.  She grabbed the next card.  "Plumby?!"  She groaned.  She got annoyed that she had to go all the way back to the beginning.  "I don't want to play anymore."  She said and started looking around the room.  "Can't we do something else?"

 "Do you want to watch Little Mermaid?"  Ariel asked with a smile.

 "No..."  Mikayla said.  She spotted a doll up on a high shelf.  "Let's play with that doll!"

“We can’t play with that doll.  It’s Roxie’s.”

“It’s just a doll, she won’t care.”

“Yes she will.  Roxie told me I could never play with that doll.  That’s why it’s so high up.”

“Alana, help me get it down.”

Ariel gasped and ran from the living room and into the kitchen as Alana and Mikayla helped each other climb the shelves until they could reach the doll.  She spotted Missy under the table and dove to the floor.  She crawled under the table and started petting Missy.

Roxie saw this peculiar action and knelt down besides the table.  “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah.  I wanted to play with Missy.”

“Okay.”

Roxie stood up and went back to cutting up vegetables for a salad when there was a crash in the living room.  Roxie and Amanda ran into the living room to investigate.  Roxie immediately spotted her porcelain doll lying in pieces on the floor.  She gasped.  “My doll.”  She ran from the room and headed straight for the steps as tears started streaming down her face. 

Nick heard footsteps running up the stairs but thought nothing of it until he heard a strangled sob.  He looked out of Ariel’s room to see Roxie running by the room; it was obvious that she was either trying to hide that she was crying or trying not to cry.  “Roxie?”

When she didn’t respond he got down off his ladder and headed toward his room.  He entered the room and saw that Roxie was sitting in the middle of the bed, hugging her legs and sobbing.  He got onto the bed and pulled her into his arms.  “What’s wrong?” Roxie was crying too hard to answer.  “You know babe, inconsolable crying is my job.”  He joked trying to get her to at least crack a smile.  He pulled back so that he could turn Roxie’s face to him.  He wiped away some tears with his thumb.  “Please tell me what happened?”

“They broke my doll.”  Roxie said through tears.

“When you say they, who do you mean exactly?”

Roxie knew that he was really only asking about Ariel.  “No, Ariel wasn’t part of it.  It was only Alana and Mikayla.”  Roxie said then buried her face in Nick’s shoulder as he held her tightly.

Amanda entered the doorway.  “Rox, it was only a doll.  They didn’t mean it.”  Amanda said in a soft voice attempting to comfort her obviously distraught sibling.

Roxie turned her head to the doorway and glared at Amanda.  “You had 10 years with Mom.  Mom died before she could even hold me once.”

Amanda looked confused.  “What does that have to do with anything?”

Roxie placed her head back on Nick’s shoulder.  Obviously she didn’t want to answer the question.  Nick answered for her.  “It was your mom’s doll.” He paused.  “Maybe you should go back downstairs.”

“But she’s my sister; I need to make sure she’s okay.”

“You’re not helping.  I’ll take care of Roxie; you go take care of dinner.”

“But…”

“Amanda, go downstairs please.”

Amanda stayed in the doorway for a few more minutes watching Nick hold her little sister as she cried.  Finally, she turned around and headed back toward the stairs.

Nick held Roxie as she cried “It’s my fault.”  She finally spoke.

Nick pushed her back from his chest gently so he could look at her.  He looked at her with a confused, yet concerned look.  “What’s your fault?”

“That it broke.  I had it in this really durable protector case.  The doll survived the earthquake but the case didn’t.  I placed it up on that shelf thinking it would be okay until I got a new case, but I never did.  I should have got one immediately.  I’d still have the doll if I did.”

He didn’t know what to say to make her feel better.  He wasn’t good at comforting.  He was usually the one needing comforting.  He pulled her back to him and hugged her tightly.  He just hoped that was enough.

As Nick was holding her, her sobs began to die down.  She pulled back.  Nick smiled at her.  “Feel better?”

“I guess.”

“You ready to go downstairs?”  Roxie immediately shook her head.  “Okay, then why don’t you come help me paint until dinner?”

Roxie nodded.  Nick got off the bed pulling Roxie with him.  She hugged him again when they were standing.  “I love you Nick.”

“I love you too.”  Nick smiled at her and kissed her. 

They walked into Ariel’s room.  “Oh my god Nick.  This looks fantastic.”

“Thanks.”

“I think I’ll just let you paint.  I don’t want to mess anything up.”  Roxie sat on Ariel’s bed which was currently in the middle of the room.  “I’ll just keep you company while you paint.”

"Oh c'mon."  Nick rolled his eyes.  "You won't mess anything up.  It'll be fun...  I've kind of been lonely in here all day by myself."

“Nick really, you worked so hard on this, I don’t want to ruin it.”

Nick climbed on his daughter’s bed and hugged Roxie from behind.  “Babe, look around.  Everything is outlined.  All you have to do is stay in the lines and it’ll be fine.  And if you’re worried about going out of the lines, then stay away from them and I’ll do the lines.”

“I don’t know…”

“I won’t take no for an answer.  Now pick up a paint brush.”

Roxie finally gave in.  She stood up and picked up a brush.  Nick smiled and climbed back onto his ladder to continue where he left off.  Roxie picked a spot near where he was painting.

They painted in silence.  Nick needed to change the color of the paint he was using.  He got off the ladder.  Roxie was concentrating hard on the spot she was painting.  Nick thought she looked cute with her tongue sticking out as she concentrated on what she was doing.  Nick smirked and “accidentally” brushed his paint brush across her cheek.

“Hey.”

Nick smiled at her innocently.  “What?”

She took her brush and reached for his cheek to retaliate.  He dodged it and she only got his shirt.  As he dodged the paint brush, he bumped into the ladder he was using. Roxie knew he was okay.  She gasped.  “I’m so sorry.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” 

Roxie approached Nick and hugged him, pretending to feel guilty for making him bump into his ladder.  She kissed him as a distraction while she placed the brush on the side of his face, allowing her hand to slowly trail down to his neck.  This time she didn’t miss.

“You little sneak.”  Nick said with a smile.

“That’s why you love me.”

“Is that so?”

“Absolutely.”

Nick put his paint brush down and reached for the paint brush that Roxie was using.  He gently took the brush from her.  His Hand lingered at her side.  He dropped the brushes as he began to tickle her.

Roxie tried to get away from him.  She didn’t get very far as Nick grabbed her waist and they both fell onto Ariel’s bed.  Roxie was still trying to get away from him.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Amanda had finished preparing dinner.  She sent the three young girls to wash up.

Amanda went to the staircase.  Immediately, she heard loud laughter coming from upstairs.  She had no interest in find out what was going on up there.  “Nick, Rox, dinner is ready.”

Amanda and the girls were already sitting at the table when Nick and Roxie walked in.  Ariel was the first to spot them.  She giggled causing Amanda to look up at them.  Amanda tried to not laugh.  “Did you get any paint on the walls?”

“Oh be quiet.”  Roxie said with a slight laugh.  They sat down at the table and began eating. 

The meal was quiet and Ariel was getting nervous.  She knew her daddy had to be painting her room because he and Roxie were completely covered in paint.  However, since no one was saying anything she was nervous to talk.  She had tried talking to Alana and Mikayla when they first sat down, but they only scowled at her.  They were still upset that their mother punished them.

Conversation started slowly.  Nick, Roxie and Amanda started to break the silence with small talk, which eventually led to Amanda and Roxie sharing stories and laughing.

Mikayla looked over at her mother and glared.  She was still mad that her mother punished them.  Her little nostrils flared as her mother held an animated conversation with the Aunt that they had just met.  She picked up one of her chicken nuggets.  As she was about to take a bite, her mother burst out laughing.  Acting on impulse, she threw the chicken nugget, aiming for her mother.

She has bad aim.  She missed her mother completely and the chicken nugget bounced off Nick’s chest.  Amanda gasped as Nick glanced down at the chicken nugget that was now lying in his lap.

“Oh my god, Nick.  I am so sorry.” 

She glanced over at her young daughter ready to scold her when Nick picked up the nugget when he said “Eh, I’m already covered in paint, what’s a little food?”  She looked at him curiously as he held it, seemingly contemplating what to do with it.  After what seemed like hours Nick playfully glared at Roxie.  “Here, hold this.”  He said as he tossed the nugget at Roxie.

“This means war mister.”  She picked up a spoonful of mashed potatoes and flung them at Nick.

Nick responded by throwing a piece of gravy covered meat at Roxie.  Ariel giggled.  She picked up a chicken nugget and threw it at Nick.  She smiled innocently when Nick looked at her.  Nick picked up a little bit of macaroni salad on a spoon and walked over to Ariel.  He hugged her and placed the macaroni salad on Ariel. 

Mikayla, feeling brave, stood on her chair and said loudly, “FOOD FIGHT.”

After that food started flying all over the room.  Missy was prancing around the table happily.  This was more table scraps than she ever got. 

The food fight was getting out of hand.  They were all moving quickly around the table trying to avoid more food getting on them.  The kitchen was a mess.  There was food everywhere.  There was even a paper bowl stuck to the ceiling.  Nick thought it might be one of the girl’s bowls of mac and cheese.  He just wasn’t sure how it latched onto the ceiling.  He decided he didn’t want to know.

Without warning, Nick felt himself practically fly into the air and land hard onto the food covered floor.  Activity seemed to stop as the girls around him realized that he fell.  Ariel cautiously approached him.  “Daddy, are you okay?”

Nick reached up and pulled her onto his lap.  “Yes, I’m okay.  But I do think it’s time to end this food fight and start cleaning.”  He placed Ariel back on the floor and stood up feeling a slight pain in his lower back.  It wasn’t horribly painful; he just hoped that it didn’t turn out to be worse.  He cautiously made his way over to the phone before turning around to face the kitchen.  “Well, since our dinner is now all over my kitchen, what do you girls say if I ordered in a pizza?”

“Pizza.”  Ariel shrieked excitedly.

“Sometimes I swear that girl is a pizzaterian.” Nick said with a slight chuckle.  After everyone else nodded their approval Nick ordered the pizza and then they started cleaning up the kitchen.  Nick and Roxie both knew that tomorrow’s project would be to really clean the kitchen. 

The pizza arrived about a half hour later.  After eating, Alana, Mikayla and Ariel were showing signs of being tired.  Amanda started gathering their things so they could leave.  Standing in the doorway, Amanda said, “Well, this was fun.  We need to do it again sometime.”  She turned to Nick and said, “And next time, I’ll bring my husband and my boys so you aren’t so outnumbered.” 

Nick shrugged.  “If you haven’t noticed, I am outnumbered all the time.  Even growing up I was outnumbered.”  Nick said with a chuckle.  After bidding Amanda goodbye, he left the doorway to let Roxie say goodbye.  He spotted Ariel lying on the floor and almost fast asleep.  He knelt down beside her and gently shook her so that she’d open her eyes.  “Come on.  It’s time for your bath.”

“No bath.”

“Normally I would let your bath slide, but you’re covered in food.  And there’s no way you’re sleeping in my bed covered in food.”  He scooped her up and brought her into the bathroom to give her a bath. 

After her bath, Nick wrapped her in a towel and carried her into her bedroom to get a pair of pajamas.  Ariel’s tired eyes lit up when she saw her new room.  She never expected to see a wall of Ariel and friends and every other wall with dolphins, fish, whales, and other sea creatures.  “Daddy, can I sleep in here?”

“Tomorrow night.

“Why not tonight?”

“Because the paint is still drying.  You like it?”

“Yeah.” She said and clapped her hands excitedly.  “I love you daddy.”

“I love you too.  Now, let’s get you into pajamas and to bed.”  He dressed her and lied her down in the middle of his bed.  He stood in his doorway watching her sleep.  

Roxie came up behind him, wrapping her arms around him.  She kissed his back through his t-shirt and he placed his arm around her shoulder.  Roxie looked into the room.  “She looks so tiny on that big bed.”

Nick smiled.  “Yeah, she does.  The bed just kind of engulfs her completely.”  He turned to look at her.  “You’re going to have to share me tonight.”

The morning of September 10th arrived.  Roxie woke up and was excited to think that today was their three month anniversary.  She looked over at Nick who was still fast asleep.  She smiled.  As cute as Nick looked when he slept, she was ready for him to be awake. 

She kissed him and pulled back after a few minutes.  Nick must’ve been really out cold because her kiss didn’t even penetrate him.  She kissed him again hoping to get some kind of reaction out of him.  Again, no reaction. 

Feeling determined to give him a pleasant wake up, she pulled the covers away from his body.  She smirked when she noticed that he already seemed to have an erection.  It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was dreaming about.  She grabbed the elastic of his pajama pants and managed to get them off of him without him knowing. 

She discarded his pants and let her gaze travel up his legs.  She realized that he was harder than she thought since the tip of his erect cock was peeking out through the opening in his boxers.

Initially she was planning on waking him up with her mouth.  But the sight of his erection made her ache to have him inside her.  She pulled his boxers off in the same way that she pulled his pants off.  She stood up on the bed and in one motion removed her own pajama pants and her panties. 

She positioned herself over him and slowly lowered her body onto him.  She moaned at the feeling of him filling her. She stayed still, reveling in the feeling of pleasure that her body was feeling.  Soon, she couldn’t take anymore and started to rock her hips back and forth and in a circular motion.

Nick was beginning to wake up.  He had been dreaming about Roxie riding him.  Her movement was causing her perfect chest to bounce.  He felt as if he were still dreaming because when he opened his eyes, he saw Roxie leaning over him while she rocked her hips against his. 

His moan alerted Roxie to the fact that he was waking up.  Shortly after, he started matching her movements.  Roxie threw her head back and screamed out as her body was overcome with ecstasy.

It was her scream that made Nick realize that he was no longer dreaming.  He grabbed her wrist and flipped her over.  Now that he was more awake he realized that there was a difference from this and his dream.  In his dream, Roxie was naked.  He didn’t like the fact that her perfect breasts were covered by her pajama shirt.  As he pounded into her, he yanked her shirt over her head.  Continuing his movements, he leaned down and took her left breast into his mouth and played with the other.  After a few minutes, he switched. 

Roxie tangled one hand into his messy hair.  She let her other hand roam his back.  She could feel herself approaching another orgasm and let her second hand fall to his back. 

Nick growled in pain and pleasure as he felt her nails scratch hard against his back.

“Harder Nick.”  Roxie begged.

Nick didn’t need to be told twice as he started moving faster.  “Oh god, Rox…” He stopped and moaned loudly as he felt his orgasm overpowering his body as he shot his load into his girlfriend.

Roxie felt his intense orgasm and that pushed her over the edge.  She screamed out in pleasure as she experienced her second orgasm that morning.

Nick rolled off her, breathing heavy.  When he finally felt composed he said, “What a way to wake up.  What’s the occasion?”

Roxie sat up and looked at him.  “What do you mean, what’s the occasion?”

Nick looked at her in confusion.  “It’s just an expression babe.”  She just looked at him.  He realized that she was about to burst into tears.  “Why are you crying?”

“You forgot didn’t you?”

“Forgot what?”

“How could you.”  She got off the bed quickly and threw her pajamas back on and stormed out of the room.

Nick sat there on the bed in shock.  “Whoa, talk about a mood swing.”  He said to himself.

He got up and put his pajama pants back on.  He was more concerned with finding Roxie and getting to the bottom of this to worry about a shirt.  He started to look around the house looking for Roxie.  When he didn’t find her, he looked outside.  He sighed in relief when he realized that her car was still parked outside.  That meant she had to be around here somewhere.  He just didn’t know where.  He already checked everyone room in the house and didn’t find her.

He decided to let her cool off.  In the meantime he’d go check on his daughter.  He went back upstairs and pushed open his daughter’s door.  He was shocked to find her in Ariel’s room, just watching Ariel sleep.

Roxie looked up when he walked in and then returned to watching Ariel sleep. 

“This was the last place I thought I’d find you.”

“I told you to leave me alone.”

“What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?”  Her voice began escalating.  “What’s wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong?  You forgot what today is?”

“It’s not your birthday.  That’s in a couple weeks.”

“Thanks Nickolas, I know when my own birthday is.”

“That’s not how I meant it.  What is so important about today that you’re this upset?”

“It’s our 3 month anniversary.”

“You’re this upset over a three month anniversary?  It’s not a big deal.”

“Maybe you feel that our relationship is not a big deal.”

“What?  I didn’t say that.”

Ariel had been awake for a few minutes.  The sound of screaming woke her up.  She pretended she was still asleep.  Finally she couldn’t take it any more.  She sat up in her bed and said very loudly.  “Stop fighting.”

Nick and Roxie looked over at Ariel.  It was like they just realized she was there.  Nick went over to her and sat on her bed.  He went to hug her to make her feel better.  “No.”  She climbed off her bed and ran from the room. 

Nick sat there and stared at her bedspread.  He couldn’t believe that the morning that started out so well had turned into this.  He looked up at Roxie.  She stood there for a few minutes before she sat down on Ariel’s bed next to him.  They both just stared at each other.  Neither knew what to say.

From outside, they heard a young girl’s scream.  “Ariel.”  Nick said and bolted off the bed.  He ran into the back yard and saw his daughter lying on the floor crying hysterically.  Nick ran to her side and quickly got on his knees next to her.  “Baby what happened?”

Through her tears she said, “I wanted to go in my tree house, but I fell.”

Roxie was standing by the back door.  She had her hand nervously by her mouth.  Ariel was crying so hard, which told her that the young girl was going to need an ER.  Roxie ran inside and called 911 requesting an ambulance.  She quickly ran upstairs and got dressed.  She brought clothes down for Nick.  She took his place by Ariel’s side while he went to go get dressed.

A couple hours later found Nick pacing in the waiting room of the ER.  Roxie was sitting there watching him pace.  She stood up and grabbed his arm.  She turned him toward her.  “Sit down please.”

“What’s taking them so long?”

“I don’t know.  But pacing isn’t going to help her.  Please, sit down.”

Nick finally relented and sat down on the hard plastic chair.  He leaned over, resting his elbow on his knees and resting his head in his hands.

Roxie reached over and began to rub his back, hoping to comfort him.  “I’m so sorry Nick.  This is all my fault.”

He looked at her.  “You didn’t push her out of the tree.”

“No.  But I over reacted about you not remembering.  If we hadn’t been fighting over that, she wouldn’t have…”

“Don’t do that.  It’s my fault.”

“Nick…”

“No Roxie.  My daughter fell out of a tree because I was more worried about why you were mad at me then what she was doing.  I should’ve been watching her.”

Nick looked up when a door opened and a doctor stepped up.  “Mr. Carter.”

“Mr. Carter.”

Nick took a deep breath and stood up.  Roxie stood up with him and grabbed his hand.  Hand and hand they walked over to the doctor.  “How is my daughter?”

A smile finally graced the doctor’s face.  “She landed on her arm, and then rolled onto her back.  She has no internal injuries and no serious injuries.  She merely broke her arm.”

“A broken arm?  You’ve had me sitting in a waiting room for 3 hours worried sick about my daughter for a broken arm.”

“I’m sorry sir, but we had other patients who were more critical than she is.”

“Are you kidding me?  She’s 4 years old.”

“I assure you she’s fine.”

“You’re assuring me.  You left my four year old in a room by herself?  How is that reassuring.  Where is she?”

“I think you need to calm down first.”

“I’ll be calm when I never have to see you again.  Now where’s my daughter?” 

The doctor nodded and led Nick and Roxie to Ariel.  He pulled the curtain back and Ariel looked up.  “Daddy.”  Ariel squealed excitedly.  Nick sighed in relief and made his way over to her bedside.  He smiled down at her and brushed her hair back gently.  He leaned down and kissed her forehead.  “Look Daddy.”  She said and waved her cast in the air.

“You got white?  But there are so many other cool colors.”

“I know.  I had a choice.  But I figured you couldn’t draw Ariel on a colored cast.

Nick chuckled.  “You have a one track mind.”

Ariel looked at her father confused.  “What’s that mean?”

“It means you only think about one thing.”  Nick sat on the bed and pulled his young daughter onto his lap.

The doctor walked over to them.  Nick was a little confused that it was a different doctor.  “I have her release papers.  I just need you to sign by the x.”

Nick nodded and took the pen.  He signed on the dotted line and stood up holding Ariel.  “Daddy, can we go for ice cream?”

“Yeah, let’s go get ice cream.”

“And when we get home will you draw Ariel on my cast.”

“We’ll see.”

“Okay Daddy.” 

Nick carried Ariel out of the hospital and to his car.  Nick drove to the nearest ice cream parlor.

Later that day, while Ariel was taking her nap, Nick was sitting on her bed drawing Ariel on her cast.  He still felt guilty for her even have to wear the cast.  Roxie showed up in the door.  She watched him concentrate on the picture he was drawing.  Moments later, he placed Ariel’s arm down and stood up.  He was walking w/ his head down and looked up just in time to see that he was about to walk into Roxie.  “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

Roxie smiled at him. She grabbed his hand and led him into their room.  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Nick sighed.  “I don’t know.  In a short time that cast is no longer going to be cool, it’s going to be uncomfortable.  And she wouldn’t have to wear it if I was paying attention.  We shouldn’t have been yelling in front of her.”

“I’m really sorry Nick.  I don’t know why I got so upset over you not remembering.”

“If I knew it meant that much to you I would’ve remembered.”

Roxie burst out laughing.  “It doesn’t mean that much to me.  Normally I only care about the yearly anniversary.”

“Then what happened this morning?”

“You know Nick.  I really don’t know.”  She watched Nick turn away from her.  “You’re still thinking about her falling out of the tree aren’t you?”

“Do you remember the day we ran into my family at the mall?”

“Yes.”  Roxie looked at him confused.

“BJ said something about me fucking up Ariel’s life like I fucked up everyone else’s.  It hurt hearing it.  But it hurts more now that I know she’s right.”

“What are you saying Nick?”

“I’m a horrible father.  I always have been.”

“Nick.  You’re not…”

“Yes I am.  I’ve always known it.  I just seemed to have forgotten lately.”

“You have to be doing something right.  She adores you.”

“She adores me because I pay attention to her.  Tracy never did.  It doesn’t make me a good parent.”

“Nick, I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I don’t want you to say anything.”

“I’m only trying to make you feel better.”

“I don’t want to feel better.  I don’t deserve to feel better.”

“Why do you suddenly feel like this?”

“Roxie, I just want to be alone right now please?”

Roxie nodded.  “Okay.  I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”

Later that night Roxie came into the room.  “Nick, Ariel wants you.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s her bedtime and she wants her daddy to tuck her in.”

Nick stood up and silently walked into Ariel’s room.  He adjusted her blankets and kissed her forehead.  “Daddy?

“Yeah.”

“My cast is itchy.  Can I take it off?”

“I’m afraid not.  It has to stay on to help your arm heal properly.”

“How long?”

“6 weeks.”

“Is that a long time.”

“It’s going to feel like a long time.”

“Did you ever have to wear one?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“I think I was about 8 years old.  I was trying to do tricks on my bike.  It wasn’t a good idea.”

“Like running up the tree wasn’t right?”

“Get some sleep honey.”  He kissed her forehead gently.  “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Daddy.  Love you.”

He was standing in the room just watching her sleep when Roxie came in.  “Do you feel any better?”

“Not really.”

“Well, maybe there’s a single father support group you could join.”

“Yeah, that’d work.  Yes, I have a problem.  I’m a screw up and I’m going to screw up my child, if I haven’t already.”  He replied sarcastically.

“You know what, come find me when you’re done throwing a self pity party.”

He stood in the door for a few more minutes before he went to find Roxie.  He found her in their bedroom.  “I’m sorry.”

Roxie stood up and hugged him.  “Nick, kids get hurt.  This isn’t your fault.”

He sighed.  “You don’t get it.”

“ If you feel you’re such a bad father, then you need to stop crying about it and do something.”

“It’s not just past events that are upsetting me.  It’s that I don’t think I know how to fix this.  I don’t know how to be a better parent.  I don’t want to be the reason that my daughter ends up like me.”

Everything finally made sense to Roxie.  “You think that something your parents did when you were a child is the reason you got into drugs and you don’t want that to be the case for Ariel.”

Nick looked down shamefully.  “Yeah.”

“Nick, just because you screwed up, doesn’t mean you’re a screw up.”

“I feel like a screw up.  It seems for the past few years I haven’t been able to do anything right.  Roxie stayed quiet.  All of a sudden she stood up and headed for her closet.  She seemed to be digging around looking for something.  “Babe, what are you doing?”

“Ah ha.  I found it.”

“Found what?”

“This.”  She stood up and walked over to Nick.  She sat on the bed next to Nick.  “I think we need to change the subject.”  She handed him the small wrapped package.  “I wanted to get these for you.  It just so happened to coincide with an anniversary.”

“What is it?”

Roxie smiled.  “Well open it and find out.”

Nick ripped the wrapping paper off.  He looked down at the gift in his hands.  “Guitar strings and picks huh?”

Roxie shrugged.  “I figured it might give you an incentive to try to play again.”

“Thank you, but, um, I’m not sure I’m ever going to play again.”

“I think you should.”  Nick looked at her.  “It might make you feel more like you felt before your drug problem.”  Nick couldn’t help but smirk a little.  “I see that smirk.”

Nick pushed her down on the bed and straddled her.  “So you think I should feel like a horny teenager.”

Roxie laughed.  “You know what I meant.”

“I know.”  Nick gently slid off her.

Roxie smiled at him.  “Let’s get some sleep.”

“I’m going to go out for a drive.  I need to clear my head.”

“Oh.  Do you want company?”

“I think I just need to be alone right now.”

Roxie nodded.  “Be careful.”

Nick only nodded before he left the room.

He got into his car not sure of where to go.  He drove around aimlessly.  When he discovered that no amount of thinking could clear his head, he found himself pulling into an old familiar parking lot, not knowing where else to go.

Roxie wasn’t quite awake yet. She was awake enough to realize that she couldn’t feel Nick. She reached toward his side of the bed to pull him close. She was shocked when she came in contact with an empty bed. She sat up wondering what could have happened the night before when he went out. She knew that he wanted to clear his head but now she was panicking. She got out of bed quickly. After throwing on her robe, she ran from the room. She wanted to make sure that Ariel wasn’t awake yet, just in case she had to report Nick missing.

Once she was sure that Ariel was still sound asleep, she ran down the stairs. She was about to run to the door to check for his car when she noticed his feet hanging off the end of the couch. She sighed in relief. She walked around the couch and casually sat down on the table across from him. She reached over to brush some of his hair out of his face.

Nick jumped causing Roxie to jump. “Sorry Nick, I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“It’s okay. What time is it?”

“7:30.” Nick groaned and lied back down on the couch. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just tired.” He said not letting on that he was more than just tired.

Roxie smiled at him. “Why didn’t you come to bed last night?”

“I got home late. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Then you must have a very clear head.”

Nick scoffed. “You’d think right. My thoughts kept going in circles.”

“Why don’t you go upstairs and get some more sleep.”

Nick was about to answer when a ball of energy burst into the living room. “Can I have ice cream for breakfast?”

Nick looked at his daughter. “No, you can’t have ice cream for breakfast.”

“But I broke my arm.”

“Yes, you broke your arm yesterday and you were treated with ice cream when we left the hospital because you were a big girl.”

“Okay, I’ll eat waffles for breakfast and later we can go for ice cream.”

“I don’t think so.”

“But Daddy.”

“Don’t but daddy me. Just because you want ice cream doesn’t mean you’re going to get it, especially if you demand it like that.” Ariel huffed and marched into the kitchen. “Great. I turned my daughter into a spoiled brat.”

“Relax Nick. You’re tired and cranky. She’s just trying to milk her injury. You should go get some more rest.”

Nick nodded. “Yeah, I need to.”

Roxie stood up when she stood up. She kissed him. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep Ariel out of your hair so you can get a decent rest.”

“Thanks.” He kissed her before making his way upstairs.

Roxie walked into the kitchen to start preparing Ariel’s breakfast. “Where’s Daddy?”

“He’s still tired so he went upstairs to get more sleep.”

“Is Daddy mad at me?”

Roxie chuckled, “No. But you really shouldn’t say you want something as if you deserve it.”

“I do want ice cream though.”

“You heard your Daddy. He’s not going to take you for ice cream today.”

“I know. Maybe you can bring me to get ice cream.”

“I’m not going against your father. After breakfast me and you will go outside and play.”

Nick woke up a few hours later. He stood up and headed downstairs. He smiled slightly to himself when he realized that Roxie left his lunch on the table. He still wasn’t feeling hungry, but he ate anyway knowing that he hadn’t eaten all day. He saw Roxie outside with Ariel and Missy. Roxie was helping Ariel throw a ball for Missy. Every time Missy returns to Ariel she jumps on her, causing Ariel to fall back against Roxie giggling.

Nick couldn’t bring himself to go out there. He still hadn’t come to terms with his lack of parenting skills. He wasn’t sure if he ever would. He sighed and began to clean up the kitchen from his lunch. Once his kitchen was cleaned, he hesitated by the back door before turning away and heading back upstairs.

He sat on the bed looking around the room, hoping that his bedroom would provide him with some answers. His gaze came across his guitar which seemed to be staring back at him, beckoning him.

He stood up and grabbed his guitar case and the strings that Roxie had given him the prior day. He removed the old strings with ease and placed the new strings on his guitar as if he 5 years didn’t pass between the last time and put strings on a guitar and that moment. What shocked him the most was when he tuned the guitar by ear.

He thought about what he wanted to play for a few minutes before actually beginning to play. He looked around the room when he first started to make sure that he was still alone. Knowing he was alone he allowed himself to get lost in the music.

He finished a song and was startled when he heard clapping. He immediately placed his guitar down on the bed, embarrassed that he was caught.

“Don’t stop. You’re really good.”

“I was only playing because I thought I was alone.” He said as he began to place his guitar in its case.

“Can you play one more song Daddy?”

“I don’t want to Ariel.”

“Oh come on Nick, it’s just one more song.”

“I told you, I was only playing because I thought I was alone. I don’t want an audience.”

Roxie decided it be best to let the subject drop. She noticed that Ariel wanted to try again to get Nick to play. “Ariel, don’t.”

“But Roxie…”

“No, your father doesn’t want to play, we shouldn’t make him.”

Ariel nodded. “Okay. We can go watch a movie.”

Nick groaned to himself. Or at least he thought it was to himself until he caught Roxie glaring at him. He silently followed Roxie down to the family room. Moments later, Ariel arrived with her Little Mermaid DVD. She handed it to Nick. He handed it back to her. “Ariel, can you please go pick out a different movie?”

“But Daddy, I want to watch this one.”

“We always watch The Little Mermaid. We’re due for a change.”

“I don’t want to Daddy.”

“Ariel, go get a different movie or you’ll be going to bed without dinner.”

Ariel gasped and started crying. She ran off to her room. Roxie shook her head. She couldn’t believe that Nick said that. Roxie stopped in front of him. He looked at her curiously, not sure what she was doing. Moments later, his cheek was stinging. He raised his hand to his cheek to rub at his cheek where Roxie smacked him before she stalked upstairs to Ariel’s room.

Roxie’s heart broke when she could hear the little girl’s sobs from the other side of the door. She knocked. “Ariel, it’s me. Can I come in?”

“Is Daddy with you?”

“No sweetie.”

“Okay, you can come in.” Roxie opened the door and entered the room, closing the door behind her. She crossed the room and sat next to Ariel on the bed. “Why does Daddy hate me?”

“He doesn’t hate you honey.”

“He yelled at me because I wanted to watch The Little Mermaid.”

“I know sweetie. He shouldn’t have done that. I’ll talk to him. Maybe I’ll send him to bed without dinner.”

Ariel finally smiled. “Yeah.”

“Okay. Daddy doesn’t get dinner tonight.” Roxie smiled. “Why don’t you play with your toys? I’m going to go talk to Daddy.” Roxie went downstairs to find Nick sitting on the couch. He seemed to still be rubbing at his cheek. She marched into the room and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. “What’s your problem?”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t have a problem.”

“Yes you do. Otherwise you wouldn’t have threatened your daughter for no reason.”

“There was a reason.”

“Just because she wanted to watch The Little Mermaid again isn’t enough of a reason to punish her. You’ve already watched the movie a million times. What’s one more time to make your daughter happy? Oh and, you’re not getting dinner tonight.”

“What?”

“You heard me. You’re the one going to bed without dinner.”

“Fine.”

Nick stood up quickly and stumbled a little as he tried to walk around the couch as quick as possible. He brushed passed Roxie in such a way that caused her to fall.

He made his way up to his room. Roxie followed him. “Don’t take your anger out on me. Now I want your answer. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Nothing is wrong. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.”

“And how would you know?”

“Because you’re not acting like yourself.”

“I’m fine. Just leave me alone.”

“If you thought you were a bad father when you were blaming yourself for Ariel’s injury, then maybe you should look in the mirror now. I never thought I’d hear myself agreeing with you that you were a bad father, but right now I am.” She turned to leave and then turned back. “Oh and by the way. Ariel doesn’t want to see you so don’t even try to get back on her good side right now.”

“Where do you come off telling me how to raise my daughter?”

“I’m not telling you how to raise your daughter. I’m just stepping in when needed.”

“Well, I didn’t ask you to step in and who said you were needed?”

“You did, when you punished your daughter for no reason. Oh and don’t try to talk to me either unless the topic is you telling me what got shoved up your ass to put you in this foul mood.”

Roxie then left the room, leaving Nick alone. Nick didn’t know if he should be happy or upset.

Ariel got to watch her movie. Roxie watched it with her without Nick. Once the movie was over, Roxie headed into the kitchen to cook dinner.

While Roxie and Ariel were eating dinner, Nick walked into the kitchen. “Nick, I thought I said you weren’t eating with us tonight.”

“So I guess that means I’m not allowed in my kitchen to get something to drink?” He asked as he pulled an open bottle of water out of the refrigerator before walking out of the kitchen without acknowledging either Roxie or Ariel.

~*~

It was around 3:30AM when Nick got home that night. He had gone out to clear his head again and ended up at the same location that he was at the previous night. He headed toward the stairs and began the climb up to his room. He tried the doorknob to find that it wouldn’t turn. He tried it a few more times thinking that he didn’t have a good grip. When the knob didn’t budge he realized that he was locked out of his room.

Without noticing the note on the bedroom door, he began knocking loudly. Finally the door swung open. He was about to ask Roxie why she locked him out of their room when she grabbed the note off the bedroom door and shoved it at him before entering the room and slamming the door in his face. He heard the door lock.

He turned away and looked down at the note.

Nickolas,

I guess you still have a lot of thinking to do, since you went out again tonight. Who knows when or if you’ll be back. Anyway, you were a first class asshole tonight, and I don’t share beds with assholes, so you’re on the couch again tonight. Consider yourself to be in the doghouse. You’ll be sleeping on the couch until I change my mind or until you earn back the privilege of sharing a bed with me.

I thought you’d be interested to know that you disappointed your daughter again tonight. She seemed to have forgiven your stupidity relatively quickly, thanks to me. She was waiting for you to tuck her in tonight. When you never came in she started crying and didn’t stop crying until she fell asleep.

I don’t understand how making your daughter cry can make you happy. Remove whatever it is you have shoved up your ass and learn how to treat your daughter.

“Are you still sick?” Nick asked as he leaned against the bathroom door and taking a sip out of his water bottle.

Roxie stopped throwing up and said. “What does it look like?”

“What I meant was you’ve been throwing up for the past two weeks. You should be better by now.” It was a little over two weeks since Ariel broke her arm and all that transpired afterwards.

“Wow, you’ve noticed that I’ve been sick. That’s a shocker.”

“Just because you’re mad at me doesn’t mean I’m not observant.”

“Really, you can observe things? I figured that would be difficult since you’re barely home.”

“What?”

“You’ve been going out, every night.”

“I haven’t gone out every night. Maybe if you would’ve let me back into our bedroom you would know that.” He said defensively, only partially lying. It’s true that he didn’t go out every night but it’s also true that he did go out at least 5 nights a week.

“Whatever Nick. I’m really tired. I’m going to go take a nap. Do you think you can watch your daughter, without making her cry?”

“What? I only made her cry that one time.”

“First off Nick, you made her cry more than once that day and you shouldn’t have made her cry at all.”

“Do you have to hold every mistake I make against me?”

"When it comes to that little girl, yes. You can’t make those kinds of mistakes with children.”

“Ariel is just about due to have her nap. We can nap together.”

“You do realize that you’re still on the couch, right?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“But nothing. If I don’t want to sleep with you at night, what makes you think that you’ll be sharing a bed with me during the day? Oh, and for the record, the only reason you haven’t made Ariel cry since that day is because I was around.” Roxie once again slammed the door in Nick’s face.

He downed the rest of his drink and threw away the bottle. He went downstairs and found Ariel lying on the floor coloring. The Little Mermaid was playing on the TV. Nick sat on the couch behind her.

Ariel saw him come in. She stood up and walked over to the TV. In the last two weeks she learned how to shut the DVD off herself and that’s just what she did at that moment. She gathered her coloring supplies and movie and headed out of the room.

“Where are you going sweetie?”

“Where’s Roxie?”

“She’s taking a nap.”

“Then that's where I'm going, to be with Roxie.” She said and walked out of the room, leaving Nick feeling very confused. He knew he hurt her when he threatened her two weeks prior, but he thought little kids forgot things easily. He stood up and went to the refrigerator and grabbed another bottle of water. He sat on the couch and started to try and figure out when his life took its first turn for the worst. It depressed him when he realized that he couldn’t remember a time when he was genuinely, and completely happy.

A couple of hours later Roxie woke up and was shocked to find Ariel lying in bed next to her, holding her stuffed dog. “Ariel?”

"Hi Roxie." Ariel said through big, saddened eyes.

“I wasn’t expecting to wake up and find you.” Roxie responded, and pushed a stray strand of blonde hair from Ariel’s face.

“I didn’t want to be alone with Daddy.”

"Honey, Daddy loves you,” Roxie told her as she pulled Ariel close and gave her a big hug.

“I don’t know. I only want to be with Daddy if you’re there to protect me.”

Nick had spent the past couple hours trying to figure out what to do. He was sure that Roxie didn’t know that he remembered that it was her birthday. He had a gift for her and had also planned on making dinner. But now he wasn't so sure. He didn't want to seem like he was using her birthday to get back into her good graces.

He decided at that point that he'd leave the gift for Roxie where she could find it and open it if she wants. He also decided to make dinner and with that he went into the kitchen and began cooking.

He set the table for two and decided that he wasn't going to eat dinner since both his girlfriend and his daughter didn't want to be near him. He placed the food on the table as Roxie and Ariel walked into the room.

“What’s all this?”

“I made dinner. Happy Birthday Roxie.” He said and then walked toward the entrance of the kitchen.

"I can’t believe you remembered. Nick, thank you. After all this, aren't you going to eat with us?"

He shrugged. “I’ll get McDonalds or something.”

“Nick…”

“I had your gift and planned on making dinner for you before all this happened. I didn’t want to give you the impression that your birthday gift was anything more than your gift. I don’t expect you to forgive me right now. So, your newest birthday gift today, is to not have to spend it with me. Enjoy your dinner. I’ll be back later.” He said and turned around, grabbing his car keys on his way out.

~*~

Once again, 3:30 in the morning rolled around and Nick stumbled into the house. He made use of the bathroom before he collapsed onto the couch and passed out.

~*~

The next morning, Roxie walked downstairs. Nick was still sound asleep. Even though she was still mad at him she couldn't help but smile at his sleeping figure. He always looked so peaceful when he slept. She also smiled at how he seemed to be falling off the couch.

Feeling her stomach churn, she headed into the bathroom on the lower level. As soon as she entered the room, the smell of dried vomit assaulted her nose. She was slightly confused until she looked around the small room and saw that the smell was coming from a spot near the toilet. There wasn’t a lot, it merely looked like someone had missed. She knew that it wasn’t her, so that only left one other person.

When she was done emptying the contents of her stomach, she cleaned up the bathroom and opened an air freshener. She walked back over to the couch. She began to feel bad for making Nick sleep on the couch, especially now that it seems that she got him sick. Sitting on the table in front of the couch, she gently shook his shoulder until he woke up.

He opened his eyes and groaned, then shut his eyes tightly to keep out the light. “Nick, look at me, I want to talk to you.”

“Can we talk with my eyes closed? I have a horrible headache.”

Roxie smiled at him sympathetically. “Sure. Um, did you get sick last night?”

“Yeah. I know I wasn’t fast enough. I’ll clean it when I get up the energy to move.”

“It’s okay. I already cleaned it.” Roxie said, continuing to rub his shoulder sympathetically.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“It was smelly.” She said with a hint of teasing in her voice and scrunched up her nose to emphasize her point.

“Sorry.”

“Nick, why don’t you go upstairs and sleep.”

“Are you sure?” Nick said, finally looking at her.

“Yes. You’re sick. You should be comfortable.”

Nick smiled slightly. “I’m fine here. I know giving me the bed, even if you’re not in it, means you’re forgiving me, and I know you aren’t ready to do that.”

“Why are you like that?”

“What?”

“Well, last night you didn’t eat dinner, after saying something about not wanting to ruin my birthday and now you think I don’t want to forgive you?”

“You don’t and neither does Ariel. You can’t possibly be ready to forgive me. I’m fine here.”

“If you insist.” He closed his eyes and soon fell back to sleep.

A couple hours later, Nick was woken up by Ariel’s excited shriek. He groaned and began to rub his head in hopes of relieving some of the pain in his head. “Ariel please.”

“What?” She turned to the couch.

“I’m sorry hon, I know you’re having fun, but your voice is going right through me right now. Can you please lower your voice?” He mumbled in a raspy voice. When Ariel turned around to play again, Nick once again closed his eyes to try to fall asleep. Ariel went back to playing and paid no mind to her father’s request. “Why don’t you listen?”

“I’m not doing anything wrong Daddy.”

“All I asked you to do was lower your voice and you didn’t listen. I want to know why.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Please Ariel. Can you play quietly?”

“Why?”

“Because I have a horrible headache. Please? Why don’t you watch a movie?”

“Can I watch The Little Mermaid?”

“If it’ll keep you quiet, yes.”

Moments later, Ariel returned to the room, clutching her DVD. “Here Daddy. Put this on please?” Her eyes were full of hope and caution as she handed Nick the DVD case.

Nick slowly sat up and stood up even slower. Once up, he put the movie in the player and slowly made his way back to the couch. He lied down again and reached for the remote on the table beside the couch. It was just out of reach and he didn’t want to stretch to get it. “Ariel, can you get the remote for me?”

“It’s right behind you Daddy.”

“Please Ariel.”

She stood up to retrieve the remote and hand it to Nick. He started the movie and then closed his eyes. “Daddy, can I lie with you?”

He shifted his position to make room for Ariel. She happily climbed into his lap.

~*~

The movie ended, and Ariel turned around to see that her father was asleep. Ariel giggled and poked him. He stirred and opened his eyes. “What’s wrong Ariel?”

“The movie’s over.”

Nick looked at the screen. “So it is.” He stood up and shut off the movie. He went into the kitchen and grabbed his bottle of water.

“Want something to eat?” He jumped when he heard Roxie’s voice. He wasn’t aware that she was in the room. Roxie giggled. “Sorry. Feeling better?”

“Yeah, a little.”

“Good. What do you want to eat?”

“I’m not picky.”

Several minutes later, Roxie put a bowl of soup in front of him. “I figured that since you were feeling sick this morning, that soup would be the best thing for you to eat right now.”

“Thanks.”

“I do forgive you Nick. I want you to start sleeping in our bed again.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Nick smiled. “Thanks. That couch was starting to get really uncomfortable.”

It was Roxie’s turn to smile. “I bet.”

A few hours later, Nick’s attitude caused another fight between Nick and Roxie. Since Roxie just allowed him back in the bed, she decided that until she forgave Nick for this fight, she’d sleep in the guest bedroom.

Nick was frustrated. He was tired of fighting with everyone. He saw his guitar in the corner of the room, where he left it. He managed to convince himself that the guitar was the reason for all his problems. He headed over to the guitar and when he reached it, he took it out of its case. All it took was a moment of consideration before he started to blame the guitar for everything that went wrong in his life. The guitar symbolized a time in his life that he'd never be able to get back; a time in his life that he regretted immensely and couldn’t seem to forgive himself. For that he resented his guitar. Without thinking, he picked his guitar up by the neck and slammed it back down on the floor. He did this a couple times until the guitar was destroyed.

Hearing the commotion from the other room, Roxie ran into Nick’s bedroom. Ariel wasn’t far behind her. He was still attacking his guitar. She went over to him and grabbed his arm. He tried to fight against her. Nick was stronger than Roxie, so it was no surprise that she couldn’t hold him. He returned to his mission of further destroying what was left of his guitar. Roxie once again grabbed Nick’s arm. “Nick, stop. What the hell is your problem?” She yelled at him. He brushed her aside and knocked her down. Ariel started crying in fear. Nick was too occupied with destroying his guitar to realize it. Roxie stood up. This time she touched his arm gently. “Nick, you’re scaring me and Ariel. Please stop.” When he didn’t stop, Roxie lost complete control over her emotions. "Damn it Nick. I knew I should have reported you to child services when I first met you. I guess that shouldn't make me upset, after all, I can still report you. You kept trying to warn me, but no. I just kept defending you. You really are an unfit father."

He suddenly stopped his assault on his guitar.  Even in his drunken state, Roxie’s words stung.  He turned around slowly to face her.  He stared at her for a few minutes before turning on his heel and walking out of the room.

Roxie felt bad.  She hadn’t meant to say that.  “Nick, wait.”  He stopped but didn’t turn around.  The mere fact that he stopped was enough for Roxie to know that she had his attention.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to say that.”

“Yes you did.” He cringed to himself when he realized his words were slurring together.  “The truth always comes out in the heat of the moment.  If you want to report me, I won’t stop you.  She’ll probably be better off without me anyway.”  He walked down the stairs and through the kitchen until he reached the basement door. 

He had stashed a 24 pack case of bottled water as well as several bottles of vodka Grabbing a bottle of water and his open bottle of vodka, he headed toward the bathroom with the intent of dumping the water down the drain so he could pour the vodka into the water bottle and hide the fact that he wasn’t drinking water.

After what just transpired, he had decided to lock himself in the basement, not wanting to see anyone.  He figured that Roxie would call child services on him and he’d lose Ariel forever and he couldn’t bear the thought that after everything he went through he was going to lose his daughter anyway.  Even though it hurt that he would lose his daughter, he felt it was for the best that she’d finally get a decent parent.  Placing the bottle of vodka on the bathroom sink, he reached to unscrew the top off of the bottle of water.  Halfway through the motion, he stopped and walked back to the broken down couch in the other room.  He returned his water bottle to its hiding spot and grabbed the bottle of vodka.  After unscrewing the cap, he put the bottle to his lips and took a big gulp of the alcoholic liquid and winced at the burning sensation that the alcohol caused in his throat.

Roxie felt horrible for what she said.  Not only had she hurt her boyfriend but she had forgotten that Ariel was in the room, causing her to hurt Ariel as well.  Ariel had run out of the room after that, without either Nick or Roxie noticing.  After Nick walked off, Roxie found Ariel crying in her room.  She had managed to comfort Ariel by promising her that she didn’t mean that she was going to report her father to child services and promised her that she’d watch The Little Mermaid with her until Nick emerged from the basement.

The phone rang, causing Roxie to jump.  Ariel had fallen asleep against her from pure emotional exhaustion.  Roxie moved cautiously to not disturb Ariel and grabbed the phone.  “Hello?”

“Hey sis.”

Roxie sighed, seemingly in relief.  “Hey Mandy.  I’m so glad you called.”

“Really?  Well, my husband has all five kids so I figured maybe we could go do something, just the two of us.”

“That sounds great but I can’t.”

“Aww, why not?”

“I have to watch Ariel.” 

“Oh.”  Amanda seemed just as disappointed as Roxie felt.  “Well, how about I come there?  We can just talk or whatever.”

Roxie was unsure.  She really wanted her sister to come over but the whole thing that just happened with Nick made her a little leery.  She made a split second decision.  “Sure, that’d be great.”  If Nick could lock himself in the basement and ignore his fatherly responsibilities, then she won’t feel guilty about having company while he was downstairs pouting.

“Will Ariel be okay to play by herself?  Or should I convince the girls to come with me?”

“Um, I don’t think Ariel is in much of a play mood right now.  The situation with Nick is affecting her too.”

“What situation with Nick?” 

“Um, I’ll explain it when you get here.  It’s a long story.”

“Alright, well I’ll be there soon.  See ya.”

Roxie hung up the phone only to have it ring again in her hand.  “Hello?”

“Hi, Roxie?”

“Yeah, who is this?”

“Bob Carter, Nick’s father.”

“Oh, hi Mr. Carter.”

“Call me Bob.  So anyway, I was taking the family to an amusement park tomorrow and I thought you and Nick would like to come with Ariel.”

“Thanks but we can’t.”

“Oh?”

“Nick and I aren’t feeling too good right now.”  She said referring to her nausea and his emotional issues.

“Oh, well that’s too bad.  I hope you two feel better.”

“Thanks Bob.  Bye.”  Roxie said hanging up the phone.  She felt bad that she was well enough that she was letting her sister visit, but not well enough to spend time with Nick’s family.  She reasoned, that Nick probably wouldn’t want to go anyway after they day they just had. 

She looked down at the little girl next to her and couldn’t help feel bad that she was pulled into this craziness.  She got lost in her thoughts when she started thinking about Nick and wondering what was bothering him and whether or not he’ll ever open up about it.

The doorbell rang and Roxie immediately made her way over to the door so she could invite her sister in. 

“Hi Rox.”  Amanda said with a smile.”

“Hi Mandy.”  Roxie couldn’t muster up a smile.

“Are things that bad?”

“It’s just rough.  Well come in.  We’ll have to hang out in the kitchen.  Ariel is sleeping in the living room.”  They entered the kitchen.  “Would you like something to drink?”

“No thanks.  Sit.  You look like you need to talk so get talking.”

Roxie finally sat down.  “I don’t know where to start.”

“Well, I think the beginning would be a good place.”  Roxie smiled.  “Good, I got you smiling.  Now, please tell me what’s going on.  Are you and Nick okay?”

Roxie looked down.  “I don’t know.”

“You guys seemed really happy the day I was here.”

“We were really happy.  And then without warning, he seemed to have turned into a different person all together.”

“Well, something must have happened.”

Roxie thought about it.  “He’s been different since Ariel broke her arm.”

“Different how?”

“Well, at first he got angry easily.  Over the past couple weeks he’d go between melancholy and angry as well as very aggressive.  Just about an hour or two ago, he got so aggressive that he became scary.  He destroyed his guitar.  And I got upset and said some stuff I shouldn’t have said and now he’s locked himself in the basement.  I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

“What did you say to him?”

Roxie looked away, ashamed of what she was about to admit to her sister.  “I said that I should’ve called child services when I first met him and that I was going to call now because he was an unfit father.”  She blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek.  “I didn’t mean it.  I was just upset and now he won’t come out of the basement.”

“Something must’ve happened.”

“But he won’t talk to me, so what am I supposed to do?”

“Well, what exactly happened?”

“What do you mean?  I already told you what happened.”

“You said that he changed after Ariel broke her arm, so something must’ve happened then.”

“He blamed himself, when really it was both of our faults.  We were fighting and not watching her.”

Suddenly Amanda looked at Roxie with a very serious expression.  “It sounds almost like he’s drinking.”

“What?”

“Well, he blames himself for his daughter; he’s had personality changes and mood swings, has gotten very aggressive and took it out on an inanimate object.”  She paused.  “That’s probably a good thing.  If he’s getting aggressive enough to destroy a guitar at least he destroyed the guitar and didn’t hit you and/or Ariel.”

“I don’t think he’s drinking.  He had a problem with alcohol and drugs years ago, but he’s sober now.  He knows better.”

“All it takes is one weak moment for an alcoholic to revert back to old ways.”

“I don’t think so.  He wouldn’t do that.”

“If you say so.”

Ariel chose that moment to walk into the kitchen.  “Hi Ariel.  How was your nap?”  Roxie asked.

Ariel just shrugged and climbed onto Roxie’s lap.  She saw Amanda across the table.  “Hi.”

“Hi sweetie.”

Ariel laid her head on Roxie’s chest.  “Can you read me a book?”  Ariel asked suddenly.

Roxie placed Ariel on the floor and patted her butt gently.  “Go get a book and we’ll meet you in the living room.”

“Okay.”  Ariel ran from the kitchen and up to her bedroom, to return minutes later with a book.  She handed Roxie the book and crawled onto Roxie’s lap.

Roxie took the book and opened it to the first page.  As she was reading she began pointing out how to say certain words so that Ariel could read them.  Every time Roxie came to similar words, she would point at it for Ariel.  Roxie closed the book after reading the last page.  “Again.”  Ariel said with an excited squeal.

“Maybe later.”

Nick walked into the living room at that moment.  While he was downstairs, he drank a little more than half a bottle of vodka.  He noticed the three girls in the living room and knew that if he wanted to keep his alcohol consumption a secret, he needed to stay quiet and hope that he could walk straight enough.

A floor board creaking alerted the girls of a visitor.  Roxie turned around and smiled at him.  “So, you decided to come out.”

“Yeah.”  He mumbled quietly.

Ariel turned to look at her daddy.  “Why don’t you love me?”

“I do love you Ariel.”  He hoped the slur in his voice wasn’t as noticeable to the others as it was to him.

“You don’t act like you love me.  You’re always yelling at me, even when I don’t do anything wrong.  I miss you Daddy.”

“How can you miss me?  I’m right here.  I’ve always been right here.”

“You don’t act like my daddy.  My daddy was nice and loved me.  You aren’t nice and you don’t love me.”

“I do love you Ariel.”  Nick said then turned on his heel and heading back to the kitchen.

Amanda watched him walk away.  Damn, that boy is fucking wasted. 

In the kitchen, Nick was sitting on the stool, by the counter. Ariel’s words kept echoing in his head.

“Nick?”

“Not now Roxie, please.”

“Can you please talk to me?”

Nick groaned when he felt the bed move.  He opened his eyes and was surprised to see Roxie climbing into bed.

“Sorry Nick, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Don’t yell please.”

“I’m not yelling.”  She became quiet as she leaned into her pillows.  “I’m so sick of this nausea.  I can’t wait for it to go away.”

“You’re still throwing up?”

“Yeah, but it’s no big deal.  It’ll run its course and I’ll be fine.”

“This is more than a stomach virus.  You’d be better by now if it was.”  Nick said sarcastically and rolled back into his pillows.

“Well, what about you?  You’ve been sick on and off for the past couple weeks too.”  Roxie laid back against her pillows and rolled her eyes at Nick.

“We’re not talking about me.”

“Well, maybe we should.”  Roxie snapped back and turned her head to Nick.

“Not now.  My head is pounding and I’m a bit queasy right now.”  Nick replied with his back still turned to her.

Roxie shook her head.  “And you’re talking about me still being sick.”

“Alright, fine.  I’ll drop it.  I’m going back to sleep.”  He closed his eyes in hopes of getting relief from the hangover that he was suffering from.  It was minutes later when the bed started to move violently, making him feel even sicker.  He opened his eyes to see that Ariel was jumping on the bed.  He reached out, grabbing Ariel and pulling her down onto the bed to keep her from moving.

Ariel giggled.  “Hi Daddy”

“Hi.”  He mumbled, closing his eyes again.

Ariel began shaking Nick's shoulder to get him to wake up.  He felt his nausea mildly intensifying and knew that it'd only be a few minutes before he got sick.  He got off the bed and headed into the bathroom as quickly as possible, leaving Ariel in his bed.

Ariel looked after her father confused, and then she looked up at Roxie with the same look.  “I only wanted him to wake up and he ran away from me.”

“Don’t worry about it hon.  Daddy isn’t feeling good this morning.”  Roxie said and pulled Ariel down into her lap.

“Oh.”  Ariel paused.  “Do you think Daddy will watch a movie with us?”

“Maybe.  We’ll have to ask him.”

“Can you ask him?”  Ariel asked and looked up at Roxie.

“Why don’t you want to ask him?” Roxie asked and tugged lightly on one of Ariel’s pig tails.

“Because he’ll probably yell at me.”

He emerged from the bathroom minutes later.  Once he reached the bed, he lied down once more to make himself comfortable.

Roxie nudged Ariel and whispered in her ear, “Ask him.”

“Daddy?”  Ariel said in a small voice.

“What?”

“Will you watch a movie with me and Roxie?”

Nick groaned to himself.  He didn’t want to go downstairs, and he was completely sick of Ariel’s choice of movie.  He wanted to say no, but Ariel’s words from the night before were still echoing in his head.  He opened his eyes and looked at Ariel.  “Can we make a deal?”

“What kind of deal?”

“We watch the movie in here and if I happen to fall asleep, please don’t wake me up.”

Ariel scrunched up her little nose in thought.  “Only if I can lie with you.”

“Okay.”

“And you have to hold me.”  Nick nodded at her request and stood up.  “Where are you going?”

“Someone has to get the movie and put it on.” 

“I’ll get it.”  Ariel said then scrambled off the bed and out of the room.  She returned with The Little Mermaid and handed it to Nick. 

He put the movie on and climbed back into bed.  He held his arms open, allowing Ariel to crawl into them.  He pulled her closer to him.  When Ariel was comfortable, he kissed the top of her head.  Roxie smiled and for the first time, hoped that this meant that things were going back to normal.

Nick looked at Roxie when she stood up and started walking to the door.  “You’re not staying?”  Roxie suggested and left the room.

“I think the two of you need to spend some time together.” 

Nick nodded.  He made sure Ariel was completely engrossed in the movie before he closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep.

The movie ended and Ariel turned around to see that Nick was fast asleep.  She began to shake him until he woke up.

He warily opened his eyes to look at Ariel “I thought we had a deal.”

"The deal was during the movie I couldn't wake you up. You didn’t say anything about when the movie was over."

 “Okay.  I’m up.”  He said then closed his eyes again.

“Silly Daddy.  If you’re up then why are you going back to sleep?”  Nick used his remaining energy to get out of bed.  He was still feeling crappy, but at least the room stopped spinning.  Ariel stood up.  “Let’s go see what’s for lunch.”

Nick groaned at the mere mention of food and he felt like he was going to vomit again.  When the feeling didn't go away, he knew for sure he was going to be sick again.  "I'll meet you down there."  He waited for Ariel to leave the room before darting to the bathroom and throwing up.

He walked into the kitchen where Ariel was already eating.  Nick sat heavily in the chair he normally sat in.  “What would you like to eat Nick?”

“Ugh, no food.”  He said with a groan.

“Nick, you need to eat something.”

“I don’t see you eating, and you were sick this morning too.”

“I can’t eat.  I’ll just throw it back up.”

“So what makes you think I’ll be able to keep it down?  The The idea of food made me sick.”  The smell of Ariel’s food was making him queasy again.  “I’ll be in the living room.”  He said and stood up and leaving the kitchen.

After lunch, Roxie and Ariel joined Nick in the living room.  Since, Nick was stretched out on the couch, the only place left for Roxie was the recliner opposite the couch.  He watched as sat down and gently began rubbing circles on her stomach.  He watched her for a few minutes.  “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine Nick.”

“Are you sure?  You look a little green.”

Roxie was about to answer when the need to vomit overwhelmed her.  She stood up and quickly made her way out of the room and to the bathroom.

Nick stood up when she returned.  “I called the neighbor.  She’s going to watch Ariel.”

“Why can’t we watch her?”

“Because I’m taking you to the ER.  Now let’s go.”  Nick said and started to grab Roxie by the arm.

“The ER.  I don’t need an ER.”  She pulled away and looked at Nick like he was crazy.

“Too bad, you’re going.”  Nick said with a stronger tone and pulled her to her feet, guiding her to the door.

“Well, if I’m going to get examined, so are you.  You’ve been sick just as long.”

“Maybe, but you’ve been sick consistently for the past three weeks.  I’ve been sick on and off.”

“Nick, I swear.  I don’t need an ER.”  Roxie tried to plead with him as he handed her her purse.

“Maybe not, but I need to know that you’re okay, and that you’re not contagious.  You don’t want to get Ariel sick do you?” Nick said using the only form of manipulation he could think of that would convince Roxie to go t the hospital.

Roxie sighed.  She knew that she couldn’t get Ariel sick, that she had no more energy to argue with Nick, so she agreed.  They dropped Ariel off at the elderly lady next door and left for the hospital.

~*~

“I hate hospitals.”  Roxie complained as she sat with Nick in the waiting room of the ER.

Nick chuckled.  “Nobody likes hospitals.  I’ve never been to a hospital when something good was happening.  The last time I was at a hospital was when Ariel broke her arm and the time before that was one of the times when I overdosed.”

Roxie looked at him.  “You overdosed?”

“Yeah, a few times.”

They fell silent.  Roxie was thinking about what Nick said about never being at a hospital for a good reason.  “What about when Ariel was born?”

“What?”

“You said that you were never at a hospital for a good reason.  What about when Ariel was born?”

“Ariel wasn’t born in a hospital.”

“She wasn’t?”

“No.  Ariel would’ve been taken away from us and Tracy and I would’ve been arrested.  We were into some really heavy shit back then.  Ariel was born with Tracy lying naked from the waist down on our bed.  I was supposed to be at Tracy’s side to help her and one of our friends, who was as strung out as we were, was going to deliver her.  But in my irrational state, I felt that he was going to try something sexual on my girl, so we got into a fist fight while Tracy was screaming in pain.  He left and I delivered Ariel.  We cut her umbilical cord with a pair of rusty scissors.”

Roxie cringed slightly.  “The more I hear about your past, the more I’m glad I didn’t know you back then.”

“I don’t blame you.”  They fell into silence as they both got lost in their thoughts.

It wasn’t long before Roxie was being called by a nurse to follow her to the examination room.  They wouldn’t let Nick go with her; so once again, he was sitting in the waiting room, waiting to hear from someone who could tell him what was wrong with Roxie.

After what seemed like forever, a doctor entered the waiting room and approached Nick.  "What is your relationship to Ms. Martin?"

“I’m her boyfriend.”

“Well, in that case, follow me.”

“What’s wrong with Roxie?”

“I’m going to tell both of you together.”  The doctor stated and looked down at his chart, flipping the top page over the manila folder he was carrying.

“Is it bad?”

Nick was shocked.  Hearing that Roxie was pregnant was the last thing he expected.  He was waiting for Roxie to say something because he wanted to know if it was a good thing that she was carrying his baby or if she was completely appalled by the knowledge.  When she didn’t say anything, he looked at her, trying to gage her reaction.  “You don’t seem shocked to find out that you’re pregnant.”  Roxie didn’t respond; she just looked at Nick.  It was in that stare that Nick realized something.  “You knew didn’t you?”  Roxie nodded and Nick looked away. 

The doctor returned.  “You ready to go home?”

Roxie nodded.  “Who isn’t?”

The doctor laughed.  “Good point.  You need to make a follow up appointment with your gynecologist.”

“I will.  Thank you doctor.”  Roxie stood up and grabbed her stuff.  “Come on Nick.”  Nick followed her silently, not knowing how to react.  Not only was Roxie pregnant, but she knew before the doctor told her.  She knew and she didn’t tell him.

They were halfway home before Nick finally spoke.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”  His voice was just above a whisper.

“How could I Nick?  You’ve been so different these past few weeks.” Roxie answered, her voice quivering slightly.

“When were you planning on telling me?” Nick asked, his eyes fixed on the road, his grip on the steering wheel tight.

“I don’t know.”

“So, if I didn’t drag you to the hospital, I would’ve never known?”

“I would’ve told you eventually.”

“How long have you known?” Nick’s voice grew stern, as if he were going to punish her.

“Only a couple days.”

“Is that supposed to make it better that you had no intention of telling me?”

“I couldn’t tell you.”

“Right, because I’ve been so different lately.” Nick scoffed and rolled his eyes. He took one hand off of the steering wheel and ran his fingers through his hair.

“I could never tell what kind of mood you were in.”

He pulled into the driveway and couldn’t get out of the car fast enough.  He walked into the house and continued until he got to the back door.  He sat down on his back porch staring out into space.

Roxie knew he was upset again, so she let him be.  She knew it was due to her actions, so there was nothing she could really do anyway but sit and wait. She took care of Ariel and made sure to distract Ariel long enough so that she wouldn't realize that her father wasn't coming back in the house right now.  Roxie ordered pizza for dinner that night.  She set Ariel up with her dinner then went outside to get Nick to come in and eat since he hadn't eaten all day.  "Nick?"  He turned toward her and she could see that he had spent his time outside crying.

“What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean Nick?”

“Well, you didn’t want to tell me.  It makes me wonder if you want to have my baby.  I know that I’m messed up and that I’m not always the best father, but I love you, and frankly, it hurts that you don’t love me enough to want to have a baby with me.”

“Nick, we’ve only together for 4 months.”

“So, are you going to carry it full term and set it up for adoption or are you going to abort it?” Nick asked, a little hint of fear of her answer in his eyes

“I’m going to keep it.”

“You are?”

Roxie smiled at him.  “Yes.  I’ve always wanted a baby, especially after I miscarried with my first pregnancy.  I love you Nick.  That’s not the reason I didn’t tell you.”

Knowing that Roxie was going to keep the baby became a reality check to him.  He knew he messed up horribly with Ariel and he knew that he needed to make some changes to make himself a better father for this new baby.  It was with that realization that he also realized that he needed to admit to Roxie about his relapse.  "I know why you didn't tell me.  I've been an asshole for the past month."

“I wouldn’t go that far Nick.”

“I would.”  He turned quiet again.  He knew he had to admit his problem to Roxie but he couldn’t seem to find the words.  Finally he spoke again.  “Roxie, I need help.”

“What do you mean?”

“I started drinking again.”

“What?”

Nick looked down ashamed.  “You heard me.”

“I can’t believe this Nick.” It was Roxie’s turn to grow angry. She clenched her fists at her sides and waited for him to continue. All of his most recent actions came to mind.

“I didn’t intend on it happening.  It just did.”

“I defended you to my sister.  I told her about your actions and she said it sounded like you were drinking.  I told her that you wouldn’t do that because you’d been sober for a couple years.  I’m very disappointed in you right now.”  Roxie said and walked back into the house to eat dinner.  Nick walked into the house from the porch and continued walking through the kitchen.  “Nick, are you going to eat?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You haven’t eaten all day.”

Nick shrugged.  He continued to walk through the kitchen and stopped right before the door.  “I’m sorry that I’m such a disappointment.”  He said then left the kitchen.  He really wanted to go into the basement to get a drink but that would require him walking through the kitchen again and he didn’t want that.  He decided to just deal with the heartache that he was feeling.

Roxie entered their room a couple hours later, after putting Ariel to sleep.  Nick was lying on the bed hugging her pillow to his chest.  “Ariel’s asleep.”

“Okay.”  The tremor in his voice confirmed what she already suspected, that he was crying.

“I’m sorry Nick.”

“You don’t have to be.  You’re right.”

She sat down on the bed and attempted to pull him close to her but he resisted.  “Nick look at me.”

“I can’t.  I can’t look into your eyes and see how disappointed you are in me.  I can’t handle that right now.”

She wasn’t sure what she could say to make him feel better.  “When did this start?”  She asked, hoping that if she got him talking he’d feel better.

“The day Ariel fell out of the tree.”

“Where did you go that night?”

“A bar.”

“And every night after?”

“The same bar.”

“The day you yelled at Ariel about wanting to watch The Little Mermaid?”

“Drunk.”

“The bottles of water that you were drinking?”

“Vodka.”

“The day you woke up feeling sick?”

“Hangover.”

“When you threw up the night before you woke up feeling sick?”

“Too much alcohol.”

“You’re guitar?”

“Drunk.”

“Today?”

“Hangover.”

“How bad is this?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re relapse.”

“Only alcohol.  No drugs.”

“And it’s been going on for about a month?”  Nick nodded.  “Okay, show me where you hid your alcohol.  You’re going to dump it down the drain.”

“Tomorrow.” 

“No Nick.  Now.”  Finally he stood up and led Roxie to the basement.  “Okay, where is it.”

“The water bottles by the couch.  Most of them have vodka in them.  The rest of the vodka is in the TV cabinet.”

“How many water bottles have vodka in them?”

“They have ripped labels.” 

Roxie started to pick up the water bottles with ripped labels.  She carried them to the bathroom and made Nick open the bottles and dump the alcohol down the drain.  When he dumped the vodka out of all the water bottles, Roxie went to retrieve the bottles of vodka that were under the TV.  There was an open bottle that was almost finished and five full bottles.  She managed to grab the six bottles and give them to Nick.  Nick hesitated and that gave Roxie the impression that he didn’t want to give up his alcohol.  “If you didn’t want my help, then why did you tell me you needed help?”

“I do need help.  But you have to understand that I’m an addict again, and that makes it very hard to dump it.”

“The sooner you dump it, the better off you’ll be.”

“I know.”  He took a deep breath and dumped his remaining vodka down the drain.

“I think you need to go to bed now.  You probably haven’t had a decent nights sleep since you started drinking again.”

Nick nodded in agreement.  “I want to check on Ariel.”

“I’m sure she’s fine Nick.”

“It’s something that I need to do.”

“Nick?”

“My little girl is afraid of me now.  I need to fix that.”  He left the basement and headed upstairs to Ariel’s room.  He sat on the side of her bed, just watching her sleep.  “I’m so sorry Ariel.  You deserve to have a better father.  I’m going to try and get better.  I just hope that it’s not too late.”  As he looked at her, he could feel himself get choked up.  “I love you Ariel.”  He said as he lied down to hold Ariel.  He ended up falling asleep in that position.

Roxie looked in on Ariel’s room and discovered Nick fast asleep on Ariel’s bed.  Roxie smiled knowing that in the morning, Ariel would have a nice surprise when she woke up.

The next morning, Nick woke up before Ariel.  He reached out and began brushing back her hair gently.  Eventually she woke up and looked up at Nick.  Nick smiled at her.  “Hi baby.”

“Daddy.”  She said excitedly.  She jumped up and threw herself into his arms. 

Nick chuckled.  “Whoa, what’s this for?”

“You’re not being mean?”

Nick was amused.  “You just woke up, how do you know?”

“Because if you were still mean, you wouldn’t be in here.”  Nick pushed Ariel back so he could look at her.  “I’m really sorry that I hurt you.  I never meant to."

“Can we do something today?”

“Like what?”

“Can we go to the zoo?”

“We might not be able to go today, but we’ll definitely go some time soon.”

“Why not today?”

“We need to make sure that Roxie is up to it.”

“It can just be the two of us.”

“You don’t want Roxie to come.”

“You haven’t spent any time with me this month, and you promised that you’d always find time for me.”

“You’re right.  I did promise you that.  Okay.  We’ll let’s go tell Roxie that I’m taking you to the zoo.  Would you like to go out for breakfast too?”

“YEAH.”  Ariel said excitedly. 

Nick smiled and nodded.  “Okay, pick out what you want to wear, while I go tell Roxie.”

Nick stood up and went to his room.  Roxie was already awake.  “Hey.”

“Hey Nick.”  Roxie said with a smile.  “How do you feel?”

“Eh.  Okay I guess.  Ariel wants to go to the zoo today with just me.  Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.  You two need some alone time together.  I was going to call around and tell people that I’m pregnant.”

“Oh, did you need me to stay for that?”

Roxie smiled.  “No, that’s not necessary.  You go have fun with your daughter.  I’ll call my family and they’ll be ecstatic.  When you get home, or tomorrow, we’ll call your family.”

“Sounds like a plan.”  He walked over to Roxie and kissed her.  “I love you.”

“I love you too.  Now go have fun with your daughter.” Roxie smiled against his mouth and kissed him quickly again.

“Thanks, but first, I need a shower.” Nick said, walking towards the bathroom and pulling off his shirt.

~*~

Later that day, Nick led a hyper toddler into the house.  Ariel ran right up to Roxie and started talking really fast.   Roxie laughed and looked at Nick.  “How much sugar did you give her?”

“None.  I wasn’t dealing with an overly hyper toddler by myself.”

Roxie chuckled again.  “Well, apparently you still had to deal with an overly hyper toddler.”  Roxie turned to Ariel.  “Daddy says he didn’t buy you sugar.”

"He didn't."  Ariel said as she bounced around the room.

“Then why are you so hyper?”  Roxie asked in amusement.

“Because I got to spend time with Daddy.”

“So you liked going to the zoo with Daddy.”

“Yep.”  Nick sat on the couch as Ariel threw herself on the floor to play with the puppy that had started to attack her feet.

“You look tired.”

Nick nodded.  “She’s been hyper since we got to the zoo.”

Roxie chuckled and leaned into his chest.  “Apparently you’re like a drug to her.” Nick groaned.

“Please don’t say drug.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.  So how did your family react?”

“Well, my dad was a little upset at first, but not about me being pregnant.  He was upset that he hasn’t met you yet.  So I invited him over to dinner next week.  That’s okay right?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“And Amanda went crazy.”

“What do you mean?”

“She started going through lists of things that I need and things that need to be done.  I think she’s more excited than we are.”

“Are you excited?”

“Yes I am.  Even more so now that I know you are stepping off the path that got you into trouble in the first place.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“I know you are Nick.  But it’s good that you stopped before it got any worse.”

“Yeah.”  Nick’s voice trailed off.

“So, are you ready to call your family?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

“You’re nervous aren’t you?” Roxie asked against his chest.

“Well yeah.  It’s still very awkward with my family.” Nick answered and ran his hand through her hair until it rested on the small of her back.

“I know.  But it’ll get better.”

“I hope so.”  He paused for a minute.  “Hand me the phone, I’m going to get this over with.”

He dialed the number for his parent’s house.  “Hello?”  Bob answered.

Nick hesitated.  “Hi Dad.”

“Oh, hello Nick.  Are you feeling better?”

“Excuse me?”

“Roxie said you were sick yesterday.  Was she lying?”

“Oh, no.  I was sick yesterday.  I just wasn’t aware that you knew.”

“I called to invite you two over for a family outing.”

“Oh.”  Silence fell over the two on the phone.  “So, is Mom around?”

“Yes.  Do you want to talk to her?”

“Well, I have something to tell both of you, so can you put the phone on speaker?”

“Sure.  Hold on while I get your Mom.”

Moments later, his mother’s voice came across the line.  “Hi Nicky.”

“Hi Mom.”

“So, what do you need to tell us?”

“Roxie is pregnant.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful son.  Congratulations.”  Bob said

“Thanks Dad.”  He was waiting for his mother to say something.  “Mom?”

“You’re going to have another baby?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you really that stupid?” Her voice dripped with anger.

“What do you mean?”

“Roxie doesn’t love you.  She’s only trying to trap you.”

“What?  That’s not true.”

“I thought you would’ve learned your lesson by now and have better taste in women besides whores who get pregnant to trap you in their grasp.”

“I thought you liked Roxie Mom.”  Roxie looked up at him confused by that.

“She’s not good enough for you.  You need to tell her to get an abortion.”

“No.  I won’t.”  He heard a click on the other end.  “Hello?  Mom?”  Nick sighed.  “She hung up on me.”

“I’m sorry Nick.”  Without warning, he stood up and grabbed his car keys on the way out.  “Nick?  Where are you going?”

“Out.”  He said and slammed the door behind him.

~*~

Later that night, the phone rang, waking Roxie.  “Hello?”  She said in a groggy voice.

“Roxie?”

“Nick?  Is that you?”

“Yeah.”

“Where are you calling from?”

“Um.”  He hesitated.  “County Jail.”  His voice was soft, almost inaudible.

Nick was holding a sleeping Ariel as Roxie unlocked the door.  When Nick had called, it was too late at night for Roxie to find someone to watch Ariel, so she picked up the young girl and placed her in her car seat while she was still sleeping.  She was glad that Ariel didn’t wake up.  “Go put Ariel back in her bed and then come down here.  We need to talk.”  Nick nodded expecting what was about to come.  He put Ariel in her bed then returned to the living room.  He sat on the couch, and refused to make eye contact with Roxie.  “What were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t.”

“That’s right, you weren’t thinking.  Now you were arrested for a DUI, you have a suspended license.  How could you be so stupid?”

“Stupid people do stupid things.”

“I didn’t say you were stupid.”

“Maybe not outloud.”

“You’re not stupid Nick.  You’re just at a rough spot right now.”

“Okay.  You know, we’re home now, you can give me my car keys back.”

“Not a chance.  From now on, consider yourself on house arrest.  You cannot leave this house without me.”  Nick nodded knowing it’d be pointless to argue with her.  “I’m going to sleep.  You coming?”

“No.”

“Nick, what good will it serve for you to stay down here and dwell on what just happened?”

“None.”

“Right.  So come on.”

“I didn’t think you’d want to share a bed with me tonight.”

“I’m not.”  Nick looked down.  “You’re going to sleep in your bed and I’m going to sleep in the guest room.” She said and turned around and headed to the spare bedroom that Roxie had been getting quite acquainted with these past few weeks.

The next morning, Roxie woke up and reached for Nick.  When she didn’t feel him, she opened her eyes and slowly remembered that she hadn’t shared a bed with him the night before.  Wanting to cuddle, she returned to the room she usually shares with Nick.

When she opened the door, she expected to see him fast asleep in bed.  She was shocked when his bed was not only empty but not even slept in.  She walked downstairs, wondering if Nick decided to sleep on the couch after all.  He wasn’t in the living room.  She found him in his office, hunched over his desk with a pencil in his hand.  “You’re up early.”  She said as she approached him.

“I didn’t go to sleep.”

“Why not?”  She reached him and placed her hands on his shoulders, subconsciously she began to rub his shoulders.  “You’re tense.”

Nick leaned back into her touch.  “How mad are you at me?”

“I’m not mad.”

“You were last night.”

“Yes, but I realized that me being mad at you won’t help you.  I’ve been thinking and maybe it’d be a good idea for you to go back to work.”

“Wouldn’t that put me under too much stress and make me want to drink more?”

“So, don’t work a 12 hour shift.  Maybe only work a six hour shift, or even an eight hour shift.”

“I have a suspended license.  I wouldn’t be able to get to work anyway.”

“I’ll drive you.”

“I don’t know Rox.  I don’t know if I’m ready.”

“Try for a couple weeks.  If you can’t handle it, then I won’t make you.  I just think it’d give you a sense of normalcy.”

“When do you expect me to go back?”

“First I want you to worry about resting.  If you’re rested by tomorrow then I think you should go back tomorrow.  What were you working on?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.  I was just doodling.”  He said and tried to hide the piece of paper under another paper.

“Let me see.” Nick bit his lower lip before handing her the picture.  “Oh Nick.  This isn’t doodling.  It’s beautiful.  Did you draw this by memory?”  Roxie asked as she stared down at the picture of herself looking very pregnant.

“It’s not hard to memorize every detail of a beautiful girl.”

“But I’m not this pregnant yet.”

“I know that.  I started drawing you and the next thing I knew I drew you very pregnant.  I guess I was trying to picture how beautiful you’d look when you were very pregnant with my baby.”

“So, when I’m actually this fat, will you still think I’m beautiful?”

“You won’t be fat and yes.  My baby would be inside you and that’s very beautiful.”

“Were you like this with Tracy?”

“Like what?”

“This mushy.”

Nick scoffed.  “Yeah right.  Tracy and I were a lot different then you and I.  I love you, and I can’t even begin to imagine my life without you and if I do, it’s certainly not pretty.  I was never sympathetic when she was pregnant.  If she asked me if she looked fat, I would say yes.  I never loved Tracy. She was convenient.  I’d like to be able to say that Ariel was a product of love even though she was unplanned.  But that’s not the truth.  The truth was that Ariel was a product of two people whose only common bond was the drugs and alcohol.”

“Nick, you’re not the same as you were then.”

“Aren’t I though.”

“No, you’re not.  Now come on.  You’re tired and I want to cuddle.”

Nick chuckled as he let Roxie pull him to his feet.  “Ariel will be awake soon.”

“Who cares?” 

Nick smiled and willingly followed Roxie back to their room.  He collapsed almost immediately onto the bed.  Roxie climbed onto the bed, she smirked when she realized that his eyes were already closed.  She straddled him and kissed him while grinding into him.

“Roxie, what are you doing?”  He asked, opening his eyes to look at Roxie.

“What do you think?”

“I think I’m too tired.”  Roxie pouted.  “Please Nicky.”

“You said you wanted to cuddle.”

“Okay, so I lied.”

“You convinced me to go to sleep and now that I’m in bed, that’s all I want right now.”

“Fine, but you better be rested by tonight.”

“Deal.”  Roxie slid off him and he pulled her close.   He closed his eyes again and then immediately heard the obvious sounds of his daughter entering their room.  Nick groaned and whispered into Roxie’s ears.  “If you hadn’t made me get into bed I’d be perfectly fine with no sleep.”  He rolled over and forced himself to get up.

Roxie watched him get up and walk out of the room with Ariel.  Roxie bit her lip when she saw how tired he seemed now.  She couldn’t help but blame herself as it seemed that Nick was being dragged out of the room.  Roxie stood up and followed them out of the room.  By the time she got to the kitchen, Nick was already making a waffle for Ariel.  “Relax Nick.  I’ll finish this.”

Nick smiled.  “Thanks.”  He sat down at the kitchen table.

Two days later, Nick let Roxie drive him to his store.  It felt like forever since the last time he was there.  After a few minutes, and a few words of encouragement from Roxie, he opened his car door and stepped out.  He walked toward the building as Roxie rolled down her window.  “Nick?”  He turned around.  “Good luck.”

Nick smiled slightly then continued to walk toward his store.  He entered the store.  The bell over the door alerted Joann that the door opened.  “I’m sorry, we’re not…”  She looked up.  “Nick.  Are you back?”

“Maybe.  Roxie thinks it might be a good idea for me to be back at work.  So I’ll come in for like a week and see if it helps.  I might be leaving again.”

“Well, we’re happy to have you back, even if it is for a short period of time.”

“Thanks.  So, how’s things been going?”

“Pretty good.  I had to hire a few more associates.  I hope you don’t mind.”

“No.  I told you I trust your judgment.”

“Good, because at first my judgment said that we needed three associates, but one of the guys I hired, is good enough that I stopped at two.  He’s working today.  So, are you working your normal 12 hour shift?”

“No.  I’m going to do eight hours.”

“Okay.  Well, I haven’t gotten to paperwork yet.  Do you want to do it?”

“Sure.  I’ll be in the back if you need me.”  Joann smiled

An hour later, the door to the store opened again.  “I’m so sorry I’m late.”

“It’s fine Kevin.”

“But it’s Tuesday, we’re usually busy.”

“Don’t worry Kevin.  I wasn’t here alone.  The owner is here.”

“Oh great.  What a day to be late.”

“Oh, don’t worry Kevin.  He won’t care.”

“Okay.  What do you want me to do?”

“I haven’t had a chance to finish putting out some of the new releases.”

“Sure.”

“Thanks Kevin.”

Nick looked up when he heard the stockroom door open.  “Oh, I’m sorry, I…”

“Kevin?”

Kevin looked shocked.  “You’re the owner?”

“Yeah.  I am.”

“So, how have you been Nick?”

“I’ve been better.”

“You look good though.  Last time I saw you, you were…”

“Yeah I know.”

Kevin bent down to pick up the box.  Halfway through the motion, he stopped and turned to Nick.  “Nick, about what I said the last time we saw each other.”

“Kevin, don’t.”

“I’ve regretted saying it since the words came out of my mouth.  You never were nothing to me.  I’m sorry I wrote you off so fast.”

“You weren’t the only one.”  He paused.  “But you can make up for what you said.”

“How?”

“Well, I’m still at a really low point. I could use a friend.”

“You got it.  We’ll talk later but I should get this out.” 

~*~

“So, Ariel, we’re going to have someone over for dinner tonight.  What do you want to wear?”

Ariel went to her dresser drawers and pulled out a denim ribbed scooter and a shirt that had a puppy on it and said adorable, pretty princess and super cute.  Roxie smiled and helped Ariel get dressed.  As she pulled Ariel’s shirt into the right spot, the doorbell rang.  Roxie looked confused; she wasn’t expecting her father for another hour.

She headed downstairs and to the front door.  Her eyes opened wide when she saw who was at the door.

“Hi honey.”  William, Roxie’s father, said.

“Hi Dad.”  She looked at the young man standing next to her father, “Derek, what are you doing here?”

“Dad told me that you were pregnant.  I wanted to meet your boyfriend too.”

“Oh, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”  She directed her question to her older brother.

“You don’t want me here?”

“It’s not that it’s just…”

“Just what?  I’m allowed to be concerned about my little sister; that includes meeting the guy who got her pregnant.  So, uh, where is he?”

Roxie was glad that she convinced Nick to go back to work.  At least he wouldn’t come across as a jobless loser.  “He’s at work.  I was actually about to go pick him up.”

Derek looked at her strangely, “He doesn’t drive?”

“He let me use his car, since his car is the one that has his daughter’s car seat.”  She knew it was a lie, but she also knew that telling her father and brother that he had a suspended license would make them formulate a negative image about him before even meeting.

“Daughter?” 

Apparently, the knowledge that he has a daughter also gave a negative impression of Nick.  Roxie was trying to think of a what to say when Ariel walked into the room.  Seeing the two strange men, she became shy and hid behind Roxie’s leg.  “Well, I should go get him.  Come on Ariel, let’s go get Daddy.”  Roxie didn’t quite feel comfortable with leaving them alone in Nick’s house but she also knew that it wouldn’t be fair for Nick if she took them with her.  “I’ll be back in a little more than a half hour.”

“Well, why don’t we come with you?”

“I think it’s only fair that he gets warned that he’s meeting more than just my father today.”  Roxie said and left the house with Ariel.

~*~

Nick and Kevin were sitting behind the counter.  There were no customers in the store and nothing for them to do.  “Damn, I forgot how dead this store could get.”

Kevin chuckled.  “At least you get to go home in like a half hour.”

“Yeah, and my girlfriend’s father is coming to my house for dinner.  I think I’d rather be here.”

“Please tell me that you are not still with Tracy.”

Nick shook his head.  “I broke up with Tracy when I stopped doing that shit.”

The bell over the door rang, signaling that customers were walking in.  Nick and Kevin sat up straighter and looked at the customers.  Kevin smiled.  “Hey guys, over here.”  Kevin said calling the group of 3 over to the counter. 

As they got closer, Nick realized who it was that entered the store.  His hands became clammy.  He tried to busy himself doing anything to avoid listening on the friendly conversation right next to him.

AJ McLean noticed Nick first.  He didn’t say anything to Nick but to Kevin he said.  “I feel bad for you.  You have to work with him.”

Nick wished the door would open and that Roxie would come in so that he could go home.  He looked at the clock and realized that wouldn’t happen because he still had 25 minutes before Roxie would be there. 

“Things are different now, he’s sober.” Kevin said coming to Nick’s defense.

“He’d have to be to hold down a job.”

Nick finally got fed up.  “You know, he’s right here.”  There was a hint of hurt in his voice.  When Kevin forgave him, he hoped the rest of his former band would have forgiven him, but obviously they hadn’t.  He stood up and left the counter going into the back room

When he was gone, Brian finally spoke up.  “Kevin have you forgotten what he did to us?”

“No.  I felt bad for what I said to him.”

“He ruined our chances at getting a record deal because he didn’t show up for the audition.”

“And we’re all doing pretty well for ourselves now, so why should we care about that?”

“Why are you defending him?”

“I’m not defending him.  I just don’t understand why you can’t forgive him.  Even though he’s off the drugs, he still has a lot to go through.  He needs friends now, probably more than ever.”

“Well, it’s your choice if you want to forgive him.  I don’t forgive him.  If it wasn’t for his actions, we’d probably be famous by now.”

“Yes, he screwed up with missing the audition and causing us to lose the record deal but that was years ago.  It’s not fair to him to completely write him off because he made a mistake.”

“Whatever Kev.  We’re going to go shop.  Talk to you in a few.”

20 minutes later, Roxie entered the store, holding Ariel’s hand.  When she didn’t see Nick anywhere in the store, she approached the counter where Kevin, AJ, Brian and Howie were talking.  “Hi, sorry to interrupt but do you know where Nick is?”

Ariel was looking around the store hoping to spot her father.  When Nick stepped out of the back room, Ariel said.  “There he is.”  She pointed to the back of the store before running to him screaming, “Daddy,” as she ran to him.  The four young men at the counter looked at each other and each mouthed “daddy?”  When Ariel reached him, he picked her up and put her on his shoulders, while he walked out.

Nick placed Ariel in her car seat and then got into the passenger side of the car.  “Are you okay Nick?”

“I’m okay.  I guess I’m just a little nervous.”

“Well, not to make you more nervous, but um, my older brother showed up.”

“You’re brother?  I didn’t know you had a brother.”

“We were never very close.  We fought all the time as kids and grew even further apart as we got older.”

“So, what should I expect?”

“Expect everything you say can be taking in a negative light.”

“You’re not helping.”

“Sorry.  Don’t worry so much.  I’m sure everything will be fine.”

“I hope so.  I’m not exactly the type of guy that fathers usually want for their little girls, or the type that older brothers like for their little sisters for that matter.”

~*~

20 minutes later, Nick, Roxie and Ariel walked into the house.  They found William and Derek drinking beer in the living room.

Derek turned around when he heard them enter the room.  He stood up and went over to them.  “You must be Nick.”  He said extending his hand.

“Yeah.”

“I’m Derek, Roxie’s older brother.  Would you like a beer?”

“No.”

Roxie smiled.  She was glad that he had found the strength to say no even though the alcohol was less than 10 feet away from him.  “I’m going to go work on dinner.  You guys talk.”

“You know, it’s nice that you’re not drinking because Roxie can’t.”

Nick took a shaky breath.  That wasn’t the reason.  He knew what he was about to say would not look good for him.  “Um, actually, that’s not why I’m not drinking.”  William and Derek looked at Nick confused when he paused.  “I’m a recovering alcoholic.”  He said and looked down.  He didn’t want to see their reaction to that news.

“How long have you been sober?”

“Um, it was 2 years, but now its 5 days.”

“5 days?”  William said.  When Nick nodded, William said.  “I’m going to go help Roxie in the kitchen.”  He walked into the kitchen.  “Do you need any help Rox?”

“No.  Why aren’t you in the living room with Nick and Derek?”

“Roxie, I don’t trust him.”

“What do you mean?”

“A recovering alcoholic.”

“He made a couple of bad choices.  That’s no reason to not give him a chance.”

“You must see something in him; otherwise you wouldn’t be having his baby.  I’m afraid that he’ll hurt you.”

“He wouldn’t hurt me intentionally.”

“I hope you’re right.  I’ll give him a chance for you.”

“Thanks Daddy.  And, he’s going to get help.”

Meanwhile in the living room, “What are your intentions with my sister?”

“I love her.”

“Are you even capable of love?”

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s my experience that people like you are not capable of love.”

“How much experience do you have with people like me?”

“Roxie’s ex-boyfriend was just like you and he almost killed her.”

“You don’t even know me.  How can you say I’m just like him?”

“Abusers are all the same.”  He turned around quickly and headed into the kitchen.  “Dad, let’s go.”

“Derek, what’s wrong?”

Nick walked into the kitchen.  “I refuse to spend any more time with him.”

“So, you’re not going to give my boyfriend a chance because he’s had a problem with alcohol?”

“A recent problem Roxie.  He’s going back to his old ways.  He’s going to hurt you just like the creep before him.” He turned on his heel and began walking out of the kitchen.  “Dad, you coming?”

William sighed.  “I’m sorry Rox.  I’ll come back another day.”  He hugged Roxie and whispered in her ear.  “Don’t worry, I’ll give him a chance.” He followed after Derek.

Roxie looked up at Nick.  “I’m sorry baby.”

He smiled weakly.  “I told you they wouldn’t like me.”

“You will be spending 48 hours in jail, 2 weeks in an inpatient rehab center, and at least 90 days of AA meetings.  You're license is suspended for 18 months, only allowing driving to work and to AA meetings.  You are also sentenced to 100 hours of community service in the county morgue and a fine of $1,500."  The judge slammed down his gavel and Nick was immediately handcuffed and led off. 

Roxie bit her lip as she watched her boyfriend be led off to prison.  "How am I going to explain this to Ariel?"  She asked herself as she walked out of the courtroom. 

When she arrived home, she still hadn't figured out what to say to the young girl regarding the whereabouts of her father.  She decided to wing it and walked into the house.  She paid the babysitter and sat Ariel on the couch.  "Roxie, where's Daddy?"

"Well, Ariel.  Daddy has to spend 2 days in jail.  Do you know what jail is?"

"It's where bad people go.  Does that mean Daddy is bad?" Ariel asked and her eyes turned a little scared.

"Daddy's not bad.  He just made a bad decision and got into trouble."  Roxie reassured Ariel and let Ariel pick out a movie to try and keep things as normal as possible for the young girl while her father wouldn't be there.

That night, Roxie was getting Ariel ready for bed when the phone rang.  "Hello?"

"Hi Roxie." Roxie’s heart expanded in her chest as she heard Nick’s voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hi Nick."

"I don't have much time.  Can I talk to Ariel please?"

"Sure."  Roxie held the phone out to Ariel.  "It's Daddy."

Ariel took the phone.  "Daddy!" Ariel squealed excitedly into the phone.

"Hi Baby.  Did Roxie tell you why I can't be home right now?"

"She said you were in jail.  Why are you with bad people?"

"I made a bad decision.  That's all you need to know.  Anyway, I wanted you to know that I won't be able to call you tomorrow, but I'll be home soon.  I also wanted to say goodnight."

"Goodnight daddy."

"I love you Ariel."

"I love you too Daddy.  Do you want to talk to Roxie?"

"I can't.  My time is up.  Can you tell Roxie that I love her?"

"I will Daddy.  Bye."  Ariel hung up and placed the cordless phone on her bed.  "Daddy said he loves you."

"Alright you.  Get into bed."

"I don't want to." 

"The sooner you get into bed, the closer it will be until Daddy gets home."  Ariel agreed and climbed into bed.  Roxie kissed her forehead and left the room.  She had no idea how she was going to get Ariel into bed when Nick had to leave for his two weeks in rehab.

Two days later, Roxie hired another babysitter and went to pick Nick up.  She had to wait a few minutes before she saw him making his way out to her.  As he got closer, she realized that he had a few cuts on his face and a cast on his arm.  Soon, he stood in front of her and she threw her arms protectively around him. She reached up and gently touched the bruised area around his eye.  "God Nicky.  What happened?"

"Apparently I was able to piss off my cellmate by just being there."

"Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No.  I was already there."  Nick got into the car. 

"Ariel can't wait to see you."

"I don't know if that's such a good thing.”

"What?  Why not Nick?"

"Because I have to leave for rehab for two weeks in the morning."

"It's only two weeks Nick."

"That's a long time in the world of a four year old." Nick said and put his head down. He was growing more and more disappointed in himself for his actions and the repercussions his daughter was suffering.

"She'll be fine Nick."

"I know she’ll be fine.  And I know I'm leaving her in good hands.  It's just …  I wish I didn't have to leave again tomorrow, you know? It’s just so soon."

"Do you have to leave tomorrow?"

"Yes.  The rehab center is expecting me tomorrow afternoon.  I won't even get a full day to spend with my daughter."

"Well, the sooner you go, the sooner you can come home."

"I know." Nick said again and turned his attention to something outside of the car and continued to stare out the window until they arrived home.

~*~

The next morning Nick ate breakfast with Roxie and Ariel.  He was quiet, knowing that his time with them was almost up.  After breakfast, he went upstairs and carried his suitcase downstairs and placed it by the front door.

"Daddy, where are you going?"

He turned to his daughter.  "I'm not going anywhere just yet."

"Then where are you going later?"

"I have to go away for two weeks." Nick said and got down on one knee so he was eye level with Ariel.

"Is two weeks a long time?" Ariel asked as she put her hands on Nick’s shoulders. Nick pulled her into a close hug and spoke into her ear.

"It might feel like a long time.  But you'll have fun with Roxie and time will go by really fast and you won't even know I'm gone." Nick kissed the side of Ariel’s head and pulled away.

"Can I come with you?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Nick said and stood straight up and began to walk into the kitchen.

"Why not?"

"Because it's not a place where a little girl should be.  And also, it's something I need to do on my own."

"Will you call me?"

"As often as I can."

"Can I call you?"

"I'm not sure if that's possible, but we'll see okay."

"Okay Daddy.  I'm going to miss you."  She said and moving closer to Nick and hugging him.

"I'm going to miss you too.  But you know what?  I still have a little more than an hour left.  That's just enough time to watch The Little Mermaid."

Ariel looked up at him and gasped excitedly and ran to get her movie.  Nick put the movie on and lied on the couch, pulling Ariel close to him for the duration of the movie.

The movie ended and Nick reluctantly called for a cab.  Minutes later, a horn sounded to alert Nick that the cab had arrived.  He hugged Ariel and kissed Roxie before picking up his suitcase and leaving the house.  He walked down his driveway and got into the cab, telling the driver the address of the rehab facility.  He looked up at his house and saw that Roxie and Ariel had come outside.  Ariel was hugging Roxie's legs.  It was obvious that Ariel was crying.  Nick blinked and felt his own tears fall out of his eyes.

~*~

Nick arrived at the rehab center and was checked into his room.  His roommate was in there and that made Nick even more nervous.  He was hoping that he wouldn't have a roommate after his experience with his cellmate in prison.

Soon Nick was left alone in the room with his new roommate.  Nick wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling that his roommate was going to be a problem. 

"I'm Mark." The other man said and stuck out his hand. Nick accepted it and then let go.

"Nick."

Mark heard the apprehension in Nick's voice.  "Oh don't worry Nick.  This place is so easy.  I know all the places to get exactly what we need.”  He pulled out a stash of drugs and alcohol from under his bed.

"That's not what I want."

Mark scoffed.  "You're here by court order right?"

"Yeah.  How did you know?"

            "Everyone here is here by court order.  None of us actually want rehabilitation."

"I've already ruined my life with that shit.  Why would I want it now?"

"You mean to tell me that you actually want help."

"I've already been sober.  And it's a hell of a lot better than being strung out."

"You wouldn't be here unless you relapsed, meaning you couldn't live without being strung out."

Nick decided the best way to get through the two weeks with his room mate was to completely ignore his room mate.  He waited for Mark to be gone before picking up the phone and calling home.

"Hello?"

"Hey Roxie."

"Nicky.  How's it going there?"

"It's going to be a long two weeks.   That's for sure."

"Awww, why do you say that?"

"My room mate has a stash in the room.  Apparently no one here actually wants rehabilitation."

"Well, just think Nick.  You'll be out long before them."

Without Nick knowing, Mark entered the room.  "Yeah I know.  How's Ariel?"

"Completely miserable."

"I saw her crying when I left."

"She's still crying."

"Still?"

"Yeah, I can't get her to calm down.  Even the Little Mermaid isn't working."

"Where is she?"

"She's currently attached to Missy."

Nick laughed to himself, envisioning his daughter smothering his puppy.  "See if you can pry my daughter off the dog long enough to talk to me please?"  Minutes later he heard his daughter's small voice on the other end.  "Hi Honey."

"I miss you Daddy." 

"I miss you too.  But I won't be gone long.  Just two weeks."

"I want you to do something for me."

"What?"

"I don't want you to be sad."  He looked up and saw Mark standing in the doorway.  "I have to go Ariel.  Have fun with Roxie and Missy."

"Okay Daddy.  I love you."

"I love you too."  He hung up the phone as Mark sat down on his bed.

"That's just sick."

"Excuse me?"

"Madly in love, with a child and a dog.  And let me guess, you probably have another one on the way too right?  The perfect fucking existence."

Nick looked at Mark.  "You're jealous."

"Yeah right."

"No, you are. Why else would you take the time to make a smart ass comment like that?"

"What's there to be jealous of?"

"You tell me?  You're the one that's jealous."

"I'm not jealous.  I find it sickening that you have a wife and kid."

Hey Readers,

I'm sorry for my lack of updates.  I have had a lot going on recently.  I had a lot of projects due for school, as well as I had to make time to apply for internships.  I still have 2 weeks of school, so I won't be able to write for at least two weeks.  It also depends on my wrist.  I recently injured it, so if it still hurts after school, I may have to put off writing, since typing isn't that easy at the moment.  I'm sorry for my lack of updates. I hope to be able to update soon.  For those of you that are waiting for me, thank you for sticking with me.  For those of you who lost interest because of my lack of updates, I understand.

Thanks,

Lissa