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.