Daisy Chains

It was just after noon, with the sun still shining high in the sky. Alex has wormed her father away from his work as she usually did, by sticking out her lower lip and letting it wobble just the right amount. Ben had tucked away his reading glasses and allowed her to drag him outside.

The land sloped just slightly, enough to give them a hill to look down over the jungle that spread out all around them. Alex tugged on her father's fingers, which she could barely encase in her own. He hurried along after her surprisingly quick little legs.

"What's so important?" Ben asked, looking nearly halfway to concerned.

"You need to play outside, Daddy," she said sternly, shooting him a glance over her shoulder. "Fresh air is good for you."

Ben sighed with a shake of his head. "Oh."

They reached the hill which brought Alex and subsequently Ben to a halt. She observed their spot and quickly flopped down into the grass. Ben also took a quick look around. The sonic fence was close, but not too close--they'd had a close call two years earlier when Alex had nearly run headlong into the fence and had been narrowly snatched out of danger by her father, who scolded her terribly for minutes on end. He remembered holding her crying, shaking little body close against his chest. He allowed her an extra portion of dessert that night at dinner.

With a stiff groan, Ben sat beside his daughter in the grass. Somewhere, a bird cried out and rustled in the jungle foliage.

"Well, then, you've rustled me out of the house," Ben said, turning his eyes on the girl. "Now what have you planned?"

She placed a handful of freshly-picked, tiny blue flowers in the sagging lap of her dress. With her little fingers she began threading their stems together with a breathy little hum.

"Alex?" Ben asked again. Her head tilted up, and she smiled a cat's smile.

"In a minute, Daddy."

Ben restrained himself from rolling his eyes. He wondered if he shouldn't have grabbed a book on the way out.

After the given minute, Alex stood, brushed off her skirt and stood before her sitting father with a chain of blue flowers in her hand, formed in the shape of a circle. She placed it atop her father's head with a flourish and did an elaborate curtsey with much waving of arms. One side of Ben's mouth twitched up for a moment as he gently fingered a few of the petals.

"What's this?"

"Daisy chain," she said, twirling her dress for effect. "This way, you can be the King and I can be the Princess of the Island." She produced a second daisy chain and sat it on her dark curls. Her smile was brilliant, which Ben mirrored despite himself.

"Well, don't you make a fine princess?"

She grinned even further, giggling as she gripped at her skirts self-consciously. The crunch of footsteps in the grass behind them told of another's presence, and both Ben and Alex turned at the same time. Ben's smile fell off quickly, back into its firm straight line. Alex did another little curtsey.

"Hello Mister Alpert."

"Good afternoon, Alex," Richard responded, nodding his head in her direction. "Benjamin. Do you mind if I join you?"

Alex nodded enthusiastically. "Do you wanna be a King too, Mister Alpert?"

He shook his head, a smirk on his lips. "No, thank you. Your father's doing a fine job, I think."

"We're going to save the prince from the dragon's tower, later," Alex said nonchalantly, picking at her skirt. Her eyes perked up as a large speckled butterfly appeared before her, and she bounded after it like a fawn.

As her little figure drew further and further away, Ben managed to take his watchful eyes off of her to look up at the man still standing nearby. "You're welcome to sit down, Richard. I may be a King, but you don't have to stand in my presence."

Richard chuckled darkly as he took a seat next to Ben, still watching Alex dance and cavort at the foot of the hill, looking for her butterfly.

"She's an interesting little girl, Ben. Fanciful ideas in her head, making you King of the Daisy Chains." He looked over one shoulder at the man beside him. "What have you been reading to her?"

"Oh, the usual," Ben said with a monotonic shrug. "Stephen King with a dash of harlequin romance." When neither of them laughed, the pause went on. Ben raised his eyebrows with a sigh. "Sleeping Beauty, Richard. She likes Sleeping Beauty."

The other man finally allowed a slight hitch of a laugh. They both returned to watching Alex, who was making her return trek up the hill. "You like being a father, Ben?"

The question seemed to come out of nowhere, and the surprise registered for only a moment in Ben's eyes. He didn't take them off of the girl heading back toward them, something held in both of her hands. He paused, maybe too long.

"Usually," Ben said at last, slightly too fast. "I've gotten used to it now."

"The daisy chain suits you, Ben. So does Alex. They can be good for you. Keep your eye on her."

Ben made a noncommittal noise somewhere in his throat. "I don't think I need you to tell me how to be a father, Richard."

Richard rose to his feet again as Alex returned, looking a little dirtier and slightly giddy. Ben remained seated, but his ever-slight smile returned with her. She crouched down beside him and unfolded her hands to reveal a tiny tree frog.

"He musta got over the fence," she said in a whisper as if it were a secret. She took her father's hand with her now-free left hand and held it out to deliver the tree frog to him. Ben grimaced as the frog was transfered but he said nothing. When she looked up, he tried to turn the painful grimace into a smile for her, and the two emotions met halfway. At least it made her laugh.

"Er, thank you, Alex," he managed. The frog chirruped in his hand. The girl giggled.

"Are you sure you don't wanna be a King, Mister Alpert?" Alex asked, turning her face up to him. He shook his head, sticking his hands into his pockets.

"You can't have two kings, Alex," he told her, smirking strangely. "Every fairy tale needs a villain, doesn't it?" With that, he nodded to each of them and turned on heel to leave.

Alex leaned into Ben's ear to whisper: "I think Mister Alpert's weird sometimes, Daddy."

This even elicited a short, soundless chuckle from her father. She seemed concerned for a moment when it dropped off quickly while he watched her little face continue to smile and grin.

He placed the frog aside, and it hopped off into the grass on its own little journey. Ben pulled Alex quickly into his lap with his arms wrapped around her, which caused her to fly into a fit of giggles. He planted a kiss on her forehead, met with a squirming, giggling little princess.

As he hugged her to his chest, she laughed and sighed, burrowing in against him.

"I love you too, Daddy."

He released her only just, enough to look her seriously in the eye. "Now, what was that about a dragon's tower?"

AN: So, uh, looks like I've written another BenFic. I don't know where these things are coming from. Probably because I rewatched "Shape of Things to Come" and I felt soo bad that the last thing Alex hears is that her father does really care (even if it was just a bluff). So sweet!Ben'n'Alex fics seemed to have appeared in my head outta nowhere. And Richard showed up because I realized after "Cabin Fever" that he too is badass and mysterious and wears guyeliner even in the 50s. I think I needed to write this just because zombie!Ben in Cabin Fever was just so distraught about Alex that he didn't seem to fight back about anything... Poor guy. I'm a Ben sympathizer, I can't help it. Anyway, enough of my rambling. I hope my little personal love of Li'l Alex fluff didn't turn anyone off, and if you liked it, leave us some love! Thanks much!