This is just a tiny, little, "slice of life" piece of fluff. The idea of Mike Cutter as a dad gives me all the feels. This story is not part of my "Truth Be Told" universe, but fits into my "Sofia and Jake" universe. (And, yes, it is a little crazy to me to realize that I have created two different universes for these fictional characters!) We are celebrating Sofia's birthday. Enjoy!

TURNING CIRCLES, TIED IN KNOTS

Mike Cutter stood just outside of the ice rink in Winter Village at Bryant Park. His eyes narrowed as he took in the scene unfolding before him. He felt like his insides were tied up in knots.

It had all seemed so innocent when they began discussing plans for Sofia's eleventh birthday. She had begged for an ice skating party, having become enamoured with the sport after watching the WInter Olympics. The family had subsequently gone a few times to skate here at Bryant Park and at Wollman Rink in Central Park. Connie was fairly good at it. Jake thought falling down was the most fun part. And Sofia seemed to have a natural affinity for the ice. Not talking private lessons or future Olympian or anything, but she was certainly the most talented skater of the entire Cutter clan. Mike smiled as he remembered watching her turning circles then throwing her arms up to the sky, her cheeks pink in the cold, but her eyes shining with delight. They had been successful in getting Mike out on the ice only once - when they had gone to skate at Rockefeller Center last Christmas. He found that he was much more comfortable watching from rinkside.

As Connie had started looking into the logistics of a birthday party on the ice, she found that it was a little more pricey than what they usually liked to spend on the kids' birthday parties. However since Sofia's party the previous year had been cancelled due to a bad case of strep throat that hit first her then her brother, they decided they could splurge just a little more than usual this year.

The problems, as far as Mike was concerned, arose when Sofia was giving them her guest list. Her cousins were all included. "The usual suspects" were, of course, included - Kelsey, Maggie, Amelia, and Kate, who Sofia had been friends with since kindergarten. But it was when the name Tim was mentioned that alarm bells starting ringing in Mike's head.

There were other boys that would be at the party. Jake of course. But the rest of the young male guests were all either Sofia's cousins or brothers of her friends. But it was when he heard her innocently asking Connie, "Can my friend Tim come, too?" that Mike paused as he was walking past them in the family room on his way to his home office. He tried to linger long enough to hear more details, but was unsuccessful. He settled on questioning Connie later that night.

"Tim?" Connie asked, confusion coloring her voice. "Oh, he's a new boy in Sof's class. His family just moved here before school started. His mom is the new music teacher at school and I think his dad's a firefighter."

Of course, Mike thought, what is it about guys in uniforms and, apparently, their sons?

"Why are you asking so many questions about a ten year old boy?"Connie asked, although she already suspected that she knew the answer. A slight smile played at her lips as she waited for her husband to answer,

"Keyword there being boy Connie," Mike said. "Do you really think she is old enough to be inviting boys to her birthday party?"

Connie couldn't contain the laughter that bubbled up from inside. "Oh Mike," she said as she turned down the quilt on their bed before climbing in. She waited for him to settle in beside her before she continued. "They're fifth graders. I don't think he is going to ask for her hand in marriage while they are ice skating together."

Mike shuddered. "Don't even joke about that," he said, leaning over to kiss her goodnight.

Mike's eyes travelled again to the group of kids gliding across the ice. They were in the process of joining hands to create a chain, and Mike zeroed in quickly on the boy with the mop of floppy, dark hair who was currently holding his daughter's hand. He was watching so intently, that he failed to notice Connie gliding to a stop, then stepping off of the ice to stand next to him until she spoke.

"Mike, honey?" she questioned, "Why do you look like you just had a conviction overturned on appeal?"

"Do you see what's going on out there?" he asked, gesturing to the ice.

Connie's eyes moved to where he was pointing. "What?"

Mike shook his head at her incredulously. "He's holding her hand!"

"Well, they are playing Crack the Whip," Connie pointed out. "Holding hands is kind of necessary."

Mike took a deep breath, looking into Connie's eyes. "You think I'm overreacting?" he asked.

Connie smiled at him indulgently as she shrugged. "Maybe just a little."

Mike looked away, shaking his head. Intellectually, he knew that his wife was right. But the father in him was having the most terrible time letting his little girl grow up. He still remembered holding her in his arms eleven years ago, looking in wonder at this tiny baby that had instantly redefined his priorities and changed his life. He was, from that day forward, filled with the neverending internal battle to keep her safe and to let her fly on her own. He knew Sofia was growing up. They were less than a year away from her moving on into middle school. But this, boys coming into her world, into their world, well it was just something that Mike had dreaded with every fiber of his being.

Connie squeezed his arm. "I'm going to go take off my skates. It's almost time to move these guys into the party room. Will you be okay here for a few minutes?" she asked.

Mike looked at her, nodding with a sheepish smile, "I'll behave," he promised.

Connie narrowed her eyes at him, wordlessly telling him you'd better! She leaned over to kiss his cheek quickly, before turning toward the Skate House. Mike looked back out on the ice in time to see that Sofia and her friends were trying to create a conga line on skates. Sofia was leading the way, and right behind her, with his hands holding her waist, was Tim.

Mike just sighed, casting his eyes up toward the late afternoon sky.

After an hour and a half of skating, it was not too difficult to herd the kids off the ice and into The Polar Lounge for the rest of Sofia's party. This was to include some light snacks followed by cake and ice cream, along with a few party games and presents for the birthday girl. The cake kept everyone occupied for awhile. Sofia smiled with delight as her friends and family gathered around her to sing Happy BIrthday as she made a wish and blew out the candles on the chocolate cake decorated with a tiny figure skater and light blue icing to resemble a skating rink. They soon discovered, however, that trying to keep a group of fifteen kids all focused on one activity was damn near impossible. The girls started a game of Twister, but the boys (much to Mike's delight, as it kept the boys and girls separate) were more interested in seeing how much air they could blow into the extra balloons that Jake had found in his mother's bag with the rest of the leftover decorations that Connie had not used in the room. This led to several loud pops as the boys over inflated the balloons, followed by screams from the girls on the other side of the room. The boys then moved on to adding various amounts of the Skittles that were sitting out around the table into the balloons before they blew them up, leaving the candies to rattle around inside the balloons as the boys, and eventually the girls too, batted them back and forth at each other.

Connie sat down on the arm of the overstuffed lounge chair that Mike was seated in as they observed the group. "See," she told him, "it's all very innocent. They're just a bunch of kids having fun." She wrapped an arm around his back, leaning her chin on his shoulder.

Mike leaned back in his seat, sliding an arm around Connie. Though he had kept a close eye on Tim, he had to admit, the boy had turned out to be a polite young man with good manners and sense of humor. And these kids really were, when it was all said and done, still just kids. They were currently involved in a game of Musical Chairs. They were laughing and giggling, battling over the final empty chair everytime the music stopped, the odd man out giving up each time in good natured defeat. "You were right," Mike told Connie quietly.

She leaned her head closer, her eyes widening in mock surprise. "What? Say that again!"

Mike reached out to tickle her in retaliation. Connie laughed joyously as she slid away from him and onto her feet. The game had just finished and it seemed like the perfect time for Sofia to open her gifts.

The kids all gathered around, each of them pleading for Sofia to open their gift first. She worked her way through the presents, opening among other things, an art supply kit, a metallic water bottle with markers that could be used to personalize it, a make your own bracelet kit, and the complete set of the Anne of Green Gables books from Mike and Connie. Mike's eyes narrowed again just a bit when Sofia unwrapped Tim's gift - a small stuffed animal that looked like a Siberian husky puppy dog, but he let it pass when Sofia said a simple thank you and Tim replied with an equally simple you're welcome. Mike let the last of his apprehension slip away. His little girl was still his little girl, and that wasn't going to be changing anytime soon.

As the party had wrapped up and the kids were all picked up by their respective parents, Mike was impressed but not really surprised to see Sofia thanking each of her friends one more time for coming to her party. As Connie finished packing up the last of their things and Mike and Jake started loading them into the back of the SUV to head home, Sofia waved goodbye to Kelsey and her family, then climbed into the backseat with her brother. The car was quiet as Mike headed them for home, so much so that he thought the kids might have both fallen asleep. As they pulled into the garage, though, Jake was the first one out of the car, calling out behind him that he was starving and was there any left over pizza from the previous night's dinner? Mike and Connie just watched him go with smiles on both of their faces as Sofia leaned up between them from the backseat.

"Thank you for my party," she told them.

"Aww, you're welcome, sweetheart," Connie told her, then asked, "Did you have fun with all of your friends?"

"Yes, it was the best," Sofia said with a smile. "I can't wait to start making bracelets with the kit that Maggie got me."

"What about the little dog that Tim got you?" Mike asked innocently, "That was pretty cute."

"Yeah," Sofia said simply.

"So, do you like Tim?" Mike asked, trying to dodge the elbow that Connie aimed at his side.

"Dad!" Sofia said, stretching the word out into two syllables.

"Daughter!" Mike returned in much the same tone.

"Dad, he's nice and he's my friend and all, but," Sofia stopped for a minute, shaking her head as if trying to find just the right words to explain what she was feeling, "but, he's an Indians fan."

"What?" Mike asked, turning to look at his daughter.

"Well, he moved here from Ohio, so I guess it makes sense, but still….the Indians?" Sofia said with thinly veiled contempt. "Like, he won't even give the Yankees a try!"

"I guess nobody's perfect," Mike told her, unable to hide the smile on his face as he glanced over at Connie.

Sofia just shook her head. "I guess," as she opened the back door and slid out of the seat. Her parents watched as she made her way into house before they both broke into laughter.

"So, do you feel better now?" Connie asked.

Mike looked over at her and smiled as he unbuckled his seat belt, "Yeah, actually, yeah I do." He leaned across the center console to press his lips to hers in a kiss.

"We should probably get inside before Jake burns the house down trying to reheat his pizza," Connie said, before leaning in for another kiss.

"Yeah," Mike said between kisses, "or we could just stay out here and make out for awhile."

"Or we could do that," Connie agreed as she lost herself in his kisses once again…

Until a crash from the kitchen on the other side of the garage door, followed by the sound of their eight year old son's voice calling, "Mom! I think I broke a plate!" caused them to break apart.

Connie just laughed. "You're right," she told her husband, "boys are an awful lot of trouble." She leaned forward to kiss him quickly one more time before unbuckling her seat belt and opening the passenger side car door. "You'd better go see what your son has gotten into."

Mike exited the car on the drivers' side. "Why is it," he asked over his shoulder as he headed toward the door into the house, "that he suddenly becomes 'my son' when he is in trouble or making a mess?"

A lot of times I write what I know. This story is no different, and is based on a birthday party that my 11 year old nephew attended several weeks ago. Yes, he was "Tim," and was invited to an ice skating party by a sweet little girl who, according to my nephew, has a crush on him. I have no way of knowing if the birthday girl's dad was as bothered by him as Mike was by Tim….and he's a Cubs fan, not an Indians fan!

I hope you enjoyed this little story-please let me know!