Another random flash fic that is once again unbeta'd. I apologize for any and all mistakes and OOCness. No spoilers, a tiny bit of Oswald/Jack (I can't write anything without a hint of them, I'm sorry).
Thunder roared outside the many windows of the piano room and rain came down like a heavy waterfall drenching the ground and the trees in water, but while nature was covering the world in its fury, the two occupants within the estate knew nothing of the cold the weather brought. Alice was seated on the floor, her skirt fanning out around her as she hummed contentedly as she brushed Oz's coat and fixed his frock. Behind her sitting with his legs crossed was Jack smiling a small content smile as he listened to her off tune humming and braiding thin locks of her dark hair.
Jack had kidnapped her earlier, taking her out of the lonesome tower and into the warmer Baskerville manor to encourage Alice to interact more with Gilbert and Vincent. It hadn't gone the way Jack had wanted it to like so many of their various encounters with each other, but Jack refused to give up that one day the three children will stop fighting with one another long enough to have some sort of decent conversation with each other that didn't end in fighting.
Unfortunately, this day was not such a day.
"Jack." Alice spoke up, turning her head a bit to look over her shoulder at him. When he smiled curiously in response, she continued. "Why do you want me to be a young lady so much?"
He smiled, tying another plait together before he gathered a few more locks of hair to start anew. "Because you are a young mistress and should have manners befitting of her upbringing." The look he was given in turn said Alice did not quite understand what he meant exactly by his words and he only chuckled softly, exhaling as he straightened his back. "I just want to know how to act in social gatherings, that's all, Alice. So to do so, I have to teach you about manners and etiquette."
"That sounds boring," The young girl complained as she turned forward once more and looked down at Oz. "Doesn't it, Oz?"
Laughing softly, Jack conceded. "It is."
"Why do I have to learn to be a young lady?" She pushed again, sounding sullen. "Don't you like me the way I am, Jack?"
The question struck at a cord within him and Jack stopped, staring down at the back of Alice's head with wide eyes and at a loss for words. His trying to teach Alice manners and tea time and playing dress up and all the darling little things young girls should like was in no way trying to change Alice from what she was, however it seemed it was exactly what the young girl thought. Yet, what was he trying to do, trying so hard to mold Alice into something she wasn't? Perhaps it was just some hidden instinct within him that drove him to try and change Alice so that the world could accept her, so that she could survive and never feel the cold fangs as he had, when it had never accepted him for who he was born as.
He would never wish what he had gone through on anyone, least of all Lacie's flesh and blood.
Releasing her hair, his hands falling to his lap, Jack closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly. "I like you just the way you are…" he whispered softly and the rustle of cloth told him Alice had turned around to fully face him. He opened his eyes and gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Alice, I hadn't meant to hurt your feelings. How about this? If you see something interesting that you wish to learn, you tell me about it and I'll try my best to teach you? How does that sound?"
Seeming satisfied that she no longer had to worry about being molded into the perfect young lady Alice beamed at him and nodded. "All right, Jack." She then turned back around, as if signaling to Jack that he could continue fussing with her hair to which he did so gladly.
They settled back into silence comfortably with the rain hitting the windows in a cascading rhythm.
"Jack, what's a mother?" Alice asked suddenly. When she felt Jack's hands stop, she continued. "I heard the word from a story I made Glen read to me last night, but I didn't get to ask him what it meant. You know, don't you?"
Jack continued braiding her hair quietly, his eyes lowering as he took his time to answer her question. A mother, he mused. Did he really know what it meant? He had one, didn't he? A beautiful, kind mother who had loved him, but wasn't her love superficial? Had she truly loved him because he was Jack and not a child of some man she had slept with? Her kindness and her care, were they really towards Jack, the babe that she had given birth to and not some man she was pining after? Jack closed his eyes, forcing those dark thoughts from his mind as he swallowed thickly.
Did he really know what a mother was?
"I…" He began, cutting himself off when one of the double doors of the piano room was pushed open and Oswald's dark head came into view.
The master of the Baskervilles showed no sign that he was surprised or annoyed to find them outside of Alice's tower, merely walking in and closing the door behind him. In his left hand, he carried a basket that Jack knew was filled with nothing, but Alice's favorite food: meat. The girl jumped up at the sight of the treat, running over excitedly and forgetting her constant companion on the floor beside Jack as she rushed over to greet Oswald. Oswald only quietly held up his right hand to which Alice poked with her finger. It was something Jack witnessed a few times before and concluded to himself that it must be some weird greeting ritual the two did. Whatever the case, it amused Jack every time he saw it and thankfully distracted Alice enough so that he did not need to answer her question.
"Hello, Glen!" Alice nearly sang as she grinned up at the head of the household.
"Alice," Oswald greeted, then he looked over at Jack and stated. "Jack kidnapped you again."
Frowning as he pushed himself up, picking Oz up along the way, Jack tossed Oswald a hurt expression. "I hardly kidnapped her. She was completely willing. Weren't you, Alice?"
"You didn't greet Oz! And I was!" Alice agreed, holding up her hands as she silently demanded the basket to be passed over.
"Oz," Oswald complied easily. "You don't always have to indulge Jack in his little adventures, Alice." Oswald informed the eager young girl as he relinquished the basket.
"You're just mad I didn't go to greet you the minute I came to visit." Jack stated as he crossed his arms, Oz caught in them.
Oswald ignored the statement, refusing to confirm it with an answer as he settled his gaze on Alice as she ran back to where Jack stood with her treat in tow. "What were you doing before I came?"
"I asked Jack what a mother was." Alice pulled Oz from Jack's arm and sat down, making the rabbit sit beside her as she took a slice of smoked meat and bit into it happily.
"Mother. A woman in relation to a child or children she had given birth to." Oswald answered after a brief moment. He looked slightly confused at the look Jack gave him and quirked a brow when Alice blinked in his direction.
"That's a terrible answer," Jack said, shaking his head in disapproval.
"I defined mother for her. How is it a terrible answer?" His friend asked, confused.
"You're not a dictionary, Glen. Alice wasn't asking you to give her an answer from a book." The blond man argued.
"It is still the correct answer."
"Yes, I know, but-!" Jack sighed heavily. "It's not that I'm saying the answer is wrong, Glen, but it's how you said it."
"How would you answer it then, Jack?" Alice prodded between mouthfuls.
"You shouldn't talk with your mouthful," Jack lightly reproached her before he could stop himself, but Alice only grinned and continued eating. He silently scolded himself for opening his mouth. He should have allowed Oswald's answer to be the perfect answer for his friend was in every way, correct. He had given Alice the answer she had been looking for yet… He really needed to keep his mouth shut sometimes, Jack sighed as he sat down across from Alice, tugging at the basket and grinning at her reaction of her food being pulled away.
Behind Alice, Oswald quietly made his way towards them, his violet eyes ever vigilant as he watched them.
"A mother," Jack began, trailing off as he once more thought of his mother, but quickly pushed her away. It was odd to know, in that moment, that he really did not have many women he could call upon to show Alice prime examples of what a mother was.
Then he thought of Lacie and the warm he felt from her, even if her kindness to him was brief and fleeting, a spur of the moment urge to care for a beaten dog that had been left to die.
Unbidden, a longing smile came to his face as he looked down at Lacie's daughter. "A mother is someone who gives you life. Someone who is unbelievably warm and kind, who only wants the best for you. A mother never judges you, never thinks any less of you… she's someone who will always love you when no one else will."
The room was silent after that, Jack lost in his thoughts, Alice looking far off into a corner of the room and Oswald with an unreadable expression as his eyes rested on his blond friend.
"… A mother sounds nice," the young girl finally responded, her voice nothing more than a soft whisper.
Blinking out of his thoughts, Jack smiled sadly. "She does, doesn't she?"
"What's a father?" She added, looking up at Jack expectantly.
Again dark thoughts of the man who had sired him came to Jack and he stumbled over his words as he tried to define the word in such a way that did not reveal hidden bitter feelings. Fortunately for him, Oswald chose so to answer in his usual way.
"Like a mother, a father is a man who is related by blood to a child or children he had sired. A father is someone who provides for his family." Oswald glanced at Jack, his eyes searching, waiting to see if Jack was satisfied with that answer.
The shorter man only smiled, showing his gratitude as Alice mused over that knowledge as she finished her last piece of meat.
"So… a mother is someone who loves me and wants nothing, but the best for me and a father is someone who provides for me." She said meditatively. "Then…" She grinned, pointing at Jack with a dirty finger. "Jack! Doesn't that make you a mother? You're always trying to teach me how to be a young lady and Glen is something like a father because he always provides me with meat!"
Flabbergasted at the proclamation of being labeled a mother, Jack held up his hands to try and correct Alice while Oswald tried to hide a smile as he coughed, his long bangs shielding his eyes from Jack's when the other man looked at him, waiting to see how Jack would save himself from this.
"Alice, I can't be a mother! Someone, someone like me… Lottie! Lottie is a better candidate as a mother than I am!" Somewhere behind the closed doors of the piano room, a startled gasp and hurried footsteps were heard stumbling away. "I-I'm more like an uncle or-or something!"
"But I picked you to be the mother, Jack. You don't see Glen arguing with my choice." Alice added unhelpfully.
Jack refrained from saying that an uncle was more or less an extended father, putting on his best kicked puppy look. "Is there no way I can make you change your mind, Alice?"
"… In his defense, Alice," Oswald finally spoke, after he made sure his expression would not crack under the utter ridiculousness and silliness of it all. "Jack would make a terrible mother."
Jack nodded, tossing a brilliant smile towards Oswald.
"And I would make a terrible young lady, so it's fine! We'll both learn together, Jack!" Ever enthusiastic Alice replied, taking hold of Jack's hands in hers and sealing his fate as she leaned forward to snuggle into his chest. "We're not perfect, so it's all right!" She said against his chest and then softer, more unsure. "Right? You'll still love me when no one else will, right?"
It was astonishingly unfair how easily Alice could undo his every will with simple words. Jack all, but bent to her, bowing his head down so that his nose furrowed into the top of her head, basking in her smell as he whispered for her ears only, "Always." He sat up as she pulled back, returning the beaming smile she gave him. "What about Oz?" He asked, eyeing the lonesome rabbit beside the now empty basket. "What will he be?"
Sitting back on her legs as Oswald came closer to them, holding out a hand to help Jack up – though unnecessary Jack accepted it, Alice picked Oz up, dirtying his coat with her fingers as she spoke with much conviction. "He's my servant. I told him this and he agreed to it. He'll do whatever I ask of him and he promised he'll always protect me. Isn't he wonderful?"
"Indeed." Jack slowly smiled, reaching out to touch one of the long ears. "Let's hope he keeps his word."
Sometime after, Alice got both men to join her back at the tower for some tea. Of all the things Jack had tried to teach her, Alice seemed to enjoy that certain playtime the most and he could only oblige when Alice told Jack that mother had to serve father tea while Alice gathered everyone up.