"Oh, Jakey, we -"
Mad Dog cut off his wife. "Jacob, how many times do I have to pound it in your thick skull. You're to call me MAD. DOG." He batted his son on the head twice - once on the 'mad', and once on the 'dog'. "Anyway, you know why we're down here."
"Uh. No, d-Mad Dog, I don't."
Mad Dog leaned in close. "You knocked up your woman, Jacob, and you didn't bother to call and tell us. Your woman gave birth three months ago, and still not a goddamn word. Not even to Ruth. You can't even get being a momma's boy right." He sneered at his son and brushed past him. "Where's the kid?"
Pained, Jake allowed his father to pass. His mom was still standing there, though. "Sorry, mom," he finally said. "I just...I didn't want da-Mad Dog to know, you know? I want Daria to grow up without.." He cast a look back at the Old Man, who was lecturing Helen about something or another. "...without HIM in her life." The venom in his voice surprised even him.
"Oh, Jakey," was all Ruth could say, as she embraced her son, holding back her tears.
"Well, Jacob, take me to the boy." Ruth instinctively released her son at the sound of her husband's voice.
"We have a girl, dad," Jake shot back defensively, turning to the Old Man.
"Indeed," Mad Dog replied, looking like he had bit into a lemon. He chose to let the 'dad' slip go by...this time.
Mad Dog's face looked nauseated the second he stepped into the baby's room. "Pink," he muttered disapprovingly. While he analyzed the room's decor, Ruth made a beeline for the crib, pulling a yellow stuffed bear out of her purse and playfully waving it at the auburn-haired little one, squeaking it occasionally.
"Mom, please don't do that, she's napping."
Ruth looked at Jake, confused. "No she isn't, Jakey, her eyes are open."
Jake walked next to his mother, seeing that Daria was in fact awake, staring impassively at the toy Ruth had presented to her. It still worried Jake, how quiet of a baby she was. CAT scans had shown no signs of mental retardation, but still...
Mad Dog finally joined the three of them. "For God's sake, Ruth, can't you tell she's as annoyed by that damned thing as I am?" he griped, taking the bear and tossing it into one corner of the room. Daria's eyes turned towards this newcomer, her expression (Jake amused himself by imagining it as a grumpy face, despite how impossible that should be) changing into one of curiosity.
"Do you want to hold her, mom?" Jake offered.
"Oh, I'd love to!" Ruth gently picked up her granddaugter and began rocking her back and forth, gently singing a song. After a few moments, little Daria began to cry. "Aw, there there, baby," Ruth cooed.
"You're upsetting her, Ruth," Mad Dog chided. "Goddamnit, give her to me."
"Dad, wait -" But the Old Man had grabbed her from Ruth before he could stop him.
The crying stopped right away. Mad Dog held her perpendicular to him, with not even her feet touching him. After a moment, Jake swore that his father's eyes softened. "Not too bad, Jacob," and Jake wondered if he was having a stroke or something.
And then Daria smiled. And then MAD DOG smiled. Jake had never seen his father smile in his entire life.
"Hey, she likes me," Mad Dog said, actual human warmth in his voice. Without warning, he crossed his eyes.
"aaaaaaaa!" Daria cooed. Jake blinked. He had never heard his daughter coo, either.
"She really likes me!" Mad Dog's smile turned into a grin. He looked up at Jake. "She doesn't even like you, Jacob," he said, the grin turning sinister. "I think I'll just take her home with me, and you'll never see her again. Ha ha ha ha ha."
"hh hh hh hh hh," Daria echoed.
XXXX
Jake awoke from the dream in a cold sweat. It was one of several recurring dreams that he had that were word-for-word recreations of his memories, except this time it had an ultra-horrific twist ending that sure as hell hadn't happened in real life.
As he got up to go to the bathroom, he bitterly remembered that first weekend that Mad Dog had met Daria. The two were practically inseparable; they watched TV together, they napped on the couch together (Jake's attempt at taking Daria away so that she could safey be tucked into her crib instead of possibly rolling off the couch and getting hurt was ended when Mad Dog opened one eye and growled at him), and they ate together (Mad Dog insisted on feeding her food off his own plate, referring to the jars of baby food as looking and smelling like a baby had already shat it out). After flushing, washing his hands, and dry-swallowing two sleep aids, he figured the dream had taken its sinister turn due to living in such proximity to Mad Dog, affording him the ability to visit anytime he wanted. He shuddered.
Walking back to his room, a strange, somewhat scary noise, reached his ears.
"hh hh hh"
The noise came from behind Daria's door.
With mounting dread, Jake approached and opened it. Eyes adjusting to the minimal light provided by the screen saver on her computer, he saw that she was asleep underneath the covers on her bed. Sighing with relief, he almost closed the door, but then:
"hh hh hh"
He nearly screamed aloud. After a few long moments when he was sure his heart was going to explode from all the adrenaline had passed, he reasoned to himself that Daria was just having...a dream. A...really funny dream. Perhaps she was so pleased at being closer than ever to her grandfather, her subconscious was feeding her nuggets of humor.
"hh hh hh"
Jake nearly slammed the door shut as he raced down the hall and dove beneath the covers. Helen muttered in protest, but didn't really wake up.
It took a long time for Jake to fall back asleep.
XXXXXXXXXX
I've decided that this is going to be the Apple series (with Apple of His Eye being the first, naturally). Apologies to Charles RB, from whom I've stolen the iconic/terrifying 'hh hh hh' line, used in Wrong Where It Hurts and the Creepyling Chronicles (go read both).