Just Eat The Ice Cream – Chapter Seven: Cotton Candy

The club was packed with people, as was normal, and Jack wished he had remembered to bring his pain medication. Everyone was so terribly loud. The spare key to Pitch's house was tucked away neatly in his pocket- for some reason Jack kept checking every chance he got to see if it was still there.

It became really awkward when he saw Nick's friend Manny at the club. It looked like he was with some other business partners or something- they were all wearing suits. Apparently helping the ugly men to get laid was a good way to seal a business deal. (Not a bad idea, actually…) Jack was just holding back vomit every time he saw one of the older men grinding with a wasted girl.

Manny recognized him, the smile was too friendly for him not to, and made the comment that Nick never told him he worked here too. Jack laughed awkwardly and just said, "Yeah…" He was lucky he was servicing their table. He probably wouldn't have been able to handle it.

While he was heading to the bar to get an order, one of Manny's 'friends' stopped him. Well, to be honest, he grabbed Jack and pulled him over to rub his ass in the midst of the crowd of people. Once again- middle aged man feeling him up.

Scowling at him, Jack hissed, "Sir, if you don't remove your hands, I'm going to have to have the manager remove you."

The man grinned at him. Seeing as how the invasive touches were only getting more insistent, Jack pushed away and went to tell his manager. He pointed out the salt and pepper haired man in the suit to him and he was quickly asked to leave. Jack was happy to see that he actually did.

When his manager came back to him, Jack said, "Oh, uh, hey, Tim..!" He moved to hear him better and Jack asked, "Uh, you think maybe I could get off early tomorrow? I promised a little girl that I'd have a sleepover with her, and tonight I kinda had to back out."

"Alright, but you're working extra the next time." That was good enough for Jack.

His shift was dull after that. No more man hands roaming his body like he was some sort of puzzle to put together. He was okay with dull, though, if it meant he wasn't getting groped.

Going back to Pitch's was weird. As he walked the sidewalks, he kept thinking maybe he was invading too much by spending two nights with this man that he hardly knew. Sure, his daughter loved him, but Jack still felt out of place going back there.

He unlocked the door and stepped inside. He was surprised to find Pitch and Seraphina sitting on the couch waiting for him. Well, Seraphina was actually sound asleep on Pitch's lap, but Pitch was awake and stroking her hair tenderly.

Looking at the sleeping girl and then at her father, Jack didn't get to ask, Pitch whispered, "She insisted we wait up for you. She wanted to see you when you came back…" He looked down at her peaceful face and said, "Couldn't make it past eleven…"

Smiling, Jack walked over and sat down on the couch next to Pitch. He looked down at her sleeping face with a happy smile. "She's precious," he whispered.

Pitch nodded. "I still don't know why I was lucky enough to get a daughter like her…"

"You and your wife must be very happy," he said. He never actually met Pitch's-

"I'm not married." Jack blinked and looked at Pitch.

Cheeks going pink, Jack muttered a quiet, "Oh… Sorry… I didn't know…"

The black haired man just smiled. "It's fine. No harm done," he said quietly, "Seraphina understands… She's happy this way, I think…"

"Sure seems it," Jack whispered, watching her face twitch into a smile as she dreamed. Looking back up at Pitch, he asked, "Aren't you tired?" Pitch only shrugged his shoulders. Stretching his limbs and yawning, Jack said, "Well, I certainly am…"

Pitch chuckled warmly at that. "I'll take Seraphina up to be so you can sleep," he got up, cradling his baby girl in his arms, and walked to the stairs. Jack spread himself across the sofa, smiling when he felt the warmth Pitch had left behind, and yawned again. "I'll be back to give you a blanket."

Jack nodded and let his eyes fall shut. He barely registered Pitch spreading the fabric over him and tucking it on the side. It actually kind of scared him. He jolted a little, gasping, and blinked several times before he realized that it was just Pitch. The tall man smiled and began walking away. "Good night, Jack," he said just before flicking off the lights.

Yawning again, Jack replied, "Night…" And then he was out like a light. He slept so incredibly soundly that night. He literally had to be dragged out of his dreams the next morning. Seraphina had to bounce on the couch for a full ten minutes to rouse him.

Blinking his tired eyes open, Jack smiled sleepily at her. "Morning Sera," he said.

"Good morning ice cream man!" she said, laying across him and playing with his hair.

"He has a name, Sera," Jack heard Pitch say from another room.

"I know he does!" she replied, "I just like calling him ice cream man!" Laughing, Jack slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. Sera let herself slide down into his lap as he sat up- it was actually pretty funny, her facial expression didn't falter at all.

Once she had finally gotten off of his legs, Jack managed to hang them over the side of the couch and stretch. She giggled at him and imitated his movements. Jack got up and stretched some more. When Seraphina became mimicking this as well, Jack jumped at her and began tickling her sides.

Her squeals of laughter brought Pitch out to see what had her so happy. Jack saw him watching from the doorframe. He smiled over at the tall man and then returned to attacking little Sera. Soon he had her pinned to the couch, crying she was laughing so hard. Sitting back, he smiled down at her.

She laughed up at him and kicked her little legs at his knees. Jack caught her feet and pretended to eat them. She squealed again and began wriggling like a worm until she managed to roll off the couch and run behind her father for safety. "Daddy! Don't let the scary monster get me!" she said.

Pitch grinned and turned around and grabbed at her, tickling her as well. She squealed and ran to the other end of the room. "It's too late, Sera! I'm a tickle monster too!" he growled playfully.

"Nooooo!" she giggled. Soon the two men closed in on her and ended up tickling her into defeat. Pitch lifted her in his arms and gave her a raspberry on her tummy. She laughed happily when he did, crying out, "Daddy!"

Jack looked at the clock after that and groaned. He had to be to work in less than an hour. When Pitch asked what was wrong, and he told him, he asked, "Well would you like breakfast before you go? You did promise Seraphina." Jack looked at the little girl and she glared so ferociously adorably at him that there was absolutely no way Jack could say no.

They sat at the table and ate the eggs Pitch had made. Jack shaped his into a happy face, using the bacon as well, and Sera quickly tried to copy it. As he ate, Jack thanked Pitch. "This is really good," he said, "Thank you."

Pitch only smiled and ate with them. When Jack had to leave, Seraphina squeaked with excitement seeing his apron and hat. She wanted to put it on. "I think the apron's too big for you, but here, you can try on the hat," he said, placing it on her head. It fit perfectly. And she looked precious.

Jack honestly didn't want to head to work that morning. He wanted to spend the whole day playing with Seraphina and Pitch. But, he was in high spirits at work because of all the fun he'd had. So it worked out in the end.

Bubbles was doing absolutely nothing today. She literally just sat at one of the tables and texted the entire first half of the shift.

Jack got a pleasant, but not entirely unexpected, surprise today. Pitch came in with Seraphina. She ran right behind the counter and hugged his legs. When Pitch got to him, he told Jack, "She wouldn't stop asking to come visit you at work."

"And I wanted ice cream!" she added in, still clinging to his legs. Jack just laughed and ruffled her hair.

"What would you like little lady?" he asked.

He lifted her up so she could look at the barrels from behind. Pitch stood and watched with a smile. Again Seraphina pointed at the cotton candy. "You know it's not blueberry, right?" he asked. She nodded.

"I wanna try it!"

So, Jack set her back down, she rushed back out to Pitch's side, and happily accepted her frozen treat. "Now daddy, you get something!" she ordered cheerfully.

Pitch smiled down at her. "Okay sweety, go pick us out a table," he said. She hurried off and then Pitch returned his attention to Jack.

Smiling, Jack asked, "What can I getcha?"

"I guess I'll have the orange cooler," he said, "I don't much care for sweets."

"Really?" Jack asked, "Odd considering the sweet tooth your daughter's got!" Pitch only laughed and watched as Jack prepared him the ice cream mixed drink.

Once he paid, Jack turned to Bubbles. "Bubs, think you can cover for me while I go on break?" She groaned and dragged herself up to the register.

Jack sat down with the little family, smiling as Seraphina ate her ice cream. Pitch drank watching both her and Jack.

"We're gonna have our sleepover tonight, right?" she asked, smiling brightly.

"Of course!" Jack said, patting her head. "Oh, that reminds me," he turned to Pitch, "Could I borrow your phone again?"

Pitch handed it to him and he decided to call Nick. Since Sandy could only respond to text messages and he wouldn't know Pitch's number. Nick answered thinking it was Pitch.

"Haha, no Nick, this is Jack. Yeah, hi! I know, he's letting me borrow his phone. Yeah, he's at the shop. Listen, I was wondering, could I stay at your place for a while? Huh? No, T didn't kick me out, her boyfriend kinda did. No, not tonight, tomorrow. Cool? Yeah, awesome. Alright, I'll see ya soon!"

He turned it off and handed it back to Pitch. "He thought it was you," he said, smiling. Pitch smiled back and tucked his phone away. Now Jack looked back to Seraphina. "Are we gonna stay up and tell stories all night?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Mm-mm! Daddy is!" she pointed to her father as she said it.

Jack smiled at the black haired man. "I hope you've got some good stories," he said, "I'm notorious for falling asleep during group readings." Pitch chuckled warmly at that.

During Jack's shift at the club he kept wandering off to how excited he was to spend the night at Pitch's again. Sure, all they were going to do were kiddy activities, but they seemed like the best kind. Jack knew he'd never be able to tell Pitch how thankful he really was that he had given him a place, and probably would never be able to repay him, but he hoped spending time with the two of them would sort of make up for it.

His co-workers were angry that he got to clock out early, but he honestly didn't care. He was going off to have a nice night. Screw them and what they thought.

He got back to Pitch's house, happy to find that the door was unlocked. 'Hey," he said as he stepped inside. Seraphina bounded over to hug him with a big smile, and Pitch followed behind slowly.

The three of them got right to work building yet another magnificent pillow fort. They splayed blankets and pillows from upstairs across the floor, fully planning to sleep there that night, and they made popcorn and gathered a few sodas to drink amongst them. (Sera wanted to try each of theirs.)

Jack had his arms crossed over a pillow, chin rested in the space between them, Sera mimicked him to a tee, and Pitch sat cross legged before the two of them. It was dark outside, and the only light they had was a few of those light up animal pillows that Seraphina brought down. But it was nicer this way. Pitch told a fantastic story about a general fighting against these things called 'fearlings' in the Golden War. He fought to destroy all nightmares and bad dreams and give children hope and joy.

Halfway through the glorious tale Seraphina drifted off to sleep. Jack stayed awake, smiling up as Pitch continued telling the story. "You do this a lot, don't you?" he asked, yawning with the onset of sleep.

"I'm used to continuing the story until I finish," he said, "She falls asleep every time and always asks when she wakes up if the story had a happy ending."

Jack smiled. "Does this one?" He fell asleep as Pitch whispered the answer.

"Yes."