Disclaimer: Nightmare Before Christmas is the property of Tim Burton, Disney, and Touchstone Entertainment. Nothing you recognize belongs to me.
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"Are you certain the two of you will be alright?"
"Of course! She's my daughter too." Jack lifted Jill from her spot on the floor. The child squealed and pumped her legs happily.
Sally smiled. "I'll only be at Dr. Finklestein's for a little while." She picked up her bag, and gave Jill a peck on the cheek, who was currently busying herself by poking her fingers into Jack's eye socket. "Bye, darling. And you too, Jack" Sally winked.
He gave her a playful smooch on the nose in response. His wife waved, and practically skipped out of the room.
She's been cooped up in here too long, thought Jack. He had, for the past few months, been wrapped up in plans for this year's Halloween Celebration, and therefore hardly ever at home with his new family. The Mayor had started his Holiday planning just after January, a few weeks after Jill was created, and he had been pressing Jack to join him in this over-obsessive habit – despite Jack's not-so-subtle reminders that the Pumpkin King had himself a little Pumpkin Princess that needed caring of. That's why the prospect of spending a whole afternoon with his rapidly growing daughter made him happy to no end. No ghouls, guts, severed limbs, or easily excited Mayors. Just me and…
"Jill, Jill, Jill. What to do today? We could read a story, or go for a walk, or…" Jack paused. Jill was sitting in his arms limply, staring at the place that Sally had vacated a few seconds earlier. She looked up at Jack, and, to his horror, Jack saw her lower lip began to tremble.
"Oh, no, dear, look, it's okay." He shifted his trembling daughter to his bony hip and tried bouncing her. She whimpered. He racked his brain desperately. "Look, Jill, look!" Placing Jill on a table, Jack hooked his fingers on either side of his mouth and pulled it open wide, making the funniest face he could think of, anything to distract her from her suddenly absent mother.
Jill took one look at her father's distorted face, opened her mouth wide, and wailed like a banshee.
Jack felt a moment of blind panic, and had to stop himself from running out of the house yelling for Sally. He took a deep breath. "Jill…"
But Jill wasn't listening. Her face was flushed and contorted frighteningly. At least she'll be great at Halloween; that would scare the pants off of anyone, mused Jack. Jill hiccoughed and continued screaming.
"Alright, darling, alright." Jack scooped her up from the table, and anxiously glanced around her bedroom. Her dolls (gifts from the Clauses) were scattered about the floor. He picked up a particularly large, brightly colored puppet and waved it in Jill's face. "Jill, don't be sad, be happy like me!" squeaked Jack, trying to work the mouth of the puppet with only one hand.
Jill was unimpressed, and batted the puppet off his hand and straight to the floor, her cries reaching a fevered pitch. Jack was finding it hard to keep a grip on the girl; her whole body was tensing up, and she was insisting upon kicking her legs irritably.
Jack felt like sitting on the floor and screaming too.
Jill proceeded to cry for the next half hour. Jack wearily bounced her from room to room; he consulted the manual, tried feeding her, burping her, changing her, and then consulted the manual again. It didn't help. He sang at the top of his lungs, made funny faces until his skull was sore; he even did gymnastics, all in a desperate attempt to distract the poor babe. Nothing seemed to be able to comfort her.
Jack was now sitting slouched down in his study, with Jill on his lap. Not only was he annoyed, but he was also slightly worried. Can babies cry for this long? Is it healthy? Maybe she's not getting enough air. She's waving her limbs around so much I'm certain her stitching is about to come loose.
Mainly, though, Jack felt like a horrible father. He couldn't even soothe his upset child, something that Sally would have had no trouble with. And that thought made him miserable. I don't know how I could have thought this would be so easy. Suffice it to say, he had never experienced this feeling of absolute helplessness before. There was something so heart wrenching about hearing the cries of your child and not being able to do anything about it.
Jack let his head fall back, and he stared at the ceiling. "I'm sorry, Jill. I wish I knew what you wanted. I wish I had been there for you these past few months. I simply can't let the Mayor take advantage of my time. I have new priorities now. You are so important to me, love, and I want to know more about…" He stopped abruptly.
Something was missing. Jack listened for a moment. Silence.
Silence!
He whipped his head up and stared at the baby on his knee. Her entire body had stilled, tears still wet on her cheeks, and her face held a look of absolute awe.
Jack followed her stare, puzzled. She was looking at the desk raptly.
"What is it, Jill?" She reached out. Jack picked up a feather pen. She whimpered, and he hastily put it down. "Not that, I see." He scanned the desk again. A light dawned in his head. She was staring at the snow globe on the corner of his desk.
Jack picked it up and brought it near to Jill. She squealed happily and threw her hands in the air. Jack laughed, relieved. "I see we share an affinity for Christmas, little one!" He turned it upside-down, making the little world snow. Jill's eyes opened wide, and she looked at her father like he was some sort of god.
Jack grinned, suddenly very proud of his amazing parenting abilities. "If you like that, baby, you'll love this!" Placing Jill on the floor with the snow globe, Jack sprinted to the bookcase and lifted a dusty box, labeled 'Christmas Paraphernalia', off the very top. He placed it beside his daughter and lifted out a toy snowman.
Jill took one look at the snowman, and let out a huge laugh, a deep belly laugh that Jack had never heard from her before.
Jack was amazed. He had never heard her laugh like that! And he had made it happen! He himself laughed joyfully and waved the snowman around. Jill chortled even harder.
That did it. Jack proceeded to dump the entire contents of his box on the floor. He felt his own awe begin to build as he once again pored over all his favorite nick-nacks. At last, something he shared with his little girl. The thought made him positively giddy.
"You like Christmas, my little Princess? Then it is Christmas that you shall get!"
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"Jack? Jill?"
Sally entered the sprawling front foyer of the Skellington Mansion feeling a tad perplexed. She had left the Doctor's much later than she had intended, and had expected to come home to a house full of Jill's cries. It was Jill's grumpy time of night.
However, a peaceful silence filled every room of the building. It made her a little uneasy.
She searched every room on the bottom level. No crying baby, no desperate husband. Confused, and even more concerned, she took to the winding stairs. Jill wasn't in her room, either. Sally stood beside her crib, thinking.
Finally, a small noise broke the silence. It sounded like a sort of grunting. If Sally were to be frank, it sounded a tad like Jack's snores. She followed the noise to his study, and was met with the most delightfully surprising sight she had ever seen.
There was Jack, sleeping on his back on the floor, surrounded by a sea of red, white, and green. Electric lights on strings were lit and draped about the room, creating a peaceful ambiance, and a scraggly plastic Christmas tree was haphazardly thrown together in a corner.
Jack had a little stuffed snowman clutched in one bony hand, while the other rested on Jill, who was sleeping quite peacefully on her daddy's chest. Father and daughter looked so serene, sleeping there on the floor, that Sally had half a mind to leave them there.
She sighed tenderly, her hand over her heart, and smiled. How could I ever have doubted him?
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A/N: Aw, teh cute. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do the next chapter. It'll be little Jill's first Halloween, and it has to be perfect! ;) Thanks for all the lovely reviews, all! Hope I continue to satisfy your Skellington needs. To be continued…