Hop To It

April is a promise that May is bound to keep.

April 1, 2018

Mrs. Lakeland rushed around the house, quickly throwing on some clothes. She had just received news that her husband had been sent to the hospital: He passed out from unknown causes.

She had told him not to go golfing today, it was Easter for goodness sakes! That was strictly family time, and now she had to find somewhere for her daughter, Jenna, to go while she went to visit him at the hospital.

There was only one, well two, people she could think of that wouldn't be doing anything this Easter morning:

Eddie and Patricia.

Knock Knock

Patricia huffed as she got off the couch and slumped over to the door. Who would be knocking on her door this early on a Sunday? Don't they know people sleep in on the weekends?

She opened the door to reveal her neighbor from down the hall, Mrs. Lakeland, with a little girl she'd never seen before.

"Oh, Hi Mrs. Lakeland, do you need to borrow some eggs or something?" She asked, trying her best to be polite.

"Is Eddie here?" She said quickly, almost as if she was actually scared of Patricia, most people in the building were. Just because she wasn't necessarily a morning person didn't mean people had to be so... terrified.

"Not at the moment... Why?"

"I need someone to look after Jenna."

Patricia almost laughed. Someone was asking them to look after their child? It had to have been a joke, after all it was April Fool's Day.

But when Mrs. Lakeland didn't crack a smile, or show any signs that she was kidding, Patricia freaked out.

She wasn't good with kids, they didn't like her, they were noisy and gross. She didn't even know how to talk with them, did they even listen to Sick Puppies? The list could've gone on forever.

"Um... Are you sure you don't want to borrow some butter or something like most neighbors?"

Mrs. Lakeland covered her daughters ears. "I really need your help. I'll even pay you! I have to go see my husband in the hospital. Just... Please?"

Patricia looked at the woman in front of her, and then at the child next to her. She was really desperate, Patricia didn't want to do it, but she didn't want to say no either. Plus Eddie would be back from getting coffee soon, right? She wouldn't have to deal with her for that long.

"Fine, come on in."

Mrs. Lakeland bent down so she was face to face with her daughter. "Ms. Patricia is going to watch after you for a little bit okay? And she'll take you to that Easter Egg Hunt at the park."

Jenna nodded, hugged her mom and walked into Patricia's apartment.

"Thank you so much. Here's my number, I'll keep in touch." Mrs. Lakeland said before rushing off.

Patricia turned around to Jenna. "So... Do you like TV?"

She nodded.

"What do you like to watch?"

She seemed to ponder this question for a minute. "Dog with a Blog."

Patricia showed her to the couch and switched the channel to Disney, and luckily Dog with a Blog was on. Jenna immediately seemed to be mesmerized by the show, though she couldn't understand why. A dog that could talk and had a blog? Seems realistic.

She couldn't stand it any longer, so she decided to text Eddie.

Can you hurry up Doofus? We have a visitor.

Eddie had just entered their apartment building when he received the message from Patricia. A visitor? It couldn't be his dad, could it?

He hadn't spoken to him or Ben since his birthday a couple weeks ago. Patricia had been nagging him about it ever since, but he just didn't know what to say, and now his dad was possibly sitting in his apartment with her.

Eddie considered going back out, to anywhere else, but he knew Patricia would kill him for leaving her in that situation. So he continued up to apartment 1250, and opened the door to see, fortunately not his dad, but Patricia in the kitchen, keeping a wary eye on a little girl who was on the couch.

"Yacker, I thought you weren't ready to have children," Eddie teased as he came inside, hanging up his leather jacket.

Patricia lightly smacked his arm, but then realized she could have a little fun with that comment. She hadn't thought of any April Fool's tricks yet, so this was perfect.

"Actually, I have something to tell you," she whispered, as seriously as she could manage. Eddie raised his eyebrows, urging her to continue.

"That girl, Jenna, is mine." She whispered, pretending to sound heartbroken.

Eddie's eyes widened as he stared down at her, and then over at Jenna. How had this happened? Was it his too? Had she cheated on him? Was it before they met? But he thought he was her first? Questions circled around his head as he looked between the two.

Patricia's hair was dark, but Jenna's was darker. They both had the same eyes, and the rest if their facial features were kind of similar.

He was about to bombard Patricia with questions when he noticed she was laughing.

"What's going on?!"

"Your face!" She breathed out, still laughing. "I really got you!"

"So... She's not yours?"

"No, doofus, April Fools!" She smirked.

Eddie rolled his eyes, "I was about to punch the wall or something. You'd better watch out Yacker," he warned.

"Yeah whatever," she said, obviously not concerned.

"So if she's not yours, then who's is she?"

"You know Mrs. Lakeland down the hall?" Eddie nodded. "It's her daughter, she had to run to the hospital where her husband is, and begged me to look after her."

"Wow she must've been desperate to ask you to look after her," Eddie smirked.

"Which is why you're looking after her now," Patricia stated before walking away to sit on the couch, and then grimacing when she noticed Dog with a Blog was still on.

Eddie rolled his eyes. Patricia seemed to have this idea that she was terrible with kids. He didn't know where she got the idea, because it was a load of bullshit. Every time she was around a kid, her 'motherly-instinct' would kick in. It was kind of funny to watch, because she basically had no clue how well she did with kids.

He then plopped down next to her. "Hey Jenna, I'm Eddie!"

Jenna waved shyly. "Um... Uh... When are we gon-na go to the... the Easter Egg hunt?"

"Eddie can take you right now!" Patricia interjected.

Eddie laughed. "We will both take you in a few minutes, okay?"

Patricia rolled her eyes, but Jenna nodded, as they all began to get ready.

"Faster, faster!" Jenna exclaimed from atop Eddie's shoulders. He sped up a bit, careful not to drop her though, as the park came into view.

"Looks like we are here!" He exclaimed, setting her down while she giggled. Patricia found herself smiling. He was such a kid, which was probably why he was so good with them.

Patricia went and sat on a bench, from which the area that the egg hunt was taking place could be seen.

"You can go play, we'll be right over there okay?" Eddie asked Jenna, while pointed over to where Patricia had sat. She nodded and ran off, her silky black hair blowing in the wind.

"She's pretty cute isn't she?" Eddie said throwing his arm around Patricia.

"She's more work than she is cute," Patricia admitted.

Eddie chuckled. "Any word on her dad?"

She shook her head. "Speaking of dads, have you talked to yours?"

He groaned, "Do we have to do this now?"

"Eddie, he's your dad! You have to make up with him, and with Ben too."

"I know, okay? And I will, just not now. Why do you even care so much anyway?" He snapped.

"Oh so I'm not supposed to care?"

He sighed. "You know that's not what I meant. Just- never mind." He removed his arm from around her shoulder, and put both of his hands in his lap.

Patricia found herself frowning at the loss of contact. He was always usually holding her hand or something, so this must have really been bothering him.

She sighed, and let her head fall onto his shoulder. "Because I don't want you to be like me," she said softly.

"Huh?" Eddie said, looking back in her direction.

She huffed, annoyed she was going to have to say it again. "I said, because I don't want you to be like me. Did you get that?"

Eddie smiled. "Yes I got that," he shifted so his arm was slung back over her shoulder. "But what do you mean by it?"

"I mean, being... jealous all the time, and not getting along with your parents. I grew up that way and it... it just doesn't get you anywhere Eddie." She paused for a moment, to see if he had anything to say, but he didn't. She was the one who always had something to say anyway. "I just don't want you to end up like that..."

Eddie was kind of surprised that she opened in up to him in a public place, but he wasn't going to bring any attention to it. "I'd be lucky if I ended up like you," he said kissing the top of her head, and reaching for her hand. "I'll talk to him soon, okay?"

She nodded and let her eyes close for a minute. They sat there in silence, and Eddie couldn't think of anything to do except play with her fingers.

The fourth one on her left hand kept grabbing his attention. It was just so bare, and he immediately remembered his New Year's resolution. He hadn't been doing a very good job of fulfilling it, it had already been four months! Although he usually never went through with these types of things, he was determined to make this one come true.

"Hey Yacker, can we talk about so-"

"Oh my God, where's Jenna?!" Patricia exclaimed sitting up quickly.

"Shit." Eddie mumbled as they both hopped up and ran in different directions, hoping one of them would find her.

"Any luck, Yacker?" Eddie said as her ran over to her.

"No, Eddie we're screwed!" She said throwing her hands in the hair.

"Calm down, we'll find her. She's probably," Eddie paused when he saw a familiar 5-year-old standing next to an Easter Bunny, "right over there."

They both ran over to her. "Jenna!" Patricia exclaimed, picking her up, causing Eddie to smile. "You can't just run off like that!"

"Sorry..." She muttered, looking down.

"It's alright, but let's get you home," Eddie said taking her from Patricia

They stopped and bought Jenna a cookie on the way, and made it back just before it begun to rain.

"When is my mommy gonna be home?" Jenna questioned.

"Uhhhh..." Patricia said trying to think of a good answer, "soon?"

"I want my mommy," Jenna pouted, tears forming in her eyes.

"Don't cry," Patricia mumbled as she picked her up and let her sit on her lap. Jenna nuzzled her face into Patricia's shoulder, and after a few minutes of Patricia rubbing her back, she fell asleep.

Eddie smiled when he re-entered the room. "Aww Yacker that's adorable," he teased.

"Shut up Slimeball. Just because she likes me better doesn't mean you need to get upset," she smirked.

"Oh but I thought you weren't good with kids?"

Patricia opened her mouth to retort something sassy back at him, but she closed it when she didn't have anything to say.

He took the opportunity to sit down next to her. "You're actually really good with them you know that?" He whispered.

Patricia looked at the sleeping child on her shoulder, and then over at Eddie. "Maybe."

Eddie chuckled lightly and tried his best to savor the moment. He couldn't help but think that this was the way it should be. The two of them with a little one, it was perfect, except for the fact that they almost lost her. Well, there's always room for improvement.

He quickly got up when he heard a knock on the door, and opened it to reveal Mrs. Lakeland.

"Hello, Eddie. I'll just take Jenna from you two."

Patricia joined them at the door and handed Jenna over to her mom, but unfortunately she woke up.

"Mommy, where's daddy?"

"Honey, he'll be, um, away for a few days. He's just on a trip." Eddie sent his neighbor a sympathetic look.

"But... But I never got to see him before he left," Jenna said tearing up.

Mrs Lakeland figured it was probably a good time to get going. "Thank you for watching her, here's some money."

Patricia shook her head. "Keep it, really, it's fine."

She smiled back and them and then disappeared down the hall.

Patricia turned back to Eddie to see him looking upset.

"You okay?"

"Not really." Seeing Jenna cry over her Dad really got him thinking. He had the chance to talk to him right now, but she didn't. It wasn't fair.

He decided he was going to skype him, it wasn't too late yet where he lived. "Will you, uh, come with me?"

Patricia nodded and quickly pecked his lips. "I'm proud of you."

He smirked, got out his laptop and put it on his lap while he sat on the bed. Patricia decided to sit on the armchair in their room, she didn't want to be on the screen.

"Edison? What a wonderful surprise!" She heard Mr. Sweet exclaim.

"Yeah, I wanted to, uh, talk." Eddie said, a bit hesitantly.

"Of course!" She heard from the speakers, as well as a joke he uttered, trying to lighten the mood, but she couldn't make out exactly what it was.

Eddie sent her a smile from his spot on the bed, and she took this as a sign to quietly exit the room.

They were going to be just fine.

Woo April's done! It was originally gonna be an Easter chapter, because there's so many April Fool's ones with these two, but then I went to find out when Easter was in 2018, and of course it was the 1st... So that's why there's was a little random April Fool's mentions.

Also, would you mind checking out a one-shot I posted called Waiting For Superman? I wanted to try something new and was wondering what you guys think...

Until next time!