Cheer Up, Daddy!

Class is in Session (Part One)

Jackson rubbed the back of Jeremy's hair affectionately, scratching a little behind his ear just like he knew Jeremy like. He pet down Jeremy, cupping the back of his skull and trying to look around the playroom for light snacks. He spotted a bag of gummy bear on top of a blue shelf, legs already moving towards the direction. It's easy for Jackson to retrieve the gummy bear as the height of shelf only reached Jackson's chest, but it's designed to keep kids away from the top. 

A happy shriek escaped Jeremy's mouth at the sight of the colorful packet, Jackson ripped open the packet with his teeth and took one of the gummy bear out. It was red in color and it looked so tiny and fairly edible for a baby, Jackson thought it was harmless. Jeremy was already waiting with his tiny mouth wide opened, tugging at his father's shirt collar. 

"Dude!"

The gummy bear was still dangling in Jackson's hand when some boy snatched Jeremy right off Jackson's arms. 

"What the hell you're thinking, man. You can't feed a baby gummy bear!" He exclaimed in disbelief, that's enough for Jackson to snap out of it. He was not dumb and it was pretty obvious a stranger just took his child away from him. Normally his anger did not work hastily, he was always angry but this time was different. In his days, he broke some vases, mirrors and a lot of wine bottles but they were all inanimate objects and he never really hurt anyone before.

Possessiveness and rage burned and coalesced into something alien and dangerous in his gut and it was seeping into his brain. This time he wasn't going to put a brake to this, it was going to get ugly real fast. The boy was busy putting Jeremy back to the crib that he didn't notice the punch coming at his face. The hit was explosive and right at the lips, the boy backpedaled a few steps and was shock to see what happened. Jackson wasn't finished with him just yet, heading over to the boy and fisting his hand into the material of his shirt. 

"No!"

At first Jackson thought it was the boy yelling just when he was about to bust up his nose for good. A single body-wrenching sob escaped Tina before Jackson could even try to figure out what happened, she let out a cry that soon escalated into an ear-shattering wail. Alex's hands flew up, slapping over her ears before running out of the room, followed by two girls. Leo cowered into a corner and started to sob, the other boy was there by his side. 

"No!" Tina's scream came up again across the room and both of them snapped their heads around to see her running over. "Get off!" Tina cried again, running right into Jackson's leg and punching him in the knee with both of her tiny fists. "Don't hurt daddy!"

Any other day Jackson would have punched someone who shoved him, but he was a little more distracted with the fact this young boy was Tina's dad. He looked barely past eighteen, this had to be a sick joke. Jackson's ears were already ringing from the intensity of Tina's screaming She kept beating her fists against Jackson's thigh until her father picked her up and told her everything was okay, reaching up to wipe at the distressd tears on the girl's face. Jackson looked back at the twins, James was awake and sobbing for his father and Jeremy must have felt the strange atmosphere that he started to cry too.

All those noises definitely alarmed Andrienne as she busted into the room, a murderous look on her face. Alex gave a disapproval look at Jackson, hiding behind Andrienne's legs. Andrienne's glare fell quickly towards Jackson, making something deep in Jackson's gut churn with guilt.

"May God help you, Mr. Ford. Please tell me why you hit Ryan in the face?" Andrienne was losing her temper as well, getting ready to murder Jackson if he spoke the wrong words.

"I didn't know who the f-" Andrienne hardened her glare, "fish he was. He barged right in and stole Jeremy away from me!"

"Ryan." Andrienne sighed, it seemed like this wasn't the first time Ryan had created this kind of incident. The tension on Ryan's shoulders subsided when Tina began to calm down, muttering a few words into her ears before facing Andrienne. His glance met Jackson's stare for a few seconds, trying to recall the incident earlier.