Cheer Up, Daddy!

Catching Young Daddy

Andrea was standing in front of a girl, she looked around three and she was throwing a tantrum on one of the plastic tables. She had swiped everything off in a clatter of crayons and papers. Two kids, two girls, both of them were busy wailing at the edge of the table. There're a boy cowering in the corner with his hands over his head, and Andy was glad that at least he weren't crying.     

"Stop acting like a baby, Alex!" Tina, obviously the big sister of all, was standing next to Andrea with her little fists sticking to her sides. The thing about Alex that questioned Andy was she had a buzz cut and not a pixie cut like Tina or long hair like the rest of the girls. The blue tutu she was wearing was messy like someone had cut it, leaving her tight jeans exposed.

"I hate this!" Andy was taken aback when Alex started to tear up the tutu on her own until Andrea held a grip on the two little hands. She was fighting against Andrea's hands, wanting to yank back her own hands. Andrea was whispering too softy for Andy to hear, gently releasing her hands on Alex's.

Alex's head snapped up, eyes wide and cheek ruddy as she stared up at her. "Really?" she whispered, as if afraid Andrea was lying. Andrea reassured her with a nod and Alex sniffed again with a moan of, "okay." To Andy's surprise, Andrea helped Alex to get down from the table and Alex was asking the two crying girls if she wanted to accompany her to Wonderland. Instantly the wailing stopped to just a few hiccups of sobs and the three of them were already walking out of the door. 

Andrea kneeled down next to Tina, "wanna help them out?" Andy smirked at Tina's serious face, guessing Tina was having a battle inside of her small head. Undoubtedly, Tina followed Alex and the two girls to Wonderland and she didn't forget to give a scandalized look at Andy that might have said 'you wait here, this is the job for a woman'.

"I wawt'na to go too," Andy almost forgot about the boy in his arms if he didn't whine out a protest. 

"You wanna go too, buddy?" A pair of bright emerald eyes stared back at him, sniffing and whining with a small yes. Andrea walked to him and took the boy into her arms, facing directly at the forgotten boy in the corner. 

"I'll take Danny, could you go talk to Leo for me? Be gentle, Andy. Don't be loud and stupid, especially stupid."

With that out of her mind, she took Danny to Wonderland and left Andy dealing with a sobbing two-year-old. 

Andy headed to him and squatted in front of him, Andy swore he saw Leo cringed at his presence and the whimpering was getting louder. Dread filling Andy's stomach as he thought he had done something bad to make a kid afraid of him. He wanted to touch Leo but decided to go against it, the way Leo was inching away from him was clear as crystal he wasn't comfortable around stranger. Andy was debating what to say when Leo's hands remove from his head.

"I di'in't do it," Leo proclaimed softly, finally looking up at Andy with the pair of most beautiful eyes had ever seen. They had two mismatched colors, one green and one blue. Other people might freak out a little bit but Andy actually found them very enchanting. Leo has a mop of golden hair that hid away his eyes but Andy couldn't contain himself as he brushed away the fallen hair to reveal them.

"Come here, buddy," Andy said and sat back on the ground, sitting in Indian style and motioning Leo to jump into his arms. Leo was wary but Andy soon found Leo heading his way, he got a hand under Leo's arm to lift into his crossed legs and set him on his thigh. Andy wiped the tears on Leo's cheeks with his thumbs, rocking her slightly and saying, "I know you didn't do it. But what happened?"

Leo fidgeted, pouting and huffing like he was trying to remember the incident earlier or rather on how to explain to Andy. After a second, he whined and rubbed his face at Andy's shoulder before resting his head completely on it, "Tina says Alex has pretty dress. Tina's bad. Alex's dress not pretty. Alex angry and dun wan dress anymore. A-and..."