Bed of Wild Roses

Author's Notes: Thank you, Rozzan, for reviews and encouragement!


“Dad, Dad, Dad!”

Sean slowly cracked an eye open, frowning at his daughter in confusion. His happily grinning daughter. In the morning. Ugh. How could people stand being this cheerful in the morning?
Wait. His frown deepened. There was something else. Something wrong. He yawned, wincing as he aggravated the kinks in his neck. Damn. That was what he got for actually being nice enough to sleep on the couch. Fuck.

“Dad!” Evie squealed again, drumming on Sean’s chest with her fingertips. “You said we’d have to get up early. It’s almost seven!”

Seven?!? With a pained groan Sean sank back into the cushions. Seven. Oh god. Why had he told Evie that they would have to get up early? Oh, right. The zoo. Karl’s idea.
Wait, Karl. That was what was wrong. There was more than one weight on his body. Unless Evie had miraculously learned to sit on both his stomach and his legs at once.

“Dad!”

“Evie.” He said, his voice flat with defeat. “Can’t we just go back to bed?”

“I don’t think your daughter would be too happy about that.”
Oh damn. The weight on his legs was shifting. Karl was awake.

“Da-ad!”

“Mhm?” Great. Now Evie was trying to tickle him.

“Where are we going?”

“To sleep?” Sean asked hopefully, shivering as cold air rushed over his legs. Karl surely was a wonderful heat blanket. He sighed as yet another yawn escaped him.

“But Dad.” Evie looked truly crestfallen. “You promise. And you said we’d have to get up early.” She turned to Karl. “He did, didn’t he?”

“Jeez.” Sean moaned, dropping his arms over his eyes. Things looked much better without light. “Please tell me you two aren’t going to gang up on me.”

“But Dad.” He grinned as Evie pressed a quick kiss onto his nose. “You know we wouldn’t do that.”

“Uh-huh.” Sean grunted, slowly pushing himself into a sitting position. Ugh. Which was rather difficult with a seven-year-old child on his stomach.
“So the two of you,” he deftly caught Evie’s hand, rescuing himself from another round of tickling, “Won’t mind if I go back to sleep, will you?”

“Dad.” He chuckled softly as Evie jumped down, stemming her fists into her hips and glaring at him. Cute. She really could have given Abigail a run for her money. “You promised. Karl!” She demanded, turning to the other man with her bottom lip stuck out. “Tell him he promised!”

“Well…” Karl crossed his arms in front of his chest, raising an eyebrow at Sean.

Fuck. Sean immediately grabbed a pillow, making sure to place it to his strategical advantage. In his lap, to be precise. Some people should not be allowed to lean against doorframes and grin. At least not if they were still looking sleepy and deliciously rumpled from falling asleep on the couch. Even more so if their tousled hair was begging people to run their hands through it.

“Well?” Sean mimicked Karl’s glance, his fingers slowly digging themselves deeper and deeper into the pillow in his lap.

Karl’s grin broadened. “You did sort of promise her something.”

“Karl!” Evie whined, stomping her foot. “It wasn’t sort of! He promised!”

Yes! Sean threw the pillow back onto the couch and, without giving Evie and Karl a chance to stop bantering long enough to actually say something to him, headed towards the door.
Phew. He sagged back against the now-closed door. Done. Even though it had been a narrow escape.

"Dad! You promised!" Evie complained through the door.

"I know." Sean yelled back. "I'm just going up to change. Why don't you two start breakfast?" He waited breathlessly, sighing with relief as he heard Evie and Karl talk in low voices. Seemed like he had managed yet another escape. Unfortunately he feared that he would have a lot more of escaping to do while Karl was still with them. Damn. He stormed up the stairs, barely resisting the urge to hit the wall. He really hated the thought of Karl leaving.
Well. Time to freshen up and take matters into hand.
"Fucking butterflies." He muttered, angrily slamming the door to his room shut. "Bloody fucking butterflies."

~***~


"Where are we going?" Evie asked for what Sean was sure had to be at least the tenth time.

"It's a surprise." Sean repeated frowning at the backpacks he had just shoved into the trunk of the car. It would have to make do. He was fairly sure that they would not fall over. And if they did they would just have to make do with a slightly squashed picnic and somewhat explosive water bottles.

"Dad!"

"Mhm?" Sean slammed the trunk shut, tugging at the arms Evie had just wrapped around him. "What?"

"Can we go now?"

"Go? I think that'd be a bit far." He untangled himself from his daughter, opening the back door of the car. "You know, Karl and I are going to drive." He grinned, motioning towards the door. "So, unless you really want to walk..."
Within a heartbeat Evie had climbed inside and fastened the seatbelt. A soft chuckle escaped Sean as he closed the door, shaking his head and smiling indulgently. Sometimes Evie really was predictable.

"Oh my god." Sean whispered, breath catching in his throat. Karl. And damn if he was not a sight for sore eyes. He looked positively edible. Evie definitely deserved a treat, Sean decided as his eyes returned again and again to the dark-green sweater Evie had picked out for Karl. Which went really well with the navy-blue jeans he had insisted upon. Mhm. Definitely a good choice.

"All set?"

Sean nodded, unable to speak as the butterflies in his stomach danced happily. They were way too tuned in to Karl's moods, Sean decided morosely. And they were way too active whenever Karl was in a good mood. Even more so if they were dancing. This time it was probably a quick-step, judging by the intensity of their movement.

"So." Sean smiled as Karl shifted from one foot to the other, obviously uncomfortable with what he was going to say next. "Should I sit with Evie or..." He trailed off, shrugging at the car.

"Well." Sean blinked, first at the Karl, then at the car and then at Karl again. "Where ever you want, I guess."
He swallowed, surprised that Karl did not seem to hear his - at least to him - very audible gulp. Damn, damn, damn and damn again. This was going to be a very long day. Unless he made sure never to walk behind Karl. There would be just too much distraction. Namely navy-blue jeans that fit way too snugly on a bedside he had resolved - and even promised - not to think about. At least not in that way.
With another shake of his head he climbed into the car. At least he was safe in it.

~***~


"Excuse me, miss," Sean raised his voice, hoping that Karl would play along, "Are you trying to discriminate me?"

"Really, Sir..." The girl behind the counter trailed off, smiling helplessly. "I'm not.. I mean.. I..."

Sean cleared his throat, forcing himself not to grin or smirk. She was squirming so beautifully. "I want a family ticket." He repeated. "Your list clearly states that a family ticket is for two adult and up to three children under twelve. We," he gestured at Karl and himself, "Are two adults. And," he leaned forward, his hands pressed against the cool surface of the ticket counter, doing his best to loom over the poor girl, "We want to take my daughter to the zoo." He straightened again, crossing his arms. This time he could not resist smirking. The poor girl looked as if she was ready to burst into tears any second now. God, he hated teenagers. Really. He could only hope that it would not be as bad when Evie finally hit the terrible thirteen.
"So?" He asked again, deliberately ignoring the looks the people behind them were throwing their way. "Are you going to give us a family ticket?"

"Well.. I... Sir...." the girl stuttered, her hands jerking towards the telephone that perched dangerously on the edge of her small desk.

"I want a family ticket." Sean repeated firmly. "And I'm not going to budge on this."

"I... I'm afraid I can't really decide that on my own." The girl said, blinking owlishly behind her glasses. Hm. Sean felt a quick flash admiration. She had managed to get herself under control again. And rather quickly too.

"Then call someone who can decide that." Sean growled and then, with an almost feral smile, added. "We'll wait." His smile widened. "Unless you'd prefer it if I called some newspaper or other and told about," he gestured at everything and nothing in particular, "This."

Sean turned to give the people, who were standing in line behind them a brief, apologetic smile. Let them wait. He knew that the day would be fun but tiring and he felt like spreading the joys of his future suffering. It was only nine after all. Who arrived at the zoo an hour early anyway? Oh, right. He did. But only because the traffic had not been nearly half as bad as anticipated.
A fact which, in retrospect, he was immensely grateful for. If he had been forced to listen to Karl and Evie sing even one more children's song about some happy animal or other he probably would have blown a gasket. He had only managed to survive the somewhat nerve-grating experience by concentrating on the timbre of Karl's voice. Which was quite pleasing on the ears?

Sean nodded absentmindedly, not really listening as Karl and Evie took off after Evie explained something about ice-cream and the need to get some of the same to him.
With another deep sigh he forced himself to stop tapping his foot impatiently. The girl was still mumbling into the telephone without any sign of hanging up soon. Great. Could it really be that difficult to call a superior?

~***~


Half an hour and a lot of ice-creams later Sean had finally managed to get his family ticket. And three free tickets to one of the zoo's restaurants. He smirked happily as they showed their tickets at the entrance. Sometimes embarrassed zoo directors were quite useful. Very, very useful in fact.
"So campers," he said as soon as they were inside, ignoring not only Evie's giggling, but also Karl's bemused glances, "Where do you want to go first?"

"Hyenas, hyenas!" Evie chanted, bouncing up and down. If Sean had not known better he would have sworn that Evie had been fathered by Tigger. She most certainly had the same energy level.

"Dolphins." Karl's quiet voice suddenly interrupted his musings on Evie's bouncing. "I've always wanted to see dolphins."

"Oh, yes! Dolphins!" Evie turned to Sean, her eyes bright with excitement. "Can we see the dolphin show first? I want to see all the animals."

"Well." Sean frowned at the programme the almost sickeningly helpful zoo director had given him. It was amazing what the simple threat of bad publicity could achieve. "The first dolphin show is at three, which leaves us with almost five hours to kill."

"Hyenas!" Evie immediately decided, already taking Karl by the hand and dragging him towards the African exhibits.

Rolling his eyes with exasperation Sean followed. He could only hope that they would not manage to keep up that energy level for the rest of the day. If they did he would be nothing but a walking corpse come evening.