Bed of Wild Roses

"I thought they were bigger." Evie said, leaning forward to peer over the fence. "And they sort of droop towards the end. Are they supposed to look like that?"

"Yes, honey, they are." Sean explained, shaking his head at Evie with an indulgent smile. "They're wild animals so they look different from the ones people keep at home. Well," he cocked his head at the animals, "Maybe not."

"They aren't exactly spotted, either," Karl observed, frowning at the animals, who were running to and fro in their sandy enclosure, "Why are they called spotted hyenas, of they aren't really spotted?"

"They are spotted." Sean sighed. "You just can't see it from this distance."

"Hm." Karl studied the hyenas even closer, still frowning. "I wish..." he sighed, trailing off with a dejected shrug.

"You wish?" Sean prompted, ruthlessly squashing the urge to take Karl into his arms. Keeping one's hands off a sad, disappointed Karl seemed even more difficult than keeping one's hands off a happy and bouncy Karl. Damn. Something about Karl made him long to simply take the other man into his arms and tell him that everything would be alright. Even if the hyenas looked as though they were not spotted after all.
"Karl?" Sean asked, forcing himself to stop scowling at the hyenas. He probably looked angry enough to scare the children. His frown turned into a grin. Hugging Karl might scare the children - and probably their parents, too - even more, though.

"Da-ad!" Evie interrupted his thoughts, tugging at his sleeve. "I think I don't like droopy dogs. I thought they were prettier."

Sean snorted, shaking his head. How anyone could ever assume that hyenas might be pretty was completely beyond him.
"So?" He asked Karl, watching Evie from the corner of his eye as they strolled towards the lions. "You said something about wishing."

"Yeah."

Sean's stomach lurched at Karl's bittersweet smile. Seemed like even the butterflies could get sick. Unless they were just doing a pretty good imitation of it whenever Karl seemed to be feeling down.

"You know," Karl wrapped his arms around himself, "Before Evie made her wish, I would have flown in there," he nodded back towards the hyenas, "And taken a closer look."

Sean frowned as Karl tightened his hold on himself. It almost looked as though the other man was hugging himself.

"Everything seems so small now."

"So fairies really are small?" Sean asked lightly.

"In comparison to your people, yes." Karl smiled softly, but still too sadly for Sean's taste. "It really takes some getting used to."

"I suppose so." Sean frowned. Somehow his hand had found its way to Karl's shoulder, lying there in silently implicated comfort. He smiled at the already well-known warmth that flared up as soon as Karl leaned into the touch. His butterflies were once more happy little critters. Considering how often the little buggers changed their mood it really was a wonder that it did not kick them in the ass every time it swung back.

"Wait." He jerked to the left, staring at the spot where his daughter had been just a second earlier. "Where is Evie?"

How the fuck had he managed to lose track of his daughter this fast? They had not even been in the zoo for an hour. He groaned, letting go of Karl and immediately missing the touch. Somehow he doubted that any other parents had managed to lose their child this quickly. Fuck.

~***~


Okay. Sean squeezed his eyes shut. One, two, breathe. There. Not so difficult after all.
"This can't be," he mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose, "This just can't be happening. She fucking has to be somewhere. Why for fuck's sake didn't I buy her a mobile phone?"
He gasped, forcing air into his lungs once more. Breathing. Must not forget breathing. Suffocating just would not do. Finding Evie would, though. Unfortunately that seemed to be beyond him right now.

“Sir? Sir, are you alright?”

San groaned inwardly, refusing to open his eyes. Somehow he would have thought it rather obvious that he was anything but alright. And, he opened his eyes, sinking even deeper into his pit of despair, yet another freckled, youngish, over-eager and helpful employee was most certainly not going to be of any help.

“Sir?” The young man, who could not possibly be quite as young as he looked, asked again. “Do you need help? Should I call an ambulance?”

“No.” Sean fixed the guy- he refused to call him man, and boy sounded way too much like a child – with his best death glare. “But if you’re really so desperate to help that you’ll cry yourself to sleep tonight if I refuse your help, then go get me a glass of water.”
There. He smirked at the guy’s stumped expression, revelling in what little satisfaction his victory had given him. That seemed to have done it. Maybe the guy would finally bugger off now.

“Sir?” The guy finally bleated after almost a minute. Sean barely managed to suppress a chuckle. Bleating really suited his little wannabe helper. He sort of looked like a sheep.

“Water.” He said, gesturing into the general direction of the zoo entrance. “You know, that clear liquid stuff that usually comes out of tabs? I could really use some?”

The sheep merely continued to blink at him, his mouth hanging half open in what Sean considered to be an aggressively disgusting manner. He really had no desire to see what his not-friend had had for lunch. And he still had not managed to find either Evie or Karl in the crowds that were slowly moving past him.
“Now,” he continued briskly, already stepping around the young man. “If you’re not going to get my water, then please excuse me. I really have to be somewhere else right now.”
If the zoo employee made any move to follow him, then he did not even notice it.

~***~


“For heaven’s sake.” Sean mumbled, stalking from the ice cream cart to the toilets and back again as he looked at his wrist watch once more. Karl really should have been back by now. They had agreed that they would meet here after looking for Evie for an hour. Why the fuck had they decided to search for Evie separately anyway?
“I’ll kill him.” He muttered, glaring at the woman from the ice cream cart, who had started to give him apprehensive looks- “I’ll fucking kill him if he managed to get lost too.” He stopped mid-pace, frowning at the woman. She looked as though she was going to call security any second now. Better appease her somehow. Sean inhaled deeply, giving her his most charming smile. Damn. His charm seemed to have lost a lot of its effectiveness if her grimace was anything to go by. With yet another weak smile he turned and stalked back to the toilets.

If they ever went to the zoo again he would put Evie – and Karl as well – onto a leash. He jerked to a stop, giving the red and yellow tulips at his feet a withering glare. Unfortunately the stupid things simply refused to wither. Damn them. Withering really would have lightened his mood. And surely any normal plant would have withered under the intensity of his burning anger, he was sure of it. These plants, however, seemed to be made of sterner stuff. He sighed, allowing his shoulders to drop. There was probably nothing more imperishable than a plant that actually managed to survive in a zoo. Except for the plants from an amusement park perhaps.

Another glance around revealed the prolonged – and definitely unwelcome - absence of Evie and Karl. Definitely a leash for both of them. Another frown stole onto his features. Why was he even assuming that they would go to the zoo again? The only way to make sure that neither Evie nor Karl started any mischief or got themselves into some sort of trouble would probably be locking the two up in the basement. Of course he would also put them on a leash if they went somewhere. Like the toilet. Or school. Definitely a leash for school. Losing one important person in his life had been quite enough, thank you very much.


Wait. He froze, a sudden dread washing over him in a tidal wave of ice. There was no way he was not going to lose Karl. No matter what he did, the other man – fairy, he corrected himself – would return to the fairy realm once he had made his wish. Which he had promised to do tomorrow.
“Oh god.” Sean groaned, desperately fighting the urge to bang his head against the nice, flat, wooden wall of the toilet. He would lose Karl in about thirty hours. Unless he refused to make his wish, which would force Karl to stay with them until Evie’s wish had been fulfilled. And Karl had already conceded that it was more than unlikely that Evie’s wish would ever be fulfilled. Damn. Refusing to make his wish was the only way of keeping Karl, but it would also make Karl hate him.

“Fuck.” He whispered, blinking furiously. “Seems like we really have to make the most of it all.” He smiled unhappily as he finally spotted Karl, who was walking towards him and – Sean’s eyes widened incredibly – he had found Evie! Thank god.

He rushed forward, scooping his daughter up into his arms without heeding her half-hearted protests.
“Do you even begin to understand how worried we were?” He asked, gently setting her down after making sure that she was unharmed. “Everything could have happened to you!”

“I’m really sorry, Dad.” The tears in Evie’s eyes were like a punch that hit him squarely in the stomach. “Karl already told me.”

“He did?” Sean asked, giving the other man a brief glance. The pain in his stomach immediately worsened. “Well, he was right, you know. You should know better than to run off without telling me where you are going.”

“But..:” Evie frowned, her finger fiddling nervously with the hem of her pullover. “You never yell if I do it at home.”

“I know, honey, I know,” Sean was still running his hands over Evie’s arms. He hated to think about all the things that could have happened to her. “But that’s different. There are too many strangers here.” He lifted her chin with his hands, forcing her to look at him before gently wiping the tears that were escaping her away. “Please promise me to never, ever just walk off without telling me.”

“Okay.” Evie whispered, her eyes cast down once more.

“Evie.” Sean forced himself to sound stern. “What do I want you to promise?”

“Not to run away again.” Evie said, slowly but nevertheless more clearly than before. “I promise I won’t.”

Sean just looked at her, finally allowing his lips into the smile that had been longing to come out for quite some time now. He could never stay angry at Evie. “Okay, honey.” He hugged her once more, glaring back at the woman from the ice cream cart. She had him probably pinned down as an abusive father or something, if the way she was still glaring at him and handling her cell phone were anything to go by.

“Dad?”

“Yes, honey?” Sean frowned. Evie had spoken so quietly that he had almost not heard her. “What is it?”

“Are we going home now?” Her lower lip was still wobbling dangerously.

“Home?” Sean asked, once more kneeling down till they were eye to eye again. “Do you want to go home?”

Evie just shook her head, still staring at the gravel in front of her. “No,” she finally whispered, “I wanna stay.” She looked up, fixing wide, pleading eyes on Sean, “Please? I wanna see the dolphins.”

“Me too.” Sean smiled softly at her, wincing as his knees protested against his getting up with an audible creak. “But,” he held up a finger, “I think it’s Karl’s turn to decide where we go, don’t you? After all, you already had your pick.”

“’kay.” Evie mumbled, tears forgotten as she turned to Karl, blinking at him. “Where do you want to go?”

“Um.”

Sean grinned as Karl stuttered something unintelligible, obviously completely baffled by Sean’s decision and Evie’s request. Really cute.

“I think I’d like to see the reptile house.” He offered finally.

Sean nodded, slowly following Evie and Karl as they went to inspect the nearest direction sign. He could not help sighing again. He still had no idea what to wish for the following day, and he hated the fact that his wish would take Karl away from him, no matter what he wished for. And Evie? He had never seen her take to any adult as quickly as she had taken to Karl. Not even when Abigail had still been alive. Losing Karl would probably hit her just as hard as it would hit him, if not even harder. He frowned. And there was nothing he could do to prevent that from happening. Unless….

A broad grin lit his features, as he thought his idea over once more. Yes, maybe that would work. He just had to wait and actually try it out. Smiling once more he interrupted Evie and Karl, actually leading the way as they went towards the reptile house. Maybe this whole fairy mess would come to a happy end after all.