Page 30 of Ace

“Aww, you’re scared of getting the pants beat off you again. You’re so cute, Daddy.”

Ace glowered, with a twinkle in his eye that belied his amusement, and leaned in close to whisper in her ear as he helped her off the stool. “The only one getting the pants beat off them in this relationship, little girl, is you. You may beat me at a few games, but in the end, only one person gets the pants beat off of them around here,” he said with a wink that had her gasping and turning red.

Lizzie gulped, looking into her Daddy’s mischief-filled eyes with trepidation. “Yes, Daddy,” she answered with a resigned sigh. “Can we go find another game to play now?”

“Of course, little one.”

Balloon pop, skee ball, ring toss, spill the milk, basketball dunk, fish bowl and bean bag throw. She creamed him at everything. She even beat him at the games that required absolutely no skill like the one where you turn over a duck and win whatever size prize is marked on the bottom. Soon her arms were so filled with stuffed animals, she could barely see above them all.

“Can I carry some of those for you?” Ace asked, stretching out his arms.

“No way, Jose!” Lizzie answered, her voice muffled by the pile of plush covering half her face. “I’m not gonna hand over my winnings to the likes of you!”

“Really?” Ace deadpanned, clearly unamused. “You can’t even see where you are going.” He started taking stuffies off the top, until he could see her face again.

“Daddy!” she cried when she saw the pile of stuffed animals he’d squished under one arm. “You can’t hold ‘em like that! You’re hurting them! They can’t breathe.”

“I… what?” Ace blinked, clearly baffled by the absurdity of her statement.

Tears welled in her eyes. “You’re hurting them!” she wailed. She knew in her Big-girl brain, that this was false, that they were inanimate objects without thoughts, or emotions or the ability to breathe, but she wasn’t in that brain at the moment.

“Okay, okay, okay. Sweetie, don’t cry!” Ace looked around helplessly. “What if we got a bag to put them in?”

Ace

“They can’t breathe in a bag! That’s even worse! They will suffocate and die!” Lizzie’s voice had turned to a shrill shriek, attracting the attention of other Daddies and Littles around them. Ace felt like a total loser who didn’t know what he was doing, completely out of his element. Nowhere in his many talks with the men he’d come to consider not only mentors but friends, had it been mentioned that he’d need to consider the nonexistent feelings and morbidity of plush beings.

“Okay, okay, sweetie, shhh.” He quickly knelt in front of her, adjusting the placement of the animals in his arms, and rubbing her shoulders and upper arms with his hands to calm her. “It’s okay. It’s okay. We’ll just find another solution.”

“Yeah?” Lizzie sniffled. “Like what?”

“Well, we could… we could take them back up to the room, and they could keep Bert company! They could all have a tea party while they wait for us to get back.”

Interest lit up her face and he breathed a sigh of relief that he was on the right track.

“B-but… we don’t have a tea set! How are they supposed to have a tea party without a tea set?”

The panic wasn’t stopping. No matter what he did, or said, she just found new imaginary problems he hadn’t and wouldn’t have thought of. She was spiraling and he was seconds away from joining her.

Looking around the midway that was getting busier and louder by the minute, he had a moment of inspiration. At least he hoped it was inspiration. It might be a dead end.

Gathering the stuffies in his arms, making sure they were all facing out with the make-believe ability to breathe, he helped Lizzie do the same with the ones she was holding, and took her hand.

“Come on, little one, let’s go,” he said as he led her out of the midway, through the amusement park, and into the corridor.

“Where are we going?” Lizzie sounded like she was seconds away from a full-blown meltdown with tears, something he was not prepared to deal with.

Ace was barely holding on to his own sanity, praying he was going to be able to find what he needed in the place that boasted about catering to a Little’s every whim and need. He was praying that included a stuffed-animal-size tea set.

She was walking too slowly and he wanted to scoop her over his shoulder and carry her through the resort like a sack of potatoes but who knew what that would do to the plush toys and their ability to breathe. So he just walked faster, pulling her along with him.

“Daddy,” she huffed, “you’re going too fast!”

He slowed down when the toy store came into sight. “Sorry, baby, Daddy just wants to fix the problem so everybody can breathe and nobody is crying,” he said pointedly, gazing into her tear-filled eyes.

They turned the corner into the toy store and he ran up to the first employee he saw. “Do you have any tea sets?” he asked in a rush.

“Aisle two with the baby dolls,” she answered.