Charming Bingo: Complete (9 KB verse ficlets & Drabbles various ages & prompts)
Sleep- He knows his mother is right and not just because she always is but because Katie has to learn to self soothe and fall asleep. So here he sits outside her door, waiting as she cries her little heart out.
“Dada!” she sobs.
“I’m here Darlin’.” He dials his mother’s number. “That’s it mama I’m going in.” he says before she can even greet him.
“Five more minutes Eli. You can do it son.”
Katie cries harder choking on her tears. “Dada!” Eliot knows logically exhaustion has to win out at some point but this feels cruel. Katie is so very stubborn this could take hours.
“This is torture mom. I feel like a terrible father. Had they used this technique in Cambodia I’d of cracked.”
“Two more minutes.”
“I hate this cry it out thing. I’m just going to let her sleep with me til she’s like thirty okay?”
His mother laughed. “Eli? You can go in now.”
He drops the phone and rushes in and picks up Katie. He soothes away the tears and her breath hitches in out as she calms down. He knows he’s supposed to put her back down after five minutes but he can’t. He holds her close to his chest and she rubs her snotty nose into his shirt. Okay he kinda deserves that.
He carries her into his bedroom and lays down. He fixes the pillows so she can’t roll off the bed. She turns on her side and reaches for his hair.
“Alright Miss Katie Beth, no telling Nana I caved….again.” he pats her diaper clad butt and kisses her chubby little arm that’s draped across his throat as she plays with the ends of his hair.
“Night baby,” he tells her. He reaches up and turns off the lights. “We’ll try again tomorrow night.” He leans over and kisses Katie again soon they are both asleep.
Grump- Hardison picks up the bowl of candy when he hears the knock on the door. He opens it and immediately starts laughing hysterically.
“What’s so funny?” At first Katie is perplexed and then irritated. “I thought I made a good Snow White.”
After a few deep breaths Hardison is able to rein in his laughter to snickers. “You do Baby Ninja, your dad as grumpy the draw? Very nice touch.”
He looks over at a rather perturbed looking Eliot dressed in full dwarf garb. “Can it Hardison!” he groused.
“Where’s Parker?” Just then the thief zips over Katie and Eliot’s heads and lands next to Katie. She’s dressed as Tinkerbelle.
“You’re in the wrong movie parker.” He points out.
“Don’t bother I already tried.” Eliot said.
“I rigged my zip line through the whole building so I can fly from apartment to apartment.”
Before Hardison can worry about damage to his building Parker and Katie say, “Trick or Treat” in unison. What else can he do but give them candy.
Happiness- Eliot tries not to be happy, he sure as hell doesn’t deserve happiness not with all the sin and death he’s left in his path but… as he leans on the crib and watch his baby girl sleep he knows that’s what he’s found.
That’s what she’d given him. With her smiles and laughter. Loving him simply because he’s Daddy. She’s happy to see him every single day. There’s no pain her eyes like when Mama looks at him or accusation like when Aimee glares at him. There’s no fear mirrored back at him like he sees in the gaze of every mark and victim.
Just joy. Because he makes airplane noises when he feeds her and knows all her ticklish spots and a million other things. He’s loved for who he is not shamed for what he’s done.
Her joy and happiness has seeped into him and he may not deserve it but he’ll take it.
“Good night my happy girl.” He whispers into the silence and leaves her to her dreams.
Sneeze- After three straight days of sneezing watery eyes and an upset stomach from drainage he hears a tell-tell meow. He follows the sound to his six year Old’s bed room. He peers in the cracked door to see his little girl feeding a white kitten bits of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich from lunch.
He nudges the door open. “Katherine Elizabeth, do you maybe have something to tell me? Like, hey daddy I snuck a kitty into the house.” Katie looks up guiltily cradling the kitten.
“I found her in the storm drain thingy…she doesn’t have a mama just like me. I’ll be her mama.”
“You have a mama baby, just a flaky one. I’m allergic to cats Katie.”
“What’s lergic?”
He feels it coming but can’t stop it he sneezes three times in a row. “They make me sneeze, a lot.”
“I like Glory.” Katie says. Great she’s attached. “I’ll take allergy shots you can keep her. A couple things, no bringing home more strays, no feeding her human food, no more playing in storm drains and keep Ruffian from eating her.
“Ok. Thanks daddy.”
“You’re” he sneezed “welcome.”
Doctor- He hears a blood curdling scream and goes to run from the kitchen and sees parker in the door way cradling his five year old in his arms.
“She fell skateboarding and skinned herself up pretty good. Thanks for telling me the sight of blood terrifies her sparky.”
“Not blood in general just her own.” He walks over. “Katie…” the crying and wailing continues. “Katherine.” He says calmly. That gets her attention. “I need you to be a big girl and calm down for me okay?”
“I’m gonna die aren’t I?” he smiles at his daughters antics. “No baby. You just scraped your knees.” He takes her from Parker who hovers next to them. He sits her on the counter and gets the first aid kit and takes out what he needs.
Katie eyes the peroxide bottle warily. “That is gonna burn.”
“It might sting but I promise to be done by the time you’re done singing “I told the witch doctor.”
“Nuh- uh.”
“Bet me!”
“Wanna hold my hand?” Parker asked and Katie took her hand.
“Ready? Start singing.”
“I told the witch doctor I was in love with you.” She sings and he begins cleaning the cuts to her knees.
“And...” He prompts reaching for another squab.
“And then the witch doctor he told me what to do!”
“What’d he say? This is just Neosporin baby, it won’t hurt.”
“He said ooh e ohh aww aww ting tang walla Walla Bing bang.” Katie and parker sing the last verse over again.
“Snoopy, Hannah Montana or boring flesh colored band aid’s?” he asks.
“Hannah!”
He smiles when he hears Parker start the band aid jungle under her breath. “Nice choice.”
He puts the band aids in places and kisses the spots for good measure “All done baby girl. See that wasn’t so bad was it?”
“No but I want need pads for next time.” He laughs. “Okay.”
Clumsy- Eliot Spencer’s kid is not is supposed to be clumsy but she really, really is. She trips and falls and runs into shit. His mama says it’s the age and the whole new to walking thing that’s getting her caught up so often, he’s tempted to just wrap the girl in bubble wrap and be done with it.
That night at dinner she walks into the corner of the coffee table especially hard, the wail she works up is half frustration and half pain and is extremely loud. He rubs the red spot on her forehead. “You’re ok Monkey no blood.” She glares at him and screams.
Then it it’s him….he walks into the wall and falls down dramatically. “Oops, didn’t see that wall there Katie girl.”
She giggles. “More!” and daughter is a sadist as well as clumsy.
He gets up and ends up doing it three more times. That’s how the game of clumsy daddy is born. He’s going to be substantially bruised and battered by the time she hits eighteen.
Snow- Eliot really doesn’t want to have this conversation with her. In fact he’d rather have bamboo shoots shoved under his nails but she’s his daughter, so it’s his responsibility not Parker’s or Sophie’s.
So it’s time to have “The talk”.
He walks into the living room to see his daughter curled on the couch watching a one tree Hill rerun. He grabs the remote and turns off the ongoing Brooke-Lucas Peyton drama.
“Uh! Daddy!” Katie cries in annoyance,
“We’re going outside into the sun to get sno cones!”
“But my show!”
“I’m not raising a couch potato. Get up.” She gets to her feet huffily and slips on her shoes.
They stand next to the Sno cone truck deciding what to order when she pins him with a look.
“Alright Dad, what is it? You have that constipated look you get when you have something to say but don’t want to talk. “ he suddenly finds himself wishing time would reverse itself and go back to times of pigtails and innocence and not sex talks and his entirely to smart and observant sixteen year old.
“Um.” Eliot stumbles.
“Is Parker pregnant?” Katie asks perfectly serious leaving Eliot to choke on air. She smiles mischievously.
“That’s not funny…once was enough for me thanks, not that- you’re a great kid and I wouldn’t change it but I wouldn’t do it again at least not with the life we live…”
“Uh okay I was joking.”
I know they step up and order their sno cones. Katie gets the standard classic of blue coconut. He gets tiger blood and sincerely hopes it has nothing to do with Charlie Sheen.
They walk for a bit eating in silence. She sticks her tongue out at him. “Am I blue yet?”
“Yeah.” He grins some innocence is still there.
“Listen Katie I know that you know how the reproductive system works so were going to skip that part. I know most kids your age think sex is one body part going into another but it’s-“
She stops in the middle of the side walk. “I do not want to have this conversation with you!” She shakes her head. “Nuh- uh nope not happening.” She starts to walk away.
“I don’t want to either but we gotta ok?”
She catches her wrist and turns her to face him. “I’m not even having sex.” She whines.
“And I’m glad but I’m not delusional enough to think it will stay that way. You are young and beautiful and boys can be persuasive. I need to know that I’ve prepared you the best I can despite whatever bad relationship examples I may have set with your mother and Parker.”
“Okay.”
“First of all in a perfect world sex is meant for people in love and who married but that doesn’t always happen and you won’t upset me if you don’t wait til marriage. The love part is important though because you are sharing something scared and personal with another person. It makes you vulnerable to them. You don’t want to give something like that to someone who won’t value you it. Be sure baby, dead sure because you can’t get it back once it’s done.”
“I love Colin.” She says defiantly.
“I’m sure you think you do baby, that’s why I want you to wait because boys don’t think of sex the way girls do for them sometimes it really is just whatever feels good at the time. If you do have sex though? Just because you do it in one relationship doesn’t mean you should or have to do it with the next person or that you have to continue doing it with whoever you are with. If you feel pressured or uncomfortable or it just stops being pleasurable then you can stop at any time. Being with you should be their privilege not a right understand?”
“Yes, anything else?”
“I would rather you wait until like I’m dead or in college at least to have sex but if not always make the boy use a condom it takes like five seconds to put on. If it tells you he can’t feel with it on he’s lying to you and he’s lazy. Don’t sleep with a lazy liar.”
“No condom no sex got it.”
“If you want I’ll take you to get birth control because if you have a baby you’ll take responsibility not the guy.”
“That’s about the only thing of value teen mom teaches you.” Katie smirked,
“Jesus quit watching that crap.”
“You know dad, this was awkward and all kinds of gross and even though I never want to hear you say the word pleasurable again and I’ll never look at sno cones the same again you did good,”
He looped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. “Thanks kid.”
“Did you practice that in the mirror?”
“No but I did steal parts of it from Friday Night Lights.”
Bash- He hears a rusty clanging smacking sound as he climbs the stairs to his rooftop garden. He hears Katie chanting “Die fucker die!” when he makes to the doorway he sees Katie standing feet apart repeatedly bashing a very much dead garden snake to bits with a shovel. He laughs he can’t help it.
He steps over and takes the shovel from the teenagers shaking hands. “It’s dead monkey. I promise.”
“I- I don’t like snakes.”
“I gathered that.”
“Just making sure.”
Eliot laughs. “It’s a garden snake not Jesus Christ. His name was Juan I put him here to eat bugs.”
“Oops sorry Dad.”
Grim-“Daddy?”
“What baby?” he continued his chopping of veggies for stir fry. “What’s that?” he looks up at the television and his six year old peering over the back of the couch. He sees a cartoon grim reaper on TV.
“What are you watching?”
“Coyote and roadrunner what is that?”
“The grim reaper it’s a representation of death or what some people think death looks like.”
“What do you think death looks like?”
“Nothing really because it’s not a person it’s something that happens to you.”
“Where do you go when you die?”
“Heaven, you know that.”
“Who takes you there?”
“I think angels do.”
“If you go to heaven before me will you bring me?”
“You think I’ll let some silly angel bring you to heaven without me? What kind of retrieval specialist would I be if I let someone else go get my favorite thing in the whole wide world?”
“Good. I don’t want to be in heaven without you.”
“I agree baby, my heaven wouldn’t be heaven without you. Can you set the table I’ve had enough existential conversation for one night.”
“Sure.”