A Little Help Around the House (Corybantic x Becka)

"Christ what a day."

Like everything else today, the elevator was conspiring against Jack Ramsey. Despite the fact that he was probably the only person still in the office building except for the janitorial staff, but still the time from pressing the call button to the doors finally sliding open seemed to be an eternity of eternities. From the moment he had walked into the office today, it seemed that every hour had brought a new catastrophe, each competing with the others to decide which could most closely come to ruining the company's entire third quarter, from projections to review. The entire office was turned upside down, but one by one the problems had been fixed, or at least stabilized, and one by one everyone had drifted home, battered and scarred by the day's events, until finally all that was left was a few crucial links to forge that would keep the patch jobs in place, at least until more measured solutions could be worked.

As he rode the elevator to the lobby, Jack couldn't help but look at his appearance, and the damage the day had wrought. Creased was the word that came most to mind. His pastel blue shirt lay unbuttoned at the neck, the charcoal tie that had begun the day as a sharp windsor knot lay long forgotten on the back of his chair in the office. His pinstriped suit jacket slung over his arm. His waistcoat, he realized, had somehow become buttoned askew, and it spoke to his fatigue that it took him almost until the doors opened to muster the will to fix it.

He grabbed a cab, and simply stared out the window, letting the wheels of his mind run down so that he could get into 'Dad' mode when he got him. His two kids were growing up so fast, and while his work was generally rewarding, personally as well as financially, he hated these days that kept him from the routines he'd carved out for himself at home. And it seemed that he was having to carve out larger and larger time, as his wife seemed to be finding more and more time for herself these days, and less for him and the kids.

Thankfully, on nights like this, his neighbour, an absolutely godsend, had been able to help out as a babysitter until he got home. Jack and his wife, Fiona, had taken her up on her offers to help when the children were younger to steal a night or two out on the town, but lately, it seemed that he had to call on her more and more when emergencies cropped up at his work, and his wife had her night classes, or outings with the girls, or whatever. Jack was eternally grateful that she had been available again tonight, and the thought was enough to stir him to have the driver alter the route just slightly, taking him to a small craft market near his house that was having its summer night-market, taking advantage of the late sunlight and warm weather. Jack was going to pick up a token of his appreciation for her stepping in at the last minute, yet again. He had seen it the previous week, when he had taken the kids through the stalls of hand-made toys and artisinal cheeses. A small pendant on a silver chain, with a stone the name he couldn't remember. It was small and fairly cheap, but he hoped that the gesture was taken in the spirit it was given. Had it been twice the price he would still have bought it, as the stone had reminded him so vividly of her eyes.

The brief detour had revived him somewhat, putting him in a better frame of mind for the return home, and he even felt a pang of disappointment that it was most likely the children had succumbed to sleep already. Holding the small gift bag, he paid and thanked the driver and headed into his house, his home, his castle.

April, the babysitter and neighbour, was a young woman on her way into adulthood. She didn't do much with her days now during the summer and didn't mind earning some extra pocket money by taking care of Jack and Fiona's kids. The little ones were never any trouble and followed order, went to bed when told and ate what was served. April often found herself close to bursting out in laughter when ever they started talking and argument with each other like children sometimes do, a type of behaviour and curiosity that is lost with age, something innocent. The two were cute and very intelligent for their ages, it was only too bad that their parents couldn't be around more. April on the other hand was in college but being daddy's little angel and raised in a rich family she didn't have to worry about much. She was used to getting what she wanted, not only from her parents but also from guys. Ever since the beginning of high school, when the boys her age had started noticing her, she had learned that almost every guy in school wanted to date her. This had made her playful with few worries in the world but at the same time she quickly grew tired of the boys her age as she found them all so immature. During her younger years she had always had a crush on her neighbour and older men in general but at first she had been too shy to admit or do anything about it, now that she was older though she didn't care. She was young and felt as if she would never die.

April had tucked in the children and it didn't take long before they had fallen into heavy sleep after she had read some pages out of the book they picked for her to read for them. Her voice was soft and easy to fall asleep to, she was like an older sister to them. Quietly leaving the room and turning of the light she made her way to the living room and turned on the tv without sound. The job as a babysitter was easy and she wouldn't change it for anything in the world. About one hour passed with her sitting by the tv waiting before she heard a car outside. The door opened and she looked back, where she sat in the couch, at the hall where she saw Jack. With a soft smile, her lips gently parted with her teeth resting on her lower lip, she raised a finger to them to gesture for the father to be quiet. "The kids are sleeping..." she whispered soon after and then waved for him to join her with a gracious nod with her head. April was dressed in a pair of black yoga pants to a simple gray long sleeved shirt. Her blonde hair hung freely down her shoulders and she sat with her bare feet up in the couch next to her. Her hands in her lap.

"How was your day?" she asked in a whisper, her cute girly smile not leaving her lips. She felt so sorry for the man, he worked so hard for his family to have what ever they wanted that he didn't get enough time to spend with his kids and on top of that his wife was seldom home. April leaned her head gently to the side as she observed the man with her deep blue eyes. He deserved better, if only there was an easy way to give him something he deserved she thought. She could see he was stressed and yet he looked better now that he was home than when he had first left work. Jealous on his wife as April wanted what she had, she believed that the wife didn't deserve Jack and was ungrateful. Jack deserved someone more fun, someone like herself.