Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Connor pushes open the glass front door of the skating rink and is met with the sounds of children screaming. He walks up to the front desk and smiles at, presumably, one of his new coworkers. The guy is tall, bald, and wearing a t-shirt that says 'My favorite cousin made me this shirt' with a woman's selfie on it.

"Good morning, I'm Connor. Just got hired. I'm looking for Ryan. He's going to be training me I think?"

The guy picks up a piece of paper from behind the desk, frowns at it, and then holds up his finger to indicate that he needs a moment. He picks up an ancient-looking corded telephone that has fake orange fur covering the receiver and dials a number.

"Nugs, did we hire someone?...You know I never know what's going on! They don't tell me shit...Haha...Ok." The guy hangs up and turns back to Connor.

"I'm Nursey. Leon's actually going to be the one training you today. He's down at the rink. Do you need skates or did you bring your own?"

Shit. "Oh, no, I didn't know I needed to bring my own. I do have my own, somewhere. I might have to ask my parents–"

Nursey cuts him off. "What size?"

Connor feels like he's bobbling this already. He tells Nurse and waits for him to retrieve the skates from the wall of rentals.

"Here ya go. Just bring them back at the end of your shift."

"And when will that be?"

"I don't know. I didn't even know you were gonna be here today. But nice to meet you, Connor." Nurse turns to an also-ancient-looking desktop computer to his right and begins typing and clicking.

Connor awkwardly shuffles over to some benches (carved with hundreds of initials and other graffiti) to lace up. It's been a while since he's skated. He had hoped he would just be working the desk or the concession stand here. But it's okay. The place seems cool. He puts his shoes in a cubby nearby and hops the boards onto the ice.

He is immediately run into by a screaming little girl and gets knocked on his face. The girl, fully under him, starts bawling. Connor scrambles to his feet and grabs her under her armpits to pull her up. She hangs limp, not helping him at all, snot bubbling out of her nose to run with the tears.

"It's okay, it's okay," he shushes.

"DAISY!"

Connor is so startled by the yell that he almost drops the girl (which would not improve the situation at all). Still holding her out at arms length, he turns to the owner of the voice. The guy is wearing a backward hat and frowning down at the girl. She looks up at him and...starts to giggle.

"Why are you crying on my ice?"

"I fell down."

"So? You got back up didn't you?"

"Mmhmm."

"So go skate some more, you buckethead!"

Now she collapses into giggles, shaking Connor's arms. "Buckethead!" she squeals.

Connor just gently lowers her to the ice. Daisy wobbles away from them.

Connor can't recover from the situation fast enough before Mr. Buckethead is chastising him. "Next time, watch where you're going when you're getting on."

"I was!" Connor manages to sputter. "She ran into me!"

Buckethead raises an eyebrow. "Go on, keep blaming the little girl."

"I'm not. I–" Most unfortunately, Connor notices that this guy has a name tag on that reads 'Leon'. "Oh, I'm supposed to, um, Nursey said you're supposed to train me."

Leon looks at Connor like he's a jockstrap on the floor. "I didn't know we had anyone starting today."

"Yeah, neither did he. I guess there's been a lack of communication."

Leon rolls his eyes. "Nuge's been a little distracted since his kid arrived."

"Nuge? Is that Ryan?"

"Yep."

"So we don't use anyone's real names here I guess? That's cool. This place is cool." Leon keeps staring at him.

"I'm Connor, by the way. Um, I'm not sure what my nickname would be. All the ones my brother gave me growing up are not appropriate."

"Condom," Leon says immediately.

"That was one, yes."

Leon takes off and Connor hurries to catch up. Leon skates until he hits the far back half-wall and hops up on top. He pats the space next to him. Connor hops up beside him (just as gracefully, let it be noted).

"This is pretty much it for the rink," Leon says. "I just make sure the kids aren't being stupid. Sometimes we bring the nets and stuff out and they want to play a little shinny. They like me for some reason."

"Yeah, you seemed really good with Daisy."

Leon shuffles and sighs. "I don't really know what else to tell you. I'm not sure what they're gonna have you doing."

"Yeah, I wasn't given a lot of information."

Leon hops off the wall, turns, and claps Connor on the back. "Since you're here though, I'm gonna take my break. Be back in fifteen."

"Oh, uh, okay," Connor says, but Leon is already too far away to hear him.

Connor surveys the rink. Besides Daisy, who is thankfully still upright and happy, there are around 30 other people on the ice. Everyone is going in a circle and talking with their associated group. Connor relaxes for the first time since he walked in the door. This was great. He could do this all day.

The lights go dim.

"Aaaaaaaaall right, it's the top of the hour, so you all know what that means!" a voice booms over a PA somewhere.

The kids start losing their minds and shrieking. Connor winces.

A different voice. "It's SUPER RAUCOUS FUN TIME WOOOOOOOOO!"

The kids somehow manage to scream even louder.

"Neooooon Leooooon, come and get our game all set up."

"Wait, Skins, that's not Leon."

"Oh ho, you're right, Skins. Mysterious Ginger Man, get on over here, puh-lease."

I am not a ginger, Connor wants to point out. It's strawberry blonde. And where is over here? He can barely see anything. He just starts skating toward the middle of the floor, weaving around the excited little bodies and exasperated parents. Now he can see a little booth set up on the opposite side with amplification equipment surrounding it. Two guys are shoved into it. Connor stops in front of them.

"Hey, I'm Connor, I'm new--"

"CONNERRRRRR" the guy on the right booms into the mic. "If you direct your attention to the closet on my right, you will find the set-up for limboooooooooo." This gets another scream out of the kids.

"Limbo, ok." Connor fumbles with the door and has to shove a bunch of beach balls and pool noodles that fell out back into the space before he finds the limbo bar. He carries it to the middle of the ice.

"EVERYONE WHO'S PLAYING MAKE AN ORDERLY, LET ME SAY THAT AGAIN, OR-DER-LY LINE BEHIND MR. CONNOR."

Ah, geez. Connor is sweating trying to get the sides to stay up and the bar to be evenly sticking out and balanced on them. He has to tell the kid in front to back up a bit to give him some room. He earns a huff in response. Once he gets it, he raises a thumbs up to the guys in the booth.

"LET'S RIDE!"

Some weird music starts playing and the kids go. The second kid knocks the bar off and Connor clambers to fix it.

On and on and on they go. When it gets down to the final two, he gets his first good look at the emcee duo, since they come to the ice. One is super tall, maybe even taller than Nurse, with a long flow and a mustache. The other is clean-shaven with curly hair. He currently has the mic. He steps up to one of the contenders, standing completely in front of Connor to do so.

"To no one's surprise, it comes down to Ray--" Everyone claps and Ray pumps his fists in the air. "--and Braxton!" The other little boy does a Fortnite dance to thunderous cheer. "I swear we saw this just last week, right, Skins?"

Mustache nods. "And Braxton took it. Will it be a repeat? Or will we have a new champion? What do you think?"

The kids start screaming out "Ray!" or "Braxton!" Connor's ears ring.

"Let's find out. Drop! That! Bar!"

Oh, that's me. Connor lowers the limbo bar to the bottom rung. Ray steps up. He makes it under all the way to his nose, which knocks one side loose.

"Shhh shhh, everyone. Braxton! You have to make it all the way under to win!" Curly thunders.

Connor fixes the game. Braxton, not even hesitating, bends back in half and clears the bar.

"LET'S GOOOOOO" he roars, doing a victory celly around the rink. He gets as many boos as cheers. Connor thinks this must happen a lot.

"THAT'S ALL FOR THIS HOUR'S RAUCOUS FUN TIME WITH SKINS AND SKINS! NOW LET'S JAM!"

"Play ‘Astronaut in the Ocean’!" some kid yells at Curly Skins.

"Absolutely not, I'm sick of that song."

Mustache Skins skates over to help Connor take the limbo equipment back to the storage closet.

"Thanks."

"Sure. I'm Stu, by the way. That's Jeff. Both of our last names are Skinner, so that's why it's Skins and Skins."

"Oh, are you guys brothers?"

"Nope."

"Oh. Yeah, I don't know why I said that. You don't look alike."

Stu just grins at him. "Welcome to the rink crew. If you have any questions, just let us know."

"I have a lot of questions actually. Leon kind of abandoned me. I didn't even know about Raucous Fun Time." Connor feels bad for throwing Leon under the bus, but he wants the Skinners to know why he didn't know what he was doing.

"Yeah sure, RFT is at the top of every hour. We just rotate the games out. Uhh, people can make music requests to us in the booth. If it's someone's birthday we have a song we'll do. Sometimes we play shinny. Sometimes a dance battle breaks out. It just depends on the day."

"What game is going to be next hour?" Connor wants to be more prepared.

"I don't know, man, we just pick something." Ugh.

"Is there like a list of options I can look at?"

Jeff suddenly joins them by slinging an arm around both Connor and Stu's necks (somehow) and pulling them all together. "I was really hoping Ray would get it this time. I'm sick of seeing Braxton win. He needs to be humbled."

Stu laughs. "Why are you beefing with a little kid?"

"I'm just saying!" Jeff looks at Connor. "Seriously, it's getting old. Hi, my name Jeff."

"Connor."

"Yeah, you said. Do you work here now?"

"Yes."

"Be a little faster on that limbo setup next time." Jeff winks at him and skates off. Stu looks at Connor apologetically before following.

Leon never comes back. Connor's shift ends at 5, as it happens, when a serious gray-haired man comes up to the rink entrance and beckons him over. Connor's heart seizes.

The man turns out to be Kris, the owner, the one Connor spoke to on the phone for his interview. He takes Connor to his office.

The office is a far cry from the rink. The walls are bare. The desk is as well, save for a sleek laptop and a pen cup.

"Connor, I want to apologize for your first day experience here. This is not how I wanted things to be done."

"I had a great first day, sir."

"I told you that Ryan would be training you, and it was my understanding that he did not do so."

Connor squirms in his chair. "Ryan didn't, but Leon did. Kind of."

"Kind of?" Connor explains.

Kris looks mortified. "I am so sorry. I will be having a talk with Leon about his extended break."

Uh-oh.

Kris then reaches over and pulls some papers off a small printer behind him. "Here is your schedule for this week. I've also given you a list of rink rules and regulations for your reference. This page has the url where you can buy your uniform polo shirt. Dark slacks or khakis are appropriate for bottoms. Close-toed shoes or skates for footwear. I'll get you a name tag ordered this week as well."

"Thank you."

"One last thing." Kris produces a sticky note and writes a phone number on it. "I'm not always on site, but please don't hesitate to text or call if you need anything. Definitely let me know if the others are not doing what they're supposed to."

Connor thanks him again before heading out. He likes Kris. And he likes the job, for now.

As soon as Connor walks in the next day, a guy hops up from the group of chairs by the door to greet him. He almost spills his to-go coffee in the process.

"Hey! I'm Nuge. I am so sorry about yesterday, my wife had an appointment run late, so I had to stay with our daughter and I just lost track of time. I'm the manager here, though, so I'll be doing your training." He chugs about half of the coffee before resuming. "I just have to remember where I put my shit."

Nursey is posted at the front desk again. "Whatcha need?" he calls.

"Where's the clipboard checklist thingy?"

He digs through, Connor counts, six different shoe boxes from under the desk before he hands Nuge an old wooden clipboard with peeling stickers covering the back.

"Right, so let's just start with a tour."

Connor didn't realize quite how much this place had going on. He only got to see the rink yesterday, but Nuge takes him through the arcade, the laser tag area, the 8-hole mini-golf course, the concession stand, the party rooms, the break room, and the bathrooms.

He meets a lot of people.

At the arcade, he is introduced to Hymo/Hyms.

"Don't play against this guy," Nuge warns, "he'll destroy you."

"Oh, I'm not that good," Hyms says with fake modesty.

Behind the arcade prize counter is a reserved guy named Bouch. He doesn't say a word as Nuge introduces him. He is apparently the next newest employee to Connor.

Laser tag is run by The Janitor, Uncle Rico, and Brownie (seriously, what are these names?) Connor gets to watch them give a demonstration of the rules and course to a ball team group. They all seem very comfortable with each other, ribbing and shoving half the time.

"Hey, Brownie, we have another Connor now," Nuge says.

"Oh no," Brownie moans, "we can't do another Skins and Skins situation."

"Well, if you go by Brownie and I go by Connor then we don't have a problem," Connor points out.

"You can't go by Connor," Janny says. "What's your last name?"

"McDavid."

"Davo." Nuge declares.

"Welcome to the team, Davo!" Uncle Rico says, slapping him on the back.

Connor isn't sure if he likes Davo. Better than Condom, but still.

Eky and Kully handle the concession stand. Apparently, they like to get experimental with the food.

"So what do you think?" Kully asks Connor excitedly.

"I'm not sure if you should deep-fry the banana in the peel."

"That's what Ek said, but it falls apart if I don't. We'll just have to tell people it's in there if they order it."

That's a big if, Connor thinks.

Both of the rentable party rooms are full. DR, or Derek Ryan, is seamlessly flowing between the two groups to help direct. He waves cheerily at Connor and Nuge as they leave.

A Pickle heads up mini-golf. He sheepishly reports to Nuge that an earlier kid had knocked a light bulb out. Nuge makes a note of it on the clipboard.

In the break room, one lone employee sits reclined at the central table.

"Perry, this is Davo. He started yesterday. Pers is our maintenance slash cleaning slash whatever guy. He's the only one who's been here longer than me."
Pers (Corey according to his coveralls) is what Connor can only describe as 'grizzled'. He nods once at Connor and goes back to staring at the wall.

"We have some floaters come in sometimes on the weekends and when we're short, but that's pretty much everyone and everything. Let's head back to the rink. That's where Kris has got you for now."

Damn. Is Bouch sure he doesn't want to trade? Or Nurse? It can't be that bad handing out skates and taking phone calls.

"So what do you do?" Connor asks Nuge.

"Hmm? Oh, I just run around putting out fires. Not literal ones. Mostly."

They walk up to a rap battle going on at center ice. A preteen boy mumbles his way through something and the Skinners do a good job of hyping him up. Leon is perched on the wall at the back, a mirror of yesterday.

"How long has Leon worked here?" Connor finds himself asking.

"He's been here about a year now," Nuge replies. "Why?"

"Oh, just wondering."

Nuge takes about fifteen more minutes to tell Connor where all the rink equipment is and to describe the duties in more detail.

"Do I get to use the Zamboni?" Connor tries to joke.

"No way. Pers will get you if you even go near it." That just about guarantees that Connor won't.

"I need to go catch up on some things, but I'll try to come check on you later."

Nuge does stop by a few times throughout the day to ask how things are going. Connor has nothing, literally nothing, to report. This doesn't change over the following days. The people skate, they do RFT, and they have the occasional birthday group. Connor wonders why the rink is even a four-person job.

That realization doesn't make it any better that Leon keeps leaving him all the time.

One moment he will be out racing someone down the straightaway and then he'll be gone. Connor even returns from his break once to find Leon gone again. This makes him seethe, knowing the ice itself was unsupervised for who knows how long.

Leon is better with the kids than he is. He can admit it. Once Connor has his uniform and name tag, and they realize that he works there, he gets bombarded with kids asking him to watch them do tricks and telling him fifteen stories about their day. He tries his best to act interested and to be fun, but he has no idea what most of the kids are even referencing most of the time. Leon speaks their language. He even has handshakes with the ones who come pretty often. Connor would have been all over that attention as a kid.

What Connor is good at, though, is noticing things. Sometimes he can't help it.

No one uses the break room, with the exception of Pers. Hyms and Bouch will just stay in the arcade and chat during their free time. Same with the laser tag trio. The Skinners hardly ever leave the booth. Nurse plays on his phone at the reception when he's not busy. Kris and Nuge come around occasionally to ask the guys for updates or to give instructions, but the conversations are quick and distracted. Connor even catches Pickle napping against the windmill of the golf course.

At all the jobs he's had before, even the ones he didn't like, his coworkers weren't nearly this disconnected from each other. They were friends, even. There's not even a work group chat here. Connor tells all of this to Cam over their weekend FaceTime call. Lenny, his beloved Bernedoodle and freeloading roommate, is curled up on his lap.

"I like the job. It's just a weird environment. I was thinking about talking to Kris about some ideas to maybe help with team bonding."

Cam stares at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Do you ever get tired of having a savior complex?"

"I will hang up."

"Go right ahead." He knows Connor won't.

"The only thing I'm tired of is spending my weekends alone with Len." He looks down at his dog. "No offense."

"That wouldn't be a problem if you hadn't moved."

"Are you admitting you miss me?"

"Heck no," Cam grins. "I just...you had everything you needed here. You still do."

"I know." They let the silence wash over the call. This one is a tired conversation.

Eventually, Cam says "Good luck with work, though. It's sweet that you care." Connor's not sure if that's sincere or not.

He knocks on Kris' office door on Monday. "Do you have a few minutes? It's nothing serious."

"Of course, Connor, come in."

Connor settles himself into the chair and leans up to settle his forearms on the desk. "I wanted to ask your permission to start Casual Fridays here."

Kris looks surprised that this is the direction of the conversation. "Okay?"

"I think it would help boost employee morale. There's nothing wrong with having a uniform, of course, but this adds some fun to the end of the week and it's something simple."

"No, that sounds perfectly fine. With some conditions, of course."

Connor nods, expecting this. "Yes. We wouldn't let go of professionalism. We could just be more relaxed. Maybe even you could join."

Kris laughs as he looks down at his buttoned shirt and tie. "Crazier things have happened."

Connor spends that evening at the local library designing an informational flyer on Canva about the newly allowed Casual Fridays. It takes longer than he expected because he has to keep looking up tutorials on how to actually use Canva.

The next morning, he yawns his way through putting up his creation on the break room bulletin board.

"Casual Fridays, huh?"

Connor nearly jumps out of his skin. He turns to see Pers studying the board. He props himself up with a flat mop as he reads.

Connor nods. "I'm looking forward to it. Oh hey, can I get your phone number? I want to start a group chat with all of us here."

"You don't really need me in there, do you?"

"Well, yeah, you're a part of this team. A very important part."

Pers hums thoughtfully, then rattles off his number for Connor to enter in his phone. Connor thanks him and hurries off toward the arcade next door. He has time to get a few more numbers before he has to be back.

Bouch is crouched behind the brightly-lit prize counter. Connor approaches and clears his throat.

"Hey, Bouch. How's it going?"

Bouch stands up, pins Connor with his stare. "Alright. Except we're out of hands."

Connor blinks. "What?"

"The little jelly sticky hands that you can throw on walls and stuff. We're all out. It's a popular 200 ticket prize, so I'll have to have Nuggy order some more." He doesn't blink once.

"Yeah, for sure. Um, I actually came over here to ask you something. Can I get your phone number?"

Bouch is still for a moment, then comes around the counter until he's next to Connor. "Connor," he says, lowering his voice, "I'm flattered, but I'm already kind of seeing someone right now."

Connor throws up his hands. "No, no, no, not like that! I mean, not that--I don't find you repulsive or anything but no, it's for--I'm starting a work group chat."

"Oh. Then yes, you can have it."

Connor's face burns as he hands Bouch his phone to create a contact for himself.

"Do you need Hyms' number too?"

"Yeah, everyone's."

"Zach!"

Hyms comes jogging over from the other side of the arcade. "Yo."

"Davo needs your phone number, but not in a flirty way. In a work way."

"Better not be in a flirty way. My wife would have something to say about that."

Can we not? Connor thinks. He wordlessly hands his phone over to Hyms and waits for what feels like an eternity.

"Aw, is this your dog on the lockscreen?"

"Dude, don't be nosy," Bouch chides.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be."

Connor takes his phone back. "It's fine. Yeah, that's Lenny. He's my Bernedoodle."

Zach smiles. "Nice. Here, in return, I'll show you my boys." Zach whips out his phone and spends the rest of Connor's break showing him increasingly more chaotic pictures and videos of his three sons.

"To this day, we still don't know how they got on the roof," Zach finishes.

"Ah, kids," Bouch sighs.

"Wow. I, um, have to get back to the rink but thanks." Connor awkwardly waves at them.

"Ok, see you, Davo!"

"Bye!" Bouch chimes.

Over the next few days, Connor slowly collects numbers.

He put Leon's off until last.

They're sitting beside each other on the half-wall, watching the skaters zip past. They haven't spoken a word to each other in...days, come to think of it. Connor takes a breath and turns to Leon.

"Hey, can I have your number? I'm starting a group chat for here."

"Why?" Leon asks, flat.

"I think it would just be good to have. For communication, getting to know each other. Eventually, maybe even for making plans to hang out after work."

Leon studies his fingernails for a long moment, then holds out his hand for Connor’s phone. Huh.

-Davo created the group-
-Davo added 14 members to the group-
-Davo renamed the group 'Raucous Fun Time'-
Davo: Inaugural casual Friday tomorrow. Don't forget.
J. Skins: Stu let's wear Hawaiian shirts
S. Skins: I don't think I have one
J. Skins: Boooooo
J. Skins: I'll bring you one
Pers: I think I am going to wear a cap.
DR: Me too @Pers
Hyms: kkmbuijhnoiujnllllllllllllllll
Hyms: sorry my kid had my phone
Nuge: Wait why are we dressing up?
Davo: You don't have to. Kris said we could be more casual on Fridays
Nuge: I could wear sweats?
Davo: As long as they look decent
Nuge: This is the best news
Pickle: Sweats! Lfg
J. Skins: @Davo wear a Hawaiian shirt so we all match at the rink
Davo: I don't have one either
J. Skins: I’ll just bring shirts for all of you losers

Connor feels ridiculous in Jeff’s shirt, but he does feel like the vibes among the staff are happier the next day. Pickle wore a Hawaiian shirt too, so he comes over on his break to take a selfie with the rink crew. Pers sports a backwards cap, leading to teasing comparisons to Leon that the latter isn’t thrilled with.

Even Kris ditches his tie. He makes a big show of gesturing to its absence when he stops by the rink. Connor gives him a thumbs up and Jeff whoops.

The good mood doesn’t last.

When Connor is on his afternoon break, Hyms bursts into the break room, panting.

“Davo, can we get your help in the arcade please?”

Connor rushes after him.

The arcade is pandemonium. The lights on all the machines are blinking on and off rhythmically. The machines themselves are shooting out long, endless strands of prize tickets. And kids are swarming to take advantage.

Bouch stands at the breaker box on the wall, squinting at it with a flashlight and trying to watch an instructional video on his phone.

Hyms grabs a megaphone from behind the prize counter. “EMPLOYEES ONLY IN THE ARCADE. THE ARCADE IS CURRENTLY CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE. DROP THOSE TICKETS.”

Connor and Zach start shooing kids away or beckoning parents to come take them. They really don’t want to give up their free tickets.

“I want to pick my prize!” one boy screams, brandishing his fistfuls of tickets.

“We’re closed!” Zach yells again.

Bouch leaves the breaker box and starts snatching tickets out of hands, which earns him several looks of disgust from parents and some crying from the kids.

“Davo, unplug everything!” Hyms yells at him. He takes the right wall and Connor darts along the left one, yanking out cords as fast as he can.

Eventually, everyone clears out and the games fall silent. They are left standing calf-deep in tickets.

“What even happened?” he asks.

Zach pinches the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know. Do you care to help us clean this up?”

They find some large trash bags and start scooping tickets inside. Right around the point where they can see the floor again, Kris strides into the arcade, lips pressed tight.

“Evan, I have parents in my office saying you took tickets away from their kids.”

Bouch scoffs. “Those tickets weren’t theirs. The machines malfunctioned.” He holds out his stuffed garbage bag.

“Something happened and tickets started coming out of all the machines, and before we could turn them off, kids were in here taking the tickets,” Zach explains. “We couldn’t just let them, or we’d be giving away a bunch of free prizes.”

Kris sighs deeply and asks “Is there any way to tell which tickets are from the malfunction and which one the kids earned?”

“Uhhh. Actually, no.”

“Then we have to honor all of them. When the arcade is ready to be opened back up, call my office. I’ll send the families over. Give the kids whatever they want.”

Bouch gasps. “Even the top row prizes?!” Connor glances up at them. Looks like giant stuffed animals and electronics.

“No, no, just some good ones. Use your best judgement.” Kris turns to leave.

“Thanks for helping, Davo,” Zach says glumly.

“You can pick out a prize for helping,” Bouch says. “Even the top row. I won’t be mad at you.”

“That’s okay. Uh, well, maybe I’ll take some root beer barrels.”

“Ew,” Bouch says, laughing. He goes and gets Davo a handful.

“Yeah, yeah, I like the old man candy.”

Connor finds himself wrapped up in another workplace predicament a few days later.

He is walking past the mini golf course entrance when he hears a hissed “Davo!” He stops and turns.

Pickle is on all fours with his right arm shoved up inside the windmill on the 8th hole. “I’m stuck,” he moans.

Connor approaches carefully and inspects the windmill. It’s still turning, so Pickle has to stay low to the ground to avoid getting whacked in the head.

“Is there a way to turn it off?”

“Somewhere, I think? Fuck, my arm is going numb.”

“Ok, uh, let me go get Pers, he would probably know.”

Connor hurries around the center looking for their elusive maintenance man. After a few minutes, he returns to Pickle.

“Plan B, if you got your arm in there, it can come out. I’m gonna pull you.” Connor pushes aside his awkwardness and grabs Pickle by his ankles.

“One, two, three,” he huffs, yanking backward with all his might. Pickle doesn’t budge and Connor eventually has to drop him.

“I’m sorry about this,” Pickle says. “I fucked up.”

“Hang on,” Connor says, a thought striking him. He takes off for the concession stand. Blessedly, no one is in line.

“I need a lot of butter, or oil, something greasy,” he tells Eky.

Eky doesn’t bat an eye, just reaches under the counter and hauls up an industrial-sized container of popcorn popping oil. Connor thanks him and hurries back to Picks.

“I’m gonna rub this on your arm and try pulling again.”

Connor is in the middle of massaging in the oil when he senses something behind him and turns around. A group of four boys stand there, staring, with mini golf clubs.

“We’ll come back later,” the one in front says.

Connor nods. They leave.

Once Pickle is, for lack of a better word, lubed up, Connor grabs his feet again. When he pulls this time, Picks comes out and unbalances Connor. They both tumble to the carpet.

“Woo!” Picks cheers and throws himself onto Connor to crush him into a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

The group chat stays alive, mostly with memes and complaining about NHL team performances.

Leon is as noticeably absent in the chat as he is at work. The thing is, it’s not every day. There’s no pattern to it. Leon will be around when he’s supposed to for a couple of days and then his fifteen turns into a forty-five on the third. Or he hauls himself into the rink half an hour late in the morning.

Connor doesn’t want to tattle to Kris again and he definitely doesn’t want to say anything directly to Leon. Guess his only option is to seethe quietly forever and develop an ulcer. He half-jokingly says this to Cam.
“Guy sounds like an asshole,” his brother concurs.

Leon aside, Connor becomes more and more familiar with his coworkers. Most of them have families or are at least in a serious relationship. The guys seem surprised but delighted to show him pictures of their kids and to share updates of what show they’ve been watching on repeat or what vacation is coming up. Connor gets a few comments about how nice the bachelor life is too, in its way. He laughs it off in the moment.

He’s settled into the city, and yet he still doesn’t go anywhere except work and home. He can’t bring himself to text anyone from work individually or even just go to a restaurant. Only takeout.
He spends the long nights eating and watching shows on his laptop and thinking of ideas to improve the rink instead of how lonely he is.

One day, Connor has to break up an actual fight on the ice. By himself. Because Leon didn't bother to show up.
It's some younger teenagers, no surprise. Someone had kissed someone's girlfriend, allegedly, so the two boys started slinging each other around by their hoodies while said girlfriend cried "STOP!"

"No fighting!" Jeff booms over the microphone. Connor skates into the middle and works to shove the boys apart. He gets hit several times before he can.

"You! Go out that way. You, other way. You're both banned from the rink for the rest of the day."

"You can't do that," one of them sneers.

"Kayson, stop," the girl sniffs.

The boys take one last glare at each other before parting ways. The girlfriend asks if she's banned too.

"No," says Connor.

She skates away glumly.

Leon never comes, and Connor just gets more and more pissed with each RFT that passes. When it's time for his break, he has to flag Nuge down to cover for him.

"It would be nice if Leon would give us a warning when he's not planning on coming," Connor remarks as he changes back into his sneakers.

Nuge frowns and pulls out his phone. "Let me call him. He usually doesn't no call, no show."

Connor thanks Nuge when he gets back.

"No problem. Oh, Leon said his dog is lost, so that's why he's not here. He's out looking for it."

That's a bunch of bull--–well, he supposes it could be true.

The hours crawl by until it's finally 8:00. Connor helps the Skinners close down the rink. He thinks of Leon. He thinks about Lenny and how he himself would feel.
He pulls out his phone and types a message as quickly as he can in the group.

Davo: Does anyone know where Leon lives? His dog is missing. If you can, I think we should go help him look.

Some of the guys can't stay, but the search party ends up being Jeff, Bouch, Pickle, Kully, DR, Uncle Rico, Brownie, and Janny. Nuge finds a copy of Leon's application in his office and gives them all the address.

"Hope it's still correct," he says.

They divide up into the largest vehicles among them and go.
They don't have to wonder about the address, because Leon is right outside in the lot when the caravan pulls up. He stares at them all as they exit the vehicles.

Since this was Connor's idea, he jogs up to Leon first. "Nuge told us about your dog. We thought you might want some help looking, unless you found him? Her?"

"Him. Bowie." Leon's voice sounds strained, tired. "No, I haven't found him yet."

Brownie asks "Aren't you supposed to carry around things that smell like the dog's home so they'll come to it?"

"Do you have any lunch meat? Maybe that will work," Janny suggests.

"I, uh, no," Leon answers flatly.

"Where have you looked?" Connor asks.

Leon scrubs his hands down his face. "I've looked everywhere. I've driven all over the damn city it feels like."

"What does your dog look like?" DR asks, gently.

Leon pulls up a picture on his phone. Connor asks him to send it to the chat.

Bouch and Kully had pulled up a map of town and were currently assigning sections to the vehicle groups. Connor is quite impressed by the teamwork he is witnessing. Once everyone has their assignments, they agree to meet back up here in an hour and go from there, unless someone finds Bowie first.

"Stay in communication and be careful," Connor tells them.

He had driven Jeff and Bouch here, but he gives them his keys. "I'm gonna go with Leon. That way we have an extra car."

"Got it. We won't crash it," Jeff promises.

"That would be ideal."

Soon, Connor and Leon are alone on the road.

"I'm sorry if this was a lot. We just wanted to help."

"It's okay," Leon mumbles. "I gotta go grab my keys." Connor follows him into the apartment.

Connor's not usually one to judge how people live their own lives, but Leon's living room is a sight to behold. There is both a pinball machine and a tanning bed shoved up against the far wall. The TV is hung so high on the wall adjacent that it touches the ceiling. The leather couch is cracked all to hell and has scratch marks all over it. There is a life-size cutout of Lionel Messi on the floor. Also on the floor are what looks like the entire contents of Leon's closet. Connor carefully steps over everything as he and Leon enter the kitchen area.

Nothing prepares him for seeing Bowie, sitting calmly in the middle of the tile.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT," Leon roars. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

Bowie gives a happy bark and tries to jump up on Leon.

"No, get away from me!" Leon yells at him, dodging to the side.

Connor just laughs. He can't stop laughing, actually.

"I LOOKED EVERYWHERE IN THIS APARTMENT. CONNOR I SWEAR I DID," Leon continues to yell. Bowie cocks his head in confusion.

Connor can't even breathe, let alone answer. He wipes his eyes and texts the group chat that Bowie had been found.

"You can't tell them," Leon continues. He jabs a finger at Connor. "Don't you fucking dare. We're getting our story straight right now. We'll say my neighbor messaged and they had him because they saw him outside and knew he was my dog and took him in. GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF."

That just gets Connor going even more.

Leon rolls his eyes and crouches down to Bowie's level. "And you! Don't you ever scare me like that again." Leon finally accepts Bowie's frenzy of kisses.

Connor takes some deep breaths and gets himself back under control. "I won't tell."

"Thank you," Leon says, still focused on giving Bowie all the pets.

It doesn't take much longer for the rink crew to get back. Leon and Connor meet them outside with Bowie (leashed).

"Bowie!" everyone shouts. Most of the guys want to pet him.

"So where was he?" Brownie asks. Connor bites his tongue to keep a straight face.

"He was at my neighbor's. She messaged me right when you all left and said she saw him outside and took him in because she knew he belonged to me," Leon says without missing a beat.

"Wow, you've got good neighbors," Brownie remarks.

"I also have good coworkers." Leon raises his voice. "Thank you all for coming." He pauses, staring down at his shoes. "I know I'm kind of a grouch sometimes, but I really appreciate this."

"Yeah, man," Jeff says. "We're happy to help."

Everyone pets Bowie one last time before loading up. Connor takes his keys back and slides into the driver's seat. He can't help it. The giggles come back.

"What?" Bouch asks.

"Nothing. Just something Leon said."

Connor almost, almost, asks if Bouch and Brownie want to go somewhere else since it's Friday night. It's not even ten yet. But he's taken up too much of their time already. They all say their goodbyes in the parking lot and Connor heads home. Back to his dark, plain, quiet apartment. His sides still hurt from laughing earlier. It's been a while since he'd laughed like that.

Gah, he's pathetic. Here he is, aching for any excuse to be with the coworkers he barely knows, even if a "lost" dog is at stake.

"Len, I'm kind of pathetic," Connor announces. "Don't know if you've noticed."

Lenny looks at him for a moment before trotting off to the bedroom.

It’s not crazy that I want to be close to the people I'm around all the time. That I want to make friends. Right? he thinks.

Connor flops back onto his futon. He feels exhausted all of a sudden. I just want friends. Good, close friends. Friends that feel like family.

Yes. He wants a family.

It doesn't take long for him to drift off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Connor wakes up the next morning to Lenny barking his head off and lunging and scratching at the front door of the apartment. Connor's entire body hurts from sleeping on the futon and now his head hurts too.

"LEN! ENOUGH!" he shouts. Lenny turns and growls at him. Connor startles. Lenny never does that. His dog goes back to scratching at the door.

"Would you calm down?" Connor asks, stumbling over to the door to grab Lenny's leash. Lenny lets out a few more booming barks. Connor finally clips his leash on and unlocks the door.

Lenny shoots out into the hallway (almost pulling Connor to the ground in the process) and begins sniffing a...basket?

Yes, a gold and silver basket--Oh. Oh shit.

Connor immediately crouches and shoves Lenny out of the way. He reads the placard on the side. 'Connor Andrew McDavid'

His hands start shaking. He suddenly can't get enough air. He somehow manages to undo the top of the basket.

He knows. He knows what will be in there. He still has to look, has to touch the warm little body, the small belly rising and falling.

Connor chokes out a noise. He's not sure if it's a cry or what.

This can't be happening.

He doesn't know how long he sits there, frozen, staring, before he hears a "Oh my god! Congratulations!" He turns slowly to the source of the noise. It's his next door neighbor, presumably leaving for a shift. She crouches down beside him to coo at the baby.

His baby. His wish baby.

His brain wants to black out even thinking about it. The woman is talking to him.

"What? Sorry."

She laughs. "I said, are they a boy or a girl?"

"I don't know," he mumbles. "It just happened."

"I guess that's why your dog was going crazy, huh?" She laughs again, stands. "Let me know if you ever need a babysitter. Congrats again, Connor." She heads for the stairs.

Babysitter? I don't even know you, he thinks. The interaction is enough to snap him out of his shock, for now. He gently picks up the basket and carries the baby inside. He goes all the way to his bedroom and deposits the basket on his unmade bed. Lenny immediately hops up and tries to continue his sniffing.

"No," Connor warns. "You have to be careful." At his raised voice, the baby opens their eyes.

Oh. Oh, oh, oh.

Connor is frozen again. He watches the little face crack a big yawn, then return immediately to sleeping. The baby's little breaths come in and out with the tiniest noises.

It's. It's too much.

He can't deal with this, but he has to. This is his baby. Shit. Fuck.

He leads Lenny outside the bedroom by the collar and shuts him out. He goes back over to his baby. Hisbabyhisbabyhisbaby-

He clumsily undoes the little basket straps holding them in and picks up the baby. So small. He lays the baby on the bed. They sleep on, oblivious.

Connor undoes the little onesie at the bottom and peeks into the tiny little diaper.

A girl.

This is what breaks him. His knees buckle and he is on the floor, hyperventilating. Distantly, he can hear Lenny barking again outside the door.

He might have stayed there all day but for two thoughts. One, he's supposed to work today. And two, the baby won't just sleep all day. She's going to need things.

He takes some deep breaths. Goes to the bathroom and wipes his face with a cold washcloth. When he comes back, he digs his phone out of his back pocket. He's surprised it's not dead since he never plugged
it up last night.

He calls Nuge.

Connor launches into his explanation as soon as he answers. "I am so sorry, I can't come in today. I know it's short notice, but there's been an emergency and I can't make it. I'm really sorry."

"Woah, woah, it's fine. Is everything gonna be okay?"

No. "Yes."

"Don't worry about it. We can call someone in if we need to, but I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Thanks Nuge."

Right. That's taken care of.

Connor looks down at the baby. She's still sleeping peacefully. He sits carefully on the bed beside her, trying to not be a disturbance. He scrolls to the notes app on his phone.

Okay, baby things. He needs diapers. A blanket specifically for her would probably be good. Bottles. Formula for the bottles. A car seat. Maybe one of those car seat/stroller duos. Clothes. Don't you also need distilled water to make the bottles? He doesn't trust the tap here. Wipes, don't want to forget those.

Connor hurriedly orders these items for delivery to the apartment and tries not to think about the price.

He'll need to set up a pediatrician appointment on Monday. He'll have to go fill out her birth certificate. Which means he'll need a name.

He looks over at her. Still sleeping.

"If you want to stay this easy, be my guest," he says. This is the first thing he's said to her. Not even a 'hello'.

He should call his mom. Or Cam. Anyone in his family really. He almost does, then pauses.

He turns to the baby. "If I tell them about you, they'll be all worried and come here. That would suck." He sighs, scrubs his hands down his face.

"We'll be alright, just the two of us, right? Three of us I guess if you count Lenny." He grabs his phone to add a baby gate and a bassinet to the order so Lenny won't be up in her business.

His stomach rumbles. Yeah, he hasn't done, well, anything since she arrived. He leans over, scoops her awkwardly into his left arm, and takes her to the door.

"Lenny, sit," he commands as he opens it. Lenny listens, watching them go by.

"Good boy."

Connor makes a bowl of cereal one-armed and is very impressed with himself. As he eats, he is close enough to her to smell her. She smells wonderful. He adds baby soap to the order.

She is so warm. Connor watches her for a while after he eats. The little bit of hair that pokes out from her hat is dark. Her fingers are curled into little fists. They rest by her chin. Her nose and mouth are so tiny. He can't get over the tiny.

He wraps her in his futon blanket and takes her with him to take Lenny out. His phone buzzes on the way back in. He has a DM on the app they use for the work chat.

Leon: Wya
Leon: There's four birthday parties today
Connor sighs before (slowly) typing out a reply.
Connor: Not coming in today. Have a family emergency

Family.

Connor suddenly remembers his thoughts from last night. He looks down at the baby.

"This isn't what I meant," he whispers.

Connor has never exactly pictured himself having kids. He's certainly not good with them. His mom would make the typical mom comments about grandchildren to him and Cam and they would both point fingers at each other to make good on it. All in good fun. Cam always pretended to remember when Connor arrived at their house (even though he was only three) and made comments about how ugly he had been.

Connor had never even been in a serious relationship. Now he's a 27-year-old single dad with a wish baby?! He didn't even think you could have one without both you and a partner wanting one.

He realizes what this all sounds like and looks down at the baby before settling them onto the futon. "Don't worry. I'm gonna take good care of you. I'm not, like, mad that you're here. I'm just really surprised and confused."

Leon texts him again.

Leon: You suck leaving me alone
Connor: Are you fr
Leon: What?
Connor: Yeah it’s not fun when your coworker hangs you out to dry is it?
Leon: If you have so much time to text you must not be too busy

Connor doesn't know why he's engaging with Leon like this. He also doesn't know why he cares so much that Leon knows he's a better employee than him. If it wasn't a real emergency, he WOULD be there.

Connor swipes over to the camera, holds it up over the baby, and snaps.

Connor: [image]
Connor: Meet my daughter, asshole

He locks the phone and tosses it on the coffee table.

It takes another forty-ish minutes before the baby is truly awake for good. She wiggles in Connor's arms and cranes her head around to see the world. It makes him smile. He takes off her hat so he can see all her hair. It sticks up everywhere. He takes a few more pictures of her as well, and one with Lenny in the background.

"Uncle Lenny wasn't too sure about you this morning, but he'll come around," Connor tells her.

The crying begins about ten minutes later. Connor checks the status of his order. Still being picked. Crap.

He walks around the room and bounces the baby. It sort of works, but she's clearly still uncomfortable with something.

He keeps telling her how sorry he is as they pace. When his phone rings with an unknown number, Connor answers it quickly, hoping it's the delivery person.

"Yes, Connor, this is Kris."

"Oh. Hello."

"I understand that you're out today because your wish baby arrived."

Leon, that little-

"Yes, sir. You can probably hear her."

"Oh yes, I remember those days. Congratulations are in order, first off."

"Thank you, sir."

"You didn't indicate on your new hire paperwork that you were wishing for a baby."

"Right. That's because I wasn't."

"Oh. Well, as you remember from the hiring process, we can't offer paid paternity leave for your position."

Connor squeezes his eyes shut. "Yes, sir."

"So I'm wondering what your plan is for this new addition as far as work."

Connor has the hyperventilat-y feeling again, but he shoves it down. "I don't really have one, sir."

Kris' voice is different when he speaks again. "Connor, do you have a support system for raising this baby?"

"Not...here."

The line is silent for an uncomfortable length of time. "I see. I'll tell you what. I'm going to look up some local resources that might be helpful to you and your little one. And please feel free to call me any time if you need. My wife is incredible with our kids and she would be more than happy to help as well."

"I appreciate that, sir. I'll figure this all out and I'll be back as soon as I can."

"No, no, don't rush back. Just take care of you and her. That's what's most important." Having a paycheck to do that is also important, but Connor doesn't say that. He hangs up with Kris and has to lay the baby down on the futon because his arms hurt. He has received several messages from the work chat while he was on the phone.

Jeff: DAVO YOU HAVE A BABY NOW????
Jeff: send pictures!
Jeff: *More pictures. Leon showed us the one you sent.
DR: Congrats Davo!
Stu: Congrats
Hyms: Welcome to the dad club!
Eky: The girl dad club is the best
Eky: Sorry Hyms!
Hyms: Agree to disagree Ek
Kully: Congrats Davo
Pers: Congrats. Hope everyone is doing well.
Pickle: congrats
Brownie: Congrats!
Reeky: Congrats Davo
Bouch: Congratulations!
Janny: congrats Davo

Connor is simultaneously touched by the messages and horrified that this is getting out there.

Finally, blessedly, the shopper arrives at the apartment with Connor's order. Connor changes the baby's diaper and then gets out everything he needs to make her a bottle. It takes a bit since he has to wash the bottle and read all the formula instructions and internet search a few things, but he gets it.

She latches on beautifully and drinks the whole thing with no fuss. Connor is immensely grateful.

"You're such a good baby," he tells her. He remembers to burp her after.

He takes her new clothes and blanket down the hall to wash. As he carries them and her, he narrates.

"So this is our apartment complex. It's not much, but it's what I can afford. This is the laundry room. I hope it'll be okay that I'm using regular detergent for your stuff. I'll have to check on that."

Once they're back, he gets to work on assembling the bassinet. The baby falls back asleep so he can take his time and use both arms. After he gets it, he tests the load-bearing capacity by throwing some heavy books in there. It doesn't fall apart, so he deems it acceptable. He picks up his little napper and places her inside. The bassinet has wheels, which is nice. He drives it back to the bedroom.

He parks her by the bed, then changes clothes and brushes his teeth. This makes him feel a bit better in general. He lays down on his bed and stares at the bassinet. There's mesh on the side so he can see her inside.

He watches her breathe. For perhaps the first time all day, he feels a sense of calm. Peace, almost. It's a nice surprise.

They go from there, just like he promised. He does the Connor thing and internet searches the shit out of what he needs to know to take care of a newborn. He sets alarms for diaper changes and feedings. He takes notes. He finishes the laundry and is finally able to swaddle her in her soft little blanket with rainbows on the outside. It's adorable. He takes more pictures and sends them to the work group. He gets lots of heart reactions.

Kris does indeed send him an email with links to local single parent groups, parent education centers, and charities. He will look into them for sure.

He knows what he needs to do before that, though.

He video calls his mom.

"Hi, sweetie!" she chirps, waving.

He attempts his best smile. "Hey. Are you busy right now?"

"Just sitting here at the house. What's up?"

"I have some big news. It's not bad, just big."

"Oh?" She looks worried anyway. "Do I need to get your dad?"

"Yeah."

When both of his parents' faces are shoved together on the screen, Connor takes a fortifying breath.

"I don't know how else to tell you except to show you." He flips the camera around to focus on the bassinet. "She was delivered to me three days ago."

Connor's mom screams, her hands going to cover her mouth. His dad's jaw drops.

Connor turns the camera back around and lets his tears fall. "Yeah."

His mom is crying now too. "Baby, we thought you were on suppressants."

He shakes his head. "I didn't think I needed to be. I'm not even with anyone."

"Oh, Connie."

He wipes his eyes with his free hand. "She's been great. Just sleeps mostly. We're doing okay for now. But--" He sniffs. Be honest. "I don't know how I'm going to keep it up."

His dad speaks up. "Do you need us there?"

Connor's pride stings, but he nods. "If you can."

"If you need us, we can," he says.

"I need you."

His mom books a flight for them right there on the call. They'll be in Edmonton tomorrow evening.

"Does she have a name?" she asks. Connor had flipped the camera back around at her request.

"Not yet."

"She's beautiful."

"She is."

"We can't wait to meet her. And we can't wait to see you. We love you so much, baby."

"Don't make me cry again," he pleads. "I'm going to hang up now and call Cam."

"Okay. See you soon. Love you."

Cam freaks.

"Are you done?" Connor asks after the 40th "no fucking way" from him.

"I'm coming with them."

"I figured."

"My niece! Holy shit. Connor, holy shit."

"Mmhmm."

Connor messages Nuge and Kris to tell them that he will be off for the foreseeable future. He also messages Leon again.

Connor: Hope you can somehow manage to hold down the fort for a while.
Leon: [.gif of Elle Woods saying "What, like it's hard?"]
Leon: What's your addy
Connor: Why
Leon: I have baby stuff for you

What the fuck? Talk about emotional whiplash.

Connor: What kind of stuff?
Leon: Toys, clothes, supplies, etc.
Leon: I need it out of my place
Connor: [location sent]

Time is weird now, but it's definitely after midnight when Connor hears Leon's knock. He quiets Lenny and opens the door. Leon is still in his uniform, backward cap and all. He walks in without a greeting.

"So where is she?"

Connor rolls his eyes. "In her bed." He leads Leon to his bedroom, thinking on the way how weird this all is.

Connor had changed her into a pastel pink onesie with little bears on the feet and mittens. She looked very adorable if he did say so.

Leon's eyes lock on to her, and he crouches down beside the bassinet.

"Oh my goodness," he coos softly. "Look at you."

This is so weird, Connor thinks again.

"I brought you some presents," he tells her before standing up. "I'll go unload the car."

Leon was not kidding. He brings in dozens of outfits, boxes of diapers, hygiene products, books, toys, a baby monitor, a humidifier, pacifiers, a diaper genie, a bouncer seat, teething supplies, burp cloths, a bottle warmer, shoes, bibs, a diaper bag, a baby carrier wrap, bath towels and washcloths, bath toys, and a few stuffed animals. The clothes are still on the hangers with tags. Almost everything is still in the box.

Connor gapes at all of it. "Leon, you aren't planning on just giving me this?"

"Yep. I told you, I need it out of my place."

"I can't just take it."

"Sure you can. I didn't buy it. And you have a baby who needs it."

Connor looks around at the pile. "Where am I going to put it all?"

Leon looks around. "You only have one room, so either in there or in this living area." True.

They halfway organize everything between the rooms. Connor can open and unpack tomorrow. Or, later today.

The baby starts stirring. Leon hurries over to the bassinet. "What are you doing?" he asks her, back to his soft, high-pitched voice.

Connor picks her up and cradles her against his neck. "It's almost time to eat, I'm pretty sure."

Leon doesn't say anything. His eyes are glued to the baby.

Well, if he's gonna be here intruding anyway....

"Do you want to hold her while I make the bottle?"

"Sure," Leon replies immediately. "I'll go wash my hands."

Leon returns and takes a seat on the futon. Connor passes the baby off to him. After he gets her situated in his arms, he starts making a bunch of faces and talking to her. Connor heads over to the counter.
He ends up letting Leon feed her so he can do a few things. Like eat. And pee. And take out the diaper trash. The genie is going to be nice.

After all that, he comes over and sits next to Leon on the couch.

"Dad's back," Leon announces to the baby.

Connor visibly winces.

"Oh, he didn't like that," Leon laughs.

"I'm just not used to it."

Leon passes her back to Connor. Connor welcomes her warmth.

"She's perfect," Leon says. That pretty much sums it up.

"Except," he continues, "for not having a name."

"I'm working on it." He'd looked at a few lists but nothing stuck out.

"It'll come to you." Leon stands up. "I guess I should get going." He pauses. "I'm sorry I was a dick."

"Yeah." Connor laughs a little. "I can't figure out if I even like you or not." Might as well be honest.

Leon scoffs dramatically. "What do you mean? I just brought you all this great stuff."

"Thank you, again. Seriously."

"Yeah, yeah."

Connor doesn't know how he could have ever not wanted his parents and brother here.

They take a ride share to his apartment so he doesn't have to figure out how to put the car seat in by himself to pick them up. They also have take-out with them when they get there. Connor is starving, and there isn't much here. They all take turns holding the baby while he inhales at least two to-go boxes of Chinese.

When he rejoins them (on the floor because the futon isn't that big), they gush about how precious and perfect their granddaughter/niece is.

"We needed a girl in the family, yes we did!" his mom says to her.

"She needs a name," Cam says.

"Oh yes," their dad adds. "We were discussing options on the plane."

"I said you should name her after yourself. Connie."

"No," Connor says immediately.

The next half hour goes by with Cam rattling off lists of names he pulls up on his phone and the rest of them vetoing all of the options.

"You have to pick something!" he laughs.

"I know," Connor mumbles. His mom takes the baby back to the bedroom to change her.

"Where did all this stuff come from!?" she yells back to them.

"Oh, my coworker Leon dropped it off last night."

"That was nice!"

"Yeah."

"Asshole Leon?" Cam asks, surprised.

"Ha. Yeah. He's a big softie for kids and babies, apparently."

Cam and his dad want to see the stuff, so Connor brings them back for a tour. This leads to a discussion about organizing, which leads to a trip to the nearest store, which leads to transforming the bedroom into a semi-nursery.

His mom shows him how to use the baby sling, so as Connor sticks little cloud decals on the wall, his daughter naps against his chest. He kind of never wants to take her out of it.

His mom also makes them an appointment in the morning for a pediatrician.

"They're not going to give her shots, are they?" he asks, worried.

"They might have to give one or two," she says. Connor dips his head to rest it on top of the baby's. That's going to be hard to watch.

"You'll also be able to fill out the birth certificate there. Which means we still need a name."

"Camilla! After me!" Cam pipes up.

"Nope."

"I put this whole shelf together and this is the thanks I get?"

The room looks great. They found a little crescent moon light that casts a soft glow around the place. It also plays white noise to help with sleep. The supplies are now unpacked and in baskets on the new shelves against the wall. They keep some of the larger items, like the bouncer seat and stroller, in the living room. Lenny sniffs all of the new items and wags his tail in approval.
As an afterthought, Connor snaps photos of the setup and sends it to Leon.

-Leon: looks good
-Leon: holy shit your brother looks just like you

They order in for dinner and watch a movie while crowded around Connor's laptop. He has his baby in his arms and his family smushed into his sides. Connor feels incredibly content.

When the movie is done, they all head out for the hotel, promising to be right back in the morning and making him promise to call if he needs them in the night. Connor falls asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.

The baby only wakes up once in the night. Seriously, she's the best. Connor picks her out a cute but functional outfit for the doctor. He's in the process of feeding them both when he hears his family knocking.
They brought doughnuts and coffee.

"You guys are the best," Connor tells them over and over.

There's still a few hours until the appointment, but his dad takes him and Cam out to the car to show Connor how to install the car seat. Connor takes a video with his phone. His mom brings the baby out when they're done and they test everything.

"She's not going anywhere. Why don't you take a trip around the block?" his dad says.

Connor's hesitation must show on his face. "You aren't going to hurt her," his dad assures him.

Connor climbs into the driver's seat and looks back. He can't see anything but the back of the seat. He's going to need to get one of those mirrors. He backs out of his parking spot at around 8 kph and doesn't speed up much from there. He makes it around the block and back, parks, and immediately jumps out to check on his girl. She's asleep (not surprising). Does she even know she just took her first car ride?

Soon it's time to go to the appointment. His mom drives and Connor sits in the back with the baby. He idly strokes her foot while he chats with his mom.

As he gets her out of the car and is carrying her seat inside the doctor's office, he becomes hyper aware that he has not been out in public with his baby until now. He bonks the seat on the door to the office a little as he opens it and swears. His mom pushes it open fully for him.

The paperwork is worse. There's so many questions and Connor is trying to remember things but his brain is semi-mush at this point. He feels like he can breathe easier when they get back to a room.

A nurse enters the room and takes measurements and vitals of the baby. They have to undress her and put her up on a little scale to do this and she's not happy about it. Connor fidgets until he can hold her again.

Then, Dr. Moses comes in. He introduces himself to Connor and Connor's mom and then examines the baby himself, much more thoroughly. Connor is alarmed but knows it's probably normal. Dr. Moses pronounces her right on track. Connor physically and mentally exhales. He then asks Connor some questions about feeding and sleeping and all those things. Connor brags on how great she's been doing.

"And what about yourself?" Dr. Moses asks.

"Oh, uh." He's caught off guard.

"I see that you're a single father. I always like to recommend the parenting classes that we host twice a month for our patients. We bring in guest speakers, we have door prizes and snacks, and it's turned into a great community. I'll have Amber get you a flyer with the information when she comes back to do the hep B vaccine."

Oh no. Connor's stomach turns.

It's only one shot, but his girl cries for a solid three minutes, the longest cry she's had. Connor wants to die. He tells her he's sorry over and over and rocks and strokes her back. His mom pats his back soothingly as well.

When the nurse returns, she has a blank birth certificate and the related forms. She fills out all of the information from the paperwork except for the name. She turns to Connor.

"Have you decided on a name?"

You monsters just hurt my baby and now you expect me to have a coherent thought? He glances over at his mom before answering. "Emma for the first name."

"E-M-M-A?"

"Yes."

"And the middle name?"

"Kate. K-A-T-E."

"Alright, Mr. McDavid, you can take these to the registration office as soon as you're able."

They schedule another appointment for a few weeks out and they're done.

His mom takes them out to lunch.

"Are you going to go to that parenting class?" she asks while they wait for their food. Connor shrugs.

She gives him A Look. "You should."

He shrugs again.

"Baby, I know you. And I know that you want to do everything right and that you will put your entire self into whatever you set your mind to. Parenting will be no different. But, you're going to make more mistakes if you try to do it all alone. Some things just can't be learned from the internet or a book or whatever. You're going to need that community, both those people who have that experience and those who are going through it for the first time, to guide you."

"Alright, I'll go."

"Good. Maybe you can make some friends too, Emma," his mom directs to her. She's fallen back asleep in her carrier. "What made you decide on Emma?"

Connor blushes a little. "It's stupid."

"What?" his mom laughs.

"I usually watch Friends at night to fall asleep. Ross and Rachel named their baby Emma. I don't know, I've always liked it. And Kate seemed like a good middle name to go with it."

"That's not stupid. You have to get inspiration from somewhere." His mom pauses. "Now if you'd picked Phoebe, I might have had something to say."

Life unfortunately doesn't stay on hold forever.

On their last day with him and Emma, the McDavids get him groceries and then suggest some family photos. They luck out and contact a local studio that has an hour-long opening that afternoon for a mini-session.

He bathes Emma and digs out a nice dress for her from Leon's stack. It even has a matching bow headband. Connor brings a backup in case she spits up or something.

The photographer is super nice and adores Emma immediately. The dress turns out to not be necessary, because Emma gets wrapped up in a soft cloth. Connor and Cam are seated with their parents standing behind them. Then, the photographer positions Emma in between Connor and Cam so that they are both holding her. After the big group, they take some of Emma and the grandparents, Emma and Cam, Emma and Connor, and Emma by herself. She gets laid in a little cradle with flowers around and it's incredibly adorable.

Connor takes the photographer's business card on the way out and gives her his email so she can send the photos when they're ready.

"Oh, I cannot wait to see them!" his mom says.

They also have to have some tough conversations. While they're eating dinner after the session, his parents ask him what he's going to do about work and childcare.

"I have some savings if I need to keep her home for a bit longer, but not much. I need to call around to daycares to see if they have a spot."

His family helps him look up and make a list of places that look good and have high reviews.

They look at the resources Kris sent Connor and find a few promising programs that have CPNP sponsoring. Connor feels a lot more hopeful for the coming weeks.

It still sucks when he has to tell his parents and Cam goodbye so they can go pack up at their hotel.

He agrees to keep up his weekend video calls with Cam and to start calling his parents as well. Connor thanks them all again and again.

When he gets back to his car to load Emma up, he sees that someone slipped a wad of large bills in the passenger seat.

It's quiet back at the apartment. Connor turns on SportsNet for background noise. The Pens and the Rangers are playing. He sets Emma up in her bouncer seat in front of the TV, but facing away.

"You're not supposed to have screen time at your age. But I can tell you what's going on."

He narrates the game for her. She looks at him with seeming interest for a while before falling asleep.

"It's okay to sleep now," he tells her gently. "But when you're older, you're gonna have to know your hockey to keep up with this family. And this country, really." He imagines buying her a tiny pair of skates and taking her out on the ice one day. It brings a smile to his face.

He calls out from work for the rest of the week. Nuge continues to be very understanding. It's a blessing that he works with so many dads.

He calls around to the daycares on the list. Most of them have long waitlists, but they do give him other places to try. He messages in the work chat to see if any of the guys have suggestions. DR knows some
friends from church who have an in-home daycare, but they are unfortunately at capacity. Connor is starting to feel defeated when Stu messages him directly.

Stu: Chloe, my wife, already stays home with our son during the day. I can see if she would want to keep your baby too and you two could work out something pay-wise.
Davo: That would be fantastic.
Stu: Let me message her and I'll let you know.
Stu: She said she can do it! I gave her your phone number so you two can work out the details.
Davo: Thank you both so much

Chloe calls him about an hour later.

"Hey, Connor. Would you and your baby like to come over and have dinner with us tonight or tomorrow if that's too short a notice? I figured that you might want to meet me and see our place before you committed to anything. I know I would."
Connor knows just by that invitation and that forethought that this would be an excellent woman to keep his daughter. He says that they can come tonight and asks what he can bring.

"Nothing! Just yourselves." She gives him the address.

Connor turns to Emma when he hangs up. "You feel like going to a dinner party? Wow, I feel like I've been way more social since you've arrived."

The Skinners have a charming little starter home. Connor is a little envious, but he hopes to get there one day. Chloe answers the door with a toddler in tow.

"Come in, come in! Stu will be here as soon as he gets off." Connor is directed to sit down in the living room. The toddler walks up to him and watches him curiously.

"Beau," Chloe laughs, "say hi."

"Hi," the little boy says, then runs away.

Connor unstraps Emma from her seat. "So this is Emma."

"Oh, hello Miss Emma," Chloe says.

Beau returns to lean against Chloe's leg. "Mama, baby," he says, pointing to Emma.

"Yes, there is a baby."

"Do you want to hold her?" Connor asks Chloe.

"Oh! Only if you're okay with that."

"Yeah, it's fine." He walks over and hands Emma to her. Chloe rocks her gently and stares down at her.

"She is precious. I forgot how tiny they are when they first get here." She stands. "I can show you around now if you want. The food still has a little longer in the oven." Connor nods and follows her.

"Here's our bedroom. We're 'those' parents who do co-sleeping, so Beau's room over here is actually just his playroom."

As if to demonstrate, Beau runs into the room and starts handing toys to Connor to hold. Connor sees a mini net and sticks.

"You like to play hockey, Beau?"

"Oh yes," Chloe replies. Beau brings a stick over to add to the pile in Connor's arms then looks at him expectantly.

"I think he wants you to play with him. You don't have to."

Connor sets down the precarious tower of stuffies. "Sure I'll play with you. Are you going to be goalie?"

Beau gives him a giant grin and bounds over to stand in front of the net. Connor gets on his knees and starts slowly advancing on him with the ball. Beau crouches down and, no joke, poke checks Connor. His jaw drops and Beau cackles in delight. Chloe laughs too.

"I underestimated you," Connor laughs. "Let me try again." He gets a little more fancy with his stick handling. Beau goes into his stance and when Connor takes a soft shot, he knocks it away with ease. They play for several more minutes before Beau gets distracted by another toy.

Connor heads back to the living room. He sees Chloe preparing a salad with one hand as she continues to hold a sleeping Emma.

"Oh, here, let me help."

"If you don't care to get the lasagna and bread out of the oven, that's all that's left."

Stu walks in the door just as they are finishing setting the table.

"Perfect timing," Chloe says.

"Hey, honey. Hey, Connor."

"Daddy!" Beau runs into Stu's arms and Stu spins him around. Connor's heart melts. He has Emma back now and he gives her a little squeeze before putting her back in her seat.

"Only for dinner," he whispers to her.

Stu fills Connor in on all the happenings he's missed while they eat. Connor is genuinely upset that he missed Ray finally win limbo.

"Jeff filmed his victory lap, so we can at least show you that," Stu says. "The rink boys can't wait to have you back."

"Really?"

"Yeah, dude. You're like, always checking in on everyone and tweaking things. You're like our captain."

"Uh, thanks, I guess."

Connor takes notes for the future on how Stu and Chloe get Beau to try some lasagna. They are incredibly patient with him, even though he throws a lot of it on the floor. It's hard to imagine Emma being big enough to eat solid food.

They finish dinner and move back to the living room.

"So, Connor, what do you think?" Chloe asks him.

"I think you and Beau would be amazing babysitters for Emma."

"Emma!" Stu exclaims.

"Oh, yeah. She finally has a name."

Connor asks if Stu wants to hold her and then they both decide to send a picture of her and him in the work chat to announce the name (and to make the guys jealous). Then, the three of them talk all the way up until it's Beau's bedtime. Chloe and Stu are both younger than him, but they're super kind and wiser than their years. Chloe's going to charge $400 a week to keep Emma. Connor can work with that.

"It'll be interesting to see how Beau does with a baby," she says, "since we were thinking about wishing for another."

"He can teach her some of his hockey skills for sure."

Chapter Text

When Monday rolls around, Connor gets Emma up bright and early to take her to Chloe.

"Wow," he tells her as he buttons up her onesie, "I'm really going to miss you today." He bends down to give her a forehead kiss. "We've spent all day every day together and now I have to go to work. This sucks."

Even Lenny looks sad as they get packed up and ready to leave. Connor gives him extra pets as he lets him into his crate.

Emma starts to fuss a little when Connor hands her off to Chloe, and he almost says "Never mind!" and takes her back. He can miss another day, right? He looks at his little girl one more time. "Be good today. I'll see you soon. I love you." He quickly goes back into the car before he starts crying or something.

Connor walks into the rink, and it's all the same. Well, except for Nurse and Pers sitting in a pile of skates in front of the rental desk.

"We had a case of athlete's foot, so we have to spray 'em all," Nurse explains.

"Gross. Do you need help?"

"I think we got it. We just need you to set up cones to block the rink until these all dry."

Connor can certainly do that. He doesn't see any of the other guys yet, so after he sets up the cones (slowly, since he's in his street shoes), he texts Chloe.

Connor: How is it going?
Chloe: Good so far. I'm heating up her bottle.
Connor: I'm sorry. I'm probably going to ask a hundred times.
Chloe: You have nothing to apologize for! I'll give you updates whenever you need :)

Leon and the Skinners show up shortly after. Jeff straight up hugs Connor. "We're a complete set again!"

Leon rolls his eyes, then pats Connor on the shoulder wordlessly. They head to their regular spot on the back wall.

Connor's phone buzzes and he checks it. Chloe has sent him a picture of Beau holding up Emma's bottle as she drinks. He looks very proud of himself. Connor heart reacts to it.

Leon, with his usual lack of couth, leans over to help himself to looking at the screen. "Is that Stu's kid?"

"Yes, but more importantly, it's my kid."

"I bet you miss her."

"No shit." Connor thinks for a second. "I could probably go see her on my lunch break real quick."

Leon hums.

"What?"

"I know you want to see her, but it probably won't help her get into a new routine if you randomly show up."

Ugh, he's probably right, but Connor is sure not admitting it out loud. He rests his chin glumly in his hand.

"What if Chloe's just trying to make me feel better and Emma's been, like, crying the whole time?"

"You're making a lot of assumptions."

"I'm an anxious father now."

"I think you were already anxious before the dad part."

Connor refuses to respond to that. He turns back to his phone and scrolls through all his pictures and videos of Emma from the last week. Leon still watches over his shoulder.

"A little privacy?"

"Sorry." He does manage to look sheepish, hunching his shoulders.

The rink ends up being closed all day, so Connor got paid to do nothing. He rushes through his closing duties and books it out to the parking lot. Emma, I'm coming.

Chloe already has her in the car seat and her diaper bag ready to go when Connor enters the house. Stu waves at Connor from where he is stretched out on the couch. Connor waves back, crouches down and just, for lack of a better word, inhales Emma for a long moment. He looks up at Chloe.

"So how did it go?"

She smiles warmly at him. "Just fine." She hands Connor a piece of notebook paper. "I wrote down times and amounts for all feedings, times and details of changes, and nap time lengths."

Connor clutches the paper to his chest. "Chloe, are you real?"

She laughs, hard.

"Right?!" Stu yells.

"I'm just doing what I would want for my kid. Speaking of, he is head over heels for Emma already. He's in his room upset because she has to leave. I can't get him to understand that she'll be back tomorrow."

"Aww. Poor guy."

Connor tells the Skinners good night and hurries to get Emma into the car. The entire way home, he tells her how much he missed her at work and how happy he is to see her.

He should probably start on the bedtime routine when they get back, but he spends a good fifteen minutes cuddling his girl on the couch. Lenny curls up beside them. It's a perfect way to end the night.

It starts getting slightly easier to drop Emma off on the mornings he works. Especially when Beau starts yelling "My baby here!" when they arrive.

He wishes the rest of his life was getting easier.

He works. He fills out applications for assistance. He has to miss work to take Emma to her pediatrician appointment. There's endless laundry and there's not always a machine available so he keeps having to go check and take Emma and sometimes that wakes her up and it's a whole thing. He feels bad that he's not walking Lenny as much but he has to take Emma and she doesn't like being outside for very long. Not that she should be, she could get sunburned. Groceries are so expensive. He overdrafts his bank account and has to move money over from savings.

Okay, Connor is drowning.

The important thing is, even if he isn't doing fantastic, Emma is. She's still growing and eating and sleeping and interacting like she should.

He oversleeps one morning and only wakes up because Chloe calls him to ask if they are coming. He is frantically apologizing on her doorstep 24 minutes later and frantically apologizing to Nuge eight minutes after that.

Leon looks at him for a long moment when he's huffed his way onto the ice.

"What?" Connor snaps.

Leon says nothing, which is somehow worse than if he had said something. Connor rolls his eyes and glides away to the other end.

He’s nursing a terrible coffee later in the break room when Leon finds him again.

"Who--"

"Jeff is covering it, calm down." Leon slides into the chair next to him. He does it again, stares at Connor.

Connor waits.

"You can't keep this up."

"Keep what up?"

Leon pivots instead of answering. "I know a guy. He's hiring for a remote position for his company. Some kind of customer service crap but it has benefits. I can put in a good word for you."

Connor blinks. His brain is already slow today and now he has to process this.

The only thing he can come up with is "You trying to get rid of me?"

Leon smiles, a twitch of the corner of his mouth.

Connor sighs. He can't pretend like he hasn't been thinking that he needs to get a better paying job, as fond as he is of this one.

"Yeah, that would be great if you wouldn't care to do that."

"Not at all. You gotta take care of Miss Emma. And yourself."

Connor rubs his eyes. "I'm trying."

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Leon raise an arm, hesitate for a second, and then complete his action of patting Connor on his shoulder. They don't speak for the rest of the break.

On Connor's next break, he pokes his head into Kris' office.

Kris doesn't seem surprised when Connor tells him that he is applying to other jobs.

"I feel bad to leave after such a short time."

Kris shakes his head. "You aren't the first one that's had to leave because of extenuating circumstances and you won't be the last."

"I really appreciate how supportive you've been during my time here."

Kris smiles at him. "That's what I'm here for. I do hope you won't be a stranger."

Leon's guy calls Connor a few days later to schedule a video interview. The night before, he tapes a blanket to the wall as a makeshift backdrop and arranges the furniture and lighting accordingly. Len and Emma, from her bouncer seat, watch him with fascination.

Connor fills her in on the situation as he's changing her later. "Daddy really needs to get this job. Ugh, it's still hard to call myself ‘Daddy’. Maybe you can be one of those kids who calls their parents by their first name."

Emma flaps her arms.

"Great. I'm glad we could come to an agreement."

The interview goes well, Connor thinks. He's able to use some examples of changes he spearheaded at the rink (like convincing Eky and Kully to label allergens on the menu) to his advantage. The interviewer says that she will email him within 48 hours to let him know if he will move on to the second round.

Connor celebrates getting through his second job interview in three months by ordering takeout. He eats on the floor so he can give Emma some simultaneous tummy time. Lenny hovers, waiting for something to be dropped. Emma was not a fan of tummy time initially, but she likes to look at herself in a little mirror toy that Connor puts in front of her. He watches her watch herself. To his complete delight, her eyes scrunch up and she smiles. It's quickly followed up by a yawn, and she gently faceplants into the blanket. Connor has one of those moments when he feels like he's going to explode from how much he loves her. He scoops her up and hugs her to himself. She looks up at him with her beautiful brown eyes and sucks on her hand. Lenny is eating right off his abandoned plate, but it's alright. It doesn't get better than this.

He makes it to the second round. He interviews again on a video call during his lunch break, using Pers' closet at work for some privacy. He learns more about the job and gets to ask some clarifying questions he had. They note how well-prepared he is.

He gets back to the ice just as a RFT is wrapping up. Leon stands with his arms crossed watching two young girls smack a balloon back and forth, trying to keep it from touching the ground. The Skinners 'ooh' and 'ahh' with drama. The standoff ends when one girl accidentally pops the balloon with her skate. The other is declared the winner. She gets 500 tickets to the arcade. The winner turns to the other girl and yells "We can share them!" They skate off hand-in-hand.

"Aww, how sweet," Connor says, gliding up next to Leon.

"Yeah, maybe they can get a Ring Pop with that."

"Are you always such a grouch?"

"Only for you."

Connor takes out his phone. "Secret weapon: pictures and videos of Emma."

"Dammit," Leon mutters, before slouching up next to him to look.

"Here's the ones we had professionally done. I finally got them."

"These are so good," Leon remarks as Connor thumbs through them. "Hey! Zander! No shoulder rides! Sorry. How did they get her wrapped up so small?"

"Good question. Oh, I had my interview."

"How did it go?"

"Don't know yet."

"I'm sure you got it. You're, like, all professional."

"One of us has to be."

Connor does get it. He starts his paid training the following Monday.

The boys at the rink throw him a good-bye party, and Connor doesn't know whether to be embarrassed or endeared.

"I mean, it's not like we didn't have all the stuff lying around," Pickle says as he struggles to put on a party hat with a too-short string.

"I'd like to make a speech," Hyms announces.

"He just likes to hear himself talk," Stu jokes. Hyms glares at him before continuing.

"Davo, we're gonna miss you. We've had a lot of faces come through here, but yours really cared about us and this place. You're gonna go far with that attitude."

"Thanks, Hyms."

Bouch comes up and crushes him into a hug. "I'm like, actually really bummed."

"Davo, you keep that Hawaiian shirt. Think of me when you wear it," Jeff says.

"I will."

Nuge and Nurse tell him to get with them about play dates when Emma is older.

Stu says, "It's not sad for me. I still get to see you."

Kully and Eky make him a personalized slushie. It's actually edible.

Connor does feel sad when he empties his locker for the last time and clocks out. He would stay here if he could. He makes promises over and over to visit, and the boys tell him he can stay in the group chat forever.

Connor takes Emma to the Skinner’s just like he does every Monday, but then he goes back to the apartment. He learns the ins and outs of the job and the interface he will be using. His schedule is flexible as long as he gets his 40 hours each week. Everyone he interacts with seems nice. He fills out all of the necessary paperwork that HR emails over.

Chloe invites him to stay for dinner to celebrate the new job. Since she’s making steaks, he can’t turn her down. Connor and Beau (with Emma nearby in a bouncer for moral support) are tasked with rubbing oil on asparagus stalks and lining them up on a baking sheet. Beau babbles away about what he and Emma did all day. Chloe fills in any unintelligible gaps.

“Beau was singing to her earlier today and she was just smiling so big. I’ll show you the video.”

Connor watches it on her offered phone. Seeing how happy his girl is with Beau makes him…sad?

Connor tries to change his expression but Chloe catches him and looks at him with worry.

“I…am I doing this all wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

Connor sighs. “I feel like I wasn’t ready to wish for her. I should have waited until I was in a more stable situation, probably with a partner.”

“Connor, I know it’s hard right now. Believe me. Those first few months with Beau were a nightmare. Stu had to work and he felt so bad that he couldn’t be here during the day to help. Our parents and his siblings came when they could, and that was a blessing. But no one ever feels ready. Trust me. And you are doing better than you think. Just look at her. She’s healthy, happy, and loved. And she has an asparagus on her head. Beau! What are you doing, silly boy?”

Connor notices a reminder email for the parenting class in his inbox when he gets home. It’s the following evening. He knows he needs to go, especially after his little moment tonight. He RSVPs before he can chicken out.

Chapter Text

The parenting class is hosted in a big meeting room at the local library. Connor is later than he wanted to be because he couldn't find a parking spot, then couldn't find the room, and then Emma spit up on herself and was upset about it. He feels really sweaty and out-of-breath as he sits in the first open seat he notices.

The two women beside him have agendas in front of them, so Connor quickly goes to the back of the room to grab papers for himself.

The speaker for that night will be addressing them about 'Food Dyes and Young Minds". Emma is staring at the toys dangling down from her carrier handle with intense interest.

"Oh my gosh, your baby is so cute." Connor jumps a little and turns to his left to look at the woman who spoke to him.

"Uh, thanks."

The woman on her other side finishes pulling her hair into a ponytail, then digs a fresh notebook and pen out of her bag.

Connor’s neighbor rolls her eyes, fondly. “They gave us the slides.”

“What if the presenter doesn’t read right from the slides? Or someone asks a good question? I want to make sure I get everything.”

“I’ll just copy off of you later, then.”

“Just like school.”

“Hey.”

Connor reaches into the diaper bag and sheepishly holds up the notebook he brought. Both of the women laugh.

The one beside him, with darker hair, says “Now you two are just making me look bad.”

“I mean, you are right. We do have the slides. That’s probably what’s most important,” he says. “I haven’t been to one of these, so I didn’t know what all I needed to bring. I actually think I’ve had this notebook for a while.” It has his name on it and the name of a teacher he doesn’t remember.

“‘Connor.’ Nice to meet you, fellow Type A,” the woman with the notebook says. “I’m Lauren.”

“I’m Celeste,” says his neighbor. “We aren’t actually parents, but Miss Overachiever wanted to start coming to these so we can be prepared for when we are someday.”

Connor nods. Before he can say anything else, Dr. Moses starts speaking at the podium to introduce the speaker. They get a break half an hour later.

Lauren and Celeste immediately flock to Emma. Connor lets them all get acquainted while he goes and grabs the free snack samples that the presenter brought from the back table. Even though Emma won’t be eating solid foods for a while, his stomach is growling. He grabs extras for the ladies.

“So Connor. Are you just here by yourself or are you a single dad?” Lauren asks.

“I’m a single dad.”

Lauren whirls around to look at Celeste. “You don’t say.”

“If you’re trying to set me up at this parenting class, you’re a freak.”

“No!” Lauren looks back at Connor. “That is not what’s happening. I’m just saying, it feels like everyone is with someone when they have a baby, so it’s nice to see an exception.”

Connor laughs and squirms awkwardly. “I always thought that too. But Emma proved me wrong.”

“I keep telling her,” Lauren jumps back in, “that we should just buy a big house together and wish for babies and raise them all to be best friends like us.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“It worked for Connor.”

“I only have the baby. Not the house. Or friends,” he points out. He wants to manage expectations.

“No way you don’t have friends. You’re great,” Lauren says and Celeste nods emphatically.

“I’m working on it.”

After the presentation, Celeste and Lauren make Connor promise to come back next month and sit with them again. He does. Celeste promises to bring her own notebook next time and Lauren promises that they will be less weird. They both cheerily wave goodbye to him and to Emma.

When he gets home, he texts his mom that he went to the class.

Mom: Yay! How was it?
Connor: It was informative
Connor: I even made some friends I think
Mom: Double yay!

Stu and Connor are chatting a few weeks into his new job when Stu brings up Leon.

“You know how he is with his breaks. It’s getting worse. And he just seems mopey all the time. Jeff and I don’t know what to do. A while ago we reported it to Kris and then Leo got his pay docked. We don’t want to do that to a guy again.” Connor nods while he straps Emma into her seat.

“Maybe I can ask him to come hang out. Seeing Emma should put him in a better mood, yeah?”

“For sure,” Stu grins. “No one can be grumpy around her. Come on, Beau, it’s bath time.”

“Noooo,” Beau whines.

Connor picks up the car seat. “Emma is getting a bath too when we get home.”

Beau tilts his head to the side, considering. “Emma take a bath?”

“Yeah. She gets one every night. Are you going to take a bath like Emma?”

Beau nods emphatically and runs off toward the bathroom. Stu mouths “thank you” and follows him.

Connor opens a new message to Leon in the morning.

Connor: Would you like to come see Em again sometime?

Leon responds back almost immediately.

Leon: Yes
Leon: You can come over to my place this time. I’m free whenever.
Connor: Tonight? After I pick her up from Stu’s?
Leon: Ya

Bowie sniffs Emma and Connor curiously as they settle on Leon’s couch that night. The living room still has the same odd collection of items from before. Leon returns with a glass of water for Connor. He smiles and waggles his fingers at Emma before settling himself beside them.

Leon says nothing, so Connor decides to just be brave. "What's with the Messi cutout? And the...other stuff?"

Leon shrugs. “It’s my ex’s crap.”

“Oh.”

“Can I hold Emma?” Leon’s voice turns soft. Connor nods and passes her over. Leon stares down at her rather adoringly. He continues on.

“She was going to start some kind of vintage boutique thing. Was always finding stuff and bringing it here.” Emma mouths her hands as he talks to her. “She was going to save up enough to rent a building and start her shop and I was going to be able to quit the rink to help run it. And we were going to get married and wish for a baby and live happily ever after.”

“And that’s why you had all the baby stuff.”

“That’s why.” Leon is nearly whispering now, still only to Emma. “That was the worst part. I can deal with losing her, but I was so close to having the life I wanted.”

Connor has absolutely no idea what to say. Leon keeps talking as if he hasn’t revealed a devastating truth.

“I don’t really know what to do with all this now. She’s blocked me on everything and made no indication of wanting it back.”

Connor is much better at problem solving than feelings. “Well, some of it can probably be used at the rink. Like the pinball machine can go in the arcade. I’m sure Brownie would love to hide Messi somewhere on the course to scare kids.”

“You’re a genius. I didn’t even think of all that, but yeah. The rink is full of old crap.”

“Here, you stay with Emma and I’ll take pictures of everything to show Kris and Nuge.”

Connor carefully steps around the living room to photograph the collection of items.

“There’s more in the back rooms. I don’t care if you look around. I’m pretty boring. Nothing to hide.”

One room is stuffed with boxes and boxes of vinyls, CDs, cassettes, almost any old media you can think of. Connor enters what he assumes is Leon’s room. There is a German flag hanging on one wall, a bed, lots of dog toys, a Peloton, and a stack of shoeboxes that reaches the ceiling.

“Do you actually use this Peloton?”

Leon scoffs from the living room. “Every day, thank you.”

“Okay, just checking.”

Even the bathroom has stuff. It’s mostly old knick knacks on the floor with a spot cleared out in front of the toilet and shower.

Connor finishes up and returns to the living room. Emma is cradled in one of Leon’s arms, gumming a toy while he watches her. It’s odd to see him with such a warm smile that doesn’t leave his face. Connor settles back in next to them. “I’ll send those pictures tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

Connor reaches over absentmindedly to stroke the top of Emma’s head. He catches some of Leon’s elbow in the process. It’s very quiet.

Connor clears his throat. “Are you from Germany?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. That’s cool.”

“I guess.”

“How did you end up here?”

“On the run,” Leon says without missing a beat. Connor rolls his eyes.

“Well, I don’t let my daughter hang out with criminals.”

“If anything, she’s the criminal. Lock her up for being too cute.”

Emma kicks her feet a bit and looks around at everything.

“Guilty,” Connor confirms.

Leon orders them some takeout and turns on hockey, never letting go of Emma. Connor relays how he’s been trying to teach Emma the game.

Leon nods. “Never too early. I’d add in some football too.”

“I don’t know much about that.”

“Good thing uncle Leo has it covered.” Leon sniffs the air and wrinkles his nose. “Oh, wow.”

Connor laughs. “Yeah. You got a place I can change her?”

“As far away as possible.”

Connor gasps with mock indignation. “She can’t help it.”

Leon coughs and pulls his shirt up over his nose. “What are you feeding her?”

Connor takes Emma and walks toward Leon’s room. “See if we ever come over again….”

He changes Emma right on Leon’s bed. It is a nasty one.

“You might wanna spray in there,” Connor says when he returns. “Or open a window.”

Leon still has his shirt up so Connor can only see his eyes narrow. “Good to know.”

They finish the Oilers game. Emma falls asleep and doesn’t even wake up when Connor buckles her back into the carrier.

“Thanks for having us,” Connor says.

“Stu said something, didn’t he?”

Connor is so caught off-guard that he doesn’t respond. Leon smirks.

“Come on, tell me.”

Connor picks up the carrier to give himself a few more seconds to think. “He just said you might want some company. And I know you like Emma, so.”

“Not just Emma.”

And why does that make Connor feel relieved?

Leon walks them to the car. He stands outside and waves at them as Connor drives away.

A few days later, Connor wakes up to Emma crying, which is normal. What’s not is him stepping on the floor and his feet getting wet. The carpet squishes under his socks. He sighs, scoops Em out of her bassinet, and walks around to investigate.

The water is coming from under the baseboards in his room. He can’t even figure out what’s back there. Soon, even after putting towels down, all the carpet is soaked.

“Well, guess we’re playing hooky today.”

Maintenance is no help. They tell Connor that they’ll have to shut off his water until they find the source of the leak. It could be a couple days, they say.

Great. What’s he supposed to do with no water, a 3-month-old, and a dog?

He goes to the skating rink.

When he rolls the stroller, with Lenny tied to it, up to the front desk, Nursey beams at him.

“To what do we owe this pleasure?”

“My apartment flooded, so I need somewhere dry to hang out for the day.”

“Is that what it takes for you to come visit?” Nurse chides.

And, ok, he’s probably right.

Connor clears his throat sheepishly. “Is there a good place for Len to stay? He doesn’t need to be out where someone might be allergic or scared.”

“Knobber isn’t here today, so you should be good to keep him in his office.”

Connor doesn’t really think that Kris would appreciate a Bernedoodle taking up residence in his space, but maybe what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Connor sets up Lenny’s portable water and food bowl and lays down a blanket from home. Lenny settles right in for his post-breakfast nap.

“I’ll come back later to check on you,” Connor says, ruffling the fur on his head.

He heads to the rink first, of course.

“CONNOR!” Jeff booms into the mic. Connor waves and slides into a booth by the boards. To his surprise, several of the kids skate over to peer at him and Emma.

“Is that your baby?!”

“I thought you died!”

“Where have you been, Mr. Connor?”

“Mr. Connor, I got AirPods for my birthday!”

He tells them that yes, this is his daughter, Emma, and that he had to get another job but he misses them. While Lance is still in the middle of listing his birthday presents, Connor looks over and sees Leon has joined the crowd. The kids eventually leave to go do the Cha-Cha Slide.

Leon yells “I’m taking my break!” to the DJ booth, then hops right over into the seat across from Connor.

“Hi,” Connor says.

“Hi. What are you guys doing here?”

“Oh, you know, Emma wanted to practice her triple luxe.”

Leon looks down at her in the stroller. “Your dad thinks he’s funny.”

“My apartment flooded. I called out and didn’t know where else to kill time.”

“Flooded? Shit.” Leon’s forehead creases with worry.

“I mean, not bad. The carpet is all wet, but nothing was damaged before they turned off the water.”

“How long is it going to take to fix?”

“They said it might be a few days.”

Leon stares at him. “So what are you going to do?”

“Get a hotel room?”

“No, you’re not. You can stay with me.”

“No. We can’t do that to you.”

“Do what? I have the room now. You gotta come see the place!”

“Leon.”

“Connor,” he says emphatically. He leans forward on his elbows. “I am not letting my friend and his baby and his dog pay Edmonton prices for a hotel room when I have an extra room.”

Connor can tell he’s not talking Leon out of this.

“If you’re sure we won’t be a bother–”

“You won’t be.”

“Emma wakes up several times a night.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of what babies do.”

Connor squirms in his seat. “I don’t know….”

Leon levels him with a look. “Don’t overthink it.”

“What if Emma has another stinky poop?”

Leon glances back over at her in the stroller. “He’s really running out of excuses now.”

“Ugh, fine.”

Leon nods, smug. “Great. I get off at 6.” He goes back to studying Connor. “Have you eaten today?”

“No.”

Leon jabs his finger toward the concession stand. “Go.”

Things do start to feel more hopeful when he has a slice of pizza in him.

Kully and Eky are thrilled to see him and Emma. Kully gives her a straw to play with. So far, she has closed her little fist around it and is staring at it.

“She looks like you,” Eky comments. “So serious.”

Connor chuckles.

“Keep eating. We burned that pie a little, so we can’t sell it.”

“That sounds made up.”

“No, no, totally rink policy,” Eky says, winking.

After his lunch, and after giving Emma a bottle, he pops in to see all the other guys. Hyms takes a break from installing the new pinball machine to come coo at Emma. Bouch gives her a small stuffed lynx toy from behind the counter.

“Don’t tell anyone about this,” he tells her, conspiratorial.

After leaving the arcade, Connor goes to take Lenny out. He continues making his rounds when he returns.

No one is playing at laser tag, so Connor spreads a blanket on the ground to give Emma some tummy time. She still isn’t the biggest fan, but she keeps twisting around to stare at Janny.

“I’m her favorite,” he announces proudly to eye rolls from Brownie and Rico.

Connor takes Emma to the break room after so Emma can have some quiet to nap. He gets to catch up with DR and Pers during their breaks. They whisper in order to not disturb Emma, and, wow, Connor really hit the jackpot with these guys.

Especially Leon, who strides in at 5:57 to get his stuff out of his locker.

“I’ll take Lenny to my car with me and pull around to pick you guys up. We can stop by your place for whatever you need.”

Connor nods and refrains from teasing Leon about leaving early.

When Leon lets Connor and Emma into his apartment, he sweeps his arm dramatically to indicate the living room. All of the junk is gone. Connor can actually see the floor.

“Go look at the other rooms,” Leon says, pride evident in his voice.

The back bedroom is bare. The bathroom is walk-able.

“This is great. It looks like a completely different place.”

They order food and work on assembling Emma’s pack and play in the living room. Leon brings blankets and pillows for Connor to use on the couch.

“Sorry you gotta be on the couch,” he apologizes.

“It’s really fine.”

Leon offers to feed Emma and let Connor clean up and he gratefully accepts.

He gets himself ready for bed and returns to the living room. Leon has put on an episode of Friends and is jostling Emma on his leg while they watch.

“Could you hear us laughing?” Leon asks, grinning.

“No.”

“It was the episode where Ross plays the bagpipes and he’s showing everyone.”

Connor starts smiling too. “And Phoebe starts singing along.”

“It got me. Emma liked it too, I think.”

Emma’s bright eyes are trained on Leon as he talks. Connor can definitely imagine her smiling while he tries to collect himself.

Connor scratches the back of his head, idly. “We actually watch Friends every night to wind down, so she really does like it.” He pauses. “That’s how I named her. Emma in the show.”

Leon gasps dramatically and looks down at Emma. “No way!” He holds her up and studies her. “You look more like a Gunther to me, but whatever.”

That startles a laugh out of Connor, and Leon grins once again in triumph.

Connor has a problem. Two problems.

He’s still at Leon’s. And he really likes being at Leon’s.

Connor’s building thinks it's actually something wrong with the neighboring apartment's pipes, so they have to wait for someone or other to come out and check it.

It’s been a week. A really great week.

Connor can’t exactly blame himself for not knowing how stressed out he actually was until his burdens were shared. It’s nice to not have to be the only adult responsible for things. It’s really nice to be able to do something like take a long shower and know that Leon has Emma’s care under control. Just the knowledge, the sounds, that someone else is around is comforting.

Connor learns that Leon really does use the Peloton every day. That he has impressive Snapchat streaks with his sister and friends back home. That he can cook only marginally better than Connor. That he spends a lot of time on his hair, even on the days he wears a hat. That he has his sneakers on a rotation so he wears them all equally. That he adores Emma, but that was pretty apparent before.

During the day when Leon is at the rink, Connor works and takes the dogs for walks during his breaks. He tries to pick up here and there when he can as well. He wants to be a good houseguest.

On his family video calls, he has to explain why he is in a different apartment. His mom insists on saying hello to Leon, so he calls her again that evening. Leon is perfectly charming, even during the barrage of questions about his growing up in Germany.

Connor had already asked most of those questions, and others, during their nightly Friends episodes. He and Leon end up talking quite a bit, even after Emma drifts off.

“What made you decide to move to Edmonton?” Leon asks him. “Your mom seems nice, so I’m assuming it’s not family stuff, but maybe.”

“No, my family is great. I think they might hate me a little for leaving. Especially now that I have Em.”

Leon says nothing, just waits.

Connor sighs. “I don’t really have a good reason. I just started thinking one day that I had been in the same place my whole life. It was good, but it was so…safe. I really only did anything with my family and my, like, two friends from school. I even worked for the same company as my brother. He totally pulled strings to get me the job, even though he won’t admit it. So I wanted to, I don’t know, prove to myself that I could make it outside that bubble and grow as a person and all that crap.”

“And you thought Edmonton was the place to do that?”

“Hey, it’s not so bad here. I don’t know how I picked it. Maybe I had an Oilers game on or something.”

“Hmm.”

“Okay, why are you here then?”

“My ex.”

Connor balks. “You moved from freaking Germany for her?!”

“Connor, I would have done anything for her.”

“How did you two even meet?”

“Tinder.”

“Hmm.”

“I need to go get some more things from the apartment later. Maybe I can stop by the front office and see if they have any more information about the leak.”

It’s Saturday. He and Leon are on the couch eating cereal before Leon has to head to the rink. Emma is on her play mat. She can roll herself from her tummy to her back now. Connor has filmed it at least seven times.

Leon clears his throat and sets his bowl of cereal down. “Maybe you should go ahead and grab everything.”

Connor frowns. “I only need a few things.”

Leon looks down at his shoes, messes with his cap. “I mean, bring all your stuff here. Move in.”

Oh shit.

Connor is too taken by surprise to answer immediately.

Leon holds out a finger. “Before you say anything, I made a list.” He digs his phone out of his pocket and swipes quickly on the screen. Connor finds this endearing, and even though he could probably talk now, he waits.

“Here. ‘Reasons Connor and Emma should move in’ because I know you need some convincing. One: You get out of your shithole apartment. Two: Two adults have a better chance of surviving a serial killer break-in than one. Don’t laugh, I looked it up. Three: You save money because we’ll split everything. Four: It’s good for Lenny to have another dog friend, for his doggy mental health. Five: Emma needs to learn about football, as we discussed. Six: You can use the Peloton whenever you want when I’m not using it. Seven: In-house washer and dryer.”

“Say no more,” Connor laughs.

“I can keep going.” Leon looks at him over the screen, expectant.

Connor looks down at Emma. She’s returned to her back, and she kicks and grabs for the dangling toys above her. She looks perfectly content here.

Connor turns back to Leon. “Okay. If I can get out of my lease…okay.”

Leon: Beers for anyone who comes to help us move Davo
Bouch: What kind?
Doc: Dude does it matter???
Reeky: Leo’s German. You know they’ll be quality
Leon: THANK you. Bouchy just get ur ass over here

Connor never knew how fun moving from one apartment to another could be if you did it with people you enjoyed.

He drops Emma off with Chloe for the day and takes Stu with him back to his now old place. The water still wasn’t back on, which probably helped sway management to let him break the lease early. The rest of the guys slowly show up. They’ve come armed with empty boxes from the supplies at the rink, tape, paper and bubble wrap, and furniture dollys.

Connor’s family offered to fly in to help, but he assured them that he would have plenty. He takes a quick picture of the boys as they get started to send to them.

It takes less an hour to load everything up.

“I thought I had more stuff than this,” Connor says. “And most of it is Emma’s.”

Leon shrugs. “Means we get to the beers sooner.”

The guys make the same short work of unloading everything into Leon’s place. Their place. Lenny and Bowie are very excited by all the proceedings.

After the promised beers, Zach makes a run home and brings back a Switch and several controllers. Mario Kart is quickly booted up and a tournament bracket is drawn.

This is clearly not the first one between this crew.

“Davo, you in?”

“I’ll sit this first one out and watch.”

Connor is not prepared for the chaos that follows.

As far as skill level for the game, everyone seems about equal. Therefore, to gain any kind of advantage, items have to be used strategically.

And you have to be a dirty rotten cheater.

Leon pulls Stu’s shirt up over his face so he can pass him. Nursey stands up and blocks the TV at one point. Kully gets kicked off the couch. Brownie ends up in a tumble on the floor with Jeff on three separate occasions. Picks, who can’t seem to break free from 10th place, starts driving backward on the course and plowing into the front runners. Horrible things are said about everyone’s mothers. In the end, Zach wins it by two points. He gets a lot of bottles thrown at him.

Connor reluctantly joins the second go. He’s never played this on a Switch, but his muscle memory kicks in from the Wii. He finishes the first course at a respectable fifth place. No one had tried anything.

They’re definitely feeling me out, he thinks.

On the third course, he is hit with half a dozen red shells.

On the last one, Nursey and Bouch sit on him. He comes in last in the race and seventh overall.

“Oh, get that pissy look off your face,” Leon laughs. “We can’t let you win your first time. You might get a big head.”

Connor wants to go again right then, but several of the guys want to watch some American football game. Apparently they are super competitive in Fantasy too.

Connor takes the break to finish unpacking his and Emma’s room. Once it looks like it did back at the old place, the excitement starts to kick in. Also the exhaustion. He flops down onto his bed. He just needs to close his eyes for a few minutes.

Leon and Stu are shaking him awake hours later.

“Hey, sorry, I need you to take me home,” Stu says.

Connor rubs his eyes. “Shit. Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“It’s okay. We did have to stop like three different guys from drawing dicks on your face though.”

“Who?”

“We’re not snitches,” Leon answers, grinning.

“It was probably you then.”

“Watch it. I know where you live.”

Chapter Text

Connor and Emma settle into (continue, really) their routine at the new apartment.

Fall begins to really hit the city. The early mornings have more of a bite to them. Connor starts bundling Emma up little jackets, coats, sweaters, and hats before he takes her to Chloe.

She does not like the hats.

“Em, please,” Connor says, exasperated one morning, as he picks her discarded toque off the floor and shoves it back onto her head. She fusses and wiggles out of it again.

Emma has developed strong opinions about other things as well. She’s figuring out her voice and will start yelling when she sees Connor or Leon making a bottle too slowly. She attempts to roll away from diaper changes. She will grab the eyes, ears, nose, and/or mouth of whoever is holding her and not let go. She’ll also grab your phone out of your hand if you’re not careful.

Connor finds out that his company gets time off for American Thanksgiving, so he makes plans to fly home with Emma. This sends him into a new research frenzy for how to get through a plane ride with a baby.

“See, that’s what kind of topics we need to be covering,” he tells Lauren and Celeste at the next parenting class. “Not…whatever this is.”

“You mean you aren’t highly enjoying ‘Advanced Vocal Techniques and Music Theory for Lullabies’, because I sure am,” Lauren says, somehow managing to keep a straight face.

The Skinners invite Emma and Connor to come trick-or-treating with them in their neighborhood on Halloween. They give him plenty of notice, but he lets the date creep up on him. No pun intended.

It’s Saturday, four days before Halloween. While he gets his and Emma’s breakfast ready, he tries to figure out what store to go to for a costume.

Leon lopes into the kitchen and leisurely starts taking ingredients out of the fridge. Connor glances at the time on the microwave clock.

“You better hurry.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re gonna be late for work.”

“I took off.”

“Oh. Why?

Leon shrugs. “Don’t feel like working on my birthday.”

It’s his birthday?! Connor suddenly feels horrible for not knowing.

He can fix this. He’ll get a gift and a cake or something when he’s out getting Emma’s costume. He nonchalantly tells Leon that they’re going shopping once they get ready.

“I’ll go with you guys. If that’s cool.”

Like Connor is going to tell him no on his birthday. But how is he supposed to get party things now?

Leon leans down to make faces at Em in her bouncer while Connor finishes making her bottle. She kicks her feet and yells for it. Leon snickers.

After everyone eats, they all find themselves on the couch.

“Any ideas for the costume?” Leon asks him.

“Nope.”

Emma spits up a little. Leon wordlessly goes and grabs a burp cloth from her room for Connor.

“Thanks.”

“We gotta think of something good.”

Connor rests his chin against Emma’s head. “I guess it doesn’t really matter what she is. She doesn’t even know what’s going on.”

Leon gives Connor a bitchy, incredulous look. “Of course it matters. It’s fucking Halloween.”

Connor blinks. “My bad. I didn’t realize this was so important to you.”

Instead of responding, Leon whips out his phone. He locates a picture and shows Connor. Leon is decked out as David Beckham. He has his arms around a woman dressed as Victoria.

“Is that—“

Leon cuts him off. “In this household, we go hard for Halloween.” He starts typing. “I’m gonna look at ideas for group costumes with a baby.

Oh. Connor hadn’t planned on dressing up, but again, who was he to ruin the birthday boy’s Halloween dreams?

Leon gasps suddenly. “I know.” He shows Connor the screen. “We do The Hangover. Emma is Baby Carlos. You can be Alan. And I’ll be Stu.”

“That’s…actually really great.”

“Fuck yeah it is.” Leon leans over to Emma. “Em, this is very important. You’re going to have to wear a hat.”

They make a list of what they will need and set out.

Party City has the face and tooth makeup for Leon. Connor gets a fake beard and wig for himself. He finds some sunglasses for Em. She is captivated by the balloon area. Leon takes her out of the stroller and holds her up so she can “pick” one. They tie it (a pumpkin that’s as big as she is) to the front of the stroller so she can look at it.

It takes them several thrift shops to find all the components of the outfits. Leon is a pro at digging through the racks to find things Connor didn’t even notice. On top of getting what they need for the costumes, Leon finds some quality pieces for himself. He tries to get Emma a few things, but Connor puts his foot down. She has way more than enough clothes right now.

A wolf shirt eludes them, however.

“We’re probably gonna have to go to a truck stop or something for that,” Connor says, once they file back into the car. Leon grins, totally game.

The first one is a bust.
“How do they have a giant barrel of rocks but not a wolf shirt?” Connor asks. Leon doesn’t hear him. He’s too busy digging through the barrel of rocks.

The next one, thankfully, has a variety of animal shirts. Connor secures a wolf one. Leon grabs one with dolphins leaping out of explosions for shits and giggles. He admires it in the car. It smells strongly of vinegar. Connor has the thought that he should have paid for it, as a present. He totally failed today.

“I’m sorry,” Connor blurts out.

Leon looks at him and frowns. “For what?”

“For not doing anything for your birthday. I didn’t even know it was today. I’m a terrible friend. And you don’t even have a cake or a gift or anything.”

Leon opens his mouth like he’s going to crack a joke but sees that Connor is serious.

“It’s been a great birthday.”

“But we didn’t do anything.”

“We got all of us a costume. And had fun doing it.”

“Yeah, but—“

“You know what I did for my birthday last year? I sat in the apartment and played chel all day and probably almost gave myself an infection because I was too lazy to get up and piss. This was a thousand times better. Seriously.”

Connor wants to argue some more, but a tiny voice in his head tells him to trust Leon and let it go.

“I still think we should get a cake.”

“I won’t say no to cake.”

They make a stop at Safeway on the way home.

Leon obliges Connor’s insistence on lighting candles on the thing and taking a picture before they cut into it.

“You’re not gonna sing?”

“You don’t want that.”

“I wanted to hear those advanced lullaby skills.”

“Ugh, shut up.”

“It’s perfect!” Chloe yells to them from her porch as Connor, Leon, and Emma exit Connor’s car.

Chloe herself is dressed in overalls, a plaid shirt, and has her hair in braids down the front. “Let me get a picture of you all!”

Connor and Leon assemble themselves to the side of the front door and smile for what seems like forever while Chloe tries to get Emma to look straight ahead. Finally, she gets the shot.

“I’ll send it to you,” Chloe says, then sighs. “Why are the men taking longer than me to get ready? Let me go check on them.” She disappears into the house.

Leon looks out and surveys the neighborhood.

“Do Germans celebrate Halloween?” Connor asks.

Leon shrugs. “Some do now. It wasn’t really a thing when I was a kid.”

“Oh. I was wondering why you like it so much.” Connor hears the door opening behind him.

Leon looks. “Because when else could I see Stu Skinner in a cowboy outfit?”

“My baby!” Beau runs up to Connor. He is dressed as an adorable cow. Connor kneels down so Beau can give Emma a gentle hug.

Stu looks at Connor and Leon. “Love the costume.”

“I’m a cow!” Beau shouts.

“I see that,” Leon says.

“You ready to go get some candy?” Chloe asks Beau.

“Yes!”

At the first two houses they go to, Beau gets so excited about yelling “Twicka Tweat! Moo!” that he runs away before he collects his candy. Stu and Chloe have to direct him to go back. He gets the hang of it after that.

Connor imagines how much fun Emma will have doing this when she’s older. At the present, Beau keeps trying to be nice and give her pieces of his candy. He doesn’t understand that she can’t have anything yet. Connor gladly takes some licorice he offers. The rest of the group teases him for it.

Once it starts getting dark, they head back to the Skinner’s. Beau refuses to take off his cow costume, so Stu and Chloe relent to letting him sleep in it “just for tonight.” Chloe carries him back to the bedroom as he calls “Moo! Night night!” to everyone over her shoulder.

Stu, Connor, and Leon help themselves to some more candy.

Later, when he’s in bed scrolling through the pictures Chloe sent, Connor is glad that they did a group costume. He looks at the picture of the three of them on the porch for a long moment then makes it his lock screen photo.

November passes in a blur of life and checkups and work and trying a few solid foods with Emma (her favorite by far is mashed avocado).

Connor is excited about visiting his family. The night before the flight, he packs up his suitcase with his and Emma’s things while Leon gives her a bath down the hall. He hears Leon telling her some kind of story in German. Connor smiles to himself.

He’s done by the time Leon returns with Emma wrapped up in a hooded towel. She stretches and yawns as he lays her on the floor to get a fresh diaper and pajamas on.

“I’m sorry you can’t go with us,” Connor says.

“Yeah, some of us have to work around here.”

Connor rolls his eyes.

Leon continues. “It’s not like it’s my family. It’s all good.”

“How long has it been since you’ve seen your family anyway?”

Leon squints, doing the calculation in his head. “Six years?”

“Oh my gosh. That’s so long!”

Leon shrugs, but he doesn’t say anything.

“I mean, I know it’s not cheap to fly to Germany, but still.”

“What was it you said to me? You think your family hates you a little bit for leaving? Maybe I have some of that too.”

Neither of them speak for a minute. Leon wrestles Emma into the legs and arms of the pajamas, then scoops her back into his arms.

“There. You smell so good now,” he tells her as she buries her face into his neck. She’s so tired.

“You didn’t know that the relationship would end like it did,” Connor says, quietly.

Leon sways side to side and rubs circles into Emma’s back.

“I still left. I chose someone I had known for a few months over my own family.”

Connor gets up and turns on Emma’s night light, turns off the big lights. Her blinking gets slower and slower.

“Let’s make a deal,” Connor says. It’s easier to make bold statements in the semidarkness. “I’ll clear the air with my family on this trip about me leaving and living away from them. Talk it all out. And then you do it with yours. We shouldn’t–we’re too young to have those kinds of regrets.”

Leon steps closer so he can bend to lay Emma in her bassinet. She’ll be too big for it soon.

“Alright. You first, though,” Leon says.

“Well, yeah, the trip is this week.”

They both watch Emma slip into unconsciousness.

Connor finds himself asking, “Are you going to be okay while we’re gone? We can video call you or whatever.” Is that weird? He just thinks that Emma will miss him. He’s such a part of her routines now.

“I’ll be alright. But yeah, calls would be nice. And I’ll be sure to send you pictures of Len.”

Chapter Text

Leon drops them off at the airport in the morning. Emma begins to fuss as soon as he leaves them. Connor fears he was right with his line of thinking last night.

“It’s just for a few days,” he soothes.

She doesn’t settle down much as they go through security and wait to board. He lets his parents and Cam know that he is on his way and they all respond enthusiastically in the group chat.

It’s a long flight.

Connor has to walk the aisle with Emma, bouncing and distracting her. He can’t even count the number of apologies he offers to the attendants and passengers as he squeezes past them again and again.

They’re both frazzled by the time they get off the stupid plane. Emma squirms in his left arm as he tries to wrangle his carry on with his right. To make everything worse, his parents have texted that traffic is awful and they are running late to pick them up.

Connor sits at the first empty table he sees and tries to breathe. He needs to settle his racing heart and thoughts. Emma is on her way to crying again. Fuck, why did he think this was a good idea?

He calls Leon.

As soon as he picks up, Connor unleashes on him. “I’m sorry, I know you’re at work, but I need you to slap me if I ever try to do this again. Emma hated it, I hated it, and now we’re stuck here for God knows how long because my parents are running late….” Emma is crying now in the ear that’s not covered by the phone. The phone rings with an incoming video call from Leon. Connor answers, then turns Emma around and directs her attention to Leon.
The effect is immediate. She reaches for the phone with both hands and quiets. Her body relaxes against Connor. He sighs in relief.

Leon talks to her about everything and nothing until Connor’s mom messages that they are a few minutes away.

“We have to go. Thank you, seriously.”

“I’m glad you both made it safe.”

Emma cries again on the way to the car and while she’s getting buckled into her seat. Thankfully, she passes out a few minutes into the drive. Connor doesn’t say much, and his parents seem to understand. His mom reaches back and pats his leg from the front seat.

When they turn into the driveway of the house, Connor’s regrets disappear. He can’t wait to show it to Emma.

He takes her and their bag to his old room. Before the move, he had been in the process of “updating” it to make it more grown up. This translated to leaving only one Sidney Crosby poster on the wall and having some plants in the windowsill. Connor sets Emma down in her seat and works on assembling the Pack ‘n Play that his parents bought for visits.

Cam arrives later for dinner. Emma has woken up by then and is in a much better mood. She has been passed between his parents and has shown them all her tricks (giggling, rolling, clapping). She gladly does everything again for her uncle.

It’s fun for Connor to see how they are with her. No one would have described the McDavids as “boring”, but Emma loosens something up in them. Connor has never talked so much, but he has to tell them everything that Emma has been up to. His dad keeps making silly faces at her in her chair. Cam looks at her with a fondness that Connor didn’t know he even possessed. She’ll be able to ask him for anything, forever. His mom helps feed her and lovingly calls her a million pet names.

After dinner and cleaning up, his mom announces that she has to go get her “stash” and disappears to another room. Cam and Connor look at each other, concerned.

She returns with bags and bags of toys and clothes.

“Mooom,” Connor laughs.

“I know it looks like a lot, but we didn’t keep much of anything from when you two were little! I had to start all over.”

Emma is looking with interest, so Connor lays out a couch blanket on the floor and sets her down on her stomach. He starts grabbing packages. Cam has to leave and their dad walks him outside.

“Did you buy her the whole store?” Connor asks as he glides scissors through the tape of the tenth box.

“Hush. Let me spoil my granddaughter.”

Emma is delighted by all the new things. She keeps throwing them and squealing. Definitely a sign of approval.

“So,” his mom begins. “You and Leon.”

Connor looks over at her.

“Is there anything going on there?”

Connor crinkles his forehead in confusion. “No, we’re good.”

His mom laughs. “I mean, are you two–” She flaps her hands around. “Involved?”

Connor’s eyes widen. “Uh, no. Just roommates. Friends.”

She nods, not seeming totally convinced. “He’s very nice.”

“He is.”

“I’m glad you have someone there with you.”

This seems like as good of a segue as any. Connor reaches across Emma’s blanket and rests his hand on his mom’s knee. She rests her hand on top of his. The warmth emboldens him.

“I’m glad too. I think…I don’t think I was thinking clearly when I moved off. I had all these ideas and expectations and most of them weren’t even from me, just from comparing myself to other people.” He sighs. “I had no idea what I wanted or needed and it wasn’t fair to any of you to just leave. And now I have Em and I’m keeping her away from her family.” Connor finds himself saying, “I work remote now. We could come back here. If you and Dad would like that.”

His mom scoots closer to him. He leans his head over on her shoulder.

She takes a deep breath. “We’re not upset that you left. Do you think that?”

“Sometimes.”

“No, baby. Of course we miss having you here in the house, but we’re proud of you for going out and building your life. It’s okay that you didn’t know what you wanted. That’s what this time of your life is about. Figuring it out.”

“So you don’t want us to move back?”

“I would want you to if you were miserable and struggling, but it doesn’t sound like you are. It sounds like you’ve met some wonderful friends and had some wonderful opportunities.”

Connor smiles. “We have.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like you didn’t know that you wanted little miss here until you were on your own, either.”

Holy shit, she’s right. Connor can’t, doesn’t want to, imagine his life without Emma. And he never even thought about wishing for her until after the night Bowie went missing.

Connor pulls back to look at her. “You still won’t get to see her in person very much. What do we do about that?”

His mom leans forward and pulls Emma onto her lap. “The only thing we can do. Make the most of the time we get.”

Emma falls asleep pretty much as soon as her head hits the mat. Connor turns on Friends anyway so it feels like home.

He texts Leon, even with the time difference.

Connor: Are you watching Friends?
Leon: Yep
Connor: Which one?
Leon: Ross pretending to be British
Connor: I talked to my mom. Surprisingly she doesn’t secretly hate me
Leon: Ugh
Leon: Now I have to talk to my mom
Connor: It wasn’t that bad
Leon: I’ll do it tomorrow. Don’t want you and Em around to hear.
Connor: I’m sure it will be fine
Connor: You are feeding yourself right?
Leon: *eye roll emoji*
Leon: I’m fine. Went to Nursey’s for dinner. Going back tomorrow.
Connor: Ok
Connor: How are the dogs?
Leon: Good
Connor: Just fyi, my mom thought we might be a couple. So your mom might think that? Idk
Leon: That’s awesome
Leon: What did you say?
Connor: That we were just friends
Connor: And I’m out of your league
Leon: Bitch please
Connor: Ouch
Leon: I’m sorry you had to find out this way
Connor: I’ll never recover

Connor takes his mom’s advice for the rest of the trip and enjoys the time with his family. He forgot how good it was to have Emma with him for the whole day.
While his dad is at work during the day, he and his mom take Emma out. They go for walks with the stroller. They go play in the park. They go to the local library. They shop (and accumulate more toys for Emma). He indulges his mom in meeting with some of her friends so they can all meet her granddaughter.

In the evenings, they have dinner before spreading out in the living room. Emma plays while he and his parents watch TV or talk.

He and Emma also make sure to video call Leon in the evenings. He (usually unsuccessfully) tries to get the dogs to say hello. Emma attempts (more successfully) to chew on the phone while Connor is talking.

Eventually, the last night arrives. It’ll be an early morning to get to the airport. Connor isn’t looking forward to it again. After he lays Emma down, he paces around his room. It feels alien. He knows he offered, but he can’t move back here. This life feels so small compared to what he has now.
He does pack the poster in his suitcase. Emma needs to learn who the greats are.

His mom gives Emma a baby busy book for the plane, and, amazingly, it works to keep her calm. He doesn’t even have to leave his seat this time.

“Let’s go get Leo,” Connor tells Emma as they deboard.

Leon tries to take their suitcase first thing, and Connor brushes him off. He finds himself pulling Leon into a hug. Emma is squished between them. Leon hugs them back.

It’s good to be home.

Emma goes down for a nap as soon as they get back to the apartment. Connor spends a solid fifteen minutes giving Lenny a good scratch to make up for the lost days.

“Oh hey, how did it go with your mom?” he asks Leon.

Lenny whines. “What?” Connor tells him. “I can talk and scratch at the same time.”

Leon blows out a breath. “I made her cry.”

“Oh.”

“We talked for three hours I think? Then she said she’d talk to my dad. I said I’d talk to Kim. So I did. Made her cry too.”

“Oh no.”

Leon stares down at his fingernails. “I got to explain myself. They didn’t realize how serious the relationship was, I think. That was only a small part of it. We all got to catch up. Was nice”

“Good.”

“That wasn’t even the wildest part of my weekend.”

“Oh?”

Leon grins. “I was working last night and a bachelorette party came in for a game of laser tag. Brownie was stuck in the bathroom, long story, so I had to go over and help out. They liked me so much that they invited me to go out with them later when I got off. So I went.” He pulls out his phone and shows Connor a group picture of him, wearing a feather boa, in the middle of a group of exuberant women.

“Wait.” Connor grabs the phone and pulls it closer. In the back of the group are two familiar faces. “That’s Lauren and Celeste!”

“You know them?”

“They’re my friends from parenting class.”

Connor immediately pulls out his phone to text them in their group.

Connor: I see you both got to meet Leon this weekend
Celeste: It was all Lauren’s idea
Lauren: Damn it woman!
Lauren: Ok we were going to play laser tag anyway and I just suggested we go there because you had talked about working there and that it was good. We didn’t even know we were going to meet Leon!
Lauren: And we didn’t invite him out! It was one of our friends!
Celeste: We had so much fun with him! He did karaoke with us hehe
Connor: Please tell me you recorded that
Celeste: [Video 104.2 MB]
Lauren: But Connor! Now that you’ve brought it up…
Connor: What
Lauren: Leon was missing you and Em BIG TIME
Celeste: Omg yes he kept talking about you both
Lauren: And showing pictures and videos of Emma
Celeste: It was so sweet
Lauren: Our friend group has adopted him now. Like seriously. Claire invited him to the wedding. You all should come! I know she won’t mind.
Connor: When is it?
Lauren: December 13!

Lauren sends several more messages with the time, venue, and dress code details.

Connor makes sure to play the video audibly from the couch. Leon appears behind him in no time, frowning in disapproval.

“Not bad,” Connor comments. “So you got invited to Claire’s wedding?”

“Mhm.”

“Are you gonna go?”

Leon shrugs. “Probably not.”

“What if Emma and I went with you?”

Leon tilts his head, considers. “Okay.”