The Adventures of Alice the Second

Oneshot - Seth Does Alice's Hair

"Good morning, Alice!" The words pierced through Alice's dreamland loudly and suddenly, but managed to not scare her. Groggily, the little girl sat up and stretched. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, letting out a cute little noise as she did so. The owner of the voice that had woken her cooed at how adorable she was as she did so. "Did you sleep well, sweetie?"

"Uh huh..." Alice nodded slowly. She rubbed her eyes again and, when she finally opened them, she found Seth standing in the door frame with a smile.

"Breakfast is almost ready, sweetheart. Make sure you're ready." He winked and closed the door.

Yawning again, Alice sat there for a minute, getting used to the feeling of being awake. Finally getting out of bed, she stretched again, and then made her way over to her clothes. Slowly, she slipped her dress over head, pulled up her stockings, and then slipped her feet into her cute little kitten heels. She was about to put her bow on too, until she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. Oh... oh, her bed head was horrible! She scrambled over to the vanity. Grabbing the brush, she began trying to run it through her hair, but the knots were too much for her tiny weak hands alone, and all she did was pull. She kept trying, only to get the same result. She let out a frustrated cry as the brush got stuck on a particularly big knot, tears started to prick at her eyes, both out of pain and exasperation.

A knocking came from the door. Alice turned to it, brush frozen in place. "Alice?" Came Seth's voice. "Sweetheart, is everything okay?"

Alice let out a choked 'no', before turning back to the mirror and trying again to brush out the large knot. She let out a small cry of pain. That's when Seth burst in. "What happened?! Are you hurt?!" He demanded, looking around wildly. That's when he saw her standing in front of the vanity, tears running down her cheeks as she tried so hard to brush her hair so she could finish getting ready. Seth's face gained a sympathetic look. "Oh, baby, you should've told me. I would've helped you." Making his way over to her, he took the brush from her tiny hands, untangling it from the knot. He gestured to the seat in front of the vanity. "Sit down, dear. Let me do it for you."

Alice did as she was told. No sooner had she done that, Seth took the brush to the back of her head and started combing it through the little girl's blonde hair. His strokes of the brush were soft and gentle, so as not to hurt Alice's head. He made small talk with her as he did so. Once he was done, he set the brush down and began separating her hair. Taking sections of her hair in his hands, he began twisting them into a simple dual section braid with experienced hands. Alice relaxed at the movements, the feeling of her hair being done feeling really good and satisfying to her. After finishing the twist, he used a small hairband to tie the end and then moved onto the other side, mirroring the pattern. Once he'd finished the second rope, his expert hands joined the two together to form a simple twisted crown in Alice's blonde hair. He stepped back, looking around for her bow. When he found it, he grabbed the headband and placed it on her head before he clapped his hands together. "All done!"

Alice admired her hair in the mirror. It was a simple hairstyle, but it still looked beautiful. She smiled, tears now fully dried. She looked behind her to Seth. "Thank you, Seth!" She beamed.

"Of course, sweetie!" Seth said. "I'm your papa here. And I'll always help out my precious daughter!" He held his hand out. "Come on, breakfast must be ready by now. What do you say we go and have some before those barbarians eat everything?" Alice nodded happily, slipping her tiny hand into his big one. With content smiles on their faces, they made their way to the dining room.

Word Count: 705