The Life of Single Parents

Chapter 4: Perfume

The man stopped, taking a step back after sniffing the air around them. "Are you-... are you wearing cake scented perfume?"

"It's cupcake, b*tch-" Aaron huffed when he heard Hamilton bust up laughing not too far away, "now would you leave me alone? I have work to do and if I'm not mistaken you do too," with a folder of paperwork under one arm he walked by his coworker and went into his office.

It was pretty obvious Aaron was not in a very good mood today. He'd had a considerable lack of sleep and far too much concern for his daughter who had been having a string of nightmares over the past week, no explanation as to why.

He closed his office door behind him and moved to sit behind his desk. Taking a deep breath, Aaron found himself pinching the bridge of his nose. He had a terrible headache and this day couldn't end soon enough.

It was only a while after that outburst that Hamilton made his way to Aaron's office, he opened the door after a brief knock and then closed the door behind himself as he entered. No permission needed because Alex went anywhere he pleased, which was always frustrating and obnoxious in Aaron's opinion but especially in that very moment when he wished not to be disturbed.

"So," Alex drawled with a grin on his face. He sat down and swiveled the rolling chair ever so slightly. "'It's cupcake, b*tch'? Can I assume you got Theo perfume?"

Aaron looked a little bashful and sighed. "Look, it's been a long day... and yes, she saw it and wanted it so I got it for her and helped her put it on." That resulted in him smelling like it too.

"If it makes you feel any better, it's not that strong. That guy had to be invading your personal space in order to smell it-"

Aaron put down the folder of paperwork on his desk, sighing before leaning over to be closer to Alex's direction. He interrupted Alex as he did so, "not that strong but you're saying you can smell it from over there?"

"... Well... It's a small room and you've been in here for a while-"

"So it is then."

Alex pursed his lips before shrugging with a nod, "yeah. You don't notice it right away though it's just something if you sit long enough you can... Does she usually wear perfume—Theo I mean."

"No, but she saw it and wanted it and I didn't have the heart to tell her no after everything that has happened lately." Burr sighed as he settled back against his chair. "She's been having a hard time."

"Oh," Alex moved his chair closer to Aaron's desk as he listened intently. "What's been going on with the little miss? What's been making it so she's having a hard time?"

"Theo has been having terrible nightmares," Aaron sighed, "so she's been coming and getting me. The only way I know how to handle it is to stay up watching her favorite movies until she falls asleep and I can tuck her back in bed."

"And how long does it normally take her to fall back asleep?"

Hamilton asked his question without malice, but that didn't stop Burr from finding it annoying. "I'd say a couple of movies, two to four depending on how bad the nightmare was or how long she's laid awake in bed dwelling on those thoughts."

"Oh sh*t, that's a lot of movies. So you're saying it can take almost four hours for her to fall back asleep? That's... That's pretty bad, there has to be a better way of handling that. You're both not getting any sleep that way, no wonder you're being a-... emotional," he drawled.

Burr looked less than impressed with that response, "just speak your mind. You're better at doing that than anything else so there isn't much point in not doing it."

"... I'll take that as a compliment for your sake," Alex pointed an accusing finger at Aaron before continuing on his train of thought. "Has she dealt with nightmares before? I guess what I'm saying is, do you have any experience dealing with something similar to this?" With Aaron giving a tired shaking of his head, Alex kept going. "Have you tried just sending her back to bed?"

"She comes to me in tears, I'm not just going to send her back to bed. That sounds horrible. What kind of a parent would I be if I sent her back to her room after she's had a nightmare when she's just looking for comfort?" He sighed once more, "it's my fault for not knowing how to comfort her." Aaron rested his head in his hands with another tired sigh, "I'm sure her mother would've known how to handle this."

Alex tilted his head slightly, "her mother... Is she not-"

Aaron quickly realized his mistake and cut Alex off, "is there anything you needed Hamilton or did you just come to discuss matters of no real substance to your workload?"

"Hey," Alex raised his hands in surrender, "I'll leave it be." Clearly the subject of Aaron's wife was not one he wished to even gloss over, Alex had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't due to divorce based on the way he phrased that slip of the tongue. "I just came to make sure you were doing alright... you look exhausted."

"And now you know why," he sighed, "I'm fine."

"Well at least it's sweet that your daughter is willing to come and get you when she's afraid, right? She certainly adores you," but who could blame her? It was obvious Aaron loved his kid with all of his heart. "I know Philip gets nightmares sometimes but he never comes and tells me, I have to check on him to see if he needs comfort. I'm typically up so it's not a big deal but... you know."

"... Hamilton, do you ever go to anyone when you get scared?"

"I don't get scared-"

"So you're telling me he doesn't tell you when he's scared, your son that tries to be just like you, and you don't tell anyone if you're scared? Please tell me if you see the correlation of that."

"... well-..." he looked to the side in thought before sighing. "I should probably talk to him about that."

Aaron nodded before putting his two cents on the situation, "he probably doesn't think he can come to you. If you're never afraid then how is he supposed to be? I can't imagine it wouldn't make him feel like he comes up short in regards to you if he did show any level of fear."

Alex sighed, "you might be right."

"That's a great compliment coming from you, Hm?" Or at least he joked about it being that way. A joke at Hamilton's expense but the man didn't seem to mind too much.

"I said might," he stuck his index finger up in clarification.

Aaron gave a soft hum of laughter at his addition. "Just keep in mind, there's nothing wrong with being afraid-"

"See, you can say that because everyone knows you're a coward-"

"Alright," Aaron shook his head with a mildly annoyed expression when he cut Alex off. "You can leave now. We're done talking."

Alexander stood from his chosen seat with laughter. "Sure, I'll let you have this one. I do have to get back to work. It's been a pleasure, Burr." He smiled at the man and Aaron nodded in response. "I'll talk to you some other time," he spoke quietly for once in his life before he walked out the door, closing it behind him.