Daddy Issues

Beauty & the Beast (part 1)

“Sweetie, daddy has to go on a business trip next week to France.”

Aleks looked up at Steve from where she was laying on his lap, and showed him the saddest of faces.

Their relationship had become so deep in just a few short weeks, and the thought of being apart put Aleks into a panic.

“I don’t think I can cope with you being in a different country, so far away. I need to feel your body against me while I sleep. I need to feel you stroking my hair. I need you to put me to sleep at night. Daddy, daddy, daddeeeee. Please don’t go.”

Aleks started to tear up, and it pained Steve to see it. He didn’t have a choice about the business trip, and he knew it would really unsettle Aleks. He had known about it a week or so earlier, but he didn’t want to mention it too soon. He knew that the wait for him to leave would be really hard for both of them.

“Baby, it’s only for 3 nights. I’ll be busy during the day, but we can spend all the evenings together on video chat. I don’t want to socialise with anyone, I just want to be with you. We can spend the evenings just as we do when we’re together.”

A tear rolled down Aleks’s cheek, and Steve wiped it with the back of his finger.

“I just feel so attached to you daddy. My heart is aching already, just thinking about it. I know you have to go, but I’m gonna find it so hard. I’m worried you won’t come back or something, and that this will have just been a dream. I'm sorry I'm so clingy. I think I have separation anxiety.”

Aleks threw her arms around Steve’s neck and wept into his shoulder.

“It’s ok sweetheart, this isn’t a dream. I’m gonna come back to you as soon as the trip is over. I’ll miss you, but daddy loves you so much. Just think what it will be like when I’m back and we hug for the first time in several days. My love for you is going to grow stronger while we are apart. I’ve never felt this strongly about anyone before. You know that.”

Aleks continued to cry and held on to Steve tighter than before. When she stopped crying she spoke.

“Can we do what we do at home and watch movies together? Can we use Google Meet and share the screen so we can watch something at the same time? We can have our cameras on too, so that we can see each other. I’d love that daddy. When we get sleepy we can leave the camera on and sleep together. I think I’d cope with the evenings better that way.”

“Of course, my beautiful darling. We can have breakfast together too, and shower and dress together. We can make love as well. It will be just as if we were together in the same room.”

Aleks’s spirit lifted when she heard this. All the time she could see her daddy on screen she would feel comforted and reassured. She suddenly felt really little and vulnerable, and incredibly clingy. She started to think about the movies they could watch together while Steve was away. Her head was in little space and she thought about all the Disney films she had seen.

“Daddy, daddy. On your first night in the hotel, can we watch Beauty and the Beast together? Please, please, please. It’s my favourite movie. Pretty please.”

Aleks released her grip on Steve’s neck and put her nose against his, looking deep into his eyes.

“Say yes daddy, pleeeeeease.”

Steve smiled at Aleks. “Of course, princess.”

Aleks threw her arms around her daddy again and squeezed him so hard it took his breath away.

"Thank you my daddy. Thank you soooooo much."

Aleks smiled from ear to ear, comforted by Steve's words. She started to think that the business trip would actually make them grow closer. She was even looking forward to Steve's first night away and the romantic evening they would spend together watching her favourite Disney film.