2.9 A Date

"Dot! What's up? Do you want another tattoo?" Alistaire says pleasantly. 

At Dot's hard expression, his smile fades. 

"...Dot?" 

"Alistaire... why didn't you come to my costume party?" her phone rings, but she ignores it. 

"I told you, I was busy with work-," 

"But it was after 7." 

"I was working on tattoo designs," some irritation creeps into his voice. 

"You couldn't even take a break for a few hours? It's important for me that my family meets you..." 

"Are you sure they want to meet me? They don't think I'm some old guy who ditched you with a kid?" he voices his concerns. 

Dot's eyes become round with surprise, "What? Of course they don't think that. They all love Kaira, and I'm sure they'd like you. You just have to talk to them." 

Alistaire still isn't convinced, but before he can reply, Dot's phone rings again. 

She answers it. "Justin, stop calling!" she snaps, hanging up. 

Alistaire looks at her and suddenly feels...worried. 

He isn't making her happy, is he? 

"I'm sorry about that. Justin never seems to get the message. Anyways, can't you give it a try? It doesn't have to be a huge event or anything. Just come for dinner or something." 

"I...don't know. Can we talk about this after my shift?" Alistaire doesn't want to be caught slacking off during his shift. What if a customer walks in upstairs and he isn't there? 

"It's always after work, huh." 

"Dot..." Alistaire tries to think of something to say to her sad expression, "Look...I'll try to come over. I promise. But tonight isn't good for me. I promised to send a tattoo design to a client later this evening." 

Dot still looks unhappy, but decides to relent. "Fine. Could I come over instead, then? After you're done with the design." 

Alistaire makes some mental calculations. If he works on the design right after work... 

"If coming over past 10 works for you." 

It'll have to. 

After tucking Tatum in for the night and putting Kaira to bed, Dot arrives at Alistaire's at 10:30. 

"You look nice," Dot compliments, smiling when she sees his bowtie. 

"So do you. Your hair looks great like that. Anyways, I figure a date is reason enough to dress up a bit." It's been so long since the last time they met up like this... 

 "So, do you have anything planned for our date?" Dot leans in, smiling flirtatiously.

Alistaire returns her smile, "Well first, let's get you out of that coat..."

Dot leaves early the next morning after breakfast. 

"Aw, mommy missed you too," she coos when Kaira reaches for her. 

She pokes Kaira's belly, "Are you hungry? You want some mi-mi?" She adopts Kaira's word for milk. 

Kaira giggles, "Mi-mi!" 

She spends the day with Kaira, working to get her to use the potty. Kaira doesn't like toilet training, making this task even more difficult. 

When the sink suddenly bursts dramatically, Dot gives Kaira a sidelong glance. 

"You're free....for now." 

Kaira can't crawl away fast enough. 

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AN: I had to cut the chapter off here or else it would be far too long. 

For some reason Alistaire never comes to parties he's invited to, but comes if he's invited over individually, hence why he hasn't appeared in a while.