#jschalttlive

Texas was hard. Okay, maybe that was his fault, but how in the actual fuck was he meant to know that the state wasn't going to have electric or water? The first night made him rethink the move, fatherhood, and his life.

Aurora had cried when she found out they were leaving New York, she begged and begged him to have them stay and god does he wish he listened to her. The packing was worse, watching her eyes fill with tears every time he put something in a box, no matter how much he reassured her that their stuff was going to meet them in Texas she would still weep and mummer goodbyes to each and every thing. It took him a week to find all her toys that she hid, attempting to get them to stay. Maybe she was onto something.

Flying into Texas with 2 carry ons was going to be easy. They would get to the house, she would wear the pajamas in her suitcase, her favorite might he add, and go to sleep and sometime the next day their stuff would get there. Except none of that happened. He had to carry both their suitcases, because Aurora refused to walk in the airport- and you know what, fine he said, he understood, she was a kid and tired and didn't want to move. He could manage his backpack and the suitcases, easy peasy. Hell, even the rental car was easy. No line, the women at the counter gave Aurora a lollipop, to which she even beamed a "'tank you!" to the women unprompted. The rental car was nice and the second he pulled out of the airport he could tell his luck ran out. It was snowing. In it of itself that wasn't an issue, he's dealt with lots of snow before and Aurora loved the snow. It turns out that the rest of Texas did not feel the same.

After nearly two hours of the most god awful driving, which he would happily trade for New York City traffic in a heartbeat rather than every Texan learning to drive in the snow in the first time. "why is it taking so long?" Aurora would eventually call up to the front seat. "I dunno kiddo" he would call back to her

"are we goin to lego?" the only car rides this long she knew about were when they were going into the city

"no kid, we're goin to the new house" he reminded her

"whatta 'bout… the dinosaurs?"

"'rora we're not seein' the dinosaurs-" he sighs

a big gasp fills the back seat of the truck "build a bear?!"

"aurora" he glances at her through the rear view mirror, before quickly looking straight, this wasn't new york driving and he couldn't trust anyone else on the roads. In the short time he looked at her, he could see her small face fall. She adored going into the city, mostly because they were going to a toy store or to the natural history museum where she would stare slack jawed at the fossils. "we're going to the new house, remember?" he prompts softly

"yeah" she mumbles, he can hear her pouting, "I 'member"

"are you excited?" he attempts

"no" she huffs

he hums, making an upset sound "'no'? why not? it'll be fun" when he hears another huff he sends another quick glance into the rear view mirror "'s snowin' and you aren't excited?" he tries, knowing she would be excited to be in the snow.

"dont 'ave my coat" she mumbles "you said 'm not 'llowed in'da snow without it" her voice upset and disappointed.

"how 'bout this" he scans the street in front of him, man no one it texas could drive to save their lives, "when we get to the new house, 'll let you in the snow… without your coat"

a loud gasp fills the truck "really?!"

he nods "yeah, how's that sound?" he offers

"for real? for real, we can play in the snow?" he knows just by the tone in her voice she is vibrating in excitement.

—

The driveway had snow on it, crunching under the tires. The headlights casting two beams of light onto the garage. "well?" he tries, fully turning to look at her.

"why are all the lights off?" she tilts her head

"cause we haven't gone in yet, bub" he unbuckles, moving around the car to carry her. "you excited?"

she shrugs from her place in his arms, head on his shoulder. She burrows into his hold, the snow causing her to seek his warmth. "crunch, crunch, crunch" she mummers as his boots crunch the snow. her small sound effects make him smile, her constant narrations always made him smile.

"crunch crunch" he echos, bouncing her higher on his hip. he fishes the key the realtor gave him out of his pocket and unlocks the door. The house is dark and freezing when the door opens, and he just assumes that its because of the snow and not having someone living in the house. "ta da!" he shifts her so she can see "whatta'ya think, kid?" he probes.

"dark" the sound muffled into his shirt.

"yeah, dark well… let there be light-" he flips the light switch, frowning when nothing happens. He hums, attempting the switch again. When nothing happens he begins to spam the light switch, and yet nothing happens.

"'s still dark" she reminds him

"thank you, bub" he teases

—

The house didn't have electricity or heat. Great. no it was great. his little girl is tired, cold, afraid of the dark, and holding back tears. He has her wrapped in his jacket and her blanket, wishing he packed more blankets and jackets in their carry ons. "I know, bub" he coos, rubbing her arms "I know 'm sorry" he mummers. He pulls his phone up, checking the status of the power and frowns when he sees no foreseeable positive outcome. "hey" he whispers to her.

she sniffles at him "wha?" she mumbles into his chest

"you wanna go onna adventure?" he tries to cheer her up. he frowns seeing her shake her head "no? why not?"

"already went on an adventure" she huffs "I don't like this adventure"

his heart breaks hearing that, knowing that he dragged her here and this was the experience. "hey.. do you wanna go to a hotel?" he frowns at the lack of answer "c'mon you like hotels… they might have candies for you?"

"will it be cold?" her voice small, big brown eyes staring up at him

"no" he shakes his head "no we're gonna be all snug and there's gonna be lights and everything" His words finally caused her to nod, the promise of warmth and lighting making her more excited. "yeah?" he looks down, seeing her nodding

"yeah" she nods back. He scoops her up, causing her to immediately burrow into the crook of his neck.

The drive to the hotel was more bearable. Light was at the end of the tunnel was visible, there was a promise of heat, an actual bed, electricity, and water was better than being offered a million dollars at this point. He could see her pink sneakers swinging back and forth from her place in the booster seat, excitement finally filling her. she swayed to the radio, he was happy to find a channel that wasn't static or the news.

"all the lights are gone" Aurora had unbuckled herself and clambered onto the center console when he parked. He didn't have the heart to remind her not to do it.

"yeah" he breaths out, trying to control his anger

"…why are the lights gone?" she looks at him.

He moves his gaze from the dark hotel to his daughter "i dunno… they told me they had power, kiddo" he watches the tears build in her eyes "i know kid, 'm so sorry," tears falling down her cheeks.

The hiccups had started "i wanna go home," her words causing him to pull her in his lap cradling her into his chest.

"i know kid… 'm sorry" he presses his lips pressing against her hair.

—

Calling mizkif was a last ditch effort to save this move. Normally Schlatt would be embarrassed with how quickly he agreed to be in a stream, but the promise of getting Aurora a place to sleep in warmth over powered anything.

"we're gonna go stay with one of my friends, okay bub? we're gonna be all warm and there's gonna be a big bed-" he tries to console her hiccuping sobs.

"I don't wanna stay with anybody" she cries into him "i wanna go home" she sobs

"i know bud, but we cant… they're are no planes goin'" he attempts to explain "'s gonna be a few days… and we're gonna go to the new house and it'll all be okay" all he gets in response is a whimper and her burrowing further into him. "'s that gonna be okay? hmm? can you be brave for just a bit longer?" he decides that the small grumble was the only answer he was gonna get.

He's able to tuck her into the guest bed, before he was forced to earn his keep on stream, "how's that, huh? nice and warm and comfy?" She burrows into the blanket with a sniffle, humming in agreement, happy to be warm. He cards his hand through her hair "you gonna be okay if I go work for a bit?" he mumbles. He smiles at her small tired nod "'ll be back soon, m'kay 'rora?" all he gets is another tried nod as her eyes struggle to stay open.

His knees ache as he stands, waiting for a moment watching her eyes fall shut and her breathing steady. He presses a kiss to her forehead, "night, kid" he whispers.

—

the two weeks at Mizkif's was not so bad. Aurora fell into her routine relatively quickly, and soaked up all the attention she was given. She learned what rooms she was aloud in very quickly, because the other rooms would house someone who was willing to pay attention to her. The second he went out and bought a snow coat, since hers was in a FedEx box god knows where, she begged, pleaded, and pulled on anyone in sight to go into the snow with her.

Schlatt had made himself comfortable on the couch, laptop in front of him running the editing program with the soft hum of the fans. It was nice having other people around to keep Aurora entertained, he loved the kid to death, but attempting to edit with a six year old who loved attention was a bit difficult. If anything, the few weeks here was the most help he's had with Aurora since he lived with his parents. He looks up from the screen displaying one of the streams from earlier in the week when he hears her giggles fill the room. She had roped a few of the girls into playing some Jurassic Park game that she found at target. Schlatt isn't fully sure where it came from, since Aurora had wandered with one of the girls during the house's target run and came back proudly holding the box and beaming so wide that the mask couldn't obscure it. The game was compliated, he knew that much. The instructions were a novel and the board folded out at least four times, but he couldn't say no to the way she lit up. Aurora had figured out the basic gist and ran with it, one person acts as the dinosaurs and the others are the humans attempting to escape. Growls, rawrs, and the sound of plastic dinosaurs hitting cardboard cut through the typing and clicking from everyone's editing.