#{jake: thread}

[tfhxjake]

--closed thread for @jessehart​--

With the Mighty Ducks tucked up in bed (or at least they were supposed to be and Jake had suspicions that he may spot one or more them trying to sneak into the party later), Jake was given a rare night off. He could be himself, not Dad, for the next couple of hours and boy was he looking forward to it. Except, his thoughts kept going back to his kids, hoping they were OK. Maybe shaking off the responsibilities of being parents wasn’t as easy as he had thought.

Holding a bottle of tequila he had managed to keep with him for over a year, he went in search of a new drinking buddy. “Jesse!” He proclaimed when he came across the other man. “You like tequila? Wanna have a couple of shots with me?”

[tfhxjake]

Dance, Dance

--closed thread with @lydicdonovan​--

While Jake had only been a part of the community for a short time, he felt the drastic change in the atmosphere. People were actually in good moods, making eye contact and even smiling. It was like they were going to be able to forget their troubles for one night and Jake was on board for that. 

Jake surveyed the throng of people gathered and noticed Lydia was still hard at work, trying to feed everyone like always. Jake strode over to her, a grin on his face. “We’re gonna dance together,” he told her. “Either you come willingly now or I carry you. Your choice.” Jake may have been acting on more than a little dutch courage after drinking a few shots of tequila.

[tfhxjake]

Look at all them chickens!

--closed thread for @ofamiable​--

“CHICKENS!”

Trying to get the Mighty Ducks to unpack their few belongings in their new rooms was proving to be difficult as their rooms overlooked the space outside dedicated to the community’s livestock. All five of the kids were looking out of the window, squealing and pointing at the animals outside.

“Yeah, yeah, chickens,” Jake said as he carried in the last of their bags. “But first, unpacking! We could make it a game. Whoever unpacks their stuff first, wins!” He was trying to make the chore sound fun but he couldn’t compete with the prospect of fussing a bunch of chickens, apparently.

“CHICKENS!” “I want to play with them!” “Can we go talk to the chickens?” “Do they know English?” “No, they only talk in chicken!” 

The Mighty Ducks all spoke over one another and somehow Jake was able to distinguish which one said what. Their excited jabbering meant no matter how fun he made unpacking, he wasn’t going to get anywhere until the Ducks met the chickens.

Not even five minutes later, Jake had accompanied the Ducks down to the farm to meet the chickens and the other animals. He was giving Erin a piggy-back as they toured around with Jake nagging the other Ducks to keep their voices down so they didn’t spook the animals. He noticed one of the livestock handlers was close by and thought he should probably go say hi, sorry my kids are running rampant around your farm, i promise they aren’t always like this as they do sleep sometimes. 

“Promise to be nice?” Jake asked Erin as he started to walk over to the handler. “I’m always nice,” Erin snapped which she punctuate by blowing a raspberry in his ear. Jake laughed but his laughter stopped when he realised who the handler was. A ghost from his past who wasn’t actually a ghost. She was very real and very much now stood in front of him.

“Lacey?” Of all the places that they might’ve run into each other again, Jake would have never picked a hospital in Alabama. “Who’s Lacey?” Erin asked before peeking over his shoulder to get a look at the woman. “Oh wow, she’s pretty. Hi Lacey, you’re pretty!”

[tfhxjake]

Parent-Teacher Conference

--closed thread for @rdcnvcrs​--

It had been the Mighty Ducks’ first day in school and already Jake had been called into a parent-teacher conference. Actually, it had been Jake who had called the conference but only because he was trying to anticipate one being called. His five kids hadn’t experienced school like this before. Now he was expecting them to comply to a structure utterly alien to them. Of course there was going to be teething problems; teething problems that involved the kids eating and rolling in dirt. In the words of the ever-wise Charlie Brown, good grief!

“Listen,” he said to Rebekah, the poor woman who had tried to teach his feral children a thing or two earlier that day, “I know, I know they aren’t exactly well-behaved. But they’re trying their best and their Dad, me, doesn’t know what he’s doing when it comes to raising them to be fully functioning human beings. Because I never was a fully functioning human being myself.” He let out a long sigh. “I mean, that’s why we came here. You guys are trying to teach kids and these kids need all the help they can get.” He paused, rubbed his rough stubble with his hand for a moment. “They’re smart, super smart, way smarter than me. They’ll pick things up real quick. They just might be a little rough around the edges for a while.”