And you been whipped by the forces that are inside you, gotta come on up to the house

“Really?” Nick was surprised by Sylvia’s proposal. “This is how you want to spend our day together? Just this?”

“Yes,” Sylvia said with a deep smile, looking out at the waves as they gently rolled across the shore of the beach. “This will be just perfect.”

Nick stared at her, not sure what to say. After the intense discussion with Sylvia about her clash with Dakota the night before, something had come over the former host, something had changed about her again. And he was hesitant to probe deeper into the mess that was Sylvia’s psyche, given her prior emotionally instability.

Was this a result of her finally confronting the lingering feelings that she held for her mother? Or was it a result of Nick’s talk about the transference of those feelings towards him? Or something else altogether, perhaps?

Nick honestly didn’t know. But he didn’t mind spending the day at the beach… if that was really what Sylvia wanted to do.

“What do you think, Daddy?” She stepped forward and held out her arms, presenting herself to him. They’d made a quick stop off at the hotel so she could get changed, and now she was wearing a bright, frilly bathing suit.

And because of her transformation, it was definitely a skimpy one.

“I borrowed it from Vivian,” she explained. “Turns out we’re pretty similar in size, although she’s a little taller than me!”

Nick had no comment, given the subject matter. Discussions about physical features just came naturally to Sylvia like this, but for him, it was a little more of a sensitive issue.

Sylvia still had more to say, though. “I think I like this one better than the other ones I had,” she said, playing with the straps. “You remember that old bikini I used to wear? Man, that one sure was pretty bold, huh?”

She threw back her head and laughed as Nick pictured the bright red bikini she’d shown off for the first competition.

“Yeah, that one really stood out,” he said with an awkward chuckle. It was hard to judge where the line was sometimes. After all, Sylvia was practically unrecognizable from back in those days. It wasn’t just that her body had drastically changed, or even that she no longer colored her hair blonde, or changed the style. No, Sylvia just had a different atmosphere about her. Still mischievous and playful, but with genuine mirth, as opposed to the barely-restrained malice and egoism that he remembered from her.

She really has changed, he thought, admiring the young woman standing in front of him, preening under his gaze. I wonder if it’s because she’s opened up to us. Or maybe this is who she really was even back then, but she was so stuck imitating Dakota that she couldn’t show us. Or maybe it’s something even more complicated than that.

Regardless, there was only one Sylvia. She was a real person, whatever Dakota might say, and Nick wanted to know her and understand her for who she was. And that meant spending time with her, and giving her the freedom to do what she wanted to do. Something that, if his hunch was right, she had seldom been afforded back when she was under Dakota’s thumb.

So if Sylvia wanted to spend the day together at the beach, that’s what they would do. Although Nick was hesitant to call it a “date” in so many words, even if that was exactly what it was.

It doesn’t help that she’s stuck calling me “Daddy” either, or that just a few hours ago she was determined to treat me as solely her father instead of a romantic prospect. And after what just happened with her mother… yeah.

Romance was likely the last thing on Sylvia’s mind.

Then again, he considered, that’s kind of always been the case. She’s always been way more focused on sexuality than genuine romance.

Yeah, Nick wasn’t even close to being ready to go there. And he knew for a FACT that Sylvia wasn’t, even if she tried to say otherwise.

It left him in a rather awkward position. Hopefully they could just have fun today and he could try and take her mind over what had happened with her mother.

“Daddy, why the long face?” Sylvia asked, suddenly popping up in front of him.

Nick wished he could say that he had handled her sudden appearance with coolness and composure, but that was very much not the case. He recoiled in surprise, eyes going wide, as Sylvia covered her mouth and giggled.

“Sorry, Daddy,” she said cutely, batting her eyelashes. “You just looked so serious and lost in thought, I couldn’t help myself! Come on, we’re at the beach! Don’t you want to have fun with your little girl?” She batted her eyelashes again.

This time, though, it was less “cutesy” and more overtly seductive.

Nick felt his stomach sink. He fought back his urge to immediately chastise her, and sighed. “Sorry, Sylvia. Just… lost in thought, that’s all.” He was afraid that any direct rebuff of her affection would lead to a bad response, so he had to handle himself very carefully here. Fortunately, after back to back dates with Cinder and Ella and Morgana, he’d been brushing up on those talents. If he didn’t know any better, he might have assumed that Dakota had been preparing him for this!

…But that would imply that she took any notice of Sylvia whatsoever. And he was sadly aware that was not the case.

Unfortunately for Nick, Sylvia may have had the temperament of a budding teen still filled with childish wonder, but she was a lot savvier than that. She immediately sensed something was amiss and stroked her chin, studying him suspiciously.

“Is… is something the matter?” Nick asked, trying to play it cool.

Sylvia furrowed her brow and kept staring at him. Then she shook her head. “No… not particularly,” she said, taking a step back and holding up her hands. “Just wondering what’s up with you… you’ve been giving me these leery looks for a while now, and I don’t think it’s for the fun reason, you know?” She gave him a saucy wink that almost made him shudder.

“…No, Sylvia,” he said dryly, shaking his head. “It’s not for the ‘fun’ reason.” He tried to keep emotion out of it. If Sylvia was hurt by something THAT simple and direct, well… there wasn’t a lot Nick could do at that point. He had to hope she could take it on the chin, and to his relief, she just laughed it off and waved away any concerns.

“I should have expected as much,” she chirped, striking a coy pose. “After all, this really isn’t your style, is it, Daddy?”

Nick blinked. “Huh? My style?” What was she talking about.

“My hair,” she said, gently stroking her violet ponytail. “It’s quite saucy I think, and fitting for your adorable daughter, but… we’re not doing that anymore, are we?”

The playfulness drained from her voice and suddenly she was giving him a serious look again. It made him shiver a bit. This was a crucial moment, he could sense, and he opened his mouth to respond, but before he could…

“I’m not upset, just so you know,” Sylvia cut Nick off, sensing what he was about to say. She shook her head. “I mean, how can I be? You care about me, Daddy. You really do. But… I think you’re right. I think… a part of me was trying to use you to get back that parental connection I was missing, with… with Dakota.”

She bit the inside of her cheek.

“It isn’t right to do that,” she said firmly, shaking her head. “I know that, trust me. You’re important to me, Daddy. But Dakota… she’s my mother. Even if she doesn’t feel that way about me. I can’t just decide that you’re my Daddy then, and have that be that. …It doesn’t work that way.”

No, it didn’t.

That being said…

“Sylvia… it’s not that I’m opposed to being a father figure to you,” Nick said, stepping forward. Definitely not a “Daddy” but a father figure, that was fine with him. “I wouldn’t know where to start, but… I could try. If that’s really what you wanted.”

Sylvia looked up into his eyes and saw just how much he cared about her. Nick’s feelings for her had always been a complicated thing, she knew, almost as much as her own feelings for him. That had been the case since the day they first met, in her office. When she saw the lust he had for her, and it made her feel all tingly and excited.

Back then, Sylvia barely understood what romance and sex even were. Besides in the abstract sense, anyway. Of course understanding those things was vital to being a host so Dakota had given her that knowledge, but to actually experience it for herself…

…Well, things had gone in a very strange direction, that much was clear. But for Sylvia, that was just fine. Even if things were complicated now…

What did she want from him? What was her heart telling her?

“…I don’t know if I want you to be my father or not, Daddy,” Sylvia said, silently acknowledging the awkwardness of that as she stepped forward and took him by the hand. “What I want… is to explore the relationship we have together right now, and see where it takes us. If you’re okay with that, I mean. Are you?”

She gazed into his eyes, and saw him gazing back at her. That brought a smile to her lips.

Her Daddy loved her. She knew he did. Maybe not in any way he could properly categorize, but that didn’t matter to a lonely little girl who had never received the affection she so desperately craved. And while a part of her did still feel a yearning for him to be a parent to her, there was another part of her that wanted even more strongly for him to be something else.

Which brought her back to her original point.

“…So like I said,” she said, retrieving her hand and flashing a coy smile, “this look might be just fine for a daughter, Daddy. But… I’m not quite sure that’s the look I should be going for on our date together. Since that’s what this is, after all. A date.”

With a single smile she removed all remaining ambiguity from the situation. Nick was properly convinced now, staring at her like this, that what she was after was a genuine, romantic date. Whether or not it would turn sexual, well…

Before he had time to dwell on that, though, Sylvia had already taken the initiative.

“…I think this is more appealing towards your tastes, wouldn’t you agree?” She cooed, as her ponytail shrank back into her scalp.

It took a Nick a second to process what had just happened. “H-hey! Sylvia!” His face turned bright red as he realized the insinuation she was making with the coquettish pose of hers. She was trying to-!

“What?” Sylvia asked innocently, tilting her head to the side and batting her eyelashes. “You are a fan of short-haired girls, aren’t you, Daddy?”

What a crock! Sylvia knew damn well what his feelings on the matter were, and she was teasing him mercilessly! This wasn’t even about trying to appeal to his tastes at this point, he was pretty sure! She was just having a blast making fun of him!

With a giggle, Sylvia shook her head. “Sorry, Daddy, but you look so cute all flustered that way. I just thought it would be a good fit for the beach. Don’t want to get sand all in my hair or anything, right? So short hair it is!”

Right, sure, that was why she was doing it. Nick fought back the urge to roll his eyes out of reflex.

“Sylvia, you know I don’t care about someone’s hairstyle,” he said, his voice loaded with exasperation. “I like women with short hair AND with long hair, it’s all about the personality.” This reminded him of the back and forth he’d had with Morgana yesterday.

Only Sylvia was not as easily mollified.

“Suuuuuuure, Daddy, right, of course!” She nodded enthusiastically. “I believe you, really,” she said in her most “I don’t believe you” voice.

Nick struggled not to glare at the obnoxious smirk spread across her lips.

“Sylvia-”

“I mean, let’s face it, it’s like trying to convince me that you don’t like big boobs,” she continued to goad him, counting off on her fingers. “Sure you can enjoy the bodies of girls with slight figures, like Dawn, and even Holly, but come on, have you taken a look at your harem? Quite a stacked deck you’ve got assembled, Daddy!”

Nick gave her a dirty look. “Seriously? HOW many breast expansion transformations did you toss out there?” He reminded her. Mary and Morgana both had very svelte figures before Sylvia and her expansive transformations got a hold of them. “I’m pretty sure it’s the audience who likes big boobs, not me.”

Sylvia nodded as if she agreed, while absolutely not agreeing in the slightest. “Right, of course, sure. Could I get that in writing, then?” She asked, holding an invisible microphone up to his mouth.

Nick gave her a frosty look that sent her into a fit of giggles again.

“Sorry, Daddy, sorry,” she apologized, shaking her head. “You’re right, you’re right. I know that you don’t really care about stuff like huge boobs, or giant asses, or anything like that. And lucky me, right?” She leaned forward, emphasizing her small breasts.

Nick sighed in relief. Finally, Sylvia was seeing reason!

“Because what really matters to you is a girl’s hair, of course! Like I said before.”

…Never mind. He should have known better, he really should.

“Sylvia-”

“Teasing, Daddy, I’m just teasing!” Sylvia stuck out her tongue. “But you can’t tell me you don’t think I’m cute like this, right?”

She waved her hand against the back of her neck to emphasize the short haircut again.

Nick knew a trap when he smelled one, and wasn’t about to step right into it. “I think you look cute regardless of your hairstyle,” he evenly replied.

Sylvia blushed, thrown off her game for a moment. But she quickly rallied, wagging her finger with a tut. “Oh, you, talking so smoothly, Daddy!” She stuck out her tongue again. “A girl could get the wrong impression, you know!”

Still, if that was the way he wanted to play this, then Sylvia was game.

“I liked long hair just fine back when I had it,” she said, thinking fondly back on her original hairstyle. “In fact…”

With a wave of her hand, the violet in her hair brightened to a light blonde, and cascaded down her back again. In an instant Sylvia’s hair was back to its original style, and she showed it off proudly with a hand on her hip.

“What do you think?” She curled her finger through a golden lock of her hair. “It’s definitely cute. But the thing is…”

“It doesn’t feel like you?” Nick guessed.

Sylvia’s eyes twinkled. “Weeelll… …Long hair is a lot more manageable when you have omnipotent host powers that always make you look gorgeous. Actually taking care of it? Not at all fun,” she said, shaking her head. “And I don’t think Dakota’s gonna be brushing my hair again anytime soon,” she added under her breath.

Nick was thrown when he heard that. “Wait, seriously?” He asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

Sylvia looked curiously at him. “Hmm?”

“Dakota… used to brush your hair?” He didn’t expect that. He didn’t even know what to make of it. The first place is mind went was to when Dakota had first cut her hair short. It had always looked ratty and tangled before then, a complete mess, because her mother didn’t care enough to teach her how to take care of it. So rather than brushing it, she’d just cut it all off.

Herself.

The results were not exactly pleasant, with one side chopped a lot shorter than the other. Even when his dad had dragged her to the barbershop (this was before Amelia had entered their lives) and they fixed it up, she still kept it in that weird, uneven style. Like a badge of honor or something, that’s what she’d called it.

And she still wore it like that even today.

So the thought that Dakota had patiently brushed Sylvia’s hair, the way her own mother never did…

“Well, when I say ‘brush’ I don’t mean with an actual hairbrush,” Sylvia quickly clarified. “She just waved her cane and whoosh! It was all straightened out. Said that my messy hair looked awful and I should take better care of it.”

Right, yeah, that sounded more like Dakota.

She pulled on a long strand of gold, and gave it a longing look. Nick could tell how complicated her relationship with her original hair was; he wondered if she’d keep it this way. It did look nice on her.

“I was sad when it got all short before, when my body transformed, but in a way she kind of did me a favor, making it less of a hassle to take care of,” Sylvia added, answering Nick’s question for him. “Yeah, I definitely would rather it be short for now, especially in the ocean!”

A playful smile touched her lips, and her hair shifted again. It turned short and choppy, and brightened into a light orange.

“What do you think?” She giggled, striking another pose. “I was considering going back to my dyed red, but like this, it’s like I really am your daughter! Your daughter with Mary, I mean,” she clarified.

Yeah, Nick could definitely see the resemblance. It was kind of creepy. He would never say that out loud, but if Mary saw her hair like this he honestly didn’t know how she’d react. Luckily, Sylvia had another idea a second later. Her favorite one yet.

“Oh, I know! This is perfect!” With a wave of her hand, her hair changed colors again. Or more accurately all the color seemed to drain out of it, and a second later her hair was as white as the sand beneath her feet.

“You like this one?” She asked with a longing in her voice as she pulled up a mirror to check her appearance. “It’s white. Just… just like Mimi.”

A pang went through Nick’s heart. Mimi was happy as Marley now, but he couldn’t blame Sylvia for still missing her daughter the way she used to be. Especially now that Carly had reunited with her own daughter.

It isn’t just that she’s looking for a father. Or even a mother to replace Dakota. She’s been after one thing all this time, hasn’t she? He thought, his heart going out to the poor girl. A family.

It was hard to fault her for that.