Our love will be strong enough, I know we'll last, I'm confident

Rose was all smiles when she stepped off the Ferris Wheel, and Nick was grinning too. He had to remember to stop holding her hand when they got off the ride.

He was surprised she let him.

“What now?” Nick asked as he approached the group. “Another ride? I don’t think it’s gotten that late, has it?”

He looked at the sea of faces in front of him, and saw different amounts of satisfaction. Most of the girls were smiling, with a couple notable exceptions. Carly and Dani both had complex expressions on their faces, and were pointedly looking in opposite directions. That was a problem. Nick didn’t know how their little talk on the Ferris Wheel had gone, but it didn’t look like anything had gotten resolved, unfortunately.

Marley, on the other hand, looked pleased. She glanced at the pair of blue-haired girls with a satisfied expression on her face. Nick figured that she must have known something that he didn’t, and decided to leave it at that.

“That was so much fun, master!” Holly ran over to him, distracting him from what was going on with Dani and Carly. Her eyes were shining and her face was flushed with excitement. “Seeing you go on the rides with all the girls in your harem… it was so hot!”

Nick **** a smile to his face. He really hadn’t intended for it to be “hot”. He’d just wanted to spend time with the people he cared about.

How fiercely Holly seemed to be turned on by even mild interactions with other girls was starting to grate on him just a little.

“We could always go for another round on the Ferris Wheel,” Rose came to the rescue, batting her eyelashes at him. Nick could have figured she’d take that approach. Leave it to Rose to never be satisfied with what she got.

“I don’t know,” Nick said, shaking his head. “I think I’m all Ferris Wheel’d out if I’m being honest.”

“No way!”

Sylvia pushed through the crowd and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “It’s my turn to go with you, Daddy! I didn’t have a chance! All the other girls got to go with you, so why don’t I get to, huh?!”

“She does have a point,” Kim admitted. “She’s gone with pretty much everyone, after all.”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s only fair,” Nick agreed. “Okay, Sylvia, if you want to go on the Ferris Wheel with me, I suppose I can go one more time.”

Sylvia blinked and her arms fell to her sides. “…No way, really?”

Nick raised his eyebrow. “You… want otherwise?”

“Huh?! No, no, of course not!” She quickly shook her head. “This is just… wow! I thought… well, I didn’t think you’d actually say yes!”

She skipped over and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, Daddy!”

Nick stiffened like a board. When she said stuff like that, it felt so wrong in all the worst ways, but at the same time, he knew that he had to be fair to her.

So he **** a smile onto his face, and nodded, and the two of them headed back to the Ferris Wheel for one more ride.

“I hope you have fun, Sylvia!” Holly called after her, giving the girl two thumbs-up. Sylvia looked back at her with a surprised expression on her face, and then cracked a smile and nodded.

“You know I will, my girl!” Sylvia assured her with a wink. She wrapped her arm around Nick’s and pulled him close, resting her head against his shoulder.

Nick was fine with that. It was easier for him if she acted as a girlfriend, instead of as a daughter.

“This is so fun!” Sylvia said, sitting down next to Nick. “I get to go on a ride with you, Daddy!”

“Sylvia…” Nick turned to her with a pleading expression on his face. “Can you please just stop with all the ‘Daddy’ talk?” He begged.

Sylvia’s face fell.

“But Daddy…”

“I know, I know,” he sighed as the wheel began to shift into action. “I know it’s not that easy, since you have that transformation. But it really makes me uncomfortable for you to talk like that. Calling me Daddy is one thing, but acting like you actually are my daughter… don’t you find that weird?”

Sylvia’s whole expression changed, and Nick was stunned by it.

She looked… sad.

“Sylvia?” He asked, confused. “What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah,” she mumbled, shaking her head. Along with the head-shake, the rest of her behavior showed that she was very much not okay, in spite of what she was saying.

Nick began to wonder if he was doing something wrong.

“Sylvia, what’s the matter?” He winced.

“I… you’re right,” she admitted, hanging her head. “I have been pretending to be your daughter… not just calling you ‘Daddy’ because I have to.”

Nick kind of figured. But now he was confused for a different reason. Because Sylvia seemed despondent. He’d thought this whole Daddy-Daughter play was a grift on him, because she knew how much it annoyed him. He assumed she was trying to tease him and goad him into violating his morals, since, well… it was Sylvia. That was kind of her thing.

But seeing her look so **** like this… it wasn’t something he was used to. It reminded him of that day on the beach, when Sylvia had lost everything. She didn’t look as crushed as she did back then, but he was certain he was getting a peek at her tender, more **** side.

And he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“Sylvia… is there something you need to talk to me about?” He asked seriously. “Because I’m here for you, I want you to know that. I’m trying to help you.”

Sylvia took a deep breath, and then exhaled. “…Sure you are, Daddy,” she said, her voice carrying a bitter note. “Sure you are.”

“Sylvia?!” Nick couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Where did this sudden hostility come from?

“Tell me something, Daddy, are you really trying to help me?” She looked up at him with sad eyes. “Or are you just doing what you think the right thing to do is, so you’ll feel better when I’m eventually eliminated?”

“What?” Nick stared at her in shock. He’d gotten so used to Sylvia playing around and teasing that to suddenly be confronted by emotions like this…

“You said you really cared about me, right, Daddy?” Sylvia pressed him. “You really do?”

“Yeah!” Nick exclaimed. “I really do!”

Sylvia shook her head. “Then who would you be willing to give up for me?”

“…Huh?” It took Nick a second to process that.

“You care about me, right, Daddy?” Sylvia crossed her arms over her chest. “Because you can only have eight women in your harem. Someone’s leaving at the end of the week. So who do you want to lose, to keep me? Certainly not Mary. And I doubt you’d want to get rid of Rose. What about Dani? Would you pick me over your best friend? After all, she’s not going to have sex with you… but then, you don’t want to have sex with me, either, do you?”

“Sylvia, why… why are you saying this stuff?” In his heart, Nick knew why. Sylvia was cutting him deep with words that he couldn’t avoid. And she knew it, too.

“Because I know how this show works,” Sylvia said, narrowing her eyes. “The choice might not be yours, but… the way you do things… First it was Rose. Then it was Mimi. And then Morgana. Each time, you were saying how you didn’t want to lose them out of your harem. You’re such a greedy master, aren’t you, Daddy?” She giggled and curled a lock of her hair. “I’m glad you were my first. And I guess, my only, now.”

“I-I… I just…” Nick looked down. He couldn’t ignore her words, not even with the shrinking faces of the people he cared about.

“Your half-hearted sentiments about not wanting to lose people… they aren’t good enough, Daddy,” Sylvia said, wiping the wetness from her eyes. “No matter how much you say you want me, or you want someone else… someone still has to go. And I know it’s going to be me. I might have made friends with some of the other girls… but do you really think any of them would choose to be my buddy? To save me? Are Dawn and Mary so kindhearted that they’d even choose someone like me, at the expense of one of my victims?”

She shook her head. “I think we both know the answer to that,” she muttered. “None of them would even save my little girl…”

Sylvia clutched the bar tightly and began to shake.

“Please, Daddy…” She whimpered. “Just… just for a little bit… while I still can… can’t you… can’t you let me call you Daddy? Can’t you let me have that fantasy? I… I never had a Daddy before… and Dakota, she…”

Sylvia’s voice broke as the Ferris Wheel came to a stop. She shook like a leaf and started to sob, her tears turning the semi-transparent fabric of her shirt fully transparent.

“Sylvia…” Nick couldn’t answer any of her questions. He couldn’t deny the truth she’d so brutally shoved into his face.

He couldn’t even hold her to stop her tears.

“Last night was a dream,” Sylvia said, finally regaining her voice. “I got to be with my Daddy… and with a Mommy who loved me. You and Mary, you… back when I was the host, so many times, I watched you both together, just having fun… enjoying each other’s company… I wished… I wished so badly that you could be my parents. That I could just live my life as your daughter.”

She tried to smile through her tears, but Nick could see how hollow it was.

“And who knows? Maybe… maybe Dakota will have mercy on me, and I’ll get to be reborn as your daughter for real! Wouldn’t… wouldn’t that be just perfect? Just like Holly. I could just live with you! Even if I’m not in your harem… we could still be together!”

“Sylvia…” Nick didn’t want that. He imagined Holly’s smiling face, so filled with love and desire. Then he remembered how she used to be. All fire and fierceness, the kind of sassy girl who didn’t take any crap from anybody. She still had those qualities, he knew she did. But she’d been completely consumed by her desire for him. Desire that had been bubbling deep under the surface.

Holly’s elimination had changed her, even when it kept so many parts of her that still made her who she was. And he had tried to ignore that. But he couldn’t now, not when Sylvia was right here in front of him, saying she was prepared to do the same thing Holly did. Give herself up, for a position at his side.

He didn’t want to alter Sylvia so severely. But he didn’t know what else to do. So he hugged her.

It was an awful, awkward hug. The chair they were sitting on jostled as he tried to get his arms around her.

But none of that mattered.

Nick had never imagined that the woman who had tormented him for weeks could be so small and ****.

“Daddy…” She sniffled, clinging to his shirt as she cried into his shoulder. “Daddy!”

He patted her tenderly on the back, and as he felt her breathing, he knew what she wanted. What he could give her.

A little discomfort for him, in order to make someone he cared about a little happier, before she was eliminated?

Was that really such an imposition?

“…Okay,” he relented in a whisper. “You can do it. If that… if it’ll make you feel better… you can treat me as your Daddy.”

It made him sick just thinking about it. But it was for Sylvia’s sake.

“…But it’s just a roleplay!” He quickly asserted. “Just for fun. Not… I don’t think it’s healthy if it’s real, or anything like that.”

He knew how dumb that sounded. But by convincing himself that it was just a roleplay, just a performance to make Sylvia happy, then maybe he could do it without feeling like the grossest person in the world.

“Okay, Daddy,” Sylvia relented, tightening her grip on him. “Okay.”

Then she let him go. They straightened up just as the Ferris Wheel settled down.

“Thank you for that, Daddy,” Sylvia said, standing up in her chair. Nick moved to get up after her, but she pushed him back down.

“Sylvia?”

“Not yet,” she said, shaking her head. “There’s still one more person waiting for you.”

One more person? But Nick had gone with everyone in his harem, just about. Certainly Dani didn’t want a ride? Maybe Carly?

He waited for what felt like an eternity. The conversation of the other girls were barely whispers to him this far away. But he heard some gasps and exclamations, and it sounded like someone needed some convincing.

About a minute of whispers later, and the last person he would have expected to come stepped up onto the platform.

“Holly? What?” Nick sat up straight and looked at her, dumbfounded. She seemed just as confused as he did.

“I, uh… I don’t get it,” she said, giving him a lopsided shrug. “But Sylvia said that it was a gift for you, master. Um, I mean… sorry! Nick.”

Nick realized that Holly wasn’t wearing her maid costume. Or, well, she was- it just happened to be underneath the white blouse she had on over it. He could still see some of the frills and ruffles poking out of the awkwardly-aligned collar. Judging by the size and design, the blouse she’d put on belonged to Kim.

“I’m very confused,” Nick said.

“Yeah, same,” Holly admitted.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds. Nick in the chair, and Holly on the platform.

“Sylvia said that I should go on a ride in the Ferris Wheel with you,” Holly said finally. “And that we should treat it… like a date? I don’t really get it…”

She looked conflicted.

“Well, I mean… it’s fine with me,” Nick shrugged. He patted the seat next to her. “I think I’ve got one more in me.”

Holly still looked unsure. But she sat next to him, staring vacantly ahead. She reminded him of a doll (more than usual anyway) with how stiff and focused she was, like she was sitting next to him, and yet not.

“Alright!” Nola chirped. “Last ride!”

She cranked the Ferris Wheel and it began to turn. As it did, Nick took note of the fact that Holly seemed incapable of relaxing. She was squirming in her seat, looking like it was on fire.

“Holly? Is everything okay? You look kind of uncomfortable.”

“Because I AM uncomfortable!” Holly replied, rolling her eyes. She finally turned to look at him. “Seriously, mast- er, Nick, what’s the point of this? I mean, a Ferris Wheel date with me? That’s for the girls in your harem.”

“Why can’t I go with you?” Nick asked, frowning. “You don’t want to spend time with me or something?”

Holly’s eyes turned as wide as soccer balls. “That’s not it at all!” She exclaimed, shaking her head frantically. “I- I’m not… it’s not my place to do something like this, that’s all!”

Nick frowned. “Why do you say that?”

“B-because…” She stammered, looking away. “I’m… I’m just your sex ****. And you shouldn’t go on a romantic date with your sex ****.”

“I went on the Ferris Wheel with Gina,” Nick pointed out. “She says she’s my sex **** too.”

Holly shook her head adamantly. “It’s different.”

“Why?”

“Because!”

“Ah. Such erudite eloquence from the English major.”

“Rrrgh!” Holly moved to smack him, but caught herself. She stiffened again and straightened out her frilly skirt. “…That was improper of me,” she said, the apology obvious in her voice.

Nick sighed. This wasn’t what he wanted at all.

“Holly, just because you’re my sex ****, that doesn’t mean I love you any less than I did before,” he assured her.

Holly turned red. “L-love? You… you love me?”

Nick frowned. “I’ve said that before, haven’t I?”

Holly shook her head frantically. “No! Not… not since… back then. I said it to you, that night when we… with Rose… but… you… you’ve never…”

She started to tear up.

“It’s not fair,” she sniffled. “Someone like me… you shouldn’t use those words on someone like me! They should be saved for someone else, someone better, someone in your harem, not-”

“But I do love you,” Nick insisted. “I always have. Even when I was angry with you, even when I thought you hated me, that doesn’t mean I ever stopped loving you, Holly.”

Holly didn’t want to hear this. Except the part of her that did. She started to tear up.

“Sylvia talked to me earlier,” Nick said, placing his arm around her. “She said some things that made me realize… I shouldn’t have taken you for granted, when you were in my harem. And after that… I took you for granted even more. And somewhere along the way, I got so comfortable knowing you’d be there for me that I never told you how I really feel.”

“I- stop!” Holly shook her head frantically. Her heart was brimming with a cruel, delicious hope, like a fruit she knew she couldn’t eat. And her tear-filled eyes threatened to spill over.

Nick didn’t concern himself with any of that, though.

“I love you,” he said again, hugging her tightly. Holly was trapped between her loyalty to her master and her urge to reject the affection that she didn’t deserve. Unable to do anything else, she just froze, and let him hold her.

It wasn’t fair that it felt so good.

“It shouldn’t be me,” she sobbed, clutching his shirt. “I’m not worth it. I’m not…”

“I don’t care about that,” Nick murmured. He pulled back and touched her delicate cheek. It was as soft as a peach. He tilted her chin up to access her lips. “Even if you don’t think you deserve my love, you still have it anyway.”

He pressed his lips against hers, and as ashamed as Holly was to admit it, she actually kissed him back.

What a selfish **** she was.