Chapter Text
Jake burst into the principal's office with more gusto than was probably appropriate.
"Jazmine Josephine Jensen! My darling daughter and light of my life — what have you done this time?" he happily exclaimed as he marched up to Jazz and kissed her blonde head.
"Daaad," she whined in protest, but, since she didn't push him away, he decided to consider it a win. The day she refused to let him coddle her was the day his heart would be irreparably broken.
"You are late, Mr. Jensen," Principal Johnson snapped disapprovingly.
"Well, you only gave me, like, twenty minutes to get from halfway across town and traffic's a pain this time of day." As he was talking, Jake's gaze travelled to the final two occupants in the room, both sitting in chairs facing the principal, like Jazz. Jake recognized Gabi — Jazz's best friend since she started high school three months ago — but the man in the chair furthest away was new.
Jake would remember if they had met before.
"Hi, I'm Jake Jensen — Jazz's dad," he introduced himself, holding out his hand above the heads of the two teenage girls. Had Jake still been twenty, he would probably have stammered at the sight of such a handsome man, but when nearing forty? Well, that hardly seemed dignified.
The man's smile was somewhat reserved, but he accepted the handshake nonetheless.
"Carlos Alvarez."
Mr. Alvarez's grip was firm and confident — just the way Jake liked it. He decided not to acknowledge the telltale shiver that travelled down his spine.
"Gabriela's dad, I take it?" Jake asked as he took a seat, completely ignoring the red-faced principal. Jake received a nod in reply and that seemed to be the end of that.
"Mr. Jensen, are you quite finished?" The principal was clearly losing his patience and, for the sake of his daughter, Jake decided to be polite and waved for the man to go ahead. Principal Johnson cleared his throat and placed his laced hands on his desk, apparently trying to appear commanding.
Too bad Jake had met bunny slippers that looked more intimidating.
"Mr. Jensen, Mr. Alvarez, you are called here today because your daughters attacked a boy—"
"We didn't attack anyone!" Gabi snapped, her anger making her lean forward in her chair. "Nate was picking on Kyle again!" Gabi's gaze flickered to Jazz, who gave a firm nod, both girls raising their chins in defiance. "We made sure he stopped," Gabi all but growled.
"Really?" Jake asked, quite intrigued. "How big is this Nate?"
Jazz's grin was feral.
"He's a senior," she replied smugly. The fact that there wasn't a scratch on her or Gabi said a thing or two — namely that maybe Jake shouldn't have taught his daughter those self-defense techniques after all.
But who was he kidding? He was proud as fuck.
"That's my girl."
Jake knew he shouldn't have — the words just slipped out — but he quite liked seeing Jazz beam with pride.
"Mr. Jensen!" Principal Johnson exclaimed, the unusually high pitch of his voice showing his outrage. "This is no joking matter! The boy had to visit the nurse's office and—"
"So did Kyle, every single time those bullies got their hands on him!" Gabi shot back. "But do you call Nate and his parents to your office? No, you fucki—"
Gabi fell silent so abruptly that Jake had to glance in her direction, only to find that Mr. Alvarez had placed a gentle hand on his daughter's arm. No words were exchanged, but that simple touch was obviously enough to make Gabi settle down. Perhaps it was the almost impossible calm that Mr. Alvarez radiated. The man had yet to speak a word aside from his name, but he seemed completely engaged in the conversation nonetheless.
The principal cleared his throat yet again, the tightness around his mouth showing that he had taken offense to Gabi's outburst.
"This is a very unfortunate incident and we take the matter seriously," Principal Johnson said, enunciating each word with annoying superiority. "We are willing to let the girls off with a warning this time, but we strongly recommend that you take the necessary steps to discipline your daughters — to make sure that this kind of incident doesn't happen again."
"I'm sorry, did you just tell me to punish my daughter? For stopping a bully from beating another kid?" Jake asked, humor fading from his voice. If there was one thing that made his skin crawl, it was the idea that children of any age should be beaten down — be it figuratively or literally.
Jake had far too much personal experience of that to ever want it to happen to Jazz.
Principal Johnson must have noticed the change in Jake's mood considering how hastily he backtracked.
"Not harshly, of course, but the girls were unusually violent for—"
"Girls?" Jake finished, tone scathing. In the corner of his eye, he saw Jazz cross her arms over her chest and he knew the furious look that had to be on her face. Jake might be her father, but she had been raised almost in equal parts by her aunt.
Jake knew no fiercer woman than Jess.
"Well, yes," the principal replied, if a bit haltingly. Principal Johnson swallowed, gaze flickering nervously to Mr. Alvarez, who calmly leaned forward in his chair.
Jake had never seen anyone make that simple gesture look so threatening before. He might be in love.
"I-I mean, it's understandable," Principal Johnson said, "considering their home situations—"
"Excuse me?" Those were the first words Mr. Alvarez had spoken since the conversation started and they were so precise that Jake could almost feel them like a physical touch against his skin.
Principal Johnson looked terrified — with right. There was a lot of protective anger in Mr. Alvarez's voice, making it clear that you had to be suicidal to step between him and his daughter.
"Let me guess," Jake picked up, his smile cold. "You think they need more female influences in their lives, so that they will calm down and become nice, quiet little girls?"
Jazz snorted in disgust, while Principal Johnson hesitated, clearly sensing that he was digging himself into a hole.
"First of all," Jake began, "I am not going to teach my daughter to be anyone but herself. Second, she already has one of the best female role models in the world and, if you like, I can bring said role model next time you call me to your office." Jake kept his voice level despite the anger boiling inside him. "Her daughter Bethany graduated last year, but I think you still remember Jessica Jensen? She has told me all about the lovely chats you two had, and I'm sure she'd love to pick up where you left off."
The way Principal Johnson paled at the mere mention of Jake's sister made both pride and satisfaction curl in Jake's chest.
"That won't be necessary," the principal mumbled weakly. "Maybe I was... hasty, in my judgment."
"Lovely!" Jake clapped his hands, bright smile reappearing on his lips. "Now that we have that settled, I want you to know that I will be changing the WiFi password at home. Fighting at school is against the rules — Jazz knows that."
"What?" Jazz exclaimed. "You can't do that!"
"I totally can, young miss, because violence is not the answer and I won't condone the use of it — not even to stop bullies." Jake rose from his chair and easily coaxed his pouting daughter out of hers. Jazz might be tall for her age but she was still just a teenage girl.
"You were in the army!" Jazz argued. "That's violent!"
"Indeed I was," Jake agreed, pressing a quick kiss to her temple. He started herding her towards the door, hoping to leave before the principal changed his mind about letting them go. "But then I quit because I found out that I had this really awesome kid and from the very first time I held her I just knew that my life would never be the same and that I would devote all of my love and—"
"Oh my God, Dad! Shut up!" Jazz tried to sound embarrassed, but the blush growing on her cheeks came from pleasure, if anything.
Jake heard the door to the principal's office click shut behind them and when he turned around he found that Gabi and Mr. Alvarez had also seized the opportunity to flee. Jake grinned when he saw the look on Mr. Alvarez's face. There was a fair share of amusement but, more so than that, he seemed impressed.
"I hope you don't mind that I took care of that," Jake said, facing Mr. Alvarez. "I don't think the girls should be listening to Johnson's hypocritical, sexist opinions."
Mr. Alvarez smiled and this time it was entirely genuine — not to mention quite breathtaking.
"I agree," Mr. Alvarez replied, the smooth quality of his voice making Jake's heart miss a beat. Mr. Alvarez really was a devastatingly gorgeous man with his handsome features and that long, dark hair with sprinkles of gray at the temples.
Jake couldn't quite tear his gaze away, even if he knew he should have. Staring at his daughter's best friend's father was probably one of those things that made him a very uncool dad.
A tug on Jake's shirt sleeve made him look down at Gabi, who was suddenly standing next to him. She was a tiny little thing — especially compared to Jake — but he knew that she had enough intensity in her to overpower just about anyone. Maybe she got it from her dad, even if he seemed much more careful with how he flaunted it.
Gabi crooked her finger and Jake obediently bent down so that she could reach high enough to whisper in his ear.
"My dad is single."
Jake blinked and wasn't quite sure what to reply — especially not when seeing the serious look on Gabi's face.
"Thanks?" He hadn't actually asked for the information, but he couldn't deny that he could think of several good uses for it.
Gabi rolled her eyes.
"Do something about it!" she ordered, and seemed just about ready to push Jake towards her dad. Maybe she would have, if Jazz hadn't grabbed her hand and pulled her aside. Jazz hissed something at Gabi before throwing a glance in Jake's direction — one that was alarmingly calculating.
Jake wasn't quite sure what to do with that.
Well, that might not be entirely true.
He turned and met Mr. Alvarez's gaze, feeling an expectant squeeze in his gut. Mr. Alvarez might not have heard what his daughter said, but his smile was inviting.
Jake could definitely work with that.
"Considering that our daughters are now partners in crime, I think it's only reasonable that you and I get to know each other," Jake said. "Just in case we ever need to bail them out, I mean."
Mr. Alvarez raised an eyebrow, looking both amused and encouraging — as if he definitely wanted Jake to finish that train of thought.
"So how about some coffee?" Jake suggested with a casual shrug, slowly gravitating closer to Mr. Alvarez — which was everything but casual. And possibly something Jake shouldn't be doing with his daughter standing a couple of feet away.
Mr. Alvarez didn't seem to mind, though, judging by his smile.
"Sounds good," Mr. Alvarez replied, his words holding enough promise to make Jake's heart perform another excited skip. The look in Mr. Alvarez's eyes was bordering on inappropriate — not that Jake minded.
He would very much like to keep staring at Mr. Alvarez.
Even Jake had to admit that the moment was somewhat ruined when Jazz and Gabi whooped and gave each other a proud high five, though.
But he couldn't begrudge them that, he supposed.