”Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Norah was bouncing around happily in her very floral red and white dress, leading her two adult companions into Coney Island. With the weather turning warm and Norah still new to New York, Nate thought it would be a nice treat for her now that school was done. She would be going to Chicago soon to spend the off-season with her mother, so it was important to take advantage of the time he had with her.

”You’re welcome, sweetheart,” he replied, chuckling at her exuberance. ”You earned it for doing so well in school all year. Let’s have fun, but try not to run too far ahead of me and Miss Quin.” The little girl nodded and ran ahead a short distance.

It was time to be with Norah, of course, but when he was setting up the plans, Nate decided it would be a good opportunity to spend time with Quin as well. Coney Island was always going to be somewhere important to them. Things with Quin were going great; they were close friends, they worked well together, they were supportive to one another, and, well, the sex was great as always.

Things seemed easy and uncomplicated and then Norah got Nate thinking when he brought up Coney Island in the first place.

”That sounds so fun! Is your girlfriend coming, daddy?”

”Huh? I have a girlfriend?

”Miss Quin, silly!

”Oh, Quin!” Nate chuckled nervously at his perceptive young daughter. ”Miss Quin is just one of daddy’s really good friends.”

”Are you sure? She comes here a lot and you hold hands and stuff. Jenny says those are things boyfriends and girlfriends do!”

”Oh my, Jenny’s pretty informative for an eight-year-old…” he muttered.

Nate convinced Norah to talk about something else, but the conversation had Nate thinking: what was different between Nate and Quin dating and what they had been doing? They were both busy adults who just liked each other’s company and enjoyed conversation and intimate goddammit it sounded like he was describing a relationship.

When he and Nat came close to settling into a real relationship, they both had to pull back and realize it was something they were not ready for. Maybe it just made Nate gunshy with labels. Whatever Quin and Nate had going on, one thing was true: the idea of bringing her along to Coney Island made him smile.

And so the lovely redhead was walking alongside a casual Nate in jeans and a t-shirt. ”I don’t know how I ever keep up with that kid’s energy, Thanks for coming along. She’ll be a lot easier to keep an eye on with help, and beyond that, Coney Island just wouldn’t be the same without you,” he admitted, grinning at the memory.

Ahh Coney Island. The lights, the fairway, the constant smell of something being fried. It was a beautiful thing. It always had been. There was something about this place that screamed of old New York and days gone by. There was a reason that Coney Island was an iconic part of New York. It was history.

It was historic for other reasons too. For years now, Quin hadn’t been able to look at the Ferris wheel out on the island without thinking about Nate. That in and of itself had been reason enough to avoid the place completely for a couple of years while the proverbial dust had settled on their relationship.

That was all ancient history now, though, and she was back here with the man in question and his daughter.

Things with her and Nate had been blissfully uncomplicated for a long time now, but Quin couldn’t help but notice how much time they were starting to spend together. It didn’t matter though, they weren’t labeling things and that was fine. There was no need to fix things that weren’t broken, right?

Nate spoke and broke Quin from her mental reverie and she smiled over at him as they walked down the midway. ”Kids always make me wonder where all of that energy goes?” she said, amused contemplation coloring her voice. ”It’s like one day it’s there and the next you’re an adult...bluh.”

As for the rest, ”It always is going to be a special place, isn’t it?” she said, taking an almost involuntary glance towards the Ferris wheel, then at the little girl, then finally back to Nate. ”So what’s first? Sugar, games, sugar, or rides?”

Nate liked to believe his tastes in partners were varied enough that he did not have a set "type." He had dated very different people over the years from the sweet and artsy Sarah to the domineering and practical Natalie to the driven and dutiful Quin. If he included men, it varied things even further since the ways Nate was attracted to men and women were entirely different.

Still, if Nate had to decide what his "type" was, Quin ticked a lot of the boxes for the trends he noticed. There were some obvious physical ones: Nate had been with several redheads, he had a knack for finding women who came close to him in height, and the women he courted often had athletic builds. That was all the shallow stuff out of the way. Beyond that, Quin was confident and independent. Nate was drawn to strong women and Quin fit the bill. She was clever enough that he felt challenged by her, which he liked. Even one of the problems in their first relationship, her strict moralistic view of the world, was becoming a non-factor as Quin accepted the grey in the world.

It was nice to have someone who fit into his life so easily, and while the physical aspects were not all that important, it even made walking together easily as Quin could more or less match his stride. "I'm not sure if I ever had Norah's kind of energy," he jokingly admitted. "I bet at the orphanage I was watching all the other kids running around and trying to figure out where they were hiding their batteries." Of course, being bullied had a habit of robbing someone of energy and motivation, so maybe child Stephen had an excuse.

There was comfort in knowing Quin shared in Nate's nostalgia. Coney Island was never going to just be a tourist attraction that was good for a day trip. It was a memory, and one he was honestly excited to revisit. "Well, I didn't exactly miss that sugar made your suggestions twice," he teased. He looked over to his daughter. "She doesn't exactly need it, but hell, it's her day to treat herself. Let's get snacks, but if she starts bouncing around the park, you're helping with round-up duty." He would make a joke about how much trouble a seven-year-old could get herself into at a place like this, but he thought better of jinxing them. Nate knew Quin was still new to dealing with kids in this kind of setting, so there was no need to scare her or make things harder on her.

Quin glanced Nate’s direction as they worked to keep pace with Norah. The subject of his childhood was always an interesting and sad one. Quin couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to grow up without parents. If anything, hers had been over involved in her life until she’d decided to move to New York (of all places) and pursue a career in law enforcement. This wasn’t the time to dwell on such things, though, now was a time to celebrate the end of what had apparently been a successful school year.

Nate agreed to Quin’s subtle suggestion about snacks, and she nodded her agreement to his terms. Norah was a good kid when she wasn’t hopped up on sugar, how different could things be with a few treats thrown in? Besides, Nate might talk a great game...but when it came down to it he took his parenting duties very seriously and really was a great Dad to the little girl bouncing down the midway. Quin was simply a visitor in their happy little family, and the last thing she wanted to do was overstep. ”I’ve got some experience wrangling drunk and disorderly perps...how different can a sugar high seven-year-old be?” The redhead added.

”Hey Norah!” Quin called out, ”I think I saw a fried oreo stand a little ways back, right next to a corn dog place.” these were both things that the usually health conscious Quin would have avoided...but they were at Coney Island and she definitely wasn’t a stick in the mud.

Off they went to the land of sugar and snacks.

Quin let the comment about Nate’s childhood slide. She knew more about him and his life than most other people, and he knew his past was safe with her. He also understood how hard it was for her to think about his time in the orphanage or on the streets because Quin wanted help people in need, and there was nothing she could do to save little Stephen Graves twenty years earlier. Nate was at a point in his life where he could joke about his life, but it did not come as easily for Quin, so he was not surprised or bothered when his joke went without comment.

They had a day at the amusement park to enjoy, and the star of the show was evidently getting a rare sugary treat. Quin was confident, or at the very least hopeful, that she could handle a child being fed sugar in a high-stimulation environment. Nate chuckled but kept his thoughts to himself; they would see how well she fared soon enough. ”Well, sounds like we have a plan. Give the gal the good news.”

Quin called out to Nate’s daughter, proposing one of the most quintessential fare experiences: fried desserts. Norah turned back to her chaperones, wide-eyed. ”Really? An oreo’s a cookie, isn’t it? They fry those?” The question was full of surprise and wonder, which made sense given Natalie’s parenting strategies.

”They do, kiddo,” he confirmed, prompting Norah to lead them in their new direction. Nate followed, stepping in time with Quin. ”Sugar’s a rare treat for her, so you might as well be bringing the girl to Willy Wonka.”

Looking at his excited daughter, he thought of her mother in Chicago and grimaced. ”I was a conman for a good decade. Do you think those skills translate to convincing a seven-year-old not to tell her mother about her discovery of fried cookies?”

Quin had to giggle just a little bit, at Norah’s childlike wonder over the fried oreos. No matter how organic, crunchy, granola, healthy you were, there were always exceptions for carnivals. It did, however, go unnoticed by the redhead that the little girl seemed unsure what an oreo even was.

Norah led the way and Quin and Nate followed, remembering her own childhood and all the fun things she’d done with her parents. They’d been about as hippy as a pair or parents could get, but they’d always made sure she had her fill of cotton candy and sweets when they’d stumbled upon a fair. It was part of the experience and a little sugar every now and then couldn’t hurt.

Nate spoke, and Quin was just about to relate her story when what he was saying wormed its way through her nostalgia.

Quin stopped in her tracks for a moment, eyes widening slightly. There was no way Nate was just teasing her about something like that. Quin knew next to nothing about raising kids or being a coparent...but the last thing she wanted to do was undermine any core values.

Taking a couple of slightly jogging steps to catch back up, she shot Nate a small grimace.

”Did I goof?” she said, ”Sometimes I feel like I need a cheat sheet to reference.”

Oh well...it was too late now. You couldn’t just promise a kid fried oreos and then rip the rug out from under them because you were an idiot. You probably also shouldn’t con a kid into lying to their parent.

”Blame me?” she said, half hopeful and half meek. Nate’s ex wasn’t one to be trifled with.