The two year old girl refused to move from her position in the middle of the supermarket floor as Murdock stared down at her, absolutely exasperated to the point where he could explode. Rosie was in the middle of her terrible twos and she refused to do anything she was asked to do – unless she was asked by Face. He sighed; Face was out having a much needed day off and that had left Murdock to look after their daughter. The pilot didn't have time for her tantrums because he was in the middle of food shopping and when Rosie refused to get up off the floor he could feel himself going hot with embarrassment. Why did he ever think this was a good idea?

'Rosie, get up off the floor please,' Murdock said as patiently as he could but the little girl shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. They'd been at this for a good ten minutes and people were beginning to stare. He tried again.

'Rosie, please get up off the floor. We need to finish shoppin' and then we can go play in the park.'

'No,' she replied indignantly, shaking her head.

'Yes.'

'I said no.'

Murdock found it amazing how a child could push so many buttons at one time. He took a deep breath and crouched down in front of her.

'If you don't get up off the floor I'm gonna pick you up and put you in the kart. An' you're not gonna like that are you? Are you gonna be a big girl and hold my hand or are you gonna be a little girl an' not walk?' Rosie liked being called a big girl because she was growing up and she insisted that she could do everything herself. She was a very headstrong little girl – she knew exactly what she wanted and when she wanted it.

She shook her head again and Murdock pursed his lips, trying to think what Face would do in this situation. Then again, he probably didn't have this problem. It was Face, he could get anybody to do anything with the right words and Murdock wasn't like that.

When he asked her one more time to get up and she refused, Murdock decided that he'd had enough of playing nice. He took hold of her arms and pulled her up from the ground. Immediately Rosie started to cry and wriggle and kick about trying to get free – she wanted to sit down on the floor not walk about. Oh she was definitely going through her terrible-twos stage. The pilot regretted taking her out with him at all.

He felt like an awful parent struggling with a naughty toddler when people turned to look at who was making such awful noises. Rosie was practically screaming now, kicking about trying to get free as Murdock put her in the shopping kart seat. She flung herself about, cheeks flushed red as she tried to escape. Now he felt terrible about getting her all worked up when they'd had a nice day up to the incident but he wanted to get the shopping done before Face got home.

'I want Daddy!' Rosie cried as Murdock continued to make his way through the aisles, picking up what he needed and doing his best to block out Rosie's crying and the general public's stares. Usually he didn't care what people thought of him but this entire thing was embarrassing him and he just wanted to go home. He had half the mind to just abandon his shopping and take Rosie home but he was nearly done.

'I want Daddy!'

'Yeah well you can want your Daddy but you got Papa for today, sorry.'

'No Papa! I want Daddy!'

'You can't have your Daddy, Rosie, he's busy.'

Of course Rosie wanted Face – Face was the parent their daughter saw more because Murdock worked and didn't stay at home to look after her. They did everything together so spending the day without her daddy was strange but Murdock thought she would at least behave herself because he was as much her parent as Face was. The pilot was beginning to get a headache from her whining and whinging. As much as he loved being a parent, he didn't love this part at all.

He spent the rest of the trip trying to distract Rosie from her want of Face and soon enough it was working and she was putting things into the kart and laughing and smiling again like she was a completely different child. Murdock dreaded to think what she was going to be like when puberty came rushing around the corner.

'I'm glad today is over.' Murdock finally sat himself down next to his partner who curled up next to him immediately, putting his head on his shoulder.

'Stressful?' Face chuckled as Murdock let out a deep breath and nodded.

'She wouldn't behave herself. She refused to get off the floor tellin' me "no" constantly an' then when I moved her she was cryin' and screamin' for you,' Murdock explained and Face laughed.

'Yeah she does that with me too. I think she's just going through a phase where she's testing how far she can go to get away with things. At least you were firm with her about it.'

'I felt bad for makin' her cry.'

'You didn't make her cry, Murdock. She was misbehaving and when she's naughty and refuses to do as we say, we have to do what parents do and take control.' Face rubbed the pilot's arm gently, kissing his cheek, 'you don't need to feel bad for being her parent.'

'You think we're doin' a good job of raisin' her, Face?' Murdock asked seriously, looking at the conman. Face smiled and kissed his lips gently before nodding.

'I think we're doing an excellent job, Murdock.'