Cathy: Thank you! jadeMK11: Oh yeah, he definitely will. Ilse'sPurpleSummer: I agree. And he'll pay for it here.

…

James pounded on Cooper's door as hard as he could. "Cooper Benjamin you open this door!" he yelled angrily. He had tried just going in but it had been locked. That hadn't set well with him at all, especially with his current mood. Something had yet again gone on between Cooper and Mindy and judging by the way she just clammed right up on him, it wasn't anything good. He had tried to get it out of her but she had stayed quiet. It was almost like she was afraid to say anything and James did not like that at all. Whatever was going on with Cooper was going to stop now. James had JUST talked to him about it and apparently it hadn't done a bit of good. That pissed him the hell off. When he had given him that first talking to, he had been hoping that Cooper would get it and quit with whatever problem he had with Mindy but clearly he hadn't. He would this time though. James was going to make damn sure of that.

"Cooper!" He kept right on pounding on the door. He wasn't getting any kind of answer but he wasn't about to let that stop him. "Cooper Benjamin Lawson you open up this door!" He tried the knob again and it was still locked. "Cooper you've got five seconds to open this door or I'm gonna kick it open!"

That finally got Cooper's attention. James heard him get up and come to the door. The instant he opened the door just a crack James pushed his way in and slammed the door shut behind him. "Jesus Christ Dad!" Cooper nearly got knocked over by James as he was coming in. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" James repeated. He got right up into Cooper's business and poked his chest angrily. "What am I doing? What are YOU doing?"

"Uh…I'm chilling," Cooper replied. Now of all times was really not the time to be a smartass but he was doing it anyway. It was just his nature to push where he really shouldn't be pushing. "Which is something you really need to be doing right now. That vein by your eye is totally twitching."

James scowled angrily. "Cooper Benjamin do NOT test me right now. You are in enough trouble as it is."

"What? Why?"

"What did you say to her?" James was just going to cut right to the chase. "Or what did you do to her? Fucking answer me now because you really only have one shot here."

Cooper blinked and took a step back. James seriously looked ready to hit him, which wasn't something he had ever actually seen from him before. The one time James ever struck him was when he had caught him mid-suicide attempt and he had completely panicked in his effort to get the gun out of his hand. This time though…he just looked furious with him. "What did I…what did she tell you I did?" Yes he was attempting to play dumb. He was trying to save his own ass.

"She didn't tell me anything," James replied. "She didn't have to. The way she looked when I snuck away from Connor told me something was wrong. And the way she fucking clammed up on me when I asked her where you were and tried to ask her if you did something told me the rest." He was advancing on Cooper even more without even realizing it and Cooper attempted to back away, only to quickly find himself trapped up against the wall. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we JUST have a conversation about how you needed to cut your shit with her?" James saw Cooper's eyes drop to the floor sullenly so he grabbed his chin and made him look at him again. "DIDN'T we?"

"Yeah! Now fuck, let go!" Cooper tried to force James's hand away but James wasn't about to let go. He kept his grip nice and tight on Cooper's chin, which didn't sit well with the teen. "Dude what the hell? This chick is making you act like a fucking psycho!"

"First of all, no she isn't. Second of all, I don't play with a full deck to begin with. And third of all, I don't appreciate having to have this conversation again!" He let go of Cooper's chin but he didn't back off him at all. "What the HELL did she do to you? Huh? Because I would really like to know."

"No you won't," Cooper shot back. "You don't ever want to know."

"Oh believe me, I do," James growled. "I REALLY do. Baby Doll is NOT Mark. Even when I didn't want to admit it I knew he deserved the shit you gave him. But Baby Doll? She hasn't done a damn thing to you! She's fucking downstairs with a fucking cake and god damn milkshake she made YOU-"

"Yeah I saw it," Cooper said. "And I don't care. She can play Holly fucking Homemaker all she wants with you and Connor but you can all leave me out of it. You didn't even fucking ask me or Connor about her moving in. You just brought her into OUR house and expected us to fucking go along with it. And yeah, Connor is because he's too stupid to know better but I'm not going to let some BITCH-"

That was it. That was all James could take. Without even thinking about it he brought his hand back and smacked Cooper across the face as hard as he could. The smack sure as hell hurt his hand but it was twice as bad for Cooper. An angry red mark instantly appeared on his cheek and his eyes just about popped out of his head as he effectively fell silent.

"You listen to me," James said, moving his face barely an inch away from Cooper's. "And you listen to me good. If you had a problem with her coming to live with us, you should have come to ME. I'M the one that brought her in. She didn't ask to move in; I asked her too. She hasn't done a fucking thing to you to deserve the kind of treatment you're giving her. She's trying to be nice and you're going to be mean to her just because you got an angsty hair up your ass?" He shook his head. "NOT in my house. NOT anymore. You are going to treat her NICE and take up any future issues with ME because if you don't…" He let the way he trailed off be the threat. There was going to be a part of him that felt insanely guilty over hitting Cooper and basically bullying him into behaving but he didn't know what else to do. Trying to reason with Cooper on this was clearly out of the question and allowing what he was doing to keep going on was even more out of the question. So this was what he was going with. "Are we clear?"

Cooper nodded. He wasn't about to dare do anything else. The fight had been smacked right out of him and he was completely defaulting to James. He was kind of scared of what would happen if he didn't.

"We better be." James gave Cooper one last glare before storming out, letting the door slam violently shut behind him.

…

"Woooow you even color like magic Miss Tinkerbell," Connor said in amazement as he glanced over at Mindy's drawing. They were sitting on the living room floor coloring together while James dealt with Cooper.

Mindy shook her head and hugged herself. "It's not magic, it's just-"

"Sure it is! You color better than ME." Connor showed her the scribble that was his picture before putting his coloring book down and scooting right next to her. "I like you Miss Tinkerbell," he announced, wrapping his arms around the very surprised Mindy. "I like you lots. Daddy does too."

Remembering what Cooper had said, Mindy tried to shake her head.

"SURE he does! He's ALL over you! ALL the time! He likes you LOTS." Nodding firmly Connor started playing with the buttons on the button down shirt she was wearing. "Coopy's just being dumb. Julie says he's still miserable about losing Joie so he has to make everyone else unhappy too sometimes to make himself feel better." Connor frowned and pouted his lower lip. "He's not doing a good job I don't think cuz he don't seem to feel any better."

"How did he lose Joie?" Mindy asked. "Was Joie his boyfriend?"

Connor nodded. "Cooper loved Joie. We all knew he loved Joie before he even knew it. But Joie got killed real bad. His daddy didn't like him cuz he dressed in girl's clothes. He was a….a…tranny! Yeah, that's the word. He was a tranny. He wore girl's clothes and a wig…his wig was yellow like your hair."

Mindy self consciously reached up and touched her hair. "It's fake."

Connor's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You wear a wig TOO?"

Mindy shook her head. "No. I dye my hair."

'Ooohhh…well so does Cooper." Connor suddenly started to giggle. "His hair is RED like Mark's but he's dyed it for forever because he hates it. He likes to dye it brown cuz it looks more like mine and daddy's but he's dyed it BLUE and YELLOW and BLACK." He nodded along to what he was saying. "I wanna dye my hair green. You can help me Miss Tinkerbell cuz I don't know-"

SLAM!

Both Connor and Mindy jumped about a foot in the air as they heard a door slam upstairs. "What was THAT?" Connor asked.

Mindy shook her head and got up to her feet. "Jamie?" She heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs and she started heading out of the room. "Jamie?"

James appeared seconds later and any leftover anger at Cooper melted off his face at the sight of her. "Baby Doll…" He immediately wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss. "Cooper won't bother you anymore," he said with a shake of his head. "I think he got the message this time."

Mindy frowned and gently petted his face. "What message Jamie?"

He lifted her up so he could press his forehead against hers without having to bend so far down and her legs immediately went around his waist. "He don't mess with you." He kissed her softly and looked straight into her Viper like eyes. "Nobody messes with you."

Startled by that message, Mindy quickly shook her head and ran her finger down the bridge of his nose. "You didn't get to eat your surprise yet Jamie."

"It's GOOD Daddy!" Connor chimed in. "It's really REALLY good!"

"I bet it is," James said with a nod. He started to Mindy towards the kitchen and Connor quickly followed so he wouldn't be left out. "I can't wait to try it."

"I'll get it for you Jamie," Mindy said as she tried to get back out of his arms. "Just sit and I'll-"

"No I'll do it Baby Doll. You don't have to wait on me."

"But it's my surprise to you so I have to GIVE it to you." She poked his nose and got him to sit down at the table so she could go grab the surprise she had worked so hard on for him.

"Oh Baby Doll…" He let her set it down in front of him before pulling her on to his lap so he could dig in. "Mmmm Baby Doll!"

"Do you like it?"

"I LOVE it." He kissed her and she more than happily returned it. They made out until James spied Connor trying to sneak some out of the corner of his eye. "Hey! You had yours!" He smacked Connor's hand away and shook his head. "This is mine."

"Awww but Daddy!" Connor whined. "You're too busy with the kissing! Your food feels unloved."

James shook his head. "The only ones here that are going to love this food are me and Baby Doll." He got a forkful of cake and held it up to Mindy's lips.

"No Jamie." She tried to push the fork back towards his mouth. "It's for YOU Jamie darling."

"But I want you to have a bite," he insisted. He pouted his lips when she tried once again to put the fork in his mouth. "Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeee Baby Doll?" He put on the cutest look he possibly could and she couldn't resist it. She took the bite and then grabbed the fork from his hand. "Now I feed YOU!"

He chuckled lightly and happily took the bite. "Thank you Baby Doll." He laced his fingers with hers and brought her hand up so he could kiss it. "Baby Doll?"

"Hmm?"

"It's occurred to me that I haven't properly introduced you to the wonderful world that is Las Vegas. So how about me and you go on a little date tonight and I'll take you around town?"

Mindy smiled and fed him another bite. "Okay Jamie. Whatever you want."

"Hey!" Connor protested. "That's not fair Daddy! Miss Tinkerbell is my friend too Daddy you can't hog her all the time!"

"Well if Baby Doll and I go out though, that means I'll have Rosenberg take you to a movie," James said quickly. He had absolutely no idea what Julie's plans were for the night but he was making the promise anyway. If she did have plans he could pay her enough to break them. "You like going to the movies with her don't you?"

"…Will she buy me lots of food?"

"Of course she will."

"Then yes. I like that." Connor nodded. "Now give me your cake Daddy. I want it."

"Not on your life Con Man."

"MEAN!"