14th of July
She shoots up in the bed with the sheets clutched to her chest.
"What the!-"
"You awake?".
"I am now!" she snaps as she gets up to groggily look around her "What time is it?".
"I dunno" he shrugs as he looks down at her in the bed.
He smirks. Her bewildered state amuses him.
"What the fuck Creed, it's not even 3 a.m. What the hell do you want?".
He ignores her bold outburst and forgives her for it, since he did just wake her up in the middle of the night.
And he is inside her bedroom. That also.
"What did they tell you about Zoe at the pediatrician?" he asks her calmly.
Her mind is spinning rapidly as she looks around her room. He means the check up she had with the pediatrician to see if Zoe was doing alright physically.
Her eyes shoot up at him once more "Are you fucking serious? You could not have asked me this in the morning? You had to wake me for this?".
"Yeah" he replies as if it's the most common to do thing in the world.
"Jesus Christ" she snaps "Zoe is doing fine. She's healthy, she's grown enough since last time and her speech is great" Rae curses some more about it being the middle of the night "Can we further discuss this tomorrow?".
"No".
She groans in frustration "Fine!" she hisses "Hand me my robe".
He plucks the robe from the chair and hands it to her.
She eyes him furiously, her teeth clenched together "Now. Turn. Around".
He smirks wickedly as he turns "Prude".
She rolls her eyes. As if she's gonna let a male feral see her half naked. Not in a million years. Rape-fantasies were just that. Fantasies.
She angrily pushes the covers off her, jumps out of bed and pulls the robe tightly around her.
"I need something to drink anyway" she sighs as she marches to the kitchen.
He follows her and once in the kitchen, he eyes every little angry movement she makes. She takes hot water from the cooker and almost throws the tea bag in it.
"Can we just agree that you won't wake me up in the middle of the night anymore?" she looks at him with angry eyes.
Something about her being angry makes her so much more appealing to him, she's almost sexy right now. If she wasn't such a coward with that serum of hers of course...
He smirks "This is my house and you work for me frail. 24/7 remember?" he simply answers.
"When we signed the contracts, you promised that my room was off limits for you, remember that?!" she replies violently.
He remains silent for a little while as he eyes her.
"Touche" he finally admits.
"Good" she says "Now then. Zoe is doing very well and she's healthy. There is nothing to worry about" she starts to explain about the meeting with the pediatrician from earlier this afternoon.
She zips from her tea but it's still too hot.
"Anything else?" he asks her once she's done explaining.
Her eyes shoot up to meet his "The doctor wondered why the nanny brought her in and not her actual father".
"Cuz I pay you to do it".
She rolls her eyes "That's not the point. You're her father. She needs you in her life".
"I am in her life".
"Actively" Rae replies determinedly "She feels how distant you are. She notices a lot more than you may expect from a four year old. She's smart and she senses things. She knows you are her father, but doesn't understand why you hardly come near her. And to be honest, she's not the only one".
He growls "What are you saying frail?".
She takes a deep breath, not entirely sure if it's wise to speak to him this way.
"You're rejecting her mister Creed, and she feels it. It hurts her. Would it kill you to pick her up some time? Hug her, kiss her? Say something nice to her, make her a compliment?".
He scoffs "She hardly understands words, let along speak herself".
"She talks more than enough and she understands plenty. She knows more than you may think. She talks to me all the time. She reacts to the tone of your voice, to the behavior of the people surrounding her, to familiarity in faces" Rae unconsciously starts to raise her voice at him "You're her father for crying out loud. Act like it!".
In one swift move he has her pushed up against the kitchen table, his hard body pressing against hers "I'm also your boss" he snarls way too close to her face "So watch your tongue frail".
She feels his hot breath on her lips and for a moment it confuses her.
Suddenly she realizes that it still hasn't popped up in her mind to put up her shield barrier. She doesn't want to do it now either, because it would show him weakness and she's too proud for that. She doesn't want him to think that she's scared or easily intimidated by him.
Rae takes a deep breath but doesn't back down this time "You pay me to take care of your daughter mister Creed. So that's what I do. And taking care of her also means telling you what she needs. And she needs a father who doesn't distance himself from her, who doesn't reject her, and who simply spends a little bit of his precious time with her!".
They're both breathing heavily as he moves back a little, away from her, slowly letting go of her throat.
Shivers run down her spine when his warm body moves away, no longer covering hers or pressing her against the table.
He narrows his eyes "What do you suggest?".
"Two nights a week" she calmly starts to explain "Two nights a week I have the night off, as it clearly states in my contract".
"Yeah, but you never fucking leave because your social life is a fucking joke" he growls as he remembers the only night she did go out, coming back while smelling of alcohol and sex.
She ignores his insult and holds up her hands "I know I haven't really left the house much on those nights. Which prevented you from spending time with her. So from now on, I will leave the house and leave Zoe in your care. And I'm asking you to spend time with her on those two nights a week. Put her to bed, read to her maybe, put on a friendly face and don't shrug away from physical contact. She needs to get used to you and feel that you care about her. Also, maybe you could be there in the morning when she eats breakfast? You don't have to do anything, just be there, talk to her".
"Fine" he grumbles.
"And about those nights... You can always call me when there's something up, but I will leave the house. I'm sure things will be fine".
He slowly taps his long feral nails on the kitchen counter as he eyes her intently. Her gaze is caught by the sight of his extended talons. She wonders how long hers would be if it wasn't for the serum.
"I'm going back to bed" she finally breaks the silence between them "Don't wake me again unless the house is on fucking fire" she groans as she walks away from him.
Behind her, Creed bares his teeth and snarls as his eyes instinctively roam her behind "Would probably let you burn anyway, little bitch" he mumbles almost inaudibly.
If it wasn't for the serum, she could've heard him. But now his sharp comment is lost on her.