Interlude C-2
Danny sipped his coffee and read the paper. The Boston Braves were apparently facing off against the Brockton Bucks again. That could be an entertaining game. The BBs vs. the BBs was generally enough to bring an amused smirk to everyone watching even if both teams were rather bad at the sport itself. Maybe they could make it a family event?
The front door flew open and both of his girls stormed inside, the door slamming shut behind Taylor. As soon as it was closed she rounded on Kayden, her lip curled into a snarl and her eyes narrowed to slits.
"Stop telling me that it's 'for my own good'! I'm sick and fucking tired of it!"
"You have to trust me on this Taylor!"
"Bullshit! You're protecting him!"
"I am not! I despise that cockroach."
"Then tell me why the judge is fucking protecting him, Kayden!"
So probably not a family event then. Danny sipped more of his coffee and arched his eyebrows at the women. They had gone to deal with something about his fiance's ex-husband this morning. He couldn't really remember what it was about exactly, but he knew that Taylor and Kayden had both been upset about it the other day. Apparently it hadn't gone well. He should probably be disappointed that Taylor had inherited his legendary temper, yet it was rather amusing watching his daughter be the angry one for once. She was generally so quiet.
"Taylor. I have been telling you over and over and over that it is not safe to know why. Please. Stop. Asking."
"Tell. Me," Taylor snapped.
"I will handle this. There are other recourses that I can take now. He's escalated, I can do the same."
"Kayden, I swear to fucking Scion - "
A knock on the door interrupted Taylor's building rant and both of their heads turned to look at the front door. Danny just sipped his coffee again. Taylor stalked to the door, throwing it open. Danny leaned sideways just enough to be able to see Taylor frozen with one hand on the door and one hand on the wall as she stared at the person standing outside.
"Tammi. This…Really is not a good time."
"Oh. Oh well I uh…"
"Oh, hello dear," Kayden said, a smile blooming on her face as she clasped her hands. "Why don't you come in?"
Taylor's head snapped to Kayden her lip curling again. "Seriously? What the fuck, Kayden!"
Kayden frowned. "Taylor?"
Danny cocked his head at that too.
"You freak out that I start talking to Carlos - who's very much a good guy - but you don't give two shits about the literal Empire Eighty Eight member showing up on our porch?!"
"I - "
"Take your secrets and leave me fucking alone, Kayden!" Kayden flinched and turned to the side. She saw Danny sitting at the table and gaped. He waved, smiling at her. Her melancholy fell away and she reached up to cover her mouth, holding in a small chuckle as she rolled her eyes. Inclining her head upstairs, he nodded. Slipping away a moment later, Danny leaned to the side again so that he could continue to watch his daughter back at the door of the house.
"And you! Stop sneaking away! You came to my house, you don't get to run because I'm in a bad mood."
"But you - "
"No, come in! I'm sorry I yelled. I - " Taylor stepped back, taking a deep breath and running her hands down her body from head to toe. Danny caught a brief flash of light winding between her legs that was gone in an instant before he could really process what it was. Shaking his head, Taylor let out a breath and looked back to the door. "I'm sorry. I said you had bad timing and I meant it, but I shouldn't have said that. Please come in?"
"Are you sure? I mean, I just really wanted to apologize and drop these off and - I can come back."
"…Is that chocolate. And flowers?"
"…Yeah…"
"You brought me chocolate and flowers?"
Danny smiled. His little girl was growing up so fast.
"I didn't know what you liked so I got a bit of everything."
"You got me chocolate and flowers…"
"I know you were on a date with that guy and I didn't mean to pry, but I just saw you and I ran away when you kissed me and I know that I'm in a Nazi gang so you probably think that I want nothing at all to do with this…but I've been thinking and I'm willing to try actually I kinda really want to try, so fuck the Nazis, and fuck that guy. I'm getting you fucking flowers and chocolate, so here!"
Taylor stumbled a step back from the door, her arms full with a large bouquet of flowers and a tin of the fancy chocolates that they sold from that nice shop on the Boardwalk. Danny's smile grew larger and he didn't even care that his mug had run dry.
"You…what?"
"I don't know how I'm getting out. I have no fucking idea, but I'm going to figure something out. And I still owe you an explanation. But I wanted you to know that I'm not out of the race and I'm still running. Okay? I'm running. I may have tripped for a bit and I'm pretty sure I was running backwards for the first half but now I got myself twisted right way around and - fuck. I think I've lost whatever point or metaphor I had, but whatever. I'm going to go now before I make more of an ass of myself."
The porch step squeaked as his daughter's visitor started to flee. Taylor surged forward, shouting out, "Tammi, it wasn't a date! He's just a friend - I'm gay! Total lesbian!"
The would-be-girlfriend must have stopped because she shouted back, "Oh. Um, okay them. Good to know that I'm only completing with my own dumb ass then. I'll uh, see you soon then in that case, Taylor."
The door shut and Taylor leaned against it groaning. Danny sidled up to the wall between the kitchen and the entrance-way, holding his empty mug and smiling at his daughter. Taylor turned, saw him and gasped, her hand flying to her heart and nearly dropping the flowers and the chocolate. "Dad! How, how long have you been there?"
He pretended to drink some coffee. "Hmm, only since before you and Kayden got home. I was reading the paper."
"You…oh god…"
"So, sounds like you have a girlfriend, huh?"
Taylor went beat red and he chuckled. Stepping forward he took the flowers from her and headed back to the kitchen. "I'll put these in a vase. After that how about you and I head out for the day. Give you a chance to cool off for a bit. If I know you sweetheart, you're going to feel bad about that argument later and this will be the perfect way to get everything into perspective before having to talk to Kayden again."
Taylor shuffled behind him as he filled the vase with water from the tap. "You…want to go out?"
"I'm feeling good today. We haven't hung out together in a long time. I was going to suggest a family day originally, but how about just you and me instead, Little Owl?"
"I'd…really like that, Dad."
"Great! How do you feel about the zoo?"
"Anywhere you want to go, Dad. Anywhere you want to go."
Danny hadn't remembered seeing Taylor so enthused to wander around the zoo for years. She barely even noticed the animals as they walked. The shows were wonderful though and brought a huge smile to her face. He was grinning right along with her. This was fun. This was great. This was wonderful.
If only it could always be like this.
Danny shook his head as Taylor ran ahead to stare at the reptile house. He knew he was sick. He knew that most days things weren't this good. He'd been trying to find someone he could talk to who was in their budget, even if a lot of the people that were willing to take him on kept having full schedules. It was only a matter of time before he found the right doctor, even if he had to go out of the city to do it.
He'd do anything to make sure that his Little Owl and his fiance could keep smiling. Annette wouldn't want him to keep drowning. And if he had to keep reminding himself of that every day until things made sense again, he'd do it.
Kayden was a godsend. That she had walked into his life and stayed even after realizing his issues was amazing. And that she adored Taylor as much as he did was simply astounding. He'd talked to other single parents and he knew how rare it was to find another partner that loved your child like that.
She had her issues, but who didn't? Danny could barely get out of bed some days, surely prior gang issues were something that could be overlooked, especially while she was clearly regretful about it. Some days it felt like she was trying harder to improve than Danny himself was!
"Dad, look! A grizzly bear! It's so big…I wonder…"
"Yeah, that's a burly fellow there, Taylor."
"Hey, Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"I…I have a secret to tell you…Tonight."
He smiled and reached over to ruffle her hair. When had she gotten so tall? "How about tomorrow? Kayden and I have a secret of our own to tell you sweetheart."
Taylor frowned. "You do?"
"We do. We can exchange secrets," he said, chuckling.
Taylor slowly nodded. "Okay. That works I guess. I don't think we're thinking of the same kind of secret…but okay."
Danny pulled Taylor against his side in a one-armed hug. "Little Owl, whatever your secret is, I guarantee you, you're going to be surprised with ours."
"Sure, Dad. You're going to be pretty surprised with mine too."
By the time they left the zoo, the sun had started to dip below the buildings. Danny had just gotten the keys into the ignition when he swore. "Ah dammit, I forgot, I need to pick up a file from the office."
"Tonight?" Taylor asked.
"We have a meeting with the Artist Guild on Monday and I wanted to get a head start on checking through the contract they sent over. It will be a lot of good work for the boys if we can secure a deal for Forsberg."
Taylor sighed. "Oh. We should go get it then."
"No need for us both to be late, Taylor," Danny said. "It's already getting close to dinner and you need to make up with Kayden."
"I know…"
"Here, money for the bus, it leaves in about five minutes."
"Dad…"
"The office is clear across town and we're getting into traffic hour now. Go, I'll meet you back home, Little Owl."
She rolled her eyes and leaned across the center console to kiss his cheek. "Fine, fine. Drive safe, Dad."
"I will. I love you, honey."
"Love you too. See you in an hour or two."
He waved as she got out and then waited until he saw Taylor get onto the bus in front of the zoo before he drove away. While it was true that he needed to get the file, he mostly just wanted to give Taylor and Kayden time to work things out on their own before he was back butting into the middle of whatever the issue this morning was about.
After all, if Kayden was going to be officially adopting Taylor, his two girls needed to have their fight resolved.
The office was completely deserted by the time he felt it was safe to head home. He had ignored two calls on the landline in the past three minutes too. Why someone was bothering to call the Dockworkers Union now of all times was beyond him, but they certainly weren't going to rope him into working tonight. Not when he was having a good day.
The phone rang again and Danny signed, grabbing his coat and throwing it on. He checked the clock and grinned to himself. "They should be done by now. Now where did I put that remote…" Shoving some papers to the side, he finally found the little remote for the tv he had thrown on to keep himself distracted. As he reached for it, his finger hit the channel button by accident flicking to the news.
"…Max Anders."
Danny frowned, his finger hovering over the power button. "That's Kayden's ex-husband. What's he doing on the news…"
"While we cannot confirm the wider working of Medhall itself, the evidence provided to this station is incontrovertible. The identity of Kaiser is indeed confirmed. We urge all patients to review your status and if at all possible, transfer to a different location. While it's certainly possible that Medhall is not associated with the Empire Eighty Eight, it is very worrying that such a large company is run by someone who leads such an organization. We can only hope that the PRT takes appropriate action and an investigation is launched."
Danny gaped, staring at the picture on the screen, Kayden's ex and Kaiser side by side. "Holy fuck!"
He slapped the power button for the tv and ran from the office. He flew out of the door to the building when he nearly smashed into the chest of a burly man standing just behind the threshold.
"Sorry, didn't see you there. Excuse me, I need to get home," Danny said. He twisted the key in the lock and made to step past the man, only to find his path blocked by an outstretched arm. Danny's eyes narrowed as he turned his head to meet the other man's gaze. "What are you doing here? The Union is closed for the night."
"Yeah it is," his voice was gruff. Danny took a step back, his eyes casting about for something, anything. "You probably should've stayed at home."
"Who are you?"
"It's really not that important." He shook his head and sighed. Danny's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of a metal pipe leaning against the siding. Edging back, he made sure to keep the man in view. "You've been bad. I get it, for what it's worth, I really do. I can even respect your decision. Judgement went bad, you wanted to protect your family however you could."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Danny's hand wrapped around the pipe even as the man chuckled. "Of course you don't. There's no use pretending. You're not a good hacker, Daniel. Had you been leaking the identity of any other villain in this city it would probably have been fine. Fuck, even that squint Lung likely wouldn't have really cared. But Kaiser, see Kaiser has a thing for consequences. You're already on his shit list for fucking his girl."
Danny's mouth went dry. He didn't stop to think, he swung the pipe towards the man's head. It slammed into the side of the buff man with a reverberating clang. Danny's arm shook from the impact and he dropped the pipe. The other man just grinned. "Not bad, Daniel. Not bad at all. That might have actually worked too, if I wasn't Hookwolf."
Danny felt ice travel up his veins as he stared at the cape in front of him. "I don't know what you think I did, but I swear to you, all I've done was spend the day with my family."
Hookwolf sighed. "I actually almost believe you. Tell you what, I'll make this quick. Man to man. Kaiser wants it slow and painful. I'll make sure you don't suffer. I may be a murderer, but that doesn't mean I always agree with how we go about these things. I am sorry. I know it doesn't help, but figured I'd say it."
"Please…"
"Good night, Daniel."