Playing Dirty

"You wanna help?" Daryl asked Brianna, standing in his mother's kitchen making dinner. Brianna was on her tip toes trying to get eyes on the process, subtly hinting that she wanted to get involved.

"Yeah." Brianna grinned.

"Ok, here." Daryl said, taking one of the kitchen chairs and placing it over beside the stove, lifting Brianna up and placing her on it so she was standing at better height, "Careful, ok?" He said a little nervously.

"You sound like mommy." Brianna said, "She doesn't let me dance on my toothbrush stool." She said.

"Your toothbrush stool?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah. Because I'm little. I have a stool to stand on so I can see my teeth in the mirror. And I put stickers on the stool so people know it's mine." Brianna told him.

"Oh, ok." Daryl nodded, "Well we don't want you to fall and hurt yourself, do we?"

"No." Brianna shook her head, "Is it ready?" She asked, watching the spaghetti noodles bubbling in the hot water.

"Let's test it." Daryl said, taking a noodle out and throwing it against the backsplash behind the stove as Brianna giggled.

"Why did you do that?" Brianna smiled.

"To see if it's ready." Daryl said, "If it sticks to the wall, it is. If it falls off, it's not ready yet."

"So it's not ready?" Brianna asked as the noodle at hit the wall and fell down.

"Not yet. Another few minutes." Daryl said, "You like spaghetti and sauce, don't you?" He asked, figuring he should have asked before starting it.

"Yeah." Brianna nodded, "I like everything." She said.

"Oh, you like everything?" Daryl asked, "So next time I'll make you carrots and brussel sprouts?" He asked.

"What's a brussels sprout?" Brianna asked with confusion as Daryl chuckled. The innocence of her made him melt.

"It's a vegetable." Daryl said, "What's your favourite dinner then?"

"My favourite is pizza or nuggets. But I like spaghetti too." Brianna said, not wanting to hurt his feelings, "I'd prefer it with garlic bread, though." She added.

"Ok, noted. I'll make sure I bring some next time." Daryl nodded.

"What is your favourite dinner?" Brianna asked him.

"Oh, I'm not sure. I like a lot of stuff." Daryl said, "Steak. Maybe a burger? I love pizza too." He said.

"Mommy's favourite is burgers." Brianna told him, even though he knew, of course.

"Burgers are good." Daryl nodded.

"Are you and mommy friends?" Brianna asked curiously. She was still just a little kid with lots of questions and curiosity.

"Y-Yeah…. Yeah, me and mommy are friends." Daryl nodded to her.

"Is that why the stork brought me to mommy? Did you ask the stork to give me to her?" Brianna wondered as Daryl looked at her with confusion.

"The stork?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah. The stork brought me to mommy because you and her are friends. I think." Brianna said as Daryl nodded slowly.

"Yeah… yeah, of course." He nodded along, "Hey, do you want to see something cool?" He asked her.

"Yeah." Brianna nodded.

"Ok, come with me." Daryl said, lifting her down from the chair and turning the stove down.

"Where are we going?" Brianna asked excitedly.

"To see something cool." Daryl said, heading upstairs with her and into his old bedroom, which didn't look too different from how he had left it four years ago.

"I've been in here before." Brianna grinned deviously.

"Oh, really?" He asked her.

"Yeah, granny showed me." Brianna nodded, "She said it was daddy's room when he was my age. I think it's a bit boring. My room has lots of teddy bears and toys and also I have a night light and it lights up the roof." She pointed to the ceiling as Daryl smiled. The more he spent time with her and got to her know her little personality, he realised she was just a mini Shiv. They had the same bubbly and excitable energy.

"Your room does sound better than this one." Daryl nodded, opening up one of the dresser drawers and digging through it.

"What are you looking for?" Brianna asked, running over and jumping on the bed.

"This." Daryl found the picture, wandering over to the bed and sitting down as she sat down beside him, "Guess who those two kids are." He showed her the picture.

"I don't know who that is." Brianna shrugged.

"That's me." He pointed to the little boy in the picture, "And that's mommy." He pointed to the little girl standing beside.

"Is it?" Brianna asked with a smile.

The photograph was of Daryl and Shiv, around the age of nine or ten, both of them out in the yard with sunglasses on. Nine-year-old Daryl had his arm around Shiv's shoulder, whilst Shiv stuck her tongue out.

"Yeah, that's us." Daryl smiled, not remembering the last time he looked at this picture. He used to have it taped to his wall with other pictures.

"Mommy is sticking her tongue out." Brianna giggled.

"Yeah, she was cheeky." Daryl nodded, "This was one of the hottest Summers we ever had. We spent the whole time outside. We had a water balloon fight and granny let us have ice-cream for dinner." He remembered fondly.

"Did you have fun?" Brianna asked.

"Yeah, we always had fun." Daryl smiled.

"Do you not have fun now?" She asked innocently as Daryl looked down at her. He wished he could tell her just how much her parents loved one another, but the last thing he wanted to do was complicate things.

"We're just old and boring now." Daryl said, nudging her playfully as she smiled.

"Daryl! Your spaghetti is overcooking down here!" Carol yelled up from downstairs.

"We're coming!" Daryl yelled back, sitting the photograph over, "C'mon, we better go rescue this dinner." He told her, making an oops face as she giggled.

"Can I go on your back?" Brianna asked, standing up on the bed so she was level with his height.

"Go for it." Daryl turned around, backing up towards her as she climbed onto his back like a little koala, "You good?" He chuckled.

"Yeah, you can go." Brianna said, patting his shoulder.

"Ok, let's go." Daryl said, carrying her on his back down the stairs, pretending he was losing his balance to freak her out, but she only giggled and squealed with excitement. It was like angels singing to his ears.

"What do you mean you're doing a chocolate fountain?" Punk asked with attitude.

He'd just put the twins to bed and found AJ in their bedroom brushing her hair. Most often than not, they headed to their own bed after getting the twins to sleep. Early rises were difficult, especially if they went to bed late.

"It was Daryl's idea." AJ shrugged, sitting at her vanity, looking at him in the mirror where he stood behind.

"But my place does the chocolate fountain. That's our thing." Punk said, agitated.

"Isn't there room for two chocolate fountains in this town?" She turned around, looking up at him.

"No." Punk decided, "No, I don't think there is."

"Oh, Phil." AJ laughed, turning back around to look in the mirror.

"Don't Oh, Phil me. Fountain Fridays… we literally invented that." Punk said.

"You're doing open-mic night. The Brewberry needs to step up if you're branching out for special events." AJ said.

"You have your book club." Punk reminded her.

"That's for my benefit, not The Brewberry." AJ scoffed, "It's not a competition."

"Are you sure? Stealing my ideas seems a bit competitive to me." Punk said, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "What's Daryl playing at? Suggesting ideas that belong to my shop?"

"He's actually fitting in and coming out of his shell with us." AJ turned around to him, "I think he's starting to like working with us. We make him laugh." She nodded.

"I'm not happy about this." Punk said.

"Oh, stop. It's not like we're going to put you out of business. Daryl suggested it and I want him to feel like he's contributing to the shop. Make him feel like he has an important place there." She said.

"He can't come up with original ideas?" Punk scoffed.

"You need to loosen up a bit." AJ suggested, standing up and walking over to him, "It's a damn chocolate fountain."

"And what if I lose all my customers on a Friday because they know they can get the same thing over at your place?" Punk asked, "This is a mean move."

"C'mon… a little competition never got between us before." She smiled sarcastically.

"So it is a competition." Punk nodded, "Hey… I think you're forgetting who you're married to. I can play dirty."

"Yeah?" AJ grinned, "How dirty? Dirtier than me?" She whispered.

"Yeah. Much dirtier." He assured her.

"You sure?" She smiled, lowering herself down on her knees in front of him.

"Mhm." He nodded, watching her fumble with his belt, tugging at his jeans as he lifted his hips and let her pull them down.

She wrapped her hand around his hardening length, spitting some saliva onto the tip of him before moving her hand up and down.

"Fuck." Punk moaned, "Open your mouth." He said desperately, nudging her hand away from his length, using his own hand to stroke himself up and down as she looked up at him with her big eyes, opening her mouth as he guided himself in.

He grabbed a fistful of her hair, moving her head up and down on him as she kept looking up at him.

"Fuck, you look so good like that." He murmured, watching as some saliva escaped her mouth and down her chin.

"Fuck." AJ pulled back for some air after having him in her mouth for so long, "Does my mouth feel good?" She smirked with innocent eyes, wrapping her hand back around him and stroking him up and down.

"Take your clothes off." He nodded as she got to her feet, shimmying her own jeans and panties down, taking her t-shirt and bra off as he threw his t-shirt away too.

She giggled with delight as he lifted her up and placed her on the bed, climbing over her and lining his hips against hers.

"I'm so wet." She whispered in his ear, stroking herself with her fingers whilst he kissed her neck.

"Put me inside you." Punk murmured against the skin of her neck.

AJ reached between them for his length, scooching herself down a little and guiding him inside of her, leaving him to do the rest as he thrust forward.

"Fuck." AJ moaned, rolling her head back at the feeling of him deep inside her, "That's so deep." She moaned as he kissed her roughly on the mouth, beginning to thrust himself back and forth inside of her.

"God, you're so beautiful." Punk moaned, cupping one of her breasts. Sometimes when he had her like this, underneath him and riving with want and need, he couldn't believe how lucky he'd gotten.

"Everything should be in her bag." Daryl said, handing Brianna's backpack to Shiv who had come to pick their daughter up from Carol's, standing at the doorway.

"Thank you." Shiv nodded.

"She had spaghetti for dinner." Daryl told her.

"I threw it against the wall!" Brianna told her mother happily.

"You what?" Shiv asked, horrified. She immediately pictured Brianna throwing her bowl of spaghetti at her grandmother's kitchen wall.

"I was showing her how to test when spaghetti is ready. The old, throw a noodle at the wall trick." Daryl clarified.

"Oh." Shiv nodded, "I always just taste it." She shrugged.

"No fun in that." Daryl said as Shiv just made a face at him.

"Daddy showed me a picture of you and him when you were little." Brianna told Shiv.

"He did, did he?" Shiv asked, looking over at Daryl.

"Hottest Summer on record." Daryl told Shiv.

"Water balloons and ice-cream for dinner." Shiv remembered immediately, smiling.

"Why can't I have ice-cream for dinner?" Brianna asked.

"Oh, you're too little." Shiv waved her hand, "What do you say to your daddy for making dinner and looking after you?"

"Thanks daddy." Brianna smiled, "Why can't daddy come to our house? I want to show him my bedroom." She said with slight unhappiness.

"Oh, I'll see it eventually, sweetheart." Daryl nodded, "Why don't you go find granny and say goodbye to her? I think she's in the kitchen." He said.

"Ok." Brianna said, running away to find her grandmother, leaving Daryl and Shiv alone by the door.

"I hope it's ok… me showing her photographs." Daryl said.

"Of course." Shiv said.

"Did you… tell her that a stork gave her to you?" He asked with a teasing smile as Shiv stared at him, embarrassed.

"Yeah well she asked me how she got here so… I had to make something up real quick." Shiv shrugged.

"And you went with the stork?" Daryl asked.

"Well I couldn't tell her the real explanation, could I?" Shiv said with agitation, "I swear she's like a little detective sometimes." She shook her head as Daryl smiled.

"Yeah, she's curious." Daryl nodded with a smile, awkward silence filling the air as neither knew what to say next.

"Maybe you could see her one day at our place. Sounds like she really wants to show you her room." Shiv nodded. She could see how much Brianna was adapting to her father being in her life, and Shiv didn't want to keep any part of Brianna's life from Daryl.

"Only if it's ok with you." Daryl said, slightly surprised at the offer.

"Yeah. It's no problem." Shiv said, "As long as you stay out of Laffy's line of vision." Shiv nodded.

"I ain't gonna forgive you for turning my cat against me." Daryl told her.

"He's not your cat. He's Brianna's." Shiv corrected him as Daryl nodded.

"Guess you're right." Daryl nodded, "Are you sure? About me coming over to your place?"

"It's for Brianna." Shiv reminded him, "Not for me."

"I know I just mean-"

"I said bye to granny. I'm ready to go." Brianna came back into the hallway, interrupting them.

"Ok, good. Bath and bed when we get in. It's late and you have pre-k tomorrow." Shiv reminded her.

"I'll see you soon, kiddo. Next time maybe we can have pizza for dinner?" Daryl crouched down in front of Brianna.

"Yeah but we can't throw that at the wall." Brianna told him seriously.

"No, definitely not." Daryl agreed seriously as Shiv couldn't help smile, "Have a good day tomorrow, ok? Learn some stuff." He said, wrapping her arms around her as she hugged him back.

"I'll learn a lot of stuff." Brianna promised.

"Good." Daryl smiled, kissing her head before letting her run off to Shiv.

"I'll… see you around." Shiv nodded to Daryl.

"Yeah, see you around." Daryl said, watching them leave the house, smiling as he watched Brianna skip beside Shiv, talking to her with excitement. It made his heart tighten.