Daisy and Boss: 5 - Noble Intentions
#5 of Daisy and Boss
Moving along still! Takes off directly as usual from chapter 4. I need to do some art for this story, or someone else does. lol I would love a picture of Daisy and Boss. As usual, tags are sort of for the whole story and some of them arent quite relevant yet. Warnings are for future good stuff, yada yada. Enjoy! Leave me comments and suggestions!
-Lilly
Daisy and Boss: 5 - Noble Intentions
"Do you take cream or sugar?"
"Oh, no thank you, Ma'am, this is perfect." Boss smiled into his cup as he took a sip. "I take mine plain. I've been hardened by break room coffee down at the precinct." He glanced at Daisy and winked, causing her to flick her ears in surprise and fiddle with a throw pillow she had across her lap, listening to Boss' deep voice. "No amount of cream and sugar can improve the coffee they make there, so I've come to like it black. But this is quite good." He explained, looking back up to Flossy who had watched the exchange of glances between Daisy and Boss with something akin to flabbergasted amazement on her face. She quickly plastered on a smile, though, and tittered at his quip about the coffee at his work when Boss turned back to her to compliment the coffee.
"Oh, well thank you dear!" She bubbled. "It's Starbucks brand, can't remember what kind exactly, but I always store the beans in the freezer and I think that keeps it from tasting stale." She stated definitively. Daisy rolled her eyes and one of the young goats yawned, her head starting to loll tiredly as conversation moved towards uninteresting topics for such a young fur. Time passed in pleasant conversation for twenty minutes or so, the Fields family asking Boss polite questions about himself and his work, and he in turn learning a little about their life in the house that sat over the river and thru the woods. A comfortable lull had fallen and was only broken when Kale inhaled as he was struck by a memory and gestured to his coffee in comprehension.
"Mm. Gazebo Blend, that's what it's called." Kale mumbled into his cup, poised for a sip. Flossy made a soft 'Ah' sound and pointed a finger at her husband, pleased at his remembering. The bearded goat only leaned forward and nabbed his second thick slice of bread loaded with butter and honey from the bowl, nodding and gazing at Boss with a quiet thoughtfulness. Boss cleared his throat, feeling a bit scrutinized, and helped himself to a piece as well. He bit into the fluffy slice, and made a short murr of pleasure when the slightly chewy fresh baked goodness hit his taste buds flooding his mouth with the flavors of honey and butter and oats.
May and Petunia, the older set of twins sharing the smaller couch busied themselves with loading a couple pieces of the bread each onto napkins and gathered their mugs of herbal tea before they stood as one.
"I think we're going to bed." Petunia yawned. May nodded and stuffed another piece of bread from the bowl into her mouth as they made their way past and said their goodnights to everyone. Flossy gave them a dark look and pursed her full lips.
"I don't want crumbs all over you beds, girls." She warned. Perched next to Kale on the arm of the couch she glared imposingly while he in turn made a comical 'uh, oh. Watch out, girls' face with widened eyes and a tight lower lip.
"Wuh? Ah fough ooh wanneh uf tuh eaf va breah!" May mumbled around the large wedge of bread she held in her teeth, her hands being full with tea...and more bread. Her mother's look darkened further.
"What did she say?" The old homemaker snipped. Petunia giggled and so did May, though it cost her and she coughed a bit as she nearly choked.
"She said, 'What? I thought you wanted us to eat the bread!' You did make an awful lot of it, Mom." Petunia blinked innocently as they left the room, raising their tea in goodnight in lieu of a free hand to wave.
"It is getting a bit late, isn't it..." Boss snuffled, rubbing a large paw over his muzzle as he swallowed the last bit of the bread and chased it with the last gulp of the excellent coffee out of the bottom of the 'worlds best dad' mug.
"It's still raining pretty good out there..." Daisy mused, looking out one of the windows on the far side of the room and watching the water run down the pane of glass as if someone were holding a hose to it, and shivered. She held her tea tighter and looked to Boss. "Are you sure you'll be okay driving back to the city?" Boss had stood while she was looking out the window, and he stretched his arms behind his back flashing her a grin.
"I'm sure I'll be fine. No need to worry." He felt the twinge in his chest again at her concerned frown. The feeling was beginning to be a regular thing around the pretty doe, Boss mused. Daisy's parents stood a second later, Kale handing off one of the sleeping kids in his lap to Flossy. Daisy placed her tea on the coffee table and stood off to the side, hiding a yawn behind her palm.
"Time to put these two to bed." Flossy whispered, "We'll be right back." They left the room and headed down the hall, leaving Daisy and Boss standing in the living room alone. Boss cleared his throat, wondering how to ask Daisy the question that had been bouncing around in his head the last hour. But before he could figure out a non stalkerish way to do it, she crossed the room in three quick steps and put her arms around him in a nervous hug. Boss was frozen for a split second before his arm came up around her shoulders and he squeezed gently back. His tail wagged slowly at the feel of her pressed to his body.
"Thank you." Daisy mumbled. His chuckle rumbled through her and she hugged him tighter. Her rational brain was hollering at her to quit it, that he was still practically a stranger, and that he had just been doing his job as a cop, making sure she got home all right. She was making a fool out of herself. But her heart was singing! She was touching him, and it felt good! Her heart didn't care if Daisy had met him today or last month, and happily throbbed at the long lost sensation of a hug.
"No problem." He gruffed, voice thick with the feeling in his chest. She let go to step back and look up into his face. He let her go reluctantly, one paw lingering on her shoulder. She left it there, and her eyes wandered over him as she tried to find a good way to ask her question.
"Will I see you again?" Daisy blurted, ears and horns going hot in embarrassment.
"Do you want to meet sometime... for lunch?" Boss was asking at the same exact moment. They both laughed and Boss' tail made happy loops down by his ankles. Boss cupped Daisy's chin in his paw and his nose twitched in amusement that they had been thinking the same thing. When would they meet again?
"So... Is that a yes to lunch? Maybe I could give you a ride to college sometime?" Boss asked softly. Daisy lowered her gaze for a fraction and Boss marveled at her long black lashes as they dusted her cheeks before she looked back up at him with a mixture of shyness and excitement.
"Yeah." She nodded and he let his paw drop from her chin, but not her shoulder.
Kale and Flossy came back just then and they both stopped short as they spotted the large white paw resting casually on their daughter's shoulder. They recovered quickly, but Boss saw the shock on their faces before Flossy walked the rest of the way into the living room and began gathering up the dishes. Kale stood where he was at the end of the hall, one rough hand tugging thoughtfully at his beard. Boss let his paw fall from Daisy's shoulder and she gave him an apologetic look before turning to her Dad.
"Daddy, Boss was just volunteering to take me to town next time I want to visit the college." Her voice was hopeful and held a childish quality to it, and Boss realized that although she was fully grown, her parents still had quite a hold over her daily life. Daisy's previous words came back to him then. "I'll always be a baby to them."
"We'll see, Sweetie." Came the gruff reply. Kale's eyes never left the tall dog as he spoke. And Flossy made herself busy carrying cups and the tray back to the kitchen in silence. Daisy sighed, and it was a heavy sound. Boss looked down at her to see her studying the carpet. He reached into his suit and retrieved one of his business cards with all of his contacts.
"Well, just in case." He held the card out to her and she looked up and smiled when she took it. "Keep in touch, okay?"
"Okay." Daisy nodded. Kale nodded towards the door and made his way out of the living room, his hooves thudding dully as he went from the carpeted floor to the hardwood that was in the foyer.
"I'll walk you out, Detective Boss." Kale said over his shoulder. Daisy followed them, and watched Boss as he put his brown duster back on and absently checked his pockets, making sure he had his keys and wallet on him.
"What a day to leave my cell phone at home, eh?" He shook his head. Looking at Daisy he furrowed his brow slightly. "Speaking of, how come you don't own one?" Daisy had the good grace to look guilty as her mother came around the corner from the kitchen and poked her with a finger.
"She did have one... and one before that, and before that." Flossy smiled.
"How many have you lost or destroyed?" Kale bleated in his rough chuckling voice. "Four? Five?" Daisy avoided looking anyone in the eye and smiled sheepishly.
"I think the one I dropped in the creek by accident makes number six... actually. And that was a month ago." She shrugged and cast an annoyed glance at Boss. "I won't let them buy me any more phones. It's not like I go anywhere most of the time."
"It's still important for emergencies!" Flossie exclaimed.
"Mmm... Would have been a good thing to have today, wouldn't it?" Boss pointed out and both parents nodded. Daisy sniffed.
"Who's side are you on?" She accused the tall canine with a suspicious glare. Boss laughed as he zipped his coat. Kale threw on a jacket as well and opened the front door. A gust of cold air and wind swept rain swirled in and made the girls shiver.
"I'll see you soon, okay? Take care." Boss looked at Daisy and then dipped his head at the both of them. Daisy ran forward to give him one more quick little hug, nodding silently. She didn't trust her voice at the moment. Flossy waved and watched the exchange with surprise as Daisy stepped back away from the door again. The buck and the hound stepped out and shut the door behind them.
Kale looked up at the tall Detective as they descended the steps of the front porch. Boss paused just under the roof's overhang, knowing that Kale wanted to say something and hoping that they could do it under the moderate protection of the porch.
"It's been eight years since I've seen her act like that around anyone..." Kale said after a moment of standing in silence. Boss didn't say anything, he didn't know if there WAS anything he could say.
"It got much worse when... When HE took her..." Kale shook his head, as if trying to dislodge his thoughts, his horns growing shiny with the rain. Boss blinked and it registered finally what Kale had just said.
"She was like that before her kidnapping?" He asked, confused. "What happened to her eight years ago?" Boss asked before he could stop himself. Kale glared at him for a split second, opening his maw in clear affront before he seemed to just deflate, the angry expression disappearing with a deep sigh. His eyes were burdened when he opened his muzzle again to answer.
"It happened to the whole family, but it hurt her the most." Kale explained. "When Daisy was twelve years old, her twin sister Dahlia was hit by a car while they were out riding bicycles..." Kale's voice was thick with emotion.
"Dahlia... Daisy didn't mention her..." Boss murmured, knowing what was coming next somehow with a deep sense of dread. Kale brushed work hardened fingers down his brow, hiding his suspiciously wet eyes from Boss as he cleared his throat and continued.
"No... She wouldn't. Dahlia... Dahlia didn't survive her injuries. Daisy was traumatized, wouldn't talk, wouldn't eat, and cried constantly for days on end." Kale looked back towards the house with a gesture. "Her mother was almost the same, beside herself with worry and hurt. For a couple years it was very rough... Especially at holidays." The goat seemed much older all of a sudden, his shoulders slumped in sorrow. Boss couldn't imagine the pain of losing a daughter at that age so suddenly. His heart went out to the black buck.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Boss murmured. "Meeting your family tonight I'd say it's brought you closer. I wish I had such a good relationship with my folks..." He offered lamely, unsure of what to say. Kale met his gaze and smiled slightly.
"Thank you, my boy, that's kind of you." He looked out into the rain at the Tahoe parked in the gravel driveway next to an old blue ford pickup and newer looking silver Subaru outback. "What I was meaning to get at... before all that... was that Daisy's always been quiet around strangers, and she's terrified of canines, I'm sure you've noticed." Kale gave him a pointed look.
"I did notice." Boss nodded.
"So you can imagine our surprise when Daisy brings you home." Kale gestured upwards at Boss' impressive stature. "We were expecting a little mouse or rabbit or perhaps a martin at most, but there you were filling the whole damned front door and the only thing I got to ask, is why are you different?" Kale exclaimed. "Why can she give you a hug, when the last time our neighbors down the road tried to invite us to a barbeque, it ended in a screaming fit under the picnic table!? And they're a bunch of poodles! The little kind!" The goat gestured a height at chest level on himself and Boss blinked, dumbfounded.
"I don't know..." Boss said simply. He wanted to tell the big buck about how he had stood at the bus terminal watching his daughter for almost twenty minutes, battling a strange and highly inappropriate urge to go and gather the shivering doe in his arms. When the rain had intensified he had heard the plaintive sound she'd made and it had undone him. He looked at Kale and shrugged his shoulders. "I just felt like I could help her." He smiled. "It's what I do."
"And she didn't scream, she didn't faint, or run away?" Kale asked, amazement etched in the deep lines of his face. Boss chuckled, recalling Daisy's face when he'd opened the umbrella and asked if she was all right.
"No." He shook his head. "She stared at me with her mouth open. But I think she was afraid, a little... especially when I mentioned Julian Wilderson." Boss mused, thinking of they way she had stiffened at the mention of his name. As if she had been ready to simply sprint away from him in a panicked dash down the street. He looked at Kale and started slightly. The buck's shaggy mane bristled angrily and his ears were laid back against his horns.
"We don't mention HIS name around here, Detective Boss." The black goat snorted, his green eyes glowing with hatred. "We'll get along real friendly as long as I never hear it again." He peered up at the larger fur menacingly and Boss knew he was serious.
"Understood." Boss said simply, fishing his keys out of his pocket. He stepped out into the rain just as the front door came crashing open with a bang and Daisy ran out onto the porch.
"Boss! Wait!" She cried as she clattered down the steps after him. Kale frowned and called over the wind as it picked up.
"Daisy, where's you coat, girl!?" But she ignored him.
"Boss! The local news says that Chester Creek's flooded its banks! The bridge isn't safe!"