Total Knock Out / Book Two

Chapter Seven: Innocent Curiosity

"Rori, baby, eat the rest of your pancakes and go get dressed. We have to leave with Stanford in a few minutes and we don't have time for you to drag your little butt," Logan warned, finishing her cup of coffee while her daughter stuffed her last two bites of breakfast into her mouth. Stanford swung her out of the kitchen chair once she swallowed and set her on the ground, the three of them finally getting into some sort of routine.

It had been an awkward first three days after their altercation on the front porch. She had held onto her anger for as long as she could, completely bewildered that Stanford would think that she'd ever lay a harmful hand on her daughter, but he had apologized and Rori had forgotten about it so she just let it go. They even sort of started to get along after that, no longer being overly polite and Stanford had even let Rori crawl on his back last night when she walked into the living room with a book for Logan to read her and saw him doing push-ups on the floor.

"I'll clean up if you want to go get ready," Stanford offered, already clearing dishes off of the table and Logan smiled thankfully at him before setting her coffee cup in the sink and making her way to her bedroom. A quick peek through their beautiful lilac door showed Rori pulling a dress out of her cubby drawer, shoes and tights already on.

Logan made her way over to her closet and pulled out another dress, not even bothering with her jeans and shirts. She wasn't in the mood to deal with struggling to pull her jeans up past her thighs or over her hips, the weight she had gained from her pregnancy was still very much there and the bane of her existence most days. Plus, Rori liked it when she wore dresses with her.

She stripped out of her pajamas and tugged the long, yellow maxi dress over her head, not bothering with a bra because she was underdeveloped enough to get away with it, and grabbed a thick teal cardigan to fight off the chill of the morning air. She slipped her feet into a pair of nude flats and grabbed two belts out of the small basket on her dresser, thankful that Lylah had thought of accessories, before turning towards the door connecting the rooms.

"What do you think, bug? Brown or silver sparkles?" Logan asked, smiling when Rori came into the doorway with a brush in her hand. Her daughter stared at the belts very seriously, a small frown on her face, before pointing to the silver belt in her left hand. "Sit on the bed and I'll do your hair after I get this on."

She fit the belt at her waist and cinched it in, giving herself the illusion of some curves. Rori held out the brush for her once she got closer to the bed and turned so Logan wouldn't have to sit down behind her. She gathered up her daughters hair and started brushing the tangles out, splitting it into two sections once that was done and putting it up into two small buns on the top of her head. She dropped a kiss to the top of Rori's head and allowed her to slip off the bed, taking a long look at her outfit while she pulled her own hair to the side and started to braid it.

Logan has started to let Rori dress herself a few months ago, determined to allow her daughter to be creative and more independent. Even if it meant she was wearing cheetah print leggings with a flower patterned dress and a pair beat-up converse like she was now. Logan let out a fond sigh and tied the end of her braid off with the hair tie on her wrist.

"Put a jacket on and I'll let you wear a little bit of makeup today," Logan bargained, already moving towards the small cosmetic bag on her dresser. Rori had taken to refusing to wear a jacket no matter how cold it was outside, resulting in a few tearful meltdowns when Logan forced her to wear one anyway, but she loved it when she got to wear makeup like a grown up.

Rori scrambled into her room and Logan shook her head in exasperation, dumping her makeup on the top of her dresser and beginning to apply it in the vanity mirror that was attached. She had gotten fast at it, so used to chasing a toddler around in the process, that it barely took her fifteen minutes to put everything on and go hunting Rori down with blush and mascara in her hand.

She walked back to the living room after she peeked through their joint doorway and didn't see Rori, a concerned frown on her face. She knew her daughter hadn't gone outside, but the fact that she didn't immediately come running into the room once she was done putting on her jacket wasn't her usual behavior.

Logan came to a stop in the hallway when she saw Stanford kneeling in front of her daughter, his huge fingers clumsily trying to put the zipper on her jacket together. She smiled to herself and leaned her shoulder against the wall, content with just watching their small exchange.

"Mama said I could wear makeup today if I wore my jacket, but I can't ever get it zip up by myself." Stanford nodded his head distractedly, still struggling with the zipper. "And I couldn't ask Mama to do it since she was busy, so I come to ask you."

Logan resisted the urge to laugh softly to herself when Stanford finally got the zipper to cooperate with him and he grinned down at Rori like he had just solved world hunger. It was oddly adorable to watch such a large, intimidating man interact so gently with her daughter and seem to genuinely enjoy it.

"Come on, baby. Let's put your makeup on and then we need to leave," Logan called out, squatting down to sweep blush on Rori's cheeks when she came to a stop in front of her. She applied the tiniest amount of mascara to her daughters eyelashes and gave her a kiss on the cheek, sending her back towards Stanford while she ran back to her room to drop the makeup on her dresser and grab her purse along with a few toys for Rori to play with.

She came back into the living room and walked out of the already opened front door, going down the steps and meeting Stanford and Rori at the end of the driveway. Rori slipped her hand in Logan's, swinging their arms once they started down the sidewalk. Stanford lived less than five minutes away from the rec center and Rori had practically begged to walk to it when he mentioned that's where they would be going last night, pulling puppy dog eyes until he had given in and said yes.

She watched out of the corner of her eye as Rori held her hand out to Stanford and he took it, his own hand swallowing hers whole. It all felt very domestic, the kind of life she missed out on with Kyle and it broke her heart a little bit.

"Can I call you Daddy?" Rori asked Stanford, an innocent question to a child but a damning one to an adult. And the hopeful look on her daughters face when she looked up at the giant man beside her, well that broke Logan's heart most of all. Because she was going to have to tell Rori that she couldn't call Stanford "Daddy", no matter how attached she had already become to him. They weren't a family getting a second chance at happiness, they were running from their own form of Hell and gaining someone who loved them like that wasn't part of the survival plan.