Total Knock Out / Book Two

Chapter Eight: All These Daddy Issues

Stanford hit the punching bag in front of him halfheartedly, watching as Rori and Logan talked to Maddox and Darcy. They had ambushed them as soon as they walked into the rec center, a huge grin on Darcy's face that warned him that she was up to something. The look of absolute shock on Logan's proved that he had been right about his hunch and he was dying to know what was going on, but he had already missed three days of gym training and couldn't afford to be sucked into whatever it was they were doing.

"They're asking her if she wants to work here," Elijah explained, coming to a stop beside Stanford and following his line of sight. "Darcy and Lylah came up with the idea of having a childcare system here for the parents who have younger kids they can't leave at home, and your woman is the best person for the job. Lylah even offered to be on standby if there's a medical emergency."

Stanford nodded his head, not even bothering to correct Elijah when he called Logan 'his' woman. He had already been calling her that in his head despite the fact that they barely even had a friendship. He nodded his head towards the small group and grabbed onto the punching bad to get it to stop swaying, he wasn't focused enough to even pretend like he was training and he had bigger things to worry about at the moment.

"Rori asked me if she could call me Daddy," he said softly, not wanting anyone but Elijah to hear him. He wasn't quite sure what to do about the entire situation and the last thing he needed was for Damion or Jaxon to stroll by and give him advice he probably wouldn't even take to begin with. "I didn't answer her, I'm not exactly sure how to. Plus, Logan got this panicked look on her face when Rori asked so I'm sure that she's not exactly too excited about the whole thing."

Elijah let out a low whistle and shook his own head, reaching up to scratching his jaw. Stanford looked at the tattoos covering his friends arms instead of looking up at his face, wasn't ready to see the look of pity and surprise there. All of his friends knew he wasn't exactly dad material, had heard enough from his drunken rambles to assume what had happened to him as a child. They knew he didn't want to make the same mistakes as his own mother, to make an innocent kid feel like they aren't worthy of the love they're entitled to.

"The poor thing has never had someone like you in her life. Neither has her mother, from what I can gather. They know that you're there to keep them safe and I guess Logan has told Rori at some point that's what a father is supposed to do. Add in the fact that you're all living together and it's no wonder she wants to call you Daddy. She thinks that you're all what a family is really supposed to be like."

He shook his head at Elijah's explanation and rolled his shoulders, trying to ease some of the tension out of them. He didn't know how to be a family, not in that sense at least, and he didn't want to break Rori's heart but he couldn't be what she wanted. He'd leave it up to Logan, though, to tell her why she couldn't call him that. He would just be too clumsy in it, tripping over his tongue and saying things he really didn't mean.

Elijah clasped a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze before walking away, going to the front desk to talk to Charlie about God-knows-what. Stanford let out a deep sigh and shook his arms out, laying into the punching bag and focusing on that until all he could think of was the way his arm absorbed the shock of the punches he was throwing.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that, attacking the bag in front of him, but when he finally came to a stop he was dripping sweat and his body was aching. He would have killed to be able to go home and soak in an ice bath until his muscles stopped clenching up, maybe even have a beer or two. But Logan had promised Rori last night that if she behaved while they were at the rec center then they would take her out for ice cream, and he didn't have the heart to take the promise back.
Stanford grabbed the bag in front of him to stop the swaying and turned to reach for his water bottle on the edge of the mat, only to see Rori sitting there and staring up at him with awe on her face. He looked around for Logan and gave out a breath of relief when he saw her standing at the front desk with Charlie, half turned so she could still keep an eye on her daughter.

"You're really fast," Rori whispered, moving out of the way when Stanford dropped down in a crouch right beside her. He chugged the contents of his water bottle in just a few seconds and wiped the sweat off of his brow onto his shoulder, not exactly sure what to say. He hadn't had many conversations with small children and it definitely showed.

"Do you wanna hit the bag?" Stanford questioned, setting his bottle down on the mat and holding his hand out to Rori. She nodded her head enthusiastically and grabbed his hand, barely able to hold onto two of his fingers. He straightened up out of his crouch and picked her up in the smooth motion Charlie had taught him, settling her comfortably against his hip. Two steps had him directly in front of the punching bag again and Rori let out a small giggle when he shifted her around, ending up with her back against his chest and one arm under her thighs while the other was wrapped around her stomach to keep her in place.

He smiled to himself when she kicked out at the bag, the toe of her shoe barely brushing against it. She wouldn't be able to move it, not unless she wanted to run and throw herself against it, but she could beat the crap out of it all she wanted. He stepped closer to the bag, angling his body enough that Rori was actually landing pretty solid kicks to the bag. He kept an eye on the way her foot was pointed, pulling away from the bag slightly every time her toes would have scrunched up in her shoes. The bag was heavy enough to do real damage if he wasn't careful with her, but she wouldn't be able to do a proper kick while he held her in his arms, and he wasn't quite ready to let her go; not when she was turning her head to grin up at him and throwing her head back to laugh like a little hyena.

"Alright you little monkey, go stand by your mom while I go get dressed and then we'll go get some ice cream," Stanford promised, setting Rori gently down on the floor and watching as she ran back to Logan before heading towards the locker room to change. He would have liked to shower, but he didn't want to keep Logan or Rori waiting any longer than he had to; paranoid to the bone that Kyle would show up and no one would be around to stop him. It was pretty ridiculous to think considering that they were in an MMA gym and there were men much larger than he was who would willingly step in if someone was causing a problem for Logan. He couldn't help but worry about it, because despite not really being dad material he had already started thinking of Logan and Rori as his own.