CUFFED

Mom, Mami, Mommy *Mature Content*

Present - Miami, Florida - James

I sighed as I walked into my house. It's been a long damn day. After I left the prison, I need to clear my head. Since I didn't have any of my surfing or fishing gear I opted for a walk along the coast.

The salty air didn't ease my anxiety like I had hoped it would, but it was relaxing. I learned a lot this morning. Who would have imagined the district attorney of the eleventh judicial circuit would turn out to be a serial killer. It really is the perfect cover.

This is going to be a shit storm.

The worst part is I'm not sure who I can trust. Him having a mole on the inside makes my job so much harder. It explains why there was virtually no evidence. My first order of business is cross-referencing schedules to each of the crime scenes. I'll have to find someone to hack into the system and check the call-out logs.

A smile split my face as rounded the hall corner and spotted my girls cuddled up on the couch together. There was one person I could trust. She's just on leave at the moment.

On my walk, I had decided to stay on leave myself. Well, with the exception that I'll be returning when Danny does as opposed to the whole three months. I figured it would be too fishy for me to leave the prison and immediately return to work. Thankfully, when I texted Cap, he thought I was kidding about the whole three-month thing and didn't put in the extension.

"Danny," Dylan said quietly as she sat up to pause the movie they were watching.

"hmmm?" Was Danielle's sleepy reply.

I leaned against the doorway to watch the interaction. Watching the two of them together has become one of my favorite pass times. Over the years they've grown so much closer.

"Now that you and my dad are dating, does that mean I can call you Mama for real?"

My eyes bulged as I watched Danielle become fully alert and snap her full attention to Dylan. I think she's just as shocked by the question as I am. Although, she's probably not holding her breath anticipating her answer.

In some way's Danielle is already Dylan's mom. I know she loves her; she's been there for most of the hard moments in her life, she's been at all of her soccer games, they go on shopping trips, and has even been known to hang out after work to help with homework.

Danielle's face blushed up as she opened and closed her mouth like a fish. Dylan began shaking her head quickly.

"I'm sorry! It's too soon. Forget I said anything."

"Oh, Mija," Danielle said softly. She sighed and smiled, then reached up to tuck a piece of hair behind Dylan's ear. "You just caught me by surprise, Dill."

"I understand if you don't wanna be my Mom," Dylan replied with a small sniffle.

I didn't move a centimeter as I awaited Danielle's reply. I knew if they knew I was standing here the subject would be dropped and put off until a later time. Something I'm sure that would stay hung in the air for a while since they'll both be too gun shy to bring it up again.

"I never said I didn't want to be your mom," said Danielle. "Your father and I's relationship status may have only changed last night. But, you have ALWAYS been looked at as my little girl. Even if things with James don't work out, I'm still going to be around for you."

"Thank you," Dylan said so quietly almost didn't hear her.

"Now, as for the calling me mom thing," Danielle continued. "Why don't we leave that up to your dad, hmm? I don't want him thinking I'm hunting for a ring. I want him to be okay with hearing it around here. He was really hurt by June."