Walker (Cordell Walker x Female!Reader)

Something There That Wasn't There Before

A tried Cordell shuffled in the Walker's kitchen, taking a sip of his coffee and opens a box of Honey & Nuts when (Name) strolls in. "Morning." She greeted, opening the fridge. "Hey, good morning." Cordell muttered, feeling groggy from the lack of sleep.

(Name) takes out a carton of creamer from the fridge and goes over to the coffee pop to make herself a cup. "Last night was fun." She said. "Yeah." Cordell replied, pouring his cereal into a bowl.

"And a little weird. I can't believe Cassie and Ben's family family owns the biggest barbecue place in Waco." She remarked. "Yeah." Cordell murmurs, not engaging in the conversation very much since his mind was still occupied by what happened with Stella.

"Where is everybody?" (Name) asked, noticing the house is being oddly quiet this morning. "I know Liam decided to stay the with Ben." She added as Cordell puts the cereal box back in the cabinet.

"Uh, Daddy said he was going up to the farrier in Fort Worth. I-I guess Mama was, uh, going with him." Cordell muttered, closing the cabinet and coming back over to the counter. "Okay, well, that's great, because then we can finally talk, right?" (Name) asked, taking a seat at the counter and Cordell's face falls, when he remembers he promise they'd talk today.

"So, Donna, my new equine therapist, she has been teaching me this approach where you revisit your trauma..." (Name) begins, eager to finally get everything off her chest. "(Name), about-about that, uh..." Cordell said, adding sugar to his coffee.

"I know, I know. Sounds scary, especially with her whole thing being that you go it alone for the final steps of recovery, but with you by my side..." (Name) continues, thinking Cordell was just hesitating about the idea.

Cordell gives a short anxious chuckle as he holds up his hand to stop her. "I-I hate to do this, okay, but right now is not a good time for me." As he says this a look of disappointment crosses (Name's) face and Cordell felt a pang of guilt when he sees the lights in her eyes dimmed.

"I'm not-I'm not brushing off. I'm not, okay? I-I... But you-you got to understand that..." Cordell said, quietly and took a breath to try and get his words together. "I haven't slept. I came back last night to find the Side Step wrapped in police tape and my kids in jail."

"What?" (Name) asked, her eyes widening in shock. "Yeah. Stella threw an underage rager. At the Side Step, no less." Cordell replied and (Name) furrowed her brow at this.

Sure Stella would've done something like that in a heart beat, three years ago, when Cordell just came back from undercover. But now? That didn't quite sound like her. But then again... she did lose the Mustang to a random woman she met in a parking garage and then lied about for two months. So anything is possible.

"O-Okay. Yeah, that sounds really bad. Look just do whatever you need to do and get everything settled and let me know when you're ready." (Name) said, standing up from her seat. "Thank you." Cordell said, giving her a warm smile, always appreciating how understanding she is.

"Do you need anything from me?" (Name) asked and Cordell shook his head. "No, (Name), I-I have to handle this, all right? Uh, the-the optics with, uh, a Texas Ranger's kids, and..."

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Abby shouted, storming into the kitchen making the two jump. "Leaving your daughter in jail?" She angrily asked Cordell as Stella stomps over to the fridge.

"You bailed her out? I left her there so she would learn the consequences of her actions now that she's an adult." Cordell said to his mother. "She's 18!" Abby exclaimed. "And she's MY daughter. Stella Blue needs a wake-up call."

Stella closest the fridge, scowling at her father. "Should I remind you of her countless alarming decisions as of late?" Cordell said to Abby as (Name) awkwardly excuses herself to give them some privacy.