Something in the Way You Move [O'J]

Jessie's Parents (part 3)

Danny's POV

I follow Mr. Cornish down the abnormally long hallway, Callie's head bumping gently against my shoulder with each step. He pushes open a door and lets me in, turning on the lights as we enter. Silently, he pulls back the covers and I set Callie down carefully. She doesn't even stir. We pull up the covers and I kiss her cheek before we leave.

"Daniel, a word, please?" Mr. Cornish asks, opening another door.

"Sure, of course," I reply uncertainly. He leads me into the room and closes the door behind us.

"My private study," he states. "Nice, quiet place to have a man-to-man." He gestures towards a plush chair on one side of the wooden desk in the center of the room. Slowly, I sit down. "You drink whiskey, right?" he asks, pulling a bottle from under the desk. He sets two glasses on the table and fills them before I have a chance to respond. Not that I would have said no, it's just that I'm...a little chatty when I'm drunk. Or tipsy. He takes his glass and I take mine. "Cheers," he says, our glasses clinking together. We both take a sip and set the glasses down. "Now, Jessie tells me that Callie is adopted. Can I ask why you adopted her?"

I ease back in my chair. "It's a bit of a long story, but I'll try to keep it brief," I begin. "I found Callie one night in an alleyway, brought her back to Jessie's place, and the next morning we found out she was being abused. Horribly abused. So she had ran away, right? We decided for her to stay at my place and eventually went to my parents' house in Ireland. Her abusive dad's place was nearby and my brother is a cop, so we busted them. There was a shoot-out, the Commissioner wanted to speak with me, and asked me if I wanted to adopt Callie, since we had a pretty good relationship with each other. So I said yes, and here we are now."

He nods slowly. "That's very noble of you," he comments. "You wouldn't have happened to do it for the good publicity, would you?"

The question takes me by surprise. "Pardon?" I ask, leaning forward.

"The publicity you must've gotten out of taking her on. Surely a good thing?"

"Well, I guess so. It's not like I threw open my doors and invited reporters in and said 'oh, hey, look at this good thing I did!'. I tried to keep it quiet so she could have a normal life. Or as normal as possible."

"Hmm. Good, then. Now, did you join The Voice for publicity?"

I take a sip of my whiskey, thinking about my answer. "Well, partially. I mean, at that point a lot of people listened to our music, but most of them didn't know who we were. We wanted to let people know who we are and what we do, and when I got the offer, we thought it would be an excellent idea. The other part was to meet new people, talented people, and hopefully help them earn a record deal, or at the very least, help them make an album of their own."

"And you met Jessie through The Voice?"

"Yeah, I did. And we became friends. Really good friends. And recently...well, you know..." I trail off.

"Know what?"

"Recently we became...boyfriend and girlfriend," I mumble, breaking eye contact for the first time. I feel blood rush to my face. Dammit, why I am so pale?

"Have you...have you had...sex?" he asks quietly.

"No, sir," I answer, feeling my blush grow deeper.

"What's with the blushing? Can't two men casually discuss one's sex life?"

I'm taken rather aback by this. "Well, it's not exactly a comfortable topic to speak about," I retort.

"Why? Have something to hide?" he demands, leaning across the desk.

"Are you suggesting I'm hiding an affair from Jessie?" I ask angrily. But I don't give him a chance to answer. "What kind of man do you think I am? Do you really think Jessie and I would be together if I was like that? She wouldn't even look in my direction if I was, you should know that well enough. I'm appalled that you would even think one of your daughters would fall for someone like that and frankly, I'm offended you would think I'm like that!"

He sits back in his chair and studies me, giving me plenty of time to think of what horrid hell he plans on putting me through for snapping. His silence makes me uneasy and, if I'm being completely honest, more than a little bit scared. When he finally does speak again, he pushes me right past my breaking point.

"Well, are you?"

"Am I hiding an affair? Jesus Christ, did we not just go over this? I am not having an affair, nor have I been during my relationship with Jessie! Look, I love Jessie, okay? And I don't mean the love like the friend kind of love, I mean the love like the I'd-marry-you kind of love. I would never choose another woman over Jessie. She's my life, my love, the one I want to bear my children at some point and have a family with. She's the one I want to wake up every morning to, the one I want to be walking down the aisle towards me. She's my everything, okay, and I don't understand how you can't see that. I love her, I really do, and I like to think she loves me back. So if you want to go ahead and think I'm having an affair, be my guest. But know that you'll never be right if you think that."

After a long silence, he asks very quietly, "Did you mean what you said just now?"

"Every goddamn word, you better believe it," I answer. I'm still seething.

"You're a very passionate man, Danny," he says. "And I mean that in a good way."

"Thank you."

"Do you want to know how I know that?"

"Sure."

"I pushed you past your breaking point. You push any man past that point and you find out who they really are."

"What do you mean?"

"When you push someone past their breaking point, they get mad. Very angry, very fast. When a person's angry, usually they want to defend themselves, and they'll talk very quickly and truthfully. They won't have time to remember lies they tell to defend themselves, so the vast majority of people don't even try and just let the truth spill out. Really, the only people who tell the truth are children, drunks, and anyone who is really pissed off," he explains. "Pushing them past their limits makes them mad, and if they're mad, they speak the truth."

"I see," I murmur. A long silence follows before he states calmly, "I think Callie is very lucky to have you as her father, Daniel. I also believe that Jessie made a good choice when she picked you. Don't make me change that belief."

I sit there for a few seconds, stunned. I had thought it would take forever to win her father's approval, yet here I am...first time meeting him and I think he approves. "Thank you. I promise you won't have to change it, Mr. Cornish," I tell him sincerely.

He studies me for a few seconds before ordering, "Call me Stephen." Again, I stare at him in shock. After a few seconds, he barks, "For Christ's sake, man, don't just sit there! Go, go and make my daughter happy or tend to your own daughter!"

I force myself to get out of the chair and smile. "So you're saying I should go back to doing what I do best?" I ask.

"Yes, Daniel, yes I am."

"Stephen, if I'm going to call you Stephen would you mind calling me Danny?"

"Not at all, Danny. Now go! There are two girls in this house that require your attention, at least. Go and take care of them."

"Alrighty, then!" He sticks his hand out to me and we shake hands firmly. I turn on my heel and walk out the door, leaving him to his work. I close the door and throw my fist in the air, congratulating myself.

I have the approval of both her parents. Life. Is. Perfect.

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So...the last part of meeting Jessie's parents. I think. I don't know what else I'd write, but maybe I'll surprise myself.

Might be able to update again this weekend, but I'm not sure. I'll try! :)