Live and Die Hard

9. Corinne

"Daaaddyyy!" The little girl bursts into laughs, gasping for air. 
"Jaaack! Please don't stooop!" She cries, happy tears running down her chubby cheeks.

Jack keeps tickling his daughter, stuck into his grip, wiggling and giggling like a worm under the sweet torture. Laughing out loud, Jack glances lovingly at Shade, snapping some pics of this father-and-daughter's moment with her phone.

"She sounds like her mother this morning so much!" John mocks the young couple, exhilarated.

"JOHN!" Both Jack and Shade scream, blushing.

"Oh oh calm down kids. Not my fault if the walls of the motel were so thin." He jokes.
"I'm the one who's supposed to blush. There are things a father would rather never hear, I swear!"

John lifts his hands in front of him, looking innocent and shocked.

To tell the truth, Jack and Shade haven't really been careful about the noises they made, making love again and again until the crack of dawn. 
John has checked they were asleep and decent before letting the little girl entering her parents' room, jumping on the bed to wake them up.
Shade was spooned into Jack's arms, his face buried in her neck, their legs intertwined under the sheets.

"Mom! Dad! Wake up! We brought you breakfast!" Anna sings, climbing on the sleeping forms.

Jack stirs up, a huge smile of satisfaction tapped on his tired face. He'll get used to this kind of wake up, his love safely curled up against him, being called Dad by the little worm pecking his cheek at this early hour of the day.

"Morning lovebirds!" John knocks at the open door, his hands full of cups of coffee and brown bag of croissants and other French pastries he bought at the bakery near the motel.

"Morning John!" Jack never remembers feeling happy to see his dad.

Covering her bare skin with the white sheets, Shade sits up in the bed, welcoming Anna in a morning hug.

"Thanks John. For the breakfast. And for Anna." She smiles genuinely.

"You're welcome Honey. She slept like a rock all night and we had so much fun since we got up."

"Don't call her Honey, John. You don't know the troubles you're getting into." Jack warns his father, gently stroking Shade's cheek and Anna's curls in the same movement.

Anna climbs on Jack's lap and rubs his stubble with the palm of her tiny hand.

"Jack! You're so itchy!" The little girl laughs.
"Can I call you Dad?" She asks without hesitation.

"Of course you can darling." Jack feels his heart growing heavy in his chest.

"Dad, have you kissed Mom yet?"

"I guess I can say yes, so many times." He chuckles, winking at a blushing Shade.

Oh yes he had. Endlessly and on every piece of skin he could.

"Why do you ask?" His eyes follow the little girl settling down between them both.

"I told grand pa you should kiss Mom, so you could stop being sad and grumpy." Anna states.

"You told that to Grand pa ?" Jack quirks an eyebrow, throwing an amused look to the unbreakable cop standing in front of him, a stupid happy smile on his face.

"I like the grand pa thing. Don't laugh at me guys. You know how it is. I never refuse that pretty lady. "

"Dad, when will we arrive to the vacation home? Grand pa promised me to take me fishing! Do you know there's a river near the house?" Her eyes are sparkling in excitement.