.Back to the Remedy. [ Dally ]

[mirandaducharme]

"An' then what happened?"

"Well...Then the bad guy ran really fast so I told Dax to go get him."

"And did he?"

"Yep...Dax was a good boy, he got the bad guy, and then mommy took him to jail."

Walking side by side, every couple steps Juliet took equaled a single step her mom took. A third pair of legs trailed beside them, Dax wagging his tail happily and enjoying the walk. Yeah...Juliet should have been in school...But Miranda had been so busy with work lately that she felt like she hadn't spend any time with her own daughter. Besides, what kid wouldn't love the opportunity to miss school?

"Can I hold him?" Juliet looked at the leash Miranda had looped through her black work pants. When she got home, she simply had shed her jacket, utility belt (ohh, doesn't she sound like Batman?), and changed into a simple shirt. On her upper right arm the skin was slightly discolored, an oval shaped bruise slowly blooming. The previous night at work had been rough, leaving the forming bruise that Miranda was glad the child had yet to bombard her with questions about.

"Alright, but hold him tight, you don't want him to---DAX!" She was quick to undo the loop, though just as she was handing over the leash, chaos erupted. A squirrel ran by, Dax barked, Juliet screamed, Dax ran after it...and then Juliet and Miranda both screamed. In a moment of panic, Miranda dropped to her daughter's level.

"Mom! Get him!" The water works began, causing Miranda's panic to rise and a decision to be made that any mother would cringe about.
"I will, I will...just...Juliet, Just breathe sweetie...Can you be a big girl? Good, just...just sit right there and don't move, you hear me? I'll be right back, I promise...Don't move, okay?"
Juliet nodded slowly, going to the wooden bench her mom had pointed to. Curling up in it, she used her sleeve to wipe her nose as she watched Miranda take off after Dax.

"Dax! Pfui! Sitz! Fuss! Hierr! Hierr!" Any command she knew, she shouted. Her body screamed in pain as she ran, wailing as she came up on the dog at the base of the tree. Dax, his front paws up on the trunk of the tree, barked like a madman at the squirrel, oblivious completely that he'd been followed.....Until he was nearly tackled.

"Pfui! Pfui! She sighed, wincing as she got up, a tight grip on the leash this time. With his head down, Dax followed beside Miranda as they headed back.

"Juliet? I got him...Sweetie it's okay....Juliet?" Her voice rose in slight panic as light eyes fell on the park bench. The empty park bench. "...Juliet? Juliet!" Spinning around, the color washed out of her cheeks in a millisecond, Miranda's mind racing. This was the bench, wasn't it? She had to be right behind a tree...she wouldn't just walk off with a stranger. She knew not to talk to them.

That's what every parent said when they came into the police station.

"Dax! Sook!" Pulling back, she got a tight hold on the leash, pulling the canine over to the bench. Pointing right where Juliet sat, Miranda pulled Dax closer. "Dax! Sook! Sook!" Her voice cracked slightly, vision blurring as the canine sniffed at the bench. Confused, he took in all the scents slowly. Looking back to a distraught Miranda, he sniffed again as he was commanded to. "Juliet! Sook! Juliet!" She commanded, pointing still until he finally pulled back. With snout to the ground, Dax started to walk in one direction, using his nose while Miranda used her eyes. "Juliet! Juliet!"

And yet Juliet was on a hunt of her own. Right after her mom had left, she had hopped into detective mode, and began searching for Dax herself...except further into a wooded area. "Daxy?"

[dallas]

Ah, the sweet smell of smog in the morning. It was enough to make any man smile.

…That is, unless said man is holding two cranky, fighting children to either side of him, while balancing a duffel bag under one arm and two cartoon-character backpacks under the other.

Parenthood. He had to love it.

“DADDY!” His daughter screamed. “Matty stuck his tongue out at me again!”

“Did not!” Matthew, his younger son, howled in return. “Molly’s lying!”

“Am not!”

“Am too!”

And on and on it went.

Left eye twitching, their father fought to convince himself that throwing their tiny bodies into oncoming traffic couldn’t be the solution. He loved them, they loved him, and yadda yadda…not to mention the fact that he’d be thrown in jail and their spirits would haunt him forever. They’d told him so, after sneaking into the living room to watch a horror movie based on a fictional parent’s similar desire.

When the rock throwing started, however, patience had ceased to be a virtue.

Gritting his teeth and shifting in embarrassment as the people passing them by began to stare, he grabbed the backs of their shirts and lifted until both children dangled a bit, their shocked faces turned toward him. “Stop. Fighting. Right. Now.” He growled, biting off each word. With a collective gasp, silence reigned.

Oh thank God.

With a sigh, ‘Daddy’, aka Dallas Valerian, aka ‘Dally’, stooped down to place a quick kiss on the tops of his now sniffling children’s heads before herding them toward the public bus that stopped in a puff of smoke in front of them. Some apologies, endearments and a couple juice boxes later, he’d successfully dropped them off at a friend’s house and was back on the bus.

Whoof. What a day…and it wasn’t even early afternoon yet.

Sagging back against the chair, Dallas sighed. It was really hard being a single parent; taking care of the kids, raking in a suitable income, /and/ playing protector to his family at large. Originally from Louisiana, he’d seen the Big Apple as a place to start fresh; a place where his siblings could grow up with some semblance of a happy environment- so Brooklyn wasn’t ‘happy land’…they’d learned to love it- and he could pursue a profession he loved.

Ending up as a bouncer for the city’s hottest club and fighting in underground cage matches hadn’t been on that list. But hey, he’d wanted to be a world famous karate champion when he was a kid; why not this?

With a wry grin on his face, he grasped the worn strap of the duffel and got off at his stop. Shaking his head as the Suits sitting around him flinched instinctively, he shouldered his way through the normal traffic, and headed into the park on his way to his final destination. A large man by genetics, he made an intimidating sight; tall, wide shouldered and muscular enough to allow for his current job as a bouncer at the local night scene, he wasn’t one to dance with, unless blood was expected to be spilled. Sandy brown hair lay rumpled- his daughter had attempted to make him ‘pretty’ for the meeting his boss had called him into today; something about his ‘fighting expertise’ being used as a favor to a certain business partner- and his dark green eyes were hooded underneath unruly bangs. Evidence of morning shadow clung to his cheeks and chin, and his mouth was eternally pulled down in a thoughtful frown. Sagging off of his chest was a large, knit sweater- for luck- and ripped blue jeans clung to his legs, ending abruptly in a pair of worn work boots. Trying his best to ignore the curious looks he was attracting, he kept his head down and made his way down the park path.

His boss had given him strict orders to get over to the warehouse district and meet some potential ‘clients’ for a special show; probably a one on one fight with some low level fighter and show off his talents. He had a couple hours to spare, but Dallas was prompt, if nothing else.

And tired. Gah, was that his head, or a mariachi band on his shoulders?

Deciding to take a break, he plopped down onto a bench and stretched out his legs. He let his head lean back and watched the trees sway against the hard blow of the wind. One hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck, he sighed again, eyes unfocusing as he stared off into space.

The poor man. So involved in staring at a pair of squirrels was he, that he didn’t notice the plastic clip-on earring that his daughter had attached to his earlobe.

Kids. Gotta love ‘em.

[/blockquote]

[mirandaducharme]

"Daxy? Daxy!" With a huff, Juliet kicked at a small rock in her way. Her hair, as deep red as a firetruck, stuck to the tear streaks on her face. Her jeans were slightly long, the ends fraying from getting caught under her sneakers so often. Crossing her arms over her chest tightly, she picked up her speed, looking around and slowly spinning in circles.

"Bad Daxy...." She murmured, unable to hear the calls her mom had frantically kept up while on her own search. Looking around, Juliet kicked at another tiny rock. She was never going to find Daxy! Her eyes began to well up once again until she spotted something. Or, rather, someone. Maybe he'd help find poor, lost, lonely Daxy! Rubbing at her eyes, she headed over to the bench quickly. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped before she could make a sound. Looking around at the ground, she reached out to yank up a dandelion, still in it's fragile stages.

"Can ya' help me? I lost my puppy..." She stepped closer, holding out her hand with the little flower. When the wind blew, she shut her eyes tightly, opening them only to see that half of the dandelion had blown away with the wind. Bright blue eyes, wide and ready to well up again, fell back on him. "His name is Daxy...He runned away an' I can't find him....Please? He's big and brown and big and fluffy...and he barks like this," she tried her best to mimic her friend, but even she knew her attempted bark was too high. "But it's lower.....please? This's for you."

Miranda was going to kill her for talking to a stranger. After she had her heart attack of losing her daughter, of course.

[dallas]

Scratching at his scalp, Dallas closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the park. It was so damn calming; the soft rustle of leaves being tickled by the wind, the sounds of voices and laughter in the distance. If there was one thing he didn’t mind about where he’d brought his family, it was for the small pieces of nature that the big city provided. It reminded him of home; of better days…and Lord knew that he needed some good memories to fall back on.

Then, stomping feet and a plaintive, sad little voice had him cracking an eye open just as a tiny body stepped through the shrugs. Brows creased, he glanced around, sure that a concerned parent would be rushing toward her…but there was none. The father in him had him sitting up, instantly alert and concerned, as the girl walked toward him.

”Hey, honey,” He said by way of greeting. He wanted to go on, to inform the girl that talking to strangers wasn’t something she should be doing…but then those little eyes started to tear up, and his heart instantly melted. Sliding off of the bench, he knelt down on one knee in front of her and glanced around at the foliage around the edge of the path.

Gently taking the offered flower, Dallas couldn’t help the smile that slid onto his lips. ”Alright, darlin’, don’t cry. I’ll help you find Daxy, but only after we find your mommy and daddy first, okay? They’ve gotta be real worried about you.”

Pushing himself to his feet, he offered her his hand. ”C’mon, now. Where’d you come from? The path behind the bench over here?’

[/blockquote]

[mirandaducharme]

"Mommy," Juliet corrected him, rubbing at her eyes with a fist. "Mommy is daddy...Mommy's lookin' for Daxy." Sniffling again, she was quick to grab at his hand. Or, rather, his index finger. Clinging to it as tight as she could, she pointed off in one direction.

"He went that way.....Or that way," she pointed another way, forgetting to answer his question as to where she came from. Starting off down the last way she pointed, she gave a hard tug on his hand. "C'mon! Gotta find him!" She was determined now...Grown-ups always found stuff before she did, so this guy had to find Daxy! It was how things went! Tugging along, Juliet paused suddenly to look up at her new friend.

"Who're you?" She suddenly asked, red eyebrows furrowing. "I'm Julie--"

"Juliet? Juliet! Hey!" Miranda emerged just from where Juliet had moments ago. Her eyes landed on the two of them, and after doing a quick scan of her daughter, landed on Dallas. Her body, already tense, straightened up. One hand held Dax's leash close, the other reaching to her hip instinctively. The later was useless, she left her belt and items at home. Dax pulled at the leash, head low, trying to get closer to Juliet. His tail wagged slowly, mind racing as to if he was still working, or if this was all a game.

"Fuss," Miranda looked down to the dog briefly, then back up to Dallas, pale eyes narrowing. Her mind raced as to all the possibilities of what happened and what could happen. She stood like a cop, but the flush to her cheeks, heavy breathing, and smudged mascara all screamed worried mom.

"Juliet! Get away from him!

"Daxy! Mom!" Juliet's face lit up, hand squeezing Dallas' finger tightly as she suddenly turned to head towards them. "Mom he's my friend! This is...Is..." Glancing back up to him, Juliet's eyebrows furrowed as she realized she never was told his name.

"He's a stranger, Juliet. Get. Away. From. Him."

"But he's helpiiiiiing!"