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DAISY AND BOSS: 19 - Progress

Boss drove straight to Daisy's house, instead of heading back into the city. Knocking on the door he heard hoof steps approaching and there was a pause before the door swung inward.

"Detective." Flossy gazed up at him with an unreadable expression.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Fields.... Is Daisy home?" He asked around the lump in his throat. Flossy frowned and glanced behind her into the house.

"She is... She's in her room." Flossy sighed indecisively but her manners and nosey nature won out in the end. "Come inside, I'll fix some coffee and you can tell me exactly why she wont come out, or speak to her Father."

Boss stepped into the Fields home and was surprised to see that the bustling house he had previously visited was strangely quiet. A grandfather clock ticked in the hall outside the living room and the sound seemed to echo ominously. Boss could feel a headache start behind his eyes. His mouth was tacky when he thought back to his clash with Wilderson. What had he been thinking!?

"Awfully quiet in here today..." Boss said as he followed Flossy into the kitchen. Flossy shrugged and reached into the freezer for the coffee.

"Kale's at work, girls are in school... I don't have the Grandkids today. I've been working on a knitting project and getting some laundry done, so it's been a pretty quiet day." Flossy hardly spared him a glance as she filled the carafe with water from the sink and poured it into the coffee maker. The silence was pregnant with questions.

"It's my fault..." Boss sighed, sitting on one of the bar stools at the kitchen island. Flossy flicked an ear and measured out the coffee.

"What's your fault, Dear?" She toned, subtly pressing him for more info.

"Well, I think I'm probably the reason she won't come out of her room... or speak with Kale." Boss rested his head on his palm. Flossy rounded on him as the coffee machine gurgled to life. Her expression was deceptively bland.

"What happened?"

"I told her about the letters. And she reacted badly." Boss watched the older doe carefully, but she barely reacted, only blinked and studied the countertop, wiping away an invisible smear before replying.

"Well, yes... I imagine she did." Her voice was sad but calm. "That's why Kale decided not to tell her about them after the first one."

"Unless we stop him, it will only get worse. I understand that it's hard for her, but I still think she has a right to know." Boss gruffed stubbornly, refusing to believe that the only way was to keep Daisy in the dark about these things.

"So... go fix it." Flossy smiled. "The coffee will stay hot."

Flossy watched Detective Boss get up and head towards Daisy's room with mixed emotions. But the stronger instinct was not to interfere, and so she simply sighed, and went about cleaning the already spotless kitchen until it gleamed.

Boss knocked softly on Daisy's bedroom door and heard a rustle on the other side.

"Mom, I told you! Please! I just want to be alone!" Daisy called through the door. Boss paused, unsure what he should say, finally settling on the simplest option.

"It's me." He said softly. Boss had to wait for three full Mississippi's before Daisy finally spoke, her voice hesitant.

"Boss?"

"Yeah, it's me. Can I come in?" Boss really did hold his breath then, as Daisy seemed to take a moment to decide. Her answer was barely audible when she made up her mind.

"Yeah."

Boss eased open the door and poked his head in, spotting Daisy sprawled on her back in the center of the room directly at the foot of her bed. One hoof was propped up against the bed frame and her hands were tucked in the small of her back. She was watching the ceiling fan turn lazily and rocking her head back and forth, her ears splayed out to either side. The motion was small, soothingly repetitive, and with each little turn, she pressed first on horn tip, then the other, into the deep white carpet. By the indents, Boss could tell she'd been doing it a while. Boss closed the door behind him and went to sit at the foot of the bed, overlooking her. She was wearing a pink t-shirt with a frog on it, and a pair of green shorts. He waited, not saying anything. He didn't have to wait very long.

"I'm sorry I freaked out last night..." Daisy lowered her eyes from the ceiling reluctantly, her head rocking slowed, and then stopped altogether as she looked at Boss.

"I'm sorry I freaked you out..." Boss countered with a wry smile.

"Wasn't your fault."

"Well I think I had something to do with it." Boss gave her a look and she seemed at a loss, laying there on the floor.

"Hn." She rocked her head. "It's so embarrassing, losing it in front of people... And then Dani... talking me down. Ugh..." Daisy growled, full of self loathing.

"She's seen much worse." Boss smiled and poked at the hoof she had elevated towards him. "She was just concerned."

"You know, in some ways, it doesn't matter that he's been sending letters... Because they can't be any worse than what's inside my head... I just... I can't handle the thought of my Dad reading... I don't want them to know... what he did." Daisy rolled to her side abruptly, dropping her leg from the edge of the bed and tucking her knees up to her chin. There were no tears this time, but Boss suspected that there were simply none left, at the moment. Daisy's face was suspiciously drawn, her eyes reddened.

"I don't think he reads them." Boss soothed, trying to ease her anxiety. He leaned back on his palms so that he could still see her face. "But... Daisy, you couldn't have prevented any of it. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Easy for you to say." Daisy snipped bitterly. The lines of her back were tense, rigid, and Boss sought to lighten the mood.

"Are you still moving into the dorms after the winter break?" He asked. Daisy tipped her muzzle to rest it on her arm and regarded him thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure... Probably." She blinked. "Something tells me Sarah wont let me back out now." She sniffed.

"You don't want to back out." Boss lay back on his side on the bed and rested his head on one arm with a smirk. "Besides, how are we supposed to date if you live all the way out here at your folks place? It's pretty inconvenient for me, with gas prices the way they are and all." He winked. Daisy blinked at him in astonishment, uncurling to sit up and look at him better.

"What?" She sputtered. "You're joking."

"Never about gas prices." He shook his head somberly and she glared at him.

"Funny. I figured you would have figured out by now that I'm completely broken, Boss. But you keep being nice to me... I just don't get it." Boss sighed and slid off the bed to sit next to her on the floor.

"I though we figured this out already?" He reached out and ran the backs of his fingers down one of her silky ears. "I like you."

Daisy frowned. Liked her? At the moment she couldn't understand why, but when she thought about telling him no, her chest constricted painfully. She wanted to continue seeing Boss. But she had to set him straight.

"I'm broken..." Her voice was tiny when she said it, and she wouldn't meet his gaze. "You can't like me... not like that. I'm always going to embarrass you and freak out and push you away when things..." She stumbled at what she had been about to say. When things get intimate. The words stuck in her throat as she realized that she was intensely sad about that. That her and Boss might never be together as a couple because of her. The muscles in her cheeks ached as she clenched her jaw, fighting the sob that wanted to escape.

"Oh, Daisy... I'm not worried about that." He sighed, seeing into her as if she was a crystal ball, and reading all her fears. She couldn't answer, her jaw was still clenched shut as she closed her eyes, lost to the impossibility of a life spent alone in pain. Boss tugged the ear he stroked, gently, bringing her back.

"Hey, I promise never to be embarrassed by you as long as you promise not to be embarrassed by me, deal?" Boss caught her eye when she blinked up at him, confused.

"Why would you ever embarrass me?" Daisy's mind was a blank. Boss was a great guy, handsome and sweet and strong, she couldn't think of a darn thing.

"Well... I am nine years older than you..." He rolled his eyes and managed to look sheepish. "Practically ancient..." The suffering look he gave her won him a smile as she gave in to his persistency.

"Yeah I guess twenty-nine is pretty old." She grinned. He nodded glumly.

"You would be dating a senior citizen. I found a grey hair yesterday!" He exclaimed. Daisy giggled at the white dog with the very grey mask. Boss chuckled along with her as they sat on her floor together.

"Okay... it's a deal." Daisy scooted around so she could lean her shoulder into him, inviting him to put an arm around her, which he gladly did.

"So you'll give me a chance?" He snuffled at the top of her head happily, making her giggle some more and push his face away playfully.

"I can't say no to you." She gazed up at him when they settled.

"Hmm... I'll keep that in mind." Boss rumbled suggestively, cuddling her close. She fit against his side as if she were supposed to be there, making him nose the crook of her neck happily. Daisy gulped, her smile faltering. He was so much bigger than she was, and she found herself feeling insecure and vulnerable all of a sudden. Boss noticed and backed off slightly to watch her.

"I won't ask more than you're comfortable with... you know that right?" Boss murmured. "I hold you close because it feels good, but I won't if it scares you."

The goat girl crinkled her brow, trying to figure out how to articulate her feelings. It felt a little like trying to untangle a ball of yarn, you pulled on one loop, and it created another.

"I'm not... I'm not scared of you." She managed. The second part was much harder to admit. "I'm scared of disappointing you."

"Not a chance." Boss gruffed. Gently he pulled her into his lap and tucked his head over her shoulder, hugging her with his whole body. "Nothing you could do would disappoint me. We can go as slow as you want. We can stay like this as long as it takes... feels pretty good, actually." He whispered. Daisy closed her eyes and leaned back into him, ordering her muscles to relax one at a time until she could enjoy his warmth around her, the strength of his arms and the way their breathing seemed to naturally synchronize.

"Okay." Daisy heard herself mumble dreamily.

"See? You aren't broken." Boss sighed happily as he listened to the heartbeat coming from the small body in his arms, hearing how it steadied and settled into a calm beat of trust. His thoughts, without his permission, wandered back to earlier in the afternoon and he felt sick, thinking how his foolish macho fight with Julian had possibly put Daisy in danger. He made a solemn vow to himself that he would do everything in his power to keep her safe, that he would never let his guard down like that again.

To the south, in the Prison at Salem, gears were turning behind a gleaming set of ice blue eyes. Three years worth of planning was soon to come to fruition. Three years worth of bribery, threats and favors were finally starting to show progress. The guard was a nondescript shepherd, eyes forward, strait walking. And as he made his way down the corridor towards the isolation chambers, not one of the other guards seemed to take notice or question him. The camera caught only a glimpse of it when it happened, but as he passed the cell containing one Julian Wilderson, he causally stuck his gum in the space between the bars on the small window. Black claws darted out and plucked the off white wad of slightly damp material. Julian used his bed to stand on tiptoe and reach the light fixture. It was missing just enough screws so that he could scoot the heavy duty reinforced glass dome to the side and expose the port that contained the bulb and the wiring. Nimbly, with a pleased little chuckle he added the small gob to a larger mass that was hidden next to the juncture box, and then straightened the light back so that no one would suspect it had been tampered with.

Down the hall the shepherd reached into his pocket and pulled out a stick of gum... to clear the bitter taste of c-4 plastic explosive from his muzzle.