Wait, what? “We haven't been. And you’ve never asked us to.”
“I know,” she smirks. “I just thought you enjoyed watching. Also, it’s a bonus having you watch Neo fuck me when you can’t get any.” Oh, she's evil.
I glare at her, but that just sets her off into another fit of giggles. I like seeing her like this; carefree and happy. Even if it’s only for a moment, she's had enough heartache to last a lifetime, and I plan on making sure that I am never the cause of that pain again.
“Daddy?” Rosie calls from the doorway. Harlow and I both sit up to see a sleepy Rosie with a blonde bird’s nest on her head.
“Hi, Baby Girl,” I grin, but her attention is on Harlow.
“Queenieeeeeee,” she cheers, running over to us. Harlow picks Rosie up when she gets to the edge of the bed and cuddles her close. Rosie squeezes Harlow with a big smile.
This moment could not be any more perfect, and I can't help the massive grin that splits my face, watching my girls like this.
“So, where did the family of birds that live in your hair go?” I joke.
“Daddy!” she giggles. “There's no birdies in there,” she says, then her eyes go wide, and her hands fly to her hair. “Is there?” she looks panicked.
“No,” Harlow laughs. “Daddy is just being silly.”
“Come here, and I’ll brush your hair for you,” I say, reaching over and grabbing my brush from my nightstand.
“Can Mama Queenie do it?” she asks. Harlow’s eyes widen, and she looks up at me, not really sure how to react to what Rosie just called her.
“If she wants,” I say, holding out the brush to Harlow. Harlow takes the brush from me like it's a bomb, but relaxes when she sees Rosie’s excited face.
Rosie gets into place and Harlow starts untangling her hair, being sure to be gentle with the knots. I just lay back and watch them interact, loving every moment of it. They talk and giggle, and by the time they are done, Rosie’s hair is in fishtail braids.
“Look, Daddy. I look like Anna from Frozen,” she gushes as she looks at herself in the mirror that's in the corner of the room.
“You look beautiful, Sweetie,” I say, then look at Harlow. “Thank you.”
She shrugs. “I do it for my girls all the time, plus I love hanging out with that cutie pie.” She gets up off the bed and holds out her hand for Rosie. “Come on, Kiddo, let’s get some food inside that belly. I'm gonna make you banana, chocolate chip pancakes.”
Rosie rushes to grab Harlow’s hand in excitement and practically drags her out of the room. Harlow laughs and follows the eager little monkey.
“OH, GREAT,you’rehere,” I hear Axel grumble as he makes his way into the kitchen, where we’re sitting, and over to the coffee maker. He mutters to himself as he slams his cup on the counter, and as he bends over to get the spoon he just dropped, he hisses in pain. Harlow hides a grin as she takes a bite of her pancakes, and Neo chuckles as he enters the kitchen.
“How's the naked mole rat doing? Does it hurt to pee?” Neo grins as he prances over to Axel. Ignoring Axel's death glare, Neo snatches his coffee from him, which earns him a growl as he makes his way over to sit next to Harlow.
“Hi, bestie,” Neo grins like a lovesick fool.
“Hi,” Harlow smiles.
What the fuck is that?
“You know what, Neo,” Axel starts as he angrily starts making another cup of coffee. “It’s too early for your bullshit this morning.”
“Bad word!” Rosie mumbles around her mouthful of pancakes. Axel sighs and grabs his wallet, then hands her a dollar bill. “Thank you, Uncle Bear.” Axel smiles at her nickname for him. She says it's because he's grumpy like a grizzly bear, but cuddly like a teddy bear.
Neo chucks a grape from the fruit bowl at the back of Axel’s head, trying to rile him up more. Harlow giggles, and Axel spins around, getting in Neo’s face. “Get out of my face and go feed your damn llama, Neo, I mean it. I don't want to deal with your brand of crazy this early in the morning,” he snaps.
“Alpaca!” both Neo and Harlow shout back simultaneously. They look at each other with a grin and say, “Jinx” at the same time, too. Both burst out into laughter and high five each other. Axel lets out an irritated sigh and storms out of the room, almost colliding with Dean.
Dean watches him go with curiosity, before turning to see all of us sitting at the table, and raises a brow but says nothing as he makes himself a coffee.
“Where’d you disappear to last night? You missed the grand finale,” Harlow asks with a smirk, and Neo roars with laughter. Rosie looks around, not sure what the heck we are talking about. I tell her to go out in the backyard to play with Bob while the big people talk. Our whole back wall is glass, so I can see the entire back end of our property from the kitchen table.
Dean shrugs, “Not my kind of show, made me feel a little sick.” Harlow keeps her smile, gets up, and stalks towards Dean.