Notes: Since so many of you enjoyed it… I’m going to do this properly.
***
“Dad?” Darcy pocketed her key and used her foot to push the door closed. “Are you here?”
“In the kitchen, sweetheart,” came the answer in her father’s gruff voice.
Darcy followed his voice and found him with a beer in hand. Sarge, a big and scowly Neapolitan Mastiff, was by her father’s feet.
“Oh, thanks, dad.” Darcy put down the pie she’d been carrying and took the bottle from his hand.
Barney Ross -that Barney Ross -scoffed as the cheek. “Kids these days. No respect.”
She dropped a kiss to his cheek. “Oh my old geezer. How are you?”
“Fine.”
Darcy gave him a look. “Are you hurt?”
Barney rolled his eyes. “No.”
Darcy stared him down, until Barney sighed. “It’s just the ribs. But they aren’t broken.”
“I swear to god, dad! You aren’t thirty anymore.” She put her hands on her waist. “You might think you’re ‘expendable’, but to me you aren’t.”
Barney pointed a finger at her. “That’s a low blow.”
“I learned with the best.” She winked at him. “Let’s cook?”
“Before that…” He said when she made to turn to the fridge. “Let’s talk about the boyfriend.”
Darcy groaned. “Dad, not this again.”
“I want to meet him.” Barney insisted.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t subscribe to that macho bullshit of trying to intimidate my boyfriend.” She told him quite directly. “I’m still upset over what you did to Ian.”
Barney grumbled something and looked down. Darcy had been really upset when she brought the pasty British boy around and he and the boys just happened to be cleaning their guns. And discussing all the ways to get rid of a body.
Fine, they might have interrogated him a bit.
Celia, Darcy’s mother, had called Barney, extremely upset. Darcy had been very upset too, she spent weeks without talking to him. He had tried to tell her this was how things were done in his time, but she had liked this explanation even less.
Barney knew that Darcy was a smart woman, and he trusted her, but… He didn’t like the idea of her dating just anyone. He felt it was his duty as her father to make sure she was safe.
“I’ll behave.” He promised. “No guns, no dead bodies. Just a beer with us.”
“Us? I’m not bringing him to meet all of you.”
“You don’t think he can handle it?”
Darcy glared at him.
“Dar.” Barney tried again. “I know I can be difficult. I’m old and stubborn, but I love you and I want to be a part of your life.”
Darcy sighed. “Talk about low blows.” She huffed.
“Come on.” Barney cajoled. “We’ll be on our best behavior. You said I was going to like this one.”
Darcy groaned. “You’re going to like him a lot. Fine! But if I see one gun, I’ll spend every Christmas with mom for the rest of my life!”
“Deal.”
