Graves' POV

This is the first day in a while that Cora and I have had uninterrupted time and while I would love to be cuddled up to my baby girl as she tells me about her favorite show, some serious chores need to be done around this house.

My little, while sweet and sassy, is also very messy when she has her fun and if I don't pick up after her now, it'll only get worse from here.

And while most people would say it's backwards for the man to do all the cooking and cleaning, taking care of my sweet girl is one of my favorite things to do. It helps soothe the monster and guilt in me that I have to constantly shove down for letting myself fall in love with her.

Not that I ever stood a chance. All she had to do was look at me and hug me that first night we met and I was a fucking goner.

Typical.

I laugh to myself and shake my head as I gather up Cora's toys to bleach them, not wanting her to get sick from any germs on them. I fill up the bath with bleach and soap before making my way to the laundry basket in our room.

I take it down stairs to the laundry room, passing through living room just as Cora calls my name.

"Gray!" She says and I can't help the way I melt as I always do with her little lisp, unable to say my name properly in her regression. I put the basket down halfway to my destination and make my way into the living room.

"Yes, babygirl?" I ask and she looks up at me with watery eyes and wobbly lips.

"I spilled my juice." She says her voice thick with tears and I look down to see her favorite blanket and bunny that I got her for her birthday covered in grape juice. Looks like this will have to go in the wash too.

"It's okay, little one. I'll get this all cleaned for you." I say going to pick it up and pull it from her grasp but she tugs it back from my hold and squeezes the stuffie and blanket to her chest.

"No." She tells me and my eyebrows go flying into my fucking hairline. She's never told me no. Ever. My baby is a good girl. And she will continue to be so. I patiently hold out my hand to her, palm side up for her to place the stuff in my hand but she shakes her head at me.

"Babygirl, I have to clean them. They'll get sticky and nasty so they need to be washed . I can go get your bear and you can play with them, but Jenny needs a bath."

"No. Gray needs bath. Jenny have tea party." She refuses still and I am fucking gobsmacked at the audacity of my little baby.

I'm never letting her spend the night at Thomas and Ares house again. She picked up this behavior from my friends brat. I knew her so called 'boys' were a bad influence. I'm going to call Ares later so he can reprimand Thomas for his childish ways. That'll teach him from turning my baby against me.

"Cora. Give me Jenny and the blanket now. They need to be cleaned. We can play while they get washed." I tell her and she shakes her head before poking her tongue out at me.

I literally have no clue what the fuck to do.

But I know, as her caregiver, I can't let her get away with this. Which means Cora is going to have to learn her lesson. With a stern expression and firm but gentle hands, I pry the blanket and bunny from her grasp even as she whines and cries out in protest. One stern look and a finger shake has her sitting back down in the floor as her eyes start to well up.

Knowing I now have to deal with one fussy little, I hurriedly rush to throw the dirty clothes and Cora's soiled stuffie. But halfway through her cries quiet down and I smile to myself, glad that she realized that it's all alright.

I calmly finish filling the washer machine until the basket is empty and pour in some laundry detergent and some fabric softener before I close it and start the machine. I leave the now empty basket in the laundry room before I leave and close the door, entering myself in the kitchen.

With a proud smile for my little, I grab two cookies from the sleeve of girl scout cookies before making my way to the living room to give them to her in rewards.

But imagine my surprise when I don't find her in her usual spot, but instead sitting in a pile of torn up paper as she colors on the walls.

I can't even describe what I'm feeling as I watch her draw faces and whatever else she can think of on the wall. Never has Cora ever done something like tell me no, much less draw in the wall. My mouth opens and closes but no words fall out. It doesn't matter though because Cora turns around with a red nose and read wet cheeks as she glares at me.

"You have Jenny?" She asks me with her arms folded messily across her chest and I shake my head still in shock. She stands up and stomps her foot in clear agitation as she glares at me. "I want Jenny!" She says raising her voice at me and it's that that pulls me out of my state.

"Cora, I've told you, she's getting washed. And you know you only color on paper. Turn off the TV and go to our room into your corner. And you better not have any toys when I come in there." I tell her sternly, already taking out my phone from my pocket to call one very irresponsible friend of mine. I watch with lowered brows as Cora disregards the remote and walks out of the room with angry tiny steps.

The phone gets put to my ear and it only rings twice before my friend picks up.

"Hello?"

"I'll kill you. You and your precious kitten." I tell him and he snorts.

"My baby could murder you before you saw it coming. What did we do this time?" He asks and I give a frustrated breath as I begin cleaning up the mess in front of me, trying to calm down before I go talk to my suddenly bratty little.

"What you did was corrupt my baby while she spent the night there. When she came back she's all bratty and rude and she's not following any fucking directions." I tell him my annoyance with him and his brat growing by the minute as I put Cora's markers and books in her play corner in the living room. There's a laugh on the other side as Ares takes this as a joke. Cocky bastard.

"You did that yourself, Graves." He tells me and I frown in annoyance.

"I didn't raise my little with any type of disrespect so go fuck yourself." I tell him as nicely as I possible can and he sighs at me as if I'm dense.

"When she came, all she was talking about was this channel you let her watch. Apparently they don't listen to their parents and it gave her some ideas. We tried to tell her no but I guess she went through with it anyway."

"I would never let my babygirl watch shit like that." I tell him and he sighs once more.

"If you let her watch Disney Jr. on the actual Disney channel instead of separately, you have to remember that after a certain time it plays regular shows. Big kid shows. Teenage angst shows. You gotta be more attention with the shit you expose her to." He tells me and I slap my palm against my face in disbelief.

How could I have been so fucking stupid?

Before I can ask for his advice, something he seems to be perfect for, I suddenly hear a crash from the direction of our room. "I gotta go." I tell him before I hang up the phone and I'm racing through the halls and up the stairs to our room. And I find it a compete fucking mess.

Everything I cleaned up, folded or did in the past two hours, gone. I look around and see no little in sight. I'm able to call for her, when suddenly I hear a splash coming from the guest bathroom.

There's fucking bleach in there.

I turn around and run to the bathroom, pulling my little ones hands out of the chemical water and oat them dry with my clothes not giving a fuck if they get messed up or not. As I hold her to me as she tried to push me away and fuss at me, I shake my head to myself, knowing I still have a lot to learn.

✨✨✨

It's around nine o'clock when the dryer beeps that everything is done. I drag myself off the couch where I had just landed after cleaning everything up from around the house. Again. I make my way to the laundry room and leave everything in there except the stuff that started it all.

Making sure all the lights are off, I make my wake up the stairs with slow groggy steps before I open the door to our room.

I find a half sleep Cora laying in her PJs, watching a Tinker Bell movie on TV. As soon as I come in, she looks up at me with a scared and sad expression. I know she expects me to be upset with her, but she only did what she was shown and I won't punish her for my own mistakes.

I walk over to the bed and climb in it to sit down and hand her Jenny and her blanket, dripping the second item over her shoulders the way she likes it.

She gives me a shy smile once her bunny is in her grasp and not too soon after, she's knocked out. I smile to myself before I lay down and in seconds, I'm right behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Just a little brat culture. I'm proud of Graves and Cora not listening was so fucking funny. I'm literally addicted to Ares Cameos. Someone please help me.

Thoughts?

Comments?

QOTD: I'm lowkey too lazy to look, but does anyone remember Cody's sister's name?