"Joy, don't mind your daddy." Natasha said. "When you're older and there's a boy you like, you can come to us, on second thought, you can come to me and tell me." Natasha said shaking her head at Dom when she mentioned the word 'us'.
"Then we can talk about it okay?" Natasha asked as Joy simply giggled and nodded.
"Okay mommy." She said she looked up at her daddy who was scowling.
"Don't worry daddy, I won't like boys for a really long time." Joy said assuring him.
"Oh, thank you princess, that really makes me feel better. At least someone cares about how I feel." Dom said frowning at Lulu and Natasha who both scoffed at him.
Natasha shook her head, this was the man who could not even compose himself when his daughter asked where babies came from. Now, here he was trying to make their daughter scared of liking anyone.
She hoped that he did know that his words and behaviour would make Joy not want to tell them what she felt when the time came. Inevitably, children grow up, and Joy was no exception. The day would come when she feels something for someone and Natasha did not want that day to come and Joy would conclude that the last people to tell would be her parents.
But then again, with the way Dom was behaving, clearly he did not think of that possibility. She would have to talk to him later in private. His childish antics of shying away from serious conversations that they needed to have with their child was getting annoying.
Joy yawned, she was exhausted and the movie had ended. None of them had been paying attention to the movie anyway.
"Looks like someone is sleepy." Dom chuckled.
"The movie ended and we didn't watch it the end." Joy said sadly.
"Oh don't worry about that Joy, it was a happy ending, they got together in the end, then they got married and had five children and lived in a cottage in the woods." Lulu said.
"Really?" Joy asked.
"No, but that's what part two is for." Lulu laughed.
"We'll watch it another day, but for now, it's really late, and really past your bedtime and you have to brush your teeth and take a bath, come on I'll help you." Lulu said walking to Joy and she carried her.
"Oh, okay." Joy said yawning, she was too tired to try to argue.
"Goodnight my princess, sweet dreams." Dom said giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Goodnight daddy." She rubbed her sleepy eyes.
"Goodnight my darling." Natasha smiled giving her a quick hug.
"Goodnight mommy." Joy replied and with that she and Lulu disappeared from the living room.
Dom chuckled to himself and shook his head, he walked to where Lulu had been sitting and grabbed the remote. He changed it from the credits of the corny movie that had just ended to a football game.
Natasha got up and picked up the now empty bowl of popcorn. She dusted the couch and swept away all the crumbs. She was about to leave when she turned around and said:
"We need to talk." As soon as Dom heard those four words, he knew that he was in trouble.
He did not know what got into him, he sat up straight, switched off the tv and turned to Natasha obviously worried.
"Okay... about what?" he asked almost as if he was scared to.
"I don't like it when we're speaking with Joy on an important topic and you shy away form it because you don't feel comfortable discussing it." She said.
"Oh..." he replied.
"Yes, you do it all the time, and I don't like it when you do that." Natasha said.
"First of all, I am glad that you came to me with your concerns and told me how you feel about that rather than frowning at me, I like the progress we are making with our communication." Dom smiled.
"Secondly, I can't help but shy away, of course talking about where babies come from, or how my daughter is going to one day start feeling things like loving someone else and I don't know or wanting to kiss boys makes me uncomfortable." Dom admitted.
"Well it shouldn't, those are all just a normal part of life and growth. You do understand that when we speak on things like that and you instantly withdraw yourself or try to end the conversation, or worse try to give Joy a definite answer of what she can and cannot do in such a situation."
"Doing that makes her feel like you're untrustworthy, which means when that times comes, we'll be the last people to know about her feelings." Natasha frowned.
"I do understand what you're saying Natasha, I really do." Dom said.
"It's just that... it's easier for me to just avoid talking about such feelings..." He sighed.
"Of course it is, well I was raised in a home where we talk about our feelings, we communicate, we talk things out. We are honest all the time even if it's about uncomfortable topics." She said.
"My dad tried his absolute best to make sure I knew everything I needed to know and a little bit more. He was my first source of information, always, even when I got to high school, he discussed things with me that other parents never would have."
"I know and I really commend your dad for that, may his soul rest in peace." Dom said.
"But I wasn't raised like that. You know how my family is, especially grandfather, he doesn't talk with us about things he deems uncomfortable. In his eyes, the less we knew the better." He said.
"We shy away from difficult conversations, it's a White thing." Dom said.
"Well I don't want it to be a White thing anymore... you can be different. Just because you were raised that way doesn't mean you can't change." Natasha said.
"Alright, that's true, but I do want to make it clear that at the same time. I don't want us overloading Joy with information." Dom said.
"I know that it seems like she's able to assimilate things wiser beyond her years, but I don't want so much stuff to be going on in her little head." He sighed.
"I sort of have a fear that the more we talk about things like this, the earlier we unlock her desires into such thing. I don't want her to be boy crazy, I don't want her to ponder love when she's this age, those are annoying things that teenagers and adults do, not children." Dom said.
"I understand your concern but I don't think that's going to happen." Natasha said.
"Oh really now?" Dom asked as she nodded.
"Alright, well do you remember when you were nine years old and the guys and I went to the amusement part during the summer and you couldn't go since your daddy was busy?" he asked and Natasha nodded wondering where he was going with this.
"Well when we got back, we couldn't stop talking about how fun riding the rollercoaster was. You had never been on a rollercoaster and before then you could not have cared less about riding one, but since we returned and kept on yapping on and on about how fun it was, it awakened your interest in riding the rollercoaster and you begged your dad to take you."
"I see what you did there..." Natasha had to admit with a chuckle.
"Thank you, so the same way you were obsessed with a rollercoaster because of what we said, is the same way I feel that Joy will start to think about love and boyfriends and relationships because we keep bringing it up." Dom frowned.
"You made an excellent example, and I get it, but we can't avoid conversations like that because they are tough." Natasha said.
"Neither should we give her answers beyond her age." Dom said.
"Then what do you think the solution is?" She asked him.
"We agree to respect each other's wishes, while still answering the really important questions." Dom said.
"I can agree to that." Natasha said.
"Great, then it's settled. I will try my best not to shy away from conversations I feel are uncomfortable." He said.
"And I will try not to scoff at you internally when that does happen." Natasha said as Dom laughed.
"I like how we were able to talk like this so freely, without the fear of upsetting each other." Dom smiled.
"Well I was never afraid of upsetting you, you must be speaking for yourself." Natasha said as Dom laughed.
"Right..." he replied.
"Well goodnight Natasha." He smiled.
"Goodnight." Natasha replied as she left the living room.
Dom smiled to himself, he could really start getting used to the peaceful talks they had. But then again, he could not help but feel a bit worried that an argument would arise soon.