Title: The Epic Journey of Danielle Jones-Cage, Aged Ten Months
Author: doc_sock/doc_socktopus
Fandom: Daredevil, New Avengers, unspecified timeline
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Characters: Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Matt Murdock, Danielle Jones-Cage
Words: About 600
Summary: Danielle takes a truly epic journey.
Notes: For the "Journeys/Quests" square on my cliche_bingo card.


Danielle was on top of the fridge. (She didn't know the word "fridge" yet, but she knew that the big white box was where food came from and that she was on top of it.)

Matt had put her up there with a toy dinosaur ("Here kiddo, stay quiet until Mommy and Daddy are really scared, okay?") and was sitting on the couch, while her mama and dada searched the apartment, like they did that time she dropped the jingly things down the drain.

("Well how should I know where your keys are, Jess? They're your fucking keys."

"Don't swear in front of the baby.")

Matt turned his face toward her, smiling and shushing her at the same time, all without making a sound. She knew this game. It's one they play a lot, and it gets her lots of hugs at the end and lots of those little smiles from Matt.

("Were you just smiling at the baby Matt?"

"...No.")

She leaned forward, bracing a hand on the dinosaur and getting up on her hands and knees. Matt gave her that face, the one that meant "Don't you even think about it or you're going in your crib", and she plopped back down, taking the dinosaur with her. She sat against the back of the wall and banged the plush toy up and down, smashing it into the top of the fridge. Yeah, that would show Matt.

("How do you lose a damn baby?"

"I'm blind, remember? She was there one minute, and gone the next."

"Matthew Michael Murdock, I swear, if you're pulling another prank to get back at us for the time we-"

"Would I do that?"

"Yes!")

It was kind of boring up on top of the fridge. Sure, she had a dinosaur to throw around, and Matt had remembered to pop her binky in her mouth before climbing up on the counter to put her up there, but in the end, that wasn't exactly fascinating entertainment. Not like when Matt and Danny moved all the stuff out of the center of the living room and started hitting each other.

She rocked up on her hands and knees again, and this time Matt didn't look over at her with that look on his face again. He was too busy getting yelled at by her mama to pay attention to what she was doing up there. She grabbed at the top of the cabinet next to her and pulled herself to her feet. It was awful far to the ground, but she had a good grip on the edge of the wooden border. She wasn't going anywhere.

While her dad stomped off into another room and her mama was still yelling at Matt and her Matt was sitting there with a hint of a self-satisfied smirk on his face, she let go of the cabinet. And she'd been practicing; she was pretty good at not falling straight back down onto her bum.

She stood there for a moment, swaying back and forth a little, and finally lurched forward a step.

And promptly fell back on her bum. She let out a wail of surprise and the binky popped out of her mouth. As she continued to cry, her mama scrambled up onto the counter and scooped her up.

("You put her on top of the fridge? What were you thinking?"

"I was listening to her."

"Then why's she crying?"

"...Because she's a baby and babies cry?"

"One day you're going to go too far Matt.")

She'd try again tomorrow.

THE END