The jukebox hitched, spluttered, and then died halfway through a scratchy rendition of Hotel California.

A few angry voices called out their displeasure, and Danny waved a hand to calm them. "Give me a minute."

He sidled out from behind the bar to go examine the aging machine. Plug, check. Cord, check. Record... Danny opened the case and plucked the record off the reel. That's enough of that one, I think. He pocketed it and shut the jukebox. Pressed the on button.

Silence.

"Cmon, Danno!" One of the regulars roared. "Give it a whack!"

Danny shrugged, and then knocked the back of his hand against the jukebox. It had worked for the Fonz after all.

Nothing.

"Lemme give it a try."

He looked up. Lauren was standing there, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Go for it."

He stepped back and let the barmaid take her shot. Lauren examined the jukebox for a long moment, her pretty face pensive.

"I think..." she murmured. "Here."

And then she hauled up and drove the heel of her combat boot into the front of the juke. The machine rocked back on two legs, teetered precariously for a moment, and then resettled with a deafening crash. A record clicked into place. They waited, breath held as the record whirred into life.

Dark Side of the Moon filled the bar.

Danny exhaled, raising a hand in acknowledgement as a few of the patrons made noises of congratulations.

"Thanks." He nodded to Lauren. "Didn't realize you knew your way around it."

She rubbed a hand through her hair, ruffling the short blond locks about, looking slightly embarrassed for some reason. "Just a magnetic touch, I guess."

Danny returned to the bar and started pouring out another drink for Louis. The old man gave an appreciate nod and buried his face in the beer.

Lauren joined Danny a moment later.

"How's everything in the back?" he said softly.

She very casually lifted a glass and began cleaning it with a dish rag.

"Should be fine. It's just the two old men talking shop. Big K's here, and two of Mark's guys."

She stretched to put the glass onto the top shelf, and as she did, her shirt sleeve pulled back, exposing the edge of her tattoo. He looked in spite of himself. The sleeve pulled back a little further as she set the glass down, just far enough for him to see the eagle holding the two black lightning bolts on her shoulder. And then she dropped down, adjusting herself.

"I meant to ask," she said. "I know there's been some talk about the Teeth lately. Butcher reincarnated again and he's making waves. You're right on the edge of their territory."

"Yeah."

He knew. He knew it bone deep.

"I could talk to Dad-"

"No." Danny shook his head.

"But-"

"No," he said again, more forcefully this time.

Lauren grimaced. "Neutrality is a dangerous game, Danny."

He met her eyes, his gaze even and unflinching.

"I know. But it's better than the alternative."

Lauren made to speak again, but a woman approached the bar. Though, 'woman' was pushing it. The girl couldn't have been more than sixteen. Danny exchanged a look with Lauren, both of them smiling now.

"Got a license?"

She did. It just had what looked like a school photo pasted over the actual picture.

He tossed the girl out with a gentle reminder to come back in five years and returned to the bar. Lauren was grinning as she mixed a drink.

"That was pretty brave," she snickered.

"Pretty stupid." He held up the fake license. The name read very clearly, "Patrick McKinley."

Lauren's shrill laughter drowned out the final notes of Tiny Dancer.

Danny was still smiling as he slipped into the back hallway. It could only be reached from behind the bar. There were four doors. Kitchen, office, and at the very end, just before the back door, the door to the back room. He headed for the office.

Only an hour or two now until Annie got off work and came by to pick up Taylor. Hopefully she hadn't gotten too bored and started rooting through his drawers again. Hopefully...

Danny stopped in the doorway. Taylor's coloring book was spread out across his desk, the pages open to a half-done picture of a dinosaur. She'd even stayed inside the lines, though he doubted whether any dinosaur was colored neon and chartreuse.

And Taylor was not in the room.

"Shit."

XXX

"I think that's amenable, don't you?" Marquis said.

Allfather examined the map of Brockton. Highlighted areas denoted their respective territories, and a line of push pins designated the proposed attack against the Teeth.

"How long will you need?" he said.

Marquis took a sip of his drink. "Within the week. Redrum is still out of action. I'm hoping Bastille will be back from her trip by the end of the week though."

Allfather nodded. He'd personally put Redrum in the hospital, but neither of them were going to bring that up. No, what Marquis was implying was that if Allfather were to say... use Blut's powers to heal Redrum, he would take steps to bring in Bastille.

Two more of Marquis' pieces on the field. Attrition from the Teeth would certainly get some of them, and it wouldn't be too hard to put Redrum back in the hospital...

"I'll get Blut," he ventured. "Redrum is useful enough to bring back."

Marquis smiled, the expression the only part of his face not hidden behind his bone mask. "Gracious of you." He turned and addressed one of the men behind him. "Talos, call Redrum and tell him to get ready."

The cape nodded and headed for the door. The door swung shut behind him.

Opened again.

Allfather turned to look. Had the man forgotten something?

"Hi!"

A little slip of a girl stared up at him. She had wide eyes, magnified even more by a set of thick glasses, and was practically swimming in an adult-sized t-shirt. The front of the shirt said "I Heart Alexandria" in big red letters.

"Who's this?" Marquis said.

"I'm Taylor!" The girl beamed at them. "My daddy owns the bar and I was in the office but I got bored. Are you a superhero?"

Allfather exchanged a look with Marquis that was clear even through his helm.

"Something like that."

XXX

Danny hurtled back to the bar. Lauren was still there, and had been joined by the short-order cook, Maggie. They both looked at him.

"Where's Taylor?!"

"Bathroom?" Lauren said.

"Not in the kitchen," Maggie ventured.

He tore away toward the bathroom.

The men's room was empty. He knocked on the women's door.

"Occupied!" Someone - not Taylor -said.

She couldn't have gone outside through the back door without setting off the fire alarm, and she couldn't go through the front without him seeing.

That only left...

He forced himself to a walk as he returned to the hall. One of the capes, a burly man in a bronze-colored tactical vest, was at the far end, his head bowed as he spoke into a cell phone. Danny came to the door to the back room.

Knocked. "Excuse me, it's Danny."

"Come in!" A deep voice he recognized as Allfather's called.

Danny opened the door.

Five men looked back at him. Five men, and one little girl sitting on Allfather's knee.

Danny thought his heart might stop.

"Daddy!" Taylor cried, her face alight with wonder. "Supervillains!"

"Yours?" Marquis said bemusedly.

"Er- ah- yes, she's mine." Danny stammered.

He walked slowly forward. Taylor seemed unperturbed by anything around her.

"She wasn't a bother, I hope?"

"None." Allfather said.

"Talks a lot though," an armored man leaning against the wall said. "It's like having Rain around as a kid."

Allfather chuckled. "Rain didn't talk nearly as much as you, Kaiser." He sighed. "They do grow up don't they, Marquis?"

The armored Nazi lifted Taylor under her arms and handed her to Danny. She latched onto him like a limpet and began regaling him with what kind of supervillain she was going to be.

"Sorry for any interruption," Danny said.

"It was no problem, I was just telling Allfather that I have a child about her age." Marquis said. "However..."

Danny paused, already preparing to take Taylor and run.

"Could I get a refill?" Marquis raised a glass.

"Of course, just a minute."

Danny turned and walked out of the room. He carried Taylor away, not back to the office, but behind the bar.

"Everything okay?" Lauren said.

"No."

He met Taylor's eyes. "Please be more careful. We're going to talk about this when I get back. Do not go anywhere."

And then he bent and kissed the top of her head, clutching her to him.

"Sorry," Taylor whispered.

"You worry me, sweetie."

He handed her to Lauren and went to the tap. He poured out the drinks and set them on a tray. As he headed back to the meeting room, Lauren spoke to Taylor.

"So, did you meet Allfather?"

"The big armored guy?"

Lauren laughed. "Yup." And then, so softly he almost didn't hear. "That's my dad, pretty cool huh?"

A moment of silence, as Taylor digested that fact, and then-

"My Dad's cooler."

XXX

A repost off of SB. Original premise was discussion of Danny owning Somer's Rock, and I wrote this as a response to someone doing a oneshot with Danny as bartender with Squealer. I wanted to do something with Allfather and Taylor, and having Iron Rain as the barmaid was just too fun not to do.

Probably my favorite of the oneshots I've done, and the one I'm most satisfied with. There's a small continuity error with the back of the bar, but I'm otherwise quite happy with it.

Not sure how I'd continue it, but probably with something in the vein of Taylor growing up with a steady supply of supervillains around her.