Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Some people were born to be leaders, and others were born to follow them. In Crow Daddy’s case, he was a natural born follower. He wasn’t like a mindless flock of sheep though; he was selective in those he trusted, but extremely loyal once he found someone. Ever since Rose the Hat turned him— no, saved him that day, all of his love and loyalty was hers. Crow never felt like he was indebted to Rose for that, nor did Rose think he owed it to her (even though she was a very demanding woman and kept meticulous records of everyone who ever owed her). The way they saw it, they were near equals. Even though Rose always had the upper hand and dominated in their relationship (in more ways than one… *cough*), Crow Daddy was as close to her equal as anybody in centuries ever tried to be. They had a mutual respect for each other, and a special connection despite Crow’s lack of psychic powers. Needless to say, they completed each other. As fiercely independent as Rose could be, Crow’s voice of reason was often there to talk her out of anything too dangerous, while she made him feel needed and important.

Crow Daddy stepped out of his Jeep with fresh groceries, and set them on a wooden picnic table where Short Eddie and Diesel Doug sat, whispering something. They stopped abruptly once Crow was in earshot, like children caught cheating on an exam.

“Everything alright?” Crow said with a I saw that look.

“Just peachy,” Doug replied.

The True Knot were a tight-knit family with an unbreakable bond, but like any other family, they sometimes bickered and kept things from each other. Rose the Hat, with her fierce maternal instinct to protect the Knot, was like their mother, which made Crow Daddy the father. Most of the True Knot members had close relationships with them, but sometimes they were afraid of Rose’s power. Nobody wanted to get on her bad side, ever. They knew Crow Daddy was Rose’s second-in-command, which also meant he could snitch on them anytime.

“Crow,” Rose the Hat called. She cocked her head which was occupied by her top-hat, signalling him into her trailer.

He hurried over, as he had done millions of times. Always at her beck and call.

“What is it?” he asked.

She licked her lips and then took a deep breath. “You know I trust you more than anybody, and I’ve always said that you would lead the True Knot in my absence.”

He nodded slowly, searching her enchanting face for more explanation. “Rosie, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine, I just need to head to Oregon for a few days, maybe weeks,” Rose was a good liar, but Crow knew her well enough to catch the slightest aversion of her eyes. “I trust you’ll be a good leader in my place.”

Crow Daddy didn’t want to pester her with nosy questions, and even without psychic ability he could sense that she didn’t want to talk about it. Plus, he trusted her. “Of course,” he replied. He had taken over as temporary leader a few times, but never for too long.

“Good,” she smiled, and pulled him in for a kiss. Crow Daddy felt her fingers rustling through his hair; for a vicious woman she had the gentlest touch. As their mouths fit together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, he thought about he she completed him and how whole she made him feel. He was determined to be a good leader to make her proud.

Chapter Text

The True Knot were en route to a small town outside of Florida where Grampa Flick was able to track a steamhead kid. Crow Daddy stayed in his trailer while the others stopped by a convenience store to pick up some snacks for the road. Normally Rose would have opposed to it, since it was a waste of time and they had enough junk food from their last grocery haul anyway. Plus, if they were about to dine out on a steamhead, why fill their stomachs with rube garbage? Still, Crow decided to be bad cop for the day as the True Knot’s temporary leader and let them have a little bit of fun.

“Daddy, come quick,” Barry the Chunk’s brash voice called as he knocked on the trailer window. He was parked in the strip mall’s parking lot which was empty at this early in the morning.

Crow Daddy stepped outside, and put on his Panama hat. It was too silly for him to admit to anyone else, but wearing a hat made him feel closer to Rose; this was just one of the many things that reminded him of her.

“What is it?” He demanded. Sure, he was more attentive and gentle towards Rose, but he was just as cocky as her. Knowing that he was Rose the Hat’s favourite did wonders for his god complex.

“Well, we- er. There’s been a situation…” Barry began, scratching his scruffy beard in hesitation.

He led Crow Daddy to the small rundown convenience store with flickering neon lights that buzzed softly and now read “CON IEN TORE”. They marched past hastily stocked aisles of Doritos and Hot Cheetos until he saw fresh crimson blood splattered on the grimy white tiles. A middle aged man lay in the middle of it, impaled by a piece of broken glass. There were The newest member of The True Knot — Snakebite Andi — stood over him with with fresh splotches of blood all over her arms and legs. Clearly not her own blood, judging from the wicked smirk on her face. It was eerily familiar to The True Knot; she had learned plenty following Rose the Hat’s footsteps. To finish it off with her signature touch, there were snakebite fangs carved into the man’s cheeks, dripping with red venom.

“What did you do?” Crow asked, exasperated. He stared at the girl in disbelief, not sure what to say. It was a rhetorical question, since it was quite obvious what had happened; Crow Daddy had watched her silver tongue operate hundreds of times.

“He tried to fucking grope me,” she protested.

Crow Daddy sighed. “Disgusting bastard. Still, what part of keep a low profile did you not understand? Now we gotta clean up this mess.”

She rolled her eyes and scoffed at him, “Whatever.”

His hand lingered around his back pocket where he kept his cell phone that he used to keep in touch with Rose, and considered calling her just for a split second. Of course, he wasn’t going to. He wanted to prove to her that he was capable of any mess that The True Knot created, and he’d have everything under control. He was itching to call her just to hear her voice again, and to see how she was doing. Now wasn’t the time for that, he decided.

“Send in sanitation, and get Jimmy Numbers to erase the security camera footage,” he ordered Barry. They had designated True Knot members to clean up murder scenes and dispose of the bodies as efficiently as possible.

While the others took care of the mess, he swiped a couple bags of sour candy — Rose’s favourite. She liked the way the tangy sugar exploded on her tongue and made her squirm, in a good way. They were kind of like her in a way — coated in sugar but hard on the outside, only sweet to those with an acquired taste. He’d known her for over 200 years now, and there wasn’t a day that she didn’t cross her mind. He could write an endless list of things that reminded him of her, like all the songs she loved throughout the decades (especially the 1970s), her favourite flowers (roses of course), or little things stemmed from their inside jokes that only they understood. Sometimes it was overwhelming to have Rose’s essence etched into everything in his mind, and especially hurt when he missed her.

200 years was a lot of time with someone, and they inevitably had many rough patches along the way. How could they not, when Rose the Hat was one of the most fiery women to ever walk the Earth. Luckily for Crow Daddy, it was one of the many qualities he admired about her. He wasn’t always her second-in-command, but he earned that spot quite quickly, and a permanent spot in her heart. He rarely saw newcomers as threats, because he knew even when she sees other people, they would never replace him.

“All good to go, Daddy,” Barry said, patting him on the shoulder. In some ways, Barry was Crow Daddy’s own second-in-command. He snapped out of his funk yearning for Rose the Hat , and inspected the now spotless floor. No one could ever guess that this was a crime scene just ten minutes ago.

He thought to himself, Not bad, Crow. Not bad.