No one knew more than Daisy how enigmatic Joseph's laugh could be. She certainly understood more about the way he worked than the man would give her credit for, but she would never presume to understand that laugh. The only thing that was certain about that sound was that whatever followed would be completely unexpected. Most of the time it was a spontaneity that she loved, but when he was in one of his darker moods, it terrified her. Biting her lip was the only way that she could stifle the whimper at the pain of having her fingers crushed together. She wanted to answer him, to reassure him that she was good for him, but before she could get a single word out, his hand slapped her across the face. The blow instantly stalled out her brain and it took her a moment to recollect herself. Her instinct was to reach up and grab her cheek where he had made contact, but she resisted the urge and chose instead to wrap her arms around her waist once more. Daisy offered no resistance when Joseph shoved her, letting her body hit the cabinet and slide into the floor. She drew her knees up to her chest, hiding her face behind them, trying to keep the new wave of sobs at bay. "No." Her head shook back and forth, not realizing that her answer would be impossible to hear from the curled up position she had balled herself into. What pulled her head up was the sound of Bandit. She looked at him with the same amount of agony that she felt when looking at Joseph. "Bandy?" Of course he had turned on her as well. The raccoon wasn't her familiar; he wasn't even her pet. Bandit owed her nothing, and it was his master that she had betrayed.
"I don't." Daisy's eyes were beginning to feel puffy and swollen from all the tears. She used her loose sleeve to dry her face -- a fruitless effort -- before running her fingers through her hair to comb it out of her face. "I don't deserve it. I deserve for you to hate me." Did she want him to hate her? Absolutely not. But if it was what he needed to do to make things okay between them, then she would endure it. She would do anything if it would just make things right again. Her stomach rolled at the memory of thinking the exact same thing when she was with Daniel. It wasn't the same. She didn't love Daniel; in fact, she was certain that she despised him in every way a person could be despised. Daisy unraveled into the floor, crawling until she reached the line of fire that Joseph had created. She wasn't afraid to cross it, if she thought that doing so would help her case. "I don't want this. I never want to hurt you. You know that, please." Whoever thought that Daisy was above begging was mistaken. She wasn't above making a complete fool of herself if it meant getting back on Joseph's good side. "What do you need to make things right again?" It was the only option in her mind: things had to be made right, even if it took years to get there. She couldn't let him leave her.