Nope. These characters aren't mine. Not even a little bit. And future episodes could totally wipe out what I'm doing here, but I gotta write it out anyway.

He wasn't supposed to love her.

She was supposed to be a means to an end. Valuable, but not valued. Useful, usable, but not treasured.

He is not a good man. He has done questionable things, and knows that he will do more of them in the future. There is blood on his hands, and much of it is innocent. He believes that what he does is vital—necessary—but he does not delude himself into thinking that it is moral or just.

If there is a hell, he expects to burn.

He did not, however, expect his reaction to Claire's distress. He did not expect his heart to skip a beat when they received the call that she was in the hospital. He did not anticipate the white hot rage that came upon him when he learned of what that punk had tried to do to his daughter …

Yes, his daughter.

Not a test subject. Not a pawn. His child.

When did that happen? he wonders. When did she become more to him than an experiment? Was it those late nights when it seemed like the only thing that would soothe her was if he held her in his arms? Was it the moment that she said "Dada"? Holding his arms out to her while she tottered on chubby toddler legs as she took her first steps to him?

How many times did he say "I love you, Claire" to her before he actually meant it?

He can still feel her hand in his as she told him what had almost happened to her. He can still feel her need for her daddy to comfort her, protect her … and he can still feel his own desperate desire to keep her safe.

It's too late for him, he knows. He will never be clean again. And someday, when Claire finds out what he truly is, she won't be his little girl any longer …

But he has never been prone to self-delusion and he won't start now.

He loves her, and he knows he always will.