Elle is asleep against your chest, her head tucked in the curve of your shoulder, but you're too wired to sleep.

Instead, you're playing with your array of powers (practicing, you tell yourself). A penny from the nightstand shimmers into gold, then floats into the air. The next part is the tricky part – Elle's power is still new, vibrating under your skin, and you aim at the floating gold penny, destroying it with a bolt of electricity.

You're pulling random things from the nightstand now, changing them and blowing them up, and you're so absorbed in your powers that you don't notice Elle stir at first.

It isn't until you start spinning an already levitated gold ice cube that Elle's little sniffle gets your attention.

Oh, shit.

You've been so wrapped up in each incident of guilt that sometimes you forget, though it seems impossible. Because…honestly, Bob Bishop was a bad guy. A bad guy masquerading as a loving father, at least in Elle's eyes.

Really, he was all she had.

You drop the gold ice cube to the floor and wrap your arm around Elle.

"I'm sorry," you tell her, and she nods against your chest, but you can feel little tears falling onto your skin.

"I wasn't good enough for him," she mumbles, her words muffled, "I tried to be good."

"Elle…"

"No, you were right. I wasn't good enough for him. And I shouldn't miss him, but…" she's quiet for a moment, but then her breath hitches again and she cries harder, "Daddy!"

It's all your fault. You didn't even think twice as you sliced his head open, didn't even care.

It's not even that great of a power in the long run, really. The Midas touch. Or whatever metal you're into that day. You can make things shiny and make a quick buck at the pawn shop, really, and for that, you took away the only person Elle had in her life.

If he hadn't died, and you hadn't been on the warpath, Elle would still be a Company girl, with too high heels and skinny jeans, following whatever order she was given.

Now she works with you, for your father, and…follows whatever order you or Arthur give her. Mafybe she doesn't even realize it.

You run your hands through her hair and smooth out the tangles, waiting for her to look up. When she does, you brush your thumb across her cheek, wiping away the tears.

"Ellie, I'm sorry," you tell her again, "I would change things if I could."

She shakes her head, giving you a sad smile, "No," she says quietly, tracing the line of your jaw with her fingertip, "I don't want to change things."

You swallow hard, staring into her eyes, and you get the sense that she's not used to being so honest with people.

"Go back to sleep," you soothe, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear before cupping her cheek in your palm, "I promise nothing's going to hurt you again. Not even me."

She turns her head, kissing your palm, before nestling back down against you. You lay still except for rubbing your hand gently up and down her back, but you can feel that she is not sleeping. Her little fingers are tracing abstract shapes on your chest, over your heart.

Her breath hitches and you think she's about to fall asleep, but instead, she speaks.

"We're going to have a baby," she says softly, and the abstract shapes her finger is tracing turn into little hearts.

TBC??