Chapter 2

"Daddy?" The sweet voice reaches his ears as he nudges the door open with a foot, waking his little girl from her sleep.

"Good morning my angel," Nathan smiles warmly down at his girl. He sets down the tray laden with food on his own bed as he goes to Shilo's and gives her a light kiss on her forehead. "Time for breakfast now."

She beams up at him, her disposition sunny, despite the drabness of their surroundings. His heart clenches as he looks down at her. Probably the last light in his life, he couldn't bare thinking her gone from it. To disappear as smoke like so many other lives.

Stretching up her arms in a way that only a child could make graceful, he picked up the warmed up plate. "I'm hungry!" Almost to punctuate the statement, her stomach gave a light rumble. "See?"

Giving a light laugh, he leaned forward with the food. "Yes, I can certainly hear that precious. It's a special day today, so you get to have breakfast in bed. Open up now dear one." A fork with food piled on it followed his words.

"Ahh…" she intoned, delighting in her father feeding her himself. Usually he tried to get her to feed herself, however messily that ended up. It was a treat whenever he took it upon himself to do this for her. His hands were large, warm and were the steadiest things she'd ever known.

Chewing her prize happily, she smiled up at her father with hero worship in her eyes. Reaching up with one of his hands, he brushed back a few strands of dark hair behind her ears and stroked the soft skin on her cheek with his thumb. A flash of memory struck his mind and his hand stilled. He pulled back slowly his soft smile frozen on his face, but still there.

Oblivious to the change in her daddy, Shilo swallows her food and looks to the drink that he'd placed on the dresser. Instead of waiting for him to react to her needs, she started to rise from her cocoon of sheets and pillows. Her movement snapped Nathan into the present, and he quickly went to get the drink and helped her swallow it down.

"Do you need to go to work daddy?" the innocent question unknowingly twisting her father's heart.

"Not today sweetie." Nathan shifted the plate over, moving towards the headboard and encompassing Shilo with a long arm against his body. "It's your birthday today, and I made sure we wouldn't be disturbed by something as silly as work." His smile was just that much tighter at the mention of his job. He relaxed himself as he hugged her to him.

"Yay! Daddy's all mine today."

His arm tightened around her ever so slightly. "Yes dear heart, yours only, now and always."

A/N:

Another short one, these seem to be more ficlets following these two around. Still no direction but I'm feeling a massive bunny stalking me so this might actually go on. Well, 'till next time.

Ciao.