It had been a long week for the Cornick family; Charles was out on another assignment leaving Anna and SeoHyun at home. Charles never let SeoHyun go on these trips and since her adoption Anna rarely went with him so there would be a parent home to be with SeoHyun.

Anna looked in the living room to see SeoHyun sitting at the coffee table, pencil held loosely in her left hand as she read the instructions on her geometry homework. Anna had been slightly surprised when she realized her adopted daughter was left handed.

"Mom, is Da going to be home tonight?" SeoHyun asked looking up from her textbook. Anna could see the hope in SeoHyun's eyes as she asked the question.

"Yes, he should be home tonight." Anna assured her with a smile.

"Can I stay up and wait for him?" SeoHyun asked.

Anna thought about that request, SeoHyun had school the next day but the last time she spoke to Charles she could tell this assignment had been bad and she wondered if coming home to see SeoHyun in the living room waiting for him would help him settle down so after some internal debate she told SeoHyun she could wait for Charles to get home.

Anna went to bed later that evening marveling at the bond that had formed between Charles and SeoHyun. Everyone had been afraid that he would have done everything he could not to bond with her but early on it became apparent that the exact opposite was true. Charles let her cling to him and soothed her as best he could. Charles was never the best with words but it seemed that didn't matter to SeoHyun, his presence alone was comfort enough for her.

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It was nearly midnight when Charles got home from his trip. He started towards his own room when he caught SeoHyun's scent coming from the living room. He couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth when he realized she must have stayed up to wait for him and fell asleep before he arrived.

He looked into the room to see her curled up on the couch under the window. Her features looked peaceful in sleep and served to remind him how young she was and why he did what he did as his father's sword arm; he made sure that young wolves like her had a chance to live normal lives without the fear of crazy wolves bringing hate down on them. He loved her dearly and she looked up to him as no one had ever done before.

SeoHyun slowly woke and a smile formed on her features.

"Da, you're home!" She said happily as she got up and embraced him.

He returned the embrace.

"Yes I am." He said lifting her so she could put her arms around his neck.

She was tiny at nearly 2 feet shorter than him so it was easy for him to lift her and carry her around. She often didn't like this but if she felt he needed to focus on something other than the violence of the job his father gave him she would let him hold onto her and accept his instinctive desire to protect her if it helped him stay sane.

SeoHyun buried her face in the side of Charles' neck and took several deep breaths of his scent. She knew what people said about Charles and she knew they were wrong about her da. Her da loved her dearly and would do anything for her and she knew that.

Charles was glad he had managed to make it home when he did so he could be there for SeoHyun's sixteenth birthday. He put SeoHyun in her bed.

"Da, I missed you." she said.

"I missed you too" he replied placing a kiss on the top of her head "Good night, I love you."

"I love you too, da" she smiled as he tucked her in and left the room to let her sleep.

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Anna woke to Charles sitting on his side of the bed.

"Welcome home." she smiled "Did you see SeoHyun in the living room?" Anna asked "She tried so hard to stay up until you got home, but I don't think she made it."

"She was asleep when I got in." he replied "It felt good to get to hold her after this week, feels good to be home with you."

"It can't be easy to do that all the time." she admitted.

"I got her birthday gift." he said placing a box on the bed.

Anna opened it to show a white gold cross with oval turquoise inlays forming a smaller cross in the center. It was styled so it had a feeling of Native American art.

"She'll love it." Anna proclaimed with a smile.

Charles put the box in his bedside table, got ready for bed. It wasn't long before he was in bed holding Anna in his arms. He was home, he would have to report to his father later, but that was later, he would enjoy being home now.

He heard his father's voice filter through his sleep idled mind and tried to ignore it; after the third time he picked up his cell phone and called his father.

"What is it, da?" Charles asked.

"How did the trip go?" Bran asked.

"I'll be over there to fill you in later, once I've gotten a little sleep."

Bran had taken a moment to think about the time and relented that anything that needed to be said could wait until Charles got some sleep.

To be Continued...