A/N: Yeah, I'm so not active in the YGO fandom right now. I'm marking this drabble series as "complete," but I might still spit out the occasional ficlet to add to it. Just for nostalgia's sake.

For this one, I just had this mental image in my head of Seto having no idea what to do with a baby. It turned into a pseudo-stream-of-consciousness-thing. And kinda adorable, if I do say so myself.

Title: Baby Blue Eyes
Teaser: There's more than just Mokuba to protect now.
Rating: K+
Length: 795

Seto never married.

There had been the Corporation to see to, and Mokuba to care for, and dueling, of course, and somehow he'd never found the time to seek out anything like a girlfriend. It would have taken an extraordinary person to interest him in romance in the first place, and frankly, everything else had been much more important at the time.

Mokuba was different. Mokuba was all that was good and right in the world. He was sunshine and optimism, all bundled up in a neat little package with wild black hair that somehow still managed to share Seto's ruthless business sense. Mokuba could be cunning and manipulative as the scene required, but his inherent charisma was what gave him a true advantage in the business world. Seto had bled, sweat, and threatened his way to the top; Mokuba simply smiled and doors opened for him.

And, of course, he was Seto's baby brother. Which made him much more valuable than any corporate asset, and if his teenage years had been devoted more to womanizing than to terrorizing businessmen, it seemed only fair to grant him that, after everything Seto had put him through.

There had been strings of them, rows upon rows of women whose faces Seto never bothered to remember, even if he did run a complete background check on each and every one of them. A business trip in America had finally introduced Mokuba to the proverbial fish he couldn't catch, and Seto had been surprised at how a pretty young woman with no business sense of her own had somehow brought his brother's determined streak out from the playboy persona he'd built for himself.

Then there had been the failed attempts at courtship, and quite a few frustrated teenage temper tantrums that Seto had sat through with a mug of hot coffee and a raging headache, because he hadn't understood but a big brother's job was to listen, as he always had and always would.

Failure had turned into progress had turned into dating had turned into wedding bells, and suddenly it's years later and Seto's not quite sure how they ended up here.

There are three small children running around his mansion, and a fourth sits at his feet, dressed in a pink dress and pigtails with her chubby fist shoved into her mouth. She's got her daddy's messy black hair and her mom's freckles, but she's got Seto's eyes.

It makes him dizzy. Somehow, out of all his brother's children, the youngest girl is the only one who inherited the family's telltale blues. The others are all gray like Mokuba or brown like their mom, but this little baby stares back at Seto and it's like looking into a mirror.

Seto sees himself there, in his little niece's face, sees the loss and the pain and the terrible mistakes that she hasn't made yet, and if he's got anything to say about it, she never will, because he's already been there for her. This child will never know the pain of abandonment or death, will never have to sell her soul or give up a normal life just to protect someone she loves.

Seto doesn't regret anything he's done (that's a lie, he regrets a dozen things, a hundred, regrets turning his back and losing his way and being defeated by a nobody and letting that consume him and). He doesn't regret who he is, or what he has become, or the people he had to cut down just to drag himself (and Mokuba, and Mokuba's children who hadn't even been born yet) to the comfortable, safe life they have now.

He doesn't regret it. But he's not going to let it happen to anyone else, either.

The door slams open, and Seto (does not) jump, startled out of his thoughts. It's a reflexive motion, something he doesn't realize he's done until it's already happened, but he bends down and scoops that baby off the floor and into his lap, cradles her safe and sound against whatever the disturbance is.

It's just Mokuba, though, his furrowed brow breaking into a smile when he sees them. "Oh! There she is! Did she come in here all by herself?"

He blinks. "Yeah, I must have left the door open. Were you worried?"

"Nah, there's so much security around this place it's not like she could really wander off. It's just so chaotic, once they start walking! But I kinda figured she'd be in here. She really adores you, you know?"

"…Yeah. I noticed." Blue eyes study blue eyes, and a drool-covered hand clutches her uncle's favorite trench coat.

"She's not bothering you, is she? Aren't you supposed to be working now?"

"No, Mokuba, it's fine. She's no trouble at all."