Just a short one shot in response to a review from Rachel D.
Short fluffy one shot; set between chapter 14 and the Epilogue of One Month Later.
Title means 'Daddy's Little Girl'
Petite Fille a Papa
Another disturbed night- little Nathan was having a lot of them lately. Erik was sure that it wasn't normal for a child to be kept awake from teething so many nights in a row. Cara had been fully teethed before her first birthday and she was the extent of his basis for comparison.
He finished singing his two year old son back to sleep and laid him in bed. With the end of his fingers he stroked Nathan's chocolate curls- he could see Christine in him as much as he could in Cara.
Erik yawned and made his way back to his bedroom; Christine, he knew, would snuggle into his side again as soon as he returned to her. Just as he was passing Cara's room his sensitive ears caught the sound of whimpering.
"Non- leave me alone, please!"
"The nightmare again" he mumbled, sighing.
A month ago Cara had tripped over whilst in the city with her mother and her mask had come off- Christine had scooped her and the mask up before anything bad could happen but since then Cara had been terrified that someone would hurt her because of her face. She had his pity and his sympathy- no four year old should have to have such fears and yet his little angel was suffering from them.
He slipped into her room and sat on the edge of her bed. She was tossing and thrashing- her black hair was dishevelled and sticking to her face. It was a sorry sight indeed- his little angel wasn't as happy as she deserved to be; he needed to do something about it…
"Cara…" he shook her shoulder gently. "Wake up ma ange petite"
Cara's ebony eyes snapped open but she didn't appear to know where she was.
"Papa?" she asked, on the verge of tears
"Shh… I am here, baby" he told her pulling her into his arms and stroking her hair away from her face. "You're safe; no one thinks that you are a monster"
"It was really scary Papa" she told him. "People were shouting and there was fire and…"
"I know, my Cara" he nodded. "I know; but I also know a brave baby girl who stopped a mean man from stealing her mama"
"Really?" the four year old asked, snuggling into the softness of his dressing gown. "What happened, Papa?"
Erik chuckled softly. Bright as she was Cara, like any child, adored stories. He tucked Cara's blanket around them both and held her close.
"Are you comfortable little one?" he asked in the manner of a natural story teller
His little audience nodded- intrigue and fatigue battled in her raven irises.
"Very well" Erik smiled gently. "I shall begin"
Pausing only to kiss her brow Erik began to relate the tale of that terrible time when Christine had been stolen from them; three years earlier- before Nathan was born.
"And the Vicompte de Chagny took a step towards us- his mad blue eyes fixed on you and your mama; you of course, were in mama's arms; it was quite a while before we could convince your stubborn little self to allow anyone other than her to hold you."
"Papa; that's not part of the story" Cara told him through a yawn- she may not remember it but she knew that much. "Tell it right"
Erik laughed and kissed her brow again. "As my little lady commands"
He adopted a story telling voice as he continued.
"Your mama told him that she didn't like him anymore- but the lunatic fop wouldn't listen- he just kept heading towards us; not bothered that I was there between you and he. Then all of a sudden a little white thing flew fast my ear and the fop was lying on Nanna Jo's carpet and your mask was lying broken next to him"
"Really?" She asked, her voice husky with sleep
"Yes sweetheart" he nodded, laying her head on her pillow and taking her little hands. "Now, if you could see the Vicomte de Chagny off before you were two years old you have no need to be scared of nightmare people, do you?"
She shook her head slowly; eyelids heavy.
"But…" he continued, stroking her hair away from her face. "If that doesn't work; there is one thing that will always keep you safe."
"Whut?" she asked, fighting a losing battle against Hypnos- who was waiting to deliver her to the arms of Morpheus
He leaned in to press one last goodnight kiss to her pale skin and whispered his answer softly. "Me"
He didn't know whether or not she heard him because she was already fast asleep.
"I love you little Angel" he told her sleeping form.