A/N: I do not own Criminal Minds written for the

PROMPT: He lifted her veil and gave her a cool kiss on the cheek

EDIT: September 5 Betaed by Sunnyinoregon

Mid 1991

How could he know that one night would change his life forever? It would not for the next eighteen years give or take but forever he was always be changed from that night.

By this time, the one changing his life was almost two. The lawyer called and told him where to be. Not telling him that he had a daughter, or telling him that her mother was dead, and not telling him that he now was the guardian of his daughter, he was going to be the one to raise her now.

Once he got to the lawyers office and told everything he immediately signed all the necessary paper work and he soon saw his daughter. The little girl was beautiful her hair just passed her ears and her cheeks and ended in curls her bangs just above her eyes, which were a striking shade of greenish blue.

Her hair was a light blonde the color of honey, leaning more towards strawberry blond. She had the chubby cheeks like most toddlers have and she was tiny way below normal height requirements for children of her age but not to the point that she was a midget, she was just tiny, dainty. From what Dave had read and been told she was born early weighing only five pounds and fourteen ounces.

The moment Dave spotted her his heart melted and he instantly fell in love with the little princess. He knelt down to the ground and smiled. His girl looked at him and her face lit up she smiled back she had a big Popsicle grin. She reached out for him "me up" she said. With a smile, Dave took her into his arms and picked her up.

"Hi princess I am your daddy. Can you say daddy?" he asked her.

"Dada" she repeated turning her head to the side.

Dave nodded and kissed the top of her head, and smelled her hair, which was up in pigtails.

"Well Payton you are going to live with me now. Okay princess?" he patted her head and noticed that she had the same thick hair he did. While he was looking at her, he noticed her eyes shaped like his.

Three days later, he had gotten her a room fit for a princess she even had a carriage crib. His wife Alex got mad and left him but he did not care. They had been fighting for a long time even though they had only been married for a year; she had been living somewhere else and she sent him divorce papers. He knew after that he would do everything he could do for Payton but he was not going to look for a wife. If he found someone he loved good but he knew he had a horrid track record with being married. Dave did not want to put a child through that.

1993
Dave smiled as he took a picture. Payton sat on a giant stuffed lion while she played with the neighbors little boy who was younger than her. The little boy who was one and a half was on his little rocking horse. Over the last few years his little girl had grown up so much though she was still tiny. Dave kept her bangs trimmed just above her eyes but the rest of her hair he did not touch. It had darkened to blond it looked like the color of coffee with creamer in it and her curls grew out below her armpits. Sometimes she would get her hair in her mouth when she ate.

She looked at Dave and smiled.

"Look daddy am riding ad lon shee" she said happily.

Dave took the picture then picked her up flipping her in his arms and kissing her belly blowing raspberries on her tummy which caused her to giggle.

"Stop it daddy! it tickles," she told him.

Dave stopped and smiled "It tickles huh?"

Payton nodded then the look on her face changed. "Daddy its lunch time I hungry. Me have gold fish and turkey sanmich?"

Dave smiled and looked at Calla his neighbor with a nod he signaled it was time for her to take Carson home. He fixed a turkey sandwich and got a handful of goldfish crackers for Payton putting it all on a plate.

"Lunch time" he announced.

In three months, it would be her birthday she would be would be four. He had already been teaching her to stand up for herself. Apparently her preschool had a bit of a bully problem. However, he ended up getting called in one day because she had bitten and punched the boy bully. It had been defense as the boy had bit her and punched her and her friends. After that the boy had left Payton and her friends alone.

1994
Dave smiled to himself it was Payton graduation from preschool; next year she would be going to kindergarten. He was not sure if he was ready for that but he would face that event when it came to be. He could not believe his daughter was almost five. Once the ceremony was over, she ran to him grinning.

"Lets go daddy," she said and they left.

He had not told his teammates about Payton he wanted to keep her to himself. He knew that soon they would know because he was going to have to put her in the at work day care. The baby sitter he usually used had moved, leaving him without anyone to watch Payton while he worked.

December 25, 1995

It was Christmas and Payton was turning six in a week. She was looking more like him everyday. Her hair had darkened to a mix of dark blond and medium brown and her olive complexion was starting to show. Her hair had reached the middle of her back and it was usually pulled back. This Christmas was being spent with his family. She loved it because she got to play with all her little cousins and her big cousins. She was doted on by the whole family being the only girl. She was everyone's princess and she knew it.

You had better not wake her up before she was ready because then you would have to deal with the crankiest child in existence. It was never a fun experience getting her up. That is why her bedtime was six thirty. Dave marveled at how tiny she was. She had grown a lot but she was still short when standing next to her cousin who was only eight months older than her. She barely came to his chin.

She did not let her size get in the way of getting into trouble. She would do anything she set her mind too. Dave would scold her and she would cry; her eyes would almost glow and turn blue. She had taken his self-defense lessons to heart and did not let anyone hurt her but she never used it to hurt others.

1998

Dave wanted to kill his mother and he was pretty sure Payton did too. She came home from her two week visit and Dave was mortified to find out his mother had gotten a perm put in Payton's hair. After almost eight years of having her and not cutting her hair it was down past her butt. Now she looked like a poodle all poofy the top of her head. The middle of her hair was slightly curly while the ends also curled. Payton came home crying telling her daddy she only wanted the curls she loved when she was little, not this mess that was done to her hair. Dave sighed running his hands through the mass trying to fix it and bit back a growl, her hair was partially fried.

"Well princess it looks like we are just going to have to wait for it to fix its self nothing can be done for now," he said sadly. "Lets take a picture so we can remember why we don't want to perm your hair ever again, okay? Now go wash your face and dry those eyes kiddo."

Six months later the perm had faded but he had to cut off her hair because the ends were all dead and it made her hair look terrible. To help her feel better, he had bought her a little puppy; a fat fluffy thing that was mostly black. Payton named her Prissy. That night for bed, she wanted to sleep in her wedding dress costume. Dave knew some people would likely find that a bad thing to do but he saw no harm in it. As he tucked her in, he lifted her veil, gave her a cool kiss on the cheek, then he removed the veil.

"You can't sleep in this part princess but you can sleep in the dress," he told her.

"But daddy," she protested.

He shushed her. "No princess you could suffocate if you slept with the veil on, okay love? Now go to sleep."

He turned off the light as he left the room leaving the door cracked so he could hear if she called for him.