Hey Guys Loretwister here. Three years ago I posted this story for father's day and had some big plans for it. Those never came to fruition but I can now say that after three years and about a day of correcting my horrible English from back in the day. Here is the new and improve 'a day in a father's life'. I am not sure if I will also be posting a new version of my original chapter two, I didn't like that one to begin with.
Enjoy
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Shinn Asuka let out a yawn as he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. Times like this he surely wished he was still serving aboard a ship as a mobile suit pilot. Three years ago he had resigned as a member of the elite Yamato team and had taken a more stable job as an instructor at the academy and test pilot for ZAFT's Integrated Design Bureau. He liked his job but being out on patrol or on deployment was certainly more entertaining than ploughing through the mountains of paperwork that currently lay on his desk. "I should have never taken that Lieutenant promotion." Shinn muttered as he kept his eyes closed for a moment longer.
He was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard a voice call "Shinn? You there?" He recognized it as the voice of Lunamaria Asuka-Hawke, his wife of nearly four years.
"In the study Luna." Shinn replied as he straightened in his chair. The other half of the ZAFT ace duo poked her head around the door and said "Hey, I'm going out with Meyrin for a while, would you mind keeping an eye out on Mayu?"
"What exactly are you going to do with Meyrin?" Shinn asked apprehensively, secretly already knowing the awful truth from the gleam in his lover's eyes.
"Oh, just shopping. Mayu's babysitter is not available but fortunately you are home today," Luna explained as she stepped into the office. "We are going to check out the new mall over in-"
"And stop!" Shinn interrupted, "Hold it right there! Shopping? I don't think so." He said with a glare.
"Don't be difficult now," Luna sighed "you get to spend the afternoon with your daughter for a change." Luna gave her husband 'the look' "or are you saying you don't want to spend time with her? Hmm?"
"No!" Shinn replied forcefully. "That's not part I'm objecting to! Remember your last shopping-spree with Meyrin?"
Lune blushed slightly at that remark, but quickly regained her posture "Mayu needed some new clothes and if I recall correctly you got your money's well worth out of it too!"
Shinn had a quick flashback of his wife dressed in some lingerie that he found suited her too damn well. Unable to come up with a counter argument he saw Luna's face slowly morph into a confident smirk. "Thought so, see you at dinner!" she said as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and got out of the study.
It took Shinn a few seconds to long but shoot up an shout after her "Oi! Don't bankrupt us!" but his wife was already out of earshot. Shinn's let out a defeated sigh and turned back to his desk.
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Determined to still get some work done, Shinn had settled down in the living room, taking up as little space as possible on the dinner table. The rest of it was occupied with sheets of paper and a large assortment of crayons.
Next to him sat a little girl, just 3 years old, on her knees on top of a dinner chair. A determined look on her cherub face as she dragged a crayon over her current sheet of paper. She had her father's inherited raven black hair tied into two pigtails and her amethyst eyes, from her mother, were staring intently at her drawing.
Mayu Asuka, Shinn and Luna's only child, was very busy colouring something that looked like grass on this particular piece of art. The red eyed ace glanced at the other. already finished drawings.
Of course Shinn never expected to have the next generation Picasso sitting next to him but he could make out a few scribbles that he recognised. A few drawings of a Haro toy, some characters from Mayu's favourite TV show, and even some crudely drawn Mobile suits.
As much to Shinn's amusement, and Luna's chagrin, his little girl already took a great liking in to the big humanoid war machines, although she was too young to understand the purpose of them. Already if she were to be asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, it was "A mobile suit pilot, just like mommy and daddy!"
Shinn tried to get his focus back on his work, but kept glancing back at the little girl next to him who was humming a tune as she searched for a particular crayon colour.
May was his pride and joy in life. Had been from the moment Luna had told him she was pregnant. Shinn's life had not been easy. The loss of his family during the first war, and the betrayal of his best friend Rey and his idol Chairman Durandal during the second had left some deep emotional scars on him. Even until this day he was haunted by the awful things that happened to him, and what he had inflicted to others.
The road to forgiveness had been long and hard for Shinn, both for forgiving himself as well as forgiving those he thought had wronged him. General Kira Yamato and Representative Attha leading that long list.
Now several years after the horrible events of the Second Bloody Valentine War, sitting here in his living room, with his daughter colouring away, he felt serene.
At peace.
His little girl has also shown him the true flaw in the Destiny plan, the plan he fought so damn hard for. Sometimes Shinn shuddered to think that if it had not been for Commander Zala slapping some sense into him, quite literally and at the last possible moment, he would not be sitting in this very living room.
The revelation came to him when his Mayu was born. What if the chairman had succeeded? His little girl, who had hopes and dreams of becoming a Mobile Suit pilot, or a painter the way she was going. What if Durandal had decided she would be better suited to be a nurse? Or a saleswoman? He would never see the happy little girl she was today. Robbed of her dreams and forced to do something she didn't want, even though she would be the best person for the job.
It would hurt her, and Shinn would go through hell and back to stop that from ever happening!
And as much as he used to hate ORB and it's ideals. The small but powerful country had been instrumental to the peace they were now enjoying. In fact the entire earth sphere had known peace for over a decade now.
Of course there was still the odd group here and there who still felt so wronged in the past that they decided to pick up arms for their own justice. But that's what Shinn was for, together with the military that still existed. Stop these people and make them see the flaws in there ways, show them the correct path, like he was shown after the war. Shinn felt proud to be part of the military again.
Shinn silently continued working. Encouraged by the sounds of his daughter's humming and her crayons sliding over paper. That was until he felt a tug on his sleeve, making him face her.
Mayu flashed a toothy grin at her father and showed him her latest drawing "For you, daddy!" she exclaimed as she shoved the paper in Shinn's face. Her father carefully took the paper from her and studied the drawing.
It showed three people, represented as stick figures, in something that looked like a park. The left and the middle person had black hair while the right person had a magenta colour. The middle person was smaller and holding hands with the other two. All three of them were smiling as best as the little girl had been able to draw.
"It's me and you daddy, and mommy too! At the park we went to. Do you like it?" May asked her father who still had to give a reply to her gift.
This was because Shinn was suddenly overtaken by emotion from seeing the drawing his three year old had made. For all his faults and after all these years he just had his daughter give him the simplest and most precious gift.
A Family
Shinn had once heard that children could be very direct. And this was the most beautiful way of showing him the good he had been able to do despite his sins and wrong doings in the past.
"Yes sweetie, I like it very much. Thank you." Shinn answered, nearly choking up.
Mayu giggled "Why the funny face daddy? she asked.
Shinn sighed and gave his daughter a smile "It's nothing sweetheart. Come, let's put this one on the fridge, so your mother can see it too when she comes back." he said.
"Okay!" May agreed, sliding of the chair and walking towards the kitchen "Can I pick the magnet? I want to use the one that looks like Haro!"
"Of course, little flower." Shinn replied, walking after her. The nickname reminded him of the flower metaphor made by him and Kira years ago. 'No matter how many times the flowers get blown away, we will never stop replanting them.'
"Damn right," Shinn thought "And I'll make sure this little flower will bloom the prettiest of them all!"
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I hope you all enjoyed it, leave a review if you did, I always appreciate the feedback.
Loretwister out