Don't own Zelda, but you knew that

I blinked a few times, waking myself up. I saw snow falling outside the window and looked to my left and saw my beautiful wife looking up at me.

"Good morning, Sleepyhead." She said smiling.

"Mornin'" I said with a yawn. "How long have you been up?"

"About 20 minutes." she replied

"Why are you still in bed then?" I asked

"Because I was admiring you." She said with a smile "You're so cute when you sleep." I laughed at this and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, pulling her closer to me.

"I love you, Zelda." I whispered against her lips

"I love you too, Link." She responded. "I suppose we should get up, can't stay in bed all day!" she said sitting up.

"And why not?" I asked jokingly. She giggled and got out of bed.

"I'll go wake the little one." She said as she walked out of the room.

I got out of bed and walked downstairs and into the kitchen when I heard Zelda's voice.

"Link?" she called out to me as she came down the stairs

"Hm?" I replied as I turned around

"Is Christopher down here already?" she asked, a hint of concern in her voice

"No," I responded "I thought you were going in to wake him?"

"He… he wasn't in his room…" She said, the worry now evident in her voice.

"I'm sure he's here somewhere." I said, trying comfort her. "Christopher?" I called out.

We looked all over the house, he was nowhere to be found.

"LINK!" I heard Zelda call my name from upstairs, I went up and found her in Christopher's room. "His jacket is gone. Link, he's gotta be out there somewhere. Oh Link, he's going to freeze. Who knows how far he's gotten off to by now?"

"Shhhh," I said pulling her close, feeling her heart beating rapidly "relax, it'll be okay, don't worry."

Hypocrite I said to myself, feeling my own heart hammering against my ribs.

"I'll go out and find him and everything will be okay." I said. I let go of her and went to out room to dress myself, Zelda followed. She just seemed to watch me, this look of complete fear in her eyes.

"Link…" she said, her voice breaking, "I'm so scared, Link." I took her into my arms and kissed the top of her head.

"I know, Zel. Me too." I admitted.

I pulled on my boots and coat and headed for the door. I gave Zelda a kiss goodbye and went out in search of our son. When I went out, I found small footprints in the snow. I followed them in hopes that they belonged to Christopher.

I was walking for at least 45 minutes, meaning Christopher had been out here even longer than that. The snow was falling hard, my heart was pounding harder. It was hard to see very far ahead of you, so I just followed the footprints and prayed to the goddesses that I was going the right way.

I was terrified.

I didn't know what to do but follow the footprints. He could still be moving, and I would never catch up. Someone could've found him and taken him. He could've been hurt. There were so many what ifs… running through my head. I'd never felt this kind of fear, I could heart my heartbeat over the strong winds outside and just continued my prayers. Please. Please let him be safe. Please let me find him soon. Please don't let me fail this. Please let me find my baby.

I began to call out his name, my voice trembling. "CHRISTOPHER!" I yelled with all the voice I had "CHRISTOPHER, WHERE ARE YOU?" I stood still for a second to catch my breath "Please… I love you." I said softly to myself.

Just then I heard soft crying coming from ahead of me. I still couldn't see ahead of me because of all the snow. I walked closer, feeling my heart rate increase. "Christopher?" As I got closer I could see a small boy with blond hair sitting in the snow crying. It was him. "CHRISTOPHER!" I shouted with a huge smile coming to my face.

"Daddy?" I heard his soft voice say as he looked up. I ran to him and fell to my knees, taking the boy into my arms.

"Oh Christopher." I said, tears beginning to fall from my eyes. "Dear Goddesses, Christopher." I held him as tightly as I could and cried with him. I looked to the sky and whispered "Thank you." I felt his little hands grip the back of my jacket tightly and I felt him trembling, weather from the cold or the tears, I didn't know. "Are you alright?" I asked him, gently petting the hair on his head.

"I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't mean to leave." He said through his tears. "I saw an animal outside and I wanted to follow it. But once it saw me, it ran away and I didn't know how to get back home."

"It's alright, buddy. Everything's gonna be alright now." I whispered and kissed his forehead softly. I took off my gloves and put them on his hands and picked him up. "Come on, buddy. Let's go home. It's cold out here." He put his arms around my neck and put his head against my shoulder and I carried him home.

Zelda was happy to see us home. She held Christopher in her arms and cried. She helped him out of his wet clothes and left us together in the living room to warm up while she made some cocoa for us. We were laying on the couch, my arms around him and his around me, his little hands grasping to my shirt and his head rested up against my chest. I could feel every breath he took, every beat of his little heart and I took great comfort in that feeling.

"I'm sorry, Daddy." He said quietly.

"I already told you there's nothing to be sorry for." I said trying to comfort him. "You made a mistake, we all do that sometimes."

"I didn't mean to scare you and Mommy." He said, burying his face into my chest. I could feel small bits of moisture on my shirt and knew he was crying.

"It's alright, buddy." I said brushing my fingers through his hair. "Everyone's safe. There's nothing to be afraid of anymore." He turned his head and pressed his cheek against my chest, tightening his grip on me. We laid silently for a few minutes until he spoke again.

"Daddy…" he whispered

"Yes?"

"I can hear your heartbeat." I smiled at his observation.

"Yeah? What's it sound like?" I asked in a whisper.

"dah-dum, dah-dum, dah-dum." He whispered, rhythmically imitating the sound he heard. I smiled and kissed his head. "You're so warm, Daddy." He whispered snuggling into me more. "And so strong. I love you, Daddy." I smiled softly.

"I love you too, Christopher.

"I wanna be just like you, Daddy. I want to be brave and strong like you. You're my hero." My heart filled with so much joy and love at those words.

You're my hero

So many have said those words to me before, but never have they meant so much.