A loud yelp.

Gru opened his eyes, so rapidly, that his sight spun for several moments and as he rose up even quicker, he felt something notching hard against his head. With a groan, he held his forehead, little starts danced around his eyes.

Apparently he had hit his head on one of the long spears sticking out of the side of the bedhead. Anyway, he had lucky that he had not hit the pointy was that noise? A scream, as if someone had seen something so heinous that he would never recover from it.

Suddenly there was a miserable, loud whimper. From next door.

"Agnes!" Gru blurted and was wide awake. With a leap he was out of bed and ran out into the hallway.

A sudden cold fear shot into his veins - neither Edith nor Margo shared the room with her for the night, both stayed with their friends - and since Agnes was still too small to be left by friends over the night, she was thus alone in the large, dark room.
Anything could have happened while he was still sleeping. What if she had been injured? What if someone wanted to kidnap her?
Without hesitation, all protective instincts tingled and his mind made up the worst images.

Gru tore open the door. "Agnes!"
Agnes sat up on her bed, her face creased and steaming with tears, helpless wailing and sobbing.
"Agnes, vhat's wrong?" Gru did not hesitate and ran towards her, knelt beside her bed and stared at her with worried eyes. The little black -haired girl rubbed her face, sniffed and whimpered so piteously that it almost broke the former thief's heart.

"I… I had a nightmare." She admitted. "I dreamed that … you, and Edith, and Margo, and Nefario and all the minions had left me, and… and that you brought me back to Miss Hattie and never took me back again and…and…" Again she bursts into tears, burying her face in her arms and wept bitterly.

That was too much for Gru.

"Oh Agnes…" he rose up, stroking her head to comfort her.
Gru had no idea what it was like to be alone. He had always had someone somehow. And even then, when he was small and wasn't really loved by somebody, he still had his mother and Nefario. He was never alone. He also had no idea how bad it is with the children at the orphanage - at least not until his daughters had told him, and now he himself was very glad to have called this certain Miss Hattie a donkey.

Agnes looked after Gru as he slowly stood up and lifted her little short arms to him, hoping for a hug, whimpering softly in protest, and without hesitation put Gru his hands under hers and lifted her up, laying her safe and secure on his shoulder. "Agnes…" he muttered. "We are alvays here for yu, okay? I wuld never, ever give yu away. Never…"

Agnes pressed her face into the crook of his neck; her delicate little hands buried themselves into the fabric of his pajamas. Gru put his hand on her head, nuzzling his face into her hair.

It broke his heart at the thought that he had once done this actually. But now that he realized that his children were the most important thing in his life, it was just painful to think and to imagine this nightmare coming true. Agnes had wished for someone like him from the beginning. And perhaps he had also somewhere deep in his heart always wished for someone like her.

Gru rocked from side to side, he had often done this with her when she could not sleep, listening to her heart-rending sobbing and held her in his arms. "Shhh, shhh…" he tried to calm her down and indeed – Agnes' weeping grew quieter and quieter the longer he whispered soothingly into her ear. "It's all right, Agnes. I'm here…"

After a while it was again very quiet around them. Agnes felt safe and sound in his arms, and just his arms. Gru kissed her on her forehead, pressed her tenderly into a hug and cradling her. She whimpered only occasionally, rubbing her little face into his shirt. It must have been hours, as he just stood there while the little girl in his arms slowly fell asleep.

He honestly hadn't had much experience yet with them, after all it was the first time in years he was actually in the position of a potential parent and father, also someone giving comfort to a scared little girl. And not some little girl. His little girl.

He walked up and down the room, down the hallways, not saying a word, but trying his best to sooth her to coax her back into a slumber. It worked, apparently, because the whimpering and crying stopped and with an exhausted sigh, Gru smiled warmly at the blackhaired girl in his arms. She had her eyes closed, nibbling on her little thumb, her face still swollen and red from tears and her body still slightly stirring, but resting comfortably.

After a while, Gru put her back down on her bed, nestling her in the matress and playing her weary head on the pillow, but before he could cover her with the duvet, he felt a tiny hand grabbing for his fingers.
"Gru…?"
Raising his eyebrows in mild surprise over her being awake after all, he whispered a soft: "Yes?"
"Can…Can I sleep with you in your bed?"

Opening his mouth, Gru took in a long breath, about to respond. This was exactly what he hadn't expected – or more – what he tried to avoid.
"But sweetheart, I'm havin' a whole lot to du tomorrow, and I need all dhe rest I can get - I dun't think it wuld be a good idea if –"
"Please?" Agnes clasped her hands together in a pleading look. "I promise, I'm going to be quiet and fall asleep instantly!"
Gru looked back at her.
"Pretty Please…?" she started whispering, her lower lip popping out to give her the "glance".
Oh, how he hated it if she gave him the "glance".

It was probably his very only weakness – whenever Agnes wasn't getting what she wanted or was looking for comfort and understanding, she pursed her lips, blinked at him with her big brown eyes and fiddled around with her fingers.

And it was working all the time.
With a sigh, Gru picked her up to hold her in his arms, collecting her pillow and put the duvet neatly over the mattress.
"Fine…Fine…but yu gotta promise me yu'll fall asleep right away, okay?"
She nodded rapidly, happily clutching to her father's shirt. But she started to stir in his arm when Gru turned around.

"Wait…!"
"Vhat is it…?" he asked, now slightly annoyed.
"Can Mister Fluffy come with us?"
Gru turned around, looking at the stuffed unicorn, sitting at the end of the bed where Kyle was usually resting. With big, empty eyes, it was staring at the father and his daughter.
"He would be lonely without me - you know?" she fiddled around with her fingers again, but Gru grabbed it before Agnes would get upset again over him leaving him alone in the room.

Gru was exhausted and actually wished to just fall asleep again until the sun was rising again, and through all of this, he hoped that Agnes wouldn't keep him up all the night.

Opening the door, he gently placed his daughter on the bed right next to him, pulling the duvet over her body, before he climbed up on the other side to join her, slipping beneath the blanket and closing his eyes while rolling to the side.

"A'right, Agnes. Pinky Promise yu'll fall asleep again, vithout whinin' or cryin' or laughin' or gigglin', sneezin', burpin', fartin' and vithout wakin' me up every ten minutes because I really, really need to get some rest?"
He held out his little finger, waiting for her to hook hers with his own. But she didn't.

"But – But I'm scared of falling asleep." She whispered. "Vhy?" Gru's expression melted back into a worried glance. "Because I'm scared of closing my eyes…and opening them again, just to see that my nightmare has come true."

Gru dropped his hand, looking back at his youngest. She was so scared that he'd leave her, and that she'd be alone for the rest of her live. He didn't know what they felt exactly when he gave them back to the orphanage – but he was pretty sure it has caused a kind of trauma she'd never forget – and never forgive.

"I don't want you to leave us, Gru. I don't want you to give us away again…I don't wanna be alone."
Gru gulped harshly. Agnes was crunching her face as new, fresh tears rolled down her face, sniffling and quickly moving close to him.
Instinctively, Gru opened his arms to wrap them around her, holding her close to his body.
"Agnes…honey, I promise yu – I promise yu vith all my heart; I'll be always dhere for yu. Always. And I'll never let yu go again."

A low whimper escaped her lips, and all her sobbing and crying declined once he spoke these words. It had been a strange feeling all along, holding somebody that wasn't even his very own close to his heart – hugging, giving kisses, soothing when she cried. It was an unknown feeling ever since his childhood, and now he was a father himself, and it all felt so natural. Like he was always aware of how parenthood worked.

God bless his fatherly instincts have kicked in soon enough to get so attached to them; For they had not only changed his life – they had changed him as well. For good.

"Gru?"
"Yes, Agnes…?"
She slightly scrambled out of his arms to look up at him. "I love you, Daddy. Soooo much."
She held out her arms to demonstrate the size with extended arms, and Gru smiled.
"I love yu too, Agnes…"
He leaned down to kiss her forehead tenderly; another thing that had been foreign, but now coming without hesitation. He stroke his hand gently over her cheek to brush her tears away.

"Will you protect me from these nightmares?"
"I will, keetten. I will…"
Agnes sighed happily, before her lids grew heavy, and just seconds later, she was gently snoring, all cuddled up next to him, covered by the duvet, safe and sound in the arms of her Daddy.
Daddy…
Gru stroked over his baby-girls head, lips lingering on her forehead, giving her small, comforting kisses.

"Daddy's here…Daddy will protect yu…"