A/N: Okay, so I wrote this ages ago. Like literal years ago. And it still looks pretty good to me, so I'm posting it! I love family fluff, so if you're like me, you'll probably enjoy this! Let me know what you think~!

He wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to do with her.

The little girl was sitting quietly on the floor of his kitchen, playing a game involving pebbles with her Axew. He still couldn't wrap his head around how he had ended up with her. Sure, he had been the one to find her, and he'd filled out all the proper paperwork that Alder had thrown at him and, officially as of this afternoon, she was his adoptive daughter, but it hadn't sunk in yet.

The girl glanced up at him, and he could have sworn that for a moment she had the same look of worry on her face. But when he blinked, she was smiling up at him and waving hello. He lifted his hand and waved back, though he couldn't return her smile just yet, and she quickly turned back to her little game.

It was crazy. Absolutely crazy that he was now a father to a five year old girl. That he had even agreed to take care of her. So what if she had been among a bunch of dragons when he found her? That didn't mean that he was the only one capable of taking care of her. There were plenty of kids that had been found living with Pokémon, and they all went into the foster care system like any other kids. He didn't have to be the one who adopted her.

He shook his head. No, he shouldn't have been the first choice, but now here they were. He had adopted her, and she was now his child. His daughter. He turned the words over in his head, thinking that if he repeated them long enough they might start sounding right. He looked at her while he repeated them, hoping that the association would click in his mind.

It didn't.

All he saw was a little stranger sitting on the floor playing with her Pokémon. He wondered if he could ever get used to the sight, if he would ever get used to being a father (at his age!). He'd given up on fatherhood a long time ago, choosing instead the path of Pokémon training. He didn't regret his decision, not one bit, but looking at the little girl (Iris, he reminded himself. Her name was Iris) he let his mind wander down that other path. Maybe there was a reason Alder had settled down with a family all those years ago. Hell, he even had a grandson now! Drayden was still skeptical of this whole situation, sure, but would it change in a few days? A few weeks?

Only time could tell, he guessed.

"Drayden?"

He blinked and realized that he had completely zoned out while thinking. Iris wasn't sitting on the floor anymore, but standing right in front of him, blinking her large russet colored eyes at him. He knelt down at her level without thinking and asked, "What's the matter, Iris?"

"He's hungry." She pointed to her Axew, who was chewing on one of the pebbles they'd been playing with. Her stomach made a gurgling noise and she gave him a sheepish smile. "I am too."

"Oh." He said, realizing that it had in fact been a while since she'd eaten. He straightened himself up and walked over to the kitchen, looking inside his drawers. "Okay then, what would you like to eat?"

"He likes fruit." Iris went over to her Pokémon and took the pebble out of his mouth, a careful motion that made Drayden think it might have been a common occurrence "I'll eat anything."

Okay, fruit. He had to have some of that somewhere. A quick search through his drawers produced no such luck though, only the healthy cereals and instant pasta that he ate. He went over to his refrigerator and managed to find an apple behind a bottle of milk. It was ripe but not spoiled, thankfully, and the little Axew gladly took it from his hand and began to eat it.

He sized Iris up, wondering what she might possibly like to eat. She stared right back up at him, blinking her large eyes up at him. Maybe a sandwich would be best, seeing as it was lunchtime. Or did she want something sweet? Maybe she wasn't one for sweets though. He didn't know what children liked to eat, so he figured the best way to find out would be to ask her.

"What, uh, are you in the mood for?" He asked, gesturing to the kitchen. "I'll try to make it as best as I can."

She tilted her head, thinking. She didn't seem used to being given a choice. Perhaps that was because, having lived with dragons for so long, she simply ate what the dragons ate.

"The nice lady at the office let me have pancakes this morning." Iris said, her eyes suddenly lighting up at the memory of her breakfast. "Can I have those again?"

"Of course." He said, although he wasn't exactly sure. He didn't know if he had the ingredients for that in the house, but he already said that he'd make them for her, and she so looked happy to hear that. He knew a couple recipes for pancakes at least, so maybe he'd be able to make some from scratch.

He looked through all of his drawers and managed to find a mix of pancake batter in the very back. He looked at the expiration date and was relieved to see that it was still good for a long while. "Iris, why don't you and Axew take a seat at the table while I make your lunch?" He asked, pointing at the hardwood table at the end of the kitchen.

Iris nodded and scooped up her Pokémon in her arms. "Come on, little buddy." She whispered to him. Axew paid her no mind and continued to eat his apple.

Drayden poured the mix into a bowl and added the amount of water that the box said to add. As he was mixing it together, he realized that he was going to have to go to the grocery store soon. What he had in the house was fine for an older single man, but it definitely wasn't enough for a man and his adopted daughter. Maybe he would take her with him later in the afternoon, let her pick out what she wanted to eat.

When the batter was done, he rummaged through his bottom drawers and found his skillet. He turned on his stove and poured some of the batter in, focusing on not ruining the food. It wasn't like he cooked often for others, after all. He managed to burn the first two pancakes pretty badly, but the next three came out more or less perfect. He stacked the unburned pancakes on a clean plate (thank goodness he'd done the dishes the night before) and placed them in front of the little girl, who smiled up at him sweetly.

"Thank you so much, Drayden!" She said. She reached her little hand to the middle of the table and pointed at the bottle of honey, hesitating before she grabbed it. "Can I use this on my pancakes?"

"Go ahead." He told her. That honey was usually for pouring into his tea, but since there wasn't any syrup specifically for pancakes in his house, he was willing to let her use it.

She poured a generous amount of honey over her pancakes, but was thoughtful enough to leave a decent amount left in the bottle. She spread it over the surface of her pancakes and immediately dug in with her fork. Drayden sat down across from her with his own plate of over-cooked pancakes and watched as she ate. A smile come to his face as she eat. She probably got enough food before she came to him, she wasn't at all malnourished and dragons always took care of their young. But there was something about the way she was eating that made him think that she treasured every mouthful she got.

"The nice office lady said that you're a dragon gym leader." Iris said, already halfway done with her food. "Is that true?"

Drayden nodded. "Yes it is."

She smiled. "That's so cool. I always thought humans were too afraid of dragons to raise them."

"I've never been afraid of dragons, actually." He said, glancing over to her Axew and seeing that he had just finished the apple, core and all. The little dragon walked over to her and climbed up into her voluminous hair before settling down for a nap.

Iris giggled and reached up to pet him. "Neither have I. I used to think it was silly when people ran away from the dragons who took care of me."

An idea popped into his head. It was almost ridiculous, considering her age, but he couldn't think of a good reason not to say it out loud. He smiled at her as he said, "Perhaps you could become my apprentice and take over my gym someday."

She her hands stilled and she stopped chewing the food in her mouth. Her eyes widened as she looked up at him and he wondered if maybe he should have kept his idea to himself, when she swallowed her mouthful and grinned wildly at him. "Do you really mean it, Drayden? I'd love to!"

For some reason, he was relieved to hear this. He smiled back and nodded. "That's nice to hear."

She looked up at her Pokémon and started petting him again. "Do you hear that, Axew? Someday we're going to take over a gym someday! We're going to be cool just like Drayden is!"

The little pokemon stirred slightly in his sleep before settling back down and snoring softly. Iris giggled and turned back to her plate.

Drayden leaned back while Iris continued eating, thinking about what he'd just done. He'd essentially promised her an apprenticeship and future gym leader position. She was going to have to train with him almost every day, learn the basics of how to be a gym leader, and they would have to speak to Alder in the near future. Of course there was going to be more paperwork to fill out, to make it all official. It was even more of a commitment than he'd already put himself in.

And yet he found himself looking forward to it. He wanted to teach her how to properly raise dragons, and be there when her Axew evolved into Fraxure, and help guide her when she captured other Pokémon. He was genuinely looking forward to handing over the title he'd worked so hard to achieve, because right now, watching her excited face as she licked the honey off the tines of her fork, it felt like it was going to be an interesting journey, making her into a strong Pokemon trainer.

He was starting to think that maybe it was going to be alright, having a daughter.