Daddy's Little Girl
"Can you believe the nerve of him, Father?!" Cynthia seethed, slamming her fists on the table in anger, "Me! Cynthia! Up and coming shining hero of justice being useless?!"
Gaius nodded, humming in half hearted agreement, as he unwraps a piece of candy, "Yup, sounds like a real creep."
"Father! Are you listening to me?" Cynthia pouted; arms crossed and face scrunched, "Don't you care that your daughter is accused of being weak and useless?"
Sighing, Gaius leans over the table and pops a piece of lemon candy in her mouth, "I'm listening sweetie. Look, I'm sure Laurent doesn't mean it like that…sure he's a real nag, but he's not a bad guy." He reaches over and ruffles his daughters orange locks playfully.
Cynthia rolls the candy around in her mouth in frustration, "I don't get him at all! Why is he always on my case! I mean Kjelle and Owain charges into battle too, so why doesn't he ever go bother them about it!"
Leaning back in his seat, Gaius turns his attention towards his still untouched slice of fig cake his wife had prepared for them, "Who knows, have you ever tried asking him?" picking up his fork, he quickly digs into his cake.
"Well…no…"
Gaius glances at his daughter with an arched brow, "And why not? If it bothers you so much, maybe you should talk to him about it." He looks back down to his cake while Cynthia silently considers his advice.
"Hey."
Cynthia glances up at Gaius curiously, still silently rolling the lemon drop around in her mouth.
"You gonna finish that?" he points at her helping of cake with his fork.
Rolling her eyes, Cynthia pushes her plate towards the orange haired man.
Grinning like a mad man, Gaius pulls the plate closer towards himself; he was definitely going to show Sumia his appreciation later tonight.
He should have paid more attention. The signs were all there, and now he was going to lose his little girl.
"Oh darling, must you look like a pack of wild animals ate your entire stash of sweets? This is good news, they look so happy together!" Sumia tuts, as they watched Laurent and Cynthia head towards the meeting tent to speak with Robin and Chrom.
"But…my little apple dumpling…" if possible, his shoulders sagged even further. Smiling sweetly, Sumia gently places her hand on his arm comfortingly. "Laurent is a good man; he'll take good care of our little girl."
"But that's not the same! I want to take care of my sweet little angel!" he complained. He freezes as he sees Laurent shyly lace his fingers with Cynthia's, causing said falcon knight to blush.
He was not losing his baby girl to some four eyed bookworm, no way in hell.
"Gaius!" Sumia tugs him back with wide-eyes, "No! I won't allow you to get in the way of true love!"
Gaius sputters indignantly, "What?! What true love! No I refuse to see this as true love. I'm going to stop them right now; no one is marrying my honey bee as long as I'm still kicking." He tries to pry Sumia's fingers from his arm, "Honey, I love you, but I really need you to let go right now!"
"No! I won't- Oh! Lon'qu, Cordelia! Help me stop Gaius from ruining the miracle of love!"
Lon'qu and Cordelia who had happened to be passing by, paused to stare at the pair, Gaius trying his hardest to walk in the direction of the meeting tent and Sumia trying to pull him in the opposite direction.
"Sumia…what are you two doing?" Cordelia inquired slowly as Lon'qu turned away from the scene and started to head back to their tent.
"Cordelia help! He's trying to ruin Cynthia's chance of a happily ever after!" Sumia cried pitifully as she turned to her long time friend with watery eyes.
Lon'qu stopped in his tracks and turned curiously back towards the pair, while Cordelia looked at Sumia in disbelief, "I-what?"
"Laurent had proposed to Cynthia and they were hoping to get married soon before we march to the next location." Sumia explained, still trying to prevent her husband from barging into the tent. At the word 'married', however, caused Gaius to double his efforts of escaping his wife's iron grip.
"Oh! Well congratulations are an order, I suppose, you will have a wonderful son-in-law." Cordelia offered a kind smile to the pair and motioned for her husband to do so as well.
"No! I will not give my blessings! I refuse!"
Lon'qu scoffed, shooting an annoyed glare at the struggling man, "A father must eventually learn to let go of their daughter, you look like a fool."
Gaius stops struggling and instead returns the glare at the swordsman, "Oh really? So if that flirt Inigo decides to pop a ring on Severa's hand, you would be all good with that Scowly?"
Lon'qu clenches his fist in anger, his glare getting more heated as he coolly replies, "Inigo is not getting married to Severa." He angrily turns away and storms to his tent that he shares with his wife, pushing people aside if they walked to closely to him.
"Oh dear…Lon'qu! Wait!" Cordelia nods apologetically to the pair before chasing after him.
"Ha! See, not so easy is it! Baby, let go! I need to-"
"Enough!"
Gaius and Sumia froze at the sight of an angry Severa looming in front of them, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently.
"Oh, Severa…didn't see you there." Gaius mumbled, shoulders returning to its usual relaxed slouch.
"Hmph! I would you appreciate it if you stop causing a scene in the middle of camp." The brunette coldly glared at the pair.
Nodding furiously, Sumia looped her arm around her husband's, "We're really sorry! Come, Gaius. Let's wait for Cynthia back at her tent." Leading Gaius away, she quickly tipped her head politely towards Severa.
"And, you daft candy muncher, don't tell daddy such weird things! I hate that stupid philanderer!" Severa yelled after the retreating pair, red in the face, "Don't stick your nose in Cynthia's love life or I'll never forgive you!"
Pouting, Gaius scuffs his boot against the ground; "Sumia, you can't possibly agree to this m-m-ma-" His face scrunches up his face with a grimace, choking on the word 'marriage'.
Sumia sighs, running a hand through Gaius' orange locks lovingly, "Dear, Cynthia is only a few years younger than us, she can make her own decisions without us fretting over her. I really wish you'd be happy for her, I'm sure that's all that she wants."
Shifting in his seat on Cynthia's bedroll, Gaius wraps his arm around his wife, frown still marring his features. "Yeah, well, I don't like this. She maybe of age, she's still my baby girl." He presses his cheek against the top of Sumia's head, "You know…I think she takes after my good looks."
Giggling, Sumia gently nudges his side playfully, "She only has your hair color!"
"Nope." He pops the 'p' with the smack of his lips as he gives Sumia a lopsided grin, "She gets everything from me. She's only got your eyes, Sugar."
Pausing, he turns his attention towards the tent entrance, "I suppose…it can't be helped that she turned out to be such a knock out…after all…she's my-" sniffling, Gaius pulls out his favourite lollipop from his hidden pocket sewn to his cloak.
"Oh Gaius…" Sumia gently touches his cheek.
"Father?! Why are you crying?!" The pair looked up to see a surprised Cynthia and an uncomfortable looking Laurent hovering behind her.
"C-Cynthia!" Sumia looked nervously at her daughter, "Your father is…well he's-"
"Happy. And proud of you." Gaius takes the lollipop out of his mouth and gives Cynthia a small smile, his free hand wiping away stray tears off his face. "It's just too bad my honey bee doesn't need her father to watch out for her anymore."
Silence hung heavily in the air, Cynthia steps closer to her parents, lips quivering.
"N-no, Father, that's not true! This honey bee still needs her Father!" Kneeling in front of Gaius and Sumia, she takes their hand in hers, "You said it yourself! Even if you're not really my parents, it was okay for me to still think of you two as them. Even when the Cynthia of this time is born, I'm still your daughter. I'll always need you!"
Sumia tearfully pulls Cynthia into her arms, while Gaius gently tightens his hold on Cynthia's hand. "That's right," he turns to lock eyes with Laurent, "If you ever decided to get a divorce, you're always welcome to come home to us."
Laurent, embarrassed, pulls his hat lower. Sumia gives Gaius a disapproving glance, while Cynthia simply smiles up at him, "Don't worry, Laurent won't give me a reason to do so!"
Smiling Gaius playfully tugs at her pigtail, "Be happy honey bee."
"Father, I think I'm in love."
Part 1 of 3!