Drabble. Angst and fluff, I think.

"Look up at the moon, Nina." Niles directed his baby girl's face towards the glowing orb that hung in the sky. He liked the feel of her head in his hand. The silk of her fine, white hair was something he never tired of stroking.

She looked at the moon with him for a moment, before turning away and burying her face in his chest.

He chuckled softly and encircled her small, warm form with his arm, protecting her from the crisp autumn breeze that caressed his tan cheek and toyed with his silver hair. He liked to think that he was protecting her, and that she...needed him.

"You don't care that your mother is a hero and a princess of two kingdoms, right?" he asked her, looking up at the moon. "It doesn't bother you that your dad is nothing but a thief from the slums who got lucky, hmm?"

Did he care?

Normally he could push those thoughts away, but here, under the moon that had seen his whole life, he had to look himself in the face. He had a daughter now. This small person depended on him for her future. Did he have it in him to be someone she could lean on and look to? Could he be a hero for his little girl?

Her breathing was deep and regular now. He loved when she fell asleep on him. It meant she felt safe with him. It was an innocent trust that he couldn't remember possessing himself. He didn't think he'd ever spent a night that wasn't haunted with worries. Trying to find a position that didn't leave him vulnerable. Trying to gauge whether any of his companions would stab him or leave him while he slept. Trying to convince himself that he didn't care if they did.

Leo had been his hero. The tome-wielder had given the thief a second chance. The prince had said there was value in a one-eyed man whose own parents hadn't wanted him. That was the first good memory that Niles had had.

It had been uphill from there for the boy from the slums, but not even his marriage to Kamui had quite healed the old hurts that had begun when he'd woken up alone. He hadn't wanted a hero then. He'd wanted someone to hold him while he cried and promise him that it was all a misunderstanding and that he hadn't really been unwanted and left behind.

He bent his head until his lips met Nina's hair. "Hey, Nina," he murmured gently, "I may not be the hero your mother is, but I promise that I'll always be here for you. I will never ever ever abandon you. No matter what." His voice dropped to whisper as he told her what he'd never heard from his own parents. "I love you."

She stirred a little in his arms and sighed. He smiled. Somehow the old wounds didn't throb quite as intensely now, and he turned to go back inside with one final glance at the moon.

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it. If you would leave a review, I would be most appreciative. :)