It was such a quiet night. A beautiful, warm, quiet night.

Kaneki was lying awake on his bed staring at the ceiling, enjoying the silence. The past seven months were crazy for him and his family. After his rescue and his awakening from his coma, he has been working like crazy so he could provide a shelter for his wife and unborn child.

After the creation of the United Front and his collaboration with TSC, everything was in place. Kimi found them a cute little apartment, next to her's and Nishiki. Tsukiyama wasn't ok with that. He insisted that he could find a better apartment for his King but Kaneki refused politely. He fell in love with that apartment from the moment he saw it. It was so bright, so spacious and he could picture his family grow in there. So he took it. And everything was better than he ever could imagine. Well, except from Tsukiyama's whining.

Touka's laughter was filling every corner and her warmth was spread all over the place. He was watching her stomach grow day by day without being afraid that someone will take them away from him. Ok, that was a lie. Even if he didn't have any reason to be scared anymore that he will lose them, now more than ever he was terrified.

Life wasn't good with him. Always giving him glimpses of happiness before the darkness shallowed him up again and this time he wouldn't be able to come back. If someone took Touka from him...

Kaneki sat up on his bed. He turned his head to watch her sleeping form next to him. The street lights were giving her skin a warm, red saturation that made his heart ache. She was so beautiful. So kind, so gentle. And after many months, he could see her in light. No more dirty underground for her. No more supressed needs and no more pain for her. He caressed her face gently. Even though he had thank her so many times, he knew a lifetime wasn't enough to thank her enough.

She was his lighthouse when the darkness was too much to bear. She woke him up in more ways than he could even think of. She was there for him, when everyone else in his memory seemed to fade away. And she would stay there. His ring, staying well protected around her ring finger, it was his reminder of that, even if the world dissappeared in the next moment, she would stay by his side as her choice. She chose him over and over again and a tear slipped from his eyes.

He wasn't enough for her. He knew that. He was a broken toy that even after all the love and the affection she has given him, he could still feel some pieces missing. He was trying so hard, oh so hard, to be enough for her.

He felt her palm against his stomach pushing him down. The butterflies inside him errupted. That was happening everytime she was reaching for him even after all this time, and he was happy that his feelings for her were still staying strong.

"Stop overthinking and just sleep" she whispered with her voice deep, still in a middle awaken state. He caressed her palm with his fingers before bringing her hand on his mouth, letting a light kiss there and earning a low moan from her. He felt the familiar knot tying on his stomach when...

A loud cry caused both of them to open their eyes widely. Even seven months after her birth, their daughter's cry was enough to wake them up instantly. Touka tried to uncover herself from ther warm blanket but it was Kaneki's turn to stop her from getting up.

"Stay there. I will go" he said and gave her a loving forehead kiss and he walked to his daughter's room. He opened the door to see his little angel on her back, with her eyes swollen from all the crying and her lips were curling to the cutest little pout he had ever seen. "What's wrong Ichika? Did you see a nightmare?" He tried to reach for her but stopped midway. Her eyes were open now, looking at him when she said it.

"D...dada!" She yelled with her lips trembling and spreaded her tiny hands towards him. But he was frozen. He had lost his words of comfort and to be honest, he had lost himself in that specific moment.

Touka was telling her their names in order for her to repeat them but it was pointless. She didn't seem able to call them "mom" and "dad".

"Maybe she wasnt' ready yet." Hinami was always trying to cheer them up when both of them were too dissappointed that they haven't heard a single word from her. Of course, her giggling and laughing were the best sounds in the whole world but both of them were dying to hear her calling them. And now...

Kaneki felt his eyes tearing up.

His heart errupted and his world dissappeared. Hearing his daughter calling him "dad"... Her first word that she ever spoke in this cruel world was his name. His. Not her mother's not anyone else's. His lost his vision and he fell on his knees. The voices in his head, long gone by now, couldn't help him stay sane right now. His tears stained the fluffy, white rug and he couldn't raise his eyes to the screaming baby inside the crib. He knew he needed to get up. To go and calm his daughter but his body was too paralyzed. He couldn't see, he couldn't move, he could't... And suddenly everything stopped. The time, the cries, himself. He felt a soft palm wrapped around his wrist pulling him up on his feet. His personal life saviour. His light. Touka's puffed eyes were looking at him burning in jealousy.

"Of course she said your name first. You do that to every woman around you, don't you?" Kaneki looked at her with gratitude. Her one arm was wrapped around Ichika's tiny body, supporting her as she was laying at her mother's shoulder and the other was slowly letting his wrist for him to support his own weight.

"You...you heard...?" His voice was barely a whisper and Touka rolled her eyes to him.

"Of course I did. I am the one staying with her all day and your name was her first word. But what should I expect?" Ayato was enjoying making Touka jealous with how many women had fall for her husband's charm, even now, at his new job there were women that were batting their eyelashes every time he entered in a room. Touka didn't like that. The last time she discovered a piece of paper with a phone number and a little heart drawn on it in one of his pockets that he was unaware of that it was there and Ayato pushed her a bit further, he ended up with a black eye for a week. As for him? Her silent treatment was the worst torture for him. Seeing her every day without returning him a word, without hearing her laugh and seeing her smile, without her warm arms wrapped around him at night... Touka was cruel with him. Kaneki opened him mouth to justify his daughter and himself but Touka stopped him with a wave. "Save it".

"But Touka-chan..." Ichika whimper and both of them turn to look at her.

"Well, it's fine. I can always have hope for the second one" Kaneki's eyes grew wider. He saw his wife putting their asleep daughter in her crib and his eyes focused on her flat stomach. Could it be? He felt a knot in his throat making his voice even weaker.

"Kirishima-san...?" he whispered, his eyes still fixated on her belly.

"Its Kaneki-san for you, Ken". She replied casually supressing a little laughter while she was walking away from him and into the kitchen,

"Oi, Touka wait!" He shout and ran after her.