A/N: Here's Garroth adjusting to parenthood for some filler cuteness.

Warnings: None

Garroth didn't own a small house, but it wasn't big by any means. There was enough room for his bed, a small table, and a chair, but even that left little walking room. However, as it was only him that lived there, he didn't mind the lack of space. As a guard, he was rarely home anyway.

But now that he had suddenly been left in charge of a baby, as he walked into his house, it hit him just how little room he actually had. Where would the baby even sleep? His bed was big enough for the two of them, but he feared the child might fall off during the night and hurt himself.

He sat on the bed and laid the infant beside him, watching him silently as he tilted his head back and looked up at the ceiling with his wide brown eyes. If Garroth had anything to be thankful for, he thought, it was that the baby seemed like a quiet one. He hadn't cried once since he had been brought back to Phoenix Drop and fed.

With a heavy sigh, Garroth leaned back on the other side of the bed, resting on his side to observe the baby.

What had happened to the boy's parents? The campsite had been abandoned for several days when he happened across it. That meant the child had been left there alone for those days, starving and freezing. Surely his parents hadn't abandoned him there to die. At least Garroth hoped they hadn't.

A knock at the door made him jump and he glanced at the baby for a moment before standing and going to the door. He was a bit surprised to see a short man in a guard uniform standing there, a smile on his face.

"Dale? What are you doing here?" he asked. Dale seemed to be too busy peering around him to look directly at Garroth.

"I wanted to see the kid! So you're a father now, aye?" The other guard very nearly pushed past him to come inside, Garroth backing away in shock to let him in.

"No, I'm only keeping him temporarily. He doesn't even have a name." As he closed the door, he turned to find Dale already kneeling by the bed and talking to the baby in babbling nonsense.

"Well, that means we have to come up with a name for him then," Dale looked back over his shoulder at him. Garroth raised an eyebrow.

"He isn't ours. We shouldn't name him. They'll find his parents anyway." Or he hoped they would. If they didn't, he didn't know what might happen to the child. Dale picked the baby up and continued talking to him.

"Say, where is he going to sleep? You don't have a crib for him," he bounced the boy in his arms, causing him to giggle. Garroth went over to sit in the chair by the table, watching them cautiously

"I don't know yet..."

"I could make a crib for him. It wouldn't be that hard. But you might want to try to make some more room. Babies grow fast, you know. Wait until he's walking!"

Garroth sighed heavily. Dale didn't seem to understand he wouldn't be keeping the boy forever. "I would appreciate that. I don't want him to fall off the bed."

Dale sat the baby back on the bed and turned to the door. "I'll get started on it now. I'll try to finish it by tomorrow. I'll see you later, Garroth." Garroth waved at him as the door shut, then got up and went to hold the child again, who let out a happy sound and held onto his shirt.

Perhaps he would pick a name for him...

It shouldn't have ever crossed him mind that caring for the baby would be easy. It was early in the morning, before the sky had even began to lighten, when the boy started crying. Having not been accustomed to being woken up like this, Garroth nearly fell off the bed in alarm.

Once he figured out what the noise was, he picked the child up and rocked him, shushing him repeatedly to no avail. With a sigh of frustration, he prepared a bottle and tried to feed him, but the crying continued and the baby showed no interest in eating.

He knew from the beginning he would have to change the baby's diaper at some point, but he had tried to put it off for as long as possible which, in retrospect, hadn't been the best idea. It also didn't help he actually didn't know how to change a diaper.

After a good half hour of fumbling around and trying to figure it out, he finally pinned a clean diaper around the child's waist and the crying almost immediately stopped. The boy looked up at him curiously before sticking his thumb in his mouth and cooing.

Garroth sighed in relief and sat back in the chair, cradling the baby against his chest. Maybe now he would take his bottle. He held the tip of the bottle up to the boy's mouth and watched contently as he took it and suckled. He had only drank half of the milk before he stopped and dozed off in Garroth's arms.

The man put him back on the bed and pulled the blanket up over him, careful not to disturb him into waking up again. Instead of getting back into bed beside him, Garroth decided to stay up and clean. If Dale was going to build a crib, he would need a place to put it.

Dale delivered on his promise. He came over just after the sun had come up, bringing with him a wooden crib.

"Good morning, Garroth," he greeted. "Are you alright? You look tired." Garroth let out an irritated huff and turned away to pick up the baby, who was looking at Dale and letting out squeals.

"He woke up and started crying last night. I didn't go back to sleep. I haven't had the chance since he's awake now." Dale moved the crib in and put it in the place Garroth had made for it. Taking a pillow and blanket from the bed, he quickly set it up and backed away looking proud of himself.

"Well, maybe he'll sleep now that he has his own bed!" he smiled. Garroth walked over and put the boy into the crib, pulling the blanket over him, then straightened to look at him. The baby didn't seem impressed, but he didn't look upset either and that was good enough for him.

"I'll have to find a babysitter some time. If it continues like this, I won't have any energy to work..." He leaned on the side of the crib. Dale then glanced at the floor, seeming distracted.

"About that, Garroth... Red wants you to take a few months off." Garroth tightened his grip on the crib and turned to face the other guard suddenly.

"What?! Why? I can still work!"

"He thinks you should take a while off to adjust to caring for the kid! He isn't taking you off completely. It's just a few months," Dale explained quickly as he took a step back, unsure what the man might do.

"What am I meant to do then? Phoenix Drop needs as many guards as possible," Garroth argued. The baby let out a whine from the crib, obviously frightened from the shouting.

"We'll be fine. Just spend some time with the boy, alright? The chances of us finding his parents are little to none; he's not that old, he needs someone to look after him. You can't do that if you're out working."

Garroth was still angry about it even if he couldn't argue. He knew Dale was right. But all he ever did was work; the idea of not doing that seemed unthinkable. All for a baby that wasn't even his.

Said baby had begun to cry. Feeling his anger deflate at the sound, Garroth turned and picked the child up to begin rocking him slowly.

"...I can come over and help when I can. I don't mind... Have you thought of a name for him yet?" Dale sighed eventually. Garroth hesitated as he ran through the names he had come up with during the night before settling on the one that had been his favorite.

"Zenix."