So, I've decided to continue this a little bit. Just because I never got over this idea.

Consciousness returned to Isran rather slowly. He could feel minutes upon minutes dragging along, drawing him further into the day at the speed of molasses on the back of a snail. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes until he registered the suspicious weight held securely in his arms. It took him a solid minute for him to blearily realize there was a random child in his arms, and it was only after he loudly cursed that he remembered that yesterday he'd adopted a random orc kid because he couldn't get his shit together. The random orc kid in question, Saar, stirred and lifted his head, looking around in a sleepy haze. Isran felt Saar's left arm tense, and blew out an impressed breath. Saar had just woken up and was looking around to make sure there was no threat. Smart kid. He had a feeling he and Saar would have a lot in common, including the fact that they were apparently both left-handed.

"Go back to sleep, kid. Just me."

Saar stared at him dazedly for a long moment before letting his face fall back on Isran's chest, back to sleep in an instant. Despite Saar's little tusk stabbing into his right nipple, the wave of fatherly affection that washed over him was so startling it was enough to mentally bowl him over. Hot damn, he'd gotten attached to Saar really fast. Was this what is was like to be a parent? Sweet mother of Stendarr, he was a parent. An honest to Gods parent. The reality of that hit him like a horse-drawn carriage, and one million thoughts raced through his head at the speed of a dragon soaring through the sky. And yet, the first thought on his mind and no doubt the loudest was, 'I don't regret it at all'. He'd never considered himself the nurturing sort, and he'd expressed this to Saar already, but the kid already liked him well enough. And he liked the kid too. No, that wasn't right. With a jolt, Isran realized the feeling in his chest was love. Holy shit. He loved something. He loved someone.

Oh gods, what the fuck happened to him? Yesterday he was a hardened, callous motherfucker and here he was, swooning over his son.

His son.

HIS SON!

What in the name of Oblivion had happened to him? Had Mara slapped him with the power of parental love? Oh Gods, she probably had. The Orphanage was suspiciously close to the Temple of Mara. Saar shifted in Isran's arms, curling further towards him. He wriggled a bit and lifted his head up before laying it back down on Isran's shoulder, tucking his squashed nose into the junction between Isran's neck and shoulder, sighing contentedly. Isran froze and nearly choked on his own spit. Did that just happen? Did that really just happen? 'Okay, you know what? Thank you, Mara, but also fuck you.' Isran thought, slowly reaching over and stroking Saar's wiry black hair. Fuck, Saar was cute. Why did he think Saar was cute!? Why did he think anything was cute!? Saar reached up and wrapped an arm around Isran's left shoulder, and from that moment onwards Isran knew that if anyone so much as poked Saar with an ounce of ill-intent, he'd kill everyone in the room and then himself. Why? Because fuck it. Fuck it all, fuck it all into the depths of Oblivion. This was his fucking son now, and the only person allowed to antagonize his son was him.

With that vow on his mind, Isran closed his eyes, continuing to stroke Saar's hair. He stayed like that for what felt like hours until there was a knock on his door.

Instantly irritated by the interruption of his downtime, Isran could hardly keep the growl out of his voice as he called softly, "Come in."

The door cracked open and the voice of the Argonian Innkeeper called, "Are you decent?"

"Yeah."

She opened the door fully and her reptilian mouth curled into a grin at the sight of Saar held securely in Isran's arm.

"Now that's a sight you don't see in Riften often. A half-decent parent." She crooned as she shifted her weight onto one leg.

"Thanks, I think…" Isran trailed off, patting Saar's back absent-mindedly. "What do you want?"

"There's an Orc and a Breton downstairs, saying they know you."

Oh, fuck. Celann and Durak. No doubt they'd swung by to make sure he wasn't dead since he hadn't returned to the Fort the previous night, like he typically did. If anything, he was pretty sure they were expecting him to have gotten drunk off his ass and have spent the night in Riften, and were simply here to drag his hungover ass home. Or perhaps they thought he might've chased after some vampires and had come by the Inn to ask if the Innkeeper had heard anything about a very short and markedly pissed off Redguard man tearing off towards a couple mildly annoyed humanoids. Boy, were they going to be in for a surprise. The Argonian Innkeeper (Keerava? Was that it?) looked at him expectantly and with a jolt he realized she was waiting for a response.

"Uh, yeah. I know 'em. That should be Celann and Durak."

Keerava or whatever her name was nodded, her tail swaying. "Okay, good. That's the names they gave me. I'll send them up."

"Thanks."

He laid stiffly in bed. Upon Celann and Durak entering the room, he held Saar a little tighter. If they said what he was hoping they wouldn't, he'd fucking fight them. Celann immediately looked at Saar and slowly looked back up at Isran, stiff as a board and white as a sheet. He looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"What," Durak looked like Malacath himself had smote his family, "the fuck is that?"

"A child, Durak. What, never seen one before? I thought you have like, four wives. Oh, wait. Had." Isran snarked in response, daring Durak to say a word with his eyes.

Durak looked mildly affronted and went to retort, but fell silent as Celann held his hands up to his chest and breathed incredulously, "What did you do!?"

"I adopted a kid," Isran pulled up his chin and stared fixedly into Celann's eyes.

"Who the fuck are you, and what in the name of Malacath did you do with the Isran I know?" Durak demanded and crossed his arms tightly, making it obvious he wanted an explanation for Isran's sudden burst of impulsiveness.

Celann, obviously not as patient as Durak, threw his arms down and slammed his palm on the nearby dresser. "You had one job, man! I sent you to the Orphanage to see if there were any older kids who'd need a place to go when they came of age, not to adopt some random kid! Dammit! How are you going to take care of him!? You are the least fatherly person I know! This was a-!"

"-Celann, if you tell me this was a mistake I'm going to shove my foot so far up your ass that your large intestine becomes your fucking trachea!" Isran snapped savagely and held Saar protectively towards himself, his eyes intense and unwavering on his decision.

And then Saar spoke, his voice a little muffled and certainly sleepy, "Damn, Isran. Creative."

Isran let out a rather undignified snort and squeezed Saar's shoulder. "Did I wake you up?"

"Mostly it was all the cursing between all of you. What've I missed?"

"They think I'm insane because I adopted you."

"Well, they aren't wrong."

"How so?"

"I'm the ugly orc kid that hates everyone."

"And I'm the angry Redguard dude who also hates everyone. What's your point? And no, you're not ugly. I think you're very handsome."

Saar stared up at him with wide-eyes for a long minute, a thoughtful frown on his face before he shook his head and laid his head back down. Seemed he had no proper response to that. With a frown, Isran realized Saar probably didn't believe him. Damn, first thing he had to do was to help Saar be a little more self-confident. Self-confidence, or feigned self-confidence was key; if you seemed put together, no one fucked with you.

"No, seriously, what happened to Isran? What've you done with him?" Previous frustration forgotten, Celann held his cheeks with either hand, staring at Isran in a state of utter disbelief.

"I'm a dad now and neither of you can stop me." Isran said resolutely. "That's all there is to it. Either you like it or you don't, I don't care. But nothing you say or do will ever make me regret this, much less take him back. If I ever do that, may the Gods strike me down where I stand."

"Okay, but why. Why did you do this?" Celann asked, leaning forward.

One word was enough to make what little color was left in Celann's face to drain away.

"Grelod."

Saar stiffened.

"Isn't she the previous caretaker of the orphans in Honorhall?" Durak looked between Celann and Isran, confused.

Durak's words ignored, Celann breathed, "Good Gods, is he one of her kids?"

"The last one who hadn't been adopted yet. No one wanted him because apparently he was too ugly. As if! He's very handsome to me. By the way, thanks for telling me she was dead. Oh, hold on. You didn't."

"Sorry about that." The ghostly look on Celann's face didn't fade. "She died three years ago. You mean to tell me that no one has adopted him?"

"Not one. Constance told me that people would tell him he was too ugly to his face."

"I don't know what Grelod's significance is here, but people would tell him that? To his face?" Durak looked horrified.

"Yeah." Saar said in a small voice, making Isran's heart ache just a little.

"I'll fucking kill them," Durak growled, trembling in barely suppressed rage. "Point me to them, kid, and I'll fuck them up."

"Not now," Isran sighed. "I think we should get back to the Fort and show Saar his new home first."

"That's a good idea." Celann nodded. "Let's go, Durak. We can beat up assholes later. Isran, we'll wait for you downstairs."

Isran nodded, patting Saar's back. "All your stuff is in your knapsack over there, right?"

"Yeah." Saar sat up, stretching his back and staring at the door in wonder.

"What're you looking at?"

"Holy shit…" Saar breathed. "I have a squad of dads now."

Isran choked back a laugh. Stoic. He was supposed to be stoic. He laughed anyway.

"Don't worry though, you're my favorite." Saar looked up at Isran, a huge, crooked grin on his face.

Since he was only in the presence of his son (his heart fluttered warmly at the word), he matched the smile, ruffling Saar's hair.

"Ready to go home?"

The widening grin he received in response was enough of an answer for him. He pointedly ignored Celann and Durak's stunned glances as he walked all the way back to Fort Dawnguard with Saar's hand clasped securely in his.

"There's the canyon up ahead," Durak pointed to the seemingly solid rocky outcrop.

Saar quirked an eyebrow and peered at the rocks. "I don't see anything."

"Good. You aren't supposed to. First, look at this." Celann pointed to the Dawnguard symbol Isran had carved into a nearby tree. "If and when you see this, you're standing right in front of the canyon."

Isran took Saar by the shoulders and steered him towards the entrance to the cave that led into the canyon. Saar blew out a surprised whistle, huffing a shocked laugh.

"That's really well hidden."

"It's meant to be. Your dad's super paranoid, so he chose the most inconspicuous place to live." Celann explained briefly.

"I'm living in a cave?"

"Nah. We gotta go to the canyon; where we live is at the end of it. It's a little run down, but we've patched all the holes in the ceiling and walls. The only thing that needs cleaning is the inside. Don't worry though; there's no vermin in there. Isran makes sure there isn't obsessively." Durak nudged Celann, sharing a laugh at Isran's expense.

"Am I going to have to help clean up?" Saar asked, ducking his head on his way into the cave.

"Yeah, but it isn't difficult. Mostly, it's trying to fix the cracks and gouges in the stone and moving rubble and broken crap behind the Fort until we can either get a pyromancer to destroy it or figure out where else to put it. Nothing too bad, and we're not gonna make you work past your limit. Either way, you'll get the easy jobs, since you're a kid." Isran reassured Saar, knowing the kid had been thinking about the back-breaking labor Grelod had more than likely make him do.

"Sounds good, actually."

"Good. Any questions?"

"What're your rules?"

"...I'll just make a list or something. I can't be bothered with thinking of everything on the spot." At Saar's apprehensive glance, Isran hastily included, "Not to say there's going to be a lot of rules; there won't be. I just don't want to list stuff randomly and forget something important, yeah?"

Saar breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. "Yeah. Is that the end of the cave?" He pointed ahead at the light.

"Yep. We'll be in the canyon in a second, and after a few more minutes of walking you'll see the Fort. I think you'll like the canyon; it's pretty. You're welcome to roam all around the canyon as long as you come back to the fort by twilight. Don't leave the canyon unless I say you can, though. I don't want you getting hurt, got it?"

"That's fair. Got it."

Saar looked at the pond and the water gushing out of the glaciers above as they passed, his mouth agape. "Where does all that water go? The water that's falling into the pond." Saar pointed.

"I used to wonder that myself. Turns out that underneath the ice over there," Isran gestured towards the floating ice in the pond, "there's an underwater cave that the water travels through. It runs up the mountain and it eventually falls back down again. An endless cycle."

"Can I mess around in the pond?"

"Yeah, just don't track mud all over the Fort. And be careful; while it's actually a little warm in the shallows, further over by the ice is freezing. And before you ask, yes, there's more sources of water. I stumbled across a huge cave that I call Dead Drop Falls. It doubles as a washing area and, further in, a training area. Don't be freaked out by the name; if you actually fall, you'll just land in the water. The worst you'll get is a nasty bump on the head from somehow managing to land on a rock, which is a feat that not even Durak has managed yet." Isran explained, his eyes flickering to Durak.

"Oh, shut up. Just because my balance is... not great, doesn't mean that I'm so stupid I'll crack open my skull on a damned rock. Give me some credit." Durak grumbled moodily, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"I give credit where it's due, and since I've seen you topple into the water more often than not, I don't think it's due just yet." Isran snarked, exchanging a look with Celann, who tried to stifle a giggle.

"What is this, verbally-abuse-Durak day?"

"Maybe it ought to be." Saar quipped, earning a mirthful glance from Celann.

"Yeah, hit him where it hurts, kiddo." Celann nudged Saar, nearly knocking him over. "Oh shit, sorry. You're lighter than you look."

It was true; though Saar looked alright, Isran had the boy nestled on his chest all night and could say with certainly that he was little more than skin and bones. "We'll get some meat on your bones. Don't worry about it, squirt."

Saar looked vaguely offended at the name but said nothing, shaking his head. They rounded the curve on the path, and Saar stopped short.

Ah, and he had his first sight of Fort Dawnguard.

Saar stared at the gigantic structure before him with his mouth agape. He didn't even seem to hear Durak and Celann laughing at him, too focused on gaping at the veritable castle he was going to be living in.

"Isran, you said I was going to be living in a Fort," Saar breathed, turning wide eyes onto his adoptive father, "not a castle!"

"Do you like it?"

"Are you serious?" A goofy grin broke out on Saar's face. "I love it!"

It was impossible to not laugh at the childish joy on Saar's face as he darted towards the huge double doors, slamming them open as if they weighed nothing. Isran winced at the audible bang but couldn't keep the grin off his face as he faintly heard Saar yelling,

"THIS IS THE COOLEST PLACE EVER!"

"I don't know guys, I think he kind of likes it," Isran's shoulders shook as he spoke, the smile not leaving his face.

"Did you...did you just make a joke?" Durak peered at Isran with an odd look on his face.

"I did."

Celann shook his head, chuckling into his hand. "What the fuck happened to you, man? I leave you alone for a day and this is what returns to me." The mirth in his voice took the bite out of his words.

"I'm not sure. I'm just going to blame the Temple of Mara for being suspiciously close to the orphanage. I guess we should go inside before my son breaks his neck or something." Isran shrugged, missing Durak and Celann's incredulous faces as he walked towards the Fort.

"His son!?" Celann hissed, exchanging a look with Durak.

"It's official; he's gone crazy." Durak whispered, stiffening as Isran turned back to them.

"Quit chattering and let's go."

Saar had settled in very nicely. He didn't really give a shit about how rundown the Fort looked from the inside in a general sense. He enjoyed living in the Fort and he loved messing around in the canyon. However, the only thing he seemed rather annoyed by was the mess the Fort had become and- much like Isran -could commonly be found feverishly cleaning something. Perhaps he was a neat freak; Isran was a bit of one himself. Because of the tidiness Grelod had enforced, Isran was always bothered by the smallest messes. So, one could imagine how much the Fort put him on edge sometimes. Saar seemed to share this feeling but generally seemed unperturbed, so Isran wasn't particularly worried. There was no doubt Saar was absolutely floored by the Fort though; he often commented on how cool it was. While Isran would find the marveling annoying from anyone else, he found it oddly endearing when it came from Saar.

All in all, being a dad was pretty fucking cool.

Sure, it was kind of strange to have a smaller person depend on you a lot, and it was even stranger that they unconditionally loved you and you felt the same. But the strangest thing of all was the utterly inane things your little person would do that would make your heart melt anyway. The heart that you, might Isran add, didn't even know you had. One of these inane occurrences was happening at the moment, in fact. Isran gazed down at Saar (my son) with a hand held over his mouth. Somehow, Saar had managed to doze off by the lake and was sprawled in the grass, several baby foxes and a fully grown one nestled right next to him. If Isran had to guess, he'd say Saar had somehow managed to befriend the older fox and it's babies had done so by default. Either way, the sight before him was fucking crouched down and swept the hair from Saar's forehead, smiling softly as Saar leaned to his hand. The foxes stirred and hissed at him, but a stern look from Isran made them cower. Isran gently hooked his forearm beneath Saar's knees and tucked Saar's head in the crook of his elbow. Slowly, just to ensure Saar wouldn't wake, he lifted him up and walked steadily to the Fort.

He pointedly ignored Celann's softening face as he passed, and took the stairs one at a time, careful not to rock Saar too roughly. Isran noted with pleasure that Saar didn't feel so bony; on the contrary, he felt quite heavy. He nodded to Durak and walked down the hallway towards the room Saar had chosen as his and pushed open the door. He was glad he had oiled the hinges awhile back; otherwise the door would've creaked loudly. Taking advantage of his good balance, Isran leaned back and- standing on one foot -used his left foot to push aside Saar's blankets. Grunting a little as his back ached in protest to bending down, Isran laid Saar down on the mattress. Correcting Saar's head so his neck wouldn't ache later, he pulled up the innumerable blankets on Saar's bed around Saar's shoulders. Saar sure did like blankets; Isran couldn't blame him. Blankets were nice. Tucking Saar in, he smoothed back Saar's hair and smiled softly.

"Goodnight, Saar." Isran muttered, backing away from the bed.

Isran didn't think much of Saar stirring as he turned around and headed towards the door until a soft, "G'night, dad." hit his ears.

Isran's entire brain short-circuited. He whirled around to gaze incredulously at his son, who was looking at him with bleary, half-asleep eyes. Hardly daring to believe his own ears, Isran looked at Saar for a long moment. He was at a loss. What should he say?

"Sleep well. L-Love you." He stammered out.

"Love you too." Saar rolled over and nestled back into his blankets, saying nothing else.

Isran left the room and numbly closed to door as softly as he could with his shaking hands. Hurriedly, he swept down the hallway, not acknowledging Celann's concerned face as he passed. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. Did that just happen!? Saar had just called me dad for the first time. Isran didn't know if he should cry, laugh, or feel really, really good. So, he did all three. With the intensity of a fire rune exploding, he keeled over, laughing his ass off and in tears. Celann and Durak hurried over.

"Whoa, whoa! What happened, are you okay!?" Celann's face looked frantic as he asked, holding Isran's shoulder.

Isran could barely speak. He was just-

Just-!

So happy!

His chest felt like it was going to explode. Holy shit, was he dying? Was this normal?

"Isran, talk to me, dammit!"

Isran fell to his knees though he felt like he could fly. He lurched up and grabbed Celann and Durak by one shoulder each, staring at them both with a slightly hysterical grin on his face. "Guess what!?"

Celann and Durak looked between each other. "...What?" Durak asked.

Holy shit, he was going to pass out.

"He called me dad."