Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion and all rights go to their respective owners. Also all OC's are the creation of JimmyWolk himself.

SPOILER WARNING: This contains spoilers for the fanfic "The 2nd try" by JimmyWolk. So If you haven't read that then you should definitely stop right here and check that out first.

Summary:

Aki finds a pair of familiar items and presents it to her father Shinji, bringing memories, both good and bad.

"Hair Clips"

It was another day of studying for Shinji. He was reading a new medical textbook in his study room to keep on top of medical knowledge should he, Asuka or heaven forbid Aki would get ill or serious hurt.

It was somewhat ironic to him in a way as in the past he would never have thought of becoming something like a doctor. Even before becoming an Eva pilot, he never liked going to see the doctors or even visiting hospitals in general and having been injured and sent to the Nerv hospital numerous times after a battle certainly didn't help. Now he was trying to learn as much as he could in the unlikely eventuality that something would happen to his family.

Just as Shinji was able to turn to the next page of his book he heard the faint call of his daughter in front of the door, which was half closed, opened fully by his daughter.

"Papa, are you in here?"

Shinji put down his book and smiled at Aki. "Hey honey. You need something?" It wasn't surprising anymore that his daughter would regularly come to see him while he was studying to show him something which she either found interesting or something she had done or created using her pictures.

Aki nodded before showing him something she held in her hands, something he noticed was bright red. It hit him immediately on what his daughter was holding, it were Asuka's old A10 Nerve clips.

"What are these Papa?

Seeing these again made Shinji smile and chuckle a bit as it reminded him of when he first meet Asuka so long ago. Fondly remembering seeing the beautiful and fiery redheaded girl on the ship Over the Rainbow. Also he was surprised that Aki had managed to find these as after Asuka had cut her hair short she ended up never using them again and somehow the clips ended up being misplaced somewhere.

Aki was still looking up at him and waiting for him to respond to her question, which Shinji decided to answer his little girl's curiosity. "Well Aki, these things right here are hair clips."

"Hair clips?" Aki repeated and looked more closely at the clips in question with her head slightly tilted in a confusion. Perhaps she had imagined them to be something else.

"Yeah, your Mama used to wear them all the time. Here, turn around, I'll show you..."

Doing as her Papa instructed, Aki turned around.

"Mmm," she mewled softly in protest as he started to gather some of her hair, causing a wry grin on Shinji's lips. She had started to make it a habit of him messing with her hair but he usually still felt her leaning into his hand if he gave her a gentle pat or ruffle her wild brown curls.

"Come on, dear, just a second," he cooed. "It'll look cute. Don't you want to look like Mama used to?"

At that she stopped fussing, allowing Shinji to finish up doing her hair and clipping on the red clips into her brown locks.

"Ok all done honey. Now let's have a look at you," Shinji said before Aki turned to face him.

Getting a good look at Aki with the A10 Nerv clips on, Shinji was once again filled with nostalgia while looking at his little girl. While Aki may have inherited his hair colour, she no doubt inherited her mother's facial features and her blue eyes.

"They look good on you honey," Shinji replied with a smile and proceeded to guide his daughter to the nearest tall mirror in the room, allowing Aki to see herself.

After looking at herself in the mirror for a moment, Aki soon began to have a slight frown on her face. "I don't know Papa."

Before Shinji could reply, He heard the veranda door opening, which would mean that Asuka was all but finished with today's job in the garden.

"Shinji, have you seen Aki?" Asuka called out with a slight worried tone, maybe due to not having seen her daughter about for some time.

"She's right here with me Asuka!" Shinji called back to his wife. "Aki's got something to show you."

"Oh? What has my Schätzchen got to show me this time?" Asuka asked in a both a amused and curious tone as she entered the room.

With Asuka now in the room fully, she was at first confused on what Aki had to show her but it eventually dawned on her after focusing on her daughter's new look. At first she had a slightly shocked expression while also not saying anything. This began to worry Shinji as he could tell that something was wrong.

Aki however broke the silence. "Mama?" Clearly the girl was confused on why her mother was so silent.

Hearing her daughter call her broke whatever spell took hold of Asuka, shaking her head slightly and giving Aki a smile. A smile Shinji noticed seemed to be a bit forced.

"They look good on you Schätzchen" Asuka replied but again Shinji could tell that she was lying. "But just where did you find them?" She asked her daughter curiously.

Aki looked a bit sheepish at this question. "Um… I found it in the your room closet Mama." The little girl answered and now feeling like she did something bad.

Having got her answer, Asuka sighed and looked at Aki while reaching out and stroking her head a bit, slightly brushing her hand against the A10 connectors. Soon after her mother finished this, Aki reach out and took off the clips of her head and shaking her head a bit, letting her hair go wild again.

This surprised her parents. "What's wrong Aki? Didn't you like them?" Her father asked her.

Aki shook her head. "No, it felt really weird in my hair."

Asuka looked relieved by her daughter's answer, once again stroking Aki's head again. "I guess you prefer to have your hair being wild and free, don't you Schätzchen?"

Aki nodded wildly to her mother and before anyone could say anything more, they heard a slight growling sound from the little girl's stomach. Shinji and Asuka looked at her and each other before chuckling.

As the laughter ebbed away, Asuka looked again at Aki. "Guess it is time for Papa to start preparing dinner. How about you go and pick what you want to eat from the kitchen while I have a short talk with Papa, ok?"

"Ok Mama." Replied Aki before rushing out of the room and leaving the two adults alone.

Asuka turned to Shinji and he knew that he did something wrong as the slightly angry expression was clear on her face.

"Baka, why did you put those on her for?"

Shinji was confused by this. "Why not?"

"Because stupid, they were part of the Eva and I don't ever want Aki knowing about any of that. Especially after what we been through," Asuka replied with the final part coming out as a whisper.

And like that it dawned on Shinji on why Asuka was upset. For him, her Nerv clips reminded him of Asuka and nothing more, but for her they were a part of her past that she never wanted to experience again. Coming close to his wife, he hugged her close to comfort her.

"Asuka it's ok, the Evas are gone and the nerve clips are just ordinary hair clips at this point. They can't hurt her," Shinji said in a comforting voice as his wife fully rested against him.

"I know but seeing her wearing them for a bit, I pictured her piloting and the thought alone made my stomach turn in worry. We suffered so much because of it..." She sighed. "I mean, you're right, of course, they're just stupid oversized hair clips now. I guess they just brought back bad memories for me."

"Sorry," he muttered, wincing a little, even if it wasn't entirely the old reflex kicking in. "Somehow I didn't even consider that. Because all I was reminded of by seeing her wearing them was you." Shinji replied to her sincerely making Asuka raise her head at him, her face showing a look of surprise before it changed into one of loving affection.

"Baka, your such a hopeless romantic," Asuka said before giving him a kiss, which surprised Shinji at first before kissing her back and melting into it.

"MAMA! PAPA! I'm Hungry!" And like that the tender moment was gone by the cry of their hungry daughter. Ending the kiss the two parents looked at each other before walking out of the room to prepare dinner.

End.