The Thin Man Washes the Dishes
Simple things. Quiet things. He no longer regretted his decision, although it had taken him some time to come to terms with domesticity. He'd spent almost an entire day on his bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to make his choice. It was not an easy one. But there was little else he could do. The decision had, in many ways, been made as soon as he spoke to Dylan. He simply had to learn to accept it.
The hardest part had been revealing himself to the young one, his daughter. It was Dylan's idea that he visit her on her birthday, as a sort of a present. So, at midnight, a birthday card trembling in his hand, he sat down on Brandy's bed. He shook her foot to wake her, as Dylan did. The girl blinked sleepily, brushing her tousled hair out of her eyes. It took her some moments to realize that there was a strange man on her bed. He held out the card, praying that she wouldn't scream. Instead, she took the card, looking up at her mother. "I'm dreaming," she said.
Dylan smiled, shaking her head. "You're not dreaming."
Hesitant, unwilling to startle the girl, he reached out to touch her face. She raised a wondering hand to his fingers, tracing the thin bones. "You're really here," she murmured, and he nodded, smiled, trying to encourage her. "Are you staying?"
Strange how at the moments that words really matter, they refuse to come. He nodded, and Dylan spoke for him. "He's staying, if you want him to."
The girl laid her fingers along his cheekbone, and he shivered inside. He had never loved anyone the way that he loved her. She traced the bones of his face, as if she wanted to memorize him, and he let her. He didn't know what else to do. He was terrified that the slightest motion on his part would break the spell, and she would realize how much she hated him, and cast him aside. She ought to hate him. He had abandoned her. Instead, she threw her arms around him with sudden passion and buried her face in his shoulder, half-laughing, half-sobbing. Grateful, unworthy, he clung to her, inhaling the scent of her hair. She smelled clean and young. Much as he loved his daughter, he'd never held her before. The moment she was in his arms, he realized how powerful such a love could be. He would never let anyone harm her, ever.