"Tirza," Severus said gently, kneeling down to her height. "It's time to go. Time to go home." Tirza looked bewildered, glancing back and forth between Severus and Arwen. Severus was the best thing that ever happened to her. She couldn't ask for a better dad, and she wouldn't trade him for the world. Yet, there was Arwen... a mother. For all that Severus was, he could never replace the special love of a mother.

Two pairs of dark eyes, matching in color and depth, began filling with tears. As much as Severus loved her and wanted her to be with him, he would never take her from what made her truly happy. It had to be her choice.

Tirza waved goodbye to Arwen and threw herself in Severus' arms.

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Severus shot from his office to his chambers at a speed few knew he had, at the sound of a scream; a scream he knew all too well. He rushed into Tirza's bedroom, to find her screaming, and looking confused.

"Shhh, come on Tirza, calm down," he whispered, sitting on the bed and pulling her close. At the sound of his voice, the screaming stopped, though her eyes shined with tears.

"What's wrong sweetheart, did you have a flashback?" Her nearly instantenous calming down made him think it was a normal nightmare, and not a flashback. "No. I had a dream, we were in Middle Earth, and Legolas was there, and Elrond with his really scary eyebrow and..."

Severus nodded occassionally, mostly lost as she described characters and places that apparently the two of them had been involved in in her dream.

"Then, I had to pick," she whispered. "Pick?" He questioned, kissing her soft hair. "Between you and Arwen. Because I miss mom, and all the special things that moms do. She couldn't come with us, so I had to pick to come home or stay there. And you couldn't stay," Tirza explained.

"I see," Severus said, letting her nestle against his chest. As was automatic, he began to rock slowly, and rub her back slightly, glad to feel her relaxing.

"It was hard," she admitted. "To pick, two things and people and places that I love lots, and things that I... I think I need, inside, you know?" He nodded.

"But I picked you dad..." Tears that had been shining in her eyes, slowly and silently slipped over and down her pale cheeks as Tirza threw her arms around his neck.

Severus could only hug her tight, and rock her for what seemed like hours, surrounded in the feeling of love that only a father could have for a daughter. "I'd have picked you too baby," he whispered. "Thanks for picking me."

It didn't really make a whole lot of sense to him, but it had obviously been a big deal for her in the dream, and it was important to her that he knew she chose him. That fact alone, made it important to him. "I'd have picked you too..." he repeated.