Suzuki Touichirou did not get excited.

He couldn't afford to. He couldn't afford to feel much strong emotion, any strong emotion at all. He needed to keep himself in check…and it was hard. How could he when Sunday was just a few minutes away? Daughter's birthday had come and gone. It had not fallen on a Sunday so he could not have done more than wish her a happy birthday as he walked out the door. Well that had been then and this was now and now…now he could barely contain himself.

His bed was flatting.

Everything that wasn't nailed down was floating. He forced everything to ground and it stated there….for a bit. His bed, the dresser, all of it. It went back up to hovering about a meter in the air. His fault. He needed to calm down, to calm himself down, but he just couldn't. He had always looked forward to their time together, he cared for her more than anything else in the world, but this was different. Her birthday. Her birthday had passed and he had gotten her a gift but he hadn't been able to present her with her gift since it hadn't been a Sunday…and he wanted to present her with her gift now…but time…time would not pass any quicker no matter how much he willed it. He needed…he needed time to pass faster….

He needed to give her the gift he had gotten her.

He needed to see the smile on her face, her perfect little face, and he needed to see the way her aura would light up…and then she would be so happy…and he wanted nothing more than to make her happy. She was so sweet. She was so wonderful. She was so perfect and once the clock struck midnight he would be able to see her, to have her, and to hold her. He so wanted to hold her. He so wanted to scoop her out of bed and pick her up and hold her close. She was so….perfect….and he wanted nothing more than to be with her.

And it was alright because it was Sunday.

He sat up. That thread was still there, he could feel it under the palm of his hand, and he left it alone. He wouldn't pull it. If he pulled that thread then the whole bedspread would come apart. If the bedspread came apart then she would have nothing to cover herself with while she slept and neither would he. He could sleep on top of the bed with no covers if he had to, he could sleep just about anywhere, but she deserved to be warm. She could always bring her ice queen blanket with her if this bedspread were to fall asleep…but then she would be the only one covered. He so like being able to hold her while she slept and it would be difficult if they did not share a blanket…and it was alright to hold her so long as he stuck to a schedule. So long as he stuck to a schedule he could avoid going to that place halfway between awake and asleep. That always happened midweek, usually Wednesday, and she had been sleeping beside him on a Wednesday which was why he had gone to that place between being awake and asleep and accidentally mistook Daughter for Masami….but not in any way at all because she was his Daughter and he woke up before….

Well before nothing at all.

That night had been nothing at all. He had gone to the place between awake and asleep, a place he should not have gone to while his Daughter was there in bed beside him, but he had woken up the moment he realized that Daughter was not Masami. Then they'd had breakfast together. Then they had gone their separate ways. That was that. That was that and now they could both get on with their lives….not that she even realized…well there had been nothing for her to realize. She was a child and she had no idea what it had meant that he had held her and called her by her mother's name…and it had meant nothing aside from the fact that he still occasionally dreamt of Masami….

But she was gone now.

Daughter was there in her place. Daughter was there and he loved Daughter. He loved her and she…she wasn't Masami…but he didn't need her to be. Masami was her own person and Daughter was someone else…and she was in some ways…he could not compare the two. There was a difference between his Daughter and his wife. There was no comparison. Masami had been…still was….had been…his wife but Shigeko…she was his Daughter. He was her father. He loved her so much and she would never leave him. She was a child. She couldn't leave him.

She was eleven now.

She was eleven years old now. She was eleven and she was a child…an older child. He'd seen her wearing makeup….and she was so young….but criticizing a woman's appearance was dangerous ground. She was not a woman yet…but he knew not to breathe a word about her makeup. Even though he thought that she was too young. What was she even wearing it for? She was beautiful as she was. She was beautiful and any man would be happy to have her, she didn't have to paint her face, but any man who thought that he could have her….well….he had no idea what he was supposed to do about that….

She was only eleven.

She was only eleven but she was…older. An older child than she had been before. Older and taller. She had been getting taller for some time now, as children tended to do, but she was nowhere near as tall as Masami had been…and that should have been his first clue that she had not been Masami. Masami had always intertwined their legs when they slept. Daughter was still too small. Her legs were too short. She was still so short. She was taller but she was short. She was only eleven years old but…but she would be twelve soon. She would be twelve and then thirteen and fourteen and…and then he didn't know. He didn't know what he would do but he did know that she was only eleven and he didn't much want her to wear makeup….or grow up…

And he had no idea why.

She would grow up and when she grew up then they could spend all of their time together just like he and Masami had…well Masami had wanted. He had been busy. He had been building Claw up…and he was still building Claw up…and he so wished that Masami had been an esper. If she had been an esper then he could have brought her with him…and then she wouldn't have been able to leave. Then she could have stayed with him…but it was pointless entertaining these thoughts. She was gone. She was gone and he had his Daughter and she was wonderful and…and he loved her so much and he just wanted to see her and to hold her and…

And he reached up and caught his phone.

It had been floating in the air along with everything else. He caught it and checked the time. Eleven forty five. There. That was almost midnight. Close enough. He couldn't wait. He had to go and see her…and she would understand. She would be happy. She had gone back to seeking him out. She would never leave him because she had gone back to seeking him out. She would never leave him because he had not given her any reason to leave him. She would not leave him because he gave her every reason to stay. She would never leave him because he gave her every reason to stay. Like the reason that was currently taking up a large portion of their living room.

She would love her gift.

He got out of bed. He felt his back pop and he ignored it. What could he even do about it? Daughter was more important than his aching joints and back. He loved Daughter and she would love her gift and…and he was going to wake her up right now because he just…he had to see her. He had to be there beside her. So he stood up, left his room, and off to her he went. He could feel her aura…and she was asleep….but she would be able to sleep later. After she saw her gift. Logically he knew that her gift would be there for her in the morning and that she would be there in the morning and he would be there in the morning…but he didn't want to wait. He didn't want to lose any time with her. He got so little time with her as it was.

So little time.

She had turned eleven. She had been ten before and now she was eleven. She would be twelve and then thirteen and so on and so forth as the passage of time went. There was nothing that he could do about time, the way it marched forward, and part of him….part of him was looking forward to her growing up. She would grow up and he would conquer the world and then the two of them would be able to spend their days together and it would be wonderful but she would also be older and she would want to do what women did…and she would meet someone….and he would be the wrong person for her. There was no right person for her but whoever she picked…he would be wrong for her.

There was no man worthy of her.

He passed by the bathroom as he made his way to her room. She had left her makeup on the counter. He had no idea what any of that was for, he had spent countless cumulative hours of his life watching Masami put on makeup, and he still had no idea what any of it was for. The individual components of it. The steps. He had no idea what the tubes and powders and brushes and sponges…and now there were sponges involved for some reason….and he had no clue what he was even looking at…but he knew what it was all for. What it all came together for.

She was trying to look more attractive for the opposite sex.

What else would be the point of it? The whole thing had always seemed complicated and time consuming so there must have been a point and the point, obviously, was to seem more attractive to the opposite sex. It worked, well he had thought that Masami had been beautiful the first time he saw her, and he had continued to think so the first time he had ever seen her barefaced. She was just….Masami was a beautiful woman and Daughter was a beautiful woman…well she would be….she was a beautiful girl and she didn't need to paint her face like she had been doing lately but she was and-

-and Suzuki walked faster.

He was not ready for this. This…whatever this was. This interest she was taking in the opposite sex. This actual interest. Not whatever she had been feeling for Shimazaki...and he thanked God that she no longer had these feelings for Shimazaki….and she…she didn't. Right? He was blind. He couldn't tell if she was all painted up or not so this was not for him….thank God. Not that man. There was no man worthy of her but that man….that was the worst man for her. She didn't need anyone, of course, because he could care for her in all ways. He could feed her and clothe her and keep a roof over her head and protect her from anyone who would want to hurt her….he was her father and he would do that for her…but she was getting older now. She was getting to the age where she needed more than he could provide. She would want love and companionship and children of her own and….and he could not provide those things for her because he was her father, not by blood but she didn't know that, and it would be very distressing for her psychologically if he tried to be that person towards her. So this was….her getting older was normal….

It was normal but that didn't mean that he was ready for it.

He wasn't ready for her to grow up….so he would enjoy her as she was. Enjoy her at eleven. He would enjoy the time they had together before she grew up and presented him with some man who, of course, would not be worthy of her. Someone who wouldn't know that she liked to be held as she fell asleep. Someone who didn't know that she liked to watch the ice queen at least once a day. Someone who didn't know that she detested violence to the point that she wouldn't even learn kendo or naginata, his own father would have been rolling over in his grave if he had not been….if what had been left of him had not been cremated, which was such a shame because she could have been so good…and he had so wanted to teach his child. She would end up with someone who didn't know her. Who didn't know how she took her coffee and tea. Someone who didn't know that her favorite color was blue. Someone who didn't know that her favorite sorts of shoes were the sort that lit up even though they were annoying. She would wind up with someone who had no idea what a gift it was to be able to have her and hold her and love her. She would end up wasting her life with someone who had no idea what sort of a person, a wonderful person, that she was….

But that was a ways off.

Right now he would just enjoy her as she was. He made it to her bedroom door. He could feel her and Son's auras. Both were asleep. Good. He did not want her to have to deal with Son right now. He wondered when the next away mission would come up….well he was the President of Claw he could send people anywhere…but he would have to send Fukuda with him to watch him and make sure he didn't kill himself doing something idiotic. He didn't know when something that Fukuda needed to see to would come up…but he would find something. The Boy had been back for some time now. He was becoming tiresome. Daughter could use a break.

Suzuki knew he definitely needed one.

Suzuki opened the door slowly and took a step inside…and felt something break under his feet. He looked down. The room was filled with the ambient light of the outside world. He could see that he had stepped on one of Son's pencils. Oh well, he needed to learn to stop leaving his things on the ground. What if Daughter had stepped on that and fallen? She would have been injured…and that could not be. He doesn't wake Son up to tell him to be more careful of his sister, no, because that would involve dealing with him. Son is asleep in his bed. He's kicked the covers off…and he's sleeping in nothing but shorts…and Suzuki can't stand the sight of him. He forgot, sometimes, just how many scars Son had been left with. Even in the ambient light of the outside, he would have to do something about those overly bright streetlights later, he could see just how many scars Son had on himself. His arms and legs…and the lichtenberg figures all along his back. He kicks and rolls over. His stomach is not much better. Grotesque.

He looks away.

Daughter, by contrast, is a sleeping angel. That is if they slept. He didn't know, he wasn't a theologian, but if they had the need for sleep Daughter would have fit right in with them. She was on her back and one of her devices, the one that played games, was in her hands. He used his powers to take it from her grasp. She stirred but did not wake. Instead she clutched her blanket and moved her eyes behind their sockets. She is so perfect. She is the most perfect person he has ever seen. He doesn't know why she paints her skin, she is beautiful as she is, even in the darkness of the ambient light he can see how flawlessly pale she is…and how soft her hair is…

He brushes her hair from her face.

Her skin is so soft. He lets his hand linger there on her cheek. How can one person possibly have been so soft? There was a gift to being able to touch her. There was a gift to being able to know just how soft her skin was. She herself was a gift. She was a gift and he was grateful to have her…for as long as he could. Someone else would be near her, near enough to touch her, near enough to know just how soft her skin was…and he would have no idea the gift it was to touch her. To be near her. He, whoever 'he' was, would just….take her for granted. Take her from him and take her for granted….

And he doesn't know how he'll be able to handle that.

He lets his hand travel upwards to her hair. She has so much of it. It's soft and thick and there and hers. Masami had a lot of hair, too, but hers hadn't been so….thick. Dense. Her hair was so dense and thick and soft that he could just get lost in it. His hand. He ran his hand through her hair, her bangs, and she was just so soft….he could have stayed there forever. He could have spent an eternity just standing over her and touching her….

But she stirred again.

He pulled his hand away. He knew what she had said before, that there was a time limit to how long he could kiss her and touch her for, and he didn't want to break any social rules. He needed her to be happy. He wanted nothing more than her happiness. She was his Daughter, his reason and his life, and he would devote a portion of his life to her happiness. Another portion of his life. Her life, his life, their life. His life was her life and her life was his life and their lives were each other lives…if he even could spend his life with her….

He didn't want to think about the future.

He thought about the present. He thought about how she had a birthday present waiting for her in the living room, he had waited until after she had gone to her room to set it down, and she needed to see it. He couldn't spend any more time not knowing how she would react. He couldn't spend any more time anticipating her happiness, seeing her happiness, and sensing it too since her aura as just like his…even though she wasn't actually his child. She was and she wasn't his child and she was there and…and he needed to….he didn't want to wake her. He had been so eager to bring her to the living room but then he had seen her sleeping there, like a peaceful little angel, and he just needed to…he needed to let her sleep but he also wanted to see her happy, to sense her happiness, to be there for her when her eyes lit up…but those eyes were closed. Her eyes were closed and she was sleeping. She had a little smile on her face as she drifted back down to that place where dreams were born. He had no idea what she dreamt about but seeing her happy like that….it was perfect.

He traced her smile.

He let his thumb trace over the bow of her lips. She was so soft and she was asleep and she was so perfect while she slept…and she was also so perfect when she woke up…and she was just perfect. She was perfection. She was perfection in a way that Masami had never been. Masami…he had never been able to understand Masami. He had never been able to understand when she did and did not want affection, to talk, to be near him. Daughter was someone who was clear with him. She was clear and refined in her communication. She was so easy to understand.

He loved her.

His own feelings for her…they were more difficult to understand. He love her. He traced the bow of her lip. He loved her so much…and love was such an imprecise word. It did and did not encompass all that he felt for her. He would kill or die for her. He would conquer the world for her. He would keep her near him. There was a world full of people who would want to hurt her…and he would lay down his life for her. He would conquer this world for her. He would give her whatever she wanted. He would give her what she needed. He would give her the moon on a string if she asked it….if she woke up and said 'dad, I want you to give me the moon on a string' then he would get out a pencil and paper and figure out how much string he would need. He would do anything for her.

She was perfect.

His hand went over to her cheek. She stirred again. This time she reached up to touch his hand…and he pulled it away. He did and did not want to wake her up…he did and did not want that…but he just….he didn't know. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. He could feel her aura. She was so peaceful. Her aura was as peaceful as she was. Her aura was just…he let it wash over him. He loved that, he loved her aura, he loved that about her. He could always know how she felt. He had never been able to understand how Masami had been feeling at any given time. Even when she had been telling him to his face that she had been fine….he had gotten the feeling that she had not been fine…but she had never told him what she wanted from him….

But Daughter always made herself perfectly clear.

He wished that he could have made himself perfectly clear…to himself. He made no sense. He made no sense at all. He made no sense to himself and since he made no sense to himself he made no sense in general….he was absurd. He was being absurd. What, was he going to stand there watching her sleep all night? Well he would have wanted….he would have wanted to and he would have loved to….but he couldn't…because he had set out to do something and he was going to do it.

He always did what he set out to do.

He picked her up. He tried to pick her up with his own strength, his back had not liked that at all, and midway through rolling her over he just used his powers. He used his powers to lift her and carry her like she had been small. Like she had been small and he could lift him up with one hand. Those times when she had been small and he had pressed her to his chest because she had found that soothing…and he wondered if she still found this soothing. He could feel her stirring into his chest. He used his powers to bring her arms up so they wrapped around his neck. She had done that when she had been small….she had been small and she had tried to wrap her arms around him….and now she could because she was eleven, not two, and he had last done this years ago….

He would cherish the time he had with her now.

He carried her out of her room, down the hall, and to the living room. She hadn't woken up at any point. She slept as he walked to the living room and as he sat down on the couch. How could she have been so tired? It was only midnight. They had stayed up much later than this before…but she was still so tired. She was so tired and…he pulled her close. She smelled….not good. That skunky, citrusy smell that clung to her sometimes…not that he would ever say anything to her. He just held her.

He held her.

He held her and rubbed her back. She stirred again but did not let him go. She was so warm and soft…and it was such a gift to hold her…a greater gift than he had ever gotten in his life. Just being able to hold her while she slept…and stirred. She was stirring now. She was stirring and pulling away from him. Instinctively he pulled her close. Instinctively his aura wrapped around her. Instinctively he clung to her. She could have left and she would have left…and she's trying to leave…and for a moment he can't do anything but keep her close….but this is his Daughter. She was his Daughter and she would never leave him.

He let her go.

"Dad? How'd….how'd I get here?" asked Daughter as he let her go. She looked up at him. She was so close he could have counted her eyelashes…and she had such long eyelashes. How could he have never noticed how long her eyelashes were? She was so beautiful.

"I carried you." Said Suzuki. Daughter looked at him, and then around her, and then down. She got up off of his lap and sat down beside him. She smoothed down her nightgown. Another blue one. She loved blue. He watched her hands. She had blue fingernails. She had such long fingers.

"Ok…why?" asked Daughter. She looked around the room. He watched her. The way her pupils, it was hard to pick her pupils out of her irises but he could, darted around the room. She was so inquisitive.

"Because it's Sunday and we spend time together on Sunday." Said Suzuki. He reached over and brushed a lock of hair out of her face. He lingered there on her cheek for a moment. He watched her aura. She was more sleepy than anything.

"Ok…can we go to bed now?" asked Daughter. He shook his head. That could come later. He would have loved to have held her close and felt the rise and fall of her back against his chest…but right now he needed to see her face, her aura, when she saw her present…which she seemed to be too tired to notice. Her eyes were half lidded…quarter lidded…and then finally closed. They closed and her eyelashes were practically long enough to touch her cheeks…and she was so perfect. She was so perfect…but he didn't want her to sleep…not now. Later. Not now. Later where he could hold her.

"Daughter. Wake up and look over there." said Suzuki. He shook her awake. Not hard, no, because he would never hurt her. Just enough for her to open her eyes and follow the path he pointed out for her. He watched her face. It took him a moment to put emotion to expression, it always took a minute, but he knew that she went from sleepy to….angry? No, that was confused. She was confused. Then she rubbed her eyes.

"Oh I get it, I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming that you bought me the house we saw at the doll museum. This is the part where I go outside and the sky is purple." Said Daughter. So that was what she dreamt about. He didn't know what he was supposed to do with that information but he was honored that she had shared that with him.

"You're very much awake, Daughter." Said Suzuki

"No, I'm asleep." Said Daughter

"No…you're awake. This is reality. This is reality because I know that I am myself. If this were your dream then I would not be myself." Said Suzuki. He knew that this was reality because he knew that he was real…but what if…what if he was just a figment of her reality? What if he had never existed? What if…he felt like that one time in university when he had tried smoking…well something other than a cigarette…and at some point he would have to talk to her about drugs and why she would never take them…but because he had the memory of questioning his existence back in university he was real. Daughter would never have imagined her own father in that state…or any state that he had been in that night….especially not what came after that….no. He was real. He was real and this was real.

"No one I think is in my dream. I think it must me mine alone. That is, you can't, tune it but it's all wrong…that is I think it's not too bad." Said Daughter. She sang that and…he knows the melody….but not the words…because the words are wrong.

"That's not how that song goes." Said Suzuki with a shake of his head. That was one of Shimazaki's rewrites…and she had been spending enough time with Shimazaki that she knew his Beatles rewrites…and that made him want to do…something.

"That's the way Shimazaki sings it….I wonder if he'll be here too. I like it when we're together." Said Daughter. Suzuki cannot breathe, he cannot move, he just…cannot. Shimazaki…she dreams about him? Shimazaki featured in her dreams? But…no. No. He was not allowed to feature in any of her dreams. She was not allowed to dream about him…and she's only eleven…but he knew what he dreamt about…and had dreamt about at her age when it came to the opposite sex…and it had been more sensual than sexual when he had been her age…but she should not have been having sensual or sexual dreams about him or any man.

He needed to calm down.

"…why?" asked Suzuki. There is a house made out of blocks on the floor in front of him…and it collapses. The blocks splinter until they're nothing but sawdust. He needs to calm down. She is herself and she has her own mind and her own dreams…and she can dream about any men that she wanted to…and this was normal. This was a normal part of her sexual development….and the last thing he wanted to think about was her sexual development…and she had better not have planned on involving Shimazaki in any part of that…and she was just too young to be dreaming about men…

"Because I like to smoke." Said Daughter. Suzuki let out a breath he had been holding…and hadn't realized that he had been holding. Oh. She just liked to smoke…and that was not good but…but at least she wasn't planning on doing anything but smoking…but she should not have been smoking. It was a filthy habit…but at least he had only gotten her smoking cigarettes. At least she had only been smoking cigarettes and not doing….not acting on any of the feelings that she may have been having towards him. He was an attractive man, Shimazaki, he was good looking and a powerful esper….and Daughter was beautiful and a powerful esper….

He would rather she smoke a carton a day than let that man anywhere near her.

"Don't smoke. It's a filthy habit." Said Suzuki. He had never seen the point of it. Even when he had been young and Fukuda and him had found that half empty pack of cigarettes behind the gym…it had always seemed pointless and unpleasant…like so many other things they had tried in their youth.

"It makes me feel good." Said Daughter with a shrug.

"But….fine. But in moderation." Said Suzuki. He indulged her so…but he loved her. When you loved someone you indulged them.

"You sound like Minegishi….ok. Anyway since this is my dream I'm going to play with my dollhouse now before I wake up and it's gone." Said Daughter. She slid off the couch…and this was not her dream. This could not be her dream. If this was her dream then nothing in the world was real and he wasn't real and…and then his world was not real and then his purpose in life was not real….

He held her by the wrist.

"This is not a dream." Said Suzuki. She looked at him, and then his hand, and then at him again…and her aura….he could feel her aura and she felt…he did not like how she felt. He was…he was holding onto her much too hard…and he had to let her go. So he did. He let her go. Even though he didn't want to let her go…he still did. He loved her. He loved her and he would never hurt her…and he had been holding her hard enough to hurt her…

He let her go like she had been on fire.

"Wait….I'm awake?" asked Daughter as she felt her wrist…and he hated himself in that moment. He had hurt her. He had hurt her, the woman….the girl….the person who he was going to spend his life with. He hated himself and he would never…he would never hurt her.

"Yes." said Suzuki. He reached over and took her wrist in his hand. No bruises…and he hadn't broken it. She was fine. She was fine and he loved her and…and she was fine. But she was still looking at him with wide eyes. She was looking at him with wide eyes and…and her aura was pulled in close…

"Are-are you mad at me?" asked Daughter. Suzuki held her wrist gently. He had hurt her…and he had no idea how to make this better. Maybe another dollhouse. Maybe another dollhouse or more dolls or another blue dress or just…something. Maybe perfume since she often smelled just….terrible. He didn't know. He always got Masami gifts when he upset her….he had never hurt her before…but he always got her a present every time he had felt that he had upset her…

"No. I grabbed you to make sure that you knew that this was reality. If I hurt you then I am truly sorry and I will do anything to make it up to you. I love you." Said Suzuki. He held her hand in his. She let him. She didn't seem frightened of him….at least it didn't seem like it…but he was bad at this.

"Um…it didn't hurt that much…but…um…not getting mad at me for smoking…or getting mad at Shimazaki for letting me smoke with him…that would make it up to me." Said Daughter. She looked at him and smiled…and she seemed…..he had no idea what she seemed. She was…she was a lot of things…but she should not have been in love with Shimazaki. She could have done better. Well nobody in the world would ever be worthy of her, of course, but even Hatori would have been better for her and he was a homosexual with a skin condition and some sort of disorder where he was afraid of everything. Anyone would have been better for her than Shimazaki Ryou….and if that was the type of man he was attracted to then he had failed her as a father.

"Alright Daughter…I won't get angry….but….do you want me to spare him because you…care for him?" asked Suzuki. He did not like asking her about this. He did not like digging into this part of her life…but he had no idea what he would do if she had feelings for Shimazaki. It wasn't like he could be buried in a traitor hole…and beating him up hadn't helped…and also he was just about the only person who could care for Son….

"He's my friend, dad." Said Daughter. Suzuki…he would have preferred if she maintained a strictly working relationship with Shimazaki…but he knew that she enjoyed spending time with him and…and she would be sad without him…

"Just your friend?" asked Suzuki. Friends. That was hard enough for him to deal with…but it was better than the alternative. Her spending time with him and smoking cigarettes, he felt that she was too young but he had promised not to get upset with her, was better than her going to bed with him…the thought makes Suzuki want to both murder someone and vomit uncontrollably…..so…so he could deal with their friendship…so long as it was just friendship….

"Yes. Dad….I don't LIKE him like that….yuck." said Daughter. She wrinkled her nose…good. She didn't have feelings of those sorts for him….hopefully not for any man….because she was still so small….and he was not ready for her to grow up. He let go of her hand. He was not ready for her to grow up. He was…he wanted…he wanted…his eyes crossed the room and landed on her new dollhouse. He hadn't had time to get it made with working plumbing but it did have working lights and everything else that the one at the museum had…and she would love it. He would make sure that she loved it. He wanted….he just wanted to see her happy. Happy and playing like that child he hoped that she would stay for a long time….

"Good. Now, why don't you play with your new dollhouse?" asked Suzuki. He let her go and she looked over to her dollhouse…but did not walk over to it. Why? Was it not grand enough for her? Maybe she noticed that the plumbing didn't work…and he had no idea why a dollhouse needed plumbing but he was not a girl. He had no idea what her games required…and he should have had it built with running water. She would have been happier that way. All that he had ever wanted was her happiness.

"But it's in the middle of the night." Said Daughter. She motioned to the window. She was correct. Sunrise was a still a few hours away. That shouldn't have mattered to her. They'd stayed up later than this together. They could go to sleep later. Right now…right now he just wanted to spend time with her.

"I know. I want to watch you enjoying your new dollhouse." Said Suzuki. Daughter looked towards him, and then the dollhouse, and then to him again. He braced himself. He braced himself for her telling him that this was not what she wanted. He expected…for a moment he expected to hear Masami's voice. She told him, sometimes, that the gifts that he got her…that she hadn't wanted what he had gotten her….and then…when he asked her what she wanted…she just…she just told him that….that she shouldn't have had to tell him what she wanted. That it had been obvious. That…that he should have just known…but he was not a mind reader! He had just about every power but mind reading was not one of them…and Daughter…he closed his eyes. He expected to see Masami. He expected to see her and hear her and…and for once he didn't want to see or hear her…even though he loved her so much…but the thought of her replacing Daughter…or the thought of Daughter acting like Masami at her worst…

He didn't know what he would do.

He could feel her aura focusing on him. He could feel her but he could not see her. If he saw her then…then he would have seen Masami too…and normally he loved seeing Masami in her. Normally he would have taken whatever bits of Masami that had been inside of her and held onto them for dear life. Her kindness, her softness, the love she had given him…the love and caring and devotion…he could feel all of those things within Daughter. He loved seeing those things within Daughter, the best parts of Masami, the best parts of his wife…but there had been parts of her that…that he had never been able to understand. Parts of her that had worried him, scared him, even…even frustrated him….

He needed Daughter…he needed her to be….to be more perfect than Masami had been….and…and he hoped that she was…

"Um….ok…but can you play with me?" asked Daughter. He opened his eyes. He felt all the tension in his body leave him. Daughter…all she wanted was to spend time with him…so of course he would spend time with her. He loved her. He loved her more than anything and…and of course they would be together. They would but…but he could not sit on the floor like that. His back…his back would not allow that…and also he had no idea how to play with dolls. He was not female. He had never played with dolls before. He'd had tiny plastic soldiers and robots and action figures but that play…that had been violent play. The sort of play that boys did. She played in the way that girls did. She played to practice her social skills….

And he had never done that before.

But she was so….Daughter. She was Daughter and…and even though his back would hurt…and he had no clue how to play dolls…she was his Daughter. She was his Daughter and he would kill or die for her. He would conquer the world for her. He would promise her the Earth and she was right to ask it. He would give her the moon on a string if she just gave him the word, if she just asked for it…

So playing dolls with her should have been nothing at all.

"But I'm….yes. If that would make you happy. The only thing I want in this world is your happiness." Said Suzuki. He said it and he meant it…and he needed her to know that he meant it. He loved her more than anything and the only thing that he needed was her happiness. She was his reason and his life. She was all he desired and his will to succeed. He would conquer the world….for her. He had known for his entire life, for most of his life, that he would conquer the world. He would conquer the whole world for himself, he had decided, because he was the most powerful esper in the world, but then he had met Masami…and then he had decided to conquer the world for her….but then she had left….but now he had Daughter.

He would give her the world.

He had promised her the world, before, and she had been right to ask it. She was his Daughter. She was his Daughter…and she was his….and he was hers. He would gladly spend his life by her side. He would rule the world, spend the rest of his life by his side, and then…and then whatever else he needed. Even sitting here on the floor with her even though his back and knees were aching….if he would conquer the world for her then he would certainly be able to play dolls with her for as long as she asked of him.

It was Sunday, after all, their day….her day.