Begin!

Universe*: This will from now on be the symbol to show which one shots are actually in my universe. Very few people read these top descriptions anyway, but I've gotten so much confusion on this topic that I need to address and clearly mark them. Hopefully, you won't be confused anymore with this system!

Note: Based off ending details from my story How It Should Have Been. It's not necessary that you read it.

~Duncan's POV

"Daddy," I heard a sweet little voice call from the entrance to my office.

I smiled and looked up from my stack of papers to see my darling little 6 year old daughter Nikki grinning up at me. Violet and I couldn't believe how perfect she had turned out. Nikki Karen Quagmire was everything my wife and I had hoped she would be. She had inherited my eyes, but the rest of her features appeared to be a mixture between us. We both had black hair though so she got that too. Nikki liked to have her hair long just like her mother, it went down her back gracefully, and she had inherited Violet's habit of tying her hair back with a ribbon to think.

"Come on in Nik," I replied as I set aside my work.

She ran up to my desk and climbed onto my lap, "I painted a picture for you! It just finished drying."

She held up a piece of paper and set it on my desk neatly. Nikki had been slowly developing her skills as an artist ever since her finger painting days as a toddler. She took her black ribbon out of her hair as she waited eagerly for my opinion on her latest masterpiece.

"It looks great Nik," I said smiling, "What's it supposed to be?"

"It's a picture of me, Lizzie, and Sam," She pointed to each person in the picture.

I nodded, "Oh, I see it now."

Elizabeth Baudelaire was Klaus and Isadora's daughter; Sam Quagmire, or Samuel as he was actually named, was Quigley and Fiona's son. The Baudelaire/Quagmire family was close as close could be since we all grew up. Our three houses were all situated together on the same land, making us neighbors. Nikki, Lizzie, and Sam treated each other like siblings rather than cousins. Having them see each other all the time due to our living status helped a lot in keeping them close.

"When is mommy coming home? I want to show it to her too."

"She said she'd be home later," I answered, "Why? Aren't I good enough?"

Nikki giggled, "You're perfect daddy! I just wanted to know. She looked worried when she left."

Violet had to rush downtown to our family run printing house to fix an emergency with the printing press she had built for me. I had chosen to work on my news reports from home today so it was just me and Nikki. Klaus and Isadora were out with Lizzie for lunch. And Quigley and Fiona had taken Sam to visit his grandfather and uncle on the Queequeg. My thoughts were interrupted as the phone rang.

I picked it up, "Hello... Yes love we're here."

"Is it mommy? Can I talk to her," Nikki pleaded.

I put it on speaker phone, "Hey sweetheart, how's my girl doing?"

"I'm alright mommy! I just finished painting another picture!"

"Is the printer fixed, love," I asked worriedly; Violet had built that thing for me after inheriting her family fortune, I would hate to see it damaged beyond repair.

We heard her sigh, "It's fine now, but I had to fire someone for mishandling it. I'll be here a bit longer to sort this mess out. Nikki, you'd better behave for your father. And I want to see that picture when I get home."

"I will!"

"Violet, relax," I chuckled, "You have nothing to worry about. Have some faith in your husband!"

"I have faith in you, Duncan," She laughed, "But a mother's worry never rests. I'll be home later, bye honey, bye Nik!"

"Bye mommy!"

I hung up the phone and patted Nikki's head, "Guess it's just you and me for a while longer."

She got up off my lap, "Ok daddy; when are Uncle Klaus and Auntie Isadora coming home? Lizzie and I wanted to play today."

"They'll probably be home after lunch," I replied as I stood and started putting away the files I was working on.

I continued putting away files as I heard her ask another question, "Daddy, can I have some of your tea?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Nikki took a big gulp from my cup of tea and smiled, "Wow this is really good! I don't think I've ever had this kind before."

After about a minute I heard something that I always hated to hear come from my little girl, "Uh, daddy... I don't feel so good."

I quickly turned around to see Nikki had red splotches all over her face and arms and was now scratching them a bit. I'd never seen this happen before!

"Nikki, what's wrong with you?"

"I don't know! I just took a drink some of your tea and then I turned all red and itchy!"

Oh, no, Violet will be furious when she gets home! I broke our child; she's going to kill me! I grabbed Nikki's arm and dragged her to the bathroom down the hall. I lifted her shirt a bit to look her over, and saw that the red spots had also appeared on her stomach, meaning they were most likely on the rest of her as well. My fatherly instincts had reached full on panic mode. I didn't know what to do in this situation, Violet was usually the one who handled illnesses, and I could tell she wasn't faking it.

"Should we call mommy?"

"Uh, no Nik, let's not worry your mother about this. I'm sure we can figure it out. Just give me a minute to think."

I can't call Violet, she'd be livid if she knew I broke our girl. I can't call Sunny because she's still in class at Whitmore Academy; besides even if she wasn't it'd take her an hour to get to the estate by taxi and Violet would most likely be home by then. I can't call Klaus or Isadora because they'd probably tell me to call Violet. And I definitely can't call Quigley or Fiona because they're busy too. Damn. What did I do to deserve this? I glanced down at my little daughter as she looked up at me with a fearful gaze. I hated seeing her in any kind of pain. My heart was clenched up with worry. Last year, Nikki, Lizzie, and Sam had all gotten the chickenpox together, and boy it was a nightmare watching the kids suffer like that. This couldn't be the same thing though; you should only get chicken pox once as far as I know. I opened our medicine cabinet and searched for anything that might be useful in aiding this predicament.

I suppose I could just rush her over to the hospital, but that would just worry Violet more if she came home to find us gone without explanation. I searched the cabinet top to bottom. Eventually I found some calamine lotion; I remembered this being very useful when the kids had chicken pox. I started to apply it to her arm to see if it helped at all.

"I don't feel any different," Nikki said with a frown, "Are you sure we shouldn't call mommy?"

"I'm sure Nik. We can find a way around this."

I let her wipe the lotion off her arm with a rag and sighed as I put a hand to my forehead trying to think of a solution to our problem.

"Ok let's think. First what is the actual problem?"

My observational, journalist, instincts kicked in as I looked her over once more. My brain immediately snapped to a theory: hives. Yeah that's the problem! She had broken out in hives. Now how do I cure hives within a few minutes before-?

"Hey, I'm home!"

Shit. Nikki perked up at the sound of Violet's voice from the living room and looked at me.

"What now," She whispered, "Mommy won't be happy to see me like this."

"Uh..."

"Duncan? Nikki?"

I glanced at the hall worriedly. Finally after several moments I decided to just come clean. I couldn't hide it forever after all. I grabbed Nikki's arm and pulled her along behind me as we walked into the living room. Violet smiled at me, which only made me feel worse for what I had to do.

"Hey, there you are," She said giving me a quick kiss, "Don't worry about the printing press; Melissa offered to take over until we find a new employee. You just can't find good help these days."

I didn't respond as I kept Nikki firmly hidden behind me. Violet's gaze turned curious as she stared at me.

"Duncan, is something wrong?"

I sighed; it was now or never, "Violet... I have some bad news... I think I broke our child."

"You what," Violet asked looking immensely confused.

I let Nikki step out from behind me and Violet stared down at her in shock.

"Mommy, something happened and daddy tried to fix it, but I think it got worse," Nikki said guiltily; she seemed to think it was her fault somehow.

I watched my wife's reaction as I waited for her to start ranting. What I hadn't expected though was for Violet Quagmire to start laughing at the sight of our little girl covered in hives.

"Duncan, you didn't 'break' Nikki," Violet replied between giggles, "She just has hives."

"How can you laugh at this," I asked.

Violet wiped a few tears from her eyes, "She just needs a baking soda bath and everything will be fine."

"A baking soda bath...?"

"How did this happen, Nik?"

"I took a drink of daddy's tea," Nikki replied.

Violet sent me to get my cup from my office. She smirked as she looked at the liquid inside.

"Yep, just as I thought," My wife said after a moment, "Looks like our daughter inherited my peppermint allergy."

I felt like punching myself. Of course, Violet and her siblings were allergic to peppermints so when I let our daughter drink my mint tea she got the effects too. Violet went to the kitchen and grabbed some baking soda before pulling Nikki along with her to the bathroom to cure her. And here I thought I had just broken our daughter... Maybe I should stop drinking mint tea...

~...

"Klaus, I think I broke our daughter! Her tongue is swollen up to where I can't understand a word she says!"

~The End

A simple story about Duncan as a doting daddy to his little girl; this is how I always pictured him acting as a parent.