Yay! I got a review! But I would really like some more!

So here's the fateful meeting between Shizuo and Sophie. Hope you like it!

DISCLAIMER - I don't own Durarara

Shizuo woke up with an incredible urge to punch the lights out of the tone-deaf person who was humming the same damn tune repeatedly. His eyes opened, and as expected, he saw the underground doctor cleaning his scalpels above the wash basin, humming tunelessly. He coughed, to get Shinra's attention.

"Ah Shizuo! Up already? You healed faster than the time you were shot by those yellow scarves delinquents!"

Shizuo, wincing, got up from the bed, clutching his chest a bit. There was pain, surprisingly, unlike the last time he had been shot.

Shinra, as though reading the confusion on face, explained, "The bullet you were shot with was coated with a stimulant which causes your nerve endings to become very sensitive to pain. So it would do you good to lie still for some more time, to allow the stimulant to leave your system."

"Tom-san?" asked Shizuo, with a vague recollection of his former senpai running forward towards him across that road.

"He and Simon got you here. He wanted to stay, but I persuaded him to leave, since it was getting late," said Shinra, with some uneasiness. A bead of sweat rolled down his brow, and he realized that he needed to get Shizuo out of here as soon as possible to avoid his meeting with his unknown family.

Not that he didn't want him to meet his family. He wanted Shizuo to meet Natasha and explain the reasons for his actions. He wanted him to lift Sophie high up in the like the proud father he knew Shizuo would be if he met her. Most of all, he wanted Shizuo to be happy. And from what he knew about Shizuo, he was the happiest when around people he loved and who loved him back.

Shinra had no doubt that Sophie would love Shizuo. Natasha would take some time, but that would work out too. But now that Natasha had given strict instructions about not telling Shizuo, he didn't feel right telling him at the moment. He'd tell him some other day, sure. But not now.

He heard the door being pulled open, and there was Celty standing there, with fresh bandages.

Shizuo, how are you feeling? She typed out.

"There's a bit of pain, but otherwise I'm fine. I can leave soon enough, can't I Shinra?"

"Sure you can! But let's do a routine check-up first."

He shone a torch in Shizuo's eyes and rushed through the procedure, because he knew that Shizuo really hated these things. But also to get him out of his house fast enough. Celty also got the hint and answered Shizuo's questions to her in brief sentences.

This did not go unnoticed by Shizuo. Normally Shinra and Celty were welcoming to him, except for the times when he interrupted their (Shinra's) private moments. But if he was injured, Shinra never turned him away. Shizuo decided to let it slide this time, and reached out to grab a cigarette from the carton in his pocket.

He was about to pull one out when he saw a girl standing outside the room, yawning away. She was a cute little girl, he to admit, with curly brown hair, purple pajamas, and was holding the ear of her rabbit plushie with one hand. When she stopped yawning she looked at him, and Shizuo was startled for a minute to see beautiful green eyes, the same ones on Natasha. That couldn't be, could it? He and Natasha were done years, ago, there was no way that little girl would look like her. Maybe he was hallucinating. Yeah, it was those stimulants making him believe all sorts of weird things.

He kept staring at her, and she stared back. Celty's back towards the girl, so she didn't notice her at first, but when she saw Shizuo looking at something behind her, she stopped typing on her PDA and looked behind, to be met with Sophie's wide eyes.

Celty began flailing her arms wildly, before realizing she had no head to speak with, and so she frantically started typing something. Luckily for her, Shinra noticed Sophia standing at the door and started rambling.

"Ahhh Shizuo! It seems that you have met my niece Sophie! Sophie-chan! This is Shizuo-san! My friend! He had a bit of an accident, but he will be fine! I'll take care of him!"

When she heard the word accident, Sophie's ears perked up. "Shinra-san! Please let me help! I can help! I hurt you very badly in the morning, please let me help!"

Hearing this, Shizuo looked at Shinra, and took note of the bandage covering Shinra's right hand, and wondered aloud, "How could a little girl hurt your arm, Shinra?" Looking back at her, he asked, "What happened?"

Tears welled up in Sophie's eyes as she recounted the tale," Shinra-san wanted to shake my hand and I held it too hard. I'm so sorry Shinra-san!"

As if on cue, Shizuo swooped down, disregarding the pain in his chest, and picked her up. "Hey hey, it's okay. Shinra get's a little annoying sometimes, but that's how he is. He'll be fine in no time and get back to be his annoying self soon enough," he said, in an almost soothing voice. Later on, he would question himself on how he instinctively knew what to do.

He looked down at Sophie nestled safely in his arms, looking up at him, and was about to smile back at her, when he looked up to Shinra, and remember what he had said about Sophie being his niece. Shizuo instead grimaced, and set her down on the floor. Sure enough the little girl has a father who would console her in such times, he thought.

Shinra and Celty, on their part, were bewildered. On one part, they were beside themselves with joy, that Shizuo knew how to deal with a child, his own child, unbeknowest to him. On the other side… he did not know she was his child. But then again, that was the only explanation for why he was having no trouble hugging her while any other grown man would be gasping for air already.

Shinra thanked the gods for his friend's, well, lack of deductive skills. Shizuo wasn't exactly an idiot, but he wasn't sharpest knife in the kitchen either. Realizing that he still hadn't asked Sophie about the reason she had gotten up, he bent down to her level and asked, "What happened, Sophie-chan? Weren't you asleep?"

"I got up, but then I was thirsty, and I wanted water."

"Ah, okay then! Let's get you some water!" he said, picking her up and leading her out into the kitchen, leaving Celty and Shizuo in the medical room.

"What about your mom? Is she up as well?" asked Shinra hesitatingly. Shizuo was home, and he had met Sophie. The last thing he wanted right now was for Natasha would meet him as well. She was tired, jet-lagged, and, though she refused to admit it, still hurting from five years ago. He wanted to give her space, before he introduced the whole family to each other.

"No, she's still sleeping." Said Sophie, yawning a bit.

Good, he thought. Hope she doesn't wake up before Shizuo leaves.

He placed Sophie on the floor when they reached the kitchen, and picked up a glass. He poured some water into it, and handed it Sophie. She drank all of it, and he then carried her back into the guest room without further incident.

When he returned to the medical room, Shizuo was preparing to leave, with Celty explaining about how Shinra's cousin from Dublin had come for some work to Tokyo for some work and had left his daughter Sophie in his care.

Ireland, thought Shizuo. Where Celty is from. And so is Natasha.

He shook his head impatiently and concentrated on packing up his clothes and his cigarettes. He then waved goodbye to Celty and Shinra, and on remembering the latter's niece, smiled softly. She was a really cute kid, and if she hadn't been Shinra's niece, he would've actually had no problems being her father figure.

Too bad she probably already had a father, who is in town for some work. Still maybe he'd come back tomorrow to pay her a visit. But best not to get too attatched, since she'd be going back soon to Ireland. Maybe if he ever meets her father, he'd give him Natasha's name and find out about how she's doing. Maybe. He still isn't sure.

It's been a while since he thought about her, as he best avoided the topic, even in his head. She was a wonderful woman who deserved someone better, someone who could protect her from all those who were after her mutations. She had called them unfortunate, as she felt she could never be accepted into society because of them. Shizuo had called them a gift, something he felt he could empathize with.

Tried as he might, his brain wouldn't shut up about his memories with her. He decided there was no point uprooting lampposts and swinging them at people in his anger, so he just let his brain be and allowed himself that one respite today. Tomorrow, he'd focus on something else. He'd stop by at Shinra's and get some cake for his niece.

Yes, that seemed like a plan.