Summary: Where 5 year old Prue sees her father's brand code on his arm for the first time, the code product of how he was built
"Daddy?"
Prue's tiny voice questions, little fingers tracing Pops's wrist with interest. Her father cracks open a single eye from where he lies dozing on the sofa.
Little Prue had joined him several minutes ago, nattering in the way only a child can, until she had gone quiet and curled into her father's side, her hand pulling on Pops, to study it
"Yes sweetheart?"
It takes Prue another couple of seconds to decide if she is actually going to continue with her question, a little puff of breath is emitted before she carries on.
"What is code:1xt800?"
Pops noticed what she was looking at and froze. How was he supposed to tell his own flesh and blood, that he wasn't even human, he sighed at how complicated his past was.
Prue gets her curiousness from her mother; Pops mind flashes back to when Robin asked an almost identical question all that time ago when they had met.
He forces both his eyes fully open, shifting Prue onto his lap so that he can both hold her and explain at the same time.
He does not look forward to a time when Prue is too big to do this - there is a part of him that wishes Prue would stay this small and full of questions forever.
Pops braces himself to explain his very complicated past to Prue , she's heard some of it before, but nothing about him being a Terminator not yet at least.
''It was a bar code when I was in the war,'' Pops began, it wasn't really a lie since he was in a war in the future. ''And I had been captured and they put this code on me.''
Prue takes a few seconds to absorb this information, Pops can practically hear her little brain whizzing and whirring with the effort.
She continues to trace the code on her father's arm, her finger following the numbers .
"Did you get captured cause you love Mamma?"
She looks up at Pops, her little eyes the spitting image of Pops with a thick black curl threatening to cover them.
"Yeah," Killian admits "I love her very much. and you too, Sweetheart"
Prue seems to accept this easily. Pops is in awe of how understanding his little girl is, how she can just trust her father without any barriers.
His heart aches in way he had missed for of years until he met Robin and until he had a child of his own. Prue has returned to examining the code with interest.
"What happened to you?"
Prue knows what love means, she sees it every day in a way that makes Pops almost envious; Prue has such a little family who would do anything for her, something that neither Pops nor Robin had for a long time and thus strive to provide for their Daughter.
"I escaped, but a life was taken in the process."Prue's little eyes snap up to her father, worry flooding them.
Prue pushes herself up from her place on her father's lap, sock clad feet painfully standing on Pops legs.
Her tiny arms wrap around Pops and she buries her face in her father's neck. Pops can feel the soft puffs of breath against his collarbone comfortingly.
"I'm sorry Daddy ." Pops cannot help the tears that start to build in his eyes and fall down into Prue 's inky hair. He lays a soft kiss onto her forehead and wipes his tears.
"I am too." He releases the breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. Here is his little duckling, who is so small and young compared to his own forty of years, and yet Prue is comforting him.
Pops is struck by her content. For such a long time he had thought the only way he could ever be happy was if he isolated from Humans.
then he had met Robin and fallen deeper in love than he ever imagined. It may have taken a while, a few Terminator's and times coming between them, but eventually they had managed to find each other again – and then Prue came along to join them, making their world even brighter.
Pops treasures everyday with his family, desperately aware of his happiness and his luck in managing to live so long to find them.
Prue remains in his arms for a few minutes, content to just be in the presence of her father.
But eventually she becomes restless and wriggles away to play with her toys that litter the floor. Pops watches as his Daughter create whole worlds in her imagination.
Her squeals of laughter fill their house as Pops joins her on the floor, altering his voice for each of the characters on Prue's toy boat.
And this is how Robin finds them when she returns home from work with Sarah and Josh in tow.
Prue immediately runs over to pull Josh in to their game after saying a quick hello to her mother; Pops stands up at a slower pace to Robin , sauntering over to where she is putting the shopping on the counter.
His arms find their way around her waist, he plants a kiss there. She lifts an arm to stroke his hair as she unpacks the shopping bag, pausing momentarily she revel in the domesticity of her life as he holds her, listening to her Daughter and Josh's laughter across the room.
"How was your day with Prue ?" She asks, turning in his arms to give him a peck on the lips.
"Good. We played for a bit, read a book." He pauses before adding. "She asked about my code, the code you asked me about." Robin hums good naturedly.
"What did you tell her ?" She glances over his shoulder to look at the girl in question.
"Just that I was in a war, fighting for freedom" Pops chokes on his last words, the harsh memories of their lost feeling particularly fresh.
He swallows his tears as she caresses his face, showing him how much she loves him without words. They stand wrapped up for a few minutes while Prue and Josh play in the background, until he pulls away to face his daughter and Josh
"Who wants to go to Golden Carrel for dinner?" Shouts of agreement come from the living room and Prue come barrelling towards Pops who leans down to catch her , hauling her up into his arms with an exaggerated groan.
"You are getting heavy little one!"
He puts Prue down and helps her put his shoes on coat on as Robin texts Kyle to ask if he wants to meet them at Golden Carrel. Prue walks in between her parents as the sun sets on Eustis , asking every couple of feet to be sung in the air.
They cannot resist her pleas and her laughter rings out all the way to Golden Carrel . They laugh the whole way through the meal, Josh and Prue giggling constantly until they wear themselves out, Prue's little head almost drooping into her food several times.
She clings onto her father the whole way home, her eyes fluttering closed almost as soon as her head hits her father's shoulder.
As Pops places her in the bed when they finally reach home way past her bed time, Prue whispers four little words that make Pop's heart clench as he turns the lights off in his Daughters room.
"I love you Daddy."