Harold dragged his feet into the sitting room. The sight of the teapot with an awaiting cup brought relief to the bedraggled king. There were days where his duties were incredibly rewarding, but on others much less so. A day full of negotiations and people whom he distinctly disliked left him feeling worse for wear. He had spent the hours the meetings had dragged on for wishing for that very moment, where he could relax and not think about things for a while. Switching his brain off was something he had grown to very much enjoy.

His wife lifted her eyes from the book she was reading to smile at him. He barely mustered a smile back, flopping into his chair beside her.

"Are you alright?" she asked him simply.

He met her gaze. "It's fine," he waved it off. "Or at least I hope so." Switching off for the night didn't involve relaying the events to his wife, he could do that tomorrow. She nodded her understanding. They had ruled together long enough that she knew their routine. He reached for the teapot-

"Fiona is tucked into bed." His wife was fast, stopping his movement. "Will you go and say goodnight?"

Harold's eyes drifted to the window, the curtains hadn't been drawn despite the darkness. The sun safely below the horizon. "Uh-"

"She's noticing when you won't say goodnight to her, Harold," Lillian's voice was chastising.

He blinked at her insistence. It wasn't like it was unwarranted, but he couldn't see the problem with it. He didn't see what was wrong with unwinding for a little while before needing to deal with something else. It wasn't like his personal life was without problems either. "She'll be asleep," he observed, his wife only raised a brow. "Of course I shall say goodnight to her, later." He would, if he remembered.

Lillian remained unconvinced, she continued, "Will you kiss her head?" she asked. "Like you used to?"

He froze, his thoughts beginning to scramble in a panic. "I-"

His wife was not done, the pent-up frustration flooding out. "We used to read to her, cuddle her, cherish her every night. Why does her changing forms stop that?"

Lillian didn't understand, it had grown clearer to him. He screwed up his nose. "But it's disgusting, Lillian. We shouldn't… I couldn't…"

He was only met with a glare. "She is our daughter, Harold." She took a breath. "We must accept what happened."

"I know," he sighed. The defensiveness rose within him. He loved his daughter, if anything, it made the whole situation worse. Perhaps if he didn't care then he wouldn't do anything, he'd just accept it. But that wouldn't do any good for her. It was tough love. "But there is a line. With our acceptance, comes her acceptance. And then where does that acceptance end?" He looked wide eyed at his wife. "What if she just decides one day that she doesn't mind it? Or even that she likes it? What if she decides to tell people, what will happen then? No one will want her like that." He gestured up, up through the castle to where she was safely shut in her room.

"Harold…"

"She'll be the ogre princess forever!" he was adamant, for once he didn't care for his wife's approval.

She shook her head. "You're making this about yourself again," she raised her eyebrows, words firm and even, "aren't you?"

"This isn't about me! This isn't anything like me... This is completely different," he stumbled over his words. "I'm just trying to protect our daughter, Lillian. Protect her from the people who will think lesser of her just because of the... the unfortunate circumstance she's in. As her father, I will not let her give up and accept it. It's not her fault, she shouldn't suffer consequences because of misplaced acceptance and trust in the world."

Lillian finally backed down, her shoulders slumped a little, she sighed. "It's no one's fault." Her eyes cast downwards.

"It's... Well..." he faltered a little, "No, it's... it's no one's fault."

Her resolve flooded back. "I still say we should conduct our own searches for the witch who did this. Perhaps she could offer a reversal, or perhaps then we could take it to the public and word would spread until we could find someone." Her gaze was almost pleading.

"No, no. The Fairy Godmother said she would handle it." It disgusted him most to say those words. He did want to conduct searches, searches that would result in the truth. Except… not the whole truth. "I trust her, dear. She-she knows what's best here. It's magic business, we couldn't comprehend it."

A frown crossed her features. "I can certainly comprehend what it's doing to our daughter every night."

"As can I." The pair faded into silence. There was no resolution to the arguments that revolved around their child. The resolution was the curse breaking and her humanity restored, but it seemed they had a long while to wait. A long while that Fiona had to bear the brunt of. Harold was happy Lillian didn't know the details of their deal, it meant she could oppose the Fairy Godmother much easier, it also meant the Fairy Godmother had to give in a little easier too. It was good for the both of them that she didn't find out. He feared what would have happened to his daughter if there was no opposition and his unfortunate ally getting everything she wished for.

Lillian finally took a breath, speaking softly, "She waits for you, Harold." They met each other's gaze. "All she wants is her father to say goodnight."

Harold carefully entered his daughter's bedroom. He tried to withhold the saddening of his expression when he laid eyes on her. She was sat in bed, reading by candlelight. Her long ears perked up as she saw him enter.

"Daddy!" She grinned at him, revealing the half missing tooth she had lost a small while ago. It was cute in the day-time, only now it made him shudder.

"I've come to say goodnight," he announced himself, warily approaching her bed. She snapped the book closed, attention focused solely on him. He gingerly sat at the edge of her bed. Immediately she began bunching the covers, moving them off of herself. "No no," he halted her advances. "It's quite alright, you've already been tucked in."

Her happy expression faded a little. "Oh," her ears lowered, "okay." She mustered another smile. "I like it when you come to say goodnight, I was reading so I could wait for you."

"That's... that's very good, dear. Of course I shall say goodnight… when I'm not too busy." The guilt crept over him.

"You were too busy last time I waited. But look, daddy, I'm practising!" The child's attention was quickly changed. She opened the book once again, flipping to a certain page. "It says, the cat tipped its hat and said g-good bye to the… the princess." She dragged a large finger across the words, suddenly looking up to him, giggling. "The cat is so fat!" She turned the book around to show him.

He smiled at it hesitantly.

"Mom says I'm doing good at reading…" she spoke expectantly, peering at him.

"You are." He nodded. "Well done, darling." Her expression brightened again at his approval. He sat stiffly at the end of her bed, watching her as she flipped across the pages once more. "Fiona," he addressed her a little more seriously, "I want to promise you that things will get better. You won't have to endure this forever."

Her nose wrinkled in confusion. "What?"

"You... your form, darling."

"Oh." She looked a little surprised down at her unsightly green hands. "Yes." She took hold of one of her ears, before dropping her hands to her lap. "I'm ugly," her voice was soft.

"You're beautiful in the day time, and it will be that way at night too, one day. I promise that, I will make sure of it."

She nodded, blinking down at her lap, she looked towards her book again.

"Now sweet dreams, Fiona." He stood, giving her a smile. "No more reading, now. It's-it's time for bed."

Fiona smiled back at him. "I promise I won't, daddy."

"That's my girl." He nodded at her. "Goodnight, I'll see you tomorrow, darling."

"Goodnight daddy." She placed the book on her nightstand. "I love you."

"I-I love you too." He nodded again at his green child, already in the doorway.

. . .

This is the first story I finished for this fic but there was always one I liked better to upload. It finally escaped the document!

I hope you liked, please leave a review :)