“Daddy, I”m ready for school!”

Dalton, in the middle of doing his eyeliner, looked away from his bathroom mirror to see Malina at his doorway. About to tell her to go eat some of the breakfast he made, he notices her outfit and smiles. 

Red jeans, plain black shirt, and black converse. 

The exact outfit he was wearing.

“I’m almost done, sweetie. Why don’t you go to the kitchen and eat? I made your favorite. Chocolate chip pancakes!” Her smile widens as she gasps in excitement and runs out his room, then turns back to the mirror to finish getting ready.

--

Both still in the same outfit, it was now dinner time and the two were eating Lina’s favorite meal. Well her current one anyways. Bacon Mac N’Cheese. They were watching Big Hero 6 as they ate, sat on the floor in front of the TV. 

“Daddy?” His attention snaps away from the screen, giving Lina a gentle smile as his gaze falls to her. “I know you says they don’t matter very much...but...does I have a present?”

“Of course. You always get one from me. I thought you’d never ask,” he chuckles, reaching to a spot behind them to get the neatly wrapped box he had somehow successfully hid. “Happy birthday, princess.”

Her giggles filled the air as she put her plate next to her and took a hold of the box. She shook it slightly before taking the bow that was taped on it and placed it at the top of her head. “Pretty?”

“Very.” He gives a thumbs up and takes out his phone to take a picture.

Tearing away at the paper and opening the box, she gasps excitedly and takes out a lavender dress. It was simple yet elegant enough for her birthday tea party. “I loves it! Thank you da-” Her attention gets caught by another thing in the box and moves the tissue paper around until it reveals a small leather jacket.

“It’s a dress for your party. I know you don’t have a dress that color and you can wear this one whenever you’d like unlike the other ones you have. And the jacket is so you can still be like daddy. Princess with an edge,” he smiles.

Lina picks up the jacket and tries it on. But not before carefully placing the dress back in the box. “It fits! And looks like yours! Thanks yous!” She tackles him into a hug, his own arms immediately wrapping around her.

“Don’t thank me, thank Uncle David. He helped pick it out. The dress I mean.”

“Is Uncle David coming?”

“He’s gonna try, sweetie. Work got him super busy.”

“Oh. Okays.” Her eyes go back to the screen on the TV just as Tadashi mentions his and Hiro’s parents. “Daddy?”

“Yes, princess?”

“Where’s mommy?” Dalton froze at the question. “I always sees my friends with their mommies. And I gets asked where mines is. They sees Freya and Bryce sometimes. And they think they’re my mommy. Are they?” Her blue eyes look up at his sea green ones, filled with curiosity.

“N-no, sweetheart. They’re just friends of ours.”

“Oh...then where’s mommy? Is she here when I’s sleeping?” 

With every word she spoke, his heart sank a little. 

He couldn’t tell her that her mother had literally left her. Gone with out a trace. 

He couldn’t tell her that she was cliche-ly left at her father’s doorstep. --Even if he could, it wasn’t his doorstep. It was David’s. 

Then he would have had to explain how he wasn’t biologically her father, and that technically both her biological parents didn’t want her.

He couldn’t tell her any of this. 

Not yet anyways.

He shakes his head slightly. “Lina, sweetheart. Mommy...Your mom...she...” Dalton couldn’t find any words to say. Couldn’t even try to make up a lie.

However Lina seemed to pick up the general message and looked down, a frown evident on her face. “ I don’t have one...”

Tears started to form in his eyes as he heard soft sniffles from her. “I’m so sorry, Malina,” he whispers, his hold on her tightening a bit. “I don’t understand what happened. But she’s...she’s just gone.” Kissing the top of her head, he rocks them back and forth slightly.

Little sobs escape Lina’s lips as she tucks herself into Dalton’s chest. “I wants a mommy...”

“I know, baby girl. I want you to have a mommy, too. --Do you wanna share a mommy? I’m sure grandma won’t mind,” he says, joking slightly.

Though Linda shakes her head no. “Who gonna be grandma then?” she ask after a few moments.

“You know, if you think about it. I’m kinda both daddy and mommy.” He explains to her how he’s always taken care of her, how he’s able to pick all her clothes without too much trouble, does most things that “only mommies do”; just basically everything he’s ever done for her.

She nods, somewhat understanding, and calms down a little. “Can I still has a mommy though?”