The airport was loud — all hums and echoes, people spilling out from arrival gates with flowers, signs, open arms. You clutched the little paper you’d drawn on that morning — a sun, a stick figure, a heart that took up half the page — fingers sticky from the juice box Timothée always packed in your bag.

Kylie stood beside you, her hand resting lightly on your shoulder, eyes flicking between the arrival screens and the crowd. She smiled when she saw how you kept bouncing on your toes, too impatient to stand still.

“He’ll be here any minute,” she said softly, and you nodded, gripping your drawing tighter.

He’d been gone for weeks. Months, maybe, in your small sense of time. Dune 3, he’d said, voice crackling through the phone, always calling late, always promising, “I’ll be home before you know it.”

And now he was.

You spotted him before he saw you — moving through the crowd in that worn jacket, bag slung over his shoulder, eyes scanning until they landed on you. The moment they did, everything else seemed to fall away.

“Hey—hey,” he called softly, like he couldn’t quite believe it himself. Then he dropped the bag, arms wide open.

You ran.

He caught you mid-step, lifting you right off the ground, spinning once before setting you against his chest. You buried your face against him, and he laughed — that laugh that always sounded like sunshine.

Kylie watched with a quiet smile, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, the kind of look that said finally.

But then, as you leaned back to look at him, your eyes went wide.

“Daddy,” you whispered, squinting. “Where’s your hair?”

Timothée blinked. “What?” Then, realizing, he grinned, running a hand over the short buzz. “Oh—this? For the movie, bug. It’s still me, promise.”

You reached up, touching the top of his head with tiny fingers. “It feels weird,” you declared solemnly.

He chuckled, pretending to wince. “Weird? Not cool?”

You shook your head, lips pursed. “Weird. But you still smell like you.”

And that made him laugh again — the soft, watery kind — as he pressed a kiss to your temple. “I’ll take that.”

He picked up his bag with one arm, still holding you with the other, and looked over at Kylie. “Hey, you,” he said, voice low and warm. “Missed you.”

She smiled, stepping closer to press a quick kiss to his cheek. “Welcome home.”

He grinned, eyes flicking between the two of you. “Come on. Let’s go home. I’ve got something for you in my suitcase — straight from Arrakis.”

Your eyes lit up instantly. “A worm?”

He snorted. “Not exactly. But close enough.”

The three of you disappeared into the crowd — his hoodie hood pulled up now, Kylie’s arm linked with his, your hand tangled in his collar — just a dad, a mom, and their kid, finally back where they belonged.