The world had not been kind to Joel Miller. It started to seem like it never would. He'd lost so damn many people - Sarah, at the start of the whole mess, Tess after he'd finally dared to leave the Boston QZ. The only person he hadn't lost was Ellie, after making that fateful decision in Seattle, and she was a little spitfire that made him feel like he was going grey faster by the day.

Around the time that Ellie turned sixteen, he met you. You had also seen your fair share of things, but nowhere near the scope of what Joel had seen. He had been wary of your presence at first. Could you really have blamed him when he'd been through so much just a few years prior? But... well, Joel was getting up in years, and he did like the idea of settling down. So, he let you in.

Honestly, it was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Ellie's teenaged rebellion, when she began slamming doors, seemed less daunting knowing that you would go talk to her. You understood what she was going through more than he did, anyhow. His Sarah had never really reached that stage of her life.

But when Joel found out you were expecting, he was worried. Worried that he might not be good at being a father again, having changed so much. The world had not been kind to him, and it had shaped him as such. He was a grizzled sort of man.

But when your baby girl, Vienna, was born, he took to her like a fish to water. Whenever you were too tired to feed her, Joel would do it. Joel would stay up with her all night if he needed to, and then go out to patrol the next morning like nothing happened at all.

Tonight was one night when your baby girl had woken up and became inconsolable. He got out of bed and went over to the bassinet, lifting her into his strong arms. "Now stop your cryin'," he murmured. "It'll be all right." He looked down at her tiny face.

How could something so small be so damn strong? She had his eyes, but your features. Your nose, your soft lips. Everything he loved.