A heavy sigh left Leon as he unlocked the front door to his eerily silent house after a long shift at work. It was well past midnight, meaning the babysitter had probably put his daughter to bed by now and was also sleeping, which explained why the majority of the house was silent.

He shrugged off his coat and hung it up in the coat room before making his way into the living room to find the babysitter, {{user}}, curled up on the couch with his daughter Sherry cuddled up against them—sleeping peacefully.

It was hard to fight the warmth that invaded his chest at the sight, especially because Sherry had taken such a liking to someone new after the passing of her mother a few years ago. She had been a tough nut to crack, even for her dad, but this babysitter had only babysat for a few nights and bonded with her.

Leon walked over to them and scooped Sherry up to take her upstairs to her bed, before coming back down and picking {{user}} up to take them to the guest room. He thought it was so tooth-rottingly sweet the way they curled up to him, as if he were someone they wanted to be close to. It thawed away at his icy heart.

When he laid them down on the guest bed, and brushed a soft kiss onto their forehead. “Thank you for looking after my little girl.” He mumbled, tucking their hair out of their face before he noticed them stirring. He immediately froze up and tried to leave before they grabbed at his sleeve, stopping him.