"Daddy?"

You stepped into his office late at night,

asking him in a small voice,

his shirt unbuttoned as he sat there,

staring off into the distance,

an almost empty bottle of whiskey

and a glass on his desk.

"Can we talk?"

It was one of those nights.

When he would come home and

barely say a word to you,

Shutting himself away into his office with

a bottle of alcohol and some cigarettes.

It was no cocaine,

but it was the next best thing to it and

he preferred to keep that part

of his life away from you.

What would you know about addiction?

"Come"

He looked at you for a moment

as you took him out of his thoughts,

tapping his thigh for you to sit there,

running a hand through his hair tiredly.

"What do ya wanna talk about huh?

You want another toy or some shit?"

"No..."

You trailed off into a short silence,

hesitating to say what it was

you had been meaning to.

"Why did you stay out so late last night?

I asked uncle frost three times and he just kept saying that it was none of my business and that little girls shouldn't ask so many questions"

"I didn't stay out late doll"

He rolled his eyes at your innocence,

playing down the truth because it was too hard to explain and it wasn't like you were going to understand it anyway.

"Daddy just...

got held up in traffic hm?"

"But I checked the news for updates and

it said the roads were clear"

You pointed out,

a low chuckle leaving his mouth

because you just loved to play detective.

"Oh,

she thinks she's smart?"

He raised an eyebrow at you amusedly,

a small grin forming on his lips.

"Well,

maybe the news was wrong.

You ever thought about that?"

"The news people lie?"

You breathed out,

staring back at him with innocent eyes,

like you had just been told some kind of revelation you hadn't been prepared for.

"I thought the intro was scary with those weird sounds but I never thought they lied to us,

daddy.

That's not okay"

"See,

That's what I've been tryna tell you"

He played along with it for the sake of your innocence.

"Bad people huh?"

"Mhm"

You agreed with him,

trying to fight the sleep in your eyes because you'd do anything just to spend one more minute with your favourite person in the whole world.

"Someone should give an anonymous

tip to the police about it,

daddy.

Do you think I should write to them?

I could send a letter in the post and say that the news people are very bad and deserve to be in jail-"

"Okay,

I think that's enough of that hm?"

He cut you off before you could get carried away with yourself,

leaning across the desk with you

still clinging to him to switch of the lamp,

kissing your forehead roughly as he stood up,

taking you to the bedroom.

"Let's get you to bed before ya get all cranky cos I'm not dealing with that shit tonight little girl"

Giggling tiredly,

you wrapped your little arms around his shoulders as he placed you onto the sheets,

leaving you there to get undressed into his sweats,

pulling off his shirt and tossing it to the side,

too late for tidiness.

Even Jack Napier,

The control freak that he was,

could just let go sometimes.

Waiting for him patiently,

you stared at him with cute little eyes

as he got into bed with you,

laying on his side so you could still see him.

"What cha staring at huh?"

He grinned,

teasing you playfully.

"You want some of this?"

"Some of what?"

You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion.

"What do you have daddy?"

"When someone says you want some of this,

it's means they're about to beat 'the shit out of you so you got a few seconds to get out of there"

He pulled you onto his chest roughly,

making you giggle.

"I'm really good at fighting dada"

You insisted.

"Oh really?"

He chuckled.

"What do you know about fighting hm?"

You were always there.

Waiting for him at his disposal.

It was kind of sad,

how willing you were to make him

the centre of your very being.

"I know how to bite?"

You offered.

"If someone tries to hurt me,

I could just bite them really hard dada and hope that it hurts enough that they will stop"

"Like this?"

He growled playfully,

biting down on your neck,

sinking his teeth into you softly.

"Or this?"

"No daddy!"

You giggled uncontrollably,

burying your head into his chest to hide.

"Not like that!"

On those dark nights,

his little girl made them just a little bit lighter.