~About 1 year before the manga/anime starts~

~Toshinori's POV~

I fell out of bed as my phone blared The Star-Spangled Banner. Groggily I picked myself up off the floor and glanced at the glowing blue alarm clock on my nightstand. It was three in the morning. Who was calling me at this hour? Reaching for my phone, I paused, I didn't recognize the number but I knew the area code was from the US.

"Hello?" I answered the phone feeling a sense of uneasiness.

"Toshinori?" A soft feminine voice I hadn't heard in fourteen years sounded from the other end of the line. It was the voice of my old partner, Ayumi. We had both trained under Nana and shared a love of America. Ayumi moved to the states, she wanted us both to retire and travel the world but I couldn't.

"Ayumi?"

There was an unhealthy cough from the other end, it sounded as if there were fluid in her lungs. Was she okay? "I'm glad you remember me...I'm sorry Toshinori, I don't have a lot of time and I couldn't die with any regrets..."

"Ayumi? What's wrong?" I felt my heart clench in my chest.

"Listen, Toshinori, I didn't tell you sooner...because when we discussed it you didn't want to settle down...the reason I'd brought up the subject at the time was...I was pregnant..."

I felt all the color drain from my face and dropped back onto the bed not sure I could stand. "You mean-...I'm a-... father?"

It sounded like Ayumi was struggling to breathe, "Yes...I'm not calling to make you feel guilty...it's just...there was an accident, it doesn't look like I'm going to make it, and-." Her voice cracked, "I know you weren't ready for a family and its unfair of me to do this to you, but you're the only one I trust enough to care for her..."

Her? Tears welled in my eyes, "I have a daughter?"

I could hear the smile in her voice, "Yes, she is indisputably yours, she took after you most, even after you were gone I was reminded of you every day..."

"What's her name?"

"Amelia, but she likes to be called Amy-." Another coughing fit claimed her, I could hear what I could only imagine to be blood being expelled from her lips. "Please, take care of her, Toshinori." A choked sob escaped her.

"I will, I promise, where are you? I'm on my way." My voice shook.

I waited as patiently as I could in the busy hospital lobby. By the time I'd arrived, Ayumi had succumbed to her injuries. From what I could piece together from what little information the nurses knew, Ayumi and Amy had been driving home in the early hours of the morning though I wasn't sure from where. They were hit head on by a drunk driver. Ayumi had managed to activate her quirk in time to protect Amy to the best of her ability and took the brunt of the damage.

"All Might, I'm Dr. Cohen." A man in a white lab coat approached me with a somber smile and extended his hand to me. "I'm sorry for your loss. Ms. Takada left these for you and Amelia." He handed me two envelopes with his free hand.

I accepted his handshake in greeting and took the envelopes. "Thank you...how is Amelia?"

"She hasn't woken up yet. Her injuries were quite severe, she'll need to stay here for a few days and she won't be cleared for travel for at least a week. She's stable now and we're confident she'll make a full recovery." He said with a kind smile, "We weren't sure if you wanted to break the news to her when she woke up, so it wasn't coming from a stranger?"

I shifted uncomfortably, I was more of a stranger to her than the doctors and nurses taking care of her. "Yeah..."

"I can take you to her now, if you like?"

I nodded and followed him out of the lobby to the Intensive Care Unit. Didn't he say she was stable now? Something must have been revealed on my face as Dr. Cohen offered me a reassuring smile.

"We're just keeping her down here till she's awake so we can keep an eye on her vitals and make sure there hasn't been any memory loss or brain injury that wasn't revealed on any of the scans. Just a precaution, standard procedure." He reassured me.

I nodded again, accepting his response and followed him as he ducked behind a curtain into a small sectioned off area. My gaze was immediately drawn to the hospital bed in the center of the small area, to the pale petite figure with the long sunshine golden hair. So that was what Ayumi had meant, that she was indisputably mine. Ayumi had black as night hair and dark eyes, so of course Amy's golden hair came from me. One look at her sleeping face and I knew in a heartbeat, she was mine, not that I thought Ayumi would ever lie about something like that. It just clicked.

Looking beyond the hospital bed, I noticed a male nurse in navy blue scrubs sitting in a chair next to her bedside his eyes constantly flicking from the monitor to her sleeping face, occasionally looking away to jot down something on her chart. He straightened up as Dr. Cohen and I entered the room.

"Any change?" Dr. Cohen asked him.

The nurse smiled, "Her blood pressure went back down, I know we'd been a little worried about how high it had been, but it's in a normal range now. Pulse is strong, breathing is good, just need her to wake up and see what she remembers." His warm brown eyes glanced in my direction before growing wide, "I had no idea she was All Might's kid." He laughed nervously, "We're taking good care of her, promise."

"Thanks, young man." I found the will to smile.

Dr. Cohen motioned for me to take the chair opposite the nurse before offering me a gentle smile, "Is there anything I can get for you at this time, All Might?"

"No. Thank you, Dr. Cohen."

He smiled once more before addressing the nurse, "Page me as soon as she wakes up and we'll get her into a more comfortable room to rest."

"Yes, sir." The nurse grinned before returning his focus back to his patient.

Dr. Cohen turned to me again, "Once she's awake and we can get our final assessment done of her cognition I'll go over her medical chart with you."

"Thank you."

With that said he took his leave.

I looked down at the sleeping girl and felt something tug at my heart strings. She looked so small and fragile in the hospital bed. Her skin was pale indicating she'd lost a lot of blood. There was a small bandage on her left cheek and a slightly bigger one across her forehead. Both her arms were littered in bandages. There was some bruising poking out from the bandages on her face. The rest of her was covered by a blanket so I wasn't sure how much damage she'd taken or the severity of her injuries.

It appeared her nurse was a fan of mine as I noticed an All Might lanyard around his neck with his ID badge though he wasn't paying me any attention. I was grateful for this, glad he was focusing all of his attention on his patient.

After about twenty minutes, I noticed a slight twitch in her index finger. Turning my attention to her face, I saw a slight flutter of movement beneath her long dark lashes and held my breath as she began to stir awake. Her nurse didn't miss a beat, he set his pad aside and leaned forward taking one of her small hands in his.

"It's alright, you're safe, you're at St. Vincent's Hospital." He said in a soft calming voice as she started to come to.

Her eyelids fluttered open revealing a pair of bright blue eyes. They widened in panic but her nurse handled it amazingly.

"Don't worry. It's okay. You're at St. Vincent's Hospital. Can you tell me your name?" He asked in a calming voice as he gently gripped her hand. I noticed it was a tactic not only to keep her calm but with the placement of his fingers he could feel her pulse as he talked to her.

Frantically she looked around the small room. Her wild blue eyes fell on me and I noticed a look of confusion cross her face before she turned her attention back to the nurse. "Amelia." Her voice was soft and sweet just like Ayumi's had been.

"Good." The nurse smiled, "Do you know where you are?" It was a test to check her short-term memory to see if she could remember what he'd told her.

"St. Vincent's Hospital."

"Very good." He smiled before reaching with his free hand to a pager on his hip to page Dr. Cohen. "How do you feel? Let's make a checklist of ouchies." He cringed as he realized he'd kidded his statement down too much, "Sorry about that, I've been dealing mostly with littler kids all day."

Amelia glanced around the small room again, "Where's my mom?" Her voice shook.

The nurse's smile fell and realization clicked. She registered what had happened and fell quiet. I felt like someone punched me in the gut as I watched her shut down, her eyes dulled and she folded into herself as tears welled in her eyes.

"Ah." The nurse panicked and reached out to comfort her, "I'm really sorry." He looked to me for help.

What was I supposed to say? What was I supposed to do? I knew nothing about raising children. As I nearly lost myself in helpless despair, I found my resolve. I may not know about child rearing but I knew quite a bit about saving people and right now, Amy needed saving. To her it probably felt like her entire world was imploding around her, she didn't need a father right now, she needed a hero.

Forcing myself to smile I reached toward her, "Never fear, young Amy for I am here and everything will be okay-." I cut off as she rolled onto her side turning away from me and curled into a ball.

The nurse shook his head with a silent sigh before mouthing, 'what was that?!'

I was sure that would work. Most kids got excited when I delivered rousing speeches and offered them reassurance. Helplessly I mouthed back at him, 'I don't know what I'm doing.'

He rolled his eyes and mouthed back, 'yeah, that was pretty obvious.' Sighing he gently placed a hand on Amy's shoulder. "I'm really sorry, Amelia...we did everything we could to save her..."

Dr. Cohen stepped through the curtain at this moment and took quick note of the situation before frowning grimly. I noticed something as Amy cried silently curled in a ball on the hospital bed. Every object in the room save for her bed began to rise off whatever surface they were on. The nurse jumped as the chair he was sitting on drifted into the air taking him along with it.

"Amelia." Dr. Cohen took a step forward before he too was lifted off the ground. "Ah!"

"Well this is a fun development." The nurse chuckled as he clung to the chair.

I looked to Amy's small trembling form as she cried silently. It didn't seem like she was aware of what she was doing. She had Ayumi's quirk, but it already seemed like it was much stronger. Ayumi had only been able to use her telekinetic powers to move a maximum of ten objects at once. Judging by the number of objects and people floating in the air, Amy didn't have that kind of restriction.

"Amy." I said her name softly and moved toward her. As I approached her, I felt myself begin to float into the air and hurriedly grabbed hold of the railing on her bed. What was I supposed to say to her? What did one say to a grieving child who lost the only parent they ever knew? "Amy...please listen to me, I don't know if your mother told you anything about me, she certainly didn't tell me about you until about fourteen hours ago...I know she loved you very much and all she wanted was for you to be happy and taken care of...I'll see to it that her wishes are honored." Was this even working?

From the collection of panicked shouts, I had a feeling her quirk was extending beyond the reach of our small sectioned off area. Her telekinesis was strong.

"Give her the letter!" Dr. Cohen yelled worrying for the other patients on the floor.

"Ah, right. Amy, your mother left you this letter." I pulled the letters out of my pocket and extended the one with her name on it toward her.

There was a pause and she shakily lifted her head and looked at me with the saddest most heart wrenching look, I'd ever seen. She noticed Dr. Cohen and the nurse floating in the air and bit her lip looking guilt ridden and scared. Her quirk seemed to be hard for her to control when she was upset.

I offered her a smile, "It's okay. Just take a deep breath."

She did as I said and struggled to lower everything back to the ground safely. Once everything was back in its place and the nurse, Dr. Cohen and myself were back on our feet she accepted the letter from me. Her fingers trembled as she opened the envelope and I hesitantly looked down at my own with my name on it. Dr. Cohen told the nurse what room she was going to before taking his leave to check on the other patients.

The letter inside my envelope was long and seemed like a crash course instruction manual on how to raise a teenage girl.

Dearest Toshinori,

I'm sorry to spring all of this on you all of a sudden. It wasn't my intention. Honestly, I'd hoped you could live your life in ignorant bliss, but I think that was just me being selfish and wanting to keep Amy all to myself. You'll understand once you get to know her.

She's a very special girl, she's very sweet, caring and sensitive. I'm sure you've learned by now her quirk is much like mine but it gets out of control when she's upset. When this happens, you have to keep her calm, make her feel safe, and above all else keep yourself calm or it will only make matters worse and she'll beat herself up over it for weeks.

Amy's a smart girl, she picks up on things very quickly, like reading people. Don't think you'll be able to hide anything from her, she's sharp as a tack she'll figure it out. It's best to be open with her, she's a tough kid, she can handle things, even grown up things. I know this is going to be hard on her, I'm all she's ever known and I'm leaving her behind with someone she thinks is a stranger. I'm sorry Toshinori, that wasn't fair to you. She asked me about her father one time, and the clever girl she is I think she realized it was painful for me to talk about you... though I thought I hid it well. I told her the truth, her father is a great man who is off saving lives and I told her I kept her a secret from you as well so she wouldn't be mad at you for not being there, not that I had anything to worry about, she's not that kind of girl.

I know you'll keep our daughter safe and I know you'll love her in an instant but you need to know what you have to prepare for. Teenage girls can be a handful. You need to read up on some things, like periods...

I felt my face redden at this. I didn't even think about that!

...that line made you panic, didn't it?

Ayumi always knew me better than anyone.

We've had a few pre-emptive period talks for when the time came so don't worry you're not going to have to explain that to her. Just be patient with her when the time comes, get her lots of chocolate (she really likes caramel and chocolate) make sure she stays hydrated, have tissues on hand, find a female at the convenience store they'll point you in the right direction when you need supplies...on second thought, I'm not so sure you can handle this...maybe just take her to the store and let her get what she needs, you'll go overboard and buy the whole aisle and that'll just embarrass her.

In addition to periods, teenagers are hormonal, all of them, their bodies are changing they're all confused. Boys are maybe a little better at hiding it but girls struggle more with their emotions, they're happy one second, crying the next and then mad at the world at the drop of a hat. Can you handle crying?

Also, boys. I know you're the Symbol of Peace and all but you have a teenage daughter now, you're going to have to take off the kiddie gloves and lay down the law with any boy who so much as speaks to her...

She's exaggerating, right?

Not exaggerating. This is your time to shine, you can be as overbearing as you want when it comes to boys.

On to actual health stuff. Amy is allergic to dogs, that's not what her epi-pen is for but she'll get worse the more prolonged her exposure is. It starts off mild but it can get severe so just try to keep her away from dogs. She also has a weird allergy to peaches, didn't know that was a thing until I made peach cobbler when she was four and had to go to the emergency room because she stopped breathing, that one you will need an epi-pen for, oh and bees, keep her away from bees. They will kill her and then I will haunt you for the rest of your life. Aside from allergies she's usually pretty healthy though last year she caught a really bad case of pneumonia, so that made me a little paranoid, just make sure she gets plenty of vitamin c every day and remind her that people are gross and she shouldn't touch them, especially boys.

On the topic of boys, again, though I have no idea how you're going to handle this one. I've had a sex talk with her, pre-emptively, and I'm glad I did because I don't know how you would have gotten through that one. When THAT time comes, hopefully she'll be married, but if not, just make sure you take her to the doctor and that she's safe.

I wasn't ready for this.

I don't even know what else to tell you, she's amazing, though you'll find that out on your own. She's shy, I have no idea how that happened seeing as neither of us were ever shy. She loves books but hates libraries (you make sense of that) only new books she can't have used books (I don't know, it makes zero sense to me either, just accept it and move on, it's not worth the tears). She really loves animals, she's been alternating between a vegan and vegetarian diet, it changes every other week(pretty sure she just realized caramel isn't vegan and it changes when she wants caramel), this week its vegan next week it'll probably be back to vegetarian, just roll with it and don't feed her meat and you should be fine.