Daddy's Little Girl

A pitter patter of small feet on wood floors told Ben he wasn't alone in being unable to sleep. He was right. Moments later there was a tiny tap at his bedroom door followed by a little voice whispering into the blackness of the room, "Daddy?"

"Lizabeth?" Ben whispered back, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips through his drying tears. "Come here."

More footfalls followed before the green glow of Ben's alarm clock illuminated the silhouette of his five year old daughter standing beside his bed. She looked as if she'd been crying recently as well. Her hair was still damp from her bath hours before and it had darkened the back and shoulders of her father's grey cutoff she wore, which hung down to her knees and her little socks were mix-matched, one blue and one green. She had her stuffed Teddy Scare, Sheldon Grogg, in one hand and her other fist was rubbing her eye sleepily. Ben smiled a bit more at the sight, though the smile still felt a bit forced. He reached down and pulled her up to lay beside him. She curled into his side and stuck her right thumb in her mouth, he knew it was a bad habit but it made her happy and he couldn't bring himself to break her of it.

"What's up, beautiful?" He brushed the wet hair away from her neck, splaying it out behind her, attempting to calm her.

She turned a bit to look up at him through her lashes, "When's mummy coming home?"

Ben's breath caught in his throat, he wasn't prepared for this. He'd been warned that he'd be asked questions but he didn't realize it could happen so soon. It'd only been that afternoon that Sam had walked out on them, he hadn't had time to think up an excuse. He took a deep breath, knowing that he had to stay calm so as not to upset his daughter further. "I..." He took another deep breath, deciding that the truth was the best option at this point, "I don't know, baby."

"Did she leave because... Well..." She was stuttering over her words, not knowing how to phrase her question because she was terrified of the answer, "Is it because I was bad?"

"What?" Ben was stunned. He'd been lucky enough to have the sweetest daughter to ever exist, but with that also came her intuition and wisdom, she was much more mature than any other child he'd ever seen. It made things difficult in situations like this because she caught on to more than he liked her to, she could tell that her mum hadn't simply gone out for drinks, his daughter knew just as he did that there was something serious behind her mother's departure. "Beth, nothing you could ever do would make me or mummy leave you. This is not in any way your fault, you hear me?" She nodded but remained solemn. "I'm still here, baby, I'm not going any where, alright?"

She nodded again but this time with more conviction. She even let herself smile the tiniest bit. She turned back so that she had her cheek against his ribs, her hand wrapped around her teddy atop his stomach. She was happiest here. Even when her mother had been around she'd always been a daddy's girl, she loved climbing into bed with them when there was a thunderstorm and cuddling into her father's side. Her mother would braid and un-braid and re-braid her hair until she fell asleep, knowing that she was most relaxed when people played with her hair. That was because as she grew up she'd attended more than a few of her father's concerts. They were incredibly loud and high-energy but her mother would sit with her backstage and play with her brown locks until she slept. Now Beth could sleep through most anything, slept best with noise in the background, and fell asleep in the blink of an eye if someone messed with her hair. Her father was never very skilled with hair styling but tried his best, just as he was now. He was running his fingers through her silky tresses slowly, gently lulling her into a sleepy stupor.

"Daddy?" She asked, not knowing what to say but wanting to hear his voice nevertheless.

"Mhm?" He hummed back, making his chest vibrate with the sound. She grinned, feeling instantly better at the sound of her father's voice.

"Why is the sky blue?" She bit back another smirk, loving this little game they played. Even when her father was away on tour they talked at least once a day. There often came times when one or the other of them should've been sleeping so they'd just talk about silly things until that one passed out.

"Because..." He felt a small chuckle roll through him and reveled in the brief break from the stress, "Because you have blue eyes and it's the most beautiful colour in the whole world."

She giggled a bit at his answer, "How does Earth move even though we don't feel it?"

"It goes so fast yet so slow that we don't even notice." He wasn't even thinking about going into a scientific explanation, instead spouting out whatever came to his mind first, knowing they were only speaking for the sake of making sound.

"What makes dogs bark and cats meow?"

"The same thing that makes us speak with a our accent and your friends speak with an American one."

"Why do you have so many tattoos?" Her voice was softer, letting Ben know she was beginning to drift.

"Because I'm a rockstar and we can have them."

"Can I be a rockstar and have pretty pictures too?" Her words were a bit slurred, indicating she was dipping her toes in unconsciousness.

"You can be whatever you want to be when you grow up but for right now you have to be my baby girl."

"Okay. I love you daddy." The words were quiet and muffled but Ben understood them nonetheless.

He felt tears well in his eyes again as he realized the bed was much too empty. His heart ached for Sam. Still, he had Beth and right now that was all he needed. "I love you too, Beth."

Before he could even finish his sentence there was a soft snore floating into the room. He knew he wouldn't get much sleep but decided to try anyway seeing as he had a full day to look forward to. He tugged the duvet up a bit onto Beth so that she was warmer and closed his eyes, begging for sleep to find him before the sun rose.