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He’d never tell him that, though.

The bastard would become insufferable.

So he decided to take a sip of soup. All right, it didn’t feel too hot. Then he held the spoon out to her. She blinked at him a few times and removed her thumb from her mouth. “Isn’t that yours?”

“No, Little girl. It’s for you. Come on, have the soup.”

“You’re going to feed me?”

“Yeah, that way I can make sure that you actually eat.”

He gave her a stern, knowing look.

“I eat,” she protested.

“Not much and not often enough. But that’s going to change.”

“It is?”

“Yes.”

“Now take a sip of soup before it gets too cold.”

“Why did you have a sip of it?” she asked before taking the mouthful of soup.

“To make sure it wasn’t too hot,” he replied.

“Why does this feel like I’m Goldilocks?”

He shook his head at her. “You’re not Goldilocks. But if you don’t eat all of your soup, I might turn into the big bad wolf.”

Her eyes grew really wide, and then a smile lit her face. “Ooh, scary, the big bad wolf.”

“The big bad wolf is very scary,” he said holding up another spoonful. “Don’t you know he’s the villain in all the stories?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I don’t think he’s the villain in this story.” She leaned forward and took the mouthful of soup before he could think of what to say.

Maybe he wasn’t the villain, but he knew what he was, and he wasn’t the good guy either. He wasn’t the hero, not the knight in shining armor. He was just a guy that stuck by his word and took care of those he felt responsible for.

His tolerance for people was low. His tolerance for bullshit even lower. Sometimes that made him blunt and grouchy, and he didn’t much care.

He didn’t exactly know how to give her what she needed, but he figured he could learn, perhaps even change slightly if that’s what she needed. But she was going to have to take the bad with the good.

This wasn’t the time to tell her that, though. He continued to feed her the soup and a few bites of toast before her eyes grew heavy-lidded. Then he picked up the other bowl of soup and had some, eating the toast quickly as she snuggled down into the bed.

Ammo put everything back on the tray and then turned to her. She was sucking on her thumb again, with her stuffed toy in her arm.

He remembered how she said she liked Garfield. She’d worn those Garfield pajamas the other night.

Did she like the idea of a pacifier or toys to play with?

He wasn’t really sure about anything when it came to her Little side, because she kept it so closely under wraps.

But then she hadn’t even seemed certain that she was a Little. He wanted to ask her questions to get a feel for how young her Little was, or what that side of her might need, but he wasn’t quite sure how to go about it.

“Your owl is cute,” he said.

Wow, now he just sounded awkward. Really?