One He climbed onto the large four-poster bed and cuddled his favorite teddy bear. His name was Bart and he was wearing faded denim overalls with a strap secured with a safety pin. He was also missing an eye, but the little girl wouldn't sleep without it. Her dad pulled the blanket under her chin and kissed her on the nose. She giggled; his beard tickled her face. “Tell me a story, Dad.” He perched on the edge of the bed and crossed his arms in his lap. "And what story would my princess like to hear?" he asked in his accent a shadow of the past. "You know," he said, a mischievous smile on his lips. "Now, this isn't a bedtime story. You will." stay up all night having bad dreams." "No, I won't," she said. She sat on the bed and cradled Bart in her arms. "I like the story, it doesn't scare me." "You like it, huh?" Her father gave her his secret smile. It was actually more of a smirk. His right lip lifted slightly to expose an eye-catching dimple under his moustache, his cupid's bow curling up so it looked like he was pouting fierce, as she was." "So you know I'm not afraid. It's more of a love story, anyway." He ruffled her hair. "What do you know about love?" "I know that true love is worth fighting for. Tell me about mom.""I was a mercenary, part of a group of soldiers hired by her father to protect his family. She was young, seventeen when we first met, but I had just turned nineteen too. She was beautiful, a mass of curly hair like a wild lion. He also had cat-like eyes, deceptive eyes with green flecks when he got what he wanted. yellow, as bright as the sun when it didn't. Her skin was pale as honey and she was always warm." She stared into the corner of the room as if she could ... middle of paper ... .... crying in the house, ignoring the unholy mess her killers have made and they found you in our bedroom. You were in your crib, next to your mother on the bed. She had been..." He cleared his throat before continuing. "The blood had even sprayed you. The police came and took their reports, but I knew who was responsible." “And you killed them.” "Yes. Our neighbors had a large family; they agreed to watch you while I was gone." He paused for a moment and then ended abruptly. "The mercenary who wanted to rape her the night she snuck out, I disemboweled him. I slit her father's throat. The little girl shook off the covers and crawled into her father's lap. He sobbed as he held him; his tears wet the nape of her nightgown as she held him. She finished the story for him, whispering the last in his ear. “Because love is the only thing worth killing and dying for."