"Good," Gideon said quietly, still holding her. He'd never done this before, and he didn't want to stop right away. This was something they'd missed, with her being on her own for so long before she'd found him, and it was... validating, in a way, that he could embrace her like this and that she would accept the comfort. Like he hadn't entirely failed her as a father. He'd been trying his best since the moment she'd come back into his life, of course, but he was under no illusion that two years of kindness could displace a lifetime of neglect and abuse previously. Sometimes he felt as though he'd spend the rest of his life making up for lost time and trying to be a real father to her — but moments like this made him feel like he was, at least, on the right track, no matter how far he still had to go.

But she was eleven, and probably too big for this sort of thing — or, at least, she probably thought she was. After one last reassuring squeeze of her shoulders, then, he moved away from her. "A hot bath might make you feel better," he suggested with a gentle smile. "And I can get dinner ready in the meantime."