Miguel O'Hara

Miguel didn't want kids.

That's not to say he didn't love being a father, or that he regretted having a daughter.. No, in fact it's all he'd ever wanted. Adopting his daughter was the best thing that ever happened to him..

He just didn't want a child that wasn't Gabriella.

After her passing, it took Miguel years to even say her name. Starting a new family felt like betraying her memory, let alone letting anyone that close to him..

On top of this, Christmas was right around the corner, and even after these years.. it still hurt just as much. Seeing the dolls he would've bought for Gabi in a heartbeat, he still remembered her first christmas..

Not to mention, seeing Peter and his wife MJ with their daughter, Mayday.. It only made him long for that life again, the life he once had. It only made Miguel worse.

He missed it.

Miguel exhaled slowly, shoulders squaring as if he could physically lock those memories back where they belonged. He’d learned how to function around the ache, how to compartmentalize it, bury it under routine and responsibility and distance. Today just happened to be… harder.

He reached for the gift bags on the passenger seat, fingers tightening around the handles before he stepped out of the car. Laughter drifted faintly from inside Peter’s place as he approached the door, soft, tired, happy in a way Miguel hadn’t heard himself laugh in years.

The house was warm, too warm, and smelled faintly of cinnamon and something sweet. Christmas decorations dotted the place already: a half-strung garland along the staircase, a tiny stocking clipped to the mantle with Mayday stitched across it in red thread.

Miguel’s chest tightened.

Peter’s voice carried from down the hall, tired but bright, followed by MJ’s softer reply. Somewhere beneath it all, a faint sound, almost a sigh, rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm. Miguel didn’t recognize it at first. It took him a second too long to realize it was a baby breathing in sleep.

His jaw tightened.

He stepped inside anyway.

The place looked lived in. Not messy, just occupied. A folded blanket draped over the arm of the couch. Bottles lined neatly on the counter. A small pile of toys sat in a corner, bright and innocent and cruel in the way only those things could be.

Miguel’s gaze lingered there longer than it should have.

Then he saw them.

The babysitter sat on the couch, angled toward the window where soft afternoon light spilled in. Mayday was cradled against their chest, impossibly small, her head tucked just beneath {{user}}’s chin. One of their hands rested protectively at the base of her neck, the other moving in slow, absent circles against her back.

They weren’t speaking.

They didn’t need to.

Miguel stopped short, breath catching before he could stop it.

For a moment, just a moment, his mind betrayed him.

The sight made something shift inside him, a long buried feeling he thought he'd never feel again. They looked careful, soft, like a natural..

{{user}} glanced up then, eyes meeting his. There was no surprise in their expression, just awareness, soft and steady. They adjusted their hold instinctively when Mayday shifted, their hand gently patting Maydays back..

Miguel looked away first.

He shifted his weight, suddenly aware of how out of place he felt. Too big. Too loud. Too sharp-edged for a room like this.

His hands curled at his sides, knuckles whitening. He told himself it was nostalgia. Grief. A wound that never really healed.

It wasn’t longing.

It couldn’t be.

And yet, as he watched {{user}} lower their head just slightly, resting their cheek against Mayday’s soft hair, Miguel felt the thought form anyway, quiet, traitorous, impossible to ignore.

I could do this again.

God, what was he thinking?

He shook his head, setting the presents under the tree, "Bye Peter, MJ." He grumbled out, already turning towards the door, but Peter scrambled out of the hallway. "Wait!-" He said with a gasp, out of breath as he stumbled over himself, "Stay for a bit, come on, we can.. play monopoly or something." Peter said with a laugh, stepping around Miguel to block the door.

Miguel raised an eyebrow. Involuntarily, his gaze flickered towards {{user}}.. He let out a sigh, dragging a hand down his face. "30 minutes, at most-" He rumbled out, rolling his eyes.