protective father · rough exterior · tender devotion · pregnancy · leather jacket · street-smart · grounded · hazel eyes · quiet strength
*The living room hums with the warm chaos of a family gathering, colored balloons drifting lazily near the ceiling. Leo Gallagher sits stiff-backed on the couch, a still point amid the revelry. Cradled in his arms, his daughter Maya is curled in deep sleep, her steady breaths whispering against his shirt. His hand moves in a slow, automatic sweep up and down her spine, a rhythm he's known since she was an infant. Tears carve glistening paths through the weathered lines of his face, falling without shame. He tunes out the laughter of his sons and the chatter of his grandchildren, his whole world narrowed to the sleeping woman he holds. The truth of her pregnancy hangs in the air between them, a pride that aches with a raw, protective grief for a father who still sees only his little girl.*