c'est beau d'aimer -Phan AU-

I

Chapter 1

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"It's okay Maude. You aren't hurt, sweetheart."

Dan rights the child and dusts off her bottom. She'd taken a tumble in the rich grass of Willbury Park, where the duo frequently spent their time together.

"Daddy, that hurted."

Maude was sniffling and snot was running onto her pink lips that were identical to her father's.
Dan wiped them clean with a tissue he withdrew from his backpack.
He retrieved Maude's stuffed Winnie the Pooh as well and handed it to her.
Maude embraced the yellow bear and her tears soon dried up.

"See? All better now Maudie. Go play some more then we have to leave. Daddy has papers to work on."

It was thirty minutes to sundown and Dan wanted to be as least on the underground before night fell.

Maude ran off with her stuffed companion and began to slide down the slides.
The London weather was perfect for their excursion; that's what inspired Dan to take Maude today.

A buzz alerted him to his phone.
It was from Daemon, a fellow employee and close friend.

Dan finished texting back his colleague when he noticed that Maude was nowhere to be seen.
He had only looked away from her for at least thirty seconds and she had vanished from sight.
Like any other concerned father, he shot to his feet and quickly began searching for the little girl.

"Maude?"

She had completely disappeared from the playset and Dan began to get very worried.
His voice became frantic, just last week a little boy got abducted from the park.
Dan didn't know what he would do without her.

She was his life saver.

"Maude!?"

Dan had been searching for at least ten minutes now; the sun was retreating to the other side of the world and the moon was taking her place.
He repeated her name over and over, his voice carrying far into the dusk.

It were times like these that made Dan wish he had a partner.
He could've hopefully found Maude by now if he had a companion to help search.
Dan was half way across the park, it was astounding that the five year old had gotten so far away from him.

Maude wasn't answering his cries and Dan was now trembling in fear, his anxiety was going haywire.
The fading light of dusk reflected off of the tears welling in his eyes.

Maude was gone.

He sunk onto a park bench and took out his phone to call the authorities, it was shaking wildly in his hands.

"Excuse me, sir?"

A northern accent cuts through the dark blue aura of the night air.
Dan's head shoots up and he sees a sleeping Maude, still clutching her bear, being held by a tall stranger.
He rushes over and plucks the child away.
Dan embraces Maude, holding her tight against his chest and scattering kisses over her curly hair and freckled face.

"What did you do to her?"

Dan's voice is like ice, cold and piercing.