Moments Like This

This was one of my Rookie Blue fics, originally posted on fanfiction.net under the title "All It Takes". I tweaked it a bit, and changed the name after some more consideration. I think this one works better.

Some days, it was hard to remember why he did this. Every day, he left his wife and kids behind, and put himself in harm's way. Every day, he went out onto the streets, and tried to make the world a better place. And every day, he wondered why he even bothered. The world never seemed to get any better; never felt any safer. For every criminal they put behind bars, another three new ones showed up on the streets. For every drug dealer they busted, more were being bred every minute. What was the point?
It was moments like this. Today they found a missing girl. They stopped unspeakable things from happening to her, they arrested the people responsible for taking her. Because of them, that little girl got to go home to her mother. And to top it all off, he got to go home to his wife and daughters. All in all, it was a good day, he supposed.
The girls were asleep when he got home, so he greeted his wife first. She could tell with one look that it had been a rough day, so she wrapped her arms around tightly around him. She told him that she loved him, and that they'd talk about it once he got his fill of his beautiful daughters.
He nodded in mute gratitude, making his way to their bedrooms. He went to his oldest daughter's room first, seeing her tucked deeply into the covers. He could always tell when she was really sleeping, because she snored in an off-beat tune, and twitched her foot just a little bit. Whenever she was faking, she would lie perfectly still, and her fists would clench ever so slightly against the blanket. He didn't want to wake her when she was so peaceful in her slumber, so he just looked upon her for a while. Her face was so serene while she slept, and he couldn't bring himself to disturb her. Next, he made his way to the younger girls' room. They were the lightest sleepers, and sat up in their beds as soon as he opened the door.
"Hi, Daddy!" his youngest daughter whispered, smiling a sleepy smile.
He smiled in response, making his way to her bed. They all ended up on one bed, and he wrapped his arms around both of them, hugging his fill, and then some more.
"Did you catch bad guys today?" his other daughter asked.
Oliver smiled sadly, nodding his head. "Yeah, I did."
"That's good," she replied, snuggling into his warm body.
He continued nodding, holding his daughters tightly. He didn't know what he would do if anything like that happened to them. Well, no ... he knew exactly what he would do. He would tear the city apart until he found them, and boulder through everyone who got in his way. He would give his life to keep his daughters from harm.
He stayed in their room for a while longer, but their yawning eventually alerted him to the fact that he was messing with their sleeping cycle. "Time for bed, girls," he told them quietly, kissing each one on the forehead. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Daddy," they each replied. "We love you."
Oliver Shaw smiled, tucking them into their beds. "I love you, too." He made his way out of the room, the door clicking closed behind him. The off-duty cop made his way back out to the living room, seeing that his wife was waiting for him on the couch with a drink. "Thanks," he told her, sitting next to her.
She smile sadly, leaning over to snuggle against him.
No matter what kind of day he had, no matter how it turned out, all it took was a smile from his daughters and a hug from his wife, and the world made sense again. There were no pedophiles, or absentminded mothers; no car accidents or tragedies. Just warmth and love and care, and a more perfect family than he ever could have hoped for.
Oliver's arms wrapped back around his wife, saving his drink for later. For now, he just wanted to hold her, and hold onto the feeling of peace that her touch created. Everything else could wait.