Tell me Simon Riley isn’t the kind of man to swear up and down that he doesn’t want a dog only for him to get immediately attached.

Nine times out of ten if you’re looking for where the puppy is, you’ll find him curled up next to Simon on the couch. The same couch Simon was insistent he didn’t want dog fur all over 2 weeks ago.

And if he wasn’t curled up next to Simon, chances are he was sleeping on top of him during Simon’s afternoon nap. Both of them snoring, as if the pup was copying him.

When Ghost comes home from deployment you’re no longer top of the greeting list. Your reunion kiss was now firmly relegated to after he had dealt with the overexcited, wiggly bundle of fur.

Nobody can change my mind about this.

Get ready because it’s time for girl-dad!Simon Riley part 2.

We all know that Simon’s daughter would have him wrapped around her little finger. So, of course he’s going to spoil her with his military salary. She is never unreasonable about it but when she really wants something all she has to do is bat her tiny little eyelashes at him and it’s game over.

She has a wealth of Barbies, sparkly dresses, pink t-shirts with skulls on them and light up sketchers. Her favourite doll (much to your amusement) was a soldier action figure she had begged Simon to buy. “It’s just like you daddy!” She had squealed, little pigtails bouncing as she dragged him to see what she had found. 5 minutes later they had left the store GI Joe in hand, and Simon, with watery eyes (not that he would admit it).

When he is away on deployment it is the one thing she takes everywhere. She had very quickly been unable to fall asleep without it.

When Simon finally gets back he wants to spend as much time with his little girl as possible. You can’t count how many times you had opened the front door to find Simon’s huge frame hunched up on a tiny chair in your daughter’s room. His eyes were always warm and his scarred mouth set in a soft smile as he pretended to take sips of tea from the teensy pink teacup she had handed him. The sight of him there, messy blond hair filled with glittery butterfly clips, while being bossed around by a girl 1/10th his size never failed to be amusing.

And oh boy would his daughter boss him around. When they play dolls Simon is under a strict set of rules. One of which being that if he was going to play Barbies with her then he HAS to use his girl voice. Between his naturally deep timbre and his accent it is a bit of a strangled impression. But he gives it his all every time.

The idea of this big, scarred, war-hardened man being soft and gentle with his daughter has me down HORRENDOUS. I need to lie down—

Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley who is used to enduring bullet wounds and torture, cooing at you and kissing you better when you accidentally cut your finger while cooking 💳💥💳💥💳💥💳💥💳💥