Why does my rooster sit on my hen? (Not mating behavior)

[Katakornchicks]

So so sometimes we catch my rooster Edward sitting on one of his hens. It's very reminiscent of a mother hen protecting babies. It's not mating behavior; at least not like any I've ever seen before. He just stands over her protectively and looks around, and she huddles up and lays on the ground underneath him, almost like she would if she was sitting on eggs, and just peers out from between his legs. They will do this for a while then just walk away and go about their business, no mating ever happens. Funny enough too, he only does this with this one particular hen, who happens to be his daughter. She's his only daughter in the flock and she is also the tiniest in the flock. He's a bantam rooster himself so I wonder if she still gives baby-vibes to him even though she's an adult? Shes always continued to act very baby-like as well through her adulthood, and absolutely loves human attention, and loves her dad and follows him around for a good bit of the day. Anyways. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? He had zero interest in her when she actually was a baby.

 

[Katakornchicks]

Here's a photo of it

And here's a photo of her after he walked away because I got too close

 

[Katakornchicks]

I wanted to add that I saw him in this exact spot previously alone, looking like he was "nesting" then he was here with the hen standing over her while she sat in it. Today I went outside and found an egg in that spot, so I'm coming to the conclusion that he built a nest for her and then was protecting her while she laid an egg in it?