A/N:

Disclaimer — I do not claim to have any kind of official hold on The Dresden Files series or its publishers, nor claim to be affiliated with its author, Jim Butcher, or any related books in any way. I am simply a writer who is not writing this for any kind of monetary profit, only for enjoyment.

Note — this takes place sometime post-Skin Game, pre-Peace Talks.

It was a usual Saturday at the Carpenters' home.

Every one of the kids had woken up early for the cartoons, and as the sun began inching its way up to the top, they went out into the backyard to play. This time, the game was Freeze Tag, but with a twist. There were two taggers, one the "Sun Queen" and the other the "Ice Queen". It started out with half Ice, half Sun, and the taggers had to get as many people on their side as possible. When everyone but the other tagger was on one side, the game was over and that side won.

There were a bunch of smaller rules, like "only Ice people can tag too, but they can't move because they're frozen", and "the Queens can't be tagged", but it was pretty simple overall and very fun for the kids.

The youngest, Maggie, was the only one who didn't quite understand yet why the idea of the game always seems to make Mr. Michael and Mrs. Charity look at each other weirdly, but the older children take the trouble to make sure she doesn't find out until she's older herself.

Today, they play tag in front of a slightly different audience. Maggie is especially happy to see the visitor, as he is her dad.

She even gets him to play a few games, with the help of Mouse, and has so much fun that she doesn't even notice how many "close calls" she has every time her dad gets to be the Ice King. She's proud of always being the last one standing, though.

When it's time for him to leave, Maggie begs him to stay, like she does every time he shows up. When he says he can't, he's too busy – like he always is – she then asks when he's taking her with him.

"Soon, Maggie. I promise."

He always says this.

He leaves, and Maggie feels downtrodden for a few minutes. But the game is still being played, and soon she's back in like nothing even happened, running around with Mouse and laughing as she dodges the Queens' tagging hands.

Later though, when she'll be lying back in her bed and staring at the ceiling, she'll wonder and try praying like Mrs. Charity always does.

She hasn't gotten an answer yet.

. . .

Harry knows that he needs to keep his promise someday.

He also knows that right now, his life is way too dangerous to have a little kid who also happens to be your daughter running around in it. His misadventure with Old Nick not too long ago just proves that. He explains this to Michael all the time. Harry thinks he understands, but he also knows that his friend isn't going to let him shirk fatherhood for much longer.

He also knows that one day soon, all of the shit that's piled up at his door is going to hit the fan, and he'll be the one who has to clean it up. Harry doesn't want to have to clean up a Maggie-shaped splatter on the floor too.

And yet.

He also knows that he's her father, and she's his daughter, and he doesn't want her to grow up not having a parent around. He doesn't want her to grow up with that pain.

He's accepted this.

And as Harry works on the island of Demonreach, thinking about the future and what lies ahead, he realizes that the darkness doesn't seem so formidable anymore. And he smiles.

Because for the first time in years, he has folded sunshine into a hankie.