Best. Present. Ever

Post Skin-Game. Maggie just about gives Harry a heart attack when she asks him a question he can't say no to.

XxXxXxXXxXxXxXxXxXXxXxXxXx

"Are you coming to my birthday party?"

That one question stunned me more than the right cross of one of the Fallen ever could. Especially since it came out of left field. HARD.

Birthday. That's right. Kids had birthday parties and celebrations and it was a big thing. Capital B-and-T Big Thing. Which brought me to a question. When was her birthday?

"Well… of course I will!" I quickly said as I looked at the adorable little girl still half-asleep on my lap. Her eyes lit up with a smile that was so like her mother's, her eyes big and warm, that I couldn't stop my own smile from forming.

Maggie fell asleep again half-way through her cheer, lying down again and starting softly snoring. Even then, slightly drooling into my shirt as she was, she looked absolutely adorable. How did Michael ever raise all his kids? Now that I'd finally met my daughter – If you don't know, don't ask. It's a long story that involves one genocide, several deals with the devil (literally, once) and several escapes I'd rather forget – I just couldn't take my eyes off of her.

And to think… I now had two little girls to take care off. Even if the other one wasn't human… or had a physical body.

… Again, it's a LOOOOOONG story. Welcome to my life.

But that just made me realize something. In between the 'Save my daughter from vampires before my family line gets destroyed' and the 'return from the dead, save the world and get trapped on an island' bit, there was one crucial detail I had never learned.

"Michael…" I slightly turned to face my best friend, the (twice-now) retired Knight of the Cross. "When is Maggie's birthday?"

He had been looking at me the whole time, a smile on his face.

"I recognize that look Harry." He said, taking another sip of beer. "It is a good feeling, isn't it? Having a family."

"Yes." I answered. Only after the answer did I realize I really did mean it. "But when is it?"

"Three days from now."

That set off a whole new level of panic.

"Thr…thre…three days?" I said. Yup, Mister Coherent. Cool under pressure. That's me.

"What am I going to get her in three days?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something." Michael took another sip of beer.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Harry…" Karrin gave me a look from her hospital bed. "What's going on?"

"It's… I…"

"Usually you're only like this after I sneak a surprise kiss in." She teased.

"Maggie's birthday is coming up." I finally stammered out. Karrin understood that and her teasing tone vanished.

"What're you getting her?" She asked after a moment of careful thought.

"I don't know Murph." I sat down on the bed next to her and looked at her. "What do you get a girl whose birthday is coming up, but you've never met? What do you give a girl that looks up to you, knows who you are, but you don't actually know the first thing about?"

"A surprise," Karrin supplied almost immediately. "What do you know about her? Or maybe ask Michael, or Charity or Molly for ideas."

"Well, I've only really known her for about two days now… and she seemed to enjoy playing with the other kids."

"Naturally," Karrin answered, "The Carpenters are her siblings. And they're one of the best families I've ever known."

"Yeah… they are." I had to agree. Because I have never seen anyone with as much love as the Carpenters.

"Wait…" an idea formed in my head. "Murph… I love you. You just gave me an idea for the best present. EVER!"

My answer was utter silence… and then I realized what I'd just said.

About half a second before, in rapid succession, I was knocked in the head with a sock full of diamonds – do I even need to say it? Long story – and Murphy pulled my head down into a passionate kiss.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Harry…" Michael gave me a look as he put on his coat. "Should I be worried about this?"

"Relax." I made a placating gesture as we got out of the car, setting my big leather duster on my shoulders. After handing Michael his cane, I pulled out my staff from the car's trunk. Already all the kids were standing around us, eyes wide. "What's there to worry about?"

"When you ask me to bring the kids to a museum twenty minutes before closing time, I can only worry what you have in mind."

"It's a surprise! A birthday surprise," I winked at him. "Maggie did have a long afternoon nap, right?"

"Yes I did!" The girl said as she pulled on my arm and twined her fingers with mine. Her other hand – so adorably small – was wrapped firmly in Mouse's fur. The great big dog's mouth was open in a grin again and he obviously remembered what had happened the last time we were here.

Just as we were getting ready to enter the museum, another car pulled up. It was a big, expensive pick-up and I could see some familiar faces sitting behind the wheel. As the door opened, Will the werewolf, his wife Georgia the werewolf and their child got out. Andi the Werewolf followed a moment later, leaving Butters behind the wheel. He gave me a quick wave, and then moved the truck over to be parked.

By the time (re)introductions were all made, Will and Georgia had both hugged me tight and introduced me to their kid as Uncle Harry. Since when was I an uncle? Still, the little tyke they had was nearly 3 and looked pretty cute. Of course, the kid had nothing on Maggie. And that's coming from a totally unbiased source.

Butters had parked the car and walked over to us, carrying a rather large backpack. He winked just as a massive white hummer pulled up, revealing my brother, Thomas. He'd also shown up. And he'd brought a surprise!

After some trouble and finally dejectedly handing the project to his girlfriend Justine, they assembled the wheelchair and rolled Karrin around to join us. The gang was all here.

"Someone mind telling me why we're going to enter the museum ten minutes before closing?" Andi asked, waving her red locks around. Living with Butters agreed with her: She looked much better then she had the last time I'd seen her. Of course, back then I'd broken some of her ribs as I broke into her house, so that wasn't that difficult.

"Empty Night…" Thomas cursed as his eyes went wide. "Harry, don't tell me you're…!"

"Be quiet!" I warned my brother. "You'll ruin the surprise! Let's go!"

And, leaning heavily on my staff as if I needed the support, I led the way into the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

It's surprisingly simple how easy it is to fool every other person. A bit of fog and a veil – one that even with my limited talents, I could pull off – and everyone left us alone.

"Everyone, meet an old friend of mine. She's very, VERY old!" I said to my collection of friends as I pointed to the exhibit.

"This is Sue. She is a T-rex."

The kids looked fairly bored at the old collection of bones – no doubt they'd seen something better on TV, but hey… I was about to trump anything that Steven Spielberg could ever think of!

The expressions on the adults ranged from a wild, childlike grin (Butters) to a sigh of acceptance (Michael) or wide eyed terror (thank you for your faith in me, brother dear!). I'm pretty sure that if Karrin's arm hadn't been set in a cast, she would have slapped herself in the forehead.

"Maggie." I addressed my daughter, "Take a few steps back and watch the magic happen!" We shared a grin as she stepped back to stand next to not-so-little-Harry Carpenter.

I made a few dramatic gestures with my arms as lines of power spread up across my staff and duster. As I did so, I walked a circle around Sue's exhibit, carving a circle with a piece of chalk I'd duct-taped to the end of my staff. As I walked the circle, more fog appeared in my wake, covering Sue and myself and hiding us from view.

As it did, from behind the exhibit a slow, meticulous drum beat sounded.

Ba-dum

Ba-dum

Ba-dum

"What?" I muttered as I passed behind Sue for the third time, placing the skeleton between the group and me. "No Polka?"

"I thought you said you wanted ominous and dramatic?" Butters whispered back as he sat down beating his small drums. "I studied how to beat these drums the entire day!" Even so, he was smiling. "The polka doesn't come until AFTER they've seen her."

The fog thickened, but I had no problems seeing my friends' faces. The children were looking on in fascination as I walked out, still waving my arms and speaking in faux Latin.

Suddenly everyone jumped up as a powerful roar sounded throughout the hall.

Ba-dum

Ba-dum

Ba-dum

Then there was a shockwave, another roar and slowly a form could be seen through the mist. Everyone instinctively backed off a few steps as the massive dark shape could be seen through the mist.

Then, with another roar a T-rex's head slowly moved through the mist as Sue took one heavy step after another.

"Everyone!" I turned with a dramatic flair, "Please meet Sue! She is sixty-five million years old, enjoys having monsters for lunch… and riding around with people on her back. Anyone want to ride?"

I could barely hold my ground as Maggie slammed into my back, hugging me tightly as she cried into my duster. They were cries and tears of joy though, as I turned around and hugged her back. Then I lifted her on Sue's back and joined my daughter as we took a dinosaur ride through the museum.

Once we finished a round – I was curious how they were going to explain the gigantic footprints the next morning – Butters pulled out all the stops and went full Polka.

Fun fact about Necromancy. The undead you raise respond to the rhythm that is provided. So, when Butters was providing a simple one-two rhythm, Sue could walk around. And when he pulled out the full Polka…

Well, let me tell you some of the highlights of my week: I've had wine with Hades (Yes, that one), the Lord of the Underworld. And two days before that, I met with Santa Claus (yes, that one) to have drink a beer and have a steak sandwich. Which, of course, was all between working with the fallen angels (yes, those ones).

So I can say that I've experienced a lot of things… but a Polka-Dancing T-rex is new. Even for me.

The Kid seemed to love it though! And honestly, half the screams of laughter were not from her.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

By the time we got back into the vehicles, all the kids were sleeping. Sue was back in her usual place, nothing more than a heap of bones. It was well past midnight and I was carrying Maggie in my arms.

Once all the kids were buckled in the car, Michael gave me a serious look. He was smiling though, so I figured there wouldn't be a lecture. No bets on what Karrin was going to do to me when we were alone though. I'm pretty sure I just broke a couple of major laws.

"Harry, I must admit this was great fun. Especially for Maggie." Michael started, "However… you do realize that you will have to somehow trump this next year, yes?"

Oh…

I hadn't thought of that.

Crap.

Still, looking down at the figure of my sleeping daughter – her hands tangled into Mouse's fur, slowly drooling all over the great big grey dog, I couldn't help but voice my next thoughts to Michael as he started the engine.

"She's worth that kind of challenge."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx