My Father's Daughter

James Potter sighed as he walked into the living room and saw his three year old goddaughter staring out the window, her tiny face pressed against the glass. He knew that she was waiting for her papa; the papa who had owled and said, once agian, that he wouldn't be able to make it to town, something about an extended tour or some other horrible excuse along those lines. It had been like that for the last two years, nothing but broken promises and lies. And it was all affecting the little girl at the window. James sighed again and the girl turned, her grey eyes questioning.

'Papa Prongs? Daddy no come?'

James' heart went out to the little girl and he walked over, scooping her into a bear-hug.

'No Ches, Daddy no come.'

'Why?' she asked, her big, grey eyes filling with tears.

'I don't know.'

'I cry?'

James hugged Chesney tighter and nodded.

'Yes, you can cry. Don't ever be scared to cry.'

And the little girl wrapped her small arms around her 'Papa Prongs' neck and cried. James looked over at the doorway at his wife and closed his eyes, resting his cheek against the top of Chesney's head. Lily sent her husband a helpless look, tears in her vibrant green eyes.

'What are we going to do, Jamie?' Lily asked, later that day as Chesney and Harry, the Potter's three year old son, played in the yard. They were in the sand box, throwing sand at each other and having a jolly good time. James watched them for a few seconds before answering.

'I don't know, Lils. Sometimes I think we're destined to be 'Papa Prongs' and 'Mama Flower' for the rest of our days.'

Lily shook her head at this. 'Why can't Sirius take care of her instead of us?'

'You know he hasn't been the same since Maria was killed.'

'But in reality, he's hurting her as much as he's hurting himself.'

'I've tried to tell him that but he won't listen.'

' I think he's guilty.'

James shot Lily a look.

'Why do you think that?'

'Well, think about it. He was there when Maria was tortured but he was under the Body-Bind so he couldn't do anything. And the fact that he's an Auror only makes things worse because he thinks that he should have been able to protect her. Then, he saw Chesney and he was reminded so much of Maria that he couldn't take it any more and left.'

James sat in silence for a couple minutes, taking every thing in. What Lily had said made a lot of sence. Padfoot was the kind of person who could somehow blame everything on himself. But that still did not justify his leaving Chesney with them for two years with out so much as an occasional phone call and he never asked to talk to his daughter.

'He's more worried about that damned band of his instead of his own daughter.'

'We all know that's not true. Sear loves Chesney very much. He just doesn't know how to show it.' Lily said, patting her husband's hand.

'Yeah, well, one day he's going to come back and Chesney's going to hate him and it'll be no ones fault but his own.'