"So let me get this straight; you want to be a princess when you're older?" Don checked and he looked at the girl with light blonde straight hair as she nodded over and over again. Don nodded also with her as she then stood up and twirled around in her tutu.
"Then I can rule over the castle!" she exclaimed and Don raised a brow as she jumped into the air and spun around. Watching her enthusiasm just made him tired enough after a six hour shift at the station filling out paperwork of no interest.
"Yes you could, but wouldn't you rather do what daddy does?" he asked her and she stared at him with wide eyes and her mouth agape as her father held the urge to laugh back.
"You chase bad men! I don't want to go near a bad person daddy" she replied.
"But daddy does a good job Lizzie" he told her and she shook her head stubbornly
"No. I want to be a princess" her chin jutted out stubbornly and Don nodded in defeat.
"Anyway, isn't it time for bed for you Princess Elizabeth?" Don checked his watch and the girl groaned loudly.
"Princesses can go to bed whenever daddy" she told him as a matter of fact. Don stood up from her bed and began to roll the covers of her bed down.
"Well daddy is the King and King trumps Princess darling. Now go and change into your pyjamas and brush your teeth" Don told her and Elizabeth trudged off to the bathroom with her pyjamas in tow as Don began to tidy up the tea set into the toy box at the end of his daughter's bed. Elizabeth walked back into the bedroom and jumped into her bed. Don pulled the covers around his daughter and bent down and kissed her softly on the forehead.
"Sweet dreams Lizzie" he whispered and handed her the bear her had brought her for her third birthday.
"Night night daddy" she said and rolled onto her side with the bear still huddled into her arms. Don stood up straight and walked to the doorway where he shut the light out and left the door ajar. He sighed to himself and began to walk down the staircase and back into the kitchen where he tidied up all the pots and grabbed himself a beer. He glanced quickly at the photo on the kitchen wall near the table and he sighed as the woman with blonde curls smiled at him.
...
12 years later
"Happy birthday darling" Don smiled as his daughter walked into the kitchen. Her hair was messed up from the previous night and she wore joggers and a vest top as she opened up the fridge and pulled a bottle of water from it.
"Thanks" she grinned at her dad who was sat at the table with a pile of presents sat in front of him. Elizabeth sat opposite him and he pushed the pile towards her
"Go on then" he urged her and she took a swig of water before opening up the first present on the pile. She read the car attached to it and chuckled.
"Uncle Danny thinks I'm getting old" she told her father and handed him the card but she began to open up the present.
"It's the jumper I wanted from Topshop" she smiled and her father grinned back "I wonder how he knew I wanted that" she added sarcastically
"He had no idea what to buy a seventeen year old girl and so I guided him to Topshop where you saw that jumper" her father told her and she raised a brow
"Tell him thanks when you go to work today" she urged her father
"Of course" he replied and she began working on the next present which was from her Aunt. Don sighed when he saw the card but he nodded. His sister was a drug addict and he hardly ever saw her but she always remembered his daughter's birthday. Unlike his brother.
"It's from Bloomingdales" Elizabeth held up a bag and her father nodded. He didn't know what to say to fashion. All he needed was a shirt and tie and his life was sorted.
"And then that one is from me" her father simply handed her a card in an envelope which Elizabeth opened up quickly.
"Thank you dad" she stood up and kissed him on the cheek with the card still in her hand.
"You're more than welcome. Now, go and get change whilst I prepare the honouree birthday breakfast of pancakes" he said and Elizabeth took her hundred dollars of Topshop vouchers upstairs with her to her room where she began to change.
...
"Flack! How's my old niece liking her present?" Danny barked when he saw Don walking through the corridor of the crime lab.
"She likes it very much Messer. She told me to thank her Uncle Danny" Don said and Messer laughed.
"Anything for my favourite niece. Anyway, I presume there is a reason as to why you're here" Danny spoke
"I'm after Mac. We found a guy murdered the same way as your last victim and wanted to let you know" Don stood still as he peered into the glass of Mac's empty office.
"Stella called him before you got here to tell him...so you taking my niece out anywhere for her birthday?" Danny changed the conversation and the two of them began walking back to the lift.
"She said she wanted a quiet birthday so I am bringing her a pizza back tonight" Don chuckled
"You really know how to spoil your only child don't you Flack?" Danny spoke sarcastically to which Don responded with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I try not to Messer. If it's a quiet day she's after then she will get it and besides you know how tired she's been after coming home from rehearsal" Don told his friend
"She's in Chicago right?" Danny checked
"And she's freaking out because if all goes well she could get a scholarship" Don hit the elevator door button.
"Well whenever the performance is tell her me and Monroe want a seat" Don stepped into an elevator and hit the button for downwards.
"Will do Messer" Don raised a hand as Danny began to walk off back down the corridor.
...
"Jesus Christ...how many presents?" Don gasped when he walked into the small cream coloured living room of his town house. Elizabeth was in the kitchen pouring herself a drink of orange juice and she chuckled when she heard her dad's complaint. She began to walk back through the kitchen archway into the living room and admired the presents which were in bags laid on the sofa.
"I appear to have many friends" she told him
"Did you have to carry all them about with you?" he chucked the pizza onto the coffee table and Elizabeth bent down and opened the lid up.
"Basically I did but I didn't mind...Kate gave me a lift home so I didn't have to walk" she stuffed a slice of pizza into her mouth as Don reached for a slice also. Elizabeth carefully dabbed the side of her mouth as she knelt on the floor eating the pizza.
"I've done all my homework and tomorrow I'm staying late to rehearse again but I have a question" she began and Don raised a brow. He looked into her blue eyes which were the same as his and he narrowed his own.
"I'm listening Lizzie" he told her
"Well David Owen is having this massive party on Friday and he asked if I wanted to go and I know you disapprove of house parties but I swear I will drink only a small amount of alcohol and I will be back home before one" she rambled. Don continued looking into his daughter's face until he sighed
"Fine" he said and she stood up and hugged him
"I love you dad" she said as he kissed her on the top of her head.
"I know" he replied
