Harry wrung his hands together once more, leaning from foot to foot, nerves rattling with excitement and perhaps even a small dose of dread. And over by his side, was Karrin Murphy, shaking her head in disbelief watching her 6-foot boyfriend quake in his boots over the mere idea of seeing his daughter.

Why was he nervous? Well, tonight was the start of the first-ever weekend that Maggie would be spending with them. After weeks of surprise jobs and cancellations, Harry knew that he couldn't put off spending time with Maggie any longer. Plus, Murphy offered to host them at her house. Which, in fairness, was pretty much where he always was at when he wasn't off doing something for Mab or on a case.

Anyway, so there Harry was stepping up to the front door of Casa de Carpenter, wringing his hands and stalling for time. How was it that Harry Dresden, Winter Knight, was nervous to spend the weekend with his two favourite girls?

"Harry, snap out of it you big dork!"

"Sorry!", he yelped as Karrin suddenly smacked his arm. Stepping past him, Murphy quickly jogged up the steps and rang the doorbell.

"You didn't have to hit me," Harry mumbled defensively, as he rubbed his shoulder, "I was just about to knock."

The front door opened and a very amused looking Charity Carpenter leaned by the entrance pretending to glare at her watch.

"You know Harry, I was expecting a phone call explaining why you had to postpone your daddy-daughter weekend again," She said as she pointed to her watch and nodded at Harry.

Harry coughed and smiled meekly as he stepped up to the porch. The snide comment was a bit of a low blow considering that while Harry persevered to be a good father, his rather time-consuming jobs tended to interfere with his duties as a parent. Feeling like a reprimanded schoolboy, Harry bowed his head and quietly murmured, "Sorry, Charity."

Seeing Harry hurt like that caused Charity to come forward and hug him, her small frame dwarfed by his tree trunk-like torso.

"Don't worry Harry, you're a good father, I was just teasing you," she reassured him. Across from her, Karrin nodded towards Charity silently thanking her for putting Harry's mind to rest.

"So, where's my little pumpkin?" asked Harry.

"Here Dad!", he heard echoing out of the house as little footsteps and big thumping steps came thundering out to the front door. Before Harry could even step out of the way, a flash of yellow came barrelling towards his legs and he looked down to see his daughter hugging the life out of his legs.

"Hi, Dad! I knew you would make it tonight! Mouse was so sure of it."

"Hey, there munchkin. You know I wouldn't miss this for the world", Harry replied, as he leaned down to hug Maggie, he realized that the flash of yellow was in fact an adorable marigold blouse that she wore.

"Daaaad, don't ruffle my dress too much, it took Aunt Charity really long to iron down", Maggie whined over Harry's shoulders. He released her and Maggie immediately started running her little hands over the dress in an effort to smooth it down.

Noticing her predicament, Harry drew up a tiny bit of will and whispered, "Suavizar", which instantly caused a rush of wind to straighten out Maggie's dress. With a jolt of surprise, Maggie giggled as she felt the slight breeze caress her dress and she turned to her father with a wide smile across her face.

That alone made up for all those nights Harry doubted his choice of taking up the mantle of a father, he smiled back full of pride and tried to commit Maggie's beautiful smile to memory.

As he slowly stood back up, he noticed Murph giving Mouse a rather enthusiastic belly rub, which Mouse clearly loved as his massive tail thumped the porch floor rather soundly.

"Hiya Aunt Murphy! I was so excited when I heard you were coming too, we can finally finish up the last few chapters of Nancy Drew," Maggie exclaimed, walking around her dad to greet Karrin.

"Hey there Maggie, you know I would never miss a weekend with you," Murphy replied as she disentangled her limbs from the giant Foo dog. She ruffled Mouse on the top of his head and knelt down to embrace Maggie.

"You know, your dad doesn't use his magic to smooth my clothes down, so you must be extra special," she said as she stood up breaking the hug with Maggie.

"No way!", Maggie countered, "Daddy always says he has two special girls, that's you and me."

Harry blushed cherry red as his daughter defended his honour, he walked a bit towards Maggie and brushed some stray locks of hair off her face, "You're right pumpkin, I do other kinds of magic on Aunt Murphy though."

Now it was Murphy's turn to blush a deep shade of red as she stifled a giggle and said, "Alright, enough teasing, we have a movie to catch."

Turning away from the front door, the trio bade goodbye to Charity and headed towards the car.

As Murphy reached out to open the driver's side door, she turned and whistled back towards the porch where a rather sullen-looking Mouse suddenly perked up and bounded in the direction of the car.

"We can't have lil' Maggie missing her best friend this weekend, can we?" Karrin remarked as she opened the back doors to let the Foo dog in.

Patting the dog as he climbed into the back seat, Maggie stammered out, "Thank you Aunt Murph! I didn't think you would let Mouse come along."

"Aw, Maggie, he's always welcome to hang with us, plus who will keep those pesky rats away from my kitchen?", Murphy noted while giving Harry a quick glare, as she slid into the driver's seat and started the engine.

Harry winked at the mention of pesky rats raiding Murph's kitchen and strode over to enter the passenger seat, he asked, "So, who's ready to watch The Lion King?", and in response, he heard Maggie squeal out in delight.