Author's Notes: This is kinda spur-of-the-moment, but I think it's … okay. For now. It's a little different from the kind of thing I've been writing for the past month or so, but it's a nice change I think. Title's iffy; nothing would go with this little piece! But oh well. Enjoy

Soft Side

Red opened his eyes slowly, the sunlight pouring through his open window. Someone had already come into his room and opened his drapes, leaving a newspaper and stack of mail on his bedside table.

"Tima," he called, sitting up and opening the newspaper. The doorknob slowly turned and the door was cracked open a bit. A small blonde head peered around the side of the door, looking up with big green eyes at the Duke. Duke Red smiled at her over his newspaper before disappearing behind it.

Tima smiled from the doorway and stepped in, closing the door silently behind her. She jumped onto Red's bed, struggling across the sea of fluffy blankets and pillows toward him. She sat beside him, her feet dangling off the edge of the bed. She gazed up at him expectantly, her eyes, if possible, bigger than before.

Duke Red glanced down at her then back to his paper. A grin parted his lips and he chuckled.

"Buttering me up, eh?" he said, turning a page of the newspaper. Tima's face cracked into a smile also, and she got up to stand on the bed behind him. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Duke Red's neck, her cheek pressed against his.

"You promised you would do it today. You said it weeks ago, Papa, and you gotta keep your promise!" she said in his ear. Red laughed softly and closed the paper, folding it and tossing it aside.

Tima let go of her father so he could sit her in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I suppose I did say that. All right, a walk in the park it is." He let go of her and she slipped out of his lap.

"You go and let me get dressed, and then we'll go." Tima nodded and ran from the room, closing it behind her with a sharp snap. Red sighed and chuckled, leaning back in his pillows.

He couldn't imagine living days without her …