Friday December 11th

Gildred Pond, England

2:13pm

- - -

Crash.

Percy ran over the minute he saw his youngest daughter fall but it was too late, she had already started crying.

"I can't do this Daddy! I just can't!" Lucy whimpered in a little voice.

Percy picked her up and carried her off to the side. For once she didn't say she was too big or too old to be carried, she simply turned her head and nestled her face into her father's large shoulder as sobs continued to rack her small frame.

"Now Lucy," Percy sat down on the edge of a bench and positioned his daughter on his lap. Reaching into his coat pocket, he took out a handkerchief out and wiped Lucy's face, her childish cheeks and nose bright red from an equal combination of tears and cold. "You said you wanted to do this. You told me and Mummy that this morning –blow." Lucy blew her nose. "You promised you would try."

"I know," Lucy said softly as she looked at him, tears still clinging to her copper eyelashes. "But I didn't 'suspect it to be so hard."

Percy gave his daughter a indulgent smile as he put the handkerchief away. "Of course it's hard. You've never ice skated before. But with a little more practice, you won't fall down so much."

"Really?" asked Lucy as she turned her head and looked out onto the ice, watching as the people skated by them.

"Really."

Lucy turned her head back to her father and looked at him warily. After a moment she nodded and sniffed, wiping her nose across her jacket sleeve. "I guess I can try again," she said quietly as she rubbed her left thigh, the side of her body that had taken the most impact with her last fall.

"That's my girl," said Percy as he grinned down at her, his light grey eyes sparkling with love. He leaned down to kiss Lucy's round cheek, humming a loud 'Mwah' sound against her skin as he did.

"Blegh!" said Lucy as she scrunched up her nose and wiped her face. "That was cold!"

"Oh, you think that was cold do you?" said Percy laughingly as he leaned over his daughter and tweaked her nose, causing her whole face to light up. "Well, you're going to get even colder just sitting here. So are you ready to get back on the ice Lucy-girl?"

At Lucy's nod, he let her scrambled off his lap and onto the snow, her little feet shaking in her skates as they tried to support her awkward weight. Percy stood up and offered her his hand, gently leading her over the edge of the pond. As he stood there, determined not to start until Lucy was fully ready, he felt a small tug on his hand.

"Da-aad," Percy glanced down at his daughter, not surprised to feel that she was gripping his hand tightly as worried lines creased her brow. "Promise me you won't let go."

Percy nodded as he said the words that parents had been saying for countless generations past and would continue to say in the countless generations to come, "I promise, I won't let go."