Illya was sitting in the kitchen at the counter sipping a cup of jam – sweetened tea contemplating his life and his current situation. It was a rainy Sunday and the unlikely family had opted to stay in and relax, which would have been fine with him except Napoleon and their eight-year-old daughter Leona Nicole were indulging themselves with their latest obsession: Telling each other bad jokes. That would have been fine with him, but they insisted on including him. Even now, he could hear them in the living room cracking each other up.

"Daddy, what were prehistoric sleepovers called?"

"I'm sure I don't know. What were prehistoric sleepovers called?"

"Dino-snores!" Laughter ensued.

Napoleon said, "I have one! Why did the scarecrow get an award?"

"I don't know, Daddy."

"He was outstanding in his field!"

Illya shook his head as he listened to the two of them laugh. He kind of envied the way his partner allowed himself to be unself consciously silly while playing with Leona.

"Daddy, I was gonna tell you a pizza joke, but it's too cheesy."

Napoleon guffawed. "That one was really good! Let's go find Papa and you can tell it to him!"

And so it continues, Illya thought as he listened to them approach. When they entered the kitchen, he said, "I heard you tell the pizza joke from here, Daughter."

"Did you laugh, Papa?"

"No, but I grinned."

Napoleon smiled. "I don't expect a belly laugh from Papa, but I bet we can at least get a chuckle."

Leona briefly hugged the blond. "I bet we can, too, Daddy. Let me think of some of my favorites." She sat at the table and propped her chin on her palm as she thought. "I know!" she said. "What do you call a sleeping bull?"

"I do not know."

"A bulldozer!"

Illya rolled his eyes and shook his head. "That was bad, Leona," he said. "Cute, but bad."

Napoleon clucked his teeth. "You're going to have to dig deeper to get a reaction out of Papa. I believe in you, Daughter Mine. You can do it!"

Leona Nicole nodded and started to go over in her mind's eye all the jokes she and Daddy had shared lately. She really wanted to make Papa laugh; he could be so serious sometimes. Daddy said being serious all the time wasn't a good thing. He said sometimes, you just had to laugh to keep from going crazy. She didn't want Papa to go crazy, so she had to get him to laugh.

"Papa, what's a sea monster's favorite meal?"

"I have no idea."

"Fish and ships!" She and Daddy looked at Papa expectantly, but his only reaction was another eyeroll.

"Leona," he said, "I really do appreciate your attempts to make me laugh, but I guess I am not in a laughing mood."

She sighed. She truly was her fathers' child; she didn't accept defeat. She had one more joke she thought might do the job. "Papa, a chicken and an egg walked into a bar. The bartender turned to them and asked, 'Who's first?'"

Illya snorted. He hadn't expected it and the visual that leapt into his mind caused him to giggle.

Leona was delighted. Clapping her hands with glee, she shouted, "I made you laugh, Papa!" She hugged Daddy fiercely. "I made Papa laugh!"

Illya held out his arms and his daughter filled them. He hugged her to his chest and whispered in her ear, "I love you so much, Leona Nicole. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Papa. I love you, too."

Napoleon cleared his throat. "I hate to stop this love fest, but I'm going to serve lunch in a few minutes. Leona, go wash up, please." After she left to go to her room, Napoleon patted Illya's shoulder. "I'm glad you did the right thing and laughed at her joke. I think her feelings would have been hurt if you hadn't."

"I really did think it was funny, Napoleon. What are you preparing for lunch?"

"Pizza. Which reminds me: What did Russian kings order on their pizza?"

Illya groaned. "Do not say it."

Napoleon's smile dazzled. "Czardines."