Before anyone knew it was December in the Windy city. That meant a couple of things. One, the cold brutal weather. The temperatures consistently dropping, snow had been making its way into the city. And Christmas. The magical time of year that was filled with care, love, laughter, people spending time with their families.

This year was Dani's first Christmas with Hank and he wanted to make it truly special. He remembered how much Camille always had gone out when Justin was a kid. He wanted to do just that with Dani. The first on the list was getting her picture taken with Santa.

He always remembered doing that when his son was a kid, just seeing how excited his son always put a smile on his face. He wanted to continue it with Daniel but Olive took him and hadn't seen him since his son died. But now he did have the chance to do it with Dani. Erin helped pick out a light blue dress, the matching tights, and silver dress shoes.

Erin had been helping the young girl get ready while Hank gathered what he needed, he was still on medical leave he was ready to go back. He was still waiting on the clearance, he didn't want to do a psych evaluation but the CPD was making him get it to see if he was fit for duty, not only physically but mentally as well. As he was finishing getting ready Dani came down just about bouncing, her long beautiful silky blonde hair was in a long braid.

When Hank had seen her he couldn't help but smile, his heart swelled. Dani took more after Serena but he saw the few features that were his son. That made his heart melt more.

"Look daddy, I'm like a princess" Dani spoke with a bright smile, Justin's smile.

"You are a beautiful princess," Hank replies with a smile.

Erin smiled. "You two should go before it gets too late"

The older man looked at his adoptive daughter. "I need a favor if you're going to the district"

"What's up?"

Before Hank could answer her he looked down at his young daughter. "Dani, go get your coat sweetheart"

The six-year-old nodded and went off to get her coat after the young girl skipped off, Erin got worried and looked back at Hank.

"Is everything alright?" Erin's voice held worry and concern.

"Yeah. I want you to look into the files and see if you can find any kind of pictures of Serena. I wanna make Dani of scrap book with pictures of her mother"

"Hank, that's so sweet"

"If you can find any try and make sure they're clean pictures"

"Of course. Are you gonna add any of.. Justin?"

"Not until much later. I wanna wait until she's older to tell her the truth about him. She's too young to understand"

"You do what you feel is best for her and I'll get you those pictures"

"Thank you"

"I'm back daddy!" Dani announced, coming back in the room with her purple coat on.

"Ready to go kiddo?" Hank smiled, looking down at her.

She nodded eagerly, Hank kissed her head and grabbed his jacket. Soon they all had left the Voight house. Erin heading to the district. Hank and Dani are going to the mall. White fluffy snow was starting to lightly cover the ground.

Hank had to be very careful driving on the roads, not only were they slick but people tended to drive crazy especially in bad weather. He glanced in the rear view mirror and saw his little girl singing along to the joyful Christmas music that played on the radio. Soon they had arrived at the mall and saw it had been a bit packed.

The older man had wanted to attempt to make this outing as quickly as he could, the weather was supposed to worsen and he wanted to be home before it had. He and Dani walked through the mall, the stores were filled and packed with shoppers. Thankfully he had already done his Christmas shopping early. When Dani was asleep he wrapped them all and hid them.

So far the plans were they were going to get the pictures taken and head home. Once they had gotten settled again at home, Hank was going to make hot chocolate and they were going to make gingerbread houses. Then the next day, which was Christmas Eve, they were going to have a small gathering and have a nice dinner with the team, Trudy and Mouch, Alvin's wife, Meredith was coming with Lexie.

The line to see Santa was long but wasn't very long, thankfully it had been moving quickly. Soon it was Dani's turn as the excited six-year-old went bouncing over and sat on his lap, the whole time Hank smiled. Dani whispered in his ear what she had wanted for Christmas and then the photographer snapped the pictures. After paying for the pictures, Hank and Dani left the center of the mall.

Hank had made a couple stops at the stores to get some last minute stuff for dinner and for his other gift for Dani. Once he managed to get everything he needed, the father and daughter left the mall going home. Hank looked in the back at his daughter who had been singing to the joyful soft Christmas music.

"What'd you ask Santa for, sweetheart?" Hank asked, the smile returning to his face.

"It's a secret, if I tell it won't come true" Dani told him.

"I see. You gotta go to bed early tomorrow night otherwise Santa won't come"

"I promise. We just can't forget to leave out the milk and cookies for him. And carrots for the reindeer"

"I promise we'll make sure to do all of it"

Hank was responded by Dani clapping in her seat and her singing the songs again. By the time they had made it home it started snowing again and it was coming down heavily. Hank quickly got his daughter inside then went back for the items in the car. The six-year-old had gone to change out of her dress and into some warmer clothes now.

While she had been doing that Hank had put away his other things and made sure to hide the stuff for the scrap book he was planning to make that night. He thought about what Erin had said about adding Justin's pictures in. He had wanted to more than anything but he didn't know how to tell her Justin was her biological father. She had been too young to fully understand all that. He wanted to wait till she was a bit older when she could understand.

He had been broken out of his thoughts by Dani coming down the stairs, she had been changed out of her dress and into a long sleeve shirt with some sweatpants and socks. She had left her hair in the braid.

"Daddy, I'm back"

"You ready for the gingerbread houses?"

"Yup!"

He chuckled and they went to the kitchen, Hank started some water in the tea kettle putting it on the stove to heat up. He then started to prepare the next project, he had gotten the premade sets and opened them. Dani had immediately already started to take the icing and put it on the cookies and began forming the small cookie house.

Hank smiled and smoothed some of her hair back that had been frizzed. He had heard the water going off and went to get it. Carefully he poured the hot boiling water into the mugs that had the chocolate powder mix. After mixing them he brought them over.

"Looks very nice sweetheart"

"Thank you"

He slightly adjusted one of the small cookies for her and let her do the rest. The entire time he watched her his heart swelled. He would always be eternally grateful for this second chance. He would do things right this time around. He wanted to do the right thing by her and for her. Dani now relied and needed him. He had hard decisions to make.

One was going back to work or not. Truthfully he'd been cleared by the doctors, he just was putting off the psych eval. He's been enjoying the time he's spending with Dani. She had needed stability in her life. Could he just retire and leave it all for Dani? Being a cop was just about everything to him, he's done it his whole adult life. He couldn't just stop. He didn't know what he was going to do but for the time being he pushed all that to the side and just enjoyed the time with his little girl.

The rest of the day was perfect, they were on the couch watching all sorts of Christmas movies and cartoons. Hank couldn't have asked for a much better day than this. He decided on chicken noodle soup for dinner, something nice and warm for chilly crispy weather. After they had eaten Dani had fallen asleep curled into his side, he turned the tv off and carried her up to her room.

Gently he laid her down not bothering to change her clothes. He made sure the blankets were tucked around her. Her eyes fluttered open briefly.

"Daddy"

"It's alright sweetheart. It's time for bed"

"Good night daddy" Her eyes began closing again.

"Sleep tight princess"

He softly kissed her forehead and got up, he made sure her night light had been turned on for her as he went back downstairs sighing. His front door was being messed with, he always carried one of his weapons with him but kept it hidden.

Just as he pulled a gun the front door opened as Erin came inside. "Hank put the gun down, it's me"

"I see you haven't lost your key"

"I didn't think I'd get shot. I got the pictures you asked for"

"Thank you"

The female detective studied him and could tell something was definitely up with him. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah just very long day"

"Something is bugging you. What is it?"

"I've been cleared by the docs to come back" There was a but.

"But"

"But I've been pushing off the psych eval the department wants me to take to go back"

"You don't know if you wanna come back do you?"

"I want to but Dani needs stability. A stable parent. I owe it to Justin and Serena to give her a good, safe life. Dani is my chance to do everything right. I can't just give up a job and career I've had all these years. But Dani comes first to me"

"Whatever you do, I got your back no matter what"

Hank had no idea what he was going to do. Being a single full time parent would be hard enough alone. Adding in the job would make it twice as hard. He had to keep thinking about this and hope he comes to a decision. One that would benefit him and Dani. That night he had been working on Dani's scrap book and adding the pictures of Serena in it, ones that he had or the others could find. After finishing the book he put it away and decided to wait till the next night to wrap it.

Before he went to bed he had gone to check on his daughter, whenever he stayed awake late he'd like to check on her to put his mind at ease. When he got to her door he smiled seeing her soundly asleep, she had even had the same sleeping pattern as his son. Sprawled out across the bed and the blanket hanging off the edge slightly. He went and fixed it and she hadn't even stirred. Placing one last soft kiss to her head he went to his room and laid down just staring at the ceiling. This would be the most important decision that would greatly impact his and Dani's lives.

The following morning was Christmas Eve, Hank had fallen asleep some time in the middle of the night without realizing it. He had woken up to a hyper bouncing little girl jumping on his bed.

"Good morning sweetheart"

"Good Morning daddy"

"Stop jumping on the bed before you get hurt"

Dani then stopped jumping as she moved her father's arms and cuddled close to his chest. Hank held her with his might.

"Merry Christmas Eve little bear"

"Merry Christmas Eve daddy"

"Who's coming tonight?"

"Santa!"

"That's right, which means you've gotta go to bed early tonight otherwise Santa won't come"

"I'll be in bed extra extra early"

"Let's go get the house set up for the others"

Dani bounced from the bed out of the room to go get changed and downstairs as they were preparing for the others. Hank still hadn't come to a full decision on what he wanted to do so he was gonna keep it under wraps for the moment. After he managed to get dressed he went down and saw his daughter pouring cereal into a bowl followed by milk.

As she ate he began to prepare the house and some of the dinner, everyone had agreed on bringing a dish. Hank was in charge of the turkey, mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. He first started with the turkey being that would take the longest amount of time.

He buttered and basted the turkey and put it in the oven to cook and started on the two side dishes. Soon everyone from Intelligence had begun arriving starting with Trudy, Mouch unfortunately had shift so she'd be solo this time. When Dani heard the door and saw Trudy she broke into a smile.

"Aunt Trudy!" Dani took off running for her.

"There's my favorite girl" Trudy set the stuff down and hugged her niece.

Hank watched from the doorway, smiling. "Let me help you with that Trudy"

"Oh thanks Hank"

"No Mouch?"

"He's on shift. I told him I'd try to see him some time today"

She helped Hank carry the bowls in the kitchen, soon the others began arriving and Dani smiled greeting them all. Hank saw as his team gathered in the house and smiled. This was it. This had been his family. His team. Sometimes he felt like a father to them. Jay, Adam, Kevin, were his sons, Erin and Kim were his daughters. Alvin and Antonio were his brothers. Trudy was his sister. They were his and Dani's family.

They had always had each other's backs, from now till the end of time. Because their family looks out for their own. Protects their own. And that's what their family does for each other. How could he leave them behind? Sure he wanted to give Dani a stable life and do right by her. But he wouldn't be able to do that without their family. Hank believes he has made his decision.

At that moment Hank had decided to give Dani the scrap book he made her, he pulled it out and went to the couch. "Dani, come here sweetheart"

The six-year-old bounced to him. "Yes daddy"

"Today only, I'm gonna let you open one gift and it's one gift from me. I made it for you"

"Can you help me open it?"

"Of course"

The father and daughter unwrapped it and Dani saw the book, Hank threw the paper to the side for a moment. He opened it and showed her the pictures that were of her mother.

"This is called a scrapbook, you can put pictures in here and you can go back to look at them whenever you want. I managed to find these pictures of your mom"

Dani looked at the pictures as tears fell from her eyes. "She was so pretty"

"Yes she was. You look just like her"

"I miss her daddy"

The older man hugged her close. "I know you do. I wish I could do anything to bring her back for you"

"I'm gonna tell you my secret, what I wanted Sanat to bring me for Christmas"

"Oh yeah? What'd you ask Santa for?"

"I asked Santa if he could make you happy. You do so much, you deserve to be happy. I asked Santa if he could find a way to make you happy"

At that moment Hank felt like his heart could just burst, that had been the sweetest thing she had ever told him. She was right, he'd done so much and never let himself have any real happiness until now. Hank never found real true happiness until Dani came along.

Before her his days were long, gray, miserable. Life had torn him apart all the time and when Dani had entered his life, those miserable gray days turned into much brighter days. He smiled more, he allowed himself to be happy. No more showing fake happiness. Dani had fully restored the real happiness in him.

Hank had hugged her close. "I am already happy. I have everything I could need right here. And I couldn't ask for anymore"

"Merry Christmas daddy"

"Merry Christmas to you too my little bear"