The day that never comes has arrived (Cobie and Char)

Cobalt had invited his daughter to come and see him in the Three Broomsticks on this Hogsmeade weekend because he wanted to be able to tell her something. And at school she was rather busy with all of her friends and son on. Today was a mutual day off for them to actually talk about what he wanted to tell her.

The stubble he'd been ignoring for months now was gone, leaving him clean shaven. Not only that but he'd had his haircut, showing that he was taking an interest in his appearance again. He politely smiled at a waitress who brought him a butterbeer but turned away from her quickly. He didn't want the attentions of any women today, he just wanted to be with his daughter.

It was, after all, the anniversary of the day he had adopted her.

Charlotte walked into the Three Broomsticks and she looked around to try and spot Cobie, she had been missing him a little bit and even though they saw each other at school and in lessons sometimes, it still wasn't the same as actually spending time with him.

Although she no longer wondered that he didn't love her as much because he didn't spend time with her, she was still a little bit sad that they didn't spend as much time together as they used to.

As soon as she spotted him, Charlotte hurried over to him and noticed immediately the change in his apperance, he looked much better than he had done, and she wondered if he was finally better after finding out about her heart condition.

"Hey Papa!" she said with a happy grin, wondering what his reaction would be to the new nose peircing that she had gotten a few days ago, and the fact that her hair was now cropped into a short pixie crop cut "You look very nice today." Charlotte smiled as she sat down.

Seeing his daughter coming into the bar he smiled at her. Of course he immediately noticed the nose peircing and her new haircut. He would have been annoyed at the nose peircing but he'd done stupider things when he was her age so he wouldn't call her out on it. If she got a tattoo though, words would be had. He chuckled a little bit and rubbed his smooth cheek,

"Hey Char-kitty. Thanks, I thought it was about time to stop living as if I had just crawled out of bed." he replied with a grin before smirking, "But I'm not the only one looking different now am I? Lovely haircut Charlotte, I'd make a comment about your new nose peircing but then I'd be a hypocrite. And besides, it works for you."

He chuckled a little bit before ordering his daughter a butterbeer from the waitress. When it was in front of Charlotte he held up his own drink,

"A toast!" he grinned, "To our little anniversary. Three years today you became my daughter. Three years ago today you joined my family and I've never been happier."

Charlotte blushed a little bit when Cobalt noticed the nose piercing but she was really glad when he didn't say anything to her, if he did then it would be very embarrassing to be told off in public, at home she might have been okay with it.

"Thanks Papa," she said shyly "I thought that it would look good, I was considering getting a small tattoo but I think that you might have been a little cross." she smiled gently

Running her hand through her shorter hair Charlotte grinned and she spped a little bit of her butterbeer with a happy smile on her lips, of course she knew what today was, she had marked it on the calander at home.

"To us!" she giggled "And many more happy years together, speaking of our anniversary, I made you a present Papa, nothing too big but, hopefully you like it."

Cobalt chuckled a little bit at his daughter's blush. She had apparently not thought he'd notice or perhaps she hadn't wanted him to cause a scene. But Cobalt wasn't mean enough to cause a scene when all it would do was embaress his daughter. He nodded,

"It does look good." he continued smiling even as he addressed the idea of a tattoo, "No tattoo for you. They're not big and they're not cool. Besides, I have to say no to somethings right?"

He grinned as they made the toast before taking swing of his butterbeer. When she told him she'd made him a little present he grinned,

"I made you one as well actually." he told her with a grin, "But let's start with your present to me. I can see it now can't I?"

Charlotte laughed a little and nodded her head, it was true, Cobalt did have to say no to somethings, and tattoos seemed to be something that most fathers tended to say not to...that and dying your hair an outrageous colour.

"Yes I suppose that you're right Papa, you do have to say no to something, so no tattoos and no motorbikes right?" she asked with a wry smile on her lips "They seem to be something universal."

When he asked if he could see the present now, Charlotte shook her head and her grin grew, in fact his present was at home and there was no way that she could have possibly brought it to him at the Three Broomsticks.

"Nope, your present is at home Cobie, so you need to wait until we get back to the bakery to see it I'm afraid." Charlotte smiled gently "So you'll have to go first."

Cobalt thought it wise not to tell Charlotte that while he was saying no to her getting a tattoo he actually had one himself. Well to be honest he had two but she was never going to see one of them. No one ever saw it and he was glad. It would have been incredibly hard to explain why he had it,

"No to tattoos but whoever said no to motorbikes? Motorbikes are freaking cool! It's why I have two." he teased her with a smirk before laughing, "Yes well I'm anything but usual, let alone universal Char-kitty."

Cobalt gave his daughter a mock pout when she told him that he couldn't have the present here. It must not be as small as she had said it was if she wasn't able to give it to him here. He chuckled a little bit before nodding,

"Alright then, I guess I'll have a little wait." he took his wand out and tapped the table. On top of the table a cake appeared, shaped like the great wall of China. On top of the cake wall were two little figures, an edible Charlotte and an edible Cobalt. The two little cake-figures were hugging. He chuckled sheepishly, "Here's part of my present Char... I baked this cake and decorated it to make it like a reminder for us. I hope you like it. It's all cake too, no icing, because I know you don't like icing."

Charlotte smiled happily and she shook her head whenCobie told her that she was allowed a motorbike, she thought that Airen was more likely to be protective over her than her Papa was ever going to be, probably because he actually had some boundaries.

"Well now you don't now you have one and I have one that you're going to try and help me learn how to ride when I'm old enough, aren't you?" she asked with a little bit of a giggle.

With her mouth opening in surprise at the cake, Charlotte looked closely at the two figures and she thought that it was so so cute that Cobie had made the cake for the two of them by hand, not getting one of his workers to do it.

"Awwwwww Papa that's such a sweet cake! Thank you so so much for making it for me!" she grinned hopping around the table to sit next to Cobalt and giving him a large hug.

Cobalt had to admit that not many fathers would freely say that they would let their teenage daughters get on a motorcycle. Then again he was far from ordinary among fathers. And besides, his motorbikes had more enchantments on than some Gringott's vaults. Even if she went straight over the handlebars at top speed she'd be perfectly fine,

"Alright then but on one condition!" he smirked a little bit, "But I get the Suzuki Hayabusa! You can have the other one... what was it again? Oh that's it. You can have the Honda CBR 600... wow I sound like a bike boff here..."

Seeing her surprise and happiness at the cake he had made to celebrate this day for the two of them, Cobalt chuckled sheepishly before he was tackled from the side by Charlotte for a big hug. He hugged her back happily,

"It was my pleasure Charlotte." he told her, ruffling her hair slightly, "But I have another little present for you. You want it?"

Charlotte smiled happily and she nodded her head, to her a motorbike was a motorbike and she wanted to be able to at least sit on one and drive it around the garden and she hoped that she would be able to do that sooner rather than later.

"Well okay then Papa, you can keep your favourite bike, after all a motorbike is a motorbike to me to be honest, until I come to get my own one, a Harley Davidson." Charlotte said, with dreamlike stars in her eyes.

When he told her that he had another present, Charlotte smiled and she nodded her head, she was very happy to be getting all of these things from her Papa, it made her excited and she wondered what this other present might be.

"Oh yes yes! I would love to see what present you have gotten me, I hope it wasn't too expensive Papa." Charlotte scolded in a warning tone.

Cobalt was actually thinking about when he would be able to race his daughter on the bikes because he hadn't had a good motorbike race in a long time. Of course he knew that she was technically too young to drive, but he wasn't going to tell anyone if she wasn't. It would be good fun,

"A harley huh?" he scratched the back of his head, "Yeah never understood why people like them so much but oh well. I only owned mine for a year... maybe that's not long enough to really enjoy it? I don't know."

He chuckled a little bit at Charlotte's enthusiasm and shook his head when she asked if it was expensive,

"Oh no, not expensive at all Charlotte." he told her with a grin, "It's actually homemade so I hope that you don't mind it."

He tapped the table again and a large, leather-bound, book appeared on the table. Cobalt smiled,

"It's a photo album with pictures of all of our good times spent together."

Charlotte shrugged her shoulders a little bit and she folded her arms about her chest as she thought about the different types of motorbikes she knew, there were only two types that she knew, and those were Harley Davidsons and something called a Ducati monster.

"Well I don't really know that many types of motorbike Papa so maybe you should educate me on them before I start to think about buying one, I'd just buy one that looks nice." she grinned gently, with a little laugh at her own inexperience.

Seeing the book appear on the table Charlotte smiled happily and she looked through all of the pictures, feeling so glad that Cobalt had given her a present like this, she was looking to make one of these herself in fact.

"I was going to try and start making one of these myself!" she grinned "Now you've done it for me it seems even more special Papa, thank you." Charlotte beamed, pecking his cheek happily.

Cobalt chuckled a little bit and shook his head. He had to stop talking about motorcycles now. They weren't even that big a part of his life after all. They were a minor hobby at best,

"Well we'll cross that bridge when we come to it eh?" he suggested with a smile before grinning, "After you've driven your first one this summer. But I digress. Less about motorbikes, more about us eh?"

Seeing that she was happy with his second home-made present, Cobalt decided that now was the time to tell her something else. He took a deep breath to steal himself before smiling at her,

"Well you can add to it too for our future! There's a lot of blank pages after all." he grinned before becoming a little bit more serious, "I have something I want to tell you Charlotte. It's taken me a long time to get to this point, and a whole lot of help, but I think I'm ready... to stop."

Before she could speak he finished off his thought,

"What I mean to say is... I'm not going to be a wetboy anymore Charlotte. I'm going to spend more time with you and focus on just being a father to you... the father you deserve."

Charlotte nodded her head with a happy smile when Cobalt said that they should stop talking about Motorbikes now, they were interesting and all but they had better things to talk about in their time that they were spending together.

"I think that might be best, as exciting as they are, we should talk about how we've been, so, what have you been up to Papa, I haven't seen you in a while." she asked, with a happy smile on her face, ignoring the fact that she hadn't seen him in a while.

Sensing that Cobie was going to tell her something important, Charlotte turned and faced him properly, blinking a little, she definately did not expect what he told her that he was going to do.

Unable to stop herself from getting very excited, a large smile broke on her lips and she said, a large beaming smile on her face;

"You mean it Papa? You really do?" she asked happily, hugging him tightly "Oh thank you thank you! That's the best present ever! I'm so happy!"

He chuckled a little bit, yeah he had gone overboard with his motorbikes, something he was prone to doing with his hobbies. But when your job was killing people your hobbies became less like idle pursuits and more like coping mechanisms,

"Well Charlotte I've been a bit messed up to be quite honest. A couple of my last jobs really got to me... but I had a few conversations with a wise old man." he told her with a smile, "So now I'm feeling much better. How about you? How did you enjoy the tournament in Germany?"

Cobalt watched as what he'd actually said sunk in for Charlotte. It was quite fun to see her go from confusion to happiness within two seconds flat. Admittedly it was something very important to her and to him as well. He grinned widely and hugged her back when she once again seemed to take it upon herself to squeeze his ribs till they broke,

"I really mean it Char-kitty." he told her again, "No more leaving in the middle of the night for weeks on end to go and do evil things Charlotte. From now on my fighting is limited strictly to fighting for your protection. And my time? Well my time is yours Charlotte. I'm sorry it's taken me so long.... you still want to spend time with me right? I wasn't too late in getting out of it was I?"

Charlotte blinked a little bit when Cobalt told her that a few of his last jobs had gone wrong, and she knew that it was probably something very evil that he had been paid to do if it had upset her Papa that badly, but when she heard about the wise old man, Charlotte grinned;

"Did you see Chris again Papa? Is he okay, I heard that there was a meeting with Ministry people and that he was going to meet with the Gott Des Assistenten. I hope he's coping okay." she said, with a small pout on her lips.

When he asked how she enjoyed the tournament Charlotte bit her lip; "I was very nervous when Airen's task was up, but I'm so happy that he won! He was amazing." she said, in awestruck wonder.

Cobalt not being a wetboy any more was the best thing that she could ever have thought about happening, he was finally doing what he promised her he was going to do months, even years ago and she couldn't be happier.

"Of course it's not to late Cobie! We can do so many fun things, it's going to be so amazing now that you're going to be able to spend time with me, we can bake together and paint together and you can teach me how to do more cool stuff...." she said, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

Cobalt had to hold back a shudder as he thought about the missions he'd been on that had caused him to be in such a state that Christopher's words had actually gotten through to him. He chuckled a little bit,

"Well I saw him about a week ago actually. We took a trip round a store together, had some time to talk you know?" he smiled a little bit, "I'm sure he's find. Last I heard he and Leon Becker had a good working relationship."

He grinned when she mentioned Airen and his fight against the giant spiders. Cobalt had to admit the boy had done very well,

"Yeah but he did great in his task." he agreed with a grin, "I gave him something for winning actually."

Cobalt knew that it had been a long time in coming, his quitting, and he'd promised it to more than just Charlotte over the years. But none of the others had lived long enough or touched his heart enough for him to really push for it. Charlotte had though. Charlotte was the push that he needed,

"Good! I was worried I'd waited too long to change for a moment there." he grinned in relief before nodding, "All of the above Charlotte! Including riding a motorbike, how to turn invisible, how to bake cakes and style them like the one I made you... loads of things!"

Charlotte was happy to hear that Chris was going to be doing alright now, she had hoped that he would have a nice working relationship with people because he was just so nice to work with, he seemed to only be able to make people feel nice and happy, from what Cobalt had told her anyway.

"Oh I'm very happy to hear that Cobie, you best be being nice to him if he's helped you so much, maybe you should invite hit around for tea one day, do you think that he would have time?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

When Cobalt told her that he had given something to Airen, Charlotte asked; "What did you give him Papa?"

Charlotte was beyond happy when Cobalt told her that they could do all of these things now, she had completely forgotten about her butterbeer and the fact that they were in a pub and she squeed happily hugging him even tighter.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me Papa! Can we go on holiday again and everything? Maybe we could even go to Italy this time?" she asked excitedly.

Cobalt chuckled a little bit. His daughter hadn't even met Chris yet and she was already talking as if he was the cute grandfather she'd had all her life. It was odd because if there was one thing he could picture Chris doing, other than dressing up as santa for the kids at the ministry christmas party, it was being a cute little grandparent,

"Yes I'm being nice to him don't worry." he told her with a little laugh, "He's a nice guy so I'm being nice to him. Especially since he's been helping me. I'll be sure to extend the invitation Char, knowing him he'd probably drop everything for it."

Cobalt smirked a little bit and wagged a finger at his daughter,

"Ah ah ah!" He teased her, "That's for Airen to know and only Airen. Don't worry, he'll show you in if you ask I'm sure."

Cobalt laughed happily when his daughter ignored their surroundings and gave out a happy noise as she hugged him tightly. He liked it when she was like this, so uninhibited,

"We sure can Char-kitty! Hell we can visit places all over Italy." he told her with a grin, "A new city for every week in the summer holidays!"

Charlotte nodded her head in an approving manner, it was so nice to be able to see her Papa making another friend, she knew that he was friends with Uncle Richie but he hadn't spent much time with him either lately, maybe that would change too now he had given up his other job.

"Well okay then, I would love it f he would come for tea, then I could meet him and it would be nice to say that I had met the Minister for Magic." she grinned happily, just thinking about meeting him was making her very excited.

Pouting when Cobie wouldn't give her the answer to her question, Charlotte crossed her arms about her chest and frowned at him; "Awww thats not fair Papa. Fine I'll just ask Airen later." she grinned.

Hearing that they would be going on holiday for every week of the Summer Holidays, Charlotte smiled even more, she had wanted to go away last year and the year before that but they hadn't, now they were making up for lost time.

"Do you want to go anywhere special on holiday Papa? After all we have time to go to different places other than Italy, I'll have to add more clothes to my collection and see if anyone wants to buy them. she joked."

Cobalt had to admit that it felt nice to have another friend to add to his collection of, well, two now. It wasn't one of his strongest areas, making friends, but hopefully he would remain friends with Chris and not mess it up somehow,

"Yeah he's a really nice guy and I'm sure you'll love him Char." he told her with a big smile before chuckling, "You could even ask him for an autograph if your really wanted to. I doubt he'd actually mind, probably be very flattered."

He laughed a little bit at her childish attitude before ruffling her hair, "You do that Char-kitty. I'm sure he'll show you it too. It's not like I asked him to keep it a secret or anything, just that he look after it."

Cobalt had to admit that this felt like he was buying his daughter's love but he knew that was silly. His daughter was too smart to have her love bought, she just really wanted to go on holiday with him,

"Not really Char, anywhere with you will be my ideal destination." he told her with a smile before laughing, "Of course we can stop at all the designer places for you Charlotte! I still have a small fortune after all."

Charlotte made a small face and she shook her head she didn't think that she was going to be able to ask for an autograph without looking like a complete tool so she thought that was off the adgenda for the time being, meeting him would be more than enough;

"I think that autograph is going a little over the top." she said with a small giggle "I'll just be happy to meet your friend Papa, and hopefully he will be happy to meet me too!"

Wondering what Cobie had actually given Airen, Charlotte furrowed her brow as she thought and decided that she was best not thinking on it, in case it started to annoy her.

Raising her eyebrow Charlotte shook her head and wondered if her Papa had really not paid her any attention over the past few months, she had meant the clothes she had made;

"I meant I'll have to make some more clothes for holiday Papa and see if anyone in Italy wants to buy them from me, I doubt it though..."