The Dresden Files/Codex Alera is copyright Jim Butcher. This story is licensed under the Creative Commons as derivative, noncommercial fiction.

We arrived at St. Anthony's. I'd left Maggie in the hands of Alicia, Michael's daughter. We'd had a long strategy session where they identified objectives, made plans for who would go after whom, how they would create spendable income, a priority list for what needed to happen first, second and third. Seventy-Two hours here meant approximately sixteen months in the never-never…a land full of fairies and demons. It would be a harrowing time, but exciting.

And all without me.

I grumped through the whole meeting, feeling a sick oily feeling in my gut. I was still angry about being relegated to the babysitter position, but on the other hand, Maggie was no one's responsibility except mine.

They all left. Many kisses and hugs, and the waiting period began.

I picked up Maggie and took Mouse to the park where they ran and chased butterflies, while I sat on the park bench and sulked, staring at my phone as the hours ticked by. Each hour, a week in the Never Never. It gave me such anxiety I thought I would snap Maggie's head off when she accidentally tripped a little boy who was going to the slide, and he hit his head on the step.

"I'm sorry, daddy!" Maggie said when I had gripped her arm in a fury. The look of fear in her eyes made my heartbreak.

"It's okay, honey. You just have to be more careful, okay?" I said through gritted teeth.

"I will." And she started to cry. I picked her up and held her tight to me; the mother of the other child was furious and pulled her son over to one of the benches.

"She's not even wearing a mask!" She seethed as she passed by.

We got hamburgers at Burger King and went home to watch some kids' shows on Netflix.

After a few hours of watching, I was about to tear my hair out. So I called Susan.

"Well, hello, stranger. I was wondering when I'd hear from you."

"How are things?" I said.

"Not bad. Getting used to having a family has been nice. How about you?"

"Peachy."

"Uh-oh. That doesn't sound good."

I sighed. "Murphy has gone into the Never Never to try to extract our friends. Lara, Molly, and Goodman haven't done the translation to our reality."

She nodded. "I knew Magic had taken some kind of holiday. The Paranet has been defunct, and is basically a bunch of conspiracy theorists now."

"Anyway, I agreed to sit this one out because…Maggie."

"Oh!" She giggled. "That must be excruciating for you."

"You don't even know," I sighed, once again, raking my hands through my hair.

"You know, Harry, we can take care of Maggie. We're going on a camping trip this weekend, and I'm sure Melissa would love some time with her half-sister."

I hadn't even considered that. "Wow, really? I don't know when I'd be back. Might be a few days."

"She can live with us as long as you need."

I glanced down at Maggie, who was disconsolately braiding Mouse's hair. "Let me talk with her about it, and I'll get back to you?"

"Of course." She paused. "I have dinner on the stove, so give me a call when you know what you want to do."

"Okay, thanks, Susan."

And we hung up.

Maggie looked at me. "You're going away, aren't you?"

I sighed, pulling her up into my lap. "I'm super worried about Aunt Murphy."

She nodded, looking sad.

"I don't have to if it will make you sad."

She shrugged. "I just wish I could go. Maybe I could help in some way."

I thought about demons rampaging around the never-never, and shuddered. "There are a lot of monsters there."

"I'm not scared of Monsters, Daddy. I have a Mouse!"

Mouse gave a woof at that.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to spend some time with your mother and sister and maybe go camping with them this weekend?"

She looked at me with those huge dark eyes. "Can Mouse come too?"

"Absolutely!"

She smiled. "That sounds really fun, Daddy. But I'd rather you took me camping."

Ugh, my heart. "Daddy, will, I promise. But first, I have to make sure Aunt Karrin is doing okay. Can you be super brave while I do that and stay with your Mom?"

She nodded, tears spilling out of her eyes.

I hugged her tight and close to me, feeling her little sobs.

I was caught. On the one hand, I wanted Murphy to feel the empowerment of our marriage, and she knows how to handle herself. She was in charge of weapons in the Never-Never, identifying them, gathering them, and training with them for future use. Murphy excelled at that category in the Real-world, so I knew she would also excel in the Never Never.

However, that was if the tables stayed fair. Beings of magical might and power had ways of changing the odds in their favor. They didn't play by the rules of man, well, or women, and took advantage of weakness. Murphy had a kind heart deep down and would always err on the side of life, giving people a chance to surrender or otherwise relinquish the evil path they had created. She wouldn't take a life unless there were no other options necessary.

Sometimes, though, you took life when it was the necessary option.

People like Marcone understood this. Over countless battles with creatures great and small both in and out of the supernatural realms, I'd learned this stark fact too. If the being before you could regroup and come at you from a different angle knowing your strengths and perhaps your weakness, you may never get a chance again to erase said creature from the future.

And this was my problem in a nutshell. All the friends who had gone to the Never Never would use death as the last possible option. Michael wanted to save souls, not extinguish them. Charity liked to give people the benefit of the doubt. Hell, she'd done that all the years I'd known her with me. Thomas felt the guilt of using his Hunger and wanted to allow any spiritual being the opportunity to rebuild the spirit elements he took from them.

Goodman knew that death was sometimes the necessary option. So did Mab. Molly had grown to such a level she understood this as well, but they were the ones being saved.

I looked at my daughter and stroked her hair. I'd been forced into that situation when I'd rescued her from the clutches of the Red Court. It had been the necessary option.

I glanced at the clock. It had been four hours since they'd gone in. A month in the Never Never. They would have had time to locate a base of operations, an income source, and hopefully quarters to stay in. Reconnaissance would be the order of the day, with the team venturing out into the world in twos and threes to discover the location of the targets and possible methods for retrieval. I could hook up with them, and be a fourth, thereby creating two recon teams instead of just one. When you transitioned to the Never-Never, Mac did what he could do at least identify a species, but you couldn't take any tools, implements, or even any clothing over. I'd need to give him some kind of an option with that, something useful, with innate abilities.

I considered my options.

Under Sidhe, there were two courts or factions; Seelie and Unseelie. Mab was the Queen of the Unseelie court, Titania of the Seelie.

There were gnomes, goblins, and trolls. Greenies, Brownies, Giants, Dwarves, Pixies, Orcs, sprites, Elves, Hags, Dryads, Fauns, Djinn, Kelpies, Kobolds, Leprechauns, Banshees, Boggarts, Mermaids, Ogres, Centaurs, Pucks, REdcaps, Selkies, Sylphs, Wights, Wraiths and many more I couldn't remember.

Demons were different. There were three or four circles, with each one being more powerful than the last. Imps, hounds, boars, Infernals, Minions, and those types were from the fourth Circle and could usually be easily defeated. Anything above that was complicated. Goolies, Ghosts, Hellboys, and a Naagloshii was a type of ifrit on the third level. Devils, Creepers, Incubi, Succubi, Balrogs, Screeches, Maalks, and others were of the second level. And the top level, each individual demon had almost unlimited power but was also the ultimate in corruption.

I sighed. I didn't want to even think of the demon natures and didn't want to become another being like in Ifrit. I'd stick to something of the Sidhe, hoping I could retain enough of self. It would be nice to fly, though. The problem with flight was the fragility of the being with wings.

"Let's go get you packed, okay?"

Maggie gave me a smile. "Do I get to sleep in a sleeping bag?"

"Totally."

She giggled, and we both ran downstairs to put together her backpack.

After another hour packing, and another hour shuttling her out to Susan's, I was back at St. Anthony's.

"They haven't returned, my boy." A bleary Father Forthill said, after opening the door to the rectory.

"I know, but I've decided to go across too, Father."

He nodded and ushered me inside.

I repeated the process of drawing a circle around the Altar. Then I summoned Mac.

"Are you sure?" he said.

I nodded. "Look, I know I promised Murphy to watch after Maggie, but you and I both know when push comes to shove, Murphy, Thomas, Charity, and Michael will all give an adversary the benefit of the doubt.

"That is why they work on the side of the Light, Harry."

"Well, I know that Light can also be Grey at times too, Mac. Sometimes it's necessary to make the choice that is right instead of the right choice."

He sighed. "Yes, indeed."

"Of all of them, I think I'm the best qualified to do that."

"You have made some hard choices, Harry."

I nodded, thinking of the times I'd needed to kill someone who didn't deserve to die, but because it was necessary.

"Any thought to a species?"

I nodded. "Warrior Elf, I guess. Unless you have a better suggestion?"

He shrugged. "I'll do my best, Harry. You know you'll be naked when you arrive?"

"Yeah, not looking forward to that."

"I'll put you in the same glade that I left the others. It will not be the Evacuation Zone, we agreed to a spot in Aos, the capital city."

He pulled out a map, and I studied it. A city was laid out, with a green spot over a clearing to the north of the city that said LZ, and another red spot near the southern wall that said EZ. I memorized the map as best as I was able.

"Sure wish I could take a cellphone."

He grinned. "You could probably make a magical communication device over there and sell it for a lot, Harry."

"Good idea."

"Once you are in there, you are on your own. I will have zero communications with you. I do, however, monitor the Evacuation Zone, and once you or anyone from our team enters the Zone, I will be notified and will extract you as quickly as I am able."

"Thanks, man."

He nodded. "While you are there, I will give you the same message I gave them: the more Light we can cast, the better. The Adversary has a large contingent on that plane of reality, unfortunately, and has taken direct action in contrast to my actions here. It's only because of this; I am able to perform these actions; if they had not broken our Agreement, I wouldn't be able to allow this to happen. Since you are a Deputy of the Light on that plane, I expect you to help others as you would like to be helped. Does that make sense?"

"So, act no different than if I was here? Help old ladies cross the street?"

He grinned. "Exactly. Because that old lady you helped across the street might save someone's life someday."

"And so on and so on. I get it, Mac."

"Perfect."

"Anything else?"

He smiled. "Good Luck, Harry. May the Force be with you."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks."

And with that, he put his arm on my shoulder. With a wink, we were gone.

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Author's Note: There was a question about Butcher's forthcoming Dresden Files novel: Peace Talks that drops Today! This story will NOT contain spoilers for that novel and has been written prior to its release. This has always been my fun little romp with Butcher's characters and will need to be considered an alternate universe, non-canon fanfiction
This story will also be on HIATUS for a bit. Go out and buy Peace Talks!