Disclaimer: Sadly, Jonathan, Jennifer, and Max belong to someone else. I'm just borrowing them to play with for a little while. Jillian's all mine, though!

Part 1

"We're losing her," he told his wife with tears in his eyes. "We're losing our baby girl, and there's nothing we can do." He held on tightly to his wife's hand, trying to draw strength from her. She had remained calm and collected throughout the entire ordeal. He had been the nervous, worried wreck through it all.

"Sweetheart," she crooned as she leaned against him to comfort him, "everything's going to be fine. You'll see."

"No, darling, it's not," he asserted. "She's leaving. I'm losing her forever." He tightened his grip on her hand once again, while she used her free hand to wipe away the tear that had escaped down his cheek. "What am I going to do without her?"

"Jonathan!" Jennifer Hart scolded her husband. "Stop it. You're acting like she's dying or something. And you can see very well that Jillian is neither dead nor anywhere close to it. In fact I've never seen that girl more alive than she is right now. If I remember correctly, you're the one who agreed to walk her down the aisle and give her away this evening."

"I had no choice," he admitted. "Jeremy's a great guy. My daughter deserves nothing less." Jonathan smiled.

"She's got herself a guy almost as great as her daddy," Jennifer smiled back. She stretched on her toes to give him a kiss. Her quick peck wasn't enough for Jonathan, however, and he ran his fingers through her hair as he held her to him.

"Mama!" a voice called. Jennifer attempted to break off their kiss in order to answer the caller, but Jonathan only increased his hold on her. She in turn melted into him, just like she always did.

"Mama! Where are you?" came the cry again, more insistently. Jennifer managed to disentangle herself from her husband's arms, but she did not break eye contact with him. He raised their joined hands to his lips and kissed her fingers.

"Mama! Please!" Jennifer could hear the desperation in her daughter's voice.

"Go and see what she needs," Jonathan told her as he gave her fingers one last kiss. She gave him one of her mega-watt smiles in return as she left to go to their daughter.

As she rounded the corner near the dressing room, Jennifer knew something was very wrong. Jillian's bridesmaids had apparently been banished to the hallway. Tricia was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall and her ankles crossed in a ladylike manner as she nervously picked at her manicure. Melissa was pacing up and down the hall, twisting her hair around her fingers as her high heels clicked methodically on the marble floor. Courtney stood at the dressing room door, trying to convince the bride to let them back inside.

"Girls, what's going on?" Jennifer inquired as she approached the trio. The four of them had been best friends since they were little girls. They shared absolutely everything with each other and could barely stand to be apart for more than five minutes, so Jennifer knew there must be a pretty major crisis going on.

"Oh, Mrs. H., thank goodness you're here!" Melissa exclaimed, running to throw her arms around Jennifer. Tricia stood to her feet and walked over to them.

"She kicked us out," Tricia added. "She won't let us back in. She wants to call off the wedding." Jennifer reached up to brush away the tears that had begun to fall down Tricia's cheek.

"She does, does she?" Jennifer asked, not expecting an answer but receiving two nods in response. "Let me talk to her. Everything's going to be okay, girls." She squeezed both of their hands in reassurance.

"Come on, Jill," Courtney pleaded from her place at the door, "let us back in. We want to help you. Stop being so ridiculous!" Jennifer walked over to Courtney and placed her hand on the young woman's shoulder.

"Courtney, honey," she whispered, "why don't you and the other girls go and get Mr. H. for me, huh? Give me a minute alone with her."

"Okay, Mrs. H." Courtney conceded and left with the other girls to find Jonathan.

When the girls had rounded the corner, Jennifer turned her attention back to her daughter. "Jillian!" she called. "It's me, baby." She tried the door handle, but it was locked. "Sweetheart, open the door." She could hear her daughter's sobbing inside the room, but there was no movement to unlock the door. "Jillian, it's Mom," she tried again, to no avail. "Jillian Renee Hart! You open this door right now and stop acting like a child!" she scolded. She heard the door being unlocked and then opened.

As Jennifer stepped into the room, she took a quick look around. The room was full of flowers and gifts. Shoes and stockings lay strewn across the floor. Curling irons, bobby pins, hair spray and makeup covered the vanity. Jillian's wedding gown was hung on the backside of the closet door.

Jennifer turned to look at her daughter. Jillian had wrapped herself in a pale blue dressing gown. Her long auburn hair was only half pinned up. Mascara streaked down her cheeks; her makeup would have to be redone. Tears were streaming from her blue-green eyes, and she clutched a tissue in one hand. Jennifer opened her arms, and Jillian rushed into them and wept.

"Baby, what's wrong? What happened?" Jennifer cooed as she gently rubbed her daughter's back.

"Oh, Mama," Jillian sobbed, "I can't marry Jeremy."

"Why not, sweetheart? You love him, don't you?"

"Of course I love him. I don't know what's the matter with me. All I know is I can't marry him."

"Oh, Jillian, you're just nervous," Jennifer reassured as she continued to rub Jillian's back. "It's perfectly normal to be nervous. I was nervous before I married your father."

"You were nervous about marrying Daddy?" Jillian pulled back from her mother to look her in the eye. "I don't believe you." Her sobs had subsided into soft sniffles.

"I know. I know! I'm the only woman in the world who would have been nervous about marrying Jonathan Hart, but I was. I promise." Jennifer raised her hand as if she were swearing an oath. She smiled as she wiped away Jillian's tears. "But I also knew that I loved him very much, and he loved me very much, and I was the one he wanted to marry." Jillian had seemed to calm down. "And it's the same with you and Jeremy, right?"

"Right."

"And the two of you are getting married today, right?"

"Right."

"Good. Because I would hate to have to send your guests away, and Max would hate to miss out on the chance to dance with you, and I know your father would hate to tell the caterers to take the food back," Jennifer teased. Jillian laughed, and Jennifer smiled. "Come on. Let's get that hair and makeup fixed so we can get you in your gown so you can go marry the man of your dreams."

"Thanks, Mom." Jillian nodded in agreement as she wiped the final tears from her eyes and hugged her mother tight.

After Jennifer left, Jonathan made his way to the reception hall to check on things there. He fixed himself a scotch and water at the bar and then proceeded to help himself to the trays of hors d'oeuvres that had been left out by the caterers.

"You know those things give you heartburn," he was warned just as he was about to pop another deviled egg into his mouth.

"What would your wife say if she knew you were out here sneaking snacks?" another voice inquired.

"Although, as long as you're snacking we might as well join you," a third voice chimed in. Turning around to face his accusers, Jonathan found himself face to face with his daughter's bridesmaids.

"Hello, ladies," he said with a smile. "What do you say to keeping this our little secret?" he suggested as he offered the girls some food.

"Sure thing, Mr. H.," Melissa agreed.

"You know we'd never rat you out, Mr. H.," Tricia added. "If we did you'd never let us get away with anything ever again."

"Oh! And before we forget, Mrs. Hart wants you," Courtney remembered.

"Oh?" Jonathan asked, "What seems to be the trouble?"

"Jill's having a bit of a meltdown, and she kicked us out," Courtney continued.

"Nothing her dad can't fix, I bet," Jonathan said with a wink. "Well, girls, it seems I'm needed elsewhere. Don't eat too many of those hors d'oeuvres, now," he added as he made his departure.

Jonathan rushed through the halls, making his way to his wife and daughter. As he rounded the corner, he noticed the door to the dressing room was open. He slowed his pace as the sounds of Jennifer and Jillian's laughter emanated from the room. It seemed Jennifer had been able to calm their daughter down and bring things back under control, but he decided to check on his girls anyway. Silently leaning against the doorjamb, he took in the scene before him. Jillian stood with her back to him as Jennifer buttoned the last of the many satin covered buttons on the back of Jillian's white gown. Jillian smoothed a stubborn auburn curl back into place as she twisted around to admire her dress in the mirror.

"Sweetheart, you look…" Jennifer paused, searching for the right word to describe her daughter's stunning beauty.

"Gorgeous," Jonathan supplied from his post at the door. "Absolutely gorgeous." At the sound of his voice, both redheads turned around to face him. He smiled at them and received two identical smiles in return.

"Daddy," Jillian beamed, "how long have you been there?"

"Not long," he assured. She smiled and turned her attention back to the mirror, smoothing her hair and her dress. He could not stop looking at her. "She looks just like her mother," he thought to himself.

Jennifer left her daughter's side and went to her husband. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Darling," she whispered.

"Hmm?" he responded, not taking his eyes off Jillian.

"You're staring at her," she gently scolded.

"No, I'm not staring at her," he denied.

"Yes, you are," she insisted.

"I'm looking at her," he clarified.

"Oh," Jennifer smiled.

"I like looking at her," Jonathan continued, still not diverting his gaze from his daughter.

"She is lovely, isn't she?" Jennifer agreed. She stretched up and pressed a kiss to his jaw. Looking up at her husband she saw tears in his eyes. "Darling, what's the matter? You're not going to start crying on me, too, are you?" she asked.

"When did she grow up so fast, Jennifer?" he wondered. "It seems like just yesterday she was a little girl in pigtails who needed her daddy to scare away the monsters from under her bed before she could fall asleep." He was lost in memories that began nearly thirty years earlier...

Author's Note: This story is definitely a work in progress. I've reached a sort of mental road block a few chapters down the road, but I'm posting this in hopes that your reviews will help break down the mental blockage. So read and review, dear readers! If it appears you like it, I'll try to update soon!