A/N: Thank you, everybody, for all of your review love. I'm still working my way through replying to all of the lovely reviews I've gotten. In gratitude, though, here's another chapter. Prepare for another jump back in time. Not too far-two or three months. Enjoy.

Chapter 3 - Little Girl First

Earlier still…

He poked his head in at every door in the house, but she just wasn't there. Lastly, he opened the door to her room again, the room she would soon be sharing with the baby. After a quick scan, he almost shut the door, but something made him pause and look down.

There was his little Jessica, huddled down beneath the crib, nearly blending into the shadows. She wasn't crying, but Jess knew the posture. There were tears on the inside.

"Hey…" he said, crouching down to look into her eyes, "why is my little girl sitting here in the dark?" He traced the softness of her cheek with his index finger, and then sat down beside her. She looked up at the window, away from him. "Jessie? It's just me. You can tell me, remember?"

This was what it took for the cloud to burst. The little girl looked down suddenly, eyes closed tight as two quick tears escaped, and shook her head, determinedly. Afterward, she tried to sniff back the tears, and wiped the back of her hand hastily across her nose.

Jess glanced around the darkened room, twilight without lights, shadows on all the little girl things, lastly coming to the crib he was ducking forward to avoid bumping his head into. This had to be hard for her.

"Is this about the baby?" he asked her, softly. She shook her head again, but her chin began to quiver, betraying her. Jess pressed his lips together, and swallowed.

"Come here," he said tenderly, "I think you need some lap time," and he pulled her up onto his knee, cradling her in the crook of his arm, and dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

"Pretty soon, there's gonna be…a lot of changes in this house…" he began, understandingly, "…could be kinda hard to get used to." He looked down at the soft nest of curls he loved. There was a pause, but this time her head bobbed tentatively in agreement. He pulled her in a little closer, next to his heart.

"You've had a room all to yourself for awhile now. It could be pretty hard to get used to sharing again." Jess had a feeling this wasn't what was making his little girl's heart ache, but it was an easier place to start. Jessica shrugged. "Don't mind sharing?" She shook her head again. Jess nodded.

"Might be hard to share other things…" he offered softly. The little head went down again, and he felt her little ribcage jolt with one squelched sob. With his free hand, Jess reached up and began running his fingers through her soft curls, gently untangling them as he spoke. "I promise you, you aren't gonna lose me," he murmured gently, "not even a little bit. With a baby things are going to be really, really busy, and so you're gonna have to share my time a little more than you're used to. But, I will still be 100% your dad…I promise." The soft crying continued, voiceless and pitiful.

"She's not gonna want me anymore," the tiny whisper cracked and was barely audible. Jess crouched down, tucking his head down next to hers.

"What?" he asked with soft urgency. He knew who she was, and he could follow the logic before she voiced it, but he needed to draw her out. "Why would you think that?" He began wiping the rolling tears away with his thumb as delicately as butterfly wings, love for his little girl haunting his eyes.

"She's going to have a real baby. Why would she want me?" Her precious bell-like voice warbled, but she enunciated the painful words clearly and distinctly. She didn't have to explain what she meant by a real baby. He knew clearly enough how much it was going to mean to both of them to have a child who was half his and half hers…a tiny specimen of humankind that was made up of their love. Of course she would be afraid that this irreplaceable, tiny treasure would take her place…would fill, particularly in Rory's heart, a place that she, herself never could. Jess knew the searing pain of being unwanted by the people you love most…particularly as a child. He couldn't bear seeing it in his daughter's eyes, hearing it in her voice, feeling it throbbing from her heart.

He sighed a carefully controlled sigh, looking straight ahead of him, gathering his thoughts and his words and his feelings, blinking more deliberately than usual into the shadows, as his right hand stroked the ruffles on the shoulder of his little girl's flannel pajamas. Turning toward her, he pressed his lips to her temple in gentle assurance. She leaned into the kiss.

The soft words were scant inches from her ear. "Because you're her Jessica." He pressed his lips together carefully checking that the words he was about to speak were true. "No one in the world could ever be more precious to her…than you."

For the first time, she looked up, seeking his eyes. "Not even the baby in her tummy?"

Even in the half-light his eyes spoke to her, almost like music…it wasn't a happy song, but it was sweet and pure and full of love.

"No," he half smiled, "not even the baby in her tummy."

The tears started tumbling from her beautiful brown eyes profusely a moment after he spoke, and she clung to him with the occasional sob. "Are you sure?" she whimpered.

He hugged her close, arms strong and fiercely protective. "Yes. I am sure," he spoke firmly, though his voice threatened to break. "She…loves you. Nothing can change that." He pulled back, propping her chin up with his finger and looking steadily into her eyes. "Nothing." A more substantial smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he bit his lips together before giving in to it completely. "No matter who comes along…you were her - little - girl - first!" He punctuated the soft, emphatic words with gentle pokes to her ticklish spots, just gentle enough to not quite tickle, but to conspire with the words to coax a tiny smile from his daughter's face.

Jessica did smile, but it only lasted for a moment before she looked serious again. "She'll still love the baby more," she stated, voice quiet and almost matter-of-fact, as if stating the inevitable.

Jess frowned, unsure how to meet this muted fatalism. After a moment, he looked at her keenly. "Who do you love more…me or Mom?" The question was posed without challenge, but with a clear expectation of decision.

Two round eyes met the query, subtly shocked, and then fluttered rapidly in confusion. Jess kept the smirk off his lips, but was pleased that the question made her stop and analyze.

"That's not nice to ask!" Her voice was indignant, with posture to match.

Jess laughed outright, almost bashing his head against the crib, completely delighted with her forthright way of tossing the answer back at him. It tickled him, and he rocked a little with the deliciousness of it, his eyes dancing as he brushed the curls back from her forehead with the palm of his hand, ending finally by gazing at her with a broad grin filled with simple adoration.

"It's not nice to ask you something that makes you say something not nice," he nodded, "like not loving me as much as you do Rory, or not loving Rory as much as you do me. Neither one of those would be very nice to say." He smiled quietly. "But, when you think about it inside, it probably kinda changes all the time."

She gave a little pondering frown at this.

"I mean…when I'm being a grumpy bear who won't let you go outside because you're sick, and Mom's bringing you all your favorite foods and finding great movies to show you - right then, you probably love her a whole lot more." His eyes and tentative tone challenged her to contest this, even just a little.

Jessica smiled guiltily and her whole face dodged away and she buried it in his shoulder to keep from admitting with her eyes that there was ever a time she loved Rory any more dearly than her dad. He smirked, anything but hurt at the nonverbal admission.

"But, when she makes you do your homework when you know I would have let you play first, I'm….guessing right then, you might just love me a little more." She peeked up at him with a mischievous smile, and he chuckled a little. He resettled her on his lap, facing him again as he held her so she wouldn't tumble off of his knee.

"And sometimes," he said softly, "especially when you're sad, you love me most, because you know I'll understand, and because I was your daddy first." His nod assured her that this was okay. "But there will be times…prob'ly more and more as you get older…that I might not understand, 'cause I've never been a girl. And those are times you'll need your mom, and she'll be there, and she'll help ten times more than I ever could. And, those are times you'll love her best. And, that's okay." Jess reached forward and cradled the side of her face in his left hand, eyes tender. "Does that make sense?"

She nodded into his hand.

He watched her carefully as he continued, easing into the words cautiously. "It's gonna be the same way with mom, with you and this baby." Her eyes rose to meet his, and he gauged his words in her eyes. "Sometimes…the baby will be crying and fussing, and screaming and spitting up…and you'll be doing everything you can to help her take care of the baby, and make her job easier. And, let me tell you, right about then, she's gonna love you so much more."

Her eyes seemed to consider this.

"Other times," he shrugged, "the baby will be all smiles and so sweet and tiny and precious…that nobody in their right mind, including you, could possibly love anybody or anything in the world more than that baby…" He smiled at her, a lopsided beguiling smile that hoped she could understand this and not get jealous.

She smiled a little in return.

"And sometimes, even when the baby grows up a little bit, he or she will get an extra bit of love and affection, just for being the baby in the family. It's not really fair, but it happens, just 'cause it does." He shrugged at this, tilting his head to one side, knowing that this could never be an easy thing, going from being the one center of attention to something of a second-in-line, no matter how anyone tried to make up for it, or make sure it didn't happen.

Her face fell, but she tried to hide it.

"Other times, though…" He paused, giving her a sympathetic smile and raising her chin up with his forefinger again. "…you're gonna get…just every scrap of love in her heart. Because…you will always be…her little girl first!" He looked deeply into her eyes. "And nothing, and nobody…can ever change that!"

After absorbing this for a few seconds, Jessica lunged forward with a bone-crushing hug around his middle, which he returned, albeit a bit more gently - still, plenty of papa-bear growl included. It wasn't a short hug either. It was almost debatable whether it would have an end at all. But, when it did, Jess huffed out a rather decided sigh, and fixed his daughter with a "look."

"What?" she asked, smiling. She knew him too well to be unnerved by the look…before any words, she knew the look didn't mean all the dire things it pretended to. There was a smile hiding behind it if you knew where to look for it.

"That baby's gonna have an awfully rough time with me," he deduced, shaking his head.

She half giggled, but hid it as best she could…which wasn't very well at all. "Why?"

"Because, I already know what it's like to have the best kid in the world." His hands spread out at his sides in simple point-of-fact. He shrugged one shoulder and cringed, rubbed his knuckles across his lips for a moment, and when it dropped, his bottom lip stuck out and he shook his head again. "Really, you oughtta feel sorry for this baby! …'cause you are one tough act to follow!" He bumped his little girl's knee with his fist teasingly, along with the statement, to emphasize the point.

There it was. Jess could finally breathe a mental sigh of relief. His Jessica's bear-hug was a start, but only when he saw the light twinkling in her eyes again, did he know he'd steered her into safety and peace. It might take awhile to get there, but it was always worth every effort and every second…his little girl was okay again. He knew she'd have other bouts of rain clouds over her heart as things kept changing, and her world kept shifting beneath her feet. But, for right now, this moment, she was happy again. So he was happy again.

"I love you, Daddy." Sweetest words in the whole wide world. Lump in the throat right along with the happiness.

"I love you too, Little Girl…so much."

A/N: Would you like more? Tell me what you thought of the last couple of chapters and I'll see what I can do. ;-)