Daddy's Little Girl

by Liaranne

Semi-sequel/tie-in to His Beautiful Eyes, one-shot, Father's day fic.

To Dad: I love you. You need to get more rest, take less road trips, and not work yourself to death, you idiot, while at the same time not making our lives a misery with the "projects" you do when you have energy, but I love you all the same. (The "projects" are often without notice, without need, and based off random comments he overhears from the rest of the family and thinks he needs to do ASAP but doesn't always think through. It would be nice if he consulted people…) I really do love you, Dad.

Jack Fenton shifted in his seat and adjusted his tie.

He did not want to be here.

Jazz had wanted to go on a college visit, and he had wanted more time with her, so he offered. He was now in the lobby of a college campus dressed rather normally for once under his daughter's insistence.

And Jazz was enthralled.

Jack held his own, just barely, all through the visit, somehow managing to act with a semblance of normality for once as he watched his daughter grow more and more in love with the school.

"Hey, sweetie," Jack said to his daughter as he sat down on her bed. The eight-year-old girl was home sick from school. "How are you feeling?"

"My stomach still hurts, Daddy," the girl said softly.

"Here, your mom said to drink this," he said, setting a plastic cup of ginger ale on her nightstand in front of her unicorn lamp. "Is there anything else you need, princess?"

"Daddy? Will you tell me a story?" she asked.

"Sure, sweetie. Sure I will."

Jack smiled sadly as his daughter clamored into the passenger seat of the Fenton RV. He knew that she would grow up… he just had not expected it to happen so fast.

He started the RV, and headed home.

He told the story to his little girl as she sipped that cup of ginger ale, her eyes slowly drooping into slumber

"There once was a king who ruled a mighty and powerful kingdom, and he had many treasures. But the greatest of his treasures was his only daughter, his oldest child and most precious and precocious little jewel. She had red hair-" and he reached over and rubbed Jazz's head, "and blue green eyes," and Jazz giggled into the cup, "and she was his favorite little girl."

"But little girls grow up," Jack continued, "and one day, the king noticed that she had blossomed into an amazing young woman."

Jack looked at his daughter as they drove home in the dark, the headlights from the cars on the highway shedding their fickle light across her face. She was awake, for now, but quickly drifting off to sleep with a smile.

"What happened to her, Daddy?"

"Well, the little girl wanted more in her life than to hang around her father's old castle all day. She found that she had outgrown it, and that it was time to move on."

"And what did the king do, Daddy?"

"The king was sad about this. He didn't want to let go of his little girl. In his eyes, she was still the child that he had held in his arms and told stories to when she was sick, just like you."

"But she was big now! She did not need him to take care of her, Daddy. Why should he be sad?"

Jack glanced over again at his daughter. She had drifted off into sleep as they drove through a better section of highway, the street lamps that lined the road shedding their shifting golden light across her soft face, almost fragile in its slumber.

"He was sad because he still needed her, sweetie. He didn't want his little girl to grow up so fast, he wanted to hold on to her still."

"But if she was ready, and he knew it, why wouldn't he let her go?" she asked, half-into dreamland.

"Because he loved her, and he knew that the world out there was a tough one, and he did not want her to get hurt."

"But that's selfish! She would have to go anyway!"

"Yes, she would, someday, he just did not want it to come so soon."

Maddie's voice drifted up into the open door. "Jack? I need a hand, where are you?"

"Coming, dear!" he yelled back. "I have to go, sweetie," he told his daughter, "Be good and get your rest."

"But the story," she protested "You haven't finished it."

He smiled. "Not all stories end," he said, "This one we'll continue another time, I promise."

And he kissed her head, took the empty cup from her hand, and told her to sleep.

"Daddy?" he almost missed her words as she buried her face in her pillow. He paused at the door.

"Yes, princess?"

"I'll always be your little girl, won't I?"

"Yes, princess," he smiled, "Now, get your rest and get better."

And Jazz smiled, and slept.

Jazz woke up as they pulled into Amity Park. "Daddy? Where are we?"

"We're almost home, princess."

"Good," she smiled, and drifted back into slumber.

And Jack looked at his daughter, and knew that she would always be daddy's little girl.