Title: His Girls

Summary: Jack is torn apart when Maria files for full custody of their daughters. How do the girls react though? (AU)

Disclaimer: I do not own Jack, Hannah, Kate, or Maria Malone, nor do I own Danny Taylor, Martin Fitzgerald, Vivian Johnson, or Samantha Spade. I do, however, own Nicole Malone, and I'm probably going to end up just making up the name of the girls' schools, and of Jack and maria's lawyers.

A/N: I'm making a lot of this up. Please forgive me.

A/N: Please review if you read it. I try to get the chapters out to you all on a timely basis, and reviews is the way of knowing that you appreciate it. Again, hope you all enjoy this chapter.

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"Thanks."

I say, as I use the tissue to wipe the tears from my red face.

"And yes, I'm alright."

I look up and over at the man standing beside me, and for a moment, I could swear that I'm staring at a younger Martin Fitzgerald.

"Are you sure? You seemed pretty upset about something."

"A bunch of personal junk is going on upstairs, and it just got to be a little too much to handle, that's all."

"Do you want to go grab some coffee or something, calm down?"

"You're being so kind, and I don't even know you're name."

I look over at him, a small smile on both of our faces. He extends his hand and I shake it.

"Mike Fitzgerald. You are…"

"Nicole Malone. Good to meet you."

"Same here. Now that we're aquainted, do you want to go get some coffee?"

"Sure, I'd like that."

We walk down the block to this great café, and order our drinks.

"So, are you Martin's…."

"Brother, yeah. I just came down to the city to talk with him. Since our aunt died, we haven't really spoken. A lot of stuff went down that day."

"I remember dad talking about that. I was real sorry to hear about her death."

"Yeah, well, she went peacefully and that's how she always wanted to go. How about you, Nicole? What are you here for?"

"My mom and dad are going through this huge divorce process, and today happens to be my fathers deposition."

"Jack?"

He asks, wondering if he got it right. I nod my head telling him that he was correct in assuming that Jack was my father, and continue with the story.

"Anyway, mom had moved us all to Chicago in her effort to get back at dad, yada yada yada. She brought me and my two younger sisters back to New York, so she could sit in on the whole deposition thing."

"How'd you end up in front of the building, bawling your eyes out?"

"I was not bawling! I was just….well, I was crying hard."

"right, sure."

I look up to see Mike flashing the Fitzgerald family grin. I smile back at him, then look down to see a text message on my cell phone screen from Martin.

"We should probably get back to the office before your brother kills me."

"Why would Martin kill you?"

"I left him with my little sisters. By now, they'd be driving anyone crazy."

Mike and I pick up our stuff and head back to the office, going up to the missing person unit.

"Hey, Nicole, your sisters finished the tree. What do you two think?"

I look over at the tree, seeing it decorated perfectly. Sam leans over and whispers so that Hannah and Katie can't hear her.

"Of course, we did redo half of it."

Mike, and I laugh at Sam's comment, and for a moment, the problems seem to fade away. I feel like I'm home again, living in New York with dad, hanging out at the office with everybody, and just having a grand old time.

"I'm tired, Nicole."

I look down to see Katie rubbing at her eyes, a sure sign that she was wiped out and would be falling asleep soon.

"Why don't we all go to dad's office, and you can sleep on that sofa that he has in there. Alright?"

"Okay."

The three of us walk into dad's office: Kate falls asleep on the sofa, Hannah falls asleep on one of the chairs, and we see that Grandpa has already passed out on one of the other chairs. I turn and look at the door to see Dad walk in.

"Hey, how long have they all been out?"

"Hannah and Kate haven't been out for that long, and I have no idea how long Grandpa has been out. How are things going in there?"

"I don't know, Nicole. Your mother putting you in there was crazy, but you helped me. At this point, it's all up to how your mom's deposition goes."

For us kids' sake, and for my parents' sake, I hope that everything goes off without a problem.