Another Daddy!Barney story because I just love them so much! It's really going to focus around him and his daughters relationship, but I haven't really figured everything out.

I own nothing. Please review!

"Barney," Mom smiled pulling me into a hug, "Looking even more handsome then usual."

Chuckling softly I pulled away from my Mother and looked over her. True to her word she was wearing an elegant but simple white dress. I had to admit I don't think I had ever seen her dressed like this before.

Was that weird? I truthfully had no idea, but I found myself not caring either. Right now I was just going to be focused on making this a wonderful tea party for my entire family.

Ted, Marshall, and I had finished setting everything up about four hours ago. Then I had to go shopping. Because as much planning as I did I had forgotten two very important things. The tea and the tea pot.

I really should have remembered considering I kept saying 'tea', but I had been so preoccupied with everything else it truthfully just slipped my mind. Luckily, I still had enough time to get everything.

Finding a nice teapot set was fairly easy, but I had spent awhile staring at the different teas trying to figure out what one everyone would actually like. Which was a lot harder than it sounded.

In the end I settled on an apple flavored black tea mostly because I knew everyone that was coming liked apples. After all that I only had three hours to get myself ready for the party.

When I had gotten home after shopping I had gotten a txt from Robin saying that they had put Zoë down for a nap and that they'd message me before they got in the car to make sure I was ready.

Though all of that was important I found myself immensely glad that she decided to say that my daughter at gotten the blue dress. Not a lot of colors went really well with both red and blue.

Now I was ready, Zoë was about half an hour away, James and his family were a little more than five minutes away, and I had completely forgotten everything that I had spent so long planning.

How could I have had everything planned only to have my mind completely blank as soon as I saw my Mother? So, it wasn't really all that hard to do, she was my Mother, but it still wasn't right.

Taking a deep breath I looked around my apartment once more and let my mind run away from me. I needed to get back on task if I was actually going to be able to pull this off.

"Breathe, Barney," Mom cut through my thoughts.

"Trying to," I sighed, "I hadn't ever thought that this would happen. I had never… I don't know what to do."

"Well, first you're going to calm down. Then you're going to wait for your brother to come and then for your daughter. We'll have a nice dinner…"

"Tea party."

"…Tea party and we'll get to know each other. She's my granddaughter, Barney and James niece. We already love her."

"You don't know her."

"She's my granddaughter. Nothing else matters."

Smiling slightly I looked at my Mom I let her pull me into a hug. I had to admit though I visited my Mother a lot I always missed just having her pull me into a hug and comfort me.

"Tell me what you're thinking, Barney," Mom said making me look at her.

"I'm afraid that I won't know what to do," I muttered knowing that this was one of the few people I would ever admit that to.

"So was I and look how wonderfully you and James turned out. Being afraid is now going to be the one thing you'll feel every second of everyday. But there is one thing you'll feel that will make the feeling perfectly fine."

I opened my mouth to ask what that thing was when a knock came to the door. James, Tom, and Eli walked in a moment later letting me see that all three were wearing suits.

Smiling slightly I gave each of them a hug in greeting and watched in confusion as James placed a small, heavy present in my hands. What was…Why had they brought a present?

"Bro?" I asked holding the gift up.

"It's for you," James smiled, "Well, it's for Zoë, but it will hold more meaning for you. Open it before you put her to bed."

Nodding my head I went to put the present in my room when I got another txt from Robin. She and Zoë were outside and waiting for me to come down and bring my daughter upstairs.

With a quick explanation to my family I made my way downstairs. Robin was standing there with a smile on her face that grew when she saw me, but I couldn't see Zoë around.

"Wow, Barney," Robin whistled, "I know you wear a suit everyday, but damn. You look amazing."

Smirking I straightened my silver tie then my sleeves. If there was one thing I knew I could be confident in it was my looks. That didn't mean I wasn't happy to hear it whenever I had the chance.

It was different coming from Robin though. I loved her. At least I did at one point in time. Don't get me wrong I still care about he woman. I jut didn't want to be with her like that anymore.

The woman would always be special to me. She was one of two woman that I could say I had loved. One of two woman who I know had loved me back. I couldn't explain how much that meant to me.

Shaking my head to clear the thoughts I looked around once more hoping to see my daughter, but once again all I saw was Robin. She had said that she was going to bring Zoe, hadn't she?

"Mr. Barney Stinson," Robin said her voice taking on this official command, "May I present to you your daughter?"

Robin stepped to the side and revealed that Zoe had been behind her the entire time. A smile came to my lips as I saw one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen in my life.

There stood my daughter in a beautiful royal blue dress. It was a little puffier than I had thought, but it was gorgeous. The perfect dress for the main star of a tea party to be wearing.

Her hair had been pulled into a loose bun with her now curly hair falling out to frame her face. Her icy blue eyes went perfectly with the dress. They just seemed to pop. It was absolutely amazing to see.

"You look beautiful, Zoe," I kneeled in front of her.

"Thank you," Zoe grinned happily, "You look handsome."

"Thank you. Come on, let's go meet everyone. Thanks for helping, Robin."

"No problem," Robin said climbing into a taxi, "See you later."

"Uh huh. Credit card first."

Once I got my card back I picked Zoe up ad carried her up to our apartment. Huh, I never thought I'd be thinking of my place as an our place, but it was something I could get used to.

As I climbed into the elevator I felt my daughters arms tighten around my neck. Turning my head slightly I saw the fear in her eyes. I moved her in my arms until I could look her in the eyes.

"They're going to love you," I whispered kissing her forehead just as the doors opened.

When I was outside the door I kissed her forehead once more before placing her on the ground. As soon as I was standing up Zoë's hand slipped in mine and held on tightly.

"Everyone," I said opening the front door, "This is my daughter Zoe. Zoe, this is your Grandmother Loretta, your Uncles James and Tom, and your cousin Eli."

"Hello," Zoe blushed before turning to hid her head in my leg.

How could something as simple as my daughter holding onto me like this make my heart soar? No, the better question was how did I keep having moments like this. Because I never wanted to lose this.

"Hi!" Eli exclaimed from Tom's arms.

Zoe pulled her head away from my leg and made her way to Tom and Eli. The older man put his son on the floor. They stared at each other for a second before my daughter poked Eli in the nose causing him to giggle.

The tension seemed to break after that. Everyone talked as I set the table with the tea, finger sandwiches, and cake. Out of the corner of my eye I watched the children play around though Zoe was careful not to get messy before tea was served.

"Tell us about yourself, Zoe," James smiled as we took our seats.

"Like what?" Zoe asked with a grin.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Silver."

"You're three, right? Any big plans for the future?" Tom asked jokingly.

"Violin and doctor."

"A doctor? How'd you come by that?"

Suddenly Zoe was quiet. I cocked my head to the side reaching my hand to place it on hers. Her eyes met mine and I saw the tears gathered in them. Fear flew through me when I realized I had no idea how to help.

Pushing that aside I squeezed her hand gently while watching her turn back to Tom who looked rather guilty for having up his niece thoughthere was really nothing anyone could do about that now.

"Mama," Zoe muttered squeezing my hand back.

The rest of the tea party went better after that. Everyone simply getting to know each other, but not saying anything about Zoë's mother. It wasn't the right time to start talking about that.

In the end the party started to come to a close when Eli and Zoe started to yawn. James and his family left first and while Mom and I put everything else away I had Zoe get ready for her both.

"Open your present from James," Mom reminded me.

Nodding my head I got the gift off my bed and brought it into the kitchen. I opened it quickly a smile coming to my face almost instantly. It was the same book Mom had always read us growing up.

"It's love, by the way," Mom smiled resting a hand on the side of my face and making me look at her, "The fear that you feel will always be accompanied by all the love that little girl will bring into your life."