A/N: After this chapter, I think I'll be doing a pair of early (pre-pregnancy) ficlets. I don't want too many of them to be in consecutive order, after all!

Once everyone had relocated to a recovery room, and Carly was in a deep slumber that only someone who's just been through twenty-plus hours of labor can achieve, Jack could finally have some one-on-one time with his daughter.

She was smaller than he had imagined, and she looked quite a bit cuter now that she'd been cleaned off. It was the eyes that had reminded him of Carly. They were still a bit puffy from the birth, but the resemblance was definitely there.

Now...what should he say to her? He had never believed in baby talk, so he decided to just say whatever came to mind.

"You're already famous, you know," he told her. "Probably the most famous baby in the whole nursery. The magazines are going to fight tooth and nail to get the rights to your baby pictures."

Erika, of course, had no response.

Jack continued, "Oh, and in Japan they know all about you too. That's why we chose the name 'Erika'..because it works as a name in either country." He paused, then to make sure she was fully informed, added, "They don't pronounce it the same way, though."

The little girl blinked sleepily, and assumed what Jack took as a very jaded facial expression.

"Less than an hour old and you're bored with it all. You'll be a natural at all this," he noted.

She stuck her tongue out.

"Now, you're lucky that I'm letting you get away with that. The doctors would probably say it's a reflex, but I know better. Savor it while you can...until you get a bit older, you're the only person in the whole world who's allowed to stick her tongue out at the great Jack Atlas!"

Oops. He thought his voice might have gotten a bit too loud there towards the end. Normally he wouldn't have cared...but this time was different.

"You're smarter than you look, aren't you?" he mused. "Sure, you seem helpless, but that's all part of the plan."

After that, things fell quiet, and Erika went to sleep. Jack would have loved to continue to just hold her for the next several hours, but unfortunately he'd have to leave soon. He was pretty sure he could make it back to Los Angeles for the D-Wheel Stunt Contest and the East versus West duel. And then he could skip the party afterwards and sneak back here before Carly woke up on Monday morning.

He wasn't sure how great his performance would be after all this frantic activity and staying up all night...but at least he could nap for a few hours on the plane.

He handed Erika back to a nurse and scribbled a brief note to Carly.

Be sure you and Erika catch me on TV...it'll be on ESPN starting at 2 P.M. Eastern Time.

-Jack

Then, he reluctantly walked out of the room.