Hello all of my faithful readers, and welcome to the new readers. There will be an update appox. every 3 days so work with me here. I think this chapter is a necessary one to get where I'm going, so be patient and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

From the time he woke up until it was time to get dinner ready, John realized that his daughter was actually nervous for the first time in a while. She would always be excited and giggling as she waited to do things, but today she was being oddly meticulous and subdued. Amelia had let him sleep in until almost 10, and all she did most of the day was eat her breakfast and lunch and play in her room. Right up until she could smell dinner cooking, she was calm. When he heard noise coming from her room for the first time all day, he smiled as he stood in the doorway, watching the way his baby girl was holding up dresses for her audience of stuffed animals. He thought she was way too young to pick up the indecisiveness of her outfits, but when he heard her ask her bear if Jos would like it, he had to intervene.

"I think the purple one will be perfect mija," he said softly, and Amelia whipped her head around in surprise and throws the dresses behind her in embarrassment. He just looks down at her and she sighs, only picking up the purple one and going to climb onto her bed.

He watched as she threw the dress up first before climbing up, grabbing her baby moose from her pillows and hugging it to her chest as she watched him with big eyes.

"But daddy, I need to look pretty like Jos" she whispered, hugging the moose around its neck as she sits there. He comes to sit beside her and she places her head on his thigh, blowing out a breath as she turns so she's looking straight up at him. He ran his hand through her wavy hair as he remembered the conversation he'd had with the detective around noon.

Picking up his cell phone, John begins pacing the length of his bedroom as he looks at the card in his hand. It has Jocelyn's number on it, but he can't help but be anxious. He'd felt electricity with her from the minute she was entertaining Amelia, but there was something guarded there that he couldn't see. He knew she had secrets just like he did, but not knowing what she was keeping from him made him want to work harder. It started out for Amelia, but he was just as excited about seeing her. He dialed the number quickly and paced rapidly as the phone rang. Just before he was about to hang up, an out of breath Jocelyn answered with a breathy "Carter" into the phone. He paused and smiled, curious a to what she had just been doing.

"Hello Detective, I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"Actually Mr. Reese, I just finished breaking up a fight. How are you" she said laughingly as she sighed, running a hand through her messy hair but stopped and rolled her eyes when she realized he couldn't see her.

"I can see you getting in the middle of a fight Detective, but try not to get hurt" he said sincerely, concerned that she may have hurt herself. She smiled at the concern in his voice, but dismissed it just as quickly as it had come.

"Well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black mister fireman…" she said, and smiled brightly as she heard him laugh deeply at the situation. Fusco was sitting at his desk and was just blatantly staring at her sitting on the phone. He motioned to her phone as she was talking, making hand signals that she ignored until he wrote on a piece of paper, "Who Are You Talking To?" She shook her head and walked out of the squad room and into the locker rooms to get a little more privacy as John continued to speak.

"As long as you try I guess I can't say much. I was just calling to remind you of Amelia's invitation for tonight"

She wanted to bang her head against something because it was the only thing that she could think about as the clock wound down. She was looking forward to seeing them again for a multitude of reasons, Amelia being the main one.

"I remember. I can actually cut out of here at 5 o'clock at the earliest" she said timidly, unsure as to whether he was asking if she was still coming or not. It unnerved her that she couldn't read him as well as she could most people.

"That's fine, dinner's at 6:30 if that's ok with you?" he stopped walking around and leant against the frame of his window, looking out onto the busy streets of New York. His loft was oddly quiet when Amelia decided to play in her room quietly. He kept watching the sun shining over the cars and buildings as he heard her move around.

"Yeah, that works for me. I just have to stop by my house to change. On that note, does it matter what I wear?" he smiled mischievously as he thought of the possibilities she could have planned out. He'd have liked to see her hair up and off of her slender neck and shoulders, but he kept those thoughts to himself.

"I have a feeling Mia will want to be in a dress and look pretty as she puts it. You can wear what you want honestly"

There were a few moments of silence as he just heard her breathing as she did the same with him until she blew out a breath and laughed. He laughed as well, liking the way she laughed and imagining the smile reaching her eyes.

"You know what? If she wants to look pretty in a dress, I think I can dig something up that will fit her standards. I take it you'll be in slacks or something of the sort?"

"Of course Detective. Amelia wouldn't let me out of my room unless she thought I was going to work in my uniform. She has too much knowledge for a four year old I swear…" he mumbles, shaking his head at the truth in his words.

"Please, call me Jocelyn when I'm not working, ok? That reminds me, when do you work again I know firemen usually have three days on and three off, but I'm not sure…"

"I go back to work tomorrow actually. Amelia will go stay with my brother while I'm gone"

"Oh ok…" she looked at the clock and notice that she had been gone for over ten minutes and Fusco was going to kill her or dump his paperwork on her desk if she didn't get back. She started to turn and leave as she spoke quickly, happy that he called her at all.

"Sorry John, but I have to cut our conversation short. I have to finish paperwork if I want to get out of here on time" she says apologetically as her desk comes into view.

"No worries Jocelyn, we'll see you tonight" he said lowly and she shivered involuntarily, wondering if that was a god given gift that his voice could get that low and smoky.

"That you will. Goodbye John" she said as he snapped her phone shut and fell into her chair, smiling as the phone lay on her current open case file.

He shut his cell phone and held it in his fist under his chin as he watched people move quickly through the streets, the cars honking and swerving before he moved away and began cleaning their loft.

Coming back to the present, he found Amelia looking up at him with squinted eyes and a smirk on her face. That look was one that rarely came out, but it never meant anything good, for him. She pulled away from him and got up, smiling the entire time as she walked around her room to her dresser, rummaging around in the bottom drawer and pulling random things out as she went. He looked on in amusement for a second before he heard her say "Ah hah!" when she found what she was looking for. Before she showed him, she threw all of the clothes back in half hazardously as she shoved it closed using her entire body, some clothes sticking out as she got up. She stood up in front of him and held up a necklace that she had made with the set he'd given her a couple of months before. He smiled as he took it into his hand and noticed the purple and pale blue teardrop beads in the center of the string chain. It was longer than a normal necklace and she looked timid as she waited for his reaction.

"This is really beautiful mija, is this for Jocelyn?" he asked knowingly, watching as her head tilted sideways in surrender as she dug her toes into the carpet. She nodded up at him, then reached out and took it from him.

"It's purple because I like purple, and blue for your favorite color daddy. So she won't forget us…" she trailed off quietly as she went to pick up and put away the other dress she'd thrown earlier. His heart ached at the vulnerable tone she took, afraid that Jocelyn was too good to be true. On some level, he felt the same. She seemed genuinely drawn to Amelia and she was absolutely beautiful, but there was something there he couldn't quite place. It wasn't an uncomfortable fear, more like a carefully kept secret. He of all people could understand that, but it didn't mean that Amelia's worry made it any easier to swallow. He walked up behind her and scooped her into his arms as she giggled and shrieked in surprise. He laughed at her as he threw her over his shoulder and walking around her room as she hit his back and laughed while trying unsuccessfully to get him to put her down. He finally dropped her on her bed as she tried to catch her breath as he made to leave her room.

"Go get ready honey, Jocelyn will be here in a little while. Then you can give her your necklace" she beamed at him and jumped off the bed to go take a bath by herself, because she had said she was a "big girl now". He smiled at the slamming of the bathroom door, going to change his clothes and finish dinner before the detective arrived.

1 Hour Later

As she walked off of the elevator, Jocelyn couldn't help but feel nerves and butterflies eat away at her stomach. She felt a little out of her element when he had told her that she could wear anything, but that'd he'd be wearing slacks. It worried her that she was over dressed in her hunter green silk shirt, her black pencil skirt, and her black heels. She'd gotten off work late and rushed to throw her hair up in a pretty neat ponytail and find something to wear, but the dresses she pulled out seemed too much like date attire, and she just wasn't there right now. John was a nice, generous, gorgeous man, but she didn't want to head in that direction when little Amelia had bonded so fast with her.

She slowed her stride and took a few deep breaths as she stood in front of his door and knocked. She could hear the little girl's quick footsteps as she made her way to the door, only to be opened by John. She had to pull every trick in the book to keep from drooling at the man in front of her, holding his daughter on his hip. The sleeves of his button up shirt were rolled to the elbow and was a deep blood red color that looked amazing on him with the first few top buttons undone. Little Amelia in his arms was in a pretty little purple sundress and was barefoot, trying to wiggle out of John's arms with an excited smile on her face. As he put her down, she launched herself at the detective's legs, almost bringing her down if it weren't for the fact that John was just a step behind Amelia and grabbed Carter's upper arms right as she swayed backwards and regained her balance. She smiled her thanks at him and he just looked at her, taking her in with his eyes quickly, but not quickly enough that she didn't notice. Amelia broke the spell by grabbing Jos's hands and dragging her into the loft and telling her that they had to have dinner before they could get to the fun stuff.

What Carter wasn't aware of was the way John hung back and watched their every move as they took a short tour of the living room and kitchen, making him realize that she fit in just fine with them after all.

Like it? I hope so, I've enjoyed working on this story :]