AN: Another year, another Father's Day.

Parker General Hospital, June 18, 1989

Robert Clayton walked in through the glass doors after having received an urgent message from his nephew. He quickly made his way to the information desk, stated his business succinctly and nodded his thanks to the receptionist before walking onward to his destination.

As he waited for the elevator to take him to his desired floor, he reflected back on all the years he'd spent with his stubborn charge; the moments they were at each other's throats, the moments of comforting one another in their shared grief, and the far-too-few moments of family togetherness. Those lighter moments had begun to occur more often since Lee had found and clung tightly to the love of his wife, Amanda, who reminded him so much of his long-lost sister-in-law, a woman his late brother had loved so much.

He was proud to say that he saw a lot of the same qualities in Lee that he'd known Matthew to have. He was loyal, hard-working, fiercely independent, he was a caring, nurturing stepfather to the two boys he'd taken on and loved as his own, a loving, faithful husband to his wife and dedicated son-in-law to her mother. He sighed as he stepped into the elevator with these thoughts overwhelming him.

He fidgeted nervously in anticipation of what he might find once he reached the end of today's journey. Through all the years and all the memories, both good and bad, that he had shared with his brother's son and everything he thought he knew about the younger man, he'd never have imagined it would have come down to this, had never even thought that it was a possibility.

He took a deep breath as the elevator doors opened on the correct floor before taking a step out and venturing down the corridor in search of his almost-adopted son. He found the nurse's station and asked which direction he needed to go to find the Stetson-King family. Once provided with his desired information, he followed the colored lines along the floor as instructed. He shook his head in annoyance and wondered why these places were always designed to made him feel like Theseus in the labyrinth. Of course, the only monster to be faced would be that of his often-strained relationship with his nephew.

As if reading his thoughts, the man himself appeared out of a room down the corridor. His nephew greeted him with an awkward half-smile and a, "Hey, you made it! I...uh...I wasn't sure you would."

"Of course I made it," he responded as if it wasn't even a question of him doing what was right, doing his duty. "That's what family is supposed to do, isn't it?"

"Right. How could I forget? You always do your duty, don't you?" Lee replied sarcastically.

"Oh, come on, Son, now don't be that way. You know it's more than just that. I came because I care." He gestured to the hospital room. "How's Amanda doing anyway?"

Lee nodded. "She's fine. It was...it was a bit rough there for awhile though," he sighed sadly. "They were...they were worried. She-she lost a lot of blood and they thought-" He swallowed hard unable to continue that thought. "It's my fault. I did that to her. If I hadn't-" He broke off again.

Robert placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and in a consoling tone, explained, "No, Son, you couldn't have predicted what happened. No one could."

"But I could've prevented it from happening," Lee argued. "If only I'd been more careful..."

"But she's okay now, isn't she? Isn't that what matters?"

"Yeah. Yeah, she's going to be just fine. She's just...she's resting now. They said she needs lots of rest to fully recover so I-"

"Come on then." His hand still on Lee's shoulder, he guided him down the corridor past her room. "We'll just let her rest then and I'll see her later. For now, though I want to see what I came to see."

Lee smiled weakly as the two men walked together in silence until they reached their final destination. "There." Lee pointed through the glass.

Robert's gaze shifted the direction his nephew had pointed and looked on with a warm smile at the peacefully-sleeping newborn. "What's her name?"

"Jennifer," Lee choked out. "After Mom."

"As it should be," his uncle acknowledged.

"I wish they could see her, see how perfect she is." He beamed at his newborn daughter.

"What makes you think they can't?"

Lee gaped at him sideways and questioned. "You getting soft on me, Old Man?" He remembered vividly their 'dead is dead' conversation when he was a young boy and was surprised to hear the same man speaking of his deceased parents so differently now.

"Maybe a little. I think old age does that to a man," he answered sheepishly. He nodded toward his great-niece. "She's beautiful, Skip, just like your Amanda."

The younger man turned back to his child with a fond look and agreed, "Yes, she is." As if sensing them watching her, the tiny little girl stretched, yawned and opened her eyes.

"She has your eyes," Robert commented.

"That she does, but everything else, her dark hair, her cute little nose, the shape of her face, that's all Amanda."

"Well, if her personality turns out to be anything like Amanda's, you're going to have your work cut out for you."

Lee let out a hearty laugh. "Oh yeah, just like you did with me."

"It wasn't all bad," the older man replied affectionately as he once again placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder. When the newborn let out a loud wail, he laughed and added, "Look, the attitude's already starting."

"I know." His grin grew wider as he watched the infant try to stuff her whole fist into her mouth and her cries subsiding as she began to suck on it. "And I'm okay with that." It didn't even bother him that he'd spent the majority of his birthday the day before having his hand crushed and obscenities hurled at him by his wife while she'd endured the pain of childbirth. By the time that day had rolled into the next, it was all made worth it in seeing his little girl's hazel eyes peering up at him in the pre-dawn hours when he'd held her for the first time just moments after her birth.

"Just so you know, I always was too."

"Yeah?" Lee questioned with a dubious look toward his uncle.

"Yeah, it was hard, but it was worth every minute to see the man you grew up to be. I'm so proud of you, Son, and I just know you're going to be a hell of a lot better father to her than I was to you."

"No," Lee shook his head. "I couldn't be even if I tried. You did everything for me even when you didn't have to, even when you had other choices, but this..." He nodded to his daughter. "This was all my choice...well, and Amanda's, of course. I just hope I make the right ones for her in the future until she's old enough to make her own. That's scarier than any terrorist I've hunted down, any gunfire I've had to dodge, or any life-or-death experience I've ever lived through because it's not just my life anymore."

"It's terrifying, I know. There were so many times when you were growing up that I was scared out of my wits."

"You?" Lee shook his head. "No...no way."

"It's part of parenting and it never gets any easier, but you have something I didn't. You have an experienced mother by your side to help keep you from making the same blunders that I did."

"That I do," he concurred. "But you know, you weren't so bad. Through all of this, I just keep thinking how funny it is that she was born on Father's Day of all days."

"I thought of that too and all the way here, I kept remembering that first Father's Day you and I spent together and that card you made me. That was the first time I realized what a giving heart you had in spite of having it broken when you lost your mom and dad. I have no doubt that you'll be equally as giving to her."

"I'm surprised you remembered that."

"Oh, I still have it tucked away. One of these days when she's old enough, providing I'm still around, that is, I'll share it with her so she can see just how big a heart her daddy has."

"You really are getting soft," Lee teased.

"No, Skip, I'm not. I always have been; I was just always too damned afraid to let you know it. It nearly killed me losing my brother and his wife. If I'd lost you too...I think I'd have lost the only thing I had left worth living for."

"I know the feeling," the younger man sympathized. "I thought I might...I thought I might lose Amanda just hours ago and I-" He swallowed hard in an attempt to get rid of the lump in his throat.

"I understand." He used the hand on Lee's shoulder to give him a comforting squeeze.

"I know you do."

Their moment was interrupted by Phillip's voice behind them. "Is she awake?"

"Can we see her?" Jamie chimed in.

"Yeah, come on guys. Come meet your sister."

Robert stepped back to give the teenage boys room and smiled as he watched the man he'd raised interacting with his family. He happy that Lee had found what he'd always been missing and grateful that he hadn't squandered the opportunity that had been right in front of him. He whispered low, "Have fun now that you're the one on diaper duty."