A/N: My profuse apologies for the tremendous delay. Just to let you know, I completely rewrote the telephone conversation between Luke and Jess in the previous chapter. It had been creating a mental block for me for quite some time, because even though chapter wise, it was a relatively small revision, story wise, I had completely written myself into a corner. What I'd written couldn't have taken place the way I'd written it, and for some odd reason, whenever I tried to fix it, it turned into a snarled bit of plot-mess in my head. I won't promise that this will mean regular updates from now on, but at least it's gotten you another chapter, and my imagination has the promise of many more. Remember that reviews prime the pump of my creative juices. At long last, chapter 19:

Chapter 19 - The Pinwheel Xylophone of Wonderment

The rainbow fans of color swatches her dad spread out before her and then helped her to hold in her hand like a grand lady peering over the reds and yellows and blues held the little girl's attention for a short while. She made a pretty picture in her almost make believe, and for once Jess wished his phone had a camera in it.

An employee of the hardware store stepped up and offered helpful painting advice, answering his questions about flat vs. gloss, how many square feet a gallon of paint was likely to cover, etc., but this was dull talk for a little girl, and he let her wander a little as the store was small and relatively free of breakables. In the tiny space he could keep an eye on her with little effort.

Clank! The metal step gave a hollow tone as her little foot stepped on it. Jess glanced up. Clank! Clank! She wasn't climbing. She was standing at the bottom of the stairs, testing the sound of the stair as she tapped it with her foot, peering upward at the spiral steps that pin-wheeled up before her eyes all the way to the ceiling. Jess' lips twitched at the awestruck expression the little girl wore over something as mundane as stairs. But, he knew, and was beginning to remember more and more, how mundane things weren't in a child's world. Everything is seen for its potential.

"Where do the stairs go?" he asked the clerk.

"Oh…nowhere really. Just an upstairs office," the young man shrugged.

"May I…?" he indicated ascending the stairs with a glance toward his little girl and then upwards.

The guy shrugged again. "Don't see why not."

And so, Jess put aside the swatches and the talk of swatches and semi-gloss, and walked over to the foot of the stairs. He smirked and took two clanking steps up, extending an inviting hand to a wide-eyed, golden haired girl who looked at him as if he'd just stepped through the looking glass.

She put her little palm into his and her little fingers grasped hold. She clanked up the two steps and then two more, but then paused purposefully, little fingers intent, tugged softly for him to pause with her. He looked down quizzically at the little face peering unto nothingness with a calculating, eager expression. Jess noted for the countless time how like a little bird she looked whenever she seemed to be trying to figure something out. Jessica's head drew back, her chin tucking inward, head tilted just a fraction, as she took another tentative step upward. Clank-clank. Her fingers loosened their grasp, and Jess bit back a smile as he allowed her to 'hold the reins' on this one, taking a step upward at her silent bidding. CLANK-clank. She looked down at the steps and up at her dad, his lips still bitten back, but a look of sparkling affection and curiosity in his eyes. Her grasp tightened and she took a step upward, and then quickly back downward. Clank-clank. clank-Clank. Her eyes widened. Her grip tightened, but this time pulled him eagerly forward as she climbed eagerly, almost frantically to the top of the stairs, their feet a merry cacophony on the hollow, echoing steps. When they reached the top, Jessica was practically beaming, and, turning, led him back down almost as quickly as they'd come up - that is, halfway down. Then, she turned and wanted to go back up…no, down…no, up… Jess knew that at this point most parents would have been well-nigh fed up with their children's antics, but he couldn't help it. He was dying of curiosity about what was going on in her little mind! She had a reason. She had a reason for going up and down these steps. It was some kind of an experiment…or a… It was something. His head tilted in a strange half-cocked smile as he tried to puzzle it out. She, on the other hand, looked as if they key to the mystery - whatever mystery it had been - was unlocked, and she was reveling in the discovery. His lips parted as his mouth hung slightly open, still smiling, in wonder at this little paradox of a girl. What had she discovered? She now delighted in pulling her benighted father all the way from the very bottom of the stairs to the very top, and back down again, and back up again, seemingly without end. He'd be loathe to admit it, but Jess was beginning to get a little winded, and knew wryly that the muscles in his calves and thighs would be reminding him of these stairs the next day. His little girl, on the other hand, knew no such limitations. When they'd reached the bottom one of the countless times, he tightened his grasp in turn.

"Can we sit down for a minute?" he asked, nearly out of breath.

She looked up in surprise, stared for a second, and then shrugged her little shoulders, conceding. They perched on the bottom step together, and Jess let his lungs pump oxygen into his weary muscles.

"You like those stairs, huh?" he queried, lips twisted into a cheerful expression, eyes twinkling at the little girl with the play-mussed curls.

She smiled brightly, cheeks flushed, and her head bounced in a rapid nod.

He chuckled, reaching out to brush back one of the curls that had tumbled forward into her eyes and tuck it behind her ear. "How come you like them so much?"

She shrugged one shoulder, and he chuckled again, a happy, contented sound. After a moment she bounced up and tried to start up the stairs again without him.

"Oh-ho, no, you don't!" he responded, still chuckling, as he reached forward and thwarted her escape, pulling her onto his lap. "Long windey stairs, mean holding hands. I don't need my little girl tumbling down like Humpty Dumpty with me no better than all the king's horses and all the king's men!" he insisted seriously.

She sighed in consternation, but didn't fight him. When he was ready, the began their re-ascent Sometimes she would lead them all the way to the top, other times she would stop with seemingly random aborted ascents, partial descents, etc. looking all varying shades of surprised and delighted, though it seemed to Jess that they were just doing the same thing over and over. He'd almost concluded that she just liked the stairs…the up and down, the twisting. It was sort of like something you'd find at a playground. But… He shook his head. There was something more to get, and he wasn't getting it. Something that was making his little girl's grin beam like the sun.

The swirling ups and downs were slightly dizzying, and the sound was like a huge, hollow, xylophone in his eardrums… Like a xylophone… Jess blinked, grinning at his daughter's intent face and bouncing curls. These weren't stairs to her. This was a huge musical instrument, and she was playing crazy scales and composing little up-and-down melodies to her heart's content. Wow.

She's amazing.

His tired legs felt lighter, and a part of him, every bit as much a kid as she was, urged him to go up and down these stairs with her forever. His heart was filled with helium. Happy. Giddy with happiness. He was lost in the moment and didn't want complicated, heavy words to spoil it, but something of his writer's soul sensed the metaphoric journey of discovery… Direction, destination, none of it mattered. Noting mattered but the wonder in his little girl's eyes, and living it together.