AN: Special thanks to monkeywand for reading over this chapter for me and offering to help me out with this fic! I greatly appreciate the support! *DISCLAIMER* I do not own Castle.

"Castle." She had always sounded so confident. Nothing ever fazed her. But this time was different. It struck fear into his heart hearing her voice coming over the line the way that it did. This wasn't the phone changing the sound of a voice. No, this was a dreadful noise.

"I... God..."

He sat in silence for a minute. He couldn't ask. The question was far too terrifying. But ultimately, he had to ask.

"Please don't say it is Alexis," he pleaded, choking back tears. "It can't be her."

"I'm sorry, Rick. I really am."

His eyes sprung open. He didn't even bother looking at the alarm clock. If he had, he may have realized that he had overslept. He hurried out of his bedroom and poked his head in hers. His mind began racing as the room was empty, her sheets peeled back and wrinkled. He began to pray as he rushed downstairs. His heart was pounding as he angled his head toward the kitchen, where he caught the glimpse of crimson hair and ice blue eyes that he was hoping for. Almost overcome with relief, he stumbled over to his daughter. She hadn't changed out of her purple pajamas yet, which notified him that it was a Saturday, and smiled up at him from the pancakes that she was flipping.

"Figured I'd cook for you, sleepyhead," she quipped, her eyes gleaming. Speechless, he embraced her and kissed her forehead.

"I love you, Alexis. I love you so much."

The gleam morphed into concern as she looked up to her father's face. "You ok, Dad?"

"I am now, pumpkin. I am now."

"Ok... The pancakes are just about ready. Chocolate chip and blueberry, so take your pick."

"Ah, chocolate chip! My favorite! You're the best, kiddo!"

"Isn't she," Martha exclaimed from the other room. "Those blueberry pancakes smell splendid! Let's eat!"

Smiling from ear to ear, Alexis took a spatula and prepared three plates stacked high with pancakes. The three sat at the island and dug in.

As Castle stuffed the last honking bite of pancake into his mouth, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor emitted from his cell phone. He picked up the phone from the island with his left hand, hastening his chewing as he pressed the send button. Martha shook her head in disappointment while Alexis giggled.

"Hullo," his muffled voice greeted as he gulped down the rest of the pancake, "You have reached the one, the only, the Richard Castle... Ah, so you know that already, you say? ... A case, eh? Well, I'd be tickled pink to tag along! ... Alright, I'll be there in a jif!"

Hanging up, Castle promptly stood, kissed his daughter on the forehead, and walked to the door.

"What, no kiss for me," Martha asked.

"Mom," he whined, winking at Alexis as he walked back and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek.

"Aren't you forgetting something," Alexis chimed behind him. He turned and put his hands up in the air in a 'what is it?' fashion.

"Look down, dear," Martha said. Doing as told, he quickly realized that he was still wearing the flannel pants that he wore to bed and the t-shirt that he had flung on while checking on Alexis.

"Whoops," he exclaimed, rushing upstairs to change while being serenaded by the chuckles of the two lasses that he kept around for company.

One of these days I'll find replacements for those two, he joked to himself as he left for real.

AN: I thought this was going to be a one-shot. Little did I know that this story has other plans for me... This chapter is much like the one-shot that it will be replacing. The main change that I made was adding a bit to the end to make it flow into the second chapter better. Also, thanks to b-mystique. Something about your review just inspired me to continue this one, so I figure that I might as well put a thank you out there.