Richard Alexander Rodgers held his daughter close and wondered how many more chances he would have to do this. How long before she would be gone—emotionally, if not physically? He could see changes happening daily—some subtle, like the gradual chiseling of her face as she lost all traces of her childish appearance, others glaring, like the fact that she now spent many of her evenings away from home, enjoying the company of her boyfriend instead of her father and grandmother. Changes, things that made him feel insecure.

Rick Castle was all right with change. Hadn't he sped his way through short-lived marriages, countless characters invented and killed, and numerous friendships, emerging with barely a scratch on his body or his emotions? Rick Castle, the blue-eyed boy who never grew up. But he didn't feel like Rick Castle tonight.

Tonight, every real feeling he possessed seemed to be fighting its way to the surface as his arms sheltered the one constant in his life—Alexis. With a writer's vivid imagination, he pictured his existence without her, empty of the smile that thrilled him with joy every day and the undeserved expressions of love that filled him with warmth. Clear-eyed, warm-souled Alexis. The truth was, he'd been able to live through all the other changes because of her, not because of what she did, but because of who she was. Who would he be without that? Tonight, every bit of him felt like Richard Rodgers—too real, too uncertain, and too human. To Alexis, his arms felt gentle, but he felt like he was holding on for dear life.

After a long time, Alexis stirred. "Dad, are you awake?" Her voice was thick with sleepiness.

"Yeah, Sweetheart." Richard's voice sounded hollow in his ears.

She shifted slightly until she was at his eye level, her gaze taking him in—too penetrating, too knowing, too painful in its perceptions. Someone, Richard couldn't remember who, once said that having a child was like having your heart walk around outside your body. Alexis was certainly his heart, and sometimes that heart saw more than he meant to tell.

"Dad, do you remember the story of the Light Princess?"

"Of course, Sweetie. I told that one to you when you were a kid."

"Pretty weird story to tell a kid—about a princess who has no gravity until she learns to cry, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Richard smiled, wondering what his daughter was getting at.

"I used to think that story was about romance, but when I got older, I realized it was more than that. Now I know it's about the fact that no one can really live until they've loved something enough to have their heart broken." Richard nodded in agreement, too invested in his daughter's meaning to be amused by her earnestness.

Alexis knelt in front of her father, taking his hands in hers. He looked away from her, trying to contain his emotion. For once, someone else was telling him a story, and he was starting to see the ending.

"Dad, what I'm trying to say is—I know you were Rick Castle before I was born. You were smart and successful and funny. But everybody who knew you before says you're different now. I know you think you changed because of me, Daddy, but you didn't."

"The Light Princess didn't change because of a prince or a spell. She changed because she chose to give her love to someone else without holding anything back, and that's what you did, Dad. You chose to love me enough to—to learn to cry." Her voice faltered, and he felt her wipe away his tears with her thumb.

Alexis put her hands on either side of his face, and he saw tears in her eyes that matched his own. "I choose to love you back, Dad, and that's never going to change, no matter what happens."

Rick Castle felt the arms of his daughter wrap around his neck, and her embrace seemed to contain all the gravity he would ever need.


A/N Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter. I hope you enjoy this one as well. If you'd like to check out The Light Princess, it's a classic fairy tale by George MacDonald.