A/N: Wow, loving the response I got to just the Prologue of this story! Thanx so much everybody! Hopefully the rest of this fic will not disappoint! :-)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see Chapter 1)

Chapter 1 - I Need Your Help

Taking a deep breath, Veronica entered the living room where her father sat on the couch, feet up on the coffee table as he relaxed in front of some sports. Immediately she wanted to make an excuse to hide her secret a little longer. Keith worked so hard as Sheriff, and he looked so relaxed and comfortable right now. It was his first whole weekend off in quite a while, and it seemed mean to stop him from doing whatever he wanted to do.

Unfortunately, Veronica knew she had little or no choice but to tell him the truth and now. She'd suspected something was wrong a couple of weeks ago and had kept quiet, willing herself to be wrong, too afraid to consider that her first thought might have been right, that she might really be pregnant. Now the test had confirmed it, and the first person she must tell was her Dad.

"Hey, sweetheart" he said as he suddenly spotted her hovering by the door, "You were in the bathroom a while, are you feeling okay?" he checked, brow furrowing in fatherly concern as he stared at her and realised she looked as if she'd been crying too.

"Not exactly" she admitted in a voice that was too small, "Dad, I need to talk to you about something" she said, fingers lacing and unlacing in front of her as she stood there feeling as awkward as she ever had.

It was a horrible feeling, this fear to talk to her father. They were always able to discuss anything and everything, from Lianne's drink problem, to the paternity issues, from Lilly's death, to even some rather girly things lately, since Veronica had very little decent female company. This was the biggest and potentially worst thing she'd ever had to admit to anyone, and she was shaking badly as she joined her father on the couch and he turned off the TV.

"What's wrong, Veronica?" he asked her, "Is it about Lilly?" he asked as she shifted awkwardly, her tears evident to Keith despite the fact she'd barely look his way.

"It's not Lilly" she admitted with a sniff, "Although I do wish she was here right now, or Mom..." she said, knowing it must sound awful, telling someone who loves you and wants to help that you'd rather be talking to someone else.

Veronica couldn't help it, she had to tell the whole truth if she was going to tell it at all, and right now a woman's point of view would be the best she could have. As it was, there was only her father to turn to. As great as he was, as much as he loved her, she had to admit, she feared his reaction to her news so much.

"Whatever it is, honey, you need to tell me" Keith urged his daughter whom he was growing increasingly worried about as she sat beside him physically shaking and clearly with something on her mind that was upsetting her as she fought back tears, "I'll help, any way I can" he assured her, trying to meet her eyes and eventually doing so as Veronica glanced up and cried.

"Daddy" she bawled, "I'm pregnant" she admitted at last as she threw herself into his arms and cried all over his shirt.

Keith was stunned by her revelation, but still put his arms around her, hugging her on automatic. Of all the things she could've told him, could've admitted to, this was perhaps one admission he had never expected to hear.

His Veronica was too young, too sensible, too sweet to have gotten herself into such a mess. Lilly Kane had been the boy crazy type, the sort of girl who got pregnant at sixteen and watched her life disappear before her eyes. That sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen to Veronica. She was good in school, didn't party hard every weekend or anything like that, didn't smoke, didn't do drugs, certainly didn't sleep around. She knew of every danger in life, knew it in intimate detail because she had seen the consequences of them all. The daughter of the Sheriff was only too aware of the trouble young girls could get into, and whilst she always had sympathy for anyone in any kind of trouble, she was smart enough not to let herself end up that way, at least that was what Keith had always thought up to now.

So many things ran through his head. How had this happened and what were they going to do next being the main two questions that kept coming back around. The only boy in Veronica's life had ever been Duncan Kane, so at least the father of the child was known to be a decent sort of kid. Right now of course he could easily shoot the boy on sight for daring to even touch his daughter, but the small functioning and sensible part of his brain that always remained in a crisis knew that was crazy talk. He could be mad at the Kanes for screwing with his family's life again, or equally as mad at Veronica for being so naive, but that wouldn't do any good, not right now.

"Veronica" he said, as her tears slowed some, all that had gone before leaving a huge wet stain on his shoulder, "Sweetheart, are you certain about this?" he checked, making her move out of his arms enough that he could see her tear-stained face, "Because you know girls your age, your body can do weird things..."

"I'm sure" Veronica hiccuped, "It's been two months since..." she said awkwardly, "and I got a test from the drugstore - it was positive"

"Oh God" Keith said, mostly to himself as he turned his eyes heavenward.

He really wasn't sure where to begin here. He never expected to have to go through this, not with his daughter.

"Please, Daddy" the little blonde sniffled, "Please don't hate me" she begged of him.

"Sweetheart, I could never do that" he promised her, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close as he kissed the top of her head, "I'm just, I guess I'm a little shocked, a lot shocked" he amended, knowing it was true, "I can't understand how this happened, Veronica. I mean, you and Duncan, you're so young" he said, as she moved to look at him again.

"We only... it was only a couple of times" she admitted, looking down at her hands in her lap, "And we were careful" she explained.

"Obviously not careful enough" Keith sighed, at which his daughter looked even more upset and suitably shame-faced, "Sweetheart, you're smart enough to know that no birth control method is 100 reliable" he reminded her with a shake of his head, though he knew it was a little pointless to be lecturing her after the event.

"I know" Veronica agreed, knowing she was so stupid to have let this happen to her, and yet eternally grateful at this point that her Dad was neither yelling nor refusing to talk to her.

Either would be a nightmare as far as the little blonde could see. The fact her Dad was willing to sit here beside her, alternating between comfort and sensible if not a little late advice, was such a relief to her. Of course this was just the beginning, there was so much more to deal with yet, and no amount of understanding was going to help her body or young mind cope with carrying a child, giving birth, and raising a son or daughter. It seemed that as all this ran through her head, in ran through Keith's too.

There were big decisions to be made, and whilst he had his opinion on what the outcome of the choices should be, he knew that neither he nor Jake and Celeste could really decide what happened next. It all came down to what Veronica, and to an extent, Duncan, wanted to do. Whether to keep the baby was the first desicion, and then who would raise it, who would pay for what, where he or she would live and how much they would be told as they grew up, what Veronica would do about school, and her future. It was all such a big mess, but Keith was Sheriff and as such had developed a logical outlook and an impressively calm manner even in a crisis such as this within his own family.

"Okay" he said, taking a breath and facing his daughter, "I think the first thing we have to do is take you to go see a doctor" he told her, "I know the test from the drugstore said you were pregnant but until a doctor has checked you over, we have no real evidence to prove it either way"

"Evidence" Veronica actually smiled a little through her sniffles as she looked up at him, "Always the Sheriff" she said as Keith shared her semi-joke and dropped another kiss onto her forehead as he hugged her.

"So, we'll go see the doctor, discreetly" he said firmly, "Then, if you're right, and you are... then, we have to deal with the Kanes"

"Today?" Veronicas gasped, "Dad, I don't think I can" she shook her head violently, "I mean, Duncan is going to be as shocked as me, and Celeste, she hates me, she always has!" she exclaimed, beginning to sound hysterical.

Keith shook his head, holding her tight as he rubbed her back and told her to hush.

"It's okay, Veronica" he assured her, "I'm not going to let anyone yell at you or make this your fault alone" he promised, "If you are pregnant, its down to both you and Duncan to deal with it, and Jake and Celeste are just going to have to accept that their son isn't perfect" he said firmly, knowing already that Veronica was right.

The Kanes would point the finger at her, most especially Celeste who for reasons unknown had never liked the little blonde. Keith suspected that to begin with it was because there was a possibility Jake was Veronica's father, borne of an affair that Celeste resented both her husband and Lianne for. After that, perhaps she was just scared of losing her son to another female who might love him as much as she did. Keith wasn't entirely certain, and honestly he didn't care. He just wanted to know his daughter was going to be okay.

"Okay, here's the deal" he said, still holding on to Veronica, "We'll go see the doctor today, and if we find out that you are pregnant, we invite the Kanes to come over tomorrow so we can all discuss this like adults, okay?"

"I guess" Veronica nodded, knowing she had little or no choice in the matter really.

Depending on how far gone she was, she would start showing before long, and symptoms of her pregnancy would become more and more apparent. Keeping a lid on this would prove next to impossible for any decent length of time, besides Duncan had to know the truth even if nobody else was told. That meant telling his parents too, and decisions to be made between the two families that she would happily like to avoid.

She could be an adult like her father asked, Veronica knew she could, she just really wished she didn't have to. At sixteen, she'd barely begun living her life, and yet all her dreams were about to be cruelly snatched away by a situation that had gotten all out of control. Of course, Veronica knew it was as much down to her as Duncan that she was in this situation, and as with all things they must both now live with the consequnces, however harsh.

Her father was having similar thoughts as he kept a tight hold on his daughter and wished the world away. Keith couldn't see a way for this to end well, or for them to end at all. Life was forever changed and as yet nobody knew just how much. All he knew for sure right now, was that he was likely to be the only one fighting his little girls corner, not just against the Kanes but throughout the town when this got out, and if it were true, it wouldn't take long for the news to get around, not in Neptune.

To Be Continued...