After the bodyguards have all parted, Castle's left alone with his thoughts. He walks over to the kitchen and fixes himself a drink. By the time he looks back over to the living room, his mother's there, apparently meditating.

He rushes in and sits next to her, hoping she knows what's going on with his daughter. "What's the secret?"

"All in the breathing, dear" she tells him with her eyes closed.

"No. What's Alexis' secret that she'll tell Beckett about, but not me?"

"I don't know" Martha shrugs, meeting his worried gaze. "There are some things a woman wants to talk to another woman about"

"The New York Times praised the depth of my female characters"

"I know" the redhead smiles at her son. "And I couldn't be prouder, but this is real life" she looks at him seriously. "And obviously, Alexis looks up to Beckett, and Beckett's smart and strong and independent"

"So are you"

"That's sweet" Martha nods. "I'm on the wrong side of 40 for what Alexis is going through right now"

"Forty?"

"Deflect all you want, kiddo" she waves a dismissive hand. "But I recognize the fear in your eyes. You're afraid Alexis has more Rick Castle in her than you thought" she looks pointedly at her son.

Alexis walks down the stairs and over to the kitchen, under Castle's watch.

"Hey, sweetie! How did your talk with Beckett go?" he smiles.

"Fine" Alexis shrugs, grinning. "She's really nice"

"Yeah, she is. You know, sweetheart, if you don't want to tell me what you talked about with Beckett, you don't have to" he lets her off the hook. He really doesn't want to seem over protective or desperate. At least not to her.

"Okay. Thanks, dad" she wasn't really planning on telling him either. She gets what she needed and runs back up the stairs.

She knows how he can be sometimes, and she doesn't really need that. She's got enough on her plate just with trying to knock some sense into Melanie.

Martha shakes her head. "What is the matter with you? Why didn't you just ask her?" she chides her son.

"Because that would be prying. And cool dads don't do that. They go behind their daughter's back and they beg Beckett to tell them"

"Hmm" Martha rolls her eyes. "What's the worst that can happen anyway?" they both know Alexis. She's the best daughter and granddaughter anybody could wish for.

Castle looks at his mother pointedly. "Never say that to a novelist. We're trained to think of worst case scenarios"

Melanie is at the Castles' place that evening. The girls are quick to run upstairs and disappear into Alexis' room.

After a while, the writer's knocking on her door.

"Yeah?" he hears his daughter's voice from inside.

"It's me. Can I come in?"

"Sure"

"Hey" he opens the door.

"Hello Mr. Castle"

"Hey Melanie" he smiles kindly at the girl before turning to Alexis. "I'm going to a business dinner and Grams is going out too. Do you mind staying alone?"

"We're okay"

"Alright" Castle nods. "Call if you need anything" he sees Alexis nod before closing the door.

Once they're alone, the teens go downstairs and decide to watch a movie.

They set up the DVD, make some popcorn and settle comfortably on the couch.

At some point in the middle of the movie, Alexis can't stay silent anymore. She has to talk to her friend. She pauses the film and Melanie looks at the redhead in confusion.

The young Castle sighs. "Melanie… Have you talked to your parents?"

The girl averts her eyes guiltily. She hasn't figured out what she's going to do exactly, but she's sure as hell she won't talk to her parents.

"You need to at least tell someone"

"Yeah, like I told your friend?" she spits bitterly. "That was helpful"

That's not fair… Alexis sighs in resignation and lets the movie continue.

When something really emotional about a guy dying is happening on screen – neither girl can really tell what's going on given their lack of attention – Melanie starts crying, making Alexis pause the movie again.

"What's wrong?" the redhead throws her a worried look.

Her friend can't speak because of the sobs that are ripping through her body.

Alexis, not sure of what to do, wraps her arms around the girl and tries to comfort her. "It's okay" she whispers several times.

Finally, Melanie breaks away and looks at Alexis in the eye. She sniffles a couple times and a few tears keep escaping the red puffy eyes. "I think… I think I'm pregnant"

"No, seriously. What did Alexis tell you last night?" Castle asks Beckett.

They're at a nice restaurant uptown and he's waiting for one of the Black Pawn executives, with whom he's having a business meeting. He's seated at a table for two, with Beckett in front of him and Esposito is sitting behind them at another table, watching.

"I promised I wouldn't say"

"Well, at least- at least tell me if it was bad"

"And put you out of your misery?" she lifts one of her eyebrows, a smirk on her face. "Why are you so worried, Castle? I thought you were the cool dad"

"I am" he says trying to sound convinced.

"Right"

Maybe she could at least tell him it's not about Alexis to make him stop worrying so much…

At that moment, there's a loud crash at the back of the restaurant, startling Beckett. Both bodyguards immediately locate the culprit. An inexperienced waiter has just busted hundreds of dollars in dishes.

Seeing how she tenses up, Castle makes another one of his inappropriate comments, "Don't worry, I'll protect you"

"What, with your vast arsenal of rapier wit?" she shoots back, her eyes still glued to the waiter. Threats come in all shapes and sizes.

He realizes she's still looking at what happened and turns his head around to take a peek of the flustered kid. He doesn't look like he could hurt a fly. As a matter of fact, the fly would probably do more damage. "Does he look like a killer to you?" the writer turns back to look at his bodyguard.

"Everybody looks like a killer to me, Castle. Job requirement"

"Do I look like a killer to you?" he lifts an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, you kill my patience" she finally looks back at him with a straight face. She totally means it.

Beckett then spots a man in a power suit coming into the restaurant and she gets up to join Esposito at his table, figuring that's who the writer's meeting with.

Dinner is nice and uneventful. Just as they're coming out with dessert, the bodyguard gets a call.

She looks at the caller ID and answers immediately, a bad feeling settling in her gut and worst case scenarios swirling in her head. "Beckett"

"Something's wrong with Melanie, I think- There's a lot of blood and-" urgency rings all over Alexis' voice.

"Alexis?" Beckett stops her ranting, worry etched on her face. "Alexis, calm down. Are you okay?"

Esposito looks at Beckett wondering what's going on. Castle also notices the bodyguard's tone and turns to look at her.

"Yeah. I'm okay. It's just- It's just Melanie. Something's wrong and I-" the teen seems scared out of her mind.

"Okay. It's okay" the brunette says in a calm tone. "I'll call an ambulance. You sit tight, we'll be right there, okay?" she looks over at Castle and covers the phone. "Something's happened, I'm not sure what, but Alexis just called me to the loft. Come on" she gestures for the writer and Esposito to get up.

Castle jumps to his feet, drops a bunch of cash on the table – more than enough to pay for all of them – and the trio hurries out of the restaurant.

"Okay" Alexis says with a shaky voice before hanging up.

The Black Pawn impresario is left alone – and completely confused – in a matter of seconds.

Once in Castle's car, Beckett instructs Esposito to call Ryan.

"Ryan" he hears through the phone.

"You on monitors?" Esposito asks his partner.

"Yeah"

"Anything out of the ordinary?"

In the car, the tension's palpable. Castle's leaning forward in the back seat and Beckett is trying to make her way through traffic as fast as possible.

"Negative. Everything's clear. It's been that way since you left" any trace of boredom in the bodyguard's voice, left the second he heard his partner's rushed voice. Something's going on.

"Be on standby in case we need you. We're on our way there"

"Alright"

"Says everything was clear" Esposito shoves his phone back into his pocket.

Beckett barely nods; too busy trying to not get them killed or break the law as she swerves through traffic.

Castle is fidgeting nervously in his seat. The drive to his loft feels longer than it's ever been.

The bodyguard double-parks right in front of Castle's building and tells Espo to find somewhere else to put the car as she and the writer rush up to his apartment.

"Alexis?" Castle calls out as soon as he opens the door.

They find Alexis, scared out of her mind standing over Melanie. The girl's on the floor, a substantial amount blood staining her pajama bottoms. She's as pale as a ghost and Beckett figures it's only a matter of time before she loses consciousness. If that happens, there's little chance she'll recover.

Castle goes towards Alexis while the bodyguard kneels beside the girl.

"What happened?" the novelist asks his daughter, who has her eyes glued to her friend.

Beckett's trying to get Melanie to talk to her, with no result.

"We just… We just thought she had an STD" she says looking at the bodyguard.

Castle can barely register what his daughter just said.

"And now we think she's pregnant"

Beckett looks up at Alexis and down at the girl again. This changes everything.

AN: Whaaa...? Hit the reviews with your comments!

Thanks for the continued support!