A/N: Next chapter up… I thought that I'd give a little drama to Alexis because I think she's really fun and cute when communicating with daddy… :)

Castle was just coming through the door when he heard crying. He stopped to listen. It was coming from upstairs, from Alexis' room. His heart gave a little tug, and he leisurely made his way up stairs, each step caused the sobbing to become louder.

He reached his daughter's room and tapped lightly on the door's edge. The sobbing stopped instantaneously.

"Yes…" Alexis' voice was strained.

"Can I come in honey?" Castle had always respected her privacy, to the point of driving himself insane.

There was a long pause.

"Yes," she answered.

Castle pushed open the door. He approached the bed to discover her eyes were blood shot, the traces of her tears had been wiped away, but he knew she'd been crying.

He positioned himself on the edge of the bed he took her hand in his own, and gave her an award winning smile.

"What's wrong sweetheart?"

Alexis' shook her head unwilling to give out information.

"Come on, tell your old man… I might be able to help."

"You can't," she sniffed. "You can't help me this time, dad." She buried her head in her hands and began to cry again, making Castle feel useless. He wanted to stop her tears. Stop the pain. But she didn't tell him anything, and so he didn't know what to do to help her.

"I could surprise you," he shrugged.

Alexis shook her head. "No dad."

Castle nodded feeling another tug at his heart. It hurt him that she was hurting, and that he couldn't do anything about it. But he respected her. He kissed her lightly on the forehead and stood from the bed.

"If you think of ANYHTHING," he stressed. "Let me know, angel."

"Thanks, dad…"

He closed the door behind him and went to the freezer to get himself some ice-cream, his one vice that saved him from "unended" situations.

All night he had lain awake, tossing and turning occasionally in an attempt to get comfortable. In his mind he had tried to come up with reasons that Alexis would be sad. A broken relationship… a failed test… THE mother… but none of them seemed big enough to him that she would fail to share it with her father. The next time he went into Alexis' room, she was out of the house. He felt guilty for doing it, every step further he took into her room, into her private world gripped him with another knot in his stomach. But NOT knowing seemed worse. If he knew what it was, what was hurting her, then he could- he WOULD find a way to make it better.

At first he thought he'd never find anything. He ransacked all her drawers, her cupboards; he even resorted to looking under her bed. But he found nothing of substance, nothing that told him what he didn't already know. He was beginning to think that she was just having a "woman" day.

Defeated he began to make his way out. It was only from the corner of his eye, that he saw the word that made his heart stop beating. He back tracked and removed the tissues that lay on top of the box that was trying to be concealed. He shook his head, unable to believe the evidence before him. She was smarter than that, she was a good girl, she had always left him without worrying… this couldn't be happening.

Yes, he told himself, it was what he didn't want it to be.

A POSTITIVE PREGNACY TEST!

YAY! More to come… sorry about the cliff-hanger… okay, I'm not sorry. It's what I do. Maybe in exchange for the next update, I'll get some reviews… Ms. Evil loves her games :)

Ps. The idea came from Tootapanga, so thanks for that honey…