This is the beginning of an AU Crossover. Hope it works.

Law and Order: SVU is the intellectual property of Dick Wolf. Castle is the intellectual property of Andrew W. Marlowe. The use of the characters, settings, and plotlines is not malicious. This is a work of fiction.

The loud, obnoxious rock music filtering in from her suitemate's bedroom made it nearly impossible for Alexis Castle to concentrate. She plugged her ears with everything from cotton to swimmer's wax, and still, the loud wailing and drumming drowned out her thoughts and made her head ache. With a frustrated screech, she tossed her textbook onto her bed and jetted into the common room.

"Kathleen!" she yelled, pounding on the second bedroom door. "Kat, come on! I have a mid-term tomorrow!"

"Hey," a voice behind her made her turn, her red hair whipping around like flames.

Her eyes bulged. "You're...you're not in your room?"

Kathleen, her suitemate, shook her head and laughed. "Obviously not." Her eyes narrowed. "But...someone sure the hell is." She dropped the grocery bags she'd been carrying onto the table at her left, and then walked over to Alexis. Key in hand. she jammed it into the lock and turned the knob, taking one step into the room with Alexis right behind her.

Both sets of eyes widened. Both right hands flew over mouths. Both girls screamed at the top of their lungs.

Alexis immediately pushed Kathleen back and slammed the door, shooting a petrified look at her friend. "What...what was..."

"That was a dead body." Kathleen, staring just as horrified at Alexis, shoved her hand into her pocket and grabbed her cell phone. "I gotta call my dad."

"Your dad?" Alexis scoffed, pulling out her phone as well. "What's daddy dearest gonna do? I'm calling my stepmother, she's a detective she'll..."

Kathleen snapped back. "My dad's a cop, too, Lex! You know this!" She took a few steps away from Alexis when her father answered his phone.

"Kate?" Alexis said when someone answered her call, still shaking. "I...I need you and dad. Now. Please? There's...we found a..." she paused and took a slow breath. "Someone was killed in my dorm."

After hanging up their respective calls, Kathleen and Alexis, still trembling, sat together on the sofa staring at the white bedroom door. "Where were you?" Alexis asked Kathleen, not looking at her.

"I woke up early, I...I wanted to make us pancakes but we didn't...I went to the Lion's Den to get eggs..." Kathleen babbled. "The line wound around the entire store, I..." she blinked again. She sniffled, trying not to cry. "Do you know who that is? That girl in there?"

Alexis shook her head quickly. "I didn't really get a good look, and don't you dare ask me to go back in there."

"Wasn't gonna," Kathleen said. With trembling fingers, she reached a hand out to Alexis, who gratefully took it, and the two friends finally let the fear hit them. Short, soft sobs filled the room, but still, they were overshadowed by the music coming from Kathleen's bedroom.

They heard the common room's doorknob jiggle, and they froze. "Do you think it's the killer?" Kathleen asked in a harsh whisper.

"Coming back to the scene of the crime," Alexis whispered back, eyes wide. "My dad says they always do." Her eyes were glued to the door and when it opened, she and Kathleen jumped and clutched each other, screaming.

"Hey! Hey," a tall, dark haired man in jeans and a gray hooded sweatshirt ran over to Kathleen, pulling her into his arms. "Shh," he soothed, his eyes closing as he cradled her. "It's okay, honey."

"Dad!" Alexis yelped, leaping off of the couch when she spotted her father in the now-crowded room. She ran to him, throwing her arms around him in relief.

Several uniformed officers, half a dozen detectives in suits, and two medical examiners scattered to the four corners of the suite, searching for clues and collecting evidence that would lead to the answers the roommates so desperately needed.

That is, until the two M.E.'s walked toward the crime scene. They froze, stiffened, and stared at each other.

"Oh," breathed a woman with brown hair, pulled back into a ponytail. "Uh, we didn't exactly think about..."

"Doctor Warner," a short, sassy woman in a blue jacket said curtly.

Melinda Warner pulled on her own NYPD issue windbreaker and eyed the younger woman with a smirk. "Doctor Parish."

"I think this one is mine, Melinda, you can take your boys and go back to the One-Six," Lanie Parish said, her lips curled into a half-sneer and one eyebrow crooked.

Melinda looked at the younger doctor as though she was speaking German. "I don't think so. I outrank you, so I think you're the one that..."

"Excuse me," a detective in a light brown suit jutted in between the dueling doctors. He made an apologetice face as he scratched at his short, light hair. "Is there a reason you can't...both go in there? Work together?" He cleared his throat and pointed across the room. "I think we're all here for the same reason. We got family here."

Melinda and Lanie turned to where Detective Ryan had pointed, and their hearts sank. Kathleen was being consoled and questioned by her father, Detective Elliot Stabler, and his partner Detective Olivia Benson. Mere feet away, Alexis was crying in the arms of her father, renowned mystery writer Richard Castle and his partner, and wife, Detective Kate Beckett. These were people that meant more to the good doctors than how much credit they earn on a case.

Lanie was the first to fold. "After you, Doc." She held out a blue-latex-covered hand, gesturing toward the closed white door.

Melinda nodded solemnly, her own gloved fingers wrapping around the knob. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she led Lanie into the room.

An eerie silence enveloped the room. Kathleen realized one of the doctors must have turned off her radio, and a sense of calm washed over the people scattered about.

"I told you," Alexis said to her father, "I don't know who she is. At least, I don't know if I know. I just...saw her laying there...naked...the blood, I...I just closed the door and called you."

Beckett, offering as much of a smile as she could, rubbed her stepdaughter's back and said, "Stay with your father, sweetie. I will be right back." She exhaled harshly and walked across the room, catching the eyes of Detective Benson. She crooked a finger at the older, higher-ranked woman.

Olivia whispered something into her partner's ear, gave Kathleen a reassuring smile, and stepped toward Beckett. "What have you got?" she asked.

"Probably same as you," Beckett offered. She bit her lip as she said, "Alexis said there's a security system, cameras in the hall and at the back fire doors. We should be able to get something off the tapes. I'll send Ryan and Esposito out to the main security building."

Olivia nodded and folded her arms. "Weird," she said with a nervous laugh. "Seeing you outside of a seminar, I mean." She cocked her head to one side and glanced at Castle, talking to his daughter. "You married him?"

"Yeah," Beckett said, unable to get the smile off of her face. "It took a while, but...I married him."

"You look happy," Olivia told her.

Beckett's smile widened. "I am happy, Benson," she replied, nodding. "What about you? I haven't talked to you since that convention in Jersey. Anything change with you and..."

"Kathleen doesn't know who the vic is," Olivia spat quickly, changing the subject. "She was gone all morning at the campus grocery store. When she came back, she found Alexis banging on her bedroom door. They found the vic on the bed like that. I don't think we have a reason to consider the girls suspects."

Beckett eyed Olivia carefully before crossing her arms. "No," she said. "I wasn't...they weren't suspects in my eyes, I promise you that."

Olivia nodded and sighed, looking over her shoulder at her partner and his daughter. "Why here? Why this room, and these girls?"

"I still think it's a strange coincidence that, out of all the freshman dorms at Columbia, two daughters of cops wind up rooming together," Beckett mused. "You think someone targeted the room? The girls, specifically?"

"To get to one of us, maybe," Olivia said, letting her hands fall to her hips. "Or one of you."

Reviews are always enjoyable

Peace and love

Jo