Authors Note: Hey everyone, I'm Macie. This is my first Castle fanfiction, and it's a Ryan/Alexis one, sorry for those who don't ship. I'm currently Beta-less, so any mistakes made in the story are all at the fault of my own.
Updates will come every Friday, unless I get busy. But don't count on that.
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.
Summary: One night of helping a red-headed girl with her portfolio changes a lot about Kevin Ryan. Especially his views on the young Twenty-one year old.
It wasn't a normal day at the 12th, that was certain. But then again, when was it a normal day at the 12th? With Detective Kate Beckett and her crazy past. Richard Castle, and the fact that he wasn't even a detective, he was just a shadow/boyfriend. Then there were Detectives Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito. Esposito, being the long term boyfriend of the medical examiner, Doctor Laine Parish.
But out of all of them, Detective Kevin Ryan was by far the strangest of them all. And when you saw him, one could guess why. He was just a little bit awkward. And that's why his wife loved him. But, it was also why she didn't. She also didn't like the fact that he could be killed any day of the week, just by going to work.
She for one, didn't want to be in a relationship with someone who could leave for work and never come back. And she told him that, they argued, and things just went down-hill. That was almost a year ago and a half ago.
The divorce had been final for just about six months. They tried to work through it, but that always just resulted in yelling and arguing. Sure, he loved her. But he just figured that if they couldn't get through their issues, then maybe it wasn't meant to be.
Kevin Ryan had lived one hell of a year, and things were just about to get worse. It was a week before the long awaited day of the Beckett/Castle wedding, and he had been over at Castle's loft whenever he wasn't at the precinct, just talking. Trying to get Castle to not freak out. He had loved Beckett for almost as long as Ryan had known him.
And with being at Castle's loft, meant that he saw Alexis Castle almost every day. The Twenty-one year old was so much more to him than she was before she left for college. They were great friends, and well, even he had to admit that she was quiet the beauty. The way her long red hair always was perfect, the way she did her make-up, highlighting the beauty in her face. And most of all, the most beautiful part about her was her personality.
Alexis Castle was possibly the sweetest person on the face of the planet. She cared about everyone, but mostly, she cared about her Dad and Grandmother. Growing up, she didn't have a stable mother figure in her life, and her Dad and Gram were the only ones who always made time for her.
The one thing that Kevin Ryan admired most about Alexis, was the fact that she practically raised herself. With her father being an author, and a careless author at that, most people would think that her mother raised her. Sure, her Dad gave her advice when she needed it, and he did worry about her, but she was nothing like either of her parents.
One night, Castle had retired to his office to write, and Alexis was wiping down the counters in the kitchen. Ryan and Esposito were both getting their jackets and were about to leave, when Espoitos phone began to ring, and Ryan saw that it was Laine. He quickly walked out in the hall, leaving Alexis and Ryan, practically alone in the loft. Alexis looked up from what she was doing to notice that Ryan was just watching her wipe down the counters.
"You can do this, I would gladly allow you to. I have to get my portfolio put together for my job interview tomorrow." she crossed her arms over her chest, a small smile on her face.
"Want me to help you? I can help you finish up here..." he waved his arms around the kitchen, indicating that is what he meant. "and then we can go work on your portfolio?" he suggested. She opened the cupboard below the sink, tossing him a dish towel.
"You get to dry the dishes." she told him with a smirk.
He nodded and set off to work, and in fifteen minutes, they were sitting up on Alexis' bed, her laptop open, and a bunch of papers scattered around them. They worked for another hour, having small talk about Alexis at college, some of Ryan's favorite and least favorite cases.
When they finished, Alexis closed the small white binder and took a breath of relief.
"Finished, finally." she stood up off her bed and set her binder by the black bag on her dresser. She leaned against the wall, running her hands through her hair.
"You're impressive, Lex." Ryan said as he closed her computer, and walked over and put it on her dresser. She nodded a thanks.
"What do you mean I'm impressive?" she asked him, turning so that they were now face to face.
"All of the stuff you had to put in here, the clubs, the volunteer work."
"Oh. That." She chuckled and turned on her heel and walked over to her bed, picking the extra papers up and throwing them in her trash bin.
"There's a lot more though." Ryan continued. "You care about everyone, you're one of the sweetest people I've ever met, and I don't understand why you don't have guys lined up for miles to ask you out with how beautiful you are." This caused Alexis to straighten her stance, but she didn't turn around all she did was smile.
"Really?" she said finally, turning around slowly.
"Really." he said with a nod.
"Oh, well, thanks."
"Well, I'm going to get going. Could get a call any time now." He told her, walking out of her room.
"Hey! Kevin!" she called after him, he stopped at the foot of the stairs, and turned around. She walked down to him, giving him a quick hug.
"Thank you for all your help." She pulled away, smiling.
"No problem." Before he walked away, he gave her a kiss on the cheek, causing her to smile like an idiot. He then turned around and walked to the door.
"You coming by tomorrow?" she asked before he walked out.
"Of course." was all he said, and then he walked out. Alexis smiled and walked up the stairs. She was finally admiring it to herself, that she had a crush. On someone who was fourteen years older than her.
Little did she know that he was falling for her, and he knew that he shouldn't be.
