Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. I don't own any of the characters. I just like to play with them and sometimes torture them a bit. That's what we fanfiction authors do. So don't sue me. Kapische? Is that even how you spell kapische? Is there even a real way to spell that word? Is it even a real word? Well, I'm a writer. Surely I have a bit of latitude to use made-up words that I didn't even make up and invent creative ways to spell them.

Author's Note: Every time I start a new story, I like to give you a little bit of background about how and why I started it... just because it's what I do. So read it if you want, or skip ahead to the chapter itself if you don't want. It's entirely up to you. But before I launch into that, I guess I should give you some context. This is set pretty much where we are now, somewhere in the middle of season 4. But it gets rather AU, so the timeline isn't going to be super important. But as it relates to Castle and Beckett's relationship, figure it's like it is now. They obviously care about each other, but they haven't done anything about it yet.

Now, let the rambling begin.

I started this story... probably about a month ago, maybe a little more, one day at the end of last semester when I probably should've been more concentrated on schoolwork than fanfiction. I don't have any idea where I got the idea. If I ever knew, I don't remember. I think it was just a little plot bunny that crawled out of some dark and distant corner of my brain. So I started writing it. I really didn't expect for it to be any good. I didn't think that I'd EVER end up posting it here. I have a fair amount of fairly short documents stored in my hard drive where I've started and stopped writing stories coming from bizarre ideas that no one but me will ever see. I expected this to be another one of those. But then something weird happened. It pulled me in. And when I say it pulled me in... I mean I pretty much worked on it nonstop for two days straight. When I wasn't actually writing I was thinking about the plot and the characters, and I actually wrote a few scenes and snippets during classes because I just couldn't stop. The next thing I knew, the story that I hadn't thought was going to turn into anything was more than 10,000 words long, and still not nearly done. Now, let's just be honest. When you spend that kind of time developing a story and it gets that long, you tend to get kind of attached to it, whether it's any good or not. I think by the end of the second day, I was pretty sure that the story that wasn't supposed to ever see the light of day... was eventually going to see the light of day. My thought was that if it had pulled me in so completely as I wrote it, it might do the same for other people as they read it.

Since then, I've worked on this story more, and stopped working on it for fairly long stretches of time, and then started working on it again. I've edited the first chapter more times than I care to remember, and I'm a lot more confident with it now than I was when I first wrote it. To be perfectly honest, I can't remember the last time I've been this nervous to post a new story. Maybe you'll see why when you start reading. Maybe you won't. Maybe I'm just being overly paranoid about nothing. I guess, mainly... this just gets more dramatic than I normally write, and I'm a little afraid that it's too much.

I don't want to give anything away, so I'll save further clarifications that I want to make for after the chapter. So, um... *holds breath* ...enjoy!

Beckett could hardly remember the last time she'd had a whole day to herself. Since the summer, when she'd had entirely too much time alone, she hadn't been especially keen on the idea. Even when she had days off work lately, she usually made plans with friends or ran errands or did something that wasn't just sitting. But today, a cold and rainy Sunday, nothing sounded better than lounging in the calm silence of her apartment.

But after a long bath, two cups of coffee and half of a novel, she felt herself growing restless. She checked the time, and saw that it was just after one. She briefly thought about calling Lanie to see if she wanted to meet somewhere for lunch, but then she heard the doorbell and felt something release inside of her. Exactly the kind of distraction from her alone time that she'd been hoping for.

Every time her doorbell rang unexpectedly, she expected it to be Castle. She never would have told him this, but it had become true. No one else ever just dropped by to visit her without calling first. So out of habit, she stopped by the nearest mirror on her way to the door and adjusted her hair.

She was ready with a quip about how he couldn't get through a day without seeing her when she opened the door, but when she saw who it really was the comment froze on her lips. Her visitor was technically a Castle, but not the one she'd been expecting. More surprising still was the girl's appearance. She was visibly shaken, even trembling slightly as she stood in the doorway, and her eyes were red as if she'd been crying. "Hi," she said sheepishly.

"Alexis," Kate greeted the girl, poorly masking her shock. This was certainly a diversion, but it surely wasn't the kind she'd been hoping for. Her instinct told her to let the girl inside first and ask questions later, so she stepped away from the door. "Come inside." She closed the door behind Alexis and led the way to the couch, where she sat down on one side and Alexis took the other, squished up against the armrest in order to leave as much space between them as possible. Then she started with the questions, unable to hold herself back any longer. "What's up? You okay? Your dad, is he okay?" She realized she was jumping to conclusions here, but Alexis's father was really the only obvious tie between them.

Alexis faltered. "I, um…" she sighed. "Yeah, he's fine. He doesn't know I'm here."

"Did you have a fight?" Kate guessed. Her mind was running at hyper speed now, making up dozens of reasons why Alexis might have shown up at her doorstep. She verbalized the one that a millisecond's consideration told her made the most sense.

She shook her head. "I haven't even seen him since this morning."

Kate frowned, completely unable to put together any sort of a story that made sense. For one fleeting moment she wished Castle were here to help fill in the blanks. She remembered that he had a book signing today, but she guessed that Alexis had another reason for coming to her instead of going to her father with whatever her problem was. Even if he was busy, the Castle she knew would never put his career before his daughter. If Alexis needed him, he would promptly drop whatever he was doing, no matter how important. "Okay, I'm sorry, but why are you here?" Kate asked. "How… how did you even know where I live?"

"Oh." Alexis blushed. "My dad. Or…" she swallowed, considering something, but then nodded. "Yeah. My dad. He makes me keep a list of places I should go if there was ever some kind of emergency… like if anything happened to him or to me, or if I couldn't get home for some reason, and you're on it. Right at the top, actually. This isn't exactly an emergency, I just… I just really need someone to talk to who isn't a part of my family."

She nodded. "Well, you're welcome here, I'm just confused."

"My mom called me today."

Kate frowned, wondering why Alexis was telling her this. She wasn't exactly Meredith's biggest fan. "Is that unusual?" she asked.

"Well, yeah… I mean, we talk sometimes, but I'm usually the one to call her… but that's not really the point."

"Okay." She sat patiently, waiting for the teenager to get to whatever the point was.

"She called me and she said… that she had to tell me something. Something that I needed to know, and since I'm eighteen now she thought it was time."

Kate nodded. "Okay?" she coaxed. "What did she tell you?"

"She told me…" Alexis swallowed, fighting back a fresh wave of tears. "She told me that my dad… isn't really my dad."

Kate felt her face and her mind go completely blank. "What?"

"She said that… when she got pregnant, she was dating my dad, but she was seeing another guy… at the same time. And she wasn't really sure who the father was, so she told my… dad… that it was him, because she knew that he would marry her."

"But that doesn't mean—"

Alexis kept talking, so determined to finish that she cut Kate off, although her voice was shaking. "They got married, but then after I was born she got a paternity test done, just for her own information. She never told anyone about it. But she found out that the man she married… Richard Castle… wasn't my father. It was the other guy. I don't know his name. But he was already married, had a family… he had something to do with a movie my mom was working on at the time, and it was just a fling. Just one night. She said that she never told him because she didn't want to ruin his life, and hers… and mine. She said that he wasn't the sort of person to accept responsibility for his actions. And she knew that she'd never be able to raise a child by herself, so she married… my dad. Or… I thought he was my dad. She tried to make it work for awhile, but then… her attention span has never been very good… and I guess she just couldn't hang in any longer, so she left, divorced him, and let him basically raise me by himself, going under the assumption that he was my father." She closed her eyes, tears pouring out of them. "He never doubted it," she managed to choke out. "He never even knew there was another guy. He just thought… that I was his daughter, and it was his responsibility to raise me. We're not even related."

Alexis dissolved into full-fledged sobs then, and Kate found that she couldn't take it. Without even knowing what she was doing, she moved down the couch toward Alexis and wrapped her arms around her. "Sh-sh-shh," she whispered, hugging the girl close. The girl who she didn't know that well, but whose whole world had just crumbled at her feet. "It's okay," she murmured automatically, but it wasn't, and she knew that, so she amended. "It'll be okay."

"It isn't," Alexis sobbed into Kate's shoulder. "Everything that I ever believed, my whole life, is a lie. How could it ever be okay?"

She sighed, but she didn't say anything more. She just held Alexis tightly and tried to let the news sink in. It didn't seem real, didn't seem like it could possibly be real. Was it even remotely possible that this girl in her arms, the daughter of one of her best friends, wasn't really his daughter at all? She didn't even want to entertain that thought. It would kill him.

"Are you sure about all of this?" Beckett asked, pulling away a little, but still sitting right at the girl's side.

"All I know is what she told me about an hour ago. But why would she make that up? She might be crazy, but she's not that sadistic."

Kate shook her head. "I don't think she's making it up, I'm just hoping that maybe she's wrong. Who else knows?"

"No one. You're the first person I've told."

"None of your friends?"

Alexis met her eyes. "Just you."

She sighed and nodded. "Good. I'm glad you came to me." She let her hand rest on the girl's forearm, trying to be a little comforting. She was glad Alexis had come to her before she'd told anyone else, she just wasn't sure why she'd chosen her. She'd almost never even talked to her without her dad there, and most of what Kate knew about Alexis was a result of something Castle had told her. Surely there were people Alexis was closer to.

"I just… I couldn't tell my dad, and I couldn't tell my grandma. I don't… even want to talk to my mom. Ever again. And I thought that maybe… you'd know what to do. Because I have no clue." She sighed. "I'm sorry for dumping this on you, I know it's a lot… but I didn't know who else…"

"It's okay," she assured the girl. "I want to help. Really." She tried to give her a comforting smile. "So your dad doesn't know anything about this?"

"Which one?" she asked darkly.

"Your dad, Alexis. The one who raised you for eighteen years, and who loves you more than anything in the entire world. No matter what happens, he's always gonna be your dad."

"Even if he never was?"

"No matter what happens," she repeated firmly.

"No, he doesn't know anything."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"What do you think are the chances of your mom telling him?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, not good. They don't usually talk. And if she never told him for eighteen years, I'm not sure why she would now."

Kate nodded. Alexis had a point there.

"Are you going to tell him?" the teenager asked shyly.

She sighed. "If this is true, then he needs to know. But I don't have any intention of telling him until we know for sure. We'll do our own paternity test. All we'll need is some of your DNA and some of your dad's. That shouldn't be hard, I'll just steal his coffee cup tomorrow morning. I can get Dr. Parish to run it for me. She'll do it without asking details if I push her hard enough."

"Thank you. So much. You have no idea."

"It's no big deal, Alexis."

"No, it is. It's a really big deal." She sniffled and managed a tiny smile.

"Well, I'm happy to help."

"What if… what if it's true?" the teenager asked, her smile quickly fading to a distressed grimace. "What my mom said? What if he's not my real dad?"

Kate didn't want to think about that now. Didn't want to think about it at all. "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it."

"Will you tell him?" Alexis asked, so softly that it was barely audible. "I don't know if I can."

She nodded, although she felt tears sting at the corners of her own eyes at the mere thought. "If it does come to that, and you want me to, I will tell him. Or we can tell him together. I'll leave it up to you."

Alexis nodded. "Maybe it isn't true."

"Maybe." Kate swallowed the lump that had started to form in her throat. This was real, and it could be bad, but she had to be the one to hold it together. "I'm really the only one you've told about any of this?" she asked Alexis again, a different tone in her voice. She wasn't looking to gather information now, she was just trying to take in the situation. All of it.

Alexis nodded.

"What were you doing when your mom called?" She'd officially switched to detective mode now. So much for having the day off.

"Studying. Dad's at his book signing, Gram's… I don't know, somewhere. I was the only one home."

"So, after she told you, you…?"

She sighed. "Yelled at her, hung up, and then just kind of sat there stunned for awhile. When it all started to sink in… I cried, and then I came here."

Kate let her professional barriers drop again. This was Alexis. Rick's daughter. And she wasn't at work. "God, I'm so sorry, sweetie. You really don't deserve this. But I am glad you came to me. I don't want you to think you have to go through this all by yourself. Okay? I'm here, whatever you need."

She nodded.

"You have my cell phone number?"

She nodded. "My dad gave it to me."

"Do I have yours?"

She shrugged and got out her phone. "I'll text you."

Within a minute Kate's phone made a noise, and she looked to find that she had a text from an unknown number. "It's Alexis," it said simply. She added the number to her contacts. "I have it now," she said.

"I should probably go. I'm sure you're busy. I've messed up your day enough."

"No, please." She put her hand in front of the girl to stop her from getting up. "Stay as long as you'd like. It's my day off and I wasn't doing much anyway, and you shouldn't have to be alone." She knew she was going to be thinking about Alexis all day now anyway, and having her there made her feel a little more comfortable, like she was helping somehow, even if she wasn't.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Come here." She leaned back into the couch and put her arm around the still-crying Alexis. "We'll figure it out. It's gonna be okay. So many people love you and care about you. None of that's going to change."

"But what if my family finds out they're not really my family?" she choked.

"Your dad and your grandma are always gonna be your dad and your grandma, biological or not. Okay?"

She nodded. "You're sure?"

"I'm positive. No one in the world has ever loved anything as much as your dad loves you. And your grandma too, I'm sure. That's not just gonna go away."

"This is gonna kill him," she said softly, turning to meet Beckett's eyes. "Isn't it?"

She looked down, giving Alexis her answer without words. "It'll be okay," she said again, not sure whether she was trying to convince Alexis or herself.

A/N: Now do you see what I mean about it being dramatic?

Okay, one thing I really feel like I need to touch on, because I think I took a few liberties here. Obviously we don't know much about what Rick's relationship with Meredith was like before Alexis appeared on the scene. I have no idea whether Meredith got pregnant with Alexis before or after they got married. In the context of this story, it was before. If I'm missing something, or we find out at some later date that it was after, then just consider that to be part of the AU-ness of this story.

I know that I left you on a cliffhanger with where this chapter ended. I have a feeling this is going to be that kind of a story. Hell, who am I kidding? I know for a FACT that this is going to be that kind of a story. :P But I'm a little bit sadistic in that, when it comes to my own writing, I love cliffhangers. But I am willing to promise you that, at least for awhile, I won't leave you on a cliffhanger for more than a couple of days. Because I've already written the first few chapters of this. That isn't to say that anything is set in stone, there's still plenty of room for editing, but that should speed up the updating process considerably.

So, because this is a new story and because I'm still a little bit terrified about the whole concept behind it, your feedback is more important than ever. What do you think? Good? Bad? Too much? Just enough? Should I post the next chapter with all deliberate speed, or should I just delete the whole thing and pretend it never happened?