Disclaimer: I do not own Castle as much as I would like to. The only character that belongs to me is Julie.
Author's Note: In this story, Julie is Castle's publicist before Gina.
Chapter 1:
"Beckett, what are we doing here?" Esposito grumbled as they trudged through the park towards the playground. The wind whipped around them and the dampness that had been present in the air all day was finally turning into rain.
"I thought I heard something," Kate responded shining her flashlight around the abandoned park. They had been gathering evidence in a nearby alley, when she heard sounds coming from the playground like that of a crying child. "There," Kate said, as her light landed on a little girl hiding under the slide. She approached slowly as to not scare the child and crouched down in front of her. "Hello sweetie. My name is Kate and this is Javier. We're police officers. Are you okay?"
The little girl nodded, wiping her eyes the sleeves of her coat. She looked about five or six years old and was only wearing a light windbreaker, as she violently shivered against the cooling night air.
"What's your name sweetie?"
"Alexis," she sniffled.
"Hi Alexis," Kate smiled at her. "Can you come out here for me?"
Alexis looked conflicted for a moment before she crawled from under the slide into Kate's outstretched arms. Esposito handed her his jacket and she wrapped it around Alexis's shaking form.
"How about we take you to the car to warm up and you tell what happened, okay Alexis?" Seeing the girl nod, Kate gently lifted her up, settling Alexis on her hip as she wound her arms around Kate's neck. They walked quickly to the squad car and Kate settled in the driver's seat with Alexis in her lap. She quickly turned the car on and shifted the heat to full. They sat quickly for a few moments as Alexis warmed up.
"Can you tell us why you in the park alone Alexis?" Kate asked gently, smoothing her hand over Alexis's hair.
Alexis began sniffling again as she started to talk, picking at the buttons of Kate's uniform nervously. "Daddy was busy today and Julie said she would watch me so Daddy could work. We came to park before dinner." Tears began to run down Alexis's face as she continued. "I was playing for awhile then I looked around for Julie and couldn't see her. I walked around the park, but she was gone. I waited under the slide for her to come back, but she never did," Alexis started to sob, "and then it was dark and everyone was gone and I didn't know how to get home…"
"Shhhh, you're okay now." Kate tucked Alexis's head under her chin rocking her gently, feeling her fist her hands into Kate's uniform. They sat for a few moments until Alexis's sobs quieted.
"Alexis, who is Julie?" Kate pulled back slightly to look into Alexis's red eyes.
"Daddy's publicist."
Esposito and Kate looked at each other surprised. Esposito asked, "who is your Dad Alexis?"
"Richard Castle."