A/N: I'm posting this with a heavy heart. Oldestman... Tom moved to hospice this morning and this may be the last thing he will share with us. He'd joked about sticking around to see if the Mayan's were right and I really hope he somehow finds the strength but I'm afraid I'm gonna lose another person who's encouragement of my scribbles meant a great deal to me.

Now,I expect the Caskett shippers won't like this tale but I'm just happy to have gotten one last story from the old grouch. If any of you were ever touched by his stories or the great work he did finishing up the Rat's GEG, I'm urging you to drop him an email, please. So, here ya go, a blast from Oldestman called simply...

Alexis Gets Married

February - March

Alexis Castle walked into her father's office/study and grabbed a piece of paper from the printer and wrote her father a note.

Dad: I'm engaged! I'm getting married! No, I'm not pregnant. I want you to walk me down the aisle. Please call me when you get home. I'm so excited.

That's how they had communicated with each other over the past three years. Notes. Voicemails. Phone conversations. Skype. The occasional dinner if he was in town.

He traveled a great deal more than ever before, especially after Grams passed, and she, of course, had her studies at Columbia, compressing 4 years into 3. And Bobby. She had Bobby. Time seemed to slip by and suddenly she was 21 and looking at graduation in late spring and a wedding in August and then med school if she managed to get in.

Her gaze took in the loft, stuffy from disuse but clean thanks to the service he engaged. He allowed every room to be cleaned and maintained except his bedroom. That door had a deadbolt and not even she had the key.

It was where he kept his memories, his dreams and his nightmares locked away so that they couldn't hurt him any longer.

Teotichlan, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Late February

Richard Castle hammered the last nail into the corrugated tin that comprised the roof of the latest clinic he financed and helped build. This made seven in all and he had plans for several more but now he was planning on returning to the States to spend the summer months with his daughter after her graduation.

Alexis was all he had left now. His mom had passed away suddenly and now Alexis was all he had, the only woman he loved unconditionally and who returned his love without strings, conditions and limitations. It was just the way things had worked out.

She thought he didn't know about her engagement to Robert Hansen Thorne III, a fellow student at Columbia. He had sources that were still loyal to him and that kept eyes on Alexis when he couldn't.

"Castle, he's a good guy, and he's good for her. Sure, he's rich but not all rich guys cut and run when the pressure – "

"Thanks for running the background check, Kev. I owe you. And for the record, I didn't 'cut and run'. She did. You can reach me at this number anytime unless I'm out in the jungle at a site. Leave a voicemail."

"She's back, you know? Been back for a few months now. She went back to school to get her degree. She still won't talk to me but Jenny ran into her someplace and they grabbed lunch and played 'what's new'. She asked about you, Castle. Jenny said, 'Have you heard from Castle?' was the first question she asked."

"Tell Jenny I said hello, Kevin. I'll see you in May. Gets too damned hot down here for this old Gringo in the summer."

He scratched at his beard, a necessity he discovered early on to minimize the bites. Mosquitoes loved white people. He lost two weeks in November in one of his own clinics with a bout of malaria despite taking all the required anti-malaria drugs recommended by the government. His fever dreams had almost broken him. He relived the one night they had together over and over but it was the days and weeks afterwards that he had dreamed of most often. He was on a Chloroquine regimen that was supposed to keep further attacks at bay but it was only 65% effective but he diligently took his daily pills, putting up with the nausea and diarrhea they caused.

She was back. So what? She never should have left. They could have worked something out, gone wherever she went together but she never gave him a chance. She made her decisions and acted on them. Apparently 'partner' had a very flexible meaning in some circles.

NYPD Morgue

Dr. Lanie Parish, CME

"Hey, Alexis, how did the MSAT go? I'm sure you kicked its ass, girl. Hardest part is waiting, y'know? I went crazy waiting for my results."

"Lanie, it was the hardest test I ever took. I have no idea how I did. I don't even remember taking it. The whole day is a blank. One minute I'm sitting in Carney Hall and the next I'm riding on the back of Bobby's Ninja and crying like a baby. Why does it take so damned long to get the results?"

Lanie laughed and handed her protégé a cup of coffee. In the four years that Alexis had worked with her, she'd never known her to be so uncertain of anything but she certainly understood her concerns. Blow the MSAT and kiss med school goodbye unless you went offshore.

"Heard from your dad lately?" It was her standard conversation opener. She missed Rick and wished like hell that things had worked out differently. He sent her letters that were filled with questions about what stuff rural and jungle clinics needed and the best places to get them. And pictures. Lots of pictures. Some times they were real photos on paper and other times he sent a flash drive depending on where he was.

"No, not since Christmas. He's in the Yucatan doing site surveys and finishing up a clinic in the boonies and there's no cell service so I depend on the mail just like you do."

"Oooh, I got some pictures from him last week. I forgot all about them. Sit down and I'll get them. He's in some of them this time. Usual pics of kids and huts and Project stuff but he got someone to take a few of him, too."

Alexis sat. She hadn't seen her dad since August when he left rather abruptly because a hurricane had hit the Yucatan and damaged one of his clinics. He took off to do a survey and start rebuilding. Other than the occasional letter and a rare Skype or phone call, she didn't hear from him as often as she needed to.

Lanie handed her a stack of pictures but kept a couple face down on her desk. She wanted to share them after she explained some things to Alexis.

"Wow, he's really in the bush now." She looked through them quickly and then looked up at Lanie. "You said you had pictures of him but I didn't see him in these."

"No. Look, Alexis, he's been sick. Came down with malaria and spent time in a hospital but he's fine now. Take a look. He's thinner but that's still the old Castle grin although that beard makes him look ancient. I'm certain the weight loss is just temporary."

"Can I keep these? I don't have many since he started this quest of his. He's getting old, Lanie, and I miss him so much. He should be here in New York, writing books and going to parties and finding someone special so he can love again and not be alone. I miss my Dad, Lanie, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't curse that woman for what she did."

"I miss him, too, Lexie. We all do. I understand how you feel and I can't say I disagree with you. He should be here, in the city, watching you grow and playing the proud Poppa and maybe hookin' up with someone who'll appreciate him but – look, he's doing something he loves and we both know how stubborn that old man can be. They were both stubborn."

"He would have done anything for her. Anything. How could she do that to a man she said she loved? How could she dump him without a word and just – "

"Maybe you should ask her, Lexie. I'm surprised you haven't run into her on campus. She's finishing up her degree. Started back to school in January. We had lunch but the subject of your Dad was – well, we had words and I don't think she and I will be doin' lunch again any time soon."

"I want nothing to do with her, Lanie. That woman is dead to me."

"Alexis Castle, is that an engagement ring?" The subject of 'that woman' was closed.

Beckett's Apartment

There were books strewn over her kitchen table as she researched her chosen topic for her Russian Lit class. She was one of the oldest students in the section and most people thought she was either a divorcee or a 2nd starter, neither of which quite fit her situation. More like a widow.

She had spent two years working with an FBI taskforce after resigning from the Department. She'd been approached by Agent Jordan Shaw and offered a job, not as an agent but as a 'consultant'. It was a paycheck but it came with conditions: enter a modified Witness Protection program and work with Special Agents on putting together a case against the Dragon.

She'd jumped at the chance after Jordan had laid out all the possible scenarios that could come into play. She could not, in good conscience, allow others to pay the price for her folly. She took the offer and disappeared from polite society for the next 20 months. She kept in touch with her dad, of course, and Esposito, but no one else. Esposito was the task force's liaison with the NYPD and that role would never be made public.

She had lived outside of DC in a small community made up of commuters. She dyed her hair, changed her style of clothing and became one more government drone commuting to and from the nation's capitol. The work was mind-numbing but necessary and the degree to which the corruption existed not just in New York but even in agencies of the federal government was frightening.

Her testimony was never required and her participation in the task force was never made public. When it was all over, Shaw thanked her for her participation and told her to go home and start living again.

Her first stop had been to see her dad, although she had spent the occasional weekend with him at their place on the Bay. She had no prospects and wanted his advice. "Go back to school, Katie, and finish what you started at Stanford. You had dreams then. Pick them back up. You're older and wiser and you'll blow those kids out of the water. Money's not a problem. Go back to school."

He did not bring up Richard Castle. It was a forbidden subject, one they'd crossed swords over many times. He thought what she'd done was disgusting and that she owed it to Castle to try and at least explain why she'd done it. He'd seen Rick from time to time and the impact of his daughter's actions had left a mark. Her answer was typical. "We were never going anywhere anyway, Dad. Best leave things as they are."

She did. She enrolled at Columbia and was given credit for her entire freshman year at Stanford and CLEP credits for her sophomore year for her experiences as a cop. She threw herself into her work but often made forays to various parts of the city to see what had changed and perhaps catch a glimpse of people who had once been the focus of so much of her life.

Esposito was now a team leader in Organized Crimes and the FBI had heaped praises on him but he still wished he were a Homicide Detective. Things were simpler then and more challenging. He had always hated paperwork.

They met for lunch every once in a while and the subject that came up first was always 'have you seen him?' and the answer was almost always 'no', but not always.

"I ran into him in Bloomingdale's. He was buying a wedding present for someone. It was awkward, Kate. He seemed like such a stranger and I could tell he wasn't thrilled that he'd run into me."

She had to know. "Did he ask about me?"

"No. He asked how and what I was doing and that was it. I asked what he'd been doing and he lied to me, Kate. He said, 'Writing, Detective, writing. It's what I do, remember?' like I'm some kind of idiot."

He'd picked at his salad and taken a drink of his iced tea and continued, using the time to form his thoughts.

"Alexis is working part-time for the ME's Office and getting a paycheck. I don't see Lanie much and I haven't spoken to Ryan since…well, you know…since we got suspended."

"Espo, surely after all this time you – "

"No! He went behind our backs. He broke the rules. I have no reason to talk to him or Gates or anyone else at the 12th. I've moved on. I suggest you do the same, Beckett. We were partners and they did us wrong."

That was true and false. Ryan had done what he had to do to save them from themselves. She had done what she'd done to save others. She kept telling herself that but even she recognized the fallacy in that argument.

She knew he hadn't published anything since she left. His fan page had been taken down and the Black Pawn web site simply listed him as one of their 'archival' writers but nothing else.

Several fan pages repeated rumors, 'sightings' and gossip, most gleaned from the local newspapers but one thing was clear: Richard Edgar Castle was no longer writing or touring or doing any publicity events.

It was like he'd disappeared from the face of the earth, just as she'd done.

She'd run into Josh Davidson and they'd had dinner twice but it was a non-starter for her, just like the Deputy US Attorney she'd dated occasionally in DC – a nonstarter, probably because she never gave either of them a real chance. She had her arguments in place long before they got to the stage of being in a 'relationship'.

She and Will Sorenson had rekindled their torrid affair but once again she broke things off when they got too serious. She should have realized that her envy of his job would have put paid to any future. She still wanted to be a cop,

Beckett had seen Alexis twice while walking on campus and both times she'd practically dived for cover. She didn't want a confrontation with the young woman. She didn't think she was strong enough yet to listen to the hate and resentment she knew she'd hear.

After all, she'd dumped her daddy and left them both in the lurch after promises not to hurt him. Alexis would never accept her reasoning. She was daddy's girl first, last, and always.

Beckett drank another cup of coffee and resumed her research. There was a seminar she'd signed up for – 'Modern American Authors' – and James Patterson was this session's guest lecturer. It was as close to Richard Castle as she could get.

LaGuardia Airport

Late March

He walked slowly up the concourse to the exit and a taxi. He hadn't called ahead so there was no one to meet him and he preferred it that way for this particular trip. He decided to call it quits in the Yucatan for this year.

The local government officials were suddenly 'restudying' his projects (meaning it was an election year and someone had their hand in his pocket) and he wasn't all that interested in assisting either side financially so he wrapped up his project and caught a plane to the States.

It was cold and wet in New York and he pulled the light jacket he wore more tightly around him. It had been raining when he left Mexico and it had been raining in Houston when he changed planes and went through Customs and it was raining here now but it wasn't the warm rain of Mexico or the cool spring showers of Houston. This was a late-winter freezing rain and he wasn't dressed for it.

Castle walked out onto the sidewalk and hailed a cab and shivered when a few drops of cold rain found their way between his shirt collar and his neck. He threw his suitcase into the cab and gave the driver his loft address and sat back and inhaled he scent of New York City – exhaust fumes, urine, food cooking, too many people crammed in too small a space – and it smelled like home to him. New York City was home.

Loft

He made it as far as his couch before giving up. He was dead tired and had been on planes, in airports, and in a cab all damned day and he still wasn't 100%. Too tired to fight with the bedroom and its memories, he pulled a fleece blanket from a drawer beneath the coffee table and pulled it around him and slept. Tomorrow would be better.

It wasn't. He woke up aching and still tired and realized he's slept a lot longer than he'd intended. It was almost 6pm. 'A shower. That'll fix me up and then some breakfast.'

Breakfast was a bust. The refrigerator was empty except for some salad dressing, ketchup and various condiments. He was out of coffee also. He should have called ahead and had someone do some basic shopping but he had been anxious to get home once he'd made the decision to call it quits for the Project this year.

He dressed from what he had in his suitcase, put on a heavy jacket from the closet in the foyer and went out to Pastiglia's Market just down the block a bit. It was still raining and he borrowed an umbrella from the doorman and headed out to do battle with the supermarket close to closing time. He needed to hurry.

Alexis Castle and her fiance were grabbing a late night snack in the cafeteria of the Student/Faculty Lounge. She was still freaking out over her MSAT and Bobby was trying to calm her down with pretty much crappy results. She was also upset because she hadn't heard from her dad lately. She was a worrier and he found that both endearing and irritating.

"Lexie Rodgers, you need to ease up a bit. You'll get wrinkles. Your dad is probably hip deep in building a clinic out there in the jungle and having the time of his life. You know how excited he gets when a plan of his comes together."

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm just – he's all I've got and I miss him, okay? Cut me some slack, Bobby. I – oh, sweetheart, I didn't mean it like that. You know I love ya to death but it's been just the two of us for so long…"

"You're forgiven. Maybe we should head on back to the apartment and try calling him again. Maybe Skype him. You need to tell him about us, Lexie. If I were in his shoes, I'd want to pull due diligence on my entire family just to make sure his little girl wasn't marrying into a family of serial killers or something."

She laughed at that. His father was an investment banker and well-known financier and his mother was into every charity in the city. His grandfather had been ambassador to the UK for years and his father had been a US Senator and his father had once been Vice President. Serial killers? Not hardly.

"No, let's eat. I don't feel much like cooking and we both have our finals coming up. I'll feel better after I get to talk to him. Oh! I got some pics from Dr. Parish and I totally forgot about them." She rummaged through her purse for the envelope containing her newest photos of her father.

Kate Beckett knew this was a mistake but somehow she had always allowed writers to manipulate her into doing something she knew wasn't going to end well. The guest speaker at her seminar had canceled because he couldn't get a flight in from Chicago due to the weather and the substitute author was hardly what she'd call a 'Modern American Author' since he'd only published two books and neither of them ever cracked the Times' list – Alex Conrad.

Of course he'd seen her sitting in the middle of the stadium style seating and he'd made his way to her just as she was about to make her escape. The end result of that meeting was her sitting in the drafty cafeteria while Alex went to get her some hot chocolate. He just wanted to talk and catch up but she just wanted to go home but he'd pulled those sad puppy eyes on her and here she was.

She heard his voice before glancing up from the cup he'd put in front of her. "Kate, I ran into an old friend and her new fiance in line. She's the daughter of my old mentor – "

Beckett felt the blood drain from her face as she looked into the eyes of Alexis Castle. "Oh, I know Ms. Beckett quite well, Alex. Watch out for her though. She'll fuck you and then fuck you over, won't you, Kate?"

Alex Conrad looked at Alexis and then at Kate, at a loss for words but the words of the young redhead hung in the air like a corrosive mist. Kate started to say something but Alexis grabbed Bobby's hand and asked him to take her home and they started to walk away.

Kate stood up and felt faint for a moment and Alex's arm was around her to steady her.

"Sit back down, Ms. Beckett. Do you need a glass of water or something?" He was distancing himself from her perhaps consciously but probably unconsciously. He'd heard rumors about Detective Beckett leaving the force and dropping out of sight but he'd had no idea that she and Rick Castle had been –

"Alexis Castle, you wait a damned minute!" Kate was on her feet again and dodging tables and students who were in her way. Conrad just gathered up his things and headed out another exit. He had no desire to become collateral damage when those two locked horns.

Bobby Thorne was listening to Alexis on the phone. They were standing in the parking lot beside his car and she was on the phone. He heard someone call out her name but Alexis was intent on her phone call and ignored whoever was calling out her name.

It was the woman Alexis had verbally trashed in the cafeteria and he knew that round #2 wouldn't be as bloodless. The woman was angry and she was stalking across the parking lot towards them.

He turned to get Lexie's attention but she wasn't there and he looked and she was on her knees in the rain, rocking back and forth and sobbing that 'it can't be him, he's in Mexico'. He gently pried the phone from her hand and asked who was calling and why.

"This is Alexis' fiance, Robert Thorne. What did you say to her that has her so upset?"

Beckett took in the tableau before her and stopped to assess the situation instead of charging in blindly and screwing up things even more. Alexis was clearly upset and her boyfriend (?) was on the phone demanding information. She had the stray thought that the boy was good for her, whomever he was. He was so much like Castle…

"Ma'am, are you sure you have the right Richard Castle? He's in Mexico and not due back until May sometime." There was silence and then, "Okay. I got it. We'll be there as soon as possible. We're in the Columbia University parking lot so it'll be at least half an hour but call us if there's any change."

"Lexie, baby, let's go. Your dad needs you. He's sick and he's in the city. We have to go, Lexie!"

"Here, let me give you a hand with her. Alexis, what's wrong?"

Alexis couldn't answer. "It's her dad. He's in a hospital in Manhattan and they need her there as his medical proxy. Something's wrong with him but he's supposed to be in Mexico not here…"

"I'll follow you in my car. Do you have Martha's cell phone number? She'll want to know, of course, and to be there for Alexis. I'll be right behind you."

Kate looked around for a second and then spotted her Honda Civic and headed towards it but stopped and turned when she heard "She passed away, Miss Martha, I mean. About 18 months ago."

'Oh! So much has happened since I've been gone. Why didn't anyone tell me?' Her other side, the part that was pragmatic and always reminded her of an anvil for some reason spoke. 'You never asked. You never called. You never dropped by. You just picked up the broken pieces of your life, less those labeled 'Castle', of course, and moved on. Smooth move and so effortlessly done, too, Kate Beckett.'

University Presbyterian Hospital

Alexis was a wreck and Bobby became Robert Thorne III and took charge. The couple went to the information desk and he asked for the room number for Richard Castle, explaining the circumstances. A few keystrokes later and they had his location: Isolation, 4th Floor.

Beckett had lost them in traffic and finally found a place to park and walked in and repeated the steps Bobby and Alexis had taken and found the elevators and pushed the 4th floor button. She was expecting the worst considering how Alexis had just collapsed onto the wet parking lot. She was not the Alexis Castle she knew. For one thing, she learned that she was registered at Columbia as Alexis Rodgers not Castle.

Two gowned and masked people walked out of his room just as Kate was reaching for the door. The smaller of the two was sobbing against the taller one's side and he had his arm around her shoulders in support. From the look in his eyes when their eyes met, Beckett could tell that Alexis' father was not in great shape.

"What can you tell me? Robert is it? I'm Kate. What's wrong with him?" She ignored Alexis. Her experience in dealing with upset family members had taught her that the 'strong, solid' figure in this situation was the one to ask.

"They don't know for sure. It could be Dengue Fever or a recurrence of malaria or something else he caught down there in the Yucatan. Lexie's taking it really hard. We were waiting to announce our engagement until he came back. Right now we're waiting for the lab results."

"C-can I see him?" She didn't know why it was so urgent. She hadn't really thought about him that much, especially since returning to the city. She knew he'd hate her just like his daughter did. Her statement in the cafeteria, although the language was almost obscene, seemed to summarize what others thought had happened.

Dr. Burke had once told her she had a 'martyr complex' and that was a topic they'd never really broached because she'd disappeared into the System right after than session.

Alexis said, "No. Family only. You threw him away, Beckett. I don't know why you're even here. It's not like you give a damn. You've been back how long and never thought to call us? Oh, that's right. How stupid of me. 'Move on, Castle' was what you wrote. He didn't but obviously you did. You're not wanted here, can't you tell? Go away."

Beckett's mouth moved but nothing came out. She had no idea what she could say to make things different, better even. She just wanted to see him. She needed to see him. She needed to if – .

"Ma'am, I'll have to ask you to leave. This is a restricted area and you're not gowned and apparently your presence here is upsetting the patient's family." A large male nurse gently took her elbow and led her to the elevators and then went back and stood outside Castle's room.

Defeated, Kate drove home, took a bath, organized her things for the next day and then went to bed. Sleep was a long time coming and when it finally did, so did the dreams.

She sat in class, took notes, asked and answered questions, went home, studied and went to bed and the next day she did it all over again. It was her life now.

It was Saturday morning and she had no classes and so she slept in. She and a 'second starter' had gone to a club and danced and drank and she barely got home – alone – and threw herself into bed around 3am. She glanced at the clock and rolled over for another couple of hours of sleep.

She hadn't meant to sleep so long and she felt heavy-headed and all fuzzy but she knew she had to get up. No classes but she still had a life and that included laundry, grocery shopping and studying. She also had a late supper planned with her dad at his place out on the Island and she'd spend the night and all day Sunday with him.

Her cell phone trilled but she ignored it for the shower. 'That's why they invented voice mail.' It trilled again when she was blow-drying her hair but she couldn't hear it over the dryer's noise. The third time she was just walking out the door with her overnight bag in one hand and her keys in the other so it went to voice mail.

She stopped for gas and then drove to the Food Lion and bought a pauper's amount of food, mostly late-night fuel for her study sessions. Beckett had taken to eating take out again because it was easy and convenient and she could always use the leftovers.

The dry cleaners was next on her list and then she'd head home, get in a couple of hours studying and then drive out to her dad's place for the remainder of the weekend.

She pulled out her wallet and saw her cell's message light blinking. She shoved it into the bottom of her purse and paid for her cleaning, bought a newspaper from a vendor and drove home. She had tons of things on her mind and the guy from the night before was extremely low on her list of priorities.

The article on page 3 caught her attention by virtue of its headline:

Noted Author/Philanthropist DiesDewey, Suem & Howe, Attorneys

Kate sat around the conference table as did several other people she either knew from being around Castle or from being involved with him, living with him in his loft and then cutting him out of her life when an opportunity to identify and prosecute the Dragon came her way.

She was shocked. He'd left her something in his will and according to the attorney, it was the one thing she needed more than anything else in this world.

Alexis refused to acknowledge her existence and she'd been surprised to see Lanie, Esposito and Ryan sitting with Alexis. She sat as far away from them as possible.

To my friends and comrades-in-arms, Dr. Parish and Detectives Esposito and Ryan, I bequeath the sum of $1 million dollars to each with the sincere hope that they use it to find true happiness.

To former Detective K. Beckett, assuming she's still not hiding under a rock somewhere, I leave the sum of one red cent and a package that my attorney holds for her. You didn't want anything to do with me or my money while I lived and you don't get any of it now. Everything you ever held dear, the most important thing in the world to you, I have entrusted to my attorney.

He left the remainder of is fortune to Alexis, of course, except for $10 million he'd put in trust to fund his clinics. He left Gina the princely sum of $20 saying she'd know exactly what to do with it and she laughed and smiled at Alexis who was smiling also. 'Obviously a private joke of some kind', thought Kate.

Kate rode the elevator car from the 20th floor of the building down to the lobby. Her face was tear-stained and her makeup runny but she held the unwrapped bequest under one arm and proudly walked out into the street.

Castle was a not a cruel man but he was a just man.

Under her arm was an ornately framed…mirror.

Teofilias, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

A/N2: You know what to do. Vaya con dios, Tom. Catch ya on the flip side. JT