A/N: The latest sneak peek for 8x05 broke my heart, dammit; this is my desperate attempt at positive spin. I haven't seen the episode yet, but there are spoilers here for the first four episodes of season 8.

"I need to - pick up the rest of my stuff."

Rick freezes. The rest of *her* stuff? It's their stuff now.

"Absolutely," he stutters. "Any time."

She has the good grace to look - sad? Is she sad? or just embarrassed, at having to ask? Rick looks over his shoulder as she goes back to her office. Out of nowhere he's reminded of all the times she's walked away from him, for better or worse.

This time, there's no "You coming, Castle?"

Rick turns away from the spot he was frozen to and starts making his way to the elevator.

After his conversation with the olfactorily gifted woman, he has scientific - well, anecdotal - proof that Kate still wants him. Then again, before he and Kate finally came together, Rick still had wild and crazy sex with Meredith on an irregular basis, so he knows better than anyone that desire doesn't always mean commitment.

But she's not Meredith. (Thank God.) And he knows perfectly well that Kate isn't just using him for sex, though there have been times (a long time ago) when he would have been quite happy with only that. Kate loves him, and he can feel himself being dragged back into the hamster wheel of confusion over "why...why...why…" Why is she doing this? Why does she keep saying she loves him - but she wants to "pick up the rest of her stuff"?

He doesn't want to know. He certainly doesn't want to stand by and watch. She has a key - she can take what she wants and not have to deal with him at all. Probably for the best.

Rick lets himself into the "bat cave" behind his PI office, making sure to lock everything down and turn his phone off before throwing himself down on the long sofa and wrapping up in something plaid and fleecy. Sleep is a long time coming, but at last the clamor of thoughts in his head dies down and he drifts off with tears drying on his cheeks.

"Dad. Dad, wake up. Come on, before I throw cold water on you."

Alexis. And she's pissed. Years of experience tell Rick that his daughter is not just anxious, or frustrated, or impatient, but well and truly angry. At him.

Some wake-up call.

He rolls over, still in his blanket cocoon, and opens his eyes to see her standing over him, arms folded, blue eyes blazing.

"What," he says.

"Don't 'what' me, Dad. I didn't hunt all over creation for you, your cell signal, your car, any trace of you, just to hear you say 'what'."

Whoops.

"I'm sorry I turned off my phone, sweetheart," he says, sincerely. He'd unplugged the land line in the inner sanctum as well, something he hopes she didn't notice -

"And disconnected the land line," she goes on. "I understand wanting to hide, get away from it all, but you and I had a deal, Dad."

She sits heavily on the sofa as he sits up to make room and puts an arm around her.

"You're right. I blew it," he says. "Should have left you a note. Or called, or texted, or something."

"I got home at eight and you weren't there," says Alexis. "And Beckett came by at nine, and then I went to bed early but I woke up at four and you still weren't there, so I guess I kind of - panicked."

Rick is cursing himself for his self-pity, for forgetting that his daughter may be old enough to drink, vote, and smoke, but in the middle of the night, alone in the loft, she's still his little girl.

After apologizing several more times, he just sits there hugging her, until finally she draws back to look him in the eye and says, "You haven't asked me about Beckett."

"What's to ask?" He tries to sound nonchalant. "What did she want?"

"She was expecting to see you - she was surprised you weren't there. Did you forget you were supposed to meet?"

"I didn't forget anything. We didn't agree to meet; she didn't need me there, so I made myself scarce. Trying to give her space. That's what she wants." He swallows, hard. He wants to go back to sleep until this nightmare is over and Kate is back in his arms.

"Well, last night she wanted to talk to you, and she couldn't get you on the phone. Neither could I, but I wasn't that worried - until I woke up and found you were gone."

Rick apologizes some more. Steeling himself to not use his daughter as a go-between, he nevertheless has to ask. "So, did Kate get what she wanted? What did she take?"

Alexis looks confused. "Take?"

"Yeah, she said she needed to - get some stuff from the loft. The rest of her stuff, she said."

"Um...well, once she saw you weren't there she just said she'd get hold of you later, and she left. She did go into your bedroom but I didn't see anything in her hands when she came out."

Rick runs his hands through his hair. Then he grabs his cell phone and powers it on - never has it taken so long - and the screen lights up with a single text message. From Kate.

Didn't find what I needed - any ideas?

By now he has an inkling - a hope -

You need to settle your bar bill, he texts. I'll be there tonight.

She sends back: See you there.

Suddenly, his heart bounces back from where it had been lying on the floor, and his brain kicks back into gear...and he starts to plan.