AN: This is the continuation of What They Fear Most. I recommend reading that before beginning this one as it is very AU.

Reviews and recommendations are wonderful and will keep these fingers typing away. Please let me know if I need to explain the cover-up better... it makes sense to me but I've been thinking about it for months.

Who She Couldn't Be

Chapter One

Prologue - Kate

Early in the morning, Kate stared at her the clothes in her closet - or correction - the clothes in Renee Black's closet.

Kate Beckett wore leather jackets, Renee Black wore flirty dresses. Kate Beckett wore five inch boots, Renee Black wore beach sandals. Kate Beckett wore her mother's ring and her father's watch, Renee Black wore long earrings and a variety of coordinating accessories.

Kate hated Renee with a passion. Every morning was an internal battle to dress and act like a person who was completely opposite of everything she wanted to be, expect for one thing. Renee Black was alive and Kate Beckett was dead.

It had been months since Alexis Castle's kidnapping, months since her world crumbled and formed into one she didnt recognize. It had all started with four words uttered from her partner's mouth - You have to die. Castle's stupid plan.

When he had said that she would have to die, she didnt know how far he would take it. Knowing Castle, she should have expected it to be to the ends of the earth and past that. He had money and resources to make the impossible a reality and enough "friends" to make a person disappear in hours.

The plan was full of flaws and rested on Esposito's shoulders to first disarm and replace the sniper waiting for her. Esposito's military background helped him make an educated guess on where the shooter was positioned based on the photo of Alexis. A stroke of dumb luck occurred when Captain Gates contacted a friend with connections to satellite imagery that helped Esposito map a route to reach the building with the least chance of being spotted. He succeed with minor bruises and replaced the bullets of the gun with blanks. With the sniper in custody, the detectives (under lenient supervision by Captain Gates) were trying to complete Kate's investigation. The shooter had given them solid leads but they still lacked enough evidence to fully resurrect their "deceased" partner.

The other half of the plan relied on Kate and Rick's ability to act, some of which was covered by Alexis' ignorance and genuine emotion of the fake shot. Both had spent hours with the young woman afterwords apologizing for tricking her and allowing her to believe that the detective was dead, but Alexis assured them that she understood the position they were in and was just thankful that Beckett was alive. After being fully informed of the conspiracy, Alexis wanted to act her part as the thankful survivor at her funeral. Rick and her new therapist both argued that it may cause her more harm than necessary, since she had, in fact, been kidnapped, tortured and then watched Kate get shot to save her life. "The mixing of two realities can be confusing for a survivor of a traumatic experience" said Dr. Burke.

Kate had first hand experience of the trauma he referred too. As soon as the blank bullet hit her chest, Kate's mind reeled back to the cemetery. She felt the blood bag (a donation from Castle's overflowing Halloween closet) exploded in-between her jacket and the Kevlar vest and her heart stopped for a few seconds as she feared that maybe the plan hadn't worked at all. Hearing Alexis' cries and feeling Castle's salty tears on her cheek did not help as the pain from a few cracked ribs burned through her body. Only her partner's steady hand on her arm held her still and pulled her away from the memory of the year before.

She had to lay still for over an hour before Ryan and Lanie wheeled her out of the room in a body bag. Lanie's temper was infamous enough to insure that no one would touch or even look at the detective without the medical examiner's permission. Castle and Martha helped her transform well enough to be smuggled out of the morgue and into Martha's awaiting car.

In the Hamptons, Kate was finally able to hide in peace. She dyed her hair red on a whim so she could act like a long lost niece or something of Martha's. Castle's earlier paranoia of a paparazzi taking pictures of his young daughter in her swimming suit resulted in him over-paying for a very exclusive house on the beach. The privacy of the neighborhood allowed Kate to relax in the sun and find some much needed rest.

Castle followed his family weeks later, after securing Kate's new identity and working with Jim Beckett on burying her old one. Acting as the mourning partner and friend, Castle's picture had been splashed across the tabloids and entertainment news. Castle worked the news like a pro, looking almost as disheveled as one would expect when losing a close friend, but when he entered the beach house and pulled Kate into his arms, she realized that he might not have been faking it as much as she thought.

They spent that night in eachother's arms and when morning arrived they let it pass until hunger drove them from the warmth of their reunion. Any fear of the roadblocks that had consumed the first weeks of their new relationship disappeared as the former detective and her writer began a new partnership.

For weeks Kate and Castle's family spent huddled in the seclusion of the beach house. Each knew that the time spent away from the reality of their conspiracy grew shorter every moment. Soon Martha returned to her acting school, fielding questions and condolences from her students. Kate forced Castle to return with Alexis as she began her summer orientation course to make sure the father and daughter had time together before her school work tore them apart again.

Kate used the solitude to think of a path to take away from the bright lights that was always her home, away from the streets she used to patrol, away from the dark corner where her mother died, and away from the grave marked with her name. Her only link to her new life would follow as soon as he could get away, but for now she was on her own.

With her new wardrobe sitting in a borrowed designer suitcase next to her, she stared through large dark sunglasses at the last place of sanctuary - the last place Kate Beckett would ever exist. Stepping onto the plane alone, Renee Black made her appearance to the world. And as much as she tried to be grateful for her new identity, Kate hated her instead.

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