Chapter 1

The Letter

"Good morning mother", Castle called out cheerfully as he swiftly descended the stairs. He reached the landing and headed for the kitchen, but stopped when he didn't get a response from his mother, who was sitting on the couch. "Hey, everything okay? Bad news?" he asked, seeing that she had a letter laying in her lap and a dazed look on her face.

"What? Oh...uh, no, just a letter from an old friend," she said while quickly shoving the letter into the envelope. She gave him a reassuring smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Are you sure? You seem upset."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Quite sure. I'm fine. Really. Go whip up some of those fabulous pancakes of yours. Alexis will be down in a minute and I'm starving."

He looked at her closely before finally turning away and walking over to the kitchen. As he worked on breakfast, he couldn't help but worry about his mother. He had seen the look on her face and the way her hands shook as she folded the letter. She may have said she was fine, but he knew better. Whatever was in the letter, it had her shaken up. Curious as he was, he knew that pushing her wouldn't help. He knew from experience that he would just have to wait for her come to him when she was ready to share.

He was soon distracted as Alexis came bounding down the stairs to join them for breakfast. As usual, she was chattering away about her plans for the day and, of course, Ashley. It took all of his concentration to follow the conversation as she tended to jump around from subject to subject. Luckily she rarely required him to actually respond, so it was okay if he got a little lost. It wasn't until she stopped, looking puzzled, and asked "Hey, where did Gram go?" that he noticed that sometime between 'Did you know that Ashley was born exactly one year and 2 months before me' and 'Can you believe that Jessie's dad let her get a tattoo?' Martha had quietly left the room.

"No. She was here a minute ago. Listen, I have to go to the station. Can you kind of keep an eye on your grandmother today? Something's going on with her."

Alexis grinned. "Probably just boy problems," she said. "You know Gram. Don't worry, Dad. I'll take good care of our girl."

Castle smiled at her lighthearted response. He kissed her on the top of the head and walked out, stopping briefly to glance up at his mother's closed door. Despite Alexis' reassurance, he was unnerved by his mother's reaction to the letter. With a vague feeling of dread, he left and headed to the precinct.

While lying on the couch an hour or so later, chatting with Ashley on the phone, Alexis barely noticed her grandmother come down the stairs and make a cup of tea. If it hadn't been for the conversation with her father before he left, she probably would have missed the look of tension on her grandmother's face and talked for another hour. Instead, she quickly ended her call to see if she could find out what was going on.

"Gram? Gram?" Alexis frowned when she didn't get an answer. Gram was sitting stirring her tea with a far away look on her face. Alexis got up and walked over to where her grandmother was sitting at the bar and tapped her on the shoulder.

Martha jumped, knocking the tea over. "Alexis! What are you doing, sneaking up on me like that. Now look what you made me do!"

Alexis stepped back, hurt at her grandmother's harsh tone. She instantly knew that her father was right. Something was definitely wrong.

Seeing the look on her granddaughter's face, Martha pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to yell at you. You just surprised me, that's all."

"Didn't you hear me calling you?"

"Were you? No. I guess I was a little distracted."

Alexis got a towel and started wiping up the spilled tea. "So what has you so distracted?" she asked.

"I just have a lot on my mind. Nothing for you to worry about."

Alexis noticed that her Gram avoided her eyes as she spoke, a sure sign that she was hiding something. "Gram, come on. You always tell me that it helps to talk about your problems. So come sit down and tell me all about it." She took her grandmother's hand intending to lead her over to the couch. She was surprised when she pulled away.

"You know. I'm a little tired. I think I'm going to go upstairs for a short nap." Alexis followed her with worried eyes as she watched her slowly climb the stairs leading up to her bedroom.

When her father arrived home hours later, Alexis was waiting for him. "You're right Dad. Something is wrong with Gram." She filled him in on their earlier conversation. He had just decided to go up on check on his mother, when she appeared at the top of the stairs. "Good, you're home. We need to talk."

Alexis and her father exchanged worried looks as they waited for Martha to join them .

"Richard, I think you're going to want to sit down," she said when she got to the bottom of the stairs. Gone was the look of apprehension on his mother's face. It was replaced by what he could only describe as grim determination. Whatever his mother was about to tell him, he knew it was serious and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it. He absently sat down on the couch. Alexis nervously came over and sat on the arm of the couch next to him.

"Alexis, can you go upstairs and give us a few minutes, please?" her grandmother asked quietly.

"Gram, I'm not a little girl. Whatever you have to tell Dad, I'd like hear it too. Please?" she added looking at her father for his support. She felt his arm as he wrapped it around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Martha sighed and nodded her acquiescence. She sat down opposite of her son and granddaughter and slowly pulled the letter out of her pocket.

"I got this in the mail a few days ago." She looked up and met her son's eyes. "Richard, it's from your father."

Editor's note. I try to be spoiler free, so the fact that Castle hears from his father is the extent of my knowledge of this spoiler. Everything else is my pure imagination, not any indication of how this may really play out!