Title: The times, they are a-changin.
Summary: High school graduation means change. Alexis is ready for change. But there was one that she didn't see coming.
Disclaimer: I don't own most of the characters I write about. If you recognize a name, odds are it isn't mine. But seeing as this is a fanfic website, you probably knew that already.
Thanks again to Sunshiny-Kate, the best beta a writer could ask for!
Alexis was exhausted. No other word would describe it. But she was also excited. Lanie had told her she could stay in her internship, and she was starting back in the morning. The elevator opened up and she headed for the door to her apartment, pulling her keys out as she walked. While putting the key in the lock, she noticed several small stains on the floor, like some liquid had dripped all over and not been cleaned up. Figuring her dad was the cause, she shrugged and went inside. Almost subconsciously, she prepared herself for an attack, just in case her father had some sort of trap set up to get her back for her recent laser tag trickery. But she was far from prepared for what she saw when the door swung all the way open.
The two people sitting on the couch across the room were oblivious to her arrival. The brunette facing away from her was actually straddling her father's lap, much to Alexis' chagrin. She could see Castle's hands roaming wildly over the woman's back, sometimes disappearing under the curtain of long, disheveled hair. The pair was seemingly unaware that anything existed but the two of them. So many questions filled the teenager's mind, and time seemed to stop. She had no idea how long she stood there before she shut the door behind her, the noise ripping into the silence of the room.
Her father and his guest startled and clambered apart, the woman nearly falling to the ground in her hurry. Castle grabbed her around the waist to steady her until she could get her feet up under her and stand. They turned to face Alexis, who sucked in a shocked breath when she realized who the woman who'd been making out with her dad was.
Beckett's cheeks blazed red as both of them stared at Alexis, unspeaking and with heaving chests. Castle closed his mouth with a snap and swallowed hard, but still said nothing. Alexis turned her attention solely to Beckett, and it was then that she realized the gray sweatshirt she was wearing belonged to Castle. Why was she wearing his clothes? Had she been there all night?
"Alexis." Beckett breathed out, her voice heavy with embarrassment. "I...we, um..."
Castle reached out and grabbed her hand, and to Alexis' surprise, Beckett didn't pull away like she would have expected her to. Instead, she wrapped her fingers tightly around his, squeezing gently. They glanced at each other, and after sharing a swift nod, they both grinned and looked back at Alexis.
"How was your night, Pumpkin?" Castle asked nonchalantly, as if it were totally normal for him to be standing there hand in hand with the woman Alexis knew he loved.
"Good." She replied slowly, the answer sounding almost like a question. "And yours?" Her eyes darted back and forth between the two adults. "Actually, don't answer that, Dad."
"Alexis." Castle cleared his throat before continuing. "As you can see, a lot has happened since you left last night." He briefly held up his hand that was still joined with Beckett's.
"This is something we're going to take day by day." Beckett added. "But it is something both your father and I want." She smiled up at Castle, then turned her grin back to Alexis. "We want to keep it to ourselves for now, let it just be ours while we figure out how to make it work." She bit her bottom lip, obviously not pleased with her choice of words. "What I mean is -"
"What she means is that this is just a family thing for right now." Castle interrupted, drawing a thankful, relieved sigh from Beckett's chest. "We wanted you to know, I'll tell Mother when she gets home, Kate's going to tell her dad. But no one else needs to know right now. This is new territory for all of us, and it's going to take some adjusting, some getting used to."
"Exactly." Beckett picked back up. "But while we go through that, we want to keep it private." Something flashed in her eyes, a mix of worry and trepidation. "For everyone's benefit."
Alexis studied them a moment, knowing there was something they weren't telling her, something she assumed had to do with a case, maybe even Beckett's mother's case. She decided not to push for information that she wasn't even sure she wanted.
"So, I shouldn't talk about it. That's what you're saying?"
"Well, yes." Castle nodded. "That's what we're saying."
"Alright." Alexis shrugged and headed for the staircase.
"Wait, where are you going?" Castle called out.
"I'm really tired, Dad. I'm just going to bed to get some sleep. I need to be well rested when I go back to work with Dr. Parrish in the morning."
Alexis noticed a shift in both of them. Beckett bit her lip again and Castle bounced lightly on his feet, but they still kept their hands locked together.
"You didn't forget that I was still going to be in my internship, did you Dad?"
"No." Castle shook his head and smiled, but it seemed forced. "I didn't."
"Good. See you later."
And then Alexis was gone, her steps light and quick as she went upstairs. She could hear the voices she'd left behind, but couldn't tell what they were saying. Reaching her room, she flipped the light on and shut the door, then kicked her shoes off in the general direction of her closet to be put away later. A few minutes passed as she brushed her teeth and hair, washed her face and changed into some pajamas. She went back towards the door to turn the light out and heard a knock as she reached for the switch. With a frustrated sigh, she opened the door and looked up into the deep blue eyes of her dad.
"Hey." He smiled. "I know you want to go to sleep, but can I come in for a minute?"
Alexis merely nodded her reply and went to her bed, pulling the covers down as she waited for him to keep talking.
"Want me to tuck you in?" He joked as he walked up behind her.
"Dad." She groaned. "I'm an adult now. I don't need you to tuck me in."
"Okay." He sat down in the chair by her bed. "So, you had fun last night?"
"I didn't drink or do drugs." Alexis huffed out as she flopped down on the edge of the bed.
"That's not what I meant." Castle sighed and leaned back in his seat. "I just wanted to know if you enjoyed yourself."
"Yes."
"Good."
Alexis crossed her arms.
"Did Detective Beckett send you up here?"
Castle's face scrunched up in a grimace that confused Alexis, then he shook his head.
"No, she didn't send me up here."
"Well, shouldn't you be with her then?"
"Kate went home, Alexis."
"She didn't have to leave just because I came home."
"That's not why she left." He paused, like he wasn't sure if he should say what was on his mind, and Alexis jumped in.
"Dad, you're both adults. If you want to do whatever it is you're doing with her, then don't let me stop you. I'm not going to tell you to be careful anymore. Of course, you're the one always saying it's a bad idea to sleep with someone you work with. But what you do is up to you."
"Alexis, first of all, Beckett went home because she wanted to. Not because you're here or because she's running off." The twitch of Alexis' mouth told Castle he'd hit the nail on the head, confirmed that his daughter was worried that Beckett was going to leave him and break his heart. "Second of all...she quit."
"She quit what?"
"Her job. She resigned. She isn't a detective anymore."
"What? Why? Did she find her mother's killer?"
"No. She just decided she wanted something else more."
"Really?"Alexis furrowed her brow. "I thought that was the biggest thing in her life."
"It was." Castle replied softly.
He waited quietly as he watched her process his information, let her brilliant mind work it all out at her own pace.
"So." She began a minute later. "She choose you."
It wasn't a question. It wasn't disbelief. It was nothing more than acceptance.
"Yeah." He smiled, the expression goofy and free. "She finally choose me."
"Why are you keeping it a secret, Dad?"
The grin dropped off his face and he sighed deeply, the exhalation ripe with distress.
"It was her idea." He explained. "To keep everyone safe."
"What do you mean by that?"
"The man who shot her is still out there. The people behind her mother's murder are still in power." He shrugged. "Beckett figures, and probably rightly so, that if they knew we were in any sort of relationship other than work partners, they might come after us too."
"Us being you, me, and Grams?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "But I promise you, everything is fine. The main thing they want is for her to stop investigating. She's not a detective anymore, so they get what they wanted. She still wants to keep things on the down-low for a while. Just to be sure."
"Okay." She smiled. "I trust you, and if you trust her, I do too."
Castle moved from the chair to sit beside Alexis on the bed. He held his arms out and she leaned into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him. He set his chin on top of her head and squeezed him arms tightly around her. They sat that way for a few moments before Castle broke the silence.
"I hope you know this without me having to say it, but just in case you don't, no matter who else comes into my life, you're always my number one girl."
"I know." Alexis whispered against his chest. "I love you."
"I'm glad you know." Castle murmured as he kissed the crown of her head. He let go of her and leaned back, smiling broadly at her. "And I love you too, sweetheart." He stood up and started for the door. "Sleep well, Alexis. I'm glad you're home, and I am so proud of you."
He reached for the light switch, but Alexis spoke before he could turn it off.
"Hey, Dad?"
"Yeah, Pumpkin?" He replied as he turned back to her.
"Could you tuck me in?"
"You bet." He grinned.