NYPD Officer Kate Beckett stood during the cold winter evening on her assigned street corner, face snuggled down into her light brown knit scarf as her eyes scanned her surroundings. She'd been located here for almost two hours with not so much as a coffee or even a companion to talk to, unless she counted the sleazy elderly man who remarked something along the lines of how he 'wouldn't have minded being arrested in '82 if the cops had looked like her'. Kate sighed as she wiggled her frozen toes in her boots, cursing how the high number of muggings and assaults that had been occurring in this area of the city meant that she had been ordered by her Captain to just stand around and wait for something that could possibly never come. Just as she was about to call it an early night and get herself a large vanilla latte to warm up, she heard a piercing scream from her left.
"No! Get off me! What are you doi- Ow! Stop!"
Kate whizzed around to see the scene unravelling in the distance, a young redheaded girl being manhandled by a tall man in a black hoodie who was grasping at the purse that was once lazily hung around her shoulder. She began to sprint to the open space, hurriedly talking into her radio device.
"Officer Beckett, badge 41319. Got an apparent mugging at Bay Avenue, 14th street, back-up may be required."
As she approached the fight, she silently commended the girl (who couldn't have been much older than 16, if that); most victims would immediately give up the bag and let the attacker retreat, but she held a tight grip on the leather strap, attempting to kick the man's shins, though always missing as he dodged out of the way.
Luckily, the attacker didn't see Kate (though she was almost certain that the girl did, with the way her eyes lit up for a moment) and she managed to demonstrate a swift kick to the back of the guy's knee, causing him to sway slightly, followed by a kick to his right side, forcing him to fall to the floor. Kate quickly attached her handcuffs to the man as she yanked his arms behind his back while he mumbled curses to her.
"Beckett, we got this." She heard from behind her, glancing up to see two unfamiliar officers above her.
"Thanks," She squinted at their badges, "Esposito, Ryan."
"No problem." The fair haired cop replied, wrinkles appearing around his blue eyes when he offered a small smile as his partner roughly pulled the attacker from the ground, hauling him to their squad car.
Kate breathed out a large sigh of relief as she stood up, only now registering the sniffling behind her. The girl from before had remained firmly planted on the spot, eyes cast downwards and glistening with tears, mouth slightly open as she took in ragged breaths.
The officer cursed herself for forgetting about the victim as she calmly walked in front of her as to not frighten the girl.
"Hi, I'm Officer Kate Beckett. You did a good job back there, you managed to hold him off until I was able to come over." She said tentatively, unsure of how to comfort the young girl.
"Yeah, I guess." The redhead mumbled, still looking at the ground.
"Do you want to come back to the precinct with me? I can get my friend Lanie to look at those wounds for you."
The girl's head snapped up, eyebrows creased with confusion until she followed Kate's gaze to her arm, which had a few scrapes and cuts covered in a light layer of blood and dirt.
"Oh, I didn't even notice that."
Kate chuckled lightly, "Yeah, that'll be the adrenaline. How about we go to the precinct and I'll make you a decaf to help you warm up?"
The girl offered a weak smile and nodded, walking closer to Kate, her face scrunching up at the muscle ache in her shoulders and legs. They walked silently to Kate's Crown Vic until the girl's voice piped up.
"I'm Alexis, by the way."
"Nice to meet you, Alexis. I mean, not under these circumstances, but, yeah..." Kate trailed off as the girl chuckled.
"Yeah, I got it. Nice to meet you too, Officer Kate Beckett."
"Please, it's just Kate."
"Fine. Nice to meet you 'Just Kate'." Alexis said light-heartedly, as she opened the passenger door of the car, letting her head rest back into the seat as she entered, letting out a deep breath as Kate began the drive.
"I'm sorry, baby, but this might sting a little." The ME stated, holding a white cloth in her right hand, grasping Alexis' forearm with her left as the girl sat on an autopsy table, feet dangling off the side as she swayed them.
"Okay, that's fi- Ow!"
"Sorry, honey, I need to clean these up!" Lanie said hurriedly, concern plastered over her face.
"So, Alexis, do you play any instruments?" Kate asked as she leaned against the door frame.
"What?" Alexis replied, shifting her tearful eyes to the officer.
"I remember when I was your age, I used to hate any conversation starters about school; like 'what grade are you in?' and 'what's your favourite subject?' and 'any plans for going to college?' and I promised that I would never start a conversation with that. So, instruments seemed like a more fun topic."
Alexis hummed her approval before continuing, "Right now, I play the violin and the piano. I've tried loads of instruments though; guitar, flute, recorder, ocarina, harp, cello, mandolin..."
"Wow, that's pretty impressive." Kate remarked.
"Yeah, my Dad always said that he wanted me to get into a hobby that I really enjoyed, so he let me experiment with everything. In fact, he pretty much forced me too." Kate emitted a chuckle, which prompted Alexis to continue, "My Dad says that when he was a kid, Grams forced him to try out for acting stuff so he could be like her, and that's probably why he doesn't like watching plays now."
"Did your Dad end up finding a hobby he enjoyed?"
"Yeah, as a teen he found out he liked writing. And doing pranks on teachers and coming up with sarcastic and sometimes witty comebacks to everything. But mainly writing, since he's a writer now." Alexis laughed, her face brightening up as she regaled tales about her father.
"Seems like a fun dad."
"If he were here, he would have corrected you to say he was a 'fun guy'. Get it? Fungi?"
The pun emitted an exasperated groan from the doctor as Kate just chuckled and shook her head.
"Sorry, I must have been spending too much time with him."
"Don't worry about it, I constantly find myself saying things that my Dad has said to me, you can't really help it."
"Is your Dad a joker too, Officer Kate?"
Kate smiled before answering, "Not so much in the pranking way, just that he always something to make anyone smile. A stupid knock-knock joke, a magic trick, a silly face. He just brightens up peoples' days whenever he's around."
"He sounds like an awesome Dad."
"Yeah, he is." Kate paused as she ran through the events of the evening in her head, "Alexis?"
"Hmm?"
"Did you… call your Dad? To tell him why you'll be late?"
The gasp that left Alexis' mouth was answer enough, but she replied quickly nonetheless, "Oh my Gosh, no, I didn't! He must be freaking out! He always tells me to text him or call him! What if he thinks I'm dead or something? Knowing my Dad, there's probably already a search party out looking for me! Oh my Gosh, I can't believe I forgot! I mean-"
"Alexis!" Kate said sharply, cutting off the girl's rambling, "Do you want me to hand you your purse so you can call him now?"
"Yes! Yeah, please."
Kate grabbed the bag from the floor and handed it to Alexis, who promptly opened it and grasped her phone, then frowned at it.
"I think it's out of battery…"
"Do you know your Dad's number?"
Alexis chuckled, "He pretty much made me learn it as soon as I said my first word."
Kate smiled at the imagery, handing Alexis the phone in her pocket, "Call him from my phone, it's no problem."
"Thanks Officer Kate." Alexis replied, quickly typing in the number. It answered on the first ring, and even from the other side of the room, Kate could hear the worried tone in the voice of the man on the other side of the line.
"Hey, Dad. It's me, sorry, I-"
The man cut her off with rambling, causing Alexis to chuckle.
"Da- Dad… Listen… Dad!"
The voice on the other end stopped abruptly.
"Can I talk?" A pause. "Okay. I'm at the NYPD precinct on-" The Dad began to speak again, before being cut off by his daughter, "Dad. Me. Talking. Now."
Lanie glanced at her friend, eyebrows raised, "She's a feisty one." She whispered, causing Beckett to smile.
"I was walking home with Paige, but then she got a text from Aaron saying that he wanted to meet her at the park, but I knew that I had math homework to do, so I said that I would go straight home."
Kate smiled at Lanie, "Feisty, but well-behaved."
"Like someone I know." Lanie replied as she looked over at Kate, her eye roll being all the response the doctor needed.
"So I was walking home, and then this guy tried to steal my bag. Luckily Officer Kate was there and she arrested the guy and brought me here to the precinct. And it's been so fun! I've had some hot chocolate that she found in the back of the cupboard in the break room, and now I'm with her and Doctor Lanie in the morgue, which isn't actually as scary as I thought it would be, and we're just chatting!"
The voice from the other line piped up again, making Alexis laugh whole-heartedly, "No, Dad, not about you. Not everything is about you, weirdo." Kate and Lanie laughed too, enjoying the father/daughter dynamic that was playing out in front of them.
"Yeah, Doctor Lanie is just cleaning up my arm since I got a few scratches and cuts, and then I think I'll be able to go?" The redhead looked up at Kate for confirmation, who nodded. "Yeah, I'll be free to go in a bit."
The man started talking again, as Alexis silently nodded along, until she sighed dramatically.
"Dad, please don't bring the Ferrari and speed here at 100 miles per hour. I told you, I'm fine."
More talking on the other side of the line.
"You getting here in two minutes flat isn't what will make you 'the best Dad'. You letting me off school tomorrow, however… ugh, yeah, I knew it was a long shot but it was worth a try."
Kate chuckled to herself as their phone conversation wrapped up, and once Alexis hung up, she held out the mobile to Kate, who walked forward to claim it.
A small period of silence waved over the morgue, until the young girl spoke up again.
"Oh, I forgot to ask. Do you play any instruments, Officer Kate?" Alexis asked, eyes wide with curiosity.
Kate nodded, "Just the guitar. My Mom taught me how to play when I was about 14."
"The guitar is a cool instrument. I tried it, but my fingers were too tiny for all the strings and I was kind of hopeless."
"When did you try?"
"When I was about..." Alexis pursed her lips and looked up as if she was deep in thought, causing Beckett to smile at the young girl, "8 or 9?"
Kate looked incredulously at Alexis, before shaking her head, "I think that's why your fingers were too small."
"I guess I could try again in two years."
"Why in two years?"
"Because that's when I'll be 14."
Kate's eyebrows raised at the same moment that Lanie's gaze was distracted from the girl's arm and instead to her face.
Alexis giggled at the two reactions from the adults, "I look older, right? Grams always says that I'm more of an adult than my Dad."
"It's not a bad thing, I just thought you were about 15 or 16, you just surprised me."
Alexis shrugged, "That's okay, Dad says it's good to surprise people."
Lanie piped up, "Unless they surprise you by attempting to steal your purse?"
The redhead chuckled, "Yeah, that instance is pretty sucky. Ooh! Doctor Lanie, did you ever play an instrument?"
The doctor shook her head, still focusing on cleaning up the wounds gently, "No, just tinkered around on some instruments when we had music classes in middle school. I did singing and dancing though, if that counts for anything."
Alexis gasped and grinned, "Really? That's so cool! I used to do dancing too, I did tap, modern, jazz, ballet and ballroom!"
"Whoa, baby! Even I didn't do that much!"
"Yeah, like I said, my Dad made me try a bunch of different things."
"Ah-ha! I knew you were talking about me!" A voice boomed from behind the doors of the morgue, causing all three women to look. A man with ruffled brown hair and crystal blue eyes walked in confidently, though the redness on his face indicated that he hadn't been that confident for the whole evening.
"Dad!" Alexis shouted, as she made a movement to run to hug him before being held back by the black haired woman.
"One second, baby, I'm not done yet!"
"Sorry Doctor Lanie." Alexis said as she sat back up on the table, the grin never fading from her face as her father approached her and kissed her lightly on the head with a chuckle.
"So if you're Doctor Lanie, you must be Officer Kate?" The man concluded, casting a glance in the other woman's direction.
"Yeah, I'm Officer Kate Beckett."
"She's the one that saved me, Dad!" Alexis gushed as her Dad pulled himself up onto the autopsy table so he could wrap a firm arm around his daughter.
"I don't know about saving you, you were doing a pretty good job on your own." Kate said honestly, struggling to make eye contact with the father who was looking at her in awe.
"Yeah, I was trying to kick him between the legs like you taught me, Dad, but he kept moving away."
"If you're trying to kick a man between the legs, he'll tend to do that." He remarked, causing a chuckle from the other adults in the room.
A lull in the conversation caused the father to emit a loud sigh before pulling Alexis closer to him. "I'm so glad you're okay, pumpkin." He said earnestly, causing Kate to break out into a smile.
"Of course I am, Dad. I couldn't leave you alone with Grams, or else she'd but you in plays again since you can't use me as an excuse."
"True, that is the only reason I keep you around."
"That, and because you secretly like to go on the kids rides at Coney Island and it would look weird without me there."
"Hey! It's not that I like the kids rides! I just want to experience all of the rides so that my ticket is worth all my money!"
"Sure, Dad." Alexis replied in a monotone voice with an eye roll, prompting her Dad to chuckle.
"There you go, honey," Lanie said, "all cleaned and bandaged up! I would recommend changing the gauze twice a day, and just keep looking to make sure it isn't infected, but I don't think the dirt went in that deep. And try to avoid using soaps on that area until the cuts are fully healed."
"I know, Doctor Lanie. I have to treat Dad's cuts all the time." Alexis stated with confidence.
"I thought you said he was a writer." Kate interrupted.
"I am. A mystery/crime writer. Sometimes I need to do research."
"Like making me duct tape him to a chair, or going to help on a case with the CIA." Alexis contributed, a proud smile gracing her features.
"Wow, that's dedication." The ME said, clearing up her tools.
"Couldn't you just… use your imagination?"
"Oh, but Officer Kate, that's nowhere near as fun." He smirked.
The following day when the father shows up outside Captain Montgomery's office with a smirk on his face and a raised eyebrow, Kate is almost definitely sure that this 'research' won't be classified under the fun category as much as earth-shatteringly annoying.
First Castle fic! *fistpump*
Not incredibly Caskett focused, (sorry to have failed you, my brethren), but there's a significant lack of Alexis and Kate fics, and motherly/comforting!Beckett is my Achilles' heel.
Please review and/or follow if you're feeling particularly lovely! 3333
Lou xo