A/N - I've always had little stray thoughts here & there about shows I watch. Decided that I'd finally get around to writing them down. This is my first attempt. It's mainly for myself but if you enjoy it then who am I to complain? Apologies ahead of time for any spelling/grammer errors. I have no "beta editor" and am just doing this willy nilly.

Disclaimer - I don't own Castle or anything related to it. (Granted I REALLY wish I did at times.)

Everything

"Body on Avenue A and 2nd. Call me back if you need a ride."

...

"Going back to the house since I'm done with the scene. Apparently sleeping beauty forgot to set his alarm."

...

"Haven't heard a peep from you all morning. Wondering if you're going to grace us with your presence today."

...

He sighed

"Just wanted to let you know the body we got this morning is your kind of creepy. Call me and I'll fill you in."

Pausing the voicemail he moves his thumb across the Iphone screen and sees that the remaining 2 calls are from her as well. He can't do this. He can't call her back now. Not after what happened this morning. Not after the news that has left him sitting on a park bench on a cold NYC early afternoon looking over the central park pond. How had this happened? He took his vitamins, he started working out more a few months into shadowing Beckett, and apart from a messy burger here and there he'd taken to eating healthier. But none of that mattered now. As his eyes dropped to the paperwork in his clutched hands he saw the bold black letters...cancer. He has cancer.

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Esposito and Ryan make a noise behind her as she looks up just in time to see a pair of shining blue eyes looking at her, "Detective Beckett?" "Alexis what a nice surprise, how has your day with Lanie been?" "Fine, mostly paperwork right now but it's really interesting none the less." Beckett smiles. "Well it's nice to see one Castle actually doing paperwork since your father seems to have ditched me once again while I'm doing mine." "Oh has he been in today?" Alexis asks apprehensively. She knows she's not supposed to speak about it with Detective Beckett. She knows her father had promised her after his initial doctor's appointment that he'd tell Beckett in his own time after having explained to Alexis and his mother what the following procedures would be. But Alexis also knows that today he was getting the final results back from the procedures he'd done earlier this previous week. She'd been nervous all morning to the point that even Dr. Parrish had tried to ask her what was wrong as she brushed her politely off. She thought she was doing fine, she'd handled pressure before but she wasn't doing such a great job at it today.

Beckett can't help but lift an eyebrow "actually no. I thought he'd come in this morning after I called him but I haven't heard back from him yet. Has he been writing all night again? He's not one to not call me back when I call so I'm assuming he's asleep and dead to the world right now." Alexis looks up abruptly and blanches at the statement then looks at anything but Beckett's eyes. The sentence had struck a nerve but she hoped her attempt to hide it had been done well. Her father was fine. Surely if something were the matter he would call her right away, wouldn't he? Beckett stared at Alexis as Alexis attempted to look anywhere else but at her. "Alexis what's going on?" "Oh…nothing Detective Beckett." Alexis states with a smile that doesn't even reach her eyes. She's hiding something but what could it be? Beckett had noticed Castle being amiss these past 2 weeks but she'd chalked it up to his writing. He'd casually recently mentioned how much his ex, Gina had been pestering him for newer chapters of his book. She hadn't thought his absence was much up until this moment when a niggling sensation in her gut told her something was up. Beckett tugs on Alexis's arm and brings her to the break room. She nudges her onto a chair "It's Kate, Alexis...call me Kate." Alexis looks up and nods her head. Turning around Beckett goes to fix two cups of coffee. As she does so she glances back to Alexis who now finds her hands to be quite fascinating as she tries not to keep wringing them together. Turning back around Beckett finishes frothing the milk.

As she slides the coffee mug towards Alexis and sits down she notices the exhaustion on Alexis's face. "Boy trouble?" Alexis looks up to Beckett then looks towards her hands. "I guess you could say that." "I've had my share. Want to talk about it?" Alexis looks up and bites her lip. God she'd like to open her mouth and let it all go. Speak the words that have been tormenting her mind as of late. But she can't. She's promised her dad and she would never break a promise. Biting her lip she looked down at the mug. Moments later she saw Kate's hand fold over her fingers that curved around the mug. "Alexis you know you can talk to me about anything right? What's ours is ours. Girl talk. If you ever need to talk or a shoulder to lean on I'm around." Alexis looks up and nods softly. "I know Kate. Thank you. I know. But I can't talk to you about this. I have to let him tell you and while I wish I could it's not fair to him." Alexis stands up quickly disengaging their hands from her mug. "Sorry that I bothered you." "No wait, Alexis are you talking about your father? What's wrong?" "I can't talk about it Kate. I promised him and I'm sorry. But please, do me a favor and go look for him?" Beckett nods and seconds later Alexis quickly strides out the break room door. Beckett watches her then drags her eyes to the table where both their coffee cups still filled to the brim sat. What the hell was going on?

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