Chapter 1: Flowers for Your Past

The elevator of the 12th precinct opens to welcome a 15 year old girl with long blonde hair. She crosses the precinct and sits down in the seat next to Detective Ryan's desk. Ryan is turned away from her and talking to Esposito, who is sitting on the edge of Ryan's desk. When Esposito sees the girl, he nudges Ryan with his knee. "Looks like you have a friend." Ryan turns to face the girl as Esposito returns to his own desk.

"How can I help you?" Ryan greets nicely.

The girl quickly smiles at him then returns to her natural but serious expression and says in a questioning tone, "I'm looking for a Katherine… Beckett."

Ryan frowns a little, "She is downstairs right now. Can we help you?"

"Well… I really need to talk to her."

"Okay… let me show you to her desk," Ryan guides the young girl just a desk away, Kate's desk, which the girl sits down in the chair next to. "She won't be gone long. You can wait here until she gets back." Ryan says then turns and begins to walk back to his desk, and then about halfway there, quickly turns around to face the teenager, and says, "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

She looks at him and gives him another short lived smile. "Lux… Beckett," she says letting her jaw drop at the end. Ryan smiles and starts walking back to his desk, while she refocuses on an elephant, on Kate's desk, that she had started inspecting.

When Ryan sits back down in his desk, he leans into Espo's desk. Esposito looks away from his computer to Ryan and asks, "Who was that?"

Ryan's voice is a whisper as he leans closer and says, "She says her name is Lux Beckett."

Esposito's eyebrows tighten, "Beckett? Like our Beckett?"

Ryan frowns questioningly, "Sounds like it, maybe a younger sister?"

Esposito frowns in a disappointed manner, "Come on, bro you know Beckett is an only child."

Ryan makes a somewhat hidden gesture of pointing with his thumb, as he says, "Then you explain Little Beckett."

"What are you guys talking about?" They both look up from their huddle to see Castle standing in between their desks, smiling.

Esposito nods to the girl with his head and says, "The kid."

"At Beckett's desk," Ryan finishes.

Castle frowns when he sees the girl, "She's in my spot."

Esposito continues, "Says her name's Beckett."

Castle seems entertained by this as he questions, "Like our Beckett?"

Ryan's eyes grow wide with assurance, "Seems like it."

Castle walks over to Lux, leaving the boys to wonder alone. When he sits down in Kate's chair, the teenager looks at him confused. He calmly responds to the expression by saying, "You're in my spot."

Lux gives a closed mouth smile, which made Castle think two things: She's being coy, like she felt a humorous guilt for smiling and he had seen the smile before. Her smile grew to be crooked as she begins to talk, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize someone, besides criminals, sat here."

Castle smiles, "Well I do kill people for a living." Lux wrinkles her forehead in amusement shown by her unwavering smile. Castle outstretches his hand, "Richard Cas-"

"Castle," Lux finishes. "I knew I knew you from somewhere. My friend Tasha and I would read your books to get away from stuff."

Castle frowns and says, "What kind of stu-?"

"Castle, get out of my chair!" They both look away from each other towards the elevator, where Detective Kate Beckett is walking towards them with two coffees in hand. Castle stands up out of her chair and leans onto the desk behind Kate's. Even so, when Kate reaches her desk she doesn't sit but instead stands across from Lux. She hands Castle his coffee. Castle takes a sip, then quickly swallows, because Kate doesn't seem to know the girl and the girl seems to have gone into some sort of shock, so Castle waves his finger between Lux and Kate (while wondering if he burnt his tongue or not) "Kate meet…"

"Lux," Lux politely fills in, although it does seem to choke out like she is still trying to regain the air in her lungs.

Castle points at Kate, "Lux meet Detective Beckett."

Kate turns to Castle unsure what to think, "A friend of yours, Castle?" Kate gives a smile, although wondering if she left her "pet" alone too long and now he has resorted to making friends with teenage strangers.

At first, Castle gets lost in her smile realizing that it is the smile he recognized on Lux, then Castle smiles, "Actually, I think she's a friend of yours."

Kate's eyes widen with an amused smile, "Really?"

"Really," Lux interjects reflecting the same face, and pulling Kate's attention back to her, but this time something about Lux catches Kate off guard and Castle can see it, when her smile deflates.

Castle picks up his coffee and turns to the both of them and says, "I'll give you guys some space."

Kate gives a slight smile as she watches him walk over to Ryan and Esposito's desks, because although in the literal sense they were giving them space, she had no doubt they would continue analyzing the situation from afar.

When Kate turns back to Lux, she realizes Lux is playing with one of the elephants. She smiles, "I see you have taken an interest in my elephants."

Lux smiles at her, then puts the elephant back in its place on the desk, "They're cute. They're like a little family."

Kate smiles even wider at the elephant, "That's what my mom used to say." She looks back at Lux, "I'm sure you didn't come here for the elephants."

Lux straightens her posture and puts the elephant down, pulls out a paper, unfolds it and hands it to Kate. She looks at her for a short second then back at the paper, "I need you to sign this."

Kate takes the paper and looks quizzically at the girl than at the paper and her face relaxes with shock.

Castle, Ryan, and Esposito all watch as Kate talks, muted by the distance, and her face goes through a range of emotions, and as Lux lets out more short lived smiles and regularly glances down at her hands.

Ryan looks amused and questions, "So, Castle, what do you think?"

"Long lost cousins?" Esposito fills in for Castle's lack of response.

Ryan curiously cocks his head to the side, "She looks a lot like Beckett."

"Acts like her too," Castle says remembering Lux's smile. He finally snaps his attention to the guys and adds, "She is in fact a Beckett. The question is: How?"

Kate hands the signed paper back to Lux, "So where do you go from here?"

Lux smiles a fake smile, "That's the other thing… I kind of need a ride to Social Services."

Kate points her finger, "One second, okay?"

Lux smiles another closed mouth smile, but this one shows an impatient kind of feeling, "Yeah."

Kate walks over to where the boys are, "Castle, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Is it about the mystery girl?" Castle grins.

"Castle!" Kate scolds already walking towards the break room, causing him to scramble to his feet.

When Castle finally gets in the break room, Kate shuts the door and he immediately starts, well Castling, "Okay, let me guess, she's your long lost cousin?"

"No, C-" Kate says annoyed.

"She's a witness to a murder and your long lost cousin?"

"Castle-"

Castle laughs, "No, you're going to love this one, she's your long lost daughter."

Kate's voice turns into a harsh pleading, "Castle… please."

Castle's smile melts into a serious expression and his eyes widen. He looks into Kate's beseeching eyes and slowly says, "She's your daughter."