Hi everyone. This is something I came up with a little while ago. Have some mercy with my English. It's not my native language, so that there may be some (or more) mistakes.

It's planned as a One Shot, but if you're interested in further chapters, I'll be happy to write some more,

but my main focus remains on my first story "Family" (NCIS), so that it may take a while for me to write new chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle.

Ray of Hope

Chapter 1

It was a rather dark and wet day in New York. For days it hasn't stopped raining and people were afraid that there'll be flooding, but Katherine Beckett couldn't care less. The weather fitted to her mood. Two days ago she was told that her mother was dead. Two days ago her life has completely changed.

She sat on a swing in a park. She was wet from top to bottom, but she didn't care. She had to get away from her home, because she didn't stand it anymore. Her dad has fallen in a deep hole and tried to solve his problems with alcohol. Now, when she needed him the most, he wasn't there for her. She was alone. She couldn't talk to anyone or be just held in the arms of somebody she felt safe with.

She was just 19 years old. She still could have spent so much time with her mother. So much from her mother she could have learned from her. She'll miss many things with her mother. Her mother will never get to know her boyfriend with whom she is in a real and serious relationship for the first time, she will never help her moving in with him, she'll never has the chance to tell her mother about her engagement, she will not be present at her wedding, and she'd never see her first grandchild and later couldn't spend time with her or him. So many things were taken from Kate's time with her mom.

It didn't stop raining, but this only suited Kate. Because of the rain nobody could see her tears and even if she had a reason to cry, Kate Beckett was not somebody who showed her feelings so openly like right now.

Kate was so deep in thoughts that she didn't even notice at all that it has stopped raining. Only half a minute later she noted that it didn't pour down on her anymore. She opened her eyes and saw that it still rained, but she didn't get wet anymore. She looked up and saw a red umbrella over her head. Where did it come from? Kate turned around and noticed a small person standing behind her. How was she not able to notice that someone came over to her?

Only when the person looked up to her, Kate recognised that it was a small girl that was holding the umbrella. If Kate has to guess she would say that the girl was about 5 years old. She has red, long hair and beaming blue eyes which stared right at Kate at the moment.

„You look sad." Kate has to let go a sobbing laugh. This situation was just so odd. There she was, sitting all alone in a park on a swing and greaves her mother's death and of all things that could have happened she was found by a little girl who tells her that she looked sad? Absurd.

The girl walked around Kate, so that Kate got wet from the rain again for a moment. Now the girl stood directly before her. In closer consideration the girl looked beautiful. How she wished to go back in time, when she still was a little girl with no worries in the world, happily living with her mother and her father at her side. „Are you sad?"

Kate smiled softly at the girl. She looked so innocent. Like she didn't know how the real world functioned. „Yes, sweetie. I'm sad."

„When I'm sad, my daddy always hugs me and he'll only let go when I'm no longer sad. My dad gives the best hugs in the whole, whole world."

Now Kate had to laugh. That girl was sweet and her naivety was enviable. But the laugh was just for a short time and she had to think about her dad and that he won't hug her and he never will if things won't change. The only thing he'd hug was his damn alcohol. She'd give a lot if it meant that her dad would let go of the alcohol and would just take her in his arms. But Kate knew the facts. He wouldn't change. She tried for two days in a row now. She constantly tried to make him understand what he was doing, but it didn't help. He was too drunk to listen to her.

„Why are you sad?"

„You're very direct. Didn't your dad teach you to not being so curious about other people's business?" asked Kate the girl softly. She was happy about every distraction and this girl seemed to just do that. Kate didn't know why, but she has the feeling that she could talk to her.

„My daddy is often even more curious than me. Technically it's me who has to hold him back." Now the girl bend towards Kate to whisper something in her ear, even when nobody was close enough to hear anything. „If we're being honest, it's my dad who really is the child."

The girl managed to make Kate laugh openly again. It wasn't what she said but rather her tone and her serious face that made Kate laugh out loud. Kate could imagine how this little girl brings a lot of joy to her parent's life. In such a short time, she made Kate forget about the death of her mother. Even when it was just for a very short time.

„Then you should keep an eye on him. Speaking of your dad, are you here alone? A girl like you shouldn't walk around the city on her own. It can be really dangerous."

„I'm here with my grandma." Grandma. My child will never get to know her grandmother.

„She surely worries about you already."

„She sits at that café over there and keeps an eye on me. I asked her if I could go to you because you looked so sad and you kept getting wet from the rain. But she told me to not be gone for long."

„Then you should go back to her."

„But then you'd be alone again." she replied in a serious tone, as it would be the worst thing on earth and Kate smiled at the girl again. She liked that girl.

„I won't be alone because I will go home now."

„Will you let your dad hug you?"

„Maybe." Maybe not.

„I hope you won't be sad anymore." The girl turned around and went back towards the café she said her grandmother would be. Just before she'd be out of earshot, she turned to her again. „By the way, my name is Alexis."

Alexis. A beautiful name for an amazing little girl.

„I'm Kate."

Alexis smiled at her. „Maybe we will see each other again, Kate." After that, Alexis turned around and ran to her grandmother.

Kate stared baffled after her. What a strange meeting. Even when she liked Alexis, it was rather unrealistic that they would meet again in such a big city like New York. She stood up from the swing and made her way home. Only now she noticed that it stopped raining and the sun is shining in her face.

Although she still has a long way to come, Kate has the feeling that everything will be alright again. She'll gather herself up and will shape her life new. She'll eventually get through that dark part of her life.

She let the sun shine in her face. Suddenly she wished that she'll meet Alexis again.

So, this was solely Kate and Alexis, with mentions of Rick and Martha. If this story continues, the main focus will be Kate/Rick but of course there will be a lot of Kate/Alexis. I like the idea of them having a special bond.

Please leave a Review and tell me what you think. Should I continue? Want would you want to happen if the story continues?