Arc of the Curve
Chapter One

Authors note:-

I work some distance from where I live. As such I get about a hour between work and home to think. Honestly mostly I catch up on a rare commodity known as sleep, but every so often I have an idea. I plot out what I'm going to write. What works and what doesn't. In this hectic life I steal that hour as a moment of peace. Needless to say I often have crazy ideas that just have to work.

This is one of them. Truth is I've wanted to do something with the youngest Miss Castle for a while. As an actress Molly Quinn is under used as a foil to Nathan Fillion's lead and I think she needs gimmick of her own. Crossing Castle over with something seems to be the best way. It will give her the breathing room to get out of his shadow and give the rest of the cast something to bounce off. The recent episode that focused on her proved that better than I ever could but that all too fleeting glimpse demanded something else.

So how about this; Alexis is a Tomorrow Person. Just discovering the extent of her abilities she has to adapt to a world no one can prepare her for, alone and struggling does she deny herself and what she is in favour of a future she can understand or does she embrace it and become part of the future of humanity. That is if it is the future and not the past… or somewhere in between.

Disclaimer:-

Nether Castle nor the Tomorrow People belong to me they were created and belong to others. This is not done for profit and I earn no money from their use.

Chapter One

If you asked Alexis Castle what her first memory was she'd more than likely lie to you. Saying she didn't remember, or that it was playing with her dad in the park. The truth was her first memory was a promise. The promise her father made her when he first held her in his hands. She didn't understand the words at the time but she knew they were important. He promised never to leave her, to protect her, to keep her safe and to be the best father he possibly ever could.

He never said it, he never had to, but she heard it and it stuck with her. As she grew up she heard other things. Things she wasn't supposed to and things she couldn't. At first she thought everyone could, she was only a baby after all. But it didn't take long for her to realise the truth. She was different. It wasn't normal to hear other people's thoughts.

Alexis just had to look at a person and she instantly knew what they were thinking. Not just in words, but ideas, images and feelings. In a frantic second she already knew everything they wanted to say. When her dad first tried to teach her the alphabet he thought he had a prodigy, truth was she knew the whole thing as soon as he decided to teach her. Same with her teachers, whole lessons just downloaded into Alexis almost before they opened their mouths.

There were limits of course. She couldn't read memories, just what someone was thinking about at that moment and she needed to see who she was trying to read. Glass didn't matter, but walls did. Alexis could tell if someone was there on the other side of a door, sometimes even who they were, but not their thoughts. The worst thing though was not being able to turn it off.

Hearing people thoughts, their secrets, the lies they tell themselves. You couldn't hide things like that from a telepath, as much as either you or they might want. She knew when so called friends were talking behind her back, how people really felt. It was a burden she hated. With time and practice she found a way to muffle it, hide the thoughts even from herself. It was hard, but she could do it.

Even pretend, just for a little while, that she was like everyone else before it all came crashing back. So she learnt to live with it. Keep her own and everyone else's secrets locked away and move on.

Then she'd been kidnapped.

It was all to do with her grandfather. Her dad hadn't told her the whole story, not in words at least, but he'd gone over it so many times he might as well have. A spy, honest to god spy. Top secret, mission to kill, cold war era spy. Kept away from his family by orders and a need to protect them, but it hadn't been enough. An old enemy had found out somehow, had found her and tried to use her to get to him.

Locked up in that cage in Paris Alexis had tried everything, even her secret, to find out what was going on. When she learnt she nearly threw up with fear. It was only shock and her father's promise that kept her safe.

After that she made a decision. Even if it meant opening herself to all sorts she was going to listen in, keep all her ears open so to speak. It as disappointing when nothing happened for months.

Then she heard it, and nothing could ever be the same again.

Alexis wasn't angry. She was disappointed. She liked Pi, he was a good guy, funny, clever and liked her. A lot more than he realised and she liked him. Then her stupid dad had to go and be a child again. He was a writer for god's sake he should have known how much the wrong word could hurt.

But no, he just opened his mouth and said the single most stupid thing he could have. She was getting angry just thinking about it. How Detective Beckett put up with him sometimes even she didn't know.

Alexis didn't like being disappointed and she didn't like this wall that had grown between her and her father because of it. Him being both her father and male meant she would have to make the first move, other wise the situation would last for weeks and he'd put his foot in his mouth half way through apologising. Sometimes that was fun but this was already painful.

Getting out of the taxi she paid the driver and for once didn't have to ignore the sexist comment he was thinking. Mostly because he was gay and more envious of the way her jacket fitted, but she took it as a compliment. She was about half a block from the 12th precinct, not too far away but not too close. Alexis tried to hide her nerves and headed to the building. As she did she opened herself up to the world around her.

Brief flickers of thoughts pasted over her. Life in all it's myriad forms, nervous scared, exited, angry. Little things, big things. Even stupid things that only seemed to effect petty little people with little imagination. Shaking her head Alexis realised that was exactly what she was doing with this whole argument with her father, blowing a small irritation all out of proportion.

Then she heard it. Just for a moment she touched something dark, something evil. Anticipation, eagerness, a cruel joke. *Not a bad day's work. If I do say so myself.* That much came through clear.

On the edge of her nerves Alexis pretended to check her Phone, all the while searching for the source. Out of the corner of her eye she saw them, a police uniform standing out from the crowd but not someone she recognised from the 12th. As they walked away Alexis focussed on them, as hard as she could before they were out of sight.

When she had finished Alexis knew that her secret was about to come out.

Kate looked around the office. She was back and for the first time in a long time felt good about her job again. She was a detective, that meant solving crimes and keeping people safe not sneaking around in the background completing assignments that had been deemed for the greater good.

It made taking Bracken down harder, and she didn't have the pay check, but it was for the best. Looking over the coffee machine she saw Castle talking with Ryan and Espo. Probably getting ready for some wild bachelor party. Lanie was planning something for her along with Castle's mother that promised to be crazy, inappropriate and embarrassing. Whatever they were planning she didn't want to know.

Letting a smile come to her face she turned around and almost ran straight into Alexis. A nervous looking Alexis. She hadn't seen the young woman in a few days. She'd had a falling out with her father about her boyfriend. Castle hadn't meant to hurt anyone's feelings, just opened his mouth without thinking and it came out wrong. 'Alexis, what are you doing here?' She asked hopefully.

'I… I came to talk with my dad, but that's not important right now.' She looked paler than usual and kept glancing back to the situation room.

'What's wrong.' she asked her soon to be step-daughter.

The red head looked worried, more worried than she should be about anything. Don't answer your phone, please just don't answer your phone.' she insisted urgently

Kate put her coffee down. 'Alexis, sweetie. Calm down, tell me what's wrong and why I can't answer my phone.'

Alexis took a breath. 'There's two bricks worth of C4 strapped to the underside of your desk. Enough to destroy the whole precinct. The trigger is on your phone.' Kate could only stare at the young woman. 'You pick up the receiver and it goes off. They're going to call in a few minutes.'

'How do you know this!' Kate whispered urgently, casting her own worried look at her desk

'I just do, alright.' Alexis hissed. 'Can you see the two wires coming out of the side.' She didn't point, just nod in the right direction. Kate could see them they trailed out, down the side and under the desk. 'You have to tell everyone! Quickly, but quietly. They're outside in that cafe just round the corner.'

'Alexis…'

'Detective, Kate. I promise I'll tell you later, but first bomb!'

The girl was right. 'I'm going to hold you to that. Stay here.' Against all her instincts which were screaming to her to raise an alarm Kate strode out of the recreation room, right to her desk and quietly looked underneath. Just like Alexis had described two blocks of something marked C4 and a sealed box that almost screamed detonator. Checking her chair incase there was something both of them had missed Kate sat down and waved her team over.

'Everything okay Beckett?' Espo asked as she caught his eye.

'What you know about high explosives?'

The latino detective frowned. 'Enough to to be caught anywhere near them when they go off. Why?'

'There's a couple of bricks of C4 stuck under my desk.' She said casually 'I think they're already armed.'

The three of them went a pale as ghosts. 'You're kidding.' Ryan whispered.

'Nope. Check out the wires from the phone.' Kate nodded. 'Espo get bomb disposal, keep it on the QT. We don't know who did this, they might be watching. Ryan, get Gates. Tell her the same. Castle you stay here and don't touch that phone.'

Castle, showing a bravery she almost couldn't believe sat in his usual chair right next to her. 'So Boom.'

'Boom.' She agreed, suddenly regretting not picking up her coffee.

Castle looked around the precinct and took a calming breath. 'You know, one of these days the whole bomb thing is going to get old.'

'Really?'

'Well there was that time your apartment blew up, that dirty nuke I defused, the whole pressure plate thing.' he listed off

'Don't forget that time you called me from a bank…'

'Yeah. like I said got to get old some time.'

'Like now?' She asked.

Castle rested an elbow on the desk and looked at her with those eyes of his. 'I can safely say that knowing you, Kate Beckett, nothing in my life will ever get old.'

'Not even us?' she asked.

'Oh we might get old.' he pulled back the grin plastered on his face like that of a five year old 'But never in sprit.'

'I love you.' she admitted. Every time she did, even to herself her heart skipped a beat.

Castle's smile became a smirk. 'I know.'

Kate laughed. 'Stop quoting Star Wars and kiss me.'

'If you insist, your worship.' he agreed, but he never got a chance to. Gates was there in an instant to snap them back to the situation at hand.

'Detective, this better be one hell of a prank.' She snapped, irritated and not just a little worried.

'No joke sir.' Carefully Kate pushed her chair back and let the captain investigate. After a moment she came back up. 'I'm ordering a full evacuation.' She declared just in time for the phone to ring.

The three of them, Kate, the captain and Castle healed their breath. Any second now the detonator could engage. The military grade explosives would explode. The first and last thing any of them would know of it would be a fireball and splinters of wood flying everywhere.

The phone rang and rang again. No one dared answer it. The seconds, counted by the insistent ringing, ticked on until eventually it stopped. Collectively they let out a breath Kate hadn't realised anyone was holding.

'Maybe they think that you're not in.' Castle suggested.

'Then we're evacuating. Everyone out, now.'

'We can't do that.' Kate disagreed with her captain. 'What if someone is watching the door? There's any number of reasons why I wouldn't answer the phone but if there is someone outside and they see a full evac….'

'They might just pull the trigger remotely for the hell of it.' Castle finished. 'Esposito should have the disposal crew by now. That means they are on their way. Hopefully quietly, you sure they're watching?'

Kate nodded, she couldn't even begin to explain how Alexis knew about the bomb but she could think of an explanation. 'This person, whoever they are, got a bomb into a police precinct without anyone noticing. That means they were either lucky or good. I'm betting on good, that means they know enough to be sure. Then there's the trigger. I have to be at the phone to answer it, they want me here when the bomb goes off and that means ground zero.'

'Fine work detective.' Gates nodded. 'I'm glad to see you haven't lost any of your instincts. Still I'm ordering all personnel to the ground floor. That includes both you and Mr Castle. If there is a remote to that thing its best if we are all ready to evacuate the instant it is necessary.'

Kate knew it was the best course of action and stood up, making doubly sure she didn't knock the desk.

Richard helped usher the officers down the stairs. He knew he had to be clam, collected and appear to have some form of authority. Luckily most of the officers knew him and that he wouldn't be remotely serious unless there was a real problem. six years now he'd worked at the precinct and that seemed to have earned him some respect.

That wasn't an exaggeration. As much as he and everyone else would deny it he had worked there. If anything it was more rewarding than writing. As an author he got reviews, plaudits, money and even women, but there was something about turning his mind to something that mattered in the end of the day that he couldn't turn his back on.

At first it was just research, then it was to be closer to Beckett and now. Now he understood the real reason people chose to be police officers. It wasn't the uniform, the ego, or the image. It certainly was't the money. It was the idea that they had made a difference. Kate had showed him that. Had showed him just what he was missing all these years. A reason, a goal. He'd embraced that with everything. Saving lives had become important to him, nearly as important as Kate and Alexis.

This was the life he wanted, and needed. He wasn't going to give this up for anything.

Looking up and across to the other exit he stopped. Alexis was there, taking to Beckett. All other thoughts left him, two of the three most important women in his life were within range of a bomb and could be hurt. Whatever control he had fled and he ran over to them. 'Alexis! What? How? Where did you…'

'I came to talk.' she told him, 'but things got in the way.'

'You, you know whats happening?'

The two of them nodded in a way that should have made him nervous. As it was he ignored it. 'Alexis, get downstairs now! We can talk later.'

'Oh yes.' she agreed.

'I think we all have a lot to talk about.' Kate added.

End Chapter One