Poisoned Apples Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Nopeity nope nope.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for the great response! I know where this is going, but if you have any theories, I'd love to hear them! Thank you again! So much! On with the story...

"It's his dad, Kate. It's Castle's dad."

Kate Beckett knew exactly what it felt like to have the world come crashing down around you; to be faced with something so horrible that the only thing to do is to sit and stare at a blank wall until the earth finds its axis again. She knew how easy it was to slip so far down the dark path of obsession that you couldn't see the light anymore. She knew it, she feared it, and until now, she never thought she'd fear anything else. She was wrong. The idea of helplessly watching the people she loved go through their own personal hell was more terrifying than any thought she'd ever had about her mother's case.

"Lanie," she spoke quietly, "are you sure?" She knew the answer, but she needed to ask. She needed to hear the M.E. tell her that this was really happening before she broke the news to Castle and sent him spiraling.

Lanie understood, and for once didn't chide Kate for questioning her.

"I'm positive." She replied. "I'm so sorry sweetie, I wish I was wrong."

They sat in silence, staring at the computer as if the program was to blame for this horrible betrayal.

"Alexis?" Kate asked, remembering the sobbing girl. She saw a flash of regret in Lanie's eyes.

"It was an accident." Lanie said. "The program has an alarm when it has a match. My hands were dirty, I asked Alexis to check it...I didn't know…"

"It's not your fault." Kate said, the strength in her voice slowly returning.

"She ran out of here screaming." Lanie rasped. "I've never seen her so scared, not even during the bombing case."

Kate fought back the quick flash of pain from the memories of said case and forced herself to be analytical Beckett instead of sentimental Kate. Alexis was a mess, she needed to get her home. Lanie needed to tell the boys about the match so that they could move forward with the case. Castle…shit she needed to tell Castle…

"Lanie, can you hold off telling the boys until I can get Rick and Alexis home?" Kate asked. Lanie knew her well enough to not comment on her suddenly professional tone. Breakdowns were unacceptable in Beckett's life until they were manageable, and there was no space for a breakdown that minute.

"Yeah, of course." Lanie replied. "I'll go back through the earlier crime scenes. Maybe we missed something." Kate smiled sadly in thanks. Lanie knew the evidence backwards and forwards by now, but Kate understood the need to dive into work when real life became too overwhelming.

"Thank you, Lanie." The two shared a glance as Kate headed back out to Alexis. Her resolve crumbled at the picture before her. Having cried herself out, Alexis' piercing blue eyes now stared blankly in front of her as overwhelming sadness gave way to empty disbelief.

Kate knelt gently by her side, careful not to touch her. If Alexis was anything like Kate, she wouldn't notice the touch anyway, but Kate didn't want to risk spooking her.

"Hey Alexis." Kate spoke. "You don't have to say anything, but I'm taking you and your dad home now. Can you wait here while I go get him?" Under any other circumstances, the red head would've bitten back at how condescending Kate was being, but she didn't even notice. She barely registered that words were heading in her general direction. Kate was there though, and that was a little better. Except, now Kate was getting up?

Alexis gasped and shot her arm out on a reflex to grab Kate's wrist as she stood. She couldn't be alone right now. She wasn't even sure she understood why, but she couldn't do it. The ticking of the clock in the hallway, the shuffle of feet above her, the creak of the elevator door, it was all too much. She couldn't be alone with such sounds of…normality.

Kate nodded silently and helped Alexis to her feet as she swung the girl's workbag over her shoulder. The two walked side-by-side, lost in thought to the elevator, one still unsure of what to say to the man on the other end and one too numb to care.

"Alexis, god, are you okay?" Castle ran over to his daughter and girlfriend almost as soon as they stepped onto the homicide floor. His perch on Kate's desk offered him an unhindered view of the elevator, and it took him about two seconds to realize that his family looked like hell.

"She'll be fine, Rick." Kate assured with out a shred of conviction.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Rick,"

"What happened?" He cut Kate off. She needed to get him back to the loft. He wasn't going to settle for anything but the truth while his daughter was paling by the second and she just couldn't deal with that here.

"Come home with us, and I'll explain everything." She said simply.

"Kate…"

"Castle," she cut him off a little harsher than she'd intended, "I promise." She said softer.

Between his writer's imagination and his fatherly fears, Castle's head was filling with worst-case scenarios, but he conceded.

"Alright, let's go."

Kate sat at the kitchen counter, mindlessly nursing a glass of wine. Castle was upstairs with Alexis, no doubt trying to get her to talk. He'd be down soon though. Nearly half an hour had passed since they retreated and by now it was either time to give up and come badger Kate for information or scream at her for not telling him sooner.

"Okay, Beckett, what the hell is going on?" Rick's voice shattered her quiet bubble of thought as he stormed down the stairs. Alexis clearly hadn't talked and now he was furious with worry.

"Rick, sit down." Kate said.

"No, don't talk to me like one of your victims, Kate!" He spat back. "My daughter is traumatized, no one will tell me what's going on, and you're pitying me like I'm about to break."

He charged over to her, pulled the wine from her hands and forced her to look at him. She hadn't even noticed that she'd averted her eyes earlier.

"Whatever this is, you promised me, six months ago, that we wouldn't keep secrets from each other." She still didn't respond. "Kate, please. The last time we tried to protect each other in silence, it nearly destroyed us."

"Rick," she finally whispered. "Sit down."

They were the same words, but this time he listened. This time, they weren't condescending, they were pleading. They weren't for his sake; they were for hers. Whatever she had to say, she couldn't do it unless he was calm. Castle sat down on the stool next to Kate's and waited as she took another sip of wine.

Kate knew she was stalling, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't do this. There was no way. How were you supposed to tell someone that the parent they never knew was a killer? How were you supposed to tell the person you loved, the person you one day wanted a family with, that you needed their help to hunt down their own blood? Kate told families awful news everyday, but this was different. She almost wished someone was dead. At least with death, there was finality. The grieving process might be long, or even never-ending, but at the end of the day, there was nothing you could do to change what happened. Castle's father was a serial killer, and the toll that that information could take was unthinkable. How could she do this to him?

"Kate." She felt a hand rest gently on her thigh and she looked up. He was right. She promised him no secrets, and she meant to keep that promise. She took a deep breath and savored the compassion in his touch before she opened her mouth and risked losing it all.

"Lanie got a match from the DNA at the Dryker scene."

Rick looked confused.

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" He asked. "I mean, now we have somewhere to go?"

Kate felt tears threatening behind her eyes. Shit, she couldn't do this.

"It's not a 100% match." She struggled to continue. "There were two matches, actually. One 50% and one 25%."

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"It means the DNA matched the child…and the grandchild…of the killer." She wasn't going to hold it together for much longer. "Rick, it's you and Alexis." She lost it at his blank expression.

"Kate, what are you talking about?" Rick asked, understanding creeping its way past his blanket of disbelief.

"Your father, Rick." Kate sobbed. "I'm so sorry." Kate reached for Castle's hand, but he recoiled at her touch.

"You're wrong."

"Rick?"

"I said you're wrong!" He shouted. Kate's eyes widened. She could count the number of times he'd been this angry on one hand.

"Rick, please." Kate pleaded.

"Tell Lanie to run it again." He demanded. When Kate didn't move from her spot, Rick grabbed her phone and shoved it at her. "Tell. Her. Again." He was caving. She could see it in his eyes.

Kate gently took her phone from him and reached up to wipe a stray tear from his cheek.

He crumbled.

"It's okay." She whispered as she held him. "It's gonna be okay."

From the way he cried harder at her words, she knew he didn't believe her. She wasn't even sure if she believed herself. They could do this though, right? They were strong enough to get through this. They had to be.

Okay, next chapter will be moving a little back into case land as Lanie tells the boys and they put some of the pieces together, but I promise to keep the Caskett angst coming! Drop me a line. 3