"What would Richard Castle be calling a P.I for?"

"I had the same question."

"So can you find this guy?" Kate asked.

"Ya I can tomorrow."

"But-"

"Beckett, it's late. You need to go home. You've had a crazy day. Especially because you're gonna be hangin out with mini Castle tomorrow."

Beckett sighed. She knew he was right but she just couldn't keep her mind of Alexis. If Rick had been kidnapped could that mean that they could kidnap her? But she knew she had to stop worrying. She was with her best friend and a mom. Which Kate was not. She didn't know what to do or how to take care of a child. And there were guards posted outside the building. She would be fine Kate tried to convince herself.


Yawning Kate made her way to the car and drove home. Jumping in the shower she glanced at the clock sitting on her bathroom sink. 2:47. She had to be up in 4 hours. Looks like she wasn't getting a lot of sleep tonight. She began to wash the suds out of her hair when she heard the phone ring.

Quickly jumping out of the shower, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body not paying attention to her dripping wet hair and practically sprinted into the kitchen.

"Hello?" She panted.

"Hi is this Katherine Beckett?"

"This is she."

"I'm Paige's mother, Amanda."

"Oh hi whats up? Is everything okay?"

"No, shes been up the past two hours and she's sobbing and I can't get her to go back to sleep."

"Um, I don't-"

"Shes asking for you."

"What?" Kate asked quietly.

"She says she wants Katie, I'm assuming thats you and I tried to tell her that she would see you tomorrow but she says she won't go to sleep until she sees her Katie and Paige and my son have school tomorrow and I wouldn't ask unless it was the last option but could you come pick her up."

"I don't think.. I should…"

"Trust me, this kid isn't going to sleep until she at least sees you."

"Ya okay, um just get her ready to go and I'll be there in about 15 minutes."

"Alright, thank you so much."

"Oh ya, thank you for taking her in the first place. I know it was kinda last minute."

"Course, anything for Alexis."

"Alright be there soon."

She hung up, quickly rinsed out her hair and threw on a sweatshirt and some leggings. Quickly running to her car Kate. Parking in front of the house she came running up, hesitated for a moment and knocked on the door which almost opened immediately.

Alexis was in the arms of Amanda and she was sobbing.

"Katie."

"Oh Alexis." She said as the little girl reached out to Kate.

"I want to go home."

"Shh. You're okay."

"I want my daddy."

"I know you do. Hey, how about you have a sleepover with me tonight?" Kate asked as she smiled down at the redhead.

"Where?"

"Well, we could go to my house of we could go to yours and you could sleep in your own bed."

"With you?"

"I'll stay with you until you fall asleep."

"I don't want to go back to our apartment yet. What if the bad man comes back?"

"He won't, because I'll be there. But if you'd rather, we can go sleep at my place."

Alexis hesitated for a moment. "Your house."

Kate nodded as she took Alexis's bag from Amanda and buckled Alexis into the car. As they were driving home, Kate heard the sound of the girls sniffles get quieter and quieter until she looked back and saw that the girl had fallen asleep. Gently lifting her out of the car and balancing her on one hip with the girls bag in her other hand, she made her way up to her apartment. Carefully setting the girl down in her bed, she went to brush her teeth and change.

Carefully lifting up the covers, Kate slid into bed. She watched the girl sleep. Her chest rise and fall, the red hair splayed all over the pillows. Kate sighed and closed her eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.


She was woken with a phone call. Glancing at the clock, she almost jumped up but then felt a weight atop her chest. Glancing down, she saw the redhead had found her way into Kates side and her head was resting on Kate's chest. Kate reached for her phone and quietly answered

"Yo Beckett, where have you been, its almost 11 and you're not in?"

"Alexis."

"Oh then take as long as you need, but chica, I found something on Jason Lane."

"Great, I'll be in in a bit."

"Sure."

Setting her phone down, she sighed and glanced down at the sleeping girl who was starting to stir. Kate stayed quiet thinking she was waking up but when she felt a foot whack her in the leg, she knew the girl was having a nightmare.

"hey, Alexis." She said whilst carefully jostling the girl.

"Daddy!" The girl cried out as she jumped up.

"Hey, its me, Kate, I'm right here." She said as she pulled the girl back down and Alexis cuddled into her side. "Was that a nightmare?" She felt the girl nod. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"The man was there."

"Who?"

"The man who took daddy."

"Did you see what he looked like?"

"Ya." Kate waited for her to finish. "He had greyish white hair and a little beard."

"Was he as tall as your dad?"

"Close." Alexis replied.

"Its okay, hes not going to hurt you."

"Promise?"

"Always."


After Kate dropped a reluctant Alexis off at preschool, she made her way to the precinct.

"Espo? Found anything on that P.I.?"

"Ya, we brought him in this morning. Said he was investigating someone."

"Who?"

"He wouldn't say."

"Okay, you working on a search warrant?"

"Already filled in for one."

"Okay um, Alexis told me about this dream she had and she described the man who took her."

"Thats great!"

"Here," Kate said handing him a slip of paper. Esop read it off "Greyish hair, beard about same height as Richard."

"Can you do anything with that?"

"I'll see what I can do. Oh and we got a call from Martha Rodgers."

"His mother?"

"Ya, said she was getting on the first flight out and she'd be here in the next few hours."

"How long ago did she call?"

"Few hours. She should be showing up any minute."

Kate sighed. She knew Alexis would have to go home with Martha. Even though it was good, Kate didn't want to give up Alexis.

"Is that her?" Kate asked as she saw the back of a redhead.

"Would explain Alexis's hair."

"I'll go talk to her." Kate said as she walked up to the woman. "Hi, i'm detective Beckett we got your call about-" The woman turned around. This couldn't be his mother. She was far too young. Kate connected the dots. "You're Alexis mother, um Meredith."

"Yes, Martha gave me a call and said that she was stuck in Florida with bad weather and if I didn't come it would break Rickys heart so I thought I could come for a day. No where is my daughter?"

"Shes as school right now."

"Then lets go."

"Excuse me?" Kate asked

"I need to go get Alexis and I don't have a car, so you can drive me."

"Umm, I just need to talk to my partner."

"Don't be long dear."

Kate nodded with a nervous giggle. "Espo." She whispered as she pulled Espo into the break room.

"Was that Martha?"

"NO, Meredith."

"Ex-wife?"

"Yes!"

"We need to question her."

"Alexis."

"Oh, um how about I go pick Alexis up and you take her in interrogation."

"I'll get Alexis." Espo glared at her. "I promised." Kate whined. Espo laughed.

"Alright, I'll go grab Meredith."

Kate avoided Merediths harsh glare as she made her way to the elevator. Standing in the elevator, she fidgeted as she watched Meredith as the doors closed. She hadn't taken her eyes off Kate.


"C'mon ms. Castle."

"That bitch should not be going to pick up my daughter."

"Ma'am you daughter will be just fine with detective Beckett. I just want to talk to you about Richard."

"Fine." Meredith gave in as Epso lead her into the interrogation room.

"So, whens the last time you talked to mr. Castle."

"About four months ago. I was going to come see him and Alexis but I got a callback so I decided to cancel."

Espo sighed. She wasn't going to be much help. "Well did you ever talk to Alexis? Did anything seem off about her?"

"The last time I talked to Alexis was when I talked to Rick." She explained as she waited for Epso to respond. "Are we done here?" She asked impatiently.

"Yes. You can wait out in our break room until Beckett brings Alexis back."


Meanwhile, Kate had made her way to Alexis preschool. She signed into the front desk which was a pain since she technically wasn't family but once she pulled out her badge they let her right in. Walking down the small halls, Kate made her way to Alexis's classroom. She glanced in through the window. They were all sitting in a circle. Alexis was sitting next to Paige and the girls hands were intertwined. Kate smiled as she slowly pulled open the door. The teacher turned around.

"Can I help-" before she could finish, the redhead had jumped up and had now sprinted her way over to Kate, tightly wrapping her arms around Kates legs.

"Hey bud." Kate said she picked up the lightweight child. "I got someone back at the station who wants to see you!"

"Who? Daddy? Grams?"

"No, sweetie, it's not your dad." the girls face fell. "You'll see when we get there."

Kate glanced back up realizing that all eyes were on her.

"Does she need to go? I can go grab her bag if you need-" the teacher began.

"Ya that would be great. I'm so sorry to interrupt." Kate apologised.

"No problem, we'll do anything for Alexis, especially now." She said as she lowered her voice. "Bye Alexis." She waved as she handed Kate her bag.

"Bye Ms. Holly."

Kate listened as Alexis told her everything about her day on the car ride back to the precinct. As they pulled up Kate opened the door. Alexis jumped out and held her arms up to Kate. Kate giggled as she picked her up.

"Will you tell me now whos here to see you?" Alexis whined.

"Just wait." Kate said. She wasn't sure how the girl would react. Kate thought she would be excited since none of her family was here but those words that Alexis had said earlier rang through her head. "Shes in there." Kate said as she sat the redhead down. Alexis grabbed her hand as the walked into the break room. Alexis smiled as she looked up at Kate but Alexis's smile quickly fell as she saw her mother sitting there.

"Alexis!" Meredith said as she came up to give the girl a hug.

"Mom." Alexis quietly said as she looked jpu at Kate, her eyes starting to fill with tears.


Yay! Another chapter. Oh my gosh you guys I've been so busy. I'm writing like 3 essays for school and we have finals coming up. I'm so stressed! But writing this always helps. My original plan was to add Martha but then I was like screw it, lets put Meredith in there. I now realize that Ricks kidnapping is going rather slowly so I'm trying to speed it up but I'm not really good at writing crime kinda stories. Anyways, thank you so much for all the reviews! They motivate me to write more so keep them coming! Let me know what you think and if Martha should come back soon or later.

Jenny!