A/N: Well, I didn't stick to my weekly updates, I just haven't had the energy lately so it took me awhile to get this written. I present to you my next chapter. It is shorter than the previous chapters, but these few scenes probably need to be set apart from what I have coming up next. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own it.
"Hey there girl."
Lanie jumped and turned around to see Javier Esposito leaning up against the door to the morgue.
"Javier you scared the crap out of me! Where the hell have you been?"
"I've been around. Have a lot of time on my hands right now, so I'm just weighing my options.
"You're not choosing colleges Javier," Lanie said as she rolled her eyes at him. She paused for just a moment and then turned back around to her table before she spoke, "Ryan called me about what happened."
"That boy needs to really learn how to keep his mouth shut. If he would have just done that we wouldn't be in this mess," Esposito grumbled.
Lanie shot back around, took a few steps forward, and pointed her finger at him, "You both would more than likely be dead right now!"
Esposito took a step back due to the intensity of her anger before getting huffy at her reaction, "Oh so I see you're taking his side?"
"There are no sides in this to take. You guys were wrong, period. Ryan was the only one with a level head in that room. I'm kind of surprised though that Castle didn't say anything. Usually when it comes to Kate he speaks up a little bit more."
Esposito's face developed a look that Lanie knew all too well, "Well, ummm….."
"Javier what aren't you telling me?"
"Beckett threw Castle out the day before this all happened. I haven't seen him since then."
Lanie threw him a look that made him want to crawl under a rock. "Idiots, I'm surrounded by a bunch of idiots. First, she throws out Castle, and then you guys disown Ryan because he did his job and basically saved your life." Looking downward Lanie pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers and took a deep breath, "Have you heard from Kate?"
"No, I'm not too concerned though. More than likely she wants to be alone right now. I'll try getting a hold of her in a few days once things have calmed down."
"Well she's not answering her phone so good luck trying to get a hold of her that way," Lanie said turning back to her work.
Esposito took the sight of her back as his cue to leave. As he turned to leave the room he looked back one last time, "I'm sure she's fine Lanie. She always bounces back eventually. I'll see you later."
Lanie just shook her head and said to herself, "Yeah, but anymore she usually she has Castle by her side."
-K/R-
"I'm home!"
Rick walked in and threw his keys down. He glanced towards the living room and saw Alexis sitting on the couch staring straight at him.
"So Dad, you wanna tell me what I walked in on this morning?"
"Well, ummmm…"
"Because it looked like Detective Beckett and you have decided that enough is enough and have finally given into what everyone has known for years."
Rick was trying to make sense of what his daughter had just said, "Wait, what do you mean what everyone has known for years."
"Oh please Dad, Lanie has been telling me all about the theories that they have. Not to mention she has completely ruined pancakes for me." Alexis closed her eyes and paused for a moment before finally moving on, "I really wish she had kept that story to herself."
"Oh come on, pancakes? Really? They were just pancakes. I can't believe that is still an issue after all of this time." He looked at Alexis to see her shaking her head at him. "So…speaking purely hypothetically of course," he said making quotation marks with his hands.
"Oh of course," Alexis said rolling her eyes a little bit at her father.
"So hypothetically if I were to be possibly seeing Kate, um…..Beckett, how would you feel about that?"
Alexis paused for a moment before speaking, "Well, I'm going to be going to college soon and I won't always be able to be here for you. I think in some ways I always knew that she would eventually step into the role of keeping an eye on you. I just want you to be happy Dad. Are you happy?"
"At the moment, very."
"Well then who am I to stand in the way?" Alexis smiled at him for a brief moment that was quickly replaced with a serious look. "When she was shot," she watched her father cringe at the memory of Detective Beckett being shot at Captain Montgomery's funeral last year. "When that happened as horrible as it was I was mad at her for what happened. No, mad doesn't even begin to cover it, furious. It could have been you. The fact that she was someone you would take a bullet for without even a second thought really got to me. Four years Dad you've been spending more and more time at the precinct, with her, and I guess I just became a little jealous."
Rick started to speak, but Alexis stopped him and continued.
"I was still upset with her when you and Gram were caught up in the whole bank robbery thing. I might have been a little harsh while I was talking to her, but after everything was said and done I realized that maybe this wasn't just one sided on your part. I think I always thought that she had no problem with you being in the middle of things and being in life or death situations. I think in that instance I realized, that I didn't give her enough credit. She would risk her life to save you. I think that she has always been willing to give her life for yours, it just hasn't been as obvious until this last year."
Alexis finally stopped talking and saw that her father had a huge grin on his face.
"So I take it this means you're okay with Beckett and I being together. Hypothetically of course," he said using his hands again.
"Dad! Enough with the hypothetical, I'm fine with it. Can you please stop making quotations with your hands? Also, can you try to make sure that you keep your activities away from areas of the house where I eat my food," she said as she shuddered just a little bit. "Besides, it will be nice to have another woman around the loft besides Gram."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it can now be three to one when it comes to dinner and movies. Plus, maybe I will finally have someone to back me up in laser tag."
Rick lunged forward and gripped his daughter in a great big hug. "I'm so glad you're okay with this. Once I go shower and change I'm gonna go over and see her, you'll be okay if I don't come home tonight right?"
"I'm eighteen. I think I can figure out how to survive on my own."
"Great, and also if you ever come home and happen to see….oh I don't know, a couple of officers standing guard at the front door, that just means that Kate is here, no big deal," he said as he started to walk off towards his room.
"Wait, what?" Alexis yelled after him. "Dad what is going on now?"
He turned back around, "Beckett kind of has someone trying to kill her again."
"What? Dad! Maybe you should have started the conversation with that piece of information?"
"Would it have changed your mind?"
"Well….no, but if you two are going to become an 'item'," she said while using the quotations her father was so fond of today, "then if something happens to Detective Beckett I care."
"Aww…..sweetie that's so sweet." Rick paused for a moment before throwing one more piece of information her way. "And she's no longer Detective, she resigned yesterday," he said as he hightailed it to his room.
"Dad!"
"We'll have her over for dinner and she can explain everything to you honey," he said entering his room and turning around. "I'm really glad we had this talk," smiling he closed his door leaving her in the living room with a shocked look on her face.
Alexis sat back down on the couch thinking out loud, "Well, things are going to get very interesting around here."
-K/R-
As Kate entered her apartment she threw her keys on the table and her duffel in the entry way. She looked around trying to figure out what to do next. The detail was already positioned outside her door and there was also a unit watching the building. At the moment there was really nothing else that could be done. Glancing around she realized that even with all of the precautions she still didn't feel safe. She wanted Rick to be by her side. He had a calming effect on her that she didn't realize she needed until just this moment.
She wasn't for sure how the conversation with Alexis was going to go so she wasn't for sure if she would hear from Rick again today. Deciding that a nice long bubble bath and a good book might help calm her after everything that had happened in the last few days she walked over to her book shelf and grabbed one of Rick's books. She wasn't even for sure which one she grabbed, but it didn't matter she knew them all by heart. Walking to her bedroom she figured that once she was done with the bath she'd give him a call. That would have hopefully given him some time to talk to his daughter. She really wanted to hear his voice, but didn't want to intrude.
Ten minutes later as she sank down in the warmth of the bath water she opened her book and lost herself in one of the books written by the man she loved.
-K/R-
He looked up at the window that led to Kate Beckett's living room. The men she had guarding her were only a minor obstacle easily overcome given a little time. The phone rang, "Hello?"
"Is it done?" the voice on the other end asked.
"Soon, they're not going to make it easy on us. She has a detail now where ever she goes. We'll have to be cautious of how we handle this now as to not draw too much attention to the situation. Ideally I would like to try and make it look random just like her mother, but I'm not sure if that is possible anymore."
"Just take care of it! I want it taken care of and I don't want there to be anything linking it back to me."
"I understand," and the call cut off as Maddox put away his phone.
Soon Kate Beckett you'll only be a memory.
A/N: So there we go. Once again, apologies for this taking so long. I think I've found my groove again so hopefully I can get mostly caught up and resume the weekly updates. In the next chapter, we will be getting some long overdue loving between our favorite couple. That's all I have for now. As always let me know what you think.
Jen