The round table discussion continues. Most references are to season 5 and 6, with a little 1-4 as needed. It also has references to season 6 episode 1-3 and my take on what the rest of the season will bring. The Castle characters are not mine and their use, or the use of any other characters, living or dead, real or imaginary and the words and opinions they may speak are my creations just for the story and should not be attributed to them.

Alexis Harper Castle-White (AHCW): Whatever hurdles came their way, and there were still plenty of those, they knew that they would figure them out together.

James Rodgers Castle-White, (JRCW): I get that Grandma Kate was going to take the job in DC, but why did you call it 'The DC phase?'

AHCW: Well at the time, no one knew it was just a 'phase.' Grandma Kate always excelled at what she put her mind too. The DC job was something she wanted so bad that she was willing to let Grandpa Rick go. When they got engaged, each showed their comment to each other full well expecting that Grandma Kate would be great at her new job. Each knew that this 'Tale of Two Cities' would be very difficult. For what seemed a long time to them, Grandma Kate and Grandpa Rick, rarely saw each other. Near the end of Grandma Kate's training, Grandpa Rick surprised her one weekend and went down to DC. She was working on her first real case. Grandpa Rick, as was his want, insinuated himself into the case. Both Grandma Kate and her bosses severely reprimanded Grandpa Rick for working the case. He agreed to stay out. However, fate brought him squarely into the middle of it.

JRCW: This was the one where Grandpa Rick got 'deathly sick'?

AHCW: Yes, I remember him being dragged out of the NYC loft, that was very scary. Then Grandma Kate called us down to the hospital a day later. Grams and I were very scared. Pi was trying to be helpful and did a healing thing. I do not know if it helped, but given Grandpa Rick's condition, it couldn't hurt.

Jackson Beckett Castle (JBC): I remember Pi. You and he were friends for a long time, even after you married, Derrick.

Joanne Beckett Castle-Cox (JBCC):Yeah, Dad actually got to like him, especially when you married Derrick. He even forgave Pi, the whole "Spelling stifles creativity thing."

AHCW: Let's save room for Pi later.

JRCW; JBC; JBCC: ugghhh. Like we haven't heard that before, especially from Grandpa Rick [Dad].

AHCW: As I was saying, Dad's near death experience really shook Mom. Throughout their relationship, it was Mom who was always getting into life and death situations, if they were not in it together. This was the first time Mom faced the real possibility of life without Dad and it scared her very much. They both were very unhappy with the two city life because they did not realize how little time they would have together, even thought the cities were relatively close. The few times they had together were great, but could not be a basis for a long-lasting life together. I think Dad felt it more then Mom because without her in NYC, Captain Gates made life hard for him at the precinct. He could pal around with Uncle Javi and Uncle Kevin after work, but it was not the same. At least Mom had her work which kept her very busy, especially since she was the new kid.

JRCW: Grandpa Rick had his work too.

AHCW: True, but he could work anywhere he had a computer. Eventually he realized the powerful implications of this and made a decision to rent a place in DC for him and Grandma Kate. He knew he would have a hard time curbing his curiosity and be worried every day because he would not be able to be with Grandma Kate and protect her like he did in NYC, but he needed her.

Jackson Beckett Castle (JBC): I never knew Mom and Dad had a place in DC?

AHCW: Well they did not have it very long. Mom had nagging doubts about DC and its culture soon after she got there. The job was great, but very different then in NYC. Working for the Attorney General meant solving the case before anybody could get hurt, or if someone were hurt, to minimize injury or death to others. Frequently, there were many people involved, the guilty, the apathetic, and those covering their ass. Only those directly responsible for any criminal act were held liable. Even then, a criminal act could be covered up if those responsible moved to high places in government. The man indirectly responsible for Dad's near death experience was not punished at all.

JBCC: Why was NY different?

AHCW: In NY, the guilty and those indirectly responsible were punished. Mom's position also was more clear. Unfortunately, when she was called, the crime had already been committed. Her job in NY was to prevent the guilty from committing more crimes and to be punished for what they did. It was much more black and white, not the 50 Shades of Grey that DC was. At the end of the case, there was justice for the victim and their friends and family. Mom liked that much more. For her, the 'Big Picture' was the people directly affected by the event, not some amorphous group that may or may not be affected by it.

JRCW: So what eventually happened?

AHCW: In her quest for justice and fairness for all, Grandma Kate leaked some false information to the press.

JRCW: What a source she must have been!

Alexis Harper Castle-White (AHCW): Well, in that line of work, any non authorized disclosure could get you fired, or worse arrested. Grandma Kate's information leak was found out by her bosses and she was fired.

JBC/JBCC: She must have been mad and humiliated.

AHCW: At first she was. We were all so proud of her for doing what she did, and told her so. We all missed her too. Even her DC co-workers knew what she did was morally right. Eventually she got over it.

JRCW: So?

AHCW: She came back to NYC. Everybody was excited to have her back. However, the NYPD had moved on without her. They had transferred someone else to her position. Her replacement, while not as good as Grandma Kate, he was acceptable. It took a long time for her to get back on the force permanently.

JRCW: What did she do in the meantime?

AHCW: She filled in as a consultant, like Grandpa Rick. Helped with some of the wedding plans and studied for promotions in the NYPD which she eventually got.

Jackson Beckett Castle (JBC): I remember Mom going down to DC a few times before she became Captain at the 12th.

AHCW: That is true. Although she was fired from the Attorney General's Task Force, she had impressed a lot of people there including, her old partner, Rachel McCord, Hendricks and their boss Special Agent Carl Villante. Her hard work in DC earned Mom their respect. Even before that Mom had impressed FBI Special Agent Jordan Shaw on a serial murder investigation. They all called on Mom to help them on occasion with difficult cases. They needed outside the box thinkers. One case was so complicated that both Mom and Dad went down together.

Joanne Beckett Castle-Cox, (JBCC): I remember that. You had to babysit us for a few days.

AHCW: Yes.

JRCW: That one case with Special Agent Shaw, I read about that when I was doing some research on a paper. That involved a serial murderer name Scott Dunn. He was going after Mom, but thought she was Nikki Heat.

AHCW: That is the one. I was talking to Laura, your sister, recently. She said that case was required reading at the FBI academy. That and the 3XK cases.

JRCW: All involved Grandma Kate and Grandpa Rick.

AHCW: Well, as fate would have it, both were instrumental in the final matters with both. 3XK became obsessed with Grandpa Rick. Grandpa was the one to figure out he was the killer originally. Then 3XK framed Grandpa Rick and it took all Grandma Kate and Grandpa Rick had to clear his name. At the end, Grandpa shot 3XK to free Grandma from him. All, except Grandpa Rick, thought 3XK was dead when he fell into the East River. His body was never recovered though. As for Scott Dunn, he was obsessed with Grandma Kate. Nikki Heat, Grandma's alter ego, defeated him and sent him to prison.

JRCW: How were Grandma Kate and Grandpa Rick instrumental in their final matters?

AHCW: Still, nobody knows for sure, but 3XK and Scott Dunn found out about each other. 3XK helped Dunn escape by making it look like Dunn died in prison. When the body was shipped out, 3XK met up with him and showed him the news that Grandma and Grandpa were engaged and the wedding date. Since each had a big grudge against them, they teamed up to stop the wedding and end the engagement permanently.

JBC: Tell us some more. We never got the full story.

AHCW: It was very gruesome and upsetting. There were kidnapings and murders a few weeks before Mom and Dad's wedding. Mom was already a Lieutenant in the NYPD, but when some of Mom and Dad's friends were hurt badly she left the precinct with Dad, Uncle Kevin and Uncle Javi to get them. Both Mom and Dad decided the wedding had to wait until this evil was destroyed once and for all. It took all the skill Mom and Dad had along with help from Mom's FBI friends to get them.

JBCC: What happened, what was it about?

AHCW: Suffice it to say that Dunn and 3XK got justice and their bodies were buried in unmarked graves. Even after they were dead and buried it took Mom and Dad a few months before they could go through with the wedding.

James Rodgers Castle-White, (JRCW): Look what I found [opening up a book]. A wedding album. I do not think I have ever seen this.

JBCC/JBC: Oh yeah, we haven't seen this in years.

JBCC: There you are Alexis.

AHCW: Give me that. Wow, what memories that brings back.

JRCW: Do tell.

AHCW: Well, it's getting late and I have to get back to the city, but the short version goes like this, Mom and Dad wanted to have a meaningful wedding. Dad thought it should be big because he was marrying the best woman in the world. His publisher's agreed. Mom wanted it romantic and intimate. She loved Dad but this was a special day for her too. She knew she had to share him with the public but there was plenty of time later. This was her one and done and this day was for family and close friends only.

JRCW: And?

AHCW: There was much discussion about it, lip biting, eye rolling, sleepless nights. People even took sides.

JRCW: Which side did you take?

AHCW: That is for a later time. What ended up happening is that Great-Grandma Martha got the flu bad. She was very sick. Great-Grandpa Jim got sick a few days later. He may have gotten the flu from Grams or somewhere, but with his alcohol damaged liver, his sickness was much more serious. Both Mom and Dad were worried 'sick'. When both great grandparents recovered, Mom and Dad wanted to get married right away. In a somewhat hastily arranged wedding, they were married at Grandma Kate's friend's, Maddie, restaurant. There were about 50 people there. It was small and intimate. Grandma Kate was happy. No press were there and no mention of the marriage in the paper.

JRCW: I'm sure Grandpa Rick was not going to let his grand plans drop that easily.

AHCW: He found a way to make it happen in a way Grandma Kate would like. The gala for Great Grandma Johanna and Captain Roy Montgomery's Scholarship was scheduled for two months after the wedding. As usual, there were some press there taking pictures and about 300 people. At the gala, Grandpa Rick asked how much people would pay to see him and Grandma Kate be married. People laughed and called out all sorts of numbers. Then Grandpa Rick told the gala guests to put whatever they wanted to in the envelopes on the tables. After that, a video of the wedding ceremony was played. Everyone stood up and clapped. Grandma Kate was stunned. Grandpa Rick then had Great Grandpa Jim and Grandma Kate have a father/daughter wedding dance, while he danced with Great Grandma Martha and me, and then his wife. It was a grand time. The papers were full of pictures and stories. It was the largest raise of money for those scholarships in their history. Jackson, you were born about 11 months after the gala and the rest you know about.

JBC/JBCC/JRCW: Wow

After all that, we all took our leave. Back to the city and our families. We all knew we would be back with our families both alone and together with brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins and their families. Grandpa Rick and Grandma Kate made sure that there was money enough to care for the house and grounds for many, many years to come. The Hamptons became our Hyannis Port. Officially it was called "The Rodgers Beckett-Castle Estate" but to us it was the "Hamptons." As we locked the door to the Hamptons House we all heard Grandma Kate and Grandpa Rick say "Nite."

I could end this here. I know that there are stories for Alexis as she mentioned things with little or no explanation. I would love to hear all your comments, good bad or indifferent, specifically about whether I should start a whole new story about Alexis or continue this.

I will decide soon.

All comments and reviews, good, bad or indifferent are always welcome. They help me to be a better writer.