Hello faithful readers! Thanks to everyone who has added this story to their story alerts pages. I'm making a final last ditch effort here on a request for reviews - if you've added this fic to your story alerts, please please please PLEASE add a review, as the chapter after this is going to be the last one of this story! Cheers!


The talk with Lanie, about things she didn't even know were bothering her until they came gushing out, had made Alexis feel a little better. She knew she could trust Lanie to keep what they'd talked about to herself. The last thing Alexis needed was Beckett or her father's patient looks of pity. So what if it was a little self-centered to think how a baby would affect her family dynamic? She was an only child from a single parent family, she was very particular about sharing her father. Wasn't she entitled to a little self-indulgence as a teenager?

She tried to put it out of her mind while she ate party leftovers for lunch - nothing said Happy New Year like cold chicken taquitos and re-heated brie en croute, instead choosing to think about Patrick and how she still hadn't heard from him. He was usually so good about things like that, it felt a little weird to go so long without hearing from him. Yet another mystery today, albeit one she knew would be self resolving.

She was in the middle of her snack and a chapter from Dead Until Dark when she heard the incongruous heel-heavy steps of her father coming down the stairs. His hand landed on the back of her chair as he read over her shoulder.

'Don't you ever give your brain a rest?'

Alexis barely glanced up as . 'There's a different between reading Poe and Chaucer for English class and Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie equals vacation.'

'Fair enough. I'm sorry, too, for jumping to conclusions this morning-'

'Oh, Dad, let's not revisit that hell, okay?'

'Alright.' Castle wandered over to the fridge, pulled the leftover plate of cold cuts and cheese out and began to build a sandwich. 'Think you can give me a hand getting things tidied up before dinner tonight? It doesn't need to be perfect, just presentable.'

'No problem.' Alexis perked up a little at the task, as it would either let her find more clues or take her mind off of the investigation.

The phone rang long distance then, making Castle roll his eyes. 'That should be your grandmother. Think she's still high on life down in Miami with Chet?'

'She's having fun, Dad.'

'She's an overgrown teenager on spring break,' Castle corrected his daughter, picking up the connection. 'Castle's castle. Ah, Mother, hello.'

Alexis smiled, knowing her grandmother would keep him occupied for more than a few minutes. She missed her Grams being around for the party but then, if she had the chance to go away with her boyfriend, she'd have taken it too. It was nice to see she'd finally gotten over the phobia of living with a man again, though after having her life savings stolen like penny candy Alexis couldn't blame Martha for her hesitation about getting seriously involved with someone.

Thinking of her grandmother made another thought spark in Alexis' head. What if Beckett and her father were going to split up? No, stop it, she told herself, do not go down that road again; the universe has a way of sorting itself out so let it task.

'Well, looks like I won't need to fly to Miami with bail money,' Castle said, hanging up the phone. 'She wanted me to know that she and Chet had a fantastic time at a masquerade at one of Chet's friends places, and one of the other guests also happened to be Constance Dakkars.'

'Who?'

'Meredeth's grandmother. The good one, not my evil ex-wife one.'

'And the world gets a little smaller.'

Castle grinned as the phone rang again long distance. 'She always has to have the last word, doesn't she,' he said easily, picking up the connection. 'What'd you forget this time, Mother?'

'Mr. Castle?'

Castle's casual attitude flipped off at the sound of the young male voice on the line. 'Oh, sorry Patrick, didn't expect to hear from you.'

'Patrick?' At the mention of her boyfriend's name Alexis' head snapped up like Ralph the Wolf going after a fluffy cotton-ball sheep. She stuck out her hand for the phone, making a 'gimme' gesture with her hand. 'Let me talk to him.'

Castle merely shook his head as he walked away from the kitchen island. 'Happy New Year to you.'

'You too, sir.'

'Didn't stir up too much trouble in Mexico? No gambling, no prostitutes, no drinking binges in Tijuana?'

'Dad!' Mortified, Alexis leaped off her chair and actually began to chase her father around the island; because he was twelve Castle ran away. 'Give me the phone!'

'No sir, no gambling, no hookers and my cousin and I only had some tequila at dinner and champagne at midnight.'

'I'll allow it. Would you like to talk to Alexis?'

'Yes, sir.'

Castle stopped running so abruptly that Alexis bumped into him, and after a quick little keep-away with the phone, he handed the cordless receiver over. He couldn't stop the grin at Alexis' horrified expression. 'What? I have to keep him in line some how.'

'You're so dead,' she growled at him, then in true teenage - or perhaps female - fashion, she turned on the charm as she took the call into her father's office for some privacy. 'Hey Patrick, sorry about my dad.'

'Nah, it's cool, he's not as scary as he thinks he is.'

'Don't tell him that or you'll be getting a pat-down from our doorman every time you come over.' Alexis twisted a lock of hair around her finger. 'I thought you were going to email me.'

'I did, but I thought I'd call first. I miss you.'

'I miss you too. How's things with your family?'

'Insane. All my Mexican relatives have two settings - loud and crazy. First night we were here, my cousin Sofia decided it would be a good idea for us to go out for some fun, and she ended up getting us thrown out of the bar because she was too drunk.'

Alexis laughed; the big family was part of Patrick's charming appeal. Since it was just her father, her grandmother and her, she never turned down opportunities to hear about the hundred or so cousins he seemed to have. 'Aside from public intoxication, how is the family?'

'Just as crazy. My cousin Candelas is pregnant again and for some reason wants nothing but salmon sashimi and pico de gallo soup.'

'And that's bad because...'

'Preggos aren't supposed to eat raw fish.'

The comment sparked something in Alexis' brain; she raced to her computer, pulled up a photo. She looked at the photo, looked at the lonely little champagne flute on the desk, back to the photo as she connected the dots.

'Patrick you are a genius. I have to go, I'll talk to you soon, okay?'

Before he could so much as say goodbye Alexis ended the call, grabbed her laptop and her two sheets of chart paper, and raced upstairs unnoticed by her father, who had already started putting the leftover glasses from the night before into the dish bin from the caterers' supply cart. She burst into her room, saw Lanie stretched out on the bed watching Double Indemnity on Alexis' DVD player. The pretty doctor arched and eyebrow as Alexis shut the door and stretched the papers over the foot of the bed. She paused the film, reached for her water as she studied Alexis' excited face once again.

'I take it you got a break?'

'I know who's test it was.'


R&R&Enjoy!