On the morning of New Year's Eve, Shane was working days and had no idea what party he'd end up going to that night; he'd received two invitations and it wasn't a matter of choosing one that was more fun, it was more like the lesser of two evils. On the one hand, there was going to Diane and Jeremy's where he was most certain to run into Cassie and taking Alexis would mean answering a lot of questions he really didn't want to answer at all because he wasn't ready to. On the other hand, there was going to Body Mathias' place and they were all a bunch of haute-cuisine nerds who were more interested in talking food trends than something outside their profession.

Thankfully, he had a dead body in front of him that needed attending, a miss Eleanor Cavendish who had the left side of her brains bashed in and was lying in a puddle of slushy snow and her own freezing blood in a Chinatown alley. As he filled out his on-scene reports, his teeth went on edge as he heard the distinct sound of Castle and Esposito approaching.

'I'm just saying that people really need to stop ripping off remakes that don't need to be touched.'

'Do you hear me disagreeing, bro?'

'Look at The Time Machine, Planet of the Apes-'

'Shane, tell us about the vic so he'll shut up,' Esposito interrupted good-naturedly as the duo approached the ME. His trained detective's eye caught a little flash of something akin to fear in the man's eyes as he stood up and gave them the rundown.

'Eleanor Cavendish, thirty-seven, got boshed with something upside the head. Given her temp and the ambient air, I'd say she departed this plane of existence between two and three-thirty last night.'

'Was there a purse or coat nearby?'

'No coat, and one of the uniforms first on scene found her purse in the dumpster at the other end of the alley.'

'Hey, Shane, name the most needless remake of all time,' Castle said as Esposito started towards the uniform with the purse.

'Easy. The Manchurian Candidate. You can't replace Frank Sinatra with Denzel Washington.'

'Excellent, you'll be a valuable asset in the Scene It tournament at my party tonight. Speaking of which, I need to run and pick up a few things,' he muttered, looking at his watch.

'Party?' Shane tried to sound casual but inside he was doing cartwheels of joy killing two birds with one stone - seeing Alexis and making plans for New Years. Then he realized that would almost be worse as they would be at a party with his co-workers and friends who didn't know he was in a new relationship, and mos of all Alexis' parents. The very same man inviting him to the party was his girlfriend's father, Shane realized with a nasty bump. 'I don't know, Castle-'

'Oh, come on, it's great, it's a real family affair now that we all have kids.'

'Alright, why not?'

'Be there for eight, and don't worry about bringing anything except your holiday spirit.'

Castle pointed his finger at Shane as he walked backwards down the alleyway to catch up to Esposito, and Shane knew this was the crossroads moment of his relationship with Alexis, the 'coming out' moment as it were. He waited until the body had been loaded into the back of the ME van to call Alexis because he knew it would ensure almost complete privacy.

'Hey, Lex,' he said when she picked up, 'we need to talk. Not bad, just important.'

'What's going on?'

'Are you alone?'

'Yeah, I'm in my room reading.' Alexis sat up, setting aside her treasured copy of The Little Prince. 'What's got you so worried.'

'Your father invited me to his New Year's Eve party tonight.'

'Oh. Oh, no,' she said, realizing what this would mean if he saw them being lovey-dovey together. 'Which means-'

'Time to face the music,' he finished. 'Do you want to do it with them all at once, though?'

'No.' Realizing they may yet have a little out, Alexis shook her head even though she knew he couldn't see the gesture. 'No, let me talk to my mom first and I'll text you in a little while, okay? What time are you going to be here?'

'Provided I'm not on overtime at work, eight.'

'I'll see you then.'

Alexis hung up and thought about the best way to go about it. She knew that Beckett wouldn't shout and accuse like her father would but it would still be a bit of a bombshell. Beckett had accurately guessed she had a new boyfriend and simply wasn't ready to talk about him yet. Now, it seemed she had no choice without arousing suspicion.

Leaving her cellphone in her room, Alexis went down the hallway to the nursery where she found Beckett with RJ, cooing at him while she freshened his nappie.

'Mom?' she asked in a hesitant voice, knocking on the open door.

'Hey, Lex, you all set for the big party tonight?'

'That's kind of...remember I said I'd come to you when I was ready to talk about the mystery guy?'

'Let me get Mister Wiggly down for his nap and I'll be right down.'

Alexis nodded, went downstairs to make tea; it was steeping in the pot and she'd poured two cups while waiting for Beckett. When she appeared, the young woman could already feel her stomach tying itself in a sheepshank.

'I made tea,' she said in a hesitant voice, nudging the pot at Beckett as she sat down. 'The Brits have it right, it does help.'

'My mother's family was German so we were all about coffee with molasses cake at my omi's.' Beckett stirred in sugar and lemon, sipped and folded her hands on the tabletop. She'd known this moment was coming and would choose her words as carefully as possible. 'So what's on your mind.'

'First, this has to stay between us. I know my dad and he'll get just about every male friend of his to come down on this guy and I really don't want that when everything is so new between us.'

'Understood. Who are we talking about?'

Alexis closed her eyes, praying they wouldn't fill up as her face burned. 'Shane Weaver.'

'Shane Weaver, the ME?' Beckett blurted out, tried for patience. 'He's a little...old for you isn't he?'

'Fifteen years, but it's not like I'm in high school and he's going after jailbait.'

'How did this come about?'

'Ryan gave me his contact information for talking to him about medical school because he went to Princeton himself. We met up and we started talking over coffee, and that led to dinner, which led to a couple of dates and...' Alexis trailed off, stared into her tea. Despite her best efforts, she could feel the blood rushing to her face in a guilty-looking blush. 'I didn't expect it to happen, but we just clicked, you know?'

Beckett thought of Castle, how when he'd come on board with her, they'd clicked too and it felt like they'd been sparring for years instead of weeks the first time they went on a date, even if it was undercover to catch a pair of home-invasion killers. 'I understand.'

'Anyways, we decided to keep it quiet and keep it casual because he works with you guys and Lanie and if my father knew we were involved in any way, he'd skin Shane alive, and I'm going back to England still for another year before I start at Princeton, so we weren't sure if we wanted to try long distance,' Alexis babbled, then took a breath for composure. 'It's new and exciting and I should be able to tell everyone how happy I am instead of being so paranoid someone might find out.'

'Well, he certainly lights you up.' Beckett paused. 'Have you guys...' She left the phrase open-ended, knowing Alexis would understand what she meant and felt only a little surprise when she nodded. 'Really?'

'Yeah, and he's so patient and sweet, and not a jerk pressuring me into things I don't want to do when I'm with him. It just feels so beautiful and natural, and we're safe, both of us,' Alexis tacked, anticipating the question that Beckett would ask, mother or not. 'More than anything, I know he's coming here at Dad's invite for New Years and I really want to kiss him at midnight, I mean, he's my..' She hesitated, as she couldn't use the 'B' word just yet, even with Beckett '...person you know?'

'And you don't want your father getting wise to you when you're still trying to figure it all out,' Beckett concluded. 'Not to mention the two-headed monster.'

'Try like five-heads. Between Ryan, Espo, Dave, Gil and Cam, it makes it virtually impossible.'

'Leave it to me.' Beckett covered her girl's hand in a time-honoured feminine show of support.

'Really?'

'They didn't make me a detective because I look good brandishing a weapon.'

Now the tears came, out of gratitude and appreciation. 'Thank you, Mom, for just listening and not judging me, you know?'

'Alexis, it's been a long time since I've seen you this happy. I don't want that to go away. I'll talk to your father, make sure it's all on the level.' Beckett passed her a napkin. 'Is he a good kisser?' When Alexis' eyes bugged out, Beckett laughed. 'Too soon?'

'Very. We've only been together...' She counted on her fingers 'Nine times since the twentieth. It's kind of hard to have some really nice slow romance of it when I can't stay over.'

Beckett didn't bother asking why; she knew the reason. If Alexis hadn't come home, her father would demand answers about her boyfriend and if she lied, it would just be awful for everyone involved. 'Well, now that I know, I can cover for you-'

'No. Thank you, Mom, it's very sweet but no. I have to tell him myself. Otherwise...I just have to tell him.'

R&R&Enjoy.