Again, I have tweaked the timeline to fit the story. I know this isn't the first time Castle has been with Beckett when she talks to family members.

Kate sat in the small conference room waiting for Victoria's parents. It was the first time she was allowing Castle to sit in when she spoke with a family regarding the death of a loved one. He had practically begged her to let him sit in, even promising not to say a single word. she finally gave in. she wouldn't admit it, but part of her wanted him there. She took several deep breaths to steady her nerves. Finding that place between compassionate and distant was tough sometimes. It was her job, not only to inform them of Victoria's death, but also to be on the lookout for anything unusual in the way they reacted. She also needed to ask the important questions, before grief and anger got in the way of factual memory.

She fought the urge to get up and pace. The family would be there soon and pacing made it look like she was impatient to get the whole thing over with.

"Are you okay?" Castle asked quietly from his seat in a corner chair.

"You promised not to speak."

"That starts when the family gets in here..."

"Castle...I've done a ton of these without you, before you, and I've been just fine."

"Just because you've done something alone before, doesn't mean it always has to be that way."

Kate softened a little, remembering the first time she had sat in on one of these conferences, and the first time she had broke the news herself. It had been terrifying.

"I know you're worried about me...but I'm okay. If it makes you feel any better, I'm glad you're here. If you tell anyone I said that, no one will find your body."

"Said what?"

Kate smiled and was about to respond when Ryan opened the door with Victoria's mother and her boyfriend close behind. The mother didn't waste any time for introductions but came charging into the room.

"I demand to know what is going on here! Where is my daughter?"

"Ms Harding, I'm detective Kate Beckett-"

"I don't give a damn if you are mother Theresa, where the hell is my daughter?"

"Ms Harding, please...sit down."

Kate met the woman's furious brown eyes with a quiet stare, her face expressionless. She held the detective's gaze for a minute before sinking into the chair behind her. Her boyfriend sat next to her, taking her hand in his. Kate sat in the chair across from them.

"Ms Harding, I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but we found your daughter dead in the bathtub at your home this morning. It looks like it was suicide, but we are still looking into it."

As her words sank in Kate watched expressions run across the woman's face in a pattern she knew all too well. First was shock, then denial, then outrage, and finally anguish. Tears started slowing running down her face.

"Are you...serious?"

Kate nodded slowly.

"I'm so sorry for your loss Ms Harding..."

"Mrs. Fielding…I…we got married on the cruise…"

Kate shifted her eyes quickly to Castle, who raised his eyebrows but said nothing. The woman started speaking again, quietly, while holding her new husbands hand.

"Tori didn't even know. We…wanted to keep it quiet until we got home. It's why we had just moved. The building we moved to more of a halfway point to both of our jobs and with the baby on the way…"

"You're pregnant?" Beckett asked quietly. Victoria's mother nodded slowly.

"She didn't know about that either. I figured I would sit her down and tell her everything after the cruise, I always figured there would be plenty of time…"

"Of course, you couldn't have know. I know this is a horrible time, but I have to ask you a few questions."

"Of course…"

"Can you think of a reason that Victoria would have wanted to kill herself?"

"No! Absolutely not. There…it has to be something else. She never would have done that. Ever."

"And we are looking into that possibility now, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask. I'm going to need a list of the people who were checking in on Victoria. I'll need to talk to all of them."

"Of course, anything I can do to help…" She broke off quietly sobbing and Kate looked away while she regained her composure. After taking a few deep breaths she spoke again.

"Anything I can do to help. I promise you detective, my daughter did not kill herself. Someone…hurt her."

"If that ends up being the case Ms. - Mrs. Fielding, I promise you I will do everything in my power to catch whoever it was."

"Amber. Please, call me Amber. This is my husband, Tony."

Kate nodded towards the husband, who had been unusually quiet. His only support to his new wife was to hold her hand and occasionally stroke her hair or shoulder.

"Tony…what was your relationship with Victoria like?"

"We…um…weren't very close. She was quiet and didn't really talk to me very much. We never fought, but she made it pretty clear that she didn't want to bond with me as a father figure. I tried to just give her space, ya know?"

"So you weren't very close to her, but you married her mother. Didn't you worry that maybe that might cause problems?"

"At first, yes. But Amber told me she had discussed the possibility of us getting married with Tori and she didn't care."

Kate shifted her gaze to Amber, who was nodding as Tony spoke.

"I did. I mentioned it to her about a month before the cruise. I told her that if Tony ever proposed I would want to say yes. I asked her what she thought."

"And what did she say?"

"She said she didn't care. If he made me happy that was all that mattered…" Amber again broke into sobs and Kate decided she had dealt with enough questioning for now. There would always be tomorrow.

"Thank you for your time Amber, and again, I am so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you Detective. I will get you a list before we leave. Oh my god, has anyone told her father?"

"No, we haven't. We originally thought he was on the cruise with you…"

"I'll have to call him, he will be devastated…"

Kate signaled to Ryan through the window and he came in the room and escorted the couple out. Their next stop would be the morgue to identify the body. Kate rarely went along for that part. As soon as the door closed to the conference room Kate sank into the chair next to Castle and sighed heavily. True to his promise Castle hadn't said a word. He waited until Beckett spoke first.

"Well, that part is done. The mom seemed pretty sure she wouldn't have killed herself. We'll have to wait for Lanie to confirm that."

"Was it just me, or did the new husband not seem very upset?"

"I thought the same thing. But…he wasn't very close to her. He probably wasn't really sure how to respond. But yes, I'll keep that in mind."

"Now what?"

"We wait until we hear from Lanie. If its not suicide, then we start looking for suspects. If it is, then case closed."