A/N: I happen to have a new chapter for you to read this fine evening. :) Hope you enjoy! And happy Castle day! :)

"He's not in the system," Esposito informed her over the phone.

She sighed, not sure if she was more relieved or frustrated by this news. It was good that Alexis's biological father (or at least the man who Meredith claimed was her biological father) didn't have a criminal record, but now they were back at square one. "Are you sure? Can't you look at DMV records or something?"

"Not for California. You know that as well as I do. But it's good he doesn't have a record, right?"

"Yeah," she admitted. "That's good."

"How's Castle?"

She tossed a glance at her partner, who was sitting on the edge of his hotel bed doing something with his phone and looked quite concentrated. "He's… been better. But he's okay as long as we're busy. It's the sitting and planning our next move that's hard."

She heard Ryan's voice in the background but couldn't tell what he was saying. Esposito directed an impatient "I know" at him. "Ryan says for you to tell him we're thinking about him," he finally said.

Kate smiled. "I will."

"Okay," he said, sounding just a little uncomfortable. "Good."

"Alright, go back to work now. Don't want Gates to know you're talking to me."

"What are you implying?" Esposito asked, making it sound a little like a challenge. "Covert ops are my forte. Gates has no idea."

She laughed. "I'm not implying anything, Espo, I'm just trying to get you off the phone so you guys can go back to your case and we can figure out what the hell we're gonna do now."

"Fine," he said, a little reluctantly. "Later."

"Bye." She rolled her eyes and hung up the phone. Annoying as her colleagues could be, though, she knew their hearts were in the right place and she was grateful for their help. "Our guy doesn't have a record," she told Castle.

He was jarred from whatever he'd been doing and actually jumped a little as he returned to reality. "Oh," he said, frowning. "So what do we do now?"

She shrugged. "I honestly don't know. What if we just find Alexis and talk to her?"

He shook his head. "No, we can't do that. That's not what cool dads do."

She rolled her eyes, tired of that excuse, but not in the mood to argue it now. "Well, I'm not a cool dad," she pointed out instead. "I'm certainly not a dad, and I already told you I don't care if I'm 'cool' or not. What if I just went? You could stay here if you're so against it."

He frowned, like he somehow wasn't processing what she was saying. "What?"

"I'll go to Meredith's and talk to Alexis. You don't necessarily have to come with me. I won't even tell her you're here if you don't want me to. You were right, she gave that note to me. She told me where she was going. Maybe I just followed her here. She doesn't have to know you're part of it. I mean, it was my idea in the first place."

"She'll never believe that. She'll know I'm here."

"Well, she's gonna know eventually if she comes home with us."

His face changed. "You'd really do that?"

She frowned. "What, go talk to Alexis? Yeah, what's the big deal?"

"It's just… above and beyond."

"Above and beyond what exactly?"

"What I expect."

"And what do you expect?"

He sighed. "You're making this difficult."

"No, you're making it difficult. Look, I told you. I'm willing to do anything that you think will help. Do you want me to go or not?"

He thought for a long moment before sighing again. "Yes. Please. But be up front with her, tell her I'm here? And just talk to her… Don't make her do anything she doesn't want to do."

She shook her head. "I can't make her do anything. She's eighteen, and she's not my daughter. I just want to talk to her."

He nodded, although she couldn't help but notice that he still looked a little distressed. "Good. She'll listen to you."

She sighed and sat down beside him, although leaving almost enough space between them for another person to sit. "You wanna talk about it?"

He shrugged. "You know what's wrong. There's not much else to say."

"Ryan and Esposito wanted me to tell you they're thinking about you. Actually, I'm pretty sure it came from Ryan, but Espo is too."

He let a tiny smile cross his face. "I know. Ryan's been texting me."

She laughed. She couldn't help it. "Has he really?"

"Yeah." He raised his eyebrows at her. "What? We text sometimes."

Now it was her turn to raise her eyebrows at him. "Really?"

He almost laughed. "Why is that surprising?"

"I don't know, I just never thought about it. Do you, like, talk about what you're gonna wear in the mornings?" she teased.

He rolled his eyes. "Every single day."

"No really, I'm curious. What do two grown men text each other about?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, whatever. He asks me for advice about Jenny sometimes."

"He wants marriage advice from a guy who's been divorced twice?"

"I know, he should probably be asking someone else."

"Yeah, well," she joked, "you're probably the only person he knows who's been married, so his options are pretty limited—" She noticed her partner's mournful expression and cut herself off. "Castle. I'm joking."

He shrugged. "You're right, though."

She frowned. "No. I'm not. So you've made a few mistakes. Who hasn't? None of this stuff that's going on right now is your fault. And I know that you're gonna make a good husband someday."

It took a few seconds for her to realize what she'd just said. It had been automatic, a reflex, in effort, she told herself, to make her friend feel better. That was all. But still, she felt her face start to heat up. "I mean, for someone," she added quickly. "You know, when you find the right—If that's what you want."

He smiled, and for the first time in this particular conversation it didn't look entirely forced. Apparently the only way to break him out of his funk was to say something stupid enough that he had to laugh at her. "Should you be going?" he asked mercifully.

She nodded. "You gonna be okay while I'm gone?"

"I'm a big boy, Beckett. I can take care of myself for a couple of hours. Or however long it takes."

She nodded and got up, heading for the door. "I won't be too long."

He cleared his throat with a slight chuckle. "Uh, Beckett?"

She turned back toward him and frowned. "What?"

"Need the car keys?"

"Oh. Yeah. Right." She held up her hand and he tossed them to her. She started to go again, but again he stopped her.

"Do you have any idea where you're going?"

"Oh." She'd been in such a hurry to leave after her embarrassing little mis-speech that she'd forgotten the small detail that she didn't have any idea where Meredith lived. "No. I guess not."

He smiled, and again she had the feeling that he was internally laughing at her. "I'll text you the address. There's a navigational system in the car."

She nodded. "Okay. Good. Can I go now, or is there something else you're gonna tell me I'm forgetting about?"

"Just one more thing."

She sighed and waited for it, whatever it was.

"Thank you."

She smiled, and nodded. "It's no problem."

"Okay, go."

She started for the door one last time, gratefully.

"Good luck," she heard him mutter before she closed it behind her.

She parked the rental car outside of Meredith's building and just sat there for a minute, looking up at it. She wondered if Meredith would be there. If Alexis would even be there.

But finally she got out of the car and took the elevator to the third floor, where Meredith's apartment was, according to Castle's text. She rang the bell, and it was shortly answered by a smiling woman with red hair.

"Oh, Detective Beckett!" she was greeted. Meredith actually looked surprised, which Kate hadn't previously been sure was even a possibility. "What are you doing here?"

"Is Alexis here?" she asked, not wishing to have any sort of conversation with this woman if she could help it.

"She's in the back. What brings you to LA?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Move, please."

Confused, Meredith stepped a little to one side, giving Beckett the space to walk right past her and into the apartment.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

But Beckett wasn't listening. She poked her head into each door she passed until she found Alexis sitting in front of a computer. The girl must have heard her coming—she wasn't exactly being subtle—because she turned around.

"Kate!" she said, the expression on her face going beyond surprise to astonishment. But to the detective's surprise, the girl didn't look unhappy to see her. "What are you doing here?" Something else seemed to dawn on her, and her eyes widened even further with something like terror. "Is my dad here?"

"He's here, but he stayed at the hotel. It's just me right now."

"Excuse me, what's going on?" Meredith followed Kate into the room, confused.

"Mom, get out," Alexis said firmly. "I know it's your house, but I want to talk to Kate."

Meredith threw her hands into the air in surrender and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"You couldn't keep him from following me?" Alexis guessed.

For some reason what Rick had been saying about wanting Alexis to like her, wanting her to trust her, popped into her head. The girl was more than willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. It would be so easy just to say yes, to claim that she'd tried to stop Rick from following his daughter but, seeing that it wasn't going to work, she'd decided to go with him. She knew that Castle would back her up, that he might even be happy with her for telling that lie. But really, she had no intention of doing it.

"I didn't try to stop him from following you," she said simply. "Why did you leave?"

"I just wanted answers," she sighed, tears suddenly brimming in her eyes. "And I haven't found them yet. You're not going to make me go home, are you?"

"I can't make you do anything," Kate said soberly. "But I do wish you'd see your dad. He's not doing too well right now. It's killing him that you ran away like that."

She frowned. "I didn't exactly run away."

"You told him you were going to the movies and you got on a plane. That's running away."

She sighed. There were tears running down her face now, but they didn't interfere with her voice, and she ignored them. "I can't. I can't see him right now. It'll get everything all confused. I have to do this first."

"Do what?" Kate asked. But she was pretty confident that she knew.

"I have to meet him," she said, confirming what Kate had suspected all along. "Just to see what he's like. I have to. I have to know."

"So let us help you," Kate offered. "You don't have to do it alone. We'll find him, and we'll all go together. You, me, and your dad."

She shook her head. "No. Thanks, but no. It's something I need to do on my own."

"Are you sure?" She took another step into the room toward the desk chair where Alexis still sat. "What if he's not what you're expecting?"

"You don't think I've thought of that? I'm terrified. Whoever this guy is, I have half his genes. But I… I just have to know."

"Why don't you just ask your mom about him? Wouldn't that be easier?"

"It's not enough. I have to meet him myself. And besides, I'm not talking to her."

Kate smiled. "Honey, if you're gonna play the adult card, you can't also give your mother the silent treatment. Especially if you're staying with her."

Alexis sighed. "Can you please just tell my dad that I'm sorry for leaving?" The tears on her face had found their way into her voice now, and she was choking back sobs trying to get out the words that she had. "I didn't mean to hurt him. You guys should go back to New York. I'll be home in a couple of days."

Kate shook her head. "We're not going back without you. Look, you're gonna go meet some guy you don't really know anything about and tell him you're his long lost daughter that he never even knew about. If it doesn't go exactly as you're hoping, I want to be around to help, not on the other side of the country."

Before she knew what was happening, Alexis had gotten up from her chair and had her arms wrapped around the detective, hugging her, her tears soaking into the older woman's shirt. Almost instinctively, Kate wrapped her arms around the girl as well, patting her back gently.

Suddenly Alexis pulled away and looked at the floor, embarrassed. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Kate bit her lip, feeling a little awkward. "It's okay."

"Um, so, I found out where he works," Alexis said, changing the subject. "I'm gonna go there tomorrow. So that's… it."

Kate nodded. "Where?"

"If I tell you that, will you and my dad show up there?"

She sighed. "I can't… promise that we won't."

"Then I can't tell you."

"Fair enough. But here." She found a pen and a piece of paper on the desk with the computer Alexis had been using, and jotted down the name of her hotel. "This is where we're staying. Just in case you need it. And if you need anything at all, call me. Okay?"

Alexis nodded. "I will."

"And text me every once and awhile? Or your dad, it doesn't matter. Just to let us know you're okay? I think it would help."

She hesitated for a second, but finally nodded again. "Okay."

"I guess that's all I need. I'll let you get back to what you were doing."

"Wait," Alexis said before she could turn to go.

She raised an eyebrow at the girl questioningly.

"I just, um… I'm actually glad you're here," Alexis said timidly. "You have no idea how good it is to see a familiar face. Besides my mom's."

Kate resisted the urge to soften. "I couldn't not come," she said, a little stiffly. "You shouldn't have taken off like this. I'm not gonna tell you it's okay, because it's not. You said you didn't want to hurt your dad. What do you think hurt him more? Showing him those test results or taking off on him, in search of some guy you don't owe anything to? You shouldn't have done that, Alexis. But since you did, we had to come and make sure you're safe. There was no option."

Somewhere during her speech, the girl had begun a fresh wave of sobs. But as much as Kate's every instinct told her to comfort her, she didn't. She'd meant everything she'd just said.

She left the room, squeezing her eyes shut as she closed the door on a crying Alexis. It didn't feel good. It didn't feel good at all. But she wouldn't go back into the room. She didn't have anything else to say.

A/N: Reviews are nice. Please and thank you. :) No excessively long A/Ns today. Just the chapter. :)