The bodyguard gets up pretty late next morning, all the traveling around apparently took its toll on her, so she decides to spend the morning doing nothing at all – but it didn't last long. She ends up cleaning her apartment and even gets some time to train.

When it's just past five that afternoon Beckett is getting ready to take Castle to the writers' party. When she puts her hallmark suit on, she walks over to her dresser.

She opens a jewelry box. Inside are a man's watch and a simple silver necklace with a ring on it. A watch and a ring that are much more than that.

Part of her ritual, she slides on the watch. She takes out the silver necklace and slips it over her neck, tucking it away under her shirt so it is completely unseen. She takes out her bodyguard's license and her piece from another drawer, checks the clip, and straps it on.

This is not a super-slick gearing up moment, but rather the banal routine of someone who does this every day before work.

She steps out of her building already on full bodyguard mode as she walks to her car. She stops on her tracks when she sees Castle leaning against a limousine with a grin on his face, right in front of the edifice.

"Castle, what are you doing here?" she walks towards him. Her job is to get him out of his apartment and back inside safely, not find him on the way.

"I'm picking you up" he says trying to charm her, remembering what he told her the day before on the plane, but it's only pissing her off.

"Get in the car kitten" she says with a glint of malice. She knows he doesn't like it when she calls him that.

He rolls his eyes and acquiesces, the look on his face hinting how much he ejoys getting under her skin.

At the party, Castle talks to people and stuff while Beckett stays in the side lines guarding him. He's probably going to have to come clean about the whole bodyguard thing soon, but… whatever. The media probably already knows anyway.

He decides to call it a night at about ten, surprising Beckett. She envisioned getting back home way later than this. It was a pretty dull party, so he didn't see the point in sticking around any longer.

They get into the limo in silence. Half way though, he decides to get personal once again.

"Remember the elephant thing the other day at the zoo?" he smoothly sails into the conversation.

There we go again… she cringes. "Hmm?"

"Does it have anything to do with what happened to your dad?" he remembers his initial analysis of her. He had asked her if something had happened to someone close to her, to which she didn't answer, but her reaction had told him everything he needed to know.

He had observed her closely over the past few weeks and noticed that she always wears a black watch on her wrist and that it's clearly too big to be a woman's.

"My dad?" she narrows her eyes questioningly.

"I noticed your watch"

Beckett looks at her wrist and has to admit that the timepiece is oversized. It's clearly a man's wristwatch.

"It's your dad's, right? That's why you wear it?" watching her reaction he's not sure about his spidey senses anymore.

It hits her that he mentioned his father. She hasn't talked to him in such a long time... Maybe she should call him.

That moment her phone rings, giving her an out. "Excuse me" she tells him before picking up. "Beckett" she answers. Castle busies himself by looking out the window, knowing there's not going to be any sharing tonight.

"Hello, Miss Beckett. Sorry to call you so late. I'm Gina, Richard's publicist" the bodyguard hears through the phone.

And ex-wife number two, Beckett adds in her mind. "What can I do for you?"

"I need you to come to my office. I want to talk to you about something regarding Rick's security"

"Okay…"

"And don't tell him anything. I'll explain tomorrow at, how about… noon?"

"Sure" Beckett's a little uneasy with keeping something from Castle when it involves his security… But she agrees anyway.

"Alright. See you tomorrow" Gina says before hanging up.

Beckett looks at her phone quizzically wondering what all that's about.

"What?" Castle asks when he sees the look on her face.

"Nothing" she replies simply. She also looks out the window and sighs softly. Her mind gets swamped by swirling thoughts and conflicting emotions as she goes back to her conversation with Castle and she actually considers telling him the real story behind the watch…

He just seems so genuinely concerned, and she's starting to consider him like more than just her boss – plus there's no surprise in the fact that since day one he has considered her like more than an employee.

At the end, she decides not to continue exactly because of that. They shouldn't be considering each other more than just employer and employee.

Maybe some other time… She catches herself thinking.

Beckett's back at her apartment half an hour later.

She lets out a breath as she sits down on the bed and takes her shoes off. For a brief moment she lets her head fall into her hands, but then she gets up and does the reversal of her pre-work routine.

She places her gun and license back in the drawer. And then puts her father's watch and the necklace with her mother's ring into the jewelry box. She closes its top to reveal the picture of her father and mother in happier times.

She always gets a bittersweet feeling when she sees it, but she smiles a little every time, reminding herself to focus on the positive.

She longs of the day she meets someone with whom she can be as happy as her parents were together.

The bodyguard stares at it for a couple of seconds before she steps into the shower.

As she dries herself off, she remembers the thought that crossed her mind a while ago. Beckett looks at the clock hoping it's not too late. It's actually past 11 p.m. but decides to try her luck anyway.

She pads back into her room wearing a robe over her pajamas and looks for her cellphone. She dials and waits for a few seconds.

A huge smile lights her face when she recognizes the voice on the other side of the line. "Hi, dad"

The next day, Beckett's sitting on a comfortable chair outside the office of Gina Cowell, President of Black Pawn Publishing.

She's got her legs crossed and is tapping the floor impatiently with her foot. It's a quarter past noon and she's getting restless.

"Miss Beckett" the receptionist whose desk is by the door gets up. "You can go in now"

The bodyguard nods in understanding as the girl opens the door for her.

When she steps into the office, she finds Gina waiting for her at her desk. "Good afternoon"

"Hello, Miss Beckett" Gina gets up and gestures for the bodyguard to sit on one of the chairs in front of her desk. "So" she starts as they both sit down. "I told you there was an issue concerning Richard's security"

Beckett nods.

"Well, lately he's been receiving certain letters..."

Beckett narrows her eyes, not understanding where this is going.

"Disturbing letters"

"Isn't that kind of an occupational hazard?" so some fans sent weird letters... She doesn't see this out of the ordinary.

"Well, yes. The problem is that these letters come from only one person and besides the fact that they threaten Castle personally, they started mentioning his daughter"

This makes Beckett sit up straight, knowing how protective of Alexis he is, she now understands the reason for all the secrecy. "Is that why you postponed the rest of his tour?"

"In part, yes. The thing is, a couple of days ago, this fan sent a letter that said the exact locations Rick was at for the last week"

"They followed us..." Beckett says mostly to herself, racking her brain to find any suspicious behaviors while he was on tour she can think of but comes up empty.

"Exactly. So you see why this became a concern"

Beckett nods slowly, bringing her attention back to Gina. "Any chance you have these letters?"

"We have some, but we haven't gone through all the mail. We only read a fraction of it"

"I'd like to go through them myself, if you don't mind" and maybe pull some strings at the NYPD to run the letters.

"Knock yourself out. We'll give you all the mail we've gotten for the past 4 months"

"This has been going on for four months?" Beckett says surprised that this hadn't become a concern sooner.

"That we know of, yes" Gina nods, her cold demeanor never changing.

"Give me the last 5 months, to be sure"

"Okay. You can come pick it up after 4 pm"

Beckett nods in understanding.

"And not a word of this to Castle" Gina fixes her look on the bodyguard, showing how important this part is.

"I'm really not sure we should keep this from him. At the end of the day this involves their security…"

"Look" the publicist sighs. "You're there to take care of their security. And just think of him, he's only going to get worried"

Beckett really doesn't feel comfortable about this.

"Beckett" Gina looks at her straight in the eye sensing Beckett's hesitation. "I need him to focus on his next book, and he can't do that if he's overreacting about something that we're not even sure is real"

Her tone tells Beckett she doesn't really have a say in the matter, after all, she's only an employee.

The bodyguard nods begrudgingly before getting up. "Need anything else?"

"No, that's all" Gina stands up too. "Thank you"

Beckett turns around and leaves, hoping this won't be a problem down the road. She won't tell Castle anything, but she will tighten his security, and some changes will probably have to be made too.

AN: Hope you're still enjoying this! I know I am, and I'm particularly excited about this arc. Thanks for sticking with this story!