As if being caught by her co workers first, then his mother, now his daughter is next to discover the new relationship of the couple. What next?
Rick looks over at Kate and before he can even open his mouth to speak, she comments "I know. Hide!" and she pulls the covers over her head and slides herself up close behind Castle as he turns to face the door
"Pumpkin. I'm in here" he speaks loud enough for Alexis to hear.
"Dad, can I come in?" she is obviously still not comfortable to just open the door to her father's bedroom
"Yes, fine. Come on in"
The door opens slowly and the red headed girl looks around the corner to make sure all is well inside with her father. He does seem to be uncomfortable but nothing else is evident
"How was your trip, Alexis?" He is trying to break the ice
"It started great" she responds "We went to the Smithsonian then the Capital. We were even able to take a tour of the White House. Then we finished with all the other memorials"
"Great Alexis. So you had a lot of fun then?"
"Yeah dad, but then things changed" he tone changes to accusatory
With a noticeable amount of concern in his voice "What happened? Did someone get sick or hurt?"
"No. Nothing that simple. One of the chaperones got a copy of the Ledger and saw a picture my father plastered all over the social page. Number five this time dad?"
"Oh yeah! Alexis, about that…"
"Oh dad, don't worry. I have gotten used to it by now"
"Oh good" Castle comments
"BUT!" Alexis reaches into her pocket and produces several pieces of paper and opens the first one and looks at the writing "My home room teacher wants to know if you would like to have dinner with her on Saturday?" then she flips to the next paper "Ms. Kirby, my English Lit instructor asked if you could join her for brunch on Sunday…"
Castle begins to feel the tiger, he is in love with, playing with her claws against his ribcage again
"Alexis. What did you tell them?" he tries to take her hand but she moves it away quickly
"I didn't tell them anything. Dad I know you are waiting for someone. Someone very special to become available"
"OK" Castle responds just as he is able to take a hold of Kate's hand under the covers
"Anyway, why are you still in bed? You look uncomfortable"
"Well that brings up an interesting little situation. I was working on a scene where Rook has gotten himself handcuffed to his bed and I was trying to figure out a way for him to get loose. But as you see he needs a little help to get out from the cuffs. So could you do me a big favor and get my handcuff key from the top drawer of my desk in the study?"
With a laugh Alexis turns toward his home office "Dad. How do you get yourself into these situations anyway?" as she walks to the desk and pulls out the top drawer. She retrieves the key and starts back into the bedroom and that is when she sees it.
The evidence lying on the floor at the foot of his bed. She sees a pair of women's slacks along with a bra and panties. It appears they are on lying on top of his clothes
Alexis stutter steps as she returns to her father's side of the bed. The anger inside her building with every step she takes
Castle can tell that something has changed in his daughter's demeanor
"Dad. I have no right to say anything, so I will just leave this with you" she drops the key on top of the sheet beside her father and turns to leave "and I will leave you two ALONE"
The high school senior walks briskly out of her father's room, and slams the door on the way
Beckett's head pops up from under the covers and she looks in the direction of the bedroom door "What happened?"
"I have no idea, but I am going to find out"
Kate gently places her hand on his arm "Maybe the Ledger story is a bigger deal to her than you thought. Let's give her some time to calm down and we can tell her our news"
Castle unlocks the cuffs and the couple gets up and heads for the bath room to shower. This time Kate willingly allows Rick to join her in her morning cleansing.
After the couple have finished and dressed they grab a lite breakfast and some coffee, of course, they head out the door. Castle tells Beckett he is going upstairs to tell Alexis goodbye and she acknowledges him. Just as she opens the loft door Kate's phone rings.
"Beckett" Kate listens for just a moment "Great, Castle and I are on our way then" She hangs up and looks up the stairs waiting for the return of her guy
On the second floor Castle has knocked gently on his daughter's door but had received no answer. He cautiously opens the door to find his red headed blessing asleep. He walks over and places a kiss on her temple and covers her with a throw
As they walk to the elevator Beckett tells Rick "We have a meeting with Virginia this morning at 10:00. I told Espo that were are leaving here and headed to New Jersey"
"Great" Rick responds
As they are entering the elevator Beckett asks with no small voice of concern "So what did Alexis have to say? About US I mean?"
"She was asleep. I will try and call her later and talk to her about it"
"Good. I want her to be OK with this…with us"
"Don't worry, Kate. She will be fine. Just like my mother she has been wanting this to happen between us for a long time"
"Good" she says softly
"Good" he responds
When Castle and Beckett reach the retirement facility and go inside they ask for the director. In a very few moments they are met by the director as before but also another woman is with her.
Director Grimes and the another woman walk up "Detective Becket, Mr. Castle let me introduce you to Ellen Scott. She is the patient advocate"
She turns towards the other woman "Ellen this is Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD and Mr. Richard Castle. He is a civilian consultant to the New York police department"
This other woman is tall, slender, probably mid thirties and very attractive. Long honey blond hair, very similar to Kate's. She is very stunning actually. Kate notices immediately that this woman is checking Rick out.
"Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle" the woman reaches out her hand to Kate but the entire time she has her eyes locked on Castle "Nice to meet you"
Beckett shakes the woman's hand and tries to distract the advocate from her current focus "Thank you for assisting us with our case"
"Of course. What can you tell me about your line of questions from my client?"
"We believe that Virginia might have information about a double murder that occurred in the city in 1970"
"That's over 40 years ago. What information do you need from her?"
"She was the next door neighbor of our victims and we are hoping she might shed some light on the possible suspect in their deaths"
"I hope that Virginia can help. As you know her memories are deteriorating and she might or might not be able to answer your questions right now. It just depends on where she is at the moment"
"Yes we do understand. So where do you want to do this?" Beckett looks around the room thinking that they would want to bring her to a conference room or possible the parlor
"We prefer to let her stay in her apartment. It is home to her and a comfortable place for her to be. She feels best when she is in her own environment. " Director Grimes states "You understand?"
"Yes, of course"
The four begin to walk down the hall towards the wing of the building that Virginia calls home
Back in the Castle Loft
Alexis Castle has awakened from her little cat nap she took after coming home. She goes downstairs to the kitchen to get a snack. She looks into the refrigerator and takes out an apple and bottle of water. She then walks into the living room. She is struggling with the actions of her father. It is evident that since that Ledger article about him being an eligible bachelor again, he has taken advantage of the notoriety and picked up another paramour.
Alexis looks toward his open office door and she walks into his work space. The space where he wrote Derrick Storm and the place where Nikki Heat was born. Alexis walks beside the book cases holding his collection of literature from the lowest of the B grade horror stories to the best of Dickens and Shakespeare. She runs her fingers across the spines of his most loved tales of Nikki and Rook
As she turns to leave she glances into her father's bedroom and notices that there is something on the floor, almost under the bed, on the side opposite from his normal sleeping side.
When she comes closer to the item she can see it appears to be a sheer nightgown. She reaches down and picks it up. When she brings it to eye level she is almost embarrassed, herself, at such a flimsy, flirty item of night wear.
It has almost no material for covering anything and what IS there is completely see thru.
Alexis' face turns red and she drops the item like it is on fire
Thinking out loud she speaks "Dad WHY did you do this? You should have waited for Kate"
Alexis reenters the office just as the house phone rings. She reaches over and picks it up
"Hello?"
"Hi Alexis is Richard there? We need to talk" The voice of his ever irritating ex wife slash publisher echoes in her ears
"No he is out chasing after an impossible goal. Why"
"I saw the article in the Ledger about your dad. About him being number 5 and all and I think this will be great for publicity. I want to set him up on a date with the number 8 most eligible bachelorete and have the photographers close by. You know 'Mystery Writer on a Mystery Date' kind of thing. Have them take pictures, get a few words from the woman to publish about how great it is being on a date with him, who knows he just might find someone more permanent"
Alexis looks into the bedroom at the night gown on the floor "Sure Gina. I think that would be great!"
"There is a charity ball tomorrow night at the Waldorf. We can auction off a first edition Nikki Heat and he can sign it to the winner. I will set it all up. It's a non formal event so Evening Cocktail is the dress code. Tell him the limo will pick him up at 8:00"
Alexis hangs up the phone and thinks aloud again "If you dump Kate Beckett, the best thing that ever happened to you, then you deserve whatever you get"
No Alexis bashing !
She is voicing her disgust of her dad having a one night stand instead of being with Kate
If she only knew what was really going on