A/N: Nice, quick update for you this time. :) I don't know what it was about this chapter, but it just seemed to want to be written. It went really fast. So, in WAY less than a week, I give you Chapter 14. Enjoy!

I'm not gonna do another AN at the end this time, because I don't have all that much to say and because I want it to stand for itself without my commentary, but keep in mind that I love reviews. You probably know that by now, but I'm not going to stop reminding you. :P

What the hell had she gotten herself into? Now wasn't the time for this. It wasn't the time at all. He was upset. He was vulnerable. Granted, she hadn't told him to kiss her, but she hadn't stopped him either. She'd even started to kiss him back. She was supposed to be making things easier for him, not confusing him even more.

True to her word, partly just because she couldn't think of anything else to do, she found a nearby fast food restaurant and grabbed a couple of burgers for lunch. But she wasn't looking forward to returning with them. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to say?

She hadn't come up with any answers when she got back to the hotel, but tempting as it might've been, she couldn't just stay out all day. First of all, and most importantly, she'd come here to support him. That hadn't changed. Today was still the day that Alexis was supposed to meet her biological father, the day when he'd probably need her most of all, and she needed to be around. Secondly, she didn't want to run away just because she was confused. She was better than that. She had to be better than that. Plus there was the completely beside-the-point reason that she'd sort of stolen Castle's rental car.

She walked back into the lobby with the fast food bag and looked around casually. Something drew her glance to the little area where there were coffee pots and a couple of tables and chairs. It was a weird time of day, so the lobby was mostly deserted, but someone was sitting at one of the tables: a small figure with bright red hair.

It couldn't be… could it? But she did remember giving Alexis this address. The girl's back was to her, so she couldn't see her face, but it could definitely be her. She walked over toward the coffee machines, thinking she could pretend she had a random mid-afternoon coffee craving if it wasn't Alexis (and it wouldn't be hard… she'd certainly been there before). But before she even got close enough to reach the cups, she managed to toss a casual glance in the teenager's direction, and there was no longer any doubt in her mind.

She didn't say anything, but sat down at the table across from Alexis. After the way she'd left the day before, she wasn't sure where they stood anymore.

"Beckett," the teenager said, startling when she recognized her. Immediately afterward, she looked at the table shyly. "Hi."

She wasn't even surprised anymore by the redness of Alexis's eyes. She almost couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her not crying. She wasn't okay with that, but she was used to it. "Hi," she echoed softly.

"I'm really sorry," Alexis said, still staring at the table top. "You're right. I shouldn't have left. It was immature and stupid and I hurt everyone… I'm missing school, you're missing work, and for no good reason."

She felt like she could melt, right there. She'd expected Alexis to be mad at her, not to apologize. Castle's daughter was such a different kind of teenager than she'd ever been. She reached across the table and let her hand rest on top of Alexis's. The girl looked up, she offered a small smile, and just like that, without words, it was understood. She was forgiven.

"Did you meet him?" Kate finally asked.

Alexis nodded.

"What happened?"

She shrugged. "He didn't… want anything to do with me. He said he had a daughter and I wasn't her. Then I told him who my mother was and he just said that was a long time ago. I said I didn't want anything, that I just wanted to talk to him, but then he called security and I ran out of the studio as fast as I could. Called a cab… but I didn't want to go back to my mom's, and I found this address in my pocket, so… I came here."

Kate sighed. "I'm so sorry."

"I deserve it though. You're right, I already have a dad. And I'm not looking for a new one. I just… I thought that if he was a part of me, I wanted to know who he was. But it was stupid."

"It wasn't stupid. I probably would've done the same thing in your position."

"But… he was mean. Does that mean… that's part of me too? Is that why I ran away without bothering to think about who else it was going to affect? Did I get that selfishness from him? What if I grow up to be a horrible person?"

"You didn't."

Alexis almost scoffed at that. "I might be eighteen, but I still have some growing up to do."

Kate smiled. "Someday you'll realize how much maturity it takes to even think that. You're gonna be fine. I'm sure about that."

"I don't really look like him," she admitted. "I guess I got most of my mother's genes in that respect. Which is probably why my dad never suspected anything. I just… I hate that my parents are… a guy I just met and don't even like, and a woman who… I love her, but I don't want to turn out like her either."

"Look at me."

Somewhat reluctantly, Alexis looked up from the table and met the detective's eyes.

"You're your own person. Not just a combination of your parents. People aren't that simple. You're the smart, kind, and incredibly mature person that you are because of the experiences you've had and the things that you've learned. And your dad. Not the one you met today, but the one you've known for eighteen years. He's the one who helped teach you how to be who you are."

She seemed to let those words absorb for a minute, and then finally took a deep breath and nodded. "Is he here?"

"Oh," Kate said, finally remembering the bag of food in her hand. "Yeah. I just went out to get some lunch. He's in the room. Want to go see him?"

"If… you think that would be okay. Is he mad at me?"

"Oh sweetie, I don't think he could ever be mad at you."

She half-smiled through her subsiding tears. "Okay, let's go."

Kate led Alexis to the room, swiped the card to unlock the door, and swung it open. Rick's voice immediately came from somewhere in the back of the room, unseen. "Oh good, you're back. Listen, about what happened, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you like that. It was just, I was upset, and you've been so understanding… but it doesn't have to change anything between us. I mean, we have enough to worry about right now."

Quickly, Kate looked at Alexis, who was shrinking back toward the door. She shook her head, nonverbally pleading with her to ignore all of that. She wished she could've stopped Rick from talking, but it had all come out so fast. She walked further into the room and found both of the beds made and him sitting on the edge of one, now fully dressed. "I… brought lunch," she announced, holding up the bag. "And something else I think you'll be even happier about." She nodded to Alexis, who was still behind her, but not yet in a place where her father could see her.

She crept around the corner, and as soon as he saw her he was up off the bed, wrapping his daughter in a full-fledged bear hug. "Oh, baby, I'm so happy to see you," he murmured, squeezing his eyes shut.

She wrapped her arms around his back, and once again Kate felt that she didn't quite belong here. Almost instinctively, she took a step away from them, but continued to watch the interaction.

"Me too," Alexis said with fresh tears in her eyes. "Oh my god, you have no idea how much."

"I think I might." When the hug ended, he held her shoulders out at arm's length, as if he hadn't seen her in months and he wanted to see if she still looked the same. He studied her face with a curious doting expression, as if she was made of a rare substance more valuable than gold but more fragile than glass.

"I'm so sorry, Daddy," she moaned. "I shouldn't have left like that."

"Shh, it's okay. I'm just glad you're back."

"No," she said, frowning stubbornly. "It's not okay. I was wrong, and I deserve to be punished."

"I'm not gonna punish you."

She frowned, almost seeming upset by this. "Why not?"

"Because you're old enough to make your own decisions."

"But I still have to deal with the consequences of those decisions," she reminded him.

He nodded. "You have, haven't you?"

She started to nod, but then had an idea. "You can cut off my credit card," she suggested, almost hopefully.

He chuckled. "I'm not gonna do that."

"You could refuse to pay my college tuition."

"Alexis." He squeezed her shoulders and let go, still looking at her in that way that seemed to go beyond love. "Forget it." He gave her a little sideways smile. "You ready to go home?"

She nodded.

"Good." He took out his cell phone and started doing something with it, presumably looking for plane tickets.

"So, um," Alexis started, a little awkwardly, "what were you talking about when we came in? Did something happen between you two?"

"Oh, it was no big deal," Beckett began to protest, but Alexis more or less ignored her, looking only at Rick.

"You said you kissed? That doesn't sound like 'no big deal'." She didn't seem angry exactly, but she was being very serious.

"Nothing's changed, Alexis," Kate cut in gently. "I'm me, and your dad's your dad, and that's… it."

"Why?"

She frowned. "Why… what?"

"Why is that it? Why has nothing changed? I mean, you obviously love each other. You told me that, and you," she turned back to her confused father and scoffed. "I know you."

"Sweetie, now just isn't the right time," he said.

"Why not? You've been alone in a hotel room together, for goodness sake. What more do you need?"

"It's not a good time because of everything that's happened."

"You mean because of me."

He frowned. "No. Of course not. None of this is your fault."

"But what if I wasn't in the picture at all? Like it's supposed to be? What if I lived with mom, or with this other guy, and you had never known I existed at all?"

"Then my life," he said earnestly, meeting his daughter's eyes, "would be very different. In all kinds of ways."

"Would you be together?"

"I have no idea."

"Would you be happy?"

"I have no idea. But—"

But Alexis wouldn't let him talk. "I don't want to get in your way anymore," she said. "You need to start making your own decisions without taking me into consideration. You want to be with Detective Beckett? You should be. You want to have random, meaningless affairs with women you've never met? Go right ahead. You want to eat whipped cream for breakfast? I won't stop you. You want to spend a year in Tanzania doing research for African Heat? Do it. People keep telling me I'm an adult now. I'm not your responsibility anymore. I won't weigh you down."

Rick tried to argue, but before he could even get a word out she turned to Beckett and continued her speech. "And Detective Beckett, thank you so much for everything, but I'm not stupid. I know why you're really here, and I know it doesn't have anything to do with me. So, um, I'll get out of your way, and just someone text me and let me know when the flight is, and I'll meet you in the lobby here."

The teenager slipped out the door without any excessive drama, as if it were a perfectly natural thing to do. Kate gaped at Rick for a second and he gaped back, both sharing in a "what the hell just happened" moment. But then in the same instant, they both caught up.

"We gotta—" Rick started.

She nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."

Kate reached the door first out of sheer proximity, but by the time she opened it Rick was already on the outside, chasing his daughter down the hotel corridor. She took the first few steps at a trot to catch up with him and then flanked him all the way to the lobby, feeling a little like she should've been wearing her bulletproof vest. But this was a very different kind of battle than those she was normally involved in. While the stakes weren't life and death, she didn't feel like they were much lower.