A/N: Two members of the Castle family seem to be grappling with their future activities.

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle – all credit goes to Andrew Marlow and the writing team for ABC's Castle; my thanks to them for providing a foundation for this little exercise.

Chapter 14

Richard Castle had been on the phone with his ex-wife Gina for over an hour; however, the topic of discussion was the content of the last few chapters of his book. He had submitted them for review and editing, so the conversation had been strictly business. The editor had noticed a change in Nikki Heat's character – an unexplained change, or at least not fully explained with either the explicit text or even the subtext being offered. To him it seemed the flow of the whole narrative had been altered.

"What's the matter Richard? Some life changing event we don't know about?", Gina pried.

"No, no events Gina", he replied automatically. "But I do have a question for you. What if this were to be last book in the series? I'm running out of convincing ideas as to how to present Nikki's next big event. Seems like any kind of promotion or change of skill set would become boring. Come to think of it I'm still wondering what the title of this one should be. Anything on that list sound best-seller worthy to you?"

"That's two questions Richard", she shot back. "That's for you and the lawyers to decide, your contract says you owe us this one plus two more after that. So, what would you do instead? If this were to be the last one, you could call it 'Terminal Heat', 'Canned Heat', I don't know, she said with a touch of sarcasm in her voice. But then her tone softened considerably: "Hey Rick, thanks for turning these in way ahead of schedule for a change. We'll send you the editors' notes and suggestions in a few minutes. Check your document exchange link, OK?"

"Thanks Gina. I'll get you a good title, and I'll let you know what I decide. Bye."

Well, if Nikki Heat is going to survive long enough to finish her current case, Kate Beckett is going to have to decide whether she likes Richard Castle enough to keep him around; otherwise both the literary and social landscapes are going to get a makeover. He continued sifting through his incomplete scenes and notes, searching for a way to bring the novel to closure. He decided he'd let the editors' notes wait until he was in a more receptive mood, and when that might be he could only guess.

As he was on his way to the kitchen to get something to drink he thought last Nikki Heat novel in the series . . . should I give her the fatal bullet too? . . . sort of like the last in the series for Derrick Storm, which reminds me, the book launch party venue, that might help it become the deciding factor . . . yeah, got to keep that place in mind.

Lanie and Kate found Alexis seated outside a small café just off campus. They had sneaked out for an early lunch and combined the trip with the promised meeting.

"Hi Alexis, how are classes going so far?", Lanie began as soon as they were close enough.

"Oh, Hi . . . I'm glad you both could come. This is pretty important to me", she replied as she looked up from her emails on her phone. "Oh, Kate, are you and I good from that thing the other week?", she questioned.

"I think we are . . . I mean, I am if you are", Kate responded somewhat cryptically because she didn't want Lanie to pry into that issue as well. Alexis smiled and said nothing more about it.

"Well, I don't want to keep the two of you very long. I know you've got work to do . . . and yes, classes have been pretty good so far, but we haven't gotten to the really hard stuff yet. The reason I really wanted to talk to you is because you both got degrees, and you had to decide where to stop school and when to start real-world work", she began, as she pocketed the phone and gave them her full attention.

The two women nodded and let her continue.

"So, the first part of this is, I wanted to personally invite you both to my college graduation, since I had really wanted that to happen for my high school graduation, but we all know that way too much was going on that afternoon, and well it's all water under the bridge now. I think this one will be special, because when I'm done with this major, well I think I'm going to be done for good. So, I want all the women who are special to me to attend."

"I'm not sure I follow you", replied Kate as Lanie looked on.

"I'm just saying that I want to celebrate with all the people who have influenced me and helped me get this far; and you two are certainly on that list. . . because I might not stay in the area afterwards. And, please don't tell my dad we've had this conversation."

"Alexis honey, why don't you want to discuss something like this with your dad? You've always been close. Why would our opinion somehow be more important than his?", Lanie broke in.

"I'm talking about grad school. I don't want to ask him because he'll only encourage me to go on to grad school; or maybe even be expecting that I should go, and then he'll offer to pay for the whole thing . . . but that's not what I expect he should do. . . that is, pay and pay. And maybe it's not what I even want. So I wanted to know what each of you thought, now that you've been out working. Do you think more school would have been worth it?"

"Well Alexis, it really depends on what kind of field you go into and how much you expect to earn from it", explained Lanie. "I mean some fields pay very meager salaries for only a bachelor's degree, but with others you can do just fine for yourself. Like the major you've chosen. It could go either way. You could get in with a decent ocean exploration or remediation firm and get good pay raises for merit, which I have no doubt you'll qualify for; but then there are other research organizations, which will offer little unless you're a PHD. You're not thinking of some kind of teaching are you?"

"No, no not that at all. . . Kate, what about you?"

"I'm fairly happy with what I do. I think it makes a difference in the world; and that's enough motivation for me to get out of bed in the morning, or in the middle of the night, or whenever duty calls, you get the point."

"If you could go back in time, would you have pursued a law degree?", Alexis asked sincerely.

"From where I stand now, no. I wouldn't go back. I'm studying for the Captain's rank right not . . . which is partly the point. We all have to get continuing education for our jobs at some point. And most organizations have plenty of room for advancement. The NYPD certainly does."

"Kate's right about that", added Lanie, "I've had to go to several classes just because the examination methods and equipment have changed pretty drastically in just the few years I've been working at the ME's office."

"Would you go back and do more Lanie?"

"No sweetie, it took way too much work to get through medical school . . . believe me that was enough for me. I like where I am right now. . . and while it can get pretty crazy at times, it's nothing like working at a hospital."

"Well, thanks to both of you for coming. Promise me you'll try to make it when the big day comes, OK?"

"Of course we will . . . as long as we continue to wake up on this side of the ground", Lanie responded, while giving Kate a look that said not to read too much into that statement.

Each returned to their tasks at hand. The rest of the week was routine.

A/N: To be Continued