She sits at her desk after a long and grueling day. They were finally able to make an arrest in their current case that led to a confession, but her partner had to leave early to make it to the hospital in time to see his daughter being brought into the world. This left her with all the paperwork to complete.

She looks at the stack of files on her desk that she needs to sort through and sighs. She glances at the picture that sits on her desk and smiles. It's of her family on the ice at Rockefeller Center definitely better times. Checking her watch, she already knows that she'll be late for dinner at the loft.

It's been twenty-four years since she was here the first time and she is amazed that she currently holds a position of someone that she looked up to. She has already trained twelve new detectives since she has been at the 12th and it's an achievement that she is proud of. But now it does not seem that important that she needs to stay here any longer. She needs to pass on the torch to someone else so to speak.

The 12th. This was her precinct and she will never leave it. She remembers the three days when she was here as a volunteer for her civics class when she was just a junior in high school and it turned her views around of what it meant to protect and serve.

So much has changed since she was here then. Her father and his muse had been instrumental in taking down so many types of criminal elements in the city that she knew exactly what she wanted to do when she graduated from college.

Columbia had felt like a lifetime ago, and if she thought about it, it was. She graduated with honors and a master's degree in criminal justice and a BS in forensic science. She did her time on the streets as a rookie patrol officer, then in vice as a decoy, and robbery for a while, but those were mere stepping stones to get to where she is now. She worked herself up to homicide detective first class. She did not want any preferential treatment from then Captain Gates or her lead detective. She made her own way in the department.

Her assignment to the 12th was a surprise, but with Gates retiring after she held the post of Captain for seven years, and the lead detective taking her place, she kind of expected it.

The new captain had kept his eye on her rise to detective, and he wanted her out of the box thinking which was a gift from her father working for him.

She had been witness to the corruption within the department, and she could only do the job she was assigned to the best of her ability. Luckily all of the time that she had been here she was never on the receiving end of a criminal complaint and for this she is grateful.

But if there is one moment in time which she could have a do-over for, it would be this.

Years ago her father and his partner were responding to a murder scene where a husband and wife were shot to death. The beat cops had secured the crime scene, or they thought they did. They never searched a hideaway closet under the main floor stairway. In their defense, it was totally overlooked by the forensics team as well.

It turns out that their suspect had hidden in the closet that everyone overlooked. When her father and Kate had arrived on the scene, they asked Lanie for the preliminary report on their victims. She had gone over what was evident and then the bodies were loaded up for transport for the morgue. Everyone had left the scene.

What they can piece together from all accounts, this is what transpired next. Kate had wanted to get another look at the crime scene before heading back to the precinct. Her father had agreed. While they were both searching for more clues as to what happened involving the crime, they were unaware that the perpetrator had left his hide under the stairs, and he was armed heading towards the pair.

He watched as they walked the scene and tried to figure out the angle from which the bullets flew. He had killed his parents over a stupid argument that could have been dealt with if he had just talked to them, but in his mind, there was no talking to them about this, so he came home and shot the both of them dead without even thinking about it.

Now he was watching the cops looking for clues or whatever it was that they were doing. He watched the male cop and decided that he'd take care of him first, he was not going to prison for anything. He raised his gun, quietly walked towards them, and fired at the male cop. His aim was slightly off and his shot went lower than he expected it to.

Castle had found something that could be a clue for their case. He was in the process of turning to tell Kate, but then he felt a sharp pain in his neck and instantly fell to the floor of the living room. He was still conscious when he hit the floor, but he could not feel anything below his neck. Kate, hearing the shot, turned with her weapon drawn and fired after taking aim. Her shot hit center mass and the man went down. She stood there and wavered for a second or two before she looked down. The flow of blood was evident, and she clutched her abdomen trying to stop the blood from leaving her body. She was able to call in for back up and an officer down before she herself had joined her partner on the floor.

Alexis had just finished her shift as a beat cop with the 84th precinct. She was changing in the locker room and was asked to report to the Captain's office before she left for the night by the desk sergeant. When she entered his office, she was told to sit. Then he told her the events that transpired that afternoon. In one swept moment she had lost her stepmother and her father was in surgery at Mount Sinai for a gunshot wound.

Weeks had passed since the incident, and she remembers the statements her father had uttered from his hospital bed in recovery. He did not want to live his life if his wife was not here to live it with him. He was stubborn, and he was used to getting his way. The gunshot to his neck had rendered him a quadriplegic. His every need now depended on someone else to grant it for him.

He would come to the decision less than a year later that he and his wife were to be together in life as well as death. (But she had thought that he had made up his mind long before then) He made up his mind that this being in his new normal was not for him and did the only thing he could, he stopped eating.

It was quick and only took little time for him to carry out his last wishes. When she was called by Lanie down to the morgue she knew then that he had done what he set out to do. Now she was all alone. Her grandmother had passed away before her father did and she was relieved. They once had a conversation long ago and Martha had told her that a parent should never bury their child. Now she understands why.

His funeral was a dignified one. Mostly writers he knew had attended as well as his friends and people he knew at his publishing company. Her own mother had met her end in a car accident on the Pacific Coast Highway before her father got married to Kate. He was laid to rest on June 16th, 2022 less than a full year after his wife had departed this plane.

She looks back now at the few days that she spent reorganizing the property room when she was in high school and realizes that it was then that she would strive to give back to the community for what her father and stepmother had dedicated their lives to.

Knowing that her Captain would need the completed report finished before she leaves for the night, she pulls out the forms to start her report. She knows that her husband and son will understand why she will be late. They both understand that her dedication to the job comes first. She honors her stepmother and father everyday that she hangs her badge on her waistband. Its just a part of who she is now.

~Fin~

A/N: This is the result of my being bored and re-watching seasons 1 & 2 of Castle. This little fic came from the episode One Man's Treasure where Alexis had volunteered to help the NYPD for her civics class.