Click. Kate felt the cold nickel twist knob resist ever so slightly as she turned it to force the deadbolt back into its resting place. Safe and sound, she thought, though she didn't really feel that way. Whatever dread she might feel from the unknown dangers outside Castle's penthouse could not compare to the trepidation she felt about simply turning around to hear what Alexis had to say; Kate been a cop long enough to know that a request for confidentiality rarely preceded anything good. Slowly, she turned away from the door, walked to the kitchen, and set the pizza box down on the kitchen counter. After taking a moment to gather herself, she put on her best "I'm listening" face, and turned around. She nodded her assent, and whispered, "I promise."

For a moment, Alexis said nothing: she simply stared at the floor and lightly fingered the silicon buttons on the remote control. When she finally raised her head, Kate saw something in Alexis' eyes, something vaguely familiar, though she couldn't quite identify it at first. Was it anger? No, Kate thought, not anger. Confusion, perhaps? No, not that either. Hurt? Betrayal? Apathy? Kate cycled through her years of experience in an attempt to name what she found staring back at her from the deep and glistening green orbs before her.

And then she knew.

It was fear.

"You have to understand something, Kate. I love my Dad more than anything in this world. He and Gram, well-they're everything to me. I mean, I love my mom, right? But she's never really been here for me. Not like my Dad. He's not perfect, of course, but he's a good man, and a great father. The thing is-he's always been like a big kid, you know? He doesn't always think or behave like an adult, so for my whole life, I've felt kind of...responsible for him, and I think, on some level, knowing that he was also responsible for me has kept him from indulging some his more dangerous childhood fantasies. It's weird, I know, but that's just the kind of relationship we've had."

"I don't think it sounds weird at all," Kate offered, weakly. She wasn't sure where this was going, but she was starting to get an idea, and it made her just a bit uncomfortable.

"Then he started shadowing you, and at first, I was really excited. I mean, I had never seen my dad so inspired before. His writing improved, his demeanor lifted, and he just had this sense of-I don't know-purpose about him, like he was part of something that was making a difference, something that mattered. I loved seeing him like that, Kate. I loved it so much that when he started getting involved with the really dangerous stuff, I was even able to overlook it for a while. He was so happy, happier than I've ever seen him, and my dad deserves to be happy, Kate. He's been through more than you know." Alexis shook her head as she trailed off at the end of her sentence. She was fiddling with the remote buttons more furiously now.

"What do you mean?" Kate asked, and instantly regretted it. Not your place, Kate, she thought. She knew Castle would tell her when he was ready to do so. Or, at least, she hoped he would.

Neither of them were very good with secrets.

"Uh-uh," Alexis said, bluntly, "that's all him. I don't tell his secrets, and he doesn't use me as a guinea pig for his latest S'morelette recipes. That's the deal." She made a face, and for a brief moment, Kate thought, her face turned the color of her eyes. She smiled knowingly, but kept her attention focused squarely on Alexis.

"My dad has known you for four years, Kate. Four years. And in that time, he has been kidnapped by a serial killer, nearly blown up, locked in a freezer, shot at, beaten up, submerged in water while trapped in a car, and mere feet away from a sniper's bullet, among other things. And all the time, I've been hoping that you would see that he is a man in need of boundaries, of someone to force him to stand down and realize that he is just a writer-not a cop. No matter how much he might want to be one of you, he just isn't. He isn't trained, he isn't prepared, and he isn't invincible." Her voice was rising just a bit, now.

"Alexis, I-" Kate began, but Alexis cut her off.

"But you indulged him, Kate. All of you did, from Captain Montgomery, Detectives Ryan and Esposito, even Lanie-everybody treated him as if he were one of you, and for a man who lives and breathes fantasy, it was absolutely a dream come true. It was intoxicating. You were intoxicating."

Kate closed her eyes and glanced downward. She and Castle had long since cleared the air about their feelings for one another, but hearing about it from his daughter still made Kate feel uneasy enough to avert her eyes when Alexis mentioned it.

"I don't know exactly when he fell in love with you, but I know my dad, and he never loves halfway. All I know is that his devotion for you increased, and with it, his recklessness. I tried to rein him in, to remind him that Gram and I still needed him, and I know he heard me, but-his vision is so myopic when it comes to you that he just couldn't stay away. No matter how loudly I begged or how hard I tried to dissuade him."

"Alexis-"

"I asked him once if you made him happy, did you know that?" Alexis said, with a hint of sharpness in her voice.

"No, I-your dad never mentioned it," Kate replied, flatly.

"He said that you did make him happy. And that should be enough for me, Kate, but the truth is-it isn't enough, not really. I know I'm young, but it seems to me that relationships are supposed to be about give and take, both people sacrificing, both people enjoying the benefits. From where I'm sitting, it seems as though my dad has been doing a whole lot of the sacrificing, but enjoying very few of the benefits. I know that he would die for you in a second, Kate, and that scares me. You...you scare me."

The comment caught Kate completely off guard. "I scare you?" That's not good, she thought. "Alexis, you and I have known each other for a while now. We've had coffee, conversations-you know me. I would never do anything to hurt your dad or you." Kate was almost pleading now.

"You scare me because you seem perfectly willing to allow him to keep risking his life and his heart without any thought to the lasting consequences of either. You seem content to let him tiptoe through the tulips in this make-believe world of his own devising, and forget that there are real people who have to pick up the pieces when it all falls apart. I don't want to see my dad hurt, Kate. I've seen it too often in my life, and he deserves better. He deserves something real. He's lived off fantasies for too long." Alexis stared straight at Kate now, her eyes boring into Kate's.

"Ok," Kate conceded, "Ok, Alexis-you're right. I haven't been as careful as I should have been with your dad. You have to understand that when he came into my life, I was-well, I could say driven, but unhappy would be closer to the mark. I didn't want to admit it at first, but he was like a breath of fresh air when he walked into my life, and we just got too comfortable and too careless too quickly. I'm responsible, ok? Me. And I'm really sorry. I never meant to put your father in danger, and I certainly never wanted to scare you." Kate attempted to communicate her sincerity as deftly as possible, but she wasn't sure Alexis was buying it.

"Do you even love him, Kate?" Alexis asked, her eyes searching. "Do you really love him the way he loves you? Or are you just going to end up hurting him like the others?"

Kate swallowed, hard. She'd rehearsed this same question time and again in her own mind, for months. Sorting through her feelings for Castle had not been easy work, but she'd finally arrived at a conclusion about which she could be completely honest. Her mouth drained of all moisture as she parted her lips and prepared to answer Alexis.

The sounds of Darth Vader's Imperial March broke her concentration, and she looked on as Alexis scrambled over to the nearest side table to check her phone.

"Hi, Dad," she said, changing the tone of her voice at the last second.

Good, Kate thought, a few more seconds will probably do me some good.