The sound of her cell phone buzzing woke Kate from her sleep. It was the buzz of a text message not the ringing of a phone call so she knew she didn't have a case. Groaning to herself she leaned over to her nightstand and snatched up her phone. Clicking the lock button she first glanced in the corner to see what time it was. After 9, she should probably get up anyways. Sliding her thumb over to retrieve the message she noticed it was from Ryan.
We did quite a bit of digging and only came up with one thing that seemed of significance. I e-mailed the file to you, but Becks before you open it you really need to brace yourself it's pretty bad. I don't know what I was thinking I was going to find, but what we did find was the furthest thing from my mind. I need to go hug Sarah Grace now.
Ryan's message left her more than a little confused. Pulling the blanket away she decided to make a pot of coffee and get to work on whatever file that Ryan had e-mailed to her. Glancing down Castle for a moment she thought it best to just let him sleep for now, reading a file was a simple one person job. Besides she hadn't even told her husband about what happened last night.
After setting a pot of coffee to brew she pulled her laptop onto the counter to get it set up and ready to work. The refreshing aroma of coffee started to fill the loft as the laptop booted up. Quickly she made herself a cup before sitting down to get started on the file.
Pulling up her work e-mail she quickly navigated to the file Ryan had sent her. A child abuse case from 5 years ago? Her curiosity really started to peak just seeing the virtual file on her screen. Clicking a few buttons the file opened up to reveal a beautiful teenage girl with shoulder length chocolate locks, incredible brown eyes, and a bright smile. She looked just like Zero only a few years younger, could it possibly be the same girl.
The name Kelly Rosenberg was printed next to the photo. Clicking over Kate found the police incident report. Her eyes widened with shock at what she read.
16 year old Kelly Rosenberg announced her homosexuality to her parents on April 16, 2009. Her father Markus Rosenberg reacted with violence striking and kicking his daughter multiple times attempting to "beat the devil out of her". Neighbors altered the police to the sounds of a woman in distress. Police arrived at the location some 30 minutes after the attack to find Kelly unconscious and bleeding on the floor.
Kelly was rushed to the Queen's Medical Center where it was discovered she suffered from multiple injuries not limited to: broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a ruptured kidney and a bruised liver. Both Markus Rosenberg and Ashley Rosenberg have been taken into custody.
Kate flipped through the next few pages that catalogued the girls injuries, how she had flat lined 4 times while on the operating table, the repairing of internal organ, and finally her being moved into the ICU. The next several pages showed pictures of the poor girl laying on a hospital bed still unconscious with multiple machines hooked up to her. In most of the pictures you couldn't even tell it was a young girl laying on the bed, her face was swollen, her eyes black, her nose broken. She knew now why Ryan needed to go hug his daughter. How could do this to their own child?
"How long have you been up for?" Castle questioned suddenly, startling Kate and forcing her to turn away from the computer to look at him. She couldn't stop the tears that ran down her face. "Baby what's wrong?" he questioned softly, making his way over to his wife.
Kate simply shook her head. It was so horrible she wasn't sure she wanted to share it with him anymore, but she knew she had too. "You remember last night when Zero sort of freaked out and ran off?" He nodded at her, of course he did. Kate sighed and took a deep breath. "I kept noticing last night that she gave Alexis these little looks and these little smiles all through dinner. When you guys were choosing the movie she was watching Alexis and she had this smile on her face and this look in her eyes, and I just knew." Kate stopped, taking another deep breath.
"That she's in love with Alexis." Castle offered.
"You saw it too hu?"
"I have been working with you for almost 6 years; I have picked up a few things. It's not like it was hard to detect."
Kate sighed again, happy that Castle didn't seem to be upset that a woman was in love with his daughter. "I asked her about it, if she had said anything to Alexis. She freaked out that I knew and that is why she left." She confessed. Castle continued to nod; she could tell that made sense to him. He gave her a look that told her he knew she wasn't done and wished for her to continue.
"As she was gathering her things she mumbled something, I don't think she even realized she said it. She said 'Kelly Rosenberg you should have known better', just before she ran out."
"Kelly Rosenberg?" Castle asked confused.
"Yeah I didn't get it either, so I sent a message to Ryan to see if he could dig up anything on the name. He text me just a short while ago telling me he only found one thing and he sent me the file."
"Well that's great."
"No Babe it's not." Kate frowned. "It was a child abuse case from 5 years ago. Ah Castle it's really bad." Kate stopped for a moment, her hand on the laptop getting ready to turn it around to him. "She told her parents she was gay and was beaten for it. Castle they nearly killed her."
Kate turned the laptop around and allowed Castle to see the photos that were on the screen. She watched his eyes go large with shock as he clicked through a small handful of the pictures. Roughly he shoved the laptop away and bolted to the kitchen sink to vomit. "Fuck Kate that was their own daughter!"
"I know Babe, I know." She whispered softly rubbing her hand up and down his back before he rinsed out his mouth and the sink.
"She must have thought we would do the same to her upon finding out." Castle stated.
"Yeah I came to the same conclusion myself." Kate sighed, making her way back over to the laptop. "The poor girl. It says here her father was sentenced to 45 years in prison, no charges were brought up with her mother, but she did disown Kelly...Zero after the incident."
Castle sighed heavily as he leaned up against the kitchen counter, his large hand covering part of his face. "I just can't seem to wrap my mind around this."
"I know me neither. Poor Ryan said he had to go home and give Sarah Grace a hug after going through this file."
"I can imagine." Castle gave a slight dry chuckle. "It makes me want to make Alexis come over just so I can hold her in my arms, just so I know that she is alright."
Kate smiled at the man she loved at that. "I don't know what we should do Castle, it's obvious that she doesn't know about this and I am sure Zero doesn't want it known either. It has to be the reason that she changed her name."
Castle nodded. "But we are going to have to have a talk with Zero, let her know we are nothing like her parents and we would never do anything to hurt her just because she is gay. She seems like such a good kid too, at least from what Alexis has said about her and what dinner last night showed us."
"We are going to have to find a way to get in touch with her." Kate said. "It says here that she moved in with her aunt Stephanie Michales after the incident. All of her contact information is still here so maybe we can get ahold of her and find out if she has a way for us to get in touch with Zero?"
"Yeah that seems to be our best option. I don't want Alexis knowing about this so we can't exactly ask her for the information." Castle said as he made his way over to his wife. He took one final look at the file on her screen before closing the laptop; there was no way he could look at that any more. "That bastard should have gotten more than 45 years for what he did to her." He growled. Kate couldn't agree more.
A/N: I realize this is a short chapter but I knew this needed to be done. A longer chapter to come, one that will feature Alexis I promise. Thanks to all of you that have either favorite this fic or are following it. Reviews too would be nice. Thanks again. See you all soon.