For those of you who can't peer into my subconscious or automatically know exactly what I'm thinking, this is where I fret and wring my hands and hope that you guys like the plot twist!

"Hey, Eddie?" Alexis called, making her way up the stairs. "Remember how I said that I wouldn't say yes if Oliver asked me out on a date?"

Their current houseguest didn't answer. She was too busy examining two of the files; her eyes flicking back and forth like a pinball in an arcade machine. The connection was there, floating in her mind… if she just relaxed, it would come to her…

She looked down at the chessboard, forcing her breathing to remain steady. The thought was coming… the threads were all connected, they all crisscrossed at some juncture, she just had to wait…

"Well, I'm going to have to take back that statement because we had lunch again today and – what the hell is that?" Alexis opened the door to the guest room, froze, and interrupted herself to ejaculate accusingly and point at the papers spread all over the bed.

Eddie froze as well. "Um…"

Alexis strode over and picked one of them up. "Are you investigating someone?"

"Kind of." Eddie said carefully.

Alexis examined the paper she'd picked up. "This is somebody's bank receipt." She said slowly. "Does this have to do with your Mom's murder?"

Eddie said nothing.

Alexis picked up another paper from the bed. This one was actually an 8 x 11 photograph of a dead woman lying in an alley, her dark brunette hair rather similar to someone else's that Alexis knew. She flipped the photo, waving it at Eddie accusingly.

"This is Beckett's mom. I've seen pictures from when she and my dad were investigating." Alexis gestured at all of the stuff on the bed. "What is this?" She demanded.

Eddie took a deep breath. She had no choice but to tell Alexis everything now – the girl wouldn't believe whatever lie Eddie cooked up. She had to take the risk of taking Alexis into her confidence and ask her not to tell.

"You have to promise not to tell your dad, or Kate."

Alexis frowned. "I don't have any secrets from my dad." She said slowly.

"So he knows you sneak out at night to meet graffiti artists and interview homeless people?" Eddie asked.

Alexis gave her a look that clearly stated Eddie was not in any position to be high and mighty. Eddie sighed.

"Look, I made a promise not to tell anyone, especially not Castle or Beckett. It will put them in extreme danger. I don't know why, so please don't ask, but it will."

"Who told you this?" Alexis asked.

Eddie shrugged. "You're going to want to sit down."

Alexis sat. "Okay. Talk."

Eddie told her about the burner phone, and her mother's murder, and the conversation with the mysterious man. Only this time when she told the story, she didn't leave anything out.

"He said that my Mom had evidence against someone – again, I don't know who – that would connect this person to a lot of crimes. That person killed my dad and my mom, and if he knew I had the packet he'd come for me, too."

"This is evidence against this guy?" Alexis said.

"Yes."

"Well, what did he do?"

"He killed Beckett's mom, for one thing. He's got several counts of fraud and stuff, too. From what I can tell it all started way back with this extorting from mobsters thing these three cops had going."

Alexis frowned. "But how does your mom connect to all of this?"

"See, here's the thing – I don't know. The only thing that I can figure is that she somehow gathered this information. Either my dad knew something and his death tipped her off, or he assembled this packet and she found it when he died." Eddie shrugged. "And I don't know how your dad fits into it, either."

"Maybe he's just connected because he's with Beckett?" Alexis suggested.

Eddie shook her head. "No. There's another connection there. I think it's between him and my mom."

"Well, he did say he knew her."

"See, but he didn't. He only took me in because I told him this phrase that the guy on the phone gave me."

"What was it?"

"Sophia didn't lie about everything."

The girls looked at each other, all potential hostility forgotten as they began to brainstorm.

"Any idea who Sophia is?" Alexis asked.

"Not a clue." Eddie said.

Alexis thought for a moment. "Wait – stay right there." She jumped up from the bed and tore out of the room, thumping down the stairs. She returned a moment later with a book clutched in her hands. It was a Derrick Storm novel of her father's.

"Look at this." Alexis flipped to the back of the book and showed Eddie the acknowledgements.

"Nobody reads those." Eddie protested.

"I do." Alexis said idly.

Eddie mumbled something about 'freak', but followed Alexis' finger. The girl was pointing at a particular sentence, hidden amongst the other expressions of gratefulness.

To Sophia – Clara Storm is but a mere shadow of her…

That was it. The sentence went on, praising various others but that was all that was said about this Sophia woman. But it was enough.

"Clara Storm is Derrick's love interest and eventual wife in the series." Alexis explained.

"You sound like a Wikipedia article." Eddie commented.

Alexis ignored her. "The point I'm trying to make is that maybe Clara was based on a real person, named Sophia, just like Nikki Heat is based on Kate."

"Does Kate know? 'Cause I doubt she'd like it." Eddie mused.

Alexis waved it off. "Oh, I doubt my dad had a relationship or anything with this Sophia. Clara's a CIA agent, and he mentioned consulting with them once or twice for research but…" Alexis trailed off.

The girls stared at each other.

"He consulted for the CIA?" Eddie repeated.

"Once or twice was what he said; it was for research on Derrick Storm novels. He only said it way later and he couldn't talk about it. That's all I know." Alexis said.

Eddie sat up straighter on the bed. "But what if this Sophia was a CIA agent? What if she told him a bunch of stuff that turned out to be lies?"

Alexis thought a moment. "And it could be that there was one she swore wasn't a lie, or that he doubted was a lie or something, and this man somehow knew about that…"

Eddie grinned. "Of course, there's only one way this man could know what Sophia said."

Alexis raised her eyebrows.

Eddie's grin widened. "He must be CIA, too."

::::::::::::::::::::

"He's not going to see us." Eddie insisted.

"Trust me." Alexis said. "I can get us in." She marched up to the secretary. "Hello; we're here to see Mr. Colban?"

"I'm sorry – who are you?" The woman asked, raising her eyebrows skeptically.

"We're journalists for the magazine Rock the Vote – it's a new political magazine for teenagers and young adults, to help get them interested in their government." Alexis explained smoothly. "We're here to interview him? It was a spur-of-the-moment thing he agreed to; he spoke with my boss at the rally last night. Don't worry, it's a short interview, we'll only be fifteen minutes or so."

The woman stared at them like she was trying to see if they were counterfeit bills. Alexis stood there quietly and confidently. Eddie wasn't so confident, but she'd been trained to bluff and bluster her way through any situation (of course, the situations she'd been prepped on had been cops, mysterious men, and the like).

"All right." The woman said. "I'll buzz you in."

"Thank you!" Alexis said, giving her a dazzling smile. Eddie smiled awkwardly and hurried after the redhead.

The man behind the desk stood up as the girls entered. Roger Colban had been Senator Rickman's campaign manager since the beginning – which was why the girls were there.

"What can I do for you ladies?" He asked.

"We just wanted to ask you a few questions regarding one of your late employees – a Mr. Joshua Baker?" Alexis said. She and Eddie sat down in the two chairs provided, and Mr. Colban retook his seat.

"I'm afraid you might have to be more specific. I've had a number of employees over the years." Mr. Colban said. "No offense, but are you girls cops? You look a little young."

"We're medical students." Alexis said. She remained calm. "We were put to studying past allergy deaths and came across Mr. Baker's file. We had a point of contention over something and just wanted to settle our dispute."

"Okay…" Mr. Colban said slowly. "I think I know who you're talking about now. It was a peanut allergy he had, wasn't it? Tragic death, that. He died right after a fundraiser we had."

"Yes." Alexis nodded. "Mr. Colban, did Mr. Baker exhibit any unusual behavior prior to his death?"

"He was always a quiet one." Mr. Colban replied. "But come to think of it, yes, he was. Always quiet and calm, he was, but then he started getting agitated. He received phone calls that he was always running off to answer in private. It was quite strange." The man laughed. "You know, at the time, I thought maybe he was having an affair and doing a bad job of handling it."

Eddie gripped the arms of her chair. "He wasn't having an affair." She snapped.

Alexis spoke quickly so that Mr. Colban wouldn't have time to process Eddie's outburst. "That's very helpful, thank you. And when was the last time that you saw Mr. Baker alive on that, uh, fateful night?"

Eddie swiveled her head slowly to look at Alexis. Fateful night? Really? Her expression screamed.

The manager thought for a moment. "It was actually about twenty minutes or so before he was found. I remember because my watch was being iffy – something about the battery connection – and I stood in front of a clock on the wall to reset it and try to get it working again. He said that he was going to have to turn in his resignation. I told him that we'd talk about it in the morning, but right now was a bad time. He said sorry, and that he'd come see me tomorrow morning. Then they found the poor bastard dead not long after."

"And did you see him eat anything that contained peanuts? Was there any food lying about his person when he was found, or any found in his mouth?"

Mr. Colban frowned. "Wouldn't that be in his medical file?"

"Of course." Alexis said soothingly. "But we want to double-check facts."

"Of course, of course. You must be thorough and all that." He nodded sagely.

Alexis nodded, noting Eddie's stiff posture and her attempt to snap her chair arms in half. "Thank you so much. That clears up quite a lot for us." She stood up, and Eddie mimicked her. "Have a good day, sir."

"Yeah, uh, have a nice day." Eddie said hurriedly.

"You too, girls. Glad that I could help." Mr. Colban said absently, his mind already on other things.

The girls hurried past the glaring secretary and out of the building onto the street.

"So?" Alexis said, turning to the blonde. "Did that help you at all?"

"I think so." Eddie said. "But I'll have to recheck that file on Captain Montgomery." She pulled out the files and peeked in. "I can't do this here – I need my chessboard."

"Great. Let's go." Alexis turned to head back home. She felt Eddie turn beside her, hitching up her backpack.

There was a tiny thumping sound, and Eddie wheezed out all of her breath slowly. Alexis turned.

Eddie's eyes were wide as she slowly sank down onto the concrete. Her backpack had a slightly singed hole in it, and Eddie's right shoulder was red. All of it. Red. And bright. And soaking her shirt…

Alexis couldn't help it. She screamed.

Eddie sank to her knees. "They found… me…" She whispered.

Alexis dropped to a crouch, pressing her hand to the wound, or where she thought the wound was. Eddie hissed in pain.

"Sorry, sorry!" Alexis apologized. "We have to get you to a hospital… oh God…" She tore into her purse and dug out her phone. Dialing took a second because her hands were shaking so badly.

"Hello, this is a 9-1-1 Operator. What is your emergency?"

"My friend has been shot!" Alexis said. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Shouting would not help the situation. "You have to get an ambulance here, she's been shot in the shoulder."

"Okay, miss, give us your location and we'll send someone."

Alexis looked up at the street signs. "I'm at the corner of 4th and Century."

"Okay. I'm sending a dispatch over to you now. Can you tell me your friend's condition?"

"Condition?" Alexis looked Eddie up and down. The girl was unnaturally pale, her eyes fluttering. "She's, um, shot of course, and it looks like she's losing consciousness…"

"Where was she shot?"

"In the shoulder."

"From the back or the front?"

"The back. I think it tore through her backpack and that's why she's not dead – she was turning and putting it on when she was shot."

"Okay. I want you to take off her backpack and see if you can find the wound. If you can, apply pressure to stop the bleeding."

Alexis carefully slipped Eddie's backpack off. The girl was barely conscious but reached weakly for it, trying to hold it close. Alexis knew that this backpack was the girl's whole world. More than that, it had the all-important files in it. Alexis slung the backpack onto her own back so that no one could steal it while she attended to Eddie. Now that the bag was off, Alexis could see where the bullet had embedded itself just below Eddie's right shoulder blade, possibly nicking the bone. When Alexis pressed her hand there to stem the flow of blood, her hand became instantly coated in the sticky substance.

"Now what?" Alexis asked.

The sound of sirens was heard in the distance.

"I think the ambulance is here!" Alexis' voice was filled with relief. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome." The operator said kindly.

Alexis hung up and kept her hand pressed to the wound. "Just hold on, Eddie." She whispered. "They'll be here in a minute."

The ambulance pulled up and the EMTs ran out. People on the street, who hadn't bothered to notice one young girl kneeling on the sidewalk, definitely took notice of the scene now. The doctors carefully lifted Eddie onto a stretcher and loaded her onto the emergency vehicle. Alexis climbed in as well and sat, holding Eddie's limp hand, as they patched up her wound and staunched the bleeding on the drive back.

Once they reached the hospital, Alexis was relegated to the waiting room while Eddie was prepped for surgery. She sat down on a nearby chair and called her dad.

Castle was theorizing with Beckett about Viola Baker when his phone rang. He picked it up, mouthing "Alexis" to Beckett, who nodded and took a step to the side.

"Hey, pumpkin, what–" Castle stopped. "What? When? Is she okay?" He listened for a second. "Which hospital?" He nodded. "Okay. We'll head over there right now." He ended the call and turned to a concerned Beckett.

"Eddie was shot, possibly by a sniper. She's being prepped for surgery now. It all happened right in front of Alexis."

Beckett's heart did a stutter, then somersaulted once before resuming at a faster pace than before. "C'mon." She said. "I'll put on the sirens."

They made it to the Providence of St. Mary Hospital in five minutes, walking as quickly as they could without breaking into a run. Alexis jumped up when she saw them, streaking over to Castle and hugging him fiercely, finally giving in to tears.

"Shh, it's okay, pumpkin." He assured her. "It's going to be okay."

"She was hit in the shoulder, but I think the person was aiming for her heart." Alexis sniffled. "She turned and put on her backpack at the same moment so she was lucky… but she lost a lot of blood and they said the bullet might have pierced her lung…" She continued to cry.

"All right, sweetie. Let's sit down." Castle gently led Alexis back to the row of chairs, sitting down next to her and hugging her. Alexis nestled her head onto his shoulder. "I'm going to check with the doctor since I'm her temporary guardian, okay? I'll be right back."

Alexis nodded, sniffling, and let him go. She hadn't felt this helpless, or felt such a need for comfort, in years. Not since the last time she'd made the mistake of believing that her mother really cared about her.

Beckett sat down Alexis' opposite side, sighing. She had no idea what to say.

Automatically, without even thinking, Alexis leaned so that her head was now on Beckett's shoulder. Beckett was startled but responded by taking one of Alexis' hands in her own, and reaching around with her other hand to stroke the girl's hair. Alexis let the tears quietly run down her face, making no sound.

Castle strode back, sitting on Alexis' other side. "The doctor said that Eddie's in surgery now. Normally they'd ask for permission but they couldn't wait so they just went ahead with it. The bullet nicked her right shoulder blade and they just confirmed that it did pierce her lung. They got to her in time to save it but they don't know how long she'll have to need a machine to help breathe."

"Oh God." Beckett whispered before she could stop herself. She placed her hand on Alexis' shoulder, hugging the girl closer. Alexis gave an involuntary whimper at the news.

Castle nodded, distraught. "They also said–"

"Mr. Castle?" The doctor he'd spoken to a minute ago, Dr. Bunsen, was back. "We wanted to let you know that the surgery was successful. The bullet has been successfully removed, and we've hooked her up to a breathing apparatus to help her lungs. We patched up the affected organs, but it will take about a month for the hole to be completely covered and the lung to work on its own. Of course, it might be sooner, depending on how quickly her body heals. But she's young – she might be out of here quickly."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"There's just one thing." Dr. Bunsen went on. "She did lose a lot of blood – almost a liter. We gave her some blood but she's got O negative blood, which means that she can only receive O negative blood. I hate to say it but we used up our last stores of it in a building collapse two days ago and until we get another delivery from the blood bank we won't have any more."

"Will she be okay until then?" Beckett asked.

The doctor shook her head. "She needs a transfusion now, or she's not going to pull through."

"I'm O negative." Castle said quickly. "Will you be able to get enough from me?"

Dr. Bunsen looked him up and down. "We should be able to get enough for her to survive until the next delivery, which is tomorrow. She just needs to survive the night. If you'll come with me, we can get you tested to double-check and then get the blood."

Castle nodded. He looked down at his daughter and partner. "If you two want to go home…"

Both women shook their heads. "We're staying here." Alexis said firmly.

Beckett reached out and grabbed Castle's hand, squeezing it. "We'll see you when you get out."

"Geez, you'd think I'd never given blood before. I was a starving college student once, you know." Castle joked as he followed Dr. Bunsen down the hall.

Beckett couldn't help but smile at him.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Castle returned about twenty minutes later. Roughly fifteen minutes after that, Dr. Bunsen returned. "She's responding. You should be able to look in on her once she's awake. I must say, Mr. Castle, if you'd informed me that you two were related I wouldn't have had to perform so many tests."

All three people stared at her. "What?" Beckett sputtered.

"We're not related." Castle said quickly.

Alexis' eyes widened.

"But you're such a close match you'd have to be. Not her father or mother but at least an uncle or cousin." Dr. Benson held out her clipboard. "See?" She indicated various factors and explained them, but Castle wasn't listening. He looked over at Beckett.

"Every piece…" Alexis whispered, remembering something that Eddie had said. In chess, every piece on the board is connected somehow. Even if it takes a bit to realize it, or if the connection is through other pieces, it's still there. Eddie had been stumped as to how Castle and her mother were connected.

Now they knew.

"How is this even possible?" Beckett asked.

Castle's writer brain could only think up one solution, one that would work in any novel of any quality.

Viola had no father that anyone knew of. The identity of Castle's father was shrouded in mystery, unknown even to his own mother. Sophia didn't lie about everything…

Sophia didn't lie…

"My father. Viola Baker and I must have the same father."

Confession time – plot is not my strong point. Character relationships and development are. I love exploring characters and really, plot isn't something that I delve into as easily. So if you liked this chapter… let me know!

Oh, and as I've never been to NYC, I don't know any hospitals there. I named the hospital after where one of my sisters was born. Now quickly – what famous character was I referencing when I created Dr. Bunsen?

Also, final author note, I swear… O negative is the second most common blood type, after O positive, but since people with O negative blood can only receive O negative blood, it is in constant demand in hospitals and the lack of it in blood banks has actually caused several deaths. So I don't know you, and this is crazy, but life's important, so donate maybe?