Here's where things start to come to a head with the whole dad/grandfather thing. Eddie is definitely not in a happy mood about this… I wonder what Alexis is thinking about all of this, hmm?
And I'm sorry, but Beckett's face when Ryan is talking to them on the phone in "Murder, He Wrote"… PRICELESS.
When Alexis finally regained control of her reflexes and was able to focus, Eddie was shouting furiously at the man who was, apparently, their grandfather. The resemblance wasn't overwhelming, but he had the same eyes, and nose, as her father and Eddie's mother.
Oh, yes, Eddie…
"You do nothing but give my mother cryptic help and hints for years, you never even bothered to contact your son, and now you kidnap us and expect us to thank you? Well you've got another think coming, you fucking arrogant sonofabitch – you can just plop us back on the street, because we don't want your help, we don't need your help, and frankly I don't give a flying rat's ass if you were to go jump off a cliff right now. You stayed out of our lives before, now do it again!"
Their grandfather waited until Eddie paused for breath, and then spoke. "My name is Leon, by the way. I'd much prefer that to Grandpa."
"How about Asshole?" Eddie snarled. Every piece of anger, every bit of resentment and fury directed towards, well, whatever in the universe had caused her mom to die and her to nearly lose a fucking lung, it was all being hurled at this man. He kind of deserved it, but Eddie didn't care about that. She wanted someone to punish, and he was standing right in front of her. It felt like everything she'd been holding in was spilling over, bursting out of her, and she had to let it go or die.
"Because you didn't get to us in time, my mom died – your daughter, dead. Does that mean anything to you? Or do you just not care? You certainly didn't care enough to tell me who you were, just ordering me around like I was some kind of fucking lackey. She fucking bled out on the sidewalk, because she was stupid enough to trust your hints and information. She was trying to do the right thing! She was trying to bring someone to justice! And you practically stood by and watched!"
Leon's hand snaked out so fast neither girl saw it coming until Eddie was reeling backwards, holding her hand to her now bright pink cheek. Her eyes blazed with fury.
"Sorry about that – I had to get you to shut up somehow."
She was going to kill him. She was going to beat every drop of blood out of him, until his face was such a pulp that his own mother wouldn't even recognize him, until…
Alexis stood and crossed over to her cousin, carefully helping her sit back down on one of the twin beds in the room. Eddie kept glaring hatefully at Leon, either ignoring or oblivious to Alexis' attempts to calm her.
"Care to explain your actions?" Alexis said quietly. She was perfectly calm and composed but her eyes were cold.
Leon sighed, and then glanced at Eddie. "I am sorry about all of this. Viola's death grieves me more than you know."
Eddie flipped him off, still holding her cheek. Alexis put her arm around Eddie's shoulders. "Go on." She said.
"I didn't know that your father existed until a few years ago." Leon explained. "One of my agents, came to me and said that there was this guy poking around, trying to become a consultant. Something about research for a book he was writing.
"I checked him out to make sure he was clean, and discovered that he was Martha Rodger's son. I'd had a one-night stand with her after a performance of Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. I'd loved her in it, and seen it several times before I got the courage to tell her in person. I couldn't have a civilian relationship, not with how deep in the system I am, but we had a lovely night together."
Alexis tried very, very hard not to picture the scene. Curse the active imagination her father had given her.
"Anyway, upon realizing that this man was her son, I took another look at him. I'm not stupid – part of my job is being able to memorize faces and recognize people even while wearing heavy makeup or using other disguise techniques. I knew he was my son.
"I couldn't say anything, of course, but I told them to let him in. He got paired with a deceased ex-agent named Sophia."
"Ex-agent?" Alexis asked.
"Deceased." Eddie said cuttingly. "Sounds like someone else I know."
"She turned out to be a Russian sleeper spy. She wasn't working for any particular government when she turned on us, but she would have destroyed the United States if Richard and the detective–"
"Her name is Kate." Both girls said fiercely.
"Excuse me." Leon corrected himself. "If Richard and Kate had not interfered, she would have destroyed the United States.
"In any case, I've occasionally helped him if I can. Not much, as I didn't know about him early enough to infiltrate myself into his life, but I have done what I could. Most recently, I've kept a few pictures from making their way to Page Six. That's all of my involvement with Richard."
"So Gram never knew who you were?" Alexis asked.
Leon shook his head. "No."
"What about my mother?" Eddie demanded.
"Your mother I knew about from the beginning." Leon said heavily. "Her mother and I were very much in love. I was in Prague on an assignment when I met her backpacking through Europe. We hit it off, and we had a relationship that lasted all summer. But when I got called back, I had to leave. I faked my death – made it look like I'd been smashed by a car while biking – and she was never the wiser. I made sure that she was all right financially, and I took care of a few things for Viola throughout the years.
"Then the whole thing with Joseph happened. I knew that Rickman was a bad egg, but I didn't think that it would affect Viola's life."
Eddie and Alexis gave no sign that they'd picked up on the name. Senator Rickman; that was the man they were looking for, the one responsible for all of their pain and suffering (not to be dramatic, or anything…). They had to get out. They had to tell Castle and Beckett. But they said nothing, listening politely. Well, Alexis listened politely. Eddie sent daggers into the floor.
"When Joseph was murdered, I knew he must have found something solid. I contacted Viola, telling her I was a friend that Joseph had been in contact with, helping him investigate. I asked what she knew. She said she knew very little, but that she'd found a package of files under their mattress when cleaning that morning. I told her to keep the package safe, and that I would arrange for her to get out of the state. She insisted that she would only cooperate if I did something for her – she knew that they could find her. She had records, they could trace her. But she didn't want them to trace her daughter.
"Eddie was only five at the time, so I was able to erase her. Medical records, everything. It was like she'd never existed. I instructed Viola on what to do to stay off the records, and especially to keep Eddie safe, as that was her number one priority.
"I checked in on them off and on, but two years ago the daughter of one of the senator's victims – your Kate Beckett – started looking into her mother's death with the help of Richard. I called Viola and told her that people were starting to look into things, and that when the time was right for her to come forward, I would let her know.
"Viola didn't listen. She was determined to find these people, whoever they were, and give them the information she held. She knew that it would put the senator behind bars, if they could get a prosecutor who would get the case to court. She moved back to New York, but she couldn't call me since my number was always blocked and she didn't know who these people were. She spent two years searching. But her activities, and her presence back in the city, tipped off Rickman. After he dealt with this one man, who'd gotten his information from somewhere else, long story, he sent his latest hired hit man after Viola.
"The rest, as you know, is history. You've lived it."
There was silence as both girls contemplated this information. Eddie's anger was tempered somewhat, but it had not evaporated.
"Why did you kidnap us?" She demanded.
"Approximately seven minutes after we took you, Maddox – said hired hit man – entered Richard's apartment with the intention of killing you and destroying the files in your backpack."
"They're not on me anymore. I gave them to Beckett, who took them to the precinct for safekeeping. They're in her desk." Eddie explained.
Technically, they were taped to the underside of the desk with a piece of fake-wood wallpaper over it so that it looked like the rest of the desk, but whatever.
"Why would he have killed me? Not that I don't care about you." Alexis quickly added, looking at Eddie.
"As a warning." Leon said. "Your father was meddling. This would have warned him what happened when he messed with Rickman."
Alexis' arm tightened around Eddie's shoulder reflexively, not only protectively but also fearfully. The pain that would have caused her father…
Wait.
"Do they know where we are?" She asked.
Leon shook his head. "No. You don't even know where you are."
"Don't be a smartass." Eddie shot.
"At least we know where you get it from now." Alexis muttered.
"I'd flip you off, but I kind of need you to like me right now." Eddie replied.
"I meant does he know that we're safe? That we're unharmed and that you'll take care of us?" Alexis asked.
Leon's face said it all. Her father knew nothing about where they were or what had happened. He'd be worried sick.
"I'll be checking up on you as much as I can." Leon explained. "For now, you'll just have to stay here. We've renovated this area of the building into a kind of apartment – you'll have television, food, clothing, anything you'd like. There will be a guard by the door for protection. If you need anything, just let him know."
"How long will we be here?" Alexis asked.
"Until it's safe." Leon replied.
He turned to leave.
"Watch your back, old man." Eddie snarled. "I just might run a knife through it."
Leon turned back to her. "Your anger, although understandable, is not entirely justified when directed towards me. I suggest you learn how to play nice."
Eddie looked like she might fly across the room and punch him again. Alexis tightened her grip on the girl, keeping her sitting. Leon and his two men walked out the door, closing it behind them. The girls could hear the lock click.
"I am going to blow his fucking brains out." Eddie growled.
"We can't afford to be angry with him." Alexis pointed out. "He has the keys to our cell, so to speak."
"There is no 'so to speak' here, freak." Eddie snapped. "He is literally holding us prisoner!"
"I'm just as upset about this as you are." Alexis said, trying to remain calm. "But there's no point in anger. You have every right to be angry. If I'd been through what you have, I'd be angry, too. In fact, I am angry. My dad's going to be worried and frightened, and there's nothing I can do to let him know that I'm okay. Pissed off, but okay. And that angers me. But like I said, there's nothing I can do. We have to make the best of this situation."
"And how's that?" Eddie demanded.
"Well…" Alexis looked around. "I don't know about you, but I'd like to find out about this building. And we need to stay on Leon's good side."
"Do you think that Leon is his real name?" Eddie asked.
"I don't know, and I don't care." Alexis replied. "But we're going to get out of here. You've always bragged about all that you've learned – your street smarts, knowing how to run or hide – well, now's your chance to prove it. Let's bust out."
Eddie nodded, her face relaxing into a grin. "Okay, then. Escape – now that I can get behind."
"But no more outbursts, okay?" Alexis ordered.
"Okay."
:::::::::::::::::::::::
Beckett paced back and forth in the bullpen like a caged animal. She'd been there since seven, when she'd driven over from the loft, leaving a sleeping Castle in bed with a note telling him where she'd gone. In the light of day, everything had seemed for definite, more solid. This was not the time for tears. This was the time for action. Somebody had messed with people that she cared about, and that meant that they had messed with Beckett. This was war.
And she was going to bring it right to their doorstep.
She was going to find who did this, and she was going to get their girls back. And when she did, when Alexis and Eddie were safe and sound at home, she was going to prosecute the asses of those responsible until they were locked up like the animals they were. Nobody messed with her family. Nobody.
Wait – family?
Kate's thoughts came to a screeching halt, piling up like a particularly terrible accident on a freeway. She had just thought of Alexis and Eddie as family. What did that mean?
Don't be an emotional chicken, Kate. She chastised herself. She knew what that meant.
Just a week or two ago she'd learned about Ryan and Jenny's baby, and she'd found herself imagining what it would be like to have one of her own with Rick. She'd spent loads of time with both of the girls, and had grown impossibly close to Alexis (Eddie was still holding out, but she understood the distance that comes with grief). She knew that she loved Rick. At this point, she couldn't see herself with anyone else. The very idea of not being with him was painful. Every time she thought about how close she'd been to losing him to her own stubbornness and stupidity, she felt something grab her heart and squeeze.
Kate stopped pacing, sat down at her desk, and did what her therapist was constantly asking her to do. She asked herself, what do you want, Kate?
She wanted to be a mother to Alexis. She wanted to give her advice about boys, and help her pack for college, and stroke her hair and hug her when things got tough. She wanted to be there for every joy, every triumph, and every failure and mistake.
She wanted to be close to Eddie, too. She could never replace the girl's mother, especially not so soon, but she hoped that they could still become close to one another; a female friend, one to come to with questions, or just to hang out with.
At that moment, she especially wanted both girls safe, so that she could hug the very life out of them and touch their faces and make sure that they were okay.
And she knew that while they had a long road ahead of them, and she would be fooling herself if she said it would be easy, she knew that someday, she wanted to marry Richard Castle.
She could almost here Dr. Burke congratulating her.
Just don't be smug about it. She thought.
"Kate!"
Beckett stood up, smiling as Castle strode out of the elevator, a coffee in each hand. "I hurried over as soon as I saw your note." He said, handing her one of the steaming cups of caffeine.
"Thanks." She said, taking a sip. "I was just going over everything to try and find out who took the girls, and I think I know who it is."
"Oh?" Castle asked.
"Don't sound so shocked, Castle." Beckett warned him. "I actually managed to solve quite a lot of cases before you came along."
"So who is it?" He asked.
"I think it's your dad. If he really is CIA, and he was keeping an eye on Viola, then he was keeping an eye on Eddie, too – maybe even you at this point. What if something was going to happen to them, or he deemed them unsafe, and he took them? What if he's got them?" Beckett held up a paper. "Will faxed me this an hour ago. It's the identity of the person who's blood we found on the knife. It belongs to an agent."
Castle swooped her into his arms and kissed her. Beckett was startled and nearly spilled her coffee, but managed to set it down on her desk so that she could wrap her arms around him and deepen the kiss.
"God, I love you." He breathed against her skin when they came up for air.
Before Beckett could respond, there was an outbreak of catcalling and cheers from one end of the room. Both of them whirled, startled.
Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie were all standing there, clapping, the biggest, happiest grins on their faces.
"Oh, girl, you have got some explaining to do!" Lanie crowed, running over and hugging Beckett, who looked at Castle with a deer-in-the-headlights face. Lanie pulled back and looked at the writer. "You hurt my girl here, and they will never find your body. You got that, Writer Boy?"
Castle nodded, a little shell-shocked. Ryan and Esposito came over and clapped him on the back. "Dude, we'd threaten you, but we're a little too happy this finally happened for that." Espo told him.
"You're happy? I just won the betting pool." Lanie announced.
"Betting pool?" Beckett said, suspicion creeping into her voice.
"Don't worry, the precinct has one on these two as well." Ryan jerked his thumb at Espo and Lanie. "I just won that one 'cause they walked in here together and it was pretty clear that – ow!"
Ryan rubbed his shoulder where Espo had punched it.
"What are you three even doing here?" Castle asked.
"Man, we heard about the girls." Esposito said. "Ryan and I were coming in early to try and get started, see if we could help."
"I just asked Javi to drop me at work on his way in." Lanie explained. She leveled her gaze at Beckett. "And yes, we're back together, I'll explain after you buy me dinner and give me the scoop."
"Well all of this relationship stuff is fantastic, but if I can be selfish for a minute ask that we get back to trying to find the girls?" Castle asked. He tried to go for his usual sense of humor, but everyone could see the pain etched on his face.
"Come on, boys." Beckett said, pulling out the file from under her desk for all of them to see. "We've got work to do."
:::::::::::::::::::::::
Eddie was staring at the gleaming chess set. It wasn't her chess set, but it would do for now. Two of the pieces were herself and Alexis – the others were all obstacles, human and otherwise, that stood between them and getting back to Castle and Beckett. She flexed her fingers, working everything out in her head.
Alexis was sitting cross-legged on the other bed, watching Eddie work. The blond girl's eyes roved over the board, and Alexis could almost see the ideas and strategies as they flicked through her brain. It had been cool, although a little annoying, to watch Eddie beat her in every game of chess they played, but this was simply fascinating. There was something so real about this, the stakes so much higher than simple bragging rights, and Eddie's brain was taking the problem and examining it from every side, picking it apart piece by piece and putting back together as a solution.
It took the better part of two hours, but everything finally fit together. Eddie's hands moved almost of their own accord, her expression never changing as she shifted piece after piece, moving everything around on the board. It was a black-and-white kaleidoscope, everything shifting and moving so quickly it almost made Alexis queasy. When Eddie's hands finally stilled, the pieces had all been moved around so that they were scattered across the board. Alexis couldn't make sense of any of it, but Eddie pointed triumphantly to two white pawns, sitting pretty on the opposite side of the board.
"A player is allowed to trade a pawn for a more valuable piece that has already been taken, if that pawn makes it safely from one end of the chess board to the other. No other piece can do this." Eddie intoned.
Alexis frowned. "So… you're saying that we're the two pawns?"
Eddie grinned. "I'm saying, I found a way to get us out."
:::::::::::::::::::::
Alexis gave an ear-shattering scream.
The guard on the other side of the door burst in, gun at the ready, which made Alexis scream more. When he asked her what was wrong, she just pointed to the floor and kept screaming. It took a full minute to calm her down.
"S-s-sp-spid-er!" Alexis choked out. "I… I h-have a-arach-arachnophobia. It was… it was h-huge!"
The guard turned to look for the spider. Eddie reappeared from where she'd slipped out the door, pointing the man's spare gun right at his chest.
"Say goodnight, Gracie." She said, and pulled the trigger.
The bullet struck the man's bulletproof chest, just as Eddie had predicted it would, and he flew into the wall, crashing to the floor and falling into unconsciousness.
"You like Burns and Allen?" Alexis said excitedly.
"Could we have this conversation later?" Eddie asked. She removed the guard's radio and ushered Alexis out, closing the door behind them. It locked automatically.
"Don't you want your chess set?" Alexis asked.
"It's not mine, and I don't need it. I can see it in my mind." Eddie assured her. "Now let's go."
The building the girls had been in was actually an extremely large warehouse near the docks. Other than the few parts that been renovated for their living quarters, the rest was still a maze of dark pipes and corridors. It would have confused anyone who wasn't prepared. But Eddie, and therefore Alexis, was prepared.
They didn't run. Instead, they walked at a careful pace, Eddie keeping an eye on her watch the entire time. She'd listened for the sound of the car arriving and leaving versus the sound of the new guard arriving when they changed shifts, and timed the passage of silence between the two sounds. Then she'd calculated roughly how much time it had taken the person to get from the car to their 'apartment'. That had narrowed down the entrances and helped her to figure out which route to take once they got out.
"Are you sure you know the way?" Alexis asked.
They turned a corner and Eddie pushed open the door, leading them into sunlight.
"I think this is the part where I look at you smugly." Eddie quipped.
The girls broke into a run, Eddie quickly taking in their approximate location.
"Okay." She said. "I know where we are; I used to live around here. Follow me, and promise me that whatever I tell you to do, you do it. Promise?"
Alexis nodded. "I promise."
They ran through the warehouses, moving away from the river and towards the main part of the city. After who knew how many minutes (although Alexis had a feeling that Eddie could tell her exactly how many), they skidded to a stop by a phone booth.
"Look for a coin – any kind of coin." Eddie said quickly. They had no change on them.
All that Alexis could find was a penny.
"Perfect." Eddie dragged her into the phone booth.
There was hardly any room for them, but Eddie managed to crouch down. "Pick up the receiver. When I tell you to, you're going to dial Oliver's number."
"Oliver?" Alexis was a little surprised, to say the least. "What makes you think I have his number?"
"He asked you out on a date, didn't he? And you said yes, didn't you? How else would he be able to contact you with details if you didn't exchange numbers?" Eddie snorted. "And who did you think that I thought you were texting every time you had your phone with you at the hospital?"
Alexis' cheeks burned. "But why am I calling him?"
"Because he's the one person that we can trust, and the one person that neither Maddox or Leon would think for us to go to." Eddie said. "Your parents, your best friend, any other family members… those are the three places you absolutely can't go when you're fleeing someone. There the places you go to automatically, and every good agent or assassin knows that. But Oliver's just a casual friend from work as far as anyone knows. Thank goodness you never got around to that date or I'd have to rule him out, too. Significant others are a no-no as well."
"But we don't have any money." Alexis protested.
"Just dial when I tell you!"
Eddie bent down and, using the penny like a screwdriver, began to open up and successfully hijack the payphone.
Alexis knew for a fact that they were breaking three major laws.
"Okay, dial." Eddie said.
Alexis took a deep breath and punched in the numbers. While the phone rang, Eddie gave her instructions.
"Say exactly what I tell you to say – don't change a word." Eddie insisted.
Alexis nodded. She not only had to trust her cousin, but she found that, well, she honestly did trust her. There might be definite things about Eddie that she found annoying, but in the end she was an ally. They were in this thing together.
"Hello?" Oliver's voice was a lot more comforting than it should have been.
"Oliver!" Alexis said, repeating the words that Eddie whispered to her. "Listen, I know this is going to sound weird, but would you be able to do me a big favor?"
"Um… sure?"
"I need you to pick up me and a friend." Alexis listened to Eddie, and then rattled off the park. She'd never even heard of that location, and she was the head of the Clean Parks Initiative! "We'll be there in about fifteen minutes. Can you make it in twenty?"
"Sure." Oliver said. "Is everything okay?"
Eddie heard, and gave Alexis something to say.
"I'm in a bit of trouble, but please don't go to the police. It's kind of a family thing. I'll explain everything when we're back at your house. Oh, and I promise that I'll go on that date as soon as this is cleared up." Alexis' eyes bugged out at that, but she repeated it anyway.
Eddie grinned, and Alexis mimed strangling her.
"Sounds good. I'll be there." Oliver promised.
"Thanks so much!" Alexis said. "I'm wearing a blue shirt and jeans, and my friend is wearing a brown shirt and jeans. Oh, and she's blonde. Thanks!" She hung up.
"You forgot incredibly hot and single and wondering if he has a twin brother." Eddie said.
Alexis glared at her. "Thanks for the date thing, by the way." She said sarcastically.
"Hey, you repeated it to him. Now come on; we're on a time constraint." Eddie unceremoniously pushed Alexis out of the phone booth, and they took off running again.
Alexis had no idea how they got to the park, but Eddie seemed to have a map of NYC in her head that she followed like a dog chasing after a squirrel. When they reached a bench, Alexis sat down, breathing heavily. She exercised as much as she could but seriously, they just sprinted for the last fifteen minutes.
"Come here." Eddie tugged on her arm. Alexis stood automatically and allowed the girl to lead her to a clump of trees. Eddie indicated one of them. "Climb." She instructed.
True to her promise, Alexis did not question her cousin but climbed the tree. Eddie followed.
"I wish we had sweaters – that would make hiding a lot easier. Everyone can see our faces. By staying in the tree, we can see everything but people won't automatically see us. People don't look up or down, they look straight ahead. If it's not at the height of their line of sight, they won't notice it right away. People also notice movement more than they notice still objects, so if you think someone's seen you, press yourself against the nearest surface and freeze." Eddie explained.
Alexis nodded.
Eddie watched the time tick on her watch. Exactly four minutes and thirty seconds after they settled into the tree, a familiar brown-haired boy strode into the park.
"That's him!" Alexis said. She moved to jump out of the tree, but Eddie grabbed her arm.
"Wait." She instructed.
"Why? You said we have a time constraint." Alexis argued.
"Doesn't mean that Leon didn't figure it out and get to him first. We have to make sure he's alone." Eddie frowned. "He won't recognized me right away. I don't see any agents but he might be wearing a headset. Stay here."
Eddie dropped to the ground, and then strolled casually through the park, passing Oliver. She had her hands over her ears and her eyes closed, bobbing her head like she was listening to music. After she'd walked about ten feet past him, she turned and waved to Alexis to come on down.
Alexis jumped out of the tree and ran over to Oliver. Eddie also made her way back over, standing next to the other girl.
"Hey!" Oliver looked concerned. "Is everything all right?"
"It will be." Alexis said, smiling. She'd had no idea how good it would be to see him again. "Can we go back to your place?"
"Like, now?" Eddie said.
"That's my cousin Eddie." Alexis said.
"You have a cousin?" Oliver looked confused.
"I said it was kind of a family thing." Alexis said. "I'll tell you when we're at your place."
Oliver's car was parked at one of the metered spots along the side of the park. They all piled in and he drove them back to his house. Eddie sat in the back, watching the cars around them to make sure that they weren't followed. When they got safely inside the (very nice) brownstone, Eddie immediately asked if Oliver's family had a landline.
They did, fortunately, and Eddie asked Alexis to call the 12th Precinct.
"But don't ask them to give you Beckett's extension." She said.
Alexis frowned. Beckett had given her the extension shortly after they'd first met, telling Alexis that if anything happened that would be the work of homicide to not bother calling 9-1-1 but just calling Beckett instead, and she'd get someone there to her faster. "Why not?" Alexis asked.
"Someone might be keeping tabs on her. Geez, do you trust me or not? My mom taught me how to avoid getting caught, this is what I know." Eddie tried not to think about how much her mom might have learned from Leon.
Alexis dialed the precinct number and waited for the operator.
"Tell them you want to speak to the captain." Eddie said.
Alexis repeated this, and a moment later she was patched through.
"Captain Gates of the 12th speaking – how can I help you?" Came a strong female voice.
"I'm sorry, I think I dialed the wrong extension. Can I speak to Detective Beckett?" Alexis asked, repeating Eddie's whispered words.
"Hold on one moment." Gates said. "Detective Beckett!" They could hear her shout.
A moment later, Beckett's voice came through the phone. "Hello?"
"Kate!" Alexis cried, relief flooding her system.
"Alexis?" Beckett's voice broke. "Alexis?"
"Yes, yes it's me, Eddie's here too, we're safe!" Alexis assured her.
There was a sound of what could have been a sob, except Alexis had never heard or seen Beckett cry. Then she heard Beckett call out,
"Castle! Castle it's Alexis!"
Then her dad was on the phone, and Alexis started to cry. "Alexis? Pumpkin, is that you?"
"It's me, yes, Daddy it's me!" Alexis hadn't called him 'Daddy' in years. "We're both here and safe."
"Where are you?"
"We're at a friend's house." Alexis looked over at Eddie for instructions. "Eddie says, don't come here. I'll give you the address and you can send a squad car to pick us up. Just find some beat cops nearby or something."
"Um, can I ask why?" Her dad asked.
"Eddie says that she'll explain when we're safely with you. She says… oh for crying out loud, it's not a freaking talent! She says this is what she's good at." Alexis rolled her eyes.
"It is too a talent." Eddie replied, a tad miffed.
"Okay. Alexis, you stay right where you are. Give me the address and we'll send someone for you girls." Castle said. "I love you, honey, and I'll see you real soon."
"I know." Alexis smiled, her eyes watering. "I'll see you soon."
She hung up.
Over at the 12th Precinct, Beckett broke down into sobs of relief.
:::::::::::::::::::::
It took a good hour, but they eventually got down to brass tacks. First, Alexis broke down in her father's arms, not realizing just how wound up and stressed she'd been until she was in the safety of his embrace. Beckett cried just a little, squeezing Alexis so tightly that Alexis joked about not being able to breathe. But when Becket kissed the top of her head, the teen snuggled in closer and tightened her own grip, smiling. Eddie accepted a hug from both her uncle (that still sounded weird in her head) and the detective, and admitted that it felt good to be back with them.
"I gotta admit, I like shooting that gun." She confessed.
Castle looked a little horrified and said something about taking in a monster, but Beckett just laughed and promised to take both girls to the shooting range as soon as possible.
Then Ryan and Esposito had to come over and hug 'Little Castle', meet Eddie, and hear the story of the girls' daring exploits. Finally Gates came over and broke the party up, reminding them that they were on the clock and if they wanted to celebrate they could do it outside of her precinct.
So the six of them – Castle, Beckett, Ryan, Esposito, Alexis and Eddie – all went into the break room and sat down around the table, the papers and files all spread out in front of them.
"It's Senator Rickman." Castle said slowly.
Both Eddie and Alexis nodded.
"Evidence we pulled to go with what's in here," Espo tapped the papers with his forefinger, "Matches."
"The problem is getting to him." Ryan said. "He's a Senator, that's not going to be easy."
"Not if he confesses." Beckett said. That was what she always tried to go for – the confession. It was the clincher, the way to guarantee that whatever scumbag she was after would be behind bars for sure.
"But how are we going to do that?" Ryan asked.
Esposito looked at him, his look plainly reading dude, stop being the spoilsport and think of something.
"I think that I know of a way." Beckett said. She looked over at Eddie. "But I'm going to need some of your expertise."
"I think I have something, too." Alexis added. She grinned. "I never told you what Oliver's mom does for a living."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Excuse me, Senator?" The leggy brunette walked towards the politician as he made his way to the elevator.
Senator Rickman didn't pause but kept walking, entering the elevator. The woman, mahogany curls swinging, slipped in just before the doors closed, casually pushing the bodyguard out of the way so that he did not make it in with his employer.
That left the senator and the woman alone. Casually, as if she were applying makeup or flipping channels, she thumbed the Emergency Stop button on the lift.
The elevator shuddered to a halt.
The woman turned to Rickman, her hand in her coat pocket. He could see the outline of the gun pointed at him.
"My name is Detective Beckett. You might have heard of me." The woman said, her voice clipped and sharp.
"I'm sorry… I don't know you." The senator replied.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You knew my mother, Johanna Becket. Or, rather, you knew her well enough to kill her."
"I think you're a little delusional. I never killed anybody."
The woman merely held up a paper. "This is a bank receipt showing money going from a bank account set up by three corrupt cops to hold their earnings from mob kidnappings, to your personal savings account. And that's just the beginning of the proof we have against you."
Rickman paled, tiny pink spots appearing on his cheeks. "I doubt that'll hold up in court. And what attorney would possibly prosecute me? You've got nothing."
"But it's the truth, and you know it." The woman took a step closer. "And I know it. And I'm not going to stop until I have you behind bars."
"You've got nothing." He snarled. "What are you? A delusional cop who can't move past her mother's death? I'm a pillar of the community, an upstanding citizen."
"You forget that you didn't just kill one mother. You killed two. Viola Baker had a daughter, Rickman; a daughter that watched her mother as she bled out in front of her. At least I didn't have to go through that. You're going to have to answer for what you did."
"You just don't get it, do you?" Rickman spat. "I am untouchable. I did it, sure, I ordered all of those hits. Your mother, Viola Baker, Montgomery, everyone. And I can stand here and say that because you and I both know that there's nothing you can do about it."
The elevator jolted and began to move again. Rickman smiled triumphantly at the woman, who shook her hair out of her face. The senator frowned.
"Hey – doesn't Detective Beckett have brown eyes?"
"Oh, so you do know her." The woman replied. Her voice was a lot higher pitched and younger now. "I thought so."
The elevator doors opened to reveal the real Beckett, with Ryan and Esposito, their guns drawn. Eddie drew her hand out of her pocket, showing her thumb and forefinger pointed like a gun.
"Oldest trick in the book." She declared happily. "Oh, hey, didja know, Senator, that these elevators have recording cameras complete with sound?"
"Senator Rickman, you are under arrest for the murder of Johanna Beckett and Viola Baker. You are also under arrest for charges of fraud, extortion, theft, and who knows what the hell else." Beckett finished. She made the handcuffs extra tight. "I'm going to make you burn for this." She whispered darkly.
"I still stand on my original position, Detective. No one will prosecute me." Rickman said.
Alexis cleared her throat. Everyone turned. "Dad, I'd like to introduce my boyfriend, Oliver Reagan. Did you know that his mom is an attorney in the DA's office? She's been waiting for a high-profile case like this for years."
Castle decided to pointedly ignore the fact that Oliver and Alexis were holding hands. Well, he'd ignore it for now.
"You know you could have a future as an actress." He told Eddie, who was taking off the long brunette wig. "That was quite the act you did there."
"Thanks." Eddie said, stepping out of the high-heeled boots. They were stuffed with special blocks that made her taller. The shorter-than-it-looked skirt had helped, too. "But I still really like chess."
Alexis groaned. "One actress in the family is enough. She's insufferable now – imagine what will happen if fame gets to her head!"
"C'mon, freak." Eddie said. "Help me change, this outfit is ludicrous."
Alexis gave Oliver a kiss on the cheek and ran to help her cousin.
Beckett handed the soon-to-be-former Senator Rickman over to some uniforms before turning to Castle.
"So?" He asked. "Was it what you thought it would be?"
Beckett thought for a moment. "Well, it felt good. I won't deny that." She wrapped her arms around him. "But this feels better."
And she kissed him, right there in the middle of the crowded room, completely ignoring the flashing cameras, Ryan and Esposito's dropped jaws, and the reaction of the various people ogling the goings on.
"Love you." She murmured.
"Always." Castle replied.
Yay! The Big Baddie is locked up for good! We did it, we did it, woohoo! (I'm shocked that I managed to get through all of this. Eek.) One final chapter to go, and then it's closing time, folks! Thanks for the endless support and kind words! They mean more to me than chocolate. And that is saying something.
I made a Shakespearean reference, as well as a reference to two different Castle episodes – one in season four and the other in season five. Me? Challenging you? I don't know what you're talking about.