"Hey, Beckett, I pulled those plates you wanted."

Kate looks up from the paperwork on her desk to see Ryan walking toward her with a file in hand. She thanks him, taking the file, and flipping it open. She'd found the security footage from outside Addison's apartment building that had previously been undiscovered because of a system error at the apartment complex. Once the system was up and running again, she'd ordered the video from the timeframe that would have fit the murder and taken note of every visible license plate. It could very well be another dead end, but she had to try. There had to be something on the security tapes she could use to develop a new lead.

She reads through the list of names, ruling out the neighbors she's already spoken to. A handful of names are new to her, so she stars them on the list to run background checks on later. She keeps expecting to see a name connected to Tyson or Bracken, just because she can't get Castle's crazy theories out of her head. She has to remind herself that the cases aren't actually connected.

Kate gets to the bottom of the list and starts to pull up the background check program when her phone rings.

"Beckett," she answers out of instinct.

Her heart catches in her throat when she realizes it's Addison's school calling. Her mind races with all of the possibilities of what could have gone wrong, barely listening to the administrator on the other line. What if whoever killed her parents got to her as well? What if this whole thing gave her some form of PTSD and she had a breakdown at school? What if?

"Ms. Beckett, are you there?"

Kate shakes her head, refocusing on the conversation.

"Yes, sorry, I'm here. They brought in the suspect we've been looking for and I got distracted," she lies. "Can you tell me that again?"

She pays attention this time. Listens as the woman on the other end explains Addison got into a fight. A fight? Addie? Not possible. Or maybe there's a whole other side to the girl Kate just hasn't seen yet.

She hangs up the phone and pushes herself out of her chair, scrubbing a hand through her hair.

"Catch a lead?" Castle asks, walking into the bullpen with their mid-afternoon coffees.

"No," Kate sighs, sliding into her coat. "I have to go down to Addison's school."

"Everything okay?" he asks, worry seeping into his tone as he tries to hand her the coffee.

"She got into a fight."

"Like a fist fight?"

She shrugs, finally taking the coffee and heading towards the elevator. "I don't know. The vice principal barely gave me details. She wants to talk in person."

He trails behind her. "Do you think she's acting out because of what happened –"

"Castle," Kate cuts him off, frustrated, as she pushes the down arrow to call the elevator. "You know as much as I do. Probably more actually, because I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Don't look at me; I have no experience with school fights."

She steps into the elevator taking a long sip of her coffee as Castle holds the door open.

"Do you want me to come with you?" he asks.

"No, I'll be fine."

"We're a team now, remember?"

Kate steps toward him, cupping his face with her free hand. She rubs her thumb over his jaw. "I know."

He nods, stepping back to let the elevator doors close. "And Kate? First time parents never know what they're doing."


Addison looks so small sitting there outside of the administration office. Perhaps even smaller than she did on the day she discovered her parents' bodies. She's sitting on her hands, her eyes trained on the floor. At least there are no visible injuries on her. But does that mean she was the one to start the fight? Kate slides into the chair next to her, silently. Addison doesn't look up; she doesn't even move.

"You gonna tell me what happened?"

Nothing.

"Look, you can either tell me your side now or wait for me to hear the vice principal's version."

"I didn't hit her that hard," Addison mumbles quietly. "It's just a bloody nose, she'll get over it."

"You make a habit out of hitting people?"

She shakes her head, still not looking up from the floor.

"Then what provoked you?" Kate asks, jumping slightly as the school bell sounds.

She just shakes her head again.

"Addie, I know I haven't known you for that long, but I think I know you well enough to know that getting into fights isn't who you are. Did this girl do something to you or say something to you that made you upset?"

Addison finally looks up to face her. "I was defending you."

Kate's jaw nearly drops open. "Defending me?"

The girl shrugs, withdrawing again. "Word gets around you know, people talk, Google exists."

"I'm not sure I'm following."

"Jaclyn…she's always hated me, always been jealous of me. I beat her in regional competitions every year and there's no way she could even touch my National Titles. But here at school, she's popular. And she uses her status and her lackeys to make sure I don't forget how she feels about me on a daily basis. When word got out that my parents died, I didn't get any pity looks from her. She just gives me these smug little smiles, like she's happy that my perfect little life bubble has been popped."

Addison takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself while wiping away a stray tear.

"Lately, she's been trying to throw around these foster care jokes, so I finally told her that my birth mom took me in. So I guess she did her research, so she'd have some new material to taunt me with."

"About me," Kate says slowly.

Addison nods. "She called you a whore. Teenage pregnancy, engaged to a rich man ten years older than you. I couldn't let her talk about you like that. She doesn't even know you. Or Castle. And she doesn't know about the circumstances that caused you to give me up or any of that. I just…I snapped. No one gets to talk trash about my family, especially not Jaclyn Hoffman."

Kate sighs, reaching over to rub her back. "Oh kid, you really are a Beckett."

"So, are you going to ground me or something?"

She shakes her head, still rubbing her back. "No. I'm going to thank you. Thank you for defending me and for seeing me as family after everything."

"So, you're not mad?"

Kate shakes her head again, a small smile gracing her lips. "Sounds like she had it coming."

Addison laughs, seeming so much bigger than she did when Kate first arrived. So maybe she had no idea how to be a parent, but it seemed like she was doing an okay job at it.

The secretary pops her head out of the office. "The vice principal will see you now."


"The infamous Muhammad Ali returns," Castle says by way of greeting when Kate and Addison walk into the loft.

Addison looks at him confused. "Who?"

He gapes at her. "Kids these days. They don't even know their boxers."

"Okay old timer, settle down," Kate smirks, tossing her keys on the table.

"What's the verdict, Detective?" he keeps teasing. "Life without parole?"

"I got suspended for the rest of the week," Addison sighs, slumping down at the kitchen island. "Meanwhile, all Jaclyn gets is an ego boost."

"The bloody nose caused that?" Kate asks.

"No, the continued slippage of my perfect bubble."

"You lost me," Castle says, pulling out ingredients to make dinner.

"Jaclyn is the arch nemesis," Kate clarifies. "And the vic."

"Don't call her that," Addison groans. "It's not like I murdered her."

She pushes herself back out of the chair. "I'm going to go take a shower before dinner."

Kate takes her place, watching Castle move around the kitchen.

"How long should we ground her for?" he asks, turning on the oven.

She picks at the edge of a placemat. "I told her we wouldn't."

"Kate –"

"She was defending me. This Jaclyn girl was trying to tell her that her new mother is a whore. Tell me you wouldn't have done the same thing if some guy tried to say that to you."

"Why did she call you –"

"She was trying to tick off Addie. Sounds like she did her research, figured out my age and how old I was when I got pregnant, made some false assumptions about me being in this engagement just for the money."

Castle clucks his tongue. "I knew it. Gold digger."

She shoots him the look.

He laughs and moves to stand in front of her. "So what you're trying to say is that she's just feisty and fiercely protective like her mother?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, but how is she going to learn there are consequences for her actions?"

"She's an honors student who just got suspended. I'm pretty sure she's punishing herself enough right now."

He doesn't respond, instead pulling out the cutting board.

"When she comes home drunk or misses curfew or some other stupid teenage thing, we'll punish her. But over this –"

"No, no I agree with you. No one gets to call you that and get away with it. And this was a girl in her grade? Another 8th grader?"

Kate nods. "Apparently they compete against each other in dance and Addie wins every time."

Castle hums, cutting up the cilantro. "Alexis never had trouble with mean girls and I was beginning to think they only existed in a universe created by Tina Fey that stars Lindsay Lohan. Do you have any experience with them?"

She shakes her head. "No. I mean I think I might have been aware that it was happening, but no one in my circle was affected by it."

"It's kind of pathetic that she has to look up dirt on you, this thirty something homicide detective, just to upset the girl who's a better dancer than she is. Did you get a chance to talk to one of her parents?"

"Nope."

He adds the pasta to the water boiling on the stove, and slides the garlic bread into the oven. "I'm sure no one else actually thinks that you're –"

"Castle, I'm not taken aback by the insults of a 14-year-old girl."

"I was just –"

"I know."

He sets a timer for the bread and moves back over to stand by her, slips his hands into hers. She sighs, squeezing his hands.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep snapping at you today. I'm just overwhelmed with everything right now and it's making me really irritable," she apologizes.

"So take the night off," Castle suggests, moving around to stand behind her. He starts massaging her shoulders, kneading the knot out that always forms just below her neck. "I know we had planned to look at caterers tonight, but let's put off the wedding planning too. That's just more added stress you don't need right now."

She hums, her eyes slipping closed as she lets the sensation of Castle's hands take over. She nearly moans when he manages to get the knot out and skims his fingers down her arms.

"Maybe we should just go to bed early so I can use my whorish ways to screw my sugar daddy."

He slips his arms around her torso from behind, letting his head fall onto her shoulder.

"Right now," Castle whispers into her ear. "My will still has everything going to Alexis."

Kate scoffs, mocking disgust. "That's it, the wedding is off."

He laughs and she can feel the rumble of it against her shoulder. His fingers slip down and skim the top of her waistband.

"But I'm definitely not opposed to some extra screwing time," he grins against her ear.

"I don't know, babe. If I'm not going to inherit any of your fortune, then what's the point?"

Castle tilts her chip up, guiding her mouth toward his. "This is."

He kisses her, his hands scraping up through her hair, holding her in place. She nips at his lower lip, trying to get him to open his mouth to her. He starts to oblige, but then pulls apart when the sound of water sizzling on the stove startles him.

"Damn pasta," he mutters, rushing back over to the stove to turn the heat down.

Kate sighs, rubbing her thumb over her lower lip. "You know what we could really use? A date night."

"Amen to that," Castle says, pulling open the oven door to check on the bread. "Pick a night, any night, and I'll plan it."

"Sometime next week?"

"The sooner the better."

Kate pushes herself out of the chair to go uncork a bottle of wine.

"White or red?" she calls over her shoulder.

"Definitely red tonight. Go with the Merlot."

She gets two glasses down, hesitates, and then pulls a third one down for Martha. "Is your mother joining us tonight?"

"Should be."

She pours the wine and then brings one of the glasses over to Castle, setting it down beside him and then leaning her back against the counter.

"Have you ever Googled us?" she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

Castle snorts. "No. Why?"

Kate shakes her head. "Just something Addison said."

"What, worried we're getting bad press? We're not Brangelina. And I'm really not that famous."

"Just wondering where this Jaclyn girl got her research is all."

"Oh she probably found some trashy, New York-based tabloid that has nothing better to cover than my love life," he laughs. "Not that my love life isn't oh so very exciting."

"Watch it," she smiles, elbowing him.

He keeps laughing as Addison comes back downstairs after her shower.

"What's so funny?" she asks.

"Nothing," Kate says, rolling her eyes. "Castle just thinks he's funnier than he actually is."


AN: I apologize for the massive delay on this. It's been a crazy couple of weeks.