Once in her apartment, Beckett wonders what the hell is she doing? She went from being one of the best cops in her rank, to the babysitter of a spoiled, egotistical man-child! It's only temporary. It pays the bills. She reminds herself silently.
She walks over to her bookshelf and runs a hand through the books. She remembers how they saved her all those years ago, in that dark time when she felt like she wouldn't be able to make it… But those were the words, the story… Not Richard Castle. She was drowning and he – the books – saved her.
She also can't help thinking about the look. Not the not-so-subtle I want to sleep with you look, but the sincere I will do anything to protect my daughter look.
I mean, he hired a bodyguard because the consequences of his job were now getting to his daughter. A man who does that can't be so bad, right?
She has no idea.
She takes a hand to her chest and turns the ring that's on the chain in her hand. She smiles to herself and shakes her head. "You wouldn't believe this, mom"
A couple of hours later, Alexis is back at the loft. Castle decides he should tell her about the bodyguard. He doesn't plan on letting her go anywhere other than school alone anymore.
"Hey, pumpkin" he goes over to her room, where she's doing her homework at her desk. Always so responsible he smiles to himself. God forbid young Richard Rodgers to be found inside doing homework on such a fine afternoon.
"Hey dad" she looks up from her homework to meet his eyes.
"I want to talk to you about something" he sits on the edge of the bed.
Listening to her father's serious tone, Alexis turns her chair to face him. "What's up?"
"Umm… Remember the incident with the paparazzi a couple of days ago?"
"Yeah…" she isn't sure where he's going with this. She has practically forgotten all about it. She knows it's something that they have to deal with.
"Well… I hired a bodyguard" he looks at her expectantly. He really doesn't know what kind of reaction he should expect.
Her jaw drops as she takes in what he said. "You did what?" she can't believe he did that! "Dad…" she recovers slowly from the shock. "Don't you think that's a little over the top?"
"Actually, I don't" he looks at her sincerely. "We live in a terrible world, Alexis. I wouldn't be able to handle it if something happened to you"
She cocks her head to the side and sighs. She doesn't have much of a say in the matter anyway. "And when will I get to meet that alpha male of yours that will take care of us?"
"Actually" he says with an excited grin. "Alpha female"
"A woman?" she's surprised. Well, it may not be so bad after all.
"Mm-hmm" he sees she's intrigued by this and he's glad. He feared she wouldn't be on board at all. "She's nice. You'll like her"
She narrows his eyes at him and gives him a smile. "We'll see about that"
A couple of days later, Castle has another book signing, so he calls Beckett and tells her to meet him outside of the loft.
When she gets there, Castle is waiting in the lobby with a young girl, whom she figures is his daughter.
"Hey, Beckett" he waves at her. He's so excited he looks like a nine-year-old on a sugar rush.
She has to restrain herself to not roll her eyes. "Mr. Castle, Miss" she nods her head in greeting.
"This is Alexis" he introduces his daughter.
"Miss Castle-"
"Alexis" she says with a shy smile.
"Alexis," she figures she can be on a first name basis with her. "I'm Kate Beckett" she gives the young girl a smile.
"Shall we get going?" Castle steps in after the introductions are done.
Once they get to the car – an expensive looking one, of course – she realizes that he's the one that's going to drive. She can't have that.
Before he opens the door on the driver's side she clears her throat and he looks at her. "Mr. Castle" she pauses for a second. "Shouldn't I be the one driving?"
"What?" he's taken off guard by that. He hadn't thought of that. "But it's my car"
"And I'm your bodyguard. I have to be in control of the situation, and that includes driving you" it wasn't entirely true that she had to drive, but it wasn't a lie either.
"Fine" he looks at her suspiciously, but decides to drop it.
"I call shotgun!" Alexis, who had been intently listening to the adults, yells immediately. Castle begrudgingly sits in the back.
Beckett is having a hard time hiding a smirk. She's already starting to like the kid.
"Umm" Castle remembers something and he leans forward in his seat.
"Mr. Castle…" she sounds like a mother scolding her five-year-old.
"Yeah, yeah, just a sec" he ignores her warning. "I kind of don't want the media talking about the fact that I have a bodyguard, so I was thinking you could maybe go undercover"
"Alright…" she's worried about what the answer to her next question might be. "As what?"
"My girlfriend of course" what else? He gives her a boyish grin, which she sees in the corner of her eye.
"I'm not going in as your girlfriend" she tells him pointedly. There's no way in hell she'll do that. There's got to be another option.
"Relax, it's just pretend" he says unbothered.
"I don't want to pretend"
"What? Afraid you'll like it?"
"How about a personal assistant?" Alexis steps in.
"I think that's a wonderful idea" Beckett's thankful of the young girl's help, who just grins at the pouting face of her father.
"Are you two going to be like this all the time?" he sits back in his sit and crosses his arms in front of him.
Beckett just shakes her head with a small smile.
At the library, she keeps a close eye on Alexis while staying mostly close to Castle helping him with the signing.
She notices a guy near the section where Alexis is reading who's browsing the books. She keeps a close eye on him and notices that he's staying in one place way too long to actually be looking for something.
When Castle takes a break and goes to the bathroom she sees the guy going towards Alexis. She hurries towards her and gets there just after the guy gets a few feet from the girl. She stands protectively in front of her.
"Beckett" Alexis notices the older woman.
"Sir, I'm going to need you to leave" Beckett looks authoritatively at the guy.
"Him again?" Alexis whispers incredulously when she recognizes the paparazzi from the other day.
"Oh, and who are you?" he looks petulantly at Beckett. "Another of Mr. Castle's conquests?"
"Sir, I won't tell you again. I'm going to need you to leave" she takes her hand to the gun in her hip when he steps closer.
"Or else…?" she sees something in his eye. It's dark and twisted. Almost as if he's ready to do anything for…
Her train of thought is interrupted when he takes out a gun and points it at Alexis. "Everybody down!" she manages to yell. Before he can do anything with his gun, she shoots him dead on the right shoulder without flinching.
The people surrounding them are on the floor and one of them is calling 911.
She rushes towards the guy that's now on the floor and takes the gun. She stands over him daring him to move a muscle – he doesn't.
"What happened?!" Castle rushes to the scene, where bystanders are getting up from the floor, Beckett's standing over a guy that's been shot and Alexis is sitting a few feet behind completely in shock.
"I'm earning my pay" there's something in her eyes that makes him feel scared for the guy she's standing over, but also makes him feel safe.
A couple of minutes later the cops are there, and Beckett's explaining what happened as they take the paparazzi into an ambulance.
They talk to some witnesses who corroborate her story, and knowing that the guy had a history of stalking, she's off the hook.
She goes back to where Castle and Alexis are. "Are you okay?" she asks them.
"Yeah…" he says. "You?"
"I'm fine" this wasn't the first time she had been in this sort of situation. She's more worried about her Principals.
Castle looks up from his daughter and looks at Beckett and he's overwhelmed with a sense of respect and thankfulness. "Thank you"
"Just doing my job, sir. Should we get going?" he had cancelled the rest of the book singing after what just happened.
"Yeah" he gets up always keeping physical contact with his daughter.
This time, Castle's in the passenger's side. Alexis is in the back deep in thought.
When they get to his building they get out of the car.
"Need anything else, sir?" Beckett asks him.
"No, you can take the rest of the day" he tells her. "Thank you"
She just nods her head and when they're safely inside the building, she turns around and walks towards her car.
AN: I want to thank all the readers who have taken the time to review! I appreciate every comment or suggestion, and I hope I'm able to answer your questions through the story.
Also thank you silent readers who follow/favorite this story!
Hope you liked this one!