When she gets to her apartment, Beckett replays the events of the day in her head. She had been through that kind of situation plenty of times before, but what's bothering her the most is Alexis.
Even after everything had died down and they were safely in the car, she still had that look of shock in her face, which she totally understands. But she just hopes that Castle manages the situation properly and helps his daughter through it.
At the loft, Alexis has gone to sleep and Castle is sitting at his desk thinking about all that happened that day.
He had had crazy stalkers over the years, but it had never escalated to over following him around wherever he went, and it usually stopped after a couple of pictures and autographs. And it definitely had never involved his daughter.
He runs his hand over his face as he leans back into his chair. It was one of the scariest experiences in his life and without Beckett there, it could've been much worse…
He shakes his head to clear the scenarios – each worse than the last – that were making their way into his brain.
He just hopes that this doesn't affect Alexis too much.
Alexis lies in her bed trying to get some sleep. She's exhausted but she can't seem to shut her mind off.
The incident that day keeps taking over her thoughts. She knows it's totally normal, but she also knows that she's okay, nothing happened to her, and thinking about what ifs and worse case scenarios isn't going to get her anywhere… But she can't help it.
At some point during the night, exhaustion finally takes over and she slips into a restless sleep.
Over the next couple of weeks, Castle had only needed Beckett a couple of times, mostly when he went out to eat with Alexis or things like that.
Yeah, that is exactly what Beckett feared. There was no action. They practically didn't need her. She knows that the lack of action is actually a good thing, but she's starting to get bored.
That Saturday morning he calls her over to the loft for an assignment. She gets there in no time. She knocks on the door and Castle is the one to open. "Good morning, Mr. Castle" she steps in.
"Good morning" he closes the door behind her. "Want some coffee?" he asks her as he walks over to the kitchen.
"Already had some, thank you. Did you need me for something?" she gets right down to business.
"Wow" he says sensing her urgency. "Not feeling chit-chatty, are we?" he acts surprised. She had never been chit-chatty around him. Not yet anyway.
"Not particularly, sir" she rolls her eyes. She's used to his antics by now, and she's more relaxed around him now, though she hasn't let anything slip yet. Or that's what she thinks.
"I'm going to need you to go with Alexis today. She's going out with a couple of friends and I would like you to go with her"
She looks at him quizzically. There's something not quite right here. "Does she know you're sending me to follow her around with her friends?"
His cocky smile fades. He's been busted.
"Mr. Castle, I don't think that's a god idea" she sometimes sees herself in that young woman and she would be outraged if her father pulled something like this on her.
"Yeah, well. I don't want her to go alone" he looks at her sincerely.
She knows it's not her job to argue so she just goes with it.
"Dad-" Alexis says as she runs down the stairs. "Beckett?" she stops in her tracks when she notices their bodyguard. It takes her a second and then it dawns on her. "Oh, dad, please…" she looks at him pleadingly. She can't have their bodyguard following her around with her friends. It's not like she's going to do anything bad, but she has gone out plenty of times before and nothing has happened.
"Would you rather I go?" he tells her pointedly. His mind is set.
"Don't worry" Beckett steps in. "I'll be standing as far away from you as possible" she tries to help.
Alexis sighs. She can't argue anyway. "Fine" she agrees begrudgingly.
Beckett drives Alexis in her car to the shop where she's meeting her friends. They drive in comfortable silence. Neither of them feels the need to talk.
When they get there, Alexis finds three girls and starts talking to them, ignoring Beckett's presence a few feet away from them, who's doing the regular security sweep while always keeping an eye on her Principal.
She's on full bodyguard mode the whole time she's following the teenagers around. Her task is harder because the girl is not by her side, but it's nothing Beckett can't handle.
At some point the girls walk into a shop where they sell lots of girly stuff. Everything's running smoothly until there's a loud sound, which Beckett immediately identifies as the backfire of a car right outside the store. When she turns back, she notices Alexis has taken cover behind one of the stands.
"Alexis?" one of her friends looks after her confused. They all stay there and stare at the scared girl not sure of what to do.
"Alexis!" Beckett runs after her, leaving the confused teenagers behind. "Alexis?" she finds the girl curled up leaning against the stand breathing heavily. She sits by her side and waits for the girl to calm down.
"Oh, God" Alexis sighs softly as she regains her spirits. She covers her face with her hands. What the hell happened?! She heard that bang and she suddenly saw herself starring down the barrel of a gun. Her flight response kicked in immediately. No thinking, no reasoning. Just run.
"It's okay, kid" she puts a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "It's okay"
"Alexis?" one of the girl's friends comes towards them slowly followed by the other two.
"She's alright" Beckett tells them.
"I'm fine" Alexis gets up after her breathing has come back to normal.
"Are you sure?" Beckett doesn't think so.
"Yeah" Alexis shrugs it off. She reassures her friends that it was nothing before they continue with their shopping.
Once they're done, Alexis and Beckett go back to the car.
They're driving back to the loft, this time an uncomfortable silence settles between them as Alexis goes over the incident in her head.
"What happened, Alexis?" Beckett decides to break the silence.
"I'm okay" The girl answers quietly.
Beckett shoots her a sideways glance that tells her she knows she's lying.
She sighs. She may as well tell her. "I- I don't really know what happened. But it won't happen again. I was just... I don't know, being irrational, I guess" She says looking out the window. She's good at being in control, at keeping her emotions in check. It won't happen again.
Beckett nods her head slowly. She makes a mental note to talk to Castle about it. Losing control like that can't be good. Even if it was only the first time. "You know Alexis, it's okay to feel confused after what happened to you. It's not like it's something that happens every day"
Alexis takes it in slowly and doesn't say anything for the rest of the ride.
They get back to the loft and when they get in, Castle comes out of his office with a big smile on his face, which disappears seeing the forlorn expression on his daughter's face. "What happened?" he directs the question to Beckett.
"We had an… incident" she's not sure how much the girl wants to share right now.
"I'm okay, dad" Alexis tries a smile, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "I'll be in my room" she excuses herself as she leaves.
Beckett stands awkwardly in the middle of the lounge for a few seconds until Castle gets his thoughts in order and invites her to sit.
"Beckett, what happened?" he looks concerned.
She sighs. She doesn't really like the fact that she is the one that's talking to him, but he needs to know. "We were in a store, there was a loud sound and she ran to hide" she says factually.
He nods slowly taking it in. "PTSD?"
"That's what I thought" she's no expert, but she had a couple of colleagues that went through it.
He shakes his head in remorse. "I should've seen it. She just seemed… fine. I thought she was handling it. I mean, she was having trouble sleeping but not anymore..." Alexis has always been advanced for her age. He had rarely needed to really guide or help her in her life.
Beckett takes a second to think about it. She knows she will be pushing the boundaries, most of which she created herself, but she thinks he needs some help. "Mr. Castle" she leans forward. "She's a 12 year old girl. She can't handle something like this by herself. No matter how grown-up for her age she seems to be" She's an intelligent young woman who most of the time acts like the parent… But she's only 12. She has an idea about what the girl's going through, and the fact that she's going through it alone… It's just not right.
Castle is taken off guard by this. Beckett rarely talks to him about anything that doesn't directly concern her job, so the fact that she actually told him the cold and harsh truth, which he ignored so stupidly, shows him how much she actually cares about his daughter.
That lights something inside of him. He already admired her for all she had done, especially what she did that day. But that was her job. This? This is different. She doesn't have to do this.
He looks shocked. And she suddenly feels the urge to go sit by his side and comfort him.
You fool, she says to herself. She cannot start getting personal… She just can't. That is not her job! "I'm sorry, sir" she shakes her head as she stands up. "I'm sorry. I'm way out of line"
"No, no" he quickly stands up too. "That's exactly what I needed to hear" his voice softens. "She spends so much time acting like the adult… I sometimes forget she's only a kid"
"You should talk to her"
"I will" he looks directly into her eyes, and she quickly diverts her gaze.
"I- Do you need me for something else?" she avoids his eyes.
"No…" he narrows his eyes. "Thank you" he had never seen her so… insecure? He had always seen her calculated impenetrable façade. She always looks so determined…
"Goodbye, sir" she manages to pull herself together and is able to look at him in the eye again with her unreadable expression back on, before she turns around and leaves.
"Goodbye" he says as she closes the door.
What was that? He shakes his head to try to clear his thoughts. He'll have time to think about… whatever it was that had happened, after he talked to his daugther.
AN: I don't have much experience with PTSD so if anything seems inaccurate with that part, or anything else, please let me know.
Thank you!