Outside, they hear the ambulance, and the bodyguard is visibly relieved. Melanie needs medical attention yesterday.
Beckett rises to her feet and looks at her boss. "I'll show them in" she runs outside the apartment, leaving a flabbergasted Castle behind.
When he realizes he's alone with the girls, he's quick to recover his bearings. He takes the place the bodyguard just left kneeling beside Melanie and he gazes at his daughter trying to look reassuring, and not really pulling it off. "She's gonna be okay. They'll take good care of her"
Alexis nods slowly and plays with her hands nervously, not sure of what to do with herself. She should've been tougher with Melanie, making her tell her parents. She should've…
"It's not your fault, Alexis" Castle can see the turmoil in his daughter's eyes. Behind the worry, there's regret.
Before the teen can say anything, two EMTs are rolling a gurney into the apartment followed by the bodyguard.
A few minutes later, Beckett, Esposito, Castle and Alexis are in the car on their way to the hospital.
"Alexis, have you called Melanie's parents?" Beckett, who's riding shotgun, turns around in her seat to face the teen.
The redhead shakes her head and pulls her phone out of her pocket.
"I hadn't even thought of that…" Castle says. If he's all worked up, he can't even begin to imagine the shock the girl's parents are about to receive.
"You have their number?"
Alexis scrolls through her contacts and is relieved when she finds the number. She nods and hands the phone to the brunette, not trusting herself with the task.
Beckett turns back in her seat, gathering herself before making the call. When she was in the force, she was often the one in charge of calling the families, and no matter the reason, it was always gut-wrenching.
She only tells the mother that she must get to the hospital as soon as possible because something has happened to her daughter. She can hear the shift in the woman's tone. It's the same as almost every other call of the sort she's made. It's worry.
At the hospital, Esposito and his Principals stay in the waiting area while Beckett gets the information.
Melanie's status is extremely critical. She has a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and needs to be taken into surgery immediately.
"We need consent. Are her parents here?" the young doctor in blue scrubs asks, looking up from his chart.
"They're on their way"
Right then, they hear the voice of a worried woman coming from the reception desk. "Melanie? Melanie Jackson?"
The bodyguard points her head towards the woman and the doctor nods before rushing towards the worked-up parents.
She sighs and makes her way towards Castle and Alexis, who stand up from their seats and look at her expectantly. "They're taking her into surgery" Beckett says simply.
"What happened?" Alexis asks.
"She was in fact pregnant and there were complications" the bodyguard says slowly, looking sympathetically at the teen.
Witnessing his daughter's and Beckett's exchange, he decides to leave them alone for a little while. As much as the fact that she went to her and not him is troubling him, he can also understand. "Want something from the cafeteria?"
Alexis shakes her head.
"Coffee" Beckett says. "Decaf, please" she adds as an afterthought. It's pretty late and she wants to be able to sleep when she gets home.
Castle nods in understanding and gestures for Esposito to follow him.
The girls sit down and Beckett throws the teen a sideways glance. She can see something's troubling her – she has a pretty good idea of what it might be – but she'll let her take her time.
After a while, Alexis turns her body towards the bodyguard. "I really tried to make her tell her parents. I-"
"It's okay, Alexis. It's not your fault. There's nothing else you could've done" Beckett says in a soothing tone, but the girl's not convinced. "She should've taken care of herself. That was the responsible thing to do, though I don't expect either of you to be responsible" she adds, mostly to herself.
They're thirteen for crying out loud!
"But she used a condom"
"They're not one-hundred percent effective"
"They're not?" Alexis narrows her eyes at Beckett, clearly taken aback.
"No" the bodyguard tilts her head to the side, meeting the teen's confused gaze.
"Here" Castle says, making them both turn their attention towards him and effectively ending their conversation.
He hands Kate her cup, but instead of taking it, she gets up and grabs him by his coat. "We need to talk"
He follows her without objection until they turn a corner and they stop.
"Have you and Alexis had the talk?"
His brows knit in confusion, wondering what she's talking about, until it dawns on him. "I… I was going to… At some point"
"Well, I suggest you do it soon"
"But she's just thirteen"
"I know, Castle. But she's already exposed to all of that, and don't you want her to be prepared? Even if she doesn't need that information now, don't you rather be safe than sorry?"
He thinks about it for a few seconds, and even if that's the last thing he wants to think about his daughter doing, she's got a point. "You're right" he nods.
Beckett almost offers to help; instead she takes the cup of Decaf from Castle's hand. She's already in way too deep in this. Besides, if Alexis needs anything else, she knows she can ask her.
Their security detail takes the Castles back to their apartment a couple of hours later, after they're told that Melanie is going to be alright.
In the car, they're all silent. Some are dealing with all that happened tonight and others are fighting exhaustion.
Past 1 AM, the novelist and his daughter are getting into the loft.
"I was worried, you know?"
Alexis, who was making her way towards the stairs, turns to meet her father's gaze.
"About all the secret-keeping. I mean, I understand why you did it, but… You know I'm here for you, right?"
"I do, dad" she closes the distance between them. "I'm sorry, I just… it's nice to have a woman to talk to" as much as she's thankful for her father and all he's done for her, she can't help but be grateful to have someone like Beckett, who she can trust and who actually knows what she's going through.
"Hmm" he opens his arms. "C'mere" she smiles before stepping into his embrace. "I hate it that you're growing up so fast" he says, wrapping his arms around his daughter.
"Maybe you should too" she shrugs.
"Never" he says, making her pull away and throw him a ook.
"Now, off to bed"
"Night, dad" she says, climbing the stairs.
"Night" he looks after her with a smile, until he can't see her anymore. Then, he makes his way to his bedroom, where he slumps into the bed, suddenly exhausted.
His little girl is growing up… When did that happen?
Almost two weeks later, Castle and his bodyguards – Ryan and Beckett – are at standing in line at the security checkpoint at JFK. Even though it's pretty early in the morning, there's a great amount of people in the big, light space.
They've been waiting for about 10 minutes, and judging by the line in front of them, there's still some waiting to be done.
Beckett can't help of thinking of Castle as a kid when he starts fidgeting by her side, obviously getting restless, so she decides to keep him occupied with a talk.
"So" she begins, getting his attention. "Did you talk to Alexis?"
"I did" he nods, thankful for the distraction. "I learned so much" he says in his usual juvenile tone.
"Castle, I'm serious" With everything that happened she doesn't think that it's laughing matter.
"Right. It was… uncomfortable"
"As it should be" she nods.
"I guess" he shrugs.
Actually, it wasn't as bad as he thought it'd be. Except at the beginning. Bringing it up was not really an easy task, but considering the situation, it was the next logical step. And, to his dismay, he found her quite interested by the subject. She asked questions wondering how everything works.
He stuttered a few times but tried to answer everything as honestly as possible. That's something he was very adamant about. He's always been truthful with his daughter. He's not going to start lying about something so important.
"Castle" Beckett snaps him out of his thoughts. "You're next"
"Oh" he clears his head and makes his way to the screening station, where a security officer is calling him over.
The flight is short and less than two hours later, they're arriving at their hotel. They go up to their room, and once they're settled, Castle asks his security detail, "Want to go downstairs to have lunch?"
"Sure" Beckett shrugs.
The novelist then turns to look at Ryan, who looks uncertain. "I… I'll catch you guys later, I've got a call to make" Kevin tries to look nonchalant but doesn't pull it off, and Castle notices, but he dismisses it.
"'Kay"
As a matter of fact, the young bodyguard is calling his girlfriend, Jenny to tell her that everything went well with the flight, and he's also starting to miss her a little. They just started dating a little over a week ago and this is the longest he's been without checking in with her.
Castle and Beckett sit at a table for three and start studying the menu. A few moments after they get seated, two guys sit at a close-by table. One of them looks distraught and the other has a sympathetic look on his face. Soon, the flustered man starts spilling his guts to his friend, loudly enough so that the novelist and the bodyguard can hear them.
Castle is quickly drawn in by the conversation, and he finds out how he was cheated on by his brother. The writer takes his moleskine notebook from his coat and a his pen and starts writing excitedly.
Beckett notices and narrows her eyes at him. She starts hearing the conversation too and realizes what he's doing. "Are you actually overhearing people talking and writing it down?" she whispers, leaning towards him.
He's busy taking notes, so he doesn't answer. That gives her time to understand what the conversation is about. "Brothers cheating on each other?" she furrows her brows at him. Hardly original. "Writers-block again?"
"Shh" he waves her off, intently gathering the material.
She straightens up in her chair and shakes her head. While he's scribbling his notes, Beckett scans their surroundings. Suddenly, her eyes lock on someone and her jaw drops slightly in disbelief.
The novelist notices and puts the notebook on the table, following his bodyguard's gaze, the cheating brothers a distant memory. She's staring at a guy and Castle can immediately tell there's a history by the way they're looking at each other.
As he tries to figure out the story between them, he sizes him up. He's in his 30's, attractive, easy on the eyes… He already hates him.
Beckett has to blink a few times to make sure her eyes are not tricking her brain into believing he's there. "Will Sorenson" she says under her breath. What the hell is he doing there?
AN: Oh-oh... What'll happen next?
Thanks for the continued support!