Daughter For A Summer Chapter 11: Wild Card and Final Phase, a castle fanfic

I really shouldn't have written this tonight... I have to get up really early in the morning... Couldn't decide between the titles for this chapter so I put both.

I do NOT own Castle!

"Why do I feel like you have a wild card hidden up your sleeve?"

She glanced slyly over at him. "Because my dear detective, I do."

Lanie mentally chuckled as the detective paled a bit, then she caught sight of a certain red head walking towards them. Ah, here comes my 'wild card' now.

"Hey guys, it's time for me to leave. See you tomorrow!" Alexis called out to the guys and Lanie before walking over to Kate. "I'm thinking Chinese for dinner, is that okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure that's fine." Kate replied distractedly, obviously still thinking about Castle's question.

"Okay then…" Figuring that she was just distracted with a case, Alexis headed out of the precinct with a final wave to the guys. She didn't even realize that Lanie was following her until they both stepped into the elevator and she started talking.

"Writer Boy asked her to the Hamptons again, under the guise of keeping him from blowing himself up with fireworks."

"Someone needs to be there to keep an eye on him. He's careful but… Let's just say he has bad luck with fireworks… So? Is she going to go?"

"I think she is going to need some help making up her mind, if you know what I mean?"

Oh she knew what she meant alright, but there was just one thing. "Won't that be a little counterproductive though? I mean, I'm not stupid. I know what you are aiming for."

Lanie eyed the younger girl for a minute. "I suppose that's true, but I'm hoping that if we can just get her up there, then they will make progress without our help. Even if it takes a while."

"Alright, tonight then?"

"Yup, don't want to give either of them time to chicken out. I have a bet to win."

The elevator dinged its arrival to the ground floor and Alexis stepped out, wondering what Lanie meant by that. But, she trusted the older woman so she didn't ask, which was probably a good thing.

"Let me think about it okay? I don't even know if I could get any more days off."

A good reply? Or a bad reply? Which was it? Castle wasn't sure. At least she was thinking about it, right? The only thing he knew was that waiting for her reply, which was likely to be a while, was going to be worse than waiting to see if she would reply when he first texted her.

A series of thumps could be heard above head as Gina got a head start on packing her things. It was her choice to leave but he wasn't exactly broken up about it. Despite the fact she stole his phone in the beginning, it hadn't been too bad but the spark they had just wasn't there. There had been a tiny glimmer of that spark when they had talked on that phone that night but that's all it was, a tiny glimmer.

He invited her because he didn't want to be alone and even though he would be alone after she left for a month or so, it didn't seem quite so bad now that he had something to look forward to after the book was done. With Schlemming still hanging around, he was really considering not going back even after it was done but now that he knew he was out of the picture, well there was no question on whether he would go back or not.

Now the only question was, would Beckett decide to take him up on his offer? He really, really hoped she would but, he liked to think he knew her pretty well and from what he knew, it was very unlikely that she would. Then again, she did say before that the things he didn't know about her could fill a book so maybe he wasn't completely wrong in hoping that she would agree?

Either way, wondering about it wasn't getting anything done so with a sigh, he delved back into the world of Nikki and Rook.

A few hours after Alexis left the precinct, Kate slid her key into the lock and pushed open the door of her apartment only to nearly get knocked over by the smell of delicious Chinese food being cooked.

Hanging up her coat by the door, she made her way into the kitchen where Alexis was busy making a type of stir fry but she turned around when she heard Kate walk in.

"Hey, you have perfect timing! Everything is ready, we just need some plates."

"I'll get them."

They quickly dished up the food, then sat down to eat. Normally they would talk about things that happened during the day or things they were planning to do later on but Kate was obviously preoccupied with something so they sat in silence until Alexis decided she might as well get the final phase of her and Lanie's plan going.

"I got to talk to dad earlier today. We talk almost every day but it's not the same as actually talking to him face to face, you know? I miss him a lot but geez, if we can't even last a summer apart how are we supposed to survive when I go to college? It's going to be hard for sure. Oh speaking of dad, earlier he asked if I was doing anything for the fourth. Are we doing anything for the fourth?"

Kate was silent and Alexis didn't say anymore because she knew she had already planted the suggestions in Kate's mind.

Kate knew she was being uncharacteristically out of it since she had gotten that text, but her mind was going a mile a minute, trying to come up with an answer. Every time she was close to deciding, she would come up with another reason to make her rethink her decision. Over and over again she would change her mind and she was starting to drive herself crazy. It should not be this hard to decide whether or not to celebrate a holiday with a friend.

But it was oh so much more than that. And that was the problem.

When it came down to it, yes she wanted to go. She'd wanted to a month ago on memorial weekend but that chance was taken away from her. What if something similar happened again? What if he cancelled last minute? Or what if she got up there and Gina was gone, but he had some playboy model wrapped around him? She didn't know what she would do if that were the case.,

But then, what if nothing interfered this time? A month ago she was ready to take that leap into the unknown, but what about now? Would she be able to now? Would she want to? It wasn't really a question of if she wanted to, but she honestly didn't know if she would be able to now.

It would be so much simpler if she didn't go. But if she didn't, what if he didn't come back at the end of the summer? What if even if she did go, he still didn't come back after summer? What if he finally decided she wasn't worth the trouble? What if his inspiration had run out?

What if he had given up on her? And that's when she realized what was truly holding her back. For the past year the man was practically glued to her side yet he willingly walked away from her that day and, though she hated to admit it, she was afraid to find out if he really had given up on her.

Alright, She thought as she sat on her couch with a plate of food in her lap and Alexis a few feet away from her on the couch. I'm not going. I am being a pathetic coward about it, but I don't want to go up there and find out that he's given up on us, if there even was an us in the first place. So I'm going to stay right here and see what happens at the end of summer.

She sat back a little further on the couch, semi-content now that she had made a decision. At least her brain was, her heart wasn't exactly happy about this decision.

And just like that her heart won the war it was waging with her brain; she knew what she had to do.

Here was a perfect opportunity for Alexis and her father to see each other again and she couldn't bring herself to deny the young girl this opportunity. She was still afraid to find out if he had given up or not but the sense of guilt she knew she would feel if she didn't do this outweighed her fear. She just hoped she wouldn't regret this in the end.

"Hey Alexis? How do you feel about paying a surprise visit to your father?"

Okay, in case you didn't understand: Lanie's wild card was Alexis and the fact that she knew Kate would feel guilty if Alexis missed this chance to see her father just because she didn't want to go. As for why she didn't just send Alexis by herself or whatever, other than the fact it wouldn't be very Casketty, that will be talked about in the next chapter.

Soooooo, looks like Lanie is going to win the bet. Poor Esposito. I probably won't include much of what happens between them in this story but if anyone is interested in it, I might make a short side story about it.