There will be a chapter at the end of this author's note, so bear with me.

I'm so so incredibly sorry that I haven't posted in a little under three months (eeeesshh). Let me tell you why. As of late, I've been dealing with anorexia, depression, self-harm, and PTSD. The last thing I ever wanted to do was write, and when I tried, nothing good came out of it. It was the equivalent of cave-man speak.

I'm not telling you all this to get pity, but because I value all of you so much, and you've been such loyal, and amazing readers, and you've stuck with this story since May, so you deserve the truth. I hope it's enough, and that you all will join me for the last chapter in this story that should have been given to you so long ago. I was an irresponsible author, and for that, I'm truly sorry.

Disclaimer: You know the drill. I don't own Castle or ABC.

Enjoy!

Alexis breezed through her early morning routine and came down the steps to the smell of breakfast being cooked. She sat down at the bar in the kitchen, and peered around her dad to see what he was making. "Tell me it's not smoreletts."

"Nope, just the regular old kind. Well, with cheese, of course." Castle grinned as he set one down in front of her.

"Thanks," she chirped, flashing him a smile. He seemed genuinely at peace. Maybe they could get over loosing Beckett…

"Oh! I almost forgot the bacon," Castle snapped his fingers, grabbed a second plate and set it on the counter beside Alexis's.

Alexis's fork froze halfway to her mouth as she looked at the bacon. "Dad…"

"Yeah?" he asked, leaning against the counter.

"Why does this bacon spell out the word 'guilt'?"

"Is that what you see?" Castle asked innocently, putting the acting skills his mother had taught him to work. "I just piled it on the plate. Maybe it's like one of those inkblot things. You know, where everyone sees something different? Because now that I'm looking at it…" he twisted the plate toward him and squinted his eyes. "It kinda looks like an ocean."

"Dad," Alexis said skeptically.

"It's interesting that you should think it says 'guilt' though…do you have anything to feel guilty about?" Castle asked, one eyebrow raised.

Oh, crap, Alexis thought. He knows. But he can't know, can he? There's no way. Just…just play it cool. You've been acting weird. Tell him it's PMS! That'll shut him up. "Nope," she said lightly, shrugging her shoulders, amazed at how steady her voice came out.

"You sure?" Castle feigned concern. "Because you've been acting pretty weird lately…I'm worried about you."

Alexis almost broke at that, but instead just smiled and said, "It's girl stuff, Dad."

"Well, what is it? Maybe I can help you."

"It's PMS," Alexis said bluntly.

"Oh." Castle blinked.

"Oh."

"Well…" Castle struggled to come up with words, momentarily thrown off course. She was good. He'd have to change his plan. "Okay, well, that changes things. I'm…I'm glad everything's okay."

"Mmhm," Alexis nodded with a sweet smile.

Castle turned back to the stove.

Alexis let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding.

"So, I talked to Kate last night…" Castle began with his back still to her.

That caught Alexis off-guard. "Oh?"

Castle nodded. "Yeah, she came over for a bit after you went up…we just talked. It was nice."

"What happened to putting her out of your mind?" Alexis asked, throat dry.

"Funny thing about that…it didn't work," Castle locked eyes with her. "And I guess it didn't for her either…you know, it's strange. I almost feel like there was some outside source, nudging us together again."

Alexis froze for a moment, and promptly wolfed down her omelet and then looked at her watch. "Well, would you look at the time," she said, jumping up and grabbing her bag. "I have to get to school."

Castle chuckled. "You still have another hour before school."

"Yeah, I'm going in early to study with Delaney for our big physics test today," she fibbed, hand on the door. "Bye, Dad! Love you!"

"Lex, wait," Castle called out as Alexis was halfway out the door.

Shoot. Alexis poked her head back in. "Yeah, Dad?"

"Kate told me everything," he informed her with a soft smile.

Alexis's face fell. "Oh my God, Dad, I'm so, so sorry, I wanted to tell you, believe me, I did, and it was really, really hard not to tell you, but I just thought it was for the best, you know? Like maybe I could help somehow? So, I went down to the station, and I blackmailed a Detective. Oh my God, I blackmailed a Detective. Dad. And I've been lying. A lot. And I feel so dirty about it because I hate lying to you and – " her words tumbled out a mile a minute.

"Alexis," her father cut her off, laughing. "It's okay."

She stopped and stared at him. "It's…what?"

"I said, it's okay," Castle set his coffee cup down on the counter and came around to his daughter, putting her hands on her shoulders. "I'm not mad."

Alexis blinked up at him. "You're not?"

"No!" Castle chuckled incredulously. "Of course not. Kate made sure and tell me what your intentions were. How could I be mad that you wanted to fix everything? Or that you dropped said plan because you wanted to support me? That's not something to get mad over, that's something to celebrate."

Alexis blushed. "I lied to you, and went behind your back…"

"And had this come out a week ago, I might have been angry, but it didn't, and everything's all right," Castle smoothed down a stray hair on Alexis's head. "I actually wanted to say thank you."

Alexis's eyes grew to the size of tennis balls. "Thank you?"

Castle nodded calmly. "If you hadn't meddled…I don't know what I would have done."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, Kate and I…we did a lot of talking last night."

Alexis felt her heart flutter. "And?"

"And, we're not out of the woods yet, but we're going to try and work it out. Together. And a large part of that was your doing," Castle said.

"Really?" Alexis asked, unable to keep the excitement off of her face.

"Really," Castle confirmed. "By the time we got done talking it was about two in the morning, so she's asleep in my bedroom as we speak."

"Dad, that's great!" Alexis grinned and wrapped Castle in a large hug. "I knew you two could work it out."

"Thank you," Castle kissed the top of her head. "Now, go eat the rest of your breakfast."

Alexis took a seat at the bar and happily took a bite of a piece of the "G", and then pointed the strip at Castle. "You guys are lucky you have me, you know."

Castle raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Sure," Alexis said simply. "Who knows how long you two would have drug it out."

Castle narrowed his eyes at her, a smirk playing on his face. "Hey, we would have gotten there eventually."

"Eventually," Alexis snorted.

"Now you're just being smug."

Alexis grinned and popped the rest of the bacon in her mouth.

Everything was going to be okay.

The End.

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