A/N : Back from my trip and apologies for the gap in the release of a new chapter. Also, sorry for any confusion with the re-posting of chapter 9. My mistake. This chapter became quite a bit longer after I took on board the suggestion of Sanctuaria, who I thank for such encouraging reviews. Their suggestion of a scene between Castle and Alexis sparked my imagination and made me address a situation I had with the story. Before this Alexis didn't appear in the story until the very end and I couldn't come up with an organic way for her to be a part of it. I was rationalising that Molly Quinn was on vacation during the shooting of this episode. I hope the addition to this chapter doesn't slow the pace too much. Before, this chapter was just fluff, not getting into M territory but close. Basically if you wouldn't see it on the show you won't see it here.
Disclaimer : Castle is definitely the property of Andrew Marlowe, ABC and the other talented writers of the show. I just like to get immersed in the world and characters they created.
With a carry-bag of hot, sweet smelling Chinese take-out in one hand Castle opens the door to his loft with his other. He pushes open the door and walks in with Beckett following him close behind, the bottle of red wine in her hand her contribution to the evening. The door closes behind them but before they can proceed any further Castle is engulfed in a flurry of red hair and long limbs as Alexis tackles him in a desperate hug.
"Dad!" Alexis exclaims desperately.
"Alexis! Pumpkin, what's wrong?" asks a confused and surprised Castle who has just managed to not drop their dinner at his daughter's unexpected assault.
Alexis lifts her head from where she had it pressed into his chest to look up into his face. Seeing his look of surprise and confusion her worried expression changes. She narrows her eyes and a look of suspicion appears on her face.
"Dad, you called me, out of the blue! You were cryptic, uncommunicative and I could hear the stress and worry in your voice. Whenever you've called me or Grams like that there's been something seriously wrong. So are you going to tell me what's wrong?" asks Alexis rapidly, her still present fear showing itself in the way the words tumbled from her mouth
"I think you two have something to talk about," says Beckett as she takes the bag of food from Castle's hand, passes the pair of them and takes their dinner to the kitchen.
"Come on," says Castle as he moves his arm around Alexis' shoulder and leads her to his study.
Once they are inside the familiar and comforting space that is his memento filled study he closes the door behind them and leads her to the couch in front of the plasma TV. Once they are seated he takes her hands in his and they sit facing each other.
"Sweetie, I'm so sorry that I caused you to worry. There's nothing wrong. It's just a difficult case we're dealing with at the moment," he says earnestly looking into her blue eyes, those same eyes that mirror his own.
Seeing his sincerity and none of the tells indicating that he's lying, she is relieved but now has to set him straight, "Ok, you say there's nothing wrong and I believe you but seriously Dad you can't keep doing that. The number of times we've had conversations like that and I find out latter that you were in danger or Kate was in danger or the whole city was in danger. I know that you think you are trying to protect me but I've grown up and I can read between the lines. I'll always worry about what you and Kate do but I've come to accept it but a call like that really stretches that acceptance."
Castle looks down at their hands and sighs, "I know and I appreciate that the work I've been doing with Kate at the 12th hasn't been easy for you. You didn't grow up with me being a cop or even a pretend cop so that you could at least be a little prepared for some of the things that could happen. But I promise that I would never do anything that would deliberately put myself at risk."
"Oh really, like sticking your nose into a federal investigation, that you have no right to get involved with, other than it being Kate's case, being infected with a deadly toxin and nearly dying," interrupts Alexis sarcastically.
Castle cringes at that example from his recent past and looks at her contritely, "Yeah, you got me there."
"I just want you to be honest with me Dad, to communicate with me. To treat me like an adult and trust me so that I don't think the worst," she pauses for a moment and then asks in a quiet voice. "Remember that time you and Grams were held hostage in the bank and we all had dinner afterwards?"
Castle nods, not sure where she is going with this.
"Do you remember going over with Kate all the times you both saved each other's lives?" she continues carefully.
Starting to get where she is coming from he nods again, slowly.
"Do you realise that was the first time I heard of some of those stories. Stories of where you could have gotten yourself killed. It was bad enough at the time dealing with the fact of all those times I could have lost you on top of what had happened that day, including breaking up with Ashley, but what was almost as bad was only just hearing of those stories from you then. That you didn't trust me enough to tell me those stories when they happened. I need you to promise me that you'll be more open with me about this and trust me to be able deal with all the crazy stuff you get yourself into, OK?" and she gives him a look at he was sure she could of only have learnt from Beckett.
Castle thinks for a moment on how deeply his daughter has been affected by his life over the last few years and makes a vow to himself and then to her, "OK Pumpkin, I promise to treat you the way you have always deserved to be treated. To be honest with you and not to hide anything from you," he pauses and gives her a hopeful look. "So are we good?"
She puts her arms around his neck, smiles and gives him a peck on the cheek, "Yes dad, we're good. Now what about this case that has you so concerned?"
"Ah, testing me already I see. Ok, well, we're investigating a murder where it's possible the victim's sister was kidnapped by a human trafficking gang and….," he pauses not wanting to go further but he doesn't need to as Alexis immediately gets where he is coming from. The smile drops from her face.
"Oh, and you were thinking about last year," she completes for him back to her quiet voice.
"Yeah," he answers in a similarly quiet voice.
It's Alexis' turn to sigh, "And you were worried about me? Have been ever since then?"
"Yeah, you know me. I can't let it go. I think of our victim's sister and what might of happened to her and all I can think of is what could of and what DID happen to you," he says looking back into her eyes.
"Yes, I know you and you also know that I've tried really hard to put last year behind me. All my time with Dr Harrison has helped but it will always be a part of me and I know it will always be a part of you. You have your own ways of dealing, some a bit more obsessive than others," she gives him a small smile at that, "But we both have to try and move on and be thankful that we got through it. What's the alternative? I never leave my room or you go with me everywhere 24/7?"
"Hey, don't think I didn't give those options serious consideration," Castle protests only half joking.
She gives him another smile, "We're a great pair. I worry about you, you worry about me…"
"And we both worry about what your grandmother gets up to on her dates," interjects Castle.
"Eww!" they both say at once and then share a comforting laugh together.
As they smile at each other Alexis takes a breath and says, "Well, if you're sure you're going to be alright I've got a date with some classmates for dinner and a movie. I'll be back at eleven, OK Dad?"
"OK, have fun!" replies Castle as they both get up from the couch and make their way out of the study.
Alexis walks over to the counter where she left her bag and where Beckett has set out dinner for her and Castle. Alexis picks up her bag, gives Beckett a wave as she walks out and calls to her, "See you later Kate!"
"Night Alexis!" responds Beckett and after young redhead has disappeared behind the closed front door she turns to Castle. "All good?"
"Yeah, as you said she's a smart girl. I made a promise to try and be more open about certain things," responds Castle as he ambles over to the counter to look at the food laid out there. The aroma bringing a rumble to his stomach.
"Yeah, I heard," and at the curious look she gets from Castle at that continues, "Come on Castle, the wall to your study is only a bunch of shelves. You can totally hear everything that goes on in there. Anyway, I'm proud of both of you. That you can both work things out like that. Yet another reason I can't wait to join this family, officially. Now come on I'm starving. Let's eat!"
Fulfilling the thoughts they'd had earlier at the precinct Beckett and Castle are reclining on the couch in the living room of the loft, wine glasses in their hands, Castle holding Beckett with her head resting on his chest. Both have changed into much more casual clothes from those they wore all day at the precinct. A black pullover and black, loose fitting pants for Castle. Light grey yoga pants and a cream coloured, loose fitting, low necked blouse for Beckett. They were enjoying a quiet loft with both Alexis and Martha out. After having their fill of Chinese they now lay in silence, just listening to the reassuring sound of each other's breathing.
After another particularly heavy sigh from Castle, Beckett breaks the silence, "You still thinking about Alexis?"
"No, Julie Carmody, I just can't help it. One of my worst nightmares came true when Alexis was taken but at least she had me, you and all the guys at the precinct worrying about her and doing everything we could to get her back. With her parents and Sam gone she's got no one to stand up for her."
Beckett rolls so that she can look up into his face, "We'll stand for her, Rick. We'll do what we always do. Speak for the victim. Speak for Sam by finding his killers and who took his sister. But you know that after all this time it's going to be hard to find anything on where Julie is? Even if we find these guys and take them down we may not find out what happened to her or if we do that she may not be alive."
"I know. It's just that I've gotten used to being able to write the ending I want. All the work we've done together, all the murderers we've put behind bars have added to my belief that we can solve anything, write any ending. Something like this brings it home that not everything can be fixed with the tap of my keyboard or a brilliant take down by you."
"Well the story isn't over yet. You might still be able to write that ending you want. The ending that Sam wanted. We'll just have to work together to get it," she reassures him with a smile.
He returns her smile and tilts his head back as he takes a sip of his merlot, "Oww!" he exclaims, reaching for top of his head with his free hand.
"What's wrong?" asks Beckett concerned.
"I don't know, I just felt a sharp pain on the top of my head when it touched the couch," he says carefully touching the top of his head searching for the source of the pain.
Beckett sets her wine glass down on the coffee table next to the couch, gets up, straddling Castle and leans over him to look at the top of his head.
"Ohh," exclaims Beckett in a concerned tone as she examines the top of Castle's head.
"What?" asks Castle just as concerned at Beckett's tone.
"I think you are getting a bald spot," replies Beckett with a mischievous grin that Castle can't see, wanting to lighten his mood.
"WHAT?" shouts Castle. Beckett is almost thrown from his lap as he bolts upright reaching to feel his head for any patches of bare skin on his head. Beckett starts laughing, holding her hand in front of her face, taking perverse pleasure at how easy it is to get him to react to that particular fear of his.
Seeing her reaction Castle immediately knows he's been had, "Oh, VERY funny! Thanks for that Kate! Oww," he stops as his searching fingers encounter that same pain again on the top of his head.
"OK, OK, I'm sorry. Now sit back and let me have a look," instructs Beckett as she pushes on his chest so that he is sitting back and she can lean over him to look again at the top of his head. "Ah, looks like you've still got a piece of glass in your hair from the garage. Ohh and you're bleeding a little," observes Beckett as she carefully picks out a sliver of glass from his scalp.
She gets up and takes the sliver of glass to the kitchen and drops it in the trash. She tears off some paper towels, returns to Castle, resuming her position, straddling him and leans over the top of his head. With the paper towels scrunched into a ball she starts to apply pressure to the wound.
"Oww!" exclaims Castle again.
"Oh stop being a baby, it's only a scratch."
She holds pressure on the wound for a while before releasing the pressure, looking at the wound and dabbing at it a couple more times. She leans back and shows the towel to Castle, "Look the bleeding's stopped already."
Castle, his chagrin at Beckett's joke forgotten, had been enjoying the view of Beckett's chest in his face through the low scooped neck of her blouse. He looks up at her with an expression of faux innocence on his face, "Um, are you sure you got it all. I think there might be some more in there."
Seeing that lascivious twinkle in his eye she arches her eyebrow and answers with a sultry voice, "Well if you think so I better make sure."
With that she leans forward again, smiles and then bites her lower lip as she feels Castle kiss her chest, starting as he usually did, at the scar on her breast bone. Her face and neck soon flush with heat at the eager ministrations of Castle's mouth and tongue on her skin. She drops the paper towel, holds his head to her chest and runs her fingers through his hair as she feels herself become more and more aroused. Eventually she releases his head and leans back reluctantly as his mouth is forced from the worship of her skin. She looks into his bright blue eyes with her darkened hazel ones and asks breathlessly, "You know, to make sure it's all out of there I should really wash your hair. Care to join me in the shower?"
Smiling wide at the excellence of her suggestion Castle responds, "Lead the way."