A/N: Sorry for the wait with this new update-graduate school deadlines are approaching sooner than I am ready for. That said, I apologize as well for the very likely possibilty that I won't be able to return any outstanding messages or reviews until my deadlines have passed; I promise I will eventually get to them though! In the meantime, I just reinstated my Twitter so if anyone wants to follow me or send me short messages there, I'd be happy to reciprocate! Check me out at "Elizabeth_Dante" on Twitter! :D

Chapter 17

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Kate Beckett stood outside Alex's apartment door, staring down at the face of a very furious teenage girl. Why was she here? Frankly, she's questioned her own actions since she left the precinct and found herself in a cab heading towards the Rodgers residence.

"I—"

"You know what? Save it. I don't want to know. Whatever you're here for, you can just forget it. You've done enough to hurt us," Alexis stated bluntly.

Kate didn't know how to respond to that. What could she possibly say to alleviate all the hate seething from the girl before her? Because, in all likelihood, the teenager was right. She probably had hurt them. And if she was being honest with herself, she wasn't even there to apologize for her actions; she still didn't see anything wrong with what she did. She was there for her case and for the NYPD. So, if it meant steeling herself against the girl more than a decade her junior, just to get an audience with the girl's father, then she would take the jabs as they come.

"Alexis, I just want to speak to your father for a moment."

"Speak to him? You should be grateful I'm even speaking to you at this moment. After what you did? I don't know how you got into the building, especially with all the reporters lurking around, but you'd best show yourself back out."

Alexis made a move to close the door on Kate, but Kate was faster. Her arm shot out without her conscious effort as she quickly ad-libbed her plea. "Please, it won't take long. I just need a few minutes."

"Detective! How dare you—"

Before Alexis could finish her impassioned sentence against her, Kate saw a hand come down over the girl's shoulders. Kate was so preoccupied in her attempt to make eye contact with the girl her that she failed to notice the girl's father had already invited himself to the scene. Though, given that they were arguing right at his doorsteps, what else did she expect? Maybe this is what she wanted all along—their commotion brought him to her. But now that he was standing here, right in front of her, all the words that she didn't know how to say escaped her.

"Alexis, honey. It's okay. Let's see what Kate has to say."

"Dad? I don't understa—"

"Pumpkin, why don't you go up to your room? Kate and I are going to talk in my office. Thank you for greeting her."

The look that Alex leveled at his daughter was one she couldn't understand. The love, she recognized from whenever he looked at his daughter during their first date that seemed ages ago, but mixed in there were pride and something else she couldn't place her finger on. But his daughter did, and though frustrated, left them to their own devices.

Alex watched his daughter make her ascent up to the second level of the loft and disappear around a wall before he turned to look at Kate. For an uncomfortable minute, all they did was stare at each other, with her still on the other side of his open door. Kate didn't know what to say or do with herself—Do I ask myself in? Why isn't he saying anything? What's his game?

"Hi Kate," Alex softly acknowledged.

"Hi," she lamely replied back. Really, Kate, that's all you got? You came all this way for that?

"Would you like to come in?"

"Please."

Alex's civility threw Kate off. She was ready, prepared even, for anger and maybe another rehash of their interrogation episode. But this cold acceptance? She didn't know what to make of it. It's not like she had much of a choice though, seeing as how Alex was already turning to walk in what she presumed was the direction of his office. Kate was left with no other option but to close his front door and follow him if she wished to remain in his company.

When they entered his office, the same awkward silence returned-this time with him leaning against his desk, staring her down, while she stood uncomfortably fidgeting between his open bookcase doorway. Ironically, in this sense, she got what she had expected when she imagined another interrogation scene: the piercing silence from before it began. So like then she decided that if she didn't speak up first, he would be content to just stand there and stare at her all day. But what to say?

"We followed up on your suggestions." Seriously Kate? That's the first thing that came out of your mouth? When Alex refused to comment, she plowed on. In for a penny, in for a pound. "Harrison Tisdale, the brother, we checked him and it looks like his alibi is unshakeable."

At that, Kate saw the first flickerings of anger build in his brilliantly blue eyes. Before she could continue on with her case summary however—why was she even telling him all this?—he cut her off. "Do you really have nothing else to do, but come here and accuse me again and again? At least you had the decency to do it in the privacy of my own home this time. And without your backup. Do you really think that little of me?"

What? She wasn't accusing him of anything, how did he get—but Alex was already continuing with his mini rant, finally showing some of that emotion he kept under wraps in front of his daughter.

"What more do you want from me, Kate? Are you here to arrest me again? Or for real this time? Was my alibi not enough? I guess it's hard for you to believe I was home all Sunday writing to meet my Monday deadline. It's not concrete enough for such a stubborn detective such as yourself."

"Hey." She had to stop this now. He was getting way out of hand and taking punches that left more blood than bruises. She was a stubborn detective, but she didn't like the implications he made with the rest of that sentence. She wasn't harassing him for the joy of it. Someone was murdered and if it meant she was stubborn in her investigative tactics, then so be it; nothing will matter more than justice for the victim. "We accept your alibi and my boys checked with your building's security cameras. We know you were home all day Sunday. I didn't come here to badger you, Alex."

"Then what did you come for, Kate? I told you all I knew. And in return, you've done nothing but expose me to the public."

"I exposed you to the public? The NYPD had nothing to do with the press finding out about your Richard Castle identity and if we're laying it all out there, I can't believe you would subject us to scrutiny with your frivolous lawsuit!"

"Like hell you didn't! I've published a good number of books with no one finding out about Richard Castle and all of a sudden, after a few phone calls with my publisher, my secret is out? That's more than a coincidence."

"Alex, believe what you will, but I am here to tell you, it wasn't us. I don't know how that leak got out, but it was not us."

Somehow in the midst of their argument, she had drawn herself closer to him, now fully in his office with him still backed up against his desk. She was close enough to hear both of their frustrated breath but argue as much as they might, they weren't getting anywhere. They were more or less talking about the lawsuit as she had hoped, but it wasn't in the way she'd like to. She just wanted him to drop it and maybe go back to being the strangers they were before all this.

"Well, detective. Isn't that your job? To detect and find the source or root of your problems?"

With that, she pulled back from him and paced away. She had been on the brink of reluctant acceptance to their situation when his words inflamed the embers of her anger once more. She was not going to stand there and just take his snide remarks about her profession, even if her captain sent her there to make peace.

"No. You do NOT get to make fun of my job. I am proud of what I do, because even if I can't bring back a loved one, I can give families a small measure of closure for them to attempt to put their fractured lives back together. Murder—that tears up a family, forces daughters into unhealthy obsessions and fathers into the false embrace of a bottle. So if I was a little hard on you, Alex, then you know what? Fine. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I hurt your little ego and ruined your perfect life. But I am not sorry for pursuing each and every one of my leads to its fullest to try and find the killer."

Kate took a breath before continuing. She noticed Alex's odd expression at her unique example but at this point, she doesn't care if he figured out her secret or not. She wanted to end this. Nothing good could have come from her seeing him—she wouldn't even be here if it weren't for her captain—but now as much as earlier, she could see how sorely she had misjudged his character. How could I even have considered a relationship with this man?

"Alison Tisdale deserves all I can give, and so do the other two murdered along with her. And I don't have all the pieces now, but I will get that bastard for doing this to his sister and those other two. I'm sorry for bothering you—I can see now how much I've wasted your time. I'll see myself out."

Kate was already turning to walk back to his front door and out of his life when he muttered something to make her halt her retreat.

"Harrison Tisdale—what's his alibi?"

"And why should I tell you? You clearly don't care about the victims, only how your life has lost the convenience you were used to with some fake name to hide behind. People are dead, Alex. Get over yourself."

"His alibi, what is it?"

Why was he pushing this? What did it matter to him? But seeing as how she was already planning to cut all future ties with this man, she figured she might as well give him some closure too, as he was as much a part of this case as any other victim or suspect.

"He claims he was out of the county during the time of the murders."

"And why are you more inclined to believe my alibi compared to his? His sounds rather 'unshakeable' as you had put it, what with passport stamps and official documents to corroborate with his story."

"Because Alex, when I questioned him, he had all the smugness of a guilty individual and the ready answers to all my questions. You may not believe it, but I am a pretty good detective and I know a true killer when I see one. You, Alex, only kill my patience. I'm leaving now." Kate said with finality, turning, for what she hoped would be the last time, as she made for his door.

"His passport stamps weren't forged, were they?"

What was with this man? Why couldn't she just leave already and how the hell does he know that about their case? With a careful face, Kate turned around, her shock masked and frustration evident.

He must have read her face and emotions because he continued to elaborate on his point, "That's not how he would've done it."

"You got a better idea, Ricky?" her voice dripped with sarcasm. How dare he? Who did he think he was?

"Second passport."

"And how would he get one of those?"

"Oh, with his money? All that Tisdale fortune? Trust me, the black market would be a piece of cake."

Damn. The man had a point. Again. First with Tisdale, now this.

"So he leaves the country on his own, comes back with the other passport, commits murder, flies out, and then comes back in on his own."

"Perfect alibi, perfect murder—though there's no such thing as a perfect murder; I would've written it."

Kate gave him a look before summarizing. If it wasn't for this case distracting her, she would've questioned his ability to joke so soon about the very thing that inspired their all too present discord. "But it's almost impossible to prove."

"Unless you find the second passport."

Crap. Alex was right. And after that little meet and greet she did with Harrison earlier this morning, he had to be spooked. He was probably shredding the evidence as they spoke.

"I gotta go."

And this time Kate meant it. She needed to get to Harrison before all the evidence of his felony was destroyed. So with that single focus in mind, she prompted turned to sprint back to the precinct to grab her Crown Vic and holler at the boys. Alex seemed to recognize her rush because he didn't try to stop her this time.

Whatever this entire conversation of theirs meant, she will figure it out later. Right now, she has a murderer to catch. Lawsuit against the NYPD be damned. She did all she could and if they fire her, well at least she can leave knowing she was able to solve one more case. All that matters right now is getting Alison and those other two victims the justice they deserve, not her own personal failings.