Hi, so its not as soon as I had intended but it's here nonetheless, so just to state the obvious, I don't actually own Castle, and any mistakes in this are entirely my own fault. Spell check can only help me so much.

Enjoy!

Jim Beckett is a happy man as he sits and watches some more home videos of his only child, only some include her cousin and Jim treasures them even more. He will be hard pressed to admit it to anyone but he has come to see the young man as a son.

His happiness however falters for no explainable reason but he passes it off as nothing, until moments later his phone lights up, it's Kevin's number.

It takes Jim a few minutes to bring himself to answer it, he silently begs fate to let it just be for some light conversation but his heart grows heavy as if it already knows that bad news awaits. His hands shake as he presses accept and he tries his best to keep his voice steady as he greets the caller.

"Hello."

His heart plummets when he hears the lost and pained voice of Rick Castle.

"Hi Jim it's me Rick."

Jim could have sworn his heart had stopped, something has happened to his little girl, but somewhere in that voice he heard hope.

"Rick, what's happened?"

"We were attacked, where are you we'll pick you up."

"We?"

"Kevin, Jenny and I, we'll get Alexis on route."

"Where's Kate? Is she ok?"

"Lanie went with her to the hospital, it was quite the fight but Kevin got to us in time, Kate should be fine."

"I'm at home, I'll be outside waiting. Are you sure she'll be ok?"

"She's strong, she'll be bossing us all around in no time, Kevin and I are already trying to decide what to get her from the gift shop."

The words are exactly what Jim needs to hear as he finishes grabbing his things, he doubts that it's the truth but knows that the conversation will have happened by the time they reach him. Rick is a good man and Jim realises that he is the only man that Jim has ever approved of Kate dating.

Jim says his goodbye, knowing that Rick has another hard phone call to make. He quickly gathers some stuff and heads outside to wait. He looks up at the stars above him and smiles sadly as the brightest one sparkles at him, he is filled with hope and love and is calm by the time his nephew's car pulls up, his future niece driving.

Jim jumps into the back seat as Rick gets off the phone, his words light and carefree, his eyes showing the pain this causes him.

"Honey, we'll be there soon, something's came up. I know you were looking forward to this but once you're in the car, I'll explain everything."

Rick sighs as he puts his phone in his pocket and turns to the older man, words fail him as he sees the father's pain and worry. Eventually after a few tries he forms some words, eager to explain everything to the man he has grown to not only respect but love.

"I, er. She. …..I love her."

Jim smiles at the man, he's known for quite a while but to hear the renowned author lost for words because of his Katie.

Jim is torn between his desperate desire to know what happened and his fear of the story, he can see in Rick's eyes that the time will be soon but as the writer opens his mouth once more, Jim halts him with a saddened smile.

"You don't need to tell me yet, save it for when Alexis is here, she will demand the whole story and I will not put you through telling it more often then you have too."

Rick nods and Jim turns his attention to Kevin, the man seems frozen in place, staring unseeingly at the city as Jenny drives. The normally sparkling blue eyes show deep distress as their owner shifts his head to stare at his right hand.

Suddenly the man's pain becomes clear to Jim, he can remember the first time Kate had to kill, she had cried for hours after the initial shock had worn off. Kevin's eyes hold the same look that her's had then. As the car slows to a stop outside a nice looking apartment block, Jim sets his hand on Kevin's shoulder. The young man looks up at him, his face begging for Jim to take away his pain, Jim can see the young boy he knew and he silently offers the same comfort he has always given.

Kevin seems to know this and a small smile appears but as the door beside Rick open's and the man exits the car to greet his child, the clouds in Kevin's eyes descend. No one want's the next few minutes to happen, no one wants to crush the young girl's happiness.

Alexis slips into the middle seat, her expression growing more and more worried as she takes in the people around her. Jenny starts up the car and they head towards the hospital, Kevin cannot look at Alexis, who now stares at her dad.

"Dad, what's wrong? Where's Kate?"

Jim takes Alexis' hand as her dad begins the story that will leave both emotionally drained.

"You know that man attacked us last week?, well the person that sent him attacked us tonight. He's gone now and can't hurt us again but Kate got injured while fighting him. It was so sudden. We were sitting on the sofa laughing about the note you left us when he burst in. We really need to get a stronger door."

He sighs having to force himself to say the words, as if saying them made everything so much more real, but he knows he must tell them everything.

"He had a knife and a gun, Kate moved closer to him, still pretending to be injured. She was trying to get close to him to disarm him but half way there she changed her plan. He grabbed her arm and held her up, she pretended to be too weak to fight back properly. He dropped her by his feet, not realising that my phone was on the floor there."

Alexis buts in, desperate for some sort of moment where her dad would make a joke and things wouldn't seem so bad, a part of her doesn't want to hear any more of the story. Most of her just wants to see Kate.

"What was it doing on the floor?"

Rick looks trapped, as if the answer was something he wanted to reveal even less than the rest. Jim sees this and despite a slight internal flinch, he gives Alexis the humour she seems to need.

"Honey, I don't think it was just the phone on the floor."

"Oh god Not the kitchen counter!"

Rick looks sheepishly at his child, his words come out mumbled and she has to strain to hear them.

"Not the counter."

Suddenly Alexis doesn't like this new conversation as her eyes grow wide with realisation.

It's Kevin that gets the conversation back on track, he needs to hear the story just as much as the others do.

"She phoned me, I'd just realised that you could be I danger so we were on our way, We phoned Javier and he listened in too. I got there as soon as I could."

Rick smiles at his friend, it's a weak smile but its meant.

"You got there just in time, any earlier and you wouldn't have been able to help. As you heard, I started shouting and taking all the attention away from Kate, the guy eventually launched at me but he never reached me, Kate flew out of nowhere and dived right into him.

"They began fighting then, she was brilliant, as usual but he knew all her techniques and tactics. Most of her blows were blocked. There was blood, they were moving too fast for me to tell who was bleeding, you wouldn't have been able to help her. But what I could tell was that she was slowing, more of his hits were getting her and then he threw her across the room."

Rick pauses, his breathing heavy as he relives the moment, Jim can see the fear in his eyes and holds Alexis tighter a she begins to cry. Rick nods at Jim, his vision blurred by tears as he continues.

"I was about to fight him, I couldn't let him hurt her any more, but he moved too fast for me and, he was about to shoot her. I ran for her, I may have shouted I can't remember but as I got to her there was a shot and I was so scared until I saw Kevin and I realised what had happened. He'd saved us."

Alexis breaks out of Jim's arms, her own tears still flowing as she reaches into the front seat and hugs the hero, he holds her tightly as they enter the hospital car park. She pulls back as the car stops, her eyes now clear and loving.

"I'm proud to call you family, to love you as a uncle, to know you."

Before he can respond she turns and takes her dad's hand, his grip is tight but she doesn't complain. She needs it as much as he does.

Kevin is last from the car, amazed by Alexis and wanting to run to his cousin's side but his legs refuse to move as he watches his family. Jenny takes his hand as he takes a step, he doesn't shed any more tears, and refuses to regret killing that man.

He looks into the eyes of the woman he loves and he feels no more shame, together they walk into the emergency room, both determined to be strong for their friends, for their family.

So please review, it really brightens my day, whatever you say, even if you go slightly off topic.