A/N: Thanks for all the suggestions :) Please don't hesitate to keep 'em coming.

Beta by Iris and Anika.

Disclaimer: still not mine.

By some unspoken agreement, they both decided to ignore the elephant in the room the next morning. Kate helped Arriana with her hair, untangling the braids and fixing on a headband to sit perfectly on top of her pretty head of curls.

Descending the stairs together, they spotted Castle making sandwiches in the kitchen. Arriana jumped the last few steps of the stairs, but stuck her landing. Kate frowned. "Arri-"

"Arriana, you shouldn't jump down the stairs like that, it's dangerous. You don't want to injure yourself and get another sling, do you?" Castle stepped in, handling the disciplining of their daughter before Kate needed to.

"No, sorry Daddy, I'll try not to do it again. But look at my curls!" she exclaimed, spinning in a circle to show Castle her hair. He chuckled, tugging at a lock of hair.

"They sure are pretty. Mommy helped you with them?"

Arriana nodded enthusiastically as she climbed on the kitchen stool to look at the spread laid out on the kitchen bar.

She reached for one of the sandwiches, but Castle lightly smacked her hand away.

"Not that, it's your mom's lunch. Here, this one's for you," he handed her another piece of sandwich.

Arriana eyed the sandwich, her face unconsciously contorting as she tried to make out it's filling. Apparently she deemed it would do, because Arriana shrugged and took a bite out of it.

"Actually Castle, I have a- I've made lunch plans today."

"Oh? Well in that case, you can have this for breakfast I guess," Castle picked up the plate and offered it to Kate.

She murmured her thanks, heading over to the coffee machine to fix two cups of coffee. She offered one as a truce offering to Castle, hoping she didn't hurt his feelings.

Thankfully Arriana didn't pick up on the awkward energy in the air. Both adults already had enough on their minds.

They might have been able to fool their daughter, but their work-children were quick to pick up on the little pauses and uncertain looks Castle and Beckett exchanged.

"So we agree that mom and dad are arguing?" Ryan murmured to his partner, bringing his coffee cup up to conceal his barely-moving lips.

The both of them were looking unashamedly at said couple, cringing when both Castle and Beckett had reached for the stapler and then simultaneously flinched away.

"Yup," Esposito replied, taking a sip of coffee from his own mug.

"Do we know why?" Ryan continued, pointing at a paper on Esposito's table as Beckett looked over at them and narrowed her eyes.

Mom was on to them, shit.

Look busy, look busy, and pretend to go over some paperwork.

Seconds later Esposito looked up discreetly to check their surroundings.

"Coast's clear. And I don't know man, they were fine yesterday."

"You think it has something to do with the takedown yesterday?" Ryan looked over to Esposito, leaning forward and resting his arm on his knees.

His partner shrugged, leaning in as well. "Beckett seemed a little shaken up, but she wasn't that rattled. Right?"

It was Ryan's turn to shrug. At times it was hard to read Beckett – she kept such a tight lid on her emotions.

"Black Pawn?" he suggested, trying to think of what else mom and dad had going on yesterday.

"Could be – maybe Castle has some fancy schmancy publicity thing, you know how much Beckett hates those things."

"Or maybe, it's because her detectives are busy not working."

Ryan and Esposito jumped at Captain Gates' voice. Turning slowly, they saw their captain standing behind them with her arms crossed over her chest and an arched eyebrow.

Ryan cowered – he actually cowered, as Esposito stammered out a response.

"Er, Sir, we were just, that is, ahh-"

"Save it, detective. The both of you: get back to work. Now."

Esposito began shuffling the papers on his desk as Ryan scooted back to his table on his roller chair. Shaking his head, Espo didn't understand why his partner didn't just stand and walk over to his desk while rolling his chair along like a grown ass man. Damnit, Ryan.

Captain Gates eyed them for a moment more before she turned and headed for her office.

Thankfully not many people were audience to their dressing down. Most importantly, Castle and Beckett seemed to be having a rather heated conversation, so they were completely oblivious to what had happened.

Beckett suddenly stood up and walked away, leaving Castle sulking alone at her desk. Yeah, mom and dad were most definitely arguing.

Feeling Captain Gates' gaze burning a hole in the side of his head, Esposito snuck a look towards her office. Yup, the captain was most definitely glaring at him through her blinds. Dropping his head quickly, Esposito went back to work. Pestering mom and dad had to come later.

Castle released a pent up breath of frustration as Kate left. Annoyed at her crappy timing – apparently her bladder just couldn't hold on any longer – he guiltily felt mildly relieved at the same time. He hated it when they were quarreling. Maybe he shouldn't have come into the precinct today. A part of him wanted to give her space and let her work out her own issues, but another part of him just wanted to be around her, so he could be there for her whenever she needed him. Or in this case, when she removed her stubborn head from her-

Kate's phone rang, the screen lighting up as Alexis' picture came on. Castle looked around, but Kate hadn't return yet, nor was she anywhere in sight. Picking up her phone, Castle decided to take his daughter's call.

"Hey pumpkin, what's up?"

"Dad? Isn't this Kate's phone? What are you- Did you hide her phone again? You know she hates it when you do that while she's working."

"Nice to hear your voice too, dearest daughter of mine. Why do you have to jump to something that painted me in a bad light? You know that I know better than to take Kate's phone from her while she's at work."

"Sure, dad. After she threatened to make you sleep on the couch for a week."

Castle sighed in defeat. Why did his oldest daughter have to know that?

"Anyway, Kate just went to the bathroom. What's up?"

"I just want to confirm- actually, I don't know if it's all right for me to tell you this. Kate didn't tell me explicitly to keep it from you, but then again you're not joining- Just get Kate to call me back, please?"

Castle was concerned at how many times his daughter broke off, changing topics as though she's spoken too much. Why were Kate and Alexis keeping secrets from him?

"Dad?" Alexis repeated, still waiting on his response.

"Yes, call you back. I'll tell Kate that. Alexis, everything's fine with you right? Should I be concerned about anything?"

Maybe his wife's weird behavior yesterday was triggered by something Alexis said or confided to her. What if Kate was just using yesterday's takedown as a cover? She did mention talking to Alexis over the phone.

His daughter's light laughter emanated from the phone speaker. "Don't worry about me, Dad. Everything's fine, I promise. I need to go now, okay? Love you, Dad!"

Castle hung up, staring at Kate's phone with a perplexed expression as his brain conjured up wild theories. He was still frozen in the same position when Kate returned to her desk.

"Castle? You alright there?" she asked.

His head swiveled at the sound of her voice, looking at her like a kid caught with his hand in his cookie jar.

"Castle, is that my phone?"

"Huh?" he continued looking at her blankly, only looking down when she gestured at his hand. Right, he had answered Alexis' call.

"Yeah, Alexis called while you were away – I wouldn't have answered if it was someone else calling," he explained, holding out Kate's phone to her. Her eyes flashed with panic briefly before she looked down at her phone.

Clearing his throat, Castle continued. "Anyway, Alexis didn't say much, she just asked you to call her back."

Kate's shoulders sagged a little in relief. "Oh good, I'll just call her back," she told him, walking away to make her call.

Castle looked at her retreating form in bewilderment. Since when did Kate have to go away to make a call to their daughter? Just what was going on here? Looking over at Ryan and Esposito, Castle noted how they quickly dropped their gaze and focused on their work.

Hmm, the boys were curious all right. Maybe he could use that to glean some information in return.

Whatever Alexis wanted to talk to Kate about must have been short because Kate returned to her desk barely a minute later. Kate pulled another folder from the pile on her desk, seemingly intent to get back to work.

"So, what did she want?" Castle asked when it became obvious Kate wasn't going to volunteer that information.

"Nothing much," Kate answered quickly. Too quickly.

"Kate."

She sighed, putting down her pen as she looked at her partner. "Everything's fine with her, Castle. Don't worry about it. I just… I can't talk about this right now, okay?"

"Does this have anything to do with what you said last night?"

"Maybe. Yes," she admitted, picking up her pen again. "Just drop it, okay, Castle? I need you to just trust me and leave this alone for now," she added before he could ask his next question.

"And I'm just supposed to take your word for it?"

Kate paused her writing, looking up at him but she did not put down her pen.

"Yes. Please, Castle, just drop it."

He slumped back against his chair.

Just drop it? No, he can't just drop it. He was concerned for the two females in his life that he loved! He trusts Kate, he really does, but he couldn't just drop it. He was willing to give her time to work through whatever this was, but with Alexis involved, this whole thing just got to a whole new level. Kate had to at least throw him a bone or something.

"Kate, we don't have to talk now, but you need to give me something! How is Alexis involved in this? I can't not worry about this. Why did she call you?"

If there was one thing about Castle, he was stubborn when he put his mind to it.

"Look, I'm meeting her for lunch, okay? I asked her to call me when she finished her class so we could meet up. Don't worry about it; she's not in danger or anything. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to leave for lunch!"

Kate stood up, pushing her chair back forcefully. Castle got to his feet as well, grabbing her arm to keep her in place.

"Actually, I do mind. Since when do you have secret lunch dates with Alexis?"

"Since today, Castle," she retorted, jerking her arm free. They were causing quite a scene in the bullpen, attracting the attention of other officers. Naturally Ryan and Esposito were in the front row, sitting at the edge of their seats as they watched things unfold.

"You're causing a scene, Castle. Now, I'm going to meet Alexis for lunch and we'll talk after, okay? Just leave things alone, will you?" Her tone left no space for discussion. Turning on her heel, she left in a huff.

'Just leave things alone, will you?' Castle mimicked Kate's higher pitched voice in his head.

No, he wasn't going to just leave things alone. This was Alexis they were talking about. As much as he worried about Kate, she's a grown woman and an NYPD detective. She'd undergone training and could defend herself if it really came down to it. But Alexis? She was his little girl.

He vaguely remembers her taking some self-defense classes during her senior year at Marlowe Prep. After she was drugged more than a year ago, Kate had taught her some basic self-defense as well.

But if someone actually went after her, say a suspect or someone dangerous from a case they worked on, Castle wasn't sure his daughter could hold her own.

Castle was caught in such a dilemma. As much as he worried for Alexis' safety, he struggled with respecting Kate's boundaries as well.

She asked him to give her time and trust her, and he did, he does, but his concern for Alexis outweighed respecting Kate's wishes.

Kate said it had something to do with a case from yesterday. If only he didn't have the meeting at Black Pawn, he would've been with Kate, and he would've known what went down.

It wasn't like Kate to intentionally keep details from him. Usually, she was more than happy to answer his questions and fill him in on the cases, unless there really was nothing remarkable about it.

But this clearly wasn't the case with yesterday's takedown. 'And if Kate won't fill me in,' Castle thought as he swiveled his head around to settle his eyes on Ryan and Esposito, 'maybe I can trick the boys into giving me the details.'

Play it cool, Castle. Act like you know more than you let on.

He walked over casually, pulling up a chair and settling it by Esposito's desk. Ryan was always the more curious of the two of them; he'd come over soon enough.

"So, wrapping up yesterday's paperwork?" Castle asked, gesturing at the papers in front of Esposito.

"Yup," the Hispanic detective replied, keeping his eyes on the paperwork. Going for nonchalance, he continued, "So what's up with you and Beckett?"

"Just a small… spat," Castle made a face at the word. Ryan joined them (as Castle had predicted,) and he wiped the look off of his face, telling the boys cheerfully, "Nothing we can't work out. Anyway, is that the paperwork for the take down? Must be really long, huh?"

"You think?" Ryan replied, resting against his partner's desk. He scoffed, continuing, "You try explaining to the higher ups how a single-suspect, two hostage situation became a two-suspect, dead hostage situation."

'Dead hostage? No wonder Kate seemed off yesterday. How'd that happen?' Castle thought, but he maintained his poker face on the outside.

"So how are you guys writing it up?"

"What do you think, Castle? We're cops, not writers – we write what actually happened, you know, there were no indications that Karen Stone was romantically involved with Robert so we had no idea she would flip sides."

Ryan continued from where Esposito left off.

"Yup, and when Rob held his niece, Bree here," Ryan tapped the appropriate picture of the girl as he continued, "as hostage, we followed protocol and managed to stun him, freeing her. The only part we couldn't have anticipated was Karen actually turning the gun on her own daughter when we told them to surrender!"

"What?!"

Both Ryan and Esposito gave him matching looks of incredulity. Castle couldn't help that the shock was painted so clearly on his face – he did not see that coming.

"Didn't Beckett tell you this? Bree ended up between us and her mom, with Rob on the ground beside her, and when we told them to surrender, Karen asked her daughter to pick up the gun and help her. When Bree told her mother to give in, Karen shot at her own daughter while trying to get away."

The pieces of the puzzle were slowly moving into place, and Castle could almost see the whole picture here.

"You're saying that Karen shot at her own daughter to get away? How old was Bree?"

Castle racked his brains trying to recall the details from this case, but he wasn't around much since he had been in and out of Black Pawn the past few days.

Ryan swatted Espo on his chest, communicating via silent looks. Both detectives crossed their arms and faced Castle.

"Castle, what exactly did Beckett tell you?"

Ahh, crap. He had forgotten to play down his reactions and now the boys were on to his fishing expedition.

"Uhh, Beckett shared most of that with me," he lied, nodding his head slowly.

"Castle," Ryan raised the back part of his name, warning the author to come clean.

"She shared some of that with me?" he tried, eyes darting between the two detectives.

"She didn't tell you anything, did she?" Esposito asked.

His prolonged silence was answer enough for them.

"Castle! You're gonna get us in trouble with her!"

"Damnit, we thought you knew this already!"

Both Ryan and Esposito spoke at the same time, smacking Castle on his arm.

Castle shrunk away, swatting at their hands in return while saying, "No, no, she was going to tell me anyway, seriously, we just haven't had the time to talk."

"Was that what you guys were quarreling over?" Ryan asked.

"No, not directly? But it was somehow related to yesterday," Castle confessed.

Spotting the captain standing from her desk, Ryan squeezed in a final line before heading back to his desk.

"You better not tell Beckett we spilled the beans. Espo and I are just gonna say you swiped the reports or something."

Better his hide than theirs.

A/N: Thoughts?