Missing Scene: 6x05

A/N: Again, your reviews keep me going! Thank you so much for them!

On another note, I am well aware that this missing scene is very much unlikely (and I promise I'm in the middle of writing a TAKE TWO version), but I still wanted to post it up for you to read. *shrug*. You may, or may not like it. Lol.

Too soon.

When Castle had returned to the loft, he wasn't expecting to walk in on Alexis running the final leg of her time at home (where she belonged). And what was worse, he had a feeling she wasn't even going to say goodbye before she left - not that this was actually a goodbye. He'd be able to visit her where ever she went, but he hadn't even considered that, yet. She was just gone, and it was too soon.

He felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, but he made no move to answer it. A thousand bodies could drop from the sky and he wouldn't answer it. He stared longingly at the door where his daughter had just walked out of, the last of her stuff in her hand, and he wanted nothing more than to chase after her and put his foot down, ground her for life. Something. Anything.

He sat down on the stairs leading up to her bedroom, and it would always be her bedroom. How did it come to this? He had always been there for her. His little Alexis. What he wouldn't give for that time machine right now. He sighed to himself, his hand coiling around one of the bars of the railing. He had no idea when tears started to fall, but they gripped him, and a sob managed to escape from the back of his throat.

His phone vibrated again.


Kate had called him while she was in the bathtub. She had wanted his voice to soothe her as well as the hot water was doing, but the phone rang, and rang until his annoying voicemail chimed in. 'Hello?' and she almost fell for it this time. 'Hey! What's going on? Haha, I can't believe you fell for that. You've reached Richard Castle. Leave your mark.'

She fell for it once. Okay, maybe twice. Okay, three times, but he was just so convincing! "Hey, Castle, it's just me. Soaking in the bathtub... without you." And what a sin that was, she thought to herself as she rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. She loved when she was able to lean against his chest and just relax and let her cares float away. Nothing bad could happen when she was wrapped in his arms. "Call me."

She hung up the phone, and reached to rest it on the counter. Also on the counter was her copy of Deadly Heat, which was dedicated to her. Everytime she opened the book, no matter what page she was actually on, she made sure to look at the dedication first before flipping to where she left off, and everytime she read those words, sharp tingles coursed through her as though Castle where actually there, touching her.

She didn't reach for the book tonight, though. Instead, she was thinking about Castle… and Simon, and the engagement ring sitting on her dresser and… kids.

'Castle, you want more kids?'

'Well, I'd like to have the option.'

Sure, the option of kids, but Kate didn't know if that was in the cards for her. They would change her life so drastically, and it was already changing with the wedding and her new life with Castle. She sighed to herself and glanced at the book. Maybe one day she wouldn't mind having a daughter and establishing the sort of bond she once had with her own mother. The thought brought a short-lived smile to her face.

Eventually, she hauled herself out of the tub, dried off and put on a loose t-shirt and shorts. She glanced at her phone. No new notifications. Odd. Normally Castle would have called her back by now. She called him again, and it went to voicemail. They never went to bed without a phone call on the nights they didn't spend together. And he did say he would talk to her tonight…

Sighing, she grabbed her copy of Deadly Heat and curled up under the covers in her bedroom and began to read.

An hour passed, almost two hours, and still her phone hadn't sprung to life. Kate frowned at the tiny device. She got out of bed, and pulled out a pair of sweats and a hoodie.


CRASH. BANG.

Those were just a couple of sounds Kate heard as she came down the corridor to Castle's loft door. She had her gun in her pocket, which, come on, she was a New York cop. Of course she wasn't going to leave it at home, even when she was off duty. Besides, she had a funny feeling she wouldn't be returning to her apartment tonight, anyway.

She pulled it out, breath caught in her throat. The door was closed, but she tested the handle to find it was unlocked. Forcing a deep breath, she opened the door, entering the loft tactically. Gun swinging from one side of the room to the other, she then spotted Castle, and he was fine. "Castle?" she called, begging him to tell her he was doing a lot better than his loft was.

He was sitting in the middle of the living room, arm braced on the coffee table with a hand combing through his hair. He looked like a child when his eyes flicked up to her, red with emotion, confusion and embarrassment. "Castle?" Kate said again, inching closer over the shards of glass that littered the floor. Her eyes continued to warily scan the apartment, even though she felt she knew what this was.

Castle climbed to his feet, using the surfaces of anything he could to keep from falling over. "Kate," he smiled, stumbling towards her. He crashed into her, but she kept them upright. Immediately, she could smell the alcohol on him. "You won't l-leave me, too, right?"

"Rick - what?"

The smile that had been on his face vanished in an instant, and he slipped from her grasp. "Alexis is gone," he announced bitterly. "She just lefffffffft. Wasn't even going to say goodbye, but I caught her before she could leave. Ungrateful li-"

"Castle!" Kate stepped forward. "Don't say something you're going to regret, okay?"

"Why. It's not like she's here to hear it. That's the problem, Beckett. She's not here."

"I'm here, Castle. She might not be here to hear it, but I am."

"Well, no one invited you, so…" he pointed to the door, and hunted for his bottle of scotch that he left… somewhere. He didn't see the hurt in her eyes, or the flash of anger that quickly followed.

Kate had been down this road before with her father. She knew how to let certain things roll of her shoulder, but she thought Castle had been different. "I told you earlier, Castle, this might be a good thing for her."

"How could living with that… hippie… be a good thing for her?" he growled. "Ah!" he found his scotch, and drank happily.

"And you think getting drunk and trashing your loft is the answer?" He looked around the apartment. Some furniture was upended, and there was glass all over the floor. He didn't care. "I've been down this road before, Castle. No matter how much you think it's going to help you, it doesn't." She inched forward, free hand extended. "Give me the bottle. Come on. I'll tuck you in bed, and you can sleep it off, and we can talk in the morning."

"No."

"No?" she repeated. She watched as he took a large gulp.

"It seems to be helping me just fine, Detective. I'm fine." His eyes narrowed at something just beyond her, and he put the bottle down on the dining room table. He weaved his way towards it, and all Kate could do was watch as he pulled out Alexis' laser tag vest. She saw the look of love, adoration and remembrance in his eyes. It was there for a second before he threw the vest down on the ground and began stomping on it, cracking all the sensors.

"Castle!"

"Shut up, Beckett."

She recoiled when he looked up at her.

"Rick, this isn't you. You love Alexis. Please, just stop. Look, I get it. You're angry."

"After everything I've done for her." He sat on the couch, hands in his lap. "How could she do this to me?"

Seeing his defeated face, she moved closer to him and sat down on the edge of the coffee table. "Do what, Castle? Grow up? Because that's all she's doing."

"But…"

"But what? You raised a very smart young woman, and I'm not even sure how that's possible." She hoped for a smile, but she didn't get one.

"I tortured a man for her," he whispered.

Kate swallowed the lump in her throat, reaching her hand forward to touch his knee. 'When it comes to the people that I love, I do.' Everyone had a darkness in them, a point where they would cross some unthinkable lines, and this was Castle's. She found it oddly comforting to know that he loved someone so much, and yet unsettling knowing the lengths he would go to. "She doesn't know that."

"I know." And he never wanted her to know. "But, I just wish she would trust me. This… Pi… he's not good for her."

"You can't be the judge of that, Castle. Only Alexis can."

"You won't leave me, right?" he asked again, his eyes searching hers for the answer.

Her hand squeezed his knee. "I think it's safe to say that I've seen you at your worst, Rick, and I'm still here."