Chapter Two

Revelation

It had been four days since her confrontation with her father at her apartment door, and Alexis Castle was beginning to wonder if perhaps she had been a bit too harsh with him. He had always been sensitive to criticism from her. Her father had placed a high value on her opinion for as long as she could remember. He had broken off affairs with women over much less severe reactions on her part than she had displayed that evening. Including the Federal Agent (dad never mentioned her by name) that he had based Clara Strike on when she was six.

She had not expected complete radio silence from him, not for this long anyway. She had expected him to slip away and sulk overnight, maybe even a good portion of the next day, but not for this long. She had expected a battery of voice mails and text messages expressing how sorry he was and begging for her forgiveness.

He had never gone completely off grid on her before. Not even when she had practically begged him to him to. She had turned off her cell phone as soon as her flight touched down in Costa Rica, as outside of the airport there was almost no cell reception and she hadn't wanted to waste her battery. When she plugged in her cell phone to charge on the flight home with Pi there had been ten text messages from him, the majority of which were in the first few days after she had arrived.

By then, she was far too angry after Grams had spoken to her on one of her few trips into town to check in at home, to look at them. They were still unopened.

After four days of complete silence from her dad, her resolve softened and she finally opened the trash file and retrieved them. Upon reading the first two, her heart nearly stopped in her chest and her face flushed with shame.

The first one read:

Your grandmother is right, Pumpkin,
no more putting it off.
Going to ask Kate to marry me.

And the second, sent only half an hour later, along with a photo of the ring on Kate's finger, read.

She said yes!

"Oh, my god." she whispered aloud.

All of this time she had been so powerfully angry that dad hadn't told her about the engagement. That she had had to find out from Grams weeks after the fact, when all along she had been the first person he had reached out to, on both counts. She felt dizzy, like she was going to be sick.

To be fair, she hadn't hunted down Pi to get even with her dad. She had met him weeks before the phone call from Grams that had set her off. Though even before now she could not rationalize how she had let her anger with her dad get so far out of control. It was completely unlike her.

She had been intimate with him for some time before that, nearly three weeks if she recalled correctly. Grams must have assumed she knew or she would not have said anything, now that she was thinking about it rationally. Had dad wanted to wait to tell her face to face, grams would have respected that. Like she had after catching Kate and dad together that first morning. She had let dad break the news to her then, and she would have this time, too.

But once the anger had risen up in her blood, that was all she wrote, she had sent every one of dad's messages to the trash bin and set about getting even. For what, even then she wasn't sure. She simply assumed the worst of dad, that if he was replacing her so readily with Kate, then she would replace dad too and reacted accordingly. She had never done that with anyone before, and did not know where the impulse came from.

Now she knew that she had hurt dad for nothing. He had tried to tell her before anyone else, and she had been to angry and vindictive to bother checking her facts.

"What's the matter, Lex?" Pi asked, looking up from his latest fruit concoction.

"Dad tried to apologize a few days ago, Pi." she replied.

"Isn't that what you wanted, Lex? That's a good thing, right? That he's trying?"

"Yes and no, Pi." Alexis replied with a sigh. Pi had been less bothered than she had been about the whole thing, she mused.

Nothing ever seemed to ruffle Pi's feathers, or dampen his enthusiasm for life. Not even after the whole time her dad had been rude and condescending to him that night. When dad had offered the couch (which she had been on the verge of accepting) and Pi had asked what color it was, he was only trying to be funny, but by then, dad had come looking for a fight and it just set him off. Which in turn caused her to react strongly in Pi's defense. It had been the last straw that night.

It was Pi's near inability to let even the worst setbacks bother him that had attracted her to him in the first place. She had arrived in Costa Rica, tired, wounded and broken inside. Trying to find out who she was since Paris, and there was Pi. He had been mugged the day before, she found out later, his passport had been stolen along with most of his meager possessions, and he just shrugged it off like it was nothing.

She found herself wanting to be more like Pi. Wanted nothing to bother her, none of the terrible, awful things that had happened over the last year to touch her, the way nothing seemed to touch him. Dad's suddenly intimate relationship with Detective Beckett. His being framed for murder and and being locked up in holding. The night he and Beckett had gone missing and nobody could find them. Mom's stay at the loft when she had mono, which, as always, opened more wounds than it closed. And even more damaging, being kidnapped and whisked away to Paris. Seeing dangerous people drag her father up to the cage where she was being kept and pointed guns at him.

She wanted none of it to touch her anymore, like nothing ever seemed to touch Pi. To shrug it all off and move on with her life, like he did. She wanted to be like that.

Only she wasn't.

When she had spoken to Grams, and she mentioned the engagement like she already knew about it, she had chatted aimlessly about the banana farm like nothing was wrong, while the whole time she had become overwhelmed by an anger and a fierce desire to get even with dad, that she now realized had been out of all proportion to the provocation. Even if dad had kept it from her.

Before that she had intended to have dad meet Pi before he left on his book tour. Ask if it was okay for him to stay in the guest room while he was on his book tour, at least until he could get his bearings. She had even considered asking dad to use some of his connections to help Pi replace his stolen passport.

Instead, she had done none of those things. She had spent the last of her allowance to buy a forged passport for Pi from a less than savory individual. Even letting the skeevy little bastard feel her up to sweeten the deal. She then delayed her return home by two weeks so that dad was would be gone when the two of them arrived.

She had concealed the existence of the guest room from Pi and convinced him that dad was cool with their living arrangements, as long as he slept on the couch after dad actually got home. That it was part of the deal for dad letting her keep a boy in the house. She knew it was only a matter of time before some of Pi's more ...quaint... habits, such as his open views regarding house cleaning and personal space to work their way under dad's skin. She had found their current residence before dad got home from his aborted side trip to DC to spend the weekend with Kate, but waited until he had finally had enough and put his foot down before she sprung it on him.

Dad had nearly died, and her resolve to punish him nearly faltered, but then Kate had gotten fired from her DC job. (under circumstances she would normally have applauded) When the smoke cleared and she seemed to be taking residence without so much as a second thought from her dad, her anger had boiled over again.

The morning Captain Gates had called, she had sent Pi into dad's bedroom unannounced on purpose, and had hidden the note Grams had left about her fight scene class in the living room to make things even more difficult. It was with an almost sadistic glee that she had made a point of saying Captain Gates had called for her dad rather than Kate. It had felt good to stick it to her at the time.

When had I become so much like my mother? She thoughtm to herself, This is more like something she would do not me.

Alexis was mortified.

I probably could have gotten dad to at least grudgingly accept Pi, and his place in my life had I been straight with him from the beginning. She thought to herself, in a stunning moment of clarity.

She knew her dad had been having a hard enough time accepting the fact that she was growing up and finding her own place in the world. He had taken all of her other attempts to exert her independence in stride. The incident with her costume at Supernova Con notwithstanding. Her behaving like an immature jackass had not made it any easier for him to accept.

This time she had told dad to back off, and he did. All the way off, it would seem. Four days of complete silence from him was the equivalent of the silent treatment. He had never gone this long without contacting her before.

It was a bad sign.


Kate Beckett knew that something had been bothering Rick for the last few days. He had spent nearly every day for the past four sitting quietly in his chair by her desk while she completed her paperwork from the last case. Then again, while she completed the overdue paperwork from her reinstatement into the NYPD, including her insurance forms, life insurance policy and tax documentation. He simply sat in his chair and wrote quietly in the little notebook he brought with him, not even distracting himself with Angry Birds, or staring at her creepily like he usually did when he thought she wasn't paying attention.

He was...quiet. Too quiet. It simply wasn't like him.

Kate was pretty sure it had something to do with Alexis moving in with Pi. She had tried to counsel him that pushing Alexis would only make her push back, make her even more intractable. Just like she had been when her father had done much the same once upon a time. Though to be honest, she rather wished she had listened to dad with the grunge rocker. If she never smelled another clove cigarette for the rest of her life, it would be far too soon.

This odd, quiet serenity had begun nearly four days ago, after he had come back from his attempt to apologize to Alexis for his behavior at her housewarming dinner. He had spent the last three nights at her place, where he had been very...attentive to her needs. So attentive last night, in fact, that she had had to forgo her four inch heels for a pair of flat soled biker boots as she was still walking funny this morning.

He had spoken on his phone only once in the last four days that she had been aware of, and a small package had been delivered to him here at the precinct by bike messenger. An event, which had been met by a raised eyebrow from Captain Gates directed at her desk. A package that bore the seal of the Dutch Embassy. (she had peeked in his messenger bag while he made their lattes)

Her assumption that his state of mind was related to his daughter when her own phone rang and Alexis picture and number had popped up on her screen. Her phone had been confiscated during the brief period in DC while she filled out her exit paperwork for the AG's office and Rick had been packing her things in her place there.

It had been wiped clean of data when it had been returned to her, though thankfully she had backed up most of her personal files. She had not known when Rick had reprogrammed Alexis number into it after that.

"Hey, Alexis" she said when she took the call, not sure why the young redhead had called her instead of her dad. "what can I do for you?"

"Have you seen dad lately?" Alexis replied, a nervous, almost hesitant tone in her voice.

"He's sitting in his chair next to my desk, Alexis, would you like me to put him on?" Kate said back.

"No...that's okay, Detec...uh...Kate." Alexis said haltingly pausing before she continued,

"We had a fight...after he came to apologize...I said some harsh things...and he hasn't spoken to me since."

To say that Kate was shocked would be an understatement. She looked over at her partner and fiance on the other side of the Homicide squad room, a vision of serenity, his face and body language betraying not even a trace of distress as he sipped his latte and chatted with Ryan about proper baby swaddling technique. Sharing tidbits of his own experience as a first time dad.

"Is he okay, Kate?" Alexis nearly whispered at the other end of the line, "I've tried to call him six times today and each time I was sent straight to voice mail."

Kate knew this was a really bad sign. Castle had never, ever intentionally let a call from Alexis go to voice mail. In fact she could recall the number of times he had failed to answer by the second ring when she called in the past six years on the fingers of one hand.

No matter how enticing a case may have been, he was on his phone and out the door like a pistol shot whenever Alexis called to say she needed him. Whatever had passed between them that night must have been really bad indeed if he not only hadn't taken her calls, but had set his phone to send her straight to voice mail. His phone had only rung once all day, and it had been the bike messenger service calling for him to come down to sign for his package from The Netherlands.

"He seems okay to me, Alexis, but he has been really quiet lately." Kate said back to her, suddenly deciding to deviate from her course back to her desk and instead headed for the woman's restroom.

There was a distinct silence on the other end, like Alexis was trying to work up the nerve to say something, but was fumbling with her words, like she was ashamed of herself. She could remember feeling much the same once upon a time whenever she had fought over a boy with her dad and she had given him the silent treatment.

"Kate" the girl finally said in a small, quiet voice, "I think I owe you an apology."

"Why, Alexis? What do you mean?" Beckett replied, her voice dripping with concern.

"When dad came back to my apartment to say he was sorry for the way I refused to accept his apology, and I kinda lashed out at him before shutting him out. I..." Alexis began

Kate began to feel a sense of dread, and a small amount of anger on Rick's behalf.

"What did you say, Alexis?" she asked, barely able to keep the reproach out of her voice.

"I led him to believe that I didn't approve of your relationship with dad, that I wasn't sure the two of you were right for each other."

Kate nearly collapsed into the wall of the woman's bathroom. A short gasp cutting off any reply she might have made. One of her worst fears about her relationship with Castle washing over her in full force. That he would be asked to choose between her and his daughter. That she would come between them.

"It's not true, Kate, I didn't mean any of it. I only said that because I was angry, and lashed out the only way I could. I just wanted to shut him up. Wanted him to go away and leave me alone so I could cool down. I've been so fixated on trying to make him accept Pi. To accept my need for space. To force him to let me have my own life that I may have pushed him too far, that I pushed him away,"

Kate could tell by the sound of her voice, that Alexis was in tears.

"I'm sorry Kate, I'm so sorry. It was petty and selfish of me and I'm so sorry Kate."

As Kate was finally starting to get her breathing under control, she heard Alexis utter the nicest thing the girl had ever said to her.

"I think you are the best thing that has happened to my dad in a very long time, Kate. You made my dad grow up, he's better for having known you."

Kate Beckett didn't know what to say. When she finally said goodbye to the girl and walked out of the bathroom, however, Rick was gone.

The only clue to the reason for his departure was a brief note left on her computer screen on a post-it.

I have a small family matter to take care of.
I'll meet you for dinner tonight at your place
at seven o'clock, my treat... Castle

**Author's Note** I guess this will take a bit longer than I thought, though not much. Next chapter should sum things up, with Castle finally confronting his daughter over this whole affair. Don't worry, this will not be as harsh as you think.