Alexis Castle wasn't one to break the rules. In fact, the majority of the time she had to enforce them with her father, but that night she was riding in a cab at 1:30 in the morning and was out way past her curfew. She clutched the paper with the address in one hand and her cell phone in the other. The cab driver pulled up to the apartment building and the girl paid him and stepped out. Alexis practically ran into the building and straight into the elevator. The ride up was the second longest ride of her life. The first being the ride in the hospital elevator after seeing her father getting shot.

There were so many emotions boiling inside her. Anger, confusion, sorrow, fear, but as she stepped out of the elevator and onto Kate Beckett's floor, fury was the only thing that remained. She had gone with the intention to talk, to explain. But seeing Kate wrapped up in some man's arms after her father had just taken a bullet for her, something snapped. She stepped out of the elevator, her face matching the color of her hair and walked up to the couple.

"What the hell, Kate?"

Beckett was getting really tired of hearing that. Her head shot up and she untangled herself from Josh. He walked to the elevator without a glance back. Alexis glaring at him the entire way, a glare that somewhat resembled Beckett's, with much more hatred. Alexis turned back towards Kate who met her with a look of confusion.

"Alexis, do you know what time it is? Does your d-Martha know you're here?"

"I needed to talk to you Kate and it couldn't wait," she replied icily.

"Alright then, come inside." Kate led her into the apartment and to the kitchen. "Do you need anything?" Alexis propped herself up on one of the bar stools. Kate threw some water into a tea-kettle and put it on the stove.

"I need know why I found you wrapped up in another guy after my father just took a bullet for you." She flew around to meet Alexis's eyes.

"I was thanking him for being so understanding after I broke up with him. He was just leaving." Alexis looked at her skeptically. "I don't love him like I l- I don't love him enough to marry him. He took it rather well."

"Oh."

Alexis looked down at the counter. The pair was silent, both lost in thought. Alexis didn't hate Kate. In fact she rather liked Kate. Kate was smart and fun and had even helped her out on occasion. She thought Kate was great for her dad. She was his intellectual equal and not some blonde bimbo that could barely read and only liked him because he was famous. She helped to keep him in line. However good she thought Kate was for her father, her job said something else. It was simple. Alexis didn't want her dad to shadow Kate anymore. It was too dangerous and she couldn't bear to lose him. While Alexis was contemplating exactly how to tell Kate she didn't want her dad to follow her anymore, Kate stared at the girl trying to figure out why she wasn't screaming at her.

Kate knew Alexis had every right to be furious. If she were in the girl shoes Kate would be furious. Hell, Kate was furious with herself in her own shoes. She shouldn't have put Castle in the situation. He shouldn't have even been there. He needs to stop shadowing her. But how was she going to tell him that. She knew he loved it. She knew the precinct was like his second home, but if he was dead he wouldn't have any home. She ran conversations over and over in her head about how she was going to tell him.

It was the whistle of the tea kettle that drew both ladies from their thoughts. Kate jumped but swiftly turned off the fire and poured her water into a French press.

"How did you even get my address?" Kate asked pouring herself a cup. She motioned another to Alexis but the girl shook her head.

"My dad gave me an emergency contact list. Your name and address is number one. Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie are all on the list too."

Kate's heart swelled at the thought that Castle trusted her so much with Alexis. At the remembrance of her promise to him to take care of the girl if anything happened to him. Kate felt tears form in the corner of her eyes. She blinked them away immediately. Alexis, however, grew up with a novelist as a father and learned to pick of on finite details. She noticed the glossy look of tears in Kate's eyes before she stepped into the apartment. When she saw Kate's reaction to her being her emergency contact she then fully understood Kate's feelings for her father. That only made the news she bore harder for her to say.

"Look Kate, I came here with the fully expecting to yell and scream but I can't. You're just as upset as I am and I understand you blame yourself probably more than I blame you. But this while ordeal made me realize exactly how dangerous your job is and how unqualified my dad is. I don't want him to shadow you anymore Kate."

At the end of Alexis's speech Kate felt like, for the tenth time that night, the wind was knocked out of her. She agreed with Alexis but it just hurt hearing it from someone else.

Alexis sat expecting the worst. She thought Kate would laugh and say finally, glad to be rid of him, or drag the girl put by her hair. Alexis more expected the latter. Kate sighed.

"I agree." Alexis's eyes went wide.

"You...you do?"

"Yeah. It's too dangerous for him and although I love having him around it's not safe for him. I would rather lose him as a partner than lose him altogether. It's not fair to you either. You shouldn't have to worry like this. I've been trying to figure out how to tell him."

Alexis stared at Kate. She certainly hadn't expected that.

"Me too," Alexis admitted shyly. Kate nodded.

"Then we'll double team him," Kate replied jokingly.

"Agreed."

It wasn't until an hour and a half later the girls finished their plan. They hashed and rehashed all the dangers of the job. Figured the best time to tell him was not right away but close enough to get him used to the idea. They thought of all the little things they knew would ensure his agreement. Alexis even offered to cry. Kate was having issues holding the tears back as-is, so she thought that wasn't necessary.

When the conversation ended Alexis headed for the door but Kate refused to let her leave, saying it was too late and unsafe. Alexis didn't need to be told twice, she was wary of going out that late herself. She called Martha and left a message saying she was at Kate's and would be staying the night. Kate, having no guest bedroom, offered to take the couch allowing the girl to get a good night's sleep, even though she needed one herself. Alexis did put up a fight for that one, saying it was Kate's home and she should sleep in her own bed. Kate, being as stubborn as usual refused and showed Alexis to the room.

"Bathrooms to the right, extra toothbrushes top left drawer. Anything else you need?" Alexis shook her head. "I'll be downstairs. N-Until tomorrow."

Kate found herself smiling like an idiot as she closed the door. Castle really got to her. In a good way. She plopped down on the couch and fell into a restless sleep.

Alexis surveyed the room, noting Kate's obvious taste and the fact it smelled distinctly of cherries. She lazily brushed her teeth, put on the pajamas Kate had left for her and fell into the bed. She landed on something hard. Pulling back the sheets, Alexis found the well-worn copy of Heat Wave. She leafed through the pages. Notes were written in the margins about who she thought was the killer. A couple comments to Castle about how "that's not how [the situation] went" or a joke that wasn't very funny. It was obvious Kate had read it more than once. Maybe more than ten times judging by the wear of the pages. Alexis returned the book to its nightstand and quickly fell asleep.

"If you're lucky you'll find someone willing to stand with you." Those were her words but it wasn't her voice. She was in the cemetery where they buried Roy but she wasn't behind the podium. Castle. That's whose voice it was. That was who was behind the podium. Then she saw it. The light that she assumed Castle must have seen. He carried on, reciting her words (speech?), completely unaware of the danger. Kate knew what she had to do. The gun went off but as she tried to jump in front of Castle her feet were glued to the ground. She called out to him as his body fell back, lifeless. Her feet were no longer felt stuck and she ran to him. Crouching down in the grass she clutched his hand and lowered her face to meet his eyes.

"I love you, Kate," he whispered. And as the light in his eyes faded so did the world around her.

It was dark, but she knew the alley like the back of her hand. She'd had that dream before. She called out and ran to the place she thought her mother would be but in her place was a man. His eyes lids were closed concealing the piercing blue orbs she knew lay beneath. Castle lay before her, bleeding out, dying in front of her and for the second time there was nothing she could do to save him. She tried anyway, applying pressure to a few of the many holes in his body. Tears were pouring from her eyes.

"Kate..." he sighed." Kate. I love you, Kate."

"I love you too, Rick." She said. He died with a smile on his face.

"Rick, come back to me. Rick please," she cried. Darkness then consumed her.

She woke up shaking on her couch drenched in a cold sweat and mumbling his name. She picked up her phone and checked the time. 5:07 stared back at her. Too afraid to sleep again she got up to go to work. Sneaking to her bedroom trying not to make any noise that would wake Alexis up, she gathered her most comfortable work clothes. In the living room she dressed, left a note for Alexis, lying saying she left around 7:30, praying the girl wouldn't be up by then, and left.

Kate's prayers went unanswered. Alexis rose around 6:15 from a nightmare herself and discovered Kate's note. Although she knew Kate didn't get nearly enough sleep she didn't want to call her on it for two reasons. The first being she didn't want to face the wrath of Beckett, the second was she wanted them to catch the man who shot her father. If another night went like that Alexis decided she would say something due to her father's nagging voice in the back of her head saying Beckett didn't get enough sleep as is. Grabbing a glass of water, she curled up on Kate's couch, turned on the television and immersed herself in 90's TV show re-runs.