Good morning you audio monkeys! Or should I say good afternoon! As I said I would fulfill my promises, I have finished up chapter 4 for you audio monkeys! As you are wondering, in the last chapter why didn't we get to see Castle's POV of the new friendship of Kevin and Alexis. I'll tell you why, because I wanted Kevin and Alexis to have a moment before getting into her Dad's POV. So that's why. But in this chapter, you do see Castle's POV, what do you think he'll say about this new fond friendship? Will he be worried? Happy or concerned? Will his curiosity get the best of him? Use your eyes to find out!

Oh and yes Castle and Beckett are together!

As I stop rambling like an idiot, here is chapter 4!

I'll work on chapter 5 throughout today and tonight and I'll posted up tomorrow morning.

I do not own Castle! I wish, but I don't.

Have fun you audio monkeys!

Chapter 4: Curiosity Killed the Cat

Castle watched his daughter and Detective Ryan's interaction with each other from a far. 'Curious.' He thought to himself. He knows Kevin Ryan is a good guy, compassionate about his job, he's funny and cares for the people he loves and he guess one of them is Alexis. Although, he should worried about something going between Kevin and his daughter, but something popped into his mind. Alexis is a mature young adult, she knows what she's doing, she can make her own decisions and she more mature than anybody in this room. He knows she can take care of herself, plus she seems very happy to see Kevin unhurt. He could see the way how he sighed in relief means he cares about Alexis. He shouldn't be worried about anything. She's a young adult. She's grown up. She's not a little girl anymore. Their friends and he couldn't help, but give a small smile at the new fond friendship. Although, his mind betrayed him. 'What if it turns into something more?' I knew Alexis had a crush on him when she was still in high school, but that was just a crush. It should have passed, right?' All of his thoughts were spinning his in mind and didn't realize he was having a moment in his head. He mentally shook it off knowing his daughter will make the right decision. He knows that and even if anything happened to him, he would ask Kevin to take care of his daughter even if it blossoms into something else, he wouldn't mind. He wouldn't mind if something ends up happening with Kevin and Alexis. If he makes her happy, then he was happy. If he puts a smile on her face, then he would smile. To be honest, they look cute together. They make a cute couple. With that he smiled at his two favorite people in his life.

Kevin pulled away from the embrace to look at her beautiful face. He wiped away the stray tears with his thumb. He started to blush at what he was doing and noticed she started to blush too. He cleared his throat because of the awkward situation; he removed his hand away from her face and stuffs his hands into his pocket. Alexis push a strain of her hair behind her ear and gave him a small smile.

"I'm glad you're okay." She nodded and looked into his baby blue eyes.

"Me too."

"Me too." They both snapped their heads towards Castle who was leaning against the door frame and smiled at the two. Kevin blushed even hard that his whole face started to turn a bright shade of red and so did Alexis. Castle was just smiling at the two on how awkward for those two and decided to mess with them for a little awhile. It's too much fun. They all heard footsteps coming up the stairs, Castle turned around and it was Beckett.

"Hey." He turned to Beckett and gave her a grin.

"Hey." She raised her eyebrows at him in suspiciously.

"What?"

"I'll tell you later." He turned towards Alexis and Kevin and smiled at them. "I'll see you downstairs." Alexis nodded furiously and Kevin gave a nod avoiding eye contact with him. He swiftly walked out Alexis' bedroom and started giggling like a teenager. Beckett raised her eyebrows at Castle as she watches him leave Alexis' room and looked towards Alexis with her head cocked to the side in a confused way. Alexis shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"Dad being dad." She laughed nervously and started to rub her arm in a nervous matter. Beckett face expression was confused, but looked towards where Castle went and followed him without another word to Alexis or Kevin. Alexis let a breath that she was holding and looked back at Kevin. He was looking at his shoes with his hands in his pockets swaying a little. "Well that was awkward." Kevin nodded in agreement and sighed.

"Yeah," He glanced up at Alexis who wrapped her arms around her mid section of her stomach and they stay silent. 'God what came over me?' Kevin thought to himself as he battle his thoughts in his mind about Alexis. He glanced at her and took in her appearance. She was wearing black sweat pants and a black hoodie that hugged her in the right places and one of those places are her breast. He noticed she's grown up since he last saw her. Her face still has the youthful look, her eyes are bluer like the sea, her breast have grown, he notices as she walks her hips sway very dangerously and her lips have become more plump and the color of lips have tint of red. He blushes at his thoughts and mentally shakes his head. 'What the hell are you thinking!? This is Castle's daughter! Stop thinking like a perv!' He thought to himself.

"You okay Kevin?" He snaps his head up and looks at Alexis. She has a confused expression written all over her face and he gives her a small smile.

"I'm fin Lex, just having a battle with my inner thoughts." She moved a little closer to him and he started to tense up. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but tensed under her touch. "When the door was opened, I thought of the worse." He avoided making eye contact with her and let out a shaky breath. "I genially thought of the worse and I couldn't get you out of my mind and for a moment I thought we were gonna lose you if Ashley had gotten a hold of you. God, I can't even imagine-"A pair of arms wrapped around his waist and he couldn't help, but wrap his arms around her waist and laid his head against her shoulder.

"I'm okay, nothing is going to happen to me I promise. He didn't get to me. He didn't hurt me. You saved me Kevin. You saved me." He nodded in her shoulder and inhaled her sweet scent. Strawberries. She smelled of strawberries. He closed his eyes as they both stayed in their positions a little longer.

Downstairs, Beckett was sitting at the island of the kitchen and Castle was in the kitchen making three coffees for him, Beckett and Ryan and hot coco for Alexis. Beckett glances up the stairs and sighs.

"They've been up there for awhile." Castle looked at Beckett and nodded. "Should we be worried?" Castle shakes his head.

"Their fine, they just need to adjust to what happened." Beckett nodded as Castle handed her a cup of coffee. She smiles at him and says 'thank you.' He returns the smile and takes a sip of his coffee. Espo comes in and takes a seat next to Beckett.

"How's Alexis doing?" Castle looks at Espo and sighs.

"Scared, but she'll be okay. She's surrounded by the people who love her to give her comfort." Espo nodded and sighs. "Coffee?" Espo nodded. Castle set his coffee cup down and went over to the other side of the kitchen and grabbed another cup for Espo.

"Where's Ryan?" Beckett motions her head towards the stairs.

"Still upstairs with Alexis." He raises his eyebrows.

"Why?"

"Making sure she's okay and he thought she could use the comfort after what happened." Castle walked over to Espo and handed him his coffee.

"It's more like he needs comfort." Both Beckett and Espo raised their eyebrows at Castle.

"Why would you say that?" Espo asks and Castle glanced up at the stairs.

"You didn't see it. He was genially worried and afraid when he got a call from Alexis. The fear in his eyes, the relief he saw Alexis was physically okay, I've never seen him so scared." Beckett nods in agreement.

"You know I wouldn't be surprised if thought of the worse and I wouldn't blame him." Espo nodded.

"Yeah, he's passionate about keeping others safe. He would put his life on the line to protect someone he cares about and that goes for all of us."

"Including Alexis." Castle nodded.

"I was watched Alexis and when she hugged Ryan, I saw the tense leave his body and relaxed his Alexis' arms. I thought he was gonna cry, I thought I was gonna cry myself." Espo looked at Castle and set his cup down.

"You don't think anything is happening between, right?" Beckett looked at Espo and raised her eyebrows at him.

"I don't think that's any of our business to judge whether if there is something going on between Alexis and Ryan. Their just friends." Castle nodded.

"I agree with Beckett on this, if something is going on either Alexis would tell or Ryan when they are comfortable to talk about it and if the friendship turns into something else or grows into something else, I wouldn't mind to be honest." Espo was about to say something until they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. All three of them saw Ryan coming down the stairs with Alexis in tow. Castle notices that Ryan looks exhausted and tired. Alexis' eyes were red and puffy from crying of the events that happened tonight. Alexis walked over to her dad and he engulfed her in a hug. Ryan walked over to Beckett and she put his arms around his shoulders. Castle pulls away from the embrace and sighs. "You okay pumpkin?" She nodded and sighs.

"Yeah." Castle nods and looks towards Ryan. His shoulders were slumped as Beckett gently rubs his shoulder in comfort. The young Irish man looks like he was about to pass out and also looks like he hasn't gotten a good night's rest.

"Coffee?" Ryan looks up at Castle and nods, but doesn't say anything else. Castle went to grab his coffee and grabbed the cup of hot coco he made for Alexis. He grabbed the two cups and walked back over to the gang. He handed over the cup of coffee to Ryan and he took it and said a quiet thank you. Castle gave Ryan a smile of comfort and handed the cup of hot coco to Alexis. She gave him a small smile and said thank you. They all sat in quiet thinking about the events that happened to tonight. They all sat in silence until Beckett's voice broke that silence.

"We should probably head back to the precinct." Espo nodded.

"Yeah, fill in Gates what happened tonight." Castle nodded and sighs.

"I think I'm gonna stay back." He pulls Alexis into a side hug and she leaned into his embrace. Beckett nodding in agreement.

"I'll call you when we get any information." Beckett let go of Ryan and walked over to Castle and gave him and Alexis' hugs. "I'll be back soon." Castle nodded.

"I'll still be up when you get back." She nodded and gave a gentle kiss on Alexis' forehead. Alexis gives a small smile towards Beckett and says a quiet goodnight. Beckett looks over at Ryan who pushes himself up from his seat until he lost his footing and came crashing down to the floor. Beckett rushes over to him and Espo helps him back up to his feet with Ryan's limp arm around his shoulders. Beckett grabs his other arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. Ryan mutters an 'I'm okay', but Beckett shook her head.

"Ryan you have the posture of a frail cat." She motions Espo towards the couch and they both guided him to the couch.

"I'll be fine, just a little tired is all." Ryan muttered to them.

"Ryan when was the last time you got any good rests?" He looked up towards Castle and lightly shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't remember." He muttered to Castle.

"Exactly, Ryan we all know you haven't gotten any sleep and it's hurting you. Even Gates knows and she's worried about you and we all don't see that often." Ryan groaned in protests, but Castle wouldn't have it. "You're too tired to drive. You're staying here tonight end of discussion." He said in a stern voice and Ryan just groaned as his body goes limp and falls asleep. Beckett looked up at Castle.

"Are you sure it's okay for him to stay here?" Castle nods.

"You said it yourself, his posture is like a frail cat. He's not functional to drive." Beckett was about to protests, but she hears Alexis' small voice.

"We'll take care of him." She looks over at Alexis who still has her cup in both of her hands and gave her a small smile. "He'll be okay." Beckett then looks back at Castle and sighs.

"Okay," She gets up and looks towards Espo. "Javi you think you could get Ryan some clothes for tomorrow?" He nodded.

"I already got his keys. I'll stop by before heading back to the precinct." Beckett nodded and gives Castle a kiss on the cheek.

"Hopefully we won't be too long." Castle nodded.

"We'll still be up." She nodded and motioned Espo to the door. They both walked out of Castle's apartment and he said goodnight to Espo. He closed the door and sighs tiredly. He turns towards Alexis and she sets her cup down.

"I'll go get him some blankets and pillow." He nods.

"I'll give some spare clothes, but I don't know if they will fit him." Alexis let out a soft chuckle.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate that." Castle smiles and pulls Alexis into a bear hug and she wraps her arms around his waist.

"I'm glad you're okay pumpkin." She nodded and sighs tiredly.

"Me too dad." She pulled away from his embraces and smiles up at him. "I'm gonna go get those blankets and pillow." He nodded and watches her head upstairs. He then looks over at the couch in the living room and hears Ryan's soft snores. He knows that Ryan would do anything to protect his daughter. He would even take a bullet for her and he knows she would probably do the same for him. He knows Ryan would put his safety in front of Alexis and would keep her safe. He knows they are just friends, but knows that new fond friendship will merge into something else. He sighs and smiles, yeah he wouldn't mind at all.