The knock on the door comes at possibly the worst moment, interrupting her reading of the final page of the penultimate chapter of the thick book in her hands. True, the majority of the story is over and there are only a few loose ends to tie up for the hero and his friends, but she would have much preferred that whoever is waiting on the other side had put off their visit for another half an hour or so.

"Coming," she calls out, affording just the smallest tilt of her head towards the door to ensure her voice carries, and then she's reading rapid fire, determined to finish the chapter before greeting what is surely another package that is being delivered after another late night Amazon binge from her father.

Marking her place, Alexis hurries to her feet when the second knock sounds, her red hair flapping around her shoulders with her growl of frustration. Whoever is waiting either didn't hear her or just doesn't care, not that it really matters. All she wants to do is sign for the package and get back to finishing her book.

With that thought in mind, she pulls open the loft's front door, a polite smile on her lips that dies the instant she gets a look at the person waiting on the other side.

"What are you doing here?" Alexis hurls the words out before she's given it that much thought, aware of the nasty bite that they carry. She's also got the urge to merely slam the door in Kate Beckett's face, to twist the lock and just ignore any subsequent knock that might come.

"I….." Kate begins, the surprise on her face giving way to confusion. Her eyebrows draw together in one smooth motion, leaving a small indent in the skin at the top of her nose, "Shouldn't you be in school? It's Wednesday afternoon."

"Teacher development day," Alexis replies, keeping her tone frosty and as unwelcome as she can manage. Of course, she could explain how she had planned to graduate in December and go off to Stanford with her now ex-boyfriend Ashley, but it's far more information than she thinks Kate deserves to know, nevermind that it still hurts to think of both Stanford's rejection letter and the necessary but still painful breakup that she's been navigating through for the past four months. "What are you doing here?" she asks again, shaking off memories of Ashley and California.

"I was looking for your dad," Kate tells Alexis with a small sigh, "He's not here, is he?"

"No," the answer is prompt, given with a keen hope of being able to dismiss Kate. Indeed Alexis is already stepping forward to close the door, to shove her father's former girlfriend onto someone else, "He's probably with Esposito and Ryan, why don't you call one of them?"

"Alexis!" Kate's voice is sharp, her hand darting out to stop the front door from shutting, "I know I'm not your favorite person in the world, but I really need to talk to your dad. And I don't want to do it while Ryan and Esposito are eavesdropping."

She doesn't bother to resist the urge to roll her eyes, the gesture followed by a long suffering sigh that would make her grandmother proud. But Alexis opens the door wider, aware that even though she wishes her dad would wash his hands of Kate Beckett and all the trouble that she brings with her, he would be furious to find out that she'd refused to let Kate in to wait for him.

"I suppose I should have just called him and let him know I was coming," Kate says once she's stepped into the loft and Alexis has shut the door behind her. It's been over seven years since she's been in the space, but it's largely unchanged. A new couch, some new photos to replace a few that she knows had contained her own face, but the feel of the place, the way things are arranged and organized; it's exactly the same. "I really thought he'd be home in the middle of the day. Procrastinating when he should be writing….."

For all the answer that she gets from the young redhead, she could have just stayed silent. Alexis has moved back to the couch, setting herself back against the cushions and she's disappeared behind the cover of a fairly thick book before Kate has managed to shed her black coat.

She picks a chair across from Alexis which affords her a view of the furrowed copper eyebrows and just enough of her blue eyes to know that while the young woman might be holding the book, she certainly isn't reading.

But the silence between them stretches on, tension bubbling and building with every passing minute until the book is lowered with a sharp intake of breath. Alexis had lasted ten minutes, but now she saddles Kate with the angry spark of her eyes and the sharp jut of her chin, "Aren't you supposed to be on a honeymoon with your husband?"

It isn't what she expected Alexis to ask, and it shows in the lift of her eyebrows but Kate composes herself easily, clearing her throat even as she considers the best way to explain. "No," she says quickly, unfolding her hands to give the girl a glimpse at her left hand, which is devoid of an engagement ring, "There is no husband. Will and I decided it was best to go our separate ways."

"So, what, you've decided to come back and date my dad?"

There is a fury on Alexis' face, and it should be enough to give her pause but Kate gives her an easy smile, wholly undaunted by the challenge in front of her, "If that is what he wants to do, yes," she answers. At that, Alexis only seems to grow angrier, her eyes narrowing dramatically when she crosses her arms over her chest, the book wedged between them as if it will further shield her from an emotional onslaught.

"That seems ridiculous given how well it worked out the last time," she snaps, "But I suppose when you get bored of him you'll just pack up your things and leave again, and I'll be the one that has to put him back together."

Kate doesn't doubt that at Alexis had taken on the responsibility of fixing her dad's broken heart when the two of them had separated, but even if she had suspected that was the case it still cracks something within her. Even when Kate had first met her, Alexis had been too wise for her own good. The eyes that were so like her father's were a bit too understanding whenever her mother cancelled yet another trip to New York to see her or, on the two times Meredith had visited, whisked herself back to LA within a few days.

Like Meredith before her, Kate had become just another woman who would leave if things got difficult, and she couldn't blame Alexis for drawing that conclusion.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that," she finally says, aware that an apology so many years later has no hope of repairing the damage though Kate still feels an obligation to try.

She gets a shrug in response, the slow lift of a hand to tuck some of that brilliantly red hair behind an ear, "It was a long time ago. I've moved past it, I thought dad had too until he picked up that case with Ryan and Esposito."

"Why?" Kate asks, her curiosity getting the better of her, "Because he married Gina?"

The question earns her a snort and the shake of Alexis' head, "Gina was always a mistake. From beginning to end, he rushed into it and tried to convince himself of something that we all knew was a lie. And Gina eventually realized that she had been a replacement for the person he really wanted, and that was the end of that. I never blamed her for leaving."

It's clear in the hard look that she gives Kate that the person she blames is her.

"Alexis," she starts, not entirely sure where to begin in explaining herself and easing some of the pain that leaks through the hastily constructed armor that Alexis wears, "Leaving was what I thought would be best at the time."

"Leaving is never the best solution," Alexis fires at her, "Especially not for the people who are left behind."

It's natural that the simple truth in the young woman's words has Kate thinking of her mother, and that grief rises up, threatening to choke her with it before she even realizes it. It takes considerable effort to swallow it back, to battle against her knife sharp memories of loss and the knowledge of what her choices to try and cope with that loss have done to shape her life since.

"Sometimes when you lose someone, it shapes part of you," Kate tells her, clearing her throat to remove the traces of what she knows is her continued battle with tears. "I never meant to be the person who did that to you."

"It's not just me that you hurt."

She lets out a long breath, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees, once again accepting the brutal honesty that the teenager is giving her without hesitation or excuses. "What did Rick tell you about why I left?"

For a moment, she's sure that Alexis isn't going to answer out of sheer loyalty to her father, but she seems to relent once she's placed her book onto the couch beside her. "He just said that you both thought it was time to end things, not that I ever believed him. He was too sad about you being gone to have wanted you to leave."

Of course he had tried to keep the worst of it from Alexis. At the time she'd been nine, far too young to be told the graphic details about her mother's murder and the hold that it had on Kate. In typical Rick Castle fashion, he'd shielded his daughter from the worst of it, given her a half truth that would allow Alexis to blame them in equal parts.

"He didn't want me to leave," Kate says in agreement, "But there were things in my life that had such a hold on me, and I had really left long before I actually packed my things. My mind, my attention….every part of me that mattered was stuck in my work and when I wasn't on duty, I was looking at a closed case."

"Your mother's murder," Alexis says, though it's not phrased as a question, "You told me it was why you became a cop."

She gives a nod, "It was an obsession. I told myself that if I studied it enough, if I doubled checked leads, tracked down the people who had given interviews in the area when she died, if I turned over enough stones, I'd find something that the detectives who worked the case missed and I'd be able to solve it and find some peace. But your dad…..he noticed that I'd go to my apartment when I got off shift, or that I'd be slipping away to make or answer a phone call when we were together. At first it was just maybe a night here or there, but before I knew it, every moment I wasn't working the job, I was working her case. I ignored his phone calls, I cancelled dates, there were a few times I just didn't show up for something because I had forgotten or lost track of time while absorbed in working her murder."

"It was months of that Alexis," Kate continues, hurrying to force out her explanation, "Months of putting the two of you off, of letting my mom's case be what mattered in my life. When Rick and I were together, he kept offering to help, I kept shoving him away and insisting he stay out of it because he wasn't trained. We started fighting. Weeks of arguing until he finally told me that I had to give myself room for a life around my grief and my obsession, that even if I solved the case I might not have anyone left in my life who cared."

"He made you choose?" she asks, her eyes going wide with surprise that only diminishes when Kate shakes her head.

"No," Kate corrects, "He never asked me to choose. He asked me to make room for the two of you next to my mom's case." And here, she has to pause, again waging an internal battle with her regret and her guilt. "I couldn't do it," she explains, her voice thick with the threat of tears once again, "I loved your father, and I loved you, but the idea of being a wife and a mother was overwhelming. I wasn't ready for it, but I thought maybe in time that would change. Maybe if I got my head on straight, if I went to therapy and worked through some of the things that I had kept inside after my mom was killed and learned to cope with all of it that I could be all of these things: a cop, a wife, and a mom. But it wasn't fair to your dad or to you that I stay around and give you hope for something that might never happen, and I chose to leave. To work on myself and get my priorities in order."

"And you never came back," Alexis replies, the challenge clear in her voice.

"Your dad got married," she says with a sigh, "I started therapy a couple months after we broke up, had made a lot of progress in working through some of my issues, and I missed you both. I would walk down the street and see a kid with your red hair and have to stop myself from hurrying your way, and I cried once when I passed a bookstore and they had one of those cardboard cutouts of Rick in the window. I told myself to wait, to make sure that I could come back and that I would be the person that you both needed, and by the time I got to that point it was too late. It'd been two years, your dad and Gina had gotten married, and I missed my shot."

"I'm sorry I left without saying goodbye, or at least trying to explain," Kate says, pleased to see the small nod of Alexis' head that seems to be in acceptance of her apology, "Even at nine, you deserved an explanation, and telling myself you were too young to understand or leaving Rick to explain it all wasn't the right thing to do."

"Dad never really explained," Alexis responds, and it's softer than it's been since Kate entered the loft. No longer does the teenager look ready to spit fire and toss her out of the loft, she's now looking at her with a measure of understanding, if not outright acceptance.

Kate will mark it down as progress.

"He never wanted me to hate you, I think," she continues, "He was always so insistent that things just hadn't worked between you and that it was for the best. But I always knew that he was lying, and even if he'd never admit it, that he missed you. And knowing that, watching him try to replace you and then be upset when it didn't work out…...it made it easy to hate you."

"I don't blame you for that," Kate replies with complete honesty, giving Alexis a tiny smile of encouragement. "If I were in your place, I'd feel the same way, but Alexis, I promise you, I'm not here to break your dad's heart again. I want this to work between us."

The nod that the redhead gives has the effect of lifting a weight off Kate's chest, and she takes a deep breath to soak in the feeling, "I can't promise you that we won't break up. I can't predict the future," she quickly adds, "But if your dad wants to try this again, I'm all in. Whatever that may mean."

That honesty is rewarded with a smile, and though it's painfully shy and hesitant, it feels as if she and Alexis have reached some resemblance of an understanding.

"Dad and I have a dinner date tonight," Alexis blurts out, curling her fingers around the edge of her book, "But I think maybe I'm going to see if my friend Taylor wants to have dinner, possibly catch a movie, get out of the loft for a bit….."

Though she doesn't say it outright, Kate feels like the awkward rambling is a blessing of sorts from the teenager and, despite herself, the laugh bubbles out and it's one that Alexis returns with her own giggle as she gets to her feet, taking her book as she goes. "I'm gonna go upstairs and get some things together, make yourself comfortable."

"I'm late, I know! I'm sorry!"

Rick's shouting from the moment that he opens the front door of the loft, hastily slipping off his coat and tossing it towards the couch. He doesn't make it, the heavy wool fabric instead falling to the hardwood floor but he makes no move to pick it up. He and Alexis are due for their dinner reservation in twenty minutes, and he definitely needs to change into a new shirt before they go.

Being late wasn't planned. All day he had been insistent that at 5:30 he would be out the door, giving himself plenty of time to get home, change, and head uptown for dinner and, possibly, a movie with his teenager.

But that was before an Assistant District Attorney was tossed off a parking garage and Esposito discovered that the guy might have ties to an escort website. The next thing he had known it was 6:40 and he was very, very late for his rendezvous with Alexis.

Rick is halfway down the hall towards his bedroom before he notices how quiet the loft is. So consumed with his rushing and his panic that his kid would be angry with him, he turns back towards the living room and realizes with a start that it's more than just quiet; the lights are off bar the lamp by the grand piano and the blue glow of the wine fridge in the kitchen.

"Alexis?" he asks, his voice less high energy and more concerned. "Mother?"

No one answers, but he does hear a distinct shuffle coming from the direction of his office, and Rick has to grin even if they don't have time for games. "Alexis, we don't have time for laser tag. We're gonna miss dinner!" he says, charging back towards his office where he expects his vest and gun to be ready and waiting on his desk.

Like the rest of the loft, his office is mostly dark, ambient light seeping in from the windows illuminating everything with the blue-white glow of the city at nighttime. He makes it two steps in before he registers the frame of a body sitting in his desk chair, but rather than his daughter with her vivid red hair, it's a woman with long brown locks and a soft smile that makes his stomach flip-flop.

"Kate," he breaths out her name in surprise, his eyes wide and so very blue while they rake over her form. She's obviously comfortable, her jean clad legs curled underneath her body, and a dog-eared copy of his first novel, In A Hail of Bullets, clutched in her hand. The white top she's wearing seems to glow in the half-light as she marks her page by folding down the corner, and she's on her feet before he's managed to draw a breath.

"What are you doing here?" he finally croaks it out once she's stepped past his desk, making a direct line for him.

"Waiting for you," Kate replies, stopping within arms reach of him, so close that he can see the delighted sparkle in her eyes, the way her lips are playing with a gentle grin that he absurdly wants to taste with his mouth.

"For me?" he asks because even with his surprise and pleasure at seeing her again, Rick can't quite fit the pieces together. He hasn't seen her in ten days, ten days since she left the precinct with Will Sorenson and boarded a flight back to Boston and a life that distinctly didn't include him. "Why would you be waiting for me?"

For the first time since he walked in the office and laid eyes on her, there's a hint of nerves in her gaze; a subtle wetting of her lips that is done unconsciously but still manages to be entirely distracting. "Well, I wanted to ask you a question."

"Sure," Rick replies automatically, "Anything you want to know."

The nerves are replaced with relief, that easy happiness pouring back into her eyes so that they reflect a soft forest green, "Will you go on a date with me?"

For a moment, he isn't sure how to react. Those are words that he's wanted to hear from Kate for far longer than just the past week, and now that she's said them he can't contain the happiness that bubbles up, nor can he do much to change the fact that is accompanied by a certain resignation. "A date?" he sighs, "You're supposed to be in Boston with Will, not going on a date with me."

He's very proud that he manages the last sentence without sounding bitter or disappointed.

"We broke up," she says simply, and his heart soars at the news, burning away whatever bitterness that had lingered when he realized Kate had left the city and, so he thought, made a choice other than him. There is only one other three word phrase he can think of in his entire life that has stirred such an equally potent response within him, and Rick doesn't think it's a coincidence that they were issued to him from the same woman standing in front of him right now. "He and I both agreed that getting married when you are in love with someone else isn't a good idea."

"You -" he has to pause, his heart too busy skipping a beat to allow him to continue speaking. For just a moment, Rick closes his eyes, gathers himself as best he can and then levels his gaze on Kate, hands already reaching out to grasp her upper arms and drag her a few steps closer, "You're in love with someone else?"

"Yeah," Kate agrees, the grin that forms at her mouth once of sheer joy, "You. You're the guy I think about when I wake up in the morning, and the one that I want to curl up with at night. You make me laugh, you get under my skin, you challenge me like no one else ever has…."

"Kate…."

"I don't know if this will work," she cuts over him, her voice soft but insistent in a way that draws out his own huge grin, "But I love you, Richard Castle, and I want you do go on a date with me so we can see where this can go when I'm not scared to death of what it means and drowning in my past."

"I think I can manage that," he replies, using his hand to draw a path from her bicep up across her shoulder and her neck to cup her cheek in his palm.

"Good," she grins, rising up on her tiptoes to brush her mouth against his, "Because I really wasn't taking no for an answer."

A/N: Epilogue still to come. :)