577. Chapter 577

After Resurrection

Episode 7.14

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Even plastic surgery wouldn't make me look like I own Castle. Rating: K Time: See above.

Alexis hurried through the bullpen, looking for her father. The text that her father had sent to her telling her that he wouldn't be home for a while had been so brief and so unlike her father that she knew something was wrong. She saw him in a conference room with Ryan, Espo and Tory Ellis. "Dad! What happened? What's wrong?"

Seeing his eyes as he looked up at her told Alexis that things were very bad indeed.

"Alexis? What are you doing here?"

"When I got your text, I knew something was wrong. What happened?"

Castle dropped his chin to his chest and shook his head. "Beckett is missing. It's Jerry Tyson and Kelly Niemen. Somehow, they got her."

"What? How?" Alexis cried.

"Pumpkin, I don't have time to explain the whole thing. Just go back home and don't let anyone in but me or one of the detectives you know from the precinct. Or Beckett."

"Dad…" She began.

Espo spoke up. "Actually, Castle, you do have time to talk to her. We're just spinning our wheels now that the initial canvass of where Beckett disappeared is done. She needs to know. And who knows, maybe Little Castle will think of something we missed."

Castle took Alexis by the arm and led her to an empty office. They sat and Castle explained the whole case to her, from the death of Susan Watts to Beckett going to pick up Amy Barrett. "It was a trap. Amy Barrett wasn't going to be 3XK's next victim, she's his latest partner. I should have seen it. Tyson always uses a partner. I thought the partner was Niemen, but she's been with him for years, but always behind the scenes until now."

"What are you going to do?" Alexis asked in a panicky voice. "You have to find her. You need her, I need her, Grams needs her. Dad, we all need her."

"Pumpkin, we're doing the best we can. But we will find her. We'll get her back. "

Alexis began to cry. Tears slowly ran down her cheeks. "Dad, did you know that I moved back in with you because of Beckett? She told me that I was only punishing myself by having to work so hard to keep paying rent on the place once I broke up with Pi. She said I was the victim of love haze. She said I was in love and I just wasn't seeing things properly."

Castle shook his head. "She never told me about that."

"Dad, that's the first time in years that I actually felt like I had a mom like other people do."

"You do have a mom, Meredith. Admittedly, she's less than perfect, but…"

"Less than perfect? My mother has been to see me, or us, exactly twice in some seven years. The first time she came it was so you could buy her a place in New York."

"How did you find out about…"

Alexis interrupted him. "Dad, which one of us is the adult here? Of course I figured it out. And you invested, I don't know how much money, in some movie so you could have the producers hire her and get her out of New York."

"It was worth every penny."

"The second time she came, it was to check out Beckett. That's all she talked about. Was Beckett going to make a difference in the relationship between you? In other words, was the gravy train going to stop?"

"There wasn't a third time, because she not only didn't show up at the wedding you missed, she didn't even reply to the invitation. I checked. She was in LA, not working as usual. She doesn't really care about anyone but herself."

"Alexis, that's a little harsh."

Alexis looked at her father. "I admit it is harsh. But do you think I'm wrong?"

Castle made no reply.

"Gina wasn't a bad stepmom, and she wasn't a good one. She was just kind of there. I got the feeling that she was just going through the motions. Like she had read a book on how to be a stepmother, but wasn't putting any feeling into it."

"To this day I wonder why I ever married that woman." He shook his head sadly.

"And then you met Beckett. Okay, you already know that for a long time, I didn't like her. I thought she was using you to help with her cases, or that she just enjoyed making you suffer. And don't deny it, Dad. She made you suffer, for years."

"She's also made me happier than I've ever been. I can't imagine my life without her."

"I feel the same way. I have a stepmom, a big sister and a friend all rolled into one." Alexis looked over at her dad and took his hand. "And I know what it would do to you if you ever did lose her. I don't ever want to see that happen."

Castle suddenly remembered something that he had pushed to the back of his mind. "Do you know that just after you left, we had a little talk about maybe having children?"

Alexis smiled for the first time since she'd gotten the text from Castle. "Really? A little brother or sister? Dad, you have to find her."

Castle stood and leaned over to kiss the top of Alexis' head. He was about to go back to the detectives when the elevator door opened. It was Martha and Jim Beckett.

"Richard, Alexis texted me, and she was quite upset." She looked past Castle to Alexis. "Very upset. So I called Jim and asked him to come over here with me. No, what is going on here?" She looked around. "And where is Katherine?"

Once again, Castle explained what had happened. He saw the blood drain out of Jim Beckett's face and tears come to his mother's eyes.

"What are you doing, Richard? And what can we do?"

"Nothing that we aren't already doing and doing better than you can, Mother. What you should do is all go home and wait for Kate to come home with me."

"Castle, maybe that's not the best idea."

Rick turned to Espo. "Why not? There's nothing they can do here."

"We don't know what Tyson and Neiman are up to. But Jenny is a blonde, so Ryan called one of his brothers-in-law up. He's an ex-cop who works private security now. I've got a buddy from Special Forces who's in the same line of work. I think it'd be a good idea if we had him send some people over to pick up all of you and go back to your loft with a couple of his people to watch over them."

"Is that necessary?" Martha asked.

"When it comes to Tyson and Niemen, we'd rather be safe than sorry."

Castle nodded. "Tell him to send the bill to me, no arguments."

Castle said goodbye to his family and went back to spend a long, painful night without his wife.