613. Chapter 613

After Love Me Dead

Episode 2.09

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Love me Castle? Yes. Own me Castle? No. Rating: K Time: see above.

Kate Beckett scanned the crowded restaurant but quickly spotted Alexis waving to her.

"Hi, Alexis. Have you been waiting long?"

The young redhead shook her head. "No. I haven't been here for more than a few minutes. I haven't even read the menu yet."

"Have you eaten here before?"

"Well, once when I was little. Maybe ten years ago. I ordered off the kids menu then. Do you eat here often?"

Kate shrugged. "Once in a while. It's been a couple of years for me."

They discussed the menu and Kate tried to remember what she had had and if it was good, but she really had no memory of it. But, they made their choices when the waitress came.

"Alexis, I'm not sure why you wanted to talk to me and I confess to being just a tiny bit uncomfortable talking to you without your dad here."

Alexis glanced away, but said nothing.

"Sometimes it's easier to talk to another woman about…certain things." Hoping for some sort of reaction from Alexis.

Alexis smiled. "It's not about sex or anything like that, Detective Beckett."

"Please, call me Kate. Do you mind if I call you Alexis?"

"Of course not. And I didn't want to talk to a woman, just in general, I wanted to talk to you."

"About?" Kate asked, becoming more curious.

"Is it true you studied abroad in college? You went to Russia? I'm asking because my school will be starting a study abroad program. It's only three weeks in Italy, though."

"I studied in Kiev, which is in Ukraine, not Russia."

"And you speak fluent Russian?"

Kate nodded. "Luckily for your father." Kate hoped Alexis had missed that, but saw from the look in her eyes that she hadn't.

"Lucky for Dad? How?"

Kate blushed slightly. Apparently Castle hadn't told Alexis what had happened at the poker game in Chinatown with the Russian mobsters. "It's a long story."

"I'd like to hear all of it."

Kate sighed. Why did I say that? "We were handling the case of a man who had been fired and was trying to make up his paycheck by playing in illegal poker games with Russian mobsters."

"Wait! Was that the time the morgue van was stopped and guys with guns stole the body?"

Kate just nodded.

Alexis shivered slightly. "I was so scared when I saw that on the news. I'm so glad you're dad's partner and could protect him. So what happened?"

Kate gratefully passed over the fact that she had deliberately gotten rid of Castle and went on. "Castle used his contacts to get invited into the game and went in wearing a wire so we could get a look at the Russians involved."

"Wasn't that dangerous?" Alexis asked, looking upset.

"It shouldn't have been if Castle would just have followed orders. But he didn't."

Alexis giggled. "He never does. You must have figured that out."

Kate nodded ruefully "I should have known it by then, but…he volunteered. And we couldn't have gotten a cop into the game. And we could never gotten twenty thousand dollars from One PP." Kate thought to herself.

"So what happened that Dad was lucky you spoke Russian?"

Kate hated to have to tell Alexis this. "The Russian who killed our victim made Castle. Your dad told them the whole story of what happened to the vic, but acted like it was a plot for his next book. I put on a short dress, showed some cleavage and went inside as the Russian girlfriend of one of the men inside. I distracted the mobster who was threating your dad and arrested him." Kate looked at Alexis very seriously. "Alexis, I am so sorry for putting your father in danger like that. I would never have…"

Alexis held up her hands to stop Kate. "Dad's a handful, I know. Don't worry. He's perfectly capable of putting himself in danger without any help from anyone."

"Still, it was wrong of me…."

"Do you like my dad?"

Kate hadn't expected that question.

"Of course. He's a nice guy."

She saw that her answer hadn't satisfied Alexis. Was she dealing with a teenage matchmaker?

"No, I mean do you like him?"

Kate decided to be honest, Or at least as honest as she could be under the circumstances, since she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about Castle. "Sometimes it's like he's two different people. He can be kind, generous, sweet, thoughtful, and an incredibly competent detective. And he can be childish, self- centered, vain, undisciplined, thoughtless and…."

"And Dad." Alexis finished for her. "I know. We always say that I've raised him since I was a baby."

Kate thought for a second. "I'm not sure that's true. He's a wonderful father."

"But do you like him?" Alexis insisted.

"I like the good part of him. If he was that way all the time, I'd like him a lot. But sometimes it's all I can do not to shoot him."

"He likes you, too. A lot."

Now Kate was beginning to tread on dangerous ground. How do you tell a young girl that her dad only wanted to get you into bed? "He likes a lot of women." She settled on.

"Not like he likes you." Alexis shot back." You're different. Special."

"Alexis, I'm sure you think so, but I'm certainly not that special to him."

The young redhead shook her head forcefully. "No. You're wrong. I know from the way he talks about you. He tells my about his dates with other women when he gets home. He tells me where they went to eat and what they had, and that they, oh, went to see Shakespeare in Central Park and saw Othello. He'd tell me all about the play and the park. And then I'd ask him about the woman, and he'd say something like, "She was nice.", or "She was fun." But he never told me anything at all personal about them. But he talks on and on about you. How smart you are, how knowledgeable, how dedicated, how hard working. He can tell me verbatim some of the things you say in interrogations and explain how you trapped the suspect into making an admission he shouldn't have. He really thinks you're extraordinary."

Kate realized that she was more than a little shocked at this revelation. She didn't know what to say.

Alexis went on. "The two failed marriages really hurt him. When my mom cheated on him, it really broke his heart." Alexis looked around as if checking to make sure no one could over hear her. "I couldn't get access to the court records of the divorce, they're not on line yet. But a lot of gossip and entertainment sites covered the divorce in full. All Dad asked for in the divorce was full custody of me. He was willing to give Mom anything to get that and she took all she could get. Since she got such a big payday, everyone assumed that Dad was at fault. That hurt him,too."

"I didn't know that." Kate was bemused. That wasn't what she'd expected of Castle and his first ex-wife.

"Oh, please don't tell Dad I told you any of this."

Kate crossed her heart. "My lips are sealed."

"I have no idea why he married Gina. They're really not compatible. I think sometimes that he felt it was his obligation to provide a mom for me. But, that didn't work out."

The conversation stopped as their dinner was served. Over coffee for Kate and hot chocolate for Alexis, they continued.

"I never got to really ask you my question. Do you think I should do the three weeks in Italy? Did you enjoy your semester abroad? Did you learn a lot from it?"

Kate nodded enthusiastically. "It was great, on all counts. You'll be going off to college in two years. You'll be on your own, making your own decisions, trying out new things. It'd be good for you to get a little taste of what that's like. I say go for it."

When they parted that night, Kate had a lot more to think about than when the night had begun.