Beta: Aimee
Characters: Alexis and Rick Castle
Rating: G
Summary: "It's family moments like these I will never forget."
"With a good therapist, hopefully I will!"
Disclaimer: If it looks or sounds like something from Castle, I don't own it.
Spoiler alert: A slight reference to Little Girl Lost but you don't have to have seen it.
Warning(s): Pre-Series
A/N: This fic is for rodlox, who wanted another Alexis story! It was also written for 10_titles.
Six-year-old Alexis quietly snuck down the hallway of her and her father's new apartment. She loved this place, especially her new room that had enough space for a bigger bed to fit all of her stuffed animals. Monkey Bunkie finally wouldn't have to be alone while she was at school.
"Eight. Seven. Six."
She quickened her pace, hearing her dad nearing the end of his countdown, and rushed into his bedroom. She looked around for a place to hide. The comforter wasn't long enough to cover the gap under the bed. He'd found her too quickly when she tried hiding behind the curtains last time.
"Two. One. Ready or not, here I come!"
In a slight panic, Alexis yanked open the closet door and stepped in, pulling the door shut behind her.
It was really dark, but only babies were afraid of the dark. She inched towards the back of the closet, trying not to make the hangers screech, and backed right into something hard. Turning around, she tried to feel what she'd run into. It felt kind of like a bunch of plastic chop sticks, but they were stacked in an odd way.
The door yanked open, letting light back into the small space. "Ah ha! I found-"
Alexis screamed, running past her dad, and away from the dead body she had just found.
Alexis clutched Monkey Bunkie in her arms, crying into the back of his head.
"Alexis," her dad called out softly, as he opened the door to her room. She suppressed her tears, burying her face further into her stuffed animal. "Sweetie, are you in here?"
She heard his steps getting closer. Clamping her eyes closed, she hoped that he would just walk past her hiding space.
The comforter of her bed slowly raised up, and her dad lowered himself to the floor so that they were now at eye level with each other. "Hi, honey. Are you okay?"
Alexis sniffled and nodded.
"Do you want to come out of there?"
She shook her head. She and her dad just looked at each other for awhile. "Is that who Derrick was going to 'take care of'?" she asked softly.
"What?"
Her dad was clearly surprised, and she was a little afraid that she'd said something wrong, but she continued. "I heard you talking to Mr. Patterson about how you were going to have someone named Derrick kill a guy. Is that him?" Alexis started crying again. "I didn't think you meant it. I thought it was like when mom says, 'I could kill your father.'"
He raised an eyebrow at that but didn't comment. "Alexis," he said soothingly, "I haven't had anyone killed."
"But-"
"That skeleton is fake."
Alexis released her grip on Monkey Bunkie slightly.
"Come out and I'll show you." He held out a hand and, once she took it, helped her slide out from under her bed.
Now that the skeleton was out of the closet it didn't look so scary. Actually, it looked a lot like one the Kelsey's older brother had at his Halloween party last year.
She knocked on it once, just to be sure. Plastic.
Alexis turned around and hugged her dad tightly.
"Strawberry, I think it's time I explained to you about Derrick Storm."
"And then they put a charm in the person's mouth so that the spirits can guide them!" Alexis was explaining to her captive audience of Stephen Cannell, James Patterson, John Grisham, and Sue Grafton.
"Please tell me you are not letting your daughter read your books."
Castle turned around, forcing a smile. "Hello, Mother." He kissed his mother lightly on the cheek. "You're really not going to lecture me on parenting styles are you? You made me attend your production of Sweet Charity. I still have nightmares about you singing Big Spender."
"You've really got to get over that. You were ten. Alexis is six and you're teaching her about murder."
"I'm not turning her into an assassin... though can you just imagine how good she'd be at it? No one would suspect her!" Castle pulled a pad and pen out of his pocket and scribbled down the words child assassin. Glancing up, he saw his mother's disbelieving stare. Looking over his shoulder to make sure that Alexis was still entertaining her audience, he whispered, "I don't let her actually read my books, but it's better when we talk about it, so that she doesn't accidentally find out and misunderstand."
"Did you know that your teeth are the only part of your body that can't heal itself?" they heard Alexis ask the gathered authors.
"Plus, she's a really good writing partner."
"Darling, could you not show so much paternal pride? I'm trying to convince people I'm not old enough to be a grandmother."
