Skip the Charades

You wait on letters

Fishing for any sign of life

Drinks after dinner

Your friends will get you to unwind

-"Skip the Charades" Cold War Kids

"Are you coming?" Alexis said softly from the study door.

Castle glanced up, soaked in the sight of his daughter framed by the ambient light filtering in from the hallway. Her hair was in a long braid down her back like when she was little, her face stretched in one of those dimpled smiles that lately made his heart hurt. Wrapped in a long coat, Alexis looked swallowed up by the wide lapels.

"No, sweetheart. I'm waiting on Detective Beckett," he said, giving her the best smile he could. "You guys have fun."

"Dad."

"Go on," he insisted, shooing her towards the door from his seated position behind his desk.

"What if she doesn't come?" Alexis walked further into the study, her coat falling open as she moved.

Castle looked at her feet with a raised brow. "Platform heels?"

Alexis winked at him and giggled. "Trying something new. K-uh. . .Kate gave them to me."

Castle kept the smile on his face by sheer force of will, trying not to ruin his daughter's night. "Yeah. I like them. Just. . .don't grow up too fast, sweetheart."

Alexis rolled her eyes; another gift from Kate, most likely. She clomped towards him, a little unsteady still in those shoes, and dropped a kiss to his forehead, rubbing his shoulder. "See you later, Dad."

"In case Kate does come, then I'll say good night to you now," he added, raising an arm to hug his daughter.

"Sure, Dad," she muttered.

"Hey. It could happen," he said back, shoving on her to get her moving. Alexis tilted a little on her platforms, windmilling her arms while Castle laughed.

"Not funny! You pushed me," she squealed, regaining her balance and pushing him back.

His chair rocked but he caught her arm and tugged, causing her to fall towards him. Castle tickled her mercilessly until she shrieked and giggled, squirming against him, trying to get her footing, trying not to lose her coat or heels, her elbows pressed against her sides.

When her hilarity finally buoyed his own spirit, Castle let his daughter go, lending her a steadying hand to keep her upright until she got her balance again.

"Need more practice, pumpkin," he said, grinning at her.

"Don't mess with me," she glared, pointing at him. "You be good. I'm going to dinner and the play with Grams." Alexis kissed two fingers and pushed them into his forehead.

"Bye," he said, catching her wrist again and giving those two fingers a loud smack of his lips. "I love you, Alexis."

"I know, Dad," she said. He could see it on her face, that ripple of awareness that he wished wasn't there. He wasn't happy that she'd been standing in that cemetery when Kate was shot, but he couldn't do anything to change it. She knew. She'd been brushed by horror.

"Don't let Grams talk you into midnight dessert after the theatre, sweetheart. Dessert means drinks." Castle tried to keep the mood going, tried to erase the reminders from her face.

"Doesn't dessert always mean drinks? We'll be good. I've got to finish up my research project."

"Ah. Need to stay on schedule for early graduation, right?" He hoped his voice didn't crack.

"Right." Alexis was grinning when she turned and left him in his study, so he figured he'd managed that. He wasn't ready to let her go; he was less than ready to let her go. But ever since Kate got shot, Castle had seen the wisdom in letting his daughter attend a college on an entirely different coast, especially if he and Kate were still going to do this.

His own smile didn't stick around for long, and then the winter night hooked its fingers in the room.

And Kate still hadn't come.

"I just wanted to say good night," she whispered to the top of his head.

Castle stirred in his chair, opened an eye to see that nimbus of red-gold hair. "Hey there. How was it?" His voice was raw with sleep.

"Wonderful. I'm so going to miss the theatre when I'm at Stanford," she said, kissing his forehead. "Grams and I went to that little Italian place a block over from the theatre where we saw Blithe Spirit together-"

"Ah, yes, Gioninni's?"

Alexis giggled at the way he purposefully mangled the restaurant's name, the sound of her laughter like tiny bells in the darkness of his study.

"Sure. That's the one. I had veal parmesan. It was sooo good, Dad. Just. Wonderful. I'm going to miss that too."

He wanted to say Then don't leave it, don't leave us. But he bit his tongue to keep from blurting it out, only smiled up at his daughter.

"It will miss you too. You should write down all the places and things you miss while you're there, so that when you come home for the holidays, we can cram in every last ounce of the city that we can."

In the dark, Castle could just make out the curved line of her mouth in the pale moon of her face. "Oh, Dad. That's a great idea!"

"I've been known to have a few."

"Did Kate-?" she asked hesitantly, hitching her purse up onto her shoulder.

"Not yet. Go to bed, pumpkin."

"You should too, Dad."

"Just a few more minutes," he answered, glancing down to his laptop to check the time, only to find that it had, of course, gone dark.

The flash of blue cell phone light in the room preceded Alexis's announcement: "It's 12:28, Dad."

"She's come later than this," he defended. Even though they both knew that Castle would stay up in his study for as long as he could keep his eyes open, and very rarely these days would Kate come by.

"All right. Good night then."

"Night," he replied and stood up to stretch his tight back. He dropped a kiss to the top of her head and pushed her towards the door, walking with her down the hall, through the living room, and towards the stairs.

When she got to the first step, Alexis turned on the platform heels (she'd gotten infinitely better at walking in just a few short hours out). She placed both hands on his shoulders, staring at him in the eye. Her blues were touched with a darkening smudge of worry, like the way Monet portrayed shadow in his famous lily ponds.

"Don't stay up too late, Dad. Okay?"

Waiting for her.

"Not too late," he promised. Castle leaned in to give her a bone-crushing hug, the kind only fathers can give their too-grown-up daughters, and at that moment, they heard the key scrape in the lock.

Alexis jerked back in surprise. "It's her."

Castle smiled, the first real smile of the day, or night as it was, and released her. "Go on to bed."

Alexis shot a glance to the door, then leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "Be careful."

And Castle knew that she wasn't just talking about the people after Kate, about the case that she wouldn't drop, but he knew that Alexis meant he should be careful of Kate herself.

As well he should. But he couldn't help himself.

He loved her.