Rick had finally convinced Kate to take some vacation time when summer rolled around. They had it all planned out, they were going to take Alexis to the Hamptons now that they both agreed she was finally allowed in the pool by herself, with the back door open and them never actually out of her sight. Montgomery had approved the days and the boys and ensured her that they could handle everything for a few days without her and the captain had promised to keep a close eye on them, so she had absolutely nothing to worry about.

"So Castle did you hear? Beckett is taking a vacation out to the Hamptons but she wont tell us who she is going with." Ryan gave her a hurt look and she just rolled her eyes at his immaturity.

"I told you guys I just want to get Lexi out of the city for a few days, show her that the pool at the apartment has nothing on an outdoor pool."

"Come on Boss no one takes their 7 year old to the Hamptons. Wait how are you even able to take her to the Hamptons?" It was a good thing Kate had her back to Esposito because her eyes nearly bugged out.

"I actually knew a guy that had fallen on some hard times and he offered to rent it out to Kate for a week at a really great price." thank goodness the writer was quick on his feet. It through the boys for a loop not really exception their teasing to be responded to with a legitimate answer. Kate used the pause to her advantage and began her escape.

"Yeah. He was really nice. He has a kid himself so it made no difference to him that Lexi would be with me. Well I really should get going it just about time to pick her up from school." Kate grabbed up her stuff and made a mad dash for the elevator with Castle right on her heels.

Ryan turned to Esposito. "Dude, something isn't right."

"I know bro, she always tells us everything but all of a sudden she closes the door on her life."

"She is hiding something and its our job as her partners to figure out what it is. You know in case it gets her in trouble."

"Her and Montgomery have always been close, he has to know her secret." What the boys didn't know was that she had kept her secret from him as well. It broke her heart to lie to him. He was the closes thing she had to a father when she had left her father behind to come to the city with Rick. But she knew the rules, even if Castle wasn't a member of the NYPD, all it would take was one call from an angry citizen and Montgomery's hand would be tied.

They had finally made it to the Hamptons with only 3 bathroom stops and 1 small meltdown. Alexis was getting hungry and she wasn't hiding it.

"I told you we should have fed her before we left."

"Well if you hadn't raised her so health conscience she would have eaten the chips I brought in case this happened." Kate gave her one of her famous looks. This was why they had never tried to travel with Alexis. She was a very picky eater and it didn't help much that Kate had raised her on very minimal amounts of junk food.

"Lets just get her inside and then you can head back out to that amazing pizza place." She smiled at the thought of her favorite pizza. Ever since that first weekend they had slipped away for the weekend had he was showing her around, Kate had loved this pizza the best.

Back in New York Ryan and Esposito were determined to find out what Beckett was hiding.

"Maybe she is dating someone?"

"Bro, when would she even have had time to meet someone? If she isn't here she is with Alexis. She is a single mother with an extremely demanding job. I don't know many guys in there 20s lining up to be Mr. Mom."

"OK well Montgomery didn't know anything. What about Castle? Think about it man, they spend a lot of time together maybe he knows." Javier was thinking hard trying to find fault in Ryan's logic but he just couldn't; they really did spend a lot of time together both at work and outside. "Just call him man."

While rick was out getting the pizza Kate decided to jump in the shower and wash away the city to really get into the Hamptons spirit. Just as she cut off the water she heard someones phone ringing down stairs.

"Lexi, sweetie, can you answer that? Its probably grams making sure we got here alright,"

"Hello?" the voice that came over the phone threw Espo for a loop. He pulled the phone away from his ear to make sure that he had actually called Castle and didn't accidentally press on Beckett's name instead. He didn't even realize that he hadn't said anything until her heard Alexis yelling.

"Mommy someone is on daddy's phone and they aren't saying anything." Espo couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Hello? Richard Castles phone."

"Ugh Beckett?"

"Kate baby I'm back." Rick put the pizza on the counter in the kitchen and turned to face a very stunned Kate standing there.

"Babe what is it?" she just let the phone fall out of her hand.

Javier quickly hung up phone. He needed some time to process everything. Ryan saw the expression on his partners face and raised an eyebrow.

"Dude you OK? Come on man say something you are starting to scare me."

"Castle is Alexis father." He didn't know how else to say it so he just spit it out.

"You sure? Maybe you accidentally called Beckett. I mean there names are right by each on your phone."

"Nah bro I checked. I called Castle. Alexis was the one who answered then she said something about being on "daddy's" phone."

"So are they together or something?"

"I mean they have a kid together and they are in the
Hamptons together so seeing as I am a detective I'm going to take the evidence we have and say, Yea, they are together."

"Well maybe not. Maybe they just reconnected when he started consulting and they got out of the city so he could get to know Alexis." They both knew that was a long shot but they just couldn't believe that Kate would keep such a huge thing from them and lie about it for so long.

"Kate who was on the phone?"

"Esposito"

"Ok. So why do you look like someone just took your dog outside and shot it?" Rick just couldn't figure out why Esposito calling was causing this kind of reaction from her.

"Rick, Lexi was the one that actually answered the phone."

"oh shit."