This was something that I thought of during last week's episode. One week later, I finally think to put it in Alexis' point of view and it just clicked and flowed. Depending on what else pops into my head or the responses I get, I might lengthen this to a doubleshot or just leave it as a oneshot.

I hope you enjoy reading and feel free to drop me a line.

To Be A Muse

Corsets, chastity belts, proper decorum, china doll phenomenon, what else can I use?

Alexis Castle tapped her pen against her computer for a moment before sitting back in her chair and taking a deep breath. The paper that currently held her attention wasn't due for another two weeks, but being well versed in the probability of writer's block—thanks, Dad—Alexis knew to write while she was motivated as much as possible. Something in her today was in the mood to write about the subjugation of women, and so she dove into research.

Three hours later, she was sifting through the copious files she had copied, categorizing them by specific subject, relevance, and length. Once she was organized, Alexis started looking for the individual quotes and examples she would use, such as the horrific undergarments and social expectations of female behavior in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

"Romantic composers often saw women as their muses, but purely in a passive sense. To be a muse did not require any action on the part of the woman, only the inspiration of the man. This passivity paired with the tendency to objectify women at the time as possessions."

Muse.

The word had sounded so different when coming out of her mother's mouth not days earlier in regards to Detective Beckett. Alexis paused in her research at the sudden contradiction. No way was Detective Beckett passive.

Alexis knew that her mother had been a different sort of inspiration for her father. She was mature enough to acknowledge that her parents had had sex at some point—her existence being proof of that—and that they still had sex whenever they were within proximity of each other.

No, Detective Kate Beckett was an entirely separate being from her mother. As far as Alexis could tell, the detective was focused, determined, grounded, and unflinching in the face of crime, lies, and one Richard Castle. Given the charm Alexis just knew her father was piling on, that was quite an accomplishment.

She was good for him, Alexis had decided early on. As soon as she had heard about her father's new plan for a series, she had smiled and wondered if Dad knew exactly what he was getting into. Alexis was practiced in reading between the lines of her father's interactions. This whole set-up was more than just research for a book series, Alexis was just waiting for everyone else to catch on.

But passive muse? Alexis laughed. She hadn't seen her father this interactive with people other than herself, her grandmother, his ex-wife/agent, and the dedicated yet mindless fans in a while. But now he was being exposed to normal people like Detectives Esposito and Ryan and the unique Detective Beckett.

So not a muse then, but a driving force of hurricane proportions. Not that Alexis minded. She couldn't look out for her father all the time. It was nice to know that someone else was watching his back with her.

It was comforting.