Spirit of the Law

-Prospero Hibiki

Disclaimer: Castle is owned by Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC Studios. Use of these characters is in no way being used for personal profit.

Author's Note: Written sans beta. Characters in this story may seem to be out of character but remember that everything but what you've seen so far is still a mystery. Well it is for you the reader. Hopefully I have a slightly better idea of what's going on. Rest assured gentle readers. There is a plan.

-K

Chapter 1: Unbidden Guests

"So what's it like being dead?"

"Dad!" Alexis shouted. "That's an incredibly rude thing to ask someone." She turned to Kate and apologized. "I'm so sorry, but sometimes he just blurts out whatever pops into his head without thinking about it before hand."

Already Kate was beginning to see who the adult in the pair's relationship was. She relaxed a bit more into the cushions of the couch she was laying on. The shock of her revelation had caused the three of them to take their discussion back to Castle's loft where it wouldn't seem as if the two of them were talking to empty air. She still thought it strange that of everyone she'd come across during her few days as a ghost only the two of them had seen or heard her.

"It's alright Alexis, I'd almost be disappointed if he hadn't asked." She shrugged. "I don't really know how to describe it to you. I don't really feel anything. I'm just sort of numb." Kate shuddered. "My whole body feels like it's fallen asleep. There's a kind of pressure when I touch something but it's more like touching an extremely heavy fog without it being wet." Without even realizing it she wrapped her arms around her torso as if to ward off a chill and caught herself. She wasn't cold and wouldn't be again.

Castle stood and tried to place his hand on her shoulder in comfort but the gesture failed when he passed right through her. He stared at his hand for a moment before he spoke. "Sorry, I just wish there was something I could do for you."

She believed him. She didn't know why, but she drew some small comfort from his presence at her side though she couldn't touch him.

"Kate, would you mind telling us more about yourself. I mean if you're going to be hanging around-"

"Woah, what are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious? We can see you, so there's some sort of connection between us. Some reason for all of this. There's always a reason. It always means something." He almost seemed excited by it. "Think of the opportunity this gives us. Documented proof of life after death. I could call it Scenes of the Spirits or something like that. The guys at the poker game would be so jealous." Kate could only stare at him in a sort of quiet horror that she could see was matched by that of his daughter.

"I...Who do..." Without thinking about it Kate reared her arm up and swung open handed at the author's face. It would have been much more satisfying if she'd actually been able to connect instead of watching her hand pass directly through it as if waving at smoke. Therefore she was completely surprised when a moment later a quiet crack echoed through the loft's living room area. Turning he head she stared in open mouthed shock at the burning face of Alexis Castle who was practically quivering in fury.

"As much as I love you, at this very moment I am ashamed to call myself your daughter. Kate, I can't imagine how difficult this is for you. Though I have no idea why you would want to, you are more than welcome to spend as much time here as you wish. In fact if you'd like I can set aside our guest bedroom for you to stay in." She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "I guess I can set it to lock and then shut it so that no one can go in. That would give you some privacy if you want to lay down for a bit and sleep. Wait, do you even need to sleep? Never mind that's rude of me." Alexis started to walk away towards the staircase against one of the walls, and bemused Kate followed her just to see what the younger woman was going to do.

Kate had seen more than her share of minor and major breakdowns and could see that the redhead was rushing towards one in the next few minutes. It wasn't even that difficult to figure out what the cause of it was at least in part. So she followed the younger girl as she pointed out the various rooms of the apartment and watched once she shut the door to her own room and burst into tears.

"Shhh, shhh. It's alright. Everything is alright. Just lay down. It'll all work out. He doesn't hate you. He could never hate you. You're his daughter and he loves you." Kate crawled onto the bed next to the girl and whispered comforting words into her ear because that was all that she could do for the young woman who had tried so hard to make a complete stranger feel comfortable.

Alexis cried for a while before she calmed down enough to speak. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to breakdown on you like that." She swiped at her eyes to dry them a little before continuing. "I just saw how you reacted and it just seemed so fair that you couldn't defend yourself from him like someone else could and my arm just moved."

"It's alright Alexis. I understand." Kate did understand. In some way it was exactly what she did as a homicide detective. Once someone died there wasn't anyway for them to defend themselves. She was the person who spoke for the dead. She was one of the last opportunities for the truth to come out. "The dead can't defend themselves and that is why we the living must do so for them."

Alexis turned to face her. "Who said that?"

Kate smiled at her. "My mentor told me that when I first joined the Twelfth Precinct homicide division as a uniformed officer. I was so new and excited to be there and he wanted to make sure I understood how important it was that people received justice no matter who they were or what they had done in life."

"You're a police officer?"

"I am. Or rather I was." Kate smile sardonically. "Up until a few days ago I was Detective Kate Beckett of the NYPD's Twelfth Precinct Homicide Division. Now I guess I'm just Kate the loitering spirit."

"How did you die?" There was a short pause. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, but if you do want to I'd be willing to listen."

"I'd tell you if I knew, but it's all a real blank really. Me and my team were chasing after a suspect who was hiding in some warehouses down by the river. We got separated in the dark and then there's this burning pain in my chest. Everything goes really dark. The next thing I know I'm waking up on my couch in my apartment. I couldn't touch anything and no one could hear me or see me. Well, no one until I ran into you and your dad at least."

"At the launch party."

"Yes, at the launch party." Kate could feel herself blushing. "Okay, you might as well say it. It's not like I can't tell that you want to."

The grin on Alexis' face practically lit up the room. "So, Detective Beckett, just what were you doing at my father's latest book launch? Perhaps it was just coincidence that you were there. Maybe you just randomly got into an elevator that let you off at the party. Perfectly understandable. I'm sure it happens all the time-"

"Alright already!" Now Kate was laughing as well. "So I might have always wanted to go to one of those parties. As annoying as I've found you father in person, he is my favorite author. He has been for a long time, but if you ever tell him that I'll..." She trailed off realizing once again that there wasn't anything she could do if the girl did tell. She was dead.

"So did you like being a cop? Because I've got to tell you that if you tell my dad about that he'll never let you alone," Alexis said. "He'll be picking your brain about being a homicide detective any chance he gets. He does get kind of excited by that sort of thing after all."

"Gee I hadn't noticed that." Kate sighed. "I really did like my job. It had it's down sides, like making sure that I saw the ugliest parts of humanity, but overall I felt like I was making a difference with what I was doing. That plus I was good at it. I was one of the youngest officers to make detective and definitely the youngest woman." She rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. "There's a sort of rightness in the world when you find yourself doing the thing that you're meant to be doing."

Alexis rolled onto her back as well. "I still have no idea what I want to do. But I hope I'm as lucky as you were to find the thing that I'm meant to do."

"You will. But you should probably get some sleep now. I think you said that you've got a test tomorrow and you don't want to be exhausted for it."

The two of them got off the bed and went over to the room next door. Alexis was true to her word and locked the door for her. "Kate, I've got an idea about how we can figure out what happened to you, that is if you want to know." At Kate's tentative nod she continued, "I've got a few questions to ask you about after school tomorrow, but what I figured is that we can get dad to pretend that he was your boyfriend. We can call up your work and tell them we're worried that we haven't heard from you for a while. I mean, if you already have a boyfriend, we can figure out a different way of doing it but the general concept seems sound."

Kate could only stare at the girl in disbelief. Over the course of an hour she'd come up with a fairly ingenious method of getting access to the NYPD's own investigation into her death. It would probably work too. From what she could remember there was little doubt that whatever events led to her death were related to the suspect chase she'd been on, and so the Castles weren't going to come up as suspects.

Alexis must have misjudged the detective's silence as something else entirely. "You hate it. Okay, I can try to come up with something else."

"No! It's perfect. I don't have a boyfriend at the moment and haven't even had a real date in longer than I care to admit. The guys at the precinct know I'm a very private person and a workaholic, so they might not be entirely surprised that I have a boyfriend I know nothing about. Lanie, my best friend," she added at Alexis' quizzical expression, "might be a little upset with me since last she knew I wasn't seeing anyone. Though in her mind it would explain why I hadn't wanted to go on any of the blind dates she'd tried to set me up on lately."

"What was the real reason didn't you go?" Alexis seemed genuinely curious so Kate didn't feel any need to hide her reason.

"I'm looking for a real relationship whereas Lanie's idea of a good blind date is one where the guy is able to be on the FDNY calendar and is good in bed." At Alexis' blush she nodded. "The fact that a lot of them are more than a little vain and empty headed means that by the end of one of these dates I'm usually wishing for someone to die so I have to go into work." A thought occurred to Kate and she covered her mouth in horror. "Oh god. If I died, then Lanie might have been called to the scene. I don't even want to think what that might have been like for her."

"Lanie works with the police I take it?"

"Yeah. She's one of the city's medical examiners." Kate happened to look around and saw the time on a nearby digital clock. "We can deal with all of this tomorrow after you get back from school. You need to get to bed. Knock on the door when you get ready to leave for school and I'll...well I'll do something." She frowned. It still took some getting used to that she wasn't able to touch anything. Normally in the morning she'd head into the precinct, but so far since she'd woken up the thought of seeing the people she counted as her friends grieving for her was too much to bear. It'd be particularly hard to see them and be unable to talk to them.

"Okay, Kate. Have a nice night."

"Goodnight Alexis."

As the door shut Kate couldn't help but feel that she was all alone once more.

King Henry the Sixth Part One - Act II - Scene II

Bedford: No, truly; 'tis more than manners will;

And I have heard it said unbidden guests

Are often welcomest when they are gone.