Family Ties - A Castle fanfiction

Chapter 14: Media Madness

"I can't believe we have another dead end," Castle groaned after Ferris left in the elevator.

"Yeah, well, that's homicide for you," Beckett grouched, sitting at her desk and beginning to shuffle her way through the paperwork for the interview.

"No luck then?" Leslie asked, making both Beckett and Castle jump.

"Ahh! Leslie, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Castle exclaimed while Beckett laughed.

"You're so quiet, we forgot you were there," Beckett explained, and Leslie smiled a bit.

"How about we take our minds off our significant lack of progress and have lunch?" Castle suggests light-heartedly. "On me."

Beckett looked to Leslie. "What d'you say? There's a really good Chinese place a few blocks from here."

Leslie hesitated, and seemed on the verge of refusing, but shook her head determinedly and forced a smile.

"Sure. Let's go."

Her hesitation hadn't escaped Beckett's notice, and, determined to keep her silent promise to her brother, she took Leslie aside for a moment before they left.

"Leslie, what's going on?"

Leslie's eyes flooded with sudden tears, but she didn't cry, and her voice was steady. "I don't know. I don't - I don't understand..."

Beckett drew her into her arms, Leslie stumbling slightly as her injured knee buckled under her weight.

"I'm confused," Leslie whispered to Beckett, and now her voice trembled. "I don't understand the way I feel, why I don't want to have fun or even read or do anything except stare into space and - waste away..."

"That's just grief," Beckett said softly. "That's just how it feels for a while. But it gets better."

Leslie hid her face in Beckett's shoulder, unbelieving.

"It does," Beckett insisted quietly. "It never feels like it, but it does."

"And I still can't remember!" Leslie hissed angrily, torn between fury and grief. "I can't remember anything and it scares me, Katie." She looked up, and her blue eyes flashed with desperation and fear. "I want to know exactly what happened but I also - I also never want to see it. I - I don't understand..." She sobbed and buried her face in Beckett's shoulder again.

Beckett could feel her tears dampening her jacket, and hugged Leslie a little tighter.

"I can't fix your memory Leslie," she whispered sadly. "I don't know if I would if I could. And you have every right to be afraid, but you're not alone, Leslie. I'm here, I'm with you on this one, I know what you're going through. I'm as scared for you as you are, and I feel as torn apart as you do. They were my family too..."

Castle, noticing their absence, had walked back over. Leslie, seeing him from the corner of her eye, sniffled and lifted her head from Beckett's shoulder.

"... We still okay to go out?" Castle asked cautiously.

"Uh – Leslie?"

Beckett looked to Leslie for her input.

Leslie, having hastily wiped away her tears, nodded.

"Yeah, of course. Let's go."

Castle smiled and walked ahead, holding the elevator door open while Beckett helped Leslie hobble over.

The elevator arrived with a musical ding at the ground floor, and the trio stepped out into the lobby -

- Only to come face-to-lens with a swarm of reporters and cameramen.

Dazzled by the flashes, Leslie took an unsteady step backwards while Beckett stepped forward instinctively to shield her. Voices shouted for her attention, calling for comments on the case, the murders, the state of the victims, the suspects under investigation.

"Stay close, don't say anything," Beckett muttered to Leslie and Castle. Taking Leslie's hand, she strode forward, muscling her way through the throng, shouting on occasion "No comment, the case is strictly confidential."

The whirr of voices, clicking cameras, flashing light and shifting people crashed into Leslie, and only Beckett's grip on her hand kept her steady. But then someone stumbled, stumbled into Beckett, and her hand was torn away.

Suddenly swarmed by the mob of media personnel, Leslie's instincts kicked into overdrive. Injuries forgotten, she bolted.