Finding home

Chapter 18 - Researching mess

After dinner Alexis and Molly wanted to watch a movie and so they cuddled down with blankets and pillows on the floor in front of the tv while me and Castle sat down in the couch. We played the movie and I grabbed my laptop, thinking we could do some research while the girls were busy with the movie. I opened it and the file on Alexis popped up again, which made the man beside me stiffen. I put my hand on his knee and he relaxed a bit but i could feel he was uncomfortable about what it said about him. I couldn't blame him though, I would've reacted the same way. I turned the page in the file so that we could read past that, once we had read through the whole paper, with no clue on who made the accusation, I closed the file and went into the the site's records.

"When was it that they took her away from you?" I whispered, trying not to raise attention from the two girls in front of me.

"I'll never forget it" he said and told me the date in a hushed, depressed matter.

I started hacking into the site, finding all the reports coming in a week before they took her. I had never been so grateful to share that room at the police academy with a computer genius as I was now. That girl had taught me everything she could, even though I at first had been against it she had convinced me it could be a good skill to know in the future and after some persuasion the rebel in me gave in, wanting to learn everything. Once I got all the letters I searched for texts involving Castle's name.

"You know how to hack?" Castle asked as he saw my fingers dance on the keyboard.

"Yeah" I answered short but before I could really do anything else on the computer he had his fingers under my cheek to make me look at him.

As soon as I was looking at him I gave him a questioning look. His eyes scanned my face, and when he didn't answer my unspoken question I sighed.

"What?" I asked and his eyes fished me in.

I couldn't stop looking into his eyes, those beautiful blues. They were like an ocean I found myself drowning in. A small snore made me look away, towards where Alexis and Molly laid together on the floor. Alexis looked down at Molly with a surprised expression before she cuddled closer to the young girl, putting an arm around her, and laying still not to wake the smaller girl up as she continued to watch the movie. I couldn't help but smile and blush at the way she had her arm protectively around Molly, just like I used to have my arm around her when she was sleeping in my bed.

"One down" Castle whispered in my ear, suddenly so close that I could feel his lips against my ear.

I shivered and thought about my silent promise from before. I felt his lips touch my neck before he pulled away again to continue looking down on my laptop. My heart was pumping faster than before as I could still feel the ghost of his lips on my skin.

"What about that one?" Castle said pointing to one of the messages on the screen.

I looked closer on it and saw what he had seen, Alexis' name, and clicked in to view the whole message. I read it through and I knew the man beside me was doing the same.

"Who sent this?" he asked and I started with the hacking again, tapping in numbers and commands for the laptop.

"Someone, from this add...ress" I stopped talking when I looked up where on the map it was from.

"Is that... isn't that where the senator works?" Castle asked a little too loud, since I saw Alexis look up at us.

"Yeah, it is. But who, working in such a big place, would want to take away your happiness?" I asked, hushed.

Alexis turned around again and I saw her yawn. She would probably join Molly in the land of dreams in just a few minutes.

"Did you have any problems with someone big?" I asked and he shook his head. "You sure? It could be someone who's just a secretary or assistent of some sort?" I said but he shook his head again.