| Ashley Linden | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vital Statistics | |
| Gender | Male |
| Status | Alive |
| Significant Other(s) |
Alexis Castle (ex-girlfriend) |
| Character Information | |
| Appearances | "Punked" "Murder Most Fowl" "Pretty Dead" Heroes and Villains (mentioned) Demons (mentioned) Cops & Robbers (mentioned) |
| Portrayed by | Ken Baumann |
Ashley Linden is Alexis Castle's ex-boyfriend.
Alexis and Ashley had a stable relationship. However, they hit a bump when Ashley graduates from high school. He decides on, and gets into, Stanford. However, Alexis doesn't want him to leave because the statistics for high school sweethearts staying together is low when one of them goes to college.
Ashley then chooses to stay in New York for Alexis, but she feels like she is holding him back; resulting in her breaking up with him. Ashley meets Castle at the precinct and asks Castle to tell Alexis that he is going to Stanford. Castle is hesitant, but Ashley says "Have you ever been crazy for someone who wants to push you away"? Castle looks at Beckett. Castle decides to help Ashley and tell Alexis.
Ashley and Alexis are back together. Alexis tells Castle that she is going to go to college with Ashley as she has enough school credits to graduate (early) in the fall, although in "Head Case" it is revealed that she was not accepted to Stanford and will not be going to the same college as Ashley. She later gets another shot at Stanford in "Head Case", and her father encourages Alexis to look deeply at her motives for choosing, or rejecting, a college, and not simply to base the selection on one factor - the presence of her boyfriend.
After a time, involving numerous examples of phone tag and the like, and in the wake of a traumatic incident in which Ashley was unavailable while Castle and Martha were in danger of losing their lives, Alexis breaks up with Ashley, saying, "I don't want to have to close my eyes, cross my fingers, and wish upon a star just to get a text from you." ("Cops & Robbers")
Like Beckett's father, Ashley is a character far more often spoken of than seen.