Kate has never been a big 'sharer'. If you wanted to know something about her, you had to ask. Even then, if she didn't dodge answering, you'd be lucky.
Rick had always known that Kate doesn't discuss her personal life at work. Now that they were living together, it felt like he had to force everything out of her. That's another reason why he fell in love with her.
Although Kate didn't often share, people always told her their secrets, knowing she could keep them to herself.
It was Thursday, and she was relieved to be home from work. She loved her job, but there hadn't been a body drop today, which meant that it had been a full day of desk work. She was glad to be able to come home and spend a romantic evening with her 'fiancé'.
As soon as she stepped in the door of the loft her phone rang. "Beckett" she answered. "Hey Kate it's me." It was Alexis. "Hey Alexis... What's up" Alexis didn't usually call her, she probably needed to be picked up from somewhere.
"Kate... Are you going to be home tonight?" She sounded nervous.
"Yeah... Alexis what's going on?" She didn't want to butt in, but Alexis's voice was trembling.
"Will you pick me up from the airport at 8? I think I need the weekend off." Kate knew Alexis wasn't big on taking 'breaks' from school, so she got the idea something was wrong.
"Yeah sure Alexis, call me when you land." She said into the phone.
"Ok. And Kate?"
"Yeah?" Kate knew the sounds of someone upset and she was wondering if she should tell rick.
"Please... Just don't tell my dad." This was not good. What had her soon to be stepdaughter gotten herself into?
"Sure Alexis." Kate sat at the island in the kitchen staring at her phone, waiting for it to ring.
Was Rick going to be suspicious when she brought Alexis home? She worried he might be upset. No, She'll just say surprise when Alexis walks in, and he'll love it.
The time went by faster than Kate had expected. Sitting at the island waiting for the phone to ring she began to look back on all the bad things she had done at college. She had made a few calls like that to her own mom. But Alexis was nothing like her, she wasn't a bad girl like Kate had been.
The call came faster than Kate had expected. As soon as her phone lit up she practically ran to her car, and went 90 all the way to JFK. She had never been one to follow speed limits anyway
Alexis had been waiting for her outside, and practically ran to her car when she saw it.
"Hey Alexis!" She said cheerfully. Alexis had been crying Kate noticed that she had only one bag.
"Just drive, let's go." She said.
Kate had been in a situation before where someone tried to get her to talk when she was upset, and she knew better than to try to get Alexis to spill her guts before she was ready.
So Kate and Alexis just drove. For Kate, the drive home seemed a hell of a lot longer than the drive there, and maybe that was because she was going the speed limit, but the tension hanging in the air definitely added to it
Finally Alexis asked Kate "have you ever made a really, really big mistake." She sounded bleak.
Kate laughed "yeah. We all make mistakes, but I've made some pretty unforgivable ones." She was hoping to find out why Alexis was so upset.
"Like what?" Alexis asked.
Damnit. Not the way Kate wanted the conversation to go "well I missed my prom." She said.
"Why?" Alexis asked
"I was just too big of a non-conformer to go I guess" she told her.
"No I mean like, have you ever made a mistake that would change your life?" Alexis looked up a Kate.
"Well I think even things that aren't mistakes can change your life." She was trying to dodge having to answer difficult questions.
"Kate... If I told you a secret, would you tell my dad?"
"Well, I guess that depends on what it was. Probably not if you didn't want me to." Oh god... Keeping secrets from castle was not easy. He just turned into a 5 year old, and never gave up.
"Ok. I need your help." Kate was grateful for this opportunity. Her and Alexis have always been close, but Beckett wasn't really good with kids and Alexis was coming to her for help!
"Sure Alexis, what is it?"
"Well Kate... I'm... I can't say it." Alexis started to cry again.
Kate didn't know what to do. She had never been a crier, she used to just get angry and not talk to anyone.
"It's ok Alexis, whatever it is can't be that bad" ok here goes, she was gonna tell Alexis something bad she had done. "When I was in school, my friends and I snuck onto one of the roofs, and we made some graffiti... Wow I was a dumb kid... Anyway, I passed out and the cops found me, and I had to call my dad to bail me out of the police station." Kate laughed, and Alexis even flashed a smile.
"Kate, I made a huge mistake and now I have to pay for it for the rest of my life."
"Alexis, what happened?" Kate was getting impatient.
"Kate, I'm pregnant!" Alexis sobbed and cried.
Kate had made many mistakes in her lifetime, but she had never been knocked up! "Oh Alexis..." Was all she could say.
Alexis just sobbed incoherently.
Kate couldn't help but wonder what all this meant to her. Had her door for having kids just been closed? Finally Kate thought of a good question "are you going to keep it?"
Alexis looked up at her "I don't know!" She practically yelled as she cried.
Kate didn't know what to say. What are you supposed to say in a situation like this? Not congratulations.
"Alexis am I taking you to the loft?" Kate tried to change the subject.
"I don't know!"
Suddenly Kate's iPhone rang the 'I'm too sexy' ringtone that indicated rick was calling her. Kate slid the answer slide, "Beckett" she said.
"Hey Kate I'm going to be out too late tonight so I decided to just stay in the Manhattan condo, I'll catch you at the precinct tomorrow."
"Ok castle" she said.
"Love you bye."
"Love you."
Kate turned to Alexis "your dad's not going to be home, so if you need somewhere safe to stay you can stay at the loft."
"What about gran?" She asked.
"She's at the hamptons." Kate focused on the road.
"Ok I'll stay at the loft."
Kate was sleeping on her side of the bed when she heard the door open. She rolled over she saw Alexis standing in the doorway. Kate had never been in this situation before. She remembered when she used to get scared at night, her mom would wave for her to come in, so that's what she did for Alexis.
Alexis walked over and crawled into the bed. She cuddled right up to Kate.
Beckett did not know exactly what to do, so she reached her arm around Alexis.
Kate was at work, just like any other day. She had received a call that a body dropped, and her and castle were on their way to the site when she got a text from Alexis, who decided she was going to keep the baby. But not to say anything to castle yet.
"Castle," she said, curiously "do you want more kids?" Not that she wanted any, she just wanted to know.