Alexis sat inside her car, waiting for 7:00 to strike. She figured a lot of people would be lining up for this job so she should get there a bit early. Finally hitting the awaited time, she got out of the car and headed in. Coffee in one hand and résumé in the other.
Walking into the very large building she watched as an older lady shaking her head back and forth scurried out of the building. Shaking it off, she went into the elevator and when she reached the apartment door a young blonde was standing outside.
As she looked the red head up and down, she smiled. "Are you here for a meeting?"
Alexis, nervous, shook her head. "I'm here to apply for the babysitter position."
The blonde smirked. "Cute. You are serious about this job aren't you. You look a little young and Mr. Howard doesn't appreciate those who take him for granted."
"I assure you I take any work I do very seriously, Brian Howard won't be disappointed." Alexis spitted.
"Humorous, you think you'll be working for Brian Howard." The blonde lead her through the front door.
"That is who I am working for isn't it?" Alexis questioned following her.
"Please, Brian has barely even seen his own kids in months let alone hired a babysitter for them." The blonde said, motioning for her to sit.
"Oh. So I'll be working for his wife?" Alexis asked as the woman took her résumé from her.
"Alexis Castle? You're Richard's daughter. You should know that Brian's wife passed away many years ago." The blonde said, looking over the papers.
"Don't listen to her." A voice from behind her said.
Alexis turned around and she was greeted by a young boy. His jet black hair ran layered across his head, reaching just above his eyebrows that arched over his bright blue eyes. The boy was tall and skinny, and wore only shorts.
"Why?" Alexis asked.
"Melody just says Mom passed away after Colby was born, when in reality she ran away. She'll come back though. She loves us." Perked the young boy.
"Don't you have school in 30 minutes?" Melody, as identified, asked the boy.
"I'm Troy by the way. I'm 13, but very mature for my age. I clean and cook." The boy held out a hand and Alexis shook it.
"Yes, why not have Mr. Perfect introduce himself first and let everyone else be shown up by him?" said another voice from the staircase.
This boy looked very similar to Troy, however his hair was a dark brown instead while still having the bright blue eyes of the other boy.
"Excuse me?" Alexis asked.
"I'm Eric, the less perfect twin of course. Lazy, loves video games, and tends to break stuff." The boy chatted, shrugging his shoulders.
"Well aren't you quite charmer this morning." Melody scowled.
"Thank you I had a good breakfast." Eric smirked.
Alexis noticed he was dressed in a blue jean jacket and he had on a black shirt with red guitars on it. Both boys were staring at her now. "What?"
"Did anyone ever tell you that you have beautiful eyes?" Troy asked , leaning on the counter.
"Did anyone ever tell you that you're a creep? Go get dressed. Where's the rest of the Scooby gang?" Melody croaked as Troy ran up the steps.
"Sleeping, bickering, singing, and drawing on the walls." Eric smiled.
"Who is doing which?" Alexis asked.
"You guess." Eric laughed.
Melody rolled her eyes and ran up the steps, while Eric turned back to Alexis. He tilted his head. "How much do you know about our family?"
"I know there's more than two of you." Alexis laughed.
Grabbing an apple from the basket on the island, he laughed. "Man are you in for it."
Hearing footsteps that she hoped meant Melody or possibly an adult was coming down, she was surprised to see a pair of blue converses reach the bottom step.
Looking up, she saw the girl in a hoodie with black jeans. Watching as the girl slapped on a snapback, and ran a hand threw her golden brown hair just brushing against the blue glasses she turned back toward Alexis.
"You're the nanny?" The girl asked.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Alexis asked.
"Figured we'd get a prep." She said.
"A prep?" Alexis snapped.
"You know, straight As, captain of the track team, valedictorian. A prep." The girl said in a voice that made her think she just asked what number came after 3.
"Here we are." Melody said, coming down the steps caring a baby.
Alexis noticed the boy had dirty blonde hair though he had brown eyes unlike the rest of them. He couldn't have been older than 3. Melody handed him off to the girl and turned to Alexis.
"I see you've met Laura." Melody smiled.
"So tell me about yourself." Laura said, bouncing the boy up and down.
"I'm Alexis Castle, I am a sophomore in college." Alexis didn't get far before she was interrupted.
"No way, you're Uncle Rick's daughter?" Laura asked.
"Richard Castle is my dad yes." Alexis didn't know how to respond to this girl calling her father 'Uncle Rick'.
"I'm sorry for being rude. I just don't like nannies." Laura laughed shaking Alexis' hand.
"Oh it's completely alright." Alexis was trying to be polite.
"Would you hold Colby? I'm going to go see what's taking Jude and Troy so long." Laura said handing Colby to Alexis.
"Don't just drop the youngest off in her hands." Melody bickered as the girl ran back up stairs.
"No it's cool. If I'm going to be their nanny, I'll have to get to know them." Alexis smiled.
As Laura rushed back down, she brought Troy by the back of his hair and she was holding the hands of a little boy. The boy looked maybe about 8, but Alexis couldn't tell. The boy had blonde hair like Colby and the same Howard blue eyes. He ran up to her and smiled.
"Hi, I'm Jude and I'm 7. You must be Alexis. You're pretty." Jude held out his hand and she shook it.
"Thank you Jude." She blushed as she looked back to Troy.
She could she him changed into blue jeans and a blue dress shirt with a white undershirt showing, and Troy had on his black glasses over his blue eyes, and he turned to his older sister.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Not the hair." Troy snapped.
"Wait!" They heard a voice call.
Coming down the steps, Alexis could see a tall handsome brown haired young man with brown eyes, carrying a little girl on his shoulders who had short brown hair and brown eyes as well. He was in nothing but shorts, and she was wearing a cute flower t-shirt and pants.
"Did you do your homework?" The young man asked.
All 4 groaned at the same time. "Yes."
"Okay what are we doing today after school. Eric is staying after with his art teacher, Jude is going over to Brandon's house, Troy has basketball practice, and Laura is going to the skating rink with Oliver." The young man clapped his hands and got nods from all four.
"Shawn, they are going to be late." Melody added.
"Alright scram." He called watching the four leave towards the elevator.
"I'll walk them down and then we'll talk about the nanny." Melody said.
"I thought that old lady left already." He said, leaning on the doorframe.
"Yeah another came by. Richard Castle's daughter. She's in your living room with Colby." Melody added.
"Oh." He said simply.
"Yeah, put a shirt on." Melody called from the elevator as the kids held it open for her.
He turned back and took a breath in. Richard Castle had been a long time friend of his father's and he knew that he had a daughter between him and Laura's ages. He had just never met her. As he reached in to tuck in his shirt, he realized he didn't have one.
Walking up behind her, he watched her play with Colby for a minute, then he tapped her shoulder. Though he was not prepared for what he saw when she turned around.
He noticed the practically gingery coloring to her hair, and the way it was so straight. And although he'd seen 4 sets of blue eyes everyday, hers just left him speechless until she spoke that is.
"Hi. I'm Alexis Castle." She smiled.
He swallowed. "Hi Alexis. I'm Shawn Howard."