Kate Beckett padded around her bathroom lighting candles as her bath water ran. It had been a long, long, frustrating day and she needed to forget about anything related to time travel, energy wars, senators, and kids. Three kids! She shook the thoughts out of her head. Tonight she was going to have a nice, long bath, finish her re-read of Deadly Heat, and then call her fiance for a little pillow talk that would hopefully keep him from killing Pi for another day. Stepping over to the tub, she tested the sudsy water, admiring how her ring would sparkle when it came out of the water. She decided to leave it on, discarded her robe, and sank into the warm water.
She was no more than a few pages into her reading when she heard her phone buzz. Praying that it wouldn't be the precinct, she reached over to palm her phone from the stool where it sat beside the tub. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise when the caller ID showed Alexis Castle's name.
Alexis never called. She hoped that Castle was okay.
"Hello?" Beckett answered the phone cautiously. There was a pause and Beckett could hear a deep breath from the other end of the connection.
"Detective Beckett?" Came the eventual reply. "It's Alexis. I...uh...is this a bad time?"
"No, Alexis. It's never a bad time. What can I do for you?" Beckett asked, sure that her bath was almost over.
"I don't know if my dad told you, but Pi and I found an apartment near the university, and we're moving in there together." Alexis started.
"Yeah, your dad mentioned that. Do you need help moving in? Convincing your dad?"
"No, we...I moved out tonight." Beckett heard some murmering coming from the other end of the line, and the shuffling sound of boxes being moved.
"You didn't tell your dad you were moving today," came the realization from Beckett's end of the line.
"No, I just - I just thought it would be easier this way, and then he came home while I was leaving, and he's just..." she sighed heavily. "He's there all alone right now, and he was upset when I left and I just think that someone should be there with him, you know? So he's not so alone." Beckett heard Alexis swallow thickly and she wondered if she was close to tears.
"Don't worry Alexis. I'm going to head over there soon. Are you and Pi going to be okay? We could come over? Help you unpack?"
"No. No, we're okay. We've got everything undercontrol over here. I just...I wanted to make sure someone was there to take care of Dad."
"Always," came Beckett's reply. "Thanks for letting me know, Alexis. Text me your new address?"
"Sure. Thanks Detective Beckett. For everything." Alexis sounded relieved, and happier.
"Kate."
"Kate. Thanks Kate."
"Always." Kate hung up the phone, tossed Deadly Heat aside, and got out of the still warm bathwater.
Castle was sitting slumped on the couch when Beckett let herself into the apartment twenty minutes later. He didn't look up. His features were heavy. Beckett noticed that he had poured himself a scotch, but it remained untouched on the coffee table beside him. He held Alexis' laser tag vest in his lap, idly running his fingers over the material. Quietly, Beckett toed her boots of and made her way over to the couch, stopping to ruffle his hair for a minute before sitting down next to him and letting her hand fall down to his neck, rubbing the skin below his ear soothingly.
"Alexis moved out tonight," he said after a while, his voice morose.
"I know," Beckett whispered, pulling his head down onto her shoulder so she could kiss his forehead.
"She left this," he said, raising the laser tag vest slightly, "and her awards, and her trophies and her stuffed animals. She left it all."
"She's growing up," Beckett murmured into his hair, running a hand down his arm.
"I feel like I'm never going to see her again" Castle's voice trembled a bit, raising his head to look Kate in the eyes, and Kate saw they were red-rimmed, and sparkling with soon to be shed tears.
"Castle, of course you're going to see her again," Beckett insisted, cupping his cheek. "She left all of this stuff here for a reason. She knows you're going to take care of it, and that when she needs it - when she needs you - you're going to be right here waiting for her. She's going to come back Castle. She loves you."
Castle nodded his head and swallowed thickly, sighing his assent. Beckett pulled him into her arms again and reclined them back against the arm of the couch, entangling their legs and resting them on the cushions.
"And tomorrow, we're going to go out, and we're going to deliver them a house-warming present, I was thinking maybe a nice big fruit basket and maybe one of those fancy blenders, and we're going to invite them to dinner this weekend. Both of them," she commanded in her no-nonsense way and Castle made a face at the mention of fruit, but nodded as she concluded her plan.
"Smart woman. This must be why they elect you to the Senate," Castle mused, giving her an appreciative kiss. Beckett rolled her eyes.
"Castle, how many times do I have to tell you? I'm not going to run for Senate. That guy was just some poor paranoid schizophrenic. He was not from the future," she insisted, though her thoughts tripped over to the coffee soaked letter on her desk and how it very conveniently matched the one in the photo.
"Whatever you say, Senator." Castle placated, grinning evilly.
"Ugh!" Beckett sighed in mock frustration, slapping his chest, before giving him a playful smile. "It's kind of nice having the couch back." She bit her lip, raising her eyes at him.
"Why Detective Beckett, you just came here to have your way with me!" Castle exclaimed in mock indignance.
"There's nothing wrong with wanting to come over and cuddle with your fiance in an apartment that no longer smells like a banana plantation, is there?"
"No, as long as you never leave." He said, pulling her tighter.
"Nope, I'm in this for the long haul" she replied, wiggling her ring finger at him.
"Good." They sank into a comfortable silence on the couch, and Castle's hand slipped under her shirt to glide along the soft skin of her stomach.
"Uh, Castle? You do realize that I'm not pregnant right. Will you stop rubbing my belly like you expect it to grant you three wishes?"
"Ahh...but it will Senator. But it will..."