CH1
Kate Beckett was happy! No that wasn't right either, she was deliriously happy. Giddy happy.
Lanie had called and wanted to know if Kate wanted to go out for a ladies night tonight, however after listening to Kate, Lanie had hung up the phone. "I'll be right over." Lanie had told her.
Kate hadn't told Lanie anything, she was keeping it to herself. Kate was happy and scared all at the same time.
Kate was bursting at the seams and was wondering around her apartment doing nothing but smiling and giggling to herself.
Then there was a knock on her door and Kate strode for the door and without looking thru the peep hole to see who it was, she opened the door.
Lanie strode right thru and marched into the living room. "Come on in Lanie." Kate mumbles out and closes and locks the door.
Kate follows Lanie into her living room. "Katherine Beckett you better start talking." Lanie glares at Kate. Normally the look she was getting would break some of Kate's walls in a heartbeat. Problem was there weren't any walls to break this time.
"Talk about what Lanie?" Kate to not look guilty and use her best poker face.
"Don't give me that Katherine Beckett. I could feel your smile on the other end of the phone. And that smile you are trying so hard to hide right now tells me different. So start talking." Lanie wasn't having any of it.
"I don't know what you are talking about." Kate was enjoying this. Problem was it was making her smile even bigger.
"I am so going to smack you girl. …. And why are you glowing?" Lanie counters with her arms crossed.
"Glowing?" Kate asks not knowing she is. But since she had spent the entire night having the most mind blowing sex of her life. No that wasn't right either. It wasn't sex. Kate had, had sex before. What they had spent the night doing wasn't sex. It was something else, something that she didn't know could happen. EVER!
"Yes glowing. Now start talking." Lanie was all set to punch her if Kate delayed one more second.
Kate relented. "Oh Lanie, it's amazing. I've never felt like this about anyone before. He makes me feel like, …. Oh I don't know. I love him Lanie, I love him so much. …. I can even feel my fingertips tingling still." Kate's tears were starting and she wasn't interested in stopping them.
Oh sweetie, please tell me we are talking about Castle." Lanie started praying that Kate had finally woken up and seen the obvious.
Kate wipes away a few of the tears and nods her head.
Lanie squeals and launches herself and Kate and hugs her. "Oh girl I thought you would never see the light."
Kate just gives Lanie a 'What are you talking about?' look.
"Katherine Beckett everyone in the 12th knows you love Castle. We've been watching you two play "I love you eyes" and listened to your flirting for the last two years. I just don't understand why you couldn't see it." Lanie was still ready to hit her.
"He's my partner Lanie. My best friend next to you. I didn't want to lose him. …. Lanie I'm still afraid of losing him. If Montgomery finds out about us he could send Castle packing. There is a no dating your partner clause. If they find out I could lose him as my partner and I can't have that.
I want him there, I can't afford to lose him." Kate was still scared of losing him because she loves him.
"Honey we are talking about Montgomery here. Who do you think let Castle in, in the first place?" Lanie didn't see the problem.
Suddenly Kate felt better. "You think so?" Good things like this didn't happen to Kate Beckett.
"So where is writer-boy now?" Lanie wanted to know why Kate wasn't in his bed where she should be.
"He left here this morning on a book tour for one week. He promised to call." Kate told her missing Castle already.
"He left here? Here, here?" Lanie wanted details.
Kate grinned having been caught in her slip up, so Kate nodded her head.
"So you and Castle finally, …." Lanie wanted to know.
"Yes Lanie, me and Castle. All night long last night even." Kate started blushing a nice crimson color.
"All night as in, …." Lanie trails off impressed beyond words.
"Yea Lanie, as in all night. Castle only left this morning." Kate rolls her eyes.
"If he only just left why are you clean? Where is your bed head?" Lanie didn't think Kate was lying, but still her words didn't fit the facts of what she sees.
Kate goes back to blushing. "Because we did it in the shower this morning before he left." Kate tells Lanie knowing she would drag it out of her anyway.
"All night?" Lanie tries again.
Kate rolls her eyes again. "Yes Lanie, all night."
Lanie moves in and hugs Kate again. "I'm happy for you girl. So what finally got you to see the light the rest of us can see so clearly?" Lanie wanted to know what changed.
Lanie had been her best friend for a long time now, so she decided to take another chance, since she had already taken a big one.
Kate walks over to a drawer and pulls out a paper and walks back to Lanie. "Lanie you remember the trip to L.A. that I took a little while ago."
"The one where you went chasing after the guy who killed Royce your training partner. The one Montgomery told you to drop." Lanie points out.
Kate looks at her shocked.
"Just because I work in the basement doesn't mean I don't know things." Lanie puts her hands on her hips and gives Kate a look. "Wait, did Castle go with you?" Lanie thinks she is onto something.
"He followed me out there yeah. He actually helped me catch him." Kate confides.
"And you came to your senses while you were out there?" Lanie was hoping.
"Yes and no. There was a moment where I was willing to start things with Castle but I chickened out. I went to my room and he went to his." Kate starts her story.
"WAIT! You two shared a room?" Lanie was either shocked or impressed.
"It was a two bedroom suite. Castle had his room and I had mine." Kate corrects her.
"Castle chased you out to L.A. and you did nothing. The man is crazy about you and has been proving it to you for the last two years or more, and nothing happened." Lanie was getting mad at her friend. Except she was with Castle now. So what changed? Plus this was weeks ago.
"It almost happened. I even re-opened my door to go back out to him, but he had gone to his room." Kate clarifies.
"So what changed Kate?" Lanie didn't see how she got to now.
"This." Kate hands over the letter Royce wrote to her.
It takes Lanie a moment or two to read it and get to the end where even Royce who hadn't been around these two all that much could see it. "Having Royce see what you couldn't finally got you to come to your senses?" Lanie hands Kate back the letter.
"I read it on the plane trip home with Castle sitting next to me, sleeping. When we got home Castle wouldn't let me go home without taking me to dinner first. …. We got to talking and it was just so easy to talk to him. The longer it lasted the less afraid I got.
I got clumsy and spilled his drink on him and we went to his place so he could change and he asked me to stay to watch a movie. … I woke up still on the sofa, sleeping on Castle and the movie was over and Castle was just staring at me, so I kissed him. … I've been spending my nights at his place ever sense." Kate finally gets out.
"Except for last night I'm guessing?" Lanie deduces.
"I ran out of clean clothes at his place and we came over to get more to take to his place, and we just kinda stayed here. … Then we got up early and took a shower together, then went over to his place to pack. … Castle took a car service to the airport and I came home to get more clothes before I went back over to his place." Kate explains the last few weeks just leaving out all the juicy parts.
"You're going to stay at Castle's place while Castle is gone?" Getting a nod from Kate. "Does his daughter know about this?" Meaning does Alexis approve?
"After Castle left, Martha called and talked me into staying there to wait for him to come home. She didn't want me to sit here all alone waiting. I've even got plans with Alexis while he is gone. She wouldn't tell me what, just that I would love them." Kate explains.
"You have Alexis's seal of approval?" Lanie was impressed now. "Well come on girl let's get you packed and over to Castle's place." Lanie grabs a hold of Kate and drags her into her bedroom.
"You find a suitcase and I'll start throwing stuff on the bed for you to pack." And Lanie pushes Kate into the closet.
Lanie was going thru Kate's drawers throwing stuff on the bed for Kate to pack, when Lanie found something she didn't know Kate even had. Let alone what possessed her to buy it. It was most definitely going in the suitcase and got tossed on the bed.
Kate came out to find a pile on her bed that wasn't going to leave room for much else. "Laine, I'm not moving in." Kate wasn't sure there was anything left in her drawers.
"Just pack it Kate and stop giving me grief. … You can thank me later." And Lanie opened the suitcase and started filling it, while Kate went back into the closet for clothes to wear.
It took some work and Lanie sitting on Kate's suitcase to get it to close, but they were finally done.
Then Lanie hustled her out of the apartment before Kate had a chance to chicken out and change her mind.
With her suitcase in a cab, Lanie hugged Kate. "I'm just happy for you girl. Lord knows you deserve to be happy, and I know Castle knows how to make you happy. Now get your skinny butt over there and wait for your man to come home." And all but pushes Kate into the cab.
"And I expect details Kate Beckett." Lanie yells just as the cab pulls away.
"My god I thought that girl would never come to her senses." Lanie wipes away a tear and heads for her apartment to await word from Kate on how it is going.
Kate checks in with the door man out front and drags her suitcase into the elevator. Making it to Castle's floor Kate stops. This is a big step, no matter how happy she is, this is big. She will be staying with Castle's mother and his daughter.
Kate has a key that Castle gave her before he left on his book tour. Castle had told her that Martha and Alexis were already expecting her and that she had her own key. However Kate decided to knock instead.
It only took a moment for the door to open. "Katherine!" Martha steps out thru the door to hug Kate. "Come in dear, come in. … You just take that thing thru that door there." Martha points to the door that leads to Castle's bedroom. A place Kate has been staying in for weeks now.
Kate has made it into the bedroom and has her bag open on the bed. "Alexis dear, Katherine is back." Kate can hear Martha yell upstairs no doubt.
It is only moments before Kate can hear someone enter the bedroom. "Let me help." Alexis tells Kate and grabs the first thing she finds on top and takes it into the closet to hang it up.
Alexis and Kate have her suitcase empty in no time. "I'm glad you're here detective Beckett." Alexis gives Kate a quick hug.
This is not something Kate was expecting. Sure Kate had spent some time with Alexis while she had been staying here for the last few weeks, but Castle was gone and it was just her, Alexis and Martha.
"You can call me Kate, Alexis." Kate asks bashful. Kate knew getting involved with Castle came with Alexis but she was still uncomfortable around her.
Alexis grabs Kate's hand. "Come on you can help me make lunch. Dad and I cook together a lot." And Alexis drags Kate into the kitchen.
"Here you can chop the vegetables while I get out the chicken and warm up the wok." Alexis offers.
Kate goes thru the huge double door refrigerator that was twice as big as her refrigerator/freezer she had, and starts pulling out vegetables. Then grabs a knife.
"Here you need to wear these. They keep you from crying when you chop the onions." Alexis hands over something that looks like a pair of sunglasses except the lenses are not dark.
Kate puts them on and starts chopping. Kate soon found that the glasses did help, even if she was convinced she looked funny wearing them.
Martha came downstairs while Kate was chopping still and Alexis had her back to her watching the wok while slicing chicken breasts.
Martha walked into the kitchen and pulled out a glass and then pulled out a wine bottle from the refrigerator. After Martha was done. "Would you like one Katherine?" Martha suddenly remembers her manners.
"Yes please, thank you Martha." Kate tells her and watches Martha get another glass and pour for Kate.
Kate stops momentarily to take a sip. Martha takes this moment to place a hand on Kate's that's not holding the glass.
"I can't begin to thank you for agreeing to stay Katherine. I'm sure my son is happy knowing you are not sitting at home all alone." Martha looks directly at Kate.
Kate could feel a ripple of a feeling she hadn't felt in years work its way down her back. "Thank you Martha." Kate was sure a blush was working its way up her neck on its way to her face.
"You're always welcome here dear. …. Did my son not give you a key?" Martha asks knowing Kate knocked instead of just entering.
"He did but it felt better to knock first." Kate just wasn't sure this was her place.
"Nonsense dear, you have a key. Use it, it's why Richard gave it to you. You live here. …. Are you all unpacked?" Martha would help if she needed it.
"I helped her grams. Dad left space for everything." Alexis answers for Kate. "I think we are ready if you are done." Alexis adds.
Kate hands over all her chopped vegetables, then takes her glasses off and watches Alexis work the wok with practiced ease. Castle had obviously been teaching her.
'This will only take a few minutes if you want to set the table." Alexis offers.
Kate had been here long enough that she knew where most everything was and had the table set in no time.
Alexis dished out what she had cooked onto three plates, then rinsed everything and set it in the sink for moving into the dishwasher later.
Each took a plate and sat down at the table. "How is school?" Kate starts off.
This gets Kate to learn everything there was to know about Alexis's next to last test of the school year that she was studying for.
"You want some help, I'd be happy to shoot questions at you." Kate was willing to help, plus it gave her a chance to learn more about the young lady.
"Thanks, that would be nice." Alexis had always studied alone.
"Good you just let me know when you are ready and I'll come up and help you." Kate also wanted to know more about what Alexis was studying. Kate could remember her semesters at Stanford.
The rest of lunch was light talk about not much of anything.
Kate was finding it relaxing. Alexis and Martha were actually including her into their talk and lives. And it was a welcome change from talking about work all day. Which reminded her, she was off tomorrow but was on call if they needed her.
Since Alexis cooked, Kate insisted on cleaning up after it. Kate may be or feel like a guest but she wanted to be useful.
"Detective Beckett?" Alexis shakes her head and looks down at the floor. "Kate, are you off work tomorrow?" Alexis had a plan if she was free.
"I'm actually, however I'm on call so if they need help I have to go in." Kate answers wondering what Alexis was up to.
"Good, I wanted to know if you wanted to go shopping with me? Stop and eat lunch somewhere and maybe get our nails done." Alexis wanted to spend time with Kate. Her dad obviously liked her and he had changed ever since her dad had met her. Alexis wanted to see what her dad saw in her.
Plus it would be nice to do something with a grown woman instead of going out with Paige or have to make nice with her mother when she suddenly decided to show up. Kinda wishing her mother would never show up again which made her sad she was thinking such things.
"That would be nice Alexis I would love to." Kate was pleasantly surprised. Alexis seemed to want to spend time with her.
Kate started wondering something but quickly squashed it. It was far too early to start thinking thoughts like that. However she had decided to let Castle in and it felt great. Maybe this would feel just as great too.
Maybe, just maybe!?