This was written for my darling beta and first Castle fandom buddy, the AMAZING Tadpole24. Happy birthday my love.
This fic does loosely discuss what I imagine will be the aftermath of the kidnapping arch (Alexis cannot come out of it unscathed, she's going to have some serious issues to deal with) but there aren't many direct spoilers... I suggest spoiler free folk use their discretion :D... This fic is deliberately light, because I think we need it after this crazy episode.
But I am stuck on the idea that Max's surname is Gates... and this was just too much fun to pass up.
Many thanks to the wonderful DMarx for stepping up and playing beta for me (because my usual beta couldn't perform her duties on her birthday fic, now could she?)
Alexis returned home from her ordeal in Paris safe and sound, aside from a few bruises and a perforated eardrum. She'd flat out refused to go back to college, deferred the second semester of her freshman year and resettled in her bedroom back at the loft. With the gentle prompting of her father and Kate, she now had regular appointments with Dr Burke to help combat the extreme agoraphobia and the PTSD symptoms that had been crippling her since her kidnapping.
Kate had been a godsend. Without fail, she'd sent a panicked Castle (who couldn't talk Alexis down, no matter how hard he tried) out of the room on a tedious errand, quietly soothing Alexis out of a panic attack, one terrifying flashback when there was the loud bang of a glass shattering and more than once had sat up all night with Alexis when the nightmares were too horrific to try to sleep. As much as Castle hated seeing his daughter in pain, the one blessing that had come out of this clusterfuck of a situation was that his two favourite girls had bonded in a way he'd never expected. He felt his heart shatter over and over again when he heard Alexis's screams from her bedroom at night, but the nimble way Kate shot out of bed and bolted towards the stairs stitched together the pieces of his broken heart and poured a soothing balm on his aching wounds.
Alexis poked her head into the study, waiting for her Dad to look up from his writing. "Daddy?" she called out hesitantly.
Castle looked up and gave Alexis a smile. "What's up, Pumpkin?" he saw the nervous way she stood at the door, his writer's mind coming up with all manner of horrific reasons why his beautiful daughter wouldn't feel comfortable to waltz into his study and plonk herself on her favourite chair the way she had her entire life. "Come in."
Alexis gave him a shadow of a smile and came and sat down. "Dad, I want to you meet Max," she told him seriously.
Castle's feelings towards Max had warmed considerably. The kid had packed Alexis's entire dorm (with the exception of a few very particular drawers) on his own and had been nothing but gentlemanly as he offered support during Alexis's recovery, sending weekly bunches of flowers and occasionally visiting the loft under the (somewhat lax) supervision of Martha. "I'd love to meet him," Castle agreed.
Alexis nibbled her lip (one of many habits she'd picked up from Beckett, he was certain) before continuing. "The thing is, he wants me to meet his parents too," she mentioned tentatively, picking at her cuticles; a new nervous tic she'd picked up.
"So meet his parents," Castle prompted her.
The panic that flashed across Alexis's face was palpable "Daddy!" she whimpered.
Castle recalled the incident last week. Dr. Burke had suggested she catch the subway to see Lanie at work. It had taken Kate three hours to calm Alexis down enough to sleep. An unfamiliar situation was not going to help her get better. "Do you want to invite them here?" He asked her.
"Is that okay?" Alexis asked. "I'll do everything. Have the loft perfect, I'll cook…"
Castle cut her off "Don't be ridiculous, Alexis. I don't expect you do to everything. And you're more than welcome to have Max and his family over whenever you want to."
Alexis's sigh of relief and exuberant hug were warm and familiar and managed to convince Castle that everything was on its way to being okay again.
Alexis had flat out refused to have Max's family over for dinner without Kate there. It had taken three weeks to find a night that Kate wasn't on call that also suited Max's parents (Castle wasn't sure of the field, but at least one of his parents were some kind of shift worker?)
Alexis had gone to town, working on some kind of six hour Italian dessert spectacular (French culture was strictly verboten in the Castle household) and Kate had shooed Castle out of the kitchen, refusing to let him anywhere near sharp implements when Alexis's boyfriend was in the house. The smells from the kitchen were divine and Kate had spent hours preparing everything meticulously before she made her way to the bedroom to make herself look presentable.
Her detective senses tingled as she loaded a fine tipped brush with her favourite gel eyeliner. She looked over to the door frame to see Alexis standing there. "You know, I used to do exactly that when my Mom was getting ready for something fancy," Kate commented conversationally, turning away from the mirror to look at Alexis.
"I can go if you want," Alexis said quickly, slowly moving towards the door.
Kate shook her head, gesturing for her to sit. "It's fine. Stay here," She shot her an encouraging grin. "Are you nervous?"
Alexis shrugged, watching Kate apply her eyeliner in a cat's eye in the mirror. "I guess?" she pondered. "I'm just excited to do something normal. I just want my life back, Kate."
Kate softened, Alexis's words eerily reminiscent of her own recovery. "The fact that you're trying says that you're getting it back quicker than you think."
Alexis nodded thoughtfully, fidgeting with one of the tubes of make up spread across the vanity. "I really like your eyeliner," Alexis offered shyly, watching as Kate fixed the flick on her lid. "How do you do that?"
Kate gave her a sheepish look as she applied her mascara, "Practice." She turned around. "Would you like me to do yours?"
"You wouldn't mind?" Alexis asked.
"Just sit still. And don't open your eyes."
Alexis was perfectly still under Kate's ministrations. She carefully opened her eyes under Kate's instruction and a tiny gasp escaped her lips as she looked into the mirror.
"Do you hate it?" Kate asked, suddenly nervous as she showed Alexis the mirror. Kate wanted this night to go perfectly and she'd read Castle the riot act before he even considered playing a prank. From what they knew, Max was a perfectly nice young man and there was no way she was going to let her sometimes-childish boyfriend scare him off.
"No," Alexis sighed. "I love it. It makes me feel brave," she admitted.
Oh, that was a feeling Kate knew intimately. After the accident, her heels had become higher, all as a way to make her stop feeling so timid. "You're pretty great, Alexis Castle."
Alexis threw her arms around Kate in an unprecedented show of affection. "I'm so glad you're here, Kate. You make things better."
Kate ruffled Alexis's hair playfully. "I better go get your Dad out of the kitchen. He's quiet, which can only mean he's up to something."
Kate was standing in the kitchen, hefting a pan onto the heat when she heard Castle step in behind her. "You're going to behave tonight, right?" She asked him, not having to turn to know that Castle was holding his favourite meat cleaver up to the light to test how shiny it was. "Put it down," she said warningly.
"What are you talking about?" He asked innocently.
Kate turned around, one eyebrow raised. He set the knife down guiltily. "Castle, listen to me," she implored him gently. "I've been in Alexis's shoes, don't stress her anymore than she already is."
"I'm not stressing…"
"Torturing her boyfriend is stressing her," Kate pointed out. "Castle, this goes both ways. You're meeting Max for the first time, but she's meeting his parents for the first time as well. Every twisted idea in your head is going through his Mom's as well" She leant forward to dust a kiss on his cheek. "Just be your usual, charming self. I doubt they'll take four years to warm up to you."
The knock on the door was ominous.
Castle slung an arm around Alexis's shoulder, "We can pretend to not be home if you want to," he reminded her.
Alexis shrugged. "Let them in, Dad."
Castle leaned forward and opened the door. "Welcome to our…" he froze, eyes bugging out of his head. "Gates?" he gasped.
Standing at his doorway, flanked by the men who could only be her husband and son was Victoria Gates, Captain of the 12th Precinct. His heart pounded in his chest and he had to fight the overwhelming instinct to panic moonwalk out of the situation.
"Mr Castle," she gaped, clearly equally as shocked as he was.
"Castle, I heard the door open, why haven't you invited them in?" Kate asked, striding out of the kitchen, wondering what the hold up was. She felt her heart stop when she saw the scene happening at Castle's front door. "Captain Gates," she gulped. Alexis looked over at her, blue eyes wide with shock. "Please, come in," Kate greeted them, desperate to gain some sort of control over the situation. "Castle, why don't you grab everybody a drink?"
This was not how Kate wanted her boss to find out that she and Castle were more than just writer and muse. Oh, this was bad. Kate moved to the kitchen as soon as she deemed it polite, wanting a few seconds away from the dinner guests to compose herself. Alexis followed her out. "Kate, I really didn't know," she mumbled quietly.
"Lex, this isn't on you," Kate reassured her quietly. "I probably should have been straight with Gates a long time ago. Go enjoy your night," she prompted, picking up the tray of appetisers with a flourish.
Dinner had been surprisingly less stressful than Kate had envisioned (though she was certain the rather large glass of red Castle had poured for her was helping with her stress levels). She'd worked with Matthew Gates a few times as a rookie, on cases where the Major Crimes department of the 77th precinct had worked with Vice at the 12th. He was a mild mannered man; his Gentleman Jack accent soothing and his pale face became ruddy as he recounted more than one interesting crime he'd encountered in his time as a uniform.
Somewhere through the seafood paella being brought out onto the table, Kate had felt comfortable enough to allow Castle to link hands with her over the table. There was nothing to be done. She was sure they probably hadn't done the best job of hiding their relationship at the precinct (and all pretence of hiding had flown out the window when Alexis had been taken) but now the cat was well and truly out of the bag. Kate was relying on Gates' discretion to save the tongue lashing for Monday at the Precinct.
Castle and Matthew were chatting avidly about some of the CIA research Castle had done over the years, Alexis and Max shamelessly making eyes at each other across the room.
Gates cleared her throat. "Beckett… Kate," she corrected herself. "You should know that your secret isn't as well kept as you thought."
"You've known for months, haven't you?" Kate asked.
Gates nodded. "Since the second you handed in that badge."
"But you didn't say anything?"
Gates looked over at her husband affectionately. "I know what it's like to have a romance in the workplace," she murmured. "It wasn't affecting your solve rate and its not like Mr Castle is an actual employee. He fits in well with the team." Kate smiled, certain that this was the only show of acceptance Gates was ever going to give them. "But don't let him know that I actually kind of like him."
I'm probably alone in this crazy ship... but tell me what you think anyway?
Birthday wishes will be passed along to the birthday girl (or you could check out her latest and tell her yourself)