Yes, yes I know Halloween is still a month away but I woke up with this idea in my head this morning and just had to do something with it! And, as I'm too impatient to wait until the 31st of October - here it is!
DISCLAIMER: Great thing about fanfiction is, you get to borrow characters and the only thing you have to give in return is your loyalty as a fan... pretty sweet deal in my mind :)
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It was Halloween night of 2012 and Alexis Castle, Columbia University freshman, rose from her seated position on her bed, when she heard a knock at the door of her dorm room.
She traipsed delicately across the floor, tiptoeing over the scattering of textbooks littered around her room.
She swung the door open to be greeted by the sight of her father's detective girlfriend, clad in a tight black leather suit.
"Hey Alexis", Kate greeted her in a cheerful way.
"Wow, that's... some outfit", Alexis looked at the detective wide-eyed.
"Really? You don't think it's too much?" Kate asked, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.
"You look amazing and I can see Dad certainly had a hand in choosing it", Alexis said with much pretense.
"So is that a yes?" Kate asked, with a slight smirk.
"I think you make a perfect Elektra", Alexis said, leaving it there.
"OK", Kate's eyes darted uncomfortably from side to side. "Um, why aren't you in your costume?" She finally asked Alexis.
"I am, I call this the "Alexis Castle deciding to forgo Halloween in favor of staying in and studying for tests that she has been struggling with for weeks" look", Alexis sighed.
Kate blinked. "Well, you've mastered that look perfectly, I must say."
"Sorry, I should have at least invited you in", Alexis apologized, stepping back to let Kate through the door.
"Whoa", the detective exclaimed as she entered the dorm room. "Did a library explode in here?"
Alexis chuckled rather humorlessly. "I see Dad's wit is beginning to rub off on you."
"Wow, psychological impulses in manic depressives? Is this seriously part of your exams?" Kate asked, flipping through one of the textbooks.
Alexis shrugged. "I don't know, the professors tell us to read these books but they leave the actual content of the exams a surprise, so we never know quite what we should be focusing on exactly."
Kate nodded. "Yeah, they kinda do that, it's so the professors themselves don't actually have to teach you everything you need to know."
"Yeah, I figured... Are the professors at Stanford any more assiduous?" Alexis asked Kate.
Kate glanced up at the young redhead. "You having regrets about not going?"
"I don't know, I think I made the right choice, staying here, being close to Dad and Grams but... I guess I'll always wonder if the grass would've been any greener", Alexis answered, a thoughtful frown on her face.
"Well, if it's any consolation, I know your Dad is very grateful to have you here", Kate told her truthfully.
"Well...I think he's grateful for all the people he has in his life", Alexis told her as sincerely as possible.
Kate gave her a small smile. "You're really not going to come to your Dad's annual Halloween party?"
"Look around, do I look like someone who's ready for a party?" Alexis said exasperatedly.
Kate gave the teenager a sympathetic look. "Maybe I can help." Kate raised an eyebrow.
"Really?" Alexis asked dubiously, before she remembered that Kate had actually studied psychology herself when she was at College. "Really?" She asked again, in more of a hopeful, trying not to appear desperate kind of way.
"Sure", Kate nodded.
"Wait, don't you have to get back though?" Alexis asked her.
Kate shrugged. "There's a whole host of people back at the loft, you're here on your own, now what kind of superhero would I be to leave you in a state of crisis?"
Alexis smiled at Kate with genuineness for the first time Kate could recall since Rick had told his daughter they were together.
"Are you sure? Dad will be disappointed if both of us don't show, especially since he obviously went to a lot of trouble to get that outfit for you" Alexis tried not to smirk.
"Don't worry, I'll make it up to him later", Kate winked saucily before looking absolutely horrified with herself. "Oh God, Alexis, that was completely inappropriate of me, I'm so sorry."
Alexis blushed but she shook her head, stepping forward and taking the psychology text book out of Kate's hands. "It's OK...Though I can tell I'm going to be needing this for my own psychological well being."
Kate grimaced. "Let me just send your Dad a quick txt and then we'll take a look, OK?"
She sent her partner and lover a txt saying
"Elektra and Alexis will be spending the night fighting crime one psychology mid-term paper question at a time. Go wild tonight - and just so we're clear, October 31st is the only night of the year I will ever say that to you. xx K."
"OK, shall we venture into the obscure world of the human mind?" Kate asked the young girl who gave her a sideways look before nodding slowly.
...
Two hours and forty-seven minutes later, Kate was quizzing Alexis on the things she thought were most likely to come up in her exams. Alexis aced every single question without hesitation and Kate high-fived her, smiling widely.
"I don't know what to say Kate except... thank you", Alexis told the woman gratefully.
"You did all the work Alexis, all I did was ask a few questions. You taught me", Kate replied.
"Still... Thanks."
"You're welcome", Kate looked at the young girl with a warm expression, suddenly feeling a surge of something overwhelming. Kate cleared her throat. "You know, I hope this doesn't sound like I'm overstepping in any way but, I feel a sense of... pride...in you."
Alexis glowed, she straightened her posture, looking at the Detective with a newfound respect. "Would you like to hear a story?"
Kate grinned. "Absolutely, I always assumed your Dad's affinity for storytelling lived within you."
"Well, typically I try and stave off any biological traits my Dad imparted upon me, but this one time, I'll give in... this is the story of when and why my Dad started calling me "pumpkin". Appropriately, it's a Halloween story... Not to say it's scary, well maybe aside from the outfit he put me in... that was a little bit horrifying."
Kate raised an eyebrow. "What kind of outfit are we talking about?"
In response, Alexis held up a finger and sidled over to her closet and began rummaging around in it. Finally, she pulled out a small baby's all-in-one, it was a plumped up little orange Jack-o-lantern suit with green striped tights, suitable in size for a young infant.
Kate clasped a hand over her mouth to contain a shriek of laughter. "Oh my goodness, that's adorable", she said as Alexis held up the suit in front of her.
"I was three months old, Dad dressed me up in this and carted me around the entire burrow where, I was, as he describes it; a total candy-magnet."
Kate laughed. "Oh man, he must've been bouncing off the walls with all that candy."
"Yeah, that is..." Alexis began, and the two women spoke at the same time. "Even more so than usual."
"Yeah", Kate chuckled.
"So, the neighbors were calling me "the little pumpkin" and the name stuck", Alexis said, smiling down at the baby garment.
"That's sweet", Kate told her, staring a little bit wistfully at the infants clothing.
Kate stared down at her watch and saw what the time was. "Oh wow, speaking of pumpkins, I should probably get back before the clock strikes midnight and my harley turns into one."
Alexis laughed. "Of course, well thank you again Kate for all your help. I'm going to go into these exams a lot less terrified because of it."
The two women stood and Alexis stepped forward and hugged Kate gently. Kate, in turn, wrapped her arms around the teen. "Anytime Alexis."
When the pair broke apart again, Alexis tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked up shyly at the detective. "You know, Dad's not the only one who's grateful to have you in his life."
Kate's heart swelled, and her grin mirrored that. "I appreciate that Alexis... Thank you."
Alexis walked her to the door, leaning over to pick up some of books lying on the floor as they went.
"Goodnight Alexis, I'll make sure your Dad saves you some candy", Kate promised the girl who laughed. "Yeah well, good luck with that."
Kate chuckled and turned around to open the door. As she turned around to wave goodbye to her partner's daughter, the girl tossed Kate the baby garment which Kate caught with a quick reflex.
"Take that home with you, something to apologize to Dad with for my absence, cheer him up", Alexis answered her questioning look.
Then, she added coyly. "Who knows, maybe by next Halloween, it'll have a new user."
With that, Alexis bid her goodnight and closed the door on Kate's flabbergasted expression.
...
When Kate arrived home, (well, to the place she spent the majority of her time off these days), the loft was devoid of people, except for her boyfriend who had his hand shoved firmly in the nearly empty bowl of sour gummy worms that sat atop the kitchen counter.
"Richard Castle, get your hand out of that bowl and step away from the counter!" Kate called to him, making him jump in surprise.
"Why?" He asked her indignantly, steadying his racing heart.
"Because I promised your daughter I wouldn't let you eat all of it. Now leave the rest alone and tomorrow I'll wrap it up for her."
"Hey, it's not my fault she didn't show, I can't believe you both missed it", he wined like a child...On a sugar rush.
Surprise, surprise.
"Yeah well I was helping her study for her midterms", Kate whacked him on the hand when he attempted to re-insert it into the jar of sweets. "Thank god she finally has someone in her life with some brains", Kate eyeballed him.
"I have brains... look", he said, holding up a very realistic and bloody looking fake brain made out of bread and papier-mache.
"Ugh", Kate recoiled, swatting them away. "Gross, Castle."
"Freshly sourced", he grinned, wagging his eyebrows.
"Oh...nice", Kate made a disgusted face.
"Just kidding... Hey, what's that?" Castle asked her, his focus shifting to the little jack-o-lantern baby outfit she held in her hand. "Did Alexis give that to you?"
"Yeah, she told me the story of how she got her nickname", Kate nodded.
"Wow, you must have made quite the impression on her. She's usually far too embarrassed by that story to tell anyone."
"I don't think she's embarrassed by it, I think it's just a very special story that she only deems appropriate to tell certain people", Kate told him.
He gave her a smile. "Yes well, she obviously thinks very highly of you Madame Elektra...As do I, of course", Castle told her, pulling her body close to his, shifting up against the counter.
"And have I told you that this outfit is possibly the best investment I have made all year?" He murmured as he ran his hands over the sleek material of her back.
"And yet, I get the feeling, you're quite eager to get rid of it", Kate noted, smirking at him.
"Whatever gave you that impression", Castle asked her innocently, leaning down to suck gently at her jawline. The tight leather of the suit allowing him to go no lower.
"You know what Alexis said to me when she gave me the suit?" Kate chuckled.
Castle pulled away abruptly. "Seriously, you want to continue talking about my daughter when I'm doing this?"
Kate began unbuttoning the buttons on his zombie over coat, her smirk growing wider and more seductive. "She suggested that perhaps this time next year there might be someone new around to wear it."
Castle's eyes popped, as she coincidentally popped his last button open. "Is that right?"
"That's right", Kate told him, shucking the heavy coat off him.
"Huh", he mused, wrapping his arm around her neck and sliding the zipper slowly down her back. "You know, Alexis was three months old when she wore this."
"So she said", Kate worked on his ruffled waist coat next.
"Halloween is exactly a year from today."
"Duh."
"So, by my calculations, that gives us exactly nine months from tonight to fill that suit."
Kate slipped the waistcoat off him, letting it slip to the floor, while he pulled her arms out of the skin-tight suit. "Wow, those are astonishing math skills", she said mockingly.
"Yes, I thought so", he mulled aloud lightly, dropping to his knees in front of her and tugging the suit down the length of her mile-long legs, making her shiver when his hands re-traced its path.
"You know what else I think?" He stood, his warm breath tickling her skin as he rose.
"Hmm?" She let out a light and happy sigh.
She kicked off the suit, leaving her in another suit entirely, one, it was usually said was to be worn on birthdays, but would tonight, be worn on a different holiday.
Castle's eyes darkened as he stepped backward in the direction of his bedroom, pulling her along by the waist. "I think this Halloween is about to get a lot more...freaky."
...
Thanks for reading, reviews are like a cup of coffee, guaranteed to bring a smile to my face :)