The Seven Sins of Two Women

Disclaimer: They aren't mine.

A/N: Here is the 3rd installment of The Numbers Series. This is based on Heartbreak Hotel, but completely ignores the actual timeline of the show. One of my papers/presentations got pushed back a week. yay! So, in celebration, and because I am the biggest procrastinator in the world, I wrote this. Enjoy and remember reviews are love! :)

Chapter 1

Kate sighed as she hung up the phone. Of course she would end up having to go down to Atlantic City. All she had wanted was a quiet night at home, curled up with a book and a glass of wine, maybe even taking a bath in Rick's swimming pool sized bathtub. Now, she had to go and rescue them from whatever trouble they were getting themselves into. Men. She rolled her eyes and slid her phone into her pocket as she pulled her keys out. She wouldn't bother to call Alexis; she had to stop by the loft on her way out of town anyway to pack a bag.

She trudged out to the car; her shoulders slumped in exhaustion. She and Rick had been together for four months now and she was practically living at the loft. She wasn't ready to move in completely yet and he said he wasn't quite ready yet either. They may be in love with each other but they were still their own people with their own lives and own fears. Granted those lives intertwined more often than not, but still, they were taking it one step at a time. She could feel her head droop as she wound the sedan through the crowded streets of the city and shook herself in an attempt to keep herself awake. She made a mental note to make herself a vat of coffee before she left the loft. The strong kind they used during a hard case not that crappy stuff they had for daily use. And by crappy she meant that it wasn't guaranteed to keep her awake for twenty-four hours straight.

Ernie gave her a kind but stressed smile as she passed and she frowned as she turned towards the elevator. Ernie never looked that worried. Her fingers worked at her temples as she leaned against the back wall of the elevator, attempting to work out the headache that had been building all day. Did she really have to go to Atlantic City? Couldn't she just curl up in bed and let the boys fend for themselves. It would be a team building experience for them she rationalized. She sighed.

The elevator dinged at the penthouse and Kate felt the music before she heard it. What the hell? She stepped into the hall to find teenagers streaming into Rick's apartment and she could hear the telltale sounds of a party flowing from the open doorway. Slowly, she made her way forward, reaching for her badge as she pushed the potentially inebriated individuals out of her way. She looked around at girls giggling in circles and boys chugging out of cups. A vase went flying and a crowd cheered. She scanned the group of hormonal youth and caught a flash of red heading for the stairs. Their eyes met across the crowd and she saw Alexis freeze. Kate's forehead creased and her eyes narrowed at the girl. Her eyes traveled from the teen's face down her shoulder and followed her arm to her hand and the hand it was clutching. From there her eyes traveled back up until she found the face of a very confused looking sandy haired boy. She waited, caught somewhere between anger and annoyance as the boy followed Alexis's line of sight and met Kate's narrowed eyes. She saw him gulp and she took that as her cue to spring into action. Alexis dropped the boy's hand like she had been burned and Kate held her badge up over her head.

She really didn't have time for this.

"NYPD, everybody get out now!" She yelled over the music and watched with a satisfied smirk as everyone in the room momentarily froze before dropping the cups and cans in their hands and fleeing towards the door.

Alexis clutched the railing to the stairs as people filed past her, her eyes glued to the ground the whole time. Kate kept her eyes on the sandy haired boy, quickly slipping her hand up to catch his ear as he tried to slip by her. His eyes met hers and he stuttered for a moment before she released him and he bolted for the door.

Kate crossed her arms as the last couple of stragglers made their way out the door and into the cool New York night. Alexis dropped down so she was sitting on the stairs and Kate made her way stand by her.

"I didn't think you'd be here since Dad is out of town. Are you going to tell him?" Alexis's voice was soft as she looked down at her feet, refusing to meet Kate's eye.

Kate sighed and rubbed her forehead once again. "No, but you should. I have to go down to Atlantic City and help them out. This had better be cleaned up by the time we get back tomorrow. We can talk then."

With that Kate turned towards the bedroom and gathered up the things she needed for the night. She glanced towards the stairs as she walked back towards the door to the apartment and saw Alexis sitting in the same position, her head in her hands.

"Katherine Marie Beckett!"

Seventeen year-old Kate froze, caught in the middle of a frenzied make out session, as her father's voice boomed through the apartment. They weren't supposed to be back until Sunday. It was Friday night. Around her red Solo cups fell to the floor as her friends fled for the door. Mike threw her off of his lap as the coward escaped with the rest of the teens and she moved to hide the joint she held in her hand as she wobbled and fell to the floor. This was so not good.

Kate closed her eyes as Jim Beckett paced in front of her and Johanna leaned against the far wall. Her father held in his hand a baggy of pot and her newly acquired motorcycle helmet. She could hear him yelling at her but her mind turned in on itself as his words passed through her ears. She knew he was talking to her but the words refused to register in her mind. She was angry. They weren't supposed to be home yet. If they had just stayed out of town they never would have known and he wouldn't be threatening to send her to a nunnery.

Wait a nunnery? He wasn't serious, was he? Boarding school, really? No, they wouldn't.

She was just trying to celebrate the fact that she had finally been able to afford her motorcycle. This many people weren't supposed to show up. It was only supposed to be her, Mike, Madison, Maddie's boyfriend Jake and a couple of other friends. When the others had showed up she had already been to high to care but it really wasn't her fault. Kate's eyes moved up to meet her mother's gaze and she gulped. Her mother hadn't said a word, but her eyes said enough. She was pissed. Johanna Beckett rarely got angry, especially towards Kate. Normally all she got was an eye roll and the patented 'I told you so'. Not this time, this time she saw furious disappointment.

Kate pulled herself up from the couch as she was dismissed and refused to look at either of them as she shuffled into her room and slammed the door behind her. She had managed to comprehend the words 'house arrest' and 'grounded until the end of time' so she had the feeling she would be there for a while.

She sighed as she turned the doorknob. "Alexis, I love you. We will talk tomorrow, okay?"

The teen nodded, still not looking up and Kate slid into the hall, pausing as the door closed to lean against the wall. The pounding in her head graduated to a constant sharp pain and she covered her eyes with her hand.

Kate stared out at the road as the yellow dashes in the middle turned into a blurred streak. She remembered what it was like to be seventeen. Hell, she had put her parents through a lot worse than just a single party when she as a kid, but her brain was still spinning. This wasn't just any kid, it was Alexis and Alexis didn't do things like this. Alexis went to coffee shops with her friends on Friday nights and dated boys like Ashley. Oh, Ashley. But they had broken up months ago, would this really still have something to do with him after all this time? But Alexis had been leading a boy up to her room. Alexis had been doing that. Had Rick even talked to her about protection? Had she and Ashley ever?

Kate remembered what she had been like as a teenager and it wasn't pretty. She wasn't sure if she truly regretted that time of her life or not, but she didn't want Alexis to do the same things that she had done. Ever.

Did she even have the right to be asking some of these questions? She wasn't Alexis's mother or even her stepmother. She had only been dating her dad for four months. Technically. The voice in her head whispered, she had only technically been dating Rick for four months. Really, she thought, they had been together much longer. But still, did that mean she had any authority over Alexis what so ever? Did she really want authority to begin with? She wasn't really even old enough to be Alexis's mother and it wasn't like Alexis needed much authority to begin with. Sometimes it felt like Alexis was the adult and she and Rick were the kids. Especially when she found them making out on the kitchen counter or when they were having a poker showdown and fighting over the last clear gummy bear. If anything she had acted more like a friend in the past few months. Kate sighed again and rubbed her eyes as she pulled off an exit to grab a cup of coffee.

This night deserved an espresso.