For Rachel.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
She's standing in the card aisle of the bodega three blocks from her father's apartment with her arms crossed in frustration. What card do you get your father's girlfriend for Mothers Day? Theoretically she doesn't have to get Kate anything but after the year they've had it feels insensitive to not recognize all that the detective has done. Her own mother couldn't find time to check on her after her kidnapping but Kate had sat up with her on every single sleepless night – even nights when her father didn't stir. They've bonded and Alexis feels... not obligated, just an all consuming pull to get the woman something. Kate and her dad had been through a rough patch lately but Kate had still managed to help her study for her art history final and brought her chocolate and coffee at midnight during a cram session. So, yes, Alexis can find a card for her father's girlfriend.
Except everything she stumbles across sounds trite or cheesy. She's never bought a card like this before – oh, sure, she made one once in kindergarten just before the divorce but she'd found it in the trash when her mother moved out a week later. She never felt the pull to acquire another one again.
There's a bright red one that makes her smirk as she reads the "Keep Calm and Mother On" but really that's not quite what Kate does. She isn't competing with Meredith to be Alexis' mother but she's taken a far more vested interest in her life than Gina ever did. She just sort of brings her own cards to the table and Alexis can either accept them or not. Kate sort of fills a hybrid role of sister, mother, and friend all at once. She was never afraid to call Alexis on her cattiness at the beginning but she also the one who paints her toenails and teaches her how to do her hair in some complex braid that Alexis had never heard of before. Why is there not a card for that? Surely there has to be more women out there like Kate Beckett.
Frustration overwhelms her and she walks away from the card aisle in search of something else, something a tad more tangible. She meanders through the little trinkets, the never ending fluff of gifts for moms. It takes her another twenty minutes of fretting over what is too much and not enough before she spots what she's been looking for. A large black coffee mug sits on the highest shelf with the letter K scrawled across it in white, around the lettering is an intricate design that looks almost like some of the hena designs she's seen. She stands on her tiptoes and pulls it from the shelf, her fingers running over the bumpy surface the paint has created. Surely something so intricate has been handcrafted. She lifts the mug over her head and spots the 'made in Syracuse' sticker next to the artist's signature. She was right and the mug is perfect.
Card aisle forgotten and gift in hand, she makes her way to the cash register to check out. She pays the old man behind the counter and wishes him a good day before slipping out into the chilly spring air. There's a smile on her face as she beams with the pride of accomplishment. She's almost to the loft when she spots the flower stand her father frequents and decides to stop. There's probably a thousand different kinds tucked into that tiny cart but she spots what she didn't know she was looking for with relative ease. "Those," she points. "What are they called?"
"Tiger lilies," the woman replies.
Perfect. The dark orange flowers speckled with what looks like fairy dust are perfect for Kate – different, unusual, outside the realm of the typical. She pays for a small bouquet and continues to the loft. It's early enough in the morning that Kate and her father are still sleeping as she moves around quietly. She makes a pot of coffee and pours some into Kate's new, clean mug. She trims the flowers and puts them in a small vase. Then she picks up a sheet of computer paper and gets to work.
–
It's the luring smell of coffee that pulls Kate Beckett from her slumber. She sits in bed and stretches into a yoga pose like a cat arches its spine. Castle is still asleep beside her and Martha is off on a retreat that Castle got her into for the holiday. Kate's hand immediately goes to her neck, her thumb sliding over the chain, down to the ring that rests between her breasts. She doesn't feel the need to wear it every day like she used to but today is an exception. She misses her mother and today just amplifies that feeling. A glance at the clock tells her that she needs to get moving, she's got brunch with her father in an hour and a half and if she doesn't get moving she'll never make it across town in time.
But, first, coffee. She shrugs on her robe and moves through the office to the kitchen where she spots the gift Alexis left her sitting on the counter. She stops dead in her tracks, she hadn't expected to receive anything, would never put that kind of pressure on her boyfriend's daughter. She's overwhelmed that Alexis would make time out of her finals studying schedule to do this for her. And she knows it was Alexis from the card perched in front of her new coffee cup.
With shaking hand, she lifts the piece of paper that simply reads 'For Kate'. Kate unfolds the paper and smiles a watery smile as she reads the inside. "There's no card for your father's girlfriend who has gone out of her way to be there in the last year, I looked. I know that we didn't have the easiest start and I know that a lot of that lays on me but I don't know where this family would be without you, Kate. I'm so glad that you and my dad are together because this... it's like the last piece of the puzzle falling into place, the piece of the puzzle that we didn't even know we were missing. You fit. You're the part of this family that was missing. And there isn't a real holiday for that but there should be because what you do is amazing. The way you're there for all of us without being asked... I've never had that, Kate. Not from anyone other than dad and Gram. You're not my mother and you're not trying to be and I so appreciate that. This holiday is just the closest I can come to a "thank you for being Kate" day. Enjoy the mug and flowers. Love, Alexis."
Kate wipes the tears from her eyes and leans forward to sniff the flowers – her favorites – and then takes the cup of coffee with her back to the bedroom. She perches on the bed beside Castle and waits until he opens his eyes and looks at her. "G'morning, Kate," he mumbles then notes her tears. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," she whispers and sits the mug on his bedside table. "It's just... your kid is kind of amazing, Castle."
"Mmm," he hums into her as he pulls her tightly into his arms. "What did my amazing kid do?"
"Made me part of your family." And that's a peace unparalleled that Kate Beckett hasn't felt in far too long.