Disclaimer: much as I might like to, if I owned Castle then Andrew Marlowe wouldn't, and then it wouldn't be the same so much as I might enjoy it, I don't own it.
Alexis hung up the phone and sighed. So much for the terrific catch up sleepover with Paige. She had missed her old friend since she'd gone to college and had been looking forward to spending the time with her for weeks, but now as it turned out Paige had a huge family get together and couldn't make it.
"Oh well, guess there's always next time." Alexis thought to herself, trying hard not to let herself get too bummed out at the news. "Yeah, and how's that working out for you?", answered a sardonic voice in her head. Telling the voice in no uncertain terms to shut up and get lost, Alexis decided to head back downstairs and see if her father and Kate were done eating yet. With her grandmother out of town it had just been the three of them, although Alexis knew that Kate was very likely going to have to leave pretty soon; their offer of a movie had been turned down due to some regularly scheduled departmental something or other which for some reason none of them could fathom had been placed in the very early hours of the morning this month, meaning Kate had to get up even earlier than usual.
Walking downstairs, Alexis listened for the voices of her dad and Kate bantering back and forth but the only noise she could hear was some kind of strange song she'd never heard before. There were no words, just a tune, but the tune was almost hauntingly beautiful. Alexis could almost feel her mood swaying to the notes, sleepover or no sleepover. Trying to figure out where this music was coming from she walked into the kitchen. To say the sight that greeted her wasn't what she'd been expecting would've been an understatement. Standing at the sink washing their dinner dishes was Kate Beckett, the notes Alexis had found so enchanting coming out of her mouth. Somehow it was hard for Alexis to think of the fierce dedicated warrior woman humming. Oh, she liked music, to be sure, she and Alexis had even compared ipod lists on more than one occasion, Alexis finding the detective's taste in music terrific. They'd even sang along to their music together a few times, but this was different, this was humming. It just seemed too ordinary for their extraordinary companion.
"Kate?", Alexis called out to her to get her attention.
"Hey sweetie, how's Paige?", Kate replied, looking up from the dishes she was washing.
"Oh, she's doing fine," Alexis replied simply, not wanting to get back into the melancholy mood their conversation had generated. "Where's Dad?", she asked, trying to change the subject.
Kate's eyes narrowed, sensing that something about the conversation with Paige had gotten sent Alexis' mood into a dip, but simply replied "getting raked over the coals by Gina in his office, she called about five minutes ago and your dad got that look that signaled that this was not going to be a quick conversation."
"Oh yes, I know that look very well," Alexis replied, causing both women to laugh.
"Your ice cream's still in the glass, but I put it into the fridge so it wouldn't melt while you were gone," Kate said as she took another plate over to the sink. Alexis was getting a strange feeling inside, but couldn't understand where it was coming from or what it meant, so she put it aside for later and simply said "thanks" as she went over to the fridge to take her ice cream. "You know you don't have to do the dishes right, Kate? You can leave them for my father or I to do later, you're our guest after all." As the words left Alexis' mouth she found that strange feeling coming back again, but again she couldn't make sense of it, so she set it aside. "Oh come on, I'm not going to leave you guys with all the cleanup, bad enough I didn't get here in time to help you with dinner." Kate needed to feel like she was bringing something to the table. As much as things had changed since she and Castle started dating, there were still times she felt like she wasn't doing enough to reciprocate the feeling of family Alexis and Martha had given her.
"So is Paige also psyched for the big sleepover?", Kate asked, trying to determine why Alexis seemed so much more moody than when she'd left the table to answer her phone. "Oh, she had to cancel," Alexis tried to throw it out offhand like it was no big deal, but she knew that was probably hopeless: very little she could've done would have gotten something like this past Kate.
"Oh sweetheart, I'm sorry, I know how much you've been looking forward to this."
"Seriously Kate, it's not a big deal, it happens."
"Come on sweetie, Lex, you've been talking about this thing about once or twice a minute for the last couple of weeks. Even if it's not Paige's fault, it still has to hurt."
Alexis sighed, knowing Kate knew she was right and wouldn't let it go without trying to comfort her. "Yeah, I am kind of sad about it, but it is what it is right? Looking on the bright side, I guess I'll have extra time to study."
Kate laughed to herself, Alexis never ceased to amaze her. Even though she knew Alexis was just trying to put on a brave face, no other teenager Kate had ever met would've been able to call that looking on the bright side. "That's true, no doubt about that, but you still need to get out and have some fun. Tell you what, Sunday, you and me, girls day out." Kate blurted it out without thinking, immediately wishing she could take it back. She wanted so badly to reach out to Alexis, but she didn't want to push too hard. She loved Alexis, both for how much she meant to the man she'd fallen in love with and simply for her. As far as Kate was concerned it was impossible to know Alexis and not love her. Whether it was the girl herself, or the Castle in her she didn't know, but quite frankly she didn't care. Now she'd blurted it out and her mind started racing a mile a minute to find a way to take it back a little, so as to have it as an offer with no pressure, but before she could come up with any kind of solution Alexis flashed her a delighted smile and responded with an emphatic "Perfect!" As soon as she was certain her heart had started beating again she smiled back and said "okay then, it's settled", and she turned back to the dishes, trying to get her heart rate back down to a manageable level at the realization that she hadn't just sent Alexis Castle scurrying for cover at the thought of spending time with her, au contraire she'd even sounded genuinely excited about it. All of a sudden, she heard Alexis' voice cutting through the silence again. "Kate, what's that you're humming?"
Kate looked up in surprise; she hadn't even noticed that she'd started humming again, but she supposed it made sense."It's nothing sweetheart, if it's bothering you I'll stop."
"No, No, I didn't mean that, it was just making me feel…" Kate turned around as Alexis trailed off to find her turning beet red and staring intently at her ice cream, at her shoes, at the ceiling, at pretty much anything stare atable that wasn't Kate Beckett.
"Feel.."
"Oh nothing, nothing at all…," Alexis replied, still trying so hard to avoid looking at Kate that Kate was half afraid she was going to snap her neck. "Lex…?"
"It was making me feel better" Alexis mumbled almost unintelligibly. Kate felt her lips start curling upward. Alexis had just admitted she was upset. Kate knew from recent experience how hard, and how important that was. Well, if we're admitting emotional things…
"My mom used to hum that."
Alexis was positive she couldn't have heard that right. "Wh-…what?"
"When my mother would wash the dishes every night, she'd hum that song as she did it. Told me her mother had done it for her, and her mother for her, way back to who knows when. Always made me feel better whenever I'd hear it."
Alexis could understand why, it was beautiful. She sheepishly said as much.
"Come here, I'll teach it to you." Alexis walked over and grabbed a plate, and they set to work. Such was the scene that Richard Castle came out to a few minutes later. Swallowing the lump that had settled in his throat at the sight of the woman he loved more than anything except the woman next to her washing the dishes together, singing, laughing, and splashing, he reluctantly broke into the conversation. "Well, I still have my head. I even think I have half of my hearing." He couldn't help but grin as the two turned as one and rolled their eyes at his standard childish antics as if they'd rehearsed it for years. Yeah, he thought to himself, does life get any better than this?
