A/N: Well, here it is, folks. This is the story I've been waiting to write ever since I got the idea for the Crazy Eyes series. Reading that Meredith stayed at the loft and tried to throw a monkey wrench in the works just started this whole ball rolling.
No betas were harmed in the making of this story, so the mistakes are all mine.
I'd like to leave a brief word to the folks who leave negative reviews (especially the trolls who do so anonymously, leaving me unable to respond privately to their comments) solely because they think Kate's acting out of character. If you go back and read the first Crazy Eyes story, I explain that she is SUPPOSED to be out of character. This isn't supposed to be a canon-style story. It's Kate letting her inner Nikki Heat run the show. I think I even mention that in every Author's Note for this series. I'm not claiming that I think Kate would really do this, or that I think she should. It's a 'what if' just for FUN, people.
Rant off. Apologies to those who genuinely enjoy this series. Your wonderful reviews keep this writer churning out imagined violence :)
Although I did borrow dialogue from the episode, I don't own Castle, ABC, Twinkies, Lollapalooza (or any paloozas) or anything related to any profit-making ventures out there. This is just for fun.
Chapter 11: Crazy Eyes and the First Ex
Kate Beckett hated Twinkies.
It was one of the least well-known things about her, but she hated them worse than she hated hangnails, New York City traffic, and murderers put together. It probably began when she was in kindergarten and Bobby Hartner shoved an entire Twinkie in her face and laughed, causing the rest of her class to join in mocking her. It certainly wasn't helped when she got drunk as a senior and binged on the processed sugar. They tasted even worse coming up than going down, and she swore never again to consume the cream-filled, artery-clogging horrors. Since that moment, she managed to avoid the vile dessert at all turns, even when she was craving sweets after breakups.
She and her fiance were supposed to have a wonderful weekend, finally free of murders, wedding planners, bridal magazines, and nosy detectives trying to figure out where Castle was taking her for their honeymoon. Gates gave them the entire weekend plus Monday off, and Rick had promised her massages, bubble baths, breakfast (and lunch, and dinner, and most especially dessert) in bed, and anything else she wanted for the entire weekend. Sans clothes, of course.
Alexis coming down with a brutal case of mono was the first strike against her plan for a week-long sex fest with Rick that would have made Roman orgies pale by comparison. The poor girl was pitiful, and remembering her own bout with mono, Kate could do little but allow her the space in her own home to recuperate. She'd sleep a lot with mono and probably not have the energy to get out of bed much, so she and Rick could still partake in…most of their planned activities. They'd just have to take more breaks to check in on Alexis. It wasn't perfect but it was a workable solution.
Martha staying in the loft to help take care of Alexis was strike two. The older woman had planned on a trip up to an exclusive spa upstate to 'give you kids some privacy', as she ever so delicately phrased it, but when Alexis came down with the kissing disease, she postponed her trip and stayed behind to care for her granddaughter. No problem, Kate thought as she tried to mentally alter her plans. They might have to be confined to Rick's bedroom, but with the size of the bed and the bathroom, they could still have a lot of fun. The other areas would just be off limits. No problem.
But just as she came to acceptance with the loft's unexpected guests, a new reason to despise Twinkies flounced through the front door of Castle's loft and almost threw her handbag at Martha. Her red curls bounced with her movement and her eyes had that look of insanity she'd seen so often in various killers' expressions as she looked around for Rick, purring, "Hello, Kitten!"
Strike three, and Kate's hopes for her own personal Sex-A-Palooza were out.
Meredith walked toward her daughter as she babbled something about bringing Paris to Alexis since they couldn't go together. She was even waving some wildly fattening pastries that the teenager would never be able to keep down, if she could even swallow them in the first place. She had to kick some bridal magazines and wedding planner notes – all Rick's – off the coffee table as she sat and leaned over her daughter, and unless Kate's eyes were playing tricks, there was a derisive smirk on Meredith's face as she did so.
Rick was adorably flustered as he asked why she brought so much luggage with her, but when the Slut Queen turned and gave him a more than slightly psychotic smile, Kate could see his heart fall to his feet.
Deep Fried Twinkie. In the flesh. Staying in the loft.
Kate's left eye started twitching uncontrollably.
Castle saw her start to lose it. As soon as Meredith started pretending to care about Alexis, he dragged Kate into the bedroom. "Please, please don't do anything here in the loft. She wants a chance to take care of her daughter."
She made a valiant effort for Castle. She really did. He begged and pleaded his case. He didn't know how much power over her he had with the puppy dog face, especially when he was trying to do something decent. Even in this case when he was foisting his first ex-wife and third uninvited redhead on her.
"Damn it!" she cursed as she stomped her feet, adult behavior be damned. She was promised a weekend of pure pleasure, but the Invasion of the Redheads blew all her hopes for nonstop orgasms to hell.
"You'd be over your limit anyway," he said with a thoughtful expression as he remembered the past few days.
"The hell I am! There's no way I'm that close this week," she retorted as she searched her own memory.
Rick started ticking off the events on his fingers. "On Monday was the barista…"
"I claim the exceptions clause. It was self-defense! She threw the hot coffee right at me!" Kate disputed.
One thing Rick learned from her over the years they'd been together was how to do her habitual eye-roll. "She was excited to see me, if you remember. The coffee never left her hand."
"It still looked like she was about to throw it at me," Kate grumbled.
Ticking off the next finger on his hand, Rick continued, "Then there was the waitress on our date just two nights ago."
"She was coming at you with a knife!" Kate protested as she moved closer to him.
"Because I dropped mine on the floor. She was replacing my knife, Kate," he explained.
"The slut still looked like she was about to stab you," she said with a glare.
"Just…promise me that you won't do anything foolish with Meredith here," Rick begged.
"As long as she doesn't do anything stupid that forces me to defend us."
Taking that as the all-encompassing acceptance he was hoping for, Rick wrapped his arms around her, cradling her head against his chest.
She leaned back to make sure he understood her determination. "This is the last time she ever stays here. You can't just let her run roughshod over you just because she bats her eyes and claims to want to do the right thing for Alexis. You need to either fish or cut bait."
He gulped. "You have my word. The very last time."
"You'd better be right," Kate mumbled into his shirt, "or you're going to have to do one hell of a lot of making this up to me."
"I promise," he whispered into her hair.
Needing some caffeine to make it through the morning, Kate started a French press. If she couldn't figure out the relatively basic espresso maker in the precinct she damned sure wasn't going to try and solve the monstrosity sitting in his kitchen. As she poured herself some of the much-needed coffee, her hands trembled slightly in time with the throbbing just above her eyes. It had been three days since she and Rick had the chance to screw – 'make love' as Rick called it…he was such a girl when it came to things like that – and she was going through withdrawal symptoms. "I should be getting bent over one of these bar stools right now," she muttered to herself. She would never begrudge Alexis a place to stay when ill, but at the moment she was sorely missing the weekend of hedonistic pleasure they'd planned on.
Kate heaved a sigh and decided to at least spend the time flipping through the wedding materials so she could cross some of the items off their to-do list. Rick completely ignored her hopes for a small wedding with a Justice of the Peace. She even offered to have Judge Markaway or the Mayor himself officiate, but he was dead set on giving her the grand, flower covered and doily-encrusted wedding he thought every girl on Earth dreamed of. Taking in the list of things that needed to have colors planned and coordinated, Kate allowed her head to slip forward and bang onto the counter. This day was already going from bad to worse.
Her headache started worsening just as a feminine yawn followed by light footfalls sounded on the stairs. Kate closed her eyes for a brief moment of respite before looking up to see the newcomer was exactly who she feared. Meredith came down and into the kitchen wearing nothing but a surprisingly modest pair of white boy shorts and a t-shirt. Kate's hand jerked, almost causing her to spill coffee over the counter as she took in the sight of Rick's ex-wife apparently perfectly comfortable showing her underwear to anyone who happened to be nearby, including Rick himself, as Meredith couldn't have known if he had already gone to the station or not.
"Oh, that smells delicious! Can I have a cup?" she bounced.
"I…was just making that for myself, but yeah, here. Go ahead," Kate conceded, showing admirable restraint and politeness. She wouldn't hesitate to tell Rick later on in the hopes of being well-rewarded for her behavior. Forcing some fake cheer into her voice, Kate asked, "So how's Alexis?" She might as well try to get along with the airhead, if for no other reason than to keep things less dramatic for Alexis.
The redhead flopped onto a stool across the counter blissfully unaware of the thoughts Kate had about using that particular piece of furniture. "She's asleep. She's always asleep. I love her, but with mono, she's a bit of a bore."
A bore. The bimbo across the counter, wearing nothing but her underwear, had the unmitigated gall to call her own daughter a bore when the poor girl had mono and could barely maintain consciousness to eat the smoothies Rick got her to ease her sore throat. Kate's eye resumed its manic twitching as she brutally reined in the urge to leap across the counter and wrap her fingers around Meredith's throat. The thought of watching the life drain out of those empty blue eyes was oddly heartwarming, given what Meredith just said.
"So, you and Rick?" Meredith interrupted her reverie with an unnerving, mischievous grin.
With a huge sigh, Kate figured she should keep playing nice rather than take the chance on going over her limit. "Yes. Me and…Rick."
Before they could continue their incredibly awkward discussion, Kate noticed Rick coming out of the bedroom. She glanced down at Meredith's panty-covered ass in horror. The last thing she wanted was him to see this much of his ex-wife. "You know, ah, you might want to put some pants on."
"Why? It's not like I'm going anywhere," Meredith dismissed as she reached over for a spice jar and started shaking some into the coffee.
Oh, ok. My fiancé's ex is just sitting around in her underwear as he comes in for breakfast. Nothing could possibly go wrong here, Kate fumed.
Rick stumbled in, looking absolutely delicious in his robe and bed head. Seeing Meredith in her underwear made him blink in surprise. Seeing Kate standing there made his eyes go wide. "Oh. Hey, you two. What's going on?"
"Nothing. Just making coffee. Here, this is for you," the redhead smirked as she handed over the mug she'd just stolen from Kate.
"Oh, thank you," he said before taking a deep sip, "What is in this? Did you add…" he trailed off, trying to identify the unusual flavor.
"Nutmeg," Rick and Meredith said in unison, sharing a memory.
"Nutmeg?" Kate was obviously witnessing one of their rituals. Seeing Rick have such an intimate memory connected to another woman and coffee made something in her gut twist painfully.
The glint of challenge in Meredith's eyes made it hurt even more. "Whenever Rick pulled all-nighters I Put nutmeg in his coffee. Gives it an extra kick. You want to try it?" she offered, appearing magnanimous while gloating in her triumph over the fiancé.
Accepting tainted coffee from Rick's ex-wife in his own home was more than her already knotted stomach could take. "No thanks, I think I've had enough kick for one morning. I will be at work," she leveled her best suspect-breaking glare at her fiancé, letting him know exactly how upset she was.
She didn't want him to go into the precinct after they'd closed the case the next day, but Gates was most insistent. Rick had procrastinated filling out an updated insurance and indemnification form for the city until the very last minute. He had to go down to the precinct and fill it out that day or he wouldn't be able to shadow her.
With a longing glance out the door, she resigned herself to their time apart, not looking forward to being alone in the apartment with Meredith, since Martha was out 'procuring supplies' and Alexis had yet to leave her bedroom since her mother appeared.
Kate pulled out her phone and brought up Rick's contacts page just to look at his adorable face. Her thumb hovered over the 'call number' button, but she viciously pushed that urge down. He just left; there was no need for her to be calling him so soon. It was disgustingly needy, even if they were engaged and expected to be in the sappy, romantic stage. Sure, she needed his presence, but it was just a couple hours to take care of some paperwork the lovable lummox had neglected. Sliding her phone into her back pocket, she turned her attention once more to getting ready for a meal and a conversation one-on-one with Rick's ex-wife. Originally supposed to be dinner out, when Martha made herself scarce, they agreed on a quiet dinner in the loft.
Richard Castle stepped out of his building and took a deep, cleansing breath. Even the city's pollution couldn't take away from his sensation of freedom. He might even give Captain Gates a kiss on the cheek when he got to the precinct. Her irrational demand for him to come in and fill out an insurance form so the NYPD had its liability covered got him out of his loft and away from the estrogen almost literally dripping down the walls.
His mother was a given. He was never getting her out of the loft, and he'd never deny Alexis the chance to stay at home, especially when she was sick. God knew that saying 'no' to Kate Beckett was a skill he'd lost a long time ago, too. Ordinarily, that was a level of femininity that didn't bother him, however, there was another guest that upset the delicate equilibrium his life had found.
Meredith was there.
Just the thought made him shudder a little as he waved for a cab. His Deep Fried Twinkie days were long over. Though he'd once claimed to Esposito and Ryan that sex with a crazy person made up for everything else, at least once in a rare while, discovering what Kate Beckett was like in bed permanently cured him of a need to ever partake in his ex. If Meredith was a Twinkie, Kate was a Godiva fudge brownie sundae, made with dark chocolate fudge, chocolate chunks, whipped cream, and a heaping pile of cherries. Artificial, over-processed Twinkies could never hold a candle to that one-of-a-kind dessert.
Resolutely forcing the bad thoughts out of his head with more than a few thoughts of a Beckett Sundae, Rick refused to allow anything related to Meredith to dampen his mood. Captain Gates had rescued him from the tension bubbling over in the loft.
Arriving at the precinct, he almost bounced in off the elevator. Ryan and Esposito were at their desks talking about something with a great deal of enthusiasm and hand gestures. They each gave him a wave as he made for the break room. After he made his coffee, Rick joined the other two detectives who were only too eager to take a break from their previous conversation and grill him about the last few days in his life.
"So, Castle, how's life in the henhouse?" Esposito grunted as Rick sat down.
Ryan didn't miss a beat either. "Yeah, that's gotta be rough with Beckett and Meredith in the loft at the same time."
"Mother's there to help take care of Alexis too, don't forget," Rick replied, acknowledging their chuckles.
"Ouch," the boys chimed in unison, taking sick pleasure at his own obvious misery.
For the first time he cracked a grin over his coffee mug. "First time I've ever been grateful that Gates forced me to fill out some forms."
The boys were still laughing at that when his phone buzzed. Reaching to pull the device out of his pocket, he saw Kate's smiling face. "My dearest detective! How are you this lovely afternoon?"
After a few seconds, it was clear that Kate hadn't intended to call him. She was talking, but it wasn't into the phone. Her voice sounded far away, and when she completely ignored his comment, he knew she butt-dialed him. Castle was just about to click the phone off to save Kate some embarrassment when he heard the name of the other person in the room.
"Oh, hi Meredith."
Something in Kate's voice was off, and all his resolve to end the call fled. Castle leaned back into the desk chair, intently eavesdropping on his girlfriend and his ex-wife chatting.
A few minutes later, Esposito and Ryan stood up in surprise when Castle yelped and fell backward, taking the chair with him and spilling coffee all over the floor. He jumped up and looked around wildly before sprinting toward the elevators, shouting, "Dear God no!" at the top of his lungs.
"That was weird. Wonder what got into him," Ryan mused as he sat back down.
"Isn't it obvious, bro?" Esposito replied, a terrifying realization dawning. When his partner just looked confused, he explained his thoughts, "Beckett staying at the loft. Deep Fried Twinkie shows up unexpectedly and Castle doesn't have the brains to send her to a hotel. Castle's here, but gets a random call from Beckett, then runs out of the precinct screaming at the top of his lungs."
The light bulb finally clicked on over Ryan's head. "Oh my God."
Esposito gave a grim nod. "What's say you and I get Jenny and Lanie and head off somewhere out of town, hell even out of state, for the next few days. We have the vacation time. How would the girls feel about a trip to Atlantic City, or even Disney World?"
Captain Gates had heard the commotion and poked her head out of her office to see what the hell was going on in the homicide bullpen that she swore was a high school cafeteria most of the time. "What did you say about Disney World, Esposito?"
Javier coughed. "Ah, well Sir, I was just commenting that Ryan and I have some vacation time saved up, and we've been thinking about taking Jenny and Lanie to Disney World, so it might be a good time. If you approved it, of course."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Does this sudden need to be several states away have anything to do with the reason Mr. Castle just ran out of my precinct screaming?"
Ryan's Catholic guilt kicked in at the worst possible time. "Yes, sir. Apparently Alexis has mono, and for some reason her mother decided to cancel a trip to Paris to 'care for her' and Castle let her stay at the loft."
Gate's eyes widened. "Deep Fried Twinkie is at the loft? Isn't Detective Beckett staying there too while her building gets fumigated?"
Sharing a surprised look at how well-informed their Captain was, the two detectives nodded. "That's right, sir."
She dropped the file she'd been holding. "Vacation requests approved. Tell Dr. Parrish she's good to go, too. I just remembered a law enforcement conference in Chicago I need to attend. It starts tomorrow, actually, so I need to go home and pack for my flight."
Picking up the file from the floor, Gates turned to go back into her office when Ryan's voice stopped her. "Sir?"
"Captain Montgomery kept extensive files on his personnel, so I know all about Detective Beckett's…lapses in judgment. If Rick Castle's ex-wife is staying at the loft with Beckett, and he just ran out of here screaming, I think it's a very good idea for all of us to be very, very far away for the next few days."
The three of them shared one last look before scrambling to log off their computers and rush out of the building.
"Oh, hi Meredith," Kate greeted the other woman, determined to be civil for at least the course of this meal and talk.
"It's been a real pleasure getting to know you, Detective Beckett," Meredith purred as she walked down the stairs. Noticing Kate putting the finishing touches on a pasta dish, the redhead bounced over to the liquor cabinet, selected an appropriate red for the meal, and poured out two generous glasses.
"Yes, it really has been," Kate successfully hid her grumble at how Alexis' mother did, in fact, grow on you once she turned her charm on, "You know, Meredith when you first came and insisted on staying here I was afraid that you might have had a secret agenda," she laughed.
It wasn't a joke. "Actually I did. When Alexis told me about you two and how 'this one' was serious I knew I had to check it out for myself. And I was so glad I did. You two are great together."
Nonplussed at Meredith's praise, Kate had to resist the urge to point out that this woman by all rights should have had no opinion on the matter. Instead she gave the other woman the chance to be honest about something for once. "Thank you. Can I ask you a question? Why didn't it work out between you and Rick? I'm sorry is that too personal?"
"Oh no, no, no. It's fine. You know, being married to Richard was…great. Full of romance and excitement, like a deliciously sweet soufflé, and then one day I realized he knew everything about me. My deepest secrets, my worst pain. Enough to fill a million novels, but I didn't know enough about him to even write a pamphlet."
Confused by the blatant deception, Kate employed an interrogation tactic she frequently used when suspects lied to her face without knowing that she knew they were being dishonest. "I don't understand." A simple statement, it led the person being questioned to reveal more about themselves than they intended as they tried to influence her opinion of them.
Meredith smiled and took a breath, assured in her continued deception. "For instance whenever I asked him about how he felt about never knowing his father, he would smirk. You know the way he smirks, then he would throw out a quip and change the subject. Our marriage went one way and that wasn't enough for me. I mean, soufflés are wonderful but sooner or later they always fall. Oh but that was a long, long time ago. What, fifteen years, in fact. He's a totally different man now."
How the woman could even say those things about Richard Castle and think that someone who really knew him would believe her was beyond Kate's understanding. Long ago when they were sharing secrets about each others' past, Rick had told her the real reason they broke up: that the slut in front of her broke her marriage vows and slept with another man in their own bed while ignoring a screaming Alexis. Given the chance to be honest, Meredith's lie only proved her secret agenda.
Had she ceased her inane babbling, the redhead would have heard Kate's self-control audibly snap. Trying to put the blame for their failed marriage on Rick's shoulders was the straw that finally broke Kate's resolve. Turning to hide her twitching eye, she went over to a closet to get a small wooden box. She used the time it took to get the box and walk back to the table to compose herself before answering, "Yes, of course. I was just curious. Oh, I wanted to show you something. Rick bought this for me last month after I said I wanted to try deep-sea fishing."
"Deep-sea fishing? Rick? He gets grossed out watching the Animal Planet. Did he really take you fishing?" Meredith could barely contain her laughter at the thought.
"Not yet," Kate said with a manic grin reminiscent of Meredith's own from the morning, "but he will. I think it will be good for him. It's not like he would see anything worse than any of our crime scenes." She opened the box to show the redhead its contents. The gigantic, wicked-looking fishing knife gleamed up at the women.
She grinned as Meredith gasped and took a step back. "Mother-of-pearl handle supporting eight inches of diamond dust encrusted titanium blade. It'll gut a fish like slicing through butter."
"Now I have another question for you: I talked to Rick long ago about his romantic history. Why in the world would you sweep in here under the guise of caring for your child who, by your own words, 'bores' you, walk around in your underwear, and then lie to my face about why your marriage to my fiancé failed?"
Meredith leaned back in her chair at the table in utter shock with her mouth working like a goldfish, opening and closing, but unable to form sounds.
Kate leaned back against the couch, unwittingly ending her unknown call to Rick before she continued, "You've been working an angle from the start, and it wasn't to get to know me because Alexis told you we were serious. You wanted to drive a wedge between Rick and me. It's not going to work. It never was going to work. I ought to smack you so hard that both your brain cells finally get the chance to meet, but because you're Alexis's mother, I'm going to make you a deal," her voice grew hard and cold while her eyes took on the force she employed when talking to suspects, "you can walk out of here and go to Paris or go to the Ambassador Suite that Rick tried to bribe me with, or things can get ugly."
Somewhere, somehow, Meredith found a modicum of courage and stood up, attempting to go nose-to-nose to the much taller woman. "I'll do no such thing. Alexis is my daughter and I have every right to be here."
Kate bared her teeth in a malevolent parody of a grin, reminiscent of a wolf with wounded prey. "That's exactly what I hoped you'd say."
The front door of the loft blew open and Rick flew inside. He looked around frantically, but only saw Alexis sitting on the couch chatting away with Kate, who was leaning against the breakfast bar and sharpening the fishing knife he'd bought her.
He leaned over with his hands on his knees and gasped for breath. "Wh - where, where's Meredith?"
Kate put the knife and sharpener down and rushed over as Alexis looked on with concern on her face. "Rick! What the hell? You look like you just ran all the way from the precinct."
Catching more of his wind back, Rick was able to stand and speak with more coherence. "You butt-dialed me during your chat with Meredith. Where. Is. She?"
"You heard that, huh?" Kate deflected, stalling for time.
"Yes, yes I did. Now where is Alexis's mother?" Castle challenged, gesturing to his daughter.
Kate was about to respond when the girl interjected. "Dad, leave Kate alone." Both adults turned in confusion but Alexis kept talking, "Mom wasn't here to take care of me. I heard everything she and Kate talked about, too. She called me a bore," tears came to the teenager's eyes as she gave voice to some of her deepest insecurities, "and the truth is that she wasn't here to take care of me. She's never cared about me when I needed my mother around. When I had chicken pox she came up with audition out of nowhere to avoid me. When I broke my arm in the 5th grade she had a social event she just couldn't miss for her career. She was here because you two are getting married and she wanted to cause trouble."
Rick tried to respond, but he couldn't refute his daughter's explanation. Meredith had indeed done every one of those things. "But she was here, helping, and…"
"I heard what she said to Kate, Dad. She was here to mess the two of you up so that you wouldn't ever totally move on from her," Alexis's chin was up, a sure sign that she was rock-solid in her conviction.
"She's right, Rick," Kate said, "I confronted her with the truth, and…and it was the damnedest thing; she just went all to pieces."
Castle turned horrified eyes to his daughter. "Alexis!?" he asked.
It looked like the girl was on her last ounce of strength, but she maintained her resolve. "Mom's a flake, Dad. I heard Kate say why you guys really broke up, and it was nothing like what she ever told me. She's never been there for me, even when I needed her. I was just an inconvenience to her. Kate's been more of a mother in the last two years than my own mother ever was. Good riddance, I say."
"And I couldn't agree more," Martha chimed in as she came down the stairs.
Spinning around, Rick looked at the oldest woman in the room. "Mother? What do you know about all of this?"
"No more than I absolutely need to, darling, and let me tell you – I never liked Meredith. Sure she gave you Alexis, but that's more a fluke of genetics and your own capabilities as a father than anything Meredith ever did. Exit stage left, I say!" she finished with a grand flourish.
Kate took the chance to close the topic once and for all. "What do you say, Rick? Everyone here's on the same side. What do you say we all forget this visit ever happened? Alexis is still sleeping most of the day, so Martha can easily look after her," the two redheads nodded their agreement to that statement, "You've been promising to take me deep-sea fishing for a while now. How about we go back to the Hamptons and rent a boat to take us out? I hear it's a good time of year for sharks…" she trailed off as Rick's shoulders sagged and he bowed to the inevitable.
He gave a defeated nod as Kate leaned over to whisper in his ear. "And if you're a good boy we might even forget the fishing and get up to other activities that might be aided by the rolling waves."
A/N: Let's be honest: more than a few of us wanted Kate to smack the psychotic smirk right off Meredith's face during this episode.
Hope you enjoyed!