The difference between keeping secrets and keeping safe
" Bye ,Babe. See you!"
She gave him a quick kiss on his cheeks and hurried out of the door.
Kate was late. Again.
Her mornings were a little busy since their daughter decided she was old enough for anything and used every second to argue with her parents.
Alexis left 10 minutes before. Angry and upset.
As fast as she could she drove to the precinct.
"Sorry,boys."
She excused herself and sat at her desk.
"So, what do we have? Anything new?"
Esposito frowned. His boss never was too late before but the last weeks she was late every day. Always 5 minutes too late instead of 20 minutes too earl. This was so not her.
"We could trace the money. It came from a small claims lawyer. He seems to have some dirty past.
Never passed his exams and never made a lawyer. Maybe our vic knew and blackmailed him."
"Okay,I want to speak to him. Bring him in"
"On our way."
She needed a few seconds. Noone here knew why she wasn´t on top of her game.
Her family was her secret.
If anybody gets wind of it and would tip the press of she never would be able to do her job like she used to.
Esposito,Ryan and Lanie and all the others may be important in her life and be like family but she couldn´t risk it.
It was not that she couldn´t rely on them but when she started at homicide she vowed to herself to cut her personal life out of her profession.
This included the murder of her mother,her family,her alcoholic dad and everything of her past.
So she had two lifes.
Kate Castles was the mother and the wife of Richard Castle but the homicide detective who looks for justices until she found it was Kate Beckett.
"Boss!"
She saw that Ryan and Espo arrived with her suspect. One last deep breath and she slipped into the role of Kate Beckett the hard boiled detective.
"Mr. Carlson. You already been read your rights? But as a lawyer you already knew them ,I guess."
The chubby man just nods. Kate could see that this was going to be easy. Mr. Carlson was a unstable person. After 10 minutes she got her confession and could close the case.
The victim got knowledge about the dark side of his lawyer and blackmailed him. Instead of paying Mr. Carlson killed him.
The rest of the day was just paperwork.
Around lunch time the detective got a call. When she saw who called she hurried out of the bullpen into a more private room. Fortunately the break room was empty.
"Alexis? How often had I told you not to call me at work?"
"Sorry Mom. I ….I just hate when we are fighting."
"I know me,too. But this not why you are calling isn´t it?"
"Can´t I call my beloved mom to just say sorry?"
"Alexis. You could have told me later. So what is going on ?"
"Can I sleep at Marcs place today."
"What?!"
Kate spilled her coffee.
"No! There is no way you sleeping at a boys place!"
"But Mom!"
"No,no way!"
Deeply she knew how her daughter must feel. She was the same once.
Oh lord, hopefully she won´t have such a wild-child phase like me.
"Can I,at least,go to his party ?"
That was too much for her
"Alexis Johanna Castle. We not even have to discuss this! You are 15 and there is no why I let my daughter to a party of a senior. And don´t you dare to go there. Plus never ever call me again at work without a emergency. Got it?! We see us tonight."
She hung up.
Still in a rage she made a new coffee and went back to her desk.
The end of her shift came slowly. She hated to do paperwork but it was part of her job.
At seven she said goodbye to her co-workers and left for the night.
Now she changed into the role of Kate Castle.
This was very important to her. When she put her gun and her badge into the safe ,stripped off her work closes and changed into some confy clothes, she was the mother she needed to be for Alexis.
If her daughter had asked her about the party later at home she may had said yes. Kate knew how she was as a child and she knew that it was better to allow her to go there but give strict rules. Otherwise she maybe sneaks out. That way Kate and Rick would lost the control.
She had to correct it.
"Alexis?" She knocked at her daughters door.
"Yeah!" the child sounded upset.
Carefully the brunette woman opens the door.
Nothing left of this badass detective. She carefully approached her daughter.
"Look Sweetie. You know why I don´t want you to call me at work?"
"Yes,you are hiding us from your friends. Whyever."
"You know damn well why. I want you to be save. This is one reason why I said no earlier. Anyway. The real reason why I don´t want you to call me at work is that I am not the mom you know there. It´s part of my job to be strict and mean. And I can´t think with my heart ,only with the head of a detective. So your father and I agreed on letting you go . But we bring you to him and pick you up at midnight and no alcohol."
The girls eyes light up.
"Really Mommy?"
Alexis jumped up and started looking for clothes in a hurry.
"You are the best Mom in the world." She hugged her enthusiastically.
Kate laughed.
"I would take that red dress. It fits with you hairs so well."
Alexis tried it.
"Thaks. It´s perfect."
With a smirk on her face Kate left the room.
"Alright Babe. Poured oil on troubled water. We bring and pick her up there. So what do we do tonight we have time to ourselfs until midnight."
"We could watch a movie or what do you think about a bath. "
He has a smirk on his face and as she reciprocated it he pressed a soft kiss on her hair.
She always wondered why he could have such an effect on her after almost 15 year marriage.
Their moment got interrupted by their daughter.
"I´m ready!"
"Alright. I drive you."