Kate was faced with a day of paperwork, without an active case and no Castle to keep her entertained, because of a day of meetings at Black Pawn, Kate found herself pouring her third cup of coffee of the day, after Castle had arranged for her favourite coffee: a Grande skim latte with two pumps of sugar free Vanilla and a bear claw to be delivered to her desk when she arrived that morning.
Kate had just finished her paperwork when her phone rung, Kate answered with her standard,
"Beckett"
"Hello is this Kate Beckett, I am Miss Michaels, Alexis teacher, I have tried to call Mr Castle, but he was unavailable, and you are the emergency contact for Alexis, I am afraid that Alexis has come down ill and we need someone to come collect her"
"I'll come and get her, I'll be there in 15 minutes"
Kate slid her phone into her pocket and grabbed her jacket off of her chair, before telling Esposito and Ryan that she was leaving for the day to go care for little Castle.
Pulling up outside Alexis' preschool, Kate took her phone out of her jacket pocket, before re-phoning Castle, Kate was greeted with his voicemail,
"Hi it's Castle, sorry I am unavailable right now, I am out saving the world or am snuggled up with Alexis or my amazing girlfriend, will call you back as soon as possible, just go on and leave me a message"
Kate walked through the metal gates that separated the school from the sidewalk, placing her phone back into her pocket. Walking through the door at the preschool, Kate signed her name on the sign in sheet, before seeing Alexis sat curled up in one of the large office armchairs, with red cheeks, and puffy eyes from crying, clutching monkey bunky.
Running a hand over Alexis forehead, moving Alexis' fiery red hair out of her face, Kate felt that Alexis forehead was burning up and Kate worried she was getting a fever, instead of extending her arms out to Alexis to pull her up out of the seat, Kate placed her arms under Alexis knees and back, pulling Alexis in close to her, with her head resting in the crook of Kate's neck, and her hand clutching tightly in Kate's light blue shirt, staining it with tears. Alexis only ever let Kate hold her like this when she was sick or tired, and Kate's memory drifted back to a couple of nights before when Alexis had woken from a night terror and had crawled into bed with Kate.
When Kate pulled up outside the loft, Kate could see that Alexis was asleep slumped against the car window, so Kate was careful to open the door and lift the young girl into her arms and carrying her into Castle's building, Ernie greeted Kate from behind the reception desk, pressing the elevator button for Kate as she struggled to juggle Alexis and her rucksack, as the elevator arrived at the lobby.
Once in the elevator, Kate pressed the button for Castle's floor, and leaned against the wall, relieving some of the weight from Alexis' body onto the elevator wall, when the elevator arrived at Castle's floor, Kate fumbled with her keys trying to find the loft Key while Alexis began to stir in her arms.
As Kate entered the loft, Alexis continued to stir, rubbing her eyes with her hands while Kate moved on over to the couch, where Alexis snuggled into one of the pillows as Kate placed her Minnie Mouse blanket over her which was thrown over the back of the couch.
Kate hung up her coat in the closet, along with Alexis' rucksack, and toed off her boots, before disappearing into the master bedroom, to change out of her black slacks and light blue shirt and into a pair of yoga pants and one of Castle's slightly worn t-shirts.
On returning to the lounge, Kate found Alexis still asleep curled up into a ball, with her blanket twisted round her legs, Alexis was still in her jeans and navy t-shirt, so Kate lifted her back into her embrace to carry her up the stairs so that she could change Alexis into her pyjamas.
Laying Alexis on her bed, Kate closed the curtains and flipped on the elephant shaped nightlight that was on her bedside table, before pulling Alexis' pyjamas out of one of the drawers and began to unlace her shoes, before unbuttoning her jeans and sliding them down Alexis legs, before replacing them with a pair of Alexis fluffy disney pyjama bottoms, before lifting Alexis shirt and carefully pulling it over her head and sliding on the matching disney pyjama top, before tucking Alexis into bed, pulling her comforter up around her shoulders.
Alexis extended her hand out to grab Kate's wrist to stop her from leaving and spoke in barley more than a whisper,
"Stay"
Kate pulled back Alexis comforter before sliding in beside Alexis, brushing Alexis mane on red hair which her circling Alexis head like a halo off of her forehead.
Kate was awoken hours later by the prodding of Alexis's hand in her side, Kate opened one eye, and was met by Alexis's blue eyes which were a clone copy of Castle's eyes.
"Come on mommy wake up, I'm hungry, will you make me some soup, that's what Daddy does when I'm not feeling well"
Kate was unable to reply
'Alexis called me mommy, am I even ready to be her mother, come on Kate she's three years old, her mother is never around but I do not want to replace Meredith, pull it together Kate, go make her some soup, snuggle down on the couch with her and you can speak to Castle about it later'
Climbing out of Alexis' bed, Kate allowed Alexis to take her hand and lead her down the stair and into the kitchen, Kate lifted Alexis so that she was sat on the edge of the kitchen counter, usually Kate would have words with Castle about allowing Alexis sit on the kitchen counter, but because Alexis was unwell, Kate let it slide.
Alexis sat on the kitchen counter, babbling on to Kate about a movie that Castle had taken her to see, while Kate stood their in Castle's 'Kiss the cook' apron, chopping vegetables to add to the soup that was simmering in the saucepan on the stove.
Kate stirred in the remaining ingredients before reaching for Alexis' plastic bowl and spoon and pouring the soup into the bowl and carrying it over to the dinning room table before helping Alexis down from the kitchen counter so that she could sit in her chair which was positioned at the end of the dinning room table.
Kate poured herself some coffee before joining Alexis at the table, where Alexis was eating small spoonfuls of Kate's homemade soup. Alexis had only eaten a few spoonfuls of the soup when she jumped down from her seat and ran towards her father's bathroom, Kate jumped up out of her chair and followed Alexis into the bathroom where Alexis was now hunched over the toilet, Kate gathered Alexis hair into her hand and with her free hand rubbed Alexis back while she emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet.
Once Alexis was finished, she lent back against the bathtub, along side Kate who scooped her up into her arms, running a washcloth over Alexis face, before grabbing the child's Tylenol and walking out into the kitchen, handing Alexis a sippy cup of water, before she spooned the child's Tylenol into her mouth.
Kate carried Alexis over to the couch, sitting down carefully, pulling Alexis onto her lap, with Alexis' head resting against Kate's chest, Kate thread her hands into Alexis hair, and rested her chin on Alexis head. Kate felt Alexis' breath even out and a soft snore escaped her mouth every couple of breaths, Kate felt her eyes begin to droop and her grip on Alexis tightened.
This was how Castle found them when he returned home hours later...
Authors note: please review and post prompts as am hoping to create a collect of one shots
Thank you
