Life Taking Place Elsewhere

By NickyM96

CHAPTER 3

SEVERAL hours later, he reaches across the bed for her only to find the space empty. A brief moment of panic has him thinking it was all a dream.

"Kate?" he sleepily calls out, sitting up to get a better look around the room. He lets out a sigh of relief when he sees her silhouette in the darkness.

"I'm here," she whispers, turning from her gazing out the window to face him. She walks back over to the bed and sits next to him. "I'm not leaving just yet. But I have to go soon. I have a 6 am flight back to DC."

"You just came for the one day? You can't stay through the weekend?" he pouts.

"I should have waited for the weekend," she smiles, her hand cupping his face and stroking his jaw. "But I just couldn't make it one more day without you. What does that say about me?"

"That you love me. As much as I love you, Kate." He presses a gentle kiss to her lips. "I'm glad you came, even for just these few hours."

"I'm glad too. Maybe you can return the favor and come up this weekend? Maybe stay next week … and the week after that?"

He just shakes his head, frowning a little.

"You know I can't," he says quietly. "And not because I don't want to. But because you were right when you left me behind. You need to do this on your own."

"I was scared," she admits. "Afraid of going with you and of going without you."

"But you faced those fears and went up there," he reminds her. "That probably was for the best. Whatever happens up there, you'll know it was because of you alone. If you decide to keep the job and stay, then I'll pull up those townhouse listings in Georgetown again. I'll move down there with you faster than you can flash that nifty new badge of yours. I told you, whatever happens, whatever you decide. I'm behind you 100 percent. You have my complete support."

"You're right," she nods somberly. "I need to do this on my own. I just want you with me, especially now."

She holds out her hand to admire the sparkling engagement ring on her finger. It brings a small smile to her face, but there's still a troubled look in her eyes.

He cocks his head to the side and gives her a long, considering glance.

"What's really going on?" he asks. "More than once you've alluded to being unsure about your job. Do you not like it? Do you think you made a mistake going?"

"Yes and no to both questions," she admits after a few moments to think. "This is a good job for me. I like the challenge. But it doesn't feel like a perfect fit."

"It's only been a month," he reminds her. "Did your job as a cop always feel like a perfect fit?"

"Before I met you? No, not always. But afterwards? Yeah. We made a good team, Castle. Me, you, Ryan, Espo, and Lanie. Leaving that job was like leaving behind pieces of my soul. I doubt anything with this new job can fill those empty spaces I left here."

"You'll figure it out," he says, pressing a kiss to her forehead before getting out the bed to get dressed.

While he's in the bathroom, she goes to his closet and is pleased to find her clothes right where she left them. For some reason, that small thing makes her feel better. It makes her feel like she hasn't been completely forgotten, like she still has a home here.

She's just putting on her suit jacket when Castle's computer beeps.

"Castle," she calls out. "Your, uh, laptop is ringing... or something."

He pokes his head out the bathroom door. Steam billows around him and his face is half shaved.

"Probably Alexis. Sometimes we video chat early in the morning when she knows she's going to be out of reach for a few days. Can you answer it and let her know I'll be out in a second?"

At her nod, Castle goes back into the bathroom to finish shaving and dressing. Beckett goes to the computer and accepts the video call.

"Hey Dad!" Alexis cheerfully calls out until she notices it's not her father's face she sees. "Kate? What are you doing there?"

"Would you believe I was homesick?"

"No," Alexis shakes her head, frowning at the woman. "In fact, the last I heard, you had packed up and moved out of town. You left my dad miserable. What are you even doing there? Finishing off the job and completely ruining his life?"

"Alexis," Beckett tries to calm her. "It's not like that. Things are sometimes complicated with your father and me. Don't pretend like you've never been in a complicated relationship."

Alexis considers Beckett's words and can't deny what she's saying.

"But you hurt my dad."

"I know I did. If it's any consolation, I hurt myself, too. But I'm back now. I love your father more than anything and I realized that I can't live without him, as cheesy as that sounds. We're just going to take things one day at a time, spend as many weekends together as we can. Where we end up depends on how the job goes. But we're going to be together."

Beckett smiles, holding up her left hand so Alexis can see the ring.

"You're wearing it," Alexis says, almost tearfully. "You kept it even after you turned down his proposal."

"You don't mind?" Beckett asks her, almost afraid of what her answer will be. "You're okay with me marrying your dad?"

"I'm happy if he's happy. Just don't hurt him again," Alexis warns her. "It hurts us all."

"It's never been about you. Or Martha," Beckett tells her. "If anything, you two are the bonuses to this relationship."

"Really? I thought … maybe I was too much of a brat or something. Maybe I kept you from my dad for all these years," Alexis confesses.

"No, Sweetheart. You have been one of the best parts of the past 5 years. It's been an honor watching you blossom into the beautiful, mature young woman sitting a thousand miles away in another country having the adventure of a lifetime. You amaze me, Alexis. And I know you don't need a mother, but I'll try to be a good stepmother."

"Having a mother wouldn't be so bad," Alexis smiles shyly.

"Oh. That's, uh … sweet," Beckett says, blinking away tears. She's relieved when Castle comes out the bathroom finally.

"Hey, Pumpkin!" he calls out to his daughter.

"I'll let you two chat," Beckett says, surreptitiously wiping away a tear. "Take care, Alexis. If you run into any trouble at all … "

"Then I'll tell them my mom has a gun and isn't afraid to use it," Alexis teases.

She has to blink back even more tears when she hears Alexis refer to her as "Mom."

"Sounds like you two had a nice chat," she hears Castle say to Alexis as she leaves the room.

She heads into the kitchen to make some coffee. She pauses to look at her ring and can't help but smile. She's getting a family she never thought she'd have. She wonders again at the absolute rightness of this situation. A month ago when she left for her new job in DC, she thought that was the life she wanted. She thought that was the ultimate career goal for a woman like her. But what if there's more to life than just a job? How could an engagement ring and a brief chat with Alexis get maternal feelings stirring inside of her so suddenly and so strongly? What does that mean about DC?

Castle comes out of his bedroom and heads for the coffee pot where the coffee has just finished brewing.

"It was good talking to Alexis," Beckett says. "I didn't realize how much I missed her until I saw her face."

Castle gives her a curious glare.

"What exactly did you two talk about? Because Alexis had that same, goofy starry eyed look on her face that you do. Then she warned me not to do anything stupid to drive you away again."

"I think she's happy we're getting married," is all Beckett says. She tips up to give Castle a kiss. "I'm ecstatic about that myself."

She glances at her watch and frowns.

"I need to get to the airport," she sighs. "I don't want to say good-bye. You sure you can't come with me?"

"We talked about this," he reminds her. "Besides, I have a meeting with my publisher on Friday. Got the call from Gina herself. I don't think they're very happy with me. I pretty much shut down after you left and they haven't heard a word from me since. They're probably sending her to fire me. She's probably happy to do it since she no longer needs my alimony. I hear she's engaged to some rich prince or something. Once she's married to him, I'll be off her financial leash."

"What a thing to say about a woman you married," she says with a laugh, not wanting to admit out loud how true the statement is.

"Anyway," he continues, ignoring her teasing. "Now that my muse is back, I think I can have something solid to them by Friday to hold off on any rash decisions on their part. I'm not quite ready to let go of Nikki."

To prove his point, he grabs Beckett and pulls her to him, kissing her soundly and thoroughly on the lips. She nearly collapses when her knees go rubbery. She has to pull away or else risk missing her flight.

"That's to get you through the next few days," he whispers hoarsely, suddenly wishing he could take her back to bed. "You visit this weekend and I'll come to you next weekend. How does that sound?"

She agrees and they get to the airport just in time for her flight. She flies away knowing she'll be back in just a few days. Her heart feels so light and free. She's finally got her happiness. And nothing, absolutely nothing, is going to take that away from her.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Friday morning, Castle prints out the latest version of his newest Nikki Heat book to give to Gina. It's still barely more than the bare bones of the story, but it's a good one. His publishers might be angry with him, but when Gina takes back solid evidence of a new book in the works, there's no way they'd cut him. Not when a new book, possibly the best of the series, is in progress.

Beckett's visit earlier that week spawned him into a writing frenzy like he's never had before. Seeing her again was like someone lighting a room when he'd been in darkness forever. He went from being completely miserable to being completely happy. Nothing can bring him down from this love induced high.

The knock on his door turns his smile into a scowl. If anyone can ruin his high, it's Gina. The woman has a way of grating on his nerves. To this day, he doesn't know why he ever married her. He's even more confused about their brief reconciliation a few years ago. Thank God he got out of that mistake with minimum damage.

Determined not to let even Gina ruin his happiness, he forces a smile on his face and opens the door.

"Richard," Gina says, waltzing in and tossing air kisses his way.

"Gina. It's been a long time."

"Yes, it has been awhile. 28 months, to be exact."

Gina looks towards the door. Confused, Castle turns his head to follow her gaze. Standing in the door way was a plain woman carrying a child. A small child. A small child with his eyes.

Castle is speechless. For the first time in his life, words actually fail him. He can't seem to bring not a one to his mind to describe this situation.

"This is Tyler," Gina explains. "He's our son."

A sharp pain squeezes his chest and he realizes he's holding his breath. He lets the air out of his lungs and pulls in another gasp before blinking his eyes a few times. Maybe if he wishes hard enough, this whole scene will disappear and the gaping void threatening to suck him under will have done its job.

"Would you excuse us a minute?" he asks the young woman at the door before slamming it in her face. He turns to Gina, his face still white from shock, but manages to toss a grim look her in her direction anyway. "Start talking. Now."

x.x.x.x.x

A/N … even I'm kind of shocked by this turn of events. I didn't really see that coming when I first started kicking around this idea. Stay tuned to see how, or even if, Castle and Beckett deal with this latest development.

Thanks for reading and commenting. It's greatly appreciated and so encouraging ... NTM