A/N - Well I found this to be a very hard chapter to write and I suspect I may have been a little unfair on Meredith but hey, this is called fanfiction for a reason right? Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please feel free to let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions about where to go next.
Oh, and if you haven't already guessed I'm not American nor have I ever been lucky enough to travel to New York so any and all geography in this story is deliberately vague - I'll say again, fiction right :-)
Rick was up early the next morning, his over active imagination not allowing him to sleep. Ever since Kate had left last night he'd tossed her words and actions back and forth in his head, trying to determine whether his initial reaction of hope was justified or whether there was some other reason for her sudden decision to accompany him. It hadn't worked. The only thing his constant worrying had achieved was a bad night's sleep followed by being up at an ungodly hour this morning. So it was actually a relief when he finally heard the knock at his door which signalled his partner's arrival. He may not know what Kate was thinking or whether this was going to be a good or a bad day for 'them' (if such a thing as 'them' even existed) but at least the waiting was over.
"Kate," Rick said with a smile on his face as he opened his door to greet his partner. Regardless of what the day may hold he was still genuinely pleased to see her. She was dressed casually and as usual was not wearing a great deal of make-up but also as usual it did not matter in the least - she just had this inner beauty which shone out from within and it captivated him as much now as it had four years ago when he'd first laid eyes on her.
"Castle," Kate said in return. "You ready?"
"Of course," Rick replied, reaching over to grab his jacket. "Did you doubt I would be?"
"This time of the morning and at the weekend?" Kate replied, looking sceptically at him as they made their way to his building's elevator. "To be honest Castle I half expected that I might have to drag you out of bed again."
Rick half stumbled at her teasing reply. He hadn't expected her to bring that morning up any time soon, let alone so casually - as if her getting him out of bed, in person, was something she did every day (oh how he wished that were true)!
"I'm hurt at your lack of faith in me detective," Rick said as the doors to the elevator opened and they stepped in for the trip down. "Although if I'd known you'd have broken in just to get me up I may have deliberately stayed in bed."
"Don't flatter yourself Castle," Kate replied, not looking at him and therefore missing his wagging eyebrows. "If you hadn't had been ready I would have gone without you..."
"You wouldn't!" Rick exclaimed in surprise.
"Well, don't be ready next time I say I'm going to pick you up and you'll find out," Kate said, this time meeting his eyes with an evil looking grin. The elevator shuddered to a halt and they stepped out into the lobby, Rick a pace or two behind Kate as he digested her words.
"You really would've gone without me?" he asked plaintively a moment or two later as they exited his building and headed for Beckett's crown vic.
"Yep," Kate replied without hesitation. "I mean, it wouldn't be fair to leave your daughter stranded at the airport now would it? Of course, I'd have to tell her that her Dad preferred staying in bed to seeing his only child...," she trailed off as they reached her car and she ducked into the driver's seat.
"Funny Kate!" Rick said sulkily as he got in the other side. "You know I would never do that - especially leaving her with Meredith!" He shuddered. "Alexis would never forgive me!"
"Oh come oonnn Castle, lighten up!" Kate replied, slapping him on the leg as she pulled away from the curb. "Of course I wouldn't just have left you there! God, You are just too easy!"
"Humph," Rick grunted, his apparent irritation mainly feigned. He was actually quite happy to see her in such a good mood this morning; teasing him with good natured banter was definitely much better than many of his worse imaginings from last night! Still, he kept it up just to see how long it would be before she would crack. He was really struggling to maintain his act when, finally, 20 minutes later she broke the silence.
"So, I guess this means I now know what a true Castle sulk is really like?" she asked, glancing over at him as she drove in the slow morning traffic.
"I'm not sulking," Rick replied, working hard to make his voice sound sulky whilst suppressing the grin which was threatening to break out on his face.
"Hmmm, could've fooled me."
That did it, Rick couldn't continue his deception any longer. "I think I just did," he said triumphantly. He did a little victory jig in his seat and grinned broadly at Kate's bemused expression. "Now who's easy de-tec-tive," he crowed at her.
"God, you really are a child aren't you?" Kate said.
"You're only saying that 'cos I fooled you," Rick replied, milking his rare victory over her for all it was worth.
"Whatever Castle," Kate said, rolling her eyes at him but with a small upturn to her lips which Rick interpreted as amusement at his antics. It was something he'd learnt early on in their partnership, with her stressful job and the very serious attitude it dictated Kate actually found his often irreverent attitude a pleasant distraction...most of the time. And as he loved to see her smile he would happily play the fool every now and again just to get that small quirk of her lips or the rolling of her eyes which showed he'd hit his mark.
It took them almost an hour to weave their way through the busy morning traffic and to find a half decent parking space somewhere vaguely near the terminal. Still, that meant they'd made decent enough time so that they had almost an hour to wait before Alexis (and Meredith) arrived.
"Coffee?" Rick offered as they entered the building, thinking that would at least be a semi-normal thing for them to be doing in this otherwise decidedly not normal situation.
"Sure," Kate replied.
They made their way to one of the many coffee shops which peppered the airport terminal and took up residence in a relatively quiet corner, passing the time over their coffee discussing some of their recent cases and indulging in a little people watching. Despite the care in which Rick had chosen their spot he was approached a couple of times whilst they chatted. He responded as politely and jovially as he always tried to, signing one woman's airline ticket and posing for a couple of photographs with a young couple.
"Sometimes I forget about this part of your life," Kate said after the second interruption.
Rick shrugged. In truth he'd pulled back a lot in recent years from publicity events and generally the whole celebrity merry go-round. There were still parts of it that were great of course but a lot of it didn't hold the same attraction for him these days. Yet another side affect of being around Kate and her job - what he saw and experienced whilst with Kate and the guys did really highlighted the total shallowness and unimportance of so much of that lifestyle.
"Fortunately we don't see too many fans at crime scenes," he said, taking another sip of his coffee. "But, at the end of the day I owe them a great deal - if they didn't buy my books well, my life would be very different to what it is now." Rick didn't add that one of those things that would be different was that he would never have met her, and that fact alone was worth all of the autographs and impromptu photo sessions with fans.
"Wow Castle, that was almost humble!" Kate teased him, smiling around her mug as she lifted it to her lips to sip her drink.
"Hey, I can do humble!" Rick protested.
"Yeah? The man with the mayor on speed dial? Really humble there Rick?"
Rick again! Oh, he could do get used to her calling him that. "I can't help it if the great and the good of this city love my work," he replied, deliberately putting on the most pompous voice he could manage.
"Great and the good! Hah!" Kate snorted with laughter and Rick smiled broadly at her, once again loving to see this side of her.
"I was including you in that list Kate," he shot back at her mocking laugh. Kate choked on her drink at those words and Rick leaned back to enjoy the spluttering protestations of his partner as she refuted any association to the mayor or his other 'friends'. He let her continue for a minute or so before holding a hand up to stop her, " as I said this morning...now who's easy de-tec-tive!"
Kate narrowed her eyes then picked up one of their discarded coffee stirrers and threw it at him.
They continued the comfortable back and forth of their banter until Kate reminded him it was almost time for Alexis to arrive. Rick paid for their drinks and they wove their way through the crowded terminal to where the arrival board indicated the LA passengers would be disembarking shortly. They didn't have to wait long before Rick spotted his daughter as she emerged from the throng of people, her red hair acting like a beacon and drawing his eyes straight to her as it always had. He grinned broadly and waved madly to get her attention. Alexis quickly spotted him and the smile which broke out on her face almost broke his heart. He was truly one of the most blessed people on this planet to have such a wonderful, beautiful daughter.
"Dad!" Alexis exclaimed happily as he enfolded her in a bear hug.
"It's great to see you pumpkin, really great," Rick said, his voice choked with a mixture of joy, love and simple relief that his daughter was back home.
"I missed you too Dad," Alexis said grinning at him. She looked over his shoulder and started in surprise in his arms. "Kate!" She exclaimed.
Rick turned to see his partner standing a pace or two behind him, she must have backed off a bit to give them a little space for their reunion. She was smiling at them both, a mysterious look on her face that Rick couldn't quite identify.
"Hi Alexis, how was your trip?" She asked his daughter, stepping forward.
"Great, great. I wasn't expecting to see you here though? What did my Dad do this time? He didn't blackmail you into coming did he?"
Kate smiled at her question and Rick was suddenly reminded of their conversation last night, when it had been Kate that had all but threatened him with blackmail.
"No, not this time," she said. She leaned forward to stage whisper in Alexis' ear, "Would you believe that I somehow ended up volunteering! Personally I think your father may have put something in my drink..."
"Hey!" Rick exclaimed as Alexis giggled at Kate's insinuation.
"I'm really glad your back Alexis, you wouldn't believe how much moping around your father has done over the past couple of weeks!"
"Oh, don't tell me. He was doing the whole 'lost puppy' thing right?" Alexis asked.
"Completely."
"I'm soo sorry Kate," Alexis said, glancing over at him. "I just can't leave him alone for a minute - it's so hard bringing up a parent!"
"I am right here you know," Rick grumbled as Kate laughed at his daughter's words.
"Oh we know Castle, we know," Kate replied, winking at Alexis. She then sobered up a little and peered around his daughter. "Sooo, I understand your Mother decided to come back with you?" Kate asked.
Alexis narrowed her eyes a little at the tone of forced casualness that even Rick could hear in Kate's voice.
"Oh, she'll no doubt catch up in a minute or two," Alexis replied. "She got distracted by one of the airline pilots, I think it's the uniform. I told her I'd go ahead to meet Dad but I'm not sure she even heard me."
Rick noted the slight tone of sadness in his daughter's voice at her mother's tendency to forget all about her. "How has it been?" He quietly asked her.
"Oh, you know what it's like with Mum!" Alexis said in a tone full of false brightness. "She's still just as...full of life as ever."
Always the diplomat his daughter, Rick thought as he enfolded her in another bear hug, this time in sympathy. He knew Alexis loved her mum but he also knew better than anyone just how difficult she was to be around for any length of time and Alexis had spent two whole weeks without much escape from the fantasy world Meredith lived in.
As if his thoughts had called to her Rick closed his eyes as he heard his name being called in his ex-wife's familiar voice. Rick looked up and smiled warily as Meredith come into view, dragging a ridiculously large suitcase behind her. Alexis extricated herself from his arms just in time as his ex-wife gave up on dragging her suitcase and stepped forward, obviously expecting his embrace. He carefully took hold of her arms and leaned in to place a brief, chaste kiss on her cheek (ignoring her expectant lips) before releasing her and stepping back to pull his daughter back to his side. He hated using Alexis as a shield, but he was pretty sure she understood and would forgive him.
"Meredith, it's good to see you again," Rick said, trying to sound as if he really meant it.
"Richard! After almost two years all I get is a peck on the cheek! Come on, I expect a little more than that..." She stepped forward as if to plant a kiss directly on his lips but before Rick could react she was suddenly stopped mid-step by Kate moving in between them and taking one of her hands.
"Meredith. It's good to see you again," Kate said, her voice polite but sounding rather false to Rick's ears.
Meredith looked at the woman standing in front of her with some puzzlement, obviously having no idea who she was or why she was there.
"Meredith, you remember my partner Kate...uh Detective Beckett," Rick said weakly, wondering if sparks were about to fly. The confusion cleared from Meredith's eyes and she looked Kate up and down in assessment. Kate just stood there, and even though he couldn't see her face he was willing to bet that she was meeting Meredith's appraising look without blinking.
"Ah yes, Detective Beckett. Your muse. I would have thought you would have moved on to another one by now Richard," Meredith said, returning her gaze to him.
"Not this time Meredith," Rick said seriously, as much for Kate's benefit as for his ex-wife's. "Whilst Kate undoubtedly continues to inspire my writing I'm incredibly lucky that she allows me to remain by her side as her partner. What she and her team do is, well it's incredible and important and it is my privilege to be allowed to occasionally help out."
"Oh, don't sell yourself short Castle," Kate said, moving away from Meredith to stand by his side. "Rick has risked his life to save mine and many others more times than I can count and has been instrumental in the arrest and conviction of a large number of murderers and other serious criminals. It is we who are the lucky ones to have him there."
Rick's mouth opened in shock at her words. He had never heard Kate defend his position as her partner like that before, so...so passionately! He kind of knew that she'd gotten used to his presence by her side and he believed she did appreciate his contributions to their cases but her words were much more than a casual implication that he was important to her work. They were an impassioned defence of him as her partner and it made him want to reach out and grab her so that he could kiss her senseless right then and there.
"Richard? Risk his life? Oh I'm sure you're exaggerating detective," Meredith said with a dismissive wave.
"Not in the slightest," Kate said calmly and with such conviction that she even made Meredith pause. Their encounter almost 4 years before had been brief and he doubted Meredith remembered much of it so this was the probably the first time that she had truly 'seen' the Kate he knew and he suspected she was just beginning to see the cold hard core of determination that was such an integral part of the woman he loved.
"Hmmm, well whatever," Meredith said. "Why are you here anyway detective? Not about to arrest anyone for murder are you?"
Although the question was nearly identical to the one Alexis had asked moments before the whole tone and attitude behind it was very different this time. Alexis had been surprised to see Kate but Rick supposed she was so used to her being by his side that her question about her unexpected presence today had been one of simple curiosity. Meredith's on the other hand very clearly indicated that Kate's presence was not only unexpected but it was also not particularly welcome.
"Ah...Kate very kindly offered to be my ride," Rick said as he sensed his partner tensing beside him.
"Really! What's the matter Richard, can't you afford a limo these days? Are your latest books not selling well? Perhaps you do need a new muse after all!"
"Mum!" Alexis exclaimed from Rick's side.
"It was very generous of Kate to give up her morning to keep me company and to offer to bring Alexis and I back home," Rick said stiffly, squeezing his daughter's shoulder and placing a restraining hand on Kate's arm. He had almost forgotten how unpleasant his ex-wife could be when she wanted to. "I'm sure you can hire a suitable vehicle somewhere in the airport to meet your own travel needs."
Meredith gaped at Rick as he took Alexis by one hand and gently guided Kate away with the one he still had wrapped around her forearm.
"Castle. What are you doing?" Kate hissed at him as he moved her away, threatening to pull her arm from his grip.
"I thought it was time to leave before things got out of hand," Rick replied calmly. "I don't know how long it would have been before airport security would have been called in if I let you teach Meredith a lesson for her bad manners. Can you imagine the paperwork that would have generated? Not to mention the explaining we would have had to do to Gates!"
"Humph," Kate huffed but she stopped trying to free her arm from his grip and allowed him to continue leading them away.
"Alexis, honey," Rick said, turning to his daughter. "I'm sorry to drag you away from your mother like that but sometimes she can just be..."
"Richard, Richard, I'm sorry," Meredith's voice came from behind them. Rick turned to see his ex-wife hurry up, dragging her large suitcase behind her. "I didn't mean to..." she stopped and took a couple of breaths to calm herself. "I didn't mean to imply anything, I was just surprised that's all. Please forgive me."
Meredith looked at him in a way which he knew, years ago, would have had him forgiving her for her rudeness. But he was not surprised to find that now it had no affect on him at all and all he saw was the falseness of her apology. So he just looked back at her, saying nothing. Meredith's expectant look faded as she slowly realised he was not going to just give in to her as he had so many times in the past.
"Detective Beckett," she said, turning away from him to address the women by his side, whose arm he was suddenly conscious he still gripped in his hand. "I fear we have got off on the wrong foot. It has been a long tiring trip and I was not thinking straight. Please, accept my apologies for any offence I may have caused."
Kate looked at her long and hard for a moment or two before nodding curtly, just once. Rick knew that Kate may forgive his ex-wife's words she would not forget them, or the implication that she was not good enough for him. So sad, Rick thought, that Meredith didn't understand that it was the other way around, it was he who was really not good enough for her and he'd spent much of the past few years trying to make a better person of himself so that he could be the man she deserved.
Meredith sighed as if the matter was settled. "As Richard said, it is indeed very generous of you to offer to help collect our daughter from the airport. I know my return to New York wasn't planned so would it be terribly rude of me to ask if you would be kind enough to take me into the city as well?"
Kate looked at Meredith and Rick felt sure that she would refuse, he certainly wouldn't blame her for doing so. But she surprised him by glancing down at Alexis before nodding once to herself. "Of course, Meredith," she said politely.
"Thank you," Meredith replied.
Rick looked closely at his partner. Meredith had not exactly endeared herself with her insinuations and snide comments (long, tiring journey indeed!) but he had not missed the glance Kate had given his daughter before allowing his ex-wife to accompany them. He suspected that Kate had been thinking of her own mother at that moment, at how she'd been denied her mother's love for so long by a cruel twist of fate. Compared to the pain of that loss, pain which still defined his beautiful detective, he guessed that Kate had chosen to ignore Meredith's barely concealed barbs for the benefit of her daughter...and that just spoke volumes about the kind of person Kate was.
As they all turned to head out of the terminal and back to Kate's car Rick reached down and took Kate's hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze in gratitude. She turned to look at him in surprise then glanced down to where he still held her hand. She looked back up at him and smiled and Rick felt his heart pound at the tender look he glimpsed in her eyes before she turned away, not breaking the contact between them.
Rick eventually managed to get the suitcases into the trunk of Kate's car. Alexis' had not proved to be all that difficult but he'd been forced to push and shove and try several times before he eventually managed to wedge Meredith's oversized bag into the car. Whilst he'd been struggling with the suitcases Alexis and Meredith had settled into the back of Kate's car so that by the time he was finished they were all ready to go. He took his normal seat by Kate's side and she pulled out of the short term car park and navigated her way out of the airport and back towards the city.
The atmosphere in the car wasn't great. Despite Kate choosing to ignore Meredith's barbs Rick could tell she was still angry at his ex-wife and a quick glance over his shoulder told him that his daughter was not feeling all that well disposed towards her mother either. Meredith seemed blissfully unaware of her daughter's unenthusiastic responses as she continued to chat away to her. As Alexis caught his glance she rolled her eyes at him before adding yet another "Yes Mum" answer to one of Meredith's questions.
"So Kate," Meredith said suddenly after they'd been travelling for about 20 minutes. "Why did you choose to become a cop?"
Rick winced at the unexpected question and looked over at his partner, fearful of how she would react. Of course, Meredith would not know her history - she took precious little interest in anything that didn't directly involve her. Kate's lips tightened at the question and Rick could see her knuckles whiten as she gripped the steering wheel a little harder.
"It seemed the right thing to do at the time," Kate responded, her tone clearly indicating that she did not want to go into any more detail.
"So Meredith," Rick said quickly before she could ask any further questions. "How's the acting going? Have you had any good parts lately?"
As he hoped it would, changing the subject to her chosen career started Meredith off on a long winded explanation of all her recent roles. It was a long list of minor appearances in TV shows and the occasional small part in films that he'd never heard of but to hear Meredith tell it she was regularly rubbing shoulders with 'A' list stars and her big break in a major film was just around the corner - the same as it had been when they'd been married. Rick only half listened as he concentrated on watching Kate out of the corner of his eyes. She remained tense for a minute or two but when it became apparent that Meredith was not going to return to the topic of why Kate became a cop her shoulder's slowly relaxed and she loosened her grip on the wheel of the car. Rick sighed in relief, Kate was already strung tightly enough with Meredith's sudden reappearance she didn't need any reminders of her Mother's death making things worse.
Meredith's continued litany lasted long enough for them to reach the main part of the city. Kate looked over at Rick, cocked an eyebrow at him and jerked her head at his ex-wife. He immediately knew what she meant and he turned in his seat, interrupting Meredith mid-flow.
"So Meredith, where are you staying?" Rick asked.
"Staying?" Meredith said in puzzlement.
"Yes. What hotel are you staying in so that we can drop you off."
"Hotel? Oh, I thought I could stay with you Richard - you know, so I can be close to Alexis before she goes off to college," Meredith replied.
"Stay with me," Rick said weakly.
Alexis' eyes had opened wide in shock at her mother's words and she shook her head at him mouthing 'no'. Rick couldn't agree more! The last thing he wanted was to have Meredith around the loft for a few days, for many, many reasons! Rick didn't even dare look over to Kate dreading what he would see or what she would think of his ex-wife's off-hand statement.
"That's n...not possible Meredith," Rick stammered.
"Why not? You still have a spare room don't you? It's not like I expect to share your bed Richard...well not like that anyway," Meredith replied archly.
Rick closed his eyes. This was getting worse and worse by the second! He had to put a stop to it now, just tell her that it was not going to happen. She was not going to stay with them and they were definitely not going to be sharing any bed anytime soon, or ever again. Rick opened his mouth to say just that but before the words came out Kate spoke up, her voice surprisingly calm.
"I'm sorry Meredith but Rick very generously offered his spare room to me for a couple of weeks whilst my apartment building is being renovated. That's part of the reason I offered to be his ride today - to pay him back a little you know."
Rick swung his eyes from his ex-wife to his partner and stared at her in surprise. She continued to stare out of the window as if driving was taking 100% of her concentration and her sudden declaration hadn't been a complete fabrication. Where on earth had she got that from! She had said it with such complete conviction if he didn't know it for the lie that it was he would have believed every word she'd just said.
"You're...you're staying with Richard," Meredith stuttered in surprise.
"In his spare room," Kate said firmly. "Yeah, I've been there for a few days as my whole apartment block is virtually uninhabitable at the moment. You wouldn't believe the noise! I'm very grateful for Rick's hospitality, he just absolutely refused to allow me to stay in a hotel when he heard and insisted I stayed in his spare room. I wasn't happy about it at first but he can be quite persuasive and I eventually agreed. Isn't that right Rick?" Kate said, finally glancing over at him.
"Uh...yeah, that's right." Rick managed, thinking fast. "I'm really sorry Meredith, I offered my spare room to Kate for as long as she needs it and I can't take that back - what kind of host would I be if I did that? It would never have occurred to me that you would want to stay at the loft, you never have before."
"Oh," Meredith said quietly. "I just assumed..." She paused for a moment before gathering herself. "Of course, if you've already offered the room to Kate," she said, biting off Kate's name, "then I wouldn't want to impose. I just thought it would be nice to be close...to Alexis, that's all."
Rick found that hard to believe, given her general lack of interest in her daughter up until now. Meredith wasn't a 'bad' person as such but she was totally self absorbed and it was clear to him now that whilst Alexis' might be part of the reason she was here, she wasn't likely to be the main reason. Meredith never stayed at his loft when she was in town and wanting to do so this time - well that simply suggested to him that she wanted something and he somehow doubted it had much, if anything, to do with their daughter.
"So...which hotel do you want me to drop you at?" Kate asked.
"What...oh...err I guess the Hilton will do," Meredith said.
Fortunately they weren't very far from there so it was less than ten minutes before Kate was pulling up outside the hotel. She turned in her seat and said, "Well we're here. I'm really sorry again Meredith, for taking Rick's spare room. I'd offer to go back to my place to get out of your way but it's all sealed off and all my stuff is already at Rick's. If we'd known you were coming before and wanted the room I could have made other arrangements but with my job and all they need to know where to find me and, well it just would take days to make all the arrangements. I hope you can understand."
"Of course," Meredith replied unconvincingly. "Thank you for the lift, detective," she said before getting out of the car.
"You'd better help her get her case out of the trunk Castle," Kate said to Rick as he sat there, still a little shocked at the turn of today's events.
"Case? Case, yeah right," Rick mumbled as he got out. He went round to the back of Kate's car and with some grunting and effort he eventually managed to free Meredith's case from the car. He wheeled it over to his ex-wife and stood there awkwardly for a moment or two as she said goodbye to Alexis, not knowing what to say.
"So," Meredith said after Alexis had gotten back into Kate's car. "Will I see you without your shadow whilst I'm in town."
"Shadow," Rick said in confusion.
"You know, that woman," Meredith replied jerking her head at Kate's car.
"Kate is my partner Meredith and my friend," Rick said with a sigh. "We naturally spend a lot of time together."
"Does that include bed time Richard?" Meredith said, stroking his chest with one hand.
"No," Rick said honestly. Much as he would like that to be true it wasn't and he wouldn't lie about it. Still, he most definitely didn't want to give Meredith any encouragement or suggestion that just because he wasn't sleeping with Kate he was available for her. He grabbed Meredith's hand to still her stroking motion, "But that doesn't matter. Meredith, I hope that you really are here because of Alexis, I really do, and whilst you are in town I will happily accommodate any time that you want to spend with our daughter. But that's it, nothing more. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Come on Rick, not even once - for old time's sake?" Meredith said, leaning in and purring her words suggestively.
"No Meredith," Rick said firmly stepping back. "I don't want to hurt you but while what we had was fun while it lasted its time has come and gone. For our daughter's sake I will do everything I can to keep our relationship friendly and cordial but that's all."
"Friendly and cordial!" Meredith exclaimed, looking at him as-if he'd just slapped her. "After all this time that's it! You just say 'it's over' and expect that to be that!"
"Yes," Rick said simply.
"But what about us? What about what we have?"
"There is no 'us' Meredith, there hasn't been an 'us' since you left me for someone else. For God's sake we haven't even seen each other for nearly two years! Doesn't that tell you anything? I'm sorry Meredith but I just don't want that type of casual relationship any more, not with you, not with anyone. I've changed Meredith, or perhaps I've just woken up and accepted that what I was doing wasn't making me happy. Either way I hope we can still be friends but that is all."
Meredith stared at him for a long moment in disbelief before grabbing her suitcase and storming off. Rick stood there and watched her go, wondering why he felt like he'd just broken up with her, even though he hadn't seen her for more than two years and he had no doubt she'd not been celibate in that time. He sighed and walked back round to get into Kate's car.
"Is everything alright Dad?" Alexis asked as he sunk back into his chair.
"Yeah pumpkin, everything's fine. I don't think your mother liked what I had to say very much but I'm sure she'll get over it."
"What did you tell her?" Kate asked quietly from beside him. Rick turned to face his partner and could see the tension in her shoulders and the tightness around her eyes. He glanced over to Alexis and then took a deep breath.
"I told her that whilst I was happy to see her, for Alexis' sake, that was all and that things were different between us now. We would always have a connection because of Alexis but other, aspects, of our relationship had changed for good and she needed to accept that."
"Oh," Kate said but Rick saw some of the tension drain out of her shoulders. She turned away from him and pulled the car away from the hotel and into the traffic. Rick sighed in relief as they put some distance between them and his ex-wife. He had no doubt that Meredith was going to cause more problems before she left but for now she was safely deposited at her hotel and he was travelling away from her with his two favourite women.
"Thank you Kate," Rick said after a couple of minutes.
"For what?"
"For being here today...for putting up with my ex-wife and definitely for saving my life with your quick thinking about my spare room!"
She glanced at him and shrugged, "That's what partners do, look out for each other. I hope you didn't mind my deception Alexis?" Kate asked looking at his daughter in her rear view mirror. "I caught you mouthing 'no' to your Dad and so I just assumed...if I was wrong please tell me and I'll turn back to the hotel right now..."
"No!" Alexis said hurriedly. "No, Kate, please. What you said was fine! I...I just hope you don't hate me not wanting to spend more time with my Mum. I love her, I really do, but she can be quite...over-whelming and after two whole weeks..."
"I understand Alexis," Kate said warmly. "And I most certainly don't hate you. I can't imagine what two whole weeks with Meredith must have been like for you."
"Trying," Alexis said with a small laugh. "Very, very trying!"
They travelled in a comfortable silence for a while but there was a nagging question in the back of Rick's head which he had to ask before they arrived back at his building.
"Um...Kate?" He asked tentatively.
"Yes?"
"Do you...uh...actually plan on staying in our spare room? I mean you're more than welcome to if you want but I don't know if you just said that to get Meredith to stay in a hotel or if you really meant it."
"I don't know if that's a good idea Castle," Kate said uncertainly.
"I don't want to pressure you into anything but you know Meredith has a tendency to just...turn up unexpectedly. It really is up to you but if you're not there and she just turns up, which she is very likely to do..."
"Dad's right Kate," Alexis said. "If Mum is going to be in town for a couple of weeks I can guarantee she'll turn up unannounced more than once. And if you're not actually staying there then I'll have to lie when I do see her and I really am a terrible liar. Please, Kate, don't make me lie to my mum."
Rick was a little surprised by Alexis' willingness to have Kate stay with them but he was really pleased that she seemed so relaxed about it and was even encouraging the obviously reluctant detective to go along with her own deception. Emboldened by his success earlier in the day he reached over and gently squeezed Kate's shoulder.
"It really is your choice Kate, but we would both be very happy if you did come and stay with us for a few days. Just to keep up the deception with Meredith of course."
Kate looked first at Alexis in the rear view mirror and then glanced at Rick. She sighed gently and said, "I'm going to regret this aren't I?"