Disclaimer- I still don't own Castle, Andrew Marlowe does, and I don't want him to sue me for playing in his sandbox. I'm just having fun, I make no moneys. The most betaing I do is listening to Apple read my writing aloud while I nurse, so I'm sorry for the typos, I kind of suck.

"To think I was trying to take that son of a bitch on like family," Dad muttered as Kate got a baggie of ice for his knuckles.

"You didn't have to punch him, Dad," I said, locking the door as we left my old apartment.

"Yeah, I did."

"You were right about him all along," I admitted. "I really thought Pi hung the moon."

"We all think that of our firsts," Kate said. "And then, they show us who they really are. I think things are going to work out for the best without him having an influence in this baby's life. He annoyed the hell out of me, I'll be honest."

"He's annoying me just to think about him," I said as we got to the first floor.

"You girls just stay here, I'll go get the car," Dad said, walking out of the small lobby. I checked my mail for the last time, and found some credit card offers and a letter from Columbia asking for a donation and other junk mail. I crammed it into my computer bag. I'd have to send a change of address form through at the post office, among other things. I didn't know moving was going to be so difficult.

"We're going to make sure your baby has everything," Kate said. "Your baby will want for nothing, I promise. Don't be scared of providing for it. We'll make sure it has everything it needs."

Kate really shouldn't have been making that promise to me. If things didn't work out between her and my Dad, Dad would still be related to me, but she wouldn't. I wasn't sure if things would. I didn't know if she'd be the forever wife of my father. Maybe she'd go the way of Gina; occasional friendly emails and texts, but there wasn't too much to them. I wasn't sure how I felt about Kate, but she was really trying to be good to me, offering to put off her wedding and let me move back in, taking up space when she probably wanted privacy with Dad.

"You know, I think the only reason Martha moved back in with your father after you moved out was to keep an eye on him and me," Kate said. "It's a little creepy, I think. But it'll just be you and the baby with us, now-"

"Kate, I don't know how to how to apologize for making you put your wedding off."

She turned her face away from me and I saw her nod.

"I know you had plans, and you're being really gracious about this whole mess. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry about the way I talked to you the other night. I know you were just trying to be supportive of me."

"What else was I going to do anyway?" she finally said. "Alexis, I get the feeling you don't understand, but I'm taking becoming your stepmother very, very seriously. The time for panicking is over. We've got to be a family. And families get through these kinds of... surprises. This baby is not a mistake, just an accident. A very happy accident. We won't tell him he was a problem, something we didn't want, or an unhappy accident. This baby is a part of our family. And if somebody says anything to him like that, they'll have to deal with me. Okay?"

She turned back to me and placed her hands on my shoulders.

"Okay," I agreed.

She hugged me and for the first time, it felt genuine, not forced.

We had to pay a fee to get me out of my lease. I didn't care what happened to Pi right now or if he went back to Copenhagen. I really had been stupid to sleep with him and a little too high the first time, too. I had smoked a lot of weed with Pi, and I hadn't been taking care of my pregnancy. Had pot hurt my baby, though? I hoped not. I needed to research it. I got moved back into my old bedroom and got comfortable. Dad was going to buy a small apartment for Grams, hopefully close by. Grams was able to contribute a little of her own money towards it, too, and she insisted on paying rent to Dad.

Once I was moved home, I called Mom in LA.

"Hi, honey, how's school? How's Pi?" she asked.

"Um, Mom… about that…"

"Did you break up with him?"

I took a deep breath. "Mom, I'm having a baby."

I thought for a moment that I had lost her connection. I checked my phone and the timer was still running.

"Mom? Did I lose you?" I asked.

"Alexis, are you sure you're pregnant?"

"Yes, I'm almost done with my first trimester."

"But you're so responsible! Weren't you using a condom?"

"No, I was on the pill, and it didn't work. I'm having a baby. I'm almost to my fourth month. Pi doesn't want anything to do with it."

"With a grifter like Pi's baby? Sweetheart, he's got no money."

"He's gone back to Denmark."

"He's back in Denmark?" she repeated.

"Yes. We've broken up. I'm going to have this baby on my own."

"There's more of Martha in you than I thought. Alexis, don't date poor men. It's just stupid. Because if- when you get pregnant-"

I interrupted. "I know why you and Dad got married." It was too late for her to lecture me about how to flirt and hook a man like she always did when the subject of boys came up.

Mom sighed. "This kid is not calling me Grandma."

"We'll come up with something for him to call you."

"Honey, I hate telling you this, but you can never tell anyone I'm a grandma."

"What?"

"Alexis, appearance is everything in the acting world. I've got almost everyone convinced you're only thirteen. If anything makes you look old, you can't get the younger parts. I hate tell you this, but if you come to visit me and bring the baby, I have to be seen as an aunt or something, not a grandma."

"But, Mom-"

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Alexis. I love you a lot, but I can't give up my career."

"Well!" I said. "I guess I know where you stand."

"Alexis, don't get upset, honey, it's not you it's not that I don't love you-"

"No, it's alright, Mom," I said. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

I hung up the phone and laid down on my old bed. I wasn't going to let her make me feel worse.

On Valentine's Day, I pretended nothing was wrong, and went to classes, amidst all the red roses and hearts out. It depressed me a little bit. I had had boyfriends before on Valentine's Day. I hadn't even been planning anything for Pi just yet, all I wanted was to get back to what we had had before. It wasn't there anymore.

Just to see what was going on, I opened his instagram account on my phone and looked for his location. He hadn't posted anything since my birthday dinner in New York. I faithfully watched it, just to see what he was doing, where he was. I was jealous and angry, and fascinated. I couldn't turn away from looking for him just yet. I had given him so much of me, but he was leaving for Copenhagen and wouldn't look back, I was sure. It was obvious that I would always have a part of him with this baby, a forever reminder.

I missed having someone on Valentine's Day.