When the kiss breaks Kate smiles as she tucks her face into the side of Castle's neck, he echos her smile and just holds her close with his eyes closed. They somehow manage to not react when Hurricane Martha swoops down the stairs
"Richard dear I'm glad you're finally home! Oh! This must be the Katherine your older self told me about, welcome dear!"
Castle laughs softly as Kate breaks away and offers her hand to Martha
"A pleasure to meet you Ms. Rodgers"
Martha lightly swatted her hand and pulled her in for a tight hug
"Please call me Martha dear and the pleasure is mine with as happy as my son looks"
Kate blinks, a little startled but returns the enthusiastic hug before returning to Castle's arms when she lets go
"as I was saying dears, I just got a call from my director and they're calling for an early dress rehearsal because the lead actor has an AA meeting later so"
she waves her hand in that 'you know how it goes' manner then swoops to the door gathering her purse
"Alexis is down for her nap and shouldn't be up for another hour or two, don't do anything I wouldn't do"
she said all too perkily then she disappears out the door. Castle chuckles
"says the queen of the over fifty walk of shame. C'mon I'll show you round the downstairs"
he gives her one of his brilliant broad grins then takes her hand leading her around the kitchen, then the living room, his office, then his bedroom/bathroom. He relaxes against the headboard as she explores the room, finding Bobba Fett in the bathroom all too amusing and falling in love with his bathtub on sight. She shuts the light out as she exits the bathroom then crawls up the length of the bed till she can sit next to him and tuck into his side
"So this is how the semi rich and famous live hmm?"
he leans down and kisses her softly
"yeah it is, it's how the stupidly rich and famous lived too in my case. I was still here after twenty six best sellers. It's comfortable, safe for my daughter and has a place for Mother when she's uh... between men"
he rolls his eyes a bit with an indicative small cough.
"you make me so glad my parents are deliriously happy together"
she laughs resting her head on his shoulder again
"I'm glad they are too Kate, in todays world it's a rare thing and always a treasure to behold. I should have all three of you over for dinner tonight so we can fill both your parents in on what's gone on and introduce them to Alexis, who you'll meet here pretty soon"
Kate nods
"Sounds like a plan, what time?"
Castle thinks about that, checks his watch
"seven sound good?"
Kate nods with a grin as she texts the information with address to her Mom.
"It's strange to think that yesterday I was single and planning to fly back to stanford and you..."
she tips her head, heart hurting for the pain he felt when she first met him
"you were mourning my death and a broken man, yet here we are. It feels like we're going fast but... the pictures you showed me of me twelve years from now in your timeline... the look in my eyes told me enough to not worry about how fast we go. I'm just going to let it happen without fighting it. How bout you?"
Castle leans down and kisses her a few times
"Sounds good to me"
After about five minutes of cuddling in silence Castle gets the lamp out of his pocket and looks at it, after another moment he brushes it three times and looks at the eye
"Could you pop out here for a minute Eugene? I have a question"
Kate tips her head looking up at him with a questioning brow and the eye narrows at him before Eugene appears
"This better be good Richard, twice in one day? In one year even?"
Castle chuckles a little
"Yes it is Eugene"
He's quiet a moment, not fully believing he's going to be asking this
"In two timelines now Merideth has been useless if not abusive as a mother, only using Alexis for P.R. and a shopping buddy. I know she didn't improve in the timeline I left... does she get any better in this one?"
Eugene watches him as he asks his question then sighs
"No Richard, the only thing Merideth serves in this or any timeline is to give poor Alexis poor self esteem when it comes to her mother"
Castle closes his eyes a moment
"So it would be safe to say that were I to wish for Merideth to stay away permanently it would only be good for Alexis, myself, Kate and Mother?"
Eugene sees where he's going with this, as does Kate. Eugene scans a future with Merideth out of the picture then nods
"Indeed Richard, as much as it pains me to say any mother should stay away from their child Merideth's absence in Alexis's life would only be an honest benefit"
Castle rests the lamp on his leg and rubs his face a bit
"Then lets do it. I'll of course need a full medical background for Merideth's side of the family and a family history in case Alexis gets an assignment on genealogy or something. But unless we call her ourselves, keep her away. My baby's happiness is more important than that bitches"
Eugene nods and with a twirl of his finger the documents requested are on his desk and Merideth's mind has been implanted.
"anything else Richard?"
Castle rests his head back
"I don't know Eugene, it might be a busy year for us with this whole time changing body melding thing. I know you can't make stuff for yourself in the lamp, is there anything you'd like to make yourself more comfortable? I feel bad making you come out so much and I don't want to make you disappear on me. You've been a good friend over the years even if I just had you come out for someone to confide in and give me council"
Both Eugene and Kate smile again and Eugene starts to think
"Well as entertaining as it is to talk to the other genies I do get rather bored at times. Maybe a large stock of the books of today? Maybe one of those laptop computers the other genies have gotten their masters to get them with a ample supply of games?"
Castle smiles at that
"Of course Eugene, anything you'd like and don't be afraid to pop out of the lamp at appropriate times to ask for things, even if you just want to stretch your legs or chit chat or even watch the tv. I give you the freedom to pop out and peruse the house and it's contents like any other member of the family okay?"
Eugene almost looks like he might cry he's so touched
"Thank you Richard, I may just do that. Just remember to put the lamp on a shelf in the office or living room so I don't have to wait for you two to finish"
Castle snorts
"yeah like I'd leave you in here after I caught you peeking when I was in high school and you're welcome Eugene"
Eugene just smiles and shifts back into the lamp as Castle sets it on the nightstand for the moment
"Well that handles the wicked bitch of the west"
He settles his cheek against the top of her head and now it's her turn to think and ponder.
About ten minutes later she finally speaks
"tell me Rick, what makes Merideth such a terrible mother that you and Eugene think Alexis is better without her?"
Castle contemplates how to answer this question then sighs
"I best start at the beginning to answer that fully. I met Merideth a few months after my college sweetheart Kyra broke up with me by meeting me at the airport, saying it was over, then without giving me a chance to ask why she boarded a plane to France and I never heard from her again. I was twenty one, devastated and threw myself into the party scene. Doing what a drunken college student... well male student does. Then mother met Merideth and at first she liked her so she introduced us. The relationship was sexual and nothing but. In heinsight I'm not even sure we liked each other most of the time. But even though we used condoms and birth control she got pregnant with Alexis and I chose to do the right thing and we got married thinking love would form over the baby. Well I couldn't have been more wrong if I had predicted she'd turn into Princess Leia. It stayed sexually charged until she was seven months pregnant and started having problems carrying. Once they put her on mandatory bed rest things went bad. We argued constantly for the next month, I was living in the guest bedroom but was attributing it to hormones like the ignorant male I was. She went into labor a month early and we would have lost Alexis if it wasn't for Eugene. Merideth did as little as she had to with Alexis, breast fed for two months then put Alexis on the bottle and started partying again. When I wouldn't go out with her I'm pretty sure that's when the affairs started but I'll never know for sure. When Alexis was six month old I made the mistake of leaving her with Merideth for the day while I had endless meetings with my publisher. I came home not only to find Alexis unfed, unchanged and screaming in the nursery but Merideth in the bedroom having sex with her director"
Kate had been listening to all of this in silence then gasped at this revelation, Castle swallowed before continuing
"I kicked her out without hesitation. Told her to pack her shit and go, by nightfall she was on a plane to California with her director. I got the divorce papers a few days later giving me full custody of Alexis. After that started the broken promises... when Alexis was too young for it to bother her I didn't mind so much, it was when the broken promises led to a sobbing toddler that it started to anger me. Promising her that she'd come for her birthday, or Christmas, or even just a visit then cancelling at the last minute or just not showing up at all. She's seen her in person maybe twice since she left and when she does show up she makes it out like she loves Alexis oh so much and then cuts out early without even saying goodbye. In my other timeline the pattern didn't change, she showed up more when Alexis was old enough to take shopping but she always left after the shopping was too boring for Alexis. She'd only even mention she had a daughter out west when it was good press. She's pathetic as a mother, simple as that"
It took a few minutes for Kate to wrap her brain around what she'd just heard but at last she answered simply
"you did the right thing then Rick"
Castle smiled, happy to have her support and it showed.
After a few more minutes Kate shifted so she was straddling Castle's lap with her arms around his neck, her head tipped to the side as she regarded the man she was dating
"You're a good man Rick, a good father. You didn't deserve what Kyra and then Merideth did to you. But in the end I can't complain because it left you available for me to find"
She smiled that warm affectionate smile of hers and within seconds his smile mirrored hers
"I suppose that's a good way to look at it. The zig zaggy road that led to you"
She nodded at that then leaned her head forward and kisses his lips softly, it only taking moments for the kiss to grow into a slow lazy one filled with growing affection on her part and deep love on his. Neither try to take it further, they know they don't have time. So they settle for what they do have time for, some slow meaningful making out. After a few minutes they unknowingly have an audience. Alexis had wandered into the bedroom and sat on the floor watching. Normally she'd cover her eyes but she's too excited at the prospect of having a mommy that she doesn't this time. When they break the kiss and get lost in each others eyes Alexis piped up perkily
"Did you get me a mommy daddy?"
They both turn their heads at Alexis and laugh softly. Kate moves off his lap to next to him once more, Alexis taking that as a cue to climb up into her Daddy's lap. Castle got her settled before speaking
"Well pumpkin that's up to Kate and she's only just met you"
Alexis looks up at her daddy with oddly understanding eyes then looks at Kate turning on the doe eyes of a wanting child in combo with her father's eyes and Kate is instantly sunk
"I'd love to be your mommy Alexis as I plan on being with your daddy for a long long time if not forever"
Alexis cheers and launches into Kate's lap, cuddling up and snuggling her. Castle grins watching them
"approval of the four year old? check"
he quips as Kate gazes down at the four year old with a feeling of instant love and awe
"somehow I don't think that was ever in question Rick"
Castle shrugs
"yeah she was fond of you quick in the other timeline too but she was much older too. There were a few periods where she didn't like you but those were after we'd had a fight regarding some of your emotional problems that she didn't really understand and she got over it pretty quickly"
She looks up at him smoothing her hand over Alexis's hair
"I can only imagine what I would've been like if I had lost my Mom like that, I'm actually in awe that you were able to get through to me in your time line even if it did take years"
Castle shrugged a bit
"It wasn't easy and there were times that it felt hopeless, I did try to give up once when you were dating a fellow cop that liked to flaunt the relationship in front of me but you were too far into my heart for it to work and I came back, I always did."
Beckett smiled at him and moved just enough to give him a soft kiss
"I'm glad you did. Now, shall we go play with this little one till we have to prepare for dinner?"
Castle grinned broadly at her and nodded.
