CH6

(Still July)

Kate was placing the last of her paperwork and thankfully they didn't have another body drop and Kate pulled out her new iPhone2 that Rick had gotten her.

"Heading home now." Kate sent a text.

Kate was already at her car when Rick sent a text back. "Will be home really late. Get ready for an SOS."

Kate chuckled and started driving for home. Problem was she left at a more normal time today so traffic was a little heavy. She didn't actually have to stop on the Interstate anywhere, but it did slow down.

Kate was thinking dinner was going to have to be late, when she started down the drive to her home. Just as it came into view she saw a woman with red hair sitting on one of her several pieces of luggage.

Kate pulled up her car and stopped just short of hitting her. After making sure her service weapon was in place along with her badge, Kate got out of the car. "Can I help you?" Kate approached cautiously.

Meredith was standing now and waiting on Kate. "Who are you?" Meredith sized her up and couldn't help but notice her weapon and her badge. "He called the police?" Meredith couldn't believe it. How could Rickey do this to her?

"I'm Detective Beckett and I live here, this is my home. And you are?" Kate wasn't sure what to do with her.

"Rickey and my daughter live here." Meredith informs Kate.

Kate didn't know what this woman was on. " My fiancé and our daughter live here, you must be mistaken. Perhaps I should call you a cab so you can leave." Kate pulls out her phone and walks away towards the front door, which was opened from the inside for her.

"HI MOM!" Alexis was happy to see her, till she saw Meredith behind Kate. "NOOOO!" And Alexis slammed the door closed and locked it and ran for Martha.

Kate was just finishing giving her address when Kate turned to look at Meredith, shocked.

"What have you done to my daughter?" Meredith yelled at Kate.

"I think you better come inside, we need to talk." Kate offers and unlocks and opens the front door and takes Meredith towards where she is sure Martha is located.

In Martha's area they both find Alexis and Martha talking, where Alexis instantly hides behind Martha.

"Alexis darling, what is going on? Who is this woman?" Meredith tries to approach Alexis however Kate grabs a hold of Meredith and stops her. "Release me." Meredith tries to shake her arm lose, however Kate has dealt with worse.

"Martha, we're going to need some duct tape. I think you can find it in the garage." Kate offers.

"Go get the duct tape darling." Martha offers to Alexis who runs out of the room.

"What is going on here? Release me." Meredith tries to break free again and fails again. Meredith wasn't used to be manhandled. She always got her way, she was supposed to after all.

"Chair Martha." Kate offers nodding her head at one of the dining room chairs.

Martha has moved a chair over near Kate and Meredith. "Now sit." Kate shoves Meredith down.

"I will not!" Meredith manages to stand back up. "I'll press charges if you don't release me." Maybe a threat of losing her job would work.

"SIT!" Kate shoves Meredith back into the chair and pinches Meredith's neck getting her to scream in pain as well as hold her in place. "I am the police and this is my home and my family. And in case math isn't your strong suit there are three of us and only one of you. … Now sit down and shut up." Kate releases her hold on Meredith who just sits there.

Alexis comes running back into the room with a roll of duct tape. "Alexis dear, … What the hell!?" Meredith suddenly finds Kate wrapping duct tape around her holding her to the chair.

"This is going to cost you your job." Meredith starts to scream and struggle a little, only to find a strip of duct tape go over her mouth.

"Thanks honey. … You two should go to the living room and wait for me. Meredith will be leaving when her taxi gets here." Kate tells them, and they both watch Martha and Alexis leave. Followed by Kate adding still more duct tape to hold Meredith in the chair.

"NOW, let's get one thing straight here. Alexis is MY daughter. I'm the one that is here when she gets sick, I'm the one that is here to celebrate her accomplishments in school, I'm the one that is here to help celebrate her birthday, I'm the one that is here to celebrate Christmas with her.

I'm the one who is here to tell her I love her and make plans with her for college. I've even fought off a rapist to keep MY daughter safe." Kate pauses to look at Meredith who is still throwing her daggers with her eyes.

"So let's see what you have done shall we. You don't celebrate her birthday, don't send her a single birthday present or even so much as a card. You don't send her a Christmas present. You're not here to help her when she's sick or here to celebrate her life.

You don't even come to see her, since I'm betting the only reason you are only here is to get into Rick's bed and use Alexis as a method to get money out of him." Kate easily remembered what Rick had told her about all of Meredith's other visits and how they went.

"When was the last time you even took one whole minute out of your time to call Alexis to just say "Hi". Tell her that mommy is working hard and that you love her and miss her? … Never have you? Not one single minute of your life is burdened with the thought of Alexis until it suits you.

Well I've got news those days are long over. Alexis is loved and has a family, everything you have no intention of giving her. The only thing you have done is give birth to her, and according to Rick you threatened to get an abortion. Meaning you were willing to kill that precious child before she was even born. So what does that make you?" Kate leans way in to look Meredith in the eye. "It makes you a blood sucking leach. It doesn't make you a mother in any way shape or form." Kate informs Meredith.

"So here are your new rules that you are going to follow. This is my family and my parents are lawyers, meaning that if I find you anywhere near my family again I will get a restraining order against you to keep you thousands of feet distant from it.

And when you step even one inch across that line, I will arrest you and have you thrown in jail. Let's see how that looks on your resume when looking for a job in tinsel town. Quickly becoming the butt of jokes on late night TV. ... A laughing stock, never to be taken seriously.

As for your present condition, you were trespassing on private property. All 6 acres of it, meaning you were not wanted before you even reached the front door.

And since I'm a homicide detective and run down murders, rapists and other scum, most of them armed with guns and/or knives … you are nothing more than a nuisance in my life. You gave up your family when you cheated on Rick, or have you forgotten the terms of your divorce? And unlike you I have all the power and authority I need. You threw yours away years ago.

Think it over Meredith. You are a complete waist of space" Kate tells Meredith and walks out and into the living room where Martha and Alexis are standing.

"MOM!" Alexis is in Kate's arms instantly.

"Meredith and I have had a little talk where she did a lot of listening." Kate tells them.

"You got Meredith to listen to you?" Martha didn't see how that was possible.

"Well since she is taped to a chair with her mouth taped shut, she didn't really have much to say." Kate explains.

That got Martha to place her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. Kate it would appear was not someone to be taken lightly or afraid to fight for what she wanted. "And what do we do with her?"

"Right now I'm letting her stew and think over her options until her taxi gets here, then she gets escorted out to her waiting taxi and never to be seen again." Kate tells them. "If she knows what's good for her."

It took a little time. "Her taxi is here. You want to go out and have him load her bags? Meredith will be right out." Kate asks looking at Martha. "Go up to your room honey, there is no reason for you to see this."

Kate stops in the kitchen to grab a pair of scissors to cut the duct tape away, briefly considering using a knife, a really big one.

"Time for you to leave Meredith. … I suggest you leave peacefully for your own good, since i would love for you to do something stupid, and remember that you are divorced and gave up your family when you did." Kate points her pair of scissors at Meredith and starts cutting away the tape, except for her mouth.

Meredith ripped the tape off her mouth. "My daughter?"

"MY Daughter is hiding out from you in her bedroom. You've done so much damage to her over the years with your actions that she is literally afraid of you. … Your taxi is here and your luggage is loaded." Kate points the way to the front door. "Now behave yourself or your taxi will be taking you somewhere besides the airport."

They meet up with Martha outside and true enough Meredith doesn't see her luggage. "Remember your place Meredith, you threw away this family years ago. Unlike you I know what I have found and I love both of them and I'm keeping them." Kate takes Meredith over to the taxi. "Watch your head." Kate warns as she shoves Meredith into the taxi.

Meredith wanted to tell this lady off, however she also couldn't fight her. It was slowly dawning on her what she had given up, plus Meredith already knew she didn't have any rights to Alexis short of having given birth to her so that her name is on the birth certificate was all she had left. She had traded in Rick and Alexis for sex and money and this woman had access to both of them now.

"Good bye Meredith." Kate called as she watched the taxi drive away.

"She may still cause trouble Katherine." Martha warns.

"I don't think so, if she was or even had anything to stand on legally she would have put up more of a fight. … I'm betting she's broke and came here to use Alexis to get money out of Castle. She hasn't tried to be a mother to this point, so she didn't show up here to start now." Kate had met women similar to her.

"Alexis is in her room, you want to go get her, while I start dinner?" Kate offered as she walked for the kitchen, still stewing that Meredith had bothered to show up.

Alexis and Martha soon showed up in the kitchen and sat down at the breakfast bar. "Is she gone mom?" There was only one mom to her and Meredith wasn't it. Alexis had what she had always dreamed about and she didn't want Meredith to screw it up.

"Yup she's gone. … This time I don't think she'll be back." Kate stopped what she was doing to reach across to take one of Alexi's hands. "You're mine now honey and I'm not giving you up and I promise to do all I can for you for as long as I live."

Kate could see Alexis blinking back the tears. "Oh honey." That got Kate to come around the breakfast bar to hug Alexis. "I love you Alexis, not just the idea of you or who your dad is."

Dinner was ready and they were eating in the dining room when Rick arrived and they watched him drag himself into the room and fall into one of the chairs.

"You ok kiddo?" Martha looked at him.

"Dad?" Alexis wasn't used to seeing him like this.

"What did she do Rick?" Kate assumed that Gina put him in this mood.

"Let's just say my days with Black Pawn have come to an end." Rick wasn't in the mood to keep talking about it.

"Well serve up yourself some dinner and we can talk later." Kate offers and starts passing some of the food down to him.

"So tell me your day went better than mine." Rick offered off handed trying to brighten his mood. However looking at everyone told him something different. "Ok what happened?"

"It can wait Castle." Kate didn't want to pile onto his already bad day.

"So you want to turn tomorrow into another today. How about you just get it over with and tell me." Rick offers.

"Your ex-wife showed up today." Martha offered.

"My, ..." Rick had to think about that one for a moment. Gina was with him all day, and likely the very last time he would ever lay eyes on her, which was fine with him.

"Meredith." Rick moaned, knowing how big a pain she could be. "I'm sorry I wasn't here pumpkin."

"It's ok dad, mom took care of it." Alexis was happy to have Kate around to handle her.

Rick however did find it strange to be hearing Alexis talking about Meredith while talking about Kate being mom. He was glad Alexis loved Kate and thought of her as mom, just that he felt like a failure when it came to Meredith being her mother. After all, she did give birth to her.

"It was fine Castle, we can talk about it later." Kate wasn't sure how Rick was going to take what she had done and used the information she had on Meredith to her advantage.

Kate was curled up in Rick's arms while Kate was slowly taking her hand lower and lower till it was just a fraction away from her destination. "What did Meredith want?" Rick suddenly asks, which got Kate's hand to freeze in place. So much for her destination.

"Considering the amount of luggage she had brought with her, I think she was looking to move in." Kate starts off with.

"That sounds like Meredith. … Go on." So far everything seemed normal.

"We had a little chat and then she left." Kate hoped she didn't have to spill everything.

Meredith just left? Yeah, like that was ever going to happen and then Rick looked down at Kate. "AND!?"

"Ok, maybe I did the talking and she did the listening." Kate offered. "What did Gina say?" Kate tried to deflect.

"What did you do Kate?" Rick wasn't going to be redirected. One topic at a time. "I know Meredith, keeping her mouth shut about anything isn't her." Rick challenges.

"The duct tape I had over her mouth probably had a lot to do with that." Kate cringes and tries to sink further into the bed.

"And how did you manage to put duct tape over her mouth?" Like Meredith was going to sit there and let Kate do that to her.

"She MAY have been taped to a chair at the time." Kate actually rolls out of Rick's arms and sits up in bed looking down at him. "I MAY have read her the riot act and stuffed her into a cab and sent her on her way." Kate looked down and fiddled with the sheets.

"That woman has done enough damage to Alexis already, I was not letting her into our home so she could do more. … Alexis actually screamed and closed and locked the front door and ran to Martha when she found us out front." Kate defended herself. Meredith was a useless waste of space for a mother.

That Alexis felt that strongly about Meredith was a bit of a shock, though after he thought about it for a moment, it really wasn't. Alexis had Kate now for an example of what a mother should be, and Kate was everything Meredith wasn't.

Loving, supportive and there for her when she needed a mother and still there for her when she didn't. Everything Meredith didn't do. "She'll be back." Rick surmised.

"Probably not, but maybe, and if she does I'll simply shoot her and get Lanie and the guys to help me get rid of the body." Rick liked to deflect using jokes, let's see how it works when it's done to him.

Rick started laughing. "Now tell me about Gina." Kate asks as she moved to sit cross legged on the bed looking down at Rick.

Rick ran a hand down his face and let out a heavy sigh. "Gina and Black Pawn decided to play hard ball. Since I let them turn me into a playboy I had no legal standing, even if I didn't recognize what Gina was doing and why.

Since my contract with Black Pawn was already complete, the final book has been sent in and no book tours are scheduled for it, I severed ties with them and Henry is looking at other publishers that might be interested in a new three book deal. Given that all three books are already written." Rick informs her.

"Your meeting lasted too long to be that simple Rick." Kate was sure he was leaving something out.

"Oh there was a fair amount of accusations and rebuttals taking place, I'm pretty sure all of us lost our tempers more than once. … I may have told Gina what I thought of her for her actions. Let's just say Alexis wouldn't have approved of the words I used, or the number of times I questioned her heritage." Rick gave Kate a half smile.

Kate leaned far forward and down so she could kiss Rick, softly and passionately, before sitting back looking down at his smiling face. "What was that for?" Rick was sure she would be mad.

"You grew a back bone when it came to Gina. … I'm proud of you. … And I love you." Kate gave Rick a weak smile since she wasn't sure how he was going to take this.

"I hate to admit it, but it was mostly Gina's attitude that got me to do and say the things I did. … Oh and since Gina and Black Pawn have decided to play hard ball, Henry and I are going on the offensive. He's looking for a new publicist for me and we're going to hit the TV shows and radio waves and take our case to the public." Rick informs Kate of what was coming.

"New publicist?" Why did he need a new one? Why not just a new publisher?

"Seems Paula was in on it with Gina this whole time. They collaborated together to turn me into a playboy who chased anything wearing a skirt, or slacks, or shorts, or nothing at all." Rick informs her of Paula's contribution.

"I'm sorry Rick, but we'll get through this. … I hope." Kate added the last part softly, barely more than a whisper.

"You did seem to enjoy signing woman's chests." Kate points out his previous actions.

"That's partly why we dropped the lawsuit against both of them. I played along with their plan a little too enthusiastically in the beginning. Young and stupid, that's me." Rick sighed. If only he knew then what he knows now.

"Captain Montgomery and his family will be out to the house for dinner a week from today if he can clear it with his wife. It was amazingly simple to get him to agree. I'm thinking he wants to see the house more than have dinner with us, and since I asked him to bring his wife and his girls, …." Kate let it trail off.

Rick opened up his arms offering Kate to come back down into him, which Kate was only too happy to do. "I'm not sure if you fully understand what you mean to me Kate. My track record in marriages isn't pretty."

"I'm thinking the reverse is equally true babe. When mom was killed I built up walls to keep people out of my heart so I couldn't get hurt again. It wasn't until Alexis and then you over time that I finally figured out that my walls didn't really keep people out. My walls were actually a prison, a prison with only one inmate.

It was sort of the reverse of a real prison. No one was going to get in and while I could see out, I had no reason to try and escape. Till you and Alexis showed me what life could be like outside of my walls.

The walls are still there, I can feel them. I can also see the vacancy sign at the front gate, waiting for me to step back inside." Kate tells Rick.

"Maybe living out here away from downtown is a step in the right direction for you than. Get away from what is comfortable, create a new life for yourself. Feel like you're part of a family, repair the one that was ripped away from you." Rick offers. "Walk down a different path after you step out from behind your walls."

Kate works at snuggling in closer. "I stopped taking the pill about a week ago, I could just never find a good time to tell you."

That got Rick to squeeze Kate in closer still. "And this time we're keeping the baby, and he or she is going to be the most loved baby on the face of the planet." Rick didn't want to lose another one.

"You know since I'm off the pill, it isn't baby making practice anymore." Kate points out smiling wide, and squeals when Rick turns her onto her back and is looming over her.

"Then let's make a baby." Rick can see the smile on Kate's face and he leans down to kiss that beautiful smile.