Previously
"Kate darling, how are you?" Martha said, as she flopped down next to Beckett while somehow managing to hug the younger woman in the same action.
"I'm good thanks Martha, except for the slow case at work and the late night."
"Yes, and that reminds me," said Martha, leaning in a little closer to Beckett, "I was just wondering, when exactly did Richard start referring to his bedroom as our bedroom?"
"Um... our?" Beckett attempted to clarify Martha's meaning even though both women new full well what the older meant.
"Don't play dumb with me, Kiddo. Of course I know how serious Richard is about you. For goodness' sake I think I've known about his feeling for you longer than he has. But I also know that his history makes him careful about putting his heart on the line. What I'm wondering is if you, my dear, know exactly how big a deal it is that he used the word 'our' about the two of you?" Martha moved her hand along an imaginary line connecting the woman on the couch and her son in the kitchen.
Beckett thought for only a moment before she decided that this was as good a time as any to jump in to this discussion. "He asked me to move in last night."
"And you said...?" Martha leaned in and Kate couldn't quite read the redhead's expression.
"I said we needed to talk to you and Alexis first."
"So you used me as your stalling tactic?" Martha narrowed her eyes at Beckett, confusing the usually perceptive detective with her questioning look.
"No!... I... just... It's a big deal, you know. I don't wanna get this wrong."
"Get what wrong, Kate? Moving in, not moving in, checking who exactly you're moving in with? Maybe it's my lack of sleep, but aside from maybe sorting out whose stuff goes where and whose gets put into storage, you officially moving in here wouldn't make a drastic change to what you've already been doing for the last however-many months."
Beckett laughed, "Which is basically the conclusion we came to at 3am."
"There, then. It's official - you're moving in. Welcome to the family," Martha said, grabbing Beckett by the shoulders and pulling her into a fierce hug. However when she pulled back a single tear slipped from Kate's hazel eyes.
"Aww... sorry Martha," Beckett said swiping a hand over her cheek to remove the tear.
The elder woman watched as Kate drew her knees up to embrace them. Martha may not have spent much time alone with her son's girlfriend but she knew well enough that Beckett guarded her emotions well. She sat and waited to see if Beckett would explain the unusual loss of composure.
Kate took a deep breath and looked over to the kitchen. Checking to see that Castle was otherwise engaged in his breakfast creations she looked back to Martha and continued in a hushed tone, "It's just... like you said, Castle's put his heart out there and in some ways so have I but... never like this. The longest relationship I've had was just over a year and I didn't live with the guy. What if me moving in here ruins what we have? I mean someone once told me that risking our heart is why we're alive. And I have with Castle, but... I'm a cop... my whole career has been about calculated risk. What if this is that step too far?"
Beckett sat breathing in and out a little faster, like she had just raced in from somewhere.
Martha smiled at the young woman next her and reached out to touch her index finger to Beckett's leg. "But at some point Darling, we all have to stop calculating and just live our lives."
Beckett smiled and nodded slowly. Even though she had known Martha for over four years, the women had an interesting relationship. Often Martha allowed herself to appear flighty and dramatic. However, Kate had come to realise the Martha that she knew today, the one sitting next to her now, was a largely untapped source of worldly wisdom.
"Can I... um... ask you something, Martha?"
"Of course." Castle's mother gazed at Beckett as though she was studying a script, trying to find the plot twist before she came to the end.
"Did, you live with Castle when he was married to Meredith or Gina?"
"Oh good heavens no!" Martha threw her head back in a sigh of relief. "You've seen how I relate to Meredith and I'm not a lot better with Gina. Could you image what it would be like if I shared a home with either of those women... the thought gives me palpitations."
Beckett laughed at the actress' wide-eyed theatrical expression. "Sorry for putting that notion out there."
The two women enjoyed the moment of wimsy before Beckett continued. "It does kinda make me wonder though, would you be ok with having me here all the time?"
"Darling, it was never about women in general sharing my son's life... it was those two particular women. The more I got to know them the less impressed I was with them as partners for Richard. The truth is that I quite liked Meredith when I first met her, which is why I introduced her to my son." Beckett eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh you didn't know that I set them up? Yes, not one of my greatest set-ups," Martha continued. "Anyway she was vibrant and funny and... perhaps reminded me of myself... which, although it seems very arrogant, meant I assumed that if she was like me, she would at least understand him to some degree. Plus he'd just come out of another serious relationship and quite frankly he needed fun. The problem with Meredith is that she was all fun, a characteristic that became particularly evident when it came to being responsible for her child. And then Gina was the compete opposite to fun. She was driven and business-like which was great for Richard from an organisational point of view, but he stopped living with that joiedevivre. Except of course for the time he spent with Alexis." She nodded to the kitchen as though she was illustrating 'Exhibit A' in a courtroom battle. "No matter how stuck in a rut Richard would get with writing or his relationship with Gina, Alexis could always bring a passion for life back to him. Most times she was the only one who could... until he met you, that is. You, Kate Beckett are something entirely different to any other women I've seen Richard with."
"Is that a good thing?" Beckett laughed nervously.
"Look at him, Kate."
Both women looked over to where Castle and Alexis were busy at work with breakfast. Castle tore a large corner of pancake off andshoved it into his mouth. Suddenly he started dancing on the spot as he huffed out repeatedly, trying to release some of the heat in the food that had obviously been too hot. He then tuned back to the pan before he noticed that Beckett and Martha had just watched the whole Stooge-esque little scene.
"Ok, maybe that behavior wasn't the best example," the redhead scoffed as she turned back to look at Kate, rolling her eyes.
Beckett fell back against the couch laughing heartily.
"You two better be saying nice things about me over there," Castle called from the kitchen. "And don't laugh at me."
"Who said we were even talking about you? Oy, such an ego!" Kate hollered back.
"Hey, I'm slaving over your breakfast here Detective Beckett."
"I suspect you're eating more of it than making it."
"What? I only had one little corner and that was only because I'm starving. It's almost 10am and I haven't eaten in forever."
"Seriously Castle? You poor thing... That ridiculously large and over-topped sundae you ate at midnight was so long ago."
"That was long ago! Besides I worked up quite an appetite since then."
"Castle!"
"Richard!"
"DAD!"
The exclamations of Castle's various names flew out of Beckett, Martha and Alexis' mouths almost simultaneously.
"Again with the TMI Dad," Alexis clarified for all three women.
"What? I meant cooking," Castle gestured wildly around himself as if looking for the frying pan to jump up and defend him. However once Alexis had turned away and Martha was momentarily preoccupied with adjusting her position on the couch, he narrowed his eyes at Beckett and gave her a cheeky grin.
Gazing back at her boyfriend from the couch Beckett shook her head knowingly and snuffled a laugh.
"Now that's a better example of what I was trying to show you," Martha stated in a quiet but confident tone, drawing Beckett's eyes away from Castle and back to the older women.
"Hmm?"
"You laugh at him. You laugh with him. And I know you've cried together. You learned to be partners before you became lovers and trust me, so many people, myself included, get those two things the wrong way around. Then they spend the rest of their time together trying to set things back in order and it's damn hard work. Too hard for most. But you and Richard... whether you meant to or not, started out right. I know it hasn't always been easy. I know in and amongst his better qualities he can still be childish and impatient as well as infuriating and invasive, but you bring balance to his life. You love him through the annoying personality traits and bring out his magnificent side. I can't tell you what it means to a mother to be able to see a women understand and love her son as much as you love Richard. You living here means I get to see that all the more. So don't worry about me minding or wanting you here, Kiddo."
Beckett sat completely still, tears burning her eyes until they were released, as she stared into her lap. She hadn't realised that at some point during her monologue, Martha had taken her hand. Squeezing it now the older women drew Kate's attention back up so that their eyes were locked. Leaning forward Beckett initiated a hug this time. Wrapping her arms around Martha she desperately searched for words but all she could manage were the ones she new mattered most.
"Thank you Martha," she whispered at the redhead's ear.
Martha leaned back but took hold of both Beckett's hands in her own. Then clearing the emotion from her voice, she spoke, "Quite frankly, Darling I'm just surprised it took a mystery novelist and a detective so ridiculously long to work out that they belong together."
Hello!
Finally got chapter 7 done. Yay me! ;) Thanks again for the reviews and alerts. I am genuinely grateful for (and a little surprised at) all the encouraging comments. I think there may be room for one more chapter to round my little story off nicely. Hopefully I will get that out without too much delay. Real life certainly has an annoying ability to get in the way of writing.
Disclaimer goes here.
Less than a week until this wretched 3 week hiatus is over and we get our Awesomely, amazing and splendiferous show back. WOOT, woot!
