Well, after an amazing trip and a lot of jet lag I'm back and ready to continue this. As always, a giant thanks to everyone who reviewed. You guys really make my day.
Shit. For a few moments that was the only thought that would register in her head, but soon more followed and the situation just kept getting worse from her perspective. Her boss had caught her and Rick in the midst of a heated make-out session. That man was basically a second father to her, god this could not be happening. She opened her mouth to say something, to say anything that might make the situation even a little bit better. But after thinking it over she realized that there was no denying it anymore, she couldn't talk her way out of this one. This man was a trained cop, he wasn't stupid, nor was he blind. People thought she and Rick were together all the time, making jokes about them shamelessly, but there was no more uncertainty for the man in front of her now, he had just witnessed all he needed to see. So, just like any cornered suspect she had a choice; shut down completely, or go with the truth.
"Uhh…" Well, she'd tried to go with the truth but her mind wasn't cooperating at the moment. She shot a glance in Castle's direction to find him watching her, seeking out orders on how to handle this. Silently she pleaded with him to handle this for the time being, thankfully he understood. He always seemed to understand her perfectly even when there were no words exchanged. Whether he listened or not was the only problem with their communication.
He looked back over at the Captain and she could see thoughts buzzing through his mind, trying to settle on what to say. She just watched her toe play with a rock on the ground while trying to compose herself.
"Well," apparently he had settled on something to say, "now you know." She rolled her eyes at that one, he was a damn writer and couldn't come up with anything better than that? But in retrospect she couldn't blame him, she was even too shocked by the situation to speak in the first place. She looked up from the ground when Montgomery burst out laughing, clutching his abdomen while bending over in a laughing fit.
"I'm sorry," he choked out through the laughs, "it's just that you two look like two teenagers who've been caught doing something they know is completely wrong." He continued laughing for a while longer and then composed himself, however a grin was still playing at his lips. Putting a hand on each of their shoulders he continued.
"Look," he stated, "I'm happy for you guys. This is good; you don't need to be embarrassed about it or scared. We've all thought you two were meant for each other from the beginning, I'm just glad you both realized it before it was too late. My only question is why are you hiding it?"
Rick just looked at her and she could tell she would have to take over, because he had no reasons of his own for them hiding it. The secrecy was all her own, because she wasn't ready. She didn't want the paparazzi, she didn't want the attention but most importantly she had been too scared to leap in fully.
"Well, sir, we just wanted to keep it to ourselves for a little while. It's not that we're embarrassed in any way;" she shot a look at Rick to make sure he knew that that wasn't the case at all," it's just that this is still so new. Our relationship only changed this morning and we're still getting used to it, testing the waters. We're still trying to figure this whole thing out and wanted to do that on our own." She felt Rick put an arm around her shoulder and pull her just a little closer to him and she was glad that he understood. She wasn't ashamed of this; she didn't want it to be a secret forever. All she wanted was some time where this was theirs and only theirs, no distractions and no opinions besides their own.
"I see," said the Captain as he eyed the pair, "so I take it you don't want me to tell anyone until you make the decision to?"
"That would be nice, sir," this time it was her partner that spoke, "thank you." Montgomery cracked another smile let out another chuckle before pulling each of the two into a hug.
"This is going to be fun," he was smirking now, "and I really am happy for you guys. You two deserve this after everything you've been through. So, what am I going to tell everyone in that house who was so curious as to what you two were doing?"
She and Rick looked at each other and quickly decided on the most believable story, there was that silent communication again. She loved how they could do that; with just their eyes they could hold conversations. In just two short years they had come to know each other so well that that simplest gesture was a means of communication that told the other as much as a speech could.
"We were doing what we always do," she answered now returning the Captain's smirk, "we were arguing."
"Yep," Rick now had the same look on his face as the others, "we stopped short on the beach because I said something stupid and we began to banter back and forth, and that's how you found us. There is not one person in that house who wouldn't believe that."
"Sounds like a plan," the Captain had turned away from them now and was walking back towards the house, "and just so you two know I'll keep my mouth shut, don't you worry." Rick still had an arm around her shoulder so before they got too close to the house she leaned into his side as they walked. She was glad that Montgomery was happy for her, for them. But she was even happier that Rick now understood why she hadn't wanted to tell anyone about them being a couple at first, she was actually surprised she hadn't caught that earlier. That he was obviously confused, thinking maybe she was embarrassed or still terrified. Truth is she was still a little scared, but not anymore. Well, maybe a little bit of that fear still remained but she was Detective Beckett after all, doubts were always present in her mind whenever she did anything. But now, now she was just content to walk through the lawn in the arms of a man who loved her and whom she loved back with all her heart.
Later that night she was curled up beneath the covers of her bed reading a book when she heard a knock at her door. She quickly hid the book beneath the comforter, it was one of his and if it was him behind that door she didn't need to inflate his ego any more, before calling out to the unknown person.
"Who is it?" She asked, her hand already preparing to snake into the drawer of the bedside table where her gun rested.
"Hey," a girl's voice answered back as the door opened and a redhead peered at her from the doorway, "it's me. I don't want to bother you but I wanted to ask you something." She patted the spot next to her on the bed, a silent invitation for Alexis to come in. The teenager responded quickly and accordingly, basically jumping onto the bed right next to her looking much more comfortable than before.
"Alright Alexis," she began, "what's up?"
"Well I was wondering something," the girl's tone was shy but there was a wide grin plastered onto that adorable face, one that strangely resembled Rick's, "if you aren't doing anything tomorrow I was thinking that maybe you'd want to come with Gram and I to the spa. If you don't want to it's fine. But you could bring Lanie if she wanted to come too and we could get massages and stuff like that." She was touched that Alexis had invited her to come along; she knew that that was usually something she did with either Martha or Meredith so Alexis letting her into that small circle was precious. The fact that the teenager had been so nervous about it was amusing, talking a mile a minute as if she wasn't sure she should be asking or not, as if Kate would ever turn time with Alexis down.
"I'd love to go." At this the girl's face lit up and she wrapped her into a big bear hug. After she let her go Alexis looked a little embarrassed to have sprung that amount of affection on her.
"Umm, sorry…" Alexis started to apologize but she would hear nothing of it.
"Alexis," she interrupted, "it's okay. I love spending time with you. And if you're sure your grandmother wouldn't mind me cutting into her time with you then it would be my pleasure to go. You don't have to apologize, sweetie."
Wait, sweetie? When had Alexis become sweetie? But by the amount of glee on Alexis' face she was pretty sure she'd said the right thing. Alexis went in for another hug, this one lasting longer than the last. When the girl pulled away she didn't look uncomfortable at all, in fact she looked completely at home.
"Great," happiness was practically radiating from her as she bounded off of the bed, "we'll leave right after breakfast tomorrow morning. And Kate? Thanks." With that statement and a whirl of red the girl was gone, leaving her to ponder when exactly she had become so comfortable with Rick's daughter. In the end she decided it didn't really matter when it had happened, just that it had. Honestly, she was glad it did. When it came to Alexis she wasn't really sure where she stood, and now that she and Rick were a couple she wasn't sure how much Alexis would want her to be in her life. But this, this explained exactly that to her. The young teen had just asked her to be a part of something she had only ever done with family, a ritual that was always meant for bonding. As she flicked the lights off and began to drift off to sleep all she could think about was how she could get used to this, being part of a family, more specifically being a part of his family.
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