Alexis opens her eyes and stretches, then thinks better of it and curls into herself, a defense against the cold. She's been awake on and off all night long, every time her head or a hand crept too far out of the sleeping bag. In her exhaustion and desperation for warmth she'd actually thought about creeping into the other tent with her dad and Kate, but as her mind cleared she'd talked herself out of it. As well as their family was gelling, she was certain they weren't ready for that yet.
She clears her throat and checks the time on her phone, seeing that it's very early and her battery is nearly dead. She'll have to put it in the car to charge soon; the hour on the phone with Martha last night hadn't helped to save the battery. She can hear voices outside and she reaches up to unzip the fake window on her tent. She can't see who is up, but she strains her ear until she recognizes her dad's voice and then Jim's. They're discussing the best way to start a campfire and she grins to herself, opening her bag and smiling when she finds three more sweatshirts folded neatly at the bottom. Kate may not be her mother, nor does she try to be, but Alexis is sure taken care of. Donning the clothes and another pair of socks, she jams her feet into her slippers and heads out of the tent, hugging a large blanket around her.
Kate is sitting in a camp chair at what will be a prime spot once the fire gets going, and Alexis pulls a chair up next to her, reaching over to borrow her cup of coffee.
"Would you like some?" Kate chuckles, stealing it back after she's guzzled a good portion.
"No, I just needed warmth. It is so cold out here. You weren't joking when you said the temperature drops at night. I'm wearing like eight layers."
"Eight layers. Little frosted mini-wheat."
Alexis chuckles and lays her head on Kate's shoulder.
"Yes, frosted is right. I can't feel my nose."
"It's still there."
"Good. So is this whole thing an experiment to see how far your dad's patience stretches?"
"It might end up that way. I can't believe your dad doesn't know how to start a fire."
"He does. Just not when he means to start one."
Kate smiles and drops a kiss to the top of Alexis' head. It's not an entirely comfortable thing for her to do but sometimes she pushes herself to do little things like that because hugging has become normal, so every other family motion should be too.
"You were pretty quiet last night," she comments after a moment, watching Castle carefully stack wood under the watchful eye of her father. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah. I just kept thinking about how I've never had a big family like this and suddenly I do. I mean, they all act like we've been a part of the family forever and it's really nice. I just hope there's more family stuff like this because I think I really missed out when I was a kid."
"Once you're in the family, you're in for good. Believe me, you'll get sick of them."
"Doubt it."
"Well okay, you'll get tired of Theresa and her nosiness, but everyone else is tolerable."
Alexis giggles and yawns, her stomach growling.
"Kate?"
"Hmm?"
"I wish I'd had you too. Growing up, I mean. I wish you'd been part of the family back then. I could have used a Kate sometimes."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks."
They sit in silence for a while until the fire is roaring and breakfast is being started.
"Lex, are you even awake?"
"I'm catching up on the sleep I lost when I was transported to the iceberg that killed the Titanic last night."
"I told you it gets cold at night."
"Yes and you packed me extra clothes but I didn't think you meant it got this cold."
"I'm sorry," Kate chuckles, putting her arm around the younger woman. "If we go to town today I'll get you a hot water bottle."
"Many blessings heaped upon you."
"Ah, finally, we have fire."
"Tell me he's not making S'morelette's. We'll be kicked out of the family before our probation period is up."
"He's got to come up with a better breakfast combination."
"One time when I was in kindergarten, he actually made me green eggs and ham. Very, very green eggs and ham."
"How'd that turn out?"
"Green food coloring doesn't just color food. It also colors teeth. For days."
"You poor thing."
"That was around the same time I cut my own hair. I looked like I was off for some Lucky Charms."
Kate laughs and shakes her head. Alexis has always been the responsible one in the Castle family, but Kate's not surprised that she's fallen into her share of mishaps over the years. Briefly, she wonders if it's catching.
"Grandma are you absolutely sure your dishwasher is broken?" Kate asks scrubbing another large pot. "I mean really, positively sure?"
"What, do you think I've gone batty, Katherine?"
"Of course I do."
"It's broken. It has died a watery, soapy death and normally it's just me in the house and I don't mind washing my dishes by hand. I'll be dead soon, why spend money on a dishwasher when I could spend it on chocolate?"
"The eternal questions springs up again."
"Besides, forcing all you kids to wash dishes with me means I get to spend some time with you and not have to use blackmail."
Kate bites back a grin; she knows that the statement is aimed directly at her penchant to forget to return calls on a regular basis.
"Okay then, you have me captive for as long as it takes to wash these. What's up?"
"You think I have an agenda?"
"She asks as she stands there innocently sharpening her knives."
"You know, when your dad told me you were dating Richard Castle, I honestly thought he was making a sarcastic comment on your penchant to hoard books."
"Funny."
"I'm glad I was wrong. He's not bad to look at."
"Grandma!"
"What, do you disagree?"
"I don't disagree but you're not supposed to… you can't… you're…"
"What, I'm old? I may be old but I'm not blind. I can see that you're blushing. You married the man, Katherine. I don't think his visual appeal is lost on you."
"Oh boy."
"I'm surprised you haven't found yourself in a family way yet."
"Someone strike me with lightning please."
"Oh Katherine, don't be embarrassed, I didn't pop out six kids in quick succession to never be able to discuss the finer points of-"
"No."
"Procreation."
"Ew, why are we having this conversation?"
"Because your mother isn't here to have it with you, so it's up to me. You know she's looking down on this and laughing."
"Mom had a great sense of humor but I think even she would disapprove of me discussing my sex life with my grandmother."
"It was worth a shot. Where is that husband of yours anyway?"
"He and Alexis went for a walk. She said something about his popularity expanding his ego to a degree that was starting to drive her mad," Kate explains with a smirk. "Sometimes it just encourages his childish behavior so I suppose this is a preemptive strike against future shenanigans."
"I have a feeling the two of you have discussed this before."
"At great length. We both love him and laugh at his antics but it can quickly get out of hand, hence the flying remote control car incident last week."
"It was all fun and games until someone got hurt?"
"He ran over his mom. She was just happy she didn't spill her wine."
"It sounds like you married into a circus."
"Sometimes I feel like I did."
The older woman nods and glances at her granddaughter briefly.
"So how's everything going, honey? This whole new family thing. Your dad said that there were a few hiccups."
"There haven't been hiccups in quite a while. It's good. It works."
"Even the… you know, the wicked step-mother thing?"
Kate shrugs and places a pan on the rack to dry before she speaks.
"I try really had not to be a wicked step-mother. I think I'm doing okay. She doesn't hate me at least."
"At least?"
"If she was younger it would be different. But she's raised, she's an adult. She doesn't really need me, you know? She's got her mom, she's got her dad, I'm just an extra person on the fringes."
"You really think that Katie?"
"Sort of," she admits, trying to find the right words. "I'll always be there for her and I love her and I know she loves me but… I guess I've been waiting for that moment when it really feels like we're a family. I suppose it's happened in little places along the way."
"Surely you get along."
"Yeah we do, really well actually."
"Then what's the problem?"
"There isn't one, it's just a process, that's all."
"I can't decide if you're content with that or if you're acting okay because you're not alright but you don't want me to know that."
"When did you get your psychology degree?"
"So?"
Kate stops what she's doing and stares out the window, thinking about how to word this. She knows she can say anything to her grandma, but at the moment, she's not entirely sure that the words coming to mind actually portray what she feels.
"I'm afraid that in a few years when she falls in love and gets married and heaven forbid moves far away, she'll call her dad all the time but she and I will drift apart because there's no reason for us to… I don't know maybe it's stupid."
"It sounds like you love her and you want to be in her life but you're not sure if she feels the same way."
"I know she wants it for now. But later? I don't want to be just another person that's there for her one minute and gone the next. I don't want to do that to her, she doesn't deserve it. I don't want to fail her."
"Katherine, there are a lot of things you are, but a failure is not one of them. You might make mistakes, you might hurt the people you love, but you do your best to fix it and never make the same mistake twice. If she knows you at all, she knows that."
"I hope so."
"From my own observation, you seem to be doing just fine. Now, when are you going to give me great-grandbabies?"
"Seriously?"
"What? I'm allowed to ask! Chalk the lack of tact up to senility and answer my question."
"We've talked about some things," Kate starts carefully. "I know what he wants and he knows what I want and we don't have a timeline but we're on the same general page."
"And what page is that?"
"That we'll have kids if it happens and if it doesn't then someday we'll be foster parents or something. Or maybe we'll do both. Right now we just want all the pressure off the subject."
"You know, I always said I would just have whatever kids came to me. You see how that ended up."
"Yeah, but I am definitely not having more than two. I'm not crazy."
"Crazy is fun. Those were the best days of my life."
"I keep hearing that. Maybe someday."
"And maybe not. You never know. But you're right, it's a good idea to keep the pressure off. Better to be surprised than disappointed."
"Exactly. Now, do you have any more dishes to wash or can I start to de-prune-ify my hands?"
"We'd better go check."
They dry their hands and inspect the dining table and living room for stray glasses and anything else that needs to be washed. Nothing is found so they head back to the kitchen and Kate pulls the plug on the sink.
"So what do I get for being your slave?"
"The usual."
She grins and takes the fudgesicle, happily discarding the wrapper as the sliding door opens and Alexis steps in, a scowl on her face, wet from the waist down.
"What happened?"
"Dad tripped over a rock and I laughed and the next thing I know he'd pushed me into the creek. So what are we going to do about this?"
Kate giggles amusedly.
"Don't worry, we'll think of something."
"Good. I'd like some time to lure him into a false sense of security."
"Tonight we attack?"
"You're the greatest."
"I try my best."
Alexis smiles and nods before leaving the house again and Kate chuckles to herself. Oh, Castle was going to very much regret what he'd done.