December 10, 2010

Kate hadn't been able to bring herself to wake Alexis up and send her home the previous night, so, she'd simply slipped out from beneath the teenager and tucked her in before seeing Lanie out and going to bed herself. Since Kate was an early riser for work anyway and Alexis had come bearing an overnight bag at her father's request, Kate hadn't had a problem with it and woke Alexis when she was done in the bathroom.

"Morning," Kate greeted with a soft smile as Alexis' eyes fluttered open.

The redhead smiled as she stretched on the couch. "Good morning, Detective."

"Alexis, you fell asleep on my shoulder last night. I think you can call me Kate."

The teenager giggled, quite obviously not quite awake yet. "Dad's going to be jealous." She completely missed the sock that flitted across Kate's face.

"So, um, I could take you home if you want," Kate said with an uncharacteristic hesitance. "Or you can shower here?"

"Um… Well, my stuff's here, so… why don't I get ready here and then I'll treat for breakfast?"

Kate chuckled, glad the whole situation wasn't as awkward as she'd felt when she'd first made the offer of a shower. "Isn't that supposed to be my line?"

"Yeah, but it'll look funny if you're the one spending Dad's money," the teen quipped back with an air of logic Kate couldn't argue with. Then, she bounced off the couch with energy that definitely hadn't been there a second ago. She turned back to Kate with her bag in her hand. "Shower?"

The detective pointed towards her bedroom. "Did you want coffee?" she called, just before the door closed.

Alexis chewed her lip as she poked her head back out. "Do you have tea?"

Kate smiled back. "I do. Milk and sugar?" She was ignoring how domestic this felt and how good it felt.

"Both," the teenager answered. Then she paused before saying, "Thanks, Kate." Then she disappeared for her shower.

. . . . .

Twenty minutes later, and forgoing the tea and coffee when she remembered they were going out anyway, Kate sat across from Alexis as she spun the cardboard cup of peppermint hot chocolate in her hands. The Starbucks they'd chosen wasn't far from Alexis' school and though it was out of Kate's way, she would have felt bad if she'd sent Alexis to school without breakfast. Johanna had always said breakfast was the most important meal of the day and though Kate often ignored that rule, she wasn't about to do the same for Alexis.

The fiddling, however, meant something was up. She'd been doing it since she climbed out of the shower and met Kate in the living room. She picked at the scone she ordered so Alexis wouldn't be eating by herself as she considered the teenager. "What's wrong, Alexis?"

Alexis shook her head. "It's nothing."

Kate mirrored the headshake. Why did people always say that when all the clues pointed to the exact opposite? "Sweetie," she said, reaching out and taking one of Alexis' hands, the endearment slipping out without Kate really realizing it. "You're fidgeting with your cup and you won't look at me. Both are classic avoidance cues. What's going on?"

Alexis sighed, but almost clung to Kate's hand. "My concert's tomorrow."

"I know. I told they boys they'd have to float on their own for a while."

That got a tiny smile before the frown came back. "It's just… Is it weird if I wish my mom was coming?"

"Of course not," Kate reassured immediately.

When it came down to it, Kate could sympathize with Alexis and with the depression that came with being a daughter sans mother. But, Kate had to admit, part of the reason she'd been so willing to attach herself to Alexis' cause was because Alexis had never lost her mother in the same way. Heck, the poor girl didn't even really get time with her mother and from what Kate understood, really didn't have another stable maternal influence in her life. While Kate could sympathize with the feelings of abandonment Alexis probably periodically experienced – and it had taken Kate a long time to deal with those – Kate had at least gotten quality time with her mother. If anything, Alexis' pout about her mother's absence made Kate more determined not only to be there tomorrow, but to make sure Alexis had a good Christmas too.

"I mean…" Alexis continued, bringing Kate's attention back to the conversation. "She's never been to one. Not once. And yet, every year, it's like I keep hoping she's going to call. But she never does. I send her an e-mail and she always says she has something. This year it was a party with some top director or something."

Originally, Kate had kind of felt bad for Meredith and everything she'd been missing with Alexis, even though she'd always thought of the woman as kind of evil. Now, however, there wasn't even a shred of sympathy left for the woman who deliberately abandoned her daughter year after year. It wasn't a concept of motherhood Kate was familiar with. Johanna hadn't missed a recital, concert, competition or even parent-teacher interview. Sometimes she worked late, but if it was important to Kate, Johanna made sure she was there.

"Your dad will be there," she reminded the redhead softly, squeezing her hand. "And I'll be there, if it helps."

"It does," Alexis admitted and the two words spoke a thousand as to how much Alexis liked, trusted and looked up to Kate.

The detective felt a little humbled and chewed her lip for a minute. Then her eyes lit up. "How about this," she suggested, leaning forward. "Did your dad tell you about the baking day?"

Alexis' eyes lightened slightly. "He mentioned something about it when you sent us the cookies."

"Well, I have to go into the precinct tomorrow, but I'm off on Sunday. Why don't we spend the afternoon baking cookies?"

"Really?" Alexis' face was beaming now. "You'd really do that?"

"Of course I would! I told your dad I would didn't I?" For one thing, Kate felt different about sharing Johanna with Alexis than she felt about sharing her mother with Castle. And she felt like maybe it was time for Johanna to help someone else remember the joys of the holiday season. "Plus, baking's not as much fun when you do it by yourself."

"Okay," Alexis agreed, looking much happier than she had a moment before. "Thanks, Kate."

"Anytime, Alexis," Kate replied with a squeeze of the hands that drove the sincerity of the comment home. She caught sight of her watch as she pulled her hand back. "Come on. There's just enough time for me to drop you off at school before I head in."

"It's not far," Alexis began to argue.

Much like her father, a simple look closed her mouth. Fast. "This way I can tell your dad I took care of you."

Alexis rolled her eyes, but followed Kate. "He's overprotective."

"Maybe," Kate agreed, though she could understand, with the things Castle saw while shadowing her, why he would be that way. "But let's humour him anyway."

Really, this is a filler chapter, but it needed to happen because I really wanted to make sure I established the relationship with Alexis before the next bombshell. Because tomorrow's chapter is going to have a heck of one and I'm so incredibly excited for it. Though it does mean this feels OOC to me, to a certain extent, especially on Kate's side of the equation.

And now I'm caught up! And before midnight on top of that so for the first time in like three days I'm actually "on time" with this submission!

Tomorrow is an entire day devoted to writing a paper though, so I'm not sure if I'm going to make the self-imposed deadline for that. And the chapters will get longer. Right now, a lot of this is just setting the scene for what's to come.

Reviews are love. The same way I wish I could show you how much I appreciate them by replying to every single one, but I can't 'cause I was stupid. Kids, procrastination is not good for internal stress levels or back muscles. Don't get into the habit. That's my PSA for the day.

Actually, if-slash-while I have your attention... I do this every year, partially because I ALWAYS end up re-working the story, partially because I'm just plain curious. If you celebrate Christmas, or some kind of similar holiday (IE: Epiphany) what's you're favourite part or tradition? I always try and work a couple into the story, for those of you who are reading this "challenge" for the first time, so I genuinely want to know. For example, I'm VERY attached to How the Grinch Stole Christmas on Christmas Eve, followed by open presents with my little sister Christmas morning. I'm also incredibly attached to my prime rib dinner on the 26th, which is still me celebrating Christmas.

What about you guys?