Doppelgänger 10
Kate was actually enjoying herself. She found that she had the energy to go for a jog down the beach the next morning. She got to see a few of the houses that were also next to the beach and most were at least as large if not larger than Rick's.
She slipped in through the backdoor and into the living room. "How was your run?" Alexis was in the kitchen cutting up fruit for later.
"It was nice. You didn't tell me the houses around here were all so big. The closest is actually a little ways down the beach." The Castle beach house was actually a little isolated.
"That's the Hamptons for you," Alexis smiled. "I haven't seen Dad yet and Grams is around here somewhere. Want some breakfast?" Alexis wasn't sure just what she was going to make.
"That would be nice. I need shower first, though." Kate turned and headed for the stairs.
"I'll have something ready by the time you come back down," Alexis promised.
Kate was still in love with taking a shower and letting the water fall over her. After a tough start she was starting to see the benefits of living here.
She slipped into her new, casual, summer dress that she'd bought yesterday. She initially wished she had time to find a way to strap her dagger to her leg somehow but her dress was short enough that it would show. She didn't like leaving it in her suitcase.
Back downstairs she sat next to Martha who was watching Alexis move around the kitchen. "Richard can be the laziest person when he's here." Martha had yet to see him this morning.
"Dad does have a tendency to just do nothing when he's here unless you suggest something that piques his interest. Then he sometimes goes all in and overdoes it."
"So what's the plan for today?" Kate queried. If there was nothing she might spend the day out on the beach again.
"I was thinking we could go boating," Alexis suggested.
"You have a boat?" Just how rich were they?
Alexis shook her head. "I was planning on asking the Millers if we could borrow theirs. It's more than big enough for all of us and we've borrowed it before. Plus Dad likes their boat."
They all watched Rick as he made his way to them extremely carefully. "How's the sunburn, Dad?" Alexis had had her fun yesterday. Now she was back to caring about him.
He glared at her and remained silent. "We can make a quick trip into town to find you something before going boating," she offered. "Or you can stay here out of the sun." Alexis wasn't sure what happened if you got a sunburn on top of a sunburn. If that was even possible.
"Boating sounds nice," he said agreeably since he really didn't want to be alone. Even if it did mean going back out into the sun.
Alexis made the decision. "We can go right after breakfast."
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"Here are the keys." Alexis placed them and the car's fob in Kate's hand.
Kate stopped dead and looked at the car that she had come out here in. "Why me? You know where you're going." Kate knew that Kate Beckett knew how to drive, however Snohbal absolutely did not.
"You're the cop. You're better trained in driving than I am. Besides the navigator never drives," Alexis countered. She opened the passenger door and waited for Kate to get moving again.
"Drive! I better not kill both of us." Kate wasn't sure this was a good idea. She drew a deep breath, got behind the wheel, and tried to think what to do next. "Adjust the mirrors. SEAT BELT! Put your foot on the brake. Press start. Put it in drive, look everywhere before you press your right foot down, press the pedal down slowly, turn the wheel, pay attention to everything."
At first Kate felt like she was going to collapse from fear. Not fear of killing herself. She had dealt with fear at home all her life. She just didn't want to take Alexis with her. She was starting to really care for the woman. She was young and proving to be incredibly smart.
"So what are you doing in school? Is there something you like the most?" Kate asked as she drove down a nice, simple, straight road.
Alexis looked at her. Kate had never shown this much interest in what she did or who she wanted to be before. Granted they had never really spent that much time alone together. "I haven't decided yet. I'm beginning to fear that I'll be good at everything but not excellent in anything. I've been trying all my life to challenge myself. To learn something new. Broaden my horizons. I just can't seem to decide on any one thing." College was coming up and she needed to decide on a major.
"Choose those things that you like most and pursue those. Once you've done that you'll be better able to decide," Kate advised.
That had Alexis looking at her too long. She almost missed the turnoff and had to tell Kate to turn quickly. She went back to being a navigator.
*\/X\/*
"Think we've got enough?" Kate didn't believe all the creams they were coming home with. She thought they were after just one thing.
Alexis chuckled wryly. "I guess I'm my father's daughter. Dad has a habit of overdoing some things." She searched the bag in her lap just to make sure before they got too far from the town. There were three different creams for sunburns, each from a different manufacturer. A new bottle of sunscreen that had the highest SPF they could find. They even had a sunscreen that was a spray and one that said that it didn't wash off with water.
"Has your father always been this susceptible to burning?" Kate didn't remember him being like this. Though she knew Kate Beckett had never been here before.
Alexis smiled. "Some of this is for me. I don't want to spend the entire time below deck, out of the sun. I'm the one that's going to get burnt. Me or Grams. Something about redheads in my family."
"Is your mother a redhead?" Kate couldn't remember if Kate Beckett had ever met her.
Her question actually made Alexis laugh. "When I was little Dad was trying to get my mom to spend time with me and actually be a mother. We flew to California one time and I was being a brat. I wanted her to take me to the beach. IT WAS CALIFORNIA. They had beaches, for god's sake. Anyway, she finally relented and we stayed for hours. I got so burnt that I cried all night. Dad even took me to an emergency room to have my skin looked at."
"That sounds awful." Kate didn't ever want Alexis to end up that burnt. "What's this got to do with your mother?" How did they get off her mother and onto her?
"Mom's a redhead, too and she was burnt worse than I was. She demanded that my dad take her to the hospital, as well. She yelled at the doctors, at the nurses, at anyone within earshot that wouldn't or couldn't take her sunburn away instantly. Like right now.
No one was going to hire an actress that was THAT red, only to start peeling and be nothing but pink for weeks. She was so angry." Alexis was still chuckling over the memory.
"That sounds terrible." Kate didn't really understand sunburns; her chance of getting one was nil.
"That was the day that I finally understood that my mother wasn't ever going to be there for me. She yelled at Dad that her having to go to the beach with me was all his fault. That her sunburn was all his fault. That her chances of landing some acting job was never going to happen now and it was all his fault." Alexis wasn't chuckling anymore.
"I'm so sorry." Snohbal hadn't had much of a mother either and she knew that Kate Beckett had lost hers.
Alexis shrugged. "It's okay, I've come to terms with my mother. Besides, I have Dad. He's been great. He's been my best friend all my life. He's always been there for me and tried his best to make sure I was happy. Even if he is the child in this family sometimes. Well… maybe all the time." She laughed again. "I mean, he can be a handful sometimes, but at the same time he brings fun into your life. If you can get past part of him… He means well." Was Kate listening to her? If she wasn't she was likely to never see her again.
"Your father can be a real handful sometimes. Most times," Kate was willing to admit based on Kate Beckett's memories of him.
"Yet you're out here for two weeks, long after Grams and I are gone." That had to count for something.
Kate smiled softly. "Yeah, I am." She still didn't know if being here was something she was going to regret. However she had promised. And Kate Beckett had loved him. Snohbal wanted to see if she could, too, provided she could kiss him.
"I'm going to go check on the boat and verify that it's available. Dad's all yours." Alexis handed her the bag filled with their sunscreen and sunburn relief creams and left.
*\/X\/*
Kate had to admit that driving into town had been scary. The drive back to the house wasn't that bad. She walked inside where she found Castle sitting at the kitchen counter drinking an iced coffee.
"Here you go, Castle." She dropped the bag on the counter next to him. "How are you feeling?"
"It hurts every time I move, every time I even breathe," Rick whined like a little kid.
"Let's get your shirt off and see if any of these help. Come on, off with it." Kate fished out one of the tubes that they had gotten for sunburns.
"I knew you'd want me naked eventually, Beckett." Rick smiled broadly. "Where's Alexis?" His mother was outside so with a little luck he could strip completely.
"Just the shirt, Castle." Kate rolled her eyes. "You can get naked later… maybe," she thought.
She put up with him hissing with every movement he made till his shirt was off. "You really are red, Rick." At least he wasn't orange like some of the more powerful denizens of her old world. "Now hold still."
Kate squirted out a large amount of cream, rubbed it between her hands, and put both of them on Castle's back. He immediately yelped like a little boy. She yanked her hands away the second he made a distressed sound. "Now what's wrong?"
"It's cold!" Rick moaned.
"Hold still, you big baby." Kate put her hands back on his back and started spreading the cream around.
She'd used up a good portion of the tube and was halfway done with his chest and stomach. "Feeling better?" she asked since Rick had started smiling.
"I'm starting to see the benefits of having a sunburn with you around to help me." He could just as easily put the cream on his own chest and stomach, but he liked having Kate's hands running over his body.
She hadn't paid any attention to the sensuality of what she had been doing. Until now.… Now as she ran her hands over his chest she was actually aware of what she was feeling as she did it.
Both of them missed hearing the back door open and seeing Martha step inside from the back patio. She stopped when she spotted her half-naked son standing there with Katherine running her hands all over his chest.
Martha sent a small prayer to the heavens. "Please don't chase her away, son. For once in your life recognize that Katherine is someone special, that she's not Meredith or Gina. Katherine is so much more." She knew that neither of his ex-wives would be doing what Kate was presently doing for him. For what Martha saw happening was love.
"Are you two about ready to go boating?" Martha had come indoors to get ready herself. It made her even happier that neither of them jumped apart. Katherine simply kept on running her hands over her son's body.
"Mr. Demon here will be after I get done slathering on some of the new sunscreen Alexis and I went into town to get. Will this trip involve fishing?" Kate had a memory of Kate learning to fish from her father.
"It can if you want. We just need to add fishing poles before we head out," Rick assured her.
"I'm going to go get changed and get a few things together. You two might want to change and decide what we're going to eat." Martha headed for the stairs. "And don't forget the wine this time." Martha was still a little annoyed with her son over the last time.
Kate was just coming down the stairs dressed a pair of shorts, a tank top, and a pair of sandals while carrying one of her summer dresses, towel, a bikini, and a bottle of sunscreen that she really didn't need. She saw Alexis enter the house. "You're back. Are we all set?"
"He's taking the boat over to the marina's pump to fill it with fuel. I just need to change and gather the supplies we need for food and whatever," Alexis responded and starts to move past Kate to get to her room.
"Can we fish?" Kate called after her.
"We can after I make a phone call." Alexis took out her cell phone.
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Kate was walking with Martha; Alexis was way out in front with Castle a little behind her. Kate's head was on a swivel as she took in the surroundings. This place was packed with boats of almost all sizes and shapes. Most were a little larger than she thought a boat should be.
Watching Alexis suddenly turn told her they didn't have much further to go. "Richard isn't really a sailor so he doesn't think much about getting his own boat. Not that neither of them don't know how to swim. Now that Alexis is older she can actually keep up with him in the pool and sometimes beat him," Martha shared with her.
Kate wasn't sure what to think of it all. Part of her was excited and part of her was just in awe. Her world didn't have anywhere near this much water.
She'd learned that each layer of the Abyss was different. Some were hot as hell or hotter. Some were frozen, while others… well, it sounded as though in some of the others she wouldn't even be able to breathe there. She was glad she had escaped even if this world wasn't what she had been expecting.
Kate stopped when she saw where Martha was going and her jaw dropped. "This is not a boat, Martha." They were toward the end of a long wooden walkway and the boats along the way hadn't been anywhere near this size. She did see a couple in the distance that looked to be almost as big as the house she was staying in. "How does something even this big even float?"
Martha called to her and snapped her out of it. "Let's get settled, Katherine, and let Richard and Alexis tend to everything." She led her below deck. "You can use this room, I think. If the sheets feel or smell old, take them off and we can wash them before tonight." Martha smiled then went to the door just down the hall.
"Wash?" This boat had a way to wash clothes? "Tonight?!" She was under the assumption that they were going to go out and then come back. Not stay out. She hadn't brought that much with her.
The room was nice enough. A fair amount of wood, a good-sized bed, a place to hang her clothes and drawers in which to put others. The room had two narrow beds, one above the other. She pulled the comforter back to expose the sheets of the lower bed and soon found herself pulling the sheets off. They were certainly soft enough, a lot like the sheets in the room at the house she was sleeping in. It was just that these sheets didn't smell the same.
Martha came out wearing something different while Kate hadn't yet changed into anything. "Give me those, Katherine." Martha took the sheets from her and held them out in front of her after giving them a quick sniff.
Kate turned around and went back into her room to change into a bikini and a sarong. When she came back out she went for an unguided tour.
While she was walking she saw Rick and Alexis untying them from the dock as well as pulling in these big white things that were on the side of the boat.
Kate found herself up as high as she could get and was soon joined by Alexis. "Dad said he wanted to change so we get to take her out." Kate watched her get ready and soon heard the engines and a moment later they slowly pulled away from the dock. "Have a seat." Alexis patted the armrest of the white seat next to hers.
"What kind of boat is this? I mean it's kind of big."
"There are other boats that are more like ships that are in the area. This marina isn't really meant for boats that big. This is a 1986 Hatteras Long Range Cruiser. It has 4 staterooms, 3 heads – that's bathrooms, a dinette in the pilothouse with a large pass-thru to the galley, and an extended deckhouse floor plan allowing for inclusion of the enclosed aft-deck as part of the saloon. Have you seen everything yet?" Alexis didn't have time to give her a tour. Maybe Grams could or her dad.
"I walked my way around from my room that has two beds. Saw the kitchen which is tiny compared to the one in the house. Found two sets of stairs, one was circular. It looks nice." Kate had seen wood, stone countertops in the kitchen, carpet on most of the floors.
"Don't feel bad. Except for the master bedroom that Dad uses, all of the others have twin beds. Two of the rooms have bunk beds like yours, while one that Grams uses has twin size beds side by side. She didn't like the idea of there being a bed above her and wasn't willing to climb up to the upper bunk." Alexis shrugged. "It works."
"I saw you and Castle carrying something between you." Kate couldn't think of the name for it.
"The cooler. It has all our food inside it. Hopefully either Dad or Grams is emptying it into the refrigerator. You want to try?" Alexis motioned to the large wheel that was in front of her. "We're barely moving since the marina has a speed restriction."
Kate raised her hands in surrender. "I'll leave it to you."
They hadn't even made it out into the ocean when Martha joined them. "I put Richard to work," she informed them which was code for he was stuck filling the refrigerator. "I've also got him making our first batch of lemonade," she added.
"When we get far enough out we can start on lunch," Alexis remarked, watching where they were going very carefully.
"Fish for dinner?" Kate asked hopefully since she wanted to experience fishing personally, not just remembering it in Kate's memories.