Characters: Beckett, Martha

Rating: K

Genre: Family/General

Summary: When Martha finds out that Alexis can't go on a spa trip with her, she ends up asking a certain detective instead.

I do NOT own Castle.

Mild spoilers for "Setup", just the fact that Martha is trying to get Alexis to go to a spa retreat place with her. (And the quarantine thing, but I think everyone knows about that by now.)

This takes place after they have solved the case, so technically it would take place at the end of 'Countdown'.

One A Day Keeps The Trying Cases Away...

With a loud groan, Beckett reached out a hand from her place on the couch, where she had collapsed hours earlier and hadn't moved from, to reach her ringing cell phone on the coffee table.

"Hello?" She asked wearily, praying that she didn't have another case already.

"Ah um, Detective Beckett?" The person on the other end responded, and it took her a minute to figure out whose voice it was.

"Martha? Is something wrong?"

"No, no. Everything is fine dear." Beckett let out a breathe she didn't even know she had been holding, still on edge from the horrible case they had just went through.

"Oh? Is there something I can help you with, then?"

The older woman was silent for a few minutes, just long enough for Beckett to start to get paranoid that there really was something wrong.

"Ah no, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have even bothered you...It's just that Alexis has that test and there is absolutely no way Richard would go with me, and I don't particularly want to go by myself so Alexis suggested that I might ask you but I feel like I shouldn't be bothering you-"

"Martha." She cut her off, realizing that if she didn't, the actress was likely to keep talking all night long and she just wanted to relax after that case. "It's okay, you aren't bothering me. What did you want to ask me?"

"Have you ever heard of the Oasis of Serenity?"

"It's some kind of spa like thing, I think? I vaguely remember hearing about it. Why?"

"That's the place, they call it a 'spiritual retreat' and it's supposed to be amazing. I was lucky enough to score two incredibly hard to get spots there, but I didn't know that Alexis has a physics text that she needs to study for and won't come with me. So I was thinking maybe you would like to come along?"

Normally, she would politely decline, coming up with some excuse, but after the incredibly trying case they just wrapped up? She could use it. Nothing like a trip to the spa to get rid of a quarantine scare.

"Are you sure? You don't want to take one of your acting friends?"

"Oh no, dear. Any one of them would drive me completely crazy if I took one of them. I would very much enjoy it if you would come with me, if you aren't busy that is. Oh, and we'll need to leave tonight, or we might be able to make it early in the morning if we have to."

"How much time do I have to pack, if we leave tonight?"

They finalized some of the details of their trip and as soon as she got off the phone with Martha, she quickly called the Captain and let him know that he wouldn't have to fight her about taking the weekend off.

A hour, and many espressos later, she was all packed and ready to go.

"Well, looks like you found someone to go with you after all, or did you end up deciding to go by yourself?" Castle asked as Martha came down the stairs with a large suitcase in hand.

"As a matter of fact, I did find someone. Thanks to Alexis."

Hearing her name, Alexis came out of the kitchen where she was cleaning up dinner.

"Really? She said yes?"

"Surprisingly, yes she did."

"You two are really not making it easy to figure out who you are talking about, you know." Castle spoke up, feeling left out.

"Oops, sorry dad." She was going to tell him, but then the doorbell rang and she figured she'd let him find out on his own. "Why don't you go see for yourself."

"I will." He walked over to the front door, using the small amount of time to go through the list of people he thought could be behind the door.

But when he opened it, he definitely wasn't expecting Beckett to be standing there.

"Beckett?"

"Hey, Castle. Is Martha ready yet?"

"Yeah, I think so." Castle moved off to the side and let her walk in, still trying to wrap his brain around the fact that Beckett agreed to go with his mother somewhere, and the fact that they would be alone together and would most likely talk about him.

He wasn't really sure how he felt about that last part.

"Detective Beckett! Right on time." Martha said before gathering the detective in her arms for a hug, that Beckett returned with a laugh.

"I think you can start calling me Kate now, Martha." She pulled away from the actress and was immediately hugged by Alexis, who she hadn't gotten to see in a while.

"I'm so glad you two are okay! Grams and I were both terrified when they said you two had been put into quarantine."

"It was a pretty scary experience, I hope we never have to go through that again." She gave the girl one last squeeze and then pulled away and turned towards Castle.

"The Captain doesn't want to see either of us over the weekend, so stay out of the precinct until I get back."

"And miss a perfect opportunity to raid your candy stash? As if."

"If even a single gummy bear is missing from my stash..." She didn't bother finishing her threat, knowing that his mind would come up with various scenarios for her if she just left the thought hanging.

"Duly noted."

"Perfect. Ready to go?" She asked Martha who nodded and pulled her suitcase along behind her as they walked out of the loft.

"To Serenity!"