Hey everyone:) Here is another chapter for all you lovelies out there. An update on my dad: he is doing well. His surgery went well, he is doing great, and he is back to work. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers:) I'm sorry this chapter is so late! Life has been crazy with work and helping my dad. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it's the longest one yet.
Swordwriter: I'm sorry you feel that way. I try to be original in all of my writing. I know the idea of a scheming Meredith isn't that original, but I hoped my approach to it was. She won't be around for much longer so it should get back to the originality that you liked in the beginning. I hope you keep reading, and either way, I appreciate the feedback. Thank you:)
Pranks too far
Kate stood up, and walked out of the interrogation room. She had just gotten a confession from their lead suspect. Surprisingly, after the difficult case, he was easy to break once they got him into interrogation.
"Well that was easy," Ryan commented, coming out of the observation room followed by Esposito.
"I guess we just got lucky. Plus, no one can lie to Beckett in there," Esposito added. "She's too scary."
"Hey! I'm not scary," Kate complained, glaring at the boys. She went over to her desk in hopes of finishing as much paperwork as she could before she had to pick Kaylie up. If her luck continued, she wouldn't have to come back in.
Captain Montgomery stuck his head out of his office. "Get your paperwork done quick guys. When you leave for lunch, don't come back. You've worked hard on this case. The three of you have the weekend off. So go relax and enjoy."
"Thank you, sir," Ryan replied.
"Thanks, Captain," Esposito added.
"Thank you very much sir," Kate smiled, quickly turning back to her paperwork so she could go spend time with Kaylie. With how the case had been going and the issues with her appartment, she hadn't been able to spend any one-on-one time with her daughter. It looked like she would finally have the time to do so now.
Alexis' school had a half day that day, so she was home before Kate. Castle was at a meeting with Gina and Paula and Martha was at rehearsal for the play she was in. That left Meredith to watch Alexis.
"Hey baby girl, wanna have some fun?" Meredith asked Alexis. A plan forming in her mind.
"Of course Mommy. What did you have in mind?"
"We are going to play some tricks on Kate."
"But isn't that mean?"
"No, she'll find it funny too. I already played a little one on her this morning. She'll probably get us back too. It'll be fun. I used to have little prank wars with my cousins all the time when I was younger."
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to make Kate mad," Alexis said, still not fully sure.
"I'm positive. This will be fun for everyone I promise."
"Okay Mommy. What are we going to do?"
Meredith produced a small bag filled with a white substance. "I want you to go put this under Kate's pillow, but inside the pillow case."
"What's in there? And why am I putting it in her pillow case?"
"It's whip cream. And when she puts her head down, it'll come out, kinda like the pillow is throwing up. It'll be really funny."
"Ok, I'll go do it."
"That's a good girl," Meredith smiled as Alexis took the bag and went into her father's bedroom.
Kate was half way to Kaylie's school before she realized it was Friday. Every Friday Kaylie had Book Club. The school's library put it together. Any kids that wanted to would read the selected book during the week and then talk about it on Friday after school. The kids were separated into groups based on reading level so everyone could read a book they understood and enjoyed. Jenny was one of the leaders so she would usually bring Kaylie home. It gave her time to spend with Kaylie since she didn't work at the precinct and it gave Kaylie time to play with Alfie occasionally.
Kate changed her course and headed towards the loft. The closer she got, the more tired she felt. It looked like a nap was in store for her. She hadn't gotten enough sleep last night due to worrying about Meredith. Normally she avoided naps because almost all her time was divided between Kaylie and work. What little time she had left was used to clean and do whatever needed to be done around her apartment.
Kate arrived at Castle's apartment building and made her way up to the loft. She used the key Castle had lent her to get into the loft. She was surprised to see Alexis sitting on the couch reading a book. "What are you doing home, Alexis?"
Alexis looked up quickly, startled by the sudden voice.
"Oh, hi Kate. You scared me."
"Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to be home."
"We had a half day today. Daddy is at a meeting and Mommy is taking a shower. Where's Kaylie?"
"I forgot she has book club after school today and I have the rest of the weekend off. I'll leave you to you book. I'm going to go take a nap."
Alexis hesitated for a moment. Kate seemed tired, like she needed a nap. She questioned if she should tell her about the prank. She didn't want to upset her mother, though. So she just smiled and said, "have a good nap."
Kate smiled back, but made a mental note of Alexis' pause. Maybe Alexis wanted to talk to her about something? She'd give her some time to think it through on her own as she seemed unsure. She'd bring it up after her nap, depending on Alexis' mood.
A few moments after Kate disappeared into Castle's bedroom, Meredith came down the stairs. "Who were you talking to baby?"
"Kate just got home. She's going to go take a nap now," Alexis replied, still unsure. Kate had seemed rather tired.
"Looks like she's going to discover our little prank sooner than we thought."
"She looked really tired. Maybe we should warn her. Or at least go help her clean."
"When she figures it out she'll come to us. Now, I'm going to my room to practice some lines for an upcoming audition, okay? Do you need anything before I go?"
"I'm fine Mommy. I'll just be here reading."
"Okay, come get me if you need me," Meredith said, heading up the stairs to her room.
Alexis stayed on the couch for a minute before going to the kitchen. She grabbed a few towels and got two of them wet and added soap to one. She then carried the four towels into her father's room. She wanted to help Kate clean up. It was only right that those who created the mess helped clean up. Alexis didn't want to upset Meredith by pointing that out, so she was taking matters into her own hands.
Kate was kneeling beside the bed when Alexis walked into the room.
"Kate?" Alexis said timidly.
Kate looked over to the door, smiling at the new arrival. "Hey Alexis. What do you have there?"
"Some towels… To help clean up," Alexis said so quietly Kate could barely hear her.
"How did you know about the mess?"
"I put the bag in there. Mommy said it would be funny. You weren't supposed to find it 'til bedtime."
"It was very unexpected and funny. And thank you for coming to help me clean up."
"It's not a problem."
After a short time, the two had the room spotless once more. Kate glanced at the clock. She had a little less than an hour before she had to pick Kaylie up. "Well, looks like I don't have time for that nap. Any ideas on what I could do to pass the time in this loft?"
"Well… If you want to, as Daddy says, 'get your blood pumping and face smiling' we could play lazer tag. If you wanted to do something by yourself you could read or watch TV. Daddy has plenty of books to choose from."
"Lazer tag sounds like fun. I've never played before."
"You've never played?!" Alexis asked, astonished. "We play all the time! It's the best!"
"Then let's play. You'll have to teach me though."
Kate caught on quickly and soon the two were giggling and shouting to each other. All the noise brought Meredith out of her room. She moved quietly and made sure she remained unnoticed.
Her face twisted into a grimace as she watched Kate hug her daughter. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but she knew she didn't like how familiar Kate was acting towards Alexis.
She was about to step in when Kate said what appeared to be a goodbye to Alexis, grabbed her keys, and left. Meredith quickly retreated to her room once again. It seemed one prank using Alexis wouldn't be enough. It was time to escalate.
Over the next few days Meredith utilized Alexis to play more tricks on Kate. They put plastic wrap under the lid of all her lotions and soaps so nothing would come out, and put a rubber band on the sink sprayer, and many other things. Kate was annoyed, but didn't want to create any disturbances.
Castle remained oblivious, miraculously. He was all too happy to have Kate and Kaylie staying with him, so he wasn't looking for problems. Kaylie didn't notice anything either.
Kate was grateful that no one had gotten hurt by the pranks and that no one else had been the accidental victim of one of them. She hoped Meredith would leave soon so she wouldn't have to worry.
Meredith was relishing the power she held over Kate. She didn't have any auditions scheduled back in California for a few weeks unless her agent called, so she was good to stay in New York. She had one last prank planned for now. It was simple, put some olive oil on the wood floor and put a rug over it. When Kate would step on the rug it would slide out from under her. She wasn't going to involve Alexis in this one. It could end up hurting Kate and she knew Alexis likely wouldn't approve. So, she did it on her own. She set everything up and went in search of Kate.
"Oh, Kate. There you are. Kaylie was in the kitchen. I think she needed you for something."
"Thanks Meredith," Kate said, making her way to the kitchen. With her luck, Kaylie was probably getting into something she shouldn't be. As Kate thought about it, she grew more nervous. Knowing Kaylie, she probably got into the sweets. If that was true, she'd be impossible to manage the rest of the night. Kate sped up and that's when she hit the rug.
As the rug slipped out from under her, she attempted to catch herself and felt her ankle twist. As she fell, she cried out in pain. She grabbed her ankle as she felt tears well in her eyes.
Kaylie ran down the stairs. She had been walking down from Alexis' room to ask her mom for a snack when she hear the sound of her mother's cry. "Mommy? Are you okay?"
Kate looked up in surprise as Kaylie's voice didn't come from the kitchen. Ignoring that thought she spoke to her daughter, "Baby, please go get Castle and then get me some ice in a ziplock baggie ok? And hurry."
Kaylie nodded and quickly ran off in search of Castle. Kate did her best to mask her pain while Kaylie was gone. She didn't want Kaylie to worry too much. After about a minute Castle rushed to Kate's side.
"What happened? What can I do?"
"All that matters right now is that I fell and twisted my ankle. I need you to get Meredith or Martha to watch the girls and then take me to the hospital," Kate forced out through gritted teeth.
With that Kaylie reappeared and handed Kate the ice. "Here Mommy. What do you want me to do now?"
"Thank you, go upstairs and play with Alexis. Castle and I are going out for a while."
"Yes, Meredith will watch you for a bit until Mother gets here, ok?"
"Ok." Kaylie scampered away and up the stairs. She was worried about her mom, but was quickly distracted by Alexis.
At the hospital, the doctor easily diagnosed Kate's swollen ankle as sprained. It would need to be wrapped for at least three weeks and she would need to use crutches to keep all weight off of it for a week.
Kate was pissed that Meredith's pranks had escalated to injury and that her work would be hindered. It was late when Rick and Kate got home, so she went upstairs and kissed Kaylie goodnight before going to bed herself. She already had a plan forming in her head…
The next day Kate called Captain Montgomery, explained the situation and took a personal day. Her next call was to her father. He agreed to having her and Kaylie stay with him until her apartment was ready to move back into again.
With her calls done, she packed her things and headed to the living room to tell Castle, who was already up. She hobbled out on her crutches. Kaylie, Alexis, Castle, and Meredith were all in the living room.
"Hey Castle? I need to talk to you please." Without waiting for a response, Kate made her way into the kitchen. Castle stood and followed her.
"What's up?"
"Kaylie and I are going to my dad's," Kate said simply.
"Ok. Why did you need to tell me out here? What time will you be back?"
"Castle, we are going to go stay with my dad until my apartment is livable again."
"What? Why can't you stay here? Have I done something to make you mad?"
"No, Castle! It's just, the loft is a little crowded with all of us here and my dad wants to see more of Kaylie and I…" Kate trailed off, looking away. She knew she couldn't look him in the eye or she would cave in and tell him everything. It was just too easy to get lost in his ocean blue eyes.
"Kate, look at me. I know it's more than it being crowded. Please talk to me." He put a finger under her chin and lifted her face to his."
Kate met Castle's eyes and paused. She didn't want to cause drama, but she could tell he really wanted to know how to help her. She sighed. He would find out eventually, so she might as well tell him now. "Meredith has been pranking me since we got here and she got Alexis to help. It started out trivial and I was fine with it. Sure it was annoying, but I didn't want to cause tension between you and Meredith. Plus, it seemed to help Meredith bond with Alexis. You and Kaylie weren't affected so it didn't seem like that big of a deal."
"So what's the issue now?"
"I didn't just fall when I sprained my ankle." Kate said as she went on to explain Meredith's last prank.
Castle was furious. He turned and walked back to the living room. "Meredith! What did you do?" Castle exclaimed.
Kate hobbled out as quickly as she could. "Castle just leave it alone. Kaylie and I will stay with my dad; it's not a problem. I don't want to cause any drama."
"Kate, none of this is your fault,ok? This is her fault. She's the one behind all the pranks and the cause of your injury."
"Kate?" Alexis said quietly, immediately drawing the woman's attention.
Kate went over to Alexis and sat down next to her since, with her sprained ankle, she couldn't kneel. "What is it Sweetheart?" She asked, her motherly instincts kicking in.
"The other night you said that you wouldn't leave. You promised." Alexis said quietly, tears welling in her eyes.
"Oh, Alexis. We aren't leaving forever. Just not staying here anymore. It was going to happen soon anyway, when we could go back to our apartment."
"Are you mad at me? For helping my mom?"
"Never, you just wanted to spend time with her, you don't get to do that a lot. Don't think that this is your fault ok? You didn't do anything wrong. The pranks you helped with were pretty funny and you would even help me clean up when needed." Kate said, forgetting about the others in the room and focusing solely on Alexis.
Alexis looked up at Kate and nodded with a small smile. "Ok. She said she was just trying to have fun."
Assured Alexis was ok, Kate stood up once again. "Castle, we really need to go. I don't want to be the reason there is tension between you two, she is Alexis' mom after all.
"But Kate, we don't want you to go. We love having you here."
"Mommy? I don't want to go to grandpa's. It's smaller and I don't get to play with Alexis. Can we please stay here?" Kaylie spoke up.
"Yeah! If anyone should leave it's Mommy because she is the only one with a problem. I love her and love having her here, but she hurt you and made trouble and that's not ok!"
Meredith sat there speechless. She never thought her plan could backfire so spectacularly. Now Alexis wanted HER to leave? Kate was the one that needed to leave, not her. Kate didn't belong here, she did, didn't she?
"Mommy?" Kaylie said.
"What is it Kaylie-Bug?" Kate asked smiling down at her daughter who was clutching onto her leg.
"The loud lady hurt you?" She asked glancing towards Meredith.
"She caused the accident that made me fall, but she didn't hurt me on purpose."
"Can I go to Alexis' room? I don't want her to accidentally hurt me too."
"She's not going to hurt you, but you and Alexis should go up to her room. The adults need to talk, sorry." Kate smiled apologetically.
Alexis huffed as she stood up and took Kaylie's hand. "Adults always send the kids away when things get interesting."
"That's not fair," Kaylie pouted, even though she was the one that originally wanted to go upstairs.
Once the girls were gone, Castle turned to Meredith. "Well, you've been surprisingly quiet. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I never meant for you to get hurt, Kate. It was just supposed to be a harmless prank like all the others."
"I also want to talk about that. Why have you been pranking her?" Castle asked.
"I just thought it would be funny."
"Meredith, you and I both know this wasn't to be funny. Woman to woman you know this was malicious. So what was it? Were you trying to see what would make me leave or was it to assert your dominance?"
"Woman to woman? Fine. I want you gone, plain and simple. You don't belong here. Alexis is MY daughter, not yours. Castle was MY husband, not yours. This was MY house, not yours," Meredith burst out.
"Meredith, you are still Alexis' mom and you always will be, but you are no longer my wife and you don't live here anymore. I allow you to stay here when you are in town, solely for the fact that you are Alexis' mom. I am with Kate now. You were both my guests and I will not have my guests treat each other that way. I want you out. You can stay in a hotel and come visit Alexis during the day, but you can't stay here anymore, not for a while. Also, if you are going to be in town, or want to come visit Alexis in the future, you need to ask me, before you mention it to Alexis. And when you say you will come, you have to stick to those promises. I've allowed you far too much leeway in the past because you are her mom and I felt she needed a mother figure. And while, like I've said, you will always be her mother, she has Kate now who can give her guidance and be a female role model. I want you to be a part of her life, but you can't just blow in and out of her life with no respect for me or her."
Castle heaved a sigh, slightly out of breath after his monologue.
Meredith was once again speechless. Castle had never spoken to her that way in their eight months of dating, four years of marriage, or the six years since the divorce. "If that's how you feel, I'll go pack my things and leave. I should get back to LA anyway. I need to go to some auditions," Meredith said stiffly. She turned and stalked out of the room still somewhat unsure of what had just happened.
"Castle, you didn't have to do that."
"Kate, that wasn't only for you. I've needed to say that to her for years. She is a whirlwind that comes in and turns our lives upside down and then leaves a few days later, leaving us to clean up the mess. It always messes with Alexis and I just can't take it anymore. I know you are new to this family and that you don't want to take over as Alexis' mom, but I hope you don't mind her looking to you as a mother figure and role model. Based on your conversation with her just now, I can tell you'll be great with her. Plus, I've seen how amazing you are with Kaylie."
"Alexis is wonderful. I would love to be a role model for her."
"You are extraordinary Kate."
Two hours later Meredith was packed and had said goodbye to Alexis. She was spending the night in a nearby hotel and would be taking an early flight back to LA.
Everyone still remaining in the loft hoped everything would calm down once again.
There you have it. I hope you enjoyed. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner. Please leave me a review letting me know what you thought, any suggestions or questions, and if you found any mistakes. Thanks and love you all:)