A/N: There's going to be a bit of a long-winded AN at the end of the chapter that I'll most likely edit out after all the reviews come it, explaining the chapter itself and why I've been absent. Hope you guys like it /=]
Her lips sink down against his in the same slow, gentle speed that his hands are moving up her back with, his fingers splaying out widely. She can feel his smile tighten his lips when he tries to open up and kiss her fully and it makes her smile fully, feeling a wild flutter in her chest that he's smiling while he's kissing her again, laid on top of him on his couch. Yesterday, she probably didn't realize just how special that feeling she got was when they couldn't kiss each other properly because they were both smiling too much.
"You've missed this too, haven't you?" She asks in an airy, husky voice as she opens her mouth fully to slowly edge her tongue inside.
"Huh," he chuckles from his chest as his lips accept her in another slow motion.
"Rowf!" Sasha barks at the door again.
When the storm lining at the bottom of the door scrapes against the jam as it opens, Rick and Kate both jolt against each other in one joint, overly swift movement. Rick's hands fly off her back and his legs spring up off the armrest on the other end of the couch while Kate's hands move out of his disheveled hair and plant against his shoulders, shoving herself off of him from laying flat on top of him like a blanket to now just arching her back off of him.
It only takes another split second for both Rick and Kate to look over to the front door, with Rick twisting his neck and hanging his head off the edge of the couch and Kate's hair looking frizzy from not being washed or dried properly from the rain, as both of them look over to Alexis with puffy lips and looks on their faces that they're in a state teetering between zen and reality.
Alexis stands in the doorway, frozen. Her brow is firm, set in a straight line and her jaw slack. Clad in a dark green, baggy, worn cargo jacket with thin fabric that looks far too big and far too masculine to be anything that came from her own closet, Alexis lets Sasha push against her legs, making her balance waver like a tree caught in the wind. The girl lets Sasha go ignored as the collie rubs against her legs and looks up to her, waiting for her well deserved attention.
"Umm..." Rick is the first to start, feeling like he just rammed his head straight into the wall of awkwardness by being the first to talk, "hey, sweetie." He says before looking down to the jacket she has on and creasing his brow. "What're you wearing?"
While Kate stares between them widely, not making any motion to get him unpinned from under her, Alexis blinks just once before responding. "It's... It's Ethan's."
Rick's brow lifts on one side as he pushes himself slightly more upright to look at his daughter right side up, sliding out from under Kate. He notices she's frozen and the skin on her arm feels jittery when she moves her hands off his chest to brace herself against the cushion. "You two are already in the wearing his jacket phase? You've only been dating for two months.'
Alexis keeps staring at them widely, still standing in the doorway with Sasha rubbing herself against her legs before sitting down on her shoes and looking up at her. "He wanted me to wear it." She states in a small voice. "It was raining last night."
Rick nods at his daughter for a moment before closing his mouth and looking up at her again. "Um..." he tries, blinking and lifting his brow in a casual expression, feigning tossing off the moment, "that was chivalrous of him, I guess."
Alexis's cheeks suddenly flush and her eyes flit away from the two of them, a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. "Yeah," she says simply and looks down to the large dog laying at her feet on her back, waving her front paws back and forth. Rick looks down to Sasha and watches as Alexis leans down, gives Sasha a belly rub with a smile, then look back up to him. "I think she might need to go out."
Rick gives Alexis a simple nod, watching with a nervous flutter in his stomach as his daughter scratches and loves on the family dog for a moment before pulling on the strap of her shoulder bag and turning down the hall behind her, a smile still visible on her features. Once she's out of sight, Rick lets out a large breath in one quick sigh, acting relieved as Kate presses up to sit on her knees over his legs.
"That went well." Rick points out, looking back over to Kate, raising his brow innocently.
Kate, who still has a shocked expression etched on her face, looks over to him, and runs a hand back over her hair to get it out of her face before giving him a pinched brow and a curious glare. "Castle, your daughter just caught us making out on the couch." She points out obviously, lifting her arm up to the hallway that Sasha is just now walking back away from.
Rick just smirks and pulls his legs out from under her, leaving her to fall down to the back cushion cross-legged. "It could have been worse." He starts as his dog comes up and presses herself in the space between his legs, finding her master's hands. "At least we were just making out." He says, eyeing her up and down. "Your hands tend to start wandering fairly quickly, Beckett."
Kate's brow furrows deeply as he looks down to Sasha, who is starting to whimper. He doesn't seem to grasp what just happened, the gravity of it.
"You finally ready to go out?" He asks his dog, whose back end starts wagging excitedly. "Okay, come on." He stands up, "I'll be back." He says and quickly follows Sasha as she darts toward the French doors.
"Um..." Kate scrambles to go after him, "Castle?" She says as he's pulling on his shoes. Rick gives her his eyes just as he's leaning back up and grabbing the leash off the hook next to the door. "Alexis just caught us making out."
Rick's expression falls, feeling himself stop. "You're not bothered that she knows about us, are you?" He asks, his tone almost feeling accusatory.
Kate feels herself lock up, because this is what she was afraid of. Coming between him and his daughter. "No..." she tries, wanting to continue to explain. She can't seem to find the right words. "No." She says again to finish.
Rick eyes her, shifting between a look of curiosity, longing, and worry before his attention is stolen again by the sound of a loud, high-pitched whimper of his dog waiting impatiently by the door. He just nods, hooks Sasha onto her leash, then goes out the door, a gust of cold mist and air breezing over to her from her place standing between the dining table and the couch. As she watches the man she loves through the glass of the door, her heart already longs for him.
When her eyes dart down to the dishes she told him to leave alone, she swallows past her swelling nerves, brushes her hair unruly hair back behind her ear, and pads as quietly as she can over to the table, taking up the two plates and heads for the kitchen. When she turns into the kitchen, she's startled for a second, feeling frightened when she sees Alexis already standing at the island on the other side of the kitchen, still in her boyfriend's jacket that looks loose and baggy on her, leaning on the counter over her phone.
Kate freezes, her usual nerves of steel feeling weak and unreliable. She gulps again and quietly moves over to the sink with the dishes, feeling Alexis' eyes on her as she nears the sink.
There's only one person on the planet that could tell her that they didn't want her near the man she loves and she'd have no choice but to listen and walk away, and that person is hovering over her phone, eyeing her out of the corner of her eye. Alexis is the only person that could tell her that she doesn't want Kate around him anymore and she'd have to listen. Even Martha, to some extent, could tell her the same thing and she'd put up a fight. But she won't be the thing that comes between him and his daughter.
Kate runs some water to clean the crumbs off the plates before slipping them into the dishwasher. She leans back up, casting a glance over to Alexis when she sees the screen of her phone light up. Kate watches as Alexis takes her phone, pauses for a second before pressing the lock button and slipping her phone back into the pocket of her boyfriend's jacket.
Alexis starts with a slight clearing of her throat. "So," she cuts through, her voice having the slightest shake to it as she gets Kate's full attention. Kate freezes as she lets the door to the dishwasher close. "You and my dad are..."
Kate musters up a forced, nervous smile, letting her weight shift undecided between leaning forward on the island and leaning back against the counter. "Yeah," she finally says, leaning forward on the island finally. "As of... just this morning, actually."
Alexis nods, her eyes seeming to crinkle with a smile that doesn't seem to appear. She pushes out a breath and looks away. "I'm glad." She says, her voice sounding tight and nervous.
Kate nods, wondering why the girl sounds just as nervous and tightly wound as she does. It makes her stop, not sure of how to approach the situation anymore. She was going to let her take the lead, try to reassure her that she was going to do the right thing this time around. "Me too." Kate says, trying to get a handle on just what the girl is feeling. "It still feels... new... kind of, but..." Kate nervously takes the lead, "but the foundation is still there, so... we still..."
After a pause, Alexis looks up with her neck craned. "Fit?"
Kate musters up another, softer smile, giving her a nod. "Yeah."
Alexis nods with her and looks back down to the counter. "That's good," she says in a small voice, sounding timid. It's a moment before Kate watches her draw in a hard breath, her shoulders rising, then letting it out slowly. "I know how happy you make him, s-so I'm glad that you got everything worked out."
Kate feels her heart skip at that. They've made incredible progress, and they are back together, but... they still have things to work out. A lot of things. "Well," Kate chuckles, pushing back her hair behind both ears, then going to try and smooth the top out, "I can't say we've worked everything out, but..."
She pauses and Alexis reaches inside of her jacket sleeve and pulls a black hair tie off her wrist, taking Kate's wrangling with her hair as a cue for the gesture and handing her the hair tie. Kate eyes the hair tie with a surprised smile then looks up to Alexis and after a moment, both smiling knowingly, they chuckle softly as Kate takes the hair tie and begins to wrangle in her hair, tying it back into a ponytail.
"It will be a while until we've worked everything out, so I think both of us just want to settle back into a flow of things first." Kate explains.
Alexis nods before giving a slight eye roll. "As long as he can go back to his normal self, I'm happy." She says, almost off-handedly.
But it gets Kate's attention, and she looks over to her with a slight worry furrowing in her brow. "Alexis," Kate almost chuckles, "when you came by the shop that day you said..." she begins, stopping when Alexis looks over to her, "you said that he was content but... that you knew he wasn't happy ." Alexis gives her a small nod. Kate feels her nerves prickle at the top of her spine again, seeing Alexis recall that afternoon when she came by the shop to talk to her. "What did you mean by that?"
Alexis seems to shrink back, curling her shoulders in slightly and pinching at the sleeves of her boyfriend's jacket to bury herself in it as much as she can before she starts, looking down to the counter. After another moment to collect her thoughts, Alexis shrugs one-sidedly and looks away. "He was fine as long as he kept himself busy."
Kate blinks, her mind trying to form a thought. "So... he wrote a lot?"
But Alexis is quick to shake her head, still not meeting Kate's eyes as they fill with sadness. "He hasn't written anything since we left New York." Kate can feel her heart fold, almost violently, sure she's not hiding the feeling with her expression. Alexis reaches up and grasps her arm, squeezing the fabric of the green jacket before drawing in a breath and looking over to her. "Writing makes him think of you now so he just stopped." Kate gives her head a slight toss before looking down to the granite counter on the island. "No, he just did other things... work out, teach Sasha tricks," Alexis looks out toward the French doors that lead to the back patio, "build a brick barbeque."
Kate tests her breath, letting it out in a slow stream out her nose to steady it.
"It..." Alexis starts again timidly, looking over to the other side of the kitchen, still clutching the sleeve of her jacket, "was almost enough to make me wish he'd never met you." Kate looks over to her, her blood curdling. This is what she was deathly terrified of. "Because I knew..." she continues, but struggles, "that you were his... his one. But... seeing him after losing you..." hearing the girl's tone, Kate looks over to her, studying her a bit more, the way she's pinching the worn cuff of her boyfriend's jacket with her finger and thumb, the way she's clutching the sleeve, "almost makes you think you're better off never meeting that person."
Kate observes Alexis's tone, her wording, her behavior, but when Alexis looks over to her and seems to betray the feigned meaning of the conversation by giving her an arched brow of fear, Kate feels calmed. "Well, Alexis," Kate quickly starts with a soft smile after the realization, "take it from someone who used to live by those words, you're not better off."
When Alexis meets Kate's eyes with a glimmer, she nods and looks away again. Kate shuffles as Alexis seems to retreat into her thoughts.
"Um..." Kate attempts to break the ice before it forms, "Alexis, have you talked to your dad about how you feel about this guy?" She asks, trying for a tone that doesn't seem as if she's pressing the girl too hard.
Alexis silently shakes her head and looks over to her. "Not really." Kate just gives her an assuring nod. "I mean," she says with a smile flashing onto her face for a moment, "I love that I'll always be his little girl but... I'll always be his little girl and to him, no one will ever be good enough for his little girl."
Kate smiles naturally, knowing that short phase in her pre-teens that her and her dad went through. "Alexis, that's how it's supposed to be."
Alexis smiles, but rolls her eyes, much the same way she does when Castle says something totally inappropriate but something that she needed at the same time. "Ethan said the same thing." Kate turns over to her with a raised brow. "To be honest, Beckett," Alexis starts, rushed and breathlessly, "I would be hiding up in my room right now, but... he told me that I should talk to you." Alexis pauses before waving her hand in the air, "And when I pointed out that he wasn't here to back me up like last time he jokingly pointed out to 'be chivalrous'." She says with a set of air quotes.
Kate raises her brow again, teasing an expectant smile. "Be chivalrous?"
Alexis smiles despite herself. "When he gave me his jacket, I told him it was very chivalrous of him and he went on to explain how the word chivalrous derives from the French word 'cheval' and was used in medieval times to describe a knight who fought on horseback... and how he couldn't actually ride a horse."
Kate smiles brightly, chuckling softly which encourages Alexis's face to light up with a smile of her own. "So I don't have to worry about you charging at me with a lance or anything, do I?" Alexis giggles and shakes her head. "Alexis," Kate starts in a more serious tone, "you shouldn't be afraid to fall for somebody."
Alexis expression falls and it's a moment before she looks over to her again. "But how did you know?" She asks, her voice small. "I mean," she struggles, breathing out a hard sigh, "was there a moment like everyone talks about that you were convinced that you were in love or?"
Kate smiles softly. "No, there wasn't." She answers, looking over to the girl with soft eyes. "What I had instead was a moment when I couldn't convince myself of anything else... and I couldn't make excuses anymore."
"B-but..." Alexis attempts again on another hard breath, just as Rick cracks open the French door a tad to watch them, "how did you know for certain... that my dad was it for you? That he was the one you wanted to be with and marry a-and... and how can I really think that feeling they way about someone is a good thing when I know what happened between you and him?"
Kate nods slowly, giving Alexis a reassuring smile. "I knew he was it because he convinced me of it." She says softly but confidently. "He spent every day convincing me he was it for me until I couldn't deny it anymore, and eventually, couldn't imagine it being any other way. I know it sounds cliche, Alexis, because..." Kate says, her smile brightening as her eyes fall away, "I rolled my eyes when my mother told me this in high school, but... when you know, you know." Kate's heart swells slightly, the words filling her.
Rick smiles to himself from outside, wishing he could be as certain as her.
Alexis nods slowly, her eyes falling back down to the counter as she clutches the sleeve of her boyfriend's jacket again. "And... you still know? For certain? Even after everything that happened?" She asks, sounding as if she wants to know how as opposed to test her. Rick shuffles his weight quietly from outside, looking down to Sasha and keeping her quiet by massaging her thick German Shepard ears.
Kate keeps her reassuring smile pointed toward her. "It's because of what happened that I'll never doubt where I belong again, Alexis." That's enough to cause a heavy glimmer and sad smile to appear on Alexis's face as she looks up to Kate. "Take it from someone who found the love of their life and thought there was still something better out there, Alexis... if this guy does end up convincing you, which.. ." Kate starts with a slight smirk, reaching over to tug at the jacket Alexis is still clutching with her thumb and forefinger, "he seems to be doing already, then don't let it go. You'll end up spending the rest of your life running away from things just because they remind you of him. And if you spend as much time together as he and I did, you'll end up having to run away from an awful lot."
Outside, Rick's head falls. He ran away from everything because he loved her so much. It didn't solve anything. He was just as in love with her the day she appears out of nowhere in the parking lot of the grocery store here in Crestfield. It hurt, but he still loved her.
Alexis cranes her neck, deep in thought as her thumb and finger rub against the fabric of the cuff on her jacket. "Just," Kate begins in a less serious tone, lifting her hand of the counter, "don't go off and... rush... into anything, okay?" Alexis looks over to her with a crooked brow and sly smirk. "Believe me, your dad would have my head if you did and found out that you got the idea from me."
Alexis laughs and pushes off the edge of the island, "You can tell my dad not to worry." She says, backing out of the kitchen. "You two can have the couch all to yourselves if you know what I mean."
Kate smiles as Alexis moves out of the kitchen, then turns around, her heart fluttering, then starts out of the kitchen. Her eyes turned down to the floor, she moves out of the kitchen and toward the dining area when she feels a hand grab her arm and yank her forward. "Woah!" She exclaims quickly before her lips get slammed onto him. "Mmm!" She gives him a quick moan, kissing him fully as she presses up on her toes, his hands clutching her arms and pulling her against him. After the feeling overtakes her, the passion melts her and she goes limp, pulling at the bottom of his shirt with weak hands.
He lets her go with a soft plunk, the silence of the house allowing them to hear the sound of a pair of car doors getting closed from across the street.
"Mmm..." she moans as her eyes flutter open, seeing him look down to her with a lovingly soft smile. "I'm almost afraid to ask what that was about." She says in a low, husky voice.
Rick smirks, trailing his hands down her arms and tugging at her hips. "Why?"
She snakes her hands up his firm chest, swirling her finger around over his heart before sliding her arms around his neck. "Because I might not be able to do whatever it was again."
Rick's smirk softens into a smile as he clasps his hands together behind her back. "Alexis always needed someone like you in her life." He says, hearing the faint chatter of a police radio from outside.
"Alexis is a great person, Castle. You should be proud of that."
"Hmm," Rick hums with a smile despite himself, "I'm proud of her, but sometimes I know she wishes she did have someone like you in her life." He says, only giving Kate his eyes after a long moment to himself. "A mother." Kate reaches up, putting her fingertips in his hair on the back of his head softly.
Kate smiles and pulls him closer, moving her arms tighter around him, rolling her eyes as she does. "Pump the brakes a bit, Castle. I'm not exactly a mother yet."
Just as Rick moves his eyes over to her again, his brow shifting at her words, they both hear a scream come from the outside. "Nooooo!" They hear a yell, being broken by intense sobs.
Kate looks over toward the front door. "What was that?"
Rick moves out of her arms and toward the door. "It came from Cecelia and Greg's house." He says, quickly darting to the front door and pulling it open.
With a Crestfield police cruiser parked in their driveway, Andy is in uniform at their door, where Greg has his arms around his wife Cecelia, trying to keep her from falling to the floor. "Nooooo-oo-ooo-ooo!" Cecelia wails again, finally falling to the ground in her husband's arms.
Rick feels Kate clutch at his arm for a moment before he moves to jog across the street. Andy, the portlier, curly-haired officer is still at their door while his partner Andrew, a tall, bald, lengthy man is walking away, his face pale, rubbing the back of his neck. "Andrew." Rick calls as he reaches the edge of their driveway, hearing Kate trail behind him.
Andrew looks up, his expression still almost ghostly. "Castle... it's uh... something, ain't it?"
"What? What's going on?" Rick asks, his body starting to vibrate as his nerves begin to fire off.
"What happened?" Kate asks from his side.
Andrew's brow pinches curiously. "You didn't hear? Chief said he was going to call you."
With Cecelia still sobbing loudly in her husband's arms, Rick's heart feels stabbed as it lodges in his throat. "What happened?" He asks in a scared voice, his eyes going between Greg and Cecelia on the ground and Andrew.
The officer pushes out a shaky breath and shuffles. "T-they um... they found Sierra's body half an hour ago."
Rick feels everything in him fall apart as Kate grabs onto his hand with a tight grip."
"She was murdered."
A/N: Ah yes, the "Oh wow! I wonder what's going to happen next!" moment. How cliche!
There are moments in most shows, movies, and books that are guilty of what I'm about to explain, including Castle sadly. When writers run out of ideas for something, they make something happen to simply keep the audiences attention. The writer doesn't know what's going to happen anymore than the reader or viewer does. They're along for the ride with you, as one youtuber who explained it put. Castle is guilty of this in the end of season 6 which Rick getting abducted. They had no clue why that happened. They just wanted you to stick around. Most of the time, these end up ruining good stories as the writer ends up having to scramble to explain things away.
But I wouldn't have started this story if I didn't have it planned from beginning to end.
As for my absence, I can only blame it on total melt down of my computer, followed by just saving up for the high end gaming system I've always wanted, followed by getting it, followed by the pandemic that make my working hours crazy because the other guy in my dept. quit where I'm running up to seven different machines at one time now. So what little free time I do have, I couldn't focus on writing. But my job is finally starting to slow down a bit, so I'm hoping things will get back to normal. As I said, I'll probably edit this AN out once all the reviews come in. I just know that a lot of people have been eagerly awaiting this stories return and will probably be mad at me for coming back and making them read this part. But thank you for all the continued support throughout my hiatus.