Hampton's Retreat
Rick watches as his wife fills out her report on the Tisdale case. She always mentions how tedious this part of her job is. She has to go through the case file, and summarize the story that unraveled. He must admit, it looks boring as hell. He rises, causing her to look up at him with questioning eyes.
"I'm just gonna go make you a cup of coffee," he leans down, kissing the top of her head. She smells of cherries and he'll never tire of the scent. "I'll be back."
She nods, "Why don't you put it in a paper cup, I'm almost done."
"As you wish," he answers, causing her to smile at him and roll her eyes.
From the counter in the break room he can see the bullpen. As Kate closes the Tisdale case file, puts her pen away and turns off her computer, he picks up the sad excuse of coffee the precinct has, and turns the light off as he leaves the room. With a soft sigh, she puts everything in the bankers box, closing the lid and sealing it. The report she just spent a good two hours on is placed in a plastic protective sheet and taped to the top.
He walks out to her with only one cup of coffee, handing it out to her. "Where's yours?" she questions.
"I'm not drinking that stuff," he grumbles. "It tastes like a monkey peed in battery acid."
She barks out a laugh, "Oh, so you've decided that I can drink it?"
He shrugs, "You do everyday, though I will never understand how. You guys really need an espresso machine."
"Babe, this is a precinct full of cops," Kate states, "As long as they have something resembling coffee, I think they're fine."
He goes to say something but is interrupted by Montgomery. "Detective Beckett, can I see you in here for a moment?"
She looks up at her husband with apologetic eyes, "I'm sorry, I'll be right back."
"It's ok, we've got time, Kate."
CB
Closing the door behind her, Kate prepares for what Montgomery has to say. He sits himself on the corner of his desk, folds his hands in his lap. "Everything okay, Kate?"
"Sir?"
He picks up a small packet of papers. "Your leave has been approved. Return date 'undetermined'. Again, I ask: is everything okay?"
"I just need to be with my family right now, Roy," she answers. Shaking her head slightly, willing her emotions to stay in check. "I feel like I'm missing so much of my daughters life, especially now when she's just becoming a teenager and can't go to her father with things she has questions about. I see the fear in her eyes every time I walk out of the house with my gun on my hip. She's scared that I won't come home."
Roy nods knowingly. "I understand." He stands, pulling her into a hug. "There's always a place for you here if and when you return. Go spend time with your family."
Kate smiles at him. "Thank you, Sir."
Rick watches the exchange between his wife and Roy. Over the years, Roy had become family, taking Kate under his wing when she became the youngest woman to make detective, through the hard years of Jim's alcohol abuse. This decision of taking leave wasn't made lightly.
"Ready to go home?" Kate asks, breaking him out of his thoughts.
He rises from the chair by her desk, and holds her jacket open for her. "More than."
She links her arm with his, and rests her head on his shoulder as they step into the elevator. "You still confident in your decision?"
She nods her head against him and squeezes his arm. "Yes. I need this time. I want to be with you and Alexis without having to worry about anything."
He kisses the side of her head. "You'll figure it out, Kate. You always do."
"We will figure it out," she whispers, turning her head and rising to meet him in a soft kiss.
The elevator opens, and he leads her to the waiting town car. She climbs in, he follows after telling their driver to take them home. She has so many things she wants to talk to him about, but they can wait until later. Right now she just wants to get home and pack, zip off to their Hamptons house and just relax with her family.
Pulling up to their building, she thanks the driver and takes Rick's hand.
"Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Castle," Eduardo greets, holding the door open for them.
"Good evening," they supply in unison.
CB
As soon as they walk through the door of their loft, they're greeted by the red heads. "Darlings, you're home early," Martha smiles, giving Kate a kiss on the cheek.
"Yeah, case closed," Kate smiles, pulling her daughter into a hug after Martha releases her. "How was your day, bean?"
Alexis smiles, "It was good, actually. Paige and I hung out and planned out our courses for next semester and exchanged books."
Rick has pulled Martha aside to let her know their plans. "Mother, we are going to head out to the Hamptons. I don't know when we will be back. I trust you won't burn the loft down?" He asks with a teasing grin.
"Richard, have I ever let you down before?" She winks, then glances over to where her daughter-in-law and granddaughter are sitting on the couch. "How is Katherine doing? She seems quiet."
"Her leave of absence was granted," he explains. "She's been wanting to spend time with Alexis uninterrupted for some time now."
"Do you think she's going to quit?"
"I honestly don't know, Mother," he shrugs, "but I owe it to her to let her figure out what she wants to do now."
"Well, I hope you all have a fabulous time in the Hamptons," grabbing the wine bottle and glass on the island, "I will hold down the fort here. Perhaps I'll visit you on the weekends."
"Fabulous idea," Rick smiles, and turns to his wife and daughter. He claps, and rubs his hands together, smiling at his girls, "Ladies, shall we pack?"
Alexis nods excitedly, "Last one packed has to ride in the back!" She's up the stairs faster than her parents could blink, causing them to chuckle.
Rick darts off next realizing that his teen has gotten a thirty second head start, "Come on Kate! She'll beat us!"
Kate barks out a laugh. Oh yeah, this is definitely what she's needed.
CB
As Kate pulls out onto the interstate, she glances in her rear view mirror to her pouting husband. "Come on, babe, cheer up."
He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. "Pft, Alexis won the contest. She had to have cheated."
"Oh come on Dad!" Alexis teases, "You're just getting old and can't move as fast as I can."
"Oh, kid, you're so gonna get dunked in the pool," Rick scoffs at his daughter.
Kate laughs at the exchange between her husband and Alexis. She's going to enjoy the beach, sun, ocean and family time. She can't remember the last time they were all together without the worry of her having to be called to a crime scene.
Half way through the car ride, Alexis had dozed off, as she usually does on car rides, leaving her parents to talk. Kate smiles at the feel of Rick's hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" he asks, squeezing gently.
She nods, "Yeah. I just really can't wait to relax."
"Well, what do you say once we get the car unloaded, I open us up a bottle of wine and make dinner instead of ordering in?"
"That sounds amazing," she answers, and adds. "Maybe once our girl is in bed for the night, you and I can have the pool all to ourselves."
"Oh, I am so down for that."
Alexis wakes just as Kate is pulling off the interstate. "Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Rick says, as his daughter looks around at her surroundings.
Alexis rolls her eyes. "Ha-ha," she deadpans. "What are we gonna do for dinner?" She asks, rubbing her growling stomach.
Kate pulls into the driveway of their vacation house, realizing how hungry she is also, "Dad's gonna cook once we unload the car."
"Well, let's go," Alexis says, unbuckling her seatbelt. "I'm starving!"
CB
Once inside the house, Alexis takes her things and heads up to her room. They decorated it for her when they first bought the house. Of course at the time they bought it, the now teenaged Alexis was six...maybe she'll bring it up to her parents that she wants to redecorate the room while they're here.
Opening the door to her room, she looks around, and wrinkles her nose at all the 'kid' stuff and pink walls. She nods to herself, 'I'm definitely gonna ask mom and dad if we can change this room. Was I really into pink this much?'
As Alexis headed to her room, Rick and Kate make a turn down the opposite end of the hall where their master bedroom is. Rick closes the door behind them, and watches as his wife puts the bags she carried at the foot of the bed. He smiles, she's gorgeous, always has been, and he doesn't know what he did to deserve this life that they have together.
Kate turns around, feeling her husbands eyes on her, and arches an eyebrow at him. "What is it?"
Walking the short distance to her, he wraps his arms around her waist, as her arms instinctively wrap around his neck. "Just wondering how I got so lucky to have this life."
"Really? You're going to be sappy right now?" she teases.
He leans down to kiss her, and whispers, "Always."
She chuckles, closing the distance between them, moaning softly when their lips touch. This is all she will ever need. Just being with Rick and their daughter is all Kate could ever want in life; and whomever comes next.
'Wait, what?' Kate thinks, 'Where did THAT come from?'
Alexis only has a few more years at home and then she'll be off to college. Does she really want another baby now? Is this why she really wanted to take a leave of absence? Since she's being honest with herself, wanting another baby is definitely part of the reason she wanted a break.
"Babe," she whispers, resting her forehead on Rick's.
"Hm?"
She smiles softly, and brings one of her hands from around his neck, to cup his cheek, "I love you."
"I love you too, Honey."
'No time like now.' She bites her lip softly, knowing how crazy it makes him, and inhales softly. "Let's have a baby."
It's a statement, not a question. Rick pulls back, his eyes searching her's. Did he hear her right?
"Lets have-"
"-a baby," Kate finishes. "Look, I know that this is seemingly out of the blue, and that Alexis only has a few more years with us at home. We always wanted more children, but with my work and your book tours, and enjoying watching Lex grow up, we just tabled the topic for another time. I don't want to wait anymore, Rick. I love you and I think we're ready. So…what do you say?"
You could't wipe the dopey grin off of Rick's face for anything. He brings Kate back to him, holding her waist flush against his as his lips find her neck. "Yes," he breathes into her. "Let's have a baby, Kate."
His hand slips under the hem of her shirt, and sets her skin on fire, his lips burn a trail from her neck to over her jaw until they're back on hers. Reluctantly, Kate pulls back. "Mm, wait, babe, we can't."
"What? You just said-"
"I know what I said, but we can't do this now," Kate chuckles. "We have a very awake teenager down the hall, and I'm really hungry."
"You're right," Rick nods, remembering that they came to the Hampton's as a family. "I'm just uh, gonna need a minute to-"
Kate grins wickedly and runs her hand low over him. "Oh, I know. We'll be in the kitchen when you've calmed down."
"Evil," he whispers, kissing her softly once more. "You're an evil woman."
"Mm," she agrees, and winks at him. "But you love me."
CB
By the time Rick makes it down to the kitchen, his girls have already started working on making the salad and sides for dinner. Alexis is babbling about how she wants to change her room to a 'cool teenager room' while washing the vegetables. Kate is agreeing with her, saying that they'll look over designs after dinner and call in their decorator.
"Do I even want to know how much this is gonna cost?" Rick teases, kissing his daughter on the head.
Alexis laughs, "Probably not."
"Well, what ever you choose I'm sure it will be fabulous," he smiles. "Now, are we going to eat inside or out on the patio?"
"I was thinking we could eat outside," Kate smiles. "It's a beautiful evening."
"Agreed!" Alexis nods.
"I'll go get the grill warmed up, you ladies join me when you're done," he says, grabbing the plate of steak and heading for the door.
"So, how long are we gonna be here for?" Alexis asks, breaking the head of lettuce and removing the core.
Kate shrugs. "Who knows? Dad can write from anywhere, and I don't have to work. We could stay here all summer if you wanted."
"Could I invite Paige?"
"Of course, Lex," Kate smiles. "You know we've always welcomed her in the past. Why would now be any different?"
She shrugs. "I don't know…I just thought you wanted this to be all about 'family time', so I wasn't sure."
"Yes, the main reason I took leave was to spend more time together as a family, but I also know that you're a young lady who wants to spend time with her friends. I was teenage girl before too, remember?"
"Okay, okay, you're right," the teen grins, finishing up with the various vegetables for the salad, she places them in the salad spinner and pumps the mechanism to drain the excess liquid.
"Ready?" Kate asks, placing a spoon in the bowl of mixed fruit and grabbing the basket of dinner rolls.
Picking up the bowl of salad and two bottles of dressing from the counter, Alexis nods. "Ready."
CB
Kate and Rick are cleaning up the kitchen while Alexis has already gone to bed for the night. "What do you think Alexis will say about our decision from earlier?"
Kate shrugs as she rinses off one of the plates and places them in the dish washer. "She always wanted a sibling when she was little."
"Yeah, but now she's thirteen," Rick reminds her.
"Which means she won't need all of our attention like she would have needed when she was younger. She'll be able to enjoy the baby more now. I think she'll be excited about the idea of being a big sister. Plus, if the baby is a girl, then Alexis could be someone she confides in if she doesn't want to come to us about something."
He lets Kate's words sink in, and grins. She's right. Alexis will be thrilled at the idea of having a younger sibling. He dries his hands and moves to stand behind his wife. He slips his arms around her waist, fingers slipping under the hem of her blouse to tease her skin. "So," he smiles, lips skimming her neck which he knows drives her crazy, "wanna head upstairs. We need to practice."
She's trying to hold her composure against his assault on her neck. "Hm, I think we're rather experienced - we don't need practice."
His hands continue to roam as he chuckles, "Quite right."
Resting her head on his shoulder, she bites her lip as a moan escapes her mouth. He's always been good at teasing her, getting her worked up. This is payback from this afternoon when they got here. She quickly turns in his arms, and fuses their mouths together, causing him to groan.
"Take me to bed, Rick."
And with that, he wraps his arms around her thighs, lifting her up, her ankles locking behind her.
To Be Continued…