Thank you to everyone who is reading, following, reviewing, and has favorited this story. I appreciate your enthusiasm and interest more than I could ever adequately tell you.
Alexis survived her first year of law school, and after catching up on her sleep, and a fair amount of soul searching, she sat Rick and Kate down and told them that she wanted to move into her own apartment. "Law school only gets tougher from here," she said, "so I'll be keeping crazy hours and studying all the time, and if I'm closer to campus, it'll be easier to get to the library. It's not that I don't like living here, because I do. I just...I think it's time for me to go out on my own, I mean really go out on my own."
And because they could see that it was what she wanted to do, they supported her decision...although Kate subtly sent Javi a text asking if he would be moving in with Alexis, since she knew Alexis was telling the truth about wanting an apartment closer to campus, and she figured that Javi would take the question coming from her more easily and less defensively than he would take it coming from Rick. Javi was quick to reassure Kate that he was not going to be living with Alexis. They weren't ready for that yet. When Kate casually mentioned to Rick that Javi wasn't moving in with Alexis, Rick felt much better about Alexis going out on her own.
Of course, they all knew that Javi would be spending some of his nights at Alexis's apartment, but Rick elected not to dwell on that.
It took until the middle of July for Alexis to find the perfect place, a one-bedroom apartment on West 110th Street, four minutes from Columbia's campus.
She was set to move in the first weekend in August, and Martha demurred on helping with the move, saying that she preferred to wait until the apartment was all set up to see it, so she elected to stay at the loft with Lily while the rest of the family, including Javier, Kevin and Jenny, Lanie and Alan, Jim, and of course Rick and Kate helped Alexis move in. Madison and Mark both had to work, and Victoria and Gerald were out of town for a quick vacation.
So it was that everyone was up bright and early on August 4, dressed in their oldest clothes, and spending their day moving Alexis into her new apartment. Kevin brought his toolbox, and proved to be very adept at home repair and fixing little things, and Alexis had bought all of the necessary supplies to babyproof her new home for Lily, because she wanted her little sister to be able to come over and spend time there safely.
Javier was on his phone with Matias, who insisted on coming over even though Javier and Alexis had both told him it wasn't necessary. "I may not be able to help lug boxes or furniture," Matias said, "but I would still like to be there." What Matias didn't say was that he was assembling a basket of housewarming gifts for Alexis, and he wanted to deliver it in person. He cracked his jaw, which felt tight, but which he brushed off as the result of years of grinding his teeth, and wiped the sweat from his brow; it was clearly going to be a scorching day in the city today. At times like this, he missed the ocean breezes of Miami.
"If you insist," Javier replied.
"I insist," Matias said. "Now, what is the address?" He scribbled it down after Javier gave it to him, and said, "I'll be there in a couple of hours. I have a few errands to run first. May I speak to Alexis, please?"
"Sure," Javier said. He headed for the bathroom, where Alexis was organizing the medicine cabinet. "Matias wants to talk to you," he said, giving Alexis his phone.
Alexis accepted the phone. "Hello, Matias," she said.
"Congratulations on your new home, Alexis," Matias said. "In case my son didn't tell you, I'll be there in a couple of hours. I have a few errands to run first."
"We'll be here, Matias," Alexis said. "We'll see you in a couple of hours, then." She gave the phone back to Javier.
Javier said, "Okay, we have a lot of work to do, so you run your errands and we'll see you in a couple of hours, right?"
"Right," Matias replied. "What's the apartment number?"
"5B," Javier said.
"Got it," Matias said. "I'll see you soon, Javier. Goodbye."
"Later," Javier said, ending the call before heading downstairs to help Castle, Ryan, and Alan lug Alexis's desk upstairs.
Alexis had already had the couch, recliner, ottoman, and television delivered the day before, along with having the electricity, water, gas, cable, and Wi-Fi turned on.
Matias, meanwhile, left his hotel—he had moved to a hotel in Manhattan, closer to Javier's apartment, after returning from his visit to Miami—and ran his errands. He idly wondered just how hot it was, as he was feeling listless and fatigued, and sweating profusely. And he had obviously eaten too late last night, because he was experiencing some serious indigestion. Undeterred, he gathered the objects he needed, and at the final shop, after explaining to the woman behind the counter what he wanted, she offered to assemble everything together in a nice basket done up with ribbons while Matias wrote a note to Alexis, explaining the meanings of his housewarming gifts.
He had just paid for the basket and ribbons and notepaper, and was settling himself in a cab when he trailed off in the middle of giving the cabbie Alexis's address and clutched at his chest, which felt tight all of a sudden. He tried to take a deep breath and found that he couldn't get enough air. After stuttering out the rest of Alexis's address, he leaned back heavily against the seat of the cab and asked haltingly, "Do...do you have...air...con...conditioning?"
The cabbie eyed Matias worriedly in the rearview mirror. "I've got it cranked up as high as it'll go. You don't look so good, Mister."
"I-" Whatever Matias might have been about to say was lost in sudden, desperate gasps for breath.
The cabbie swore and floored it. "We're close to Lenox Hill, pal, just hang on, all right?" Matias couldn't catch his breath, his chest was on fire, his clothes were soaked to his skin by perspiration.
His last thought before losing consciousness just as the cab screeched up to the Emergency Entrance at Lenox Hill Hospital was Javier.
Glancing over his shoulder as he threw his door open, the driver saw Matias slumped over next to his gift basket, swore again, and rushed inside, demanding help immediately. He couldn't answer any of the ER staff's questions, but he was in the process of studying to take the test to be an EMT for the Fire Department of New York, and this old man didn't have any family or friends with him when he got in the cab, so he decided to stick around the hospital until somebody showed up for the guy, if anyone did. After parking his cab, and retrieving the gift basket and the broom the man had left in the back seat, he headed to the ER waiting area, where he sat, the basket and broom at his feet, and waited for someone to show up to claim the man, wincing as he heard the machines and the shouted orders from the medical personnel working on him. If there's someone you need to say goodbye to, I hope you hang on long enough to do it, the cabbie, whose name was Sam, thought.
Everyone had taken a break for lunch, and there was a Subway near Alexis's new apartment, so Rick and Kate made the sandwich run, while Javier and Kevin headed to the nearest bodega for drinks.
Lanie stood in front of an open living room window, fanning herself. "I still have to get an air conditioner," Alexis said apologetically. "That's on my to-do list for first thing Monday."
Lanie turned away from the window to say something...and her eyes rolled back in her head as she fell to the floor in a dead faint.
Alan was returning from washing his hands and happened to be in the right place at the right time to catch his wife as she fell. "Lanie!" he exclaimed fearfully as he eased her down to the floor, her head in his lap. He looked up at Alexis, Jenny, and Jim, his face a study in stark terror.
Alexis dropped to her knees and felt for a pulse. "Her pulse is strong," she reported a few agonizingly long seconds later.
"Should we call an ambulance?" Jenny asked. Jim pulled out his phone, ready to dial 911 immediately.
"Lanie? Honey, can you hear me?" Alan asked anxiously.
Lanie's eyelids slowly fluttered open and the world came into focus. "Alan?" she asked faintly. "What happened?"
Alan swept Lanie up in his arms and carried her over to the couch. He gently laid her down and perched on the edge of the cushions as he said, "You fainted, that's what happened."
"I couldn't have fainted. I don't faint," Lanie said.
She tried to sit up, but she instantly felt dizzy and laid her head back down on the throw pillow on the couch. "It's probably just the heat," Lanie insisted.
"Is that why you're feeling dizzy now?" Alan countered. "It's hot in here, but it's not that hot. You're dizzy, and you just fainted, and I have a whole apartment full of witnesses here to back me up. We're going to the ER."
"It's probably just the heat," Lanie insisted again.
All hell broke loose then, as Rick and Kate returned loaded down with sandwiches, while Javier and Kevin came in hauling cases of bottled water and soda.
"Lanie's dizzy and she fainted and she's refusing to go to the hospital," Alan reported.
Javier's phone rang then, and he went into the hallway to answer it while a lively debate raged about whether or not Lanie should go to the hospital.
"I'm telling you, it's just the heat," Lanie said.
"You were hit pretty hard by that inner ear infection last month," Alan reminded her. "You were dizzy and your equilibrium was thrown off then too, but you didn't faint. What if you've relapsed?" He looked from Lanie up at their friends, and then back at his wife. "I know I'm coming off high strung here, but you're my wife, you're my whole world, so of course I'm gonna be worried when you faint, because you've never fainted before."
At the reminder of her inner ear infection, Lanie remembered the antibiotics she had taken for that infection...and in that instant, she recalled a few other things, and her face telegraphed her "Oh, crap" reaction.
"What? What is it?" Alan asked anxiously, recognizing the look on Lanie's face.
"I don't need to go to the hospital," Lanie insisted. "Not yet, anyway. But we do need to do something."
"What?" Alan asked.
Lanie sat up, relieved when she wasn't assailed by another wave of dizziness. "Excuse us, everyone," she said. "We'll be back soon." She grabbed Alan by the hand, pulled him to his feet, and they walked out of the apartment. Javier was still on the phone, standing at the end of the hallway, the hand not holding his phone raking through his hair.
"Are you sure you're up for the walk?" Alan asked as they began to make their way down the stairs. Alexis's apartment was a fifth-floor walk-up, no elevator anywhere in the building.
"I think I know what's going on with me," Lanie said. She stopped on the fourth-floor landing and looked at Alan. "I just realized it hasn't been that time of the month for a couple of months. I think the antibiotics canceled out my birth control..." She trailed off.
Alan looked at Lanie in shock. "You think you're pregnant?" he asked hopefully.
"I think there's a pretty good chance, yes," Lanie admitted. "We were going to revisit the subject after our anniversary, which is in a few weeks, but now...Well, now, I don't know."
Alan gently wrapped his arms around Lanie and pulled her closer. "If you are pregnant, it'll be the best first anniversary gift possible," he said. "And if you're not, I'm ready to start trying anytime you are. Are you okay with being pregnant now, if you are pregnant now?"
"You know, I really am," Lanie realized. "It's a little ahead of schedule, maybe, but they say if you wanna make God laugh, tell Him your plans. And a little boy who looks like you-"
"Or a little girl who looks like you," Alan interrupted.
"As long as it's healthy, I don't care if we have a boy or a girl," Lanie said.
"Now, I'm guessing the next thing we do is go get a pregnancy test?" Alan said.
"Two or three," Lanie replied. "Margin of error, false positives, got to account for that, you know."
"Of course," Alan said. They resumed walking, and Alan threaded his fingers through Lanie's. "I really love you."
"I really love you too," Lanie replied as they headed out to buy a pregnancy test.
Meanwhile, while almost everyone in the apartment wondered exactly where Lanie and Alan had gone, Kate and Jenny exchanged a knowing look, which did not go unnoticed by Rick and Kevin, but before either man could ask what the knowing look was about, Javier re-entered the apartment, looking dazed.
"Javi? You want water or soda?" Kevin asked. Javier didn't answer him.
Alexis knew by the look in Javier's eyes that something was terribly wrong. She crossed the room until she was standing at his side. "Javier?" she asked.
"Matias is at Lenox Hill Hospital," he said. "He's had a heart attack. It...it doesn't look good."
Everyone exchanged looks all around. "Let's go," Alexis said simply.
"Are you expecting any deliveries or anything today?" Jim asked.
"No," Alexis replied.
"We'll clean up the food and meet you there," Kate said.
"We'll come with you," Kevin said, looking from Javi and Alexis to Jenny to Castle and Beckett.
"Good idea," Rick said. "In fact, Ryan, you should drive."
And so Kevin and Jenny and Javier and Alexis piled into the Ryans' minivan and Kevin drove to Lenox Hill Hospital, Alexis holding his hand the whole way, while back at Alexis's new apartment, Rick called Martha to check on Lily, who was doing fine, and tell her what had happened to Matias, and Kate texted Lanie to let her know that they were headed to Lenox Hill Hospital because Matias had had a heart attack and things were not looking good.
After Rick, Kate, and Jim had finished putting the sandwiches and drinks in the refrigerator, they left the apartment, with Rick and Kate heading to the hospital, and Jim heading to the loft to see Lily.
When they arrived at the ER at Lenox Hill Hospital, Javier and Alexis jumped out while Kevin and Jenny went to park, and check in with Jenny's parents, who were watching Sarah Grace and Nick, and they raced into the ER. Javier practically skidded to a stop at the first desk he came to and breathlessly said, "Matias Esposito...my father...he was brought in a while ago...he had a heart attack."
"Yes, Mr. Esposito," the nurse at the desk said as she checked her computer. "Your father is in the Cardiac ICU. Dr. Lee is his physician."
Alexis pulled out her phone and texted her father this information just as Kevin and Jenny came rushing in. "Thank you," Alexis told the nurse as she, Kevin and Jenny followed Javier, who made a full-out sprint for the elevator.
When they reached the Cardiac ICU, Javier was about two seconds away from using his badge to get answers about Matias, but Kevin and Alexis managed to stop him. A somber-looking sixtyish woman with her gray hair pulled back in a bun introduced herself as Dr. Lee. "Are you Javier?" she asked Javier.
"Yes," he said. "How is my father?"
"In critical condition," Dr. Lee replied gravely. "We're doing everything we can for him, Mr. Esposito, but as I'm sure you know, your father has end-stage COPD-"
"I know," Javier replied.
"Is that what caused the heart attack?" Alexis asked.
"Our preliminary examination indicates that the answer to that question is yes," Dr. Lee replied. "The COPD has significantly weakened his lungs, and caused a drop in the oxygen levels in his body. With lungs as weak as his, the heart muscle doesn't get enough oxygen, and when the heart doesn't get enough oxygen..."
"Heart attack," Javier finished grimly. "Can I see him?"
"Yes," Dr. Lee said. "He's been asking for you. Follow me."
Alexis looked at Kevin and Jenny over her shoulder. "We'll wait here, fill Beckett and Castle in when they get here," Kevin promised.
"Thank you," Alexis said gratefully. She took hold of Javier's hand, which was cold and clammy. He seemed to be moving on autopilot. When Dr. Lee looked at Alexis questioningly, she said simply, "I'm Javier's girlfriend. Matias knows me. I want to be there for both of them."
Dr. Lee nodded, then stood aside to let Javier and Alexis enter Matias's room. Matias looked pale and drawn, tubes and wires attached to his chest, both arms, and an oxygen tube in his nose, beeping machines and monitors surrounding his hospital bed. Alexis squeezed Javier's hand reassuringly, and he gave her a look of such anguish and confusion it made her chest physically ache.
Javier cleared his throat. "Matias?" he asked.
With great effort, Matias opened his eyes, and looked up at Javier. "Javier," he rasped.
"I'm here," Javier said, stroking Matias's hair. "Just take it easy. You need to rest."
"You're a good son," Matias said with great difficulty. "Better...man than me." He looked to Alexis now. "Take...care...of him..."
Alexis swallowed hard, fighting tears, and reached for Matias's hand as she vowed, "For the rest of my life."
"Te amo, mi hijo," Matias whispered—Spanish for "I love you, my son."
Then the machines surrounding Matias began sounding their alarms. "Code Blue, Room 415, Code Blue, Room 415!" came the shout from the hallway.
Dr. Lee came charging into the room with a veritable army of nurses and other doctors. "You'll have to leave now," she told Javier and Alexis in a tone that brooked no arguments. "Get that crash cart up here NOW!"
Javier froze. For the first time in his life, he just completely froze. Alexis pulled him out of the room and into the hall just as Dr. Lee said, "Charging to 300...Clear!"
Rick and Kate were there with Kevin and Jenny when Alexis and Javier emerged from Matias's room. "We heard the Code Blue call," Kate said.
Kevin stepped forward and clapped a hand on Javier's shoulder. "We're here, Javi," he said.
A young man with sandy hair carrying a large gift basket and a broom approached the group then. "You're the family of Matias Esposito?" he asked.
"Who are you?" Alexis asked him.
"My name is Sam Keith," he replied. "He had just gotten in my cab and given me an address near Columbia University when he started having trouble breathing. He wanted me to turn up the air conditioning, but I had it cranked as high as it would go. I'm studying to be an EMT with the FDNY, and one look at him in the rearview mirror and I knew he was in trouble, so I floored it here, because this was the closest hospital to where I picked him up." He held out the gift basket and a broom. "He had this with him. I don't know why, or who it's for, but I wanted to make sure it didn't get ripped off." He forced a mirthless chuckle then. "Born and raised in New York City," he added wryly. "And I wanted to stick around until someone showed up for him."
Alexis took the gift basket and broom. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for getting him here, and for sticking around until we got here."
Dr. Lee exited Matias's room then. Before she opened her mouth, everyone knew what she was going to say by the look on her face. "I'm so very sorry. We did everything we could, but the heart attack was just too massive."
Javier swallowed hard. "Thank you, Doctor," he said.
"You can have a few minutes with him," Dr. Lee said as the other medical personnel filed out of Matias's room.
Javier nodded. Alexis hugged him, and when she stepped aside, Kevin hugged him, then Jenny, then Kate, then Rick, all of them murmuring words of condolences and sympathy that he didn't really hear.
Alexis was prepared to go in with him, but he told her he wanted to go in by himself. She agreed, but looked at Rick and Kate worriedly.
"Be patient with him," Rick advised. "Let him know you're there, but don't push. He'll come to you when he's ready."
Alexis still looked worried, though. She knew Javier had forgiven Matias. She didn't know if he loved his father. She couldn't say that she loved Meredith. She felt sort of an obligation to her because Meredith gave birth to her, but for all intents and purposes, Kate was just as much Alexis's mother as she was Lily's.
"He'll talk to you," Kate assured her, wrapping an arm around Alexis's shoulders and pulling her against her side. "It'll take some time, I'm sure, but as long as he knows you're there, that's what will really matter."
"I'm there," Alexis said firmly. "I'm there for the rest of my life."
In the hospital room, Javier regarded Matias's body wordlessly for several minutes. "You tried," he said, breaking the silence. "You didn't come on like Father of the Year, you explained yourself, and you never asked more of me than I was willing to give.
"And I have to admit, it took guts for you to come back after all these years. When you told me you loved me...I believe you.
"So, I guess Walter would know more about your arrangements than me. I'll have to call him. Clean out your hotel room, settle up the final bill. I can do that, though. I'll take care of everything."
He sat down at Matias's bedside. "Thanks for coming back. Thank you for giving me the answers I needed. That took courage. If I can say I got anything from you, maybe I got some of your courage." He shifted slightly. "I have a happy life. I'm gonna marry Alexis someday, and I'm gonna be okay. Maybe knowing that, you can rest a little easier now." He focused intently on Matias's face, slack in death, memorizing his features, then leaned down and kissed him in the middle of the forehead. "Te amo, Papa," he said. ("I love you, Dad.")
He exited the room to find that Sam Keith, the cabbie who had brought Matias to the hospital when he was obviously in distress, was still there, along with Alexis, Kevin, Jenny, Beckett and Castle. Alexis and Jenny had tears in their eyes, and Beckett was even misty-eyed.
Javier extended his hand to the young cabbie. "Thank you for bringing my father here when you realized he was in respiratory distress," he said.
Young Mr. Keith shook Javier's hand. "I'm sorry for your loss," he said.
Javier thanked him, and then moved over to where the others were gathered. "What's this?" he asked.
Alexis wiped at her eyes. "Matias was bringing all this as a housewarming gift for me," she said. "And he wrote a note...more of a letter, really...to go with it."
She handed Javier the letter. Matias had written:
"Dear Alexis,
"Congratulations on moving into your first apartment. Here are a few housewarming gifts to get you off on the right foot.
"Bread, so that this house may never know hunger.
"Salt, that life may always have flavor.
"Wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever.
"Honey, so that you may always enjoy the sweetness of life.
"A broom, to help sweep away any evil and bad luck.
"A coin, so you may dwell in good fortune.
"A candle, so you may dwell in light and happiness.
"I wish you a lifetime of happiness and prosperity, both as a woman and as the love of my son's life.
"-Matias"
After reading his father's note, that's when Javier began to cry, slowly, quietly. Alexis pulled him into her embrace, and Kevin, Jenny, Rick and Kate surrounded them.
And at that exact moment, in their bathroom at home, Lanie and Alan were laughing and crying over the three positive pregnancy tests that Lanie had just taken.
They kept the pregnancy news to themselves, though, partly because Lanie wanted to wait until she was safely through the first trimester, and partly because when she and Alan came up for air, Lanie called Kate and learned that Javi's father had died.
Matias had made arrangements to be buried in New York. Walter Albertson came up for the funeral. Javi, remembering the last time Beckett and Castle had attended a funeral, and not wanting to trouble or potentially trigger them, told them they didn't have to come to the funeral if they would rather not, but they insisted on being there for him. "It's what friends do," Kate said simply. "It's what family does." Rick agreed with her, and they were there at the cemetery, holding hands, fingers linked together, but they got through it without being triggered into panic attacks. Javi needed them, and they were there for him.
Walter took on the task of cleaning out Matias's hotel room the day after the funeral, and promised that he would also take care of the possessions Matias had left in Miami. He came to the loft afterwards, where Javier was spending time with Alexis, Lily, Beckett, Castle, Martha and Jim, and he presented Javier with several spiral-bound notebooks and a sealed envelope addressed to him. "I don't know what's in the envelope," Walter said, "but when Matias visited me in Miami, he told me about the notebooks, and made me promise I'd make sure they went to you after he passed, so here they are."
Javi thanked Walter for all of his help before Walter said goodbye and left, and then turned to Alexis. "How are you doing?" she asked him.
"He wasn't in my life for that long," Javier reflected. "But I'm glad I got to know him some, and that I got answers to questions I'd had for a long time. I don't think I can ask for more than that." He took her hands in his. "I would be a lot more messed up about this if not for you."
Alexis kissed him gently, chastely, and then they embraced, Javier resting his head on her shoulder.
Kate and Rick were nearby, watching Alexis and Javier. "He's gonna be okay," Kate said. "He's got Alexis, and she'll make sure of it. She takes after you that way. You made me want to be okay again long after I thought it was possible, and you stood by me even when I stupidly tried to push you away. Espo's smarter than I am about that, at least."
"You were still healing," Rick retorted gently. "And the only place I ever want to be is by your side, Kate. It's been that way since our first case, and it'll be that way always, no matter what."
Kate wrapped her arms around his neck, and Rick's arms went around her waist. "Whatever life throws at us...whatever happens with your next book, and my City Council duties...when it comes time for us to expand our family...whatever the future brings, I'm ready for it, because we're going to be doing all of it together."
"For the time of our lives," Rick promised.
Before they could kiss, Lily toddled away from her grandparents and walked over to her parents. Pulling on Kate's slacks, she said, "Up, Mama!"
"You want up?" Kate asked, releasing Rick to scoop Lily up. "You've got it, Lily."
Braced between her parents, Lily babbled happily. Rick and Kate each planted a kiss on one of Lily's cheeks at the same time.
Javier looked over at Lily, happily sandwiched between Beckett and Castle, and at Jim and Martha nearby, and at Alexis. He thought of Kevin and Jenny and Sarah Grace and Nick...and of Lanie and Alan...and of Gates and her husband, all of whom had been present at Matias's funeral.
All of them were his family. And whatever the future brought for all of them, he knew that nothing and no one would ever change that fundamental fact; and although he couldn't make himself smile at the moment, he took great comfort and felt great peace at this basic truth of his life.
We make a major time jump in the next chapter. I hope you'll stick with the story, because there's a lot of stuff coming up for pretty much everybody, including two major events that I've been asked about numerous times. Thank you all again for taking this journey with me and our Castle family.
