Kate's body hums next to his, and Rick doesn't think it's excitement. She offered to stay and talk to Alexis with him, but now she was rethinking it.
Things between her and Alexis were tense, and that was putting it lightly.
The two sit on the couch, about an inch apart. Kate doesn't like the distance, even if it is small. But she's convinced herself it will be better if she isn't all over Rick when his daughter walks in the room.
Alexis had called, maybe ten minutes ago, informing him that she was on her way. She was due back any minute now.
Rick reaches over and takes Kate's hand, leaving it where it rests in her lap but interweaving their fingers together.
She gives him a small, nervous smile, and squeezed his hand.
"It's going to be fine, Kate. Relax."
His voice soothes her, and she lets her worst-case-scenario thoughts drop away. Her back, which had been straight as a board since they sat down, slouches slightly and she leans back into the leather of the couch.
After a moment, she shifts towards him and lets her head fall to his shoulder, her temple against the firm curve of his upper arm.
The arms closest to her moves and wraps around her shoulders, and he turns his head to place a lingering kiss into her hair.
Just then, the lock turns and the door swings open. Alexis, looking tired and slightly disheveled, shuffles in. She kicks the door closed behind her, and her eyes find them.
"Hi, Dad," Alexis says, unsure. Her eyes lock on Kate, who had retreated to her uncomfortable posture on the couch.
Rick smiles, and as if nothing were different from the last time he saw her, asks, "How was the party, sweetheart?"
Alexis looks to her father, then back to the woman. "It was fun. Hello, Detective Beckett."
"Hi Alexis," she mumbles.
Alexis turns and ascends the staircase, leaving them without another word.
"Maybe I should go talk to her," Rick says slowly.
Kate places a hand on his knee. "No, Castle, I'll go."
"You sure?"
"Mmhmm!" she hums her response, though it sounds forced.
She stands and moves stiffly towards the staircase. On the upper floor, she stops in front of the door that she knows belongs to Alexis.
She raises a fist to knock, but hesitates. Inwardly scolding herself for being afraid of a teenage girl, she brings her knuckles to the wood of the door.
"Alexis? It's Kate. Can we talk?"
The door flies open, and Alexis has already changed from her party-wear to something more casual, and she's pulling her light-red hair into a messy bun at the crown of her head. "About what?" she asks, with a little more attitude than usual.
Normally, it would have annoyed Kate, but right now she was too scared to be angry about her tone.
When she doesn't speak right away, Alexis turns back into her room and goes to sit on her bed.
Kate takes a deep breath and steps a few feet inside the room.
Her voice shakes, more than it should. "Look, I know this is weird. I know we haven't been on the best of terms lately. But I also know that—" her voice fails her, and Alexis is looking impatient.
"I know that I want to be with him. Your father," she adds, though she realizes too late that it isn't necessary.
Alexis crosses her arms over her chest. "Why now? Why do you suddenly want to be with him now, after all you've put him through?"
Kate sighs. "After my mom died, all I saw was red. I wanted to punish whoever did this to me and my dad. It's why I became a cop. It's why I was shot. I let it take me over, I let it rule me. I blocked out everyone and everything that got in my way."
"You forgot to mention how you roped my dad in and then left."
"Alexis, after the shooting I was in a really bad place. I didn't want him to see me like that."
"So you just disappeared? You left him here to worry and even though you're back you still treat him like nothing? You still let him follow you around and risk his life for you?" Alexis had stto from the bed, and anger poisoned her words.
"I never wanted that. I never wanted to put him in danger, you need to know that."
"But that didn't stop either of you. You almost died, but you still chase after this guy. What makes you think he won't be back?"
"I'm going to stop working on her case."
"Kate, you're a cop. You can't just drop a case, especially your own."
Kate pauses, and her body betrays her by starting to shake. "I'm not a cop anymore. I resigned."
"You what?"
Kate turns to see Rick standing a few feet behind her, in the doorway.
"I quit," she repeats softly, and a tear rolls down her cheek. She brings a hand up, and stares at its wetness incredulously.
"I-I'm sorry, I have to go," she says quickly, and flees, pushing past Rick and flying down the stairs.
Rick and Alexis stand completely still, staring at each other. They wait, and the door slams shut below.
Alexis drops onto her bed, staring at the spot where Kate had just been. "Dad, I'm sorry. I had no idea."
He goes to her, pulling his daughter into his arms. "It's okay."
Alexis pushes out of his embrace gently. "We should go get her."
He nods, and they both rush out of the loft.
She hadn't made it very far, they find her crumpled against the wall at the end of the hallway, next to the elevator.
Kate cries silently, but the sobs wrack her body. Alexis makes it to her first, and Rick moves to the other side. The younger girl places a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Kate? Kate, I'm sorry."
She didn't look up, her head buried in her knees, arms holding her legs to her.
Alexis drops her hand. "Kate, look at me."
Kate raises her head slightly to look at Alexis, just enough that her red-rimmed eyes are visible beneath the auburn waves of hair.
"Tell me what happened."
In a shaky, quiet voice, Kate tells her the whole story, all the way up until she walked out of Gates' office.
"I don't know what else to do. After my mom's murder, my job is the only thing that makes me who I am." She sniffles, and wipes at her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. "But if I have to choose, I choose him. I know that now." She turns to look at Rick. "I made a rash decision in the heat of the moment. I'm done with my mom's case," she tells him, and she means it.
She looks back to Alexis. "But I don't know if I'm ready to be done being a cop."
Rick pulls her gently from the floor, and she sinks into his arms. She had stopped crying, but she felt more tears threatening to fall.
"Kate?"
She turns her face from his shoulder to look at Alexis.
"Promise me you're done with putting your mom's case before your life?"
She nods, and a stray tear slides down her cheek.
"Then you really shouldn't have to choose between your job and my dad."
Alexis beamed at them, and Rick pulled her into the hug. It was an awkward fit, and they all laughed.
As they made their way back to the loft, Rick's arm over Alexis' shoulders and his hand holding Kate's, Rick pressed his lips to Alexis' forehead and whispered, "Thank you."
