Beckett does a quick sweep of the apartment, holding her weapon down. She hears the slightest creak of the stairs and she turns around, pointing the gun in that direction. "Do not move" she says authoritatively. The bodyguard's slightly taken aback by who she sees in front of her, but is ready to shoot if this person has any intention of harming her Principals.
Thoughts start swirling in Beckett's mind. Who is this? What are they doing here? Could it be the creepy fan? It shouldn't be… The profile she had managed to get was that given that that the letters weren't directly threatening yet, they shouldn't be escalating to breaking and entering, at least not this quickly.
"Oh my god!" a redhead woman, who has the upper-class feel and looks about 60 years old, lifts her hands with a shocked expression on her face.
"Mother? What are you doing here again?" Castle says appearing behind Beckett, who turns to look at him, with her weapon still pointed at the woman. He was supposed to stay outside. "I was never a scout" he explains as the bodyguard fumes at him.
"Castle, I told you to stay outside. If I give you an order I expect you to obey it" she gives him her patented look. Actually she wasn't expecting for him to stay put. Gosh, he's a handful! How is she supposed to do her job like that?
"Then you don't know me very well"
Martha clears her throat from her spot, waiting for the bodyguard to lower her weapon.
"Right" Beckett puts her gun away. "Sorry Mrs. Castle"
"It's actually Rodgers. I changed my name" Castle explains. "Alexis! It's clear!" he yells for the teen to come in.
"Martha Rodgers" she goes down the stairs and shakes the bodyguard's hand.
"I'm so sorry Mrs. Rodgers" she apologizes before returning the handshake. "Kate Beckett. Castle's bodyguard"
"Oh, she's even prettier than you said" Martha looks at Castle, while Beckett's eyes widen. "Call me Martha" she tells the younger woman.
"Mother, what are you doing here?" he ignores her comment completely.
"Oh, I just dropped by to see how my son was doing"
"You were here 5 hours ago" he looks pointedly at Martha. "And you just dropped by while we weren't here? With your luggage?" he turns his gaze to the kitchen where three suitcases lay.
"I just… I had a little… situation" she says dismissively.
"What happened mother?" he tells her sternly.
"Grams!" Alexis walks into the room and upon seeing her grandmother a smile lights her face.
"Oh, hey kiddo" Martha hugs the teen.
As grandmother and granddaughter walk to the kitchen to catch up, Beckett and Castle stay standing in the middle of the room.
"You talk about me to Martha?" the bodyguard almost hisses at him after she recovers from the initial shock. The fact that he told his mother about her didn't bother her as much as the fact that he'd actually told her she's pretty.
I mean, she's not going to deny that she is an attractive woman, but having him talk about her like that makes her feel things… Weird things. Things she shouldn't be feeling.
"Well she is my mother. And you work with us" he doesn't find any reason why he shouldn't talk about his own personal hero with his mom.
There he goes again charming her. She notices that he said you work with us instead of you work for us, which is in what she's actually doing.
She rolls her eyes and decides it's probably better if she just forgets the comment.
"Want something to drink?"
As a matter of fact I need stiff drink. Like, now. "Actually… I was planning on leaving if you don't need me anymore"
"You saved my life yesterday, and you were there for me today. The least I can do is give you a glass of wine or something"
She sighs before looking at him straight in the eye and telling him something he doesn't seem to understand. "You pay me to protect you. That's what I do"
That throws him off a bit. Of course he knows why she's there… His train of thought is interrupted by his mother.
"Nonsense" Martha walks towards the duo and gestures for them to follow her to the kitchen. Beckett does so begrudgingly, realizing she doesn't really have a say in the matter. "You sit down right here" Martha tenderly steers the brunette to the table where Alexis is already seated. "Tell us all about last night. We've only heard his version"
"What do you want to drink?" he asks from the kitchen.
"You know what I like" Martha smiles at her son who fake-smiles in return.
"I do, mother"
"Nothing, thanks" Alexis tells him.
He nods. "Beckett?"
"Water is fine, thank you" Martha and Alexis look expectantly at the bodyguard and she takes a deep breath before starting. "Well, your son had the brilliant idea to mess around with the Russian mafia" she glares at the writer.
"I wish I could say I was surprised. It's my fault. Really. He never had a father figure" she looks apologetically at Beckett, who visibly relaxes after hearing this tidbit and seeing that what makes Richard Castle tick is his mother. She finds reassurance in that fact, knowing what pushes his buttons, given he already seems to know what makes her get all worked up… In more ways than one…. Okay, okay, not going there.
"Oh, that's not true, mother. I had lots of father figures" he looks pointedly at his mother.
The older woman simply shrugs and Beckett continues with the story, making Martha and Alexis look at the novelist disapprovingly and shake their heads in disbelief from time to time earning small smiles from the bodyguard.
After she's done with the story and beverages have almost completely disappeared from the glasses, Martha casually starts another conversation.
"So Richard tells me you used to work in the NYPD?"
"Yep" her eyes cast down at the bittersweet memory of her time in the force, but she then lifts her gaze back up. "I was on my way to becoming a Homicide Detective"
"Oh" Martha nods and then feels a need to try to impress the young bodyguard – though she doesn't really accomplish her goal. The thing is, she's the kind of actress who never made it as big as she thinks she did. "I did an NYPD Blue once, remember?" she asks her son.
"You were the crazy homeless woman" Alexis narrows her eyes at her grandmother.
"And some might say, still are" he figures that the reason his mother's there with all her stuff is that her most recent husband probably got tired of her and threw her out. He's just hoping that she doesn't plan on staying for too long.
Beckett has to stifle a laugh.
Alexis feels the headache starting to intensify. She closes her eyes and rubs her temples before standing up. "I think I should go to bed"
"Are you okay?" concern covers Castle's features
"Yeah, it's just a headache"
"Okay" the novelist nods. "If you need anything, yell"
"Right" Alexis gives them a small smile before disappearing upstairs.
"I should probably leave too if you don't need me" Beckett rises to her feet, and Castle does the same.
"No, that's all"
Beckett nods. "Goodnight, Castle, Martha"
"Bye" she waves her off from the table.
"Bye" he says quietly before she's out the door. He sighs, and turns around. His mother has some explaining to do.
A couple of days later, Castle calls his bodyguard fairly early in the morning and tells her he has somewhere to be and he needs her to go with him. She gets ready and is at his door by 9:30.
"Good morning" he opens the door with a smile.
"Morning, Castle"
"Come in" he motions for her to get into the loft.
As she walks inside she notices both Martha and Alexis having breakfast. "Morning" she says politely.
"Good morning, darling"
"Good morning"
As Castle walks into the kitchen to get some coffee, Beckett approaches the redheads. "Alexis, shouldn't you be in school?" she gives the girl a puzzled look. It's the middle of the week and she doesn't look sick.
The teen rolls her eyes. "Dad didn't let me go"
This confuses the bodyguard even further. She narrows her eyes at him as he places a mug of coffee in front of her, which she accepts without a word.
"The doctor said you could skip school for a few days if you wanted to, and you still have a headache" having her stay home is perfectly reasonable.
Beckett nods in understanding before taking a sip of her coffee. "So where are we going today?"
A childish excitement lights his features. "Oh, you're gonna love it"
"No, I'm pretty sure I won't" she retorts. Somehow, his little adventures almost always end badly.
He just smiles at her. She has no idea.
After she's done with her coffee and he's done with breakfast, they leave the apartment.
She walks directly to her car, but he stops her. "How about we walk this time?" sometimes he just prefers walking, getting a feel for the city, for the people… And he's in no rush today.
"Okay" she shrugs and goes for it.
"Your mother seems like quite a woman" after a few minutes of walking she breaks the silence.
"You don't know the half of it. And now, I get to live with her craziness 24/7" he says in dismay.
"Your mother is moving in with you?" Beckett has to repress a chuckle.
"Yeah, some gold-digger stole all her life savings" he shakes his head. He still can't believe it. "And now I have to put up with her dramatic ways until she finds a place of her own" hopefully soon.
Beckett rolls her eyes at his pouting. "It's just so rough being you"
"My cross to bear"
The duo walks in companionable silence as they approach a playground. There are children playing on the swings and at the sandbox. The familiar sound of kids' laughter and their mothers yelling after them takes Castle back to Alexis' childhood years.
"This brings me back a bit" he comments thoughtfully.
"A bit?" she snickers playfully. "I'm thinking it's a little more than that, Castle"
"I'm not talking about when I was a kid. I'm talking about when I used to bring Alexis"
"Hmm" the bodyguard nods.
"Spring, summer, fall… We were here every day. Meredith was doing Community Theater. She was on the road a lot, so I was the one who took care of her"
"Ah, yes" Beckett smiles. "I can totally see you as Mr. Mom" as a matter of fact, she has seen him as Mr. Mom.
"Some of the best days of my life"
"It's actually kind of nice" sometimes she's still surprised by how good of a father he is.
"Yeah, tell me about it" he pauses and then he feels a need to bring up his playboy reputation. "Do you know how many lonely single mothers there are on a Manhattan playground? And there I was between marriages…" good times.
Beckett shakes her head as they continue their little walk. "So are you gonna tell me where we're going?"
"You'll see when we get there"
A while later, the bodyguard's brows knit in confusion when she notices where they're going. What in the world are we doing back at the hospital?
AN: So they're back at the hospital... But why? Hit the reviews with your theories!
Now, I also want to thank all of you who have favorited/followed/reviewed! I feel so excited seeing the awesome response I'm getting for the story!