Author's note: this is all the original chapters seven and eight.
Kate was moving around the kitchen, quickly trying to prepare several things at once. There was a sense of organized chaos as she stirred a large pot, then a smaller one, then emptied a tub of something in a bowl and mixed it with a couple eggs.
Alexis and Rick sat at the bar, watching her work. They had already offered to help a few times, but Kate had told them to sit and keep her company.
Rick watched her closely, fascinated by her expressions. She was obviously concentrating on getting dinner right, but she was laughing too, and remaining involved in the conversation. She moved quickly from one thing to the next, but didn't seem frazzled at all. Just busy. And happy.
He smiled when she blew- for at least the fifth time- at the strand of hair that kept falling in her face, an escapee from the messy ponytail she wore.
"Are you sure we can't help you?" Rick asked, yet again.
Kate sighed good-naturedly, and paused to look at them.
"Yeah," Alexis added, looking hopeful. "Please let us help. I really want to."
Kate smiled at the girl, then sighed. "Fine. Alexis come on in here and help me stir stuff. Castle, grate this." Kate held a fat white chunk of cheese out to him along with a grater.
"Grate?" he frowned. "Can't you just use pre-grated mozzarella?"
Kate gave him a look and said, "You wanted to help, this is helping." Then she pushed the cheese and grater into his hands and laughed at his pouty look.
She got back to work then, her movements a little more relaxed since she didn't have to do twenty things at once anymore. She even found time to push that stray strand of hair back into her ponytail, Castle noted, slightly disappointed. He had found it exceptionally cute watching her blow the lock out of her face over and over again.
Kate had initially been worried that she wouldn't remember the recipe, so she hadn't really wanted the Castles to witness, should she fail. But as she started, as she got the pasta boiling and all the ingredients together, it came back to her as if it were yesterday. And working side-by-side with Alexis brought the images of her mother forcefully to Kate's mind.
Impulsively, Kate wrapped her arm around Alexis's shoulders, and squeezed for a second. "I was your age when my mom taught me this recipe," she said, just before she released the girl.
Alexis smiled up at her warmly and they continued working side-by-side. "Will you teach me? We both know my dad can't cook."
"Hey," he complained. "It's not a matter of can't, it's a matter of why should I when there's plenty of better food a phone call away. What are we making, anyway?"
"Lasagna," Kate said, laughing at him as she pulled a large casserole dish out of a cupboard. "My mother used to make the best lasagna."
"And now you're making it for us," Castle said. "Thank you."
"Yeah, Kate, thank you," Alexis added. "So far it smells great!"
Kate smiled at the compliment, then turned to eye Castle. "I'm doing this mostly for Alexis. I've seen what you two eat most nights. It's no wonder you've gained a few pounds, Ricky."
His mouth dropped open in faux outrage. "You do not get to talk, oh Queen of the Styrofoam temple."
"Most of that stuff was organic, and besides, I live alone. I'm not the one with a daughter they should be feeding better."
Rick waved his hand in dismissal, unperturbed. "That's what I pay her school ridiculous amounts of money for. To teach her better than I do."
"And feed her better, apparently."
"Dad cooks all right… when he wants to," Alexis interjected, trying to defend her dad.
Rick smiled at his daughter's attempt to make her dad sound… not completely irresponsible.
Kate began assembling ingredients in the casserole dish, Alexis helped by handing her bowls as she went.
"All right!" Kate exclaimed, closing the oven door on the dish. "It's done, it just needs to bake for a while. Castle," she added, putting a bunch of greens in front of him, as well as a bowl and assorted fruit and vegetables. "You can make the salad while I go change."
"I'd rather help you with that," he complained.
"Uh-hah ha ha," she fake laughed. Then she grabbed the hand towel off the counter and threw it at his face.
When the towel fell, he was grinning at her, but he promptly got to work on the salad as she quickly left the room.
"Wanna help?" he asked his daughter hopefully when they were alone.
"Sorry, Dad," she said as she moved around the counter and hugged her father. "I got sauce on my top. I'm gonna go change, too." She laughed when she pulled back and saw Rick pouting, but she hurried up the stairs to change anyway.
"Just a sec," Kate called, grabbing a robe and heading to the door when she heard the familiar light knock. It ended abruptly, though and when Kate opened the door, she saw the backside of Alexis, walking away from her. "Alexis?" she called.
"Oh, never mind Kate," Alexis turned back, looking a little bashful. "I'm sorry I bothered you."
"You're never a bother, Alexis. Is everything okay?" she asked when the girl continued looking uncomfortable.
"Everything's fine," she assured, smiling then. "It's silly, really." She began walking back toward Kate, glad she had knocked after all. "When I was little, my mom and I would wear matching dresses on special nights. Tonight seemed like a special night, so I thought it would be fun if we matched." Alexis shrugged and smiled bashfully. "It's silly. But I wanted to ask."
"It's not silly," Kate shook her head and smiled. "That does sound like fun. Come in and help me pick something." Kate opened the door to her room wider and gestured Alexis inside. This was the first time the girl had been in the room since Kate had moved in. "I didn't want my clothes to smell like smoke, so after I cleaned them, I brought everything here. It's all in the closet."
They spent several minutes going through Kate's dresses, Alexis deciding whether or not she had something that would match. They finally made a decision when Alexis spotted a dress she had purchased last year when her mother had taken her from school and made her go shopping. "She forced me to buy it," Alexis was saying, reliving the exasperation she felt that day. "She said it would bring out my eyes."
"Well, I'm glad she did," Kate said, bumping her shoulder into Alexis's. "We'll match and your eyes will look fabulous."
Alexis grinned, then hurried to her own room to dress before she met Kate in the main bathroom to finish getting ready together.
"Your hair is so pretty," Kate said, twisting Alexis's red locks up into a stylish do. "I once didn't speak to my mother for a whole week because she wouldn't let me dye my hair red. So one night, at a sleep over, I did it anyway." Kate paused in her work, making eye contact with Alexis in the mirror and grinning hugely. "To this day, some of my high school friends call me 'carrot head' because of it."
Both women were laughing at the end of her story.
"I used to hate having red hair," Alexis confided.
"Did you get teased at school?" Kate asked, concerned.
"No," Alexis grinned. "I worried that it meant I'd grow up to be like my mom and my grandma." They both busted up laughing.
They tried to hurry, but they were having a lot of fun primping together and getting ready. They ended up taking longer than they thought before finally heading downstairs for dinner.
Rick waited at the set dining table for what seemed like forever.
Did it really take women that long to just change clothes?
At one point, Kate had even called down to him, telling him to take the food out of the oven.
"Aren't you two coming down?" he'd called back.
"In a minute," his daughter replied impatiently.
"And don't you even think about eating without us, Castle," Kate added.
So he waited and one minute turned into twenty. Rick couldn't decide if he was annoyed they were making him wait so long, worried that they were up there plotting something, or pleased that Kate and Alexis really seemed to enjoy spending time with each other.
But after waiting half an hour, Rick decided his dominant emotion was hungry.
"Are you girls done yet?" he eventually called, whining, up the stairs.
"Shut up!" Kate snapped, laughing at him. "You'll appreciate this when we're done!"
"But I'm hungry," he complained.
"Daddy, aren't you the one who's always telling me how smart Katie is?" Alexis threw in. "Now listen to the woman, and be quiet! We'll be down in a minute."
"You said that half an hour ago," he grumbled, loud enough for them to hear.
"Well, this time we meant it," Kate replied, as she suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs, Alexis right behind her.
When he saw them, his daughter and his… Kate… his jaw dropped.
Kate and Alexis descended the stairs, arms linked together, wearing identical navy blue strapless dresses. The dresses were fitted around the bust, with an empire waist, and the skirts flowed loosely to mid-thigh. Rick was happy to see the dress hung lower over his daughter's legs than the one Kate wore. And his daughter wore flat black ballet shoes, though Kate wore tall, glossy black heels. But both women wore their hair up in a sophisticated twist, curled strands of red and brown hair strategically placed to draw attention to the bare skin of their shoulders.
Rick watched them the entire way down the stairs, amazed at how beautiful they were. They were already beautiful women, even without the special touches, but dressed up and confident in their carriage, they were stunning.
"Oh great," he finally said, sounding annoyed. They were now standing on the ground level in front of him. "Now I have to go change."
"What? No," Kate complained, only half joking. "We're hungry. We don't want to wait for you to change."
"This is Richard Castle you're talking to," he informed her, full of self-importance. "Richard Castle is not going to be the dirty slob sitting at a dinner table with the two most beautiful women in New York, even in his own home. Now, excuse me, while I go change. And don't worry," he added, moving up the stairs backward, but slowly, so he could tease the girls at the bottom. "Unlike some other people in this house, I can actually change within the time quoted."
"And how long is that?" Kate challenged.
"Twenty minutes," he smirked at them, then turned down the hallway, out of sight.
Rick was back in half that time, dressed to match the girls, his suit and shirt shades of dark blue. His tie though was baby blue.
And with them all dressed up, their dinner had the feel of a night out at an expensive restaurant, even though they served themselves, and their laughter was much louder than would have been appropriate in a crowded dining room.
Castle made the best contribution of the night, when he suggested they go out to a movie after dinner.
"I really want to see that remake of Clash of the Titans. I saw the original when I took a mythology class in high school. I want to see what they've done to it," Kate said.
"What about that movie based on Nicholas Sparks' book. The one with that Hannah Montana girl." Both women wrinkled their noses at that suggestion.
"Dad, her name is Miley Cyrus," Alexis said. "And ew. Though, I was really hoping to see How to Train Your Dragon," she added hesitantly.
Kate leaned across over the table, toward Alexis. Castle was at the head of the table between them. "That sounds great. That sexy Scottish guy does one of the voices. I just love his accent!"
"Oh, really," Castle began, rolling the r just a little too much.
"No," both women exclaimed at the same time, pointing fingers at him. He smiled at them, unperturbed.
Kate turned back to Alexis, and nodded. "Dragons it is."
The three quickly cleared the table together, and prepared to leave for the movie.
They gathered coats, purses and wallet, and headed to the door. Alexis took her father's arm, and when he offered his other to Kate, she hesitated. Rick smiled at her, cocking an eyebrow. He thought he could almost hear what she was thinking. Then Alexis leaned forward and smiled up at her. Kate's gaze moved to the girl, then she smiled, too, shrugging a shoulder and wrapping her arm around Rick's.
Rick led the women out into the city, convinced that he had never before had prettier or more engaging company than he did that night.
Author's note: I have no idea what Kate and her mother would have baked together when she was young, by my mother actually does make the BEST lasagna ever! Also, please note, I am absolutely biased, and will not be listening to reviewers who disagree with me, no matter what merit lies behind the claim. ;-) Also, the movie references were an attempt to be witty. I was trying to be ironic in the movies each person suggested. And I have nothing against Miley, I just thought a teen like Alexis might claim to dislike her. I haven't seen any of those movies, though the thing I had Kate say about Clash is actually true for me.