Finding a Date – Chapter 8. The loft. (Set after 'Dressed to kill')
Kate stretched, luxuriating in the warmth her fiancé exuded. His palm lay across her abdomen, his chest rising and falling rhythmically against her back as he breathed easily in his sleep. She carefully extricated herself from his arms and slipped out of the bed.
It was still early but Kate was a morning person. She used the bathroom, then her pj's covered in a luxury towelling robe, she padded out through his office to get her first caffeine fix of the day. Her feet were encased in comfy old walking socks and made no noise on the hardwood floor. She'd always suffered with cold feet, ever since childhood.
She smiled to herself as she recalled the first time she'd slept in Castle's bed. Not that they' done much sleeping!
She'd come to him, wet and cold from the swings and led him to his bedroom where they feasted hungrily on each other. Five years of pent-up want and passion igniting in their veins. Then, lying curled together, she'd teased him, scraping her toes along the back of his calf. The yelp had been almost as loud as her own cries of rapture just a few minutes earlier.
"God, Kate your feet are freezing!"
"So warm me up Castle!" she had requested and he had, suffusing her with love and the depth of his ardour.
But she still suffered from cold feet and one evening early in their new relationship they'd been in her apartment when unthinkingly she'd changed into soft sweats and her favourite woolly socks. It made no difference to his appreciation of her or his desire for her; apparently Beckett in socks appealed as much as Beckett in... well anything...or nothing.
Kate approached the kitchen counter, yawning but unexpectedly saw Alexis there. "Hey 'Xis!" she managed. Alexis tilted her head on one side, "Xis?" she queried, "That's new."
"Sorry," Kate apologised, "I was yawning. 'Though actually, it fits. Sisters- Sis- Xis."
"Mmm, OK." Alexis said, "Xis is acceptable." Kate grinned, slipping onto a bar stool. "I didn't know you were here. Is everything all right?"
"Yeah, sorry. I should've asked. I told Grams I would be over but..."
"No, Alexis. This is your home, you don't have to ask. I was just surprised."
Kate made a mental note not to pull her gun if she heard a noise from upstairs. She may have threatened to shoot Castle several times but she had no attention of drawing her weapon on his family.
"Is Dad still asleep?" Alexis pointed at the blender, "I was about to make a smoothie." She finished hulling a couple of strawberries and dropped them into the mixer on top bananas and what looked like peaches.
"Go ahead!" Kate told her. "That's his super-duper new silent model."
Alexis frowned "He bought a new blender? "
"Yeah he ordered it especially, all the way from Europe. By the time it arrived, you'd moved out." Kate bit her lip; she didn't mean to open old wounds. "It's virtually silent. Go on, try it."
The redhead switched it on and the machine thrummed as it mashed the fruit.
"Wow, that is quiet."
"Yeah, but it cost a fortune. That's the most expensive smoothie in New York!" she said as Alexis poured them both a glass.
"You can't get used to it, can you?"
"Used to what?" Kate asked as she sipped the refreshing concoction.
"Dad's money." Alexis stated simply. "I guess he hasn't given you the talk yet."
"The talk?" Kate pushed her hair off her face, impatient with herself. Parroting the girl was hardly sensible conversation.
"Yup. The one where he tells you that wealth brings responsibility and how to invest ethically and provide employment for those that need it."
Kate raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like an economics course I took one semester."
Alexis continued, "We meet his financial people a couple of times a year, Grams and I, about our Trusts, you know. You should come too, now your family."
Kate was astounded. She had assumed Castle delegated his financial affairs and investment decisions to well-paid advisors and left the business to them. Instead it seemed that it was a subject for family debate and collective discussion.
She had pondered if Castle's advisors or indeed her own father would want a pre-nuptial agreement. She supposed it was to be expected with the difference in their incomes and Castle's marital history but somehow she felt it took some of the trust out of the marriage. She shook herself; she'd pushed him away for five years now she was getting all gooey over wedding arrangements? Ugh!
She moved around the counter to start her beloved coffee. "Can I make you some breakfast?" Kate asked, "I don't have to go in yet as we finished a case late last night."
"Yes please, but I'll help." They prepared the food amicably, changing places between the hob and the toaster and the fridge as if they'd always done it.
Suddenly Alexis heaved a deep sigh. "He's not coming back" she announced.
Kate turned, noting the distress on the girl's face. "Pi," Alexis supplemented, "he's not coming back. His parents persuaded him to enrol in College in Amsterdam."
"Oh honey, I'm so sorry." Kate grasped her hand where it lay on the worktop and squeezed it softly.
"You must miss him terribly." Alexis nodded. "I never thought it would last forever but I did like him. He was fun and easy to be with. And we made such a nice h...home." Her voice stuttered and she swiped at her eye.
Kate didn't know what to say. She hadn't been to the apartment, hadn't been invited with Castle and Martha and that had hurt a bit at the time. But she did know about breaking up with boyfriends and she knew only quiet sympathy would do. Her mother's "I told you so!" hadn't helped her, even if had been well-meant.
She pushed Alexis gently towards a stool and placed a plate of bacon and pancakes in front of her. "Eat up." she encouraged, "Is there anything I can do?"
Alexis picked listlessly at the food but after a few mouthfuls she began to eat properly.
"I don't want to stay in the apartment." she told Kate. "It was OK when Pi was around but it's not a very nice area and the corridors are dingy when I have to come home alone. "
"Kate nodded, "So move back here. "
"I've signed a lease." Alexis reminded her. "The rent's got to be paid."
Kate was certain Castle would pay virtually any price to have his daughter back home but she also understood that his daughter wanted to be independent, to stand on her own two feet.
"My work-study job isn't enough now there's only me to pay the bills but I've been doing some research with your Dad for his class action case. He says I'm such a help he's going to pay me. Is that OK do you think? I'll work really hard, I wouldn't take advantage, honestly I wouldn't!"
Kate hushed her with a hand on her arm. "If my Dad has offered you a job you must be good enough. He doesn't do charity." She declared, remembering how she'd always had to earn her pocket-money and recalling his consternation when she made enough to buy a bike.
Just then Castle wandered up; amazingly he was already showered and clad in a loose check shirt over a black t-shirt with jeans. "Do I smell bacon?" He kissed the top of Kate's head then the top of Alexis'.
"Morning pumpkin."
"Who're you calling pumpkin?" Kate scowled at him.
"Uh no... I mean she's pumpkin." He pointed to his daughter, then groaned. "You knew that, didn't you?
"You're too easy, Dad!" the redhead scoffed.
Kate fetched the plate of bacon from where she'd kept it warm on the stove. She looked pointedly at Alexis who nodded uncertainly.
"Er... Dad, is it OK if I stay here for a while?" she faltered, "Pi is staying in Europe."
To his credit Castle's reaction was immediate and heartfelt. He drew his daughter to him and hugged her as if she was still five. "Oh sweetie, I'm sorry. Are you OK? 'Course you can stay as long as you want, anytime you want. This is still your home." he echoed Kate's assertion.
Kate withdrew quietly leaving him to console his daughter. His concern for Alexis far exceeding any satisfaction he might feel that the relationship was over.
Nearly an hour later Kate exited the bedroom, hair freshly washed and held back by a clasp. She didn't often wear it this way but it kept it neat at work. She'd taken the opportunity after a refreshing shower to pamper herself with some expensive body lotion her Aunt had sent her for Christmas.
Castle was in his office, feet on his desk whilst he tapped away on his laptop. As she passed by she brushed her hand across his nape, he hummed but he was intent on the screen before him. She leant on the desk in front of him, her shirt gaping open. "Is Alexis all right?"
" No, but she will be." Castle wasn't unfeeling, on the contrary, he knew his daughter would bounce back from this. She was too well-adjusted not too. In the meantime he'd welcome her home and keep his thoughts about Pi to himself. But he wouldn't offer her ice-cream.
Kate regarded him carefully. "You're a great Dad." she told him.
"I've had several years practice," he quipped "and you helped with advice when I needed it."
"That's one of the things that I didn't get about you at first," Kate admitted. "You pretended to be this exasperating playboy but you were happiest when talking about your daughter and your family. The Ledger featured your love life on page six but you preferred playing laser tag with Alexis."
"Ah yes, that's me. A mystery writer wrapped in an enigma."
"That's a terrible misquote, Castle. "
"Yeah well, you're distracting me!" He wanted to suggest she popped another button but his nose was an obvious target and she had a deathly grip when she was riled, but Kate just rolled her eyes and made her way into the main living area.
Alexis was nowhere in sight, presumably she too had gone to prepare for the day.
She fetched her coat, then opened the safe for her badge and gun before returning to the office. Castle now sat at his desk, two pencils lodged under his nose pretending to be a moustache, his nose twitched adorably as he attempted to add a third.
"I came to kiss you goodbye." Kate told him, "but I don't fancy a mouthful of graphite, so I'll just go."
"Nooo!" He squealed, scattering all three pencils to the floor and leaping to his feet.
He grabbed her around the waist with one hand, the other cupping the back of her head, and he pulled her hard against him in a deep kiss. Eventually they had to come up for air.
"And I'm a distraction?" She cocked at eyebrow, wishing she could just pull him back to their bedroom, but Gates had been given permission to for a late start not a morning off. One thing she knew about her Captain was not to take advantage. She was hard but fair and that suited Kate.
She stepped away her coat swirling around her long legs.
"Can you get home on time tonight?" he asked. "My lawyer and accountant are coming over and your Dad too, I'd like you to meet them."
Kate was stunned. "You want a pre-nup?" she asked.
"No that's not, no definitely not, that's not what I meant!" he spluttered, looking aghast.
"Then why am I meeting your lawyer and accountant?" she questioned.
"Because it's the family financial review time. I involve Alexis and Martha in their trusts and it is time you learnt about yours."
"Mine? What are you even talking about? I don't have a trust." She'd had some money she'd inherited when her mother died but that was only held until she was twenty-one; she'd invested that in her New York apartment and the rest was in bonds.
"Of course you do! Alexis and Martha have Storm Trust funds put aside from sales on my Derrick Storm series. You and Ryan, Esposito, Lanie and the others have Heat Trusts – a percentage from the profits on the Nikki Heat series."
"Castle you can't just give away money like that."
"Why not? I don't need it; my investments make more than enough. I don't need to keep writing to live; I live to keep writing," he told her earnestly, "and so I can help you solve cases!"
Kate huffed, confused and conflicted but also intrigued. "I'll see you later," she promised, turning towards the door. Quickly she sped back to him. "Wait!" She leant in for another quick kiss and humming appreciatively left for the precinct before she changed her mind completely.
Castle returned to the keyboard, his fingers flying over the keys, she really did give him inspiration!