It was just before nine when she woke up. She looked in the mirror and pulled her hair back so that it looked decent, but not like she was trying too hard. But when she stepped out into the hallway, she found that the apartment was silent. Both Castles must still have been asleep.
She went downstairs to the kitchen and looked in the fridge, thinking she'd make breakfast. She found a loaf of bread and put two slices in the toaster. She'd keep it simple. She managed to find a tray, on which she placed a plate, a glass, and a mug. She poured orange juice into the glass, and chose a tea bag for the mug—raspberry, she remembered—and started heating water in the microwave. She'd bring the tray for Alexis, but she and Castle could eat downstairs. Rick, she reminded herself. He'd been using her first name. She should start trying to use his.
When she got everything arranged on the tray she went back upstairs to Alexis's bedroom, hoping she'd be awake. She opened the door silently in case she wasn't, but the teenager met her with a weak smile. She was up. But she pressed a finger to her lips and pointed to the other person in the room, who Kate hadn't been expecting to find, asleep in a chair beside the bed. "He's sleeping," Alexis mouthed.
His head was hanging off to the side at an angle that couldn't have possibly been comfortable, and his mouth drooped open a little. As Kate set the tray she'd brought on Alexis's lap a snore emitted from his direction, and she couldn't suppress her giggle.
Her laugh had been quiet, but apparently it was enough to wake him up. "Jeez, every time I wake up, you're here," he mumbled at her.
"Sorry. I was bringing Alexis breakfast. I didn't know you'd be in here."
He smiled and stretched, massaging his neck. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing. God, but I think I'm getting too old for sleeping in chairs." He stood up slowly, still trying to stretch out his neck.
Alexis rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head as she sipped her tea. Kate verbalized what she imagined the girl was thinking. "I told you she'd be fine, Castle. You should've gone back to your room after you checked on her."
"I know, and I had every intention of doing that, but…" He shrugged. "I pulled up the chair, and it was comfortable, and I fell asleep." He studied his daughter carefully. "How are you feeling by the way, sweetie?"
"Okay," she croaked, setting down her tea.
"You don't sound okay. Does your head hurt, or just your throat?"
"I'm fine."
Kate sat down on the bed in about the same place where she'd sat the night before. "Honey, we can't help you unless you tell us how you feel," she was surprised to hear herself say. First of all, she'd really just said "honey"? And besides that, it had been her voice, but between the words she'd said and something about how the way she'd said them, she'd sounded nothing like herself, like Kate Beckett. More than she could ever have imagined possible, she'd sounded like Johanna. Like her mother. She managed to recover herself enough to flash the girl a little half-smile, but she could still feel the bewilderment that had to be showing in her eyes.
Alexis must not have missed it, because the expression she returned was equally strange. It was caught somewhere between a smile and a frown, lips smiling, but brow furrowed. "I just don't feel good," she admitted with some effort. "My throat doesn't hurt exactly, but it doesn't feel right, and…" she shrugged. "I don't know."
Castle started reaching for her forehead and she shrank away, but Beckett gave her an I-mean-business look, similar to the one she used with criminals who were about to confess. "Alexis, let him," she warned.
Whether it was the fact that Alexis didn't know her all that well and was being polite, or that her stern voice had the same effect on the girl that it did on suspects, Kate didn't know, but Alexis listened. Rick put his hand on her forehead and turned to Kate, the intensity of the worry in his eyes making her heart jump a little. "What?" she asked.
"She has a fever."
Kate smiled at Alexis and shook her head, acknowledging the girl's exasperation at her father's concern, and then turned back to Rick. "It's okay," she assured him, "it just means she gets more Advil. She'll be fine."
"Thank you," Alexis sighed.
"It's on the nightstand," she told Rick.
He nodded and handed two to his daughter, who took them with a sip of orange juice. "Thanks, Kate," she croaked, motioning at the tray. "You didn't have to do all of this."
"I wanted to, and it's not like I really did that much."
She shrugged. "Yeah… but you didn't have to."
Kate was sure that she wasn't sure how to respond to that. It was true, after all. She didn't have to. She didn't have to be here at all. It wasn't as if Alexis was her daughter, or related to her in any way at all. She didn't even know the teenager that well, although it did seem like they'd bonded a little over the last day or so. What she'd said a second ago was true. No, she didn't have to, but she wanted to. Rather than repeating herself, she changed the subject a bit. "Is there anything else we can do for you?" She included Rick in the offer, fully confident that he would do literally anything that his daughter asked right now.
"No, you've done more than enough. I'm fine, I swear."
She raised her eyebrows.
"Okay, maybe not fine, but not terrible. The tea helped, and the Advil helped a ton last night, so I'm sure it will again pretty soon. You guys should go eat. You must be hungry."
Beckett nodded. "Okay. Just let us know if you need anything."
To her surprise, Castle actually agreed. "Yeah, sweetie, I'll have my cell phone on me, so just text me if there's anything we can do for you, okay?"
"Dad, that's ridiculous. You'll just be downstairs."
"I know, but it's not like you can yell. And don't try. And this way you don't have to get out of bed."
"But I can get out of bed. I'm not an invalid."
"I know you can, but it's better if you rest."
Kate slipped out of the room before Alexis's response, not feeling any desire to interfere with the little argument moment that was going on back there. Both of them were being ridiculously stubborn, Alexis in her grumpiness and Rick in his protectiveness, which was sweet, but over the top. So she went back downstairs and popped four more slices of bread into the toaster. She didn't stop her mind from wandering, and it soon came to her mother, always a presence in the background of her thoughts, but over the last couple of days she'd traveled to the foreground more frequently than usual. Mostly she was remembering things Johanna had used to say and how she'd used to act, especially when Kate had been sick, and with each thought she was more surprised at how similarly she had acted with Alexis. The memories themselves didn't have much emotional connection for her at all, but even now, so many years later, she couldn't think about her mother without feeling the wave of pain that she knew so well. Too well.
"What's wrong?"
She jumped. "Castle! God!" She wiped her eyes quickly. "You've really got to stop doing that!"
But apparently he wasn't in the mood for wordplay, which for Castle was saying something. "What's wrong?" he simply repeated, taking another step toward her.
"Nothing," she said, forcing a smile. "I'm good."
"Kate. What's wrong?"
She realized he wasn't going to drop it, and she seemed to have lost the ability to lie to him, especially when he was being so oddly sincere. It had been a weird weekend for him and she knew it, but she wanted another glimpse at the Castle she was used to. One of his cavalier quips or semi-inappropriate side comments. It wasn't that she didn't like this sweet, genuine person who stood before her; it was just that this wasn't the Castle she knew, and she didn't really know how to handle it. "I was just… remembering my mom," she told him.
He nodded, but didn't press or even ask any further questions. Who was this man, and what had he done with her Castle?
"Do you want breakfast?"
"Sure." He sounded oddly far away.
She turned away from the toaster and looked him straight in the eyes. "Castle, what?"
He frowned, not that he hadn't been frowning before. But now he looked more confused. "What?"
"What's wrong? I mean, you act like you have some kind of super power that you can tell what's going on with me, whether something's wrong, or I'm not feeling well, or whatever the case might be, and yeah, usually you're right. But what I don't think you realize is that it works both ways. I've known you for just as long as you've known me, and while, no, I'm not a writer, my job does require a certain amount of attentiveness, in case you're forgetting. And I'm surprised I have to tell you this, but you're my friend, and I notice things too. And this? This is not you. I get that you're worried about Alexis, but if that's all this is it's insane, because you know as well as I do that she'll be just fine by this time tomorrow. If not, will you please just tell me? Because you're driving me crazy."
Something in his face changed. She couldn't exactly place it, but it was like some kind of veil lifted. "I'll be right back," he murmured, stepping out of the room. She watched him disappear into his study just as the toast she'd made popped up.
She sighed. In no way could that have been construed as an answer, and of course he would leave just as the toast was finished.
Reviews please? Thanks! :) I love you guys. And I think this is officially the shortest author's note I've ever written. Normally I like to blabber, but I think I'll leave this one alone.