Author's note: Apologies for the slow pace of updates to this story; I've been extremely busy. I appreciate your patience, and continued interest.
I'm taking half an hour before calling it a night to quickly write another brief chapter, which you'll find below. It's already past 10PM on Sunday here in the city of Edinburgh in my home country of Scotland, but hopefully I'll manage to publish this tonight.
Have a great week.
Alexis padded lightly along the upstairs hallway, barefoot, being careful not to make any noise. It was still relatively early – almost 7AM – but she knew she wasn't going to get back to sleep.
She'd had a couple of nightmares again, just like the last few nights, but they weren't quite as bad as they had been. It was all over now, at least.
She sighed quietly to herself as she went down the stairs. Morning light was streaming into the main floor of the loft, which was unusual – usually the blinds were closed, and Alexis was almost always the one to open them, at breakfast.
Then she saw him.
Castle was sitting on the couch, wearing his t-shirt and pyjama trousers, turned to face towards a window. He was sitting forward, not leaning back, so she was pretty sure that he was awake.
"Dad?" she asked, tentatively, and his head moved slightly, but he didn't turn around.
"Morning, pumpkin," he replied. His voice sounded flat, somehow, and gravelly, as if his throat was dry.
She walked over to where he was sitting, standing just beside the couch. He was still facing mostly away from her.
"Couldn't sleep?" she asked, and there was a moment of silence before he replied.
"Went to bed early," he said. "More like too much sleep."
Alexi frowned. There was something in his tone; something wrong. She stepped around the couch and his face came into view.
There were barely-visible tracks on his cheeks, leading down from the corners of his eyes. His gaze was unfocused, staring off towards the window, and his pupils were dilated.
Oh, dad, she thought, instinctively stepping towards him and laying her hand on his shoulder.
Her touch seemed to pull him back for a moment, and he blinked and then glanced up at her.
"Did you sleep OK?" he asked, and she nodded slowly. Her own nightmares could wait. She could think of only one other time when she'd seen tear-tracks on her father's face.
Last Summer. When it was really bad.
"Are you alright, dad?" she asked, her voice quiet and her eyes large. Something in her tone must have got through to him, because he seemed to realise where he was, and he scrutinised her face for a long moment before giving her a small smile and opening his arms. Alexis turned and lowered herself into his lap, sitting sideways across his legs.
"I'm fine," he said.
She looked into his eyes for several moments, searching for something, but there was nothing to be seen. His gaze was… flat, somehow. The gentle smile on his lips didn't reach his eyes. She frowned again.
"Well, if you're sure," she replied, with a question still in her voice.
He just nodded, then turned his head to once again look over towards the window, and beyond.
Beckett had a lie-in for the first time in weeks. Her dreams have been filled with images from the case, but when she woke she did at least feel rested.
She decided to get some exercise to clear her head. By the time she returned from her Saturday morning run, showered, and ate a late breakfast, it was after 10:30 AM.
Today was an errands day; she'd been letting things pile up, and if she made an effort, she could get the apartment back in order, mail dealt with, her fridge stocked, and even give her nails some much-needed attention by dinnertime.
She picked up her phone, idly checking for calls or messages, but there were none. She thought nothing of it, setting the device back down, and with a small sigh she gathered her breakfast dishes and grudgingly stood up.
Martha insisted on taking Alexis out shopping for the day, to put the past week's events behind them. They had invited Castle, and even pressured him to come, but he insisted that he needed to take care of some things at home. The two women had been gone for a couple of hours now, and it was almost lunchtime.
Castle glanced up from his laptop at the sound of his phone's text message alert. He had stared at a blank page for half an hour before closing the manuscript for the next Nikki Heat book, and since then he'd just been aimlessly surfing the web, trying to keep his mind occupied.
He reached for the device, and his jaw tightened as he saw that it was from Beckett.
How's everyone holding up?
He knew that her next move would be to call him if she didn't get a reply, so he quickly tapped out a short message, sent it, and then silenced his phone.
Can I even go back there? he wondered, but that was a question for another day. He stood up from his desk, closed the laptop's lid, and wandered through towards the living room.
Beckett was relieved to hear her phone chirp less than a minute after she'd sent the message. She put away the last of the groceries she'd bought and fished the phone out of her pocket, unlocking it to read his reply.
Retail therapy works wonders. Taking some time to decompress. Talk to you on Monday.
A small crease appeared on her brow. His reply was… strange. Innocuous enough on the surface, but unusual if you knew him.
No exclamation marks or emoticons. No suggestive or flirtatious banter. And then the last sentence, which sounded more like I don't plan to talk to you again until Monday.
She re-read his message, then wandered over to her couch and sat down, still looking at her phone.
He said he was taking time to decompress, she thought. It's just the case that got to him.
But that didn't really ring true. He'd been shaken by some of the things they'd seen before, certainly. He'd been spoken, and scared, and even injured. But he'd always been Castle all through it. He wasn't the kind of man who withdrew. In trying times, he surrounded himself with the people he trusted and–
loved
–cared about. He celebrated life. He pestered her endlessly, especially when there was something troubling him.
"Til now," she said aloud, then she unconsciously pulled her lower lip between her teeth.
Her thumb hovered over the on-screen keyboard, but then she sighed. He'd essentially asked for some privacy, and so there was nothing she could do except grant him it. Monday was the day after tomorrow, and honestly she could use some time to herself too.
We all just need a little break, then we'll get back to normal, she thought. Just some… time to decompress. That's all.
She sat the phone down on her coffee table, then tucked her legs up under her. She was still looking at it a minute later when the screen first dimmed, and then went dark.