CH13

Kate woke up the next morning and found Alexis still wrapped up tight in her arms and she just knew she had slept the entire night thru without a single nightmare.

Kate couldn't help but melt at the thought and start crying softly. It had been a long time since she felt this refreshed in the morning. And it happened every time she slept with Alexis in her arms at her home. Now it was happening in her own home.

And now her mind was awake and now she was wondering what to do now. Alexis wasn't hers, she can't sleep with her every night. However she also knew she was becoming addicted to this. Sleeping soundly with someone in her arms who didn't have expectations out of her.

Alexis wasn't expecting to have sex with her because she spent the day with her and slept in her bed.

Kate adjusted her arms around her a little and cried a little harder. "Now what do I do?" Kate whispered out thru her tears.

Kate squeezed Alexis a little tighter and kissed the first place her lips could reach. This got a sigh out of Alexis and made Kate's heart melt a little more. "This is too nice to let go." Kate whispers.

"Move in." Alexis mumbles out. Kate's heart jumps, is she listening?

"Move where sweetie?" Kate whispers out.

"Neverland." Alexis mumbles out.

"Neverland?" Kate questions. "Neverland sweetie?"

"Magic." Alexis mumbles out again.

"What about your dad?" Kate asks her.

"Love." Alexis mumbles out again.

Great is she talking about her loving him or Kate loving him. "Talking in her sleep." Kate tells herself.

"Sleepy magic." Alexis mumbles out.

I can ask her questions and she will never notice. But will the answers be the truth of just talk?

"You love your father?" Kate asks her.

"Hhmm." Alexis moans out.

"You love your grandmother?" Kate asks her.

"Hhhmm." Alexis moans out.

"Who else do you love?" Kate asks her scared to death.

"Kate." Alexis moans out.

Kate's heart is threatening to burst out of her chest and the tears run a little harder.

"Why?" Kate asks her.

"Magic." Alexis moans out.

Kate squeezes Alexis a little closer and buries her head in her and kisses the part she can reach over and over. Kate's breathing is becoming more difficult. "Oh sweetie I don't know what to do." Kate breathes into her.

"Kate?" Alexis is waking up. "Kate why are you crying?" Alexis looks up into her face.

"I don't know. I can't help it. It won't stop." Kate is breathing heavy and can't get the tears to stop.

"Are you hurt? Did I do something?" Alexis asks sad.

This only makes Kate cry harder. "No sweetie you are perfect."

"Then why are you crying? Can I help?" Alexis asks her concerned.

"You were talking in your sleep. …. I asked you who you loved and you said me." Kate confides. She can't keep the words from getting out.

"But I do love you." Alexis tells her.

"Why, you barely know me." Kate manages to get out.

"You are kind to me, you are nice to dad, grams trusts you, you made mom stop yelling and you care. I can see it in your eyes. You want someone to love you. You need someone to love you. We can love you." Alexis explains with hope written all over her face.

"I don't know that I can sweetie, I just don't know." Kate tells her with tears still falling.

"You can learn Kate, we can teach you. Spend time with us and we'll teach you. It's not hard." Alexis tells her hoping beyond hope. "It's ok Kate I can teach you. You stay with me."

"Well you are staying with me until Castle gets home." Kate cautiously states. "And we do need to get up and get ready to go into work. It's not really a place for children but I don't know what else to do."

"It's ok Kate, I want to spend time with you. I can teach you." Alexis tells her.

"Well I don't know about at your home but I don't have a lot of hot water. So we either both need to be fast or we share." Kate tells her.

"I can share. I'm good at sharing." Alexis sound confident.

Kate gets up and sits on the side of the bed for a moment.

"Kate?" Alexis calls to her and gets up next to her.

"Hhmmm."

Alexis kisses her. "I love you."

"Oh sweetie, I, …. Thank you." Best Kate can do. "Let's hit the shower sweetie I need to get to work."

Kate found it strange and nice at the same time showering with Alexis. Kate wasn't a virgin but she had never showered with anyone before. Especially a six year old who was beaming at her and had told her she loved her just moments ago.

Kate couldn't bring herself to walk around naked while getting ready for work even though they had just shared a shower together. Kate chalked it up to just some little quirk.

"Alexis when do you start school?" Kate thought it would be soon. Was she keeping her out of school by taking her into work again?

"My first day is Monday. My first day in second grade and I get a new teacher. I hope she is nice like the last one." Is Alexis's response.

Kate gives out a sigh. Good she wasn't screwing anything up. "I'm afraid I don't have cereal or any milk either. I kinda suck at this."

Alexis stops putting on her clothes and goes over to Kate and hugs her. "It's ok I just need you."

Kate can feel her heart skip a beat and her breathing becomes a little harder. Kate takes in a deep breath. "We can stop for a Danish and coffee along the way, how's that?"

"Ok, but no coffee. Dad told me I'm too young for coffee." Alexis responds innocently looking up at Kate while she still holding onto her.

"I meant coffee for me silly goose. We can get milk for you. You better finish getting dressed." Kate tells her while kissing the top of her head.

Alexis is done first and watches Kate apply make-up to her face while she waits. "Do I need make-up?"

"Well I don't know, hop up here and we'll see." As Kate pats her lap.

So Kate lifts her up and sits her in her lap and wraps her arms around her. This felt almost as good as waking up with her in her arms.

"Let's start with a very light base. Just a little touch. We put on too much and you'll look like you have a tan only on part of your face." Kate tells her since Alexis is kind of normally pale.

"That would be silly." Alexis tells her.

"Yes it would." As Kate swirls her brush around in a different base than she had used. Then taps most of it off the brush and begins to lightly sweep it over her face.

Then goes over some places that don't look right to her. "There now we need just a little eye shadow."

Kate decides on a color that she hopes will look good with her hair color. Grabbing another much smaller like brush. "Close your eyes sweetie." As Kate applies a very light amount of color. "Keep em closed."

Next she grabs her mascara stick and applies a little dab. Afraid she will over do it. Kate decides to skip the lipstick but decides on a clear coat with a little sparkle.

Kate grabs a tissue. "Now press your lips together. … There now you can open your eyes."

"WOW!" Alexis twists her head around while she looks in the mirror.

"You've never worn make-up before have you?" Kate asks her.

Alexis shakes her head. "There was no one to teach me." Alexis twists around bent on giving Kate a big kiss as a thank you.

"Careful, you'll make a mess of all my hard work." Kate cautions her. Not that she is wearing enough to make a mess and it certainly wasn't hard work. But Alexis doesn't need to know that.

"OH!" So Alexis goes slowly and barely touches Kate's cheek with her sparkly lips. "Thank you."

"You are welcome. Come on we better get going. We still have to stop for breakfast." As Kate lifts her up off her lap and down on the floor.

Alexis sat in her chair and except for a couple of soda breaks, a couple of restroom breaks and a trip downstairs where Lanie interrogated her again, Alexis had sat quietly.

Alexis had even been silent during lunch when Kate took her out to eat.

Kate kept an eye on her all the same.

As information came in they had worked out that the wife hated her husband about as much as he hated her.

The wife had coated only some of the tiles with a poison, Dimethylmercury. That she had stolen from a friend of hers. Those little triangles had told her which ones not to touch and what ones she could.

This one is a slow killer – a man-made slow killer! But this is exactly what makes it all the more dangerous. Absorption of doses as low as 0.1ml have proven fatal; however, symptoms of poisoning start showing after months of initial exposure, which is definitely too late for any kind of treatment. In 1996, a chemistry professor at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, spilled a drop or two of the poison on her gloved hand – dimethylmercury went through the latex glove, symptoms appeared four months later and ten months later, she died.

Knowing that her husband liked to chew on his tiles only allowed for the poison to enter his system more quickly than thru skin absorption. She had gotten lucky that he chose a tile that had the poison on it to chew.

What the wife hadn't counted on was for the poison to rub off onto some of the other tiles. Yes she was poisoned too but not enough to kill her. She did however get sick and require hospitalization. A little poetic justice Kate thought.

Alexis had even spent some time in Captain Montgomery's office. Kate didn't know what they were talking about but it seemed to make Alexis happy. Even Roy had a smile and was laughing.

While Kate was happy that Alexis was having fun she felt something else too. Her captain was enjoying his time with Alexis but Alexis was with her. She should be having fun with her and not with him. But he was her Captain. Was she in there telling him she loved him too? Did she throw that word around without meaning to everyone?

"Get a grip Kate. She's not even your daughter." Kate huffs out and dives into her paperwork so she can go home. Take Alexis back and go home.

The next time Kate looks up Alexis is sitting in her chair next to Kate's desk again. Just sitting there quietly smiling at her. Kate gives her a quick smile and dives into her paperwork with renewed purpose.

Finally done, Kate turns off her computer. "Ready to go home?" Kate asks while she pulls her weapon out of the drawer and puts it on her hip.

Alexis has nodded her head vigorously that she is more than ready.

"We had pizza yesterday, what do we have today? Chinese?" Kate asks thinking take-out again.

"Can we eat at a restaurant instead?" Alexis asks shyly.

"Uhm sure. How about Italian? There is one around the corner from my apartment." Kate offers.

"OK. Have you eaten there before?"

"A couple of times, it was pretty good. It's nothing fancy like where your father might take you." Kate cautions.

"That's ok, dad doesn't like fancy either. He says it's like making a car payment so you can eat bird food. And none of the people seem very happy." Alexis tells her.

"Really?" Kate is shocked. She thought sure Castle would love to go to places like that. What else is she wrong about with him?

"But your dad drives a very fancy expensive car?" Kate is curious.

"He said he bought it to protect me. He said it can go fast, has room for more than two people and it's very comfortable. And he didn't want to be a, …. a, …. show something." Alexis trails off not sure of the word.

"Showboat." Kate offers.

"What is showboat?" Alexis asks.

"Trying to get people to think you are someone who you are not. For example, say you wanted to show everyone how much jewelry you have, so you buy a lot of jewelry and wear it everywhere. Make people think you are important because of all the jewelry. But you spent so much money on the jewelry that you don't have money for anything else. Not even food." Kate offers something she might understand.

"That's silly." Alexis responds.

"Here we are." Kate tells her as they reach the restaurant.

Kate is amazed. Alexis actually does a pretty good job of eating the entire plate and spaghetti with meat sauce and meat balls that she ordered.

They settled in on the sofa and watched another movie. The original Wizard of OZ.

Followed by another card game, this time Go Fish. Kate was sure she was going to win this time. She just needed one more card. Just one stinking card.

"You have any nines?" Alexis asks.

"Go fish sweetie." Kate tells her with a little venom in her voice.

Alexis pulls a card and lays all her cards down. "Ha, I win."

"WHAT?" Kate can't believe it. "How, … how?" Kate groans. She is holding more than a handful of cards. Just one stinking card.

Looking over at a smiling Alexis. "Ok card shark, time for bed. Go get washed up, brush your teeth and I'll be right there." And watches her get up and head for the bedroom. "I don't suppose you know poker?" Kate asks her.

Alexis shakes her head.

'Good, maybe there is at least one card game I can beat her at. Maybe.'

Kate has followed Alexis and has washed and brushed and changed for bed and finds Alexis already in bed waiting for her with outstretched arms.

Kate melts a little at the sight and slides into bed and feels Alexis wrap her arms around her and Kate soon follows.

Alexis however wakes up in the middle of the night still wrapped up tight. She needs to use the bathroom so she wiggles and does her best to extract herself and goes into the bathroom. Waiting until she has the door closed before turning on the light and the fan.

Once done and the toilet is silent she turns off the light and the fan and opens the door. But has to wait a moment for her eyes to adjust. Then she moves back over to the bed and crawls back in. And slowly wraps her arms around Kate once more.

Kate seems to subconsciously wrap her arms around Alexis. Alexis is now almost face to face with Kate and studies her face in the darkness for a time.

Finally she closes her eyes and snuggles in closer. "I love you." Alexis whispers out to Kate.

What she doesn't see are the tears forming in Kate's eyes and neither of them notice that Kate squeezes Alexis just a little tighter.