A/N: Sorry for the wait...
Nice reviews help me update faster :)
Kate sprinted out of the loft. Not bothering to wait for the elevator, she ran down six flights of stairs; anything to get out of there as fast as possible. Outside, she was blinded by sunlight and pelted with cool, fresh air but she didn't slow down. With no idea of where to go, Kate turned left and continued straight. She ran until her legs were shaky. She ran until there were no more tears left. She ran until the burning in her lungs overpowered the pain in her heart. She ran past bookstores and coffee shops; a pang of hurt accompanying both. She ran until that morning's events were buried deep inside her. With each step she came up with an excuse for Castle.
It was a reflex. He still thinks he's married. He doesn't remember loving you. It's not his fault. You should have expected something like that to happen.
Kate wasn't mad at Rick. She was pretty annoyed with herself, more than anything, for letting things go as far as they did, but other than that she wasn't mad. She was just sad. Kate ran the perimeter of a small park, about a mile or two from the loft, before collapsing on a wooden bench. She buried her head in her hands, sweat dripping from her face and released another round of tears she didn't know she had. Kate thought about everything Alexis said and about all of the progress she'd made the night before, erasing the latter from her memory. Parents walking by gave her odd looks and clutched tighter to their children as they passed by. Kate didn't care. She didn't want to know what she looked like. She didn't want to know what they though. She just wanted to cry. And she did.
When there really were no more tears, she stood up wobbly. The tightness of her throat, mixed with her overwhelming thirst and burning legs, Kate slowly made her way back to the loft.
The elevator ride was entirely too long and entirely too short. The hallways were silent, as usual. She paused in front of the large wooden door and drew in a long breath before connecting her fist with the wood. In a flash the door flew open and Kate was met with a mass of flying red hair and a bone crushing hug. Her eyes grew wide but she soon felt comforted by the arms crushing her midsection. She couldn't describe how thankful she was to Alexis.
"Ew, Kate. You smell," Alexis muttered into Kate's shoulder.
"If it bothers you that much, why don't you let go?" Kate said, forcing a chuckle laughed.
"I'm good," Alexis responded, squeezing Kate harder before finally releasing her. Alexis looped her arm through Kate's and pulled her into the kitchen.
"We were worried about you darling," Martha called from the kitchen, her head peering into the refrigerator. When Kate and Alexis perched themselves on bar stools, she turned around with an armful of baking ingredients. Kate noticed a gleam in the older woman's eye that hadn't been there before. She gave Martha a quizzical look but the older woman waved her off with a smile and began cooking.
"Why were you so worried?" Kate asked, looking at Alexis. The young girl looked down sheepishly.
"She," Martha said, pointing at Alexis, "seemed to inherit her father's overactive imagination."
"Well…" she started, "your phone was here. And your car keys. And your bag with your badge and your gun. I guess I was just being paranoid but I thought…" she trailed off.
"But what sweetie?" Kate prompted.
"That the men who shot dad came back to finish the job and finally kill you."
"Oh," was all Kate could say. Alexis was staring at the countertop and Kate was staring at Alexis. Kate could see the cloudiness in Alexis's eyes that she hadn't noticed before. Martha had paused her cooking to study both ladies in front of her.
"Well," Kate said finally breaking the silence, "I can honestly tell you those men have not tried to harm me since your dad took that bullet, saving me. But I have no idea what's stopping them. There was a patrol car on my apartment of a few weeks after the shooting, but when nothing bad happened Gate's declared it a waste of resources and called them off. So now, I'm on my own and I don't know what's stopping them from coming back." Kate could feel the tension in her throat as she finished but didn't let it show. It was hard pushing those things out of her mind all the time but it was necessary. There was another long pause before Martha spoke up.
"Then maybe this break is a good thing. Maybe because you've stopped investigating they have no reason to harm you."
"I hadn't thought about it like that. You may be right. But I will do everything in my power to make this whole thing up to Rick and the both of you."
"We know darling," Martha said winking, and reaching her hand across the counter to give Kate's arm a squeeze. Kate turned to Alexis who had been silent for a long time. She put her hands on the girl's shoulders, looked into her eyes and said, "And if they did come back, you would definitely know because this place would look like all hell broke loose." That got a smile on Alexis's face.
"Why did you leave so early?" She asked.
"I needed to go for a run. I hadn't for a while and I'd been getting a little antsy," Kate said, not completely lying. Pain from that morning swelled inside of her, but again, she refused to let it show. Martha resumed cooking while Kate and Alexis made idle chit-chat.
"Do I smell pancakes?" Rick exclaimed gleefully as she rolled himself out of his bedroom and into the kitchen. Kate's stomach dropped and her throat tightened. Rick's hair was disheveled from sleep and his eyes were bright and shining, more than they had in a while. His gray tee-shirt was snug and Kate could see the muscles in his chest ripple as he rolled the wheels of the chair. He looked handsome. Kate had to forcefully tear her eyes away from him. She turned to look at Martha's cooking. Pancakes. The edible way of saying thank you so much for last night. The food that brought images of that morning swirling through her mind. It was too much. Kate excused herself before she broke out in tears.
"Richard what did you do?" Martha asked harshly.
"I didn't do anything. I haven't seen Kate since yesterday. Honest," Rick replied. Kate, catching the tail end of the conversation, shut herself in the bathroom and proceeded to sob.
Martha left Alexis in the kitchen interrogating her father, who had no recollection of that morning's incident, over pancakes, in search of Kate. She knocked softly on the bathroom door and after a moment it opened, revealing a red-eyed Kate. Without saying a word Martha ushered Kate to the edge of the sink. Kate leaned against the edge and Martha stepped in front of her, meeting her eyes. Kate realized it wasn't just Rick who had the ability to see through her. It was a family trait.
"Katherine, what happened?" was all Martha asked in her most motherly tone before the dam broke. Kate couldn't stop the words before they flew from her lips. As she explained the details of that morning she couldn't help but mentally scold herself on her inability to keep a straight face at the sight of Rick. Martha nodded solemnly as Kate explained, rarely meeting her eyes and giving the occasional sigh. When Kate finished, tears sliding down her cheeks, Martha grabbed her hand. Kate felt like a weight had been lifted but was hesitant to look at Martha. She met the woman's eyes and saw how clear of judgment they were.
"He'll get there Kate, just don't scold yourself over every bump in the road. I know it will be difficult but you need to forget everything that happened this morning." Kate sighed.
"I know, Martha. Thank you," Kate replied honestly. The red head smiled and pulled Kate in for a quick, tight hug.
"Now let's go eat." Both women smiled and returned to the kitchen.
"Hey Kate, is everything okay?" Alexis asked as soon as Kate and Martha stepped into view.
"Yeah Alexis, everything is okay," Kate replied with a reassuring smile. Alexis looked unconvinced but still said "okay." Kate turned to Rick who looked at her with concern filling his eyes.
"Castle, you can stop looking at me like that. I said everything's fine," Kate said, forcing a chuckle and picking up the full coffee mug sitting on the counter. Rick let out a sigh of relief and smiled as she picked up the coffee he'd made her. Kate took a sip and savored the calm she immediately felt as the hot liquid slid down her throat. She'd missed his coffee. Then her eyes widened.
"Castle, did you make this?" she asked.
"Yeah…" he said slowly.
"Alexis, did you tell him my coffee order?"
"No," the young girl responded through a mouthful of pancakes. "I don't even know what it is."
"Castle, you remembered my order. And you got the right mug too."
"Really?" Martha, Alexis, and Rick asked simultaneously.
"Grande skim, with two pumps of sugar free vanilla?" Rick asked smiling.
"Yes," Kate replied excitedly.
"Dad, that's great!"
"Yeah, it is. How do I know your coffee order so well Kate?"
"We went out for coffee a lot," Kate replied, not completely lying.
"Well that's great."
Kate took her mug and sat down at the table next to Rick and across from Alexis. Martha set a plate in front of Kate and sat down. Kate thanked her graciously and Martha smiled. They ate to the melody of forks scratching plates. Kate figured that Rick remembering her order somehow made up for his mistake that morning, considering how integral coffee was in their relationship.
"So what do you want to do today?" Alexis asked her father, grandmother, and Kate as they cleaned up the breakfast plates.
"I need to get some shopping done. I have a play in a few days and absolutely nothing to wear," Martha announced decidedly.
"I'd love to go shopping. There's a new boutique on Madison I've heard nothing but good things about," Alexis said.
"Yeah, I'm not in the mood for shopping. Not gonna lie," Rick said. Martha and Alexis turned to him, looking disappointed.
"Well I can stay with Castle if you two want to go shopping," Kate chimed in.
"No, I want you to come with us Kate," Alexis said.
"Well, why don't you and your gram go and I will hang with your dad for a while. Then maybe I can invite Ryan and Espo over and they can play Madden while we go and get are nails done or something. The image of the three of them squeezed together on the couch, laughing over the video game, fighting over the Cheetos was strangely comforting.
"Kate, that sounds like an excellent idea, if you don't mind staying with Richard," Martha said.
"I'm used to it Martha," Kate laughed.
"Richard do you mind staying with Kate?"
"Of course not," he responded, flashing Kate a crooked smile, his cocky but extremely cute smirk that arises whenever he says something (he thinks) is adorable. Kate returned it half-heartedly.
"Alexis, let's go get ready," Martha said, ushering the girl upstairs. Kate and Rick watched until they were out of view.
"Well," Rick said turning to Kate "I guess it's just you and me."