Author's Note: More of the weekend in the Hamptons.
The Best-Laid Plans
Chapter 11
Kate did not keep her hand on Castle's arm for long, was too self-conscious to do so.
Once they stepped outside of the Sand Dollar and onto the sidewalk, the brisk ocean breeze had its way with her hair, providing a convenient excuse for her to lift her hand to brush her hair out of her face.
She kept her gaze fixed on Alexis. "So, where should we start?"
"Oh, there are lots of cute places along this street so we can just walk and browse, if that's okay with you."
"Sounds like fun."
True to Alexis's word, the block did have cute stores, the usual kitschy tourist stores, places selling items branded with the Hamptons or the usual beach-themed vacation things like t-shirts bearing slogans like "I'd rather be at the beach," or "My second home is a yacht," that said a lot for the general quality of the clientele.
As usual, with Castle and Alexis around, even window-shopping at such places was fun, interspersed with their humorous comments and teasing suggestions of things to buy.
They stopped into a store that sold a variety of beach-themed things, not just clothes, but other tourist items, little knick-knacks, the obligatory postcards and keychains.
Alexis picked up a wide-brimmed summer hat in a shade of bright lemon yellow with the brim lined in hot pink and stuck it on her head, striking a pose. "What do you think?"
Kate suppressed a laugh and couldn't help but think that after all, Tricia might have had a point. Alexis was adorable. "It's certainly very colorful," she commented diplomatically. "Yellow is a good color on you." That part was true but it seemed unusually vivid for Alexis.
"If you're trying to convince me that I need to take you to see an optometrist, you're succeeding," Castle quipped.
Alexis laughed and made a face at him. "I was actually thinking it would be for Grams, Dad. You know she's been saying she needs a new summer hat."
"Your grandmother has about a dozen summer hats," Castle returned dryly. "She might want another one but that doesn't make it a necessity, no matter what she says. And I think for our own eyesight's sake, maybe something that won't make our eyes bleed if we look at it for too long would be better."
Alexis pretended to sigh as she put the hat back. "You're such a spoilsport, Dad. Isn't he, Kate?"
Kate laughed. A spoilsport was one word she would never have thought to apply to Castle. "He really is," she teased. "You should be nicer to your own mother, Castle."
He faked shock. "I'm very nice to my mother. I let her move in when she was broke and stay rent-free, didn't I?"
"She's your mom and Alexis's grandmother. What else could you have done?" Kate returned, even as she felt a tug of curiosity at his mentioning that Martha had been broke. She hadn't wondered before why Martha lived with Castle but it occurred to her belatedly to wonder at the reason.
"Charge rent?" he suggested facetiously.
"Dad!" Alexis scolded.
Kate shook her head in mock disapproval. "Nice try, but I think we both know Alexis wouldn't have let you do that."
He bridled. "Hey, it's my loft, my decision. Alexis isn't the boss of me."
Kate snorted. "Oh, please, Alexis is definitely the boss of you."
Alexis laughed. "I knew I liked you, Kate," she joked. "See, Dad, you should listen to her. You're always talking about how smart she is."
Kate tried but couldn't deny the silly little thrill she felt. Absurd, because it wasn't as if she hadn't known Castle respected her intelligence–and she didn't know why she should care so much about his opinion anyway.
Castle narrowed his eyes at his daughter, pointing a finger at her. "You aren't my favorite anymore." He turned his eyes to Beckett. "And you, as a law enforcement official pledged to uphold law and order, shouldn't be encouraging such mutiny."
She grinned. "Whatever you say, Captain Bligh."
"I'm going if you two are just going to make fun of me," Castle huffed, making a show of marching out of the store.
Kate's eyes met Alexis's as the girl laughed. "He's such a drama queen sometimes," the girl pretended to sigh.
Kate grinned. "He really is. But I suppose we should follow him."
"Yeah, he needs adult supervision," Alexis grinned and left the store with Kate following on a laugh.
Not that Castle had gone far since they found him pretending absorption in the window display of the store two doors down, one that sold sunglasses, hats, and other summer accessories.
"Oh, there you two are," he greeted them as if he'd been waiting for an hour. "Come on, my favorite place on this street is just up ahead."
"Oh, right, I almost forgot," Alexis agreed.
Unsurprisingly, Castle's favorite place proved to be a bookstore, a second-hand bookstore called, charmingly, Twice-told Tales.
"Cute alliterative name," she observed.
He grinned at her. "I know, isn't it great?" He held the door open for her and Alexis before entering himself.
Alexis wandered off to the general fiction section while Kate went to the mystery section as did Castle.
The store had a few of his books–a couple Derrick Storm books, a few of his older books, including Flowers for Your Grave. "No Heat Wave," she pointed out to him quietly.
"Obviously. Why would anyone want to give up their copy of that masterpiece?"
She huffed a soft laugh while he took out a pen and proceeded to sign each copy of his books, some with little messages like 'Happy reading!'.
He caught her watching and lifted his shoulders into a small shrug. "Force of habit, signing my own books."
She smiled. "It'll make a nice surprise for the buyer," she responded and thought that it was true. He might shrug it off as something like an act of egotism on his part but actually, she thought, it was more generous than that. She could imagine the way she would feel to find an author-signed copy of a book in a bookstore, like an extra bonus, and for someone who was a fan, the personal touch would mean quite a bit. It was a nice thing to do–just as Castle was a nice man, as lame as the word was, but it was true.
She felt abruptly self-conscious of his eyes on her and hurriedly turned away to browse some of the other shelves.
The bookstore had a small foreign language section and in it, she found a Russian-English dictionary. She'd owned one before but it had been destroyed when her apartment had blown up and it hadn't been a priority to replace. She pulled it out just to check the price and saw that it was $5–a bargain so even though she hadn't planned on getting anything, she decided to make an exception for this.
Alexis returned holding two books which she handed to her dad. "Do you mind, Dad? I've been wanting to read these for a while."
Castle dropped a kiss on Alexis's forehead. "Of course I don't mind." He turned to Kate. "You found something too?"
She showed the dictionary to him. "I could use another one."
"You speak Russian, Kate?" Alexis asked.
"Yeah, I learned it for when I was studying abroad in Kiev," she answered.
"That's really neat," the girl praised. "Will you say something in Russian?"
Kate thought and then responded with a brief sentence in Russian, adding, "I just said, 'To hope and to act, these are our duties in misfortune.' It's from Boris Pasternak."
"That's so cool!" Alexis enthused.
"Sexy," Castle murmured under his breath at the same moment.
Kate felt herself flushing. She didn't know how it was that he could make her blush when she didn't normally do so but it was just something about the way he looked at her sometimes, as if she was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen.
Fortunately, Alexis stepped in to dispel Kate's sudden self-consciousness, swatting at Castle's arm. "Don't be gross, Dad."
"Gross, am I?" Castle caught Alexis in a mock head-lock and then bent to blow a loud, obnoxious raspberry against his daughter's cheek making Alexis laugh and push him away.
"Dad!" she protested. "I'm not five anymore!"
Castle heaved an exaggerated sigh, pasting on a forlorn look. "I know. It's terrible. I don't know when you got so big."
"Da-ad," Alexis sighed but her expression was indulgent. "Don't get all sappy, okay?"
He shook his head in mock disappointment but his eyes were dancing as he turned to Kate. "Witness the pain of having a teenage daughter."
"Clearly, you're suffering terribly," she drawled.
He inclined his head. "Thank you. Your sympathy is appreciated."
She snorted a laugh and addressed Alexis. "Is he always so ridiculous?"
"Yes," Alexis answered promptly, directing a cheeky smirk at her dad.
"Well, fine," Castle huffed in mock disgruntlement, "while you two are having so much fun mocking me, I'll go make myself useful and pay for the books."
Before she could react or realize what he was about to do, he'd reached out and plucked the dictionary out of Kate's hands.
She balked, making a futile attempt to retrieve it. "I can pay for my own book."
"Don't be silly. It saves time to pay for it all together anyway," he reasoned over his shoulder as he hurried away with all three books to the cash register and had already presented the cashier with his credit card by the time Kate caught up.
"Castle," she huffed with just a little irritation.
Having already paid for the dictionary, he returned it to her, along with one of his pleading expressions. "You let me buy you coffee and this only costs about as much as a cup of coffee so what's the big deal? Friends get each other gifts. Hasn't Lanie bought you gifts before?"
Put like that, it seemed like the height of ingratitude to refuse. "Fine, thanks, Castle," she agreed with as much grace as she could muster.
"Besides," Alexis interjected, having joined them for the tail end of this exchange, "Dad likes to give people things."
That might be one of truest assessments of Castle's character she'd yet heard. "Well, I appreciate it," she added, softening her admittedly reluctant acceptance. "I just don't want you to have to feel like you always have to pay for everything." Well, that, and her own ingrained dislike of feeling indebted to someone.
She was rewarded for this concession by the brightening of his expression. "You're very welcome."
"So I guess if Espo decides he wants a Porsche, I should direct him to you," she joked in an attempt to stave off the renegade little flutter in her chest at his smile, the look in his eyes.
Castle gave a brief laugh. "Even my generosity has its limits." He turned to smile at his daughter. "And thank you, daughter, for backing me up."
Alexis grinned, nudging her dad with her elbow. "I know, I make a great wing-woman."
"You see, modesty runs in the family," Castle addressed Beckett dryly.
Kate had to laugh. "Yes, I can see that."
For just a moment as both Alexis and Castle laughed, Kate could see the resemblance between the two. Alexis didn't obviously take after Castle in appearance, the blue eyes aside, but at that moment, she could see a phantom resemblance of sorts, that was almost more about their similar senses of humor than it was a physical thing.
Yes, Alexis was adorable–and so was he. Oh damn, she inwardly huffed, she didn't exactly like admitting it–it seemed ridiculous, such an absurd word to apply to a grown man, no matter how he acted–but at times like this, she couldn't deny that he really was, well, cute.
And how he managed to combine that with also being mouth-wateringly sexy, she really had no idea.
And then cut off the thought because she absolutely should not be thinking about Castle in such terms anymore.
"So should we head out now?" she hurriedly suggested.
"Sure. After you," Castle moved to open the door for both Kate and Alexis as they left the bookshop to continue exploring the small downtown.
They ventured into a couple more stores, mostly selling tourist items, an art gallery, passed by a cute little church before they doubled back to wander towards where they'd left the car.
Alexis was the first one out of the car when they arrived back at the house. "Meet you guys at the pool in a little while!" Alexis tossed over her shoulder as she vanished inside leaving Castle and Kate to follow more sedately.
Kate exchanged an amused glance with Castle. "I see what you mean, about Alexis loving it out here." And Alexis had inherited some of her dad's over-enthusiasm, obviously.
He gave a brief laugh but his smile was a little wistful as he held the door to the house open for her. "Yeah. I like seeing how excited she gets, like a reminder that the little girl she used to be isn't entirely gone, no matter how grown-up she seems most of the time."
She had to curl her hands into fists to stop herself from reaching out to touch his arm, just to offer comfort–or worse still, to wrap her arms around him in a hug, bury her face in the curve of his shoulder and breathe–wait, what was she thinking?! She guillotined the thought. No, oh no, no, no, she could not be thinking like this, absolutely should not be thinking like this. Could not touch Castle like that and certainly should not want to hug him or anything.
"She's not all grown-up yet, Castle," she offered mildly. "She won't even be leaving for college for another couple years."
"You're right, as usual." He paused, his expression changing. "Now, ready for an afternoon of fun in the sun?"
She huffed a small laugh. "Nice rhyming, Castle. You could be a writer," she teased.
"That's a good idea. I'll give it a try," he returned in mock thoughtfulness.
"Okay, good plan. In the meantime, I am going to go change," she excused herself and hurried up the stairs to her room, more because she felt the need to put some distance between her and Castle than out of a sudden eagerness to get into the pool.
(Distance, ha, a little voice in her mind scoffed. Who was she kidding? She'd proven to be absolutely terrible at keeping a distance from Castle.)
She ignored the little voice. It wasn't even true because she hadn't, after all, touched Castle again and there was still Alexis, serving as distraction and chaperone all in one.
So she would be just fine, she told herself.
She changed into her swimsuit, dawdling only a little bit to be sure that Alexis would have time to beat her downstairs and prevent Kate from being alone with Castle again.
When she made it downstairs, she was just in time to witness Castle's characteristic entrance into the pool, making a cannonball straight into the deep end and sending up a small tsunami of water to drench Alexis, eliciting a shriek of surprise from the girl as she was still on the steps getting into the pool.
"You asked for it!" the girl threatened and dove towards her dad while Kate couldn't help but laugh as she exited the house and joined them.
Alexis pounced on Castle's shoulders and dunked him under the water before swimming back and Castle shot upright sputtering as Alexis cackled in glee.
Kate had told herself that forewarned was fore-armed and after all, she had seen Castle in swim trunks, had seen him shirtless–more than shirtless, even–so she was fine, didn't react to the sight of him, soaking wet, with water dripping on his chest and shoulders.
Yeah, that was a lie. She still reacted. Of course she still reacted. She was starting to think, grudgingly, that she might need to be dead and buried before the sight of Castle shirtless would stop affecting her. Oh shit.
Kate hurried into the water, hoping the cool water of the pool would help tamp down the heat that had surged inside her at the sight of Castle.
"Oh, good, you're here, Ka–," Alexis greeted her.
The teen's words were cut off by a splash of water and Castle's mock threat. "You realize this is war now, daughter."
Alexis laughed, pushing her dripping hair away from her face, and shot a conspiratorial look at Kate. "Two against one?" she suggested.
Kate had to laugh. "You got it."
And so, the battle was joined, with Kate and Alexis teaming up to send a barrage of splashes in Castle's direction with him retaliating with his own counter-waves, using powerful sweeps of his arm to send great sheaves of water over the both of them.
It was ridiculous and silly and Kate would have expected to feel rather abashed at engaging in such childishness but found she couldn't, at least not in the moment, not with Alexis and Castle laughing and exchanging teasing barbs to egg each other on. Their open-hearted, unself-conscious enjoyment was just contagious and she thought she would have needed to be made out of stone to resist getting in on the fun.
The war ended when Alexis dove underwater and managed to yank one of Castle's legs out from under him, making him topple face-first into the water with a strangled yelp that was cut off by a mouthful of water.
He made a show of flailing around before he got his feet under him again and stood up, spluttering and wiping water out of his face and eyes. "Truce! Truce, oh merciless daughter."
"Ha! Victory is ours!" Alexis exchanged high fives with Kate while Castle observed with a mock scowl.
"It's not nice to gloat," he pretended to grumble.
"It's not nice to be a sore loser," Alexis returned without missing a beat.
"She has a point, Castle," Kate needled him.
"It was two against one!" he protested. "Not a fair fight at all."
"Haven't you learned yet that life isn't fair, Dad?" Alexis quipped.
"Oh right, must have slipped my mind," he made a face and Alexis laughed, resting her chin on his shoulder as she used him as a floatation device of sorts.
He laughed too and this time, Kate wasn't even surprised to find herself thinking, again, that he really was adorable when he was with his daughter like this.
The afternoon slipped by with ease, without any more water wars but more subdued fun and relaxation as they swam a few desultory laps or just floated. It was almost idyllic but Kate was conscious that the only thing that somewhat marred the haze of summer sunshine and warmth that seemed to have settled around them was the fact that she was always conscious of keeping at least a couple feet of distance between her and Castle. She didn't think–she hoped–that anyone else noticed but she knew it, couldn't quite help but be aware of it, with the memory of her dream of her and Castle in a pool lingering in her mind.
After spending the afternoon in the pool, true to Castle's plan that morning, he started up the grill outside while she and Alexis showered and changed, and then they had a relaxed al fresco dinner of burgers, corn on the cob, and potato salad.
Sunset was starting to paint the sky in shades of pink and orange by the time they finished dinner. Kate leaned back in her deck chair with a little sigh. "Dinner was great, thanks, Castle."
"Yeah, thanks, Dad," Alexis chimed in.
He slanted a soft smile at both of them. "You're very welcome, ladies."
Something in his look, his tone, made Kate's stupid heart flutter and she forced herself to sit up. "Give me a minute or so and I can help clean up," she offered hurriedly.
Castle waved a hand. "No, don't be silly. There's not much to do anyway. You two stay out here and relax. I've got this."
"You sure, Dad?"
"Very sure," he assured them. "No sense in all three of us trying to clean up and just getting in each other's way."
Kate suppressed a snort. Considering the size of his kitchen, that wasn't much of an excuse.
"Relax," he repeated. "I'm just going to clear this stuff up and then I'll be back out in a little while with the fixings for s'mores so I hope you saved some room in your stomach."
Alexis ignored Castle's urging and got up to help him bring in the detritus from their dinner but both Alexis and Castle waved Kate away when she started to get up too and Kate saw that Castle was starting to get what she termed his stubborn look so she didn't try to argue.
Alexis returned shortly, explaining that her dad had kicked her back out, as she put it, to keep Kate company. The girl resettled on the deck chair beside Kate and a comfortable silence settled over the two.
Kate watched the brilliant colors of the sunset unfurl across the sky, tinting even the water below. This whole weekend really had been like an escape from reality, a halcyon interlude. "It really is beautiful out here," she finally said.
Alexis smiled. "I thought you'd like it. I know how hard you work; Dad always mentions how you stay at the precinct long after he leaves. So I thought it'd be nice for you to get a break."
"Thanks, this has been a nice break."
Alexis bit her lip, glanced away, and then back at Kate.
Kate straightened up a little, recognizing the signs. "Is there something else on your mind, Alexis?" she asked gently. She didn't want to sound like she was interrogating the girl.
Alexis let out a breath and turned to Kate. "Actually, yes, I was wondering if I could ask for a favor."
"Of course, anything," she agreed readily. From what she knew of Alexis, the teen wasn't likely to ask for anything outrageous.
"I hope this doesn't sound weird or awkward or anything but I was wondering, you know how I'm spending the summer at Princeton, right?"
Kate sternly suppressed a smile and a dry remark that Castle had only mentioned it about a couple dozen times. "Of course I remember," was all she said instead.
"Well, I was wondering if you'd look after my dad while I'm gone, you know, just make sure he doesn't spend too much time moping alone at home. Maybe you and Detectives Esposito and Ryan could come over for a regular poker night or something, just keep him busy." Kate blinked, opening her mouth to respond, but before she could, Alexis rushed on, flushing a little. "I don't want to make it sound weird but it's just that my dad's never spent an entire summer alone before and–"
"Won't your grandmother be around?" she interrupted.
"Oh, no, see, Grams had an audition this weekend, that's why she's not here, and she got the part so she'll be traveling with the show for eight weeks this summer."
"Good for Martha," Kate managed.
"Yeah, she's excited," Alexis smiled before her smile faded a little as she glanced back towards the house. "But it means Dad will be all alone and anyway, even if Grams weren't going on tour, she's busy and isn't around much so it's not quite the same thing. And I just worry about him, you know?"
"Alexis," Kate began carefully, "I'm sure your dad himself would tell you that he's a grown man and can take care of himself."
Alexis waved a hand. "Oh, I know that and for the most part, he can, but it's just, he doesn't do that well alone. He's not used to it and he's such a people person and, well," she hesitated before going on, "he gets lonely and when he gets down, he tends to… act out a little."
Kate hadn't quite thought of that, that Castle's past forays into partying when he'd appeared in Page Six might have been due to loneliness. Lonely wasn't a word she'd ever thought to apply to Castle. Something seemed to squeeze her chest at the thought of Castle being lonely. It seemed so… wrong. "Your dad has lots of friends, though. He seems to 'know a guy' everywhere."
Alexis sobered, abruptly looking older than her years. "Dad knows a lot of people, sure, but that's not the same thing as having a lot of real friends, though, is it?"
Alexis was a smart girl. Kate felt a little abashed, shown up by a teenage girl. "No, you're right," she agreed slowly. "It's not the same thing." And Castle was a celebrity, a very rich celebrity, so he would need to be on guard against people who would want to use him.
"See, that's what I mean." Alexis made a small self-deprecating sort of face. "My dad's life has pretty much always revolved around me. He used to say I was his bestest buddy."
Kate had to smile a little at this very Castle-like sentiment.
"Which was fine when I was little but now," Alexis shrugged, grimacing. "It's why I'm glad he started working with you, actually. It gave him something else to do, take up his time, now that I've gotten busier. And with both me and Grams going away for the summer, I just… wanted to make sure Dad would be okay, wouldn't just spend most of his evenings moping at home or throwing himself into parties that aren't really good for him."
"You're a good daughter, Alexis," Kate responded after a moment. And it spoke volumes for the kind of father Castle had been, the kind of relationship he'd built with his daughter. "You don't have to worry. Your dad has friends at the precinct, me, the boys, Captain Montgomery, Lanie. We can keep him busy."
Alexis flashed her a bright, beaming smile. "Thanks, Kate. I–I'm glad Dad has you for a friend. And don't tell him I told you this but I know he's just been… happier, since he started working with you."
Happier. Kate felt color creeping into her cheeks, something about the thought that Castle was happier because he'd met her, started working with her.
"I hope you're ready for s'mores because here they come," Castle's cheerful voice marked the end of their conversation.
Alexis shot Kate a quick glance that Kate answered with a small nod, silently agreeing not to tell Castle what they'd just talked about.
Alexis turned to smile brightly at her dad. "I'm always ready for s'mores," she declared lightly.
"I've taught you well, young grasshopper," Castle nodded at his daughter.
Kate smiled at this exchange but didn't contribute, only watched as Castle prepared the fire and set out all the ingredients for s'mores before handing out toasting stakes for the marshmallows.
They roasted the marshmallows and ate s'mores, with Castle and Alexis engaging in one of their usual humorous exchanges, Alexis teasing Castle for letting his marshmallow get burnt or for getting marshmallow over half his face as he ate a s'more, to which Castle responded in his characteristically mature Castle fashion by smearing some marshmallow onto Alexis's cheek. Kate sat and ate and watched the firelight flicker over Castle's and Alexis's faces.
She caught Castle glancing at her and managed a quick smile for his benefit, which he returned with a beaming grin, and she felt her stupid, traitorous heart leap inside her chest, warmth unfurling inside her.
She and Castle were friends, of course they were, but at that moment, looking at him, she thought the word, friends, didn't sound like enough. She did want more than that–and she wasn't even talking about sex either.
Oh shit, now what?
~To be continued…~
A/N 2: Coming up next, more smut.