45. 46: Wednesday
46
Kate finds Alexis in her room, the door mostly shut as the girl fumes, throwing clothes into a suitcase haphazardly. She waits outside for a beat, closing her eyes to gather her courage, and then she knocks on the door.
Alexis's head jerks up and she stiffens when she sees Kate. For a moment, when the girl comes towards her, Kate thinks Alexis is going to shut the door in her face. But she doesn't. She widens the crack, stands with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Alexis," she starts, taking a deep breath as she pauses. She has to do this. She has to. Kate Beckett is not going to be the thing that comes between Rick and his daughter. "I think I can convince your dad to let you come back the week before Summer Experience at Columbia."
Alexis's eyes light up for an instant, and then turn suspicious, mistrustful. Kate bites the inside of her cheek and feels her nails cut into her palm.
"I'm sorry," she says finally. "I know this is my fault-"
Alexis averts her eyes, but she's shaking her head, swiping at her cheeks. "Not - not your fault."
"Alexis," she murmurs, at a loss to deal with this, the tears. "I - I didn't mean to-"
"It's not your fault," she huffs, acting so precisely like the teenager she is that it surprises Kate, makes her take a step back. Alexis draws the heel of her hand under her eye and gives a bitter laugh. "That's the shitty part. I know it's not your fault. You - how did Dad put it? - you walked away from it. But here it is. Followed you home."
Kate keeps her mouth shut, lets the girl talk even though she's never heard Alexis curse before. Not even when her father and grandmother were inside that bank-
"But it's my home it followed you to, Kate. Mine. Only it's not your fault. It's not your fault. And now what are we supposed to do?" Alexis crosses her arms over her chest again and half-turns away.
Kate swallows. "We leave. We get away and have fun for a few weeks. That's all your dad wants."
"You mean, we run away. Because whoever broke into your apartment needs to see that you're nowhere near the city, that you're not a threat. So we run away."
And Kate suddenly gets it, what's at the core of Alexis's anger. Not just fear over her father's safety, but this.
The need to tackle the hard things head on.
"Believe me," Kate says quickly, reaching out to tug on Alexis's elbow, turn her around. "It grates me. It goes against everything in me to turn tail and run, Alexis. But I will. I am."
"Why?" Alexis grits out. "This isn't right. These people have ruined so many lives, and they just get to keep doing it?"
Kate feels it closing up her throat, threatening to swallow her again, and she has to breathe through it, force air into her lungs. "Because I love your father and I won't let his life be one of those they ruin."
Castle paces his study, anxiety leaking out of his pores; he can't believe Kate convinced him to let her go and talk to Alexis.
Stupid, stupid idea. Alexis was so furious - she wants to stay here, she doesn't understand, she-
"Rick."
He jerks mid-stride, spins to see Kate in the doorway.
"You let her come back a week before-"
"No."
"Rick."
His chest tightens with it; he wants to yell at her that it's not her place. But he won't. He needs to think. Be smart. Running his mouth off is always what gets him in trouble.
"Hear me out," she says softly. "Isn't this what I've been doing for the last couple years? Tempering your over-protective instincts? Giving you the teenage girl's perspective?"
She's going for funny? She's going for funny. Fine. He sinks to the edge of his desk and gestures for her to continue.
She keeps her arms at her sides, won't come any farther into the study. "Three weeks out of a ten week summer is a lot of time for Alexis to be away from home. She won't want to miss out on any of those last moments, the last time she meets up with friends at the favorite coffee place, the last-"
"I got it," he grates out, his jaw working.
Kate narrows her eyes at him but stands firm in the middle of his doorway. "Three weeks is a lot. And then she'd fly back and have to go straight to the summer thing at Columbia - straight into a new life. Give her the week, Castle."
"I can't. I can't let her stay here when-"
"We're here now. You made me spend the night because you said it's safe here. Doorman, lobby security, the alarm-"
"Safer. It's relative, Kate."
"So hire extra security."
He growls and rubs a hand down his face. She can't possibly expect him to send his daughter back to the city while they're all the way in Belize, leaving her alone to face whatever-
"She's frustrated, Castle. She wants the chance to live her life, same as you. Same as me."
"What?" he grits out, lifting his head to look at her.
"After I was shot-"
He flinches and she pauses, just a moment, but keeps going, plows forward.
"-you made the choice, Castle. To stand with me. Even though Alexis wasn't happy about it. She just wants the same respect, the same opportunity to choose her own life."
He groans and tilts his head back, scrubbing at his face. She's silent now, and his mind is racing with worst-case scenarios, but shit.
"I hate it when you're right," he mutters.
"You love it," she murmurs.
He glances up, and no, she is not smirking at him right now, is she? She is.
Now Kate comes into the room, watching him, stands between his knees, her hands trailing up his thighs. "She doesn't want to run away, Castle. She wants the chance to make her stand."
How is he supposed to tell her that those are terrible words, that they remind him of blood and death? That he wants nothing more than to sit his daughter down, shield her, never let her-
Ahhh, damn.
"Okay," he sighs, closing his eyes against it. He feels her fingertips against his cheeks and his lashes flutter open. She's leaning in at that moment, and her mouth presses against his softly, caressing, fingers stroking his jaw, the curve of his ear, his neck.
"You're a good father," she murmurs, cradling his face, her eyes intent on his, her thumbs brushing his cheekbones. "And a beautiful man, Castle."
He wraps his arms around her, tightly, and holds on.