26. House Guests

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Castle stormed through his front door letting it shut with a loud bang. His mother was nowhere in sight when he stepped into the living room so he just continued right through into his study. He grabbed a bottle of scotch on his way, pouring himself a glass before slumping down behind his desk, staring into the darkness. He rolled the liquid around in the glass, watched how the light of the desk lamp shined through it before downing it in one gulp.

"Richard?" His mother appeared in the doorway, "I thought I heard you coming in."

"How's Alexis?" He asked without looking at her, eyes trained on the now empty glass in front of him.

"Oh Richard, she's over the moon, didn't stop talking about Jamie all the way home and," she moved closer leaning against his desk and throwing her son a knowing look, "I think your Kate made quite an impression on her."

"She's not my Kate," he almost spat and Martha raised her eyebrows in surprise, giving him a closer look. She saw the agony on his face, the way he tried to hide from her and she immediately knew that something must have gone awfully wrong after she'd left.

"What happened?" She asked slowly, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

He let out a dry laugh and Martha suddenly realized that whatever happened had to be about more than Kate calling him out on his egoistic behavior, which he honestly had deserved.

"This is not about you going behind Kate's back, is it?" She voiced her suspicion but Castle kept his mouth shut. "Richard?" She said, more insistent now, not taking her piercing eyes off of him until she heard her son sigh with surrender.

"She knew," he simply said as if that was the answer to everything.

"Who knew what?" Martha frowned.

"Kate – She knew who I was. Right from the beginning, all this time she knew exactly who I was and still she kept Jamie from me, she never wanted me to meet her." Tears were forming in his eyes. "If I hadn't run into her by chance I would have never known. I would have never known my daughter." He blinked, trying to keep the tears at bay, because it hurt. After spending weeks with Jamie he couldn't even imagine a life without her and to even think he would have never gotten the chance to be a father to her if they hadn't met by accident, it broke his heart.

His mother though had a hard time believing what she heard. Sure she knew in the beginning things had been complicated with Kate, but the woman she'd met today had been so open, so welcoming, she couldn't imagine she actually kept father and daughter away on purpose.

"Are you sure? Did she say that?" She asked unbelieving.

He looked furious at her questions, "On which side are you here, mother?"

"On yours," she told him, "It's just -," she trailed off.

"I know," he laughed bitterly. "I thought things were going so well and then I found my books in her bedroom, all of my books," he emphasized. "Turns out her mother had been a fan."

"Oh Kiddo, I'm sorry," Martha gasped, understanding dawning as the story began to make sense.

"She didn't need to say much more after that, it's pretty obvious what's been going on." He pushed the glass away, slowly getting up.

"What are you going to do?" His mother asked, pushing off the desk as well.

"I going to go to bed," he muttered.

"Richard?" It was obvious she was worried.

"I don't want to talk about it, not tonight," he looked at her with pleading eyes and Martha nodded.

"Alright Kiddo, I'm heading home then. Call me when you're ready," she walked over to him, placing a soft kiss on his cheek. "It's going to be alright though, you know."

"How do you know that?" He asked, stoic.

"Because whatever reasons Kate might have had back then, she wants you in her daughter's life now."

He had nothing left to offer than a slight shrug, too much hurt clouding his heart for him to see a silver lining and so he shuffled into his bedroom, not wanting to think about it anymore.

Kate woke in the middle of the night, her head throbbing, her nightshirt soaked in sweat, clinging to her body and it took her a moment to realize what had woken her from her restless sleep.

She was out of bed the second she heard Jamie's cries, having to catch herself against her doorframe as a sudden wave of dizziness hit her. Slowly she finally made it into Jamie's room, seeing the girl's tear-stained face, she quickly gathered her in her arms.

"Baby Bird, you're burning up," she mumbled, pressing her hand against her daughter's forehead.

"Mommy," Jamie whimpered, curling closer into her mother's chest.

"It's okay, Baby Bird, it's okay," Kate tried to soothe her. "Mommy's here."

Kate stood up with Jamie in her arms, making her way into the kitchen, knowing she had to do something against her daughter's fever before it got worse and ignoring her own aching body and her thoughts about the fallout with Castle.

By the time morning came Kate was beyond exhausted, Jamie had cried all night and only in the early morning hours had she fallen asleep. Kate had never left her side and even now her head was resting next to her daughter's, watching over Jamie's sleep, while Kate sat next to the bed, her hands running soothingly through her little girl's hair.

All night Kate had tried to get the fever down and finally, after hours Jamie's temperature had slightly dropped, allowing the girl to get some much needed sleep. All the while she ignored the warning signals of her own body, she could get some rest once Jamie felt better. And there where things she had to take care of.

She had to call the B&B to cancel their reservation, there was no way they would go up the coast this week even though she knew Jamie would be disappointed. Her daughter had been excited about the trip, their first vacation away from home.

Placing a soft kiss on Jamie's forehead Kate finally pushed herself off the floor to change into a fresh set of clothes not even daring to take a shower while Jamie was asleep. She dragged herself into the kitchen, filling a glass with water before looking for the telephone number of the B&B.

The owner was a friendly old lady, who told her not to worry and to get better soon. She would be able to give the room to someone else and was looking forward to accommodate them some other time.

After that, Kate rummaged through her cabinets in search of food, Jamie needed to eat something when she woke up, even though Kate knew she wouldn't want to. The result of her search was deflating, there wasn't much in the house she could turn into something Jamie would even consider to eat. The plan had been to be out of town for the next few days and there hadn't been any need to stock up on groceries.

She sighed, she also needed medication for Jamie, since she had used what was left during the night, but this put her into a dilemma. She would need to go out, but she couldn't take Jamie with her, not in the state she was in and she couldn't leave her alone either. Cynthia was out of town, so calling her wasn't an option either and Royce was leading a training session all week, which only left her with one person to turn to, a person who probably didn't even want to talk to her right now. Castle.

Castle was putting away the dishes when his phone rang. He had walked Alexis to school, trying to hide the grumpy mood he was in while his daughter hadn't stopped talking about Jamie and Kate and how much fun she'd had. He was happy that Alexis had taken on to them so quickly, he really was, but he couldn't shrug off the feeling of betrayal, the hurt and the anger he was feeling when he thought about the fact that Kate apparently never wanted them in her or even Jamie's life.

Hastily putting the last plate away, he reached for the phone to answer it, "Castle."

For a long moment he heard nothing until he heard her nervous stutter. "Hey Castle - it's me, Kate."

She heard him take in a sharp breath and for a second she thought he would just hang up on her.

Castle had definitely not expected to hear from her so soon, had thought she wouldn't contact him at all until she had to by the end of the weekend, after all she was supposed to be out of town.

"Beckett, what do you want?" He finally asked, his voice cold and closed off.

"It's about Jamie," she quickly told him, fearing he would change is mind any second and still end the call. She couldn't blame him if he did.

But her words were all it took to change his tone, his anger subsided with worry for his kid, "What's wrong with Jamie? Aren't you on your way to Connecticut?"

"No," Kate said, glad he seemed to be able to put their differences aside at least for now, "Jamie got a pretty bad fever overnight. We didn't go."

"How is she?" Castle asked, having to hold himself back from storming out of the door to hurry over to Kate's place right now to see his girl.

"She's sleeping now, the fever went down a bit but she was up all night crying," she filled him in, leaving out how bad she felt herself.

"What do you need me to do?" He asked, cutting straight to the chase, since he was not in the mood for small talk, as a matter of fact he was not in the mood to talk to her at all.

"I wouldn't ask if I -," she stopped, hearing him take in a heavy breath. This was obviously not what he wanted to hear. "I can't leave her alone and she needs something for the fever."

"Okay," he nodded even though she couldn't see it, "Anything else?"

"Food," she stuttered, "I don't have much here, but she needs to eat something when she wakes up. Soup or -." He cut her off.

"Got it, I'll be over as soon as possible," he told her, already moving to hang up, but she stopped him.

"Castle - thank you." She spoke softly

"Yeah," he dismissed her and the line went dead.

It felt like someone was hitting her head with a hammer and she groaned as she opened her eyes, realizing she had fallen asleep on the couch. The banging didn't stop, her head feeling as if it might explode and then she heard him.

"Kate?"

He was banging against her door.

"Kate!" He yelled, rapping against the wood again. "Kate, open up."

Dizziness hit her when she pushed off the cushions to shuffle towards her front door and let Castle in.

"What the hell-," He almost barked at her, but seeing her pale face and the way she held onto the door to keep herself up he stopped himself, "You look like crap," he stated not very charmingly.

"Thanks Castle," she muttered as he stepped inside and past her.

"What took you so long?" He asked, putting the supplies he brought on her kitchen counter.

"Sorry, I fell asleep on the couch," she explained, slowly following him.

He gave her a closer look and realized she looked exhausted and forgetting his anger for the moment he stepped closer and pressed his hand against her forehead.

"Kate, you're burning up," he stated surprised.

"I'm okay," she replied stubbornly, turning her head away from his touch, but he had to catch her as she stumbled when she tried to get away from him.

"You're not okay," he growled. Why did she have to be so stubborn? "You are having a fever and you can barely stand on your own two feet."

She shrugged, letting herself drop down on one of the kitchen chairs, "Jamie's still asleep," she tried to get his focus off herself.

He ignored her and instead asked, "How is this going to work?"

"What?" Kate frowned, not able to think straight, her head was hurting too badly.

"With you and Jamie? You can barely hold yourself up, how do you expect to take care of her?"

Her big eyes met his and he sighed. He didn't want to. He didn't want to be near her right now, but there was no other way and he was only doing it for Jamie, not for Kate, he tried to tell himself.

"You will both come home with me," he stated firmly.

"What?" Kate shot up from her seat, but regretted it immediately as everything went black.

"Easy," he said almost softly, steadying her until she found her footing.

"Castle, I can -," but he didn't let her finish.

"This is not negotiable." He stared her down, daring her to challenge him on this.

She finally sighed, she was too tired to fight, "Okay, but only a day or two."

He didn't comment on that, just followed her in silence and helping her pack a couple of things before the three of them headed out the door, Jamie cradled to his chest, while his driver helped with the bags.

He opened the front door to the loft and despite her exhaustion Kate was awestruck with what lay in front of her, his living room alone seemed to be bigger than her whole apartment. It hit her for the first time just how rich he really had to be. This was easily a multimillion-dollar apartment.

She heard him thank the driver and shutting the door, before he took the lead, "I'll put you both in my bedroom that way Jamie won't wake alone," he spoke quietly not to wake Jamie who was yet again fast asleep in his arms. He was glad he'd managed to give her the medication in the car, so he didn't have to wake her again.

"I don't want to cast you out of your own room," Kate replied, following him hesitantly .

"I'll take one of the guestrooms upstairs, it's just more convenient this way, not to carry everything up the stairs" he shrugged, pushing through the door that led from the living room area directly into his bedroom.

"The sheets have just been changed, so you can just crawl in," he suggested

"Castle," she started not knowing what to say, it was too much. She knew he was angry and upset and yet …

"You're exhausted Kate, just crawl under the covers and get some sleep," he put her out of her misery, already placing Jamie down on one side of the bed.

He wouldn't let her off the hook, he was mad and hurt and she would have to explain everything to him, he wouldn't back down, but for now he was offering her a truce and she was obviously willing to accept it.

"Daddy?" Jamie mumbled and Castle leant down, placing a kiss on her hot forehead and brushing sweaty curls out of her face.

"Go back to sleep, Baby Bird. Mommy and daddy are here," he soothed her, watching her fall back asleep before turning around to look at Kate.

She was still standing half way into the room, apparently unsure what to do.

"I'll get your bags and then I'll prepare some chicken soup for whenever you feel up to it," he started to move past her, but was stopped by her hand on his forearm.

Meeting her eyes, he could see she was struggling with her emotions, her eyes shining when she said, "Thank you Castle."

He simply nodded, not understanding the turmoil he saw in her eyes, there was gratitude but also something else, something deeper as if she was overwhelmed by his care.

He headed out into the living room, leaving Kate alone in his bedroom and once he was out of sight she slowly moved to what would be her side of the bed. A small smile appeared on her face as she saw the big lion print on one of his walls, but she was beyond tired and so she finally gave in and did as he had told her, crawling under the covers next to her daughter and only seconds later she was already asleep.

That's how Castle found them, both Beckett's fast asleep in his bed, Jamie curled into her mother's chest and leaving the bags next to the door he quietly left them alone with a small smile on his face.

X~~~X