445. Chapter 445

After Famous Last Words

Episode 2.07

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: My last words will not be, "I own Castle." Rating: K Time: See above.

The band took a break between sets. As the crowd milled around, Alexis looked around her. "Dad, there's an ice cream truck over there. Can we have some?"

Castle smiled. All problems from a bad test score to the death of a rock star can be fixed by the application of ice cream. "Sure, Pumpkin. Get something for all of us. I'd like a chocolate drumstick. Martha, what would you like?"

His mother thought for a moment. "I see they're advertising Italian gelato. I'll have one, any flavor."

Rick turned to Beckett. "Detective, what will you have?"

Kate shook her head. "Oh, you don't need to get me anything, Castle. I'm fine."

Martha shook her head. "Really, Katherine. Nothing at a rock concert? The last time I was here for a rock concert was…1970 or so. I don't remember the band, but they were from San Francisco. Well, this friend of mine brought…"

Castle put his hand over his daughter's ears. "Entirely inappropriate for Alexis, Mother. Even if the statute of limitations has expired."

"My point is, Katherine, this is a rock concert. You should cut loose. Do something daring."

Castle laughed. "Beckett is a cop, Mother, first, last, and always. Doing something daring is not in her DNA."

That stung Kate just enough to make her change her mind. "In that case, just to show you that I can be daring, I will have some ice cream."

Castle laughed. "Don't go overboard, Detective. I'd hate to have to bail you out of jail in the morning after an ice cream fueled night of madness."

"You wish, Castle." She turned to Alexis. "I'll help you carry everything back."

Castle handed Alexis some bills.

"That's okay, Castle. I can pay for my own."

He shook his head. "I offered and you accepted. My treat."

Kate thought for a second about arguing. I'm getting too paranoid about letting Castle do anything for me. He's my partner and he's my friend. "Thank you. I'll go with Alexis, okay?"

Both women headed for the ice cream truck. When they got there they found a long line.

"We'll be here a while." Kate said.

"I hope that means the ice cream is good. Dad and I love to share a big bowl of ice cream."

Kate thought back to the death of Haley Blue at the hands of a father figure to her. "You're lucky to have your dad."

"I know. My mom is…" Alexis stopped and looked away. She shouldn't have brought her mother up in front of Beckett. "Sorry. I shouldn't…" Alexis wasn't sure what to say next, since she felt she'd already said too much.

"That's okay, Alexis. I've met your mom. She's…"Now Kate was the one who felt she had said too much and had no idea how to get out of it.

Alexis laughed. "She is. She really is, and I'm really glad I have my dad. He makes up for…what Mom isn't." She looked at Kate, trying to decide if she could ask more. "You had a really good relationship with your mom, didn't you?"

Kate nodded, but said no more, her mind running back to what she and her mom had been like when she was Alexis' age.

"I'm sorry." Alexis said. "I know what happened to your mom. I shouldn't have brought that up."

"No, don't apologize, I was just thinking about my mom and me when I was your age. I was nothing like you and my mom was nothing like your dad."

"How so?" Alexis was curious. Detective Beckett was becoming more and more important in her dad's life and she wanted to know about the woman.

"I was in my wild child phase. I was sixteen, I knew everything and hated having my mom tell me anything."

Alexis suddenly giggled.

"Something funny?"

Alexis nodded. "Dad likes to quote Mark Twain. Twain said that when he was sixteen he thought his father was he dumbest man alive. But when he was twenty one, Twain said he was amazed at how much his dad knew. He said he was always very impressed at how much his father had learned in just five short years."

Both Kate and Alexis laughed.

"You couldn't have been that rebellious, though." Alexis said shrewdly.

"Why do you say that?"

"Dad told me you went to Stuyvesant. It's a magnet school for very bright kids. And you got into Stanford. You're more like me than you want me to know. "

Kate laughed. "I'm busted, aren't I? I'm afraid I was a rather tame rebel. A rebel without a cause." Kate looked at Alexis. "I miss my mom and I feel terrible about every little thing I ever did to bug her. I remember throwing a fit in a store when I was five or six because she wouldn't buy me a candy bar. It's silly to remember things like that and feel bad about them. I mean, every kid everywhere has done something like that. I was close to my mom, but I wish I had been as close to her as you and Castle are to each other."

"I love that I have such a good relationship with dad, even if I do have a lot of trouble raising him and keeping him out of trouble. I worry about what he'll be like when I go to college. That's one reason I'm glad you two have become friends."

Kate was a little shocked at Alexis's words, but she decided she really couldn't deny that she and Castle were both partners and friends. "I'm glad we're friends as well. He's been an enormous help on my team. I don't know how we would have solved some of our cases without him. And I don't know what my life would be like without him. And I'm a little afraid of what it would be like without him and a little more afraid of what it could be like with him. Kate added, rather daringly, "And I'm glad he's my friend, even if he does drive me crazy sometimes."

"Detective, he drives me crazy sometimes, too."

Laughing, they found themselves at the window of the ice cream truck. Once back, they handed out the ice cream.

"Perfect timing." Castle said. "The band is back on stage setting up. I think Sky is going to be out in a few seconds."

As he spoke, Sky came back on stage to the cheers of the crowd.

Castle leaned close to Beckett. "Thanks for coming with us tonight."

"Thanks for asking me." As Castle looked at the stage, Kate looked at him. I do not understand him. Will I ever?