33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

After unpacking, Kate went to find Alexis. "Clothes are put away, shampoo and toothbrush, and so on are in their proper places, suitcases are stored, and we have the security report…all good. It's looking like home in our room, and we're ready to visit the beach. You coming?"

"Right behind you."

"Do you think Martha will want to come with us?"

"I'll see."

"Okay. We'll meet you downstairs."

Kate swung by their room and asked, "You ready, Rick? I told Alexis we'd meet her downstairs."

He came to meet her and took her hand to lead her down the stairs.

"Are you taking one of your walks, or just walking out to the beach to soak up the initial effect of being here?" Martha asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Probably the latter today," her son answered. "Come on. You can always come back in when you've had enough."

Alexis grabbed Martha's arm and tugged her toward the back door. "Yeah, Grams. Come on. You have to at least get close to the ocean, even if you don't want to get your feet wet."

Castle chuckled at the sight of his daughter manhandling her grandmother out the back door. "I guess we'd better move before she comes back for us," he said, grinning at his wife.

"I guess so. It's fun to see her so excited," Kate answered as they walked out toward the beach. I don't remember all that little girl excitement from last summer. She must have been more subdued then, trying to figure out how I fit into her world."

"Maybe, but she warmed up to you pretty quickly." Putting an arm around Kate's waist, he watched Alexis talking animatedly to Martha. "This place always brings out the little kid in her. I guess I need to make the most of that this summer. No telling where she'll be this time next year."

"You're already imagining an empty nest." It wasn't a question. It was more of an understanding of the man she loved.

"Without you, I don't know how I'd survive when she leaves home."

She didn't answer, just tucked herself against his side in support.

When they reached the beach, red hair was blowing in the ocean breeze from two sides. Martha was trying to tame hers, but Alexis was facing the wind and reveling in letting it take charge. Rick and Kate smiled as they watched her. The teenager kicked off her flip-flops and wandered into the edge of the waves, testing the temperature of the water before moving closer to the surf. Martha gave up in a minute or so and turned to face the breeze herself, also enjoying her granddaughter's enthusiasm.

"She's been such a grown-up since the shooting," Kate said sadly. "Being here must be like having permission to be a kid again. It feels so good to see her like this." Kate kicked off her sandals, too, and moved down toward the surf with Alexis.

"Oooo. It's a little cold," she said when she was close enough for Alexis to hear her.

"Not bad after you get used to it," Alexis answered and grinned.

They wandered back and forth as the waves lapped in different locations and depths, and laughed as a couple of deeper ones threatened their clothes.

"Uh-oh," Kate called out. "That's a big one coming in. They scurried back toward where Martha and Castle were watching, and laughed as the water chased them up as far as where the sand had been dry before; then they watched a minute before walking closer to the water again.

Castle stood next to his mother, hands in his pockets, smiling, and said, "I am such a lucky man."

"Yes you are, Darling," she answered. "You have all that and a phenomenal mother, on top of it."

He laughed and put his arm around her shoulders. Take off your sandals and roll up those pants legs, Mother. Today you're gonna come and play with your children."

They spent about half an hour on the beach, then Martha announced she was going back to the house.

"Can we take a walk?" Alexis asked hopefully. "It could just be a little one."

"Tell you what," Kate answered. "Why don't you take a walk with your dad…as far as you want. I'll stay here with Martha and we can have some snacks waiting when you get back. Go and enjoy the beach. You know you want to."

"But…"

"No buts. Just enjoy your first day here."

Castle grabbed his daughter's head and scrubbed his knuckles playfully on the top of it. "What do you say, Pumpkin? Think you can keep up with your old man?"

"I think I can leave you in my dust."

"Big talk, Kid. Let's go." He looked at Kate appreciatively. "We'll be back," he said Schwarzeneggar style, and dragged Alexis off by her head.

"Looks like the two biggest kids among us are off," Martha observed as they saw Alexis pull out of her father's grip, both of them laughing as they wandered off down the beach.

"I'm going to straighten myself up, Martha said as she and Kate walked back to the house. Then I might actually help get those snacks ready. They usually need them after their walks."

Kate chuckled. "I might sit by the pool for a little while. It feels good out here."

"Don't overdo it," Martha warned. I didn't see any sunscreen floating around yet. Wouldn't want to get burned on the first day here.

"Yes, ma'am," Kate answered mischievously and got a teasing swat on the arm for her trouble.

When Castle and Alexis returned, the promised snacks were waiting. After some generous nibbling, Alexis went to her room to shower and stretch out for a little while and Castle joined Kate on a wide lounge chair in the shade of an umbrella near the pool. Martha had already excused herself for some beauty rest. Later, they all went to Bernie's for dinner, Bernie and Inez fussing over Kate, and letting her know they were glad to see her looking healthy.

After Martha and Alexis had gone to bed, Castle took Kate outside to sit on "their bench" the way they had the summer before. They snuggled close, her head resting on his shoulder and his arm around her, and alternately talked quietly and shared kisses and gentle touches.

"Rick?"

"Yeah?" He left a soft kiss on her brow after answering.

She stroked one palm over his cheek and said, "The doctor said…when I think I'm ready. I want you so much. I feel like we've been teasing each other for the last couple of weeks."

"But it was some pleasing teasing," he answered with a smirk. "And some of it has worked out pretty well for us the last week or two."

"I don't want to wait anymore. He said not to be too aggressive yet and to be careful of my ribs. Remember the limo after your book tour? We've made that work before."

"Ooooo. Limo technique. Yeah, we did. No bouncing the car. No pressure on your ribs. And, as I recall, very satisfying.

She growled in response to the less than chaste kiss that followed his recollection and readily admitted to having the same memory of that trip home from the airport. "Do you think Darrell and Michael really don't know? Or are they just amazingly good at pretending they don't?"

"I don't think either of them have that much acting ability," he assured her, rising to take her hand and help her up. "You're sure about this? I don't want to hurt you. It's the only reason I waited until we saw the doctor yesterday…'cause, Kate, I always want you."

"I'm so tired of everything in our lives being on hold because of me. I was going to ask you last night, but I fell asleep before you got out of the shower. Sorry."

They walked back to the house, looking forward to the rest of their night but not in a big hurry. They had the rest of the summer here, and both were smiling, savoring the anticipation of something else in their lives getting back to normal. When they entered their room, Rick pulled the covers down to the foot of the bed and took his wife into an easy embrace. He decided on an easygoing seduction…making it fun. They laughed softly and teased and caressed, knowing they didn't need to stop or to modify anything; and they gradually made their way out of their clothes and into their bed, eventually falling asleep in a satisfied tangle of limbs.

The couple made happy face pancakes for breakfast the next morning. Castle said just plain ol' pancakes weren't quite enough to honor the night before. When Martha and Alexis came downstairs, they found the other two members of the household bantering good-naturedly and sharing more little random kisses or touches than they had seen between them for a while.

"What's for breakfast?" Alexis asked.

"Pancakes," her father answered. When he turned to face his daughter, it left Kate in full view as she added the chocolate chips to the pancakes.

"Happy face pancakes?" Alexis exclaimed enthusiastically. "It doesn't look like anybody needs commiseration this morning, so what's the occasion?."

"Celebrating our first breakfast in the Hamptons," he answered.

"And life getting closer to normal again," Kate added, and Castle gave her a beaming smile, leaning to kiss the top of her head before he turned back to the pancakes. "Coffee is ready," he announced over his shoulder.

"Want some help? Alexis asked as she got down mugs for herself and Martha.

"Thanks, but we've got it," Kate answered. "Sit down and enjoy your coffee, and let me wait on you and Martha for a change."

They chatted back and forth until the pancakes were ready; then Alexis swung by the refrigerator to get the canned whipped cream, which Castle snatched from her hand. He flipped the cap off and turned the can upside down above his face, released some of the sweet concoction into his mouth and held it up to Alexis expectantly. She leaned her head back and opened her mouth, and he fed his baby bird. Then he held it out to Kate with an eyebrow raised in question.

She looked like she was about to refuse, but then she grinned and said, "Why not? When in Rome…" before opening her mouth and accepting the whipped cream.

Castle grinned and looked at Alexis. "Did you see that? The final test of a true Castle!" Then he kissed Kate full on the lips, both of them leaving the kiss laughing, and with little smears of whipped cream on their lips. He took the pancakes to the kitchen table while Kate refilled their coffee mugs, and they sat down to enjoy breakfast with their family.

xxxxx

Meagan arrived around noon, and was welcomed and shown to her room. After a tour of the house, she and Kate sat down and mapped out the next couple of weeks of her workout routine; and to Kate's satisfaction, it was about to expand. They went over what parts of her normal yoga routine she could return to now, and planned one session that afternoon before dinner.

"This is a great place for getting you back in shape. Do you have gym equipment hiding here somewhere?"

Castle turned up about that time and told Meagan, "If you need something, tell me and I'll get it."

"Weights." Looking at Castle in his T-shirt, she clarified, "Smaller ones than you probably used to get those arms"

Castle smiled at the off-handed compliment. "Alexis used to want to work out with me when she was little. I have weights appropriate for age five through teenager…and the ones for manly arms," he added, striking a body building pose for the two women. As they laughed at his silliness, he said, "I'll be in the pool if anybody needs me."

He leaned down to kiss Kate's forehead, taking a moment longer than usual, and Kate touched his cheek, giving him a brief kiss on the lips. He stood and smiled down at her, holding her gaze another moment longer than necessary. Then he touched her shoulder and trailed his hand across it as he left.

"You guys are more touch feely than usual today," Meagan observed with a smile.

"I love this house. We have some good memories here, and it's so much more relaxed than the city. I guess we both feel all of that."

"Those memories…did you take walks on the beach?"

"Nice, long ones, usually close to dark. Sometimes just the two of us. Sometimes with Alexis. It was nice...time spent learning to be a family."

"Watching you talk about it, I can tell it was. And it will be again. You can choose your walking companions, but let's limit your distance until we know what you can handle." She smiled mischievously. "The trick is to walk only half as far as you think you can and then turn around and walk back while you still have the energy to get home. You can expand that a little at a time and keep stretching your limits. We'll see what you're made of. We have to get you ready to go back to work."

"Sounds good to me. Shall we get started?"

"Where do you want to work, here…backyard…beach…pool?"

"Pool, I think. Alexis is there, and she wanted to do the yoga workouts with me. While I'm just getting back to it might be a good time to get her started."

"You sure Castle can handle it?" Meagan asked with a grin. "Those pants fit you like a second skin."

"We'll see. But it's kind of fun when he can't."

The two women laughed as Kate picked up the yoga mats…one for herself and one for Alexis.

Meagan walked with Kate early that afternoon and helped her decide her present limit, assuring her that it would probably expand quickly.

After dinner, Martha encouraged Meagan to sit with her in the Adirondack chairs behind the house while Rick, Kate, and Alexis walked down the beach.

A little ways, into their walk, Kate asked Alexis, "Is there anything special you'd like to do while we're here?"

"Ash is doing an internship until August, then he has a couple of weeks off before he leaves for Stanford. Can we invite him to visit for a few days? And can I see if Grams will go back to the loft with me the week before he leaves? After that I won't see him until he comes home in the fall for Thanksgiving."

"I think we can work that out. What do you think, Kate?" Castle asked.

"I think Ashley is a nice guy, and we'd enjoy having him visit."

"Thank you, thank you," Alexis answered, excitedly hugging both of them. "I'll call him as soon as we get back."

"Well, Ash is taken care of. Is there anything you'd like to do before he gets here?" Kate asked.

"Can we go to the lighthouse again? It was so much fun last summer."

"Kate may not feel up to quite as much as we did last year," Castle reminded her, "but we can go any time you want."

"We saw everything last year anyhow. A short trip is fine. And maybe we won't have to outrun a storm to get home this time," Alexis responded.

"Would you like to wait until Ashley is here and take him along? He might enjoy it as much as you did." Kate suggested. "I'd be a couple of weeks stronger by then, too."

"Yeah. Let's do that," Alexis answered with a big smile. "Good call, Kate."

"We could have dinner somewhere and go to a movie on Friday," Castle said.

"Can I invite Nina? I thought I might go and see her tomorrow."

"Is that the girl I met last summer?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. Her family is really nice."

"Fine with me," Castle agreed, and Kate nodded.

"What do you want to do, Kate?" the teenager asked.

"Hang out with my family while I get better," she answered. "Anything else is gravy. Oh, and I'm hoping my dad can come for a weekend while we're here. I guess we'd better coordinate all these visits so we don't run out of rooms."

By the time they got back, they had talked and laughed, walked in comfortable silence, and had a few tentative plans. When they reached the house, Martha and Meagan were having tea in the kitchen, and Alexis waved on her way to find her phone to call her boyfriend.

"What was that?" Martha asked, looking amused.

"Young love," Castle told her. "Alexis asked if she could invite Ash for a few days, and we gave her permission. She was headed for…"

"The phone," Martha finished for him. "Enough said."

"How are you feeling?" Meagan asked Kate. "Everything good?"

"A little tired, but otherwise fine," Kate answered. "Want some tea, Castle?"

"Not now. I had a few thoughts while we were out. I think I'll go write them down before they escape into the ether."

Kate had a cup of tea with the other two women before she excused herself, saying she was tired. On her way to the stairs, she stopped in Castle's study and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

"Almost done," he said as he paused. "Going to bed? You must be tired."

"Not that tired," she whispered close enough to his ear that he could feel her breath against it.

"Another couple of sentences, and I'm done…or I could stop right where I am…" he answered, with a roguish smile, holding both hands in the air well above his keyboard.

She grinned. "Finish your sentences. I'll meet you upstairs." He hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her down for a real kiss. "Mmmmmm…nice, she moaned. "Don't take too long,"

He smiled at her. "It won't take more than a minute…assuming I can still remember what I was going to type." He watched her walk out, shook himself out of the staring, typed his last lines, saved his work, and turned off his computer. Then he said goodnight to his mother and Meagan and went to enjoy some quality time with his wife.

xxxxx

Kate woke up hungry in the early hours of the morning; and after a moment to enjoy the view of her sleeping husband, she slipped stealthily out of the bed so she wouldn't wake him. She went downstairs and had a glass of milk and a muffin before going back to bed. When she reached the top of the stairs, she heard whimpering from down the hall. It seemed to be coming from Alexis's room, and Kate moved quickly to get there. After knocking softly and getting no answer, she realized the whimpering was getting louder, and Alexis was mumbling something frantically, so she opened the door…just in time to see her stepdaughter turning in her bed and calling out "No! Kate! Daddy!" By the time she got to the bed, the next "No!" was much louder, and she was able to wake the teenager before she woke the rest of the house.

"Alexis. Wake up, Honey. I'm here. It was just a dream. Wake up."

Alexis was completely disoriented at first, then began to put the situation together.

"Kate," was all she could say, several times, as she slumped into her stepmother's arms, still breathing raggedly.

"You were dreaming about the funeral, weren't you?"

Alexis's head nodded against her shoulder.

"Tell me about it," Kate said gently, holding the teenager tightly.

"You don't need me to tell you about it. You're still recovering from it."

"I'm not asking you what happened there. I'm asking what happened in your dream." When Alexis didn't respond, she said. "Okay. Let me guess, and you can tell me if I'm right." She took a deep breath and drew from her own bouts with nightmares. "This time I died?" There was a nod against her shoulder. "And your father was shot?" Another nod. "Did he live?" A shake of the head side to side this time. "Have you been having these dreams ever since I was shot?" another nod. "I'm so sorry, Honey. Does your dad know?" Alexis's head moved to indicate another "No". "Do you want me to stay with you a little while?" There was another nod.

Kate released her strong hold on her girl, and Alexis slid back under the covers, holding them up for Kate to get in with her. Kate reached over and wiped the tears from her child's cheeks and smoothed the shiny red hair back from where the tears had it stuck to her face. "We'll talk tomorrow. Try to sleep now. I'm fine. Your dad is fine, and I'm going to be right here if you need me."

Alexis turned away from her in the bed and asked softly, "Do you have to tell Dad? I didn't want to worry him."

"Yeah. We need to tell him, but I'll be with you. We're family, Alexis, and we love you as much as you love us, and we don't want you to keep things like this to yourself. We have to work together. That's best for all of us. But that's for tomorrow. Now relax and try to go back to sleep." As she said that, she started rubbing Alexis's back, something Kate's mother had done to soothe her after nightmares; and after a couple of minutes, the girl's tense muscles began to relax and her breathing began to even out. It wasn't too long before she was asleep. Kate was on her back, keeping one hand on Alexis's side so there was contact. She was awake for a good while before she eventually drifted off to sleep.

Castle woke about six-thirty and discovered that his wife's side of the bed was not only empty but cold as well. She wasn't in the bathroom, so he took care of his own business there and went downstairs to find her. He found no sign of her either there, or on the beach, or in the pool area; so he started the coffee, set out the vanilla syrup, and went back upstairs. Just as he was about to be upset that she might have gone for a walk without leaving him a note, he noticed that his daughter's door was ajar. That was unusual. She usually slept with her door closed. He approached the door quietly and stepped barely inside, not wanting to wake her up, just needing to check on her. The sight that greeted him was that of his wife beside his daughter, one arm protectively resting on his child's side. His first response was tender delight, but that was followed by the realization that something must have happened to have brought Kate to his daughter in the middle of the night. Then he worried.