Capítulo 58: 58. Chapter 58
"You guys want to eat something before we have to go? We've got plenty of time." Kate watches Alexis, sees how she turns instinctively towards Rafe. He doesn't say anything, and Kate can't read him yet, but Alexis can, and she knows his answer.
"Yeah, actually. Rafe could make us all something though, Mom. You don't have to."
"Don't want to make him work on vacation-"
"It's not work," Rafe says, that low and quiet voice. Kate glances to him again, but still, his face holds not a single tell across his features. He's as tall as Castle, just about, and the sharp black lines of his eyebrows frame eyes that are almost grey, the olive of his skin interrupted by a smattering of freckles along his strong nose and the scruff on his cheeks and chin. He looks like he's thinner than he should be, but he still has lean ropes of muscle in his arms and calves. Mostly, it's the intensity of his eyes that are both alluring and comforting at the same time.
He's not much of a talker, apparently. Or a smiler. But it's not brooding, just quiet, reserve, a feeling that he's waiting for the right time.
Kate turns back to Allie and gives her a raised eyebrow, reaching out to hug her with a murmur. "You did good, sweetheart."
Allie laughs against her cheek and squeezes back. "Ha, thanks."
"Okay, I've got to shower before we go, but your dad was getting dressed and should be out here in a second to keep an eye on the kids. Rafe - feel free to use whatever you want in the kitchen."
She turns for the bedroom, opening the door and closing it quickly behind her. She bites her lip and leans against the door, figuring it's gone pretty well so far. Honestly, Rafe reminds her, in temperament at least, of Ellery - the quiet, the intensity of his expression, the patience which is really stubbornness in Ellery.
Castle comes out of the bathroom in his teal swim trunks and a black graphic tshirt - an upside down royal crown with the words Now Panic and Freak Out. Kate laughs despite herself and pushes away from the door, smiling at him, brushing her hand over his forearm to hold him there a moment.
"Hey there. Nice shirt," she murmurs and lifts on her toes to kiss his chin, work her way to his mouth. Castle gives her something of a perfunctory kiss back, then steps away, looking at her with a strange misgiving on his face.
"Castle?"
"Yeah, shirt probably says it all."
"Castle," she says, trying to wade through his tendency for dramatics.
"Rafe. . .uh. . .we had a talk out on the balcony while I got Ella into her swimsuit." He avoids her eyes, looking off through the glass door where the morning sun streams in, his face awash in brilliant white light, but looking slightly sick.
"Yeah?" She was about to tell him that she likes the boy - the man; he's a man, with a career, and a love for Castle's daughter that makes his whole being-
"He's got a ring."
"He's got-" She blinks and steps in closer, lifting her hand to his shoulder. "A ring." Perhaps the dramatics were in order.
Castle cuts his eyes back to her; she sees a wave of desolation that rocks her back on her heels.
"Oh, baby." She wraps both arms around him, leaves her lips pressed against his neck for a long moment. He hugs her back fiercely until she begins to feel the shock leave his body, a slow draining of tension.
"He was just. . .letting me know," he says quietly against her skin. "I think he's looking for a moment to talk to you alone as well."
"Hey, you okay?"
"Not. . .yes? No. I don't know. I'm so proud of the woman Alexis has become, but I'm - he made a good point. Out there."
She hums against him in askance, then leans away to look in his eyes, her husband. Her partner, really, always her partner. "What point did he make?"
"He called her Allie."
Kate softens, fits herself around Castle again - Rick - as she tries to absorb whatever morose thoughts circle in his head. "What about her?"
"Just. She's Allie now. She's not Alexis. Or Lex - I never really gave her a nickname as a kid, like we have with Dash and Ella, but Lex. That would slip out sometimes. She hated to be called anything other than Alexis. She was an insistent little thing; she knew exactly what she wanted."
"But she's not a little thing any more," Kate murmurs, seeing the problem. "She's a woman. When I was her age, Castle, I was working in Vice - usually as the bait out on the sidewalk."
"Honey trap," he chuckles, but there's a sigh at the end of his voice. He squeezes her shoulders, still wrapped around her, then leans away, his eyes seeking hers.
"That give you any perspective?" she says softly.
"Some." He runs a hand through his hair; it's getting long again and curls at his collar, hangs in his eyes. She lifts her fingers to brush through the same path his own hand just took, reshaping it, smiling to herself at the spikes.
"Baby, you're just going to have to be okay with it-"
"Baby?" He grins, not a full-fledged grin, but a haunting of one anyway. "I think that's twice in this conversation."
"I'm being gentle with you, Castle. You need a soft touch."
He huffs on a laugh and leans back into her, draping himself over her body, his chin on her shoulder. "In that case, I'm gonna stay right here for a minute."
She rubs her hands up and down his back, shifts so that her hips meet his, keeping their bodies close. "Okay. But you do know that wasn't a pet name, right? Still just calling you a big baby."
He chuckles at her shoulder, takes a moment to graze his teeth along her skin but doesn't try to chase after anything more. After a few long seconds, Kate draws a hand between them and strokes his adam's apple, the line of his throat down to his clavicle.
"Hey. The kids are out there. All four of them," she grins, feels the jolt of shock through his body at her words. "And I have to shower. You need to go watch the little ones."
"I'd rather watch you shower instead."
"Maybe later," she concedes, pressing her palm against his chest in warning. But he doesn't move away, so she pushes a little.
"Alexis - Allie doesn't know anything about it, Kate." He releases her, lifts his head from her shoulder, squeezes her sides between his fingers and thumbs as if he wanted to pick her up but thought better of it.
"It's a surprise then."
"And he didn't say if this was going down on vacation or if he was just taking the opportunity to speak with us without making her suspicious, so-"
"I won't breathe a word. This is. . .well, I think it's exciting. Remember when Javi proposed to Lanie?" She raises her eyes to his, grinning, stepping in close to him again. Her chest is tight with memory and she likes the way the heat of his body loosens her up again.
"Yeah but that was Lanie and Esposito. Not my daughter, Kate."
"Mine too," she says back, lifting an eyebrow at him. He just sighs.
"I know," he murmurs, hanging his head.
"Don't go out there looking like that, Castle," she chastises him, reaching a hand up to squeeze the back of his neck, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to his jaw, right at the little spot where his stubble doesn't grow in, smooth and oblong; she nibbles at his skin with her teeth.
When she pulls away again, that sad expression has been wiped clean. Not that his buzzing interest is better really, but it won't make Allie ask any hard questions.
"Go shower," he says, his voice gentle, more Rick and less moping Castle.
She brushes her thumb over the line of his jaw and steps away, heading for the bathroom. She's almost to the door when she hears him call out to her.
"Kate?"
"Yeah." She pauses, turns around to look at him. He's got one hand on the knob, is about to leave her to it.
"Thank you."
"For?"
He gives her a lop-sided smile that makes her heart somersault in her chest.
"For being so good for me."
Castle finds the kids - damn, the kids - in the kitchen, all four of them, just like Kate said. And just like Kate warned him last night, he can see on Alexis's face, on Rafe's as well, how they take pleasure in having the little hands helping out. How soon that might be for them.
Dashiell is cracking open eggs and dumping them into a bowl as he stands on a chair pulled up to the counter. Alexis holds a trash can up so he can throw the shells away. But Rafe - his back is to Castle - frames Ellery as she sits on the countertop, her legs wrapped around a bowl, stirring something, her little tongue poking out. Rafe's got a hand on either side of her, watching her, murmuring little encouraging suggestions to Castle's daughter.
Okay, well, now Castle respects him all the more. And maybe he's starting to like him too.
"Hey guys," he calls out, watches Dashiell whip around on his chair, excitement making him bouncy.
"Dad! Look what I get to do! I'm helping."
"Hey man, I see that. Making eggs?"
"Nope. That's what chickens do," Dash giggles, his little face crinkling up with how funny he thinks he is. "But Rafe says it's for. . .uh, what's it for again?"
Alexis laughs and turns to look at Rafe for the answer. "Babe?"
Castle lifts an eyebrow. Babe?
Rafe twist his torso to look over his shoulder at Dashiell, but he also wraps his fingers around Ella's knee, holding her there. "Ah, HC Scramble, Dash. That's Huevos Chorizo Scramble. But without the chiles."
Castle moves to the bar and leans against it, watching them. "No chiles, too bad. Dash would love the chiles, wouldn't you, wild man?"
"I like chiles. But we could put hot sauce in it, right?"
Castle notes the flinch that goes across Rafe's face at that suggestion, but the man is careful not to let Dashiell see his aversion. Probably offends his chef's sensibilities.
"You can always add hot sauce to your own plate," Rafe says finally. "But just in case the rest of us don't want any, we'll leave it out of the recipe."
"Very diplomatic," Castle comments in sotto voce.
Rafe gives him a quick look but says nothing back.
Alexis helps Dashiell start beating the eggs. "What's after this?"
"We'll scramble the eggs for a little bit, then add in the dry ingredients."
"What's in that?" Castle asks, leaning forward to peer over Ella's head into the bowl she's diligently mixing. Looks like it's plenty ready, but Rafe is letting her feel just as important as Dashiell, doing a job for the cook, and so she stirs and stirs.
"Chorizo is supposed to be pork sausage with paprika and chiles mixed in it, but we're improvising here. I found your roll of sausage, added the paprika from the seasonings in the cabinet - even though they look a little old-"
"Ah, it's the condo's stock, I think. Honestly, I didn't even know this place had a spice rack."
Rafe gives a quick lift of his lips into what must pass for a smile from him. Castle is having trouble reading the man; he holds back quite a lot, keeps himself in reserve. Explaining the recipe is the most talking from Rafe that Castle has heard yet. Even when they were having their tete-a-tete on the balcony.
"Instead of chiles, I cut up the onion and the fresh cilantro. I'll replace-"
"No, no. I think Kate must have bought the onion and cilantro. She always has these high expectations for herself in the cooking department - especially when she's got downtime."
"But it hardly ever happens," Alexis adds with a grin. "Although she makes the best bread - from scratch. Potato bread, wheat with honey, ooh, once - Dad, remember? - that orange and coffee bread?"
"Oh God, yes. That was amazing."
"Could you taste the coffee?" Rafe asks, interest on his face.
"Faintly. And the orange not at all. At least, that's what I thought," Castle answers.
"I kinda thought I could. But it wasn't overwhelming orange, just. . .a kind of sweet tang to it."
"Ah, I bet it was orange peel," Rafe murmurs, as if to himself.
"Sure," Castle laughs. "I have no idea. I just know it was the best bread."
"Bread maker?"
"I got it for her for Christmas," Alexis says, nodding. "And then she made a loaf every Friday for ages. Dad, was that the year that Ella was born?"
Castle grins. "Yeah, I think so. Because Kate also made some kind of chocolate dessert nearly every day that month too."
"I did what?"
Castle turns around in the stool and sees Kate pulling her wet hair back from her face, snapping a rubberband around it in a loose bun. She stops beside him and brushes her hand down his back.
"Wasn't it the Christmas when Ella was born that you made bread all the time? And then all that chocolate after that."
"Yeah," Kate says with a grin, leaning forward on the counter to stroke her finger down Ellery's nose. The girl has turned around to look at Kate with a proud grin. She holds up her spoon. "Hey there, cricket. What're you making?"
Castle chuckles as everyone turns to look at Rafe again. The man gives a low laugh and gently guides the spoon back into the bowl. "Huevos Chorizo Scramble. But let's just call it an omelet; make it easier."
Dashiell jumps down from the chair. "I know omelets. Daddy makes omelets."
"Well, that's what this is too." Rafe looks over Alexis's shoulder as she puts a pan on the stove, turns it on. "Little higher, Allie."
"Oil in the bottom? Butter?"
"Olive oil if it's here. If not, use a little milk." Castle watches the soft conversation between them, the way Rafe touches Alexis's hip with one finger, as if just to make certain of where she is, like a touchstone. Not in any kind of direction, not with a sense of possessiveness, just awareness.
Castle feels Kate's eyes on him and he turns his head to her; she lifts an eyebrow and leans in closer to press her mouth to his ear, giving his earlobe a soft bite with her teeth. "You good?"
He nods, brushes his fingers at her jaw as she pulls back. Kate props a foot up on the bottom rung of his stool, leans against his shoulder as she watches Rafe take the dry ingredients from Ellery. He hands them off to Alexis, then lifts Ella off the counter.
Castle twists his head around, realizing he doesn't know where Dash ran off too. "Dashiell?"
"Here, Daddy!"
Kate leans out and looks down the hall, then turns and nods at Castle. Check. Rafe and Alexis are at the stove, cooking the huevos, and Ellery wanders around to her parents, lifts her arms up to Kate.
"Words, baby girl," Kate says, glancing down at her.
"Uppie," their daughter says, straining forward on her tiptoes, her forehead knitting.
Kate leans over and scoops her up. Castle is surprised with how easy it's been lately, getting Ellery to talk to them. He wonders if Ella just needed some quantity time with her mother, or if this has just been the right timing for it.
Kate puts Ellery on the bar and leans in with her elbows on either side of the girl. Ella giggles as Kate blows raspberries against her neck, her little hands at Kate's cheeks as if to push her away, her whole body squirming.
Castle gets up and trails his hand across Kate's back as he heads for the hallway. He finds Dash in his room trying to gather up a handful of toys.
"What are you doing, my man?"
"Getting some stuff." Dash tucks a Spiderman under his chin and clutches a couple of dinosaurs to his chest with an arm.
"What are you going to do with that stuff?"
"Show Rafe."
"Ah. You know he's making breakfast in there."
"I had pizza for breakfast," Dashiell says with excitement.
"Yeah, he's making breakfast for the adults. You guys can have some if you want, but-"
"Rafe said I could add hot sauce to mine."
"Yeah. But wild man, tell me what you're doing with so many of these." Castle gets down on his knees and touches the collection of action figures in Dashiell's arms. He watches his son bending down for another one, his fingers stretching to get the Halo soldier without dropping everything else.
"I'm gonna show Rafe my toys, Daddy."
"Well, what about waiting until breakfast is over?"
"Why?" Dashiell lifts his head and looks at his father, disappointment struggling in his eyes.
"Because Rafe is making us food. And then we'll be eating. And then maybe he can look at your toys and not be distracted."
Dashiell glances down to the pile in his arms then works his jaw as if he has to mull that over.
"I promise you can show him your toys today, kiddo. But maybe right now. . .there's not a good time for it."
Dashiell drops them in the floor, his shoulders slumping. Castle sits back on the floor, waiting to see if this is more melodrama or real disappointment.
"Daddy. . .can I at least show you?"
His heart lifts. Castle reaches out and wraps Dash in a hug, squeezing tight the way the boy likes it, pressing a quick kiss to his temple even though Dash has lately started protesting.
"Of course you can. Tell me all about them."
Dashiell slides out of Castle's arms and sits down in the floor as well, gathering his action figures together. When he lifts his eyes to his father's, the happiness in them makes Castle happy as well - simple as that is.
Dash gives him a wide grin. "Thanks, Daddy. It'll be like good practice."
Castle grins back, reaches out and grips the back of Dash's neck, proud for some reason he can't name. He swallows past it and clears his throat. "Yeah, buddy. Good idea. Practice on me."
Practice. That's what being a little kid is all about, isn't it? Practicing for when they get older, when they have to be adults and interact with the world. It's what Alexis did when she was little, practice for being - one day - a grown woman with a career, maybe someone's wife, someone's mother.
One day Dashiell might have to talk to some girl's father out on the balcony, let him know that he wants to marry the man's daughter. One day someone might come for Ellery too.
And damn, he looks forward to that day and dreads it at the same time.
Until then. "Okay Dash, tell me about this guy."
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