Back and Forth (A Castle Fanfiction)

Beyond the Family

A week later, the expecting mother had finally been somewhat forced to ask the writer to take Alexis somewhere else. She loved the child, but Alexis had become extremely needy since her mother got back from the hospital. It was as though she thought she might lose Kate. And the woman just really needed to be able to breathe normally again. She was spending most of her time either on the couch or in her bed, and still she felt how cramped the house had become in a matter of days. With Martha having just moved in, with Alexis being overly clingy, and with Rick slightly smothering her, she needed air. So, while his mother was off doing God knows what, Rick tore Alexis away from Kate with the bribe of seeing Cavin, and the three of them were off to a baseball game, giving Kate the entire evening to herself.

The moment they arrived outside of Yankee Stadium, Cavin's eyes grew massive. He was in awe of the place. "How big is it," was his very first question.

"I don't know, buddy. It's just- big," the writer replied.

"Daddy, I thought you knew everything," Alexis said, looking up at her dad as she held his hand.

He looked down at her and replied, "Not quite, pumpkin, but it's close."

"Can we get some hotdogs," the boy asked as a man passed scarfing one down.

"Absolutely, bud. Quick, hop in line." With a dazzled grin, the child literally leaped into the line. He would have only made the writer laugh had it not been for the fact that he stumbled a bit and ran into the back of the grown man in front of him.

When the "man" turned around, a familiar boyish face turned to look toward the child as Cavin quickly said, "Oh, I'm- I'm sorry," and backed up toward the writer who was only two steps behind.

"It's alright, bud," the seventeen year-old ginger boy replied with a tender smile.

Rick then asked, "It's Kevin, right?"

"You were- at the hospital," the boy said in a slight awe.

"Yeah, yeah. How's your girlfriend?"

The kid laughed a small portion. "She's, ah- she's tired. She wanted me out of the house for a little while, so her father told me to come here. He says baseball does a wonder at clearing heads and soothing the soul."

"Well, that man knows what he's talking about. I promise, by the time you get back to her, you'll be thanking him." The boy smiled slightly and shifted, choosing not to look at the writer again. Rick then asked, "How's Tyler?"

Kevin chuckled with a gleam in his eyes. "Tyler is- amazing. He's- he's absolutely amazing. Every time she holds him he gets this breath-taking smile on his face and it's almost like- like he inherited a piece of her soul. He's- astonishing." At this point, both the older boys were smiling at the thought. The line then moved forward a step, and Kevin then asked, "How's your fiancé?"

Rick laughed. "Thirty-four weeks pregnant."

"So... hormonal, huh?"

"Yeah... she asked for a bit of peace and quiet this afternoon, so I thought we would take our tutoring out on the road and see how Cavin does out in the real world."

The kid laughed. "So we both got thrown out, huh?"

"Yep."

"This is what we get for loving them?"

"And you wouldn't trade a second of it, and neither would I," Rick answered. The boy bashfully agreed without a word. Then something popped into Rick's head, and he told the boy, "So, listen, if you ever need help, someone to talk to, someone to babysit, or some excuse to get out of your girl's hair, let me give you my number just in case."

The boy looked at the writer and told him, "Thanks, man," as he accepted the business card and read the name again. "Richard Castle... Have I heard that name somewhere before?"

Rick bit down on his lips a bit before asking, "Have you read the book "Flowers for Your Grave" or "Death of a Prom Queen" or one of the Derek Storm novels?"

"My girlfriend does," the kid shrugged.

"I wrote them," Rick replied with a smile. The boy's eyes nearly popped out of his head. After a few more minutes in the line, Rick and the kids meandered through the crowds. Whenever he could, he carried Alexis and just asked Cavin to make sure he wasn't running ahead. The eight year-old agreed with fake disappointment, but didn't want to be more than five feet from the writer until they were in their seats. When the game began, Rick helped Cavin put on the baseball glove they had brought with them, and then threw his on as well. He had chosen a seat up in foul territory just for the purposes of giving Cavin the enjoyment of at least attempting to catch a ball.

For the entirety of the game, Cavin wore the glove without complaint as Rick taught him the different rules of the game. Basically the boy knew that you tried to hit the ball and run all four bases or catch the ball and get the runner out, so anything that wasn't that simple was new to the boy. The entire time Rick was teaching Cavin and Alex, all he could think was that this would be him and his son some day, watching a baseball game, learning the rules of the sport, and enjoying a nice day out in the sun. He hoped he was able to do these kinds of things with his son a lot, because he knew how much even one game would have meant to him. He wanted Henry and Alexis to have everything he never had, and if that meant going slightly over board with the fatherly stuff, he was all for it.

By the seventh inning, it was five-nothing Yankees, and Alex looked like she was going to pass out any second now. Rick sighed a little, half smiling, seeing how tired the boy looked as well and asked, "Did you two want to start heading back? We can stop anywhere you two want for supper and then I'll drive you home."

The boy nodded, and Alexis didn't even need to respond. "Alright," the writer said. He then stood up and pulled Alexis up to his chest as the three year-old hugged her father's neck. By the time they got to the car, Alexis was asleep, and Cavin was just about there with her. On the way to his foster home, they picked up some burgers and Cavin are in the car. By eight o'clock, Cavin was dropped off, and about twenty minutes later, the writer was carrying Alexis into the apartment.

When he walked in, he found that Kate too was asleep, laying on her side on the couch. His mother was, of course, no where to be seen. So, he wandered up toward Alexis' room and laid her in her bed, knowing she would be up early the next day and he should be getting to bed pretty quickly himself. Instead, he came back down and sat on the floor beside Kate, near her stomach looking up toward her cherubic resting lips. With his hand stroking her skin, looking into his future, the writer whispered softly to his unborn son, "You are so loved, buddy. I can't wait to meet you." He then leaned in and laid his lips gently against her skin, softly telling the baby inside that he was absolutely safe and cared for more than he could have possibly known.

After this, the writer then leaned forward and planted the same soft kiss along his lover's forehead. By the movements in her lips and her breathing, he knew she had woken to his words to his son, and he whispered to her, "I love you too." She then, with her eyes still closed, leaned forward with her head just as he did, and accepted a short loved kiss from his lips. When she pulled away, her head readjusted and she soon fell back asleep only to give him the opportunity to watch her with the purest form of love he had ever felt for any woman ever.