Frozen Love (A Castle Fanfiction)

The Phone Call

"Kate!" Alexis screamed at me, shaking me roughly and recalling me back to the land of the living. As sson as I heard her, I snapped back to reality and my shot open as a breath of air suddenly refilled my chest. I was panicking. My heart was racing. I couldn't control the tremmors that were coursing through me. The young red head looked straight at me as I realized I'd been sweating. My throat was dry as hell and it felt as though I'd been screaming. I'd gone back to the same dream I'd forced myself to live a thousand times, subconciously torturing myself. I hadn't slept in what was now a week and a day.

My voice came out damaged and torn. "Alexis, sweetheart. I'm sorry, did my screaming wake you?" Ever since I started having these dreams, I'd brought Brayden's basinet up to the nursery and slept with the baby montior on full blast beside me. His sobs always woke me up very quickly, but this kept me from waking him up. This was the first time I'd woken Alexis up though and I could tell by the darkness it was only about one in the morning.

She looked at me a moment and then let her hand fall off my shoulder and onto my leg before she drew herself into a sitting ball on my bed. "No, you- didn't wake me. I couldn't sleep." It was then that she moved a bit on her side and her face briefly flashed through the light given off by the moon. Her eyes were bloodshot and her nose was bright red while her cheeks had become completely flushed. She'd been crying. I let silence fill the air as I sat up and put my hand to her back. She then asked out of no where, "What's going to happen if this doesn't get better, Kate? What if he really is never the same? What if he can't remember Brayden or the fact that I graduated High School? What if he can't give me away at my wedding or tell my kids about the time he dressed up like a zombie and beat me in lazer tag? What if- what if he's-." She couldn't finished.

She'd been so strong, so brave and so much like me since we left that hospital. I'd been worried about her this whole time since she was acting so perfectly as though nothing were wrong with any of this. I'd seen this coming for a while and I couldn't blame her. She simply let herself cry on her own on the end of my bed, but I couldn't leave her there. I inched closer to her and pulled her into my arms just to sooth her this time. Her tears streamed down her cheeks and chin, falling into my lap as she cried her heart out. I simply held her as tight as possible and did my best to for her in this moment what Meredith never was. Finally her tears slowed and then stopped. Her hopping breaths slowly normalized. "Kate, I- I know this sounds absolutely ridiculous, but- I- I have this stupid thing at school tomorrow where we're supposed to bring our parents in and have lunch to discuss graduation plans. I figured you'd stay home with the baby origionally and dad would come, but- I- would you want to come. You don't have to and I-."

"Alexis, stop. I'll come if you want me there," I replied looking at her and placing a strand of strawberry hair behind her ear.

She smiled at me and pulled me close to her again. She then asked in a soft whisper, "And you'll bring Brayden too, right? I mean, gram can't watch him and my friends really want to meet him."

I hesitated. He was only a week old. But she was right, I didn't have anyone who could watch him. I also didn't want to leave him. It broke my heart that I had to move him into the nursey upstairs when I had to do it, but I had to do it. The germs would be terrible there, though and he was so fragile. Then again, it wasn't a public school and these kids were all Seniors. It wouldn't be like I was taking him to an elementry school where germs swirled around everywhere. Then again, they were teenagers and God only knows where they've been. But this was a private school and a strict one at that. These kids had to be decently well behaved. Eventually I replied, "Yes, I guess," and she smiled brightly and squeezed me tighter.

Right as she opened her mouth, however, my phone rang. Somehow, it was Castle's cell phone. I picked up, "Hello?"

"Kate!" Rick called into the speaker. "You had the baby?! What day is it? What happened? Is Brayden alright?" When Alexis looked at me completely confused, I turned the speaker on and put my finger up to my mouth to have her be quiet.