Back and Forth (A Castle Fanfiction)

Conflict

Even at three years old, Alexis knew her mother wasn't exactly a normal mom, which was part of the reason she wanted Kate to be her mom. But she didn't really want to hurt her mother. She just wanted someone to tuck her in at night, which was something Kate did. And that was what mommies did. They tucked their daughters in at night, read them stories, and held them when they had nightmare. Or at least that was what she had always been told mommies did. But she had always been told Meredith was her mommy. In her head, she knew she came from Meredith's tummy because Kate and her dad had told her so before she started calling Kate her mommy. And that was something that made mommies mommies too. But Kate was more like a mommy. And Kate had her brother in her tummy.

All of this just confused the child. She didn't know what to do, so she chose to do the only thing that made her feel safe. She turned and ran toward her daddy, tears in her eyes, telling him simply, "I don't want to."

Kate walked a few steps toward the girl before catching sight of Rick's hand held out toward her, telling her to just give the girl some space. As he hushed Alexis, he looked toward his ex-wife and his girlfriend and told them, "We'll be right back. Please, just-... be civil," looking more toward his girlfriend to play the bigger person since he knew his ex-wife wasn't the type. He then continued to walk his daughter upstairs as Kate watched him and Alexis go, and Meredith stared Kate down.

Once her writer was out of her sight, Kate shifted, looking at Meredith and clearing her throat a bit. She then asked, "Can I get you something to drink?"

"I can get it myself, thank you," the red head stated, passing Kate to walk toward the kitchen, mumbling, "I'm not so pathetic I would allow my ex-husband's knocked up mistress to get me something to drink." As the elder red head passed with a judgmental, scornful glare, Kate stood her ground and stood tall, choosing to not show how uncomfortable she was with all of this. As was asked, she chose to be the bigger person.

Meanwhile, upstairs Rick had Alexis in his arms, cuddling her carefully, asking her softly, "What's wrong sweetheart?" He just hoped she could explain. Instead, he got choppy breaths and random words. He then told her, "No, no, pumpkin, it's alright. Just breathe, okay? Deep breaths." She continued to force out one short breath after the other until her stifling became hushed and she was finally calm enough to speak.

"I- I don't want to choose."

"Choose what?"

"My- mommy."

He didn't quite follow. "Lex, sweetheart, what do you mean?"

As she brought her hand up to wipe her eyes, she told him, "I want- mommy too- but I want- Kate mommy. I- I don't want to choose."

"Oh, Alexis, pumpkin, mommy isn't here to make you choose. And you're not going with her, sweetheart. You're going to stay here with me and Kate, and mommy's just coming here to visit. You don't have to choose."

"But- but- I can only have one mommy," the girl said with nearly completely calmed tears.

He swallowed hard, wishing for half a moment that Meredith would leave once and for all and that he wouldn't have to put Alexis through all of this. She was nearly out the door anyway. Why couldn't she just be gone for good?

Then he caught himself in that line of thinking. He caught himself and immediately told himself to stop that. He never wanted his daughter to feel as though her mother had entirely abandoned her, and he never wanted Meredith to feel as though seeing her child was any kind of choice. He was glad she showed up, and he was glad his daughter had one more person to prove she loved her.

Suddenly, he knew exactly what to tell her. "What do you mean you can't have more than one mommy, sweetheart? Lots of boys and girls have more than one mommy or daddy. It's just one more person to love you, sweetheart. One more person to take care of you. And that's not a bad thing. It's just different, that's all."

"But-... but...," she started, having nowhere to go with the statement.

"But what, pumpkin?"

"But mommy seemed mad at mommy Kate."

The writer shifted, half biting his cheek for a moment before telling her, "Your mommy isn't mad at you, alright? And she isn't mad at Kate. It's just... grown up stuff, alright? You don't need to worry about it because I promise you've done nothing wrong."

The girl sighed and nodded. Her father then lifted her up and the two started back downstairs. When they got there, Kate was pulling on a jacket and opening the door. Rick looked at her for only a moment before asking, "What's up? Where are you going?"

"School," she said innocently, "I have a class in thirty and it's not one I can miss."

"You sure," the writer questioned as he rushed a bit down the stairs, seeing from the corner of his eyes in snobby ex sitting at the bar looking pleased with the world.

Kate answered honestly, "Yeah, I have a test Monday and I want to make sure I ace it."

He then finally swung around to the lower level and told her, "Well, be safe, alright? The rain's insane, so if you don't feel comfortable coming home, don't. Wait out the storm somewhere downtown or call me."

"I know, Rick," Kate said with a kind smile. "I'll be safe. We'll both be safe."

"Good," he said, dropping one of his hands to her stomach, telling her, "I love you."

"Love you too," she said, leaning in to kiss his cheek. She then looked at the girl hooked to his side and asked her, "Do I get a hug?" The child weakly nodded and reached for Kate. She took her with opened arms and held her close, telling her quietly, "I love you, Lex."

"Love you too," the girl whispered and then went over to her father. As Kate walked out the door, Alexis said a bit less quietly, "Bye mommy."

"Bye," Kate gently replied and shut the door.

When Rick turned around and put Alexis back on the floor to address the wild card known as Meredith, she first told him, "Tonight, when she gets done, you, me, and that home-wrecker need to talk."

"First off, you cheated on me, Meredith. You divorced me. Don't blame Kate. Second, you need to tone it down. Alexis doesn't need to hear us fight."

The red head backed down after taking a moment's look at her child. She then nodded and agreed, for once thinking as a mother should, and took Alexis off to go shopping. As Rick sat and tried, but failed, to focus on his writing, he thought he imagined every possible scenario for how the evening was going to go. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think that the fight would turn into something far more.