Lost and Found (A Castle Fanfiction)

What Friends Are For

The next day, around noon, Maddie finally showed up at the loft with Peter directly behind her. When Kate opened the door, the young blonde's smile sunk away. "Oh my God," the girl stated, "Bex, what the hell happened?"

Kate forgot for a moment she hadn't told Maddie about her father. She knew he was a drunk, but she hadn't told her friend that he had been violent. For the moment, Kate avoided the question by saying, "Nothing I couldn't handle." To this, neither Peter nor Maddie said a word. Instead, Kate insisted, "So, come on in. I swear, we don't bite."

Rick then called from the kitchen, "Speak for yourself."

With annoyance written all over her face, Kate looked at her writer as he handed Alexis her plate and then wiped his hands on a rag. "Ignore him," Kate told her friends as they stepped through the door.

Maddie said, "Fine by me. I'd much rather give all of my attention to this thing that I've heard so little about." She then bent over, looking right at Kate's stomach, telling the unborn little guy, "After all, you are my godson, and I do have a right to know whether you're still being a pill to your mother like I told you to be."

Yet again, Kate rolled her eyes. Rick then waled toward them, after telling Alexis to not make a mess of her sliced apples and peanut butter and said, "Don't tell my little man to do that. Then I have to put up with this one being a little sore and cranky and I feel like I'm the lone adult."

"Yeah," Kate scoffed, "Because you're such an adult."

"I am. Can't you tell by the Superman T-shirt and khaki shorts?" His sarcasm was much appreciated by the blonde and her friend.

Kate then looked at Peter. "Like I said, ignore this one."

"Oh you love it and you know it," Rick stated, laying a kiss on her cheek.

The sarcasm in her response was enough to tangibly cut with a knife. "Oh, yeah, for sure. I love living with a grown man child, his young child, and carrying his child. It's the greatest feeling in the world."

Peter then jabbed lightly, "It's got to be better than not having a baby-daddy, right?"

The woman tossed the idea about in her head as her writer high-fived her friend. She then stated, "Yeah... I'm not so sure about that."

"Well, while she ponders that thought, we should probably get going. Alexis' grandmother is upstairs and ready to watch her the moment she's done snooping through my guestroom, and the sooner we get this over with, the better."

"So, Bex and I will take her car, and you and Peter can do manly things in his truck. Sound like a plan?" Maddie didn't wait for an answer. "Alright, let's go!"

When Kate got in the car with the blonde, starting the engine and buckling up, waiting for the boys to catch up in the garage before pulling out, Maddie immediately asked, "That's the guy you turned away?"

"Yeah," Kate answered, not really ashamed of that choice any more simply because Maddie seemed more astonished and intrigued than actually confused about it anymore.

Her friend then questioned, "Why? He's yummy."

"Maddie!"

"What? You two are living together now. I can say these things." Kate then sighed, giving her friend the look that said she was irritated, but she didn't really have a reason for being irritated. "So... how is it being all grown up?"

This made Kate's brow collapse in on itself. "What do you mean?"

Maddie's eyes widened. "What do I mean?! Bex, open your eyes! You're pregnant. You're moving in with a man who's way older than you and who is your baby daddy. You've told him you love him and he's said the same back and you two actually mean it. I mean, for god sakes, you're practically that little girl's step mom! Hell, you're practically engaged to this guy! How does it feel to be grown up at nineteen?!"

Kate looked at her friend for a moment, forcing Maddie to be silenced by saying, "I was grown up long before Rick came into the picture, Maddie. You know that."

The young, careless blonde then went silent. She hadn't thought of that until now. The moment Kate's mother's heart stopped beating, she had grown up to be a whole new person, far beyond the spiritual age of the college student Kate had been. All her life, up until that time, Kate had been a rebel with a habit of only conforming when it came time to do school work. Then, she had the worst night of her life, and suddenly all she cared about was her mother's killer, getting a career as a cop, and making sure her father didn't literally drink himself to death. More recently, her life had become entirely about those things behind one very important centerpiece, her unborn son.

Maddie finally cracked the silence after about thirty seconds of it. "So. I think I have the perfect name for your boy."

"Really," Kate asked, an eyebrow raised.

The blonde smiled. "Yep."

"Alright then, lets hear it."

"Chase," the girl smiled, "Henry Chase."

Kate looked at her with skepticism. "Henry Chase?"

"Yes, because Henry has a nice, gentle ring to it, but is still something that's an honorable name. It's strong, but sweet, just like I'm certain any child of yours would be. And Chase because, if he is as much as a rebel as you, he'll need a cooler name to go by in high school, and literally he is the center of this little game of chase you and the writer had been doing up to now."

"Henry Chase," Kate asked again, beginning to be mildly amused and intrigued.

Her friend then told her, "Henry Chase. The kid with the kind eyes, strong shoulder, and the coolest mom in his entire school. Plus the coolest godmother who buys him condoms and pimps him out to her coworker's super hot daughters. Also, she buys him beers when he has senior parties, but tells him those parties have to be under her roof and she doesn't tell him the beer is alcohol-free."

"They make that," Kate questioned.

Maddie nodded. "My friend at the gag shop doesn't need a liquor license to sell it either. And it looks exactly like a real case of beer. The fine print on the bottom is the only difference." Kate smiled at the insanity of her friend and shook her head. This woman was insane, but- she was exactly the kind of person Kate was. She just hadn't had that event to make her grow up yet, and, if ever anything was going to happen to Kate, she knew Maddie would be the perfect person to be there for her son. Hopefully, however. she would never have to be.