Ricardo


Rick Castle is familiar with the concepts of cute and adorable. He has seen these traits before, has oohed and awed as much as any man would dare. He has the internet, he's seen pictures of kittens, and watched videos of puppies playing in the snow, that one where the baby panda sneezes, and of course all the clips of babies laughing that YouTube has to offer. Rick Castle himself as even raised a daughter, who is pretty darn adorable, and has hundreds of photos documenting years of her cuteness.

And then there's Kate of course. Words he never thought he would associate with his badass sexy detective, but when she is half asleep tucked into his side mumbling gibberish against his neck, there are really no other words to describe her other than absolutely adorable.

So yes, Rick knows cute and adorable, he is well acquainted with what they look like and the soft warm feelings they often evoke.

Or at least he thought.


They named him Ricardo.

Kate had picked the name. He had been so close to laughing when she said it, the snort almost out of his mouth before he saw her face, had registered the seriousness of her tone. But she hadn't been joking, there was fierceness in the way she said the name. So at the last second he had managed to rein it back, clamp his sometimes big mouth around the laugh.

Instead, he did what he does best with her. He waited her out; let her tell him the story. Thankfully she hadn't made him wait long. Seated cross-legged on the floor, her soft hair shinning in the sun streaking through his office windows, she had smiled her beautiful shy smile and let him, once again, see her heart.

She told him about Sunday brunches as a kid. How her mom and her had watched more shows than just Temptation Lane. How on Sundays while moving around the kitchen cooking, her mom would turn on I Love Lucy reruns. She explained that Johanna absolutely loved the show, could recite her favorite episodes and had passed that love onto her daughter. She told him how they had admired Lucille Ball, how impressed they both were with how well the show held up. How years later the show was still funny, still relatable.

Kate had explained to him how she always secretly wanted to name something after the show, a connection to what her mom and she had once shared. She didn't think it was fair to subject anyone to the names Fred or Ethel, and since he was a boy she couldn't name him Lucy and Ricky was too close to Rick. So in the end she had settled on Ricardo.

So that is exactly what they named him, their bouncy bundle of joy. Ricardo.


Now as he stands in the doorway of his office looking at Kate asleep on the couch, Ricardo, their beautiful Golden Retriever puppy, asleep on her chest, one oversized paw tucked up under her neck, he now knows what adorable truly is, knows with absolute certainty that he has never seen anything cuter. So he stands and watches them in awe, feels the warmth radiating throughout his body.

For Kate loves their puppy like she loves everything else. With fierce loyalty, compassion, and a softness that will never not take his breath away.


This story will be collection of small one-shots centered around Rick, Kate and their puppy Ricardo.

Thanks for reading!