This story is set in season 3. Kate is still with Josh, but Rick already broke up with Gina.
I think that is all you need to know for now.
English is still not my native language so I'm still looking to improve it. Feel free to point out mistakes so I can correct them.
O-o-o-o-o
Castle was waiting for Kate in front of the victim's building, two cups of steaming hot coffee in his hands. He didn't have to wait long until Kate parked her car in the empty parking spot in front of him. Castle watched her getting out of the car.
She looked beautiful like she always did. He had to remind himself that telling her that wasn't his place. She had Josh for that.
His heart just didn't care about the fact that she had a boyfriend. It made a quick jump anyway when she smiled at him as she took the offered coffee. Kate Beckett's smile was on his top five list of beautiful things in the world. And he had seen a lot of beautiful places.
"Ready to go in?" she asked him after she'd taken the first sip of her vanilla latte. He shook the thoughts of Kate's beauty off for the moment and nodded. They had a murder to solve after all. And that was something he loved doing. He loved the mystery, he loved the excitement but most of all he loved working with Beckett. He just loved those moments when they were thinking the exact same thing and were finishing each other's sentences. Of course it made remembering that she had a boyfriend more difficult too.
Castle followed Kate into the dilapidated building. The hallway was dark and filthy. Castle hid his nose in his jacket when the nauseating smell hit his nose. There was vomit and other disgusting liquids on the floor and the walls.
"Looks like a happy place" Castle stated sarcastically when he stepped over a few syringes and some shattered bottles of alcohol. Kate gave him an annoyed look but silently agreed with him.
They reached their destination and stepped through the open door. The boys and Lanie should be here already.
The victim's tiny apartment was surprisingly clean and tidy in comparison to the building itself and the hallway. There was only one room really. It seemed to be a living room, kitchen and bedroom all at the same time. Half on the coffee table and half on the floor lay a woman, probably around 30. The victim. Blood had spilled under her. It seemed like she had been shot in the chest.
"Where's Lanie?" asked Kate when she caught sight of Esposito standing alone in front of the victim, grim look on his face.
"With Ryan and the witness in the other room" he pointed to a door that Kate had thought belonged to a closet.
"Why is Lanie with the witness?" asked Kate confused. That was Espo's job. Lanie should be out here examining the body.
Castle was walking around, examining the room while Kate talked to the other detective. She would never admit it but Beckett knew her partner was good with details. Most times it looked like he was wandering around without reason but Kate knew he was remembering every little thing he saw.
"Because the witness is scared of me and started to scream when I tried to talk to her. Lanie is trying to calm her down so you or Ryan can talk to her." Espo explained. His expression was grim. Kate was still confused. Why would the witness be scared of Esposito? He was a cop like Ryan and herself.
At his next words Kate looked at him in shock while Castle who had finished his journey around the room was beside her again made an agonized noise. "The witness is five"
"Crap" Kate swore. She hated cases that involved children. Murder was bad enough for adults to deal with. Kids shouldn't have to deal with violence at all.
When she looked around the room again she noticed a few toys. A doll on the couch, a teddy bear on the kitchen table and a puzzle on the floor, only inches away from the body.
Kate took a deep breath. This case was going to be hard.
"Alright. Castle, come on. Let's go see the child." Another reason why she didn't like kids involved in cases was because she didn't really feel like a kid's person and didn't know how to talk to them most of the time. She hoped Castle could help. He was good with kids.
She knocked and carefully opened the door. The room wasn't much bigger than a closet and only held a small bed and a basket with a few unfolded clothes. The little girl sat in the corner of the bed, her knees pulled to her chest and her face hidden. She was rocking back and forth.
Lanie was kneeling in front of the bed and Ryan was standing beside her. They didn't seem to make any progress. Castle went over and kneeled down beside Lanie in front of the girl in a matter of seconds.
His heart broke at the sight of the scared underweight little girl. She wasn't even crying. She seemed to be too traumatized. Castle immediately noticed that he wasn't going anywhere with just trying to talk to her. He got up again to whisper something in Kate's ear. When she nodded he went out of the room again.
Kate sent Lanie and Ryan out so there weren't too many people around the girl. She watched her for a short time, hoping Castle would know what to do.
He returned seconds after, the doll and the teddy bear in his hands. He passed by Kate and went down on his knees in front of the bed again. His hands which held the toys rested on the bed, a good twenty inches away from the girl so not to scare her further.
"Hello, I'm a teddy bear. My name is Bob" Castle started to speak in a low voice while he let the stuffed animal walk a few steps on the bed.
"Hi Bob" he let the doll respond in a high pitched voice. "I'm Lucy. I'm a doll"
"Don't be silly, Lucy. I know who you are. And you know who I am" Deep voice again. "I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to the strangers over there."
Kate looked between him and the girl. She hadn't looked up yet but she seemed to have stopped rocking back and forth, listening to Castle playing with her toys.
"What strangers?" Lucy asked. Then he let her turn around and make a jump back. The doll was hiding behind the bear now. "I don't like strangers" High pitched voice.
"Don't be scared, Lucy" Bob said. "Let's ask them who they are. Maybe they are nice."
When Bob turned to face Castle, Lucy looked shyly over his shoulder. The girl hid her face behind her hands but Kate could see that she was peeking through her fingers.
"Who are you?" Bob asked Castle, going all protective on the doll.
"I'm Rick", Castle answered in the gentlest voice Kate had ever heard him use. "And the woman over there is my friend Kate. She is a police detective and catches bad guys"
Rick noticed that the girl was shifting back into her previous position at the mention of police. They would have to find out what this was about later.
For now Castle immediately picked up the girl's fear of the police in his little play.
"I don't like the police" the doll said, sounding terrified.
"Yeah, Rick, we don't like the police" Bob said angrily.
"Oh really?" Castle asked. Beckett was more than impressed when he got the girl to look up again. Still through her hands but she was watching again. "But they are good friends to me. We always have a lot of fun solving mysteries together."
Castle was getting closer and closer to the girl. Inch by inch. The hand holding the doll was nearly touching her foot. He sat Lucy down and pulled his hand back.
"And they are not mean or evil?" Bob asked skeptical.
"No, they are pretty nice. Maybe there are some officers that aren't so nice but my friends are. Look, Bob, Kate over there is really nice. She sometimes pretends she doesn't like me." Castle told the teddy bear in his normal voice. Then he mock whispered "But Bob, can I tell you a secret?"
Kate noticed the girl leaning forward to hear what Castle was going to say. But he whispered against the stuffed animal so nobody could hear.
"Do you want to know too, Lucy?" he asked the doll but he had abandoned the toy in the hope that the girl would pick it up.
First nothing happened but then the girl slowly reached out to take the doll in her hand. She let the doll nod. Rick smiled and leaned forward, coming closer to the girl but careful not to touch her.
"I know she really likes me. Even while she pretends to be annoyed with me" he whispered loudly enough for the girl (and Kate) to hear. Kate rolled her eyes but was secretly very thankful that he had gotten the girl out of her terrified state.
She had picked up the doll and was curiously watching Castle talking with the teddy bear. She didn't answer yet but Kate was confident that he had the situation under control and she didn't have to get an expert for traumatized kids. Not immediately at least.
When there was a knock on the door she left Castle with the girl. He gave her a short smile before he turned back to playing with the stuffed animal.
In the main room stood her friends. They seemed to be ready to leave. The body had already been picked up.
"How is it going in there?" Ryan asked.
"Okay, I guess. Castle is doing amazing." They all nodded relieved. After yelling and screaming at Espo and rocking back and forth traumatized after that they all were concerned about the little girl's wellbeing.
"Alright" Kate said, full detective-mode on. "Fill me in"
"So the victim's name is Cornelia Medusa. Age 29. Shot in the chest once. Time of death between 9 am and 11 am" Lanie started.
"The guy who called her in is a reporter who is staying in this building for research. Crazy guy but we can be lucky that he is. Otherwise we wouldn't be here today. He heard the shot and called the police. We asked the other neighbors but nobody saw or heard anything. They all said they didn't know the victim." Espo rolled his eyes.
"This reporter, James Tompton, was the only one who had useful information." Ryan continued. "He knew that Cornelia had a child but he never saw her. It seems like Cornelia left her at home whenever she went out. He said she was sometimes gone for days before she came back."
"He is sure that she was using drugs but said she was at least somehow in her right mind to care for the child when she came back from wherever she went. He never saw a boyfriend or another guy that could be the father but he has only been living here for 8 months."
"We found the child's birth certificate. She is 5 years and two months old. Her name is Sophie Medusa. No father known."
"That's all we know so far" Espo finished.
"Thanks guys. See if you can find out if she had any relatives, if and where she worked and check her phone records. I'll meet you at the precinct" Kate ordered.
"And Lanie, call me when you find something that will help us. I'll see if Castle is able to calm her down enough so you can take some blood so we can find out who her father is." Lanie nodded and the three of them made her way out while Kate went back to the little room to see how Castle was doing.
Before she could knock the door opened a little and the teddy bear peaked out. Castle looked out too and saw that only Kate was still here. He smiled at her before he turned around to talk to the girl, well the doll.
"Lucy" he said "Only my friend Kate is still here. You think your friend Sophie is okay to go with her? She just told me she was going to get something to eat and you told me that Sophie is hungry."
Kate couldn't help but be impressed with Rick when the girl actually responded.
"I want to stay with you" Sophie said about to break into tears at the thought to go anywhere without the one person she started to trust.
"Of course I'm coming with you" Castle told her soothingly before he grinned at her and told her conspiratorially "I'm pretty hungry myself. I feel like I could eat at least three plates full of food."
Sophie giggled lightly and when Castle asked her if she wanted to walk herself or be carried by him she held her hands out for him to pick her up.
It was probably good that Sophie went all shy on Kate and hid her face in the crock of Castle's neck when she noticed her standing just outside the little room. This way she couldn't see the place where her mother had been murdered.
O-o-o-o-o
Once they were in the restaurant Castle ordered spaghetti with tomato sauce for Sophie, a salad for Kate (she wasn't really hungry given the fact she just had lunch before being called to the crime scene) and lasagna for himself.
The girl had taken residence on his lap and wasn't leaving his side for a second. While they played with the doll and the stuffed animal Kate texted Esposito to ask him to give her an update on the investigation.
They came up empty on the relatives. The parents had died when Cornelia was just a little girl and the grandparents who had raised her died in a car accident nearly 6 years ago. Before that Cornelia had started a modeling career but disappeared after her grandparent's death.
The phone records weren't much of a help either. And until now they hadn't found a workplace or something like that. They were trying to find out where she went when she left Sophie alone, but the neighborhood wasn't very forthcoming with information. Everybody claimed that they knew nothing.
Kate sighed and put her phone back on the table. They would need to ask Sophie what she remembered and run her blood to see if they could get a match on her father. That was something she wasn't looking forward to. If they got a match it would mean that the person already had a police record which could only mean trouble for the girl.
She watched her play with Castle while sitting on his lap. She seemed comfortable there but flinched every time someone else came too close. Kate wondered what the little girl had experienced in her short life, how much she had seen or heard from her mother's murder. Kate felt a pang of nausea at the thought that a little innocent kid could have witnessed the murder of her mother.
She didn't know how they should find out how much she knew. It wasn't like they could just outright ask her. Kate remembered how traumatized she had looked when they found her and how she still flinched every other minute.
No, they couldn't just ask her, but didn't children express their experiences through other forms? Kate suddenly had an idea.
"Do you want to draw a picture, Sophie?" she asked as gently as she could but it didn't help much. The little girl immediately hid her face in Castle's chest. She shook her head.
Castle, who almost instantly understood what she was trying to do, said "Oh that's a great idea. I love drawing pictures. Its so much fun" He put a lot of excitement in his voice which made Sophie curious.
"Really?" she asked, looking up at him.
"Yes!" Castle promised, and then looked at Kate. "Can you see if you can get us some crayons and paper, Kate?"
"Of course. I'll be right back with drawing material for you and Sophie" The girl watched her leave and Kate hoped they could get a lead out of her drawings.
The moment Kate returned their food arrived and Sophie's eyes grew big on the amount of food the waiter placed in front of her. She didn't want to leave Castle's lap to eat and he didn't make her. He cut her spaghetti and handed her a spoon. He held her with one arm and ate one-handed, trying to cut his lasagna with his fork.
Kate had already adored him for the way he was with Alexis but seeing him with this little girl did funny things to her heart. She loved to see him so caring and responsible. And mature. It was a side of him she didn't get to see too often.
Sophie ate like she hadn't eaten in weeks. She emptied her plate which had been adult size and looked at Castle's lasagna like she was still hungry. He, of course, noticed her look and asked her if she wanted to try it and let her eat as much as she wanted before he finished his plate.
"Do you want ice cream, Sophie?" Castle asked when the waiter took their empty plates away.
"What is ice cream?" the little girl asked and Castle looked at her in shock.
"It's a dessert. You eat it after you finish lunch or dinner. It's delicious. You will like it" he finally said and ordered a bowl of each flavor they had.
That's why they got 32 different kinds of ice cream. Kate shook her head at him but smiled nonetheless. He was just too adorable. Silly, but adorable nonetheless.
Castle told Sophie to try every flavor he ordered and said she should choose the one she liked the most. Kate couldn't help but laugh at the disappointed look when she settled for chocolate. Kate took the bowl with the vanilla ice cream.
"You two are just so boring" he pouted. "Chocolate and vanilla are probably the most boring flavors of ice cream on earth."
"Well Castle, not everyone likes meat-ball with popcorn flavored ice cream" Kate shuddered and eyed his bowl horrorstruck. "That's just disgusting"
When he made a disgusted face at his own creation Kate started to laugh. Sophie watched him closely.
"You don't like it" she observed. "Why don't you pick another one?" she asked curiously.
"No, no, Sophie. It's delicious. I like it just fine" Castle argued. The little girl eyed him skeptically. When the look on his face got even more disgusted with the next spoonful she got confused.
"You are right, Sophie. He hates it" Kate told her and felt relieved when she didn't hide from her this time. She still looked shyly at her but also wanted her to explain.
"He just doesn't want to admit it because he laughed at our choice of boring ice cream before. And now he is too proud to give in and thinks he needs to finish this awful disgusting ice cream" Sophie listened to Kate while she explained and Castle was pleased to see the little girl opening up towards her.
"You are wrong. It's absolutely delicious. The best ice cream I've ever tasted" he argued again. This time Sophie was able to tell that he was just pretending and laughed at his disgusted face.
"He's lying" Kate whispered conspiratorially and shared a smile with Castle when Sophie giggled.
After they finished their ice cream Castle scooped Sophie up in his arms, paid for their meal and left enough tip so nobody would complain about him stealing the crayons.
"So Sophie, do you know who your dad is?" Castle asked on the way to the car. The little girl shook her head.
"Okay. That's no problem, sweetie. Kate and I are going to take you to a friend. Her name is Lanie. She is really nice too. She will help us find out who your dad is, alright?"
She tightened her hold around Rick's neck.
"It's okay sweetie. I will be with you the whole time. And after we finished with Lanie I'm going to buy you some things, okay? Like toys and clothes, alright?" she nodded but still clung to him tightly.