Disclaimer: If only I owned Castle… :)

Summary: Change is inevitable. Everything changes. Jobs, people, situations. Things change. Things happen. Lives go on no matter how much you may not want them to. No matter how difficult things may be. No matter how they change for the worse or for the best. It happens. Life happens.

Author's Note: Yes, I know that I still have three other stories out there still unfinished and two (including this one) that I'm working on right now that haven't been put out there yet. I still can't help, but put this one out there too. I just can't help it. The thought came to me and it's only taken me like an hour to write so I'm sure there are some mistakes, which I apologize for. I'll try to be better in later chapters. Please review! :)

And I know that it's short and I know that this murder is similar to the one in my story Too Little Too Late, but I never finished that crime and I like the idea of it. But it's just the opening. I promise that the other chapters will be much longer! :)

Prologue:

Bzzz…bzz…bzz…

She groaned as she moved to grab the phone off her nightstand as she sat. "Beckett," she murmured into the phone sleepily. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand as she glanced at the clock on her bedside table.

"We've got a body." Esposito replied.

"Why else would you be calling me at one o'clock at night…or in the morning? Whichever way you would prefer to look at it," she sighed. Another missed morning breakfast. "Where is it? And is it freaky?"

"Oh, it's definitely freaky all right. Upper East Side," he replied.

"Upper East Side? That's not our territory. Why the hell are you waking me up then?"

"You were requested specifically."

"By whom?"

"Congressman Williams."

"Why would I be requested by him?"

"The mayor," he answered. "He and the Congressman are golfing buddies. He supposedly told the Congressman that you and he were 'poker buddies' and that you were the best detective in New York."

"That's nice, I guess, but what does this have to do with the Congressman?"

"It's his son."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." Kate hung up the phone before walking into her closet. Grabbing the first pair of clothes that caught her eyes and the pumps that went with it, she walked into her bathroom to take a quick shower. She dried off, brushed her teeth, and dressed quickly before grabbing her father's watch and her necklace that held her mother's ring and she put them on. Walking to her nightstand, she paused to glance at the picture that rested on it.

It was dark in her room, but she could still make out the people in it. The picture was a happy one taken on her daughter's first birthday. All of her friends and family were there and her aunt on her mother's side had taken the picture. Esposito and Ryan each had cake smothered on their faces from where they had gotten in a fight over a piece of cake and it had gotten messy. The only reason that she hadn't stopped it was because Arianna had watched it giggling at her silly 'uncles.' Lanie was frowning and trying to pull bits of frosting out of her curly hair because she had been caught on the sidelines of the fight. She knew that Esposito probably slept on the couch that night, if she had even let him come to her apartment at all.

It was still strange to think of them as a couple. Even after five years. They had gotten together only months before Beckett had given birth. The team probably felt like that whenever she mentioned or whenever they saw her daughter.

In the picture, Kate was watching her daughter with amazement in her eyes as she buried her face into her own smaller version of the big cake. Her daughter, who was always so prim and proper, so much unlike her father. Kate shook her head at the very thought of him ridding her head of all thoughts of him. She did this whenever thoughts of him attempted to sneak into her head. Arianna was grinning cheekily at the camera, and Kate thought about how much her daughter had changed in only four years.

She was taller and slimmer than she was at that age (having lost all of her baby fat by age three) and any other four year old that Kate had ever seen before, even though Kate hadn't seen that many four year olds before. And smarter too. She wasn't afraid to correct anyone's English and in that way she was like her father. Damn it, Kate, the detective scolded herself.

Focus. Work.

Suddenly snapping back into reality she reached into the top door of the said nightstand to retrieve her badge and gun. Shutting it quietly, she made her way out of her bedroom and into the hall of her apartment. She paused by her daughter's room and walked into it. Arianna shivered as the air off the fan hit her. Kate smiled and pulled the comforter up from around her ankles to tuck her in snugly.

Arianna rolled over and Kate froze, praying that she hadn't woken her up. After a minute the girl let out a small snore and the detective let out a realized breath and she turned to leave. "Mommy," a small voice arouse from inside the room as Kate reached the doorway of her daughter's room.

"Yes, sweetie?"

Kate turned to face her daughter and saw her sitting up. "Why are you up?"

"I've got to go to work, sweetheart."

Ari yawned, "You've got to go catch bad guys?"

"That's right."

"Is Elise going to make me breakfast and take me to preschool tomorrow, like always?" She asked. Elise was there elderly neighbor who regarded the Becketts as family and was always there to be able to babysit Arianna for Kate when she had a case. Kate wasn't sure that she could have made it without Elise.

"As always," the brunette promised.

"All right, then you can go." Ari agreed reluctantly.

Kate faked a pout and walked over to her daughter's princess canopy bed. "I don't get a hug?" She sat on the edge of her baby's bed and stretched her arms out.

"Of course you do Mommy," the girl murmured as she buried herself into her mother's arm. "Please be careful."

"I always am, honey."

"Okay."

"I have to go now."

The girl's bottom lip shook. "I…I don't want you to go." The girl's voice broke and it broke her heart to hear it. "Please don't go."

"I have to…" she murmured as she extracted herself from the girl's arms. "I'll be home for dinner tonight and maybe I'll even be able to pick you up from preschool too, but if I'm going to do either you've got to let me go."

The girl sighed.

"Now, go back to sleep because you need to get up early so you can eat Elise's famous waffles." Kate spoke and Arianna nodded enthusiastically. She loved waffles even though Beckett never made them because she didn't like them (she preferred pancakes; it was a texture thing).

Ari lied back down on the bed and Kate stood up to tuck her in. Once she was snug in the covers, Kate left the room. After stopping momentarily by Elise's apartment to ask her to watch Arianna, she left to go to the crime scene, speeding through the traffic of New York City with sirens blaring.

The 'mother' part of Katherine Beckett was back at her apartment, forgotten, for then.