A/N: I have this story entirely planned out. This is definitely a first. xD However, it's titled "Things" for a reason. Everything will seem totally random . . . but is it really? That's for you to find out! Hope you enjoy all this happy Caskett-y fluff! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. Still.

The first time Rick Rodgers had been to the magic shop, Drake's, when he had ducked in by chance to escape the rain, was the best time. He had gone back again and again, but there was this . . . well, magical feeling he had gotten when he had first walked in that never returned on his other visits.

He had been . . . what, twelve? He couldn't be certain. All he knew was that he'd been old enough to wander New York City, but young enough to get lost on occasion. That rainy day had been one of those occasions.

Lost and cold and soaked with rain, he had ducked into the shop solely for the sake of warmth and maybe a telephone. Rick distinctly remembered thinking he should hail a taxi after he got warmed up in the store; he didn't trust his mother to drive in this rain, not after that morning's Bloody Mary.

And then he'd noticed – really seen – the place he had stumbled into.

It was a cramped, cozy kind of place, full of mysterious objects and a few contraptions even he wasn't sure about touching. It was a young boy's heaven.

Rick wandered farther into the shop, awestruck. "Welcome to Drake's!" a cheery voice welcomed him. Rick spun around to find a middle-aged man smiling kindly at him. His son, maybe five years older than him or so, leaned against the counter in the back.

"Hi," Rick said shyly. That had been before he had given up the whole "stranger danger" thing.

"You ever been in a magic shop?" the man asked. Rick shook his head silently. "Great! Oh, boy, do I have some great stuff to show you . . ."

He led Rick, who was fascinated, around the shop, demonstrating on and even occasionally scaring Rick. He explained that he was the magician, Drake, and his sons would follow in his footsteps. Rick explained that he had always been interested in magic, but with no father and an actress for a mother, he'd never really had the chance to get into it. Somehow it was easy to talk about real things, not jokes or sarcastic comments, with the magician.

"Well, that is unfortunate, indeed," Mr. Drake said, tsking. "You're always welcomed here."

And Rick remembered that at that moment, two things had happened.

He had decided that he would come back, that this was the best sanctuary he'd come across yet. Most definitely the coolest.

And the bell over the door had rung, greeting an elderly man and a girl a couple of years younger than Rick. Mr. Drake had left immediately, a smile on his face, greeting the man like an old friend.

Rick stayed where he was. He poked and prodded at a strange-looking little box, wondering what it was supposed to do.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you."

Rick spun around, startled for the second time that day. The little girl was standing there, a smirk on her face and her thick brown hair tumbling in her face.

"Really. Why shouldn't I?" Rick asked arrogantly.

The girl's grin grew wider as she stepped away slightly. "Go on, then." Out of spite (Rick didn't exactly have much patience with younger kids), Rick examined the box and found something out of the ordinary, a piece of the design that didn't quite fit. He twisted it so that it fit the pattern, and something clicked.

A deluge of water came pouring down on his head as if a cloud had suddenly decided to rain solely on his head. Rick spluttered, "Agh!" The little girl laughed to herself quietly, standing up against a wall so she wouldn't get wet as Rick shook the water from his hair.

Rick sighed, annoyed. "I was wet already," he said defensively when he noticed the girl laughing. "It's no big deal."

"Sure. I'm Kate," the girl told him. She held out her hand for him to shake. Rick almost took it, too; but she pulled away when she saw how wet he was. "Uh, never mind," she grimaced.

"It's just a little water. What, is the clever Kate afraid of water?" Rick teased, more in his element now.

Kate made a face. "No. But why would I get wet if I didn't have to? Besides, I'm not the stupid one who dumped a bucket of water on himself." She smirked.

Rick rolled his eyes. The girl was probably only ten or so; since when were ten-year-olds so dang annoying? "Look, Kathy –"

"It's Kate."

"Sure, Katherine. I'm at least two years older than you, so if I were you, I'd quit insulting me," Rick threatened. That impatient thing had come back.

"How'd you know my real name is Katherine?"

Of course he hadn't known. But Rick Rodgers was a liar and trickster if there ever was one. "Mind reader," he said with a straight face, tapping his head.

Kate snorted. "Nobody can read minds."

"That's just what they want you to think." Rick waggled his eyebrows at her. "How else do you think I know that your name is Katherine Beckett and that there," he nodded towards the old man she'd come with, "is your grandfather?"

He had gone out on a limb, but he was right. The girl's eyes widened. "Wow," she breathed. "You really can read minds. What am I thinking now?"

Gah, Rick thought to himself. He had only known her last name because Drake had greeted her grandfather as "Mr. Beckett," and he had simply guessed that he was her paternal grandfather. Now what? He squinted his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temples as if concentrating very, very hard. "You're thinking . . . you have a trick you want to show me." He opened one eye tentatively.

"OMG!" Kate cried. "That's exactly it!" She narrowed her eyes at him. "You didn't see what the trick is, did you?"

"No," Rick said honestly.

"Okay. Here goes, then." Kate turned out her pockets for him and showed him the insides of her coat sleeves. "Nothing there, right?"

"Right."

"Okay. Watch." She twisted her hands together for a few moments in a motion almost as if she were washing her hands. Rick was starting to think she was going insane when suddenly Kate stopped.

When she opened her hands, a perfect Origami crane rested there.

Rick nodded, eyebrows raised, genuinely impressed but trying not to look it. "Pretty good, little girl," he said casually.

"Like you could do that. I taught that trick to myself, you know," Kate bragged. "Gramps teaches me a lot, but that was mine."

"That's cool," Rick admitted. "I actually don't know any magic tricks. Except for the whole mind-reading thing, of course," he added, still with a straight face. Kids were so easy to fool.

"Here," Kate offered abruptly. "You can have this." She held out the crane to him. "We're friends, right?"

After a slight pause, Rick smiled at the younger girl and said, "Yeah. We're friends." He took the little crane and pocketed it.

He returned to the magic shop many times. It was his retreat when he needed to get away from . . . life. The magic, the tricks, the illusions fooled him into thinking that maybe he could magic his way out of his real life. But none of those times were as wonderful as that first time.

And although he never saw the little girl, Kate, there again, he still had her little paper crane.