The things we do for our kids, Rick Castle thought. The only thing 12 year old Hannah wanted for her birthday was tickets to a Five Star concert and a ticket for each of her best friends, Samantha and Kaylee. Rick had procured the difficult tickets through his guy, and Kate had volunteered to be driver and chaperone for the evening's activities. Then for lots of reasons, Kate had to go into work, and Rick ended up here – driving and chaperoning three pre-teen girls to a boy band concert.
Rick had offered a limo – which Hannah shot down, complete with an eye roll. "Oh, Daddy, that's just not what people do anymore! I want to go in the car, okay?" When she said that, Rick wondered where his sweet little girl had gone. The little girl who loved to play dress up with him, the one that poured pretend tea during their tea parties, the one that spent 15 minutes deciding which doll got to sleep in her bed.
When he said that to Kate, she laughed and said "Welcome to parenting a pre-teen girl, Castle. I can remember having similar conversations with my dad. And admit it, you got lucky with Alexis – she didn't rebel until she was older. Hannah is half Rebel Becks, remember!" Rick had grinned ruefully when she said that to him.
So here he was, about to spend a few hours listening to a Barclays Center full of pre-teen girls screaming. Ryan and Sito had laughed for a long time when he told them what he was doing tonight. Ryan hadn't had to do this since Jenny had always taken their girls to concerts, and Sito was a dad of sons who didn't like boy bands. He had done the boy band thing once or twice with Alexis but he was younger then. Oh well, he guessed he'd survive.
Then he checked his mirror, and caught a glimpse of the girls sitting in the middle seat of the SUV. They'd been friends since kindergarten, and he had often been the carpooling dad. He flashbacked to looking in the mirror of a different SUV, and seeing the same girls sitting and singing – but at that time, they were singing kids songs. Back then, they wore their hair in pig tails and didn't have streaks of purple and pink and green in their hair. They were discussing which Disney princess they liked best, not which member of a boy band was the cutest. No, he wasn't ready for teenage Hannah or boyfriends. Oh hell no.
When they walked into Barclays, the girls squealed with excitement; Rick was beginning to wish he had taken the earplugs Esposito had offered. The girls were thrilled with being so close to the stage, and he grinned to himself – he had arranged a back stage meet and greet for them, so maybe he'd score some Dad points. When the house lights went down, the girls jumped up in their seats to welcome the teen idols. He watched them with amusement through the whole concert – he didn't think they sat for a minute. Despite himself, he actually enjoyed the concert; this band wasn't half bad.
The girls looked a bit sad when the last note sounded. They started to gather up their stuff, when the band's manager walked over to them. "Which one of you ladies is Hannah Castle?" he said to them.
Rick watched her eyes get big as she quietly said, "Me."
"And these are your friends Samantha and Kaylee?" he replied. Hannah nodded. "Well, ladies, come with me. The band would like to meet you!"
Rick had expected squeals, but they were stunned into silence. Hannah turned and looked at him. He said, "Come on, ladies, I want to meet the guys that entertained us, don't you?" Hannah grinned at him and grabbed his hand. Samantha and Kaylee nodded too, and he escorted them back stage. Being Rick Castle, best-selling mystery writer had some perks – and this one was top of his list. Watching his little girl and her friends talk to their favorite artists, pose for selfies with them and get their autographs was worth everything to him. And then when Hannah turned to him with stars in her eyes and simply said, "Thank you Daddy!" right before she hugged him made it totally worth it. She hadn't called him Daddy in a while, and she never hugged him in front of her friends. So worth it!