AN: This first chapter is also a little bit Sleepless in Seattle. All the Tom and Meg apparently. Set in season two, Pre-Demming.


"Okay," Castle starts, stepping out from his office and pointing his gaze at the two redheads sitting on the living room couch. "Which one of you wants to explain to me why there are suddenly women on the internet who want to get in touch with someone named NYwriter via my private e-mail address?"

At first, he thought the influx of messages were some type of scam, produced by clicking on the wrong pop-up or something. But an internet ad wouldn't know his e-mail address. And his private one he never supplies anywhere online. Which leaves only one, er two, options.

Martha and Alexis exchange a glance. They're in this together, whatever this is. And that worries him.

"It was my idea, okay?" Alexis confesses on a sigh. "Don't blame Gram, I dragged her into it."

"And what exactly did you drag her into?" he asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You haven't been on a date in a while," Alexis shrugs. "A real date. I was just trying to help."

"Still waiting on a full explanation here."

"Well you see, Richard," Martha starts, trying to help her granddaughter out. "Our original idea was to make you a dating profile on one of those online dating sites. But we quickly realized that once we uploaded a picture and used your real name, people might know exactly who you are and...overreact. So we went for a more anonymous approach."

"And that was?" Castle asks, still waiting to figure out exactly what his family has gotten him into.

"Well we found this sort of alternative dating website," Alexis tells him. "It's mostly chat rooms and you can search them by topic and there was a literature one."

Martha must take note of the paled expression on his face because she's quick to try and calm him. "Oh don't worry darling, there was nothing inappropriate about the website. The internet may not be from my generation, but I'm well aware of the negative connotations associated with chat rooms. I wouldn't have let Alexis browse with me if something obscene had come up."

A little bit of the color returns to his face, but he still looks skeptical. "So how did these women get my e-mail address?"

"Well, we may have made a post in the literature forum about how you were this single dad looking for someone to talk to..." Alexis trails off.

Castle groans, scrubbing a hand over his face. "This sounds like a plotline to a Tom Hanks movie."

"You should at least look at the e-mails," Martha offers. "You may find someone that will surprise you."

"Mother, I'm not looking to be surprised. And I'm not looking for a relationship either. What made you two think this was a good idea?"

The women exchange another glance.

"Just read some of the e-mails, Dad. You'll thank us later."


"Honestly, Kate, when was the last time you went on a date?" Lanie asks, swirling around the remnants of wine in her glass.

"I go on dates," Kate says, defensively. Lanie raises an eyebrow at her and she stares her down, trying to stand her ground. But Lanie's gaze is unforgiving, and she eventually gives in with a sigh. "Okay so it's been a while. But it's not like I can meet guys through work. What am I supposed to do, date a suspect?"

"You could always date that writer of yours," Lanie suggests, downing the rest of her wine. "Have you ever stared at his ass? It's literally perfect."

Kate groans, taking a sip of her own drink. "Date Castle? Are you out of your mind? He acts like a nine-year-old."

"Yeah, yeah on a sugar rush. So you've said," she says, waving her off. "But the man is attractive, you have to give him that. And the way he writes sex scenes? He has to know what he's doing in the bedroom. Something you could definitely benefit from."

Kate rolls her eyes, shaking her head. "Nu-uh. Not happening."

"Well if you refuse to date what's right in front of you, we're going to have to look elsewhere."

Lanie abandons her seat on the couch and moves to wander around Kate's apartment.

"Look elsewhere like where?" Kate calls after her. "On the street?"

She's met with silence, but it's not long before Lanie comes back, cradling Kate's laptop to her chest.

"The internet?" she asks, incredulously. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Oh come on, they're not all creeps out there," Lanie protests, powering on the computer. "My cousin met her fiancé on a dating website."

"But Lanie I don't need this," Kate tries again. "I'm perfectly fine being single right now."

"It won't kill you to look, see who's out there. And besides this website my cousin found? Totally anonymous. No pictures and you don't even have to give your name if you don't want to. You just browse the interests topics and start chatting someone up you have stuff in common with. Okay, okay give me an interest to look for."

"Lanie, I really don't think -"

"Don't make me choose for you and go searching for something like homicide."

Kate sighs, scooting closer to Lanie on the couch so she'll have a better view of the screen. She really doesn't want to do this, but knows her friend will be unrelenting until she agrees. She can always go back and delete whatever profile gets made later. "What about something like books? I read a lot in my spare time."

Lanie clicks around the website, browsing topic titles. "Oh, there's a literature section. That sounds promising. There are some author discussion threads here. Do you read any of these guys?"

She scans over the list and starts to respond when Lanie interrupts her again. "Hey look at this guy. Single dad looking for someone to talk to."

"Do I look like Meg Ryan to you?"

Lanie waves her off. "No, look at his post. He seems really genuine."

"I'm sure people always say that initially about the rapists and murderers they meet on the internet. You know as well as I do that the number of victims -"

"Kate," Lanie cuts her off. "The people who own this website also own a bar and grill they use as a safe meeting site for their clientele. I know this whole anonymous thing can be pretty intimidating, but my cousin told me it really helps take the pressure off. Just start talking to someone, whether it be this NYwriter or someone else, and see if there's any type of connection there."

She scrubs her hand through her hair, re-reading the post Lanie pointed out. "Why are you pushing this online dating thing so much?"

"You said it yourself, it's hard to find time to date with your job. So where's the harm in trying it this way?"

"The problem is I don't trust very easily. And you want me to trust some random stranger on the internet?

"You don't have to marry the guy, Kate. Just talk to him."

"I'm counting this as the blind date you keep threatening to set me up on," Kate groans, pulling her computer into her lap. "And I am prepared to give you full blame when this ends in disaster."

"Ye of little faith. Just wait, you'll meet someone that will really surprise you."


Castle settles into bed with his laptop, deciding there really is no harm in reading the messages that have been sent his way. He doubts he'll receive anything of substance, the post his daughter and mother made on his behalf sounding way too cheesy and cliché and nothing like him at all. The first few messages he reads through are just as he anticipated.

The single dad thing is very sexy.

A man raising his daughter by himself? Surely you need a female influence in her life. I'd be happy to oblige. ;)

So sorry to hear about the passing of your wife.

That one gets him to laugh considering neither Meredith nor Gina are dead. He wonders why to her, single dad automatically implies widowed instead of divorced. Castle continues scrolling through the messages, nearly giving up, when he glances over one that catches his eye.

Um hi. I'm sorry, I've never done anything like this before and my friend, who is sitting next to me watching me type this, talked me into it. So I apologize in advance if I sound extremely awkward. I swear I'm more put together in person. But um, it says in your post that you're a fan of mystery novels. So am I. Do you have any favorites? I'd share mine with you, but your username says you're a writer and I don't want to offend anyone. So you first.

He feels a small smile tugging at his lips. This one, this Coffeelover19, is different. She was forced into it, much like he was, and she's actually trying to talk to him about books. She's trying to have an actual conversation instead of blatantly hitting on an anonymous grey face. Maybe he just finds it refreshing after the myriad of other responses he's received, but he finds himself wanting to write her back.

No need to apologize. I was forced into this myself. My family thought it would be good for me for some reason I fail to see. So we're in the same boat. I also want to clarify that I was not the one to write my initial post. I am in no way that cheesy or cliché. I don't think. Feel free to call me out if I ever am. But anyway, favorite authors or novels? Either way so many. So very many. Although I will say that I am rather fond of Edgar Allan Poe.

He hits send after a final read through for typos, letting it disappear into the ether. He doesn't expect much to come out of this conversation thread. They'll discuss some authors, maybe even some books, and she'll probably get bored and move on. Internet dating just doesn't sound like his thing. But he will give Coffeelover19 a chance. After all, they have at least two things in common.