This is based on the following prompts: Kate gets called into the school for a parent/teacher conference because her daughter keeps getting in fights with Alexis Castle. That and Johanna Beckett is still alive. This is for the Winter Hiatus ficathon. Therefore it is very, very AU.

The only characters I own are Samantha and Noah Beckett. All other characters belong to their creators.

I would love to thank my wonderful beta readers for looking over this for me. I truly appreciate you taking the time to help make this story better. Danielle, otherwise known on tumblr as creativitydoesnotexisitinthisdojo.

Now, on with the story...

Samantha Beckett is a smart and precocious ten year old girl who lives with her mom and Captain of the 12th precinct Kate Beckett. She is known as Sam by all of her friends and most of her family. She also lives with her three year old brother Noah, who as little brothers went, was cute, but kind of annoying. Especially to a ten year old girl. Her mom had only three things she cared about in her life. Her job and her children.

While Samantha loved her mother, she sometimes wished that her mom would have more of a social life. Staying at home on a Saturday night couldn't be fun for her. She knew this because she'd heard her mom crying in bed at night and sometimes it made Sam cry for her mother. She knew that her mom was lonely, but she wasn't sure how to help her.

Samantha had been best friends with Alexis Castle for almost six years. The two girls met when Alexis offered to share her cookies with Sam in preschool one day. Before then, Sam had been somewhat shy and quiet. At least until Alexis drew her out of her shell. Since then, she had been over to Alexis' house all many times, even spending the night with her best friend on occasion.

Samantha had always liked her best friends father. Not only was he funny, but he was good looking also. He had raised his only daughter by himself for the past ten years and as far as Samantha was concerned, he had done an outstanding job with her. The best part was that her father was also single. Any woman would consider him a wonderful husband and father.

As far as Samantha was concerned, her life was perfect. Well, as perfect as you could get with a single mom that deserved someone to love. That was Samantha's current mission in life. Finding someone perfect for her mom to fall in love with.

That was when she and Alexis came up with the perfect idea.

What if their parents were to fall in love with each other? For the two girls, that was the perfect plan. The only tricky part was bringing them together. They didn't exactly run in the same social circles. That was when Alexis and Sam started talking about how to bring their parents together. How to get them to meet one another and possibly fall in love.

Sam shook her head, "I don't know Lex… Isn't it a bit extreme? I mean getting into fights at school. My mom will kill me."

Alexis shook her head, "No it isn't and she won't kill you. Look, you are doing this for her. For your brother."

"But having her come to the school…Can't we just, I don't know….can't we just have a sleepover and have your dad bring you over or…"

Alexis shook her head, "That won't work. We need to find a way to get them to talk to each other for longer than it will take to have them drop us off. It's the only way. It's perfect. I mean, what can go wrong?"

"Oh lots of things. My mom will ground me or kill me or…"

Alexis laughed at her friend, "That's not going to happen. Trust me Sam. I've seen your mother. She's cool."

"She's also the Captain at the Twelfth precinct. Captain, Lex. Which means, she will know how to kill me and get away with it."

"You worry too much…"

Samantha either didn't hear her friend or was ignoring her because she said, "It's okay. My grandparents are lawyers. They will get her off and she will still be there for my brother. That's cool…"

Alexis laughed, "Look, after our parents meet and fall in love, we will tell them all about it. They will be so happy with each other that they will forget all about being mad at us."

Samantha nodded and whispered, "Yeah sure. You just keep thinking that Lex. You don't know my mom like I do."

"Is she that mean?"

Samantha shook her head, "No. No she's not mean at all, but she's been so sad lately. Ever since Noah's father left…"

Alexis nodded, "It sucks that he just left her all alone. I know that my dad could make her happy. He knows what it's like to be left all alone with a baby to raise. He did it with me."

"I don't know Lex. I just don't want her to be upset because of me. I've never been in trouble before. I…"

"And you won't be in trouble now Sam. This is just the perfect way to get them together. I promise you we won't do anything really bad. Just get in a few small fights. Enough to get our parents here. Then, they will be forced to talk to each other."

Samantha wasn't sure that this was the best way to do this. Sure, she wanted her mother to be happy again, but she wasn't positive that this was smart. Her mother would kill her for fighting. Her mom had never had any problems with her. The worst thing she had ever done was refuse to eat her vegetables. Fighting at school was a sure way to get her moms attention. She just wasn't sure that it was the right way.

She watched as Lex waved her hand in front of her face and asked, "Are you listening to me?"

"I'm thinking."

"About?"

"I don't know…things. Look Lex are you sure that.."

"I'm positive. Look, I'll take all the blame. After they meet and fall in love."

"If you are sure…"

"I am Sam! It's perfect…"

Samantha only wished that she felt the same way. She hated the fact that this was the best plan that they could come up with to get their parents to meet. She did want her mom to be happy, and she had met Alexis' father, and he was great. She had a feeling that her mom would like him as well if she could only get over her broken heart. She had never liked the man her mom had dated for nearly two years. When he'd left her alone and pregnant with her baby brother, she heard her mom crying for hours in her room. It was only recently that she'd started smiling again. That was why she was so hesitant about doing anything to upset her mom.

She finally told Alexis, "Fine. I'll do it, but we have to be smart about it."

Nodding, Alexis told her friend, "We can do that. We will only fight when the teachers are around. And whatever you do, don't hurt me too badly."

"What? Why do I have to be the bad guy?"

Alexis laughed, "Because no one would take me for a bully."

"And they would take me for one?"

"Not really, but your mom is a cop."

"So, what does that have to do with anything?"

"She's taught you self defense right?"

Samantha nodded, "Yeah, but…"

"So you would know how to beat me up and not leave a mark. You're perfect for it. Trust me Sam."

Samantha sighed softly and then told her friend, "At least my Grandparents are lawyers and can clear me when this is over with."

Alexis threw her arm around her friend's shoulder and smiled, "It will be fine Sam. You'll see. In no time we will tell our parents all about this and we will all get a good laugh out of it."

Samantha finally asked, "So when do we start?"

"Today. We can do it when we are in PE. That way we don't disrupt any of my favorite classes. Are you okay with this?"

Nodding slowly, Samantha sighed, "No, not really, but I don't see any other way to do this."

They walked to their class together arm in arm. Before walking inside they hugged one another and Alexis whispered, "It will be fine Sam. Promise."

Sam smiled and watched as her friend walked into the classroom in front of her. She wasn't at all sure that this was the best way to go about this, but she was willing to try it. If only to give her mom a reason to smile again.

Later that day in their PE class, Samantha looked at Alexis and told her, "Okay. Get ready. I'm going to start a fight now."

Nodding, Alexis whispered, "Don't hit me too hard. Okay?"

"Okay."

Samantha started yelling all kinds of things and then when she was sure that their PE teacher was looking. Then, she took a deep breath and pushed Alexis down onto the ground of the play yard. She counted to ten and then when Alexis was down on the ground she said, "Stay down!"

If it wouldn't ruin their plan, Alexis would have laughed at her friend, but she knew that would ruin everything, so, she let her face stay neutral. She got back up and started pretending to swing. However, Samantha pushed her again and then sat on top of her pretending to hit her friend. Then, Alexis rolled her over and she was on top of her. The teachers arrived soon and managed to pull the girls apart. Samantha and Alexis pretended to lunge at one another. The teachers managed to keep them apart and they walked them into the office.

As they were walking to the office, Alexis smiled and gave her friend a thumbs up. Samantha rolled her eyes and walked into the office with the teachers. She felt like she was being walked to the executioner and that would be her mother.

The girls got off with a warning this time, but their Principal told them that if the fighting continued that they would both have their parents called into the school.

Over the next three weeks, Alexis and Samantha managed to get into at least one or two fights a week. After the last one, both of the girls were told that their parents were going to be called, since the girls couldn't work out their issues, maybe bringing in their parents would do the trick.

Meanwhile, Richard Castle is sitting at a book signing and everyone can tell he is bored. Bored with the same questions. Bored with writing the same character for the past twelve years. Until recently, he had always enjoyed writing. Now however, it felt like a chore. It felt like a job.

He was honestly very happy with his life because despite his boredom, he loved writing. He loved weaving stories for his readers and really loved meeting people. Except when they asked the same questions again and again. Then, it just got mundane and laughable. He'd been toying with the idea of finding a new character to write. Although he knew doing that would cause Gina to possibly kill him. He had to laugh at that one. Gina had been threatening to kill him for the last few years. He usually just laughed at her and would throw a few more chapters her way. That usually satisfied her. At least it had until recently. He was finding it harder and harder to write a single line, let alone anything that could be considered chapter length.

He smiled down at the book he was holding and asked, "Who should I make it out to?"

"Johanna. I love your books Mister Castle."

The woman standing with her laughed, "Really mom? You are such a fan girl."

Rick looked over at the other woman standing there and was immediately taken by her. She was absolutely beautiful. He laughed and told them, "I've seen bigger fan girls. Believe me. And you are?"

"Not a fan."

Johanna looked at her daughter and whispered, "Really Katie? You can't wait until we aren't standing right in front of my favorite author to say that?"

Rick laughed when the younger woman whispered, "Fine mother….can you just tell him to sign it so we can go? We've been standing here for ages and I'm starving."

Rick's pen was poised and he scribbled a note inside. Then he picked up a spare book and scribbled a message for Johanna's daughter. When he handed the books to the women, Johanna smiled and said, "Thank you Mister Castle."

Kate rolled her eyes at her mother, but when Rick handed her one, she said, "I didn't buy this…"

Smiling, he told her, "It's on the house."

"T-thank you?"

Kate was speechless. From everything she'd read about this man, he was a self-centered jackass. This man in front of her seemed so different. Before she could say anything else, her mother was pulling her away from the table. She turned her head and saw that he was watching them as they walked away. There was just something about this man, but the spell was broken when she heard a voice say to him, "Richard! You have other fans waiting to meet you."

Rick smiled one final time at them and then turned to meet the next fan waiting in line. Kate turned and walked beside her mom. They stopped at the food court of the mall and grabbed a quick lunch. Johanna read the inscription that Rick had written and smiled. He had written in big bold script: To Johanna, My biggest fan. May you always keep smiling.

Johanna looked at her daughter and asked her excitedly, "What did he write in your book?"

Kate sighed and opened to the first page. She read the inscription and rolled her eyes. Then she passed the book to her mother and her mom laughed and said, "That's so funny Katie!"

There on the white pages of the book he had written, "To Katie: Even though you aren't a fan, I wanted to give you this book. Hopefully it will give you a reason to become a fan. If not, then at least you got a free book."

"I'm glad you can laugh about it mom. I personally don't think it's very funny."

Johanna rolled her eyes and laughed, "Oh lighten up dear. I saw the way that he looked at you and I saw the way that you looked at him. There was a spark there. You…"

Kate rolled her eyes, "Mom…Quit trying to play matchmaker. You know that I'm not interested in dating anybody right now."

"You haven't dated anyone since before Noah was born and…"

Kate held up her hands and told her mother, "Mother…"

"I'm just saying…"

"I know. Just drop it mom. Samantha and Noah are all I need to be happy. I don't need a man and.."

Kate was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone.

Johanna laughed softly at her daughter and shook her head. She only wanted her daughter to be happy and it was apparent to her that she was extremely sad. She wanted to see her daughter smile again. She was lost in her thoughts and heard her daughter say, "What? Are you kidding me?"

Johanna was immediately on the alert and whispered, "Is everything okay?"

Kate held up her hand and then told the caller, "Yes. Of course I will be right there. Thank you for calling Principal Andrews."

When Kate hung up the phone, Johanna asked, "What's wrong with Samantha?"

Sighing, Kate told her, "Apparently she's in trouble for fighting. And you will never guess who's daughter she was fighting."

"Who?"

Sighing she told her mom, "Alexis Castle. Daughter of your favorite author. I wonder what Alexis did to her and…"

Johanna laughed and watched as her daughter went off on a tirade. She always had blinders on when it came to her children and this time was no different. Johanna asked, "Do you have to go now?"

"I'm going to finish my lunch and then I am going to go to her school and get this straightened out."

Johanna nodded and smiled at her daughter. Little did either woman know then, but this would be the day that would change everything for them for the rest of their lives…..