Disclaimer : Castle is not mine.
Kate Beckett always got home before her parents and she always spent it the same way, studying. Today was a hectic first day and she had a lot of stuff to do. After she finished studying she would watch some TV for an hour and then start dinner for her mom and dad as they usually got home too late to make dinner.
She didn't mind doing all of this but she would love to experience things that she never got to. She didn't have and friends which sounded sad but she looked at it as more time to study and no drama, well she told herself that to make her feel better and that was okay by her. She got to see her family more and she now had a routine, even if it was incredibly boring.
When she was in high school she was upset and hurt by not going out because according to everyone she was a 'nerd' but she considered herself normal like everyone and hated that society thought it necessary to categories people. But she graduated top of her year and that was great because she had the opportunity to go to some great colleges even if her parents refused to pay for her to go.
Kate had prepared dinner and it was cooking so she went on her computer to do somethings opening her e-mail and opening a new tab so she could look up her opticians number and making an appointment. She was 18 so in her mind she should be allowed to wear contacts. She made an appointment for tomorrow which was surprising but there was a cancellation.
She was going through her e-mail when her laptop bleeped and she refreshed the page and there was Professor Rodgers reading list and she smiled as she read it, already have read most of the books on the list. She smiled and e-mailed him.
'What if you've already read 90% of those books ?'
As soon as she sent it she felt nervous but she didn't understand why he was just her professor. But she smiled when she thought of him and she was starting to have a crush on him she thought and she blushed, she could not have a crush on her literature professor that would make the next few years awkward beyond belief if he ever found out.
Her laptop beeped again.
'Well then Miss Beckett you are very well read and I suggest when you finish the rest of the list I will give you some more books to read.'
She smiled and didn't know what to reply, she definitely wanted to continue to e-mail him but she just didn't know what to say was it inappropriate if she talked about a different subject or was it just safe to continue to talk about books. But she didn't have to decide as he e-mailed her.
'What did you mean by 'Just Kate' it's killing me not knowing.'
She smiled and she felt butterflies in her stomach no one had actually cared enough, she has written it before and no one questioned her but there was this one man who did and she felt strangely cared about.
'Sir I thought I told you to read it again.'
'I did again and again and again times 3'
She thought about what she could tell him to maybe help him out but to be honest she didn't want to. For her it was her way of describing herself and she has done it since she was younger and has never given anyone an explanation until they had gotten it right so she didn't see any reason to give him one now, no matter how special he made her feel.
'Sorry Sir but you're just going to have to figure this one out on your own.'
And with that she logged off and shut off her e-mail and went to get dinner, suddenly excited for tomorrow's literacy lesson.
Her mom and dad got home around 8 pm just in time for inner and they all sat around the small dining room table and ate quietly. Dinner was usually a quiet meal anyway but with the tense atmosphere it was almost unbearable. Kate quickly ate her meal practically inhaling it and left the table after putting her dish in the sink. She cooked the meal and they washed the dishes and in her mind that was fair. She ran to her room and logged onto her e-mail to see if he had replied and he had.
'This is a challenge I will willingly except Miss Beckett.'
She could see he had logged of and she smiled seeing no reason to reply to his e-mail.
Her Literacy professor made her smile in a day than she has all summer and she felt happy even though she was stuck at home under her parents rules and not enough money to have her own place but suddenly that was all okay, suddenly she didn't need her own place and she didn't need to be at Stanford all she needed to be was here, at home with her family and just live day by day and stop trying to plan her days ahead. If she had never stayed home she would have never met professor Rodgers and he would have never of found the mystery that was Kate Beckett.
Their fate was on track it's just neither one of them knew it just yet.
Richard Rodgers was sat in his New York loft sat in front of her paper which simply read 'I'm Kate, just Kate.' And it felt like it was mocking him. Solving things is what he does and he loved reading but this person has manage to make him hit a broke wall. He just met her today and he had no idea what this could possibly mean he asked them to write about themselves there must be more about her, mustn't there ? In his mind every one is entitled to a story and if her life was a book there is no way he couldn't read it. She intrigued him and she was beautiful beyond compare with her brown curly locks and those hazel eyes that just begged for someone to notice her, to notice her story and he was mesmerized by them. He couldn't believe how people could not be enchanted by her very being and this was dangerous territory he was thinking about because she is his student and there is a policy in the school rules that clearly states no student teacher relationships. But there was a part of him, the part of him which was always hoping for the happy ending in every story that maybe they could have a relationship and maybe it could work. He had to stop himself thinking like this it was dangerous, it could ruin his career if word got out that he was beginning to fall for one of his students after just one day.
So he sat there with a small glass of scotch and staring at her paper alone, the rest were back on his desk. He had been staring at it for a couple of hours now and he was bewildered on what it could mean. Did she really only see herself as more than a name or was it deeper than that ? She made it seem like it was a lot deeper than that and so he continued to stare at it until the sun was rising and he was on his fourth cup of coffee after switching to coffee and 3 am and before he knew it he had to shower and get ready to head off to college with her paper still in mind and looking like hell because of the lack of sleep she had caused him unknowingly.
He somehow managed to make it to his first lecture on time and by the shocked expressions on everyone's faces compared to yesterday he knew just how bad he looked and he cringed on the inside and that's when he saw her siting in the same seat as yesterday writing in her notebook and he took a deep breath and went up to her, all of his students following his movements but she continued to be oblivious as he stood over her looking down until he gently said to her "Miss Beckett would you mind seeing me at the end of the day, I would like to discuss your paper."
When she looked up his breath got caught she looked beautiful just like yesterday except today she was wearing a dark blue sweater, she pushed her black glasses up on her nose as they had fallen slightly and looked up to see him. She nodded slightly and he nodded and walked away quickly not understanding how she could look so beautiful without having to try.
He spent most of his lesson trying to not look at her but that was difficult when she looked at him so intensely, taking in his every word and savoring it and all he could think was he was screwed. When it was time to leave she was the last out of the door and she smiled at him and he smiled back and he was excited for the end of the day as was she.
She lightly knocked on his door at 3:15 and he looked up to see her standing there head bent down shyly "You wanted to see me Sir."
He suddenly realized how much of a bad idea this was, him and her alone in the room, how was he possibly going to keep his feelings for to to himself now ?