A/N: Wow, thanks so much for the reception so far! I'm so glad that people are liking this fic (as evidenced by the ridiculously awesome amount of people that have added this story to their favorites/story alerts). That being said, I'd really appreciate it if you could drop even just a line to tell me what's working for you (or not) as well. Thanks to everyone who has already reviewed, favorited, and/or story-alerted!

Random fun fact: I actually looked up the layout of The Westchester for this fic. And then I went on to basically ignore the floor plan because it didn't fit into what I was writing. :D Oh the things I do for fanfiction.

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Neiman Marcus, and make no profit from using their brand name in this fic. Again, it's just borrowed for the sake of authenticity.

Chapter Two

This was quite possibly one of the most surreal experiences of Kate Beckett's life.

She liked kids well enough and always thought that she would want some of her own someday, but she had very limited experience with them. Neither of her parents had siblings and while they both had a plethora of cousins to play with growing up, that closeness hadn't passed down to Kate's generation. She's pretty certain a good number of her second cousins had kids by now, but aside from the occasional Christmas postcard, Kate had little interaction with them.

But now, for probably what was the first time in her life, she was carrying around a little girl who had her small arms wrapped tightly around her neck.

Surreal.

It was a complete accident that Kate ran into Alexis at all. The only reason Kate had walked through Neiman Marcus was because her motorcycle was parked near that exit. As she made her way past the women's coats, she'd seen the most adorable little girl, maybe three or four years old, sitting on the floor and looking extremely lost. It didn't look like there was anyone around to claim guardianship of her, and Kate's heartstrings tugged sharply when she saw the despondent child.

The memory of that six-year-old boy whose parents would never see him again propelled Kate toward the girl before she even realized she was changing directions.

Little did Kate know that by the time she finished that first conversation with Alexis, she would be stupidly in love with the beautiful doll of a girl with her porcelain features, vibrant orange hair, and arresting baby blues.

How it was possible for a child to be that adorable and yet have a father be that irresponsible to lose her in a mall, Kate had no idea. Did he not see how precious Alexis was, how very delicate and fragile her tiny life was?

A bubble of indignant anger rose up inside of her, and Kate tried to suppress it. This wasn't the time to let her personal opinions and feelings overcome her, especially when she could feel the soothing beat of Alexis' heart against her chest.

She only hoped that her hunch was right and the crazed dad she'd seen running by earlier was this little girl's father.

It wasn't until Kate had been walking around the mall for a couple of minutes that she realized she had no idea where she was supposed to go to find mall security. They always seemed to be milling about in the background, but now that she was actually looking for them, it's like they all went into hiding. She hadn't seen any information booths along the way either.

Maybe she should head back into Neiman Marcus and ask customer service. Actually, that's probably the first thing she should have done.

Sometimes her own brilliance amazed her.

So did her ability to direct sarcasm at herself.

Just as she was about to turn back to the store, a hoarse shout stopped her in her tracks.

"Alexis!"

"Daddy!" shrieked the girl in her arms, and Kate almost dropped her from reflex.

Jeez, kids were loud.

"Kate, Kate! That's my daddy. That's Daddy!" Alexis cried out repeatedly as she wriggled in Kate's grasp.

The detective took the hint and placed the girl on the ground, nearly losing her balance when Alexis took off faster than it should be possible for a four-year-old and barreled straight into the man she'd seen earlier.

"Daddy!"

"Alexis, oh God, Alexis, you're alright," mumbled the man into the hair of his daughter as he kept alternating between checking her all over for injuries and hugging her tight. The expression of utter relief on his face and in his voice was so profound that Kate almost let him off the hook for losing sight of his daughter in the first place.

Almost. But not quite.

Kate walked up to them slowly, not wanting to intrude on their father-daughter moment, but also knowing that she had to make sure that this guy knew better than to let his young daughter out of sight like that again. She knew that having his daughter go missing was something out of his worst nightmare, and she even understood that it was probably a fluke that Alexis got away from him like that.

But her memories of another lost child superimposed itself on the sweetness of Alexis' visage, and Kate knew that she couldn't not say anything.

"I take it you're Alexis' dad?" she asked when she was within a couple of steps of them.

The man lifted his head to look at her, and for the first time, Kate got a good look at his face.

Kate ruthlessly bit back the gasp that wanted to escape her lips.

He was Richard Castle.

He was Richard friggin' Castle.

He was Richard her-favorite-friggin'-author Castle.

Did she say holding a four-year-old felt surreal?

No, no. This was surreal. And unbelievable. And plain crazy.

And she really needed to not squeal like a fangirl because that would just be embarrassing.

…

For the second time in five minutes, Richard Castle felt like he'd just gotten the wind knocked out of him.

Just when he finally managed to catch his breath from finding Alexis, fate had to knock him back on his ass with the most strikingly beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life.

He really needed to shut his mouth, but holy smokes! wow.

Her voice had been the first to catch his attention, a deep smoky alto that brought to mind all sorts of improper images of beds and clothes strewn all over the floor. His eyes followed with a slow journey up miles of legs and past dips and curves made to entice a man.

He didn't mean to come off as such a creeper, but he really shouldn't be held accountable for his actions when presented with that.

He wouldn't say her beauty was like that of an angel or her innate sensuality, that of a siren. Oh no. That was altogether far too cliché.

In fact, as he wracked his writer's inventory of adjectives and similes and comparisons, he could come up with nothing fitting save for a single word: extraordinary.

Then one of her finely sculpted eyebrows lifted in an expression of derision and he realized that he never answered her question.

"Uh, yeah. Yes. Alexis is my daughter. I'm her dad."

He almost smacked himself.

Suave, Ricky. Real suave.

The woman's lightly amused expression told him that she wasn't impressed either.

He cleared his throat and stood up, lifting Alexis in his arms as he did so. He needed to regain his composure, and one of the best ways he'd found to do that over the years was to utilize his usually towering height. Except, even standing at his full six feet two inch frame, he barely cleared the top of the woman's head.

Good lord, she was an Amazon queen, and he was in so far over his head.

He cleared his throat and tried to salvage what was no doubt a terrible first impression. "Thanks for finding my daughter, Miss…" he trailed off purposefully.

She gave him a look that all too clearly said Really?

He shrugged. Yup.

Finally, she answered, "Beckett. Detective Kate Beckett."

"Detective," he echoed in surprise.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, detective. And I think it goes without saying, but you really need to keep a closer eye on your daughter. She's a wonderful girl, and you might not always get so lucky."

The reminder was like a bucket of cold water poured over his head. He'd never been more terrified in his life than the moment he turned around and Alexis was just gone. Amid a harrowing hour of desperate searching, he didn't need to be a best-selling author for all the worst-case scenarios to draw him under an ocean of despair.

"I know. Believe me, I know," he said, the weight of dread still thrumming through his veins and thickening his voice.

Detective Beckett tilted her head just the slightest bit, and while he wouldn't say that she softened, something indefinable changed in her stance.

"What do you know, Daddy?" asked Alexis and that dear voice brought him back out of the bleak thoughts still running rampant in his head.

He touched his nose to hers and reveled in her responding giggle. "That you, my little pumpkin, are in big trouble for just disappearing like that. Where'd you go anyway?"

Alexis averted her gaze and started playing with the collar of his red button-down shirt. She always did that when she was embarrassed or knew that she did something bad. "I wanted to play hide-n-seek 'cause I got bored."

Rick tightened his hold on her. "Oh, pumpkin, Daddy's sorry too. I didn't mean to make you bored. But Alexis, you need to listen to me carefully. If you ever get bored again when we're in outside of home, I need you to tell me, okay? Can you do that?"

Alexis nodded. "Okay."

"Tell me what you'll do the next time you get bored in public."

"I'll come tell you, Daddy," she repeated dutifully.

"That's my girl," he smiled proudly and kissed her forehead.

He turned his attention to the detective. While he normally wouldn't explain himself to people he barely knew, he felt this inexplicable need for her to understand that Alexis meant more to him than his own life. He wasn't an irresponsible dad who was too self-absorbed to care for his daughter.

"Look, Detective, I know it may be hard to believe considering the circumstances, but Alexis is the most important thing in the world to me. I would never say that I'm the world's best father, but I want you to know that this has never happened before and, Lord willing, it never will again."

A strange expression came over Detective Beckett's face, and if Rick were pressed to define it, he might have said that it was confusion.

"Mr. Castle, you don't need to explain yourself to me."

"I know. But I just…wanted you to know."

She narrowed her eyes, trying to figure him out no doubt. If she got an answer, he'd appreciate it if she shared it with the class because he had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Instead, after a brief pause, she simply said, "Okay."

"Okay then."

They stared at each other for another long moment, and Rick found himself thinking, trite as it was, that he could get lost in her eyes for forever. His gaze drifted briefly to graze across her high cheekbones and straight blade of a nose, then down to lips that just begged to be tasted and treasured. But his perusal inevitably ended up back at her eyes. She had such mysterious eyes, an ever-shifting plane of browns and greens that drew him in and held him captive.

She was the first to look away, and Rick almost physically felt it when the connection broke.

Jeez, what the hell was that? He'd never, ever been hit so hard with a single look before. He could still feel currents of electricity humming up and down his nerves.

She cleared her throat. "Well, I'm glad that Alexis is okay. I should probably be going now."

Wait, what? She was leaving? But, but how was he supposed to see her again?

She turned to leave before Alexis called out, "Kate, wait!"

Oh, bless his beautiful daughter.

"What's up, sweetheart?" The detective flashed a warm smile at Alexis, and Rick almost melted.

Get a hold of yourself, man! he berated himself.

"Can I see you again?" asked the four-year-old.

Beckett flicked a glance at Rick. He knew what that look meant, though he'd never seen it directed at him before. She wanted to be able to contact Alexis, but she could do without ever seeing him again.

That was humbling and...oddly refreshing. Of all the women he'd met and known, they'd all wanted the opposite. It was nice to meet someone who wanted to get to know Alexis more than him. Of course, it would be just his luck that the one woman who does want Alexis more than him is the one woman he's interested in enough to want her to want him.

And…that was super convoluted. So much for being a writer.

Beckett's bottom lip tucked itself between her teeth, and Rick almost died on the spot. How could one woman be so frickin' gorgeous?

He knew that she was trying to find a way to gently say no, and he was crazily thinking up ways to get her to say yes when Alexis once again came to the rescue.

"Please?" she pleaded in a plaintive voice that she usually reserved for ice cream breakfasts and staying up late to watch cartoons. She batted her stunning blue eyes like a pro (his mother would be proud), and her lips pouted out just enough to be convincingly genuine.

Rick had fallen victim to that very look and that very voice often enough to know that even one of Detective Beckett's resolve wouldn't be able to resist for long.

Sure enough, only seconds later, Beckett yielded. "Okay, how about this? If you really want to see me again, you can ask for Detective Beckett at the 12th Precinct, okay?"

Alexis scrunched up her nose. "What's a pre… pre-sink?"

Beckett grinned and took a step closer so that she could tap her on the cheek. "Precinct. That's where I work."

"Oh, okay. We'll come visit, won't we, Daddy?"

"We sure will."

Beckett smiled in response but it was obvious that she didn't really think they would. Oh, how little she knew about them Castles.

Wait…

She'd called him Mr. Castle.

"I never told you my name. How'd you…" he trailed off, and then his lips split into a huge grin when understanding struck him. "You're a fan!"