A/N: I've realized that every time I log in with my phone, it reposts a chapter. Not cool.
XxXxXxXxX
When the call came about Allison Tisdale's body, Kate had been engrossed in making sure every piece of paper would stick to her son's poster board. After an entire roll of scotch tape had failed, she had busted out her tube of gorilla glue while Jonah began cutting out the pictures.
"Another body?" the astute 9 year old asked, tipping his face up in time to watch his mother press the end button. It had been a slow day at the 12th precinct, without a single murder to liven up the dreary atmosphere. However, if that last phone call was any indication, it was about to become an interesting night.
"Yup," Kate popped the last letter, flicking on the faucet to intensely scrub the remnants of glue off of her fingers. Shortly after Christmas when Jonah was four, she had been repairing the eye on his stuffed owl with gorilla glue when she was called in. Without thinking, she grabbed her gun and holster before washing her hands, and she still winced at the memory of having to peel the thick glue off both her fingers and her weapon.
She turned the faucet back off and met the hopeful eyes of her son. "No, you may not come see."
Jonah groaned. "Mom, please? I'm almost done with this project and its not even bedtime yet."
"Joh, what's the rule?" Kate reminded sternly, even though a ghost of a smile was on her lips.
Jonah intelligibly mumbled as he rested his chin on his fist, pretending to struggle when his mother pulled down the arm of his shirt, reaching in and tickling under his arm.
Victoriously, Kate shook her head at him. "Still as smooth as the day you were born."
"But what if I never get armpit hair?" he worriedly asked, nervously crumpling the scrap pieces of paper that littered the counter.
Laughing, Kate kissed his forehead. "I don't think we'll have to worry about that, kiddo. You can probably just stick some yarn under there." When Jonah's eyes brightened considerably, getting a sparkle that she knew and recognized not only in her son, but in the mirror as well, she immediately shot him down. "Don't even think about busting into my knitting basket, little man."
Jonah rolled his eyes and looked thoughtfully at her. "Aren't you supposed to be checking out some dead guy or something?"
"Dead girl," Kate corrected, before exclaiming "Oh, damn it! I need to run over to Mrs. Hurst's to see if she can keep an eye on you."
"You said damn it, mom." Jonah reminded, gluing a picture to his board before smiling angelically up at her.
Sighing, Kate picked her phone back up and pressed a single number. "Hey, Max! On a scale from 1 to brain implosion, how busy are you?"
The petite blonde showed up only 4 minutes later with an armful of books. She wrapped her free arm around Kate in a warm hug. "I'm so glad I was just down the street!" she chirped with a smile. "Calculus is driving me nuts, so any excuse to not study is a good excuse."
After slipping her necklace and watch back on, Kate instructed Maxie, who was currently engrossed in helping Jonah pry his glued fingers apart, to ensure that the poster was finished before he snuck off to his room. She leaned down and kissed him on the nose while he smacked his lips against her chin.
"Be safe, mama bear." He ordered as she adjusted her gun in its holster and smoothed her blouse.
"Always, baby bear." she teased, pressing a kiss to the head of the blonde before grabbing her keys off their hook and sailing out the door.
XxXxXxXxX
Alexis Castle hated these parties. In almost any other situation, she'd find embarrassingly intoxicated floozies amusing, but when those very same floozies were begging her father to place his pen in areas that still made her blush a little to mention, the game changed. Between her father's chest-signing affinity and her grandmother's eye for anything ringless that qualified for a senior discount, these events were more stressful than fun. She felt worse the few times she skipped out, usually sticking to the couch worrying constantly, like a mother whose two children were out past curfew. So she went, carting some homework to attempt while she wasn't keeping a watchful eye on the two most important people in her life.
She studied her father as he effortlessly made his way across the room, his eyes meeting hers and winking before turning his attention back on her former stepmother. By the time he'd crossed the room to order a drink at the bar and plant a kiss on her cheek, he'd signed no less than three books and several more chests.
"Hello, darling." He smiled cheerfully, taking a long sip of champaign as his eyes focused at the other woman at the bar. "Mother." he greeted, with slightly less cheer.
"Richard, darling!" Martha Rodgers bleated, wrapping her son in a tight embrace. "Isn't this party wonderful?"
He stuck his tongue out at his daughter over his mother's shoulder, removing one arm from around Martha to mime shooting himself in the head. Rick smiled at his daughter's scolding look and poorly concealed grin. He'd have to work with her on her horrible poker face.
"So, how's our favorite bloodsucker?" Alexis asked sweetly, shooting a brief glance at Gina.
"Oh, you know." he stated casually. "I'm thinking it may be time for her to head back to her crypt. I'm sure Dracula is missing her dearly."
When Gina's eyes narrowed at him from the other side of the room, both he and Alexis smiled innocently. Neither of them were all that fond of the pushy blonde, but for sanity's sake they put on pleasant facades. Those quickly dropped, however, when Martha spotted a new graying target chatting with a few others and excused herself excitedly.
Staring at the wall, Castle spoke to Alexis. "If I ever get like that, please, for the love of God, put me in a home. Or, better yet, have me committed." She was unable to stop watching her grandmother, schmoozing to the much older man she feared could become another of her future ex-stepgrandfathers.
"Deal." she said without hesitation, wrapping her pinky finger around his.
XxXxXxXxX
Meanwhile, Kate Beckett was striding briskly to her newest crime scene. "Hey, Boss." Esposito greeted grumpily as Kate approached him.
Kate shot him a grin. "Bad day?" she asked guiltlessly, eyes sparkling at him. Her stomach still ached from the laughter she and her son shared as she remembered how Jonah described the variety of incidences that had occurred at Hunter College Elementary that day. She wished she could have seen his face when the snotty son of a Software mogul offered Ryan several grand if he was allowed taze Esposito.
He glared at her half-heartedly. "For some of us." he stated dryly.
"Hmm." Kate looked at him in mock confusion. "I don't know, I think today's been pretty stellar, personally."
Shrugging, Esposito grinned. "Yeah, well, your boss isn't a sadistic psycho."
"Keep that sweet talk up, Esposito, and I'm gonna think you have a crush." Kate teased, as she ducked under the yellow tape that he held up.
While the team did their usual cataloguing and speculating, Kate couldn't shake the nagging feeling that this was all too familiar. "Where have I seen this before?" she whispered to herself, trying to remember every crime movie, TV show, and book she had encountered. Thoughtfully, she said to herself "Roses on her body, sunflowers on her eyes. Roses on her body…Flowers for your Grave?"
"What was that?" Ryan asked, lifting his head and staring at her quizzically. Ignoring him, Kate moved closer to study the body.
"Does this look familiar to anyone?" she asked, almost rhetorically, as she circled the table.
"No, but" Esposito began, pausing. "I'm not the one with the thing for freaky ones. Just give me a "Jack-shot-Jill-over-Bill" so I can call it a day."
"Oh, but the freaky ones require more. They reveal more." she said, almost with an air of mystery before raising her voice slightly. "Look at how he left her. Covered, modestly." Kate observed pointedly, studying the two small bullet holes on the victim's chest.
Confused, Ryan spoke up. "So?"
Inhaling deeply, Kate stood up. "So, despite all of the effort, all the preparation, you won't find any evidence of sexual abuse."
"You really get all that from just this?" Esposito asked. From anyone else, it would sound skeptical. A challenge of her intellect. But he knew Kate was good, he'd always known that. But, sometimes, Javier Esposito craved an insight to the mind of a woman whom he both loved and feared. Like an older sister who wasn't afraid to defend her brother against a kid twice her size on the playground.
Knowing that the other detective was merely curious, she spoke again. "This, plus," she hesitated, debating what to reveal to the two men in front of her before speaking. "I've seen this before."
Disbelievingly, Ryan looked at her. "You've seen this before? Where?"
"Roses on her body, sunflowers on her eyes…" she trailed off, hoping for a spark of recognition in either of their eyes. When all she received in return was a few blank looks and darting eyes, she rolled her own eyes before asking sharply "Don't you guys read?"
After returning to the precinct, they found that the mystery novelist's whereabouts were as easy to deduce with a look at the newspaper. The release party for his latest novel was that very night, and Montgomery had sent his detective out on a retrieval mission.
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Shortly after expressing her distaste for her father's flippancy when it came to the flirtatious women, the same ones he seemed to be insulated by, Alexis and Rick settled into a comfortable banter. Her father's humorous observations never failed to make Alexis feel lighthearted.
"See that man over there?" He whispered casually to her, nudging her head towards a rather buff looking guy.
Looking up from her book, she spotted the man in question and asked "Yeah, what about him?"
"He's got a tattoo of Tinkerbell on his left cheek." He informed her, watching the man turn towards them as if he could hear them whispering about him.
Confused, Alexis turned her eyes back to her father. "Dad, he doesn't have anything on his face." When he raised his eyebrows at her, her face flushed red in embarrassment. "Dad!"
Quick to defend himself to his horrified child, he hurriedly explained. "I saw the corner of it peeking out I just had to see the rest. So I detoured around the sinks to check it out."
"I don't know if I should be more disturbed that he's now ruined Peter Pan for me or that you were checking out another dude's butt." Alexis said slowly, her face returning to its normal color.
They were both so consumed in the Tinkerbell fiasco that neither of them noticed the slender, no-nonsense looking woman approaching them. It was if Alexis had never spoken about the chest signage when her father whirled around with a "Where would you like it?" but even she couldn't be miffed. This woman didn't scream "desperate". She screamed confidence and intent, and didn't even bat an eye at the pen in his grasp as she let him know exactly who she was. Kate Beckett, NYPD Detective.
"Dad's gonna love this." Alexis mumbled under her breath as Detective Beckett ushered him out of his own party. She had a feeling that if he thought he could charm his way with this detective, he would be in for a rude awakening.
XxXxXxXxX
He had only been in her interrogation room for two minutes and so far he was living down to every expectation she'd had of him. His flippant attitude and incessant flirting would've probably had a lesser woman in a quivering puddle at his feet. But, Rick Castle soon realized, when this Detective Beckett steamrolled effortlessly over each advance he made with a steady calm and a cool, impersonal smile, he was intrigued. Her gorgeous eyes studied him like a specimen under a microscope. He'd never admit it, but her silence was unnerving.
Although murder in itself was heinous, he couldn't help but find the humor in the situation. It was more than just a defense mechanism to him, it was his way of expressing the proverbial pull of the pigtails, an action he hadn't actually partaken in since Jenny Simon's blonde ringlets in 3rd grade.
As she laid out the pictures of the victims, he instantly saw why he had been dragged from the release party down to the station.
"Flowers for your Grave." he murmured, recognizing the fact that words that he had written had been turned into reality. This is so cool, he thought.
Unaware of how exciting the man on the other side of the table found it, Beckett continued on. "And this is how we found Marvin Fisk. Straight out of Hell Hath No Fury." the detective stated almost triumphantly, laying down two more pictures.
"Looks like I have a fan." Castle observed, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Yeah," Beckett said slowly. "A really deranged fan."
Eyes sparkling, he looked her up and down. "Oh, you don't look deranged to me."
She paused, slightly confused. "What?"
Castle chuckled knowingly. "Hell Hath No Fury? Angry wiccans out for blood? Come on, only hardcore Castle groupies read that one."
Taken off guard, she stammered through the rest of her questioning. "Do any of these groupies ever write you letters?" After he nodded, she continued on. "Disturbing letters?"
"Oh, all of my fan mail is disturbing. It's an occupational hazard."
"Because sometimes in cases like this, we find the killer attempts to-
"The killer attempts to contact the subject of his obsession." He finished with her, earning him another confused look. "I'm also pretty well-versed in the subject of psychopathic methodologies." He explained with a boyish smile, gazing into her dark green irises. "Another occupational hazard." And without pausing or taking a breath, he finished with "And do you know you have gorgeous eyes?"
Slightly flustered yet again, Detective Beckett quickly wrapped up the interview, gaining an invitation to dig through the writer's mail and giving a firm rebuke to his largely insensitive behavior.
He couldn't stop the smile as he studied her purposeful yet graceful exit from the interrogation room, a new idea slowly forming in his mind.
XxXxXxXxX
So maybe he had been instrumental in solving the case. That didn't mean anything. He showed a clear disrespect for the processes and order that being a part of formal investigations required. His mother and daughter had even been forced to accompany him home out of police custody for his lack of disregard for the rules, even though Kate partially blamed herself. She should've known better than to let her hormones get the best of her for those few moments. Though she would admit that teasing him was more fun than she'd expected, especially when she caught the look on his face when she whispered in his ear as they parted for what she thought was the last time. Although she'd be damned if she let anyone know it, Castle had impressed her. Not only was he knowledgeable in several areas of crime and law enforcement, but he'd actually been somewhat of an asset on several occasions. Still, he couldn't seem to take any part of the murders seriously, and in Kate's experience, it was that kind of recklessness that got people killed. From what she gathered after the few words she'd exchanged with the pain-in-the-ass's quite charming offspring, the pain-in-the-assery wasn't a new facet of his personality. Richard Castle was obviously trouble.
Even so, when Montgomery informed her that Richard Castle was going to be basing a new book off of her, she felt the tiniest bit flattered. She'd admired his writing for so long, but knowing that he was going to be thinking of her throughout some of the process was disconcerting. When he dropped the bomb that Castle was going to have to follow her for research, every kind thought she'd had of him flew out the window. It had been bothering her so much that even hours later, when she was cuddled on the couch with her son and the dazzling Paul Walker, even the nine year old sensed something was off.
"You okay, mom?" He tore his eyes away from the movie, feeling the tension in her arms as she held him.
She smiled tightly at him. "Fine, baby." And right then, she was. Fast cars, her number one boy and a bowl of buttery popcorn and skittles were her idea of a great night. But her son was not the least bit deterred.
"You don't look fine." he challenged, taking note of her furrowed brow and tense expression.
Kate brushed his dark locks back before kissing the top of his head. "Just work stuff, bub. Don't worry about it."
"Case stuff?"
"Nah, not really." Deciding to just go for it, she continued. "I'm just getting a new partner."
Jonah sat up straighter. "But aren't Uncle Kevin and Uncle Javi your partners?" he asked worriedly, thinking of the two men his mother implicitly trusted. Would they not be her partners anymore?
Kate smoothed his hair back again before running her fingers through it. "It's a different kind of partner, Joh. He's not a cop. He's just going to be doing some research." she smiled sardonically.
"Research? For what?"
"A book."
"Really? What's it about?"
"Um, well, me, I guess. Based on the entire precinct. They really didn't say."
"Woah. That is so cool!"
"Glad you think so." Kate laughed, squeezing her son briefly as she rested her chin on his shoulder.
Jonah turned his head to press his forehead to the side of her head. "You don't?"
She shrugged. "He kind of acts like you when you throw back a few packs of Fun Dip." she told him, remembering the nine year old on a sugar rush comparison she had made earlier.
Jonah made a noise of understanding. "So, he's a pain in the ass."
"Jonah Malcolm," Kate warned sternly.
"Butt. Pain in the butt." he corrected quickly, looking appropriately guilty.
"Mhmm." Kate said skeptically. "He's more of a douche bag, anyways. And we've really got to work on our potty mouths."
"I don't know what you're talking about, mom. You're the one cussing up a storm in front of an innocent little kid."
"Innocent my ass." Kate rolled her eyes. She'd gotten more than a little flack for allowing her son to be so comfortable with profanity, but she had far greater concerns. Especially since he only was parroting what he heard from her in the first place. In her line of work, she faced what could be considered the worst of the worst in New York daily. She wasn't too worried about the impact swearing would have on him in the long run. Her worst nightmares were about him dead, not him cussing. As long as he knew it was only appropriate around her, she saw no harm.
"Katherine Lenora." the boy scolded, nudging her with his shoulder in disapproval.
"I meant butt." Kate scolded right back, cringing at the use of her name. "And don't Katherine Lenora me, mister. Only moms can middle name."
"You call grandpa by his first and middle name all the time!" he pointed out.
"Fine, when you grow some hairs under those arms, the game changes. Until that distant date, I'm "mom" and only "mom" to you, kiddo." she teased.
Jonah smiled and raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Okay, mom. So what's this new guy's name?"
She shot a sly look at her son, unable to resist. "Stephen King."
"Get real!" Jonah laughed, digging his fingers into her sides, making her bust out into hysterical laughter.
Barely managing to speak through her gasps, Kate surrendered. "Okay, okay!" she finally spoke, lightly pinching his leg. "Richard Castle."
"Richard Castle?" Jonah narrowed his eyes, nearly leaping off the couch to inspect the bookshelf across the room. "This Richard Castle?" he asked, brandishing a worn copy of In the Hail of Bullets.
Kate made an assenting noise as Jonah slid the book back in its place on the shelf. Jonah made a similar noise as he plopped back onto the couch and leaned into her. "Hmm."
"That's it? 'Hmm'? No smart-ass comment, no snide remark, nothing?" Kate pulled back in disbelief.
Jonah simply shrugged his shoulders, reaching around her to grab the remote and un-pause their movie.
In mock disappointment, she shook her head. "Geeze louise, you're really losing your touch, kid."
XxXxXxXxX
The Sunday after the case had been closed, Kate and Jonah headed down to their favorite Manhattan bookstore to restock their vacant bedside tables. It was a tradition that had started many years ago when Kate herself had barely been four. While Johanna was most comfortable multitasking the day away, her husband was perfectly content to just sit in his favorite chair and flip through the pages of a good book. When young Kate had chosen to cuddle on his lap instead of helping her mother make breakfast one Sunday morning, Jim began reading aloud. Never having been big on bedtime stories, both Jim and Johanna were surprised at their child's sudden obsession with literature. She ran her fingers along the spines as if they would reveal their words, and she pulled out every book off the shelf, tracing the lines with her tiny fingers. It only took two Sundays before they vowed to bestow her with a library that would make any English professor jealous.
"Okay, I'll meet you back here as soon as you're done." Kate told him sternly, knowing how much her nine year old tended to forget her words and go wandering off through the stacks. The bookstore was extra busy that Sunday, which did nothing to ease her natural profession-induced anxiety.
She set her phone alarm to go off in 10 minutes. "If you're not done by the time this goes off, I'll come find you. If I don't find you, I'm gonna announce your name over the loudspeaker and drag you out of here in cuffs."
"Yes, mom." Jonah groaned good-naturedly, still slightly scarred from the time he wandered off in FAO Schwarz and both his mother and his Uncle Javi had blazed through the store in full-on NYPD mode.
They parted ways at the computers, Kate heading over to her favorite shelves while Jonah beelined to the young adult section. Neither of them noticed the lines that had formed down the center of the store.
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He should have learned to never scope out a bookstore before a signing, but his favorite pastime of people-watching had yet to get old.
Surprisingly, there had been a minimal amount of signs trumpeting the release of the final Storm novel, but it just made wandering around incognito that much easier. He had dressed down in jeans and sneakers and had a hoodie thrown on over his more formal dress shirt. He watched as hordes of people milled about, some clutching his own book and others carting around armfuls of unfamiliar titles. He strolled along for several minutes before noticing a pair of eyes that quickly averted his gaze.
"Hey," He bent down to be eye level to a young boy clutching Storm Fall, who had been subtly watching him with interest. Richard had a weak spot for all of his young fans, as few and far between as they were. They were the ones who weren't interested in his money or fame or looks. They simply liked what he wrote and were some of the only genuine people he seemed to meet at events like the one about to occur.
"Hey." the boy mimicked, his dark green eyes strikingly familiar to the older man. Richard didn't know this,, but the boy's mother had told him to always be watchful around strangers, but he wasn't quite sure if famous people counted as strangers. Especially ones whose faces stared back at him from a bookshelf. Being that they were surrounded by people and his mother was armed and most likely impatient nearby, he felt that it was safe to talk. He just hoped he wouldn't be strangled if he misjudged.
"Have we met?" Richard asked, curiosity getting the best of him.
"No, not really." he paused. "I mean, you're that writer guy, right? I've seen you on books at home."
"You a fan?" he joked, eyes narrowing as the boy rolled his eyes.
"No, but my mom is. Well, she reads them. But she just likes the genre, really. She's reading a new Patterson book right now but when she's done she might have time for this one." He explained, gesturing to the novel he had placed back on the shelf. "Even if you lost your mind and killed your best character ever."
"Oh, ouch!" he laughed, rubbing his arm as if wounded as the boy grinned mischievously. "Well, I'm Rick Castle. It's nice to meet you…?"
"Jonah," the boy said, extending his skinny arm and shaking the older man's outstretched hand. "Can't tell you my last name, Mr. Castle. My mom'll shoot me. Or you. Probably both."
Richard chuckled. "So, what are you looking for today, Jonah?"
"A good book." Jonah replied simply, running his small fingers along the spines of a section of books.
"Well, what kind of book? I may be an adult writer, but I've had a lot of experience picking out books for kids." he lowered his voice conspiratorially.
The boy shrugged, staring intently at a few titles. "I dunno. No yucky girly romance stuff."
At that, Richard smiled. Thankfully, Alexis hadn't favored girly romance books in the least. She'd stuck to stories with strong female characters, and even as a small child she had wanted the princess to come riding in on the white horse instead.
The two silently browsed, one searching intently for an old favorite and one pretending to search as his young mind ran a mile a minute. Jonah knew how much the Castle books meant to his mother. After some of her harder cases, he'd creep into the kitchen in the middle of the night for some water only to find her curled up on the couch, with a book that Mr. Castle wrote. But he also knew how annoyed she seemed to be by him in real-life, so he decided to just play this one by ear.
"How about this?" Richard brought back a soft cover from a nearby shelf and brandished it like a prize.
"The Book Thief." Jonah read slowly, taking the proffered book to inspect. While he flipped through the pages, Castle suddenly remembered the time he had lost track Alexis in a busy store. He had run around the store in terror until he found the tiny redhead asleep in a dressing room. "Hey, you've been sitting here for a while, think someone's looking for you?"
"Nah," Jonah said distractedly, flipping through the book with interest. "Whoever picks their book out first waits by the computers for the other. Mom's used to me taking forever. But she'll find me eventually to make sure I'm not dead or kidnapped."
As if on cue, a familiar voice sailed over to both of them. "Hey, buddy, you ready to go? It's kind of crazy here today." The familiar voice trailed off as he looked up and realized why Jonah's green eyes were so distinct.
"Hi!" he exclaimed in surprise, standing upright and looking from Jonah's eyes to her own. Exactly the same shade.
"Castle." Kate greeted stiffly. "You need any help, baby?"
"Yep." Castle joked, earning a death glare from Kate as she looked pointedly to her son.
"Nah, I already found a good one!" Jonah informed her. "This is my mom." Jonah introduced redundantly, feigning innocence.
Kate ignored the grin Castle was giving her and took the paperback from the boy.
"Your mini-me was just telling me how much you like my books. I knew it!" Castle found it irresistible to tease her, even though his head was still spinning with this new revelation.
"Oh, I'm not a fan of you. I'm a fan of the genre." she informed him shortly.
"See? Told ya." Jonah smiled winningly.
Kate narrowed her eyes at him and wrapped an arm around his neck. "Told him what?" she said lowly.
"Nothing!" they both exclaimed in unison, looking at each other and fighting back laughter.
Kate felt a pounding headache starting to form behind her eyes.
"Well, now I've met yours and you've met mine. And we've got to be going. You ready, bud?"
Jonah bobbed his head, shaggy hair flying as he waved one hand in farewell at Castle as the other hand entwined his mother's. Their voices still reached his ears as they began towards the check-out line.
"He helped me find a book. And he doesn't seem like an asshole, mom."
"Hey! I called him a douchebag, not an asshole." She corrected, turning her head to smirk back at Castle, who hadn't moved since they began to walk away.
"Same thing, mom. Hey, that thing I asked you about earlier? What's the verdict?"
With her eyes still locked teasingly with Castle's, who seemed a little flabbergasted, Kate's grin grew even larger. "We'll see."
Castle continued to study the two of them, his eyes following them from register to the door. He smiled slightly as he watched the two of them hop over what he assumed to be cracks in the pavement as their canvas bags swung in the air.
This was a new side to Katherine Beckett, and it was a new side that he definitely planned on learning much more about.
XxXxXxXxX
