Chapter 3

"You have a daughter?"

Castle looked up from where he had been trying to decide which picture of fried food on the diner menu looked most appealing.

"Yeah." He smiled. "Her name is Alexis. She's eighteen and she blows me away everyday. I have no clue how two people like her mother and myself could manage to create someone so… perfect."

"Sounds like you love her a lot."

"Of course."

"Is that what you were doing in LA, visiting her?" Kate folded her hands on top of her laminated tri-fold menu, giving him her undivided attention. It was like she actually wanted to listen to what he had to say. It was… nice.

"What? Oh no, Alexis lives with me in New York. I was in LA for a book- ah, work."

"You work with books? Publishing?"

Castle shrugged. It was almost the truth. "Kind of, I'm more of a creative liaison. It's pretty boring."

"Doesn't sound boring."

"So what do you do?" Castle interjected before she could question him further. Once people learned his name, his job– He didn't want to be treated differently.

"I'm a cop."

"Really?" Castle replied, leaning forward on the bench. Old, sticky vinyl cracking under him.

"Yep." Kate nodded, sipping her water. "Detective. Homicide."

"So when you said you know 37 ways to incapacitate a man–"

"I was completely serious." Kate shot him a sly smile before turning her attention to the waitress who had come bustling up, pen poised. "I'll have a bacon cheeseburger please, well done, double fries and a strawberry milkshake."

"And for you, sir?" The young woman asked.

"Same," Castle replied, his eyes never leaving the woman across from him. "We'll roll out of here together."

"So, why were you in LA?" Castle continued once the waitress left.

"I was visiting my dad. He moved there after, ah, for retirement. Said he wanted to experience someplace warm, pick up golf. Of course by retirement, he meant dipping his toe into entertainment law. Work-a-holism runs in the family."

"Law too, apparently. What about your boyfriend, Josh, is it? He a cop also?"

"Yes Josh. And no. Josh is a surgeon."

"Impressive."

"Yeah," Kate murmured. "One would think."

Castle bit back his response and focused instead on the creamy pink milkshake the waitress placed in front of him. It wasn't his place to pry. "Remind me again why we are eating ice cream when it is below freezing outside?"

Kate spooned up a mouthful, smiling around the treat. It was a full smile, one that lit up her face, crinkled at her eyes. "Because it's the only time it feels warm."

"Touché," Castle replied and dug in. He had been right. She was gorgeous when she smiled.

Kate stared up at the sky, stars already shining even though it was barely past six o'clock in the evening. They had been strolling the town since leaving the diner and she was shocked to discover she was having a pleasant time. Rick was spinning tales about the random couples and families they were passing on the street. The eight year old behind a snow bunker was a CIA operative while his little sister building a snowman was a foreign agent.

"Breeding them young." She hummed, forcing the smile to stay off her lips. As annoying as he was, he was fun. "You have a very active imagination."

"Occupational hazard," he shot back before clamping his lips shut. Huh. She continued to study him, eyes narrow. There was a story there.

She turned to point out another pair with a shake of her head. She hadn't even known the guy for twelve hours. She would never see him again after they landed safely in New York. It was none of her business. "What about them? What do you think? Father and daughter or a young woman with a Santa fetish?"

"Santa fetish for sure." He shot back, his grin growing until his phone buzzed and he let out a sigh. "Excuse me."

"Gina, hi."

Kate strolled over to look in a row of shop windows. Streams of lights and garland flickered back at her. The town did take Christmas seriously. A longing tugged at her gut, it has been a long time since she been excited for the holiday. Her father still wasn't in a festive mood, deciding to forgo acknowledgement of the holiday in favor of a deep sea fishing trip with his buddies. Part of her had hoped spending it with Josh would help. They had even put up a tree.

"What do you want me to do, rent a car and drive through the blizzard?"

Kate ducked her head and shoved her hands into her pockets wandering to the next shop over- a small book store. His conversation wasn't her business anymore than her relationship with Josh was his. She glanced over the titles of the season's bestsellers, only half interested, the majority of her concentration spent on not listening to Rick's side of the call.

"Look, just tell everyone I'm sorry, and we'll have them over for New Years or something. See you tomorrow."

The next installment of the young adult thriller that was all the craze- now a major motion picture. Some bodice-ripper romance novel was on the next stand. Kate rolled her eyes. Oh, and the latest Richard Castle novel. Her mother had loved–

"Ahh!" Kate let out a yelp when a cold wet ball splattered between her shoulder blades. She spun around, shivering. Her expression turned to ice when she took in Rick's childlike grin, another perfectly formed snowball in his fist. "What the hell!"

"You're the one who told me I needed to have a little more fun!" He yelled back before lobbing the next snowball at her.

Kate dodged to the right, taking cover behind a bench so she could collect her own ammo. "Oh, you're going down."

Her first shot hit him square in the temple, his answering shriek pierced the air, stopping passing strangers in their tracks. "You're going to pay for that, Detective."

"Bring it."

They were both shivering by the time they returned to the hotel. Kate's lips a bluish purple smudge around chattering teeth.

"You shower first," Castle prompted when the door to the small room swung open.

"You sure? I did drop a handful of snow down your back."

"I'll be fine for five more minutes. Besides, I'm pretty sure Betty has the heat on 80."

"It is like a sauna in here. Okay," Kate agreed, gathering a few articles from her bag. "Five minutes."

"Take your time."

Castle stripped off his jacket once the door to the bathroom clicked shut and he heard the tap turn on. He slipped out of his winter boots and peeled off his socks next. Warm air blasted from the vent in the floor, making his frozen toes tingle and burn, and he wandered over to the window to look out at the snow covered town. He drew the hem of his flannel shirt from his pants while he took in the way the Christmas lights twinkled off the icicles of the building across the street. He had always thought New York was magical at Christmas time but this truly was a winter wonderland.

His fingers worked methodically down, undoing one button at a time until he could strip the snow-soaked shirt from his shoulders, leaving him in only his damp jeans and allowing the air to warm his bare back and chest.

The shower shut off and Castle tore himself away from the view to grab a fresh shirt out of his bag. He pulled out a plain white t-shirt and a small box tumbled to the ground. He knelt down with a groan, knees and back popping. He was getting too old for the cold. Fishing the box out from under the chair, he shot a look over his shoulder to the closed bathroom door before popping it open to stare at the Tiffany cut diamond ring inside.

"It's a little soon don't you think?" Kate's voice sounded from behind him and Rick spun around.

"What?" He spluttered, his mind unable to move past the impossibly small purple sleep shorts and black tank top she had changed into.

"I mean, we haven't even known each other for a day." Kate continued, but even while she joked a flush was rising up her neck and cheeks, her eyes focused on the ring… or his bare chest.

"Well, what can I say, you had me at "jackass"."

She laughed and shook her head then, padding over lay her wet clothes out to dry.

"You should laugh more." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them and she turned to him with a shy smile.

"I'm trying. Gina's a lucky woman."

"Thanks. I just hope she says yes this time," he countered, wincing, knees crackling, when he stood to shove the ring back in his bag.

"This time? You proposed before."

"Oh, yeah. We were actually married before."

Kate's eyebrows shot to her hairline. "Really? She Alexis's mom? Oh, sorry. You don't have to answer that, that was very personal."

"No, no, it's fine." He motioned between them, gesturing to their lack of clothing. "I'm pretty sure we've crossed the line into personal at this point. No, Gina is not Alexis's mother. She was actually my second wife. We divorced a few years ago and then about a year back we started talking and it was different…"

"Different enough to get remarried?"

"I think so."

She gave him a small smile. "You don't sound so sure."

"Can you ever really be sure?"

Kate shrugged. "With the right person, I think so."

"And Josh, is he the right person for you?"

Her expression turned pensive, lower lip drawn between her teeth. "Not everybody gets the chance at a happy ending, Rick. Especially not a second chance. Hold onto yours." Kate sank down on the bed, her back to him and he took that as his cue to leave.

He leaned back against the bathroom door when it clicked shut behind him and stared at the floral wallpapered wall, her words swirling through his head. Was it any different? His fight with Gina earlier had been a near echo from fights of years past.

He was older, more mature. So was she. But was that enough?

When he exited the bathroom the lights were off and Kate was little more than a lump on the far side of the mattress. He stared up at the ceiling for hours from his pallet on the floor, until the gentle, puffing snores from the woman in the bed finally lulled him to sleep.