Chapter 3

She wanted to be mad. She wanted to be pissed right off. Instead she felt giddy, excited. She had just had a shower in a clean bathroom with heated floors. She had put on a clean t-shirt that she hadn't had to wash herself and climbed into a bed. A real bed with soft blue sheets and pillows twice the size of her own body, and a big duvet cover that smelt like sunshine.

Her feet kicked out in front of her and her hands clenched into fists. She had to bite the insides of her cheeks to keep in the scream as she let her body spasm with excitement.

An instant of guilt past through her, her mother was dead after all. Then she caught another whiff of sunshine and the excitement was back.

It only took her just a moment to fall asleep. Once she had calmed herself enough to regain her regular breathing patterns, she was out.

She woke up 4 hours later more rested than she had ever been in her entire short life. Listening quietly to the sounds of the apartment, she wondered if Detective Beckett was awake. When she heard nothing, Cole dug her tiny body deeper into the covers and pillows and sighed. The minute she had enough money she was going to buy herself a bed just like this one. Cole stretched her legs out as far as they could go. Then after soaking up one more delicious moment of being in a bed, she ripped the covers back and jumped into the shower. Who knew when she was going to get another one of those? She sighed as she saw the beloved black dye wash out of her hair. So much of it had disappeared the previous night; the rest was pretty much gone now.

When she was done, she packed up her things into her knapsack, made the bed, and then slipped out of the room as quietly as possible. She heard the shower turn on in the Detective's bedroom and her eyes immediately found the door. She could use this moment, she could bolt. She'd be out of the state before anyone could find her. She didn't know what it was that made her stay but she tossed her bag on the floor and finally listened to her angry stomach.

When Kate walked into the kitchen she saw Cole seated on one of the bar stools. The girl had pulled her hair into a messy knot at the nape of her neck. One leg was tucked under the other, which happened to be swinging carelessly as she downed a bowl of cereal. Kate wasn't sure what it was but something about watching the girl there made her heart twitch in her chest.

"Good Morning," Kate pulled up a stool and poured herself her own bowl. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten cereal for breakfast. Most mornings breakfast had been whatever she could grab on the way out. Cereal had mostly been kept in her apartment for those nights when she got home too late to have something real to eat.

Cole barely raised an eyebrow at the detective. So Kate continued, "Sleep ok?" Still there was no answer. Finally Cole set her bowl on the counter and looked over at Kate.

"Look I really appreciate the bed, I mean really. That was a nice thing you did, taking in the homeless kid and all. Thing is, we aren't family, we aren't even friends. So I am going to school and then I am going to go my own way. Thanks for everything, but I can take care of myself." Cole grabbed her bag and made her way to the door.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you?" Kate didn't even bother turning to look at her; just kept eating her cereal. When she didn't hear the door open but instead heard the huff of impatience she smiled.

"I'd just hate for you to show up at school today. Then you know be pulled out again when social services decides to pick you up." Kate finished her breakfast and then brought both bowls to the sink. She grabbed her purse, slipped her gun into its place and then opened the door.

"Besides I still need to question you. I can drop you off at school after lunch if you still want to go so badly." Kate watched several emotions pass across Cole's features, then she saw the girl relent.

When Castle walked in that morning he couldn't help smiling. Detective Kate Beckett was frazzled. Over the past couple of years one of the many thing he had noticed about the detective, was that regardless of what was going on on the inside, on the outside she always appeared put together.

This morning that was not the case; no this morning she was hunched over her paperwork, her long curls half-hazardly tossed into a ponytail with several strands falling out the sides. Instead of the crisp shirt and jacket that she frequently wore she had slipped into comfortable jeans and a brown t-shirt under her leather bomber jacket. Castle couldn't help thinking that unruly and distraught Becket was a pretty damn sexy Beckett.

"You realize you stare at her a lot right?" Castle shocked on his coffee, then turned towards the eleven year old and smiled. Cole was leaning against the doorframe of the break room. Her arms were crossed and her hair was piled on top of her head, for some reason he couldn't shake the thought that Beckett probably would have looked something like this girl as a kid.

"I do realize that, but let's just keep it between us for now. I brought you a coffee?" He pulled the small coffee loaded with milk from the tray. He wasn't stupid he'd known the girl would never have accepted a hot chocolate.

"Thanks," she straightened up, more surprised by the offer than she was letting on.

"Any news on your mom's case," They made their way to Beckett's desk, and Castle watched her shrug her tiny shoulders.

"Good morning Detective," Castle pulled Kate's regular from the tray and placed it in front of her. He paused to watch her inhale the scent before pulling his own from the tray and claiming his chair.

"Castle," she nodded her thanks. Her voice held an unfamiliar formality and he was able to confirm that she was definitely frazzled.

They spent the rest of the morning working through the case. Beckett had passed over the out of office work to Ryan and Esposito in favour of not having to leave Cole behind at the precinct on her own. So they filled out the murder board and did research. By the time lunch rolled around, they were no further along in the case and Castle was dying to leave he precinct.

They went for burgers, Castle could tell that Cole was worried about the bill from the moment they had entered the diner. He quickly made a joke about paying for the meal and Beckett was so out of it she made no comment at all.

When Cole slipped away to use the restroom he leaned across the booth and clasped Beckett's hands in his own.

"What's your plan Beckett?" he nodded in the direction that Cole had gone.

"I don't have one," Kate sighed, "I just know she can't end up in foster care."

"Kate," his voice was like a warning siren and she knew what was coming.

"Just don't Castle, don't say it. I don't have a plan right now; I'm not saying this is forever but for right now, for right now, it is what it is." Kate pulled herself away from the table as Cole approached.

"Ready to go," Kate asked and Cole nodded, neither of them mentioning school. Castle let his eyes follow them out the diner before he was able to physically follow them.

They returned to the precinct just as Ryan and Esposito were adding a suspect to the murder board. Kate's eyes instantly shot to Cole and then up to Castle. They were both thinking the same thing. Should they try and conceal the information from the girl? Could it possibly affect her any more than any of the other crap she had already witnessed?

She made the decision for them when she bolted to the murder board and ripped the picture down. "What the hell are you doing with Dom's picture up there? He did not kill my mother," She was giving Ryan the death glare, and by the looks of it Ryan was a little frightened.

"Do you know this kid?" Esposito stepped between them and Ryan took the opportunity to back away. Cole zipped her mouth shut, and turned to walk away from the Detective when Kate blocked her path.

"Cole, he could have killed your mother,"

"He didn't," Cole hollered

"Are you positive about that?" Kate say the girls expression waiver and exhaled.

"Cole,"

"Would you stop saying my name like that," Cole snapped. Without looking Kate knew that there was a shocked expression on her face.

"You don't know me. You haven't even been in my life for one single day. Dominic St. James has been there for me since I was 5 years old. He didn't kill my mother, and if he did then he had a reason to do it." Cole pushed past Kate and stormed into the break room. The door slammed loudly behind her and it was Castle who broke the silence.

"So that's what it's like to have a normal teenager," no one laughed.

"Care to fill in the rest of the class?" Kate looked to Ryan and Esposito.

"Lanie found semen inside the vic. Belongs to that kid Cole is so in love with," Kate fell back onto her desk. Her hands running through her hair, "Shit," she muttered before glancing back at the door that Cole had just disappeared through.

A/N – Just to clear a few things up, josh is long gone in this fic...knockout hasn't happened.