Disclaimer: Oh, look at that...I still don't own Castle! "/
A/N: Ya'll made me soo happy with all your subscriptions and favorites and reviews!
Anndd, as a result, I forced my computer to go along with everything. Even though it still apparently has issues with me.
So, here's Chapter 4. Surprisingly. (:
(And thank you for all the birthday wishes! I had an amazing day!)
Chapter 4
Kate's eyes flew open at the sound of her bedroom door slowly creaking open.
She carefully reached for her off-duty piece while keeping an eye on the doorway, but retracted her hand once she saw Rose's tiny figure peeping from behind the door.
She still had yet to get used to the fact someone else was living with her. Especially a child.
"Kate?" She whispered. "Are you asleep?"
"Not anymore," she replied, chuckling to herself. "What's wrong?"
Rose took her tentative hand off the doorknob and quickly ran to Kate's bed.
"The storm," she said fearfully. "It's scary."
The sudden realization that it was raining and thundering loudly dawned on Kate, just as a bolt of lightning lit up the entire room.
Rose dove under the covers of the bed, almost to the point of tears.
"Oh, Rose, it's okay. We're completely safe inside," Kate assured her.
"Pinky promise?"
Kate held back a laugh at the pinky that was being held out of the blankets above its owner's head, then intertwined it with hers.
"Promise."
Rose slowly emerged from her hiding spot, then looked up at Kate.
"Can I sleep with you t'night?"
"Sure thing." She made room for her and helped her adjust the covers.
"All good?"
"Mhmm."
"Good." She closed her eyes once Rose was silent, but just as sleep was about to overtake her, she heard the faint sound of sniffling.
"Rose?"
She didn't talk for a few minutes, but suddenly erupted into tears after Kate began gently rubbing her back.
"I miss my daddy, Kate; I want 'im back!"
Kate's heart sunk heavily in her chest, and she could feel her own eyes begin to well up.
"Rose-"
The little girl curled up against Kate's stomach, soaking her shirt with her tears.
"Will I see him again? Ever?"
"You know, sweetie, I bet you will. And I can see my mom when you see your daddy."
"Your mommy's with my daddy?"
"I think they...are, Rose."
"Why is your mommy in Heaven?"
Silent contemplation filled the room.
"Well, because some very bad and mean people took her away, just like your dad. But it's all okay. They're safe, and happy now."
The tears had slowed greatly, and now were almost completely gone.
"Cross your heart?"
Kate hesitated, but then made an 'X' across her chest. "I really, honestly, do think so, Rose." She held her closer to her. "I do."
She felt her nod against her chest, and all was quiet.
She listened to Rose's breathing even out as she slowly fell asleep, and eventually peacefully slipped under herself as well, as the storm outside continued on.
Her mom -and Rose's dad- were okay now.
And that's all that mattered.
Richard Castle stood in front of his large hotel window, basking in the L.A. sunrise.
A sigh escaped his lips as he sipped at his coffee.
It just wasn't the same New York City coffee.
Nothing was the same here, actually.
Another sigh.
And another.
And then he realized there was no Kate Beckett to hear him; to fall into his trap and ask him what was wrong, so he'd have an excuse to talk to her when all else failed.
A real sigh.
It would be a long four months.
The sun broke through the windows of Kate's room, and she reluctantly got up, groaning as she went.
It was technically her day off, but she was notorious for not taking one until the case she was working on was solved.
She would, however, sleep in a half hour more than usual...at least today, she would.
Kate dug in her closet for the day's clothes as she looked back at Rose, who was still sleeping soundly in her bed, and smiled.
Once she remembered Castle's note, however, she felt her cheeks flush and a ridiculous grin spread across her face.
She glanced at her phone hesitantly, and before she knew what she was doing, she was making her way over to it and dialing his number.
"Kate?"
Hell, the man just had to say her name to make her melt.
She was screwed.
"Anything wrong?" He asked, worry conveyed through his voice.
"No, no, not at all, I just...got your note."
"I see."
Crap, he sounded heartbroken.
She hurried to explain before she lost him. "No, it was...nice. Sweet."
Silence. And then, "You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice."
Kate laughed. "It's only been one day, Castle."
He quickly shut her up with one, single statement. "Like the note said..."
"Miss you too," she finally admitted out loud, blushing as the whispered words left her mouth.
"Come see me?"
"You wish!" She rolled her eyes, but felt her stomach doing flips at the same time.
He laughed, and his side of the line went quiet for a while. "Soo, have you solved the case yet, with your brilliant detective skills?"
"Nope. But Rose is missing him. A lot."
"I would imagine," he sighed with her.
Rose suddenly began to stir, and Kate lowered her voice. "I've gotta go-she's waking up, and I have to leave for work soon. But she's gonna want to call you soon."
"Alright. Can't wait. I'll...talk to you later, too?"
She couldn't help but smile at the hope that came through in his question.
"Talk to you later." She hung up and then smiled at Rose, who was then fully awake and watching her.
"Morning, sleepyhead. Want some breakfast?"
"Pancakes?"
"Sure thing!"
Kate groaned as her phone chirped on the kitchen table, and reached over to answer it.
"Yeah, Ryan?"
"We got another body."
She quickly stood up. "Where?"
"Gold and Fulton."
"What? That's way out of our-"
"I know. M.E. says it looks an awful lot like Jenner's murder.
"Got it. Give me...20 minutes?"
She hung up after hearing his affirmation and began her morning routine as Rose continued eating her breakfast.
Crap...Rose.
She pulled on a pair of jeans and swiped a toothbrush across her teeth before going back for her phone.
"Umm..." she thought aloud, running through a mental list of people she could call on.
Finally, having reluctantly decided on one, she hit the 'Call' button.
"Hello?"
"Alexis, hi- look, I know it's a Saturday and everything, and you probably have plans, but-"
"You want me to watch Rose?" The teenager asked excitedly.
"How'd you know?"
"I've got my dad's intuition," she replied, giggling.
Kate laughed in turn. "Well, would that be alright? I would call somebody else, but everyone's busy today, and I kind of have a murder scene to go to...I don't exactly want her in tow."
"Detective Beckett, please don't worry about it. I'm actually glad you called...Ashley's sick, so we had to cancel our movie date for today anyways. Soo, if you just wanna drop her off, I'll watch her for as long as you need me to."
"Thank you so much, Alexis. You have no idea how great you are-"
"It's no problem, Detective Beckett-"
"Kate. It's Kate."
"It's no problem, Kate." The detective could hear her smiling on the other end. "See you soon!"
"See you." She hung up and went back to the kitchen.
She grinned as the little girl sitting at the table looked up at her curiously.
"Hey...wanna hang out with Alexis for today?"
Rose nodded enthusiastically, beaming. "Yay, Lexi!"
"It's us!" Kate knocked on the Castle's loft door.
Alexis promptly opened it up and gave the sunshine-iest smile Kate'd ever seen.
"Hey! Come on in!" She closed the door behind the two girls and gave Rose a bone-crushing hug. "Hey, Rose!"
"Hi, Lexi!" The six year old smiled.
Kate hesitantly glanced around, sighing inwardly.
It smelled like him.
Like his cologne.
Dear Lord, she sounded like such a sap. It hadn't even been an entire 24 hours.
"We're gonna have soo much fun," Alexis squealed happily, bringing Kate back to reality.
She turned to Kate. "Thanks so much for letting us hang out today."
Kate smiled. "Thank you." She gave the teenager a quick hug and then wrapped Rose in her arms, pressing a kiss on the top of her head. "See you later, sweetie."
Rose promptly squeezed her back. "Bye Kate! Have fun at your work!"
Kate smiled, letting go of Rose, and then took a step towards the door.
"Bye girls...have fun today!"
The door closed on the two younger girls' chorus of byes, and Kate couldn't help the warm feeling that overcame her.
"What's up?"
Ryan looked up from his notepad to see Kate walking towards him.
"White male, somewhere in his late 30s, single gunshot wound to the chest."
"No I.D.?"
She frowned at the shake of her detective's head, then squatted down to get a closer look at the corpse lying on the ground.
"Same placing and style as Jenner's. Do we have any other evidence it's the same person?"
"Well, he was killed around the same time of day Jenner was, and there are no witnesses, but that's about it."
Kate nodded. "I want Lanie doing the autopsy. Can we get that?"
"I'll check into it."
"Thanks. Where's Esposito?"
"Precinct. He said something extremely important about the case came up and he had to check into it right away."
"He didn't tell you what it was about?" Kate asked incredulously.
"Nope- we didn't have time to discuss it."
"Alright. Well, I'm heading back there- you talk to the 84th and figure something out."
"Got it, Boss."
"Beckett."
Kate stopped short to look over at Montgomery.
"Yes sir?"
"A word?"
"Sure." She made her way over to his office, closing the door behind her.
"Rose's mom is coming down tomorrow."
Kate's eyebrows went up. "Tomorrow?"
He nodded, and she resisted the urge to...well, she wasn't sure of what she wanted to do.
"Oh. Wow. That was...faster than expected."
He nodded again. "Had a sudden change of heart, apparently."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the only reason she couldn't come down turned out to be because she was trying to get a promotion. She didn't want to just get up and go, and leave that impression with her boss."
"What?" Kate could feel her blood begin to boil. The lady's own daughter had just lost her dad, and she was only worried about her job? She'd just lost her ex-husband, and she was only concerned that she wouldn't get a lousy promotion?
"Yep. If it was my kid, I'd have left in a heartbeat. The woman must be crazy."
"Crazy, my ass. This lady is inhuman," she scoffed.
Esposito abruptly appeared at the door, frantically knocking on it.
Montgomery motioned for him to come in. "What's going on?"
"The ex-Mrs. Jenner's fingerprints were found at the scene, and-"
Kate stood up from the seat she'd taken, suddenly extremely alert.
"Which?"
"Both."
"There's no way that's a coincidence." Both Esposito and Montgomery vaguely shook their heads, agreeing with her observation.
"But get this- they were on the body we haven't ID'd yet, too."
Kate couldn't help her jaw dropping open. "We need Phoenix PD to search for her, stat."
"Already on it," Montgomery replied, immediately picking up the phone.
Kate and Esposito quickly turned to exit the captain's office, walking back out to the bullpen together.
"If she's actually in Phoenix, then someone's setting her up. If she's not..."
"Rose is without a mom," Esposito finished the thought Kate was too afraid to complete.
She nodded absently, trying to keep herself together.
This was turning out to be one hell of a case.
"Hey, Detective Be-" Alexis stopped herself, shaking her head. "Kate. Come in!"
She grinned at the redhead before accepting her invitation.
"How was Rose?"
"She's been great," she replied happily, leading Kate into the living room. "Now we're just watching TV."
"Kate!"
Rose jumped off the couch and ran over to her, tackling her with a monster hug.
"Hey, Rose," she laughed. "How was your day?"
"FUN!"
"Good; I'm so glad. You ready to go back to my house now?"
Rose nodded and ran off to get her backpack, while Kate turned to Alexis.
"Thanks so much, Alexis. You were a huge help."
"Anytime, Kate! We had a lot of fun today."
"Great," she smiled.
Rose suddenly reappeared with her belongings and wrapped herself around Alexis' leg. "Bye, Lexi!"
"Bye, sweetie! I'll see you later, okay?"
"Okay!" She let go and stood in front of the door, waiting patiently for Kate.
The detective laughed and began to follow, but Alexis caught her arm.
"Kate? Rose wanted to call my dad to say hello, so we did, but..."
"But what?"
"He sounded a little dejected when he asked for you and you weren't there. Maybe you should...call him?"
Kate paused, trying (unsuccessfully) to disguise the smile that crept into the corners of her mouth.
"Bye, Alexis."
"Bye, Kate." She grinned when Kate turned around and gave Rose a silent high-five.
The younger girl beamed and attempted a covert wink to the teenager, who stifled a laugh and winked back as she closed the door.
-Sooo, I heard that you're lost without me.
Castle grinned when he read the text message, and hit 'reply.'
She would never know how much he was.
-And who told you that, my good Detective?
-I don't reveal my sources.
-Ahh. I see. It was Alexis, wasn't it?
-So how's the tour going so far?
He chuckled at her not-so-inconspicuous evasion and typed back.
-It's going. Could be better.
He didn't type the rest of his thought...if you were here.
-I'm sorry.
-It's alright. How about the case?
-Well...another body turned up. Same MO. But in Brooklyn. Lanie checked, same murder weapon. And...
Castle's eyebrows went up in shock, but practically flew off of his face when the second part of her text came through.
-Rose's mom's prints were at both scenes, and on the 2nd's body.
-WHAT?
-Right? Something feels off...I just can't place it.
-You'll figure it out. You always do. :) How's Rose?
-Blissfully unaware, as I'd like her to stay.
-If you ever need anything, let me know? Please?
-Thank you, really. But hey, I'm going to bed. Goodnight...
-Goodnight, Kate.
He put his phone down on the coffee table in front of him and rubbed a hand across his face.
This case was insane, and he could tell it was draining her. He just wished he could be there with her.
For her.
Suddenly, his phone buzzed with another text, so he reached over to grab it.
Once he read it, his world seemed to momentarily stop, while a gigantic smile overtook his features.
-Miss you, Rick.
A/N: Okay, for some reason, I can't get rid of this awkward vibe. Maybe I'm paranoid.
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