"Do you believe in fate?" Rick questioned suddenly as Kate fiddled with her fries for the tenth time that minute.
"Fate?" Kate repeated, pushing her plate away. She suddenly didn't feel like eating.
"Fate. Like, everything happens for a reason." Taking the last bite of his burger, he glanced at Kate's plate before checking Alexis was still engrossed in her book. "I mean, what are the chances that, with all the other people in this city, Alexis ran into you?"
"I…"
"It's like kismet."
"I'm not sure I believe in that." Resting a hand on her abdomen under the table, she smiled tightly. "Chance? Maybe, but fate? Like the universe is working to make sure something happens? I don't believe in that."
"I do." Glancing at Alexis, he smiled at Kate. "I didn't plan on taking her to the park today. She was asking all morning before school, but I had a chapter I had been working on, and just couldn't seem to finish, but thirty minutes before I had to pick her up it all just clicked. If that hadn't of happened, we wouldn't have been in the park and I wouldn't have been able to find you again."
Shifting uncomfortable, Kate ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm not sure that's fate."
"Well, whatever it is, I'm glad it happened. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since that…night." Taking a sip of his water, he sighed. "Why did you leave, Kate?"
"I told you," Kate starts. "I was late for work."
"You could have woken me. I thought…I thought we had made a connection."
"We did…we…" Looking around the diner, Kate notice a few uniforms from her precinct lurking around. The last thing she needed was to be break room gossip. Whispering, she kept her eyes cast down. "I'm not very good at this."
"At what?" Rick pushed, his leg brushing against hers under the table.
"Being open with people. Letting them in. When my mom died, I closed myself off." Kate admitted, taking a deep breath. "I couldn't get hurt if I didn't let anyone in. But now, with everything…I need to change."
"What happened?"
"I found out I'm-" Stopping herself, Kate shock her head. She couldn't tell him. "I just want to stop hurting people by not being able to connect." Looking at her watch, she sighed. "I should probably get going. I've got the night shift tonight."
"Can I at least walk you to work? Maybe get your number, because I really would like to see you again Kate.
Biting on her lip, Kate nodded, quickly rattling off her cell phone number as he entered it to his phone. "And now I really should get going."
"Okay, come on Alexis, we're going to walk Kate to work."
"You really don't have to do that." Kate protested, slipping on her coat and grabbing her bag.
"What kind of man would I be if I didn't ensure you got to work safely?"
"You do realise I'm a cop, right? I carry a gun."
"Even so," Rick laughed, paying for their meal despite Kate's early protests. "I really did have a good time, Kate."
"Me too." Exiting the restaurant, Kate crossed the street and stopped abruptly outside the solid wood doors. "Well, thanks for walking me to work."
"This is where you work?" Rick laughed, shaking his head.
"I did tell you that you didn't need too." Kate smiled.
"At least now I'm certain you got here. A lot can happen in the ten seconds it took us to cross the street."
Nodding, Kate smiled. "Well I better go up."
"I'll call you. Maybe I could take you out for dinner, without the kindergartener audience. Get to know you better." Rick lent in and gently kissed her cheek. "It's been a pleasure. Say goodbye to Kate, Alexis."
"Bye Kate!" Alexis chirped, finally looking up from her book.
"Bye sweetheart. It was lovely to meet you." Turning on her heels, Kate opened the precinct door before thinking better of it. Turning back around, she watched as the father and daughter duo walked down the street, her eyes never leaving them until they were completely out of sight."
. . . . . . . . . .
"You didn't tell him?" Lanie all but shouted, exasperated.
"I couldn't Lanie. I haven't even wrapped my head around all of this, I couldn't just waltz in there and screw up his – and his daughters' world too."
"But you are going to tell him?" Lanie pushed.
Sinking down into the chair in the corner, Kate sighed. "When the time is right."
"Kate…"
"Lanie, please don't. I need time." Dropping her hand to her abdomen, she smiled. "I need to get this all sorted in my head first."
"But leaving it is only going to make it harder on you. And him. Maybe meeting him in the park was fa-"
"Don't say fate." Kate interrupted, holding up a hand to stop Lanie in her tracks. "I had enough about fate at lunch from Rick."
"Oooh, so his name is Rick." Smiling gleefully, she lent forward. "Tell me more. What does he look like? What does he do? What's his last name? I'm sure I could convince Javi to do a background check on him."
"Don't you dare!" Kate gasped, horrified.
"Girl, as if I'd actually do that. I do want more details though."
"His name is Rick, Rick Castle and he's a writer."
"Rick Castle..." Lanie drawled out before her eyes went wide. "You mean the Rick Castle? Your favourite author?"
"The one and only."
"Oh my god!" Lanie squealed, standing and starting to pace around the morgue. "I can't believe you and him…girl, that kid is going to be gorgeous. You two have good genetics."
"Thanks?"
"It's a compliment Kate, take it. Now come on, what's he like?"
"He's…he's kind and caring. He's not how he seems in the newspapers, at least from what I've seen, and he is great with Alexis. She is his world."
"Is that part of why you didn't tell him?"
"Maybe. I just…you can see how much he loves her. His entire world revolves around her and what if he doesn't want to share that world with another child?"
"What if he does?" Moving over to Kate, Lanie rested a hand on her arm. "You'll never know if you don't ask him."
"Just give me some time, Lanie."
"Whatever you need"
Dropping her bag onto the coffee table, Kate flopped down into the armchair, groaning as she kicked off her heels. Today had been long. First her doctor's appointment, then running in to Rick and having a case land on her desk at seven last night - all she wanted to do was crawl into bed. Pushing herself out of the chair, Kate grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge before slowly making her way to her bedroom.
Taking the ultrasound photograph of out her pocket, Kate stared at it intently before laying her hand on her abdomen. "Hi baby," Kate breathed out, rubbing circles on her skin with her thumb as though the baby would be able to feel it. "I'm not sure how good I'm going to be at this, but I'm going to try my best, okay?"
Laying back, Kate quickly drifted to sleep, her hand still protectively resting on her abdomen.