Author's Note: A somewhat shorter chapter, in which we get to see more of Castle's point of view.

Accidentally in Love

Chapter 4

It wasn't until he and Alexis were back home that Castle had a chance to tell Alexis about having dinner with Kate.

Alexis spent the short subway ride and walk home prattling cheerfully about the birthday party, giving him what amounted to a play-by-play account of it. Her hair had been done up in some fancy way that he couldn't identify but it involved loops and some small braids and looked complicated. He wasn't looking forward to undoing it but at least, thank the merciful gods, Alexis's hair was fine and straight and not overly given to tangles. Zoe's older sister's friend, who was a budding artist, had brought in face paint so now Alexis's cheeks were adorned with a flower and a shooting star, respectively. And to top off this little makeover of sorts, her nails had been painted a sparkly turquoise blue with a tiny white star on each nail. He made a mental note to buy nail polish remover.

He let Alexis do the talking and mostly just listened, a smile tugging on his lips. He loved listening to his daughter talk. She was such fun with her artless little enthusiasms mixed in with her occasional precocious statements. Besides which, he made a point of encouraging Alexis to tell him everything that happened in her young life. He might be worried every day about messing the whole parenting thing up but the one thing he never ever wanted was for Alexis to feel like she couldn't tell him things.

It sounded like Alexis had had a good time, which was the main thing Castle cared about. But he spared a moment to be thankful that he hadn't needed to attend or host this sort of princess party. As much as he adored his daughter, going to a party that involved doing hair and nail polish was something he could live without. The tea parties he'd attended with Alexis and her dolls in years past had been quite enough.

"It was so much fun, Daddy!" Alexis finished enthusiastically as they entered the loft. "I love birthday parties and eating birthday cake and seeing people blow out the candles but the next birthday party won't be until Taylor's birthday in March and that's soooo far away!" she finished in a languishing tone that made it seem as if she were talking about something that wouldn't happen for another decade.

Castle's lips twitched. It always tickled him when Alexis showed such a tendency to melodrama and hyperbole. She was definitely his daughter in that respect. "Well, if you don't want to wait that long, we could always have a private un-birthday party with cake and candles," he suggested.

In the blink of an eye, or so it seemed, Alexis seemed to become older, wrinkling her nose a little as she gave him one of the looks she was rapidly becoming an expert in, looking as patronizing as a nine-year-old girl could look. "But Daddy, celebrating un-birthdays is silly because every other day of the year except your actual birthday is your un-birthday. That doesn't make sense."

He had to laugh and bent to give her a smacking kiss on the cheek. "Sometimes being silly is the entire point."

"Besides, Daddy, birthday parties are fun because they don't happen every day. I think if I got to eat birthday cake every day, I'd get tired of it."

He gave her a look of exaggerated shock. "How can anyone get tired of eating birthday cake?"

Alexis grinned. "By eating it every day."

"Ha ha, very funny, smarty pants. You think you're so clever, don't you?"

She dimpled up at him. "Yup. You tell me I'm smart all the time."

She had him there. He had to laugh. "So I do. And clearly you're so modest too."

Alexis giggled as she scampered up the stairs. "I can be modest, Daddy."

"Yeah? Well, modest one, would you like to get ready for bed?"

"It's past my bed-time, I know, Daddy."

Castle loitered in the hallway as Alexis disappeared into her room to change.

"Can you help me with my hair, Daddy?"

He smiled automatically at the sight of her, looking like an adorable little pixie with her hair still done up—if pixies wore pajamas with plaid-wearing Scottish terriers on them. He had the cutest kid in the universe. In his entirely unbiased opinion, of course.

"Of course, sweet pea. Come on, into the bathroom with you."

It took some time but Castle managed to comb Alexis's hair out and his daughter, being the forbearing kid that she was, valiantly avoided wincing through most of it, even though he was guiltily aware that he must be tugging on her hair.

Castle no longer needed to supervise Alexis in brushing her teeth but he almost always did because it was just part of the bedtime ritual of putting Alexis to bed and Castle clung jealously to all the old rituals since he was well aware that in just a few years, Alexis would no longer want him to tuck her into bed every night. And tonight, he needed to check to make sure she washed her face thoroughly to get the face paint off.

"So, pumpkin, I have some news for you too," he began as Alexis brushed her teeth.

Alexis gave him a questioning look in the mirror.

"You remember my friend Kate from the Park after Thanksgiving?"

Alexis nodded and then spat into the sink. "Uh huh. Did you talk to Kate again, Daddy? Did you tell her I didn't mean to hurt her feelings?"

"Yes, I told her and she said it was very sweet of you but her feelings hadn't been hurt."

Alexis rinsed her mouth out and wiped it dry before answering, "Oh good but I'm still glad you told her. Will she have dinner with us?"

"Yes, she will. She said Tuesday is her next free night for now but she might end up needing to work that night but assuming she doesn't, she'll have dinner with us on Tuesday."

"What kind of work does Kate do?"

He grinned, unable to hide his excitement at the idea. "Kate's a police officer."

Being his daughter, Alexis's eyes went wide with surprise and bright with answering excitement. "Really, Daddy? I didn't know there were girl police officers! That's neat!"

He laughed. "Yes, it is neat, isn't it?" That was one word for it. Kate was… interesting, intriguing. Partly because of her job—okay, more than a little because of her job—but also just her. Her past, her story. Her strength combined with the vulnerability he'd seen the first time they met. Entirely aside from wanting to know more about the realities of police work, he wanted to know more about her as a person.

"Do you think Kate will mind if I ask her about what her job's like?"

He grinned. "I don't think she'll mind." Ha! And he hadn't even needed to suggest it to Alexis, as it had occurred to him that he could. Alexis liked learning more about things, had inherited some of his curiosity.

"Oh good. I think it'll be fun to have dinner with Kate," Alexis bounced.

He caught her and swung her up high, making her shriek a little, before he dropped her gently on her bed, where she landed with a bounce and a giggle. (She was getting too big for him to lift above his head like that, he reflected with a pang.)

"Where will we be going for dinner, Daddy?"

"I was thinking of going to Mirabelli's since we haven't been in a while."

Alexis's face lit up. "Oh, yes, Daddy, let's go to Mirabelli's!"

He smiled. It was easy to please Alexis because she was generally such a cheerful, good-tempered kid—and he was thankful for that every day. He loved putting Alexis to bed; it was one reason why it was easy for him to decline most of the party invitations that Paula forwarded to him. He went out occasionally to get his picture taken because his celebrity persona was a necessary part of his publicity, as Paula continually reminded him, but he was happier in the privacy of his home, with his daughter. And he knew too that Alexis didn't like it when he wasn't around to read to her and then tuck her in (although he sometimes wondered if Alexis, wonderful daughter that she was, wasn't at least partly indulging him in the whole bedtime ritual thing. Well, even if that were the case, he would enjoy it while it lasted.)

He was going to be out tomorrow evening so tonight, he made a point of lingering longer in Alexis's bedroom, waiting until her breathing had become deep and even and she was fully asleep before slipping out.

Once back in his study, he called Gina, a little tense because he was never sure if Gina would be annoyed at him over something and he had, after all, missed her call earlier.

"Hi, Rick." Gina's voice was relaxed, even warm, and he felt his tension dissipate in relief.

"Hi. Sorry I missed your call earlier."

"Oh, it's all right. I realized after I called that you were probably still busy dropping Alexis off at her party."

"Yeah, I was," he agreed and then wondered, belatedly, why the untruth had slipped so easily off his lips, why he hadn't bothered to correct Gina. It wasn't like he had anything to hide. But it had just been easier to let Gina's mistake stand than get into the explanation of who Kate was and how he'd run into her.

"I was just calling to make sure we're all set for tomorrow."

"Yes, we're all set. I confirmed our reservation today."

"Good. Oh, Rick, I'm so excited about this. Everyone's raving about this place and I know I've heard of lots of people who haven't been able to get a reservation at all."

"I'm looking forward to it too," he answered and he meant it. The restaurant was one of the newest that had just opened up less than a year ago and the rave reviews it had received had guaranteed that it had almost immediately become one of the go-to spots for the rich and well-connected. Which, of course, meant that Gina had insisted on their going.

"And you found someone to watch Alexis so you can come back to my place afterwards?" Her voice lowered. "It's been almost a week since you last came over, Rick."

"My mother will be taking care of Alexis," he answered, avoiding responding to the rest of Gina's statement. He knew Gina was trying to be seductive, in her way, but as occasionally happened, she missed the mark by alluding to sex in almost the same breath as a reference to Alexis. He appreciated that Gina understood about Alexis's central importance in his life; she hadn't pouted (not that Gina ever pouted, which he liked) or gotten annoyed the couple times that he'd either been late or needed to cancel dates because of issues with Alexis's babysitter. "I can't wait to see the dress you'll be wearing," he made himself add because Gina meant well, asked about Alexis often.

Gina laughed softly. "You'll have to wait and see, Rick."

He smiled, settling back into his chair, as their conversation shifted to other things and they talked for another 15 minutes or so before the call ended. Gina was smart and generally easy to talk to because of all their shared interests. She might not be a writer but as an editor who had worked with many writers over the years, she knew about what it was like to be a writer. And because she read so many mysteries over the course of her job, as one of the main editors of Black Pawn's mystery division, she knew mysteries, understood the rules of the genre and the technical craft of mystery writing so they never ran out of things to talk about.

Plus she was beautiful and poised and responsible and organized. Not the most romantic adjectives, he knew, but after Meredith, pure spontaneity had lost most of its appeal for him, at least for a real relationship.

He honestly cared about Gina, he did.

Why did he have the sudden sense that he needed to remind himself of all this?

It wasn't like there was anything wrong with his relationship with Gina; they hadn't had a fight or anything. Everything was fine.

And they had a date tomorrow. He was looking forward to trying out this new restaurant; he liked eating gourmet cuisine as much as anyone.

And yet, he suddenly thought, he'd enjoyed dinner tonight at Remy's more than any fancy dinner he could remember.

He grimaced to himself. Gina would never suggest eating at a place like Remy's or agree to it short of something drastic like a gun being held to her head. He allowed himself a brief chuckle at the ridiculous scenario. Gina's favorite restaurant was Le Cirque, which was typical of the restaurants Gina frequented—expensive, elegant, formal. A place to see and be seen while enjoying a five-star meal at a five-star price (not that anyone who went to Le Cirque needed to concern themselves with the price). The last restaurant he and Gina had been to, over which Gina had raved afterwards, hadn't even included prices on the menus, except for the liquor selection, on the assumption that anyone dining at that restaurant would never need to be concerned about the price of a meal.

It wasn't that Castle didn't like going to expensive restaurants. He'd been to Le Cirque multiple times to the point that he had his own usual table there that was almost always made available to him when he called. And to be candid, he liked being rich enough that he could afford to go out to these expensive, first-class restaurants every night if he wanted to without making a dent in his money.

But just because he could go to very expensive, fancy restaurants all the time didn't mean he wanted to.

Maybe this didn't say much about him but he really thought he was happier going to a place like Remy's most of the time. He'd liked the casual, friendly ambiance, liked the pub-like atmosphere with the bar and the somewhat separated eating area, liked the wood interior and the artistic black-and-white photographs of New York City on the walls. And he'd definitely liked the burgers and the shakes.

He and Gina had been going out for a couple months now, to say nothing of having worked closely together for two years. Surely they should be comfortable enough now that a date didn't always need to involve getting dressed up and going to some exclusive, expensive restaurant. It wasn't like he wanted to go to McDonald's or something; he just found himself wishing that once in a while Gina would be okay with meeting at a more casual sort of place, where they could just go, no big planning involved.

This was ridiculous! He shouldn't be trying to make difficulties in what was otherwise a relatively easy, good relationship just based on restaurant choices.

Gina was fine. She was great. She never gushed over Alexis and she was smart and capable and responsible—and as far removed from Meredith as it was possible to get. She would be good for him. She'd already made his books better, more tightly plotted, his prose crisper.

And unlike just about every other woman he'd met in the last decade or so, Gina didn't flatter him or fawn over him.

Except, he suddenly remembered, Kate hadn't flattered or fawned over him either. She'd treated him like… well, like a normal person, an actual friend.

She had from the first. It was why he'd thought that she didn't know who he was and why he hadn't been in a hurry to enlighten her as to his identity. It had been refreshing to be treated so normally. It had made him glad that as an author, his face wasn't as well-known as, say, an actor's. Although he knew that thanks to Page Six, he was more recognizable around town than many other authors, part of the celebrity persona that Paula had been at pains to create and encourage.

But Kate had known who he was after all—and she had still treated him just like any other person.

And that was—rather pathetically—a novel experience for him. It occurred to him that this really didn't say much for his life.

In his experience, women wanted him for his money, his fame, and his body, usually in that order. And while he'd had his fair share—and probably more than that—of fun with those women who threw themselves at him with such alacrity, he wasn't naïve enough or vain enough to believe that it really had anything to do with him, as a person. He'd had his fun in the years since his divorce but he'd gotten tired of having meaningless flings with women whose names he barely remembered.

And there was Alexis to think about too. Alexis, who was growing up without a mom for all intents and purposes. Alexis, who would be hitting puberty in a few years—he forced himself to think it, ignoring the cold shudder that went through him at the thought. He might not be comfortable with the idea—understatement since even the word, puberty, in the same sentence with Alexis made him want to run screaming, find a Catholic convent with 20-foot walls to keep Alexis in, and invent a time machine to keep Alexis a child—but since none of those were options, he had to do what he could. For Alexis, he would do anything.

But finding someone who would treat him like a regular person, who didn't care about his money or his fame, wasn't easy.

It was partly what had drawn him to Gina in the first place. Gina hadn't thrown herself at him or treated him like some celebrity rock-star; she was never obsequious or sycophantic. Her very job precluded that in a sense but not always; one thing he'd found as his career advanced was that even editors became warier of suggesting major edits with every best-seller to his name. Gina appeared unaffected by his increasing success, which was a large part of what made her the best editor he'd ever had.

That had made Gina different, why he'd asked her out in the first place.

And now he'd met Kate—and Lanie. Neither Kate nor Lanie had acted star-struck in the least and they hadn't lionized him either.

And Kate was… different. She was… intriguing. Kate Beckett was a mystery. And not solely in the sense that he didn't know her well. No, she was complicated. There were layers to her. He already knew that from three run-ins with her. He knew people. And every instinct in him told him that she was different. He guessed that she tended to reserve; she was clearly able to shoot down any pretensions when her tone and her expression had become flinty. And he could guess enough about what it must be like to be a female cop—a young and gorgeous female cop at that—in the male-dominated world of law enforcement to know that Kate must have a spine of steel.

But for all that, she felt things deeply. He remembered very well the tears he'd briefly glimpsed in her eyes the first time they'd met, had noted the set of her jaw, the signs of self-control when she'd told him, so succinctly, what was troubling her that night. Funny but it was only now, on realizing that Kate had known who he was that Kate's confiding in him that first night made more sense, now that he really thought about it. He was no stranger to the way fame—a familiarity with his name—had a way of making people feel like they knew him. Fame had a strange way of erasing the natural barriers of unfamiliarity and reserve that normally accompanied people's interactions with strangers—while at the same time, paradoxically putting up more barriers between him and other people because of the awe that tended to color people's interactions with celebrities. Kate had not betrayed that she knew who he was in any other way nor had she appeared even the least bit star-struck but he also guessed that Kate would not have told him anything about her life that first meeting if she hadn't known who he was.

Her mother was dead—a victim of a violent crime, murdered, if he had to guess. And her father was an alcoholic. But before that, he guessed that her parents had had money, Manhattan money. There hadn't been the slightest trace of the boroughs in her voice and more than that, there was something about her, about her confidence, the way she carried herself, that spoke of a certain amount of class. No, she'd come from money, he would bet his last advance on that. And she'd become a cop, not a lawyer as most smart, good-looking women did these days. Because of her mom in all likelihood.

But as much as he could guess, this was only conjecture, after all, and only filling in the skeletal outlines of her story. But he wanted more than just the outlines; he wanted the details, the whole story.

He didn't doubt that it would be worth knowing. He could already tell that Kate was complicated, interesting.

In some corner of his mind, a little warning bell sounded—but he ignored it. There was nothing to be concerned about. So he wanted to get to know Kate better—blame that on his insatiable curiosity. And the fact that she was beautiful really had nothing to do with it. Besides, he had a girlfriend and he was happy with Gina and even if he weren't, he would never cheat.

So he and Kate could be friends. That was all and there was nothing to be concerned about in that.

~To be continued…~

A/N 2: Thoughts, opinions? All readers and reviewers are much appreciated.